Searching Far and Wide - 16 (Patreon)

Pewter City X

“I still can’t believe you got a class from a Gym Leader,” Lily said, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Lily, you got a class from a Gym Leader, you were right there with me,” Pierce commented, giving the girl an unimpressed look. “Hell, you asked more questions than I did.”

She looked away then, her ears turning red.

“Sorry about that, I got excited,” she mumbled, still not turning to face him.

“It’s fine, honestly, I benefited from those questions too,” he waved off with a smile. Honestly, Brock had been great. The man had given him a lot of information about rock types. How to heal them, how to care for them, how to train them, there were even bits about how to breed them. The guy didn’t seem to know much about coordinating, but overall it had been an informative chat. He wasn’t surprised Lily thought of it as a class.

“Still, he was mainly talking with you and I just… barged in the conversation,” Lily mumbled, kicking a rock on the road they were in. Pierce took a deep breath in as he massaged the bridge of his nose. “What? It’s a valid concern!”

“Lily, it was your birthday, I don’t care that you got in the conversation. Honestly, without you throwing questions around, I’m pretty sure it’d have turned awkward really soon. It’s not like Brock and I had much to talk about other than rock types and such,” he explained, shaking his head. “Pretty sure we’d have had more than one awkward silence if not for you, so thanks.”

“If you are sure…”

“Lily, are you alright? Do you have a fever or something?” Pierce asked, giving his companion a concerned look. “Where’s the bubbly girl that can’t shut up? Did she grow old with her birth-? Ouch,” he started before crying out as the girl punched his arm all of a sudden. “No need for such violence, woman.”

“Then don’t be an idiot,” she huffed, turning away from him.

“Anyway,” Pierce said, rolling his eyes. “Speaking of rock types, what do you think about that, girl?” he asked, turning to look over his shoulder at Narcissa, who was clinging to his back. “Haven’t really talked about possible teammates, have we?” he asked his partner curiously.

After a long moment of silence, Narcissa gave a slight buzz with her wings and chittered something.

“I’ll take that as an “I don’t care”, I think,” Pierce decided after considering the beedrill’s… words, for lack of a better term. “Good to know, at least. What about other types? Flying? Electric? Fire? Dragon?”

“Bold of you to think you’ll get a dragon,” Lily pointed out, to which he shrugged. “Now that’d be something I wanna see. You got any idea how rare those are here? Hell, they are rare everywhere, pretty sure.”

“I mean, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find one,” Pierce pointed out with a grin. “So, what about it, girl?” Considering she gave the same response as before… “Well, that’s boring. I mean, nice to know you won’t have a problem whenever I catch some other pokemon, but still. I expected more than just… indifference, I guess.”

“Don’t complain about a good thing, Pierce,” Lily told him with a wry smile. “Talon didn’t seem too eager for me to add new members to the team. It’s part of the reason I’m not really looking all that hard at the moment. Better to let him get used to the idea. Having Narcissa as an honorary member of the team right now seems to be helping that, actually. So, thanks for that.”

“Eh… You are welcome?” he replied, unsure of what else to say. That hadn’t actually been part of his thought process at all, but… Well, better be happy with that coincidence, he supposed. “Any plans for today’s training?”

“I mean, not really. We’ll work on what we know, hone everything as best we can. The tournament is in two days,” Lily said, her eyes fixing in some point ahead of them, likely with her mind going over strategies and such, he imagined. “Tomorrow, I want to take everyone to the battlegrounds. Get some actual fights done instead of just spars between ourselves.”

“Sounds about right. I’m sure Narcissa will have fun there,” Pierce commented, giving his partner an amused look when she tightened her hold with her stingers. “Don’t pretend you won’t. We’ll get plenty of battles ourselves once the tournament is over, ok? I should be done with the Onix family by then. I promise we’ll go to the battlegrounds and challenge people until you are content.”

The beedrill chittered something excitedly at that, even though it sounded slightly questioning too.

