November 20th 20XX
I sat there in shock and awe as I saw none other than Brock come to Phoenix's and my rescue. Phoenix was muttering more curses at Celebi when she launched another fire attack at the Carnivine. I was marveling at the fact Brock was there and directing his Pokémon Chansey and Croagunk to help us; it was amazing and surreal to see him there. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought to see Brock in person. He was dressed differently than I had seen him in the anime with a collared orange shirt and brown pants.
Before I could contemplate his wardrobe he was shouting out attacks to his Pokémon "Chansey use double slap on Swoobat, Croagunk use poison jab on Yamask!"
I rallied myself and got up, wanting to rejoin the fight and finish this. "Nix, use that fire attack again on Carnivine then use bite on Swoobat! Sparky use thundershock on Yamask!"
Phoenix's fire attack hit Carnivine and Croagunk's poison jab hit Yamask almost at the same time knocking out the two Pokémon. Next, Brock's Chansey slammed its double slap so hard into Swoobat I swear I felt the force of it from where I stood.
Phoenix used bite on the Swoobat and in a slightly insane voice which was muffled by having her mouth full of a flailing bat Pokémon said, "Om nom nom nom."
I face palmed, "Damn it, Nix! Would it kill you to take this seriously?"
Spitting out the now unconscious Pokémon and sitting back on her haunches, she wagged her tail happily and replied cheerfully, "I am taking this seriously. However taking things seriously and having fun are not mutually exclusive. Besides, you know it was funny."
I shook my head at her as I heard Jessie shriek "No fair now it's two on one! That's our job, you brats! We're the ones who are supposed to be cheating and dishing out the pain!"
James chimed in "Yes, we have our sneaky moves copyrighted! ...Well, patent pending." Then, looking at the unconscious Pokémon, he added "Jessie I think we better scram or we're done for."
As Jessie was calling back her Swoobat into its pokeball she yelled "No! This girl has to pay for insulting me; we must have some other Pokémon!"
James called back his Pokémon as well and replied "Not now, Jessie. We should go while we still can, otherwise the whole plan will be a flop."
Phoenix tilted her head to the left and commented blandly, "You know, it's so odd to watch him be the voice of reason. The anime always played him up as the stupid one."
As I nodded in agreement, the light of a Pokémon being released flashed out from Jessie's pocket. The light turned into Wobbuffet. It made a sort of croaking noise which sounded extremely enthusiastic.
"Why do you continue to plague me, you stupid Pokémon?! You're next to useless, go back in your pokeball!" Jessie snarled at the Pokémon before swiftly recalling it.
As Jessie sent Wobbuffet back into its ball, I thought to myself how when watching the anime all those years I always felt kinda bad for it having Jessie as a trainer when she was so damn abusive to it. If I were Wobbuffet, I would have run away a very long time ago. Now that was one loyal Pokémon. Phoenix, being very much in tune with me, commented "Gods, she is such a bitch. Why doesn't Wobbuffet just bail and find a new trainer? Or better yet, kick her ass and then go find a new trainer."
I shrugged and replied quietly "I'm not sure, Nix. There are many mysteries in this world; one of them seems to be why the hell would such a nice Wobbuffet would stay with a mean and nasty person like Jessie."
I must not have been quiet enough though, cause Jessie looked so enraged that she seemed to want to ditch the Pokémon battle and slug me herself. Damn my lousy loud voice, it always seemed to carry. I backed up defensively on pure instinct to save myself and the egg, but Phoenix, Sparky, Brock and his Pokémon jumped in between me and Jessie in a very protective manner. I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut, seriously. This was becoming something of a pattern.
Phoenix in her Houndoom form snarled at her and in a nasty tone told Jessie "Come on, just try it you witch. Please, give me a reason. Besides, I've always been curious if human flesh tastes more like pork or chicken."
I sighed. Yup, that was Phoenix for you. Disturbing the general public was her favorite pastime.
Brock, seeking to be a peace maker, said "It's over you three; I called Officer Jenny on my way here. She and the rest of the police will be here any second."
He was right, I could hear shouting voices and sirens getting louder as they got closer. Jessie, not understanding in her rage or maybe just not caring, still tried to lunge for me but James and Meowth grabbed her and dragged her back.
"The cops are coming, Jessie, we's got to go!" Meowth snapped as he continued to tug her away from me.
James agreed, picking Jessie up like a sack of potatoes rather than bothering to continue fighting with her. "Meowth is right, Jessie, it's time for us to blast off."
Jessie, still fighting her teammates, growled at me "You haven't seen the last of me, you horrid, little witch! I'll get you and your little Ditto too!"
As they dragged her off around the corner, Phoenix sighed and said "You know, suddenly I feel like I'm in a really bad remake of the Wizard of Oz. Are you ok, Tori?" She turned to me and nuzzled my shoulder with her muzzle a worried look in her eyes.
I hugged her tightly around her neck, careful of the egg strapped to my abdomen "I'm ok, Nix. Thank you for the quick thinking and turning into a Houndoom like that. You're awesome."
She smiled a toothy grin at me, revealing a mouthful of big and sharp looking canines "It's too bad Team Rocket ran off so fast, I really wanted to try out these teeth on a human, Jessie in particular. Psh, and they say I'm psychotic."
I chuckled and was going to reply when someone clearing their throat behind Phoenix brought my attention back to Brock. "Thank you...sir... what's your name? You saved me and my Pokémon."
