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    Проснуться в лесу посреди ниоткуда не входило в планы Пирса. На самом деле он не умирал и не был брошен в другой мир. Однако он оценил второй шанс, а также бесплатное снаряжение. Теперь, как он собирается извлечь максимальную выгоду из своей новой ситуации... Ну, главный вопрос в чем именно? Не могу читать через переводчик на оригинальном сайте - https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14201916/1/Searching-Far-and-Wide. Так что, выкладываю здесь, чтобы спокойно читать. Текст не мой, права не мои, выкладываю без разрешения автора. Ссылка на произведение выше
  Searching Far and Wide
  by Adrian King1
  Waking up in a forest in the middle of nowhere wasn't in Pierce's plans. Neither was dying nor was being dropped in another world for that matter, really. He appreciated the second chance though, and the free equipment too. Now, how was he going to make the most of his new situation... Well, that was the question, wasn't it?
  
  Original source: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14201916/1/Searching-Far-and-Wide
  
  Chapters: 61
  
  Words: 264220
  
  Rated: Fiction M - Language: English - Genre: Adventure - Characters: OC - Reviews: 2,153 - Favs: 3,523 - Follows: 4,424
  
  Exported with the assistance of FicHub.net
  
  Starting Point I
  Starting Point II
  Viridian Forest I
  Viridian Forest II
  Viridian Forest III
  Viridian Forest IV
  Pewter City I
  Pewter City II
  Pewter City III
  Pewter City IV
  Pewter City V
  Pewter City VI
  Pewter City VII
  Pewter City VIII
  Pewter City IX
  Pewter City X
  Pewter City XI
  Pewter City XII
  Pewter City XIII
  Pewter City XIV
  Pewter City XV
  Pewter City XVI
  Mt Moon I
  Mt Moon II
  Mt Moon III
  Mt Moon IV
  Mt Moon V
  Mt Moon VI
  Mt Moon VII
  Mt Moon VIII
  Mt Moon IX
  Mt Moon X
  Route 4 I
  Route 4 II
  Route 4 III
  Route 4 IV
  Route 4 V
  Route 4 VI
  Route 4 VII
  Cerulean City I
  Cerulean City II
  Cerulean City III
  Cerulean City IV
  Cerulean City V
  Cerulean City VI
  Cerulean City VII
  Cerulean City VIII
  Cerulean City IX
  Cerulean City X
  Cerulean City XI
  Cerulean City XII
  Cerulean City XIII
  Cerulean City XIV
  Cerulean City XV
  Cerulean City XVI
  Cerulean City XVII
  Cerulean City XVIII
  Cerulean City XIX
  Cerulean City XX
  Cerulean City XXI
  Cerulean City XXII
  next chapterchapter list
  Starting Point I
  Starting Point I
  
  ' Where the fuck am I?' was the first thing Pierce thought when he woke up. Why? Because he was pretty sure that he'd woken up in a bedroll and he'd only slept in one as a child around fifteen years prior or something. He also didn't remember going camping lately or anything that would end with him in such a place.
  
  With that surprise, Pierce woke up pretty quickly, for once.
  
  Looking around only brought more confusion to his mind, which hadn't even finished waking up yet. ' Why am I in a tent?' Pierce thought, frowning and rubbing his eyes. ' I'm pretty sure that I've never even made plans that would lead to me drinking or anything so... what the fuck is going on?'
  
  Half-asleep, he dragged himself out of the bedroll. Next to him was a backpack and a set of clothes. None of them were familiar to him at all, which was only adding to an already growing sense of dread. Hesitantly, he dressed himself with those clothes - he'd apologize later to whoever they belonged to, but he refused to go around in pajamas -, which fit perfectly. Black boots, black cargo pants, a plain white t-shirt and a dark gray hoodie. Lots of things that fit entirely too well, in his opinion.
  
  Shaking his head, he pushed questions for later as he moved outside the tent.
  
  ' A forest, because why not, right?' Pierce thought, his previous annoyance slowly turning into fear. There were only trees as far as he could see and that definitely made the nervousness he was already feeling reach new levels. He felt his face pale and his hands start shaking.
  
  ' Ok, it's ok,' he told himself, gulping down the knot in his throat before taking a deep breath in. ' Let's just think this over, ok? This is fine. I just gotta figure out where I am and how to... get... back...' he trailed off as his eyes found something rather peculiar hanging from a tree branch.
  
  There, attached to what seemed to be a thread of some kind, was a brownish yellow shell-like thing the size of his chest . ' What even is that?' he wondered, staring at it as if that would reveal the thing's secrets. Which it did, actually, because it took him barely a second to realize that the black spots on it were eyes . How did he know? Well, because the thing rotated the smallest bit so that it was "facing" him and chirped something that didn't sound very friendly, even if the sound was muffled by the shell.
  
  The thing looked familiar to Pierce though, almost like he'd seen such a thing before.
  
  ' But what...?'
  
  Another chirping sound got his attention then, mainly because it wasn't muffled by anything, and when he turned, he froze. There was a caterpillar-like thing climbing up the side of a tree. Brownish with a horn protruding from its forehead and some pink on the front of its "face" and on its legs. Pierce would recognize that thing anywhere .
  
  ' A weedle?' he thought, eyes wide. Slowly turning towards the thing that had been hanging from the tree, it suddenly made much more sense. ' A kakuna...'
  
  ' What the fuck?!'
  
  Looking around for some sign of sense, Pierce was instead met with the exact opposite. In the distance, he saw a few pidgey flying in the sky. Further away he saw a caterpie crawling on a tree branch upside down. And in between the woods, he was pretty sure he caught a glimpse of a butterfree.
  
  ' This is happening, huh?' he thought to himself, his shoulders sagging. As a last resort, he pinched his own arm, grimacing as he felt the spike of pain. More because of what it meant than how it felt. ' This is really happening...' he repeated.
  
  Then he turned to the kakuna.
  
  "You wouldn't happen to know what happened, right? Didn't see anything?" Pierce asked, receiving what sounded like a remarkably aggressive chirping sound from the thing. "Didn't think so..." he mumbled.
  
  Sighing, he ran his fingers through his black hair, trying to gather his thoughts. How had this happened? He had no idea. He remembered something about interdimensional travel being a thing in the series, maybe, probably. Something about wormholes and Lunala? Was that the name of that legendary? Pierce didn't know. He wasn't a Pokemon expert, that was for sure.
  
  Where even was he? The short answer to that was the Pokemon world, probably. The long answer though, that was the one he struggled with. Judging by the pokemon he was seeing around, it was probably Kanto, or Johto maybe, but he didn't know that much about the latter to be sure. And quite honestly, if he could just wake up in the pokemon world, then what stopped him from being in one that was different from the series? An alternative universe or something of the sort?
  
  Maybe more pressingly, he thought, what was he going to do now? That was probably the most important question at the moment. He needed an answer to that one. Everything else he could try to figure out later. For the moment, as he tried to come up with an answer, he needed a way to make sure he was safe. He remembered some pokemon entries that were less than reassuring, after all. Last thing he wanted was for one of those to catch him off guard.
  
  With that in mind, his eyes trailed towards the tent he'd woken up in. ' The backpack,' he remembered then. Was it possible it held some clues? Maybe, probably, possibly, hopefully? Getting inside it once more, he looked for the bag and checked inside. Instantly, the first thing he found was a note sitting on top of the contents of the thing.
  
  I'm sorry for your loss. Hopefully, you'll be able to make a life where you are.
  
  -A
  
  Pierce could only blink at the words. That... That wasn't what he'd been expecting.
  
  ' Sorry for your loss? What does it mean? Nobody died or any... thing?...' As he started thinking about it, however, he paused. He tried to remember better. He knew there were no plans of going anywhere before he appeared in the forest. No party or meeting with friends to get drunk, no trip anywhere near a forest. He'd been in the city, studying as usual.
  
  He was on his way back home and...
  
  It was getting dark outside. He remembered shouting and fear. He remembered pain and red... lots of red. He remembered the feeling of the ground against his back and the sight of the moon over him. He remembered...
  
  He remembered dying .
  
  ' Hopefully you'll be able to make a life where you are,' the note read as he looked back at it, his vision blurring as tears formed in his eyes. ' I died...?' he thought, disbelieving. Despite the hazy memories, he knew that was a fact. It fit, it made sense and that pain, what little he remembered of the whole thing...
  
  It felt so real .
  
  ' I died,' he thought again, taking a deep breath in before letting it out slowly. He closed his eyes, his hand clenching into a fist balling the note inside it. In the privacy of his own mind, he tried to recall his family, his friends, his life and all the things he probably would never see again. ' Just like that... huh?' he chuckled weakly, feeling the energy leave his body. That was it, huh? That was how his life ended. One moment he was fine and the next... Done. Finished. The end.
  
  He gulped, eyes focusing on the backpack.
  
  With shaky hands, he came back to what he was doing. ' Push it aside, you can have a breakdown when you aren't in the middle of a forest,' Pierce told himself. It was what he'd always done with trouble. Push it away to deal with later. Procrastination had worked well whenever he had to deal with stuff that felt a little too much for him.
  
  This certainly fit that criteria, he was sure.
  
  ' The fuck is up with this?' he couldn't help but wonder when he actually took a look at the contents of the backpack. There was entirely too little stuff there. Hell, the bag was entirely too small for camping of all things.
  
  The contents of the thing were only a few notebooks, a pencil case that seemed to be only half full, a kit that seemed to combine silverware and very simplistic cookware into one and two cubes. Those later ones called his attention rather strongly, but before checking those, he pulled the notebooks. ' Blank,' he noted with some bitterness as he checked them. He'd half expected to find some notes or something there. ' Actually...' he paused, bringing his hands to his face. ' I'm myself, right? Is there a mirror in here?'
  
  There wasn't, as far as he could tell, but the eating kit or whatever the thing was called had a plate that was reflective enough. Taking it and dreadfully peeking at his face, he let out a sigh that was almost explosive. ' Oh thank God... er, Arceus? ROB? Whatever,' he thought, putting down the thing in a moment of relief. The last thing he needed was to think he'd screwed some poor bastard over by taking over their body.
  
  ' Now, what's up with this?' he wondered as he checked over the cubes he'd noticed before. They weren't plastic, as he'd thought before. No, they were metal. Which metal was anyone's guess, but the thing that interested him the most was a square button they had on one side. It reminded him of a cubic pokeball, in a way. They were even the same size as what he guessed an expanded one would be. ' Minecraft-style though,' He thought with a weak smile before looking the thing over a little more. It was mostly a dull gray, but it did have some pale green lines on it that only heightened the similarity to a pokeball. ' Devon,' He read on the underside. ' Wasn't that one of the corporations around?'
  
  He was half tempted to press the button and figure out what those cubes were for. There was a little detail that made him hesitate though. ' If they look so much like pokeballs... What if they work similarly?' he wondered as he looked at the things. What if he pressed it and something came out in a beam of red? Probably not a pokemon, he supposed, but something else? The design was a little too on the nose to be a coincidence, in his opinion.
  
  He didn't remember anything like that from the show or the games though...
  
  Curiouser and curiouser.
  
  Taking the backpack and everything it contained out, he spared a glance around to make sure nothing had creeped up on him while he was distracted. He'd died once and he'd rather not do so again, if at all possible. Before turning to the cube once more, he glanced towards the kakuna that was hanging not so far away from him. Pierce got the distinct impression that it was looking at him, but it was difficult to tell, considering it didn't move and its eyes were completely black.
  
  ' So, let's see,' he mused, focusing back on the cubes. Taking one up and moving a little away from the rest of the things, trees included, he decided to press the button and be done with it. If the things had just been there inside the backpack, they couldn't be anything bad, right?
  
  Thus, he set the cube on his palm, button facing away from him, and activated the thing.
  
  "The hell-?!" he exclaimed when the thing didn't open as he'd expected. Instead, it grew in size, like it was a balloon being inflated. Not only did it do that though, but it also got heavier and heavier the bigger it got. To the point that Pierce could only drop the thing to the ground. "What the fuck?" he mumbled as he looked at the cube that was now the size of a nightstand.
  
  Then the thing clicked and the top part of the... ' Pokecube?' he tentatively named the thing. The upper part seemed to have opened the smallest bit, like a lock had been released. Hesitantly pulling it up some more, Pierce realized that it worked like a chest of some kind. And inside...
  
  ' Well, some good news, at last,' he thought, relieved. The thing was filled with food and water. He didn't know how long it all would last him, but knowing that he had something like that was great. ' Pokemon kibble too, huh?' he noticed, picking up one of the bags. The cube seemed filled half with water, a quarter of human food and a quarter of pokemon food... ' There was another cube though, right?' he remembered, eyes darting towards the backpack he'd settled next to the tent.
  
  Slowly and carefully, he closed the cube. When it clicked and he was about to press the button again, the thing shrunk back down by itself. ' Well, that's how it works, I guess,' he thought to himself, looking at the cube, confused. Picking it up, he moved to check the other one.
  
  ' Huh, this one has blue instead of green lines,' Pierce noted as he picked the second up. ' Clothes, toiletries, camping equipment and space for the tent, I assume,' he listed to himself as he enlarged and opened the second cube/chest. ' Well, things are much better than I'd thought they were,' he added as he closed it and picked it up once it shrunk back down.
  
  ' Well, this gives a reason to why everyone could just travel the world with a small backpack and be perfectly fine, huh?' he noticed.
  
  "Things are looking up, buddy," Pierce said, smiling towards the hanging kakuna. "Not very friendly, are you?" he asked when the thing aggressively chirped something at him. Then his grin froze on his face. ' Wait, can't these things... use attacking moves? Maybe I should just... not?'
  
  Turning away from the cocoon pokemon, Pierce considered his situation and his resources. ' What do I do now, should I move or stay here? No, staying is a bad idea. But in which direction do I go towards?' he mused as he looked around. The forest looked about the same in all directions, if he was honest.
  
  ' Maybe...' he thought, trailing off as he looked up at the sky. ' These pokemon mean I should be in Kanto, theoretically. Weedle, caterpie and pidgey also means I should be somewhere in the early routes, right?' He mused, not entirely sure and mostly doing guesswork. It was what he had though, and he had to make due with that.
  
  He frowned, trying to remember what the Kanto map looked like.
  
  ' Fairly sure the early routes were on the West, if I move East... Maybe I'll get somewhere?' It wasn't an accurate plan, he knew that much. ' Better than no plan at all though,' He mused nervously.
  
  "Gotta check how the sun is moving... Does it even work the same way here? It'd be annoying if it's the other way around in this world or something like that," He muttered under his break as he looked up. His musings were interrupted though, when he heard something hit the forest floor to his side. Turning instantly, he was met with...
  
  A weedle, twisting and turning as it seemed to have fallen on its back. From a tree, was Pierce's guess. He chuckled lightly. ' God, for a second I thought something was coming for me.'
  
  "You alright there, little one," he asked, walking up and making the worm/caterpillar or whatever freeze. Behind him, he heard the kakuna chittering louder than it had so far. "Let me give you a hand, yeah?" he said softly, picking up the thing from the sides. It was... smooth, actually. Difficult to explain, but the thing was adorable enough that he didn't mind touching it.
  
  He was very careful that the horn never came even close to him though. Adorable or not, he'd have dropped it instantly if it tried to sting him. He wasn't that suicidal, no sir.
  
  "There we go," Pierce said as he helped the thing to a nearby tree trunk as high as he could manage. "Careful next time, yeah?" he told it with a grin as the thing got its hold and started climbing on its own. It chirped something at him, which he liked to think was a grateful statement. "Don't mention it," he waved off.
  
  Pierce had the distinct feeling that the kakuna was glaring at him when he moved back to the tent.
  
  "What? I didn't do anything, man," he protested, only to get a very aggressive response. "Er, sorry, woman?" He tried, getting a low chitter that he would swear was grumbling. "Anyway, I'm not gonna do anything. I don't know why you are so aggressive, geez."
  
  He only got more "grumbling" after that.
  
  "So, I know I'm probably very annoying to you and all, but do you mind if I stay here for a bit? I wanna check how the sun moves before deciding on a direction to go away and stop bothering you," Pierce asked. The kakuna hadn't tried to shoot him with anything just yet, which he guessed was a good sign, but he also didn't want to push his luck, if he was honest. "I'll that as a yes," he said then with a chuckle when the cocoon grumbled some more.
  
  He heard a familiar sound then.
  
  "Again, buddy?" he asked, turning towards the weedle on the ground. "You know what? You want some kibble?" The worm froze then before its head snapped towards him and Pierce would swear that the thing was trying to give him the puppy dog eyes.
  
  He laughed.
  
  ' Well, things could be worse, huh?' he thought, his smile turning the slightest bit bitter as he moved to pick up the bug type.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "So, how long are you gonna be like that?" Pierce asked the kakuna, sitting against a tree to the side of the "campment".
  
  It'd already been a few hours and he'd checked how the sun moved. However, he'd decided that it was better to just stay where he was for the day. It was already getting late, after all. It was unfortunate, but at least he'd have the whole day to move after the night was over. It'd be much more productive, in a way, since he could take down the tent and travel a little more than he'd have if he started in the middle of the day.
  
  "Must be scary, to be stuck there," Pierce added then, finger tapping a notebook he'd set on his lap. He'd picked it up to... Well, the original idea had been to write about his life but... He didn't know how safe that would be, even if he really wanted to keep a physical record to remember things by, even if he had nothing else.
  
  The kakuna, meanwhile, responded by literally beaming. As in, its cocoon/body shone white for a moment, as if a sheen washed over it. He almost thought it was evolving, but it lasted maybe half a second at best, surprisingly. After that, a purple light appeared in front of where Pierce guessed would be a mouth or something and from there it shot needle-like things that flew quite a bit before curving until they hit the ground.
  
  "Harden and... Poison Sting, I think the other one is?" Pierce guessed out loud. He was no pokemon expert, he could tell you that. He could recognize most of them by appearance, especially in the early regions, but as for move sets? No sir, not at all. "Well, that's cool," he mumbled, still looking at where the needles had fallen. "Good thing I didn't annoy you too much, huh?"
  
  The kakuna chittered something and it sounded a lot more friendly than before, that was for sure. Or maybe the thing was just mocking him. Regardless, it wasn't angry, or grumpy, which he took as a win. ' Progress,' Pierce celebrated internally. Then, his eyes moved to the side, where the other pokemon rested. He'd given the weedle a handful of pokemon kibbles from the green cube and it'd promptly fallen asleep soon after eating them all.
  
  The clicking sound of one of the bug types... "talking" for lack of a better word, got Pierce's attention then. Especially because it wasn't the kakuna and the weedle was obviously still asleep so... ' Welp, what do we have here?' he thought, seeing another of the brownish worms not so far away.
  
  "Hey there, little one," he greeted with a wave. "Need anything?"
  
  Instead of an answer, Pierce saw the little warm crawl closer towards him. Thus, he simply stared at the little thing as it went about going... wherever its destination was, he supposed. Slowly circled around where he'd been sitting and then... It pointed with its horn-thing.
  
  "Ah, food, huh?" Pierce realized, noticing that it was signaling towards the other weedle. Getting an enthusiastic cheer in response, he chuckled. "Sure, I have some..." he trailed off then, looking around to see if there were more. Had this one seen him feed the other and come? It'd be troublesome if a bunch of them came for food.
  
  Granted, he wasn't going to eat that himself but there was a chance that he'd have to feed something in order to keep himself safe.
  
  "I don't have that much though, so if there's any more of you around, I can't feed you all," he said loudly, mostly so that if there were other worms around they'd know what was up. With a shake of his head, he brought out the green cube once more and did much as he'd done with the first weedle. "Here you go."
  
  The thing chittered adorably for a second before starting to eat.
  
  "You guys are too cute," Pierce grumbled as he stored the cube back in his backpack. "You'll leave me with no food at this rate."
  
  The kakuna chirped something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
  
  "Oh, shut up," he snapped without any heat in his voice. "Anyway, I guess I could try to draw or something, to pass the time and..." he trailed off then as a buzz reached his ears. It sounded far away, but strong. "Is that a beedrill?" he asked, looking around warily. He got no response from the kakuna, but the weedle that was awake didn't look very concerned which was mildly reassuring.
  
  Then he heard the same sound come from much closer. With his head moving to the sides and his eyes darting all over the place, he eventually found the source of the sound. ' Please, let it be friendly,' he thought to himself as he saw a beedrill flying towards him. It wasn't moving slowly either, which only added to his fear.
  
  "Uh, hi?" Pierce greeted, nervously bringing a hand up. The thing floated there, arm-stingers raised menacingly as it swayed up and down. "Look, I don't want to cause trouble or anything, I swear."
  
  The weedle on the ground chirped something and the beedrill replied in kind. Pierce, meanwhile, could only be a spectator in the strange conversation and pray that the little worm was telling the wasp or bee or whatever that he was friendly. The kakuna joined then after a few exchanges and whatever she said gave the other two pause. That was a little more concerning, since Pierce didn't think the cocoon pokemon liked him much.
  
  Regardless, the beedrill chittered something before turning back towards him "telling" him something and flying away.
  
  "Ah... Well, that was... Thanks for vouching for me, guys... I think," he said hesitantly, feeling much like he had when he'd been abroad and hadn't been able to understand a word people said. When the weedle chirped something that sounded friendly to him, he supposed the thing had actually gone well and the beedrill hadn't gone to look for friends to sting him to death. "Well worth that food, huh?" he mumbled as he relaxed against the tree.
  
  The kakuna chose that moment to chitter something at him.
  
  "Thank you too. I know you don't like me much, so I really appreciate it. That could have gone... badly, I bet," he said, leaning his head against the tree. Now that the fear had loosened its grip on him, his body was left feeling weak. ' The adrenaline going away? Something else?' he mused, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.
  
  The cocoon pokemon "said" something else to him.
  
  "Remind me to give you some food if you get out of there before I leave, yeah?" he said with a half-smile.
  
  Pierce was no pokemon speech expert, evidently, but he was pretty sure that what followed was a "you better".
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Yes, I'm doing something very dumb and starting another story. Before any confusion arises and such, I'll say this: This isn't a replacement for GoS. There's a different story that will take that slot. This is a third story that will be updated weekly... Or so I hope. I won't give you guys any guarantees. It's important to leave it clear that I might put this on hiatus if I feel like it gets hard to keep to the new schedule, or I might change it to an update every other week or something like that. We'll see, but I wanted you guys to know how things stand.
  
  Anyway, yes, Pokemon story and such. I've been holding votes in my discord server for stories to work on whenever I have time for it after being done with the main stories. This is one of the stories that won the most, and thus got the most chapters. With that in mind, I decided that it was as good an idea as any other to promote it to main story.
  
  As for the actual story notes, I'll try to get a happy medium between the overly realistic, grim dark pokemon stories and the silliness of the anime and such fics. I don't know how good a job I'll do at it, but I'll give it my best shot. Besides that... Well, I hope you guys like this new story, that is all.
  
  And on that note, I also hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you think will be the first pokemon that our boy, Pierce, will get?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Starting Point II
  Starting Point II
  
  Pierce stared at the pokemon in front of him with narrowed eyes. The little things, brown worms with a horn, had no business looking as adorable as they did, looking up at him with their big beady black eyes. He did his absolute best not to cave though. He couldn't. He shouldn't...
  
  "Fuck," He cursed under his breath as he gave up and pulled the bag of pokemon kibble from the green cube. ' Should I call it a fridge cube or something? Does it actually work better for food or is the difference just color and they are both actually just crates?' He wondered to himself as he went about setting breakfast for himself - and for the weedle, apparently.
  
  The kakuna clicked what he was sure was a laugh at him, which made his eye twitch.
  
  "Shut up," He hissed at her.
  
  Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.
  
  He prepared himself a meal with the help of the things he'd found in the blue cube - ' Storage cube?' - and considered what to do next. He'd already stored the tent as soon as he woke up that morning, to have that ready. Next would be the things he was using to cook and then he'd start moving.
  
  Honestly... Pierce didn't know how he felt about moving, or staying still for that matter. It was like he was doing so because it was what he was supposed to do. However, he had to wonder what the point was. There was nothing in this world for him. He had absolutely nothing.
  
  What was he going to do? Try to be a pokemon trainer?
  
  At that thought, he pulled the wallet from his pants. He had found it along with some pokeballs in a side pocket on the backpack. Inside, he'd found what he supposed was a decent amount of money, even if he had no idea how much it actually was.
  
  Opening while he waited on the food, he pulled out a card that he'd found in. A card that was his new ID, he realized. It detailed how he was from Viridian City and his date of birth, which had a completely different year system and all. It also had a little detail of Pierce being a trainer, apparently.
  
  ' And still, I'm not sure about that,' He thought, his attention returning to the meal he was preparing, else he ruined it by being distracted. It didn't mean his mind didn't wander a bit though.
  
  Did he want to be a pokemon trainer? It sounded like fun, for sure, and he'd daydreamed about it a few times throughout his life. However, actually being one was another thing entirely. The world of Pokemon was dangerous after all. One only needed to read some pokemon entries in the pokedex to know that. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, that was for sure.
  
  Besides all that, there was no guarantee that he'd do well in his journey. He was no Pokemon connoisseur, after all. He remembered a few things and he could recognize some pokemon, but he didn't know all their moves, or know where some rare obscure pokemon could be hidden. Moreover, unless the people from this Pokemon world were as dumb as the ones he remembered from the anime, there was no way he would outsmart them. They had actually grown up in the world and studied to be trainers and such, after all.
  
  ' Guess I could just... look for a normal job and have a normal life,' Pierce thought to himself as he started eating once the meal was done. His mind remained in the topic he was thinking about though.
  
  It felt... so very disappointing and sad, that he'd lost everything and in return he'd get, what? A normal life in a world he knew was filled with wonders? ' Then again, maybe I can get a few pokemon and be a casual trainer. Are those a thing?' He wondered. A casual trainer had to be a thing, right? Just like casual sports players and such, right?
  
  That... didn't sound so bad, actually. Pierce quite liked the sound of that, really. It was mundane and simple, but it was fantastic enough for his tastes. A little adventure, and little risk of death. Yeah, that sounded good.
  
  He had no desire to die anytime soon, that was for sure.
  
  Not again, at least.
  
  Kakuna chirped something that sounded nothing like all the other times Pierce had heard her so far and he turned to look towards her. Not for the first time, he wished his bug type companion could be a little more expressive, because he had no idea what that was supposed to mean. As such, he gave it a shrug and a helpless smile, which were answered with a grumbling chitter that was probably out of frustration.
  
  "Sorry, girl, but I can't understand all that you say, you know? I can only guess," Pierce said then, as he finished eating and started going about cleaning things before starting to move. He could make life choices when he had some more actual information, like where civilization was. "Well," he started then, as he finished storing everything in the cube, shrunk it and put it inside the backpack. "It was fun knowing you, guys. Let me just help you up some trees and I'll be on my way, yeah?"
  
  The weedle... Well, wiggled a little bit but only let out what he thought was a little cheer as he picked them up and placed them as high as he could on tree trunks. He kept an eye on them until they climbed up to branches, in case the clumsy one fell off again. Fortunately, that didn't happen.
  
  "Well, thanks for helping with the beedrill," Pierce said as he approached the kakuna, who was staring at him. "Maybe if I come around here and you find me as a beedrill, I'll be able to give you the food I owe you, yeah? Actually, I'll visit, maybe we'll come across each other. It'd be fun, right?"
  
  The bug type chittered something at him.
  
  "Huh, I almost expected you to tell me to fuck off," Pierce said, smiling at the unexpectedly friendly tone. "See you around, yeah?"
  
  As he went to turn around to leave, he heard the kakuna "say" something else. Before he could even finish looking back towards her though, a string of webbing shot out from her "mouth" and hit him square in the forearm. With a surprised exclamation, he pulled the thread more out of reflex than anything else.
  
  "The fu- What are you doing?" He asked, more confused than angry. ' God, lucky that it didn't hit any clothes. I don't wanna know how hard that stuff would be to get out,' He thought as tried to get the sticky thing off. Tried being the operative word there, since he could barely touch the stuff with his hand without getting his free hand stuck too. "You can let go, right? Because I have to go, you know? I gotta make my way to a city or something soon. I don't have infinite food," He explained.
  
  Pierce had no idea what the kakuna wanted. Hell, he was pretty sure she'd wanted him gone as soon as possible, so he couldn't fathom why she'd make him stay.
  
  "Look, I-" He started then, before being interrupted as the thread pulled him towards the kakuna. Blinking, he started walking towards the bug type. "What is it? Do you need something?" He asked, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to understand.
  
  The kakuna didn't even try to reply though. Instead, she continued pulling the thread until he'd made his way all the way to where she was hanging from the tree. ' A last hug goodbye?' Pierce thought, somewhat amused. However, he knew that wasn't it. The kakuna certainly didn't seem the type for that, from what he'd seen.
  
  He was completely caught off guard when the other thread, the one that held the bug type up in the air hanging from a branch, cut itself and the pokemon fell to the ground. Or, more precisely, would have fallen to the ground if he hadn't reacted on time to catch her. He blinked then, once and then twice. That had to have been deliberate, right? No way that was an accident or anything.
  
  His arms maneuvered the kakuna until he was holding her from her sides in front of him.
  
  "So... My guess is that you want to come with me?" He said, slowly, unsure. However, the chitter he received in response was... not angry or anything, so he took that as confirmation. "Well, that was a surprise, I gotta say. I'd ask why and a whole lot of things but... We can do that whenever you can actually express stuff," He said, smiling widely.
  
  A pokemon.
  
  He had a pokemon .
  
  "You do want to evolve, I'm guessing. Because if you don't I understand and-" He started then, before being interrupted by angry chittering. He chuckled to himself, simply elated by what he was experiencing. ' I have a pokemon!' His mind repeated, unable to deal with that. It was one thing to think about having pokemon being a possibility. It was entirely another to actually have one . "Well, can't wait for you to be a beedrill. Talking will be much easier then, right?"
  
  He didn't know how he could tell, which probably meant he was making it up, but he was sure the chirping that followed was exasperated.
  
  Despite that, he just laughed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Using a pokeball to catch the kakuna, if only so that he could actually say she was with him, had been more of a challenge than Pierce expected. It had taken some trial and error to get how the thing worked. What made it shrunk, what made it expand, and what made it open with or without a pokemon inside. Once that was done though, he'd let the kakuna stay out and carried her in his arms.
  
  Pierce didn't feel like walking alone in the forest filled with pokemon, for one. A cocoon his one pokemon might have been, but at least she could mediate between him and beedrill that he might come across. That, by itself, would be quite the help. On top of that, the kakuna could shoot String Shots and Poison Stings if it came to that. Not very well since she couldn't actually move, but something was better than nothing.
  
  "So, do you want a name?" Pierce asked as he walked, being careful to keep to his chosen route. It wouldn't do to start walking in circles, after all. A route that he'd realized wasn't quite as ideal as he'd first thought. That's why his plan to go East had changed to going North -East. He was pretty sure, according to the map that he remembered of the Kanto region - Which was also admittedly more guesswork than facts -, that it was the best route he could take at the moment. "Because calling you Kakuna is kinda... You know? We've walked past quite a few of those around here so it gets a little weird. I can just call you that if you want though."
  
  The chitter he received in response sounded... vaguely positive, maybe.
  
  "Is that a yes?" Pierce asked, and when he received the same response, he decided that it was, indeed, a yes. "Hmm, what to name you though..."
  
  As he considered that though, he continued walking, his eyes trying to take in everything. The forest around was a beauty to behold. He wasn't sure if he was in Viridian Forest, but considering the pokemon he'd come across and the fact that his ID read that he was from Viridian, he thought it was as good a guess as any. ' Viridian...' He thought, an idea forming in his mind.
  
  "Actually, do you mind waiting for that? I have some ideas, but I need to check some stuff before that, yeah?" He told his new partner, still somewhat giddy at just thinking about her like that. It was... rather nice, now that he knew there was no one else in the world for him. Having Kakuna's company certainly helped, if only a little.
  
  He chuckled as she replied with what he was pretty sure was a frustrated clicking.
  
  "I know, sorry," He apologized easily. "I promise we'll come up with something nice together, ok?" He said then, and he got a "you better" in response, or so he guessed. Talking with a pokemon was certainly... something. "In the meantime, is there anything you can train as a kakuna? I mean, something new. Otherwise, I think I can come up with some ideas for String Shot... No, maybe we'll wait for that until you evolve. Poison Sting can be worked with as you are, pretty sure."
  
  The clicking sound that followed sounded, to him at least, confused.
  
  "Right, I got a little distracted," Pierce said with a wry smile. "So... actually, first of all, you want to train right? Get stronger and all that?" He asked, because he felt like he was assuming a whole lot, actually.
  
  He got a positive answer, so he didn't have to feel too much like an asshole, at least.
  
  "And what about battles? You know, fighting other pokemon to see who's stronger and all that?" He continued. Although he couldn't help but grimace as he did. It sounded a lot worse when said out loud. Like he was asking a dog if it would like to fight other dogs for money.
  
  Kakuna answered with another positive, although Pierce wasn't sure how he felt about that. ' Pokemon just... like fighting, right? That's how they are,' He mused, although that didn't make it too much better. Then again, what right did he have to tell the pokemon what to do? If she wanted to fight, then would it be cruel to deny her that? He supposed he could free her if that was the case but...
  
  ' Stop overthinking it, Pierce,' He told himself.
  
  "Well, in that case," He started, pushing through how uncomfortable he felt. ' Even if we don't do battles for sport, having her know how to fight could be useful,' He told himself for the moment. "Is there anything new you know about? Because I'll admit I don't know if there's anything you can learn as a kakuna that you can't as a beedrill."
  
  Kakuna, instead of chittering, answered by shining white.
  
  "Harden? Are you learning that?" He asked, confused. She'd seemed pretty confident when she'd shown the move before but-
  
  The clicking sounds were definitely angry at that moment.
  
  "No? Not Harden? Something else?" He asked, frowning when he received a somewhat positive answer, even if the kakuna still sounded annoyed. ' Another defensive move?' He wondered, unsure. "Well, I don't know about it, but if you can only learn that as a kakuna, you should work on it, yeah?"
  
  She clicked her... ' Actually, how's she making the sounds?' He asked himself as he looked down at the cocoon in his arms. Did she have a body inside the shell that was clicking its mandibles or something? Or was it something else? Was it energy, like the moves? ' I think that's not important right now, Pierce.'
  
  The pokemon in his arms shone again. This time, the shine was different though. Evidently, it was actually her working on something instead of just trying to get a message across. The light shimmered, as if unsure and weak.
  
  Pierce could only look at her as he walked trying not to run into a tree. It was actually quite frustrating to not be able to help Kakuna at all with her training. He was supposed to be her partner, her trainer, after all. ' As soon as I can, I'll find some information about what Kakuna and Beedrill can learn. Or just Beedrill, I guess, depending,' He mused.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Huh, it worked," Pierce commented as he looked at the dirt path he'd come across.
  
  It wasn't that he'd expected his plan would fail or anything like that, but it still was somewhat surprising that it did. Or, maybe, it was more that it worked so fast. It hadn't even been a full day. The sun was setting in his... second day in the Pokemon world, he supposed. Pierce wasn't sure if the previous one counted, really.
  
  Absently, he waved at a butterfree that flew by, even if it fled as soon as Kakuna chittered something at it.
  
  "I don't know why you hate them so much," He commented with a roll of his eyes. "Guess I'm not getting one on the team, huh?" He added, even if it was mostly just joking. He didn't want to catch a bunch of pokemon when he didn't even know if he'd be able to provide for himself as it was. Besides, butterfree wasn't precisely his favorite anyway.
  
  Beedrill was cooler, in his opinion.
  
  "Relax, will you?" Pierce asked as the bug type in his arms "exclaimed" something angrily. "I wasn't gonna get one anyway, chill," He told her as he started walking down the path towards the North. ' This should lead to Pewter, right? South was Viridian which... I don't wanna be in, especially considering that Giovanni could be there,' He thought to himself.
  
  Then again, nothing told him that he was in the right point in time for that to actually be a thing. For all he knew, he could be in the past, or the future. Hell, he still didn't know for sure if he was in Kanto at all. Or if the region maps were as he remembered. They could be completely different or his memory could just be wrong. Both were entirely possible, really. He could be in an alternative universe even and he would be none the wiser until he actually could check. ' Just in case though, better safe than sorry,' He mused.
  
  "That looked a little... grey... ish?" Pierce commented after Kakuna tried again to use... whatever move she was trying to learn. The chitter that followed his words sounded rather pleased as he frowned. ' What could it be? Another normal move? Or...' "Is it a steel type move?" He asked, receiving another positive. "Hmm... I'm no expert, but... Let's see..." He mumbled, trying to think up ways to help his companion learn faster. "Can you feel through the cocoon?" He asked, at first receiving a confused response before it turned into what he assumed was positive.
  
  Pierce nodded to that, some ideas coming to mind. Obviously, she didn't have any ground or rock type moves that could (possibly?) lead to a better understanding of steel. However, he had some metallic things at hand that could maybe help? Taking Kakuna's own pokeball, he pressed it against her cocoon.
  
  "You feel that? It's not precisely... energy, which is what I guess you use for moves, but it's metallic. Maybe you can use that feeling for the move?" Pierce explained to her. He wasn't very sure of what he was saying, evidenced by the questioning way of delivery, but it was what he had, at least. With some luck, it'd actually be good advice. If not... Well, he'd tried. He just hoped it wouldn't be detrimental to her learning, at least.
  
  Kakuna chittered something that was almost like mumbling, which was an amusing picture to make in his mind.
  
  Soon after, another attempt was made. He wasn't very sure it was better than the previous one, but at least it wasn't worse. ' Thank God for that,' He thought to himself as he continued walking. His mind though, continued trying to come up with ideas to help his little friend. All the while also trying to remember if there were moves he knew about that he could try to teach her. He didn't have much luck with that though, so it usually led right back to training theorizing.
  
  "I think this is as far as we go today, girl," He said, noticing how it was starting to get darker. He'd have to make the most out of the daylight that he still had. Thankfully, when he'd had to pack the tent, he'd gotten a good look at how it should be set, which helped quite a bit. He'd never actually gone camping, after all, so any information he could get was welcome.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Kakuna]
  
  Her human was... interesting, she supposed.
  
  As a weedle and later as a kakuna, she'd learned soon that humans didn't much care for her line. Which was fair, she supposed, her line didn't much care for humans either. Regardless, one of the encounters that she'd had as a weedle was... particularly displeasing.
  
  She could get that some humans thought her line was weak. Even they knew that themselves, galling as it was to admit. She could even get that some of them wanted them because they were weak, because at least her line evolved quickly which some trainers thought was a good point. It was insulting, somewhat, but it was understandable.
  
  What wasn't understandable was the one human that had kicked her away and called her disgusting.
  
  Kakuna hated that human. Especially because after that encounter, she started seeing how most people would look at her line and other bug types. There was always that underlying grimace at the sight of them. As if they were some foul thing that shouldn't exist or something.
  
  She hated that.
  
  But her human wasn't like that, it seemed. She had absolutely no idea how Pierce had suddenly appeared in front of her with a tent and all, but she'd watched him ever since. She saw the human help out the little weedle that fell off a tree and she'd half expected the man to ask the first stage of her line to join him or something. Humans usually did that, as if they should be thankful for being offered such a chance or willing to pledge themselves to someone for the slightest show of kindness.
  
  Pierce didn't do that though, instead he just sent the weedle on its way.
  
  Then the worm fell again and even Kakuna was supremely unimpressed by that. However, the human didn't seem to care all that much, simply offering the worm some of his own food for... absolutely nothing. Kakuna didn't think the human was even considering asking the worm to join him.
  
  Then a second weedle approached and the guy offered his food once more, as if that was entirely fine with him. The only problem he seemed to have was that he had a limited amount and he couldn't offer more to others if they approached. Kakuna wondered if he'd really tell another one no though, because he seemed remarkably soft like that.
  
  So, Kakuna decided that he was a good enough human to have as hers.
  
  She might dislike humans after some bad encounters and such, but she'd also heard from elders of her line about the relationship that could be built between pokemon and humans. How humans thought in ways that pokemon didn't, and thus could help them progress much faster than they would on their own. Sometimes, they'd even push pokemon to levels they literally just couldn't have reached on their own.
  
  And she wanted that.
  
  She wanted to be powerful, to be strong, to be great . She wanted to show all those humans that thought her a mere pest, that her line could be much more than that. That she could be much more than that.
  
  And she would.
  
  So, there, with her cocoon resting against a tree and watching as Pierce prepared his meal, Kakuna worked. Because it was what she could do. She worked on the one technique that some beedrill had spoken about. A steel type coating not unlike Harden was. Iron Defense, they had called it. It wasn't the devastating offensive attack that she wanted to learn, but it was the one thing she could work on at the moment.
  
  She was especially enticed because the beedrill had said that they couldn't learn it anymore after evolving. So, this was her one chance to get the move. She would get it, and then, as a beedrill, she would get all the moves she could manage. She would grow powerful.
  
  And maybe, just maybe, Pierce would help her get there.
  
  He wasn't a very knowledgeable human, but he was already proving to be useful. After all, his advice might have been hesitant and full of doubt, but it had worked. She wasn't much closer to succeeding, that was true, but Kakuna felt like she understood what she needed to do with the energies and what she had to do a little better. Now, if only she could...
  
  "That was better than the other attempts," Pierce told her, grinning as he turned his attention fully towards her after another attempt. "It kind of fizzled out in the end, but it looked pretty good to me."
  
  It had felt good to her too... Now, just a little more...
  
  Kakuna would be great.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  So, I'm sure some people will complain about Kakuna being Pierce's first pokemon, or the fact that he's not throwing a pokeball at any different pokemon trying to "catch them all". I really hate that last approach though, so you can be sure that's not gonna happen here. As for the first... Well, I like the Beedrill line and (even though it'd be difficult and might not happen) Mega Beedrill looks freaking cool and I can't be convinced otherwise.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you have a favorite pokemon type? I'm an edgy bastard, so I have to say Dark types, honestly.
  
  See you.
  
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  Viridian Forest I
  Viridian Forest I
  
  "I get the feeling that I'm a little too soft," Pierce commented wryly as he looked at the weedle next to him eating kibble from a bowl. Across from him, Kakuna chittered something that sounded to his ears as a mocking tone. "I know, I just... they are adorable, you know? Speaking of though, I get the feeling that caterpie don't like me."
  
  The chittering this time sounded annoyed.
  
  "Is there like, a weedle-caterpie enmity going on here? Because that's the vibe I'm getting," Pierce asked, raising an eyebrow. The weedle was the one that answered that, actually. Chirping something that sounded pretty damn aggressive, for such an adorable little guy. "Huh, is that so? Interesting, I guess."
  
  With that said, Pierce finished his meal mostly in silence as he looked at his pokemon, the wild weedle and out at the forest around alternatively. It was all so... fascinating. He still couldn't quite believe that was what his life had turned into. In a moment of pain and blood it had all been taken away from-
  
  ' Focus,' He thought, gulping down the knot that had formed in his throat. ' Don't go down that road, Pierce,' He told himself, taking a deep breath in and doing his best to relax his tense body. In front of him, the shine of Kakuna's shell took his mind away. It went from the normal white of harden to a shinier gray/silver of whatever steel type move she was trying to learn.
  
  "Doing better and better, huh, girl?" He asked, a slight smile forming on his face, even if he could barely form it. She didn't know what had happened to him. She didn't know what was hiding in his mind. She wouldn't understand why he wasn't happy for her so he had to do his best. Good thing he was a pretty good liar, he guessed.
  
  Kakuna chittered something strained. Clearly, the move took a toll on her with each use. Either because she hadn't gotten the hang of it, or because it was a demanding technique. Regardless, he could only hope that training would help with that. He liked her better grumpy than weary, if he was honest. At least he could talk to her even when she was annoyed.
  
  "Well, little guy," Pierce said then towards the weedle, cracking his neck as he prepared to stand up. "Time for us to continue on our little trip. I'll help you up a tree, yeah?" He asked, receiving a cheerful chitter as he picked up the worm-like pokemon and put it as high up a tree as he could manage. "I'll store the tent and everything else and then we can continue, ok?"
  
  Kakuna replied with a disinterested chirp to which he rolled his eyes.
  
  Once all that was done, he picked up his companion and started walking. It would have been better to let her stay in her pokeball, but really, he wanted the company. On top of that, she could get some training done whenever she recovered her energy too, which was a plus.
  
  ' I wonder if one can keep pokemon out inside cities and such,' Pierce thought to himself. ' I know Ash always had Pikachu out in the series, but it's different to have one of those than it'd be to have an onix out in a street, I think,' He continued then, considering that question. ' Better be safe and put her in the pokeball whenever we reach somewhere. I can try to find all that information first thing after that.'
  
  Putting that line of thought to the side for the moment, Pierce focused on other things. Mainly on what he was going to do once he reached civilization. He was going to try to be a trainer, he decided. Sure, it probably wouldn't have him reaching very far, but that was fine with him. He could settle with a normal job somewhere and be a casual trainer.
  
  "I mean, it's likely that we'll have to skip a few Gyms and go straight to the Grass type one. Pretty sure those are weak to Bug types. So are Psychics, but I really don't want to go there," Pierce explained out loud to Kakuna. He didn't know if he really was in Kanto, but that was the basis he was using for his planning for the moment. With that in mind, he also didn't know what Sabrina he was dealing with. Regardless of that, however, it was likely that she'd be troublesome.
  
  He'd need more information before approaching Saffron at all, probably.
  
  "Then again," He continued with a shrug that bothered Kakuna, since he was carrying her in his arms. "It really depends. If we get some other teammates, plans might change. I don't know if I wanna fight things to get them on the team though," He mused with a grimace.
  
  He'd really prefer to get them Ash style, which is to say just have them willingly join without fighting or anything. It was the approach that he liked the most when he thought about it. Besides, with his future plans, why would he need the kind of pokemon that would join through a fight?
  
  He was pretty sure those would be battle maniacs and such. Pokemon that would respect and desire strength. The kind of pokemon professional trainers would want for sure. Someone that was most probably going to be a normal guy more in a city somewhere? Less so.
  
  "People at last," Pierce noted, seeing down the path that there were some trainers around. Two, from what he could see and they were battling too. One of them had a bird while the other had a rattata. What the first was he couldn't quite tell since he was pretty far. "Huh, I'm suddenly nervous," He added with a wry smile.
  
  Kakuna chittered something in his arms but he couldn't quite tell what she was trying to say that time.
  
  "It's just..." He started, before pausing. How was he supposed to explain? ' Oh, it's just that I'm from another world so I don't know how interacting with people from here will go, not to mention that I'm not all that sociable,' He thought to himself, almost laughing at how absurd that would sound. Yeah, that wasn't going to be what he said. "I'm just nervous, I guess. I'll be fine."
  
  For once, Kakuna's chittering didn't sound annoyed. He'd almost call it encouraging, actually. ' Maybe she's not so bad,' He mused as he adjusted his hold on the cocoon pokemon.
  
  He got close just in time to see the bird - a spearow, he realized now that he was closer - diving with its beak shining with a light purple color. ' Lavender?' Pierce wondered idly. He'd never been too good at identifying colors, in all honesty.
  
  Back to the fight though, the move hit the rattata. The rodent then fell to the ground, visibly struggling to stand up again. It was a very sad sight to see. Pierce felt his heart twist a little just looking at it. ' Is this what pokemon battles normally look like?' He wondered nervously. ' It's a lot more... brutal than it looked like in the anime.'
  
  "We surrender," The boy that was evidently the rattata's trainer called, sounded dejected as he started making his way to the pokemon. As for the rodent itself, it slumped down on the ground, visibly relaxing now that the battle was apparently done. "You did a good job, buddy."
  
  "Great job, Talon," The girl cheered as the bird flew towards her and landed on her arm. Pierce assumed the bird had somehow done so without clawing her arm, considering that she didn't so much as twitch. ' Did she name the spearow Talon?' He wondered, somewhat amused.
  
  "Here, as we agreed," The boy said then, holding the rattata on one arm while he extended a few bills towards the girl with his other hand. ' The prize money? Wonder how that works,' Pierce thought to himself. "Ah, if you wanted a battle, I only have one pokemon left and I'd like for them to be in good condition for camping," He said then, noticing Pierce's arrival and drawing attention to it.
  
  He almost wanted to make up an excuse and walk away.
  
  "That's fine, I only have Kakuna here and she's not in battle conditions, you could say," He replied instead, giving them an awkward smile as they both blinked, looking between him and the bug type in his arms.
  
  "Huh, a bug catcher? They don't venture this deep in the forest often, from what I heard," The boy mused out loud and Pierce was sure he wasn't even really talking to him. "Anyway, I'm Roy, nice to meet you."
  
  "Pierce," He replied, shaking the hand the teen extended. ' He looks older than ten, that's for sure,' Pierce thought, but then again, not everyone was a new trainer. ' It'll be weird, if I have to battle a literal child though.'
  
  "And I'm Lillian, but you can call me Lily, everyone does," The girl, who looked to be around the same age as the other boy, introduced herself. Pierce couldn't begin to guess what their ages were. Yet another thing he had a hard time telling from people. "And this amazing bird is Talon, by the way," She added, waving her free hand towards the preening flying type. "Are you on your way to Pewter too?" She asked then.
  
  And what a loaded question it was.
  
  ' So, I am in Kanto, huh?' Pierce thought in a split second before answering. Last thing he wanted was for them to think him weird or something because he took too long to reply. He could get more info if they were friendly, at least.
  
  "Yeah, I am," He agreed easily, thanking his lucky stars that he was a somewhat good actor. "Are you going there too?" Pierce asked then, looking between them.
  
  "I'm actually going to Viridian. I'm new, but I have relatives there that I want to visit before continuing," the boy answered, looking somewhat excited. Which explained why he was fine giving away information like that, Pierce supposed.
  
  "You bet I'm going to Pewter," Lillian proclaimed enthusiastically. "We are getting our first badge there, aren't we?" she added, turning to look at her spearow, Talon. The bird, for its part, replied with what Pierce guessed was a fearsome cry. Or an attempt at one, since it sounded more cute than anything from the relatively small bird. ' Small for this world, at least,' he corrected himself.
  
  "Anyway, I'll be going now," Roy said, looking between the two of them and the path he seemed to be following. "I want to find a nice place to stop for the night and treat Rattata," he explained as he took out a pokeball and used it on the aforementioned pokemon. "See you and good luck."
  
  "See you," Pierce nodded a farewell while Lillian waved cheerfully.
  
  "Good luck to you too. I hope we can have another battle in the future!" she called as the guy walked further away.
  
  "Sure thing!" Roy replied.
  
  "Now, about you, do you want to travel with us?" Lily asked, making Pierce blink at her. He looked her up and down, as if her appearance would tell him why she was asking such a question out of nowhere. She looked normal enough, he supposed, with her apparently having decided that her color theme was going to be black and light blue. She wore a black long shirt over a light blue shirt and shorts. The trainers she wore also had both of those colors. She had long brown hair and equally brown eyes.
  
  She certainly didn't look weird enough to guarantee that question.
  
  "Uh, you do know that we just met, right?" he asked hesitantly. "Stranger danger and all that?" he added, when the girl looked nonplussed at him. Honestly, he felt like it'd be weird to travel with someone that didn't even looked to be an actual adult, least of all a girl he didn't even know .
  
  "Well, bug catchers are usually not that good people," She mused out loud with a slight pout before it was just as quickly replaced by a grin. "But you are carrying that kakuna around. Most bug catchers aren't too fond of bug types, ironically enough. They just catch them because they evolve quickly and can make for easy wins while everyone else is mostly on the initial stages of evolution," She explained, suddenly sounding like a teacher or something.
  
  He blinked.
  
  "People don't like them? They are nice though," He said, not quite understanding. Sure, they felt a little funny to the touch, but so far they seemed to be adorable, in the case of weedle, or cool, in the case of beedrill.
  
  "Yeah, I definitely don't mind traveling with you," Lily decided with a firm nod. "Lillian Dale."
  
  "Uh, Pierce Lawson," He replied with an awkward smile.
  
  ' The fuck is happening right now?' He wondered to himself.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "She's doing rather well, you know?" Lillian commented once they found a place to settle for the night. Pierce, if he was completely honest, still didn't know how he'd been roped into traveling with her, but he'd long since accepted that it was what happened. "Iron Defense is a difficult move for kakuna to learn. Usually they need other pokemon and trainers to teach it to them."
  
  "Hm, I'm fairly sure some wild pokemon must have taught her then. Because I don't know what I'm doing and she was already on her way to getting it when she joined me," Pierce told her with a slight shrug, drawing a wide-eyed look from the teen, even if he didn't know why. "What?" He asked, turning towards his bug type as it chittered something angrily.
  
  "She doesn't seem too happy with you," Lily pointed out unnecessarily with a shiteating grin. Pierce just gave her an unimpressed expression. "Speaking of, I should let out Root or he'll get angry with me," She said, her amusement turning to slight guilt as she pulled out a pokeball and let out a pokemon.
  
  ' Well, that explains the name, somewhat,' He mused, looking at the pokemon that reminded him somewhat of a cross between a weird dinosaur, a toad and a cat. A strange mix, to be sure, but together they formed what he'd chosen for his team when playing the pokemon game that one time back when he was younger.
  
  Bulbasaur.
  
  "Wow, aren't those rare?" He asked curiously, drawing the attention of the grass type. As far as he knew, those were starter pokemon only. Meaning she had to have gotten it from Oak... or some other professor, maybe. Maybe even somewhere else, he wasn't too sure how the starter thing happened. After all, there couldn't be only three people getting starters per year, that was ridiculous.
  
  "They are, I got mine from Professor Oak in Pallet Town," Lillian explained, beaming down at her pokemon. "We'll be staying here for the night, Root. Are you feeling better?" She asked, which gave Pierce the idea that maybe she'd battled with the bulbasaur too and that was why it had been in its pokeball.
  
  As the pair "chatted" he looked between them. If she was from Pallet and had gotten a starter, maybe she was one of those unnamed trainers that got a starter instead of Ash? ' Then again, maybe it's presumptuous to just go with the idea that this is the canon year. Hell, this could even be something else other than the anime world,' He thought to himself. However, he was grateful for the new puzzle pieces he was offered. Every piece of information was welcome.
  
  "So, I don't think you told me what kind of trainer you are, Pierce," Lily said then, pulling him from his thoughts and making him look at her. "Are you aiming for the Indigo Conference? Or maybe you just want to do the Gyms? A coordinator maybe?"
  
  ' There's a Coordinator circuit in Kanto?' He thought to himself, intrigued. Regardless of that random tidbit, it was an interesting question. So far, they'd only talked about their journeys so far. He'd found out that the current Indigo League season had just started, from some previous chatter, evidenced by Root's unevolved state if nothing else.
  
  "I'll try my hand at being a battler, from there I'll just... see how far I reach. Just that," He replied with a shrug and an uneasy smile. It sounded so... underwhelming, when said like that. "I don't think I'd be a good coordinator though," He added, more sure of that.
  
  Being a coordinator sounded interesting, but Pierce didn't think he had the right mind for it. Being a coordinator was all about making your pokemon stand out, from what he remembered, and that required a specific type of thought process. What would look pretty? What would look imposing? What would look scary?
  
  "Well, I myself want to reach far into the Indigo Conference, at the least. My friends would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't manage to even enter," She told him, not at all nervous about the rather impressive statement. Pierce was pretty sure that with how big of a deal the League was supposed to be, it couldn't be an easy feat to go far in it.
  
  Then again, if this was by anime standards, maybe he could be wrong.
  
  "Any plans for what pokemon you want in your team?" Pierce asked, interested. He was careful not to say "catch" or "get" since those terms sounded a little... Like pokemon were just things. After having Kakuna around for a few days and interacting with other bugs in the forest, he didn't like to think of them like they were collectibles or something of the sort.
  
  "Hm, not really. There are some pokemon I'd definitely like, but not so much that I'd look for them specifically," Lily answered with a shrug as she regarded him and Kakuna. "And you?"
  
  "Eh... Same, I guess," He replied, bringing a hand up to massage his neck awkwardly. "I haven't put that much thought into my journey though, I gotta admit."
  
  ' Mainly because I was just dropped into it, basically,' He added wryly in his mind. He'd have to do a lot of research to know what to do once he managed to get to a computer or something. If that wasn't enough... Well, he'd probably have to ask people about it, even if he'd look like an absolute fool while doing so.
  
  "Huh?" Lily exclaimed, tilting her head as if the concept was entirely too strange for her to understand. He guessed he got it too. After all, one's journey was bound to be an important thing. Something that people prepared for, instead of something they could do on a whim like the anime depicted. ' Maybe I'm guessing too much stuff?' He mused wryly.
  
  "Yeah, it was just... a last minute decision, you could say," He said, hoping it'd be enough to stave off any questions. Fortunately, it seemed to be, since the girl fell silent then.
  
  Kakuna chose that moment to shine again in yet another attempt at Iron Defense. ' God, am I grateful to know the name of the move now,' Pierce thought to himself with a slightly relieved smile. It had been so incredibly frustrating to not know even that much. He promised to himself that he'd research everything Kakuna could learn as soon as he got a chance.
  
  He would also definitely look into books or stuff that could help him know this kind of thing for future pokemon he might catch too. Last thing he wanted was to be in the same situation once again if another pokemon decided to join him. Unlikely as that would be, that is.
  
  ' Then again, I also have to make sure that I can afford that too, I guess,' He thought wryly. After all, he had no idea how much the money he had was worth. For all he knew, it was just the bare minimum to survive or something of the sort.
  
  A buzzing sound took his attention away from the cocoon and he saw Lily and her pokemon tense up. A beedrill appeared shortly afterwards, flying through the woods until it reached them, stopping to regard the two humans and the pokemon. Talon gave a menacing cry when the bug looked at him. Root, meanwhile, crouched, readying for a fight.
  
  "Hm, I don't suppose you could leave us be, could you?" Pierce asked, giving it an awkward smile. "I swear we are just going to camp here. We don't want to cause trouble," He added.
  
  The beedrill replied with an aggressive buzzing of its wings and a clicking sound of its mandibles.
  
  That was when Kakuna chittered something at it and it went silent. Or as silent as a bug the size of his leg could be while still flying. A moment later, the thing touched the ground and pointed towards...
  
  "Oh, come on," Pierce groaned.
  
  "Pierce?"
  
  "Don't worry, I think we are fine," He reassured, even while grimacing. "God, this was nice at first but it's getting annoying really quick," He grumbled as he moved towards his backpack, expanded the green cube and pulled out a kibble for the beedrill. "Here you go, big guy," He said, hoping that it was, indeed, a male.
  
  Judging by the lack of angry reactions, he thought he'd gotten that one right, at least.
  
  Small mercies.
  
  "We are fine," He repeated towards Lily who was still looking at the beedrill apprehensively. ' This is the girl that had zero problems with me tagging along?' He couldn't help but ask in his head.
  
  "The beedrill line isn't known for being... friendly, you know?" The teen told him, hesitant to take her eyes off the bug type. "They are kind of infamous here in Viridian Forest, actually. They are downright aggressive if you encounter them at the wrong time here."
  
  "Eh, so far, all of them have been friendly. Hell, the most aggressive one of the line I've met was Kakuna here," He said, signaling his companion with one hand and getting annoyed chittering in response from the cocoon. "They are nice, even if they've been eating through my kibble. At this rate, I'll run out before I reach Pewter and that's not even taking into account the fact that Kakuna might evolve before that.... Speaking of, how far are we, really?"
  
  "About a week, I think," Lily replied, almost absently as she seemed to be considering what he'd said. Then she frowned, as if his question was strange. Which he realized why a second later and scrambled for an excuse for his question.
  
  "I got a little lost on the way, I'll admit," He said, which wasn't entirely a lie. "Shouldn't have left the path," He added, which was a lie, but his situation was certainly not easily explainable.
  
  "You don't say," She mumbled, her expression turning amused for a second. The beedrill's presence didn't seem to leave much room for her to relax though. Fortunately, the bug type was done eating soon after that. Once that happened, the beedrill looked up at Pierce and chittered something.
  
  "You are welcome?" He replied hesitantly, which earned him a nod. Kakuna "said" something to the beedrill and then the wasp-like pokemon flew away, the buzzing soon disappeared in the forest. "Well, that was... something. Also, if we are that close I should be... relatively fine in regards to food storage... probably."
  
  "Well, if that's what it takes to keep them away, I guess I can help," Lily offered, her shoulders finally relaxing as she sighed in relief. "Repel is a little too expensive for me to buy right now. I was ready to have to fight my way through the forest, but it's nice to know that won't be necessary," She told him with an uneasy smile.
  
  "It helps having an ambassador, I guess," Pierce commented, waving his hand to signal Kakuna, to which the teen nodded in agreement.
  
  "I guess you are right about that," She replied, giving the bug type a thoughtful look.
  
  "Well, we better get those tents set up and get started with dinner, right?" He suggested, turning his eyes up towards the darkening sky.
  
  "Right, we don't have that much time, I guess," Lily agreed, following his gaze.
  
  "Say," Pierce started as he pulled the blue cube from his backpack to take out the tent. "You wouldn't have advice for me as a trainer, right? I have a feeling you are more prepared than I am, that's for sure," He asked with a wry smile. If nothing else, the fact that she'd been given a bulbasaur by Oak said she was probably competent and he'd need all the help he could get.
  
  "I sure do!" The girl exclaimed enthusiastically, all previous unease having been forgotten, apparently.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  So, we have our first traveling companion around. I know her introduction is weird and may feel kinda forced, but I have my reasons, I swear. Dunno if they are good reasons, but I do have some of those, at least. So, please bear with me, I'll try not to disappoint.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Have you played any of the pokemon games? I played mostly Fire Red, but I did play a lil' bit of Ruby and Pearl too.
  
  See you.
  
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  Viridian Forest II
  Viridian Forest II
  
  "Huh, interesting," Pierce mused to himself, considering what Lily had just told him. "I'm still not sure how that works, but I'll just call it energy magic bullshit in my head. Should be enough to calm down the confusion."
  
  Lillian groaned.
  
  She'd been trying to explain to him how certain moves worked for different pokemon. It had all started when she'd asked if he could help Root, her bulbasaur, learn Poison Powder. Or, more accurately, if he could get Kakuna to teach her pokemon. Granted, the bug type knew Poison Sting not the powder variant. However, that had devolved into a lecture about how moves of the same typing usually had some things in common in the shape of energy.
  
  Aura, Pierce guessed it was. Different typed aura that was used to shape the moves, bending reality into doing what the move was supposed to do in regards to the nature of the energy. That was what he was gathering from all the semi-scientific stuff Lillian had thrown at him. She made it sound a lot less like magic, but he was pretty sure he'd never shrug off the fact that it was all actual magic . Maybe that was just the laws of the Pokemon reality being different from his own world's, but it was how he perceived it.
  
  "Whatever," The teenager sighed, clearly done trying to explain things to him. "Thank you for helping us train," She added, her exasperated expression shifting into a smile.
  
  "No problem, just be sure to return the favor later," He told her, eyes moving to the side where Root and Kakuna were working together. The grass type would occasionally throw colored dust around and the bug type would correct whatever it had done wrong while trying to use the poison move. He hadn't seen much progress so far, but then again, they'd just got started.
  
  From what he was gathering, there was no training a move in a few hours in the world he was in. A shame, really, when compared to some of the fics he'd read in his life and even canon. ' Is this karma for all the times I complained about stories being unrealistic?' He wondered to himself, somewhat amused by the thought.
  
  "Sure. I think beedrill can learn some flying type moves," Lily replied, as if offended that he'd even suggest she wouldn't return the favor. That made sense, she seemed like a friendly girl from what he'd seen. A little weird, but considering the world he was in, it wasn't all that strange. "If not that, then there are dark type moves that spearow and beedrill share in common, I think. If that doesn't work, then maybe some other pokemon I catch will be able to help some other pokemon of yours if you get any more."
  
  "Sounds great to me. I'm sure I'll need the help," Pierce told her with a smile. It was nice to have some help to get him started. Lillian kept letting little things drop in conversation that kept adding to his knowledge of the world. Like when they'd talked about having Kakuna help Root. Apparently, it wasn't too common for trainers to help each other.
  
  Pierce could see the logic in that, not helping the competition and all that. However, he also thought it was a little too paranoid, really. After all, what were the chances that Lillian and him would end up fighting each other in, say, a tournament? He certainly wasn't planning on challenging or accepting a challenge with a bet against her, that was for sure. So, he didn't really see the problem.
  
  Lily had been pretty happy when he'd reasoned that.
  
  "Is there anything I can do now? I feel kind of bad," She said, scratching the back of her head.
  
  "Well, you can give food to the next pokemon that comes asking for some, I guess," Pierce answered with a half-smile. Being entirely truthful, he was kind of worried about his rations lasting long enough. Furthermore, he wasn't too sure about how he'd make the money to buy more whenever they reached Pewter. He had some of that already, but he was fairly sure he wasn't rich by any means.
  
  ' With any luck, I should be able to get some money while I decide what to do,' He mused to himself as he considered his options once more. Depending on how much the money he had was worth, he could very well have to stop his "journey" in Pewter. That'd be a little sad, but well... Maybe he could just re-start his travels later with more preparation and money, he supposed.
  
  "Anything to keep the bugs away," Lily replied, eyes darting towards the woods. "I don't get how you are so calm. I've heard lots of stories of trainers getting attacked by beedrill swarms in here," She told him all but whispering, as if afraid something would hear her.
  
  "Hm, I can believe it," Pierce said, nodding in agreement even if he was of a different opinion. "However, I have to wonder if those trainers brought it on themselves. So far, all the members of the weedle line I've met were okay enough with me as to not attack instantly. Sounds to me like just not doing anything stupid should be enough. Then again, I've always had Kakuna around to be the middle person."
  
  "I think... there might be something to what you say, on both accounts," Lillian mused, nodding to herself. "Anyway, I guess that's another reason to be grateful you are around."
  
  "So, you didn't ask me to come along to keep the beedrill away?" Pierce asked with a chuckle. He shook his head as he saw Lily pout at him. "Man, to think I'd be reduced to being beedrill repellent, huh?"
  
  "Oh, shut up," The girl grumbled, throwing a little pebble from the ground at him. "Anyway, I guess we should get moving again? If we want to make some distance before lunch, at least," She mused, looking up at the sky.
  
  "Sounds like a plan," Pierce agreed, cracking his neck as he went to stand up.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce sat on the ground looking in front of him with his eyes wide open. He didn't want to even have the chance to miss what was happening. Meanwhile, Lily was next to him bouncing excitedly as she looked at the same thing he did. He supposed that even for a local, it was quite the sight.
  
  An evolution.
  
  Kakuna's evolution, to be exact.
  
  His partner was going to be a beedrill shortly and he found himself thinking that it seemed to have come really fast. After all his talks with Lillian, he'd come to expect evolutions to be a rare thing. Something that took a long time and training, is what they seemed to be. However, his pokemon was one of the exceptions to this, from what he'd learned.
  
  Weedle, and caterpie for that matter, spend little time as larvae before evolving into their cocoon form. This latter one was an even shorter stage, really, since it was mainly just preparation for their last evolution. Thus, one of the reasons bug catchers were common during the first month or so of the League circuit.
  
  People would go out, catch a bug type, evolve it quickly and then use their clearly more advanced pokemon against people that were probably still in the initial stage of their training. It was easy money, really. From there, they'd release their pokemon with a nice amount of money in their pockets and then wait for a year to do it again.
  
  It was a frowned upon thing to do, but it wasn't illegal or anything of the sort, apparently.
  
  Finally, the kakuna-shaped beacon of light that his companion had turned into had started shifting. It had been mesmerizing, to see her start to shine, not unlike when she used Harden, but much brighter and all over without stopping. It was also surprising, he'd admit, but he'd been quick to push that aside to watch the process.
  
  She'd stayed in the same shape for a little bit, which had worried Pierce, but she was shifting now. It was a slow process though, from what he was seeing. Slowly, the wings appeared, at first a barely distinguishable protrusion from her back. ' I should be getting blinded, shouldn't I?' Pierce mused as he watched the rest of his partner's body get thinner as it started to shape into a beedrill's body. ' Bullshit energy magic, I guess,' He dismissed, entirely too focused on the event that was happening in front of him.
  
  Eventually, she started looking like an actual beedrill. She extended her new limbs out, the most prominent of which being the spear-like arms, almost as if she were stretching. Her body shaped itself into that of a wasp-bee hybrid, with a very dangerous looking stinger at the end of it too. And then, in the end, the glow receded, leaving place to her actual colors, white, yellow, gray and black with red eyes.
  
  "So, I guess I'll be calling you Beedrill for now, huh?" Pierce asked as he watched her start moving after the evolution was done. He was still amazed by what he'd just seen. It was almost as if the evolution were still going on, in his head at least. The bug type, meanwhile, was also getting used to the change in her own way. Tentatively, she used her normal pair of legs to move instead of her wings. She approached him slowly and hesitantly, but determined.
  
  She chittered something at him, sounding a lot different now that there was no cocoon to muffle her "voice". She sounded... He wasn't sure what she was saying, but she didn't sound grumpy, for once. He took that as a win and extended a hand towards her, grinning all the way. Carefully avoiding her antennae, Pierce placed his palm against the top of her head.
  
  "That was amazing, girl," He praised, still feeling fascinated by the whole thing. As his thoughts cleared though, his smile widened even more. "Guess you'll have to get better with the new body, huh?" He asked, looking her over, checking every detail of her new self. "And I guess you'll be flying around instead of having me carry you, huh? Must have been boring."
  
  Pierce was going to say more, really, but he was stopped when the bug type started moving again. So close by, he only then noticed that she was now around half his height. The fact that she was all but crouching down, resting some weight on her stingers, might have helped hide her new size, he guessed. With her slowly crawling her way to his back though, there was no missing it.
  
  "Not tired of going as slow as me, huh?" He asked, once she settled on his back, her stingers crossed under his neck. He chuckled a little as he realized that he'd basically be giving his pokemon piggyback ride for the moment. "No complaints here," He reassured with a grin as he heard her chitter something, once more sounding annoyed. "That left you a little tired, didn't it?" He asked, more softly, once he noticed that she wasn't moving much and even the clicking of her mouth sounded weary.
  
  "It's always amazing to watch them evolve, right? Especially in person," Lily breathed out, reminding him that she was actually there. Pierce had forgotten her presence, in all honesty, with everything else that had been going on.
  
  "It sure is," He agreed anyway, even though it was the first time he'd witnessed such a thing. He was sure every other time would be just as good. "So, I'm guessing we keep going?" He asked, as he went to stand up. Beedrill wasn't precisely featherweight, he'd admit, but he was used to carrying his little cousins and such. ' It might be useful to start going to the gym or something if I settle somewhere,' He mused to himself as he tried to get used to the extra weight of his companion.
  
  "Sure thing," Lily replied, looking at him with a grin.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You are doing great, girl," Pierce praised as he watched Beedrill zoom around in her new body. It was certainly a contrast to see how fast and freely she moved now that she'd evolved. He'd seen beedrill before, but somehow it was quite a different thing when it was his pokemon . Which was a statement that still sent waves of awe inside him.
  
  Persistent incredibleness aside, he was quite happy to see that she was doing remarkably well in her training. Certainly nothing like when she'd been training Iron Defense, that was for sure. According to Lily, who was training on the other side of their little campment, some moves came easier to some pokemon, especially after a more body altering evolution like the one kakuna went through.
  
  For example, Beedrill was having a very easy time picking up Fury Attack and Twineedle. Hell, the first one was practically already learned in barely a day's time. Pierce was quite sure it wasn't battle ready, but that didn't really matter all that much. He was just happy to see his companion doing well.
  
  As the bug type cut through the air until she was right in front of him, Pierce found himself impressed by how quickly she'd gotten used to her new body. She had her little stumbles here and there, like when she grazed a tree and went straight to the ground, or the time she got one of her stingers stuck on the ground. Overall, she was doing rather well in the mobility department too, it seemed.
  
  Beedrill clicked something with her mouth at him that sounded rather pleased.
  
  "Yeah, you are awesome, I know," He told her, making her show off by circling around him. "So, that's a no on the me carr-" He didn't even get to finish the question before Beedrill latched onto his back for a piggyback ride. Pierce rolled his eyes with a grin as he started walking once more. "Guess I'm stuck with you doing this, huh?"
  
  She chittered something that sounded like an affirmation to him.
  
  "You know, you've been awfully nice since you evolved. It's weird," Pierce commented with a chuckle that turned into a full laugh when the stingers around his neck tightened threateningly. "It's nice too, don't get me wrong. But I was getting used to the grumpy kakuna and now you've turned into clingy beedrill."
  
  The stingers pressed even more firmly around him, but the bug type looked away.
  
  "Anyway, are you actually gonna take a break? Because we can go sit at the camp if so," He suggested, causing the beedrill to let go of him instantly. "More training, huh? We can do that. Maybe we can get a battle or two on our way to Pewter, if you feel like it."
  
  He wasn't too sure about that last thing, if he was honest. Lily and him had come across three trainers that day and according to her, they were going to come across more the closer they were to Pewter. She'd had a challenge battle with one of those people, actually. The first one they met, which had her using Root against a mankey and winning. The second one had been someone that told them he was someone that had started being a trainer the year prior.
  
  That was when Pierce learned another lesson in pokemon trainer etiquette. It was very frowned upon to battle someone with significantly less experience than you. This applied mostly to make sure people that were just starting battled people in the same situation, but if you had been in the business for fifteen years, it was still not good to go for someone that had been around for, say, three.
  
  Still, this didn't mean you couldn't ignore this. Lily and the guy certainly did, having Talon fighting against a Nidorino. The thing was, they'd agreed to have the battle be without a bet, all things considered. It was interesting, if nothing else, to see all those little things that Pierce would have never thought of until they came up. Not because it didn't make sense, or anything, but it was interesting to see it so ingrained in the people's behavior.
  
  The third person, Lily hadn't battled. Because both of her pokemon had already had fights and she wanted to give them a break. After all, their pokemon needed to keep guard just in case while they camped. There was Beedrill now to help with that, but it was an unspoken thing that they agreed she wasn't exactly in battling condition just yet.
  
  Judging by the excited bussing of Beedrill's wings, she quite liked the idea of getting into a battle. Or so he thought, at least, he was no expert in reading the chittering/clicking of her mouth, really. He also thought she had been pretty excited when they'd witnessed Lily's battles too, so there was that.
  
  Pierce wasn't too sure how to feel about that. He got more and more nervous the more he considered what battling would be like. After all he would be betting money on his incompetent ass to win a battle. Money that he didn't, in fact, have a way of replacing.
  
  On top of that, there were the battles themselves. Pierce had been more than a little uncomfortable watching Lillian's battles, but actually participating in one with Beedrill... He had a feeling that would be worse. It was only the fact that the pokemon seemed to genuinely like battling that made it so he didn't just make a run for the nearest city and swear off the things, really.
  
  As it was, it was just an overall awkward affair. Yet another instance of the world he was now in having different rules, different instincts and all that. It was apparent that everything was different from back home, even if sometimes it took a closer view to be noticed. Nothing would ever be exactly the same, he realized as time passed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "This is... not what I expected," Pierce commented, very surprised with the sight before him. The following morning, he'd agreed when Lily offered to have Talon train with Beedrill with a spar. He'd fully expected to be scrambling to keep up, since he was certainly no trainer expert or anything. He expected to have Lily call up moves and strategies with him unable to respond quick enough and such.
  
  Instead...
  
  "Well," Lily said, smiling wryly as she looked in front of them too. "There's a reason why bug catchers are a thing," She said, sighing at the end.
  
  Talon was struggling, a lot, with Beedrill. The bug type moved too fast, too precisely. The bird just couldn't reach it with anything. It was a little sad, really. Like watching someone playing tag seriously against a toddler. He had a feeling the spearow wouldn't appreciate that comparison though.
  
  "Still, I... heard that bug types were the weakest of them all," He pointed out, because if there was one thing about pokemon meta that he was sure of, it was that. He didn't know the specifics, but he remembered seeing stuff like them having an absurd amount of weaknesses and not nearly enough strengths to even it out. Granted, there were other types that were even worse off from what he could recall, but that wasn't important at the moment.
  
  "They... kind of are, but it mostly depends on the pokemon and the trainer," Lily said, with some reluctance. "If we are talking in averages though, then yes. A fully evolved pokemon of another type usually is stronger against a bug type... Unless it's a type with a disadvantage against bugs, obviously."
  
  "But Talon isn't fully evolved and Beedrill is, which is why she seems much stronger, right?" He finished then, earning an agreeing hum from the girl. That made sense. It also aligned well with the bug catcher strategy, he supposed. "Guess that makes sense. That's good too, since it'll allow me to get used to this without having her be too affected by me learning how this goes."
  
  "I still can't believe you became a trainer with no preparations, honestly," She said, giggling behind her hand at his apparent idiocy.
  
  ' I still can't believe it either,' Pierce thought to himself. ' If for different reasons.'
  
  "Hm, well, this is good training for Talon, I gotta say," Lily continued then, turning back to their pokemon. "It'll help him learn how to fight against someone that's better in the air than he is. However, I don't know how useful it'll be for Beedrill, besides helping her figure out her body."
  
  "I guess that's fair," Pierce mused, narrowing his eyes as he considered what to do. He had some plans for training, but those were mainly for training alone. He also didn't know what moves Beedrill could learn that he wasn't aware of already. He'd have to check for some different typed moves when he got a chance. As it was though, his only option was training with moves that his pokemon already knew or was learning.
  
  With that in mind...
  
  "Beedrill!" He called, making the bug type pause in the air. "Keep flying, don't stop!" He reminded her. His pokemon narrowly avoided a Peck, which was a relief. "Guess we gotta work on that too," He muttered under his breath. "Beedrill, see if you can catch Talon with String Shot!" Pierce suggested and, to his slight surprise, the pokemon immediately shot the move at the flying type.
  
  Considering what he knew of Beedrill from when she was still a kakuna and in a small measure regarding how she'd been as a beedrill, he'd expected a little resistance, a little doubt or something along those lines. ' Did I miss something? Where's that confidence coming from?' He had to wonder.
  
  "Use Harden or Iron Defense if it looks like you'll get hit by something!" He called then, noticing that Beedrill was slower now that she had to concentrate on using the move to try to hit Talon. Pierce made a mental note of that before... ' Wait,' He frowned before crouching and taking a notebook out. Flipping through some notes he'd taken in regards to training, he found an empty page.
  
  ' Things to work on,' He wrote at the top as a title. Then underneath, he added. ' Trainer duties, what to order, how, strategies,' He noted under a subtitle that read "Pierce". Then he wrote "Beedrill" and continued. ' Using moves while moving, not freezing when a command is called.'
  
  "Talon!" Lily called then and he prepared himself for whatever she might try to do. "If you can't hit her, try to get her with Leer and Growl!" She suggested and immediately the bird's eyes glowed with a white light. That was an interesting call. He supposed when battles were in real time it would allow for the possibility of throwing one of those moves.
  
  Pierce hadn't been a great fan of the games, but when he'd played he'd never really used moves that affected stats. He just threw attacks and such until the opponent fell. At most he'd use healing moves, but reducing defenses and such when one could just be lowering the enemy health bar sounded silly to him. Then again, maybe he was the idiot regarding that. He'd certainly never paid too much attention to the meta of the games.
  
  ' Status moves?' He added under his list of things to keep in mind for training and learning. With that done, he considered the spar that was going on in front of him. The flying type kept throwing the moves Lily had told him, still trying to get an attack in, but never being fast enough to catch the Beedrill. It was fast enough not to get hit by the String Shots the bug type was throwing though, which meant one thing. ' Accuracy on moving targets?' He added to Beedrill's list.
  
  Still, Pierce found himself smiling as the training session went on. It seemed that he rather liked the training part of being... Well, a trainer. That was good, he supposed. Now he just had to make sure he got good enough.
  
  ' Let's see how this goes.'
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  And Kakuna has evolved!
  
  I know, it probably came across as a little anticlimactic for her to just do so with no big event or battle or something going on. However, she's a bug type, one that is known to evolve fast. So I think it makes sense for her to just evolve at a random time once she's ready. Not everything in the trainer life can be exciting adventures, guys!
  
  Or, at least, I don't think so.
  
  Also, our boy, Pierce, is making his first steps into actually being a trainer instead of just a guy with a pokemon. They grow up so fast, don't they? *sniff*
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you think will be the name of Beedrill? I've already named her in the backlog chapters I have ready for this story, but I wanna see if you guys can change my mind or just what you come up with.
  
  See you.
  
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  Viridian Forest III
  Viridian Forest III
  
  "So, Air Cutter and Tailwind," Pierce asked, frowning in thought. Next to him walked Lillian with her pokedex in hand as she checked over information about Beedrill. He'd already asked her to let him check over that to take notes. Most of it would be random trivia, he expected, but it was random trivia that could be very useful. Nevermind the fact that she seemed to have a list of the moves Beedrill could learn, which was much more than he had, that was for sure.
  
  "Yeah, those are the moves Talon could probably help you with," the teenager replied, nodding and closing the device for the moment as they walked. "Personally, I think both are very useful, especially for Beedrill. They are... Well, they are pretty fragile, nevermind the fact that they are bugs. So, dodging is the way to deal with attacks when it comes to them, really, and Tailwind would help with that. Air Cutter would add more range to her repertoire besides Poison Sting and String Shot on top of a new type to attack with."
  
  That made sense, but Lillian had already told Pierce that Beedrill would have difficulty getting any of those two moves anytime soon. They were, after all, not in the natural set of moves that the species could learn in the wild. They were the result of extensive training and conditioning. He was somewhat surprised to hear that Iron Defense was supposed to be one such move too, but Lillian had reasoned that the bug had a somewhat easier time with that since she couldn't do much else other than train the move while in her cocoon form.
  
  Logical, he supposed.
  
  All that didn't really help him decide which of the flying type moves he wanted Talon to help Beedrill with. He was leaning towards Tailwind though. Between more speed, Harden and Iron Defense, his partner would be pretty much covered as far as being safe was concerned. Well, not really, but it was nice to add to that. They could work on Air Cutter and other offensive moves later. Pierce was rather nervous about battles, after all, and he wanted to make sure his partner was fine if they needed to get into that.
  
  Which he was more and more convinced that they would, mainly because Beedrill herself seemed very eager to give it a try. Whenever Lillian got into a battle with another trainer, the bug type would watch intently. Whenever they trained together, she gave it her all. Pierce hoped, he really did, that he hadn't found himself with a battle maniac pokemon. That'd make his plans for a nice, peaceful life... complicated.
  
  Surely not though.
  
  After all, Beedrill was a sweetheart... Or, maybe it was better to call her a tsundere, really. She was prickly, for sure, but it was difficult to see her as such when she was hugging his neck as he carried her in a piggyback. Nor when she argued against her kin whenever they came across a particularly aggressive beedrill.
  
  "I think I'll go for Tailwind," Pierce said eventually, receiving a nod in response.
  
  "Ok, I'll lend you the pokedex later for you to take notes. But I'll keep my eyes on you," Lillian told him, pointing at her eyes with two fingers and then pointing at his. He chuckled at that, able to tell that she wasn't actually serious. Although, admittedly, he was still very confused about her quick trust of him. He was kind of getting over that, even if he would probably find it weird for quite some time.
  
  "Thank you, Lily," he said simply instead.
  
  "You are thinking stupid stuff again, aren't you?" she accused with narrowed eyes, making him roll his eyes. "I've always been good at telling who is good and who is bad," Lillian explained, skipping forward as if there was music only she could hear. "Besides that, you are good with pokemon, and pokemon know those kinds of things too."
  
  Pierce had to wonder if there was more to that than just "a good feeling". Was there Aura involved? Psychic powers? Even the trivial and the crazy became relevant in a world where there was magical logic at play, after all. Difficult to know, but he'd take her word for it and be grateful for that. God knew how screwed up he'd have been if he had to get through the forest on his own. ' Or Arceus, in this world, I guess,' he mused wryly.
  
  "If you say so," Pierce replied with a slight smile. "You think Beedrill and I should risk a battle?" he asked then, and his pokemon immediately perked up at the question. ' Yeah, no questions that she wants to fight,' he confirmed to himself, holding back a sigh.
  
  "With bets?" Lillian asked, even though she seemed to know the answer already. "I think you should go for it. Beedrill flies circles around Talon, I doubt there'll be anyone new that has something better than her, unless it's a bug catcher."
  
  "And if it is?"
  
  "Well, you tried," Lily answered with a perfectly straight face that crumbled a second later. "No, really. If you do come across a bug catcher, chances are that they'll have a butterfree. Much more friendly than those of the weedle line. Even if it's a beedrill, I doubt they'll be much more trained than yours and she knows Iron Defense. That should be a nice edge to have over them."
  
  "All good points," he considered out loud and he could almost feel Beedrill staring at him. "Guess we'll give it a try if we come across someone."
  
  "You should keep her in her pokeball if you want to do that though," Lillian advised. "She's your only pokemon, but others might have two or three and one of those could be more effective against her than the others. No need to give them the advantage of knowing what they'll face when you might not have that benefit," She told him and he nodded. That made sense.
  
  "Right, thanks," he replied. He'd have probably thought of that himself, but he also might not have, so he appreciated it. There were many things like that, which he could guess at if it came down to it, but for Lillian, they were common sense. They were the kind of thing that she'd studied for her journey, a benefit that he hadn't had. So, he'd be grateful for any advice he could get.
  
  "Don't mention it. I look forward to seeing you two fight," Lillian told both of them as he grinned wryly and looked at Beedrill's red eyes. Yeah, the bug type was all for a battle, so he better start thinking about it and preparing himself. ' God, I hope this doesn't go badly.'
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  It was just his luck that Pierce would come across a newbie trainer under an hour later. Granted, it wasn't like finding other trainers was rare, but there seemed to be like a fifty fifty chance of anyone they found being new or being experienced already. Not everyone that they found wanted to battle either, just like they didn't battle anyone that asked. If Lillian's pokemon had already battled, she usually abstained from doing so again unless the battle was either not that taxing on them or they'd had enough time to recover. The same went for other trainers, he supposed.
  
  Thus, Pierce had half hoped that he'd have some luck and find a few people that wouldn't want to battle or would be out of his league... That was not to be though. Instead, he found himself standing in front of a girl called Brittany who'd readily accepted and said she was new too. She didn't even have the decency to look nervous, looking like a happy camper not unlike Lillian.
  
  Rude.
  
  "You both ready?" his traveling companion called and he nodded while Brittany called out a "Yeah!". Lillian looked at both of them and brough the hand she'd raised down. "Then start."
  
  Apparently, for normal battle challenges, both people picked a pokeball and released their pokemon roughly at the same time. Waiting to see what the opponent let out before doing so yourself was considered bad manners. Nevermind trying to change what pokemon you'd use. That'd get everyone annoyed at you and an opponent walking away without even bothering, at best .
  
  That is, unless some other set of rules was agreed to, of course. Gym challenges and Tournament battles worked differently, from what Pierce had heard. He'd already taken notes to look all that stuff up as soon as he could. The list of things to investigate was getting longer and longer, and he was expecting it to keep going like that for a while.
  
  Back to the fight though, both trainers' pokeballs let out red beams of light that coalesced into creatures. In front of Pierce, Beedrill appeared, floating so that her eyes were at the same height as his. The buzz of her wings filled the small clearing at the same time that Brittany's pokemon let out a cry that was more adorable than intimidating.
  
  ' Poison type, if I remember correctly,' Pierce noted to himself instantly, eyes fixed on the light blue, rodent-like creature covered in little spikes. ' Nidoran, right? Or was it Nidorino? Which was the first stage? Anyway, I think those had an ability that poisoned things that touched them. Good thing poison types can't poison each other. Bad too, for us, I guess.'
  
  "Ugh, a bug catcher, really?" Brittany groaned out loud and Pierce almost snapped at her out of nerves, if nothing else. Instead of doing that though, he decided to get on with the fight.
  
  "Fly around, Iron Defense and Harden," he told Beedrill, who chirped something and immediately dashed around. A second later, she paused and her body shone with bright silver light. ' Gotta see if she can learn to use the move while... well, moving. If not, it's a bit of an opening for others to take advantage of.'
  
  "Poison Sting!" Brittany ordered, and Pierce wondered why she was shouting. The pokemon was right there in front of her and it had pretty good hearing, he was sure. Either way, the Nidoran - ' Light blue were the female ones, right?' - shot out the purple needles of Poison Sting that Pierce knew well by that point. "Don't let up."
  
  Beedrill was too fast to get caught on that though. She buzzed around without a problem, the projectiles flying and hitting nothing but trees and ground far away. ' So far so good,' Pierce noted to himself, waiting for the moment Harden's light shone and then dimmed.
  
  "String Shot, Beedrill!" he called, a little louder since she was further and there was more noise around now. "If you can't hit, try to corner them!"
  
  "Move, Princess! Don't stay still!" Brittany called in response. ' So, it is female, huh?' He noted to himself. The thing Pierce was disliking the most about his... new situation was feeling like an idiot. So many things felt like stuff he should know, even when he wasn't originally from that world. Stuff he'd heard or known once upon a time and now he'd already forgotten. It was very annoying, each and every time.
  
  He pushed those thoughts aside though. Instead, he looked at Beedrill's shots and "Princess"'s dodging. The rodent-like pokemon did a good enough job evading the attacks, but the ground was getting covered in strings and that was bad for the girl and her partner.
  
  String Shot wasn't too annoying in terms of residues. The thing seemed to fall apart really quickly after being thrown around, at least when it was used liberally like that. Not really disappearing, but it stopped sticking to anything and everything and it seemed to "dry up" in a way, getting thinner and weaker too.
  
  That process wasn't quick enough not to make the stuff a bother during a fight. It'd take a good few minutes at the least, and the rodent-like pokemon didn't have that much time. Sure enough, eventually, the poor thing got stuck in a thread. Didn't quite do all that much, with the little creature tearing apart the string, but she was slowed down. That was enough for Beedrill to shoot again and hit it. Two more shots and the thing was firmly stuck to the ground.
  
  "Poison Sting, Princess!" Brittany switched tactics after a lot of frantic yelling for her pokemon to dodge this or that way. "I know you can hit it!"
  
  "Shoot right back, Beedrill!" Pierce called, wondering if he could do something else. Bug Bite and Fury Attack were melee attacks though and Pierce didn't really feel confident in using them. First, because Brittany had only used Poison Sting for range, which made him think that was all she had for distance fighting. Again, he was no expert, for sure, but he was fairly confident that the poison type would have more options up close and he didn't want to risk it.
  
  ' Besides, no need to risk it anyway,' he thought to himself. After all, Nidoran/Nidorina was stuck now. She couldn't dodge and she couldn't hit the buzzing bug type. On top of that, since she couldn't move, even if Beedrill didn't hit all her shots with Poison Sting, she still got more hits than the grounded pokemon. ' This battle is done.'
  
  "We give up!" Brittany called, a dejected expression on her face. There was a fair bit of annoyance there, but Pierce couldn't quite place where it was directed. He really hoped it wasn't at him, what with the comment about bug catchers from before.
  
  Regardless of his readings on the other trainer, Beedrill had frozen where she was, shooting one last Poison Sting but managing to send it away from the other pokemon. All but a second later, the bug type zoomed all the way to him and gave him a hug, not unlike the way she'd cling to him for a piggyback ride but from the front. Pierce, for his part, returned the gesture as carefully as possible. He doubted he could do much to the beedrill, but he didn't want to risk it. The wings looked fragile, even if he was sure they weren't.
  
  "Great job, girl," he told her, a grin quickly spreading over his face. It got wider and wider as he realized that he - And Beedrill, of course - had just won a pokemon battle. "You won," he added, chuckling as the excitement started to bubble in him. "Right, um," he mumbled as his eyes found his opponent. "Sorry, it's just-" he started, struggling to get Beedrill to let go only for the bug type to fly and latch onto his back. "It's our first battle, really. Good fight. Unlucky though."
  
  "I guess. Congratulations," Brittany replied, giving him a plastic smile and handing him the money they'd bet. "See you around," she offered half-heartedly before walking away. ' Well... she didn't insult us? That's a win, right?' Pierce considered before looking over his shoulder to share a look with Beedrill.
  
  His grin returned instantly.
  
  "Congratulations!" Lillian exclaimed loudly, suddenly appearing right next to him and shaking him by his arm. "Great start. I told you there was nothing to be worried about! You can totally take another fight after that. Beedrill didn't even get hit."
  
  "I think that was..." Pierce started before trailing off as the bug type squeezed with her pincers. If the message wasn't clear enough, the buzzing and clicking certainly made it so. "Well, guess we can go for another."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Fortunately, they didn't come across anyone else for a challenge after that. Or, at least, fortunately for Pierce. While his first battle had gone well and it had been easy enough, he was kind of nervous about giving it another go. Beedrill had enjoyed the thrill well enough, but he was afraid that the next time would have a different outcome. Not all opponents could be conveniently weak to their tactics, if they could be called that.
  
  Case in point, while walking, they'd found a guy that had been setting up a campment already. Neither Pierce nor Lillian had asked for a challenge. The latter because her pokemon were already tired out, and the former because he'd seen the growlithe that was sitting off to the side. Lillian had agreed that facing that would likely go... not so well for them. While the fire puppy was an initial stage, it was the first of two stages only and the evolution required "special circumstances" as she'd said. All that meant that even though it was a first stage, it wasn't to be underestimated, even with fully evolved pokemon.
  
  In that whole situation, Pierce had also picked up that maybe the stone evolutions weren't so well known. Either that or there were other ways to get those results besides the stones. Interesting to know, but in the end he'd gotten little else besides the fact that there was something else that he needed to look up once he got access to that world's version of the internet or whatever there was.
  
  "Clefairy, huh?" Pierce commented that night as they both sat across each other with a campfire in the middle. They'd already eaten and he was taking some random notes before going to sleep. He was mostly brainstorming how to help Beedrill train, both with Tailwind, Twineedle and Focus Energy, which she was still learning, and with the moves she already had.
  
  They still needed to put more work on Iron Defense and Fury Attack. Hell, even Beedrill's other moves weren't quite all that. She needed to work on her aim for String Shot and Poison Sting. They needed to train some of her melee combat, for which he'd probably ask Lillian if Root was up for it, he guessed. Either that or against wild pokemon. Surely some of them would be open to it if he offered food. The Viridian Forest population seemed to be swayed quite a bit by their stomachs, from what he'd seen so far.
  
  "Yeah, they are super rare and they don't like most people, which makes them avoid strangers on principle," Lillian explained to him. The girl had happily gone on a tangent when he'd asked, instead of what pokemon she wanted, which ones she'd like to have, even if she didn't think they were possible. That seemed to make all the difference for her, because she'd been talking for quite a while already. "But fairies are so cute ~!" the girl gushed and he chuckled.
  
  "I heard you can find those in Mt. Moon," he commented, carefully leaving the statement vague. If the pokemon were so rare, then maybe his knowledge about the mountain was wrong, or different from what he remembered. Besides that, even if the Clefairy line could be found there, it might not be common knowledge.
  
  "There are rumors about that, yeah," Lillian replied with a nod and he internally patted himself on the back. "Still, they say you only meet them if they like you and that if you meet them, then you are trainer material for them. So... Yeah, unlikely," she said, pouting to herself.
  
  "Not with that attitude," Pierce pointed out, trying to give a little positivism. Not that he was that kind of person, but he liked to help people reach some balance. Give positive opinions when people were too negative, give negative opinions when people were too positive... ' That sounds kinda wrong after putting some more thought into it,' he mused to himself.
  
  "I guess?" Lillian mumbled, not looking very convinced.
  
  "The way I see it," Pierce started, deciding to try again. "You can give up after you've passed through Mt. Moon, right? Until then, well, there's a chance. Or have you been there before?"
  
  "I don't think I have..." she said, her voice just as low as before, but he saw the idea take root in her mind. "I guess I can give it a try."
  
  "Maybe you can explore a little when you are there? Increase your chances, you know?" Pierce offered, and he saw her perk up. "And if not, well, you tried, right?"
  
  "Yeah, I guess," she repeated, much more certain then.
  
  "Good, then-"
  
  "Pierce?" Lillian called, her tone back to nervous and he almost groaned. He'd gotten the impression that she was a positive person, almost bubbly. Why was she like that all of a sudde-?
  
  Only, she wasn't even looking at him when he turned. Instead, she was looking at the space next to him. Turning again, he blinked and then did so once more. There, blinking adorably at him with big beady eyes were three caterpillars the size of his forearm. Green caterpillars, to be exact.
  
  "Hey there, little ones? Need something?" he asked softly with a grin. Beedrill chose that moment to buzz around him and the three little guys, which seemed to put the latters on edge. Fortunately, she didn't seem to be in a particularly mean mood, despite the sort of frightening presence she projected. The one on the right side made a gurgling sound of some kind that he didn't quite understand, at all. Only thing he got was that the thing was nervous.. "Uh... I'm guessing food?" Pierce hazarded, looking at his pokemon for clarification.
  
  It was the safe assumption, really. Every bug they'd come across wanted food. Pierce was almost convinced that it had something to do with either being a bug type, since Lillian's pokemon didn't eat all that much from what he'd gotten, or the fact that they evolved so fast. His guess was that the fast evolution made it so that the pokemon needed to eat more to compensate. He'd either get his answers later through research or after Beedrill had been in a single stage for a while.
  
  Back to the situation though, Pierce was utterly unsurprised when his partner nodded her head. Sharing a look with Lillian, who was giving him a shiteating grin, he sighed. ' I like these little shits entirely too much,' he grumbled in his own mind as he went to pull out more food.
  
  "You guys are so lucky that we are close by and I have more than enough food. I'm gonna run out eventually," he added, as he set the kibble on a bowl for all of them.
  
  "I'm half convinced that you'd give them food even if it meant you'd go hungry," Lillian pointed out, getting angry buzzing from Beedrill. Well, at least someone had his back, Pierce supposed.
  
  "Let's hope we don't have to find out, yeah?" he asked. Because, honestly? Looking at the cute little caterpies eating from the bowl so happily? Maybe she wasn't as wrong as he hoped. "We aren't far from the city, right?"
  
  "A few days," Lillian answered, clearly amused. "We should be out of the forest in a day or two though," she added then, making him almost sigh in relief. Well, thank God for small mercies. "Yeah, good for your reserves. Not sure if you'll suffer from bug type abstinence or something though."
  
  "Is it wrong that I like them? They are not so bad," he defended himself, turning slightly when he saw a caterpie shifting. Apparently, the food was over, but they weren't squirming like the others had done when they wanted more, so he assumed that had been enough for them. Regardless, one of them approached him slightly and gurgled with what Pierce liked to think was gratitude. "Don't mention it, little guy," he replied, placing a hand on the caterpie's head and petting it.
  
  "I mean, seeing them like that," Lily mumbled, looking like she was holding back from gushing at the cute little friends he'd just made. Pierce could relate. Bugs had no business being so damn adorable, in his opinion. "Still, you take it a step further than most."
  
  "Guess I just like them more than is normal. I don't think it's just bugs though, pokemon are just amazing," Pierce said, shrugging. He wasn't even lying, really. He'd always liked animals quite a lot, and pokemon just added that little extra to the whole thing, really, since they could actually understand what he said and sort of answer. Bugs were just the ones he could interact the most, since flying types and rattata, which were the other wild pokemon he'd come across so far, tended to just flee.
  
  "Maybe," Lillian replied in the end, shrugging too.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Welp, our boy and beedrill have had their first battle. It wasn't all that impressive, but then again, they are a little ahead of the curve with Beedrill being fully evolved against most rookies at the moment. On top of that... Well, low level battles don't have that much going for them. Pokemon don't have vast movesets and they can't tank that many hits or put that much power behind attacks. It's how it is.
  
  Still, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: You already know my answer, all things considered, but which one do you like more, Beedrill or Butterfree?
  
  See you.
  
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  Viridian Forest IV
  Viridian Forest IV
  
  "All I'm saying is that some pokemon can't dodge that fast, if at all," Lily explained, letting out a groan out of exasperation. "So, they are more likely to tank a move if you leave them to it. Some trainers like to get that kind of pokemon started on listening when they call for a dodge," she added then, giving him a glare.
  
  "I mean, I get that," Pierce nodded, before continuing, much to his companion's frustration. At least Beedrill seemed to take some amusement from that. "But what about those that can still dodge just fine after they evolve? Why would the trainers still call for a dodge then?"
  
  "Well, I mean..." Lily mumbled, her eyes starting to dart around. He was guessing that he was winning the argument, which wasn't good for her because it had all started after her last battle. Pierce had been curious as to why she, and most people, really, called for dodges from their pokemon. The fact that she'd done so for Talon, her spearow, wasn't helping her excuse too much, really. "In some cases, it can be useful to point it out, especially if it's part of a strategy or if they have to look out for more attacks to dodge."
  
  "I understand that too," he replied with another nod. He could see in her defeated look though, that she knew there'd be a follow up statement and that it would be the last nail in her coffin. "But you didn't call for a strategy or anything. You just told Talon to dodge."
  
  "Fine!" she surrendered, throwing her hands up. "I got a little nervous, ok? That girl's pidgey was tough, it evolved, in the middle of the battle!"
  
  "That's fine, and I knew that, I was there," he told her, grinning widely. "I just wanted to clear that out, is all."
  
  "You are an asshole," Lily grumbled under her breath, drawing a chuckle from him.
  
  "Fair," he agreed, still laughing. "Girl, you better dodge stuff even if I don't say anything. That's first priority unless I tell you otherwise," he said, turning to look at Beedrill, who was once more hanging from his back. Pierce rather doubted he'd ever tell his pokemon to tank a hit if they could help it, but one never knew. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, the bug type nodded against his shoulder, immediately and completely seriously.
  
  ' She's a bit too into fighting,' Pierce thought, more a resignation than a realization. He'd held out hope that it wouldn't be the case, but after getting into another fight that day, it was difficult to keep his denial going anymore. Sadly, it was all but confirmed.
  
  His first pokemon was a battle maniac.
  
  Pierce honestly didn't know what to think about that. On the one side, it meant that he could have an income through battles for a bit, sure. However, he didn't think he had what it took to really make it as a trainer. It was better to get settled somewhere and start building a new life. That was the logical decision to make, really.
  
  ' But that would suck for Beedrill and I'd feel bad,' he thought, holding back a grimace as he continued walking. It'd be very shitty of him to deny his first friend in this new world the chance to shine as she wanted. To take her away from the thing that she seemed to love the most. ' Guess I can give being a trainer a shot. Worse comes to worst... Well, I'll come up with something if it comes to that,' he decided, rather weakly but it was a decision still.
  
  "Everything alright in there?" Lily asked, breaking him away from his thoughts and making him turn towards her. "You looked like you were thinking about something really hard over there, care to share?"
  
  "Just... thinking about the future, I guess. I don't think you've told me your plans after Pewter, besides your team plans, at least," he came up with on the fly. It was mostly true anyway, which was the best way to lie, he knew.
  
  "Hm, I think I'll be staying at Pewter for a little bit to- Do you hear that?" She asked, interrupting herself as she turned to look at the path ahead of them. Indeed, he could hear it. The familiar sound of beedrill. However, this time... His pokemon partner chittered something next to his ear and she didn't sound happy, nor really angry. It was honestly more... nervous, if anything, which made the whole thing worse.
  
  "Well, I think it's clear something's going on over there," Pierce commented.
  
  "Why are you still walking in that direction then?" Lily asked, hesitantly following after him, even if she was a good few steps behind. "I know you are fond of your bug types in here, but beedrill are dangerous when angered, you know?"
  
  "I do, but I've done nothing and I've got Beedrill here to mediate if something happens," Pierce replied with a slight shrug. His partner gave a response that he was pretty sure was meant to be some kind of affirmative statement. "What's the worst that could happen?"
  
  "Don't you know you aren't meant to ask that?" Lily told him, anguished.
  
  "You can stay back here if you want. It's not like I'm forcing you to follow me, Lily," he pointed out with a shake of his head.
  
  "Yeah, but the bugs in here seem to really like you back so... I think I'll take my chances with you," she mumbled as she got a little closer, nervously looking in the direction they were going. "Doesn't mean I have to like it though."
  
  "Honestly, the bugs are nice, you just gotta, you know, not be an asshole to them and that's it," Pierce said, running his fingers through his hair. "It's not that difficult. Right, girl?" he asked Beedrill, getting a nod. "See?"
  
  "You are weird, Pierce," Lily replied, making him blink.
  
  Further talk was stopped as they started to get a view of what the commotion was about. First came the beedrill swarm, buzzing around and drawing a messy cloud around something. Once they got closer, they saw trainers and pokemon. A ponyta was spewing flames at the bugs. A mankey was jumping around, punching at anything that came even close to it or the trainers. And, perhaps the most noticeable of all, a graveler stomped around, doing its best to cover the trainers with its arms.
  
  "Beedrill, can you see if you can calm down the swarm?" Pierce asked hesitantly. The fact that his partner didn't immediately respond was telling, even if he didn't know exactly what message it was transmitting. After a few seconds though, she chirped something and then she took off. Once that happened and he watched his pokemon approach the group of bug types, he grew nervous.
  
  She should be fine, he knew. She'd talked a lot of pokemon from her line out of being hostile, after all. Even those that seemed particularly hostile quickly turned away once she spoke a few "words" to them. Sure, these were a whole lot more and were already in attack mode, but they wouldn't attack one of their own out of blind rage. ' Right?' a corner of Pierce's mind couldn't help but ask.
  
  "Seems like you were right," Lily said next to him, still keeping her voice low just in case. He was very relieved to see that, indeed, Beedrill had succeeded. The swarm was calming down.
  
  However, that wasn't as good as it sounded. The beedrill were still buzzing around and pointing at the group of trainers menacingly. Something was going on there. Surely the bug types hadn't just randomly decided to charge at them. Especially since they were weak to Fire and Rock, even if they resisted Fighting. ' What's going on here?'
  
  In the spirit of maybe helping so that nothing would happen, Pierce approached the area. It didn't take long for a few beedrill to turn their stingers towards him and Lily, but he just passively raised his hands and waited for his own bug type to explain things a bit. Once that was done, they returned to glaring daggers - or stingers, in their case, Pierce guessed - towards the group of trainers.
  
  A group of trainers that was currently gathered together back to back, looking warily towards the swarm around them. ' Huh, I missed the meowth,' Pierce thought as he continued walking, getting a little closer to the people.
  
  "Hello there," he called once he was close enough, trying to sound like he was confident in what he was doing and he was a social person. He was neither, but he could try, he supposed. "A bit of a tough spot, huh?"
  
  "You don't say," the boy that seemed to be the graveler's trainer replied with a snarl, which only caused the swarm around to buzz even louder. The girl, which seemed to be the ponyta's trainer, yelped and hid behind the ponyta.
  
  "Look, everything's fine," Pierce reassured softly, gulping down his nervousness. "I just, did you do anything to anger them? I've been traveling here for a few days already and they've been... Well, not friendly, but they haven't attacked me if I didn't do anything," he said, making sure to explain that last point in case they wanted to try to bullshit him with an excuse about the beedrill being aggressive. "As you see, they aren't that unreasonable," he added, signaling around them before his own beedrill approached him and he gave her a smile.
  
  "Well, they did!" the graveler boy all but shouted. "Just because you have one of the little shits to calm the rest of these fuckers down doesn't-" He couldn't even finish whatever nonsense he was saying because the swarm didn't quite like what he said, shockingly. They started flying fast, stingers raised in front of them as if they were knights raising their lances and charging in a competition.
  
  "Girl, please?" Pierce called, a little louder than he'd liked to get his voice across the buzzing to his partner. "Ok, let's not... be antagonistic, yeah? I'm trying to help here. You obviously angered the swarm, so, please."
  
  "Just let them have the thing, Josh, for God's sake," the other boy, next to who were probably his mankey and meowth, hissed. "I'm not gonna die here because you can't be assed to release a worm ."
  
  "Shut up, Mike! Just shut up," the first boy, Josh, was definitely shouting already.
  
  "Josh, please," the progressively more terrified girl whimpered. "We... We can't leave here."
  
  "The rangers will come and we'll be able to get away from here, you don't have to-" Josh was interrupted with his reassurances as a member of the swarm shot a Poison Sting to the ground at his feet. "Fuck!"
  
  "Man, I don't know what you got and I frankly don't care," Pierce said, trying to keep his voice calm and peaceful. "But I'm sure it's not worth whatever may happen if you don't do what the beedrill want."
  
  "No, you shut up!" the teenager shouted, glaring at him. "I caught it, it's my pokemon now. Fuck you, and fuck this stupid- Fuck!" he cursed, as a bunch of purple needles buried themselves around them. The swarm was getting impatient and things would get out of hand, Pierce knew. It was a matter of time as it was. He had to do something though, but what-
  
  " Hello, hello. This is a telepathic message. If you hear me, please do your best to loudly think yes," a voice said, although he couldn't quite tell where it had come from, which was all sorts of weird. That certainly wasn't how he expected telepathic talking to be like. He'd thought it'd be like the words popping in his mind or maybe a voice, but it was like someone's voice was reaching his ears from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
  
  Weird indeed.
  
  ' Yes?' he thought, feeling more than a little silly. He wasn't very sure how he was supposed to think loudly but he did his best. He was also a little nervous about having to deal with this on top of the situation with the beedrill, if he was honest.
  
  " I'm a ranger, call me Riggs," the voice, a woman's voice to be exact, said then. " We got a call about a swarm of beedrill. Normally, I'd have appeared closer and calmed them down the old fashioned way. But since we try not to do that if possible and seeing as you have a measure of control on the situation, I need you to make sure the beedrill don't attack when I appear out of nowhere."
  
  That was a bit much to take in, but Pierce did his best. With a frown, he took a deep breath in. He wasn't sure how the woman thought he had any control over what was going on, but sure, he could try to do what she wanted.
  
  ' I'll try,' he replied, like he had before. He wasn't sure if the woman was still listening, but... Oh, well.
  
  "Girl," he called, getting angry chitter from the bug type. He was sure she was chastising him for getting them into that situation which... Fair, he supposed. "Can you calm them down once more? Only once. There's someone that can help with this but they can't come because the beedrill are a slight twitching away from causing... quite the disaster."
  
  Beedrill's red eyes stared at him for a long moment and he was sure she was glaring at him. Eventually though, she buzzed her wings loudly before chittering something when the swarm quieted down for a bit. Then the many a beedrill started turning around, waiting for this arrival he spoke of.
  
  ' Uh, done?' he thought out loud, not sure what else to do at that moment. He hadn't really gotten a manual of how the ranger procedure worked, after all. ' Should probably see if there's one of those,' he noted to himself.
  
  Regardless of his doubts and future decisions, a woman with black cargo pants and a red jacket appeared some distance next to him. Not very far, but not close enough for him to reach her, the woman looked around and Pierce could see the stiffness of her shoulders. There was some disgruntled buzzing from the swarm, but otherwise they only responded to the new arrival with a few of them turning their stingers towards her.
  
  "So, do you know what happened?" the woman asked, turning towards Pierce. She was either very brave or she actually had defense covered in some way with a hidden pokemon. It didn't make that calmness she carried with herself seem any less impressive.
  
  "Uh, the guy next to the graveler, I sort of gathered that he caught a weedle and somehow angered the swarm," he explained, drawing a groan from the ranger.
  
  "There's always an idiot that catches the wrong pokemon, why oh why?" she muttered under her breath. "Alright, kid!" she called loudly towards the group of cornered trainers. "You are gonna let the pokemon go and everyone's going to go on their merry way, am I clear?"
  
  "What? No!" Josh rejected the idea immediately, seemingly shocked that the ranger wasn't taking his side. If he was honest, Pierce... didn't much care. He was already tired with the whole thing and just wanted to be done with it. ' Maybe I could have gotten away with just ignoring them? The ranger was probably on her way, I guess,' he mused. "I caught it, it's mine!"
  
  "And those are generally the rules, unless they threaten to cause a major event that you can't deal with yourself, as is the case. As a rule of thumb, kid, don't bite more than you can chew," Riggs told the kid. "Now, you are going to release the pokemon or I'm going to have to be drastic about things. Either way, you won't keep it."
  
  "But I, But it's, fuck!"
  
  "Yeah, yeah, cry me a river. Now do it before the swarm of very angry beedrill decide that they are tired of humoring us all, yes?" Riggs urged the boy as he took out a pokeball like it was a physically painful thing for him to do. Looking around, as if waiting for someone to support his "cause" Josh eventually gave him and let the pokemon out.
  
  ' Huh, no wonder he didn't want to let it go,' Pierce thought almost instantly. After all, the weedle was bright yellow instead of dull brown like the rest. ' That's a shiny, isn't it?' he mused. Maybe it was because he'd never gotten a shiny in any game he played, but he'd never quite gotten what all the fuss was about. Most of the time the shinies didn't even look good. ' Sucks to be him though,' he mused.
  
  A beedrill then immediately flew by, picking up the weedle with its legs and then disappearing into the forest. As for Josh, he turned towards the ranger, who nodded, took out a device and started doing something with his pokeball. ' To make sure the weedle is actually free? I thought you had to destroy the ball,' Pierce noted to himself. Maybe that was only anime stuff, or maybe it was an alternative but not one used very much. He could get it if it was the latter. Pokeballs were a bit too high tech to just be destroyed on a whim, in his opinion.
  
  "Well, that's that," Riggs said, looking at the three trainers with an unimpressed expression. By that point, the rest of the swarm had moved away too, but Pierce was pretty sure he could see a few peeking through the branches at times. Evidently, they weren't quite willing to trust them much now. "Joshua, sorry to say, but this will leave a mark on your record. Not a very bad mark, but I'd be careful not to turn it into one, yeah?"
  
  With a stiff nod, the boy started walking away.
  
  "Goodbye to you too," Riggs muttered before looking at the other two, who shuffled on their feet.
  
  "They were actually trying to make their friend see sense," Pierce commented, drawing the attention of the three.
  
  "Hm, good to know," Riggs replied with a nod. "Guess I'll let you go, but be very very careful."
  
  "Yes, ma'am," the boy - ' Mike, was it?' - said, sounding very nervous.
  
  "Of course, we are sorry," was the girl's subdued response. With equally subdued byes from both of them, the two teenagers went on their way, probably to look for their third group member. Pierce looked at them go for a moment before the girl paused and turned around. "And, ah, thank you. Could... Um, could I have your name?"
  
  "Pierce Lawson, and it was nothing," he replied with a slight smile to which she nodded and then continued walking.
  
  "Well, Pierce Lawson, thank you for stepping in. By the time I arrived you were already there in the middle of things, so I'm guessing you are the reason things didn't spiral even more out of control," Riggs said, making her way up to him.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  She looked in slight awe at her traveling companion as he talked with the ranger. His pokemon partner, Beedrill, for her part, was already wrapped around his neck as she usually was. As she watched them, she was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she'd seen her traveling companion walk straight in the middle of an angry swarm of the bug types.
  
  Sure, Lily had seen him do some slightly odd things, like feeding random pokemon in the forest and casually talking to the occasional beedrill. This though? This was a completely different matter altogether. There was nothing even remotely normal about this.
  
  One just didn't approach an angry pokemon, of any kind. Even less so if they were in a group, let alone a big group. However, Pierce had done just that, like he couldn't help himself. To top all that bundle of incredibleness was the fact that he'd succeeded in calming the beedrill down... Somewhat, at least.
  
  ' Definitely made the right choice,' Lily thought to herself. It had been a bit of a gamble, when she'd asked the stranger with a Kakuna to accompany her. However, she'd taken several things into account before that though.
  
  For one, Pierce had only had a Kakuna, which was about as harmless as one could be, while she had Talon and Root. For another, from what she'd seen, he had looked very, very lost and lonely. It was a bit of an exaggeration to say that she was great at reading people, but she wasn't too bad either. On top of that, if he'd been weird or suspicious in any way then she'd have bolted from there as fast as she could.
  
  One only needed to spend the smallest amount of time with Pierce's bug loving self to know that he wouldn't harm a fly if his life depended on it, possibly literally. It was quite humbling, in a way. Lily liked to think that she was nice but there was nice and then there was Pierce. She'd heard tales of trainers having fantastic encounters with pokemon in the wild and sharing moments with them but those were always talked like they were a rarity.
  
  Lily had a feeling that Pierce would have those everyday, if her time traveling with him was any indication.
  
  And she was oh so in for that. If she could get away with it, she'd travel with him through her journey. He'd been great company too, especially after the douchebags she called friends ditched her at Pallet. See if she gave them the time of the day again, assholes.
  
  On top of all that... Well, her parents, particularly her mother, had instilled the fear of pokemon in her. While trainers didn't usually have too hard a time unless they made stupid decisions, there was still a risk of randomly encountering a rampaging pokemon, being stuck in the middle of a territory battle, being targeted by a hungry carnivore or such situations. It was always better to err on the side of caution, and especially so by traveling with someone that would have her back.
  
  That was the reason why she was so annoyed with her friends, really. She'd told them what she thought about traveling alone and they'd dismissed her. Hell, they'd even left without saying goodbye because they knew she'd insist on traveling together! Oh, she was so gonna smack them the next time she saw them.
  
  She was snapped out of her grumbling thoughts by Pierce walking back to her. Behind him, the ranger gave her a cheeky salute before she teleported away. Turning questioningly to look at his traveling companion, she saw that he looked... baffled, for some reason.
  
  "Everything ok?" Lily asked, confused.
  
  "Everything's fine, yeah," Pierce mumbled, looking down at his ID that she just noticed he was holding in his hand. "She was just telling me that my work was appreciated and that I'd have a good mark on my trainer record... And that there'd be a money compensation transferred to my account."
  
  "Huh, that's great. I don't know why you are so surprised, Pierce," Lily replied, beaming proudly at him. Sure, she'd been very scared and nervous before, but now that it had all gone well? It was the best moment to enjoy the win! Sure, he had done most of the work, but she was the one that called the rangers with her pokedex, so she'd done her part too! "It's natural that they'd reward stuff like that. You probably saved, at the least, one of those trainers from getting pierced by a stinger or getting hit by Poison Sting," she explained.
  
  Judging by the paling of his face, he found that picture as disturbing as she did. Good. Maybe that would set his mind straight. The guy just didn't have much in the way of common sense most of the time, honestly. Although, she guessed it was somewhat balanced by the fact that sometimes his uncommon sense helped him too.
  
  "I guess..." he replied dubiously.
  
  "Ok, let's go. I don't want to be here if the beedrill decide they aren't done yet, ok?" she asked, getting a quick agreement from the man and they started walking again. As they did, Lily had to wonder what would be the next oddity she'd see Pierce be part of and if she'd get to share a bit more of that next time. She hoped so, it'd sure make her journey interesting.
  
  On that note, her mind drifted the smallest bit.
  
  ' Wonder how Red and Blue are doing,' she mused.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Didn't see that coming, did you? Did you?!... At least, I hope it was a surprise... And that it was a good one...
  
  Anyway, our boy, Pierce, doesn't have as much common sense as he thinks he does, at least not for the world he's in and probably not for our world for that matter. But that's just the kind of thing that makes everything more fun, don't you guys agree? I wonder what he'll get into next time.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Don't think I've asked this before, but what do you think Pierce will add to his team next?
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City I
  Pewter City I
  
  Pierce was currently watching Beedrill zoom around while practicing Harden and Iron Defense. She was also supposed to be working on Tailwind, but that was a long ways away from even showing much progress at all. As it was, his partner couldn't even get Flying energy to work for her at all. Talon was doing his best to teach her though and they were... Well, they hoped they were getting there, even if at a slow pace.
  
  What they were working on at the moment wasn't really focused on that though. Instead, Pierce was having his companion train to see if she could use her defensive moves while moving. For the moment though, she needed to take a moment, stop and then use them. He wanted that to change, because if she could do what they were attempting, then it'd be pretty great.
  
  Beedrill was also trying really hard, but either it wasn't possible or they'd have to keep at it for a while . Considering how long it was likely to take them to get Tailwind, Pierce was fine with being stubborn. The same could be said for his bug type partner, so they'd try. He'd have to look that up once they reached Pewter, because Lily didn't remember if it was possible or not.
  
  When Beedrill threw her arms - ' Er, stingers?' - up in the air for the fourth time, he chuckled. She obviously didn't find it as funny as he did, because she sent a threatening stab his way. Pierce still kept a smile on his face as he considered his very frustrated pokemon.
  
  "Guess we can take a break from it," he told her, continuing before she could even think about being stubborn. "Frustrating yourself isn't gonna help much. How about we work on your Poison Sting on the rocks for a bit and then go back to this later?" he suggested, making Beedrill pause. Then she grumbled something and nodded stiffly.
  
  Truly, he'd found quite the... motivated pokemon, it seemed.
  
  Then the bug type paused again and turned to look at him. When she signaled something with one of her stingers, Pierce groaned. He went for an excuse, but she just buzzed something at him, which made him sigh. Then he tried for a very pitiful expression, but that also had no effect whatsoever.
  
  "Fine, I'm getting up already," he grumbled as he went to stand up. "Fucking demanding pokemon, why did I think joining the training was a good idea?" he lamented to himself before stretching a little and started jogging around Beedrill's training area.
  
  It was something he'd thought off while watching his pokemon train, actually. He'd felt bad about having her training and telling her what to do and stuff. So, he'd decided that he might as well do something like that himself too. Besides, he'd always wanted to try and get in shape... Beedrill had jumped on the idea though and now she wouldn't let him be lazy.
  
  He might have made a slight miscalculation, considering his battle maniac of a beedrill was also a training maniac. That was all well and good, of course, until he'd stupidly added himself to said training. ' I'm a dumb bastard,' Pierce thought to himself as he ran circles around. He tried to keep an eye on his pokemon's training while he was at it, but that didn't last very long. ' God, I knew I was out of shape but this still sucks.'
  
  "Having fun?" Lily called after who knew how long. He'd stopped jogging and had already switched through several exercises already. If he was going to keep it up, he might need to look for actual routines and such for himself, Pierce decided. Considering Beedrill seemed very into training together with him though... Well, it was kind of a given, so he added that point next to the list of stuff he'd need to look up for his pokemon companion. "Because you look like you are," his human companion added, making him groan as he went to stand up.
  
  "Laugh it up," he grumbled, stretching for a bit as if that would somehow make things better. It didn't, but that was to be expected. "This sucks, but I'm hoping it'll get better with time... Really hoping."
  
  "I'm sure," Lily commented, looking like she was doing her best not to laugh at him. "No offense to you, Beedrill," she added then, turning towards the aforementioned pokemon as she approached them. "But I'm glad we are finally out of the forest. I'm not going to miss fearing a stinger to the back, I can tell you that," the girl explained, giving a fake shudder as she finished.
  
  "It wasn't that bad. I'm gonna miss the weedle and caterpie," Pierce said with a slight smile even as his muscles protested all over his body. Next to him, Beedrill turned away from him. "Oh, come on, girl. I know you don't like the caterpie line, but they aren't that-" he was interrupted though, as his partner thrust one of her stingers at him as if holding him back.
  
  Blinking, he noticed that she was staring rather intently at the forest which was not very far away just yet, since they'd barely stepped out of the thickest part. After that, they'd decided to take advantage of the wider space to train some before continuing to move. Or maybe they'd just stay there for the night, they hadn't really discussed it all that much after stopping, both of them jumping to training.
  
  He almost went to ask if something was going on, but he decided to just leave his pokemon to it. If he needed to know something, she'd at least try to communicate that to him. So, he just stood there as Beedrill stared back at the forest while trading a confused look with Lily. His fellow trainer's partners for their part, were just as curiously walking/flying up to them and giving Beedrill looks.
  
  Until a few seconds later, that is, when his pokemon started buzzing really loudly. It wasn't quite a move, but if someone had told Pierce that it was, he might have believed them. Fortunately, right before doing that, she'd flown away a little. Otherwise, he might have worried for his hearing, honestly.
  
  This new development did nothing at all to answer any of the questions their little group was thinking. However, that came a few moments later and only Pierce himself remained calm when they did. Lily and her two pokemon, for their part, tensed up as they heard the responding buzzing that came from the forest, growing louder and louder with every second.
  
  "Beedrill, everything ok?" he asked his partner, unsure of what was going on but not scared. If he could walk up to an angry swarm of beedrill, he could trust his partner with whatever was happening, he decided. When she gave a slow nod, he frowned. What was that supposed to be? Hesitation? Uncertainty?
  
  Regardless of that, the time to face what he guessed was another swarm came quickly. It was, however, nothing like what he'd expected. Then again, he hadn't really known what to expect to begin with, he supposed. Thus, Pierce could only stare and blink, taken aback, as the beedrill came flying out of the woods. One right after another, they seemed to make a stop in front of him and his partner before making their way to the nearby trees.
  
  "Well, that's very nice of them," he mumbled, looking down at the ground. There, as the bug types continued their strange doings, they started to gather more and more objects. There were berries, which were the easiest to recognize and what he guessed were bottles of potion and such. They were a little worn out and the labels looked like they'd seen better times though, as if the things had laid on the forest floor for some time.
  
  To be fair, that was probably the case.
  
  "This... This is for us, I'm guessing?" Pierce asked, looking around at the gathering of beedrill that had formed around them. There were so many that the now almost scarce trees weren't enough for them, so some of them had stopped on the ground. One of them in particular was the one to reply with a buzz. "Thank you, then," he said, feeling pretty sure that was a positive, all things considered. "Although, I don't-"
  
  He was interrupted though, as the bug type clicked something with its mandibles and turned slightly. Pierce understood immediately what it was trying to tell him though. After all, how could he miss its meaning, when there was a weedle with a slightly golden hue riding on its back.
  
  "I see," Pierce said, grinning. "Don't mention it then. I still appreciate the gifts, even if they weren't necessary," he commented, walking towards the small pile of resources and checking them idly. "Take care of yourselves, yeah? I'll probably come for a visit sometime."
  
  With a stiff nod, that one beedrill took off, soon followed by the rest of the swarm. Neither Lily nor the pokemon said much right after that, although his own beedrill did approach and tilt her head towards the pile. He looked through the objects, not really looking at them but more considering how nice the gesture was.
  
  ' What goes around comes around,' he thought to himself, picking up a rather delicious looking berry. He knew this wasn't a payment for all the food he'd given the weedle around the forest and such, but he couldn't help but relate it to that. Pokemon weren't animals, who being nice to would have dubious results at best. They were more intelligent than that, maybe differently than humans, but Pierce wouldn't say they were less intelligent either.
  
  "I wouldn't eat that one," Lily warned, looking a little... weary, he'd say. "It's very sour," she explained, looking between Pierce himself and the forest where the beedrill had come from and then disappeared towards. "Have I told you that you are insane, Pierce?" she asked, giving him an incredulous expression.
  
  "No?" he replied with a blink. "Why though?"
  
  If anything, her expression got worse.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Man, I can't wait to get to the Pokemon Center," Lily said, walking faster than any other day they'd been traveling together. Although, the more she spoke, the more Pierce understood. Honestly, he was kinda looking forward to it himself by then already. "Having an actual bath instead of "bathing" in the middle of a forest will be glorious," she said, sighing dreamily as if she could already picture that.
  
  Pierce, for his part, grimaced a little. That had been a part of traveling through the wild and camping that he hadn't much cared for, on top of it making things just the smallest bit awkward that first night. Having to look for a secluded place to wash himself with some water and soap had been... Well, he'd rather do it the civilized way, for sure.
  
  "And an actual meal instead of this instant stuff," Lily continued, almost making him groan. "I so wish I had taken my mother up when she offered to teach me how to cook some stuff for camping. I thought that'd be too much of a hassle to bother. The instant meals weren't so bad, I had thought."
  
  "Oh, you sweet summer child," he commented, drawing an indignant squeak from her.
  
  "Well, you are in the same boat, mister," she accused, to which he chuckled. "I'm definitely filling my Preserving Box with things to actually cook a meal. I'll look up recipes and all. No way I'm doing another stretch without proper food. At least once in a while," she resolved and Pierce was reminded of the fact that he still hadn't known the name of the green box. ' Good to know it now, I guess. I'll have to check stuff like that later,' he mused.
  
  "How far are we again?" he asked instead, looking ahead on the road.
  
  "Should be close enough to see Pewter soon," the girl said, looking up towards where Talon and Beedrill were flying overhead. They were walking through plain fields now, and they could see a few farms that were probably on the outer part of the city. They were practically there, he supposed. It wouldn't even be night time by the time they arrived, which was great.
  
  "So, your plan was to stay at Pewter for some time?" Pierce asked, wondering what he'd do himself.
  
  "Yeah, the Gym shouldn't be too difficult with Root, but... Well, I want to prepare more for Mt. Moon, if possible," Lily said, rubbing her left arm self-consciously. "I think I want to spend some time there. Really give getting a clefairy a good chance, you know?"
  
  "Sounds like as good an idea as any other, honestly," he told her with a grin and a shrug.
  
  "Besides, that should give enough time for a tournament to be held, so I might as well wait and participate in one of those, one never knows, right?" Lily commented, not quite looking ahead as her mind drifted off towards her soon to be coming time in Pewter. He could relate, somewhat, even if he hadn't quite reached that level just yet. Maybe she'd suffered the wilderness more than him... She probably had, actually. He'd woken up in the middle of the forest, she'd likely had to travel her way there too.
  
  There was also the fact that he was older, which might have helped.
  
  Pierce wasn't focusing on that too much though. Instead, he was thinking about what she said about tournaments. From the way she talked about them and a few other comments he'd caught in previous conversations, she made it sound like those were common. He'd have to look into that himself too, it seemed, if they were anything like what he was imagining.
  
  "Well, the good thing is that I won't have to stock up much in regards to resources," he commented, drawing a chuckle from his traveling companion. "I mean, the berries will disappear really quick-"
  
  "I said I was sorry!" Lily protested as the trainer of two pokemon that had unabashedly eaten through many of the berries he'd gotten from the beedrill swarm. Not that he minded - he'd offered them to the pokemon, after all -, but it was fun to tease her about it.
  
  "-But the potions and such should last a while, I think," he finished, containing a laugh at her reaction. Granted, most of the supplies he'd gotten were just normal potions and antidotes, but that was fine by him. It was all free, after all. The surprising part had been the Full Restore he'd found almost hidden away. It was supposed to be dangerous if used too frequently in a pokemon, but one would have a pokemon go from almost dead to recovered in less than a day. A check up was very advised if used in such dire circumstances though.
  
  "Lucky bastard," the girl next to him grumbled.
  
  "Is that any way for a lady to talk?" he asked, amused, drawing a huff from Lily.
  
  "I still can't believe they just... gave you all that," she muttered, gesturing incredulously towards his backpack. "You know how many trainers wish they could get all that stuff for free? Especially at the beginning of their journey. I had to get a part time job because my mother refused to give me more than the bare minimum. Said it'd be for my own good or something," she continued grumbling under her breath and Pierce wasn't even sure if she was actually talking to him anymore.
  
  "Did you at least like it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. When she turned to look at him with a confused expression, he clarified. "The job, I mean."
  
  "Oh, uh... It wasn't too bad. I was helping my aunt with her clothes store. It was a little tiring at times, but otherwise it was nice. The best part was definitely being over with it though, mainly because she gifted me most of my trainer clothes," Lily told him with a smile as she twirled on top of her right foot.
  
  "That was nice of her," he commented.
  
  "Yeah, well, it was the least she could do after I had to deal with her OCD a few too many times," Lily added, making him chuckle. "How about you, did you have a job before deciding to become a trainer?"
  
  "No, I was... studying," Pierce said, almost getting stuck on his reply. ' You know how to lie like a pro, Pierce, come on,' he thought to himself, putting on a bitter, saddened expression. He didn't even have to fake that, really. "It didn't work out for me, in the end. And I just... I guess I kind of fell to this. Mostly because I wanted to get away from things."
  
  "I'm sorry if that was a bad topic to bring up," Lily apologized, but he waved her off.
  
  "It's fine. I just hope I can find what I truly want to do," he told her, smiling up at Beedrill. "Maybe it'll even be training, who knows?"
  
  And wasn't that the question? Nothing he'd said was a lie, really, except the fact that he wanted to get away from things. Although, that statement was more of an exaggeration than a completely untruthful thing. He definitely hadn't wanted that enough to be happy with being thrown into a different world, that was for sure.
  
  However, it also wasn't like it was all bad. Back in his own life, things hadn't been going well for him. Mostly because of his own doing, but the fact stood. He'd been drifting through life without even knowing what to do or what way to look for answers. He'd been lost and now...
  
  ' Now I'm more lost,' he thought wryly. However, there was a difference, he felt. In this completely separate world... He was freer than he'd ever been. There was literally nothing tying him to anything. He could do whatever he wanted, to an extent, and that felt amazing.
  
  "It could be, you are doing really well so far," Lily pointed out with a slight grin, probably trying to cheer him up. "And if not, maybe you can be a ranger, you certainly have a knack for getting pokemon to like you," she added, making him chuckle.
  
  "Maybe," he agreed with a slight nod. He'd enjoyed himself in the forest, meeting new pokemon and such. However, that didn't mean the same thing would happen in other places. It was a bit early to make decisions, he supposed. "I'll see how things go," he decided, both out loud and internally.
  
  "Hm, oh, there's some people ahead, you think they'll wanna battle?" Lily asked, pointing down the road. And that was that. If that was her purposely changing topics, then Pierce was certainly grateful.
  
  If not, then he guessed he was just lucky.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I feel like a new person," Lily said, sitting across from him on the table he'd taken in the Pokemon Center.
  
  Finding the city and walking inside had been... An experience, he supposed. It was a relief, but it was also a reminder that he was far from home. The general strokes on the picture Pewter painted were familiar enough to Pierce, but there were glaring details that stood out like a sore thumb.
  
  The pokemon living amongst people like one would expect pets to was one of the most noticeable things, but that wasn't the only one. Devices looked different from what he would have seen back home, even normal ones like TVs and computers. And walking past store fronts was a strange experience, since there was a lot of pokemon related stuff mixed in between more mundane store goods.
  
  Pierce had done his best not to be obvious on his staring at basically anything and everything, but he wasn't sure how successful he was. With some luck, that would be blamed on him visiting Pewter for the first time or something. Which was a good excuse because it wasn't a complete lie either. The city was quite beautiful, in its unassuming way. The sturdy buildings with stone walls made for imposing sights, that was for sure. The monotony of so much rock was a bit... disappointing though, but it wasn't too bad, really.
  
  Once they found out the way to the Pokemon Center though, sightseeing had become kind of a secondary thing, even for Pierce. They really could use a moment to bring themselves back to civilization for real. He could confidently say that after a bath and getting a cup of tea from the cafeteria, he felt like a new person, as his traveling companion had put it.
  
  "I know, right?" Pierce agreed with Lily's words, leaning back against this chair and enjoying the feel of it. "You didn't have to use up the Center's water reserves though."
  
  "Oh, shut up," she huffed, rolling her eyes at him. "Were you much better?" she asked with narrowed eyes. Raising an eyebrow, he tapped the notebook he'd set on the table with his finger.
  
  "I had time to look up some things. Training info for Beedrill and such, amongst other stuff," he told her. No need to explain that he'd also looked up for stuff that was probably common knowledge in her world. He'd written all those things up on the back of the notebook, just in case. That'd probably look suspicious, but he'd kind of need that for a while until he learned it all by heart. "I also learned that there's a tournament that'll be held in a week. Well, there's one that starts today, but not only is it late to sign up for it, it's also for trainers with two to four badges."
  
  Lily clicked her tongue, pouting.
  
  "That's a little long a wait, but I guess I can manage to pay my stay here for a little longer," she said. That had been a surprise for Pierce, that the Center didn't offer free stays. Granted, it made sense, but it just wasn't what he'd expected. "Anything good as prizes? I might not want to bother."
  
  "I mean, a bit of everything, it seems," Pierce started, looking for the page where he'd noted that down. "It's mostly vouchers to use in local business. Food, supplies, even one for the shop we saw selling rocks."
  
  "Oh, some of those were pretty," Lily said, smiling. "I might just go for it, I guess. Could come in handy to prepare for Mt. Moon."
  
  It was then that Pierce noticed something strange. His traveling companion seemed to be a little... subdued, he'd say. Not particularly unhappy, but considering her usually bubbly personality, it was noticeable. Then again, it wasn't like she was always happy, but still. With their arrival at Pewter, he'd expected her to go full sugar rush mode or something.
  
  "Everything ok? You seem a little down," he asked, tilting his head.
  
  "It's fine, just... I asked the receptionist and she told me my friends left yesterday. I'm a bit bummed, I guess," she told him, letting herself fall on top of the table like she didn't even have the strength to sit up. "They suck ."
  
  "They must be in a rush," Pierce commented, unsure of what else to say.
  
  "They are probably competing with one another to see who gets where faster. They are idiots like that," Lily said, rolling her eyes and huffing. "I'll just have to kick both their asses once we make it to the Conference."
  
  "That simple, huh?"
  
  "Of course," she replied, some of her usual cheer bleeding through to her expression. "In the meantime, I guess it'll just be the two of us having fun."
  
  "So, you are gonna stick around?" he asked, faking annoyance. "I thought I'd get rid of you when we arrived here."
  
  "Nope, you are stuck with me now, mister," she told him, giggling behind her hand. "Now, what else-"
  
  "Pierce Lawson!" the nurse called for him, meaning that Beedrill's check up was over.
  
  "Be right back," he told Lily, to which she nodded.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  I'd thought about writing a much more detailed introduction to Pewter instead of just sort of skipping it but the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea. I'm not very sure how good an idea it was to do things like I did, but I like the result well enough. With some luck, you guys will agree with me.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What's your favorite of the Legendary Bird trio? Mine is Zapdos.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City II
  Pewter City II
  
  Pierce had excused himself after retrieving Beedrill's pokeball. Chatting with Lily was all well and good, but there was something he'd pushed off for a while already and it was time to finally address it with his pokemon. Well, several things, really, but that just made it more important to get it over with... Or at least start dealing with that.
  
  "Hey there, girl," he greeted once the pokeball's beam finished letting out his bug type partner. "Was the Pokemon Center ok? You didn't cause any trouble, did you?" he asked then, smiling as she seemed to stretch her limbs and wings a bit. His questions were answered with what he'd come to think of as beedrill's way of huffing as she turned away from him. "I'll take that as a yes and a no," he decided, drawing what was most likely a glare towards him.
  
  Probably getting tired of his antics, she stabbed sharply in his direction with her stinger. Pierce decided to take that as a "get on with it, idiot".
  
  "So, we pushed off giving you a name before, didn't we?" he asked, deciding to do just as she said and not beat around the bush. It seemed to be a good decision, considering that the beedrill was suddenly very much paying attention to him. Even batting her wings a bit to take off the ground before stopping and lowering herself back down. It was quite the sight, really, to see what was probably a very excited bug type. "So, um, my idea was to name you after a color. It sounds like a nice theme for names, honestly. So, we'd have several names to choose from, considering your yellow, black and white colors. Does that make sense?"
  
  Pierce was suddenly feeling very nervous about his idea. Sure, it sounded nice to him, but maybe it wasn't to other people. Maybe it could be considered unimaginative or something. Would Beedrill be insulted? Would she get angry? He didn't want her to decide that she was better off just calling herself Beedrill. That'd be awkward and... kind of impersonal, he felt.
  
  He blinked then, as the bug type shifted and moved one of her stingers in a strange way. It became evident what she was trying to do after the moment it took her to actually get the motion right. Beedrill was, after all, pointing towards one of the yellow stripes on her abdomen.
  
  "So, we are naming you after yellow, huh?" Pierce asked, looking down at the names he'd looked up and smiling slightly. "Not gonna lie, I thought you wouldn't like the idea for a bit there. So, um, I guess I'll get on with the list, huh? Just tell me if you like something," he mumbled, his nervousness coming back. What if she didn't like the names he'd picked?
  
  Which was a worry that proved to be more justified than his previous one, that was for sure. Apparently, his pokemon misunderstood what he'd told her and instead took great care to very clearly tell him which names she didn't like. To be fair though, most of those were names that were a little too... cheerful for her, really. Like Honey, or Marigold, or Daisy, or Primrose. There were also names that she didn't so outwardly react to, like Chrome, Amber, Aurelia, Kiara or Clare. However, Pierce was reluctant to go with one of those. He wanted something that his partner liked, not just something that she tolerated.
  
  So, after going through most of the list and getting duds for every single idea. He decided to put the notebook down and look at his partner. Sure, some of those fit her more than others. However, could he think of something that fit her more? She was a battle maniac, but he didn't know if there was something he could do with that. However... Well, that opened a conversation that he wanted to get to anyway, so...
  
  "Why do you want to battle so much?" he asked, making the pokemon pause. "Do you just like battling like that or is it something else?" Pierce continued, before stopping himself and running his fingers through his hair. "Right, simple answered questions. Is it just because you like battling?" he repeated, leaving the question at that.
  
  To that, the pokemon replied negatively, which was already a surprise. Why would she want to participate in battles like she did then? Pierce knew that he didn't really have the mindset to truly understand, but he prided himself on trying to look at things from different perspectives. He'd usually try to reason why people did what they did. More often than not it felt like overthinking, but he felt like it'd be rude to just assume it was the easy and usually worst answer.
  
  "Do you want to be stronger then? Is battling just a way to get stronger?" Pierce asked and he frowned at the positive answer followed by a negative one. ' So she wants to be stronger, but battling isn't just a means to that... Oh...' "Is battling a way to prove that you are stronger?" he asked, receiving a nod in response.
  
  So, she liked to prove she was stronger than the opponent. That didn't sit well with him. She didn't need to prove that kind of thing to anyone. He'd seen her kick ass already in a few battles they'd participated in. Granted, that was mostly because of the advantage she held but it was still a show of strength. She shouldn't be so insecure, it didn't suit her. Unless...
  
  "Is it because you are a bug type? A weak type? Or because you are a beedrill, maybe?" he asked, receiving unsure responses to the first two questions but a decisively positive one to the last. It made Pierce frown, honestly, because there had to be a reason for that. Had she had a bad experience regarding that? Had a human, or maybe another pokemon, mocked her for being a beedrill or something? "I think I have a name for you."
  
  That got him an interested tilt of his partner's head as she leaned forward.
  
  "Narcissa," he said, holding back a wry smile as to where that name had come from, at least in his mind. "It's derived from a flower's name, also known as daffodil. It's also derived from Narcissus... It's a long story, but the name is synonymous with narcissism, you know, vanity and elitism. I don't mean any of those as an insult to you though," he was quick to make clear, even though his pokemon seemed to mostly just be hearing him attentively. "I just think it fits you, on certain levels, and it also fits the color theme I wanted to go with."
  
  Pierce remained silent after that. He wanted to give his partner time to consider the name, since she seemed to be doing just that. However, he was also thinking if there was anything he was forgetting about the name that he could add for his pokemon's benefit. Ultimately, his efforts were in vain, since the beedrill gave a firm nod after a while.
  
  "You like it?" he asked, grinning widely. It felt like quite the victory for him, if he was quite honest. Although, maybe it was because it was the most personal, complete victory he'd had so far since waking up. Training Beedrill - now named Narcissa - had been mostly her own doing and some of Lily's. The swarm incident had Lily and the ranger added into the mix. Everything else in between had also had other factors to take into account.
  
  This though, it felt more like his own doing, which was nice.
  
  "I'm glad," he told her truthfully. "Can I call you Cissa though? Narcissa is a bit of a mouthful," he asked, half-joking. He was pretty sure the beedrill wouldn't like that. It was a good thing he really didn't mind calling her Narcissa if it came to it, otherwise he probably would have been more-
  
  Pierce blinked, as Narcissa nodded stiffly, chittering something. He was reasonably certain that she was telling him something along the lines of "I'll allow it". That only made him smile wider, the expression threatening to split his face in two.
  
  "You are amazing, have I told you that?" he asked, receiving a preening that was very befitting of her new name in response. "Ok, so that's out of the way. I hope we can go far, Narcissa," he told her, using her full name, if only to make things more official as it were. In response, his partner gave him a very resolute chitter. "Guess we are shooting for the Conference, at the very least."
  
  And wasn't that a concerning thought. He'd wanted to be one more of a normie, if he was honest. That suited him just fine and being a casual trainer would give him more than enough excitement, really. It also would mean that he'd avoid all the dangers that being a proper trainer brought. Especially after he read up on some things at the Center's computers.
  
  Turns out, there was a lot to be concerned about in regards to the trainer life.
  
  For one, trainers were expected to help in case of emergencies such as natural disasters and pokemon related problems, especially when they were in a public setting such as near a city. Sort of like with the beedrill swarm situation but much worse. If a trainer was capable of helping and didn't, the punishment could go from a serious mark on their record at best to jail time at worst.
  
  On top of that whole thing, there was the fact that Pierce was in Kanto. More precisely, he was in Kanto during Rocket Team times . Some people could say that it wasn't that much of a problem. They weren't very competent, after all. They were downright laughably bad in the anime. This wasn't the anime world though, because some of the news reports he'd seen... They were very, very concerning.
  
  It was no surprise that Pierce had seen some other reports saying that many trainers had decided to leave and go on their journey in another region.
  
  ' First order of business, stay away from Mt. Moon until after whatever mess happens there,' Pierce decided then and there. He didn't remember the specifics of what went down there, his knowledge getting mixed up with fanon that he'd read. However, he did know that the mountain was almost surely going to be trouble. That wasn't the hard part of that "plan" though. No, that was going to be trying to keep Lily from going. The girl was a friend now, so he'd rather her not having to meet and battle terrorists in her journey, that was for sure.
  
