AdrianKing
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Searching Far and Wide - 101
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 17:52:47 +0000 UTCTeams:
Pierce Lawson:
- Narcissa, Beedrill
- Orion, Onix
- Cygnus, Kadabra
- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)
- Andromeda, Vaporeon
- Regulus, Meowth
Lillian Dale:
- Root, Bulbasaur
- Talon, Spearow
- Gem, Geodude
- Star, Cleffa
- Cinder, Vulpix
Saffron City XVI
Every day, Pierce felt like he gained a new understanding of just how long it’d take to get anywhere with Psychic Arts, or whatever one wanted to call them. Every day, he’d make no progress at all after hours of doing his best to feel his own mind, to find it and its borders, its limits. Which was kind of complicated, considering Pierce barely could get a feel of the disturbances in his mind, like Cygnus’ connection or Sabrina or any other Psychic touching his mind.
‘Feels like I’m getting nowhere though,’ Pierce grumbled in his own mind. At least he was getting the handle on things to keep his thoughts private, even from Cygnus. He didn’t often keep his own pokemon out, but sometimes it was nice to have some privacy, if for no other reason than for privacy’s sake. Not quite protecting his mind, but he could try to keep his mental voice low enough that Psychics would need to put actual effort into listening in.
He’d also made some progress getting a feel of the shift in his mind when the block covering his old world came into effect, but it wasn’t much. It was more or less the same as with any other Psychic interference in his mind. The only difference is that the effect came from his own mind and not outside forces. Supposedly, that made it all much easier for him to progress. That’s what Sabrina told him, at least.
He was taking the Gym Leader’s words at face value, but Pierce couldn’t honestly say he had seen any kind of proof so far, at least in regards to his progress. She was one of the foremost experts in the field though, so she had to be right. The only alternative would be if his mind was different from his… origin, but Pierce thought Sabrina would have noticed something if that were the case.
‘Focus,’ he told himself, taking a deep breath. The smell of fertile soil and plants wasn’t particularly calming, unlike the sight of the garden. However, what it did do was give his mind something other than the buzzing thoughts to occupy itself. ‘Meditating is hard,’ he mused before once more pushing thoughts away.
All that he was left with was random thoughts from trying not to think – which was impossible, as far as he was concerned – and his next to useless attempts at feeling his mind. The block’s shift popped on and off with him trying to use it to help himself. Sometimes Pierce even thought he might be getting somewhere, but it could be true just as much as it could be his mind fooling him, really.
He also had to stave off all thoughts about being a meditation failure too, of course.
“You have remarkable focus at times, Helper-Voice,” Cygnus commented and Pierce was half-certain that the guy was trying to cheer him up. Shame that his kadabra would most likely- “Unfortunate that you don’t show it much.” -do that, the little shit.
‘One day, Cygnus, you’ll be nice to me.’
“You’re entitled to your delusions, Helper-Voice.”
‘Yeah, I know,’ he mused, sighing and going back to working on his mind. His enthusiasm had died quite a bit, admittedly, but he’d persevere. Wouldn’t be the first time he pulled through even though he didn’t like something. ‘The power of being stubborn and stupid.’
His face twitched when he felt a new presence touch his mind.
“Self-deprecating thoughts again, Pierce?” Sabrina asked him and he sighed again. Good as he’d gotten hiding his thoughts from Psychics, emotions were a little harder. Not a whole lot of trouble most of the time, considering even those weren’t easy to pick up on surface level most of the time… But sometimes, like at that moment, they did pop up and give away plenty.
‘Something like that,’ he admitted, because lying to a Psychic was a fool’s errand. At least as long as he still hadn’t mastered keeping things out of surface level. Which would take a while, evidently.
“I have a feeling that this is just something I should get used to,” Sabrina commented idly and he couldn’t quite read if she was annoyed, disappointed or something else. “Maybe you’ll get better with time.”
“Doubtful,” Cygnus chimed in, which was really not appreciated at all. What is more, Pierce was taking note to have him test new recipes instead of getting confirmed good ones for the day. “You’re getting better at guessing good combinations anyway.”
