A/N: Hey there guys, thanks a lot for the positive feedback, I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy chapter two, I really liked to write it.
To christian: Thanks a lot, it really means a lot to me!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Edit (6 January 2013): Fixed some grammatical things and spelling mistakes.
Leave It To Brocko
Chapter 2
I was outside, in the rain, and enjoying it. The reason is very simple. When it rains, children get or all depressive or all hyperactive. My siblings happen to get hyperactive. But to make it even worse my father thought it would be a 'good' idea to give them some candy, to calm them down. And, as most of my father's good ideas, it didn't work. So now there were nine hyperactive children high on sugar running through the house. And I was outside in the rain, under a pink umbrella – borrowed from my sister, mind you – enjoying the silence.
Here outside I could still hear the cries and screams of my siblings coming from the house. I think Tommy 'accidentally' ripped the head of Suzie's doll off. Again. Now was my father yelling at him and I heard my name being called. Better make a run for it. Clamping my pink umbrella like it was a lifeline I quickly made my way out of our street. Deciding that I better could be as far away as possible, I walked very quickly – no, I did not run, that would look stupid, running through the rain with a pink umbrella – towards the end of the city. As soon as I arrived at the end of the city I relaxed a little more. No way they would find me now, as long as Tilly didn't miss her umbrella. With a sigh I decided that now I was here, I could make a little walk before returning home. Just a little walk. Famous last words.
Three hours later I realized that I had been here before. Three times, actually. I was lost. Again. Or still. Whatever. Lost was lost, after all. How can you get lost on a straight path, you ask? Let's just say that everything looks different in the rain and that I might or might not have been daydreaming about Nurse Joy. Right, on the bright side, I was away from my brothers and sisters for a while. More positive points? I had muddy shoes, was cold and lost in the rain with only a pink umbrella. Wait, those are the negative points. Sigh.
It took me another hour before I finally spotted the city. A whoop escaped my lips and I ran towards the city – er… walked quickly towards the city, because running through the rain with a pink umbrella was totally uncool. I was already convincing myself that I had known all the time where I was going and it was working pretty good – until I noticed that I didn't recognize the buildings. I groaned. This has to be some bad joke. How in the name of Arceus did I end up in Cerulean City?
Exactly at the moment I was about to wallow in self-pity the street lanterns flickered on and gave me another reason to be miserable. I had to stay at Misty's.
I trudged towards the Water Gym of my best female friend, my shoulders slumped and my head held low in defeat. Brock, the Gymleader of the Pewter City Gym, the Rock, managed to get lost as soon as he got out of his own city. How pathetic. Even Ash would've done a better job.
My hand raising to knock I noticed that the door was already open. Of course, this was a Gym, it was always open to challengers. Welcoming the warmth of the Gym I left my pink umbrella in the hall and walked towards the living section, inhaling the delicious scent of dinner coming from the kitchen.
Something was off. It took me a minute to realize what it was, since I was still shivering from the rain and the cold. The smell – it wasn't delicious smelling. It smelt like something else. Something I knew pretty good, thanks to my father trying to cook and failing. It was the smell of burnt dinner. Very burnt dinner. Maybe even fire.
I hastened to kitchen to see what the damage was and was about to walk in when something red and angry pushed me painfully out of her way.
"ASH KETCHUM!" the Water Pokémon Trainer roared, "YOU SET MY KITCHEN ON FIRE! ON FIRE! YOU STUPID MORON! You were supposed to make dinner, NOT set the house on fire! How difficult can that be? You're dead, Ketchum! You understand that, Ketchum, you're DEAD!"
Ash was staring at her, gritting his teeth, flushed in embarrassment. The only one who seemed to get the fact that we needed to extinguish the fire was Pikachu, who was trying to get Ash's attention by jumping up and down in front of the fire, pikapi'ing all the time.
"Well, don't stare at me like that, DO SOMETHING!"
Ash was pulled out of his attempt to control his anger by Misty's demand, which he fulfilled – as soon as he understood she was yelling at him. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration and his jaw set in determination as he pulled out a Pokéball and released a Turtle Pokémon with slightly ridiculous white plumes as ears and tail.
"Wartortle, use Watergun to put out the fire!"
