A/N: OMG 7 reviews for one chapter?! Thanks so much guys, thank you, thank you, thank you. I didn't have the time to proofread, but I hope you enjoy anyway. And now I give you: The next chapter!

To I have a dictionary here *EPIC FAIL* Sigh, thanks a lot, I'll change it as soon as possible. That's probably why English isn't my native language.

To Guest Thanks, and you're totally right.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 5

With a hint of nostalgia I stared at my old blue backpack, stuffed with clothes, medicine, money, a few Pokémon breeding magazines – and a few non-Pokémon-related too – and most of all, my cooking stuff. How many times did we get lost when I carried this thing? I'll tell you – too many.

Checking for the last time if I really really didn't forget anything I grabbed the four Pokémon I was planning to take with me. Two of the three Pokémon that Forrest had borrowed – Steelix and Crobat – would I take with me, just as Sudowoodo and Croagunk. At first I planned to take Geodude with me too, but upon seeing the strong bond between it and my brother, I decided against it.

And it wasn't like I would really need my Pokémon, since I wasn't planning on battling or something. And Team Rocket – Jessie, James and Meowth – wouldn't still be following Ash around for Pikachu, would they? Would they?! Nah, they wouldn't. I hope…

Swinging my bag on my back I walked down the stairs, ready to say goodbye to my siblings. Or well, what was left of them, since quite a few were already on their own journey. Forrest was leaving today too – I would travel with him for a few hours, since we were both going in the same direction – and Salvadore and Yolanda had left to continue their journey, both to Johto, a few days ago. Tommy had turned ten two months ago, and started his first journey last week, immediately the day after the family hiking trip.

My brothers and sisters, as well as my father, were already waiting for us to say goodbye. I grinned at them, wanting to say a quick goodbye and then leave, since the plane would leave in a few hours and I still had to walk Viridian City, then take the train to Cerulean City to meet the others, and then walk with Ash and Misty to the airport.

Yeah, we're so gonna miss the plane.

"Forrest, you coming?" I yelled to my younger brother, who was still upstairs.

"Yeah, yeah, coming," he said, stumbling down the stairs, "Don't worry Brock, we have enough time, relax a little bit."

I sighed. Mark my words – we're gonna be too late.

"Well guys, we're leaving. Dad," I looked at him, "take good care of them. Kids," I looked at my younger siblings, "take care of Dad, 'kay?"

A mumbled agreement was heard, and I nodded them goodbye. Forrest waved and we both started to make our way to the door.

Just ten more steps, and then we were gone. Nine more steps to safety. Eight more steps – I listened intently. No sniffles or hiccups. Seven steps to go and they still were silent. Maybe we would make it. Six steps to the door and still nothing. Five step- Wait, was that a sniff? Only four mor-

"NO BROCK DON'T LEAVE!"

So close… so close.

I felt the circulation to my legs being cut off and, looking down, I noted that my two youngest sibling were sitting on my feet. Tilly sat left, Billy right, and both were trying to strangle my legs. They looked up, their squinty, hazel eyes full of tears. I gulped – how could I leave now?

"Please Brock, don't go," Tilly whined.

"Yeah, we don't want you to leave," Billy added with a sniff.

"We'll starve, Brock, you know Dad can't cook," Cindy said, running over to me, and then started hugging my midst.

"Yeah, Brock, please don't leave," Timmy said, joining the hug.

"Uh huh," Suzie agreed, looking at me with her lip trembling, before joining too.

For a moment we stood like this, me in the middle, hands up since I had nowhere else to put them, as five children were trying to squeeze me to death. I stared down at the five brown haired heads and a little smile grew on my lips. Touched by their care and love, tears formed in my eyes as well, and I rested my hands on two heads, still smiling.

"Ey, what about me, eh? I don't get a hug? I'm your older brother too, you know," Forrest exclaimed, ruining our little family moment. Or, in my case, the squeeze that slowly was throttling me.

"C'mon guys," I laughed, "go give poor Forrest a hug."

They released me – thank Arceus – and attacked Forrest with their powerful Bind attack.

While Forrest struggled to get free again, I walked over to my father.

"You'll take good care of them, won't you?"

"Of course," he answered with a small smile and tears in his eyes. Then he did something unexpected – he pulled me into a hug. I hadn't been hugged by my father – Dad – in a looong time. And it kinda felt nice. It was also nice to know that I was finally taller than him.

He released me again, smiling and quickly wiping away a tear.

"I know you'll take good care of them," I finally said, after swallowing the lump in my throat.

