Teams:

Pierce Lawson:

- Narcissa, Beedrill

- Orion, Onix

- Cygnus, Kadabra

- Bellatrix, Gyarados (Shiny)

- Andromeda, Vaporeon

- Regulus, Meowth

Lillian Dale:

- Root, Ivysaur

- Talon, Spearow

- Gem, Geodude

- Star, Cleffa

- Cinder, Vulpix

Route 6 IV

"Can you put that cut next? All the way until the point Root got smacked," Lily commented, munching on a granola bar. Pierce, for his part, simply hummed, busy eating his and clicking away.

Editing videos was getting easier and easier with every day that passed. It was still awkward and both of them had to look through guides several times over all the time, but they were getting there. At least the results were passable most of the time, even if it took them way too long on occasion. Practice would make perfect though, if they kept going long enough.

Or so they hoped, at least.

"Not trying to keep only the parts that make you look good?" he asked after swallowing. "You could use mistake examples from your opponents," he pointed out, turning to look at Lily only to see her shaking her head in response. Yeah, that was about what he expected.

"I think I wanna do as you do and be honest. I'll use myself as an example as much as possible, both for the good and the bad. Besides, checking for my own mistakes might help me learn from them better," she commented and he agreed. It was different to know he'd made a mistake compared to seeing how he made a mistake in a video. He'd uploaded a few of his casual challenges to his channel and he'd seen his Gym battle recordings on the internet too. He could definitely see the value in reviewing those.

Maybe Lily and him could record all their battles, even if they weren't going to upload all of them.

Actually, that sounded like a great idea.

"You wanna record all our battles?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow at her. "We can do review sessions and such, even if we don't put them on the channel," he added and saw her pause to consider that.

"You know what? I like the sound of that," she readily agreed, a smile forming on his face. "You do have some nice ideas every once in a while, Pierce."

"You're so mean to me."

"You're one to talk."

"Touché."

"A little more," she said, pointing at the screen of the notebook and bringing both of them back to what they were doing. They were working on her first training/battling video, going through all the editing she needed. Well, he was doing that. Lily mostly told him what he needed to put where while writing down her narration and occasionally doing the recording of the audio. She basically did the design work and the voice over while he pieced the video together.

It was plenty of work, especially when compared to their normal videos. However, he kind of liked how it was going. They did good work, if he did say so himself. It was also nice to take a break from studying the medical books, he'd admit. Interesting as those texts were, Pierce could only take so much of it at a time.

"What's next?" Pierce said, after adding the part Lily wanted to the video.

"Hmmm… let me check my notes. Can you play one of the training videos too? I wanna see if something comes to me," she told him and he just nodded and got to it.

Once that was done, he looked to the side where his team was working on their new moves. Well, for a definition of new. They'd been at it for a while by then, after all.

Nobody was making any crazy progress, but that was to be expected, really. Thinking that would happen would have made him feel like a bad trainer. There was nothing wrong with his pokemon not being talent monsters. They more than made up for it in enthusiasm and that was just fine. Even Regulus, who was more of a lazy cat, worked fairly hard despite his predilections.

All in all though, he was happy with their progress, even though it seemed like they wouldn't be ready for Vermillion's Gym right off the bat once they got there. His team's Ground type move training wasn't going that fast. Most of them were halfway through at best and he might even need to add a second move to that if he could manage, to give them better odds. His pokemon weren't very suited for fighting Electric types, after all, and the battles were bound to get harder and harder.

The one that was making the fastest progress was Cygnus, after all, and he wasn't even preparing Ground type moves, since he couldn't learn any. He'd gotten Confusion firmly in his arsenal now though, so that was great. Kinesis, for its part, was halfway there and going fairly quickly too. He was the only member of his team that would finish his current training program by the time they got to Vermillion, by Pierce's estimation.

Useful, especially for the move combo they'd come up with, but not quite enough for their purposes. 'Might need to get tutors or something. We're not progressing fast enough,' Pierce considered, narrowing his eyes. He didn't like the idea, but if someone else teaching his pokemon moves helped them better than regular training, then he'd go for it. It wasn't like he'd be less their trainer that way. Most people relied on tutors over the course of their careers, and it was fine.

Pierce would still be the one strategizing and calling the shots. He was the one that designed their training program and how to best develop them in the way they liked. He was their trainer and this wouldn't change it.

Now, if he could just feel like that was true.

"Don't be stupid."

'Thanks for the kind, comforting words, buddy,' Pierce replied wryly as he looked at Cygnus. All the same, the mean words did somewhat reassure him… a little bit. His kadabra was still an asshole though.