“Yes, I’m serious. If we want to get anywhere, we have to get some battle experience,” Pierce replied. He still wasn’t sure how much he liked battles, if he was honest. However, for Narcissa, he’d give it his best shot. Half-assing it as he’d been doing was just insulting to her, he knew. He also was noticing then how much she wanted to battle with him, how much she wanted to get better with him.

It was difficult to not notice, really. After all, with as much of a battle maniac as she was, she should be ecstatic to be with a much better trainer, readying herself for a tournament where she’d likely get a serious channel and plenty of battles. And yet, it felt like she was… Not quite dragging her feet about it, but she sure wasn’t giving it her all. Or maybe it was better to say she wasn’t as happy about it as she should have been.

“Promise,” he repeated in a soft voice, bringing a hand up and over his shoulder to pet his partner between her antennae.

[}-o-{]

[Onix, the Ancient Mother]

She overlooked Pierce, the human, as he came back once more. She could easily see why Abra had decided he was trustworthy, even that first day when she’d been filled with doubts and distrust and fear. After days of getting to know the man as he did what she asked him to do, Onix could very easily see it, indeed.

She’d met lots of humans in her long, long life. Many of them greedy creatures driven by their pride, their desire for power, or wealth, or renown. Some, however, stood out from that group. Kind beings that had no desire to step upon others to reach their goals, humans that much preferred to walk alongside others instead of pushing everyone down while they rose.

And then, there were people like Pierce.

Those that cared not for climbing to the top. They did it, but not because they wanted to. They did it because they needed to, because the world wasn’t so kind as to give them another option. It was always evident, Onix knew. It could be seen in the way they would stop at the drop of a hat, any reason was good to stop the rise, be it helping someone that had fallen, lending a hand to those that struggled, or just a friendly meeting with someone.

Just like he’d done for her son.

Onix knew that Pierce had to give up days of his life. Days that to her were nothing but to humans could mean a whole lot. He’d stopped his journey, travels of which he shared details with her child, Abra and Onix herself. He’d stopped everything he was doing to spend the better part of his days taking care of her son and he was happy doing so.

Truly, a remarkable human being the likes of which Onix had found precious few through her long life.

Onix turned her head from watching out of her abode to look for threads. Instead, she gazed towards Pierce, Abra and her son. Her poor son, who had been so close to having his life ended far too soon. She could remember it vividly and she knew it wasn’t likely she’d ever forget. That accursed day when chaos reigned supreme and suffering was spread without reason nor care.

The day when she’d seen her child suffer attack after attack and for all her might… She couldn’t stop it. Oh, she’d done plenty that day, many a pokemon was reminded of her power and why few dared to come even close to her den. However, in the midst of such unrelenting madness, even Onix herself hadn’t been enough to stop it all. She hadn’t been enough to protect her child.

It hurt, it hurt more than she dared to admit. It also was nothing in comparison to how she’d felt as she saw it happen, and even afterwards. Watching her child lie there, unable to move and getting worse the more time passed instead of better. It was a vision that would haunt her every waking hour and turn her dreams into nightmares for a long time, if it ever went away.

For all her might, she’d been powerless, asking for help from the guardians of the piece of land she inhabited. Onix had begged Alakazam and his family for help, for someone to please save her child. And they had delivered, the young guardian, not even worth his own title just yet as he grew into the role he’d likely just started even participating in, had found her child a savior.

Maybe it was… How did the humans call it? Poetic, she believed the word was. Maybe it was poetic that her child, too young to do much, had been saved by the actions of someone in much the same position as him. Onix was happy to see Abra and her son getting along, but she was even happier that her son could even do that much. That she could see him interact with Abra and Pierce. That she could see him enjoy himself as the human regaled him with tales of his travels, short as they were. That she could see him grumble as the restrictions were put on him for his own health. She was even glad that she could see him be unruly, doing exactly what he was told not to.

She was grateful to Abra, for finding a kind person to save her son. She was grateful to Pierce, for offering the hand that her son had needed. She was grateful to the other humans, the ones that had organized everything and guided Pierce through what he needed to do.

