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

Cerulean City XXXVI

Pierce found himself teleporting to Cerulean City once more that morning, except this time it was from Saffron instead of Pewter.

Once there, he released Narcissa and let her cling to his neck as they moved through the streets. It was a nice day and he was grateful for that. It'd make everything easier, really. Not that it'd have been a problem if it wasn't the case, but it'd have made things more inconvenient.

On his way, Pierce didn't fail to notice – even without Narcissa's annoyed reactions – that several people seemed to stop and stare at him. Evidently, his fame situation was not at all what he'd have imagined… or hoped. Alas, such was the way his life was going, he supposed. 'It's gonna take entirely too long to get used to this though,' he realized, not for the first time.

He hoped it'd be easy, but that wouldn't be the case, by the looks of it.

Regardless of all that, the trek to his destination went by fairly quickly. It felt like it was a long time ago since he left, but it also felt like just the previous day. It was a weird feeling, but he got over that fairly quickly. He had things to occupy his mind at the moment, like what he'd do through the morning or his preparations for the Saffron Gym.

Eventually, he found himself entering a completely different Gym.

"Welcome, what can I… do for you?" the receptionist asked, very obviously realizing who he was midway through the greeting. It was a little amusing to see that, he wasn't going to lie.

"Good morning," Pierce greeted back with a wide smile as he moved up to the front desk and leaned on it to talk with her. "Can you call Violet? She should be expecting me."

"Violet?" the woman asked, evidently caught off guard and a little confused. Maybe she'd assumed he'd ask for Daisy? He didn't blame her for that, really, nor was he offended. If anything, he found her embarrassed blush fairly amusing and cute.

"Are you flirting with our staff again?" a voice called from the side and he turned with a raised eyebrow.

"First of all, no. Second of all, again?" he replied, unimpressed. For an attempt at teasing, that was fairly weak, in his opinion.

Instead of answering, the woman just stared at him for a long moment before sighing.

"Anyway, let's go. The quicker we get there, the better," she told him, nodding towards the staff only door she'd come through. A little confused, he followed her without much else done other than saying goodbye to the receptionist, who waved shyly at him. Maybe she was new and getting used to people? "How you hooked up with my sister, I'll never know."

"Same," he replied with a chuckle, making Violet shake her head.

"Well, it somehow worked out for her," she continued, and Pierce was starting to wonder if she was even talking to him or about what he thought she was. "As usual, she just has all the luck," Violent said, finishing with a huff. "Is it because she's blond?"

Pierce considered for a moment just not answering and letting her continue to ramble. That used to work fairly well when people were in that kind of mood. Alas, he felt a little bad when he noticed her running her fingers through her blue hair. Maybe she was feeling a little self-conscious?

"I really do hope you aren't trying to say she's more beautiful than you or something," he replied as casually as possible. "That'd be dumb and I thought you were smart," he added, turning towards her with a slight smile at the end.

"Are you saying I'm prettier?" she asked, batting her eyes exaggeratedly at him, to which he rolled his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you are, indeed, dumb," he answered flatly. "To answer you dumb question though, you are both beautiful in your own ways, so is Lily, really. It sounds cliche, but it's the truth. There's nothing that one should envy the other for, as far as I'm concerned," he explained, trying and maybe failing to hide his embarrassment. Just because he wasn't lying, it didn't mean saying all that didn't leave him feeling a little nervous.

"Now I think I see how you scored with Daisy," Violet told him with a wide smile. "You are just very sweet and she always did have quite the sweet tooth," she added, confirming something that he'd suspected for a while then. That was nice, since that'd be fairly helpful information in the future.

"Thanks," he replied. "I was just really lucky."

"Indeed," Violet told him, her face belying a completely different meaning to her words than his. "Anyway, here we are," she added, waving her hand towards a door before she pushed it open.

Sure enough, on the other side, there was a pool and the person he'd gone there for.

