Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Abra

- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)

- Andromeda, Vaporeon

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

Cerulean City XXVIII

"People think about you," Cygnus said from his spot on Pierce's shoulders as they walked through Cerulean. Once more, he was left wondering how much random Psychics could pick up from their surroundings. Did he have to worry about his mind being read at any point? Because that was… "They are thinking really loudly," was all the explanation his abra gave, which wasn't all that much. Cygnus wasn't feeling very generous that day, evidently.

'From the channel or from battles or something else?' he asked in the end, deciding to leave worries about his privacy to the side. His Psychic type might be a stingy lil' shit, but he was sure Cygnus would warn him if there was anything to actually be concerned about. Maybe he didn't answer because he was having fun seeing Pierce squirm or something.

"Channel," was the short answer he got, but that was enough. It was also the answer he expected, really. He didn't think he'd done anything public enough to warrant any attention other than his channel. He'd just asked to make sure, more than anything.

'That's great,' Pierce thought with a slight smile. After all, he needed people to watch it and especially people from Cerulean or close by. He wasn't doing the whole thing for general popularity, after all, even if he was trying to attract attention. It seemed that maybe his lil' scheme would be more successful than he'd thought. He'd honestly been the one with the least faith in it, even though it was his own idea.

Regardless, it had been about a week since he uploaded his first video and things were escalating, it seemed. More and more, with the passage of time, Pierce noticed that people looked at him, whispered when they thought he couldn't hear. Some even went the extra step like that first girl and approached him to ask a question or two. Nobody had actually asked for help or anything like that since then, but he imagined it was a matter of time.

He did get a free beer courtesy of a generous gentleman once when he'd stopped at a bar to get a drink and something to snack on with Lily, so that had been nice.

Pierce found it all kind of awkward though, because he was just used to people not knowing who he was. He'd never been one to have tons of friends or even acquaintances and that meant that he could walk around even at his relatively small hometown and have no one recognize him or give him a second look. Going from that to walking down the street and not only feeling but also seeing people watching him was… an experience.

Sometimes it was uncomfortable, sometimes it was oddly complimenting.

Pierce was kind of grateful for the routine that he'd built since then, however. It allowed him to disappear from the public eye and into the Cerulean Gym for most of the day. Diving into the pool's cool water and spending time with pokemon was just what he needed to untie the bundle of nerves that formed in him through the days. It was kind of nice to see the Water types and Misty doing better as time passed too. He was getting antsy about remaining in one place, mostly because he did have a journey to get through and he felt bad making everyone stay in Cerulean for so long, but it was undeniable that it was great to know that he was helping others.

The battlegrounds were another matter entirely though, with people very obviously recognizing him more often than not and sometimes gathering around the field he was battling at. That was a reason why he was kind of cutting that part of the day a little short. Even jobs weren't all that comfortable after the first two people that called for him with ridiculous ideas of what he could do, the "Tamer" thing having regretfully stuck despite his best attempts to teach everyone otherwise. Seriously, there was a guy with a small dock leading into the coast that wanted him to basically "tame" a tentacruel that lived nearby because it'd be cool.

What the fuck?

Granted, the man hadn't said it in those words, but that was the gist of it. That was the worst case, but there were others that weren't much better. So, Pierce found himself having to do a more thorough process when choosing what jobs to take. On that note, somewhat, he also found himself visiting places where he'd already done jobs to ask for some small favors and have some more material for his channel that wasn't Gyarados and Magikarp. He didn't want to flood his account with that stuff, even if he could talk for entire seasons worth of chapters about them.

"Supporter-Caretaker was nice," Cygnus commented, having basically been floating about in his mind as it drifted. A flash of Mrs. Clark explained the nickname thing to him, even if he'd probably have figured who he was talking about without it. He was getting the hang of those, it seemed. "Maybe we can visit again?"

