Searching Far and Wide - 7 (Patreon)

Pewter City I

Pierce was currently watching Beedrill zoom around while practicing Harden and Iron Defense. She was also supposed to be working on Tailwind, but that was a long ways away from even showing much progress at all. As it was, his partner couldn’t even get Flying energy to work for her at all. Talon was doing his best to teach her though and they were… Well, they hoped they were getting there, even if at a slow pace.

What they were working on at the moment wasn’t really focused on that though. Instead, Pierce was having his companion train to see if she could use her defensive moves while moving. For the moment though, she needed to take a moment, stop and then use them. He wanted that to change, because if she could do what they were attempting, then it’d be pretty great.

Beedrill was also trying really hard, but either it wasn’t possible or they’d have to keep at it for a while. Considering how long it was likely to take them to get Tailwind, Pierce was fine with being stubborn. The same could be said for his bug type partner, so they’d try. He’d have to look that up once they reached Pewter, because Lily didn’t remember if it was possible or not.

When Beedrill threw her arms – ‘Er, stingers?’ – up in the air for the fourth time, he chuckled. She obviously didn’t find it as funny as he did, because she sent a threatening stab his way. Pierce still kept a smile on his face as he considered his very frustrated pokemon.

“Guess we can take a break from it,” he told her, continuing before she could even think about being stubborn. “Frustrating yourself isn’t gonna help much. How about we work on your Poison Sting on the rocks for a bit and then go back to this later?” he suggested, making Beedrill pause. Then she grumbled something and nodded stiffly.

Truly, he’d found quite the… motivated pokemon, it seemed.

Then the bug type paused again and turned to look at him. When she signaled something with one of her stingers, Pierce groaned. He went for an excuse, but she just buzzed something at him, which made him sigh. Then he tried for a very pitiful expression, but that also had no effect whatsoever.

“Fine, I’m getting up already,” he grumbled as he went to stand up. “Fucking demanding pokemon, why did I think joining the training was a good idea?” he lamented to himself before stretching a little and started jogging around Beedrill’s training area.

It was something he’d thought off while watching his pokemon train, actually. He’d felt bad about having her training and telling her what to do and stuff. So, he’d decided that he might as well do something like that himself too. Besides, he’d always wanted to try and get in shape… Beedrill had jumped on the idea though and now she wouldn’t let him be lazy.

He might have made a slight miscalculation, considering his battle maniac of a beedrill was also a training maniac. That was all well and good, of course, until he’d stupidly added himself to said training. ‘I’m a dumb bastard,’ Pierce thought to himself as he ran circles around. He tried to keep an eye on his pokemon’s training while he was at it, but that didn’t last very long. ‘God, I knew I was out of shape but this still sucks.’

“Having fun?” Lily called after who knew how long. He’d stopped jogging and had already switched through several exercises already. If he was going to keep it up, he might need to look for actual routines and such for himself, Pierce decided. Considering Beedrill seemed very into training together with him though… Well, it was kind of a given, so he added that point next to the list of stuff he’d need to look up for his pokemon companion. “Because you look like you are,” his human companion added, making him groan as he went to stand up.

“Laugh it up,” he grumbled, stretching for a bit as if that would somehow make things better. It didn’t, but that was to be expected. “This sucks, but I’m hoping it’ll get better with time… Really hoping.”

“I’m sure,” Lily commented, looking like she was doing her best not to laugh at him. “No offense to you, Beedrill,” she added then, turning towards the aforementioned pokemon as she approached them. “But I’m glad we are finally out of the forest. I’m not going to miss fearing a stinger to the back, I can tell you that,” the girl explained, giving a fake shudder as she finished.

“It wasn’t that bad. I’m gonna miss the weedle and caterpie,” Pierce said with a slight smile even as his muscles protested all over his body. Next to him, Beedrill turned away from him. “Oh, come on, girl. I know you don’t like the caterpie line, but they aren’t that-” he was interrupted though, as his partner thrust one of her stingers at him as if holding him back.

Blinking, he noticed that she was staring rather intently at the forest which was not very far away just yet, since they’d barely stepped out of the thickest part. After that, they’d decided to take advantage of the wider space to train some before continuing to move. Or maybe they’d just stay there for the night, they hadn’t really discussed it all that much after stopping, both of them jumping to training.

He almost went to ask if something was going on, but he decided to just leave his pokemon to it. If he needed to know something, she’d at least try to communicate that to him. So, he just stood there as Beedrill stared back at the forest while trading a confused look with Lily. His fellow trainer’s partners for their part, were just as curiously walking/flying up to them and giving Beedrill looks.

Until a few seconds later, that is, when his pokemon started buzzing really loudly. It wasn’t quite a move, but if someone had told Pierce that it was, he might have believed them. Fortunately, right before doing that, she’d flown away a little. Otherwise, he might have worried for his hearing, honestly.

