Hi guys : ) Thank you all for your kind words of support and encouragement. I know that after such a long absence, starting afresh wasn't what many of you hoped for, so I'd like to thank everyone for being so understanding.
Unfortunately, I still can't promise you guys steady updates again, not yet at least - but I really wanted to get this chapter up for you guys since you are all so amazing in the support you've shown this story : )
Anyway, please remember that Pokemon is not mine, and I hope you enjoy this chapter : )
Fond Farewells
The Invincible Pokémon Brothers led Misty, Ash and Brock to a quiet little park close to the centre of the city. Misty had never noticed it before on any of her previous visits to Viridian City, but she had never really explored it much, so she wasn't so surprised about that.
The Invincible Pokemon Brothers led them through the park to a spot were a battle-field had been marked out, and luckily, nobody was currently using it, so Ash and Kim quickly took their places at opposite ends of the field.
Misty and Brock stood behind Ash to watch the match.
Kael and Kai did the same on Kim's side.
Kim was smirking patronisingly at Ash, who in turn narrowed his eyes, determined to win this and show those creeps up.
Misty was confident that Ash was a strong enough trainer to win this. She just hoped that the other trio would leave her and her friends alone once Ash had served Kim's butt to him on a silver platter.
"We'll fight one-on-one" Kim announced.
"That's fine with me" Ash grunted, eager to get on with it.
"For my Pokemon - I choose Hitmonchan!" Kim cried, throwing a pokeball.
The pokeball opened, and a Hitmonchan materialised on the field before them.
"Hitmonchan" the fighting-type grunted, flexing his muscles menacingly.
Misty would never claim to be any sort of expert on fighting-type pokemon, but she didn't think it looked particularly strong for his breed. She'd seen stronger Hitmonchan, which meant that Ash wasn't likely to have too much trouble defeating him.
"And for my pokemon - I choose Pikachu!" Ash yelled.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried as he leapt off Ash's shoulder, and landed on all-fours on the battle field, opposite Hitmonchan.
Ash - eager to get this over with so he could get back to enjoying his last day with him and his friends being a trio - didn't even offer Kim the first move, and swiftly ordered an attack.
"Use Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu leapt forwards, sparks flickering around the electric sacks in his red cheeks. An aura of crackling yellow lightning surrounded the rodent, and with a loud cry, Pikachu unleased the Thunderbolt.
Hitmonchan tried to dodge the attack by leaping out of the way, but unfortunately Pikachu's Thunderbolt was faster, striking him before he could escape and causing him to shriek in pain.
When the attack finished, Hitmonchan collapsed to one knee, gasping for breath.
Kim's jaw dropped.
"Huh?! Hitmonchan!" he gasped in horror.
"Looks like you aren't quite so invincible anymore, huh Kim?" Ash smirked, not trying very hard not to sound too smug.
Kim rounded on the raven-haired boy, furious at his taunting.
"Oh yeah?!" he snarled, his eyes as cold as ice, "Why don't you try this on for size, Runt!"
Behind him, Kael and Kai reared back their arms, and in perfect synch hurled a pokeball a piece of their own. Ash's eyes widened in horror as two more fighting types, a Hitmonlee belonging to Kael and a Hitmontop belonging to Kai, appeared on the field.
Pikachu gasped and looked about in fear as the three fighting types formed a triangle around him. The poor yellow pokemon didn't know which one to keep his eyes on.
"Chan" Hitmonchan growled angrily.
"Lee" Hitmonlee narrowed his eyes.
"Top" Hitmontop smirked nastily.
"Pika..." Pikachu gulped nervously, eyes flicking between all three of them, "Pikachu".
"You cheat!" Ash yelled at a smirking Kim, "How am I supposed to battle you one-on-three?!"
"You won't have too..." a voice said behind him.
Turning, Ash saw Misty marching forwards until she was stood at his side on his half of the field. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turning, Ash saw Brock standing by his other side.
"Because me and Politoed are going to make it two-on-three" Misty continued, pulling a pokeball from her backpack.
"And I'm gonna make it three-on-three" Brock added, also pulling out a pokeball.
"GO!" Misty and Brock yelled together, throwing their pokeballs.
On Pikachu's left appeared Misty's Politoed - the frog pokemon clapping his hands together in his usual cheerful manner - whilst on Pikachu's right, Brock's Forretress appeared, ready for battle.
"It's all fair now Ash" Misty smiled at her best friend.