'You just liked her because she pampered you,' Pierce accused and the abra didn't even try to deny it. It made him shake his head, even if it was actually very amusing. Regardless, Mrs. Clark was very nice to be around, with that grandmother aura she seemed to exude at all times. 'Maybe we can drop by. She did invite us to if we felt like it.'

Cygnus wasted no time flooding his mind with his opinion on the matter, making him laugh.

'As it is, you should be sleeping, shouldn't you?' he asked then, bringing a hand up to run his fingers through his hair. 'Or are you taking the day off training?' he added then. As an abra, his Psychic friend needed to sleep a whole lot to keep up with how much energy his overwhelming mind required relative to her small body, after all.

"I've been feeling… less tired as of late," Cygnus admitted then, making Pierce stop where he was walking with his eyes widening. That was no small thing, after all. He'd done enough research on his pokemon to know practically anything that wasn't too obscure about them. One of those things said that they only ever stopped needing as much sleep when they started getting close to evolution. "Indeed," his pokemon sounding… strange in his mind.

There seemed to be the excitement that he'd have expected, but there was also a fair bit of… nervousness?

"I want to evolve," Cygnus said, almost casually. "I'm just… unsure. I know what I am now. I don't know what I'll be then."

'I guess that'd… make sense,' Pierce thought, both to his abra and to himself. The change pokemon went through when they evolved could be… a lot. The picture of what had happened to Bellatrix when she turned into gyarados was very clear in his mind, considering he was still helping her deal with it. 'In the end,' he continued, noticing how Cygnus followed his thoughts at that moment. 'She's still Bellatrix. Just like how you'll still be Cygnus.'

"... I guess that's true," his abra mumbled. With how close their minds were at that very moment, Pierce had a good idea of how his pokemon was feeling. He'd assuaged some worries, at least, replacing them with thoughtfulness.

'Not evolving is an option, you know?' he reminded his partner, just in case. Because, after all, he wasn't a battle obsessed person. If one of his pokemon decided that they didn't want to battle, then it was fine. Similarly, he didn't much care if they didn't want to evolve or anything of the sort.

"I want to evolve," Cygnus replied firmly. "I just… I'm nervous," was all that who was probably his smartest pokemon could come up with. Then again, feelings could be a challenge even for the smartest, Pierce supposed. Not that he'd know, but still.

'Well, anything I can do to help, buddy. I'm right here.'

"I know," his abra told him, fondness bleeding into his mental voice as his little hand grabbed at Pierce's brown hair. "Thank you."

'Don't mention it, little guy,' he replied with a smile as he continued walking. 'Speaking of evolution though. As good a time as any to look into that silver you will need, right?' he asked, pausing on his walk to draw a mental map of Cerulean and remember where he was likely to be able to find that. As he came to what was probably his best bet to start searching though, he realized that his pokemon had been strangely silent after his query. 'Cygnus?'

"Right, sorry," the abra spoke in his mind, sounding a little out of it. Not in tone, but his voice sounded strange, as if he had trouble forming the words. Like back when he wasn't quite so good at… Well, talking. 'It's nothing, just… had a thought,' Cygnus added, his voice returning to normal.

'If you say so, buddy,' Pierce mused, curious but willing to let the matter go. His abra knew that he could talk to him if he needed to, which he would if it was important. He was a smart cookie like that, after all.

Damn it if he didn't want to know though.

[}-o-{]

"Ready?" Daisy asked, looking weirdly excited. At least, it was weird considering that both of her sisters looked nervous and hesitant. Misty hadn't even been taken with them to the secluded beach they had teleported to. He wasn't too sure where the place even was, except for the rough idea he'd been given when Violet had pointed at the area on a map.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he answered with a grin to match hers. It wasn't that he didn't understand the concerns that Lily – the Waterflower one – and Violet had, but at the same time… He was just really looking forward to what they were going to do. He'd had it in mind for a while already and it was nice that it was finally happening.

