Searching Far and Wide - 32 (Patreon)

Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Abra

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

Mt. Moon X

“What do you think?” Lily asked him, watching expectantly, hopefully and maybe a little nervously.

“It’s perfect,” he replied, looking at the item his traveling companion had crafted for him. It was a simple thing, but that didn’t make it any less important all the same. Lily had, when they finally reached a stop after leaving the clefairy family’s chamber and they were done with the rangers, decided to take the rock he’d been given as a reward and make a pendant with it.

The girl had taken some string she had and made a small braid with it before tying the end result around the rock. The threads held the red stone in place, wrapping around it while forming a cross over it. Pierce was pretty happy with how it looked, even if Lily had kept telling him that it wasn't much and that he could change it later.

“Yeah, this works,” he continued then, smiling as she held the necklace up by the strings, leaving the stone to hang in front of his face. “Can you tie it for me?”

“Sure,” Lily agreed easily. So, there he stood a moment later, with a new pendant hanging over his chest. He’d never been one for jewelry or accessories like that before, he’d admit, but it was quite a different thing when it held meaning. Just like how he’d worn a waterproof watch his godfather had gifted him basically non-stop until the thing basically fell apart around his wrist.

He was a sentimental guy like that, Pierce guessed.

“Thanks, Lily,” he told her then, still looking at the pendant.

“Don’t mention it,” she told him, grinning widely. “If not for you, I don’t think I’d have gotten Star here,” she added, hugging the cleffa tighter against her chest. “And neither would I have gotten the Moon Stone. I’m sure of that, so, I should be the one to thank you, really. A little string isn’t really enough to cover that, I’m sure.”

“Well,  we are both thankful. We can leave it at that,” Pierce told her with a chuckle.

“That works, yeah,” she replied. “So, should we continue? I think we can travel a bit more.”

“Sure thing,” he agreed, pulling himself to a standing position. There, he gave Lily an unimpressed look when he realized that she’d waited for him to stand up before asking to be pulled up. “You picked a lazy trainer, Star. I hope you know that.”

“Hey, no bad mouthing me in front of the new-” Lily started protested, only to be interrupted by a cheerful babble from the fairy type. “Why are you agreeing with him?!”

[}-o-{]

“Doing good, buddy,” Pierce told Cygnus, watching as the psychic went through some of the motions he’d taught him. He’d pulled from research notes and some old memories of classes of kickboxing he’d taken. It wasn’t much, but at least he was able to get his abra partner started on some exercises. “I’ll be sure to get you a proper teacher once we reach civilization again, ok? Or maybe get help from a fighting type if we come across any.”

To that, he received an agreeing thought from the psychic as Cygnus continued what he was doing. Noting things down, Pierce stood up. His body was still weary and stiff from his own work out, but he pushed through to check on his other two pokemon. Orion was mostly just trying to figure out Sand Tomb through his not that good understanding of ground type energy. He was getting there, Pierce was sure.

As for his very first partner, Narcissa was still working on Tailwind and Agility. The former was more or less usable in actual battle at the moment. A little hit and miss, but reliable enough. Agility was still some time away, but it was progressing faster than Tailwind had, at least. It was no surprise, however, considering that one was a natural move and the other wasn’t. Then there was their original move of sorts, which they’d tested a few times when they could get away from Lily and her team.

The most they had managed on that front was to confirm that the move could, indeed, work. It still needed a lot of work to really get it down, but that was something for later. Just knowing it could be done was fine for the moment. Pierce had decided, after all, to shift their focus for something more immediately needed… And that was something they could use against the Water Gym in Cerulean.

That had led to an arrangement with Lily in which Root would help the beedrill learn Giga Drain. On that note, Pierce wasn’t very sure why Narcissa apparently could learn that move but not the weaker, and probably easier, Absorb or Mega Drain. Didn’t make much sense to him, but then again, why was he even trying to look for logic when dealing with magical monsters?

