A/N: This is a story I decided to do because I am having severe writer's block. It's a one shot told in first person by our man Brock. ^_^ He's such a cutie! Anyway, yes, Miroku does make an appearance, but not enough of one to consider this fic a crossover. So i didn't put it in as one. Anyway, there is alot of professor Ivy bashing in this story, so if you like her, I apologize.
Again, I know this is a pokemon fic and you're probably thinking...how can a pokemon possibly be worth reading? Well, I tried to make the characters as mature as possible without making them seem too OOC.
Disclaimer: I don't own, Brock, Miroku, Sango Ash, Misty, Felina Ivy, or any pokemon mentioned in this story. I do however own Sakura, Robert, Ayame, Channing, Pierre and Shiori. ^.^
Ayame Harrison just turned eighteen. I can hardly believe how fast those eighteen years went by. Right before my eyes, my daughter has grown up from a tiny newborn baby in my arms, to a beautiful woman who is now on her way to prom.
My wife helps zip up her dress, and places a crown of synthetic flowers in her pink hair. All morning Ayame has been glancing at the clock, waiting for the 6 P.M., that's when her date is coming and pick her up. It's almost surreal now that I look at it. I'm a thirty-six year old man with a grown daughter, but it seems like just yesterday I was sixteen.
Of course my childhood was much different from Ayame's. She always had everything, Sakura and I did spoil our daughter, and we're doing the same with Keiko, but that's alright. I want her to look back on these days and remember being a teenager. I never really got to because I had a family to take care of.
My childhood was just a huge blur, but there are some things that I remember.
I heard my father come home, slamming the front door shut and making the pictures on the hallway walls shake and bang against the wall. I shuddered. I knew what was happening, my father had a bad day at the Pewter City Gym again, he had probably lost to some novice trainer and that never made my father too happy. Now he was going to take it out on my mother and possibly on us.
I was only ten years old at the time, but I was way beyond my years. I stayed by the rail on the balcony and watched as my father yelled for my mother to come in from the kitchen. Flint Harrison wasn't a man you said no to, especially if you were a woman.
My mother was a small woman. Very fragile, very quiet and she obeyed my father without argument. For the longest time I thought that this was how it was supposed to be, but somehow the fear etched on my mother's face told me otherwise.
She was an old-fashioned type of woman, with short curled brown-hair. She never wore pants, just skirts and she was always in dowdy heels.
"Lola!" My father yelled for her yet again and she finally came out of the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel and looking up at him timidly.
"Flint, you're home early."
"Where's my dinner?" He asked, pushing past her. "Is it done yet?"
"Almost. I got a little held up at the grocery store. Susie's been sick all day and I---"
"My dinner comes first!" He yelled, banging his fist against the wall. "Damn it, Lola. Why don't you put that oldest son of yours to work? He doesn't do anything all day but go to school and take up space."
I knew he was talking about me. My brother, who was only a year younger than I was, cowered behind me, but I didn't. I had to be ready to protect my mother. I thought that it was my duty to protect her from my father.
He had been drinking, I could tell by the way he walked, and when he had been drinking he was always so mean. He was always so angry and quick with everyone. I continued to watch the interaction between my parents, my brother peeked over my shoulder and one of my sister's hung on to my shirt.
They needed me. My mother wasn't strong enough to protect them or herself, but I was.
"Brock helps me all the time!" My mother protested. "He helped me with the spaghetti sauce tonight. He doesn't just lay around, Flint!"
"Don't back talk me!" He yelled, kicking the side of the wall with so much force that a vase fell off a table that was leaning against the wall. It shattered against the hardwood floor and my father cursed. "Fuck it! Clean that up, Lola!"
"But what about dinner?"
"I said clean it up, now!" He yelled at her again, clenching his fist and I immediately sprang to feet. I ran down the stairs and pulled by father's fist down, but just as quickly he swung his arm and I plopped down on the kitchen floor. Pain shot through my tailbone and tears came to my eyes, but I didn't make one sound.
