Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Abra

- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)

- Andromeda, Vaporeon

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

- Cinder, Vulpix

Saffron City IV

In the blink of an eye, as usual, they had appeared.

Pierce had half expected something else though, considering the situation. He'd thought maybe Cygnus would struggle and that'd make the teleportation more evident, like causing some strain on them. Who knew? That time there might be some telling sign of the deliberate bending of space that was the move.

Nothing of the sort happened.

Pierce's next thought was that it was odd that Cygnus hadn't replied to those thoughts with some snark. He hadn't replied at all, actually. It was then that he noticed there was something odd and that was the absence of his abra's presence in his mind, something he'd grown used to through the months.

Before he could mentally call for his pokemon, however, he realized that there was a much simpler way to check things. After all, his pokemon was on his shoulders. It was then that Pierce noticed Cygnus was starting to shine white.

All this happened in the span of a second or two.

In just as much time, Pierce had carefully placed his pokemon on the ground so he could remain unperturbed through his evolution. After that, he moved just as quickly to pull out the silver Cygnus had picked for his spoons. Sure, he didn't necessarily have to have it right as he evolved, but there were theories that the connections with an abra-line focus was much stronger when it was formed together with the evolution. Something similar happened with hypno, for example.

So, once he placed the small ingot in front of Cygnus, Pierce stepped back and watched, hands moving to his pokeballs to let everyone out, even Bellatrix. She might be uncomfortable for a bit, since there was no water around, but she'd want to be present with everyone too, he was sure. In a moment, everyone was gathered together, immediately realizing what was going on and looking as Cygnus continued to shine and evolve.

It was then that he finally chanced a glance to his surroundings – to make sure that they weren't in an inconvenient spot and start thinking how to deal with that if they were – and noticed that it was the spot where Cinder had joined Lily. More specifically, technically at Saffron, even if one could barely see the city in the distance. 'He did it,' Pierce thought, proud of his little abra. He'd manage to push all the way from Cerulean to Saffron. It might have been by using whatever being at the boundary of evolution did to him, pushing him to his limits and beyond, but it was still quite the accomplishment.

However, none of that was as important as the fact that Cygnus was evolving.

So, Pierce stood there, watching it all happen. He watched how the abra's body grew and started shifting. At some point, the half-changed hand of his pokemon reached for the silver and it started shining in together with him. Idly, Pierce wondered if it got heated up to change or Cygnus was using pure aura energy or psychic power. He rather doubted it'd be the first, but the latter two were equally as possible, he supposed. As far as he knew, evolution was done through pure aura without typing, but the spoon was a Psychic focus, so…

Either way, it continued happening for a while, longer than Narcissa's evolution had taken, he was pretty sure. Then again, no offense to her, but Bug type evolutions were… simpler, in a way. They evolved almost on their own, naturally and without issues. Pokemon like Cygnus had to push themselves and their limits and only then would they evolve.

It was a more… drastic change, more forceful. Usually, at least.

Eventually though, the light subsided and Cygnus' new shape became more clear. With that, Pierce felt a familiar yet different presence brush against his mind, as if asking for permission. Maybe that was because of the change? Or to let him know it was him? Either way…

'Cygnus?' he asked, as one would call through a closed door after someone knocked.

"Helper-Voice," his pokemon replied, making him smile. The connection wasn't actually formed yet, but there was plenty to sense in his voice alone. He spoke clearly before, but now it carried more force, for strength. Like the difference between someone mumbling shyly and someone proudly making a statement. Not to say that Cygnus had ever been shy, but that was the best comparison he could come up with. "Occurrent as ever, Helper-Voice."

'Yeah, well, you knew what you were getting into when you joined me,' Pierce replied with a wide grin as the last vestiges of light disappeared and there was only a kadabra sitting on his own tail in front of him. 'Is everything alright?' he asked, not precisely worried, but wanting to make sure.

