Castform are pretty rare! Maybe those breeders or whoever were very sincerely wishing him good luck

Projectile Pikachus could work... Akechi also has a Pikachu, and there are other ways to fend off lightning! eg in Minato's and Sagi's thread at sea, Yamask uses Protect to block the lightning. They'll have to figure out a way to survive the ???hr journey across sea O:

haha rip daycare