A/N: And another chapter! The story is really winding down, it's both amazing and scary haha. Anyway, thanks a lot for all the support, you guys are truly wonderful. We're almost at 300 reviews! I never expected that when I started this story… almost three years ago *sweatdrop*
Thank you, and onto the next chapter!

To Guest: Thank you for your review! And yup, the same tactic won't work twice, so Brocko will have to come up with a new plan :P Thank you!

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

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 34

All in all, the beach outing had been a big success. I had gotten my dating tips, Max had gotten his fishing tips, Drew had gotten his flirting with May, and Ash and Misty had enjoyed an afternoon of fun and no fighting other than their usual good-natured arguing.

It would be quite difficult for this day to top that, but it seemed to be on the right track. Both future couples had paired off without my help- well, for today, that is. Apparently Misty had convinced Ash that training Psyduck was a good idea and would actually result in something other than major headaches for anyone involved – except the one that needed the headache. Anyhow, the two of them were going back to the beach, and if the training would go really bad, Misty had said they would be able to entertain themselves.

Entertain themselves. Heh-heh. I didn't doubt that.

As for the other two teenagers, well, Drew had insisted that he wanted to see Petalburg City at least once, and so May had decided to give him a private tour. Although, actually, she had asked me to come along, but I knew when I would turn out to be the third wheel, so I had politely declined.

Still, my original plan had been to go to the city center today, just without May and Drew. While those two would get their romantic time together, Brock the Rock was finally going to score a date and forget about my heartbreakingly beautiful Lucy.

My plan got slightly butchered by a good-intentioned Max, who had asked me to join him and his Pokémon for the day. Back in Kanto, I had promised him to help with his unruly Gastly, and though that problem had fortunately been solved, I probably still owed Max something. And besides, I did genuinely enjoy the boy's company. His lack of romantic problems was also a plus.

So I spent the morning and lunch at the Maples' home, having mock-battles and just generally having good, non-complicated friendship-y time with Max. It was also a great opportunity for my own Pokémon, Arceus knew that they had spent too much time cooped up in their Pokéballs the last few weeks.

After lunch, I set out to the inner city, with renewed confidence and fresh courage.

Brocko was going to get himself a date.

The first woman was working in a flower shop. Following Drew's rules and tips exactly, I started a really general conversation – even leaving out the part about showing romantic interest – and asked about what kind of flowers she was tending to. She responded happily, and when I asked more questions about said plant, how to take care of it, where it originated from, with which other plants it would form a good combination-

Point was, I ended up with a bouquet of flowers in my hand, a happily waving woman now holding my money, and no date.

I pushed down the feeling of rejection and continued on bravely. I was confident and I was going to show that confidence.

With a spring in my step, the bouquet in one hand and a confident smile on my face, I approached my next target-

Who turned out to be a man with long hair.

Ouch.

With quick improvisation skills – and a thankful prayer to the deities that I hadn't gone all out and had tried to offer her, uh, him the bouquet – I managed to twist my enthusiastic first line in a question of what time it was and then swiftly fled.

So. That was quite a blow to my confidence. But still, I refused to give up. Because I was awesome like that. Definitely. And not because I needed to get over-

Because I was awesome.

Yup.

The next girl I tried to talk to said straight away that she had no interest in whatever I was selling and turned away right after that.

I dumped the bouquet after that scene, awkwardly placing it in front of a street musician's feet, whose response was a wry smile and an upbeat song.

And so my quest was continued.

A pixie-like girl who gave me a piece of gum after one of the most one-sided conversations I had ever had. A girl with freckles who smiled a smile with one missing front tooth and wanted to go kickboxing with me. Two shopping girls – big sunglasses, wide smiles and swinging bags with newly bought clothing on their arms – with whom the conversation went fine until I faltered when one girl lifted her sunglasses and revealed to have eyes so similar to Lucy's-

I fled.