Ash couldn't help but smile back. That was just like Misty and Brock. No matter how dangerous or dire the situation, they always had his back. They truly were the best friends anyone could ever have.
"Thanks Misty" he smiled warmly, eyes grateful, "Thanks Brock".
"As touching as your little mutual appreciation moment is, we're in the middle of something here" Kim cut in snidely.
"And it really doesn't matter that you've brought out two more pokemon" Kai laughed.
"As far as we're concerned, the more the merrier" Kael said smugly, clearly thinking he and his brothers still had the advantage.
Ash took a step forwards, wanting to smack the stupid smirk off his face, but he forced himself to stop. A fist-fight wasn't the way to resolve this.
"So, it's a three-on-three battle now, huh?" he grinned, turning to his trusty partner, "Go Pikachu! Thunderbolt again!"
Pikachu lunged forwards and unleashed another Thunderbolt, this time scoring a direct hit on Hitmontop who screeched as the electricity tore through his body.
"Forretress! Rapid Spin!" Brock yelled.
Forretress, without any hesitation, began spinning until he was just a blur. Like a cannonball, he shot towards Hitmonlee and barrelled into him, causing him to yell in agony as he was sent hurtling backwards.
"Politoed! Use your Water Gun!" Misty cried.
Politoed stopped clapping and lost his cheerful smile, instead taking on a determined and focused expression. The green pokemon swallowed in a gulp of air, then promptly spat out a jet of swirling water from his mouth, hitting Hitmonchan directly in the chest and knocking him backwards. He landed on his back, and struggled to get back up.
"Let's finish this all together!" Ash suggested, Misty and Brock nodding their agreement.
"Chu!" Pikachu leapt forwards to attack again.
"Tress!" Forretress spun through the air, positioning himself to strike again.
"Toed!" Politoed prepared himself for another Water Gun attack.
The three pokemon unleashed their attacks at the same time, the force strong enough to fling Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop backwards towards their trainers. The three fighting-types were still conscious, but they were in no shape to continue battling.
"OOOHHHHH!" the Invincible Pokémon Brothers all wailed in despair, and Misty couldn't help the wave of satisfaction that blazed through her heart at the sound.
"Maybe now you understand what it truly means to have friends!" Misty snapped at them.
"You said it Misty" Ash grinned at her and Misty returned the smile.
Before she could say a word though - and she had plenty of things she wanted to say to him in that second - the moment was shattered by a startlingly loud BANG!
Spinning around, Misty, Ash and Brock, as well as their pokemon, all saw a large football net spring up from the ground behind them. Another goal also appeared behind the Invincible Pokémon Brothers, surprising them all.
Where had those come from?
Before anyone could register what was going on, the two goals started speeding forwards, and everyone yelled out in horrified shock as the two nets slammed together, trapping the six humans and seven pokemon, Togepi being included in that number, inside.
Misty's heart raced in panic, and she tried desperately hard not to lose her head. She knew that would only make matters worse.
One question was playing on repeat in her mind though.
What on earth was going on now?!
A chorus of familiar evil cackling filled the air, and Misty felt her heart plummet.
Of course.
Why hadn't it occurred to her sooner?
Of course it was those three pests. But just why did they have to turn up now of all times?
They did have a knack for turning up at the most inconvenient of times.
A bright light fired up, and Misty was forced to squint to look in the direction it was shining from. Sure enough, once her eyes got used to the intense light, Misty saw Team Rocket standing there, illuminated by the light, sneering at them through the net.
Misty sighed tiredly.
She really wasn't in the mood for this today. Not with Brock's imminent departure still weighing heavily on her mind.
"Score for our team!" Meowth laughed menacingly.
"Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed in surprise.
"Not you guys again" Brock growled in frustration.
"Who else would do something as lame as this?" Misty questioned.
The two boys glanced at each other, then at her, and shrugged.
"We thought you might be up for a little game" Jessie sneered at them, ignoring the fact that Misty had essentially called their latest scheme 'lame'.
"But already you've been beaten by two goals" James laughed at his own joke.
Misty rolled her eyes.
Did they really think it wasn't going to take them long to get out of this trap? With their track record of escaping traps, Team Rocket really should know better than to underestimate them by now.
Unlike Misty however, who was keeping her cool, The Invincible Pokémon Brothers lunged forwards and seized the strings of the net, all baring their teeth and looking downright furious.
"Let us out of here Team Rocket!" Kim demanded angrily.
"Come on! We're on your side!" Kael added furiously.
Jessie looked downright demonic as she rounded her gaze onto them. She was red in the face and if possible, even angrier than her captives.