‘Never said they’d be combinations for you,’ Pierce replied and the kadabra flinched.
After all, different pokemon had wildly different tastes most of the time, at least when he wasn’t trying to make something bland-ish that everyone would find acceptable. That’s why he guessed pokemon kibble was what it was, really.
“That aside,” Sabrina started and Pierce briefly felt bad. She was probably either used to being in the head of idiots like him. And if she wasn’t… Well, Pierce wasn’t making her be in his head. She should have known better. “You should have more confidence, Pierce. If not in yourself, then in my knowledge of this art,” the woman continued, but this time he was fairly sure there was a certain dryness to her tone.
‘Easier said than done. Nothing against you, but I’m just not a very motivated person, especially when I can’t tell that there’s progress being made,’ he said and he rolled his eyes at Cygnus disbelief. He really wasn’t that motivated. His pokemon had to basically unknowingly guilt trip him into putting actual effort into training and exercising. It wasn’t really a chore for him to deal with pokemon and people that needed help either, really. Hell, half the time he found those jobs fun.
The only thing he could kind of admit having a semi-decent work ethic with were his studies for the First Aid License and he complained about those plenty too. At least he could see the progress being made, everytime he dealt with a new pokemon he’d read about or anything of the sort. And he knew some progress was being made and it was something that interested him too.
So, all in all, it was the issue of not seeing literally any kind of progress, really. Because having a superpower – which was basically what the Psychic Arts were – was great and all… but if he felt like he had no talent for it, his lazy ass didn’t want to bother. After all, why do that when he could be spending his time doing literally anything else and actually getting somewhere?
His life was filled with plenty of excitement and superpowers without that anyway.
“I’d ask you not to give up on this so quickly,” Sabrina said, this time in the outside world instead of in his mind. Opening his eyes, Pierce slumped a little as he broke whatever meditation progress he might have made… Which was nothing, really, since he’d gotten distracted again. This time it was due to Sabrina though, at least in part.
“I’m not the only lazy person in the world,” Pierce pointed out, his voice almost a sigh. “No way I’m the first one that gives up on this rather quickly.”
“That’s true,” the woman conceded, moving to take the seat next to his on the bench. “But you’re a rather interesting case and I do believe you have some amount of talent in the arts.”
“Define “some”,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m interested in seeing where you can go and how,” she continued, ignoring him. That didn’t fill him with confidence in his supposed “talent”, he had to admit. “Not only that, but you’re also an interesting individual,” she added, which… confused him a fair bit.
After all, what did that have to do with him progressing his Psychic abilities… if they even existed at all at that point. He didn’t see how one thing had to do with the other, really. Whether she actually found him interesting or she found him “interesting”, both things had little to do with having to put up with his whiny ass in Psychic training.
“You know we can be friends without me doing all this, right?” he commented jokingly… only for his smile to drop when the woman tilted her head. ‘No way…’ he thought, blinking at her. “You did know that, right?”
“I’ll admit,” Sabrina commented hesitantly, which was a very shocking break from her usually perfectly impassive expression and tone. Almost as disturbing as the eerie blankness had been at first… and still was on occasion. He had been getting used to that with time. “I’m not used to people approaching me in non-professional settings. It’s usually about me being a trainer, or a Leader, or a Psychic,” she explained, showing a nervous tick as she pushed an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear.
‘Well well well, someone’s surprisingly cute when embarrassed or nervous or whatever this is,’ he thought, a little amused. Still though, he had to remind himself that she could pick up on his emotions, most likely. So it was better not to think too much without explaining.
“Well, can’t say I saw that coming,” he commented, running his fingers through his own hair. “But yeah, we can be friends without all this… not to say I’m giving up. Cygnus would never let me hear the end of it if I quit too quickly.”
“Too right,” the Kadabra confirmed.
“Tell you what. I need to have a clear head to do this more effectively, right?” he asked, an idea forming in his head. Was it a smart idea? Probably not, but he was frustrated, wanted to call it a day with the Psychic stuff already and Sabrina had kind of given him an out. So… he’d take it.
