It had been weeks since the incident with Nuzleaf, and Brock hadn't seen Croagunk since then. He felt worried, and anxious, and just a little bit guilty. He knew he'd made the right choice, to protect Nuzleaf from Team Rocket, but he also knew that he'd messed up.
It had been a terrible situation, and Brock still couldn't believe that Team Rocket could stoop so low. They'd made him choose between Croagunk and Nuzleaf, and no matter what he'd chosen he would have felt terrible.
He knew that he and his friends would have been able to stop Team Rocket and save the pokémon. That hadn't been the problem. The biggest threat was the breaking of trust. If Brock handed Nuzleaf over to Team Rocket, the poor pokémon would have been betrayed, and it wouldn't have dared to trust people again. They wouldn't have been able to get it home if it couldn't trust them.
But Brock knew that by choosing Nuzleaf, he'd hurt Croagunk. He knew that Croagunk was cautious around people and other pokémon, probably because he'd been hurt before. He trusted Brock though, and he'd betrayed that trust. He'd let the pokémon down, and Brock knew that if he had to, he would have made the same choice over again.
He still felt bad. Croagunk deserved to have somebody that he trusted. Everybody did, and because of Brock, he might be even more cautious to trust anybody.
He wanted to make things right, and he told himself he would the next time he saw Croagunk, but it had been weeks. Had Croagunk given up on him and gone home? Did he even have a home to go to?
Brock had hoped to be that for Croagunk, but he was worried that he had ruined his chance. He'd been pretty upset about the whole thing, and he knew that Ash and Dawn were getting worried about him. They were trying to distract him, and Sudowoodo did his best to cheer him up, but it was hard.
He was going through the motions just a little bit, looking for Croagunk, and getting a little more upset when he didn't see him around. He was trying really hard to not drag the others down. He was supposed to be the responsible one here. He needed to take care of them all, not stress about a pokémon that wasn't even his.
Dawn dragged them to a pokémon dress up contest that she apparently watched every year. It seemed like a fun idea, and for a bit Brock forgot about Croagunk. It was a fun and exciting contest, and when Ash suggested they enter the contest for themselves, they all thought it was a good idea. Not only would it give him something to focus on, but if he won then he would have an egg to take care of. Maybe if he had something new to care for then he could move on from Croagunk.
While Dawn and Ash had to figure out which of their pokémon to choose, Brock only had Sudowoodo to work with. He took a step back and carefully studied his pokémon, trying to think of who he could mimic.
"Croa." Brock froze when he heard the familiar rough croak that he thought he wouldn't hear again. He looked behind him to see Croagunk watching him from around the corner. The moment they made eye contact the pokémon huffed and pulled back, ducking back behind the corner.
"Wait!" Brock called out. He dashed after Croagunk. He hadn't seen the pokémon in weeks, and he had to see that he was okay. Croagunk could go right back to ignoring him, but Brock wanted to at least explain himself. He wanted Croagunk to know that he would never have left him with Team Rocket. Croagunk had every right to feel betrayed, but he needed to understand that he hadn't been in danger. He deserved that much.
Brock rounded the corner and almost tripped over Croagunk. The pokémon had stopped just out of sight. He was tense and seemed nervous. He looked up at Brock, staring at him expectantly. He seemed to be ready to run away at a moment's notice. Brock really hoped it didn't come to that.
He knelt to bring himself closer to Croagunk, though the pokémon just stiffened and made a sound that was a cross between a growl, a croak, and a cough. He was warning him from getting any closer, and even though it hurt Brock tried to respect his wishes. He stilled and made himself hold as still as he could.
"I'm sorry, Croagunk." Brock said quietly. "I never wanted to leave you with Team Rocket. I didn't want to hurt you, I just…I couldn't let Nuzleaf down. Instead I ended up letting you down."
Croagunk was still for a moment before he shook his head. His body relaxed, and Brock calmed down a little himself. Croagunk wasn't mad at him. He was maybe more cautious than before, but he was here, and willing to listen, and it was far more than Brock thought he deserved.
A wild thought came to Brock. One that made him feel foolish and hopeful, and just a touch selfish. He looked at Croagunk. "Hey, I'm sure you already know, but there's a pokémon dress up contest starting soon, and I was thinking of competing. I understand if you're not interested, or if you don't want anything to do with me, but did you want to compete with me?
He was under no delusions. He really didn't think he'd be able to win with serious and stoic Croagunk at his side. The pokémon probably wouldn't enjoy this kind of thing. Brock still didn't know if Croagunk had fun doing anything. The pokémon seemed to like his companionship. Maybe it was conceited to think so, but Brock liked to think that Croagunk would like the contest because it was something that the two of them could do together.