My father always said a boy shouldn't cry after he reaches five years of age. And I didn't. I couldn't remember the last time I cried actually. My mother looked down at me with concern, but I stood up, quickly wiping the tears away from my eyes.
"Brock, are you alright sweety?" She asked me, and I nod. My father was staring down at me, a scowl etched on his face. He looked big and mean and I wanted to cower from him so badly, but I knew I couldn't.
My mother had her arms wrapped around my waist, holding me close to her.
Flint turned away from me. "You want your son to grow up and be gay, Lola? The way you baby him, it'll be a wonder if he doesn't turn out that way."
I saw a tear escape her eye, and I hugged her, very tightly. Her hair was soft and smelled of hairspray. My mother always smelled like perfume, soap and hairspray. It was a scent I had grown to love. She hugged me back and cried into my shoulder.
He sneered down at me and walked towards the staircase. I heard my brother's and sister's scatter for their rooms, but he didn't seem to be too concerned with them. Instead, he went into his own bedroom and my mother let go of me, racing up the stairs to try and stop him.
I followed her. I knew exactly what he was doing. I could hear the zipper of a suitcase, the opening of drawers and my mother crying. "Flint, please…" She said.
"I can't stand living in this hell you call a home." He said, pushing past her. His gaze was focused on me and my knees were shaking. He approached me, I was scared to death of what he might say or do, but I didn't let it show.
"Brock, listen to me." He said, kneeling down until he was eye level with me. "You're the man of house now. Take care of your family, son."
My voice was shaky as I asked him a question. A question I already knew the answer to. "Dad, are you leaving?"
"Yes, and I don't know when I'll be back." He said, I could smell the liquor on his breath and it burned my nostrils. I could feel the tears sting my eyes, threatening to show my father just how weak I really was. My mother was still crying and I could see my younger brother trying to consol her. I knew one day it would come to this.
He patted me on the shoulder and stood up. His heavy boots made loud sounds on the hardwood floor. He slammed the front door again and I realized this was for real. I had an entire family of children to take care of, including my mother.
It was all up to me now.
There is a knock at the door. Ayame panics and wonders if her make up and hair look OK. I simply smile and nod at her. "You look beautiful." I tell her as I twist the knob on our front door.
Five teenagers are standing at my door. Miroku's sister Shiori is standing with her date Pierre, then there is my daughter's boyfriend, Channing ,who I'm actually beginning to like and one boy who I don't recognize who looks like he might be dateless.
I greet Shiori and Pierre who invite themselves in, knowing that Sakura and I don't mind. Ayame's boyfriend bows to me with a smile and asks if he can come in. I, of course let him, thinking that it's funny he's so scared of me. It's not like I'm going to shoot the kid…yet.
I extend my hand outwards towards the boy I don't recognize. He's about Ayame's age, I assume he's a kid from school and he seems extremely shy. He just stares at me for a second before taking my hand. I give him a firm shake and he gives me one back with a smile.
I return to smile and turn to Sakura who is fiddling with her camera. I check my watch. "Sakura, you better hurry up. Their dinner reservations are at Seven o'clock."
"I'm hurrying!" She tells me, rolling her eyes. She knows how I always like to prompt and on time and she had always been the late one. I can't tell how many times she's made us late to dinner reservations, movies, even weddings. However, wherever we go she looks beautiful.
"Alright!" Sakura says, holding up the camera and looking towards the group of prom-going teenagers gathered in our living room. "Camera's ready! Shiori, Pierre, you two stand over here. Channing you stand in the middle with Ayame and you…" She stops when she sees the other boy who is standing off to the side. "You can be in the picture too, dear."
"Are you sure?" He asks, taking a few timid steps towards the group. "I don't really have a date and.."
"Oh, don't worry about that." Sakura says smiling. "What's your name, sweety?"
