Cover Art: Amasw.

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 XXXII

Of all things to scare him, Pierce had never thought the idle chatter of a crowd would ever be one of them. He often found himself comfortable in big crowds, actually, because they were basically like being alone. Nobody paid attention to anyone in the crowd. Everyone was just part of the mass, nobody was anyone particular. Who'd be looking at him of all people when there were so many others all over the place?

As it turned out, a lot of people would be looking at him this time, however.

"Nervous?" Lily – his traveling companion – asked, peering at him curiously from the side. "I'd expect you would be, considering how you get sometimes," she added, evidently surprised and confused by his calm demeanor.

"I think I'm so nervous I went all the way back to calm," he answered with a smile and a short chuckle. He really felt that way. He was aware of all the pressure that was on him. There was a lot to be nervous about.

The show with the gyarados was important, after all. They needed the money from the whole thing for the good of the Water types. More than that though, they needed to do well for the whole thing so that it'd set precedent. Pierce was no expert, but his journey so far pointed towards needing something like that in the future. Furthermore…

Well, he just didn't want all the effort the gyarados had put into things to go to waste. That might sound like a minor thing, but it was far from such for Pierce. He'd spent so much time with those pokemon, that he didn't want to disappoint them. He'd seen them struggle against what they'd experienced, he'd seen them try to move forward and he wanted to help them.

"Well, you don't look it, and that's great," Lily – the Sensational Sister – commented, an amused smile on her face. "It'd suck if you messed up because you were too nervous. At least mess up properly if you are going to do it."

"I don't think you are helping, Lily," Daisy said, looking just as amused despite her words.

"You are just saying that because he's your new boyfriend."

"First of all, we haven't even gone on one date," the blonde argued, her eye twitching even if she didn't lose her smile. It was the first clue for Pierce, to notice that. It made him think that they were nervous, just like him. They were all acting just the smallest bit odd, and if he actually looked, he could tell. "Second of all, he hasn't even agreed yet."

"Yes, why is that?" Violet asked from beside him, eyes narrowed and eyebrow raised. If it weren't because he was fairly sure that they were trying to get his mind away from things, he'd have been more worried or unsure about the conversation topic. "My sister not good enough for you, mister?"

"Too good, more like," he answered with no hesitation. It wasn't even a lie, really. He was just… some random dude that helped pokemon on occasion and had a pokemon channel on the internet. Daisy was a Gym Leader, a person that held a good amount of political power, nevermind actual power. Sure, she might share the position with her sisters, but that didn't mean she was weak by any means.

And she was gorgeous, which was, somehow, more intimidating than the other things, funnily enough.

"Good answer," the blonde in question said, patting his cheek with a pleased smile on her face. It was… a little embarrassing, but oh well. He welcomed all emotions that weren't nerves, really.

And besides, the odd behavior of the Sisters was, somehow, more reassuring than anything. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one nervous. It helped him realize that it was normal and prevented his mind from spiraling about how nervous he was, and being nervous because his nerves would make him mess up. 'Funny how that works,' he thought, running his hand through his hair.

"Mr. Lawson?" a woman called then, entering the place with a rather cumbersome looking device on her hip that led all the way up to her microphone and earbud. "We are ready when you are," she said, approaching him and checking that his own microphone was fine and all. He'd given her free reign over all things stage, on the Sensational Sister's words. They swore by the woman's skill and he didn't have any reason to doubt them.

And he was a complete amateur in regards to all things show… amongst pretty much everything, really.

"Everything's ready, then," the woman told him, nodding, likely ticking off some checkbox in her mind. Without anything else said, she turned and left. She was certainly a character, but he didn't really mind so long as she got the job done, which seemed to be the case. Now he just needed to be ready himself, it seemed.

Easier said than done.

"Ok…" he said, aware that everyone in the room was looking at him. His eyes trained themselves on the door he had to go through to get out to the performance pool he'd be using. The chatter of the crowd outside reached his ears, no longer impeded by the conversation around him. Slowly, he got up, calmed himself as best he could and carefully checked all the buttons on his microphone and earbud. There were different settings to be aware of, after all. One to speak to the crowd, one to speak to the staff, one to call for help and so on.

Funnily enough, the least of his worries was that later one.

"You got this." The one to say that was, somewhat surprisingly, Misty, who had remained quiet up to that point. "If the gyarados can't scare you, the crowd's nothing."

"I guess you have a point," he replied with a half-smile. He didn't agree, but he appreciated the words and the sentiment they were shared with. So, he took a deep breath in and started moving. "Wish me luck."