  "For now though, I guess we can focus on training," Pierce decided, grinning slightly at the way Narcissa perked up at the words. "I have a better idea of what to do in regards to your training, but we were more or less on the right track with what we were doing. So I want you to focus on everything we've been working on. We can add more things to your list of moves once you've got a solid grasp on everything else. How does that sound?"
  
  Maybe he couldn't call himself a proper trainer just yet, far from it. However, he'd done his best with the time he had at the Center, looking through all the information that he could access regarding Beedrill. It was hard to comb through all the internet bullshit to know what was facts and what was made up, but he thought he had a pretty good idea at the moment. He'd go look up more things the next time he had some free time, but as of that moment, it'd do.
  
  "For now, let me go back and tell Lily, she might want to join us," he said, getting what looked like an excited beedrill urging him to get on with it.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Moving through the city of Pewter was... not depressing, but it was a bit sad, Pierce would admit. Not because of the place itself, that was just fine, as far as he'd seen. However, the let down was that he couldn't have Narcissa with him while he moved around the city. The only places where he could take his pokemon out was at the Pokemon Center's training zone which was out the back, or in other training zones that could be rented if one wanted a more private setting.
  
  Some pokemon were allowed, for sure, but that was a rather limited list of pokemon that were considered "friendlier". It included about what one would expect, cute pokemon like eevee or pikachu, and "domestic" pokemon like some canines and felines. Even then, one had to get a special permit to allow that, which could also be acquired for any other pokemon but things got harder and harder the more one moved up the "dangerous" list.
  
  As it was, Pierce was unlikely to get such a permit for the time being, so he'd have to put up with that law, he supposed. He hated it, but it wasn't like he didn't hate other laws, even back home. He'd be applying for a permit for Narcissa as soon as possible though. Honestly, his beedrill was harmless, it shouldn't even be that much trouble.
  
  ' Focus, man,' he thought to himself. He was out there instead of back at the Center with his pokemon for a reason, after all. After a day of training and just generally perusing the Center's computer to learn stuff, Pierce had decided to take a trip to the street where most shops were at. The fact that it was close by certainly helped but then again, Pewter wasn't a terribly big city, to be sure. Certainly bigger than where Pierce had grown up, but that wasn't saying much.
  
  Once there, he looked for a few things he'd noted down for himself. First of which was a pokeblock case. Since he had a small assortment of berries that the beedrill of Viridian Forest had given him, he'd be using them as best he could. That meant one of two things, basically. Either he mixed the berries with Narcissa's regular kibble and went through them quickly or he prepared something with them.
  
  On that later list there were elaborate dishes that were probably outside of his skill range for the moment, although he'd likely try at some point. Then there were poffins and pokepuffs which were... still a little out of his league, since he was no cook. However, there was the easy option of pokeblocks. The Pokemon Center had a perfectly good berry blender he could use and making those would mean that the fruits would last a little longer, which was pretty neat too.
  
  So, Pierce was out to get a pokeblock case and maybe some containers since that by itself wouldn't be enough if he used all the berries. From there... Well, he'd have to replenish food and other supplies too. If he happened to find something else he felt like buying, well, that'd be a nice bonus too.
  
  It was nice not to have to worry too much about money. It turned out that the amount he'd "appeared" with was a decent enough amount of cash, apparently. On top of that, the reward he'd gotten for the beedrill swarm was much more generous than he'd expected too, so there was that. It wasn't a crazy amount, but it'd have him without money related worries unless he bought something crazy expensive or some other unexpected thing happened. Considering how much of a cheapskate he usually was, Pierce wasn't too worried for the moment.
  
  There was a store that gave him pause though, and had him checking out their merchandise even though it was unlikely that he'd buy anything at the moment. It was a shop that sold things to help better take care of pokemon, brushes, wipes, toys, fire-proof blankets and so on. It was all very interesting to see, that was for sure.
  
  Ultimately, Pierce surprised himself by buying a wipe that was said to be good for bug types. There were more generic ones, but he didn't want to risk buying something bad when it was meant for Narcissa. At least the brand seemed to be a good one, if the rest of the store was anything to go by. That or it was a brand that sponsored the place, either or. He'd risk it and if it backfired... Well, live and learn, as it were. He wouldn't have gotten anything at all otherwise, so if it wasn't good, he could just not use it.
  
  That would suck though, but it hadn't been expensive enough to annoy him if it ended up being a waste.
  
  Another unexpected purchase was a second Storage Box, as the blue cubes/crates were called. That one though, he should have seen coming. After checking the price and seeing that he could afford it - even if it made quite the dent in his wallet -, he decided to go for it. It wasn't like he didn't need it. With all the potions and such that the beedrill had given him, the one he already had was a little too full for his liking. It'd be better to have some extra space just in case he needed it.
  
  Last thing he wanted was to be put in a similar situation and not have space to save something. There was some extra room in his backpack, for sure, but it was better to err on the side of caution. Not that Pierce expected to get into such a situation, but what could happen once, could happen twice.
  
  So, that was about all the shopping he needed to do for the moment, at least. He didn't think he lacked something, at least. Pierce was sure that if there was anything else he needed, it'd have come up at some point during his time traveling through the forest. There was Mt. Moon to consider though, which was likely to need some more specific things, but that was something to consider later. He'd probably have to check on the internet and ask Lily to make sure he didn't miss anything anyway.
  
  As far as generally getting everything in order, he'd managed that, Pierce thought as he walked back towards the Pokemon Center. He wouldn't be seeing his new friend for a bit, since Lily had decided to go looking for people to battle, but he would see Narcissa and they likely would get some more training done. That was fine in his opinion, really. Although, he and his pokemon partner would probably need to participate in a few matches themselves. It wouldn't do, after all, to just train and never battle. That would probably do more harm than good at some point.
  
  With that in mind and a grimace on his face, Pierce started thinking up ways to approach actual battling. Things had gone well so far, but that was more due to Narcissa being far ahead of everything else they battled than it actually being any trainer skill of his. He needed to think up ways to help more. It wouldn't do to leave all the work to his partner.
  
  As he moved through the city, he stopped at a particular corner. Off to one side, Pierce could see the Pewter Gym standing tall and proud in all its rocky and simplistic glory. It was an imposing sight by itself, even though it left some things to be desired in the looks department. It was especially awe-inspiring after what he'd read about basically every Gym in the circuit. These weren't the jokes that were around in the anime. No, these places and the trainers that headed them were strong .
  
  Back home, the things stopping great wars from breaking out were the nuclear weapons and the like. In the world Pierce was now in, those were the Gym Leaders, the Elites and the Champions. Granted, they weren't quite on the level of a nuke... At least most of them weren't, but the strongest trainers in a region were that ahead of the curve, basically. Only things more scary than one of those were the legendaries and those were literally beings of myth come to life, forces of nature given a body and a will. There wasn't much on those latter ones to be found on the internet, but people knew they were real, that was for sure.
  
  Sightings happened here and there. They'd sometimes come out of wherever they hid away from society and do something to remind the world that yes, they were still around. For the most part though, the public was happy to just leave them alone. With good reason, if anyone asked Pierce. No reason to go around poking at a literal force of nature, especially when it was sapient and probably smarter than one was.
  
  Back on topic though, Gyms were that impressive apparently. They were the peak of the region they were located at. They were as much a show of power to others as they were a way for trainers to test themselves before the Conference. It was also why battles between all the top trainers were held at the end of the season break that happened after the Conference. It allowed them to actually go all out instead of the slight show that were Gym battles.
  
  ' Definitely not going there now,' Pierce thought wryly as he continued moving. Narcissa was great and all, but he didn't think they stood too much of a chance to do anything at the moment. Especially against a rock type Gym. Even Cerulean's water types would likely be a challenge, really. Although, those would probably be manageable if Narcissa got good enough and Pierce could add someone with, if not an advantage, no disadvantages against those.
  
  All those were plans for an uncertain future though. At the moment, he needed to focus on training his beedrill and making the most out of his time in Pewter. Who knew, maybe he'd be more than ready for Cerulean or not at all. Time would tell, so it was better to focus on the now, which he could actually do something about.
  
  Waving a greeting at the woman behind the counter of the Pokemon Center, he made his way towards the backdoor of the place that led to the training grounds. It had been a mild surprise and a slightly amusing event when they walked through the doors and Pierce saw a very not Nurse Joy woman behind the counter. It was one of those things that while it made sense for it to be that way, it was still surprising. Like watching a movie remake and realizing that the main character didn't have the same actor, or something of the sort.
  
  ' I gotta get used to that kind of thing. Police officers aren't Jenny and trainers aren't all super dumb,' Pierce thought wryly.
  
  "So, I'm back and I got a little something we can try out after training," he said as Narcissa appeared out of her pokeball. To her curious tilt of head, Pierce pulled out the wipe he'd got. "Supposedly this is pretty nice when used on bug types. We'll see. If not, well, we'll just have to keep looking until we find one good enough."
  
  The beedrill buzzed in what he guessed was some sort of eagerness. It was sort of adorable, watching her zooming around and looking at the wipe. ' Man, maybe I'm weird, but I don't get why people react like they do to beedrill. Sure they are intimidating, but are also pretty cool,' Pierce thought to himself before sighing.
  
  "So, we are getting started then. Moving Harden and Iron Defense training," he told his partner who gave a nod and then waved her stingers at him. "Yeah, I know, I know," he grumbled, starting to run around the training grounds. ' Getting her in on this was a really bad idea, damnit,' he complained to himself.
  
  At least it was a bonding experience of sorts, he supposed.
  
  Even if it was, he'd much rather use the new wipe on Narcissa, it was far easier on his out of shape body.
  
  And the beedrill seemed to enjoy it a lot too, once they got around to it.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, Beedrill finally got a name. Even at this point, with all the backlog chapters I've written and all, I'm unsure about it. However, I think I'll keep it like it is unless I get like, quite the backlash from it or something. So, feel free to tell me your opinion. If many people don't like it, I'll see about changing it.
  
  I'm also unsure about how I've described Gym Leaders and the like, but I feel like that's what they should be. In a world were Pokemon are basically the greater source of strength and a society that has grown around them, literally and metaphorically, I think it makes sense that things would be like that... Not sure what you think about it.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Being honest if you were in Pierce's situation, what would you do? I'd probably do about the same thing as he is doing... Probably being more wary of wild pokemon though, I guess.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City III
  Pewter City III
  
  "Doing much better, Narcissa!" Pierce called, grinning widely as he watched his pokemon doing her usual dance with Talon, the spearow, in the air. They were sparring once again and it was going about as well as it usually did. Not to say that the bird wasn't improving, but any progress the flying type got, the bug type matched if not surpassed, making sure that the gap remained about the same. ' It'll be interesting to see how things go after he evolves into a fearow.'
  
  In all honesty, Pierce expected he and Narcissa would get their ass kicked whenever that happened.
  
  As it was though, he could still watch his partner dominate the match, zooming around while attempting to use her defensive moves. They were taking a little less time than before, but she still needed to stop moving to charge them up, which sucked. The part that was improving much more noticeably though, were the attacks. Fury Attack and Twineedle were definitely going to be his pokemon's main attacks, much to his dismay.
  
  He'd have much preferred her to go for range options like String Shot and Poison Sting, but it wasn't to be. With that in mind, he'd definitely have her work on her defense. Be it dodging while in close quarters and keeping up her Harden and Iron Defense training. No way he was letting Narcissa just go all up close and personal without a way to keep her out of harm's way.
  
  As much as was reasonable, that is.
  
  "Aerial Ace!" Lily called, making Pierce's eyes widen. He was no pokemon expert still, but that was one move that he knew what it did. A flying type move that greatly increased the speed of the pokemon together with their overall ability to move. So much so that it was known as a move that rarely missed. Certainly a change from the positively 100% certain hit he remembered from the games, but dodging it was certainly out of his and Narcissa's capabilities.
  
  Which wasn't to say he'd just have his partner take the hit.
  
  "Stop and hit him with a String Shot!" Pierce called, narrowing his eyes. If he couldn't dodge, he could try to stop it. Up in the air, the beedrill froze, eyes locked onto the flying type's form, or so he guessed since her eyes didn't really give much away. "If you can't hit him, then use Iron Defense as quick as you can before he hits!" he added, gulping down. Aerial Ace was a strong attack after all.
  
  Narcissa gave it her best to land her strings, Pierce could very clearly see that. Some of the shots were quite close too, but none of them hit, sadly. Grimacing, he started mentally recalling where he kept the potions in the Storage Box in his backpack. He didn't want to be scrambling for the thing if it became necessary.
  
  As the bird drew closer though, the beedrill stopped and instead was covered in a nice shine of silver that made Pierce let out a breath. Not quite relieved, since this meant she'd be hit, but at least she had defenses in place for it. Thus, he witnessed his partner getting hit for the first time, solidly at that.
  
  It made him grimace, even if he'd known it would happen if he continued going for a battling career. That didn't make him feel better when he saw his partner being pushed back and crying out because of the hit. It twisted his insides and it pained him, almost like he'd been hit himself.
  
  At the same time though, it woke up something in Pierce to see that. His partner was hit. His partner had just been dealt damage. His hand balled into a fist and his eyes narrowed. No, that wouldn't do, at all .
  
  "Twineedle! Rush him!" he called, noticing that Narcissa was raring to go even after the attack Talon had landed on her. His partner flowed into the attack as soon as the command was issued, as if she'd been waiting for it and maybe she had. It hit a very surprised spearow right in the chest before it could do much else or Lily could order anything.
  
  It didn't send him straight to the ground, but it certainly was enough for the flying type to decide the spar was over, if reluctantly.
  
  "Well, at least we know Aerial Ace works," Lily commented, already moving towards her pokemon as Pierce did much the same with Narcissa. "You ok though? You sounded angry there at the end," she asked, throwing him a concerned look as he took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
  
  "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, deflating a little as he checked over Narcissa. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her, but he might just spray a little potion over the scratch that Aerial Ace had left on her. It was probably unnecessary, but it'd make him feel better. It was a shame that the Pokemon Center only offered one free check up and treatment on arrival. "It's just... the first time she's been hit like that."
  
  "Ah, yeah... It's quite the... experience, that," Lily said hesitantly as she picked Spearow up in her arms. "I didn't like seeing Root get hit during my first battle too. I guess you were kinda lucky it took this long... or not, maybe."
  
  "I don't feel very lucky," he replied, sighing. "But at least she had ways to defend herself, so that makes it a bit better, I guess."
  
  "You get used to it," Lily reassured him with a sad smile. "It's awful at the start, but most of them love battling, some more than others or differently, but it's what they do. Sometimes, it'd be crueler to not let them battle," the girl offered, getting an agreeing chitter from the beedrill next to Pierce.
  
  "I know that, I just... I guess it'll just take a bit to get over that shock," he replied. "So, since when does Talon know Aerial Ace?" he asked, trying to change subjects. It worked, because the girl had instantly shifted into her usual cheerful self.
  
  "We started working on it just after our first spar, really!" she announced with a giggle. "Talon didn't like how easy she beat him, so we started working on something that would give him a way to hit her. It's not quite ready yet, that's the best it has worked so far, but we are getting there."
  
  "Guess it's time for us to start working on something ourselves, huh?" Pierce mused, and he could swear he saw a glint on Narcissa's red eyes for a split second. Judging by the chittering he got, she definitely liked the idea.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Stun Spore," the opponent next to him in the battlegrounds called out.
  
  "Fucking hell," Pierce whispered under his breath. "You know what to do, Narcissa!" was all he could say, because really, he'd been shouting to dodge entirely too much for his liking. It wasn't like his opponent had given him much else to do though.
  
  The damn kid was throwing powder move after powder move, not leaving him or his beedrill any room to do anything. He was starting to get frustrated and so was Narcissa, he could tell. Her buzzing was getting louder and more erratic. That was bad, the last thing he needed was her getting any wild ideas that would probably end badly.
  
  "Sleep Powder," the kid called then, sounding entire too smug as he did so. Evidently, he was an annoying little shit and he knew it. "Gust!"
  
  "Out of the way, fast!" Pierce called, feeling like a dumbass but not really knowing what else to do. ' Come on, there has to be away to hit the fucking butterfree, Pierce. Think of something,' he told himself.
  
  They'd already tried String Shot and Poison Sting, but the thing had plenty of room to dodge, with as far as Narcissa had to be to be able to react to any of the area attacks the thing shot at her. It was annoying, very much so. ' Beedrill doesn't learn any area of effect moves naturally. Pretty sure of that. I think there are some things we can learn with some more effort though. If Narcissa could get Iron Defense on her own, I can help her pick up something else,' Pierce decided.
  
  The battle reminded him that no, pokemon battles were most decidedly not just throwing moves at each other and dodging. There was area control too, combos and so much more to it. He needed to get started with some actual strategies or his partner would be the one to suffer if he didn't. He couldn't let that happen. ' Think Pierce, think. He's gonna keep up with that strategy until Narcissa tires herself but how do we throw an attack ourselves? It's not like we can... Or maybe...'
  
  And then an idea formed.
  
  "Come on, Narcissa! It's going to get tired eventually, you just have to outlast them!" Pierce called, obviously lying through his teeth. There was no way they were going to win the battle of attrition as it was, but he was going to shake the board a little bit. He just needed...
  
  "You really think that?" the other trained asked, laughing out loud. "Come on, show them, Butte-" he started calling out, but he'd taken too long. Those few seconds of pause were all that Pierce needed.
  
  "Fury Attack!" he ordered, and Narcissa followed to the letter.
  
  "Stun Spore!" the opposing trainer called, less confident all of a sudden.
  
  "Charge through!" Pierce called. Maybe it was a bad idea, but it was all or nothing for them. If the attempt didn't work then he'd just surrender. There was no need to keep the battle going forever when all it would do was make him and more important Narcissa feel bad.
  
  Stingers shining, zoomed right up to the butterfree's face before starting to hit it all over. Obviously, the poor thing wasn't very used or even good at close combat, which made sense considering the battle style they'd been going for so far. That only made the moment all the sweeter for Pierce and he was sure it did for Narcissa too.
  
  "Wowow, Gust! Get out of there!" the trainer called, now panicking. It brought joy to Pierce's heart to see that and he'd have loved to drag things out as he'd done, but he really couldn't. "Confusion!"
  
  "Twineedle!" Pierce called instantly, hoping that the bug type attack would disturb the psychic energy required for the move Butterfree was attempting. Sure enough, Narcissa only wavered the smallest bit before hitting the butterfly pokemon with her stingers. Her movements were getting more and more stiff as the seconds passed, due to the Stun Spore no doubt, but her opponent was faring much worse. "Come on, finish this quick, Narcissa!" he told her, getting a nod as the stingers shone brightly.
  
  Soon enough, the referee of the battlefield they'd chosen for their battle called the match. Pierce wasted no time in recalling his partner though, not before congratulating her, however. He'd be rushing right to the Pokemon Center. She hadn't taken much damage in that fight, besides another attempt at Confusion that had hit her against the ground. She had been fighting with the effects of Stun Spore though and he wanted to get rid of that quickly. He'd have to pay for the treatment, of course, but it would still likely be a monetary win regardless, so he wasn't too worried.
  
  ' I need to prepare for battles like this. Not everything will be a simple brawl,' Pierce thought to himself. While Narcissa was getting checked, he'd look through information on the computer some more and start brainstorming strategies. He needed to have at least a semblance of a plan for most common things they could come across. Or that was the idea, at least.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "We already battled once, Narcissa," Pierce told his partner with an unimpressed look as she protested, waving her stingers around for emphasis. "Yes, I know it didn't get you all that hurt, but you still got hit a few times and the nurse said it'd be better to take it easy. There might be some lingering Stun Spore, after all. There's no need to risk anything," he argued, rolling his eyes. "We are taking this job, I've already decided. It'll give us some more money to work with and it shouldn't be too difficult. If I think you are fine and we finish it quickly enough, then we can have another battle. Sounds fair?" he said, offering that last part in order to be done with the conversation already.
  
  That seemed to be enough to placate the overeager beedrill, which made him roll his eyes. Honestly, would it kill her to relax a bit? He knew she liked battles, but Narcissa was taking things to a whole new level. Pierce would have to get used to it though, because - if anything - she seemed to be getting worse as time passed.
  
  "Great," he said after she replied with a positive chitter, even if it sounded very, very reluctant. "Now, let's get moving. The job is on the outskirts of what can be considered Pewter, so we'll have to walk a whole lot," he informed her, checking over the paper he'd been given when he accepted the job on the Pokemon Center's board.
  
  Apparently, people around the area were free to post little jobs for trainers to do if they were in the area and felt like it. From what he'd seen, the range of things was quite wide. He'd seen people that needed certain types of pokemon to lend a helping hand here and there or that had some wild pokemon causing trouble somewhere and needed them to be dealt with. There were also families that wanted someone to give some training classes to their children, which usually required more experienced trainers.
  
  As it was, Pierce had taken a simple job from a farm close to Viridian Forest. They were having trouble with the beedrill in the area, apparently, so he felt like he had a decent chance in helping them. From what the paper said, it was mostly that the bug types got a little too agitated whenever they were working on the parts that were closer to the forest. A few talks here and there and some pokemon food thrown around should solve that, Pierce felt.
  
  He just hoped the whole thing took enough time that there wouldn't be time for more battling when they came back. There was no such thing as overkill when it came to looking after one's health, and that applied even more so to Narcissa. Pierce wasn't sure how pokemon physiology worked, but he wanted to make sure that his partner was always in as good health as he could have her.
  
  The beedrill wanted to be a battler that went far? Then he'd take her there, but on his terms. The last thing he wanted was for her to fall short because she'd pushed herself too hard. ' How am I having this much trouble with only one pokemon?' he thought wryly as he walked down the road, his mind drifting off to one thing or another as he did.
  
  "I really hope you won't give me all this trouble when we have more members in the team, Narcissa," he commented, having let the beedrill out of her pokeball once they were out of what could be called the actual city parts. It was mostly houses sprinkled here and there at that point, all of them surrounded by farmlands. Occasionally they'd see a store or such, but those were the odd ones out, really.
  
  As a response, his partner gave his neck a squeeze with her stingers and chittered something that sounded very annoyed.
  
  "It's always a bit nostalgic when your grumpy side comes out," he commented, wiping a fake tear from his eyes. "Reminds me of the old times, you know? When we were the Grumpy Kakuna and the Foolish Pierce. Now we are the Clingy Narcissa and the Foolish Pierce instead," he said, chuckling when she gave him a smack with one of her stingers. "Now, there's no need for violence, young lady."
  
  He was fairly sure that what followed was the beedrill equivalent of an exasperated sigh.
  
  "Honestly, don't know why you are so annoyed," he commented, rolling his eyes. "This will make more money than we'd have if we battled one more time, even if we battled twice, which would be as far as I'd go so you don't push yourself too much. That's a good thing because I might be able to get you a teacher to learn a few moves that will be hard on our own, or would take too much time," he explained, getting more grumbling in response. "Honestly," he muttered.
  
  It was interesting to learn that there was no such thing as TMs in the world he was in. It all seemed to go in a similar mechanic as with what he thought Tutor moves were like in the games. There was a list of moves that pokemon could learn naturally and without much trouble. And then there was another that they could learn but had a lot of trouble getting. That's where the "tutors" came in, pokemon that already knew the moves and could help a pokemon that wouldn't normally use a move get the hang of it. Granted, there were levels of quality in the "teachers" but that was something for future Pierce to deal with.
  
  "You'll be thanking me when we get some cool moves added to your list," Pierce commented, shaking his head. "People will know you as one of the strongest beedrill around, that's the goal we have for ourselves, isn't it? I'll do my best to get you there."
  
  Narcissa chittered something much more positive at that, which made him chuckle.
  
  "You liked the sound of that, huh?" he asked, grinning. "I did too. Now, bear with me, will you?"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "They should start soon enough," the man that had welcomed Pierce at the job site told him as they walked through the plants of his farm. It was a berry farm, it seemed, and there were bushes and plants and trees all around the place. The particular area they were walking into had the latters. "It's a nightmare, I tell you. We try to come to this part and collect the berries and they'll just start their ruckus. We can't really do much about it. I have an old weepinbell but it's, as I said, old and I was never that good at training as I was taking care of plants."
  
  "Understandable," Pierce replied, looking around. It was evident that the guy wasn't lying, at least. As they continued walking, the trees had more and more fruits on them. Fruits that the man's family hadn't been able to pick up due to- "Ah, there they are," he mumbled hearing a distant buzz that got louder and louder.
  
  "I won't go any further," the man told him then, standing rooted where he'd been when the sounds started. "I hope you can do this, young man. A few trainers have come and all that they did barely worked for a few days at best."
  
  That was interesting to hear, Pierce thought.
  
  "I have a few plans, but I think it fair to warn you of something," Pierce told him, walking back towards the man to talk about what he was going to do and how he was going to try to get the beedrills off the man's back. "I got through Viridian Forest the day before yesterday," he started explaining then, getting the man's attention instantly. "I met a lot of beedrill looking for trouble and such. I got them off my back easily enough with some help from my own beedrill and some food," he said, waving a hand to the beedrill clinging to his back.
  
  "Food?" the man asked, visibly confused by that last tidbit.
  
  "Yep," Pierce said with a chuckle. "The weedle line is full of gluttons. You throw some food their way and they'll happily let you be. They even become quite friendly if you do."
  
  "Friendly," the man repeated, as if he couldn't believe that word being associated with the beedrill.
  
  "Indeed." Pierce nodded. "So, what I wanted to know is if I can try to negotiate with them. There's a lot of fruit here that you just can't come and collect. Maybe if you part with some of them or maybe some others if they like those better, you can get them to leave you alone, is what I was thinking."
  
  "I... It'd depend on how much," the man told him, visibly conflicted.
  
  "Of course. I'm not trying to make you lose business and such. But I think it's better to get at least some of the fruits you aren't getting due to the beedrill instead of none of them." Pierce reassured him before clarifying. "If that's not something you can do, then I just won't offer that to them. I won't even do it straight away if you are willing, I just thought it'd be a nice option to have if all else fails," he explained, running his finger through his hair.
  
  He was getting a picture from the farm and what may be going on with the beedrill. If he was right, then things would be a little more complicated than he thought. With some luck, he'd be able to resolve the issue. If not... Well, he just wouldn't get paid, which would suck, but wouldn't be the end of the world.
  
  "I... Yeah, if it's some or nothing, I'll take some," the man told him, looking pretty dejected. "We can make due with any of that, honestly, but it's ours. Not being able to get it is... frustrating, I'm sure you understand."
  
  "I do. I'll make sure that you can at least access it, even if you have to... Well, pay food taxes to the beedrill," Pierce said, drawing a chuckle from the man. "Tell you what, I'll try to do you one better, actually."
  
  "Oh?"
  
  With a grin, Pierce walked off towards the buzzing of the beedrill.
  
  "Beedrill," he greeted once he saw the first one of what became many in just a few seconds. "I've come to bargain," he added, his lips twitching.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Donald Bouknight]
  
  "So, that's about the deal I got out of them, you mark a few trees so they know which ones are "theirs" as it were and they'll leave you alone," Pierce, the fourth trainer to pick up his job to deal with the beedrill told him. "I also got them to agree to keep other pokemon out of your land though, so there won't be any stray caterpie and the like eating from your things, or there shouldn't be, at least."
  
  "Are you... certain that's what they... er, said?" Donald asked, barely believing what he was hearing.
  
  "Negotiations were a bit... awkward, but we managed to understand each other. I made sure to double check and all," the man told him with a confident grin.
  
  If what he said was right... This might actually turn out to be beneficial for him. After all, land close to the forest was cheap for a reason. The wild pokemon were very likely to raid anything that they could get. If he now had a swarm of beedrill protecting his farm, then sacrificing a few trees would be more than worth it.
  
  "What did you say your name was?" Donald asked, wanting to make sure. "And I need your account number to make the payment."
  
  "Pierce Lawson," the young man replied, all smiles as he carried a beedrill on his back. Then he took out his ID with his account number on it and rattled the number as Donald wrote it down. "Feel free to leave me a message at the Pokemon Center if anything goes wrong, yeah? I'll probably be here for around a week."
  
  "I will, don't worry," Donald said absently as he considered what he had just been told and what it would mean for him. "I'll send you a message even if things go well."
  
  "I'd appreciate it. So, good luck, I hope business goes well and take care," Pierce told him, giving him a wave before making his way back to the road.
  
  "Good luck to you too, young man," Donald called. "You'll be hearing from me soon."
  
  Oh would he hear from Donald. If what he said and did worked then... Well, Donald would have to get into contact with his neighboring farms and their owners. Maybe they could do something with this information. And Pierce... Well, it always paid to have a good trainer on speed dial, or so Donald supposed.
  
  ' Pierce Lawson,' he read the name on the piece of paper in his hand.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Going a little deeper into the trainer's life. I always thought it was somewhat weird how it's supposed to work, as in, just earning money from battles. What do you do if you aren't an absolute beast that never loses? Not everyone can be an OP MC, everyone else gotta make a living somehow, right? So I thought doing odd jobs like they are D- ranks from Naruto or low level quests from Fairy Tail and such would work to keep things going. What do you guys think?
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you prefer, Fire type, Grass type or Water type? Personally, tough question. Fire type for me, probably, but they'd all be pretty close to each other. All three are pretty neat.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City IV
  Pewter City IV
  
  Another thing Pierce had started doing soon after Lily and him arrived at the city was going to the Pewter Gym. A building he'd been in awe of, for sure, but it also was a target of his at this point. He wouldn't be battling there for a while yet, of course, but he would come back with a team better suited for it later down the line. He did wonder though, if Brock would still be there whenever he came back.
  
  Because he was the leader at the moment, not his father. Considering that and the fact that the Rocket Team was around, that meant that either Ash hadn't come around for a visit just yet or that he was in a world without Ash. The only comfort of that latter option was that Red could still be a thing. Pierce really didn't want to be in a world without a hero to take care of the bigger problems.
  
  He just wanted a peaceful life, dammit.
  
  Back on topic, Pierce visited the Gym from time to time. Not to challenge but to spectate challenges. Contrary to what his anime knowledge said, you couldn't just watch for free, however, which he once more should have expected. ' Goddamnit, the anime is useless,' he'd grumbled back at the time. However, the silver lining was that there were several ways to get around watching battles.
  
  The expensive way was to pay for every individual match, of course, but his eyes had basically glossed right over that option. He was good in the money department but he wasn't loaded . The slightly better option was a pass that would let him watch any match that happened for a week after he bought it. There was also the full season pass, but that was basically for locals, which didn't quite work for him, sadly.
  
  Thus, he'd gone for the week ticket.
  
  He didn't watch every match though, of course. There were challenges at the place that happened basically all day. Most of the time, it was Brock that fought, but sometimes one of his brothers would take his place. Everytime that latter option happened though, as far as he'd seen, it was against someone within the range of no badges to two badges max, which Pierce supposed made sense.
  
  It'd been very educational to watch the battles, full of different battle styles and all. Most of them were low level, but Pierce had been fortunate enough to catch a guy with five badges that had decided to re-challenge all the gyms for the new season. That fight had been much more interesting than any other, that was for sure.
  
  It also further cemented a piece of knowledge that Pierce had found on the internet. Gyms rotated pokemon a lot for challenges, even for fights in the same level they'd change up their teams every fight. More importantly, they adapted the skill level of the pokemon used to whatever the badge number of their opponent was. ' So, no coming back with a bunch of badges and fighting weak geodude and onix, sadly,' Pierce had realized, a little nervous about that piece of knowledge.
  
  As it was, all he could do was take notes on how Brock fought and the weaknesses that the rock types displayed in the matches he saw. There were type weaknesses, of course, but most of them also seemed to be slow. If they somehow managed to deal with that disadvantage - with Rollout, for example - they usually still had trouble with accuracy. So, mobility was something he could take advantage of and something Narcissa had a lot of. That was good.
  
  A good few hours of every day was spent watching battles and furthering his knowledge on the rock typing and sometimes other typings that the challengers would use. Pierce didn't know what would be useful later down the line, so everything he could, he tried to learn. Not only against but in favor of every pokemon used. After all, maybe he'd get one of the pokemon he saw battling at a later point.
  
  It was just a shame that Narcissa wasn't able to witness the battles. He'd have had to pay extra for that, and maybe he was a bit of a cheapskate, but he didn't think it was worth it. Sure, his beedrill would have enjoyed them and they'd have pumped her up to train more, but his bug type really didn't need extra motivation. Besides, watching some battles at the pokemon center computers worked well enough.
  
  ' I still feel bad about it though,' Pierce thought to himself one of those days as he watched an oddish go against a geodude. Maybe he could ask at the reception if there was any way to know when another "big" battle would take place. He could pay the extra price of a match like that. Narcissa would love that... Even if it probably would also fuel her battle maniac tendencies.
  
  Pierce was starting to be resigned to those already, quite honestly.
  
  He'd probably have to take a job or two to make himself feel better regarding money, he supposed. He did have to make more as it was, since... Well, he was good for the moment, but one or two additions to his team could easily change that. It'd be better to be prepared for any eventuality. There were, after all, a number of pokemon that eat a lot and the last thing Pierce wanted was to end up with one of those and short on money because he hadn't prepared beforehand.
  
  ' Focus on the fight, Pierce, you can theorize teams and money later,' he thought, turning back to see the oddish win the fight. Salvadore, the third oldest brother in the family, released a rhyhorn after that. ' They do make the Weasleys look like they had restraint, man,' Pierce thought wryly before shaking his head and actually concentrating on the fights.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "All good, right?" Pierce asked, turning to the person that had hired him for the day and probably the following days until he left Pewter. The job with the beedrill had been good, but a one time thing. This new one though, might just keep him occupied and money flowing for the time he'd be around. It was hard work, but at least it meant that Narcissa had space to train and he could be lazy and skip a few days of work out... For the most part.
  
  His beedrill was enough of a taskmaster to expect him to do some exercises even with the job.
  
  "Yeah, all good, go along now, girl," his employer said, giving the ponyta he'd been working on a pat on the side that sent the fire type out to the field. Not before it gave an appreciative neigh to which he smiled.
  
  "You are welcome. Have fun with the rest, yeah?" Pierce said, to which the pokemon nodded and went on to join the rest of the ponyta in the ranch together with a few rapidash too. Once she moved away, he deflated a little, groaning and stretching as he tried to make the aches of having to check and pick out the hooves of all those fire types had caused him.
  
  "Yes, it gets like that," the old man that had hired him, someone that usually left most of the work to his son's family, told him. Apparently, the family of the aforementioned son had gone on a vacation so the man had to hire trainers in the meantime. His age had gotten to him, as he'd told Pierce while he worked, so he'd been unable to take care of his ranch by himself as he'd once done. "You'll get used to it."
  
  "Hopefully before I'm done here in Pewter," Pierce replied with a sigh. "Anyway, what's next?" he asked then, trying to get work done before his body decided that it wanted to be lazy. It'd be really nice to have a somewhat stable source of income for the rest of his stay at Pewter, which was the main reason he'd gotten the job which could be repeated for a few days.
  
  Single jobs like the one about the beedrill were nice and all, keeping the interesting factor since each would be a new experience. However, it'd also mean that the pay would vary and he may not even get paid if things didn't work out. Hell, he was still waiting for the pay of the job at that one farm. He'd gotten a message that the arrangement had worked so far, but the owner would wait a day or two more and that'd be it. Pierce didn't think he'd be scammed per se, but it'd be much better if he could just be paid and be done with it, quite honestly.
  
  "Well, now we gotta get the stables ready for the night," Arnold told him, shifting where he stood, sort of rotating on his cane to face the aforementioned building. "Replace bedding and clean any messes that the little shits might have caused. After that, it's mostly all about checking their food and water and the stock of both. Once that is done, then we can both take care of the pokemon. Who knows, you might even learn something," the man commented, drawing a grin from Pierce.
  
  Good thing he'd brought his backpack with him. He'd want to take notes of whatever the old man told him, that was for sure. Hell, he already needed to do that about picking out the hooves of the ponyta and rapidash. Who knew, maybe not one of those, but he might get another horse-like pokemon. Or maybe Lily would, or some other friend of his down the line. It'd be nice to know regardless.
  
  Besides, pokemon were interesting to learn about, that was for sure.
  
  ' If only college was half this much fun to study for,' he thought with a grin. He was even excited for work as things stood. That didn't last long though, since most of it was repetition and there wasn't all that much to learn, but it still wasn't all that bad. Arnold, the old guy that he was, had a lot of stories to tell.
  
  Apparently, he'd been caring for the ponyta/rapidash for his whole life. It was a business that his father had started and he'd carried on doing through his life. His son was apparently going to take over it like he'd done when his father passed and so the whole thing would continue existing it seemed.
  
  He didn't breed the pokemon for any particular purpose though. He sold for trainers, coordinators and even racers. Granted, it seemed that his pokemon were better for the latter than any of the other two, but Pierce had been told repeatedly that Arnold's fire types had done well in any of the fields they could participate in. The old man was probably biased, but from what Pierce had seen of the pokemon, they looked good enough for that to be true.
  
  On top of family business stories though, Arnold just had a lot of things to say in general. Small nuggets of wisdom that were dropped randomly in between the stories. Which made it very fortunate that Pierce found all of them fascinating. Maybe to other people they'd have been boring old man tales, but the fact that they took place in the pokemon world made them sound very interesting to Pierce. ' It's like hearing fanfiction as real life tales,' he thought, very amused by the idea.
  
  Arnold also had a lot to say about taking care of pokemon in general, with some experience in other lines besides the ponyta one. Pierce did his absolute best to commit as much of it to memory while he worked and note everything down whenever he had a moment to do so. Fortunately, the old man was more than willing to give him a minute or two here and there to do that.
  
  Pierce was pretty sure that he was glad to have someone actually listen to him, but refrained from actually commenting on that.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Gym Trainer Forrest will release his pokemon first," Salvadore, the referee of the battle he was waiting for, announced from the side of the battlefield. Pierce had his notebook at the ready and he was watching intently, but writing things down would probably be far from something that he'd focus on right then and there. After all... Well, he didn't think he wanted to miss a single second of this fight. Narcissa, next to him, flew forward, draping her stingers over the railing that faced the battle.
  
  The oldest brother, besides Brock, pulled a pokeball from his belt and soon released a pokemon. A strange, turtle-like creature appeared, with a bright red shell and white circles around the entries to it. Out of them came weird, yellow limbs that looked like tentacles and a head that didn't differ much from those. The first time that Pierce had seen it, he hadn't remembered the thing's name or even the typing, but he did now.
  
  ' Shuckle, bug type with a secondary rock type,' he thought, remembering some of the notes he'd taken once he went back to the Pokemon Center and looked the creature up. It was a fortunate choice, all things considered.
  
  "Challenger Lillian, please release your first pokemon," Salvadore called out then, and Pierce's friend nodded, pulling her own pokeball from her belt. Lily had decided, midway through the week in which they waited for the tournament he'd told her about when they arrived, that she was going to challenge the gym. It'd be a nice way to check her pokemon's strength to see if she stood a chance, in her words.
  
  From her pokeball came Talon, as Pierce expected. Not only had she told him that she'd start off with her "weaker" pokemon - type-wise, that is - but Shuckle received normal damage from Flying type attacks. Chances were that she wouldn't have that luck in the next pokemon choice. Talon would still be at a disadvantage against rock type attacks, but... Well, that was going to happen no matter what.
  
  "Start!" Salvadore called then.
  
  "Peck, quick!" Lily called instantly towards her bird, who had been flying in circles over its side of the battlefield.
  
  "Bide," Forrest said, a slight frown on his face. His voice was lower, but then again, his pokemon was lying on the ground right in front of him. Pierce had to wonder what Lily would do against that command. Bide was a move that basically had the pokemon tank attacks until it unleashed one that was even stronger than whatever it had been hit with. A dangerous thing to go against, but an equally dangerous technique to use. Wait too long, and your pokemon would be out before it could even do its thing. Wait too little, and it wouldn't do as much damage as you probably wanted.
  
  "Stop that, Growl and Leer!" Lily called then, an intense look on her face as she regarded the two pokemon. "And don't let up!" she decided to go with. Probably as good a way to do it as any other. She could have done nothing at all, but Forrest would have probably done nothing too until something happened. Bide had a small base cost of energy even if the pokemon wasn't hit with anything.
  
  By using debilitating moves, she was doing something while also not dealing any damage to charge Bide with. Smart, really. Pierce wasn't completely sold on debuff moves, especially those similar to the ones she used, since it didn't seem to him like they did much at all. However, he'd freely admit that in the situation she was in, that was probably the best call he could think of. There was Aerial Ace too, but that was only if the attack's damage was enough to take the opponent in one hit, which it probably wasn't.
  
  Obviously, Forrest didn't just sit there.
  
  "Constrict, Shuckle," the boy called, his already naturally narrowed eyes doing so further as her frown became even more pronounced. Then, out of nowhere, energy coalesced around Talon in small tentacles that tried to trap him. Tried being the operative word. However, even if they failed to grab onto him, the spearow still was hit by a few of them, destabilizing his flying. "Again," Forrest commanded, receiving a small nod from his bug type.
  
  "Go for it again, Peck!" Lily told her pokemon, which did exactly that. It dove straight towards the small pokemon almost making Pierce think that the spearow had gotten confused and had decided to go for an Aerial Ace. He hadn't though, but he did use that added speed the fall gave him to avoid the new attack that came for him. "Another, keep it up!" Lily called once the first Peck landed.
  
  "Withdraw," Forrest said then, making his pokemon pull into its shell. Unlucky for Pierce's friend, he supposed. Talon had only gotten two hits before that happened, but then again, maybe it was insulting to the Gym Trainer to expect him not to make such a call.
  
  "Stay close, Peck it as soon as it comes out!" Lily ordered her pokemon, frowning even though she had the upper hand. Things would depend on Forrest from there, the battle was basically stopped until the bug type came out. Although, Pierce wondered if there was a reason she wasn't using debuffs once more. Was it because she didn't want to miss a single second just in case? Or had she just forgotten? ' Gotta ask her after this is over,' Pierce thought to himself, risking a few seconds to make a quick note about that in his notebook.
  
  He almost sighed in relief that the single second it took didn't bring anything new to the battle.
  
  "Come out," Forrest said and Shuckle peeked back out almost instantly. Just as fast though, Talon batted his wings and rushed it. "Wrap," the Gym Trainer said though.
  
  "No!" Lily exclaimed when her flying type was caught between Shuckle's weird tentacle limbs. "Peck it! It won't let go, so do damage!" she called, the desperation of the order bleeding into her voice. It was justified though, since Talon's one good point was that it flew, which made it difficult to reach for Shuckle. It was unfortunate that they lacked range and just as unfortunate that their opponent had an effective way to take his mobility out of the equation.
  
  So, that's how the rest of that battle, if it could be called that, went. Shuckle wrapped and squeezed the poor bird while Talon did his best to Peck the thing into submission. It was... Not a good sight, but Pierce had learned that sometimes battles just weren't pretty shows. That's what coordinator battles were supposed to be. In a normal battle, anything that could get you a win was fair game, as long as you didn't break any rules. Hell, from what he'd seen in forums, people were liable to go against you if you avoided such ways in favor of the "cool".
  
  To most, it seemed to mean that one wasn't trying hard enough. Pierce could sort of see the reasoning behind that, he supposed. Fortunately, many trainers got away with it, one just had to do it consistently. You couldn't go for a cool fight against one opponent and then play every trick on someone else. The only excuse people would give was if you were trying to stay true to your personal style, whatever that might be. It was a loose set of unofficial rules, but it was interesting all the same.
  
  "Both pokemon are unable to continue," the referee announced then and Pierce gave his friend a nervous, hopeful look. It seemed that Lily might just be alright. After all, Talon was the weak link for the battle and he'd done alright. Now it was time to hope that whatever Forrest let out wouldn't be something that was actually strong against Root.
  
  The boy then released his pokemon with his lips pursed, evidently the fight wasn't going as he'd hoped, but Pierce couldn't say why that was. From all the challenges he'd witnessed so far, he hadn't seen anyone causing the Gym Trainers to feel bad, really. Regardless, Pierce's attention was brought back to the pokemon that was let out in the battlefield and a grin spread over his face. He hadn't seen that one just yet, but he'd found it in his many searches regarding rock types. A fake tree-like creature with a long brown body and two short toe-less legs waved its "hands" around, wiggling the green spheres at the end of them.
  
  ' Sudowoodo, full rock typing,' Pierce noted to himself. That had been an interesting fact when he'd seen the thing. He'd fully expected it to at least have a secondary grass typing, if not a main one. But nope, he'd been baited, it seemed.
  
  Back to the battle, it was already looking good for Lily. Sudowoodo didn't have any advantages against Root that Pierce could remember. Even the rough memories he had of its possible moveset weren't very encouraging. ' Well, from the natural move list, that is. Not sure if it's trained for any other move or if it has an egg move,' he considered as Lily let out her pokemon.
  
  If anything, Root's release seemed to sour Forrest's mood even more, which was really curious.
  
  "Begin!" Salvadore called then and both trainers called moves instantly.
  
  "Vine Whip!"
  
  "Rock Throw!"
  
  Pierce was somewhat taken aback that those were the only commands that were used after that. Both pokemon simply continued fighting with their orders and nothing else. To some extent, Pierce guessed it made sense. Root didn't really have much else to throw that would do more damage than Vine Whip. Leech Seed, maybe, but that was more likely to be used later if it got wounded enough to guarantee needing the healing.
  
  As for Sudowoodo, well, he was much less knowledgeable about that one, but he supposed if all Forrest was doing was giving his pokemon directions about how to use the move, then it was likely it was the best thing it had available for use. It was interesting though, certainly a contrast to what Pierce had seen about trainers throwing around move after move. Why switch though, when what you were doing was the best you could do?
  
  Granted, there could be an element of surprise thrown in there or some other type of attempt at getting the opponent off guard, but this was a low level battle. It was unlikely that either side had all that much to work with. After all, Pierce had seen Forrest battle a guy with two badges and that had shown him that even if he was no Brock, he could hold himself to the level of a Gym Battle.
  
  "Sudowoodo is unable to battle!" Salvadore announced eventually, which made all the sense in the world. No matter how much Forrest tried to hit more with different tactics, the fact of the matter was that Lily had been working on her own side of things to get things in her favor too. In the end, all had been decided by typing, but that was more of a statement of how close the battle was than any unfairness, really. Sometimes you were just unlucky and picked rock against paper, it was how battles were.
  
  Relaxing where he sat, now that his friend had won, Pierce traded a look with Narcissa. Less than a minute later, the beedrill had already latched onto his back as they walked out of the stands. He'd probably come back to see some more matches, maybe with Lily in tow, but as it was, he wanted to talk with his friend away from the small gathering of people that was also watching the matches.
  
  "Congrats," he said as he saw his friend, talking with both Root and Talon, the latter of which she was carrying in her arms, since he'd probably barely recovered from being taken out in the battle. "A visit to the Pokemon Center before anything else, is what I'm guessing?"
  
  "Thanks, and yes," Lily said, beaming at him as she stood up with her bird in hand. A bird that seemed to be glaring at anything and everything. Evidently, it didn't like the fact that it had been taken out. Either that or that his win wasn't decisive enough, Pierce supposed. Root, for his part, seemed to be very proud of himself, if the way he was almost preening was any indication. "That was both harder and easier than I thought it would be. Good thing it wasn't against Brock, or I might just have lost."
  
  "You didn't, so you are officially a one badge trainer and officially better than poor old me. Whatever shall I do?" Pierce said, never really dropping the grin or the cheer in his voice. The comment drew a giggle from the girl as he followed her out. He could accompany her to the Pokemon Center. Somehow, it felt sort of rude to just leave her alone, she was his friend, after all. He could come watch more battles later.
  
  "Well, maybe if you caught something else you could give it a try. I know Narcissa could take care of any first pokemon they let out in there," Lily told him, and he didn't even need to look at her to know his beedrill was very happy with hearing that. "But I guess you wouldn't have time to really train it for a while."
  
  "Yeah, it's just going to be regular battles for me," Pierce replied with a shrug, a gesture that didn't even disturb Narcissa anymore. The beedrill had even gotten the hang of going along with such things in her desire to cling to him for whatever reason. "And honestly, I'm fine with that," he added, because it was true. He had no rush to get through the circuit.
  
  Sure, he wanted to help Narcissa get stronger and all that, but that didn't mean he had to aim to win the League in a year or anything. He could do that in a few years time or however long it took him. On top of that, it wasn't like it was required to actually participate in the League to be recognized as a strong trainer or for Narcissa to be recognized as a strong pokemon.
  
  "I mean, aren't you interested in checking some of the pokemon nearby? There's some decent choices I wouldn't-"
  
  The conversation was otherwise interrupted when they heard a loud explosion in the distance.
  
  Looking around, shocked, it didn't take the two of them long to find out where it had come from.
  
  There was a smoke plum, a big one, coming from Mt. Moon.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, first Gym Battle of the fic, even if it wasn't Pierce's. I hope it wasn't too bad, but pokemon battles will probably be - ironically, maybe - the hardest part about writing this fic. I can only do my best and wait for you guys to decide how it was.
  
  Also, trouble on the horizon, it seems, literally at that. Whatever could that be? What a mystery, huh?
  
  Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Squirtle, Charmander or Bulbasaur? I like Bulbasaur better. Don't get me wrong, the pseudo-dragon that's Charizard is cool and all, but I picked Bulbasaur for my first game because my friends had already picked the other two and I grew attached to it.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City V
  Pewter City V
  
  Neither Pierce nor Lily moved for a long moment then, as they both looked at the smoke rising slowly but decisively up in the air. Lower, closer to the mountain, there was a cloud of the stuff mixed with the dull brown of dust and dirt and probably rock too. ' So it happened,' Pierce thought grimly.
  
  He'd suspected, of course, he'd planned for it to happen and what he'd do when it did but... Actually seeing it was another thing entirely. Before, there was a chance that his information was wrong or that maybe he was in a different world from what he knew. However... that wasn't the case and something had happened Mt. Moon. His guess was the Rockets, of course, but he wasn't sure and he didn't want to assume. In the end, all he had to go on was an explosion and a cloud of smoke.
  
  "We have to go to the Pokemon Center," Lily said, looking more nervous than he'd ever seen her. He simply nodded and the two started on their way there. It was somewhat trainer protocol, in a way. When there was an incident and no call was made for trainer service, one had to move to the nearest Pokemon Center. They were, after all, strategically placed to have trainers in places where they might be needed during an emergency. Barring that, they would at least be in a place where they'd be close to where they needed to be, or so the planning of their locations went.
  
  If Pierce was honest, the last thing he wanted to do was go there. What if they were sent to Mt. Moon to offer help? He really didn't want to go anywhere close to where the terrorist organization that the League was having trouble with was supposed to be. That was a little out of his range of capabilities, he felt. Especially since all he had was a beedrill... With all the respect to Narcissa, of course, but still.
  
  "What do you think happened?" Lily asked and Pierce grimaced.
  
  "Strong pokemon gone mad? What even is there in Mt. Moon that could do that? A golem?" Pierce asked, trying to steer the conversation away from what he knew was the case. No need to make it sound like he knew more than he should.
  
  "Or Onix, maybe. Even the Clefairy if they were disturbed, I guess," Lily mumbled, eyes darting between looking at their path and the mountain off into the distance. As they moved, Pierce also started turning around. The residents of Pewter had already noticed what was going on, obviously, and there were nervous, fearful whispers all around. There were also people that started moving along the same way Lily and him were going. Evidently, some citizens were going to see if they had a call to answer to, even if they weren't active trainers or anything.
  
  Or maybe they were just concerned citizens that wanted to give a hand, who was Pierce to know, really.
  
  The Pokemon Center was more crowded than he'd ever seen it when they arrived. There were so many people that they couldn't even get in, with them gathering even outside the doors. Fortunately, whispers traveled throughout the place, informing everyone of what was said inside. People also started moving soon, which Pierce guessed meant that there was already information on what was going on and suggestions of what they should do.
  
  If he was honest, he really wasn't looking forward to that part of being a trainer. Even reading about the fact that he'd have to get involved in such events had made him nervous. He was just a normal guy with a beedrill, why did he have to get involved just so he could travel around and participate in a sport?
  
  He knew why, of course, and he understood, but his mind couldn't help but complain. Pokemon battles were more than a sport, and the government would be absolutely foolish to not use the power that trainers were. One just couldn't have that many people, carrying forces of nature, without ways of controlling them at least a little.
  
  Rangers could only go so far, after all. They were a fraction of the number of trainers out there. The disasters that hit the world were also often too much for Rangers to take care of by themselves, in scale at the very least. In power too, sometimes, Pierce had learned.
  
  Looking around, he took some comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one feeling uneasy and nervous. However, he was probably the only one questioning things as much. From what he'd found online, these people were used to this. To them, this was how things worked. Having pokemon meant they had a responsibility to do something when shit hit the fan, a responsibility to their region, their city, their friends and family. Because if they didn't help, there was a very real chance that someone would be affected.
  
  That was another point that set them apart from Pierce, he supposed. He wasn't from Kanto, he wasn't from Pewter, and the only friends he had were Narcissa, Lily and her pokemon. If he took his pokemon partner and his friend away from conflict, everything would be fine... Except, he couldn't do that, because Lily did have things to get involved for.
  
  It was a bitter realization, the one that he had at that moment. So, instead of going far, far away from the conflict, he continued moving forward as people started leaving the Center towards Mt. Moon. Interestingly, some of them didn't seem to be heading straight to the mountain though. Some of them left in slightly altered paths that made him wonder if there was even more stuff happening than what he could guess from half remembered pieces of fanfic knowledge and such.
  
  Soon enough, Lily and Pierce walked inside the Pokemon Center.
  
  He was almost surprised by the changes on the reception. On the walls, where there'd been screens with the news and queue lists and such, now they were filled with different information about what was going on where and the big one behind the desk showed a map with the zones of importance highlighted. People all but flooded the reception desk too, asking questions from what he could pick up but that was about it. Pierce was honestly surprised the three nurses that were working there were as calm as they looked.
  
  "Maybe we should go there?" Lily asked next to him and he turned to look at the screen she was pointing at, grimacing as someone pushed against his other side from behind. "The forest pokemon seem to have gotten into a fight with pokemon from the mountain," she explained to him, not really looking at him.
  
  Sure enough, Pierce saw the screen and it looked concerning. There were beedrill swarms, even butterfree ones, packs of rattata and raticate and more. There were onix and members of the golem line. There were zubat, sandshrew and paras. And between all of them attacks flew around, lighting up the place like the messiest firework show.
  
  It looked like what he imagined a warzone would.
  
  "Weren't you telling me about not going towards swarms the other day?" he asked wryly to mask his nerves. Looking around... the other places didn't look better. Everywhere was a mess. Mt. Moon's entrance seemed to have collapsed and there was said to be an absolute mess of a fight going on inside. There was one camera of that too, but it showed very little. There was another commotion at the outside of the mountain too, but the only thing they could show was cameras approaching and then static. There was something there taking out anything and everything that approached that part. "What the fuck?"
  
  "I think that's... the best place for us to go, honestly," Lily said, visibly gulping. "Maybe you can talk to the beedrill, calm things down... a little bit."
  
  "I can try, but the last time worked because those trainers weren't really attacking," he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. "With all that mess going on... Although..."
  
  "You thought of something," Lily pointed out as they approached the desk little by little. From what Pierce was picking up, the trainers were asking for where they'd best help with what they had. The nurses, for their part, seemed to be directing them as best they could and taking note of everything. "What is it?"
  
  "How likely do you think it is that I could get the butterfree to hear me out?" he asked, looking at that particular zone as he tried to think up ways to help there. Battling the veritable horde of pokemon into submission was a laughably ridiculous endeavor. The rangers and trainers already there seemed to be mostly trying to contain the mess so it wouldn't spread and they were having trouble with just that. There were just too many pokemon wreaking havoc there.
  
  "For anyone else, not very. For you, I think you could stand a chance," Lily told him, although she didn't look very sure.
  
  "Name and pokemon," the nurse demanded immediately once they reached the desk, interrupting that conversation.
  
  "Pierce Lawson, Beedrill," he said instantly, a little taken aback by the firm tone, even when he'd already heard it used on the people before. It just clashed quite hard with what he knew of the nurses there from the other days.
  
  "Zone 5, mainly containing the wild pokemon, follow the ranger's orders," the woman said instantly, noting something down on the computer in front of her. "Next," she called then as he moved aside to let someone else move.
  
  ' Zone 5,' Pierce thought to himself. That was the forest zone, which made him purse his lips as he realized that he really would have to go there.
  
  "I have to go to Zone 2," Lily told him once they met out of the Center. "That's the cave entrance. The man said Root and Talon would be better there, helping clear out the blockage and keeping an eye out," she explained, looking upset, nervous and guilty, for whatever reason.
  
  "Guess we have our destinations," Pierce said, trying to keep his mind calm and working. "I have to go to Zone 5," he added, almost as an afterthought realizing that she didn't know what he'd been told.
  
  "Be careful, Pierce, and don't do anything stupid," she told him, patting his arm.
  
  "When have I ever?" he asked, receiving a shake of her head in response. "Good luck. Be careful yourself."
  
  "See you later," Lily said, and they went their separate ways.
  
  As he moved Pierce's mind worked through plans to help there. Surely there were other things they could do instead of just trying to keep the wild pokemon where they were, right? If they left the creatures fighting amongst themselves like that... He could only imagine the damage that would be dealt all around.
  
  So, he came up with some ideas... He was really hoping that he'd get to implement them. The nurse had said to follow the ranger's orders. Would he even be able to do what he wanted there or would he be told to stay away? If the latter was the case... He didn't think he'd argue much. They were the ones that knew the world around them better and worked with such things all the time. If they told Pierce his ideas were bad... Well, that'd be it.
  
  No need to be stubborn and get himself killed, after all.
  
  Still though... he had to try.
  
  If only so he wouldn't be haunted by pictures like the field of dead pokemon he was imagining the aftermath of the whole thing would be.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Once he was mostly out of Pewter City, Pierce followed the example of others that were on the same track as him and started jogging his way to his zone. He almost hadn't noticed how... relatively calm things were in the city. Nobody was running, everyone just walked around, even with what was happening all around them. Either they were used to it, or they'd been taught very thoroughly what to do in such situations.
  
  Pierce really hoped it wasn't the former, if he was honest.
  
  As he ran towards his destination, Narcissa buzzed next to him. She could have gone much faster, but he'd told her to save her strength. Something told him that they'd need all the advantages they could have once they made it to Zone 5. Especially with the way things looked and sounded once he started getting closer.
  
  Soon enough, Pierce was greeted by the sight of trainers all over the place, forming a sort of line that spread from side to side. It looked like a dam had been placed there in the form of people and pokemon to contain the wave of wild creatures and attacks.
  
  "See if you can hit any of the wild ones with ranged attacks, Narcissa, but stay close to me!" Pierce shouted over the deafening sound of... He didn't even know how to describe what was going on around him except for maybe disaster. ' Talk the beedrill into calming down? Into leaving ? What a joke,' were Pierce's thoughts as he looked on, feeling his face pale.
  
  Back in the forest, approaching the beedrill swarm had looked doable enough. Dangerous for sure, but doable. The bug types were reasonable enough, he'd found within a few days. One just needed to not be an idiot. Simple enough, right?
  
  There was no way he'd be able to talk to any of the pokemon in Zone 5.
  
  Things had looked bad back at the center through the screens, but it was ten times worse in person. The noise was almost deafening, like being in the middle of a club with the music so loud you could barely hear yourself, let alone others. Except, instead of rhythm, there was absolute chaos. Winds blew, rocks flew and things exploded. There were cries, shouts, screams, wails and howls all over the place. It was a wonder he'd been able to command Narcissa at all.
  
  ' What am I supposed to do?' Pierce thought to himself as he looked around at the other trainers for an idea. To his dismay, everyone else seemed to have as much of an idea as he did. Everyone was simply throwing attacks at the mass of pokemon in front of them, seemingly hoping for the best. It was baffling but understandable, he supposed. Most of them weren't even proper trainers.
  
  Even the rangers he caught sight of weren't doing much more differently than the rest of trainers, surprisingly enough. What chance did he have when even the professionals didn't dare even approach the mass of raging pokemon? It was all madness, what was happening at Mt. Moon, what was happening there, what they were doing and what they were fighting.
  
  And things were just getting started.
  
  There was a loud boom somewhere in the middle of the pandemonium and the very earth under Pierce's feet trembled. That was only a signal of what was to come though, because a handful of seconds later, the ground broke and shifted. It was like one of those movie scenes where the earth was split open by an earthquake, rocks rose from the ground like deformed pillars. Then purple Poison Sting needle's rained from above, and everything started looking even worse than before as winds picked up, creating a cyclone of dust, needles and rocks.
  
  And through it all, the only thing Pierce and everyone else could do was shout for their pokemon to try and mitigate the damage. That was when the rangers acted though, their much stronger pokemon being able to stop the mayhem before it reached them. All of a sudden, their efforts to stop the raging creatures, their little dam, was looking like the shoddiest thing Pierce had ever seen.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Four hours.
  
  That's how long the madness lasted. Even at that point, it hadn't really stopped, but it was then that the pokemon started calming down. As the chaos of lights and elements settled, Pierce's heart twisted into knots. The sight that greeted him when the air cleared was... He didn't even know how to describe it, but it was certainly worse than the chaos from before.
  
  There were pokemon spread over the ground unconscious - ' Or dead,' a part of his mind despaired - as far as his eyes could see. Limbs were twisted in clearly unnatural angles and some were completely detached. Blood was splattered all over the dull brown ground, staining it a disgusting tone of burgundy. Some pokemon weren't completely still, but Pierce didn't know if that was truly a good thing as he saw them try to crawl away pitifully.
  
  To make bad things worse, he noticed something else, something that wasn't even truly related to the pokemon. He saw some of the trainers around leaving. They just... recalled their pokemon and went on their way, like there wasn't a massacre in front of them. Like it was none of their business now that things had calmed down and there wasn't imminent danger anymore.
  
  It was disgusting.
  
  "Ok, everyone!" a ranger called then, and it took a moment for Pierce to realize that there were some move shenanigans involved for him and probably everyone else to be able to listen. "There'll be efforts made to help the wild pokemon recover from this. Anyone that catches a pokemon in this area will be punished for the next day. Anyone that wants to help, if you don't have a First Aid License, then find a ranger and help them however they might need."
  
  That was the end of it before the rangers started moving forward and doing their thing. Pierce saw even more people leaving after that, but some did offer to help, even on their own. He knew in which group he would be, that was for sure.
  
  "You don't have a license either?" the ranger he approached asked and Pierce shook his head. "Ok, take this," he said, throwing a Preserving Box at him that he barely managed to catch. "I'll ask you to pass me some things and I'll explain the basics as I go, pay attention and maybe I'll let you help out. Would certainly speed things up."
  
  "Shouldn't I need a license for that?" Pierce asked even as he moved behind the ranger.
  
  "Do you see this mess?" the ranger asked, waving a hand to signal the entirety of Zone 5 as he knelt down next to a butterfree with its wing twisted in an unnatural angle. "If it's just us rangers and a handful of licensed people, we'll be here for a while . We'll need all the help we can get, unofficially. Besides, everything you do, I'll check to make sure you don't mess up. Should, hopefully, speed things up at least a little. Now pass me a potion, will you? Also, if you are squeamish, you might want to look away from this."
  
  Pierce did as he asked, but looked on with a frown. He was a squeamish person, the sight of blood nauseated him on good days, but he didn't want to turn away. He wanted to help, and if that meant seeing, and possibly doing, some things that would turn his stomach and maybe make him lose his last meal... Then so be it.
  
  After feeling so helpless throughout the whole ordeal, he needed to do something. Else, he'd feel horrible for who knew how long, he just knew. So, he soldiered on as the ranger took the bent wing and, very carefully, twisted it back to a somewhat natural look.
  
  "Pokemon are resilient creatures. They can recover from almost anything as long as it isn't life threatening or really bad," the ranger explained as he took the potion Pierce offered and sprayed some of it on the wing. "That wing would have been fine with time, but time is something that these pokemon wouldn't have otherwise. So, we speed it up a little. Push a broken wing closer to where it should be saves quite a bit of the natural process and the potion heals any damage you might unknowingly do."
  
  That sounded like some aura shenanigans were involved in the healing process to Pierce. It also sounded like a very... blunt, barbaric way to treat wounds. He didn't say anything, but it seemed he didn't need to.
  
  "It's not ideal, but if we don't hurry up... Well, it might take us too long to go through all the pokemon here. It's not only a matter of saving time either. It's about saving their lives. Some of these pokemon need to be treated fast," the ranger continued then, as if he had read Pierce's thoughts. Maybe he had, for all he knew. Psychic humans were probably a thing and if not, maybe the guy had a psychic pokemon. "An antidote, please?" he said then and Pierce looked for the item while the man checked on a sandshrew.
  
  That's how it went from that moment on. The ranger would find a wounded pokemon and ask Pierce for the supplies he would need while dealing with the damage. It was a tedious, stressful task, but Pierce only needed to look at the injured pokemon to simply swallow any discomfort.
  
  They weren't the only ones in their group for long though. Soon, a woman that could have been around the age of Pierce's mother joined and then a teenager that seemed to be a new trainer too. At first, all of them were simply helping the ranger, Roy, check pokemon and holding supplies out for him. Soon though, the woman, Nancy, and Pierce himself were allowed to dress wounds themselves with Thomas, the younger man, extending the supplies to them with the help of his mankey.
  
  Pierce felt incredibly slow as he worked, like he was taking forever while the pokemon were suffering on the ground around him. However, he didn't want to mess up, or forget something. He also didn't want to waste Roy's time by making the man have to re-dress wounds and such. He saw it happen with a pidgeotto that Nancy had treated and one look at the woman's dismayed expression told him that he didn't want to be in her place.
  
  Better slow work than bad work, he decided.
  
  "Good as new, buddy, go along," he said softly, palming the space between the ears of the nidoran he'd treated. He was careful not to touch any of the poisonous barbs as he did so though. "Roy over there will check you and then you can go back to your pack, yeah?" he said, signaling to a group of the nidoran line that was situated off to the side. There were nidoran, nidorino and a nidoqueen there, the latter of which seemed to be the most wounded of the bunch, even if she was the one that was standing, looking over the group with an imposing gaze despite the fact that she was covered in bandages.
  
  The little thing Pierce had just treated gave a weak cry before it limped over to the ranger.
  
  He took a deep breath in before sighing wearily.
  
  He wasn't feeling any better than before, having had to see and deal with the wounds of so many pokemon. He guessed, however, that it was better than how he would feel if he hadn't done that. It was the lesser of two very shitty situations, he supposed.
  
  "Good work so far, man," Roy told him then, throwing him a water bottle. "Let's keep going, yeah?"
  
  "Yeah, of course. I just... yeah," Pierce mumbled, taking a gulp out of the bottle before pushing himself up and starting to walk towards the next pokemon, who had Narcissa perched next to it to signal Pierce where to go. "Thanks, girl," he told his pokemon companion, who responded with a buzz before floating herself up a little and dashing to the next pokemon so that she could start calming them down if needed or patch them with a String Shot.
  
  It was going to be a long, tiring day but...
  
  Maybe he would feel better after everything was said and done.
  
  Pierce could only hope.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  That... didn't turn out as I thought it would. I had plenty of plans for this, but you know it goes by now, guys. The situation twisted itself into being as you can see - er, read? - and I just went along with it.
  
  Maybe people expected more action from this than they were given, but I honestly couldn't extend it for longer than I did. I think it'd have turned out a lot of repetition of the same thing, since the whole situation was a chaotic mess until it stopped being so. So, I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted or how you'd have liked it, I guess.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Are you squeamish? I very much am.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City VI
  Pewter City VI
  
  Pierce practically fell on the Pokemon Center's chair once he made it back. He'd barely gathered enough energy to look for a cup of tea before he took a seat and that was about as much as he could manage. From there, he just sat there like his whole body was made of lead. It certainly felt like that, after all.
  
  It was night outside already and long past the hour Pierce would normally go back to sleep. Somehow though, despite how much he wanted to just rest... he couldn't bring himself to go take a shower and then just drop on his bed. The events of the day kept his weary mind reeling despite how tired he felt. It was annoying, for sure, but he'd deal with it.
  
  For a long minute, he just sat there, drinking his tea slowly while feeling like a zombie. After a few deep breaths, he slumped a little as his mind came back to him from Zone 5 and what he'd seen there. There were many things for his mind to consider and many things that he wanted to completely forget about. One in particular stuck to him though, ever since he'd heard the ranger mention it back there in the field.
  
  ' First Aid License,' he thought, leaning back on his chair as he finished the last bit of his drink. Dragging his feet, he moved towards the area where the Pokemon Center held the computers. Soon after, Pierce found himself reading on that particular permit.
  
  It was a certificate that one could get to signal that they did, indeed, know what they were doing to patch up pokemon. The "laws" about it were vague to say the least, to the point where Pierce didn't even know if they could be called such. It basically boiled down to the fact that normal people weren't supposed to heal wild or other people's pokemon if they were over a certain level of damage. The wrong procedure could just make things worse, something that Pierce had learned while working with Roy.
  
  It was certainly a lot less complicated than what he imagined medical procedures were like back in his own world, but the sheer number of different pokemon and their very specific needs made up for that simplicity. Getting one of those licenses allowed one to treat pokemon of any injuries before either setting them back so they could recover by themselves in the wild or patch one up before taking them to a Pokemon Center if the injuries were bad enough. That was the gist of it, basically. While someone without a license could do that too, if things went wrong, a license would at least offer some sort of back up that someone without it wouldn't get.
  
  It was basically a way to cover one's back, basically.
  
  ' Hm, maybe I can try to get one of those,' Pierce mused. It'd certainly be a handy thing to have. Hell, even without the prospect of it and some of the advantages, like the opening of some trainer jobs or jobs in general, learning how to treat pokemon had no cons and lots of pros. With those thoughts in mind, he made a list of the reading material that was "mandatory" for those that wanted to take the exams for the license. From there, he looked for other books and such that were related and some that weren't only very tangentially so.
  
  As he did, he worked on that, he glanced to the side when a nurse passed by in front of the door. The Pokemon Center was a busy place, despite the ungodly hour of the night that it was. They were likely having to deal with some of the severely damaged pokemon that were spread through the Zones. Even without those, many of the people that had been involved in the mess likely had to bring their pokemon for a check up.
  
  Pierce wasn't thinking about that though. Instead, his mind took him to his various, if vague, thoughts of the future. ' Maybe I can work in a Pokemon Center, it'd be nice to have pokemon around often,' he mused. While patching up the creatures out in Zone 5 had been hard, it had also been very rewarding. Watching a pokemon that could barely move, if at all, make their way by themselves after Pierce treated them had been very nice.
  
  ' Then again... I liked moving around, being out there in the forest... Maybe Lily got the right idea about me being a ranger,' he mused, looking through information on those. Then again, being thrown into places like the Zones even more than a normal trainer did sounded like a nightmare. In the end, he could only sigh and slump against his chair.
  
  He really should make a decision on that, or so he felt. He could put it off, there was no rush, he supposed, but that felt wrong. And yet, every option had things that he didn't like. Being a trainer depended on his ability to actually get good at it, being a ranger involved more danger than he was comfortable with, being a nurse felt more confined than he'd like... ' It's like the end of highschool all over again, damnit,' he grumbled internally before sighing again.
  
  Taking his things, he stood up and stretched his stiff limbs. Groaning, he moved out of the room. It was time to shower and be done with the godawful day, he supposed. His mind had finally calmed down and he felt his eyes grow heavy. Yes, going to bed sounded glorious right about that moment.
  
  He could leave the thinking for another time, he supposed. At least he had some plans for the near future with the First Aid License. It was a start, from there... Well, he'd take things one step at a time and see where that led him.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "So, how did things go in your Zone?" Lily said as they sat in front of each other the next morning for brunch. Many people seemed to be in the same boat as them, since everyone had either been too tired or had gone to bed too late for an early morning. Or both, really. By the looks of his traveling companion, Pierce guessed she was in the first group, since she'd likely arrived before he did.
  
  "It was a fucking mess," he muttered, holding his mug with both hands. "I don't know what was worse, having to contain the wild pokemon's rampage or having to see and treat them in the aftermath."
  
  "Sounds awful, yeah," Lily mumbled, taking a sip from her own drink. "On our side, clearing the passage was relatively easy, but there were a lot of wild pokemon rushing at us. Even when we managed, the ones inside weren't doing much better. On top of that... There were Rockets there," she explained to him, only barely whispering the last part and making him tense up. He'd already known that, or at least suspected, but it was another thing entirely. "It was... stressful, but I guess it wasn't as bad as your Zone. I got lucky."
  
  "No luck involved in this mess," Pierce said then, turning to look at one of the screens in the hall. "How long do you think it'll take for things to calm down?"
  
  "For pokemon? They'll probably be more jumpy and aggressive than normal for a while. Especially those that live in Mt. Moon... There goes my chance for a Clefairy, I guess," the girl commented dejectedly. "Mt. Moon itself should be open again in about a week, I guess, unless something delays it or the like. I'm not very sure myself. As for the people... Well, the rangers and the police will be wary for quite some time and the trainers will do much the same too. Pewter should be mostly fine already, even if anyone with a pokemon will be ready for another call just in case."
  
  "That... was a lot more detailed than what I expected, honestly," Pierce commented, drawing a sheepish expression from Lily as her cheeks dusted with pink. "Good to know though," he said, throwing his head back as he tried to organize his thoughts. "Guess we'll be stuck for some more time than we thought."
  
  "Yeah, the tournament will either be rescheduled or canceled altogether so it'll be mostly just training, is what I'm guessing," Lily replied with a sigh. "Honestly, I'm fine with that. Sure, there won't be much traveling for a bit, but I think I prefer that to going to Mt. Moon right now."
  
  "Can't say that I blame you," Pierce commented, deflating on his chair. "God, I just want to go to sleep again..."
  
  "Same," his traveling companion mumbled, looking about as done with life as he imagined he did and just like the rest of the people inside the Pokemon Center. "You got your cash transfer already?" she asked then, to which Pierce shrugged.
  
  "Haven't checked, honestly," he replied.
  
  To be honest, if it weren't for the people at Zone 5 that had asked the rangers for when they could expect their payment, he wouldn't have even known that was a thing. Somehow, he hadn't found that part when reading about trainer duties. Basically, while trainers were required and heavily encouraged in a crisis such as the one they'd just gone through, they were also incentivized with monetary gains.
  
  He'd had to search that specifically to get more information the night prior.
  
  When one asked for a Zone to go or where otherwise directed somewhere by a Pokemon Center, there'd be a record in place about it. Later, rangers would confirm that you were, indeed, there to begin with. If that wasn't possible, one could appeal saying that they had been there and a Psychic would be brought to verify. From there, according to how much one did during the whole event, one could earn more than the basic reward and such.
  
  All very interesting stuff, really.
  
  "You think you might have managed more than minimum pay?" Pierce asked, leaning back against this chair. "I stayed to help heal pokemon, so I guess I did."
  
  "I guess so too," Lily replied with a slight shrug. "Everything was basically done when we cleared the entrance, there was no need to stay and try to make it safer and such. So, I think that's a no for me."
  
  "Makes sense," he mumbled with a sigh that his companion copied. "God, I might actually go to sleep again after this," he added, sitting up straighter for a moment before continuing with his meal.
  
  "I know what you mean," Lily said with a bitter expression on her face. "We probably shouldn't though."
  
  "I know," he groaned. "Guess I'll see about that job with the ponyta and then... might get some training done or some reading... I got a list of books that I want to get to study."
  
  "Anything interesting?" Lily asked, perking up a bit, which Pierce hadn't even realized he was missing. After traveling for days with the girl's cheerful self, he wasn't used to seeing her so... down.
  
  "I think I'll try to get a First Aid License," he told her, smiling slightly at the excited look on her face. "Sounded useful enough."
  
  "I might join you on that. It definitely could come in handy down the line," she commented, her expression turning into a thoughtful one. "You think I could go with you for that job?"
  
  "I mean, I'm not sure Arnold will agree to pay twice as much, but maybe we could still earn some more money that way. Not sure you think being paid less is worth it though," Pierce answered, considering how much work there was at the ranch and what he knew of his employer. "Although, with this mess, Arnold might need more help than usual, so there's that."
  
  "Guess we can see," Lily replied with a slight shrug, her previously subdued demeanor coming back again. "I'm fine with less pay if you are, I just... don't want to be alone now."
  
  "Sure, that works for me. The more the merrier, right?" Pierce said with a smile that widened when the girl returned the gesture. Yeah, it was definitely better to have his traveling companion be her usual self.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Don't get me wrong," Lily said, dragging her feet on the ground next to him, not that he blamed her honestly. "Arnold is nice and the ponyta are cute and beautiful, but that was so tiring," she whined, to which he could only agree.
  
  "At least he agreed to pay us both full fee, right?" he pointed out, receiving a half-hearted hum in response. "But yeah, at least it had the added bonus of actually helping the pokemon, right? They were quite spooked when we got there, but they were looking much better when we left."
  
  "I guess that's true enough," the girl conceded with a huff. "You are not dragging me back to work like that again though. I'd like something less draining for a few days," she added a moment later.
  
  "Understandable," he told her with a slight grin. "I'm guessing you won't do much for the rest of the day?"
  
  "Yeah, probably go to the Pokemon Center, get some light training done and that'll be it," she answered with a shrug and a sigh. They were sighing a whole lot that day, Pierce noticed. "What about you?"
  
  "Well, I'd like to get some of the books I looked up so I can get started on that. I'll look around to see if I find those, after that... probably the same as you, really," he replied, looking as the more urban part of the city came closer the more they walked. "Don't feel like doing much else, to be honest."
  
  "Sa-" Lily started, before stopping mid word. Not that Pierce could really blame her for doing that. As far as he knew, it wasn't everyday that a pokemon appeared in front of you in a flash of light. For a long second, the two of them stared at the yellow, humanoid creature with fox features. "Did... Did an abra just teleport in front of us, Pierce?"
  
  "I think so?" he replied, baffled, yes, but not quite as much as Lily seemed to be. "Pretty sure this isn't supposed to be a normal thing," he added wryly.
  
  "They are supposed to teleport away from trainers," Lily told him, as if he should already know that, which... Was probably the case, he guessed.
  
  "Eh, any reason you are here, little one?" Pierce asked, crouching in front of the thing as it sat on the ground. As he did, he heard the creature let out a soft yip. Then, slowly, it raised its small arm in his direction. That's when a picture flashed through his mind, like a thought or a memory, but one that he hadn't seen himself. "Woah that..."
  
  He, for lack of a better word, looked at the picture for a long moment. It was an image of a gargantuan onix the size of a building, and not even a small one. That wasn't the important part though, at least not to the abra. Instead, the focus was the much smaller rock serpent that was coiled next to the bigger one. It was wounded, and a lot. Pierce could also recognize the signs of poisoning amongst the rest of the "normal" damage.
  
  "Ok... We can get the rangers, they can probably help if that's what you-" Pierce started, but he was interrupted by a sudden, sharp and strong feeling of... rejection. Yeah, the little psychic wasn't a fan of that idea. Then it proceeded to point at him with its little finger and more pictures, unclear but still understandable pictures flashed in his mind. Many beedrill were shown and some other pokemon too. Pierce wasn't too sure what that meant, but he did understand that the psychic wanted him and him alone. "Say, Lily, you up for a little adventure into the unknown and to see the biggest onix I know of?"
  
  "Eh... Sure," the girl said weakly. "For the record, I'd prefer to be well rested for the next adventure though."
  
  "Noted," Pierce replied, feeling about the same himself. However, there was a pokemon that needed assistance... He just hoped he didn't screw this up... Wait. "Actually, little one," he started, still crouching in front of the abra. "Can we give the rangers a call? Just so they can make sure I don't screw this up, yeah? I'm no professional."
  
  To that, he received a reluctant agreement, or so he understood the psychic message.
  
  "Can you do that, Lily? Tell them that the pokemon want me though, so it might cause trouble if they show themselves. I just... want to make sure," Pierce said, receiving a nod from the girl.
  
  "Sure thing. I'll get to that," Lily answered, already taking out her pokedex from her backpack and starting to type on it. ' Huh, first time I'm seeing her use that for communication...' he noticed idly before turning to the psychic pokemon that was acting as messenger for them
  
  "So, how do we do this, little one?" he asked, before Narcissa let go of his back, having stayed silent the whole time. A second later, Pierce found himself giving an abra a piggy back ride. Not something he'd expected to happen, but such was his life, it seemed. Then he saw the little thing pointing towards one direction and he gave a slight nod. "And so we go, I guess," he mumbled, starting to walk. "I thought I'd had enough excitement for the day."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  It turned out that their trek wasn't a short one and the pair of trainers could only be grateful that they had their bags with everything inside them. It'd make things easier, not only because Pierce would have the supplies he needed for his impromptu quest but also because they'd apparently need to sleep outside at the rate they were going. Not something either of them was looking forward to, but it was how it was.
  
  Pierce also had something else in his mind. Something that he was getting progressively more nervous about.
  
  Psychics.
  
  He'd already had run-ins with some of them. With Riggs, the ranger that had come along back with the beedrill swarm incident. In Zone 5 when the rangers would sometimes use psychic messages to communicate stuff. And now, with the abra he was carrying on his shoulders.
  
  All of those carried a danger and that was for someone to find out his situation. He wasn't sure that would be a terrible thing, but it could be and he didn't want to risk it. Maybe it was paranoid of him, but there was a chance that things would go South in some way. Call him a coward, but his situation was manageable and even good in some respects, so he didn't want to risk changing it in an unpredictable way.
  
  So far, it seemed that he'd escaped notice, probably because his encounters with things that could read his mind had been brief and with more pressing matters at hand. Now though? It'd been prolonged exposure and he hadn't managed to keep his mind away from that. Hell, once he realized that, he seemed to be unable to stop thinking about it.
  
  ' Stupid pink elephants,' he grumbled to himself.
  
  The one saving grace was that nothing seemed to have happened so far. The abra hadn't so much as twitched when his thoughts inevitably touched on things he'd prefer others not to know. So, that was a bit of a relief, he'd admit, even if he was still very nervous.
  
  Regardless of all that, the rangers had contacted Lily and him some time before, telling them that they'd be on stand by and keeping an eye on things to make sure that things went well. Another thing the rangers had told them was that the onix pair was a mother and her child, the former of which seemed to be extremely on guard and paranoid. They'd been told that the onix had likely sent the abra around looking for help for the child and the psychic had found Pierce and decided that yeah, he would do.
  
  They'd also apparently tried to communicate with the mother but she was having none of it. It seemed that, since the abra had found someone good enough, she'd take him and him alone. ' How did I, of all people, get dragged into this? I want to help that onix, don't get me wrong, but still... This is some bullshit,' he grumbled to himself as he continued moving, following the abra's scarce directions.
  
  According to Lily, it was no wonder the psychic was so... lazy, for lack of a better term. The species apparently slept for around 18 hours a day due to the strain their powers put on them and their brains. An interesting tidbit to hear, he supposed. He was pretty sure he'd known something to that effect at some point, but he had seemingly forgotten at some point.
  
  "Ah, I think I should stay here? The rangers say I should," Lily mumbled next to him and he nodded, too taken aback by the imposing figure in front of them. A moment later, the rocks in front of him rose as the onix uncoiled, her head looming over them in a way that felt very menacing indeed. "Good luck," his friend whispered to him, taking a step back, not that he could really blame her for that.
  
  "I came to help your child," Pierce said, trying to keep his voice even and his back straight, something that was quite difficult that the thing could probably open her mouth and swallow him whole. With no trouble whatsoever at that, which made things even worse.
  
  " Relax," a ranger told him with a psychic message. Easy for them to say, they weren't the ones face to face with the gigantic thing. " She's wary, but she'll be ok so long as you keep a cool head and don't do anything stupid. Having abra bring you gives you all the faith you need to get the job done and be on your way. Think of the nice bonus you'll get for this. A rampaging onix mother would be bad so you'll get paid very well for this service."
  
  It felt like he was doing entirely too many services as of late, honestly. Pierce would have much preferred to do without those. Sadly, it was not to be, so he took a deep breath in and sighed, taking a step forward.
  
  "Your child will be fine, just let me have a look and I'll start treating them, ok?" Pierce asked, making sure his voice was soft. He could have done a better job at that, but at least he didn't seem to have failed too hard, considering the onix moved and made space for him to approach the younger rock type. At the sight of it, he couldn't help but feel his insides twisting into knots and his throat closing a bit.
  
  The creature was bigger than Pierce himself was, but it was positively tiny when one compared it to its mother. That only made the wounds and poison signs even worse, really. On top of that, it seemed to not even be reacting to what was happening around it.
  
  " Ok, this is bad," the ranger said in Pierce's mind, which was very much not reassuring. " But we can take care of it. You have potions and antidotes aplenty, you said, right?"
  
  ' Yeah?'
  
  " Good, you should be able to patch the child up but it'll require attention for an extended period of time to make sure it's fine. It's very young and the wounds and poison were left to their devices for a while already, which hasn't helped. It'd die if left alone and its condition might worsen even if you heal it and go away," the ranger explained, making Pierce gulp down as he took a few steps towards the child and took off his backpack, keeping an eye on the mama onix.
  
  Which was good, because her growl almost froze the blood in his veins.
  
  "Stay with Lily, ok, Narcissa?" he called, and the response he got told him that the bug type was not happy with him. That'd be a conversation for another time though. Fortunately, she listened to him. Pierce really hadn't been looking forward to having an argument with his pokemon right then and there.
  
  For the moment, he had a patient to treat, so he focused on that. ' Ok so...' he thought, pulling out the boxes that held his medical supplies. ' Where do I start?'
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Who the fuck cursed Pierce with the "live in interesting times" thingy? Because I swear it wasn't me. What the fuck is this? How did the story go off rails onto its own path so fast? At least my other stories at least take longer, dammit all.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I don't know if I've asked this before (Yes, I know there are only a few chapters but my memory is bad and I'm lazy) but what do you think Pierce will end up doing after his little or maybe not so little journey?
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City VII
  Pewter City VII
  
  [Scott Jobe]
  
  ' Ok, that wound's cared for, on to the next one,' he relayed to the poor bastard that mama onix had decided was the best person to treat her child. Scott honestly didn't know what was up with that, but things were as they were and there was nothing his coworkers and him could do to change things. They could only hope that the guy, Pierce, would do a good enough job and deal with the situation. To the man's credit, he'd been doing well so far. ' You know the drill, check the rock plates-'
  
  " And make sure they aren't touching when I spray potion over the wounds unless they are supposed to be one single plate, I know," Pierce interrupted, finishing for him. The tone of the thought was curt, but respectful enough. Neither Scott nor the other rangers that were around to keep an eye on things could really blame the guy for being tense.
  
  They would have been like that themselves, if they had to deal with a mother onix looming over their shoulder like that. Nevermind a guy that seemed to have started his journey less than a month before. The poor bastard only had a beedrill and a friend with a bulbasaur and a spearow, which didn't make things much better. If the older onix decided that she didn't like what was happening... Well, chances were things would end badly for everyone involved, Pierce especially.
  
  Sometimes, Scott hated his job.
  
  As it was though, they could only roll with the punches and try to make the best of their situation. Mama onix didn't want anyone else getting involved but Pierce, per the young abra's recommendation. What was up with that, Scott didn't know, but another ranger that had been stationed around Pewter for longer had said that it made perfect sense for the onix to listen to the psychic's opinion.
  
  He'd ask about that later, but for the moment, they had more concerning things to focus on. Mainly the rampage risk that mama onix represented. Even with a full team of rangers, things wouldn't be pretty if the rock type snapped. Especially with things as they were around Mt. Moon. The last thing they needed was to give the already uneasy pokemon in the area a reason to go ballistic again. Nevermind the fragile stability that the mountain and its caves had after the Rocket's attack.
  
  Things needed to be resolved peacefully.
  
  So, they did the best they could with the shitty situation they were in.
  
  Fortunately, Pierce had already some experience in first aid of pokemon, having helped with the aftermath of Zone 5. That was a great silver lining if Scott ever saw one. He was also very careful with his handling of the young onix and he seemed to keep himself calm enough not to trigger the older one. Props to him, Scott knew many trainers much more experienced than him would have been scared out of their minds in his situation. Hell, he knew some rangers that wouldn't have dealt with it as well as Pierce was.
  
  ' That's a nasty wound,' Scott relayed then, seeing the next injury in front of Pierce through the connection his slowpoke created with the man. The plates of the onix were broken and pieces had been straight out pulled off. That was bad, because not only did that mean there was likely to be a lot of bleeding, but the recovery would take longer and the chances of the wound reopening were big. ' You'll have to take off the small pieces that are mostly torn off already and pull all the cracked pieces together as best you can. It's gonna hurt a lot, so you should warn them, especially the mother. You'd also need to have something to place over it to stop any bleeding once you are done applying potion, also to keep the plates from pulling away. I'll have it teleported to you. The young onix should also remain as still as possible.'
  
  Pierce stayed still for a moment, processing that message before nodding slowly.
  
  " Peachy, great, amazing," the man thought out loud, even if he was most likely doing so to himself. " Positively awesome... Fuck my life," he thought them, taking a deep breath in.
  
  They all watched then as the man turned to regard mama onix, who was all but staring a hole through the poor bastard. The rangers tensed as Pierce talked to her, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Wild pokemon were unpredictable in the best of situations, and this was far from a best case scenario, that was for sure. Fortunately, either the onix really trusted the abra's judgment or Pierce was really just that good with pokemon, because the mother only gave a tight nod when the man told her of how things were likely to go.
  
  Maybe it was both?
  
  Regardless, Pierce set to work as the mama onix curled around the man and her child, resting her massive head next to the much smaller one of her offspring. The gigantic rock type did her best to calm down her child and the rangers watched on, still at the ready while Pierce worked, with Scott, the most medically capable of the team supplying advice here and there. It was a slow, painful and dangerous process though, and-
  
  " Fuck," Pierce cursed internally as the young onix twitched, undoing much of his work and making things more difficult as it worsened the wound's bleeding. " Ok, ok, calm," the man thought to himself then with deep breaths as he continued working.
  
  ' You are doing great,' Scott relayed, not even having to lie. ' You'd make a great nurse or doctor,' he praised then, drawing a stiff grin from Pierce.
  
  " I was thinking of studying for the First Aid License," the man replied, taking a deep breath in once more after he finished applying a full bottle of potion on the wound and preparing to dress the wound to finish that part.
  
  ' Well, Pierce, I can honestly say I don't think you'll have any trouble with that, all things considered,' Scott relayed to the man, drawing a much more relaxed smile as the man weary pulled away from the wound that he'd just finished treating. ' Halfway there, buddy.'
  
  " Joy," the man muttered in his mind as he tiredly moved to continue the job.
  
  All in all, things could have been much worse, even if the rangers were a little wary of Pierce. Sure, the man seemed nice enough, but there was something distinctly worrying about him. Something that, while not damning, did warrant some level of caution.
  
  He had a mental block.
  
  Now, this wasn't the first time Scott or any ranger encountered someone with one, that was for sure. It wasn't precisely common but... It happened. The problem is how one could end up with one of those. One way was to be a Psychic Arts practitioner, which they knew Pierce wasn't. Those were all registered and besides, they were fairly obvious under the scrutiny of another. A second one was to have a psychic pokemon put one in place, but that wasn't it either.
  
  So, that left the last option, which was the worrying part.
  
  Trauma.
  
  A moment of one's life being particularly... bad, could cause one's mind to put a block on things. Not always completely blocking memories or knowledge but certainly leaving a scar in one's mind. People with blocks tended to be... unpredictable in a way that had nothing to do with their minds being somewhat protected against reading nor their trauma. After all, neither one nor the other meant someone was unstable, but when they had blocks... Things changed.
  
  Fortunately, Pierce seemed to be normal enough, despite the presence of the block and what it represented. Sure, the man's thoughts could take an odd turn sometimes and the block became more glaringly obvious or almost inconspicuous at random times but... All in all, he was probably one of the most well adjusted blocked minds the rangers had encountered.
  
  Not that they were taking any chances. A few hours of knowing the man wouldn't bring their guards down, but it was better than some of the other cases they'd encountered through their careers. Now they only needed to make sure things went well and they wouldn't have a massive stone snake going berserker, considering the already shaky state of the general area.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Pierce Lawson]
  
  "Ok, that's the last of it," he said, letting a long breath out as he closed his eyes. He was so very tired at that moment. Treating the onix child hadn't been terribly exhausting, really. At least not physically speaking. However, being so tense, with the gargantuan mother looming over him at every step and every little mistake able to cause pain, damage, or complications on his patient was...
  
  Yeah, it took its toll.
  
  " Great job, Pierce," Scott, the ranger that had guided him through the whole process, told him, making him nod absently. " From here, it should be a piece of cake. However, it'd be better if you took some notes about what to do and I'll still be here for every check up that the onix will need, just in case. The hardest part is done though."
  
  ' Thanks,' Pierce replied, lying on the ground and closing his eyes. He almost wanted to just fall asleep. However, there was stuff to do still. ' So, about that food?' he asked. Because the rangers had told him that they'd supply him with a Preserving Box with food for the onix child since it wouldn't be able to move for some time. ' I'm so tired...'
  
  " Just a little more and you can go to the Pokemon Center and rest. We'll even teleport you there ourselves," Scott said then, and Pierce grew a little nervous. Half of the things he'd thought but didn't really want to communicate to the rangers had been heard and it frightened him. What other things had they heard? " The psychic is gonna arrive now," the ranger said and Pierce groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position.
  
  The onix mother's head gave a sharp turn as a flash of light announced the arrival of a gardevoir. The psychic was gone just as fast as it appeared though, leaving behind the Preserving Box for Pierce to use. Standing up with a groan, he moved to open the box and saw that there were entire bags of kibble, not unlike the big ones he remembered for pet food from back in his own world. With a slight frown, he wondered how it would be best to go about it.
  
  Pierce could just set the kibble on the ground next to onix's head, for sure, but that felt... lazy. He could also hand feed it, but that would take a while, with the thing's size. Then an idea popped in his mind and he searched through his Storage Box to retrieve a small bowl. Yeah, that'd do.
  
  Approaching the two rock types, he gave a soft smile that he hoped was friendly and peaceful enough not to upset the mother. He'd been doing a lot of that with basically everything he did since he arrived. That was probably the most exhausting part of the whole process, really. Still, the mother didn't move, which was good enough for Pierce to get closer.
  
  Carrying the bag of kibble and the bowl was a bit of a hassle, but not that bad, fortunately. Once there, he ripped the thing open and set out to feed the little one. Plunging the bowl in the bag, Pierce used it as a big spoon to feed the rock type.
  
  "Come on, big guy, time for your meal," Pierce said, very grateful for the rangers telling him the gender of the onix. It'd helped him avoid the awkward moment of doubt where he'd had to ask. Which was nice, he didn't need the added stress, honestly.
  
  The child weakly opened his mouth, which was more than big enough for Pierce to move the bowl inside and then drop the kibble inside his mouth. Fortunately, it wasn't big enough for that to be too little food. As he went for a second serving though, Pierce heard the pokemon whine and his mother rumble something in return.
  
  "Everything ok, big guy? Do I have to check something?" he asked, concerned. Surprisingly, it was the mother that replied, shaking her head as she gently caressed the side of her son's head. From that, Pierce took a guess. "I know it probably still hurts, buddy, but you'll feel better in no time."
  
  " The poison should be cured in a few hours tops," Scott relayed to him. " Most wounds should be fine in a day or two and he should be fine in a week, full recovery in two weeks at maximum."
  
  "You should feel a lot better tomorrow and you'll be able to move around in a few days, big guy," Pierce summarized, placing a hand on the side of the "little" onix that the mother wasn't occupying. "I promise, alright? You just gotta be strong for a bit more and everything will be fine," he told the child, getting a soft rumble from the child as it rubbed his head against his hand. "Come on, you gotta eat, it'll help your body recover faster, alright?" Pierce added and the pokemon slowly opened his mouth again.
  
  " A full bag should be alright for him," Scott said after a few minutes of Pierce feeding the rock type. " And that's all for now. Should have to feed him later today and then that's it. More feeding tomorrow and checking the wounds around this time and so on until they are recovered," the ranger informed him.
  
  ' Great,' Pierce thought sarcastically, even if he did mean it a bit. Sure, suddenly turning into the personal nurse of an onix child was a bit annoying and his mother was a bit scary but... Well, it was nice to help the not-so-little one.
  
  " If it helps, you'll be paid quite a bit for this, as we told you before," Scott told him, sounding amused. " And this'll be a nice thing added to your record. All in all, not a bad thing, huh?"
  
  As he looked at the onix child going to sleep, Pierce could only agree.
  
  ' So, I can go now?' he asked.
  
  " Sure thing, one of us will get you from the Pokemon Center when you need to come again if that's agreeable with you," Scott answered and Pierce considered it. " If somewhere else works better, we can pick you up wherever. It'd be better if you stayed in Pewter until this is over though."
  
  ' Yeah, I imagined,' Pierce replied. He guessed he should have been annoyed with the whole thing being dumped on him, but he didn't mind as much as he thought he should. He had no rush to do anything and, well, he was getting paid for it, so it was fine, he supposed. ' The Pokemon Center is good. Also... give me a minute, if it's not too much trouble.'
  
  " Sure thing, Pierce," the ranger said.
  
  Standing up and stretching a little, Pierce groaned before moving to do one last thing before going to the Pokemon Center. He really wanted to just drop on a bed and stay there for the rest of the day, if at all possible. However, he did want to do something first.
  
  "Say," he started, giving the mother onix one last look. "Do you want some food yourself?" he asked, receiving a shake of the gargantuan thing's head. "Ok then, can you help me with something?" he continued, receiving a narrow-eyed look from the onix as he checked inside his own Preserving Box. "Do you know what kind of berries Abra likes?" he asked, making the stone snake tilt her head.
  
  He started pulling out some of the berries he hadn't yet turned into pokeblocks. He was sort of going through them, testing what Narcissa liked so far. He wanted to do some tests to see if he could find some good combinations. He'd even roped Talon and Root into it. So far results had been... mixed, which was why he wouldn't be offering any to wild pokemon.
  
  Better safe than sorry.
  
  With that in mind, he started setting the different berries he had on to the ground under the watchful gaze of mama onix. Now that he didn't have to treat her child and potentially cause him pain that would put him in danger, Pierce was much calmer in her presence. Sure, she was positively massive, but that didn't mean much when any pokemon could kill him if they tried, did it? It made her more imposing, of course, but with a situation a little calmer, it wasn't that bad.
  
  "So, you think he'd like any of the-?" Pierce started asking before he was interrupted by a flash of light from abra. The psychic then picked up the berry it had appeared in front of and took a small bite off of it. "Hey there, little one. I thought you'd be sleeping. Enjoy then. You want another or is that enough?" he asked then, making the yellow creature look at the assortment of berries before it shook its head. "Well, then, see you later, you three," he said, waving a hand and getting a rumble from Mama Onix and a lazy wave from Abra, who was still eating its berry.
  
  Blinking, Pierce got the distinct impression that... Oh.
  
  Well, at least he now knew that abra was a boy.
  
  Good to know.
  
  ' I'm ready now,' Pierce called with his thoughts as he finished gathering everything inside the Boxes and set those inside his backpack. Stepping away from the wild pokemon and towards Lily and their pokemon, who had settled comfortably some distance away. Instantly, before even the rangers could do anything, Narcissa dashed towards him, circling around and latching onto his back, over the backpack.
  
  "Hey, girl, missed me?" he asked, amused, before chuckling as he felt the bug type squeeze his neck a little with her pincers. "Maybe Mama Onix will be fine with you next time. I'll see if I can convince her."
  
  Judging by the chittering he got, his pokemon partner rather liked that idea.
  
  "Everything done?" Lily asked as he reached them, standing up.
  
  "Yeah, I'm gonna have to come check on them regularly, but the harder part is done," he replied with a smile. "Anything interesting happen?"
  
  "Not much, we just kinda kept our eyes on you. Honestly," the girl replied, dusting her clothes. "Any trouble?"
  
  "Some, but things went better than I expected. Just, you know, injured child, worried mother, basically. But worse in both cases," Pierce explained with a shrug, as he looked around. Either the rangers hadn't heard him or they were busy with something.
  
  " Sorry for the delay, something came up and there were some... antsy pokemon to deal with," a new voice said before a gardevoir appeared next to them. " She'll take you back to the Pokemon Center."
  
  ' Thank you.'
  
  " No, thank you, young man," the voice replied, and with that, they were all transported back.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  "Never a dull moment with you, eh, Pierce?" she asked, drawing a weary chuckle from the man. She could understand. She had been a safe distance away from the onix mother and even then she felt uneasy. Lily couldn't begin to guess how it would feel to have to take care of her child while she loomed over her.
  
  It had been a nice little adventure though, after the whole thing passed.
  
  "I wish there'd be a dull moment or two, honestly," the man said, running his fingers through his hair as he tilted his head back where he sat to look at the ceiling. "It feels like all of a sudden it was one thing after the other. I miss the most exciting thing being a visit from a few weedle, you know?"
  
  "You would," Lily replied with a wry smile. Not that she really blamed the guy, but still. "So, I'm guessing we add staying until the onix child is healed to the list?"
  
  "I mean, if you want to leave before that-"
  
  "Nah, it's fine," she interrupted. No way she was traveling on her own. Besides, being around Pierce was proving to be entertaining, if nothing else. Well, she could do without the scares, but that was just part of being a trainer, from what she knew. Furthermore, despite Pierce's apparent ability to get in... interesting situations, he was just as good at getting out of them, from what she could see and he was also good when dealing with wild pokemon. "There was that tournament this weekend too but guess we can stay some more time if it comes to it."
  
  "Speaking of, how do you feel about that?" Pierce asked her. "Will Root and Talon be enough?"
  
  "I hope so, the minimum was two pokemon but that's the minimum," Lily said, unsure. "Tomorrow's the last day to sign for it too so... I don't know," she admitted. Entering with the minimum pokemon which were also unevolved sounded like a recipe for defeat, but... Well, it was what it was. She hadn't found any other pokemon that really caught her attention so far. Her two partners would have to do, she supposed. She knew they'd at least put up a decent fight, that was for sure, so she might as well try.
  
  "Hm, I was thinking something about that, actually," Pierce said, taking a gulp from his glass of cold water before, grimacing and standing up. "Can you come for a second?" he asked then, tilting his head to the back of the Pokemon Center and making Lily blink at him.
  
  "Uh, sure?" she replied hesitantly standing to follow him as they moved to the training area. There were several other trainers around, but they found a sort-of secluded part to stand in before Pierce let Narcissa out of her pokeball, with Lily following suit and letting out Root and Talon.
  
  "So, Lily here wants to enter a tournament," he explained to his own pokemon, making Lily frown. "You know, a bunch of battles to decide which of the ones that enter is the strongest," he added, making the beedrill buzz, sounding about as confused as Lily herself felt. "How would you feel about joining her team for the tournament?" he asked then, making her eyes widen. If the way Narcissa almost fell to the ground was any indication, the bug type was as surprised as she felt.
  
  "Pierce?"
  
  "What?" he asked, turning towards Lily with a grin. "Narcissa, you love battles. And Lily, you'd have more chances with her added to your team. Everyone wins," he told them, as if it was a totally reasonable thing to do, which it wasn't. It was... possible, Lily supposed, but she didn't remember ever hearing about people sharing pokemon like that. "I can't even try to participate, since I don't have two pokemon for it. And I'll be kind of busy with the onix child. This way you can keep battling and Lily can, maybe, win the prize of the tournament. Which I'd like a part of if it happens. What do you girls say?" the man asked them.
  
  "It's... I guess... Is that even allowed?" Lily asked, unsure. She didn't think she remembered any rules about that. Then again, as she said, she didn't really know.
  
  "I mean, I read the rules when I looked up the tournament and there was nothing about that. Besides, I could trade you Narcissa temporarily for it. It'd be a week at most. I think there's at least that much trust between us. I don't think you'll run away with her," Pierce told her, positively sure of what he was saying.
  
  "Uh, Narcissa?" Lily asked, looking at the bug type, who had been staring at her trainer for the whole speech. Her call made the beedrill turn towards her before she turned back to her trainer.
  
  With a buzz, Narcissa gave a sharp stab towards Pierce before chittering something.
  
  "Girl, you'll be back with me in no time. Hell, it probably wouldn't even change anything, just that you'll have to fight with Lily for the tournament and that's it. She's already spending most of her days with us, right? Might need to get some training with her and Talon and Root to get used to them but that's about it," Pierce explained, and suddenly Lily was starting to feel more sure about his idea.
  
  Sure, it sounded weird, but the man's ideas and thoughts usually did. Honestly, this sounded like an interesting thing to try out, if nothing else, and it would increase her chances of winning too. Besides, better odds in the tournament would likely at least result in more fights, which meant more experience for her pokemon, nevermind the extra experience Narcissa herself would get.
  
  ' It's not a half bad idea,' she mused, a slight grin spreading on her face.
  
  As Lily traded a glance with the beedrill, she saw the bug type nod.
  
  Her smile widened.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, several things in this chapter for me to expect commentary on. Especially that last part, of course, but there's other stuff too. Regardless, I feel like I should be nervous but I'm really not. So... I'm in a weird spot, I guess.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you have a favorite pokemon region? Mine is... Between Hoenn and Sinnoh, I think.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Pewter City VIII
  Pewter City VIII
  
  "Both, Narcissa, at the same time!" Lily called and Pierce looked on in interest, holding a cup of tea in his hand. On his lap was a notebook and next to him a small pile of books he'd gotten to study from. Most of them were what he'd picked up for his First Aid License but there were a few others that held very interesting information too.
  
  As he studied a bit before having to go check on the onix, Pierce had decided to sit on the sidelines while Lily, her pokemon and Narcissa got a little training underway. There was some hesitation from both his pokemon and his trainer friend when it came to commands, but that was to be expected, he supposed. Lily's voice would more often than not be unsure when calling an order, Narcissa would take a moment to process the commands, sometimes the calls would be misunderstood...
  
  There was room for improvement there, that was for sure. However, they were making progress, it seemed. Pierce was fairly confident that the two would get things under control for the tournament, which had him looking forward to it, really.
  
  Still, Narcissa didn't let a single opportunity pass by to make it known that she'd much prefer to have him in Lily's place. He'd already had to assuage her apparent worries that no, he wasn't gonna give her up. Maybe this had been a bad idea in that regard. Interesting and convenient as the whole thing was, it seemed to have shaken his pokemon a little.
  
  ' At least we're unlikely to need to do this in the future,' he mused. He'd told those same words to Narcissa too, which seemed to have calmed her down a fair bit. It was even the truth, since with some more time, Lily and him were more likely to get more pokemon in their teams, and they wouldn't need to share pokemon to have better odds.
  
  Narcissa following Lily's order brought him back to the present. Interestingly, the girl's command had been to use String Shot and Poison Sting at the same time. Which the beedrill did her best to pull off... With pretty good results, Pierce guessed. The white thread of the former shot from the stinger on her abdomen. At the same time, one of her arm-stingers' tips shone purple before shooting the poisoned needles.
  
  "Oh, I liked that," Pierce commented, drawing the attention of the people that were training. He waved them to continue then, grinning and a little uncomfortable with the attention he'd unwittingly broughton himself. He should be more careful about that, Lily and Narcissa were already having enough trouble working with each other out of nowhere.
  
  With that out of the way, Pierce pulled out his Training Book - a notebook he dedicated for notes on training and such, obviously - and made a note of that move "combo". It was simpler than most of the ideas he'd come up with. It made him feel pretty dumb, honestly.
  
  "Need to come up with a name for that, make it an actual move in the arsenal, maybe..." he mumbled to himself as he made a note of that too. He'd probably have to check with Narcissa.
  
  As stated, he had already been brainstorming personalized moves with what Narcissa had in her arsenal and even some options that were next in the list to learn. However, he'd wanted to focus on the moves they were already working on and the ones the beedrill already knew. Building a solid foundation was what he wanted to dedicate their time to for the moment. However, what Lily had called for was simple enough not to really do anything to affect the training he was putting Narcissa through.
  
  It was just using a simple two move combo that didn't really require adjustment besides having to... Well, use both moves. It wasn't like trying to mix Harden and Iron Defense, which both needed to cover the whole body of the pokemon, since Poison Sting and String Shot could be used through different parts of Narcissa's body. ' Yeah, that was a good call. Should have thought of that myself,' Pierce mused to himself, wondering if there was anything else like that he could think of.
  
  ' Bug Bite might work with Fury Attack or Twinneedle. It needs very close combat though, which is a bit of a problem,' Pierce thought to himself. Being close enough to use Narcissa's stingers for attack was already dangerous enough, but being close enough for her to use her mouth? That sounded like asking for trouble, in his opinion. ' But maybe having it as a last resort might be useful though,' he decided, taking a few notes on that.
  
  For now, he'd leave Lily to it. No need to make things more confusing than they already seemed to be by getting involved in the training. It'd be just a few days anyway, and then things would be back to normal. He could wait that long, yeah.
  
  With that out of the way, he went back to his studies, taking a sip from his tea that was getting colder by the second. Good thing he didn't mind if it got cold, he supposed. As it was, his attention was pulled quite a bit by the texts he was going over, keeping him constantly distracted. It was all he could do to focus on the information that was most pertinent at the moment without taking in everything else, really.
  
  For the moment though, he had to manage. The main priority was to learn what he needed to keep the onix child well on his way to recovery. After that came learning how to treat Narcissa, Root and Talon if it came to that. From there, going a little lower in the priority list, came those pokemon Pierce was more likely to meet soon in his travels, as opposed to those that were further away from where he was in the region... nevermind those pokemon from other regions.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  " And there you go," Scott, the ranger, told him in his mind as Pierce appeared near the onix mother and son. " You know what to do, right?"
  
  ' Sure thing,' he thought with a nod. ' Check the wounds, re-dress them, feed the three of them and then use the wipe on the child,' he listed in his head.
  
  " Don't need to feed all three of them, just the child, but you got everything else right," Scott told him, sounding amused. Which Pierce guessed was fair, really, all things considered. However, the tried and true method of getting in pokemon's good graces through their stomachs had worked well for him so far, so why not keep it up, right? " You are weird, Pierce, but you are alright."
  
  ' Thanks, man,' the man replied wryly as he reached the hole on the side of Mt. Moon where the onix were. Little seemed to have changed since the last time he was there, from what he could see. The mother and son duo seemed to be in much the same position, having shifted a little at best. The abra was sitting on another rock, but that was about it.
  
  "Hello there," he greeted softly in order not to wake up the psychic type in case it was sleeping. It was difficult to tell with the slits it had for eyes, but Pierce felt better staying on the side of caution. "Did anything happen while I was gone? Was the little one alright?" he asked, already pulling out the Preserving Box and opening it.
  
  There was a rumbling response to his questions that he guessed sounded positive enough. It had a tinge of worry, but that was to be expected. Mama Onix probably wouldn't be able to calm down until her son was alright. Pierce could only offer her reassurances and do his best as it was.
  
  "He'll be fine," he reassured with a smile as he moved to set a berry in front of abra and then towards the onix child. "You heard? You'll be fine," Pierce repeated, rubbing a hand on the younger rock type when he noticed that it was awake. "Now, I'll have to look at all the wounds once more and check that everything's fine before re-dressing them, alright? It might be uncomfortable and hurt a little but it should be better than yesterday, okay?" he told him with a sad smile.
  
  The poor thing let out a pitiful whine at that while his mother rubbed her head against the side of his.
  
  "Come on, I'm sure you can handle this," Pierce encouraged with a grin, trying to instill some courage into the wounded creature. "I brought some berries that you guys are supposed to like. If you do well, I'll give you one after each wound we check, ok?" he asked, smiling wider when the onix perked up a little, even if it seemed to make it flinch a bit.
  
  " If you don't get a nurse degree at the least, I'll eat a pokeball," Scott said in his mind, making him chuckle.
  
  ' That'd be nice, not gonna lie... Needs a lot more studying though,' Pierce commented. Of course he'd checked regarding that but... Well, he'd probably settle down before trying to approach that route. It'd need a lot of studying, expectedly, and if he was going to do that, he might even take it a step further and become a proper doctor... Those were thoughts for the future, however.
  
  "Ok, little one," Pierce said, clapping. Not for the first time, he felt it pretty ironic that he called the onix that, and especially that nobody seemed to find it as funny as he did. "Let's get started, yeah? The faster we finish, the faster you get your berries, right?" he asked, getting a hesitant nod from the rock type. "Great, now, raise your head a little, please?" he asked.
  
  From there, he checked under bandages and plasters, applying more potions and antidote and other medicines when necessary. To the berries he gave as prizes, he also had to add some other things that the pokemon needed to ingest instead of being applied at skin level. Scott still kept whispering in his mind, reminding him of each step and every procedure, since Pierce's memory was nowhere near good enough to remember everything and many things were different from the previous day.
  
  Despite the fact that having the ranger almost literally in his head still made him a little uncomfortable, Pierce was getting used to it. It seemed that, for whatever reason, either they didn't care or didn't pick up on the things he shouldn't know. He didn't know for sure what was up with that, but he was still grateful for that. Maybe Saffron City wouldn't be the nightmare he thought it'd be if his mind was safe enough.
  
  As it was, he had good reason to be fine with a ranger in his head. Not only were Scott's instructions pretty much necessary, but the man also went out of his way to explain things to Pierce that he didn't really need to. A step by step would have been fine, the man knew, but the ranger still explained the whys and hows of every single thing he had to do. It was like studying but in a practical setting.
  
  Pretty nice, Pierce would admit.
  
  What wasn't as nice were some parts of the process of taking care of the onix child. Especially those that were a bit... troublesome to do by himself. It was in one such case that Pierce paused and gave Mama Onix a look.
  
  "You sure you don't want some other people here to help? It'd go much better with other, more capable people, you know? I'm... I'm doing my best here but it's not enough," Pierce explained, drawing a frown from the mother. For a long moment, the pokemon regarded him with what he imagined was a conflicted expression. ' Pretty expressive for a creature whose skin is basically made of rock, huh?' he mused idly, taking a break as he let the mother think it over.
  
  He tried to put himself in her place for a moment, wondering why she was so... reticent to let someone else treat her child. He guessed it made some sense. She wasn't human, so there was a level of distrust to humans there, probably. That wasn't even considering she might have a worse opinion of humans than most pokemon. On top of that... Well, this was her child, not herself, that needed help. She probably was extra nervous and extra wary.
  
  In the end, he resigned himself when the Mama Onix didn't seem to be able to reach a conclusion.
  
  "It's fine," he breathed out, wondering how to best go through the process. The previous day he'd managed as best he could, but he wanted to do as good a job as he could manage and for that he needed... extra hands... Pierce narrowed his eyes then. "You wouldn't happen to be awake, right?" he asked softly as he turned towards the abra, still sitting in the same place he'd been when Pierce arrived. "Thought so... Well, if you see him wake up or something, tell me. I could use some help. I'll do what I can by myself in the meantime, no need to wake him up," the man said towards the older rock type before looking at the younger one and giving him a pat on his stoney plates. "You are doing great, buddy, we are already more than halfway through it."
  
  " Nice try, man," Scott told him wryly, to which Pierce grinned in much the same way. " Pokemon mothers are very wary of who they let close to their children though. Especially in regards to humans. Not that we can blame them. People will throw a pokeball at anything that looks good enough and the younger the pokemon the better their training potential becomes," the ranger explained and Pierce suddenly felt like punching a few people. " I get it, believe me. You are doing good, keep it up. We'll keep an eye on the abra ourselves so that it can lend you a hand. Good thinking there."
  
  ' Thanks,' Pierce replied with a sigh as he started working again.
  
  For the time being, the man continued treating the onix as best he could, sometimes asking Mama Onix for help. The stone serpent couldn't do all that much, seeing as she didn't have limbs to speak of, but sometimes she'd be able to assist him just with her head. That was good enough for a good hour or so until he was done with everything that he could do by himself or with her. Fortunately, a few minutes before he reached that point, the abra had woken up, teleporting on top of Mama Onix and munching on the berry Pierce had brought for him.
  
  "Did you like it, buddy?" Pierce asked, receiving a feeling of contentment from the abra directly to his mind. ' Wonder if that's ever not gonna be weird,' the man mused before shaking his head. "Well, can you help me with some of these things? I promise we'll be done with it in a bit and I'll give you another berry."
  
  That last comment made the psychic perk up a bit... and the young onix too.
  
  "Yes, our deal is still up, you get one after every wound, like I said," he commented, drawing a pleased rumble from the rock type. Shaking his head, he traded a look with Mama Onix, who looked pretty amused, at least to his eyes. "Children, am I right?" he asked, drawing a snort from the gargantuan stone serpent. The children in question though, didn't seem overly pleased with his comment though, if the glare he got from the young onix and the annoyed feeling he got from the abra were anything to go by. "Yeah, whine at me all you want, you two. Now, come on, we have things to do and injuries to treat."
  
  And thus, he continued working. Most of the time, the abra seemed to use his psychic powers more than his actual hands, which Pierce guessed made sense. From what he'd read, the line wasn't known for its physical prowess, that was for sure. It still was a little weird for him, but oh well, it was how it was. If that's how the species worked, then who was he to try and make the psychic develop some muscle? For all he knew, it might even be a bad idea.
  
  "... Ah, you heard that?" Pierce mumbled, noticing how the abra switched approaches then and there, taking a hold of the onix's plates with his hands instead of his powers. "It's fine if you want to use your powers. I don't know that much about your line," the man commented. When the psychic type stubbornly continued to use his limbs, he shrugged. "Suit yourself," he mumbled, continuing to work.
  
  Over him, Mama Onix snorted.
  
  " If it makes you feel better, the line is fine with physical activity. They are no athletes, of course, but they are fine with a bit of it. Abra should know where his limits are," Scott reassured in his mind before continuing with the medical instructions.
  
  ' Good to know,' Pierce thought to the ranger. However, he still made a mental note to read up on the line. Since it seemed the abra was going to be around for the time being, it seemed prudent enough to up its priority in studies. ' Man, wish I had been this motivated in college,' the man mused wryly as he continued working.
  
  "Nice job, guys, you are doing great," Pierce called then, leaning back as he finished setting a plaster over a wound that was already in the process of healing. Then he stood up, cracking his neck and moving towards the Preserving Box to pick up two berries for his patient and helper. "Here you go. We are almost done, buddy," he said, rubbing a hand on the plate that was behind the young onix's head. "After that you can get a big meal and I'll be out of here to leave you to rest, ok?"
  
  All he got from that was a vague huff from both the child and the mother. He guessed that was fair, both must have been getting tired of him after a good two hours of having him around. So, he focused on continuing what he was doing and leaving it at that.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Had fun training with Lily today?" Pierce asked, drawing a grumble from Narcissa, who was sprawled on his lap as he used the wipe he'd bought on her body. She seemed to be a fan, so he guessed he'd made a good purchase with that particular item. "I'll take that as a yes," he commented, drawing more grumbling from the beedrill as she shifted on his lap. "If you really don't wanna do this, you know you can tell me, right? Lily's not gonna get angry either. This was just a convenient idea I had but it's fine either way."
  
  Narcissa just grumbled more, pressing her abdomen against the wipe.
  
  "Very eloquent, young lady," Pierce said, rolling his eyes. "You interested in coming with me tomorrow for a visit with the onix family and the abra? I'll ask Lily later but it's fine if you wanna come regardless. We can spend some time together for a few hours and the poor onix child could use some company, considering nothing seems to get close due to his mother and he can't move."
  
  The beedrill gave a non-committal response to that.
  
  "I need an actual yes or no, Narcissa," Pierce replied with a sigh. After a second, he got what he assumed was a positive answer. "Great. Thanks. Honestly, I feel bad for the little one. Can't be nice to be stuck in one place like that, especially for a pokemon and especially for one that's young," he mused out loud as he continued pampering his pokemon partner.
  
  Narcissa chittered something at him but he wasn't very sure what it meant, or if it was supposed to mean something at all. Communication with pokemon was like that sometimes. It could be very clear at one moment and then make no sense whatsoever at another. Pierce's only reassurance was that it seemed that other humans seemed to be roughly in the same position as he did, which meant that he wasn't the weird one out.
  
  There was silence then as he continued rubbing the wipe over his pokemon's body. From what he was getting, it was like giving her a massage or something of the sort, which was neat. He'd need to look up equivalents for other members of his team when he eventually got around getting more of those. He was in no rush, of course, but it was kind of a given.
  
  Despite the lack of conversation though, both Pierce and Narcissa seemed to be comfortable anyway. After days and days of traveling together, there were bound to be times when there wouldn't be all that much to talk about. Both seemed to be fine with that though, especially now that they had something to actually do instead of just sitting together.
  
  "So, how are the moves coming along, any progress or business as usual?" Pierce asked after a while. Not because he wanted to fill the silence but because he was curious. She was his pokemon, after all, so he kind of needed to be updated on her progress.
  
  Narcissa gave what almost could pass as an excited chitter to answer that question, which made him smile. It was always nice when his beedrill companion broke away from her grumpy mood. It didn't happen often, or for long, but it was still nice.
  
  "You'll have to show me that progress then," Pierce mused out loud, drawing a sharp nod from the beedrill. "Maybe this will be good. Lily has a better idea of how to train than I do, that's for sure. I need to put more effort into that, actually..."
  
  And wasn't that the truth, he realized. His plans were already getting away from him, considering that he was investing a lot of time on learning medicine and such. He needed to focus on what was his actual job for the moment, which was being a trainer. ' I need to organize my time better,' he thought with a grimace.
  
  Meanwhile, Narcissa didn't seem too pleased with his statement, if the angry chittering was anything to go by.
  
  "Girl, it's fine," he spoke soothingly. "I'm not the best trainer in the world, just like you are not the best beedrill in the world. That's fine though, we'll get better with time, both of us," Pierce explained to her, putting the smallest bit more pressure on the wipe to try and make the beedrill relax.
  
  It seemed to work, because she relaxed on his lap once more. Once more, there were no words or chittering between them, but that was fine. Pierce simply continued spoiling his sole pokemon with attention that she seemed to enjoy. It was a peaceful night, which was very appreciated, even a few days after the mess that had been Mt. Moon. ' If we never have to deal with something like that again, it'll be too soon,' Pierce thought to himself, very aware that things were likely to get dicey again sooner or later.
  
  No way he'd be lucky enough to avoid such situations. He'd learned that much in his time in the pokemon world. The only thing he could do was try and be prepared for it. Get better, learn what he could and hope it'd be enough.
  
  With a sigh, Pierce decided to think about something else for the moment.
  
  "So, you up to test some more pokeblocks or have you gotten tired of them already?" he asked, chuckling as Narcissa perked up. Yeah, the way to a pokemon's heart was definitely through their stomach.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, not a whole lot to talk about I think. I think this might be a good chapter for people that don't follow my other fics to know, sometimes my stories just have more slice of life than anything else. Hope it's not too much of a problem.
  
  Also hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: How's the weather over there? Here it's cloudy and the temperature is going down lately, which are both great things.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City IX
  Pewter City IX
  
  "I can't believe you didn't tell me it was your birthday until today," Pierce said accusingly as he glared at his sheepish traveling companion across the table. "And I can't believe you are nineteen ."
  
  "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Trainers start at eighteen," she asked him, looking very much offended by his statement. Well, that had been a piece of knowledge that had somehow escaped him until that moment. ' Now, how to save this?' he wondered for a second before he found his answer.
  
  "I honestly thought you'd gotten special permission to go out earlier or something. You did get Oak's sponsorship, after all," he said. His first idea had been to lie and say he thought she was older, but that... probably wasn't a good idea, he supposed. Besides, the truth was that he'd thought she was younger too, if only because his mind kept saying that trainers should be younger, considering canon sources.
  
  ' Is all the stuff I know about this world a lie?' he wondered. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but still. It seemed that he found himself facing more stuff that didn't fit what he knew than things that did. It was a bit frustrating, he'd admit.
  
  "I mean... I guess that makes sense, but I'm not a kid... Honestly," Lily grumbled, huffing at the end and taking another sip from the smoothie she'd gotten for dessert. The look really wasn't helping her argument much, but Pierce felt like pointing that out would be a bad idea too. "Thanks for the meal though."
  
  "Don't mention it. It's the least I could do with as little time as I got," he told her with a weak smile. "We can go through the shops and see about getting you something too. Surely there's something I can buy for you. I seem to have gotten a nice bonus from that job I did when we first arrived," Pierce told her then, feeling bad. A meal wasn't much of a birthday present, he felt, even if it hadn't been precisely shoddy.
  
  There was also that last part, which had been a nice surprise when he'd gotten the message that his pay for the beedrill job at the farm had finally come through. Apparently, the guy, who he couldn't really remember the name of anymore, sadly, had been really happy with his work. So much so that he'd paid double the agreed amount, which had taken Pierce off guard.
  
  He did wonder why that had happened, but short of looking for the guy and asking, he wouldn't get an answer. And he wasn't that curious, really. He was having busy days as it was, between nursing the onix child back to health and helping/spending time with Narcissa and Lily. He also wanted to go and see if he could watch a few more matches at the Gym, or even in the arenas out of it when Lily and his beedrill went for a battle to train in a more real environment. So, with all that in his day, he didn't feel like going all the way to the edges of the city to see why the guy at the farm had decided to pay him more.
  
  He'd just take the money and be happy about it.
  
  "There's no need, honestly," Lily waved away, a slight pink dusting her cheeks out of embarrassment. "Honestly, this is why I hadn't told you. I didn't want you to make a big deal about it," she grumbled, looking down. Which checked out with the fact that he'd only found out when he overheard a part of her conversation with her family, who had called to congratulate her.
  
  "It's not a big deal, just a meal and I'll pay for something you want. That's it. So, anything you wanted to get for you or the team?" he asked, glancing at some nearby shops.
  
  "Well, I was thinking about checking some stuff to pamper the guys," Lily said, both considering and hesitant. When he gestured for her to go on. "I saw you using that wipe you got on Narcissa and she seemed to enjoy it, so I thought I could do something similar."
  
  "Say no more, we can go and check. Unless they are outrageously expensive, I'll get them for you-"
  
  "Pierce, buying one thing is fine. I can get the rest-"
  
  "Lily," he interrupted, just like she had interrupted him. "If you don't want them for yourself, then just do it to allow me to feel like a good friend, yeah?" he asked, receiving a pout from the girl.
  
  He wasn't even lying. Lily was literally the only person in the entirety of the world he was in that he was even remotely close to. Around two weeks of time, that was the longest relationship he had with another human being in the Pokemon world. It was a very depressing thing to think about, and he tried to avoid doing so as much as possible.
  
  Sometimes though, as he got ready to go to bed in the pokemon center and he had time to let his thoughts drift off to random things... He couldn't help but remember all the things he'd lost. The life and world and people he'd probably never get back to.
  
  He took a sip from his own smoothie to get his mind away from that place. Letting those thoughts linger would only ruin Lily's day and he didn't need that shit in his conscience, that was for sure. So, focusing on the present, he saw the girl across from him still pouting.
  
  "It's not fair if you say stuff like that, Pierce," Lily grumbled, "aggressively" attacking her drink.
  
  "Woah there, the smoothie didn't do anything to you, woman," Pierce said jokingly. "No need to kill it like that."
  
  "Shut up, idiot," she muttered, calming down a bit. Meanwhile, he pretended not to notice the smile on her face.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  " Another day, another round of nursing, huh?" Scott, the ranger, said as Pierce approached the onix family "home". " Fairly sure it's called a den," the man commented idly and he just shrugged.
  
  "Hey, Mama Onix, how's it going?" Pierce greeted with a smile as he saw the head of the rock type peeking out of the entrance. The stone serpent gave him a nod in response to his waving before pulling her head back inside. "Have the children been behaving themselves?" he asked then, looking around.
  
  He chuckled when he felt the abra give him the psychic equivalent of a huff, turning his head to the side. As for the Onix Junior, Pierce was fairly sure that if he could, it'd have been pouting. The human, for his part, gave the both of them an amused look as Mama Onix snorted.
  
  "Yeah, I imagine they are a handful. On that note, you haven't been trying to move, have you, buddy?" he asked the younger rock type. The way the onix looked away at the question was all the answer Pierce needed really, which caused him to give the little one a disappointed look. "Man, I know you are impatient to get moving again, but it'll only slow down your recovery, little one. Just stay put for..." he trailed off then, until Scot whispered in his "ear" the answer. "... two or three more days and you'll be moving around. Maybe not that much, but at least you'll be able to and it won't make things worse."
  
  That got him a grumble from Onix Junior, before Mama Onix smacked him lightly up the head with her tail. Giving the young one a smile, Pierce moved to the side to start pulling out the supplies he'd need. Once there, he pulled out a piece of cloth he'd gotten while purchasing Lily's birthday present.
  
  "I also got this, it's supposed to be really nice to use on pokemon like you, with stone-like skin," Pierce said, grinning as he saw the young rock type looking curiously at the item. "But that's for after we are done. Now, be good and you can get the usual berries and then we can give you a good polishing with that, ok?"
  
  He was fairly sure the response he got was affirmative, if the eager nodding was any indication.
  
  "Don't move so much, buddy," Pierce told the child with an exasperated expression he shared with the Mama Onix. With a sigh, he approached the now sheepish pokemon and started working. "So, since you are awake, Abra, feel like giving me a hand? Once we are done you can go to sleep if you want. I brought you berries today too." He was getting a reluctant feeling halfway through saying that, but at the mentions of berries, it changed into downright enthusiasm.
  
  " The League will cover that cloth," Scott told him before he got started with the instructions for treatment. " We have a budget for this mission, and you aren't even close to reaching the limits of it with the supplies and the berries. We can cover that. It's all helping the pokemon like you more, which definitely falls under mission related purchases."
  
  ' Well, that's neat,' Pierce replied before nodding as he started re-dressing one of the onix's wounds. ' Does that mean I can't keep it after we are done here?'
  
  " You can keep it, don't worry. Honestly, I get the feeling that you keep underestimating how much of a problem Mama Onix would be if she went on a rampage," Scott told him, sounding a little exasperated. " Even with Brock and the rangers, it'd be a mess. We'd rather avoid that, thank you very much."
  
  ' She seems friendly enough, honestly,' Pierce replied, turning to look at the older onix, who was keeping watch on the entrance of the lair, before continuing with his work. ' Besides the fact that she wants me and only me doing this.'
  
  " You are a weird man, Pierce Lawson," Scott told him, sounding amused this time. " Very weird, but maybe that's why pokemon like you so much."
  
  ' I'll take that as a compliment,' Pierce said simply, pausing after he was done with one of the wounds. After all the work he'd put on nursing the onix, he was starting to get the hang of it. Sure, Scott still took the time to guide him through the whole process, but more often than not, it seemed that he was guessing how to proceed correctly. It was a nice feeling, everytime he was right, even if it was a little disappointing when he was wrong.
  
  Fortunately, it seemed to be more the case of the former than the latter as time passed.
  
  "Okay then, how about we take a break?" Pierce said, tossing a berry at the abra, who caught it with his hand instead of with his powers. It seemed to have taken Pierce's previous words... or thoughts, more precisely, more to heart than the man had expected, because it was using its arms a lot more as time passed. Well, Scott hadn't called him out for potentially harming the psychic pokemon, so he guessed it was fine.
  
  " It is, the abra line just isn't known to use their actual muscles much, but they can. It might actually be a good thing that you got this one to do it. They usually become too reliant on their powers. For the sake of reassuring you, yes, I checked," Scott told him, which was a great relief, actually. On that note, Pierce added researching some more on the abra line. He'd only found some ways to treat them in his studies, but nothing regarding what to do with one if you had one, which is more the field in which what he'd worried about fell.
  
  "You are doing great, buddy," he encouraged the onix, who was looking much more subdued after some time under treatment. Every wound re-dressed, every dose of medicine, seemed to almost sap the energy out of him. Pierce knew he was doing good, the child was looking much better than the day before and certainly more than the first day. However... ' Scott, can we take a break here? I know you must have other stuff to do as a ranger but-'
  
  " Go ahead, man. The mum gets anxious when the child gets like that, so you trying to help works for us. Just don't take forever," Scott reassured him, to which Pierce nodded.
  
  "Ok, we are taking a break, buddy," he told the young onix as he rubbed his hand on the side of the rock type's head. "Here, have a berry. How about I tell you a story, huh?" he asked, as he fed the fruit to Onix Junior. He wasn't sure if it was the food or the offer of a tale, but regardless, the pokemon perked up a bit. Pierce smiled at the sight, a grin that widened when he felt the interest coming from the abra too. "Ok, so, this starts with me in Viridian Forest one day..."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "And that's the last of it," Pierce announced, having finished with the last bit of work for the day. "You did great, buddy. Come on, take this," he said, taking a berry he'd set aside and throwing it into the maw of the stone serpent. "Now, stay put and I'll get the food. Then I'll leave you guys alone. I'm sure you are tired of my ugly mug by this point," he commented, moving to pull out the food bag and the bowl he used to feed the onix.
  
  There was a rumble in response coming from the young one and the abra sent him a sense of... welcome? Pierce wasn't very sure what that was supposed to mean. At least it was nothing negative though, so he'd take that.
  
  "I'll come back tomorrow though, sad to say. We aren't quite done, but you'll be fine and slithering and digging around in no time," Pierce continued, giving Onix Junior his first "spoonful" of pokemon kibble. "I'm sure you can find me if you guys decide you are weird and miss me. I'll definitely come for a visit if you'll have me," he commented, turning towards the abra for a moment. "If Mama Onix agrees too, of course," he added quickly after. No need to antagonize the pokemon that seemed to have the rangers shitting themselves.
  
  " Hey, I resemble that remark!" Scott joked then.
  
  As Pierce spoke though, both the young onix and the abra turned to look at the still very much imposing onix mother. With a roll of her eyes, she nodded, to which the abra sent him a picture that looked like when he had guided Pierce there for the first time. Now, he was no genius of psychic message interpretation, but he was fairly sure that was an agreement to future visits.
  
  "Great," he said, continuing to feed Onix Junior. "Man, I'll miss you when I have to leave Pewter, but I'll definitely come for a visit whenever I come around these parts too, you can bet on that. Still, that's for the future. I have some time left in this city for now." With that said, he continued feeding the onix, before tossing a berry at the Mama Onix. "Well, little one, time to test this thing, huh?" Pierce commented, picking up the piece of cloth he'd brought with him. "Here's hoping I wasn't scammed."
  
  If the next half an hour of rubbing the onix, at least where he wasn't hidden by bandages and plasters was, any indication, the rock type really liked that. So much so that when Pierce offered, half joking, to do the same for the mother, she agreed. It was unexpected, and it took a while but eventually he was done. ' The things I do for pokemon,' Pierce thought to himself, his arms burning from all the rubbing. ' I think I preferred giving food to random weedle and caterpie though.'
  
  " Very weird indeed," Scott commented, sounding like he was having fun. Maybe Pierce could convince Mama Onix to let the guy use the cloth on her while he worked on Onix Junior. " Ah... No need, man. I'm fine over here."
  
  Maybe the rangers weren't helping more because they were lazy. Or maybe it was just a Scott thing. Pierce made a mental note to ask some other rangers about it.
  
  " Oi, do you think I don't want to do more than sit here and give you instructions? Or wait while you do stuff that leaves me with nothing to do? I still have to sit here doing nothing in case something happens, you know?" the man grumbled.
  
  ' Yeah, yeah, calm down, old man.'
  
  " Ugh, old? I'm barely a few years older than you, brat!"
  
  ' Sounds like something an old man would say,' Pierce commented, drawing a very annoyed feeling that he was sure came from the ranger. Alternatively, there was also a separate feeling of amusement that he guessed came from the psychic pokemon that was setting up the connection between the two.
  
  " You guess correctly, Helper-Speaker," a new voice said and it sounded... It didn't sound human, even if Pierce couldn't quite tell why he felt that way. It didn't sound strange in any way, there was no detail to make him feel like that, and yet... " That's quite normal. I'm sure you'll get experience with that soon."
  
  ' Eh... Ok. Nice to meet you,' Pierce replied, unsure of what else to say.
  
  " Well, if you are done, brat, some of us have other jobs to get to," Scott grumbled, apparently still butthurt about the old thing. " I'm not- You know what, I think you are well and truly done over there, so I'll just go."
  
  ' See you tomorrow, old man,' Pierce called.
  
  "Well, that's all for today, guys. See you tomorrow," he said out loud towards the family of two onix and the abra.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Sounds like you had a fun time," Lily said with a grin as they sat across from each other at the Pokemon Center, like they usually did for dinner. "Narcissa missed you, but I'm guessing you knew that already," she added, making him grin. The beedrill had all but tackled him when he came back. Apparently, he'd taken way too long, between story time and rubbing the onix with the cloth.
  
  "I couldn't tell," he replied sarcastically. "So, how did training go? Well?" he asked, taking a sip from his drink. They were basically done with their meal, but both were procrastinating in giving their trays back for the moment. It wasn't like they were going to leave the hall anyway.
  
  "Yeah, we did a bit of a free for all between Root, Talon and Narcissa. They kind of teamed up against her. It was a close fight, but she's still too high level for them," Lily commented, taking her own drink in her hands. "They are getting there though. They'll beat her together soon enough," she told him, unable or maybe not even bothering to suppress the competitive tone in her voice.
  
  "I'm sure she's looking forward to that," he commented, which probably was taken as joking, but was actually serious. He imagined Narcissa was looking forward to actual challenges, being pushed further along her path to strength. His pokemon's attitude was inspiring in a way, even if he imagined it'd be troublesome to deal with.
  
  Fortunately, the more time passed and the more battles he witnessed and was part of, the more he got used to that part of the world he was now part of. He couldn't say he particularly liked it, but it was how he approached sports back in his world, really. He wasn't really a fan, but he could have fun playing anyway. It helped that he could earn money with it, that was for sure. He could do without the potential loss of money though.
  
  "I swear she must be," Lily told him, gesturing with the arm that held her drink. "She's worse than Talon, honestly. It's a little scary, but it's... kind of... Um, Gym Leader Harrison," she said, looking behind Pierce and suddenly going a little nervous.
  
  Not that he blamed her, as he turned and saw the Leader of the Pewter Gym standing there in all his almost-closed-eyed glory. It was a bit intimidating, even if Pierce knew a silly version of the guy from the anime. It was difficult not to take the guy that was one of the leading powers of the region seriously.
  
  "Just Brock is alright, miss..." the man reassured with a friendly smile before trailing off.
  
  "Oh, um, I'm Lillian Dale, sir," Lily all but squeaked out, which was a little funny. She was usually pretty laid back... when they weren't meeting pokemon that made her nervous, at least. It seemed that Pierce would have to add Gym Leaders to that too.
  
  "None of that sir nonsense either, and Dale... You were one of Oak's sponsored students this year, right?" Brock asked, standing next to the table they were sitting at. "Do you mind if I take a seat?"
  
  "Go ahead," Pierce said.
  
  "Ah, the table is a mess, let me just-" Lily exclaimed, scrambling to pick up everything and taking the trays away.
  
  "Uh... Pierce Lawson, nice to meet you," he greeted awkwardly after seeing his friend rush away.
  
  "I know, I was kind of looking for you," Brock admitted, drawing a blink from him. "I've been hearing reports about the onix rampage we almost had in our hands. I was told it was under control, and I've been busy with... helping fix things after the mess the Rockets left in Mt. Moon. I wanted to say thank you for helping her. That onix has been a part of this area for a long time. She's old and very powerful, but has always stayed out of the way."
  
  "Until now, I'm guessing?" Pierce asked. What the Gym Leader was saying gave a little more perspective to why everyone seemed so on edge about the onix snapping. If it was as old and as strong as it sounded... Well, it made sense to be wary, Pierce supposed. He still couldn't really see it, but if even the Gym Leader was saying that, then there must be something there, right?
  
  "Yes. Normally, I would have gone myself but... Well, there were pressing matters that weren't being dealt with like that one," Brock said, giving him an apologetic smile.
  
  "It's fine. It's been interesting to deal with that. A learning experience too and a welcome one, since I want to try and get a First Aid License," Pierce waved off with a grin. "Besides, the little one is cute, in his own huge stone serpent way."
  
  "They can be like that when they are "small" as it were," Brock agreed with a wide grin. "If you need any help, I'd be happy to offer some tips. I think I might know a thing or two about rock types and onix."
  
  "Who'd have thought, huh?" Pierce asked wryly, drawing a chuckle from the man. "And sure, any advice is welcome. I haven't had much trouble though but... You wouldn't happen to know what berries would be good to give them? Or pokeblock recipes?"
  
  "Sure, I know just the thing you might... want to know," the Gym Leader said, pausing for a second as Pierce leaned down and pulled one of his notebooks from his backpack. "Someone's eager."
  
  "I like pokemon, and I like knowing what I'm doing around them," Pierce said with a grin. "Now, do I have to guard the secrets of the recipe? Will I have to kill anyone that overhears or tries to steal this notebook from me?" he asked, his smile twitching.
  
  "Of course," Brock said, with a straight face. "Do you think I give my secrets to just anybody without demanding they be treated with utmost seriousness?"
  
  "What... did I walk back to?" Lily asked, looking a little uneasy between the two of them.
  
  "Oh you know, just the usual stuff," Pierce replied with a grin.
  
  "I don't think you realize how little that reassures me, Pierce."
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  So maybe it's a little late to give a more clear age for Lily and the average starting trainer but... Honestly, I thought I'd been more clear than I actually was. It's a problem for writers sometimes. It's difficult to differentiate what's written and what's just in our heads... Or maybe it's just a me problem, who knows?
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you have a favorite pseudo-legendary? Mine is Hydreigon.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City X
  Pewter City X
  
  "I still can't believe you got a class from a Gym Leader," Lily said, throwing her hands up in the air.
  
  "Lily, you got a class from a Gym Leader, you were right there with me," Pierce commented, giving the girl an unimpressed look. "Hell, you asked more questions than I did."
  
  She looked away then, her ears turning red.
  
  "Sorry about that, I got excited," she mumbled, still not turning to face him.
  
  "It's fine, honestly, I benefited from those questions too," he waved off with a smile. Honestly, Brock had been great. The man had given him a lot of information about rock types. How to heal them, how to care for them, how to train them, there were even bits about how to breed them. The guy didn't seem to know much about coordinating, but overall it had been an informative chat. He wasn't surprised Lily thought of it as a class.
  
  "Still, he was mainly talking with you and I just... barged in the conversation," Lily mumbled, kicking a rock on the road they were in. Pierce took a deep breath in as he massaged the bridge of his nose. "What? It's a valid concern!"
  
  "Lily, it was your birthday, I don't care that you got in the conversation. Honestly, without you throwing questions around, I'm pretty sure it'd have turned awkward really soon. It's not like Brock and I had much to talk about other than rock types and such," he explained, shaking his head. "Pretty sure we'd have had more than one awkward silence if not for you, so thanks."
  
  "If you are sure..."
  
  "Lily, are you alright? Do you have a fever or something?" Pierce asked, giving his companion a concerned look. "Where's the bubbly girl that can't shut up? Did she grow old with her birth-? Ouch," he started before crying out as the girl punched his arm all of a sudden. "No need for such violence, woman."
  
  "Then don't be an idiot," she huffed, turning away from him.
  
  " Anyway," Pierce said, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of rock types, what do you think about that, girl?" he asked, turning to look over his shoulder at Narcissa, who was clinging to his back. "Haven't really talked about possible teammates, have we?" he asked his partner curiously.
  
  After a long moment of silence, Narcissa gave a slight buzz with her wings and chittered something.
  
  "I'll take that as an "I don't care", I think," Pierce decided after considering the beedrill's... words, for lack of a better term. "Good to know, at least. What about other types? Flying? Electric? Fire? Dragon?"
  
  "Bold of you to think you'll get a dragon," Lily pointed out, to which he shrugged. "Now that'd be something I wanna see. You got any idea how rare those are here? Hell, they are rare everywhere, pretty sure."
  
  "I mean, that doesn't mean it's impossible to find one," Pierce pointed out with a grin. "So, what about it, girl?" Considering she gave the same response as before... "Well, that's boring. I mean, nice to know you won't have a problem whenever I catch some other pokemon, but still. I expected more than just... indifference, I guess."
  
  "Don't complain about a good thing, Pierce," Lily told him with a wry smile. "Talon didn't seem too eager for me to add new members to the team. It's part of the reason I'm not really looking all that hard at the moment. Better to let him get used to the idea. Having Narcissa as an honorary member of the team right now seems to be helping that, actually. So, thanks for that."
  
  "Eh... You are welcome?" he replied, unsure of what else to say. That hadn't actually been part of his thought process at all, but... Well, better be happy with that coincidence, he supposed. "Any plans for today's training?"
  
  "I mean, not really. We'll work on what we know, hone everything as best we can. The tournament is in two days," Lily said, her eyes fixing in some point ahead of them, likely with her mind going over strategies and such, he imagined. "Tomorrow, I want to take everyone to the battlegrounds. Get some actual fights done instead of just spars between ourselves."
  
  "Sounds about right. I'm sure Narcissa will have fun there," Pierce commented, giving his partner an amused look when she tightened her hold with her stingers. "Don't pretend you won't. We'll get plenty of battles ourselves once the tournament is over, ok? I should be done with the Onix family by then. I promise we'll go to the battlegrounds and challenge people until you are content."
  
