Disclaimer: I do not own any parts of the Pokémon franchise. All copyrighted materials belong to their appropriate owners. This is a non-profitable story, written purely for entertainment.

Preview: A devious entity from another world threatens the safety of everyone in the Hoenn region. As if things were not complex enough, Brock has to deal with the fact that his body is slowly transforming into that of a girl's.

Author's Notes: Taking another shot at writing a Pokèmon fanfic. Hate it or love it, but don't be shy with the reviews!

.: Jem :.

By Krafty Quill

Chapter I

Decision…

The morning was dark, having yet seen the emergence of the sun. Most people preferred not to rise before the sun had, but Brock loved to. The early hours were always the most serene. It was also the only time his travelling companions were utterly silent, give or take a snore every minute. Brock would rather have that than endure another pointless argument between the two. As Ash and Misty were sleeping the early hours away, Brock was seated cross-legged on his sleeping bag in a semi-meditative state.

Gentle winds caressed his strained features, like a mother stroking her frightened child, assuring him everything will be all right. The nightmare was over. Brock wondered if his companions understood, or even knew, the trauma they put him through. Probably not, they were young after all, Ash fourteen and Misty a good year older than he was. Looking from the outside in, they appeared to be perfect angels, which they were on rare occasions, Brock would admit. He did not consider them bad kids. They had genuine hearts and were always willing to help their fellowman, and pokémon, in times of need. So what was it about them that troubled Brock every passing day?

There were more ways than one to answer that question. The former gym leader glanced at three scratch marks etched into his forearm. Lucid memories of the events that had taken place the previous night replayed in his mind's eye. He had been returning to the campsite from gathering wood to burn for the night. Ash and Misty were exchanging heated words while Pikachu was attempting to help them reason through the disagreement. Brock paid little attention to the incident, but kept it in the back of his mind, knowing that he may have to step in should the dispute turn physical. He did not know why, but the number of times they would wrestle each other to the ground had increased dramatically in the past days. Maybe it was a puberty thing. Within the following ten minutes, Brock's instincts had been right again. He had to separate them before they ended up seriously hurting each other. During the scuffle, Misty had inadvertently scraped her long fingernails across his forearm. It did hurt, but not as much as the words she spewed when he had asked her for an apology. There was one particular part in her rant that had traumatised him the most -- she had told him the reason no girl would ever like him was that he was not a real man.

Of course, she had just had a major run-in with Ash, and she probably had not meant what she said to him, but that did not make him feel any less hurt by it. The words had pierced the very soul of his heart. But, why did such a simple, careless statement hurt him so much? After a sleepless night of prodding into his own persona, the answer hit him with the force of a ton of bricks. It hurt so much because it was true. Pain did not lie.

The answer made perfect sense to him when he reassessed his role in the trio. He prepared the meals, cleaned the pots and utensils when they were done, offered advice when he was asked for it, helped them with their laundry, bathed the pokémon every three days, and often served as the voice of reason during their clashes. It was true. He was more of a mother than a friend, more of a woman than a man. No wonder other women rejected him at every opportunity. Who would ever believe that he was once a strong gym leader? He recalled one instance when he told Nurse Joy he was Pewter City's previous gym leader, and she giggled, believing it was just another one of his playful attempts at impressing her. At the time, he did not think much of it, granted his only objective was to get her number. But now, he felt offended that the thought of him being a gym leader was laughable to others, although deep down, he knew he could not blame them.

Somewhere down the line on his travels with Ash and Misty, he had lost his reputation and his pride. The realisation saddened him. He was thankful to Misty, in respect to the fact that it would have probably taken an even longer time for him to grasp the situation if it were not for her brutal honesty. Brock closed his eyes and bowed his head. As of this moment, his dreams of becoming a renowned pokémon breeder were put on hold. He had to return to Pewter City and become the gym leader once more. It was the only way he could restore confidence within himself. He knew he would not go far on any path without confidence. All that was left was for him to inform his friends of his decision, which he would do later on in the day.

Brock stifled yawned. He must have been up for an hour. The sun peeped above the horizon, lighting up the skies as it gradually rose to its throne. Amongst the three of them, Brock was the sole witness of the beautiful sunrise. The moment felt special to him. It very well may have been the last sunrise he shared with his friends. Naturally, they were still out like fatigued light bulbs, but their presence is what mattered, awake or not. Brock noticed something odd when he looked at Ash's sleeping bag; Pikachu, who had been sleeping beside his trainer's head earlier, had moved from his position.

"Pika!" The bubbly greeting startled Brock, whom jumped at the abruptness. Pikachu had been sitting next to him for at least thirty minutes.

Brock smiled shakily. It was somewhat careless of him to drift too far away from his surroundings whenever he was deep in thought. "Hey, Pikachu. I didn't you see there," admitted Brock, whispering.

"Pika pi pika, pikachu!" The electric-type gave him a thumbs-up, suggesting he was not offended that Brock had briefly forgotten about his existence. Pikachu stared at the aspiring breeder for a second as if trying to figure something out. "Pi, Pika?"

