Note: The next two chapters are a two-parter, not based on any specific episode. They are Brock-focused chapters, but also important for other reasons, other characters as well. Enjoy!
31: Brock vs. Kangaskhan
Outside the imposing building, the children huddled in the shade, trying their best to stay directly under the overhang as to avoid the midday sun. The sunlight was particularly harsh that day, no sign of any clouds to relieve it. Not all the children were able to fit in the bit of shade, the ones outside it wiping away sweat, even in the partial shade of the nearby tree. Some drew in the dirt, others attempted to read, though their arms slumped down, the pages not in front of their faces at all.
As a crashing sound echoed in the yard, they had various reactions. Some shuddered, others fell over. They all stood up, meandering toward the source of the noise. As they saw it, one shouted out. "A pokemon!" Almost before he'd finished the declaration, most of the group of them ran toward the incredibly large pokemon, others stepping back instead.
"Kangaskhan!" the pokemon called, smiling at the children. They shouted out happily in response, some touching the pokemon in curiosity. As they did, a smaller head popped out from its pouch. The smaller version of the large creature cried out cutely, causing the children to scream and coo in delight at the sight of the baby. "Kangaskhan!" the pokemon called out again, holding out its arms.
Seeing the large pokemon was performing a technique, some children screamed and ran back. Bubbles appeared in between them and the giant, but didn't rush at the children, as they might toward another pokemon in a fight. Instead, they floated in the air. Seeing it wasn't a threat, the children approached the site. One popped a bubble with her hand, then laughed and jumped in delight at the cool sensation. Soon enough, more of them started popping the bubbles, cooling off and having fun.
"Kangaskhan!" the pokemon called, stepping back over the portion of fence it had apparently knocked over to get there. The children ran to follow it, stopping at the border to the facility. However, the pokemon soon came back, a smile on its face and a variety of fruit in both its hands. Even the baby in its pouch carried some. It spread the fruit around, in the shade just outside the fence. The children ran to join it, happily taking what was offered as they marveled over the strange yet friendly pokemon.
Back at the school, the door of the school creaked open. The staff member frowned, looking around the empty area where the children usually sat. She only saw the youngest of the group, standing just at the edge of the shade. "Where is everyone?" the staff member asked.
The boy pointed, walking around the order before stopping and pointing again. "A pokemon, huh?" the staff member said as she noted the large creature playing with the children right by the ruined fencing. Though there was such a large monster right in front of them, the young humans were all calm, even happy. The staff member shook her head at the sight. "What's going on here?"
Misty trudged behind Ash and Brock as they walked through the ill-defined forest path, the trees growing thicker as they went along. "Why Fuchsia City?" she said. "There's other gyms nearby. Maybe they might be easier for someone who's just starting."
"Ash did beat Sabrina, and Lt. Surge," Brock pointed out.
"That's true. Those two are top tier, even if he couldn't beat gyms on a lesser tier," Misty responded.
"Hey!" Ash turned around, Brock almost running into him. "I also beat Erika, even if it wasn't in the gym. She's a really good trainer that was in the league. And you know, I've got the badge of every single gym I've gone to!" Ash opened his vest to show them off.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu called with some amusement from his shoulder.
"Hehe, yep, you have the badge," Misty admitted with a teasing tone, then decided not to argue the point further. "Anyway, there are closer gyms. Ones that aren't specializing in bug types."
Ash gave a slight shrug and turned around. "Yeah, I'll try Fuchsia's," he said.
Brock slowed his pace and walked next to Misty. "Actually, Koga specializes in poison types," he informed. "It's just there's a lot of overlap, like there was with Erika's pokemon. There are a lot of poison types that are part bug type. I don't know all of what Koga uses."
"Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that," Misty admitted. She'd just thought the one bug type she'd seen him pictured with seemed a little over the top in its bugginess. "I don't know that much about Fuchsia's gym. Their leader was yet another one that never showed up to meetings."
"He's a ninja," Ash informed. "That's pretty cool, right?"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed.
"That's why- Yeah, yeah, fine," Misty said. "I just thought I'd let you know, we're actually going in the wrong direction to get there."
"Brock said we're going this way to see something cool," Ash said, then peered over his shoulder, frowning. "It'll just take a little longer, right?"
"Yeah. A little side trip, but not too long," Brock assured.
"What did you want to see?" Misty asked, catching up with him as they went along the dirt path.
"There's a rare pokemon," Ash said, turning around and stepping backward as he informed her.
"Pika pika?" Pikachu called, looking ahead warily.
"That might be cool to see," Misty said.
"It's a wild one, so maybe someone could catch it!" Ash said, clenching his fists in excitement before almost tripping.
