(Cerulean City Pokémon Center)

"Here you go! All of your Pokémon in tip-top condition." Nurse Joy smiled as she sat a tray of six pokeballs on the desk. Kevin picked them up and placed them in his gauntlet one by one.

"Thank you so much Nurse Joy! May I use the videophone please?"

"Of course young man, they're always open to the public." With a wink she walked away and help another trainer. Kevin walked over to the phone and dialed a number, before waiting for someone to pick up.

"Oh, hello there Kevin!" Professor Oak greeted as his face flashed on the screen. "How are things going so far on your journey?"

"Eh, interesting?" Kevin chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "I've just arrived in Cerulean City."

"Already? My, you and Kay are so eager to get those badges!" He smiled. "And you're pretty eager at catching Pokémon! So far out of the four, you have the most with seven."

"Really?"

"Indeed. Gary is second with five, Ash is third with three, and Kay…well she only has her starter." Oak sighed.

"So, I assume that means she didn't get her Cerulean Gym badge?"

"Oh, no she did. She didn't tell me how exactly, which is strange. I guess the gym leader just took it easy on her."

"I guess so…speaking of Pokémon, how's my Clefairy?"

"She's doing just fine! She's seemed to take a shining to me, it's so cute and helps take a load off of my shoulders since she's dead set on helping me around the lab and ranch." He gave a belly laugh, which got Kevin grinning.

"That's good to hear."

"Indeed. Also, I must congratulate you on your Kakuna capture! Shinies are extremely hard to find and most trainers spend their whole lives just to find one! But with you not only finding but capturing one in the first week of your journey? It's amazing!"

"Thanks Professor Oak." Kevin grinned, blushing at the praise. "I'm gonna hang up and call me parents. Is that okay?"

"Of course my boy! Good luck with your gym battle and stay safe on your journey!"

"Thank you Professor Oak, goodbye!"

The two hung up before Kevin dialed another number. He drummed his fingers across his knee, wincing at the stinging pain on his left side of his torso.

"Hi baby!"

Kevin jumped in his seat and looked up. He smiled when he saw his mothers and fathers face flash on the screen.

"Hi guys. Just wanted to call and let you know I'm in Cerulean City."

"Already? Wow, took your brothers each a week and a half to get there." Brian commented.

"Yeah. And I'm doing good too. Still a little hurt from Viridian Forest, but I'll live." He lied, trying not to wince as the pain in his left continued stabbing him violently.

"Well that's good at least. Remember, you can come home at anytime for any reason, okay?" Helen informed, trying not to look worried.

"I know, and I appreciate it. I'm gonna go face the gym now, I love you guys."

"We love you too." They each hung up, allowing Kevin to finally wince in pain.

"I should ask Nurse Joy if she has a gold berry smoothie like the one from Pewter City." He told himself before getting up and walking out the door. "But first, lets get this battle over with."

(Cerulean City gym)

Kevin blinked in surprise when he arrived at the gym. He didn't know what to expect, but a line of screaming teen/young girls and their parents was at the very bottom of the list.

A guy stood in front of the main entrance, arms crossed against his chest with a scowl. He couldn't be any older then 25, yet he was completely bald. The guy wore blue jeans, and a black t-shirt with a white Pokémon on its front. The Pokémon was long, with a tail and white horn of its head.

"Are you a trainer?" A female voice questioned. Jumping in surprise, Kevin turned and noticed a tanned woman with light blue hair staring at him. She wore the exact same clothes as the man, but held a clipboard, and had a headset on.

"Uh, y-yeah. What's going-"

"We got another Marty." She spoke into her mic, cutting him off. "Just go up by that guy and he'll give you what you need. Hurry it up, we have things to do." She informed, pointing to the bald guy.

"Yeah but-" She walked away, not bothering to hear what he had to say. Sighing, he walked through the grass and up towards 'Marty'.

"You the trainer?" He asked when Kevin got close, a small wooden table stood next to him. On it was a box filled with…badges?

"Yes. What's exactly-" Kevin was quick to slap both his hands over his chest when Marty threw something at him. "going on? What?" Looking down, he realized it was a blue waterdrop.

