A/N: Yeah, okay… two weeks late, but hey, at least it's not a whole year! Heh-heh… yeah. Anyway, my apologies, it's all my lazy own fault. But now I'm back from my holiday and more energized than ever! So let's do this! Thank you for all your support, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

To Cutiepiepo2: Thank you so much for your support! I'm really glad you're still around to see this story updated, even after all this time. I hope you like this one :)

To LeChick: Wow, thanks a lot for all those reviews! I'm very happy you enjoy the story, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy it :D Also, thanks for the correction, I'll fix it :)

To LeMe: Thank you for your review! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover.

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 15

For a few moments, darkness reigned. Then someone activated a flashlight – Iris, who I was now able to see, was a practical person like that. Soon other lights followed, flashlights and Pokégears lighting up to illuminate the trap we had fallen in.

"We have to get out, guys, we have to save our Pokémon!" Ash stated the obvious, but that didn't make it any less true.

I held my flashlight higher, as to get a better look at the walls of the hole.

"It's at least three meters high," I said.

"Four probably," Cilan corrected, looking up as well. "If not more…"

The mood seemed to drop when we were faced with the impossibility of escaping our situation.

"We'll get out," I said determinedly. "We've been in worse situations."

I looked around the group, their faces a mixture of fear, hopelessness and determination. Ash's face stood out most to me, his mouth a grim line of conviction while his eyes were narrowed thoughtfully. I knew that look. It meant he was thinking of a plan. And I knew he would succeed.

He too had been in worse situations, very probably the most out of all of us. Ash was maybe dense and slow, but in life-and-death situations he was the man to go to.

"Iris is light, and she's a great climber," he said, looking at the girl. "She can go on top."

"Wh-what?" she asked confused, looking at Ash for clarification. But I already understood what Ash was getting at, and nodded in confirmation. I didn't know anything about Iris's climb abilities, but I didn't doubt Ash's judgment, and I could see she was indeed light.

"Iris," I said, pulling her attention to me. "Are you strong enough to lift up that cover? Remember that Jessie and James had to carry it together, so that must mean it's heavy."

"Or that they're weak," Iris countered. Then, oddly enough, she stuck one hand in her hair. "Don't worry though, I got the solution- aha!"

Axew was pulled rather roughly out of her hair, and it sent Iris a groggy stare. "I can't believe you slept through all that! It's good you were hidden so well…"

"You hid Axew!" I exclaimed happily, and she nodded simply. Others also complimented her on hiding it, but the girl merely shrugged, then turned her attention to me. "Axew can use Giga Impact. I think that should do the trick."

"Giga Impact!" Leaf sounded impressed, wording my own feelings as well. So much power in such a small Pokémon – but then again, I had learned a long time ago that one should not underestimate the power of a small Pokémon. Pikachu was living proof of that.

"So what's the plan exactly?" Misty asked. For a moment I thought of explaining the plan myself, but then I remembered that this was Ash's moment. Not to mention a good opportunity to impress Misty too. After catching his eye, I gave him a small nod, and he started explaining.

"We'll make a human tower. Cilan and Brock are the tallest, so they'll be the lowest part. Someone else will stand on their shoulders – Gary, since you're the tallest after Brock and Cilan, I think you'd be the best for that part. Iris will stand on his shoulders, and Axew will use the four of them as runway for his Giga Impact attack. The cover will be broken, Iris will take a rope and climb out, and then she can help us."

Misty blinked in surprise, then gave Ash a slight smile. Not a hah-I'm-better-than-you grin, or an I-win-you-idiot smirk, but a real, genuine I'm-impressed-by-you smile.

Ash seemed to notice the difference too, and although I couldn't see if he was blushing with the little light, his grin was obvious enough.

Not obvious enough for Leaf though, because she interrupted anyway.

"And what will the rest of us do?" she asked, causing Misty to shoot her a quick glare. And to me, it seemed as if Leaf's eyes twinkled triumphantly.

On second thought, perhaps she had noticed and had interrupted on purpose. But that would contradict her earlier words, about how she wasn't interested in Gary, because she was obviously trying to make him jealous by acting interested in Ash.

Or maybe she was really interested in Ash.

Gah. Too complicated teenage stuff.

In the meantime, Ash had continued explaining, "Help Gary and Iris up, keep Brock and Cilan steady, and make sure they have enough light."