And, I am ashamed to admit, I moped after that. For a full hour, I walked around the city center aimlessly, disheartened by my failures and filled with whiny and angsty teenage thoughts about Lucy and my lack of a love life.

Disgusting, I know, but I deserved a pity-party after all that, and so I indulged. Fortunately, it didn't last too long, and after gathering my courage and wits again, I went inside a bar and leaned coolly against the counter.

"Do you come here more often?"

The words were out of my mouth before I could give them any more thought, my old habits resurfacing in my discouraged state, and at the look the blonde woman behind the bar was giving me, I wished I could stuff them right back in and leave right now.

"I work here," she deadpanned, not even looking the slightest bit amused.

That's it. Without caring anymore for my ego, I let my head hit the counter with a thump.

"Rough day?" She sounded only marginally friendlier now.

"You could say that," I muttered to the stain that was right under my nose.

She laughed, and I looked up in surprise, and feeling slightly wary. A girl laughing? In my company?

"You know what?" She smiled. "It's been a boring day, you're amusing, so here's the deal: coffee is on the house if you tell me your story. What do you say?"

I managed to scoop in the words 'A date?' before they were uttered and so the situation was not utterly ruined. Instead, I nodded and made myself comfortable on a barstool.

And so I told her my story. I told her everything. From Ash and Misty and my plan to our apparent problems with planes and Lucy's boyfriend and everything in between – occasionally I would sip from my coffee to keep my throat from going dry or the girl would turn away for a few minutes to tend to other customers, but fortunately it was a quiet day and I was able to talk quite uninterrupted.

After two cups of coffee, one muffin and a full hour, my tale was finished.

"Well." The dirty blonde leaned against her side of the counter, one corner of her mouth turned up in a thoughtful smile. "That's quite a situation."

"Tell me about it." I sighed dramatically. Somewhere in the back of my mind, an old, familiar presence said that this girl would be perfect, wonderful, that it was great that I had been able to keep her interested for so long-

I couldn't care less about it.

The woman, no matter how pretty and nice and interesting she was, was no longer romantically interesting to me – and it was scary, because it never took me so long to get over a rejection. I had often claimed that I had suffered from many a broken heart, but never this bad.

Maybe my heart was broken beyond repair. That was a sad thought.

"I think you interpreted it all wrong."

The woman's voice pulled me out of my depressing thoughts, and I gaped dumbly at her.

"I... what?" That statement of hers bore repeating.

"I said, you interpreted it all wrong," she repeated, before shrugging. "At least, I think so."

Me, wrong? Interpreting something wrong? A laughable notion, the odds of that happening being practically nonexistent-

"The situation with Lucy," she clarified when I continued to stare dumbly at her. "I think you gave up too easily. Who said that guy was her boyfriend? For all you know, it could be a friend, brother, cousin- who knows?"

And once again, I had no intelligent reply and continued gaping at her. My brain was short-circuiting.

"Brock...?" She gave me an uncertain look, but my mind was still blank. This was wonderful, earthshattering, and if she was right, if she was right, if I still had a chance with Lucy-

"Eee..."

"...I have no idea what you just said." She looked slightly weirded out now, and I couldn't blame her.

Unable to control myself any longer, I lunged forward and grabbed her hands, the glass she had been holding shattering on the floor. "You really think so?" I asked, my voice an excited whisper. "You think I still have a chance? You really think so?!"

"Er... yeah, sure." She awkwardly tried to free her hands out of my grip, and I quickly let her go, though I couldn't manage to feel any embarrassment about the situation.

"Like I said, you can't know for sure, you shouldn't make any assumptions. And from what you told me, about your first meeting with this Lucy... It seemed to me that she liked you. Of course, it's been a while, so you couldn't know for sure if she still feels the same. But just going off previous rejections and experiences and assumptions without a solid base seems stupid to me."