  The beedrill chittered something excitedly at that, even though it sounded slightly questioning too.
  
  "Yes, I'm serious. If we want to get anywhere, we have to get some battle experience," Pierce replied. He still wasn't sure how much he liked battles, if he was honest. However, for Narcissa, he'd give it his best shot. Half-assing it as he'd been doing was just insulting to her, he knew. He also was noticing then how much she wanted to battle with him, how much she wanted to get better with him .
  
  It was difficult to not notice, really. After all, with as much of a battle maniac as she was, she should be ecstatic to be with a much better trainer, readying herself for a tournament where she'd likely get a serious channel and plenty of battles. And yet, it felt like she was... Not quite dragging her feet about it, but she sure wasn't giving it her all. Or maybe it was better to say she wasn't as happy about it as she should have been.
  
  "Promise," he repeated in a soft voice, bringing a hand up and over his shoulder to pet his partner between her antennae.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Onix, the Ancient Mother]
  
  She overlooked Pierce, the human, as he came back once more. She could easily see why Abra had decided he was trustworthy, even that first day when she'd been filled with doubts and distrust and fear . After days of getting to know the man as he did what she asked him to do, Onix could very easily see it, indeed.
  
  She'd met lots of humans in her long, long life. Many of them greedy creatures driven by their pride, their desire for power, or wealth, or renown. Some, however, stood out from that group. Kind beings that had no desire to step upon others to reach their goals, humans that much preferred to walk alongside others instead of pushing everyone down while they rose.
  
  And then, there were people like Pierce.
  
  Those that cared not for climbing to the top. They did it, but not because they wanted to. They did it because they needed to, because the world wasn't so kind as to give them another option. It was always evident, Onix knew. It could be seen in the way they would stop at the drop of a hat, any reason was good to stop the rise, be it helping someone that had fallen, lending a hand to those that struggled, or just a friendly meeting with someone.
  
  Just like he'd done for her son.
  
  Onix knew that Pierce had to give up days of his life. Days that to her were nothing but to humans could mean a whole lot. He'd stopped his journey, travels of which he shared details with her child, Abra and Onix herself. He'd stopped everything he was doing to spend the better part of his days taking care of her son and he was happy doing so.
  
  Truly, a remarkable human being the likes of which Onix had found precious few through her long life.
  
  Onix turned her head from watching out of her abode to look for threats. Instead, she gazed towards Pierce, Abra and her son. Her poor son, who had been so close to having his life ended far too soon. She could remember it vividly and she knew it wasn't likely she'd ever forget. That accursed day when chaos reigned supreme and suffering was spread without reason nor care.
  
  The day when she'd seen her child suffer attack after attack and for all her might... She couldn't stop it. Oh, she'd done plenty that day, many a pokemon was reminded of her power and why few dared to come even close to her den. However, in the midst of such unrelenting madness, even Onix herself hadn't been enough to stop it all. She hadn't been enough to protect her child.
  
  It hurt, it hurt more than she dared to admit. It also was nothing in comparison to how she'd felt as she saw it happen, and even afterwards. Watching her child lie there, unable to move and getting worse the more time passed instead of better. It was a vision that would haunt her every waking hour and turn her dreams into nightmares for a long time, if it ever went away.
  
  For all her might, she'd been powerless, asking for help from the guardians of the piece of land she inhabited. Onix had begged Alakazam and his family for help, for someone to please save her child. And they had delivered, the young guardian, not even worth his own title just yet as he grew into the role he'd likely just started even participating in, had found her child a savior.
  
  Maybe it was... How did the humans call it? Poetic, she believed the word was. Maybe it was poetic that her child, too young to do much, had been saved by the actions of someone in much the same position as him. Onix was happy to see Abra and her son getting along, but she was even happier that her son could even do that much. That she could see him interact with Abra and Pierce. That she could see him enjoy himself as the human regaled him with tales of his travels, short as they were. That she could see him grumble as the restrictions were put on him for his own health. She was even glad that she could see him be unruly, doing exactly what he was told not to.
  
  She was grateful to Abra, for finding a kind person to save her son. She was grateful to Pierce, for offering the hand that her son had needed. She was grateful to the other humans, the ones that had organized everything and guided Pierce through what he needed to do.
  
  Yes, Onix had a lot of things to be grateful for in those days.
  
  And yet, she couldn't help a pang of sadness inside her as she looked at her son at that moment. Listening attentively like he'd never listened to her, eyes wide and sparkling with wonder as he heard how Pierce approached a swarm of angry beedrill to calm them down. He seemed to almost grow larger the more he heard and the more the human told him.
  
  Onix knew that look. She'd had it herself, way back when times were different and even the land wasn't the same. Much had changed, but pokemon and people, they remained the same, no matter how much they thought otherwise. Details could shift, small things that fooled the eye and the perception but... Deep down, they were all the same, in the past, in the present and in the future.
  
  So, she looked dejectedly as her son readied himself to follow in her path.
  
  Onix knew she had nothing to worry about. Pierce was a kind human, one that wouldn't push her son for his own gain. The man's companions, if his word was to be believed, were reliable enough to think they'd have her son's back. If anything, it was the world that worried her, but she knew it was not possible to protect her son from that, even with all her power. So, she'd have to allow her son to follow his own path, grow into the pokemon he wanted to become...
  
  Onix had not regretted her decisions, but she had suffered because of them.
  
  She could only hope her son wouldn't.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Onix, the Recovering Son]
  
  Pierce might just be his favorite human, Onix decided.
  
  Sure, he hadn't met a whole lot of those in his admittedly short life, but the point stood!
  
  The man had come to him in his worst moment, when he was so weak that he couldn't even tell what was going on. All Onix knew about that time was that his everything hurt, he felt weak and he... was scared, a lot. It wasn't a nice part of his life, that much was true. However, Pierce had arrived and immediately things started to feel better and better.
  
  Not only did his body start hurting less and less, but he was great company too! He was reassuring, and calm, and he brought food! Pierce had also started telling stories of his travels as a pokemon trainer too, which were nice to hear. He'd brought him a friend in Abra too, which was pretty neat.
  
  Onix found himself drawn to the stories though, above everything else, even the food. After living his whole life inside his mother's den, never leaving it for more than just digging through the mountain for food and such things... He was in awe of the things that could be seen further away. The forest was something he'd only seen from afar, and the sea, the lakes, the deserts, the plains and more that Pierce talked about.
  
  Onix wanted to see those. Would the ground in other places feel different? Would it be tastier than the one from the mountain? Would it be worse? What pokemon could be seen further away from the mountain? Would those be nice? Would those be mean? Would they be interesting?
  
  Onix wanted to know, he wanted to find out everything .
  
  On top of that... He wanted to get stronger. The chaos of that day haunted him in his sleep and even out of it... Onix would twitch at sudden movements, even when he knew it was nothing. Sometimes, far outside the lair, he'd see a pokemon move or pass by and... it scared him.
  
  However, as Pierce told him about his beedrill, Narcissa, and how they were working together to make her stronger. As the man spoke at length about his partner and how he was going to help her reach highs that other humans thought impossible for her line... Onix felt some yearning. He wanted that too. He wanted to be strong. He wanted to be above attacks like the ones that had left him as he had been.
  
  He wanted to be like his mother, who had practically dominated the chaos that had been the mountains, the forest and everything in between that day. The only reason his mother hadn't been perfectly fine in such a dangerous moment was... him, Onix. It was... frustrating, to know that he was the reason his mother had gotten hurt at all, even if it had been mere scratches and little else. He felt... terrible was the only word that he could think of.
  
  Onix didn't want to feel like that.
  
  He didn't want to be weak .
  
  Maybe there was a way for Onix to get everything he wanted though. He might be able to travel the world and see everything there was to be seen. He might be able to get strong enough that chaos like the one he'd lived through would mean nothing. And the key to all that was right in front of him, telling stories and being generally a great friend.
  
  Onix rumbled something, interrupting what Pierce had been saying and drawing a confused expression from the man.
  
  "What's up, little one? Something the matter?" the man asked, inspecting Onix as best he could to try and decipher what was going on. As for the rock type himself, he rumbled something again, but he wasn't sure how to go about explaining what he wanted to say. Hesitantly, he turned to look at his mother.
  
  Maybe... Maybe he should have checked with her first, he supposed. Especially considering the unimpressed look she was directing at him. After a long, awkward moment, his mother let out a sigh before rumbling something at Abra.
  
  Of course! How had Onix not thought about asking him for help?! Abra could communicate better with humans, after all! Not that much better, from what the psychic had told him, but it was still better than the usual. At least he could send images and ideas to the humans if need be.
  
  His new, small and yellow friend sighed, in a way not all that different from his mother's and raised a hand towards a now very confused Pierce. That was fine, he'd get the idea soon enough. Onix was sure he'd be happy too, and everything would be fine!
  
  Or... so he hoped, at least.
  
  What if Pierce didn't agree though? What would Onix do then? No way, right? There was no way that would happen, he decided. He was great after all. Well, he wasn't all that great, sure, he'd admit that. But his mother was great, and surely Pierce would see that he could be just as good as her once he got a bit older, right?
  
  All of a sudden, Onix was rather nervous as he watched the man frown for a moment.
  
  "That... that can't be right... Right?" Pierce asked, looking at Onix, evidently not understanding something. Then, before the young rock type could answer, he turned towards his mother. "You know about this? No way you-"
  
  His mother rumbled something sadly, before nodding. His mother was great, Onix decided. Sure, he didn't want to leave her either, but his mother was happy where she was. She'd already traveled, from what he knew, and she was fine staying. He wasn't though, and she seemed to understand.
  
  Onix would make sure to visit though.
  
  "If you are... both sure?" Pierce said, hesitantly looking between the two onix. He nodded enthusiastically while his mother urged the man to get on with it. "Ok then," the human said, moving to pull something from his bag.
  
  Sure enough, the next moment, he had a pokeball in his hand.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Abra, the Young Guardian]
  
  He watched, as he was used to doing, but this time with a sense of...
  
  Abra wasn't sure how he felt after witnessing Pierce make the young onix part of his team. A part of him was... sad, he supposed. Onix had become a friend of his, in the relatively short time they spent together while he helped the human treat his wounds. Little time, it might have been, but it was still time Abra had enjoyed. It wasn't often he got to interact with other pokemon around his age and the rest of his family was much older than he.
  
  So, Abra found himself grateful that he'd been the one to find a suitable healer for the young rock type. It was the first task as a guardian of the land that he had succeeded in before someone else, and he was proud of that. It had been an experience, that was for sure, but now... Well, soon, he'd be back to the usual things. Roaming the nearby places, looking for pokemon that needed special assistance from his family, the guardians of the land, as they called themselves.
  
  Generations of abra, kadabra and alakazam had taken it upon themselves to keep a semblance of order, of balance. He was, but one more in a line of many. Their duty was important, meaningful...
  
  And yet, he didn't want it.
  
  Abra didn't want to spend his life trapped in one place, when he was supposed to be able to go wherever he wanted with Teleport. He took pride in his job to look over the pokemon in the area, of course, but it felt so... constricting. It wasn't often that they actually had to do something. More often than not, the human rangers would take care of problems, and when they didn't, it would be an older member of his family.
  
  So, Abra would often be left with nothing to do but roam a rather small area.
  
  He guessed he was jealous of the young onix for that. He'd get to go wherever he wanted, always with something to do, something to see, something to train. Never a moment of nothing unless he wanted it.
  
  On the other hand was Abra, who was grateful for his necessity to sleep the majority of the day because those few hours he was awake, he was bored to death. As it was, he was considering working on his muscles once the job with Onix was done, which seemed like it'd be sooner rather than later. At least that way he'd have something to do, and he was rather intrigued by the idea. His line wasn't one known for their physical prowess, but that didn't mean they couldn't at least try to get somewhere in that aspect. Abra would see where he got, he supposed.
  
  Anything to make his days less dull.
  
  He watched then, as Pierce let out the young onix once more.
  
  "I think I'll let you stay here, little one," the man said, smiling softly as he rubbed a hand on Onix's head. "You gotta spend as much time with your mother as possible, yeah? I don't know how long it'll be before we visit. We will visit, I promise. I just... don't know how long it'll take us," he explained, switching to look at the mother onix midway through his statement. Both rock types looked and felt very grateful for that, Abra knew.
  
  " What are you waiting for, Young Guardian?" he heard in his mind. The message came from his grandfather, Alakazam, giving him pause. " Playing stupid doesn't suit you, child," the elder of the family told him, sounding amused. Abra didn't understand- " Everyone knows, child. Your mind is not as clouded as you like to think, even if you are better than many of us were at your age."
  
  Abra all but flinched at that.
  
  " Peace, child," his grandfather reassured him. " Some of us are content with our lives, protecting and looking over this land. However, not everyone is the same. You wouldn't be the first to choose an alternative path, and you wouldn't be the last either."
  
  " But grandfather-"
  
  " Child," Alakazam interrupted more firmly. " You are unhappy here, there's no shame in that. Nobody is disappointed in you for it. We just want you to be happy."
  
  " But... but I..." he tried to reply, struggling to find the right words. Sure, his grandfather wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean he wanted to leave . That didn't mean he wanted to abandon everything that he knew for-
  
  " But you do, and that's fine, Young Guardian," Alakazam told him, softly, almost in a whisper against his mind. " You'll always be that. The Young Guardian of this place, even if you leave it. You'll make this family proud regardless, child. Because we know you, and we know that you'll continue your duties, even if it's no longer us you do it with nor this place that you look after."
  
  " Grandfather..." Abra went to say, trailing off as his mind stuttered. He'd never been a very emotional being, but at that moment... They showed him that they could still get the better of him. "... Thank you," he settled for eventually. Simple. Not very eloquent, he knew. However, it was the best he could come up with.
  
  " Go along, Young Guardian. May you find all that you seek and more," Alakazam told him. A moment later, he was bombarded with messages from the rest of the family, mainly his parents, with well wishes and encouragement. It really wasn't helping with the overwhelming emotions Abra was dealing with at the moment.
  
  " Thank you, everyone," he replied. Then slowly, to try and gain some calm, he turned towards Pierce, who was talking with the young onix. Then, he called for the man's attention, brushing against his mind with a simple sign to turn, which he did.
  
  "Something the matter?" Pierce asked then, blinking at Abra as he sent a message as best he could. Communicating with humans was a lot different than communicating with his family or other pokemon. Their minds worked significantly different than pokemon one's did. Abra would learn though, he supposed.
  
  As it was, he just sent the man a picture of how he had caught Onix in his pokeball. A moment later though, he sent the same picture, but replacing the rock type with himself. It was time to leave and travel, to try at a new life.
  
  "I don't think I need to ask, do I?" Pierce commented with a soft grin. Which was good, at least he had some level of intelligence and deductive abilities, even if he'd struggled to understand with Onix. "Well... I hope we have fun together, Abra," the man said, pulling another pokeball. "Welcome to the team."
  
  The psychic type sent him a wave of excitement the likes of which Abra had hardly felt in his life before.
  
  He couldn't wait to see what the world had to offer for him.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Welp, this chapter was fun to write, although I have to wonder how well I've managed to do with the pokemon PoV. Don't ask me why my muse felt like putting that many changes in perspective in a single chapter. She just did, ok? Let's accept that and move on.
  
  So, it took quite a bit for our boy, Pierce, to get some more members in his team, but I hope it was worth the wait. This also confirms that Pierce isn't a specialist trainer, which many people thought he'd be. I'll admit that I considered it, but... Well, specialist teams need pokemon from out of region to really work, and that's a troublesome thing to deal with, so I decided to go generalist, at least this time.
  
  I look forward to seeing what new theories for Pierce's team come up after this chapter.
  
  Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you usually look for in Pokemon fics? I tend to just look for journey fics or stuff similar to this. I avoid fics with too many catches, because that just means that most of those pokemon aren't gonna see much use, which is... annoying.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City XI
  Pewter City XI
  
  "Two," Lily said, looking at him incredulously as he just shrugged with a sheepish expression. "I leave you alone for a bit and you don't get one, but two new pokemon? You trying to show me up or something?"
  
  "I mean, I'm as surprised as you, probably more," Pierce replied with a wry grin, running his fingers through his hair. "Honestly, I really didn't see that coming, but I guess that's what happened."
  
  "Onix and abra," Lily mumbled, frowning a little. "Well, those are very nice additions to your team, gotta say. I know you don't care much for that, but they are pretty neat. Especially abra. Everyone wants one of that line in their teams, or something similar. Teleport is just that good."
  
  "Good to know," Pierce commented, feeling a little overwhelmed. He did have some notes down regarding both lines, and many regarding rock types in general, courtesy of his time watching Gym fights and Brock's "class". However, he hadn't really prepared or anything for catching both of those pokemon. If he was honest, he was still getting his bearings after they sprung that surprise on him. "Gotta go over my notes and all. Good thing they don't expect me to take care of them right off the bat. They gotta spend some time with their families and such before we go on our merry way."
  
  "And not like we could go even if we wanted to," Lily pointed out, stabbing some piece of her breakfast and bringing it to her mouth. After a moment she continued. "Tournament starts tomorrow. I'm surprised they didn't delay it, but they might want to get things going and help people relax a bit, I guess."
  
  "How are you seeing your chances there?" Pierce asked then, leaning forward a bit. Sure, he'd battled with Narcissa before, but a tournament sounded more serious than a random battle out on the road or in the battlegrounds of the city. It sounded like it'd be more... He didn't know what, but more .
  
  "I mean, I'll have a better idea after today. I wanted to go and have some fights on the battlegrounds. See how well we do out of a training situation, you know? But Narcissa is really good, especially right now. Since it's a beginner's tournament, she should be a nice powerhouse to have with us," Lily said, her usually cheerful self turning into a much more... competitive person, Pierce guessed was a good way to describe her. "We don't have that much type diversity, that's true, but neither should other people, really. If they have many pokemon, then I'd bet that they won't be trained very well. One needs time periods to get pokemon used to one's training. If you catch too many pokemon too quickly, you don't have that."
  
  "I guess that makes sense," Pierce mumbled, before taking a gulp of his drink. "Gotta give more one-on-one training until they get used to it, I'm guessing. So if you catch many pokemon quickly, you have to spread yourself between them and it's less efficient."
  
  "Exactly," Lily agreed with a grin. "You are starting to get it, my very uninformed friend."
  
  "Gee, thanks," he replied dryly. "I guess I'll spend the day with the onix family and Abra. I might get names out of the way and stuff. I also have to look up stuff for the new additions and go over notes, like I said before."
  
  "As productive a use of your time as any," the girl commented cheerfully as she continued with her meal. "You'll have to spoil Narcissa, considering you've added not one but two new members. She might have been ok with things before, but now..."
  
  "I'm sure a good meal will be enough to calm her down," Pierce said with a chuckle. "If that doesn't work, a few good pokeblocks should do the trick. That and some rubbing with the special wipe and we are good."
  
  "You would know better, I guess," Lily said with a somewhat unsure look before shrugging. "How are the pokeblocks going, by the way?"
  
  "I've found a bunch that Narcissa has liked. We can try them with your pokemon, if they promise not to eat them all-"
  
  "It was one time- "
  
  "-then I can give them some and see what they like," he continued, ignoring the girl's protests and making her pout. "I'm kinda curious about that, honestly. I want to see if I can find what pokemon likes what combinations, or if that's even possible or if their likes are more singular than just by line."
  
  "Eh, pokemon can go one way or another. Most of them seem to have some common likes, just like humans do. Some have particular tastes and some generally dislike the same things," Lily pointed out with a shrug, even if she was still glaring at him for the previous comment. "Who knows, maybe you can sell those if you get good enough combinations."
  
  "Eh, that's an idea, I guess," Pierce mumbled, his mind drifting a little further down that road. Could he make a living selling food for pokemon? Pokeblocks were simple, but maybe he could delve into poffins or poke puffs or the like, right? He was no cook, but maybe he could learn, he supposed. "Guess we'll see about that. I don't think I can afford enough berries to try that much."
  
  "I mean, you do have a lot of money from compensations and jobs and such but... Yeah, I get that. Especially now that you have more pokemon to worry about," his traveling companion mused, thoughtfully looking up. "Well, maybe you'll find more pokemon to give you berries somewhere down the road."
  
  "I think that's a bit unlikely, don't you?"
  
  "I mean, yeah, for everyone else. For you though? It already happened to you once, didn't it?" she pointed to, to which he had no proper answer.
  
  "Fair enough," he replied wryly.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Doing much better, huh, buddy?" Pierce asked the young onix, one of his new pokemon partners, as he rubbed the special cloth on his stone-like skin. "I told you you'd be right as rain in no time at all," he added, receiving a pleased, rumbling sound in response.
  
  As he continued with that though, Pierce was reminded of the fact that he'd used a lot of supplies given by the League to treat that onix. An onix that was now his. ' I feel like I cheated the League here.'
  
  " Don't be so dramatic, kid," Scott, the ranger, told him in a reassuring tone. " When will you stop calling me "Scott, the ranger" in your head, by the way?"
  
  ' Sorry, I just... am not that good with names,' he mused. ' And I'm not being dramatic... I think...'
  
  " You are," Scott replied, and Pierce could almost see the man rolling his eyes. " You are right about that. Look, man, this is gonna sound really bad, but healing the child onix wasn't our priority during this whole thing. No, the priority was calming down the mother and making sure she wouldn't do something... drastic, you see? That meant healing the child and making sure it was ok. Not that we wouldn't have healed it anyway, but you get the point. You are a smart kid."
  
  ' You are right, it sounds bad,' Pierce agreed, pursing his lips. ' But yeah, I get it.' And he did, even if it annoyed him. Mama Onix could have done a whole lot of damage if she went on a rampage, but still... Thinking about it like that almost cheapened what he'd done. He'd wanted to help the little one because he was a child and it wasn't his fault that things went to shit during the Rocket attack.
  
  " And we get that, Pierce. As I said, we'd have healed him anyway, it's just a matter of priorities. It's how it is," Scott replied. It didn't help matters, but it sounded like the kind of thing Pierce would just slowly accept with time.
  
  "Anyway," he said out loud, drawing the attention of the two onix. Curiously enough, the young abra also turned to look at him, which meant that his nap was over. "Good to see you are awake, buddy. I actually had something to talk about with you two. You see, I... Well, I gave a name to my other pokemon, I'm sure you remember Narcissa?"
  
  To that, he got a tilt of the young onix's head, but both his mother and the abra nodded. The former rumbled something that was probably a quick explanation for her child, Pierce guessed. With that, he nodded, going over how he wanted to present things to them.
  
  "So, I thought maybe we could give you guys names too," he decided to go with. Simple and direct, nice enough, right? "You know, just so I can stop just calling you by your line. It might get confusing if we come across others of your species, you know?" he explained further, growing a little nervous under the narrow-eyed gaze of the mother onix.
  
  Fortunately, she didn't seem to have anything to say in regards to that, which was a relief. Pierce had half expected her to be against the idea, which would have been fine, many people didn't seem to do it, strangely enough. Then again, even if you called a pokemon by its line name in the middle of a group, they seemed to know which one you were referring to. At least this phenomenon seemed to be exclusively a pokemon thing and not a human thing, so Pierce wasn't left feeling the odd one out.
  
  However, that approach felt very... impersonal to him. Like all pokemon were the same thing to him, like he didn't see a difference between his pokemon or any other. That was just plain wrong, in his opinion, but then again, everyone was free to do as they wanted.
  
  He felt a wave of appreciation at that moment, and he turned to give abra a look. The psychic didn't elaborate on that, but that was fine, Pierce would take that. Then, turning back to the older rock type around, he received a sigh and a nod, which prompted an excited rumble from the younger one.
  
  "Glad to know you agree," he said with a grin. "So, I had a few ideas."
  
  From there, he gave a new attempt at the color theme he wanted to go with. There were simple ones like Gray, Grayson, Gris, Silver and so on for the onix, at the same time as less simple ones, like Argent. Things were a little complicated with the abra, but seemed to be sort of fitting. There was Jaune, Xanthos, Edmund, Goldwyn, Dwight, Cyrus.
  
  To Pierce's frustration, neither of them seemed to be fans of any of those ideas. Sure, they seemed intrigued here and there, but he could feel he was getting nowhere close with every option listed. When he got a little tired of the negative answers, the man sighed and continued rubbing the young onix with the cloth for some time, considering the new dilemma. It was like naming Narcissa all over... again...
  
  ' I'm not really considering this, am I?' he thought, with a bemused smile on his face. ' Oh, why the hell not?'
  
  "How about Orion, little one?" he asked the onix, instantly making the pokemon perk up. ' You've got to be kidding me.' "You like that one?" he added, getting a tilt of the rock type's head before it seemed to brighten up and nod enthusiastically. "Well, nice to meet you, Orion," he said, with as much enthusiasm as he could manage.
  
  It was a bit hard, considering his naming theme seemed to have died a quick death before it was even a thing. Also because his apparent "new" naming theme was... He didn't even have the words for it. However, he didn't want to ruin the nice mood that was around for the newly named pokemon. Then, turning towards Abra, he paused.
  
  Especially because the pokemon sent a wave of amusement his way.
  
  "You too, huh, little shit?" he asked with a wry smile. "How about Cygnus?" he asked, receiving an almost instant agreement. "Oh, I can already tell having you around is going to be fun," he said with a sarcastic tone, even if he also actually meant it.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  " This has to be one of the easiest jobs I've been part of," Scott, the ranger - Pierce got a mental scoff at that. - told him mentally. " Boring, but easy."
  
  ' It'd be nice if you appreciated that and remained silent while I'm trying to study,' he replied with an annoyed expression as he tried to focus back on his book. He'd already started buying some of the books he'd need for his eventual test to get the First Aid License. It'd be a considerable amount of money, to get all the material he needed, especially since he couldn't just use library books, since he'd be traveling around.
  
  " Should be able to get that money back doing jobs and helping out at Pokemon Centers, Pierce. If you can afford it and you think you can pass the test, it'll be worth it," Scott reassured him. " Rangers will like to have someone around that knows what they are doing if another incident like Mt. Moon's occurs."
  
  ' I don't like how you said that,' Pierce replied with a grimace. ' Makes it sound like something that happens a lot.'
  
  " Well, it's not that common, but shit happens, kid. Especially now with Team Rocket around. No sense sugarcoating it for you, I think," the ranger told him. " Then again, that might be my skewed view of things as a ranger. We see more shit than the regular trainer."
  
  ' Very reassuring, buddy,' Pierce thought before sighing and looking back at his book. Then, with a grimace, he decided to leave things where he was. It was a good enough place, really, and his focus had already been shot to hell.
  
  " Er... Sorry?" the ranger said in his mind, but Pierce ignored him. "... Rude."
  
  "... Well, I think it's about time I get going. I should try to get a job done before the day is over. And besides, Arnold needs the help," he said out loud, turning and giving his backrest - also known as Orion - a pat. "Hope you enjoyed some time in the sun, buddy. Must have been nice after being trapped in your mother's den for so long."
  
  The onix gave a cheery rumbling at that, leaning his head towards him and rubbing it against Pierce's side. The man, meanwhile, replied by rubbing his hand along the side of the rock type's head. Such a huge creature had no business being cute, in his opinion.
  
  "Don't give your mother too much trouble, yeah?" he commented, drawing a huff from the young pokemon. "Come on. She might be annoying, but she knows what she's talking about. Listen to her, yeah? Besides," he added, his smile turning into a sad one. "You won't have her being annoying while we travel and I promise you that you'll miss her."
  
  ' Like I do mine,' he added in his head, sighing.
  
  To that, Orion replied with a rumble that was almost a whisper.
  
  "Go along. I'll be back tomorrow, yeah? Promise," he reassured, rubbing the side of the rock type's face. "I might even bring stories about Narcissa's battles in the tournament, if we are lucky. If not... Well, I'll definitely bring her. I'm sure your mother will let her and Lily with her pokemon get close now. You'll be traveling with us, after all."
  
  Now, that seemed to brighten Orion back up. Apparently, the not-so-little guy was excited to meet new friends. Pierce, for his part, chuckled, palming his pokemon's rocky skin as he stood up. Stretching a little to get over the uncomfortableness that had brought sitting on the ground with his back against what was basically stone, he groaned.
  
  "Come on, back to the den we go," Pierce said, turning and seeing Mama Onix looking at them from her hole in the mountain. Obviously, they hadn't gone far at all, but it seemed that she hadn't been fine just leaving them unsupervised. Which was a little... odd, considering she was fine with them going on a journey without her. Maybe she wanted to be a helicopter parent while she still could. "I'm gonna make my way to the city now," he announced once Orion and him got closer to the lair. "I got a few things to do back there, but as I told Orion, I'll be back tomorrow with the rest of our merry band, if that's ok with you."
  
  To that, Mama Onix took a long moment before sighing and nodding.
  
  "Come on, we are all nice. And if it's any consolation, we don't have anything nearly as scary as you," Pierce told her with a grin, receiving a huff from the gargantuan pokemon. "Not even if we put everything together. We couldn't do something to Orion even if we wanted to, and I promise we'll try not to annoy you... too much," he said, and the onix huffed again.
  
  " You are either very brave or very stupid, Pierce," Scott commented, sounding strange.
  
  ' I'll go with the former,' Pierce replied mentally.
  
  "Well, see you guys tomo... rrow..." he finished, blinking as Cygnus appeared sitting on his shoulders with a flash of light. "Everything okay bu... ddy?" he asked, feeling a little annoyed at being interrupted mid sentence again, but that was washed away with the message he got from the abra. Well, calling it a message might be too much, considering it was a series of mental pictures. One of them at the lair, a flash of light around them and then one of them... somewhere else? ' I know that from somewhere... that's on the way back from Arnold's to the Pokemon Center. Isn't that where you got Lily and me on our way back?' he mused before voicing his actual question. "You want to teleport there?"
  
  Affirmation.
  
  "Well, if you are sure," Pierce said hesitantly. Truly, he was a bit confused, although he wasn't too sure why. He guessed he was just used to Cygnus staying back with the onix family so far. It had been what he always did. He was always there when Pierce arrived and there when he left.
  
  He blinked as the picture of a lot of different pokemon appeared in his mind. It was then followed by a shield, before he saw a variety of pokemon from the abra line. He processed that for a second.
  
  "So... your family protects the pokemon?" he asked, unsure. He got a... mixed response to that. "Sort of? Ok then. What about now though?" he continued then, getting a picture of a kadabra floating over the onix family. "Someone else will take over? Who's that? Your father? Brother?" he asked. At that point, he could, at the very least, tell the difference between genders from that line after looking them up the last few days. "Brother, huh? Well... Tell him hi from me, I guess," he mumbled, looking around and seeing nothing.
  
  " A pleasure to meet you too, Helper-Speaker," a strange voice - the mental voice of a pokemon, Pierce was learning - told him from out of nowhere. ' Helper-Speaker?' he wondered almost on instinct. Hadn't another psychic type called him that before too? Scott's, he was pretty sure. " I'm sure my brother will tell you, whenever he finds his voice."
  
  ' Well, uh, pleasure to meet you too,' Pierce answered, getting a wave of amusement before the presence disappeared.
  
  "Um, well, if that's all, I guess we can be on our way," he mumbled to himself more than anything. "See you tomorrow, guys," he added, recovering from that meeting after a moment to look at the onix family, who looked quite bemused themselves. "Take care, yeah?"
  
  Both gave their rumbling responses before Pierce nodded.
  
  "So, Cygnus, how do we-" he said, before he blinked as a light that didn't burn flashed in his eyes and then... It was like standing with a tremor going on. It shook his balance even though he didn't even feel like he moved at all. The fact that the sight before him had changed entirely was also very disorienting, he'd admit. "Well, that was..." he mumbled, feeling his stomach turning and making him take a deep breath in.
  
  Fortunately, he was no stranger to feeling faint.
  
  Taking a seat on a side of the road, he took a moment to get his feet under him truly. He almost missed the wave of guilt and regret that hit him, before he felt something apologetic. He gave a weak chuckle at that, before patting Cygnus's leg on his shoulder.
  
  "Don't worry about it, buddy, it's fine," he mumbled, gulping down his nausea and continuing to take deep breaths. "Considering how long the way here would have been, this isn't such a bad price to pay... I'm guessing you didn't know that was going to happen? Because a warning would have been nice," he commented, starting to feel better already.
  
  ' Maybe it'd do to get some sweets and such,' Pierce considered. That's what he used whenever he felt faint before, after all. He wasn't sure it was quite the same with... eh... teleport sickness, but it couldn't hurt, right? Thoughts for later, he supposed.
  
  Cygnus, for his part, answered as best he could, but Pierce got the gist of it.
  
  "Well, at least I know to look out for this next time," he said with a wry smile as he took an extra moment even if he was feeling better. It wouldn't do to rush and make himself feel worse. "I really hope you get better at that with time, buddy. Because I've been teleported before and that's... Certainly not how it goes..." he mumbled.
  
  When the rangers had teleported him from near the onix lair to Pewter or the other way around when time became a bit of a problem for delays and such, it had been sort of like... Just blinking and being somewhere else. It was still a bit disorienting and unsettling, but it didn't make him feel like he'd be losing his lunch, that was for sure. Then again, that had been a xatu and a claydol, not a member of the abra line, so maybe-
  
  The wave of indignation he got answered that doubt very well, he felt.
  
  "Ok, so your line is just as good and you need practice, that's fine. We can work on that," Pierce reassured the psychic type. "We can work on a lot of stuff while we are going around, Cygnus. I just gotta... Well, I gotta look stuff up and such. I honestly am kind of stumbling my way through this training pokemon thing, so I hope you don't have very high expectations. Maybe I should have warned you two before you got yourself into this... I think," he kind of rambled as he stood up.
  
  He got a slight sense of amusement and reassurance from Cygnus then.
  
  "Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it," Pierce replied, taking one last breath in as he turned to walk towards the city. At his pokemon's confused feelings, he explained. "I kind of have to inform the Pokemon Center that I'll be taking the job for the day, if it's still there. After that, I'll go to the job or, if it's not available, I'll look up stuff to know how to take care of you and Orion."
  
  To that, Cygnus replied with acknowledgement and a very tired feeling.
  
  "Is that how you usually feel or was that the teleporting? Did bringing me all the way here tire you out?" Pierce asked, because that'd make a lot of sense. When his pokemon confirmed that, he nodded to himself, making a mental note of that. He'd have to keep that in mind if he wanted to use Cygnus's teleport at some other point. "Well, does being in the pokeball count as a nap? Because you'll have to get in there later when we get more into the proper city part of Pewter."
  
  To that, Cygnus gave him the closest thing to a yes he could, but he also gripped at Pierce's hair.
  
  "Well, you can stay on my shoulders for the time being, I guess," he replied with a soft smile as he continued walking.
  
  ' So far so good, I think,' he mused to himself.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Not much to say, really.
  
  I know people don't seem to like this story much, be it because things were going really slow or because things aren't clear as to where it's going. That's sort of on purpose, I guess, since Pierce himself doesn't know and is right now figuring out what he wants to do. That's part of why I like this story. All too often, we see characters that know exactly what they want, with a clear goal in sight and a future that they strive towards... However, I think we all know life isn't quite like that, and that's what I want to show here.
  
  So, I hope you aren't too bothered with the approach I'm using here and that you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Did you see those names coming?... Because I didn't. Honestly, what the fuck was that?
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City XII
  Pewter City XII
  
  "One of my friends is gonna be participating in the tournament," Pierce said, sitting across from someone in the Pokemon Center. It was a little strange to see the place empty, admittedly. Most trainers, after all, had moved to where the aforementioned competition would be held. The only people still in were him, the person sitting across the table and a handful of Center staff that remained. Many of those latter ones had moved to provide assistance to those at the tournament site, after all.
  
  Apparently, and worryingly, more serious competitions could very easily get out of hand. It didn't happen very often, but it wasn't precisely rare . Certainly not as much as Pierce would have liked, that was for sure. As it was, learning that had done a great deal to discourage him. Especially having a pokemon as fragile as Narcissa.
  
  ' The death and crippling rate is really low though,' he reminded himself. Mainly because he knew his bug type companion would be devastated if he went back on his word regarding their training path. Some might think him weak, he supposed, but that was fine by him. He would be weak if that stopped Narcissa, one of the only friends he had in this new world, from getting permanently crippled.
  
  Crushing her dream, her goal, wasn't much better, however. Unless he got a good enough reason, he'd push forward, for Narcissa if not himself. He could probably make a living doing other things, after all. Battling was... fun, he supposed, exciting even. That didn't mean he cared about that more than he cared the wellbeing of his pokemon.
  
  "This will be quick," the ranger sitting across from him said, bringing Pierce's attention back to the present. "It was nice working with you," the man added, giving him a half-smile and extending his arm.
  
  To that, he blinked, looking at the offered hand.
  
  "Pleasure to meet you in person, old man," Pierce replied, returning the grin and accepting the shake. Was it mean of him that he enjoyed the grimace on the man's face at the nickname? Maybe, but it was still how he felt. "What's up?"
  
  "To make things short so that you can go watch your girlfriend battling," Scott said flatly, giving him an unimpressed expression. Pierce would have corrected him, but he could tell that getting a rise out of him was the whole reason for the comment, so he just rolled his eyes and leaned back against his chair. "I'm here to tell you, personally, that your reward for the help with the onix situation has been issued."
  
  "So, the money is already in my account, that's nice. I don't know if it required this seriousness though," Pierce replied, blinking. The thing had been fairly quick and simple with the beedrill swarm and the whole deal with Zone 5, after all.
  
  "Not quite," Scott said with a slight smirk. That of one that knows something the other person doesn't, to be specific. "You see, I got a look at your record and you've gathered quite the list of accomplishments really quick, kid. A beedrill swarm, a special mention for help in Zone 5 during the shitshow that was Mt. Moon and now the onix incident."
  
  "I'm sure other people do similar stuff. I can't be the only one that came across a situation like that and decided to help out," Pierce said. He knew many would shrug and go on their way because it wasn't their problem, but between all the trainers, surely his case wasn't so rare, right?
  
  "True enough," Scott nodded, before chuckling. "But rangers make sure to add specific notes of what trainers do, how effective it is and how much they do," he explained then. "Your notes were very much in your favor, I gotta say. And not only because I was one of the three that noted down your stuff, Pierce. You've been doing great, especially for someone that just started their journey. You are the kind of trainer we want to succeed, to reach far in their journey."
  
  "Thanks. I appreciate that," Pierce said, drawing a louder laugh from the man.
  
  "I'm not done, kid," he said, grinning widely. Then, his hand moved to his jacket and pulled out something from it. "Here you go. You have three pokemon, right? These are three vouchers for pokemon tutors. There are many of them affiliated with the league that will receive them and teach your pokemon one move out of their natural pool. One for each voucher, so use them well, Pierce."
  
  Blinking, the younger man took the pieces of paper and looked at them with widened eyes. He'd looked up some of those tutors himself. They'd be essential to cover more bases with his pokemon, after all. He'd need them to get some more type coverage with moves, especially to cover some of his partners.
  
  They were also expensive . Sure, they were affordable enough, but paying for one move would take a whole chunk of his bank account. And considering that, according to Lily, he was more on the well off side of trainers than not, that said quite a bit. He really wasn't looking forward to having to start investing in that...
  
  At least until Scott came with a solution, if a momentary one.
  
  "Thank you, this is amazing," Pierce said, grinning widely as he looked at the three vouchers, even if they were all pretty simple and identical.
  
  "That's not all," Scott told him, making his eyes widen once more. "We got you permission to be in public areas with your beedrill and your abra. Onix is a different matter altogether, however, so I'm sad to say the young one will have to stay in his pokeball while inside cities or buildings. Once your abra evolves, you'll need to get permission once more too."
  
  "That's still great!" Pierce exclaimed. How many times had he felt bad for having to keep his partners in their pokeballs? How many times had he wished he could have some company while moving around the city? Sure, it wasn't anywhere close to the value of the tutor vouchers, but still, that was a very nice bonus.
  
  "Well, Pierce. Keep doing a good job and being a remarkable trainer, and more good things will come your way," Scott said, to which he wasn't sure if he should be excited or not.
  
  "I don't know if I want to be thrown into more of those situations, but I don't think that really depends on me," he commented, drawing yet another laugh from the ranger. Apparently, he was quite the unintentional comedian, who'd have thought.
  
  "The fact that you think it's out of your hands says a lot," the older man commented, before standing up. "Take care of yourself, kid. And good luck with the First Aid License."
  
  "Thanks, take care of yourself too," he called, as the man started leaving the Center. To that, the ranger simply waved over his shoulder.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "What do you think, Cygnus?" Pierce asked the abra that was, once more, sitting on his shoulders. The psychic type was resolutely ignoring even the thought of it, but the trainer was fairly sure that the pokemon had decided that was his preferred place to be. ' First Narcissa with the piggyback rides and now this...' he mused.
  
  Cygnus didn't deign that with a response, preferring to focus on the question that Pierce had actually voiced instead of anything else. As such, he felt a wave of slight positivism.
  
  "Woah, man, calm down. Don't be so excited and involved," Pierce commented dryly, receiving a shrug in response that he almost missed. As it was, the only reason he picked up on it was the shift of the abra's body. "Not big on battles, are you? That might be a problem with Narcissa," he commented. After all, he didn't know how his first pokemon would react to a companion that wasn't as into fights as she was. ' Maybe I should have asked before catching them.'
  
  Cygnus projected worry then and there, which shifted his thoughts instantly.
  
  ' Don't worry about it,' he reassured. ' I'm not big on battles either. It's just something that would have been good to know-' he paused then, blinking as the abra projected more things in his mind. There was an image of a kadabra fighting with a nidorino and positive feelings. There was a kadabra sitting on the ground, watching other pokemon fighting, this time with bored feelings. ' You like fighting, but you don't like to watch?' Pierce wondered then, receiving an affirmation. ' Huh, interesting. Narcissa has a lot of fun watching too, but then again, she enjoys fights a lot more than you do so there's that.'
  
  To that, Cygnus shrugged again, and that was that.
  
  "I guess you being able to see this isn't as good a perk for you as I thought, huh?" he asked out loud, gazing towards the stage/arena where the tournament at Pewter would be held. As far as being outside of the pokeball went, maybe it was a lackluster but it wasn't like he could really choose where to go, really.
  
  Fortunately, the psychic type reassured him that he'd still have fun, even if it wasn't his favorite thing ever. ' It's weird how sometimes what you send is very clear and sometimes it's just pictures and feelings,' Pierce commented in his mind, drawing yet another shrug from Cygnus. He did get an underlying feeling of frustration though, and he couldn't have that. ' I'm sure you'll get better. Aren't you pretty young?'
  
  He was, apparently, but that seemed to be no excuse for him.
  
  ' What's with my pokemon and being prideful,' Pierce lamented, rolling his eyes.
  
  "Lily didn't say anything regarding when her turn would be up, right?" he asked, trying to change the subject. He'd deal with that problem of Cygnus's if it... Well, actually became a problem. ' Prove me wrong then,' he added in his mind when he felt the psychic type's indignation.
  
  After a moment of annoyance, his pokemon partner replied to his question in the negative, just as a battle started. Neither of the trainers were someone that Pierce knew, but that didn't stop him from watching intently. On his lap, he had his trusty notebook, ready to write down anything interesting he might want to keep in mind for the future.
  
  Even if he didn't get any of the pokemon used, that didn't mean the fights wouldn't be useful. He could see weaknesses to exploit, strengths to be wary of and besides, some of the strategies used could be applied to his own pokemon. Every battle could hold some new insight in something. That was what he learned while watching Lily battle in Viridian Forest, the challenges at the gym and the battlegrounds. This tournament certainly promised to give him much more information to work with.
  
  On his shoulders, he felt Cygnus tense up and a wave of interest washing over his mind. It seemed that the psychic type liked that idea, which made him grin. Well, he wouldn't be the only one being a nerd, he supposed. It'd be nice to have a second opinion in real time. Maybe once Cygnus started actually speaking they could have conversations about the whole thing with Lily.
  
  Judging by the curiosity he felt, the abra probably would be happy just listening. Pierce made a mental note to definitely add the psychic type to the next conversation he had with Lily regarding training and strategies. Not that it was something unlikely to happen anyway, since now he could have him outside whenever. He grinned widely at Cygnus's excitement at the idea.
  
  Yeah, he definitely would have someone to bounce ideas with even if Lily decided to go some other way down the line. Which was great, because he didn't know how good a trainer he'd be without some help. '... Thanks,' he thought, focusing intently at the fight in front of him while his pokemon shot a wave of reassurance at him.
  
  Not for the first time Pierce was surprised by the fact that psychic communication wasn't... Well, more uncomfortable, like he'd expected. Then again, he'd-
  
  ' Ok ok, I'll focus on the battle,' he thought, rolling his eyes but doing exactly that. It seemed his new study buddy was rather enthusiastic now and wouldn't take any slacking off. ' First Narcissa with exercising and now this... Orion better be the nice one,' Pierce grumbled to himself.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "That was... not what I expected the first day of the tournament to go like," Pierce commented, placing his tray on the table at the Pokemon Center. In front of him sat Lily. He'd wanted to have Narcissa and Cygnus to stay with him, but... Well, the abra had needed to sleep after being awake so long and the beedrill preferred to stay out when she could freely move around or at the very least hold onto his back. The former wasn't possible while inside the Pokemon Center and the latter wasn't possible while he ate, so she'd have to wait a little.
  
  "It's a rookie tournament, Pierce. It wasn't going to be an Indigo Conference," Lily commented dryly.
  
  "Still... I guess it was a bit underwhelming," he replied with a shrug as he started eating. The first day of the tournament was over already and he would freely admit that it was a bit of a let down. Two rounds had been battled and Lily had battled using Talon first and then Root, the former against a spinarak and the latter against a sandshrew. Overall, the matches hadn't lasted very long, really.
  
  That wasn't an exaggeration. Most of them were barely better than fights that happened on the road or at the city battlegrounds. Sure, people seemed to be taking them a little more seriously, but it didn't make that much of a difference. ' I guess it makes sense,' he mused idly. ' It's not like other fights are for fun, those mean winning or losing money too.'
  
  "Well, excuse me for being boring," Lily grumbled, stabbing at her salad with a twitch of her eye.
  
  "You were fine," he told her, rolling his eyes. "One of the better ones we saw, that's for sure. Speaking off," he added, before bending down to pick his notebook from his backpack and setting it on the table. "I noted down some stuff about others that stood out. There's a guy with a poochyena that battled in both battles and won easily enough," he said, citing stuff from memory. "There's a girl that seems to be going with a flying type team. She battled with a hoothoot and a zubat."
  
  "I might look up some more on flying types then, see what else she might have," Lily mumbled, a slight frown on her face.
  
  "There was another guy that had a pineco, so..." he trailed off, seeing his female companion grimace. Next to him, Cygnus gave a slight feeling of annoyance and anger. He hadn't been a fan of that trainer, that was for sure. The guy had sent his pokemon in and immediately made it use Self-Destruct. Pierce himself wasn't a fan of the tactic, for sure, but he was guessing there was more to it than he was getting.
  
  He'd been pretty sure the move was supposed to take out the pokemon that used it, but apparently he'd been wrong. The pineco had remained standing, even if it had been on its last leg and had passed out as soon as the referee called the round. Then again, Pierce hadn't been a great connoisseur of pokemon information, so being wrong wasn't something all that unexpected.
  
  Pierce had already decided to look the move up later, but he had a guess of why his psychic type was so annoyed and if it was right...
  
  "What did he use in the next round?" Lily asked.
  
  "Geodude," Pierce replied.
  
  "Oh fuck," the girl cursed, making his eyesbrows raise. "Geodude can learn Self-Destruct too," she told him, making him grimace much like she had before. Yeah, that sounded like a nightmare to deal with. Especially if the other guy was smart about it. "I'm gonna want to see those notes of yours," Lily said, a familiar competitive glint in her eyes that made Pierce grin.
  
  "Sure," he agreed easily enough. Even if it wasn't with him as a trainer, he wanted Narcissa to win. Seeing his pokemon up there, victorious in such a competition, would be great. Granted, it wasn't that great a tournament or anything, but it still counted. It was still a milestone for them to reach, or Narcissa at least. "Another concerning one was a girl with a growlithe and a geodude."
  
  "Yeah, that one might be troublesome, depending on who has to release a pokemon first," Lily acknowledged, which was precisely what Pierce wanted. After all, those pokemon held advantages against hers, Narcissa included. "Anything else?"
  
  "Eh... Those were the ones that stood out the most. There were some others too, of course, but they were just normal trainers but better than the rest," Pierce replied, considering the question and checking over his memories to see if he remembered anything else of actual note. "Yeah, that's it, I guess."
  
  "Hm, good to know. I'll still see your notes on it, if you don't mind," Lily said, continuing to eat. "Today was easy, but that's because it was the first day. It's a lot more difficult to meet actually skilled people in the first round from what I was told. Tomorrow will begin the real thing."
  
  "And then the final two the day after," he reminded her, since the next day would hold a bunch of rounds and then there would be the finals afterwards. It made sense that the second day there'd be "more" fights. At least, more fights per participant. Now that the numbers had been reduced by half twice, the trainers could battle more often, since there would be more time.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "... So, with Leech Seed having weakened the sandshrew, Lily called for a Vine Whip that smacked the ground type to the side. It was a tense moment. The sandshrew went to stand up, its legs shook and its arms trembled, but they still pushed him up. However, it was done, a moment after it stood up, it just fell to the side. The referee called the match then and there," Pierce narrated to a thoroughly fascinated Orion, who was looking at him with wide eyes and awing and ohing at some points, like he was telling him the story of an Indigo Conference final or something instead of the first rounds of a rookie tournament.
  
  "You make it sound better than it was," Lily mumbled, fidgeting with a strand of her hair as she looked away from them. "It was a really simple battle." If anything, that made Orion even more excited, which made the poor girl turn red in embarrassment. "Pierce do something," she whisper-shouted at him.
  
  "Anyway, so, tomorrow, our valiant, talented friend over here will go forth, to conquer the whole competition," he said dramatically, earning himself a glare from the girl. "Together with her trusty team, the mighty Root, the fierce Talon and last, but very certainly not the least, the domineering Narcissa," he added, making said pokemon preen under the wide-eyed gaze of the onix.
  
  Lily's pokemon had been let out of the pokemon center shortly after their meal and they'd all went to visit Orion. After all, the young onix was still staying with his mother and Pierce didn't want to make him feel excluded or anything. Thus, they'd decided to drop by. He'd told the onix all that had happened through the day since the last time they'd seen him. He hadn't even left out the boring parts, so that the rock type felt more part of the group, or so his thought process went.
  
  Lily, for her part, had taken her pokemon and Narcissa aside to have some light training before calling it a day. It'd been mostly just some move training and little else. There was no need to risk injuries or exhaustion, after all. Now that would have been a shame, that was for sure.
  
  In the meantime, Pierce had stayed with Orion and Cygnus, making sure to spoil the former a little extra by rubbing him with the special cloth he'd gotten. ' Not so much of a situational purchase anymore, I guess,' he mused with a grin on his face. With that out of the way, they were just spending some time together under the watchful gaze of Mama Onix. Sure, she was ok with the group and all, but that didn't mean she couldn't make sure nothing happened anyway.
  
  Pierce guessed she was being a helicopter parent while she still could, which was a little sad to consider.
  
  He made a mental note to definitely come around for a visit as soon as possible.
  
  Speaking of mental...
  
  "How's it going, Cygnus?" he asked, looking to the side. The psychic type was doing something that looked... surreal, he guessed. Certainly an unusual sight, if Lily was to be believed. The abra was standing on his feet, instead of just sitting/floating. His body shook, especially his arms, but Cygnus persisted.
  
  The psychic type had been very interested in some parts and plans that Pierce had informed him off regarding his training. At the Pokemon Center, he'd done his due research on what abra - and onix too, of course - were capable of learning, both naturally and not. Well, Pierce had known that they could only learn Teleport, but there were plenty of moves they could work with regarding the less natural movepool to choose from.
  
  Cygnus had been particularly drawn to a specific group of them, however.
  
  Punches.
  
  Focus Punch, Drain Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch.
  
  Cygnus wanted to learn them all.
  
  With that in mind, Pierce had suggested starting low and just getting him used to actually moving his body around himself instead of using his psychic powers. Thus, the abra had started doing some physical conditioning. Well, if it could be called that, since it was more along the lines of normal movement, but in a way he wasn't quite used to just yet.
  
  As it was, Cygnus had trouble just standing and moving his arms. After all, he'd barely been able to help him when he was treating Orion for short things. So, Pierce proposed doing even less strenuous activities. The poor abra was very frustrated, but he'd get there eventually, he was sure.
  
  Or so he hoped, at least.
  
  Pierce hadn't found much regarding the abra line and their physical training. There were some things, but they were... Well, nobody seemed to reach very far down that line for whatever reason. It didn't even seem to be a matter of a physical restriction. Trainers just... Never really seemed to push their abra, kadabra or alakazam on that front. It made some sense, he supposed, the line was psychic not fighting, but still.
  
  The fact that nobody seemed to have tried was a bit weird to him. ' Then again, maybe those people either aren't well known or haven't shared that?'
  
  So, Cygnus and him would tread that path and see if there was anything stopping the psychic from reaching further than everyone else. If nothing else, the abra seemed to be excited about the prospect of doing something nobody else seemed to have tried. However, maybe he was a bit too excited, considering the way his body was shaking at that moment.
  
  "Take a break, buddy. No need to push too hard too quickly, ok?" Pierce told Cygnus, as the psychic type deflated and then sat down slowly. His movements were much more controlled, which belied the use of his telekinetic powers. "Honestly, Orion, please don't be like Narcissa and him. I need someone that won't be a training and battle maniac or I'll go insane."
  
  Turning, he could only feel dread in him as he saw the onix frowning as he looked to the side, smacking his tail to the ground and making a rock shoot out of the ground.
  
  Behind him, he heard Mama Onix rumble a laugh.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Eh... Not much to say regarding this chapter, I guess.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you think Pierce will use those move vouchers for to teach his pokemon? Not sure if I explained this before (or if people will remember if I did) but I'm putting TMs and Tutor Moves under that category of "unnatural" moves that can be taught with some more effort than "natural" ones.
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City XIII
  Pewter City XIII
  
  Pierce was once more sitting at the stands for the tournament battles with Cygnus sitting on his shoulders. There wasn't a whole lot of conversation going on, however. Since the abra had been training the previous day, he'd been exhausted that day. Especially considering he'd pushed off his sleep quite a bit. Truly, having only around six hours of activity in a day was a bit limiting, but it was how it was. Pierce was certainly not gonna push his psychic companion unless he needed to.
  
  So, for the moment, Cygnus was sleeping, resting his head on top of Pierce's. The trainer would wake him up whenever it was Lily's turn to compete. For the moment, it'd be just him, but that was fine. Pierce was kind of curious about how it would go for the psychic type, however, when he tried to relay to him the battles he'd missed through telepathy. That was bound to be interesting one way or another.
  
  As it was, Pierce just sat there and witnessed the battles that would take place before Lily's. They'd been given the name of her opponent that morning and they'd worked on a few strategies. Apparently, she'd be going against the flying type specialist. Or who they theorized was a flying type specialist. They'd seen a grand total of two pokemon, so it wasn't like things were set in stone on that front.
  
  For all they knew, she could pull out a rhyhorn or something, after all.
  
  Lily and Pierce had come up with several plans for the girl still. Many of them hinging on her actually being a flying specialist, but even if she wasn't, they'd fit well enough. She had two flying types, after all, and she wasn't likely to have that many different options. Besides, everyone was likely to try what Lily was doing, which is to say hiding pokemon that they hadn't shown yet unless they really needed them.
  
  For example, Lily was unlikely to use Narcissa in at least a few battles unless she came across someone with a strength against her pokemon or someone with a weakness to bug typing that she might have trouble defeating with her other pokemon. Well, either that or if things were looking bad for her. After all, the beedrill was the strongest member on Lily's temporary team, with her being fully evolved.
  
  ' Poochyena guy has a nuzleaf, dark type specialist?' Pierce noted down after one of the fights. That wasn't all, of course. He went on the jot down a few more lines, mainly regarding what the aforementioned grass type had seemed capable of doing and a few more things, like how it seemed pretty damn aggressive, even by dark type standards. The thing was likely to fight Narcissa if they came across it, what with the double weakness to bug type and a normal one to poison.
  
  He made sure to look out for the specific match that would decide who Lily's opponent would be. He'd have done that before, of course, but they hadn't really released the matchings until that day. They'd taken the previous brackets and re-randomized them for the second tournament day, apparently. He wasn't sure if that was how tournaments usually went but it was interesting. It prevented people from researching their opponents too much. Or maybe there were other reasons, he was certainly no tournament organizer.
  
  Regardless, he noticed that the next opponent was someone... That he didn't have notes off. After seeing the fight, he knew why. Maybe it was mean or hypocritical or ironic of him to say, but they weren't very impressive. Their pokemon were alright and their fighting were alright, but they were just that. There was nothing that stood out, really.
  
  He noted the person's pokemon and what they could do as best he could, but it wasn't very... Well, it'd give Lily a heads up on what to expect, but that was about it. There was nothing to really be concerned about, nor was there anything to worry too much about either. The extra advantage would be welcome though, and that was reason enough to put actual effort into it.
  
  Even if the opponent wasn't impressive or anything, if Lily could get an easy win, then that'd be great. There were several fights happening that day, and even if the pokemon participating would be treated for wounds, they'd still carry the exhaustion from previous fights. Having an easier time with a win could make the difference later down the line.
  
  "The fight is coming now, Cygnus," he mumbled, patting his psychic type on the leg. The pokemon didn't answer, but Pierce felt the grogginess brush against his mind. That was all he needed to know that the abra was up, even if it'd take him a moment to be fully awake. That was the whole point of waking him up slightly ahead of time, after all. "What do you think? Easy win or really easy win?" he asked.
  
  Instantly, he felt foreign amusement in his mind, making him grin.
  
  "Really easy, huh? Makes sense," he mumbled mock seriously, still smiling. "You think she'll use Narcissa in the first battle?" he asked then, receiving a slow feeling of doubt. "Yeah, probably gonna save her for later. Unless something unexpected happens."
  
  They knew that, of course, but he was just making idle chatter, really. Pierce wanted to make sure his friend was fully awake when the time came, just in case. Also because he was getting a little hungry but he didn't have time to go get something, so he'd have to wait until after the fight to do that. Fortunately, once that happened, he could take advantage of that and go talk with Lily regarding her next opponent and such.
  
  The picture of a berry appeared in his mind.
  
  "Sure thing, Cygnus," he replied with a snort. "I'll get something for you too. Fairly sure I have some of those back at the Center... Wish I had brought our stuff with me but bringing the backpack felt like too much. Guess I'm gonna have to pay for an overpriced one at a stall," he commented before sighing.
  
  Well, at least the appreciation he felt from his pokemon made up for it a little, he supposed.
  
  Soon enough, the two contestants stood on each side of the field. Once there, the referee called for the first one to release their pokemon. Unfortunately, the one chosen for that was Lily, which was less than ideal, but so was the nature of battles. Sometimes you were lucky and could see what the other person would send first, and sometimes it was the other way around.
  
  Hesitating for a moment, Lily released Talon first. It made sense, considering that Root was weak to flying type and so was Narcissa. Sure, the latter could definitely make up for that with her higher power level but there was also the fact that Lily wanted to keep her as an ace up her sleeve. Thus, her own flying type was chosen.
  
  Pierce grimaced then as her opponent let out her pokemon.
  
  A butterfree.
  
  That was less than ideal too, considering that meant Talon was up against a fully evolved pokemon. Depending on how well trained that pokemon was, it could be troublesome. Pierce was betting on that being the case even. Especially considering how butterfree were weak against flying, which meant that the girl had to have a reason for that choice instead of going with her hoothoot. After all, that would mean at least type neutrality between it and Talon.
  
  "Lily might be in a bit of trouble," he mumbled, feeling concern coming from Cygnus too.
  
  The starting call was made then and both trainers shouted their orders instantly. It seemed that this particular fight would be decided really quick. Lily commanded an Aerial Ace and the other girl called for Stun Spore. Pierce was fairly sure that would be on the former's side, that is until the thing actually played out.
  
  Normally, Talon would use Aerial Ace to mostly get over the advantage Narcissa had on him, and it worked. The only reason Pierce's partner hadn't started losing fights after that move was added to the flying type's repertoire was because of her defensive options, mainly Iron Defense. Evidently, there were other ways of dealing with the move, as demonstrated by the butterfree. Instead of taking the move, however, it adjusted his flight while using its own move and bathing the place with orange powder.
  
  As it did, Talon only seemed to hit partially. It was better than nothing at all, but the bird pokemon ate the full brunt of his opponent's move. That was bad for Lily, that was for sure.
  
  Regardless of that, his friend commanded another Aerial Ace, clearly wanting to end this battle as fast as possible. Pierce couldn't say there were better options, especially when Talon was liable to drop at any time after Stun Spore. Her opponent wasn't just standing there, however, immediately calling for Confusion.
  
  That made Pierce grimace and Cygnus twitch. Yeah, that was bad. Talon swerved violently to the side, barely avoiding hitting the ground as if he had been hit by a strong gust of wind. Fortunately, the spearow held up, but this fight wasn't going as Lily wanted, that was for sure. That's when the girl rephrased her order.
  
  "Aerial Ace!" she called again, baffling Pierce for a moment. "Treat Confusion as if it were wind, Talon!" she added, not really clearing up any of the man's doubts, but he guessed he'd see how things went.
  
  Pierce's confusion lasted only for a moment before he saw it in action. It meant not trying to push past the psychic force, but instead making it less meaningful. When it pushed Talon away, he simply flew to the side circling a bit instead of trying to power through or getting thrown back. It seemed to work out fairly well. The spearow was at least making progress towards the butterfree, which was certainly a win of its own.
  
  He was going slower, however, and that was concerning. Stun Spore was doing its job and that meant that Lily needed to end the battle fast, otherwise she would be out. Her opponent knew that too, because she ordered her bug type to literally buy time with Confusion until Talon fell. That was bad-
  
  "Leer and Aerial Ace!" Lily called then, making Pierce's eyebrow fly up. ' Why Leer of all moves?' he wondered. That is, until he watched the results. It seemed that the move had somehow broken the hold of Confusion for a moment, allowing him to hit the butterfree. "Peck, keep it up until they're out!" Lily ordered then, and Talon followed that to the letter.
  
  Sure enough, her opponent was out.
  
  ' Mental note,' Pierce mused, narrowing his eyes a little. ' Don't forget that there can be more to a move than meets the eye,' he thought, taking a deep breath in. Sure, Leer's effect wouldn't help much in the fight, but it held an intimidation factor that could also be usable. He'd need to keep that in mind for future reference. That was for sure.
  
  On his shoulders, Cygnus nodded his agreement with that, letting him know that he'd also try to remember that. Regardless, Pierce also noted it down in a corner of his notebook. That one was mostly for Lily's possible opponents, but... Oh well, he couldn't pass up the chance of learning something.
  
  Lily retreated Talon after that, which made sense. There was no need to waste more of the flying type's energy when it was suffering a status effect. Better to save it for after it was treated and use it more efficiently in the next battle. As for her opponent, she let out zubat. It was a fortunate choice for Lily, considering that hoothoot would probably know one or several psychic moves and those were effective against bulbasaur.
  
  As it was, the bat pokemon was a much better option for Pierce's friend.
  
  Still complicated, as evidenced by the fight that followed. Root had trouble catching the flying type with his attacks, understandably. The bulbasaur had experience against such opponents though, considering he had two of those in his team, but it still took some time to finally nail the zubat with a Vine Whip.
  
  It didn't take the pokemon out, of course, especially since the flying type knew Leech Life. However, it got the snowball moving downhill for her opponent. Root didn't finish the battle unscathed though, considering how many moves he'd had to tank and how much he'd had to dodge, but he finished victorious, which was the important part. Still...
  
  "That was more even than I thought it'd be," Pierce mumbled, receiving agreement from Cygnus. So far, he'd seen Lily win a whole lot of battles as a trainer. Not all of them, but enough to make him think that she was a very good battler. That wasn't even mentioning that she was sponsored by Professor Oak himself, which meant that she was probably a big deal.
  
  All in all, Pierce had thought she'd mostly coast through most things, maybe struggle here and there but mostly come up on top. Like a main character or something like that, that was the view he'd had of her. It had been unrealistic, he knew, but that was the impression he'd gotten and nothing had really gone against that until then and there.
  
  Seeing Lily struggle midway through the tournament was a bit of a wake up call. ' If she has this much trouble, what's left for me?' Pierce wondered, nervousness growing inside him. That's when he felt something pull on his hair before a wave of reassurance hit him. It was soon followed by encouragement and contentment.
  
  "Thanks, buddy," he mumbled, giving one last glance towards the battlefield before standing up from where he sat and moving off the stands. Time to get something to eat and go give a little report to Lily. Sure, being a trainer wasn't an easy thing, but that was something he'd known already. He just needed to do his best. It was all constant reminders that he needed to try harder, really.
  
  Determination filled him twice over, his own and his pokemon's. His team seemed intent in going down the battling path and... Pierce didn't find himself as against it as he did during the first few days after waking up in Viridian Forest. Each training session, each battle participated in, each match witnessed...
  
  It reminded him of old times, when he'd had to play a sport for one reason or another. He'd never been a fan, because he wasn't a very physically inclined person and because he wasn't good at them. However, once he was in the field, he'd always try, he'd always get the smallest bit into it. Enjoying the experience for some reason before going back to being indifferent once the thing was over.
  
  Now, however, he felt more and more drawn to it. He wanted to battle and win . He wanted to stand there, victorious, with his pokemon by his side. He'd always been fine being a nobody, but he didn't want that for Narcissa, Orion and Cygnus. The abra on his shoulders pulled on his hair lightly, but that didn't deter his thoughts.
  
  No, he wanted them to be known. He wanted his team to shine. He wanted to give them the chance to do so. And, contrary to many similar resolutions he'd had through his life, Pierce was going to do something about it . He'd continue to learn, he'd continue to train them, he'd continue to get better together with them.
  
  If he had any say in the matter, his team would rise.
  
  As he walked, that decision solidified more and more in his mind. He didn't feel the usual hesitation, the usual need to find an out for himself, an excuse or a reasonable reason why his wishes weren't realistic. He didn't want to find any.
  
  "Guess it's decided for me, huh?" he mused out loud, receiving a sharp affirmation from Cygnus. "We'll definitely go down the battling path, at least as long as it takes us to get to that point, huh?" he said, and he felt his determination burn alongside Cygnus's.
  
  Was that how Narcissa felt all the time? If so, suddenly a lot of things made sense. With some luck, not everyone in his team would be like that though. Things could get out of hand if that was the case. The doubt that reached him at those thoughts wasn't very reassuring, but for once it wasn't as frightening a thought anymore.
  
  Pierce grinned.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Congrats on the win," Pierce said, walking up to where Lily sat by herself and making her look up. "That looked like it was harder than expected," he added, drawing a grimace from the girl. She still grinned, however.
  
  "Yeah, it was," she replied with a shrug. "We pulled through though and I didn't need to use Narcissa, which was nice. Thanks," Lily added then, accepting the snack and drink Pierce bought for her. "Anything I should know?" she asked then, before moving to take the notebook Pierce took from Cygnus and extended to her.
  
  "Not really. Your next opponent didn't look very impressive, really, as you probably noticed," he said, taking a seat next to her. "Granted, maybe they've got a few aces up their sleeves, but if so, then they do a good job acting the part of a run of the mill trainer," he explained with a shrug, considering what else to tell her. "I'm fairly sure the Self-Destruct guy is coming your way after that one though."
  
  "Ugh, I really hope not," she muttered, reading through his notes with a focused expression. Then she sighed and looked up. "With some luck, he'll get disqualified because of pokemon endangering. Self-Destruct isn't against battling or tournament rules, but overuse of it can really affect a pokemon. If he uses the move with every pokemon for every battle, he's bound to injure them seriously."
  
  "Well, I definitely want him to be disqualified then," Pierce said. He hadn't known that. He just thought it was a move with a lot of backlash and that was it, not that a pokemon could actually get injured with it. Surely someone would stop the guy, right? He'd used the move with both pineco and geodude in his last battle. If he was using that move from the very beginning, Pierce didn't see a reason why he would stop...
  
  Although he wished that'd be the case, if only for the pokemon's sake.
  
  "So, average one, Self-Destruct, anything else?" Lily asked, looking around as if that would give her clues too. Pierce followed her eyes, seeing other trainers waiting for their battles and looking at the battles on the screen. He'd been checking on things while he was out there, but Lily didn't really pay all that much attention to it. She'd said she didn't want to focus all that much on fights further than the next one. That was why he was taking note of stuff for the future for her. Even at that moment, as they discussed the several possibilities, Lily was mostly concerned with the next one and the notes Pierce had taken on them.
  
  "The guy with poochyena, he has a nuzleaf too," Pierce told his friend, drawing a narrow-eyed look and a stiff nod.
  
  "Narcissa is definitely making an appearance there, it seems," Lily decided, pursing her lips. "If that one is as strong as the poochyena seemed to be, she'll be the one to deal with either of them. Maybe both, if things go well," she continued. "The man seemed to be a good trainer with strong pokemon. I don't think I want to risk trying to hide Narcissa there."
  
  "Fair enough," Pierce nodded.
  
  "So, average, Self-Destruct, strong dark types," Lily mused, reading through his notes intently. "Maybe someone else other than that one, but unlikely."
  
  "Yep," he agreed with a nod. "And then you are through for tomorrow's semifinals and finals," he finished for her. "Which means you really won't know who your first opponent will be, since they'll roll again. I'll try to get information from as many people as I can."
  
  "Thanks, Pierce," Lily told him, smiling softly at him. "This is a lot of effort you are putting into helping me win the tournament and I appreciate it," she said, looking down at his notebook. Suddenly feeling awkward, he brought a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck.
  
  "It's nothing," he waved off. "I mean, we already agreed to share the prizes and this will be good for Narcissa," he said, shrugging. "Besides, this is actually helping me a lot. Catching up with a lot of trainer knowledge I should have. It's like a crash course."
  
  "If you say so," Lily mumbled, fidgeting with one of the pages of his notebook. "Still, after you helped me through Viridian Forest, the thing with my birthday and now this... Way to make me feel like a shitty friend, Pierce," she accused him lightly with an uneasy smile.
  
  "Don't think too much about it, yeah? You've been helping me a lot too. Friends don't keep track of that kind of stuff anyway," he told her with a chuckle. "With that said... I should go and continue watching the matches, if you are done with the notes. I need to check the ones that went after you. I must have missed at least one match already."
  
  "Right, give me a second," Lily mumbled, reading through his notes once more before nodding and passing him the notebook. "Don't think this is over though. I'm gonna find a way to repay you, just you wait, Mr. Lawson."
  
  He just laughed.
  
  "Sure you will, Ms. Dale," he replied as he stood up. "Good luck on the next few matches, yeah? And don't forget to eat," he told her, reminding her that he'd brought her food and a drink too. Fortunately, it wasn't anything that mattered overly much if it got cold.
  
  "See you later," Lily called after him, making him turn slightly and wave at her before he left to go to the stands again. She might think he was doing her a great favor or something, but that wasn't how he saw it. Narcissa was in the tournament, after all, and Pierce wanted to help her win it as much as possible. Sure, it was for Lily too, but if the girl didn't want to receive too much help he wouldn't have done it. For his pokemon partner though? You could bet he would force Lily to accept the help if he needed to.
  
  A wave of appreciation reached him from Cygnus, who had remained mostly silent.
  
  "We'll also have lots to tell Orion after this, which is a plus, huh?" he commented idly, drawing amusement from the abra. "The kid sure gets excited easily. Shame he's young and still recovering to really battle or train very hard," Pierce mused, clicking his tongue. "I'm sure he'll be very impatient once we start actually traveling and all that."
  
  Cygnus readily agreed with that assumption.
  
  "I don't think he'll like the fact that the next Gym isn't gonna be for him, even if he's grown enough to actually participate anyway," Pierce said then, drawing even more amusement from the psychic type. "Somehow, I don't think the water type Gym will be for him," he added dryly, and he was fairly sure he was receiving the abra version of a laugh to his mind. "I'll let Orion and his mother know how much that amuses you."
  
  That gave the psychic pause.
  
  "Not so smug anymore, huh?" Pierce asked with a grin that the abra couldn't see but likely could feel. "Besides, you aren't much better, are you, Mr. I-can-only-teleport?" he added, getting a slight feeling of annoyance from Cygnus. "Yeah. Lots of work to do all around, evidently," he said as he continued walking.
  
  Somehow, he didn't mind. It even sounded fun, if he was honest.
  
  They'd get there eventually.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  I know I'm taking my time with the tournament stuff, but it's an important event, even if Pierce isn't actually part of it. Even if he's just a witness from the outside, it's still the first competitive pokemon event he's seen, and I feel like that's important. It's part of our MC's eternally developing determination and the foundations for his future.
  
  Or so I think. Do you agree with me?
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you think our boy, Pierce, will meet a Legendary? If yes, which one? If not, why?
  
  See you.
  
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  "Really glad about that," Pierce mumbled, getting an agreeing feeling from Cygnus. There had just been an announcement that the guy that had been using Self-Destruct nonstop had been disqualified and that their pokemon were fine and being looked after by the Pokemon Center staff for the moment. It had been very reassuring to hear but Pierce couldn't help but wonder if it would have been better for them to intervene before it got to that point. Then again, maybe they had given the guy some kind of warning and he'd ignored it?
  
  From there, followed by a few more matches that he noted down everything for, even if some of it was repeated stuff. Even that could be useful, after all. Maybe one of the participants went for the same strategy a lot or had a habit of some kind? Pierce was pretty sure that could be used too.
  
  That's when Lily's turn came, but quite honestly, he almost felt bad for her opponent. It had to be embarrassing to lose so thoroughly. Pierce's friend had dominated that battle from start to finish, really. Not that the thing had lasted very long anyway, but that probably made things worse.
  
  When that happened, he'd have gone to talk to her but her opponent had just been disqualified, so there was no rush. He'd wait for another round of battles to go by before that, he mused. It was a bit of a hassle to move from the stands to where the participants were, after all. It'd have been easier if he could have Cygnus teleport him there and back, but that was a bit out of their hands. For one, the psychic wasn't very good with teleporting him just yet - ' Which is fine,' he reassured when the little guy felt bad about that. - but there was also the fact it was... not well liked to be teleporting around in public areas, especially where there were a lot of people.
  
  It wasn't precisely illegal, but it could land you in trouble in a lot of places and people would get very annoyed with you if you did. Generally, it was better not to unless you really had to, basically. He was fine with that, but it did make some things slightly more inconvenient than they had to be.
  
  ' One more fight, and it'll probably be against the dark type specialist with Narcissa,' he mused, feeling Cygnus very present in his mind. The pokemon wasn't really... projecting anything, but somehow he seemed to make his presence more noticeable than other times, it was strange. That distracted him for a moment from his previous line of thought.
  
  Psychic telepathy was strange and interesting, he'd found. For one, he'd learned that Cygnus's archaic version of it tended to happen with young psychic pokemon when they were young and usually in first stages of three-staged lines. He was apparently supposed to get better at getting things across with time and eventually he'd start "talking" as it were. It could happen that he'd have to evolve into a kadabra to get there, but it was unlikely, supposedly. Pokemon that lived around humans got a lot more practice with the more complex thought process of humans, which would let them progress faster.
  
  Or so the sources he checked said.
  
  While looking through information regarding that though, Pierce had gone on a bit of a tangent to check how one could become a psychic, since he knew those were supposed to be a thing in the pokemon world. That had been an even more interesting read, to be honest, but the gist of it was that it was Difficult, with capital D and emphasis. People spent their lives training that shit to get anywhere. It took literal years of very hard work and barely doing anything else to get any sort of progress.
  
  Hell, Sabrina, the Leader of the Saffron Gym, was considered a prodigy in the art and it had taken her two years to have something to show for it.
  
  Pierce had decided then and there that as cool as it would be to have psychic powers, that was a bit too much commitment for him to really go for it. Maybe he could delve into it in his free time or maybe Narcissa would let him pass that as an exercise for himself too when it was training time for everyone. However, that was about it for the moment, really. He didn't have the money nor the time to put into such a thing, especially if he wanted to get anywhere as a trainer, which he kind of did, if only for his pokemon's sakes.
  
  Then and there, Cygnus sent a message to him. The images weren't very clear, showing kadabra, Pierce and an abra that he was sure was Cygnus himself. It took a bit of insistence and some emotion projections for him to get it but it seemed his pokemon would like to help him if he wanted to dabble in the psychic arts. It would be neat, and he might take him up on that offer, but it would certainly not be a focus for him, really.
  
  As if to bring his attention back to his previous thoughts, the dark type specialist came to the field. He was the important one to look out for, although, really, he only needed to really look at that fight. It would decide who Lily would face, after all. However, the guy was likely the one that was gonna win, and he'd also be the one to force Lily to call Narcissa to the field.
  
  So, Pierce watched intently as the trainer got through the first battle with his poochyena. That was expected and there wasn't much new there. However, the second battle was where the true surprise came. After all, he called a third pokemon he hadn't used before.
  
  He sent out a houndour.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "So, if I go first, Talon. If not, it depends on which pokemon he lets out..." Lily mused, her brows furrowed. "If he makes me use Narcissa in the first one, we might go against the houndour later. Narcissa is fast and has good defenses but a fire attack might still be too much, you know?" the girl pointed out, to which he nodded, his lips pursed.
  
  "It could, but I trust Narcissa. She also would hate it if you pulled her out of the fight before she's truly done with it. Treat it as if she were your own pokemon, not mine," he reassured her. Truly, he wanted to take her up on the offer of going easier on Narcissa, but his beedrill would never agree to that.
  
  "If you are sure..." Lily replied hesitantly, to which he nodded. He might not like it that much, but it was what his pokemon wanted. He might be their trainer, but he wasn't their master . He couldn't - wouldn't - make that kind of decision for them. Not unless it prevented serious damage. Besides, he trusted Lily to be a good trainer and not push his pokemon too hard.
  
  On his shoulders, Cygnus reassured him as best he could. He apparently agreed that Narcissa would prefer that, if he was understanding the series of mental pictures he sent right. He knew it was the right choice too, he just couldn't help but feel uneasy.
  
  "I am," he said more firmly, more to himself than to Lily, but the latter nodded regardless. "Good luck, yeah? I'll go keep an eye out and take some more notes. Although, things are almost done," Pierce added, standing up and taking the notebook that Lily returned to him.
  
  "Ok, thanks again for this, Pierce," she told him again, which had him rolling his eyes. He didn't even try to argue with her. He'd lost count of how many times they'd had that conversation already, really. Judging by the grin on her face, she knew she'd won that "battle", which almost made him want to keep going. Almost.
  
  "You can thank me if you win by giving me an even bigger part of the prizes," he commented with a smirk before chuckling as she giggled and then leaving. The deal had been that he'd get a proportional amount of stuff with the amount of help Narcissa gave in the tournament. Sure, it didn't sound like much when one considered that Lily hadn't sent the beedrill in what was more or less two thirds of the tournament so far but if Narcissa helped with a semifinals or even the final battle, then that'd mean a lot more, really. After all, those were guaranteed hard battles, really.
  
  It wasn't like he was really interested in any of the rewards though, really. They'd be nice, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if he didn't get any at all. Besides, they were traveling together now, so she was bound to share at least some of the stuff she got with him anyway.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  The time had come for Lily to face her last opponent of the day. Pierce wouldn't say he was precisely nervous or anything, but he was sort of... impatient for it. He'd kind of been looking forward to it ever since he realized that Narcissa was more likely to come out for this fight, really.
  
  That was why he was a little disappointed when the guy was the first to send someone out and it was his houndour the one that appeared. Now it was unlikely that Lily would choose the beedrill for this. If Talon could take out the fire type, then the others would likely face Root instead. Hell, the bulbasaur would have an advantage against the nuzleaf too so there was that.
  
  With the dog and the bird already in the field, the match started.
  
  Pierce narrowed his eyes instantly, feeling Cygnus focus too, as the trainer called for Smog before Lily could call her own command. Instantly, the houndour opened its mouth and let out a cloud of thick black smoke all over. ' Shame spearow doesn't learn Gust,' Pierce thought to himself with a grimace. The battle had just started and things had already gotten complicated for Lily.
  
  Still, she called for a simple Aerial Ace to begin things with. It'd be good to get up close and personal before anything else happened, Pierce guessed. Besides, the extra mobility that the move gave would help Talon if the reduced visibility complicated things too much. The houndour, for his part, didn't let up at all with Smog, starting to really cover a great deal of the battlefield with the smoke.
  
  It didn't even dodge, really, tanking Talon's attack with the skull-like thing on its head. Before that, however, the canine had made sure to point its mouth straight at Talon so he'd get completely hit with Smog too. After the attack though, the poison type attack was stopped and the dark type's trainer called for an Ember attack that missed, but that wasn't the end. No, instead, more fire type attacks were sent Talon's way.
  
  As for Lily, she called for another Aerial Ace, this time to be followed up with Fury Attack. Probably a good combo, Pierce mused. It'd get Talon up close and then keep him there. Considering the rest of the battlefield was covered in poisonous gas, maybe it was better to try and rush the fight. Besides, he didn't have any range and the houndour certainly did. When Talon got close though, the other trainer called for another attack, Bite.
  
  Frowning, Pierce looked on, the fight seemed to be going evenly so far, even if it probably looked like Lily was doing worse. After all, the field was covered in smog and her pokemon had his options reduced. However, houndour had eaten an Aerial Ace to the face, skull plate or whatever, that had to have hurt quite a bit, Pierce was sure.
  
  Unfortunately, Lily's luck abandoned her as the canine pokemon got his jaws around Talon's wing after taking another Aerial Ace. Surely the fire type was pretty hurt by taking both attacks head on, but now Talon couldn't fly. That was bad . Lily called for Peck and Fury Attack, but the houndour and its trainer weren't going to leave things easy for her. They kept Bite up and the canine started twisting its head from side to side repeatedly, swinging Talon around like he was a ragdoll.
  
  And thus, Talon was out and Houndour was more or less fine.
  
  "This could be bad," he mumbled, receiving concerned agreement from Cygnus. Root would have a hard time against houndour, after all and even if that fight didn't last long since the fire type was already more tired and had been hit... Chances were that it'd get one or two hits in before going down. Lily was on the back foot now.
  
  Pierce saw her hesitate as the referee called for her to release another pokemon and that was all that he needed to be able to guess what was going through her head. Narcissa would be a good choice now. She was fast enough to maybe get through the fight without getting hit. Even if she did get hit, she would fare much better than Root would, being more evolved and not having actually participated in the tournament yet.
  
  ' Do you think she'll go for it?' he thought to himself. He'd found himself interchangeable thinking stuff to Cygnus and talking to him too. It was a bit... strange, and he often forgot that he could just do that. His first instinct was to just speak, after all. Sometimes, even if he remembered that he could just think stuff, he felt like it was a bit too weird, really. Maybe it was like an acquired taste, he supposed.
  
  The abra replied with uncertainty, which was fair.
  
  When the referee called for her again, warning her to release a pokemon already or she'd lose by default, Lily finally revealed her choice. Even far away from the stands, Pierce could see as Narcissa appeared over the smoke that remained. She was ready and eager to have a go in a fight already. He saw it in the way her stingers shifted, as if she were already about to charge at something. He saw it in the way her abdomen was pulled back and even in the way she flew from side to side, like she couldn't wait to get started already.
  
  He grinned and he felt Cygnus give him the mental version of that expression too.
  
  Yeah, that trainer and his houndour were in for a surprise. Especially with the way he smirked as he saw Narcissa. Like her being there meant he'd already won. And then he opened his mouth. Pierce couldn't hear him, since he spoke lowly instead of the shout that he used for commands. If Lily's hand balling into a fist and Narcissa's posture shifting to one much more aggressive were any indication though...
  
  The referee called for the start of the match and Lily beat the dark type trainer this time.
  
  "Twineedle!" she shouted and Narcissa all but blurred as she dashed towards the houndour. The trainer of the fire type called for Embers, and Pierce would give it to them, the attack was fast. Fast enough to almost hit his beedrill. Almost, but not quite. Narcissa didn't even change her trajectory all that much, shifting a little to the side and letting the ball of fire fly by her harmlessly. "Fury Attack!" Lily called then once the first attack landed and Narcissa sent a barrage of attacks at the poor fire type.
  
  Its trainer tried to get a call in, Ember again. However, Narcissa was dashing from side to side too quickly as she continued hitting the canine. The poor houndour had no chance of even zeroing on her, really.
  
  It didn't take long for the pokemon to be taken out after that and Pierce grinned widely at the sight. Narcissa hadn't even been hit at all . Oh, he was going to give her something nice after she won the next fight. Because she would win the next one too, he was sure . Even if the dark type specialist had something else under his sleeve, his beedrill would win regardless.
  
  The referee called for the trainer to send his last pokemon and, expectedly, he released his poochyena. With as confident as he was on Narcissa, Pierce was the smallest bit relieved that it was that choice the one that was made and not some other surprise like the houndour. He'd prefer his beedrill not have a hard time just yet, even if he knew she would likely struggle or even lose in the semifinals or the final.
  
  "Twineedle!" Lily called immediately.
  
  "Tackle!" her opponent ordered, making Pierce blink. Then again, in his notes, the poochyena hadn't used anything other than dark type moves, he was pretty sure. Still, the good training of his pokemon shone through even with such a basic attack. The canine somehow got under Narcissa's stingers and hit her straight on the abdomen, making Pierce grimace a little.
  
  "Hug its back!" Lily told his beedrill, to which he tilted his head. Then he realized where she was going. Right, the dark type also didn't seem to have ranged attacks or anything like that, so... "Bug Bite," she called then, when Narcissa had sort of gotten into a piggy-back ride position on top of the poochyena.
  
  And like that, the battle was done.
  
  Of course, the dark type struggled and fought. However, no amount of rolling on the ground and shaking would get Narcissa off of its back. There was nothing the poochyena or its trainer could do now and against an effective attack to boot. The battle was over soon enough.
  
  Lily seemed to look to the stands for a bit, trying to find him, but she didn't manage. That was fine, they'd celebrate later in the Pokemon Center. He honestly couldn't wait, especially to meet Narcissa.
  
  ' Let's go,' he thought, with Cygnus readily agreeing with that. Although, the abra also sent him the message that he'd be going to sleep soon enough. To be fair, he'd been up for a while already, while the tournament thing was going on and such. That was fine, they just needed to congratulate their team member and he could sleep to his heart's content.
  
  Cygnus liked the sound of that, it seemed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Congratulations," Pierce called with a wide grin. "Almost guaranteed to win at least something. Only need one more win tomorrow," he said as they all took a seat on the grounds behind the Pokemon Center. Abra was sitting next to him while Narcissa clinged to his back. In front of him sat Lily with her two pokemon next to her.
  
  "I know, right? I like our chances, honestly," she said with a wide grin. "At least of getting to second place. That girl with the geodude and the growlithe kind of worries me."
  
  "Same," Pierce agreed with a nod. "I get the feeling that she has a third pokemon too. Everyone else that reached this far and before seems to have had one. It'd be weird if she didn't. Especially considering she seems to be good."
  
  "Let a girl dream, Pierce," Lily whined, Root pulling up a Vine Whip to pat her shoulder reassuringly. "Narcissa tell him something. He's doubting us!" she demanded, but the beedrill simply tightened her hold of him, which made him smile.
  
  "Yeah, I don't think we are doing this again, Lily. Narcissa seems to really not like it," he commented, turning slightly to regard his bug type team member. "You aren't angry with me, right?" he asked hesitantly, receiving a shake of the beedrill's head. "Good. Did you at least have fun with the fights?"
  
  To that, Narcissa replied with some sort of clicking-buzzing. Fortunately, it sounded happy enough to reassure him. Pierce sighed in relief at that. He'd have felt really bad if he'd forced the beedrill to do something she hated entirely .
  
  "I'm sorry, ok? If you were so against it, you could have said so," he told her, but he received a negative to that one. "So, you aren't against it but you miss me anyway, is what I'm getting?" he asked, unsure. When she nodded, he nodded back.
  
  "Ah, maybe I should have said no when you suggested the idea?" Lily said then, looking nervous. He shook his head, however, since it really wasn't her fault at all.
  
  "I'm her trainer, Lily. I'm responsible for whatever problem this caused. I might have been a little too enthusiastic with the idea myself," he admitted reluctantly. "It sounded good on principle and maybe pragmatically but... That's not all that needs to be taken into account," he mused. "Something to keep in mind, I guess. For the moment, I promise we'll fight as much as you want after this, Narcissa."
  
  That seemed to shake the bug type out of her little funk, if the way she relaxed and perked up were any indication.
  
  Pierce chuckled.
  
  "For the moment, congrats again, guys. You did really well," he repeated, this time more towards Lily's pokemon than their trainer and Narcissa. Root preened at the praise, but Talon gave a somewhat angry squawk before turning away. "Oh come on, a loss isn't the end of the world. That's what Lily's here for, right? To train you so you can be stronger. If you could win all fights then what would be the point?" Pierce asked, making the bird give him a side-eyed glance before the pokemon tilted his head from side to side as if considering those words.
  
  Then Talon chirped something that didn't precisely sound happy, but neither did he seem as angry either.
  
  "You gotta tell me your secret one day, Pierce," Lily said, looking between him and Talon a few times. "I was expecting to have to spend all night to get him out of that mood of his."
  
  To that, the spearow squawked indignantly.
  
  "Oh, don't give me that, mister. You know I'm right," Lily told the bird, rolling her eyes.
  
  "I just... try to see things from their perspective as much as I can and guess what would be the best thing to do or say, that's all," Pierce answered with a shrug. He didn't think it was that complicated. He'd always done that, really. Didn't the media back in his world always teach people to put themselves in each other's place and all that? Was it different in the pokemon world? Was he the only one that had taken those teachings to heart?
  
  "You make it sound so easy," Lily mumbled with a pout. Then she took a deep breath in and sighed. "Anyway, I think I'll go over your notes for a bit longer, see if I can think of anything new. Maybe think up another strategy or something," she mumbled, fidgeting with the notebook in question.
  
  "Good luck with that," Pierce said, looking up and then towards Cygnus. When the psychic type tilted his head at him, he grinned. "You feel up to a few teleports, buddy? I wanted to go see Orion and tell him about today's battles and all that. I can walk if you are not up to it though."
  
  His response was to float slightly towards him, already moving towards Pierce's shoulders.
  
  "Ok, girl, I'll recall you and bring you back over there and then we come back, yeah?" he said to Narcissa, who chirped something before letting herself be put back in her pokeball. "See you later, yeah?" he told Lily, who waved at him at the same time that her pokemon gave their own goodbyes. "Ready when you are, Cygnus," he said, to the psychic who was already on his shoulders.
  
  A second later, he was somewhere else entirely and he felt weak all over, his stomach feeling like it wanted to do a bunch of flips and expel all that it contained. Cygnus definitely needed to get better eventually. It wasn't his fault though, and he'd feel fine soon enough.
  
  As it was, he swallowed and started walking towards the onix den, where he saw Orion and Mama Onix.
  
  "Hey there, little one, I bring new stories," he said, his voice weak from the still somewhat dizzying feeling of the teleportation. "You've been good for your mother, right?" he asked then, receiving a scoff from the bigger rock type and a sheepish look from the smaller. "What'd you do now?"
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Eh, not much to comment about this chapter, which probably says something about how many comments about this I'm gonna get. Which is sad, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it... *sniff*
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you have a favorite character in this story, be it human or pokemon? If so, can you tell who it is and why, please?
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City XV
  Pewter City XV
  
  A whole new day had come already and Pierce found himself sitting at the stands with a snack in hand. The tournament was on its last stretch and it showed. There was a significantly larger amount of people there for it that day, which made sense. The final matches were much more important and exciting, Pierce guessed.
  
  Which was... kind of funny, because watching as Lily battled her opponent in the semi-finals, he couldn't help but think that some of her other matches had been much more entertaining. Sure, the other trainer and their pokemon were good and all, but they certainly weren't on the same level as, say, the dark type specialist. Still, their oddish had put up a good fight against Talon, but there was little to do there. Especially at the level they were fighting in.
  
  Now, it was Root's turn against an ekans. It was going fairly well in favor of Lily, all things considered. Furthermore, even if the bulbasaur lost for some reason, Talon would be there too, mostly fine, to try to finish the fight. Seeing as things were pretty even against the snake pokemon, Pierce didn't think the creature could pull off a win good enough to be able to take out Talon afterwards.
  
  Sure enough, it couldn't. The serpent did take out Root though, but went down fairly quickly against the bird. Then came an interesting choice, actually, because Lily's opponent released a beedrill . To that, the girl answered by recalling Talon and calling out Narcissa too, which surprised Pierce quite a bit. Then again, Talon was unlikely to be able to do much. ' It's quite interesting how much a single extra pokemon choice changes the game,' he mused as he watched the fight. After all, they'd gone from 2v2 to 3v3 in the battle rules for the semifinals and finals.
  
  Sure, the rules had said that someone with two pokemon could enter, but that was no reason to limit other participants to that. Besides, Pierce guessed it was unlikely that someone with two pokemon would reach that far anyway. On top of that, the tournament organizers had to worry about making a good spectacle, and adding more pokemon to the battles when there were few left was a good way to do that, he imagined.
  
  As the fight started, he grinned slightly at Lily's first command, Iron Defense. The other trainer was unlikely to have that move at their disposal, after all, which was further proved when they called for Poison Sting. A few of the purple needles hit Narcissa, for sure, but she was done with her move and charging forward within seconds. Fury Attack was what Lily ordered after the defensive move and Pierce's first companion was all for that, evidently.
  
  The other beedrill sure tried to give as much as they got with its own Fury Attack. Tried being the operative word, since Iron Defense tilted the scales a lot in favor of Narcissa. To their credit, they tried to switch things up and make themselves unpredictable with other attacks in between but once they got within melee distance with Narcissa, there was no way Pierce's partner would let them get away before the fight was over.
  
  Thus, within a minute or so, Lily found herself the winner of her fight and in the finals.
  
  After the fight was over, Lily went away to have her pokemon taken care of. ' So, geodude/growlithe girl faces Lily in the finals... Her pokemon ended up less hurt than Lily's but she still has Narcissa ready for a fight... Although, not sure how effective she'll be against those,' Pierce mused as he stood up and made his way to the waiting section that Lily would be in.
  
  Considering there was going to be about an hour before the next battle, he'd keep the girl company while they waited for her pokemon to be healed and such. Moving around was a bit difficult, however, considering how the other spectators were also moving away from the stands towards the stalls that had been set up outside the tournament area. That's where he likely would have gone himself if not for Lily's presence in the tournament. It was where he'd gotten his snack before the fight, after all.
  
  "What do you think, buddy?" he asked, looking slightly up as he addressed Cygnus, who was once more riding on his shoulders. The psychic type sent him what he imagined was some kind of... mental humming. Not as much in the sound sense as the presence in his mind seemed to oscillate between being more noticeable and not.
  
  ' Telepathy is really weird and I probably should be more disturbed by it, pretty sure,' he mused as he waited for an actual response. Which he got a moment later, as they started making their way away from the crowd and towards the participants' place. Nobody had cared much when he'd gone there before, but now it seemed that they did, because they asked him to wait for a bit while they checked with Lily.
  
  As for Cygnus's answer, the abra simply pushed a picture of a weary Root facing a geodude. Then that was followed by Narcissa facing a just as weary geodude. After that, the picture shifted to Narcissa fighting a growlithe... although the image seemed unclear on that last part.
  
  "Root against geodude, loses and then Narcissa finishes the fight. After that, it's time to face either growlithe or some other surprise pokemon, maybe even both. Talon being reserved in case Narcissa loses," Pierce mused out loud as he considered that. "Sounds about right. Of course, it kinda depends on what that probable but not confirmed third pokemon might be and when it comes out."
  
  The psychic type readily agreed with that.
  
  "Regardless, we are already getting some prizes and that's pretty neat, really. What do you think are the chances of actually winning?" Pierce asked, to which he felt Cygnus mentally shrug. Then it was followed by a sort of nervous/hopeful feeling that... "What's that? Like, 70% winning chance?" he asked before humming. "I mean, I like those odds. Maybe it's the friend in me that doesn't want to think about them losing but still. I hope your guess is right."
  
  He was sort of guessing, but Pierce was fairly sure that Cygnus replied to that with a "same".
  
  And yet, despite the optimism, he had to remind himself that Narcissa wasn't that strong against either, geodude or growlithe. She was basically riding and trusting that her superior evolution level would be enough. That, and not being hit too much, because she was weak to both rock and fire type attacks. Pierce trusted Narcissa to be able to dodge just about anything those two could throw at her but... That didn't mean it couldn't happen...
  
  "Thanks, buddy," he mumbled as Cygnus sent him a wave of reassurance. "Well, you've got yourself some prizes guaranteed, at least, huh?" he called as he approached Lily, who was sort of pacing around a table before she perked up as he approached. "Haven't gotten them back just yet?" he asked, his eyes moving to the side to look at where the infirmary was situated.
  
  "Not yet, no," she answered, sighing as she took a seat. Following suit, he sat down in front of her while Cygnus teleported from his shoulders to his lap. "And yeah, that's great, actually," she added with a slight grin. "Next fight has me a little worried, but I think it should go fine, even if things go South a bit... or a lot. Shouldn't make a bad impression, at least."
  
  "Are these things televised or something? Because I don't know why you'd care if not," Pierce pointed out, he hadn't seen a single camera that he remembered.
  
  "I mean, they are not, but there's still recordings uploaded and so on. If I make it far in the Conference, maybe they could make a report about me and so on. Besides, enthusiasts still check recordings of tournaments and so on. There's entire channels with compilations and tops and... Well, yeah. I'm not surprised you didn't know that. It's more of a..."
  
  "Very enthusiastic trainer thing?" he finished for her with an amused expression that made the girl huff. "Yeah, I didn't look too deep into that," he commented, which was true, even if not in the way she'd assume. "I might now though, so good to know. Anything else I could check?"
  
  "Well, there's some people that hold theoretical battle situations and such," Lily told him, her eyes shining with excitement. "They are usually held by people too young to be trainers yet but some adults do it too. There's an element of luck thrown in by using dice to help decide what actually happens and other things. Some even try to run entire journeys instead of just battles."
  
  ' Is it just me or does that sound suspiciously like D&D... Nevermind,' Pierce decided, shaking his head.
  
  "Well, good to know, I'll look it up," he commented. ' If only to confirm my suspicions,' he added in his own mind with a grin. A smile that widened as Lily's expression turned to a worried one.
  
  "I mean, maybe you should just look for actual battles. After all, those will be more helpful," she mumbled, making him raise an eyebrow.
  
  "I'll look both of those up. I'm suddenly wondering what kind of hobby you had before becoming a trainer," he said, making the girl blush beet red.
  
  "I never said I participated in that," she argued weakly, to which he kept his eyebrow raised. Eventually, she deflated and grumbled something he didn't understand.
  
  "So, can I find videos of you playing around with imaginary pokemon and dice?" he asked, and the expression Lily made at the question was very amusing. She looked halfway between being mortified and wanting to strangle him.
  
  "Lillian Dale?" a nurse called then and the girl in question pouted at Pierce before standing up and walking towards the counter.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Final match," Pierce said, once more sitting at the stands, for the last time now. On his shoulders, Cygnus audibly hummed his agreement as the both of them saw Lily stand on the battlefield, opposite to the other trainer. Introductions were made and all that, but he only half-paid attention to it all, really. He really wanted to see this fight, not so much the previous show.
  
  It'd been an eye opening experience, to see Lily participate in this tournament. It was a lot different from regular battles, there were more stakes, more importance to it all besides just a money prize. Quite honestly, he was sort of looking forward to participating in such an event himself eventually. Pierce pictured it, with him in Lily's place and calling out Narcissa, or Orion, or Cygnus.
  
  The abra certainly liked the picture, it seemed, if the emotions that reached him were any indication.
  
  ' Yes, we'll be there eventually,' he thought. Somehow, despite being somewhat indifferent to fighting... He was sort of missing it. It had been a while since his last battle, really. After all, Narcissa had spent her time with Lily as of late and Cygnus and Orion were in no battling condition, nevermind the fact that they'd joined not so long before. ' Narcissa and I are definitely going to make up for lost time, she'll like that anyway,' he mused with a slight grin.
  
  He refocused on the battlefield then though. The introductions were over and the hyping up of the audience was done already. Now, it was time for the actual fight, it seemed. Then, Lily released Narcissa first of all. It made sense. Her opponent had stuff that would sort of counter all her pokemon, so it was better to start off with a strong one that would hopefully put up a better fight.
  
  And Narcissa was the one for that, if Pierce did say so himself.
  
  Opposite from Lily, the other trainer let out her pokemon. ' Well, good to know that our theories were right, huh?' he thought to himself, with Cygnus readily agreeing. Sure enough, Lily's opponent let out a third pokemon different from the ones they knew about.
  
  A Natu.
  
  ' This... might be bad,' he thought, somewhat worried. After all, Narcissa was weak against both of the creature's types, psychic and flying. In his mind Cygnus wasn't faring much better with this new development, it seemed.
  
  Regardless of their concerns, however, the match was still going to happen.
  
  Lily started it off with an Iron Defense call while her opponent called for a Teleport-Peck combo, it seemed. ' Not as smooth or fast as your teleport, huh?' he thought towards Cygnus, who replied with a very proud feeling. Sure enough, it seemed to take the strange green bird a moment to do its trick. About as long as it took Narcissa to use her defensive move, actually.
  
  So, when the natu finally teleported, Lily was already calling for a Fury Attack. Thus, when the creature managed to appear behind Narcissa and Peck her, the beedrill replied with a flurry of attacks that made her stingers shine with white light. As for the psychic type, it used Peck to reply in kind.
  
  As the fight went on though, Pierce started grinning more and more widely. ' She's winning,' he thought, having to hold back a laugh. ' She's winning! Come on, girl!' he cheered internally. He'd have done so out loud but he'd never been that kind of guy, really. Especially without a crowd with him, which was certainly not the case. Sure, there were some vocal people around the stands, but those were the minority.
  
  Regardless, he was fine with just having Cygnus cheering with him, even if it was only mentally.
  
  "Yes," he couldn't help but say out loud, his hand balling into a fist as the natu fell to the ground. Narcissa had gotten hit too, but she was... mostly fine, from what he could see. It didn't feel right to see her like that, but Pierce knew she was still perfectly fine as far as she was aware. ' Gotta get used to not worrying so much. She wants to keep going, let her, unless it's really stupid,' he reminded himself.
  
  ' Keep her out,' he thought, narrowing his eyes. The point of making Narcissa be the first was still very valid, really. There was no need to switch her out just yet. She was still ready for another round with whatever, be it geodude, growlithe or something else. ' She wants to fight and it's the right call. Keep her out,' he thought, as if that would somehow reach Lily to let her know what he thought was the right call.
  
  It wasn't necessary though, it seemed, because when she was asked if she would switch, she shook her head. As for her opponent, their following pokemon was growlithe, which was sort of expected. It was certainly faster than geodude, after all, and they'd need all the speed they could get to fight Narcissa. ' Will it be fast enough though? Strong enough?' he wondered, leaning forward the smallest bit as he looked at the battlefield.
  
  The fight started much the same as before, with Lily calling for Iron Defense - ' That's a really great move to have, really.' - while her opponent called for an attack. Ember, to be exact. The move flew true and hit Narcissa square in the chest. The growlithe clearly had a good aim, if nothing else.
  
  That wasn't enough to take out Narcissa though, and Lily's call for Twineedle soon followed before the fire type could fire again. It wasn't a very effective move to use against growlithe, offensively speaking. However, it added a little speed to Narcissa that was better than nothing. After that, what followed was more Fury Attacks, which was becoming a bit of a staple for Narcissa.
  
  Narrowing his eyes, Pierce made a mental note to give his beedrill more close combat options. Twineedle and Fury Attack were great, but it'd be better to have more moves to choose from. Especially since Narcissa seemed to be much more melee oriented than ranged.
  
  The fire dog continued trying to nail Narcissa with Embers at its trainer's command, however, it was a lot more difficult when the opponent was moving. Lily's opponent wasn't just gonna be happy with that though. No, instead, they also called for Bite, to try and nail Narcissa so she'd have to stay still. It wasn't completely successful, but to say it was a failure would be too much too. Several of the fireballs hit Narcissa, after all, and while Bite didn't quite land, Pierce could see them scratching his partner.
  
  "Yes," he said, more firmly than before. He grinned widely with his eyes wide so he wouldn't miss anything. Growlithe had fallen and Narcissa was still going... Well, not strong, but she was holding on. The beedrill was practically out now, but Pierce knew she wanted to keep going, to try and go for the full win...
  
  He almost groaned when Lily recalled her. It was such a shame... But he got it. Narcissa wasn't Lily's pokemon. She didn't need nor want to risk anything now. Her opponent likely had only a geodude left, and Root would deal with it just fine. It was the polite thing to do, to take out Narcissa once there was no more need to put her in there to get even more hurt.
  
  Pierce should have been grateful for that, really. However, he could almost feel Narcissa's frustration. She likely had been looking forward to continuing fighting. To show how strong she was even more. She wasn't even that out of the fight, really. She could have fought more, not even being that unreasonable...
  
  ' Definitely gonna make up for the lost time after this,' he decided resolutely.
  
  With that out of the way, Pierce tried to focus on Lily's final round, with Root facing geodude. He really did, but... Well, first of all, the fight wasn't all that close or exciting. He knew how the thing would end now and there was nothing telling that it'd go differently. With Narcissa out of the fight now, it was... a little less interesting, he supposed.
  
  Cygnus, on his shoulders, seemed to agree, if the frustrated/excited feeling was any indication. ' It'll be us there soon enough, buddy,' Pierce told his psychic type in his mind, smiling as the abra grabbed his hair. Maybe it was weird, but he was looking forward to fighting more and more by the second, it seemed.
  
  When Lily's opponent finally lost, her geodude slumping on the ground after one last attack made by Root, he clapped for her while she waved at the stands. Soon enough, he was making his way out of the stands and, as he did so, he could only hope that whenever they made their way to Cerulean, there'd be a tournament for them to participate in. Then again, Orion and Cygnus weren't all that battle ready but... Well, maybe they'd get there before they reached the city.
  
  For the moment, that was far away, but the battlegrounds would still be open for them to fight in.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I said I was sorry," Lily said, to which Pierce smiled wryly.
  
  "There, there," he said softly, using the special wipe he'd gotten on Narcissa as the bug type grumbled on his lap. "It's over now, alright? You are definitely stuck with me now and we'll get plenty of battles done, I promise. Hell, if we come across another tournament, I'll sign us right in, ok? Even if we don't stand a chance at winning."
  
  To that, the beedrill chittered something that sounded half annoyed and half agreeing.
  
  "Besides, you can't be angry with Lily. She's not your trainer, it'd have been bad if she really pushed you, no matter how much you wanted her to," he told his pokemon. She grumbled some more, but she seemed to mostly settle down. At least until she heard Orion rumble a laugh, which caused her to snap something at him with her mandibles. "Orion, don't be a brat," he chided lightly, drawing an offended look from the onix. "Yeah, that's not gonna work. Behave yourself. Narcissa can kick your butt and you should know that."
  
  When the stone serpent huffed something in disbelief, he got the same look from basically everyone around, including his own mother. Noticing this, the rock type rumbled something lowly before retreating to a corner to not-pout at them. Pierce, for his part, turned to look at Cygnus when the abra sent a wave of amusement towards him.
  
  "Do I have to scold you too, mister?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. To that, the psychic type waved his hands in the negative. "Suddenly, getting two new pokemon at the same time doesn't sound like as good an idea as it did before," he muttered, focusing back on Narcissa. "Especially when they are both brats."
  
  "Good to know," Lily commented, looking thoroughly entertained by the whole situation. Then she sat down next to him while Root crawled on top of her lap. There, she started doing much the same thing Pierce was doing with Narcissa, but with her own specialized wipe. "So, partner in crime, what are we gonna use our winnings for?"
  
  "I mean, supplying ourselves?" he answered, blinking at her. "Anything in particular that needs actual decision making? We just gotta supply ourselves for the trip through Mt. Moon... Has there been any announcement regarding that?"
  
  "They said it was likely they'd open it tomorrow. I think they were using the tournament to make sure trainers on this side wouldn't get antsy," Lily explained, humming to herself. "I think we can decide what we really need for the trip through the mountains. Beyond that... Well, there were three training vouchers. I can give you one. Besides that, I think we are mostly set. Only one that's not really all that generic is the voucher for the store that sells stones. I don't think you want anything specific from there?" she asked with a grin.
  
  "Not really. You can get whatever you want from there," he said with a shrug. He rather doubted something of actual value would be there hidden in completely normal rocks. No way a fossil or something like that had gotten past someone that was supposed to specialize on rocks, in Pewter of all places. "Anything we should worry about inside Mt. Moon?... Besides the obvious?"
  
  "... Well... Zubat are annoying at best, but that's in normal times. They might be more aggressive now. The other lines in there are mostly either friendly or peaceful and it shouldn't have changed much even with the attack," Lily informed him, which was more or less what he'd picked up in his own searches, but it was good to confirm that information. "There's supposed to be onix, evidently, which are more of a concern, but they are so rare that we shouldn't have a problem there. Besides, Orion will help with that, I'm sure."
  
  To that, the young onix barked something affirmatively, apparently forgetting to pout for a moment.
  
  "So, everything's ready, I guess?" Pierce commented absently as he continued pampering his bug type. "Good to know. It'll almost be a shame to go away. I've gotten used to this place," he added then, turning to look at Mama Onix. On top of that, he thought back to the ponyta ranch, the tournament and everything else that had happened.
  
  "Gotta keep moving forward," Lily said then, but she didn't look very eager. "But yeah, I get where you are coming from. Lots of things happened here. I wonder if this is how all our city visits will go."
  
  "Hopefully without Rocket attacks."
  
  "Of course," Lily replied, sharing a wry smile with him.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  And we are almost done with Pewter. I know we've been in this city since forever ago, but... Well, I can't really feel bad about it. I don't think I could have cut out anything without taking away from the story. I don't want to just rush through cities and such, that's now how a journey should be, in my opinion.
  
  It should be, I think, more about visiting places, experiencing things and such. Pierce definitely did a bunch of that, I feel, and that's what's important. Granted, this is just my personal opinion. With some luck, it hasn't been too boring for you, guys. I know I've gotten some complaints about how long this arc was taking... My advice would be to get used to it. I doubt things will get much different than this, but then again, I have zero control of how my stories go.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I know I asked this in GoM, but I thought it better to cover all bases, if you know what I mean. Do you like any of my other stories? If so, which one/s?
  
  See you.
  
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  Pewter City XVI
  Pewter City XVI
  
  "I'm almost gonna miss the ponyta," Lily said, smiling widely as she patted one of the aforementioned pokemon on the back after picking out its hooves. "Almost, but this is a little more work than I really want to do, honestly. Besides, most of it is not really spending time with the pokemon, which is the good part."
  
  "I mean, Arnold's company is good too," Pierce pointed out, groaning as he stood up and stretched his back. "All done here, buddy," he said then, palming the back of the rapidash he'd been working with. "And good luck with the lady," he added with a grin, getting a somewhat confident and somewhat nervous neigh from the pokemon.
  
  He'd watched the rapidash try to... "court" another one ever since the first day he worked at Arnold's ranch. He wasn't sure that was the right word for it, but it was the first one he could think of, at least. Thus, he watched intently as the pokemon approached the aforementioned female and waited. He really wanted him to succeed, especially while he was still there to see it. All things considered... Well, he didn't know if he'd visit the place again anytime soon, after all.
  
  "You think today will be the day?" Lily asked, standing next to him. To that, Pierce shrugged. "Very eloquent, my slightly uneducated friend."
  
  "I know, right?" he said, rolling his eyes. "Now, let's go get these fire types their food, yeah? I swear, there's a ponyta that eats as much as Root and Talon-"
  
  "It was one time, for fu-"
  
  "So, I think we should go before they start eating each other, yeah?" he finished, ignoring her protests with a grin. "Then we can check on Arnold. Old guy might have fallen asleep on a chair somewhere."
  
  "I'll have you know I'm very much awake, brat," the old guy in question said, making both Lily and Pierce turn to look at him. "And there's still plenty of work to do, I'll have you know. Now, get moving would you?"
  
  "One of those days, huh?" Pierce mumbled to himself as they followed the man towards the pokemon feeders. Idly, as they continued working, however, he noticed that Arnold seemed somewhat distracted. That might have been the reason why he was so... irritable, or some variation of that.
  
  "Brat," the old man called while they were replacing the bedding for the pokemon. "What did you say your name was?" he asked, drawing a blink from Pierce as the younger man traded a look with Lily.
  
  "Pierce Lawson," he answered the question with an awkward smile. "Everything ok, old man? You've been paying me for all the days I worked here. A little weird that you don't remember my name, don't you think?"
  
  "Shut up," Arnold told him, huffing. "I was just making sure. I... It doesn't matter."
  
  "Ok...?" Pierce mumbled as his employer walked away, leaving him feeling very confused. ' What's up with that?' he thought to himself. Then he turned to look out of the window. Out there, in the open space of the ranch, Narcissa flew around, practicing some moves. However, he'd made it clear that she was to take things easy, since they would be doing more proper training after the job was done. Besides that, he glanced towards the herd of fire types. "Nice," he commented then, eyes widening a little as he grinned widely.
  
  "He did it!" Lily celebrated as she came to stand next to him and looked on at the rapidash couple walking next to each other, very closely. He was no ponyta-line expert like Arnold, but Pierce was fairly sure that meant the hopeful fire type had finally succeeded. "This is amazing, you think there might be a little one around the next time we come here?"
  
  "I imagine so?" Pierce replied uncertain. "Gonna stick around for that long, huh?"
  
  "Of course, I'm sure we'll have lots of fun. And besides, I need my pokemon whisperer around to make sure none go crazy around me before I can at least show that I'm friendly," Lily answered, nodding in sage seriousness.
  
  "So, you only want me for my mad skills, huh?" he commented, unimpressed. "And my food, I'm sure."
  
  " One time," she muttered through her teeth before huffing and walking away to continue working. "What do you think is up with Arnold though? That was weird."
  
  "I know, but I have no idea, honestly," he answered, running his fingers through his hair and taking a moment to relax as he watched the rapidash out in the field. "He might tell us, he might not," he added, sighing and starting to work again. "Maybe the years are getting to him."
  
  "I heard that!" the old man in question shouted at them from outside.
  
  Lily made a valiant effort to contain her giggles, but she ultimately failed.
  
  "I hear that too!" Arnold called, even louder than before.
  
  "Well, his mind might not be what it once was, but his ears sure are, huh?" Pierce commented, making Lily laugh even harder.
  
  "Keep it up, brat. See if I pay you!" Arnold threatened and, while he was sure he wouldn't go through with that, Pierce did shut up and continue working. "Now, that's better," they heard the man huff.
  
  "You are old though," Pierce pointed out then, after a long moment of silence. Somewhere to his side, Lily choked, before failing miserably at keeping her laughter under control. Then they heard something breaking outside, which only made him smile.
  
  "Stupid brats," they heard the grumble coming from outside, probably thinking they couldn't hear him. In the meantime, both of them shared a look and amused expressions. "Good thing they are going away soon. Good riddance, I say."
  
  "We love you too, Arnold!" Lily called from somewhere outside, making Pierce smile widely.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce sat with his back to Orion's stony "skin", if it could be called that. A book rested in his hands, open and being perused to inform him of how to best go about helping heal bug, rock and flying types. Those were the pokemon he was more likely to meet and have to treat, he imagined, since those were found aplenty in Mt. Moon, even if they weren't very varied. After all, the place housed a lot of paras, geodude and zubat. There were some more pokemon sprinkled here and there, but those were the main ones, the usual ones, as it were.
  
  ' Hm,' he hummed to himself, narrowing his eyes as he finished a certain chapter. Frowning, he went to the book's index before raising an eyebrow at a certain part. ' Can't hurt, right?' he wondered as he looked for the page regarding fairy types. Granted, meeting something from the clefairy line in Mt. Moon was very unlikely, but... Well, Lily wanted to try her luck, right? He might as well look into it. Maybe there would be something that could help there.
  
  As he reached the page though, he took a moment to look at Orion, whose head rested next to him. The onix was more or less fine by then, really, but Pierce felt more at ease with the serpent pokemon taking it easy for the moment. The fact that Mama Onix was fully on board with that idea helped a whole lot, because he hadn't expected Orion's pleading eyes to be so powerful. For such a creature, he could be surprisingly adorable, it seemed.
  
  The rock type was currently staring very intently at Cygnus and Narcissa as the two trained. It wasn't that Pierce didn't want him to train, even if he really didn't. He'd looked up through several sources and checked with the nurses at the Pokemon Center. All of them had told him that no, Orion shouldn't be doing strenuous training just yet. Not only was the pokemon very young - which normally wouldn't be much of a problem, even if it'd limit stuff a little -, but the onix was also still recovering. That meant that he needed to take it easy for a while before tackling intensive training once more.
  
  Which suited Pierce just fine, since he was fairly sure onix was basically a child. There wasn't much risk training very young pokemon, of course. The creatures were just that broken, he supposed. However, it was recommended to take it easy and not push too hard for progress, else you stunt the poor little one's growth. That part was a little more agreeable with Pierce, at least.
  
  As for his other pokemon... Well, they were doing their own thing. Cygnus was young too, for sure, but he wasn't quite as young as Orion seemed to be. It was all kind of guesswork, but Pierce was confident he was somewhat right. He wasn't sure how reliable the abra's affirmation was in that case, but he'd take it.
  
  For the moment though, the psychic type couldn't really train all that much anyway, considering that he had to sleep for most of the day. At least one of the six hours the abra stayed awake was used to train his body, more specifically his arms, for the punch moves that seemed to have really caught his attention. Besides that, most of Cygnus's time was spent either teleporting Pierce and Lily around, "talking" with Pierce in his head or just generally training his psychic powers.
  
  And then there was Narcissa. The bug type was mostly back to working with Tailwind, since she'd been doing that before the whole tournament thing started. Now, she was tackling that training once more, occasionally taking some time to relax a bit and just train her already learned moves, which was a lot less frustrating for her, understandably. That suited Pierce just fine, he wanted her to master all those moves anyway. Once that was done, after all, they could try some combination moves and such that he'd thought up. Some simple, some a little more complex, but all of those had to wait until Narcissa could use the moves necessary as easy as breathing.
  
  For the moment, they weren't quite there though.
  
  Absently, Pierce looked at his pokemon training for a bit before turning to the side, where he saw Lily and her own two companions. They were a little further away, but not because of Mama Onix. Instead, the girl just seemed to really want to "separate" their training areas, as it were. At least, when she wasn't having Talon helping Narcissa with Tailwind, which she did every so often. Pierce was sure it was more to give the flying type a break than anything else, but he still appreciated it.
  
  "Don't worry your rocky head, Orion," he said then, planting a hand on top of the onix's head. "You'll be training just like them soon enough. For now, you just gotta take it easy so you can grow up big and strong like your mother. If we rush things, we could ruin that," he explained softly, receiving a rumbling whine. "Yeah, it sucks, but it's how it is, buddy."
  
  A shadow fell upon him then, making Pierce blink and look up. Just in time too, because Mama Onix chose that moment to rumble something to her son. Next to him, he was pretty sure Orion was pouting now.
  
  "And thus, the mother has spoken," he declared, making the younger rock type glare at him while Mama Onix huffed a laugh from where she loomed over the two of them. "Seriously, there's no rush. I'm sure you'll be a powerhouse in no time. The thing from the other day's not how things usually go. If worse comes to worst, I'll put you in your pokeball and you'll be safe there, yeah? We have time, Orion."
  
  To that, the young one huffed, turning away from him.
  
  Pierce just sighed.
  
  Mama Onix, for her part, sighed, leaning down to place her head next to her son's. Once there, she "whispered" some things to her that sounded reassuring to Pierce's ears. He wasn't sure what was going on there, but he didn't need to know specifics, really. All he knew was that the older onix was probably reassuring and trying to explain things to Orion in a better way than what Pierce had said before. He really hoped she'd have better luck, because he didn't want to have trouble with him due to the limitations on how much he could train for the moment.
  
  As that happened, he looked once more towards his other two pokemon, who were still training very resolutely. ' Are all pokemon this enthusiastic about training or am I just having that kind of luck?' he wondered idly, receiving only amusement from his psychic type. Which wasn't very reassuring, all things considered, but Pierce guessed things could be worse.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "So, we have flashlights, batteries, a lantern, extra clothes for the cold, plenty of food, overall supplies, maps," Pierce listed, looking at a list they had made. "Are we forgetting something? We already had plenty of stuff, but... Hm, I'm not sure."
  
  "I don't think we are missing anything," Lily replied, looking thoughtfully at her own list. "So, last stop, right?" she added then, looking up to see the last store they were visiting that day. They'd been going through several shops, spending the vouchers she'd won in the tournament and sometimes spending a little more to get everything they might need when they made their way to Mt. Moon.
  
  Now though, they were entering the store that sold rocks, be it by themselves or in necklaces, rings and so on. It was an interesting place to go to, for sure, but Pierce wasn't very interested in the things. If he were a hopeful person, he'd think there might be a chance of finding a fossil in one of the random rocks, or maybe an evolutionary stone, or even a mega stone. However, in the world he was in, looking pretty realistic compared to the mess that was the anime and such... Well, he didn't think the chances of that happening were very high.
  
  And yet, he'd still gone there in the end, despite saying and knowing that he wasn't interested in the stuff. As it was, he just followed behind Lily as the girl looked at the many items resting on the shelves. There were some things that were pretty neat looking, but overall... Well, nothing was really calling to Pierce and neither was any of it calling to Narcissa, it seemed. The beedrill hanging from his back, actually, seemed about as interested in being there as Pierce himself was... Or even less so, actually. When he looked over his shoulder at her, he was fairly sure she was falling asleep while clinging to him.
  
  "What do you think?" Lily asked, making him blink before looking at the item in her hands. It looked to him like a paperweight made of greenish rock in the shape of a bulbasaur's... Well, bulb. "I was thinking of getting it for my parents. They can place it somewhere in the house, maybe hang the little medal they gave for the tournament from it?"
  
  "Sounds like a good enough idea to me," Pierce answered, being entirely truthful. Sure, he might not be very interested, but he could appreciate that the thing looked neat in its simplicity. Besides, it was free anyway.
  
  "Do you think I should send the stuff to them? I did win thanks to Narcissa, who is your pokemon," the girl commented and he just gave her a deadpan expression in response. "I'm serious. I know you don't care, but I'm not sure how proud I should be of a win that I managed only with someone else's pokemon."
  
  "So, if it had been me in your position, would you say it's not a real win or something?" he asked, tilting his head. "If you'd given me Root and/or Talon to participate in the tournament, should I not be proud of that win then?" he added. Granted, the situation wasn't really all that good to extrapolate. He'd given her one pokemon where she used two. If she had given him two where he had only one then...
  
  "I guess you are right," the girl mumbled, looking down at the little souvenir she was considering taking with her.
  
  "It's your first tournament win, I think you deserve to be proud regardless," Pierce told her, giving her an encouraging smile when she looked up. "I'm sure you'll add more "worthy" trophies next to those in no time anyway," he added, making the quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
  
  "You think so?" she asked, smiling shyly and seemingly having trouble looking at him. Pierce just rolled his eyes at her.
  
  "This coming from the girl that's sure she'll be at the Conference?" he asked, making her chuckle.
  
  "Right... Thank you, Pierce," she mumbled, looking down at the rock she was likely going to get with her voucher.
  
  "Don't mention it, yeah?" he waved off with a grin. "So, that's the last thing, right?" he added then, as they started walking towards the counter. "You think we might be able to catch a few Gym battles? It'd be nice."
  
  "Sure would, and I think so? People have been leaving really quick now that the tournament is over and Mt. Moon is open though. Pewter might be a lot calmer from now, I imagine," the girl commented before talking with the shop's owner and getting the souvenir for her family. "I do have to get this home though, with the medal. So, can we make a stop at the post?"
  
  "Sure, no rush. If there's nothing going on at the Gym later we can do something else. Maybe more training or just studying," Pierce replied with a shrug. Behind him, he felt Narcissa squeeze a little tighter with her stingers. "Ah, right, I kind of... procrastinated my own exercises, so I guess I should do that whenever we have some time," he added nervously, drawing a giggle from Lily.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I think I'll miss Pewter," Pierce commented, sitting on a rock as he looked forward, with Lily and her pokemon resting on their own stone seats to his side. Narcissa, for her part, was buzzing around, occasionally clinging to his back. "This place was a bit... eventful, but it had its good points too."
  
  "I know what you mean," Lily agreed, looking with him towards where Orion was talking with his mother and where Cygnus was in the company of a family of abra-line pokemon. No sound came from the latter group, but that was to be expected. "But this just means we'll find somewhere else to make memories like the ones we made here," the girl said, sounding like she was quoting someone. "Who knows, maybe the next place will be even better."
  
  "Who said that?" he asked with a half-smile that widened when he saw Lily grin, somewhat embarrassed.
  
  "My mom," she answered with a slight shrug. "She said that was one of the good parts of being a trainer. One never knows when and where the next adventure will come, or how, for that matter. Part of it is waiting, looking forward to it. Being surprised by a breathtaking sight or a wonderful moment, that's what a trainer's true reward is, she said."
  
  "She sounds great," Pierce commented.
  
  "She's the reason I want to do well," Lily admitted, looking down and fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "I want to make her proud... and see the world she's always been telling me about. Make some stories of my own, see similar things to what I always heard."
  
  "Well, I think you are already doing that, don't you?" he asked, drawing an agreeing hum from the girl as well as a smile. "Two towns over and you have plenty of tales to tell, right?"
  
  "Yeah, you are right," Lily replied with a nod, before starting to look nervous. Raising an eyebrow at her, Pierce made her sigh. "I... I don't want to be insensitive or something but... I've never seen you make a call, Pierce."
  
  "... That's because there's no one to call," he answered her, his mood dropping. It wasn't her fault though and he'd been pulling through in regards to that particular topic. He was good at ignoring problems, after all. He just soldiered on and focused on the good things. Then and there, with the reminder though, he couldn't help but look at Cygnus and Orion as they continued saying their goodbyes, remembering all the stories Lily would say about her family back in Pallet.
  
  "I'm sorry," Lily mumbled and Pierce looked down then, when he felt something pressing against his leg. It seemed that Root had decided to come and cheer him up a little. Not to be outdone by someone else's pokemon, Narcissa hugged his neck tightly with her stingers.
  
  "Don't worry about it," he told her with a sad smile. "It's what it is," he said with a weak shrug. "I guess I'm making a new family of my own now," he mused out loud, placing a hand on top of one of Narcissa's stingers and looking at his other two pokemon and smiling, this time meaning it more.
  
  " We are glad to hear that, Helper-Speaker," a voice said in his mind then, making Pierce blink and turn towards the gathering of psychic pokemon. There, he saw the biggest alakazam looking straight at him. " Take care of my grandson, Helper-Speaker, our little one. The Young Guardian has a long path to tread and we already can't wait to see how far you can take him."
  
  Before he could even answer in some way, he turned again when Mama Onix pulled up, raising her head up high and giving a good display to remind everyone about how absolutely massive she was in size. There, she loomed over Pierce, staring straight into his eyes with hers. He knew he should have been intimidated, but he knew this pokemon. He knew that she worried for Orion, but that she was reasonable.
  
  " Take care of both of them, Helper-Speaker," the alakazam told him, making him smile. " We'll be waiting here for you to visit."
  
  "I'll do my best," Pierce answered, standing up at the same time as Narcissa let go and made herself float in place to his right. "We'll go as far as we can manage."
  
  " You mean that," the psychic type said. A moment later, Cygnus teleported to Pierce's left side, sitting on a rock by his feet. " And that's all we can ask for, truly. Safe travels, Helper-Speaker."
  
  With that said, Mama Onix rumbled something still looking at him rather intently while Orion slithered his way towards Pierce. The younger rock type moved until he was curled up behind him, peeking over the trainer's shoulder back at his mother. Once there, the child rumbled a call to his mother, a goodbye. Or, more accurately, a see you later.
  
  "At least I'll be the one to deal with the handful now, huh?" Pierce asked, drawing a huffed laugh from the rock type mother. And yet, he was pretty sure it was also a sob. "I can only tell you the same thing I told them. I'll do my best," he told her, and the onix stared deep into his eyes for a long moment before giving a shaky nod.
  
  Turning, he looked at the two children, Cygnus and Orion. Both were doing their best to look like they were fine, but they were anything but. Pierce was very aware of that, both from the way the onix seemed to avoid looking at anyone and the way the abra seemed to stay far away from his mind.
  
  "This is a see you later, guys," Pierce told his pokemon, drawing their eyes towards him. "We'll come back, and you'll have grown into pokemon they'll be proud of."
  
  Everyone remained silent then, before both children turned to their families. He didn't understand poke-speech, but Pierce was sure he understood what they were saying regardless. They were telling their families much the same he'd just told them.
  
  Next to him, Narcissa buzzed her approval, making Pierce smile.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  And we are now officially leaving Pewter, I promise... Why are you looking at me like that, guys?
  
  Anyway, I know not a whole lot happened in this chapter and I'd apologize but... You guys should know me and my muse by now. You've only got yourself to blame. I regret nothing.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Any theories for how Mt. Moon's trip will go?
  
  See you.
  
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  Mt Moon I
  Mt. Moon I
  
  Pierce held back a groan as he pushed himself up with his arms before going down again. Push ups sucked, he decided for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Exercising as a whole sucked, actually, but it wasn't like he could stop, really. Not only would Narcissa have something to say about that, but keeping up would set a good example for the other two...
  
  ' Although, I don't think they need it, really,' he thought wryly, twisting his head to the side a little. Narcissa was training by herself, still trying to learn Tailwind and polishing her use of Focus Energy. Cygnus, for his part, was walking, very slowly, around the clearing to build up his muscles, as usual. As for Orion, he was currently moving around and using Rock Throw and occasionally using Bind on a tree. The latter was about to reach his limit in training, imposed by Pierce so the young one wouldn't push too much when he was still recovering.
  
  With a grunt and a sigh, he finished for the moment, sitting on the ground and looking to the other side. Lily was training her two pokemon quite diligently as usual. He didn't keep up on what they were doing, however, but he'd enlisted Cygnus to try and do so. Maybe it was a little shitty but... Well, it wasn't like she was trying to hide what she was doing anyway, so it was probably fine. Besides, his abra wasn't in any condition to pay all that much attention to them anyway.
  
  The offended feeling he got from the psychic type would have said otherwise if not for the weariness that bleed through with it too. It was soon followed by frustration as Cygnus realized that his argument had been ruined at the same time it was "voiced". Poor guy was getting used to training physically still and Pierce couldn't really fault him, in all honesty.
  
  A buzzing and a very annoying amused feeling washing over him made Pierce slump. With a sigh, he stood up and started his next exercise, another round of doing laps around the clearing. ' Stupid Narcissa, stupid Cygnus. Who's the trainer here?' he grumbled internally. His eyes darting to check on Orion to make sure he wasn't pushing himself too much. ' Eyes on Lily's team, buddy,' he added as he saw Cygnus struggle keeping his head up. ' You can take a break if it's too much, you are smart enough to know when that is, buddy,' he added.
  
  Immediately, the abra sent him a wave of determination with the smallest bit of understanding. That last part was the important one at that moment. Pierce didn't know his pokemon as well as they knew themselves. They would know their limits better too, but Cygnus was probably the only one smart enough not to try and push past those. He'd rather not have to worry about all three of them...
  
  Although, Pierce would still check, just in case.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Being back on the road is..." Pierce commented not long after that while sitting in front of the fire they'd used to prepare their food. Or rather, the fire Lily had used to prepare their food. She was the one that had put more effort into learning how to have better meals than those rations they had had while going through Viridian Forest. He'd have felt bad, but she'd told him that he'd make up for it being their little group's medic, what with all the work he was putting on preparing for the First Aid License. "... It sucks," he finished with a sigh, eating some more of the meal. "Not the food though, it's good, it's just..."
  
  "Yeah, I get it," Lily muttered, looking down at her dish. "We got used to being in the city again, huh?" she mumbled, bringing some of her food to her mouth.
  
  "I guess," Pierce agreed with a shrug. "There is something nice about being out though, not gonna lie, but I'd rather have a nice bed to return to at the end of the day."
  
  "You and me both," Lily agreed before perking up a little. "But Mt. Moon will be neat, we might meet some pokemon of the Clefairy line!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. Pierce, for his part, refrained from pointing out that it was rather unlikely that they would. He'd let the girl fool herself, since he knew she was very aware of that fact. Hell, some time ago, she had been the one to tell him that and he'd been the one to convince her it wasn't impossible.
  
  "That'd be something, yeah," he agreed, not even having to lie. Even if it'd be surprising if it actually happened, that didn't mean it wouldn't be nice if it did. Nobody would have him complaining about getting to meet pokemon that were supposed to be very elusive and rare, that was for sure. "I'm kind of looking forward to after we get through Mt. Moon. I want to see water types, personally."
  
  "You haven't seen many of those?" Lily asked, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hm, well, Pallet is close to the shore, so we can meet some of those over there. I hadn't even considered that. Although, it might be nice to travel alongside a river for a while too, I guess."
  
  "That too," he said with a nod.
  
  "You looking forward to Cerulean?" his traveling companion asked, tilting her head. "Will you challenge the Gym there?"
  
  "I might," he said with a nod. "I'll see if I can get Narcissa a move that can help her against water types with one of the move vouchers. And maybe one for Cygnus... Orion isn't a good option for that Gym, sadly. So, it's between those two and how good our chances are looking. Also depends on if I find some other partner, although it might be too soon to add someone else."
  
  "I guess that makes sense, I just think it's a little weird," Lily told him, looking more confused than mocking. "My friends and I never really considered the possibility of not challenging a Gym until we had good pokemon for those fights. One of them got Charmander as his starter, but he was still going to go for Pewter first with us."
  
  "Well, he's braver than me then," he replied with a wry smile. "Oh, don't be drama queens, guys," he added, rolling his eyes at his pokemon as they tried to argue against that comment. "It is a little cowardly to avoid a gym when I don't have good typings against them. I prefer to think of it as being smart, but it's a bit of both, pretty sure."
  
  "I mean... I think it's more smart than cowardly, if it helps," Lily told him, smiling widely. That is, until she realized that his three pokemon were now glaring at her.
  
  "Relax, guys, or there'll be no spoiling after dinner," he threatened, getting both Narcissa and Orion to calm down. As for Cygnus, he just sighed at his easily influenced teammates.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Now, Twineedle!" Pierce called, trying not to outright scream. He still felt quite silly doing that, even if sometimes it was necessary. Fortunately, this wasn't such a case and Narcissa could hear him just fine before dashing towards their opponent. An opponent that was a currently trapped sandshrew, stuck to the ground with String Shots. It had taken a few attempts, but they'd eventually nailed the thing down to the ground with their threads.
  
  Now, it was a matter of taking the thing out of the fight. From what they'd gathered through the initial stage of the fight, the ground type only had Poison Sting for range attacks, which wasn't a huge problem, really. After all, beedrill were resistant to poison type attacks. Other than that, the sandshrew was resistant to that too, so staying away and using the move themselves was out of the question. Up close and personal was the way to go, even if it put them in more danger. At least the mobility of their opponent was reduced, which would make it easier for Narcissa to deal with it.
  
  They'd also stacked Harden and Iron Defense before charging in, for good measure.
  
  "Fucking hell," he heard their opponent groan. "Come on, Shrew, use Rapid Spin. You can get out of that!"
  
  Except that no, it couldn't. The threads weren't letting the pokemon curl up properly for the move, which meant that its attempts were less than effective enough. It was still trapped, and that meant one thing.
  
  "Fury Attack and keep it going," Pierce called then, and he could almost feel Narcissa's approval of that. She was a rather vicious little bug, as it turned out. If he had to guess, it was because being just a little bit ruthless meant that she was proving her strength over her opponent. He wasn't precisely against that, but he was against her bullying pokemon or doing things in that vein. So, he'd have to do his best to curb that attitude as best he could.
  
  "Ok, ok, we give up!" the trainer across from him exclaimed, recalling his pokemon before grimacing and sighing. "Damned bug types," Pierce heard him grumble. To be fair, it was kind of disgusting how strong Narcissa was compared to most other pokemon just because of her evolutions. He did wonder how long that would last though.
  
  Soon enough, there'd be people laughing at his bug type and Pierce was determined to get them grumbling by the time the battle ended. The more he thought and heard and read about the opinion most people had regarding his pokemon and similar ones, the more annoyed he was. ' I guess I'm starting to share Narcissa's goal a little bit,' he mused as he walked up to the guy and took his winnings.
  
  Wishing him luck, Pierce moved to stand beside Lily, who was fighting one of the other trainers in the group they'd come across. He was just in time to see Talon taking out a zubat. He gave a quick "congrats" to his traveling companion before Lily moved to take her own prize money so that they could continue traveling. As for Narcissa, he hadn't recalled her, so she was currently buzzing around.
  
  Apparently, she was riding a bit of a high. She'd likely come back to get a piggyback ride soon enough. ' It's uncomfortable with the backpack though,' he thought to himself. He'd forgotten about that, considering he didn't carry his bag much while in Pewter, but now that they were back on the road... Well, it had come to mind once more, obviously. ' Maybe I can get a messenger bag instead? It'd be more comfortable... And the boxes kind of make having a lot of space in the backpack a little redundant,' Pierce mused idly before Lily came back and they started walking.
  
  With all the money he had in his account, that purchase would likely be no problem at all. Sure, he still wasn't rich, per se, but he was unlikely to have monetary trouble for some time. At least if he kept his rather frugal lifestyle. If he started spending more freely, he was likely to slowly bleed his savings until he ran out. Which was definitely not something he wanted to do. There was a lot of expensive things to get in his future, he knew. Between move training vouchers and maybe some evolutionary items, he was likely to have to spend huge amounts of money on things, so it was better if he saved for the moment.
  
  "Are we good or what?" Lily asked him, looking like a happy camper as she walked next to him, a skip on her step. "We are good."
  
  "I mean, you guys and Narcissa are. Jury is still out on me though," he commented, drawing an angry buzzing from Narcissa as she latched onto his back and squeezed his neck with her stingers. Even Lily pouted at him with narrowed eyes.
  
  "Don't be dumb, Pierce. Just because Narcissa is great doesn't mean she does all the work," his companion accused, waving a finger threateningly in his direction. "I will smack you, mister."
  
  "Okay, okay, no need to get violent, woman," he mumbled, rolling his eyes. "First her pokemon eat all my food and now-"
  
  " One time! "
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce looked on, as patiently as he could, as Narcissa and Cygnus faced off. Although, maybe that was the wrong wording, really. The two of them were sitting (or as much as the beedrill could sit) on the ground in front of each other, staring intently into the other's eyes. Meanwhile, Orion was curled up behind Pierce, acting as a backrest once more while the two of them watched the bug and psychic types.
  
  This was the result of one of the trainer's latest ideas, to have Cygnus teach Narcissa about psychic type energy. The reason for this was that Narcissa could learn Agility, which would be a great addition to her arsenal. On top of that, there was Rest, but that was much later down the line, since it was part of the list of moves that didn't come naturally to her line. It'd set a nice foundation though, and maybe they could put some work into that later...
  
  For the moment, he just wanted to know if this could help. Cygnus was - no offense to the others - a little more... intellectually inclined, so Pierce thought it wasn't such a stretch to think that he'd have a better time explaining his energy type to the others instead of, say, Orion trying to teach Narcissa about rock type energy. He'd be sure to give them a chance to prove him wrong, of course, but that was later down the line.
  
  As it was, Pierce just wanted to see if it would help at all, really.
  
  People didn't seem to be too sure about the topic in the sources he could find for information, which wasn't very reassuring. However, since it worked sort of in the same vein as how unnatural moves were taught, surely this would help, right? Then again, moves seemed to use the type energies in very specific ways, so it was... Sort of complicated. Just because Cygnus knew how to wield psychic energy didn't mean he could teach Narcissa Agility, since he didn't know the move himself. Hell, he was pretty sure the abra couldn't learn Agility himself.
  
  However, Pierce didn't want him to help her learn the move, he just wanted him to help her learn how to feel the energy or work with it or... something like that. If he could do that it'd cover some of the necessary ground for the move, and that'd be a win. Training was a slow process, after all, so he'd take any shortcuts he could find, even if they weren't that good. Something was better than nothing, after all.
  
  At some point, Pierce was broken from his musings by the rumbling sound of Orion's "voice" as it were. He turned to look at the rock type then, wondering at the confused tone the pokemon had used. Catching him looking off to the side, he followed his gaze. Pierce noticed, then, that there was something brown and red lying on the ground and twitching. ' What's that?' he wondered as he moved to stand up.
  
  Before he could do anything else, he paused as a picture flashed through his mind. The picture of a spearow. Turning to regard Cygnus, he saw the psychic type nod his head.
  
  "Ok..." he mumbled, seeing the grounded flying type moving again, but it was... It was strange. It certainly wasn't flying, but neither was it hopping as he'd sometimes seen Talon. It looked... "I'll go check," he decided, picking up his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder.
  
  As he started moving, he received a message of sorts from Cygnus that boiled down to him and Narcissa staying behind. Orion, for his part, seemed to decide that he was curious and bored enough to follow him. Pierce would have told him to stay back, but he supposed it was better to have someone with him in case the spearow was aggressive or some other pokemon decided that he was easy enough prey or something.
  
  "Hey there," he called once he was close enough to see the bird on the ground. It was lying on its side, twitching and turning weakly. At the sound of his voice, the spearow made an even stronger and sharper motion, but all it achieved was to turn so it could see Pierce. Which was actually a good thing, really. "Calm down, little one. I want to help, ok?" he asked, raising his hands. "I just want to check if you need help and if you are fine I'll be on my way, ok? That's all," he explained softly, taking another step forward and kneeling to the ground. He was close, but not enough to be hit with something if the spearow decided not to trust his word.
  
  The bird stared at him with its black eyes before they turned a little, likely looking at Orion. It chirped in a way that Pierce guessed was supposed to be threatening but came out more pitiful than anything. Taking a deep breath in, he considered how to best approach this.
  
  "I won't catch you, Spearow," he said, drawing the attention of the flying type once more. "I won't do anything other than check on you and see if I can help, ok? Just... let me, please," he told the bird, drawing another long look and silence. Behind him Orion rumbled something and he saw the spearow deflate and chirp something. "Great, thank you."
  
  With that, Pierce got to work. First, he took off his backpack and got closer to the flying type. Instantly, he sniffed a few times, catching wind of a sweet but still disgusting smell. He narrowed his eyes as he took out one of the expanding boxes, the one that contained his medical supplies.
  
  "Poison, huh?" he said out loud, just to let the spearow know what he was thinking and likely going to do. "I'll give you an antidote, ok? Is there anything else I should know? Chirp if yes, remain silent if no," he said, and he could only hope the lack of answer meant that indeed, there was nothing else. If there was... ' One problem at a time,' he told himself.
  
  A caw from nearby made him pause.
  
  Turning to the side, Pierce caught sight of a few other spearow that had not been there before.
  
  Regardless, he smiled.
  
  "Your friend will be right as rain before you know it," he reassured them, keeping his voice low and soft. "I promise, just leave it to me."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  "Good work, guys, let's take a break," she announced then, making Root deflate a little and Talon give her that annoyed look he usually did. Her flying type just loved to train... Or more like, he loved to get stronger, which was basically the same thing. Thus, the spearow hated having to stop training. In his mind, he was above breaks, after all... "I've told you not to give me that look, Talon," she told him, unimpressed, and only getting a huff in response.
  
  She'd known from the very beginning that he'd be a troublesome one in her team. Lily could only hope that he'd be the only one though. All in all, Talon wasn't that bad, after all. Actually, he was positively friendly compared to some horror stories she'd heard regarding pokemon some trainers had caught.
  
  "Now, come on, I think we should get something to eat, don't you?" she asked. To that, both of her pokemon perked up. ' God bless Pierce for teaching me that food is super effective against all kinds of pokemon,' she thought to herself, grinning widely. "Let's go find Pierce and the others, yeah?"
  
  As expected, Root agreed easily enough. A little less expected was the fact that Talon seemed to be indifferent about that. Lily wondered if he was warming up to their traveling companions. Sure, he'd been fine with them so far, but he'd made it no secret that he'd be perfectly fine with not having the other trainer and his pokemon with them. Fortunately, it was only when they were in private, otherwise Lily would have had to have more serious words in that regard with the flying type.
  
  "So, what do you guys think I should prepare for us?" she asked idly, knowing they wouldn't give her a real answer regardless. Sure enough, both pokemon gave responses that she knew were about as meaningful as baby babble. "Hm, I'll see what I feel like making, I guess," she mused as she made her way around the big rock Pierce and her had put between them for training. A convenient block of each other's vision, really.
  
  Not that they were doing much secret training, but it did have its perks to know that the other didn't know everything they did. It'd be nice to have some surprises, like when Talon had sprung Aerial Ace on Narcissa. Lily did wonder if Pierce was preparing something for them though, it'd be interesting, if nothing else.
  