She nodded, and Ash turned his attention to the rest of the group, an air of confidence hanging around him. "Everyone understands what they have to do?"

Nods and sounds of confirmation followed, and Ash grinned. "Then let's do this! Brock, Cilan, I think you can best stand… uh, here."

'Here' was the ground slightly sloping, but we could stand steady enough, and we stood close enough to the walls so that the others could use it as support when they climbed on our shoulders.

"Cilan, Brock, put your hands on each other's shoulders," Ash commanded, linking his own hands together so he could help Gary with getting on our shoulders.

Cilan and I did as Ash said, and our arms intertwined to form a somewhat stronger footing for Gary. The brown-haired boy kicked off his shoes – hiking boots, which undoubtedly would've been painful on my shoulders – and placed one hand on each of our shoulders.

He then placed his foot in Ash's hands, and with a little jump, his other foot was on Cilan's shoulder.

Gary quickly moved one hand to the wall for support, then pulled up his other foot from Ash's hands and put it on my shoulder. His other hand joined the first one against the wall, and I stumbled a bit as Gary tried to find his balance, which caused Ash to grip my shoulder firmer.

"You okay down there?" Gary asked, looking down at us. Cilan nodded determinedly to me, his hold on my shoulders tightening just a bit, and I grunted, "Yeah, we're fine."

Ash let go of me, and motioned Iris to come forward. "Ready Gary? Can Iris come?"

"Yes, I'm ready!"

"Iris, you got the rope?" Ash asked, putting his hands back together for Iris.

"Yup," she said, and without further conversation, she placed her bare foot in Ash's hands and jumped on our shoulders. I let out an 'Oof' as the combined weight of Gary and Iris now fully rested on us, but Iris didn't slow down.

In one swift motion, she stood, using Gary as support, and then quickly threw one leg over Gary's shoulder – man, that girl is flexible – then pushed herself up, so she was half sitting on Gary. Her other leg followed quickly, and now holding onto the wall, she pulled herself up.

Within seconds, Iris had managed to stand on top of our tower, and I was glad she had done it so quickly. Although my shoulders were painful, I could feel Cilan's body trembling slightly under the effort of keeping us stable.

I couldn't even manage out a 'Hurry up' because Iris was already hurrying up. "Axew, use Giga Impact!"

The Dragon Type started at the other end of the hole, already slightly glowing. When a yellow flash of light appeared in front of it, it speeded forward towards us. I felt the small nails tugging at my trousers' leg as it ran upwards, purple lights joining the yellow and spiraling around its body.

A moment later I heard a crashing sound and light flooded in as the cover was broken into tiny pieces.

"Axew!"

I was pushed against the wall by the counterforce of Iris's jump after her Pokémon.

"Iris!"

Cilan's grip disappeared from my shoulders, and I felt Gary's weight in full force as he crashed down on me. My knees buckled and I fell further against the wall, my knees hitting the ground painfully.

I heard more screams and yelling, and I tried to push the heavy weight off me, fruitlessly, until said heavy weight decided to climb off himself.

"You're okay Brock?" Gary's voice asked me, and I pushed my face away from the wall.

"Pfft!" I said, wiping the dirt off my face, and I looked at Gary from my kneeling position. "I'm fine" – bruised, but fine – "are you okay? Is-"

I halted as I took in the scene in front of me. Cilan was lying face-first on the ground, with Iris sitting on his lower back, holding something that looked suspiciously like Axew. As I watched, the girl quickly jumped off, fussing over Cilan, who was slowly pushing himself up.

"That landing could've been tastier," he said, shakily standing up and brushing off his clothes. "Are you okay, Iris?"

"I'm okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to land on you!" she rushed, her eyes still slightly wide with worry.

"I did."

Iris blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I said that I did," Cilan repeated, though it didn't appear any clearer for the girl. The green-haired teenager stood confident, but his face was flushed, betraying his real feelings. "I meant for you to land on me."

He stared intently at Iris, his eyes shining with emotions, and I felt like I was intruding on a private moment. Mentally, I thanked the gods that the others had the sense to keep quiet and let this play out.

Iris opened her mouth, then closed it. She repeated that procedure a few times, while Cilan patiently waited and I was starting to hope this was the breakthrough. Maybe she would kiss him and-

"Thanks," she said, rather curtly. Although not as obvious as Cilan, Iris was also slightly red in the face. "But I can take care of myself."

