Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Abra

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

Cerulean City XXII

"You are too tense," he commented.

"How can I not be?" Misty hissed at him and he gave her an unimpressed expression.

"I've told you, if you are like that, they'll label you a weakling and either bully you or ignore you and you want neither of those," he explained calmly. He knew what he was getting into when he accepted to help her, after all. He distinctly remembered the girl being… expressive, to put it kindly, in the anime. Not a great source of information, but it was what he had on top of his interactions with her, so he worked with what he had.

"That's easier said than done," she grumbled, shoulders dropping dejected even as she kept her annoyed expression up. "I can't just…"

"I never said it was easy or simple," Pierce told her when she trailed off. "I just said that's what you need to do. So, either do it or don't, but if you don't, I'm sure you have better things to do with your time."

"Now you are just going to tell me I'm a waste of time. That's nice," Misty said sarcastically.

"I never said that. I literally don't have anything to do other than keeping an eye on this lot," he replied, gesturing towards the pool. "So, I might as well try to help you. I'm just saying that you probably have better things to do. If you aren't going to try to do what you have to do here, then I'd suggest going and doing something else instead."

"I want to do this though," she mumbled, drawing into herself. "I just… I don't… I can't…"

"You can," Pierce reassured with a smile. "Just take your time, ok? If you want to and you are determined, that's all that matters. Maybe it'll take time, but I just wanted to make sure you did really want to do this."

"I do," Misty replied, with more certainty in her voice, even if she was still making herself look small.

"Great," he said with a nod. "Ok, so, I assume you like swimming?" he asked, making her blink at the out of the blue question.

"Yes…?" she answered uncertainly.

"Awesome, then can you do something with me? Close your eyes," he suggested and she seemed to take a moment to process that. Then, looking to the side towards where the gyarados were, she gulped and turned to lock her eyes on him. Taking a deep breath in, she closed her eyes. "That's funny, I was going to tell you that. Take slow, deep breaths, will you? I also want you to imagine you are underwater, by yourself."

Misty seemed to hesitate for a moment before doing as he asked of her.

"Great, now I want you to relax. Just, take a moment to consciously relax your body," he told her softly, going through the steps himself but with his eyes open. "Sometimes you don't even notice that you are tense, but once you realize, you wonder how you could have missed something so obvious."

Misty hummed, her shoulders dropping but this time because she was doing as he said and relaxing. That was great, she was doing well. She didn't look nearly as bad as she did before. Now he just had to help her keep it up and apply this to her fear of Gyarados.

Easier said than done, but he tried to do as he said… sometimes.

"You are doing great," he praised, smiling at the way her lips twitched up. "Now, keep that image in your mind of you in the water, continue breathing deeply and keep yourself relaxed," he instructed, trying to keep his voice firm and soft at the same time. "Continue doing all that and open your eyes."

She didn't immediately follow the command. Instead, she continued breathing, occasionally shifting or rolling her shoulders. Pierce was in no hurry though. The entire point was to help her calm down. Pressuring her was quite possibly one of the worst things he could do.

Eventually, she did open her eyes.

"Feeling good?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I… I needed that, I think," she replied slowly, a little hesitant but not nervous or afraid. More unsure, if anything. "This is… really nice," Misty added, a slight smile on her face and looking at peace.

"That's great." From there, he let her stand there before speaking again. "So… Do you want to continue or come back to this some other time?" he asked and she stiffened again. However, he was pleased to see that he didn't even have to tell her to relax once more. She did that all by herself, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.

Then, she balled her hands into fists before letting go.

"... What did you have in mind?" Misty asked and he smiled at her.

"Come with me, yeah?" Pierce said as an answer walking towards the edge of the pool. The gyarados were some distance away, where he'd sent them when it was obvious Misty and him weren't making much progress. His shiny friend was the closest one but she already seemed bothered by the distance. "Let's sit here," he suggested, doing just that and letting his legs dangle inside the pool.

