Chapter 59: Annoying Changes

Ark and Misty walked towards Brock and Ash. Mistys expression betrayed the complete confusion she was feeling at the moment. Luckily, Ark was able to hide his confusion and wear a neutral expression. This was a skill he had picked up from being around Delia and his mother for the majority of his childhood. While he had a child's body, his mind was quite the bit more developed, thus he needed to keep his expression contained during numerous situations. Some were harder than others.

Within seconds, the duo had approached Ash and Brock. They ended their respective conversations causing a strained silence to settle. Feeling this, Ark spoke in hopes of breaking the silence.

"I apologise for tagging along, but I was with Misty and I also needed to find you both, so I followed Misty"

Brock smiled slightly and answered.

"It's fine, it's nothing too secret. Besides from what I hear, you're all quite close, so I see no reason to withhold any information"

Ark nodded to Brocks words whilst Ash looked at Ark curiously.

"Hey Ark, you said you wanted to speak to me and Brock? Why?"

Ark looked at Ash as he heard his response, it took his whole willpower to not argue with him. Ashs response, whether intentional or not seemed very blunt, as though Ark was intruding.

It seemed that it was not just Ark who felt like this.

"Ash, you're being rude. Ark came here for a good reason, yet you sound like he's bothering us. If anything, Arks welcome anytime!"

Misty interjected from the side. Apparently, she did not like the way Ash worded it either.

"Now, now you too. Let's not argue, especially since Ark came all the way out here to speak to us"

Brock quietened the two down, very naturally. Already, the group dynamic seemed to be forming.

"Thanks Misty. You too Brock. Anyways, I came to find you to say goodbye. I am leaving tomorrow, so I wanted to say bye before I left"

Unlike with Jenny and Misty, Ark had no intention of his goodbye being prolonged or elaborate.

Ash and Brock looked at Ark in silence, unable to process what he had just said.

"Wait, don't you all travel together?"

Brock asked them, clear confusion painting his face.

"No, Ash and I are from the same town, and I am close with Misty, but we don't travel together. Well these two do."

"Not by choice..."

Ark heard misty murmur and send a subtle glare his way as she spoke those words. After all, the reasons why Misty was going along with Ash at the moment was because Ark asked her to, and she wanted Ash to repay her for her bike.

"I see. I assumed you were all travelling together. In that case, I guess my news won't affect you as much Ark"

Brock looked at Misty before looking back at Ash. Noticing that Ash was not going to speak, Brock took the lead.

"Misty, I have decided that I want to travel with you and Ash on your journey. It seems that battling with Ark and Ash has rekindled my desire to become a Pokemon Breeder."

Misty nodded her head in acceptance. She was not surprised by this development at all.

"That's fine, as long as you pull your weight when you come along, I am fine with it"

Misty replied, however her eyes drifted to Ark, looking for his opinion.

Sensing Mistys intent, Ark added his own input.

"I have a feeling that Brock travelling with you, will make the journey a lot easier. Trust me."

Misty nodded despite her skepticism on how Ark could speak so confidently.

Hearing Arks words, Brock smiled slightly before that smile transformed into a sad frown.

"But... I can't leave my family alone. Right now, I am looking after my family most of the day as my Mother is working late into the night"

Arks ears perked up when he listened to the ending of Brocks words. From the way it was spoken, Brock was still in contact with his Mother, and they still lived at the same house.

"What about your Father?"

Ash inquired, his voice as cheerful as ever.

"That man... he's long gone. He left my Mother to take care of their kids and the gym. He was originally the Pewter City gym leader but my Mother caught him cheating, so he just left without a word. From that point on, my Mother took over gym responsibilities until I got old enough to"

As Brock spoke, Ark and Mistys heads had already dropped. Their expressions sombre. Even Ash had the tact to remain silent as Brock continued on.

"That's why I can't go on the journey with you both. However, I was asking Ash if he could continue my journey for me and gather any Breeding related knowledge he could on his travels"

Ark had to stop himself from sighing as he imagined the idea of Ash trying to remember all of the knowledge pertaining to Breeding. Not only that, carrying around mountains of books on his travels was highly impractical for the average man.

However, Ark dismissed those thoughts as something more pressing was currently happening. Brock had just dropped a bomb for multiple reasons. It was taking Arks full willpower to not show his confusion, especially in such a delicate situation.

Originally, Brock was supposed to approach Ash and go on a journey with him after Flint, Brocks father returned, yet Brock had just stated that Flint was long gone. Their relationship seemed to be one of hatred as compared to the animes one of disappointment.

This may seem insignificant at first glance, but this completely changed the entire story. After all, if Flint was not there to look after the gym, it would mean Brock can't travel or it would mean his Mother would have to take over the gym as well as work a full-time job on the side to support such a large family. This was a complete change to the way events were shown in the anime, and Ark could only put it down to one thing, himself.

From what he currently knew of, he was the largest anomaly in the world. Thus logic dictated that his presence has changed the timeline in some way.

Subtly shaking his head again, Ark thought about the situation with Brock not travelling. Should that happen, its highly likely that over half of the events from the timeline Ark knew of, would not happen. This would be detrimental to Arks plans as it may cause anomalies that will stall or even ruin his chances of his dreams. As a result, Ark decided that it was imperative that he finds a way for Brock to continue travelling, hopefully it will restore some sort of normality to the process of events at the very least.

To do this, Ark needed to find a way to make it easier for Brocks mother to take over leadership of the gym...

"I see, well that is indeed a shame. All I will say Brock is don't completely dismiss the idea of travelling. I am sure that everything will work out"

Saying his piece, Ark said goodbye to Misty and Ash, promising to meet them before he left tomorrow and left for the Pokemon Center.

All the while, his mind was occupied by ideas of ensuring Brock could accompany their journey.

As Arks mind was about to explode, he heard a familiar *ding* sound in his mind. A sound he had not heard for quite a while.

Not willing to wait another second, Ark dashed towards the Pokemon Center for privacy. His previous despairing attitude was replaced with a hopeful aura, willing to bet everything on this one chance.