Pewter City XV

A whole new day had come already and Pierce found himself sitting at the stands with a snack in hand. The tournament was on its last stretch and it showed. There was a significantly larger amount of people there for it that day, which made sense. The final matches were much more important and exciting, Pierce guessed.

Which was… kind of funny, because watching as Lily battled her opponent in the semi-finals, he couldn't help but think that some of her other matches had been much more entertaining. Sure, the other trainer and their pokemon were good and all, but they certainly weren't on the same level as, say, the dark type specialist. Still, their oddish had put up a good fight against Talon, but there was little to do there. Especially at the level they were fighting in.

Now, it was Root's turn against an ekans. It was going fairly well in favor of Lily, all things considered. Furthermore, even if the bulbasaur lost for some reason, Talon would be there too, mostly fine, to try to finish the fight. Seeing as things were pretty even against the snake pokemon, Pierce didn't think the creature could pull off a win good enough to be able to take out Talon afterwards.

Sure enough, it couldn't. The serpent did take out Root though, but went down fairly quickly against the bird. Then came an interesting choice, actually, because Lily's opponent released a beedrill. To that, the girl answered by recalling Talon and calling out Narcissa too, which surprised Pierce quite a bit. Then again, Talon was unlikely to be able to do much. 'It's quite interesting how much a single extra pokemon choice changes the game,' he mused as he watched the fight. After all, they'd gone from 2v2 to 3v3 in the battle rules for the semifinals and finals.

Sure, the rules had said that someone with two pokemon could enter, but that was no reason to limit other participants to that. Besides, Pierce guessed it was unlikely that someone with two pokemon would reach that far anyway. On top of that, the tournament organizers had to worry about making a good spectacle, and adding more pokemon to the battles when there were few left was a good way to do that, he imagined.

As the fight started, he grinned slightly at Lily's first command, Iron Defense. The other trainer was unlikely to have that move at their disposal, after all, which was further proved when they called for Poison Sting. A few of the purple needles hit Narcissa, for sure, but she was done with her move and charging forward within seconds. Fury Attack was what Lily ordered after the defensive move and Pierce's first companion was all for that, evidently.

The other beedrill sure tried to give as much as they got with its own Fury Attack. Tried being the operative word, since Iron Defense tilted the scales a lot in favor of Narcissa. To their credit, they tried to switch things up and make themselves unpredictable with other attacks in between but once they got within melee distance with Narcissa, there was no way Pierce's partner would let them get away before the fight was over.

Thus, within a minute or so, Lily found herself the winner of her fight and in the finals.

After the fight was over, Lily went away to have her pokemon taken care of. 'So, geodude/growlithe girl faces Lily in the finals… Her pokemon ended up less hurt than Lily's but she still has Narcissa ready for a fight… Although, not sure how effective she'll be against those,' Pierce mused as he stood up and made his way to the waiting section that Lily would be in.

Considering there was going to be about an hour before the next battle, he'd keep the girl company while they waited for her pokemon to be healed and such. Moving around was a bit difficult, however, considering how the other spectators were also moving away from the stands towards the stalls that had been set up outside the tournament area. That's where he likely would have gone himself if not for Lily's presence in the tournament. It was where he'd gotten his snack before the fight, after all.

"What do you think, buddy?" he asked, looking slightly up as he addressed Cygnus, who was once more riding on his shoulders. The psychic type sent him what he imagined was some kind of… mental humming. Not as much in the sound sense as the presence in his mind seemed to oscillate between being more noticeable and not.

'Telepathy is really weird and I probably should be more disturbed by it, pretty sure,' he mused as he waited for an actual response. Which he got a moment later, as they started making their way away from the crowd and towards the participants' place. Nobody had cared much when he'd gone there before, but now it seemed that they did, because they asked him to wait for a bit while they checked with Lily.