“I know one thing has little to do with the other, buddy,” Pierce told Orion once he approached the frustrated onix to try and help with his training. “Let’s think things over before trying them out, yeah?” he suggested, drawing a huff from the stone serpent. That was good enough for him. “So, Mud Sport covers you or someone close by in ground energy, right? To reduce the damage of electric attacks.”

The onix grumbled something affirmative to that.

“Sand Tomb doesn’t quite work like that… at all,” Pierce said with a wry grin. “With it, you have to use the ground energy to turn the… Well, the ground into sand, to drag the target down into it and trap them. You get me so far, buddy?”

With a frown, Orion nodded.

“So, let’s take it step by step, yeah? Try and take the ground energy to make the sand first, ok? We can work on the dragging and trapping later. How does that sound?” he suggested. He wasn’t sure if the method would be very effective. Maybe the move required everything to be done at the same time, but seeing as his partner didn’t seem to be getting anywhere… He thought they might as well try a new approach. If it didn’t work, then they didn’t lose much. It wasn’t like he’d use Orion against the water type gym, after all.

Getting an agreeing sound from the onix, Pierce dragged himself towards where Narcissa was working by herself. Root and her had already gotten through their session of Giga Drain training and she was now working on some of her other moves. As it was, Pierce just walked around the beedrill’s training space, watching her attempt to use Tailwind and then Agility, rinse and repeat.

“Girl, try to switch quickly, move around and all,” Pierce told Narcissa, making her pause. “Like if it were a battle, move around, use Tailwind or Agility and then use another move or literally move again, stuff like that. You get what I mean? Don’t stay still, don’t take your time.”

He got a buzz at that before the beedrill started dashing around. She did take his suggestion to heart too, using the moves she was training occasionally and throwing in more moving around and other moves into the mix. There wasn’t much else for her to do now that she had sort of a grasp on her moves, except for Agility. Maybe he’d have Cygnus have another session to help with the psychic move later.

As it was, his round of checking on their training was over. Pierce kept an eye on them still, of course, but with that out of the way he went back to where they’d more or less set camp. At the moment it was just the place where they’d set down their bags though. ‘I should put up my tent. Just pushing it for later won’t do much…’ he mused as he got closer. Off to the side, he saw Lily working on her own partners… Except Star. Baby pokemon were, after all, a little more fragile than the regular first stage pokemon.

Not really enough to prevent them from fighting, but it was better to take things easy with them.

He focused back on what to do himself, mainly setting up his own tent and studying more from his books. He wanted to make quick progress through them, after all. ‘Never have I been this motivated to study,’ he thought, somewhat amused by that. Then again, it was much more engaging to read on something that he knew he was very likely to use in the near future. Especially so when it was something so important it could save lives.

‘Then again, surely there’s not so many situations to treat pokemon out there, right? I didn’t come across any injured pokemon in the Viridian Forest,’ he thought. Maybe he’d just hit a bit of a rough part in their journey, considering the Rocket attack at Mt. Moon.

Yeah, it’d probably calm down.

[}-o-{]

“You are free to go, buddy,” Pierce commented, letting the zubat on his lap fly after spraying some potion on him. The little guy hadn’t been all that injured, apparently just having gotten off a battle or something. Cygnus had been the one to pick up on him while they stopped to train a bit. When the pokemon was gone, he gave Cygnus an unimpressed look. “You know I can get in trouble for treating pokemon that aren’t mine before getting that license, right?”

“I mean, it was just a bit of spraying potion,” Lily commented, until he turned his stare towards her. “Ah, nevermind.”

“I want to help pokemon, but I’m sure you can get in contact with the rangers, right, Cygnus?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at the abra. “The only reason I was the one that mainly took care of Orion and the clefairy group’s thing is because they didn’t want other humans involved so-” He was interrupted as the picture of him tending to the spearow before Mt. Moon flashed through his head. “And I might get carried away sometimes, but we shouldn’t make a habit out of it.”

