Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Abra

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

Route 4 III

"I, uh, I have to go already," the girl they'd helped, with her eevee in her arms, told them. "Thanks again though, take care."

"That was… rude," Pierce commented, unimpressed. The girl had seemed in a real rush to get away, it seemed. Which was sort of understandable, he supposed. She had been attacked by the mankeys and all, but still. The pokemon were knocked out already and Lily and him had proved to be more than capable of taking them out before they were injured as they were at that moment. And that had been without any of her help so…

Yeah, he wasn't sure what the rush had been about.

"Pierce, you do know that those will go back to being a danger as soon as they wake up, right?" Lily asked him, as if he were the weird one.

"We took care of them easily enough. What are they gonna do now that they are all bruised and such?" he shot back, raising an eyebrow at his traveling companion before looking at the still passed out monkey pokemon. "Honestly, I wonder if she was so eager to go away because she caused this for herself or something," he commented, running his fingers through his hair.

"I mean… it could be," Lily acknowledged. "Wouldn't be our first time in such a situation, right?" she added, likely thinking of the shiny weedle incident. "Still, mankey are known for being easily annoyed and or angered. They are also fighting types, which usually means they are always ready and eager for… Well, a fight."

"Hm, I guess that's true enough too," Pierce replied before shrugging. "Well, I guess we better help these guys out and then continue on our way, right?" he asked, setting his backpack on the ground and pulling out the box with his medical supplies.

"... Why did I know you were gonna do that?" he heard Lily muttered to herself. "And then we go away?" she asked then. "I really would rather not risk a fighting move to the face, Pierce. I'm too pretty for that."

"I'm sure your pokemon will cover your pretty face, Lily, don't worry," he commented, rolling his eyes as he opened the now expanded box and took out a potion. "For now, you wanna be my assistant again?"

"As if I had an option," she grumbled, moving to stand by the box as he set out to work.

Fortunately, none of the pokemon were all that injured from the battling. Some bruises here, some poisoning there and so on. Nothing that Pierce couldn't take care of with some simple potions and antidotes. There was actually only one mankey that needed bandaging, and that was more him going overboard than actual necessity, he was pretty sure.

"Pierce…" Lily warned, and he turned from the second to last mankey he was treating to look at the group around him. None of them were so much as twitching though, so what… That's when he noticed that the girl was looking away from where they were. Following her gaze, he realized what she was suddenly worried about.

There was a primeape standing off the side.

His back stiffened and his hand twitched, but otherwise Pierce did his best not to panic. Sure, that was a second stage pokemon, but it was also a last stage pokemon too, so there was that. On top of that, Pierce had studied the line a bit, seeing as he was likely to come across it in the route they were in. As such… He very easily could tell this primeape was stronger than one would expect. Maybe it wasn't on Mama Onix's level, but that didn't mean they were anywhere close to its league, as far as Pierce was concerned.

Thus, he took a deep breath in and spoke.

"... I'll be finished in a minute," he said, carefully keeping his voice soft, calm. Not friendly though, since that ran a risk of angering the pokemon. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry we had to do this, but they were attacking," he added.

What Lily had said about the line wasn't wrong, he knew. They were easily angered and they loved to fight, not a good combination. However, that didn't mean that a fight was a sure thing with them. Pierce just had to follow the right path to avoid it…

The primeape grunted something at him. It sounded annoyed, but not so much that it was a breath away from snapping. Pierce took that as a small victory and decided to try and secure his position.

"They are fine," he informed the pokemon, taking another deep breath in before continuing his work on the mankey that laid on the floor in front of where he was kneeling. "Some food and rest and they'll be fine, probably before the day is over for most of them," he explained, receiving another grunt from the pokemon.

Which didn't tell Pierce much.

Fortunately, Cygnus seemed to either be awake or had woken up with the new arrival. With the psychic's presence brushing against his mind, the message was somewhat delivered. The mankeys were, obviously, part of primeape's group. However, fortunately, the evolved pokemon didn't mind them beating the group so much as he was annoyed that they'd been able to beat them.

Suddenly, Pierce came up with what was possibly a terrible idea.

"So, I have a proposition for you," he said. Sure, this time, he could see how Lily might think he was crazy. However, he was still confident that he was doing things right. "I think we could train together, you know? You can travel with us, we can provide some food and you could train fighting with our pokemon."

"Pierce?" he heard Lily whimper but he saw the interested glint in the primeape's eyes. Cygnus confirmed that for him with his own excitement, especially considering the thought that crossed Pierce's mind at that moment.

"Also, my abra is very interested in punch moves," he added then, a grin spreading on his face. He couldn't be sure, on account of the way the primeape's expression worked, but he was fairly sure that the fighting type was looking as pleased with the offered arrangement as he felt.