This new development did nothing at all to answer any of the questions their little group was thinking. However, that came a few moments later and only Pierce himself remained calm when they did. Lily and her two pokemon, for their part, tensed up as they heard the responding buzzing that came from the forest, growing louder and louder with every second.

“Beedrill, everything ok?” he asked his partner, unsure of what was going on but not scared. If he could walk up to an angry swarm of beedrill, he could trust his partner with whatever was happening, he decided. When she gave a slow nod, he frowned. What was that supposed to be? Hesitation? Uncertainty?

Regardless of that, the time to face what he guessed was another swarm came quickly. It was, however, nothing like what he’d expected. Then again, he hadn’t really known what to expect to begin with, he supposed. Thus, Pierce could only stare and blink, taken aback, as the beedrill came flying out of the woods. One right after another, they seemed to make a stop in front of him and his partner before making their way to the nearby trees.

“Well, that’s very nice of them,” he mumbled, looking down at the ground. There, as the bug types continued their strange doings, they started to gather more and more objects. There were berries, which were the easiest to recognize and what he guessed were bottles of potion and such. They were a little worn out and the labels looked like they’d seen better times though, as if the things had laid on the forest floor for some time.

To be fair, that was probably the case.

“This… This is for us, I’m guessing?” Pierce asked, looking around at the gathering of beedrill that had formed around them. There were so many that the now almost scarce trees weren’t enough for them, so some of them had stopped on the ground. One of them in particular was the one to reply with a buzz. “Thank you, then,” he said, feeling pretty sure that was a positive, all things considered. “Although, I don’t-”

He was interrupted though, as the bug type clicked something with its mandibles and turned slightly. Pierce understood immediately what it was trying to tell him though. After all, how could he miss its meaning, when there was a weedle with a slightly golden hue riding on its back.

“I see,” Pierce said, grinning. “Don’t mention it then. I still appreciate the gifts, even if they weren’t necessary,” he commented, walking towards the small pile of resources and checking them idly. “Take care of yourselves, yeah? I’ll probably come for a visit sometime.”

With a stiff nod, that one beedrill took off, soon followed by the rest of the swarm. Neither Lily nor the pokemon said much right after that, although his own beedrill did approach and tilt her head towards the pile. He looked through the objects, not really looking at them but more considering how nice the gesture was.

‘What goes around comes around,’ he thought to himself, picking up a rather delicious looking berry. He knew this wasn’t a payment for all the food he’d given the weedle around the forest and such, but he couldn’t help but relate it to that. Pokemon weren’t animals, who being nice to would have dubious results at best. They were more intelligent than that, maybe differently than humans, but Pierce wouldn’t say they were less intelligent either.

“I wouldn’t eat that one,” Lily warned, looking a little… weary, he’d say. “It’s very sour,” she explained, looking between Pierce himself and the forest where the beedrill had come from and then disappeared towards. “Have I told you that you are insane, Pierce?” she asked, giving him an incredulous expression.

“No?” he replied with a blink. “Why though?”

If anything, her expression got worse.

[}-o-{]

“Man, I can’t wait to get to the Pokemon Center,” Lily said, walking faster than any other day they’d been traveling together. Although, the more she spoke, the more Pierce understood. Honestly, he was kinda looking forward to it himself by then already. “Having an actual bath instead of “bathing” in the middle of a forest will be glorious,” she said, sighing dreamily as if she could already picture that.

Pierce, for his part, grimaced a little. That had been a part of traveling through the wild and camping that he hadn’t much cared for, on top of it making things just the smallest bit awkward that first night. Having to look for a secluded place to wash himself with some water and soap had been… Well, he’d rather do it the civilized way, for sure.

“And an actual meal instead of this instant stuff,” Lily continued, almost making him groan. “I so wish I had taken my mother up when she offered to teach me how to cook some stuff for camping. I thought that’d be too much of a hassle to bother. The instant meals weren’t so bad, I had thought.”

“Oh, you sweet summer child,” he commented, drawing an indignant squeak from her.

“Well, you are in the same boat, mister,” she accused, to which he chuckled. “I’m definitely filling my Preserving Box with things to actually cook a meal. I’ll look up recipes and all. No way I’m doing another stretch without proper food. At least once in a while,” she resolved and Pierce was reminded of the fact that he still hadn’t known the name of the green box. ‘Good to know it now, I guess. I’ll have to check stuff like that later,’ he mused.

“How far are we again?” he asked instead, looking ahead on the road.

“Should be close enough to see Pewter soon,” the girl said, looking up towards where Talon and Beedrill were flying overhead. They were walking through plain fields now, and they could see a few farms that were probably on the outer part of the city. They were practically there, he supposed. It wouldn’t even be night time by the time they arrived, which was great.