  "And remember not to eat so much this time, guys," she told her pokemon, who had the good grace to look embarrassed. Well, Root did. Talon just looked smug, the little shit. "I'm serious. If you do that again, I'll do something you won't like, I promise. Pierce is already insufferable enough as is." To that, the flying type looked away, but there was little else to note from his response.
  
  With a sigh, Lily looked up towards where she imagined Pierce would be.
  
  Then she paused and blinked.
  
  ' How... What... Why...?' she wondered, unable to even finish a question in her mind before a new one appeared. There had to be an explanation to the sight before her, right? Surely there was one. ' Yes, of course there is one,' Lily decided with a wry expression.
  
  The answer was that Pierce was involved.
  
  Sure enough, the man himself was sitting on top of Orion, who was curled on the ground. Around her traveling companion were the reasons for her pause and subsequent bafflement. Spearow, a small flock of them, were standing on top of the onix and even on Pierce's shoulders and leg. One of them was even laying on his lap .
  
  From what she could see and hear, he was talking about something to them. Judging by his gestures and tone, Lily would bet that he was telling a story. ' How did this even happen?' she wondered as she continued walking. Turning a little though, she had to hold back a laugh as she saw that Talon, to her side, was even more shocked by the sight.
  
  "Do I want to know?" she asked, which might have been a bad idea. It definitely seemed to be one, considering how all the flying types tensed up and turned towards her sharply with rather... displeased eyes. Lily froze then, gulping down her nervousness.
  
  And then Pierce snapped his fingers, drawing the spearow's attention back to him.
  
  "Hey, what did I say? Behave yourselves," he chastised... And the spearow listened, every single one of them seemed to deflate a little, looking down like scolded children. Lily couldn't believe her eyes, even after being witness to several of Pierce's impressive feats. "This little guy was poisoned and couldn't recover on his own," he explained, looking down at the flying type on his lap. "So, I treated him and the rest of them have been here to make sure I don't do anything bad."
  
  As if Pierce could do anything bad to a pokemon. Lily was sure the man wouldn't be able to do such a thing even if his life depended on it. That was just the kind of person he was.
  
  "This is Lily, guys, she's the traveling companion I was telling you about," Pierce continued then, making the spearow look between him and her as they listened to him. Lily, for her part, simply smiled a little and took a seat to listen. This was exactly the kind of thing that had caused her to want to travel with Pierce. She was reasonably sure that other trainers didn't get half as many encounters like this. Lily, in turn, would make friends with some spearow instead of just continuing the trek with nothing happening.
  
  Her friend was sure to make her whole journey more interesting and she was completely fine with that.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, there's traveling things happening, training things happening and also Pierce things happening. Business as usual, really. Right, guys?
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Staying completely still except for your good hand, what's there within your reach? For me... Well, there's the mouse, my laptop, my headphones, my phone and an empty mug with a spoon.
  
  See you.
  
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  Mt Moon II
  Mt. Moon II
  
  "So, am I gonna find you petting a Legendary at some point?" Lily asked, making Pierce roll his eyes. "And honestly, the least you could do is have me there in your exploits somehow. Seeing them is good and all, but I'd like to be more involved, you know?"
  
  "I'll be sure to let you know next time, I guess," he replied wryly, turning a bit and waving at the flock of spearow as the two of them continued moving down the path- "... Orion, we are going, come on!" he called, giving the onix an unimpressed look. The stone serpent, for his part, looked up from the rock he'd been chewing confusedly. "Come on, man, we are gonna keep moving for a bit."
  
  With a rumble, the onix started following. Not without giving the flying types his own goodbye though. With that and their own having already been delivered, the group continued down the path. Not without Pierce giving the spearow he'd treated a last look just to make sure. It still looked weak, but the little one should be fully recovered within some time. There was no need to worry, but he still did.
  
  When Narcissa squeezed his neck out of nowhere, Pierce narrowed his eyes down at the abra he was carrying in his arms. The psychic type would have been on his shoulders, but that was kind awkward when the beedrill was currently latching to Pierce's back. ' Now you are reading my mind for others too?' he mentally asked the abra, making him brush his mind with a sheepish feeling. With a sigh, he just rolled his eyes.
  
  At least the psychic meant well, and he honestly guessed he should just get used to that.
  
  "Anyway," he started as their little group continued on their way. "Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one that has an encounter of some kind next," he commented, giving Lily a look. To that, she shot him a doubtful expression.
  
  "I don't think you realize how special a case you seem to be, Pierce," she replied with a giggle. "I've heard about journeys all my life and the stuff that you come across is definitely not the normal thing."
  
  "Maybe everyone else is doing things wrong," he said with a shrug that made Narcissa grumble. "I mean, I think you just need to keep that friendly personality you have when meeting pokemon and you'd get similar results. You just gotta remember that pokemon think somewhat differently than humans."
  
  "Gee, why didn't I think of that?" Lily asked sarcastically, making him roll his eyes. "It's not that easy, Pierce. Pokemon can get annoyed really easily and an annoyed pokemon is dangerous."
  
  "I mean, doesn't seem so hard not to annoy them, honestly," Pierce said, slightly confused. "Just gotta, you know, be careful what you say but keep a friendly disposition. If they already are annoyed, then just keep your calm and do your best to defuse the situation."
  
  "If you say so, Pierce," Lily commented, shaking her head even as she smiled. For his part, he could only look at her, not really understanding.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  Pierce made it sound so easy, honestly.
  
  It was a bit frustrating, really, to know that her companion pulled off the impressive feats of communication he did with no effort whatsoever. Lily considered herself a very friendly person, and she'd always gotten along great with pokemon through her life. The problem was that those pokemon she usually interacted with were already... Well, they usually belonged to trainers already, be it her parents or family friends or even strangers, in the case of Professor Oak's ranch.
  
  Interacting in a friendly manner with wild, apprehensive and often downright aggressive pokemon was a different matter altogether. She didn't know how Pierce did it, even after the man had tried to explain things to her several times. It just... It wasn't that easy. How was she to forget that the creatures could do to her what she could do to a sheet of paper? How was she to ignore the fact that the smallest mistake could mean at least some serious injury?
  
  At the same time as it was annoying, it was also a bit depressing. She'd always been praised for being good with pokemon, together with her friends. It felt like being good at making friends with them should have fallen in that category. Evidently, that wasn't the case, even if she was a talented trainer.
  
  It was humbling too, she supposed.
  
  At least the world wasn't so cruel as to make Pierce the better trainer too. No offense to her friend, he was great, but he wasn't what she'd call prime trainer material. He was good, maybe even better than average, but he wasn't as good as she was, or as good as her friends were, that was for sure. ' I guess the world keeps its balance,' she mused with a slight smile, even if there wasn't much mirth behind it.
  
  Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Lily focused back on her training team. There was a lot to work on, since her pokemon were fairly new to training at all, but it'd take time to get there. She just needed to slowly nudge them forward. Besides, Root was in the first of three stages, which meant that progress was slower than it would be later, once he developed a bit after evolving. Talon, on the other hand, had a better time of it since he was the first of two stages, so he had less dependency on his evolution.
  
  A rumbling to the side got her attention then, mostly because it sounded familiar. It was also very different from the sound of rocks being pushed around close by, something their group was getting used to. After all, that was basically the equivalent of shuffling leaves or cracking branches in the forest.
  
  Lily blinked at the sight of a geodude standing - for a definition of the word, she supposed - off to the side and looking at her pokemon training. Apparently, it noticed her attention, because the pokemon turned towards her with an expression she couldn't read. Then, the pokemon rumbled something that sounded vaguely similar to how onix seemed to "speak" but also nothing like that. While one sounded like rocks rolling down a mountain, the other was more like taking two stones and hitting them against each other.
  
  "Ah, hello," she greeted, pushing aside her nerves and the voice in her mind that whispered that geodude could learn Rock Throw fairly easily even in the wild. That was a piece of knowledge that she really didn't need when she was also very aware that she was well within Rock Throw range of the creature. "I hope we didn't disturb you?" she half said, half asked, doing her best to put Pierce's teachings to good use and keeping herself calm and friendly.
  
  It was harder than it sounded, especially because usually she didn't actually need to put effort into that.
  
  At least the rumbling she got didn't sound particularly aggressive. Still, she was able to relax a little when she realized that Root and Talon had stopped their training to get closer to her and the geodude. A calm that died a quick death when she saw the rock type's arms lower to the ground, making it even easier for it to use Rock Throw. Would her team react in time if it decided to attack? Was the pokemon strong? Was it fast? Was it both?
  
  "Er, do you mind if we keep training here? We can move away if it bothers you," she asked hesitantly, very obviously failing in her attempt to keep her cool. ' How does Pierce do it?' she wondered uneasily. Fortunately for her, it seemed that the geodude didn't mind her nerves, apparently, if the response it gave was any indication. "Thank you," she said then, feeling some relief. That's when an idea occurred to her. "Do you like berries?" she asked, making the rock type perk up a bit. "Which ones are your favorite, eh, tough guy?" she asked then.
  
  Her luck seemed to run out at that point though.
  
  The geodude narrowed its eyes and banged one of its hands on the ground, making a stone sprout out of it very menacingly.
  
  Lily stepped back - more like jumped - and her panicked mind immediately started trying to figure out where she'd messed up. The berries had obviously been a good idea so... ' Of course, idiot,' she chastised herself before gulping.
  
  "Ah, er... tough girl?" she asked hesitantly, earning herself a huff from the female geodude. "Sorry about that," she added quickly, before starting to rummage through her bag looking for the cube that contained her berries.
  
  ' So far so good,' she mused, still a bit nervous, especially after the last mishap. ' Take that, Pierce, I can do this... too... Oh, he was right,' she realized, remembering what the man had said regarding her being the next one to have an interesting encounter. ' He's gonna be smug about this, isn't he?'
  
  It'd been two days, surely he didn't remember...
  
  Right?
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Pierce Lawson]
  
  He just looked at the geodude and then at Lily.
  
  The girl huffed.
  
  "What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He didn't answer the question, but the smile on his face was sure to get the "I told you so" across. Especially judging by how amused Cygnus's presence in his mind seemed to be. To that, the girl grumbled something, looking away from him.
  
  "Good to have you join us, Geodude," Pierce said then, turning to the rock type, who was being stared at curiously from all angles by Orion. "Kid," he called then for his onix's attention, snapping his fingers. "Give her some space, yeah? You are making her uncomfortable," he said, drawing a somewhat grateful look from the geodude as it stopped shifting uneasily under the scrutiny of the onix. "Don't worry about it. He's still young and stupid, I'm sure you know what I mean," he waved off as it gave him a nod... Or was it a bow? Whatever.
  
  "How did you know she was female?" Lily asked him, wide-eyed. Apparently, the geodude didn't appreciate the question, but she seemed pretty calm despite the scowl that now appeared on her face.
  
  "Cygnus told me," he answered with a shrug. "Anyway, I guess it's good you made a friend here, right? At least we'll stay the night," he added then, looking down at the book regarding pokemon medicine on his lap. His muscles kept whining about the work out he'd gone through before, but it was getting better... Probably.
  
  "Yeah, I guess," Lily mumbled, apparently realizing that she'd have to say good bye. He didn't quite get why she was sad though. They'd done this a whole lot of times since all the way back to Viridian Forest when they met. Meeting pokemon, talking, being generally friendly and then saying goodbye.
  
  The same look being present in the geodude was a bit more understandable, if a little surprising too.
  
  Looking between the two, Pierce sighed.
  
  "I mean, I guess Geodude can join us for the trip if she wants to," he suggested. They'd done such things at Viridian too. One particular weedle had clung to them for two whole days. They all eventually just left though, because they were wild and didn't feel like joining in a more... permanent manner. Pierce wasn't sure how the two of them would have reacted to that if they had, actually.
  
  It wasn't like he could have two beedrill in his team in good conscience, right? Not to be mean or anything, but it'd be a little inefficient. On top of that, it'd probably lead to trouble for the two pokemon too, he bet, so... Well, it was a good thing none of those weedle had latched to them quite that much. He wasn't sure how Lily would have dealt with that though, honestly.
  
  Back in the present, both the trainer and the wild pokemon seemed to cheer up at his suggestion. Lily straight out beamed at him when the geodude nodded. Hell, the girl was literally bouncing where she sat out of sheer excitement.
  
  ' Might be an adult, but she's still a child at heart,' Pierce mused with a smile and a roll of his eyes.
  
  "Guess we have a new traveling buddy, huh?" he said out loud, getting an excited rumble from Orion, while the other two seemed a bit more indifferent about the prospect. That was fine. He knew his team would behave, and that was as much as he expected from them. To be honest, he was more worried about the onix being a little too friendly.
  
  Cygnus' amusement was decidedly not appreciated in regards to that.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "No, Orion," Pierce declared, looking both annoyed and exasperated. "I've already told you. You can't go on forever. You are already tired, you are young and recovering from serious wounds. I won't let you push more than this," he explained for what felt like the thousandth time, sighing and deflating. "Don't make this difficult, yeah? I promise I'll let you out if anything happens."
  
  With that said, he rubbed the side of the whining onix's head. So far, it seemed that Orion was determined to push past his limits just so he'd be able to walk - slither, more like - with them towards the entrance of Mt. Moon's cave system. It was sort of adorable, but that also made enforcing the restrictions Pierce needed to all the harder.
  
  "Come on, don't make this more difficult than it needs to be, big guy," he pleaded with a sad smile. "You know what? How about we use the wipe again at the next stop, yeah?" he asked then, getting the rock type to cheer up instantly. "I knew you'd like that. See you later, yeah? It won't be that long," he reassured, rubbing under Orion's jaw before recalling him into his pokeball. "Man, that's not getting any easier," he muttered once the rock type disappeared and he set the pokeball on his belt.
  
  "I bet. I'm really not looking forward to having one like that," Lily commiserated.
  
  "Anyway, let's keep going, yeah?" he asked, looking at the rest of their traveling group, which meant the remaining members of his team, Lily's and their friendly mountain geodude. "Not gonna lie, I don't think I like this trek as much as I liked Viridian Forest's."
  
  "Not enough weedle for you?" Lily asked jokingly.
  
  "Not enough anything for me, really," Pierce answered with a shrug. "No offense to Geodude and the spearow but all this rock doesn't seem to house all that much. I miss the color and the amount of pokemon we ran into in the forest," he explained.
  
  "Hm, maybe the inside of the mountain will be more fun for you," Lily suggested, to which he nodded and gave a half-smile.
  
  "I can only hope."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Thanks for the patience, girl," Pierce said, giving Geodude a pat on the top of its head/body. "I know a check up is annoying, so I appreciate you letting me do this," he said, giving the pokemon his payment for the favor.
  
  There was some stuff in his books about how to look for issues that might not be so readily apparent, so he'd started doing check ups on the pokemons available to him once he got through the information regarding them. First was his team, then it was Lily's and now their rock type companion. Next step on this new "exercise/project" of his was to find some friendly pokemon around the path they were taking and bribe them to let him check them over.
  
  He wasn't sure how successful he'd be, but he just needed to make sure that his "targets" weren't already angry or something. If he did that much, Pierce was sure at most he'd get a firm no and that'd be it. He could do that much, he was sure.
  
  "You really like this medical stuff, huh? You sure you don't want to be a nurse at a Pokemon Center or something?" Lily asked from beside him, after watching the procedure curiously. Their teams, meanwhile, were going through exercises they'd set up previously. All except Orion, who had been looking at Pierce do his thing too while he was forced to take his rest.
  
  "I mean, it sounds nice, but I like this journey thing. It lets me see stuff, meet new pokemon and all that. I don't think I want to just settle in a city just yet," Pierce answered with a shrug before stretching his stiff body. Sitting down on the rocky ground to check on Geodude hadn't been nice for his legs and back, it seemed.
  
  "Ranger then?" Lily asked.
  
  "Too much danger. I like helping pokemon well enough but if it means going from shitshow to shitshow like the one with the rockets in Mt. Moon... Well, I don't fancy living like that," he answered before chuckling. "I guess I just gotta stay a trainer for a little longer to decide. Who knows? I might stay a trainer."
  
  "That could work too," the girl agreed easily. "I just didn't think you were that into it."
  
  "Well... I guess I'm having a bit of a change of heart. The tournament was interesting and exciting... I definitely wanna see how I do in actual competitions myself," he said then, running his fingers through his hair. "Orion and Cygnus aren't quite battle ready though, but maybe they'll be for the next opportunity."
  
  "Fair enough. It'd be nice, if you actually got into battling," Lily told him, beaming excitedly. "Don't get too hopeful though, I'm still gonna win if we have to fight each other."
  
  "So you say, but Narcissa keeps winning all the spars," he pointed out, swiftly making the girl's expression change into an annoyed one.
  
  "My pokemon will evolve soon, mister, and then we'll see."
  
  "Sure thing," he replied, not at all bothered by that.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce woke up to a rather loud sound. It took him a moment to realize that it was the sound of rocks hitting things. As he blinked and moved to get up to check on things, his still sleepy brain figured out that it was rather similar to how Orion and Geodude sounded while they moved around and such.
  
  "Everything ok, guys?" he called from inside the tent before looking at Cygnus. Sometimes he'd have liked for it to be more evident if the abra was asleep or not. Fortunately, it seemed that the psychic type was awake, if the wave of reassurance that he got was any indication. A second later, as he continued moving, he was mentally sent a picture of a- "An arbok?" he asked, blinking and pausing for a second.
  
  Pulling a flashlight he set close by and turning it on, he stepped outside the tent in the shorts and t-shirt he wore to sleep. First thing he noticed was that it was, indeed, the middle of the night. It was evident from before, but he was still sort of waking up. The second thing he noticed was that the arbok Cygnus had "told" him about was being restrained by Orion and Geodude, with the rest of both Lily's and his teams now wide awake.
  
  "What happened?" came the sleepy voice as his traveling companion peeked out of her tent.
  
  "Seems like someone decided we were easy prey or something," Pierce commented, looking at the arbok that was being held between Orion's jaws and with both of Geodude's arms. "You can go back to sleep, I think. Things are under control."
  
  "Hm, 's fine," she mumbled, coming out in her own pajamas, shorts and a tank top. "So, we threaten it away, I guess?"
  
  "I guess..." he parroted, trailing off. That didn't feel right for him. Looking at the poison type he rubbed one of his eyes as the flashlight continued being pointed at their night raider. "Why'd you come here though? You had to have known we weren't a good target," he mumbled, aware that the arbok couldn't really answer.
  
  That's when Cygnus decided to take over instead, brushing against Pierce's mind a feeling of hunger.
  
  "Ok... I guess that makes sense?" he said, tilting his head tiredly, his eyelids dropping a little. "So, too hungry to think straight, I guess," he added, receiving a confirmation from the abra. "Ok then..."
  
  Then he moved towards his backpack and pulled out the Preserving Box.
  
  "Listen," he said, feeling fully awake, if weary, as he crouched in front of the arbok's head. "We'll let you go and if you promise to be good, I'll give you some food, yeah?" he said, receiving a hiss from the snake. That's when he turned to regard Cygnus, who informed him of the affirmative answer. "Good, Orion, Geodude, you can let go... Narcissa, stay alert, yeah?"
  
  "Wait, what? Pierce, I don't think this is-" Lily said then, seemingly snapping herself awake for some reason and standing straight. He was a little distracted keeping his eyes on the arbok as it pulled itself into a coiled "standing" position and regarded him with its - his, Cygnus informed him - black eyes. "-a good idea," the girl finished then, meekly.
  
  "Hey there, just give me a second, ok?" Pierce said, nodding to the snake before turning and pulling out of the Preserving Box- "Actually, do you want standard food or do you eat berries? I read your kind is mostly carnivorous so..." he trailed off then, eyes darting between the arbok and Cygnus. "Kibble it is, that's fine." He nodded then, pulling the box and one of the extra bowls he'd gotten. "Here you go."
  
  "Sometimes, Pierce, I wonder if you are alright in the head," Lily commented, drawing a confused expression from him.
  
  "Why though? He was just hungry, that's all," he replied, frowning a little. "Besides, our teams were basically on him. He's also getting what he wanted, no reason to be mean, right?" he finished, turning to regard the cobra pokemon, who seemed to have finished the bowl already. "You want seconds, big guy?" The way the arbok nodded his head reminded Pierce of an eager dog, funnily enough. ' Not the comparison I expected to make, but that's pokemon for you, I guess. They just can't help but be adorable.' "How can I say no to that, huh?" he commented with a grin.
  
  "Absolutely mad," he heard Lily mumble, making him roll his eyes.
  
  "Can't give you more than..." Pierce started saying before pausing as an idea popped in his mind. "Actually, big guy. I have a deal to offer you," he said then, momentarily distracting the arbok from his meal. "I'll give you more food, but you gotta let me give you a check up. I'm learning to treat pokemon, so I'd like to get as much practice as possible, you know?"
  
  The serpent regarded him with narrowed eyes for a long moment, before looking at the already half-finished bowl of kibble. Then the creature looked back up at Pierce once more. After a long, silent moment, it hissed something and nodded.
  
  "Great. I gotta brush up on what I read regarding your line, but you can eat in the meantime," Pierce said, grinning widely before turning to regard everyone else. "That's it, guys. I think you can go back to sleep. I'm gonna stay up for a bit with our new friend here and then go back to sleep myself."
  
  It seemed that the silent moments weren't over just yet, because Lily and the rest of their pokemon stared at him then. Eventually, he felt some amusement from Cygnus, before the abra informed him that he'd go back to sleep. Orion seemed to follow suit and Root poked Lily on her shoulder.
  
  "Insane, I tell you," the girl muttered under her breath but still loud enough to be heard. "I'll go back to sleep too," she grumbled before moving back inside her tent. Her pokemon followed her example, settling down for the night once more.
  
  The only one remaining was Narcissa, who latched to his back once more.
  
  "You'll have to get off for the check up, but thanks for keeping me company, girl," he said before re-filling the bowl for Arbok and moving to look for his book so he could brush up on the info regarding the poison type's line.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Just normal traveling shenanigans over here, guys. Nothing weird going on here at all, move on, move on. I tell you, this is perfectly normal. Don't you see how Pierce is perfectly fine? This is regular stuff, evidently. Everyone knows that...
  
  Just ignore Lily, yeah, she's the weird one here, clearly.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What pokemon will Pierce Millan- I mean, Pierce Lawson befriend next?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Mt Moon III
  Mt. Moon III
  
  ' This might have been a bad idea,' Pierce thought, narrowing his eyes as he took a deep breath in. Pursing his lips, he was only able to look as Narcissa flew through the air, dodging the rock that flew at her.
  
  "Iron Defense again, Narcissa!" he called once the move was over. With a frown, he wondered how he could tackle this.
  
  "Graveler, Rock Blast!" the girl across the "battlefield" - if it could be called that - ordered then and he grimaced. Immediately, the rock type used its four hands to hurl many shining pieces of stone at his beedrill. It was an annoying match up, Pierce would admit. Graveler was resistant to poison and normal. Furthermore, Narcissa's bug type attacks were close combat ones. That wasn't such a good idea with the opponent they were facing. Especially since she was weak against the rock type attacks Graveler could use.
  
  ' Not as much of an advantage now that it's an evolved pokemon with decent training, huh?' he thought to himself bitterly. However, he'd already known that he couldn't rely on Narcissa's evolution advantage forever. He had hoped it'd carry them a little longer while he got the hang of it though. No such luck, it seemed. ' Ok, let's see.'
  
  "Move around, Narcissa! Make it rain Poison Needles and don't get hit!" he commanded and the buzz of his pokemon's wings became even louder. She did as he was told, however, and Pierce watched intently. Graveler hurled more Rock Blast projectiles when its trainer ordered it to, but it wasn't hitting the much faster Narcissa, fortunately. They'd get a lucky hit in at some point though, he was sure, and he was sure things would spiral from there.
  
  Poison Needle was barely scratching it too, so Pierce wasn't confident in their ability to win a battle of attrition.
  
  ' Close combat is an even worse option though. What can we do here?' he thought with a frown.
  
  "Keep it going! Circle around it!" he called, frowning when one Rock Blast passed entirely too close to Narcissa. "Twineedle!" he added then, seeing Narcissa get behind the graveler. That was their opening. If they couldn't get some solid hits in, they'd be praying that they could use Poison Needle for long enough to take the thing down. ' All plans are risky right now,' he thought grimly.
  
  After getting a hit in, Narcissa pulled back instantly.
  
  "Rock Throw!" the other trainer called and an even bigger chunk of stone flew at his beedrill.
  
  And it landed the hit, right on the beedrill's side.
  
  "Narcissa!" he exclaimed, feeling like a hand had grabbed his heart and squeezed. ' She's fine,' he noticed, watching as his partner shrugged the hit off. She was flying slower, but there didn't seem to be any damage that he should be concerned about. "Back to Poison Needle, Narcissa!" he decided to go with. Getting in and out was more dangerous than just getting close. Moving back and all took away from her time of reaction too, evidently. "Add String Shot too!"
  
  He wasn't too sure the beedrill's threads would be enough to contain such a pokemon, but he should try at least. Maybe with enough string thrown around, they could make some more openings for close attacks with Twinneedle. He'd have tried to make Narcissa do as she'd done with Lily and latch onto the pokemon's back to use Bug Bite, but he was reasonably sure that the graveler knew Rollout.
  
  "Rock Blast!" the other trainer switched to once more and several projectiles were flung towards Narcissa. She was fast though, not quite as much as before, but she still had it. Poison Needle was about as effective as before, which was to say very little. As for String Shot, it wasn't doing much just yet, but maybe with more time-
  
  Except Narcissa got hit once more, this time more directly.
  
  "Rock Throw!" his opponent called and this attack nailed the beedrill perfectly, which made Pierce grimace.
  
  "We surrender!" he called then, running a hand through his hair as the rock type stopped its movement. Then, he jogged towards Narcissa, who was on the ground, trying to stand up. "Easy, Narcissa. It's fine. The battle is over," he told her as he knelt beside her. "Grab onto me, ok? I'll treat you in a second, I promise, just hold on for a bit," he said, receiving dejected clicking in response. "No worries. You win some, you lose some. We'll do better next time."
  
  That didn't improve her mood much, but he'd take care of that later.
  
  "Good battle," he said, walking towards the other trainer and passing the girl the bet money for the match.
  
  "Same," she replied, a wide friendly grin being directed at him. "That's a tough bug you have there. Most of the ones we've fought against basically go down after the first hit," the girl added then, visibly improving Narcissa's mood.
  
  "Thanks. Good luck, maybe we'll get a rematch if we meet again."
  
  "Sure, take care!"
  
  "Well, that could have gone better," Lily commented once the other trainer moved away and he started spraying Potion on Narcissa so his partner could recover faster. "Everything ok?"
  
  "Yeah, it's fine," Pierce answered with a nod, feeling as down as Narcissa did. "We just have to train harder. And I'll have to look for things we can use against pokemon with resistance to Narcissa's moves. She's fast and she's strong, but if we don't have an advantage, they can outlast us, evidently."
  
  As he spoke, he looked at his partner. The beedrill wasn't showing much, but she didn't need to. He knew she was disappointed, frustrated, even angry. Narcissa wanted to be strong. She wanted to show everyone she could be strong.
  
  A defeat was the opposite of that.
  
  Pierce knew, of course, that it was unreasonable to expect to win every battle. However, that didn't make the hit hurt any less. Especially for his pokemon partner. He was fairly sure that Narcissa would never take a loss well...
  
  "Well, most of those moves are gonna require tutors. There's Brick Break that should come in handy, for example," she said and he nodded with pursed lips. "It's a shame that Narcissa can't learn Steel type attacks, with Iron Defense in hand, it'd be easier for her than a new type."
  
  "Yeah, but we don't have that... luck," he mused, trailing off as an idea popped in his mind. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to determine how feasible that would be if they tried. "Hm, might have to try that out," he mumbled under his breath as he absently petted Narcisa. "For now, we have some more distance to travel, right?" he asked out loud.
  
  "Yeah, but what was that about?" Lily asked, eyes wide with curiosity. "You got an idea? I wanna know ."
  
  "Hm, maybe you'll find out later."
  
  " Pierce, don't be mean!"
  
  "So, onwards, plenty of road ahead of us."
  
  " Pierce! "
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Ok, girl, first of all," Pierce started, looking at a brand new page in his notebook that he'd use for this new idea that he'd gotten. "How are Tailwind and Agility coming along?" he asked, immediately seeing the hesitance with which Narcissa regarded him immediately. "Not that well, huh? I imagined. Agility is a long ways away, I bet, but what about Tailwind, we've been working on that with Talon for a while, right?"
  
  To that, the beedrill clicked her mandibles. She sounded pretty confident then and there.
  
  "Can you show me?" he asked, noticing how she seemed to deflate a little. Regardless, Narcissa rose in the air and started flying in circles. Sure enough, the wind started to pick up with a slight shine to it. He wasn't so sure of how much that increased the speed of his already fairly fast pokemon, however. "Looks good, what do you think? Not quite there yet?" he asked, receiving a reluctant affirmation. "Close then?" he continued, receiving a firm "yes" to that, if he'd ever seen one.
  
  With a nod, he noted that down. Tailwind and Agility both would come in handy if he wanted to pull the idea he had off. He tapped the back of his pencil to the page absently as he considered how to best approach this. With a slow nod, he looked up at his beedrill once more.
  
  "Can you use Iron Defense, girl?" he asked then. With no hesitation whatsoever, Narcissa's body was covered in the silvery energy of the steel type aura or whatever it was that moves used. Nodding slowly, he took the process in. The energy seemed to wash over her once or twice before disappearing. "Ok..." he mumbled, noting down some more stuff. "Can you try again, this time, holding it? Keep the energy there?" he asked, his eyes moving to the side where Cygnus was doing more of his physical training.
  
  He would have liked to get the abra started on moves and such, but the first stage of his line wasn't very good learning moves. They could of course, but they had more trouble than the regular pokemon. As such, the plan they were going with was training either Teleport, which he already had a grasp of but had room for improvement, and his body, which needed a lot more work. Once he evolved, they could get started on some other stuff.
  
  It was a bit funny, that even after catching two pokemon, he still essentially only had Narcissa for the moment. After all, Cygnus didn't have any battling moves just yet and Orion was too young and still recovering. The onix was getting better by the day though, so Pierce was starting to consider letting the rock type have a battle or two, maybe with wild pokemon, preferably about as young as he was...
  
  Those were plans for later though, now he had stuff to try with his first pokemon partner. As it was, he focused back on Narcissa as the beedrill did as he requested. This time, there was a visible change on how long the process of Iron Defense went. It wasn't a huge difference, but it took noticeably longer for the shine to disappear.
  
  "Ok, can you move when you use it?" he asked, receiving a shake of the beedrill's head. "Hm, yeah, but can you move when you do it the other way? Taking longer?"
  
  That seemed to give the bug type pause before she tried again. Pierce, in the meantime, watched intently, in case there was anything that his partner might not notice. The silvery shine came, washing over Narcissa for a solid few seconds before it disappeared. Sagging a little, the beedrill shook her head.
  
  It was what it was, really. As it was, Narcissa barely could pull the move off while keeping herself where she was in the air. He wasn't sure how much different that was from moving around, considering both needed her wings to do their job, but it was what it was. They'd have to work on that, he supposed, but that was for later.
  
  "That's fine," he reassured with a wave of his hand before looking down and noting some more things down in his notebook. "Ok, here's what I want you to try. Fly up as high as you can and then just drop down. While you fall, can you try to use Iron Defense? If you can, or can't, just make sure you don't hit the ground, yeah?" he explained, making Narcissa pause for a long moment before the beedrill nodded and did just as he asked.
  
  He watched her do her thing, lamenting the fact that he couldn't very well get the details of the whole process from where he was on the ground. With some luck though, he wouldn't be missing anything important. There was the flight, the fall, the shine and then Narcissa stopped before flying back to him. He didn't need the affirmative exclamation she gave but he smiled nevertheless.
  
  That was some solid progress, as far as he was concerned.
  
  "Ok, that's great," he said, making some more notes. "So far so good," he mumbled, looking at his notes. He had some ideas still, but what to try first? What had a better chance of working? What was the best option? Was what he wanted to do even possible? Would it work as intended or was he trying to force something that couldn't be? "Ok, here's what I want you to try, Narcissa," he said, looking up at the red eyes of his beedrill.
  
  She wanted to be strong, and he'd do his best to help her there. Maybe his ideas were useless, but maybe they weren't . He had to give it a try. It'd be better than just sitting and doing things as everyone did. Pierce needed an edge if he wanted to stand out... So he'd look around until he found one... Or several, if at all possible.
  
  Anything so Narcissa wouldn't look as sad as she had after the loss with the graveler. Anything to make it so that his team and him would lose less. Anything to see his team stand proud, to prove that they hadn't made a mistake by joining him.
  
  "Can you do that again? There's no need to make the fall long though. It's probably better if it's a short one, actually," he started then, feeling Narcissa's eyes all but boring a hole in him with how intently she stared at him. "This time though, I want you to fall and use Iron Defense right before hitting the ground."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Orion, stop glaring," Pierce said wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose. " Orion," he repeated, more pointedly this time, making the onix huff and turn around. "What's the big deal, buddy? It's not like I've given the wipe away or something. Lily will return it once she's done," he asked, rolling his eyes at the rock type.
  
  As it turned out, Orion wasn't a fan of sharing the special wipe that Pierce had gotten for him with Lily and Geodude. It was honestly a little funny... for all of a few minutes before it became annoying. The onix was a child though, so Pierce guessed he couldn't be too mad with the not-so-little guy. Beside him, both Narcissa and Cygnus sighed rather loudly. To that, Orion looked at them like they were the unreasonable ones.
  
  "Orion, you are gonna have to learn to share stuff. Who knows, maybe I'll catch another rock type or a steel type or something that I can use that wipe on. Or maybe it'll be some other thing that you'll have to share, but the point is that you need to learn that lesson, buddy," Pierce said with a weary smile. "Come here, big guy," he added then, gesturing for the onix to rest his head on his lap. Once it was there, he started rubbing his hand on the side of Orion's head. "Is this really about the wipe?" he asked then.
  
  The onix then grumbled something that didn't mean much of anything to his ears. Thankfully, Cygnus was there to help out, the little lifesaver that he was. A second later, he saw a picture of Mama Onix in his mind.
  
  "A little homesick, huh?" he whispered softly as he continued petting the rock type. "I know how that feels, big guy. It's going to be fine though. You'll grow strong and we'll visit soon. I'm sure Cygnus will get super good with Teleport in no time and we'll be visiting whenever we feel like it," he reassured, trying to put some cheer in his voice.
  
  In the privacy of his mind, Pierce "told" the abra that he wasn't serious about that. He knew that the longer the distance, the harder it was for the pokemon to pull off. It'd be a while before Cygnus could take them across the region on a whim, that was for sure. Regardless, he felt the psychic respond with determination only. ' With some luck, I haven't pushed Cygnus into being even more of a training maniac... Just what I needed with this team,' he thought with a wry grin.
  
  "If you really miss it too much though, just say the word and we can take you back home," he offered, trying to keep his voice soft and friendly, else Orion take it as a threat or something. "Nobody would blame you, buddy, and while it would be disappointing, I wouldn't mind."
  
  To that, the rock type grumbled some more, but it was clearly a negative answer to that offering.
  
  "I'm glad," Pierce told him, intent on being as honest as possible with his team. "I'm sure we'll have lots of fun traveling together, Orion," he commented, continuing to absently rub his hand on the rocky skin of the onix. "Lots of places to see, lots of pokemon to meet, lots of battles to have. Does that sound good?" he asked.
  
  Immediately, he got a response that definitely had some cheer to it. Even Narcissa and Cygnus answered that question, even if neither had been addressed. To that, he just chuckled.
  
  "What's so funny?" Lily asked then, having come over from where she'd been sitting with her team plus Geodude. Pierce was fairly sure the little rock type was going to join her team, but he didn't want to voice that thought in case he managed to screw things up for her. Idly though, he wondered if Lily had felt similarly when he'd been treating Orion and spending time with Cygnus. "Thanks for the wipe, by the way."
  
  "Don't mention it," he waved off, ignoring the first question. "Everything going well on your side?" he asked then, looking at Root, who was peacefully lying down while Talon flew some laps up in the sky.
  
  "Yeah, everything's peaceful. No wild pokemon for you to bribe into getting a check up, Pierce," Lily commented jokingly before giggling behind her hand.
  
  "I'm not that bad," he said, rolling his eyes. That is, until he saw the girl and his pokemon giving him a look . "What? I'm not? There was... Uh... That rattata!"
  
  "Fairly sure that was because the little thing ran away from you before you could offer," Lily commented, unimpressed, even if Pierce could tell that she was holding back a laugh.
  
  "Oh, laugh it up. At least I don't make food disappear-"
  
  "One time!"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "They are entirely too enthusiastic about training," he commented, feeling his limbs burning from the work out he'd had while his team trained before. Overhead, as they trekked towards Mt. Moon, Narcissa and Talon were training Tailwind. The former to actually get the move down for good while the latter was now just practicing it. Advantages of a better affinity with the move, sadly.
  
  "You say that like it's a bad thing," Lily replied with her usual cheer, skipping beside him.
  
  "I'm already tired from exercising. Looking at them keeping on makes me feel even worse," he grumbled, giving a wry smile as Cygnus patted him on the head. Predictably, the psychic type was riding on his shoulders. As for Orion, the onix had been sent to his pokeball to rest after training a little too hard in their last session. Pierce had warned the not-so-little guy but the rock type had insisted.
  
  That meant no traveling beside them, sadly, but there wasn't too much change in the sights, so Pierce guessed he could see why the onix hadn't minded too much.
  
  "If it makes you feel better, Cerulean has shore and Summer is around the corner," Lily commented with a wide grin. "You know what that means?"
  
  "Swimming?" he answered, smiling a bit himself. "Yeah, that sounds great. I like swimming."
  
  "I was gonna say showing off at the beach, but that too," Lily corrected with a giggle.
  
  "Uh, I don't think I'll have that much to show off, even with as much as Narcissa has me working out," he commented wryly, suddenly feeling more than a little self-conscious. "But thanks for the vote of confidence."
  
  "Well, you are no bodybuilder, but you look good, Pierce. No need to be shy," she reassured him. Although, to be honest, he was more surprised that she could just say that without a problem than he was relieved. He hadn't expected that compliment to come out of nowhere. "Unless you have your eyes on someone already? You are not falling for little ol' me, are you, Pierce?"
  
  "Yeah, nah," he replied with a half-smile. "You ain't tricking even more food out of me, woman."
  
  "Pierce, why'd you have to ruin it?!" she whined then, shoulders dropping. "It was one time!"
  
  "And I've told you. I ain't letting you live it down," Pierce said with a chuckle. "I'm so looking forward to meeting some of your friends so we can share stories. It'll be so much fun," he commented, drawing a horrified look from her.
  
  "You wouldn't?"
  
  "You sure about that?" he asked back, raising an eyebrow with a grin still in place. "You absolutely sure?"
  
  "You suck," she grumbled then, before pointing a finger at him. "Turnabout is fair play, Pierce, just to let you know."
  
  "Sure thing, Lily," he told her, still smiling, even if he felt it grow a little forced then. Fortunately, he was confident that he played it off well. ' You ain't gonna find any friends of mine, Lily, nor family for that matter,' he thought, his mood dropping even as he did his best to keep up appearances. "Is that the entrance?" he asked then, trying to make himself taller to look further.
  
  Sure enough, a little ways away there was a shift on the sort of monotonous path and mountain. They'd seen a few of those already, but as they continued walking the doubts were cleared. The fact that there was a ranger standing nearby was just that extra confirmation needed, really.
  
  "Finally," Lily said, running her fingers through her hair. "You sure you don't mind if we make the trip through the caves longer than it needs to be?" she asked then, growing a little nervous.
  
  "It's fine, Lily. We can spend some time looking for a clefairy. No big deal," he reassured her, waving off her worries. "Even if we don't find one, it's fine. I don't mind," he added before chuckling. "At least, I don't mind right now. If it turns out that traveling through caves sucks, I reserve the right to take that back."
  
  "That's fair," Lily replied, her lips tugging up in a smile. "Thank you. I know it's silly and unlikely to happen-"
  
  "Well, it is with that attitude," he interrupted, pushing against her with his shoulder. "Seriously, did you forget that I was the one that encouraged you to try? It'd be pretty hypocritical of me to tell you otherwise now. Just give it your best shot, that way you won't regret it later."
  
  "I know," she mumbled, nodding before taking a deep breath in and stopping walking. As she did, she turned to regard Geodude who had been traveling with them so far. ' Here it comes, I guess,' Pierce thought, looking curiously. Off to the side, both Narcissa and Talon had stopped and landed to look. "Geodude, I guess this is where we go our separate ways," Lily said, before visibly gathering the courage to continue. "Unless you want to come with us, as part of my team?"
  
  There was silence then, as the rock type stared at her with an unreadable expression. If he was feeling a little nervous, Pierce couldn't imagine how Lily was feeling. Especially because the girl had spent a lot more time with the little rock type, obviously.
  
  Eventually, Geodude gave her little bow/nod, making Lily squeal as she all but scrambled to pull out a pokeball to use. Looking from the side, Pierce grinned softly. ' Life goes on and new bonds form,' he thought, not for the first time. With everyone distracted by the new addition to their group, he allowed himself a sad smile for all that he'd lost. It wasn't often, but he'd get sudden bouts of sadness... However, he needed to move past those, and he was, he knew he was...
  
  ' Wonder if it'll ever go away though,' he thought, unsure if he wanted that to happen. Missing his old life sucked, for sure, but... He didn't want to forget either. On his shoulder, Cygnus gave his head a little pat that made him chuckle. Idly, he wondered how much the abra really picked up, because he found it slightly weird that he wouldn't ask in regards to his... less than normal thoughts and memories. Regardless of that though... ' Thanks, Cygnus.'
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  And the traveling goes on, as does the training and the interactions. We also finally make it to Mt. Moon, properly. Maybe you guys have noticed that I name the "arcs" of this story according to where they are. I named the arc after Pewter as Mt. Moon, but should I have named it Route 3 instead and now change to Mt. Moon? I'm curious what you guys think about that so that I can keep it in mind for future arc.
  
  On a different note, I'm not sure what to think about the addition to Lily's team. This is a very Pierce centric story, which doesn't help portray all that well how things go on Lily's side. It's something that happens in my stories a lot, I focus a lot on my MCs, to the point that even though stuff is happening with other characters, there's not much of that shown.
  
  I should probably work on that but it kinda clashes with my writing style... Ugh...
  
  Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I think I have already asked this but fuck it, what do you think will be the next addition to Pierce's team? What do you think will be the next addition to Lily's?
  
  See you.
  
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  Mt Moon IV
  Mt. Moon IV
  
  [Narcissa]
  
  The conclusion she had arrived at was that Mt. Moon was awful . Mainly because caves were awful, really. There was so little space to fly in that Narcissa felt like she was in a cage. Somewhat like being in a pokeball, but not nearly as comfortable. At least in the devices, it felt fine to just stay still. In the caves, she wanted to move, but was keenly aware that any movement could, and likely would, end up with her crashing into a wall.
  
  It had happened a number of times already, after all.
  
  So, she hadn't flown around anymore, instead latching on Pierce's back and staying there. It wasn't like it was a chore, really. She rather enjoyed being close to him. It carried a somewhat comforting feeling, much like how it had been to be carried in the man's arms when she was a kakuna. He was also warm, which helped too. Especially in the relative coldness of the tunnels.
  
  Good thing Cygnus was more fond of staying in his pokeball instead of being surrounded by the darkness of the cave system. Not even the occasional light source seemed to reassure the psychic type really and Narcissa could understand that. So much rock around certainly made her feel uneasy too, but she refused to leave Pierce alone...
  
  Well, there was Lily and her pokemon, but the point stood.
  
  "You can go into the pokeball like Cygnus, you know?" Pierce asked as they walked through the corridors inside the mountain. To that, Narcissa firmly clicked her negative response. Honestly, the gall of the man to insinuate that she wouldn't- "You are shaking, Narcissa," he pointed out.
  
  She so wished she could glare at her own body. How dare it betray her so. She wouldn't give up though. The tunnels sucked, but she could withstand it. She refused to leave Pierce on his own. They were partners. More than that, he was her first partner and she was his first partner, their relationship was a step above what he had with Cygnus and Orion, no offense to them. No way she would-
  
  "You know it's no big deal, right?" Pierce reassured. "I'll call you out if anything happens. There's literally no reason for you to be uncomfortable. Besides, it's not like I'll be alone. Lily, Root and Gem will be here with me too," the man continued, gesturing towards his human friend, the bulbasaur and the geodude.
  
  For a long moment, Narcissa remained silent.
  
  Ultimately, she decided to be magnanimous and allow her trainer's request. If he was so intent on granting her the comfort of the pokeball in such an unnerving territory, who was she to argue? Besides, it was likely that the man wanted some time to himself. Yes, that must have been it. It wasn't that Narcissa was leaving him, it was that she was giving him what he wanted. Of course.
  
  She resolutely ignored the roll of Pierce's eyes after she voiced those thoughts as best she could.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Pierce Lawson]
  
  Turned out that Cygnus wasn't a fan of the dark. Not only the typing, but the literal darkness. He guessed that made some sense though, just like a fire type not being a fan of normal water. Sure, the psychic type could be in dark places and such, but he certainly didn't like it. It wasn't a phobia or anything, of course, but that was no reason to force the pokemon to be outside.
  
  Unfortunately for the little guy, there were lights through the tunnels, but not nearly as many as there needed to be for the place to not have long patches of practically pitch black spots. Those few sources of brightness and the flashlights Pierce and Lily had were certainly not enough to make the abra comfortable. A shame, really, but it wasn't like the guy would be trapped in his pokeball through the whole trip... just most of it.
  
  As it also turned out, Narcissa wasn't a fan of the rock tunnels of Mt. Moon, or any such corridors in general, he supposed. It was an interesting thing to learn, that was for sure. Something he'd never quite considered and he didn't remember reading anything regarding that in his many research sessions involving his pokemon.
  
  So, he found himself without company of his own pokemon, since Cygnus and Narcissa were staying in their pokeballs to avoid the unnerving - for them - surroundings. As for Orion... Well, he was a bit of a cave in risk, sadly, so he also needed to stay inside unless they were in a more spacious part of the place. Unfortunately for the rock serpent, those were mostly the places that were unofficially designated as campsites, so there wasn't a lot of traveling while out in Orion's future.
  
  A shame, really.
  
  Lily was having a better time with this unexpected development. For one, because she'd already been made aware of this kind of thing by her family. For another, because the only member of her team inconvenienced by Mt. Moon was Talon. Root might not have liked the lack of sunlight much, but that was much more easily dealt with than the stuff the others had to deal with. As for Gem - her now nicknamed geodude -, she was right at home in the dark, rocky tunnels of the mountain.
  
  "So, any plan for where you wanna go?" he asked, looking at his own map. The both of them would have one of those each, they decided, and they'd keep close watch on their pathing. After all... "This looks easier and easier to get lost the more I look and I really would rather not."
  
  "Gee, I wonder why," Lily said sarcastically, looking over her own map. "Getting lost in here would be peachy, wouldn't it?" she asked then, rolling her eyes as she considered the path. "Although, in all honesty, we kinda need to go deep into the mountain, away from the standard paths. No way there's any chance to find any of the clefairy line members that live here in those, I imagine."
  
  "Sounds about right," he agreed before finding a bunch of options for where to go. "How about this one? There's that big room that we can use for training without having to worry as much, I feel."
  
  "That works," Lily mumbled, idly tracing their hypothetical pathing to that place. "Yeah, I like it."
  
  "So, we should go down that corridor," Pierce said, pointing at one of the tunnels they had decided to stop at for a bit. "And from there, we gotta take a bunch of left turns, then a middle path and-"
  
  "Yeah, one at a time, Pierce. It's already difficult enough to keep track."
  
  "Right, sorry," he mumbled with an apologetic smile.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce's finger traced the wing of the pokemon on his lap as he hummed to himself. His brow was furrowed, as he focused on what he could see under the lantern's light and what he could feel with his hands. Nodding to himself, he relaxed as he picked up the zubat he'd been checking up.
  
  "You are fine, little buddy. Thanks for the patience," he said with a slight grin before picking up the berry he'd set to his side and feeding the bat pokemon. "I hope it wasn't too bothersome," he added absently. Sure enough, there was nothing to worry about, if the pleased sound the zubat answered with was any indication.
  
  After having gone through the progress with several pokemon, Pierce was developing something of a theory. He was almost sure that the creatures took to his check ups like someone would with a massage. He wasn't sure why that was, considering he hadn't read anything regarding the process being pleasant for the patients in his study material, but he'd take that win. Maybe it was because he was always extra careful and mindful of keeping a soft touch? Then again, it wasn't like the books suggested harsh procedures or anything, so that couldn't be it, right?
  
  It wasn't like he could get an answer to those questions, at least not for the moment. He'd already made a mental and physical note to ask a nurse or a ranger or something the next time he came across one. For the moment, he'd be content with the knowledge that he wasn't bothering the pokemon with his practice exercises. It'd have been a little more worrying then, since one never knew when one of the creatures would react badly.
  
  "I think they are having fun, huh?" he asked then, as the zubat climbed on his arm towards his shoulder. Next to him sat Cygnus, in a rare occasion of being outside his pokeball. Understandable, since they were at the moment in one of the bigger "rooms" inside the mountain. A well lit one, for a change, which was the actual reason the psychic was out.
  
  Both, the zubat and Cygnus, replied in the affirmative.
  
  As to what he was talking about? That would be Lily and the rest of the zubat... flock? ' Wait, no, colony, it's a colony, right?' he thought with a frown. He was fairly sure he'd read something regarding that while studying them. Then again, his books focused a lot more on their anatomy than they did much of anything else.
  
  Back on topic, the girl was, at the moment, dancing in the middle of the cave-room while the group of zubats flew around her, as if following her motions. It was quite the beautiful sight, to be sure, made all the better by how happy the girl and the pokemon looked. Pierce could only watch with a smile on his face as they continued on. He almost wished they had some way to provide actual music, it'd have made it much better too, he imagined.
  
  ' Didn't Cerulean have that water dance show thingy with Misty's sisters?' Pierce wondered to himself then, blinking. ' Was that an anime only thing? Will that be a thing here?' his mind continued asking. After all, he was fairly sure there were elements of both games and anime as far as he'd seen. He wasn't very familiar with the manga and other pokemon media, but... Well, he just wasn't sure what to expect about the world he was in anymore. ' I wonder if that show would be anything like this though,' he finished then, leaning back.
  
  The stone wall was hard and cold, much like the rest of the place, but he didn't mind that much. The sight before him was pleasant enough to forget that. On top of that, he had the company of his pokemon, with Cygnus by his side, Narcissa flying around and occasionally stopping by and Orion munching a rock somewhere to his right. Furthermore, there were a handful of zubat, including the one he'd been checking up before, that didn't partake in the improvised dance and instead decided to perch on top of him to watch the show with him.
  
  For a definition of watching, that is, since they didn't have eyes.
  
  A squeak from one of the zubat got his attention - and everyone else's a second later -, making him turn to the side. Almost immediately, Cygnus sent a picture of a sandshrew behind some rocks. Sure enough, peeking out of one of the tunnels, there was one of the ground types.
  
  "Hey there, little guy," he called softly, making the pokemon jump a little. He mentally thanked Cygnus for helping him figure out it was a male. Even having studied pokemon biology and such, it was sometimes difficult to tell genders apart. "How about we make a little deal? You want some food?" he asked then, giving the sandshrew a friendly smile.
  
  Sure enough, the ground type perked up and Pierce's grin widened.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  He loved pokemon, he had found soon enough after waking up in Viridian Forest. They were wondrous creatures, fantasy beasts come straight out of a book, in a manner of speaking. Furthermore, they were like animals, which Pierce had already been a fan of, but they were also intelligent, which meant there was less risk of him messing up by being misunderstood. After all, at least with Pokemon, he had a chance to explain himself and such.
  
  And yet, Pierce also knew by then that the pokemon world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. He'd seen enough news of tragedies around the world. He'd read enough disturbing stuff during his research sessions and his studies. He'd even seen some of those things for himself, like the mess that had been Zone 5 after the Rocket attack on Mt. Moon.
  
  That didn't mean he was prepared for some other things he would likely come across in his travels. He was faced with one such thing in the tunnels of Mt. Moon, as it turned out. It wasn't a pokemon eating another though. It wasn't some messed up human being that took for granted the wonders of the world they lived in. It was... Somehow worse.
  
  "You liked that one, huh?" he asked weakly after having handed out a berry to one of the pokemon skittering around in front of him. "I thought you might. I remember reading that your line likes bitter berries," he commented, his tone almost flat as he uneasily regarded the creatures. Something that he wasn't used to. Sure, he could be scared of some of the pokemon he came across, but most of the time it was more wariness than... What he was feeling at the moment.
  
  After all, Lily and him had come across a small gathering of paras .
  
  Paras, one of the few pokemon that Pierce wasn't sure he could come to actually like. They were adorable, for sure. Those big beady eyes were like puppy dog eyes as far as he was concerned. They were friendly too, crawling over him as he offered them food and chittering animatedly.
  
  However, he couldn't quite push away the nauseating knowledge he had on the species. He couldn't quite forget, when all he had to do to remember was look at them or, more precisely, at the mushrooms growing on their backs. Mushrooms that he knew were eating away at the crab-like creatures, and would one day basically kill them and turn them into zombies when they evolved into parasect.
  
  Nature could be, as he well knew even if he tried to forget, just as disturbing as it could be beautiful.
  
  So, there Pierce sat on the ground, interacting, talking and playing with the paras. Creatures that he knew were doomed and that he couldn't help, no matter how much he wanted to. He'd looked into it too, quite extensively, but there was literally nothing to do. The species was just like that, and trying to take away the mushroom would just kill them faster... There was no easy answer to the paras dilemma, sadly.
  
  What was he supposed to do?
  
  In the end he just... settled for giving the little ones some happy memories. It was very little, almost nothing, but it was what he could do. There was nothing more he could offer the bug types, sadly, no matter how much he wished there was something else.
  
  "Pierce?" he heard Lily call him and it snapped him out of his thoughts. Enough for him to realize that a tear was falling from his eye, which he immediately wiped away. "You okay?" she asked him, looking concerned. She hadn't been looking much better than he did before, for obvious reasons, but she certainly hadn't been hit by the situation as much as he had.
  
  He envied her that.
  
  "I'm fine," he replied with a bitter smile.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Huh, you are right."
  
  "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Lils," Pierce replied with a flat tone. "Really, I'm moved. Especially coming from the girl that wanted to lead us in circles."
  
  "Oh, shut up," she huffed then, pouting as her cheeks turned pink. "It would have been fine."
  
  "I'm telling you, Pierce, five left turns in a row isn't that bad," he said, mimicking the girl's own words from before, making her blush grow even darker. "I know what I'm doing, Pierce, years of experience in treasure hunting."
  
  "I-I said shut up," she protested, which was somewhat ruined by the stutter and her beet red face. "You really don't let go of things."
  
  "You could say that. So, we have the food thing-" he said, sticking up a finger as Lily protested the now old accusation. "-and now a shitty sense of direction," he added then, a second digit joining the first. "Why do I stick with you again?"
  
  "You are mean, you know that?" she asked him, glaring and pouting.
  
  "Oh right, the nice eye candy. How could I forget?"
  
  "Pierce!" she cried out, her face pushing the boundaries of the color red now. Unable to keep a straight face anymore, he started laughing. Somehow, the very angry and embarrassed expression on his traveling companion didn't really help matters. Neither did the fact that both Root and Gem seemed to be laughing too. "Guys, why are you laughing too?! You are supposed to be on my side, not his!"
  
  "Just accept it, Lily, you might be a little..." Pierce started, only to trail off as they walked through one of Mt. Moon's many tunnels. His walking slowed down too as his eyes fixed themselves on the wall.
  
  "Pierce? What's the matter?" Lily asked him, coming to stand next to him and not quite getting why his behavior had shifted so suddenly.
  
  "It's just... the change is very obvious, isn't it?" he asked softly as he stepped towards the wall and placed his hand on it. "The tunnels... they are pretty smooth up to here but..." he mumbled, his fingers trailing the jagged edges of the stone surface. "It's suddenly not... You think this is the Rockets' doing?" he asked, looking around. Sure enough, it wasn't only the part that he'd found. Most of the path forward looked much the same.
  
  "I... Imagine it might be," Lily agreed, following his example. "The rangers might have tried to rebuild the place some," she added, finding a place where the surface was too smooth instead of looking like it'd had been blown up. "It's... Now that you mention it... It's quite jarring, isn't it?"
  
  "It is," he replied with a slow nod. "Doesn't have the same natural look, it's... quite a shame, honestly," he commented, looking at the walls.
  
  "Yeah, it's... Not bad, but a little disappointing, I guess," Lily said then, letting out a sigh as if to emphasize her point. "As if the whole mess wasn't bad enough," she added, some annoyance bleeding into her voice. "There's also lasting effects in stuff like this... The Rockets suck."
  
  "You can say that again," Pierce commented with a sigh of his own. That is, before an idea occurred to him, making him perk up and his eyes widen. His lips pulled up into a smile as he looked at the tunnel in a new light. "But it doesn't have to stay like this..." he mumbled, his hand moving to his belt and pulling out a pokeball.
  
  "Pierce?" Lily asked, confused. He ignored her though, in favor of letting out Orion from the device in his hand. The onix gave a little roar-grumble greeting as he appeared, receiving a rub on the side of his face courtesy of Pierce.
  
  "Hey, big guy. I need your help with something," the man said, smiling softly at his team member. "You see this tunnel? It's... kind of in a very sad state, I'm sure you'll agree," he pointed out, placing his hand on the stone wall once more and receiving an agreeing grumble from the onix. "I was wondering if you could help make it look better, Orion," he asked.
  
  After a moment of silence, the rock type gave an almost excited rumble as he looked around. Not a second later, the onix started rubbing his body against the walls and occasionally biting pieces off of them. Pierce wasn't sure if that was for the sake of their new mission or because the big guy wanted a snack, but he wouldn't begrudge the young one if it was the latter.
  
  "I guess we can help with that, can't we, Gem?" Lily asked her geodude, who readily agreed and started following the onix's example. She was much smaller than Orion, of course, and that meant she had a harder time doing the redecorating of Mt. Moon's walls, but there was no rush. The traveling group kept to that with a very sedate pace while the rock types did their work. Neither of the two pokemon seemed to mind overly much having to do that.
  
  Pierce wondered if that was a rock type thing, to be pleased while working with stone. Or maybe it was more that they were just as disturbed by the state of the tunnels as he was? If it was one of those or another reason entirely, he couldn't rightfully know without checking with Cygnus, but Pierce would take the win regardless. The fact was that they were helping the caves look much more natural and, in his opinion, better. Everything else didn't really matter all that much.
  
  "This is surprisingly nice, even if it'll slow us down a lot," Lily said, walking behind Orion and Gem with her hand trailing behind her against the wall.
  
  "You do know that you are doing basically nothing and those two are doing all the work, right?" Pierce asked, receiving amused snorts from both rock types and Root.
  
  "You just love to mess with me, don't you?" Lily growled under her breath.
  
  "Of course, that's why I keep you around, after all," he answered, as if that were obvious. "Don't worry though, the eye candy thing was true enough," he added then, getting a half-choked wail from the girl. "Man, I think I need to keep up with this. You have the best of reactions, Lily. Doesn't she, guys?" he asked then, receiving agreeing sounds from all the pokemon around.
  
  "You suck, Pierce," the girl hissed through gritted teeth.
  
  "Thanks," he replied cheerfully, which seemed to piss her off even more. Go figure. "I get the feeling you might be a tad angry, Lily. Weird, right?"
  
  "Really fucking weird, yeah," she hissed, eyes narrowed. If looks could kill, Pierce was fairly sure he'd have died a very gruesome death then and there. As it was, he was left alive to continue enjoying the annoyance of his traveling companion. "I'm suddenly wondering how good an idea was to keep you around, mister."
  
  "Please, you love me," he waved her off then with a chuckle. "Furthermore, you love our little run-ins with pokemon. I'm pretty sure you could get those on your own, but I don't think you agree with that."
  
  "I certainly don't keep you around for the eye candy. I can tell you that, Pierce."
  
  "Ouch. That hurts, Lily, right here," he said, dramatically placing a hand over his chest and grimacing as if she'd physically stabbed him. "And I thought we were friends."
  
  "We are not, because, as I said, you suck," she told him, glare still in place.
  
  "Eh, I guess that makes sense," he replied, "recovering" in an instant. "I might have gotten carried away, I'll admit. In my defense, you really do have the best of reactions."
  
  "You still suck," she grumbled, giving him a light punch on his arm.
  
  "Come on, I'll cook tonight," he offered, making the girl perk up. While she didn't hate cooking per se and it was certainly better than the plain rations they'd had before Pewter, the girl didn't take any joy in the craft either. She'd much rather do without that, really. Fortunately for her, Pierce was about as good as she was, which wasn't saying much, but it still beat the bland rations... Rations that the man didn't mind that much so long as there was some variety to it.
  
  Which was why him offering was rather nice, Pierce was sure. ' Guess I have what to bribe her with if it comes to it,' he mused. Who knew, maybe he could learn to cook better, add some cooking for pokemon too. Pokeblocks were good and all, but he'd much rather prepare something that... Well, looked better.
  
  "That'll do," Lily agreed immediately, bouncing back to being a happy camper as if the whole previous interaction had never happened. "What do you feel like cook... ing?" she asked then, her words coming out slower and slower as she went through them.
  
  Blinking, Pierce followed her now wide-eyed stare down the stone tunnel.
  
  Sure enough, there was a rather eye-catching pink creature down the corridor.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Business as usual with the traveling. Encounters here and there, spending time with the adorable and not-so-adorable pokemon. Pierce doing Pierce things and Lily doing Lily things. Nothing out of the norm here.
  
  On an unrelated note, people have complained about the pokemon nicknames and such, saying that they can't remember who's who and all that. With that in mind, I'm gonna ask in a general sense, do you want me to leave a list with the names at the beginning of the chapters or is it fine as is? I'll wait for a while and see what people say, but if many people agree with this, I'll just start doing that.
  
  Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Is the pacing fine or should I go slower? :D
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Mt Moon V
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  Mt. Moon V
  
  "Is that-?" Lily started, unable to finish the question. There was no need though, Pierce could put two and two together easily enough. It wasn't rocket science, after all.
  
  "I think so?" he answered hesitantly. At that very moment, the pink creature down the corridor disappeared behind a corner in the tunnels. Reaching towards Lily, he grabbed her arm before she could run after the lil' pokemon.
  
  "Pierce, we gotta follow them!"
  
  "How about we say we did, and don't?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow. "You think you can find a pokemon in here if they are really hiding?" he continued, tilting his head. "Also, I don't fancy diving in this place and getting lost. I don't know about you."
  
  "... Why do you have to make sense~?!" she whined then, her shoulders dropping as she complained to the heavens... Or the rock ceiling, either or. "Fine, what's your plan?"
  
  "Wait?" he suggested with a shrug. "I mean, if it's scared, chasing it won't do us any good. If it's curious, it'll probably come back. If it's friendly, it might even come to us. Does that sound good?"
  
  "So, just... waiting?" Lily asked, sounding like it pained her to even consider. "What if they don't come back?"
  
  "Then that was just a fluke and we didn't stand a chance anyway, right?" he reasoned with a sad smile. "I know you really want one of those fairies, but you can't really force the issue, you know?"
  
  "I do, I just... I really want one. They are so adorable, Pierce!" she whined again, as if he was somehow disagreeing with her even when he wasn't. In response, he just gave her a few pats on the back.
  
  "It'll be fine," he reassured softly. "After all, what are the chances that we took a clefairy off guard in these tunnels with all the noise we are making with the walls?" he asked, pointing at Orion and Gem, who had stopped their redecorating of the caves. "I don't imagine we are particularly sneaky. I'm sure the clefairy came to check on us, at least, maybe they got curious or something."
  
  "I guess that makes sense," Lily muttered, pouting all the while. Evidently, she was rather bummed that she'd gotten her hopes up only for them to be dashed. Sort of, at least. There was no telling if that'd be it or if they'd actually meet the clefairy again. "Why does it make sense?" she lamented, deflating where she stood.
  
  "Can we continue repairing damage here?" Pierce asked, waving his hand to the walls that Orion and Gem had been working on. "I'm sure the clefairy will appreciate it, if it helps," he added then, which was him being honest. He imagined it'd certainly help their image with the fairy types, even if it was also what he wanted to do.
  
  "No need to bribe me, Pierce. You are making me sound like a bad person," the girl grumbled. "Go ahead, Gem. This place certainly looks better like this," she said then, placing a hand on the more smoothed over stone surface before turning to look at the still damaged parts. Her eyes couldn't quite stop themselves from going further down the tunnel though.
  
  With a wry smile, Pierce let out Cygnus.
  
  "You feel like staying out for a bit, buddy? I promise we'll keep plenty of light for you, but we are kind of going slow for now. Got a new project going over here," Pierce explained, filling the abra in on what they were doing. After that though, he also gave him a rundown on the clefairy encounter.
  
  ' You think you can try and get us an in with them? We just want to meet them, make friends, you know?' Pierce asked his psychic team member. Because he did believe everything he'd told Lily, but he just wanted to... cover a few more bases, as it were. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, wasn't it?
  
  Cygnus readily acknowledged the mental command and set out to work. ' Thanks, buddy,' Pierce made sure to tell him.
  
  "Hey girl," he greeted then, as he let Narcissa out. "We are gonna be going slow for a bit, I thought we could-" he was interrupted as the beedrill zoomed around and latched onto his back. "-spend some time together," he finished with a soft smile. "Glad to see you like the idea."
  
  Then he looked to the side.
  
  "Stop sulking, Lily, it really doesn't suit you," he commented, rolling his eyes. "Really ruins the whole eye candy thing you've got going, you know?"
  
  "Oh, God, that's gonna be a thing, isn't it? Like the stupid food thing?" the girl asked then, realizing that yes, her fate was sealed. There was no escape for her and no redemption either.
  
  "Don't know what you are talking about," he commented, resolutely ignoring the snickering of their pokemon so that he could maintain his poker face. It was hard, but the end result was worth it. "Are you ok, Lily? You are talking nonsense. That clefairy really got to you, huh?"
  
  "I. Hate. You," she muttered through her teeth.
  
  "We love you too, right, guys?" he asked, receiving cheerful replies from everyone. Maybe it'd have sounded better if some of them didn't immediately start laughing, he supposed, but... Well, not everyone was a great actor. "See?... You don't seem to be feeling the love, Lily," he pointed out at the glare she was sending his way.
  
  "If we don't find a clefairy soon, you are gonna deal with my annoyance, is that clear?" she threatened, to which he just smiled... He was a bit nervous on the inside though. Maybe he'd pushed his luck a little too much there.
  
  With any luck, Lily would be as easy to calm down as wild pokemon. He'd gotten a chocolate bar just for instances like this, after all. He could only hope it'd be enough.
  
  After all, there was a whole saying about women scorned, wasn't there?
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce looked on with an unimpressed expression as Lily aggressively bit on the chocolate bar he'd just given her. It'd been a few hours since their sighting of the clefairy in the tunnels... And the girl had made it no secret that she was annoyed they hadn't seen the pokemon since.
  
  Pierce knew it wasn't actual anger or anything like that. The girl was disappointed and it was a very understandable feeling. After all, she'd been looking forward to meeting the fairies in Mt. Moon. She'd also thought it wasn't very likely, but to see one and then lose it?... It was frustrating, he imagined.
  
  "You think we might see another?" she asked then, looking down at her hands while holding onto the sweet still. "I... It's been a while. You think I might have scared them or something?"
  
  "And not me?" he shot back with a half-smile.
  
  "You couldn't scare a pokemon if you tried, Pierce," she said then, giving him a flat look. He blinked when all the pokemon around nodded or otherwise showed their agreement. "Do you... I mean..." the girl then mumbled, drawing onto herself in a nervous and shy manner that really didn't suit her at all. "You know I'm not actually angry at you, right?"
  
  "I mean, it'd be understandable," he reassured her with a smile. "I did stop you from going after that pokemon. Who knows? Maybe that was the right call."
  
  "No, you were right," she told him, before letting out a long sigh and then running her fingers through her hair. "I just... I'm sorry for how I acted. You were right, it was the right call to not go after it. If we'd have gotten lost here because of me... Just, thanks for stopping me," she mumbled nervously.
  
  "Don't mention it," he waved off easily before looking down at his meal that he was still halfway through. Apparently, Lily ate really quickly when she was upset. It was good to know. He just hoped he'd remember in the future, that information might save his hide, after all. "So, what is-?" he started then, before he was interrupted by Cygnus brushing a thought on his mind.
  
  Pausing, Pierce blinked and then tilted his head. He saw, from the corner of his eye, Lily giving him a confused expression. Instead of answering though, he just brought another bite to his mouth. From there, he continued as if nothing had happened.
  
  "What is in the plans for now?" he asked then, giving a pointed look to Lily. With any luck, she'd get the hint. He certainly hoped so, at least.
  
  "I-Um, probably some light training and then going to sleep? The caves are kind of getting to me. It is nighttime, even if it's basically always like that for us," the girl replied, narrowing her eyes at him but not actually asking or saying anything.
  
  "Yeah, that works for me. Cygnus should be able to get some physical training done. Orion's been doing enough going around repairing the damage in here. As for Narcissa... Well, she might want to get some more work underway with our new move," he said vaguely, enjoying the narrowed eyes his traveling companion directed his way.
  
  "Well, we have our own stuff to work with too," Lily mumbled, taking another bite from her dessert. "And I'm not gonna tell you what we'll do either, meanie!" she told him then, sticking out her tongue and making him laugh.
  
  "That works for me," he agreed easily. After all, he wasn't nearly as competitive as Lily seemed to be. He didn't really care for hiding what he was training his pokemon in, but since she was doing it, he imagined it'd might be neat to join in on the action, as it were. "In the meantime, give me a second," he added then, setting down his now empty plate and expanding one of each of his Boxes to pull out some pokemon kibble, some berries and a big bowl to put everything in.
  
  When he noticed Lily looking at him, he just gave him a smirk before walking a little away, towards one of the tunnels that connected with the chamber they'd be staying in for the night. There, he set down the meal he'd "prepared" and just walked away without saying anything. Cygnus had done the talking for him in that regard anyway.
  
  "So, tomorrow," he commented, as if nothing had happened while sitting down by the lamp they'd set down for the night. "Any ideas or are we following the path we were going for? There seems to be more damage that way, but we can just take care of the stuff that's on our way," he said, pulling out a berry and tossing it at Cygnus, who clumsily caught it with his hand.
  
  "I think we can afford a little detour to repair more tunnels. I honestly feel really bad looking at the damage after you mentioned it," Lily replied, looking in the direction he'd pointed at before. "We are just exploring anyway, right?"
  
  "Sure, I'm fine with that," Pierce agreed easily. "Not gonna complain, I can tell you that. I feel bad for the pokemon that live here, with the walls as they are. Must suck," he commented then, pushing out of his mind the whole thing from before. If it went anywhere, then fine. If it didn't, well, it was still fine, just not as much.
  
  "Yeah, but we can help. And who knows, maybe we can convince some other trainers to help too," Lily pointed out, although even she didn't look very confident on the second part. They hadn't met many people inside the caves, after all. He didn't remember if they'd seen a single one after they had gone away from the main path, actually.
  
  Evidently, the attack on the mountain had left trainers quite a bit wary of the tunnels. Not that Pierce could fault them for that, really. He himself was only as calm as he was because he knew it was unlikely that a second attack would be made. Even then, his metaknowledge had been proven to be dubious at best, so he tried to keep an ear out just in case as it was.
  
  Regardless, it seemed that they had taken on a mission of sorts, repairing the caves.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You think we could go to the underground river?" Pierce asked after their morning training was done. He'd done his own exercising too and now laid on the ground after cleaning himself up. The cool rock surface under him was a welcome thing after the burn that his muscles felt through the whole process of working out.
  
  "Yeah, that works... Although the water will be very cold," Lily answered then, pulling on the jacket she wore over her usual clothes. "I don't know how you deal with it."
  
  "I just like the cold," Pierce said, resisting the habit of pulling on his hoodie's sleeves up to his elbows. He always did that, but it was too cold for that. The last thing he wanted was to get sick. "I sweat like a pig at the slightest raise of temperature. The cold is a friend for me, honestly," he commented, pulling himself to a sitting position and groaning. "God, I wish it was cold all year long."
  
  "Take that back!" Lily exclaimed, throwing a small rock at him that hit his arm. He barely felt it, but he still looked at it as it fell on the ground. Then his eyes rose to give his traveling companion an unimpressed look. "What?"
  
  "Honestly..." he muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes. With a long suffering sigh, he stood up. His body felt heavy and his limbs seemed to have taken a vacation on him, but he managed to pull through so he could move. Fortunate that, since he had something to do, according to Cygnus.
  
  Thus, he moved off to the side and picked up the bowl of food he'd left beforehand. It was empty now, but that was no surprise, really. He'd have been more surprised if it wasn't empty. If anything, he hadn't even expected the bowl to still be there, really.
  
  Lucky that though, since he'd probably need it.
  
  "No more meals away from here," he announced loudly. "I like the cold, but not that much."
  
  "Ha!" Lily exclaimed, pointing at him and grinning widely as if she'd won an argument. He just blinked lazily at her.
  
  "I like the cold, but I'm not a fan of hypothermia, believe it or not. I just prefer it over the hot weather. At least when it's cold I can just put on some more clothes or something. There's only so much clothes I can take off when it's hot, and even then it might not help," he explained, rolling his eyes.
  
  "I mean, I guess you have a point there," Lily admitted hesitantly, as if she'd rather do anything other than agree to that. "The cold still sucks though."
  
  To that, Pierce just rolled his eyes. Off to the side, their pokemon snickered at them, prompting both trainers to turn towards them. As one, most of the creatures shut up. All except Talon, the glutton for punishment. Then again, Lily usually punished her pokemon with extra training, so the flying type might be doing stuff on purpose.
  
  On that note...
  
  "You gotta make sure you don't overwork Talon, Lily," Pierce commented idly, casually... Even if he was leading to anything but a casual thing. "So, maybe you can give other types of training. More complex or intellectually oriented instead of physical."
  
  "You know what, Pierce?" the girl asked, a grin spreading on her face that bode nothing good for the spearow. A spearow that was suddenly looking a lot less sure of himself. Slowly, Root and Gem inched away from the bird. "I think you might be right," she added then, with a smile that threatened to split her face.
  
  Talon squawked pitifully.
  
  All conversation was interrupted then though, when they heard a hesitant but soft voice call from behind Pierce. Everyone turned in that direction and froze, looking at the pink and sort of round pokemon standing there at one of the tunnels that lead away from the chamber. There was a long moment of silence before Pierce's eyes darted towards Lily and then back towards the clefairy.
  
  "Hey there," he greeted softly, his voice almost a whisper. The fairy type jumped a little, but didn't otherwise move. "Were you the one that ate what I left over there last night?"
  
  Hesitantly, slowly, the clefairy nodded, letting out a hum that sounded almost musical.
  
  "You want more? I have plenty. You can tell me which berries you prefer and all," he offered with as kind a smile as he could muster. "I promise that nothing will happen to you here, ok?"
  
  The clefairy took a step forward and then another. It moved gingerly, eyes darting all over the place, probably trying to keep track of both of them and their pokemon. That was fine though. Pierce was confident that nobody would do anything overly stupid. At least not something that he couldn't talk his way out of... Probably.
  
  "I'm going to move to get the food, yeah? You can take a seat wherever you want, girl," he said, grateful once more for Cygnus. Not having to guess the gender of pokemon made things go much more smoothly, that was for sure. Going deliberately slow, Pierce went to open his Preserving Box and get some food out. "Which ones do you prefer, little one?" he asked as the clefairy drew closer, pulling out an assortment of berries.
  
  The sight of them seemed to make the fairy type's reservations go out the window, because her eyes instantly lit up and her movements became a lot more hurried.
  
  Then, a second musical voice was heard from down the tunnel.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  "Well, that escalated quickly," she heard Pierce comment and she had to hold back a laugh at the sight of the man. There were cleffa and clefairy hanging all over him, on his head, on his shoulders, on his legs. He could only sit there while the baby and not so baby pokemon climbed on him as if he were a jungle gym.
  
  "If it makes you feel any better, you look absolutely adorable like that," Lily commented, doing a very bad job at keeping her giggles at bay. It was only partially because of how humorous the sight of her traveling companion being made into a playground was though. Another part was because of how happy she was with how things had turned out.
  
  After all, Lily had always wanted to see some clefairy herself. It was something every girl wanted, she supposed, probably some boys too. Sadly, she didn't think she'd get the chance, unless it was during a battle with someone that had one. They were just so rare . There barely were recordings of some of them in the wild, precious few studies on them too. Most of the information regarding them came from trainers that managed to catch one.
  
  And yet, there she was, surrounded by clefairy and cleffa and even a clefable . It was like a dream. Better than a dream, actually. She'd know. She had a few dreams that were just like that, after all.
  
  "I guess it does, a little bit," Pierce commented with a flat tone. "Not sure how I feel about being called adorable, but these little ones certainly are," he added then. The fairy types on him certainly seemed to appreciate it, judging by the way they hugged the man. At that, Pierce couldn't quite contain a smile. "Guess you got your wish, huh?"
  
  "I did," Lily agreed easily. She didn't even feel the need to point out that her wish had been to actually get one for her team. She hadn't even been serious back then. She definitely wanted one of the fairy types in her team, but if meeting them was next to impossible in her head, what did that left for actually catching one? Yeah, she'd content herself with just interacting with them. She even had a cleffa on her lap!
  
  Best day ever!
  
  "But at what cost though," Pierce said ominously as he looked to the side. When she followed his gaze, Lily saw Talon and Narcissa surrounded by clefairy and cleffa, clearly very uncomfortable. It was more than a little amusing, to see the usually so stoic and slightly aggressive pokemon now surrounded by the adorable pink creatures and shuffling awkwardly. "At what cost indeed," Pierce repeated.
  
  She tried to stop her laugh from coming out.
  
  She lost that battle barely a second into it.
  
  "So mean. Our pokemon are suffering, Lily, and you are laughing?" Pierce asked her flatly, but even he couldn't stop the grin that tugged at his lips. "For shame. Not even gonna try to help them, huh?"
  
  "And you?"
  
  "Alas, I've been restrained," he said, bringing up an arm and making the two cleffa that clung to it squeal cheerfully. "I can't escape the clutches of the terrible terrors. I've fallen, but you can still save yourselves, guys."
  
  Lily continued giggling then.
  
  "Having fun, Orion?" Pierce asked then, and both of them turned to look at the onix, who was at the moment slithering around with several clefairy riding on his back. The rock type was having a much easier time socializing than the beedrill and the spearow, that was for sure. As for Root, Gem and Cygnus... they were kind of rolling with the punches, as it were.
  
  Well, the first two were, seemingly talking with the older, calmer clefairy and the clefable. As for Cygnus... He seemed to be taking a nap, which Lily thought was weird. Understandable, for sure, since she knew abra needed a lot of sleep, but it still was odd to see, especially in the situation they were in.
  
  Then again, Cygnus' family seemed to be some sort of pokemon guardian group, so maybe he'd seen the clefairy before? Something to ask Pierce about later, she supposed. As it was, she'd let the psychic enjoy his nap. It wasn't like Cygnus was her pokemon or anything.
  
  Besides, the fairies didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave, from what she was gathering. ' I can only hope,' she thought to herself. If they stayed with Pierce and her throughout their trip through Mt. Moon, she wasn't sure she'd want to leave... Well, she would, but she'd be reluctant about it.
  
  "You are a really friendly bunch, huh?" Lily asked softly, rubbing her hand on top of the head of the cleffa that was sitting on her lap. The pokemon then let out a happy cheer extending her little arms to grab her fingers. "I'd never have guessed. I thought you'd be more shy, with how rare it is to come across you all."
  
  "I mean, they gotta be careful who they approach, I imagine," Pierce commented and Lily held back a laugh again. Half the man's face was covered by a cleffa who was hanging from his head. "If they were this friendly with everyone, they'd likely get caught or attacked or something. They've decided we are good, so they are going all out with their friendliness... That's my guess, at least."
  
  And, as usual, Pierce's guess was spot on, if the response the fairy types around gave was anything to go by. Lily had long since given up trying to understand how the man could so easily understand pokemon, if she were honest. As it was, the most she could try to do was learn a bit of his thought process. It was difficult, but she thought she was getting the hang of it little by little.
  
  If it led to half as many encounters and friends as Pierce did, then it'd be energy and time well spent.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  The pink monsters are taking over, guys! Run, run while you still can!
  
  Also, yeah, I decided to go for it and start adding the name list at the beginning. I should have done that from the beginning, really. Especially considering that I can't remember names to save my life... At least when it comes to people.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: How are you doing lately? I've been pretty good myself, can't really complain. I hope you are doing well.
  
  See you.
  
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  Mt Moon VI
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  Mt. Moon VI
  
  "And that's that. You are as healthy as you can be, little one," Pierce declared, tickling the cleffa that had been laying on his lap and making her giggle uncontrollably. The clefairy that was currently peeking over his shoulder, for her part, pointed at the writhing child and babbled something animatedly. "Yeah, that's what she gets from not staying still," he added, making the clefairy join the younger one's giggles.
  
  "Stop being such a child, Pierce," Lily commented, even though she was smiling widely at the sight. Not that her expression had changed much throughout their whole time with the fairy types. His traveling companion hadn't stopped looking like a child in a candy store, but he couldn't really blame her for that. "He's a meanie, isn't he?" she asked the cleffa on her lap, receiving a squeal as a response.
  
  Pierce wondered what that was supposed to mean.
  
  However, he didn't have much time to ponder that.
  
  "Done, buddy?" he asked then, hearing and seeing Orion slithering through the tunnels up to them, a bunch of members of the clefairy line riding on his back. The stone serpent was unbothered though. If anything, the little guy seemed to have fun playing around with the fairies, actually. "He didn't work too hard, did he, girls?" he asked then, looking towards the clefairy and cleffa on the onix's back. According to their cute babbling, he hadn't... At least that was Pierce's guess. He could be wrong. "And boy, sorry," he added, when a clefairy protested.
  
  Orion, for his part, rumbled something before continuing to give the fairy types a ride, now around the room instead of through the tunnels. Pierce simply watched with a content smile on his face as the cleffa on his lap twisted into a sitting position before he planted a hand on top of her head. He wondered if Gem would be coming back soon too. She didn't have to worry as much as the onix did when pushing herself, after all, so she could train and generally do more than Orion could... at least for the moment.
  
  Fun as it was that they'd met a whole family of clefairy and such, they'd still kept moving, only with a lot more company. As they did so, Orion and Gem had continued repairing the cave walls as best they could. It helped that the residents of the mountain that they came across seemed to be really happy with their results and what they were doing too, of course. Pierce almost wished he had some tools to help out himself, even if he knew it likely wouldn't really help that much. He wasn't a rock type, after all, and he would never be able to get the same effect that the onix and the geodude did.
  
  Looking around again, he saw Cygnus standing off to the side, his hands holding onto two little rocks. Weight training, as it were. The little psychic type was progressing already. Soon enough, Pierce would see the abra carrying around boulders and punching trees, he was sure. A slightly amusing image to think of, for sure, but he couldn't deny that when he thought of their future battling, it also made him excited.
  
  Whenever Cygnus finally got around teleporting and punching an opponent in the face would be great. If the rush of excitement that Pierce felt coming from the abra was any indication, the psychic type couldn't wait for that either. He had to wonder how people would react to that . In his research, he'd seen the occasional member of the line using the punch moves, of course. However, nobody focused on them like Cygnus wanted to.
  
  If nothing else, if they reached high enough, his psychic would become known for that, he was sure.
  
  For the moment though, the little guy was struggling to hold pebbles in his hands, which was all sorts of adorable, really. Cygnus didn't seem to appreciate that thought at all, of course, but Pierce regretted nothing. He'd get there, he was sure, but there was no rush and no need to skip on the enjoyment. ' Gonna have to share these memories with the family later, huh?' he thought "out loud" as it were, and he was fairly sure he saw Cygnus twitch at that.
  
  Deciding to give the poor psychic a break, Pierce turned to look at Narcissa. His beedrill was stubbornly flying around, training with Tailwind and trying to train Agility too. She was getting the hang of the former, it seemed, and while the latter wasn't anything other than the occasional manipulation of psychic energy, it was slowly but surely progressing. Which was great, because they would probably need to keep working on their move idea some more later and Agility would come in handy with that.
  
  The cleffa on his lap pulled at his shirt then, making Pierce look down.
  
  "What's the matter?" he asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow. His response was a pair of narrowed eyes and a pout. He held strong for all of two seconds before he chuckled. "I know, I know, I didn't forget," he told the fairy, shaking his head. "Just wanted to see if you remembered," he added, receiving a slap on the chest and an intensified pout that only made him laugh harder. "Special delivery of pokeblock for the nice Cleffa," he said, picking up one of the treats from a container to his left and offering it to the fairy type, who took it like she was afraid it'd vanish.
  
  Considering the way some of the other members of her family were staring at it, Pierce felt her fear was justified. It'd taken him a few tries, but he'd struck a combination of berries that the clefairy line family had enjoyed. Sure, some of them preferred some other stuff and so on, but he was confident that he'd struck a happy medium for all of them with that one. He made sure to note down what all of them liked though, for future reference.
  
  "Any other volunteers?" he asked out loud then, and a bunch of different fairies all but jumped at the question. Off to the side, he heard Lily giggling as he grinned at them all. "Good to see you guys take your health so seriously," he commented, making his traveling companion lose the battle she was fighting against herself and burst out laughing.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "It's a good thing you've made a lot of money and I'm a sponsored trainer," Lily commented wryly one night and Pierce could only agree with her on that. "I don't think we'd be able to afford to do this kind of thing otherwise," she added, looking around. He did the same, taking in the sight of the clefairy family around them. The fairy types were happily eating away at berries and kibbles that they'd both offered them. Having the pokemon group traveling with them was great and cute and cheerful and what not but...
  
  Well, feeding that many pokemon was a bit much, he'd admit.
  
  He regretted nothing, but the point stood.
  
  "You're not wrong," he commented, sharing a grin with his traveling companion. "We'll just have to make sure we have plenty of money and food from now on, huh? Gotta keep our priorities straight."
  
  "I think your priorities might be a little skewed, Pierce," Lily pointed out and he just turned towards her together with the clefairy family in its entirety. "Or not, definitely not."
  
  "That's more like it," he said, grinning widely. "But yeah, I guess I'll have to make sure to secure as much money as I can to keep this going," he added, his mood lowering a little. Feeding wild pokemon and getting new friends was nice and all, but, well... Lily wasn't wrong that it wasn't a priority of theirs. They were trainers, above all else. If they used all their money to feed random pokemon on the road, that was less money they spent on their own partners. "I don't want to hurt my team's chances," he added, receiving an agreeing hum from Lily.
  
  At that, the clefairy family around them reacted in different ways. Some looked conflicted, others looked sad and others looked... Well, the young ones didn't look like they understood, really. Pierce gave them a wide, reassuring smile.
  
  "Don't worry, guys. We can afford this no problem. It just might become a problem in the future, but we are fine right now," he told them, waving off their concern. "So, what do you guys-?" he started, before being interrupted as he saw the sole clefable of the group stand up and move towards him.
  
  With uncharacteristic seriousness, she regarded him for a long moment. Lily too, but the pokemon seemed to focus mainly on him, for whatever reason. Then she babbled something, gesturing for him to follow her down one tunnel.
  
  "Eh, sure? Do you need something?" he asked, sending a look towards Cygnus who was resting to the side. If the psychic was awake, that would have been a nice moment to do a little translating. It was then that he noticed that most of the fairies weren't quite so playful anymore. Even the younger ones seemed to have grown serious, or concerned.
  
  Instantly, he felt Cygnus' presence on the back of his mind, brushing against it and painting a picture on his consciousness. Several images flashed by at that moment. Pierce treating Orion, then treating the spearow, then treating the rest of their team and Lily's after battles... And he got the idea.
  
  "Someone needs healing?" he asked, growing serious then as he stood up. "Give me a moment," he said, gathering his things quickly, food bowls and others. Throwing everything as neatly as he could manage inside the boxes and then the boxes in his backpack, he got ready to move. "Cygnus, pokeball?" he asked while he was at it. "Orion? Narcissa?" he added then. The psychic gave him an affirmative answer while the other two decided to stay outside. That worked, unless they had to move too far.
  
  When he was finished, he noticed that Lily had done the same too, looking a little confused and worried, but otherwise seeming ready for business.
  
  "Lead the way, lady," he told the clefable then, before they all started moving through the tunnels. There wasn't much said as they moved, only the occasional babbling between clefairy and cleffa, really. Narcissa latched onto his back, predictably, while Orion stayed at the back of the whole group, since he took up a whole chunk of the space in the caves.
  
  As they walked, Pierce frowned, running through his medical knowledge. As he did though, he side-eyed Lily, who was biting her lip. He wasn't sure, but there was a good chance that they were thinking the same thing.
  
  "If there are pokemon that need help, we can call the rangers," he offered, but a single look from the clefable answered that rather intently. "I'm starting to get the feeling that pokemon either don't like the rangers or that they don't trust them," Pierce commented. To his side, Lily let out a thoughtful hum.
  
  "The latter, maybe?" the girl offered then, looking at the clefairy around as if they'd give them an answer. "I don't think there's a reason to dislike them all, but maybe they don't trust humans as a whole, rangers included. At least, not when they are vulnerable."
  
  "But the zones..." Pierce started, before trailing off. "They couldn't really hide while in the zones though," he answered his own question before he could voice it. To that, Lily nodded.
  
  "I guess it makes sense. They don't know what people will do, right? They could be good or..."
  
  "They could not be," Pierce finished, pursing his lips. "Guess we are lucky that they trust us at least."
  
  "That they trust you, more like," Lily corrected with a wry smile. "And I think it's more that you earn their trust really easily more than luck." To that, the clefable babbled something. "See, she agrees."
  
  "If you say so..."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Ok... This is worse than I thought," he mumbled, suddenly feeling a little weak just taking in the sight before him. Behind him, he heard the clefairy family that had been with them mumbling and crying, which made complete sense.
  
  Suddenly, he understood why all the clefairy in the group had felt so... youthful. They were children . And they'd been out there in the tunnels with clefable to keep away from this mess, evidently. In front of him were two more clefable and some bigger, probably older clefairy moving around.
  
  And they were treating pokemon.
  
  A whole lot of pokemon.
  
  They'd been led to a big open space in the mountain. It was a dome-like chamber with an opening on top of it that let the moonlight through, shining on the stone floor of the place. ' This was in the anime, right?' a corner of Pierce's mind whispered as he looked at the big rock in the middle of the "room". ' The moonstone meteorite thing, right?'
  
  ' Focus,' he told himself, shaking his head. There was a lot of work to do and he didn't have time to get distracted with unnecessary things like that. The chamber was, after all, filled with injured pokemon. Clefairy, zubat, golbat, paras, parasect, geodude, sanshrew, sandslash. There was even a golem, resting off to the side with a worrying amount of cracks on its stone skin and Pierce was fairly sure that there were holes in it too.
  
  The healthy clefairy were running around, using moves that Pierce imagined were healing the pokemon or at least helping. They looked half-dead themselves though, and he imagined they were basically working with no energy whatsoever. Taking a deep breath in, he nodded to himself, narrowing his eyes.
  
  "Ok," he said, squaring his shoulders. "I need to know who is in worse condition to get started with them," he told the clefable to his side who gave him a nod before gesturing to continue following. "Come with us, Lily, I'll need a hand with this."
  
  "Of course," the girl replied from behind him.
  
  Their guide stopped by a clefairy, babbling something and gesturing towards the younger members that they'd come with. With a nod, the - probably younger than the clefable - fairy type went to the young ones and they disappeared through the tunnel once more. Good, the sight in the chamber was anything but nice, after all.
  
  From there, they were led towards one of the other clefable, who had a short, curt conversation with the one that had taken them there before they shared a nod. Turning towards Pierce, the pokemon gave them a nod too and then started guiding them somewhere else. That somewhere seemed to be the golem, unsurprisingly.
  
  ' I did think it was very injured,' Pierce thought to himself, gulping down and gathering his thoughts.
  
  "Hey there, big one," he said. He'd have liked to have Cygnus out to help him, but the abra might be necessary later on. It'd be better to let his partner rest. Knowing the gender of pokemon wasn't that important. He could probably avoid mentioning that or just ask if he really needed to know. "I'm here to help, yeah? So, I'm gonna treat your wounds, you just gotta lay there and maybe hold still even if it hurts, ok? After we are done, I'll get you a few berries. I have just about every type, so you just have to tell me which ones are your favorite."
  
  To that, the gigantic rock type rumbled something that sounded to Pierce like a weary chuckle.
  
  "That's the spirit!" Pierce said, letting his backpack fall to the ground and then taking out two of his container boxes. Expanding them, he took a look inside and then at the golem. "Ok, Lily, check the contents so you know where things are, yeah? I'm gonna check Golem's wounds and see what I have to do. I'll need you to pass me stuff and maybe help me apply some, ok?" he asked, turning to look at the girl.
  
  He paused, seeing her pale expression.
  
  "Or I can have Cygnus or one of the clefairy help me out. You can leave with the young ones if it's too much. I know this... Is a lot to take in," he told her, understandingly. "Lily?"
  
  "I'm... I'm fine. I want to help," she mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper.
  
  "You sure?" he asked, trying not to sound too impatient. It was getting him restless to see so many injured pokemon and not be treating them. However, he needed to secure some help. Healing Orion had taught him that doing the whole thing by himself was exhausting and it had only been one pokemon, not a small army of them.
  
  "I am... So, check the boxes, right?" Lily asked hesitantly, her voice still low.
  
  "Yeah, learn where things are so I can ask you to pass them over, ok?" he repeated softly for her. Then he gave her a pat on the arm that made the girl smile, even if it was an uneasy, weak thing. "Ok," he mumbled, this time to himself as he turned and walked up to the golem once more. The creature looked at him too, even if it didn't move, and Pierce did his best to smile reassuringly at it.
  
  Carefully, he started moving around it, inspecting every wound, every crack on the skin, every hole on the armor. If the pokemon hadn't been a last stage one and one as sturdy as Golem, Pierce was pretty sure it'd be dead. As it was, things were "merely" very serious. Left to its own devices, the rock type would have died anyway, he guessed.
  
  "You'll be fine," Pierce whispered to the pokemon softly. "Ok, I need a whole lot of potions. A few bandages. A lot of plasters too," he listed off, taking a deep breath in as he started thinking of how to start and the order in which he needed to treat the injuries.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You are going to be fine, little guy," Pierce said softly, spraying some potion on the carapace of a paras before placing a plaster on the wound. "That's all. We'll just have to change it a few times and that'll be it. You are fine," he reassured, because the poor thing had been positively terrified, even if the damage hadn't been that bad, certainly not as serious as many others he'd treated that day.
  
  The thing clicked a response at him, nervous, but certainly calmer than before.
  
  "That's it. Here," he replied then, picking up a berry he'd set aside for the moment and giving it to the bug type. With that out of the way, he stood up, stretching his now hurting back and looking around. He'd gone through a lot of pokemon already. Entire hours had passed, to the point that he'd had to send Lily to rest when she started getting tired.
  
  As for Pierce himself, his eyelids felt heavy, his legs and arms hurt as if he'd gone through one of his exercise sessions and he was starting to feel hungry too. He felt tired, exhausted, really, but there were more pokemon to help still. There were pokemon suffering . He just knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he tried.
  
  A wave of concern brushed against his mind.
  
  "I know, I know. I just... I wanna deal with the more pressing ones, ok?" he told Cygnus, who was sitting off to the side on the ground. "Who's next?" Pierce asked his guide, a clefairy instead of the previous clefable. This particular fairy type had been assigned to help him, but mostly to keep tabs on pokemon so she could tell him where to go.
  
  A few seconds later, Pierce found himself kneeling once more, treating the wounds of a sandshrew.
  
  "Some of these look fresh," he commented idly, keeping his voice even so that he wouldn't worry the ground type. That wasn't even only regarding the sandshrew. Some injuries he'd had to treat through the entire thing had been much too new, in his opinion. "They can't be from the attack here."
  
  The sandshrew whined something at him.
  
  Cygnus, ever the trustworthy guy, translated for Pierce. The mental pictures and shared emotions took a while to get the message across, but the answer he got was far from pleasing for him. ' You are getting better,' he commented, wanting to bring his pokemon's mood up a little. Fortunately, he succeeded.
  
  Apparently, the pokemon of Mt. Moon were very on edge, even as time passed. Some of them were, at least, those that had been the closest, those that were the most affected. There were fights breaking out in the caves still, pokemon jumping at shadows and throwing attacks before thinking. It made Pierce wonder how Lily and he had managed to avoid such cases, really, because as Cygnus painted the picture, the mountain was a fucking mess.
  
  According to the next response of the psychic type, they'd been lucky because, one, they had a very peaceful approach to things, and two, they never attacked back, really, unless they had to. Even when they did, they were careful about it. Which was true enough, he supposed. There had been a few encounters that had been a little worrying, but nothing too bad.
  
  Then Cygnus added that Orion helped a lot too. Small, he might be, but he was still an onix and onix were respected in Mt. Moon. Pierce wondered if that was the influence of Mama Onix or if it was just a general onix thing. According to Cygnus, it was both.
  
  ' Good to know, I guess. We'll need to be more careful from now on, just in case,' he mused to himself, spraying some potion on the sandshrew's wounds. Halfway through the process, he yawned before bringing his hands to massage his face. ' Come on, just a bit more,' he thought.
  
  His mind was starting to drift off too much, or just shut down entirely. ' I could just... rest my eyes for a bit,' he thought, closing his eyes. Yeah, he could do that. Only thing left was placing a bandage on the sandshrew's leg after cleaning the wound a bit and that'd be it, really. He could take a second-
  
  Something poked his arm and his eyes snapped open and turned to the side.
  
  "Yeah? Did something happen?" he asked the clefairy, taking a deep breath in and having to hold back a yawn. He wasn't entirely successful but there was no time to be tired. "What is it?"
  
  The fairy type simply stared at him for a long moment before miming sleeping.
  
  "I'll rest in a bit, yeah? There's a few more pokemon that I still need to treat. They aren't in that bad a condition, but it's better to get them treated as soon as possible," he explained, turning and picking up the bandage he'd prepared for the sandshrew, wrapping it around the pokemon's leg. "Just a few more," he mumbled, standing up, stretching a little and then turning back to the clefairy. "Who's next?"
  
  There was a moment of silence before the fairy type sighed and started moving. Once he reached the next patient, a parasect, Pierce paused. His hands shook a little and he still felt like he'd drop to the ground and fall asleep at any second. With a growl he looked in his boxes for a bottle of water before pouring it on his face and taking a sip.
  
  "Better," he commented, sending a grin to his clefairy guide and Cygnus. The former looked concerned while the latter sent him a sense of exasperation. "I'm fine . Stop worrying," he mumbled, rolling his eyes.
  
  He was still very tired, but at least that had helped him wake up a little. He could rest once most pokemon were looked after. Besides, if he helped enough, maybe the clefairy and clefable would be able to take care of the rest with more ease.
  
  ' Just a bit more...'
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  I... Don't really have anything to say here today, really. I have some doubts regarding the chapter, of course, but that's just the usual thing, right? So, I think I'll just leave the notes at that and get on with it.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  Announcement: So, in case you aren't part of my Discord server, or just don't really pay attention to it, I've started writing a Quest story in Fiction Live by the name of "Labyrinth". So, if you are curious, check it out, I go by the username of "adrianking" there, just in case.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Maybe I'm feeling a little meh right now, can't even think about a question either.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Mt Moon VII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  Mt. Moon VII
  
  "Here you go," Lily said, passing Pierce a mug of coffee that he took with a slightly shaky hand. He didn't say anything else after that though, simply taking a sip from the hot beverage. The drink all but burned a hole in his tongue, but he honestly couldn't care much for that at the moment.
  
  He was sitting against the rock walls of the open chamber in Mt. Moon, facing towards the injured pokemon the clefairy family had led them to. He'd spend a good many hours treating as many creatures as he could manage and he'd honestly lost track of time for a while by that point. There was so much to do, so many wounds to help with, so many uneasy pokemon to calm down...
  
  "You need to rest, Pierce," Lily told him softly, taking a seat by his side.
  
  "I slept already."
  
  "You did so," she agreed easily, but he knew that wouldn't be the end of it. Sure enough, she started speaking again a moment later. "But you only did for a few hours. It's not enough, Pierce. And you've been running yourself ragged too. I don't think you've eaten more than a bit at a time through this whole thing, or drank more than a bottle of water."
  
  "I'm almost finished," Pierce argued weakly, his shoulders slumped and his eyelids heavy. "I just... have to finish treating them. Might need to check those I treated first to see if they need re-dressing and-"
  
  "You need rest, Pierce."
  
  "There's no time for-"
  
  "Pierce," Lily interrupted once more, her voice firm. "Will they die if you don't do that?"
  
  "No, thank God, but still they-"
  
  "Then you can rest ."
  
  "They are suffering, Lily," he said and he saw that those simple words took a lot of wind from her sails. To her credit, she didn't let that beat her though. "I just... I can't stand that, especially since I can help," he added, looking to the side, where a zubat was trying and failing to move around with an injured wing. It didn't look serious, from where he sat, but he should check just in-
  
  A new voice joined in then, one of the magical little whispers that signaled the now familiar speech of the clefairy line. It was his partner, the fairy type that had guided him through his different patients. The clefairy gave him a pat on the shoulder before calling for a member of her group to look at the zubat.
  
  "See, even the pokemon themselves agree with me," Lily told him, jumping at the chance to reinforce her argument. It didn't help that the clefairy apparently actually agreed with her, the absolute traitor.
  
  "... Fine," he whispered, deflating against the stone wall. "I... We are running out of supplies," he told the clefairy then, gaining her full attention. "I think we might have enough to get everyone treated, but some pokemon will need their wounds redressed and extra care that we definitely don't have enough for," he told the fairy, who immediately called out to the others.
  
  Soon, a clefable hopped/floated up to them, where Pierce's nurse partner explained things to them. Or so he assumed. Considering that for a moment, he released Cygnus from his pokeball. He sent an apologetic thought to the psychic but he was quickly waved off, if tiredly.
  
  "So, I know you don't want rangers involved, but they are our best bet," Pierce said, not quite able to keep his voice steady. He was just so damn tired . It wasn't that he didn't want to rest, just that he didn't have the time . There were pokemon in pain around, how was he supposed to sleep well when he could be helping them feel better? "So," he continued quickly, before the fairy types could argue against him. "What I was thinking of is this. We can send someone out to the tunnels to inform them and get the supplies and bring them here. No need to bring the rangers here, right?"
  
  "I can do that," Lily said and Pierce wasn't really surprised. She was the best for the job, and she likely knew it. He also was pretty sure that she was a bit too eager to help, considering that there wasn't much she could do other than assist him with some things. That and try to help him rest for a bit and prepare food or drinks. Which was great, but she obviously still felt pretty useless considering all that was going on around them.
  
  "What do you think?" Pierce asked the clefable then, who was looking between them rather intently before they- she focused more on him. "I know it's not ideal but... We need more supplies," he told them. "I could also use a second opinion on some of this. I'm not as knowledgeable as you guys seem to think I am. I'm doing fine, but for all I know, I could have messed up at some point."
  
  That was met with definite denial, which he half expected, really.
  
  "I could be damaging these pokemon," he argued anyway, even though he knew it'd lead nowhere. The clefairy didn't want anyone anywhere near where they were, probably a secret place of theirs or something. Lily and him were barely being tolerated for what they could do and little else, he was sure. Still, he needed someone that had a more solid grasp on the knowledge of treating pokemon.
  
  There was also the fact that he could get in trouble for treating wild pokemon as he had without a license, but he feigned that that wasn't an afterthought at best.
  
  "Look, I... Maybe I can go too, and get a second opinion away from here?" he asked then, making the clefable pause and regard him for a long moment. Eventually, the fairy type looked around at the chamber before turning towards him once more.
  
  Then, the clefable sighed and then nodded.
  
  "Thank you," he breathed out. With that out of the way, the pokemon left to do the rounds around, checking on the injured and her own family members. As for Pierce, he took another sip of his drink, now a little less boiling hot.
  
  "Maybe you can take a break and think what you'll check with the rangers and what supplies you need?" Lily asked and he turned to give her a tired look. She wasn't wrong about that though. It'd be better if he went over the current situation and had a better idea of what to ask the rangers and what to ask for...
  
  "Fine."
  
  He ignored the way the girl beamed at him.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I'm very, very surprised," the ranger that greeted them said after teleporting to a chamber in the mountain quite some distance away from the one where the clefairy seemed to live and the injured pokemon were. "It's been forever since the clefairy family willingly contacted the rangers. Much less the last time they did so with trainers. I was here for the former, after all, one my first years, actually. The latter, I've never personally seen it happen."
  
  Considering the woman in front of him looked as old as one could get, Pierce could say he was equally as surprised as her, really. He almost wanted to ask her if she should be moving about in the field, but she also looked like she'd smack him if he did that. So, he settled on moving on with things, there were pokemon that needed his help, after all.
  
  "I'm Pierce Lawson," he introduced himself, extending a hand to the woman. The ranger, in turn, shook it. He regretted the gesture immediately as pain shot through his fingers. "And this is Lillian Dale."
  
  "Oak's brat and the new find, huh? I'm Ruth Holzman," the ranger introduced herself then, looking at them curiously. As for Pierce, he was actually a little confused.
  
  "New find?" he asked, receiving only a chuckle from the woman. Then, she waved him off before speaking.
  
  "Nevermind that, ramblings of an old woman," she said, even though she didn't even try to make it seem like that was actually the case. "Now, we were told you need medical supplies for pokemon here and to check if you've been treating them as you should?"
  
  "Yes, I definitely don't have enough to treat them all, especially those that need more constant care for the moment," he explained, bringing his new mug of coffee to his lips. Maybe it wasn't very professional of him or something, but coffee was great for keeping him going as he was. "I also don't have an actual First Aid License. I'm studying for one, but I thought I'd check with someone that actually knows what they are doing."
  
  "Good, you aren't an idiot, then. That makes sense, I guess," Ruth said, regarding him with a tilt of her head. "Tony," she called then, snapping her fellow ranger, much younger than her, from his awed state as the man looked at the clefairy to the side. The guy looked to be around Pierce's age, actually... Although he sucked at guessing people's ages, so there was no saying how old he actually was. "Tony will gather supplies for you, if you have a list."
  
  "Lily, if you would."
  
  "Sure thing," the girl nodded, beaming as she walked towards the ranger and they started talking. Pierce, for his part, focused back on his current conversation.
  
  "I'm guessing you are going to give me a second opinion regarding the treatments?" he asked, getting only a grin from the woman. Taking a gulp of his coffee, he set down his backpack and pulled out a notebook where he'd written down everything he'd done so far and what he was planning to do in the future.
  
  "Looking like a veteran ranger already, kid," Ruth told him, looking more amused than anything. Evidently, she didn't give a fuck if he was unprofessional or anything like that. Which was great, really, but also a bit surprising, Pierce would admit.
  
  "Well, if I weren't already planning on not being a ranger, that'd certainly convince me," he commented with a groan as he watched her starting to read his notebook. ' One page and she hasn't told me I screwed up. So far so good,' he thought. Sure, he'd tried to check with his books as much as possible, but there was only so much time he could spend like that, even with Lily doing the checking sometimes.
  
  As he waited for the ranger to tell him something, he looked off to the side.
  
  "Partner, go back to the chamber and rest, will you?" he told the clefairy that had basically stuck with him through the whole thing. She went to protest and he suddenly could relate with Lily a lot better. "You, take her, will you? I'll need you 100% there when I go back and have to get back to work, yeah? Nothing for you to do here though."
  
  To that, the clefairy glared at him. Eventually, she had to concede the point, letting the other fairy type he'd spoken to take her back. He watched her go with a sense of amusement that pierced through his weariness.
  
  "Your pokemon?" Ruth asked.
  
  "Nah, just my personal clefairy assistant through this mess," he answered with a shrug. "She points me where I need to go, helps dealing with the pokemon and sort of liasons with the other clefairy for me."
  
  "Sounds like she's a team prospect."
  
  "Could be," he replied with another shrug, that was about as expressive as he could be, really. Even his face felt too tired to make actual expressions. "I think she likes this place and helping here too much to come with me though," he mumbled, taking another sip from his coffee.
  
  He didn't quite like it, but maybe there was a reason for people being addicted to the stuff besides the taste. He was certainly understanding a little better after the last day he'd had. ' God, I'll need another after this one,' he mused, noticing that his mug was almost empty by that point.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Ok, we have more supplies, we have food and I've checked what to do with the rangers," Pierce said as Cygnus teleported him back to the chamber while the rest of their little group walked their way there. Immediately, a clefairy dashed away as soon as he appeared, but he didn't pay them much attention. "Now, I need to check on Golem again and then I'll go back to treating those that I haven't been able to yet, ok?" he asked, receiving a nod from the gathering of fairy types in front of him, his team, Lily and her team. "Except you, Lily, I need more coffee and then you can help."
  
  That didn't make the girl very happy, but she agreed nonetheless.
  
  She was great like that.
  
  "Hey there, partner," he greeted with a weary smile as his clefairy nurse-partner appeared. Evidently, the fairy type from before had gone looking for her. The small pink creature replied cheerfully. "Ready for more work. I promise it will be done... eventually... hopefully," he mumbled, sighing as he cracked his neck. "Let's get to work."
  
  And so, that's exactly what he did.
  
  Wounds were checked again, re-dressed and sometimes re-treated. Pokemon were cared for, fed and sometimes bathed. He moved around doing most of it, but when a task was simple enough, he tried to delegate it to a clefairy or to Lily. More because they wouldn't let him do simple things like feeding pokemon if they noticed. Apparently, everyone was in agreement that he needed to focus on more skill sensitive tasks.
  
  As for Pierce himself... Well, he wanted to do as much as possible, just that. He didn't want to feel like he was letting someone down or that he was failing a pokemon. Looking at a pokemon in need of help really pulled at his heartstrings, he found.
  
  Eventually, he found himself sitting against a stone wall once more. Everyone had been treated already. Now it was time to just wait for a bit and make sure everyone was fine, re-dress some wounds for a few days and so on. As it was, there was no need for Pierce to rush around anymore.
  
  "How is it going, guys?" he asked before yawning, turning to regard his team with tired eyes. "You were training, right?" he asked Narcissa and Orion, who had indeed been working on stuff while he tended to the pokemon. After all, the two of them weren't really suited for nurse work.
  
  Cygnus, for his part, had been able to help, even if he wasn't awake for very long. He'd used most of that time to continue working on his physical strength as much as his psychic one. Moving things around with his body or with his mind was about as much as he could train anyway - with or without using Teleport added into the mix -, so it worked out.
  
  "I'm tired," Lily sighed, taking a seat next to him. "How have you not, you know, passed out yet?"
  
  "I don't even know," Pierce mumbled. "I took some naps but I really should be sleeping for real soon-ish. I'm just... I'm really tired, but I can't go to sleep, does that make sense?"
  
  "... No."
  
  "Yeah, I thought that too," he muttered, groaning as he went to stand up. "Ok, I think I'll just... Go and try to sleep a bit. Just... call me if something happens, yeah?"
  
  "Sure thing," Lily told him as he started walking towards his things to pull out a sleeping bag so he could just die already. He didn't feel like setting up his tent like Lily had done, after all.
  
  In the end, he just let his head fall on the rolled up sleeping bag and that was it.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  "You are doing great, Golem," Pierce praised, giving the big rock type a pat on the back and receiving a rumbling sound back. "Just a few more days and you'll be going around good as new, I promise," he added, checking some wounds, plasters and bandages. "You just gotta stay put and let us take care of you until you are ready for that, yeah?"
  
  To that, he got a nod. The pokemon wasn't a fan of that, Lily could tell, but he'd do it. Golem seemed to be a pretty old pokemon, after all... Which she thought didn't necessarily mean he wouldn't be a stubborn, difficult patient, but fortunately he wasn't. There were enough pokemon around that refused to heed Pierce's warnings and only delayed their own recoveries already.
  
  Speaking of...
  
  "Zubat," Pierce called flatly, making the poison type freeze where he'd been flying by them. Which made the pokemon fall and land on the ground. "What did I tell you about flying?" he asked, receiving some sheepish sounds from the flying creature. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Don't make me tell your mother," he threatened, making the poison type seemingly become even smaller. "Off you go, and remember not to fly or I will make you regret it."
  
  Personally, Lily thought it was impressive that he seemed to be able to tell which zubat that one was. She wouldn't have been able to do that if her life depended on it. They all looked the same to her, even with the different bandages and plasters and such.
  
  On her arms, Cleffa babbled something adorably, bouncing up and down as she pointed off to the side.
  
  "What's the matter, little one?" she asked, trying to decipher what the young one wanted. That is, before Pierce beat her to the punch, rolling his eyes and pulling out a pokeblock. "Ah, that's the last one for a bit, yeah?" she told Cleffa as the pokemon took the offered treat. "You've been eating a lot and Pierce has already said you shouldn't take so many."
  
  "Well said," the man in question agreed. "You can have more later for dinner, little one," he added, smiling wearily at Cleffa while tickling the fairy type's belly and getting a giggle out of her. "Anyway, I have to go around some more, make sure everyone's sticking to the instructions and nobody is making things worse," Pierce told her, looking very intently at the zubat from before.
  
  Lily nodded then.
  
  "You should take a nap sometime soon," she told him, drawing an absentminded nod from the man. While Pierce had calmed down after having treated every single one of the injured pokemon, he still was pushing himself a lot. There was a lot for him to check on, even after that, after all. He needed to make sure nobody was getting worse, he needed to re-dress wounds from time to time, he needed to prepare meals for some of the stubborn pokemon and children and so on.
  
  Lily and the clefairy family helped as much as possible, but there were things that only Pierce could do, unfortunately. That meant that the man never wanted to take a break, in case he was needed. It was frustrating, but it was also something that made Pierce who he was. He wouldn't be himself if he weren't so... empathetic, Lily supposed.
  
  It was still troublesome.
  
  Cleffa looked up, still munching on the pokeblock Pierce had given her.
  
  "I just worry," Lily mumbled in response to her questioning expression. "He's great, but he's really not taking care of himself," she added, following her friend as he continued checking on pokemon. She'd been so happy when they got to contact the rangers, but the clefairy family really didn't want to get mixed with humans other than Pierce and her, apparently. Even they were there more out of necessity than anything else, she was sure.
  
  That meant that Pierce had to do everything by himself instead of getting the help he needed. The rangers had promised compensation for the help, especially since it seemed that the clefairy had been causing some trouble in the tunnels after the Rocket attack and they had calmed down after Pierce helped with the injured pokemon. Lily almost had wanted to ask what they were going to pay with, because she really hoped it was a lot. Her friend deserved good payment for how much he'd pushed himself the last few days.
  
  Even Narcissa, who was all for trying harder and pushing one's limits, had started getting worried that first day when Pierce refused to just sleep . Things had gotten better, but they were still nowhere near ideal. Fortunately, as the time passed, it meant that they'd be finished soon. With that, it would be time to return to the road and for Pierce to return to normal.
  
  Which was a bit of a bittersweet thought, really.
  
  "I'm gonna miss you," Lily said then, hugging Cleffa a bit more tightly. She'd grown attached to the lil' fairy type through the days. The young ones had, after all, returned to the chamber once it didn't look like a disaster zone anymore. Now, with everyone treated and mostly fine, the young members of the clefairy family could stick around without being potentially traumatized, thankfully.
  
  Cleffa babbled something happily, to which Lily smiled sadly in return.
  
  "It was great meeting you, yeah," she agreed, thinking she had a good idea of what the fairy type had tried to tell her. "We'll be on our way soon, but it was awesome to see you and the rest of your family. Even if it did come with quite a bit of work."
  
  At that, Cleffa seemed to grow confused.
  
  "We can't stay," Lily explained, feeling herself grow even more sad. However, that had always been a fact. As it was, she was positively ecstatic that she'd gotten to meet so many members of the clefairy line, to interact with them and all. The whole experience was like a dream come true. It was just a shame that dreams had to end eventually. "Pierce and I, we have to continue traveling, battling, getting better and all that," she told Cleffa. "We won't forget about you, any of you, though. We'll come to visit, I promise."
  
  A clefairy close by cheered at that, before explaining what Lily had said to the rest that were too far. Everyone seemed happy about that, doing little dances and laughing merrily. Lily didn't think she'd ever get tired of seeing the adorable pokemon just be .
  
  Cleffa, however, didn't seem nearly as happy, pouting at her and clinging to Lily's clothes.
  
  "I know, I don't want to go either," she replied. "But we have to. We have lives to get back to and things to do, goals to reach."
  
  Cleffa mumbled something that she wasn't sure actually meant anything, she did sound upset still, but it was what it was.
  
  "I know, I don't like it either," Lily agreed with a sad smile. "Come on, we have to interrupt Orion or he'll overwork himself. We don't want that, do we?" she commented, drawing a nod from the fairy type, even if she still looked sad. "Let's go. Pierce doesn't need more things to worry about, does he?"
  
  Cleffa agreed with that too, but Lily could already tell she wouldn't be returning to her cheery self for a bit now. With some luck, the big softy that was Orion would help her feel better. Unfortunately, her own team members were rather serious in that regard. Talon was more likely to make her cry than anything else. Gem was too stoic. Root might be able to help, but he was a bit too taciturn, Lily thought.
  
  If Orion couldn't help though, Lily would risk that. Narcissa wouldn't be able to help either, after all. Cygnus was another maybe, she supposed, so he'd be Plan C. If all else failed, Lily would have to bother another member of the clefairy family. Maybe she could go with the younger group? That'd probably do the trick.
  
  She'd move that to Plan B, actually.
  
  ' Still, this has been a wonderful time,' Lily thought to herself. ' Even if the goodbye is going to suck.'
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, it seems we are kind of wrapping up this little arc, huh? Wonder if Pierce will get pulled into another healing arc next or if he'll get to experience some other kind of adventure. His story is turning out to be quite different from what I imagined or predicted, but that just makes it better in my opinion. What about you?
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you think Pierce's next mini or not-so-mini arc will be about?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Mt Moon VIII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  Mt. Moon VIII
  
  Pierce looked, half amused and half pitying, as Orion tried and failed to hit the flying zubat with Rock Throw. As he did, he considered the fact that maybe it was mean of him to just let the thing go on, since there was no way his partner would get a hit in. However, this was a nice lesson, he supposed, to let the onix know that he had things to work on.
  
  Especially after the previous two spars.
  
  When he'd asked some of the pokemon around the chamber that weren't injured if they could help him train his team, Pierce hadn't expected nearly as much enthusiasm as he got, really. However, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he quickly set them up against Narcissa and Orion while Cygnus continued with his physical exercises and teleporting practice. That was also how his onix had found himself facing first a paras, then a sandshrew and now a zubat.
  
  The first two of those hadn't done very well against the much bigger stone serpent. That didn't mean Orion was particularly strong though, he just had a physical advantage against weaker and smaller pokemon. Maybe Pierce's plan to pair the onix with pokemon that were around his own age/level had backfired. That was why he was eyeing a geodude for the next match that seemed to have more experience and some development. If he had to bet, Pierce was pretty sure the pokemon was close to evolution.
  
  Maybe they could give the small guy the push he needed to become a graveler.
  
  As it was, Orion was getting a reality check after two relatively easy matches. Granted, the zubat didn't have anything to really damage Orion with, but he could fly circles around his rock type partner and easily wear him down with attacks. Fortunately for the onix, the flying type not only didn't have effective ways to deal damage, but it also needed to get close for that, which was a bit of a no-no with a gargantuan stone serpent, really.
  
  "I think we can call the match here, neither of you is going anywhere," Pierce called, drawing a protest from Orion while the zubat flew and latched to his arm, chirping something. "Here, have a berry, buddy. Good job," he commented, giving the flying type the aforementioned fruit, which it took before flying away. "You weren't going to get a hit in, Orion, don't give me that face," he told his partner then.
  
  That didn't stop his partner from grumbling, however, as he turned to look at Narcissa fighting what was probably her... sixth opponent? The number was probably somewhere around that, Pierce guessed. She was making quick work of everybody so far, which was no surprise. The actually strong pokemon were either still injured or had left as soon as they were fine. None of them quite stuck around.
  
  As Lily explained it, strong pokemon tended to stay away from each other as much as possible. Usually, if there were two strong pokemon from different groups in close proximity, there was sure to be a battle involved. Pierce guessed that was a nice tidbit to know, even if it meant that Narcissa wouldn't have anyone quite to her level around unless they went around looking, which he didn't want to do.
  
  "Finish that fight and we are done, Narcissa!" he called out, drawing a buzz from his pokemon. With a nod, he simply watched her spar. He could have given her a command here and there, but he preferred to leave her to it. It wasn't like she was struggling, after all, so he wanted her to get some experience fighting on her own, just in case. In the meantime, Orion slithered behind Pierce, leaving his head at just the right height for the trainer to place his hand on top of it. "You are young, buddy. You have plenty of time to get strong. There's no need to rush things."
  
  At that, Orion rumbled something that Pierce was sure was just unintelligible mumbling.
  
  "Look at Cygnus, he can't even properly train moves except for Teleport and you don't see him complaining, right?" Pierce pointed out, drawing the onix's gaze towards his psychic teammate. Granted, the abra was a little frustrated, but he had his little yellow hands full with preparing his body for the training he wanted to undergo.
  
  Orion, on the other hand, was still mostly waiting for his body to be ready for heavy duty training. 'Speaking of...' Pierce mused, turning his head to look at the stone serpent. He was fairly sure the onix was mostly recovered from the damage he'd received during the shitshow that was Mt. Moon's attack. Now, the only set back they had was that he was young, but that wasn't much of one, really. 'Guess I can start pushing him a bit now, else he might just rebel or something,' he thought with a slight grin.
  
  "So, I have an idea, buddy," Pierce started then, drawing the onix's attention back to him. "How about we start working on some new moves?" he asked, immediately making the rock type perk up. "Yeah, I have a few in mind that you shouldn't have too much trouble with. You know Mud Sport, so we can try and use that knowledge to help you get started with Sand Tomb and Narcissa knows Iron Defense, so maybe she can help you learn Iron Tail. You shouldn't have too much trouble with those moves, considering they are learned naturally by Onix. We can look into more difficult things later... What do you think?"
  
  The answer he got was an overly excited rumbling as Orion twitched this and that way, obviously very eager and unable to stay still. It was kind of adorable, really, to see the big, cold stone serpent wiggling like it was the biggest, roughest and happiest worm on the face of Earth. 'Pokemon are entirely too cute, even when they shouldn't be,' Pierce thought to himself.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  "Hm," Pierce commented, visibly thinking things over, considering. His eyes narrowed, as if he were pondering the mysteries of the universe and the deepest pieces of knowledge. His lips were pursed and his body sat stiffly, wondering about the most important of things. "Not bad. I think it could use more salt. What do you think?" he asked her, bringing his fork up to his mouth once more.
  
  "Eh, I think it's fine," Lily answered with a slight smile on her face as she continued eating normally. Pierce had offered to cook that night, and she hadn't been one to question her good luck. How bad could he be, really? She imagined it would take special circumstances for someone to prepare something worse than the regular rations she'd eaten from Pallet to Pewter.
  
  It wasn't like those meals were particularly bad, but they were bland . That, together with the fact that she had eaten them for quite a while, meant that she'd grown tired of them to the extreme. Sure, there were some variations of them, but there was almost no difference between one and the other.
  
  Besides, Pierce didn't look like the kind of guy that could prepare a disaster of a meal. Sure enough, the man had proven that observation right with what he had prepared. Evidently, he wasn't a chef by any means, but he was good enough to make something decent, which was about as much as Lily could say for herself, really. Maybe they could get better at that together, she mused.
  
  "I think your talents lay on pokeblocks though," she added then, grinning as she saw the pokemon around them eating away at Pierce's creations. Then again, pokeblocks weren't particularly hard to make. It was just a matter of trying the right combination of ingredients in the blender.
  
  "I know, right?" the man replied with a wry grin. "I'm actually considering looking into more pokemon food and how to prepare it. I've read a few things about that in my books and some research I made... A good diet can go a long way," he commented then, leaning back as he continued eating. He had decided to add a bit more salt to his meal though.
  
  "If you do, would you teach me?" Lily asked, pulling out her best puppy dog eyes on the man. In turn, he gave her an unimpressed expression and a raised eyebrow. Damnit, it had worked just fine with her father before she left on her journey and even with Red and Blue. Was she losing her touch?
  
  "I mean, sure. What I'm not so sure about is why you felt the need to do... that," Pierce said, his expression turning amused as he waved his hand in front of his face. Then he paused as the cleffa on top of her head giggled, leaning down to point at her face, and making her half-heartedly glare up at it. "You two really hit it off, huh?" he asked.
  
  "How could we not, she's adorable," Lily replied, making the fairy type squeal happily, which only made her smile wider.
  
  "And you are not," Pierce, the absolute meanie, finished for her. "Yeah, that checks out."
  
  "Idiot," Lily muttered. Judging by the amused look the man sent to the top of her head, she imagined the cleffa was doing something incredibly adorable in regards to that comment. Maybe pouting, or glaring, or something like that. Lily wished she could see it. "See if I prepare your food next time."
  
  "Anything but that!" Pierce exclaimed dramatically, placing a hand on his chest as if her comment had mortally wounded him. Lily just rolled her eyes at him. The clefairy that sat next to him shook her head and gave him a slap on the arm. "Fine, ruin my fun, why don't you?"
  
  "You hit it off too," Lily pointed out then, signaling her traveling companion on the fairy type next to him with her fork.
  
  "I mean, we are siblings-in-arms of a sort," Pierce replied with a grin. "She had my back and I had hers while we treated this lot," he added, waving a hand to signal the rest of the chamber, now with less pokemon than before as more and more pokemon recovered after the man's treatment. "It was nice to have some help around and someone to keep an eye on things while I focused on the pokemon."
  
  "I can guess," Lily replied, still looking between them. Maybe he would try and get the fairy type to come with them once things were said and done? She had heard him talking about that with one of the rangers that had provided them with supplies, but she hadn't quite gotten what his answer had been.
  
  "I don't think she's coming with me, if that's what you were wondering," Pierce commented, as if reading her mind. "She likes being here and helping the pokemon in the mountain too much, I think," he explained, looking towards the clefairy who babbled something and nodded, probably confirming his guess. "See?" Pierce said, adding credibility to her assumption.
  
  "I guess," Lily commented, unable to fathom how Pierce didn't even seem interested in asking one of the clefairy if they wanted to tag along. She herself had some plans to do just that once everything was done and they were about to leave. She didn't expect that to amount to anything, but she'd try regardless. No way she'd let that opportunity pass her by, after all. In the meantime-
  
  "You know Cleffa is getting pokeblock crumbs on your hair, right?" Pierce asked, making her eyes widen.
  
  "Cleffa!" she exclaimed, bringing her hands up. Too little too late, however. The fairy type jumped off her head towards Pierce, who caught her, and giggled, pointing at her with her little arm. As for Lily, she could feel the aforementioned food remnants on her hair. "I'll remember this," she told Cleffa.
  
  There'd be hell to pay for that, she swore.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Pierce Lawson]
  
  "You are good to go," he told the golem once it was healthy enough to move around. The rock type wasn't completely healed, but that would come with some time now. For a big, resilient and more importantly strong pokemon like that, it was better to release them sooner rather than later, according to the rangers. They could get antsy, after all, and nobody wanted to deal with an antsy pokemon, much less a powerful one. "Take care of yourself, yeah?" he called behind the golem.
  
  He received a rumble in response while the pokemon moved away through the tunnels.
  
  "Almost done here, huh?" he mused out loud, receiving an agreeing hum from the clefairy next to him. He turned from that exit tunnel back to the chamber, giving a passing glance to all the remaining pokemon, most of which were probably going to go their way too, either that very day or the day after. "A day or two and we'll be on our way, I guess," he said then, not sure how he felt about that.
  
  On one side, he wanted to move on. There were places to visit and the interesting part of being inside a mountain had passed already for him. He wanted to keep moving, keep improving, keep training. Cerulean would be where he used his training vouchers to give his team some moves that would hopefully improve their chances, after all. For that, however, they needed to continue traveling.
  
  On top of that, the dull cave walls were getting old fast .
  
  On the other hand, Pierce had grown fond of the clefairy family. Furthermore, if things were tense, maybe he should stick around in case he was needed. Through the days they had stayed in the chamber, several new patients had arrived, either by their own means or brought by clefairy. He'd talked with the fairy types and the rangers though, and he was told that wouldn't be necessary since things were mostly calming down now.
  
  All in all, they were probably going to be leaving soonish, he supposed. Even if there was no real rush on their journey just yet, they'd been delayed quite a bit in Pewter and when they didn't know if there might be more incidents like that in the near future, it was better to try and not lose too much time. Who knew if they might get stuck somewhere else due to the Rockets? Better to err on the side of caution, he supposed.
  
  "Yeah, I'll miss you too, partner," he commented as the clefairy looked at him sadly. "But hey, I'll make sure to visit whenever I can get some free time to come over here. As it is, I already have to visit Viridian Forest and Pewter nearby."
  
  As he said that, however, Pierce wondered if he'd have to make a full round through the Kanto region after his journey was done. Everywhere he went, he seemed to make promises of visiting. 'Maybe I should stop doing that?' he wondered before scoffing in his mind. 'Yeah, nah.'
  
  Regardless of his inner musings, the fairy type let out a cheer at his words, which honestly made the whole thing worth it. So what if he'd have to basically make a repeat of his journey to visit everyone he came across after all was said and done? That just made things better, really. Sure, it might be a bit of a hassle, but it'd be worth it too.
  
  It wasn't like he had plans for after the Indigo League's year was over. Pierce literally didn't have anything to do besides the circuit at the moment. Once the league was over... Well, he guessed he could try again or something and see if he did better, but that was about it. He didn't have a family to go back to or anything like that. He had some professional prospects in mind but nothing too solid either...
  
  So, yeah, he'd see how things went.
  
  "Let's look around and see that none of the idiots are harming themselves, yeah?" he suggested to his clefairy partner, who nodded and voiced her agreement. With a plan for the immediate future, he pushed aside the sad thoughts in his mind. He needed to stop reminding himself that he had almost nothing but what he carried with him and the friends that accompanied him.
  
  He knew he was building a new life for himself as time passed but... It was too little. How long would it take for it to come even close to all that he had in his old world? How long would it take for him to stop feeling like a castaway, stranded in a foreign world where he had nothing and no one. Maybe it was unfair and insulting towards his companions and the things he'd accomplished since he woke up in the Viridian Forest, but that's how he felt whenever he stopped to think about it.
  
  He had possessions that he never would get back.
  
  He had friends that he never would spend time with again.
  
  He had a family that he never would see again.
  
  All of that had been taken from him in but an unfortunate moment. How long had it taken, a few seconds? A minute at most? A desperate person, some shouted words, a sharp blade and then... Puff, Pierce Lawson was no more.
  
  A hesitant babble pulled him back to the present, turning to regard clefairy. The poor pokemon seemed rather concerned and Pierce realized why a second later. Bringing his hand up, he touched his cheek, his finger getting wet with the tear that had been running down his face. Wiping his face with his hands, took a deep breath in through a knot in his throat.
  
  "Sorry," he breathed out, his voice sounding strange to his ears. "I just... I got lost in thought. I'm fine."
  
  The clefairy babbled something else, not looking very reassured.
  
  "I know, I just... I need to distract myself, yeah? Let's check on everyone," he repeated, starting to move before his partner could question anything. He really needed to stop thinking about those things. It didn't help any to delve into such topics.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  Off to the side, she could see Pierce saying his goodbyes to some of the pokemon that had come to bid them farewell and the clefairy family. Even some of the injured pokemon had been brought to the chamber's entrance too, or had dragged themselves there in some cases. It was always a bit moving to see how much Pierce - and her too, Lily supposed - could affect the pokemon they came across.
  
  As it was, Lily was mostly focused on one pokemon.
  
  "Come on, little one. Don't cry," she told the cleffa that was bawling in front of her. "We'll come to visit, I promise," she told her, as she had a number of times already.
  
  It was about as effective as she expected, which is to say not at all. Instead, the fairy type started crying harder, leaping forward to cling to Lily. That just made her feel worse though. How was she supposed to pull her away and go on with her journey? As if saying goodbye wasn't hard enough as is.
  
  Looking to the side, she noticed Pierce sitting on the ground with a bunch of cleffa climbing on him. The man himself seemed to be focused on Lily and her own fairy type though. It seemed that the cleffa she had spent most of her time there with was the only one that was that affected by their departure. Which was all sorts of unfair. Why wasn't Pierce suffering like her?!
  
  ' Help,' Lily mouthed to her traveling companion. He was the best when it came to dealing with pokemon. He'd surely have a way to calm down Cleffa and make their goodbye easier, she knew. Once he did that, they'd-
  
  "Take your time," Pierce told her simply, grinning at her. The absolute bastard was going to abandon her in her time of need! Lily swore, at that very moment, that he'd pay for that. How dare he?! When she got her hands on him-
  
  Whatever her mind was coming up with was interrupted as Cleffa pulled harder and continued sobbing into her clothes.
  
  "Come on, little one," she whispered, trying not to let too much of her sadness into her voice. It wouldn't do for both of them to start crying. "We won't be going away forever, I promise."
  
  Cleffa was far from reassured by that, however, starting to babble something into her chest that she couldn't hope to understand. With the way the fairy type's voice was mixed with sobs, she wondered if the other pokemon could understand any more than she did. Still, Lily did her best to calm her down, hugging her against her chest as she had through their days there.
  
  "There, there," she mumbled softly to the fairy type. "It's fine, little one. It's fine."
  
  Cleffa didn't calm down, however, instead babbling something. This time it wasn't between sobs, however, coming out much clearer. Then the pokemon pulled away slightly, and "saying" something else to her fellow fairy types. There was a reply, by one of the clefable and then the two started a conversation that only they could understand.
  
  Confused, Lily turned towards Pierce.
  
  "It's going to be fine, Lily," he told her, grinning as if he knew something she didn't. She had half a mind to ask him what that was, if there was actually something of the sort going on. Unfortunately, Cleffa and the clefable were still talking and she didn't want to interrupt that by speaking herself.
  
  Instead, she had to conform herself looking between the two fairy types as they discussed whatever it was that they were talking about. Eventually though, something was said that made the clefable smile a sad smile while the cleffa sniffed. The conversation seemed to reach an end and the young pokemon in her arms let go of her.
  
  That was when, with a sad smile of her own, Lily went to set her down. However, she didn't expect the pokemon to make a sudden, sharp motion midway through that. The girl couldn't help but let go of Cleffa then. Fortunately, nothing happened other than the pokemon falling on her feet.
  
  Then Lily froze. Cleffa hadn't only made her let go, after all. No, the pokemon had also managed to snag something from her bag too. There stood the fairy type with a pokeball in her grasp. For a long moment, Lily didn't move and neither did the pokemon, even their surroundings seemed to have stopped.
  
  "Well, go on, Lily," she heard Pierce urge her from behind her. His voice snapped her out of her frozen state as she knelt down in front of Cleffa.
  
  "I... Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly. The response she got was a firm nod while the fairy type seemed to struggle to keep a serious expression while holding back from crying. It was honestly both adorable and heartbreaking. "If you are sure then..." Lily said, extending a hand and taking the pokeball before expanding it in his hand. Giving a hesitant look at Cleffa, she activated the device before the pokemon was absorbed in a red beam of light.
  
  "Congratulations," Pierce told her, still grinning. "Told you it could happen, didn't I?" he added, reminding her that he was the whole reason she'd even tried to get a clefairy at all. If not for him, she might have just gone through Mt. Moon without even looking further. She'd have missed a lot of things without him, she realized.
  
  "Thank you," she told him, smiling back, holding the pokeball in her hands for a moment before letting Cleffa out. The fairy type wasted no time before jumping on her so she could hold her as she had before. "Welcome to the team, Star."
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  And so, this mini-arc comes to a close and Nurse Lawson is given a break once more. Wonder how long it'll take our boy to start treating pokemon again though. We all know it's a matter of time, don't we?
  
  Yeah, yeah, we do.
  
  Also, Lily gets a cleffa! Many people guessed that though and I hope the ones that wanted Pierce to get one, or a clefairy, aren't too disappointed. It was just not to be, I guess.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Can you cook? I can... sort of. I usually prepare the most basic shit I can manage to get my hands on, more out of laziness than anything else though. I've tried my hand at some other things and so long as I have a recipe I can do a decent job... I think, at least.
  
  See you.
  
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  Mt Moon IX
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Mt. Moon IX
  
  Pierce watched on from the side, an amused smile on his face.
  
  Things with Lily had spiraled a little after she caught the cleffa, Star. One would think that the spiraling was what led to that, but it was the other way around, actually. The catching was what started things.
  
  First, the cleffa's family had approached, which led to Lily starting a conversation about all the care she'd give her new team member, how they'd train and how she was going to do her best with her. Things had gotten out of hand there, with his friend starting what was basically a presentation of how she planned her journey to be with possible things that could happen along the way. The clefairy family members listened attentively, occasionally babbling something or decidedly joining in with conversation of their own... somehow.
  
  Pierce thought it was all pretty funny, really. Mostly, however, it was adorable. It was like Lily had turned into a little child who just couldn't shut up about this cool thing she'd found. So, thinking about how this would make perfect teasing material in the future, he let the girl be.
  
  Then he turned to his side.
  
  "You haven't decided to come with me too, have you?" he asked the clefairy next to him, who huffed something with a grin and babbled at him. "That's what I thought. Well, thanks for helping me with all the work here, yeah? All of you, really," he told her, before looking at the rest of the gathered fairy types.
  
  In response, he got a bunch of enthusiastic babbling that made him smile.
  
  "You are welcome too," he said, knowing that they were thanking him in turn. "We won't be getting too far too soon, so if you need help, you can ask the rangers. If you don't trust them, I'm sure they can get me," he added, getting appreciative nods from the clefable.
  
  That is, before one babbled something, looked between Lily and him and then walked away.
  
  "What's up with that?" he asked curiously, following the last stage evolution of the clefairy line as they walked back into the chamber they were leaving from. "I didn't unknowingly insult you guys or something, right?" he added, turning to his partner in nursing. The question seemed to amuse the pink pokemon, because she let out a giggle before shaking her head. "Well, that's a relief."
  
  Then he turned back to look at Lily, who was still in her own little world, chatting away with Star and her family.
  
  "They are gonna be at it for a while, aren't they?" Pierce asked, getting agreeing sounds from all the pokemon around. Even Root, who was standing next to his trainer, nodded to him, looking both amused and slightly exasperated. "So, should we just..." he started, before trailing off as the clefable from before returned, this time followed by the other clefable too.
  
  The fairy type approached him, babbling something softly at him while extending her arms towards him. In them, the pokemon was carrying a small rock the size of his thumb. A little stunned by the sudden, unexpected gesture, he took the stone and looked at it. His first thought was to wonder if it was an evolutionary stone, but that wasn't the case. He knew those to be bigger and have a very distinctive look.
  
  The rock he'd been given was red, but it was no Fire Stone, that was for sure. It honestly looked like a normal rock to him. With a very solid red tone, for sure, but even that looked like some of the rocks he'd see when he visited the mountains with his family in his own world. There was nothing odd about it other than that it was polished into an oval shape, giving it a slight shine.
  
  "Thank you," he replied, looking at the clefable, who gave him a smile and a nod before moving towards Lily. Distractedly, Pierce rubbed his thumb over the stone in his hand. It was pretty, if nothing else, and it wasn't like he'd done all he'd done for a reward. He was fine. 'Maybe I can make a necklace with this?' he wondered. It must have been important in some way, he knew, even if he couldn't quite piece it together yet. "What is it?" he asked then, receiving a happy babble in response.
  
  Turning with a slight frown towards Cygnus, he didn't receive a much better answer, really. All his psychic communicated was the picture of a rock and gratefulness. Which, didn't really answer any questions, but the poor abra seemed to have as little idea as he did.
  
  Maybe it was like the clefairy family's version of an IOU card? That was an amusing thought, if nothing else.
  
  "Really? I... I can't take this," he heard Lily say, looking at the clefable, unsure. She had a rock in her hand, one roughly the size of an apple. "I didn't do all that much, I can't accept this," she continued, trying to give the item back, which the clefable was having none of. The fairy type simply pushed her hand with the stone back towards him, babbling something.
  
  "What'd you get?" he asked curiously. Because he was pretty sure she wouldn't be acting that way if they were giving her a normal rock in thanks. Or at least, that what he was assuming was going on, at least.
  
  "They are giving me a Moon Stone," Lily told him, eyes wide and seemingly unsure of what to do. Pierce, for his part, blinked at her, tilting his head. A Moon Stone was pretty neat by itself, but especially for her. After all, clefairy needed one to evolve into a clefable, so Star would need one whenever she was ready to reach her final stage... if she wanted to evolve, that is.
  
  "So, take it. It's not like they don't know what they are giving you, right?" he told her with a grin, to which she simply looked numbly at the item in her hand. Meanwhile, Pierce did the same with the rock in his hands. His thumb continued rubbing against the dark red material absently as he wondered what was so special about it. Maybe it'd warrant a search whenever he got time to check on a computer.
  
  "Thank you," Lily said in the end, getting beaming smiles from the fairy types around them. She returned it with a weak one of her own, her fingers gripping tightly at the rock in her hand.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "This is weird," Lily commented, brows furrowed even as she hugged Star against her chest. "Why would they give me an evolution stone but give you... that? Do you think it might be a fossil?"
  
  "Doubtful. Pretty sure they are supposed to be bigger, might be a small one though," Pierce answered, still holding his rock in his hand. If the latter was the case, it'd be a little disappointing, since he knew fossils definitely needed to be bigger than that to be of use in bringing the pokemon of old into the present. Lily, for her part, had long since placed hers carefully wrapped in cloth inside one of her boxes. She didn't need to be so careful, but it had been a great gift.
  
  Truth be told, considering the prices he'd seen for those when he'd been randomly browsing through stuff? He fully understood why she was so awed. It was a little funny to see her so completely shaken too though.
  
  "Maybe it's more... symbolic meaning rather than straight out value?" he asked, unsure. "Like, marking me as a friend to the clefairy of Mt. Moon or something? It'd be much easier if Star could just confirm some of my theories," he commented, giving the fairy type a look. The young one seemed completely unconcerned by their conversation, however. When they'd asked her more directly, she'd seemed about as puzzled as they had, which only made things worse.
  
  ' Is there anything else this could be?' Pierce wondered idly, looking at the stone in his hand. 'Maybe it has something inside?'
  
  That could be the case, but he didn't want to try and break the thing to look inside. That'd be stupid and potentially quite insulting for the clefairy family, especially if he turned out to be wrong . He guessed a way to get around that was to find a way to check the inside of the stone without breaking it. Surely there was some tech for that, maybe in Pewter? He'd have to look that up later too, he guessed.
  
  "Yeah, I guess it could be that," Lily mused. "Are you mad?" she asked then, making him blink. At his confused expression, she sighed. "I got a Moon Stone and we both know that's not a small thing. And you... Well, you don't even know what you got and you were the one that did the most work."
  
  "I mean, it's fine either way, but I also don't think the clefairy would paid you more and me less. At most, I imagine they'd pay us both equally," he commented with a shrug. "So, any ideas of what's for dinner?"
  
  "You are just... gonna leave it at that?" Lily asked, seemingly baffled.
  
  "Yeah? We don't know what it is, so just keeping talking about it isn't very productive, is it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "The journey goes on, there's training to do, ground to cover and battles to win, right?"
  
  "I guess. It's just..."
  
  "You are a curious little thing and can't stand not knowing?" he asked, grinning widely.
  
  "... Yes," she admitted, deflating a little and pouting.
  
  "Is this an Oak sponsor thing or a you thing?" he asked, placing his hand on the tunnel wall as he continued walking with a smile on his face. "Also, you didn't answer the question."
  
  "Both? And I think I know what I'll make," she answered, looking very clearly interested in continuing pondering the mystery of the Rock Gift. "You are not gonna let me continue talking about that, will you?"
  
  "Nope. We can figure it out later, or maybe we'll just have to wait and see. I have some ideas, but it's not like we can find out in here. We can check stuff once we make it to Cerulean, don't you think?" he pointed out calmly.
  
  "I can't believe you are not curious," Lily told him, looking at him like he'd grown a second head.
  
  "I am curious. I just acknowledge that I can't know right now, so it's better to leave it as is," he replied with a grin. "Besides, they didn't seem to want to tell me, so that must have been for a reason, right? I didn't really expect them to repay me, so I'm not too bothered if it's just a rock. I'll take it even then."
  
  "Lucky you then," a new voice said, making both of them jump a little and turn forwards in the tunnel.
  
  "Ruth?"
  
  "Kid, I'm guessing everything went fine, considering we just heard you saying something about a payment?" the old ranger asked them, looking between Lily and him.
  