“It does generally help to not have distractions when trying to deal with the matters of the mind effectively,” Sabrina replied, back to her usual blank expression and tone. It was almost comforting, but Pierce wondered if he could break that some more at some point. It’d been interesting to see that happen.
Maybe that’s kind of how Sabrina found him interesting, but for completely different reasons?
Food for thought.
“How about a change of scenery? I saw a nice little cafe on my way here. We could get something to drink, talk a bit and it’ll probably help me reset,” he suggested with a smile. That last part was the least important, but Sabrina didn’t need to know that. Some might call him a slacker, but Pierce could only hit his head against a wall so many times before wanting a break.
“If you think that’ll help you, I find this idea has some merit,” Sabrina replied with a slight nod. “And it’ll be… interesting to learn more about you,” she added. Pierce was kind of guessing, but he thought interesting was the closest word she could find to express what she wanted, but wasn’t quite it. Maybe he was reading too much into- “You’re correct,” she said, interrupting his thoughts and making him blink again.
“No idea how I guessed that, but okay,” he commented with a chuckle. “Shall we go then?” he asked, standing up.
“I told you, talent,” Sabrina told him and Pierce froze. “You seem to have an unusually good ability to empathize,” she continued, standing up herself and peering at him with her pink eyes. “Although, I have to say, it’s rather odd…” she mused out loud, almost like she was talking to herself.
“What is?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Hm, I think I’ll wait until I actually understand things myself before commenting on anything,” she said then and he almost whined. Did she have to leave him in suspense like that? “Now, about this cafe?”
“Fine, be that way,” he grumbled, cracking his neck and taking a deep breath in. “Let’s go. I’ll remember this though.”
Not like he could really do anything to a Psychic, he was pretty sure. Nevermind the fact that she was a Gym Leader… and kind of scary. It was the principle of the matter though.
“I’m sure,” she said and he was sure that she sounded amused, even though there were no real signs at all anywhere in her expression or voice. Call it his supposed “ability to empathize”, but he just knew.
[}-o-{]
“Going for another Gym Leader seduction, huh?” Lily asked, smirking like the little shit she was. Pierce, for his part, just rolled his eyes at her. “Come on! You can’t tell me that doesn’t sound like a date! Just the two of you, alone, having a meal, alone, getting to know one another, alone-”
“If you say alone one more time, Lily, I swear to God…”
She just giggled.
“Why am I friends with you?” he asked flatly. “Anyway, we doing this then?” he added, turning to look ahead towards the battlegrounds building.
“Yep,” Lily replied, skipping beside him. She seemed very excited to try out his idea, but Pierce couldn’t say he blamed her. He was kind of looking forward to it himself and he wasn’t a great fan of battling in general. However, there was something nice about going all out in a battle that wouldn’t have actual high stakes like a Gym challenge.
That’s why neither of them wasted any time getting inside, renting a battlefield a little out of the way from the other ones in use and set out to do what they went there for. It almost felt like the time between going there and standing across each other in the field was a blur. Pierce was still a little caught off guard, even at that point, by how excited he himself was.
Maybe his pokemon were rubbing off on him with their maniac-ness.
“Both sides ready?” their referee asked and both of them nodded. “Release your pokemon!”
Immediately, both Lily and him did just that. Neither of them was surprised though, despite not having talked about their choices beforehand. The idea had started with Root’s problem to evolve, after all, so it was no surprise, even if Lily had a bunch of pokemon she could choose to try and give a little push. As for Pierce, he had more open options, but most of his team was weak to Grass and Regulus was new. That mostly left just Narcissa and Cygnus.
However… Well, making it a starter fight had sounded like a good idea in his head.
“I do hope you two don’t get too discouraged,” he commented, a grin spreading on his face. Narcissa, for her part, buzzed as she positioned herself in front of him, slightly to the side so that they could appear side by side and both of them could look at their opponents. “Tell me if Narcissa is too strong for you, yeah?” he asked, smile widening.
“As if,” Lily scoffed while Root crouched, readying for battle. Of course neither was even remotely put off by his choice of pokemon for the fight. Then again, Narcissa wasn’t strong against bulbasaur, but she could resist their strongest attacks, and that was a strength of its own.