"Wait..." Misty began as Ash caught his balance. "Didn't you say you only wanted six pokemon for now, which you already had?"
"Yeah," Ash confirmed.
"I'm the one that wants to catch it," Brock said, smiling as Misty turned his way with surprise. "I have an extra pokeball, so maybe, I mean, if I can... Of course, I want to raise all kinds of pokemon, eventually."
"A rare one would be helpful for a pokemon breeder, wouldn't it?" Misty asked.
"It's interesting for more reasons than just being rare," Brock said. "This pokemon actually has a child."
"A baby pokemon?" Misty shouted happily. "I've never seen one!"
"Don't you ever wonder where new pokemon come from?" Brock asked.
"Hehe. I know all about where babies come from," Misty said with a laugh.
Brock tensed up, his cheeks getting hot at the implication. "I-It-it's not the same as with humans! I mean, um, maybe it is, but maybe not, we haven't observed it," he said, then sighed. "We don't know how pokemon reproduce."
"But pokemon are everywhere. How can we not?" Misty asked.
"New pokemon just appear," Brock informed. "Just like, you know, all pokemon just appeared about a century ago."
"Wow. I never thought about it," Misty said.
"Well, a lot of people have," Brock informed. "And this pokemon - it has a baby, in a pouch like a kangaroo. All pokemon of its species do, at least from what I've read."
"Really?" Misty said. "Let's find it! I'm excited, I really want to see the baby!"
"Me too. I'm hardly the first to think so, but this pokemon might be a clue to where all pokemon come from," Brock mused.
Ash glanced to the pokemon on his shoulder as he walked straight ahead. "Where did you come from, Pikachu?" he asked.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu replied.
Ash just petted his pokemon's head in response before turning ahead. "Let's find this pokemon!" he said, increasing his pace as they walked ahead.
"Do you really think we can find this pokemon?" Jessie asked as she approached the lackluster building with Meowth and James, looking at the newspaper cutout with the picture of the large normal type pokemon.
"Yeah, didn't you read the story?" Meowth asked with irritation. "It shows up at this one place all the time now! We're sure to see it!"
"What place might that be?" Jessie asked. She'd had a bad feeling since that morning, and it only got worse as they got closer to the building, then peaked as she recognized their current location. "What would any kind of rare pokemon be doing here?!" she demanded as the memory of having been here many years before came back all at once.
"Pokemon just go everywhere. Wherever they want," Meowth informed calmly, not responding to her alarm at all as it continued to approach the fence. "And this pokemon, the boss wants it!"
"Doesn't the boss want all pokemon?" James pointed out.
"Yeah, eventually! But he's been talking about wanting to get one of this species for a while!" Meowth said, resting its paws on the wooden fence and peeking through. "He kept talking about it. If we walk in with this pokemon, even if it's the only one, I know he'll be praising us for it."
"I see why you thought to pursue it, then," James said, also trying to get a better view of what was on the other side of the barrier. Neither he nor Meowth spotted anything.
Jessie leaned against the fence instead, folding her arms. "Any pokemon here can't be that powerful," she declared. "This is a waste of time."
"Look!" James shouted, pointing further down, where the barrier had been ripped through. "That looks like an easy entrance."
"Let's book it!" Meowth sprinted off first. Jessie and James followed. Once they got to the busted up portion of the fence, they found it covered in yellow tape which had apparently blocked the way previously, though someone, or something had clearly stretched it out and broken through. "I guess we can just go on in," Meowth said.
"What's the point if no pokemon are there?" Jessie said.
"There it is!" James exclaimed, pointing around the corner. A kangaskhan happily romped around, various human children following it. "Eee..." James flinched as he observed it. "It certainly is large."
"So what? It's just one pokemon. You two can handle it with your four," Meowth said.
"Then how do you expect us to carry off that giant?!" Jessie demanded.
"You've got your pokemon and yourselves. Figure it out!" Meowth ordered.
"Do you want us to just sling it over our shoulders? Drag it down the path all the way back to Viridian with you carrying a 'wide load' sign in front?" Jessie shook her head at the idea, turning away from the feline pokemon and observing the one with the children closely. "You really didn't think this through, did you?" she muttered. Seeing the children smiling and playing as the pokemon made bubbles of water for them to chase and pop, Jessie sighed. "Look, let's just forget it," she said.
"Why?" James said. "We might be able to manage it."
"It's just too much trouble," Jessie said. "Plus, do you know where we are?"
"A school?" James said. "The students look young enough that it's likely compulsory education, therefore they're all too young to be trainers, so I suppose this pokemon really is wild."
Jessie shook her head. "I mean, I guess it's wild. But if it's hanging out with these kids, it's certainly weak, right? And also think a little. Summer break won't be over for a few more weeks yet, so what are all these kids doing here?"