Yes, Onix had a lot of things to be grateful for in those days.

And yet, she couldn’t help a pang of sadness inside her as she looked at her son at that moment. Listening attentively like he’d never listened to her, eyes wide and sparkling with wonder as he heard how Pierce approached a swarm of angry beedrill to calm them down. He seemed to almost grow larger the more he heard and the more the human told him.

Onix knew that look. She’d had it herself, way back when times were different and even the land wasn’t the same. Much had changed, but pokemon and people, they remained the same, no matter how much they thought otherwise. Details could shift, small things that fooled the eye and the perception but… Deep down, they were all the same, in the past, in the present and in the future.

So, she looked dejectedly as her son readied himself to follow in her path.

Onix knew she had nothing to worry about. Pierce was a kind human, one that wouldn’t push her son for his own gain. The man’s companions, if his word was to be believed, were reliable enough to think they’d have her son’s back. If anything, it was the world that worried her, but she knew it was not possible to protect her son from that, even with all her power. So, she’d have to allow her son to follow his own path, grow into the pokemon he wanted to become…

Onix had not regretted her decisions, but she had suffered because of them.

She could only hope her son wouldn’t.

[}-o-{]

[Onix, the Recovering Son]

Pierce might just be his favorite human, Onix decided.

Sure, he hadn’t met a whole lot of those in his admittedly short life, but the point stood!

The man had come to him in his worst moment, when he was so weak that he couldn’t even tell what was going on. All Onix knew about that time was that his everything hurt, he felt weak and he… was scared, a lot. It wasn’t a nice part of his life, that much was true. However, Pierce had arrived and immediately things started to feel better and better.

Not only did his body start hurting less and less, but he was great company too! He was reassuring, and calm, and he brought food! Pierce had also started telling stories of his travels as a pokemon trainer too, which were nice to hear. He’d brought him a friend in Abra too, which was pretty neat.

Onix found himself drawn to the stories though, above everything else, even the food. After living his whole life inside his mother’s den, never leaving it for more than just digging through the mountain for food and such things… He was in awe of the things that could be seen further away. The forest was something he’d only seen from afar, and the sea, the lakes, the deserts, the plains and more that Pierce talked about.

Onix wanted to see those. Would the ground in other places feel different? Would it be tastier than the one from the mountain? Would it be worse? What pokemon could be seen further away from the mountain? Would those be nice? Would those be mean? Would they be interesting?

Onix wanted to know, he wanted to find out everything.

On top of that… He wanted to get stronger. The chaos of that day haunted him in his sleep and even out of it… Onix would twitch at sudden movements, even when he knew it was nothing. Sometimes, far outside the lair, he’d see a pokemon move or pass by and… it scared him.

However, as Pierce told him about his beedrill, Narcissa, and how they were working together to make her stronger. As the man spoke at length about his partner and how he was going to help her reach highs that other humans thought impossible for her line… Onix felt some yearning. He wanted that too. He wanted to be strong. He wanted to be above attacks like the ones that had left him as he had been.

He wanted to be like his mother, who had practically dominated the chaos that had been the mountains, the forest and everything in between that day. The only reason his mother hadn’t been perfectly fine in such a dangerous moment was… him, Onix. It was… frustrating, to know that he was the reason his mother had gotten hurt at all, even if it had been mere scratches and little else. He felt… terrible was the only word that he could think of.

Onix didn’t want to feel like that.

He didn’t want to be weak.

Maybe there was a way for Onix to get everything he wanted though. He might be able to travel the world and see everything there was to be seen. He might be able to get strong enough that chaos like the one he’d lived through would mean nothing. And the key to all that was right in front of him, telling stories and being generally a great friend.

Onix rumbled something, interrupting what Pierce had been saying and drawing a confused expression from the man.

“What’s up, little one? Something the matter?” the man asked, inspecting Onix as best he could to try and decipher what was going on. As for the rock type himself, he rumbled something again, but he wasn’t sure how to go about explaining what he wanted to say. Hesitantly, he turned to look at his mother.

