Brock's Sick Day

One morning the gang was up and about and were about to have breakfast. All of their Pokemon were out of their Poke Balls too. They were relaxing at a lakeside camp and the Pokemon were enjoying it. Brock had just finished making oatmeal for breakfast and was about to serve it. Ash and Tomo were getting tired of eating oatmeal, but they didn't say anything to avoid upsetting Brock. Misty looked at Brock and realized that he didn't look too good.

"Is something wrong Brock?" Misty asked.

Suddenly Brock fell over onto the grass.

"Brock, what's wrong?" Misty asked.

Ash and Tomo ran over to see what the problem was. He placed a hand on Brock's forehead.

"He's got a fever." He said. "We better get him into bed in the cabin."

Ash, Misty and Tomo helped Brock get into bed. All the Pokemon were worried.

Brock was tucked into bed and Misty got a bucket of cold water and cloth before she placed the damp cloth onto his forehead.

"What's wrong with Brock?" Tomo asked.

"He collapsed from exhaustion, that's what's wrong. It happened to Prof. Oak as well. Brock just needs to sleep the rest of the day and not do anything else."

"I agree." Misty said. "Brock has been working too hard lately, so he should just rest."

Just then Brock started to sit up.

"I can't rest." He said weakly. "I have some work to do."

"Oh no you don't." Misty argued, making Brock lie down again. "You're too sick and weak to work. You lie down, Ash, Tomo and I will do the work today."

"Misty's right, we can handle the chores today." Ash said.

Brock smiled, knowing that he had good friends.

"There is a notebook in my backpack that will tell you what chores need to be done today." He said. "And it also has the recipes of what I was going to cook today."

Misty got the notebook out.

"Don't you worry about a thing and get some rest." She said.

Ash, Tomo and Misty left Brock behind to rest in the cabin and explained to the Pokemon that Brock wasn't feeling well. Brock's Pokemon; Steelix, Graveler, Golbat, Pineco, Stantler and Chansey became worried about their trainer.

"Don't worry you guys." Ash said. "Brock just needs a good day's rest and then he will back on his feet in no time."

"Ash is right." Misty added.

Chansey offered to go into the cabin and stay with Brock.

"Having Chansey stay with Brock is a good idea." Ash said. "After all, Chansey's are the nursing Pokemon."

Misty and Tomo agreed and they let Chansey enter the cabin to stay with Brock. They also told Chansey that if Brock ever woke up or tried to get up, she must use Sing to get him back to sleep. Chansey nodded in understanding.

Ash, Misty and Tomo got to work on the chores after eating breakfast. Misty looked through the notebook.

"I can't believe that Brock does so many things in one day." Misty said.

"It's probably due to the fact that he's the eldest of ten children." Ash pointed out. "And he started learning to cook and clean at a young age."

"Yes that's true." Misty said. "And he did tell us once that he had to take a lot of responsibilities for his sick mom. We better get started now."

The first chore that needed to be done was polish Steelix and Graveler; Brock liked to polish them to make them look smart.

"I'll polish Steelix." Ash said. "Brock taught me how to do that with my Steelix."

"And I'll polish Graveler." Tomo said.

"Okay boys." Misty said. "You two do that and I will wash the dishes."

She filled up a big bucked with water from the lake, found some dish soap in the cabin and started to wash the dishes in the bucket.

"Can you use a gentle Sand Attack on Steelix and Graveler?" Ash asked Stantler.

Using a little bit of sand was used to give rock, ground and steel type Pokemon a good polish. Then Ash and Tomo began to polish Steelix and Graveler.

Meanwhile Brock was still sleeping in the cabin and Chansey watched over him. Brock's Golbat and Pineco were with her too; they were worried about Brock. At the moment Brock was dreaming; he was dreaming he was in a beautiful field with flowers and Bellossom's. When suddenly the field burst into flames and Brock woke up from his dream.

"Phew what a dream." Brock sighed.

He noticed that Chansey, Golbat and Pineco were with him and was grateful.