Brock knew that he would definitely enjoy it more.
Croagunk seemed to be debating it for a long moment before he held out his hand. For a second Brock thought that the pokémon was getting ready to hit him for daring to suggest something like this. It took him a moment to understand that Croagunk was offering his hand for Brock to take. He was offering to let himself be led.
Brock smiled to himself and stood up. He took Croagunk's hand and started to lead him back down the hall where the others were. Ash and Dawn were looking at them curiously, but they beamed when they saw Croagunk.
"Hey, look who it is." Ash laughed.
"You found him." Dawn said, and she sounded genuinely happy about it, even though Brock knew that she had thought that Croagunk was a little creepy. She was stil happy because she knew that it made Brock happy.
"Croagunk's going to help me compete today." Brock smiled down at Croagunk. "Right?"
The pokémon huffed and looked to the side, but he didn't let go of Brock's arm. Croagunk was embarrassed, but willing. Brock felt honored. He looked at his sudowoodo.
"Do you mind if I work with Croagunk for this?" Brock asked. There was a brief flash of disappointment in Sudowoodo's eyes, but he just smiled and saluted. Brock appreciated his pokémon's sacrifice. He'd make it up to him later.
"Thank you." Brock said. He looked at Croagunk. "Now, to figure out what to dress you as."
Dawn came closer and crouched to get a better look at Croagunk. "You know, even though they call it a dress-up contest, it's far more than that. They don't just judge looks, but vocals and behavior too. You can't just put on a costume."
"You have to act the part too." Brock muttered to himself. Croagunk looked up at him. "We can't really have you sound like any other pokémon, so it's all about the looks and behavior."
Ash was scrolling through his pokédex, looking at options. "You could probably nail the look if we pick a pokémon that has the same body type as Croagunk. Maybe we can find a pokémon that acts a very specific way that anybody could recognize, and is easy to copy.
They didn't have a long time to get ready. They continued to the backstage area to sign up for the contest. There were all kinds of fabric and fur/skin/scale safe paints to dress pokémon up with. They all signed up, and then Dawn took Piplup to get ready while Ash helped Brock brainstorm. It really was harder than it looked.
There were plenty of options, but Brock thought that Croagunk wouldn't appreciate things that were too frilly, busy, or embarrassing. If the pokémon was going to be tolerating this for him, the least Brock could do was make it as painless as possible.
"What do you think, Croagunk?" Brock asked. Croagunk thought for a moment before he croaked and clapped his hands together. Over and over again. Brock felt a little lost, but Ash smiled in recognition.
"Wait a second, I think I know what you're doing." Ash said. He went through his pokédex and pulled up an entry. He showed it to Brock. "What about politoed?"
It was something they'd barely considered. It was an option, of course. Brock was just worried that it was far too simple to be taken seriously. He really didn't think it would let them win. However, while it would be nice to get the egg, doing this contest with Croagunk was about spending some time with him. If Croagunk wanted to do politoed, then politoed was what they would do.
"That could work." Brock said slowly. "Let's get you all dressed up."
It was fortunate that politoed was a simple enough looking pokémon, because they were running out of time. Dawn could probably do this in no time at all, but Croagunk would only let Brock near him with the paints. He had worried that the pokémon would be bothered by the feeling of having paint all over his body, especially for so long, but Croagunk didn't seem to mind it. In fact, he almost seemed to like it. Brock wondered if it was because Croagunk was a pokémon native to the swamp. He was built for moisture.
While Brock got Croagunk all painted up, Dawn talked to Piplup, Pikachu, and Croagunk about how to stay in character. Brock didn't really understand all of this, but Croagunk seemed to get the message loud and clear. If anything, he understood the point too well. As soon as Brock stepped back from the painting, Croagunk started clapping his hands together again, Croaking repeatedly as though to imitate a politoed.
At first Brock thought that he was just practicing and getting a feel for it, but Croagunk didn't stop. He just kept on clapping, going on and on. He was told to stay in character, and he was going for it, even before the contest started.
Croagunk was putting work into it, and Brock appreciated it more than he could express, but he knew that there were people who wouldn't look past the simplicity. He was worried that Croagunk's hard work wasn't just going to be underappreciated, but also judged unfairly.
He felt like what he had with Croagunk right now was sensitive, and he didn't want a contest to ruin that. This might be judgement for fun, and it wasn't at all malicious, but Brock knew that Croagunk had faced judgement in real life. Would he even be able to know the difference? Maybe it wasn't very smart to do this contest after all.