“So, your plan was to stay at Pewter for some time?” Pierce asked, wondering what he’d do himself.

“Yeah, the Gym shouldn’t be too difficult with Root, but… Well, I want to prepare more for Mt. Moon, if possible,” Lily said, rubbing her left arm self-consciously. “I think I want to spend some time there. Really give getting a clefairy a good chance, you know?”

“Sounds like as good an idea as any other, honestly,” he told her with a grin and a shrug.

“Besides, that should give enough time for a tournament to be held, so I might as well wait and participate in one of those, one never knows, right?” Lily commented, not quite looking ahead as her mind drifted off towards her soon to be coming time in Pewter. He could relate, somewhat, even if he hadn’t quite reached that level just yet. Maybe she’d suffered the wilderness more than him… She probably had, actually. He’d woken up in the middle of the forest, she’d likely had to travel her way there too.

There was also the fact that he was older, which might have helped.

Pierce wasn’t focusing on that too much though. Instead, he was thinking about what she said about tournaments. From the way she talked about them and a few other comments he’d caught in previous conversations, she made it sound like those were common. He’d have to look into that himself too, it seemed, if they were anything like what he was imagining.

“Well, the good thing is that I won’t have to stock up much in regards to resources,” he commented, drawing a chuckle from his traveling companion. “I mean, the berries will disappear really quick-”

“I said I was sorry!” Lily protested as the trainer of two pokemon that had unabashedly eaten through many of the berries he’d gotten from the beedrill swarm. Not that he minded – he’d offered them to the pokemon, after all –, but it was fun to tease her about it.

“-But the potions and such should last a while, I think,” he finished, containing a laugh at her reaction. Granted, most of the supplies he’d gotten were just normal potions and antidotes, but that was fine by him. It was all free, after all. The surprising part had been the Full Restore he’d found almost hidden away. It was supposed to be dangerous if used too frequently in a pokemon, but one would have a pokemon go from almost dead to recovered in less than a day. A check up was very advised if used in such dire circumstances though.

“Lucky bastard,” the girl next to him grumbled.

“Is that any way for a lady to talk?” he asked, amused, drawing a huff from Lily.

“I still can’t believe they just… gave you all that,” she muttered, gesturing incredulously towards his backpack. “You know how many trainers wish they could get all that stuff for free? Especially at the beginning of their journey. I had to get a part time job because my mother refused to give me more than the bare minimum. Said it’d be for my own good or something,” she continued grumbling under her breath and Pierce wasn’t even sure if she was actually talking to him anymore.

“Did you at least like it?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. When she turned to look at him with a confused expression, he clarified. “The job, I mean.”

“Oh, uh… It wasn’t too bad. I was helping my aunt with her clothes store. It was a little tiring at times, but otherwise it was nice. The best part was definitely being over with it though, mainly because she gifted me most of my trainer clothes,” Lily told him with a smile as she twirled on top of her right foot.

“That was nice of her,” he commented.

“Yeah, well, it was the least she could do after I had to deal with her OCD a few too many times,” Lily added, making him chuckle. “How about you, did you have a job before deciding to become a trainer?”

“No, I was… studying,” Pierce said, almost getting stuck on his reply. ‘You know how to lie like a pro, Pierce, come on,’ he thought to himself, putting on a bitter, saddened expression. He didn’t even have to fake that, really. “It didn’t work out for me, in the end. And I just… I guess I kind of fell to this. Mostly because I wanted to get away from things.”

“I’m sorry if that was a bad topic to bring up,” Lily apologized, but he waved her off.

“It’s fine. I just hope I can find what I truly want to do,” he told her, smiling up at Beedrill. “Maybe it’ll even be training, who knows?”

And wasn’t that the question? Nothing he’d said was a lie, really, except the fact that he wanted to get away from things. Although, that statement was more of an exaggeration than a completely untruthful thing. He definitely hadn’t wanted that enough to be happy with being thrown into a different world, that was for sure.

However, it also wasn’t like it was all bad. Back in his own life, things hadn’t been going well for him. Mostly because of his own doing, but the fact stood. He’d been drifting through life without even knowing what to do or what way to look for answers. He’d been lost and now…

‘Now I’m more lost,’ he thought wryly. However, there was a difference, he felt. In this completely separate world… He was freer than he’d ever been. There was literally nothing tying him to anything. He could do whatever he wanted, to an extent, and that felt amazing.

“It could be, you are doing really well so far,” Lily pointed out with a slight grin, probably trying to cheer him up. “And if not, maybe you can be a ranger, you certainly have a knack for getting pokemon to like you,” she added, making him chuckle.