Once again, I was speechless. Then, I jumped forward, pulled the woman practically over the counter and gave her a big hug. She squeaked and tried to push me off, and I released her just as quickly.

"Thank you!" I yelled, threw way too much money on the counter – dammit, I should've given her that bouquet – and then practically sprinted out of the establishment.

It wasn't until I was out of breath and adrenaline that common sense finally kicked in. I didn't know where Lucy was, so sprinting through the city would accomplish very little besides the promise of aching muscles come tomorrow. I slowed down, back to a normal pace, before my steps grew more uncertain when I realized I didn't recognize this part of the city.

Panic set in, momentarily, adrenaline still rushing through me as I quickly surveyed my environment. It was a lot quieter here than the part I had come from, only the occasional car passing by, and on the other sidewalk was a man walking with two Poochyena. He nodded at me, friendly and completely harmless, and I gave him a stiff nod back as relief flooded through me.

With my luck, I would've been totally unsurprised to end up in a shady area of the city, and then probably have an unfortunate run-in with Team Rocket, barely escaping – or not escaping at all, and Ash and the others coming to my rescue. Those things tended to happen when one travelled with Ash Ketchum.

I shook myself from my thoughts, and logic made me turn around, my mind set on retracing my footsteps back to a familiar place again. Considering that running around the city wasn't the best of a plan, I tried to think of one with a higher chance of success. My first step of action was clear: going back to the Maple's, and I would go from there. Maybe I could visit her in at her Battle Pike, or perhaps- Norman was a Gym Leader, he might have the phone numbers or e-mail addresses or something of the Frontier Brains. Even though I wouldn't have any idea what to say to her, it was a start.

Surprisingly, I managed not to get any more lost, though that was mostly due to luck than my own skills. Still, as I abruptly stopped and hid behind the convenient corner of a gray building, I would daresay that it was fate that I ran into these two right now. Because, no more than a few meters further, were Drew and May.

And honestly, they seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Not like that, you perverts! Geez…

Quickly and inconspicuously, I followed them. They were walking next to each, each an ice-cream in one hand – and, making me inwardly squeal – the hands that were not preoccupied with holding the ice-cream were occasionally and perhaps not-completely-accidentally brushing each other.

May appeared to ask something, and after giving her a look I couldn't decipher from my distance, Drew shrugged and he handed her his ice-cream. May licked it a few times, a thoughtful look on her face and saying something as she handed the cone back to Drew. He stared at it for a moment, before lightly shrugging and taking another lick.

May had licked his ice-cream. He had let her. He had then continued to eat his own ice-cream. They had shared an ice-cream.

Take a moment to let the implications of that sink in. Drew's spit was on that ice-cream. May had licked it. Drew had licked it again.

They had swapped spit.

That was practically kissing. That was kissing, kissing, I tell you-

I stopped mid-rant. For one, calling it kissing was an exaggeration, and a pretty huge one at that. And secondly, this could be disastrous for my plan with Misty and Ash- scratch that, it would definitely be disastrous.

But yet, as I continued to follow them, and watched how cute and couple-y they were without even being a couple, I couldn't get myself to try and break them up. I had already decided that they were my clients as well, so I couldn't sacrifice their relationship for someone else's, not even when those someones were Ash and Misty.

I recognized the area as being close to the Maple's residence, and so I stopped walking, to not raise suspicions by turning up mere moments after May and Drew.

This was going to be difficult, I realized, as I turned the current situation over and over in my mind, trying to look at it from different angles and still coming up with nothing. After several more minutes of waiting and thinking – still having nothing to show for – I sighed and continued on my way to the house.

I would have to trust my luck, I concluded. So far, everything had been going well, everything had panned out the way it should, no matter how bad the circumstances had seemed- Faith had been on my side, and I could only hope it would continue to be.

Besides, I was Brock the Rock, former Gym Leader of Pewter City, Pokémon doctor in training, matchmaker extraordinaire – I could do this.

