A/N: First of all, so sorry for taking this incredibly long. It's inexcusable, I know. I'll tell you more later. Secondly, THANK YOU for everything! We hit the 100 reviews, that's awesome, thank you so much everybody! Anyway, I'll stop now, you just want to read the next chapter. So please enjoy!

To MysteryPaleoWhateverGeek: Thank you, and I'm really glad you noticed that haha. Usually I reply using PM's, but since you don't have those enabled, I'll just do it this way. I don't mind, this works fine. Anyway, I appreciate it, thanks again!

To Sonic: Thanks for reviewing! At first I wasn't quite sure what STAHP meant, but apparently it means something along the lines of "Stop doing something horribly wrong". Correct me if I'm wrong. But I would like to ask you, what did I do so horribly wrong then? The storyline itself, the dialogue, the characterization, the descriptions… Anyway, please tell me Thanks again!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 13

Fastening my backpack on my back, I took a deep breath. On the road again… I thought depressed. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind travelling, not at all, but let's say that my travelling partners aren't that… Well… They're hormonal teenagers with love issues, that's what they are.

"This way, this way," Iris said, leading us out of Lacunosa Town. Leading me away from Nurse Joy… Great, now I was feeling even more depressed.

Soon the pavement made place for the sandy path of Route 12, and the houses and buildings of the city for bushes, tall grass and the occasional group of trees. The sun was warming my back and if I ignored the sounds of my bickering travelling partners, then this day was actually pretty good.

Hold on, bickering travelling partners? I shook myself out of my thoughts and took my time to listen to them.

Cilan, Iris and Misty were walking in the front, apparently discussing the Unova Water Pokémon, and Iris was going wild over the fact that Misty owned a Gyarados. Behind them Leaf and Ash were talking about some or other battle they had seen on TV – Pikachu had fallen asleep on Ash's cap – and Gary was walking in front of me, silently watching the pair in front of him.

Quickening my pace so I was now walking next to him, I observed him and mentally noted everything. Shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets, purple backpack swung carelessly over one shoulder – overall, the relaxed, 'cool guy' image that was so usual for him. I followed his gaze to Leaf and Ash, and noticed how his jaw locked.

Grinning, I turned away, not needing any more information. That boy had it bad for Leaf, and although he might not admit it, his body language told me more than enough.

Ash said something – I didn't quite catch it – causing Leaf to laugh and give him a playful slap on the arm. The raven-haired boy grinned back at her, then continued talking. But I wasn't listening to their conversation, oh no, I was listening to Gary's reaction. I could namely hear him grit his teeth.

With a smirk, I said, "You shouldn't grit your teeth like that, your dentist won't like it."

His head snapped up. "I- I wasn't gritting my teeth."

Despite his confident attitude, he couldn't fool me. His slightly widened eyes betrayed him.

"Sure, Gary, sure," I replied, unconsciously starting to walk slower, creating more distance between us and the rest of the group.

Before he could respond, I spoke confidently, "I'm seeing right through it Gary, you can't fool me. It's obvious."

He put his hands a bit further in his pockets as he coolly replied, "I have no idea where you're talking about."

I bit on the inside of my cheek as I thought about my next move. It was obvious Gary wasn't going to tell me anything about him liking Leaf, or even majorly hinting at it, like Ash. No, no, I had to play this differently…

A smile appeared on my face as yet another genius plan formed in my mind.

"Oh come on, it's so very obvious!" I said rather loudly, yet not loud enough for the others to hear. "Your stares, your body language, your flirting with Misty- It's clear as the day!"

A bit of shock was visible on his face, but other than that he appeared nonchalant about it. One eyebrow raised, he looked at me questioningly.

Now time for the big finale.

"You have crush on Ash!" I exclaimed as if it was the answer.

"What!" I heard as Gary suddenly disappeared from my side. I turned around and found him on the ground, apparently having tripped over his own feet in surprise.

"No, no, no, no, I don't have a crush on Ash! Not on Ash!" he denied quickly, scrambling up as he spoke.

"So you do admit that you have a crush on someone?" I inquired, a smirk on my face.

Finally I had him in a corner, he couldn't escape anymore. No cool response, no denying, just a simple "Uh…"

Grinning, I started walking again, Gary quickly catching up with me again. There was now quite some distance between us and the others, and I doubted they had even noticed what had happened here.

