A/N: Thank you all for the continuing support! It's, as always, an absolute joy to read your comments and it really motivates me, too ;) Now, onto the ContestShipping- I mean, the next chapter XD

To spitfire 1017: Yeah, poor Brock indeed, he sure doesn't have it easy. Thanks a lot for your review! :D

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

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 31

It was just like the old times.

Misty and Ash arguing, me making sure that we were still on the right track, Pikachu happily running along, the cool shadow of the forest combined with the sounds of wild Pokémon scurrying around-

Then Misty would sigh, drop the argument with Ash, and I would realize once again that we were far from the good old times.

Ash would pout momentarily, before looking subtly worried. Sometimes he would strike up a short conversation with me or Pikachu, but then he would be right back at Misty's side, trying to engage her in another argument or a normal conversation.

And Misty would respond, for a while, and then fall silent again.

And so the whole cycle would repeat, just like it had been doing the whole day.

It was in the middle of the afternoon when something happened that once again confirmed that this definitely wasn't the 'good old times.'

"Brock?" Ash tugged at my sleeve. I was pulled from my thoughts – about a certain beautiful woman – and I gave my friend a questioning glance.

"Hm? What is it?"

Ash had started to slow down, ever so slightly, putting more distance between us and Misty. So we're in that phase, I thought. I mentally prepared myself for a short, mostly one-sided conversation; Ash would ramble about one thing or the other, and I would nod at appropriate times.

"Something is wrong with Misty," he told me, and I almost stopped dead in my tracks.

Right. Definitely not like the old times. Ash was never this perceptive.

Ash looked at me, his brown eyes wide with worry. Pikachu, currently sitting on his hat, glanced between Ash and Misty and let out a sad "Chu..." in agreement.

I wondered momentarily about my response, before nodding. I would go with it for now, to see what Ash had figured out.

"Yes, I noticed too," I said, and this only caused Ash's worry to become more visible.

"What- what do you think is wrong with her?" he asked, cautiously. All right, now I couldn't really wait it out. Time for the most vague answer possible, then.

"I have no idea." I gave him my best hopeless face.

He chewed his lip in thought, absentmindedly patting Pikachu.

"Do you?" I pressed slightly.

"I… maybe…" His eyebrows were furrowed together, and I waited with outward patience, but inwardly with growing anxiety. I had no idea how to deal with whatever answer he would throw my way; I had never expected that Ash would start to notice something.

"Gary," he finally said, looking at the ground.

"Gary?" I asked, still not sure what to make from that. Had he figured out Misty's plan…?

Ash nodded solemnly, looking at me with a thoroughly sad expression on his face.

"She likes Gary, romantically," he clarified, stealing a careful glance in Misty's direction. "And now he's gone, and with Leaf too!" He looked back at me again, the genuine sadness and helplessness on his face making my heart clench. "Misty has a broken heart..."

And there went my power of speech.

Ash's conclusion was actually right. The reasoning wasn't, but the conclusion was. And even the reasoning- it was solid, a very possible one, but not the right one.

But Ash didn't know that.

For him – and for most people who didn't know the fine details of this complex situation – the reasoning and conclusion were completely flawless.

He clenched his fists and anger flashed across his face. "Stupid Gary..." Anger flashed across his face, but it vanished as soon as it had appeared, and he looked sad and concerned once again. "What am I going to do now, Brock?"

When I didn't respond, Ash rambled on, "I mean, should I try to comfort her? Or just give her some time? I can't just make a move on her now, can I? No, no, I can't, that's definitely not right. And what if she loves Gary? How am I ever going to compete with him? Our plan is useless now, it's useless to flirt with May, and I don't know what to do-"

I tuned Ash's panicked voice out, the panic in my own mind more urgent.

What am I going to do what am I going to do what am I going to do?

I couldn't tell Ash that the flirting with Gary was just a ploy; Gary had told me that in confidence and the situation was too uncertain to take the risk. I couldn't tell Ash about Misty's feelings; even though Misty herself hadn't actually told me, in those exact words, it would still feel as betrayal of her trust. And Arceus, she could hit hard so I was definitely not going to risk that.