"Daisy!" Violet called loudly, placing her hands around her mouth as an improvised megaphone. The blonde in question, who had been working with a group of water types – 'Are those carvanha?' – turned to look in their direction. A second later, her eyes widened when she caught sight of him waving at her.

"Pierce!" she exclaimed before hurriedly looking at the pokemon on the pool and speaking to them quickly. They were too far from them to understand what she said, but Pierce could take a guess.

"My work here is done," Violet told him, patting his back and then starting to walk towards the pool. "Have fun, but not too much fun, alright?"

"No promises!"

"Pierce!" Daisy shrieked, evidently having heard them, since she was already moving towards them. "You didn't tell me you were coming now!" she added, switching from mortified to pleased at the drop of a hat.

"Surprise," was all the response he gave her, accepting the hug with a smile.

Morning was shaping up to be a good one, it seemed.

[}-o-{]

"Hasn't even been that long and I already missed this," Pierce said, smiling widely, sitting on the railing of the boat and looking out at the sea. The winds were chilly, but he'd always enjoyed the cold a fair bit. He wouldn't stay there for long, but he wouldn't let the temperature ruin things for him. "I thought you couldn't leave Cerulean though?"

"I can't," Daisy answered, sounding fairly subdued. "The League wants all Leaders in their cities and ready. Team Rocket has them spooked… Which I guess it's fair. They seem to pop up where we least expect them to," she explained, sighing and leaning on the railing beside him. "So, I can't really go further than this. We are technically still in Cerulean and even then, I shouldn't stay over here for too long."

"Fine by me. We can go somewhere in the city when the time runs out," he reassured her with a smile. Sure, the boat and the sea were beautiful, but so was she. Besides, having good company was much better than any sight. Considering how much Daisy had done to help him feel more… at home in that new world, the least he could do was accommodate a little. "I didn't come here for the boat ride, after all," he added and Daisy favored him with a beaming smile that meant he'd done well.

"You are too smooth, you know? Doesn't really sell me this introverted nature you keep telling me about," the woman told him, her expression changing into a more teasing one. He wouldn't say it to her face, but that suited her much better than the coy act. Sure, it was plenty cute too, of course, but it didn't have the same impact. Didn't feel like it was Daisy enough, if that made any sense. At least for him, he supposed.

"Just saying things as I see them," he replied, which was probably the most cliche response ever. That didn't make it a lie though, even if it made him cringe a little inside to say that. Still though, corny as fuck line or not, Daisy seemed pleased, so he counted that as a win.

A splash made them both turn to the sea, just in time to see her dewgong jumping out and trilling something at them. A moment after it fell back in the water, the pokemon came up again, this time towards the boat and "grabbing" onto the railing by their side. It trilled again, rubbing its horned head against Pierce's side.

"Anything else?" he asked, eyebrow raised. The dewgong seemed to squirm for a bit before trilling again. "That's more like it. Doesn't hurt to be polite," Pierce told it, patting its head – wary of the horn, of course – and then moved to get off the railing and onto the ship's deck. There, he moved to where the storage spaces were and grabbed a handful of pokeblocks. "Here you go, you glutton," he told the water type, throwing one of the blocks at it.

After catching it, the dewgong made grateful dewgong noises at him that made him smile.

"Tell everyone that I have one for each," he told the pokemon, who quickly nodded and jumped into the water.

"You sure you aren't some kind of psychic? I got all that, but I know it's not easy to understand much from vague sounds and motions," Daisy commented curiously. "Or maybe you are a pokemon in disguise?"

"Ha, ha, very funny. Besides, I don't actually know what they are saying. I just guess. It just so happens that I tend to guess right," he answered with a shrug. He did wonder about that though. He wasn't that good at reading people or animals back in his own world. Maybe it had something to do with pokemon, Aura and all that? As good an explanation as any, he supposed.

"You are… something," Daisy said, shaking her head even. Their conversation was cut short then though, as her water types started coming out of the water for snacks. Each of them got one, some even staying around for a pat or two. "So, did you want to do anything?" the woman asked, gazing towards the sea and her pokemon with a placid smile.