"You don't need it," his traveling companion replied instantly, making him chuckle.

A second later, he pushed the doors open and stepped outside.

The first step was the hardest. With the brighter lights of the pool, some of it coming from the sunlight passing through the windows up above and on the ceiling, everything came that much harsher to Pierce. He saw the people, some standing, most sitting. There were people just watching, some that were distracted, some that had their phones and such pointed towards him.

It was, however, most of all, a lot of people. He'd known, of course. The Sisters had informed him roughly of the expected number of spectators… which was basically full capacity for the place. However, he hadn't quite believed them. Because… really, he was just some nobody with some gyarados that most people probably thought would get eaten. His wildest hope had been to catch the attention of some rich person that'd donate for the cause or something.

He hadn't expected to completely fill up the stands around the pool. There were people everywhere. Men, women, children, pokemon, all of them sat out there, watching him and waiting for the show. Suddenly, Pierce was feeling like he was standing in front of a monstrous wave that was coming his way.

In that second, he saw it all and it almost froze him on his tracks.

Almost, but not quite.

Instead, he took a step, and then another. With each one, Pierce felt a little more confident. Even when more and more people seemed to focus on him, what with the few distracted ones being made aware of what was happening, he felt… good. Because he was doing that to help the pokemon, and that was all the reason he needed.

This wasn't a battle, where he could get away with delaying if he really wanted to. The gyarados needed him to step up and he couldn't afford to let them down. In a gym battle, he was nervous because he could go out there, do his best and still end up disappointing his pokemon. That time, however, it couldn't be that way. He knew, after all, that if he did everything as he should, it'd go well. People had gotten tired of telling him that the show would go well, if things went as planned.

So he needed to make sure things went as planned.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted, plastering a smile on his face as he waved at the crowd. "I hope I didn't keep you all waiting too much," he added then, feeling a little awkward. He hadn't expected an enthusiastic welcome like the ones the Sisters got, but still, the laser focus was a little unnerving. "It's time to give you the show you paid for though," he added, a practiced smirk on his face as he continued walking forward.

When he was already a few steps away from the pool, Pierce raised his right hand, flat and with his palm down, fingers stuck together. Immediately, he saw the shift under the water, something that the crowd could no doubt see even better, from their vantage point. He didn't stop his stride, however, even as he took his last step on the ground and his foot moved towards the water.

Sure enough, one of the gyarados surfaced right on time for Pierce to step on him instead of the water. With a smooth movement of his still stretched hand, he guided the sea serpent to move as if he were a platform in a game taking him from place to place. When he was in position, he took a step once more and moved his left hand in a similar manner as before. Another gyarados appeared to "pick him up" and transport him once more.

Pierce repeated this one more time and the third and last gyarados was the one that took him to the center of the pool. From there, he made the sea serpent rise up in the air above the water with him on top, slow but smooth. After all, that was how he wanted to start, with a show of patience and control instead of something more flashy.

That would come later.

"Are you excited?" he asked, looking at the crowd before glancing down at the gyarados, a calm, confident smile on his face. On the inside, he was feeling completely differently, but he'd admit that he was feeling better and better by the second. He had the best partners in the world though, so that was no surprise. It was difficult to feel nervous when they were doing so perfectly up to that point. "Are you looking forward to this?" he continued, and he was surprised to hear some people calling out their responses. "I sure hope so because…"

As he trailed off, Pierce moved both hands, which he'd let fall limply by his side. He raised them the smallest bit, each to one side ever so slightly. His fingers spread, palms halfway between pointing at the stands and the ceiling. His smile widened as he heard the water shift.

He heard the music that had been prepared beforehand start and knew the show was about to start properly now. The introduction was over, short as it had been. It was time to get to it and Pierce both couldn't wait and wanted to delay it forever.

Alas, he couldn't do the latter, so there was only one real option.

All around him, the gyarados school peeked out of the water, looking towards the crowd, some with more and some with less of their body pulling out.

"We sure are looking forward to showing you what we can do, I can tell you that," he commented, feeling some of the excitement he saw in the people in the stands and even more so in the gyarados around him. "Right, guys?" he asked, raising his hands more sharply and spreading his fingers even more.

Immediately afterwards the gyarados roared.

At the same time, the music took a leap from the calm and sedated melody from before to something just as alive and powerful as the gyarados. It had taken some time to find the right music, but Pierce could confidently say that they'd done a good job there. As he swung his arm into an arch in front of him and to the opposite side, making the gyarados swim into a circle to follow the motion, he felt the music take over just as much as the energy from the pokemon.

