AdrianKing
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Searching Far and Wide - 69
🕑 Added 2024-05-22 17:54:15 +0000 UTCTeams:
Pierce Lawson:
- Narcissa, Beedrill
- Orion, Onix
- Cygnus, Abra
- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)
- Andromeda, Vaporeon
Lillian Dale:
- Root, Bulbasaur
- Talon, Spearow
- Gem, Geodude
- Star, Cleffa
Pewter City XVII
“Long time no see, huh?” he greeted with a smile.
Not a second later, there were two different rumblings that met each other, closely followed by movement that made the very earth under his feet tremble. He kept his calm grin though. At best, his expression turned a little… wistful. Pierce had to push that aside though. It wouldn’t do for Orion to catch him looking like that, especially when it was a happy moment for the onix.
So, he saw the two rock serpents rumbling at each other while Mama Onix showed just how much of a doting mother she was. She looked at Orion from head to tail, tapping at him with her own as if trying to check as thoroughly as possible. In the meantime, the younger of the two squirmed as if embarrassed, occasionally glancing towards where Pierce stood with the rest of the team – sans Bellatrix – and Lily with her own team. He amused himself thinking that some of Orion’s rumbling might be something along the lines of “Mom! Don’t embarrass me in front of my friends!”. It certainly painted a very amusing picture in his mind.
A flash of light to the side made him turn and Pierce saw the expected family of abra-line pokemon that had teleported right there. On his shoulders, Cygnus gripped at his hair for a second and he rolled his eyes. The Psychic of his team was supposed to be the smart one, but he could be surprisingly stupid at times.
Not a mental comment that Cygnus appreciated, if the tug on his hair was anything to go by.
‘Go, dummy,’ Pierce urged him. ‘We are here to visit them, after all,’ he added with a smile on his face that he knew the abra could feel in his mind. ‘Enjoy yourself, show off and all that. We’ll be right here.’
“Thank you, Helper-Voice. I really appreciate it,” Cygnus replied before pausing instead of teleporting off. “Fighter-Survivor says thank you too,” the Psychic added then, a picture of Orion flashing in Pierce’s mind.
‘Don’t mention it, and tell him that too,’ he said and, after the abra teleported away, he moved to take a seat on a nearby rock that looked comfortable enough. They were likely going to be there for a while, he imagined, so he might as well find a good spot.
It had been sort of a spur of the moment decision, to take teleport services straight back to Pewter. They were kind of stuck at Cerulean for the moment, but teleporting literally taking no time at all simplified things a lot. It was a visit to a particular hub where a company that trained pokemon that were able to learn teleport to be specifically great in that one move was based and that was that. It wasn’t cheap, but Pierce had enough money to splurge on that kind of thing.
Besides, Orion and Cygnus were actually really young. He’d have felt bad if he were to keep them away from their families for extended periods of time. So, with some free time while they waited for things in Cerulean to be done, he’d brought up the idea of going back to Pewter for a day… and everyone had agreed. It’d be nice to get away from Cerulean for a bit too, Pierce would admit.
The place was beautiful, but after so long, he was growing weary of it. Especially because he was there to work more than anything. He loved helping pokemon and he loved spending time with them, but there was only so much he could be an emotional pillar for them without it being exhausting. So, he took the chance for some time to himself, recharge batteries and all that.
If things went well, he would get a lot more of that soon, but still.
“Thank you, Helper-Voice,” a Psychic spoke in his mind, and Pierce instinctively knew to look up and at a specific Alakazam. “You’ve been taking good care of him… of them,” the pokemon corrected, and Pierce noticed that Mama Onix was looking straight at him at that very moment. “We thank you for your efforts.”
‘Don’t mention it,’ he waved off easily with a chuckle, looking at Andromeda as she jumped next to him on the rock. The vaporeon seemed to consider the seat for a long moment before huffing and jumping on his lap. Smiling, he placed his hand on top of her head and absently petted her while regarding his pokemon’s families again. ‘It’s the least I can do. They help me as much as I help them, they take care of me as much as I take care of them,’ he told them.
And that wasn’t even a lie.
