The Electivire stood as a whopping 6-foot-tall ball of hate; an emotion that's omnipresent in its eyes no matter where it is in its evolutionary line. It slowly got up from the machine it fell onto, it was nothing more than a barely recognizable heap of scrap. Its eyes settled on nothing else other than me, glaring with hate that reminded me of who- or what this pokemon once was.

My hand instinctively went for the ball on my belt and I felt my grip tighten around the spheres, when I looked down, I saw that my knuckles had turned white, and pale to the point that I couldn't even discern them from the metal floor. That, and the electricity that the Electric-Type in front of me was producing messing with my head, I couldn't even see where the floor started, and where my hand ended.

I gulped, took a step back, and took deep breaths to try and calm myself down. Everything around me was screaming danger and even the Rocket Grunt looked lost, his once confident face disappearing, replaced by one struck with fear. I hastily grabbed his wrist before he could throw the Zubat to its death and when he turned his head to look at me, I met his eyes for a brief moment.

And it was just that; a brief moment-

Before he suddenly disappeared in a flash of yellow.

I faced the Electivire, - who acted as if me looking at anything but himself was complete and utter blasphemy - ignoring the loud, bone-cracking thud behind me as I tried to think up of anything that would help. It was only now that I noticed that my ability had stopped working since God knows when and after realizing that, I tried to legitimately rack my brain for anything that can help and ended up with the most obvious answer- there was simply nothing I can do.

The Pokemon in front of me was too strong, mine were out of commission and let's be honest here, even if they weren't, what could have they done? I stored the Pokeball in my hand back unto my belt and the Electivire watched me do so without doing anything, just silently staring.

When it was tightly locked in place, I sighed, "what do you want?" I said and the pokemon grunted, I tried to put up a calm face, I knew where I was gonna end up after this, what's the point of feeling scared? "sure, sure, that's great and all but come on, I don't think that I can just offer up my life and-"

Electricity shot out directly to my right, it was hot enough to melt the floor...

"heh," I snorted, hoping that it masked my widely beating heart. It probably didn't, not for the Electivire anyways. I sighed, the action calming me down considerably, "guess this is really the end huh?"

'well my life was short-lived,' was the last thought that I was sure I would have as I watched the Electivire build up his killing blow.

When the Thunder was finally released- nothing happened because it got sucked into the closing spatial gate above him, for reasons only Palkia knows what.

And then, Chaos ensued as Persian suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I felt myself become weightless as I got carried away.

I looked down at the Furret carrying me and sighed, doing my best to put up a brave front while ignoring the burning feeling starting to swell in my eyes; I didn't want to cry, not when he's here.

But I did, when I felt the Furret throw me and two arms started to wrap around me. I looked up to see my Dad staring at me in complete silence, "looks like you got two new Pokemon," he smiled,

"fuck off," I cursed, the crack in my voice leaking out.

I was bopped in the head for my bad language before I was placed back in the ground. Moments later, I heard the sound of someone teleporting a few meters away and I looked at my mother's Alakazam staring at me with its calculating eyes, it met mine and lingered for a second before they looked at the Electivire in the distance. It was still there in the hideout, rampaging as it tried to attack the silent Persian as best as it could, only to spectacularly fail at hitting the agile Pokemon as it darted around while sending attacks of its own.

There were very few Pokemon moves out there that can give the Paralysis effect to Electric types and because of that, paralyzing them was an accomplishment on its own, and for most, it was simply too hard to do but- with Glare, Persian didn't have to worry about it at all and from the sluggish movements of the Electivire, I knew that the Pokemon had used its favorite move.

Dad looked away from the scene and stared at me, "still though, what kind of Pokemon is that Lionel?"

I shrugged, thankful that I decided to calm myself down the moment that I saw Mom's Alakazam, "I don't know,"

"huh," I felt a light punch get delivered to my right forearm, "guess you managed to discover a new one huh?" he grinned, "and right after getting your unique Grimer too!" he pat me on the head before looking at his wife's pokemon, "but, it looks like we're gonna have to cut this conversation short," he grabbed a Pokeball and released Kangaskhan, her height easily towering over the Electivire, "take him somewhere safe,"

And, just like that, my vision shifted and I was suddenly in front of Azalea town's hospital. I met Alakazam's eyes, "w-" and I felt myself go to sleep and I lost consciousness before I can reprimand him for taking me away.

...

