What I didn't like about how Brock and Misty were depicted here was that the both of them were talking about giving Ash the Gym badges out of pity.
Come on, Brock's little brothers and Sisters begged Ash not to defeat Brock at their fight in the Pewter City gym and Ash, seeing what Brock did to provide for them and having a keen sense of honor, complied with their wishes. In the end Brock gave Ash the badge to thank him.
Ash' fight against Misty in the Cerulean City gym was interrupted by Team Rocket, who wanted to raid the Gym. Ash helped to chase Team Rocket off and Misty and her sisters gave him the badge, again as a token of their gratitude.
Come on, couldn't the script writers look up the actual episodes and see how it really happened before they made Brock and Misty behave mean towards Ash?