“Maybe,” he agreed with a slight nod. He’d enjoyed himself in the forest, meeting new pokemon and such. However, that didn’t mean the same thing would happen in other places. It was a bit early to make decisions, he supposed. “I’ll see how things go,” he decided, both out loud and internally.

“Hm, oh, there’s some people ahead, you think they’ll wanna battle?” Lily asked, pointing down the road. And that was that. If that was her purposely changing topics, then Pierce was certainly grateful.

If not, then he guessed he was just lucky.

[}-o-{]

“I feel like a new person,” Lily said, sitting across from him on the table he’d taken in the Pokemon Center.

Finding the city and walking inside had been… An experience, he supposed. It was a relief, but it was also a reminder that he was far from home. The general strokes on the picture Pewter painted were familiar enough to Pierce, but there were glaring details that stood out like a sore thumb.

The pokemon living amongst people like one would expect pets to was one of the most noticeable things, but that wasn’t the only one. Devices looked different from what he would have seen back home, even normal ones like TVs and computers. And walking past store fronts was a strange experience, since there was a lot of pokemon related stuff mixed in between more mundane store goods.

Pierce had done his best not to be obvious on his staring at basically anything and everything, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was. With some luck, that would be blamed on him visiting Pewter for the first time or something. Which was a good excuse because it wasn’t a complete lie either. The city was quite beautiful, in its unassuming way. The sturdy buildings with stone walls made for imposing sights, that was for sure. The monotony of so much rock was a bit… disappointing though, but it wasn’t too bad, really.

Once they found out the way to the Pokemon Center though, sightseeing had become kind of a secondary thing, even for Pierce. They really could use a moment to bring themselves back to civilization for real. He could confidently say that after a bath and getting a cup of tea from the cafeteria, he felt like a new person, as his traveling companion had put it.

“I know, right?” Pierce agreed with Lily’s words, leaning back against this chair and enjoying the feel of it. “You didn’t have to use up the Center’s water reserves though.”

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed, rolling her eyes at him. “Were you much better?” she asked with narrowed eyes. Raising an eyebrow, he tapped the notebook he’d set on the table with his finger.

“I had time to look up some things. Training info for Beedrill and such, amongst other stuff,” he told her. No need to explain that he’d also looked up for stuff that was probably common knowledge in her world. He’d written all those things up on the back of the notebook, just in case. That’d probably look suspicious, but he’d kind of need that for a while until he learned it all by heart. “I also learned that there’s a tournament that’ll be held in a week. Well, there’s one that starts today, but not only is it late to sign up for it, it’s also for trainers with two to four badges.”

Lily clicked her tongue, pouting.

“That’s a little long a wait, but I guess I can manage to pay my stay here for a little longer,” she said. That had been a surprise for Pierce, that the Center didn’t offer free stays. Granted, it made sense, but it just wasn’t what he’d expected. “Anything good as prizes? I might not want to bother.”

“I mean, a bit of everything, it seems,” Pierce started, looking for the page where he’d noted that down. “It’s mostly vouchers to use in local business. Food, supplies, even one for the shop we saw selling rocks.”

“Oh, some of those were pretty,” Lily said, smiling. “I might just go for it, I guess. Could come in handy to prepare for Mt. Moon.”

It was then that Pierce noticed something strange. His traveling companion seemed to be a little… subdued, he’d say. Not particularly unhappy, but considering her usually bubbly personality, it was noticeable. Then again, it wasn’t like she was always happy, but still. With their arrival at Pewter, he’d expected her to go full sugar rush mode or something.

“Everything ok? You seem a little down,” he asked, tilting his head.

“It’s fine, just… I asked the receptionist and she told me my friends left yesterday. I’m a bit bummed, I guess,” she told him, letting herself fall on top of the table like she didn’t even have the strength to sit up. “They suck.”

“They must be in a rush,” Pierce commented, unsure of what else to say.

“They are probably competing with one another to see who gets where faster. They are idiots like that,” Lily said, rolling her eyes and huffing. “I’ll just have to kick both their asses once we make it to the Conference.”

“That simple, huh?”

“Of course,” she replied, some of her usual cheer bleeding through to her expression. “In the meantime, I guess it’ll just be the two of us having fun.”

“So, you are gonna stick around?” he asked, faking annoyance. “I thought I’d get rid of you when we arrived here.”

“Nope, you are stuck with me now, mister,” she told him, giggling behind her hand. “Now, what else-”

“Pierce Lawson!” the nurse called for him, meaning that Beedrill’s check up was over.

“Be right back,” he told Lily, to which she nodded.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

I’d thought about writing a much more detailed introduction to Pewter instead of just sort of skipping it but the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea. I’m not very sure how good an idea it was to do things like I did, but I like the result well enough. With some luck, you guys will agree with me.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What’s your favorite of the Legendary Bird trio? Mine is Zapdos.

See you.