Before Brock could think of dropping out, it was announced that the contest was beginning. They were randomly assigned an order for presentation. Everybody was getting ready to go on. Brock knelt in front of Croagunk.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Brock asked. "We don't have to if you're not up for it. We can just watch." Croagunk just kept on croaking and clapping. Brock gave him an uncomfortable look. "Well, if you're sure. If you don't win though…well, you know I won't be mad, don't you? This is just about having fun. No pressure." Croagunk didn't stop, but there was a flash of acknowledgement in his gaze. Brock knew that was as good as he was going to get.
They were scheduled to go up towards the middle of the group. Brock didn't exactly feel nervous, but he was cautious. He was mentally preparing himself to look for any sign that Croagunk was bothered by any of the judges' comments, and he was trying to think of what he could say to cheer him up.
Then they stepped onto the stage, and it went far better than Brock had thought. The crowd was excited by Croagunk's performance, and they won over all three of the judges. Not only were they not doing bad, they were doing downright well. There was no guarantee that it would be enough to get them into the final round, let alone wind, but Brock was still impressed.
When they returned backstage they watched the remaining competitors. Brock really wanted to see how Ash and Dawn did. He was so busy watching the television in the waiting room that he barely noticed that Croagunk was still croaking and clapping.
When the first round ended all of the competitors with a full score returned backstage to wait for an additional word about who would move onto the final round. Only five of them would move on.
Brock was sure that he and Croagunk would be thanked for participating, and their efforts would be commended, but they'd ultimately be let go. He didn't even consider the possibility that they'd get to the finals, so when they were told that they were moving on, he was completely stunned. He was sure he'd heard it wrong.
Croagunk's disguise wasn't that impressive. His impersonation was okay, but nothing to write home about. Why did the judges think this was something amazing? Obviously they saw something in Croagunk's performance that he didn't.
"Brock, we're in the finals." Ash said cheerfully as he came to join him. "One of us could win this."
"You probably could." Brock crossed his arms and looked at Croagunk, who was still clapping and continuing his impersonation. "I don't really know how we got this far." It was't that he thought that Croagunk wasn't capable of putting on a good performance, it just really didn't seem like something he would want to do.
He'd been surprised that Croagunk had been willing to participate in the first place. Brock had expected a very casual performance, and he'd been fine with that. And now they were up for winning.
It was nice that they got into the finals, but when all of them stood on the stage Brock noticed that the others could all provide variety of some kind to their acts. They could give the audience something new. Croagunk's performance was the same as before. Surely this was as far as they went.
Maybe it would have been, but then the whole competition went south. Team Rocket struck, because they couldn't seem to refrain from causing trouble. When Brock saw that they stole the pokémon egg, he'd thought that his heart had about stopped. He forgot about the competition, and for a moment he forgot about Croagunk. Savig the egg from ending up in Team Rocket's clutches was all that mattered.
Of course, they got the egg back, and with that interruption out of the way, the contest resumed, now with three finalists instead of five. Brock was flabbergasted about this whole experience. He'd worried about Croagunk getting overwhelmed with this situation, and yet here he was, getting overwhelmed himself.
Croagunk on the other hand seemed to be doing just fine. He was still clapping and playing the part. Maybe that meant that he was having fun. Brock hoped that was the case. Croagunk needed more fun in his life.
A sad thought came to him. Brock knew that a lot of people were cautious, or even afraid, around Croagunk. He wasn't the cutest pokémon in the world, and he'd been given a hard time because of it. During his performance though, the audience loved him, and so did the judges. Croagunk was being recognized and appreciated for how he looked, rather than feared. What if he only liked dressing up because he could pretend he was somebody else?
Croagunk shouldn't have to be a completely new pokémon just to be liked. He deserved better than that.
Brock really wasn't enjoying this contest as much as he hoped he would. He was ready for them to announce that Pikachu or the chatot were the winner, and then they could move on. And then they announced Croagunk's name, and Brock was too stunned to be excited. They…they'd won. Him and Croagunk? With their costume that couldn't be any simpler? How?
Turns out the judges had been impressed with Croagunk's dedication to staying in character. Brock had just thought that the pokémon hadn't really understood the rules of the contest, or that this clapping thing was a new fixation for Croagunk, like looking at his reflection. Had he just been putting on a show?
It shouldn't be surprising, as that was the whole point of this contest, but Brock was still bemused. Why did Croagunk care so much about a contest that he would put so much dedication into it? Would he also enjoy pokémon contests?
Even when Brock had the egg in his arms, he still couldn't believe that they'd won. He wondered if Croagunk even understood that the contest was over, because he was still going. It was only when they were outside and Brock carefully took the egg out of the incubator did Croagunk stop clapping.