"Other than spending time with you? Not really? Why, you have anything in mind?" he asked back, leaning against the railing like she was instead of sitting on it like before. She did seem to have something she wanted to do, but it was just as clear to Pierce that she wanted to tease him about it too.

"I might," she told him, confirming his suspicions. "One or two things, in fact, but that's for later, when we get back to the city. For now, would you like to swim for a bit?"

"Definitely," he replied with a nod. "And not only because you look gorgeous in a bikini."

"But you still felt the need to point that out, huh?" Daisy asked, giggling. "I do look great, don't I?"

"In general, yeah," he answered without issue at all. She didn't seem to take his corny comments badly, so he decided to just go with it. Did his sudden spike in empathy skill also apply to people? That'd be… something. He wasn't sure what, but it'd definitely be something. "And nobody's here to see me ruin the sights," he commented, cracking his neck and pulling off his shirt.

"Ruin the sights, he says," Daisy said, definitely not looking at his eyes. He was kind of proud, he wasn't going to lie. Now that he was in shape after all the exercising he did while forced by his pokemon, he was happier with his looks than he was before. He'd have to remember to spoil them a little extra next time.

"Definitely, especially when next to you."

"Let's get in the water before you say something else," Daisy replied, rolling her eyes. There was no hiding her smile though, so Pierce just grinned. "Keep talking like that at your own risk, Pierce."

Something told him that this "risk" was something he'd thoroughly enjoy.

So he decided to double down.

[}-o-{]

"You two are disgusting."

"Grow up, Lily," was the response the pink-haired woman got. Surprisingly, that didn't come from Daisy but from Violet, who rolled her eyes. "I'm starting to think you really are jealous."

"Am not!"

The remaining sister, for her part, just giggled at the other two's antics. Pierce himself didn't know if he should be amused or what, quite honestly. He was, however, in a good mood… obviously. So, he just left them to it and continued taking chips from the bag that Daisy was holding. She was the reason his bag had emptied as quickly as it did, so it was only fair.

"So, when do you have to go back?" the blonde asked and she tried to act innocent and casual. Which made him think that she was exaggerating on purpose. Didn't help that Lily – the Sensational Sister, that is, considering his companion had stayed at Saffron – and Violet immediately stopped and turned to look at him.

He raised an eyebrow at them.

"I was planning to go back after lunch. I have to train my team," he answered, glancing towards the aforementioned group of people, who were spending time with the Sisters' team. "Sabrina won't beat herself."

"I mean, if you ask nicely after you-Hey!" Lily started before getting elbowed by Violet.

"Jealous sister aside,-"

"Excuse me?!"

"-that leaves us with some time," Violet said, ignoring her indignant, glaring sister. "And we did have something to ask you."

"Is Lily finally gonna ask for a three-?" An empty bag of snacks made ball smacked him in the face, making him chuckle. "What did you have in mind?" he asked in the end, more curious than joking.

"Well, we wanted to be in one of your videos, of course," Daisy answered, beaming at him. "Can't have you making one with one of the others… or, God forbid, a Leader from another region."

"That's weirdly specific," he pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "This is about Iono, isn't it?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about," Lily replied with a huff, turning away. "Either way, you started making videos here and we even let you use this place. It's only fair that we get to make some demands, isn't it?"

Pierce just stared at her.

"What?!"

"You are really adorable with that act, you know?" he told her before chuckling. When had Lily turned into such a tsundere? He almost wanted to call her that to her face, but he didn't know if the term even existed in the Pokemon World. Maybe he could check on that later.

"Why, you-?!"

"So, what do you say?" Violent chimed in before Mt. Lily could explode on them. Although, to be honest, the interruption really didn't help all that much. More like delayed the inevitable, he felt.

Oh well, ignoring problems was a life skill everyone indulged once in a while, as far as Pierce was concerned.

