Searching Far and Wide - 76 (Patreon)

Cover Art: Amasw.

Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Abra

- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)

- Andromeda, Vaporeon

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

Route 5 I

“Can’t believe we are actually leaving Cerulean,” Lily commented from beside him.

“Gee, thanks, less annoying Lily,” Daisy said from slightly behind the two of them.

“Excuse me?” the… “more annoying Lily”, in this case, asked, scandalized. In fairness… Pierce didn’t know if that was actually the case. If he was pressed on the matter, he’d say it depended on the day, but they were mostly about even.

And that was not the point, he supposed.

“You are excused,” Daisy replied instantly. Off to the side, Violet just shook her head, done with her sisters’ antics already, as usual. “I see you couldn’t wait to get away from us, huh?”

“I mean,-”

“You don’t count, lover boy,” Violet interrupted him, making him and Daisy both turn to give her an unimpressed look.

“I was just going to say that if I didn’t want to be here, I could have left a while ago,” Pierce said, rolling his eyes and sending annoyance at Cygnus, who was snickering in his mind. Sure, the stay at Cerulean had been longer than he’d expected or even wanted back before he was there, but he wouldn’t change anything about it. He’d spent all that time helping pokemon and people. What more could he want?

“And you definitely would have stayed that long without the Water types needing help,” Lily – the Sensational Sister – commented with a roll of her eyes. It was… fair, but also not.

“No, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like being here. I just didn’t like putting off my journey. I wanted to be here, but I also want to keep the promises I made to my team,” he explained before just chuckling. “And fishing for compliments ain’t nice, Lily,” he added, giving the pink-haired woman a look.

“But you were doing so well. I could almost taste the praise and awe,” she lamented, even though she had a smile on her face. “Do take care of yourself, ok? And try not to get eaten by anything.”

“That’s the idea,” he replied only to blink as all the Sensational Sisters and his traveling companion looked at him flatly. “What?” he asked, confused and causing Misty to shake her head. “What?” he repeated a little more intently. He felt like he was missing someth-

“You wouldn't be careful if people paid you,” his first human friend in that world told him, unimpressed. “I’ll do my best though.”

“Do stay in one piece, ok, Pierce? Otherwise nobody’ll be able to make Daisy be nice ever a-” the pink-haired sister started only to be interrupted by an elbow to the side courtesy of a now slightly red-faced Daisy. At least she was doing better than Misty in that regard, he guessed. “Hey! See?” the woman pointed out.

“I feel like you deserve that, so… I’ll just ignore you,” he decided out loud, getting a snort from Violet. “Either way, this isn’t a goodbye. We’ll drop by for a visit at some point, I promise.”

“You better,” Daisy told him quickly. “And who knows, maybe we can go on another date if we are both still single,” she added with a smile that said a lot with no words at all.

“Just don’t come back home. You traumatized poor Misty,” Violent said, clearly with more intention to embarrass her little sister than anything. She was successful in that endeavor though, if the furious blush was any indication. “The poor thing will never be able to be the same after she walked in on-”

“I think,” Daisy interrupted, coughing behind her hand and looking away. “That’s enough.”

“You sure, because I was about to get to the good part, the part where you-”

“I think,” Pierce interrupted with the same tone as the blonde had, his expression wry. “That you can tease Daisy after we are gone,” he finished.

“Yea-Wait, what?”

“But I want to tease you too, Pierce,” Violet said with a wide grin. One that was quickly wiped from her face by a look and a raised eyebrow from him. After all, he had… an ace up his sleeve, as it were.

“Well, turnabout is fair play, isn’t it?” he commented idly, drawing confused and curious expressions from the other sisters while the blue-haired one paled. “So, I guess, if we are in a teasing mood-”

“There’s, there’s no need for that,” she stammered nervously, very aware of the attention her sisters had now placed on her. However, Pierce was nothing if not kind, so he…

“Well, you see, I was minding my own business the other morning when-”

… teased her, of course.

He was nice, not a saint, after all.

“I said there was no need!” Violet interrupted with a shriek, making him chuckle. “You are a terrible, terrible person, Pierce. No wonder you get along so well with Daisy.”

“Well, there are other reasons,” the blonde said, and she wasn’t even truly going for an innuendo there, if the soft smile on her face was anything to go by. “We’ll be waiting, ok? Don’t be a stranger. Especially you, mister,” she told them, poking his chest with her finger. In response, he just smiled at her and her sisters. He was going to miss them, he realized, because they were good friends, for as long as he’d been there in their city and had known them.

Regardless of whatever weird relationship he had with Daisy.

“Same. Do remember you can call,” he commented, making the blonde scoff.

“It was one time,” she mumbled, looking away.