[}-o-{]

"A common misconception is that jigglypuff will always sing and they won't stop until you fall asleep," Pierce explained, his head moving from side to side as if going along with the breeze that filtered through the trees. "They won't always do this though. They'll do it if they feel like you might be a danger, an opponent," he added, smiling at the Normal type pokemon that was happily singing next to him. "They love singing, of course, so they might sing anyway, but they shouldn't sing a lullaby, that's what I mean. And they definitely won't endanger themselves trying to make sure you fall asleep. Right, little one?" he asked, passing a berry to the jigglypuff.

With a happy babble, the pokemon took the offered treat and started munching on it like there was nothing better in the world.

It was adorable.

"So, do try not to make them nervous or anything. Besides the obvious case of being an idiot somehow, there's also getting too excited too. I know they are all cute and adorable and other synonyms, but you gotta have some restraint, people. They can be a little skittish and easily be overwhelmed or frightened if you don't give them a little space and such," Pierce continued, detailing the mistake he imagined most people fell for when it came to jigglypuff. He understood perfectly. They just looked like they were waiting to have their cheeks pinched and to be hugged and such, but… Yeah. That could easily lead to the pokemon getting all awkward at best.

Better to avoid such scenarios, as far as Pierce was concerned.

So, he spent the next few minutes explaining how to best approach the Normal/Fairy types without spooking them into singing their infamous lullaby. All the while, he had the pokemon herself singing in the background, when she wasn't munching on berries, pokeblocks and poffins. It was a good time. He was a fan of music, after all, even if he wasn't too big on the soft, calm tunes that jigglypuff specialized in.

'Actually, I should get some headphones and check out the music of this world,' he mused to himself, making a mental note. He'd heard the radio a bunch of times already, but he was far from familiar with the music side of things. Maybe he could delve into that at some point while studying or exercising.

It was funny, in a way. Back in his old life, he used to listen to music all the time. He'd have headphones on while studying, while jogging – when he bothered to go jogging at all –, while doing chores. It used to help him concentrate and it was something that he just enjoyed. He used to play-sing along with the songs and sometimes, when he was by himself, he'd even act like he was in a concert.

That had led to some embarrassing moments, but it was still fun.

And then he'd woken up in Viridian Forest and suddenly he had a lot of other things on his plate. He found it surprising that he hadn't come back to music in all that time though, but also not. There were so many things to do, things that he liked doing. Why'd he listen to music when he could listen to nature? Why'd he listen to music when he could listen to pokemon? Why'd he listen to music when there was so much around him to pay attention to? So many wonderful, fantastic things.

Except, maybe he was finally getting used to the new situation. He missed music. The novelty of the forests, the sea, the routes and the wilderness had worn off in the end… at least a little. Now, he wished he could listen to something else once in a while, especially when he was trying to focus, like when he was studying or exercising. It'd be handy to have headphones then.

Not like there'd be a danger of him missing something either, considering Cygnus could just give him a mental poke if anything required his attention.

Would it be the piece of his old life he thought it was? Or would it just be another reminder? He doubted the pokemon world had any of the songs he'd once heard. Would that be evident enough for him to feel disconnected from a hobby that had been with him through his life? Would it be different enough that he wouldn't be able to feel like it was the same thing?

He didn't know, but he could find out, he supposed.

He might as well. What did Pierce have to lose trying? Very little, that's what. And he had everything to gain if he could get even the slightest sliver of his old life back. He was slowly coming to terms with his new life, little by little. He pushed through the difficult times and the good times were getting more and more frequent. That didn't mean he couldn't want something old to have with him.

Music could be that to him, he supposed.

He could only hope that, maybe…

"That was a good video," Lily said, but she sounded concerned. He'd been silent too long after closing the video, hadn't he? He'd already forgotten about that, actually, with how much he'd gotten lost in thought there. "Pierce?"

"Sorry for spacing out," he said instantly, sighing and moving to sit against a tree. "I just… something came to me and my mind got away from me."

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you," he replied with a slight smile. "I'm going for a walk, alright? I think I need a moment. Any of you want to come?" he continued with, smiling a little more honestly when he saw the looks all his pokemon were giving him. Yeah, he should have known better than to assume they'd leave him alone.

"Pierce," Lily called and he turned to her. "We'll be here, alright?" she told him. Such a simple statement, but so much meaning behind it.

He'd made some great friends, hadn't he? His life in the pokemon world was coming along great. Now, if only that were good enough to forget his past one. That would never happen though, he was sure. It sucked, but he'd live with that shadow behind him all his new life, he supposed. Not like he wanted to forget, but…

It'd be nice not to feel so awful whenever he focused on that shadow.

[}-o-{]

"That's a hole alright," he commented, drawing a flat look from Andromeda. "What?" he asked, not even trying to act innocent. The vaporeon just stared at him for another long second before huffing and turning back to work on Dig some more.