"I should go see how Ash, Tomo and Misty are doing." He said.

He was about to get out of bed, but Chansey put him to sleep with Sing. She knew full well that Brock was still sick. Golbat and Pineco ended up falling asleep from Sing as well, but Chansey used Wake-Up Slap to wake them up. The move Wake-Up Slap had the ability to wake sleeping Pokemon and humans up.

At that time Ash, Tomo and Misty had finished the polishing and dishes and started the next line of chores. Ash made some firewood, Misty started doing the laundry and Tomo went to find some apples for Brock. Tomo had his six Pokemon; Growlithe, Snubbull, Elekid, Smoochum, Farfetch'd and Magby with him. Misty's Pokemon; Marill, Staryu, two Poliwhirl, Seaking and Totodile were swimming in the lake with Ash's Totodile. Ash's other Pokemon Togetic, Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Noctowl were dozing in the sun with Brock's Steelix, Graveler and Stantler. Soon Tomo returned with eight juicy ripe apples, and then Misty washed, peeled and cut them for Brock to eat.

In the meantime, Brock had drifted off into another dream. This time he was dreaming that he was standing on some clouds in the sky with some butterflies. Then suddenly he started to fall out of the sky. When he woke up from the dream he realized that he just fell out of bed. Ash, Tomo and Misty had just entered the cabin.

"Are you okay?" They asked him.

"Oh just a bad dream, that's all." Brock replied.

Misty handed him a plate of apples and Brock ate the apple slices all at once because he was hungry. Misty placed a hand on Brock's forehead.

"Hmm, it seems you are getting better." She said. "But you still need to stay in bed and sleep."

Brock was happy that he had Ash, Tomo and Misty for friends. They left to let Brock get some more sleep.

Now it was time for the cooking to be done. Ash offered to do it.

"Can you cook though Ash?" Misty asked.

"Don't worry Misty." Ash said. "I've watched Brock cook plenty of times."

The recipe for today's lunch was in Brock's notebook and Ash followed it carefully. Soon the stew Ash had made was ready. Misty tried it first and when she did she thought it was delicious and so did Tomo.

"Wow Ash." She said. "Your cooking is good, although it's not the same as Brock's."

"Thanks Misty." Ash said, helping himself to the stew. "Brock's taught me to cook more times than I can count and I've also had help from Nurse Joy and my mom."

"Well those cooking lessons have paid off well." Misty said.

"Your stew is great big brother." Tomo said.

Ash smiled with pride. Ash also made Pokemon food for all the Pokemon as well and they liked it as well.

"It's all thanks to Brock's, Nurse Joy's and my mom's cooking lessons." Ash said.

That night after today's chores ended, it was time for bed. Ash, Tomo and Misty decided to sleep in their sleeping bags outside the cabin. They thought that Brock would sleep better without them in there. All the Pokemon were asleep outside too, except Chansey, Pineco and Golbat; they wanted to stay with Brock. Ash, Tomo and Misty were exhausted after doing the day's chores.

"Phew I'm tired." Tomo sighed.

"So am I." Ash said. "I'm not surprised Brock was so exhausted today."

"I don't know how he does it." Misty said. "I know he has done this for a very long time, but still."

"Never mind." Ash interrupted. "We all got through it and Brock has gotten plenty of sleep now. So let's go to bed." Misty and Tomo agreed and soon they were all asleep.

The next morning Ash, Tomo, Misty and their Pokemon Mareep, Growlithe and Togepi, woke up to see Brock making oatmeal for breakfast.

"Hey Brock how are you feeling?" Ash asked.

"I feel a lot better thank you." Brock said. "Especially after all of that sleep I had yesterday."

Misty suggested that Brock rest some more today, in case he collapsed from exhaustion again.

Ash and Tomo agreed with Misty.

"Okay I'll take a nap after breakfast." Brock said.

Brock then told Ash that he had some of the stew that he had made.

"You have done well in regards to cooking Ash." Ash smiled with glee.

The next day, after Brock fully got over his fever, the gang set off to Olivine City once again.