Searching Far and Wide - 4 (Patreon)

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 graced 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.

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.