When I woke up, I was greeted by the sight of both my parents sitting right next to my bed. Sitting on the far corner to my right, was a pair of professors; a restless Professor Elm and stoic Professor Oak. Elm had a Pokedex out and was wildly typing something into it while Oak met my eyes, he smiled at me and waved, I waved back.

"right, so, well someone's awake," I turned to see my Dad just in time elbow my mother, who was - unsurprisingly, - busy with her eyes glued to her Pokewatch. She turned the device off and looked at me, smiling but Dad spoke first, "so me and your mom both know that it's our fault that you went into the cave," his wife nodded while he scratched his head, "and, if I were gonna be honest with you, I would say that most kids your age wouldn't even have half the encounters that you did back there and to be honest?"

They both locked eyes before meeting mine, "we thought that you would just have a normal caving adventure and we're pretty proud of you for managing to do all that and more but-"

My mother shook her head, "-you're gonna have to properly know how to deal with what comes after you," she finished for him to which my Dad nodded. My mother grasped her hands, "so, we both thought things through, and after a... talk with your Dad," he chuckled at that, "we decided that you're simply in far too much danger to be left alone," she sighed, "or, at least without knowing how to take care of yourself so after all this," she gestured all around us, "once you get your pokemon checked, have recovered, yadda, yadda, yadda; the two of us are gonna start training you,"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Dad nodded, "right, the rangers checked the perimeter of that hideout that you found and even the entirety of Union Cave and we found out that there were empty, shattered, and used Repel bottles lying around the place and so, I thought that maybe I should teach you how to properly handle a Pokemon that's... you know, wild, whilst being on your own."

"what your Dad means is that you're gonna learn how to fight Pokemon as a human," he nodded at that. She lightly clapped her hands, "as for me, I'm gonna have to ask Alakazam to teach you to wield your psychic power properly,"

I frowned, "psychic?"

"are you gonna still deny it at this point?" my mother's gaze became stern but just as quickly, she shook her head, "Lionel, you're gonna have to learn to wield your ability," I nodded, "and Alakazam says you only have a year and a quarter to learn and it's not nearly enough time to properly do it," I nodded silently, thinking for the worse, that maybe my journey's about to get delayed. My worries went away with my mother's next words though, "but, even then, I said that it was fine as long as you can hold yourself together when during your journey,"

I nodded silently, "wait, then how would you go around the place without his Teleport?"

"flying types," she said, "your Dad has a Pidgeot that I can borrow," I nodded at that, "right?" she looked at her husband who quickly nodded.

"anyways, Professor Oak wants to talk to you and I think Elm wants to ask you what you know about the...

"Electivire," my Mom said after a long pause,

"Electivire, right," Dad repeated, "and they're gonna go here and talk about what you know about him alright?"

"okay," I nodded,

"good," he stood up and called both professors in.

"Lionel," Professor Oak said professionally, "I see that you've caught yourself a Zubat and a Magby," I smiled wryly at that, "and rather strong ones at that,"

"the Magby was able to fight a weakened Electabuzz toe to toe yeah," I nodded, rubbing the back of my head, I didn't know anything about the Zubat but if Professor Oak says so then it's probably true. "it's a waste that I have to give him away honestly,"

Professor Oak nodded solemnly, "you're not gonna keep him?"

I shook my head, "with all the costs, care, and space the pokemon needs?" I shook my head again, "I honestly just can't,"

"then the Zubat?.."

"I'm keeping it," I answered after a long pause, "honestly?" he met my eyes, "I was just planning on getting a Zubat and a Zubat alone but the Magby sort of just came, and well? I took him in and he gladly cooperated but I'm gonna have to cut things short,"

"I see," Professor Oak's eyes went over to Elm's, "then, the Electabuzz that the Magby fought, is it the same as..."

"the Electivire? yeah," I said, agreeing, "that thing ran around the cave whilst poisoned for me and I just can't believe that something like that was spiteful enough to do so you know?" I chuckled to hide the fact that I was gripping the sheets of my bed tightly, "and sure, he did save me in the end when I got attacked by that rocket grunt but still..." I frowned when I met my father's eyes, "that thing was odd..."