"Just playing with the pokemon, right?" Meowth concluded. "Why not, if they've got a break. They can get in just as easily as we did." Meowth nodded at its reasoning.
"Wrong." Jessie shook her head again. "This isn't exclusively a school. This is a home - for the most pathetic of twerps. They're the lowest of all brats you might happen to meet. They have parents, but not ones that even care enough to get their sorry selves out of this miserable place for the tiniest little respite. These kids are all pathetic and useless, got it? Any pokemon that bothers with such wretched brats has to be one of the weakest out there. So let's just leave this pokemon with the weak humans it thinks might be appropriate masters for its feeble self."
"I just told you, the boss really wants this species! He's not gonna care if it's weak!" Meowth said.
"Why wouldn't he care?" Jessie demanded.
"Because he just wants one! I think it looks plenty strong, anyway!" Meowth countered.
"Strong?" Jessie glanced at the creature with the smaller version sticking out from its pouch. "It's big, but how strong can it be with the mini version to take care of? It's probably one of the weakest."
"If it's weak, that'll just make it easier to catch." Meowth frowned as they continued to argue.
"Well, we're not going to. We're getting out of this hellhole! Now!" Jessie turned to James, ending her argument with Meowth, only to see him staring at the group with the pokemon. "Hey James, let's go!" she goaded. He just continued to look in silence. "Come on," Jessie approached him, shoving his shoulder to get his attention. Once he finally looked at her, she spoke. "I just told you, they're just a bunch of pathetic brats with a pokemon that has to be just as pathetic. What's so interesting about that?"
"Nothing, I suppose," James said, frowning as he touched his shoulder where he'd been hit. "I was just wondering if I might see somewhere here."
"Huh? At a place like this? Who would be worth seeing?" Jessie demanded.
"Well," James momentarily paused, looking away from the foliage. "My son, maybe."
"Your what?" Jessie asked, an appalled expression on her face.
"Well, he might-" James muttered, now looking toward the ground.
"How long have I known you? When did you have time to go off and have any kids?" Jessie asked, glowering at her partner.
"You can just find them floating in the river, right?" Meowth said.
Jessie shut her eyes tight with annoyance, mock-kicking Meowth's head for the stupid comment as she continued to speak. "And what kind of parent would leave their kid here, anyway?" James remained silent, and Jessie lightly shoved him again. "No need to make bad jokes! Let's just leave," she said.
"I say we go in and find a better place to look around," Meowth said. "Maybe we'll see how we can capture it!" Meowth took the first step, jumping over where the fence had been.
James glanced back and forth at both teammates before following Meowth. "We do need something to bring back to base," he said. "Maybe there is a way to get this one."
"Pft. Fine." Jessie folded her arms as she followed the two of them to follow through with the useless idea. They turned away from the desired pokemon to observe it from a distance.
"I wonder how many other rare pokemon they have around here," Meowth said.
"A grand total of zero," Jessie said with a sigh. Didn't Meowth know what kind of place this really was? It probably hadn't done any research at all, given that question. That there was even one pokemon around, let alone a 'rare' one, was surprising. Having broken down a barrier, this large monster was obviously an invader, not part of the facility at all. Maybe they actually could find a way to lead it back to the rocket base after it left.
"There's a good way up to that roof," Meowth said, pointing to the best spot to climb so they could observe better. It hopped up to be the first to climb. As it did so, they heard footsteps nearby, and a very young human stepped out.
Meowth froze as the group observed the boy who was also silent in response, a worried, frightened expression on his face. Jessie tensed up. How annoying to be caught already. This kid was probably the charge of the facility here, so why wasn't he with the other brats and the visiting pokemon? Why did he have to be right here, interfering with their business? In any case, he seemed young even for the kids that were here, maybe young enough to have his reports of strange visitors ignored. "Shoo!" Jessie said as she took a step toward him. "Get out of here! We're no one, we're not here. You saw nothing," Jessie waved her hand to get him to run off.
But he didn't, instead remaining in place as he looked up and observed the visiting humans. His mouth opened in surprise, his expression changing quickly from perturbed to joyful as he ran toward them. "Hey!" Jessie shouted.
But the boy had totally ignored her, hugging onto James. "Dad!" he exclaimed.
"Uh oh," Jessie muttered.
"Um, James, this one is yours?" Meowth asked.
"Of course not," Jessie responded for him. The resident children here were lonely and neglected. One of them in desperation mistaking a random unknown adult for one of the parents they'd hardly if ever seen wasn't that surprising. The reaction just made it all the more difficult for them to shake off the brat and get to work. "Get out of here," Jessie said, attempting to do so anyway. "Dad has to do some work, so don't be a pest."