“And now he’s never gonna let it go. Believe me, I know,” his traveling companion told the Sensational Sister. Pierce, meanwhile, just smiled proudly. Because if someone did something dumb, they deserved to be teased.

That was how it had always been with his friends. His old ones, at least. He was just continuing the tradition with the new ones.

God, he was going to miss them.

[}-o-{]

“God, have I been missing this,” Pierce said once they were far enough from Cerulean that they couldn’t see it anymore.

Route 5 was… a normal route, by the looks of it. There was the beaten path, which was the quickest, most straightforward path between Cerulean and Saffron, and then there was the forest on each side. Lily and him had had plenty of time to prepare, so they more or less knew the look of the terrain like they’d grown up there with how much they’d checked every map they could get their hands on.

Pierce was pretty sure Lily on her own couldn’t get lost there if she tried.

They were still careful, of course, because studying maps was very different from being in the middle of the wilderness themselves. And they truly were in the middle of things, since they had to leave the straight path and take a little detour. Why? Because they were looking for one of the many rivers that were spread around not only the zone but also most of the region in general.

Pierce wasn’t entirely sure there were that many rivers… anywhere back in his world, really. However, he did remember the anime having a lot of rivers and lakes in its episodes. Maybe this was yet another case of anime stuff bleeding into the more logical world he was in? 

Or maybe he was remembering things wrong and it was something else entirely, he wasn’t too sure.

The important thing was that it was good that there were a bunch of rivers and lakes all over the place, because it meant that Pierce didn’t need to worry about Andromeda and, more importantly, Bellatrix having a bad time while they traveled. Last thing he wanted was to make his pokemon feel like literal fish out of the water right after they left the familiar place that was Cerulean.

Sure, they needed to go out of the way a little and it’d lengthen the trip a bit, but Route 5 was laughably short compared to Viridian Forest, let alone the stretch between Pewter and Cerulean. They were probably going to be there for a week, if that. Which was good, because while he missed traveling through the wild, Pierce knew that it’d be a matter of days before the annoying parts overpowered the nice ones.

“It is nice to be back here. The city and the beach are nice but I quite like the forest,” Lily commented, walking beside him with a smile on her face. Idly, Pierce glanced to the side and saw Narcissa flying between trees. His beedrill certainly seemed to be enjoying herself in a more familiar environment.

“You would,” he commented with a grin. “Green,” he added, making the girl give him an unimpressed expression. It didn’t matter. He was a genius and that was that. Besides, she had certainly not helped her case by picking a bulbasaur as her starter.

“Why did I wait to travel with you? I’m suddenly wondering,” the girl grumbled, her smile long gone. Still, he knew she wasn’t truly angry and it’d pass in less than a minute. She was silly like that. He was proven right when she sighed and turned back to him with a normal expression. “Any plans for Sabrina?”

‘Besides hopefully not getting my mind read?’ he couldn’t help but think to himself. Because sure, not even Cygnus seemed to be able to pick up the… suspicious parts of his mind, for whatever reason, but Pierce didn’t feel safe even then. Because Saffron was home to some of the strongest Psychics in Kanto. Hell, maybe even if you took into account several regions.

Sabrina was considered one of the, if not the most talented human Psychic in the world. She was also considered to be on the upper end of the Gym Leader rankings for Kanto, which was really not something one wanted to underestimate. Between those two things, Pierce was basically gathering that if someone could get into his head and see things he’d rather remain secret, then it was likely that they’d be in Saffron.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t like he could avoid that forever or like trying to would help at all.

“Well, I have some options, but I might try to give my team some more. Sabrina is considered a menace, after all,” he commented idly, running his fingers through his hair. “We’ll work on stuff through this trip, maybe I’ll get some more tutor moves at Saffron and challenge her once we have them under control,” he said, going over his notes on the matter.

Not that he had super clear ones. He’d looked into Sabrina and come up with stuff, but that was kind of difficult when she could literally just throw whatever at him. She seemed to have no problems pulling out some bullshit choices even on normal trainers. He had a feeling that she wouldn’t be throwing anything remotely easy his way.

She was strong, she was tricky and her selection of pokemon was basically whatever she felt like using, so long as it was Psychic type..

Yeah, Pierce wasn’t looking forward to that challenge, he’d admit. Alas, needs must. He wasn’t sure he could convince Narcissa not to go for it if they were around though. Sure, she’d let things be against Brock the first time around because she was basically the lone combatant back then and against Rock types. Now that she had more training and more teammates?

Yeah, they were going to be fighting those Psychics whether he liked it or not.

Not for the first time, he cursed the fact that Narcissa’s Poison typing made her weak against Psychic, because she was for sure going to want to be part of that challenge. With any luck, he’d be able to convince her to wait until Surge. However, considering she’d been left out of Pewter, getting her to give up a second Gym in a row could prove a challenge by itself, pun not intended.