"Robert." He replies, looking over at me questioningly. I nod as if to tell him to go ahead and step into the picture. I don't know what's up with that kid, but he seems extremely shy and I wonder why I had never met the kid before. Ayame didn't seem to be friends with him, though I think her boyfriend was the one who invited him along.
"Well, Robert, stand over here next to Shiori." Sakura instructs and he does. She takes a few pictures, then just some of Ayame and Channing and I just watch. Friends. It reminds me of my friends when I was a teenager.
Mom had left a good two years before I met Ash Ketchum. I had fallen into the roll of 'mom and dad' to my younger siblings. I cooked, sewed, cleaned, did the laundry, took care of them when they were sick and even sent them off to school all while running the gym back in my hometown of Pewter City.
I was a much better gym leader than my father. Only the best of the best trainers could actually defeat me, which sent a lot of the weak ones packing back to their hometown. However, when I was sixteen, everything changed.
My father did come back. He told me my mother had taken off to Hollywood in the U.S. and was murdered by a band of gypsy's. Of course, being sixteen, I believed him, as heartbreaking as it was.
Flint Harrison had changed in the last 6 years. He was a scruffy, older, and ragged-looking version of me. I always hated the fact that I looked exactly like my father. So many emotions ran through me when I saw his face again. I remembered how he used to treat my mother, how he used to treat my siblings and most of all how he used to treat me.
Somehow though, Flint had changed. I didn't know if it was because of my mother's death or if he had gotten some help with his anger problem and drinking habit. He must have believed in me in some way because he ended up helping Ash out with the battle because he could see he didn't have a chance in defeating me.
If it hadn't been for my father, Ash might have been one of those trainers who was sent packing back to pallet town. He told me to go and pursue my career as an actor. So, I joined them, quickly becoming a well-liked character on 'Pokemon.' I quickly gave him a rundown of his own family and I set on my way with Ash and Misty.
It was an awesome year. I turned seventeen just eight months into filming, but I still hadn't found anyone to share my heart with. Misty was too much like a sister to me, though I do like to think she might have a had a little bit of a crush on me if it wasn't for Ash, but that's another story.
For an entire year I tried to find a girl. I flirted with every girl we came across, with the exception of the too-young, or the too-old variety. To be perfectly honest however, I couldn't see myself settling down then. I wasn't ready, even though I spat some lines about being hopelessly devoted to every pretty woman I saw.
There were a few however, who I thought may I have actually liked me back. There was one girl named Florenda, but she didn't actually like me, she just liked the fact I believed in her. That was heartbreaking. I tried to convince her to do more tapings of shows along with us, but that didn't work.
There was Melanie who I met very early on in my friendship with Ash, but we didn't last long. I kept contact with her a few days after she left the studio for good, then she stopped returning my calls.
It seemed like I was never going to find a girl I could be serious with. Someone who would except me, love me, and maybe even become my wife one day. Then, she happened…
My daughter has just taken off to her senior prom. Boy, do I feel old…
The house is quiet, for the first time in eighteen years the house is actually quiet. We conveniently sent Keiko over to Miroku and Sango's place to play while Sakura and I enjoyed some rest and relaxation. However, when the knock comes to the door we both know that's not happening.
I smile and little, kiss my wife on the forehead and stand up. I open the door only to have my jaw drop. Ash and Misty actually came by to visit, which is very unusual considering they live almost two hours away in Pallet town where Ash is now running his own gym.
"Hey, guys. Come in." I say, inviting them in.
Sakura smiles and seemed just as shocked as I am that our old friends have come by to visit. "Hey you two. Wow. We haven't seen you guys since last summer."
"I know." Ash says with a shy laugh. "I guess I've just been really busy with the gym. I tried to come up for Christmas but I couldn't get a break. I finally got one, so me and Misty decided to take the day and come up here to visit you guys." He says.
"Yea, sorry we got here in the evening." Misty says. "Ash had a gym battle before we left."
"Oh no, it's fine." I say, settling back down on the couch. "Ayame's went off to her prom." I sigh and rake my hand through my spiked black hair. "Kind of depressing."