The boy didn't follow directions or otherwise respond to Jessie, just looked up at James, who had tensed up in a similar silence. Meowth took the initiative to continue Jessie's order. "Yeah kid, listen to your mom, we're doing important stuff here."
"That's not my mom!" the boy said, gripping tighter onto James's pant leg.
"Yeah, he's probably actually seen his mom," Jessie commented before continuing to shoo the kid. "Just go away! We're busy!"
"Yeah, scram. We'll come back with piles of candy for you later," Meowth tried a sweeter approach.
Neither the harsh shout nor the generous offer impacted the boy's reaction at all. He stayed right by James, peering up at him. "Dad?" he said quietly.
A shout from farther away interrupted their conversation. The rockets froze as the familiar group approached them. "Team Rocket!" Ash shouted first.
"Leave that kid alone!" Brock followed.
"What kind of scheme are you up to, huh?" Misty demanded, the first to take out a pokeball. "Whatever you're gonna do, we won't let you get away with it." Misty turned to her companions. "Come on, let's beat their pokemon first."
"Pikachu!" Pikachu called as it hopped in front of the humans, arching its back in anticipation of a battle.
Now the stupid idea to somehow haul a giant wild pokemon back to base was certainly thwarted, though becoming the target of the local law enforcement might still be avoided with some quick thinking. "What are we up to?" Jessie repeated the question. "What do you think we're 'up' to?! We were in town and stopped to visit James's miserable little brat, that's all!" Jessie waved her hand to the boy who still clung to her partner like velcro. "Who are you, trying to interrupt the one time this kid gets to even pretend to have a happy family? Gonna call the police and traumatize this neglected kid even more than he already is as he gets to watch the family he's been waiting for be arrested?"
The idea worked unexpectedly well. Though Ash only seemed mildly interested while Brock's expression didn't change, Misty most obviously got absorbed by the idea. A horrified expression appeared on her face as Jessie described the possible consequences to reporting them. "This is... Your son, James?" the girl asked.
James didn't reply, so Meowth stepped in instead. "Yeah. They just had such a happy reunion. So touching," it lied. "You twerps gonna ruin the moment?"
Misty's reaction quickly changed from sad to outraged. "What are you doing wandering around Kanto setting fire to gyms and stealing pokemon from random trainers when you have a kid you should be taking care of?!"
Brock approached James, meeting his eyes before speaking. "Listen, James. Kids this young need their parents. Maybe you should reconsider your current direction in life."
James flinched at being lectured and berated by the young kids. "It's none of your business, is it?" Jessie said. "Just leave us alone, or maybe battle us and make this poor little brat cry?"
Misty and Brock exchanged glances silently until Ash finally spoke up. "Are we gonna battle or not?" he asked.
Misty shook her head. "We just came to see-" she began, then stopped herself. "Um, I mean, we should just do what we came to. I guess we can pretend we didn't see you."
"This time," Brock added, and Misty nodded. "As long as you're really here peacefully, I guess it doesn't matter. Today."
"Yeah, yeah. Just leave us alone then, will you?" Jessie said.
Pikachu approached the little boy, sniffing at his shoe. "Pikachu?" it called.
The boy stepped back, burying his face into James's side. "Dad!" he exclaimed, tension present in his voice.
"It's okay," Ash assured. "Pikachu's friendly."
"Let's just go, anyway," Misty said, tapping Ash's shoulder. She smiled at the boy before looking up at James. "A cute kid. He looks like you." With that, the group finally did leave them alone.
Jessie fought the urge to scoff. Had the girl really gotten so into their story that she saw something that wasn't there? That might be a mistake, though observing the kid again, there might have been a resemblance between him and her partner. All the better to fool them.
Jessie spoke up once their adversaries had rounded the corner and were sure to be out of earshot. "Alright, we're not getting any pokemon from here," she began, heading back toward where they'd come in. "Let's think of a less stupid plan. Maybe one that might actually work." She'd thought being there in general was just a waste, so this turn of events was all the better.
"Um, wait," James began.
"What is it?" Jessie said. As she turned around, she noted the boy was still following them, gripping onto James's sleeve without sign of easily letting go.
James himself looked away as Jessie met his eyes. "As his father, I can't go when I've just arrived."
"Yeah, if we leave now, won't they figure out we lied?" Meowth said. "I'd rather not have the police chasing after us again."
It looked like they were going to waste at least a little time there after all.
As they saw the large pokemon running around with the kids, Ash and Misty forgot all about the encounter, running over to see the kangaskhan themselves. "It's huge!" Ash exclaimed.
"Oh, look, look, it's the baby!" Misty pointed to the pouch.
"Is that a pikachu?" one of the kids there asked.
