I just realized something, Suzie is the name of the world-famous breeder that Brock idolizes, but I just found out one of Brock's younger sisters is also called Suzie, I wonder if there is a correlation there, probably not but I just found that interesting.
—
Inside the shop, Suzie was talking to Brock, and Brock was intensely taking notes, meanwhile Misty and Yellow recently came back with some Yaki-imo, which was pretty much a roasted sweet potato.
Vulpix was cuddling onto Yellow's lap as Ratty sat beside Yellow looking at her lap longingly from back when he was still a Rattata.
Misty was also taking glances at Vulpix, she tried tempting Vulpix to go onto her lap, but she ignored her and continued resting on Yellow's lap.
If this was before she found out Ash and Yellow had those weird powers she would just be a bit salty, but now that she knows she has to admit, she was a bit jealous, who wouldn't want cool powers, especially if it makes Pokemon friendlier to her?
But still, she was glad that she at least knew that her, debatably, best friend Yellow had them, she was the definition of harmless, but then there was Ash.
He wasss…weird to say the least, like he always knew what he was doing yet at the same time acted like he improvised everything on the spot, and then there is his goofy personality.
Even though she had seen him battle, and seen him Strategise for hours, she doesn't think she ever saw him actually be serious, even back during the S.S. Anne he acted like he was more annoyed about losing his hat.
And of course, he has some weird power too, because why wouldn't he? She can only imagine what shenanigans he gets up to with them, speaking of which she started wondering about Ash's ring.
He said that it was a gift but never said anything about it, and what seemed weird was that after the S.S. Anne, it looked different, but everyone was too shaken up to actually care enough to ask.
But they didn't ask before and she really isn't that curious about it, so she slouched back down and took a bite of her sweet potato. Meanwhile, Psyduck seemed to have snuck out of Misty's Pokeball and was standing behind waiting to try and steal a bite.
"And that sums up most of the basics, any Questions?" Suzie asked Brock who was writing in a notebook
"Ok, so you said that each competition has its own rules and qualifications, along with most Breeders choosing to specialize in certain events, can you give me a list and potentially your specialization."
"Well, the ones I can think of right now are, Battling, Grooming, washing, cooking, massaging, racing, incubating, obstacle courses, shows, and just dressing them up. I myself specialize in cooking and massaging and I dabble in Battles." Suzie said as Brock took notes.
"So then I should probably focus on Battling, Grooming, and cooking," Brock mumbled
"Well you don't have to," Suzie quickly clarified, "You can choose to try all of them, it's just people find it easier to specialize to maximize their chances in a general area." Brock simply nodded along.
Suzie clapped her hands together, "But if that's your only question then I think that's all you will need to know from me."
"W-wait there is still so much I need to learn, I hardly know anything yet," Brock said.
Suzie smiled and put her finger on her lip, "What did you expect to steal my techniques,"
Brock got worried for a second and tried to defend himself, "Nonono, I didn't mean it like that, it's just I want to be as prepared as I can and I barely started this year so I want to try to be ready."
Suzie giggled to herself seeing Brock stressed out, "I'm joking, but you're fine, you're doing better than I did back when I was your age, and besides you can never be too careful with things like this."
Brock seemed to calm down and looked at everything he wrote, "I guess so, but I still feel like there's more for me to learn."
"Well duh, I also have more to learn, I may have a championship but I'm still just as much of a student as you, so until the day we can both call ourselves full-fledged breeders we are rivals," Suzie said, making Brock slightly take a step back.
Suzie then clapped her hands gently and Vulpix woke up and jumped off Yellow's lap over to her and looked up at Brock, "You know what, I would be grateful if you could take care of Vulpix for me."
"Huh!" Brock was taken aback and even Misty and Yellow in the background were surprised.
"I think I've been relying on Vulpix a little too much as of recently, and your group has been the first people Vulpix has opened up to, so how about it will you raise Vulpix for me."
Brock stood there in stunned silence before bowing with tears coming down his eyes, "Thank you I don't know what to say."
Suzie smiled and handed Brock a Pokeball, "How about you start with Vulpix return."
Brock wiped the tears off his face and nodded, then he held out the Pokeball, "Vulpix return." and with that Vulpix disappeared into the Pokeball.
Brock held the Pokeball in his hand, "I promise I'll take good care of you."
Misty and Yellow clapped in the background as Psyduck stole the sweet potato.
"Well then I guess we should find Ash, and now we can finally call him late," Misty said.
"What's that about me?" a voice came from behind, making everyone turn to see Ash eating some Dango with his Pokemon.
Misty's eye twitched seeing Ash just appear out of nowhere again, "How long have you been there."
"Enough to see Psyduck steal your sweet potato," Ash said, putting another piece in his mouth.
Misty was shocked as she quickly looked at the spot where her sweet potato was, only to see it gone, and over in the corner she saw Psyduck sitting down and eating her Potato.
Misty wanted to say something, but there was no point, so she sighed and looked down since she was surrounded by idiots.
