"That was a good sleep." Gary said to no one as he woke up with a yawn. "I wonder if breakfast is ready." With that said Gary fixed his bed and made himself look presentable before existing the guest room which he shared with Brock, Max, and Ash. He gazed at the room one more time to see that Ash was not on his bed.
'That's odd; normally Ashy-boy would be late in waking up in the morning.' Gary thought to himself made his way downstairs. When he reached the living room, he smelled something delightful that made his stomach growled in hunger.
"Hmmm, looks like Mrs. Ketchum or Mrs. Hikari is already making breakfast." Gary mused as he entered the kitchen, what he saw almost scarred him the life out of him.
There in the kitchen was Ash, with his Pikachu on his shoulder, in front of the stove, cooking some kind of soup.
"Bloody hell Ash, are you trying to cook." Gary said abruptly with a mortified expression. Ash merely smiled at his childhood friend.
"Yeah, you want some. It's almost ready anyway and I think I made enough for two-and-half-person." Ash stated as he tasted the soup. "Needs more chili." Ash mumbled as he sprinkle a bit of chili powder on the soup before tasting it again. "Perfect, just two more minutes and my soup will be ready." Ash then gazed at his friend and sweat drop when he saw Gary backing towards a corner.
"You, actually cooking and not eating, is it the end of the world already." Gary stated with a grim expression. "Please don't I still have a lot of plans in the future; I still want to discover more about Pokémons before I die." Gary exclaimed which earned him a light glare from Ash.
"I can cook to you know." Ash said a little offended. 'If Elena likes my cooking then that's good enough for anyone.' Ash thought as he remembered all those times that he cook for Elena during some of their dates.
Gary seemed to look more petrified which cause Ash to sigh dejectively. "Oh well, your lost." Ash said as he turned off the stove and poured the soup in to three bowls before serving it on the table. Ash then sat and looked at Gary one last time. "If you want to eat something, try my soup. I swear it's not poisonous." With that, Ash began devouring his soup in a slow pace. Pikachu on the other hand just buried his face to the bowl of soup, slurping the soup happily.
Gary seemed to hesitate but not wanting to offend his friend some more, tasted the soup. As the soup touch Gary's tongue, hundreds of flavors exploded on his mouth. Gary's eyes widen and began devouring the soup in a fast pace.
"I told you'll like it." Ash stated in a knowing tone as he finished his soup. Pikachu just gave laugh at Gary's reaction after tasting Ash's soup and wipe his mouth with his paws before jumping onto Ash's shoulder.
"I can't believe it Ashy-boy, you could actually cook. What's next, you having a secret girlfriend (he actually nailed it with that)?" Gary said humorously. Ash and Pikachu laugh uneasily after hearing Gary's joke, an accurate joke at that.
"I need to learn this basic things Gary, I can't depend on Brock forever." Ash exclaimed in a serious tone which cause Gary to have a double take on Ash.
In Gary's point of view yesterday, Ash was still the naïve boy he was friends with all those years ago but now that he was looking at Ash now, in a different light, he could tell that Ash change greatly. Ash eyes now looked like the eyes of trained veteran whom had experience many battles, his expression were a bit reserved than usual, his movements were more well though, and there was an aura of power and confident surrounding him. If Gary didn't know better, he would tell that this was not Ash.
"You know Ash; you changed a lot since the last time we met, what happened to you?" Gary asked with curiosity lacing his voice.
Ash chuckled at his friends question before standing up. Ash looked at Gary intently before saying in a cryptic way (I don't know if Ash knows the meaning of cryptic) "I have an angel who is my dream and who showed me that I need to be myself and to dissolve the façade that I have made to hide the real me. She showed me that it's time to finally show the world who I am." Ash then made his exit from the kitchen leaving a very baffled Gary.
'This Ash just asked a riddle?' Gary thought with the mixture of shock and confusion.