As for Cygnus's answer, the abra simply pushed a picture of a weary Root facing a geodude. Then that was followed by Narcissa facing a just as weary geodude. After that, the picture shifted to Narcissa fighting a growlithe… although the image seemed unclear on that last part.

"Root against geodude, loses and then Narcissa finishes the fight. After that, it's time to face either growlithe or some other surprise pokemon, maybe even both. Talon being reserved in case Narcissa loses," Pierce mused out loud as he considered that. "Sounds about right. Of course, it kinda depends on what that probable but not confirmed third pokemon might be and when it comes out."

The psychic type readily agreed with that.

"Regardless, we are already getting some prizes and that's pretty neat, really. What do you think are the chances of actually winning?" Pierce asked, to which he felt Cygnus mentally shrug. Then it was followed by a sort of nervous/hopeful feeling that… "What's that? Like, 70% winning chance?" he asked before humming. "I mean, I like those odds. Maybe it's the friend in me that doesn't want to think about them losing but still. I hope your guess is right."

He was sort of guessing, but Pierce was fairly sure that Cygnus replied to that with a "same".

And yet, despite the optimism, he had to remind himself that Narcissa wasn't that strong against either, geodude or growlithe. She was basically riding and trusting that her superior evolution level would be enough. That, and not being hit too much, because she was weak to both rock and fire type attacks. Pierce trusted Narcissa to be able to dodge just about anything those two could throw at her but… That didn't mean it couldn't happen…

"Thanks, buddy," he mumbled as Cygnus sent him a wave of reassurance. "Well, you've got yourself some prizes guaranteed, at least, huh?" he called as he approached Lily, who was sort of pacing around a table before she perked up as he approached. "Haven't gotten them back just yet?" he asked, his eyes moving to the side to look at where the infirmary was situated.

"Not yet, no," she answered, sighing as she took a seat. Following suit, he sat down in front of her while Cygnus teleported from his shoulders to his lap. "And yeah, that's great, actually," she added with a slight grin. "Next fight has me a little worried, but I think it should go fine, even if things go South a bit… or a lot. Shouldn't make a bad impression, at least."

"Are these things televised or something? Because I don't know why you'd care if not," Pierce pointed out, he hadn't seen a single camera that he remembered.

"I mean, they are not, but there's still recordings uploaded and so on. If I make it far in the Conference, maybe they could make a report about me and so on. Besides, enthusiasts still check recordings of tournaments and so on. There's entire channels with compilations and tops and… Well, yeah. I'm not surprised you didn't know that. It's more of a…"

"Very enthusiastic trainer thing?" he finished for her with an amused expression that made the girl huff. "Yeah, I didn't look too deep into that," he commented, which was true, even if not in the way she'd assume. "I might now though, so good to know. Anything else I could check?"

"Well, there's some people that hold theoretical battle situations and such," Lily told him, her eyes shining with excitement. "They are usually held by people too young to be trainers yet but some adults do it too. There's an element of luck thrown in by using dice to help decide what actually happens and other things. Some even try to run entire journeys instead of just battles."

'Is it just me or does that sound suspiciously like D&D… Nevermind,' Pierce decided, shaking his head.

"Well, good to know, I'll look it up," he commented. 'If only to confirm my suspicions,' he added in his own mind with a grin. A smile that widened as Lily's expression turned to a worried one.

"I mean, maybe you should just look for actual battles. After all, those will be more helpful," she mumbled, making him raise an eyebrow.

"I'll look both of those up. I'm suddenly wondering what kind of hobby you had before becoming a trainer," he said, making the girl blush beet red.

"I never said I participated in that," she argued weakly, to which he kept his eyebrow raised. Eventually, she deflated and grumbled something he didn't understand.

"So, can I find videos of you playing around with imaginary pokemon and dice?" he asked, and the expression Lily made at the question was very amusing. She looked halfway between being mortified and wanting to strangle him.

"Lillian Dale?" a nurse called then and the girl in question pouted at Pierce before standing up and walking towards the counter.

