A/N: *takes a deep breath* This is it, guys. Exactly three years ago, I published the first chapter, and today, I'm finally posting the last one. I still can't really believe it. Anyway, I'll keep it short up here, I just wanted to give you my apologies about the delay in posting this last chapter, and the lack of replies to PMs and reviews, I'll get to it soon. And of course, I want to express my immense gratitude to all of you, everyone who has read this story, who has followed and favorited it, and who has taken the time to leave a review. Without all this support I wouldn't have been able to do it.

And now, without further ado, I give you the final chapter of Leave It To Brocko!

To Guest: It has indeed! And well, Brock does have some experience fleeing from Misty, so perhaps he'll manage. Thank you so very much for your support!

To Crazy Chick: Thank you so much! It makes me very happy to hear that :D I hope you enjoy this last chapter as well :)

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

Leave It To Brocko

Chapter 36

Surprisingly enough, Hoenn had been... fun.

There had been no rampaging Legendaries. No world-threatening scenarios. No Ash-jumping-headfirst-in-dangerous-situations-without-thinking-about-it.

And that was nice, you know, for a change.

Yes, I admit, a plane crash, almost drowning in quicksand, falling in a pitfall, and getting your Pokémon stolen – multiple times – isn't something that most people would describe as a relaxing holiday.

And well, it really hadn't been relaxing, to be honest. But it definitely had been rewarding, that's for sure.

I sank a bit further in my comfortable plane chair. And before you ask, yes, we had boarded the right plane. I was one hundred percent sure.

With a smile, I glanced to my right. Ash was sitting the closest to the window, Pikachu on his lap. The teenager was a bit more tense than usual, but this was due to the redheaded girl who sat between us, and who had decided to fall asleep with her head on his shoulder. I bit back my grin when Ash caught my eye, and instead just gave him a small smile.

They were truly an adorable sight. But don't tell Misty I said that; I've had more than enough experience with that mallet to last the rest of my life.

With a slight shudder, I remembered that night in which she had chased me for an hour – a whole freaking hour! – through the city with that mallet of hers. It was only when Misty had run out of fury and energy that I had finally been able to properly apologize without being afraid of my lights getting knocked out immediately.

My muscles had ached for days.

And although Misty was the person to hold grudges, it appeared that her newfound relationship with Ash had softened her considerably. There had been a few threatening glares here and there, but after I had cooked Misty her favorite meal, it seemed that most hard feelings had been forgotten.

Besides, it seemed to be a small price to pay for my matchmaking success that night, because not only Ash and Misty had kissed, Drew and May had also gotten quite a bit closer.

Like, seriously, a lot closer. Drew had finally seemed to shove all his reservations aside and had asked May out on a date, to which she – not surprising anyone but Drew (well, okay, perhaps Ash as well) – had said yes.

What did surprise everyone was that Ash had also asked Misty out without any hesitation. Guess that boy had picked up on some of my tips anyway.

Obviously, May and Drew's date had gone splendid. Drew was a true gentleman and very well versed in the art of romance, therefore he had presented May with flowers, had offered her his jacket, had held open doors for her, had reserved a table for two in a fancy restaurant, had paid the bill and then had walked her home.

Well, considering he had been staying at her home, it was only natural that he had walked with her, but I was pretty sure he would've done it in any other situation as well.

Ash and Misty's date… well, Ash had tried, and it is the thought that counts, after all. Besides, Misty had known what she was getting into.

Suffice to say that they had been kicked out of the restaurant, and upon their return to the Maple's, both had been soaking wet and wearing huge smiles on their faces.

Perhaps not quite a dream date, but definitely a success.

With my retirement as a matchmaker came a lot of spare time, and I had spent it wisely.

Not thinking about Lucy or anything, you know. Not at all. It's not like I had chickened out on trying to contact her. Absolutely not. Why would you think a ridiculous thing like that?

Nope, I had been very busy, way too busy, that's the reason Lucy hadn't fallen at my feet yet. Yes, that's it, I had been busy.

I… had gone sightseeing, yes, I had done that. And battling, and taking care of my Pokémon, I had done that a lot too. And basking in my matchmaking success- er, the sun on the beach. Oh, and quite importantly, I had also found some opportunities to check up on my old clients.

Does that distract you enough from asking about Lu- I mean, I'll continue with my story.

It had been quite hard to figure out at which Pokémon Centers each of them had been staying, but with modern technology and a fair share of dumb luck I had managed to get in contact with everyone.

Besides, Ash had unwittingly helped quite a bit as well. I had walked in on his conversation with Cilan and Iris quite per accident, but neither of them had minded when I joined Ash to listen to their stories. From what I had gathered, they had decided to continue travelling together for a bit, and when the conversation was nearing its end, I had quickly jumped in with an innocent request about some sort of recipe.