And yes, Misty did have a broken heart, but not because of Gary! I couldn't tell him that, and I couldn't tell him that he was wrong either, because he wasn't, not completely. And if I said that he was not completely wrong he would want to know the rest and I really couldn't tell him that I suspected that Misty had given up on him now that May was so close by and her plan with Gary hadn't worked-

"Brock?"

Ash looked at me expectantly, a desperate hope for a magical-this-is-going-to-fix-everything solution I didn't have on his face.

Arceus, I was so stuck in a web of lies. How was I going to get out unscathed?

"Ash-"

"What are you two whispering about?" Misty asked, suddenly stopping and turning around to face us. And she thankfully interrupted an answer I hadn't figured out myself yet.

I needed more time to think. And I needed to talk to Misty.

Then my eye caught sight of a wooden sign, my mind worked as amazingly fast as ever, and my improvised excuse came out without a hitch.

"Oh, about how we're almost in Petalburg," I said, gesturing to the sign. It pointed in the direction we had been going, with Petalburg City in bolded letters and in smaller print the text five minutes by foot.

"Great!" Momentarily forgetting about everything, a genuine smile appeared on Ash's face at the rapidly nearing reunion with his old friends again. I gave Misty my most convincing smile.

She looked at us with narrowed eyes for a moment, before turning her back to us again. As soon as I deemed it safe, I pulled Ash close.

"Why don't you run ahead and I'll talk to Misty, 'kay?" I whispered, and I quickly released him when Misty whirled around to glare suspiciously at us. I wasn't sure if our innocent smiles convinced her.

Ash waited a moment, before running off, Pikachu already ahead of him. "We'll see you there!"

"Yeah!" I yelled, "We'll catch up with you guys soon!"

"I'm really not in the mood for running now," I said to Misty, who gave me a vague nod.

"Too hot," she agreed after a short silence, and I nodded. It wasn't really all that hot – the shadow of the forest was nice and it was definitely way cooler than it had been days before.

There was silence, and I wondered how I should go about this. Then I remembered all my previous experiences with teenagers and their love problems and decided that now, I would go with direct confrontation.

Misty was always one for direct confrontations. Especially violent ones, but I really hoped that this one would stay rather… well, non-violent. Mostly for my own sake.

Anyway, she couldn't say no to a challenge. She needed to get her morale back up again, I needed to get her back into the fight, she needed to see that she better act on her feelings for Ash while she still had the chance instead of watching it go by.

"So this is how it looks like," I started. "A defeated Misty Waterflower."

"What?" Her head snapped around, confusion dominant over the anger, for now, at least.

"Well, you're defeated, right?" I asked, rather casually. It was a bit mean, purposely taunting her like this, but I needed to get her fire back. "You've given up. Quit. Thrown in the towel. You get what I mean."

"I, I-" She froze, gaping at me, before her mouth snapped shut and her eyes were set aflame. "What are you talking about?" She jabbed a finger in my chest forcefully.

"Oh, you know…" I shrugged, pretending not to be affected by her fury, while, in fact, I felt already the age-old reflex of running and slash or fervently apologizing coming up. "Just Ash…"

Now she had grabbed me by my collar, threatening to lift me completely from the ground – in spite of the height difference – but for now keeping me on my toes.

"What did you say?" she hissed, the warning very clear.

For some reason I will probably never figure out, I managed to scrape out some courage from who-knows-where. And so, instead of cowering in fear and begging for forgiveness, I smirked at her.

That's right, I smirked.

Gary must've rubbed off on me.

"I said," I repeated with as much coolness as I could muster, "that you've given up on winning Ash's heart."

Misty stared at me, still holding me up by my collar, a flabbergasted look on her face. Obviously, she hadn't expected me to plow on with this much bluntness and fearlessness.

"So yeah," I said, trying for a shrug even though it didn't really work when being held up by your collar. "Your fake flirting with Gary might not have worked, but that doesn't mean you should give up."

Her face flushed red, either from embarrassment or anger but very probably both, and she pushed me away, making me stumble as I tried not to fall over from the sheer force she had used.

"What do you care? Why are you telling me this?" she snapped, "It's none of your business anyway. And I'm not giving up!"

"It sure seems like it," I said, brushing off my clothes in an attempt to look relaxed. I looked her in the eye, my best serious face on. My voice softened. "And I care because you're both my best friends, and you deserve to be happy. As for why…" I shrugged. "May doesn't fit him well. They're very alike and make great friends, but he needs someone to keep him on his toes. Someone who challenges him and doesn't let him take the easy way out." I paused for dramatic effect. "He needs you, Misty."