[}-o-{]

"Final match," Pierce said, once more sitting at the stands, for the last time now. On his shoulders, Cygnus audibly hummed his agreement as the both of them saw Lily stand on the battlefield, opposite to the other trainer. Introductions were made and all that, but he only half-paid attention to it all, really. He really wanted to see this fight, not so much the previous show.

It'd been an eye opening experience, to see Lily participate in this tournament. It was a lot different from regular battles, there were more stakes, more importance to it all besides just a money prize. Quite honestly, he was sort of looking forward to participating in such an event himself eventually. Pierce pictured it, with him in Lily's place and calling out Narcissa, or Orion, or Cygnus.

The abra certainly liked the picture, it seemed, if the emotions that reached him were any indication.

'Yes, we'll be there eventually,' he thought. Somehow, despite being somewhat indifferent to fighting… He was sort of missing it. It had been a while since his last battle, really. After all, Narcissa had spent her time with Lily as of late and Cygnus and Orion were in no battling condition, nevermind the fact that they'd joined not so long before. 'Narcissa and I are definitely going to make up for lost time, she'll like that anyway,' he mused with a slight grin.

He refocused on the battlefield then though. The introductions were over and the hyping up of the audience was done already. Now, it was time for the actual fight, it seemed. Then, Lily released Narcissa first of all. It made sense. Her opponent had stuff that would sort of counter all her pokemon, so it was better to start off with a strong one that would hopefully put up a better fight.

And Narcissa was the one for that, if Pierce did say so himself.

Opposite from Lily, the other trainer let out her pokemon. 'Well, good to know that our theories were right, huh?' he thought to himself, with Cygnus readily agreeing. Sure enough, Lily's opponent let out a third pokemon different from the ones they knew about.

A Natu.

'This… might be bad,' he thought, somewhat worried. After all, Narcissa was weak against both of the creature's types, psychic and flying. In his mind Cygnus wasn't faring much better with this new development, it seemed.

Regardless of their concerns, however, the match was still going to happen.

Lily started it off with an Iron Defense call while her opponent called for a Teleport-Peck combo, it seemed. 'Not as smooth or fast as your teleport, huh?' he thought towards Cygnus, who replied with a very proud feeling. Sure enough, it seemed to take the strange green bird a moment to do its trick. About as long as it took Narcissa to use her defensive move, actually.

So, when the natu finally teleported, Lily was already calling for a Fury Attack. Thus, when the creature managed to appear behind Narcissa and Peck her, the beedrill replied with a flurry of attacks that made her stingers shine with white light. As for the psychic type, it used Peck to reply in kind.

As the fight went on though, Pierce started grinning more and more widely. 'She's winning,' he thought, having to hold back a laugh. 'She's winning! Come on, girl!' he cheered internally. He'd have done so out loud but he'd never been that kind of guy, really. Especially without a crowd with him, which was certainly not the case. Sure, there were some vocal people around the stands, but those were the minority.

Regardless, he was fine with just having Cygnus cheering with him, even if it was only mentally.

"Yes," he couldn't help but say out loud, his hand balling into a fist as the natu fell to the ground. Narcissa had gotten hit too, but she was… mostly fine, from what he could see. It didn't feel right to see her like that, but Pierce knew she was still perfectly fine as far as she was aware. 'Gotta get used to not worrying so much. She wants to keep going, let her, unless it's really stupid,' he reminded himself.

'Keep her out,' he thought, narrowing his eyes. The point of making Narcissa be the first was still very valid, really. There was no need to switch her out just yet. She was still ready for another round with whatever, be it geodude, growlithe or something else. 'She wants to fight and it's the right call. Keep her out,' he thought, as if that would somehow reach Lily to let her know what he thought was the right call.