"So… Leaf eh?" I asked in a lower tone. Deep breath Brock, I thought, fun time is over. Time for seriousness and actual help for our poor Gary.

"I suppose she's pretty," I continued, "She seems not stupid either, and she's good with Pokémon."

Silently, the brown-haired boy nodded.

Boy, I realized, he's just a boy. Just fifteen years old. He's not as mature as he pretends to be, he has no idea what he's doing, no idea what he should do… He's just a boy…

"So… any idea what you're going to do about it?" I asked, looking at him from the corners of my eyes. All he did was shrug a little.

We were silent for some time, still walking a fair distance behind the rest of the group. It wasn't an awkward silence, but it wasn't a comfortable one either… It was more a thoughtful one.

"You think Leaf likes Ash?" Gary suddenly blurted out.

A bit taken aback by the sudden question, I kept silent.

"Brock?" he pressed, an edge of anxiety in his voice.

Should I be honest? Or should I sugarcoat it for him? Give my opinion? Lie to him?

"Just be honest, Brock," Gary almost pleaded. How did he know I was thinking of that? That was just creepy!

"Er, Brock? You're talking out loud…" he said, sounding a little freaked out.

Oh. That makes sense.

"Still talking out loud…" Gary said.

Ugh, I should stop doing that.

"Yeah, please do," he replied.

"Argh, sorry, you're right," I said purposely out loud. "So… Leaf…"

"Yeah… Leaf…" he repeated in the same tone as I had used.

"To be honest, I think she likes you. But all your flirting with Misty… is giving her the wrong idea, so to say."

"She likes me?" He was almost beaming, a huge grin on his face. It was weird to see Gary this happy, with a huge, genuine grin on his face, instead of the usual smirk or half smile.

"Well, I think so," I quickly said. "I mean, it's not like she told me, but it's just what I think."

His smile subdued a bit, but was still wider than I had ever seen it. Shaking my head fondly, I focused on the road again.

Again, we passed some time in silence. Then another question was blurted out by Gary, "You think I should stop flirting with Misty?"

"I'm not sure…" I replied, then fell silent. I had no idea what to say. If I said yes, if Gary stopped flirting with Misty, Ash would get his chance. But for Gary, it might be better if he continued making Leaf jealous… This was difficult. And what if Gary actually liked Misty?

"Hm?" he said, waiting for me to continue.

"Do you… like her?" I asked him tentatively.

"Who, Misty?" He sounded honestly confused. "Well, uh…"

"Well, uh what?" I asked, getting a bit scared.

What if Gary really liked Misty? What if he liked her more than Leaf? What if Misty liked Gary more than Ash? What if Gary and Misty got together? What if they were a match made in heaven? What if they married and had beautiful children? What if Ash was left alone? What if Leaf was left alone?

No, wait, Leaf will find someone. It's Ash who I should be worried about – he'll get his heart broken, get depressed, stop battling, lose his money and become homeless – and then I'll have to take care of him!

Oh no.

I HAVE to get Misty and Ash together.

Okay, Brock, focus, focus. Gary. Does he like Misty?

The spiky-haired boy played a bit with his fingers, almost looking nervous. "I uh, well… she's nice and pretty… and I definitely like her, but I'm not sure if I like her."

"So you like her but don't like her?" I asked confused.

"Well, yeah… I like her, but I think I might… like Leaf."

"Ah yeah, that makes everything a whole less confusing," I said, sarcasm laced in my voice.

Gary didn't seem to notice my obvious sarcasm, and just carried on. "And… well, this may sound weird, but…"

I looked at him questioningly, urging him to say more.

"Misty always seems to be… Ash's," he said slowly.

Before I could even open my mouth to comment, he had already continued. "I know, I know, it sounds stupid, but it really feels like that."

Smiling a bit, I replied, "It doesn't sound stupid, in fact… it's quite funny someone other than me noticed it too."

Gary grinned, relieved that I didn't see him as weird. "Those two are too obvious."

"Way too obvious," I agreed, then let out a sigh. "Anyway, I'm honestly not sure what you should do… I think you'll have to figure out that one yourself."

Silence fell over us, before Gary's voice broke it once again.

"You won't tell anyone, right? I mean, this- this stays between us, right, Brock?" He sounded a bit afraid, like I was really going to tell everyone about his moments of weakness. Puh-lease, I'm not that bad!

Wait, I wasn't that bad, right?

