Standby!

"G-got it... Sorry, Paul."

Never in a million years did he think he'd be standing and apologizing to Paul, but here he was, scratching the back of his head, bowing like a scolded child. At least Paul wasn't using this as an opportunity to belittle him. If this had been the old Paul, Ash wouldn't have cared about his feelings in the slightest. But he had no idea how to navigate this when both of them were clumsy with these matters.

Still, at least it was resolved now. And Ash knew better for next time. Paul wasn't the type to crack jokes, that much was clear. He'd like it if he did one day, but until then, Ash could crack enough jokes for the both of them.

And, maybe not at his expense next time.

Okay, this touchy-feely stuff was making Ash's skin crawl and his cheeks burn with embarrassment. Time to change the subject.

"Hey, so what've you been up to? I haven't heard much from ya since we parted ways. I wanna know what you've been up to!"

Time to put their past behind them.

"here." paul nodded his head as he gestured toward the grass in front of him. "sit, or something. unless you just. want to stand up there by yourself." he didn't really want to sound like he was trying to make ash do- for fuck's sake, this was so stupid.

What now? ...yeah, actually. What now? He didn't really know what he was doing. Most of his other friendships felt so much more natural. There was never really a need to say anything. Now, he felt like a newborn Ponyta on wobbling legs.

Maybe... maybe now, they worked though it? Or, wait, was there still more to it? What if it happened again? He didn't want to hurt Paul. How could he fix it?

"I guess now... uh... it's my turn? Why... Why did you get mad? I get that I pushed too far, but... I dunno? How far is too far?"

Why was this so hard? He'd never had to ask something like this before. It was embarrassing. But Paul wasn't likely to be forthright with his feelings, so everything was on Ash's shoulders.

He didn't like how it made his chest ache, though.

"i already told you. you didn't listen when i said enough was enough. if you want me to tell you how far is too far for every scenario... i can't do that. even if i wanted to, i just... can't. i don't have future sight, you know?"

he paused, thinking on how utterly useless his answer was. paul furrowed his brow at this. at the wasted breath. at the wasted time. surely he could come up with something.

"Real friends don't break up after just one bad fight!" he countered, determined. "We talk it out-- or battle, if we have to-- and make things right!"

Paul wasn't giving an inch. Ash liked that about him. He wasn't willing to back down, even when he was challenged. Too bad for Paul, Ash was equally as stubborn. Although, in this case, if it was true Ash's words were what had hurt him, then maybe he should stand down. Maybe he deserved Paul's harsh reaction.

Maybe it was time for him to extend that olive branch first. For some reason, his heart hammered in his chest. It was like he was fighting for his life all over again. Like he was about to have the tensest Gym Battle he's ever had.

Paul was one of Ash's strongest possible rivals. He disagreed with his methods; hand-picking the strongest Pokemon of a batch he'd caught, then releasing the ones he deemed "useless". His harsher training methods. He wasn't even going to get into all the mistakes he made while training Chimchar. At every turn, Ash and Paul clashed and disagreed, and refused to make up.

Not this time.

"Look, I... I'm sorry. I thought you were playin' along. I'm not good at this kinda stuff. I mess up all the time. Friends roughhouse and tease and make fun of each other all the time, but I didn't actually mean to hurt you."

He hid his eyes behind the bill of his cap, tugging at it nervously. His hands were shaking. Why was he shaking? Why was it so hard just to apologize? He was afraid, and he wanted to run away. What was he afraid of?

Paul? It couldn't be. They were friends now. Or, maybe they weren't? Maybe that's what scared him.

There was so much he wished he knew how to say, so many ideas and fears that ran through his mind. He didn't get why he was so mad about the friendly tease, but that didn't really matter anymore, did it? Ash had never been good at saying goodbye.

All these things he wanted to say, and yet what he muttered under his breath surprised even himself.