Cygnus was probably his smartest pokemon, and that meant that he could help Pierce with a lot of things. He could brainstorm with him, for one. It was often great to have someone to bounce ideas off of. Pierce had to balance a bunch of things on most days too, and the abra was great at helping remind him of things or helping him organize his day better.
Orion, on the other hand, was often more of an emotional support, Pierce supposed. Which was funny, because he was very immature, for sure, but that childish personality was, actually, rather comforting for Pierce. It was adorable, much like Bellatrix was, and that warmed his heart, especially during moments when he felt cold.
Pierce felt, in his mind, many presences turn to warm pride at his response and likely his thoughts. He just grinned at the abra-line family, before turning to look at Mama Onix. The gigantic rock serpent looked pleased as she could be, rumbling something to Orion that made him look away a bit.
“Idiot,” he heard Cygnus tell him.
Pierce just chuckled.
[}-o-{]
“I had hoped you’d complete the circuit before coming back for your last badge,” Brock said as Pierce walked into the battle arena. “Not often that I get to go all out, what with this being traditionally the first gym most people go to when the year starts,” the Gym Leader added then, looking both a little amused and a little disappointed, somehow.
“I’m sorry, but I was going to come and I couldn’t not use the chance. I feel kind of bad having a single badge when I go to the battlegrounds,” he explained with a chuckle.
“Ah, that makes sense, I guess,” Brock replied with a smile of his own. “On a different note, have things been going well with that onix of yours?” the man asked curiously.
“He’s doing fine, a bit antsy before, when he was still recovering, but that’s behind us now,” Pierce answered and he was very grateful for the idle chatter. It allowed his mind to calm down a bit. It seemed that the panic he’d felt in Cerulean wasn’t an exceptional case.
‘I shouldn’t have let them convince me to come here,’ he lamented as he took a deep breath in. When he’d told the team that they were going to Pewter, Cygnus had “innocently” asked if they were going to challenge the Gym there. Naturally, Narcissa and Orion had been all over that in an instant.
The little shit was going to regret that, Pierce swore.
Alas, there was no convincing them otherwise, sadly. So, from then on, Pierce had to do some improvised, last minute adjustments to his team’s training to prepare for the Pewter Gym and its Rock types. Fortunately, he thought he had a fairly decent rooster for it, but still… He’d have liked to have more time.
Not that he imagined he’d feel more confident, but it was the principle of the matter.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Brock replied with a nod. “Now, should we get started? I’m afraid that I have duties to attend to. Otherwise, I’d have wanted to talk more with the famous Pokemon Proxy,” the man said, making Pierce grimace. “Not a fan?”
“It’s just… awkward. I’m getting used to that. You being a Gym Leader makes it weirder,” he answered and the man laughed.
“Well, I’d get used to it. Even I find your videos entertaining… and informative, kind of. I don’t deal much with pokemon other than Rock types, so it’s interesting to take a glimpse at what it’s like with other types and such,” Brock explained before waving his hand. “Now, I really do have things to do, sadly. So…” he trailed off then, nodding to his brother on the side, acting as referee.
“Gym Leader Brock will release his first pokemon!” Forrest called and Brock did just that. A moment later, from a red beam of light, a geodude found itself on the other side of the field from Pierce. He looked at the pokemon while mentally nodding.
The staple of the Pewter challenge, from what he knew. There was almost always a geodude-line member in the rooster for the fight. There were exceptions, of course, but they certainly appeared much more than any other pokemon. Then again, it made some sense, Pierce supposed. As a solid three staged line, it fit with trainer levels from the lowest to the highest.
“Challenger Pierce, please release your first pokemon,” Forrest called and Pierce’s hand moved to his belt, pulling out the pokeball of the partner he’d more or less already decided he’d use beforehand. Pressing the button twice, his pokemon came out much like the geodude had.
Except that Orion was much bigger.
“Doing well indeed,” Brock commented as Pierce’s onix roared.
“I know, right?” he replied proudly.
“Everyone ready?” Forrest asked, ignoring their words and getting to it. Pierce took a deep breath in and relaxed his shoulders. ‘We can do this,’ he told himself. “Then start!”
“Sand Tomb!” he called instantly.
“Rollout, move away!” Brock called and, unfortunately, the geodude was able to get out of the Sand Tomb zone.
