Electrivire, Electrode, and Pikachu

The skies were darkening with storm clouds. "This can't be good," Surge murmured to himself. "Boys, get up here!"

"Riii!" Three small Pikachus bounded up to the wooden platform. Each of them had a ceramic tag in their ears, marking them as Army Pokemon. After a moment, a larger Electrode came rolling up the ramp. Since it was a sphere, it had to be branded with the same mark.

"The troop that's supposed to move to this island hasn't arrived yet," he told them. "We're still on our own defending this radio tower. I've got a hunch that the invaders will try to take advantage of that. Because of that, I want each of you to be extra cautious. Especially you," he looked to the Electrode. "I don't want you blowing up unless absolutely necessary. No exploding just because a Geodude teased you. We've got a limited supply of revives now."

"Kzzzk," Electrode replied, annoyed with the order, but obedient enough to follow.

"We need to hold out until the troop arrives. Stay sharp."

The three Pikachus all saluted and scurried back to their duties. After a bit, the Electrode rolled back down to its own post. They were all well-trained Pokemon. Surge respected them.

"Still, whoever had the bright idea to leave just Electrics in this area ought to go back to school," he said under his breath.

It began a year ago. The Western Republic invaded Kanto and Johto in order to force the two regions to join them. While the Republic had a massive spread of land under their control, the leaders were not satisfied with leaving the independent regions be. They seemed unstoppable; some people advocated just giving up in order to avoid war. But most people resisted the idea of joining. There were stories that the main region of the Republic drained all others for its own benefit.

Despite their disadvantage in numbers, the Kanto and Johto regions knew how to use their landscapes to their advantage and were proving to be a harder adversary than expected. The Republic Army investigated and found a potential weakness. The radio network was relatively new and one of the most vital links was on a small forested island south of Vermillion Port. It connected this major port with Fuchsia and many of the interior cities. If the island tower was taken down, the communications blackout would allow for a swift invasion along the southeast coast.

But the combined navel force was another threat. Therefore, the Republic decided to send in a strike force composed of one man and one Pokemon. That was just fine. The pair had taken down much more difficult targets before. They knew they could handle it.

Once the human had covered his boat with a camouflage tarp, he turned to his partner. He was a beast of a Pokemon, looking like a human bodybuilder, but much stronger. "All right, Electivire, we got a radio tower to fry." He tapped his helmet and smirked. "There should be one man and four Pokemon here, but they're all Electrics. Piece of cake, right?"

Electivire grinned. He thrived around strong electrical areas and this tower had its own generator. Nothing would come between him and the raw power waiting there.

"Let's go."

Dan the Pikachu scurried along the underbrush, sniffing and checking for any changes. His wild peers would be checking for food, rivals, and predators. However, Dan was in the Army. He was checking for far more than that. The Trainers at the Army Camp had taught him to sniff out chemicals that would indicate bombs, poisonous traps, and other human-made weapons. While others might have been excited at the prospect of finding a Thunder Stone to evolve, he knew that he could do his job better this way. He could hide better when small.

Near the shore, he caught the scent of a human. Friend or foe? He couldn't tell. He checked for direction, then followed the human. Taking special care to move silently, Dan realized that the person was heading towards the tower. A messenger?

When he caught up, he snuck up a tree for a better look. The man had dark green armor, good for passing through forests unnoticed. The only identifying mark was painted on the side of his helmet, the flag of the Western Republic. An invader.

Dan leapt out of the tree and made to get to the tower before the human. But then a massive feline Pokemon pounced on him, latching his two wire tails around Dan. He might have gotten away, if the deafening roar and massive pulse of electrical energy hadn't stunned him. The Electivire then reversed his power flow and drained Dan's own power from him.

His training had covered situations like this, though. Dan bit the nearest thing he could reach, Electivire's right forepaw. It caused him to roar and flinch, allowing the Pikachu to struggle and rush away. However, he was exhausted from the power drain.

"After it," the Republic solider ordered. "Kill it this time."

Fear gave him the energy to keep running.

Surge climbed out of the tower. Electrode looked up at him. "Hzzzzz."

"Right, that didn't sound like a native. Call back."

The sphere Pokemon tilted in a nod, then emitted a low pitched howl. It would carry and inform the scouting Pikachus to return. While the one female Lisa arrived first, Dan soon rushed into the clearing. He tripped up and collapsed, worn thin. Right as he did, an Electivire crashed through a bush.

In the blink of an eye, he proved himself to be a military Pokemon as well. Electivire noted Surge's presence and made him a priority target as the leader of this Pokemon squad. Using the power stolen from Dan, he leapt at Surge, his twin tails sparking and ready to blast anything that connected them.

But the Pikachus were just as quick. Jack arrived in the clearing, then put all his power into rushing at the Electivire. While he was far smaller than the enemy and thus unable to fully stop him, he was able to intercept the tails. There was a massive flash and Surge was thrown back to the ground.

As his sight was clearing up, Surge was surprised to feel less pain than he anticipated. There was a boom that he recognized as Electrode's Explosion. Once he was able to see, he got up in a defensive kneel to look around. Lisa was linking tails with Dan to transmit a bit of power to him, so that he'd get back to his feet quicker. Electrode and Jack were both unconscious; strangely enough, Jack was now a Raichu. Also unconscious was the Electivire, who had been blasted into the air to land in a twisted pose.

A Republic soldier entered the clearing.

"Lisa!" Surge called. "Go!"

Before the invader could react, she dashed over and shocked him. Not enough to kill him, but enough to temporarily paralyze him.

"Let's put up the defense shield. There might be others."

"Someone made a solo attack on Vermillion Port," the troop's commander explained. "That's why we got delayed three days."

"You got here," Surge replied. "We've handled things fine."

"What about your prisoner?"

"He seems to be a special agent of the Republic and came over with only his Electivire. There was one small boat on the island's shore."

"I see." He bowed his head. "That is quite a feat, if I've heard right. Most people wouldn't dare fight one of them with another Electric Pokemon."

The young man smiled proudly. "I've got a good squad with me. It went to electrocute me and Jack there managed to redirect its energy to evolve himself."

"Rai!" Jack called, proudly waving his long tail.

"Then Electrode tripped it up by rolling under its feet. He even managed to direct his Explosion away from me."

"Kzzzzkt," Electrode quietly added.

Surge looked to the four Pokemon and nodded. "I don't think I'd ask for any others now. We've trained up the best."

…

Electrivire D/P entry: It pushes the tips of its two tails against the foe, then lets loose with over 20,000 volts of power.

Electrode Fire Red entry: It explodes in response to even minor stimuli. It is feared, with the nickname of "The Bomb Ball."

Pikachu Platinum entry: It occasionally uses an electric shock to recharge a fellow Pikachu that is in a weakened state.

Originally posted for Memorial Day. As Pikachu is one of the most used Pokemon for storytelling purposes, I knew I had to find something different for it. And Electrivire was surprisingly hard to write about for this series. None of its entries made for a good story starter.