Searching Far and Wide - 145

Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Kadabra

- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)

- Andromeda, Vaporeon

- Regulus, Meowth

- Sirius, Yamper

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Ivysaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

- Cinder, Vulpix

Route 7 VII

[Pierce Lawson]

He watched Cygnus’ fist fly forwards, sparks and even some barely visible flames flying off of it on its way.

Learning the other Punch moves might not have helped his kadabra learn Fire Punch any easier, admittedly, but they had helped Pierce discern things a little better. He could more accurately tell how his pokemon was progressing in his training, for one. For another, there might not be a lot of overlap on how the energies were manipulated – which was where the difficulty stayed the same for Cygnus –, but there was visual overlap in certain details, which he could point out for his kadabra so he could adjust things here and there.

Things like, for example, the one he noticed at that moment.

“You’re focusing on what you can see too much,” he commented, making the kadabra narrow his eyes at him. “The energy is weaker on the front of your punch, which I’m pretty sure should be the opposite, really,” he pointed out and then Cygnus looked down at his punch and flexed his fingers, as if that’d help him be able to tell the veracity of Pierce’s statement. “Maybe instead of surrounding your fist with the energy like you did with Thunder and Ice, you can push it forward, like Focus. The energy, or the fire, or both, seem to pull backwards as you punch.”

“That… makes sense.”

“What’s with the doubt, man?” he asked, leveling an unimpressed expression on his Psychic type. “Back to it, come on, chop chop,” he urged and the pokemon rolled his eyes at him before complying. “Do you want me to stick around?” he asked as the fist flew forwards again. The result was much the same, but Cygnus seemed to be building up to the change, pausing and considering how he’d gone about doing it “wrong” and considering his options.

The next attempt was even worse, but the third one was a little better.

All the while, Pierce watched and waited for his answer. Evidently, the kadabra wanted him to stick around a little while trying out stuff. He’d answer eventually, if he felt like he needed more advice or if he thought he had enough to work with. Pierce was used to the little routine by then and he was happy to play along. The silence meant that Cygnus was thinking, that was all.

“That was better, but weaker,” he pointed out, getting a nod in response.

He was surprised out of his focused observation by a bark coming from his side. When he turned, he saw Houndoom standing by his side, sitting a little sideways to accommodate her injured leg. She had been all the way back with Andromeda, Regulus and Sirius, where her son also was. Apparently, she’d decided the vaporeon was a good enough babysitter to watch over her son while she took a break, by the looks of it.

Maybe she was starting to relax around them.

“Don’t you feel bad leaving Andy with the little terrors?” he asked with a grin, getting a huffed laugh from the houndoom. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that, if anything, the three children were better behaved than they had been with her around. Andromeda might have missed her calling as a babysitter by going into battling, but maybe it could be a hobby.

She looked entirely too smug among the slightly terrified children.

He turned back to Cygnus when the kadabra went for another attempt. After it was over, Houndoom barked a few times and Pierce raised an eyebrow. He didn’t need to be a genius or an aura user to know what was going on. He was also, obviously, not going to complain about getting some extra help with training, especially help that he hadn’t even had to ask for.

“Do you think it might be lacking power?” he asked after a few more attempts and Houndoom seemed to pause and consider that before nodding and barking. It wasn’t too strong an opinion though, by the sounds of it. Pierce took that to mean that it was an “only a bit” instead of a “definitely”.

That’s how the next few minutes went for them.

“I think I can handle it from here, Protector-Voice. You should check on the others too,” the kadabra told him and he nodded. Still, he stayed the watch one more attempt before turning towards Houndoom.

“I’m gonna check on the others. Do you want to stay here or come along?” he asked and the Dark type seemed to consider that for a few more punch attempts before nodding, barking and standing up. “Great. I don’t know about you, but I feel like leaving the children to Andy. She seems to be doing a great job so far,” he added as they walked off. That earned him another huffed chuckle from the houndoom. All of them sounded like a small victory to his ears every single time.

That’s how they found themselves approaching… the other set of children, he supposed. Those being Orion and Bellatrix, the former of which was doing great after about two weeks of working on Earth Power. No surprises on that front about his progress going smoothly, if a little slow, considering the type. The gyarados was having less luck after almost a week of working on both Flamethrower and Hydro Pump, but then again, she was working on two moves, one of which wasn’t even from either of her types.

She was still making slow and steady progress though.

‘The method works wonders,’ he thought, watching Bellatrix switch to Hydro Pump when she was starting to grow frustrated in her attempts to spit out fire. ‘Yeah, definitely should use a similar approach with everyone,’ he noted to himself. Having a move to train that was “easier” than the other was always neat. It helped build their confidence back up so that they could go back to tackling the true challenge, or so he was assuming at least.