"I can see why you'd say that," Professor Elm said, Pokedex still in hand, "but you mentioned that it was an Electabuzz at one point yes?" I nodded, already knowing where this is going, "can you tell me what caused it to evolve?" his fingers stopped typing and he- well, everyone else in the room really, - paid rapt attention to what I was about to say. I stayed silent and Elm took that as something else so he explained, "well, to start things off, you probably don't know this because it was your first time seeing an Electabuzz," he closed his Pokedex, "but, just to let you know; these pokemon are known to be their line's final evolution and the Electabuzz's of Johto trainers have stayed that way ever since... well, forever and even the strongest trainer that has them have only had an Electabuzz with them, not at all evolving,"

"okay," I took in a deep breath, "how does an Elekid evolve?" I asked,

"so you are familiar with them yes?" I nodded and tried my best to hide my discomfort, most likely not noticing any of it at all, Professor Elm laughed lightly, "well, to start things off, Elekids evolve when they grow strong enough," he answered, "and to further elaborate, I do not think that Electivires evolve in that manner because of a gym leader that owns exactly that Pokemon back in Kanto,

"that Gym leader is very competent see, and I don't think that if he did know that Electabuzz could evolve, he would have done it a long time ago."

Mom nodded at that, "there are very few Electric Types out there after all and him getting what everyone thinks is a Powerhouse is way too tempting for him not to,"

Dad nodded, "yeah, that thing was able to put up a good fight against Kangaskhan while under the effects of Paralysis,"

"I do believe surge has requested that he gets the Electivire as well," Oak gave out his two cents, the Kanto professor showing that he's knowledgeable of all things Kanto.

"news travels fast huh? how did you even know that he requested for it? only a day after Lionel's encounter too..." Mom said what I was thinking as well as confirming just how long I'd been out.

"isn't he a Johto pokemon though?" Elm gave out his opinion,

I listened in to their idle chatter and when it all ended after Elm spoke, I took my turn, "right," I furrowed my eyebrows, thinking, "then, what if I told you that Electivire started off as an Elekid when I first encountered him?" I said, mainly going off of the script that I made up just now.

"and that's his point," Mom spoke up, "that the Electabuzz doesn't evolve in the same way that an Elekid does," she added, "and most of the time, evolutions like these, such as my Scizor and Jasmine's Steelix can easily bypass the required strength for Evolution and make a Pokemon evolve twice in a row if their trainer wishes,"

Oak nodded, "she's right, Lionel, something like that evolving twice in a row in a short amount of time isn't that strange," he straightened his posture, "what matters is what kind of trigger caused the Evolution,"

I raised a hand but Mom cut me off, "if you don't know what caused it, it's fine," she said, "it's pretty rare to witness something like that and I was sure you probably didn't even see anything at all since you were fighting against a Rocket Grunt when this happened-" her voice turned cold for a moment, "-and if you don't know, understand that everyone here will not push it any further if you say so," she said formally,

"yeah, about that... I did see what happened but there were other things as well,"

"like what?" was Elm's question,

"like uh, a weird portal opening in front of me and dropping an unconscious Electabuzz in a machine that caused it to evolve,"

"so let me make this clear, it's not something that's at all related to the Electabuzz overcharging itself during battle?" Professor Oak asked and I nodded. Mom had placed her hand inside of her breast pocket, presumably to turn off a microphone there when Professor Oak looked at her, he then turned to me, his face serious, "and what's this about a portal?"

"I honestly don't know?" I looked at Dad, he remained stoic and calm, did Persian not tell him? "I mean it was like a large, blue circle opened up in the middle of the room and what came out of it was the Electabuzz I beat half an hour before I fought that Rocket grunt,"

"the Electabuzz did not evolve after you beat him yes? only after it fell unto the device?" Elm started typing something into the Pokedex when I nodded.

"so, we have a bigger problem on our hands," Mom looked at Oak before sighing, "and out of all the people that I know, why is it you?" she palmed her face, "it could have been anyone else, hell, it could've been her since she's actively looking for the damn thing responsible but why you?"

I shrugged, "I don't know," was my only answer,

"well, the good news is that at least we now know that Lionel is probably under threat because of Team Rocket, and now that he's a..." Dad looked at Oak who shook his head, "person of interest, the danger is only gonna get worse, so how about this, you're not gonna leave GoldenRod city until your journey, and up until that point, you're gonna train yourself till you can fend off whoever it is that attacks you without us-" he gestured towards his wife, "-to protect you,"

"can I still go to Route 34?" I said,

"of course, you can even roam the city freely right as long as you have Persian with you," he said, "or Alakazam for that matter,"

"which he will since he's gonna be training him to wield his psychic ability,"

"right, which means he will stay with you at all times, and when he isn't, you'll be with me taking in Ranger training," he smiled, "and when this is all done, we can rest easy knowing that you'll be able to defend yourself,"

"okay," I willingly accepted, "but it's only two years right?" I asked,

"only two years, IF you behave yourself and not go into these weird encounters."