His nerves washed away, like being swept by a wave. There were remnants, but he knew, Pierce just knew, that whatever remained would disappear shortly after. So, all that was left was a grin on his face as he followed the previous gesture with another, and then kept going. It was time for him and the gyarados to put on a show.

And oh, were they going to.

Pierce felt his excitement build in him with every successful motion, even more so with every reaction they got from the crowd. They exclaimed, when he made the gyarados do something sudden, like jumping out of the water from behind him and over him. They did so again, when they pulled off a particularly impressive coordinated spiral that ended with many of the gyarados jumping out of the water in synchrony.

Everything was as practiced, but some of it was also improvised. Sometimes, they followed the script and the music like the most natural thing, increasing the pace when the music picked up, using every little act they'd practiced through the weeks. Sometimes, however, a gyarados would stumble, whether because they genuinely messed up or because their emotions got the better of them. Pierce was, funnily enough, at his calmest when this happened.

Like at one point, when a gyarados seemed to take offense to something and pulled out of the formation to come at him, glare in place and growl already in place. Pierce, for his part, kept the gyarados he was standing on from lashing out, which was already difficult enough. Especially because he couldn't quite do what he did with the offending sea serpent.

In this case, all Pierce did was give the gyarados a look. It wasn't just any look though. It was one that most of the water types were familiar with, just like how his own pokemon and Lily's team were. It was Pierce's "you're not getting poffins" look. Many of the gyarados had been subjected to it already and all of them knew what it meant by then. So, it was no surprise – even if he did privately find it kind of funny – that the gyarados' annoyance died a quick death and soon he was the one having to hide his nervousness.

Keeping that going without disturbing the whole show was difficult, especially because Pierce couldn't quite afford to either look away or stop moving. However, eventually, he made a gesture that was very obviously directed at the gyarados… and it responded. Because of course he did. God forbid any of them went without poffins at the end of that day. Especially since Pierce had promised them a buffet.

So the show continued.

Eventually, to Pierce, the crowd was just one more gear in the machine that formed the whole spectacle. He guided, the gyarados swam and the people reacted, that was all there was to it. If he had to guess, he'd say that things would be very different if the stands didn't react as well as they did to the performance, but things were going great. Thus, he let himself go with the flow, slowly but surely getting into the same mindset that he had when he was just doing the dance to entertain the gyarados and keep their minds occupied.

If anything, he felt like they were getting better and better, more and more in synchro with every second that passed. He'd read many sports manga back in his world, and all of them mentioned the Zone at some point. Pierce wondered if that was anything like what he felt as he became one with the gyarados school and the crowd. There was no thinking, he barely had to glance at the pokemon at all as it was. He moved and they moved in turn, simple… but powerful.

… So very powerful.

Eventually though, almost catching him off guard, the pace slowed down. The gyarados' movement became more sedate and it took Pierce a second to realize that it was because he did. It took another to notice that this was all caused by the rhythm of the music. The song was calming down and Pierce realized that that was it.

Taking a deep breath in, he moved his hands slowly, guiding the gyarados into a spiral that drew closer to the spot where he was, right at the middle. The sea serpent under him had changed many times, with him walking this or that way while the gyarados moved, always confident that they'd be there to catch him and barely even looking for them. It was a show of trust almost as big as him being on top of them at all, really.

Slowly, he had the gyarados under him, the biggest of them all, raise him up in the air as much as he could. The rest of the school did much the same, from tallest to shortest as they placed themselves further from where he was. Like that, in a pseudo-mountain formed by gyarados bodies, Pierce regarded the VIP spots in the crowd.

"Thank you all," he said, the furthest ring of gyarados diving under the water. "For coming here tonight to see us," he continued and another group disappeared beneath the surface. "We hope that you've enjoyed our show." Yet more sea serpents vanished from sight. Slowly, almost unnoticed next to the much more evident movement, his gyarados started pulling him down. "And we appreciate the help you've provided for this and many other Water types in need." All the gyarados had disappeared by then, only Pierce and the biggest remaining. "With that said…"

Sharply, he raised both his arms up, moving them in arches on each side of himself. His hands linked above his head, his fingers interlacing with each other. A second later, the whole school of gyarados jumped over him, all at once, forming a dome of sorts that lasted only a few seconds. Damn it if they weren't impressive few seconds though, at least for Pierce.

"Thank you again," he said, once the gyarados were back in the water. "Good night," he finished, bowing and smiling widely as the gyarados roared. His grin got even bigger – if such a thing was possible – when he heard the slow start of the claps, soon joined by many more and even some exclamations.