Behind him he heard Lily mumble something.

"What the f-?"

[}-o-{]

"-uck?" the girl asked, looking in disbelief at their camp set up. Or, more specifically, at the addition they'd made to it, that is. After all, on one side there was the usual thing. Their two tents, a fire and so on. Funnily enough, Orion had turned himself into a sort of seat for the rest of their pokemon, with Star sitting on his head and animatedly chatting with him while the others perched themselves on the rest of his body. All except Narcissa, who was dutifully clinging to Pierce's shoulders. "How do you do it, Pierce?" Lily asked him, giving him a look that seemed somewhere between afraid and awed. Quite the combination, really.

"I mean… I just try?" he answered with a shrug and an unsure smile. Even he would admit that he'd pushed things a little with the primeape and the mankeys. Ultimately, it had worked for them, and quite well at that.

After all, the part that shocked Lily was that the family of fighting types was occupying another side of the camp, hanging from a nearby tree or sitting on the ground by it. Pierce had provided them with some bowls of kibbles and berries that they were happily eating through. From time to time, he'd see one of the mankeys send a mean look their way, but the primeape seemed perfectly in control of the situation, smacking the offending party and chiding them.

"I think Papa Primeape is half the reason things went well," he pointed out, giving the aforementioned pokemon a look.

"I don't mean how it's possible, Pierce," Lily told him, much more seriously than any of the other times they'd had similar conversations. "How do you know what to say? I'm sure every pokemon has a good choice, a good decision one can make when dealing with them but… How do you find that?" she asked him and he considered that for a moment, picking at his food for a bit before taking a bite.

He mulled over that question for a moment before answering, even if he was unsure.

"I just… try to understand them. I've read about most of the pokemon we come across, or I can make guesses as to how they are. Looking at them, I pick up stuff, like the fact that the primeape wasn't really angry at us. So, I try to apply what I know and what I pick up, then I try to put myself in their places, see how they would think and how they'd prefer me to interact with them," he explained slowly, going over what he said and making sure he was as accurate as he could. It was difficult to put into words, he'd admit, and he likely wasn't doing a good job, but he was trying. "Does that make sense?"

"... A bit," Lily mumbled, looking between Pierce and the mankey family. "You realize that not everyone can do that, right?"

"Sort of," he replied simply, taking another bite of his meal. "I mean, difficult not to, with your reactions and such. It's just… weird. It's not that difficult for me, so I guess it's a bit confusing."

"You are special, Pierce. And soon enough, people will realize that," the girl told him.

"You sound sad about that," he pointed out curiously. "Should I be offended?"

"No!" she protested then, genuinely afraid that he'd be, for some reason. "Sorry, I just…" she mumbled, picking at her food. "I guess I'm a bit jealous, or is it envious? It's… complicated, I guess."

"You want to talk about it?"

"No, not really," she answered, shoulders slumping. Unsure, Pierce sent a look towards her pokemon for a moment, wondering if he should push the issue. None of them seemed to have an answer for him though, looking between them. Star, adorable thing that she was, didn't even seem to have noticed what was going on as she continued talking with Orion. 'As good an answer as any,' Pierce thought with a wry smile.

"So, you are gonna have Gem join Cygnus training with the mankey family?" Pierce asked, very bluntly shifting the topic of the conversation. Lily seemed to think so too, if the blink and wide eyes were any indication. The grateful smile that followed was enough to tell him it was a good idea though.

"Yeah, I think so," Lily replied hesitantly before recovering and smiling. Sure, it was a bit of a forced expression, but Pierce would take it as a win anyway. "You think they might know Thunder Punch?"

"I think that'd be very convenient, but I'd be happy if they can teach Cygnus about fighting type energy and go from there," Pierce commented, finishing his meal and setting the plate aside. "That'd be great, really. Especially if they manage it in however long they stay with us."

After all, he didn't imagine the mankey family would stick around for more than a day or two. That was usually how long the wild pokemon stayed close by before going back to their lives. Maybe Pierce could bribe them to lengthen that a little though. He'd certainly try, but if it didn't work… Well, it was what it was.

"I can dream though," Lily commented, her grin turning just a bit more true. "Can you imagine people's faces if I used Gem against the water type Gym?"

"That'd be something, yeah… Would Orion be even worse than that or better?" he asked, slowly pushing his traveling companion into a better mood. That was more like her anyway.

[}-o-{]

"I don't know if that's to be expected or not," Pierce commented, giving the mankey in front of him an amused look as it jumped around, snorting and grunting furiously. Not out of anger, but out of… Well… "So, spicy food it is, huh?" he asked, looking around at the rest of the pokemon around him.