“Blast and see if you can try again,” Pierce commanded, frowning as he tried to decide how to best proceed, following the still rolling geodude while Orion smacked rocks towards his opponent. If they could get their hands on it, then the fight was done. If they could not, then that’d certainly make the fight annoying.
They needed…
‘That’s it.’
“Close their path with your body!” he called and Orion roared as he moved to try and close off the front of the geodude’s roll. It turned, but not quite fast enough while Pierce’s onix continued slithering around it to surround it with his long body.
“Bulldoze!” Brock called.
“Sand Tomb!” Pierce responded instantly.
The geodude stopped rolling then and there, circled by Orion’s body. Instantly afterwards, the thing pushed its body up, shining in light brown, before letting itself drop. When it hit the floor, which was already turning to sand thanks to the efforts of Pierce’s onix, it generated a shockwave of Ground type energy that hit Orion head on.
However, the onix didn’t let up on its move, trapping the geodude in the sand move and then closing in on it once that was done. Pierce didn’t even have to call the next move, not really. They had used this simple combo for a while already. There were lots of instances in the battlegrounds of Cerulean that could be counted as preparation for that moment.
“Bind,” Pierce called all the same, with his onix already in the move. Sure enough, Orion captured the geodude and there was little to be done from there. Sure, Bind was Normal type, but like many before it, geodude ran into the problem that was getting out of the move when the size difference was so great. The only way they were getting out of that one was if-
“We surrender,” Brock said.
‘Oh well,’ Pierce thought with a sigh. That hadn’t been what he thought would happen, but it worked in his favor so… yeah. One gone, two to go. Orion had only gotten hit once, but it had been a Ground type move. He probably could, at the very least, wear down the next one a little bit. So he hoped, at least. That’s what he considered as Brock recalled the geodude.
“He didn’t seem to react to that Bulldoze,” Brock commented, looking at Orion. Pierce could relate though, his team was just impressive. So what if his opinion was biased? “That’s one nice onix you have there, Pierce.”
“Don’t I know it?”
“Gym Leader Brock will release his second pokemon!” Forrest called and Brock went to do just that, pulling another pokeball and letting out their next opponent.
A rhyhorn made an appearance this time and Pierce narrowed his eyes. It was the same typing as geodude, but they were wildly different pokemon anyway. For one, rhyhorn could move faster and without all the drawbacks that Rollout meant for a geodude to even keep up. ‘Ok, do we need to change strategies?’ he wondered idly.
“Challenger Pierce, you can switch pokemon now,” Forrest said as they waited for his decision. Not that he had a lot to think over, really.
“I’m keeping him,” Pierce answered, getting a roar from Orion that made him smile. Yeah, the rock serpent was certainly motivated, it seemed. “We are just getting started, aren’t we?” he asked, getting a determined grunt from his onix.
“And I believe that,” Brock told him with a smile. “Now…”
“Both ready?” Forrest asked, taking the cue for what it was. “Then start!”
“Sand Tomb!”
“Drill Run!”
Unfortunately for Orion, the rhyhorn charged forward before he could properly turn the ground to sand. ‘Have to work on the speed of that,’ Pierce made a mental note instantly and immediately started thinking of what to call now. It was late, but maybe they could get a Bind in. Rhyhorn was a lot bigger than geodude though, so that was more likely to backfire. ‘Time to show off, buddy,’ he thought, holding back his call for a second.
As soon as the beast slammed its horn, with shining light brown light swirling around its horn for the move, he went for it.
“Payback!” Pierce commanded, and it seemed that Orion was prepared for that one, his body covered in dark energy before he tackled rhyhorn with it, boosted by the damage he’d just received. That was a move he’d had Orion learn from his tutor in preparation for possibly going after Sabrina, since he was definitely not participating in the Cerulean challenge.
It would do just as well in Pewter though.
“Subdue!” Pierce called then. ‘Third time’s the charm?’ he wondered as Orion went for Sand Tomb once more.
“Bulldoze!” Brock called and he had to hold back a cheer. Then again, it was less likely that the pokemon would be able to get out of the Sand Tomb zone now that it was basically next to Orion. Maybe they were going for a full on brawl in close quarters? They could go for it then.