"Yeah!" Ash confirmed.
The kids ran up to Pikachu, who happily accepted the attention as the young group cooed and petted it. After they'd all gotten a look, everyone introduced themselves. As the younger kids realized that Ash and the other visitors were indeed pokemon trainers, they were goaded to release more of their pokemon. The kids of the facility shouted out happily as each one appeared. Starmie and Kangaskhan called out to each other, eventually exchanging bubbles. Seeing the bubbles weren't meant as an offensive attack and the children pop them to relieve the impact of the sun and heat, Misty's eyebrows raised. "What a good idea. But I thought this one isn't a water type," she said, looking at Kangaskhan.
"Pokemon can learn techniques you might not expect," Brock said. "That's bubble beam, even if it's modified, right? I think I remember it's easy enough to teach a lot of pokemon, even ones that aren't water type, with a technical machine. But this pokemon seems wild, so I wonder if it just picked it up somewhere."
"Water type moves are awesome, aren't they Kangaskhan?" Misty said, patting the large pokemon's side.
"Kangaskhan," Kangaskhan called with a nod. Misty went and joined with the rest of the play. After a while, they heard a low call. Looking up, Onix peeked over from the side of the fence, where there was likely more room for it to stretch out. The kids shouted, some of them screeching and jumping in pure excitement, while others commented that they knew what kind of pokemon it was.
"It's yours?" one boy said as Brock walked back over to them from the ruined part of the fence. "Where did you find it? I've gotta catch one! I'll battle mom and dad someday!"
"You won't get a pokeball, or a license," another kid taunted.
"Why not? I think I will!" The kid turned to Brock. "How did you get one?"
"I'm in a gym family," Brock informed. The kid seemed less interested in asking him questions then, knowing that he couldn't suddenly be in such a family. "Where's your parents?" Brock asked. From their encounter with James and the other rockets, as well as things that had been said when they'd asked permission to see the pokemon back here, he had some strong suspicions about this place.
"They're training," the boy said.
"They didn't take you for summer break?" Brock asked.
"They're busy. I haven't seen them."
Brock thought about asking how long, but figured no matter the period of time, it would just make the younger boy feel bad to talk about it more. Instead of continuing the conversation, Brock released his final pokemon. "Go, Zubat!" he said as he threw out the pokeball, then pointed. "These kids have never seen a pokemon like you! Go ahead and fly around, let them see!"
Their attention previously directed at the shorter pokemon like Squirtle and Bulbasaur, the kids now looked above, fascinated at the flying pokemon. Ash released Butterfree and Pidgeotto, further fascinating them, distracting from any previous conversation. As they played, Brock turned to the large pokemon he'd come to see. "Kangaskhan," he began. The large pokemon turned its head to look down at him, and he asked the question. "Do you have a trainer already?"
"Kangaskhan," the pokemon called in return. It used one large claw to gently touch the head of the boy that Brock had just spoken to, then did the same with several other resident children before waving at the others.
"Hmph." Brock grinned. Of course, the kids the pokemon indicated weren't even old enough to be trainers, but he still got the message. For a pokemon, 'trainer' meant a human that the pokemon dedicated itself to. For this pokemon, all of the humans present fit that description. That meant Brock wouldn't be catching Kangaskhan that day. He'd already been hesitant, seeing the joy it brought to the kids who didn't seem to have anyone in their lives to care about them, care for them, at least not consistently. But with Kangaskhan deciding itself that they were already whatever it saw as 'trainers', he didn't stand a chance.
"I'm gonna be Kangaskhan's trainer," a girl declared, interrupting Brock's happier thoughts.
"Nuh. I will," another boy declared.
"Hey," Brock began firmly. "You've still got a while before you even think of training. Pokemon are great, but there's other things in life too, you know?"
"I'll help Mom and Dad by having strong pokemon."
"My mom will be happy to see me if with a powerful pokemon."
Something about what the kids were saying was disturbing, but Brock had already had his say and been ignored. Should they just leave? "Lunch is coming up," Brock said to Misty and Ash. "Are you hungry? I guess we should go."
"No, stay!" a boy demanded. "Kangaskhan'll bring us all lunch!"
"You feed them too?" Brock asked the pokemon.
"Kangaskhan!" the pokemon called with a nod, the baby in its pouch seemingly echoing the sentiment with a large smile, waving its arms out of its pouch. The pokemon stomped off, coming back with fruit in hands. The children cheered and grabbed some.
"How nice!" Misty exclaimed.
"That's it?" Brock said, shaking his head as his friends, the residents, and all the pokemon grabbed some fruit.
"Kangaskhan?" The large pokemon frowned at Brock's reaction.
