It took a few days but eventually, Ash and Co got back to Pewter City, although it was currently sundown as the sky was a nice orange.
Brock immediately started reminiscing about this place, after all, it was his home and he hadn't been here in 5 Months, well actually 3 months if you count that one time he came back to train, but it's still a long time nonetheless.
Brock looked at everyone, "Why don't we all stay at my place tonight, I'd like to see my siblings again."
"Sure, we needed a Place to stay in anyway since we can't go in the dark," Ash said as Yellow nodded holding a sleeping Chuchu.
"Hey, why didn't we stay in Cerulean when we were there!" Misty said
"Because it was mid-day and your sisters were gone, what other reason would we have to stay there instead of you just wanting to not go into the forest?"
Misty opened her mouth to argue but nothing came out so she begrudgingly followed over to Brock's house, meanwhile, Ash sent Abra over to the Pokemon center to leave a mark for later.
It took a few minutes but eventually, they got to Brock's house which was separate from the Gym, Brock led the way as he knocked on the door and opened it, "Helloo, I'm back!"
Standing at the door were all of Brock's siblings sitting by the table as it seemed like Forrest was struggling to take care of everyone's needs
Before words could be said all of Brock's siblings collectively jumped at his chest and knocked the wind out of him, sending him to the ground. The only one who didn't was Forrest who still looked happy.
"Big Brother!!! X8"
"Hey Brock, it's good to see you," Forrest said calmly
Brock chuckled at the pile that formed on his chest, "Hey everyone it's good to see you, but can you get off my chest it's getting hard to breathe."
After way too much time Brock was back on his feet with all of his siblings still bombarding him with questions as they dragged him inside.
As the younger siblings were busy with Brock, Forrest walked up to Ash, Misty, and Yellow, "Hey so you're all Brock's friends right,"
Yellow nodded, "Yeah, we're all good friends!"
Forrest smiled and nodded, "That's good, thanks for taking care of him, I know he's the oldest but we still sometimes get worried, especially with those… tendencies he has."
Misty rolled her eyes, "Tell me about it,"
Forrest chuckled, "Well everyone should come in, it's still pretty cold outside,"
"Alright we'll take you up on that offer," Ash said as they went inside, seeing Brock being questioned by his siblings they all couldn't help but laugh.
Forrest pulled up some chairs, "Come on we were just about to go for dinner."
Brock heard that and perked up, "Oh I can cook, just give me a minute." he said as he tried to get up but Ash pushed him to sit down.
"Oh no you don't, you seem like you have some time to make up with all your siblings," he said as then he grabbed Forrest and pulled him next to him, "Me and Forrest will cook!"
Forrest looked surprised, "Erm, s-sure I guess, usually we just order takeout."
"Well that's not good for you so let's get to it!" Ash said as he dragged Forrest into the kitchen as Pikachu hopped off and sat next to Yellow.
Brock felt a sweat drop appear as he started getting bombarded by requests and questions from his siblings like they were trying to make up for lost time.
Ranging from asking about his Pokemon to Sewing their favorite set of clothes, Brock the ever-pleasing older brother fulfilled each and every one of these requests
Leaving Misty and Yellow to sit there and question why they suddenly felt useless in this scenario.
—
{Battle pyramid}
"Regirock, finish this!" said a man with brown hair and wearing a Green outfit, it was Pyramid King Brandon.
A Pokemon with a rock body and 7 red spots charged forward to its opponent, a Drapion, one owned by none other than Reggie.
Reggie panicked, "Drapion, get out of the way!"
But despite his best efforts Drapion couldn't dodge and got a powerful brow to its body sending it flying into the side of the stone walls of their battlefield, completely knocked out.
The referee checked to make sure and raised his hand, "Drapion is unable to battle, therefore the winner is none other than Pyramid King Brandon."
The crowd that was watching the battle clapped and cheered after the battle, except 1, it was Paul who was looking down shocked at the result of the battle, in all the years his brother had been a trainer this was the first time he lost.
Reggie fell to his knees in defeat and returned Drapion back to his Pokeball, taking in the reality of the situation. He didn't just lose, he didn't even take down a single Pokemon.
As Reggie was moping on the ground Brandon walked up to him and looked down at him, "Do you know why you lost."
Reggie clenched his teeth and dug his fingers in the ground, "Because I wasn't strong enou-"
"NO!" Brandon said with his hands crossed his voice seemed to shake the room
"You lost because you lacked the necessary will to see any other possibility."
"W-what do you mean?" Reggie asked.
Brandon frowned, "If you can't even answer that, then don't bother coming back for a rematch." with that Brandon turned around and started walking leaving Reggie alone to think.
A while later as Reggie and Paul were exiting the Battle Pyramid Reggie still remained quiet, seemingly starting to understand.