He smiled, gave me a slap on the shoulder, and turned back to Forrest, who had finally been able to pull free from the bone crushing hug.

"C'mon Brock, let's run, before they try to murder us again," he laughed.

Walking over to him, I gave all my brothers and sisters a short hug, before promising that I would be back soon.

"Really guys, just a few weeks, and I'm back, promise," I told them.

"And if you aren't?" Billy asked.

"I will."

"But what if?" he pressed.

"Then Brock will treat us to ice cream!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Deal, if I'm not back in a few weeks, I'll give you each an ice cream."

"A big one!" Timmy added.

"A big one," I agreed.

"Yay!" they cheered.

"C'mon Brock, we wouldn't want to miss the plane," Forrest reminded me of the time.

"Yeah, you're right," I said, and then to my family, "See you in a few weeks!"

Forrest said his goodbye too, and with the murmurs about big ice creams in the background we left.

The time it took us to walk out of Pewter City we spend in comfortable silence, each enjoying the sounds of the city where we grew up. But as soon we got out of it, and the usual sounds of the city were replaced by the soft chirping of the Bird Pokémon, the silence seemed to be stretching and stretching.

Pondering about how little I knew about my younger brother, and looking for a reason to fill the slightly awkward silence, I asked him about the first thing that came to mind. No, not about girls, I'm not that desperate, you know.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Apparently I am.

Surprised he looked at me, obviously wondering where that came from. So am I, little brother, so am I. Okay, maybe not.

"Erm… no," his answer came.

"'Kay."

A few minutes passed while Viridian Forest came closer and closer.

"Why did you ask?" he suddenly asked.

"Just wanted to start a conversation," I answered honestly.

He burst out laughing, slapping my shoulder – weird, no one ever slaps my shoulder, and now twice on one day – and then mumbled something about how I never changed.

Was that a compliment or an insult?

Wondering if changing was a good thing or not, we entered Viridian Forest.

"I really love this forest, ya know?"

"Huh?" I asked, not paying attention to what he had said.

"I said," he repeated, "that I really love this forest."

"Oh yeah," I agreed, "it's beautiful in here. As long as we don't get lost."

"Don't worry 'bout that. Remember how we used to play here?"

"Yeah," I said wishfully, remembering all the times we climbed trees and played hide-and-seek in here.

"That was before Mom and Dad left," he said.

"Yeah," I said sadly.

The rest of the time we talked occasionally about the forest, Pokémon or our childhood. Since Forrest was the closest in age with me, we had done a lot of things together. And when Mom and Dad left, he had done his best to support me. He was a good boy. Hmmm… that sounded like he was a Poochyena or something.

"Look, the end of the forest!" Forrest exclaimed, "Finally, my legs are killing me."

I grinned, "If your legs are killing you now already, then imagine how they feel when you really start travelling again."

He groaned, "I don't wanna think about that now, Brock, the only thing I want to think about is a comfy, soft seat in the train."

"Well, only one more hour and then you can admire your comfy, soft train seat."

"One hour?!"

"Half an hour if we jog. Your choice, little brother."

He bit his lip, threw a glance on his watch and then decided, "We'll jog."

Grinning, I said, "And I thought your legs were dead?"

He puffed out his chest and stuck his nose in the air, "I'm Forrest Harrison, I'll never give up."

"Oh yeah, great Forrest Harrison, wanna make a match out of that?" I asked with sarcasm laced in my voice.

He raised his eyebrows.

"The last one at the Viridian Station has to pay for the tickets," I dared him.

Smiling confidently, he stuck out his hand. I grabbed it and we shook hands, saying at the same time, "Deal."

As soon as I let go he ran off towards Viridian City. I smiled, starting to jog slowly after him. He had to think he was going to win, but not that I was letting him win. 'Cause I was not planning on doing that.

When he disappeared from sight I waited a few minutes before calling out my Steelix. Climbing on my Steel Pokémon, I commanded it to go to Viridian City as fast as it could. I was so going to win.

Oh, don't look at me that way. I never said anything about running or using Pokémon in this match. Quit looking at me like that, this isn't cheating. Grr… stupid conscience.

Forrest came quickly back in sight and I loosely saluted him when we passed. He stopped, stared at me with wide eyes – as wide as they could, anyway – and then quickly called out his Charizard.

Mentally I wished him good luck. No way his fat, spoiled Charizard could beat my Steelix. Above me I heard a battle cry and looking up I saw them flying over. Dang it.

"C'mon Steelix, faster, you can do it," I whispered urgently.