"I feel… more," Cygnus said vaguely, but he accompanied that with sharing the feeling of it and it certainly felt like… something. Pierce vaguely likened it to having one's senses improved, like changing the quality of a video from medium to high. It was a little odd, and maybe it didn't make that much of a difference, but it was certainly noticeable. "Thank you, Helper-Voice."

'This is your own work, buddy,' Pierce told his kadabra as he approached and placed a hand on his shoulder. 'You can't ride on my shoulders anymore,' he noted idly, a smile in place. It wasn't a false statement though, considering Cygnus now looked like he could reach Pierce's chest while standing.

"A great loss," the kadabra replied jokingly. "I'll survive though."

'I'm sure,' he said, smiling a little wider when he detected a hint of disappointment.

"Congratulations," Pierce told his pokemon, this time out loud. He was soon joined by the rest of the team, each of them voicing their own cheers and kind words to their Psychic teammate. Then he looked down, blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes," his pokemon replied with utmost seriousness.

Well, he guessed that was that.

He didn't know how he was supposed to react to the fact that Cygnus had turned his silver into a spoon knuckleduster.

[}-o-{]

"And that's that," Lily said, bouncing back towards them from where she was with the laptop. She'd been uploading a short video about them celebrating Cygnus evolution with her team and all. Pierce hadn't been too sure about making it so public, but the ab- kadabra – that'd take some getting used to, he could already tell – hadn't minded, so they'd gone for it. "Congrats again, Cygnus."

"Thank you, again," the kadabra replied with a nod and Pierce noticed that he was projecting replies to everyone around, contrary to before. That was interesting. Maybe it was an improvement over how he'd been able to communicate with him and other pokemon but not Lily? "They could understand me, the same way they understand each other. I had to translate for you," the Psychic explained to him.

'Ah, that makes sense,' he mused, taking in the sight before him. Everyone seemed to be having a good time at the training ground, more playful pokemon were enjoying themselves with games, more calm pokemon were sitting around and chatting and the more… aggressive bunch were having some very light sparring. In the middle of it all was Pierce's newly evolved kadabra, positively enjoying himself with all the snacks he'd prepared.

"They are very good," Cygnus told him in response to that observation. "Everything is different though, as we suspected," he added thoughtfully. "We will have to go through the test process once more."

"And I'm sure that'll be a chore," Pierce replied out loud this time as he approached the pokemon. Now that the kadabra could speak to everyone around, he didn't have to worry about looking crazy, at least not with Lily and such personalities. He imagined Cygnus would be more reserved with strangers and acquaintances. "Speaking of, I guess it's time for everyone to enjoy some snacks, don't you think?"

At the question, Cygnus sent him a mental smirk while everyone around the training grounds stopped dead in their tracks. That had certainly caught some attention, it seemed. What a surprise… not. He grinned back at his Psychic.

"I don't know," the kadabra answered, drawing betrayed expressions from all around. "I think I'm feeling greedy. And it is my day too," the Psychic mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

Pierce let that statement be the end of it… for a bit, at least. Then, he nodded and moved to start preparing snacks while looking around from the corner of his eye. Everyone was staring at the two of them, probably waiting for one of them to crack and say it was a joke. Every second, he could see them becoming more and more restless.

Meanwhile, Cygnus was absolutely enjoying himself. That was probably the best evolution gift he could have been given, even on top of snacks and a good time. Pierce thought that made him a little mean, but then again, teasing was always good. It'd be mean to actually not give them any.

"Would it?" the kadabra asked, putting an innocent inflection to his voice and trying to look at him like that too. That act hadn't worked at all when he was an abra and it worked even less now that he was a kadabra. Besides, he knew better too, by then. "Fine," Cygnus mumbled, but there was a tinge of relief in his mental voice.

Pierce sent him a soft look.

"You are still you, Cygnus," he reassured with a smile. "You are just… more, as you said," he added, moving to pat his shoulder. "Everyone changes. You've changed while we traveled and you've changed again today. This is a bit more drastic, but not all that differently. Even I have changed plenty through my life."

