Searching Far and Wide - 59 (Patreon)

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,’ Pierce projected 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 underwater 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.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Starmie or Golduck? I like Golduck more myself.

See you.