“Start,” their referee called and both of them got started.
“Powder!”
“Move,” Pierce commanded immediately and Narcissa dashed around in the air, avoiding whatever Powder move Root used, be it Poison or Stun. They needed to get their momentum going. While they were pushing things, he thought they might as well try a new move too. If it didn’t work, then it was better to get that out of the way early in the fight.
“Razor!” Lily called, changing tactics, as was expected. Razor Leaves started getting shot all around and they were entirely too close to hitting Narcissa despite her mobility. Practice against them and Talon had clearly done wonders for Root’s aim…
Much to their frustration at that moment.
“Keep moving,” Pierce commanded, for his part. There was no need to switch strategies just yet, not when Narcissa hadn’t even properly started applying it. So, he watched as his beedrill started boosting her own speed and as Lily and her pokemon tried and failed to hit her. It made him proud, that small show of skill from his pokemon.
However, they were just getting started.
Curiously, Lily wasn’t ordering anything anymore. Looking at her, Pierce saw her staring right at him and smiled. Yeah, she was waiting for his call, likely already expecting something. He wouldn’t even be surprised if she knew exactly what he was going to do.
“Atmosphere Strike,” he said then. Because there was no point just waiting. If Lily and Root wanted to wait, they could do it all day. Narcissa was wasting more energy zooming around, after all. It was better to make their move quickly, which is exactly what Pierce decided to do.
Thus, his beedrill skillfully turned her momentum straight towards the bulbasaur. She’d gotten good at it, with so much Strike practice, between Tungsten and Obsidian. And with the success of both of those, Pierce had decided that they might as well try some other ideas with the same approach.
In this case, using Tailwind to try and create a Flying type version.
“Sleep Powder!” Lily commanded immediately after the move became obvious. As Pierce expected, she’d been ready for them. That was neither surprising nor worrying. Sure, the move would hit Narcissa right in the face – almost literally speaking – but he didn’t think it’d have as much effect as Lily hoped. After all, Tailwind was bound to disturb the move at least a little.
And that’d mean that – if Atmosphere Strike was even remotely a successful experiment – Narcissa and him would be the ones coming out winning the trade. If it wasn’t successful though, at least they wouldn’t lose quite as badly as they probably could have. One way or another, they were sort of safe… He’d still prefer to get some damage done though, admittedly.
It was almost in slow motion that Narcissa collided with Root, energy surrounding her from both her Tailwind and the bulbasaur’s Sleep Powder. A grin bloomed on Pierce’s face though, when he saw the telltale signs of a successful move. Root grimaced and moved back instead of looking like someone that got slapped. That was the difference between a proper move and an attack with no energy.
“Move,” Pierce commanded once more, ready to pull away and try again later. Narcissa looked like some of that Powder had gotten to her though. It might have been his imagination too though, he’d admit, but he thought she looked a little slower than before. ‘Concerning,’ he mused, eyes narrowing.
Lily seemed to be sticking to her strategy of reacting to their attacks, which was frustrating. Much as Atmosphere Strike had been a success, Pierce didn’t want to bet on continued trades like that. The odds weren’t looking good enough for him on that front. So…
“Blast,” he called and he received an expected split second annoyed buzz from his beedrill. Range wasn’t her preferred kind of combat, but Root’s Powder moves would make close combat a pain in the ass. He wasn’t going to stay at a distance though, of course, since Narcissa would hate that, but he needed to buy them some time.
“Razor,” Lily ordered, not changing her previous strategy, and Pierce grimaced. Root was, as had already been proven in that very fight, let along their many spars, good at shooting his sharp leaves. Much better than Narcissa, who despised ranged fighting. He was also much more likely to hit her now, considering she wasn’t just flying around but also shooting at him.
On the plus side, Root wasn’t all that good at dodging. Once more, their pokemon found themselves having about even odds in the trade off. Pierce was confident in this though, considering Narcissa was resistant to Razor Leaf and Root wasn’t resistant to Poison Sting. Still though…
“Move, Modify, Strike,” he commanded.