'Especially since I came here,' he added in his own mind, but his Kadabra didn't seem to pick up on that. Pierce was almost sure he felt the shift there, when his mind thought about the different worlds and the block he'd been told about took over. He'd have to study that. Maybe there'd be something in Saffron to help him with that… or at least help him understand.

"You speak the truth, Helper-Voice," Cygnus replied, his voice subdued and fragile. It was quite the contrast to how he usually spoke and even more so to how he'd been speaking ever since he evolved. "I chose well."

"Thanks," he told the kadabra with a pleased smile, because that'd never not be nice to hear. Sometimes he wondered, with how battle oriented his team's preferences were and how… not his were. "Now, I think we've been mean enough, don't you?"

That made all pokemon around perk up.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Cygnus replied, and by then some of the colder-headed pokemon around realized what was going on. Cinder, Andromeda, Gem, Root, Narcissa, all of them were now looking at the Psychic type and Pierce would bet they were thinking some unkind things at him. "You'd be correct, Helper-Voice. I believe that's called being mean. Maybe they can actually be left out. Today is my day, after all," the absolute brat said.

How was Pierce not supposed to keep thinking about him like a kid? It was impossible. Cygnus might not like that, but maybe he should stop being so childish if he wanted to be treated like a grown up.

"You do childish teasing all the time."

'And I wish I were a child like you. Being an adult sucks,' he replied with a grin in place.

"I think that's enough, yeah," he decided out loud. "Come on, guys. Snacks for everyone."

The news was received with cheers coming from the more excitable bunch, like Star and Bellatrix. And from there, things continued more or less like that for a while. Which was nice, but that might just be Pierce's opinion. He'd rather spend time enjoying himself in good company than training or battling. Not quite what his pokemon would prefer, he was sure.

And, as if to prove his point, after the snack time was over, Cygnus asked to have some spars to test his new body.

Because of course he did.

[}-o-{]

'Fake Flash Ice,' he commanded Cygnus as Root sent a Vine Whip their way. His kadabra then teleported beside the Grass type, who twitched before twisting his body and the vine to try and hit anyway. He expected that though, which was why the first teleport was a fake. Cygnus teleported again, with his arm already pulled back, and the ice energy forced with practiced ease before it flew forward.

"Knock Off," he heard Lily say firmly, making his eyes widen a little bit. He wasn't too surprised though. He knew his friend had to have been preparing some moves to tackle the Saffron Gym. Still though, that caught him off guard and the same could be said for Cygnus. Before his pokemon could react and pull away, his own move was hit with the Dark type move, interrupting it.

"That was unpleasant," Cygnus told him, and Pierce almost grimaced with what little feeling bled towards him from the link. He didn't want to imagine how bad it was for the kadabra himself, quite honestly. It seemed that they'd have to be wary of getting up close, which was all they could do.

'We need to add distance to your skillset, buddy,' he commented, drawing a mental grimace from his Psychic type. Alas, even if he didn't like the idea, they'd need to. There'd be opponents where getting up close and personal would be a terrible idea. So, unless his pokemon wanted to withdraw from those or lose…

"You don't have to be an asshole about it," Cygnus grumbled.

'Language, also dodge,' he chided before commanding, making the kadabra teleport away from another Vine Whip that was followed by Poison Powder that they had to avoid too. Lily had a solid strategy for Root, by the looks of it. Harass non-stop when at a distance, Knock Off when close. 'Say, we've tried to teleport mid move… But how about half-forming the move, canceling and then teleporting.'

By the feel of it, Cygnus liked that idea, he liked it a lot.

'Double Fake Flash Ice,' he called for, which was a bit of a mouthful, but that was the neat thing about telepathy. Things got across at the speed of a thought. Hell, Cygnus probably got the picture of what Pierce wanted him to do before he even finished thinking the words of the name.

So, that's how his kadabra teleported close to Root once more, then teleported again when the pokemon tried to adjust and started forming the Ice type energy around his fist.

"Knock Off again!"Lily called, but then Ice Punch vanished as soon as it seemed to appear. "Huh?" Cygnus wasted no time teleporting again and actually using the move against a Root that was still midway through his jump towards where the fake Ice Punch had been before, getting smacked to the side.

