2:28 AM

Celadon City

South End

Something's not right.

It was a regular Sunday night for Lazarus, aside from the festivities he found himself leaving. That night, he had just finished his last shift as an intern at the Celadon branch evolution lab. It had been a late one. After their 'graduation, he and the other interns had celebrated with a quick drink behind the lab with the other scientists. A traditional celebration, he had been told, one that they themselves had participated in when they were interns as well.

It killed Lazarus when he had told them he wasn't coming back to the evolution lab to start his official post-internship training. It had been even worse once he found out he was the only intern that wasn't doing so. Nevertheless, he had to do what felt right in his gut.

Evolution—a topic of pokeology that was so over studied and flooded with scientists—it was boring to Lazarus. Besides, he knew his internship experience would grant him access to almost any other lab that would accept him, even at just 16 years of age. He knew there would be some other lab out there that held that excitement of new discoveries...

Now he just had to go off on his own and find one.

But that worry could wait until tomorrow. For tonight, Lazarus had to find his way back from the lab to his home in the southern apartments of Celadon. He was a bit tipsy—as it was his first time drinking more than a single beer or glass of wine—but he knew the way home like the back of his hand. Plus, his parents had lent him a pokemon like always, just in case anything were to happen, even though nothing ever did.

Not yet, anyway.

"Stop! Stop right there!"

Lazarus froze, eyes widening, glancing around frantically at the streets around him. Me? But there was no one in sight. Street lights were the only illumination in the city, piercing the pitch of night, just as those words had broken the silence. To his left, a meowth sat atop a garbage can, lazily scratching beneath its chin. There was nothing to his front, or behind him, but to the right… Lazarus heard the slapping of sneakers against the pavement, and more yelling coming from that direction.

Perhaps it was boredom, or the alcohol in his system, which drove him to do what he did next. Regardless, these next moments set the young man's life on a new course, forever.

"Kara, I need you," he whispered, pressing the white button on the face of the pokeball to release his parents' pokemon. A flash of light revealed a marowak in her beast form, silver talker-collar glinting in the artificial light which coated the city. The marowak looked up at him, concerned. Lazarus never actually needed her help when simply walking home from work each day. The timing of her summons was certainly unusual.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, eyes following Lazarus's stare down the alleyway. She frowned, ears beneath her skull helmet picking up the sounds of a scuffle. She looked back up at him. "If we keep going, we can make it home without them even noticing us."

Lazarus shook his head, taking a few steps toward the commotion. The alcohol was certainly liquid courage. "No, someone is in danger, we have to help." Suddenly, a terrified cry echoed around them, bouncing off of the brick buildings and hovering in the air longer than necessary. Without waiting, Lazarus broke into a run, leaving Kara no choice but to follow.

Lazarus blazed through the alleyway to the other side, catching the tail end of the pursuers. They ran right by him, taking no notice in the pursuit of their prey. "Hey!" he blurted when they failed to see him. Most of the pursuers kept running, but a couple of them turned to face him. Lazarus turned white when he realized his mistake. The men wore uniforms in all black, save for a bright red "R" on their chests. "Team Rocket…" he whispered to himself.

"What is it?" yelled the one furthest from Lazarus.

"Just a kid!" yelled the other one back at him. "What should I do?"

"Does he have a pokemon?"

"Yes!"

The Rocket member in the back cursed. "Well, take care of him! The boss said no witnesses." With that, he turned and continued chasing whoever they were following.

The grunt closest to Lazarus turned to face him, cracking his knuckles and pulling a minimized pokeball from his sleeves. "You should learn to mind your own business, punk." In one swift motion, he enlarged the pokeball, tossing it to the ground and releasing his pokemon—an ekans.

"Woah, I don't… we don't have to fight," stuttered Lazarus, taking a few steps back.

But Kara took a few steps forward. Expertly, she spun her bone club in her hands like one might a bow staff. She whipped it behind her, in a battle-ready stance. "But what if I want to fight?" she laughed. Though a few minutes ago, getting Lazarus home safely had been the most important thing on her mind, she couldn't resist such an easy battle when the universe placed it right in front of her. She hadn't seen this much action in years.

"A talker collar? Disgusting." The Rocket member shook his head. "You'll never get the ultimate potential from your pokemon if you start treating them like equals!"

Lazarus stared, mouth gaping for a moment, before he shook his head and nodded. New steel filled his veins. "Alright," he said to Kara, standing his ground. "Let's do it."

"Ekansssss!" cried the opponent pokemon, coiling up in the road. The illumination of the yellow street lights cast stark shadows on the ground, emphasizing every movement.

The Rocket grunt wasted no time. "Ekans, poison sting let's go!" The snake pokemon reared its head back, ready—Lazarus knew—to spray poison barbs in the air.

"Dodge it, Kara! And, um, use a ground type move!" Lazarus was realizing too late that he had never actually taken the time to learn Kara's moves in case of an emergency, and now it appeared an emergency had found them. Luckily, he had his wits about him, and knew at least that a ground type move would make short work of the poison type before them.

Kara was prepared. With the agility of a martial artist, she used her bone club to propel herself over the ekans's attack, as a pole vaulter might do to their obstacle. The motion landed her right next to the snake, and in an instant, she had clubbed it in the face with her mallet. The snake pokemon went down in an instant.

It was over so quickly, both Lazarus and the Rocket grunt mirrored dumbfounded expressions as they stared at the aftermath.

"R-return ekans!" said their opponent, hand shaking as he recalled his first pokemon. He pulled out another pokeball, glancing behind him, as he seemed to host an internal battle within himself. He looked back and forth between Lazarus and the now empty street where his companions had vanished. "Y-you win this one, kid!" he said finally, putting his other pokeball away and turning tail. He sprinted away, back toward where the others had gone, leaving Kara and Lazarus more confused than anything.

"Should we follow them?" Lazarus asked, staring after him. The fight hadn't felt at all satisfying, to say the least. "Kara?" Lazarus looked around, and found the marowak was investigating something in the alleyway. "What is it?"

"Look…" She was pointing at something beside the dumpster. Lazarus crept up behind her, peering toward where she was gesturing.

"I don't see—" But then he did: a shiny briefcase, quite out of place in the pile of trash it laid in due to its newness. It was slightly ajar, and before he could stop himself, Lazarus found his curiosity getting the better of him. He squatted down, opening it slowly.

Inside the case were dozens of notebooks, big and small, filled to the brim with notes and equations. A minimized pokeball was strapped in the upper compartment, as well as a talker collar.

Suddenly, Lazarus heard more yelling coming from up the street—the sound of several pairs of feet, headed back in their direction from where the Rockets had gone. He made an executive decision. "Come on," he said, closing the briefcase and snatching it, heading back down the alley they had come from originally.

Kara froze for a moment, opening her mouth as though she had something to say, before quickly shutting it and shaking her head, silently following her trainer's son down the road.

Thank you so much for reading! This is not my first fanfiction account, I also write under the pen name Allora Silverfield. I decided to start fresh with a new account because I honestly hadn't written on that account in so long it felt wrong to try to continue any of my (many) half-finished stories.

About me: I am a published author, my first book was released in February of this year. My author name is J. E. Schmidt, and my novel is titled Ember. I will be continuing this fanfiction as practice/warmup while I work on my second book at the same time.

I have found that fanfiction is a great motivator, as you get instant feedback from passionate fans about your writing, which can be exiting and helpful at the same time. I do hope you take the time to leave a quick review!