"But he likes May," she threw back, though it missed her usual fire. Also, something very interesting to note was that during this whole conversation, she hadn't made one mention of not liking Ash or denying her plan with Gary.

Yes, definitely very interesting.

"That sounds like you're giving up to me," I said, challenging her once again.

"I'm not giving up!" she growled, the anger back in place. "It's just- what am I meant to do, eh? Do tell me, what am I meant to do? If you know it so well, why don't you tell me, hm, Brock?" She shot me a threatening look. "'Cause I don't know!"

I unconsciously took a step away, putting some more distance between Misty and me in the case that she would decide that violence was the answer.

"Talk to him! Have fun with him! Show him that you care about him, and that you'd be a better choice than May!" Motivational speech time. "You can do that, Misty! Show him that you care – I know you don't like to feel vulnerable, but if you don't, you might lose him forever!" Exaggeration to get the point across. "Do you want him to have cute blue-eyed, brown-haired Coordinator babies, hm?"

Okay, maybe I was going a bit overboard with this whole motivational speech thing, but at least it got the message across. Misty's eyes were narrowed, fists clenched at her sides, jaw set, and with a last growl in my direction, she stomped off to Petalburg City.

I allowed myself a small satisfied smile as I hastened after her.

When the city came into view, her steps had lost most of its anger, and once actually in the city, they had been reduced to a normal pace, until they actually seemed hesitant and I realized that Misty had no idea where exactly May and Max lived.

I subtly pointed her in the right direction, and more was not needed, because soon the sound of enthusiastic voices were heard.

"Brock!" Out of nowhere, I was attacked by a vicious force that turned out to be May. I grinned widely and returned her hug with enthusiasm.

"May! It's great to see you again!"

I could see Max and Ash now too, waving excitedly at us. I returned the gesture, giving them a wide smile, before turning back to May, whose grin was even wider than mine.

"It's so amazing to see you guys again, it's been ages!" She gave me a squeeze, before turning to Misty.

Ash, Pikachu and Max had reached us now, and I enthusiastically clapped my hand on the younger boy's shoulder, before pulling him in a hug as well.

"You sure have grown, Max!"

We let go, and Max grinned at me. "Great to see you, too, Brock."

May was still hugging Misty, rambling excitedly, before releasing her so Max could properly greet her. After a slight hesitation, they hugged as well, and Ash and I exchanged grins. I hadn't worried about Misty not getting on with the Maple siblings, but there was still the fact that Ash and I knew them way better and I definitely didn't want Misty to feel left out. So far, though, there seemed to be no troubles – even with May, Misty was acting perfectly friendly.

After exchanging several more greetings and how are you doing's, everyone seemed to have calmed down again, and we walked back to their house, where May invited us inside for a meal. I pointed out we already had lunch, and that it was a bit early for dinner, but May disagreed, saying that if we were hungry, we would get food.

Ash, of course, agreed.

We entered the kitchen – I was just thinking about how perfectly this reunion had gone, no explosions, no fights – when right there, at the kitchen table, looking perfectly at home, was-

"Hey guys, long time no see."

And with a flip of his green hair, a familiar smirk and a wave, Drew had arrived to complicate my plans.

Oh Brocko, why?

A/N: Thanks a lot for reading! And there we finally, finally have it: ContestShipping! Okay, just a little of it, but more is certainly on its way. The time for some serious matchmaking has come, and undoubtedly chaos won't be far behind haha. Thank you all, and don't forget to vote on my poll about the sequel! And, as always, reviews are wonderful :)

Thank you!

Recommendations:

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Pokémon: One Fake Date by pyr0technic. FFN. Something light and funny and PokéShipping. I guess it could almost be called crackish, but it's still great. An in-progress multi-chapter about the cliché of fake dating to get rid of unwanted suitors.

Naruto: Exceptions by IncessantOblivion. FFN. Neji and Tenten! A completed multi-chaptered story about Tenten's first mission to seduce a target, and how both of them deal with it. It has humor, drama, action and lots and lots of romance. Go give it a look :)

Recommendations are welcome!