'Success,' he thought, grinning widely. Cygnus couldn't quite share the gesture with him physically, but he did so mentally, which was good enough. 'Good job, buddy.'

"Same," was the response he got.

And then they went back to the spar.

There wasn't much else of note that happened through the encounter though. Root and Lily got the better of them in the end, but the bulbasaur had been on his last legs, so Pierce wasn't too torn up about it. Lily was Green after all. She might not be Red or Blue – her words, not his –, but she might as well be. After all, Pierce didn't think he was anyone special in the battling scene. Thus, he wasn't too torn up about the loss.

His pokemon didn't quite have that outlook though, so he guessed he'd have to work harder too.

How'd he end up with such a team? Honestly.

The match that followed was Narcissa against Cinder, which was… an interesting match up. Narcissa was weak to Fire type, of course. However, she was fast enough that the newly introduced to professional battling vulpix couldn't quite keep up. Lily would have to get her up to speed, literally at that, but she was probably already working on it, he was sure.

As such though, in the spirit of not being bullies, Pierce let Narcissa work on her own instead of commanding.

'Calm down, will you?' he asked, a little amused, even without turning away from the ongoing fight. Just because he was going a hands off for the moment didn't mean he'd stay that way. If things took a turn for the worse, he'd step in. Still though, even with his focus on the spar and no conversation going on, he still could feel Cygnus' restless mind.

"Can't help it," the Psychic answered, even his mind feeling twitchy. "I feel so different. I wanna figure out who I am now," the kadabra said, which made all the sense in the world, really. Pierce didn't blame him for that at all. However…

'Take it easy. You won't get used to the changes in a few hours, not even in a day, I imagine,' he replied, trying to offer some calm to Cygnus through their link. He felt his pokemon relax a little, but it seemed it'd be a long process.

At least he had experience with that kind of thing, considering Bellatrix. The gyarados had also struggled a lot with her new body and even more so with her own mind and emotions. Going from Abra to Kadabra was probably kind of like that, if not quite as drastic. Either way, Pierce would have to help him, just like he had the adorable gyarados.

Even if Cygnus didn't appreciate that comparison.

'Tough luck, buddy,' he told the kadabra, who in turn sent him a mental glare.

He didn't pay that any mind, instead focusing on the ongoing spar.

"You suck."

[}-o-{]

That night, once the pseudo-party was over and after he'd called the Sisters at Cerulean to let them know what happened, Pierce found himself just lazing about. They were still at the training grounds, but things had mostly calmed down… except for the children, he supposed.

Where Narcissa was dozing off a little and Andromeda was laying down and enjoying Pierce patting her head absently. Even Bellatrix was kind of calm, just floating about Root, who had somehow fallen asleep on top of her. The rest of Lily's team was off to the side, with the trainer and Cinder keeping an eye on the still very much awake and full of energy Star. Talon had perched on top of Gem and both of them seemed to be either barely awake or entered some sort of zen state, because they weren't moving at all.

Then there was Orion, poking an increasingly annoyed Cygnus with his tail, as if checking his friend's new body for himself, even after hours of seeing it. Apparently, he'd been holding back the urge to check for himself and now that things had calmed down, he'd taken his chance. It was kind of amusing, Pierce wasn't gonna lie. That was why he didn't intervene and left the Psychic to his luck.

"I repeat," Cygnus growled mentally. "You suck."

'Love you too, buddy,' Pierce replied with a smile that barely tried to hide a smirk. Not that it'd have done him any good, since the Psychic was in his head anyway. That was half the fun of messing with the kadabra though, he had found.

All he got in response to that was a mental sigh as Cygnus resigned himself.

"Orion, I think Star would like to play," he told the onix, catching his attention and making him let out a pleased sound before slytherin off towards Lily's group. It was kind of fortunate that Star always wanted to play and Lily was always happy to have someone entertain her baby pokemon. So, it was a win win to send Orion her way whenever the onix was being a little too energetic.