A spray of water came from its mouth and quickly quenched the fire. I sighed in relief. Imagine what would've happened if the house had burned down – three beautiful young women and I wouldn't have had a place to stay. Oh, and Ash and Misty.
"You idiot! You almost burnt down my house!" Misty fumed, then continued in a sarcastic, though not less angry, voice, "Who sets the kitchen on fire while making a sandwich? Oh yeah, that's true, the world champion idiocy, the wanna-be Pokémon Master, the moron who wrecked my bike, Ash Ketchum." She glared at him.
I knew how it went. Misty would insult him and blame him for something that was his fault, Ash would insult her and defend himself the best he could, usually by saying it was her fault, they would insult some more, she would beat him up, he would finally give in, she would gloat, he would sulk and a hour later everyone was happy and friends again. I did not know it yet, but this time would be very different.
Ten seconds passed, and yeah, I actually counted, and Misty was still glaring and Ash was still silent. His fists were clenched, his cheeks flushed and his black hair with his usual cap a mess as he stared intently at the ground. I saw Misty losing her patience – prepare for the explosion of the week, people – but then Ash looked up, biting his lip and his brown eyes staring directly at Misty.
Taking a deep breath, he started, "Misty, I'm so incredibly sorry, really, I am. I promise I'll clean everything up, promise. And Brock will make dinner, right Brock?"
He sounded genuine, though he was still quite angry, that much was clear, and since I wanted to make it out of this alive, I nodded, dumbfounded at the turn of events.
"Don't you dare to – huh, what?" Misty started off angry but broke off in surprise. In the meantime Ash walked out of the kitchen to get something from who knows where, leaving Misty, Pikachu and me to gape in astonishment.
"Wha – How – What… erm?" Misty sputtered.
"I have honestly no idea what just happened," I said, answering the question in all our minds.
"Pikapi, chu?" the Mouse Pokémon said confused.
Ash returned, carrying a bucket full of water and a mop.
"Well, why are you still standing here? Just get out of my way and let me clean up this mess," he harshly ushered us out of the now partly black kitchen.
When I opened my mouth to ask how I was supposed to make dinner without kitchen, he answered my unspoken question with a curt, "I'll call you when I need you."
And with that this weird conversation ended. Misty, Pikachu and I looked at each other, puzzled, but left the kitchen anyway.
"Oookay," Misty said, no longer angry, while making herself comfortable on the couch, "what the heck just happened? I – I don't get it. He's been acting weird all day, coming through the rain to ask if I wanted to swim – of all things to do when it's raining he came up with swimming – then complimented me on every little thing I did, like I was some dog, and then tried to make dinner, but," she sighed, "failed miserably, like usual."
Pikachu glared at her for insulting his master, but Misty just shrugged while saying, "What, you know it's true."
The yellow Pokémon sighed and hopped back to the kitchen.
Still taking in Misty's words I realized what was going on – Ash had tried, key word here is tried, to do something special, to compliment her, to help her and didn't pick, hell, even avoided a fight with her. In other words, he was following my advice… and completely blowing it.
I quickly hid my shock and instead managed a small smile as a plan formed in my mind. Just one more thing was needed, just a little test, to see if Misty… yeah, this could work. My smile grew till I felt Misty's suspicious glare at me.
"Okay, Brock, spit it out, what did you figure out?"
She was curious, and that was just… perfect.
"Um… well, I actually shouldn't tell you," I started quasi nervously. And she fell for it.
"What Brock, what? C'mon, you can tell me, I promise I'll keep it a secret."
"Well," I started, then looked semi anxious in the direction of the kitchen to see if Ash was still busy, "the day before yesterday, Ash visited me to ask for er… advice."
"Advice? What kind of advice? About food?" she snorted.
"No, not about food," I said a little hurt, "about love."
"What?!"
"Shhh, or Ash will hear," I quickly hushed her.
"I mean, what?" the redhead repeated in a softer voice, "He came to you for love advice? I knew he was stupid, but not that stupid."
"Hey," I said offended, "that's not nice."
"Sorry Brock, but it's true. Sure, you crush on every pretty girl, but you never had a girlfriend and I'm not even sure if you've ever had a date."
"I – I, she – It doesn't matter right now. And who else was he supposed to go to then?"