"Sure," he agreed easily. He could only be so lucky to have Gym Leaders in his videos, really. Moreover, the Sensational Sisters? That was free promotional content. The other Gym Leaders were great, every single one of them, but none of them had quite the same presence with the people as the Cerulean Gym's representatives. The others were figures to look up to, of course, but the Sisters were more than that, they were stars. "Anything in mind?" he asked back, smiling.

"Well, you covered most of the pokemon we have here. There's some that were left out, of course, but I thought-"

"Ahem," Lily interrupted, side-eyeing Violet, whose smile grew a little nervous.

"We thought-" the blue-haired woman corrected. "-we could do a different kind of video, if you are up for it. About the Gym and the pokemon in it, a more general thing, if you know what I mean."

"I think so?" he replied hesitantly. A video about the Gym instead of about a pokemon in particular. That sounded… interesting. Besides, it wasn't like he was against recording videos that didn't quite fit in the "series" he was working on. It could be nice to do different things from time to time. Maybe he could make a collection of videos about the Gyms? That could be nice, but it could also be potentially troublesome with some of them…

Mostly Giovanni, really.

"Sure, we can go for it," he agreed in the end, making all three of them smile. "First though, I wanna check on the fourth sister, if you guys don't mind."

"Have to see if the student is doing well, huh?" Daisy asked with a giggle. "She's probably doing her homework right now. Let's go," she added, waving the bag of chips towards one of the doors that led to another pool. With a nod, Pierce told his team where he was going and that he'd be back in a bit. Then, taking a chip from the bag, he walked with her and her two sisters to see what Misty was up to.

As it turned out, that was petting a gyarados. That wasn't really surprising, but what was was the fact that she was smiling. She seemed very at ease with what was going on. When he left, she'd have been stiff and she'd have had fear and nerves written all over her face. There was none of that then and there, and this seemed to shock even her sisters.

"Someone's doing well, it seems," he called, making both Misty and the gyarados turn towards him. Then he grinned at the same time as the girl's expression brightened.

"Pierce!" she called excitedly. "You didn't say anything about coming for a visit!"

He hadn't, but oh was he glad he had decided to do so.

The day was going great and he wasn't even done with the visit.

[}-o-{]

"So, I'm obviously not an expert here," Pierce said, looking at the camera a weirdly enthusiastic Golduck was holding. Was it mean to call that weird? It just looked odd with that line, but everything was possible, he supposed. "But I do think the Sisters here have more or less everything covered, don't you, guys? Maybe one of you has something to say though, I'll be sure to bring it up to them if that's the case," he added, keeping his tone friendly as usual.

He very much doubted anyone could find fault in the set up the Gym Leaders had for the pokemon at their place. Alas, there'd always be people that thought they knew better when they, in fact, didn't. It was just part of human nature, he supposed, and pride. People wanted to be the ones that knew better, that were better.

"With that said, I want to thank you all again for allowing me to record this," Pierce continued, this time talking to the Sisters instead of the "public". He wasn't, at all, surprised that they did perfectly during the whole recording. They were the pros there, after all. If he could mimic a fraction of their skill, then he'd be happy. "I've been here before, but it was great to get a more in depth view of it. I feel like I was another viewer, honestly."

"Don't mention it," Lily said and he was almost fooled by how friendly she looked then and there. He knew better by then. "It was a pleasure to have you here before and today too."

"What she said," Daisy agreed and Pierce thought he caught a side-eye directed at the other woman and a twitch of her lips into a smirk. Evidently, he wasn't the only one a little amused by the pink-haired woman's act. "And thanks to everyone for watching!"

"And if you want to see more of our cute pokemon and their antics, feel free to come to one of our shows. They are even more adorable and nice to look at there," Violet added and Pierce turned to give her a flat look. "What?"

"So, that's the real reason. I see," he joked with a half-smile. "You just wanted some free publicity, huh?"

"Of course," the blue-haired woman replied shamelessly. "Free publicity for both parties. Win-win, right?"