"You were supposed to be Invincible!" she stormed angrily.
Now THAT caught Misty's attention, as well as Ash's and Brock's. They immediately began putting the pieces together.
"So these weird brothers are with Team Rocket?!" Misty hissed as she figured it out.
It all made perfect sense now.
Nobody just taunts three random strangers and rile them up for no reason.
And it wasn't like The Invincible Pokemon Brothers had any personal reason to be against Misty or her friends - but if they had been paid to lure them here into this trap, well... that made much more sense in hindsight.
She immediately regretted letting her emotions over their taunting get the better of her.
She should have just shrugged it off.
Who cares what people think about her and Ash's friendship anyway?
"Why won't you let us out?!" Kai practically wailed, snapping Misty out of her thoughts, "We did everything you were paying us to do!"
The three brothers began hustling and kicking and flailing about, all shouting their protests and a few colourful profanities at Team Rocket, who were glaring at them coldly from outside of the makeshift prison.
"You should know that there are more important things in this world than money" Jessie smirked easily once they had somewhat quietened down.
"Which means even if we had any to give you we still wouldn't!" James added, just as smug as ever.
"That's right!" Meowth laughed tauntingly.
Misty and her friends watched as the Invincible Pokémon Brothers were overcome with rage.
The redhead bit back a smirk.
At this rate, it was going to take very little for her and her friends to outsmart all six of these losers. They were too busy fighting amongst themselves to even notice Misty, Ash and Brock.
And that would give them the opportunity to escape without much trouble.
"Give us our money!" Kael screamed at Team Rocket.
"We had a contract!" Kai yelled, outraged that they would break it.
"We don't care about the contract!" James laughed mocking.
"Yeah!" Meowth grinned wickedly, "After you guys went to go find the twerps we cut it up, so there!"
"Well that's not the only thing that's going to get a cut" an oddly calm Kim smirked, and turning, Misty saw him produce a small pair of scissors from his pocket, "Short around the back and sides anyone?"
He instantly began hacking away at the net.
Misty raised an eyebrow. So the little pain-in-the-neck actually was useful for something? Who'd have thought it.
"AAARRGGHH! They're cutting out!" Meowth screamed in alarm.
The net fell away, leaving the way out clear. The Invincible Pokémon Brothers and their pokemon stormed out of Team Rocket's makeshift prison, unknowingly followed by Misty, Ash and Brock.
Kim, Kael, Kai, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop all surrounded an alarmed Team Rocket, all six of them yelling and screaming and demanding the money that was owed to them.
"Waaahhhh!" Jessie screamed, clutching at her hair, "Go away!"
"You three should go away!" Ash yelled, catching Team Rocket's attention, all of whom sweat-dropped, "At least the other three got us out of there!"
"Okay, are you guys ready?" Misty asked determinedly, glaring at the criminals.
"Yeah!" Ash and Brock both nodded together.
"Politoed, Water Gun!"
"Forretress, Rapid Spin!"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt em!"
Politoed leapt up into the air and again drew in a lot of air into his lungs before firing a jet of water from his mouth. Forretress zipped by the green pokemon as he whirled towards Team Rocket, and Pikachu flickered with sparks before unleashing a huge lightning bolt.
The three attacks combined, and together they fused into a vortex of swirling water, air, and electricity.
Both Team Rocket AND The Invincible Pokemon Brothers shrieked in pain as they were all enveloped by the tornado, and before anyone knew what was happening, they were sent hurtling across the sky.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Team Rocket yelled as they vanished from sight. Thankfully the Invincible Pokemon Brothers had no comment to make.
Misty, Ash and Brock all smirked triumphantly.
Hopefully that would be the last they'd see of them for a while.
"You know..." Brock said slowly, and the other two turned to face him, "I'm going to miss this".
Misty arched an eyebrow.
"You're going to miss getting trapped in nets and holes and who knows what else by Team Rocket?" she scoffed incredulously.
"Oh no - that part I will happily say goodbye too - it's just... I'm gonna miss battling with you guys. You've both come on so far from when I first met you both" he said almost wistfully, "I wish I didn't have to go" he admitted sadly.
Misty could feel tears welling up, and hurriedly blinked them away.
If the boys were going to be strong and hold it together over this, then damn it she was too.
"We know" Ash nodded knowingly, "But this is for your family, for your brother".
"Yeah" Brock smiled slightly, "Yeah it is".