"It's no good," Brock declared, deciding to be direct. "I mean, wild fruit itself is fine, but these kids need a balanced diet." None of them looked emaciated or anything, but they were pretty thin. "This won't do for a complete meal."
"Kangaskhan!" The caretaking pokemon stomped its feet, the baby also crying out unhappily at the critical assessment of their meal.
Brock sighed. "You can't expect pokemon to do everything," he said. "Hey, Misty, Ash, I'll be back," Brock called, walking inside the building.
In the hall of the facility, the boy the rockets seem to have acquired dragged James around by the sleeve, Jessie and Meowth following close behind. "Jessie, help," James begged. "What can I do for him? I really don't know how to care for children..."
"As if I have an instruction manual. Try sticking him in some water or something. Where are we going, anyway?" Jessie asked as they continued on, passing by various classrooms.
"Maybe he's gonna show us where the pokemon are stored!" Meowth considered happily.
"Meowth, do you really not know that much about schools?" Jessie said.
"I know pokemon aren't allowed at some, but I also know we got a ton of pokemon from that last school we were at," Meowth said.
"Well, most schools aren't like that," Jessie informed, sighing before she continued. "Most schools, most humans really, they don't get any pokemon at all! They don't teach too much about them either. That's only specialized schools for privileged kids. Pokemon Tech is one of the few."
"Privileged?" Meowth repeated.
"Yeah. Unlike me and James, most of the kids there were from rich families. Training pokemon is expensive. Not for these kind of nobody kids," Jessie said, motioning to their hanger-on.
"Yeah, I got it," Meowth said. "I guess I just wanted something easy. But this is pretty useless, isn't it?" Meowth spied a look at the kid before glancing around the call.
"Dad, come on," the boy said, dragging James by the hand. "I want to show you!"
"I thought having kids might not be so bad," Jessie mused. "But they really are annoying, aren't they?"
"It's okay," James said, though he was still obviously tense around the boy.
"What would you name your kid, anyway?" Jessie asked.
"Jonathan," James informed.
"Seems pretty plain," Jessie said.
"That's me. I'm Jonathan," the boy said, frowning.
"You're a pretty good liar. Maybe you could join us one day. Deceit is needed sometimes," Meowth said.
The boy, apparently calling himself Jonathan, frowned, then ran to a door, opening it up and turning on the light before running back and goading James toward the now open room. He pointed toward the wall. "Look!" the little boy said.
"What's there to look at?" Jessie asked. All she saw was a bunch of pukey kid art.
"Is that one yours?" James asked, pointing to a specific one in the array. Jonathan smiled, apparently confirming the question. "It's nice," James said. Jonathan only looked happier still, then ran to a shelf, bringing a book back. "Can you read it?" he asked James.
"Okay," James agreed. Meowth went to listen to the story as well, but Jessie just sat back, fighting a groan.
Being in this place was terrible, brought back awful memories. The book James was reading might be interesting at the kid's age, but was deadly boring otherwise. Jessie took another look at the picture James had pointed out, supposing these kind of stupid things might have been important to her as a kid as well. She looked away, trying not to think about if she'd ever gotten to share her bad art with anyone who mattered, before glancing back at it. The name at the bottom wasn't entirely legible, but did look like 'Jonathan'.
Jessie gave a slight shrug. The kid had probably mentioned his name before and she'd missed it. Now, how to end this little meeting.
Brock made his way to the entrance area, seeing most of the staff sitting down and zoning out. Apparently they were short people with the summer break, so there were only three of them. "Excuse me," Brock said to the woman who'd greeted him, giving him and his friends permission to go back and see the kangaskhan.
"Hey. Brock, right? Did you get to meet our visitor?"
"Yes," Brock confirmed.
"It's great, huh? It takes care of all the kids, and they all love it," the woman said with a grin.
"Yeah," Brock said tersely. "But isn't it past lunchtime for these kids?"
"Yeah, the pokemon's been taking care of the kids. They don't feel like coming inside to eat or anything, it's been too hot."
"Kangaskhan is fine, but you can't just give it all the responsibility to take care of the kids. Isn't that your job?" Brock said.
The woman nodded hesitantly. Two other adults who had been lounging around also got up, a look of guilt on their faces. "Guess we should go make them something," one muttered. They went down a hall, Brock following, to a large kitchen. As they got out some pots and pans, Brock looked through the ingredients.
"This is it?" he asked.
"We get donations from locals," one of the workers informed.
"That's all-" Brock began before being interrupted.
"And we have a budget of course," the woman who seemed to be in charge informed. "We haven't spent much of it this week."
"Why don't we go shopping then?" Brock suggested. "I can show you how to get deals too, if you really need to give mind to a budget to be sure all these kids are fed."