"Congratulations, you've beat the Cerulean Gym, here's your badge, blah, blah, blah, you get the drill. Next!" He shouted, before taking the tickets of a mother and her young daughter.

"I-I can't take this. Aren't I supposed to fight for it?"

"Kid, look, the gym leaders are busy right now and can't battle ya, okay? Take the badge and get outta here before I call Officer Jenny and say you're disturbing the peace." Marty growled, before taking the tickets from a family of five.

Eyes wide, Kevin decided to walk away and grumbled under his breath, calling the dude a jerk among many other things.

The whole walk back to the Pokémon Center Kevin just stared down at the badge, feeling guilty even though he did nothing wrong. Gym battles were meant to challenge trainers and to see if they could continue on their journey. How was he supposed to know if he was ready to move on if the gym leader wouldn't face him?

And why would you be a gym leader if you aren't going to fight the trainers that come your way? It just didn't make any sense, and angered Kevin beyond belief. But he couldn't exactly do anything at this point, other than walk away and come back in the near future to challenge them.

"Well that didn't take long. How did the gym battle go?" Nurse Joy asked as he entered the Pokémon Center.

"Uh, good. It went…pretty good?" Kevin lied. "I was hoping it'd take longer though. Now I have nothing to do and I don't really want to move on to the next gym yet."

"Why not explore Route 24 for the rest of the day?"

"Where's Route 24?"

"Just North of Cerulean City. There's multiple species of water type Pokémon, along with some bug and grass types. And believe me, you'll definitely need some water types for some of the future gyms."

"Yeah, I guess I'll check it out Nurse Joy. Thank you." With a smile he turned to exit the Center yet again.

"Have fun and stay safe!"

(Route 24)

True to her word, Route 24 was just a short walk from the Pokémon Center. A large wooden bridge stretched across a fairly large lake. A patch of grass sat to the lakes left, and a strip of land sat to its right.

Walking over to the lake, Kevin smiled as he watched different water types swim around in the water. A small, red crab, a yellow duck swam next to each other, a blue tadpole and a white/orange fish were among those swimming.

He grinned when a red fish with a white tail came swimming up to him. He began scanning it.

Magikarp, the fish Pokémon, is a water type. In the distant past, it was somewhat stronger than the horribly weak descendants that exist today. This Pokémon is: female.

"It's okay girl, not every Pokémon is strong in, what I assume, is the first of their evolutionary line." He tried to comfort, before quirking an eyebrow when Magikarp's eyes narrowed. Magikarp swam up and flew out of the water, before using her tail to slap Kevin's face.

"Ow! Why does this keep happening?!" Kevin screamed as he held onto his wet right cheek. He growled, but noticed that Magikarp was now flopping around on the land instead of swimming in the water. Looking around to see if anyone was nearby, he tapped her with a pokeball. Vibrating three times, it dinged before disappearing from his hand. "Good news, caught a new Pokémon. Bad news, if this keeps up, I'll be attacked by every species in Kanto." He sighed.

Suddenly he could hear a loud cackle from across the lake. Looking closely, he noticed two shadowy people standing in the grass with some kind of tube like device standing in-between them. Kevin moved towards and walked across the bridge slowly, trying not to draw any attention to himself. When he got close enough, he gasped when he noticed their hairstyles. He only knew of two people with short green hair and crazy blonde hair.

"Butch and Cassidy!" He called out as he walked towards the them. The two jumped in surprise and whirled around, they gasped when they saw it was him.

"The twerp!" They exclaimed simultaneously, before striking a pose. "Prepare for trouble!"

"Don't sing your little motto again. Once was enough." Kevin sighed as he massaged his temples.

"Rude little punk." Butch grumbled while crossing his arms.

"Kids these days. They just don't know how to show any respect." Cassidy shrugged.

"Oh yes, I'm so sorry for not showing respect to criminal scum." He rolled his eyes, before the sound of smacking caught his attention. Staring at the tube, he noticed a little dark/light brown Pokémon was banging against the glass. It appeared to be injured. "Who's that Pokémon?" He asked himself before scanning it.