I had almost called him Brock to his face. In this world Brock was a real person and there was no way I should know who he was. Saying his name without a proper introduction could spoil Phoenix's and my cover. Brock, with a romantic look in his eyes, came up to me and took my hand "I, dear lady, am named Brock and I'm so delighted to have helped you today. In fact I think it was fate that brought us together. Your beauty shines like the sun and I think us going on a date together would be wonderful..." he went on about my beauty while I was trying to figure out how to get in a word in to interrupt him and make him stop.
Phoenix's paws seemed to sprout extremely sharp claws as she said "Dear gods, he's even more annoying in person. Just say the word Tori and I'll knock him into next year. Hell, if he doesn't back off I may just do that anyw-" before she could finish Croagunk slipped behind Brock and did his classic move of jabbing his back and bringing Brock down.
He started dragging Brock away and Brock squeaked out "I shall...return...my dear...shortly...not... to worry..."
Phoenix and I watched as Croagrunk dragged him off. Phoenix, her voice tinged with curiosity of the cat killing variety, pondered "Huh. I like that frog. Wonder where he is taking Brock?"
I shrugged and replied "Sometimes, I think it's better not to ask. Oh, we have company." Just then Officer Jenny and a group of her fellow police showed up on foot. When I told her what had happened, she sent some officers after Team Rocket while she took my statement. Phoenix took the chance to change back to her Ditto form. "So damn tiny, I really hate it. I should start staying in a more useful form longer. Preferably something not so pink with hands and opposable thumbs."
I could only smile at Phoenix to let her know I heard her and could not reply as I was talking to Officer Jenny. I knew she was there to help but officers in general made me nervous. As I looked at her I smiled to myself seeing her crisp blue uniform with its short skirt and little hat. I honestly wondered how that uniform was functional. Didn't she hurt herself chasing after bad guys in those heels?
Jenny started talking to me and I brought my attention back to the conversation at hand. "Now, Miss Astoria, you and your Ditto tried to protect yourself and that's admirable, but I'm worried for your safety. Those Team Rocket crooks are still on the loose so I would feel better assigning some officers to your protection temporarily."
I so did not want that and Phoenix started adding in her input "Hell to the no! We do not need officers following us all over, Tori. They'll notice something is wrong with us and besides, you never know if some of them are on Team Rocket's payroll."
I shook my head politely trying to change Officer Jenny's mind while thinking that my dear friends paranoia was showing again. "Officer, you're very nice to be concerned, but really it's not necessary."
Brock picked that moment to return "Officer Jenny, my sweet it's been too long! Please allow me to tell you how much your beauty makes even fair Goldenrod pale in comparison!"
The commotion attracted Sparky's attention and for the first time, he noticed Officer Jenny himself. With a chu of delight he tried to leap into her arms to get closer to her. Almost without warning there was Croagunk pulling a jab on Brock and Phoenix bludgeoning Sparky with the nearest blunt object, which this time seemed to be a handy loose brick, as she yelled at her minion. "And there go your brownie points, you dumbass! Bad Sparky! No groping!"
As Phoenix stood over a temporarily unconscious Sparky she looked over at Croagunk who was standing over a twitching Brock. She suddenly grinned and said "You know what? I like your style, Croagunk. We work well together, I think. Tori? I have a good feeling about that one."
I chuckled with a neutral reply "As you can see Officer Jenny, my Ditto is very fast and strong. We'll be fine I think, as long as we stay to public places."
Brock, recovering remarkably, fast sprung up and said "Well, if Astoria needs a body guard, I would be more than happy to be her escort. It would be my pleasure. I've had problems with Team Rocket before and my Pokémon and I can handle them along with Astoria's Pokémon just fine."
Clearly he had heard my name from my conversation with Officer Jenny. I shook my head again, trying to politely refuse "But I'm not even going home. Nix and I are going to Professors Oak and Junipers Pokémon lecture."
I showed them my tickets for emphasis. Brock had a gleam in his eye as he pulled out a piece of paper as well "It must really be fate we met, dear Astoria, as I happen to have a ticket from my friend Professor Oak. We should go together, it's starting soon."
I groaned, suddenly feeling very defeated and tired. If it was Brock or Officer Jenny, then Brock was the lesser of the two evils. He was a Pokémon breeder and doctor so maybe I could pick his brain for information about Pokémon. Also finding out anything about my egg would be nice. "Ok Brock, we can go to the lecture together I suppose."
Phoenix climbed nimbly up my leg then settled in her usual place near my shoulder. For a gelatinous blob, she climbed a lot like a monkey. "Astoria, my dear friend, I hope you know what you're doing."
I recalled Sparky back to his pokeball and muttered softly to her "Yeah, so do I."
Louder I said "Thank you so much for your worry, Officer Jenny, but I think Brock and I will be late if we stay much longer."
Officer Jenny sighed, closing her notepad "Alright, but please stay together you two. At least till we catch Team Rocket."
Phoenix snorted and muttered in my ear "Satan's gonna call in a snow day long before she catches them. No one in the show ever really did catch them or kept them long if they somehow managed to."
I agreed with her, but couldn't say so. After bidding my goodbye to Officer Jenny, I turned to Brock and smiled nicely at him, "If you would please lead the way, Brock? I got a little turned around getting here."
Brock smiled at me warmly. "My lady Astoria, it would be my pleasure."
"I swear, if he keeps this up for much longer, I'm going to hurt him. Badly. With whatever happens to be nearby." Phoenix said in a strained voice, I was willing to bet her eye was twitching too.
And so I ended up following Brock back to the convention center with Phoenix riding on my shoulder. As we turned the corner of the alleyway, Phoenix commented "As odd as this sounds, I still want some ice cream. What about you, Tori?"
I laughed out loud at her commentary, but replied, "I think I do too. We can go get some before the lecture."
