Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Kadabra

- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)

- Andromeda, Vaporeon

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Bulbasaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

- Cinder, Vulpix

Saffron City V

Pierce walked forward, humming to a song that probably didn't exist in that world.

On one hand, he carried a mid-sized serving of fries. The other pushed his tickets into his pocket after the staff member checked it, together with his Trainer ID. Beside him walked Andromeda, looking around curiously yet somehow managing to keep her aloof disposition. He had a permit to have Narcissa and, surprisingly, Cygnus outside too, but he felt like that might be a bit much when he was walking around.

Technically, the permit he'd gotten at Pewter only covered for Cygnus being an abra, but when he'd brought that up with Daisy during his last call to Cerulean informing them of his pokemon evolution and such… Well, the Sensational Sisters either had a lot of pull as Gym Leaders or the League liked Pierce, maybe even both. Either way, he'd gotten his permit updated to allow Cygnus' new stage pretty fast… as in, from one day to the other.

Apparently, they were even working on adding Orion, although his case was more complicated considering how big he was. Onix weren't something that wouldn't cause issues when out in public areas. He'd told them it was fine, but apparently they were feeling insistent on that. They'd even mentioned adding Bellatrix once some more time passed and he could prove she was a harmless thing.

Which he rather suspected would be never.

Bellatrix was adorable, but harmless wasn't an adjective that he'd use with her, at least in a serious capacity. She was a gyarados, no matter how cute. Pierce loved her to bits, but he knew her temper was a few bad things away from snapping. Releasing her in a crowd would be just asking for trouble for a long time. Especially considering how the average person viewed gyarados. They were bound to upset her one way or another.

Andromeda's yip pulled him back to reality from his idle musings.

"Sorry, got lost in thought again," he commented, finding a good seat and taking it before releasing his pokemon. Narcissa wasted no time flying around and latching to his back. Cygnus, for his part, took the seat beside his… except that he sat on the backrest instead of the actual seat, so that he'd be able to see better. He was shorter than the average man, after all, so the view from the seat was probably a little short for him. "You guys want one?" he asked, presenting his fries to them.

Pokemon could eat normal food too, after all. It wasn't all berries, even if the fruits could make up almost the entirety of their diet with no problem. That's where kibble usually came in, filling the rest of the necessary nutrients and such. It was just that berries were largely pokemon's preferred and healthiest food, so both things combined meant they ate that a lot and people encouraged that.

Still though, there was something to be said about indulging in less than healthy foods once in a while, or so Pierce thought.

Thus, Narcissa didn't really hesitate to get the offered fry and eat it. She didn't seem to like it much, but she also didn't dislike it. She just ate it and that was that. Straightforward, just like his beedrill always seemed to be. As if to further prove his guess, she looked at the remaining fries and ultimately just turned her attention forward.

Cygnus went to try one too, picking it up with his free hand and looking at it as if trying to decipher its secrets. Ultimately, he started nibbling at it and humming. From their mental link, Pierce picked up some curiosity and eventually some unclear feeling.

"It's… interesting," the kadabra said as one would when commenting on a book they'd just read instead of some snack. That was kind of funny, actually, even though the Psychic pokemon didn't seem to appreciate that thought. "What we eat isn't usually salty," he added and Pierce guessed that made sense. Berries came with a lot of flavor differences, but salty wasn't one of them. Kibble could be, but so far Pierce had picked other kinds, since his pokemon seemed to prefer those. Maybe Pierce could look for saltier kibble or some other way to add some of that to their diet somehow? It would mean leaving berries aside, probably, but a dish or two couldn't hurt he supposed. "That'd be nice," Cygnus told him and he nodded, deciding to go for it… after proper preparation.

The last to try the fries was Andromeda.

The vaporeon took even longer looking at the offered snack, narrowing her eyes and sniffing at it. Pierce almost felt like she was judging the fry to see if it was worthy of being eaten… Or maybe he was just overdramatizing the moment, but the mental picture was funny, so he entertained it anyway. At the back of his mind, he felt Cygnus' mental laughter, which he imagined meant his sense of humor wasn't completely hopeless.

