03
After the supreme humiliation that was his guest lecture, Pewter City's gym leader found himself facedown on the hotel bed for the entire night, completely and utterly mortified, the victim of a full-blown occupational crisis.
Brock had known the place was a little different before he even set foot on the grounds, but nothing could have prepared him for that.
Okay. He could have been prepared. He wasn't the type of person to get angry and bitter but one of the other gym leaders could have at least told him. Maybe they thought he already knew. That had to be it. Surely they wouldn't have let him go up there and make a fool of himself on purpose.
The concept of Pokemon transforming into perfectly normal looking people...well, not perfectly normal. They seemed to retain a few qualities that hinted at it. Not really enough for him to notice and put two-and-two together, especially not with the varied species that seemed to make up the student body to begin with. His mind was more than a little blown.
That's where the occupational crisis came in. All his life, Brock had raised, trained, and battled Pokemon. He'd studied them. Helped resurrect them from fossils. The work he'd done was invaluable. So to suddenly find out that there was an HM of all things that allowed Pokemon to become human?
What was he supposed to do? He couldn't very well go back home, back to his gym and forget this place. Not without continuing to experience this rather major conflict of interests. Maybe that red-and-black-haired (furred?) student was right.
It took a night of grumbling into the (admittedly kind of grody) hotel comforter for him to come to a decision, and the next day he spoke with Master Hand and caught the first means of transportation back to Kanto.
He was sure his parents thought he was insane. How could they not think that, really, when he showed up back home going on about HMs and Pokemon that were secretly people and giant sentient hands? There were a lot of questions but Brock didn't bother explaining much. He was too busy packing.
His parents were probably angry, too. Not angry enough to stop him from leaving, (he was twenty-two, after all) but certainly distressed about the fact that he'd suddenly up and decided to abandon the gym, pulling his younger brother aside (the second-oldest overall) and giving a quick talk that more or less equated to: "You're a man now. The gym is yours. Sort of. If anyone manages to get through you give me a call and I'll come back and trounce them properly".
Brock hated that he was leaving the gym. He knew he could come back to Kanto frequently with Erika, but Pewter was home, and he was more than a little apprehensive about how things would be without him. In coming to the school, even just to visit, he'd ensured that he was a part of the very thing he wanted to prevent--neglect of the League.
Still, the research opportunities were potentially incredible. Zapdos and Articuno? Maybe even more legendaries that hadn't made themselves known yet? Amazing. The day after his whirlwind visit to Kanto, he made his way back to Final Destination as quickly as he'd dashed home. He couldn't let an opportunity like this pass him by.
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I...uh...I'm glad to see everyone taking such an interest in my guest lecture.
For those of you who didn't go, I'm Brock. I ran run the Pewter City Gym back in Kanto but seeing as there was so much...response to the class, I've decided to take on a teaching position. The Pokemon Breeding seminar will meet every Thursday afternoon, for those of you that want to learn more. If anyone has any questions before then, I've just moved into TD-34, and I'll be around campus. My team's not quite used to the school yet..
Anyway it's...nice to get on the network and meet all of you. Well, those of you I didn't meet at the lecture, I mean.
Brock had known the place was a little different before he even set foot on the grounds, but nothing could have prepared him for that.
Okay. He could have been prepared. He wasn't the type of person to get angry and bitter but one of the other gym leaders could have at least told him. Maybe they thought he already knew. That had to be it. Surely they wouldn't have let him go up there and make a fool of himself on purpose.
The concept of Pokemon transforming into perfectly normal looking people...well, not perfectly normal. They seemed to retain a few qualities that hinted at it. Not really enough for him to notice and put two-and-two together, especially not with the varied species that seemed to make up the student body to begin with. His mind was more than a little blown.
That's where the occupational crisis came in. All his life, Brock had raised, trained, and battled Pokemon. He'd studied them. Helped resurrect them from fossils. The work he'd done was invaluable. So to suddenly find out that there was an HM of all things that allowed Pokemon to become human?
What was he supposed to do? He couldn't very well go back home, back to his gym and forget this place. Not without continuing to experience this rather major conflict of interests. Maybe that red-and-black-haired (furred?) student was right.
It took a night of grumbling into the (admittedly kind of grody) hotel comforter for him to come to a decision, and the next day he spoke with Master Hand and caught the first means of transportation back to Kanto.
He was sure his parents thought he was insane. How could they not think that, really, when he showed up back home going on about HMs and Pokemon that were secretly people and giant sentient hands? There were a lot of questions but Brock didn't bother explaining much. He was too busy packing.
His parents were probably angry, too. Not angry enough to stop him from leaving, (he was twenty-two, after all) but certainly distressed about the fact that he'd suddenly up and decided to abandon the gym, pulling his younger brother aside (the second-oldest overall) and giving a quick talk that more or less equated to: "You're a man now. The gym is yours. Sort of. If anyone manages to get through you give me a call and I'll come back and trounce them properly".
Brock hated that he was leaving the gym. He knew he could come back to Kanto frequently with Erika, but Pewter was home, and he was more than a little apprehensive about how things would be without him. In coming to the school, even just to visit, he'd ensured that he was a part of the very thing he wanted to prevent--neglect of the League.
Still, the research opportunities were potentially incredible. Zapdos and Articuno? Maybe even more legendaries that hadn't made themselves known yet? Amazing. The day after his whirlwind visit to Kanto, he made his way back to Final Destination as quickly as he'd dashed home. He couldn't let an opportunity like this pass him by.
---------
I...uh...I'm glad to see everyone taking such an interest in my guest lecture.
For those of you who didn't go, I'm Brock. I ran run the Pewter City Gym back in Kanto but seeing as there was so much...response to the class, I've decided to take on a teaching position. The Pokemon Breeding seminar will meet every Thursday afternoon, for those of you that want to learn more. If anyone has any questions before then, I've just moved into TD-34, and I'll be around campus. My team's not quite used to the school yet..
Anyway it's...nice to get on the network and meet all of you. Well, those of you I didn't meet at the lecture, I mean.