“Do you really think you can just ignore a pokemon in need?” Lily asked him, drawing an exasperated look from him. “What? You know I’m not wrong.”

Pierce sighed.

“I just got to thinking lately and I don’t want to get in trouble. Things have been going well for me, but I could mess up and do more damage than good,” he explained, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m not an expert. I haven’t even been studying this stuff for that long.”

“You are fine, Pierce,” Lily told him with a soft smile on her face. “You care about this pokemon. You always check your books again if you have doubts. You aren’t here just throwing some medicine around at random and calling it a day. You have nothing to worry about.”

“People can still make mistakes, even giving it their all,” he pointed out with another sigh as he leaned back against Orion, who rumbled something softly from behind him. “But thanks, that’s still reassuring,” he added with a nervous smile.

“It’s what we are here for. That and trying to keep you out of trouble,” Lily replied, beaming at him despite her words. He didn’t appreciate all the pokemon around agreeing with her though.

“See if I prepare your meals tonight, guys,” he told them, raising an eyebrow. “That’s what I thought,” he added as they all froze.

“I’ll remind you that I prepare your meals,” Lily commented, to which he just turned towards her, eyebrow still up. “How can you even stand the regular rations? You are really weird, Pierce.”

“Thank you. I think you are weird too, Lily,” he replied, drawing a groan from the girl. “Compliments aside, I guess we can keep going?”

“I guess so.”

With their main goal of meeting – and catching one of, in Lily’s case – the fairy types of Mt. Moon accomplished, they’d more or less settled in a much more straight line towards the other side of the mountain. Not to say they were rushing, but there were less plans about wandering around. They could have done that to repair the tunnels of the mountain but… Well, Mt. Moon was big. There was no way they could do the whole place by themselves. They’d have to settle for just getting as much as they could while making their way through.

It wasn’t like they had all the time in the world, after all, nor all the resources in the world.

[}-o-{]

“Thanks for the fight, little guy,” Pierce told the sandshrew that had accepted to battle with Narcissa. He handed a berry to the ground type too, before watching it run away. It had been more of a spar though, since they’d been careful not to do too much damage.

It had taken some bribing and some reassurances, but when Lily had to stop for a battle, Pierce had managed to convince a few wild pokemon to spar with his team. It wasn’t a great use of his or their times, but it beat just waiting on the sides. There was only so much spectating that he could do too, and he wanted to give his team as many opportunities for real battles as he could.

He also quite liked the fact that he only had to give a berry or two and some kibble. It was much cheaper than actual fights, even if those weren’t quite as good to give his partners experience. It’d work for the moment, especially to keep Narcissa from getting antsy for a fight until Pierce managed to get an actual fight against a trainer pokemon.

Looking to the side, he watched Orion overpower a young geodude. ‘I think I know why Lily doesn’t want Gem to spar with him,’ Pierce thought to himself. As it was, the onix mostly practiced against Narcissa and Talon, both of which were basically out of his reach with their speed and ability to… Well, fly. It was good practice, but it frustrated the stone serpent to no end.

‘I should look for something that he can’t just overpower with size. They’ll probably kick Orion’s ass, but that’ll still be a learning experience,’ Pierce thought. As it was, he didn’t know if Orion had ever fought someone stronger than him. With his mother as she was, Pierce somehow doubted she’d allowed him to battle much at all. There was the mess with the attack at Mt. Moon, but Pierce didn’t count that. It was a disaster, not a battle. It was different.

He was broken from his thoughts as he turned to the side.

“How did it go?” he asked Lily as she approached him, cleffa held in her arms against her chest. The girl seemed to barely let the fairy type off her hands, really. It was a little adorable, but he would admit to being a bit concerned. Not because holding the fairy type up was bad or anything – even though it probably was, if taken too far – but also because he knew that the clefairy line was rare, and that meant that maybe showing her off might paint a target on Lily’s back.