"It is, but bad jokes can be funny too," the kadabra told him mercilessly.

Ignoring his mean Psychic type though, Pierce watched Andromeda take a bite of the fry, chew on it slowly… and then eat the rest of it immediately. He blinked at the vaporeon, a little caught off guard. Well, that hadn't been how he expected that to go, he suppo-

Before he finished a thought, Andromeda took another fry from the packet.

"Hey, these are mine, you know?" he asked, a wry smile on his face… which went ignored as his pokemon went for her third fry. "... I'm going to have to get more, aren't I?"

In response to that question, Andromeda looked up at him with big pleading eyes.

"... Looks like that," Cygnus commented. "Pushover."

'Shut up,' Pierce told him before sighing.

"Fine, go ahead," he told Andromeda, passing the fries to her and standing up to buy himself more. 'Good thing we have some time.'

And time they had, it seemed, because the challenge going on was taking its sweet time. Then again, Pierce wouldn't expect differently from a five badge fight. The higher one went in the rankings, the more complex fights were. Granted, this didn't mean the fights took longer, but there was at least a chance of that happening contrary to low level battles.

Glancing to the battlefield while he walked, Pierce caught sight of Sabrina, the one in charge of that gym challenge.

'I don't know why I'm surprised,' he mused to himself.

That was game Sabrina, he was pretty sure. Even though he knew this from beforehand, ever since he started checking information about her and even the other Gym Leaders, he still was somewhat caught off guard seeing her in person. It was like all the things he'd learned suddenly were fully realized.

Misty seemed to be game Misty, but the Sensational Sisters weren't a thing in the games, Pierce was pretty sure. Red and Blue were a thing too, which meant either Game or Manga. Pierce didn't know anything about the Manga other than that it was supposedly more brutal than the anime. He didn't know character designs or plots or anything, really. The anime was a long lost memory and while he'd played the games casually, he'd never really cared for the plot or paying close attention to characters.

'Pretty sure even casual fans would spit in my general direction,' he thought with a wry smile. Yet, somehow it was him the one that ended up there? Why? He didn't know, but what he did know was that it was unlikely he'd get answers, certainly not anytime soon. 'No use thinking about that.'

He couldn't quite stop himself though.

Looking at any canon character, his mind would at times cling to them, trying to remember if there was anything he should know about them. They were canon characters, after all, so that should mean they were related to at least one event, right? Knowing about that would probably be useful.

Alas, more often than not he got nothing. And besides, he was pretty sure trying to find canon in between all the non-canon things he was certain were all over the place was probably an exercise of futility. He was dumb though, so he still tried anyway, despite that.

"You are thinking too much about the Mystery again," Cygnus told him and he held back a snort.

The Mystery.

That was what his kadabra called the things his mind seemed hardwired to hide, also known as the pieces of his previous life that nobody seemed to be able to access. Sometimes, Pierce would ponder on the merits of telling his pokemon about that. Because just because Psychics couldn't read that in his mind didn't mean he couldn't speak about it, right? He wouldn't know until he tried, but he thought that was a fair assumption.

Hell, maybe he could tell Lily?

Except… he didn't see the point. Sure, maybe it'd help him move on, add a little bit of closure to things. However, he felt like it'd complicate matters more than it would help. What little knowledge he did have could be dangerous. Worse, his knowledge could be dangerous and wrong. What if Giovanni wasn't the Rocket leader? What if Mewtwo didn't exist? What if some other thing was different from what he knew?

That knowledge getting out could just make things worse, right?

Or it could make things better…

And Pierce was left there, with no idea what to do about it all. Which was why he kept putting things off. He wasn't a story hero. He was just Pierce Lawson, some trainer that got along well with pokemon. Dealing with terrorist organizations and disasters was other people's jobs. Call him a coward, but he didn't want to be involved in any of that.