It was all music to his ears.

With some idle gestures, he had his gyarados – Mount? Platform? Both sounded terrible. – partner move towards the edge of the pool, the one furthest away from the crowd. As this happened, Pierce waved off the other many gyarados, sending them through the openings around the pool that led to other rooms outside of the "stage" area. Soon, it was just Pierce and the gyarados under him. That is, until he stepped off the Water type and onto the floor by the pool.

Then, he simply kept walking, went through the doors and… sighed.

His hands shook and his heartbeat went wild. Pierce could almost feel the energy coursing through his body, leaving him antsy and excited beyond anything he might have ever experienced. He felt… great. He felt like he'd never felt before. He'd just done something amazing and he knew it.

Pierce had been told that he did incredible things and that he was very good at things before, be it in his old world or in his new one. However, there was always that part of him that told him that maybe they were exaggerating. They never felt that impressive when he did them. He wasn't an impressive person, he didn't think. He'd never put that much effort into anything, and surely that meant that he was just average at best, right?

Safe to say, his time in the Pokemon world had slowly but surely worn out that part of him.

However, even with all the progress he'd done in that regard, he'd never felt like he'd truly done something impressive until that moment. He felt like he was on top of the world. He felt like there was no way people hadn't liked that show and he'd seen proof of that. He felt like he'd…

… Succeeded.

There was nobody in the backroom then. After all, the Sisters and Lily had moved off towards the stands themselves to watch the show. They would also look after his team so that they could watch too. He'd already been sidelining them a lot for his duties at Cerulean, he didn't want to leave them out of that too.

The only person to welcome him back was the woman that was in charge of running the behind the scenes stuff.

"Great work out there, Mr. Lawson," she said, a satisfied smile on her face. "Everything went perfectly… or, almost."

"Yeah, it did. I don't know about you, Sam, but I think those slip ups just made it better," he replied, taking the offered bottle of water and barely squirming when the woman went around taking off the devices on him to check them now that the show was over. He'd gotten used to her… oddities while rehearsing.

"I guess that argument can be made," the woman commented, sounding like she didn't agree. Sure enough, she continued on after that. "You'll forgive me if I like things to go according to plan though."

"I might," he replied with a grin and a chuckle. He wondered when he'd stop feeling like he was on the top of the world. "Thanks for everything, by the way."

"It's what I'm paid for," she told him with a smirk before walking away. "Now, if you don't mind, work isn't over for me just yet."

"Sure thing," he called, even though the woman was already off. He couldn't bring himself to be annoyed, however. He was just feeling that great. Nothing could break through his exhilaration, he supposed.

"Someone looks happy," Misty commented as soon as she went through the door, her sisters close behind followed by Lily.

"You should be!" his traveling companion exclaimed, rushing at him and hugging him, sounding and looking about as happy as he felt. "That was amazing!"

"I know," he replied with a chuckle as he hugged her back before they both pulled back. "I can't believe that went well."

"Went well, he says," Lily told him, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "If that's not all over the world by tomorrow, I'll retire as a trainer."

"Let me keep some of my humility, can you?" he replied, but it was clear that he was mostly joking. Pierce didn't think he could hide how pleased he felt if he tried, quite honestly.

"You should be proud," Daisy commented from the side, soft smile in place. "That was an impressive showing. If nobody donates for this, I'll be surprised. Even then, you earned enough with the show itself that there should be enough. Speaking of, you sure you don't want a cut?" she asked, but he could see that she already knew the answer to that.

"Not at all. As if I could take that money away from them," he said, waving his hand towards the pool outside, even if the gyarados weren't there anymore. "No, I'm fine."

"Yeah, I guessed you'd say that," the blonde replied, walking towards him until she was all but on his face. He already had a feeling where she was about to go and… he was surprisingly fine with that. "So, about that date?" she asked him, the smile she wore carrying a mix of emotions that he couldn't hope to decipher.

He looked into her eyes, his own grin still without disappearing since he left the stage pool, maybe since before that.

"When do I pick you up?" was all he asked and both their smiles widened.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Ok, so, this is a huge chapter, not in length but in importance, at least for me. Maybe it's not and I'm overreacting, but I really want this chapter to be great. So… I hope I managed that, I really do. Because this show, it means a lot to me, because it means a lot for the characters. So, I want to do them justice.

Hopefully I succeeded and 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 1: What do you think about the chapter? I really want to know, more than usual.

Random Question 2: Any ideas for what the music for the show was? I don't have any particular piece in mind, so I'm curious what music enthusiasts between the readers can come up with.

See you.