  "Yes, the pokemon are fine, most of them had already left or were about to," Pierce confirmed with a smile. "I didn't know you'd be waiting for us though," he added, looking at her and the much younger ranger with her. He didn't remember his name, but he was pretty sure he was the one that had been with Ruth the last time.
  
  "Well, we can't leave a good deed go unpunished, can we?" Ruth told them.
  
  "Unpunished?" Pierce asked, blinking. Lily, next to him, looked about as confused as he did. And a bit worried too, admittedly.
  
  "Don't worry about it. You want to talk while walking, kid?" the woman asked with a raspy chuckle, grabbing his shoulder and urging him to do just that.
  
  "Uh, sure?" he mumbled. He wasn't sure he had much of a choice, but whatever.
  
  "Don't worry about it. I just went through your file again while we were working on adding this latest instance," she told him. At least she seemed to be in a good mood, but that just confused him more. 'As if the Mystery Rock wasn't enough,' he mused. "Impressive list of notes, for someone that just got started on their journey."
  
  "I just have good luck, I guess," he commented with a shrug, getting an even louder laugh from the ranger.
  
  "Yeah, no, it's definitely not that. I've met lucky trainers, but you aren't one of those, Lawson," Ruth denied instantly. "No, you are a special kind of trainer and we are definitely noticing. The kind of trainer the League likes to support."
  
  " You are the kind of trainer we want to succeed, to reach far in their journey," he remembered Scott telling him back in Pewter. It seemed that had been the truth.
  
  "And what does that mean for me?" Pierce said, trading a look with Lily, who didn't look like she knew more than he did. That was reassuring, at least.
  
  "For now, that when you do something good, you'll be rewarded extra, since you are on a bit of a streak, as it were," Ruth told him, grinning widely. "The League can open doors for you, offer opportunities that could be harder to come by if not impossible. You are not quite there yet, especially for the latter, but I want to motivate you."
  
  "I don't need motivation to help pokemon," he told her with a shrug. Not that he'd complain about extra rewards and such. He wasn't that stupid.
  
  "And that's great to hear, I gotta say. You wouldn't believe how many times people expect to be paid more than they are worth. Try not to be too humble though, yeah? That can be annoying too," Ruth told him, to which he blinked again. The woman was striking him as kind of... intense, or maybe blunt? "Regardless, I have something to do real quick before we keep talking."
  
  "And that is?"
  
  "We have to confirm that you did a good job treating those pokemon. We can do what we did before, with you telling me all that you remember, or we can have a psychic look through those memories," Ruth offered him, not looking like she particularly minded which choice he took. "Personally I'd take the former, but I'm not gonna lie, if you did a good job, you should go with the psychic. They can get the details across much better than our sad human memories and descriptions can."
  
  "... Can I have my abra out for that? I don't mind the psychic if that's the case," he mused. He didn't have much to hide, and if the thing about being a dimension hopper or whatever hadn't gotten out yet then he wasn't too scared about that anymore.
  
  "People are usually more wary of letting someone into their minds," Ruth pointed out. Pierce was actually surprised she seemed to be trying to talk him against the psychic approach. It seemed like the kind of thing she'd have to try and convince him to do instead.
  
  "I don't think I have anything to hide," he told her honestly with a shrug.
  
  "And if you do, we won't get that. The psychic is only going to look for what we need and nothing else. That's the deal most of the time. Even if we wanted them to, they wouldn't do it. Privacy is a big thing for them. Funny, considering they are always in each other's minds. Maybe because of that."
  
  "Psychic etiquette? That sounds neat," Pierce commented, drawing a chuckle from the woman.
  
  "Indeed," she agreed before pulling out a pokeball and letting out a claydol. Following suit, he let Cygnus out too. The psychic wasted no time before teleporting on top of his shoulders "Doll, if you would?"
  
  What came afterwards was a little strange. He felt the brush of the pokemon's mind, more subtle than his abra's, more silent, more... inconspicuous. His thoughts went undisturbed during the process, but he still got flashes of the memories the claydol was rummaging through, the many pokemon he had treated, what he'd done, how he'd done it and all.
  
  "Pretty good," Ruth commented, her eyes half on the path ahead of them and half looking at something only she could see. His memories, Pierce supposed. "Good thing you went this route, kid, you did a solid job. Not sure just words would have done that justice. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you already have the First Aid License."
  
  That comment actually made him rather happy. He was a bit nervous about his studies, since there was so much to remember. However, this was proof that he was doing pretty well, and that was with a short time of starting to study. Maybe he could go for it in a few months, if he managed to keep the pace he had.
  
  "Well, I have to keep looking, but things are looking good. The monetary reward will be waiting for you whenever you manage to check on your account," Ruth told him, still going over what he'd done in the caves while treating pokemon. He was actually a little impressed that she could walk, talk and do that all at the same time. "Reward number two," she said then, extending a hand towards him and he took what she passed towards him before he could even process the motion. It was a Preserving Box "That's filled with food and berries and we've already more than replenished what you had to use treating the pokemon."
  
  "Yeah, I think I might have come off with double what I went in with," he joked, but it was not that far from the truth. The League spared no expenses on that sort of thing, from what he was seeing through his journey. It was... honestly really nice, that they cared so much for pokemon. Then again, maybe there was a selfish reason, like wanting to keep the pokemon happy so they would be less likely to cause disasters.
  
  "I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Ruth said, smirking at him before looking ahead once more. "Reward number three, the double edged sword," she added then, rather ominously. Pierce frowned then, wondering what he could possibly be getting to warrant that kind of warning. How was he even going to manage to get into trouble by helping pokemon with the support of the League?
  
  He blinked then, as Ruth passed him something else.
  
  "A Pokegear?" he asked, looking at the thing. "How's this a double edged sword?"
  
  "Because now you are officially in the League's sight, Lawson," the old ranger told him, which sounded just as concerning as before, even if he wasn't understanding why. "Granted, you are low on all the lists, but now, if the League needs back up for something you are particularly suited to, they might give you a call."
  
  "I see," he mumbled, looking at the pseudo-cellphone. He realized then, that maybe it was something to be worried about, as Ruth made it seem. He specifically didn't want to be a ranger so he wouldn't be thrown in situations like Mt. Moon's attack. This sounded remarkably like that.
  
  "Don't worry too much just yet, ok? As I said, you are low on the lists. Lots of people will get a call before they reach your name," Ruth reassured, giving him a pat on the back. "As it is, this is just a free pokegear for you, for the moment."
  
  "Well, there's that," Pierce commented wryly. Maybe it was arrogant or something like that, but with the way his journey was going?... He didn't know if he'd be low on those lists for very long.
  
  Judging by the smirk on Ruth's face, she knew exactly what he was thinking.
  
  "Being good at things can be a bad thing, Lawson," the woman told him, apparently amused by his worries. "It's not all bad, however. You'll get money and resources thrown at you. A happy trainer is a happy agent, as far as the League is concerned, so they'll want to keep you happy if you are valuable enough."
  
  "I get the feeling that you aren't as reassuring as you think you are," Pierce commented blandly, drawing a loud laugh from Ruth. "But thanks anyway. Better than doing it for free, right?"
  
  "That's the spirit," she told him. "Well, that's that. You did a solid job, Lawson, be proud. Many pokemon will have a much easier time now thanks to you and Mt. Moon will get that much more calm after the shitshow that the Rockets caused," she added then, her eyes gaining new focus now that she apparently was done rummaging through his memories. Claydol was recalled a second later.
  
  ' All good then?' he asked Cygnus. The abra gave him an affirmative answer through the bundle of unease that he was while in the caves. 'Thanks, buddy. I know you don't like being here,' he added, giving his team member a pat on the leg. To that, the psychic just waved him off before asking to be put back in the pokeball. 'Remind me to do something nice for you,' he told his friend before using the pokeball on him.
  
  "Scott wasn't just throwing praise around, it seems," Ruth said then, bringing Pierce's attention back to her.
  
  "You know him?"
  
  "I should, seeing as he's my grandson," she pointed out, grin still in place as he blinked.
  
  "Small world," Pierce replied then, somewhat surprised and amused.
  
  "More like I wanted to check on the trainer he wouldn't shut up about after the onix thing," Ruth admitted shamelessly. "Your situation here was brought up and I took it to see what the fuss was about. I can honestly say that I get it now. No wonder he was already pushing for you to be put on the lists before. This one didn't work out so well for you, did it? Didn't even manage to get a single catch from this?"
  
  "Not like that was the aim," he replied wryly. "Besides, I'm still getting used to my new team members. I think catching more pokemon can wait for a bit," he added.
  
  "That's a good mindset, but you have to stay alert. Unexpected things happen all the time in this world, kid, and that goes for catches too. You might have a plan, but those are often thrown out the window rather easily," Ruth told him, looking to the side as if remembering an old experience. He'd gotten to see similar expressions on Arnold back at Pewter.
  
  "Good thing I don't have a plan, right?" he commented with a grin as the woman snorted. "I just go with the flow, what happens happens."
  
  "Good for you then, even if that's a flimsy way to go through life."
  
  "Make up your mind, will you?"
  
  "Point," she conceded. "Just saying that even if you don't have a detailed plan, having no idea what you are doing isn't much better. Stumbling through life isn't good, kid. At some point, you have to start making actual decisions."
  
  "I know that," he replied, looking ahead at the tunnel instead of at the woman at his side. Idly, he noticed that neither Lily nor the other ranger had said much, and if they had, he hadn't heard them. They were actually walking behind Ruth and him, instead of at their side. "I'm just trying to find the path I want to go through."
  
  "A little old for that, aren't you?" Ruth mercilessly pointed out, making him grimace. "But I get it. Sometimes it takes time. What you think you want doesn't look so good anymore, you change your mind, you change... I would know, I was a few years older than you before I switched from wanting to be a nurse to becoming a ranger," she told him.
  
  "Well, good to know that I still have time."
  
  "You have all the time in the world, kid," Ruth told him with a softer smile that was quite contrasting after so many smirks and grins. It wasn't difficult to believe she was someone's grandma at that very moment. "The important thing is to never stop looking for a path and when you find one, don't hesitate."
  
  "Thanks for the life lesson, Ruth."
  
  "We did get a little sidetracked, didn't we?" she asked, chuckling and shaking her head. "I think we can leave you two lovebirds to your journey. Tony, we are going. Doll?"
  
  "We are not-" Lily protested then, before the two rangers and the claydol disappeared in a flash of light. "-together."
  
  To that, Pierce just chuckled.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Not much to talk about, although I'm a little unsure about the whole Pierce-Ruth interaction. I have a feeling I could have handled some parts better, but... No idea where or how, honestly.
  
  Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  Announcement: I've started posting some stories that I've written in collaboration with a Discord mod over there in the server. For now, it's sort of a server exclusive thing, but if we see that people like it, maybe we'll start sharing them in FFN for everyone to see. So, if you are curious, go take a look and tell us what you think.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Any idea what the rock Pierce was given is?
  
  See you.
  
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  Mt Moon X
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Mt. Moon X
  
  "What do you think?" Lily asked him, watching expectantly, hopefully and maybe a little nervously.
  
  "It's perfect," he replied, looking at the item his traveling companion had crafted for him. It was a simple thing, but that didn't make it any less important all the same. Lily had, when they finally reached a stop after leaving the clefairy family's chamber and they were done with the rangers, decided to take the rock he'd been given as a reward and make a pendant with it.
  
  The girl had taken some string she had and made a small braid with it before tying the end result around the rock. The threads held the red stone in place, wrapping around it while forming a cross over it. Pierce was pretty happy with how it looked, even if Lily had kept telling him that it wasn't much and that he could change it later.
  
  "Yeah, this works," he continued then, smiling as she held the necklace up by the strings, leaving the stone to hang in front of his face. "Can you tie it for me?"
  
  "Sure," Lily agreed easily. So, there he stood a moment later, with a new pendant hanging over his chest. He'd never been one for jewelry or accessories like that before, he'd admit, but it was quite a different thing when it held meaning . Just like how he'd worn a waterproof watch his godfather had gifted him basically non-stop until the thing basically fell apart around his wrist.
  
  He was a sentimental guy like that, Pierce guessed.
  
  "Thanks, Lily," he told her then, still looking at the pendant.
  
  "Don't mention it," she told him, grinning widely. "If not for you, I don't think I'd have gotten Star here," she added, hugging the cleffa tighter against her chest. "And neither would I have gotten the Moon Stone. I'm sure of that, so, I should be the one to thank you, really. A little string isn't really enough to cover that, I'm sure."
  
  "Well, we are both thankful. We can leave it at that," Pierce told her with a chuckle.
  
  "That works, yeah," she replied. "So, should we continue? I think we can travel a bit more."
  
  "Sure thing," he agreed, pulling himself to a standing position. There, he gave Lily an unimpressed look when he realized that she'd waited for him to stand up before asking to be pulled up. "You picked a lazy trainer, Star. I hope you know that."
  
  "Hey, no bad mouthing me in front of the new-" Lily started protested, only to be interrupted by a cheerful babble from the fairy type. "Why are you agreeing with him?!"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Doing good, buddy," Pierce told Cygnus, watching as the psychic went through some of the motions he'd taught him. He'd pulled from research notes and some old memories of classes of kickboxing he'd taken. It wasn't much, but at least he was able to get his abra partner started on some exercises. "I'll be sure to get you a proper teacher once we reach civilization again, ok? Or maybe get help from a fighting type if we come across any."
  
  To that, he received an agreeing thought from the psychic as Cygnus continued what he was doing. Noting things down, Pierce stood up. His body was still weary and stiff from his own work out, but he pushed through to check on his other two pokemon. Orion was mostly just trying to figure out Sand Tomb through his not that good understanding of ground type energy. He was getting there, Pierce was sure.
  
  As for his very first partner, Narcissa was still working on Tailwind and Agility. The former was more or less usable in actual battle at the moment. A little hit and miss, but reliable enough. Agility was still some time away, but it was progressing faster than Tailwind had, at least. It was no surprise, however, considering that one was a natural move and the other wasn't. Then there was their original move of sorts, which they'd tested a few times when they could get away from Lily and her team.
  
  The most they had managed on that front was to confirm that the move could, indeed, work. It still needed a lot of work to really get it down, but that was something for later. Just knowing it could be done was fine for the moment. Pierce had decided, after all, to shift their focus for something more immediately needed... And that was something they could use against the Water Gym in Cerulean.
  
  That had led to an arrangement with Lily in which Root would help the beedrill learn Giga Drain. On that note, Pierce wasn't very sure why Narcissa apparently could learn that move but not the weaker, and probably easier, Absorb or Mega Drain. Didn't make much sense to him, but then again, why was he even trying to look for logic when dealing with magical monsters?
  
  "I know one thing has little to do with the other, buddy," Pierce told Orion once he approached the frustrated onix to try and help with his training. "Let's think things over before trying them out, yeah?" he suggested, drawing a huff from the stone serpent. That was good enough for him. "So, Mud Sport covers you or someone close by in ground energy, right? To reduce the damage of electric attacks."
  
  The onix grumbled something affirmative to that.
  
  "Sand Tomb doesn't quite work like that... at all," Pierce said with a wry grin. "With it, you have to use the ground energy to turn the... Well, the ground into sand, to drag the target down into it and trap them. You get me so far, buddy?"
  
  With a frown, Orion nodded.
  
  "So, let's take it step by step, yeah? Try and take the ground energy to make the sand first, ok? We can work on the dragging and trapping later. How does that sound?" he suggested. He wasn't sure if the method would be very effective. Maybe the move required everything to be done at the same time, but seeing as his partner didn't seem to be getting anywhere... He thought they might as well try a new approach. If it didn't work, then they didn't lose much. It wasn't like he'd use Orion against the water type gym, after all.
  
  Getting an agreeing sound from the onix, Pierce dragged himself towards where Narcissa was working by herself. Root and her had already gotten through their session of Giga Drain training and she was now working on some of her other moves. As it was, Pierce just walked around the beedrill's training space, watching her attempt to use Tailwind and then Agility, rinse and repeat.
  
  "Girl, try to switch quickly, move around and all," Pierce told Narcissa, making her pause. "Like if it were a battle, move around, use Tailwind or Agility and then use another move or literally move again, stuff like that. You get what I mean? Don't stay still, don't take your time."
  
  He got a buzz at that before the beedrill started dashing around. She did take his suggestion to heart too, using the moves she was training occasionally and throwing in more moving around and other moves into the mix. There wasn't much else for her to do now that she had sort of a grasp on her moves, except for Agility. Maybe he'd have Cygnus have another session to help with the psychic move later.
  
  As it was, his round of checking on their training was over. Pierce kept an eye on them still, of course, but with that out of the way he went back to where they'd more or less set camp. At the moment it was just the place where they'd set down their bags though. 'I should put up my tent. Just pushing it for later won't do much...' he mused as he got closer. Off to the side, he saw Lily working on her own partners... Except Star. Baby pokemon were, after all, a little more fragile than the regular first stage pokemon.
  
  Not really enough to prevent them from fighting, but it was better to take things easy with them.
  
  He focused back on what to do himself, mainly setting up his own tent and studying more from his books. He wanted to make quick progress through them, after all. 'Never have I been this motivated to study,' he thought, somewhat amused by that. Then again, it was much more engaging to read on something that he knew he was very likely to use in the near future. Especially so when it was something so important it could save lives.
  
  ' Then again, surely there's not so many situations to treat pokemon out there, right? I didn't come across any injured pokemon in the Viridian Forest,' he thought. Maybe he'd just hit a bit of a rough part in their journey, considering the Rocket attack at Mt. Moon.
  
  Yeah, it'd probably calm down.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You are free to go, buddy," Pierce commented, letting the zubat on his lap fly after spraying some potion on him. The little guy hadn't been all that injured, apparently just having gotten off a battle or something. Cygnus had been the one to pick up on him while they stopped to train a bit. When the pokemon was gone, he gave Cygnus an unimpressed look. "You know I can get in trouble for treating pokemon that aren't mine before getting that license, right?"
  
  "I mean, it was just a bit of spraying potion," Lily commented, until he turned his stare towards her. "Ah, nevermind."
  
  "I want to help pokemon, but I'm sure you can get in contact with the rangers, right, Cygnus?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the abra. "The only reason I was the one that mainly took care of Orion and the clefairy group's thing is because they didn't want other humans involved so-" He was interrupted as the picture of him tending to the spearow before Mt. Moon flashed through his head. "And I might get carried away sometimes, but we shouldn't make a habit out of it."
  
  "Do you really think you can just ignore a pokemon in need?" Lily asked him, drawing an exasperated look from him. "What? You know I'm not wrong."
  
  Pierce sighed.
  
  "I just got to thinking lately and I don't want to get in trouble. Things have been going well for me, but I could mess up and do more damage than good," he explained, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm not an expert. I haven't even been studying this stuff for that long."
  
  "You are fine, Pierce," Lily told him with a soft smile on her face. "You care about this pokemon. You always check your books again if you have doubts. You aren't here just throwing some medicine around at random and calling it a day. You have nothing to worry about."
  
  "People can still make mistakes, even giving it their all," he pointed out with another sigh as he leaned back against Orion, who rumbled something softly from behind him. "But thanks, that's still reassuring," he added with a nervous smile.
  
  "It's what we are here for. That and trying to keep you out of trouble," Lily replied, beaming at him despite her words. He didn't appreciate all the pokemon around agreeing with her though.
  
  "See if I prepare your meals tonight, guys," he told them, raising an eyebrow. "That's what I thought," he added as they all froze.
  
  "I'll remind you that I prepare your meals," Lily commented, to which he just turned towards her, eyebrow still up. "How can you even stand the regular rations? You are really weird, Pierce."
  
  "Thank you. I think you are weird too, Lily," he replied, drawing a groan from the girl. "Compliments aside, I guess we can keep going?"
  
  "I guess so."
  
  With their main goal of meeting - and catching one of, in Lily's case - the fairy types of Mt. Moon accomplished, they'd more or less settled in a much more straight line towards the other side of the mountain. Not to say they were rushing, but there were less plans about wandering around. They could have done that to repair the tunnels of the mountain but... Well, Mt. Moon was big . There was no way they could do the whole place by themselves. They'd have to settle for just getting as much as they could while making their way through.
  
  It wasn't like they had all the time in the world, after all, nor all the resources in the world.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Thanks for the fight, little guy," Pierce told the sandshrew that had accepted to battle with Narcissa. He handed a berry to the ground type too, before watching it run away. It had been more of a spar though, since they'd been careful not to do too much damage.
  
  It had taken some bribing and some reassurances, but when Lily had to stop for a battle, Pierce had managed to convince a few wild pokemon to spar with his team. It wasn't a great use of his or their times, but it beat just waiting on the sides. There was only so much spectating that he could do too, and he wanted to give his team as many opportunities for real battles as he could.
  
  He also quite liked the fact that he only had to give a berry or two and some kibble. It was much cheaper than actual fights, even if those weren't quite as good to give his partners experience. It'd work for the moment, especially to keep Narcissa from getting antsy for a fight until Pierce managed to get an actual fight against a trainer pokemon.
  
  Looking to the side, he watched Orion overpower a young geodude. 'I think I know why Lily doesn't want Gem to spar with him,' Pierce thought to himself. As it was, the onix mostly practiced against Narcissa and Talon, both of which were basically out of his reach with their speed and ability to... Well, fly. It was good practice, but it frustrated the stone serpent to no end.
  
  ' I should look for something that he can't just overpower with size. They'll probably kick Orion's ass, but that'll still be a learning experience,' Pierce thought. As it was, he didn't know if Orion had ever fought someone stronger than him. With his mother as she was, Pierce somehow doubted she'd allowed him to battle much at all. There was the mess with the attack at Mt. Moon, but Pierce didn't count that. It was a disaster, not a battle. It was different.
  
  He was broken from his thoughts as he turned to the side.
  
  "How did it go?" he asked Lily as she approached him, cleffa held in her arms against her chest. The girl seemed to barely let the fairy type off her hands, really. It was a little adorable, but he would admit to being a bit concerned. Not because holding the fairy type up was bad or anything - even though it probably was, if taken too far - but also because he knew that the clefairy line was rare, and that meant that maybe showing her off might paint a target on Lily's back.
  
  "It went well," the girl replied, unaware of his worries. For the moment, at least. "Talon had a bit of trouble with their mankey, but otherwise it was fine. Root made quick work of their rattata and Gem had a pretty even one on one with another geodude."
  
  "Congrats," he told her with a grin. "We won too. Although, to be honest. I think I might need to find some pokemon that Orion can't just... overpower with his size and such," he explained, looking to the side as the stone serpent finished letting his poor opponent off. "I just... Also don't want to put him in a fight that will crush him. He's not that strong, he's just... big."
  
  "Yeah, I get that," Lily replied, nodding. "Hm, I'm not sure how close Root and Gem are to evolving, so... Yeah, I don't know if I can help," she added then, giving him an apologetic look.
  
  "Don't worry about it," he told her, waving her off. "It's not that much of a problem for now. I just don't want him to grow a big head... Bigger head."
  
  "That was terrible," his traveling companion said, a wry smile on her face. "But yeah, it'll be a bit of a balancing act, or so it sounds."
  
  "Like everything is as a trainer, right?"
  
  "Mhm," Lily agreed. "It's not that bad though. You are worrying too much... For now."
  
  "I know that. I just don't want to leave it until it's too late," Pierce replied before turning to address his pokemon partners. "Everyone ready? We have ground to cover today and maybe we'll get out of the mountain soon... Yeah, I know," he commented with a chuckle at Narcissa's excited buzzing. "We'll be out in the open in no time, I promise. You and Cygnus have suffered enough, I think," he told her as the bug type wrapped her stingers around his neck for a moment before being sucked into her pokeball. "What about you, big guy? Are you coming with us or do you want to rest?"
  
  Orion, who had approached them with Pierce's call, replied with a very positive rumbling that had Pierce shaking his head.
  
  "Yeah, I think someone might be too excited to just sit in the pokeball, right?" Lily said, placing one of her hands on the onix's side. The stone serpent's response was a pleased groan as he pushed himself to the side, almost throwing the girl to the ground. "Careful there!"
  
  "Let's go, before Orion squashes poor Lily, yeah?" Pierce called before starting to walk down one of the tunnels. He also didn't say that he really would like to get out of the mountain too. Something that Lily fully agreed with, he knew. Behind him, he heard Lily giggling and the onix grumbling something that he was sure wasn't to be said by a child. "Language, or I'll tell your mother when we come back to visit."
  
  After that, Orion remained perfectly silent.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I'm so glad we are almost out of here," Lily said, as if thanking the heavens for their blessing. To be fair, Pierce was feeling much the same. As the days passed, being inside the mountain, continuously surrounded by rock... Yeah, it wasn't nice. Being out in the wild wasn't great, but after so long without even seeing the sun or feeling the wind or seeing much of anything with real color, they were both more than ready to get the fuck out of Mt. Moon.
  
  Fortunately for them, they'd come across a trainer not so long ago that told them they should be out the day after, if not that very day.
  
  "You can say that again," Pierce agreed, nodding to a couple of trainers that walked past them. They looked like they wanted to ask for a fight but Lily and him just continued power walking forward. Neither felt like delaying their exit more than necessary after they were given the good news. "I don't know how well I'd have dealt with it if we had to stay much longer."
  
  "Don't I know it," Lily breathed out. "No offense, Star, but I don't think I like being inside a mountain for that long," she added, receiving a sympathetic pat on her arm from the fairy type, together with a reassuring babble. Sweet thing that she was, Pierce didn't think the cleffa had it in her to be offended by much.
  
  "I don't think I'll be able to get either Narcissa or Cygnus in their pokeballs after this," he commented, almost daydreaming about reaching the outside world and touching grass again. It was funny, they'd been mostly fine, but when they were faced with the prospect of getting out? What little grasp they had on their sanity definitely slipped. "I already feel guilty for having them put up with things for this long."
  
  "I'll make sure to make it up to them," Lily promised. "It's my fault that we had to take the long way through."
  
  "I'll remind you of that."
  
  "Pierce!" she protested then, giving him a pout. "You are supposed to tell me it's fine, that that's what friends are for."
  
  "I mean, it is, but I won't say no to free stuff and neither will my pokemon."
  
  "Oh, I see. That's how it is, isn't it?"
  
  "Mhm."
  
  "Asshole," she grumbled, before giggling. "There's a little detour we can make between Mt. Moon and Cerulean, you know?" she commented out of nowhere, making him blink. "It's a forested area. I'm sure Narcissa will enjoy that. Not sure about Cygnus though."
  
  "A forest sounds lovely right now," Pierce agreed easily. "Seeing some actual nature instead of dull rock will be great," he added. It probably helped that he had some pretty good memories of forests, what with the Viridian Forest and how friendly it had been to go through there and meet all the different bug types.
  
  "Then there's some shore a bit before reaching Cerulean. It kind of reaches around the city a bit from the North," Lily continued explaining, clearly getting a bit excited by the prospect. Pierce had to admit it sounded pretty nice, even without the added effect of having been stuck inside a mountain for an extended period of time. "So, you can get to meet some water types, I'm sure. I gotta see if you can work your magic on them."
  
  "Magic, really?" he commented, giving her an amused smile. "It's just a bit of understanding."
  
  "A bit of understanding, he says," the girl grumbled then. "A bit of understanding my ass."
  
  "Woah, does your mother know that you speak like that?"
  
  "Please, Pierce. Where do you think I learned that from?"
  
  "So, she won't mind when I tell her?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. His grin widened when he saw Lily stumbled a little on her step. "I'm sure Mrs. Dale and I can have a lovely conversation about the vocabulary used by her daughter."
  
  "I'm sure you would," Lily replied, clearly trying to play things off as if she didn't care. She failed, however, Pierce knew her pretty well after so long traveling together and spending a good deal of his time with her. "You sure you want to talk to my parents though? That might be awkward."
  
  "I'm not your boyfriend, Lily. I'm your friend," he reminded her, thoroughly entertained. "I have to talk to your parents eventually, after all. Where would I get your childhood embarrassing stories otherwise?"
  
  "Pierce, you suck, have I told you that?" she grumbled under her breath.
  
  "Once or twice," he answered truthfully. "You, uh, you want to give them a call when we get out?" he asked then, pulling the pokegear he'd gotten out of his pocket. "I know you can't call them unless we are in a city otherwise."
  
  The pokedex was great for a lot of things, from getting information on pokemon to maps to even taking pictures. The last one was supposed to be to try and gather new information and data on pokemon but Lily had mostly used it to document their supposedly less than normal encounters. Pierce was pretty sure half the thing's memory was now filled with pictures of the clefairy family.
  
  Which he guessed would be nice for Professor Oak to get anyway, really, consideirng how rare the fairies were.
  
  Mental rambling aside, his comment was enough to make Lily stop walking for a moment as she stared at the device and at Pierce himself.
  
  "I... Yeah," she agreed, her voice soft and almost a whisper. "Yeah, I'd like that," she affirmed with a slight smile.
  
  "Then you just have to ask. We are friends, after all. Partners, if you will," Pierce told her with a wider grin of his own.
  
  "Don't say it like that to my parents or they'll misunderstand," Lily told him with a giggle. "But I appreciate it, Pierce. Anyone you want to call when we get out of here?"
  
  "Not really," he said, doing his best to be nonchalant about that. With some luck, Lily would just believe that he wasn't in a hurry and not that he literally didn't have anyone to call. "Only thing I want is some fresh air, the sun and some actual color around," he added, changing the topic back to a safer one.
  
  "Or the moon and the stars, I'd take those too," his traveling companion added for her part and he almost sighed in relief. As he turned forwards though, he missed the side-glance Lily sent his way.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  A mostly light chapter but I'm pretty happy with it, so I'll take it. We've got some training, some interactions and we are finally leaving the mountain for new places. Wonder what our duo will encounter next.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you think another character could join our lil' group? Who could it be? Or alternatively, what type of character do you think they would be?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Route 4 I
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 I
  
  "Were you there for long?" the ranger outside asked. The man looked somewhere between amused and be mused, which Pierce guessed he could understand. Lily was being very overly dramatic about finally getting out of Mt. Moon, dancing around with Talon and Narcissa flying circles around her. Star, for her part, did her absolute best to follow along, bouncing around with her short legs and trying very adorably to keep up.
  
  "More than a week," Pierce answered with a half-smile as he too, looked at the display. Sure, he himself had been eager to get out, but he didn't think it was that bad. Lily was even going as far as vocally celebrating their exit with exclamations and such. He was just grateful that they had exited during the night, which meant that there weren't other trainers coming in, just them and the ranger. "My friend can be a little dramatic."
  
  "The tunnels can take their toll out of someone," the ranger told him kindly, going back to checking on their IDs. The man seemed to pause for a moment as he read them over, but Pierce wasn't sure if that actually happened or if it was all in his head. Either way, it was a barely noticeable thing, so he just pushed that aside. "Especially the ones in Mt. Moon. It's thought to be because of either the clefairy line pokemon," the ranger explained, his eyes darting to the side, probably looking at Star. "Or the Moon Stone concentration in it, or both."
  
  "That's interesting. Hadn't really thought about it," Pierce replied, turning to look back at the mountain. Could that be? "I just thought it was... you know, some sort of claustrophobia for being there for an extended period of time."
  
  "Could be too, but it seems to hit harder in Mt. Moon, from what we've gathered," the ranger told him. "Didn't know that before going in?"
  
  "I didn't," Pierce replied, turning to look at Lily this time. "She might have."
  
  "Well, you might want to know that it's not recommended to stay in there more than a month, although rarely anyone even tries," the ranger told him. "We usually look for people after they've been in for three weeks."
  
  "Hm, good to know," Pierce mused, wondering why nobody had told them any of that. Neither the ranger at the entrance, nor Ruth had told them anything relating to that-
  
  "Your friend there probably knows this. She's an Oak sponsor, after all," the ranger added then, answering his questions without even knowing. That was an amusing coincidence, he supposed. "Here you go, everything's in order," the man told him, passing the IDs back to him. "Have a nice trip and be careful."
  
  "Have a nice shift yourself," Pierce replied, walking away and waving at the ranger.
  
  "Thanks, but night shift is always gonna suck," was the response he got, before both of them chuckled.
  
  "Having fun?" Pierce asked Lily once he caught up. "I don't think it's a good idea to just walk away from the ranger control, you know? We were lucky the guy was cool."
  
  "Hey, I asked before going away," the girl protested, even though she kept a grin on her face. That much was true, he supposed, but she hadn't exactly waited for the answer. "Isn't it great to be out?"
  
  "It is," he agreed easily, looking around. There was still a whole lot of rock around, but just being able to look up at the night sky felt like a blessing. Then there was the forest that could be seen further away. There were some plants close by too, growing in between the cracks of the rock or on patches of dirt. It was enough to make quite the contrast with the hard monotony of the stone tunnels. "You like being out, huh?" he added, grinning as Narcissa continued flying around. The beedrill buzzed happily at him in response.
  
  "Cygnus is gonna be happy when he wakes up," Lily commented, which was very true. The psychic would be ecstatic to know that they had finally gotten away from the dark tunnels of Mt. Moon. Pierce expected to have the abra on his shoulders for at least a full day after that.
  
  No way his friend would want to go back to his pokeball now that they were outside. At least not for a while. Pierce just hoped there wouldn't be a fight between Cygnus and Narcissa. That'd be troublesome.
  
  "Are we going far to set up camp?" Lily asked as they walked through the path away from the mountain. "It's kinda late."
  
  "I guess we can just look for a nice batch of grass or at least dirt to put up our tents," Pierce answered, looking around. "I don't know about you, but having something other than rock under me would be nice."
  
  "Yeah, I guess you have a point there," Lily commented, following his example for a moment before frowning and turning towards Talon. "Can you look for a spot like that close by?"
  
  "Right, good idea. You too, Narcissa," Pierce said, following suit. To be fair, he was a little tired himself and he was still kind of recovering from the healing marathon that went on in the mountain. They'd had a few days after that, but the dark, hard, colorless tunnels weren't exactly relaxing, really. "I really want to take it easy for a few days after we can't see rocks anymore. Cerulean will be great too, to just sit at the beach and enjoy myself."
  
  "I know, right? If I never have to be inside a mountain that long again, it'll be too soon."
  
  "Nevermind the stress of having to heal a small army of pokemon," Pierce added, getting a grimacing nod from the girl beside him. "I think we got a place," he pointed out then as Narcissa flew back to them and pointed with her stinger.
  
  "Let's go then, I could sleep for a whole day."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Thanks, Pierce," Lily told him, taking the offered pokegear and stepping a little aside.
  
  "Don't mention it," he called behind her, before turning his attention to the matter at hand. While his traveling companion went about calling her family, he'd work on his pokeblocks. He had a decent collection of them so far, having picked up on the combination of berries that his team and Lily's preferred, with several options for each of them.
  
  He even had a notebook with the recipes, including some for other pokemon that he'd found through their several encounters. His personal recipe book, Lily called it, which he imagined was sort of accurate, in a way. Maybe he'd turn it into an actual one later down the line. A personal one, that is. He rather doubted there wouldn't be better stuff for sale.
  
  Not that he really cared about it. He felt better trying and finding stuff out himself. It felt more... personal, closer to the actual pokemon, if he did it himself instead of just looking it up and copying someone else's work. That felt like taking the easy way out, cheap.
  
  Thus he wanted to try and come up with new combinations, things that he thought might work with specific pokemon. So far it seemed to be mostly guesswork, but Pierce wanted to try and find a pattern somewhere. Maybe certain types liked some combinations better, maybe cat-like pokemon had similar preferences, maybe initial stages shared similar tastes. Those were the kind of things he wanted to try and find... if they even were a thing. So far, they were just theories yet to be tested in depth.
  
  "Yeah, I'm using Pierce's pokegear," he heard Lily say, her voice barely carrying over. "I told you about Pierce in Pewter, mum. He got a pokegear from the rangers for helping with something. It's a long story, I can't wait to tell you."
  
  He smiled softly as he focused on his work. That is, before he felt Cygnus brush against his mind and prod him to continue listening. In turn, Pierce sent the pokemon an unamused expression and his opinion on eavesdropping. Unfortunately for him, he did manage to pick up on the next line.
  
  "I-No! I told you we aren't dating, mum! We are just traveling together!"
  
  Where he sat, Pierce didn't quite know if he should feel amused or embarrassed by that. In the end, he was both, he supposed, and his psychic type partner didn't waste any time sending what amounted as telepathic teasing without any words in it. Pierce, in response, gave the abra a glare and a single thought.
  
  ' I'll be waiting for my revenge,' he told his partner, making Cygnus pause. 'I won't forget, Cygnus. There'll be teasing going your way eventually.'
  
  The abra sent him an apologetic thought then, but it was too late.
  
  His fate was set.
  
  Pierce grinned and Cygnus twitched.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  The next day, Pierce found himself mostly relaxing, even if they hadn't yet made it out of the mountain. They'd walked a decent stretch during the morning and the same after lunch, but they still had about a day ahead before they could actually say they'd properly left Mt. Moon behind. For the moment, they'd decided that they had rushed enough and stopped at a nice enough spot.
  
  Lily had taken her team aside for some light training and he'd decided to do more or less the same with his team. Orion was taking full advantage of the fact that Pierce was allowing him to train more and more now that the threat of his previous injuries and such was far behind them. On top of that, the onix was growing bigger too, not dramatically so, but noticeably. He was young enough that his growth was like that. Soon, he'd stop his growth spurt and then slowly grow as he aged, eventually reaching the size of his mother.
  
  For the moment, he was very much still a child, much to his chagrin.
  
  Narcissa was diligently training her speed moves, Tailwind and Agility. She had more or less gotten the hang of the former now. Going as far as being able to properly use it during their spars with Lily's team and against Orion. Far from her best move, but still usable and battle ready. Agility wasn't quite there yet, but she'd manage it with some more time, he was sure. As for their project of an "original" move... It was actually in pretty decent shape, really, but then again, it was fairly simple.
  
  They just needed to keep working on it so it'd truly be the ace up his sleeve that Pierce wanted it to be.
  
  As for Cygnus, the abra was currently training not his physical prowess but his psychic one. Teleport was pretty much all he could do, besides some light telekinesis that couldn't really be called a move. So, he was training with that, appearing and disappearing all over the place. Pierce had entertained the idea of taking his friend's minor telekinesis and turning it into a pseudo-move of some kind but it was just too weak for that. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to use that to improve their chances.
  
  Pierce was fine with that though. He had a plan for Cerulean's water type gym, after all. Most of it hinged on his vouchers, but that was still a plan. Once he reached the city, he'd start really preparing for that. Well, there was Giga Drain with Narcissa, he supposed, but they hadn't made a lot of progres on that front yet.
  
  And last, there was Pierce himself.
  
  He was, at the moment, sitting on a rock with a book in his hands. Yet another one of his texts regarding the things he would need to know to get his First Aid License. Occasionally, however, he'd let himself be distracted and turn his attention to his pokegear. The thing had a radio function that was quite nice, after all. From time to time, when he wanted to take a little break, Pierce would turn that on to get some news from around Kanto. Wouldn't hurt to be informed in case something important came up.
  
  He was lucky that the charger of Lily's pokedex worked with the pokegear too. Otherwise, he'd only have the thing for as long as the battery lasted, since the only charger he had for it was the one that came with it, and that only worked if he was back in civilization, not in the middle of the wilderness. 'I'll have to see if there's a solar charger or something like that for sale in Cerulean. Might help to keep our flashlights and such charged too... Or we might catch an electric type too, I guess. Whatever happens first. It'd make things easier to have more than one, after all,' he mused to himself before shaking his head and focusing back on the book.
  
  There was a lot he still had to go through, understandably. However, Pierce found himself really impatient to go through the test and have his License. It'd really help if he was going to get himself into more situations in which he had to treat pokemon. He was pretty sure he was treading the line of legality as it was. He actually wondered if he was pissing off the rangers with his actions without knowing. Maybe he should have asked Ruth about that...
  
  Well, with some luck, an opportunity would present itself for him to assuage those doubts and fears.
  
  It would suck if he got fined or worse because a pokemon asked for help and he did something wrong.
  
  Besides, maybe after he was done, he could take it a step further in one direction or another. There were a lot of things that interested him, but he couldn't quite study all of them. He wasn't that studious. 'One thing at a time,' he thought. He had enough on his plate as it was, training his team of three, traveling, exercising, learning about the world he was in and studying for the license. He could add more stuff once he got better in at least one of those things.
  
  Pierce blinked as he felt Cygnus' mind brush against his, sending him a message. The little abra was progressing on that front too. Instead of random feelings and flashes of pictures, he was getting better at conveying more complex thoughts and feelings. Like at that moment, asking to change his training from Teleport back to physical exercises. Instead of a picture of him doing that, Cygnus sent him a thought that felt like Pierce himself was doing the exercise, but more detached.
  
  ' Getting better at communicating, are you?' he asked, turning to look at the abra. In return, he got a wave of pride and gratitude from the pokemon. 'And yeah, you can go back to that if you are tired of Teleport.'
  
  Having already stopped for a moment, he regarded his other pokemon.
  
  "Narcissa, do you mind switching to working on your other moves for a bit?" he asked his beedrill, who buzzed something, twitching a bit before nodding and doing just that. He didn't want her only training the new moves, neglecting those she already knew. That might end up in disaster if she got rusty or something. Besides, training something she wasn't completely in control of could end up frustrating her, he knew. "And Orion, the other way around. Back to training Sand Tomb, yeah?"
  
  The stone serpent grumbled something then. He wasn't a fan of the struggle that came with new moves, evidently. Pierce could only hope that wouldn't be a problem in the future.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Hm, this is good," Pierce commented, looking down at his meal and then back up at Lily. "This might be your best one so far."
  
  "Really?" she asked, eyebrows raising and a smile forming on her face. "I wasn't sure if I had spiced it up well or not-"
  
  "It's great," he reassured her, bringing some more up to his mouth. "Like, most of your meals are kind of meh,-"
  
  "Excuse me?!"
  
  "-but this one really is good," he continued, completely ignoring her scandalized response. "Honestly though, your cooking is good enough most of the time, but this is good."
  
  "Hm, I'll try to remember what I did then," she replied, clearly pleased. She'd taken up cooking instead of just preparing the standard rations precisely so they wouldn't have to eat bland stuff. For the most part, she succeeded in that endeavor, if just barely. This one time, she had excelled.
  
  Pierce could only hope that she'd keep it up, but he imagined it'd be harder to make good stuff all the time. After all, Lily had been cooking for a grand total of, what? Not even two weeks? He thought that was pretty impressive progress, all things considered.
  
  "Anyway," he commented, after emptying half his plate. "You said we should go off the route a bit to properly get into the forest before Cerulean?"
  
  "Eh, it should be some distance away yet. No need to make it more difficult for ourselves. We'll probably continue this way for a day or two and then we should go off to the South a bit," Lily explained, their pokemon curiously looking between them as they discussed their future plans. Especially Narcissa, since she was more of a forest creature.
  
  The rest of the night was spent hearing the radio through his pokegear and just talking for a bit. It was a nice relaxing night under the stars and the moon. Quite the contrast to the dull "nights" that they'd spent inside Mt. Moon when they were by themselves.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Rock Blast!"
  
  "Rock Throw!" Pierce called, feeling more than a little silly.
  
  The fight he was in at the moment was... something, that was for sure. He'd agreed to a two on two battle with a trainer not so long before. She'd gone first, releasing a rhyhorn. Immediately, Pierce had known what he was going to do, and he'd also known that it'd lead to something of a... situation.
  
  After all, he'd chosen Orion for the battle.
  
  The rhyhorn was big enough to put up a fight against his stone serpent, which was something that Pierce had been looking for. Unfortunately, this meant setting Orion up in a fight that... was going to take a while. After all, both pokemon seemed to only know normal and rock type attacks... both of which the other was resistant to.
  
  "Charge in, Rhy!"
  
  "Bind!"
  
  "Horn Attack!" the trainer called then, hitting Orion squarely before the onix could fully wrap himself around the rhyhorn. "Again, don't let up!"
  
  "Come on, Orion! Tackle!" Pierce commanded, but it was for naught. His onix couldn't keep up with the clearly older, more experienced pokemon. He'd been doing his best to train the young pokemon, but there was only so much progress to be done, especially for someone so young. Orion had clearly never been on the backfoot in a physical fight, so he wasn't responding well to the hits that rhyhorn got in. "Power through it, Orion! You can't let it push you around."
  
  "Fury Attack!" the trainer on the other side ordered then, clearly finding the weakness she wanted and taking full advantage of it.
  
  "We surrender," Pierce said eventually, before Orion could be beaten anymore. There was no point in keeping him out other than trying to tire the opponent out. That wasn't something he wanted to do though, since it'd involve the onix continuing to be hit while being helpless.
  
  Arguably though, judging by the expression on Orion's face, pulling him didn't really make him feel better. At least he was less injured though, so Pierce would take that small mercy and keep on. The battle was not over yet and he had two pokemon to fight. Rhyhorn also hadn't really been dealt much damage besides a few Rock Throws and a Tackle or two.
  
  "Second pokemon then?" the trainer on the other side asked and Pierce wasn't sure if she was mocking them or just excited. Ultimately, he decided to assume it was the latter. No need to unnecessarily think badly of someone he didn't know and likely wouldn't meet again.
  
  "Sure thing," he answered, pulling out his second pokemon. "Narcissa," he said as he released his beedrill. He didn't miss the tilt of the other trainer's head immediately after though. He wondered if she was worried about the third stage evolution or confident because of her type advantage. Ultimately, it didn't matter.
  
  "Both ready?" Lily asked from the side, looking a little unsure. Pierce couldn't fault her for that. After all, Narcissa was no weakling but the rhyhorn was well trained. A good Rock Blast could ruin them, and even if it didn't, the other trainer still had, presumably, a completely healthy pokemon to use. "Then begin."
  
  "Buffs, Narcissa, and keep away," Pierce commanded instantly while the other trainer predictably called for Rock Blast. His beedrill dodged that without problem, pulling back to use Harden, Iron Defense, Focus Energy and Tailwind. Not all at once, unfortunately, - they were nowhere near that level yet - but one at a time while dodging their opponent's attacks.
  
  As this went on, he took the other trainer's frustration. He looked at the rhyhorn, who seemed content to throw stones around all day. He looked at Narcissa and wondered what to do. Poison Sting would do next to nothing against the creature. Her better options were close range though, which was a bad idea, since Rock Blast's projectiles spread out a fair bit.
  
  Up close and personal was Narcissa's style but in this case, like some other times before, it played against them.
  
  Unless...
  
  Pierce narrowed his eyes.
  
  "Want to give it a try, girl?!" he called, shouting since his partner got further away while dodging. He received excited buzzing in response. "Ok, then," Pierce said, grinning. "You know what to do," he added, drawing a wary look from his opponent and a curious one from Lily. He just kept his smile in place as Narcissa started flying in circles around the rhyhorn using Tailwind to speed herself up.
  
  And then...
  
  "Tungsten Strike!" he commanded then, making both of the other trainers blink. Narcissa didn't hesitate a single second, however, having been waiting for the signal. Immediately, she shifted her flight to go straight at the rhyhorn. She shot forward, stingers pointing towards her opponent and her wings buzzing madly.
  
  And then the sound stopped as her body shone silver. Even if her wings weren't batting anymore, the momentum carried her forward with almost no change of speed. A second later, the shining bullet that Narcissa had become hit rhyhorn right on its side, before the pokemon could even finish turning around to look or do anything else. The force of the attack sent the hulking creature to the ground too, which was perfect.
  
  "Bug Bite!" Pierce called immediately. He knew a single attack wouldn't take the thing out, especially since this was sort of an experimental move for now. However, it had lost its footing, and that was great. "Finish it quickly!"
  
  "Stand up, Rhy! Come on! Horn Attack!" the other trainer called, but it wasn't quite so easy to attack while struggling to stand up and having an angry beedrill biting on its side. Ironically, the rhyhorn found itself in a similar situation as it had put Orion in before.
  
  If the rumble Pierce heard form the side was any indication, the onix agreed with that.
  
  "We surrender," their opponent called then, shoulders dropping, her expression grim. "Was that an actual move?" she asked as she recalled the rhyhorn and went to pull out another pokeball.
  
  "Original making," he answered, because there was no point in lying, really. Sooner or later it'd get out, and even if he didn't reveal it now, she might look it up later and find out if he lied or something. Besides, Pierce was riding a bit of a high after seeing his idea work so well. "This is the first time we've used it in an actual battle. It was all testing and sparring before."
  
  "Well, it worked pretty well," the girl told him wryly. "But I'm gonna win this anyway."
  
  "You can try," he replied with a grin.
  
  Narcissa buzzed excitedly in agreement as she positioned herself in front of Pierce.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Just regular traveling after properly getting out of Mt. Moon and our duo enjoying the outside world once more. I don't have much else to say, really. Sure, it's not a heavy packed chapter - if one doesn't count the last scene - but I'm fine with that. I'm all for chapters of normal life, as you guys should know.
  
  I hope you enjoyed it though.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: So, Pierce shows his first original move. Any others you guys can come up with? This isn't me trying to fish for ideas, I swear... Why are you looking at me like that?
  
  See you.
  
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  Route 4 II
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 II
  
  "Doing well, buddy?" Pierce asked Orion, who nodded stiffly. He didn't blame the pokemon too much though. After all, he was focusing rather intently on the matter at hand. Which, at that moment, was working on Sand Tomb once more. "Certainly looks like you are getting the sand part of it, at least," Pierce commented, looking at the small patch of sand on the ground in front of Orion.
  
  The onix grumbled something.
  
  "Come on, you are getting there. A bit more sand, and some control of it and you're set. You've got time, buddy," Pierce reassured his pokemon partner. "Battles go well for you anyway. You are getting used to getting hit too," he told Orion. "You'll be more than ready when your time to shine comes, I'm sure."
  
  A questioning rumble was the response he got.
  
  "I mean, the next Gym is a water one, Orion. I don't think you'd do well there. Even worse, the battlefield there is a gigantic pool so... Not your area. Narcissa, and maybe Cygnus, will be the ones to take that one," he explained, rolling his eyes and giving the big guy a pat on the side when he saw the onix deflate. "Don't feel bad. You'll get your chance, as I said. There'll be other gyms where you'll be better suited for a battle, buddy. Besides, you do pretty well in normal battles too, which is important."
  
  Another question followed, this time more enthusiastic.
  
  "I'm serious. Don't worry about it, buddy. You are a big, strong pokemon and you'll be beating others left and right in no time, especially if you keep getting bigger," Pierce told his partner with a wide grin. "For now though, we gotta keep working on things, yeah? So your strength keeps up with your size."
  
  The onix rumbled something louder that sounded to his ears like a determined cry.
  
  Pierce gave him another pat on the side.
  
  "That's the spirit, Orion," he told him. With the little pep talk done with, Pierce settled on watching the onix training for a bit, notebook in hand. He noted down any little change on what his partner was doing, just so he'd have a better idea of how things were going. It was a slow process, not only for Orion but also for Pierce himself. After all, his arms felt heavy and hurt from the work out he'd just finished.
  
  Regardless, he pushed through.
  
  Eventually, he had to stand up and go check on Narcissa. The bug type, for her part, had Agility mostly under control now. With that and Tailwind, Tungsten Strike would be as ready as it was going to be for the time being, unless he decided to add even more buffs to Narcissa's repertoire... Which wouldn't happen for some time.
  
  As it was, she had her hands full finishing the last touches on Agility and continuing to work on Giga Drain. Pierce would admit that he should have focused much more on the latter, since it was what he was going to need if he wanted to have a better chance against the Cerulean Gym. However, a steel type attack was something that Narcissa needed in order to deal with the rock pokemon that were a fairly common sight in and around Mt. Moon.
  
  Sure, Giga Drain would have helped there too, but Tungsten Strike was much more battle ready. By the time the grass type move was ready for battle, they'd likely already be at Cerulean, which would make the thing too late for the battles that were happening right then and there. Besides, Gym battles weren't everything, even if they were important. After all...
  
  Pierce wanted to take part in a tournament like the one he'd witnessed in Pewter. He wanted to give his team a chance to shine on such a stage. He'd wanted that ever since he saw the aforementioned competition. It'd let his partners show how strong and capable they were while also giving a fairly good boost to his journey in material terms...
  
  If he won, that is, but that was beside the point.
  
  "Not getting frustrated again, are you?" he asked Narcissa once he got closer. The bug type landed on the ground then, clicking her mandibles in a vaguely reassuring/enthusiastic manner. Unfortunately for the beedrill, Pierce knew her better than that. "Lying isn't nice."
  
  She buzzed something annoyed in response.
  
  "Yeah, that's more like it. Now, do you want to practice other moves for a bit to calm down?" he asked, getting more angry beedrill noises in response. "It doesn't help if you let your emotions get the better of you like this. It just muddles your thoughts and you can't work as well as you would otherwise. You know that. I've told you that."
  
  Narcissa chittered something that sounded like a grumble.
  
  "Yeah, I get it. But there's no need to feel pressured. Battles are going great for us so far," he reassured his partner, sitting next to her and planting a hand on top of her head. "Sure, there's a loss here and there, but Tungsten Strike really put things in our favor again now that you can beat rock types."
  
  That didn't seem to cheer her up much.
  
  Pierce sighed.
  
  "Narcissa. You aren't the strongest yet. Maybe you'll never be, honestly. But that doesn't mean you are weak, or that you'll remain as you are. We'll both get there, yeah?" he told her. "You'll be stronger, and I'll be sure to help you as best I can so you'll be one of the strongest. It'll just take some time."
  
  Narcissa chittered something that sounded like reluctant agreement.
  
  "That's more like it."
  
  After spending some more time looking over her training, Pierce went to check on his third team member. Or, maybe it was better to say that his third team member came to check on him, considering that Cygnus teleported onto his shoulders. Looking up at the sudden weight, Pierce gave the psychic type a half-smile.
  
  "Do you need a speech too?"
  
  Cygnus simply gave him the telepathic equivalent of a laugh before shaking his head and teleporting again.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Thanks," Lily told him, passing him the pokegear once more. Apparently, now that she had more easily accessible means to contact her family and Professor Oak, she'd decided to go for it. Granted, that didn't mean she wasn't somewhat awkward about it, since it involved asking him for it every other day, but Pierce didn't really mind. He was fairly sure that his traveling companion would get over that awkwardness soon enough. "Ah, it's so good to be back in the forest. I never thought I'd say that."
  
  "I know what you mean. Being out in the wild is not nice, but the forest is better than the mountain, at least," Pierce agreed with a nod from where he was, sitting on the ground with his back against a tree. In front of him, he saw Orion curled up under the sunlight that slipped through the tree branches, with Cygnus sitting on top of him. As for Narcissa, she seemed to be just buzzing around and generally enjoying being back in a forest.
  
  All around, the change from the rocks to the trees was welcome, even by Orion, who wouldn't be able to snack on stones quite as much as before.
  
  "Anything interesting happening back home?" he asked, idly looking at the notebook on his lap and wondering if there was anything he should add. Training had finished for the day and there was little else for him to do so far. He only had to keep an eye on his team so that they wouldn't get frustrated with the exercises and occasionally give some piece of advice or another to try and help the process go more smoothly.
  
  In a way, training was easy and hard at the same time. Or, maybe it was better to say it was hard but simple. There was no great complexity to training, as far as Pierce had seen. However, it still required a fair bit of work. He needed to watch closely how his pokemon developed. He needed to constantly look for new ideas to try and improve how his team got better. He needed to take the tools he had available and come up with strategies that varied a lot since most pokemon were very different from one another. He needed to take care of his pokemon's health.
  
  All of that was hard work, but it wasn't complex, or at least he didn't think so. The most complicated part was probably learning how to treat injuries, prepare meals and generally care for the creatures. Strategizing was a close second, but things were still relatively simple at the level he was in, fortunately.
  
  ' Maybe I should start making some more complex plans though?' he mused idly.
  
  "Things are going well, business as usual," Lily answered as she took a seat beside him, breaking him away from his thoughts. "Mom just had the usual gossip to keep me up to date. Other than that... Well, not much goes on in Pallet," she commented, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
  
  Pierce hummed then, checking with his pokegear to turn on the radio.
  
  "Things are going well then, right? That's good," he replied. Picking up his pencil, he tapped the back of it on the notebook as he considered how to start on preparing specific strategies. Maybe he could start simple, with specific sets of orders for his pokemon to follow depending on their opponent?
  
  "... Yeah," Lily whispered, which he only heard because they were so close together. "... I, um... Pierce?"
  
  "Yeah?" he asked, blinking and turning towards the girl.
  
  "I don't want to be rude or... you know, nosy," she told him, looking thoroughly uncomfortable, which was very unlike her. "But, um... I've never seen you call anyone."
  
  Well, that explained it then.
  
  For a moment, Pierce considered deflecting, like he'd done every other time. He could be vague and give half-truths. That'd worked so far. However, none of those times had Lily asked so bluntly and directly. If he didn't give a straight answer, she'd be suspicious and probably worried.
  
  And besides, Lily was his friend.
  
  His only friend, if he didn't count his own team.
  
  "There's no one to call," he said eventually, rolling the pencil between his fingers as he looked at the notebook on his lap. He didn't see it though, instead, his mind conjured pictures of his family and friends back in his old world. He remembered better times then, times that were no more.
  
  Times that were no more because of an unfortunate night...
  
  Angry shouts, fear, the flash of metal, pain, liquid on his fingers, weakness, the metallic, salty taste in his mouth, sadness, the smell of copper...
  
  "It's just me now," Pierce said, pushing the memories to the side.
  
  "Is that why you decided to start your journey?" Lily asked, catching him off guard a bit. He'd expected reassurances, maybe an apology or something like that. He couldn't say that he disliked her approach though.
  
  "I guess it is," he answered with a weak smile. That was one way of looking at it, he supposed. It hadn't really been much of a choice, but he couldn't say that he disliked how things had gone. There was no changing what had happened in his... old life. He could build a new one now though, and he was in the process of doing just that.
  
  "Well, it's not just you anymore, Pierce," Lily told him, leaning her shoulder against his. "You have your team. There's also my team and me."
  
  "Yeah, I know," he replied, his smile turning more honest, if still sad. "Thank you for all but forcing yourself into my journey, Lily."
  
  "Hey, it worked out for me too."
  
  "Right, you got lots of free food."
  
  "Pierce!" she whined then, pulling away. "We were having a moment there! Why'd you ruin that?!"
  
  "Because I made an oath never to let you live that down," he told her, grinning.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "So, I was thinking before that we could have some simple strategies for you guys to follow," Pierce said, sitting on the ground with his team. Narcissa was to his right and Cygnus to his left, leaving Orion to curl up across from him. "I know that leaving you to fight for yourselves can be a bit risky, but I thought it might help if we have sets of instructions instead of going move by move."
  
  Narcissa gave a nod to that while Cygnus seemed to intently follow his thoughts on the matter. Orion was struggling a little more, but that was fine. He was just doing a pre-speech, as it were. He probably would get the gist of it once he got to actually explaining what he had in mind, which was what came now.
  
  "For example," he started, looking down at his notebook before looking up. "One strategy could be to stay away and use moves that can attack from a distance. Another would be to get up close and personal. One strategy could be to move around a lot. Another could be to tank the moves. One to stay back and use buff moves."
  
  Now Orion seemed to start getting it, leaning forward curiously. As for the other two, Narcissa buzzed her wings a little in a way that told Pierce that she was getting excited with the idea. If the emotions brushing against his mind were any indication, Cygnus agreed with that sentiment too.
  
  "Glad that you are on board," he said, grinning at his team. "So, I have somewhat of a system in mind, but we'll probably rework it a bunch," he commented then, checking with his notes once more. "This is what I had in mind..."
  
  From there, it was exposition time, with Pierce showing them little illustrations to better explain his ideas. He did have to explain a few times and sometimes simplify things for Orion, but Narcissa and Cygnus seemed to get the strategies quickly enough. Still, he anticipated having to go over everything several times, but that was for later.
  
  As it was, he had to lay things out for his team and then go from there.
  
  The first strategy was Blast, staying at a distance and shooting attacks at the enemy. It'd be good for both, members of his team that were more fragile and also against enemies that were more on the slower side. It could also see some use depending on how well his pokemon's aim was and how good the enemy was at dodging... Among other factors, of course.
  
  The second strategy was the previous one's counterpart, Strike. It was the plan to go for close combat, with attacks like Tackle, Fury Attack or Twineedle. It'd be good to use against fragile opponents or ones that were stronger than them in a distance battle. Furthermore, his three team members seemed to favor this approach too, so that was something to take into account.
  
  From there, there were the less damage oriented approaches. Move was the strategy to keep his pokemon... moving around, predictably. Pierce imagined that he'd use that command a whole lot, since it would work great in combination with other strategies, like Blast.
  
  Another such plan was Modify, which would see his pokemon using moves to boost themselves or weaken the enemy. At that moment, it was mainly Narcissa that would see use for this, but Orion could, theoretically, do it too. It was just that Pierce wasn't sure how well the onix could benefit from that, at least compared to the beedrill.
  
  "So, those four are what I had in mind right now. I'll probably end up adding more, re-working them and such, but I think that's simple and effective enough for a foundation," Pierce said as he finished detailing the approaches he had come up with. "As for Strike and Blast, I'll probably call for a type if I want you to focus on something that will work better on the opponent," he explained, leaning back and looking at the notebook to see if he'd missed something.
  
  He hadn't.
  
  Next, he turned to regard his three pokemon. Cygnus had definitely gotten everything, seeing as the psychic had followed the whole thing both from what Pierce spoke and what he got directly from his mind. Narcissa seemed to have gotten most of it too. Orion not so much, but that might have been more because Pierce tried to go too in-depth with his first explanation, going through information that didn't really apply at the moment, like future plans and such.
  
  Regardless.
  
  "I know it might have been a lot," he said then, mostly for the onix's benefit. "But it's not like I expect you guys to use this right off the bat. We can train with it in spars and such before we try to use it in an actual battle. We have time. So, what do you guys say we get started with some light sparring between all of you?"
  
  Immediately, Narcissa flew up in the air while Cygnus gave a firm nod. Orion, poor little guy, was a little slow on his response, seeing as he was still trying to wrap his rocky head around the info dump he'd just gotten thrown at him. That was fine, Pierce was sure that with a few tries and some reminders he'd have it down.
  
  He was pretty sure that they'd be a lot less eager for this part of training when he started punishing them with less of their favorite pokeblocks whenever they failed to follow a strategy.
  
  The way Cygnus stiffened at that thought told Pierce all he needed to know.
  
  That was fine, let the little guy know what was coming his way. After all, the abra would know not to reveal things to the others, else he earned himself the same punishment. Cygnus was just lucky that he was probably the one least likely to mess up too.
  
  The relief that Pierce felt brushing against the side of his mind said it all.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  He massaged the bridge of his nose tiredly as they walked.
  
  "They are getting bolder," Lily commented with uncharacteristic seriousness.
  
  "Yeah, I gathered," Pierce replied with a grim expression.
  
  As for what they were talking about, it was Team Rocket. As they traveled, they kept his pokegear with the radio function on. That had inevitably led to them hearing news that were... less than cheerful. One such instance of this was the Rocket attack they were hearing about at that moment.
  
  It had him looking at the device from time to time, half expecting and half wanting to get a call to help out there. It didn't happen, however, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Pierce knew that the rangers likely had things under control now, and if they didn't, then they'd call. He just couldn't shake off the feeling that he should be there helping suffering pokemon.
  
  ' Am I getting addicted to helping? That's...' he thought before sighing.
  
  "You can't be everywhere, Pierce," Lily told him, evidently reading him like a book.
  
  "I know, I just..."
  
  "Love pokemon," she finished for him, to which he nodded tiredly.
  
  "I guess whenever I finally manage to get an actual First Aid License I'll get called for the aftermath of this stuff," he commented, running a hand through his hair. "If they need help, at least."
  
  "No offense, Pierce, but it's a bit worrisome that you want to be there that much," Lily pointed out and he got it. He honestly didn't know why he felt such a strong desire to be there and help those pokemon, but he did. He just... The knowledge that there were suffering pokemon somewhere out there really got to him. Especially since he could do something about it. "Now, how about you-"
  
  "Help!"
  
  Both Pierce and Lily paused their trekking at the sudden scream. Then they turned towards their side when the same voice called out once more. As he turned off the radio, he heard the sound of someone running in the distance, followed by some kind of squeaking that he was fairly sure came from a pokemon.
  
  "Mankey," Lily said, evidently recognizing the creatures in question. The horrified look on her face was understandable though, considering that those fighting types were particularly aggressive.
  
  "Help!"
  
  "Let's go," Pierce decided, and Lily nodded firmly. "Narcissa!"
  
  "Talon!"
  
  Both pokemon appeared but a few seconds later, following their trainers as they tried to find the source of the call for help. It was a little difficult, even with them replying to said cries. They were in a forest, after all, and whoever this person was couldn't really maneuver freely. The why became evident when Lily and Pierce finally found the girl in question, with a whole bunch of mankeys chasing her.
  
  "Narcissa! Blast!" Pierce called, and the beedrill immediately started shooting Poison Stings and String Shots. A second later, he released Orion too. "Orion! Strike, but don't go far!"
  
  "My eevee!" the trainer that had called for them screamed, clearly very distressed even with the arrival of assistance. Looking around, Pierce couldn't find the normal type in question. Regardless, he released Cygnus without pausing to think.
  
  ' There's an eevee somewhere, get it over here to safety!' he thought out loud to his psychic, who quickly replied with an agreement before teleporting away. It took a few more seconds that were quite the suffering for Pierce since the trainer continued shouting and crying. Fortunately, the abra returned after those few moments with a clearly injured eevee.
  
  "Princess! Thank God!"
  
  "Rock Throw, Gem!" Lily called from next to him, throwing a few more commands to the rest of her team except for Star. The cleffa was a bit too young, especially to be thrown into such a battle, so Pierce thought it was understandable. "A little help would be nice!" the girl added, giving the trainer they were helping a look before focusing on battling the raging mankey.
  
  "They are injured. Princess was the only one healthy after the last few battles and she's- She's- Princess! " the trainer cried out and Pierce grimaced. He never was good at dealing with crying people, especially girls.
  
  "Cygnus, can you teleport around? Try to distract them?" he asked his psychic type, because Orion was having some real trouble against the monkeys. Understandable, since they were fighting type and probably knew at least one move of the type. Furthermore, Narcissa couldn't quite hit them very well since they were all over the place and jumping around. "Lily, can your team cover our backs?! I'll get Narcissa in there!"
  
  "Sure!"
  
  "Narcissa! Modify and Strike! Normal type!" Now, Pierce was no psychic but he just knew, for sure, that Narcissa would have been grinning if she could. Almost instantly, the beedrill blurred forward, stingers shining with the white light of Fury Attack. "Orion! Pull back! Modify!" he called for then, because his onix was getting hit a whole lot and so many fighting type attacks couldn't be good for him, even if the pokemon weren't that strong or well trained.
  
  As for Cygnus, the little fella was teleporting all over the place, disrupting whatever cohesion the mankeys might have had, which was almost nothing to begin with. He appeared in front of their faces when they were preparing for an attack, only to vanish just as quickly. He appeared behind them, causing them to jump back, worried they might be attacked. 'Well, this might be good to remember for group battles.'
  
  "We are getting there, Pierce!" Lily exclaimed from his side and yeah, he could see that. Slowly, the mankeys were falling. The problem was that their pokemon weren't precisely coming out unscathed. "Come on, guys! Just a little more!"
  
  Orion roared then, making Pierce turn sharply to see if a mankey had gotten to him or something. Nothing of the sort had happened though. Instead, the onix was alone but he looked... furious . With a harsh smack of his tail on the ground, a rock shot out hitting a mankey squarly in the face.
  
  "Good job, Orion! Blast!" he commanded the onix, even though it was more or less an unnecessary call. Regardless, he prepared himself for more simple calls for close combat in case a mankey got to him. He needed to be ready, since Orion had been the one to receive the most hits when the battle started.
  
  Fortunately, it seemed that his worries were unnecessary in that instance, since the battle finally tilted more decisively in their favor until the last of the fighting types fell to the ground.
  
  "Well," he sighed then, shoulders dropping. "That happened."
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Business as usual for our group, right? Training, interactions and other people's messes to deal with. Just following the routine, really. The normal stuff for trainers, obviously.
  
  ... Right?
  
  Anyway, I'm kind of in the same place as Pierce with the strategies. I'm mostly putting them there to see if they get anywhere or I decide they aren't worth it and return to normal commands. We'll see how it goes together with Pierce, I guess.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Generalist or specialist trainer? For some reason, I like the specialist route. Sure, it's not the efficient way to go, but it sounds more fun, more interesting.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Route 4 III
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 III
  
  "I, uh, I have to go already," the girl they'd helped, with her eevee in her arms, told them. "Thanks again though, take care."
  
  "That was... rude," Pierce commented, unimpressed. The girl had seemed in a real rush to get away, it seemed. Which was sort of understandable, he supposed. She had been attacked by the mankeys and all, but still. The pokemon were knocked out already and Lily and him had proved to be more than capable of taking them out before they were injured as they were at that moment. And that had been without any of her help so...
  
  Yeah, he wasn't sure what the rush had been about.
  
  "Pierce, you do know that those will go back to being a danger as soon as they wake up, right?" Lily asked him, as if he were the weird one.
  
  "We took care of them easily enough. What are they gonna do now that they are all bruised and such?" he shot back, raising an eyebrow at his traveling companion before looking at the still passed out monkey pokemon. "Honestly, I wonder if she was so eager to go away because she caused this for herself or something," he commented, running his fingers through his hair.
  
  "I mean... it could be," Lily acknowledged. "Wouldn't be our first time in such a situation, right?" she added, likely thinking of the shiny weedle incident. "Still, mankey are known for being easily annoyed and or angered. They are also fighting types, which usually means they are always ready and eager for... Well, a fight."
  
  "Hm, I guess that's true enough too," Pierce replied before shrugging. "Well, I guess we better help these guys out and then continue on our way, right?" he asked, setting his backpack on the ground and pulling out the box with his medical supplies.
  
  "... Why did I know you were gonna do that?" he heard Lily muttered to herself. "And then we go away?" she asked then. "I really would rather not risk a fighting move to the face, Pierce. I'm too pretty for that."
  
  "I'm sure your pokemon will cover your pretty face, Lily, don't worry," he commented, rolling his eyes as he opened the now expanded box and took out a potion. "For now, you wanna be my assistant again?"
  
  "As if I had an option," she grumbled, moving to stand by the box as he set out to work.
  
  Fortunately, none of the pokemon were all that injured from the battling. Some bruises here, some poisoning there and so on. Nothing that Pierce couldn't take care of with some simple potions and antidotes. There was actually only one mankey that needed bandaging, and that was more him going overboard than actual necessity, he was pretty sure.
  
  "Pierce..." Lily warned, and he turned from the second to last mankey he was treating to look at the group around him. None of them were so much as twitching though, so what... That's when he noticed that the girl was looking away from where they were. Following her gaze, he realized what she was suddenly worried about.
  
  There was a primeape standing off the side.
  
  His back stiffened and his hand twitched, but otherwise Pierce did his best not to panic. Sure, that was a second stage pokemon, but it was also a last stage pokemon too, so there was that. On top of that, Pierce had studied the line a bit, seeing as he was likely to come across it in the route they were in. As such... He very easily could tell this primeape was stronger than one would expect. Maybe it wasn't on Mama Onix's level, but that didn't mean they were anywhere close to its league, as far as Pierce was concerned.
  
  Thus, he took a deep breath in and spoke.
  
  "... I'll be finished in a minute," he said, carefully keeping his voice soft, calm. Not friendly though, since that ran a risk of angering the pokemon. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry we had to do this, but they were attacking," he added.
  
  What Lily had said about the line wasn't wrong, he knew. They were easily angered and they loved to fight, not a good combination. However, that didn't mean that a fight was a sure thing with them. Pierce just had to follow the right path to avoid it...
  
  The primeape grunted something at him. It sounded annoyed, but not so much that it was a breath away from snapping. Pierce took that as a small victory and decided to try and secure his position.
  
  "They are fine," he informed the pokemon, taking another deep breath in before continuing his work on the mankey that laid on the floor in front of where he was kneeling. "Some food and rest and they'll be fine, probably before the day is over for most of them," he explained, receiving another grunt from the pokemon.
  
  Which didn't tell Pierce much.
  
  Fortunately, Cygnus seemed to either be awake or had woken up with the new arrival. With the psychic's presence brushing against his mind, the message was somewhat delivered. The mankeys were, obviously, part of primeape's group. However, fortunately, the evolved pokemon didn't mind them beating the group so much as he was annoyed that they'd been able to beat them.
  
  Suddenly, Pierce came up with what was possibly a terrible idea.
  
  "So, I have a proposition for you," he said. Sure, this time, he could see how Lily might think he was crazy. However, he was still confident that he was doing things right. "I think we could train together, you know? You can travel with us, we can provide some food and you could train fighting with our pokemon."
  
  "Pierce?" he heard Lily whimper but he saw the interested glint in the primeape's eyes. Cygnus confirmed that for him with his own excitement, especially considering the thought that crossed Pierce's mind at that moment.
  
  "Also, my abra is very interested in punch moves," he added then, a grin spreading on his face. He couldn't be sure, on account of the way the primeape's expression worked, but he was fairly sure that the fighting type was looking as pleased with the offered arrangement as he felt.
  
  Behind him he heard Lily mumble something.
  
  "What the f-?"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "-uck?" the girl asked, looking in disbelief at their camp set up. Or, more specifically, at the addition they'd made to it, that is. After all, on one side there was the usual thing. Their two tents, a fire and so on. Funnily enough, Orion had turned himself into a sort of seat for the rest of their pokemon, with Star sitting on his head and animatedly chatting with him while the others perched themselves on the rest of his body. All except Narcissa, who was dutifully clinging to Pierce's shoulders. "How do you do it, Pierce?" Lily asked him, giving him a look that seemed somewhere between afraid and awed. Quite the combination, really.
  
  "I mean... I just try?" he answered with a shrug and an unsure smile. Even he would admit that he'd pushed things a little with the primeape and the mankeys. Ultimately, it had worked for them, and quite well at that.
  
  After all, the part that shocked Lily was that the family of fighting types was occupying another side of the camp, hanging from a nearby tree or sitting on the ground by it. Pierce had provided them with some bowls of kibbles and berries that they were happily eating through. From time to time, he'd see one of the mankeys send a mean look their way, but the primeape seemed perfectly in control of the situation, smacking the offending party and chiding them.
  
  "I think Papa Primeape is half the reason things went well," he pointed out, giving the aforementioned pokemon a look.
  
  "I don't mean how it's possible, Pierce," Lily told him, much more seriously than any of the other times they'd had similar conversations. "How do you know what to say? I'm sure every pokemon has a good choice, a good decision one can make when dealing with them but... How do you find that?" she asked him and he considered that for a moment, picking at his food for a bit before taking a bite.
  
  He mulled over that question for a moment before answering, even if he was unsure.
  
  "I just... try to understand them. I've read about most of the pokemon we come across, or I can make guesses as to how they are. Looking at them, I pick up stuff, like the fact that the primeape wasn't really angry at us. So, I try to apply what I know and what I pick up, then I try to put myself in their places, see how they would think and how they'd prefer me to interact with them," he explained slowly, going over what he said and making sure he was as accurate as he could. It was difficult to put into words, he'd admit, and he likely wasn't doing a good job, but he was trying. "Does that make sense?"
  
  "... A bit," Lily mumbled, looking between Pierce and the mankey family. "You realize that not everyone can do that, right?"
  
  "Sort of," he replied simply, taking another bite of his meal. "I mean, difficult not to, with your reactions and such. It's just... weird. It's not that difficult for me, so I guess it's a bit confusing."
  
  "You are special, Pierce. And soon enough, people will realize that," the girl told him.
  
  "You sound sad about that," he pointed out curiously. "Should I be offended?"
  
  "No!" she protested then, genuinely afraid that he'd be, for some reason. "Sorry, I just..." she mumbled, picking at her food. "I guess I'm a bit jealous, or is it envious? It's... complicated, I guess."
  
  "You want to talk about it?"
  
  "No, not really," she answered, shoulders slumping. Unsure, Pierce sent a look towards her pokemon for a moment, wondering if he should push the issue. None of them seemed to have an answer for him though, looking between them. Star, adorable thing that she was, didn't even seem to have noticed what was going on as she continued talking with Orion. 'As good an answer as any,' Pierce thought with a wry smile.
  
  "So, you are gonna have Gem join Cygnus training with the mankey family?" Pierce asked, very bluntly shifting the topic of the conversation. Lily seemed to think so too, if the blink and wide eyes were any indication. The grateful smile that followed was enough to tell him it was a good idea though.
  
  "Yeah, I think so," Lily replied hesitantly before recovering and smiling. Sure, it was a bit of a forced expression, but Pierce would take it as a win anyway. "You think they might know Thunder Punch?"
  
  "I think that'd be very convenient, but I'd be happy if they can teach Cygnus about fighting type energy and go from there," Pierce commented, finishing his meal and setting the plate aside. "That'd be great, really. Especially if they manage it in however long they stay with us."
  
  After all, he didn't imagine the mankey family would stick around for more than a day or two. That was usually how long the wild pokemon stayed close by before going back to their lives. Maybe Pierce could bribe them to lengthen that a little though. He'd certainly try, but if it didn't work... Well, it was what it was.
  
  "I can dream though," Lily commented, her grin turning just a bit more true. "Can you imagine people's faces if I used Gem against the water type Gym?"
  
  "That'd be something, yeah... Would Orion be even worse than that or better?" he asked, slowly pushing his traveling companion into a better mood. That was more like her anyway.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I don't know if that's to be expected or not," Pierce commented, giving the mankey in front of him an amused look as it jumped around, snorting and grunting furiously. Not out of anger, but out of... Well... "So, spicy food it is, huh?" he asked, looking around at the rest of the pokemon around him.
  
  He twitched a bit when a new creature popped over his shoulder, grabbing at his body to keep themselves balanced. Yet another mankey, unsurprisingly, looking at the things set in front of Pierce, the berries and the blender together with a few pokeblocks. Evidently, someone was impatient to try out the new concoction. Pierce wasn't one to deny a pokemon food though, so he brought one of the little cubes up to the fighting type so they could try it.
  
  "Glad you guys like it," he commented, a second before the mankey that was now hanging onto his shoulders got the same reaction as the previous one. In all honesty, they looked like they were suffering, but considering the fact that none of them was punching him and that the rest of the little family was looking more and more interested by the second, he guessed they just liked that kind of suffering.
  
  Pierce liked spicy food as much as the next guy but he'd never been one for the ridiculously spicy ones.
  
  Evidently, the mankey weren't of the same opinion.
  
  "Well, there's one for everyone, guys, what are you waiting for?" he asked, starting to throw the cubes at all the mankey around and saving two for the primeape. Once that was done, he almost set out to wash his hands and clean the blender, however, he decided to make a few more snacks before that. He was pretty sure the mankeys would want more later and he'd better have things ready instead of having to make more.
  
  Once he was done and everything was put back in their respective boxes, he started writing down his findings in his notebook.
  
  After that, closing the pages, he looked to the side while the mankeys seemed to come down from their spicy high a bit. Off to the side, Papa Primeape seemed to still be doing his best to teach both Gem and Cygnus about fighting type energy, either that, or he was also teaching them a move too, Pierce wasn't too sure about that. Regardless, either was good, so he didn't feel like pushing his luck by asking.
  
  Lily, for her part, was training with Root, Talon and Star some distance away. He wasn't privy to what exactly they were doing, since there were a few trees in the way and he hadn't really been paying much attention. He guessed that was fine though. Most of the time they had to train side by side and he knew that Lily probably liked having some space to work on stuff by herself, prepare surprises and such.
  
  As for the rest of Pierce's team, they were also training by themselves. Orion was still struggling his way through learning how to use Sand Tomb and Narcissa was working on Giga Drain. They'd get there, he knew, but he wished he had some more help to offer them. As it was, he only had his notes to go with, for the most part. He'd had some sandshrew and sandslash back in Mt. Moon help Orion a bit, but even then it hadn't been all that. As for Narcissa... Well, Root was doing his best, but maybe they'd be lucky and find some other grass type that could help too. That'd be nice, Pierce thought.
  
  A grunt and a squeak got his attention back to the mankey around him.
  
  Blinking, he turned and saw the fighting pokemon having stopped hopping around because of the spicy food. Instead, they were all... Well, almost still, glaring to the side. Following the looks, Pierce found the source of the new annoyance the mankeys were feeling.
  
  A rattata that seemed to have approached them.
  
  "Hey there, little one," he greeted softly, drawing the rat pokemon's attention to himself. "If you aren't here for a fight, I suggest you go on your way," he advised, earning himself a squeak in response. The normal type wasn't going away, and considering the way it was looking at his backpack. "Here's the deal then, little one," he started, a smile on his face. "You want food, right?" he asked, getting a very obviously positive answer to that. "Ok then, how about you give one of these lot a battle and then I'll give you some food?"
  
  That seemed to get through the increasing annoyance of the mankeys as they perked up at his words. That offer also got the rattata's attention, apparently, if the way its eyes narrowed was any indication. A second later, the normal type took a step forward and then another, eyes darting between the mankey.
  
  "How about it, buddy?" Pierce asked, turning to the mankey to his side who looked back at him immediately. "Feel up for a spar with our new friend there?" he added, getting a grunt in response. "Now, be nice and don't go overboard, either of you. If you do, there'll be no food for whoever breaks the rule," Pierce threatened, making both pokemon tense up. "Well, you can start."
  
  And so they did.
  
  The impromptu spar seemed to get the attention of Lily's and Papa Primeape's groups, but they did little else other than glance to check that things were still fine. Which they were, seeing as Pierce and the rest of the mankeys were just sitting there and watching the fight. On that note though, he decided to do something in case the rest of the fighting types got antsy from watching the battle.
  
  "Keep an eye on things, yeah?" he asked the rest of them, getting tilted heads and confused snorts. "Maybe you can learn something or tell your friend there what they did wrong so that they can do better next time, right?" he suggested, getting blinks and narrowed eyes. At least before they seemed to understand what he said.
  
  Immediately, they all turned to intently watch the spar.
  
  Pierce, in turn, just smiled.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce and Lily stood side by side, intently watching the battle going on in front of them. Neither of them said a word as their pokemon battled, but that was how they'd decided to do things. After all, if they were to start giving orders, it'd just make things easier for their teams, too easy, really.
  
  After all, their partners were sparring with the mankey family, which they knew they could defeat with relative ease from before. So, without orders, they'd thought it might even things out and give their teams a bit more of a challenge. It also allowed them to see if there was anything they might want to work on so that they could make their pokemon more independent of their commands. One never knew when their partners might have to make decisions for themselves.
  
  For one, it seemed that Pierce would have to teach Narcissa that sometimes, ranged combat was the way to go. No surprise there though, since he knew that she preferred fighting up close and personal. Then there was Orion, who needed to learn when to take a hit and when to pull back. He did both, but never at the right moments, so that was something to work on. Cygnus, for his part... Well, the abra couldn't really battle just yet, but they'd get there. As it was, the psychic type was learning how to Teleport in a battle situation, dodge attacks, confuse his opponent and such.
  
  ' Maybe we can train for him to move around physically too, without teleporting. Floating or actually using his body, both could be useful depending on the situation,' he thought, taking his eyes off the spar for a moment to note that down in Cygnus' section in his notebook.
  
  He did make it a point to note down some stuff for the mankeys too, as a thank you for training with them and all. Pierce was aware that the fighting types likely were winning as much as they were with the arrangement, but that didn't mean he couldn't add a little extra too though. After all, just the night before, the family had driven away an arbok that had been slithering around and hadn't been friendly at all, so...
  
  Yeah, why not help a little more.
  
  Pierce did feel bad for whatever trainer met the group of mankeys afterwards though. Since the family was getting a lot of training done without having to worry about food and such, with Lily and Pierce providing for them. On top of that, they also didn't quite have to worry about other pokemon either, since occasionally, the trainers would also take care of that too.
  
  With all that, the wild pokemon had a lot more time to get stronger and it was showing by the day. Pierce was fairly sure that was the whole reason the mankeys had stuck around for three days and looked like they might do so for quite a bit more. Not that Lily and him were complaining, since this meant more spar partners as a whole and more security in case something happened. The mankey family also made it more likely that wild pokemon would leave them somewhat alone, which was fine by them.
  
  Neither had plans to catch anything in Route 4 anyway, as far as Pierce knew. Or Lily didn't, at least. He didn't really make plans to add new members at all. Sure, he knew where some of his favorite pokemon could be found and he'd considered looking for them, but he thought it was much more important to get to know a pokemon and see if they could get along. The last thing he wanted was to add a member to his team only for them to be unhappy.
  
  Pierce was happy with the "recruitment method" he had going, if it could even be called that.
  
  "Okay, guys!" Lily called then, when the pokemon started showing their exhaustion and their wounds started weighting on them. Pierce nodded along with her, affirming her decision when the pokemon paused. "That's all for now, you are doing great!" she praised, and he had to hold back a smile at the way some of the mankey seemed to preen at her words.
  
  "You know what to do," Pierce said simply as the pokemon nodded and made their way to one side of the clearing. Following them, he pulled his boxes of supplies out so that he could treat whatever damage they'd sustained through the spar. It wasn't much and probably none of them really needed it but it didn't sit well with Pierce to leave them injured. If he'd been short on supplies, maybe he'd have considered leaving them be, maybe, but as it was?
  
  No way.
  
  So, it was time for some treatment. Although, to be fair, he didn't need to do much. Just check the wounds in case they were worse than they looked - which they weren't, predictably - and spraying a bit of potion here and there. An easy job was a good thing though, so Pierce was certainly not complaining.
  
  "Welcome back," he heard Lily greet, probably Papa Primeape, since he'd gone away shortly after the spar started. "Oh, I... You didn't need to do that," he heard his traveling companion say as he finished treating one of the mankeys, which was curious. What was going on?
  
  "There you go, little guy," Pierce told the fighting type with a pat on his head. Then he chuckled when instead of going away the mankey climbed on him in a way that had Narcissa buzzing in annoyance, likely because her spot had been taken. Even Cygnus seemed a little annoyed, actually.
  
  Shaking his head at them, Pierce looked towards the evolved fighting type and Lily. He noticed what was going on immediately, since it was fairly obvious. It was difficult to misunderstand the pile of berries that laid in front of Papa Primeape. Especially so after some of the things Pierce had experienced in his relatively short time in the pokemon world.
  
  "We appreciate it," he said, approaching the two. "I'll make sure to prepare some pokeblocks for you and the little ones," he added, drawing a somewhat amused, somewhat annoyed snort from the primeape.
  
  In response, he just grinned wider.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Pierce did it again, guys! Is there anything this guy can't talk into being friends?!
  
  Anyway, I don't have much to say in regards to this chapter and I somehow forgot to write the notes after editing, so I'm kind of distracted because I have stuff to do today. So... I'll keep things short today, I think.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter though.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Dunno, people, tell me something. No question comes to mind right now.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Route 4 IV
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 IV
  
  There was a shine in Pierce's eyes as he watched Cygnus and Gem practice with the primeape and a few mankeys. However, it was nothing to the little sparkle that he could see in front of the abra's fist when he sent it forward. It was nothing, almost unnoticeable, a sparkle that you might miss if you blinked. It was still a very solid, very important progress marker though.
  
  Focus Punch was on the way to being in Cygnus' repertoire, which would be great, because so far the psychic type had had no attacking moves to work with. No moves whatsoever, really, if one didn't count Teleport. Now though, once he got the hang of that attack, maybe he could even join spars and battles.
  
  Sure, he wouldn't be the most effective battler in the world, especially since Focus Punch had the major drawback of needing preparation time, but Pierce had some ideas to try and make it work. Besides that, Cygnus didn't really need to win the fights, but being able to participate at all would be a great step. Neither trainer nor pokemon could wait to get to that.
  
  ' Great job, buddy,' he congratulated the abra in his mind, feeling Cygnus' gratitude brush against his mind. He was growing used to that, as time passed, and Pierce was starting to wonder if that meant anything in regards to psychic arts. He doubted it, but maybe that would make things easier for Cygnus, if nothing else. That would be nice, he supposed.
  
  He got a sort of confirmation from the psychic type at that moment, but it seemed a little unsure.
  
  Still, Pierce would take that.
  
  On other fronts... Well, there was Gem, who was doing better than Cygnus on Focus Punch training, if only marginally so. That made sense though, even if it frustrated Pierce's pokemon to no end. The geodude was much more physically developed than he was, so it stood to reason that she'd pick up the fighting move much easier than he did. If anything, he was doing surprisingly well for himself, even if Cygnus didn't agree on that front.
  
  Before he could look away to check on the rest of his team though, Pierce saw Papa Primeape grunt and nod, getting the attention of his dutiful students. Then there was more grunt and snort speech going on and he saw both Cygnus and Gem being taken aback. For the life of him though, Pierce couldn't quite piece together what the pokemon was saying.
  
  "Something going on?" Lily asked from behind him, obviously having noticed that something was different from the usual. They'd both been taking turns checking on their pokemon's training with the primeape, rotating so that they could watch it and also their other member's training too. As she came to stand beside him, he shrugged.
  
  "Cygnus was starting to show progress too," he informed her, since Gem had started during her own turn to check, funnily enough. "Then he made them stop and started giving a speech," he added, watching as the primeape said something else.
  
  That was when the fighting type father turned towards them. Beside him, Pierce saw Lily tense up from the corner of his eyes. He understood why, of course. His traveling companion was still a little on edge with the pokemon, even after almost a week of traveling and spending time with them. As far as Lily was concerned, any pokemon that wasn't with a trainer that she knew and trusted was a pokemon that could attack at a moment's notice.
  
  He understood that, of course, and it wasn't a bad mindset to have. The problem was that pokemon noticed that kind of thing. Some wouldn't care, but some might be on edge just because she was on edge. So... Well, it wasn't like he could help her more than he was already trying to. He'd just have to be the calm one for the moment.
  
  "Anything we should know?" he asked the primeape, more of a request than a demand, obviously. He made sure that his smile was soft, non-threatening. Primeape and mankey could take literally anything as a challenge or a reason to be annoyed. It was better to be very careful in how one expressed themselves with them. Or so he'd learned by reading and spending time with the fighting types, at least.
  
  Papa Primeape nodded then, letting out a loud grunt that had the mankeys all around gather with him. As both Pierce and Lily noticed this, the older fighting type snorted and then signaled off to the side. It was then that he understood. He was being rather blunt, but he guessed that made sense.
  
  "Well, I guess you stuck around more than we thought you would, actually," he commented, and next to him Lily let out an "oh" of realization as the pieces fell together in her mind. "Thank you for all the help," he added, getting a grunt and a shake of his head in response. "Try to keep the young ones out of trouble, yeah? Or, at least, trouble that they can't actually fight."
  
  Papa Primeape snorted then, even as the rest of his little group looked very offended by his words. The older fighting type had to bonk one of the youngest mankeys before they could do anything, shaking his head at Pierce. He just grinned at them before running his fingers through his hair.
  
  "So, that's it, huh? Well... Take care of yourselves," he told them, his smile turning a little softer, a little more sad. It always sucked to have to say goodbye, but he guessed he had to get used to that part of... Well, traveling all the time. "I won't be around to heal you anymore, yeah?"
  
  He got a series of grunts and snorts from the gathering of fighting types. By that point, Pierce's and Lily's teams had already gathered around, with Cygnus teleporting on his trainer's shoulders. The pokemon talked among themselves, likely saying their own goodbyes.
  
  "Try not to attack random trainers in the future, yeah?" Lily told them, visibility gathering her courage. "It might end badly if someone else other than us got involved," she added, and when the mankeys went to protest, Papa Primeape bonked two of them, effectively silencing the lot of them.
  
  "Maybe we'll see you later, guys," Pierce told them, giving them a wave. They replied with some of their own, or a nod in Papa Primeape's case, before they made their way deeper into the forest. "Well, that happened," he commented once they disappeared between the branches. "Guess he was waiting for us both to get actual progress with his training."
  
  "I guess," Lily said, looking to where the pokemon had gone. "Still, that was..."
  
  "Abrupt. Blunt, just like them," Pierce finished for her.
  
  "Yeah. Yeah, you are right."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Getting there, buddy," Pierce told Orion, sitting on a somewhat low tree branch, as he watched the onix train. He was really starting to get the turning ground to sand part of Sand Tomb. The movement and such of said sand was a little more out of his reach, but the stone serpent was getting there. Pierce had no doubt that he'd have made some good progress by the time they reached Cerulean.
  
  Which was great, but also wasn't quite a priority since Orion wouldn't be doing much in that city, at least Gym wise. Maybe he they could hit the battlegrounds though and earn some money. Not that they needed it, but his pokemon could use the distraction, he was sure. And the experience of battles that were a little more serious too, he supposed.
  
  ' I just really can't be all for battles like my team, I guess,' Pierce mused with a grin.
  
  "Keep it up, Orion. Do it slowly, so you can focus. There's no need to rush things, I've told you," he reminded his pokemon, getting a rumbling whine before the stone serpent continued working.
  
  ' Cygnus,' Pierce called, and the abra immediately teleported to his shoulders and then got the both of them to Narcissa. This was training for both of them, for the pokemon to get better at teleporting others. As for Pierce, well, this way, he could learn how to adapt to random teleports in case he needed that sort of skill in an emergency.
  
  In this case, he barely caught himself from a sitting position to a standing position.
  
  "A little higher would have been better," he suggested to his psychic type, who quickly gave him an affirmative answer before teleporting back to where he'd been training. Adjusting himself and trying to shake off the awkward feeling of being teleported, Pierce took a deep breath in. They were both getting better with teleporting, he supposed, but it'd take a while still.
  
  Getting his bearings, he looked forward to see Narcissa working on her Giga Drain with Root. One look at her was all he needed to know how well things were going, which is to say not at all. She was making progress though, just not as quickly as she wanted and there was only so much that Pierce could reassure her and try to calm her down.
  
  As he heard her buzz angrily yet again, Pierce cleared his throat, catching both pokemon's attention.
  
  "Thanks for the help, Root," he said, giving the grass type a smile. "I'll make sure to make you the berry salad you like, yeah? Not even pokeblock, proper salad," he told the pokemon, grinning wider as the bulbasaur's red eyes lit up. "Could you give the two of us a moment though?"
  
  Root quickly nodded before making his way towards where Lily was working with Star.
  
  Once he was far enough, he gave Narcissa an unimpressed look which had the bug type turning away instantly. Neither said anything for a long moment before Pierce sighed. In response, the beedrill clicked her mandibles in what he assumed was her equivalent of a huff.
  
  "Ok, I guess we are stopping the Giga Drain training for now. We can work on other things," he decided. Narcissa immediately snapped her head towards him, clicking angrily and buzzing her wings for extra effect. He stood his ground, however. "You are getting frustrated and angry, and that's just making it more difficult for you to learn. You are going to take a break and work on the moves you already got down and then you'll go back to Giga Drain. Ok?"
  
  It was, in fact, not ok.
  
  Narcissa raged against that decision, making her opinion very clear for him. However, Pierce wasn't having any of it. He'd seen her get worse and worse and there was no point in letting her keep bashing her head against that wall. Sure, she might break through eventually, but that didn't mean it was ok for her to persist like that.
  
  "I'm not changing my mind," he declared the moment the beedrill gave him a second to speak. Apparently, Narcissa had finally decided that yes, he was serious, and realized that no, he actually wasn't gonna change his mind. For one last attempt though, she tried to give him a pleading look. One that had him raising an eyebrow. That was definitely not something he expected. "You know, that'd work a lot better if I didn't know you are really forcing it."
  
  To that, Narcissa "huffed" again.
  
  "Come on, up in the air and practice Tungsten Strike for a while, ok? The move still needs work anyway," he told the beedrill then, nodding as she took flight, floating in front of him. "After that, you can cycle through your other moves. Maybe work on Harden and Iron Defense while moving? Or at least being quicker."
  
  To that, she nodded and once she started working again, he sighed.
  
  ' Am I doing ok?' he wondered. He was winging it with the whole being a trainer thing, after all. He had no idea what he was doing, most of the time. Sure he'd been trying to learn as much as he could from Lily, both discreetly and overtly, but the girl had different pokemon from his. They were all different. He also wasn't Lily, so what worked for her, might not work for him, or his pokemon.
  
  ' Really hope I'm doing ok.'
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce stood across a "battlefield" - read, a clearing in the forest - from a trainer that looked pretty confident, all things considered. Off to the side, acting as referee were Lily, accompanied by a rattata that had stuck around for a day already, and his opponent's traveling companions on the other side. As it was, Lily had already beaten one of the other trainers with Talon against an Oddish.
  
  Pierce was pretty sure that grass type was gonna be facing Brock in Pewter... Or one of his siblings, at least.
  
  Back to his own fight though, he thumbed Orion's pokeball. This was a one on one, which meant that Narcissa was the best choice here. She was an all around better battler, no questions asked. However, Pierce wasn't precisely short on cash, and that was without even considering whatever reward he'd gotten for the treatment of the pokemon in Mt. Moon.
  
  On the other hand, letting his onix get some experience in pokemon battles was better, even if it lost him more battles.
  
  "Release your pokemon," Lily called and both of them let the devices in their hands open. On his side, Orion appeared, letting out a roar. On the other... 'Oh you poor bastard,' Pierce thought as a flaaffy appeared in front of his opponent. Judging by the grimace on the man's face, he didn't even have a good move to counter Orion. "Well, that's unfortunate," Lily couldn't help but comment, making his opponent grimace even harder.
  
  To the guy's credit, he didn't just give up.
  
  "Growl, follow it up with Tackle," he commanded his electric type. "Don't let it get you."
  
  "Blast," Pierce called and Orion got to it immediately, smacking his tail on the ground for a Rock Throw. "Strike if it gets close," he added then, getting a growl in response from the onix. That sounded a good enough base plan, really. No way the other guy would have called for Tackle if he had something better to work with, but he did, so...
  
  Pierce wasn't familiar with what moves flaaffy could learn, but he was betting most of the natural ones were electric. It was a second stage pokemon, after all, so at that point the guy should have taught it some different typed moves already... Unless those took too long/needed tutors. Regardless, this worked in their favor, so Pierce certainly wasn't complaining.
  
  The battle from then on was... fast, let's say.
  
  Pierce could respect the other guy from not giving up until the end though. He seemed to be half decent at battling, from what he could see through the battle. It was just a shame that their chosen pokemon made the battle so... one sided.
  
  "Oh, come on," Pierce told Orion once the other group of travelers went away. "Don't give me that. It wasn't my fault," he added, rolling his eyes at the rock type. "Pout if it's too easy, pout if you get your ass kicked. You really are a child, huh?" he asked, drawing a scandalized rumble from his pokemon. "You'll get plenty of battles, Orion, don't worry. Some will be easy, some will be hard, it's how it goes. The important thing is that you learn something from all of them... and that you don't let them get to you, the good or the bad."
  
  The onix rumbled something then and Pierce replied with a smile as he patted the side of the stone serpent's head.
  
  "Come on. Maybe we'll get another battle on our way before stopping and then I'll use the wipe on you before going to sleep, yeah?" That promise seemed to be enough to put Orion back in a good mood real quick. Lily, meanwhile, giggled behind her hand as Talon gave them an amused look from her shoulder. "Don't give us that, mister. We'll see how smug you are when we visit your family back outside Pallet."
  
  To that, the spearow seemed to change his expression about as quick as Orion did his mood.
  
  "Now, back to the pokeball you go, big guy," Pierce continued, waiting for his onix to give the ok before using the device. "What do you think, Cygnus? Time for Narcissa to get her time and a nap for you?" he asked then, receiving an affirmative from the psychic on his shoulder to which he quickly joined his rock type teammate in the stasis devices. "Girl!" Pierce called then, getting his beedrill to come back from wherever she'd been roaming around to avoid being annoyed at the fact that someone else was fighting instead of her.
  
  She immediately latched onto his back when she noticed the spot was free of Cygnus.
  
  "My team is full of children."
  
  "And you wouldn't have them any other way," Lily pointed out, to which he chuckled and nodded. "It's kind of adorable, honestly," she added, smiling fondly at them.
  
  "Thanks," he replied with a grin. Narcissa, however, didn't appreciate being called "adorable" nearly as much, clicking her mandibles annoyedly. "Oh, relax, will you? I feel like my pokemon are getting less and less friendly by the day, honestly," he mumbled, rolling his eyes.
  
  "What about Cygnus?"
  
  "I mean, he's not bad, but he's a bit... antisocial, if you will. Or so I'm starting to think, at least. All these pokemon want to do is battle," Pierce answered, cracking his neck before nodding in the direction they'd been going towards before they were interrupted by the battles. "Let's keep going, yeah? I sort-of promised Orion I'd try to get him another fight."
  
  "Sure," Lily agreed. "And I guess your pokemon are just trying to balance out your laidback, pacifistic self."
  
  "That's... one way of looking at it," Pierce acknowledged.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  As he did often, he found himself with a book in his hands, reading quietly as he let the sounds of nature be background noise. Back in his old life, he'd have needed headphones and music to tune out the outside, but in the middle of nowhere, there was little to really get distracted over once one got used to the sounds of wild pokemon, the wind on the tree branches and so on. It was its own kind of music, Pierce supposed.
  
  Granted, now he had the pokegear and he could tune some radio station or another. There were some with music just as good as what he could have heard back home too, but he'd gotten used to things before already. He was fine as he was and besides, if he could avoid wasting battery, all the better. He knew he could have Lily's charger no problem, the girl would even be happy to provide it, since she probably used the device more than he did, but still, it was the principle of the matter.
  
  After some time, Pierce found that it was easy enough to focus on his texts, especially since he was actually invested. Reading through the books he'd gotten to prepare for the First Aid License had no business being as interesting as it was. Then again, maybe he'd expected a lot more "scientific medicine" than there actually was. Granted, it wasn't simple by any means, but the problem was more about learning the very specific needs that some pokemon had in regards to care.
  
  Every pokemon was different and most of them had this one little thing or another that one needed to know when treating injuries. Things like the charmander line's tail flame thing. As it turned out, they didn't immediately die if it went off, but they very well could if it was off too long. Interestingly, water types that were more... water dependent, like goldeen and such, could survive for quite a while outside of water, but not that long either.
  
  Which Pierce was pretty sure wasn't canon, at least from what he remembered.
  
  ' Few things are in this world, at least from what I'm learning,' he mused, continuing to read through the entries. He was trying to dedicate a good amount of time to water types, considering where they were going. Not only were they going near the sea for the foreseeable future, but they were going to be challenging the water type Gym too. On top of that, Pierce himself was interested in meeting some water types, since he'd met plenty of flying and grounded pokemon.
  
  Also, he was pretty sure that he wanted to catch one of them too, if only for the sake of being practical. Having a pokemon that could swim well sounded like a good idea, especially considering that a decent chunk of the world was water. A flying type would have been on that list too, but Cygnus kind of covered that base too, if indirectly.
  
  ' I'm getting distracted,' Pierce thought, shaking his head and focusing on the book again. Still, regardless of what he wanted to do, he yawned tiredly. It was a little late, he supposed.
  
  Idly, he looked around. His back rested on Orion's curled up body, with the head of the onix lying to his side as an armrest. Cygnus, for his part, was laying on his side, having been reading together with Pierce until he couldn't anymore. Then there was Narcissa, resting on top of Orion, as if overseeing their surroundings, guarding the entire team.
  
  With a slight smile, he continued reading for a little longer. He could probably go for another hour before it really got too late. He didn't want to cut his sleep too much, after all. That'd just mess him up and he needed to be at his best for training the day after, both his team's and his own.
  
  For the moment, he had a lot of material to get through too. It was a good thing that he'd decided to go through his training plans before studying though, since those were a lot more time sensitive. It didn't matter if he had to delay his First Aid License test, since he could take that one more or less whenever, but being a trainer was his every day thing for the moment. That meant he had to give it his best.
  
  His team deserved nothing else, after all.
  
  Pierce might not be a fan of battles and he'd more or less avoid them if he could get away with it... But his team loved them. Narcissa wanted to prove to the world that she was more than just a bug. Orion wanted to grow stronger, so he'd never be defenseless again. Cygnus wanted to test his own limits, go where few if any had gone in the road to strength, experience new things. All of them connected with each other through battles and Pierce wasn't gonna be the odd one out in his own team.
  
  He might not be a fan, but for the sake of his new friends, the family he was building for himself... He'd do his best and he'd be damned if he let them down. That thought motivated him, it kept him going when he studied, it gave him energy when he was exercising, it drove him in his battles. Because he might not like battles, but something he did like was making his team happy.
  
  And if they were happy battling, being strong and winning... Then Pierce would make sure that they won as much as he could make them win. Maybe there was an Ash Ketchum or Red out there in the world, or maybe there wasn't. Maybe there were any number of such individuals walking around, and maybe it was arrogant of him, but if his team wanted to beat them too, then Pierce would give it his best shot.
  
  They were all he had, so he'd give them his all.
  
  It was the least he could do.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Some more traveling and training and interactions, as usual. I know it's kind of repetitive of me to keep more or less doing the same things only slightly different but... That's kind of how life works. You don't become close with someone after a single interaction, for example, you become close to someone after a long time with them, so I want to show that time passage and characters being with each other and such.
  
  I'm aware that it's a terrible way to tell a story, but it's what I like to do with mine. Although, to be honest, if you made it this far and you don't like my way of telling stories... I don't know what to tell you.
  
  Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I think I mentioned it a bunch of times that Pierce wants to get a water type. Any idea which one it could be?
  
  See you.
  
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  Route 4 V
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 V
  
  "Razor Leaf," the trainer across from him called and Pierce grimaced.
  
  "Come on, Orion! Blast-Modify!" he called, drawing a confused look from their opponent. The girl quickly shook her head and focused on the battle though, which was fair. She was winning and very likely to come out on top even with Pierce and Orion having a command system she didn't understand.
  
  Nuzleaf was a great counter for his onix, after all. It couldn't fly, but it was fast and agile enough to dodge any attack Orion sent his way. On top of that, Razor Leaf allowed him to attack from a safe distance and do good amounts of damage. Pierce was half convinced that the girl had purposely chosen someone that could literally smack around Orion...
  
  After all, her sandshrew had lost very badly against the onix.
  
  Still...
  
  "Don't stop shooting, buddy," he called, making Orion smack his tail to the ground and continuing to send Rock Throws at the dodging grass type. When there was enough distance between them, his pokemon added a Harden to the mix, following his orders from before. Screech was an option too, but it seemed neither Pierce nor Orion thought it a good option, so it was just the defensive move for the moment.
  
  "Keep it up, Nuzleaf, we'll be done soon enough," the trainer said calmly and her pokemon followed the order to the letter, continuing to dodge and sending more Razor Leaves their way. Ultimately, Orion was kind of doomed, but he got some good fighting done, which was the important part.
  
  For the moment, even if it was something necessary and unavoidable - as he'd likely tell Orion later -, the loss grated on him anyway. His pokemon wanted to be strong, all of them, so it felt like a failure on his part whenever he lost. He knew it was silly to think like that, but he couldn't help it. So, with that in mind, he decided to continue with the battle... a smirk slipping onto his face.
  
  An expression that became more pronounced when he saw the confident look on the girl's face turn into something completely different as Narcissa appeared. Which made sense, since she was a pokemon that likely could match her Nuzleaf's speed and dexterity... And had effective poison moves against it, together with doubly effective bug type moves too. The fight was basically over, really, but Pierce wasn't going to be overconfident if he could help it.
  
  "Modify-Strike, bug attacks," he commanded as the fight continued, making Narcissa buff up before dashing towards the now nervous Nuzleaf. To their credit, they put up a decent fight, making Narcissa work for her hits for a bit and getting a few licks in with some normal type attacks. It all came to a somewhat abrupt end when Narcissa nailed the nuzleaf with a Bug Bite.
  
  "Who even uses bug types anymore?" he heard the other trainer grumble, but it didn't seem to be an actual insult, as far as he could tell. Just some harmless complaining, or so he imagined. Narcissa still didn't like hearing that though. "Sorry, I didn't mean that," the girl apologized quickly with a nervous smile as she looked at the offended beedrill before handing the betting money to Pierce. "Good battle."
  
  "Same," he replied with a nod and a smile. "Good luck in the next one."
  
  "I'd say the same, but I think you'll be fine," she shot back, seemingly glad that he was fine with things. "Maybe we'll see each other around."
  
  "Maybe," he said, and that was that. It was just Lily and him with their teams once more. "So, that's done," he commented, tilting his head. "Should I treat Orion and Narcissa here or-" He was interrupted as the aforementioned bug type flew around him and latched onto his back. "Guess we can travel a bit and find a nice spot."
  
  "Sounds like a plan," Lily replied, clearly amused. "I was hearing that there was more Rocket trouble," she added, the smile falling off her face as she waved her pokedex in the air. "Somewhere in Route 6, Surge took care of that, apparently."
  
  "Here's hoping some of the rumors about the guy are true," Pierce commented with a grimace. Was it too much to ask for Team Rocket to just be dealt with? Maybe it was whiny of him to think like that, considering that he'd never had to directly deal with them, but still... The mess they'd caused around Mt. Moon was enough for him to want them gone as soon as possible. He could only imagine how many other such incidents they'd caused before and how many they'd cause in the future.
  
  ' More motivation to get stronger and get the First Aid License, I guess,' Pierce mused. He hadn't liked having to heal the pokemon at Mt. Moon and its surroundings. He'd have much preferred the pokemon be healthy and fine instead of... Like that. However, that was unrealistic and probably also stupid. So, if he could help by getting better all around, then he would, even if he'd prefer not to get involved in such things.
  
  "I'm pretty sure they are," Lily replied to his previous comment, breaking Pierce out of his thoughts. "I've heard some stuff from... reliable sources."
  
  "Professor Oak? Your mother?" he asked, watching in amusement as Lily's cheeks turned pink and she looked aside. "Oh wow, I never would have seen that coming," he added with the flattest tone he could manage.
  
  "Shut up, Pierce. Let's get going," the girl told him, huffing and starting to walk away before he could say anything else. To that, he just traded a look with Narcissa over his shoulder and then chuckled before following after his traveling companion.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Ugh," Pierce groaned, sitting down and leaning his back against a tree. His legs burned and his arms felt heavy. As it was, he was also barely getting his breath back to normal. "Exercising sucks," he grumbled.
  
  Maybe it was hypocritical of him to complain about that when he was a trainer, regularly making his pokemon push their limits. In his defense, that was what they wanted though. He'd have been fine without doing that altogether and going for another of the many routes available for him.
  
  ' I'd even have preferred that, if only because then I wouldn't have to exercise too,' Pierce thought to himself, pushing through the exhaustion and picking up one of his books to read while he recovered from the work out. Once he'd cooled down a little, then he'd clean up. For the moment, he wanted to just lay down and read for a bit.
  
  Idly, he cast one more look at his pokemon to check on them. Orion was taking a break from Sand Tomb to work on his other moves. Narcissa had gone back to Giga Drain and seemed to be doing a little better than before. And Cygnus... Cygnus was nowhere to be seen.
  
  That is, until the abra teleported right beside him, making Pierce jump a little.
  
  ' That's not nice,' he projected towards the familiar presence brushing against his mind. The psychic seemed to be mostly amused by this, but there was also something else. There was an underlying determination there, with some nerves true, but solid resolution all the same.
  
  " Helper-Speaker," he heard, making him perk up. The voice came just as inhuman as the psychic pokemon voices he'd heard before, but it sounded even more off. It was distorted, as if there was static of some kind or something like that. Immediately, he felt Cygnus' annoyance.
  
  ' Already starting to speak, huh? That was better than I expected things to go,' he informed his pokemon, not really making him feel better. 'Come on, I expected you to start off with a lot of garbled speaking. This was a lot better than that.'
  
  The abra was only mildly reassured by that.
  
  ' So, does that mean I can find out what's up with the "Helper-Speaker" thing soon?' he asked, receiving only amusement in response. 'I'm curious, ok?!'
  
  Cygnus sent him the psychic equivalent of a laugh.
  
  ' See if I make your favorite pokeblocks, funny guy,' Pierce shot then, making his pokemon go psychically silent. 'That's what I thought,' he added with a smirk. 'Congrats on the speech though. I'm sure we'll have actual conversations in no time.'
  
  Cygnus was quite pleased with that, enough that the feeling transmitted through their connection made Pierce smile.
  
  " Prek-tis," the abra said then, making him blink.
  
  ' Now, that's more what I expected,' he mused, drawing a psychic groan from Cygnus before the pokemon teleported away. Back to practice it was for him, it seemed. Pierce was happy with his progress though, since he was getting better and better with Teleport. Focus Punch was getting places, slowly, but getting places all the same. And now it seemed that he might be able to better communicate with his abra too.
  
  Things were going well on the Cygnus front, evidently.
  
  If they continued that way, maybe Pierce would even use him in the Gym battle. At least, if he didn't find some other pokemon for it, since Orion was a no-no for that. If worse came to worst though, maybe he'd skip Cerulean too. Not like it'd be difficult to challenge the gyms later, once Cygnus was able to teleport them around in longer distances.
  
  As it was...
  
  ... Pierce just sighed, deflating a little as he looked at the book on his lap.
  
  His days were busy. There was traveling, there was training, there was working out and there was studying. Little else fit in his routine, really. He didn't want to add more to those things, really, but he also felt like he needed to. Or, more specifically, he felt like he needed to cut down on those things and add something more... relaxed.
  
  Pierce knew very well what burn out was and he was almost positive that he was getting there. The only thing he could comfortably take out of his routine was working out though, and he didn't want to do that. It'd feel shitty, if he were to do that, while keeping everyone training. Sure, studying and training his team could count as working on things too, but it wasn't the same.
  
  He dismissed Cygnus' concerns when the abra's mind brushed against his. He could deal with things for the moment. The occasional stop to interact with some wild pokemon or just generally resting would do for the moment. Maybe he could find something to relax once they made it to a city. After all, once they were in one, there was no need to spend a chunk of the day traveling.
  
  ' Might be another balancing act to keep up,' he mused. 'Don't stay in a city long enough to impact the journey, don't travel long enough to impact your mental health,' Pierce thought, tilting his head curiously. That seemed like a probable enough theory to him. Then again, they could stretch the trip a little bit to account for some more downtime, he supposed.
  
  ' That's a nice thought,' he decided, liking the sound of that last idea. 'I think I'll try and get Lily to agree to a day's pause once we reach water,' he added with a grin.
  
  With that decided and the prospect of a break in the horizon, Pierce focused back on his book. That First Aid License wouldn't get itself, after all. He wasn't sure for how long he'd have to study to be ready for it, but he wanted to give it his all and get it as soon as possible. Then he wouldn't have to worry every time he applied a potion on some wild pokemon or another. Nor would he have to stop himself from offering to treat other people's pokemon that weren't Lily's.
  
  ' Lots of things to work on,' he thought with another sigh.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "This is nice," Pierce commented, laying over the grass. Sure, it was just a short break and such, but at that very moment, it was very relaxing. Probably wouldn't help much with the growing exhaustion he was feeling, but that was a problem for another time, at least. Besides, Lily had agreed to stop for a bit as soon as they reached the water.
  
  The pokemon he was resting his head on hissed her agreement.
  
  "You are really comfy, has anyone ever told you that?" he asked, receiving some pleased hissing from the creature. "Yeah, I could stay like this forever."
  
  The ekans he was spending some time with simply shifted a little and laid her head on his chest. It was a little funny, he supposed, that he was resting on her body and she was resting on his. Or maybe he just thought that because he was half-asleep from the gentle warmth of the sunlight and the surprisingly soft skin and muscle of the serpent pokemon.
  
  Star babbled something contently from his side, having joined him and the ekans for their pseudo-nap. Pierce could almost feel Lily's concerned gaze on them, but fortunately she hadn't voiced her worries. The poison type was unlikely to take that well, even if she'd been very chill after he treated some bruising she'd had when they came across her and fed her some kibble.
  
  As it was, their group had decided to take a short break then and there, with Cygnus sleeping, Orion curled up under the sun to the side and Root sitting on top of the onix. Narcissa and Talon, for their parts, were flying around, the open space of the increasingly scarcer trees giving them a different kind of pleasure than the forest did.
  
  He wasn't sure where Gem was, but he'd bet she was with Lily off to the side. That was where he'd last seen the two of them though, before he let the calm feeling of just lying there take over. He wasn't even sure how long he'd been there already, so he might have missed a few things while shutting off his brain.
  
  A sleepy mumble came from Star before he felt the fairy type shift and rest against his side.
  
  Immediately afterwards, Lily confirmed that she was still there with the click of a photograph being taken. That was fine, he supposed. He did notice though, that she was taking more of those ever since Mt. Moon. Maybe she'd found that she liked that? It was a possibility.
  
  For the moment, Pierce decided that thinking was too much effort and slowly shut off his brain. Their teams were around and Lily was wide awake. They could take care of anything that popped up. 'I'll just... sleep for a lil' bit...'
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  His feet moved into the water and he sighed, deflating where he sat.
  
  "God, I didn't think my feet felt that bad until just now," Lily groaned from beside him and he fully agreed with her on that. He'd known his feet could use a break from all the trekking but he'd thought things weren't quite as bad. That is, until he sat down and placed said limbs inside the water.
  
  "You can say that again," he agreed out loud as he looked off into the water. They'd finally reached the coast. The place they were at was where the mountain and the sea met though, so there was no sand, only rock and water. Still, it made for a great spot to rest anyway. They'd have a beach to enjoy later.
  
  After a long moment, he looked at his pokemon. Narcissa seemed mostly indifferent about the whole thing, which... He supposed was expected. Cygnus seemed to like the sight though, sitting up on a tall rock and watching towards the horizon. It was a new experience and the psychic probably liked that. Then there was Orion... Who was warily poking at the water with his tail as if the sea would jump out and bite him.
  
  Pierce guessed that was something similar to how Narcissa and Cygnus had felt while inside Mt. Moon. A natural instinct against something that was harmful to him. Water instead of the dark and rock, in this particular case. Interesting that.
  
  At least Orion wasn't alone on that front, with Gem just as uneasy with the extension of water before them. Root seemed to be mostly fine with it even though it was salt water, which was curious too. Talon seemed to care about as much as Narcissa did, which is to say not at all. And Star...
  
  Star jumped into the water.
  
  Fortunately, it was a shallow pool that had likely formed with the waves during high tide outside of the actual sea. Pierce could already see Lily or himself having to throw themselves into the water to rescue the little excitable thing from its own idea of fun. Not that he could blame the fairy type much, since she likely had experienced very little outside of Mt. Moon. The forest they'd left some time ago had been quite the shock by itself, but the sea ?
  
  Yeah, Pierce understood.
  
  "A shame it's not safe to swim here," Lily commented, to which he had to nod. There were too many rocks around for them to really get into the water. A sudden wave could end up very badly for them, considering the surroundings. As it was, they were kind of risking it a little just doing what they were doing, actually.
  
  "Maybe tomorrow?" he commented, moving his feet on the water a little bit. "Can't wait, honestly. It's been forever since I swam," he added. It'd been a while ago, actually, visiting one of his relatives that had a pool in their backyard. It wasn't that big, and he'd had to share it with his cousins and such but... Whenever he had a moment to just swim around, it'd be nice.
  
  "There's shore not that far from Pallet, so it hasn't been that long for me, but I'm definitely missing it," Lily replied with a grin. "I think I'll have to teach Star how to swim though. I feel like she'll want to do that a whole lot."
  
  "At least until the novelty wears off, yeah," he agreed. "Swimming might be great training for Cygnus, actually," he added then, considering his team member. Narcissa and Orion were likely to stay far away from the water but the psychic...
  
  Yeah, Cygnus definitely liked that idea.
  
  "That's two for the swimming classes," he commented, to which Root barked something. "Make it three. We'll have fun, I'm sure."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lillian Dale]
  
  "Huh, I look good," Pierce commented, seemingly giving himself a look after having changed into his swimming trunks. Lily could only roll her eyes at him. Although, admittedly, he wasn't wrong.
  
  "That's a bit narcissistic, isn't it?" she asked, tilting her head.
  
  "First of all, don't worry, Lily, you are still the eye-candy in this duo," he answered with a grin. She had to make a conscious effort not to roll her eyes again. Being honest though, the compliment was very much appreciated. "Second of all, I didn't quite mean it like that. I just... haven't been very fit since... ever, really. Hell, I was actually kind of worried I'd start getting fat before... Before I started my journey," he added, hesitating for a moment.
  
  Which was curious, but not something new to Lily. She already knew - or theorized, but whatever - that he hadn't quite started his journey with a lot of planning. It almost seemed like he'd just stumbled into the path more than anything else. Probably because something had happened in his life, she bet.
  
  Puzzle pieces kept appearing all over the place, and they didn't paint a nice picture.
  
  "So, who's ready for some swimming? Because I sure am," Pierce said as he stretched some more, starting to walk towards the water. He looked ready to go straight to the deep waters, which...
  
  "We'll keep close by. Root and Star don't know how to swim and I'm... not the best at it, so I'd rather have them know what to do before we go deep. I don't think I'd be able to help much if something happened," Lily admitted. She liked swimming as much as the next girl, but she wasn't... Particularly skilled in that field.
  
  "Ah, makes sense," the young man replied, deflating a little as he looked out at the sea and then towards Cygnus. Lily didn't need to be - or have - a psychic to know what was going on there. Ultimately, Pierce shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "No, you are right. We can start slow. Cygnus and I have to test his Teleport with water around anyway."
  
  It sounded to Lily's ears as if it pained him to acknowledge that no, he couldn't go swimming to his heart's content. It was a very amusing sight, to see a grown man like Pierce all but pout. She managed not to laugh at him though, but it was a close thing.
  
  "You could just go swimming and do the rest later though, I can look over everyone for a bit by myself," Lily offered, but Pierce shook his head.
  
  "No, it's fine," Pierce said, shaking his head. "Too many pokemon to look after and most of them can't swim if anything happens in the water," he added, which was fair. Although, Lily rather doubted that would remain the case for long. If nothing else, the man was bound to find some water type to befriend and that'd be that, even if they didn't manage to get one on their teams. "Maybe I can teach you how to swim too. Never know when you might need to do so, and well."
  
  "I... guess?" she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. He wasn't wrong though. Especially because Lily wanted to get a water type for herself too. Maybe later down the line, considering her team had gotten two new members pretty quickly, but still.
  
  "And that's that, let's go. If you don't get into the water some while we are in Cerulean, you won't be left alone," Pierce commented with a chuckle. "If you know you know," he added with a grin.
  
  Lily, for her part, didn't know how to reply to that, other than probably blushing a bit, if the heat on her face was any indication. Sure, she knew she was pretty, but people in Pallet didn't really have high standards, considering it was so small. It was nice to get confirmation out of it, something that was helped by Pierce seemingly deciding to throw compliments rather freely...
  
  When he wasn't reminding her of mistakes, that is.
  
  "Guess it's a good thing you will be swimming a lot too," she added eventually, to which Pierce laughed even more than before. "What?"
  
  "Nothing, I just... I'm not the most sociable person, so I just can't see that," he said, and Lily knew that many people wouldn't believe that. He seemed like as much of an outgoing person as she was. However, the fact was that... Pierce truly wasn't all that sociable.
  
  The most glaring proof of this was that he only seemed to really interact with Lily herself, their pokemon and wild pokemon. He'd gotten along with Arnold back in Pewter and the rangers he'd met too, but those were more because of professional settings. It'd been a surprise for Lily when she figured that out, because she'd almost missed all that.
  
  As it was, Pierce didn't even seem to have family or other friends besides Lily herself. Ever since he'd gotten the pokegear, she'd started paying more attention to that too. He hadn't used it even once since they got out of Mt. Moon. No call had been made and he barely seemed to use it for anything other than setting up the radio function, so messages were out too.
  
  Of course, he'd told her that there wasn't anyone to call, but still... She had a hard time believing that someone like him had no friends back home, even if he might not be on the best of terms with his family or something like that. Surely there was someone, right?
  
  It was rather sad, that for someone as nice and friendly as Pierce was, he seemed to have no one.
  
  Lily didn't know what she could do regarding that other than be there for him and hope that it would be enough.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  We are getting closer to Cerulean, guys! Otherwise, business as usual in this chapter. A little of this, a little of that. Just more things to build up the characters and give the whole thing a more life-ish vibe, if that makes sense. I know most people just can't wait for Pierce to actually do something, like challenge a Gym or participate in a tournament or something. I promise I'm trying to get there, guys! I do!
  
  It's just the damn characters don't wanna follow, but it's gonna happen. I swear.
  
  Maybe.
  
  Probably.
  
  ...
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: My mind decided to turn off when trying to think of a question, so I'll just ask: What's your favorite part of this story?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Route 4 VI
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 VI
  
  "There you go, little one, you are doing great," Pierce encouraged softly as he held onto Star's little arms and made her practice swimming with her legs. It was very different from teaching and playing with his little brother and his cousins in a pool, but teaching the pokemon to swim in the shallow beach was turning out to be pretty nice for him. It was... like mixing good times of his old life with good times of his new one, he supposed.
  
  Bittersweet, in a way, but still more good than bad.
  
  The fairy type babbled something half enthusiastic and half a little strained from the effort. It was adorable, really, and it was entirely too unfair. Pierce wanted to just stop the teaching and just play with her. That was for later though. After all, Star was the one that was having the most trouble learning how to swim.
  
  To be expected, really, since her limbs were rather short and stubby. Root had made decent progress, for his part, but he was having some trouble too. At the moment though, the bulbasaur was taking a break while Pierce helped his teammate. Then there was Cygnus, who had taken to it the best out of the three, which wasn't really a surprise. He was the most humanoid of the bunch, so that meant that he could be taught a lot easier too.
  
  "I think that's enough for now, yeah?" Pierce commented, picking Star up when he saw that she was starting to tire out. "You are doing great. We'll have you swimming circles around water types in no time."
  
  To that, the fairy type babbled something, some of her adorably happy self being missing since she was weary from the exercise. That was fine though, Pierce had no trouble just carrying her in his arms as he had enjoyed doing with some of his younger relatives. He'd probably set her down next to Lily so she could take a nap.
  
  Speaking of the cleffa's trainer...
  
  "Weren't you going to teach them too?" he asked, looking down at the girl while she just laid on the beach on top of a towel, sunbathing. "I should be charging you, honestly."
  
  "I'm too pretty to be charged for something though!" she protested, very obviously joking, considering she didn't even manage to keep the smile off her face. "You looked like you were enjoying yourself. And besides, it's a good thing I stayed here. Narcissa and Talon wanted to start a spar while you were away."
  
  "Of course they did," he mumbled, rolling his eyes as he set Star down next to her trainer. "She did great, by the way, but she's tired."
  
  "I saw most of it," Lily told him with a soft smile before she looked down at her pokemon. Star was now shifting where he'd set her down so that she was leaning on Lily and ready to go to sleep, it seemed. "Thanks for taking care of them. I'd really have joined but... I don't think I'd have helped much and I thought it'd be better to stay here and keep an eye on things."
  
  "That's fine," Pierce reassured, looking to the side and catching Orion taking one of the bigger stones on the beach and eating it. The place was more sandy-ish than the first part they'd found, and it was supposed to get better and better the closer they got to Cerulean, but it still wasn't saying much. He couldn't wait to be at a place that had actual soft sand instead of the pseudo-gravel they had over where they were at the moment.
  
  "Going to swim by yourself for a bit?" Lily asked him knowingly as he pulled out a bottle of water from his backpack and took a gulp. Afterwards, he just gave her a grin. "Figured."
  
  "I like swimming," he replied with a shrug. "And it's quite the contrast from all the walking we've been doing. I'll probably tone it down after a bit. Probably not before we leave Cerulean though, provided we don't stay for long."
  
  "I mean, I asked my mother to check if there was going to be a tournament or something and she told me not for another month or so. I'm pretty sure we won't be staying that long," Lily told him, to which he hummed, taking another gulp of water before setting the bottle down.
  
  "That's good to know. Shame, I'd have liked to participate now, but I guess my team is kind of still taking shape," he mused, looking towards where Cygnus was sleeping and where Orion was eating another rock, glutton that he was. Or maybe he just found the rocks at the beach more tasty or something? Then there was Narcissa, flying around and doing light enough pseudo-training by using a move here and now that Pierce didn't feel like stopping her. "Maybe the next one."
  
  "Cyngus is kind of incapable of battling and Orion can pull something off, but in a tournament..."
  
  "Yeah, Narcissa's the only one that's gonna really give us a chance," he agreed with a nod. Sure, it sucked, but it'd get better after some time. Besides, there was no rush. Getting into the Conference would be great, but if he didn't, then it was no skin off his back. He could try the next year and probably have better luck. "Anyway, thoughts for later. Lots of things to do and I should prepare for the Gym battle I think I'll have than a tournament that's not here yet."
  
  "But you'll go swimming instead," Lily pointed out, amused.
  
  "Hey, I might find a water type while swimming, one never knows!" he commented with a grin and a chuckle as he walked backwards towards the water before turning around. "Do try not to eat my food while I'm-"
  
  "Oh, shut up, Pierce!"
  
  Laughing and shaking his head, he walked into the water and eventually started swimming. As it turned out, he did find a water type and he spent a good few minutes moving around with a friendly goldeen before they went away. All in all, a good day.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Strike," Pierce said, taking deep breaths and trying to keep his mind clear as the fight went on. Narcissa dashed forward, stingers shining with Twineedle.
  
  "Catch them! Vice Grip!" the trainer on the other side called for the krabby to follow. And they did, just not well enough to actually manage to get a hold of the beedrill, thankfully. Mostly thanks to the fact that Narcissa's stingers were long enough to let her keep some distance. Even if the krabby had caught her, it'd have been by those, and they were hard enough that they could have done something to get the pokemon off.
  
  "Blast," Pierce decided to follow with. That attempt had gone well, but not well enough for him to want to risk it again. The water type seemed to be more skilled than he'd thought. To be fair, the trainer had looked and sounded like a braggart, but apparently he could back some of his talk too. Those were always the most annoying.
  
  "Bubble!" their opponent called and the water type move clashed against Narcissa's Poison Sting, canceling each other. Pierce didn't tell Narcissa to stop, precisely, but he did need to do something to try and change how things were going.
  
  "Add Move to that," he said, and she immediately started flying around. Not that she'd been static before, but now she was really doing her best to be all over the place. That was what he wanted. The krabby could only turn so much, and they'd met few things that could keep up with Narcissa's flying. Evidently, their opponent wasn't one of them.
  
  It didn't take long for the purple rain to fall on top of the poor crab, and for it and its trainer to lose the battle.
  
  "Good battle," Pierce said, keeping a friendly smile as he accepted the prize money from the very obviously annoyed boy. He seemed to be about Lily's age, if he had to bet, maybe a year older.
  
  "Yeah, yeah, whatever," the other trainer grumbled as he started moving away immediately.
  
  "Rude," Lily commented, coming to stand next to him as they watched the boy go. "Didn't even say bye."
  
  "I think I might have hurt his ego too much by beating him in front of you," Pierce said with an amused grin. He hadn't quite caught the boy's name, but he'd definitely been checking Lily out before their battle. Maybe he'd done so during the battle too? That'd explain some things.
  
  "Yeah, well, nobody likes a sore loser," she replied, drawing a chuckle from him. "What? It's true, isn't it?" she added, before looking down at Gem, who had been "walking" next to them for a bit now. Part of some light training, basically.
  
  ' Maybe we can do that?' he wondered, and Cygnus teleported from where he'd been sitting on top of Pierce's shoulders to standing next to him. 'Don't push yourself too much.'
  
  '... Khnow,' the psychic type replied, to which he nodded. The butchered speech didn't really matter. He was just happy that his pokemon was progressing. It was more or less about the same as watching them struggle with new moves, really. If looked at it like that, it was fine for Cygnus to struggle his way to perfection. If anything, he was doing rather well, he supposed.
  
  The abra seemed to appreciate that thought, at least.
  
  And Narcissa certainly appreciated the open spot on his back, because she instantly flew around and latched on his shoulders. Sometimes, Pierce wondered when the feeling of very dangerous stingers around his neck had become comforting. As it was, he considered what to do next. They'd been traveling before the battle but...
  
  "You want to go a little longer or do we set up camp here?" he asked, turning to look at Lily, who was now looking at Cygnus curiously. "He decided to follow Gem's example and train a little."
  
  "Then I guess we should at least walk some more, right?" Lily pointed out, to which Pierce just shrugged. "Yeah, we can go a little further. You just want to stop so you can swim."
  
  "Guilty," he admitted with a grin. "Guess some more travel is in order, what can you do?"
  
  "I'd tell you that it can be dangerous to swim a lot and away from a city without a water type... but I don't think I can stop you, can I?" Lily asked, sounding more resigned than anything.
  
  "I mean, come on. Pokemon around here seem friendly. Or, at least, that goldeen back over there was," he replied, waving vaguely behind them to where they had come from. "Besides, I don't go that far into the water. I'm sure I won't come across a gyarados over there."
  
  "You had to jinx it, didn't you? You couldn't help yourself," Lily said, sighing and deflating. In her arms, Star made an adorably display of comfortingly patting her trainer. "Thanks, girl."
  
  "Are you done?" Pierce asked, raising an eyebrow at his traveling companion's antics. "I knew you were a kid, but come on."
  
  "Hey, I'll have you know I'm an adult. Have been for over a year!" she protested in a very childish display that really wasn't helping her argument, really.
  
  "Mhm, I'm sure you are, kiddo."
  
  "Oh, shut up, old man," she muttered, kicking his shin with basically zero force.
  
  "Ouch, right in my feelings," he said then, dramatically being a hypocrite. "Back in my day there was more respect."
  
  "Sure. Whatever you say, Pierce," Lily replied, sighing again and starting to walk away.
  
  "Hey, wait! Orion, we are going!" he called, first to the girl and then to the onix who had wandered off after the battle was done. Apparently, the salty rocks on the beach tasted really good. Maybe he should re-check the onix parts of his books to see if that was healthy. If it was, he might just pick some up to keep as snacks or something.
  
  ' I haven't been checking if Gem does the same. I should,' he mused as he caught up with Lily, sending a glance towards her geodude. 'Something to keep in mind.'
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Defense Curl and Tackle, Gem," Lily called and Pierce was glad that he could sit down for this battle. She was fighting a guy with a sandshrew, after all, and so her geodude didn't really have many options to use against that for the moment. At least, not much that would work better than a good old Tackle. To make matters "worse" in a sense, he was pretty sure that Sandshrew didn't actually get to learn many ground type attacks.
  
  "Poison Sting!" the other trainer called, looking a little put off for some reason. Which... fair enough. He probably realized that this battle was gonna be annoying. 'Why can sandshrew learn Poison Sting early on but not something ground based besides Sand Attack?'
  
  Pokemon movesets were weird.
  
  At least he was sitting down and he had company in the shape of their pokemon. Well, there were the opponent's traveling companions too, one of whom was refereeing the match, but he didn't feel like approaching them. All in all, Pierce didn't think it was really worth it to interact much with such people. At least with pokemon, he'd talk a bit and spend some time together. In challenges though? People just got the fight over with and went away.
  
  It was also always a little awkward most times, since one side had just lost a battle and no matter how good a loser you were, it was still...
  
  Yeah.
  
  Some of them were nice and he didn't mind stopping to chat with them, but he didn't like the look one of the guys on the other group was giving him. On top of that, a girl that was with them had looked at him before and started giggling so... Yeah, he didn't think they were nice people.
  
  Fortunately, he had Star sitting on his lap while they watched Lily's fight and his team around him to keep him company. Well, everyone except Orion, since he was in his pokeball for the moment. He was in good company, so everything was fine. Pierce wasn't too sure why Cyngus kept sending him amusement, but if he wasn't telling, then it probably wasn't important.
  
  "Finally, huh?" he asked when Lily finally got in the few hits that finished the fight. Apparently, the other guy had gotten impatient and tried to use Magnitude when his sandshrew hadn't mastered it and had given Pierce's traveling companion the opening she needed. Thank God for that, since they'd have been there a while longer if not. "Back to your trainer you go, girl," he commented, standing up with Star in his arms.
  
  The cleffa babbled happily and adorably as usual while pointing towards Lily.
  
  "Say," the girl from before started when they gathered around Lily and her opponent. Pierce almost groaned when she seemed to move closer to him. From before, he half expected some kind of joke or something before more giggles.
  
  Call him weird, but giggling girls made him uncomfortable. Like he was the butt of a joke or something, even when it was definitely for something else entirely. 'Yeah, I'm definitely weird, I guess.'
  
  "You are going to Cerulean, right?" she asked, making him blink as she pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. 'She's not...' he thought, holding back the urge to gulp.
  
  "Yeah," he answered hesitantly, sending a look to an amused Lily. 'Well, thanks for nothing. Some friend you are,' he groaned internally, "We are going to try and challenge the Gym there."
  
  "We are going there too," the girl told him, smiling widely, as if that was great news for some reason. As she went to say something else though, the guy that had been looking at him before stepped closer too.
  
  "You up for a battle?" he asked, rather bluntly.
  
  "Sure," Pierce replied, trying not to do so too quickly. He remembered them saying that few of their pokemon were up to battling and they wanted to keep some in good shape. Whatever had made him change his mind, Pierce was grateful for it. "Regular bet?"
  
  "That works for me," the boy answered, nodding a little stiffly before moving to one end of the improvised battlefield. 'Is he...?' Pierce wondered, blinking. Suddenly, he was feeling both amused and annoyed. Surely he was wrong, right? He had to be reading too much into it. No way this was happening to him.
  
  "Sorry, looks like I have a battle to get to now," Pierce told the girl with an apologetic smile that he almost meant. Her answering grin seemed to have turned a little uncomfortable, but Pierce couldn't bring himself to care much.
  
  "It's fine," she mumbled before walking off towards their group once more.
  
  "... traitor," he hissed then, as he turned to look at Lily. The bitch even seemed to have to hold back her laughter. "See if I do something nice for you, huh?"
  
  "I don't know what you mean," she commented, taking Star from his arms and then walking off to the side. 'I'll get you back for this,' he thought, his eye twitching.
  
  "You are first," his opponent's friend said a moment later, after flipping a coin. Immediately, the boy across the field released a geodude and Pierce tilted his head, getting into battling mindset and pushing everything else to the side. Narcissa was up for a fight, if the buzzing to his side was any indication. Tungsten Strike should be enough to try and win that fight but...
  
  Orion could use some positive reinforcement at the moment, between the rather thorough defeat he'd gotten from the rhyhorn out of Mt. Moon and the struggles he was going through with Sand Tomb. 'Yeah, let's give the little one this fight,' he mused. Then he paused, noticing how his opponent was looking at Narcissa instead of him. 'Oh, want to bully my bug type with your rock type?...' he thought, raising an eyebrow to himself.
  
  "Narcissa," he said in the end and the beedrill immediately flew forward a little. It'd taken the boy a single look to annoy Pierce now. Cygnus teleported off of his shoulders then, sending him a mental message that basically said he felt the same way. Yeah, one didn't mock one of them and get away with that.
  
  "Begin," the referee for the match called and Pierce didn't hesitate.
  
  "Modify," he said, and Narcissa immediately started using her buffs on herself.
  
  "Rock Blast!" their opponent called. However, by the time the geodude had attacked, his beedrill was already buzzing around with increased speed. Narcissa was getting better at using her boosts quicker.
  
  "Tungsten Strike," Pierce called then, and the beedrill shot towards the poor rock type. The other trainer called for Rock Blast again, but the geodude barely got halfway through the move before Narcissa slammed against him with her body shining in silver light. "... Wait, really?" Pierce asked, his voice barely a whisper that he was sure nobody heard except Cygnus because he was in his heda.
  
  ' Well, that was fast,' he thought, blinking as he looked at the unconscious geodude. 'Is Narcissa that much stronger with the move already or was it weak? Maybe a recent catch?' he wondered, looking at the rock type.
  
  Ultimately that was... quite anticlimactic, really.
  
  ' Still, at least it was a nice interruption for... that.'
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Stop laughing already," Pierce grumbled while Lily did exactly the opposite of what he told her. Then he looked at the piece of paper in his hand, with a number hurriedly scrawled on it. "I should throw it away, right? I feel like that'd be rude though."
  
  "I mean, if you aren't gonna call, you might as well," Lily told him, looking like she was a moment away from bursting into laughter again. "Your face when she gave it to you though. I don't think I've ever seen you so red. Hell, I don't think I've ever seen anyone so red."
  
  "Shut up," he groaned with a grimace. "I didn't expect that, ok?"
  
  "You knew she was trying to flirt with you. Don't deny it, I saw it," she pointed out, making him groan louder. "What's up with that? Is big bad Pierce shy ?"
  
  "I'm just... That kind of thing doesn't happen to me. What was up with that?" he asked, confused.
  
  "Maybe she... thought you were attractive? It's not rocket science, Pierce," Lily commented, rolling her eyes. "You said that you looked good yourself the other day. What's up with this surprise now?"
  
  "I just... I guess you are right?" he asked more than stated, still trying to process what had just happened. "Yeah, I... I did tell you that I didn't look that good before. I guess I didn't think that looking better now equaled... this," he said, waving the piece of paper for emphasis.
  
  "Well, I think you better get used to it or something, if you wanna go to the beach in Cerulean," Lily told him, looking entirely too amused. It was starting to get annoying, really. "Oh, this is just what I needed. Shy Pierce is funny," she commented.
  
  "You won't shut up about this, will you?" he asked, lamenting himself to the heavens.
  
  "Turnabout is fair play, buster. It's about time I found something to get back at you for all the comments about the berries Root and Talon ate," she told him, which... was actually fair, he supposed. That didn't mean he had to like it though.
  
  "I'm suddenly regretting a lot of things," he mumbled, shoulders dropping a little.
  
  "You should," Lily told him with a firm nod. "So, are you gonna save it and call her or are you just gonna throw it?" she asked, still having way too much fun at his expense as she waved her hand to signal the piece of paper still in his hand.
  
  "Should I? This is... kinda new for me," he said, looking at the series of numbers as if it were some sort of incomprehensible lost language.
  
  "Up to you, really," his friend answered.
  
  "Well that's helpful," he mumbled, running his free hand through his hair. Ultimately, he balled the piece of paper and placed it in his pocket. "I'm gonna throw it away once we reach Cerulean," he decided. "Can we talk about something else? Please ?"
  
  "How about no?" she asked, laughing at his expression. "That's gonna be one disappointed girl, I guess," Lily continued, much to his dismay. "I wonder how many will join her by the time we leave Cerulean. Poor thing will never recover."
  
  "God, you suck, Lily," Pierce groaned. "You really suck."
  
  "Thanks," she replied, grinning widely and skipping beside him looking at the picture of a happy camper.
  
  "You suck too, Cygnus," he added, his eye twitching at the seemingly continuous wave of amusement that came from his psychic type. "Is everyone gonna gang up on me?" he asked miserably.
  
  Star chose that moment to babble some kind of reassurance.
  
  "Thanks, Star, you are the only good one around. I should have caught you instead of this hag."
  
  "Who are you calling a hag?!"
  
  "Does witch fit better?"
  
  Lily's eye twitched then, go figure.
  
  "I'm definitely gonna talk to your mother for embarrassing stories. No way I will let this continue without some more ammo," Pierce decided and the girl's expression of dismay was oh so very sweet after she'd had her laugh. "Not so confident now, huh?"
  
  "I-I was just getting back at you for all the teasing for the food!" she protested, hurrying up when Pierce started walking faster to leave her behind. "And the directions thing from Mt. Moon!... Pierce!"
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  I'll admit, maybe not much happened this chapter, but it was fun to write, so I'll take that.
  
  I'd comment on some things regarding this last part, but I don't usually like explaining things more than the chapter does. Which tends to backfire on me, I think, because sometimes I leave too much for you guys to figure out and maybe not enough clues. Still, I feel like explaining too much and info dumping is somehow worse than misunderstandings so... Yeah...
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it and editing it.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Any plans for this weekend? I got an exam on Saturday morning and then I gotta travel back to the backwater town I came out of to vote on Sunday. It'll be an exhausting weekend for me, I guess.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Route 4 VII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Route 4 VII
  
  Swimming had been something that Pierce had always enjoyed. The feeling of the water washing over him as he moved was a pleasant experience by itself, of course, but there was also something very... freeing about just floating about in it too. It also helped that he despised hot weather, so going swimming could be great in such times. All in all, what was there not to love, really?
  
  Granted, sea water wasn't the best thing in the world, he'd admit. He much preferred rivers and pools. He had never gotten a chance to swim in a lake, admittedly, but so far, the sea was his least favorite.
  
  Unfortunately, he had to come out of the water from time to time, but that wasn't so bad. He'd have a snack waiting for him outside, so there was that, and there was his team together with Lily and her team. Good company after coming out of the water was just as nice as going swimming, he knew.
  
  So, he got closer to the beach, where he could stand without the waves messing with him and then walked out. Rubbing some of the water off his face and running his fingers through his hair to push it out of the way, he looked back to the solid ground, where his companions were. Narcissa seemed to be sitting on top of Orion's head while the onix probably worked on his Sand Tomb. The beach was helping him with that, since it provided the sand for him to play with more easily. Good thing too, since the rock type was more or less done with the "turn ground to sand" part and now needed to work on his control before trying everything together.
  