“It went well,” the girl replied, unaware of his worries. For the moment, at least. “Talon had a bit of trouble with their mankey, but otherwise it was fine. Root made quick work of their rattata and Gem had a pretty even one on one with another geodude.”

“Congrats,” he told her with a grin. “We won too. Although, to be honest. I think I might need to find some pokemon that Orion can’t just… overpower with his size and such,” he explained, looking to the side as the stone serpent finished letting his poor opponent off. “I just… Also don’t want to put him in a fight that will crush him. He’s not that strong, he’s just… big.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Lily replied, nodding. “Hm, I’m not sure how close Root and Gem are to evolving, so… Yeah, I don’t know if I can help,” she added then, giving him an apologetic look.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, waving her off. “It’s not that much of a problem for now. I just don’t want him to grow a big head… Bigger head.”

“That was terrible,” his traveling companion said, a wry smile on her face. “But yeah, it’ll be a bit of a balancing act, or so it sounds.”

“Like everything is as a trainer, right?”

“Mhm,” Lily agreed. “It’s not that bad though. You are worrying too much… For now.”

“I know that. I just don’t want to leave it until it’s too late,” Pierce replied before turning to address his pokemon partners. “Everyone ready? We have ground to cover today and maybe we’ll get out of the mountain soon… Yeah, I know,” he commented with a chuckle at Narcissa’s excited buzzing. “We’ll be out in the open in no time, I promise. You and Cygnus have suffered enough, I think,” he told her as the bug type wrapped her stingers around his neck for a moment before being sucked into her pokeball. “What about you, big guy? Are you coming with us or do you want to rest?”

Orion, who had approached them with Pierce’s call, replied with a very positive rumbling that had Pierce shaking his head.

“Yeah, I think someone might be too excited to just sit in the pokeball, right?” Lily said, placing one of her hands on the onix’s side. The stone serpent’s response was a pleased groan as he pushed himself to the side, almost throwing the girl to the ground. “Careful there!”

“Let’s go, before Orion squashes poor Lily, yeah?” Pierce called before starting to walk down one of the tunnels. He also didn’t say that he really would like to get out of the mountain too. Something that Lily fully agreed with, he knew. Behind him, he heard Lily giggling and the onix grumbling something that he was sure wasn’t to be said by a child. “Language, or I’ll tell your mother when we come back to visit.”

After that, Orion remained perfectly silent.

[}-o-{]

“I’m so glad we are almost out of here,” Lily said, as if thanking the heavens for their blessing. To be fair, Pierce was feeling much the same. As the days passed, being inside the mountain, continuously surrounded by rock… Yeah, it wasn’t nice. Being out in the wild wasn’t great, but after so long without even seeing the sun or feeling the wind or seeing much of anything with real color, they were both more than ready to get the fuck out of Mt. Moon.

Fortunately for them, they’d come across a trainer not so long ago that told them they should be out the day after, if not that very day.

“You can say that again,” Pierce agreed, nodding to a couple of trainers that walked past them. They looked like they wanted to ask for a fight but Lily and him just continued power walking forward. Neither felt like delaying their exit more than necessary after they were given the good news. “I don’t know how well I’d have dealt with it if we had to stay much longer.”

“Don’t I know it,” Lily breathed out. “No offense, Star, but I don’t think I like being inside a mountain for that long,” she added, receiving a sympathetic pat on her arm from the fairy type, together with a reassuring babble. Sweet thing that she was, Pierce didn’t think the cleffa had it in her to be offended by much.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to get either Narcissa or Cygnus in their pokeballs after this,” he commented, almost daydreaming about reaching the outside world and touching grass again. It was funny, they’d been mostly fine, but when they were faced with the prospect of getting out? What little grasp they had on their sanity definitely slipped. “I already feel guilty for having them put up with things for this long.”

“I’ll make sure to make it up to them,” Lily promised. “It’s my fault that we had to take the long way through.”

“I’ll remind you of that.”

“Pierce!” she protested then, giving him a pout. “You are supposed to tell me it’s fine, that that’s what friends are for.”