His whole life, he'd just wanted a life where he could be happy and comfortable. He didn't want to be rich, just have enough money to not want for stuff. He'd never been greedy, settling for fairly frugal dreams and goals. He didn't want to be famous, that sounded like a hassle and it was proving to be a bit of one so far with his video channel.

Pierce was happy with the way things were going.

Call him selfish, but he'd leave the world saving to other, more capable people, and stay out of their way as much as possible.

"What can I get you?" was what the kind woman at the food store in the stand area of the Saffron Gym asked him, bringing him back to the present. Forcing a smile on his face, Pierce just asked for two portions of fries and called it a day. He'd initially been going to get one, but he had a feeling that Andromeda had probably already demolished the other one and wanted to get more. Pokemon were gluttons, after all.

"I resent that," Cygnus told him, but there was some embarrassment hidden there too. "You aren't wrong about Fighter-Watcher though," the kadabra added and Pierce had to suppress his amusement once more.

"... Didn't take too long, it seems," he commented once he returned to his seat between his pokemon. The fight had just ended and there was a one badge challenge going on at the moment, which was taken care of by someone other than Sabrina. He hadn't paid attention, but it was probably a Gym trainer. He didn't remember reading anything about any family members of Sabrina that worked at the place, at least.

So, with that out of the way and his own fries to enjoy, he settled for watching the fights and taking some notes. Not that it would take too long, since he wasn't really there for that… that day, at least. No, he was there to watch Lily's challenge.

The girl had seemed fairly confident, so she'd asked for a spot and got it. There was also the fact that, with Sabrina hosting classes for psychic people, the Gym wasn't open quite as much as others were. Unlike the Sensational Sisters, she couldn't leave the responsibilities fully to someone else.

"Speaking of," Cygnus commented from beside him, having decided to steal one of his fries. Pierce didn't scold him for that. He imagined the kadabra was too scared to try and take one of Andromeda's. One stole food from a dog at their own peril. "I should tell Fighter-Watcher that," his Psychic commented, to which Pierce raised an eyebrow at him. "... Anyway," the pokemon continued, distinctly nervous. Good, pokeblocks were on the line for him, after all. "Are you going to join her classes or something?"

Good question, that one.

Pierce decided to ignore the smug feeling that bled through the link at that moment.

He couldn't say he wasn't interested in that. He knew he would never get anywhere too high in psychic skills, not if he wanted to have a life at all outside of that. He was just too late, considering how long it took to develop those skills. However, that didn't mean he couldn't try to do something in regards to that.

Pierce was kind of curious about what he could do in regards to his mind. Was it set to be as it was, with the strange blockage of his otherworldly knowledge? Could he do anything with or in regards to that? He wanted to know and who better to ask than Sabrina, the foremost expert in the field. Or, at least, the foremost expert in the field that was semi-accessible to him. He had no doubt that there were others around, somewhere in the world, but he didn't know where they were, how to contact them or… really anything.

Sabrina was right there and he had seen how approachable Gym Leaders could be. Maybe the woman would be the exception, but maybe she wouldn't. It couldn't hurt to ask. Worse came to worst, he'd just be disappointed, either by a rejection or by the answer he'd find at the end of it. It'd be worse not to try, or so he thought.

A part of him worried that Sabrina might be the one person that could break through his mind's block, or maybe one of her pokemon would. However, if that was the case, then putting it off wouldn't help. In that scenario, he imagined it'd be a matter of time before things happened. Might as well get it out of the way quickly, he supposed.

Yet another part of him thought it might be a relief to have someone else share the weight of knowledge that he did. Someone that wasn't a friend, preferably. He'd rather not put that on the shoulders of someone he was close to. No offense to Sabrina, but she could deal with that mess if she managed.

Pierce's feelings regarding the whole thing were quite complex, he knew. Alas, the situation itself was anything but simple. No matter how much he thought about it, he never quite reached an answer to any of his doubts and questions. It was like he just kept going in circles no matter what. Frustrating, but it was what it was.

'I miss my world,' he thought wryly, watching the match end, down in the battlefield. Maybe Lily would be next now? 'I didn't have to deal with things this important and complex back then,' he mused, taking a bite of a fry. Back there, all he'd had to worry about was trying to get his shit together and shape a semi-decent life.