It wasn't necessary though, it seemed, because when she was asked if she would switch, she shook her head. As for her opponent, their following pokemon was growlithe, which was sort of expected. It was certainly faster than geodude, after all, and they'd need all the speed they could get to fight Narcissa. 'Will it be fast enough though? Strong enough?' he wondered, leaning forward the smallest bit as he looked at the battlefield.

The fight started much the same as before, with Lily calling for Iron Defense – 'That's a really great move to have, really.' – while her opponent called for an attack. Ember, to be exact. The move flew true and hit Narcissa square in the chest. The growlithe clearly had a good aim, if nothing else.

That wasn't enough to take out Narcissa though, and Lily's call for Twineedle soon followed before the fire type could fire again. It wasn't a very effective move to use against growlithe, offensively speaking. However, it added a little speed to Narcissa that was better than nothing. After that, what followed was more Fury Attacks, which was becoming a bit of a staple for Narcissa.

Narrowing his eyes, Pierce made a mental note to give his beedrill more close combat options. Twineedle and Fury Attack were great, but it'd be better to have more moves to choose from. Especially since Narcissa seemed to be much more melee oriented than ranged.

The fire dog continued trying to nail Narcissa with Embers at its trainer's command, however, it was a lot more difficult when the opponent was moving. Lily's opponent wasn't just gonna be happy with that though. No, instead, they also called for Bite, to try and nail Narcissa so she'd have to stay still. It wasn't completely successful, but to say it was a failure would be too much too. Several of the fireballs hit Narcissa, after all, and while Bite didn't quite land, Pierce could see them scratching his partner.

"Yes," he said, more firmly than before. He grinned widely with his eyes wide so he wouldn't miss anything. Growlithe had fallen and Narcissa was still going… Well, not strong, but she was holding on. The beedrill was practically out now, but Pierce knew she wanted to keep going, to try and go for the full win…

He almost groaned when Lily recalled her. It was such a shame… But he got it. Narcissa wasn't Lily's pokemon. She didn't need nor want to risk anything now. Her opponent likely had only a geodude left, and Root would deal with it just fine. It was the polite thing to do, to take out Narcissa once there was no more need to put her in there to get even more hurt.

Pierce should have been grateful for that, really. However, he could almost feel Narcissa's frustration. She likely had been looking forward to continuing fighting. To show how strong she was even more. She wasn't even that out of the fight, really. She could have fought more, not even being that unreasonable…

'Definitely gonna make up for the lost time after this,' he decided resolutely.

With that out of the way, Pierce tried to focus on Lily's final round, with Root facing geodude. He really did, but… Well, first of all, the fight wasn't all that close or exciting. He knew how the thing would end now and there was nothing telling that it'd go differently. With Narcissa out of the fight now, it was… a little less interesting, he supposed.

Cygnus, on his shoulders, seemed to agree, if the frustrated/excited feeling was any indication. 'It'll be us there soon enough, buddy,' Pierce told his psychic type in his mind, smiling as the abra grabbed his hair. Maybe it was weird, but he was looking forward to fighting more and more by the second, it seemed.

When Lily's opponent finally lost, her geodude slumping on the ground after one last attack made by Root, he clapped for her while she waved at the stands. Soon enough, he was making his way out of the stands and, as he did so, he could only hope that whenever they made their way to Cerulean, there'd be a tournament for them to participate in. Then again, Orion and Cygnus weren't all that battle ready but… Well, maybe they'd get there before they reached the city.

For the moment, that was far away, but the battlegrounds would still be open for them to fight in.

[}-o-{]

"I said I was sorry," Lily said, to which Pierce smiled wryly.

"There, there," he said softly, using the special wipe he'd gotten on Narcissa as the bug type grumbled on his lap. "It's over now, alright? You are definitely stuck with me now and we'll get plenty of battles done, I promise. Hell, if we come across another tournament, I'll sign us right in, ok? Even if we don't stand a chance at winning."

To that, the beedrill chittered something that sounded half annoyed and half agreeing.