Yellow saw Misty looking down so she broke her potato in half and handed it to Misty, Misty took it almost crying as she hugged Yellow, "I can't say this enough, Yellow please never change."
Ash put another piece in his mouth, "So anyway I finished my walk where absolutely nothing happened, so what did I miss?"
Brock walked up to Ash, "Well I learned more about being a breeder, and Suzie entrusted me with her Vulpix."
Ash nodded along, "Did you get her phone number, so you know Vulpix can see her again,"
Brock froze and in an instant ran back over to Suzie.
Ash walked over and stood next to Misty and Yellow while watching Brock clasp Suzie's hands.
Ash looked over to his friends, "So do you guys have any plans or suggestions, cuz if not then we're probably going to just head over to Fuchsia."
"I can't think of anything on the way soooo, yeah I guess." Misty shrugged, with Yellow nodding along.
Ash also shrugged, "OK, But we are probably going to take a detour since there's apparently some construction going on near the outskirts of Fuchsia, but if we take a short detour we should get there in a week or two probably."
Misty and Yellow nodded along as Brock finally joined them, "OK so what's the plan?"
"Long story short, we are going to Fuchsia." Ash said before remembering something and reaching into his bag, "By the way Brock I have something for you."
Everyone got curious and watched Ash rummage through his bag, then he pulled out 2 items and threw them over to Brock.
Brock barely caught them before they fell, then he took a look at what they were, a Soothe Bell and a Metal Coat.
"You'll need Soothe Bell for Zubat if you haven't noticed, and the Metal Coat is a Metal Coat, you can use it when you want, anyway let's go," Ash said as he turned around and left the building.
Brock looked at the items Ash gave him and smiled before putting them away, dragging along Misty and Yellow.
Leaving only Psyduck eating the potato until he realized everyone left, so he got up and rushed out as fast as his little legs could take him.
—
{In Johto}
Inside the league building for Johto Will and Karen were sitting down with each other having some tea.
The atmosphere was quiet as Will poured a cup for Karen, who took it and drank it silently.
Since what happened about a month ago, both leagues have had a leash around their necks, since under the care of the Elite 4 of Kanto, Team Rocket was able to infiltrate while the Elite 4 of Johto went on a wild goose chase.
Since then a lot of people have lost faith in the league, causing Lance to stay in his office longer trying to fix everything while facing backlash from the press.
Meanwhile, those in the Elite 4 have been forced to stay MIA unless they are given orders by Lance.
Karen finally put down the cup from her lips and set it down before looking over at Will, "We can't continue like this, it's nearly been 3 years, and yet we still can't talk to each other without remembering him."
Will just stayed silent, he didn't want to remember that day, and it was obvious Karen didn't want to either.
"But we can't keep ignoring this, if they came back does that mean that he is also back," Karen said, making Will shiver.
"I- I don't want to admit it, but he is probably back," Will finally said something, he wasn't wearing his mask so the worry and stress was on his face, he usually keeps it on even when talking to other members so they can't see the stress in his eyes.
"You don't think he'll come back to get us, do you?" Will asked.
"No-no he can't…how would he, we aren't kids not like that day," Karen said fracking them to remember their past.
–
Years ago, a man only known as the Masked man, started an operation where he would kidnap children and turn them into servants for Team Rocket.
Will and Karen were a part of these children, however unlike the rest they were not kidnapped, instead, they went there because they thought it would be interesting, they couldn't have been more wrong.
The Kids who were kidnapped, he could ensure their loyalty, he had his ways, but Will and Karen were anomalies, they came willingly so as far as he knew their loyalty couldn't be guaranteed, so he tried other means.
Will and Karen were subjected to experiments to try and break what little willpower they had left, and in the end, the Masked man succeeded, Will and Karen were turned into puppets that would do whatever he wanted.
They performed all kinds of missions for the Masked man, ranging from espionage to just full-on assault, but then came the day when he told them to go into Pallet town to kidnap children.
Will and Karen agreed to it, of course, all of these were kept secret from Giovanni, if they succeeded he would report it to Giovanni, and then hopefully Giovanni would use it to create an obedient army.
Of course, the Masked man was no fool, he knew that under normal circumstances it would be impossible to get in and out of Pallet, especially at their level of strength, so he gave them something extra.
Team Rocket was playing around with the idea of cloning far longer than anyone could imagine, and the DNA sample of Mew wasn't the only one they had, specifically the Masked man held DNA from Ho-Oh and Lugia.
Obviously, it took years to make something halfway decent, and even then calling the clones imperfect would be a complement of what they were, but they still were powerful, strong enough to potentially take down one of Lance's Pokemon.
These creatures were dubbed Ho-Ohtwo and Lugiatwo, even though they looked like a strong gust of air would make them melt they were sent with Will and Karen to go to Pallet Town.
Even though they were told to just kidnap children, they were given a list of kids that piqued the man's interest. High-value targets you could say.
They had a few pictures including some of Silver, Green, Gary, Paul, Yellow, and Ash. Those were the high-target children, the ones that the masked man wanted.
And so the day came when everything came falling down, and the day The Masked Man would lose almost everything.