Ouch. Cilan had taken a step forward, but Iris roughly pushed him back.

He swallowed, and gave her a tiny nod. "Of course."

His voice was distant, polite, slightly cold. Hurt flashed across the girl's face, but Cilan had already turned back to me and didn't see it.

"Are you ready, Brock?" he asked, his voice emotionless as he moved back to the place we had been standing minutes ago.

"Yeah, sure," I said without thinking, my mind too occupied with what just had happened. I placed my hands back on his shoulders, and forced a small smile of reassurance on my face.

That had obviously not went as planned. Poor Cilan – he had all but confessed his feelings for her, and Iris had just brushed him off. That hurt; I knew it from experience.

If I had to take a guess as why Iris had reacted like this, I would say it were the nerves. She was scared.

Well, I couldn't blame-

"Oof," I grunted as Gary climbed on our shoulders again. Too absorbed in my own thoughts, I had not noticed that we were continuing with our plan. Iris moved upwards as well, but her weight was quickly lifted from our shoulders – she had climbed out of the hole.

We waited, but fortunately not for long – Gary's weight soon disappeared as well. Cilan let go of me, and I once again tried to reassure him with a smile, but he was looking at the ground.

Just great. All the progress the two of them had made had been undone and I could start all over.

But hold on a second- progress is being made over there. Misty was holding onto the rope Iris had let down in our hole, and Ash was standing next to her, looking slightly worried.

Misty looked a bit confused and seemingly interested for a moment, before an annoyed look appeared on her face. "I know how to climb a rope, Ketchum!"

Maybe no progress then.

I shook my head – this was pointless. We had to find our Pokémon, that was our first priority now. Leave the thoughts about the poor hormonal teenagers for later.

Misty had managed to climb out, and soon Leaf followed. Cilan gestured for Ash to go first, and then went after him. Before climbing up myself, I glanced around again, to make sure we weren't forgetting anything.

"My shoes!" Gary's yell came at the same time as I noticed the hiking boots. Iris's shoes were still lying down here as well.

"I'll throw them!" I yelled back, and swiftly followed through with it. "Nothing else missing?"

"Nope, we got everything!" Ash replied, and after one last check, I climbed out of the trap as well.

As I dusted off my clothes and Iris was detaching the rope from the tree she had temporally bound it around, Ash was already taking the lead.

"All we need to do now is find Team Rocket and get our Pokémon back!"

Funny, how he can make something sound so simple.

"They usually travel with a huge Meowth-faced hot air balloon," Ash explained, though most of us already knew that. "So-"

"There!" Leaf yelled, pointing at something in the air. Our heads snapped away from Ash to look at the object she was indicating – a huge Meowth-faced hot air balloon.

It seemed that perhaps it was as simple as Ash made it sound.

The balloon exploded in a red flash and dark smoke.

Or not.

"No!" Ash screamed, and others gasped as they realized what the balloon was carrying.

Our Pokémon.

My eyes widened, and cold dread formed in my stomach. My legs trembled, but I broke into a run anyway, following and being followed by the rest of our group.

Brocko, this is bad.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I found it a bit difficult to describe how exactly they got out, but I hope I described it well enough for you guys to imagine how it went. If not – or if you have other tips and corrections – please tell me!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Olivine Romance by Snowden. Really a deep, psychological story that works out its characters amazingly, has a complicated and well thought-out plotline and quite some truly incredible battles. It revolves around Gym Leader Jasmine and how she struggles with becoming an adult. However, it's rated M, and with reason. The explicit version is found on Archive of Our Own, same title and same author. So, only check it out if you're old enough for it ;)

Pokémon: The Treehouse by Finvarra Faerie. Just a cute, fluffy one-shot about Paul and Dawn as kids, which also manages to keep them in character. And well, the title says what it's all about, doesn't it? Just a nice, light-hearted and short story :)

Harry Potter: How To Marry A Malfoy by georginacastleorpington. A hilarious long one-shot about Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, the kids of respectively Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass. And well, if you look at the title, I think you can guess what it's about. Very funny, and definitely worth a read.

Also, if you have any story you'd like to recommend, your own or someone else's, please let me know and I'll give it a read! :)

So yeah, that's it! Because I was now two weeks late, the next update will be two weeks early! That's a nice compensation, eh? So the next chapter will be up in two weeks instead of four. Thank you once again for reading, and please tell me your thoughts!