"Besides, you can't be angry with Lily. She's not your trainer, it'd have been bad if she really pushed you, no matter how much you wanted her to," he told his pokemon. She grumbled some more, but she seemed to mostly settle down. At least until she heard Orion rumble a laugh, which caused her to snap something at him with her mandibles. "Orion, don't be a brat," he chided lightly, drawing an offended look from the onix. "Yeah, that's not gonna work. Behave yourself. Narcissa can kick your butt and you should know that."

When the stone serpent huffed something in disbelief, he got the same look from basically everyone around, including his own mother. Noticing this, the rock type rumbled something lowly before retreating to a corner to not-pout at them. Pierce, for his part, turned to look at Cygnus when the abra sent a wave of amusement towards him.

"Do I have to scold you too, mister?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. To that, the psychic type waved his hands in the negative. "Suddenly, getting two new pokemon at the same time doesn't sound like as good an idea as it did before," he muttered, focusing back on Narcissa. "Especially when they are both brats."

"Good to know," Lily commented, looking thoroughly entertained by the whole situation. Then she sat down next to him while Root crawled on top of her lap. There, she started doing much the same thing Pierce was doing with Narcissa, but with her own specialized wipe. "So, partner in crime, what are we gonna use our winnings for?"

"I mean, supplying ourselves?" he answered, blinking at her. "Anything in particular that needs actual decision making? We just gotta supply ourselves for the trip through Mt. Moon… Has there been any announcement regarding that?"

"They said it was likely they'd open it tomorrow. I think they were using the tournament to make sure trainers on this side wouldn't get antsy," Lily explained, humming to herself. "I think we can decide what we really need for the trip through the mountains. Beyond that… Well, there were three training vouchers. I can give you one. Besides that, I think we are mostly set. Only one that's not really all that generic is the voucher for the store that sells stones. I don't think you want anything specific from there?" she asked with a grin.

"Not really. You can get whatever you want from there," he said with a shrug. He rather doubted something of actual value would be there hidden in completely normal rocks. No way a fossil or something like that had gotten past someone that was supposed to specialize on rocks, in Pewter of all places. "Anything we should worry about inside Mt. Moon?... Besides the obvious?"

"... Well… Zubat are annoying at best, but that's in normal times. They might be more aggressive now. The other lines in there are mostly either friendly or peaceful and it shouldn't have changed much even with the attack," Lily informed him, which was more or less what he'd picked up in his own searches, but it was good to confirm that information. "There's supposed to be onix, evidently, which are more of a concern, but they are so rare that we shouldn't have a problem there. Besides, Orion will help with that, I'm sure."

To that, the young onix barked something affirmatively, apparently forgetting to pout for a moment.

"So, everything's ready, I guess?" Pierce commented absently as he continued pampering his bug type. "Good to know. It'll almost be a shame to go away. I've gotten used to this place," he added then, turning to look at Mama Onix. On top of that, he thought back to the ponyta ranch, the tournament and everything else that had happened.

"Gotta keep moving forward," Lily said then, but she didn't look very eager. "But yeah, I get where you are coming from. Lots of things happened here. I wonder if this is how all our city visits will go."

"Hopefully without Rocket attacks."

"Of course," Lily replied, sharing a wry smile with him.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

And we are almost done with Pewter. I know we've been in this city since forever ago, but… Well, I can't really feel bad about it. I don't think I could have cut out anything without taking away from the story. I don't want to just rush through cities and such, that's now how a journey should be, in my opinion.

It should be, I think, more about visiting places, experiencing things and such. Pierce definitely did a bunch of that, I feel, and that's what's important. Granted, this is just my personal opinion. With some luck, it hasn't been too boring for you, guys. I know I've gotten some complaints about how long this arc was taking… My advice would be to get used to it. I doubt things will get much different than this, but then again, I have zero control of how my stories go.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: I know I asked this in GoM, but I thought it better to cover all bases, if you know what I mean. Do you like any of my other stories? If so, which one/s?

See you.