Searching Far and Wide - 2 (Patreon)

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 last. 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 dayling 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.

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.