“I mean, it is, but I won’t say no to free stuff and neither will my pokemon.”

“Oh, I see. That’s how it is, isn’t it?”

“Mhm.”

“Asshole,” she grumbled, before giggling. “There’s a little detour we can make between Mt. Moon and Cerulean, you know?” she commented out of nowhere, making him blink. “It’s a forested area. I’m sure Narcissa will enjoy that. Not sure about Cygnus though.”

“A forest sounds lovely right now,” Pierce agreed easily. “Seeing some actual nature instead of dull rock will be great,” he added. It probably helped that he had some pretty good memories of forests, what with the Viridian Forest and how friendly it had been to go through there and meet all the different bug types.

“Then there’s some shore a bit before reaching Cerulean. It kind of reaches around the city a bit from the North,” Lily continued explaining, clearly getting a bit excited by the prospect. Pierce had to admit it sounded pretty nice, even without the added effect of having been stuck inside a mountain for an extended period of time. “So, you can get to meet some water types, I’m sure. I gotta see if you can work your magic on them.”

“Magic, really?” he commented, giving her an amused smile. “It’s just a bit of understanding.”

“A bit of understanding, he says,” the girl grumbled then. “A bit of understanding my ass.”

“Woah, does your mother know that you speak like that?”

“Please, Pierce. Where do you think I learned that from?”

“So, she won’t mind when I tell her?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. His grin widened when he saw Lily stumbled a little on her step. “I’m sure Mrs. Dale and I can have a lovely conversation about the vocabulary used by her daughter.”

“I’m sure you would,” Lily replied, clearly trying to play things off as if she didn’t care. She failed, however, Pierce knew her pretty well after so long traveling together and spending a good deal of his time with her. “You sure you want to talk to my parents though? That might be awkward.”

“I’m not your boyfriend, Lily. I’m your friend,” he reminded her, thoroughly entertained. “I have to talk to your parents eventually, after all. Where would I get your childhood embarrassing stories otherwise?”

“Pierce, you suck, have I told you that?” she grumbled under her breath.

“Once or twice,” he answered truthfully. “You, uh, you want to give them a call when we get out?” he asked then, pulling the pokegear he’d gotten out of his pocket. “I know you can’t call them unless we are in a city otherwise.”

The pokedex was great for a lot of things, from getting information on pokemon to maps to even taking pictures. The last one was supposed to be to try and gather new information and data on pokemon but Lily had mostly used it to document their supposedly less than normal encounters. Pierce was pretty sure half the thing’s memory was now filled with pictures of the clefairy family.

Which he guessed would be nice for Professor Oak to get anyway, really, consideirng how rare the fairies were.

Mental rambling aside, his comment was enough to make Lily stop walking for a moment as she stared at the device and at Pierce himself.

“I… Yeah,” she agreed, her voice soft and almost a whisper. “Yeah, I’d like that,” she affirmed with a slight smile.

“Then you just have to ask. We are friends, after all. Partners, if you will,” Pierce told her with a wider grin of his own.

“Don’t say it like that to my parents or they’ll misunderstand,” Lily told him with a giggle. “But I appreciate it, Pierce. Anyone you want to call when we get out of here?”

“Not really,” he said, doing his best to be nonchalant about that. With some luck, Lily would just believe that he wasn’t in a hurry and not that he literally didn’t have anyone to call. “Only thing I want is some fresh air, the sun and some actual color around,” he added, changing the topic back to a safer one.

“Or the moon and the stars, I’d take those too,” his traveling companion added for her part and he almost sighed in relief. As he turned forwards though, he missed the side-glance Lily sent his way.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

A mostly light chapter but I’m pretty happy with it, so I’ll take it. We’ve got some training some interactions and we are finally leaving the mountain for new places. Wonder what shenanigans our duo will encounter next.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you think another character could join our lil’ group? Who could it be? Or alternatively, what type of character do you think they would be?

See you.