  Then there was Cyngus, sitting next to Lily and Star, probably taking a nap. His fellow trainer seemed to be reading through something on her pokedex. The cleffa, for her part, was simply playing around in the sand with a plastic cup as if it were a toy bucket. 'Maybe we can get her some actual toys?' he wondered. She'd get sand to play with anyway even away from the beach, considering Orion's training.
  
  There was Root, off to the side, sunbathing with a peaceful smile on his face. Gem seemed to be keeping him company, from what Pierce could see as he got closer. Talon was the only one he couldn't see, but turning around he found him easily enough, flying over the water. Probably catching his gaze, the flying type lowered himself to land just far enough that the waves didn't hit him while Pierce took his final steps out of the water himself.
  
  "Keeping an eye on things or just looking for trouble with the water types again?" he asked the spearow, who huffed and turned away from him. Pierce chuckled at that, making the flying type shuffle as if he were about to take off. "Just don't cause trouble, ok? Last thing we need is for you to get caught in a krabby's pincer again ."
  
  With an insulted caw, Talon flew away, leaving him to amusedly stare at his retreating form.
  
  "He's at it again, isn't he?" Lily asked him as he approached the beach space they'd claimed for their group. She sounded more exasperated than annoyed, which was fortunate for Talon... Even if he probably would still get a scolding and some punishment training.
  
  "He likes picking fights a little too much," Pierce commented unnecessarily. Cracking his neck, he closed his eyes to relax for a bit as he felt the wind on his still wet skin. "Maybe he'll calm down once he evolves?" he mused.
  
  "I can only hope. If he gets worse, I don't know what I'll do."
  
  "True enough," Pierce mumbled, stretching his arms up. With that done, he went to pick up the towel he'd set aside for himself. "Having fun, girl?" he added, patting Star on the head since she was next to the towel. The cleffa replied with a happy babble, pointing animatedly at her "sand castle". "I can see that," he commented with a grin. That was when he saw Lily giving him an amused look. "What?"
  
  "You are killing them, Pierce, seriously," the girl told him, nodding to the side and he saw a group of girls talking between themselves. None of them was looking towards them, which made him give Lily a questioning look. "Seriously, if I hadn't met you before you started getting fit and I didn't know you as I do, I'd think you are doing it on purpose."
  
  "Doing what?" he asked, blinking.
  
  "Do I have to call you Dense Pierce instead of Shy Pierce? Can I use both?" Lily asked him, which flustered him even more.
  
  "I didn't even do anything!" he protested, trying to come up with whatever he might have done to elicit such commentary and implications being directed at him. He came up with nothing. He'd just come out of swimming and... nothing else? The fuck?
  
  "It's fun, don't get me wrong. Especially because I get to tease you," Lily told him shamelessly. "Payback for all the times you teased me, of course," she added, making him grimace. "But still, it's also a little baffling, not gonna lie."
  
  "You know what?" he asked, continuing to dry himself with the towel. "I'll just assume you are joking and be done with this topic," he decided, giving himself a nod and making Lily groan. Yeah, that'd help him keep his sanity. It totally wasn't him just being uncomfortable with the attention he'd apparently been starting to get.
  
  No sir.
  
  There was also the fact that he felt... He didn't feel like he belonged where he was, not truly. Sometimes it felt like he was on a vacation of sorts. He was there, in the pokemon world, but it wasn't his home . Pierce would often feel like he should go back to where he came from, which he knew was impossible. Something that probably wasn't helped much by the fact that he kept traveling around.
  
  He felt out of place, basically.
  
  So, thinking about getting in a relationship didn't feel right at the moment. He wasn't a casual type of guy, so... Yeah, he'd stay away from that kind of thing for the foreseeable future. Maybe once he finally came to terms with where he was and what his life was now, maybe then he'd consider calling the next girl that gave him her number.
  
  As it was, he just wanted to... find his place, he supposed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Looking better, buddy," Pierce commented, checking on Cygnus practiced Focus Punch. Granted, it was already a difficult move to pull off, since it required prep time that could be easily interrupted. At the very low level of mastery Cygnus was at, it was far from battle ready, not only because it took an entirely too long charging time, but also because the abra still couldn't consistently pull it off even while taking longer.
  
  He was getting there though, and it'd be a great foundation to have for the other punch moves. Pierce was fine with just that, honestly, since the others were also better over all, in his opinion. They didn't require a concentration period, at least. Or the ones he'd looked up didn't, which was the important part for the moment.
  
  "Just keep at it, then a bit of teleport training and then you are done, ok?" Pierce told the psychic type. It wasn't like the abra didn't know when to stop, so he wasn't too worried... At least so long as he kept his eyes on Cygnus. He might not be as stubborn as Orion and Narcissa, but he had his moments.
  
  With that done, he glanced towards his onix, who was currently getting some rest in a bed of sand that he'd been playing with before. Sand Tomb was getting places, it seemed, which was why he'd started adding some sessions of training with Narcissa. That way, he could continue working on Iron Tail, which had been kind of pushed to the side for a bit.
  
  And then there was his beedrill, who was working with Root at the moment while trying to get better with Giga Drain. Slow process, that one, but Pierce was pretty sure they'd have it in working order for Cerulean's Gym... although they might need to wait for a few days for it to be ready. That was fine though. They'd have to stay some time in the city so that he could use his move vouchers and get his pokemon to learn some new moves anyway, so it checked out.
  
  ' Hm, I guess I can sit down and go through my notes for a bit,' he mused, looking at all his pokemon and how they seemed to be doing fine for the moment. No need to butt in if things were going well for them. Sure, Orion wasn't even really training, but Pierce would be the last person to complain if one of his training/battle maniacs decided to relax for once.
  
  With that in mind, he moved to the side, took his backpack and pulled out some of his medicine books. Some studying and some planning for the future would be how he'd spent his time. It had the added benefit of giving his body some rest after his workout, at least. And if he made good progress, maybe he'd get some time to swim too, which would be great.
  
  As it was, he needed to continue brushing up on his water type knowledge. So far, he hadn't met a situation in which he had to treat a wild one, but Pierce didn't trust his luck. He was fairly sure that he was bound to have to treat at least one such pokemon in his stay at Cerulean.
  
  Maybe it was presumptuous, but a pattern was a pattern, and being prepared wouldn't hurt anyone if he was wrong.
  
  So, that's what he did, occasionally going over the information of other pokemon to keep things from getting boring. Besides, there were more pokemon around Cerulean than water types, even if those were like half of the population. To be fair though, water types brought to the table new information while with most other pokemon he could at least extrapolate some knowledge from what he'd studied, Pierce supposed.
  
  He was broken from his studies when he felt something pulling on the side of his shirt and then climbing his side. Turning, he saw Star struggling to pull herself up. Shifting carefully, Pierce picked her up and set her on his shoulder, since she seemed to have been moving there.
  
  Once she was settled, the cleffa cheered happily, which made him smile at her. Then she started babbling while pointing at everyone else. He wasn't sure what she was saying, but he was fairly sure that she was just commenting on what everyone was doing with her own touch to it. That was all he needed to know, really.
  
  " Trainer-Supporter is busai," he heard Cygnus tell him in his mind, still struggling with some words as usual. For a second, he was confused about that title before the psychic cleared the doubts by displaying a mental picture of Lily. 'De chi-ld was borred.'
  
  "You can keep me company in the meantime, Star," he commented, getting the fairy type to hug his head while cheering. "You can tell me if anyone does something silly, yeah?" To that, the fairy type nodded seriously, which looked more adorable than anything else. "Good. I'll get a pokeblock extra just for you later."
  
  That seemed to break her from her dutiful look into a happy one once more. Which was funny because they were already spoiling her and she'd have gotten an extra pokeblock anyway. She just didn't seem to realize that, apparently.
  
  Oh well, at least that meant less chances of her growing entitled, right?
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "That smells great, Lily!" Pierce called, holding back a groan as the scent of the food reached his nose. He was already feeling quite hungry after working out and swimming, but with the attack on his sense of smell? He felt like crawling over and stealing some of whatever Lily was cooking up.
  
  "Thanks! It'll be ready in a bit," his traveling companion answered and he cheered internally. With newfound energy, he continued helping Star build a sand castle with Cygnus. The abra wasn't what one would call enthusiastic, but he seemed to take it well enough. Besides, when Pierce had framed the whole thing as an exercise of precision for him while using only his body instead of psychic powers, the abra had readily agreed.
  
  His team was full of training maniacs indeed.
  
  "What do you feel like having today, Star? Sweet or dry?" Pierce asked, receiving a scandalized babble from the fairy that made him chuckle. "Not looking to try new things anytime soon, huh? Sweet it is," he said then, grinning at the baby pokemon who huffed and turned away. "Hey, just because sweet things are the best doesn't mean the other kinds can't be nice to have once in a while, you know?"
  
  Just in case, Pierce refrained from saying that he preferred salty things to sweet things. He was fairly sure that would earn him a Pound to the face or something like that. He'd rather not get attacked by a superpowered baby creature, thank you very much.
  
  "And I'm guessing..." Pierce started, before getting interrupted.
  
  " Bitter," Cygnus answered before he could even voice the question, predictably. In turn, the trainer gave his pokemon an amused look. Not only because even after he just got done telling Star that she should vary her menu, his own team member stubbornly held onto his one preference. He also did it because of course one of the few words his abra could pronounce well was the taste of his preferred pokeblock combo.
  
  "Bitter it is," he agreed readily anyway. He'd force some variety into their diets some other time. The beach had him in a good mood, after all. "And I'm guessing everyone wants the same things too," he hazarded, being completely unsurprised when Cygnus told him that yes, everyone wanted the usual things. "Tomorrow I'm making everyone new mixes. I'll find new things for you guys to enjoy if it's the last thing I do," he muttered, shaking his head.
  
  Honestly, how could they eat the same things all the time without growing tired? He couldn't imagine being like that. Sure, he had preferences like everyone else, but Pierce liked trying out new things. Besides, maybe he'd find combinations that the pokemon would like just as much if not more than their favorite ones at the moment.
  
  He resolutely ignored Cygnus' doubt.
  
  "Cygnus, can you call everyone, I'm just about done here," Lily called then and the abra teleported away to do as she said. After all, the faster he got that done, the faster everyone would get to eat. Pierce was almost amused by that, but the truth was that they had their little routine already, basically. One that was unlikely to change for the foreseeable future, unless something drastic happened.
  
  "Time to go eat, little one. We can continue this afterwards, yeah?" he told Star, who looked adorably torn between leaving her magnificent creation of sand alone or going to eat her sweet, sweet meal. "It'll just be a bit, ok? Then we can keep building, promise."
  
  Reluctantly, the ball of pink cuteness stood up and started walking to where the rest of their respective groups were gathering already. There, Pierce started doing his part, pulling out everyone's meals. The pokeblocks would come afterwards though. Meals were usually kibble and a mix of their preferred berries.
  
  Pierce wasn't a fan of regular kibble, or even specialized kibble as they had gotten, but needs must. The thing had everything a pokemon could need and in his team member's words, it actually wasn't bad. However, it felt... lazy for him to serve them that when he wasn't eating just run of the mill rations.
  
  ' I'm definitely looking into cooking pokemon food,' he decided. It was something that he'd thought about several times, but he became more sure of it every time. The problem was that it would require more time, of which he was already sort of short on.
  
  ' Lots of things to learn in a completely new world,' Pierce mused with a half-smile. 'Would have been nice to have time to prepare instead of just being dropped in the middle of the forest.'
  
  Although, to be fair, he wouldn't have met his team and Lily if that had been the case, he supposed. So, in a way, he was grateful for that. That didn't mean he couldn't be annoyed though. Because he definitely was.
  
  Talon cawed out of nowhere, making most of them turn to look at him. Curious, Pierce followed his eyes off to the side, towards the water. There, he paused to blink as he saw the several red creatures with spiky yellow fins poking up towards the sky. They stared towards them with their vacant black eyes.
  
  Pierce blinked then, before smiling and chuckling.
  
  "Hey there," he greeted, standing up and pulling a few berries from his Preserving Box. From what he'd read, he had a fairly good idea he knew which ones the water types would like. "Want to join the meal?" he asked as he walked closer to the water before throwing one of the berries without waiting for an answer.
  
  Sure enough, one of them caught it before it even hit the water.
  
  "I'll take that as a yes," Pierce commented, grinning widely. "Come on closer, guys. There's plenty where that came from and I can see if you guys are healthy and all. I promise, no pokeballs here," he told them, signally to his swimming trunks so as to prove his words. He wasn't wearing anything else at the moment, so that would do, he knew.
  
  A moment later, he was surrounded in the shallow waters while he fed the water types some berries.
  
  All in all, a great time, really.
  
  Especially because he was a fan of the magikarp line.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  A wave washed over him, but Pierce was securely sitting on the shallow part of the beach, where the water would at most reach to his shoulders. There, he checked over one of the magikarp, which was... fine. 'Good,' he mused, giving it a pat on the side.
  
  There'd been one of them that had a few scraps and one with a little cut on its lower fin. Fortunately, the injuries weren't all that bad and would heal on their own after some time. Pierce had wanted to treat them, but they were sort of close to Cerulean and he didn't want to get in trouble for something that wasn't really all that serious.
  
  "You are good to go, buddy," he told the water type, who swam around him and then back into the water. Pierce grinned widely at the pokemon, especially so when he saw the rest of the small school of magikarp.
  
  As it turned out, they were fairly expressive, despite what one would be told. Sure their faces didn't show much, and their eyes even less, but it was all in their motions . The way they swam gave the game away very obviously in Pierce's opinion. They'd swim slowly if they were calm, they'd move around like hyperactive children when happy, they'd lag behind if they were feeling bad.
  
  And so it went, which had Pierce fascinated as he tried to pick up all those little things.
  
  "That's all of you, right?" he asked, getting some mixed signals as a response. It seemed that they didn't want to go just yet, even if he was sure he'd checked all of them over. "We'll be around until tomorrow, guys. No need to feel bad. We can play some tomorrow, swim together and such," he told them, feeling more excited himself than the magikarp that jumped out of the water to celebrate the news.
  
  Oh yeah, Pierce was definitely asking one of these guys if they wanted to join him on his journey.
  
  Sure, Narcissa had invited herself and Orion and Cygnus had basically asked him to catch them. That didn't mean he couldn't try to recruit a pokemon himself though. So, he was going to do just that if the opportunity presented itself.
  
  However, he also didn't want to be too pushy, so he was trying to befriend the magikarp school. See if he found one that stood out or something. There was no need to rush things, really. Magikarp were all over the place. If there was water, there were probably magikarp around too. That meant that he could afford to look in other places if he wanted to.
  
  Which made it kind of funny that he liked all of them, but maybe that was just his bias speaking.
  
  "See you tomorrow, yeah?" he said, still grinning as he stood up and shook of some of the sand from his swimming trunks before stretching a little. He'd kind of spent a while just sitting there and it wasn't precisely comfortable, especially while fighting the waves and having to check the magikarp. "Take care, guys," he added, waving at the water types. A gesture that they somewhat returned before swimming away.
  
  Pierce watched them go for a moment before turning and walking back to where Lily was waiting with their pokemon.
  
  "Had fun with the magikarp?" Lily asked, seemingly a little amused and surprised for some reason. "I admit, I thought I knew how friendly you could be with pokemon, but I think that reached new levels... Or maybe not. It was kind of like with the weedle back in Viridian Forest."
  
  "I guess I have a weakness for pokemon that people don't like," Pierce commented, shaking his head. He truly didn't get why people didn't like them though. Beedrill were awesome. Sure, they flagged a little in the late game, but if you stayed on top of things, you could still get a very strong member for your team. It was what he was doing with Narcissa so far, but then again, he was kind of in early game still. He knew it was possible though.
  
  As for magikarp... they evolved into fucking gyarados . Was there really any need to explain things? Apparently yes, because people in the world he was in seemed to think that was a bad thing. Too sharp a jump from a basically useless pokemon to a menace. No time at all for trainers to try and keep things under control or so some people seemed to think.
  
  He quite frankly disagreed, but then again, he was kind of biased, he supposed.
  
  "If you say so," Lily replied with a grin. "Or maybe you just-"
  
  His pokegear sounded then, which was rare but not that much. There'd been that one time where Professor Oak had called to get in contact with Lily because of some photos she'd taken in Mt. Moon. Still, he certainly wasn't used to it, which is why he looked at the thing and blinked before picking it up.
  
  When he noticed that the number wasn't one of those that Lily had put into the thing, that's when he realized that something else was going on.
  
  "Hello?" he answered. An unknown voice came from the other side of the device though and he blinked again, this time clearing his expression. As he continued hearing, he frowned thoughtfully. "Yes, I can be there, of course. I'm a day or two away but..."
  
  The voice took over then, not really rude but firm and to the point.
  
  "That works," Pierce replied, receiving some more words from the other end and then the call ended as abruptly as it started.
  
  "Pierce?"
  
  "I guess I really can't go somewhere without having to treat some pokemon now," he tried to joke but his voice came more bitter than anything else. "I'm gonna get teleported to Cerulean in a bit. They need help, it seems."
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Ah, nothing like having a good time by the beac-
  
  Wait, what? Not sure if you guys believe me when I say stuff like this, but I really wasn't expecting that. Let's see where it goes, I guess.
  
  I hope you guys liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Where do you prefer swimming? I have more or less the same preferences as Pierce. Pools over rivers though, and the sea... I mean, it's ok, but salt water isn't very nice, ngl.
  
  See you.
  
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  Cerulean City I
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City I
  
  " Good luck, Helper-Speaker," the Xatu that had teleported him said as he blinked and looked ahead. Apparently, he'd been dropped right in front of the Cerulean Gym. The psychic bird wasted no time teleporting away, likely back to his trainer, if Pierce had to guess.
  
  ' Ok, let's get this going,' he thought with a nod as he walked forward and pushed the door to the Gym open. There was a "Closed" sign hanging from it, together with a sign saying what was going on, but he didn't pay attention to that besides a slight glance. The League had taken him there, after all, so he didn't think that message applied to him.
  
  As soon as he stepped through the door, a young man with a clipboard approached him.
  
  "Can I have your name, sir?" he asked, sounding like he'd said that exact same thing a number of times. Interestingly, there wasn't anyone in the reception, but Pierce could take a guess as to where they were.
  
  "Pierce Lawson," he answered, waiting as the other man looked through the clipboard in his hand. Likely a list of other people that were called? Pierce wouldn't be surprised.
  
  "Pierce Lawson," the young man repeated, pointing with his pen at a specific spot. "Through that door," he said then, looking up and pointing at a "Staff Only" door. "Third door on the right from there. Everyone should be there and one of the sisters should be there to welcome you."
  
  "Ok, thank you."
  
  "Don't mention it," was the response he got as he started following the directions. It took him less than a minute to find the place, which was pretty obvious even without having to be told. The door he had to go through had a lot of noise coming through, after all. There were voices, plenty of them, and a little under that the sound of pokemon.
  
  As he opened the door, he was, indeed, greeted by the sight of one of the Waterflower sisters. The one with pink hair which... he didn't know who she was, specifically. He wasn't the best with names at the best of times and he hadn't had time to brush up on that before being called, that was for sure.
  
  All around, there were other people that mostly blocked the view of a massive pool behind them. Still, from what he could see from the space in between them, there were pokemon inside the water, which was not surprising, considering what he knew. 'Is that a gyarad-?'
  
  "Hello, can I have your name?" the Sensational Sister asked kindly.
  
  "Pierce Lawson," he said, and she blinked, pausing for a second or two too long after that answer. He was starting to wonder if something had happened or if there was something going on, but before he could do anything she started speaking again.
  
  "Oh, ok, that's unusual, someone without a First Aid License. Didn't even know the League considered people like that for this kind of thing," she said, making it his turn to blink at her, uncomprehending. "Follow me, Helper-Speaker," she told him. That was actually the first time a person called him by that... whatever that was supposed to be. It was... strange, if nothing else.
  
  It also gave him a clue as to what was going on there, which was that she had a psychic pokemon likely keeping track of people and such. She'd just gotten informed of who he was and... Where he needed to be placed or something? That was his guess for the moment.
  
  Idle thoughts like those disappeared from his mind as they moved closer to the pool. There were a lot of injured pokemon there and his brain clicked into place. After so long treating pokemon all over the place, he was sort of getting used to it... A little too much, maybe. He really needed to get things under control or he'd get himself in trouble.
  
  Then again, maybe the League would like him enough to wave away the pesky detail of him not having his First Aid License yet? Pierce could only hope, but it was certainly a possibility, considering they were calling him for this. Surely that meant that a little healing here and there was fine, right? He just needed to stay out of trouble.
  
  As for the current issue at hand...
  
  Apparently, the Rockets just couldn't help but be pieces of shit. He didn't get all the information, but the gist of it was that the League had gotten a bunch of injured, malnourished and likely traumatized water pokemon from a raid. Just looking at a goldeen that was clearly starved, seeing as it didn't have the healthy, rounder shape that its body should, told him everything that he needed to know.
  
  "You don't have a First Aid License, as I said," the sister by his side told him. A look around had him catching sight of the blue haired one but not the blonde, likely hidden somewhere in the crowd or taking the one by his side's place at the entrance. "So, you'll be mostly helping those that do. We have plenty of people, as you can see."
  
  "I'm fine with that," he replied. Sure, he'd have preferred actually working with the pokemon, but just being there to help was enough for him. "Anything I should know?"
  
  "Your file says that you are good at calming down pokemon, Helper- Speaker," she answered, emphasizing the last word. "So, feel free to do that. There's going to be plenty of nervous, scared and angry pokemon due to this, especially when we have to actually start working. People that were called here are mostly just those with the License. My sisters and I will be helping, since, you know, we know a thing or two about handling water types," she told him with a grin. "But we are only so many, even with our pokemon spread around. So, if you can, do help."
  
  "I can do that," he answered with a confident smile. Sure, he hadn't quite dealt with pokemon in the same situation, but Mama Onix had been plenty wary, the pokemon at Mt. Moon had been very twitchy too and there was literally nothing to even add in regards to the mankeys. Maybe he was tempting Murphy, but Pierce felt like he could likely at least buy time until someone more capable could come to help. "Are we starting soon?" he asked then, because nobody was moving anywhere close to the pool just yet and he was feeling antsy just looking at the pokemon.
  
  "Impatient, huh?" she asked, giving him an understanding look. "We are setting everything up and making sure everyone knows where they stand before starting off. We'll be plenty occupied once people and pokemon start to actually move around."
  
  "I get that, I do," he said, deflating. "I'll just... wait."
  
  "At least I think I know why they sent you here even with your lack of License," she commented, not explaining further. "Wait here, once things get started, there'll be supplies over there. If someone needs anything within this zone," the sister explained to him, pointing out the place at the side where several boxes were set up and then a specific area at the pool's side. "Then you get it and give it to them."
  
  "I got it," he replied with a nod.
  
  "Good, there's still some people that need to come so I need to go and make sure everyone knows what to do. We should be starting soon though," she said, moving away. "Oh, also," she called as she stopped after only a few steps. "Please don't let out your pokemon. I'm sure they could be helpful, but there's already too many pokemon around and we don't want to make them more nervous by having everyone let out even more."
  
  "That makes sense," he agreed easily, watching her leave for real that time. Idly, he went over what he'd been told and what he would have to do. It was better than thinking he was wasting time while there were pokemon suffering. It didn't help much, admittedly.
  
  After a minute or so, he decided on something else. He looked at the pokemon closer to his zone and started trying to guess what they would need. Most of them seemed more neglected and abused than actually hurt, so that was... not good, but better for their treatment process. They'd get better with some love and plenty of food, basically.
  
  There were some that would need some more serious treatment though. One such case was the krabby he saw at the bottom of the pool, twitching every few seconds. Probably a very serious case of paralysis through electric type energy. That shit shouldn't be that bad, but - as was the case with poison - if it wasn't treated and it got worse... Pierce hadn't actually had to treat that, but he'd read a few things about it.
  
  There were some other cases such as that one with badly neglected conditions. There were also a few very injured pokemon that looked like they'd gotten first aid already and were there for a more thorough process. He imagined whoever had had to patch those up before they were even brought to Cerulean didn't have all the time in the world to make the best of jobs.
  
  "Ok, everyone! You know what to do!" a new voice called and Pierce turned to see the blond Sensational Sister. It took literally nothing else for people to move towards the pool's side and start working. For a second, Pierce wondered how they were going to get those pokemon further away to within reach, but that was solved almost instantly when a luvdisc rushed over and slowly got another water type closer. Gently, of course.
  
  He guessed that one was either one of the sisters' pokemon or someone from the Gym, at the very least.
  
  "Potion and Burn Heal, please! Especially the latter!" a woman called close by.
  
  "I'll get those," he replied instantly, more to the man next to him that seemed to be on support duty too than for the woman. He'd have run to get those, but he didn't think that'd be very useful, really. Instead, he power walked, keeping an ear out in case someone else called for something. They did, but the other man said he'd get those, since the one that asked for those was further from the first woman.
  
  That was more or less how it went from there. Pokemon were treated, supplies were delivered and Pierce did a whole lot of walking around from the pool to the boxes and back again. It was simple work, but it was still taxing in its own way. At least he didn't feel the pressure of having to do the procedures right, so that was something...
  
  He'd still have preferred to do more than pass around medicine.
  
  Of course, Pierce knew it was important, since he'd been on the other side of things too. He just wanted to be more involved. It felt like he could be doing more . 'Just be happy that you get to do something to help,' he told himself. Someone better equipped for the whole thing than him was doing the job.
  
  So, focusing on the good that he was doing, he carried on with his duties. There were more pokemon than he'd initially thought, evidently, because they were there for a good while and even with the gathering of people that were there, it didn't seem like the number of patients was going down, really. Instead, Pierce saw one of the Sensational Sisters start catching some of the treated pokemon and release others.
  
  ' We are gonna be here a while,' he realized with an internal sigh.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "It's-It's fine, girl," he heard a woman say, her voice strained. Turning he saw her struggling to hold onto a vaporeon. "I just need to check the wound and then treat it. You'll feel be-Ah!" the woman cried out then as the pokemon took a swipe at her and then jumped off to the side. Not inside the pool, but on the side of it, next to the woman, crouching and hissing.
  
  "Woah, woah," Pierce exclaimed, drawing the water type's eyes towards him. "Relax," he said softly, his hands raised placatingly. "You don't want to be held down, right?" he asked then, eyes darting as he tried to get a read on things. The vaporeon seemed to have relaxed quite a bit when it had escaped the woman's grasp. Sure, it looked pretty aggressive, but not quite as twitchy and restless as it had been before. "That's fine, girl," he told her, remembering what the woman had called the pokemon before.
  
  The vaporeon didn't relax much, but when no one moved to approach it, the hissing stopped. Pierce took that as a good sign and went on from there. Turning, he addressed the woman first.
  
  "Continue with another, ok?" he asked, drawing an unsure look from her. "I'll try to calm her down and you can treat her then."
  
  "If you are sure," the woman commented, looking between him and the vaporeon.
  
  "One of the sisters told me to take care of this kind of thing," he reassured her, which seemed to work pretty well right then and there. It was good, he didn't want to get into a fight or anything. Some of the other people around seemed to have taken notice of things and were getting distracted. "Just you and me, girl," Pierce said, turning back to the vaporeon who had been looking between them.
  
  It hissed, which almost made him sigh.
  
  "I know, you are angry and hurt," he said, taking a step forward. The pokemon didn't seem to like that much. 'Ok, how to best do this?' he wondered, keeping himself calm. "How about this? I won't touch you at all," he started, and that suggestion seemed to get through it. His lips twitched up. "You come with me for a bit and I'll get you something to eat. How do some berries sound? Or are you more of a kibble girl?" he asked, getting a scandalized bark at the last question that made him chuckle. "Yeah, I didn't think so, but it happens, you know?"
  
  To that, the vaporeon seemed to make a questioning sound.
  
  "I was surprised too," he answered, relaxing a little and waving his hand to signal for the pokemon to follow. "Now, shall we? What kind of berries do you like? You look tough, do you like sour berries? Or maybe you like sweet ones?"
  
  She yipped something at the last question and he grinned.
  
  "Sure thing. I'll even see if I can make you some pokeblocks. It'll be a minute. We can relax, then you get that wound treated and we can sit around and enjoy ourselves after that. How does that sound?" he asked the water type, getting an unsure sound from the pokemon, even as she limped to walk beside him. Eventually though, she yipped again in the affirmative. "Great."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Eyes on me, little one, eyes on me," Pierce said softly, holding a poliwag in his hands as the man behind the pokemon treated his tail. "It's almost over, I swear, and then that's that. Just keep your eyes on me and then we can get to the good part, yeah?" he told the small water type. As he talked, his eyes darted back to how the treatment was going.
  
  "We are done here," the man behind the poliwag said and Pierce grinned widely in response while the water type made a sort of surprised sound.
  
  "See? It's over now!" he exclaimed, bringing the pokemon up and then down to his side. "A sour berry for the tough guy, just like you wanted," he added, placing the water type next to the aforementioned fruit. "Keep an eye on him, yeah?" he asked the vaporeon who was sitting imperiously by his side. To that, he received an agreeing yip. "Thanks, you are the best," he said, getting the same response.
  
  "Paralyze Heal over here!"
  
  "I got that one," Pierce called, getting up and starting to walk towards the supply boxes. Idly, he glanced towards the poliwag and the vaporeon and then towards the many other pokemon that had been treated and now waited to be taken by one of the staff members that walked around. He hadn't found out where they were taken, but he guessed it wasn't the most important fact at the moment.
  
  "Helper-Speaker indeed," he heard and he turned to see the pink sister looking at him from the side. "Things have calmed down by now. Another hour or two and it'll be over, we gather."
  
  "That's great to hear," Pierce replied with a nod as he continued moving. "And one day I'd like to know what's up with that Helper-Speaker thing."
  
  "You have a psychic type?" she asked him curiously, leaning on one of the boxes to his side. Glancing at her, Pierce noticed that she looked a lot more weary than she sounded. Turning to the side, he saw the other two still directing people around and keeping an eye on things. Both looked about as "good" as she did.
  
  "I do," he replied, keeping his observations to himself. He knew a thing or two about pushing through exhaustion for the sake of pokemon.
  
  "They'll tell you, then. My slowbro told me," she said and Pierce wondered if that slowbro was the one that she'd been communicating with her before. "It's an interesting talk. Maybe not all that you expect it to be, but... It's something that we like to let the pokemon tell. It's... I guess it's become an unwritten rule of sorts. Or a tradition."
  
  "Can't wait then."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Feeling fine, buddy?" he asked, absently patting the head of the quagsire that had it resting on his lap. It let out a weak response but otherwise seemed to be mostly fine. Certainly better than the panicking thing it had been before. "Yeah, I'm glad to hear it. How about the rest of you, guys?" he added, turning his head to look at the gathering of pokemon around him.
  
  Vaporeon gave him an unimpressed look, rolling her eyes. Poliwag bounced a little, giving him a happy sound that had Pierce chuckling. Then there was the goldeen that had been barely responsive before and now... Well, she wasn't much better, but she at least was swimming around a bit, if at a sedated pace.
  
  "Tentacool, buddy, you gotta answer me or I'll get worried," Pierce commented, drawing a roll of the pokemon's eyes. "Good enough for me," he decided with a smile.
  
  "And this is good enough for us," he heard the Sensational Sister say, making him turn around. "We are done, in case you hadn't noticed."
  
  "I mean, there were still some people working last time I looked," he replied with a half smile. "I guess that's done too now though," he noted, taking in his surroundings and how... he was the last one around, it seemed. "Well, guys. I'll leave you with the nice ladies, yeah?"
  
  Poliwag whined.
  
  "I know, it sucks, but it's what it is. You are all better and we had our fun. I promise there'll be more berries in your future, guys," he told them, gently pulling the quagsire off of his lap. "And this time without the annoying guy, so that's good, right?" he added, patting vaporeon's head.
  
  "... They'll be around," the sister told him, giving him a tired smile. "You can visit them tomorrow, or anytime you want, really, if you are around. We are one of the best places around to hold these types so... We do, at least until we can find other places."
  
  "You heard that, little guy?" Pierce said, looking down at the poliwag. "We'll spend tomorrow afternoon together, I can tell you that. And you too," he added patting Quagsire. "Not the rest of you though, you are ungrateful and you suck," he finished, giving the others an unimpressed look and a wave of his hand.
  
  Rolling her eyes, vaporeon walked up to him and rubbed her head on his leg.
  
  "Better," Pierce told her, rubbing the side of her neck. "And you two?" he asked, getting a bubble and a wave from tentacool and a little wave of water created by goldeen slapping her tail on the surface of the water. "Works for me. I'll get you some pokeblocks for you lot. You can bet on that."
  
  "You done?"
  
  "I think," he answered with a chuckle. "Sorry, I know you must be tired," he told the woman in front of him, running his fingers through his hair. "I'll let you go and rest."
  
  "Don't worry about it. We keep an eye on people, you know? You worked more than most here and you did extra work too," she commented, waving her hand to signal the small gathering of pokemon. "So, it's fine. Thanks for your efforts. The League probably already sent the money."
  
  "Right. Well, see you tomorrow, probably. Unless you plan to sleep in... a lot," he replied with a grin.
  
  "Yeah, we wish," she said wryly, bringing up a hand to cover a yawn. "Now, shoo shoo."
  
  "See you, everyone," he told the pokemon. "And you really deserve the rest, honestly," he added towards the Gym Leader as he started walking towards the exit. He waved a hand back at the water types when he heard a few calls but didn't stop. He was suddenly feeling like he was wasting the Sensational Sisters' time and he didn't want to be a bother when they were probably exhausted.
  
  "Thanks for coming and helping," the pink haired woman told him. They weren't quite practiced words but close.
  
  "Happy to help," he said as he left the Gym.
  
  Once outside, he noticed that it was dark outside and few people were around anymore. 'Now, to get to the Pokemon Center,' he mused, suddenly feeling as tired as the Sisters had looked. Rubbing his weary eyes, he looked for the closest sign towards the Pokemon Center. There were some of those around, considering that people might really need to get there for a personal emergency or for one like Mt. Moon had been.
  
  He'd been offered the chance to be brought back to where they'd gotten him, but he'd refused that before he was even taken to Cerulean. For one, they were already going there, so being there and then teleporting back felt a little stupid. For another, he wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else he could do to help and for that he needed to stay. Who knew? Maybe they'd need another hand later.
  
  So, it didn't take him that long to find his way through the city and towards his destination. 'Wonder if Lily will take her time getting here,' he thought absently after getting his own room from the receptionist at the entrance of the Pokemon Center. There was literally no one else that seemed to be up in the building when he did too, or at least no one that he could see.
  
  Understandable, given the hour.
  
  So, he dropped his backpack on the side of the bed and all but threw himself on top of it. It was a good thing that he'd talked with his pokemon before being teleported, because otherwise he'd have felt bad about keeping them in their pokeballs for so long. 'I'll make it up to them tomorrow... Maybe I'll even be able to have them meet the water types...' he thought, his eyelids too heavy to open them at all.
  
  ' Maybe I'll get to swim in one of those pools?' he wondered then, his mind growing more sluggish and erratic. 'It'd be nice... but I guess the beach can do if not... wonder if it's as good as we thought it'd be while getting here.'
  
  He paused then, almost falling asleep then and there as his hand moved up to his chest and his fingers wrapped around his rock pendant. However, in that moment, his mind was suddenly filled, not with thoughts but with satisfaction. He'd helped pokemon that day. Maybe he hadn't treated them, but he'd helped those that did. He'd calmed down those pokemon that would have made things worse for themselves too. He'd done some good, and just like every other time he did, sleep took him with a smile on his face.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  It's Pierce's destiny to come across pokemon in need of help, apparently... He seems to like that though, so I guess that's good? At least it's good for the pokemon that he helps, that's for sure. And for his bank account, which is always nice.
  
  All that aside, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Are you sleepy? I am, even though it's fairly early in the day. No idea what's up with that.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City II
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City II
  
  The next morning started... quite late, really. Pierce woke up much later than he was used to, that was for sure. He believed that was understandable though, since he'd been absolutely spent the day before. So, he sluggishly made his way to the Pokemon Center's hall and got himself a cup of coffee and sipped the bitter drink without even adding sugar as he normally would. He needed to kick his brain into gear or he'd be wasting a chunk of his day, he just knew it.
  
  He ate breakfast slowly though, letting himself be a little more lazy than usual. There were other people in the hall too, one or two eating just like him. Then there were others that were likely waiting for lunch more than being there for breakfast. Idly, Pierce glanced towards the book he'd brought with him, but he really wasn't feeling it.
  
  ' I think I'll just spend some time with the team after this,' he decided, bringing his cup of coffee back to his lips and pushing the tome to the side a bit. 'Then I can visit the Gym in the afternoon,' he added, thinking of the pokemon he'd helped and sort of befriended the previous day. 'I don't wanna bother the sisters too soon... And I should look up who's who.'
  
  It'd be kind of awkward if he went back and still didn't know what the names of the sisters were, after all.
  
  For the moment though, he had a few things to do, he supposed... Like waking up.
  
  So, it was about fifteen minutes later that he walked towards the back of the pokemon center where there was an open field for people to let out their pokemon. Now, Pierce wouldn't have used the place to train himself, considering that Orion by himself could be a bit much. Cygnus would have managed, he supposed, but Narcissa would have felt cramped, especially if there were more people around, like at that moment.
  
  "Hey guys," he greeted as he let his team out, giving them a slight smile. "Sorry for the wait."
  
  " Tirid," Cygnus told him, making his grin widen a little bit.
  
  "It was a long day yesterday, but nothing too bad happened," he told them, walking up to Orion and sitting by him, leaning his back and head on him. "There were a lot of injured pokemon though, it was... It was not nice," he explained to them before going into more detail, telling them about how things had gone. "So... I'll probably be visiting some of them later," he commented at the end of his little narration, taking a deep breath in.
  
  Idly, he placed a hand on top of Cygnus' head, who was sitting by him, and another on top of Narcissa's, who had laid herself on his lap. 'Gotta love these moments,' Pierce mused, just relaxing in the company of his pokemon. Somehow, Orion's hard skin and his pokemon pressing against him was a lot more comfortable and soothing than the soft bed at the Pokemon Center, he realized.
  
  " Vizit," Cygnus whispered in his mind. "Ve Jelp?"
  
  "You can come too, yeah. I was thinking about taking you to some tutors already, since I'll be a bit busy visiting the Gym and all but... I think I want some company right now," he replied softly, remembering some of the things he'd seen on those water pokemon. Some injuries looked very bad, of course, but what his mind focused on was the malnourished ones, the bruised ones, the weak ones. They weren't in as terrible a condition as those that were actually wounded, so they hadn't quite been a priority the day before but...
  
  But they were the ones that affected Pierce the most.
  
  Those pokemon had been with people, people that should have been taking care of them. Instead, they had all suffered. They had all been treated horribly and Pierce didn't want to feel even remotely like he was doing the same thing with his pokemon. He didn't want to just dump them somewhere else while he did other stuff. That felt... neglectful.
  
  " Jelp git ztrong," Cygnus reassured, seemingly growing frustrated because he was still unable to talk properly. "Not, like, dat," the psychic said then, trying to take his time so that he would do better, which he did, if not perfectly.
  
  "I know, buddy, I know," Pierce reassured out loud, rubbing his hand on top of the abra's head. "I just want to spend time with you guys, and show you that you are the best. I'll be using the wipes on Narcissa and Orion tonight. You want anything, Cygnus?"
  
  The psychic type seemed to go to say something, before thinking better of it and sighing. However, he did send a picture to Pierce's mind. The picture of a Kadabra's spoon, to be exact, which made him blink. As far as he was aware, Cygnus wasn't quite that close to evolution, after all.
  
  "Something you wanna tell me?"Pierce asked curiously.
  
  " Pre-par-e," Cygnus told him, which... fair enough.
  
  "Ok, then, do you need something specific?" he asked, receiving some more pictures of the spoon, metal and... rings and necklaces?
  
  " Sailver," Cygnus told him.
  
  "Silver, right," Pierce commented idly. "You know what, we can look for that and you can choose whatever you like the most," he decided with a nod, making plans to look into going on a bit of a shopping trip. He did need to get a charger for his pokegear for when they were traveling, and now he needed to get some silver for Cygnus, apparently. On top of that, he needed to replenish some supplies and then... Well, maybe he would come across some other things to purchase.
  
  " Thanks," the abra told him, drawing a smile from him.
  
  "Don't mention it."
  
  And that was that for the moment.
  
  Some time later, he returned his team to their pokeballs and went to have lunch. It was a little later than usual, but he had had breakfast later too, so there was that. After that though, it was time to get some things done. One such thing was checking his bank account. Pierce was fairly sure that he had enough money for basically whatever he wanted, as long as he didn't go overboard, but he still wanted to make sure just in case. Besides, it never hurt to know exactly how much he had and considering he hadn't checked since Pewter and he had gone through the Clefairy incident and now the thing at the Cerulean Gym, he was a bit curious.
  
  As it turned out, he wasn't curious enough.
  
  ' That's a lot of money,' he thought, blinking at the screen of the computer he was using at the Pokemon Center. 'Well... I won't have to worry about money for a while, that's for sure,' he mused. He'd already had a decent amount of savings, but now? Now he was even better off than before. He could probably afford to buy a whole lot of supplies to care for wild pokemon now and not even have to worry in the slightest.
  
  ' Neat,' he thought to himself with a grin and a nod. However, that wasn't the end of the surprises. He had a bunch of messages in his trainer account too, for some reason. For a moment, he thought that maybe one of his clients had sent some complaint or something, or maybe the League had tried to contact him for some reason. However, that wasn't the case at all.
  
  Instead, he had a bunch of very similar messages regarding work at several farms and other places at Cerulean and even around other cities. How did these people even expect him to go all the way to half of these places anytime soon? 'Huh, I mean... What? How?' he mused, blinking at the screen for a moment.
  
  Taking a moment to process this new development, Pierce decided to look into it some more. He'd see who he needed to check with to make sure this was a real thing and not a scam and then he'd see how to reply to everyone in case it was actually real. 'I swear to God, if I'm getting sent all this spam for no reason...' he thought wearily, if also a little nervous. If it turned out that it was real then... He wasn't sure what he'd do.
  
  It wasn't much of a problem, but he thought it was a little weird that he got all that all of a sudden. From what he'd learned, it wasn't all that common to get contacted for specific jobs unless you made a name for yourself. Pierce very much doubted he'd done that with the handful of things he'd done while in Pewter.
  
  ' A problem for future Pierce,' he decided with a sigh and a shake of his head. It was a good thing if it was real, of course, but it was also a little overwhelming and he didn't have the emotional bandwidth to deal with that at that moment. He could do something about all that once he felt a little better, had some time to relax and probably reunited with Lily so he could get a second opinion on that. 'Maybe I can ask the sisters at the gym if they seem friendly enough,' he mused, taking a deep breath in and logged out of his account before turning off the computer.
  
  ' For now, time to go and use some of that League money,' he decided with a slight grin. He'd get everything he could possibly want. Maybe a few more preserving and storage boxes so that he could carry more things. More medicine, more food, more supplies overall. Maybe he could get some equipment so he could delve into some more complex pokemon food cooking?
  
  ' I have to save some money of course but...' Pierce mused, shaking his head to himself as he had to hold back a smile. He had a lot of money and not a lot of reason to save much of it, really. Before, he'd had to do it because he wasn't sure he could recover it if he spent it all. Now though? He was starting to feel like things were kind of... escalating, really. If things kept going, he'd have more money than he knew what to do with.
  
  Even with his current plants that felt quite splurgy, but even with that, he didn't think he could spend enough to really find it anywhere near concerning. However, there wasn't much need to save for his pokemon at the moment. Sure, Cygnus needed him to buy silver for his spoon, and probably a second one for when he evolved into alakazam, but that wasn't that much. There was Orion too, he supposed, but getting the metal coat was...
  
  Even if he saved all his money, and he kept getting rewards like he had so far, it'd take a while to get that kind of cash. Pierce had looked into it, after all, obviously, and it had been quite the unpleasant surprise. There were other ways, but they weren't exactly what one would call accessible or cheap either. 'Yeah, I guess even if it'll be hard, I have to save for that,' he thought, his mood being brought down a bit.
  
  On a somewhat positive side, he hadn't really talked with Orion yet, so maybe his partner would decide that he liked being an onix and he'd stay one. It wasn't a conversation to have just yet though. After all, with the rock type being basically a child. At the least, Pierce wanted to wait a month or two. Pokemon developed faster than humans, a lot faster, but he wanted to give his partner enough time to have a look at the world, to make an opinion by himself.
  
  Maybe he'd even try and contact Mama Onix, just to be sure.
  
  ' For now, I have things to buy,' he thought, stepping out of the Pokemon Center and starting to make his way to the stores he'd looked up while in the computer room.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  All in all, after spending some time buying stuff, Pierce was feeling a little more relaxed. He'd recharged batteries, as it were. He'd spent time with his team, he let his mind all but turn off while looking around and getting supplies on auto-pilot and then he entertained himself looking around and seeing what new stuff he could get. He wasn't feeling great by any means, but he didn't feel as emotionally drained as he had before, so that was good.
  
  Good enough that he thought he could go visit those water types now and not feel like every second was chipping away at his sanity. He felt bad just for... Well, feeling like that, but it was quite draining to be there, face to face with living proof of how shitty humanity could be. It made Pierce feel guilty, even if he knew he had nothing to do with any of that.
  
  "Still bored?" he asked, turning his head to look at Narcissa, who was hanging onto his neck with her stingers again. That permit to have his pokemon out even in public settings was a godsend. Sure, it was a bit annoying to have to answer everyone that asked why he had his pokemon out and so on, but it was more than made up by the fact that he had a friend with him.
  
  Narcissa chittered something that sounded very bored to him.
  
  "I know, you aren't very interested in all that," he commented with a chuckle and a grin. "You weren't so dismissive when I was getting the cooking supplies and the new stuff," he pointed out and the beedrill did her best tsundere impression, which was all sorts of amusing and adorable. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."
  
  He felt her stingers tighten around his neck ever so slightly but he wasn't nervous about that. He knew his pokemon was a softy, even if she tried to appear tough. On top of that, Pierce knew that if he annoyed one of them, he was more likely to be pushed harder during his own physical training than he was of being attacked.
  
  "Do behave yourself once we reach the Gym, yeah? Those pokemon are on edge and there might be more than those I interacted with," he commented, drawing what he imagined was an agreeing sound from Narcissa. "On top of that, they might ask me to put you back in your pokeball again, so don't get angry if they do, yeah? They might not want to risk it, even if you are a perfect little angel."
  
  To that, Narcissa grumbled something, but Pierce honestly didn't know if she was grumbling because of the possibility of being sent to her pokeball or because he called her a perfect little angel. He liked to think it was the latter though, since that made the beedrill seem more adorable still. With some luck, he'd be able to keep her at the Gym and maybe even let out Cygnus too.
  
  Sure, maybe it was a bad idea to reveal his team members to the Gym Leaders when he wanted to challenge them during this visit but... He just didn't want to keep his pokemon in their pokeballs just because of that. Besides, it wasn't like what he was going to do in the challenge was that obvious anyway. On top of that, there were a bunch of half-assed excuses he'd made for not worrying about it, like how the sisters couldn't know if those were his whole team and such.
  
  Ultimately, he just wanted company and more pokemon around while he was visiting the water types.
  
  Sounded like it'd make for a better time there.
  
  "Hello. I'm sorry, but we aren't open to challenges today," the receptionist said instantly when he opened the door. The short speech seemed practice to Pierce, but that made sense. He imagined the poor guy had had to repeat that a whole lot that day, especially judging by his expression.
  
  "I was here yesterday for the water type situation," Pierce replied, causing the previously disinterested and sort of vacant look on the receptionist to focus on him. "I was told by Lily that I could come and visit the pokemon I worked with?" he commented hesitantly. Maybe it was a bad time? Maybe he should come back later or another day?
  
  "Name?" the receptionist asked, tilting his head as he reached for a phone on the side of his desk.
  
  "Pierce Lawson," he answered, getting a nod in return.
  
  "Ok. Can you wait a second? I need to check with the Gym Leaders to make sure," the man told him and Pierce agreed easily. There was no rush and he knew even the people that weren't directly involved in the whole mess might have been nervous. What if the Rockets came looking for those pokemon? What if someone else did?
  
  Those were a whole lot of injured, weakened pokemon, free for the taking, as it were. Gym Leaders might have been figures that scared a lot of people off, the looming figures in the distance, but they were still people. If someone was determined enough, Pierce had no doubt that they could find a way to try and get to those pokemon. Even if it wasn't the case, someone dumb enough might try anyway.
  
  So, he just stood there as the receptionist talked through the phone for a bit, simply resting his arms on the counter and waiting. Idly, he looked around, turning to see an aquarium set up on one side. He blinked at the goldeen that swam around in it. 'Did they set up a pokemon in there?' he wondered, a little concerned. The tank wasn't small by any means, but it was still not quite what he'd put a pokemon in, especially for extended periods of time.
  
  A moment later, Pierce noticed that the thing seemed to be connected to somewhere else by a giant tube of some kind.
  
  ' That makes much more sense,' he thought, a smile tugging at his lips as he waved at the pokemon, who twirled in the water happily after it noticed the gesture. 'Friendly little thing,' he mused, remembering the almost unresponsive goldeen he'd worked with the day prior. 'Maybe she can be like that too, with a little help.'
  
  "Lily asks what it is she called you," the receptionist said, making Pierce blink for a bit.
  
  "Helper-Speaker," he replied, making the man nod and go back to talking. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised that the receptionist wasn't too surprised by the strange title or whatever. It was possible that he knew what it meant or what it was or maybe he just wasn't curious enough about it.
  
  "You can go through that door. Just follow the corridor and Lily will meet you and take you where you need to go," the man told him, gesturing towards the same staff-only door from the previous day. It probably led to some other pool where the pokemon had been taken to before, he supposed.
  
  "Thanks," Pierce said and soon he found himself walking through the aforementioned corridor after waving a goodbye to the friendly goldeen. As he moved there, he looked over his shoulder at Narcissa. The receptionist hadn't said anything, so maybe it was fine? Or maybe the man decided that if the sisters didn't agree with that, they could tell him themselves. Either could be, he supposed.
  
  "Pierce!" someone called him eventually, as he saw Lily peek out of a door further away from where he was in the corridor. The woman smiled and waved at him from the door. "Over here! Your fans are waiting!"
  
  Personally, he rather doubted that. Sure, Poliwag was great and likely to be happy to see him, but the rest? He imagined Vaporeon and Tentacool had just rolled their eyes when they were informed, Goldeen given a particularly emotive blink and Quagsire... Well, if he was feeling better after the time had passed, he could be another one to be more expressive, maybe.
  
  "That's one way of calling them, I guess," he commented wryly once he was closer. "Long night or early morning?" he asked once he was able to look at her more closely and noticed that the woman had rather concerning bags under her eyes.
  
  "Yes," Lily replied.
  
  "Uh, if it's a bad time, I can come back tomorrow or something," he commented, suddenly feeling guilty. Was he ruining her chances of getting some rest or something? Maybe even the other sisters too?
  
  "It's not your fault, don't worry," she told him with a weak giggle waving off his concern. "My sisters and I just need to keep an extra close eye on everyone. Our pokemon can do it a bit, but we are the experts, not them," she explained to him as they walked past the door and he saw his group of misfit pokemon by the pool's side. "Most of these pokemon are a loud sound or a particularly menacing walk away from panicking or going off like a bomb... Speaking of, no offense to your pokemon, I'm sure they are nice but..."
  
  Lily trailed off, gesturing vaguely at Narcissa.
  
  "I get it. I was actually wondering if it was ok," he told her with an understanding smile. "I'll see you later, ok, girl?" he added towards the beedrill, who chittered something comforting instead of annoyed and gave him an affectionate squeeze. "I know, I'll be fine," he mumbled, leaning his head on her before she was absorbed by a red beam from her pokeball.
  
  "Something the matter?" Lily asked curiously.
  
  "I'm not that good at dealing with pokemon suffering. It's... draining," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've been sort of down for the whole day, but I was feeling better, and I wanted to check on the pokemon."
  
  "Yeah, I know what you mean," she told him with a weary smile. "I'd tell you that it gets better, but that'd be a lie. You just... get better at dealing with it. Sorry if that's not reassuring."
  
  "It's not, but I appreciate it anyway," Pierce replied wryly before grinning wider as he got closer to the pokemon he was there to see. "Hey everyone, have you been good?" he asked, getting Poliwag to jump in place cheerfully. "Glad to hear that, little guy. How about the rest of you? Doing better, guys?"
  
  Vaporeon was the second to reply. If a shrug could be a sound, that's what he thought the response he got was. Tentacool followed, with a brief wave of a tentacle. Quagsire mumbled something as he dragged himself out of the water towards him. Goldeen, for her part, circled a little as a way of answering.
  
  It was both good and bad to see them. It was nice to see them apparently feeling better and starting to heal. However, it really brought his mood down to see pokemon that were in such a situation as they were. 'If I could get my hands on whoever did this to them...' he thought, barely holding back a snarl.
  
  "So, I brought some supplies, so we can get to trying to find the right pokeblock combination for you all," he told them, immediately catching their attention and making them perk up. Some more than others, of course, but he'd take that win. "Just bear with me if they aren't all that good, ok? It's a process of trial and error, after all."
  
  Poliwag immediately hopped towards him excitedly.
  
  "We have a volunteer, I guess," Pierce commented, picking up the tadpole pokemon and moving to sit by the side of the pool with his foot in the water after taking off his trainers. Good thing he'd come with swimming trunks. "I'm glad you guys are doing better," he commented with a slight smile, patting Poliwag's head, much to the water type's delight.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Hm... I don't have much to say. I liked writing this chapter and I like how it turned out, but I just don't have much to comment on. At least, not without risking entering spoiler territory in some instances or just talking for talking's sake in others.
  
  So, I'll just say that I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Any favorites in Pierce's little water type rehabilitation group?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City III
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City III
  
  "Good to know that it fits your refined tastes, Vaporeon," Pierce commented with a grin as the water type evolution of eevee gave him the approval to his latest pokeblock attempt. Little Poliwag gave a little celebratory dance as he had with every one of his successes. He was a great guy like that, the small pokemon. "And that's the last one too, so, I think we've had enough of eating for the moment, huh?" he added, looking around.
  
  He'd already fed the small gathering of pokemon plenty and he'd even managed to come up with some pretty solid combinations for them too. Granted, there were a few misses here and there, but few of them had been truly bad. He was still convinced that the previous attempt he'd done with Vaporeon really hadn't warranted the Water Gun he'd received to the face.
  
  Fortunately, she'd toned it down quite a bit.
  
  He imagined a move like that could take his head off if she really tried.
  
  Quagsire whined beside him and Pierce gave the water and ground type a grin before throwing one piece of kibble at him. The pokemon caught it mid-air but otherwise remained pouting. He was a glutton, as it turned out. If Pierce had let him, he'd probably have eaten about as much as the rest of the little group put together, he was sure.
  
  "Come on, I don't want you guys to get sick because you ate too much," he told them, pulling his legs out of the water and standing up. Moving to where he'd set up his preserving box with food, he went to close it and shrink it so he could put it back in his backpack for the moment. He was interrupted, however, when a pokemon call was heard from beside him. Turning, he saw a goldeen had joined the one from his group, followed soon by another one. That wasn't all though, there were a handful of other creatures that were approaching too. "Everyone wants some food, huh?" he asked, grinning.
  
  There were some sounds from the new arrivals... and Quagsire, which made Pierce deadpan at him. The ground type grumbled something under his breath, but otherwise let the rest of the pokemon have their moment, slumping down. Pierce had a moment of amusement when he saw Tentacool pat Quagsire on the shoulder though.
  
  "You are having a good time, huh?" a new voice said, making him turn to see another of the sisters... Violet? Yes, he was pretty sure that was her name. The one with blue hair. "Just so you know, you can ask for food if you are gonna be feeding them. We have plenty of supplies. Likely more than we'll need for this," she informed him, making him pause.
  
  "Ah... That'd have been good to know before," he commented awkwardly. "I guess I should have asked though."
  
  "You should have, but it isn't a bad thing to get so excited about cheering this lot up that you forget that kind of stuff," the sister told him, looking amused. "So, you were the one Lily was talking about?" she asked, giving him a once over and then turning to see the gathering of pokemon by the pool. "I guess I can see it."
  
  "I'm gonna try and take that as a compliment," he commented, running his fingers through his hair. "So, about those supplies? They might riot if I don't hurry up," he asked, glancing towards the pool where the pokemon were. There were a bunch of them, but thankfully they seemed to be mostly interacting with each other. "Give me a minute, guys!" he called, when he noticed that several of them kept glancing his way.
  
  "Over here," Violet told him, waving for him to follow as she walked to one side where several preserving boxes were set up. Pierce did wonder if those could be shrunk too or they were more of a permanent fixture. "You can take what you need from here. Our pokemon keep watch though, so I wouldn't recommend trying to take more than you need," she told him, somehow managing to keep her voice friendly even with that last part.
  
  "Sounds fair to me," Pierce replied, not even bothering to acknowledge the warning. It was fair, and that was that. There was no need to make a big deal about it, one way or the other. He wasn't planning to take more than he'd need for the water types, so there was no need to worry. "Is that a staff member or was I not the only one that wanted to visit?" he asked when he saw another man enter the place, accompanied by Daisy. He thought it was a fair question, since he wasn't wearing the staff uniform he'd seen a few people walk around with.
  
  "Hm, oh, it seems you weren't the only one, no," Violet mumbled, turning to regard the man. Then Pierce saw her narrow her eyes and tilt her head. Confused, he turned to regard the new arrival again, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary with him. Not even with the Sensational Sister by his side, really. Was something going on that he was missing? "Well, keep up the good work, yeah? Those pokemon looked pretty cheerful when I looked at them."
  
  "That's the idea," Pierce replied with a slight smile, still trying to piece together what was going on with the trainer that had come for a visit. "It's the least I can do, really. Do you know what'll happen to them now?"
  
  "Well, for the moment we are keeping a close eye on them and making sure nothing unexpected happens," the sister told him, turning her attention back to him. "While we are at that, the League is looking for shelters to take them for some time while they recover and are prepared to either be brought back to the wild or given to trainers that have the qualifications to take pokemon in their situation."
  
  "And those qualifications are?" Pierce asked curiously. Adopting a pokemon in such a situation seemed like a nice thing to do. He'd never had a dog back in his old life, but he'd always known that if he did decide to have one eventually, he'd adopt one.
  
  "Well, there are some courses you can take to increase your chances of being picked, but more or less the League has lists of trainers and coordinators with a track record of being good with..." Violet continued explaining, trailing off as she frowned and snapped her fingers as if she were looking for the right word. Eventually, she gave up. "No offense to any of these pokemon, but I meant to say with people that are good with problematic pokemon."
  
  "Hm, I guess that makes sense," Pierce replied, considering that new information. Was he in that list too? He guessed he could be, if he went by some of the things the League surely had on his file somewhere. He hoped he was, if he were honest.
  
  "If you are interested, even if you weren't in a list like that before, you'll be after this," Violet told him, making him blink and turn to look at her. "You've been doing a good job with these pokemon. You wouldn't believe how many times we've had to intervene in a situation where a pokemon was attacking the people that were treating them or just had a panic attack out of nowhere. From what Lily told me, you've had no trouble at all. On top of that, we are always watching, and when we aren't, our pokemon are," she explained, glancing towards where the gathering of pokemon was still waiting for him. "Anyway, keep up the good work. I think I've avoided work long enough. Lily might come to hunt me down if I stay much longer."
  
  "See you around then."
  
  "Same, and take care of those pokemon," the woman told him as she started walking away.
  
  "That's what I'm here for," he told her, although he might have spoken too low for her to hear him. Regardless, he meant it either way.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Nice to see everyone doing well," Pierce commented, sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water and his back and head resting on Quagsire. A few more people seemed to have come back to visit their patients, from what he saw, which was nice. It was one of those moments that returned a little of one's faith in humanity, really.
  
  After seeing a low point such as the state in which all those pokemon had been left, it was good to see people doing their best to make pokemon feel better. It was... soothing, in a way, Pierce supposed. Certainly helped with how bad he'd been left feeling after the whole thing.
  
  Poliwag mumbled something from where he rested on top of his chest.
  
  "Something the matter, girl?" he asked, noticing that Vaporeon was staring off to the side rather intently. Slowly, carefully, he laid his hand on top of her head and simply left it there. When she didn't shake him off, he started patting her head. "Vaporeon?" he said when she didn't respond at all.
  
  The water type then barked something that Pierce didn't quite know how to interpret.
  
  With a groan, he pulled himself up, carefully holding Poliwag so the little one didn't fall off as he did. Quagsire let out a whine but he went back to silence when Pierce absently placed a hand on top of his head. Looking in the direction Vaporeon was, he saw a man talking with a fish in the water. He couldn't quite distinguish what the pokemon was, since they were off in a far corner away from most of the other people.
  
  "Something I should know about?" he asked Vaporeon then, finally making the water type look away from those two and back to him. "Is there a problem?" She let out an unsure sound and he looked back at the duo, trying to discern what could possibly have gotten the attention of the eevee evolution. Unfortunately, he got nothing.
  
  Just in case, he glanced around to check for the sisters and their pokemon. He wasn't sure he knew which of all the water types around were parts of their teams, but he'd identified a few from the way they acted. Daisy was around, but on literally the other side of the pool from the duo. Lily was nowhere to be seen. Violet was closer, but she seemed to be checking the supply boxes.
  
  The pokemon were all over the place, but there were a lot of things to keep track of. Pierce wasn't even sure if something was going on for them to notice, really, but... Vaporeon was looking for a reason, he supposed.
  
  "I'll come back in a bit, yeah?" he said, placing Poliwag next to Quagsire. "Keep a look on him, ok?" he asked, getting the part ground time to mumble an affirmation. "I don't want Quagsire to get into trouble," he added with a grin, patting Poliwag on the head as the little water type hopped in place excitedly. As for Quagsire, he just whined something but otherwise didn't move much, the lazy bones.
  
  As he started walking, Vaporeon followed.
  
  Eventually, they walked around the pool all the way towards Violet, who was the one closer to the duo in question
  
  "Something the matter?" the woman asked, noticing him approaching. "Do you need something?"
  
  "I think?" he replied, unsure, before crouching so he'd be next to Vaporeon. "She seems to think something's going on over there," he told her, nodding towards where the man was with the water type off to the side. Violet followed the sign, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I don't know if something really is going on though. I just thought I'd point it out since it seems like Vaporeon won't look away from there."
  
  The Sensational Sister hummed.
  
  "Thanks for pointing it out. I'll check to see for myself," she told him. "I'd appreciate it if you left it to us though."
  
  "Sure. As I said, I don't even know what has Vaporeon so curious or whatever," Pierce replied with an uneasy smile. He really hoped he wasn't wasting her time. The three of them seemed to be very busy, after all.
  
  "Good. You wouldn't believe the number of people that can't seem to keep their noses out of stuff they have no business butting into," Violet grumbled, running her fingers through her hair, an annoyed expression on her face. "They are just... ugh... Doesn't matter," she grumbled before huffing. "Anyway, I think your group is missing you," she added, looking over his shoulder.
  
  Turning around, he saw Quagsire and Poliwag waving at him.
  
  Pierce grinned.
  
  "Yeah, I guess they are. If it turns out to be nothing, then I'm sorry for bothering you," he said, with a nervous smile.
  
  "Don't worry about it. Pokemon can have great intuitions. You'd do well to continue listening to them. It's good that you use your brain too though," she told him with a grin before waving him off.
  
  With that done, he walked back to where he came from with Vaporeon. Here was hoping that things were fine and he was worrying for nothing. 'Oh well, they'll take care of it, so that's that,' he thought with a nod to himself.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Great job, everyone," Pierce said, as he called it a day in the training grounds he'd rented for his team and himself. He couldn't spend the whole day at the Cerulean Gym, after all. First because it'd probably be more work for the sisters, but also because it'd be unfair for his team. They couldn't be out there, after all, and while he liked the water types well enough, his team was more important.
  
  Besides, he didn't want to put off another Gym. He had a feeling that if he kept doing that, then he wouldn't challenge any of them until he had a full team or something like that. So, he'd gotten out of the Gym and gone straight to the training grounds he'd seen while exploring.
  
  "You were with me this morning, Narcissa. It's Cygnus' turn," he commented, and the psychic sent a smug feeling out as he teleported to his shoulders. Judging by the bug type's reaction, he'd projected it towards Narcissa too, the little rascal. "Tomorrow, the three of you will start your training with the tutors, ok? Gotta prepare for that Gym challenge, right?"
  
  All three of them gave him a determined look. Or, Narcissa and Orion did, but Cygnus expressed it his own way brushing his mind against Pierce's. 'Yeah, they definitely wanna do this,' he thought wryly, but that was just his team. So, it was his duty as a trainer to do his best for them.
  
  He had plans to set in motion for their eventual challenge during their stay at Cerulean. They'd likely be cutting it a little close, since he didn't want to stay all that long in the city. He wanted a water type, of course, and he wanted to enjoy the place too. However, they'd stayed longer than necessary at Pewter and he didn't want to delay Lily again, even if the girl was probably ok with that.
  
  So, he'd set his team up with tutor moves that would help them prepare. He'd work on their personal training out of that too. He'd study, he'd plan and he'd prepare. He wanted to be at his best for this. It was his first badge, which meant it wasn't gonna be all that hard, but Pierce couldn't give his team less than his best, when they were as motivated as they were.
  
  This was important to them, even if it was likely to be easy. They'd be giving it their all, their 110%. Pierce would be insulting them if he did less than that, so he wouldn't. No, if he had any say in the matter, whichever of the sisters that took his challenge would get their ass kicked so hard she'd thought she got confused and it was a higher badge tier.
  
  "For now," he started, taking out Narcissa's and Orion's pokeballs. "It's time to go back to the Pokemon Center. We can spend some time doing nothing there and then you can rest and I'll do some research on the computers before going to sleep," he told them, getting some affirmative responses before the bug type and the rock type were taken by the red beams and put inside the pokeballs. "Just the two of us, buddy."
  
  " Good," Cygnus said in his mind, nodding. Pierce smiled a little wider at that. He was getting better at pronouncing the words without sounding weird or downright unintelligible. Progress was being made on several fronts, evidently.
  
  The psychic type wasn't only getting better with that, after all. Teleport was less uncomfortable to go through, although that might be a group effort, as it were, but Cygnus was definitely better at using it in a combat situation now after using it so much. Soon, they could start focusing on distance, and who knew? Maybe they'd be teleporting around in no time instead of trekking through the wild. Although, to be honest, Pierce thought he might miss nature if that happened.
  
  Then there was Focus Punch, which was getting a lot of work done on it too. Cygnus really liked the move, even if for the moment it was next to useless. Slowly, he was pushing it to the point where it might even be battle-ready. Although, there'd always be the rather glaring weakness of having to spend time preparing it.
  
  Pierce had some ideas for that though, but he needed Cygnus to perfect the move.
  
  Orion's training was going well too, but it was less time sensitive than Cyngus's and Narcissa's. That only meant that he could focus on preparing for future fights though. Pierce wasn't sure which would be the next gym, but he thought he might give Saffron a try. It was supposed to be very difficult, but it was a regulated place, so there was no way for it to be a mess like in the anime, at least.
  
  At worst, he'd get his ass kicked, he supposed.
  
  There was the rather worrying presence of the psychics there, but it wasn't like Pierce would get anything by avoiding them. Eventually, he'd have to go there. Hell, Lily and him would have to get through the city even if they didn't want to challenge the gym so soon. Ultimately, it was an unavoidable place. Pierce would just have to pray that whatever seemed to keep psychics from picking up in his... strange situation would keep it up.
  
  Back to Orion though, the onix didn't have many options against a psychic gym. Well, he had a bunch of them, but there were few in regards to effective moves. Ground moves for the Vermillion Gym though? There were several options there and they were likely to be the ones Pierce would focus on for the moment with Orion. However, there was the fact that Orion could work on that with less trouble than he otherwise would, since he already knew ground type energy and was learning how to use it.
  
  And last, but not least, there was Narcissa, who was pushing forward like the mad pokemon she was. Giga Drain was looking pretty good the last time she tried it. She might even have it ready for the Gym challenge, together with the move she'd get tutored in. If that wasn't enough to give a pretty good impression, then he wasn't sure what would.
  
  He was almost afraid that Narcissa would go through the whole challenge herself. Almost, but not quite. Cygnus wasn't quite battle ready, even if he could probably participate by then. The abra would go and fight if he needed to, and he'd do it gladly, Pierce knew, but still... 'Yeah, I know, you can pull it off,' he told the abra in his mind, who seemed to have taken offense to his train of thought.
  
  And Orion would have a terrible time in the pools that made the Cerulean Gym battlefield.
  
  So, maybe it would be a good idea to try and sweep the gym with just Narcissa, Pierce supposed. He didn't want to plan for that though. It'd feel like he didn't have faith in his other pokemon, and nothing was further from the truth than that. So, he'd prepare all three of them. If need be, he'd even consider sending Orion if it sounded like a good idea. Weirder things had happened, after all.
  
  ' For now, it's time to do some studying and for you guys to relax a bit,' he thought, aware that Cygnus was reading him. 'I'll go over my books and you can take a nap, Orion can curl up and Narcissa can do whatever she wants,' he mused, walking through the door of the Pokemon Center and making his way to the field out back so that his team and him could find a corner to lie on and do their thing for a bit before going to sleep.
  
  "Long time no see," he commented with a grin as he let out his pokemon. They greeted him as if he were serious though, which had him chuckling to himself, even as he patted Orion's head. "So, I'll be reading for a bit while there's still light," he told them. "You can do whatever you want now, but remember the Pokemon Center rules. If you cause trouble, no pokeblocks for you."
  
  Immediately, all three of them gave him looks of utmost seriousness as they pledged to behave. It was a little funny to see them so serious about food that they likely knew they'd get anyway. At most, he'd just cut them back on it a little bit, but apparently that was serious enough.
  
  Pierce just rolled his eyes and pulled some books from his backpack to study.
  
  About an hour later, they had dinner and he sent his team back to their pokeballs. Once that was done, he went to the computer room of the Pokemon Center and started looking up information. He needed all that he could find to better plan for his team's training. Sure, he had plenty of notes from previous research at Pewter, but he had new information now that he needed to take into account.
  
  There was a lot to look up and learn and note down, but Pierce did it.
  
  That is, until he got a message to his pokegear that distracted him for a bit. It was Lily, telling him that she'd probably arrive to Cerulean the next day if everything went well and asking how things were going. He'd already sent her a message that morning to tell her about the previous day, but it was time for an update, it seemed. So that's what he did, send her the things that had happened that very day while she told him about her day.
  
  Well, more like while Lily complained that things were a lot more boring by herself, although her team made up for it. Apparently, Star didn't find it nearly as fun to swim alone and Talon was missing his spontaneous sparring partner. The others seemed to be fine, mostly, but everyone seemed to find it weird to be by themselves all of a sudden.
  
  Pierce understood.
  
  He'd had a lot of distractions and things to do through the day, but when he wasn't occupied, he'd often miss their random talk. Hell, there was one time when he'd turned to say something to Lily before remembering that she wasn't actually there. 'Guess, we got used to that,' he mused, which made perfect sense in his opinion. He'd spent almost two months together, after all.
  
  " Until tomorrow then," he sent in the end.
  
  " Until tomorrow."
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Nobody cares, but I just wanted to complain that not a single time did I get Violet's name right while writing this. Every single time I had to correct some mistake I made. "Violent", "Villet", "Viloet", "Violette", "Viollet"... Ugh...
  
  With that said, this chapter was fun. I imagine not much happened here for most people, but people seem to be liking the more Slice of Life-ish style of this story (if it can be called that). That's very nice to know, honestly, but I honestly love to write this kind of story.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  Announcement: I started another story by the name of "Kingdom Fables". It's a "story" where I'll post several different projects which I'm working on with other people (just Arclight from my Discord server right now but that might change), just to get them out there and try to get opinions on them, so even if you don't like what's there, chances are that a new project will pop up later and you might like that one better than the others. So, please, give it a try and tell us what you think.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: How's the weather over there? Sunny and growing increasingly hotter by the day here. Summer weather is coming and I'm not a fan.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City IV
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City IV
  
  "I think Lily will take a little longer than expected," Pierce mused, looking out of the Pokemon Center window next to the table he was sitting at in the dining hall. The raindrops slid down the glass surface on the outside while the sounds of the storm mixed with the tap of the water falling from the sky onto the building. Idly, he raised his glass and took a sip from his drink. "Guess she'll arrive tomorrow instead?" he mumbled, leaning back on his chair.
  
  " Incon... venience..." Cygnus told him, apparently deciding to take his time getting used to talking, even if he had to go slower. That worked too, Pierce supposed. There were faster ways to communicate if they really needed that, like the idea/picture/thought sharing that the abra and him had used until before Cygnus started actually talking. "We... train. You... visit... All... wait."
  
  "Sounds like a plan, buddy," Pierce replied with a nod, looking down at the notebook by his food tray.
  
  He'd done some research and asked the nurses in the Pokemon Center for opinions on tutors for his pokemon to use his vouchers with. With that, he'd managed to find a number of them that taught the moves he wanted to teach his team. He'd have to take each pokemon to a specific person, since every one of those had things they were better and worse at teaching.
  
  "You sure it's fine if I leave you guys there? I feel like it's kind of shitty of me," Pierce commented, pushing his food around on his plate before picking a bit up with his fork. Before he even reached his mouth though, the psychic sent him a chiding feeling.
  
  " We... train... with... experts," Cygnus told him slowly, while Pierce did his best not to interrupt. "You... help... others... learn... connect... relax... Helper-Speaker."
  
  That was a little more butchered than he could readily understand, but the abra added some more thought to his own mind after speaking to drive the point home. Thus, Pierce got what he was trying to say. He wanted him to help the other pokemon, doing his own learning while he was at it and trying to get some connections with the Gym... And relaxing, because apparently he was still a little off if Cygnus was saying that.
  
  " We... work... you... work," the abra continued then, noticing that he was still a little unsure. "Not... together... but... together...?" the psychic finished then, sounding a little unsure with the last word before sending the idea directly to Pierce's head. Cygnus was basically telling him that they were working together while separated, like how he usually had each of them training things away from each other. Except that this time there was "a little" more distance involved.
  
  "Ok, I guess I can do this without torturing myself," he commented with a weak smile. "I'm just... I haven't been really alone for long lately," he added, which was the complete truth. From his very first day, he'd always been with Narcissa, or Lily later on, and then his team had expanded and... He didn't remember a time when he'd truly been by himself since that first day.
  
  ' Had to happen, I guess,' he thought to himself, pursing his lips.
  
  Maybe it'd be good for him, he supposed. It definitely wouldn't be nice - that much he could already tell -, but maybe it'd help him. Pierce would admit that he wasn't in a good place, mentally speaking. Sure, he was going through his days, feeling good and enjoying himself but... He wasn't dealing with what had happened to him, and that was a problem.
  
  He'd honestly have liked to go to a therapist, if he was honest. Unfortunately, it wasn't like he could just go and tell them "I died and now I'm in what I thought was a fictional world far away from everything and everyone I knew". He was sure that wouldn't end well for him. As long as things weren't going badly, Pierce would try and deal with things himself.
  
  It wasn't like he was barely functioning or anything like that. He just needed... a little push, he supposed. Maybe what he needed was closure, or accepting his situation some more, or something like that. Regardless, it didn't feel like he was about to fall apart, so...
  
  Cygnus poked at his mind, making him smile wearily.
  
  "I'm fine," he commented, finishing his meal. "I guess I'll see about entertaining myself today," he added, pushing the food tray to the side and taking his notebook to get a closer look.
  
  At least it was nice to know that there were people that worried about him. His family and friends weren't around anymore, but he had new friends. He might even be bold enough to say that he had a new family in the making too. It was supposed to be a nice thought, but all it did was remind him of what he'd lost.
  
  Maybe one day, he'd be able to remember his old life without feeling like he might cry, but that wasn't the day, evidently. Looking back outside, where the rain continued to fall, as if mimicking his now downtrodden mood, Pierce allowed himself that pain. Reaching for a napkin, he held it and thought of his family and all the things he'd never get to tell them, like he'd done many times already. He thought of his friends and how he'd never talk nonsense with any of them. He thought of all the things he'd wanted to do and now couldn't.
  
  Wiping the tear that fell from his eye, Pierce continued staring out the window. Cygnus brushed against his mind, but otherwise the psychic remained separated from him. He appreciated that, actually, because he wanted a moment to reminisce, he supposed. He wanted to allow himself to think about those things, even if it was painful and sad.
  
  At least for a little bit.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Can't say this is what I expected to be doing, but I won't say no to a challenge," said the man that did the tutoring at the place Pierce had gone to for the last of his pokemon. In response, he just grinned as they both looked at Cygnus using Focus Punch. The move wasn't quite down yet, but the abra could use it if he took much longer than was the usual. "That's a fairly good foundation to use though, even if he can't count that move in his repertoire. It'll help get started, if nothing else," the tutor said, walking around Cygnus as he struggled to use his fighting move.
  
  "He's very motivated too, so that should help," Pierce commented, getting a hum from the man and little else. From what he'd gotten in their short interaction, the tutor seemed to be a rather blunt person. Which Pierce guessed made sense, since the man seemed to specialize in fighting types and related moves. That was why he'd picked the guy, after all. That and because Cygnus had liked his description too, so that was that.
  
  Pierce was actually thankful for that, one the better communication and another the more defined training path. Narcissa and Orion just wanted to get stronger, which didn't really narrow things down for him much. Well, he knew that Narcissa preferred close combat moves, but that wasn't a great help either, really.
  
  Ultimately, he'd decided on two moves for them too. Funnily enough, Narcissa hadn't gotten what she wanted, instead having to go for a ranged attack. It was for the best. He'd work with her on some more close combat options after they were done with the two moves she'd be working on. As for Orion... Pierce wasn't sure if he'd like the move, but it would certainly be a nice addition to his arsenal, not to mention give some nice variety too.
  
  One move each, meant that he still had one remaining training voucher, but he'd see if he saved that for a fourth member of his team or for the next city for one of his that might need the nudge. Pierce just hoped he'd picked the right choices, but only time would tell him that. He'd discussed his choices with Lily beforehand and the girl hadn't had much criticism to give. That was a small reassurance, he supposed.
  
  " Don't... over-think," Cygnus told him after finishing Focus Punch and being able to concentrate on other things. "We... agree..."
  
  ' And that'll have to be enough,' Pierce replied, trying dismiss his nerves.
  
  "If he's as motivated as you say, then we'll have an easy time," the tutor said. "I can't say how good his progress will be. Some pokemon have an easier time and some don't. Normally, I wouldn't be very optimistic about the time it'd take an abra, but seeing as you have some work put into this type of move, you might just have an average or even shorter time."
  
  "That's great to hear," Pierce replied, a smile breaking through his nerves at the praise for his pokemon. He knew Cygnus would do a great job. Certainly better than could be expected of him, from what he'd researched. "When should I come for him then?"
  
  And so, he found himself leaving the place after he was done there.
  
  Once more, he found himself without his pokemon and this time he didn't even have them in pokeballs on his belt. It was... very lonely, for some reason. He'd walked around by himself, but even then he'd known that he was a few clicks of a button away from not being so. Now, Lily was nowhere to be seen yet and his pokemon were away.
  
  ' It's almost like the weather knew I'd feel like shit,' he thought, gripping the umbrella that he'd had to surprise purchase due to the rain. He usually liked rain, because it was calming and it usually meant colder weather and all but... This one time, it just drove his already low spirits even lower.
  
  That's why he stopped at a cafe that had tables out front under an awning. There, he asked for some warm and sickeningly sweet things to try and bring his mood up. It didn't quite work, but it was... calming. He still was hit by the feeling that he was alone, however, and quite hard since it was... It felt very true.
  
  How sad was his situation when he'd been almost two months in the pokemon world and he had... a grand total of eight friends? Seven of which were pokemon from his team and from Lily's. Nothing against the pokemon, they were great, but that was... 'What I wouldn't give to call mom right now... Or send a message to one of my friends...' Pierce thought to himself with a sigh.
  
  He'd been kind of reclusive before things had gone... badly. He rarely called home, he rarely met his friends. He'd been fine just staying at his place occasionally interacting with someone and mostly keeping to himself.
  
  ' How the turn tables, huh?' he mused with a bitter smile. 'Maybe I should just go to the Gym and spend time with the other pokemon. I won't be completely alone then,' he thought, but he didn't feel up to that. They weren't friends. They were friendly, and he cared for them, but he wasn't close to them. Not like he'd been with family or friends.
  
  It was nice to spend time with pokemon here and there but... Ultimately, he'd just leave, and so would they. That was fine. Pierce understood that it was how things were supposed to go. It wasn't like he could catch them all. He didn't have anywhere to send his extra pokemon after hitting the six member limit, for one. For another... most of the pokemon he met didn't really feel like they even wanted to join either.
  
  Still... having friendly faces was better than being alone, he supposed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I'm not the only one feeling lazy today, huh?" he commented, lying down with his feet dangling over the edge of the pool and into the water. His head rested on Quagsire's slippery back while Poliwag sat on his chest, lulled to sleep by Pierce's breathing. Beside him, Vaporeon had curled up on his side and Tentacool and Goldeen floated about, close enough to his legs that he could feel them through the shifts in the water.
  
  Nobody was feeling up to doing much, it seemed. Maybe the fact that things were fine and they could relax was the pokemon's excuse. Or maybe it was just the sound of the rain on the Gym's roof. Both were possible, or it could be any number of things.
  
  Pierce was just grateful that things were calm and he could just turn off his brain, sleepily lying there. He was fairly sure that he'd actually half-fallen asleep at some point. The little water type resting on top of him yawned, drawing a slight chuckle from him, which only earned him a bleary slap of Poliwag's tail.
  
  "Sorry, little one," he mumbled, getting some rumbling from the water type before it settled once more.
  
  Maybe he'd been a bit of an idiot before. It was definitely better to be there with the other pokemon instead of by himself. Sure, they weren't his team or Lily or Lily's team, but they were still company. Good company at that. Much better than just wallowing in memories, if nothing else.
  
  ' It's probably not healthy to just try avoiding those though, is it?' he considered idly. It was so hard to face them though. The worst part was that everytime he did, it only hurt. He wasn't closer to being at peace with any of that, not his losses and certainly not his death. 'Damned if I do, damned if I don't,' he thought bitterly.
  
  So, if it was going to suck anyway... Pierce decided that he might as well just go with it. Letting it fester wasn't a good idea, but he wasn't going to cry his eyes out all the time. The middleground there was that he'd take those moments of calm that allowed for such things. With some luck, it'd be enough to move on at some point.
  
  That moment was one such instance, he supposed. He was calm, he was in good company, if not with friends, and he had time to do whatever for a bit. Thus, as he laid there, Pierce thought back to his old life once more. He wondered how everyone else had reacted to what happened to him, honestly. Was there a body back there or did he have his original body, but healed?
  
  Ultimately, he was either missing or dead, and neither could be nice for them, he imagined. Pierce didn't even know which one he would prefer, honestly. Maybe being just dead was the best one? There wouldn't be any hope of him coming back at some point, which he was fairly sure was impossible or next to so.
  
  ' One way or another, they'll keep going,' he thought, and that wasn't a sad realization for once but an uplifting one. Sure, it stung a little, but he didn't want his family to suffer more than they likely would. His parents would help each other, his siblings would help each other, his friends would do the same. Everyone had someone to help them go on with their lives...
  
  Everyone except him.
  
  Because there was no way Pierce was going to be talking about what happened to him anytime soon with anyone. People would think him crazy, even Lily was likely to, and pokemon... His team was great and all, but with psychic pokemon and people being a thing, he didn't trust his secrets to stay secret. For some reason, nobody seemed to be able to read that part of his mind no matter what, so...
  
  So, he'd just have to deal with it himself.
  
  Before that though, it seemed that his attention was required. After all, he felt one of Tentacool's tentacles wrap around his left leg and pull a little. Taking a deep breath in and opening his eyes, feeling his brain being woken up, even though he hadn't really been sleeping. He'd been a little too deep in thought, it seemed.
  
  "Something the matter, Tentacool?" he asked, yawning behind his fist and pulling himself to a sitting position. Once he did, Pierce stopped and blinked again. "... Uh, hey there, little guy," he greeted, watching a magikarp that had definitely not been there before shift nervously where it floated. That wasn't the surprising part though, no.
  
  That was that the magikarp was shiny .
  
  The thing moved closer, hitting his leg a little harshly.
  
  "Sorry, girl," he apologized with a slight smile. "Do you need anything?" Pierce asked, rubbing his eye as he checked on the pokemon. There were a number of yellow scales missing from its body and it was very obviously malnourished. The worst part might have been the scales though, because some steady source of food would see it recover from the starvation. The scales would take some careful handling for a while and had to be really painful. On top of that, the poor creature even had one of its barbels cut somehow.
  
  As it moved a little closer, Pierce took a moment to assess the damage. Obviously the thing had been treated already, even if its condition wouldn't be improving for some time. There was little to be done, but that was expected. He just wanted to make sure.
  
  "Just dropping by for a visit?" he interpreted, his smile widening the smallest bit. Quagsire chose that moment to peek from his side. Pierce just grinned a little wider and placed his hand on top of the ground type's head so that it wouldn't move too much and scare the magikarp. "Can't say you'll have a great time. Tentacool and Goldeen are... a little distant, you could say. Vaporeon is a meanie," he commented, causing the eeveelution to scoff. "Poliwag is nice though... And Quagsire isn't that bad, even if he's lazy."
  
  To that, the latter grumbled something while the former hopped animatedly. The lil' guy was probably very happy to apparently be making a new friend. That was good, at least one of them was in a cheerful mood. It would also help cheer up the new one, Pierce supposed, which was great because he wasn't feeling very cheerful himself.
  
  ' What a great bunch we make, huh?' he thought, slightly bitter as he wrapped his arm around Quagsire and pulled the pokemon into a one armed hug. The ground type enjoyed physical affection, after all, and Pierce felt like he needed some of that too since he wouldn't be getting to talk about much. Was it awful of him, he wondered, to feel such kinship with the abused pokemon?
  
  His circumstances weren't quite like theirs, after all. They had suffered for an extended period of time, after all. Who knew how long they had been in the "tender" care of the Rockets? And then there was Pierce who had suffered for a grand total of... a few minutes, if that. His problem was the loss though, so... 'Maybe I shouldn't be trying to compare suffering,' he thought to himself, shaking his head and gathering some water from the pool before splashing it on his face and then running his fingers through his hair.
  
  "Sorry, I'm a little out of it today," he commented, noticing that every pokemon in the little group he'd sort of befriended was now looking at him, some more concerned than others. "It's just one of those days."
  
  "Not a fan of rain?" a new voice said, making him jump a bit. Then he turned to see Violet standing behind him, head tilted and hands on her hips. "It is a little depressing for some people."
  
  "I actually like the rain. It's just... been one of those days, I guess," Pierce commented, shrugging a little. "Lots of sad thoughts and such."
  
  "Hm, I guess that's understandable," the woman said, turning slightly to look at the shiny magikarp. "That little girl was the pokemon you helped yesterday."
  
  "I did?" he asked, blinking.
  
  "The one you told me to check on, with the guy that had dropped by to visit," the Sensational Sister told him. "I noticed some weird things and when he came back again today, I got one of our pokemon to keep a closer eye on them. He was trying to strong arm her into going with him."
  
  "That's... not how it works, right?" Pierce asked, frowning a little. "Pretty sure I was told that you need certification and such."
  
  "You do," the woman agreed. For a moment though, she opened her mouth and then hesitated. Ultimately, she did add something else. "Exceptions can be made if the League deems it a good decision. It's easier to keep a pokemon calm and happy if they are with a trainer they choose themselves, after all."
  
  "That makes sense, I guess," Pierce mused, nodding. "Sorry you went from terrible people to more terrible people, little one," he added as he turned to regard the magikarp. "Say, I feel like eating something and I'm sure this band of gluttons-" He paused as Quagsire exclaimed his agreement before he even finished. "-Would like some too. Evidently," he said dryly, drawing a sigh from Vaporeon. "I'll go look for some food and berries and we can have a nice meal, yeah? This lot will look after you. They might look mean, but they are all softies on the inside."
  
  Tentacool didn't like that, and Pierce was sure that the tentacle that peeked out of the water to point at him would have been a rather rude gesture if the pokemon had actual hands instead. As it was, he ignored that and moved to where the boxes with supplies were. Once he moved away a little, the smile slipped off of his face. It had been a brittle expression anyway, he supposed.
  
  "That wasn't very smooth," he commented, hearing Violet following after him.
  
  "I know, I came up with that on the fly, so I wasn't expecting it to work," she replied, still sounding a little embarrassed. "Sorry if that offended you."
  
  "It didn't," he reassured her, waving off her worries. "I saw what people can do for the chance of having a shiny... which is honestly weird. They are just differently colored pokemon. Sure, they are rare, but still," he mused, rolling his eyes as he remembered the kid in Viridian Forest that had been ready to face an angry beedrill swarm for the chance at a shiny weedle. "Honestly, I'd be happy with any magikarp, their line is one of my favorite water type ones."
  
  "You mean gyarados?"
  
  "No? I mean the entire line," he answered, giving Violet a weird look. "I mean, magikarp can't do much, but I really like the story they tell, about going from weak to something that everyone will respect. I always liked underdogs, and that's an underdog story if I ever saw one..." he explained, finishing setting everything he needed on a tray. "Besides, people hold some really concerning contempt for the poor guys, so I want to be on their side too."
  
  "Tell me about it," she replied, some bitterness slipping into her voice. "We had to take out the little ones from our shows because people didn't like them."
  
  "Weird, right? Sure, their eyes are a little... er, vacant, but they can be surprisingly expressive."
  
  "I know! Honestly, people are idiots," the Sensational Sister agreed, throwing her arms up in the air.
  
  "I was actually going to try to get a magikarp myself before I got summoned for this. I might go to the shore and try my luck again one of these days. I don't want to keep coming here and be a bother," he commented idly as they reached the pokemon group once more. "Hey there. You have any favorite berries, little one?"
  
  "You were coming here?" Violet asked then, apparently surprised. "Or you could have been leaving, I guess."
  
  "Coming here, yeah," he answered distractedly as he pulled out some berries to show the shiny magikarp so it could choose.
  
  "Were you going to see one of our shows?" the Sensational Sister asked, making him blink and turn to see the woman looking at him expectantly.
  
  "Yeah? I saw some videos and thought it'd look even better in person. I want to see at least one while I'm here."
  
  "Which one did you see?"
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  A little bit of a gloomy chapter, but then again, I don't think I've touched much on that aspect so far. One can only put off the heavy stuff for so long, or so I think. Pierce will have his moments like this, because bad things don't just go away after thinking them over. They stay with you and you just learn to live with them...
  
  Or so I think. I'm sure there'll be people that disagree, but that's how I see it myself.
  
  Sorry if you wanted Pierce to be perpetually happy.
  
  Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you like coffee? I don't.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City V
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City V
  
  "Looks nice," Pierce commented as he walked through the path towards a house in the middle of some berry fields. Cygnus, sitting on his shoulder, rolled his eyes. "What? I like nature and all the trees and colorful berries look nice. What's the matter?"
  
  " Too... organized..." the abra replied.
  
  "I mean, yeah, but it's not supposed to be a forest, you know? I think the lined trees look kind of neat, even if it's unnatural. It's... nice to look at, if nothing else," Pierce commented. In response, Cygnus sent him a rather nice mental picture of a forest. It was his turn to roll his eyes though. "I'm not saying a forest isn't nice, Cygnus. I'm just saying that this looks nice too ."
  
  " Whatever..."
  
  "What are you, a teenager?" he asked before rubbing his eyelids. "At least we are here already. I don't think I wanna keep this conversation going."
  
  "... Not... a... teenager," the abra couldn't help but reply.
  
  "Right, you are just a child," Pierce said, getting a very scandalized mental response. He knocked on the door before his pokemon could continue, however. At the abra's annoyance, he just grinned.
  
  They were visiting a farm just outside of Cerulean. It was one of the many places that had sent him a request for a job. As it turned out, they were all real and he just had to check with a League approved facility - like the Pokemon Center - to see if there was an actual job application from the person that sent the request. Pierce guessed that was the kind of thing a local would have known, or maybe it was just something that one had to find out whenever they got a personal request? Regardless, even if he felt dumb, at least he had an answer.
  
  So, with his pokemon out for the afternoons with their respective tutors, Pierce guessed they could get some work done... literally in this case. Not like he wanted to pressure them into training more. They'd likely go for it, but it'd make him feel bad. So, Pierce decided to do something productive with their time so that they wouldn't complain.
  
  "... Idiot," Cygnus told him.
  
  ' Very mature,' Pierce replied, in his mind since he could hear steps coming towards the door. No need to give a crazy impression, even if they'd understand once they opened the door.
  
  "Hello, can we help you?" a woman asked after opening the door and looking at him.
  
  "Mrs. Clark? I'm Pierce Lawson," he answered, plastering his friendliest smile on. She looked like a nice woman. He could easily imagine her being about as nice as his mother and as caring as his grandmother. "You sent me a trainer request for a job?"
  
  "Oh, Mr. Lawson!" she exclaimed, suddenly looking very excited. 'Mr. Lawson. When was the last time someone called me that?' Pierce thought, feeling a little awkward about that but easily shaking that off. "The trainer you heard about is here, John!"
  
  ' Heard about? Is this Arnold's doing?' he thought, remembering the old man he'd most worked with back in Pewter. 'Wonder how the ponyta are doing...'
  
  "We heard about you from Don. He had very good things to say," the woman told him, smiling widely. Pierce, for his part, tried to return the gesture and not frown in confusion. 'Don?' he wondered. "We could use some help with a flock on the East side of the fields," she added and he took note of that. 'Right, flock of spearow,' he thought then, remembering the info on the request.
  
  "I can't promise that I'll be able to solve any issues, but I can certainly try," he replied. He firmly believed in not guaranteeing anything. Failure was always a possibility, no matter how good you were at something. Bad luck worked like that.
  
  "Well, can't do worse than the rest of the trainers we usually get for this job," A raspy voice said from inside the house before a man - John, presumably - appeared next to the woman. "John Clark."
  
  "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Martha Clark, nice to meet you, Mr. Lawson," the woman said, clearly embarrassed by the slip.
  
  "Pierce Lawson, but please call me Pierce. Mr. Lawson makes me feel like I'm in trouble," he said, drawing a chuckle from the man and an amused smile from the woman. "Now, if I could get some more information about this? Like where exactly the spearow flock are. Is there a fearow? How do they act, exactly? Stuff like that."
  
  "Well, you already seem more professional and less of an idiot than the rest of trainers that have come," John grumbled. Despite the slightly mocking and definitely annoyed tone, Pierce took the compliment anyway. His own grandfather hadn't had the best of personalities, but he'd still been great, so maybe this was the case too.
  
  "I try, sir."
  
  "Bah, just call me John, everyone does," the man waved him off. "Now, come in so Martha can feed you. She has that grandmother instinct and with our grandchildren away, she needs to feed everyone that comes by."
  
  Funnily enough, the woman just smiled.
  
  Pierce had a feeling that he'd like these two.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Idly, Pierce looked through his notes on Talon as he moved through the Clarks' farm.
  
  Sure, one pokemon couldn't be taken as the "standard" for its whole species, but they did seem to often share some traits and behaviors with each other. With that in mind, he imagined it was good to come in with all the information he could, since it was a pokemon that he was familiar with the one that he'd have to deal with this time. Sort of like when he'd dealt with the one beedrill swarm at Pewter, really.
  
  It wasn't like he hadn't already researched spearow a bunch, before he even got that job, actually. He'd even looked up videos and such, trying to study them by himself instead of just hearing the analysis of someone else. Not that he thought he knew more, but everyone could make mistakes and Pierce imagined he knew a thing or two about understanding pokemon.
  
  As a bit of extra preparation, he'd also prepared a bunch of pokeblocks that Talon had liked, not only his favorite but some other blends that he'd enjoyed if not quite as much. Pierce was sure at least one of those would be to the flock's liking. He just needed to get a foot in the door with them, really, not feed them a feast... Even if he'd have no problem doing that.
  
  ' Wonder if I can make the same deal I made with the swarm in Pewter with this flock...' Pierce thought as he continued walking. He guessed that was a pretty good outcome for everyone involved. The flock got food and the farmers didn't have to deal with extra trouble, even if they had to give up some of the fruits. Ideally though, Pierce would like to give it a serious try to not cost the couple anything though. That's what the job was really about, after all.
  
  It just was... very unlikely that he could convince the flock to just leave and not bother with the farm anyway. Even if he could do that, chances were that they'd come back like they had with every other time that they'd been driven away. Even if he could manage to prevent that too, it'd just likely mean that they would go to some other farm and that didn't sit well with him.
  
  ' Nothing yet?' he asked in his mind, louder than his regular thoughts, or so he believed. It was strange sometimes, trying to convey thoughts towards Cygnus instead of having them be regular ones. Granted, the abra could read both, but he wasn't always paying attention. Thus, Pierce had to try and get the message across like a call, a little more intently. Maybe the key was intent more than "volume" though. He guessed that would make sense.
  
  Regardless of those musings, Cygnus replied in the negative as Narcissa flew around through the trees in the farm. They were currently just looking to find at least one spearow so that they could get things started. Unfortunately, the flying types didn't focus on one zone but several. Hell, they even attacked other neighboring farms too.
  
  That was why it had taken him an hour to just get to looking for them, actually. He'd had to make a quick trip to visit the other farms and talk to the owners there. It turned out that the three families were actually three of the people that had sent him requests. Pierce still didn't know where the rest of them had come from, but at least that explained a chunk of them, he supposed.
  
  He'd briefly considered the fact that maybe that one farmer back in Pewter had spread the word about him, but he didn't know why he would have. Sure, he'd done a good job there, he supposed, but he hadn't completely solved the issue. On top of that, he hadn't really interacted all that much with the man and things hadn't seemed all that noteworthy.
  
  He was pretty sure it had to be Arnold that had gotten his name around.
  
  Either that or something else was going on. Maybe the League was involved? Would they do something like that? It sounded weird, but the League seemed very supportive, at least of people like him. Maybe that was it? Another way to help out trainers that had useful skill sets?
  
  ' As good a guess as any, really,' Pierce thought to himself.
  
  That's how he walked through the tree field, lost in thoughts and theories, ideas and even memories. Occasionally, he'd take a moment to talk with Cygnus or Narcissa. Little else to do while they waited for an encounter, he supposed.
  
  Eventually, a caw gave him pause.
  
  Turning, he saw a spearow on a tree branch some distance away, looking directly at him. Before Pierce could call it over or anything, however, the bird did as its typing suggested and flew away. That was interesting, he supposed.
  
  "Don't follow, Narcissa," he called, before his beedrill could rush towards the spearow. They weren't here to pick up a fight, after all. At least not if they could avoid it.
  
  Tilting his head, he looked at the pokemon go curiously. 'That's weird though,' he thought, following the creature as best he could but still just walking. He had a feeling about things and if he was right, then there was no need to rush. As it was, he pondered on that and other reasons he imagined for the behavior of the bird.
  
  " Went... for... flock," Cygnus confirmed, making Pierce nod.
  
  "Makes sense," he mumbled, walking calmly and mostly just waiting for the flock to come to him. One of his hands held Orion's pokeball in his pocket, ready to let the onix out at a moment's notice. Just because he liked pokemon and thought they could be very reasonable, it didn't mean that Pierce didn't know they could be bad. Until he got a feeling of how the spearow flock was, he'd be wary, if at least a little.
  
  It didn't take long for the sound of batting wings to reach his ears and he stopped in between the tree lines. Not quite a clearing, but as close to one as the field got. Soon enough, spearow started landing on branches all around them, making Narcissa warily point her stingers forward trying to regard all of them, even if she knew that was impossible.
  
  "Calm, it's fine," Pierce said, relaxing a little. The flying types didn't seem overly aggressive, at least. None of them were cawing angrily nor were any puffing and extending their wings to make themselves bigger. They glared, sure, but that was a standard expression for spearow, really. "We are just here to talk," he said, regarding the flock. "Can I talk with the flock leader?" he asked then, looking around.
  
  That was how spearow groups usually worked, after all. It was usually a fearow that took the place, either the oldest one or the strongest one. If there were none, as was the case in this instance, then the strongest or oldest spearow would do. Sometimes there'd be more than one, but that was mostly for big flocks, which wasn't the case here. So, imagine Pierce's surprise when not one but four of the pokemon around him flew and landed on the ground, slightly away from him.
  
  Immediately, he got an idea of what might be going on.
  
  " Likely," Cygnus agreed, regarding the group himself.
  
  "So, I want to talk... But first, what's your favorite type of berry?" Pierce asked, slowly pulling off his backpack and then a Preserving Box. Expanding it, he started taking out supplies. "Anyone want something to eat?"
  
  More than one spearow tilted its head.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You are telling me that we've been dealing with those pests for months," John said, frowning and a very angry tone in his voice. Pierce had to hold back his desire to tell him not to call the spearow pests. He had a feeling that wouldn't go well with the man. "Because they want to fight stuff?"
  
  "They don't have a leader," Pierce explained, running his fingers through his hair. "They either lost their last one or they are new flock that formed after a bunch of them separated from another one. Either way, their problem is that they don't have a clear strongest or oldest, so they are looking for fights to prove their strength and also grow stronger so one can fill the role for the flock."
  
  "And what does that mean for us?" Martha asked, placing a hand on her husband's arm. John was looking increasingly more annoyed, but Pierce wanted to believe that it was because he'd been dealing with a problem that could be easily solved.
  
  "Well, I talked with the flock a bit and I have some ideas," he answered, preparing himself for some... choice words from the man across the table. He imagined John wouldn't be a fan of anything that didn't give a clear solution and he didn't have anything like that. "One of them is that you continue hiring trainers to fight them, give them what they want. The flock would be fine leaving your lands alone if you just provide the fight they are looking for."
  
  "So, basically no solution at all?" John asked, looking very displeased. That was what Pierce expected though, so he continued talking.
  
  "Not quite. You've been requesting for people to drive the flock away, but you are not likely to accomplish that. If you hire trainers from time to time to fight them and nothing else, the price of the job should be a lot lower. Fighting a few spearow is a lot less complicated and demanding. Anyone can fight a few of those, really. Another idea I had was to just do the battling yourself if you have a pokemon that would like to let out some steam occasionally," Pierce explained calmly, and that last part seemed to get through with John.
  
  "Mary does get a little antsy from time to time, doesn't she?" Martha asked her husband, looking a lot less stressed. Almost amused, really, which was very relieving to see for Pierce. "Maybe we can let her fight a few of the spearow if that'll keep them away."
  
  "And you can coordinate with your neighbors. No need for you to do all the work and for them to get the benefits, right?" Pierce suggested, imagining that part would appeal more to John, which it seemed to. "Ultimately, your lands will be left alone for the most part. I'm not in the business, admittedly, but I think this is quite the improvement."
  
  "And you are sure that we can't just drive them away?" John asked, grumbling. He didn't seem too annoyed now though. Mostly just making sure, Pierce imagined.
  
  "I don't think that's possible unless you get a high ranking trainer to beat them so bad they decide to leave entirely and never come back," Pierce answered, grimacing. He didn't want to lie to the man, which is why he said that, but that option sounded too extreme for him... And like it would be very bad for the flock. It wasn't the pokemon's fault that the situation was what it was. It was unfortunate for everyone involved.
  
  "There'll be no need for that," Martha replied for both of them, getting a grateful smile from Pierce and giving a kind one in turn. "Anything else we should know?"
  
  "Well, they should be a lot calmer once they establish a flock leader. They might even leave you alone entirely after that, with the right talking and such. They don't really need the food from your trees, even though that's a nice plus. They are here because you keep providing a fight that they are looking for," Pierce answered, trying to let them know as much as possible so that they could deal with the problem themselves if it came to it. "Once the hierarchy is decided, they'll probably come a lot less, if at all, for a challenge here and there. You know how pokemon are."
  
  "Well, that's good news, at least," John grumbled.
  
  "I can probably convince them to watch over your fields too, so that they can keep away other pokemon too. I've done that before with other pokemon and so long as you provide something that they want, they'll have no problem giving in turn," Pierce told the man, who suddenly looked very interested.
  
  "No more rattata or mankey? You should have said that before, boy. The spearow are a menace, but at least they don't ruin my plants," John complained, waving his hand towards the fields on his property.
  
  "Well, maybe we can go ahead and talk with your neighbors. Once everything's settled, I can go have another talk with the flock and finish things off," Pierce told them, and he was quite happy to see Martha very much on board and John being receptive enough now. He was sure once the man saw the results, he'd be happy. It just didn't sound so good when presented with just words, after all.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  ' Business as usual then?' he read on his pokegear, making him chuckle. Lily had started sending him messages at some point during his short trip back to Cerulean proper, when he'd been in the process of taking his pokemon to their tutors. The rest of the affair with the spearow flock and the farmers had been mostly solved, although he'd promised to check on them a week later before leaving Cerulean - if not later, if he stayed long enough - to make sure that things were working and no further discussion was needed. He expected there to be some little troubles here and there, but other than that, there was little for him to worry about.
  
  ' More or less,' he wrote back, grinning to himself and making sure not to walk into a post or something. 'How's the trip?'
  
  ' You are so lucky it's not even funny,' Lily wrote then, and he could picture her pouting and stomping her feet. 'There's mud EVERYWHERE, Pierce. It sucks.'
  
  ' Having fun, huh?'
  
  ' I'm going slower and taking all the battles I can just to make time for the stupid dirt to dry a little. This is a nightmare.'
  
  ' Lots of fun.'
  
  ' Oh, shut up. Broke any hearts over there when I wasn't looking?' Lily sent then, making him roll his eyes as hard as he could without them literally rolling out of his skull. 'I need all the juicy details, mister.'
  
  ' I don't think so, no.'
  
  ' Ah, but you are dense as a rock, Pierce. You might not even know!'
  
  ' Why ask then?' he replied, staring at his pokegear screen with an unimpressed expression. Then he sighed, looking at the path he was taking. 'Besides, I haven't even interacted with many people here. So, unless you think the Sensational Sisters are in my league...'
  
  ' Sisters?! As in, plural?! Have I been traveling with a player?!'
  
  Now she was just having fun at his expense, he knew. Pierce sighed, resigned to his fate of being teased in this particular subject. He supposed he deserved it though, with all the jokes he'd poked at her for a number of things. Didn't make the whole thing less annoying though.
  
  ' You are not overworking yourself, right?' Lily asked then, giving him pause.
  
  ' I'm fine. Couldn't overwork myself if I tried. I guess I found my routine for now. Jobs in the morning, get everyone to their tutors, visit the water types, work out and research later. Rinse and repeat,' he sent. He hoped the more detailed answer would be more reassuring.
  
  ' Good to know. I'll be there tomorrow, guaranteed this time. I'm not delaying more even if it starts pouring like Legendary disaster zone,' Lily told him, which honestly sounded kind of concerning. The good thing was that those were rare, at least.
  
  ' Can't wait. Feeling a little lonely with everyone with their tutors right now,' he admitted, running his fingers through his hair. Then he saw the Gym appear around the corner and he started typing again. 'Welp, speaking of, I'm going to get some company to make myself feel better. Reaching the Gym now.'
  
  ' Give those sweet water types some berries for me, yeah?'
  
  ' Sure thing. Keep kicking ass.'
  
  ' Of course.'
  
  And that was that as he walked through the door.
  
  "Hey there, Pierce," the receptionist greeted him, beaming and waving. "I tried that pokeblock recipe you told me about and my ekans loved it. Thanks."
  
  "Don't mention it. I'm glad it worked out. Pokemon can have different tastes, after all," he replied, walking up to her and grinning widely. "Anything I should know? Maybe she liked it but there was something she would change? I can always use more info," he asked, making the woman giggle a little at his antics before leaning forward.
  
  "Well, she did seem to like it more when I took out the bluk berry from it," she answered, which made him tilt his head.
  
  "Hm, I guess I'll note that down later. Thanks for giving it a try," he replied.
  
  "Think nothing of it. I'm the one thanking you here, Pierce. I like spoiling her anyway, so finding new treats is great."
  
  "Flirting with our receptionist, Pierce?" they heard then, making the woman jump a little and him turn to the side to see Lily - the Sensational Sister, that is - standing by the door with Daisy. "Is this the real reason you are visiting so much? I'm so disappointed."
  
  To that, Pierce rolled his eyes and turned towards the poor receptionist that had turned bright red.
  
  "Don't let them win like that or they'll never shut up. I've learned that the hard way," he told the poor woman. "Hey Lily, good to see you more rested... I think."
  
  "Rude," the pink haired girl said, not looking offended at all. "Here for the water types, I guess? Unless I'm right, that is."
  
  "You know why I'm here."
  
  "For me?!" she exclaimed, placing a hand on her chest dramatically.
  
  "No, for your sister, obviously. You look like a hassle," he answered, making her turn the shock into hurt. "Now, can we get to the pools before you say more nonsense?"
  
  "I think I like you," Daisy commented, a smirk on her face. "Daisy Waterflower."
  
  "Pierce Lawson. Nice to meet you," he replied with a friendly smile. With some luck, she'd be less... like Lily. He'd thought she was cool before, but that might have been because the whole thing with the water types had tired her out.
  
  "I'll have you know that we are all a hassle, Pierce, so I wouldn't try my luck with Daisy, just saying."
  
  "Assuming a whole lot there, Lily. What if I was talking about Violet?"
  
  "Same thing," Daisy was the one to answer that, giggling.
  
  "Good thing I'm actually here for the pokemon then. How are they doing?" he asked, making the sisters' expressions turn softer and a little sad. It was how it was though. There was no avoiding the subject... especially since he was there to visit them.
  
  "They are doing better, all of them. Your little group seems to be getting more animated though, and they are helping others feel a little more relaxed. Shame that doesn't count as extra service though, huh?"
  
  "I'll call it a happy coincidence. Not like I'm hurting for money anyway," he said, shrugging. Sure, more money would always be nice, but not getting some for this was fine. He wasn't doing any of what he was because of the money, after all.
  
  "Good man," Daisy commented. "We might give you a chance if you have the guts to ask."
  
  "Which I definitely don't," Pierce replied without missing a beat. There was also the fact that he was still struggling with a lot of things in his mind to add romance to that too, but they didn't need to know that. "Hey, guys!" he called once they entered the pool zone and he caught sight of poliwag. At the sound of his voice, the little tadpole pokemon jumped and cried out a greeting of his own. "You missed me?!"
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Pierce doing Pierce things, evidently. Talking to people, talking to pokemon, solving problems, helping and suffering. Business as usual indeed, right? Nothing out of the-
  
  Why are you looking at me like that?
  
  Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I don't even know. Anything you wanna tell me regarding this story in general?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City VI
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City VI
  
  Pierce swam, the cool water of the pool washing past him as he continued pushing it behind him with his arms and giving light kicks with his legs. The silence of the underwater was wrapped around him and combined with the darkness of his closed eyes. It all worked to make the feelings on his skin seem all the more prominent, really.
  
  He felt the shifts around him signaling the pokemon that were keeping him company. Or was it him that kept them company? Pierce supposed they were keeping each other company, really.
  
  He didn't want to come out of the water, not even to breathe. Bit by bit, he continued advancing and his lungs started asking for oxygen that he denied. It was always something that he enjoyed doing, testing his limits and trying to hold his breath underwater for as long as possible. He wasn't sure why, but he imagined it was something about enjoying the feeling of being underwater and just trying to prolong that for as long as possible.
  
  Eventually, he had to come out, but when he did so it was with a smile. After all, he'd reached the other end of the pool, just like he'd wanted. Taking a deep breath in, trying to make up for the lack of oxygen he'd subjected himself to, Pierce turned around and then pushed himself up to sit at the edge of the pool. He looked down at the pokemon with a grin, leaning down to rub his hand on Goldeen's side.
  
  "Neat, right?" he asked, receiving some faint, almost indifferent bubbling from the water type. For Pierce though, that might as well be happy dancing coming from her. "I know. How about you guys, wanna go again?" he asked, turning to Tentacool and Magikarp.
  
  The former simply bobbed up and down in a way that many might have mistaken as just regular floating, but not Pierce. The latter was much more expressive, swimming around in an infinity shape and wiggling excitedly. She was adorable like that, honestly. 'As if she weren't cool enough being a magikarp and a shiny,' he thought to himself.
  
  "Honestly, I do wonder if you guys are just humoring me," he commented as Poliwag hopped next to him, outside of the water. The lil' water type had decided to stay out of the swimming with Quagsire and Vaporeon. The former two because they weren't quite well enough physically speaking yet and the latter likely because she thought they were all being childish.
  
  As a response to his words, all the water types had rolled their eyes.
  
  "Oh, you are, are you? I see how it is. I think I'll just go swim at the beach instead of here if you are all going to be like that," he commented, making Poliwag jump to push himself against his chest. "You are the only friend I have here, buddy. I want you to know you are great," he commented, holding the little tadpole pokemon in his arms.
  
  At his words, Goldeen rolled her eyes once more before pressing herself lightly on the side of his leg. Magikarp hurried to do the same on his other one too. He grinned at both of them, kicking his legs likely to rub them against the two fish.
  
  "Well, good to know you guys can be honest once in a while," he told them. Then he took another deep breath in and cracked his neck. He was tired, but he could always swim some more, especially with good company. 'Maybe I should get goggles or something if I want to swim with the pokemon more,' he mused. As it was, he hadn't even known he could actually swim in that pool until that very day when he'd asked Daisy. "Ok then, let's go again," he said and all three of the pokemon in the water prepared themselves.
  
  As for Poliwag, it started hopping around the edge of the pool to go back where Vaporeon and Quagsire waited on the other side, where they'd started their back and forth some time ago. Pierce watched the little guy go for a bit before nodding to himself and preparing to dive into the water. He couldn't swim nearly as fast as the water types, so he at least liked to have that little advantage to start with.
  
  Not that it took the creatures even a second to catch up, but it gave him the illusion of possibility, he supposed. It was a nice way to get started on swimming anyway, and certainly helped him reach further without breathing. Unfortunately for him, he'd only managed to get through the entire pool once like that, but he was eager to try and get a second added to that.
  
  Sadly, it was not to be, at least not then. He did at least manage to do it only having to come out once, but that wasn't as good as he'd have liked. 'Maybe tomorrow,' he mused, feeling his muscles starting to feel tired, even if he'd have liked to continue all day. 'Guess I have to get ready to get out and pick up everyone.'
  
  "That was fun," he said, smiling at the pokemon as he held onto the edge of the pool, not pulling himself out just yet. Instead, he extended a hand to the side and rubbed it on Magikarp's head. "We'll be doing this some more tomorrow, I can promise you guys that."
  
  ' Not only is it great, but it counts as a work out, which makes it even better,' Pierce thought to himself, chuckling as the water type pushed against him and rubbed herself on his side. Apparently, that made Goldeen jealous, surprisingly, because she swam forwards, pressing against him too.
  
  "We can do this everyday while I'm here, I think. Unless you guys have better ideas, at least. You might not like swimming as much as me since it's kind of... normal, for you," he mused, finally dragging himself out and sitting on the edge with his feet in the water still. "Ok, you like it too," he conceded when Magikarp gave a surprisingly animated protest and wiggled. "Good to know."
  
  They were all just adorable, honestly.
  
  Even Vaporeon, in her own tsundere kind of way.
  
  "Welp, I have to go for today, but I'll be back tomorrow, yeah?" Pierce said, pulling himself fully out of the pool and then standing up. Stretching a little, he regarded the pokemon that had to stay inside the water. Tentacool waved two tentacles at him, while Goldeen gave a little round swim. Magikarp was the most expressive, wiggling and jumping off the water a bit. "See you, guys. Don't cause trouble for the sisters."
  
  With that, he moved to the side and pulled a towel to dry himself off. As he did, the non-waterbound pokemon followed after him, with Quagsire draping himself on the bench next to his backpack like the lazy bum he was. Granted, he had to rest more than usual for his recovery, but the ground type just really loved being lazy too, Pierce had found.
  
  "Take care of yourselves and each other, yeah?" Pierce asked after putting on a t-shirt. Leaning down, he patted Poliwag, who wiggled under his hand. "Yeah?" he repeated, turning to Vaporeon, who he knew was the most mature of the bunch, to which she nodded. "Thanks. I'll bring you extra pokeblocks if you keep these bunch out of trouble."
  
  Now that seemed to gain the water eeveelution much more determination, if the straightening of her back and the narrowing of her eyes were anything to go by. Pierce would never not be amused by how easy it was to bribe pokemon with food. The best part was that somehow the people of the world didn't quite seem to get it. Sure, pokemon were a bit scary when you really thought about it, but they were also like people, give them something nice and they were likely to be nice back.
  
  "See you tomorrow, guys," he said then, patting each pokemon in the head before walking away and waving at them when they cried out their own goodbyes.
  
  "Pokemon adore you," Lily commented, making him blink. He hadn't even seen her standing there against the wall. "It's weird."
  
  "Is it?"
  
  "It is," she answered with a nod, looking at him like he was an amusing puzzle. "There's people that have an easier time befriending certain pokemon, even pokemon in general. But you... you are different, for some reason. I'd call you naive, but I've seen naive people approach pokemon and they mess up sooner or later. You know what you are doing, too well."
  
  "I just do what I think it's best. Other than that, I couldn't tell you anything else even if I tried," he replied with a shrug. If anything that seemed to make the pink haired woman even more curious, however. "Any ideas?"
  
  "Some, but they are all pretty crazy."
  
  ' Can't be crazier than me being from another world,' Pierce thought to himself with a slight smile.
  
  "Well, tell me if you figure it out."
  
  "I will," she agreed easily with a nod. "For the moment, would you mind meeting some other pokemon?" To that, he answered with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile. "I figured, but I had to ask. It's only polite," she commented with a laugh. "Still, it'll be great to have someone that can interact with the pokemon and help with some of their rehabilitation without causing issues. The League wasn't prepared for the amount of pokemon that were suddenly dropped on them. They are having trouble finding places to send these pokemon to, so they'll likely be around for a little longer than expected."
  
  "Not to say that's good, but I'm not sad to hear that," Pierce commented, continuing to walk towards the place's exit. As for Lily, she followed suit, taking the spot beside him as they moved. "I grow fond of pokemon, but they usually leave, or I do, relatively quickly. It's nice to know that they'll be around for a bit."
  
  "Gee, good to know you wish us to have more work," Lily commented dryly, but the grin on her face let it be known that she was just joking... mostly. "Well, we might as well put you to good use and have you help us have an easier time. The Gym is working again and while we have the people to keep things running, we are a bit stretched thin... And it doesn't help that we don't have time for shows anymore."
  
  "I've been hearing complaints at the Pokemon Center about that, actually," Pierce replied, not even having to lie. People really liked the Sisters's show and from what he'd seen, it wasn't without reason. "I'm honestly a little bummed about that. I hope I can stay here long enough to catch one."
  
  "Well, if you help us as much as I think you will, the least we can do is let you in on a rehearsal, if nothing else," Lily told him, which honestly sounded pretty neat.
  
  "Looking forward to it then," he replied with a grin. "Anything I should know?
  
  "Not much, just come here as usual and we'll see what we can have you do," the Sensational Sister told him. "Not to be presumptuous or anything, but if I know you as well as I think I do, you'll enjoy yourself."
  
  "I mean, I'll be playing with pokemon. Nothing better than that," he said, because really, he wasn't that hard to figure out. He liked pokemon, he liked helping and... that was about it, really. Life was better if it stayed simple.
  
  "Yeah, I figured," Lily replied, chuckling. "Well, take care, Pierce. I'll see you tomorrow."
  
  "You can bet on that."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Missed you too, guys," Pierce commented sitting on top of Orion as he used the special wipe on his rocky skin/shell. Narcissa couldn't stop herself from flying around him, occasionally latching onto him. Cygnus' presence in his mind seemed to be even closer than usual, which Pierce took as the psychic version of clinging to him, even if the abra would deny that.
  
  And Orion wouldn't have shut up and let go of him if Pierce hadn't agreed to use the wipe on him.
  
  Even if it was a little annoying, he loved it. He loved his pokemon and he'd truly missed them too. Sure, he wasn't very sure if it was good or bad that they were acting like that after barely half a day away from him, but he'd take that over a normal reception. Call him self-centered, but Pierce enjoyed knowing that there were individuals out there that cared and missed him so much.
  
  "And that's that, big guy," he called, earning a whine from Orion. "Don't give me that. You know that it'll be bad for you if I use it too much. Besides, my arms are tired," he chidded, palming the side of the onix's head. After swimming so much at the Gym and now having to rub the entirety of Orion's ever growing body, he didn't feel like doing much of anything with his arms.
  
  Sadly, he had things to do.
  
  "So, how's the tutoring going?" he asked, receiving a... sort of "meh" from Orion. Narcissa seemed pretty happy with herself, but not overly so. Cygnus though, he was positively vibrating with how excited he was... At least in Pierce's mind. Granted, the abra would never admit to that either. "What's the matter, Orion? Don't like the move or is your tutor bad?" he asked, a little concerned.
  
  The onix then rumbled a response that Cygnus translated in his mind. Apparently, he just thought his teacher was positively dull, but the move was alright and he was learning. 'Well, no offense to the guy, but I might have to mention that in a review,' Pierce mused. After all, there were pokemon that might do really badly in regards to something like that. Especially young ones, he supposed.
  
  He was kind of surprised that Orion was dealing with it so well, but that might have been the drive to match his teammates. After all, the other two were learning new moves through tutors too, so he might not have wanted to be left behind. If that was the case... Well, that was good, but Pierce might have to address that in the future. It could become a problem, after all.
  
  " It is... very... interesting... I want... to learn... more... I like... it," Cygnus told him, but that was expected. This was the path his psychic wanted to go with, the physical fighting one. Sure, they might get to work on his psychic powers later once he evolved and all, but his little friend was interested in punching things, so that's what he was going to do. "Thank you... Helper-Speaker," Cygnus told him, to which Pierce just smiled at him.
  
  "No problem, buddy," he said simply, patting his abra on the head. "So, Narcissa?" he asked, turning to his starter. She was hovering in the air in front of him without doing much else. A moment later though, the tips of her stingers started shining and cackling with electricity. "Doing great, I see," he commented, knowing that she was all for getting new moves to attack things with.
  
  Her excitement was a bit toned down because it wasn't a physical attack, which was her preferred option, but it was an attack all the same. Narcissa wanted to prove her strength, and while physical shows of prowess were better for that in her opinion, ranged attacks had their own appeal to her, he supposed. Now, defensive moves and status ones, she might not be that much of a fan of, but even those had their use as she knew. Tungsten Strike was, after all, built entirely on non-attack moves.
  
  "Well, good to know you are doing well," Pierce commented, chuckling as the beedrill stopped her show and moved to latch into his back. "Once you are all done, we'll challenge the Gym. Now, you are likely not going to be participating there, Orion, I'm sorry to say, but we can go to the battlegrounds together and have a fun time, yeah?" he told them, even though they already knew. He thought it was a good idea to remind them of the goal and that there was something to look forward to...
  
  For them, that is, although Pierce couldn't say he wasn't a bit interested himself. After all, even if he wasn't a fan of pokemon battles, he was kind of looking forward to sharing that with his team. He'd had many battles on the road and in the battlegrounds of Pewter and Pierce would admit that he was kind of starting to like it.
  
  He didn't think he'd ever be a battlemaniac like Narcissa, but he could see himself enjoying them and looking out for battles to have. It was just a matter of understanding that pokemon enjoyed battles for one reason or another and that this was part of how they were. It wasn't people forcing them to fight for sport, this was a sport that had been born because of pokemon's inherent wish for battle, or so Pierce gathered.
  
  That made it a little more understandable, he supposed.
  
  At the same time, he was nervous. What if he couldn't help his pokemon get to the level they dreamed of? What if he just wasn't a good enough trainer to reach that far? He didn't have the love for it, even if he tried to push through anyway. What if he just didn't have what it took?
  
  " We... trust... you..." Cygnus told him firmly. "We follow... We learn... You lead... You teach... We all... reach far..."
  
  Pierce wished he could have the abra's confidence. All of their confidence, really. Because he'd been a normal dude back in his world. And here, he might be a bit special in how he could interact with pokemon and get along with them, he supposed, but that didn't translate to being a great trainer. They were completely different skills.
  
  " Narcissa. Orion. Me," Cygnus continued. "We know... you will do it," the abra insisted, just as confident and determined as before. Pierce might have doubted that, but if they were so stubborn... then he'd have to try his best and hope it was enough.
  
  Being nervous wasn't going to help anyone, after all. Being hesitant and afraid would only make things worse. No, he needed to push through, just like he had so far. Maybe his doubts would be there forever, but he needed to keep going despite them.
  
  " Better," Cygnus told him, nodding.
  
  ' Thanks, buddy,' Pierce projected at the abra, patting his head.
  
  " It's why... I'm here... Helper-Speaker."
  
  ' You are gonna have to tell me about that soon, by the way.'
  
  " Soon," the abra agreed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Seriously, that was the problem?" Dennis, the farmer Pierce was helping that day, said incredulously.
  
  "You'd be surprised how easy it is to find out what's wrong with a pokemon," Pierce replied with a smile on his face as he continued petting the rattata on his lap. "Just ask a few questions, be calm and let them know you aren't there with any negative feelings towards them. I think pokemon are more reasonable than humans, most of the time."
  
  "... I guess," the farmer mumbled, not sounding very sure. Still Pierce was certain he'd listen this one time, at least. "So, I just have to make sure to be careful when near their burrow? And they'll be gone whenever the little ones have grown?"
  
  "That's the deal I was talking about with the parents," Pierce confirmed, continuing to pamper the little one on his lap, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the attention. His parents, the raticate off to the side, didn't seem too keen on things, but their child was having a fun time, so they were allowing it. The siblings of the rattata didn't seem to agree with their parents, looking longingly at Pierce.
  
  He guessed he'd have to play with all of them before going, or he'd feel terrible.
  
  "You are careful here and they'll leave you alone. The most they'll probably do is take a few berries here and there. A family this big shouldn't need that many though, even with the little ones. It should make less of a dent in your income than the trouble they've been causing anyway," Pierce said then, turning his attention back to Dennis.
  
  "It's fine," the man waved off, looking half-relieved and half-resigned. "At least I don't have to fear having to repair my equipment again. That was the worst part, really, and not being able to get close," the man explained, to which Pierce nodded. "Guess Don wasn't lying," he added, running his fingers through his graying hair. "Good job, young man. I'll be sure to pay you a bonus for solving it so quickly and cleanly. I half expected a battle and losing more than a few plants."
  
  "Happy to help," Pierce replied with a smile. "Besides, this was fun. It's always nice to play with the little ones," he added, tickling the rattata and making it squirm. "They are adorable."
  
  "They sure are," the old man agreed, smiling softly himself. That was nice. He'd looked pretty annoyed with the rodent pokemon before, but now that things had been explained, he seemed to be fine. Pierce half expected more annoyance and to be asked to kick the family out or something. He would have - because if not someone less kind could take the job - but he'd have hated it anyway. "Well, good to know I don't have to worry about this anymore," the added, moving to the side and plucking a berry off a tree. "Here, little ones," he said, moving carefully to place it close to the family but nowhere near actually close.
  
  "See, it's not so hard," Pierce praised. Sure, the parents had been on edge and the man had been even worse, but so long as people tried, they'd be fine. "The parents are very protective and are likely to overreact, so I'd watch out for that. But so long as you don't make sudden movements or come off as threatening in any way, you should be fine. Remember that misunderstandings are a thing too, so maybe something you think is ok might not be for them."
  
  "I'll keep all of that in mind," Dennis commented, looking thoughtful. "I guess this could cut back on requests for trainers," the man continued. "You might have saved me more money than you and I think, Lawson."
  
  "That and trouble for the pokemon too," he replied, very pleased with himself. Someone was going to have an easier time with their work, pokemon were going to have a nice time going mostly unbothered and he was getting paid to do something he enjoyed.
  
  It was all wins, basically. Doing Trainer jobs might just become his dream job as a whole, really. 'Why do people want to be champions and shit? This is much less stressful,' Pierce thought to himself, chuckling as an envious rattata made its way towards him and then started climbing his side.
  
  "You are not mentioning this to my wife, by the way," Dennis commented and Pierce laughed even harder when he saw a few rattata circling the old man and poking at him with their paws. "Neither will you be mentioning that either, but especially the rattata family and children."
  
  "Because she'll adopt them?"
  
  "With how long our son is taking to give her grandchildren? Hell yes, she will," the man answered, to which Pierce just kept laughing. "Yeah, laugh it up. I just know she'll have me build a home for them... or stuff for them inside the house. I'm too old to be taking care of this many pokemon, Lawson."
  
  "I'll keep the secret, Mr. Calhoun."
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, a whole lot of pokemon interactions and stuff, which is always nice. I'm having fun writing Pierce's trainer jobs too, they are just great. Overall, I guess I like writing regular human-pokemon interactions and such.
  
  Hope you enjoy reading them too!
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: On the topic of the notes, any interactions you can come up with? If they sound interesting and the muse likes them, I might even include whatever ideas you guys have.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City VII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City VII
  
  "Come on, little one, don't give me that look," Pierce pleaded, completely failing to resist the sad eyes of Poliwag. "This is a good thing, buddy. Don't be sad. Come on." The water type wasn't swayed... at all. "Let's go. I'll make you a bunch of pokeblocks, and a berry salad. We can spend some time together with everyone and then see you off. It'll be fine, buddy. You trust the sisters, don't you?"
  
  Poliwag mumbled something under his breath.
  
  "I know it sucks, but that's how things are, buddy. You'll be taken care of and things will be good. You deserve all that," Pierce reassured with a smile that he couldn't quite keep from being sad. "You'll be fine, Poliwag."
  
  With that said, he carried the little water type off to the side where some supplies and Pierce's things were so he could deliver on his promise of food. He was going to make damn sure he did his absolute best with all of it too, that much he swore. It was just a shame that he wasn't quite confident he could make a poffin worth a damn just yet.
  
  After all, Poliwag was getting sent somewhere else. Apparently, the first of his group of patients/friends to be relocated was the lil' one. Lily had greeted him that day to tell him of the news and while it was very sad to know that he'd be gone... Well, the Gym was getting cramped, really, even with all the space it had to house water pokemon.
  
  Besides, the place wasn't a rehabilitation center. It was a Gym.
  
  All in all, Pierce was suddenly wishing he'd spent more time studying how to make poffins and pokepuffs. The former were a step up from pokeblocks, definitely. Pokeblocks were more like just taking berries, mashing them together into a snack-candy confection in a device and calling it a day. Poffins were more like actual cooking, or baking, to be specific.
  
  Pokepuffs were that, but taken even further, which he guessed was like a progression line he'd follow.
  
  As it was, he was barely getting started on reading about the process and getting familiar with things. He'd likely start trying soon, but Pierce just wasn't confident he could make a good one right at that moment. It sucked, but at least he knew which were Poliwag's favorite pokeblock combinations.
  
  He'd just have to try and be ready for the next one.
  
  "Might be a little too much for the little guy, don't you think?" Daisy asked him, looking very amused. To be fair, she wasn't wrong. He'd definitely prepared too many pokeblocks and salad for Poliwag. However...
  
  "Better too much and not too little," he said, quoting his grandma with a slight smile. It was a sad reminder, to be honest, but he was getting better at dealing with them. "I'm sure Quagsire will eat whatever Poliwag doesn't, the glutton," he added, receiving an affirmative response from the ground type.
  
  "Well, that's nice of you regardless," the blond Sister commented, regarding his group. "The others are getting kind of curious about your little group... And kind of envious too."
  
  "Lily told me something about helping around more yesterday? I can have more pokemon with me," Pierce offered, taking a magost berry that he'd set aside and throwing it at Magikarp, who seemed all too happy to catch it while it was still in the air. "Everyone here's mostly friendly or just grumpy. No problems whatsoever, so I can take care of more."
  
  "She did tell us that too," Daisy replied, humming thoughtfully as she continued looking at them. "We are not very sure, but seeing it like this... I guess we could focus on the more problematic ones and have you take care of the more calm ones."
  
  "I mean, I wouldn't complain regardless," he told her with a shrug, patting Poliwag on the head. "Take it easy, buddy. Food's not going anywhere, even if Quagsire wishes it would go his way," he reassured, getting a whine from the ground type. Rolling his eyes, he took a belue berry and threw it at him. Quagsire was the only one that liked those anyway, even in combination. "Stop being a baby, will you?" he asked the ground type, getting only a happy babble.
  
  Pierce just sighed.
  
  Besides him, Vaporeon stared at him with a look that screamed "this is your fault".
  
  The worst part was that the eeveelution was right.
  
  "Yeah, I can definitely see it now. Although, I might have to move the magikarp to another area," Daisy told them, making all the group turn towards her. The pokemon she was talking about looked especially taken aback. "She's marked as a gyarados danger. They can evolve at any time and in the condition she's in and after what she went through... I know it sounds mean, but it's better if she's in a place with people that will be able to contain her."
  
  Pierce wanted to argue that, very much so. He looked at Magikarp, who in turn was looking between Daisy and himself. He didn't want her to be taken somewhere else just yet, especially if she was just going to be in the same building with someone else and waiting to be actually relocated. However, he understood the dangers of a sudden gyarados evolution. He'd read about those in his research, preparing for hopefully getting a magikarp on his team.
  
  Magikarp evolving into gyarados were much worse than a regular gyarados, which was already saying a whole lot. On top of that, even if Magikarp was a sweetheart right now, she'd lived through some awful situations and that would make it all worse. An evolution usually brought all those memories to the forefront, meaning that the worse a magikarp's life was, the worse the evolution and the following gyarados would be. As it was, it was in everyone's best interest for Magikarp to be in a controlled environment and hopefully not evolve for a while so that they could hopefully help minimize the impact of what she'd experienced before.
  
  "Can we go with her or something like that?" Pierce asked, trying to compromise. "I get the dangers and all, but surely forcing her to do things isn't much better, right? If she's just going to be somewhere around here, surely we can go too... right?" he suggested, trying and probably failing to not sound too pitiful.
  
  Daisy stared at him, then at Magikarp, her expression giving nothing away. Then she turned to the side where he noticed Lily and her Slowbro across the entire room. They seemed to have been going somewhere, judging by the Poliwrath carrying a crate that was with them, but both of them had turned towards where Pierce and everyone else were.
  
  "... I guess something can be arranged," Daisy agreed, sounding too reluctant for Pierce's liking, but he'd take that anyway. "You'll have to be careful. There'll be other pokemon that are in the danger category, so if you cause any trouble, you are all out. Am I clear?"
  
  "Crystal," he replied instantly, beaming at the woman before turning towards the pokemon around. "Everyone will be perfectly well-mannered pokemon, or there'll be only kibble in their future," he added, making all of them stiffen. "Right?"
  
  Several heads - and bodies in some cases - nodded quickly.
  
  "That's what I thought."
  
  "Good. We are trusting you, because you aren't wrong. It's better to have these pokemon as happy as they'll be... And we'll bend the rules a little, if it'll give us better odds," Daisy told him then, suddenly sounding and looking very tired. "Do prove us right, ok? I'd hate to have to put a mark on your record about this."
  
  "I'll do my best," Pierce replied right away, which seemed to surprise the blonde. He wasn't very sure why, but it was fine regardless. He was confident that he could keep the group in check and that meant that it was basically fine. Even if somehow something happened, what was a bad mark on his record? He had to have a few good ones in there anyway, so it would check out in the end. "But for now, it's little Poliwag's moment and that's what we are all going to focus on, ok?" he continued, looking straight at the tadpole pokemon, who had seemed a little subdued there at the end.
  
  However, he perked right back up as Pierce addressed him.
  
  "Nobody's forgetting that you are leaving, buddy. We are sending you off, which means plenty of food, we'll play, we'll swim, we'll eat some more. Anything you want, little one," Pierce promised, making the Poliwag bounce around happily. "Mhm, let's get to it, yeah?"
  
  Glancing towards Daisy, Pierce saw the woman smiling at them, which prompted him to return the gesture. Without saying anything else, the Gym leader waved at him and then started walking away. Before turning back to his group though, he did catch her and Lily exchanging a look.
  
  ' Doesn't matter. Focus on the little one,' he told himself.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Quagsire whined.
  
  "I know, I know," Pierce said, idly swinging his legs back and forth in the water as he rubbed the top of the ground type's head. "It sucks, but it's how it goes. You'll have to go to a center too, eventually, just like the rest of you," he added, drawing another whine from the pokemon. The rest of the group was uncharacteristically quiet and still, even for some of the less expressive ones.
  
  Goldeen, Tentacool and Magikarp simply floated in the water around his legs. Quagsire was lying flat on the floor by his side. Vaporeon had decided to take things a step further and lay her head on his lap.
  
  "You'll go to a nice place though. There'll be nice people to take care of you and give you all the belly or head rubs you want," Pierce reassured softly, continuing to pet Quagsire. "You'll have all the food you can possibly need, even if they probably won't spoil you as much as I do. That's a good thing though. Eating too much can be as bad as eating too little, if you don't control yourself. They'll heal you every time you get hurt or sick. They'll help you if you feel bad in any way. And maybe you'll go back to nature and live your life as you should have, or maybe they'll find a trainer that's just as nice as them to care for you from then on."
  
  A grumble escaped Vaporeon then.
  
  "I know it probably sounds too good to be true, but think of it like this, you'll go somewhere with people like me. Maybe they won't be the best, just like I'm not, but they'll try their best, just like I do," Pierce insisted, because it was better to get them used to the idea. That was how things would go for them, whether they liked it or not. The League couldn't just let them be, after all, no matter how much they deserved their freedom. They were a risk, and very much not ready to face much of anything on their own. "So, meet them halfway, yeah? They try their best, you try your best, and I'm sure things will go well. If they don't, then I'm sure you can find a way to take care of yourselves. Just like there's bad people out there, there's also good people. You just have to find them."
  
  Magikarp moved a little bit to rub on his leg.
  
  "Come on, I think this is enough moping, yeah?" Pierce said, forcing a smile on his face. "How about we go swimming for a bit, yeah? Nothing crazy, just to move a little."
  
  Surprisingly, it was Goldeen the one that cheered up the most and the one that looked to be the most on board with the idea. Pierce certainly wasn't complaining though. Instead, he just grinned down at the fish pokemon before taking off his shirt and setting it on the floor by the pool. Once that was done and Vaporeon was off his lap and standing, he let himself drop fully into the water.
  
  "Let's go."
  
  Maybe swimming could help him too, because he wasn't feeling much better than the pokemon were at that moment. It always sucked to have to say goodbye, but somehow Poliwag was worse. He guessed that it was because he wasn't just some pokemon that had been fine and he'd just helped him heal the once. He'd suffered a lot and Pierce felt like he needed to help him an equal amount... but that just wasn't possible, sadly.
  
  So, that's what he did, just stay in the water with his little group of friends. They couldn't go very far, sadly, since a chunk of the pool was dedicated to the pokemon that were classified as a "danger", the people in charge of keeping an eye on them, and their pokemon. Pierce had seen some of those from a distance and he could kind of understand. There'd been a sharpedo that looked like it'd bit off the closest limb it could, for example.
  
  Even Pierce knew those pokemon were dangerous, but he still... Mostly just felt bad for them. He was sure they hadn't been like that before the Rockets. If he didn't know he was more likely to be kicked out than anything else, he'd have at least offered to make them some pokeblocks or something. As it was, some of the Gym staff that was around already didn't seem to like him much, so...
  
  Yeah, Pierce would wait a little, maybe check with the Sisters or something.
  
  He was just happy that he could at least keep close to the pokemon he'd befriended.
  
  "Ok," he said, finally growing too tired to swim anymore. It was his fault though. Why did he think trying to match water type swimming speed was a good idea? He was dumb. "Time for some rest... and snacks," he breathed out, exhausted. Magikarp's little happy jump out of the water still made him smile though. "Tentacool's turn to choose the special though."
  
  At that, all the pokemon sagged in disappointment, even the impassive Goldeen. Pierce guessed that wasn't too surprising. Tentacool liked his stuff sour and bitter... and nothing else. Even Pierce thought that was questionable, but the rules were the rules and everyone got to choose the special pokeblocks...
  
  Still, nobody but Tentacool ate the specials in that round, but that was just lucky in the water and poison type's part.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Opening," Pierce commanded Narcissa, using a new strategy call. This one was for her to not commit to any move and wait. Once their opponent did anything to leave themselves open, that's when she'd go all in. His beedrill's only response was buzzing louder as she started flying around the oddish they were facing.
  
  "Absorb, Oddy, and keep it up!" the other trainer called, making Pierce narrow his eyes. That was a relatively hard move to miss, unfortunately, but it also required focus, which was good. It'd depend on Narcissa to find a good moment to rush in. Unfortunately, neither of them had a good advantage over the other, so this wouldn't end all too quickly, from what he knew.
  
  Which suited Pierce just fine, really.
  
  After all, the whole reason they were there was because Narcissa had really wanted to fight something. Training all the time was taking its toll on his battle maniac of a bug type, evidently. Orion and Cygnus seemed to be taking better to it, simply happy to be progressing, especially in the latter's case. Not his beedrill though. No, she wanted to have a chance to test her strength, to prove it to herself, to Pierce and to everyone else.
  
  So, once they'd talked a bit and he'd picked up all three of them, Pierce made his way to the closest battlegrounds for a quick fight or two so that Narcissa could let out some steam. Orion wanted in too, as it turned out, but Pierce was sure one battle would be enough for his stone serpent. Cygnus was fine just watching though, which was good. It was late and they were all kind of tired, so he didn't want to spend too much time there... Even if it sounded sort of weird, considering he was a trainer.
  
  "Don't let it get away, Narcissa!" Pierce called once the beedrill managed to do as the last strategy dictated and make her way in from an opening. Now, he just needed to keep her there, since close quarters were her forte and not the oddish's from what he'd seen so far. "Strike! Go all in!" he called and so his beedrill did. Narcissa went all out on the poor thing, with Bug Bite, Fury Attack, Twinneedle. Only reason she didn't Tungsten Strike was because the move needed some prep work to actually function.
  
  ' I have to increase her options for close combat since she likes it so much,' he noted to himself.
  
  Soon, the oddish dropped.
  
  "Please release your next pokemon," the referee told the other trainer. The man on the other side obviously wasn't very pleased, but at least he didn't look like he wanted to insult Pierce's entire family tree. That was something. Better that most people he'd battled, really.
  
  "Come on, Geo!" the man across from them called, releasing a geodude. Pausing, both Narcissa and Pierce shared a look. He didn't need psychic powers to know that his pokemon would have been wearing a face-splitting grin if she could.
  
  As it was, he was smiling very widely himself.
  
  "Let's wipe that grin off his face, Geo!" their opponent shouted and Pierce almost laughed. "Rock throw! I know you can nail that-"
  
  "Move!" Pierce called, making Narcissa start flying around at high speeds. No way the Geodude would actually land a hit with Rock Throw. Rock Blast maybe, since it had a more spread area of effect, but with Rock Throw's single projectile? Neither Pierce nor Narcissa would have been fine with that kind of hit after all the work they'd put into things. "Modify!" he added then, once realizing that they were mostly safe.
  
  It was time to do some prep work for their move.
  
  "Rock Blast!" their opponent commanded. 'At least he's not that stupid, it seems,' Pierce mused, but it was no use. Narcissa was already stacking buffs. Between her increased speed and an occasional Harden? Even if she got hit, Pierce was positive she could still keep going no problem. Oddish had landed a few Absorbs on her, but all in all, it hadn't done enough damage that Geodude could one-shot her.
  
  "Tungsten Strike!" Pierce called eventually, once he saw an opening. Narcissa flew true, like a beedrill shaped bullet, before crashing into the Geodude. He didn't leave that there though, since that obviously wasn't enough to one shot the rock type. "Fury Attack! Don't let it breathe!" he called then.
  
  "Ugh, Rollout!"
  
  "Move!" Pierce called, making Narcissa fly away. 'Ok, so, she might not like this much but...' "Blaster, girl, just for a bit! Grass!" he commanded. He knew she didn't like it. He could see it in the way she flew and her stingers and antennae twitched. However, she still didn't hesitate, flying straight and smooth all the same. She was great like that.
  
  He only needed her to do that for a bit anyway, throwing the other two off their game a bit with a sudden shift in approach. A few Giga Drains here and there that weren't really all that effective since the move wasn't quite battle ready yet. However, that wasn't the point to begin with and it seemed to be enough to spook the two for a bit.
  
  "Strike again!"
  
  "Geo, look out-" the other trainer started calling. However, he was a second too late, since Narcissa had already flown in and hit his geodude. "Fuck," their opponent cursed, seeing his pokemon down for the count.
  
  "Good job, girl," he praised, making Narcissa preen in the middle of the air.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  ' All I'm saying is that you'll have to train on other moves besides punches, buddy,' Pierce thought out loud to Cygnus, who was riding on his shoulders. Narcissa had been too tired and content to care when they were done in the battlegrounds, so the psychic had gotten the spot without trouble. 'Not that you shouldn't focus on them, but just adding more options. Even Narcissa has to use some range, even if she prefers close combat.'
  
  " Know," Cygnus agreed reluctantly. "Not... now... though..."
  