He twitched a bit when a new creature popped over his shoulder, grabbing at his body to keep themselves balanced. Yet another mankey, unsurprisingly, looking at the things set in front of Pierce, the berries and the blender together with a few pokeblocks. Evidently, someone was impatient to try out the new concoction. Pierce wasn't one to deny a pokemon food though, so he brought one of the little cubes up to the fighting type so they could try it.

"Glad you guys like it," he commented, a second before the mankey that was now hanging onto his shoulders got the same reaction as the previous one. In all honesty, they looked like they were suffering, but considering the fact that none of them was punching him and that the rest of the little family was looking more and more interested by the second, he guessed they just liked that kind of suffering.

Pierce liked spicy food as much as the next guy but he'd never been one for the ridiculously spicy ones.

Evidently, the mankey weren't of the same opinion.

"Well, there's one for everyone, guys, what are you waiting for?" he asked, starting to throw the cubes at all the mankey around and saving two for the primeape. Once that was done, he almost set out to wash his hands and clean the blender, however, he decided to make a few more snacks before that. He was pretty sure the mankeys would want more later and he'd better have things ready instead of having to make more.

Once he was done and everything was put back in their respective boxes, he started writing down his findings in his notebook.

After that, closing the pages, he looked to the side while the mankeys seemed to come down from their spicy high a bit. Off to the side, Papa Primeape seemed to still be doing his best to teach both Gem and Cygnus about fighting type energy, either that, or he was also teaching them a move too, Pierce wasn't too sure about that. Regardless, either was good, so he didn't feel like pushing his luck by asking.

Lily, for her part, was training with Root, Talon and Star some distance away. He wasn't privy to what exactly they were doing, since there were a few trees in the way and he hadn't really been paying much attention. He guessed that was fine though. Most of the time they had to train side by side and he knew that Lily probably liked having some space to work on stuff by herself, prepare surprises and such.

As for the rest of Pierce's team, they were also training by themselves. Orion was still struggling his way through learning how to use Sand Tomb and Narcissa was working on Giga Drain. They'd get there, he knew, but he wished he had some more help to offer them. As it was, he only had his notes to go with, for the most part. He'd had some sandshrew and sandslash back in Mt. Moon help Orion a bit, but even then it hadn't been all that. As for Narcissa… Well, Root was doing his best, but maybe they'd be lucky and find some other grass type that could help too. That'd be nice, Pierce thought.

A grunt and a squeak got his attention back to the mankey around him.

Blinking, he turned and saw the fighting pokemon having stopped hopping around because of the spicy food. Instead, they were all… Well, almost still, glaring to the side. Following the looks, Pierce found the source of the new annoyance the mankeys were feeling.

A rattata that seemed to have approached them.

"Hey there, little one," he greeted softly, drawing the rat pokemon's attention to himself. "If you aren't here for a fight, I suggest you go on your way," he advised, earning himself a squeak in response. The normal type wasn't going away, and considering the way it was looking at his backpack. "Here's the deal then, little one," he started, a smile on his face. "You want food, right?" he asked, getting a very obviously positive answer to that. "Ok then, how about you give one of these lot a battle and then I'll give you some food?"

That seemed to get through the increasing annoyance of the mankeys as they perked up at his words. That offer also got the rattata's attention, apparently, if the way its eyes narrowed was any indication. A second later, the normal type took a step forward and then another, eyes darting between the mankey.

"How about it, buddy?" Pierce asked, turning to the mankey to his side who looked back at him immediately. "Feel up for a spar with our new friend there?" he added, getting a grunt in response. "Now, be nice and don't go overboard, either of you. If you do, there'll be no food for whoever breaks the rule," Pierce threatened, making both pokemon tense up. "Well, you can start."

And so they did.

The impromptu spar seemed to get the attention of Lily's and Papa Primeape's groups, but they did little else other than glance to check that things were still fine. Which they were, seeing as Pierce and the rest of the mankeys were just sitting there and watching the fight. On that note though, he decided to do something in case the rest of the fighting types got antsy from watching the battle.

"Keep an eye on things, yeah?" he asked the rest of them, getting tilted heads and confused snorts. "Maybe you can learn something or tell your friend there what they did wrong so that they can do better next time, right?" he suggested, getting blinks and narrowed eyes. At least before they seemed to understand what he said.

Immediately, they all turned to intently watch the spar.

Pierce, in turn, just smiled.

[}-o-{]

Pierce and Lily stood side by side, intently watching the battle going on in front of them. Neither of them said a word as their pokemon battled, but that was how they'd decided to do things. After all, if they were to start giving orders, it'd just make things easier for their teams, too easy, really.