He also had a lot more people in his life, but…

Pierce sighed.

"Helper-Voice?" Cygnus asked while Andromeda yipped. Narcissa tightened her stingers around his neck. Maybe he'd shown his feelings a little too much on the outside.

"It's fine. Just thinking too much, as Cygnus says," he told them, putting on a weak smile as he continued eating. The fries were suddenly tasting like cardboard though, which really just made him feel worse. Because of course it did. "It's Lily's turn," he pointed out as a way of distracting them. Good thing it was also true though.

Sadly, none of them seemed to be keen on not looking at him.

"I'll be fine, alright? I just need to get over it. We can take it easy after this and have a good time, if you want," he told them, sighing again. "Would be rude not to watch their match, you know?"

To that, Cygnus sent an unimpressed feeling towards him and Andromeda huffed.

At least Narcissa, bless her direct nature, nodded.

It was very comforting to know that his team had his back though. Maybe his family and friends were a literal world or dimension away, but he wasn't alone. He wasn't that confused guy in the middle of a forest. He had a team and friends and… people and pokemon.

The memories and the grief would get a hold of him on occasion, but it was getting rarer and rarer. Most of the time, he'd just be a little sad and move on. Or sometimes he'd remember and not feel like shit. Just like with the passing of his late grandfather. It hurt a lot when it happened and it still hurt to that day, but he got used to living with that eventually. It'd never be fine, but it could be… not horrible, if that made any sense.

It was what it was.

He guessed he'd skipped some stages and was now stuck somewhere between depression and acceptance.

Pierce really hoped he'd move firmly towards the latter some time soon, because depression sucked.

"Challenger Lillian," Sabrina said, catching his attention and bringing him out of his thoughts. He was getting lost in those entirely too much that day, he realized. "Would you let Star out for the first battle?" the Gym Leader asked, making both Lily and Pierce blink.

"How do…?" Lily started asking before trailing off. Evidently, it was a bit of a dumb question, the one she was going for. On the stands around, Pierce heard some people snickering.

"I hope you don't think me unreasonable, but I believe we can both benefit from this battle," Sabrina told his traveling companion and Pierce leaned forward, trying to read the girl, or woman? He wasn't sure how old she was, but she was either younger than him, or around his age at most.

With his shit level people reading skills, Pierce didn't know what to make of her other than that though. Her expression was flat and her voice even more so. It was a little unnerving, actually. Like there was zero personality or emotion in her. 'Was she like that?' he wondered, trying once more to remember series knowledge and coming up with nothing.

"... Of course," Lily replied, sounding anything but sure. However, this was a request from a Gym Leader. What was she supposed to do, deny her? It wasn't like the woman would purposely screw her over by asking her to let out her baby pokemon. No way. Matches were recorded and there was an audience almost at all times. There was literally no reason for her to try anything on Lily.

So, Star came out and seemed just as baffled at her appearance as Lily had been with the question. Evidently, the little cleffa had been told that no, she wasn't going to be battling until she evolved… or something along those lines. That was the standard treatment for baby pokemon like her, after all, with some exceptions, that is, like Riolu or Tyrogue. Lily told her something, but the stands were too far away for Pierce to hear.

It seemed to cheer the fairy type up though, so he guessed all was fine…

The mystery of what Sabrina was up to didn't last long though, when she let out her pokemon a moment later. 'Huh… Always liked that one, for some reason,' Pierce thought, leaning forward and smiling as he looked at the chingling. 'Two baby pokemon, one pure Fairy and one pure Psychic. Normal damage between themselves. A match made in heaven, I guess,' he mused to himself.

"Reasonable, but unexpected," Cygnus commented and Pierce hummed with a nod.

"True that," he said, leaning back and preparing himself to watch the challenge with even more interest. It was off to a very curious start, if nothing else. Glancing to the side, he saw someone that was less than pleased with the sight and he could hazard a guess as to why. "Sabrina knows what she's doing," he said, planting his hand on top of Andromeda's head. "And they need to get some experience somewhere. It'll be a good challenge for themselves, a nice opportunity."