It was due to my amazing acting skills and perhaps a little bit of luck that both Ash and Iris decided that the conversation was too boring for them, and after some goodbyes, Cilan and I had been left alone.

Perfect.

I hadn't wasted any time and jumped right in.

"So," I said, a sly grin on my face. "Now how exactly are you two doing?"

A blush crept on his face, but nonetheless Cilan beamed in response.

"We are doing very well." His voice was as calm and collected as always, but with my awesome people skills I quickly detected the thrilled undertone.

"And…?"

Though still blushing, he jutted out his chin in pride, and with a wide grin he declared, "Iris and I are officially engaged in a romantic relationship."

If it had been anyone but Cilan, I undoubtedly would have fainted the moment he said the word 'engaged', but I knew Cilan liked to speak fancy.

I congratulated him, and feeling both proud of myself and of my clients. We made some more small talk, about Ash and Misty, and Leaf and Gary, and about Team Rocket's new attitude. Cilan agreed with me on my wariness, but only time would tell.

When we had said our goodbyes, I had spent the rest of the day feeling very accomplished and satisfied.

Another matchmaking success for Brock the Rock.

Gary and Leaf had been more difficult to contact, but as luck would have it, it all turned out for the better. Both had texted Ash with different information; the one said one number, the other had messaged a completely different number.

So of course it wasn't my fault I had accidentally messed up the numbers and called a completely different Pokémon Center altogether.

I'd like to call that fate.

It took longer than normal before someone picked up, and when it finally happened, I was met by a hesitant male voice, "Uh... yeah, hello...?"

The screen flickered on a moment later, revealing a lavender-haired man staring at the receiver in expectant confusion.

A very familiar lavender-haired man.

"James!" From somewhere else in the room, a woman's voice called, and the man turned around. "Don't pick up the phone! What if it's the cops?!"

"But Jessie..." the man said, talking over his shoulder and still not looking at the screen. "We didn't do anything wrong anymore, and I just wanted to help..."

"This good guy thing is getting to your head-" On the screen, I saw a magenta-haired woman appearing, and she promptly fell silent upon recognizing me.

James turned back to screen in confusion, and a deafening thump came through as he dropped the receiver. "It's the twerp!" He disappeared from view momentarily, before coming back up with the receiver.

"Hey," I had said, pretending not be horribly shocked by suddenly coming face-to-face with them, and instead grinning at their antics.

"Hello twerp…" Jessie was the first one to get over the shock, but she sounded more wary than friendly when she greeted me. "What-"

"No, not twerp," James interrupted her, before faltering as he tried to remember my name.

After several silent moments in which the former Team Rocket members racked their brains trying to remember my name and in which I did my best not to feel offended by this, I decided to step in and prevent this moment from getting more awkward. "Brock."

"Brock, that's right!" James snapped with his fingers as if just remembering it, and Jessie nodded in serious agreement.

"We knew that," she declared.

I decided to let it pass, in favor of continuing the conversation, only to realize that I didn't have any idea what exactly I wanted to say.

The two on the other side seemed to come to the same conclusion, but fortunately, we were then interrupted by the third member of the trio.

"Hey, it's the tall twerp!" Meowth called in greeting, and at that, Jessie hit him lightly on the head.

"It's Brock now, remember?"

"Ow yeah…" The Pokémon rubbed the sore spot on his head melodramatically.

"Sooo…" Jessie stretched the word, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you calling for?"

Deciding to make the best of the situation, I put on my best cheery smile. "Just calling to check up on you guys… How are you guys doing?"

And so the conversation had started. Though Jessie had continued to be wary, James had had no such qualms and enthusiastically told me about a house in Johto, with adjacent restaurant and small office, they had decided to buy. Using the money Meowth had honestly earned as a Pokémon translator – a plan they had thought up all by themselves, they had declared proudly – the three of them were planning on reopening the restaurant and setting up a business for Meowth.

And somewhere along the line, I had somehow ended up promising that I would come visit them once they had opened it, and that they could contact me in the Pewter Gym.

Yeah, I know, crazy.

After that occurrence, the conversation with Gary and Leaf had been decidedly less spectacular. Although we had agreed that I would get Ash and Misty as soon as I had made contact, I hadn't been able to resist having a short private talk first.

Gary had picked up, and the arrogant smirk he met me with should have told me enough.

"So... how's it going?" I asked him after the initial greetings. I didn't need to specify what I meant with it.

"Extremely smooth," he boasted. "She fell at my feet in no time." At moments like this, the bratty trainer he had been in my early days with Ash shone through, and I remembered that no matter how mature he thought he might be, he was still a teenager.

But despite his cool demeanor, his happiness was obvious.

"Well, I'm very glad to hear that," I told him, somewhat distractedly as I noticed Leaf appeared behind. I desperately tried to keep a straight face, because if Leaf's facial expression was anything to go by, she had heard Gary's last words. "I wish you luck with her, I don't think she'll be an easy one."