He didn't know how, but Star could tire out anyone, bundle of energy that she was.

"Thank you," Cygnus sighed in his mind. "Even if you still suck."

'I can call him back,' Pierce threatened, but both of them knew it was fine.

"... I guess you want those answers now?" the Psychic asked and he just nodded, projecting his willingness to wait. There was no rush, after all. "It's fine… I can't give you all the answers though. You have to earn them, and even then, there's things humans will never know… or understand."

'Well, sounds like it's more of a big deal than I thought.'

"It is, but it's also not. It's… important to us, and important that the details remain secret. It's also something ours and we'd like to keep it that way," Cygnus started and Pierce made sure to give him his undivided attention. "The names, they are what you'd call titles, but also more. They are a designation for yourself and a sign for pokemon. Titles are given and when they are, they leave a mark on you. You are Helper-Voice and any pokemon you come across will be able to tell, without you or anyone else saying anything. It's part of you now, part of your energy, your signature."

Well, they were off to a great start, weren't they? That certainly sounded like a bigger deal than he'd assumed. He'd thought they were just the pokemon version of titles and that was that. This felt like a lot more than that. It was part of him, his name but also… himself?

"You are not far off," Cygnus answered to that thought with. "I can't tell you what they mean or how you get them, nor how you changed yours. Some of those questions, you'll earn the right to know, rather quickly, knowing you. However, as I said…"

'Some, I won't be able to learn at all,' he finished for him thoughtfully. Well, that cleared some doubts and brought a new set in turn, a bigger one at that. However, it was nice to get his curiosity sated for a bit. Still though… '... Helper-Voice, huh?' he mused, thinking about it in depth for the first time.

Such an interesting designation, the one he'd gotten. He quite liked it. He was curious as to the exact meaning, but it was fine. He could be patient. Besides, he could come up with plenty of theories and none of them were bad. Going over the titles he remembered though, he remembered that all his team had "Fighter" in theirs, followed by something else that was different for each of them. He was fairly sure that they got that one because of their love for battling, or at least something related to that.

No way Narcissa wouldn't have something about that in hers, but then again, she also had "Challenger" in hers…

'If this is your revenge,' he thought with a wry smile. 'Then it's an effective one.' Because God, he wasn't going to be able to stop pondering on that now that he had new information. He'd kind of put that off, since he'd been promised answers. Now though…

"Sucks to suck," Cygnus said mercilessly.

Oh well, he'd have to wait a little longer for things to be clearer, he supposed. It'd be a pain in the ass and it'd continue to make him very curious every time he heard them being used, but such was his luck, he supposed. He'd just have to deal with it.

'Thanks for the answer anyway, Cygnus,' he said, getting a mental nod from his Psychic type.

"No problem, Helper-Voice," the kadabra answered and Pierce was sure he added the title there again just to mess with him. He would have been kind of proud, if it wasn't for the fact that he was being a little shit to him. Maybe this was divine punishment for how much he messed with other people?

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, our favorite Psychic – I think? – has finally evolved. Maybe it was a bit much to dedicate a whole chapter to his evolution? Probably, but it felt right, so I went for it. I regret nothing.

On a bit of a side note, people in the know might have noticed that I changed how Knock Off works, since it's a move that "knocks off" the held item of the enemy pokemon and does damage. Alas, I don't use the held item mechanic here, in case it wasn't obvious, but I also didn't want to just make the move disappear since that'd potentially screw over a lot of moves, not just Knock Off. So… Hope you aren't too bothered by my adjustment of the move, and the possibility of me doing so in the future.

If you think I should just not use the moves entirely, let me know.

Back to Cygnus and such, we also get a bit of an explanation about the names/titles that have been popping up here and there. Why did I make those a thing?... No idea. They just kind of happened, for some reason, and I just rolled with it. Hope it's an interesting detail for you, guys. I don't know if the wait was worth it for such a limited answer, but it's what it is.

I hope you guys 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 chore you did? I did the laundry.

See you.