“How about you? Looking forward to it?” he asked, checking on his compass just in case.

“Yes and no?” Lily commented, looking like she was dreading Saffron too, which was… fair.

[}-o-{]

“Pidgey and pidgeotto are, generally speaking, very friendly,” Pierce said, smiling softly as he ran his fingers through the feathers of one of the formers. There were three bird pokemon perched on him though, one on each of his shoulders and the last one on his raised forearm. “Not everyone knows that they can be very aggressive if provoked,” he continued, glancing towards Lily, who held the camera aimed at him.

Although, occasionally, she’d sweep the area with it to catch the rest of the flock around them.

Perhaps it wasn’t very surprising, but it took them a grand total of one day to find pokemon to spend time with. It was their second day out on Route 5, in the early morning, when they came across a curious pidgey. One thing had led to the other and Pierce found himself preparing some quick pokeblocks for the flock. Not so long after that, Lily had taken out the camera and they started working on a video.

“Now, on top of provoking them with… questionable actions and less than smart decisions,” Pierce said, smiling softly despite his words as he brought an unprocessed berry to one of the other pidgeys hanging around him. He was keenly aware of the pidgeotto perched on a nearby tree branch watching his every movement intently. “There’s also the possibility of accidentally angering them. How can this be done? By attacking someone of their flock. Battles are fine, but if you ambush them or otherwise force the violence on them, especially if you catch them off guard, they will fight you and not in a fair fight.”

Pidgeotto chirped from where she sat, clearly voicing her agreement.

“Furthermore, flock and some solitary pidgeotto and pidgeot tend to get territories for themselves. They won’t fight everything that enters these spaces, but they will fight anyone that causes problems inside their areas. So, if at all possible, avoid causing a ruckus, causing damage to the area or anything that they can see as a threat to their territory, their flock or themselves,” Pierce explained, receiving another agreeing chirp. “Did I get everything?” he asked the pidgeotto an amused look, even if it was an actual question.

After a thoughtful moment, the Flying type chirped something, pointing at the stack of food by Pierce.

“Ah, of course,” he said, nodding. “Well, like most pokemon, they will considerably warm up to someone if they show themselves harmless, friendly and give them food. Yes, I know, that works with practically everyone, humans included,” he joked, even though it wasn’t really a lie. “Also like in most cases, the pidgey line is particular about how they’ll accept food from strangers.”

At this point, Pierce took one berry. Instead of feeding it to the pidgey like he had so far, he decided that it was better to show instead of just telling… Even if it was kind of late. He’d just have to make sure he covered that.

“I’ve already befriended these lot, but for someone that wants to feed them without really knowing them, it’s best to leave the food somewhere within their sight and then leave the food there,” Pierce explained, idly running the tips of his fingers through the feathers of one of the pidgey. “They’ll decide if they trust you or the food in their own time. Don’t pressure them, don’t try to convince them. It’s all on them. Once the first bit is accepted, you can be a little bolder, but always remember to take your time and give the pokemon their own time to take. They are all, after all, different in their own unique little ways, even when they are of the same line.”

From there, Pierce continued going over all the little details about how the pidgey line behaved in all its stages. He was careful, though, to mention what was studied and what he’d seen for himself while interacting with the Flying types. After all, he didn’t know how thorough the people writing the books and articles he studied were when gathering their info. So, he preferred to trust his own observations just a little bit more.

Not that he thought he knew better, but books could only take one so far. They needed to generalize and generalizing usually went wrong, especially with creatures as unique as pokemon. Generalizing was as bad a practice in regards to pokemon as it was with people, really, as far as Pierce was concerned. Sure, some people would say that it was quite applicable in the case of pokemon and that pokemon lines usually shared quite a bit, but the same could be said about humans, really.

So, Pierce would rather observe and learn from each individual and try to put together the puzzle pieces.

In a way, he tried to teach others to do the same. Try this, check that, ask something and so on, it was all a process of getting to know the pokemon and learning how to best approach them. Some broader strokes were necessary, sure, but he didn’t want all of it to be things that people could learn looking through the internet and books. He wanted his videos to have a more personal touch.

Lily seemed to agree with him on that, saying that his brand of crazy was sure to help more than just quoting official sources.

Pierce wasn’t too sure he appreciated being called insane, but that was far from the first time his traveling companion said anything like that. Either way, so long as people enjoyed the videos and learned something, then he could call it a win. He had fun, Lily had fun and the pokemon were, hopefully, better understood.

Everybody won, as far as he was concerned.

[}-o-{]

“Hey girl,” he greeted after letting Bellatrix out of her pokeball. The river they’d found was on the small side of things, barely able to hold the gyarados and that was without her moving all that much. It would have to do for the night though, because the sun was going down and they needed to set up camp already. “Hope the trip wasn’t too uncomfortable for you,” he added, patting the red scales of his sea serpent.