“Subdue, Strike!” Pierce commanded.
And what followed was just that, Orion and Rhyhorn beating each other. Drill Run and Bulldoze on one side and Sand Tomb and Payback on the other. His onix’s combo was weaker, considering Dark type was only regular damage against rhyhorn, but they could make it work. Orion was a sturdy creature, Pierce knew, and even if he didn’t win, he’d wear down his opponent a fair bit.
So, eventually…
“Both pokemon are unable to continue,” Forrest called as both pokemon collapsed. “Gym Leader Brock will release his third and last pokemon. Challenger Pierce will release his second pokemon.”
“Well, now I have to wonder,” Brock commented, already pulling out his last pokeball. He still had the same calm smile he’d had for most of the challenge though. Then again, he was probably tired of challenges like that one. “I guess I can go for it,” he added then, before letting out his choice.
‘Well, that’s certainly something,’ he mused, tilting his head as he looked at the lunatone floating across the field. ‘Changes nothing for me though,’ he decided with a grin as he released his own partner.
“You ready, girl?” he asked. Andromeda sat down on the ground, looking around with interest before yipping at him and standing up, eyeing her opponent. “Glad to see that. Orion took care of two, so this is the last one. Let’s finish this, yeah?”
The vaporeon didn’t answer, but Pierce saw her crouching form lower a little more. He wondered if she was eager or something of the sort. She wasn’t very expressive and when she was she could be difficult to read. However, she had decided that she wanted to battle and also agreed to participate in this challenge, so there was that.
“Everyone ready?” Forrest asked and both Brock and him nodded. “Then start!”
“Confusion,” Brock said right off the bat.
“Move,” Pierce countered, and Andromeda instantly dashed to the side. She might be a Water type, an eeveelution that was adapted to swim. However, she was still an eeveelution and all of them came from a land-based pokemon. They could all move very well on land, that was for sure. “Blast,” he added then and Andromeda stopped to shoot Water Gun at the floating, moon-shaped pokemon.
“Psyshock,” Brock called then and what followed was a veritable wave, but not one that his vaporeon would have liked. There was no way to avoid the surge of Psychic energy, sadly, at least not fast enough, but maybe once they trained more… As it was though...
“Blast, Move if you can,” Pierce said, narrowing his eyes. If Brock decided to spam Psyshock, then that would be annoying. But maybe…
“Psyshock,” the Gym Leader repeated. Just because it was cheap and boring didn’t mean it wasn’t effective, after all. Pierce could respect sticking to that choice.
“Bite it,” Pierce called, frowning. There was no guarantee that the Dark move would disrupt the Psychic one, but there was a chance that it’d happen. Lunatone couldn’t be too high level, since it was a second badge challenge. Even if Brock had decided to go a little harder on Pierce, it still should be within a level where such tactic could work…
‘Yes,’ he celebrated to himself when he saw that Andromeda had, indeed, managed to break the attack. Immediately after, she followed with a Water Gun that hit the now off put Psychic.
“Keep it up, girl, you are doing great,” he told his partner. Brock, for his part, continued alternating between Confusion and Psyshock, occasionally having his pokemon dodge when the timings were right. Lunatone could fly and that afforded it some mobility, but Andromeda was very good with her Water Gun and it was a fairly quick move too.
“Psychic,” Brock said then and Pierce was confused. If Lunatone could use that the whole time, then why not use it before? It was basically a stronger Confusion, even if it didn’t have the… Well, confusing effect, which Andromeda was doing fairly well against, after not managing to completely dodge some of the hits.
‘Wait… It’s stronger…’ he thought, frowning as he saw Andromeda be pressed against the ground by the move. ‘More energy. It can’t be used that much,’ he theorized. Well then, if that was the case…
“Bite, break the move,” he commanded and Vaporeon did just that. “Blast, but be wary of that. Use Bite again if it happens,” he called. After all, not only would Psychic need a lot of power, but since it was a “bigger” technique, it required more control… Control that some Dark energy would destroy.
Sure enough, the battle didn’t last too long after that.
Ultimately, it was finished rather unceremoniously, with Andromeda managing to dodge a Psyshock and nailing lunatone with her Water Gun.
“Lunatone is unable to continue. Winner is Challenger Pierce!”