"Well, everyone else is too," Daisy decided, ignoring her sisters' grumbling. "Let's give these guys a good time, yeah, Pokemon Proxy?" she asked, winking at him when he sent her an unimpressed look. "I'll take that as a yes. Let's go, Lily, Violet," she called then and immediately, all three of the Sensational Sisters let out team members on the water and a few on the sand. "You know the drill, everyone!" she said, getting several affirmative responses. "Your turn, Gyarados Tamer."

"Ha. Ha," he laughed dryly while rolling his eyes. "Right," he answered, his hand moving to the table set up to his side and taking the first pokeball. Pushing the button on it, the device expanded and before he pressed on it again and the thing opened. The red beam that came out was directed towards the waves licking at the sand and then coalesced into a gigantic form. "Hey there," he greeted the first gyarados, a smile on his face. This was one of the most agreeable ones of the whole school, so he wasn't too worried.

Then again, that wasn't saying much when they were all more or less the same amount of grumpy and snappy.

"You remember the deal, right? You get to roam about close by here, stay close, out of trouble and keep an eye on everyone else. If you do that, the stay will be longer and you get extra snacks," Pierce explained, getting a quick nod from the gigantic sea serpent. He nodded, satisfied at the determined shine that he saw on the gyarados' expression. "Best gyarados of the bunch, aren't you?" he asked, palming the side of the gyarados, getting a proud growl. "I guess you'll have to prove that." If the sea serpent had looked determined before, it was literally nothing to the shine in his eyes at that moment. "Now, onto the next one."

Soon enough, he'd let out the whole school of gyarados in the water and they were quite enjoying the much more open water of the ocean. He wasn't a great fan of the sea, but he could imagine how it was much better than being cooped up in the pools of the Gym. It was probably similar, but much better, to what he'd felt when he could finally leave the Gym himself after Bellatrix evolved. They had a lot more space to move around, for one. For another, he guessed it was more comfortable for them to be in a more natural environment for them.

'Although, it's kind of weird that they are both fresh and saltwater creatures, right?' he wondered idly as he looked at them swimming. 'I don't remember if there were cases like that back home, but, here, every pokemon that lived in water seems to be able to live in both types.'

Pokemon were hardcore like that, he supposed. Far from the most unbelievable thing they could do, for sure, but Pierce often found himself noticing those kinds of things. It wasn't even just relegated to the creatures, even. The world itself had many weird things all over the place, but it was often the smaller things that caught Pierce's attention and gave him pause, instead of the bigger things. He guessed it was a bit more jarring, some sort of uncanny valley kind of thing, when something was almost normal, but it didn't quite make the cut. That was more unnerving than the more clearly fantastical things.

"They are behaving," he commented out loud, noticing Daisy approaching from his side, where she'd been with her sisters and some of their pokemon. Pierce, for his part, had let out his own pokemon. Orion was looking around for a tasty, salty rock to munch on while Cygnus sat in the shade of a tree further away to sleep. Narcissa was flying around over the ocean, keeping an eye on things together with the Sisters' teams. Then there was Andromeda, sitting by his side and looking as regal as she ever had.

Bellatrix, sadly, hadn't been allowed outside just yet, in light of her being the most unstable of the bunch. Or, at least, she wasn't while the rest were out. She'd get some time out when the rest of the sea serpents were back in their pokeballs.

"Indeed they are," the blonde replied, taking a seat beside him, opposite from the eeveelution. "This was a good idea."

"Not like I deserve any credit for it, really. You were probably thinking the same thing," he pointed out and got a smile and a shrug from Daisy.

"You are not wrong, but you are the one that made this possible. We could have never gotten them this calm this quick," she admitted, gazing towards the water, where the sea serpents enjoyed themselves. Occasionally, he'd see some of them herding another back to "allowed" space when they got excited and went too far. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be too bothered by the limits.

He guessed that after being in those pools for so long, the space they were allowed in at the moment was more than enough, together with some good old competitive spirit and bribes, as usual. Pierce expected things would go South soon enough, but he'd enjoy the calm and happy atmosphere while it lasted.

"I think you are giving me too much credit," he commented, a smile on his face.