"... Ok, I can do this," he heard her mumble under her breath and he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear her. "Now… what?"

"Now, we try talking again, ok?" he answered with as reassuring a smile as he could while she stiffened once more. "She'll be the only one close and I'll make her stay further back. How does that sound?"

"... Better," the girl muttered.

"Nice. Just remember to keep yourself relaxed. If you need a moment, take it. No need to force yourself or it'll just make things worse," he told her, getting a slow nod. With a grin he waved the very eager red sea serpent over.

[}-o-{]

"Thanks for helping her," Daisy commented with a smile on her face, approaching him while Misty walked away. The younger girl looked a little… shaky, but she'd done a great job talking with Gyarados. Pierce was really happy with how the first class had ended, even if it started a lil' rough.

"No problem," he replied with a grin, waving her off. "I gotta do something to pass the time around here anyway. I can only play and cook for so long."

"Could have fooled me," the Sister joked. "But seriously, this is something that she's struggled with and been self-conscious about for a while already. It means a lot to see her doing something about it and you helping her with that."

"As I said, no problem," he told her, his grin turning less playful and more soft. "She did great, much better than I thought. We just have to keep going and she'll be fine in no time."

"That's good to hear," Daily replied, her smile turning sad as she looked at the door Misty had disappeared through a moment before. "We've all known since… Well, since the beginning, but we never could quite get her to let us help her. So, we had to do our best to help out in other ways. We might not have done as good a job as we'd have liked."

"No one's perfect," Pierce reassured calmly. "You are a Gym Leader and a performer and you are young too. Can't be faulted for not being a therapist too," he added with a smile. "You did what you could, I'm sure."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you are trying to get in my pants," Daisy commented, giggling softly. Well, he was really glad that she'd added that first part, at least. "Thank you for saying that though. It means a lot too."

"Don't mention it."

"... I guess," she started then and he noticed that she seemed to struggle to speak. He was no expert, but he was pretty sure she'd gotten a little emotional there. "I guess I should go. Stuff to do, pokemon to watch. You know?"

"Sure, see you later," he said, not pointing out the way she rubbed the back of her hand over her eye, as if wiping tears. "Don't be a stranger."

"Same," she replied with a nod and a smile.

Her eyes were red though.

'Well, pretty sure those aren't sad tears, at least,' Pierce thought and he felt a grateful push against his mind from Starmie, with images flashing by. 'No problem, Starmie. Your turn now,' he projected at the pokemon, receiving a determined affirmative answer.

"You did great, girl," he complimented, making Gyarados squirm happily. "And thanks for giving her space," he added towards Vaporeon. Part of the reason he'd sent her away was so that she could stay close to the sea serpent while he couldn't, but it was also so that he could have a more one on one session with Misty, even if Gyarados was involved too.

The eeveelution yipped dutifully, making him smile and lean down to pat her head.

"You really are the best," he said. The pokemon responded quickly with a pleased purr while rubbing her head against his hand. "You are the best too, Gyarados," he continued with a chuckle when the sea serpent whined. "And so is my team, I gotta add."

Because if he didn't, then Narcissa would take that personally.

"You are right about that," Cygnus commented, making him grin. He also noted, not for the first time, that his psychic type friend was having less and less trouble speaking. Now he didn't need to stop every so often to make sure he was doing it right. Sure, he was still not that fast, but he was getting there. "Thank you, Helper-Voice," he commented and Pierce was sure he could almost hear a grin on the mental voice. "I'm sure I don't know… what you are talking about."

'Sure you don't, Cygnus,' he replied with a roll of his eyes.

"... I think it's time, Helper-Voice," his abra commented while Pierce continued petting Vaporeon and sat down in front of Gyarados at the edge of the pool. "Charmer-Survivor has calmed down a great deal… and it wouldn't be nice-"

'I get it,' Pierce interrupted, feeling some nerves creeping on him. It was stupid, he knew, but he couldn't help it. Looking to the side, he saw his team had gathered together already, with Cygnus and Narcissa sitting on top of Orion and all of them staring in his direction. 'No pressure,' he told himself with a wry grin, much to his abra's amusement. 'Shoo shoo.'