“Good job, Andy!” he cheered, immediately getting a powered down Water Gun to the face. He didn’t much care for that, just laughing it off and kneeling down to welcome his vaporeon with a hug that she graciously let him have. “That was very good, girl. You did great,” he praised, getting a huff from her as if saying that it wasn’t a big deal.
It was though, because that was her first gym battle, for one. For another, she hadn’t been in his team for that long. They hadn’t had nearly as much training or as many battles as Narcissa and Cygnus before Cerulean or Orion that very day. She’d still done really well, however. Sure, she was walking a little shaky and there were some bruises to take care of here and there, but she’d won that one on one, fairly well at that.
“Well done,” Brock told him, crossing the battlefield as he approached them. “You’ve been training and taking care of your pokemon well,” he added, looking down at Andromeda, who huffed at him. Well, at least she was a handful for everyone and not just him, Pierce supposed. “Here’s your badge,” the man said, extending his hand forward and passing him their prize. “Do come back yeah?” the Gym Leader asked with a grin. “If you did it once, you can do it again for a proper challenge, right?”
“I can do that, yeah,” Pierce answered with a grin of his own. He was likely to visit a lot, he supposed. Why not teleport there once in a while? Mama Onix and the Abra Family were sure to appreciate that if he did. If he was already doing that, he might as well drop by for a battle with Brock, he supposed. “I think we might get more than a few battles, actually.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Brock told him, giving him a pat on the arm. “Now, sadly, I have other challenges to take care of. Good luck out there though. And try to get some videos on Rock types, yeah? I wanna see what you have to say.”
“I’ll try. See you next time!”
[}-o-{]
“Now we are at the same level,” Lily said as they sat next to each other back in the Mama Onix area. They’d moved there almost immediately after the challenge was done. There wasn’t much reason to stay around Pewter when they could make the most of their visit instead, he supposed. Maybe if they could stay there for a few days in the future instead of just the one, they could afford to do some other things.
“I guess it was a little awkward to have one less badge than you,” he replied, checking on his pokemon all around. Narcissa, who had been a bit miffed that she didn’t get to participate, had demanded pampering as soon as she was let out. That was how Pierce found himself using the special wipe on her while she laid on his lap. Cygnus had taken that a lot better, simply content that he’d gotten to fight in Cerulean.
Andromeda had eaten her prize poffins with gusto and promptly laid down for a nap. She’d earned both things though, so Pierce had just let her be. She didn’t have any attachments to Pewter anyway, so there was no point in trying to keep her awake or anything.
Last, but not least, there was Orion, who had proudly started talking with his mother as soon as they started talking. She looked suitably impressed by the wins he was likely telling her about and Pierce had been asked some questions via the family of Psychic types. That had spiraled a little at one moment, with him having to participate in a similar chat but in regards to Cygnus and his battle in Cerulean.
All in all though, the short trip to Pewter had been nice. They relaxed, Cygnus and Orion got to meet their families again and his team earned themselves another badge.
‘Not bad, if I do say so myself,’ he mused with a smile.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
I feel like this chapter was a bit weird. Maybe it’s because it’s a bit of a shift from where we otherwise are in this point of the story, which is Cerulean. Or maybe it’s because there was quite a bit packed into this one day, compared to most others.
Either way, the characters have done what they do best and disregard my thoughts entirely.
Here’s hoping that you guys enjoyed the chapter despite (or maybe because of?) that.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: Aerodactyl or Skarmory? I think this one’s a tie for me. Both look pretty cool but still have some awkwardness that I can’t shake off. Rock dragon and metal bird… difficult choice. Yeah, it’s a tie for me. (These choices are for which one you prefer/like, not for Pierce’s team. I’ll start clarifying, since a lot of people get confused.)
See you.
Comments
Ranma_Leopard
Awesome chapter!! And tbh I think Aerodactyl for me
Coyote
I never really put either on my team, although on sword and sheid use corviknight alot. If I were to choose between the 2 though I geuss id say id try out aero. He's got a mega and it be fun to have him on a radical red playthrough I think. I recently started a nuzlock on pokemon uranium. Also playing pokerogue. Im on round 115 on that. I got megearna and she sweeps really well.