After all, their partners were sparring with the mankey family, which they knew they could defeat with relative ease from before. So, without orders, they'd thought it might even things out and give their teams a bit more of a challenge. It also allowed them to see if there was anything they might want to work on so that they could make their pokemon more independent of their commands. One never knew when their partners might have to make decisions for themselves.

For one, it seemed that Pierce would have to teach Narcissa that sometimes, ranged combat was the way to go. No surprise there though, since he knew that she preferred fighting up close and personal. Then there was Orion, who needed to learn when to take a hit and when to pull back. He did both, but never at the right moments, so that was something to work on. Cygnus, for his part… Well, the abra couldn't really battle just yet, but they'd get there. As it was, the psychic type was learning how to Teleport in a battle situation, dodge attacks, confuse his opponent and such.

'Maybe we can train for him to move around physically too, without teleporting. Floating or actually using his body, both could be useful depending on the situation,' he thought, taking his eyes off the spar for a moment to note that down in Cygnus' section in his notebook.

He did make it a point to note down some stuff for the mankeys too, as a thank you for training with them and all. Pierce was aware that the fighting types likely were winning as much as they were with the arrangement, but that didn't mean he couldn't add a little extra too though. After all, just the night before, the family had driven away an arbok that had been slithering around and hadn't been friendly at all, so…

Yeah, why not help a little more.

Pierce did feel bad for whatever trainer met the group of mankeys afterwards though. Since the family was getting a lot of training done without having to worry about food and such, with Lily and Pierce providing for them. On top of that, they also didn't quite have to worry about other pokemon either, since occasionally, the trainers would also take care of that too.

With all that, the wild pokemon had a lot more time to get stronger and it was showing by the day. Pierce was fairly sure that was the whole reason the mankeys had stuck around for three days and looked like they might do so for quite a bit more. Not that Lily and him were complaining, since this meant more spar partners as a whole and more security in case something happened. The mankey family also made it more likely that wild pokemon would leave them somewhat alone, which was fine by them.

Neither had plans to catch anything in Route 4 anyway, as far as Pierce knew. Or Lily didn't, at least. He didn't really make plans to add new members at all. Sure, he knew where some of his favorite pokemon could be found and he'd considered looking for them, but he thought it was much more important to get to know a pokemon and see if they could get along. The last thing he wanted was to add a member to his team only for them to be unhappy.

Pierce was happy with the "recruitment method" he had going, if it could even be called that.

"Okay, guys!" Lily called then, when the pokemon started showing their exhaustion and their wounds started weighting on them. Pierce nodded along with her, affirming her decision when the pokemon paused. "That's all for now, you are doing great!" she praised, and he had to hold back a smile at the way some of the mankey seemed to preen at her words.

"You know what to do," Pierce said simply as the pokemon nodded and made their way to one side of the clearing. Following them, he pulled his boxes of supplies out so that he could treat whatever damage they'd sustained through the spar. It wasn't much and probably none of them really needed it but it didn't sit well with Pierce to leave them injured. If he'd been short on supplies, maybe he'd have considered leaving them be, maybe, but as it was?

No way.

So, it was time for some treatment. Although, to be fair, he didn't need to do much. Just check the wounds in case they were worse than they looked – which they weren't, predictably – and spraying a bit of potion here and there. An easy job was a good thing though, so Pierce was certainly not complaining.

"Welcome back," he heard Lily greet, probably Papa Primeape, since he'd gone away shortly after the spar started. "Oh, I… You didn't need to do that," he heard his traveling companion say as he finished treating one of the mankeys, which was curious. What was going on?

"There you go, little guy," Pierce told the fighting type with a pat on his head. Then he chuckled when instead of going away the mankey climbed on him in a way that had Narcissa buzzing in annoyance, likely because her spot had been taken. Even Cygnus seemed a little annoyed, actually.

Shaking his head at them, Pierce looked towards the evolved fighting type and Lily. He noticed what was going on immediately, since it was fairly obvious. It was difficult to misunderstand the pile of berries that laid in front of Papa Primeape. Especially so after some of the things Pierce had experienced in his relatively short time in the pokemon world.

"We appreciate it," he said, approaching the two. "I'll make sure to prepare some pokeblocks for you and the little ones," he added, drawing a somewhat amused, somewhat annoyed snort from the primeape.

In response, he just grinned wider.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Pierce did it again, guys! Is there anything this guy can't talk into being friends?!

Anyway, I don't have much to say in regards to this chapter and I somehow forgot to write the notes after editing, so I'm kind of distracted because I have stuff to do today. So… I'll keep things short today, I think.

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: Dunno, people, tell me something. No question comes to mind right now.

See you.