A bell suddenly rang in the distance, and looking around for the source of the noise, Misty's eyes settled on a large clock tower. She deflated sadly upon reading the hands.
It was already the afternoon, which meant if they set off any later, it would be nightfall before they made it to Pallet Town.
Both boys had already agreed that they didn't wish to leave it so late to set off.
And that meant one thing.
Glancing at her two best friends, Misty realised from the haunted looks on their faces that they had reached the same conclusion she had.
They time together was almost over.
Misty, Ash and Brock had left Viridian City, and were now walking down the road that would lead to a very specific junction. A junction where North would head to Pewter City, and South would lead to Pallet Town.
It was where she and Ash would soon be forced to say their goodbyes to Brock.
Misty swallowed at the thought.
The three of them had naturally grown close, and to suddenly have one third of their party torn away so abruptly... well, it was no wonder it was starting to get a little too real now.
The fact that a heavy silence loomed over them didn't help matters either.
And the reason for the silence was simple.
All three of them were contemplating that this would be their final walk together as travelling companions. But the silence was much too intense, and eventually Misty just couldn't stand it anymore.
"So, Brock" she broke the silence, startling the boys out of their own thoughts, "How do you plan to start off Forrest's training?"
Brock looked surprised, but quickly realised what she was doing.
He couldn't help but smile.
"First of all, I'm going to take him out into the field, and we're going to find a rock-type pokemon that I can catch and give to him as his starter" Brock explained the outline of his first goal as his brother's mentor, "It'll get him the right type of pokemon that he wants, plus he'll be able to see how trainers catch their pokemon rather than just reading about it like he's done so far".
"That sounds good" Ash nodded absentmindedly.
Misty sighed. She could tell that Ash, like herself, was rather preoccupied thinking about how they were going to say their goodbyes to their friend.
And to think that earlier that morning, neither of them had even known about this.
How Brock had kept this to himself without going crazy, Misty would never know.
"You're going to make a great mentor for him Brock" Misty smiled, before she teasingly added, "Just try not to teach him about your way with girls, or the poor boy will never get a girlfriend".
Brock barked out a long, hard laugh.
"I'll try not too" he nodded, smiling.
"One more thing, Brock" Ash said unexpectedly.
"What is it?" Brock turned to him.
Ash frowned, trying to figure out the best way to say what he wanted to.
"I know you want to help your brother, and I know you're going to turn him into a great pokemon trainer... just..." Ash paused, before finally saying, "Don't forget about your own dream too, okay? You're an amazing pokemon breeder, and you can't just throw all your hard work away. So whilst you're helping Forrest, still keep up with your own breeder training, okay?"
Brock smiled, touched that Ash thought so highly of him, and wanted him to continue doing his best.
"You got it" he eventually nodded.
Misty smiled, and for a moment, she allowed herself to get lost in memories.
Meeting Brock for the first time… him asking to join her and Ash on their journey… all the fights he had mediated or broken up… all those kind words of encouragement… saying goodbye to him in the Orange Islands… finding him again and him coming with them to Johto... facing down legendary pokemon and even saving the day once or twice…
How could it all end so abruptly?
"You know" Misty couldn't help the smile that played across her face, "It's really thanks to Ash that you and I even met Brock".
Ash looked surprised to hear that.
"I know what you mean" Brock smiled, "A lot of coincidences seem to happen around Ash".
"What do you mean?" Ash asked curiously.
"Well... if you had never broken that alarm clock of yours, you would never have got Pikachu as your starter pokemon" Brock started.
"You wouldn't have stolen my bike" Misty added, before smirking, "And it would never have been cremated".
Ash rolled his eyes, but his smile said he was anything but annoyed.
"We probably wouldn't have even talked to each other, let alone started travelling together" Misty added, heart clenching at the thought.
"And if you hadn't faced me with Pikachu, I'd never have been so impressed with you for defeating my rock-types with an electric-type" Brock added, "I might not have even asked to come with you guys if things had played out differently".
"What we mean Ash, is that that simple event is what really caused all of us to meet and become best friends" Misty finished with a grin.
"No way, I don't believe that" Ash shook his head, and Misty and Brock both waited for him to continue, "It couldn't have been a coincidence".
"What do you mean Ash?" Misty asked.
"I don't believe it could be just a coincidence that I met you out of all people" he said, and Misty was pleased that he sounded happy about that and not sad, "I guess what I mean is, even though all that stuff happened, I think that we were meant to meet and become best friends".
He said it with such certainty that Misty honestly couldn't help but agree with him.