It wasn't that he wanted to mock her or anything, but the eeveelution would often take things too seriously. If he was an idiot though, she relaxed, even if she was also annoyed. It was better to have her annoyed at him for acting dumb than annoyed at herself for failing. A Water Gun to the face was a small price to pay for his pokemon being alright.

And he hadn't even had to endure one this time.

Small mercies and all that.

"She knows what you're doing," Cygnus pointed out and he just smiled. After all, what did it matter so long as it worked? His only goal was making sure his team was alright. "That'll annoy her extra."

'Meh, the point stands,' was all Pierce said on the matter and he could feel his kadabra's flat mental stare. 'Things going well over there?'

"As well as can be expected with my envisioned schedule. You know that, Helper-Voice," Cygnus replied, and he could almost see the moody teenager eye-roll. "Shut up."

'Last I checked, you were well ahead of schedule, by the way,' Pierce pointed out. Sure, maybe the kadabra wasn't flying through the moves he was training, but he was certainly going faster than he'd predicted in his plans. Then again, this was one of his pokemon, so he could almost see the thought process. 'You know that I don't make these plans for you to not follow them, right? They aren't a low bar to exceed. They are what I expect you to do, not an underestimation nor an insult.'

"I know that," Cygnus said, but Pierce caught a shadow of doubt peeking through their connection. "Is it so bad that I want to do better than expected?"

'No, but it is bad if you're pushing yourself too hard and getting frustrated when you don't reach your own unreasonable standards,' Pierce shot back and he knew he won the argument then and there. Just the wave of annoyance that hit him through the mental connection was enough, nevermind the stiff shrug equivalent he picked up on afterwards. It was good to be right and win, but it'd have been better if he'd actually helped deter Cygnus from his unhealthy practices.

"I'll listen," the kadabra told him with a huff. "Happy?"

'Certainly. Thanks,' he replied instantly with a smile.

"Fighter-Enjoyer is slacking off again," Cygnus ratted out before bristling when Pierce called him for what he was, a snitch. Not that he didn't appreciate it though, of course, but a rock was still a rock, no matter how one painted it. "You're very obnoxious, you know that?"

'Takes one to know one,' he shot back, grinning as he stood up and moved to check on the rest of the team. He did need to check on everyone, after all. Just to see if any of them needed any particular help or if he could come up with any new pieces of advice.

So far though, his team seemed to be doing work as usual. No particular struggles or anything. Just continuing through the process of getting used to the type of energy and the trial and error manipulation of it. Speaking of members that were doing well though, a member of his team that was having a somewhat easy time of things – if not quite as much as Cygnus – was Narcissa. Not because her progress was particularly fast, but because she was enjoying the training even through the rough process.

Drill Run was right up her alley, after all. Pierce was hardly surprised that she liked training a move that was offensive and also to be used up close and personal. Not to say she didn't get frustrated with failures and stumbles along the way, of course, but she got over them much easier than she would have otherwise.

So, he watched her go through the motions, from gathering the Ground type energy on her hand-stingers to rotating it for the drill effect the move was named after. Then he watched her trying to maintain that while charging ahead, which was the part she struggled with the most. However, he did notice something…

"You don't get it properly under control before trying to charge," he commented as Narcissa buzzed up and turned towards him sharply. She wasn't annoyed at the correction though, he knew. At most, she'd be frustrated about messing up, but she'd never turn down advice or criticism, at least not from him. Anything that could help her be stronger was welcome with both arms wide open – or stingers, if one wanted to be anatomically correct –, as far as his beedrill was concerned. "Maybe you should get that step down perfectly before trying to charge," he suggested and Narcissa stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "You're doing great, girl. Keep it up."

That got a more… not cheerful, but a slightly better response from the beedrill, moodwise. Then she nodded, buzzed and then got back into position to try again. Good enough for him.

'Well… now, who's next?' Pierce thought, watching another attempt and nodding when he saw Narcissa did as he suggested. Leaving her to that, he turned and walked up to Orion. He was having fun learning Dig, but that was well within expectation. He was an onix, after all. Pierce would have been concerned if he had any kind of difficulty with that particular move.

He watched him go through the motions and noticed that he was almost done with Dig. Which was great, because Pierce had bigger ideas for him in Vermillion and he had a feeling he'd struggle a lot more with the next thing in the schedule for him. Not that he'd have to start from zero, but he'd have to finish Twister, for one. Even if it wasn't a completely new move, Orion would struggle to get that one properly under control, Pierce knew.