On a different note, Houndoom seemed to have decided to appoint herself as co-trainer for the duration of her stay, or at least that day, because she was also coaching Bellatrix on her Flamethrower training. Pierce was, by then, already considering making some changes to their current training plan and adjust it to the current new additions to their group. It’d be nice to have a little extra help with Fire and Dark type moves. Maybe even a few others, if they were lucky.

“That’s starting to look a lot better already, girl,” he commented after an Hydro Pump attempt. While Flamethrower was progressing understandably slow, the Water type move was coming, as expected, easier to the gyarados. “I think that deserves a reward, don’t you?” he asked. He’d been talking about some treats when they stopped for lunch, but the cuddle noodle seemed to have an idea of her own, wiggling up to him and demanding some petting.

Who was he to deny her that though?

He’d add the treats to her meal anyway.

“That’s our adorable little gyarados,” Pierce said, even though Bellatrix had nothing “little” about her. She was entirely too cute with her reaction for him not to shower her with praise and compliments. It was actually sort of unfair, he’d think when not under the influence of her adorable charm. “What?” he asked, noticing the stare Houndoom was giving him before the mother shook her head at him.

The disappointment stung, but really, what was he supposed to do?

Not spoil Bella? Perish the thought.

“Anyway, how about a few more tries to make sure the progress sticks?” he asked and Bellatrix nodded enthusiastically.

Eventually, it was time to move on, but not to check on the children and Andromeda. No, what happened was that he got a call from Lily which was kind of unexpected. She tended to call during meals or otherwise around common break times, not in the middle of what was supposed to be either training time or battling time. The reason for the unexpected call became evident immediately.

“Star evolved!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, leaving his ear ringing and his brain feeling like someone had taken a knife to it from the side. “Star evolved!” his friend – maybe even best friend, although he was reconsidering that at that moment – screeched once again, for good measure. “Can you believe it?! We were training and then she came up to me and hugged me and-”

Somehow, she went on and on for about five minutes, not that Pierce was keeping track. He wasn’t sure how she managed to stretch the tale that much, when it was a fairly short story, but she did. Maybe his friend had also missed her calling, in her case as a storyteller or writer. That was some impressive ability to just add words.

And it did help him get just as hyped as she was… Well, not that hyped, but it made him feel even more excited than he’d already have been for his friend. Her team didn’t have what he’d call pokemon known to evolve very quickly, but he had been expecting an evolution for a while. Maybe Star would be the first domino that would cause a bunch of other evolutions. No way Talon would let the little cleffa – now clefairy – outdo him. Even Gem might be stocked enough to push for an evolution, he supposed.

“I’m so excited!” Lily screeched, just when Pierce had started to think his ear might be safe once more. The poor thing might never recover. Maybe he could get it checked whenever he went to get his cast taken off?

“Really? I couldn’t tell,” he commented dryly, but either the tone flew over Lily’s head or she decided to ignore him, because she kept going as if nothing had happened.

“She’s been wanting to battle more seriously for a while, but I was reluctant to let her,” his friend explained, and he’d been aware of that. It was something that’d popped up in a few conversations here and there. He’d also seen it back when they traveled together. “Now we’ll just have to wait a few days for her to get used to her new self and prepare to get things under control. Oh, I can’t wait already.”

“I’m sure neither can she,” he commented, glancing to the sides and noticing that his pokemon attention had all been turned towards him at some point. Maybe one or several – or all, it was possible, considering how loud the screeching had been – had heard Lily’s… enthusiastic announcement. He’d have to explain that to them… although… “Can you put Star on the call, actually? I think we all want to congratulate her on her evolution,” he said, a little louder than necessary so that his team could learn about the new development.

Sirius didn’t really know Star, not really, but he was no less excited about the news as the rest of his team. He was a happy dog like that, Pierce supposedly. It was all sorts of endearing, really. That little puppy was way too nice… even if he was also way too prone to causing chaotic situations just by existing.

Everyone else was familiar with the cleffa – now clefairy – though and that meant that they were all happy to hear about her evolution. Not all at the same level of “happy”, understandably, but they all took a moment to congratulate her through the pokegear all the same. Even Narcissa, who wasn’t one for that kind of thing, usually. She could respect the increase in strength, Pierce was guessing, or something along those lines.

He chose to focus on the fact that everyone was making the moment that much more special for the Fairy type and call it a day. No need to read too deeply into things. If the person – or, well, pokemon – in question was happy, the rest was irrelevant, he supposed.

“So, what are you going to do for the lady of the day?” he asked once he got the pokegear back.

“I have so many ideas! But first, can you give me some recipes?”

“Sure, but I don’t think she’d appreciate being poisoned-”

“Pierce!” Lily screeched, this time in a completely different tone. “... I’m gonna get someone else to make them,” she added in a grumble.

“Ah… that makes more sense.”

“I hate you. So much.”

“Love you too,” he said with a grin.