And if not, I could always improvise. That tended to turn out quite well, too.

I opened the door, immediately met by the smell of dinner and the sounds of squabbling and friendly conversation. I paused, taking a moment to recognize the voices and the situation, and whether my interference was going to be needed.

It appeared that Drew and May were the ones squabbling, but nothing too serious, and Max and Ash were the ones with the friendly conversation. And if Ash was here, that must mean that Misty was back, too.

After closing the door behind me, I continued further in the house, and found Misty setting the table. Mrs. Maple was busy cooking and humming a tune, and I guessed that Norman was busying himself in the Gym.

"Need a hand?" I offered Misty, already opening some cupboards in search of the plates. She hummed something in response, and as I handed her the plates, I asked in a low voice: "So... How did the 'Psyduck training' go?" The suggestive smirk playing on my lips made it very clear what I had really asked.

She shot me a light glare and took the plates out of my hands with more force than needed, but I could see her slight smile. "Rubbish. Psyduck still can't do anything."

"That was to be expected," I commented, and she grinned somewhat. "And Ash?"

"He still can't do anything, either." The grin fell from her face, her eyebrows furrowing together slightly. "He's as romantic as a rock."

"Well, you knew what you were signing up for," I said, shrugging and giving her a good-natured grin.

Misty was quiet for a moment, her movements of placing the forks in their right spots slowing down. "It went well," she decided, a small but genuine smile on her face.

I smiled widely, but didn't comment anymore. Went well was good enough for now.

Dinner itself was a quiet and calm affair, probably due to the parental authority both Caroline and Norman seemed to emit. There were hardly any teasing remarks from Max, Drew was not trying to rile up May, and Ash and Misty had toned down their arguing as well.

I should've known the peace wouldn't last. Though, honestly, it lasted longer than I had expected. After dinner and cleaning up, the six of us hung out together, the atmosphere relaxed and friendly. Just old friends talking catching up on the present, reminiscing old times, and thinking of the future.

And then Max went to bed.

I felt it straight away, the descent of the atmosphere from relaxed to tense. I saw it in May's fake, wide smile as she talked to Ash, in Misty's slight frown and the tightening of her fists, in the careful blank mask that Drew put on-

I really should've seen it coming. I had seen it coming. I just never expected it would be tonight, this very day, so fast, so soon… Though, if I was completely honest, I was already quite surprised that my plan had worked for so long without exploding in my face.

And now the moment was here. I swallowed heavily, and I realized that I was going to need all my wits for this one. That, and a whole load of luck.

Because, Brocko, this situation was going to explode.

A/N: Thank you for reading! As Brock so aptly put it, the situation is going to explode. The big climax next chapter, guys! :D After that just one more, and then this huge story is finally done. Anyway, if you haven't voted on my poll yet, it would be very appreciated, and of course reviews are always lovely and very motivating XD

Thank you!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Exchange Of A Rose by Cheeno. FFN. A really sweet and beautifully written drabble. Quite poetic, too. And if the title didn't already give you a hint, it's ContestShipping in all its glory. Go give it a look :)

Pokémon: Castles and Bricks by mad-dog13. FFN. Quite different than some of the other stories, with a light and humorous take on what could be some really serious and dark issues. It's mostly friendship focused, but there will definitely be some shipping as well. Misty needs new roommates, and ends up with the homeless Iris, the rich Dawn whose sources of her money are shady, the runaway bride May, and the young and pregnant Serena. Poke, Contest, Ikari, Wishful and Geekchic. An in-progress multi-chapter and definitely worth a read.

Harry Potter: Of Ferrets and Weasels by ink-stained dreams. FFN. A hilarious one-shot about Rose and Scorpius, and the scene we all look forward to in stories involving them: their family finding out. The conversations between Ron and Hermione and Draco and Astoria are great. It's not that long, so go give it a read!

If you have any stories you want to recommend, don't hesitate to let me know