"You're doing great, buddy," he praised freely with a grin when the onix turned to look at him, having noticed his arrival. The Rock type wiggled a little, pleased with the simple compliment. He was a simple guy like that, but Pierce loved him all the same. Just because he was simple didn't mean Orion was bad in any way. He was just more straightforward and Pierce appreciated that, really. "Now, you…" he continued, turning to the side as he walked. "You're struggling, eh, girl?" he asked, getting a whine out of Bellatrix. "Come on. Come here," he told her and the red gyarados moved towards him with what he was sure was her version of pouting. Not that the sea serpents were very expressive, but he had some practice with that, he liked to think.

She didn't say much when she reached the river side, but he just patted her head. She'd been, by the looks of it, struggling quite a bit with Bulldoze. Understandable though, considering she wasn't quite used to… Well, interacting with the ground. She was a Water type, of course, but more than that, she was a completely waterbound one. She wasn't a Poliwhirl or any other Water type like that.

She was very uncomfortable being outside the water and it was kind of messing with her training of Bulldoze.

"How about we take a break from Bulldoze and go back to Ice Fang, girl?" he asked, patting the side of his shiny gyarados' head and smiling. Better not to have her thinking he was disappointed or angry or something silly like that. He wasn't, of course, and he wasn't even close to feeling like that either, but she could be like that on occasion. She was too eager to please at times. "You'd made plenty of progress, right? And you can always call Cygnus in for help if you need it," he told her, leaving out the fact that she could also call him if she needed some company.

She wouldn't do it if he said it in that many words.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Cygnus assured him and Pierce sent him a wave of gratitude. His kadabra was a brat at times, but he was also a dependable one. "I'll focus on the dependable part, if it's all the same to you, Helper-Voice."

'You do that, buddy,' he replied.

"What do you say, girl?" he asked, getting a sort of whine in response that didn't tell him much. The way she moved her head to press it against his chest told him plenty though. "Ok, I can stay here for a bit. Wanna swim or do you just wanna stay here?" he replied, grinning as the sea serpent perked up. "Floating?" he suggested when she didn't seem to be able to decide and she quickly agreed. "Great. Give me a sec though, alright?"

She didn't seem to want to wait, but she was patient enough to agree anyway… if barely so.

"Hey, Reggie! Stop procrastinating and go back to training!" he called and there was a squeak of a meow that came from within the woods. Then there was a pretend meow, as if telling him that that was what he was doing. As if he'd believe that. "We've already talked about this. If you don't want to train, then don't. If you want to train, do so," he said, no longer yelling, but not quite using his normal voice either.

He got another whining meow in response.

That cat really was lazy. Not that Pierce blamed him, really. He'd be lazy if he could get away with it. As it was, he had too many reasons not to. He couldn't slack off studying for his License if he didn't want to be unable to help pokemon in need if the time came. He couldn't slack off as a trainer if he wanted to help his team. He couldn't slack off in his exercises if he didn't want to feel bad for how hard his pokemon trained.

As a fellow lazy person though, Pierce knew that one often needed a good metaphorical – and sometimes literal – kick in the butt to get to work.

"With that done…" he commented, turning and seeing Bellatrix barely containing herself. "Yeah, let's go, alright?" he asked and he grinned widely at the cheer the sea serpent let out. Carefully, he climbed on her back and then just sat down to enjoy the gentle sway of the river's water and Bella's body. Once they were more or less settled, he adjusted his position to lay on his back. "This is nice."

Bellatrix readily agreed, growling something positive and adding a little more sway to her floating. Not quite with the force she'd need to actually swim, but a slow version of that, he supposed. Then she calmed back down and he looked over the edge of her body. There were pokemon in the water, but they were all keeping their distance.

A shame, he supposed, but it was nice to just pokemon watch too, so that worked for him.

"Are you looking forward to being in the sea again, girl?" he asked and Bella gave him an eager positive answer that had him grinning once more. "Yeah, it'll be nice. I think we might even do our next batch of traveling by boat. You'll be able to swim all you want and it'll be the rest that has to deal with the small space," he commented.

It'd suck for everyone but Narcissa, but it was what it was. Bella always had to deal with the issue of traveling, so it wasn't fair that she'd never have her own bouts of comfortable traveling herself. Pierce would make sure there was at least some sea traveling in between the land travels to make things more even.

"Yeah, I'm kind of looking forward to it myself."

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Some video work and some training work. I've noticed that I kind of… pushed the training aspect of this story to the side. I'm not saying that's bad – although I imagine there are many people that think that –, but it is something that I should address from time to time, at least. It's not a great aspect of this story, as it turns out – not at all part of my plan, but oh well –, but I should still give it some spotlight.

I hope you guys agree with me that training and battling are kind of secondary in this fic.

If you do, or if you don't, I hope at least you enjoy the story and that you enjoyed this 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 song are you hearing right now? And if you're not hearing music, what's the first song that plays if you turn on the radio? Right now I'm listening to the song "Bones" by Sail North. I've been binging pirate songs for some reason.

See you.