The pseudo-stasis of the pokeballs was great, but he’d read about and sometimes even seen some pokemon that weren’t fans. Even those that were fine with it could have problems in certain situations, such as traveling for long periods and such. So, Pierce had made a mental note to check with everyone in his team if things were fine with the pokeballs.

So far, he’d been lucky, but it wasn’t like it was common for pokemon to dislike pokeballs or have any problems with them at all.

It was still worth keeping an eye on though.

“Happy to hear that, Bella,” he commented when his gyarados growled something positive and rubbed her head against him. “I hope the river’s not too bad. Tomorrow we should stop at a better place,” he said, only to smile at her when the sea serpent made some sounds and gestures to reassure him. “You’re a tough cookie, aren’t you?”

That got him a firm nod.

“Speaking of, want some snacks?” he asked and then he chuckled when Bellatrix perked up instantly. “Wait here,” he said, turning and moving towards where he’d set down his stuff for the night. Gazing around the small clearing by the river, he checked on everyone. Lily was talking with her team by her side of the camp area while Cygnus sat at the foot of a tree that Narcissa seemed to be inspecting, buzzing around.

Orion was a little separated from them, but that was because he was checking the rocks by the river to see if they were worth eating or not. Just in case though, Pierce noted him down to check on if he took too long there. Last but certainly not least was Andromeda… who was walking by his side ever since he let her out. 

“Anything I should know?” he asked, because Andromeda was great at keeping an eye on things. If he missed something, chances were that she wouldn’t. She’d repeatedly proven this at the Cerulean Gym with the gyarados school and he expected she would continue to do so with his own team, maybe even Lily’s team too.

With a yip, the vaporeon gestured towards Orion with her paw.

“I saw him. Is something going on or is he just letting his stomach guide him as usual?” he asked, a half-smile on his face. He was starting to think that Orion’s version of exploring the world was to taste rocks from everywhere instead of actually sightseeing. It was an amusing thought, if nothing else.

Andromeda answered him with a shrug.

“Well, guess we’ll both keep an eye on him… If only to avoid him getting lost,” he said, drawing a snort from the Water type. Not that Orion could get lost even if he tried. If they couldn’t find an onix, then it was because they weren’t even trying. There was just no way… But it was still better to not have to look for him at all.

Andromeda voiced her agreement and nodded.

“How are you liking traveling, by the way?” he asked, looking down at the vaporeon as she sat down and tilted her head curiously at him. “Is walking around fine with you? I’ll admit I’m not too clear on how much water you need and such,” he commented idly. He had looked that stuff up but vaporeon were just… weird. With their cell composition being so similar to water that they could melt into it, one would expect that they’d need a lot of water around often and all that and some people seemed to agree with that.

Others seemed to think that they were very adapted to life both in and out of the water. This group believed, with some solid proof, that vaporeon were fine in any environment that wasn’t too dry, like a desert. Thus, why Pierce found himself a little confused and unsure.

Andromeda yipped at him with a shrug.

“Guess we’ll see,” he mumbled, running his fingers through his hair and pondering on that. Idly, he glanced towards Orion and then focused back on the Water type in front of him. “You can go swim for a bit if you want. Bella probably could use the company and I have to set up camp now,” he told her, earning himself a thoughtful look before Andromeda nodded and started walking towards the river.

Huh, he’d thought he’d need to be a little more insistent.

“Have fun,” he called and the vaporeon didn’t even deign that with an answer. That was much more her style, Pierce thought with a grin. “Now, about this camp…”

Not long after that, both Lily and him had finished setting up their tents and were working on their dinner. Lily prepared the food for both of them and Pierce was in charge of cooking some poffins and mixing some pokeblocks for their teams. Or trying to, at least, considering Star was a little too excited for the meal and was clinging onto him.

A yip made the overeager cleffa pause and pout at his vaporeon.

“Relax, I’ll get it done faster if I can have some space,” he said softly, patting the Fairy type’s head. That seemed to calm her down a little, even if she was bouncing where she sat on the ground by him. As he continued working, he saw Gem move to rest next to the cleffa and he wondered if the geodude was there to hold the little one if she couldn’t stop herself anymore.

That was an amusing thought.

‘Hm, I definitely missed traveling,’ he thought to himself, glancing around at the camp.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

And we are officially out of Cerulean and on the road once more. Not much else to say, since it’s more of a transition chapter. I also don’t have huge ideas for Route 5, admittedly. Then again, I didn’t have much in mind for Cerulean and we’ve only just now finished with that.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Not feeling very Random Question-ish today. Anything you wanna tell me about this story?

See you.