When the presence in his mind receded, he took a deep breath in and then sighed.

"There was something I wanted to talk about with you two," he started, and it seemed that both pokemon got that he was serious, because there was no wiggling from Gyarados nor Vaporeon-ness from Vaporeon. "You didn't let me finish, last time, girl," he commented, planting his hand on Gyarados' crest while both water types stiffened. "Let me finish, ok?" he pressed.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, if you asked him – he didn't receive an angry growl as he expected. Instead, the sea serpent whined pitifully in a way that broke his heart. Still, he forced a smile on his face and soldiered on.

"No worries about leaving just yet, girl. They probably won't find a new place for you for a bit," he said, but that didn't seem to cheer her up. So, maybe it was time for him to get to the point. "Or, as I was going to say the other day, you could not go," he added, and that seemed to catch the Gyarados off guard.

Even Vaporeon shifted under his hand and made a confused sound.

"I talked with the Sisters before going to tell you the news," Pierce started explaining. "I asked them something in regards to the two of you and they agreed, provided that you do too, that is. I asked them… if you could come with me instead, be part of my team." Once that was said, he kept one hand on each pokemon as they both seemed to… do nothing for a long moment.

It wasn't even that they froze. Gyarados continued floating, with all the movement that entailed for her. Vaporeon kept on making small movements this or that way under his hand. That is, until he saw the sea serpent's expression shift a little.

She whined, moving her head forward to press it against his face and chest. Pierce was no expert, of course, but he thought he got what was going on there. He chuckled, smiling widely as he patted the giant water type. It seemed someone was a little more excited than he'd expected.

"I take it that's a yes, girl?" he asked, getting another whine and an even more thorough rubbing of her head against this whole self. "Good to have you on board," he whispered and he truly was. He knew she didn't want him to leave, but there was a very real possibility that she just wanted things to stay the same, the two of them in Cerulean.

That would have been… problematic, since he had a journey that he couldn't quite just up and leave anymore. It wasn't just about him now, after all. It involved a whole team he was putting together and promises made.

"What about you?" he asked softly, turning to look at Vaporeon and moving his hand back towards her. Before he could reach her head though, she moved forward, rubbing her forehead against it herself. "That a yes too?" he tried to confirm, even though he already knew the answer with that alone.

The eeveelution predictably huffed, turning to the side but not pulling her head away from his hand.

"Great. I guess the team grew quite a bit again," he commented to them, to himself and to his team, who was moving closer now. "Only a few things left to do, I guess," he added, chuckling when Cygnus teleported. "He went looking for the pokeballs, girl," he told Gyarados, when she twitched, causing her to go back to rubbing her head against his chest. "Another one of the things we have to get around is names. I'm not sure if you-"

Gyarados interrupted him by pushing even harder against him, to the point that she made him lay back on the ground instead of just sitting there. To the side, Vaporeon huffed, rolling her eyes, while Narcissa let out an annoyed buzz. Orion seemed to think it all looked like a fun game, if the curious look he was sending their way was any indication.

"I think I have the perfect name for you, girl," he commented with a smile as the gyarados pulled back. She looked about as eager as she ever had been for a treat, but twice over. "Bellatrix," he said, very aware of the irony the name implied in this case, but meaning fit. "I don't remember perfectly what it means, but I'm fairly sure it means both "beautiful" and "warrior", maybe-" he didn't get to continue before he was tackled once more.

It was just fortunate that she didn't actually use the move, because he was likely to die if that was the case.

A yip made the newly named Bellatrix pull back and Pierce turned towards Vaporeon. The eeveelution directed an unimpressed look at him, tapping her tail on the ground impatiently. She was annoyed, he knew, but he still couldn't help but chuckle, reaching towards her and pulling her into a hug.