No, no, I wasn't that bad. I was a nice, calm, helpful, caring, handsome young man. See, ladies, I'm quite the catch.

"Of course I won't tell anyone, don't worry," I told him. He visibly relaxed at my words.

"Maybe we should try to catch up with the rest?" I said after a few moments of silence.

With a nod, he replied, "Yeah, good idea," and started to speed up a bit. We weren't running, but just… walking faster. Okay, fine, running, whatever.

Suddenly, in our haste, I noticed something. Something quite suspicious.

A Meowth with binoculars.

Or well, I thought it was a Meowth with binoculars. It had disappeared to quickly to be sure. But that couldn't be, Meowth don't have binoculars. Unless…

I shook those thoughts away – the chances of Team Rocket being here… Nah…

Still, as we got close to the rest of the group again, there was still this small thought nagging in the back of my mind, telling me that yes, Team Rocket could be here. I decided that I wouldn't say anything about it to the rest, but I would stay alert for traps or a sudden ambush.

Gary and I had now reached the group, but they didn't appear to have noticed our absence. Iris and Cilan were still walking in the front and- hold on, were they holding hands?

Looking closer, I realized with disappointment that no, they weren't holding hands. Sigh. They were just walking really close to each other… although that was an improvement too. I grinned when I noticed Cilan's red ears. Iris was smart enough not to say anything about it, as he would probably turn purple then.

When I chuckled silently at that thought, Gary gave me a questioning look. I made a gesture with my head towards the two in the front, and a grin appeared on his face as he saw what I saw.

Behind the almost couple were Leaf, Misty and Ash walking next to each other. Leaf and Misty were having a polite, and if I'm not mistaken, slightly awkward conversation. Ash was just floating along, not really saying anything, but either sneaking a glance at Misty or looking at the almost couple in front of them.

When Misty noticed us – apparently our absence hadn't gone completely unnoticed – her attitude immediately changed. Her eyelids dropped a little bit, giving her a seductive look in her eyes, and her hips seemed to get an extra swing to them.

"Hey Gary, where were you and Brock off to?" she asked, grabbing his arm.

Gary smirked his trademark smirk and answered confidently, "We were discussing Breeder techniques, and we didn't want your innocent ears to hear that."

Misty pouted, and Gary grinned. Then his eyes flashed to Ash, noticing Ash's visible jealousy.

"Hey Ash," the brown-haired boy started, "you really have to tell me about these Unova Pokémon. I've seen quite a few now, but I have no idea what they exactly are."

Ash's eyes widened at the unexpected – not to mention friendly – question from Gary, and he slowed down a bit, so he was now walking on the other side of his old rival. On Gary's other side Misty was holding Gary's arm, but the boy was paying no attention to her, causing her to look quite annoyed.

Danger zone, danger zone, I thought alarmed as I started to slow down. Just for safety. I didn't feel the need to be close to those three when the bomb- uh, I mean Misty exploded.

Somehow Leaf ended up walking next to me, an awkward silence developing around us.

"So… yeah," she said.

"Uh-huh," I agreed with nothing.

I glanced at the almost couple in the front, Cilan's ears still red. Then I observed the three teenagers right in front of me – Misty was still looking annoyed, but Gary and Ash seemed to get on well. Finally I looked carefully at the girl next to me, her eyes seemingly focused on nothing in particular, but after some moments I saw her looking at Gary occasionally.

Sighing, I ran a hand through my spiky hair. I knew what I needed to do. I had to find out whether this girl, who I've just known for a bit more than a day, liked Gary. No wait, not liked, but liked.

Because that's oh so very easy. Note the sarcasm.

Oh Brocko, what now?

A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, despite the long wait. And more OldrivalShipping hints, like I said. Anyway, sorry, really, I'm really sorry that you had to wait so long.
Next chapter will probably take a while too, but not as long as this one. As soon as I have my other story (Days) on the road, updates will be faster again.
And guys, it's not like I've been doing nothing. I've published several one-shots and a drabble collection, so if you're interested, I would appreciate it if you would check it out. Also, on my profile you're able to see what I'm currently working on, and when the next update will be, etc.
Last but not least, I've joined this completely awesome forum, Pokewrite, and it's really recommended for people who like writing and Pokémon. Please give it a look!
Thank you for reading, and please, please, REVIEW! It makes me so happy, so REVIEW!
Thanks again!