"Yeah, I guess I need to do that anyway," the woman said. She and Brock went to the market. Brock mentioned which foods had different nutritional properties that he'd looked out for when buying for him and his siblings. He found out a few things about buying in smaller quantities from the employee, who was apparently single and had only looked to buy enough for herself without things going bad. Brock's advice and new perspective went appreciated.
"I never worried about having too many leftovers with all my siblings," Brock explained, continuing the various stories he'd been sharing.
"You still seem so young," the woman said, frowning. "What happened to your siblings?"
"Oh, my dad came back from his big pokemon journey. He finally realized it wouldn't work out and remembered he should take care of us." Brock tried not to seem too frustrated as he spoke about it.
"Oh... That was your story, too? It's the same for the kids here, mostly, except they don't have older brothers like you to take care of them. I hope their parents figure out the same, sooner rather than later. There's no one else to take care of this group."
"If there's no one else, why aren't their parents here now?" Brock raised his voice as he asked the question.
"I really wish they were," the woman said, her voice falling. "Especially for this group. Some have their parents take them traveling for the summer, but the break is so lonely for the ones left behind."
Brock realized his mistake. Of course, this lady was trying her best with a small staff and apparently little direction from anyone higher up to make things good for these kids. She had to deal with taking over from someone else with little notice on top of having no control over what the parents did. "Yeah. Maybe they will, soon enough," he said, then pointed at a particular store. "I don't know if there's anyone with time in your staff, but if you wait until the end of the day, you can sometimes get great deals in places like this."
They came back to the facility with a variety of vegetables, and some meat. Brock explained one of his favorite recipes, one that could be served cold, which would consider the heat of the day. He directed the employees to chop and gave other directions before they completed it. "I guess this'll be for dinner, not lunch," Brock commented as he looked at the time.
"Thank you so much," the woman in charge said. "It's better than what I had planned. Maybe there will be some leftovers for tomorrow."
"Ha, we'll see," Brock said with some amusement.
"Let's play again!" Jonathan asked happily, reaching for the discarded pieces to set up the game again.
Jessie audibly groaned, which went unnoticed as the little boy asked James some mundane questions about the game and talked about what color piece he wanted to use next. The first time they'd played, they let him win. However, Jessie had purposefully beat him twice now to try and make the boring game less appealing. But he just seemed happier each time, win or lose. How much longer did they have to be here?
"Oh? I'm smelling food," Meowth said.
"Huh? Me too," Jessie realized. "Let's go get some."
"Are you hungry?" James asked Jonathan. The boy looked down at the game, but eventually back up and nodded. They cleaned up the game before going down the hall.
Inside the cafeteria area, Brock was doling out individual portions. "There you are!" Misty said as she came in. "To be honest, I was waiting for you so we could leave," she said.
"We'll go after we eat," Brock promised.
"I'm hungry!" Ash said. "What have we got?"
"If you're really that hungry, why don't you help out?" Brock gave Ash a large spoon to help serve the meal. Together, they gave trays to each of the children, just as Team Rocket walked in.
"Oh. You really are still here," Misty commented dryly. At least the kid with them looked happy. "Do they get anything?" she asked, turning to Brock.
"Wouldn't feel right to leave them out," Brock said. They gave everyone present their own portions. Brock was about to sit down with his meal before a few of the kids came back for seconds, which he gladly gave before finally taking his own tray to a corner.
Before he took a bite, he noticed Kangaskhan standing at the door, peeking in. The door itself was too narrow to allow it to walk in. This one shouldn't be left out of the meal either. Brock wandered over, taking out some pokemon food. He'd prepared it for his rock types, but it might be good for this one too. The baby in its pouch accepted, but the adult pokemon just glanced at the food before looking out at the human children it had tried to take care of. "I know you tried," Brock said. "It's good to have a balance of foods for a meal. At least with humans." He knew some pokemon could thrive on just one kind of food.
"Kangaskhan," the pokemon called seriously.
What was the pokemon trying to communicate? Brock really wished he knew. As the baby called out, he handed over another piece of pokemon food. "You're a mom, huh?" Brock said.
"Kangaskhan," the pokemon called, perhaps confirming the fact.
"It's hard work, huh?" Brock said, finally taking a bite of his own meal before he spoke again. "But you can't be everyone's mom. And you can't replace human parents."
"Kangaskhan." The large pokemon looked at its large claws. It might have trouble manipulating the tools that Brock had used while preparing the meal. Was it upset about the quality of Brock's meal when compared to its own?
"It's okay," Brock assured. He hadn't meant to rub anything in the pokemon's face. "You really tried... You're really appreciated. I know the kids are better off with you here than not." This pokemon would still be around after Brock was gone, after all. That was something it had over him.