  ' I literally just said- Ah, forget it, you little shit,' Pierce replied, rolling his eyes as he realized that his abra was just messing with him. 'You really shouldn't mess with the person that makes you pokeblocks and salads,' he added, making the - internally - chuckling Cygnus freeze. 'That's what I thought. Not so funny now, huh?'
  
  Don't bite the hand that feeds you indeed.
  
  ' Speaking of food, what should I take today?' Pierce wondered, this time actually thinking to himself as he entered the Pokemon Center. Cygnus had gone strangely silent though, he noticed. Not because he didn't say anything, but because the pokemon's presence in his mind had pulled back. It couldn't be because of their conversation, he knew, so why-
  
  "Pierce!" a voice called once he entered the mess hall and he immediately grinned widely. "Took you forever!"
  
  "You are one to talk, Lily," he replied, bringing the volume down a bit, since they weren't the only ones there. "I thought I'd be done here in Cerulean before you even managed to make it here," he told her, drawing a pout from the girl.
  
  "It's not my fault my luck sucks," she grumbled, glaring at him as if it were his fault that she was unlucky. "Stupid rain, stupid mud, stupid Pierce."
  
  "Hey, what do I have to do with any of this?" he protested, but she didn't seem to be listening anymore as she kept muttering complaints and calling things and people stupid. "So, were you waiting for me so we could both get dinner or have you already eating everyth-" A napkin hit him straight in the face. "Well, that's rude."
  
  "Your face is rude."
  
  "Well, that was uncall-"
  
  "Shut up and let's go get something to eat," she muttered, going to stand up and then go do just that. Pierce and Cygnus followed her, looking at the girl strangely. 'Someone's in a bad mood,' he mused.
  
  " No... really?" the abra replied, rolling his eyes. Then the psychic paused. "You think... it's her..."
  
  ' Don't finish that thought, buddy,' Pierce interrupted, already having an idea of where his pokemon was going from the feeling in his mind. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but he sure as hell wasn't going to try and ask Lily that. He had more self-preservation than that.
  
  He resolutely ignored Cygnus' doubts.
  
  "So, besides all the "stupid" parts, anything to tell about the rest of the trip here? Did you stop at any nice beach places? Did you get hit on by everyone with eyes?" he asked, pulling up to stand next to Lily. He saw her tense shoulders relax a bit and he patted himself on the back. Nothing like reminding people of good things and complimenting them to bring the mood back up, or so he thought.
  
  "There was this nice place, but we didn't stop there for more than a few hours. Traveling alone isn't really my thing," she mumbled, looking like she was making an effort to keep herself angry. "Everyone missed your pokeblocks."
  
  "Don't you mean they missed me ?"
  
  "And the guys approaching me did get a little old real quick," she continued, completely ignoring him and slowly going back to her usual cheery self. "But that's fine. Talon had fun scaring them off. Root even joined a bit. Star tried but-"
  
  "She's adorable," Pierce finished with a grin.
  
  "That she is."
  
  ' Man, is it good to have Lily back,' he thought to himself as he listened to his friend ramble on about her few days by her lonesome.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  I know some people were sure that Poliwag was going to join the team but... it was not to be. The Muse decided otherwise, sadly. Other than that, I'm quite happy with this chapter all in all. No part really screams at me that I could have done much better or that I might have messed up. Hopefully that's not me being wrong.
  
  Also, hey, Lily finally made it!
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Do you like wine? I really don't.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City VIII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City VIII
  
  "Ah, I missed this," Lily said, smiling contently.
  
  Pierce couldn't say he was having as good a time himself though.
  
  "You will let go of me or there'll be no pokeblocks for you, mister," he threatened, giving the ekans he'd been talking to a look. Immediately, the snake pokemon deflated a little but it didn't seem to want to give up. Thus, Pierce gave it a raised eyebrow. The pokemon lasted a few seconds before letting go. "That's what I thought. Now, apologize to your sister."
  
  The ekans then gave him a scandalized squawk - 'Didn't know they could make that noise.' -, rearing back as if he'd personally insulted him. In turn, Pierce just looked at him, unimpressed. They held the look for a long moment before the poison type slumped down.
  
  "I remember the days when this kind of thing surprised me," Lily commented, still smiling peacefully.
  
  "Your journey must be wild," the farmer they were helping that day said. To that, Lily started laughing. Pierce was a little concerned though. She sounded a little out of it there.
  
  "You have no idea, George. No idea whatsoever," Lily told the man then, shaking her head.
  
  "Anyway," Pierce started, rolling his eyes and turning towards the second, slightly smaller ekans. "You okay there, girl. Come on, don't be shy. You want some pokeblocks too, right? I can guarantee that they are ekans and arbok approved," he commented with a smile, picking up some of the aforementioned pokeblocks and offering them to the snake pokemon. Her brother had already gotten a few, which was why he was so "eager" to actually listen to Pierce. "After that, I can help you and your brother get out of here and to a more peaceful place, yeah? My team and I will help you get settled and all."
  
  The ekans hissed something hesitantly.
  
  "Promise," he said, smiling. A gesture that widened when the snake slithered closer to him, if warily. "That's it, come on. You seem to be a little bruised. Got into a fight or was it just this brute here?" he asked, pointing with his finger towards the brother. In response, the sister pointed with her tail away from them. "One of the other pokemon? Come on, once we get out of here, I know a nice place with some spearow that would be happy to have you and not cause trouble. You just need to give them a fight once in a while so that they can get stronger. You could get stronger too," Pierce suggested, something that immediately got the attention of the brother. "You like the sound of that, buddy?"
  
  The brother hissed something, nodding enthusiastically.
  
  "Great, so, we have a little meal here and then we can go over there, have a chat with them, what do you say, guys?" he asked, receiving a quick nod from the brother and a very quick nod from the sister... after she ate a pokeblock, at least.
  
  Soon enough, Pierce had Cygnus teleport them all the way over to the Clark's farm. He had to make a call to make sure it was fine, but the old couple was more than happy to bring some more pokemon close by if it meant the spearow flock would be less battle hungry. They even offered to pay him more than they already had, which he tried to talk them out of. He was already getting paid for doing this for someone else and he'd already gotten his pay from their job but...
  
  " None of that, young man," Martha told him over the pokegear. "You're getting paid and that's that. Now, what's this I hear about a girl?"
  
  " For God's sake, woman, leave the poor boy alone-"
  
  " Shush you, John-"
  
  " Did you just-?"
  
  " Pierce?"
  
  "Just a friend I've been traveling with, Martha, that's all," Pierce replied, a little amused. It was getting a little out of hand, how many people were calling them a couple. "And that's very kind of you. I'll be sure to give you some pokeblocks for your pokemon. It's the least I can do."
  
  " You'll insist, won't you?"
  
  "Sure will."
  
  " Now, just like Kent, isn't he, Johnny?"
  
  " Bah, comes more often, that's for sure."
  
  " You know Kent is busy with his job-"
  
  "I'll see you later then, Mrs. and Mr. Clark," Pierce said, a smile on his face and a chuckle wanting to escape his mouth. He'd happily have stayed on the phone, but he had a job to do and other things to take care of afterwards.
  
  " Take care, Pierce. And remember to come by for a meal, ok?"
  
  "Wouldn't miss it, Mrs. Clark."
  
  With the call ended, Pierce turned towards Lily, who was looking at him with a very amused expression. He just rolled his eyes at her with a smile as he walked, Narcissa taking her turn to hang from his shoulders. The girl then started giggling behind her hand. From the side, both ekans siblings looked between them, clearly confused.
  
  "Don't mind her, you two. She's crazy," Pierce told them, making circle motions next to his temple as he started walking. "If you stay too close to her too long you might get it too."
  
  "Hey, I'm not contagious!" Lily protested from behind him. "And I'm not crazy."
  
  "Sure you aren't, Lily, sure you aren't."
  
  "I'm not!" the girl whined. "Tell him, Star!" Unfortunately for her, the fairy type just gave her a comforting tap on the shoulder from where she was being hugged against Lily's chest. "You are supposed to be on my side," Lily whined some more.
  
  "There there."
  
  "Why did I miss you again, Pierce?" she grumbled as they continued walking. "I should be traveling by myself."
  
  "Please, you love me and my pokemon encounters too much."
  
  "Shut up."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Hm," Lily moaned as she bit into her burger. "Gosh," she mumbled with her mouth still full. "How I missed some junk food, Pierce. This is great ."
  
  "I know," he commented, a little amused but also finding that reaction to junk food oddly cute. Then again, he had reacted mostly the same way when he'd arrived at the city and had his first taste of a meal he hadn't prepared himself nor Lily. No offense to the girl's cooking, but it was nice to have something different once in a while and junk food certainly hit the spot after spending so long out in the wild.
  
  Thus, he leaned back on his chair and brought the straw of his drink to his lips while he watched the girl reconnect with civilization through her meal.
  
  "So, you've been leaving your team with the tutors? Anything I should know? I might do the same while we are here," she asked, picking up some of her fries. "Which will likely mean we'll have to stay here for longer after you are done with your training with the tutors. You can probably tackle the Gym right now, nevermind then. So, if you don't want to wait, I can save the tutor vouchers for-"
  
  "Lily," he interrupted, raising an amused eyebrow at the babbling girl. "It's fine, we can stay a few days more."
  
  "You sure, because-"
  
  "I'm sure," he interrupted again, giving her an amused and bemused smile. "What's up? You are acting weird."
  
  "I just... Did I ever tell you? I didn't like traveling on my own when I started my journey," she started, deflating on her seat, picking a fry but simply staring at it for a long moment before nibbling on the tip. "My mother warned me about traveling alone, about how dangerous a journey could be and that it was always better to have someone watching your back. And I wanted that, so I talked to my friends about it and all but... They left without me. They wanted to challenge themselves, prove that they were the best on their own and all that."
  
  "They sound like assholes," Pierce commented, drawing a chuckle from Lily.
  
  "Yeah, they are," she agreed with a nod, her mood still down. "But I guess I was really happy to find you and start traveling with you. And that was before you started dragging me into these crazy encounters and... just making my journey better, I guess."
  
  Pierce felt like saying something, honestly, but he also felt like it was better to just let her talk. Lily was obviously speaking a lot more seriously than usual, looking down with her meal all but forgotten now. It seemed that either he'd touched on something there or she'd been waiting for a chance to talk about this. He wasn't sure which one it was, or if it was both.
  
  "Then I was by myself again, just me and my team. And they are great, don't get me wrong but... It's different, you know? To know that there's another human being watching your back," Lily told him, finally looking up from her plate. "So I guess... Yeah, I missed you a lot... Sorry if I got a little emotional there."
  
  "Don't worry about it," Pierce replied with a soft smile... before reaching over and taking one of her fries.
  
  "Hey!"
  
  "That said," he commented, taking a bite out of his recently acquired snack. "There's no need to worry, you know? You are stuck with me now. Who'd I tease if you aren't around? Narcissa? She'd stab me."
  
  "That she would," Lily replied, smiling at him and looking more grateful than amused. "Thanks for agreeing to travel with a stranger, Pierce."
  
  "Lily... I think you know I don't have many people in my corner," Pierce told her then. Maybe he felt like he had to, after she opened up like that. Or maybe he just wanted to tell someone. Regardless of it all... Pierce found that it wasn't so difficult to get started, nor continuing. "Right now, you are the closest person I have and that's because this crazy girl decided to ask to travel with a stranger, so... I think I should be the one saying thank you."
  
  "Guess we both were lucky, huh?" she said, picking up a fry herself.
  
  "That we were."
  
  "So, leaving that aside... broke any hearts?" she asked, making him groan. He couldn't help but grin at her though as she started laughing. "Come on, there has to be something you can tell me. It can't all be training and playing with pokemon, Pierce. Even for you!"
  
  "What do you mean even for me?"
  
  "I'm waiting!"
  
  "No, Lily, I didn't break any hearts," he told her flatly, already growing bored with that conversation. "I've barely talked with anyone but the Sisters at the Gym. And it's all professional," he added quickly, before she could say something dumb.
  
  "One would think you'd be more friendly, Pierce."
  
  "I'm friendly, I just don't make a lot of friends," he corrected with a shrug. "I mean, we'll be leaving in a matter of... What? A week?" he asked, leaning back and taking his drink in his hand. "Doesn't seem worth it to get close to someone when we'll just be away real soon and who knows when we'll be back here."
  
  ' Doesn't sound worth it, when you can just die at any time,' he added in his mind, remembering the red, the pain and the glint of meta - He shook those thoughts off. 'I just don't feel eager to make new connections. Maybe it's not healthy but... I'll just give it some time and see.'
  
  "I know, but still..." Lily said, very clearly a little concerned. "You don't have to be alone, Pierce."
  
  "I have you, don't I?"
  
  The girl raised an eyebrow.
  
  "Fine, be that way," he grumbled, rolling his eyes and bringing his drink's straw to his lips. "I'm just saying that it's fine that I don't make friends that easily. Besides, it's not like other people are throwing friendship at me, you know?"
  
  Lily raised her eyebrow even more, which Pierce hadn't known she could even do.
  
  "Those girls don't count," he muttered, looking away.
  
  "I guess it's not friendship that they are throwing at you."
  
  Pierce just groaned.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Place is getting a little empty," Pierce commented, drawing a subdued response from Vaporeon next to him. That day, instead of just one of their group members being taken away, it was a whole bunch. Quagsire, Goldeen and Tentacool had gone now. "Just you and me from the starting group, huh?" he asked, placing a hand on top of the eeveelution.
  
  Magikarp swam in a circle in front of him.
  
  "I guess we can add you too, huh?" he said, smiling as the fish pokemon gave an excited wiggle at that. "I'm happy for you, all of you. The ones that already left and you too. I want you to know that," Pierce told them then, letting out a long drawn out breath through his nose. "Just in case you had any doubts. I'll miss you, of course, but I'm happy you are cared for now, either here or wherever you end up going."
  
  Magikarp approached him then, rubbing against his leg. Even Vaporeon did the same where she laid by his side, pressing her head on his thigh. As they shared that moment though, a tentacool - a different one from the one they'd been spending time with - approached them curiously. Pierce smiled at it, remembering that there were, indeed, other pokemon around and that all of them needed cheering.
  
  "How about we go swimming, yeah?" he asked. Both of his current companions agreed, if not quite enthusiastic. That was fine though, he was fairly sure that some exercise and a meal afterwards would help their moods. He certainly hoped so, at least. "Let's go then."
  
  So, that's how he spent the next hour or so, swimming and sharing food with pokemon. A very good use of his time, at least in Pierce's opinion. As usual, he did also play with some of the other pokemon around, but ultimately it always ended up being mostly Magikarp and Vaporeon with him. All the others had their handlers, or were still wary, or just didn't want to get close to someone when they were all being sent to different places and such.
  
  Pierce could certainly understand all those reasons, so he didn't feel too bad.
  
  "And then when I turned to look at them, the little shits had already eaten like, half of the berries we'd been given, can you believe that," he narrated, lying sideways on the edge of the pool, with one foot inside the water and dropping one hand in occasionally. "I swore that I would never let her live that down and I've held to that promise so far. They deserve it."
  
  His audience of tentacool, magikarp and Vaporeon nodded their agreement.
  
  It was nice to be in the company of like-minded individuals.
  
  Idly, Pierce closed his eyes. He was a little tired, between the job in the morning and all the stuff that he'd been doing with his pokemon companions at the Gym to keep their mood up, nevermind the goodbye with most of the group. It had been a very active day, that was for sure. On top of that, he was also very emotionally drained once more.
  
  ' This is just really taxing. I can't imagine working doing this,' he thought to himself. He really didn't want to know what it felt like to be the people that did this as a full job, encountering suffering pokemon all the time and having to deal with the inevitable heartbreak that came with it all the time. Pierce loved helping pokemon, but what he didn't love was pokemon suffering.
  
  A bit of a contradiction, some would say, but he didn't think so.
  
  If a pokemon needed help, he'd be the first to go for it. However, he'd rather no pokemon ever needed him for anything. That was his ideal world. One that was impossible, but that was how it was for him. Just because it couldn't happen didn't mean Pierce had to stop wanting that to be how things were.
  
  A deep sound made him drop his head to the side to check the pool. Sure enough, there was a new pokemon peeking at him over the water level. Now, Pierce would admit that the sight made him a little nervous, but he didn't let it show. This was a pokemon that was surely under someone's supervision. If a sharpedo was allowed to swim free... Well, he trusted the Sisters and the Gym staff.
  
  "Hey there," Pierce greeted as the rest of the pokemon gathering around him made way for the shark pokemon. "Say, are you hungry?" The sharpedo stopped then, but Pierce didn't know if it was surprised or interested. "I can get you a pokeblock or two if you are interested. Then you can stay here and listen to me speak nonsense for an extended period of time. This lot seems to like that for some reason."
  
  The sharpedo approached him instead of answering, getting closer and closer until it was right next to Pierce.
  
  At the sudden closeness, the man extended his arm towards the pokemon slowly.
  
  "Do you mind?" he asked. When the water type didn't express anything he placed his palm on top of the shark's head and started patting it. "I guess we can stay like this for a bit longer," Pierce commented, looking up at the ceiling once more as they got comfortable. "Which story to tell next... Oh, how about this one where an arbok got inside our camp one night?" he asked and he heard Magikarp swim enthusiastically. She was the only one that reacted that strongly to his stories, after all.
  
  So, he started another narration.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Narcissa]
  
  She was tired.
  
  She was sore.
  
  She was also... proud .
  
  Narcissa was getting stronger. Maybe it was a slow - agonizingly slow - process, but she was progressing. She was a little irked that she had to learn with someone other than Pierce, but she could understand the idea of having someone more experienced teach her. She had learned from the other members of her line back in Viridian Forest. She learned from Pierce. Pierce learned from Lily and his books and the computer thing.
  
  Her trainer knew a lot, but he didn't know enough to teach her the move she was learning fast enough. Her tutor, as Pierce called him, spoke from years of experience and training other pokemon. He had other pokemon that could teach her more carefully in a way that no human ever could.
  
  All in all, she could see the wisdom in the decision.
  
  That said, Narcissa would admit that she wasn't as much of a fan as one would think. She didn't like, after all, having to be away from Pierce for extended periods of time. The man had been with her for a relatively short amount of time, but it was still longer than she'd been alive before he appeared. He was a huge part of her life now, the one that was helping her get where she wanted to be.
  
  They'd get there, she swore, all of them would. Pierce, Orion, Cygnus and Narcissa, all four of them would be there, together with whatever other members their team got. Speaking of which, she still wasn't very sure how she felt about the whole team thing, even after so long since the other two members joined.
  
  Orion was fine, she supposed, if childish. She could appreciate his desire to grow stronger so that he wouldn't be weak and fragile anymore, that's for sure. He could also be really annoying, especially in spars since he held the advantage. Narcissa refused to lose to a child though and she hadn't... but it was annoyingly difficult to get those wins.
  
  Once she had Giga Drain ready though, then they'd speak.
  
  Narcissa couldn't wait.
  
  Then there was Cygnus who was... there. The abra wasn't the most sociable pokemon around, that was for sure, but that was fine with Narcissa. She'd rather that than a hyperactive thing like Star. At least Cygnus allowed privacy and personal time. Other than that, she didn't mind the psychic too much, really. He kept to himself, just like she did and just like Orion did... for the most part.
  
  They were Pierce's team first and friends second, or so she felt. Which is far from saying she didn't care, but she was sure they wouldn't have been anywhere near each other if not for their trainer. Now though, now they were a team, a swarm of their own. Thus, Narcissa would look out for them just like they would look out for her.
  
  "Come on, girl," Pierce said, making her turn her attention back to the outside world instead of just thinking. That was one of the many changes she'd experienced while traveling with Pierce. She thought a lot more now, she realized.
  
  Then again, when in the wild, she'd always had to keep an eye out for any other pokemon that might threaten her or trainers looking for a fight or capture. Now, she didn't need to worry about that, since she was safe. And even if she wasn't, she'd trust her team, her swarm, to protect her.
  
  "There, much better, right?" Pierce told her, setting her on his lap and starting to rub her with the special wipe he'd gotten. It was... glorious . Especially after a long day of training. Her everything was sore and she was too tired to even fly all that much.
  
  Maybe insisting on those battles after training hadn't been a good idea.
  
  Still, if she got Pierce's massages with the wipe, it might as well be worth it, even without the promise of future strength. It was that good and she was not at all surprised that Orion was very much a sucker for it himself. Cygnus, the poor unfortunate psychic that he was, didn't have an equivalent for it found just yet. Narcissa could only pity him for that.
  
  He rolled his eyes at that thought of hers, but she was positive that he was envious of them.
  
  Truly, such a sad existence, the one of her teammate.
  
  "Are you guys being mean to each other again?" Pierce asked, and Narcissa stiffened. "I did tell you what would happen if you didn't quit it, didn't I?"
  
  He had.
  
  No pokeblocks for a night.
  
  Narcissa couldn't have that. After much trial and error - quite a bit of error, really - Pierce had struck some absolutely amazing combinations of berries for the snacks. Furthermore, Pierce was also going to start training himself in the art of making something called poffins.
  
  Narcissa had seen some pictures and she wasn't impressed. They looked... soft, not very appealing, but she could be wrong. Strange, that was, but it could happen.
  
  Besides, Pierce made it sound like they were better than pokeblocks and that Narcissa needed to see. If that held true, then she definitely didn't want to miss out. Even if the first batch turned out to be like Pierce's pokeblock learning experience, she still wanted to be part of it. Just to be sure that she'd get to eat the good ones too.
  
  No way she'd be missing out.
  
  Especially because Cygnus would be insufferable about it if she didn't. The abra could be a little shit like that too. And Orion likely would do the same thing, if unintentionally. The amusement she felt coming from Cygnus was all the confirmation she needed and the abra knew it.
  
  Thus, they'd have to play nice with each other.
  
  "That's more like it," Pierce said, continuing what he was doing. Narcissa could ignore the obnoxious abra. She had Pierce and she was getting massaged with the wipe. She was getting stronger every day and she was soon to prove her strength against the city's Gym. She needed to focus on all that and she'd be in a great mood for a while.
  
  Things were good for Narcissa and she was definitely very happy with her decision all the way back when she was a Kakuna.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Hey, another Narcissa PoV! Don't ask me why I felt like adding that there. I just thought it'd been a while and wanted to do some different PoV stuff. So, that's what happened... that's it. You shouldn't expect grand planning thingies from me by now.
  
  Anyway, there's also some more water type quality time as usual and also some Lily quality time. Nothing much to point out there, but always nice to have, I think.
  
  Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Gold or silver? I prefer silver, personally. (This isn't a pokemon question, btw. I mean literally a preference between gold or silver, be it the metals or the colors.)
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City IX
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City IX
  
  "Are you seeing this, Ethan?"
  
  "I'm seeing it, Evan," the second twin commented, looking at Pierce like he was weird or something. Which, fair enough, the man himself supposed. Still, it was kind of rude. "Still working on believing though," Ethan added, rubbing his eyes as if trying to get them to work properly.
  
  "Do you need a moment?" Pierce asked then, leaning back on the tree he was sitting against and petting the pokemon on his lap. "If not, we can discuss how to keep this lot from wreaking havoc on your fields. Pretty sure that's what the job was about."
  
  "Yes, please. If I have to fix the truck one more time, I might go insane," Evan answered with a groan. To be fair to him, the aforementioned vehicle did look like it had gotten... roughed up quite a lot. There were dents and holes everywhere, but it had worked surprisingly well when he'd been taken there.
  
  "Well, first thing first," Pierce said, turning his body so he could send a better look at the mankey on his lap and the ones on the tree. These latter ones were sending the other very obviously envious looks... Which was great. "They are mean little things, but they are also pokemon with feelings. If you are nice to them, they'll be more likely to be nice to you. How about you take one of the other ones and pet them a bit? I think they'd like that."
  
  The twins gave him incredulous looks.
  
  To that, he just rolled his eyes before exaggerating his movements so that they could get a better view.
  
  "The top of the head and the stomach are basically safe spots. Everywhere else depends, but the hands and feet are usually off limits," he explained calmly, demonstrating... At least with the former. With the latter, he just gestured in their direction. "You can try other spots, they might like them better, after all. If they twitch, it's better to go back to a safer spot. Remember to check this with all spots, even the safe ones, just in case. It's just nice to know which ones are "safer" as it were, I'm sure. Give it a try," Pierce told the two, as he continued petting the mankey on his lap.
  
  Having been paying close attention to his words, the fighting pokemon on the tree branches above him jumped down. They started moving close to the brothers, who both tensed up. Their eyes then darted towards Pierce's pokemon, who were looking closely at the whole thing. Narcissa and Cygnus were paying especially close attention, just in case someone messed up.
  
  Nothing should happen, obviously, but there was always the chance that someone wouldn't listen to his advice and do something dumb instead. One never knew when dealing with others, be they humans or pokemon. Especially the former, admittedly, but stupidity wasn't solely a human trait.
  
  "Let's do something, you," Pierce said, pointing at a specific mankey that he'd seen be a little more calm and curious than the rest. It pointed at itself. "Yes, you, can you go towards him? Slowly, please," he asked, proceeding to point at Evan, who was the calmest twin. "Evan, please, crouch down and pick her up like you would a small child. No need to go too slow or be too gentle, just don't move too suddenly or put force into it. You'd have to try and annoy them like that for it to happen."
  
  "... Ok, ok... Yeah, I can do that," the man commented, looking down at the expectant mankey. Doing as Pierce instructed, he picked up the fighting pokemon and brought her up. "Now... what?" he asked nervously, gulping.
  
  "Now you turn her around and hold her against your chest like this," Pierce explained, demonstrating with his own mankey partner, placing an arm under one of his and then across the "chest" area, if it could be called that. "And then use your other hand to pet her head like this," he added, showing the man what to do again.
  
  As soon as he followed his example, Evan found himself in possession of a very relaxed mankey that was almost purring under his care.
  
  "See, not such a fighting machine anymore, right?" he asked the man, who was looking very pleasantly shocked as he continued doing as he'd been told. Then he traded a look with Ethan, who had been looking at the whole thing with an even more fearful expression than his brother did. "Wanna give it a try, Ethan?"
  
  "Uh... Yeah?" he replied, not very sure. That was fine, Pierce had a partner in mind for the exercise that wouldn't give him a bad time.
  
  "Great, take this one. He's already calm and knows it'll be good for him so long as he doesn't cause problems," he answered, standing up and moving to pass the mankey he'd been petting. Standing next to the frightened man, he spoke softly to point out some things for him.
  
  Then he chuckled when an impatient mankey climbed on him for some attention of his own.
  
  "Ok, so, the gist of it is that you shouldn't try to fight them. They'll like that, after all. What you need to do is take a minute off, offer them something to eat, a few pets and that should be enough to calm them down so that you can send them off," Pierce explained, nodding his head to signal for them to follow. They were a little skittish since there were a few more mankeys at their feet, but they still walked behind him. "Just do that and get them to the edge of the property, be nice and tell them that you need to work but they can come and visit whenever, so long as they don't cause trouble."
  
  "Aren't you doing that already?" Ethan asked, his voice still a little shaky.
  
  "It's nice to get the rapport in yourself," Pierce told him with a smile. "Besides, you never know when a different group or just a member of this group that doesn't know you will show up. If they aren't immediately at least a little friendly, then just speak to them, make offers and see how they react. Trying to be overly friendly can go badly with those that don't know you."
  
  "Not for you, I don't think," Evan commented jokingly.
  
  "I have to be careful and I'm told that I have an easier time understanding pokemon than most. I wouldn't try to follow my example to the letter," Pierce told them as they reached the fence that signaled the edge of their property. "Now, you lot be nice and don't cause trouble, or you won't get any petting the next time you come around, yeah?" he said to the mankeys. "We have things to do now, but these two will be here tomorrow, if you feel like visiting. No fighting for a spot, or they'll be too scared to be friendly, yeah?" he explained to the pokemon as he moved to place the one he'd been carrying on the fence. "Take care."
  
  Barely a minute later, the whole group had gone away.
  
  "That was... incredible," Ethan commented, looking wide-eyed at the woods where the mankey had disappeared. "You really are something."
  
  "I try," Pierce replied with a smile. "Just remember doing that and if you need any emergency help with anything or my advice doesn't work for you, give me a call."
  
  "We will, thank you."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I'd have thought you would spend more time at the beach, considering how much you like being in water," Lily commented while they ate at the Pokemon Center. "Instead you spend all your time either working or at the Gym."
  
  "I mean, I guess the Gym fills that spot for me right now," he replied, taking his glass and bringing it to his lips. "... And many of these jobs sound kind of serious, even if they are solved easily. I don't want to put them off. Especially because I don't think I'll be around long enough to do them all."
  
  "You are allowed to not take them, you know?" his friend asked, shaking her head at him. "Just because you can probably do the job better than a regular trainer could doesn't mean you have to. You are only one man, Pierce."
  
  "I know that, but this is not only people that need help, you know? The pokemon need help too," he grumbled, stabbing the food on his plate as if it had offended him. "But you do have a point and I see it. I just can't help it."
  
  "Can't help but help. That's a funny thing, isn't it?" Lily pointed out with a grin as he sent her an unimpressed look. "Fine, be that way. Anyway, I'm just saying that if you want to go to the beach and not work for once, you can do it. I know you enjoy what you are doing, but it's still work. I enjoy training and battling, but it can get tiring really quick."
  
  "I guess you are not wrong, again,"Pierce acknowledged with a nod and a sigh as he continued eating. Taking a moment, he considered what Lily was saying. It wasn't something new, or that he hadn't thought of before, but he'd kind of... pushed that aside before. Now, confronted with it by someone else, he knew it was just him pushing forward, ignoring the problem.
  
  ' I'm doing that a lot,' he thought, holding back a grimace.
  
  "I mean, even if you go to the beach now, it'd be just because you "have to", right? So, yeah..." Lily told him, making him sigh. "Just... remember to take breaks from things you have to do and do things you want to do, if that makes sense."
  
  "It does," he replied, pushing his food around on the plate a bit. Ultimately, he pushed through to finish the meal. He'd always hated leaving food on the plate, felt like he was wasteful or something. "I guess I just..." he started before sighing. "Doesn't matter. So, how was your morning at the battlegrounds?"
  
  "Challenging," she replied, apparently fine changing the topic. It was probably too serious for her, Pierce supposed. Or maybe she felt awkward lecturing him about personal stuff like that? Maybe both. "There was this girl with a pokemon I didn't even know. From Sinnoh, apparently. It was a little annoying, not gonna lie. And there was one guy that was clearly going to get his second badge already, at the very least, because he had no business being as strong as he was. Pretty sure he'll get a bunch of badges back to back or something."
  
  "You do realize that I probably look like that to people, right?" he asked with a wry smile. With Narcissa and Orion, he probably looked like a very unfair fight for everyone that he challenged or was challenged by with no badges. "And you too for that matter. Did you win?"
  
  "Er, yeah," she replied sheepishly. "But still!"
  
  "Lily, come on. You can't complain about every trainer you come across that could maybe kick your ass-"
  
  "I definitely can!"
  
  "And don't even get me started with when you lose-"
  
  "Let me be a sore loser, will you?!" she complained, pouting and all. "I don't even complain to their faces. It's just... annoying."
  
  He just raised an eyebrow at her then.
  
  "Don't look at me like that. I know it sounds childish but... I never faced much of a challenge back in Pallet," she admitted and it was now her turn to push her food around. "It was just me and my two friends. We pretty much dominated everyone else."
  
  "Well, call me crazy, but I think the world has more people than Pallet."
  
  "Oh, shut up, will you?"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "This is nice," Pierce commented, legs crossed at the ankles and hands behind his head as he laid down. There was a deep sound that reverberated on his back as a response that made him chuckle. "That's nice, it's like getting a massage, honestly."
  
  The response was pretty much the same.
  
  "Yeah, I'm definitely getting you a pokeblock or ten. Good stuff, buddy, I promise. If you are around tomorrow, I think I can be confident in my poffins by then. I've been practicing," Pierce commented, getting an excited, if still deep, sound in response. "As thanks for letting us float around with you, if you will. I know this must be annoying for you."
  
  The tentacruel he - together with a few krabby and Vaporeon - was lying on top of replied with another deep sound that made his bones tremble and a wave of his tentacle.
  
  "Still, man, thank you," Pierce insisted, and he was fairly sure that Tentacruel was rolling his eyes at him, even if he couldn't see from where he was. "Still having fun with the handler's expression?" he asked then, turning to the side to see the Gym staff woman that had been in charge of Tentacruel. She was looking at them every few seconds as if they were waiting for her not to look so that they could cause a natural disaster.
  
  The big water type replied with his version of a laugh that had one of the particularly childish krabby jumping around. Probably to make things worse - more like definitely, but whatever - Tentacruel reached up with his tentable and wrapped it around Pierce's chest to bring him up and hold him in the air. Glancing to the side, he saw the woman had tensed up and looked paler than before.
  
  "Well, that's annoying," he commented flatly, giving the water type an unimpressed expression. That is, before an idea formed in his mind. "Actually, nevermind. You think you can throw me up a bit? Like, so that I'll fall on the water. Pretty sure I'd break everything if I fell on the actual floor, you know?" The answer came in the shape of Tentacruel doing just that. From the side, Pierce heard a shriek but he was too busy screaming in excitement before dropping in the water in a swan dive.
  
  In the water, he saw Magikarp reach him and swim around him cheerfully as he started going back up.
  
  "That was fun!" he called with a laugh. "Maybe we can do that again later," he added as he swam up to Tentacruel. "Honestly, what'd you do for them to be so scared? You are nice," he asked, giving the water type a pat and chuckling when a tentacle pushed him on top of his body. "I'm not hearing an answer," he pointed out, he grinned widely when Tentacruel seemed to want to wave off the entire thing. "Oh no, buddy. This I gotta hear."
  
  Pierce had a feeling that was kind of what Lily had been telling him to do before. Because he'd visited the water types at the gym before, of course, but most of him was mostly focused on making the pokemon feel better. He tried to keep them happy or at least calm in a time of much discontent. That day though, it felt like he was just having a good time, like one of the encounters he'd have on the road instead of visiting Rocket victims.
  
  Sure, at times, he'd get a good look at one of the pokemon and see injuries that remained, signs of malnutrition that persisted and generally a bad mood that could only mean a worse memory in the pokemon's mind. However, they were getting better, and Pierce himself was getting better at not treating them like they were glass. Maybe some of them needed it, but others just wanted to forget, move on. Others wanted to be treated like normal pokemon, instead of half-broken ones.
  
  Pierce could certainly provide for those.
  
  "Honestly, buddy," he commented, laying himself at the edge of Tentacruel's head and peeking off where his eyes were. "I think you could talk to one of the psychics or something and they'd let the handlers know you are just all soft and fluffy inside. Unless you are having trouble or something, which is fine. I get my moments like that too," he mused absently, half talking to the pokemon and half talking to himself. "What I'm trying to say is that you are fine. If you don't feel like you need people keeping watch then there's no need to have them and just annoy yourself."
  
  To that, the Tentacruel mumbled something in a lower voice than before.
  
  "It's fine. Just like I help you, you guys are helping me feel better," Pierce replied with a half-smile. "I like having you guys around. So if you feel better with people keeping an eye on you just in case, then that's fine. Means you aren't arrogant enough to feel like you can deal with everything yourself."
  
  Saying that made Pierce feel arrogant himself, admittedly, but he couldn't have others help him with most of his problems. He could get help with some of them though, so that was something. Taking a deep breath in, he stared at the ceiling of the inside pool they were in.
  
  "Say, do you mind if I take my turn to feel bad?" he asked, receiving a questioning deep sound. "I just have my own things to deal with, I guess. It's nothing as bad as you guys, of course, so it's fine if you want me to shut up."
  
  A yap from his side made him turn to Vaporeon, who had moved towards them. With his attention on her, the eeveelution slapped him with her paw. To that, he snorted before devolving into chuckles.
  
  "Yeah, fair enough," he said with a smile that turned sad quickly. "Keep an eye on everyone while I mope, yeah?"
  
  Vaporeon, Tentacruel and Magikarp, who had been floating by him in the water, replied to that in the affirmative.
  
  "You are great, guys," he commented, placing his forearm over his eyes and just... letting his mind drift to thoughts he usually avoided. It wasn't tears that ran down his face, just water dripping from his hair, that was all. It wasn't a sob that escaped his lips, just a surprised sound when Vaporeon leaned against his side.
  
  Those were his stories and he was sticking to them.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Hey, Pierce!" he heard Lily call him from the entrance door to the computer room at the Pokemon Center. Looking up from where he'd been taking notes, he turned to look at his traveling companion. "Do you have a minute?"
  
  "Eh... Sure," he replied hesitantly as he started closing the tabs he'd had open. He had been taking some last minute notes on how to make poffins. He had a few recipes ready to try out, sure, but he wanted them to be good, if not perfect. He might have been dabbling into slightly more complicated recipes and techniques that he shouldn't be trying so early but...
  
  The videos were distracting, ok? It wasn't his fault.
  
  "What did you need?" he asked once he'd picked everything up and moved to the door where Lily was waiting.
  
  "I was talking with my mom and she said that the spearow around Pallet have been causing trouble," she told him. Immediately, he had flashbacks of the mess that was chapter one from the anime, with the spearow flock and all that. Which was mostly nonsense. Sure, spearow were mean and petty little shits in general, but they weren't likely to chase someone like that because of a rock thrown, especially through as long a distance as the anime made it look. 'This isn't the anime though, focus,' he told himself, shaking his head. "People are kind of concerned and Professor Oak had to bring his pokemon into the mix to keep the peace a bit."
  
  Ok, that sounded really bad. 'What could make spearow get that aggressive? Not lack of flock leadership, that's for sure. Someone bothering them? They'd have to have killed for it to be that bad,' he theorized in his mind, suddenly all business.
  
  "I've told my mom about what you can do and... Well, she asked if you might have any advice," Lily finished, to which he hummed thoughtfully. "Hey, mom. This is Pierce."
  
  "The famous Pierce Lawson in the flesh, huh?" he heard the woman before he saw her on the screen. He smiled at her, going to wave and greet her. However, she beat him to the punch there. "He's cute. You are doing well for yourself, Lily. I see."
  
  "Mom!" the girl whined as Pierce chuckled.
  
  "She wishes, ma'am," he replied with a grin.
  
  "Excuse me?!"
  
  "We are not like that. I swore not to get involved with this mess when her pokemon ate half our food-"
  
  "It was one time!"
  
  "And it got worse when she wanted to get us lost in Mt. Moon."
  
  "It wasn't that bad!"
  
  "Shame that," the woman commented, clicking her tongue and giving her daughter a playfully disappointed shake of her head. "I thought I had done a better job with you, Lily."
  
  "You suck, both of you," the girl muttered through her teeth. "Didn't you have a problem to ask for help about?"
  
  "Right," Pierce said, running his fingers through his hair as he tried to focus himself. Teasing Lily was nice and all, but there were people and pokemon that needed help. "Something about a spearow flock?"
  
  "They've been a nightmare. The Professor has been trying to reach them but all he's managed to do is scare them off. They are still coming back though and he can't figure it out, even with his alakazam helping."
  
  ' That's weird,' Pierce thought. Lily had mentioned something about that, but still. Wasn't Oak supposed to be an ex-Champion or something? If nothing else, he should be good enough to deal with this kind of thing, if not as a trainer then as a researcher... right? 'No offense to them, but they are spearow. Wild ones at that and in a mostly calm area. They shouldn't be causing problems for someone like fucking Samuel Oak,' he mused, trying to make sense of that.
  
  Still, with that in mind, he guessed he could try. Maybe the good Professor had other things on his plate. With the Rockets around, Pierce didn't doubt there might be more concerning things for the man to worry about than some angry birds.
  
  "Ok, first of all, have you or anyone else seen a fearow mixed in with the flock? Or several? Maybe a spearow that's stronger than the rest?" he asked with a frown. He didn't think a power vacuum in the group would cause it to be as aggressive as they were describing, but if the flock was big enough, it might be. Maybe if there were other problems mixed in too.
  
  "There was a group of spearow that seemed stronger, they are the leaders, I'm told," the woman answered, making him hum. Several leaders wasn't that strange, from what he'd read and seen. Sometimes there was one leader with two sub-leaders and such. Dynamics varied, as with everything, but it made more sense if the group was big.
  
  Which was the next question: How big was the flock? From there, it was a bit of a Q&A show between him and the woman, going back and forth as he tried to get all the information he could. Were the spearow doing anything in specific? Attacking people, places, targeting anywhere in particular? Did they do something else that looked weird, like getting distracted while causing trouble? Did they make strange decisions that they couldn't find a reason for?
  
  Ultimately...
  
  "I'd have to be there to get a better idea, talk to them and such," Pierce said in the end, after he'd ran out of questions. "There doesn't seem to be a struggle for leadership, nor are they having food problems or anything like that. My best bet is that something angered them. I saw something similar when someone tried to take a weedle away from an established swarm of beedrill," he said, making the woman's eyes widen. At that, he turned towards Lily, who was looking away sheepishly.
  
  "Beedrill swarm?"
  
  "A story for another time," Pierce said quickly. Too quickly, it seemed, because the woman turned towards her daughter. "It doesn't necessarily have to mean that someone captured a child from the flock, but it could mean something on that level, or worse. Another thing that could be causing this is another strong pokemon or group of pokemon pushing and unsettling the flock. I don't think it's that though, since you seem so sure that they are angry . If it were the other, they'd look more desperate, more erratic, I think."
  
  "Hm, I see. You are good at this. That's reassuring. With some of the stories Lily tells, I had to wonder," the woman commented.
  
  "She has her moments," Pierce replied, drawing a giggle from the woman.
  
  "What's that supposed to mean?!"
  
  "Now, what's this about a beedrill swarm? You weren't there, right? Because I didn't hear anything about that," the mother said in that tone that all mothers know how to use.
  
  "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Dale. I think I'll leave you to things though," he said, trying not to sound like he was running away.
  
  Even though he definitely was.
  
  "Don't be shy, Pierce. Do join our calls from time to time, ok?" the woman called as he moved away slightly. "I do have to make sure I get everything that happens in your journey, it seems."
  
  "Ah, er... Yeah, sure," he replied. "See you around."
  
  "Don't go," Lily whispered, grabbing his sleeve.
  
  "Sorry," he whispered before walking - read, running - away.
  
  "Traitor," he heard her hiss behind him.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Ah, yes, the moment of betrayal. From here, it's all about Lily and her quest for revenge. This slight shall not be forgotten. Stories will be told about what she'll do to Pierce to punish him for his backstabbing ways and-
  
  Er, I mean, nice slice of life and interactions? Yay? I'm also sure that there's nothing going on with this last part. Nothing weird or anything, right? Yeah, it's all normal stuff and people asking for help from Pierce. Business as usual.
  
  Ahem, anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Weather's too hot for my brain to think of a random question. Just tell me something.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City X
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City X
  
  "I hate you," Lily told him, eyes narrowed and Pierce was pretty sure he'd have been dead a few times over if she could manage to do that with her mind. As it was, he was left to look aside and slowly sip from his cup of coffee. "You suck," she muttered, just like she had through the whole morning so far.
  
  To be fair, he kind of deserved it, he supposed.
  
  In his defense, angry moms were scary and standing there when a friend is getting scolded by their parents is one of those really awkward moments that he'd like to avoid if at all possible.
  
  "Traitor," the girl hissed at him, making him laugh nervously.
  
  "I get it, ok? It's not my fault you didn't tell your mother half the stuff we get up to," he said.
  
  " We? " Lily asked, scandalized. "I'll have you know it's all you, mister! I wanted to get away from those beedrill and somehow I'm the one that gets scolded? That's bullshit!"
  
  "I mean, pretty sure parents are contractually obligated to be unfair like that from time to time," Pierce commented, not really improving his friend's mood. Not that he expected to. At that point, he was just resigned to having to put up with it. "Besides, I think it might be more of a problem regarding you not telling her than it happening at all."
  
  "You might be right," Lily mumbled, slumping on her seat and taking the straw of her drink in her mouth and loudly slurping some of it. "Still..." she whined childishly, making him smile. "Getting scolded sucks."
  
  "I mean, I agree, but you could stand to act like the nineteen year old you are, you know?" he pointed out with a slight smile, making her glare return with a vengeance. In his mind though, he couldn't help but remember that he'd never get scolded by his parents again. Which was why he took a deep breath in and moved on to something else. "So, any plans for today?"
  
  "Hit the battlegrounds, maybe do a short job, take my pokemon to their tutors. After that..." She shrugged, her mind successfully diverted to safer territories. "I might get some work done with Star. She's not getting tutored, after all. She's too young and I kind of want to keep doing one on one training with her for now."
  
  "Makes sense," he replied, leaning back and taking another sip from his coffee. "I was thinking about going to the beach for a bit this morning. Don't know if I'll have time for much else afterwards, but I might see if I can get a quick job done or check on one of the ones I've done already," he said thoughtfully looking at the ceiling. "I kind of want to go there at least once though. Would suck if we left and I never went to Cerulean's beach, you know?"
  
  "That's the spirit," Lily told him, beaming. "I guess we can put off the battlegrounds for now."
  
  "Want me to beat off the guys with a stick before they swarm you, huh? Smart."
  
  "And I wanna be there if any girl tries to hit on you too," Lily said then, smiling widely. His eye twitched. "How could I say no to the free comedy show?"
  
  "I think I need to have a more thorough conversation with your mother," he muttered, wiping the amused expression right off of Lily's face. "As it is," he sighed then. "I checked the list of jobs I have left to do and most of them looked to be mostly minor things compared to what I've already done. I swear one guy asked me to check because occasionally pokemon go into his farm and get a few fruits."
  
  "Isn't that like... the normal thing to happen for them?" Lily asked, to which he gestured towards her with his hand. That was exactly what he thought on the matter. "Well, good to see you aren't exhausting yourself."
  
  "Yeah, well, I got someone to nag me about it if I try."
  
  "And you better remember that," she replied, pointing at him with her fork playfully. "So, it's gonna be a calm day in the life of Pierce Lawson, huh?" she asked, slurping some more of her drink.
  
  "Looks like it," he answered, finishing the last of his coffee and setting the cup on the table. That was the last of his breakfast altogether too, so it was time to get started on things. '... Or maybe I can be lazy for a bit,' he decided instead. Leaning forward onto the table, he rested his head on his hand.
  
  "What?" Lily asked curiously.
  
  "I'm just feeling really lazy today, I think," he commented with a shrug. "Not feeling tired or anything just... Not feeling like doing much," he tried to explain. He didn't feel like he was getting the point across very well though.
  
  "Ah, one of those days, huh? Makes sense," the girl replied, looking amused. "I guess there won't be much swimming then."
  
  "But there'll be a lot of floating, yeah," he agreed, drawing a giggle from Lily. Then he sighed. "Almost didn't wanna get up this morning."
  
  "That bad, huh?"
  
  "Yeah, today's not going to be a productive day for me, at all," Pierce answered. The more he thought about it, the less energy he seemed to be able to gather for himself. " At all," he repeated with a sigh.
  
  "It's really weird to see you like this," Lily commented, looking at him like he was a particularly entertaining show. That is, before her expression turned more serious. "You sure you are fine, right? You didn't get burned out or something, right?"
  
  "I don't think so," he mumbled. "Maybe it's just taking me longer to wake up or something."
  
  "If you say so..." Lily said, looking dubious. He honestly didn't feel bad though, and he thought he knew what burn out felt like. He was just... really not feeling like doing much of anything.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Looks amazing," Pierce commented, for the first time stepping into Cerulean's beach. It was quite the mistake to not have gone there before, he decided immediately. The sand was soft, the water was clear and the sidewalk by the beach had little stands with food and other things arrayed through its length. It was honestly what he'd imagined one of those famous beaches in the world to be like.
  
  Not that he'd know, since he'd never visited one of those.
  
  It brought energy to his lazy self to see that, if he was honest. He dug his toes into the sand with a smile as he stretched his arms over his head. Lily walked beside him while Narcissa flew around, but he gave them only a passing glance.
  
  "Too many people though," he pointed out, not really bummed by that even if it did take away from things a little. He couldn't really fault them for being there though. The place was great, as he said, so expecting it to have few people when they were already having summer weather was kind of unfair. As it is, he supposed he should be grateful the place wasn't looking like one of those disturbingly crowded beaches he'd seen back in his world.
  
  "Oh, don't start complaining, Mr. Lazy," Lily told him, pushing against his side with her shoulder. "Let's go set up somewhere. I don't feel like standing around all day."
  
  "Who's lazy now, huh?" he replied, even as he followed after her. She'd joked about it before, but he definitely didn't feel like seeing if she was right about girls hitting on him. Maybe if he stuck to her, people would continue to misunderstand and think they were together. That was bound to help keep people away, right?
  
  He didn't feel like getting into that sort of mess when he had enough on his plate as it was.
  
  "I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about," Lily commented with a smile on her face. "This looks like a good spot," she added then. Looking around, Pierce noticed that it was on the biggest area without people that wasn't more than a block away.
  
  "Good enough for me, I guess. Could be a little closer to the water though," he replied before shrugging and helping her set their things down. "Do I have to keep playing bodyguard or can I go to the water?" he asked once they were done, Narcissa latching onto his shoulders as he stood up. Turning towards the beedrill, he smiled. She probably wanted to get some time with him before he got into the water, since she couldn't really follow him there.
  
  "Here I thought I was playing bodyguard for you," Lily told him with a half-smile. "But yeah, I think I'd like to get into the water."
  
  "Ok then, what about you, girl? You feel like staying around here or flying?" he asked Narcissa over his shoulder. "Cygnus will be staying here, I bet," he added, letting out the abra. It would just be a shame that he wouldn't get to spend time with Orion, but he'd promised the onix some one on one time later, probably using the wipe for rock types on him or something like that.
  
  " I... can... watch," Cygnus voiced in his mind. "Then... sleep..."
  
  "Ok then, buddy. I'll send Narcissa to take over later then," Pierce told his psychic partner, who gave him a slight nod. "Let's go. I can't wait."
  
  "Hadn't noticed," Lily said, snickering by his side and making him roll his eyes at her.
  
  Not even a minute later, Pierce found himself floating in the water. He'd been excited for sure, but he still was feeling pretty lazy. It was just that he'd rather feel lazy in the water than at the beach. The cool waves were much more soothing than laying down under the progressively hotter sun.
  
  Whenever he'd open his eyes, he'd occasionally get a glimpse of Narcissa flying over him. Some other times, he'd see some other pokemon, probably someone else's or maybe even a wild one. He rather doubted many wild pokemon came by though, considering the amount of people around.
  
  ' I'll have to send her to guard our things if Lily hasn't gone back yet,' Pierce thought, catching sight of his beedrill once more. He'd gotten "separated" from his traveling companion, as it were, when they'd gotten into the water. Lily had said something about swimming and what not but he'd just decided to lay down on the water and let it do the rest.
  
  " She's... back... Helper-Speaker," Cygnus told him then, making him hum to himself. "I... sleep."
  
  ' Rest well, buddy,' he replied, closing his eyes for a moment. It seemed that Narcissa would get to fly for a bit. He'd just have to do something nice for his abra, he supposed.
  
  " It's fine... I liked... seeing... the beach," his psychic reassured, making him smile.
  
  ' That was a lot more smooth than usual, Cygnus. Good job,' he praised, getting a feeling of pride before the abra pulled back. A moment later, he felt the pokemon pull away from his mind a little. Still there, at the edge, but there was a noticeable distance, separation, between them.
  
  ' And so there's silence again,' Pierce thought, enjoying the feel of the gentle movement of the water against his skin. The waves moved his body up and down, washing over him at times. The sounds of the outside were muffled by the sea, which only added to the peace.
  
  And then something bumped onto his leg.
  
  Pulling up, he went to apologize to whoever he'd hit. Although he was pretty sure that it had been their fault, he wasn't without some of the blame, since he hadn't been looking or anything. The words never left his mouth though, since there was nobody there. There was nobody even close to where he was.
  
  "Weird," Pierce thought, looking around with a confused frown. That is, until he felt something touch his back, something rough. Turning around, he blinked. "Hey there, buddy," he greeted, a little caught off guard by the magikarp. "Felt like playing or something?" he asked then, bringing a hand up to pet the fish as he kept himself afloat with his other limbs.
  
  The magikarp swam into him quite strongly at that.
  
  "Hey what's the ma... tter?" he started asking before trailing off as he noticed something. This one magikarp had a scale by its eye that had a slightly weird shape. Now, that wasn't so strange. Pokemon often had little details like that. They didn't all look the same, after all. However, he recognized that particular distinction. "What are you doing all the way over here, buddy?" he asked, eyes wide as the water type continued swimming towards him, pushing against his chest. "Did you come all the way over here for me?"
  
  The answer he got to that was the magikarp swimming harder, rubbing against him to the point that he was worried the scales were going to hurt him. However, Pierce was more impressed than he was concerned about any of that. This was, after all, one of the magikarp he'd met way back before he was called to Cerulean.
  
  "Felt like holding me up to what I promised, huh?" Pierce asked with an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry for disappearing on you, guys," he said, petting the side of the magikarp. He had told Lily to talk to them about why he had to leave and all, but it still sucked that he couldn't tell them goodbye properly. "It was shitty of me," he added, and it was then that he felt something else bump onto his side. Looking around again, he saw that he was surrounded by a magikarp school. "Well," he started with a surprised laugh. "I guess we'll get that play date, huh? Even if it was delayed."
  
  He couldn't believe it.
  
  As if he needed more stuff to solidify his placement of the magikarp line as one of his favorites.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Magikarp, the Shiny, jumped out of the water, flew up for a bit, slightly rotated so she started facing down and then dove into the water once more. As she did, Pierce clapped his hands enthusiastically. When the water type came out of the water, he beamed at her.
  
  "Great job, girl! That's a new record! I'm sure!" he exclaimed, drawing a happy wiggle from the magikarp. "Isn't it?" he asked then, turning towards Vaporeon and Tentacruel. The latter gave a bob of his giant body in agreement while the former simply sighed, done with their antics but unable to do anything about them, and nodded too. "Great job!" Pierce repeated, leaning down and picking up one of his poffins before offering it to Magikarp.
  
  He'd made a few and they were hits so far. He was keeping it as safe as possible, of course, using combinations that he'd learned while making pokeblocks as much as he could. Which wasn't much, since they were completely different things, but he did what he could. Evidently, he'd managed to do a decent job at it, since they were doing well with the pokemon.
  
  Well enough to act as prizes in this "competition" that they were holding. He didn't think it was the right word for it, but they were having the pokemon make jumps out of the water and if they beat their personal record, they got a poffin. The lil' guys were really motivated with that, which was great, because they kind of needed the exercise, as Violet had told him when he'd asked if it would be fine.
  
  What followed wasn't a magikarp though. Instead, what jumped out of the water, flying a very fair distance up in the air before falling, was a sharpedo. Pierce watched intently as the maneuver was performed, his head following the pokemon with Vaporeon doing the same beside him. The water and dark type fell into the water with a splash under the watchful gaze of the magikarps and the judge panel.
  
  When it came out, it looked at them.
  
  When nobody said anything for a long moment, it started twitching nervously.
  
  "I don't know. Did he?" Pierce asked, turning to look at Vaporeon and Tentacruel. "I think he might, but it was kind of close," he said with an unsure expression.
  
  The eeveelution shook her head mercilessly and the sharpedo slumped.
  
  The poison and water type shook his head too and that was the nail on the dark type's coffin.
  
  "Sorry, buddy," Pierce said apologetically, sitting at the edge of the pull and gesturing for Sharpedo to get closer. When it did, he started petting his head with an encouraging smile on his face. "It's fine though, you'll do better next time, I'm sure. That's what training is for, right? You just gotta try your best and you'll do better."
  
  The poor guy did seem to be feeling a little better after that, but not by much. Pierce got it though, doing badly sucked. In fairness to him, this was as difficult for him as it was for the magikarp, really. After all, what they had to beat was themselves, not the others. Alas, he'd just have to do better next time, literally.
  
  "Who's next?" Pierce asked then, when nobody immediately jumped. There was a moment of doubt in which none of the other magikarp went for it. It was a little confusing. They had been doing fine so far and he hadn't seen anyone demotivated enough to just give up just yet.
  
  His unasked question was answered when a golduck broke through the surface of the water, flew up and then fell down. The diving part needed some work though, because it fell flat on his belly. When it came up, everyone stared at it for a second before Pierce beamed and spoke.
  
  "Welcome, buddy! Good to have you!" he greeted with a grin, kicking his feet still inside the water of the pool. "Now we just have to wait for the next round to see if you do better, yeah?" he asked, making the golduck nod and move to take a seat beside him. "Part time judge?" he added then, drawing a shrug from Golduck. "Fair enough. I could use someone else to buffer Vaporeon's... Vaporeoness."
  
  The water gun to the face was rude and entirely uncalled for.
  
  "See?" Pierce asked, as drops fell from his face. In the water, the magikarp school seemed torn between being amused and being offended. "Anyway-" he called with a clap. "Next one?"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Cygnus]
  
  He felt strong.
  
  Strength was different from power, however.
  
  He'd learned that from Pierce, actually. All the way back when they were helping Orion - then just Onix - and the man had thought about how it was weird that his line didn't use their actual muscles. He'd gotten curious then, merely to see what it was like to not use his psychic powers.
  
  And he'd liked it.
  
  There was something very... pleasing, about doing things without his innate powers. There was something very satisfying about achieving things with an ability that he'd cultivated himself, instead of being born with. Because his psychic powers had always come naturally to him. Maybe not as powerfully as they could be with training, but he had never had to put effort into moving his own body or other things.
  
  Not until he first tried what Pierce had thought about.
  
  It had been frustrating, since his body was so weak. However, he knew he could get better. Cygnus knew that with the struggle would come strength. He liked that idea. Putting effort into something that he wasn't good at and changing that . Through his own will, his own efforts, he'd gain a strength that few of his line had, if any.
  
  He liked that idea a lot.
  
  So, he talked with Pierce, and his trainer had easily agreed. Now, here he was, with two moves that were almost battle ready. He wasn't even a kadabra and he could already fight. Granted, that wasn't super weird, but how many abra could fight with their bodies alone . He was confident that he could beat some pokemon without even using teleport.
  
  At least, he would, once he finished getting those two moves under his belt, as Pierce would say.
  
  He couldn't wait.
  
  For that, however, he needed to push himself more. He needed to be stronger. Not more powerful, but stronger. So that his punches would be able to do more damage. So that he would need his psychic powers less. One day, he wished he would be able to do without them completely. Not because he didn't like them, but because he could.
  
  He wasn't going to do without other means entirely, but he wanted them to not be a necessity. He didn't want to rely on them. He'd been shown that he could very well do things without them, and he now wanted to stop being reliant on them. It didn't sit well with Cygnus that he was limited, in a way.
  
  So, he'd train himself. He'd follow Pierce's training and anyone else his trainer decided was good enough. He'd do his best to improve, to get stronger, faster, better . He'd be the best damn abra in the world. And then he'd be the best kadabra. And then the best alakazam.
  
  Narcissa had the right idea. Why do anything if you'd be content with being mediocre or weak? Maybe his line wasn't looked down upon as the beedrill's, but abra were generally considered weak, since they were hard to train. That was just a sign of bad trainers, not bad pokemon. Pierce and Cygnus were proof of that.
  
  He'd beg if he needed to, but Cygnus would be in the Gym challenge. He needed to proof that his trainer and him weren't mediocre or weak or anything else. Pierce didn't seem to notice or care, but Cygnus always saw it. The way other trainers reacted when he said he didn't have any badge yet. That, or when he'd show Cygnus or Narcissa.
  
  It pissed him off.
  
  They weren't weak. Pierce, Narcissa, Orion, Cygnus, none of them were weak. They were strong. They studied and prepared and trained. They worked for their own strength, every single one of them. They pushed forward and higher, and he wouldn't let anyone look down on that.
  
  Cygnus would show all of them, those that said it, those that showed it, those that thought it.
  
  He'd show them all the might of his trainer and his team.
  
  Cygnus' fist flew forward, destroying his practice target. No psychic powers, only his own body. That had been done with only the strength he'd cultivated and worked for. Pride coursed through him, but it wasn't enough. No, he needed to perfect it. The moves needed to be perfect . Only then would he earn a spot in the team for the Gym challenge and maybe get to fight first. Because Narcissa could and would deal with all of them herself and Cygnus wanted a piece of that.
  
  He needed to prove his strength to Pierce - even if his trainer didn't care -, to his team and, more importantly, to himself.
  
  So, Cygnus continued practicing. He gathered the energies a little faster. He put a little more power behind his punch. His arm moved a little faster. His first flew a little more precisely. Little by little, he'd get where he wanted to be. And if he didn't, then he'd just have to work harder.
  
  His tutor, the man Pierce had left in charge of Cygnus' training for the moment, hummed at his progress. He couldn't fool the abra, however, not really. He could read it, without even needing to go deep. Just with the emotions the man projected.
  
  He was impressed.
  
  And that was what Cygnus wanted.
  
  Everyone would look at him like that. Everyone would look at his teammates like that. Everyone would look at Pierce like that. Because they deserved it. Cygnus had worked for it. His teammates had worked for it. Pierce had worked for it.
  
  They'd made it all possible through their own efforts.
  
  And one day - he didn't know when, but one day - the world would know that.
  
  The world would know that they were strong .
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  No great doubts today, which is great. I'm really happy with this chapter, actually. Maybe it's not the best thing ever, more or less just regular slice of life stuff, but I'll still take it. Cygnus part was a little more tricky, but I think I managed to do it well enough.
  
  Hope you liked the chapter too!
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: That's two out of three team members that have gotten their own PoVs recently. What do you think Orion's would be like? (I don't even know if I'll actually write one, but I'm curious.)
  
  See you.
  
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  Cerulean City XI
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XI
  
  "Move," Pierce commanded, watching Narcissa start flying around the krabby they were fighting against. He'd finished the job he'd decided to take pretty quickly, since it'd only involved some talking and some berries to convince a meowth to leave a property. So, with the rest of his morning suddenly free, Pierce had decided to hit the battlegrounds. It had been a bit since he'd battled with his team, so he felt like it'd be great instead of just having them train and relax.
  
  His team probably thought they were relaxing anyway, the battlemaniacs.
  
  Besides, considering their progress and the comments from their tutors, they were more or less done anyway. They'd just had to spend the day polishing things up and that'd be that. Well, Orion would need some more work, probably, but he wasn't likely to participate in the Gym challenge anyway and the move he was working on wasn't for that either. So, Pierce thought it was a good idea to get them to put some work on just regular fighting after their time training moves specifically.
  
  "Giga Drain," he called, making the trainer across from them panic and call for a Bubblebeam to try and shoot down Narcissa. The beedrill didn't have the grass type move completely battle ready just yet, but it was good enough for this fight. The poor krabby had range with his water type move, but it wasn't fast enough to hit Pierce's first pokemon.
  
  Narcissa was just too fast for the poor bastard.
  
  ' I'm really out of this league,' he thought to himself, feeling a little bad once the battle was over and the bet money was exchanged. 'Well, hopefully I'll get a badge and move up in the world by tomorrow,' he thought, turning to give a smile to Narcissa when she latched onto his back.
  
  "Good job, girl," he commented, making the beedrill squeeze his neck a little with her stingers. "We've got this. Tomorrow we get our first badge," he said with confidence. He didn't think it was arrogant of him, honestly.
  
  Narcissa was strong, not only because of the fact that she was a last stage evolution, but also because she worked like mad. Cygnus might not be the best pokemon in the world for a fight, but he had teleport very well practiced and now would have a super effective move against Cerulean Gym's water types. If the two of them weren't enough to get a first badge, then it definitely involved some messing around somewhere.
  
  Not to brag or anything, but his team was strong enough, he was sure of that.
  
  Now, if the Sisters decided to mess with him, that was something entirely possible. He'd seen a thing or two about Gym Leaders giving some people a harder or easier time. The former usually when it came to people that had a lot of hype behind them, rising prodigies and such. The latter was a little rarer still, but it could happen. Sometimes someone would drop by with a specialty that was weak against a gym and the Leader would adapt their challenge a little. Pierce didn't quite agree with people calling that making things easier, but he understood how that could be considered the case.
  
  "You think I should give Orion another battle?" he asked idly as he walked through the battleground facilities looking for wherever Lily was having her own fight at the moment. "He got a little banged up by that nidoran before it went down," he added, perking up a little as he caught sight of his friend a few fields to the side.
  
  Narcissa clicked something in response that made him hum.
  
  "I guess I can give him another try and see how it goes," he commented, rubbing his face tiredly. "He won't get to fight in the challenge, so that would make sense," he added. To that, Narcissa nodded over his shoulder.
  
  He just didn't want to push his pokemon too much, especially since Orion was young, even if he was big. However, that'd be coddling them, considering he'd been at a battle ready age before he even picked him up. It was only the fact that he had been very injured that should have stopped and that had been solved long ago by that point. Pierce just had a hard time accepting that a pokemon as young as his onix was ready to push himself as much as any other, he supposed.
  
  He liked to think he was getting better in that regard, at least.
  
  With a sigh, he reached the field in which Lily was fighting, watching as Gem fought a drowzee. It seemed a pretty even battle, by the looks of things. However, as Pierce watched, he saw the other trainer turn things around with a fighting type attack that seemed to surprise his traveling companion. Evidently, that hadn't been used before.
  
  ' Shame,' he thought, watching the poor geodude start losing the fight as Lily tried to get things under control. However, it wasn't to be. It was how things went, you won some, you lost some. Even Lily, talented as she was, had to experience a loss or two from time to time.
  
  "Well, that could have gone better," she mumbled after noticing him and walking up to him when she dealt with the post-battle business. "It might motivate Gem to train harder with her tutor this afternoon though, but it still sucks."
  
  "Yeah, I get that," Pierce replied as they walked together back to the area where people went to look for people to battle. They had time for a few more battles, he supposed. He'd see if Orion could do those or if Narcissa would get a chance or two more to shine. "Still, better here than a tournament or a challenge, right?"
  
  "You are not wrong about that," she sighed. "Still though," she added with a groan.
  
  "Sore loser."
  
  "Oh, shut up."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Check," Pierce said, setting down his chess piece and looking across the board to his opponent. Crawdaunt let out a few very angry clicks with his pincers - he was fairly sure those were a curse equivalent for the pokemon but he didn't ask - and glared at him. Pierce just gave him a smile and waited for the next move to be made.
  
  Beside the Crawdaunt, Vaporeon and Golduck narrowed their eyes at the board. On the pool to the side, Tentacruel hummed to the magikarp school and Sharpedo as he relayed to them how things were looking. The pokemon were kind of struggling, but that was to be expected, really. He'd learned that pokemon tended to be pretty direct with their approaches, even those that were smarter than most, like psychics.
  
  Pierce guessed that was one of the reasons trainers were accepted so easily by the creatures. They gave some more lateral thinking than they usually managed to pull off. They had ideas for training and tactics for battle that the pokemon might overlook for a simpler strategy.
  
  All that translated into pokemon not being very good at chess, he'd found out. He was playing one against a bunch of them at the moment, and the group of water types wasn't having a good time. They were into it though, because damn hadn't Sharpedo and Crawdaunt seemed like they might tear his head off when he suggested doing something else. Although, maybe all those theories didn't really hold too much importance and it was just that the pokemon weren't experts in chess.
  
  It could very well just be that, Pierce supposed. Even if he hadn't played in many years, he had learned how to do so sort of well. Not enough to be considered good by those that knew what they were talking about, not even close, but there was quite the jump from absolute newbies to having an idea of how things went. He knew some strategies and tricks that new people just didn't.
  
  Pierce amused himself by comparing the situation to bug types like beedrill. He was good compared to new people, but he fell apart pretty quickly against those who were supposed to be on the same level as him. Ultimately, it didn't really matter, he supposed. The pokemon were entertained and he was having a good time, so all was well.
  
  Especially in regards to the new addition to their little group, Crawdaunt. The water type had an anger problem about as obvious as Narcissa's love for battle. It had taken some talking and poffins but Pierce had managed to help him calm and sit down. He considered it a great accomplishment that he even managed to make the pokemon play chess of all things.
  
  However, Crawdaunt's competitiveness seemed to be at least on par with his anger.
  
  So, Pierce watched, projecting as much calm as he could, how the water types deliberated between themselves and eventually settled on a move. Then, as things had gone so far during the game, Crawdaunt reached for the piece to move and very carefully picked it up with his pincer. It was an exercise of control, Pierce supposed, since it had looked like the pokemon had some troubles controlling his strength.
  
  At least for how hesitant Crawdaunt had been through the whole game when having to make moves.
  
  "Interesting," he commented as he looked at what the pokemon had done. Vaporeon looked too smug for this to be a move that someone else had come up with. "What about this though?" he asked, taking his queen and moving it all the way towards a rook that had been left wide open. All the water types that could see the board blinked and then widened their eyes. "Didn't see that one, did you?" he asked with a smile on his face.
  
  There was more pincer cursing from Crawdaunt then, joined this time by Vaporeon and Golduch. Even the pretty calm Tentacruel wasn't very pleased himself, if he was reading the burning annoyance in his gaze right. Once things started getting explained to the magikarp and Sharpedo, those didn't react much better to it.
  
  "This is nice," he commented then, earning himself glares from every single pokemon around. In response to those thoughts, he just smiled innocently. Until Vaporeon hit him with a Water Gun to the face, that is. "That wasn't nice," he said then, wiping the water off his face and giving the eeveelution a flat look. He wasn't very successful at keeping his expression like that though, especially since all the pokemon around seemed to think it was hilarious.
  
  And happy pokemon meant a happy Pierce, of course.
  
  "You still need to make a move though," he pointed out, making them groan. They did get back to it though, but they were fighting against a pretty sizable disadvantage already. Pierce had a rook, a knight and a few pawns on them and it was getting worse dramatically fast. "In the meantime," he commented, turning to let his feet into the water and petting Magikarp, the original one in his group, which is to say the shiny.
  
  That didn't seem to sit well with the rest of the water types, probably because it made light of the chess match, but that only seemed to motivate them. All of them glared at the board like it'd give them the answers to beat him while he played with Magikarp. The shiny pokemon didn't seem to care as much as the others anyway, and she was positively adorable too, so Pierce didn't think it was a great loss even if it took time away from strategizing.
  
  "Uh, are you Pierce Lawson?" a voice asked, making him turn to the side. As he did, he paused and blinked. 'Well, that's the last of the sisters to meet, I guess,' Pierce thought, taking in the sight of the youngest Waterflower sister, Misty. She looked... different from the anime, that was for sure. Closer to what the game's design was, if he recalled correctly, which he might not. It wasn't a huge difference, since it was mostly just the outfit, he was pretty sure. And she appeared in several outfits throughout the series, so...
  
  ' Doesn't really matter in the end, I suppose,' he decided.
  
  "Yeah, that's me. Do you need something?" he asked. The girl seemed to have distracted herself looking at the group of water types around him though. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought she was scared or something. Silly, really, considering the Waterflowers were great at dealing with the pokemon, even those that were more dangerous and uncontrolled.
  
  "I... My sisters are rehearsing," Misty started, turning back towards him. "They said if we had trouble controlling a pokemon, we could try calling you," she added, looking sort of unsure of how effective he would be. "I can leave you be though if you are... busy," she added, and Pierce raised an eyebrow at the sort of obvious dismissive attitude there at the end as she looked at him and then at the chess set.
  
  Immediately afterwards, she stiffened when the water types glared at her.
  
  "Sure thing," Pierce replied, petting Magikarp before setting her back in the water. "Be careful not to mess up the board, yeah? And behave yourselves," he told the water type gathering around him, to which he received a varied response. "I'll be back in a bit."
  
  "Ah, thanks," Misty said, looking between him and the pokemon he'd been spending time with.
  
  "Where to?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.
  
  "Oh, right, follow me," she answered, jumping a little and then starting to walk. Apparently, they needed to go to another pool. Not surprising. If it were in the same one as he was, Pierce was sure he'd have noticed a commotion.
  
  "Maybe it's better not to dismiss things that offer them some calm," he commented, making the girl jump a little again. Either she was a little shaken from whatever was going on or she hadn't expected him to talk at all. Pierce was leaning towards the former, but it could also be both. "They get angry easily, especially Crawdaunt, so I'd just let them be, even if it's weird for them to play chess of all things."
  
  "I wasn't- I mean-"
  
  "It's fine," he interrupted with a smile. "I know it's a little out there, but these are far from normal conditions. I just found something that they can engage in and let them latch onto it."
  
  "... I'm sorry," she mumbled and if they weren't walking, Pierce imagined she'd have been looking down and poking at the floor with her foot or something. She had that kind of expression on her. "I just... I'm a bit on edge. It's a gyarados, by the way, the one that's causing trouble. They scare me more than most and... Some water specialist I am, huh?" Misty told him then, although towards the end she sounded like she was talking more to herself than anything else.
  
  "I mean, gyarados can be scary, yeah," he replied with a shrug. It wasn't difficult to see how someone could be terrified of the gigantic sea serpents, really. Water specialist or not. "Personally, I have never seen one, but I'm a fan of them."
  
  "A lot of people are, but few care enough to get a magikarp and training an already evolved one is even more of a nightmare," Misty said, almost as if she were repeating a rehearsed dialogue. Maybe she made that observation a lot. Then she grimaced. "Water specialists like them a lot, obviously. I just... I had a bad experience with my parents' gyarados and it kind of stuck with me."
  
  "I'm not judging," he reassured her, because it sounded like she was trying to justify herself to him. Which was silly, considering that he was just a random guy to her. "So, what's going on with this gyarados?"
  
  "We still have to give him treatment and it was doable before. Now that he has recovered it's... more unruly, you could say," Misty answered, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's refusing to stay still and it got dangerous a few times. The plan is to just let him be until at least one of my sisters can check on him. They told me to check with you if any pokemon caused trouble before they were back though so... Yeah. No pressure though."
  
  Pierce got the feeling that she didn't believe he could do much in regards to this situation she was facing at the moment. That was fine. He had his doubts too, being honest. Sure, he was confident in his ability to talk to pokemon and generally reason with them, but that didn't mean he could do magic. He couldn't force pokemon to do things they didn't want to, nor could he "enchant" them in any way. He just... talked to them, and had a little more luck than most in getting them to listen.
  
  An angry gyarados might just be what it would take for him to fail, he supposed.
  
  "Guess we'll see how this goes," he mumbled, more to himself than to Misty when they entered a separate zone. Sure enough, there was a big pool with a gyarados and a few people around with other pokemon. There were more gyarados on the other end of the thing too, but those seemed to mostly keeping to themselves. 'This is one fucking dangerous room though,' Pierce realized.
  
  Walking next to Misty towards the problem gyarados, he considered how to do this. They needed to treat the pokemon, but it didn't want to allow that. 'Why though?' he wondered, his mind starting to go over that question.
  
  First thing that came to mind was that the gyarados just didn't want to, which was fair enough. He was a beast of a creature, bowing down to tiny humans so that they could treat wounds that he probably hated didn't sound like something he'd like.
  
  The second option was that the wounds were painful, so much so that he couldn't stop himself from jerking around. Possible too, Pierce was sure. Maybe it had recovered enough for that to actually matter now instead.
  
  Third option was that something else unrelated to the wounds had happened. Maybe one of the handlers wasn't so good. Pierce didn't like considering that, but if he'd learned anything in his stay at Cerulean, it was that humans sucked .
  
  Fourth option was that the public was bothering the gyarados. Pierce imagined a gyarados hated feeling and looking weak at any point, but especially so in front of other strong pokemon, other gyarados. This one had to deal with that and he was probably hating it.
  
  ' Could also be something else entirely or a combination,' Pierce thought to himself as he stopped walking some distance away from the pool. Misty had stayed a little further back at some point and the other handlers were pretty close, with a gathering of other pokemon ready to step in. Reassuring, for sure, but it would also make things more difficult. 'Nothing I can do about that,' he decided, pursing his lips.
  
  It wasn't like he could force the staff to leave them alone. Neither did he want to, really, even if it'd make things easier for him. Easier, but more dangerous, and Pierce was rather fond of living. Especially after having died once already, or at least come close to it.
  
  "Hey there," he greeted calmly, staying where he was. His response was a roar so loud that he was pretty sure it was heard at least halfway across the entire Gym building. To the sides, the pokemon and staff members stiffened. "You are angry, huh, big guy?" he asked, his heart beating fast but his voice remaining calm. If the gyarados was truly going to attack, it'd probably have shown some signs of move usage, he was sure.
  
  His only answer was another roar.
  
  "Do you mind if I come closer?" After yet another sonic attack, Pierce was starting to wonder if his ears would be fine or if he'd have to get them checked afterwards. "I won't touch you," he added, and this time all he got was a growl. Either he was making progress or the gyarados had gotten tired of roaring. "I won't do anything. I just want to get closer and talk. Is that fine?"
  
  The water type gave him a glare that had him taking a deep breath in to keep his calm. He was actually surprised there wasn't some shine of energy denoting a move there, honestly. Ultimately, the gyarados gave a slight motion down with his head, as if nodding, but not quite.
  
  "Thank you," Pierce said, walking to the edge of the pool and taking a seat there. The sea serpent was still some distance away, but the gyarados didn't look like all he wanted was for him to go away or drop dead anymore. "So, you don't want them to treat you, is what we gather," he commented, getting a growl. "I get that. I don't like going to the doctor much myself and I've never gotten as injured as you probably are right now."
  
  ' At least not besides right before being dropped here,' he added to himself.
  
  "So, that's fine. You probably can recover by yourself, right?" That question got a different response. A grunt wasn't great progress, admittedly, but it was progress all the same. He considered what to say then, how to go about confirming or disprove his theories. Outright asking didn't sound like a good idea though, so he tried to get a read on him.
  
  The gyarados wasn't looking at the gathering behind him, so maybe that wasn't it. He wasn't big enough to be leader of a school, if gyarados even formed groups like that. He wasn't small enough to be a runt or something either. So, he was pretty sure he could discard that.
  
  It wasn't looking at any of the handlers around either, so maybe that was out too. Pierce rather doubted all of them could be the problem. He wanted to have a little more faith than that, at least.
  
  It wasn't twitching or showing signs of too much pain either, as far as he could see. So, Pierce was coming to the conclusion that it was mostly just a matter of feeling weak himself. Admitting that he needed help from others, especially weak humans and such. Maybe not quite with those words or anything, but something along those lines.
  
  ' How to get him to allow treatment then?' Pierce wondered idly, noticing that as he kept his silence, the gyarados started looking at him curiously. Evidently, he'd managed to confuse the water type a little.
  
  "Say, can you swim fine?" he asked then, making the creature tilt his head before his expression turned back into a glare and a long low growl escaped the creature's throat. "Right, silly me," Pierce said with a chuckle. "But still, can you swim without, you know, feeling pain? I imagine it must suck if you can't," he added, giving the gyarados pause even if he didn't let up the glare.
  
  Another growl followed, although this time it almost sounded like something was said instead of just being a warning sound.
  
  "You know, we have a game with the water types in one of the other pools," Pierce commented, managing to surprise the gyarados out of his anger, if because of how random that was. "What we do is swim and jump out of the water, every time trying to reach a little further up. When someone breaks their own record, they get a poffin as a reward. Do you like those?"
  
  He saw a hit of interest there and he grasped at it with both of his metaphorical hands.
  
  "Wait here for a bit," he said, pulling himself out of the pool and moving to the side, looking for supplies. "I need stuff to make poffins," he added, this time to the staff members around. To their credit, none of them so much as showed confusion with the weird request, simply pointing him in the direction of the things he needed.
  
  Misty, he noticed, simply stood away and watched him do his thing.
  
  "Ok, this is a poffin. You wanna try it?" he asked, offering the confection. Pierce really hoped that gyarados liked things along the same lines as magikarp did, otherwise he might be in some trouble. After the first bit disappeared in the sea serpent's mouth, he almost sighed in relief when the gyarados let out a pleased sound. "You like that, huh? We give those as rewards to the winners of the game," he continued explaining.
  
  He almost grinned when he saw the interest in the pokemon's eyes.
  
  "So, how would you like to participate?" he asked with an inviting smile and a tilt of his head. "Granted, you'd have better luck if you were at your best," he added casually.
  
  It was becoming increasingly difficult to contain a smile, especially when he all but saw the gears turning in the gyarados' head.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Is there a pokemon in this world that can't be befriended by offerings of food? Because Pierce seems determined to find out, from the looks of things. Guess that's the true journey of this story. Good to know.
  
  I hope you liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Which do you like more, design-wise, Regular Gyarados or Shiny Gyarados? I honestly like both equally. Only reason the shiny one stands a little ahead is because it's shiny, thus rarer.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XII
  
  "You look entirely too serious for a challenge you have in the bag already," Lily told him during breakfast that day. Because yes, it was the day Pierce was going to challenge his first Gym. Sure, some would say it was high time he did, but he'd delayed it as much as he had for a reason. His pokemon weren't really suited for challenging Pewter and not even Cerulean when he'd arrived. Narcissa was great but Orion was young and had been recovering in the former and the latter was also a terrible match. As for Cygnus, he hadn't even been able to use a damaging move of any kind in Pewter.
  
  Now, the situation had changed and it was time for his team and him to take their first actual step in their journey as battlers.
  
  "I know, I just... I don't want to screw this up," Pierce replied, bringing his cup up to his lips. "This is important."
  
  "It is," Lily agreed with a nod. "But you won't screw it up. Don't worry," she proceeded to reassure. It wasn't much, but it was still nice to hear, he supposed.
  
  Some might call him dramatic too, he imagined. He'd been doing great in the battlegrounds and regular challenges on their journey. Pierce might not be a great battler like Lily, but he was a good one, if his win ratio was anything to go by. Narcissa was a great part of that, for sure, but that didn't mean he was bad .
  
  And this was his first badge challenge, so it didn't really matter if he had a great early pokemon because he was in the early stages of his journey. If anything, he was grossly over prepared for this, really. Unfortunately, that just put another kind of pressure on him, really. After all, if his victory was so certain, then surely everything would go well, right?
  
  What if it didn't though? What if he struggled, even though he should have an easy time? What'd that say about him as a trainer? Because there was no way that'd be on his team. They'd worked hard enough to make him feel bad more than once. They had the motivation and the work ethic. If they didn't have an easy time, then it was because Pierce sucked.
  
  " Pierce," Lily called him, giving him an annoyed look. "Have some faith, ok? It'll be fine. You pokemon are great and you are too. It'll go perfectly."
  
  "I know," he repeated, sighing. "I'm just overthinking it, but I can't help it."
  
  "I mean, with the notes you took? I'd ask if you can jump to the second badge challenge if that were a thing," Lily told him, leafing through his notebook. He'd spend many nights watching battles from the Cerulean Gym on the internet, both for first badge challenges or otherwise. One never knew, after all. "Don't get me wrong, this is great, but it also looks like overkill to me."
  
  "Thanks... I think," he muttered, finishing his coffee and leaning back on his seat. "Ok," he said then, taking a deep breath in. "I'll go talk with my team and then we'll go to the Gym. Good thing I booked my challenge battle early in the morning."
  
  Because if he had to wait much longer, he might go crazy. He'd been... mostly fine during his stay in Cerulean and even before, but that just made things worse. After all, he'd spent all that time working towards this, preparing and doing things. Now... There was nothing to do but to actually do the job .
  
  All that time he'd waited and prepared seemed to have just made things worse for him. It was like all that time he'd been fine waiting had suddenly turned into stress about the result of this battle. He knew it was fine, but... He just couldn't help but be nervous anyway. There was a huge difference between losing a normal challenge or a battlegrounds one and a Gym challenge.
  
  Once outside the Pokemon Center, he released his pokemon. Somehow, just seeing them filled him with confidence. The nerves he'd had through the whole morning, short as it had been so far, seemed to be assuaged in a matter of seconds. He chuckled to himself, more out of relief than amusement.
  
  How was he supposed to be unsure, really?
  
  His pokemon knew what was coming. He'd talked to them the night before, explained to them that the Gym challenge was happening that day. So, seeing them at that very moment, looking the picture of confidence, gave him the certainty that he'd lacked a minute before. Narcissa kept herself at eye level with him, hovering steadily as if she weren't moving at all except for her wings. Cygnus stood on the ground, not even using his psychic energy to do so, looking up at Pierce with resolute eyes. And Orion, big boy that he was simply curled around his teammates to peer at Pierce like nothing was out of the ordinary.
  
  ' What am I even worried about?' he wondered with another chuckle, shaking his head. Sure, he was still afraid he'd fail them... but his team knew what they were getting into. They wanted him over any other trainer, just like he wanted them above any other pokemon. If he wasn't good enough, he'd just have to try harder.
  
  That'd be what he'd tell them if they did badly, which he knew wouldn't happen.
  
  "You ready?" he asked and the answers he got were short but decisive. Even Orion joined, even though they knew it was unlikely that he'd get a battle of his own. "That's the spirit," he said, placing a hand on the side of Orion's head. "Let's do this then," he added, receiving three nods before he set them inside their pokeballs once more.
  
  "Back to normal then?" he heard Lily ask to his side.
  
  Without turning, he took a deep breath in and then smiled. He was still nervous, for sure. However, even that was something he couldn't afford. He needed to do his best for his pokemon and that meant not letting nerves get to him.
  
  ' Let's do this.'
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "About time," Lily - the Sensational Sister, that is - said, greeting him at the entrance of the Gym when he walked past the door with the other Lily. 'That's more confusing now that they are both in the same room,' he thought idly as he smiled at the Gym Leader and nodded.
  
  "Sorry, was a bit nervous," he admitted, his grin turning a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Managed to get over it though and it's not like I don't have time still," he added, not even bothering to ask how she knew he'd be challenging the Gym. After all, no other reason why she'd seem to be waiting for him nor for her to assume he'd arrive early, since he usually visited in the afternoons.
  
  "Do you have a reason to be?" the Leader asked, raising an eyebrow.
  
  "Not at all," Lily answered for him, drawing an annoyed look from him. "He's just overthinking it."
  
  "Ah, you came from Pewter, right? And skipped it," the pink-haired woman commented, looking at him thoughtfully. "That makes sense. Happens fairly often. If you skip the first option, you get more training, but more pressure too. It's not that rare."
  
  "Thank you," he breathed out.
  
  "You are still silly though," she told him, making his glare return. "Now, come on, Violet should be done with the challenge before yours real quick. Some guy thought he'd return with the full badge set and get a tour around the gyms... I think he thought it'd be easy or something."
  
  "Poor bastard," Pierce commented, drawing a giggle from the Sister. After all, going for a full badge fight against someone you beat early on in your journey could be very deceiving. Even if you took them seriously, there was a subconscious part of your brain that couldn't help but underestimate them. He was fully expecting to get his ass kicked whenever he decided to try that, which he imagined would happen eventually.
  
  "Yeah. Last I saw, he was already behind by two pokemon," Lily added and he grimaced in sympathy. Yeah, that guy, whoever he was, wasn't having a good time.
  
  "How's everyone in the pools doing by the way?" he asked, running his fingers through his hair.
  
  "They are doing great, as if you didn't know that," the Leader told him, rolling her eyes. "Now, come on," she added, waving for him to follow her. He knew the way around the Gym already, but he followed nonetheless. He'd done some exploration to see where the battlefield and the stands were, even if he hadn't really gone to watch any of the challenges that had taken place during his time there. "It's getting really difficult to get people to take these pokemon, admittedly," Lily continued as they followed her through the hall. His companion was a little too quiet behind him, but this was kind of a conversation where she didn't have much context or part in, he supposed. "There were too many all at once and there's only so many rehab centers for water types."
  
  "I can imagine," he replied with a grimace. After all, there'd been a lot of those and centers could only take so many all at once. He rather doubted any of them had been empty before this disaster, after all, so having so many pokemon with such issues thrown at them all of a sudden couldn't be nice in any way. It wasn't like they could rush pokemon they were already working on to make space either, that'd be shitty.
  
  "I've heard talks of a new one being set up just for this," Lily continued, and he wasn't sure if she was actually talking to him - or them - or if she was talking to herself. "And don't get me wrong, it's great, but I really don't like the idea that we need more rehabilitation centers."
  
  "I get what you mean. It's great that pokemon will get the attention they need... but it sucks that they need it," he said, sighing to himself.
  
  "Exactly," she breathed out next to him. "But enough of that depressing stuff. You have your challenge now!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands as if that were all that was needed to change the mood. "Good luck in there, yeah? Not that I think you need it."
  
  "Pretty sure you haven't seen me battle," he pointed out and she grinned at him.
  
  "Bold of you to assume that," she replied, making him blink. "And besides, I don't need to. Nobody as good with pokemon as you can be a bad trainer," she said with a sage nod that looked more silly than anything. Probably on purpose, he supposed. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
  
  "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
  
  "And Violet said you wanted to watch one of our shows, so maybe we'll give you some tickets for the next one if you do well," the Leader continued, making him smile. "Or, if you are really lucky, maybe a private one," she teased, making his expression twitch. Holding back a sigh, he just continued walking without saying anything.
  
  His eye twitched when he heard both Lilys giggling behind him.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  ' So, Daisy, huh?' he thought to himself once he found himself standing across the Cerulean battlefield from the Leader he'd fight against for his challenge. The blonde of the Sensation Sisters was a tricky one, which would make things more complicated for him. After all, she tended to pick things that would counter the pokemon of the challenger.
  
  Although, it shouldn't be too much of a problem in a first badge challenge where both of them could only use two pokemon.
  
  He glanced at the battlefield then. It wasn't just a set of platforms floating on a pool, at least. Not that the straight platform going from end to end of the pool added to that was much of a difference, really, but at least there was some solid surface for land pokemon to be on. That by itself was more than he'd expected, so he'd take what he could.
  
  Good thing his pokemon wouldn't be as limited as full ground-locked ones. Narcissa could fly which would put her more or less on even footing with the water types that could swim. Cygnus wasn't quite on that equal footing, but he could teleport, which afforded him much more maneuverability than those pokemon that had to just run places. Orion would have nightmares about a field like this though. So, the resolution to leave him out of this challenge solidified even more.
  
  "Gym Leader Daisy will release her first pokemon!" Lily called from the referee spot. Violet and Misty were standing behind her too though. It was a little nerve-wracking to basically have the full team of Leaders of Cerulean spectating his battle, but it wasn't unexpected. He'd talked to them plenty while visiting, with the exception of Misty. He wasn't sure he'd call them friends, but they were more than acquaintances, that was for sure.
  
  His mind focused back on the field and the battle once the horsea made an appearance floating in the water. 'Full water type, starting off with a simple typing, I see,' Pierce noted to himself. And that was the good thing with Daisy for a first badge challenge. She got more dangerous the more pokemon there were involved in a battle, since she could see what you picked and then send in something to counter you. However, with only two pokemon involved in the battle, she couldn't really take advantage of her fighting style all that much.
  
  "Challenger Pierce, please release your first pokemon," Lily called and it was a little weird to hear her speak so... officially, if that made sense. Regardless, he took a deep breath in and reached for one of the pokeballs set on his belt. With a click, the sphere expanded in his hand before he released his first choice.
  
  Daisy tilted her head at Cygnus as he materialized on the bridge-like platform that led from Pierce to her. Unsurprisingly, no comment was made and nothing was shown on her face. She was a professional, after all. Some Leaders liked to have a "meaner" persona for challenges and sometimes it wasn't even a persona, but the Cerulean Gym didn't have that image.
  
  "He's so cute!" Daisy exclaimed.
  
  The Cerulean Gym did have, after all, an image like that, between the Sisters' shows and the women themselves and their personalities. Pierce smiled as he felt Cygnus' embarrassment through their link. 'Not so nice, is it?' he asked, receiving a sympathetic mental apology.
  
  "You are not wrong, but we are here for a challenge!" Lily called, looking more amused than anything as she started looking at Cygnus much like her sister did and then seemingly snapping out of it. "So, let's get to it. Start!"
  
  "Water-" Daisy went to call immediately. Pierce was already ahead of her thought. 'Move,' he thought as he reached for the telepathic link. "-Gun!"
  
  Cygnus had already teleported away by the time horsea was halfway ready with its - 'Her,' his abra supplied. - move. 'Fake,' Pierce commanded then, making Cygnus blink once more, this time over horsea.
  
  "Dive!" Daisy called for her pokemon, who immediately went underwater before his abra could even try to do something. Good thing that hadn't been the case. The woman narrowed her eyes then, either annoyed by the psychic commands or because they hadn't revealed which card they had ready for attack. Abra didn't naturally have any attack moves, so she had to determine which tutor move Pierce had his pokemon learn for this Gym.
  
  ' Won't be that easy,' he thought to himself with a smile as Cygnus teleported back to the center platform. Then, they just waited. There wasn't much they could do, after all. His abra still wasn't that good dealing with the interference that water caused. He could teleport someone on the water surface or something like that, but underwater was out of his range at the moment. Same for any sort of telepathy.
  
  Thankfully, they didn't need to worry too much. Unless Daisy was a psychic - which he very much doubted - then she couldn't give orders to her pokemon while it was under water. There was a possibility that the pokemon would act on its own, sure, but in that case they needed to keep an eye out. Which was what they were doing, so things were under control for the moment.
  
  ' Flash Punch as soon as she comes out,' Pierce directed, getting a firm mental nod. Cygnus didn't move though, because he was just that focused. 'If you can, get her on a platform, but don't overreach,' he added, trying to think how to best approach this. They couldn't take the horsea out with a single attack, so they'd have to try and make the situation better for themselves. 'Maybe an uppercut?' His pokemon liked the sound of that, from what he could pick up.
  
  Sure enough, the horsea eventually surfaced and shot water at Cygnus. His abra reacted almost immediately after the water surface was disturbed, teleporting away before the shot could be made. In a split second, he was already on the horsea. Or, by the horsea might have been a better descriptor, since he teleported as close to the water type's side as he could without actually being in the water.
  
  "Get out of there!" Daisy called, but it was already too late. Cygnus' fist was already basically touching her pokemon by then, the limb covered in electric sparks. That was the wonderful thing about a punch move with a pokemon that could teleport. The opponent had no time to prepare for it. Teleport with a distance move had the time it took for the move to reach you, but teleport with a melee move? You only had a chance with something like Focus Punch, but this was not the case. "Move away, don't stop!"
  
  And so the horsea did.
  
  ' No luck with the paralyzing effect, it seems,' Pierce thought, getting some annoyance from Cygnus. It was a stretch though. Thunder Punch was more about damage than it was about shocking, so the chance was pretty low, really. Didn't mean they couldn't hope, of course, but such was their luck with their first attack. 'Flash Punch whenever she stops for an attack,' he ordered then, following the horsea's movement through the pool. They weren't diving anymore and for good reason.
  
  If they did, then it was just asking for Cygnus to pull off the same thing once more.
  
  "Twister!" Daisy called then, sending a confident smile towards Pierce. 'Hit quick or don't hit at all,' he projected to Cygnus then, because he knew the dragon type move would be a pain in the ass for his abra if it got to actually form. His partner had already teleported before he even finished that thought though.
  
  Unfortunately, even that wasn't fast enough, with the horsea already rotating in place and surrounding herself with energy. Cygnus managed to land the hit but the whirling dragon type energy got him too, Pierce noticed. 'Get out of there!' Pierce thought when the horsea didn't stop the attack at all even with the hit.
  
  Sure enough, his abra got away then. 'Stay away, the Twister isn't big enough,' he projected in his mind, narrowing his eyes. What'd be Daisy's next move now? Horsea had tanked two direct Thunder Punches too, so it couldn't be holding up that well, right? Cygnus might be an abra, but he was no average abra. His punches had to deliver quite the damage, he was sure, and he had type advantage there...
  
  If they didn't beat Horsea in the next punch, then it'd be the one right after.
  
  "Water Gun!" Daisy called and Pierce saw the opportunity. However, he hesitated for a moment. 'Far Fake,' he told Cygnus instead. The abra didn't hesitate, contrary to himself, following the order instantly. "Twis-Huh?" the Leader mumbled, seemingly surprised. Not shocked, certainly, but they'd certainly done something unexpected for her. 'It was a trap,' Pierce confirmed with a smirk.
  
  ' Flash Punch,' he commanded in that moment of doubt from the Leader and her pokemon. Before any of those could react, Cygnus had already delivered an electricity-covered punch at the other pokemon.
  
  "Twister, Horsea!" Daisy called at that moment, but the water type seemed a little out of it. 'Get it out of the water!' he called then, when he noticed that the pokemon hesitated to move or use the attack the Leader had called.
  
  "Horsea is unable to continue," Lily called after the attack and Pierce grinned widely. "Gym Leader Daisy will release her second and last pokemon!" And so, a wooper appeared on the field, making him grimace. That had been what he'd been afraid of. 'That'll counter Narcissa's Electroweb too,' he thought with pursed lips. Thank God his beedrill had Giga Drain too. 'Double weakness for the win.'
  
  ' What do you think, buddy?' he asked in his mind. He could use his switch and call Narcissa to deal with this one. As it was, the beedrill would have his head if he didn't call her for the challenge.
  
  " Want to... try," Cygnus told him resolutely. After that, he got a quick thought projection for good measure. The abra knew his chances were slim, since Focus Punch wasn't that good, but he wanted to give it a shot anyway. Even if he lost, he wanted to lose fighting. Pierce could respect that.
  
  ' Narcissa might just spear my head, but sure,' he replied with a smile.
  
  "Both sides are ready?" Lily asked, looking at Pierce instead of at both of them. Evidently, they expected him to switch now that Thunder Punch wasn't usable anymore.
  
  "Yes," he replied, making the woman tilt her head.
  
  "Then start!"
  
  ' Go for it, buddy,' Pierce told his pokemon, who immediately teleported in front of the wooper and pulled his arm back. Instead of electricity, the abra's hand started shining with white and reddish energy as he concentrated it. Pierce took some pleasure in the surprised look that Daisy had on her face.
  
  "Get away!" Daisy called and Pierce grimaced together with Cygnus - even if the latter did it mentally - when the Focus Punch flew forward just a second too late. "Slam!" was the command that followed then, and the wooper wasted no time throwing itself at Cygnus.
  
  ' Buddy, dodge and try again?' Pierce asked and his pokemon did just that, teleporting behind the water and ground type at the last second and starting to charge the move again. He was feeling his pokemon's exhaustion though. Teleporting in battle wasn't easy, and while he had the punch moves down, they still took a lot out of him too.
  
  "Slam again," Daisy called and the wooper hit Cygnus before he could finish. 'Sorry, buddy, but it was a great attempt,' Pierce thought to his friend before recalling him.
  
  "Abra is out of the battle," Lily called, giving him a nod. That was another thing that was different from the games. You couldn't recall a pokemon in the middle of a battle without it being taken out of it entirely, as if it had been defeated. You either switched when you defeated the other person's pokemon, or when you pokemon was defeated. That was it. Which he imagined was to avoid abusing pokemon changes or something... Kind of sad though. "Challenger Pierce, please release your second and last pokemon," she added then.
  
  With a deep breath in, he grinned at Daisy and took out his second pokeball. A moment later, Narcissa was hovering in front of him and he didn't need to be a psychic to know that she was excited. Her wings were batting so fast that she seemed to have trouble keeping herself in place.
  
  "Everyone ready?" Lily asked and both of them nodded. "Then start!"
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, I hope the first part of the chapter wasn't too annoying. I know people get in a mood when an MC isn't a pillar of confidence. Pierce isn't that kind of character though, I hope you've all realized. At least not in regards to battling.
  
  I guess I'm kind of like that in regards to fight scenes, ironically enough. I hope I didn't do too poorly. This is kind of an important battle, considering it's a challenge. It's also a first badge challenge though, so I'm kind of in an odd spot where I want to make it epic but there's no way to make it that epic all things considered.
  
  So... yeah...
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter, despite all that.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What's the last series you watched? My parents have been watching Grey's Anatomy and since I have my laptop set up in the living room... Yeah. I'm not much of a fan, but it's ok, I guess.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XIII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XIII
  
  "Move, Modify, Subdue," he commanded instantly.
  
  "Mud Shot!" Daisy called. Interestingly, the wooper shot water at Narcissa, but it was water that had turned brown through the energy used on it. 'Wonder if that affects the move or not. Doesn't look like it,' Pierce mused idly as he watched Narcissa flying around, avoiding the attack and using status moves on herself. After the third move the wooper tried on her though, she retaliated... kind of.
  
  String Shot started being directed towards the water and ground type.
  
  "Get out of the platform, Wooper. Into the water and use Water Gun!" Daisy commanded and her pokemon made a leap right to the pool. Unfortunately for it, Narcissa had experience against flying pokemon. A pokemon mid air that couldn't change direction? That was easy pickings.
  
  A String Shot hit it squarely on its side, sending it back to the platform.
  
  "Get it off with Mud Sport, Wooper," the Leader said, making his eyes widen. 'That works?' he thought, watching as the wooper covered itself in another mix of water and ground energy. Sure enough, the hold of the threads on it seemed to be weakened.
  
  Narcissa wasn't just watching though, shooting more webbing at it.
  
  "Keep it up, girl," he told her, narrowing his eyes. He needed a good enough moment. Preferably, when-
  
  "Mud Sport again. Try to get away, Wooper!" Daisy called and that was exactly the opening he needed. As soon as he saw the wooper go to use the move, he made his own.
  
  "Twineedle! Pin it down!" he ordered and his beedrill immediately dashed forwards, doing exactly what he told her to. The hit left the wooper lying on the platform, still half-covered in webbing. "Giga Drain!" he called then, making Daisy's eyes widen.
  
  From there, there was nothing the poor thing could do to get away. First of all, it wasn't in the water, where it would be stronger. Second of all, Narcissa had boosted herself and tangled it with String Shot. Third of all, the beedrill had an evolutionary advantage over it. Fourth of all, Giga Drain just hit twice the weakness on the poor thing. And that might not even have been all.
  
  ' Should have sent the pokemon into the water sooner,' Pierce thought, but he imagined it had something to do with it being a First Badge challenge. Daisy couldn't precisely use pokemon that were all that well trained. Maybe Wooper and even Horsea weren't that good at battling when they couldn't hear commands, like when they were underwater. That could explain it, probably. 'Something to keep in mind if I get a water type,' he mused.
  
  "Wooper is unable to continue," Lily called eventually. 'A bit anticlimactic, but that's fine by me,' Pierce thought with a smile forming on his face. Narcissa stopped her assault and moved back to him, circling around and latching on his back. 'A climactic battle would have meant a struggle and I'd have felt like shit,' he added, grinning at his bug type as he brought a hand up to scratch her under her mandibles.
  
  "Good job, girl. Maybe it was easy, but it's all up from here now," he told her softly, making her squeeze his neck affectionately. "We are just too strong for this level, I guess," he added, knowing that it would appease her battle maniac tendencies. "Let's go then," he said, looking as Daisy walked around the edge of the pool that formed the battlefield and Lily got down from the platform to the side.
  
  "Pretty good first battle," the latter said once he met with her.
  
  "I was hoping you'd have gotten your beedrill to learn Electroweb," Daisy commented with a wry smile on her face. "No such luck for me."
  
  "I did," he admitted, drawing a confused look from her. "I travel with someone that has a grass type. I got Narcissa here started on Giga Drain before I reached here and got her a tutor for Electroweb," he explained with a grin. "I guess I got lucky. I don't know if I'd have thought of covering separate types myself."
  
  "I'll be generous and think you'd probably have thought of it," Daisy told him, looking amused. "Here's your Cascade Badge, you earned it," she continued, passing him the smooth light blue teardrop crystal object. It was simple and small, around the size of his thumb, nevermind light... but it was still very important. The first of hopefully many badges to come in a journey to the Indigo League.
  
  Pierce held it between his index and his thumb as he shared a look with Narcissa over his shoulder.
  
  "Thank you," he said as he turned towards the sisters.
  
  "Don't mention it. Some people struggle with even the first battle, but those are the people that don't even put effort into their pokemon before throwing them in a challenge. You did, probably, the opposite of that, if what you've told me is true and I'm inclined to believe you," Lily told him with a chuckle. "So, you should be fine even for your second and maybe third badge depending on who you challenge. From there, that's when you have to start showing that you get better and have potential."
  
  "I'll keep that in mind," Pierce replied with a nod. That didn't mean he'd take things easy, that was for sure, but it was nice to know when he might start struggling more.
  
  "Well, the referee now has to register your win," Daisy pointed out, drawing a groan from her sister. Somehow, Pierce got the impression that something was going on there. The blonde was looking too pleased with herself for it to be nothing. "You and I can do whatever though. You staying for a visit already or coming back in the afternoon?" she asked, turning towards him and walking towards the side where he'd come from into the battlefield area.
  
  "I was thinking of spending some time with my team, celebrating a little and then coming back," Pierce answered, drawing a hum from the woman. "Unless you need me for something?"
  
  "Nothing right now, no," she reassured, waving her hand dismissively. "We just like having a helping hand ready in case anything happens with the water types back in the danger areas. We try to at least have one of us there, but Misty isn't as experienced as my sisters and I. We also have to run the gym and most of our staff and trainers are busy taking care of the pokemon back in the pools but they aren't good enough for emergencies like the gyarados you dealt with the other day. Good job with that, by the way."
  
  "Don't mention it," he waved off, wondering how much of that was true. Surely some of their trainers and such could deal with things if he could, right? He wasn't that experienced with water types, after all. Then again, he didn't know the precise number of how many pokemon had yet to be relocated, so maybe there were a lot more than he thought. "The gyarados is doing fine?"
  
  "From what I was told," Daisy answered with a nod. "Violet got a look at him after she freed herself and had only good things to say."
  
  "Good to know."
  
  "Great battle, Pierce!" Lily - his traveling companion, that is - exclaimed as they came out to the hall that led towards the entrance of the building. "Your notes were right, it seemed."
  
  "Of course they were, you doubted them?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
  
  "Another future challenger, I take it?" Daisy commented.
  
  "Lillian Dale, most people call me Lily though," his friend introduced herself with a grin.
  
  "I'll keep it to Lillian, if it's all the same to you. It'd get confusing otherwise," Daisy replied, drawing a snort from Pierce.
  
  "Yeah, I know what you mean," he commented. "Well, I'm sure you have better things to do than accompany me, with how busy this place is right now," he added, turning towards the Leader. "Maybe I'll see you around later though."
  
  "I wouldn't be so sure," the woman told him with a wink before her expression fell and she sighed. "But I guess you have a point. Take care of yourself, Pierce. See you later."
  
  "Same for you," he called as she moved to leave, getting a wave of Daisy's hand over her shoulder. When he turned towards Lily though, he saw her with a shiteating grin on her face. "What?"
  
  "A heartbreaker as always, Pierce," she commented, making him groan. Her response to that was to just giggle behind her hand. "Never a dull moment with you Pierce, never. I love it."
  
  "You suck," he grumbled, shaking his head and starting to walk towards the exit. He had better things to do than put up with her teasing, after all.
  
  "Hey!" she called from behind him, but he just sped up.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Ok, take your time. Because I swear, Cygnus, if you choke again..." Pierce said, laying down a tray with poffins in front of both his abra and Narcissa. Picking one up, he offered it to Orion. Sure, the onix hadn't participated in the challenge, but he didn't want him to feel extra bad about it. Poor rock type already felt a little left out, there was no need to make it worse. "Here, big guy. Hope it's good this time," he commented, because he hadn't quite gotten the right mix for his onix still. He was thinking of going for something salty instead of the general sweet kind of poffin he'd found recipes for. After all, Orion had loved munching on the rocks at the beach.
  
  Something for another time though.
  
  When he looked back, he saw that Cygnus had taken that threat seriously. Good, because it had been serious. He'd almost had a heart attack when his psychic type had choked on his first successful batch of poffins. It proved that even the smartest of pokemon could become an idiot when faced with good food, he supposed.
  
  "I'll make a celebratory poffin batch for you guys when you win your challenge here, how about that?" Pierce asked Lily's team, who had been enviously watching his from the side. The girl herself looked very amused by how they were acting, actually. All four of them nodded instantly and very seriously. "That's the spirit."
  
  "I think I could win that right now and without giving them orders just with that prize," Lily commented, looking like she was holding back a laugh. "Nice of you to motivate them, Pierce."
  
  "You're welcome," he replied with a smile and a chuckle. Then he turned back to his team, since they were the stars of the day, as it were. "So, anything you guys want to do to celebrate today? The day is yours."
  
  " What about... water types?" Cygnus asked, sending him a picture of his own memories of the pokemon at the Cerulean Gym. Pierce smiled down at his psychic type, especially because he was asking out of curiosity and not jealousy or anything of the sort. He was genuinely curious.
  
  "They'll be fine if I don't show up today. I asked the sisters and they said they'd send a message if they found a place to relocate them," he explained sitting in front of his team. "I know I said I'd go in the afternoon, but if you guys want to do something, it's fine." Because he loved those pokemon more and more every visit he went through, but his team was his team . They were the ones that had his back, the ones that made him not be alone. They were his new family now, the only ones he had in this new, strange world.
  
  Interestingly, Pierce watched as his pokemon traded looks between the three of them for a long moment. He didn't pick up much from Cygnus' presence in his mind either, since the abra had put himself as far as he could without actually severing the connection. It wasn't often those days that he couldn't pick up at least some little things from Cygnus, really, which made this a little weird now.
  
  " Visit them," Cygnus told him. When Pierce went to say something, he continued. "We are fine... with just morning..."
  
  "If you are sure?" he asked, carefully observing his team. Narcissa didn't look precisely thrilled but she nodded and she seemed honest enough to him. Orion just gave him a happy rumbling and nudged him with his tail.
  
  " Helper-Speaker... likes to help," Cygnus said, sounding like he wanted to roll his eyes. "We are not... getting... in the way..."
  
  "But-"
  
  " No buts," the abra interrupted, making him deflate.
  
  "Ok then," Pierce replied wryly. "If you are going to be like that. If you guys get annoyed though, I'm gonna be annoyed," he pointed out, moving to sit between his abra and his beedrill and planting a hand on top of both their heads. "So, what do you want to do this morning to celebrate?"
  
  " Fighter-Challenger... wants to fight... obviously," he answered for them, flashing a picture of Narcissa in Pierce's mind.
  
  ' Fighter-Challenger, huh?' he thought, still wondering what was up with that.
  
  " Not yet," Cygnus told him, seemingly amused by his curiosity. "Fighter-Suvivor agrees," he added, this time with a picture of Orion. "I would... rather watch," his abra finished.
  
  "Well, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get. But that's after you finish your meal and we've rested a bit. We have plenty of time to hit the battlegrounds," he commented, drawing nods from all his pokemon as they continued eating through their prize meal. Well, except for Orion, who curled up behind him. "So, how was the poffin, big guy?" he asked, leaning his back onto the side of his onix.
  
  He received a happy rumble in response.
  
  "Good, huh? Well, I know what direction to go with, I guess," he mused, patting the top of the onix's head. He was still going to try for some salty poffin versions though. Just in case. Who knew? Maybe he'd strike gold with that.
  
  A moment later, Cygnus shuffled a little so that he was left leaning on Pierce's side while munching on a poffin. With his psychic powers, the abra picked up the tray of snacks and brought it to Pierce's lap. Narcissa seemed to join in on the idea as she crawled onto his other side, being careful with her stingers.
  
  "Guess I'm now trapped," he commented with a grin.
  
  "What a terrible fate," Lily said, giggling behind her hand. "Well, I guess we'll go train for a bit. Those poffins aren't going to earn themselves, right?" she added, turning to her own pokemon. Resolute as they had ever looked, the group of pokemon gave their affirmations to their trainer. "Nice. Let's go."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Honestly, I feel a little bad," Pierce commented, running his fingers through his hair. That day in the battlegrounds had been... very lucrative, one would say. He wasn't there for the money though, not really. He had more than enough with what he earned through jobs and League rewards, really. He was just there to give his pokemon some battle experience and... Well, also to satisfy their wish for some battles in general.
  
  That day though, either because he'd gotten his first badge or coincidentally, Pierce and his team had ended up facing a whole lot of water types. 'Hm, maybe most casual people here have at least the Cascade Badge too?' he wondered idly. That would make some sense, he supposed.
  
  "You should. That was so sad," Lily commented with a giggle that kind of contradicted her words. "Really, that was kind of very sad for them. Water types against your team is kind of unfair, unless you happen to be using Orion," she added, which was fair. Cygnus and Narcissa were too well equipped to deal with water types now. Especially those that weren't all that high level, that was for sure.
  
  "Says the girl that fights mostly with a bulbasaur," he pointed out, making her raise a finger... and then lower it when she realized that he was right. "That's what I thought."
  
  "In my defense, the rest of my team isn't really prepared to face water types yet," she said, looking away and pouting. "And I use Talon too."
  
  "We both know you only do that because the little shit would peck you to death if you didn't," Pierce replied with a grin that only widened when she huffed. "So, you going to stay here much longer? My team seems to have had enough," he asked.
  
  It was a little weird, that they'd decided to cut the morning of battles short... But then again, Narcissa could only enjoy one-sided battles for so long. Orion didn't quite like facing water types all that much... or at all. And then there was Cygnus, who was even less eager to just beat pokemon after pokemon than Narcissa was. Sure, his pokemon seemed to enjoy battling quite a bit, but the conditions of that day in the battlegrounds weren't the best.
  
  Quite sad, considering that was supposed to be a reward for them.
  
  "I will stay, yeah. I might give Star a battle to be in or two if I find suitable pokemon to put her against," Lily answered thoughtfully. "What about you? Going to the Gym early?"
  
  "No, I think I'll go to the beach. Give the team some free time," he mused out loud. It sounded like a good enough plan. Narcissa would enjoy some free flying, Cygnus would nap under the shade with a nice sight and Orion would munch on a rock or two.
  
  "And you'll go play with the magikarp again," Lily pointed out, looking amused.
  
  "That's always a plus," Pierce replied with a grin.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Thanks for letting me have my team out," he said, looking to the side as Lily, the Sensational Sister, approached him. He idly wondered if he should start calling his traveling companion Lillian in his mind just to make things a little less weird.
  
  "Don't mention it," she waved off, looking to the side where his team was spending their time away from the pool. Apparently, his latest stunt with the rowdy gyarados had earned him enough points for them to allow him that... So long as they didn't get anywhere close to the pokemon in the pools. "Now, what's this about you traveling with someone called Lily? You didn't tell me you were using me as a replacement, Pierce. I'm hurt."
  
  He just deadpanned at her fake, dramatic gesture of wiping out an imaginary tear.
  
  Then he rolled his eyes and turned back to the pool.
  
  "Rude," the woman told him and he could almost see her pouting without even looking at her. "I don't like you anymore."
  
  He just hummed.
  
  Fortunately, at that very moment, one of the pokemon he was keeping company decided to do something that was a good enough excuse to not pay the Leader any mind. His savior of the moment was, funnily enough, the aforementioned gyarados. The water type jumped out of the surface on the opposite end of the gigantic pool and then flew through the air sideways for quite the distance. Pierce and the water types by his side looked intently, gauging the distance.
  
  Once Gyarados fell back into the water, he grinned and waited for it to peek out of it once more. When he did, Pierce put his hands around his mouth and let out a loud cheer. The sea serpent deserved nothing else, really.
  
  "That was great, buddy!" he exclaimed, walking up to the edge of the water while the gyarados approached in turn. "That was like three whole tiles longer than your best jump so far!" he added, making the water type preen at the praise.
  
  They'd had to do a little reworking to their game for Gyarados. Otherwise, the sea serpent would just jump out and slam against the gym's ceiling and that was... a bit of a no, one could say. Call it a hunch, but Pierce didn't think anyone would take kindly to that. So, instead of seeing how high he could jump, they'd changed it to how far he could.
  
  Surprisingly, the rest of their apparently very competitive group had decided to shift their attempts accordingly. Pierce was glad about that though. It'd probably make the gyarados feel more included that way, which was nice.
  
  "Here you go. I changed the recipe a little but it should still be good," he said, offering the water type his prize poffin. The snack quickly disappeared inside the creature's maws, but even with how comically small it was in correlation with the pokemon, Gyarados still let out a pleased sound. "Good to know you like it," Pierce added with a grin as he patted the side of the sea serpent. "Now, who's ne-"
  
  He was interrupted by a splash slightly to the side, making him turn towards the shiny magikarp, the only one he'd call Magikarp with capital "M", at least until he or she left. The golden fish seemed to be trying to get his attention pretty hard, which made him sit on the edge of the pool. Curiously, he looked down and rubbed the side of the fish pokemon trying to figure out what was going on.
  
  "Everything alright, girl?," he asked after a moment. "It's not your turn yet," he commented with a tilt of his head. Then he grinned as she started rubbing against his leg in the water. "Someone was feeling left out, huh?" he said with a chuckle. "I guess I can stay here with you... and everyone else," he continued, adding that last part when a bunch of other water types approached.
  
  Idly, he sent a glance to his team to see if they were ok.
  
  " Don't worry... about us," Cygnus reassured, and Pierce could almost see the abra rolling his eyes. "We are... fine. You worry... too much," the pokemon added, making him nod. It just felt a little wrong to leave them aside when it was their day. "It was a... first, easy victory," Cygnus said, and this time he even sent him a mental picture of him rolling his eyes.
  
  His pokemon was a brat.
  
  Somehow, Pierce wasn't surprised.
  
  "I'm being ignored," Lily said, making him turn towards her to see the grown woman pouting at him as if she were a child. "Don't you know that you shouldn't ignore a pretty lady?"
  
  "Hm, I'll keep that in mind," Pierce replied with a nod. Then he faced the pool once more. "So, who's next?" he asked, drawing a huff from the Sensational Sister behind him that made him grin. One of the number of normal magikarp around wiggled and jumped a little in response. Pierce tilted his head and looked at it for a moment as he tried to figure out which of them all it was... Until it came to him. That little overextend with the tail wiggle was distinctive. "Go for it, buddy," he said then, making the water type disappear under water.
  
  "You sure you are not a water specialist in disguise or something?" Lily asked, her previous fake annoyance already forgotten. "People usually have a lot of trouble telling magikarp apart."
  
  "That's because they look at their faces, but they are not very expressive in that regard," Pierce replied, petting Magikarp. "It's easier to tell them apart by-"
  
  "Looking at their body language, yes. I know," Lily finished for him, giving him an amused look as she took the seat by his side and started petting a tentacool herself. "I am a water specialist, you know?"
  
  "Fair enough," Pierce replied with a chuckle as the magikarp from before took his turn jumping out of the water. "I'm a little distracted right now."
  
  "I don't know if I should be offended or impressed by that."
  
  "Why not both?" he asked, still smiling and drawing a snort from Lily.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  I know it was a very anticlimactic start of the chapter with the easily won second half of the gym battle but... What can I say? Sometimes the "Wing It" approach works and sometimes it does this kind of thing. Can't all be wins, I guess.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: How many lightbulbs can you see without getting up from your chair? I can see like 10.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XIV
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XIV
  
  "So, any plans for the day besides your date with the..." Lily started before stopping herself and frowning. Toughfully, she snapped her fingers as if trying to remember something that she had on the tip of her tongue. Pierce, for his part, just stared at her with a flat expression. "Which sister is it again?" she asked, tilting her head in mock frustration at failing to "remember".
  
  "You are hilarious," he replied with a dead tone.
  
  "I know, and I'll be around permanently," she told him, her expression shifting back to her usual cheerfulness. Pierce just sighed, wondering if it was too late to continue traveling on his own. "No, seriously, which one?"
  
  He rolled his eyes so hard that he was surprised they didn't fall off.
  
  "Whichever is at the pools today, I guess," he said, because there was no point in denying or arguing or anything. Lily had found her target and she wasn't going to stop firing at it until she grew bored... Which was unlikely to happen any time soon.
  
  "All three at once. I have been traveling with a player," she said dramatically as she placed the back of her hand against forehead.
  
  "You should have been an actress," he told her with the same flat voice he'd used before. "Anyway, I'll see if there's a job I can get done quickly, then drop by the beach for a bit. Besides that, I'll see what training we can get done on top of visiting the Gym."
  
  "Busy day," she commented and she wasn't wrong, but it shouldn't be too bad. He might have to cut down on his studies a little, but that wouldn't be a horrible thing to do. He was fairly sure that he was making really good progress on that front anyway.
  
  So, he nodded.
  
  "True enough. What about you? Battlegrounds, tutors and training?" he asked back, getting a thoughtful expression even as she hummed affirmatively.
  
  "Yeah. Can you send me a message if you go to the beach? I could use a break in between things to go there and so could my team," she commented, more of a formality than an actual question. They both knew it was fine. At that point, it'd be kind of silly to tell her no, really.
  
  "Sure," he said with a shrug. "I might need to get Cygnus to remind me, but yeah," he added with a grin before leaning down a little to pat the psychic type on the head.
  
  " Your memory... is useless," the abra told him, making him chuckle.
  
  ' You're not wrong,' Pierce replied internally. His memory had the annoying tendency to forget important stuff and remember useless things. Especially when he had to remember to do something. It'd gotten him in trouble with his parent a whole lot when they told him to do something and he just...
  
  ' Not the time,' he thought, gulping and trying to push the feelings those memories in particular brought with them.
  
  "How are the poffins, by the way?" he asked, turning to the side a little and trying to distract himself. He grinned and raised an eyebrow as he saw all the bowls on Lily's side had been emptied already. "I'm not even surprised."
  
  "Guys," Lily groaned, facepalming. "You are just giving him fuel-"
  
  "Not surprised at all. I mean, I'm more surprised that they aren't raiding the food stora-"
  
  "One time," Lily whined.
  
  Pierce just grinned at her.
  
  "Idiot," she grumbled, glaring at him with what she'd definitely deny was a pout. "I might drop by the shopping district to check things."
  
  "Gonna look for some clothes to impress your boyfriend?" he asked, and the girl deflated. Lily looked up then, as if asking God to throw her a bone. Unfortunately, God was never on her side. "You are plenty pretty already, Lily. You've got nothing to worry about."
  
  "I hate you, and mom," she growled, her glare returning tenfold. "You are the same kind of annoying."
  
  "Neat, isn't it?" he asked, and the choked wail/scream/whine she let out was music to his ears. "Nothing to be ashamed of, Lily. I can help you pick up an outfit or something. I'm no fashion expert, but I promise I'll make up for the lack of girl friends you might have at the moment. I can't help with the boy talk though, that's where I draw the line," he said, struggling to keep a straight face.
  
  "You suck," she hissed. "One makes a comment when they are five years old and nobody will fucking let it go."
  
  "It's what's meant to be, Lily. Fate has-"
  
  "As if," she huffed. "Blue's the most annoying thing in the world, honestly," she grumbled, looking to the side. Which Pierce was grateful for because it meant that she didn't notice the way he froze where he sat.
  
  "Blue?" he asked, and he either managed to keep his voice normal or Lily was too annoyed to notice any differences from the usual.
  
  "Yeah, it's the nickname we gave him. He was obsessed with the color when we were children and it stuck. The Color Trio some would call us. Blue, Red and me," Lily explained, completely unaware of the way she was scrambling his mind. "I was, am Green, by the way. God, it's been a while since I've thought of myself like that. I hadn't even realized that I hadn't told you."
  
  "I could guess that," he commented idly, some of his mind recovering from the suddenness of that piece of information.
  
  He'd known Lily was from Pallet, of course. However, she hadn't outright told him that she was any named character that he knew of. Thus, he'd assumed she either was one of the unnamed characters that started with Ash. Either that or he was a year or two early. He doubted he was late, considering the Rocket situation, but... Well, a lot of things were different from the sources he knew. What were a few more, right?
  
  "So, do I get to call you Green, then?" he asked, more to say something than because he wanted to or because he was curious. He needed to buy himself time without giving away that he was freaking out a little.
  
  Intellectually, he knew it wasn't a big deal. He knew Lily, after all, she was the girl with a team that just couldn't be left alone near food. She was the girl that couldn't find her way through tunnels even with a map. She was the girl that had the best reactions to teasing and wasn't afraid to tease back.
  
  ' At least this explains why she seems a step or two above the rest,' Pierce thought to himself, leaning back on his chair for support. 'Then again, maybe all of the Pallet sponsored trainers are monsters and that's just that.'
  
  "I mean, sure you can," the girl across the table said, looking confused too, if nowhere close to how he felt. "It might be a bit weird after having you call me Lily for so long."
  
  "Eh... fair enough," he commented with a shrug and a tilt of his head. That should buy him some more time, he supposed. "... Yeah, I guess you are right," he added after a moment, a smile forming on his face. 'Why am I complicating things more? I have enough shit on my plate and canon is an illusion here,' he thought. "So, about this boyfriend-"
  
  Lily would swear, later, that she didn't scream.
  
  She was also a liar.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "I regret nothing," Pierce commented as he sat in the water at the beach, surrounded by magikarp. He grinned widely as he felt them swim around him, occasionally grazing his legs or his back or his hands when he extended his arms. People were giving them a wide berth and there was a coast guard staring a little too intently, but that was fine. He was having a good time, and his magikarp friends were harmless.
  
  " Crazy," Cygnus said in his mind, which only made him grin wider. His abra was back on the beach, having a good time playing with sand and his psychic powers, from the pictures he got. "Good for control," the pokemon excused himself.
  
  ' Keep telling yourself that, buddy,' Pierce replied, drawing annoyance and embarrassment in equal measure from the abra. 'Have fun though, nothing bad with that,' he added, standing up and watching the magikarp swimming around him. 'God knows I am having fun too.'
  
  " Stupid Helper-Speaker," Cygnus told him with a fond grumble.
  
  "How about we swim a bit, huh?" Pierce asked the pokemon gathering around him. Immediately, the fish pokemon started wiggling happily as their answer, drawing circles around him. "Good to know," he commented, glancing up to see Narcissa flying around. "Let's go," he said then, diving into the shallow water and then swimming further in.
  
  He really didn't regret not taking a job that morning in the end.
  
  After all, he'd looked through the list of jobs that asked for him and none of them looked urgent. There was one with a rather hefty reward, but it was probably some rich guy. It asked him to go and help a family with their rowdy pokemon pet and nothing in the entire thing had screamed urgent to Pierce. He'd checked several times just in case. Besides that, there were a few other jobs but they weren't as important as those he'd already done.
  
  So, with that said, Pierce had just decided to take the day off and have some fun. Maybe he'd do the rounds the next day and check a bunch of those since they sounded simple enough. They weren't urgent though, so he didn't feel all that bad for putting them off.
  
  Thus, Pierce allowed himself to relax and just swim.
  
  As he did, he allowed himself to remember his old life and how it felt to swim back there. With his eyes closed and only water around him, it was so easy too. He could almost fool himself into thinking the magikarp touching him were relatives he accidentally grazed while swimming. That happened often enough back home too.
  
  A sad smile formed on his face as he continued swimming, occasionally coming back up but keeping his eyes closed for the most part, grateful that there was no one close by. He hadn't been to actual beaches a lot, but it was still fine. Even if the smell and the faint taste of the water was strange, it still could be his home world...
  
  ' Except it isn't,' he thought bitterly. Opening his eyes, he saw a beach unlike any he'd ever been in. He saw birds that were anything but normal flying in the sky and never mind the bugs. He saw a magikarp pop up beside him and he saw more pokemon out of the water back on land. 'This isn't my home,' Pierce thought, his chest feeling tight all of a sudden.
  
  ' Except, it is, isn't it?' he continued, feeling a knot forming on his throat as he kept himself on the water surface while the waves washed around him. 'This is the only world for me now. This is my home now... No other options,' he thought with a chuckle that was more of a sob.
  
  "Sorry," he managed to say despite everything when a magikarp pushed against his shoulder. "Let's keep swimming, ok?" he decided, diving back underwater.
  
  Underwater, where the sounds were muted and everything else was even more so. There was only the feeling of the water and the occasional roughness of the magikarp scales. It was far from perfect and his mind continued pushing through a mess of thoughts and memories... but at least there was calm outside to contrast the chaos he felt inside.
  
  That alone was the only thing that stopped him from falling apart. Because swimming and the feeling of being in water was familiar and nice. He could do those without even giving it much thought and that freed his brain to process his emotions and memories and the hurt without other things to pile up on that.
  
  When he couldn't hold it in anymore, Pierce stopped and screamed .
  
  The sound reached nothing, however, nothing but maybe the magikarp close by that were probably a little confused. He just continued though, as the bubbles of air floated up to the surface. His lungs hurt, eventually, and he felt the need to get out for air.
  
  That feeling was a lot better than the loss however.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Things were relatively calm back at the Gym pools that day.
  
  There was almost no sound besides some usual background noise. Some handlers talked to their charge or charges. Some other staff members moved stuff near the storage boxes. Some pokemon or another swam around and made splashing sounds.
  
  Pierce, for his part, was mostly at peace. He'd felt a little spent after playing with the magikarp at the beach and it hadn't gotten better even after lunch and a short nap. Fortunately, he had an idea about how to keep his friends at the Cerulean Gym happy without having to put all that much mental effort himself.
  
  He'd just taken one of the brushes that were specially designed for water type scales and started working on his friends. The magikarp school and Sharpedo loved it, after all. So did Gyarados and Vaporeon, even if they were much more reluctant to show that. The best part was that he could just do that sort of on autopilot, after having gone through similar processes with Narcissa and Orion.
  
  "Aaand..." he mumbled, smiling slightly as he gave the last few brushes to Magikarp's golden scales. "That's it, lady. I hope you enjoyed that," he told her, letting her go and swim around excitedly. She was so adorable that she broke through his bad mood to make his grin widen the smallest bit. "Who's the best?" he asked, chuckling as Magikarp immediately swam up to him and bumped against his leg.
  
  Beside him, Vaporeon yipped her own answer.
  
  "She's got the right idea," he commented, pointing at the eeveelution with his thumb. "Not me, little lady," he said as he shook his head and rubbed a hand on Magikarp's side. "I was talking about you, adorable little thing," he explained, laughing again as Magikarp wiggled even more happily and he'd even say a little shyly. She was just the cutest . "Yeah, the best of the best."
  
  Vaporeon slapped her tail against his back.
  
  "I stand by what I said," he said, the eeveelution slapping him again but there was no force behind it. "You'd be up there too, if you weren't so standoffish," he pointed out, getting a huff as Vaporeon turned away from him. He shook his head at her and turned back to Magikarp. "Go along, yeah?" he continued, his tone and his smile dropping a little. "I have some more to spoil today."
  
  And he so did, because there was a queue of other magikarp to get through and even Tentacruel looked like he wanted to give it a try. Pierce would have to check with the brush's specifications if it could be used on that kind of pokemon. So far he'd just used it on the water types with scales, since he was sure it worked well on those. He wasn't sure Tentacruel's shell-ish head counted though, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
  
  "Someone's having fun," Violet asked, making him turn to see her sitting at the edge of the pool by his side. "I'm starting to think that Lily is right and you're really staying permanently as unofficial Gym staff."
  
  "Wouldn't be so bad," he replied with a smile. "I'm no water specialist though, really. And I still have a journey to get back to, for my team, if not for myself," he continued, gently guiding the magikarp that approached him into a better position and then starting to rub the brush on his scales. "So, yeah, I'll have to leave eventually. I still have to stay in Cerulean for a while though, so I might be here to see most of these guys leave."
  
  It was a bit sad to think about, admittedly, but there was nothing to do about it. He'd have his journey to get back to eventually and the pokemon had rehabilitation to get through too. The Gym was nice and all, but he didn't really belong there and not only because he wasn't a water type specialist even if it was probably the biggest part of it.
  
  "Shame that. Lily will be disappointed," Violet commented, making him chuckle. "Really! It's rare to have someone around that's not a fan or staff, no offense to either."
  
  "Sounds like you need to get out more."
  
  "I'll have you know we get out plenty, mister," the Sensational Sister argued, slapping her hand on his shoulder. "We have been fairly busy lately though," she admitted then, reaching down with her hand to drag her fingers over Magikarp's scales softly.
  
  "Everything ok, girl?" Pierce asked, not to the sister but to Magikarp. The water pokemon seemed to have stopped swimming around and turned to stare at him. "Come on, you can't be jealous already. I just got done with you," he commented lightly as he continued spoiling the magikarp floating in front of him.
  
  He had a fairly good idea that the shiny water type wasn't jealous though, but...
  
  There was little he could do on that front, really.
  
  Fortunately, while Pierce tried to make his brain work on a solution for the little one's mood, Vaporeon sighed and stood up from where she was curled up by his side. Giving him a side-glance, the eeveelution jumped in the water, yipping something at Magikarp. From there, the two water types seemed to hold a short conversation before they went swimming away.
  
  "They are all going to miss you, it seems," Violet commented, looking off towards the pair.
  
  "And I'm going to miss them all too," he replied, looking down, any hint of a smile gone from his face as he continued brushing the scales of the water types. "So, I heard there's a show today," he continued then, trying to steer the conversation to something else. "There wouldn't happen to be tickets left, right?"
  
  "For you? You bet there'll be," Violet told him, grinning widely.
  
  "I need two then."
  
  "Sure thing."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "It's beautiful," Lily said breathlessly from the seat beside him.
  
  "It sure is," he replied with a slight nod, never taking his eyes off the pools where the Sensational Sisters and their pokemon were. There had to be some pokemon shenanigans going on, because despite all the movement in the pool, the surface remained perfectly flat. "I should have come to watch one as soon as they started again," he added.
  
  He'd never been a huge fan of dance shows or just live shows in general. They could be neat and all, sure. He'd spent more than a few hours just watching Got Talent shows and he'd freely admit that. However, he'd never really gone out of his way to watch one, certainly not paid for one.
  
  Pierce could easily see himself paying for this though.
  
  Not that he hadn't known before, since he'd already watched some videos on the internet from previous Sensational Sisters' shows. Those had more production than a live show could too, but there was something very impressive about having it happen right in front of him. On top of that, there was much more to see than what a video could show.
  
  After all, videos on the internet focused on the spectacle. They focused on the movements and move combinations that made him wonder if any or all the sisters were or had been coordinators too. He hadn't checked, honestly, but he might at a later date.
  
  That was only half the show, Pierce was realizing then and there. Because there was something very beautiful about seeing it all happening. His eyes tried their best to take it all in and while they didn't succeed, they still got a whole lot. And what he could see was beautiful. Not only because of the motions and the coordination, but also because it was a great display of... care .
  
  All parts of the show involved moves that were naturally part of what the pokemon involved would do in nature, if enhanced and clearly improved. None of them had to train or force something specifically for a show. Luvdiscs moved in schools, blastoise moved on its own, huntail and gorebyss moved in synchrony. Sure, a pool wasn't their natural habitat, but everything else looked so natural that it made everything ten times better.
  
  ' So glad I came to watch this,' Pierce thought, eyes wide as he tried to watch the entire pool all at once.
  
  People liked saying that he was ridiculously in tune with pokemon at times and he never quite grasped how much that could mean. Not until he saw something of that sort in how the sisters worked with the water types. Everything was smooth movements, and genuine expressions of joy from both humans and pokemon. There was something very awe inspiring going on right in front of him and he could only be grateful that he got to see it.
  
  " It's good," Cygnus said from where he sat on his shoulders. Pierce wanted to scoff at that though, because calling this show "good" seemed like a disservice. It was like saying the ocean was big or that the moon was far away. However, his psychic conveyed a lot more than words could, so much so that Pierce was kind of envious, because his way was much better than words altogether.
  
  "Thank you, Pierce," Lily breathed out next to him, extending her hand to grab his arm and failing. Instead, she smacked his chest before correcting the course without even looking. "This is amazing."
  
  "We would have gotten tickets anyway, Lily," he replied, his voice low as to not disturb the music of the show.
  
  "Do you have any idea how exp-?" Lily hissed before interrupting herself. "Of course you don't," she sighed then. "These are the best seats, Pierce," she whispered to him and it was probably only because the show seemed to be going into a slow part, with low music and slight movements... Pierce knew better than to be bored by that though, because it was just as beautiful and it was all the rest. "They are crazy expensive."
  
  "I mean..." he started, before trailing off. They were in a very good spot in the stands, sort of in the middle and on a balcony but... He looked around and the seats did stand out a bit, but surely it wasn't that much, right? "How much more could they be?"
  
  "A lot," Lily hissed. "They make the shows specifically for the sea- Woah!"
  
  "Woah!" Pierce said at the same time as his companion was interrupted. The slow part seemed to have been built up, because a gyarados somehow seemed to have sneaked into the middle of the pool and broken out of the surface as things picked up pace once more. 'How'd they even manage to hide it? Was it for these seats like Lily said or was that in general?' he wondered, eyes wide and a grin on his face.
  
  Their conversation died, but later Pierce was pretty sure neither of them even gave it any thought once the show sped up once more. They'd distracted each other enough as it was, and neither felt like missing anything else from the whole experience. It was all much too beautiful to do that, really. 'Especially if it's as expensive as Lily said to get these seats.'
  
  Maybe he'd check later though, just to make sure he knew what gift he'd been given.
  
  As it was, Pierce welcomed the show for more than just being amazing. He did so because he'd had some rough days lately and he hadn't felt at his best that very day before the spectacle. Then and there though, his loss was pushed to the back of his mind and he could almost forget it had even happened.
  
  He was grateful to even get that much of a reprieve.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, just another day in the life of Pierce Lawson. Some pokemon interactions here, a little depression there and a great show here. Business as usual, amirite?
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Have you ever gone to watch a live show? Unless I've forgotten something (which is likely), I've only ever gone to one show with marine animals (nothing like the Sensational Sisters, sadly) and two music concerts and that's it.
  
  See you.
  
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  Cerulean City XV
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XV
  
  "You know, did we ever decide what the plan was for after Cerulean?" Pierce commented, his mouth half full as he pointed at his traveling companion with his plastic fork. His other hand held onto the plastic plate while he sat on the ground and leaned his back against Orion's side. They were currently sitting outside the Pokemon Center, having decided to change the scenery a little for breakfast that day.
  
  "Route 5, Saffron. Challenge Saffron. Straightforward," Lily replied, sitting with her legs crossed and her team sitting around her. "Otherwise, we can make a bit of a detour from Route 9 to Lavender. There's Route 24 too. Sure, it doesn't go anywhere, but it might be fun for a quick trip to see what's up."
  
  "That's a pun, isn't it? Because Route 24 is North of here?" he asked, giving her a thoroughly unimpressed look. In turn, Lily looked at him with a horrified expression. "That was terrible, Lily and you should feel bad."
  
  "What are you talking-? It wasn't a pun," she defended herself, scandalized. "What do you-?"
  
  "Glutton pokemon, terrible sense of direction, terrible sense of humor-"
  
  "Pierce!"
  
  "I really don't know why I keep you around," Pierce commented, shaking his head. "Why do you, guys?" he asked her pokemon then, as if he hadn't added their behavior to the list he'd just directed at Lily. Regardless of that, all of them nodded, because they were smart and they knew keeping him happy with them meant better food.
  
  "... I hate you, Pierce," Lily hissed, glaring at him with a twitching eye.
  
  "Anyway, I think the straight path sounds better. A detour sounds nice, but we take forever to get anywhere since we take our time. I wouldn't want to spend too much time walking around,"Pierce commented, rocking back and forth thoughtfully before bringing more food to his mouth. "But-" he started, after chewing a bit. "I could be convinced for the detour. Better than straight out going for the dead end," he added with a shrug.
  
  "Nah, I'm fine going the straight way," Lily replied, waving the offer off. "Only reason to do the detour for Lavender is the ghost types and... I don't know if I want to deal with one right now. They tend to be a handful at the best of times and I have Star right now to worry about," she explained while he took a sip from his drink.
  
  "That sounds reasonable," he commented, getting a nod from Lily. "Not," he continued then, making her blink. "If you were scared of handfuls, you wouldn't have caught pokemon as quickly as you have. So, what is it? You scared of the ghosts?"
  
  "Bu-No!" she protested but it was so very forced that he stared at her. "What are you looking at?"
  
  "You are scared of the ghosts," he repeated, making her sputter. "Oh, this is gold. You know what, I'm liking the sound of the deto-"
  
  "We are not doing the detour," she said firmly. The tone was kind of ruined by the pout on her face.
  
  "You make it too easy at times, Lily, honestly," Pierce told her, grinning widely and shaking his head.
  
  "You suck," she replied.
  
  "Anyway," he continued, dutifully ignoring her glare while their pokemon watched the show like one would a tennis match. Being honest, he was a little glad that Lily offered an excuse to stay away from ghost pokemon. He didn't want to know what'd happen if he met one after... "Straightforward path, that's neat. We have to prepare for Sabrina then," he thought out loud, pushing everything else to the side and looking down at his empty plate. Then he set it on the ground by his side and picked up the cup with his drink. "Good thing she'd be my second challenge, because I think she'd kick my ass otherwise."
  
  "I've heard plenty of horror stories about her in high badge level, yeah," Lily confirmed with a nod. " And read them."
  
  "I have to study her battles," he muttered.
  
  "You'll be fine Pierce," Lily told him, rolling her eyes. "Honestly. Why do you worry so much?"
  
  "I don't want to fail... I don't want to fail them," he answered honestly, extending his hand to the side and patting Orion.
  
  " Idiot," Cygnus told him.
  
  "Pierce-"
  
  "But that's fine," Pierce continued, locking eyes with Narcissa, who landed by his side. "They want to prove themselves. I want to make sure they do. And that's that," he said, grinning.
  
  " That was better," Cygnus said grudgingly with a nod.
  
  "Which is why I have to do my best. Research everything, prepare strategies, train the team," he said, turning towards Lily. "And panic," he added in the end with a chuckle. "Hopefully that means I'll try even harder."
  
  " You were doing... so well," Cygnus sighed in his mind, making him laugh harder.
  
  "For now, I think I'll just go, do an easy job, hit the battlegrounds and see what I do with the-"
  
  "Go to the Gym," Lily corrected.
  
  "And I'll go to the Gym," he admitted with no issues whatsoever. "Then we'll finish the day with training and that'll be that," he finished, getting agreeing sounds from his team.
  
  "... Sounds like a good day," Lily told him with a hum as she finished her own breakfast too. "Pretty much same, by the way. Without the Gym part, that is. I'm not dating... Which sister was it again?" she asked "curiously".
  
  "That joke is going to be old eventually," he told her.
  
  "Eh, the food joke hasn't gotten old yet, right? I think I can do this one just as long," Lily replied cheerfully.
  
  "... I guess I deserve that," he admitted with a sigh. "I still have more ammo though."
  
  "And I'll catch up eventually," Lily threatened, pointing at him with her plastic fork. "Just you wait-"
  
  "Whatever you say," he said as he stood up, stretched a little and then relaxed. "I'll go along, if you don't mind... Mrs. Blue."
  
  "Pierce!"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You look awesome," Pierce praised, not even having to lie as he grinned widely and used the special brush on the rapidash's fur. "You must have been a hit with the ladies, huh?" he asked, getting a neigh and a confident nod from the fire type. "Still are, huh?" he commented with a laugh. "Yeah, I can believe that."
  
  He continued talking with Rapidash from there as he worked on getting to know it and brushed it. His most recent client seemed to have some trouble with that particular fire type, his partner, the one pokemon in his ranch that he was the closest to. From the sound of things, they had been together since forever ago and now the rapidash was... depressed, for lack of a better term.
  
  So, after finally having given up on solving the issue himself, the farmer had sent him in particular a job asking for help.
  
  It seemed to really hurt the man's pride to ask for help for his best friend. Jack seemed to take it as a failure on his part, but Pierce didn't see it that way. Sometimes, the closer one was to someone, the harder it was to help with this kind of thing. Sometimes, someone a little less connected was what one needed.
  
  So, Pierce did his best to get a read on things and get as much as he could from Rapidash.
  
  In the end...
  
  "I think I get it, buddy," he said softly, having long since finished brushing the fire type but keeping it up anyway. His initially happy and enthusiastic expression changed for a softer, more sympathetic one. "I'll see what I can do, ok?" he asked, getting a much weaker neigh than what he'd have gotten before. "Who knows? Maybe we can talk more about the good old days with Mr. Bartlett," he added, getting a much happier response.
  
  Thus, he walked with Rapidash back towards where Jack waited, pursed lips and generally grave expression.
  
  "Took your time, didn't you?" Jack asked curtly, but Pierce simply smiled.
  
  "Sorry, I had to get to know Rapidash. He's also a beautiful creature, I gotta say," he replied, making both pokemon and farmer preen with pride. It was adorable, even if Pierce would never voice that. At least not to their faces, that was for sure. "You should be proud," he added, as if he couldn't see the man was.
  
  "I am. Rapidash has been the best partner a sorry farmer like me could ask for," Jack told him, moving next to the fire type and rubbing his hand on a patch of fur away from the flames. "So, any ideas?"
  
  "Rapidash wants to run, Mr. Bartlett. He wants to run with you," Pierce answered. Immediately afterwards, he could see the annoyance shine through the old man's expression, his mustache twitching.
  
  "I-We can't, the last time we went-"
  
  "Rapidash got hurt, I know," Pierce interrupted, taking on the man's glare with calm. "He's better now and he wants to run, Mr. Bartlett. It's what he loves. If you don't let him, if you don't join him... It'll be like he never recovered, like he lost his legs," he explained carefully. "Your friend wants to do what he loves and he can, from what he says. If the doctors told you that he can't and he lied to me, that's fine. But if he can... let him. If not, I'd suggest finding a way to give him what he wants with less risks."
  
  "Kid, I knew that before you came. Rapidash can't run with me anymore. It's too much strain for his old legs," Jack replied, making his expression fall. "I know you miss it, buddy. I know you do. I miss it too... But we can't," he continued then, turning towards the fire type.
  