"Maybe you're right" Brock spoke up, drawing their attention to him, "We've been through so much together, maybe it was fate".
Misty's smile soon turned wistful.
If it really was fate that had put them together as friends in the first place, then maybe it was fate that was pulling them apart now.
Shaking those thoughts away, Misty turned her attention back onto the road.
She felt her heart sink.
They were at the junction.
Their time was up.
Judging by the identical sighs that escaped from Ash and Brock, both of them had noticed they'd arrived too.
Misty hastily stiffled a sob.
She was determined to get through this without crying.
But it was so hard. This was the spot where she and Ash would be forced say goodbye to Brock, and any adventure they might still have shared together had things gone differently today.
"Guess you'll be heading that way then, huh" she said dejectedly, nodding towards the route that led to Pewter City.
"Yeah…" Brock wasn't sure what to say.
What could he say?
How could he say goodbye to Ash and Misty when they had gone through so much together?
It felt like his heart was being cracked in two, and for one moment, he seriously considered telling them that he'd changed his mind, that he wouldn't go back home, that he wouldn't mentor Forrest - but he knew that wasn't an option.
He had promised his little brother and Brock would never break a promise.
Nevertheless, picking between his biological family and his honourary family wasn't an easy decision to make.
It fact, it hurt like hell.
But there wasn't anything else for it.
This had to be done.
"Take care Ash" he finally said, a small sad smile on his face, "You too Misty. You two look out for each other".
"We will" Misty promised, forcing herself to give him a smile, albeit a strained one, "You take care of yourself too".
"I will" Brock nodded seriously.
"Will I… will we see you again?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
It was hard enough knowing they wouldn't get to see him every day, but if she never saw him again… that would just make this unbearable.
"You will" Brock said without a moment's hesitation, "I swear. I'm going to keep in touch with you both. I'll never let our friendship die, I promise you both. And you guys better drop by any time you're in Pewter City".
"You can count on it" Ash said, his voice trembling slightly.
The three of them stared at each other for a moment, all of them silent.
Then with no need for words and with heartbreaking synchronicity, all three of them pulled themselves into a group hug, all of them clinging onto the others like they were the only things tethering them to reality.
Once again, Misty was forced to push away some tears that were trying to escape.
Her lip quivered, but she just hugged her friends even tighter, wanting so desperately for this to be just a bad dream, for it not to be real, for them to still have time together to share more memories and adventures.
But it simply wasn't to be.
Eventually they broke apart, and they shared one final smile.
"I'll miss you guys" Brock finally said, sounding on the verge of tears.
Ash and Misty both nodded, and Brock could tell simply by the look in their eyes, that they were going to miss him dearly too.
"Goodbye Brock" Misty said, standing on her tip-toes and kissing him on the cheek.
"Bye" Ash said, holding out his fist.
Brock smiled, and bumped his own fist against Ash's. He then patted Togepi once on the head, scratched behind Pikachu's ears, then turned and walked away.
And just like that, their time together was over.
Brock started walking down the road leading towards Pewter City. He didn't once look back, but Misty honestly hadn't expected him too.
Looking back would give him a moment to doubt his decision.
It would give him a moment to change his mind.
It would put the temptation there.
And then leaving would be too hard to actually go through with.
So Brock continued walking, and Misty and Ash simply stared after him.
It felt like hours, but it was also far too soon for their liking, when he disappeared into the forest, and was lost from sight.
And the heartbreak set in.
And there's another one : )
Aw, an emotional one. Goodbye for now Brock : ) Like I said before, I find it sort of unfair that Misty got the massive emotional goodbye and Brock barely got anything, so I hope this does his temporary exit some justice : )
Now let's move onto the game : )
Firstly - Congratulations to Dragonsrule18, Forget4me, SPeCTeR-117, RHatch89, Pokemon Trainer Tom, KuramaFTW, Sesshoru, FireEmblemMaster101, reppad98, NarutoMagi17, OmniDragon10, deant33, and ultimateCCC - the correct answer was indeed Rhydon.
Better luck next time to Breakawayfan and QUEENSPELLER67, who both thought it was Aggron, and the Guest who thought it was Lairon.
WHO'S THAT POKEMON?
This pokemon has a body part that is considered to be priceless artwork. As such, it has been hunted almost to the point of extinction. It has no pre-evolutions or evolutions and has a generally low catch rate compared to other pokemon. One of Ash's rivals briefly had one of these pokemon.
And there we go.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review on your way out.
Until the next time, keep on reading : )