Abra, the psi Pokémon, is a psychic type. Using its ability to read minds, it will identify impending danger and teleport to safety. This Abra is: male.

"What do you two need with a psychic type?"

"Gas is raising in price and motorcycle repairs can be expensive, and we're only allowed to spend so much money at a time. With a psychic type we can just teleport to any location we want. Can you imagine all the crimes we can commit? All the money and Pokémon we can steal?!" Butch grinned.

"I assume you're gonna pull the 'good guy' act and try to stop us again." Cassidy stated, before she and Butch pulled out a pokeball.

"Lady, it's no act." He retorted while pulling out two of his own pokeballs.

"Mankey, lets go!"

"Rattata, I choose you!"

"Sandshrew, Rattata, and Nidoran, I need your help!"

The five Pokémon emerged and gave their separate cries. They glared at each, for some it was because they remembered their enemy. For others, they could just sense how evil the others were.

"Mankey, use double Karate Chop on that pipsqueaks Sandshrew and Rattata!"

"Rattata, use Hyper Fang on his Nidoran!"

Both of Mankeys arms glowed white while Rattatas front fang grew twice in size. They started to charge at Kevin and his team.

"Nidoran use Double Kick, Sandshrew use Rollout and Quick Attack!"

Nidoran counter-charged Rattata and ducked under the attack. Turning around, she kicked hard under Rattatas chin, sending the purple rat flying into the air.

Sandshrew curled into a ball and rolled out of the way of Mankeys attack, while Kevin's Rattata dodged as well. They ran and rolled around the fighting type, who started to spin around and swipe at them as they past. Eventually Mankey grew dizzy, unable to look straight he started to spin around without meaning to. The pig money cried in pain as it was sandwiched between the Rollout and Quick Attack.

The three Pokémon jumped back to their trainer's side while the other two fell down, defeated. Growling, Butch and Cassidy returned their Pokémon.

"Are you gonna turn yourselves in now?"

"Ha! You think the great Butch and Cassidy would turn ourselves in so easily?! You really are some stupid kid." Cassidy sneered. Nodding to each other, Butch rolled out a black and red ATV from the bushes. They both hopped on and drove away from the route, leaving Kevin and his Pokémon behind.

"Anyone wanna explain how they fit an entire ATV in these tiny bushes? Anyone?" Kevin asked while starring down at his Pokémon, who shrugged in confusion as well.

"Ab-Abra." Abra muttered weakly, unable to move in his tiny glass prison and unable to teleport out. He panted heavily and whimpered in pain.

"Abra!" Kevin exclaimed as he ran towards the machine, his Pokémon following right behind him. "I'm right here Abra, it's okay. We're going to get you out!" He exclaimed while looking over the tube, studying it and trying to find some kind of button or switch. Abra just stared at him, wary of the new human in front of him. While yes this human saved him from the other two, all it took was one bad encounter to make you have trust issues.

Rattata sniffed and walked around the machine, before finding a red button on the back of it. Standing up, it pressed it. The rat Pokemon squeaked and ran behind Sandshrew as the tube made a noise and opened.

"Good job Rattata!" Kevin praised, before grabbing Abra under his arms and lifting him out. The little psychic type panted and whimpered as Kevin cradled him. "Poor little guy won't make it to the Pokemon Center…I got it! Rattata, grab a pokeball out of my bag."

Nodding, the purple rat climbed up Kevins back and sat on his shoulder. Opening the door, Rattata grabbed a small pokeball and handed it to Kevin. Abra looked uncertain as Kevin enlarged the device, which he caught.

"It's okay. After I catch you, you'll be transferred to someone I know. He's really nice and will heal you right away. After that I'll release you if you want, deal?" Still looking uneasy, Rattata, Nidoran, and Sandshrew started to speak, telling the little brown Pokemon that Kevin could and should be trusted. Unable to argue with all three, Abra nodded to the deal. Kevin tapped his forehead gently before being sucked in, causing the ball to vibrate and ding also immediately. It turned white before teleporting out of his hand. Satisfied, Kevin returned his three Pokemon and offered them words of praise, before running back to the Pokemon Center to contact Professor Oak about what had happened.