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Soon Brock found the necessary props and created a Mr. Mime costume for himself. As long as he kept the hood on, no one could tell it was him.
The next step was training Brock to act like a Mr. Mime, so he was taken to the circus tent.
Ash and Misty followed along to watch, but what Brock didn't expect was that his nightmare had just begun.
He had originally thought that although he couldn't interact with Stella normally, at least this wouldn't be too bad.
However, once they arrived on the stage inside the tent, Stella's demeanor completely changed from her previous gentleness and became extremely strict.
She even picked up a training whip and put Brock through rigorous training as if he were an actual Mr. Mime.
Brock never expected that Stella would become so severe during training, and she even seemed to forget he was just pretending.
Although the whip didn't actually strike him, it still frightened him considerably.
Now he regretted everything and looked to Ash for help, but Ash simply chatted with Misty and pretended not to notice.
Now Brock understood that if he had convinced Ash to dress up as the Mr. Mime, it would have been Ash facing this treatment.
Ash had probably realized this from the start, which was why he was now pretending not to see anything. Although Ash's refusal to help seemed harsh, it was Brock's own fault, so there was no reason for Ash to bail him out.
When you dig your own hole, you have to jump in it even while crying. He could only grit his teeth and endure it.
"No wonder that Mr. Mime turned out like that. Brock's really in trouble this time!" Misty commented, though she didn't sound particularly sympathetic—more amused than anything.
Let's see if he dares pull something like this the next time he meets an attractive woman. At the same time, she felt some sympathy for the actual Mr. Mime.
Looking at Stella's strict approach, she was harsh but never offered any praise at all. This kind of training method was obviously problematic.
"In my opinion, even after going through this, he probably won't change!"
Ash teased Jigglypuff and played with Togepi without paying much attention. Even though Brock was suffering now, whether he'd actually learn from this was another matter entirely!
"You're probably right!" Misty thought about it carefully and smiled awkwardly.
After several hours of intensive training, Brock was finally "trained" and could barely perform on stage.
In the afternoon, the audience began arriving one after another. Although the circus was set up in a rural area, people from many surrounding towns still came to watch the performance.
Ash even spotted some familiar faces. It was obvious they had come from Pallet Town, which wasn't far from here.
So Ash recognized several people from Pallet Town, though he wasn't in a hurry to greet them.
"Pika?!"
Among the crowd, Pikachu looked around and seemed to notice something. Suddenly letting out a cry, it jumped down from Ash's shoulder and nimbly ran through the crowd.
"Huh? What's wrong with Pikachu?" Misty asked, confused by this behavior.
"Maybe it spotted something!" Ash responded and squeezed into the crowd.
Before long, they found a figure who was hugging Pikachu, and Pikachu was happily nuzzling into their arms. Ash and Misty were both slightly surprised when they saw who it was.
"Mom?" Ash said instinctively, looking at the person holding Pikachu.
The person holding Pikachu was none other than Ash's mother, Delia. Pikachu noticed Ash's arrival and excitedly looked over.
"Ash!" When she saw her son, Delia wasn't surprised. After all, she'd seen Pikachu first and had already figured Ash must be here too.
"You're such a troublesome kid! Now that you're back in the area, why aren't you coming straight home?"
Delia started her usual motherly nagging as soon as she saw Ash. Over the years, Ash had grown accustomed to it, and rather than feeling annoyed, he found it comforting.
"Mom came here to have fun herself. If I went home, wouldn't the house be empty anyway?"
Ash pretended not to care, responding casually with his hands behind his head.
"You silly boy!" Although Delia was usually a gentle homemaker, she actually enjoyed getting out and having fun.
Whether in the anime or in real life, many small details revealed that his mother's personality wasn't quite as simple as it seemed.
"Mrs. Ketchum, please don't scold him! It's actually all because of Brock—otherwise we would have reached Pallet Town long ago!"
Seeing this, Misty quickly spoke up for Ash. This time it really had nothing to do with him; Brock was entirely to blame.
"What happened with Brock?" Jigglypuff, feeling a bit jealous that only Pikachu was getting attention, jumped into Delia's arms. Delia's eyes lit up when she saw Jigglypuff, and she asked while cuddling them both.
"We were on our way to Pallet Town..."
After hearing the question, Misty began explaining the situation. As she talked, Togepi couldn't help but hop into Delia's arms to join in. Eventually, Pikachu voluntarily gave up its spot and returned to Ash.
This scene made Ash's eyes widen slightly. It seemed his mother was more popular than the protagonist himself!
"I see! Well then, let's just watch the show together and head back home afterward!"
After listening to Misty's explanation, Delia stopped nagging Ash. She was actually very happy to see her son returning home, but she didn't want to seem overly clingy.
She knew that if she appeared too reluctant to let him go, Ash wouldn't be able to relax during his travels.
In reality, Delia knew all about Ash's adventures outside—Professor Oak hadn't hidden anything from her.
She had actually been worried during many of those incidents, but after learning that Ash was safe, she pretended nothing had happened and didn't contact him specifically, not wanting to add to his burden.
"Alright! Let's find seats over there!"
It was a rare opportunity to spend time with family like this. Ash said no more and took his mother and Misty to find seats. They sat down together and waited for the performance to begin.
The circus in this Pokémon world mainly featured Pokémon performances, though it was actually similar to working with performing animals in his previous life.
It was just that instead of lions jumping through fire hoops, there was a Dodrio, and instead of bears riding bicycles, there was an Ursaring. The audience was thoroughly enjoying themselves.
But for Ash, this kind of performance really wasn't as exciting as a Pokémon battle.