"Wow." Ash says, taking a seat on the recliner next to Misty. "That makes me feel old. I remember when she was just a baby in a crib."
Sakura laughs and leans her head on my shoulder. "Trust me, I do too. It makes me feel twice as old." I look down at her, admiring her youthful face. I look at myself everyday in the mirror and though I'm not nearly as old looking as my father, I know that one day I'm going to get that way and Sakura will stay forever young. Being an immortal fox-demon has it's advantages…
But I was born a mortal, who fell in love with an immortal, yet beautiful woman.
Suddenly, Ash rolls up his pant leg and itches his legs like crazy. I look over at my red-headed friend questioningly and then down at my friend's leg that is covered in little red bumps. "Oh, yea, Brock…" Misty says. "We were going to ask you if you had any medication for rashes like this. I think Ash got into some Poison Ivy."
Ivy…
I'm silent for a moment and Misty slaps her hand over her mouth and Ash scowls up at her, pulling down his pant leg. "Nice going, Misty."
"Oops. I'm sorry. "Misty apologizing immediately.
I shake it off, forcing a smile. She always was the one who mentioned…her. I stand up. "Sure, I've got a special medicated lotion. I'll go up and get it for you." I headed towards the staircase with only one thought on my mind.
Professor Felina Ivy.
I don't see how these four women can stay in a place this messy. I spent an entire day just cleaning up one room. Trash, papers, bottles, candy wrappers, fast food wrappers…everywhere!
I was about to explode. I had to clean it up, it was eating me alive. So now, here I am, finally in bed at a quarter past two in the morning and I'm still wide awake. Ash and Misty had fallen asleep long ago.
Even Ivy and her assistants had taken to bed long before I did, but that's OK, because the room is clean now.
I turn over on my side, trying my best to grasp sleep, but it isn't coming. I have way too much energy to just lay around here and not do anything. I go into the newly-cleaned kitchen and start a pot of water. I might as well start on breakfast now that I'm awake.
The girls and Ivy seem to enjoy my cooking and my ability to do housework at the speed of light. I guess that's a trait I picked up over the last seven years.
A thought has been nagging at me for a while now. It's been an entire year since I left home in Pewter City. Ash and Misty are my two closest and friends and I love them to death, and I know they depend on me. Too much, actually, but that's alright. It makes me feel wanted and needed.
Somehow, I need that after growing up the way I did.
But, in a way, I'm starting to think that Ivy and the girls need me just a little more than those two do. They have each other, and though I learn a lot by traveling with them, I think I'll learn even more if I stay here with Felina Ivy.
My thoughts are interrupted by a sound outside. I roll up my last rice doughnut and put them in a tray. I spot Ivy and her assistants outside behind some bushes, watching Pokemon. I wonder what she's doing up so late.
I picked up the tray and headed outside. She hears me approach her and she smiles.
"Brock, I thought you went to bed."
"Couldn't sleep." I said with a weak, tired smile. The thoughts were keeping me awake, the thought of leaving my two best friends and the decision I was about to make was causing me not to be able to sleep and normally I'm the type of person that falls asleep very easily. "I made you a midnight snack!"
"Oh awesome!" One of her assistants shouted, staring up at me with large, lens-covered eyes. She takes one of the rolls, and Ivy commands her to thank me.
"Thank you." She says timidly and takes a bit.
Ivy smiles at me and takes a bite. "These are delicious." She comments.
"Thanks." I say, deciding to take one for myself. When I have a big decision to make like this one, I tend to stuff my face. "What are you doing out here so late?"
"We're observing Pokemon breeding habits." Ivy said. "The raticate on this island only mate this time of year, and they only do it really late at night. I've taken some notes on how the female lures the male into their underground dens." She hands me a pad full of notes and I'm amazed about how much information she has gathered.
"Wow." I say. "This is amazing. I want to become to world's greatest breeder. It would be really awesome if you published this into a book of some sort so I could read it."