"You are going to have to admit it at some point, Pierce. You have a gift," the blonde told him exasperatedly. "If you keep that attitude, people are going to take advantage of you."

"I'll try my best," he replied thoughtfully. She wasn't wrong about that, he supposed. It was just… weird, to think that he could be so good at something that all these people were so impressed. He'd kind of started grasping the scope of it all with the video channel, actually.

He'd been an average guy back home, after all. Hell, he'd been below average in many things, he was pretty sure. So, suddenly being told he was talented and impressive and all that was… He understood it, intellectually. He just couldn't wrap his head around that fact, he supposed.

"You do that," Daisy told him, now sounding amused. "These pokemon are very lucky to have you around," she added then, gazing towards the sea once more.

"You'd have managed," he replied with a shrug.

"We would," she agreed, surprisingly. "However, they wouldn't be thriving like they are with you. We are Gym Leaders and performers. We have duties and responsibilities. We do a good job for the most part, if I do say so myself, but this mess? It'd have been a nightmare and the ones that would have been the worst off would have been the pokemon. Our staff and us wouldn't have been enough to keep them content and help them recover like you do with… Whatever it is that you somehow do."

"... Glad to help, I guess," he mumbled, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. He wasn't used to being complimented so directly and so bluntly. Avoiding looking at Daisy, he just got an eyeful of Andromeda, giving him an unimpressed look. "What?" he asked her. Instead of answering, the vaporeon just rolled her eyes and sighed, leaving him more confused than before.

"You've got a smart pokemon there," Daisy said then, giggling.

"I wouldn't know," he commented drily, now aware there was something going over his head and that he was unlikely to find out about. Because God forbid someone actually answered when you were in a situation like that, right? "What I do know is that someone's not getting extra poffins later," he added, getting the stink eye from Andromeda, which only prompted him to raise an eyebrow at her. "Something to say?" he asked.

The vaporeon just huffed and turned away.

"That's what I thought."

"She's adorable," Daisy commented, giggling once more.

"She is," he agreed, a smile forming on his face as he reached towards the eeveelution and patted her head. She tried to keep her annoyed act up, but there was no denying the fact that she didn't pull away from his hand. "She's just a little rough around the edges, I guess, but she's still great," he added, grinning at Andromeda when she glared at him.

A roar from the water made the two trainers straighten where they sat.

"Well, peace was nice while it lasted," Pierce said as he pulled himself to a standing position.

"Life's very busy for the Pokemon Proxy, huh?" Daisy commented, drawing a groan from him and giggling again.

[}-o-{]

Pierce sat on the floor at the Pokemon Center. His back rested against the side of a perfectly fine couch, but he couldn't really use it as a seat at the moment. With Andromeda by his side and resting her head on his lap, he wouldn't have wanted to test how far he could push the hospitality of the place. And really, he'd never had too much of a problem with sitting on the floor, so there was that. It felt sort of… freeing, weirdly enough, like walking barefoot.

Idly, the vaporeon shifted her head, reminding him that he had a duty and that was petting her.

With a slight smile, he moved his left hand once more to continue doing that. Meanwhile, with his right one, he adjusted his hold on the book he was reading. It was a little uncomfortable, but he'd read in worse situations throughout his life. Especially when he'd had that one phase in his life where he'd all but devoured books, that was for sure. Nobody had been able to get the texts out of his hands, no matter what, and he'd started getting creative with positions since sometimes he tried to read when he really should have been doing something else and such.

He'd also done that with a lot less important texts than his pokemon medicine books.

With his attention back to the present, Pierce continued studying. The night could have been quieter, but he'd also read in more noisy places. It helped that it was mostly just chatter from people having dinner, if the disturbance was somewhat consistent, it helped ignore it. All that meant that he could read just fine and that's just what he did.

His pokemon were all resting in their pokeballs by then, except for the aforementioned eeveelution, who had decided that she'd watched others be pampered enough. Pierce had no problem indulging her and it was nice to have her in a mood that wasn't her usual aloof princess one. Still, he had no doubt that she'd find a reason to smack him with her tail or give him an unimpressed look somehow.