She gave me a small grin in recognition, before continuing to sneak up on Gary.

Gary was still not noticing anything, and instead smirked. "I like a challenge-"

"Oooh Garebear..." Leaf interrupted in a singsong voice, and Gary visibly jumped. "Whatcha talking about, hm?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing." The boy quickly backed down, sweating slightly. "Brock was just about to get Ash and Misty."

A good escape, and for his sake I played along. Wordlessly, I offered Leaf a grin, too busy keeping in my laughter to actually greet her, and then left to find Ash and Misty.

Even though it had been several days ago, I still had to chuckle at the memory of Gary's expression, and drew Ash's attention away from the window. I shook my head to indicate it wasn't anything important, and if Misty hadn't fallen asleep on his shoulder, he probably would've shrugged. Now Ash just gave me a half-smile before turning back to the window.

Dawn had called a few days before we left. It was good that she had done so, because with Paul's travelling habits, they were on the road quite a bit. Against my initial expectations, Dawn hadn't seemed to mind that much.

"He leaves enough time for training for him and practicing for me, so it's okay." The girl shrugged, before frowning in concern. "Though it is a little exhausting for the little Bun-Bun."

"Bun-Bun?" I asked, already expecting what she was going to answer.

"Look!" Dawn turned around and bended down, disappearing from view, before coming up again with a smaller-than-usual Buneary.

May, expectedly, squealed loudly, and even Misty couldn't help herself. "Awww, so cute!"

The baby Buneary had grown quite a bit, but I had to agree with the girls: the Pokémon was indeed adorable.

For obvious reasons, Ash had been worried about how Dawn was handling Paul and his… attitude… and I had shared his concerns to some extent. But upon seeing her and hearing her enthusiast stories – in a whisper she confided to us that Paul had promised to come watch her upcoming Contest – it became clear that she was handling him very well.

Paul joined the conversation only briefly, answering our questions politely, shortly and to the point. Nonetheless, the fact that he was even having conversation with us – with Ash, with girls he barely knew – showed that progress was indeed being made.

Yes, Dawn was handling Paul very, very well. And she seemed happy doing that. And considering I hadn't heard Paul complaining yet either, I decided that once again, Brocko the matchmaker could add another success to his ever-growing list.

A groan from my right pulled me out of my thoughts, and Misty sat up straight, rubbing a crick out of her neck. "Ugh... Ash, your shoulder is not comfortable," she said, moving her head around in an attempt to loosen the stiff muscles.

"You were the one deciding to sleep on it," Ash shot back good-naturedly.

"You could've warned me." Misty made a show of rubbing her supposedly sore neck.

"You could've logically thought about it..." Ash smiled smugly, but his expression turned to one of mock hurt when Misty playfully hit him. "Ow!"

"I'm your girlfriend, you're not allowed to insult me," said-girlfriend argued, sticking her nose in the air.

"You were insulting my shoulder!"

Both of them glared at each other, before simultaneously breaking out in a grin.

"Awwww, you two are so cute!" I couldn't resist teasing them, and I tried to pinch Misty's cheek. Misty attempted to swat my hand away, but the movement came out uncoordinated due to a sudden tremor that gently shook the plane.

A moment later the please-put-on-your-seatbelts-sign turned on, and with that, the uncomfortable descent began. It took a full five minutes due to the wind, and I couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief when we had finally safely landed.

It would've been typically my luck if our plane crash-landed just when I thought all my troubles were behind me.

"Home sweet home." I smiled, getting up and stretching my stiff limbs.

Ash pumped a fist in the air, and Misty smiled, though I knew she wasn't looking all that much forward to going home, what with Ash going to continue travelling and she staying at her Gym.

Still, I had faith that they would work it out.

The airport in Viridian City was smaller than the one in Cerulean, but its recent renovations made it more of a sight, with its big windows and the huge, dome-like glass ceiling. The sun shone through the colored glass, and we were all distractedly looking up as we made our way to the exit.

"They cleaned up nicely," Ash commented, and Pikachu chu'ed in agreement.

"Absolutely." I was so entranced – was that supposed to look like an Onix or was it just a random pattern? – that I was barely looking where I was going.

And as fate would have it – thank you, fate, your help is always very much appreciated. Not. – I bumped into someone.

I stumbled and my victim almost fell backwards, but was saved by my amazing reflexes as I managed to grab their lower arm and pull them back up.

"Oof, thank you, and I'm so sor-" The woman stopped short, and I finally registered her face.

Thank you, fate! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

"Lucy," I breathed, a giddy smile making its way on my face.