The growl that left the vaporeon sounded to his ears like grumbling.

"I know you don't like it, but it's what it is," he told her, empathizing more than she probably knew. He felt that way whenever he had to watch a pokemon battle at all, especially when he had to release them into one. He was getting better when it came to that though. "I imagine even with this good match up, they'll take it easy," he added, because it'd be very questionable if-

"There's no need to push our pokemon too much, even with this," Sabrina said, confirming his guess and reassuring them all. "With that said, I wouldn't take this battle lightly."

He wondered if this was a case of a specific challenge for a special trainer such as Lily. He'd known those were a thing, after all, but it was still interesting to come across one. Maybe Sabrina would pay special attention to how Lily fought with Star? Check if she was too careful or too careless, see if she could strike a balance. That was his theory though, maybe he was completely off the mark.

Thus the challenge started with two baby pokemon facing each other and Pierce watching intently. Just like he had done in the other two Gyms, he tried to pick up any patterns or such information from Sabrina. He needed all that he could get to face her himself later on.

Ultimately, Lily won that match, but he had a feeling that the chingling was less trained than Star. Probably a recent hatch or something? Lily's cleffa was probably on the verge of evolution herself, if Pierce had to guess. She was developing well and babies didn't take too long, usually, so long as they were well cared for.

That was still the end of it for Star, obviously, since neither Sabrina nor Lily were keen on pushing her beyond that.

Following that was Talon facing… a solrock, because of course. Sabrina's tricky nature was something he'd heard about. Most of the time, her picks seemed random, but Pierce had quickly gotten on the wagon that said she usually picked pokemon that countered her opponents in some way. Sometimes it was obvious, like in this particular case. Other times, she'd pick pokemon that her opponents didn't know, from outside the region. Another alternative was picking a pokemon that had a style or strengths that made them more difficult to deal with, like a fast pokemon against a slow opponent and such.

Fortunately for Lily, she managed to squeeze a win through force of Assurance moves and Talon's mobility. Not without taking some damage from the rock type moves, however. He was, thus, taken out fairly quickly by the sigilyph that followed, which also gave Root a fair bit of trouble, what with the flying, both in movement and in typing. Didn't help that the thing was resistant to Grass type moves too. To make a bad situation worse, Knock Off, which was the Dark type move Root knew, wasn't all that useful against an opponent like that as it could have otherwise been.

Still, with some clever use of vines, not for damaging but for restricting the sigilyph's movement, Lily and Root were able to get their win… by the skin of their teeth though.

"Hm, this one's going to be tricky," Pierce commented dryly. If Lily, who was a much better trainer than him, struggled like that, then he'd definitely have his job cut out for him.

"We believe in you, Helper-Voice," Cygnus told him, getting agreements from both Narcissa and Andromeda.

'No pressure,' he thought to himself, sighing and standing up. Either way, they had to go congratulate Lily and the others and then celebrate. He could worry about their own challenge later.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, I foresee a lot of comments about how boring this chapter was but… I actually kind of like it. It's a lot of inner monologue, of course, but it's filled with important stuff, at least as far as Pierce is concerned. Since this is, first and foremost, a story about Pierce's life and journey through the pokemon world, this is kind of what we focus on here.

I'm sure you guys have already gotten the memo though, but I guess I have a little PTSD from the Cerulean arc. Sorry.

In that vein, I also foresee comments about how I sort of skimmed over Lily's battle and that's because battling isn't really all that big of a focus in this story, funnily enough. It's not a story about battling or even about training, it's – again – about Pierce's journey. I won't skim over Pierce's battles, obviously, since those are important to him, but everyone else is fair game. Not to say I'll always skim over their battles, but unless I see a reason to go into detail about them, I think I'll do as I did here.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, despite these things.

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: I don't think I've asked this, but… Which members of Pierce's team do you think will face Sabrina?

See you.