"Pierce?" a voice called from the side, making him look up. Sure enough, Lily was there, with Star hugged against her chest. "Do you mind if we delay dinner a bit more? I haven't called home yet today and it'd be too late after."

"Sure," he answered easily. He wasn't that hungry anyway, what with a late afternoon snack he'd gotten while he was still out at the beach. "Take your time. Family is important," he added with a smile that he hoped hid how he felt. He was pretty sure he did a good job.

And yet, Lily seemed to hesitate.

"Do you want to come? My mother seems to love you, for whatever reason. Maybe actually talking with you will set her straight," she added then, trying to make it sound like regular joking and teasing. She didn't manage that, however.

For a moment, Pierce contemplated his options. He could just say no in a polite way and get it over with. He rather doubted Lily would press the matter. However, she would definitely not forget or somehow let go of the matter in her own head if she was worried about him.

He could try to explain, he supposed, but then it'd involve a spiral into feelings that he'd rather not deal with at the moment. 'Speaking of, I kind of need to do something about that soon,' he thought, grimacing. He didn't want to bottle all that up, but it was kind of hard to find an appropriate moment to vent that. Maybe he could do it next time he was at the pool. Swimming usually helped keep him from feeling too bad.

Regardless, Pierce didn't see an easy out of the current situation so…

"Sure," he agreed, keeping his smile on his face. "I'd never say no to getting more teasing material. So kind of you, Lil."

"Don't call me that," she hissed at him. "Especially in front of my mother. They used to call me that all the time. It was so embarrassing."

"Of course, Lils," he said then, getting a narrow eyed glare from his friend.

"Why am I being nice to you?"

"No idea," he replied cheerfully. "Girl," he added then, looking down at Andromeda. "Andy, time for us to-" He got a tail-fin smack to the face that interrupted him. "-get up," he finished then, his expression falling into a flat one. "You are rather rude, have I told you that?"

The vaporeon's response to that was just a huff before she got off of him.

"Anyway, I'm right behind you, Lils," he said, groaning as he stood up.

"You are not gonna stop now, are you?" she asked him, finally resigned to her fate.

"Nope," he answered with a grin. "Besides, it'll make things a lot less awkward with the Sensational Sisters," he added, getting a groan from the girl. To that, he just laughed before following her as she all but stomped her way to the comms room.

"Hey mom, sorry for calling late," Lily said eventually as the video call was set up and her mother appeared on the screen.

"No worries, sweetie. You always got too caught up in your studying, which I guess is now your training," the woman, who looked almost like a carbon copy of Lily except for the black hair and the slightly older look, said. "Unless something else got you distracted?"

There was no mistaking her meaning, especially with the way her eyes moved to the side, where Pierce was standing behind Lily's chair a little to the side.

"I've told you it's not like that!" his friend whined.

"Then you clearly have shit taste."

"Mom!"

"Thanks for the compliment, ma'am," Pierce replied with a smile. He wondered though, if maybe Lily and her had talked about him behind his back. Mainly because he thought she either had to be very friendly – not a surprising thing considering Lily – or she was playing things up a bit to help him feel more welcome and at ease. Both options were equally as probable, he supposed.

"So, besides letting the nice choice get away, what have you been doing, Lily?" the woman asked, making him chuckle while his friend whined again.

"You suck, mom."

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

First mini time skip that I've been able to get away with, fucking finally. I have to finish setting up this "scheme" that I keep mentioning Pierce is working on and that requires the channel, then the aftermath of that and it should be it for the Cerulean Arc… probably.

No promises.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter though.

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: Pokemon Randomizer says… Electabuzz or Slowbro? This is a tough one… I guess Electivire isn't too bad and Elekid is nice too. Electabuzz is kind of the odd one out of that line, but not enough to ruin the others. Slowbro's line is cool and all, but he's not that cool, and honestly Slowking just looks silly to me.

See you.