Lily just groaned.

[}-o-{]

Predictably, that call took a while, and it kind of delayed his trek through the route for a bit.

So much so that the training session went on a little long and they stayed where they were for lunch. They were going to leave afterwards though, and there were plans to try and be a little faster, because Pierce was starting to really feel the slowness of his journey. His team was more or less solid as it was, so it wasn’t like he needed to take his time and look for additions and such.

He knew it was kind of important to go through all routes personally and all that, but he was starting to consider at least testing the waters in regards to that rule. Because if he could speedrun a route or three, then things would be a lot more reasonable. Teleporting between a few cities was bound to make it much more possible for him to get all the badges for the Conference…

Although, to be fair, there was really no rush until after Giovanni was dealt with. So long as he was Gym Leader in Viridian, Pierce had absolutely no desire to step into the place. He’d skip the year’s Conference if it came to it, although it was more likely that he’d try to find a way to get rid of him if he really needed to. He hoped that ended up not being necessary though, because there was so much that could go wrong with such an idea…

‘Worries for another time though,’ he decided once his food was ready.

“They are more lively than usual,” Pierce mumbled when he glanced to the side. Regulus and Sirius had finished their meals already and were enthusiastically discussing something. “I take it they are excited about evolution?” he asked, turning towards the “adults” of the group, although he was reluctant to include Narcissa and Cygnus in it.

“I resent that,” the kadabra said while Andromeda yipped and nodded.

“It’s way off for both of them, but good to know they are feeling energetic,” he replied, ignoring his Psychic type with practiced ease. His grin widened when he saw Houndour approaching the duo and joining in on the conversation. Houndoom, for her part, looked at the trio with what Pierce would bet was fondness. “Wonder if they’ll still be little shits after evolving.”

Almost in synch, all four of the pokemon in the adult group voiced their opinion on the matter. A resounding “yes” if he’d ever heard one. Unfortunately, Pierce agreed with them.

Well, at least his life would never be boring with them around, so there was that.

Halfway through his meal though, he noticed that there was an absence of two of his team members. Bellatrix was no surprise, since he’d let her swim around in the nearby coast. They were going to be leaving it and the vast extension of water for a while in an effort to speed things up, so he wanted her to enjoy the freedom for a bit. Orion though… that was the one that caught his attention.

At a glance, there was nothing wrong with the onix laying curled up under the sun off to the side. However, it took Pierce only a moment to notice several things. For one, Orion’s expression seemed more… grave than usual, although maybe it was more accurate to call it thoughtful. For another, he was staring at the chattering trio of children. And lastly, his bowl of food was only half eaten and he hadn’t even looked for any snack rocks beforehand, so it wasn’t lack of hunger.

“Well, no rest for the responsible,” he mumbled to himself and he smiled at Houndoom when the mother gave him a commiserating look. Standing up after finishing his meal, he approached the gigantic stone serpent. “Hey, big guy,” he greeted when the pokemon turned towards him, smile in place and reaching to pat his head with his good hand. “Feeling a little down?” he asked.

Orion replied to that with a halfhearted mumble that spoke volumes all the same.

“Thinking about evolution?” he asked, and the onix turned to look at him with slightly widened eyes. “Give me some credit, big guy. I can tell that much, considering what’s going on and what we were talking about before,” he explained with a grin.

Orion grumbled something under his breath, turning away from Pierce and back to the group of dogs and the cat.

“Will you talk to me, buddy?” he asked, sitting beside the onix’s head and leaning against his curled up body. “What’s the issue? Do you want to evolve?” he asked and the way Orion twisted his body made him think it was his version of a shrug. “Do you not want to evolve?” The answer to that was the same, which only left. “You don’t know,” he stated more than asked.

There was an unintelligible mumble that followed, but Pierce already knew he’d hit the nail on the head.

“You can take your time to decide, Orion,” Pierce reassured and brought his hand up and to the side to place it on top of the onix’s side. “You can still be strong enough and good enough as an onix, just as you’d be as a steelix. No pressure whatsoever. I mean, we’ve all seen what your mom can do, right? So you can bet I have no issues one way or the other,” he told his pokemon, but that didn’t seem to help the stone serpent much.

It wasn’t even the first time they had that kind of conversation though, so Pierce had to wonder if there was something new that he was missing. Thus, he found himself considering options. He doubted it was the fact that Star in particular had evolved. She’d been a baby pokemon, so it made sense that she’d evolve before him. Besides, Cygnus had evolved a while before and Orion hadn’t had any issues with that.

Pondering that, Pierce followed the Rock type’s gaze towards the trio of young pokemon.

“Did they say something?” he asked and Orion gave him another one of his shrugs – he was sticking to that until he was proven wrong –, which might as well be a confirmation. “What’s the matter? Just because they want to evolve doesn’t mean you have to,” he pointed out, but that didn’t seem to be it either. “Did they mention your evolution? Did they say something to you?”