"Please don't leave..."

and it was a decision that paid off in spades. paul hadn't been speaking before, but he somehow fell dead silent upon receiving the apology. he... hadn't actually been expecting one. they were two stubborn tauros, he and ash, and paul figured he had given ash enough reasons to feel like he never deserved an apology ever.

more than that, too, paul had never seen ash so... withdrawn before. he looked as though he was practically on the verge of tears, and the sight brought a pang to his chest that paul didn't recognize. with a furrowed brow and a pursed lip he carefully considered his words. "i uhm. thank you. i... accept your apology."

he tilted his head slightly. part of him wanted to try to catch ash's gaze, but another part of him refused to be so blatantly... he didn't know. obvious? by tilting his head far enough to do so. instead, he thought on it for a moment. maybe a step forward would do.

"But that's not what I meant!" he protested, suddenly defensive. "All this time you put up this tough-guy act as if nothin' I say can faze you! But that's just not true! You do care, and I'm glad you do, 'cuz I do too!"

How was he supposed to tell him what he wanted to say?! How did a simple joke turn into Ash being a bad guy?! Paul... Paul was hurt somehow, right? He hadn't realized he was being serious. But that just made it ten times worse, didn't it?

He thought Paul was acting tough. Maybe he really didn't know him as well as he thought.

All the more reason to keep pushing.

"I don't care what you say. We are friends. And I won't stop sayin' it until it gets through your thick skull! If you 'don't care' that much, then why're you even mad?!"

Tell me you care. I won't stop pushing until you do.

that said, paul was tired of being on the defensive. he heaved a sigh and decided it was his turn to do the questioning. "what're you trying to get out of this, exactly? i say what you want me to say and then what? we ride off into the sunset on our matching rapidash and never argue again?" a hilarious pipe dream, honestly. he found it hard to imagine even a more grounded version of this scenario because, well... people like him didn't get happy endings.

Where was this hostility coming from? He'd thought Paul was just being Paul. He didn't get what he did wrong. It really was just a joke. Just a funny moment between two friends.

"I-I'm just sayin', I know you now. We're friends. Of course you care. And-- an' I care, too! I don't get why you'd wanna hide that!"

Naturally, Ash did try to follow Paul. He had to know what was bothering him. He cared. He knew he did. Maybe he went a little hard on the tease, but he was just excited to have finally figured him out. This kind of thing wasn't ease for him. Frankly, Pokemon were much easier to talk to than people, and Paul was proof of that. But that didn't mean he wanted to stop trying.

What was the harm in that, anyway? What was his problem?

of course, that was largely by design. there was simultaneously so little and so much to say about himself - paul couldn't be bothered.

they would fucking say that.

Ree hands him a glass of egg nog. They pull their own out to take a gulp, and then point at him with the half empty glass.

still recovering from unloading perhaps more fire than it could reasonably dish out in a continuous blow, goukazaru isn't as quick on its feet as would typically be in order to dodge the majority of the electricity & rubble coming its way. so satoshi doesn't have it. instead, he trusts the fire - type to have honed its strength well.

❛ use the rubble !! ❜

instead of getting properly to its feet, goukazaru braces half - kneeling, its tail granting additional support from behind, as the pokémon extends its arms only to catch at the larger chunks of the ground hurtling toward it & using what pieces stay intact in its grasp as shields, some held in hand, some thrown back the raichu's way.

some rubble crumbles in its grasp with every errant whip of electricity, the explosion of rock still doing plenty of damage to the pokémon, but certainly not as much as it might do were it to take it on straight - ahead.

if they were to end this, shinji reasoned they would have to do it before blaze had a chance to kick in. meaning they would have to go for one powerful all-out attack. so he had his directive - he just had to wait for the right moment.

raichu winced as some of the rocks were thrown back at it, stubbornly holding his ground as he finished his attack. standing in place, however, would prove to be used against him, as he took a mach punch straight to the gut.

the rodent skidded back on all fours, teeth cinched as he powered through the assault. his own breaths were getting heavy as he stood back on two feet. yet another reason they were going to have to end this expeditiously.

"don't let it get away. electroweb!"

with a determined growl, raichu loosed his next web - this time whipping the net above his head before lassoing gokazaru with the electrified threads.

"now: thunder!" they would be using the web as a lead to maximize raichu's power.