Maybe… Maybe he should have checked with her first, he supposed. Especially considering the unimpressed look she was directing at him. After a long, awkward moment, his mother let out a sigh before rumbling something at Abra.

Of course! How had Onix not thought about asking him for help?! Abra could communicate better with humans, after all! Not that much better, from what the psychic had told him, but it was still better than the usual. At least he could send images and ideas to the humans if need be.

His new, small and yellow friend sighed, in a way not all that different from his mother’s and raised a hand towards a now very confused Pierce. That was fine, he’d get the idea soon enough. Onix was sure he’d be happy too, and everything would be fine!

Or… so he hoped, at least.

What if Pierce didn’t agree though? What would Onix do then? No way, right? There was no way that would happen, he decided. He was great after all. Well, he wasn’t all that great, sure, he’d admit that. But his mother was great, and surely Pierce would see that he could be just as good as her once he got a bit older, right?

All of a sudden, Onix was rather nervous as he watched the man frown for a moment.

“That… that can’t be right… Right?” Pierce asked, looking at Onix, evidently not understanding something. Then, before the young rock type could answer, he turned towards his mother. “You know about this? No way you-”

His mother rumbled something sadly, before nodding. His mother was great, Onix decided. Sure, he didn’t want to leave her either, but his mother was happy where she was. She’d already traveled, from what he knew, and she was fine staying. He wasn’t though, and she seemed to understand.

Onix would make sure to visit though.

“If you are… both sure?” Pierce said, hesitantly looking between the two onix. He nodded enthusiastically while his mother urged the man to get on with it. “Ok then,” the human said, moving to pull something from his bag.

Sure enough, the next moment, he had a pokeball in his hand.

[}-o-{]

[Abra, the Young Guardian]

He watched, as he was used to doing, but this time with a sense of…

Abra wasn’t sure how he felt after witnessing Pierce make the young onix part of his team. A part of him was… sad, he supposed. Onix had become a friend of his, in the relatively short time they spent together while he helped the human treat his wounds. Little time, it might have been, but it was still time Abra had enjoyed. It wasn’t often he got to interact with other pokemon around his age and the rest of his family was much older than he.

So, Abra found himself grateful that he’d been the one to find a suitable healer for the young rock type. It was the first task as a guardian of the land that he had succeeded in before someone else, and he was proud of that. It had been an experience, that was for sure, but now… Well, soon, he’d be back to the usual things. Roaming the nearby places, looking for pokemon that needed special assistance from his family, the guardians of the land, as they called themselves.

Generations of abra, kadabra and alakazam had taken it upon themselves to keep a semblance of order, of balance. He was, but one more in a line of many. Their duty was important, meaningful…

And yet, he didn’t want it.

Abra didn’t want to spend his life trapped in one place, when he was supposed to be able to go wherever he wanted with Teleport. He took pride in his job to look over the pokemon in the area, of course, but it felt so… constricting. It wasn’t often that they actually had to do something. More often than not, the human rangers would take care of problems, and when they didn’t, it would be an older member of his family.

So, Abra would often be left with nothing to do but roam a rather small area.

He guessed he was jealous of the young onix for that. He’d get to go wherever he wanted, always with something to do, something to see, something to train. Never a moment of nothing unless he wanted it.

On the other hand was Abra, who was grateful for his necessity to sleep the majority of the day because those few hours he was awake, he was bored to death. As it was, he was considering working on his muscles once the job with Onix was done, which seemed like it’d be sooner rather than later. At least that way he’d have something to do, and he was rather intrigued by the idea. His line wasn’t one known for their physical prowess, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t at least try to get somewhere in that aspect. Abra would see where he got, he supposed.

Anything to make his days less dull.

He watched then, as Pierce let out the young onix once more.