He'd expected a Water Gun for it or maybe a tail slap or something of the sort. Instead, the water type didn't seem to do anything other than let herself be hugged. That only made him smile wider.

"I didn't forget about you, obviously," he said, not letting go. "For you, I thought… Andromeda. I'm fairly sure it was the name of a queen, which I think fits your attitude if nothing else," he explained. Vaporeon seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding imperiously, as if she were trying to push the name even further. "Yeah. Good to have you on board, Andromeda," he commented with a grin, turning to look at his shiny friend and patting her with his hand. "And you too, of course, Bellatrix."

That seemed to be the limit of Narcissa's patience, because she latched onto his back at that very moment. By the time Cygnus returned, he just sat next to Orion and both of them just looked at him being buried under their female teammates. He didn't have any proof, but he also had no doubts that the two little shits were very amused by the sight.

[}-o-{]

"Is this gonna be the norm now?" Lily asked, a weird mix of amused and unimpressed. "Are you gonna make it a habit of getting two new pokemon at a time and when I'm not looking?" she added, fixing Pierce with a look.

"Not like I planned this," he told her flatly. "Well, I sort of did, this time, but I actually went for it when the time felt right," he explained then with a helpless shrug and a smile. "It's what it is, I guess."

"Still, they seem like great teammates," Lily said, making Bellatrix preen in the water and Andromeda let out a pleased sound. "I can't believe you have a shiny gyarados though. People will go wild over that."

"Ah, but you forget her best feature," he pointed out when he saw Bellatrix twitch. Immediately, both Lily and his new sea serpent teammate gave him their whole attention. "She's adorable. Aren't you, Bella?" he asked, and the water type pulled closer to rub her gigantic head against his comparatively tiny hand. "Yes, you are."

"You are not wrong about that," Lily agreed easily, with her "only-you" expression on while she looked at them. "And here I thought I was bringing interesting news," his friend added, with the air of someone that knew something the other person didn't and was extremely happy with that fact.

"I'm listening," he said, more amused than anything. Maybe she'd gotten word from home about something good? A nice change in her sponsorship? Had she found a nice job while doing her things? Maybe people from Pallet had gotten in contact and needed some more advice? Which, by the way, Pierce was still a little confused and suspicious about.

"You are famous," Lily said, smiling and humming as she turned towards the pool, as if what she said made any sense at all. Pierce processed that statement for a long moment, blinking. He went over it a few times with a frown. Beside him, Vaporeon yipped curiously.

"... What?"

"What you heard," his traveling companion said, grinning even wider and looking like she wanted nothing else other than to start laughing. "You, my slightly logically challenged friend, are a celebrity now. Granted, a small one, but a celebrity all the same."

"I'm gonna need more context here, I think," he commented, still not quite wrapping his head around what she was saying. Vaporeon and him followed Lily intently then, as she turned, pulled her pokedex from her backpack and tapped on a bit. Ultimately, she passed it to him with a video already set to be started.

When he hit the button, he saw… himself, with Bellatrix, when she was magikarp. Furthermore, it was a video of the day she had evolved, the moment she had evolved. Camera was a bit shaky and the person holding it obviously moved and probably tried to hide that they were filming because at times it pointed down or was placed right on something that blocked the lens.

"There's more after that," Lily helpfully informed him and he clicked the button to move to the next video. This one was a video of him and Bellatrix, when he'd slept on top of her. He clicked again, getting to a video of Bellatrix and the grumpy Gyarados meeting. He clicked again and it was the last video, by the looks of it. This one was one where he was playing with the school of gyarados, making them do tricks while moving his arms.

"Huh… I'll have to check with the Sisters to make sure this is actually, you know, legal and stuff," he commented, moving between videos. It did look cool, he supposed, but it was also kind of awkward to see himself like that. It put some things into perspective though. 'Maybe Lily's right to call me crazy,' he mused.

