And now he had a ranch settled near enough to Pewter City to be near his family, but still able to comfortably house all the different pokemon on it. It was a rather nice place, especially for a guy as young as Brock to have, but if anyone could do it, his old friend could.
Of course, he'd visited the place before, but he'd never ceased to be astounded by just how nice it was. There were trees positioned so that the pokemon who needed them could live close by those that ran along the grassy areas. Even Brock's house wasn't out of place in the natural setting, what with it being a wooden structure that while sturdy, had the look of a cabin the woods. Not that it was tiny, old or anything like that. It was just like how Ash's mother Deliah had labeled it once, when she had called the home rustic.
Stepping over to the building, he knocked on the door and called out, "Brock, hello! It's us! Ash and Pikachu!"
"Pika!" chirped the pokemon at his foot.
"You in there?!"
"Pika pika chu!"
"I guess he's not home..," Ash sighed as he looked down at his little yellow friend.
"Chu... Pika?"
"What is it? You think that you could find..."
"ASH!" called out a familiar voice, and the two visitors turn with smiles for their old friend. "PIKACHU! How are you guys?"
"Hi Brock. We thought that we'd surprise you with a visit."
"You really managed to do that," Brock said with a smile.
"And you got us for it. We thought that you would be in the house."
"What? When there are pokemon to care for?"
"Oh... So you're working."
The other man nodded. "Yup. I was misting some of the grass types when a Butterfree called me over here."
"Oh... Well, he's got my thanks," Ash said, "It'd be really silly to stand here knocking all the time."
"But now you can come inside, and sit down."
"We wouldn't want to ruin your work..."
Pikachu gave a resolute little nod. "Ka-chu!"
"Nonesense! I'm running ahead today, so some time with a pair of old friends would be fine!" Brock protested.
"If you think so."
"I do."
"Well then, lead away," the younger man said, and let his friend lead him and Pikachu inside. Once into the main sitting room, they were throughly cosseted, and were made to sit down as the former gym leader made a variety of snacks for them. It was amazing to watch and listen to, but it was rather familiar, even with the fact that they'd been parted for some time.
But his stomach was still important to him, so when Brock put down a platter of sandwiches and cookies, and poured him a glass of lemonade, he practically drooled. "Now this is the stuff!"
His friend grinned. "I figured that you could use something to eat."
"Could I?!"
"So you're hungry?"
"Sure am! Right Pikachu?"
"Pi-KA!" the electric pokemon agreed as he held up a bit of his pokechow.
"See?"
"Somethings never change," Brock said with a mock sigh.
"Just like with you."
"Huh?"
"You're still taking care of us. You're like my mom that way."
"I am not trying to be like that. It's just right to do this sort of stuff for a guy's friends. Besides, I like doing it. Though... you shouldn't eat more cookies than sandwhiches."
For a whole second, Ash and Pikachu held their peace as they looked at him. Then the pair of them laughed, and gave the chagrined man a knowing look.
"Any way, what brings you around here?" Brock asked, "The last that I heard, you were doing some training over near Vermillion City."
"We finished that up a while back, and so we headed out in this direction. I figured that since we were in the neighborhood, we'd stop in to see our old friend," Ash replied simply.
"Only that?"
"Well, you of all people would have food..."
"So you wanted me to cook for you."
"That is a good reason, isn't it?"
"Ash..."
"Well..."
"What is it?" the former gym leader asked.
Taking a deep breath, Ash said,:
(Posted Tue, 09 Nov 2004 21:56)
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