"You are not wrong about that," he agreed with a nod. "So, you know where to find the shameless woman-" he continued, turning once again towards the camera "-and her beautiful sisters, guys. With that said, I hope you enjoyed this… alternative kind of video," he said before going through the usual video ending dialogue. "And that's that," he ended with, relaxing a little and running his fingers through his hair.

"That was fun," Violet said, looking cool as a cucumber. He envied her that a little, to be honest. He was still getting used to making the videos himself. It always felt a little stiff to him. Not quite forced, but certainly not relaxed.

"So, you have to go now?" Daisy asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, that took longer than I thought. I should get going if I want to get anything else done today," he answered, sighing wearily… and also because he didn't really want to go. Alas, needs must. "I'll come around some other time."

"We'll hold you to that," Lily told him, suddenly actually looking a little mellow.

"Don't miss me too much, yeah?" he asked, getting a much more in character huff from the pink-haired woman. With that and few more words, Pierce found himself leaving the Gym and making his way towards where he'd teleport back to Saffron.

Or, that was the idea.

"Can I try?" Cygnus asked, riding on his shoulders.

'Try… teleporting to Saffron? You sure about that?' Pierce asked in his mind, pausing mid-stride. He almost couldn't believe his ea- His mind. Cygnus had never teleported anywhere close to that distance. That was a very concerning suggestion his abra had just made.

"It's safe."

'Is it?' he questioned, very much doubting that statement.

"If I can't, I just won't. If I can, it might be a struggle, might pass out, but that's all. If I can't, I just won't be able to," Cygnus said and Pierce wanted to believe him, truly, but this was very odd. "I feel… I need to push myself. This is a chance."

Evolution?

Was that what it was all about? Cygnus was close. They'd known for a while already. Needed to push himself, he said. Pierce would have expected a battle for that kind of thing. That was what pokemon loved doing, what they worked towards. Especially his pokemon, especially Cygnus. He'd have expected him to evolve with a particularly nice punch or something.

But, if he felt this was the right move…

'Go for it then, let me find a teleport spot,' he said, still very much doubting, but maybe he could find someone at the teleport spot that could answer his questions. Cygnus didn't very much like that idea, but he'd have to deal with it. He might be smart, but his team had a tendency to being too ambitious.

Alas…

"Told you so."

'Gee, sorry for worrying about you. Jerk,' he thought to his Psychic, rolling his eyes, as the third person reassured him that it was fine to let Cygnus push himself. Worse come to worst, he'd thoroughly exhaust himself. Unless he deliberately screwed himself up overreaching, that is. But pokemon stayed away from that kind of thing unless it was some kind of life or death situation.

That wasn't nearly as reassuring as the people saying it seemed to think it was.

They clearly didn't know how foolhardy his pokemon were.

'Don't be an idiot, Cygnus,' Pierce told his pokemon, trying to sound stern but only ending up sounding like he was begging.

"I won't," his abra told him, sending reassurance through their link. Taking a deep breath in, Pierce decided to trust his pokemon's judgment. Maybe he was the weird one this time, and not in a good way. He could only hope. "Now… I will try."

After that, Pierce could almost feel Cygnus concentration through their link. At the very least though, the abra seemed to be taking its time, because they sat there for a good few minutes. That was fine by him though. As long as he didn't do something stupid and reckless, or more stupid and reckless, then he'd take it.

And then, before long, it happened.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

A fairly calm chapter, but that doesn't make it any less nice, at least for me.

I apologize for anyone that might have gone through flashbacks when they saw the title of the chapter. However, it is what it is. Pierce couldn't not go for a visit at Cerulean, so I couldn't avoid it either. It wouldn't have been the same to just say it happened and calling it a day. Besides, this story is almost entirely a day to day of Pierce's life, at this point, so you should get used to getting to see everything, or almost everything.

Either way, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you think Cygnus will succeed or will he fall short?

See you.