Maybe Narcissa and him could have won just fighting at a distance, but the whole thing wasn’t about winning. It was about pushing limits, their own as much as their opponent’s. That’s the only way they could make these battles have any kind of helpful effect on their pokemon. They were doing this to push them, to challenge them.
“Vine Whip,” Lily called, instead of going for a Powder again. Evidently, she was of the same mind as Pierce, at least somewhat. Or maybe she thought this was a better option. All the same, he’d stick to his own choices. Maybe they weren’t the best, but he was doing everything he did – when it came to battling at least – for the sake of his pokemon.
They wanted to be strong and win, of course, but they also had their preferred battling styles to take into account. Cygnus wanted to fight hand to hand more than anything else, so that’s what they trained him to do, even if it wasn’t the most efficient way. The same went for Narcissa, who preferred to be up close and personal instead of far away. Was it the best approach? No, but it was the best approach for her.
So, Pierce decided he would die on that hill. Because his pokemon weren’t only going to be strong. They weren’t only going to win. They would all do so on their own terms.
Thus, he wasn’t the least bit concerned when he saw Narcissa flying straight at Root and his vines. Instead, his mind worked to try and come up with plans, contingencies and more. Narcissa needed him at his best for this battle, for every important battle, for training and for a lot more.
‘Think,’ he told himself, following his beedrill as she flew. He put himself in her place, trying to think what would be the ideal thing to do. What could he tell her that’d help? What should he leave up to her?
At first, the answer was to leave her be. Narcissa charged right through the vines and connected a solid few Fury Attacks. From there though, Root’s vines got more dangerous as her movement was halted by her own attack. They might favor close quarters, but staying there for extended periods of time was basically the same as giving up.
“Move!” he called, but he grimaced when a Vine Whip hit Narcissa on her way out anyway. That sucked and it felt like a defeat on its own, but the fight wasn’t over. Far from it. They needed to keep pushing. “Move,” he repeated, without shouting this time but his voice sounded just as strong.
And Narcissa moved.
He looked over the battlefield like he was trying to take all of it in. He could see Root, Narcissa and the full extension of the arena. He needed to see all that in order to do his job well. Most of all though, he looked at his pokemon. Which way was she facing? What was she doing? What could she do and which of those options was the best?
“Move in,” he commanded and Narcissa gladly followed the order, diving in with glee that she only got in battles. “String the vines to the ground,” he said, and she shot String Shot immediately. Many shots didn’t quite do their job, but he only needed one of them to hit… Although… “Move in, low,” he amended and Narcissa did just that, flying almost touching the ground. “Keep up the strings,” he reminded her and she did.
And his plan came to fruition soon enough, when one of Root’s vines hit the ground by Narcissa… getting a little stuck by some leftover string. Pierce’s beedrill wasted no time shooting that and nailing the vine to the ground. Now Vine Whip was only half as strong as-
“Powder,” Lily called, just as determined as he felt. Narcissa was on it by then though, zooming off even before Pierce had managed to put the command into words. So, instead, he just grinned and prepared himself for the next round. “Keep up!” his traveling companion added though and he blinked… and watched Root continue shooting off powder non-stop.
That caught Narcissa off guard, giving her a faceful of powder and immediately slowing her down a lot.
“Modify, Strike,” he called and Pierce took a deep breath in as she dashed, if slower than before. He leaned forward, almost following her motion as she approached Root. When she got close enough, his fist – when had he balled his hand into that? – moved forward and-
“Vine Whip,” Lily commanded, the remaining free vine snapping towards his beedrill. Would it miss though? Would it hit? What should Pierce do in either case? What-?
Whatever the answer to any of those questions was, it would remain a mystery.
Because the battle was stopped by the bright white light coming from the bulbasaur.
The idea had worked, evidently.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
Well, not often that I write a full chapter in just two parts.
Usually, I try to have four 1k long parts to divide the chapter in. Gives me the chance to show a little more, even if each scene ends up a little short. Alas, sometimes the scenes need to go on for longer and this was the case with both scenes, I guess.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter all the same though.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Do you have a small fandom that you really like to read even though there’s not much there? I have a handful, but the one in my mind right now is House MD.
See you.