“I think I’ll let you stay here, little one,” the man said, smiling softly as he rubbed a hand on Onix’s head. “You gotta spend as much time with your mother as possible, yeah? I don’t know how long it’ll be before we visit. We will visit, I promise. I just… don’t know how long it’ll take us,” he explained, switching to look at the mother onix midway through his statement. Both rock types looked and felt very grateful for that, Abra knew.

“What are you waiting for, Young Guardian?” he heard in his mind. The message came from his grandfather, Alakazam, giving him pause. “Playing stupid doesn’t suit you, child,” the elder of the family told him, sounding amused. Abra didn’t understand- “Everyone knows, child. Your mind is not as clouded as you like to think, even if you are better than many of us were at your age.”

Abra all but flinched at that.

“Peace, child,” his grandfather reassured him. “Some of us are content with our lives, protecting and looking over this land. However, not everyone is the same. You wouldn’t be the first to choose an alternative path, and you wouldn’t be the last either.”

“But grandfather-”

“Child,” Alakazam interrupted more firmly. “You are unhappy here, there’s no shame in that. Nobody is disappointed in you for it. We just want you to be happy.”

“But… but I…” he tried to reply, struggling to find the right words. Sure, his grandfather wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean he wanted to leave. That didn’t mean he wanted to abandon everything that he knew for-

“But you do, and that’s fine, Young Guardian,” Alakazam told him, softly, almost in a whisper against his mind. “You’ll always be that. The Young Guardian of this place, even if you leave it. You’ll make this family proud regardless, child. Because we know you, and we know that you’ll continue your duties, even if it’s no longer us you do it with nor this place that you look after.”

“Grandfather…” Abra went to say, trailing off as his mind stuttered. He’d never been a very emotional being, but at that moment… They showed him that they could still get the better of him. “... Thank you,” he settled for eventually. Simple. Not very eloquent, he knew. However, it was the best he could come up with.

“Go along, Young Guardian. May you find all that you seek and more,” Alakazam told him. A moment later, he was bombarded with messages from the rest of the family, mainly his parents, with well wishes and encouragement. It really wasn’t helping with the overwhelming emotions Abra was dealing with at the moment.

“Thank you, everyone,” he replied. Then slowly, to try and gain some calm, he turned towards Pierce, who was talking with the young onix. Then, he called for the man’s attention, brushing against his mind with a simple sign to turn, which he did.

“Something the matter?” Pierce asked then, blinking at Abra as he sent a message as best he could. Communicating with humans was a lot different than communicating with his family or other pokemon. Their minds worked significantly different than pokemon one’s did. Abra would learn though, he supposed.

As it was, he just sent the man a picture of how he had caught Onix in his pokeball. A moment later though, he sent the same picture, but replacing the rock type with himself. It was time to leave and travel, to try at a new life.

“I don’t think I need to ask, do I?” Pierce commented with a soft grin. Which was good, at least he had some level of intelligence and deductive abilities, even if he’d struggled to understand with Onix. “Well… I hope we have fun together, Abra,” the man said, pulling another pokeball. “Welcome to the team.”

The psychic type sent him a wave of excitement the likes of which Abra had hardly felt in his life before.

He couldn’t wait to see what the world had to offer for him.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Welp, this chapter was fun to write, although I have to wonder how well I’ve managed to do with the pokemon PoV. Don’t ask me why my muse felt like putting that many changes in perspective in a single chapter. She just did, ok? Let’s accept that and move on.

So, it took quite a bit for our boy, Pierce, to get some more members in his team, but I hope it was worth the wait. This also confirms that Pierce isn’t a specialist trainer, which many people thought he’d be. I’ll admit that I considered it, but… Well, specialist teams need pokemon from out of region to really work, and that’s a troublesome thing to deal with, so I decided to go generalist, at least this time.

I look forward to seeing what new theories for Pierce’s team come up after this chapter.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What do you usually look for in Pokemon fics? I tend to just look for journey fics or stuff similar to this. I avoid fics with too many catches, because that just means that most of those pokemon aren’t gonna see much use, which is… annoying.

See you.