"Huh? Of course, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" That was an odd question of Pikachu to be asking him, assuming he interpreted the rodent pokémon correctly. Like Ash, Brock could make out what Pikachu was communicating eighty percent of the time. Well, actually, more like ninety-nine percent for Ash. Brock looked over to his friends, only half-surprised they were able to sleep through Pikachu's relatively loud speech. "Pikachu, do you want to help me make breakfast today?"

"Pika!" Pikachu accepted the offer enthusiastically.

Brock pressed his finger to his lips. "Try to keep it down. We wouldn't want to wake them up." He jerked his head towards the two bodies. Pikachu covered his mouth immediately, realising his mistake. He nodded in agreement this time. "Good," whispered Brock, smiling. The two of them crept away from the campsite as stealthy as possible.

"Too late," mumbled Misty, alluding to the fact that they had already woken her up. She saw the pair head off into the woods.

ooOOoo

Brock wanted to prepare some eggs and beacon for breakfast. The dish was one of Ash's favourites and more or less neutral for Misty. In order to fry the ingredients, he would need a pan, which he had, butter, which he had, and a stove, which he did not have. Not too many stoves liked to hang around Petalburg Woods unfortunately. The dilemma posed no problem however, as he was accustomed to the alternative, a live fire. Once he and Pikachu gathered enough firewood, they would head back to the campsite where they would make breakfast.

"Pika!?" Pikachu suddenly froze. His sensitive hearing detected footsteps approaching. Brock wanted to ask him if it was a friend or foe, but decided against it, not wanting to disrupt the pokémon's concentration with his voice. Intrigued, Pikachu sniffed the air. "Pika pi!" Brock sighed in relief as he saw Pikachu relax into a sitting position on his hind legs. The electric-type had recognized the stray scent.

Stepping around an oak tree, the slim figure came into view. Brock set down the logs he was holding and approached the girl. Her scruffy appearance worried him. Red bangs fell about her face in a mess, partially hiding a set of puffy eyes fresh from sleep. Parched lips struggled to maintain an unconvincing smile; she must have sensed his concern.

"Good morning, Brock and Pikachu," greeted Misty. Her voice was as cheery as fatigue would allow. Pikachu returned the gesture, enthusiastically as always.

Brock wanted to be happy to see her, but frankly, she looked like she could use another two hours of sleep. "What are you doing up, Misty? Oh, of course. We must've wakened you. I think you should get back to bed."

There was silence for a moment before Misty broke out laughing. "What's wrong with your voice, Brock?" It sounded high-pitched, not extremely high-pitched, but definitely not like the deep, rich tone she was used to.

Now that she mentioned it, Brock acknowledged that he did sound unusual. When did his voice change? As far as he remembered, it was normal when he crawled into his sleeping bag last night. Of course, he did not get much sleep afterwards with everything that was on his mind. Still, that was no reason for his voice to turn shrill, was it?

Pikachu gave him that same look he had given him earlier at the campsite. Now he understood why Pikachu had asked him if he was okay. He must have heard the difference too. Brock's voice had to have changed between the time he went to bed and the time he woke up this morning. That explained the when, but what about the how and why? "I must be catching a cold or something," said Brock, although he was sure that was not what it was. He had no symptoms of a cold. Nonetheless, that was the story he would go with until he learned more about the circumstances. "Really Misty, you could do with a few more hours of sleep."

Misty yawned into her palm. She wanted to disagree with him, but she knew he was right. Had it been Ash though, she would have probably disagreed with him anyway. "I know. Don't worry about me. I'll head back in a second. But I know I won't be able to sleep until I let you know what I came to tell you." Brock cocked an eyebrow. "I want to apologize for those horrible things I said last night. I didn't mean any of it. It's just, when you pulled Ash and me apart, you asked me to apologize to him, instead of the other way around. That wasn't very fair, considering he was the one who started the stupid fight in the first place!" Just the thought of him made her sapphire eyes flare up. She had to control her anger before she completely ruined her apology attempt. "Anyway, I know you were only trying to help, and there was no way you could've known that. I'm sorry I snapped at you…"

Brock smiled and pulled her into a hug. "I already know you didn't mean any of it." He could feel Misty's shoulders relax as he said that. He closed his eyes. "But you were right."

"Right about what?"

Brock knew he would have to break the news to her eventually. Maybe he should have gotten it over and done with right there and then. He did not want to repeat his decision to leave the trio to Ash though. She would just have to wait until Ash woke up for the announcement. "I'll tell you later. When Ash gets up."

"God knows when that will be," muttered Misty. Thanks to Ash, she would have to live with her curiosity for another three hours probably!

Suddenly, a loud cry tore through the air. Brock frowned, realising it had come from where they had set up camp. Ash was in trouble.

"Pikachu!" In the blink of an eye, Ash's faithful companion sped off to his trainer's aid.

"Slow down, Pikachu!" Misty cautioned, as she and Brock followed behind. "It could be dangerous!"

OoOOoO