"Brock," she said happily, and I grinned widely at her. Maybe now... but wait, she had that boyfriend- Or not, I wasn't sure, and what did that bartender say again, something about not making assumptions…

"Brock, are you okay…?" Lucy's voice brought me back to earth and I realized I had been staring at her without saying anything.

"Oh, uh, sorry…" I'm an idiot. "I mean, I'm sorry I bumped into you again, it's my fault, I wasn't paying attention," I fervently apologized, but my mouth ran dry when Lucy smiled sweetly at me.

"It's not a problem, I was, uh… Well, to be honest, I was actually kinda hoping I would well, 'bump in you again,'" she said, averting her eyes and grinning sheepishly.

I ignored Misty's roll of her eyes, instead keeping my attention on Lucy – as if that was hard – and stuttered out, "You- you did?"

"Yes," she said, a blush creeping on her face. Then she perked up, as if remembering something. "Oh! I'm really sorry about my brother back in Hoenn. We were in a rush, we had to prepare my grandmother's birthday dinner and we were running late-"

I didn't hear the rest of her explanation anymore. Her brother. Of course it had been her brother. I should've had more faith really-

But now was not the time to think about the past. Now was the time to do something about the future.

"Lucy," I interrupted her in my enthusiasm. With the least desperate look I could muster up, I asked, "Would you please do me the honor of going on a date with me sometime?"

To everyone's surprise – including mine – Lucy's blush intensified and she clasped her hands together in front of her face, hiding her shy smile. Misty, who had already been moving in to pull me away on my ear, stopped short at Lucy's reaction.

"Well, Brock," she said after a moment of gathering herself again, though still blushing and smiling. Oh Arceus, she was so beautiful. "That would be wonderful."

"It would?" Misty voiced my thoughts, and Ash's jaw dropped to the ground. Nice to see they had so much faith in me.

Lucy looked at them strangely, before turning back to me, nodding and smiling brightly. I was never going to grow tired of that smile. "Here, I'll give you my number and then you can give me a call sometime, okay?"

I nodded dumbly, still too dazed to respond. She had said yes. Lucy had said yes.

Yes yes yes yes yes!

She rummaged in her bag, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, and after some scribbling, handed me that wonderful little piece of paper.

"I'll see you later, Brock." With another smile and a timid wave, she turned around to leave.

"...Bye," I finally managed to say something, a huge grin on my face as I watched her walk away, and clutching the piece of paper to my chest.

The world had seemed to stop as I stood rooted to the spot, my mind replaying these last few moments over and over again, realization ever so slowly setting in as happiness threatened to make me burst.

I vaguely noticed Misty waving her hand a few times in front of my eyes, but I didn't react. I had better things to do. Like think of Lucy.

Lucy...

Half-aware, I felt how Misty and Ash both grabbed my hands and started to pull me with them to the exit, and I probably looked like an idiot, but I really didn't care.

Because, Brocko... I had a date.

A/N: And… that's it. My very first fanfiction story, finished. I cannot stress enough that I wouldn't have been able to do this without the immense support I've received from everyone here. When I started, I had never expected this story to grow into something like this. Over 300 reviews, more than 100 follows and favorites, and over 30,000 hits – I definitely hadn't expected this. Neither had I expected that this story would have more than 35 chapters and cross the 100,000 words mark. Nonetheless, three years, 271 Word pages and 113,963 words later, we're finally here. Undoubtedly I'll go back to this story at some point, clean it up a bit, but for now it's done.

So, everyone, thank you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. It's been a wonderful ride with both ups and downs, and I couldn't have done it without you guys. On that note, this isn't quite the end of this emotional rollercoaster yet. I actually wanted to publish the first chapter of the sequel at the same time as this chapter, but sadly, I haven't been able to manage it. But, there will be a sequel, that's a promise, and I'll have it up as soon as possible. I'll post a notification on this story, an extra chapter, so everyone who has put this story on their alert will get an email.

So… with that, I think it's time for me to wrap it up… Heh, it's really strange, both exciting and sad at the same time… Anyway, I hope you'll join me for the sequel, and hopefully see you soon!

Thank you!

Recommendations:

Pokémon: Pride and Hostility by Cheeno. FFN. A lovely IkariShippy one-shot. Dawn finds an injured Ponyta, whose character reminds her of a certain someone… More friendship than romance, but still worth checking out!

Pokémon: The Theory of Trios by AngelicFairy. FFN. A hilarious one-shot about what the title says: in a mixed trio two members always end up together, and how Brock tries to convince Misty of this. Great PokeShipping story.

Wreck-It Ralph: No Place Like Home by Dixie Darlin. FFN. A sweet, heart wrenching, tear-jerking little one-shot about the heaven for game characters and a certain villain finally going home. Very cute, though perhaps a bit cheesy, but that's not a bad thing XD

Even though this story has ended, I will continue with the recommendations in the sequel, so feel free to send me more!