The lack of response he got as a response of its own.

‘Cygnus,’ he called, feeling the connection forming a second later. ‘Mental note, check with the little idiots to see what they told Orion about evolution. Probably through Andromeda to avoid suspicion.’

“... Noted,” the Psychic agreed easily and seriously. He had a soft spot for the onix, after all, since they’d both joined Pierce’s new little family together. They’d bonded over that, on top of everything else that had gone on outside Pewter. “Good luck with Fighter-Survivor, Protector-Voice.”

‘Thanks, buddy. Leave it to me,’ he replied with a smile, taking a deep breath in and dropping his head back on the stone-like skin.

“I don’t know what they said, but it doesn’t matter, Orion,” he said with a tilt of his head so that he could look at the onix in the face. Which didn’t mean much, considering the Rock type was still staring at the trio. “They are children, even more than you,” he added, getting a light protest that probably was something along the lines of “not a kid”. He grinned. “They’ll say dumb stuff all the time, sometimes without realizing they are wrong, sometimes without even meaning to.”

Orion mumbled something, turning to look away from Pierce and the trio.

“Come on, big guy. Throw me a bone here,” he said, only half-joking. “What’s got you in a slump? Your training is going great, your battles are going well too. You’re doing amazing. You can evolve or stay as you are and nobody is going to have a problem,” he listed, trying to find the problem that had his onix so hung up.

That’s when he got a slightly harsh growl when he said he could evolve or stay as he was. Pierce paused then, considering that response and trying to make sense of it. It could mean a bunch of things, but he got the distinct impression that Orion had meant that as a “that’s the problem”. If that was the case, then it was less about wanting to evolve or not, and more about having to decide, being unsure.

They had talked about that already though, but maybe the topic warranted a revisit.

“You can take your time to decide, Orion,” he reassured once more. “You can evolve whenever you want, but you can’t unevolve, so it’s not a decision to make lightly,” he pointed out and the onix replied with a hesitant bout of growls and grunts. “There’s no rush and no pressure. We’ll do whatever you want. Just make sure it’s what you really want.”

Orion mumbled something hesitant, turning to look at Pierce. He was then struck by the unsure look on the onix. He wasn’t one to be overflowing with confidence like Narcissa and maybe Cygnus and Andromeda, but Orion wasn’t usually so…  like that. He really needed to do something to help, he decided, as if he hadn’t been motivated enough before.

“It’s fine if you’re nervous about the decision, Orion,” he told the gigantic stone serpent softly. “You can take as long as you need to, the answer will come to you eventually. Just wait and see. There’s no need to give it thought every day. Eventually, maybe without even meaning to, you’ll find what you want to do and you’ll have my full support, everyone’s full support.”

Orion mumbled something and there was something almost like desperation in his eyes as he looked at Pierce.

He could almost hear it, the “really?” implied in that gaze.

“Really,” he said with a grin. “You’re young, Orion. Nobody expects you to have it all figured out, not at all,” he reassured with a laugh. “Hell, I don’t have my life figured out, but I’m only just now getting there, I feel. So, no pressure. Take your time and do what you want. If life has shown me anything, it’s that sometimes your path, your answers, they will find you, not the other way around. Or maybe you’ll be living your life and one day you’ll find the answer to your problems so laughably clear you won’t understand how you could have possibly struggled to find it.”

The “really?” was back this time, but it was less anxious and more eager, more hopeful.

“It’ll be fine, big guy,” he said with a soft smile on his face as he patted the onix’s side. “You’ll see. Just get that out of your head, alright? You’re way too young to be worrying like this. And besides, you know how I know you’ll be fine?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He was pleased to see Orion uncoiling a little, raising his neck to look down at Pierce and wait for an answer.

He wondered if the onix realized that he was no longer just lying dejectedly on the ground anymore. He figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to point that out though. Instead, he settled for continuing to address the issue. Although, he was pretty sure that it was all but done. Just the closing part left, really.

“Because you’re a Survivor, Orion,” he said and a shine appeared in the onix’s eyes. “You’ll pull through, no matter what. I’m sure of it.”

There was silence for a long moment, before he received a rumbling mumble that he was sure meant “thanks”.

“Don’t mention it, big guy.”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Well, I didn’t expect that to take the whole chapter, I’ll admit. Kinda feels like an actual pokemon episode, right? A whole thing dedicated to one single topic, as it were.

Anyway, yeah, that happened. A little flice of lise… wait, that doesn’t sound right… Oh, right, slice of life and then the whole thing with Star evolving – if anyone cared, I know I did – and then Orion’s bit. Nothing crazy, but it’s still a decent chapter in my opinion.

So, yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Who do you think will be the next pokemon in the two teams that’ll evolve?

See you.