  "You have more rapidash, right?" Pierce asked then, stubbornly powering through.
  
  "And how do you propose-"
  
  "You ride one of those... and run with Rapidash. Run with him, even if you can't ride on him," he explained, making the man pause.
  
  "How didn't I...?" Jack mumbled, turning to look at Rapidash. "Would you like that, buddy? It wouldn't be the same but..." The fire type neighed once more, kicking the ground and pressing against Bartlett's chest before running a small lap around the old man and Pierce. "He likes the sound of that, it seems," Jack said, although Pierce wasn't sure if he was talking to him or to himself. "And I'm an idiot, evidently," he added bitterly.
  
  "You were trying to be careful, to protect your friend," Pierce reassured, giving the man a soft smile. "You might have hyper focused on that. It can be difficult to consider options for something that you think is impossible and only hurts to think about," he added, because he knew a thing or two about something like that.
  
  Maybe he should listen to his own advice at some point, he supposed.
  
  " You think?" Cygnus asked from where he sat some distance away, getting an unimpressed side-glance from Pierce.
  
  "That's a very nice way to say I am an idiot, you know?" Jack joked self-deprecatingly. "I'll give it a try. Who knows, maybe we can come up with something better. What I wouldn't give to ride with my old friend here again..." he added then, looking at his fire type wistfully, his eyes looking off as if he were picturing some old memory instead of seeing what was in front of him. Rapidash didn't look much better.
  
  ' Wonder if we will look like that one day,' Pierce mused sadly, feeling Cygnus' presence in his mind grow sympathetic. It was a little depressing to consider. He couldn't imagine Narcissa being unable to fight, or Cygnus being unable to move around without psychic powers again, or Orion lying down pitifully like back when he'd arrived to heal him. He couldn't imagine how much it had to hurt Jack to see his friend like this now.
  
  "You should probably be careful anyway. It wouldn't hurt to have someone with medical knowledge around if you plan to go on a particularly long run or something like that," he suggested, swallowing a knot in his throat. "Other than that... I can't think of anything right now."
  
  "Thank you, Lawson," Jack replied, not taking his eyes off Rapidash for a long moment before he turned towards Pierce. "I mean that. You'll get that your payment as soon as I can get my grandaughter to send it."
  
  "I didn't do all that much," Pierce tried to wave off, but the old man was having none of that.
  
  "Nonsense. You have any idea how many people have tried to talk to me about this? But you didn't tell me to humor Rapidash or to hold on for his sake... You found a solution, an easy one, that makes me look stupid too," Jack told him before chuckling. "You'd get along with my granddaughter, I think. Stay away from her though," he added with a glare.
  
  "Sure thing, Mr. Bartlett."
  
  "Call me Jack, kid. You earned that much, at the very least."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Magikarp, the Golden Girl]
  
  Things were so good those days.
  
  She could almost forget, at times, the things they had all gone through. She could almost forget that just some days before, she barely got to eat. She could almost forget the times when she'd been hit with all sorts of moves while others "practiced" with her. She could almost forget all the things the bad people had said to her.
  
  In the end, Magikarp still remembered.
  
  However, things were good now. There were only good pokemon around, if some of them did act a little off still. She knew a thing or two as to why, so she wasn't too bothered when a pokemon acted sad, or angry, or anything like that. There were also mostly good people around too, she'd found. There had been that one man that was a little... uncomfortable to be around but he'd gone away.
  
  And she'd met Pierce!
  
  Pierce was the best!
  
  He always had kind things to say, nice stories to share or fun games to play. He was also always there and he always wanted to be there. Magikarp couldn't remember the last time someone had wanted to be around her and the other magikarp before Pierce. Everyone seemed to like seeing her, sure, like that odd man that had healed her, but they didn't like her . They only liked her scales, just because they were yellow instead of red.
  
  The bad people had liked her scales too, but they had grown more and more mean when she didn't evolve. She didn't like them, and she didn't like her scales. They only meant that the bad people would focus on her.
  
  Pierce didn't seem to care for her scales though. He'd point them out, praise them and call them beautiful, but he'd also say the same thing about her, how she was adorable or other things like that. Nobody had called her adorable before.
  
  Magikarp liked that.
  
  And the rest of the pokemon around Pierce were all so nice too. Sure, maybe Vaporeon was a little... cold-ish, but Magikarp liked her. And there were the other magikarp too, and Tentacruel, and Sharpedo, and... And a lot of other friends. Magikarp was loving it all ever since they had all been moved to those pools.
  
  She wasn't a fan of watching others have to go though. She'd made friends with many pokemon that were sent away one by one or sometimes even several together. It was sad, but it was what it was. They were all being sent to another place where they'd be cared for like they were there. Magikarp didn't quite get why they had to move, but apparently they did.
  
  It seemed like someone else would be going too, because one of the nice women - The Sisters, Pierce would call them, as if that meant something in particular other than them being siblings. - had approached Pierce to talk to him. Magikarp had seen that happen a few times already and it was always to tell him that someone from their group had to go. It was always sad, but they always held a go away party with food and games and extra fun so that nobody would be sad.
  
  Even though they always were anyway.
  
  "Hey everyone," Pierce called as he came back, smiling like he usually did but it didn't reach his eyes unlike other times. Instead, Magikarp saw him take a deep breath in. "Can you guys go over there with Violet?" he said, pointing at the blue haired "Sister" and making them all turn to look. A moment later, he received some affirmative answers before they started moving. "Thanks. Girl, can you wait for a bit," he added quickly, signaling for Magikarp to say.
  
  She wiggled happily as she approached him and somehow his smile turned even more sad. Was it Vaporeon that was being sent away? Magikarp knew that Pierce liked the eevee evolution more than the rest of them, since she'd been there first, more or less. She was sure that Vaporeon going away would make Pierce extra sad.
  
  Maybe she could make him feel better!
  
  She wiggled again, trying to comfort Pierce. She wasn't very good at getting the message across but Pierce usually understood, even if sometimes it was only a little bit. Magikarp was sure she could do it this time!
  
  "Well, aren't you happy?" Pierce asked, laughing, but he didn't seem to be feeling it. That only meant that she had to try harder. "Magikarp, please," he said, laughing a little more but trying to hide it behind his hand. As if that would work. Silly Pierce. "Magikarp, you know how they've been finding places to take you all, right? Better places than this, more prepared and all that."
  
  Of course she knew. He'd explained that plenty of times. Maybe this was so he could tell her that Vaporeon was going away? Maybe he was sad and that was why he was saying it like that as if she didn't know? That was ok. Magikarp would be sad to see her friend go, but Pierce and her would be there for each other!
  
  "They found a place for you, Magikarp," he said then and she froze.
  
  What?
  
  For...?
  
  For her ?
  
  She had to have heard wrong. So, she swam closer, jumping out and hitting his leg. He had to repeat that. Maybe he meant that they had found a place for someone in the group or... But he'd sent the group away, so... But still, it couldn't...
  
  "They'll take care of you. They'll have better food than I do and they'll be there for you all the time, not a few hours in the day," Pierce explained... Magikarp started to shake. "There'll be lots of other pokemon to spend time with, and they'll be just as nice as the ones here," he continued, but Magikarp was barely hearing anymore. "It'll be fine, girl. Remember what I told you, it'll be fine and you'll be-"
  
  She stopped hearing.
  
  It couldn't be happening. She'd just escaped that place with those people and they were sending her away... Sending her away who knew where ? Better food than Pierce's? She doubted it, and even if they did, Pierce wouldn't be there. Maybe they would be there all the time, but would they not care about her scales and play with her and make her feel just as good as the other pokemon that weren't useless ? She doubted it. There'd be other pokemon, but there wouldn't be Vaporeon, or Tentacruel, or Golduck. None of them would be there.
  
  None of them would be there.
  
  It wouldn't be fine.
  
  Magikarp wouldn't be fine.
  
  She wanted to stay .
  
  And she would stay.
  
  And whoever decided not to let her would be just as bad as those people. Yes, because only bad people forced her to do things she didn't want. Like forcing her to fight other pokemon even though she couldn't. Like forcing to go without food because she was bad even though she wasn't. Like forcing her to hear them again and again telling her how she was useless and ugly even though wasn't.
  
  Because she was adorable and beautiful .
  
  Pierce had said so!
  
  So she wouldn't let them. She wouldn't.
  
  Magikarp wouldn't let them.
  
  There were screams and shouts and there better be. She'd make them scream and shout as she wished she could have. She'd show them what it was to be useless and helpless and ugly. She'd show them all, because she didn't want to do what they told her. She'd show them all, because they had shown her.
  
  The stupid, useless little things that ran around outside the pool and the pokemon that helped them even though she was the one that needed help. They were bad people . Just like those back where she came from. They were all bad, bad people and bad pokemon.
  
  And they deserved to be treated as such.
  
  She wouldn't let them do anything. She'd show them that she wasn't useless.
  
  So she roared, she roared for everyone to hear her, just like she wished she could have roared back in that place . She roared for all the times she was hurt. She roared for all the times she was scared. She roared for all the times she was angry . She roared for all the times she wanted to hurt them .
  
  And she could .
  
  She could feel her presence as she grew to tower over her surroundings. She could feel the strength as her body twisted and the water around her was pushed away. She could feel the speed as she turned and blasted a bad pokemon that tried to do something. She could feel the power of the blast of a move she couldn't even have used before.
  
  She felt so much more .
  
  She was so much more .
  
  She was big and strong and fast and powerful .
  
  She was no longer useless and ugly, not anymore, never again.
  
  She was the strong one there and everyone else was weak. It was her time to be the strong one. So, remembering all the times others had been that instead of her, she roared again. This one, however, was a roar of triumph, a roar of righteousness. Because finally, she'd be able to repay the world what it had given her.
  
  All that pain, all that helplessness, all that sadness.
  
  She'd return it to them all.
  
  Her tail, long and powerful, hit another pokemon, sending it to a wall. Her blast returned, hitting another one, pressing it against the ground...
  
  And that was as far as she got before something pressed down on her . There was nothing around her, but something was holding her. There were more pokemon appearing around her, ready to attack her, like she'd been attacked so many times. Because that was all they could do, bad people and bad pokemon, they'd always attack her when she couldn't fight back.
  
  Not anymore!
  
  She roared again, and the pressure receded. She wasn't going to be contained. She wasn't going to be insulted. She wasn't going to be hurt . And all these bad people and bad pokemon would be shown that. She'd show them all.
  
  So, she glared at the pokemon, pink and with a strange shelled tail, that tried to move, tried to contain her again. She blasted that one... Or tried, because another bad pokemon got in the way. It didn't matter. She'd blast them all. If that didn't work, she'd smack them. And if that didn't work, she'd bite them.
  
  Because she could .
  
  She could fight now.
  
  She wasn't useless .
  
  "Girl," a voice said, somehow reaching her even through the anger, the blood pumping, the shouts, the screams and her own roar. "Girl," it called again and she turned to look at him. The kind human with a kind smile...
  
  The human that was sending her away.
  
  Her glare grew fiercer.
  
  And then she roared .
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well... that happened.
  
  I hope you guys liked the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I wanna know what you think about this chapter, if you guys don't mind telling me.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XVI
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XVI
  
  [Misty Waterflower]
  
  This was bad.
  
  This was really bad.
  
  Things had escalated entirely too quickly with that gyarados evolution. It didn't help that it was even stronger than the usually fresh out of evolution ones, which was already saying something. The gyarados evolution, after all, got progressively worse the more the magikarp suffered through their lives. It made them angrier and that seemed to feed into the energy they had when they evolved.
  
  It was why the magikarp in situations such as the ones they had now, after having suffered pokemon abuse for a long time, were marked as dangers. If any of them evolved, it was just a disaster waiting to happen. Even with all of them ready, staff, her sisters and Misty herself with their best pokemon ready, this was still a very dangerous situation they were in.
  
  And that was without even taking into account the man that had been placed right there in front of the now evolved, bright red gyarados.
  
  Pierce Lawson was, Misty would admit, very skilled at what he did. He just understood pokemon in a way that seemed uncanny. It reminded her of her sisters when they dealt with water types. It reminded her of what she wanted to be like once she was older. And the man did it without the years and years of specialized knowledge that her sisters had.
  
  Now, however, he was in a situation that was entirely out of his league.
  
  Fresh out of evolution gyarados weren't rampaging gyarados, no.
  
  They were worse .
  
  They had all the rage that one of those could have, multiple times over, with their worst memories at the forefront of their minds. They had all the powers those could have, multiple times over, riding the high of energy that evolution and their rage brought. They had all the resilience those could have, multiple times over, blinded by their wrath and new found strength as they were.
  
  Misty would know. There was a reason why she was scared of gyarados in general, after all. Back when her parents were alive, her whole family had been there to help and yet, a single gyarados had made them all look like first badge rookies. Pokemon were often described as forces of nature, that was never more true than with gyarados, especially those that had just evolved.
  
  "What are you all waiting for?!" she heard Daisy shout, making the staff members and the other two sisters snap to attention, making calls for their pokemon. Misty, she was ashamed to admit, remained frozen, eyes locked on the gigantic, red serpent that roared so loud that she could swear the entire place shook around her. "Lanturn, go for it!" her sister called first of them all.
  
  "Wait! Pierce, get out of there!" Lily screamed, and Misty barely could glance at the man in question. She only managed that much because the man was right there, in front of the gyarados, standing without moving as the creature roared straight at him. "We can't attack with him there!"
  
  "Gyarados will bite him in half if we leave him there!" Violet countered and Misty agreed, for as much as her mind could work at that moment. Better to be hit by a move or two than being dead .
  
  "Pierce!" Lily shouted, desperation in her voice. Misty saw a few water attacks hit the side of the gyarados' head, making it turn to blast something off to the side.
  
  "Get those pokemon out of here, Jason!" Daisy commanded, and Misty glanced, for a split second, to the side and saw the rest of Lawson's group of Rocket victims. Where they attacking the gyarados ?!
  
  "Girl," she heard then, a calm voice that seemed to find a place in the middle of the chaos. Just in that second, when nobody was shouting and the gyarados wasn't roaring, he spoke. Misty couldn't believe it, as she turned and saw Lawson standing there, just where he'd been when it all started, at the edge of the pool.
  
  The sea serpent turned her attention back towards him, roaring just like all the other times and Misty could see it, the slight gathering of energy around it. The flickering lights that signaled a messy usage of power, but that meant nothing when dealing with a pokemon that was so out of it and rampaging. Something that usually meant a sloppy move and no effect at best, could now mean a move appearing from out of nowhere, with no warning and no build up.
  
  "Pierce, get out of there! We can-"
  
  "It hurts," the man said, interrupting Lily's panicking voice as she tried to warn him, getting him away from the beast. He spoke like nothing was wrong, however, like he wasn't face to face with the stuff of Misty's nightmares. "I know it hurts, girl," the man said.
  
  That was when he decided that his madness wasn't bad enough. That was when Lawson did something that never in a million years would Misty, or maybe anyone else, have predicted. Because surely everyone had enough sense in them to not do such a thing with a gyarados in the state that one was in. She had seen him talk to an annoyed gyarados once, but this was a rampaging, just evolved gyarados... And yet he did it anyway.
  
  He reached forward and planted his hand on the pokemon's nose.
  
  Right there, over the maw of the beast, a mere twitch away from losing his arm if he was lucky . Right there, in front of the creature's eyes and Misty saw how those burned at the temerity. Right there, touching the skin of the rampaging pokemon like it wasn't an act of absolute madness.
  
  "I know it hurts," the man said and just then did Misty notice the eerie silence that now permeated the room. Glancing to the sides for a crazy second, she had to make sure that she wasn't actually alone in the room with the madman and the gyarados. Sure enough, there were other pokemon and people around.
  
  And she saw all of them frozen, as if they were afraid to breathe.
  
  "I know, girl," he continued speaking and it was just then that Misty realized that the gyarados wasn't moving, wasn't roaring. Even the sparkle of energy around it had stopped. "Listen to my voice, girl. I'm right here," he told the water type, taking a step forward and moving his hand from the front to the side of the gyarados' head while he rested his own against the sea serpent's crest. "I know it hurts, girl, but just listen to me, ok?"
  
  In the calm before the storm, Misty was able to gather her wits.
  
  Instantly, her hand moved to the side. She needed to do something. If everyone was frozen, it was ironic considering she'd done the same before, but she'd have to be the one to do something. She could get Pierce away with one of her pokemon and her sisters-
  
  ' Don't move,' she heard Lily's voice in her mind, making her eyes widen. 'Don't do anything, you hear me, Misty?' her sister told her, voice firm inside her mind. She'd recognize the communication through Slowbro anywhere at any time. But why- 'Anything could cause the gyarados to snap. Pierce is anchoring her though. Slowbro is keeping an eye on her mind, but Pierce is giving her something, someone away from the memories and the rage. Don't move.'
  
  So Misty gulped and remained frozen where she was, now out of choice instead of fear... mostly.
  
  It was insane though. That couldn't be right, could it? Lawson couldn't have done such a thing, right? Not even her father had been able to break through his own magikarp's evolution rage and Lawson had done it with one that he'd known for a few days and that had been well and truly traumatized?
  
  No way.
  
  "Listen to my voice, girl," Lawson continued speaking, his voice lower now to the point that Misty almost couldn't catch the words. "You are angry, and hurt, and afraid . I know, ok? I need you to listen to me though, can you do that?" he asked and Misty felt herself pale more than she already was. He told a gyarados they were scared, was he ma-? Of course he was, the real question was-
  
  The gyarados roared again, making Misty stiffen. However, this sounded very different from before. It didn't shake the place. Instead, it seemed to shake the gyarados .
  
  "I know, I know," the man repeated, petting the gyarados. "Take a deep breath in, girl," he told her, as if ordering a rampaging gyarados were easy or a good idea whatsoever. Just as insane as the whole thing was, however, was the fact that the pokemon listened. Misty was starting to wonder if this would get any less shocking anytime soon, but it didn't look that way. "Now let it out, let it all out, girl," he told her.
  
  And then the gyarados roared again and this time it did shake the place. It shook Misty's bones and she saw more than one person and pokemon twitch and shiver in place. Lawson remained steadfast though, keeping his forehead pressed against the gyarados' and his hand on the side of her head.
  
  "I know it's awful, girl, but I'm here. I'm here with you and it'll get better, I promise," he told her, his hand moving slowly up and down. Then he leaned back slowly, eyes firmly on the gyarados'. "You look beautiful, girl," he breathed out, his voice barely reaching Misty's ears. "You are a magnificent gyarados. You look so big and strong..." he trailed off as the pokemon moved.
  
  Then it let out a weak roar that almost couldn't be considered as such, moving her head too harshly and pushing Pierce to the ground. Out of the corner of her eyes, Misty saw some people move and- 'No!' Lily shouted in her mind, making her freeze once more, together with the others.
  
  Gyarados seemed to have stopped moving altogether at the same time as them, she noticed then.
  
  Lawson laughed then, freely and without worries even in the situation he was in. He pushed himself back up while the gyarados followed his movements with her red eyes. The pokemon didn't move though, but the man certainly did, moving to plant his hand on the water type's crest once more.
  
  "You are adorable too," he told the pokemon. What followed then made Misty's jaw drop. In hindsight though, considering everything she'd witnessed that day, those last few minutes, she shouldn't have been so surprised. She was though, and she thought it was with reason. This was worse than everything else so far, after all.
  
  It was a gyarados - one that had just evolved - slowly but surely rubbing her head against the man.
  
  "Yeah, that's the adorable little thing I remember," she heard the man say. Then he turned to look behind him at where all the people were. His carefree expression shifted to something else then, something tense and serious. Misty was fairly sure that she saw him gulp then too. That, at the very least, lined up much better with what she'd expect than anything else. "Can someone help me out here. I need berries and stuff to make poffins and pokeblocks," he said, his voice calm and happy but his expression speaking of something entirely different.
  
  Until he turned back to the gyarados, that is.
  
  "You deserve a feast, girl. We'll celebrate this and then we can talk and swim and play with the others, how about that?" the man asked, receiving a roar that sounded to Misty like whine when he pulled his hand away. He placed it back again then, chuckling. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here and we'll have a great time."
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Gyarados, the Red Survivor]
  
  "Nice, isn't it?" Pierce asked her, and each word made the haze of anger pull back. Suddenly, not everything was red, only her, and not everyone was bad people . There was Pierce and the people that had given him the berries and other things. "Taste tested by other gyarados, as you know," Pierce said, and his form became a little more focused, even though that stopped being the case as soon as he stopped talking.
  
  But he was there and she wasn't alone anymore.
  
  She was still angry thou-
  
  "Say," the man continued talking then, making her mind refocus again. She was getting angry at the constant need of- "Hey, don't snarl at me," he chided softly, giving her a mere pat on her scales. It didn't hurt. She barely felt it. But it was enough to make her focus again.
  
  Why was it so difficult to stay focused though?
  
  "Again, say," he started talking again, and she was so very thankful for that. She wanted him to talk forever. She didn't like that she was angry all the time now. It was uncomfortable, and sad, and exhausting, and annoying, and infuriati- "You are really big and strong now, girl. Maybe we can do other things now that you are," Pierce told her and she focused on him and the sound of his voice again.
  
  It was so nice and it was so calming and she wanted more of it . She didn't want to be angry anymore. So, she moved her head forward to rub it against him. Touching him made the anger go away too, like when he touched her, so she did that.
  
  "You are still adorable, come on," Pierce commented with a smile on his face. She felt herself squirm a bit at the words. He still thought she was adorable? That was nice. She liked being adorable and gyarados weren't adorable. They were scary. And she was a gyarados now, wasn't she? So she was scary instead of adorable, right? "Absolutely adorable," Pierce said, rubbing the side of her head with his hand and she wiggled a little, which was a lot more eye-catching now that she was big and strong instead of small and weak like a magikarp.
  
  She was still adorable though! She wasn't scary!
  
  "Come on, take another poffin. You deserve it," he told her, making her open her mouth and take the snack. Before, it'd have been a good size. Now, she could barely taste it, but it was just as glorious as they had ever been. "Good, eh?" Pierce asked and she tried to let him know that it was, but it only came out as a growl that would have scared her half to death before. Why did she have to sound like that now? It was so annoyi- "Yeah, it's good," Pierce said and she blinked.
  
  That's how things continued after that, with her mind slipping into the anger at the slightest things and Pierce's voice, touch and food helping pull her back. It was... exhausting, her body ached and it felt heavy. All the power she now had only felt like it added more weight on her instead of making things easier. If she moved wrong, she'd cause waves, which was inconvenient for everyone but mostly for Pierce. She'd ruined a perfectly good batch of poffins because she'd gotten excited and messed up everything. She'd pushed Pierce away when she tried to tell him that the food was great. She'd made him fall when he'd been petting her. And those were just the cases she could remember off the top of her head.
  
  Yet, the man continued smiling, talking to her in a soft voice and even took out the scale brush to use on her. On her aching, tired body, it felt like bliss itself. It also reminded her that her body was different. She was having some trouble with that, she'd admit. She was so used to being a small, weak magikarp...
  
  And now she was huge and powerful and scary, and she kept forgetting because all she could think about was how annoying and infuriating -
  
  "How is it, girl? Better or worse than before you evolved? Remember, nod or shake your head. No need for wiggles anymore," Pierce asked, chuckling at the end instead of sounding as annoyed as she felt. It was nice, that he seemed to be fine with how much she messed up now. Before, she'd been just the adorable magikarp that was around, but now she was a gyarados and she was annoying and she knew it . "I'm waiting~" he reminded her, making her nod slowly. It did feel nice, better than before, if only because there was more of her to use the brush on.
  
  She was a gyarados now and she was adorable.
  
  Gyarados was happy with that.
  
  "So, it seems like I'll be staying here for the night, yeah?" he commented with a smile and she cheered... Maybe a little too loudly, if the way some of the bad people around jumped. Pierce just laughed though. "Yeah, awesome, right? I need to make a call right now though, do you mind? I'll stay right here," he explained to her, bringing out a little thing that she'd seen other humans use to talk to people that weren't close.
  
  She nodded, because even if Pierce wasn't talking to her, he'd still be talking and all she wanted to do was hear him. All she wanted to do was for him to make the anger go away like he had so far. Gyarados would be happy just being close by and not being angry anymore.
  
  She didn't want to be angry.
  
  She wanted to keep being adorable.
  
  So, she let Pierce talk to his friend, some Lily that wasn't the pink-haired one. Then he turned to her, petting Gyarados as he continued talking. He spoke of his team, which she had only heard about in passing. He talked about giving them to this Lily person for a bit since he had his hands full with Gyarados. She felt bad about that and she was annoying Pierce and she was angry about that and -
  
  Pierce continued petting her, bringing her back from her thoughts.
  
  Off to the side, while the man talked, Gyarados saw the bad people and the bad pokemon, around. She saw them look at her warily, which was annoying, but they were keeping their distance and she could feel Pierce touching her skin. So, she'd just ignore the others. They didn't matter anyway.
  
  " We mean no harm to you or Helper Speaker," a voice told her, earning a growl that made Pierce speak softly at her over his call with the Lily person. She was still annoyed though, turning towards the pink creature with the shell tail that had talked to her mind. How dare this-? "Oh... I wasn't aware. My apologies, I meant Helper-Voice," the creature corrected and she settled back down... Mostly because she knew it was fine now, but also because Pierce was looking sad and worried and she didn't like it. She much preferred to see him smiling like when she rubbed against him to try and cheer him up. "We are here to help you and Helper-Voice," the pink pokemon told her and Gyarados didn't know if she believed it, but so long as they stayed away and let her spend time with Pierce, it'd be fine. "That can easily be arranged," the creature told her, already grating on her nerves.
  
  Fortunately, that was all. There was no more talking and everyone seemed to, indeed, stay away from Pierce and her. Good, maybe they weren't so bad. They had given him the things he needed to make pokeblocks and poffins, so...
  
  Maybe they weren't bad people and bad pokemon.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Lily Waterflower]
  
  It had certainly been a day, she thought, blue eyes locked with Pierce and the gyarados .
  
  Now, if that whole shitshow hadn't been a surprise, then she didn't know what was. Although, the evolution had been less of a surprise, admittedly. They'd tried all they could. They'd given the pokemon as good a care as they could, even if there'd been bumps on the road like that man trying to get the shiny magikarp for himself. They'd fed them well, given them an overall nice environment and Pierce had been wonderful to keep everyone entertained and peaceful.
  
  Even with all that, they all knew that the magikarps were an evolution danger all the same. All magikarps were always an evolution danger, really, but these ones especially. They were confirmed to have been treated all sorts of wrong and suffered through who knew what. There was just no way that an evolution would be pretty and there was also a very much non-zero chance that they'd evolve at the slightest thing.
  
  Now that they were given decent treatment and been allowed to relax, anything bad would hit all the harder and could trigger them. That was just how things were. There was no way to prevent it. Treating them less nicely wasn't a better alternative, as some ignorant people would think. Same could be said about any other "simpler" or "easier" approach to keeping things safe.
  
  Things were never safe with an evolutionary danger involved, least of all a magikarp.
  
  So, they'd done the best they could and Lily and her sisters were proud of how well things had gone after the mess that the Rockets had caused and that had been thrown on their laps. Pierce was a small, but still very considerable part of that. He seemed to just calm pokemon down, offer them nice treatment and entertainment that didn't seem to cause any issues at all... Except maybe some scares from overly worried staff members.
  
  Having him tell the magikarp that they'd found a shelter for her had been a risk. But any approach to that situation would have been one. Same as it would have been to try and pry the man off his group. Same as it would have been to not allow him back.
  
  Situations like that didn't have good options, after all. There were only options and one had to decide what they could live with. Things had looked very much like they were going down a path Lily wouldn't have been happy to live with later for a solid minute there... And then Pierce had spoken and the gyarados had listened .
  
  It was still surreal.
  
  Every so often, she saw Misty look in the direction of the man and the shiny gyarados and pinch herself. Lily could very much understand that sentiment. She didn't know if to believe what she was seeing was real herself at times. She'd asked Slowbro to check her head a few times, to be honest.
  
  Admittedly, this wasn't the weirdest or most surprising thing she'd ever seen, to be sure. She'd known Lance Blackthorn for a while, after all. That man could make dragons look like growlithe puppies. However, Pierce certainly made a compelling argument to be placed fairly high in the "What the fuck?" scale in Lily's mind.
  
  "Lily," she heard Daisy call from beside her before passing her a tablet. "We need to send the report of this. Misty, Violet and I are already done," her sister told her, getting a slight nod in response as she took the device and read through it quickly. She felt like if she took her eyes away from Pierce and the gyarados, another rampage would start.
  
  Although, maybe it was extreme to call what had happened a rampage. It'd been borderline cute compared to other, much less tense gyarados evolutions she'd witnessed in her life. A few blasts and hits and some roaring. That was basically nothing.
  
  Pierce had stopped a rampage before it began.
  
  She still couldn't believe that, even though she had seen it.
  
  So, she read through the report, making little notes here and there with information either she had gathered or Slowbro had gathered for her. She knew what to write about, what not to and what it was better to leave vague. There was no hiding this though. Pierce was showing more and more signs of something going on there and they just couldn't hide that from the League.
  
  Not when the looking glass was already pointed towards Pierce with all the things he'd gotten involved with.
  
  And besides, if their theories were right, then why would they?
  
  The League could always use people with talents like Pierce's.
  
  So, Lily did her job as Gym Leader. She confirmed everything she could and added a few things of her own. Then, when she was almost done, she looked at the last two parts before sending the report.
  
  She added her agreement next to the tag that read "Preternatural".
  
  She added her agreement next to the tag that read "Possible Supernatural?".
  
  Because, as she hit send, she could only recall the flashes she'd seen and the second and third perspectives that Slowbro had gotten that fit with that. She remembered that moment when Pierce had been talking to the gyarados, petting it and then she remembered the slight flicker of light she'd seen. That split second when she swore - and could almost confirm - she'd seen the man's necklace shining.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, now I just have to worry about having done a good job writing this and also about some of the choices and directions involved being good ones. Business as usual, really, just worse than the normal stuff. I can easily see people liking and not liking what I've done with this chapter, after all.
  
  So, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: I'd really appreciate feedback on the chapter so, what do you think?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XVII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XVII
  
  It was going to be a long day... and a long night, evidently.
  
  Magikarp - Or Gyarados now, he supposed - wasn't going to let him go anytime soon. Him telling her that she was being sent away set her off, after all. He was pretty sure that leaving her side would be a terrible idea. So, he was going to have to stick around for a bit until he was sure that she was calm enough for that.
  
  Hence, a predicament that he was currently dealing with at that very moment, for example.
  
  Pierce needed to go to the bathroom but there was no way Gyarados would take that well. He could already see the tantrum happening whenever he said he needed to go away for a bit. It didn't look pretty, at all. No, he needed to find some kind of solution to keep the giant sea serpent calm for a bit while he went away...
  
  A yip snapped him out of his thoughts. More worryingly, it made Gyarados literally snap, her body twitching and turning violently as she turned to glare at the unwanted new arrival. Pierce, where he sat with his back against her, stumbled a bit, but he was able to stay relatively unperturbed by the movement. It seemed that even in her maddened state, Gyarados had enough presence of mind to be careful with him.
  
  Still, he felt a roar building inside the water type and he couldn't afford to let that get any further.
  
  "Girl," he called, his voice soft but firm all the same. It gave Gyarados pause and further pulled her to a calmer state when he placed a hand on her side. "It's fine, girl," he reassured slowly, rubbing his hand on her red scales. A confused rumbling left the water type then as she shook her head. He could only guess what kind of mess her mind was after she evolved and furthermore could only hope that she'd recover quickly. He felt bad for her, truly, and he wanted to help her as best he could.
  
  Holding back a sigh, he turned to see which pokemon had caused the small scene and he smiled softly, sadly.
  
  "Hey there, Vaporeon," he greeted, getting another yip in response that made Gyarados twitch but otherwise she remained calm. The eeveelution, for her part, seemed utterly at ease in the situation they were now in. Pierce idly wondered if he looked like that to others at that very moment. Unconcerned even though he should be. "Things are a little tense now, so I'd suggest staying away for a bit," he told her before turning to look at Gyarados, who was still glaring at Vaporeon. "Hey, you know Vaporeon, right? She's nice. A lil' cold, but nice," he commented, smiling a little as he heard the eeveelution's huff behind him.
  
  Gyarados let out a grumble, evidently struggling against her mostly irrational anger. Pierce was getting the idea that he needed to avoid giving her even the slightest reason to be angry. So, if he needed to leave and not make her think he was leaving at all, how could he go about that?
  
  Well, there was actually an easy answer to that, he supposed.
  
  First, however...
  
  "Gyarados isn't in a good mood, Vaporeon," he said, looking at the eeveelution even as he continued petting the gigantic sea serpent. He couldn't believe he had to explain it to the water type, honestly. She was supposed to be a smart one in their little group of damaged misfits. "Maybe we can spend time together tomorrow, yeah?" he asked, not feeling very sure of that.
  
  Who knew when Gyarados would calm down enough to be around others? Certainly not Pierce. He'd read some things in regards to the pokemon, since it was one of his favorites, but they all agreed that the time right after evolution was the most chaotic. There were no certainties, no guarantees. Every gyarados was different and every one of them ended up different after the fact. Some would be a lot more prone to anger, some would be calmer, and there was no way to predict any of that until everything was over.
  
  Vaporeon yipped stubbornly, sitting where she was some distance away. She was certainly not far enough, which worried Pierce a whole lot when Gyarados twitched again to glare at her. Why was she...? Pierce stopped then, looking at the eeveelution for a long moment. 'Of course,' he thought with a smile before chuckling. 'I shouldn't be surprised at all,' he added, looking fondly at the pokemon before making a decision.
  
  "Girl," he said softly, turning towards Gyarados again and patting her scales. He looked up at her red eyes and smiled. "Vaporeon wants to spend time with us, girl. You ok with that?" he asked and he felt her tense up. He saw the struggle happening behind her eyes, but he wasn't done. "Just like we have so far, right? You like her. You like standoffish but nice Vaporeon, don't you?" he asked, smiling a little wider at the huff behind him. "Don't you?"
  
  Pierce saw the Gyarados turn to regard Vaporeon and then Pierce and then again and again. She was having a lot of trouble, trying to fight the anger in her. She wanted to be angry, but she had no reason to be, but she had to be angry . So, in the end, she was just confused and afraid. It was painful to see, but hopefully Pierce could help her.
  
  She gave a shivering, shallow nod. She let out a shuddering breath. That was enough for Pierce, making him smile and rubbing her scales a little more enthusiastically. It was progress and he'd take it. Little by little, his adorable little friend would recover and be his adorable not-so-little-anymore friend.
  
  He couldn't wait.
  
  "You are great, you know that, girl?" he asked her, making her relax and turn her body so she pressed her head against his side. "And adorable," he added, because it seemed like she liked to be called that. He was more than happy to oblige, honestly. "Soon, we'll have all the gang around and we'll have a great time, I'm sure," he added, pressing his forehead to Gyarados'. "Do you like the sound of that?" he asked, getting a happy wiggle that made him stumble.
  
  Well, Gyarados was still getting used to her new body, evidently.
  
  "For now, how about we celebrate? You've been doing great so far, so how about I go and prepare some poffins and pokeblocks for you and Vaporeon, eh?" he asked, keeping his calm and his smile even if he was a little nervous. Gyarados twitched at that and he almost took it back. "You don't want some? I promise they'll be just as good as the ones I prepared before. No experiments today, just good ones," he reassured, but even then she looked unsure.
  
  Someone had other plans though.
  
  Vaporeon yipped again, this time closer, and Gyarados turned to look at her. The glare from before wasn't there though. Instead, she almost looked considering, annoyed but considering. Eventually, Gyarados moved to push Pierce away with her tail.
  
  ' God, I take back everything I've said before,' he thought, celebrating internally as he stood up. 'You are the best, Vaporeon!' Not that he'd tell her that. It'd go to her already very big head.
  
  "I'll be back in no time, ok?" he told them and he got both a yip and a growl that both seemed to tell him "you better". He chuckled to himself and decided to hurry and make the most of it. Who knew when he'd get a chance to get away for a bit again, after all?
  
  It was going to be a long day, for sure, but it didn't seem like it'd be that bad.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  ' Only you, Pierce,' Lily said when he explained the situation through a message. He'd also asked her to drop by the Gym and get his team's pokeballs so that she could let them out and take care of them until he could leave Gyarados' side for an extended period of time. It wasn't ideal, and he was very sorry to impose, but he couldn't let his team out with Gyarados around and he couldn't leave so...
  
  The situation was kind of complicated.
  
  ' I'll be there in a minute,' she sent him and he nodded. He'd likely have to ask someone to take the pokeballs to her or something like that. So far, he was pretty sure that things would be fine so long as he didn't leave the room, meaning not leaving Gyarados' sight. When he'd taken the chance to go to the bathroom, he'd returned to a very cranky water type, twisting and turning and growling. She'd gone as far as jumping out of the water and trying to slither towards him when he'd come back. It was adorable, of course, and he told her as much. It was also a little worrying, he'd admit, if only to himself.
  
  All in all, things had been mostly quiet after that. He just sat at the edge of the pool, petting and whispering to Gyarados. Vaporeon sat next to him, occasionally yipping something at certain points of the conversation but otherwise just curling up there. Pierce had caught sight of several other members of their group approaching from afar, but they had stopped before they could actually get anywhere close.
  
  " One was already a risk," Lily said in his mind, through Slowbro, probably. Pierce had gotten a lot of yelling from her during and after his stunt with Gyarados, but she seemed to have mostly- "I'm still angry, Pierce," she corrected in his mind, making him grimace.
  
  Well, that kind of sucked.
  
  " Vaporeon was the one that was closest to the magikarp... aside from you, that is. From here, we'll let them join when we think the gyarados is ready," Lily continued then, sounding more professional than ever. "I take offense to that," the woman grumbled. "We'll probably start with tentacruel. Should be big, strong and resistant enough not to be too affected if the gyarados snaps."
  
  ' Sounds like a plan,' he agreed, leaning forward and resting his head on Gyarados' red scales. 'Guess I'm spending the night here.'
  
  " Inviting yourself to a woman's place? That's rather bold, Pierce," Lily projected at him and he had to wonder if that was somehow a trait of women with her name. "And with her sisters around? My my. And you haven't even invited me to din-"
  
  ' You done sometime soon?' he interrupted, wishing she could see how unimpressed he was. Maybe she could pull that from his mind, at least. Or Slowbro could, at least. Speaking of, he had to feel sorry for the poor pokemon for having to be part of that conversation.
  
  " Life with Leader-Sister is an eternal struggle," a different voice said and he knew that it was the aforementioned pokemon. "I appreciate the sentiment, Helper-Voice."
  
  Then the connection went silent, even though it was still there. Pierce liked to think that him knowing that was a product of spending so much time interacting with Cygnus that way. Maybe he was getting better at that kind of thing. He was no psychic, but maybe he could work better with psychics in his mind than he could before.
  
  "... Take care of yourself, ok, Pierce?" Lily told him softly. "There's only so much we can do when you are right there."
  
  ' Don't worry your pretty little head,' he reassured with a smile as he pulled back and looked at Gyarados' calm expression. Sure, something would happen at some point to make her anger rear its ugly head again, but she was able to stay calm so long as things didn't happen. It gave him hope for his friend. 'I got this.'
  
  " Wish I could be as confident as you are," Lily told him before he got the psychic equivalent of a sigh. "We'll be around and try our best if something happens. Be careful, ok?"
  
  ' I will,' he answered, more seriously this time. Because he understood. He'd been terrified at that moment himself. Pierce knew he was good with pokemon, but there was nothing that could make him confident when he was faced with a just evolved gyarados. He wasn't that crazy...
  
  " Could have fooled me," Lily told him, interrupting his line of thought. Slowbro was probably feeling a little playful because he even got the mental image of the woman looking unimpressed as she idly looked at her nails.
  
  ' Weren't you leaving?' he thought, eye twitching.
  
  " Sure, sure. Just don't do anything crazy while I'm not looking, ok?" she replied and this time he saw her rolling her eyes.
  
  ' So I can do something crazy when you are looking?' he asked, deciding that if she could be a brat, he could be one too.
  
  " Shut up," she snapped at him with no bite behind that whatsoever.
  
  The connection was cut off then, or as cut off as it could be. Slowbro was there, at the edge, barely connected at all. There wouldn't be any communication unless he pulled closer. Pierce was pretty sure the pokemon was skilled enough to do that without him being able to see it coming, but it seemed like there was some social rule going on there that prevented that from happening unless it was truly necessary.
  
  Slowly, he felt the presence draw closer to his mind.
  
  " You'd be correct, Helper-Voice," Slowbro told him, before pulling away once more. Meanwhile, Pierce considered that for a moment. 'Not Helper-Speaker anymore. I'm now Helper-Voice? Wonder why,' he mused to himself. It didn't take a genius to notice that the change was probably due to the Gyarados incident, but... That still didn't really help him figure that thing up.
  
  Cygnus couldn't develop fast enough to answer that question, honestly.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  It was nighttime and it was agreed that Pierce couldn't safely leave Gyarados just yet. Safely for the gym, that is, because he was fairly sure he could leave the place before the recently evolved pokemon snapped. She'd calmed down plenty through the hours, but she was still very easily upset and she'd get twitchy if he was gone for more than a few minutes.
  
  At least he didn't struggle to go to the bathroom anymore, so that was nice.
  
  As it was, that meant that he had to sleep in the Cerulean Gym, which didn't sound so bad. However, the bad part came when one realized that he couldn't sleep away from Gyarados. She'd fallen asleep for a bit due to the exhaustion quite early and it had been a fitful few minutes before she woke up, roaring and looking almost like she'd just evolved.
  
  He'd calmed her down once more and after an hour, she'd fallen asleep again. This time, he stayed by her side, even though everyone was worried that would end badly. However, chastising and complaints had subsided a fair bit when they realized that Gyarados was a lot calmer in her sleep. Then, when she woke up, it was further proven that it was a good decision to stay like that.
  
  She'd twitched and whine-growled, but other than that she'd been relatively calm. So, it was agreed that it was better if they stayed in contact while they slept. Their first idea for that had been to just have her float close to the edge of the pool but that proved not to go so well when she drifted away while sleeping. The second idea was to have her curl up outside the pool and have him lay against her, not unlike how he usually leaned against Orion.
  
  Gyarados didn't have a problem staying out of the water for extended periods of time, after all. Some theorized that it was their secondary Flying typing that helped with that. There were some other explanations, but Pierce didn't much care for the science of it. Ultimately, they could... But that didn't mean they were comfortable outside the water and it was just awkward enough to make things difficult with the still unstable Gyarados.
  
  So, third approach it was, which was the one they were currently trying... and it was going fairly well so far. Still, it all but promised one or several unpleasant surprises through the night, which Pierce wasn't a fan of. However, for the sake of his friend? He'd put up with that no problem. He'd probably had worse nights through his life anyway.
  
  Like that one time he'd gone to spend a weekend at a friend's place with some others and he hadn't slept a wink from Friday to Sunday because he'd been afraid they'd do something while he was sleeping. A fear that had proven justified in the end, because another one of them had woken up with some less than flattering drawings on his face. It had been a fun weekend of course, but staying awake had sucked...
  
  ' I'm gonna miss those idiots,' he thought, taking a deep breath in and letting it out.
  
  A rumble under him made him smile, even if there was some sadness bled into the gesture. Turning slightly, he looked at the red scales that were going to be his bed that night. Or, more specifically, he looked at the head that peeked off to the side. Gyarados was looking a little unsure of things, it seemed.
  
  "Everything ok, girl?" he asked with a smile. He didn't get a response, but Gyarados did worriedly look around him. It was almost like she was checking that he wouldn't fall off, which made him laugh. "It's fine, girl. Even if I fall, it'll probably wake you up and we'll get comfortable again in a second, yeah? Just try not to blast me off if that happens, ok?"
  
  He wasn't too worried though. Gyarados had proved to move very little so long as someone was touching her, which was why Vaporeon and him were both on top of her for the night. They were the only ones allowed close enough to touch, after all, let alone on top of her.
  
  ' Speaking of,' he thought, looking to his side, where the eeveelution was curled up and resting her head on his stomach. Idly, he placed his hand on top of her back and slowly petted her as he rested his own head on a pillow he'd been given. It wasn't the most comfortable he'd been while trying to go to sleep, but he'd had worse too. It'd do for a night or two, he was sure. And if it needed to be done more, then they'd work something out or he'd put up with it.
  
  Gyarados needed him and so did the Sisters, even if they wouldn't force the issue.
  
  He cared about these pokemon by that point, so Pierce was more than happy to help out however he could. Gyarados was a sweety, both back when she was just a magikarp and now that she'd evolved. She was a little cranky now, of course, but through the hours she'd proven that she was still there, even if she was very easily angered.
  
  Pierce really hoped she'd reach some level of normalcy sometime soon, because it was painful to watch her struggle to keep her own mind under control. He couldn't begin to imagine how it must have been to feel like that. One minute she was almost normal, like she was just Magikarp but in a gyarados body. The next, she'd see something out of the corner of her eye or he'd stay silent too long, or Vaporeon would look to the side... And she'd be immediately set off.
  
  Anything and everything could be a reason to be angry.
  
  It was more sad than it was frightening, if Pierce was honest. Granted, it still scared him like few things did, but it was also incredibly depressing. His friend was going mad right in front of his eyes and there was very little he could do to help her other than trying to keep her calm.
  
  Even that wasn't much of a reassurance, really, considering that she was still getting angry anyway. It was like picking someone up after they fell flat on their faces and hurt themselves. Sure, it was nice, but it'd be much better if they didn't need to be picked up at all, if they didn't need to be hurt. That was more or less how he felt in regards to Gyarados.
  
  "Relax, girl," Pierce said softly when she continued looking him over. Idly, with his free hand, he petted a patch of red scales to his side, keeping the other on Vaporeon. "It'll be fine, ok? I'm not going anywhere. We'll all go to sleep and we'll have a great day tomorrow, alright?"
  
  Gyarados let out a soft growl that sounded to his ears more like an affectionate purr. Then she moved her head to rub it carefully against him before lowering it to the water. She let out an even lower sound then, half muffled by the slight distance there was now between her head and him. He still felt it just as well through her body though, which made him smile.
  
  "Good night, girl," he told her, patting her scales to his side and earning a pleased shift of her body. He left his hand there, if still now. "Good night, Vaporeon," he added softly, his hand staying on top of the eeveelution, who meowed something, shifting her head this and that way on top of his stomach.
  
  And like that, the three of them settled for the night, the only light around being a few small ones set around the pool's space. They didn't illuminate much, but it was enough that one could at least know where they were and where everything else was. The bigger lights had been turned off long ago as one by one others left the place.
  
  Now, there was only the night shift of the staff and Lily, the Sensational Sister. They'd told him that there'd always be one of them keeping guard just in case. They were taking no chances, evidently. None of them was particularly happy with the situation, but they had to roll with the punches. Nobody wanted to have an angry, recently evolved gyarados in their hands. So, there had had to be some less than ideal concessions made.
  
  Pierce didn't mind, but that didn't mean everyone else was of the same opinion.
  
  As it was, the Sisters had to make him sign a document in case anything happened, since they were responsible if something happened to him through the whole thing. That was fair, even if it made the danger all the more real for him. Pierce still didn't mind, even with that. He wanted to help Gyarados. It'd have been shitty to try and give the others trouble because of that.
  
  ' This isn't as bad as I thought it'd be,' Pierce thought to himself, closing his eyes. Sure, Gyarados' scales were hard and rough and both her and Vaporeon were cool to the touch, which gave him the impression that he might get sick after a whole night spent with them touching him like they were... But Vaporeon was much softer compared to the other water type. Furthermore, Gyarados' slow breathing felt like he was being rocked.
  
  On top of that, it had been a long day. Pierce could safely say that he was exhausted. So, he just closed his eyes and let the weariness take over, slowly pulling him to the land of dreams. He was strangely comfortable lying there where he was, even with the danger of slipping off and falling into the water.
  
  It was sort of like lying down out in the wild with his team around, he supposed.
  
  ' Not bad at all,' he decided with a slight smile before falling asleep.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, things are looking up. Gyarados' recovery takes time, as you guys should expect. Few things in life can be dealt with immediately. There's always more to it than just doing this one thing and calling it a day. Either things before or things after, or both, I guess.
  
  Still, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Are you in my Discord server? If you are, what do you use it for? If you use it at all and it's not just sitting there, I guess.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XVIII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XVIII
  
  "So, what you are saying is that you want me to keep doing what I've been doing," Pierce summarized, looking at Daisy, the Sister that had approached him that morning. Things had been a little tense but Gyarados seemed to have calmed down enough to allow someone else in somewhat close proximity. He couldn't be sure, but Pierce would guess she was glaring over his shoulder though. "But more ?" he asked then, raising an eyebrow at the Sister.
  
  Not that he minded. He liked doing what he was doing and taking care of more pokemon sounded like an improvement instead of whatever the Sister thought this meant for him. However, it was interesting that they were offering this to him. Maybe he'd checked some box with what he'd done with Gyarados? That could be it, he supposed.
  
  Daisy's grimace seemed to point at something else though.
  
  "We've been keeping our staff overworked and we were hoping that things would start going back to normal before it became too much but... Well, hopes only go so far sometimes," she said, and Pierce was suddenly very aware that she didn't look so good. There were bags under her eyes and her shoulders were a little dropped. "So, we need to get extra help from someone capable and that we can trust because... Another incident like Gyarados could be terrible, especially if we can't control it like last time," she told him, giving Pierce a mix between a glare and a grateful look.
  
  It was a strange look.
  
  "I have no problem with this. I can do it," he told her easily. So easily, that he was fairly sure he caught her off guard, judging by the way she blinked. "I have a team though, and I'd appreciate being able to let them out around here. I don't want to leave them aside more than I already have had to. I'll make sure no problem starts due to them and if something does happen, I won't try again."
  
  "... I guess we can agree to that," Daisy agreed after a moment of consideration, looking over his shoulder at Gyarados and Vaporeon. Probably mostly the former though, he was sure. "We are trusting you, Pierce. Most water specialists that can do something like this are busy either already working here, overworked from being here or working in the shelters we are sending pokemon too."
  
  "I think Lily said they were opening a new one?" Pierce asked then, making the woman grimace again.
  
  "If only it were so easy, but the plans for that are... They won't be done anytime soon, I can tell you that. Not even a provisional site, I'm afraid," she answered, making him nod. "So, you are in, then?"
  
  "Sure," he answered easily, making her sigh in relief.
  
  "Thank God, things would have been... complicated if we had to look for more hands," Daisy told him, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The less options we have, the more chances that we'll have to call for help that's not... qualified, one way or another," she explained, glancing once more over his shoulder. Admittedly, he heard nothing, but he imagined Gyarados' patience was running low now. "I understand you have your hands occupied right now, but let us know when you can take on more responsibilities, alright?"
  
  "Sure thing," Pierce agreed once more with a nod. "Take a nap or something. I'm sure it'll help."
  
  "Nice way of telling me I look terrible," Daisy replied with a weary chuckle. "No can do. We need to make sure every pokemon is taken care of and under the observation they warrant. And we also have to keep the Gym and the shows running, so that things continue as if they were normal."
  
  "Well, if I can do anything else to help, just say the word," Pierce said.
  
  "I'll keep that in mind, but I think you'll be too busy soon enough. Take care, Pierce," Daisy told him, leaving afterwards while waving at him and Violet, the Sister that was currently keeping an eye on him and Gyarados.
  
  With that done, he moved back to the edge of the pool, where the aforementioned water type was waiting for him. Once he sat there, with his legs in the water, Gyarados proceeded to press her head against his chest and face, making him laugh. One of his hands moved to pet her while the other settled on Vaporeon's when she sat beside him.
  
  "You missed me?" he asked, getting a growly whine from Gyarados. "You are just adorable, honestly. How do you manage that as a gyarados?" he added, making her wiggle excitedly. Thankfully, she was getting the hang of her new body by then, otherwise he was sure he'd have inadvertently gotten smacked or a good chunk of water would have been sent outside the pool.
  
  A yip made him laugh.
  
  "No, I didn't forget about you, I promise," Pierce continued, drawing Vaporeon into a one armed hug that had the eeveelution squirming and pawing half hearted at his arm and body. "You are adorable too, don't worry."
  
  The water type just whined before Gyarados decided that was enough attention that she wasn't getting when she was right there, so she pressed her head against him once more.
  
  "So needy," he commented with a smile. "Say, do you feel up to going spend time with the others for a bit?" he asked, making the Gyarados pause. "It's fine if you are still angry, girl," he reassured when he saw her struggle. "Maybe later?"
  
  Gyarados seemed to mull over that suggestion a little more openly before nodding hesitantly.
  
  "Good girl," he said, rubbing the side of her head affectionately. He was almost positive that Gyarados purred at that. "I think that deserves a reward. How does the scale brush sound?"
  
  Pierce had to laugh at the way the sea serpent perked up.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Good to see you guys too," Pierce greeted the group of water types he'd been spending his days with. He was sitting on top of Gyarados, which was the only way she'd let him go anywhere or be close to someone else for any extended period of time. Much like how they had slept, it allowed her to feel his presence all the time, which calmed her down.
  
  He could only hope that it wouldn't end up with quite as many surprise dives into the water though.
  
  "I missed you too," he added when he saw the pokemon get closer. None of them quite got that close though, but he understood that. Gyarados was scary and she wasn't all that calm yet, so Pierce didn't begrudge them that. He wouldn't even if Gyarados was calm, really. She cut a very intimidating sight, with her angry red eyes and scales. She was also, according to his research, a little bigger than the average gyarados was right after evolution.
  
  So, she had quite a few things working against her in that department, sadly.
  
  Not that Gyarados minded all that much. She wasn't quite ready to be her usual friendly self anyway, so the intimidating look keeping others away worked in her favor, really. Pierce wasn't quite happy with that, but Gyarados would get better with time, he hoped. It'd be a shame if the cute little magikarp he'd known changed so much because of her anger and pain.
  
  She'd been doing so well too...
  
  "You behaved yourselves yesterday? Things got a little out of control and I couldn't drop by, I'm afraid," Pierce told the pokemon around him, which all glanced towards Gyarados before turning towards him... if they even looked away from the red sea serpent. "You guys are the oldest, you took care of everyone for me, right?" he asked, turning to address Tentacruel, Golduck, Sharpedo and Crawdaunt. "Did you?" he prodded, raising an eyebrow.
  
  Immediately, he saw Crawdaunt and Golduck look away. Sharpedo tried to keep strong, but eventually he broke down too. Tentacruel though, held firm, bobbing up and down. Pierce grinned.
  
  "I knew I could count on you, Tentacruel!" he praised with a grin. "I'll get you some nice poffins once I get some time, yeah?" he added, knowing exactly what that'd do to everyone else. The other three looked despondently at him, realizing the error of their ways. Fortunately for them, Pierce was a generous cook.
  
  He'd let them stew on that for a bit though, to make sure the message stuck.
  
  So, with that decided, he spent the time with the water types doing what he could, which was a little limited by his need to stay on top of Gyarados. He couldn't really hold many snacks where he was or cook for that matter, so anything involving food would have to be pushed for later. Thus, he settled for lying on top of Gyarados like he had during the night and just tell them stories.
  
  Many of them hadn't heard his stories yet anyway and Gyarados seemed to like the idea well enough even when he narrated one she already knew. Vaporeon was a little more complicated to please, but she settled down with her head on his stomach as he petted her. Still, Pierce tried to recall something that he might not have shared yet, dredging some stories from his old world to tell too, even if he had to adapt them a little for the pokemon world.
  
  It hurt a little, to dig up those memories, but he supposed it could be part of his process to accept things. 'Am I even doing things the right way?' he had to wonder though. Was he getting better or was he unknowingly making things worse? Ultimately, he'd just have to see. He had to try and hope for the best.
  
  If it didn't work...
  
  He'd cross that bridge when he got to it.
  
  "You are doing great, girl," he complimented eventually, wrapping his arms around Gyarados' neck as best he could. He smiled when the water type let out a pleased noise. "Yeah, you are the best, as usual. How about we go to the edge and I make some food for everyone? Does that sound good or do you want to stay like this?" he asked softly, making the sea serpent pause.
  
  The seconds passed.
  
  However, just when he was about to reassure her that it was fine if she wanted to take her time, Vaporeon yipped something. Pierce turned to look at her, not really glaring but questioning. He didn't want to pressure Gyarados and that had sounded suspiciously like the eeveelution was urging the other water type.
  
  Before he could say anything at all, Gyarados started slowly swimming towards the edge of the pool.
  
  "... I'm going to make something for everyone to eat, guys!" Pierce called, giving Gyarados a comforting rub on the neck that she seemed to appreciate. "Speaking off, Tentacruel earned some extra as I recall," he added, making the pokemon perk up while the rest of the older ones sulked.
  
  He was careful as he went to do as he said, keeping an eye on Gyarados at all times. Vaporeon seemed to have taken it upon herself to do the same, fortunately, going the extra mile and staying on top of the sea serpent, occasionally yipping something at the bigger pokemon. Pierce decided that he'd make extra for her too, since she was being very helpful with Gyarados.
  
  "Here's the deal, guys. It seems I'll have more pokemon to help in the near future," he commented, sitting on the edge of the pool with one hand holding a sandwich he'd made for himself and the other patted Gyarados' side. "So, if you guys help out, I'll make sure to reward you, if you know what I mean."
  
  He grinned widely when all the older pokemon narrowed their eyes resolutely.
  
  This new job at the Cerulean Gym looked like it wouldn't be too bad.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "One day, I'm going to stop being surprised by the stuff you get up to, Pierce," Lily told him, giving him an exasperated look as she passed him his team's pokeballs. He made a mental note to do something nice for her. Maybe he'd take her shopping, help her with her team or something like that. He definitely owed her one for taking her time to help him with his own pokemon, after all.
  
  "But that day's not today?" he asked with a wry smile.
  
  "That day's not today," she confirmed with a similar expression. "Seriously, what the fuck?"
  
  "That's not the way a lady should talk," he commented idly with a chuckle. "Then again..."
  
  "What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked, scandalized and punching his shoulder. She hadn't put too much strength behind it, thankfully. "See if I do you a favor next time, huh?"
  
  "I'll repay you, don't you worry," he reassured with a grin. "Seriously, thanks."
  
  "Don't mention it. That's what friends are for, right?" she asked with a warm smile. A moment later, the expression turned into something more akin to a smirk. "Besides, my team has been really motivated since you said there'd be a congratulatory meal after the Gym. I guess that's enough for me."
  
  "Good to know then," Pierce replied with a grin of his own. "Things going well with your training?"
  
  "Sure are... You think we might need to stay here for long after that? You didn't say how long you'd have to stay here to help," Lily asked then, making him grimace. "That's an "I don't know", isn't it?"
  
  "Yeah, sorry about that," he apologized instantly, because he did feel bad. Lily had told him that she didn't like to travel by herself, after all. If he didn't go, she might hold off on going herself to wait, which would just make him feel like shit. "I'll probably have to stay here until they find a place to send at least most of the pokemon that remain here... Which is difficult, because they've basically exhausted all the shelter space they could call, it seems."
  
  "I get it. It's no trouble, Pierce," Lily reassured him. "If it comes to it, I'm sure we can afford to teleport between cities instead of traveling. Sure, it might cut in opportunities to have fun in the wild and catch new pokemon but... Well, I do have four members already, so it's no great loss for me," she explained, taking a weight off his shoulders.
  
  "I'll pay for the tickets then. I haven't been checking my account much, but I can't imagine I'm not getting paid well for this," he commented with a half-smile. "I'll do something nice for you if we have to wait long."
  
  "Only doing something nice when you do something bad? My, Pierce, what kind of friend are you?" Lily told him, fake insulted.
  
  "A bad one, probably," he replied wryly. "Mrs. Blue."
  
  "Ugh, you are never gonna let that go, are you?" she asked before groaning again. "I have to get back at mom for that."
  
  "Not for as long as I draw breath," he promised solemnly, the tone ruined by the grin on his face. "And I have to do something nice for your mom too, because damn, that was great ammo."
  
  "You suck, Pierce."
  
  "I know, I'm great," he said, as if he hadn't actually heard what she said. "Take care, yeah? I'll make some more poffins for your team tomorrow, if you want. You just gotta come pick them up," he told her, picking up the package he'd prepared and offering it to her.
  
  "Thanks. Now go, I can feel that Gyarados glaring a hole through my head," Lily told him with a chuckle that didn't quite hide her actual fear. "Take care, yeah? It'd suck if you got eaten."
  
  "I'll do my best," he reassured. "Try not to get lost."
  
  "It was one time!" she whined.
  
  Not long after that, Pierce, walked back to the pool behind him, giving Gyarados a smile and a pat on her head. He'd probably have to talk to her about her clinginess, but that was for later, if it kept up. They had to work through her bouts of anger for now... which were somewhat related, but not entirely.
  
  "It's fine, girl. See? I'm not going anywhere," he reassured softly, moving his hand to rub the side of her head. To his side, Vaporeon yipped something that sounded like an "I told you so". Pierce gave the eeveelution an unimpressed look at that, but soon returned his attention to Gyarados. "So, do you promise to behave? I have my team with me now and they are nice," he asked, resting his forehead against hers while Gyarados went silent once more, which meant that she was thinking.
  
  Eventually, she let out an unsure sound that made him smile sadly.
  
  "Ok, maybe you all can see them again later, yeah?" he compromised with a smile. "It'll be fine, ok? I'm here, you are here and we are all fine. I know you get angry easily, but I'm here, right? You won't snap at me, right? That'd be sad. I might not even be able to make poffins anymore," he joked, getting a huffing laugh from Gyarados, even if it sounded a little odd.
  
  He grinned at her.
  
  "So, how about we play the jumping game with everyone? You can join the judge panel with Tentacruel, Vaporeon and me. What do you say?" he suggested, getting another thoughtful second from Gyarados.
  
  Eventually, he got an affirmative response from the water type.
  
  "Great, everyone ready? I hope you are, because there're poffins on the line!" he announced, getting many varied but equally enthusiastic responses from the pokemon around. "That's what I like to see. Let's go girl," he replied, nodding and getting ready to get on top of Gyarados.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You ready?" he asked softly, one hand on Gyarados' side while his other one held a tiny pokeball. When Gyarados hummed her agreement, he expanded the device before pushing the button to release his first pokemon. He'd have liked to go with Narcissa. She was his first partner, after all, but she wasn't a good option for first impressions, what with her... intense personality. Orion was a sweetheart, and Pierce knew it, but he was also big and could trigger something in Gyarados with his serpentine body.
  
  Thus, there was only one option left.
  
  " Helper-Speaker," Cygnus greeted softly once he appeared, before tensing up when Gyarados growled. "I apologize," his abra said, keeping his voice even despite the slight nervousness he felt. Pierce reassured both him with his mind and Gyarados with his hand on her scales. "Helper-Voice."
  
  "So, it changed?... I really wanna know what's up with that," Pierce commented with a grumble. Then he took a deep breath in to refocus. "Cygnus, this is Gyarados. She evolved recently and I've been taking care of her, since I can kind of keep her calm, for the most part. I'll probably stay here for a while, so I asked for permission to have you and the rest of the team here. Didn't feel right to leave you with Lily," he explained with a smile that soon turned a little mischievous. "Nobody deserves that fate."
  
  " Agreed," Cygnus replied, joining the joke in good humor. Then, Cygnus turned to look at Gyarados and this time Pierce didn't get to hear what was said. However, he was glad to see that there was no overly angry reaction. Sure, there was a twitch here and a hint of a growl there, but otherwise things had gone much better than he'd thought they would. "She's ready... to meet the rest... Helper-Voice."
  
  "You sure, girl?" he asked Gyarados, just to be safe. When she gave him a firm nod, he smiled. "See, you are the best," he added, getting slapped by Vaporeon's tail.
  
  " Fighter-Challenger won't... like that either," Cygnus pointed out, the picture of Narcissa flashing in his mind. He'd admit that his psychic type wasn't wrong, but that was a bridge he'd cross when he got to it. "Your problem," his pokemon decided, making him roll his eyes.
  
  Deciding that was enough delay, he released his next pokemon. Funnily enough, the next one was Narcissa. She might not be the friendliest of his pokemon, but at least she didn't have the naturally big and imposing look of Orion. So was his thought process on the matter, at least.
  
  "Hey, Narcissa," he greeted as the beedrill hovered in place where he'd released her. Smart cookie that she was, she didn't immediately rush towards him - and thus Gyarados - to latch onto his back like usual. He would give her a poffin for that later. "This is Gyarados and she's a little on edge since she evolved. I'd be grateful if you could be extra nice for her," he requested, getting a slow nod from his pokemon.
  
  " Fighter-Challenger wants... a hug," Cygnus informed, making Pierce want to sigh, even if it was fondly.
  
  "Gyarados," he said, turning to the water type who looked back at him. "Narcissa is going to give me a hug, ok? She was my first pokemon, so I trust her. Don't get nervous or angry, ok?" he explained softly, rubbing his hand over the sea serpent's scales. Getting an unsure but positive growl, he smiled at her. "Thank you. Narcissa-" And that was as far as he got before his beedrill zoomed in and latched onto his back.
  
  ' I take back that poffin,' he decided with a flat expression. In front of him, Gyarados twitched at the sudden movement close to both him and her. Idly, Pierce wondered which of those two was the one that affected her the most. He supposed the latter, but it was still a possibility that it was the former though.
  
  "Shhh, it's fine," he reassured in a whisper, continuing to pet the gyarados. "You could have been more thoughtful, Narcissa," he chided lightly, chuckling when his beedrill just tightened her hold on him as a response. "Anyway, Gyarados, last one. You ready or do you want to take a minute? Orion is big, as you know," he said, watching the water type visibly take a deep breath in and nodding.
  
  Discreetly, Pierce shared a look with Violet and Lily, the Sisters who had volunteered to keep watch at that moment. After they were done, Violet would probably leave to do other things while Lily continued to keep watch. They'd told him that they wouldn't leave him alone until they were absolutely sure that Gyarados was under control.
  
  Taking a deep breath in and nodding himself, Pierce let out his last team member.
  
  As Orion appeared, he felt Gyarados stiffen, but he took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her. Immediately, the sea serpent relaxed a little, if not completely. 'Cygnus-'
  
  " On it," his abra interrupted reassuringly, turning his head towards Orion. Pierce sent him grateful thoughts for that. No doubt his onix was a little confused, even after the situation had been explained to him beforehand. So, having his psychic explain for him while he calmed down Gyarados was a godsent.
  
  "Everything fine, girl?"he asked, pulling back and looking at Gyarados. She seemed a little twitched as her eyes darted between Pierce and his team, but she didn't seem about to snap, so he took that as a win. "This is my team. Narcissa, Orion and Cygnus," he introduced then with a smile, gesturing towards each of them. "Say hi, everyone."
  
  And hi they said, even if each of them seemed to have different feelings regarding the whole thing.
  
  Before he could do much else, he felt something slap his leg, making him turn down. There sat Vaporeon, eyes narrowed at him as she cleared her throat. Blinking, it took Pierce a moment to realize his mistake.
  
  "Right. Everyone, this is Vaporeon. She's a little mean, but don't let that get to you," he introduced then, getting another slap for his troubles.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Progress is being made and Gyarados continues in her path to become the most ado- I mean, path to recovery, yeah that. The team is back, sort of, and life goes on. People are also throwing more money at Pierce to do what he'd do anyway, which is fun.
  
  I'm so glad I never bothered to put numbers to the money he gets, because... Yeah.
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Are you introverted or extroverted? I'm introverted. My social battery is permanently in the negatives. People are scary, exhausting or both, even when I get along with them.
  
  See you.
  
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  Cerulean City XIX
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XIX
  
  Red stared into red.
  
  The tension was high and Pierce could see, out of the corner of his eyes, Daisy looking warily at them. Vaporeon sat beside him, looking relaxed but he caught her making sharp, stiff motions from time to time. Narcissa had her stingers wrapped around his neck while Orion laid some distance behind him with Cygnus sitting on top of him.
  
  All of them looked at the stand-off happening before Pierce.
  
  "... Good to see you can get along," he said in the end, trying to break the tension and only partially succeeding. Both gyarados turned to look at him and he knew he should be scared, or at least nervous. It was a difficult thing to do when he'd seen the red one be an adorable little magikarp and a just as adorable gyarados and the other participate in silly games for poffin prizes. "Now that you've proved that, I think you both deserve a treat."
  
  He had to chuckle at the way both of them perked up.
  
  Really, how was he supposed to be scared of the gyarados if they acted like that? Sure, he'd been part of the tense moment there for a bit, since... Who wouldn't? But everyone was still tense after things went well, which didn't really make much sense to Pierce. By then, it was better to relax. Being so on guard was more likely to annoy the pokemon than anything else, after all.
  
  "See? I told you, girl, progress," he said, throwing a poffin at the red gyarados. His smile widened when her head snapped up to catch it, showing a very nice level of control over her own body. She was getting better at that, evidently, and Pierce was very glad to see it. Before, she'd have either failed or caused waves in the pool. "Good job," he praised, making her preen while he took a second treat and threw it at the other gyarados, the one he'd calmed down some time before.
  
  It was a great step, to introduce the gyarados to each other. Sure, his shiny friend was a little tense and prone to anger still. The whole thing had been tense for a reason, after all, and it had looked like a very close thing a few times, but ultimately calm had won... if barely. That was good enough for Pierce though, and it showed progress.
  
  Maybe it'd take a while for Gyarados to fully get used to her new self, but she was making great progress and that was what mattered. Slowly but surely, they'd get to the point where she could get through things like this without him even being in the room, or anywhere close. 'One step at a time,' he thought to himself, taking a berry and bringing it to Narcissa over his shoulder.
  
  " Charmer-Survivor is doing well... indeed," Cygnus told him, making Pierce smile at the picture of the shiny gyarados that flashed in his mind. 'Charmer-Survivor sounds about right,' he thought to himself before acknowledging the mental message from his pokemon.
  
  "Now that I know you two won't fight or anything,"he commented out loud, giving the two gyarados a look that told them they better not fight or anything. He couldn't very well threaten them in a conventional manner, of course, but he was pretty sure the poffin in his hand spoke for itself with the look. Both water types seemed to do their best to appear harmless, which was hilariously ineffective... Which meant that it went all the way back to being effective, somehow. "I guess we can play some games, right? And I feel like swimming too, so what's it going to be?" he asked, making both gyarados glance towards each other.
  
  A magikarp from the group he'd been dealing with so far took the choice from their hands... or fins, really, and swam around in front of Pierce. It took him a second to interpret the pathing and wiggling, but he was getting good at that. It was also interesting to see two gyarados looking so scandalized at a magikarp .
  
  "Swimming it is, buddy," he agreed with a nod, getting arguing growls from the sea serpents. He turned and gave him a raised eyebrow in turn. "What? You two aren't the only pokemon here, you know? Now, you going to swim with us or are you going to stay there?" he asked, tapping Narcissa so she'd let go and pulling his already wet shirt over his head and throwing it to the side. It was pointless to be careful with such articles of clothing when they would get wet and dirty at one point or another while he dealt with pokemon anyway.
  
  Both gyarados grumbled something, reminding Pierce distinctively of moody teenagers. 'God, as if they didn't make a terrifying enough picture by themselves, now I'll imagine them as teenagers of all things,' he thought, shuddering. All that power with the control of a teenager's mind. Terrible, terrible combination.
  
  No wonder everyone was terrified of the creatures.
  
  "Now, remember," Pierce said, pushing those half-joking thoughts to the side as he approached his shiny friend and patted the side of her head. "Try not to crash against anyone and don't start a fight, yeah?" he told her, getting a shy, unsure mumble in response. She was about as afraid of messing up as Pierce was of her messing up, he knew. "And you," he continued, walking over to the other gyarados. "You know the drill, you'll have to help stop her if she gets out of control. You think you can do that for me, buddy?" he asked, getting a serious hum and a nod. "Thank you. I'll be sure to give you extra poffins later, yeah?"
  
  The sea serpent certainly liked the sound of that.
  
  "Let's swim for a bit then," he decided out loud, jumping into the water.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "You are doing really well, girl," he praised, getting a pleased hum that traveled through Gyarados' body and made him vibrate where he laid on top of his shiny friend. He smiled, looking up at the ceiling of the pool room while relaxing. They'd swam for quite a while and there'd been some stumbles along the way, like the time the recently evolved gyarados hit a little too roughly against Tentacruel, but otherwise things had gone fairly well.
  
  Everyone was starting to get more comfortable with the changed member of their little group of strays.
  
  Still, there was only so much they could play in the water, really, so everyone was now being pretty lazy. Some of the other pokemon had straight out decided to take a nap. For their part, Gyarados was just lazily drifting this or that way in the water while Pierce laid on top of her with Vaporeon. He wouldn't have been surprised if someone told him that he'd actually fallen asleep for a few minutes at some point, with how comfortable and relaxed he was.
  
  " Just a few," Cygnus informed him, making him smile. Speaking of, Pierce thought he'd done enough of ignoring his team. "You are busy... We understand," his abra told him reassuringly, but he was having none of that. Maybe they were fine waiting, but Pierce wanted to spend time with them too.
  
  Besides, it'd make a nice next step for Gyarados anyway.
  
  "Girl?" he said, pulling a hand from where they were acting as pillows under his head and rubbing it on Gyarados' side. "Can you go to the edge of the pool?" he asked and the water type immediately started doing so, much faster than he'd expected with the leisure pace she'd been going at before. "There was no rush, but I appreciate it, girl," he told her with a smile, pulling himself to a sitting position and patting her red scales. "I'm going to spend some time with my team, alright? If you need me, just call, I'll be right there."
  
  That got a predictable but still not nice whine from Gyarados. What was even worse was the growl that was almost hidden there too. Pierce couldn't let that stand.
  
  "I know you don't like it," he spoke softly, not getting off even when Gyarados positioned herself at the end of the pool for him to step off. "But I'm not a water type, you know? And just like you, my team needs me. I can't leave them, just like how I can't leave you. You understand?"
  
  The whine was alone this time, so he took that as progress.
  
  "Come on, don't give me that. Everyone else is still here. You like Vaporeon, right? God only knows why, but you do," he pointed out, getting a predictable weak Water Gun to the face. "And Tentacruel and Gyarados and everyone . You know they are all nice, so there's nothing to feel bad about, right? And if you feel bad, give me a call and I'll come running, alright? I'm gonna be right there. You'll even see me from wherever in the pool."
  
  That seemed to help her relax, even if she still didn't look happy. With a sad smile, Pierce turned to his side, where Vaporeon was sitting now, looking at him. Dropping his shoulders, he extended a hand and petted the eeveelution's head.
  
  "Keep an eye on her, alright? I give you permission to Water Gun me if you need me to come over and she's stubborn," he told her, getting a grumble from Gyarados. He was taking no chances with his shiny friend though. The last thing he needed was things becoming a mess because she'd decided that she didn't want to call him for whatever reason.
  
  Vaporeon nodded resolutely, making him smile. Sometimes it was difficult to figure out if she liked someone or not, but it was at moments like that when it showed. There was no standoffish huff or anything like that, because she knew things were serious.
  
  At least until after a second, when she gave him a "Well, why are you still here?" look.
  
  "Ok, take care of yourselves, yeah?" he asked them, getting off Gyarados and starting to make his way to his team. "And don't let Golduck do something stupid!" he called over his shoulder. A scandalized squawk reached his ears a moment later, drawing an amused smile from him.
  
  " You didn't... need to, Helper-Voice," Cygnus told him, making him roll his eyes. As if he needed an excuse to spend time with his team. That thought seemed to please the abra, even if he tried not to show it. It was just adorable of him. "I'm not... the adorable one," his psychic type argued and Pierce had to chuckle when a picture of the shiny gyarados flashed in his mind.
  
  ' She doesn't have monopoly on all things adorable,' he pointed out with a chuckle. 'Even if she'd probably like to.'
  
  "Hey buddy," he greeted, placing a hand on Orion's side as the onix twisted his body to rub his rocky head against his side. "I missed you too. Maybe you can play with the gyarados somehow? I'll see if I can think of something. I know it must be boring for you here," he spoke, rubbing his hand on the snout of the onix. "You like the sound of that, you big child?" he asked, when his rock type made a pleased sound. "Yeah, you do."
  
  He chuckled then when he heard the buzzing of bug wings and felt the familiar feeling of stingers wrapping around his neck.
  
  "Hey, girl. It's time for us to spend some quality time together," he commented, patting one of the beedrill's stingers while they tightened affectionately. "So, what say you, guys? What do you think of the group of misfits I'm in charge of?" he asked, and Orion immediately jumped to talking about the various pokemon he'd observed while Cygnus translated.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Vaporeon, the Lost Watcher]
  
  She observed, like she always had.
  
  Once upon a time, she'd observed a child, a sweet girl whose parents had gotten her when she'd been just an eevee. Her parents couldn't be around as much as they had wanted, so Vaporeon was there in their stead, looking after their child. Her job was to observe the girl, comfort her when she needed to, play with her when she needed to and protect her when she needed to.
  
  She'd even evolved when she needed to, with a Water Stone because her sweet, sweet charge loved to swim. Vaporeon was fine with that, even if she'd have liked to choose herself. She liked being Vaporeon, so it was all fine.
  
  Less fine were the times that came after that, when the Rockets attacked. They stole from the girl's family, their money and Vaporeon herself. She'd been curious after getting away from them and Slowbro had been kind enough to dig into things for her. Vaporeon was happy to learn that her previous family was fine... even if it'd been so long.
  
  They had a new eevee for her charge, which she was both glad and sad about.
  
  Vaporeon had been asked if she wanted to go back, but she couldn't. She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to take steps back, look back... Not when all she could see back was that place with the Rockets . She'd found out what happened with her girl and she was happy never to have to think about the past again.
  
  She'd much rather observe her present, Vaporeon decided.
  
  So, that's what she did. She gazed upon the red gyarados that she should rightfully be terrified of. She had never been very strong, after all, because she wasn't supposed to be strong, she was supposed to observe . She didn't have the strength to do much of anything if the gyarados decided to do something.
  
  And yet, Vaporeon was perfectly fine sitting at the edge of the pool, right next to the red sea serpent. She observed her, just like she had when she was just a tiny golden fish. She observed her and she saw the same pokemon in front of her. She was bigger, stronger, more scary, but she wiggled just the same. It was honestly a little baffling.
  
  The one different thing about her formerly tiny friend was that she got angry very fast, however. Case in point, Vaporeon yipped at her when Golduck - idiot that he was - decided to do something stupid that annoyed her. It was harmless, but nothing was truly harmless with Gyarados. Vaporeon got a red-eyed glare for her troubles, but she stared back impassively.
  
  Gyarados huffed then, visibly calming herself down and Vaporeon relaxed. She'd had half a mind to turn and-
  
  "Good to see I left things in good hands," Pierce said, taking a seat next to her. "Or paws, I guess," he added, drawing an unimpressed look from Vaporeon. He might be very nice, but he was also very stupid very often. "Yeah, I deserve that," he acknowledged, proving that he wasn't quite as stupid as Vaporeon thought. Not that it meant much. "You are thinking mean things about me again, aren't you?"
  
  She huffed. So, maybe she wasn't the only observant one around, big deal. She was still the best .
  
  "And now you are thinking proud things," Pierce told her, making her snort. Pierce was, mayhaps, closer than she thought he might be. Her face twisted when she felt his hand on top of her head, between her ears. She didn't pull away though, that would make her look bad...
  
  And maybe, just maybe, it felt nice.
  
  Not that it mattered.
  
  "You are behaving yourself, girl?" Pierce asked, to which Gyarados sheepishly replied in the affirmative, as if she hadn't been caught misbehaving not even a full minute before. "That's nice, Gyarados. You are doing great," he commented, making the sea serpent preen. "And what about Vaporeon, was she nice or was she... herself?" Pierce asked, making the gigantic red pokemon blink and look between him and Vaporeon.
  
  As for herself, she just glared at him.
  
  "You know how she is, she gets annoyed easily and she can be kind of... prickly. Kind of like you right now, so you watch her and she watches you, right?" Pierce asked, making her glare even harder. She was not as bad as a gyarados, thank you very much. The idiot had the gall to ignore her though, keeping his annoyingly warm eyes on the sea serpent instead. A pokemon that answered him with no arguments or defenses. Instead, she agreed enthusiastically.
  
  The absolute traitor.
  
  This is what Vaporeon got for looking after her?
  
  "Don't look at me like that," Pierce told her, turning his eyes towards her and making her glare even harder. How dare he-? "You look after everyone here. You watch over them... but you need someone to watch your back, Vaporeon." She didn't- "I know. You are awesome, the best of the-" Gyarados growled, making both Pierce and Vaporeon roll their eyes. "The second best of the best, but even the best need someone to help them out at times."
  
  She huffed.
  
  "Yeah, I know," Pierce said softly, continuing to pet her head. She almost wanted to turn her head to bite his hand, except she kind of didn't. "You don't need help. Do it for me, yeah?" he asked her and she took a deep breath in. "Please," he added, to her and then turning to look at Gyarados, who nodded eagerly.
  
  Now Vaporeon would never get rid of the sea serpent. Pierce's word was as good as the law when it came to her, even before she evolved and that only seemed to make her worse. It seemed she was now stuck with the biggest, meanest, most red guard in the history of... somewhere.
  
  "Thanks, girl," Pierce said, using his other hand to pat Gyarados. "I need the best assistant here to be well, after all," he added, patting Vaporeon.
  
  Well, at least he appreciated what he had, she supposed.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Pierce Lawson]
  
  He laughed, and it wasn't a short laugh no. It was straight out full on laughter, the kind that shook the body and left one without air, gasping and in pain. The kind of laughter that one couldn't stop even when they wanted to. The kind of laughter that's both great and awful at the same time.
  
  "Oh my God," he breathed when he started calming down a little... although maybe he was too early, because he devolved into more laughter a second later. A splash of water hit him right in the face, but that only set him off more. There was just no way he could calm down. They couldn't expect him to after seeing that . "You guys are great," he said, dragging his hands over his now wet face and running his fingers through his hair.
  
  Nothing could quite prepare someone for the sight of two gyarados getting tangled together, after all.
  
  Gyarados - the shiny - was in front of him, glaring heatedly at him with red eyes that might as well be fire. Gyarados - the not shiny - was doing more or less the same, but he also looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there. Vaporeon, by his side, looked entirely too amused, which for her might as well be the absolute hysterical laugh he was still letting out.
  
  "Ok, ok... I think I'm good," he muttered, still chuckling and grabbing his sides. His everything hurt, even his cheeks. "God, you guys are great. I haven't laughed that hard since... since..." He trailed off a little. He didn't remember when it had been, but it was sure to be before... before . "Sorry for annoying you. I just couldn't help it. Thanks for not biting my head off," he told the gyarados duo, getting a huff from both. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get you some poffins. Sorry."
  
  That seemed to placate them...
  
  "What is it, girl? You want something?" he asked his shiny friend, who was still glaring at him. In response, the red sea serpent moved in the pool, closer to him before twisting her body to one side. "Ok, I can do that, give me a bit to get your tangle friend over there a snack, yeah?" he said, getting growls from both Gyarados.
  
  A minute later, he found himself sitting on top of Gyarados' red scales while she swam.
  
  "I really am sorry, but it was hilarious," he commented with a grin on his face, noticing how the gyarados duo was still looking fairly annoyed. "In my defense, you've laughed about others too, so you can't judge," he added before grinning as both water types huffed.
  
  Whatever else he was going to say or think was interrupted by a presence brushing against his mind. It wasn't Cygnus though and neither was it Slowbro, which made sense since Lily wasn't there at that moment. It was Daisy that was keeping an eye on things in that pool-
  
  Immediately, he got a message not unlike how Cygnus did back when he couldn't talk. Pictures flashed and emotions were mixed in to deliver a message. First, he learned that the one contacting him was Daisy's Starmie. Second, he learned that she was also keeping an eye on the rest of the gyarados that were in the gym like the one swimming beside his shiny friend. Third...
  
  The third thing seemed to be that the gym leader wanted him to help with those?
  
  " Entertain... more like," Cygnus explained, to which he nodded. Just to make sure, Pierce pushed a rough idea towards Starmie's presence that gave it pause. A moment later, he got hesitant approval, which was all that he needed.
  
  "Girl, can you go towards the other gyarados over there? And I need you two to be on your best behavior, alright?" he asked, glancing between the two sea serpents. He got two agreeing noises and nods but he was a little skeptical. Especially in regards to his shiny friend, since she was still a little... unstable, even if sounded bad to call her like that.
  
  Ultimately, he rode Gyarados all the way towards where Daisy waited with a particularly big gyarados by her side and the rest of the group he'd met when dealing with the annoyed one back in the day. All of them were looking at him and his two friends when they arrived. Daisy didn't look particularly worried and she'd allowed him to bring the other gyarados, so he was guessing whatever she wanted wasn't too urgent or dangerous.
  
  "Hey, Pierce," she greeted casually, further proving his assumption. "Big guy here was questioning the quality of your snacks, so I thought you'd like to prove him wrong," the blonde commented, making him blink. He didn't have all that much time to process that statement, however, because his shiny friend seemed to take a lot of offense to that, growling at the much bigger gyarados. Even his other sea serpent friend seemed very miffed.
  
  "Hey," he called, patting Gyarados' red scales and giving both of them pause. "No fights," he reminded them, making them grumble. Rolling his eyes, Pierce turned towards the gyarados that had "offended" him and his skills to give him an amused expression. "That's a very convoluted way to ask for snacks, I gotta say, but to each their own."
  
  That got a growl out of the gyarados.
  
  "If you think they are bad, then that's your thing," he told it, giving him an even look. Just because these pokemon were forces of nature didn't mean he had to bend over backwards for them. Especially because he imagined that would only have them trample all over him. No, Pierce had to find that spot where he wasn't insulting them but he also wasn't letting them insult him . "But I guess I can give you one to try. You'll have to ask nicely if you want more though," he told it before patting Gyarados' red scales once more. "To the edge of the pool, girl."
  
  As he set out to do just as he said, he missed the amused and very interested look Daisy gave him.
  
  And both of them missed a third person, off to the side.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Sometimes I wonder if I'm taking too long with Cerulean... Then I realize that yes, that's true. I also think it doesn't really matter. My fics are always slow and Pierce's journey is about more than just traveling from city to city and getting badges. Honestly, that's a secondary thing in this fic, pretty sure, if that.
  
  Which is funny, because I've dropped fics for doing this kind of thing, but I guess they focused on things that didn't interest me like the Slice of Life of Pierce does.
  
  I guess if you've made it this far, you must feel the same, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter all the same.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What do you think that last part is about?
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XX
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XX
  
  "Do you feel ready?" he asked, leaning his back against the wall of the pool room. He was starting to feel a little trapped, if he was honest, but only when he had a minute to think it over. Otherwise, the pokemon did a great job of keeping his attention on other things.
  
  Kind of like how he kept his shiny friend's attention away from her anger, now that he thought about it.
  
  "Yeah, I've gone over your notes. I've trained my team. I've prepared strategies," she said, listing every point with a finger up each. "I'm fine. I'm not you, Mr. Overpreparation and Nerves."
  
  "Ha, ha," he fake laughed dryly. "But yeah, fair enough," he added. Then he looked down to the side to give Vaporeon a flat look. The eeveelution was huffing what he was sure was a laugh. "Laugh it up. I'll just rat you out with the gyarados."
  
  "That's a sentence you just said," Lily muttered, shaking her head. "Only you, Pierce. Only you."
  
  "I try," he replied, letting himself slip forward on the floor he was sitting on lazily.
  
  "Everything ok? You look... You look a little down," Lily asked, the previous levity diminishing a little. He gave her a weak smile in return before sighing.
  
  "I'm fine. It's just that a bunch of the pokemon that I was taking care of were sent away," he replied, running his fingers through his hair. Tentacruel, Golduck, Sharpedo, Crawdaunt, all of them had been found a new home. "Some shelters reported slots that had been freed and another managed to add a temporary expansion to theirs. A bunch of the water types now have a place where to properly recover. We didn't get all that much of a goodbye though so... I guess I'm just sad they had to go."
  
  Beside him, Vaporeon rubbed her head against his leg, making him drop a hand between her ears and pet her gratefully.
  
  "I'm sorry to hear that," Lily told him sympathetically while leaning on his side.
  
  "Don't worry about it," he said with a sad smile. "It was bound to happen. I'm fine. It's just... It'll take me a little to be completely fine," he admitted in the end. "Anyway, so, most pokemon that remain are either the magikarp or the gyarados. They are probably going to be here for a while, which is why I'm getting paid more to help look after them. It helps give the staff and the Sisters some time to recover from this mess too."
  
  "And you?" Lily asked, peering at him, clearly concerned.
  
  "They've had more work to do than me and not everyone enjoys helping like I do," he reassured her with a wave of his hand. "And once everything's done, I'll have plenty of time to relax."
  
  "And when would that be?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. He guessed that was a fair question. After all, she was challenging the Gym that very day. After that, both of them were going to be pretty much done with Cerulean and ready to go on to the next destination.
  
  "Probably a few days at best," he admitted with a helpless shrug. He didn't have a problem with that, but Lily hadn't signed up for that. "So, if you want to-"
  
  "I'll stop you right there, mister," Lily interrupted, glaring at him. "I think we've had this conversation already."
  
  "I know, I know, but still. I know this is kind of getting in the way of your journey, so-"
  
  "Nope," the girl interrupted again with a firm nod. "Even if we have to stay here for another week, it's fine. It's a city, I can do jobs, I can train my team and I can spend time at a neat beach. It's not a chore to be here, Pierce. Sure, I'd like to continue sooner rather than later, but it's fine."
  
  Vaporeon yipped something then.
  
  "Yeah, he can be dumb, can't he?" Lily asked, making him scoff.
  
  "That's not what she-" He was interrupted by a yip from Vaporeon, who stared at him. She was entirely too smug, in his opinion. "You suck," he muttered, at the eeveelution, rolling his eyes. "See if I care when you go away."
  
  "Not so nice to be on the receiving end, huh?" Lily commented, making him glare at her.
  
  "Just you wait until I'm in a better mood," he grumbled.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  Pierce looked Gyarados - the shiny - straight into the red eyes. Slowly, he tilted his head to one side, making the sea serpent do the same with the part of her body that was out of the water. Then he moved to do the same thing to the other side, which the water type mimicked again.
  
  "Well, ain't someone having fun?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her, which in turn had her giving a cheer that probably sounded very threatening to someone that didn't know better. Pierce shook his head. "Ok, next level then, if you are gonna be silly," he said, standing up and then shaking a little. "Woah, Orion, keep stable, buddy. I ain't doing a dive just yet," he called, tapping his foot on his onix's head.
  
  Orion hummed an apology that had him chuckling.
  
  "Don't worry about it. You are still fine, right?" he asked, getting another hum.
  
  " He does want to help with another dive," Cygnus snitched on his teammate then, making Pierce laughing. "Just delivering a message," his psychic argued, scandalized by the accusation.
  
  ' Sure thing, buddy. Sure thing,' Pierceprojected in his mind.
  
  "Ok, here's what we are going to do, girl," he called for Gyarados, momentarily gazing towards Narissa, who was flying around the top part of the pool room. Shaking his head, he focused back on the sea serpent. "See this?" he asked, showing her hand. "I'll move it like this," Pierce started explaining, showing a circular downwards motion to the side with the aforementioned limb. "And then like this," he added, raising it up. "You can try to follow the motion, you know, swim down and then," he clarified, doing the motion again. "You jump," he finished, snapping his hand upwards.
  
  He grinned widely at the excited look Gyarados sent him.
  
  "Let's give it a try," he called, getting a nod and then they tried... which got Gyarados a little confused when she moved too quickly, jumping out before he could even finish moving his hand down. "Too quick, girl!" he told her while laughing. "Second try?" he asked, getting a nod, this time more determined than enthusiastic like before. "Let's go."
  
  And so, that's how they spent the next few minutes, practicing and getting Gyarados used to following the movements even while under water. While they were at that, Pierce thought that, actually, what they were doing could be considered a form of training. It was getting Gyarados used to following the movement of something that was out of the water, which was something that would be very useful to have under her belt, actually.
  
  After all, water distorted images outside, especially when it wasn't calm. So, her learning to follow a moving target out of disturbed water was actually quite nice, really. He made a mental note to train that with whatever water type he eventually got in his team. Even if he didn't, it'd probably be a useful tip for Lily or someone else.
  
  Gyarados and him, at some point, decided to spice things up with different motions meaning different movements in the water. A circular motion meant swimming in circles. A repeated, small wave motion meant swimming up and down in the water repeatedly in a straight line. Placing his hands together in a sort of praying gesture and raising them before separating them meant a roar.
  
  "Dive time, buddy," Pierce told Orion, who moved his head, where he was standing, down and then up to throw him in the air to fall in the pool where no pokemon was. Before he hit the water, he heard his onix roar excitedly. The next second, he heard the splash of water and then just the muffled sound of being under water while the cool liquid surrounded him. Slowly, he turned and started floating up, lightly kicking with his legs and taking his time.
  
  Evidently, Gyarados wasn't feeling very patient, because she moved under him and then pushed him all the way up.
  
  "Nice!" he called, both for the sea serpent and the rock one, who both roared happily in response. Running his fingers through his now wet hair to push it away from his face, he looked at Orion at the edge of the pool. "Good job, buddy!" he told him before turning down and patting Gyarados. "You too, girl," he added, getting a strange barking sound in response. She sounded happy though, so that was what mattered.
  
  Taking a deep breath in and closing his eyes, Pierce took a second to enjoy the cool water on his skin. Then his eyelids pulled open when he heard a splash next to him and then wet steps on Gyarados' scales. Vaporeon had apparently decided that he was away too long or she'd gotten bored. Maybe both? Regardless, he greeted her with a pat on the head.
  
  "Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" he asked both pokemon, but mainly Gyarados, who nodded, making him almost fall off. "Yeah, I figured!" he said with a laugh. Vaporeon huffed beside him, making him give her a funny look. "What? Jealous? You can play too, if you want," he offered, making the water type give him a glare. "Too childish for you? Keep telling yourself that," Pierce told her, getting another huff while the eeveelution looked away.
  
  Shaking his head, he turned to look at Gyarados... only to see that the group of other gyarados that was usually on the far end of the pool, where he sometimes was called to help keep them calm, were a lot closer and looking at them. He wasn't too sure why, but he did notice that they didn't look too happy.
  
  His shiny friend made a noise to call for his attention at that moment, so he turned towards her. He took a moment to hear her, trying to piece together whatever it was that she was trying to tell him. A yip made him turn to Vaporeon, who made a wave motion with her paw, wearing an unimpressed look on her face.
  
  "Wanna keep going?" he asked Gyarados, who nodded. "Great, let's do that. Can you get me to the edge?" he added, but the water type was already on it. Narcissa seemed to choose that moment to get tired of flying and latch on to his neck as usual. "Had fun flying around?" he asked, getting a content clicking response. "Well, now you get to join us. Maybe you can do as Gyarados does, but flying?" he asked, and she buzzed her wings, sounding unsure but not really against it. "Nice."
  
  Then they reached the edge of the pool and he stepped off Gyarados. Before they got started though, he turned to look at the other sea serpents some distance away. With a grin on his face, he waved at them.
  
  "Hey, guys! Wanna play too?!"
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Has anyone ever told you that you are a special kind of person, Pierce?" Violet asked, as the Sister to watch over him at that moment, from where she stood off to the side. "Because you definitely are."
  
  "Several times," he replied idly, smiling softly and petting the pokemon next to him, who for once was neither Gyarados or Vaporeon. "I'm starting to get it, I think," he commented.
  
  "You think?" the Sister asked, amused and incredulous at the same time. "What was your first clue?"
  
  "I had several. I just didn't realize what was special about what I did," he said, watching the pokemon swim in the pool. Gyarados was playing with some of the other gyarados too. They had made it a game for them. They had to swim around without touching the others, which was complicated given that the pool wasn't made for mass movement like that. It was like a pokemon version of snake io, basically. "I don't think I can be dense about it anymore though."
  
  "Well, you are right about that," the woman told him with a shake of her head. "You are sure we can't hire you to deal with gyarados from now on?" she asked then, to which he just gave her a look with a raised eyebrow and a smile. "Can't blame me for trying."
  
  "If you really need help though, give me a call and get me a teleporter. I don't mind helping," he added, turning back to the pokemon in the pool once more. "You sure you don't wanna go do something else?" he asked to the pokemon he was petting, which was the biggest gyarados of the bunch. Unfortunately for the big guy, he was a bit much for the game. Pierce had promised him some extra treats for having him sit out of the game.
  
  He'd acted like a brat about it, as if he didn't want to be treated like a child and such. In the end though, the gyarados had just agreed and settled for some pettings. Truly, pokemon were all the same, deep down. Maybe it was harder to reach that point with some, but one just needed to find the right approach. Pierce was, by then, sure that he just had a knack for doing just that.
  
  The gyarados grumbled something but basically decided to stay where he was.
  
  "You know, I used to do this kind of thing a lot when I was younger," he commented, getting the attention of the water type on him. "When people got together to play a game or something, I'd be happy just sitting somewhere to the side and watching. Then again, I wasn't very good at games, so it was better than playing," he explained with a grin and a chuckle.
  
  The gyarados growled something that sounded like an agreement.
  
  "Good to have a spectator buddy," Pierce commented. "Nobody's cheating, right? You have a better view up there," he added, looking up. After all, he was sitting at the edge of the pool, with one leg in the water, while the gyarados had a fraction of his body peeking out of the water like a tower.
  
  The water type shook his head.
  
  "Good to see they are behaving. And my red friend is doing well?" he asked, looking for his adorable shiny. It wasn't difficult to find her, considering the contrast she brought compared to the rest of gyarados, but it was difficult to see if she was fine or not. She was doing much better already and Pierce was almost sure he could go to sleep on a proper bed that night.
  
  He didn't know if he wanted to push his luck, but then again, if anything happened, then the sisters could just get him to teleport there. Cygnus could get him there himself and all. He just needed a call.
  
  Gyarados gave a reassuring response to his question, bringing Pierce back to the present.
  
  "Glad to hear that," he commented, taking a deep breath in. It was good to see that things were going back to normal, at least for his shiny friend. He didn't know if anyone would call the show going on in front of Pierce normal, after all. "Thanks for the help, by the way," he added, getting a nod from the gyarados, who grunted something. "Sure, more snacks," he agreed easily, getting a pleased hum from the water type.
  
  "You know even we would be a little more wary of gyarados, right?" Violet asked from the side, looking more curious than anything. "Any tips?"
  
  "I think they know you are wary, which is what's getting in your way," he answered, glancing towards the water type by his side. "I'm nervous too, but being nervous doesn't help me at all. I'm already sitting next to them, talking to them. Fear and nerves don't help, being wary doesn't help. If they decide to do something, it'll likely be too late anyway. So, I just... take a leap of faith, I guess."
  
  Gyarados turned to address the two of them "saying" something.
  
  "You are absolutely crazy," Violet told him with a giggle. "I like that."
  
  "Thanks," he replied easily.
  
  "I'll point that out with my sisters. Daisy might even be able to pull it off, she's far braver than Lily and me," the Sister commented. "She's the one that tackles more varied types for a reason."
  
  "Makes sense," Pierce said, tilting his head as he considered that. It checked out with his gathered information regarding the Sisters, at least. "Well, I think that's enough of that," he mumbled, pulling himself to a standing position with a groan. "Ok, everyone!" he called, which only got some raised heads close by. That is, before the big gyarados by his side let out a roar that made all of them stop...
  
  Except his shiny, adorable friend, who promptly swam between the other water types so that she could reach the spot next to him that the other gyarados wasn't occupying. He greeted her with a smile and a pat on her crest before turning to address the now very attentive crowd. It was a little unnerving, he'd admit, but as he had said...
  
  "That was great, everyone!" he praised, getting some pleased looks here and there. "It's snack time though!" he announced, and that was received much more enthusiastically.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Congrats," Pierce said, getting a beaming smile from Lily - His traveling companion, that is. - before she raised her drink and clinked his. "How was the fight? Any highlights?"
  
  "It was nice, no evolutions. Talon did a great job against Psyduck, even if it was tricky. Corsola took him out. He's not gonna be happy about that, by the way. That one was harder than I thought, even made Root work for the win," Lily explained, and he whistled. "Yeah, harder than I thought. Good thing I prepared. Second badge is harder, but I'm pretty sure they also went a little extra hard on me because of who I am."
  
  "Well, aren't you special?" Pierce said, leaning to the side to push against her side with his shoulder. "You got the recording, right?"
  
  "I do so anyway. My mom would crucify me if I didn't," she answered with a laugh. "And of course I'm special. Did you think you were traveling with just anyone?"
  
  "I mean, you were third place."
  
  Her eye twitched.
  
  "One day, Pierce..."
  
  "Anyway, again, congrats," he continued, feigning ignorance of her hissing. "I'll prepare some poffins for everyone later. Star and Gem deserve something for, you know, being excluded like they are useless."
  
  "Are you trying to make me feel bad?"
  
  "What? No," he replied completely unconvincingly. "Anyway, what now?"
  
  "Now, I'm just gonna enjoy the show," she said, making him not.
  
  "It is quite the show, isn't it?" he asked, smiling widely.
  
  "It is... something alright," Lily commented, looking ahead of her with her eyes widening a little bit at the gathering of gyarados swimming in the pool. They weren't playing anymore though, even if they continued swimming. Instead of testing how fast they could swim without crashing, however, they were just enjoying the swim.
  
  "I know, right? They are great," he said, beaming along with Gyarados - the shiny - and Gyarados - the big - before raising the drink in his hands and placing the straw between his lips. It got a little weird when he had to name or call several pokemon that were unnamed, but the creatures themselves always seemed to know when someone was referring to them while saying just the species name. "Watch this," he said then, setting his drink aside and pulling himself to a standing position from where he sat at the edge of the pool once more.
  
  Checking that Lily was watching, he moved his right hand slowly. First, he extended it to the side and then made a slowly circling motion down. When he was about to reach his leg, he shot his arm up, fast but not too fast.
  
  Immediately, two gyarados jumped out of the water at different parts of the pool.
  
  "Paying attention, huh?!" he called with a laugh, because goddamn if it wasn't great to see them actually follow through with something that had been just a silly joke at the moment. "Come here, you two!" he added, but the gyarados were already swimming in his direction while he moved to pick up two poffins. "Here you go, good job," he said, throwing the snacks up for the pokemon to catch. "You got two already, didn't you?" he asked, to the one on the left side.
  
  Judging by the supremely smug impression the gyarados gave, Pierce was right.
  
  "Keep it up, buddy," he added with a chuckle and a pat on the sea serpent's side. "Cool, right?" he asked, turning to look at Lily, who was looking at him with wide eyes and frozen. "It's cool," he answered himself with a grin, looking at the pool and wondering if he should try again. Ultimately, he decided not to, simply leaning down to pick up his drink and stay standing.
  
  "Yes, he's that insane," a new voice said from behind them. Turning, he saw Daisy standing there.
  
  "You are my handler now?"
  
  "More like the lookout," the Sister answered, waving off his question. Pierce was confused by the look she sent both the pool and him afterwards, however. It was one that he hadn't seen on her so far and he couldn't quite place what it was. It was... thoughtful and excited at the same time. "They don't get angry with you for doing... that ? Why?"
  
  "What do you mean why? You have a gyarados in your show, don't you? I saw it," Pierce commented, confused.
  
  "Yeah, and he's the only gyarados we've gotten to actually join. He's an exception, not a rule. Violet said you've done this a few times and they follow . I've seen that myself. How?" she asked, staring at him intently and suddenly Pierce felt like he was being interrogated or something.
  
  "Rewards, positive feedback... and competition," he said, grinning widely. "Try to make one jump and they'll hate it. Make it about being better than the others and they'll do it like their lives depend on it," he explained before taking a sip from his drink. "Can they follow quicker than the others? Can they follow more smoothly? Can they notice faster? They start thinking about that and they stop thinking that they are following orders just because."
  
  "Hm, risky, but I can see it," Daisy commented, moving to stand next to him as she gazed at the gyarados around. Pierce caught his shiny friend glaring at her a little but he calmed her down with a pat. "Good on you for managing that. Can't be easy, even if it's doable."
  
  "I have my ways," he replied, still smiling. "And they are great," he added, clearly pleasing the gyarados that were within earshot. "That helps."
  
  "I bet," Daisy said, shaking her head. "Do you get used to this?" she asked Lily then, to which the girl laughed.
  
  "If you do, then I haven't reached that point yet," his traveling companion said. "I hope not though," she added with a grin, looking at the water types in front of her. "It's certainly a treat to see things like this happen. Granted, it's the first time that it's like this, but-"
  
  "I think I get the idea," Daisy interrupted with a giggle.
  
  Feeling like he wasn't part of the conversation anymore, Pierce turned to look at his shiny friend and patted her side, which caused her to shift a little. She seemed to be incapable of not showing how pleased she was for the attention and the pampering. She was just adorable like that.
  
  "Doing alright, girl?" he asked, looking into her red eyes. She let out a mumbling sound, not quite a confirmation but not a negative response either. He'd take that, at least. "Getting better?" he tried and it got him a much more positive answer. "That's what's important. So long as you don't feel the need to chomp on my arm," he added.
  
  Gyarados reeled back, scandalized.
  
  "I know, right? You should go for the head," he commented, and he could do nothing but laugh at the way the water type reacted.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Pierce is reaching levels of insanity and "what the fuck" previously thought impossible even by me, I gotta say. Like, what in the hell is that, man? Why are my characters like this? Just... why?
  
  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Starmie or Golduck? I like Golduck more myself.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapternext chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XXI
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XXI
  
  Pierce whistled calmly, sitting at the edge of the pool like usual with his back resting on Gyarados' red scales. Some distance behind, he could hear the other sea serpents doing their thing, swimming around or even sleeping. Not like they had much else to do, really, and they could only play games so much.
  
  He was actually debating if it was worth it and if it was even possible to pull off asking the Sisters for a field trip to some beach nearby without people or something like that. It was a risk, he supposed, but he thought allowing the pokemon some more freedom would help them relax and recover more than just being isolated in that pool.
  
  It wasn't a small pool, but it certainly fell a little short considering the size and number of the sea serpents.
  
  Another option he had in mind was battling, but that sounded even less likely. Sure, they wouldn't need as much space, but there was a hell of a lot more risk of some gyarados going berserk, which was a no-no. Still though, if they could pull it off, it'd be a huge help in keeping the gyarados population happy and calm. Nothing was better for a pokemon than letting loose in a battle, or even just light sparring. They were all just that obsessed with beating each other, even the calm ones.
  
  Alas, he'd have to think of something else to come up with, he supposed.
  
  For the moment, he continued looking away from the pool. Someone could call for his attention at any point if anything happened. He had eyes on things other than his own, after all. It was a great boon that he could have the very pokemon he had to watch over keep doing just that for each other. The power of bribes and general boredom, he supposed. On top of that, his own pokemon were keeping an eye on them too.
  
  In the meantime, Pierce kept his eyes on his team.
  
  They had decided that they were going to be using their abundant spare time to train, as it turned out. While they did that, they were also watching over the gyarados on the pool, which was a great way of killing two birds with one stone, really. They trained moves at the same time as they did their situational awareness. Truly, Pierce was a genius.
  
  " And humble," Cygnus commented in his mind, and he could almost hear the weary huff coming from the psychic type. He was training on two fronts, move-wise. For one, he was still going strong with his Teleport training. Who knew? Maybe one day Pierce wouldn't need to even consider having to buy Teleport tickets unless it was from one region to another.
  
  ' How's that going, buddy?' Pierce asked and he got a frustrated feeling from his pokemon. 'Everything ok?' he added, frowning.
  
  " This isn't working..." his pokemon told him, and his frown became more pronounced. "I get better... but distance remains... the same..."
  
  ' So, you have to push the limits of distance to start being able to teleport further. That makes sense, I guess,' he mused "out loud" as it were, with his psychic listening to him. He did wonder if other psychics could eavesdrop if they peeked in on his mind when he did that. Regardless, not the time for that. 'Hm, well, getting better with regular Teleport isn't a bad thing. We can train distance whenever we start traveling again,' he told Cygnus, who gave him a mental nod. 'How's the new punch going?'
  
  " Difficult... as expected," the abra told him, making him smile. Despite his words, his pokemon was feeling a fair bit of frustration. Maybe he would have to get him some consolation poffins to help with that. "Wouldn't say no, Helper-Voice."
  
  ' I'm sure you wouldn't,' he thought, amused. Shaking his head, he sent his pokemon back to work. He did turn slightly to look to the side. Some distance away, he saw a gyarados following his abra's teleports, occasionally frowning or nodding. Sometimes he'd even growl or grunt something.
  
  "Thanks for the help!" he said, not for the first time, getting a grumble in response.
  
  As it turned out, one of the gyarados he had to look after knew Ice Fang and was cooperative enough to help Cygnus with Ice Punch. It wasn't the same, of course, but it was better than some other Ice type move and it was definitely better than no help at all. Besides, it helped keep a gyarados occupied and one of his pokemon getting stronger.
  
  ' I do love when everything comes together for maximum efficiency,' Pierce thought, amused. Not that he was a crazy min-maxing guy, but it was nice when he could pull off some of it. Cygnus wasn't the only one that was getting help from the sea serpents though.
  
  Off to another side, Orion was trying to learn Twister from a pair of bickering gyarados. Dragon Breath would have been easier, but none of the sea serpents knew that move. They couldn't even learn it, really. So, Pierce made a call and had Orion start with Twister instead. They'd move to Dragon Breath in their own time and if he did manage to learn Twister or at least get it started properly, then it'd be even easier to pick up the other.
  
  That wasn't the most efficient use of their time, but it was the best way to have his pokemon learn something useful and also help keep gyarados under control. Sometimes there wasn't a perfect balance to things, sadly, but Pierce was happy with how that side of things was going. Besides, interestingly enough, Orion didn't seem to mind all that much. He'd even say that his onix liked the sea serpents.
  
  ' Who'd have thought?'
  
  Last but certainly not least, there was Narcissa, who was flying all around the room, taking advice from every gyarados that would put up with her. It was a bit of a risk, but she seemed to be careful not to bother the ones that made it clear they couldn't be bothered to help. She was a smart cookie like that. Pierce was very proud.
  
  It was a good thing that every gyarados around could help her with what she was tackling at the moment, and that was Dark energy. Bite was more or less the rookie move for all gyarados. If there was one in the entire pool that didn't know the move, then Pierce would have worried as to why that was, because something would definitely need to be wrong for that to happen.
  
  Thus, the cooperative ones were helping his beedrill learn how to use Dark type energy for the sake of learning Pursuit. It wasn't a great move, but it'd come in handy against Psychic types. Pierce still wasn't sure if he'd tackle Sabrina for his second badge, but it was a likely thing. Sure, she had a terrible reputation of annihilating challengers, but how bad could a second badge battle be?
  
  ' Maybe I'm tempting Murphy there,' he mused idly, humming to himself as he watched his pokemon train.
  
  Still, considering how his first challenge had gone, surely it wouldn't be that much of a jump in difficulty. He was confident that he could manage a win in Saffron. Maybe Sabrina would make him work for it, maybe it'd even be difficult, but he couldn't imagine a scenario where he lost. That'd be bullshit .
  
  Lily, for her part, had more to worry about, but that was her problem.
  
  " You'll worry anyway," Cygnus accused and he grimaced. His pokemon wasn't wrong, but at least he'd worry right before the challenge. Otherwise, he'd do what he could and then have a borderline panic attack the day of the battle. Was it a good approach? Probably not, but it was how he seemed to be doing things by the looks of it. "Idiot," his psychic told him, and he acknowledged the accuracy of the descriptor.
  
  "Just take a breath~" he sang to himself with a smile. "Relax~" he continued, swaying from side to side a little. Behind him, he felt Gyarados shift a little. "And tell me why? Please tell me why do we worry?~"
  
  The red sea serpent behind him grumbled a whisper that got him to stop.
  
  "What's up, girl?" he asked, before being splashed with water. "Well, that's rude," he mumbled, rubbing the pool water off of his face. "Just for that, we are not swimming for another half an hour," he told her, giving her his best unimpressed expression.
  
  What followed was a very solid piece of evidence in favor of the effectiveness of a gyarados' puppy dog eyes.
  
  ' What'd that be called? Fry fish eyes? Why are baby fish called fry anyway?' he wondered to himself.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Orion]
  
  He wasn't bitter because he didn't get to participate in the Gym challenge.
  
  No, he wasn't.
  
  Honest!
  
  Ok, so he might be a lil' bit annoyed that he hadn't even been able to fight there. Sure, Pierce had explained and he understood, but that didn't mean that Orion didn't feel a little left out. Which was silly, since Pierce always spent the same amount of time with all of them, training them and helping them improve. Orion knew he was being stupid, childish and a number of other things that his mother would have called him.
  
  He still couldn't stop feeling that.
  
  Cygnus had fought.
  
  Narcissa had fought.
  
  Orion had simply... not . He knew the why and he understood, but it made him feel like he wasn't strong enough. It made him feel helpless and weak, like he'd been back at home, back in that cave, feeling the poison and the wounds - He took a deep breath in, letting his anger flow through him. Because he was angry . At his own weakness, at his own stupidity, at his own mind .
  
  Why was he being such a child ?
  
  So, he let the anger at the world flow in him and to his energy like the gyarados said. He let the pride that pushed him forward course through him. He let the power that he wanted to prove he had join those two. He felt it all and he guided it, swirled it and...
  
  And it was a mess.
  
  Orion let out a huff that might as well have been a roar, from how angry and frustrated he was. He heard the two gyarados that were helping him comment on the attempt. They weren't kind, nor were they patient or particularly helpful. They reminded Orion of Narcissa, but worse, much, much worse.
  
  And yet, he was grateful for them, because he didn't have to hold back when he was trying to use the Dragon type energy. He could just let it flow, let it rage . Orion liked that, helped him feel better, less angry, less frustrated, less stupid.
  
  It helped that the gyarados were praising him now. They didn't strike Orion as pokemon that gave a lot of compliments, so he guessed they weren't lying when they said there was a shine of energy at some point. So, he took their words and felt proud, as well he should, according to the gyarados. Hm, maybe they were more like Narcissa than he thought. All tough and mean on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.
  
  Yeah, that sounded about right.
  
  "That looked great, buddy," Pierce said, approaching them from the side, the red gyarados swimming by him in the pool and the vaporeon walking on his other side. He had a wide smile on his face, one that Orion replied to with a cheer. To the side, the gyarados grumbled and growled about him being a child. For once, he didn't care about that. "You two must be great teachers!" his trainer added towards the gyarados.
  
  Orion gave them a look when both preened proudly.
  
  Hypocrites.
  
  "Keep it up, yeah?" Pierce continued, reaching Orion's side and patting his rock-like skin. It wasn't nearly strong enough for him to feel much, but he felt it all the same and that was all that mattered. "I know you are still angry about the Gym challenge," his trainer said and Orion tried to deny that, but he only got a laugh for his troubles. "After that showing just there? I'd be an idiot if I didn't pick up on that, but you've done a good job to keep that hidden so far, huh? You shouldn't have."
  
  Orion grumbled. It wasn't like it mattered anyway. He was being stupid. They'd done a good job without him and he didn't even like fighting with water around, let alone in the pool that they'd all told him about. And yet he still felt bad for not being there anyway, because he was stupid .
  
  "Hey, it's fine," Pierce told him. "I feel like that sometimes, you know? Like I could be doing more. After all, you are the ones fighting and I'm just there, giving advice and that's it. It's frustrating, when you get hit and when our strategies aren't enough," his trainer admitted and Orion leaned forward a little bit, listening more intently. "It's just... so frustrating," Pierce said softly, a sad smile on his face as he patted the side of Orion's head.
  
  He mumbled something in response, unsure of how to feel. Was he stupid? Was Pierce stupid? Were both of them stupid? What was his trainer trying to tell him?
  
  "Do you think I'm stupid for feeling like that?" Pierce asked and Orion shook his head, because Pierce was smart. He knew everything and if he didn't, then he'd surely figure it out soon. Orion was stupid, because how could he think that Pierce could be- "You aren't stupid either, Orion," his trainer reassured, making him freeze. "You want to prove yourself and that's good. Use that, buddy. Use that drive that I know you have, and you'll be strong. I can promise you that," Pierce told him.
  
  Orion made a questioning sound, unsure.
  
  "Maybe it wasn't here, and maybe it won't be the next. But you'll have your time to shine, Orion, because you are part of my team . One day, Narcissa and Cygnus won't be enough, maybe neither will be other teammates we might find along the way. But you will be enough, because they have strengths you don't and you have strengths they don't," Pierce explained to him, patiently and clearly, like he always did. That's why he was the one that made decisions. "So, can you do that, be there when the rest of us won't be enough?"
  
  Orion remained silent then, but his mind worked. Because he might not be as smart as Narcissa or Cygnus, certainly not like Pierce, but he was figuring this out. Pierce guided them in battles because he could think of things they couldn't, but he didn't fight because they were much better at it. Narcissa was faster, Cygnus could teleport, but Orion had things they didn't. He could get hit for one, even if he hated that. He could get hit and keep going much better than they could. He had completely different types as theirs, so they'd be better than him and he'd be better than them. That was just how it was.
  
  With a deep breath in, Orion decided that yes, he was stupid.
  
  He grunted, nodding.
  
  "That's the spirit, Orion," Pierce told him, smile in place, but this one was different from his kind one. This was the smile he had when they were in a battle, when he finally let go of his relaxed and soft self and became one of them, a Fighter . "We all have your back," his trainer said. "And you'll have ours. I know you will."
  
  And what kind of pokemon would he be, if he didn't do as his trainer commanded?
  
  He grunted again, returning the fierce expression on Pierce with one of his own.
  
  Then he turned towards the two gyarados, his teachers, who had been looking from the side. He stared at them, daring them to comment on that talk. Orion knew that he had looked weak, maybe even weaker than he'd been back home when he was dying. He didn't care for that though. Maybe he'd been weak back then and even then and there, but Orion wasn't weak. He couldn't be weak.
  
  He had to have his team's back, after all.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  [Pierce Lawson]
  
  "He's a silly one," he commented, getting agreeing clicking of Narcissa's jaws.
  
  " He's young," Cygnus replied, not necessarily disagreeing. "He wants to... prove himself."
  
  "Don't we all?" Pierce shot back at that, making both of his pokemon look away. To that, he smiled, sharing a look with Gyarados and Vaporeon. Or, at least, he tried, because the two seemed to be talking about something between themselves. "That's what I thought," he said anyway, turning his attention back to his pokemon. "So, back to training with you two, or are you taking a break?" he asked.
  
  As if that were a threat of some kind, Narcissa flew away like her life depended on it.
  
  Cygnus, for his part, seemed to consider that for a moment before shaking his head.
  
  " I'll stop Teleporting and Ice Punch," the abra told him and he was a little impressed that he managed all that without pause. The psychic sent him a happy-proud feeling at the thought. "Physical training and Focus Punch now."
  
  "Sounds good, buddy," Pierce replied, patting Cygnus' head. "Don't overwork yourself, yeah? You're supposed to be the smart one of the three."
  
  " I am the smart one," the abra shot back, making him chuckle. "Don't let them eat you, Helper-Voice."
  
  "I'll try," he said with a smile. Then, when his pokemon teleported away, he turned towards Gyarados and Vaporeon, who seemed to have finished their conversation. "Hey, girls. How about we go swimming now?" he asked, making Gyarados perk up. Vaporeon was much more discreet, trying to act like she was annoyed. He saw right through her, mostly on the way she pulled herself to a standing position and glanced towards the pool before collecting herself, but he didn't point that out. "So-"
  
  "Hm" a shy voice called, making him turn back in the opposite direction of the pool. There stood a very clearly nervous redhead. She seemed to struggle to say something for a moment before Pierce decided to help her out.
  
  "Did you need anything?" he asked as kindly as he could. Misty seemed very unsure about something, so he didn't want to spook her or something. It seemed that she still was scared regardless of his intentions. If the way she flinched when she looked over his shoulder was any indication, he had an idea he knew why that was.
  
  "Girl," he scolded when he turned around again to check and found Gyarados glaring at the poor girl. Instantly, the water type flinched, much like she had made Misty do so a moment before. "Apologize," he told her, getting barely a mumble in response. Vaporeon joined his efforts with a yip then. Gyarados gave a little more believable an attempt after that.
  
  "Do-Don't worry about it," the girl waved off, trying and failing to appear unaffected. "Maybe I should have waited. I didn't want to interrupt before with..." she trailed off then, waving towards where Orion was back to giving it his all in his training. "But I should have known better. Sorry, I'll just-"
  
  "Did you need anything?" Pierce interrupted, repeating his question from before. He raised an eyebrow at Misty when she looked like she'd go back to making up excuses. "We can do it later if you want, but I'd like to know now. I'm curious," he added and the girl deflated where she stood.
  
  "I just... I told you that I'm... You know? Scared of... gyarados," she mumbled, her voice lowering into a whisper when she finally got to the last word.
  
  ' I do remember something like that,' Pierce mused, taking a moment to recall that moment. That had been all the way back when they'd asked him to help with an annoyed gyarados. That one was somewhere behind him, probably taking a nap, not a worry in the world. 'Feels like a lifetime ago,' he thought, somewhat amused.
  
  "Right, and?" He tried to make that sound... inviting instead of forceful. He had an idea of what she wanted, but they kind of needed her to try. Otherwise they'd get nowhere.
  
  "And I wanted to know if you could... help me, with that," she bit out in the end, going from drawing into herself to a mockery of standing straight. She was stiff, her shoulders drawn in and she couldn't quite control the way her expression twisted into a fearful one. She tried though, which was the important part.
  
  Pierce could only imagine how she felt, a person with fear of gyarados standing right there, facing a pool full of them. There was a good chance that the shiny one right behind him was glaring at her again too, which probably didn't help. Even if his adorable red friend wasn't doing that, she probably was making things worse just by being there, even if that wasn't fair to her either.
  
  "Hm, I can do that," he agreed easily, and he smiled as he saw Misty relax a little. "Do you want to start now or later?"
  
  "I... I can decide?"
  
  "This is a fear of yours, of course you can decide," he reassured easily, walking closer and placing his hand on her shoulder. At a look, Pierce would guess that she was probably around Lily's age. 'Wasn't she a year older than Ash in the anime? Would that make her... What, twenty, maybe nineteen like Lily?' he mused to himself, but that wasn't too important, he supposed. "Take your time. If you are too scared to do what I ask of you, then we aren't going to get anywhere fast."
  
  "I... What would you have me do?" Misty asked, visibly torn between taking the out and doing what she wanted to do.
  
  "Gyarados here," he said, moving back a little and placing a hand on his red friend's side. "Is a sweetheart. Aren't you?" he asked the shiny pokemon, who visibly melted under the attention she was now getting. "She's gotten a lot better and she's probably the calmest of them all as long as I'm around. Aren't you, girl?"
  
  Gyarados nodded firmly.
  
  "She's adorable like that," he said, stepping from the pool and moving back to where Misty was. As he did, he looked to the side where Daisy stood, watching like a hawk. 'No pressure,' Pierce thought to himself, somewhat amused.
  
  For a moment, Pierce wondered why the girl had come to him for help with this instead of his sisters. Did she think he was better than them? Because that was probably wrong, but it was flattering all the same. It also occurred to him that maybe she was more comfortable not being under the tutelage of her older, more skilled sisters. It couldn't be easy to be in her situation at all, let alone needing special help.
  
  Ultimately, her reasons didn't matter.
  
  "I think a good first step would be to interact with her a little. You can just talk with her, maybe pet her, if you feel up to it," he explained, keeping his voice low and soft, calming. It was the kind of voice he'd use with a spooked pokemon, but she didn't need to know that.
  
  "I... I can talk, yeah," Misty mumbled in a way that had Pierce thinking she was talking to herself more than him. "Yes, I can do that."
  
  "Great," he replied with a wide smile. "A piece of advice?" he offered, getting an instantaneous nod. "Call her adorable. She loves that," he told Misty, giving her a pat on the back. "You'll be fine though. I'm here and your sister is over there. It'll be fine."
  
  "Right..." she mumbled, visibly trying to gather her courage, especially when faced with Gyarados' curious gaze. "I can do this."
  
  "You sure can," he reassured her.
  
  Well, he had something to pass his time with, at least.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, that Orion's PoV sure took its sweet time to make an appearance. I wanted to do one much sooner, but there was never a good moment, it seemed. Now, it's finally here and I hope the wait was worth it, at least a little.
  
  It's also been a while since we've had some training written in the story. Which isn't to say that there hasn't been training or anything, but I think last of it was general training that I didn't go too deep into and tutor move training that Pierce wasn't really there for. It's kind of nice to finally go back to it.
  
  This is certainly turning out to be a special kind of Pokemon Journey fic, it seems.
  
  Hopefully a good kind though.
  
  Just like hopefully you enjoyed the chapter, guys.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: Onix, Steelix or Gyarados? From the three, I'd say my top is Steelix, Gyarados and then Onix. Which isn't to say Onix is not cool, but I do prefer the other two to it.
  
  See you.
  
  previous chapterchapter list
  Cerulean City XXII
  Teams:
  
  Pierce Lawson:
  
  - Narcissa, Beedrill
  
  - Orion, Onix
  
  - Cygnus, Abra
  
  Lillian Dale:
  
  - Root, Bulbasaur
  
  - Talon, Spearow
  
  - Gem, Geodude
  
  - Star, Cleffa
  
  Cerulean City XXII
  
  "You are too tense," he commented.
  
  "How can I not be?" Misty hissed at him and he gave her an unimpressed expression.
  
  "I've told you, if you are like that, they'll label you a weakling and either bully you or ignore you and you want neither of those," he explained calmly. He knew what he was getting into when he accepted to help her, after all. He distinctly remembered the girl being... expressive, to put it kindly, in the anime. Not a great source of information, but it was what he had on top of his interactions with her, so he worked with what he had.
  
  "That's easier said than done," she grumbled, shoulders dropping dejected even as she kept her annoyed expression up. "I can't just..."
  
  "I never said it was easy or simple," Pierce told her when she trailed off. "I just said that's what you need to do. So, either do it or don't, but if you don't, I'm sure you have better things to do with your time."
  
  "Now you are just going to tell me I'm a waste of time. That's nice," Misty said sarcastically.
  
  "I never said that. I literally don't have anything to do other than keeping an eye on this lot," he replied, gesturing towards the pool. "So, I might as well try to help you. I'm just saying that you probably have better things to do. If you aren't going to try to do what you have to do here, then I'd suggest going and doing something else instead."
  
  "I want to do this though," she mumbled, drawing into herself. "I just... I don't... I can't..."
  
  "You can," Pierce reassured with a smile. "Just take your time, ok? If you want to and you are determined, that's all that matters. Maybe it'll take time, but I just wanted to make sure you did really want to do this."
  
  "I do," Misty replied, with more certainty in her voice, even if she was still making herself look small.
  
  "Great," he said with a nod. "Ok, so, I assume you like swimming?" he asked, making her blink at the out of the blue question.
  
  "Yes...?" she answered uncertainly.
  
  "Awesome, then can you do something with me? Close your eyes," he suggested and she seemed to take a moment to process that. Then, looking to the side towards where the gyarados were, she gulped and turned to lock her eyes on him. Taking a deep breath in, she closed her eyes. "That's funny, I was going to tell you that. Take slow, deep breaths, will you? I also want you to imagine you are underwater, by yourself."
  
  Misty seemed to hesitate for a moment before doing as he asked of her.
  
  "Great, now I want you to relax . Just, take a moment to consciously relax your body," he told her softly, going through the steps himself but with his eyes open. "Sometimes you don't even notice that you are tense, but once you realize, you wonder how you could have missed something so obvious."
  
  Misty hummed, her shoulders dropping but this time because she was doing as he said and relaxing. That was great, she was doing well. She didn't look nearly as bad as she did before. Now he just had to help her keep it up and apply this to her fear of Gyarados.
  
  Easier said than done, but he tried to do as he said... sometimes.
  
  "You are doing great," he praised, smiling at the way her lips twitched up. "Now, keep that image in your mind of you in the water, continue breathing deeply and keep yourself relaxed," he instructed, trying to keep his voice firm and soft at the same time. "Continue doing all that and open your eyes."
  
  She didn't immediately follow the command. Instead, she continued breathing, occasionally shifting or rolling her shoulders. Pierce was in no hurry though. The entire point was to help her calm down. Pressuring her was quite possibly one of the worst things he could do.
  
  Eventually, she did open her eyes.
  
  "Feeling good?" he asked, and she nodded.
  
  "Yeah, I... I needed that, I think," she replied slowly, a little hesitant but not nervous or afraid. More unsure, if anything. "This is... really nice," Misty added, a slight smile on her face and looking at peace.
  
  "That's great." From there, he let her stand there before speaking again. "So... Do you want to continue or come back to this some other time?" he asked and she stiffened again. However, he was pleased to see that he didn't even have to tell her to relax once more. She did that all by herself, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.
  
  Then, she balled her hands into fists before letting go.
  
  "... What did you have in mind?" Misty asked and he smiled at her.
  
  "Come with me, yeah?" Pierce said as an answer walking towards the edge of the pool. The gyarados were some distance away, where he'd sent them when it was obvious Misty and him weren't making much progress. His shiny friend was the closest one but she already seemed bothered by the distance. "Let's sit here," he suggested, doing just that and letting his legs dangle inside the pool.
  
  "... Ok, I can do this," he heard her mumble under her breath and he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear her. "Now... what?"
  
  "Now, we try talking again, ok?" he answered with as reassuring a smile as he could while she stiffened once more. "She'll be the only one close and I'll make her stay further back. How does that sound?"
  
  "... Better," the girl muttered.
  
  "Nice. Just remember to keep yourself relaxed. If you need a moment, take it. No need to force yourself or it'll just make things worse," he told her, getting a slow nod. With a grin he waved the very eager red sea serpent over.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Thanks for helping her," Daisy commented with a smile on her face, approaching him while Misty walked away. The younger girl looked a little... shaky, but she'd done a great job talking with Gyarados. Pierce was really happy with how the first class had ended, even if it started a lil' rough.
  
  "No problem," he replied with a grin, waving her off. "I gotta do something to pass the time around here anyway. I can only play and cook for so long."
  
  "Could have fooled me," the Sister joked. "But seriously, this is something that she's struggled with and been self-conscious about for a while already. It means a lot to see her doing something about it and you helping her with that."
  
  "As I said, no problem," he told her, his grin turning less playful and more soft. "She did great, much better than I thought. We just have to keep going and she'll be fine in no time."
  
  "That's good to hear," Daily replied, her smile turning sad as she looked at the door Misty had disappeared through a moment before. "We've all known since... Well, since the beginning, but we never could quite get her to let us help her. So, we had to do our best to help out in other ways. We might not have done as good a job as we'd have liked."
  
  "No one's perfect," Pierce reassured calmly. "You are a Gym Leader and a performer and you are young too. Can't be faulted for not being a therapist too," he added with a smile. "You did what you could, I'm sure."
  
  "If I didn't know better, I'd think you are trying to get in my pants," Daisy commented, giggling softly. Well, he was really glad that she'd added that first part, at least. "Thank you for saying that though. It means a lot too."
  
  "Don't mention it."
  
  "... I guess," she started then and he noticed that she seemed to struggle to speak. He was no expert, but he was pretty sure she'd gotten a little emotional there. "I guess I should go. Stuff to do, pokemon to watch. You know?"
  
  "Sure, see you later," he said, not pointing out the way she rubbed the back of her hand over her eye, as if wiping tears. "Don't be a stranger."
  
  "Same," she replied with a nod and a smile.
  
  Her eyes were red though.
  
  ' Well, pretty sure those aren't sad tears, at least,' Pierce thought and he felt a grateful push against his mind from Starmie, with images flashing by. 'No problem, Starmie. Your turn now,' he projected at the pokemon, receiving a determined affirmative answer.
  
  "You did great, girl," he complimented, making Gyarados squirm happily. "And thanks for giving her space," he added towards Vaporeon. Part of the reason he'd sent her away was so that she could stay close to the sea serpent while he couldn't, but it was also so that he could have a more one on one session with Misty, even if Gyarados was involved too.
  
  The eeveelution yipped dutifully, making him smile and lean down to pat her head.
  
  "You really are the best," he said. The pokemon responded quickly with a pleased purr while rubbing her head against his hand. "You are the best too, Gyarados," he continued with a chuckle when the sea serpent whined. "And so is my team, I gotta add."
  
  Because if he didn't, then Narcissa would take that personally.
  
  " You are right about that," Cygnus commented, making him grin. He also noted, not for the first time, that his psychic type friend was having less and less trouble speaking. Now he didn't need to stop every so often to make sure he was doing it right. Sure, he was still not that fast, but he was getting there. "Thank you, Helper-Voice," he commented and Pierce was sure he could almost hear a grin on the mental voice. "I'm sure I don't know... what you are talking about."
  
  ' Sure you don't, Cygnus,' he replied with a roll of his eyes.
  
  "... I think it's time, Helper-Voice," his abra commented while Pierce continued petting Vaporeon and sat down in front of Gyarados at the edge of the pool. "Charmer-Survivor has calmed down a great deal... and it wouldn't be nice-"
  
  ' I get it,' Pierce interrupted, feeling some nerves creeping on him. It was stupid, he knew, but he couldn't help it. Looking to the side, he saw his team had gathered together already, with Cygnus and Narcissa sitting on top of Orion and all of them staring in his direction. 'No pressure,' he told himself with a wry grin, much to his abra's amusement. 'Shoo shoo.'
  
  When the presence in his mind receded, he took a deep breath in and then sighed.
  
  "There was something I wanted to talk about with you two," he started, and it seemed that both pokemon got that he was serious, because there was no wiggling from Gyarados nor Vaporeon-ness from Vaporeon. "You didn't let me finish, last time, girl," he commented, planting his hand on Gyarados' crest while both water types stiffened. "Let me finish, ok?" he pressed.
  
  Fortunately - or unfortunately, if you asked him - he didn't receive an angry growl as he expected. Instead, the sea serpent whined pitifully in a way that broke his heart. Still, he forced a smile on his face and soldiered on.
  
  "No worries about leaving just yet, girl. They probably won't find a new place for you for a bit," he said, but that didn't seem to cheer her up. So, maybe it was time for him to get to the point. "Or, as I was going to say the other day, you could not go," he added, and that seemed to catch the Gyarados off guard.
  
  Even Vaporeon shifted under his hand and made a confused sound.
  
  "I talked with the Sisters before going to tell you the news," Pierce started explaining. "I asked them something in regards to the two of you and they agreed, provided that you do too, that is. I asked them... if you could come with me instead, be part of my team." Once that was said, he kept one hand on each pokemon as they both seemed to... do nothing for a long moment.
  
  It wasn't even that they froze. Gyarados continued floating, with all the movement that entailed for her. Vaporeon kept on making small movements this or that way under his hand. That is, until he saw the sea serpent's expression shift a little.
  
  She whined, moving her head forward to press it against his face and chest. Pierce was no expert, of course, but he thought he got what was going on there. He chuckled, smiling widely as he patted the giant water type. It seemed someone was a little more excited than he'd expected.
  
  "I take it that's a yes, girl?" he asked, getting another whine and an even more thorough rubbing of her head against this whole self. "Good to have you on board," he whispered and he truly was. He knew she didn't want him to leave, but there was a very real possibility that she just wanted things to stay the same, the two of them in Cerulean.
  
  That would have been... problematic, since he had a journey that he couldn't quite just up and leave anymore. It wasn't just about him now, after all. It involved a whole team he was putting together and promises made.
  
  "What about you?" he asked softly, turning to look at Vaporeon and moving his hand back towards her. Before he could reach her head though, she moved forward, rubbing her forehead against it herself. "That a yes too?" he tried to confirm, even though he already knew the answer with that alone.
  
  The eeveelution predictably huffed, turning to the side but not pulling her head away from his hand.
  
  "Great. I guess the team grew quite a bit again," he commented to them, to himself and to his team, who was moving closer now. "Only a few things left to do, I guess," he added, chuckling when Cygnus teleported. "He went looking for the pokeballs, girl," he told Gyarados, when she twitched, causing her to go back to rubbing her head against his chest. "Another one of the things we have to get around is names. I'm not sure if you-"
  
  Gyarados interrupted him by pushing even harder against him, to the point that she made him lay back on the ground instead of just sitting there. To the side, Vaporeon huffed, rolling her eyes, while Narcissa let out an annoyed buzz. Orion seemed to think it all looked like a fun game, if the curious look he was sending their way was any indication.
  
  "I think I have the perfect name for you, girl," he commented with a smile as the gyarados pulled back. She looked about as eager as she ever had been for a treat, but twice over. "Bellatrix," he said, very aware of the irony the name implied in this case, but meaning fit . "I don't remember perfectly what it means, but I'm fairly sure it means both "beautiful" and "warrior", maybe-" he didn't get to continue before he was tackled once more.
  
  It was just fortunate that she didn't actually use the move, because he was likely to die if that was the case.
  
  A yip made the newly named Bellatrix pull back and Pierce turned towards Vaporeon. The eeveelution directed an unimpressed look at him, tapping her tail on the ground impatiently. She was annoyed, he knew, but he still couldn't help but chuckle, reaching towards her and pulling her into a hug.
  
  He'd expected a Water Gun for it or maybe a tail slap or something of the sort. Instead, the water type didn't seem to do anything other than let herself be hugged. That only made him smile wider.
  
  "I didn't forget about you, obviously," he said, not letting go. "For you, I thought... Andromeda. I'm fairly sure it was the name of a queen, which I think fits your attitude if nothing else," he explained. Vaporeon seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding imperiously, as if she were trying to push the name even further. "Yeah. Good to have you on board, Andromeda," he commented with a grin, turning to look at his shiny friend and patting her with his hand. "And you too, of course, Bellatrix."
  
  That seemed to be the limit of Narcissa's patience, because she latched onto his back at that very moment. By the time Cygnus returned, he just sat next to Orion and both of them just looked at him being buried under their female teammates. He didn't have any proof, but he also had no doubts that the two little shits were very amused by the sight.
  
  [}-o-{]
  
  "Is this gonna be the norm now?" Lily asked, a weird mix of amused and unimpressed. "Are you gonna make it a habit of getting two new pokemon at a time and when I'm not looking?" she added, fixing Pierce with a look .
  
  "Not like I planned this," he told her flatly. "Well, I sort of did, this time, but I actually went for it when the time felt right," he explained then with a helpless shrug and a smile. "It's what it is, I guess."
  
  "Still, they seem like great teammates," Lily said, making Bellatrix preen in the water and Andromeda let out a pleased sound. "I can't believe you have a shiny gyarados though. People will go wild over that."
  
  "Ah, but you forget her best feature," he pointed out when he saw Bellatrix twitch. Immediately, both Lily and his new sea serpent teammate gave him their whole attention. "She's adorable. Aren't you, Bella?" he asked, and the water type pulled closer to rub her gigantic head against his comparatively tiny hand. "Yes, you are."
  
  "You are not wrong about that," Lily agreed easily, with her "only-you" expression on while she looked at them. "And here I thought I was bringing interesting news," his friend added, with the air of someone that knew something the other person didn't and was extremely happy with that fact.
  
  "I'm listening," he said, more amused than anything. Maybe she'd gotten word from home about something good? A nice change in her sponsorship? Had she found a nice job while doing her things? Maybe people from Pallet had gotten in contact and needed some more advice? Which, by the way, Pierce was still a little confused and suspicious about.
  
  "You are famous," Lily said, smiling and humming as she turned towards the pool, as if what she said made any sense at all. Pierce processed that statement for a long moment, blinking. He went over it a few times with a frown. Beside him, Vaporeon yipped curiously.
  
  "... What?"
  
  "What you heard," his traveling companion said, grinning even wider and looking like she wanted nothing else other than to start laughing. "You, my slightly logically challenged friend, are a celebrity now. Granted, a small one, but a celebrity all the same."
  
  "I'm gonna need more context here, I think," he commented, still not quite wrapping his head around what she was saying. Vaporeon and him followed Lily intently then, as she turned, pulled her pokedex from her backpack and tapped on a bit. Ultimately, she passed it to him with a video already set to be started.
  
  When he hit the button, he saw... himself, with Bellatrix, when she was magikarp. Furthermore, it was a video of the day she had evolved, the moment she had evolved. Camera was a bit shaky and the person holding it obviously moved and probably tried to hide that they were filming because at times it pointed down or was placed right on something that blocked the lens.
  
  "There's more after that," Lily helpfully informed him and he clicked the button to move to the next video. This one was a video of him and Bellatrix, when he'd slept on top of her. He clicked again, getting to a video of Bellatrix and the grumpy Gyarados meeting. He clicked again and it was the last video, by the looks of it. This one was one where he was playing with the school of gyarados, making them do tricks while moving his arms.
  
  "Huh... I'll have to check with the Sisters to make sure this is actually, you know, legal and stuff," he commented, moving between videos. It did look cool, he supposed, but it was also kind of awkward to see himself like that. It put some things into perspective though. 'Maybe Lily's right to call me crazy,' he mused.
  
  "It's definitely not fine," Daisy said, making the both of them jump a little. The motion then annoyed Andromeda, who had at some point laid her head on his lap. It seemed that the Gym Leader had been looking over their shoulders. "That has to have been a staff member and they should know better than to post this kind of thing to the public. We usually allow some "behind the scenes" stuff for our shows, but this is completely different and nobody asked for permission. We'll look into it."
  
  "Ok, if you have to," Pierce commented, looking at the videos again. "I don't mind too much, but it sounds like a Gym thing."
  
  "Well, whoever did this will be in a little less trouble if you aren't going to do anything about it, but they'll definitely be in trouble anyway," the blonde replied, a mean grin on her face. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get in contact with Lily... the other one," she said, walking away. "Try and don't get more famous while I'm away, yeah? Preferably not by getting eaten."
  
  "Sure thing!" he called out in response. "So, you said I was famous? How famous?"
  
  "Very," Lillian answered, looking kind of excited. "There were tons of comments. I can't show you that with my pokedex, I just downloaded the videos. But if you get your hands on a computer, look for ~GyaradosTamer."
  
  "... Because of course," he mumbled, unimpressed. "As if anyone could tame a gyarados of all things."
  
  "What'd you expect from people?"
  
  "Yeah, that's on me, I guess," he answered, sighing. "So, you said there were a lot of comments, never said how the comments were."
  
  "Are you kidding? People love you," Lily said, laughing. "Granted, a lot of people are saying that it's all a montage, but nobody with any brains believes them. As if anyone could make gyarados do anything like that for a montage of all things. It's unbelievable enough as is."
  
  "Too right," he replied with a nod.
  
  "Otherwise it's all good things. I saw a whole thread of people saying they'd pay to watch you do your thing," Lily commented and he was getting the feeling that she'd entertained herself maybe a little too much with that. Maybe she'd fallen down the internet videos rabbit hole while she was at it? The distraction to end all distractions.
  
  "Well, I don't need the money, so..." he started before trailing off and blinking. "Actually, that's a good thing to know."
  
  "Gonna become a pokemon performer? Because I can see that, but I don't think Narcissa would like that," Lily pointed out but he just shook his head, an idea forming in his mind.
  
  "No, no, just... Andromeda, can you keep an eye on Bellatrix?" he asked, getting a yip from the now a little confused vaporeon. "Bella!" he called out loud. The gyarados swam close to them from where she'd been chatting with Orion some distance away, never out of sight, of course. She seemed to have calmed down a great deal after she officially joined his team, he noticed.
  
  It made him feel guilty, but it was better to have waited a little until she calmed down by herself. That was his opinion, at least.
  
  "I'm going to leave for a few minutes, ok? I have to talk about something with the Sisters. Andy here," he started explaining, that last part getting him a slap of the vaporeon's tail. Apparently, she wasn't a fan of the shortened form of her name. "And the rest are going to keep you company, yeah? I promise I'll be back in a bit. Is that ok?"
  
  Bellatrix let out a slight whine but she nodded.
  
  "Thank you. You are the best," he told her with a grin, patting her crest affectionately, before starting to move.
  
  He had a plan to discuss with the Sisters, it seemed.
  
  [} Chapter End {]
  
  Hey guys! How's it going?
  
  Well, some of us have seen Professor Davis before (from GoM for those not in the know) and now we've also seen Professor Lawson. Neat, right? Wonder if that'll lead somewhere or if it'll just be regular Slice of Life. Never know.
  
  Also, I think everyone either saw those two joining or strongly suspected/wished it would happen. I wasn't sure if I'd go for both myself, but such was the way the characters decided to do things. I'm sure there'll be people upset or something about the fact that Pierce has two water types instead of just the one but... It's what it is. This is a story about a sort of real world, not a competitive game tournament. People are allowed to make non-meta decisions.
  
  Interestingly, Andromeda is the first one to not have the possibility of a mega evolution in the future. Wonder if she'll be the exception to the rule or merely the first case of this. Guess we'll find out with time.
  
  Oh, and Pierce seems to have become viral too.
  
  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
  
  As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:
  
  P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing
  
  Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ
  
  Random Question: What's the last video you watched? The last video I watched was a Fish Tank Review from the channel Fish For Thought.
  
  See you.
  
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