"Er…"
"Exactly, that's what I meant. Talking about this with his mother is just awkward, his father is gone, he doesn't have an older brother and I don't think Professor Oak is such a good idea."
Misty shuddered. "What about Gary?"
"He would just make fun of him, and you know that."
"Tracey…?" she asked hesitantly.
I gave her a look. "The only experience Tracey has with girls is with your sister, and he didn't need to do anything for it, she just fell for him." I couldn't hide the slight jealousy in my voice.
Misty face contorted in a grimace as she thought of her sister Daisy with the assistant of Professor Oak. I didn't know how the artist managed to get a girl, and a pretty one at that, before me. It was depressing to think about.
"Okay, so he came to you for love advice. Why would he need love advice?" She tried to sound disinterested, but I saw right through it. She already knew the answer, of course, because why would one need love advice? She just needed to hear it from me before she would believe that Ash, our Ash, would like girls.
"He's a fifteen years old boy, he's bound to take an interest in girls sometime. And," I said, slightly hesitating, to make it sound more real, "I think he might have a crush."
Misty's aquamarine eyes widened. "He – He, what… really?"
I chuckled lightly at her reaction, "You can't expect him to stay asexual forever."
She glared at me. "I don't, I – I'm just surprised, that's all. On who? And what did you tell him?"
I smiled contently – my plan was definitely working. I wanted to avoid her first question, because I didn't want to lie, but on the other hand… giving his crush a name would make it sound more realistic. And I didn't think May would mind.
"I told him to be nice, to compliment her, to do something special for her and er..," it would probably better not to tell her how much girls could talk and what to do as man when that happened, "I think he's been gaining courage yesterday and that he decided to try his techniques of um… seducing, on you."
And with that I made clear that she was not his crush. The hurt was visible in her eyes but she hid it quickly. She liked him, a lot, but no way she was going to tell me. Maybe she needed a bit more pressure…
"You remember the girl who travelled with Ash and me through Hoenn, right?"
She nodded dumbly, already guessing what would come next.
"Yeah, I think… that he likes her, as in really likes her, and well, he mentioned that he wanted to travel to Hoenn, to see her again."
Her eyes darkened and her jaw clenched as she spat hatefully, "May."
I gulped. I didn't expect her to hate May so much. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…
She stood up, back erect, eyes still blazing and fists clenched as she said full of determination, "I'm going with him."
Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, this was wrong, this was so very wrong. Why did I always mess up?
She turned around, striding towards the kitchen, probably set on telling him of her plan. In a reflex, I grabbed her wrist to stop her. She turned to face me, her eyes looking up to me filled with stubbornness and anger. Suddenly I understood why Ash always cowered under her glare… it was truly terrifying. I could already feel her fingers trying to rip off my ear, even though they were still curled into a fist – but I suppose that could hurt too. Summing up all my courage, I said strongly, "You shouldn't do that."
It came out as a weak whisper – so much for all my courage. Could I sink any lower?
"And why not?" she challenged.
"Because – Because you should not meddle in other people's love life." I just sank even lower. You're such a hypocrite, my conscience whispered. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm sorry, just trying to prevent any more damage.
"Well, that's too bad then, 'cause I'm going no matter what you say."
She tried to break my grip, but even when she was angry she was still a 5,4 feet girl and I a 6,2 feet young man.
"No, wait Misty, you shouldn't tell him now. He might be controlling himself but he's still angry. And how were you planning to explain that you already know about his plans?"
She hesitated as she thought about my words. Then she stepped on my foot and try to break free from my grip, and I let go because I was taken by surprise. And because my foot hurt.
"Good, I'll wait till he tells me. But I will go with him, you got that?"
I quickly nodded, holding my hands up in defeat, but my stomach churned uncomfortably. Mew, how did I always manage to screw up?
She stormed off to who knows where and I kept standing there, at a loss what to do.
"Bro-ho-ock!" Ash yelled from the kitchen, "You're coming?"
I managed a weak, "Yea – Yeah, coming."
I stared sadly at the kitchen door. Brocko, old friend, how are you going to solve this?
A/N: Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you liked it. And please, please review? 'Cause it would make me really happy ;-) Thanks again and don't forget to review!