Brock had just meant to look over the egg and make sure it was good, and that the incubator was at a good temperature for nurturing the egg. He hadn't wanted to keep the egg out in the open for long, but he saw Croagung watching him curiously.
Brock smiled and knelt on the ground, bringing the egg closer for Croagunk to see. "Do you want to hold it?"
Croagunk looked at the egg, and then up at Brock. He looked cautious. Brock smiled reassuringly.
"It's okay." Brock said. "You'll do fine. And I have this egg all thanks to you. It's just fair that you see it." Croagunk took a small step forward, though he still looked nervous. Brock sat on the ground and patted his lap. "We can do it together."
Croagunk didn't look any less nervous, but he came up to Brock and, with one more look at him, sat down between his legs. Brock gently rested the egg on Croagunk's lap. "You can touch it." Brock said. He rubbed the egg gently. "See? Just like this."
Croagunk lifted his hand and stroked the egg like he was petting it. Brock smiled to himself, feeling perfectly content and at ease. He could sit here with the egg and Croagunk forever.
"Wow, it's a real pokémon egg." Dawn crouched down to see it better. "That's so cool!" She smiled at Croagunk and patted his head. "You did so good out there."
"You definitely deserve the win." Ash said, even though he had looked just as stunned as Brock did when the winner had been announced.
"I'm sorry for doubting you." Brock said. Croagunk fidgetted slightly. He seemed to be uncomfortable with the positive attention. He wasn't used to this kind of thing. "Here. Why don't we get you cleaned up?" He lifted the egg and offered it to Dawn. She held it almost reverently, like she was holding the most precious thing in the world.
Brock stood up and took Croagunk's hand. "Can you guys watch the egg for a minute? I'll put it back in the incubator when we get back."
"Yeah, we've got this." Ash said. "Go take care of your Croagunk."
Brock felt something warm inside of him when he heard his friend refer to Croagunk as his. He knew that he wasn't actually his pokémon, but he would love for him to be. Maybe now he could actually ask about that.
Brock brought Croagunk to the back of the building, near backstage, where they had applied the paint in the first place. There were hoses and buckets back here where they could clean off the paint.
Brock started by just hosing him off, keeping the water pressure low. It was a fast way to get rid of most of the paint, but he only dared to do it this way because he knew that Croagunk liked being wet.
Croagunk croaked constantly, looking like he was basking happily in the water. He ducked his head and ducked around to get as much of him wet as possible. Croagunk even swiped at the water to splash some t Brock, getting him wet.
"Hey!" Brock laughed. He increased the water pressure. Croagunk just looked happier about it. He used the hose for a few minutes before he shut the water off. He'd hosed off as much paint as he thought he could. The rest needed to be brushed off by hand.
"You really like this, don't you?" Brock grabbed a rag and put it in a bucket full of water. He brushed off the paint. "I've never seen you so happy." He paused slightly and looked at Croagunk's face. "You are happy, aren't you?"
Croagunk nodded, and Brock felt a weight lift off his chest. "Good. That's good." Brock pet him. "You know, I've been really worried about you these past few weeks. I couldn't stop thinking about you." Croagunk just looked at him before he glanced to the side, seeming embarrassed. He didn't pull away from Brock though, so hopefully he wasn't upset about what he had said.
"I've been thinking a lot about this, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us. If…if you wanted to be my pokémon." Brock said. Croagunk stiffened, his good mood vanishing in an instant. The warm feeling in Brock's chest froze. He felt like he had overstepped.
"You don't have to. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, I just…" Brock sighed. "Look, I like having you around. I like sitting with you, and I feel like we have a connection. I know you like me too."
Croagunk flinched and pulled away from Brock. He'd gone too fast too quickly. Brock wanted to pull Croagunk into his arms and give him more reassurances, but he didn't think the pokémon would appreciate it. He was overwhelmed. Maybe he just needed some time.
"Just think about it, okay?" Brock said. "And if you don't want this, that's okay, we can just keep going like this." Croagunk was still for a long moment before he nodded and started to walk away. He wasn't completely clean, but Brock knew he wouldn't tolerate more gentle brushing.
Croagunk clearly wasn't ready to be Brock's pokémon, and maybe he never would be, but he hoped that the nod meant that he would see him again. Croagunk would be back. He just needed some space and time, and Brock could give that to him. He could be patient, even if watching Croagunk walk away from him made his chest hurt and his throat tighten.
Brock watched Croagunk leave for a long moment before he sighed and made his way back to his friends. He had an egg to take care of.