Disclaimer: Again, this story is not written or owned by me. All property, intellectual or otherwise, belongs to their respective owners.

Chapter Four

The day was the most wonderful one of Brock's life. As they walked in the cool shade of the tall evergreen forest, they talked about themselves. Brock went first, telling Marian about his many young brothers and sisters and his father who lived in Pewter City. He told her of his pokemon gym back home, where he proudly fought other would-be pokemon trainers with his own rock pokemon. When he mentioned that, Marian perked up.

"Rock pokemon?" she asked, interested. "What kind of rock pokemon do you have?"

"Uh, well, I have GeoDude and Onix," Brock said slowly, pointing to his belt full of pokeballs. Then, in a rare moment of boldness, he piped up and said quickly, "would you like me to show them to you?"

Marian smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm very curious to see them."

Brock grinned and reached for the first two pokeballs on his belt. He looked at them for a moment. Yes, they're my best ones, he thought to himself. Maybe I'll impress her with them!

Right as he was about to call them out, a wild Rhydon ran out from underneath some dark underbrush. The large pokemon's gleaming eyes caught the image of Marian and, in a fit of random rage, it reared its large horn and stomped its foot as it burst forward, intent on ramming her. He came out with such speed that Brock couldn't react with his pokemon in time. Brock looked over at Marian, and in that split second, he knew what he had to do.

"Marian! Watch out!" He ran over to her, and tried to jump in front of her, to shield her from the attack. He winced as he awaited the inevitable assault. At that moment, Marian deftly flung her hand into her shirt pocket, and drew out a pokeball, flinging it full force at the oncoming Rhydon.

"ONIX, GO!" she yelled. The huge rock snake unfurled itself from the ball and placed itself between the Rhydon and Brock. The startled Rhydon stopped short and looked up at the immense rock pokemon that towered over it. Onix growled at it menacingly. Brock stared up at Onix, his eyes wide open, looking in disbelief. Onix! She has an Onix that looks exactly like mine! No wonder she was interested in rock pokemon!

"Onix! Bind it now!" Marian commanded. With that, Onix whipped its long tail around Rhydon and squeezed mightily. Rhydon tried to fight the pressure of the bind, but it was too powerful. Rhydon whimpered.

"Onix, stop!" Marian said. She looked at Rhydon. "Now," she said to it slowly, "I will let you go if you promise to never do that again and to leave us alone. Got it?" Rhydon nodded quietly, and Marian motioned for Onix to let it go. With that, Rhydon ran off as fast as its fat little legs could carry it. Marian patted her Onix. "Nicely done," she praised, smiling. "It looks like last week's training really paid off!" Onix made a low growl, signaling that it was content. Marian held out her pokeball. "Okay now, you can return if you want."

Brock was dumbfounded. "T-that's amazing!" he said. "Your Onix is incredible!" He felt embarrassed that he hadn't acted sooner. Ugh, great job, Brock, he thought, I really made a fool of myself.

"Brock, why don't you show me your Onix?" Marian asked. "I'd every much like to see it." Brock nodded an okay and fumbled for his pokeball.

"Onix, go!" he said. His Onix exploded from the ball and stared at Marian's Onix. "Grrooowlllrrr?" it asked, wondering why in the world it was called out.

"Wow, your Onix looks just as strong as mine!" Marian said, looking up at the two rock pokemon.

"Yeah, well, I train it a bit everyday, you know, to keep it experienced." He tried to prevent his cheeks from blushing.

"Haha, so do I!" Marian replied. "I guess we think alike when it comes to pokemon. But the training's not so important to me. I love raising them more than anything else."

Brock perked up. "So do I!" he said, astonished by her answer. "My dream is to become the world's greatest pokemon breeder!"

Marian smiled, glowing. "Well then, I guess we both feel the same great love for pokemon," she beamed.

Brock flushed a bright fuschia pink. "Hehehehe, yeah I guess we do!"

They both recalled their Onixes, and looked at each other for a moment. Brock pinched himself. It hurt. A lot.

"Owch!" he said, rubbing his pinched arm. I'm not dreaming this, he thought, so this can't be my imagination… but this is just too good to be true!

"Are you alright?" Marian asked, putting her hand on Brock's pinched arm. "Did you get hurt?"

The mere touch of her made him explode in a bright red glow. He almost passed out. Instead, he managed to say, "heheh.. hehehe… I-I'm just f-fine!"

"Good," she said, relieved. "Now that the excitement's all over, why don't we go back to my house? I'll fix us some lunch!"

"T-that'd be great!" Brock sputtered. As he walked back with her, he looked up at the clear sky. He couldn't help making a crazily large grin at the whole situation. I'm in heaven! he thought. Then, suddenly, he heard muffled noises, the voices of two people calling his name in the distance, and yet they sounded as if they were right next to him… Brock… Brock… He frantically looked around, but saw nothing. Marian was again unfazed by the ghostly sound, so after a moment, he couldn't figure out if he had really heard it, or if it had been his odd imagination. Shrugging, he decided to continue following Marian to her house.