She looked back at me, taking one last bite of the food I made. "I got a better idea, Brock." She said, her voice is sultry and I can feel the back of my neck burning. "Why don't you stay here with me…I mean…us….you can learn a lot here on Valencia Island."
The thought had crossed my mind more than a million times by now, and the only reassurance I needed was Ivy's invitation, and she gave it to me.
My voice is shaky as I give her my reply. "Ivy, of course, I'll stay here…if you really want me to." I look back to see that her three assistants have vanished somewhere. I'm alone with her behind the bushes and she takes the tray of rice from my hands and smiles.
She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. My breath catches in my throat and I kiss her back. My decision has been made and I know I have to break the news to Ash and Misty in the morning, but right now, I'm not thinking of that.
She lets go of me, before things go to far and she smiles. Now that my decision is made, maybe I can get some sleep, but everything in my body is telling me that right now, that's the last thing I want to do.
I watch Ivy as she buttons up the top button on her blouse. I must have unbuttoned it without realizing it, but she doesn't seem mad or offended. She's giving me a hot lingering look. "Get some sleep, Harrison." She says with a smile and sashays back into the small hut.
I stand there for a few moments, letting the island breeze cool my heated body. Of course, I know If I stay here that means I have to give up my contract and I won't be on the show anymore, but I'd rather be a Pokemon Breeder, or maybe even a doctor, then an actor anyway.
That's Misty's dream, she wants to be the movie star, not me.
Sleep finally comes to me, and I don't know how long I was asleep before someone wakes me up. However, I can tell it's very early.
"Brock?"
"Brock?"
"Brock?"
Three different voices, that sound strangely alike and yet different ring in my ear. I open my eyes to see Ivy's three assistants, hovering over me.
I sit up and lean my back against the couch. It's definitely morning, the sunlight peeking through the blinds is reminding me of that. I force a smile. I'm used to being woken up at ungodly hours of the morning by my siblings, so this is nothing new, just sweetly familiar.
"It rained last night and my roof was leaking. My entire bed is soak and wet." One of them said, adjusting her glasses. "Can you fix it for me?"
Sure, why not? I'm awake anyway. I nod tiredly and get out of bed. Since I cleaned the entire house the day before I know where everything is. I grab a few boards, a hammer and some nails, then I go around the back of the house and get the latter.
Within minutes, I'm on top of the roof, nailing the boards down to keep the rain water out of the girl's rooms.
I look down to see that Ivy is looking up at me with a smile. She's dressed in her lab coat and she's trying to act as casual as possible. Last night's events are still swimming through my tired mind and I know what I have to do.
I see Misty step outside and I feel my heartbreak. I'm almost a grown man and for some reason I feel like crying when I see her and Ash this morning. Ivy is enjoying one of the rice doughnuts I made the night before.
Ash rubs his eyes and adjusts his hat. "Yo, Brock, what are you doing way up there?"
"Fixing the roof." I stated the obvious standing up, allowing a light, cheery tone to my voice.
"Well, no duh, but why?" Ash asks. Misty's holding on to Togepi and I think she knows already, she always was just a little bit brighter than Ash.
Before I can reply and tell them myself, which I was not wanting to do in first place, Ivy speaks up for me. "It seems that Brock has decided to stay with us."
Ash looks shocked and Misty's face falls. The trio had been knocked down to a duo. "But, Brock, what about season 2?" Misty asks. "The Orange Islands…we were looking forward to filming the season with you."
"I know." I said, climbing down off the ladder. I have to be strong, so I don't look at either of them in the face. "But Ivy and the girls need me here. They'll find a replacement for me, I'm sure of it."
Misty doesn't look too happy about that and neither does Ash. He turns from me and looks at Misty. "Let's just hope the new guy can cook…"
I laugh. I'm glad he's taking it so well, but it's Misty I'm worried about. She always looked up to me like a big brother and now I was leaving. It would be nice to not have to be in front of a camera for a while. I know that this was the best decision of my life.
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