Paul just continued forward, "Some nerve of that guy, it doesn't matter you're going to beat him next time."
But Reggie stopped in his tracks, "I-I don't think so."
Paul stopped and looked back to his brother, "What…"
"I mean I don't think I'm going to challenge him again," Reggie said, looking at his Pokeball.
"Right, he probably isn't even worth your time," Paul said nodding to himself
"No, I mean I think I'm not going to be a trainer anymore, I-I was given some things to think about."
Paul looked at his brother Reggie and frowned, "Then what are you going to do."
Reggie took a breath, "I think I might go be a breeder, to just take care and-"
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING! If you stop then what has this all been for, you've been a trainer for years, if you stop then what was it all for!"
"Paul, strength isn't just about winning. It's about knowing your limits, learning from every experience, and growing,"
"So you're just throwing that all away, you lost once, and now it's all over! That's just pathetic!"
"Paul it's not like that it-"
"Then what is it, you lost and now you want to throw everything away! And for what, to go and take care of some Pokemon!"
"Paul you need to understand-" Reggie held his hand out to touch Paul on the shoulder.
"SHUT UP!" Paul slapped his hand, "I'll show you, I'll become a trainer, and then come here and defeat Brandon, then you'll see how stupid and pathetic you are!"
With that Paul turned and started storming away, leaving Reggie there looking at his brother's back worriedly, he knew that no matter what he did Paul wouldn't listen, so he could only hope that things would turn out ok.
—
{League conference room}
The meeting between the Gym leaders had been going off without a problem, the main cause for the meeting was to inform them about Zapmolcuno and the fact that Team Rocket was starting to become more bold.
Everyone was surprised except Blaine, who could only look at Giovanni's surprised face, which he could tell was fake.
Lance crossed his arms, "It's unknown what their end plan was, and I also don't know if they have anything similar, but we did take some plans we found and sent them to our laboratory."
Giovanni who was holding his finger to his chin as if he was thinking, "So, how powerful was this Zapmolcuno compared to the Thu-Fi-Zer that they created all those years ago?"
"Tough to say, it definitely was stronger but I couldn't tell you, especially since it seemed that at the end it lost most of its energy."
Blaine couldn't help but bite his tongue seeing this, he knew this was all just an act, but he couldn't say anything, for one part he didn't have evidence, and on another, he and Giovanni had an agreement, so he couldn't spill the beans on the truth.
Giovanni went back into thought as Lance continued, "We managed to capture a lot of Grunts but as of now they have all said they don't know anything, and the Admins we captured are not willing to talk."
"So until then we don't have much to work with, but on the bright side with this we seem to have won some of the public's favor back, even if we are still keeping Zapmolcuno a secret."
Everyone nodded at that, it seemed like the only good thing to come out of the experience.
"Anyway, that was mainly to warn all of you, there's no telling if they decide to attack your town so we should all stay prepared for the worst," he said with a warning before turning back to other matters.
"Anyway, now let's get to 'housekeeping' how is everyone fairing with the Gyms, anything they would like to say," Lance said and almost immediately everyone's eyes shifted to Giovanni who was the one who was absent from his gym the most.
Giovanni looked at everyone and sighed, "I apologize but there were some problems with scheduling, but I can assure you, I will be back at my Gym from now until the start of the League conference."
—
Colress was in front of a screen talking with a man with Green hair wearing a black cloak, it was none other than Ghetsis.
"And that is all, I have to report," Colress said after explaining his 'findings', leaving out mostly everything.
"I see, I should have known those Team Rocket fools would be no problem, what a waste of time, anyway your Mission is complete, you can come back to Unova," Ghetsis said looking down.
Colress smiled hearing that, but not because he was happy, because it seemed like Ghetsis was trying to control him, but he had to hide the fact that he was starting to figure him out.
"Actually, I'd like to stay here in Team Rocket for a bit longer, there is more research I need to see," Colress said looking at Ghetsis.
Ghetsis on the inside seemed angry that someone was willing to talk back to him, but on the outside, he remained quiet, "Very well, then report to me what you find." and he hung up.
Colress then dropped his smile, the more he spoke to him the more his suspicions came true, but he shook his head taking off his Blue halo that circled his head.
He dialed Giovanni's number, only to be greeted by Sierra looking at him, "It's about time you called you fool, you have some things to start explaining."
Colress was taken aback by this, of all things he didn't expect this, but he kept his Composure, "My apologies, I was in hiding, the police have been hunting down the rest of the scientists, I only recently escaped so I could call the Boss."
Sierra frowned, "Yeah well the boss had to leave for a meeting, so until then I am in charge of what happens to you, and you have some explaining to do, starting with what the hell happened to Zapmolcuno."
Colress remained calm, "Very well, I shall make my way to base as soon as possible and answer everything to the best of my ability."