Now it was going at the highest speed it could manage, and the orange fleck was no longer ahead of us, but right above us. Slowly, slowly Steelix and I were getting ahead.

Viridian City drew nearer and in a few minutes we reached the first paved street. Jumping off of Steelix and quickly recalling him I ran over the streets, towards the Station. But running I was a lot slower than a flying Charizard – even if it's fat and spoiled.

The Station was coming closer, but so was Forrest. Behind me I heard him landing and starting to run towards me. My legs were longer, but I had been running for a longer time and was getting tired. He, on the other hand, was full energy. Dead legs, my as- erm… rump.

He came closer, closer, he was right behind me – I could hear him pant, or wait, that was me – he was next to me, he almost passed me. But the Station was just a few steps away.

I stopped immediately as soon my hand touched the cold metal of the door. Still panting, I noticed the tanned hand next to mine. Forrest and I looked at each other, asking the same question at the same time, "Who was first?"

Taking a deep breath I came up with a compromise, "We'll both pay for our own tickets, 'kay?"

"Agreed."

While we bought our tickets for a single Viridian-Cerulean we still received weird looks from passers, probably because of our dramatic arrival. Well, scrap that probably.

Luck was on our side – the train was just about to leave and we could just jump in.

"Here it is, your beloved comfy, soft train seat," I said with a grin, gesturing at the only seat that was left – and it was broken in two.

"Oh man, now my legs are really killing me," he groaned.

Though the trip was not very comfy, it was way faster than walking. Within a quarter we were at Cerulean Station.

Exiting the Station, I looked at Forrest, realizing how much he had grown in the past few years.

"Well," he said.

"Well," I repeated.

"Suppose I'll leave now," he said hesitantly.

"I suppose."

I gave him a short hug, breaking the awkward moment.

"Good luck and take care, Forrest."

"Yeah… you too."

He started to walk away, but turned back and gave me a long hug.

"I'll miss you, little brother," I smiled at him.

He smiled back, "I'll miss you too."

With a last smile, he turned away and walked away, soon disappearing in the crowd.

…Right, and now to Misty's.

The walk to the Gym wasn't long, and within five minutes I arrived at the building.

Noticing the locked door, I knocked, and, when the door opened, was greeted by a smiling Tracey. As usual. Since he had a relationship with Daisy, you could wake him up in the middle of the night, and he would still smile. I suppose love really was all one needed.

"Hey Tracey, long time no see."

"Hey Brock, you're coming for Misty, right?"

"Yep, we're leaving to Hoenn."

"Yeah, I heard something like that from Daisy," he said, letting me in, "Misty is in the kitchen, packing some last stuff, I think."

"Thanks," I said to the green haired artist.

Walking into the kitchen, I saw Misty sitting at the table, reading a magazine.

"Ah, you're early," she smiled sweetly. And any normalcy ended here.

Misty was… not Misty anymore. Her hair was down, and her face was covered in make-up. I had to admit, she was pretty, but she wasn't Misty anymore. Her big aquamarine eyes seemed even bigger because of the eyeshade and the mascara, her lips full and pink, and her skin fair and pimple-free.

Ash would get a heart-attack when he sees her like this.

"Everything alright, Brock?" she asked in a sickening sweet voice, batting her eyelashes at me.

My jaw dropped even further. When Misty was acting like this it only meant one thing – Trouble. With a capital T.

"You look really… pretty," was the only thing I managed to choke out.

She smiled and blushed slightly, then said shy, "Thank you, Brock, that's really sweet from you."

Oh, Mew, this meant really trouble.

I was about to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Oh, there they are," Misty gushed, walking elegantly to the door.

"They? Who are you talking about? I thought only Ash was coming too?" I asked confused, following her.

I was faster than her and opened the door, revealing two boys around the same age. The smaller one was obviously Ash, the other one had brown, spiky hair and smirk on his face. Gary Oak, a former rival of Ash and now a good friend.

"Look Brock," Ash started excited, having not seen Misty yet, "Gary is coming too. You don't mind, do you?"

"N-No," I stuttered, before letting them in.

Misty, who had been waiting behind me, ran past Ash, only greeting him shortly, before engaging Gary in a long hug, gushing about how she hadn't seen him in so long.

Gary just hugged her back, as if it was just natural. Ash, on the other hand, stood there, frozen by Misty's sudden change in appearance and behavior. Then his surprised look turned into a glare, and his fists clenched in anger. And it was, of course, directed at Gary, former rival and now former friend.

Brocko, this is NOT going according to plan.

A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Oh, and don't forget to review! It's great to read them, and they really make my day.
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