After finishing the meal, some of the kids ran outside. "Kangaskhan!" the large pokemon called, stomping off to play. Brock quickly finished his own meal before going to help clean up.
"Alright," Jessie began as they cleaned up after their own meal. "It's finally time to go. We've spent enough time here."
Jonathan looked at James, frowning with his lip shaking. "That's right," James confirmed, crouching down to meet the boy's eyes. "I've got to leave now."
"Can I go too?" Jonathan asked.
"Well... No, it's not really possible," James said.
The boy flinched in response, looking down before he finally met James's eyes again and spoke. "Why not?!" he demanded.
James patted the boy's shoulder. "The road isn't a place for children like you. You're safer here. Understand?" he said.
"Is it because of pokemon?" Jonathan asked.
"Right. You can't train any to protect yourself yet," James said. "But maybe one day you'll start. Then you can travel freely, and I'll see you. I could visit you before then too, perhaps," he said.
Jonathan nodded. After a final salutation, the rockets turned to leave. Jessie glanced around as they got to the door. Thankfully, the boy had finally detached from the group, but seeing him looking so upset didn't sit right with her either. "Maybe you shouldn't have lied to him," she said, though it was too late to do anything about it now. They'd used him to avoid trouble, but that didn't mean they had to set his hopes up like that.
"I didn't," James said. "He'll be alright there, don't you think?"
"Hmph." Jessie said nothing else as they went out the way they'd came, finally leaving the dismal place behind. She didn't like to think about that kid or anyone else's experience there, but she wasn't about to take responsibility for their predicaments herself. James was probably the same. He did seem soft sometimes, but she doubted they'd be in the area that often, much less have time to give a neglected kid pity visits. "You can go back by yourself if you ever wanted to waste time again," she said.
"Oh, that. I probably won't have time to go there again anytime soon, will I?" James said, looking down with apparent guilt, likely just noticing his mistake.
"That's what I've been saying all along!" Jessie said. As they got back on the main path, she decided to stop thinking about who they'd seen and where they'd been that day. She'd long since moved past that stage in her life, anyway. They had much better things to do than reminisce on things long past.
The meal officially over, Brock walked past the sobbing kid. It was James's son, who seemed to choose to cry alone rather than join the other kids outside. The rocket agent had left the little boy easily, seemingly not even having much emotion in response to his son's obvious upset. Was that the kind of good-bye all the kids here got from those close to them as their parents went off on some journey?
With his friends, Brock went to say good-bye himself, to the kangaskhan as well as everyone else they'd met that day. The kids wanted to see the other pokemon one more time, so Brock and his friends decided to let them. Instead of having fun with the pokemon like before, they fought about which one of them might have the more powerful pokemon themselves in the future, and how they'd win battles, each insisting their team would be the best, fighting instead of enjoying the time. Well, they were cranky kids after an eventful day. The trainers themselves were tired. After a few minutes, the pokemon were returned to their pokeballs as the group left.
On the way to the pokemon center, the unsettling feeling wouldn't leave Brock. James had told his own kid that he couldn't come because he couldn't train pokemon. Was that the message all of them had gotten? That they were left there without their families because they were too young to be trainers? Why was there even the priority for pokemon in the first place? Kids liked pokemon, but why did they have to think about them so much, even without having any? Why were they given the message that pokemon were the only way they'd be valuable, and the only way they'd be worthy of being part of a family?
"Brock, what's wrong?" Misty asked.
Brock realized he'd been scowling as they'd walked along in silence, but found himself unable to put on a happy face for his friend. "I just - I've been thinking," he said.
"About what?" Ash asked, stopping in his tracks in front of the pokemon center.
"Pika?" Pikachu added.
"About pokemon," Brock said. His siblings also seemed to be eager to be trainers. He'd thought that was normal, since pokemon were cool and cute, ever-present in their gym as well as many other places throughout their home region of Kanto. But had they taken in the message that they needed pokemon in order to be loved? Did they desperately want them as a safety net so that their parents would value them, since both of their parents had left in their quest to perfect how they raised these creatures, at their own children's expense?
Had even Brock himself absorbed that message?
"Yeah, who doesn't think about pokemon," Ash commented.
"I think he means something specific," Misty said. "What have you been thinking, Brock?" she asked.
"I really hate pokemon," Brock said. Both Ash and Misty's eyes widened, seemingly shocked at the statement. Brock realized that maybe in his own frustration he hadn't worded it the best, but that was more or less what he meant. "I don't even want to be a trainer anymore."
End notes: Yep, cliffhanger of sorts. I know there's actually many Brock fans reading - please don't kill me, at least not until after the second part.
Next chapter: Pikachu vs. Brock