"It's definitely not fine," Daisy said, making the both of them jump a little. The motion then annoyed Andromeda, who had at some point laid her head on his lap. It seemed that the Gym Leader had been looking over their shoulders. "That has to have been a staff member and they should know better than to post this kind of thing to the public. We usually allow some "behind the scenes" stuff for our shows, but this is completely different and nobody asked for permission. We'll look into it."

"Ok, if you have to," Pierce commented, looking at the videos again. "I don't mind too much, but it sounds like a Gym thing."

"Well, whoever did this will be in a little less trouble if you aren't going to do anything about it, but they'll definitely be in trouble anyway," the blonde replied, a mean grin on her face. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get in contact with Lily… the other one," she said, walking away. "Try and don't get more famous while I'm away, yeah? Preferably not by getting eaten."

"Sure thing!" he called out in response. "So, you said I was famous? How famous?"

"Very," Lillian answered, looking kind of excited. "There were tons of comments. I can't show you that with my pokedex, I just downloaded the videos. But if you get your hands on a computer, look for ~GyaradosTamer."

"... Because of course," he mumbled, unimpressed. "As if anyone could tame a gyarados of all things."

"What'd you expect from people?"

"Yeah, that's on me, I guess," he answered, sighing. "So, you said there were a lot of comments, never said how the comments were."

"Are you kidding? People love you," Lily said, laughing. "Granted, a lot of people are saying that it's all a montage, but nobody with any brains believes them. As if anyone could make gyarados do anything like that for a montage of all things. It's unbelievable enough as is."

"Too right," he replied with a nod.

"Otherwise it's all good things. I saw a whole thread of people saying they'd pay to watch you do your thing," Lily commented and he was getting the feeling that she'd entertained herself maybe a little too much with that. Maybe she'd fallen down the internet videos rabbit hole while she was at it? The distraction to end all distractions.

"Well, I don't need the money, so…" he started before trailing off and blinking. "Actually, that's a good thing to know."

"Gonna become a pokemon performer? Because I can see that, but I don't think Narcissa would like that," Lily pointed out but he just shook his head, an idea forming in his mind.

"No, no, just… Andromeda, can you keep an eye on Bellatrix?" he asked, getting a yip from the now a little confused vaporeon. "Bella!" he called out loud. The gyarados swam close to them from where she'd been chatting with Orion some distance away, never out of sight, of course. She seemed to have calmed down a great deal after she officially joined his team, he noticed.

It made him feel guilty, but it was better to have waited a little until she calmed down by herself. That was his opinion, at least.

"I'm going to leave for a few minutes, ok? I have to talk about something with the Sisters. Andy here," he started explaining, that last part getting him a slap of the vaporeon's tail. Apparently, she wasn't a fan of the shortened form of her name. "And the rest are going to keep you company, yeah? I promise I'll be back in a bit. Is that ok?"

Bellatrix let out a slight whine but she nodded.

"Thank you. You are the best," he told her with a grin, patting her crest affectionately, before starting to move.

He had a plan to discuss with the Sisters, it seemed.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, some of us have seen Professor Davis before (from GoM for those not in the know) and now we've also seen Professor Lawson. Neat, right? Wonder if that'll lead somewhere or if it'll just be regular Slice of Life. Never know.

Also, I think everyone either saw those two joining or strongly suspected/wished it would happen. I wasn't sure if I'd go for both myself, but such was the way the characters decided to do things. I'm sure there'll be people upset or something about the fact that Pierce has two water types instead of just the one but… It's what it is. This is a story about a sort of real world, not a competitive game tournament. People are allowed to make non-meta decisions.

Interestingly, Andromeda is the first one to not have the possibility of a mega evolution in the future. Wonder if she'll be the exception to the rule or merely the first case of this. Guess we'll find out with time.

Oh, and Pierce seems to have become viral too.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

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: What's the last video you watched? The last video I watched was a Fish Tank Review from the channel Fish For Thought.

See you.