Searching Far and Wide - 122

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

Vermillion City XV

“I think we can go ahead with this place. We don’t have to build from nothing and it has a long stretch of shore, which is great for what we need right now. There’ll be plenty of work to put into that abandoned hotel so that it’s better adapted for what we need, but it’s better than having nothing at all,” he commented, looking over the data of what he thought was the best property prospect for his sanctuary project. Grace and him had been going over every single one of them in calls such as that one, but he was growing impatient.

Every day they discussed something was another day where the school was uncomfortably limited to the Vermillion shores and that Surge had to help him keep an eye on them. Not only that but every day was also another day where they weren’t actually setting up the thing. There was a lot to do and just talking about the space where they’d put the thing didn’t feel like making progress.

He knew it was important to pick a good area, but it felt too much like they were doing nothing.

“You said you’d want to welcome other pokemon besides Water types, didn’t you? There’s not much area outside of the shore,” Grace pointed out, but she didn’t seem to be outright dismissing it. If Pierce had to guess, that was because- “It’s small, but that makes it cheaper. Are you thinking about buying the neighboring properties?” -she had apparently seen what he had.

“That was the plan, yeah,” he confirmed with a nod, leaning back on his chair and looking at the screen of the computer to see his assistant’s thoughtful expression. “I checked and the surrounding spaces are fairly good. Might take some work to adapt them for some very specific pokemon requirements, but there’s a good variety of terrain. Even if we can only get our hands on half of them, it should be enough, I think. That means we don’t need to get them right now, either.”

With his piece said, he leaned back on his chair and took a sip from his coffee, waiting for Grace to look and think it over. He thought they might have to leave the final decision for the next day, but he was confident that was the best choice they had. There were plenty of good prospects, really, but that was the one they could use the most at the moment. The main selling point was that it was cheap and already had a building they could use inside though. That meant they could get started that much faster, which was something they really needed.

Most preserves didn't start with a group of pokemon already in need of attention like his was, after all. They needed to get things underway fast and he thought this one property was the best way to do that. That wasn’t even all though, but he didn’t want to drop too much on Grace all at once. He’d let her mull over what he’d said. Besides, she was smart. She might think of the other points on her own.

“It is cheaper. We might not even need to go into debt for this,” she said and Pierce blinked. That wasn’t part of his thought process in the matter. Although, to be fair, he had kind of refused to look at prices and his own budget. The numbers kind of scared him, actually. Not to say he didn’t check any of them, but he’d rather Grace deal with that. She had a better idea of how to go about all of that. Still, how ridiculous an amount of money had people thrown his way for that to be a thing? Smaller as it was, the property couldn’t be cheap, with so much shore in it, even if a chunk of it was cliffs. “Yes, I think we can work with this. I’ll have to check the surrounding areas and their prices, but it does look good. If everything checks out, I think we can start going through with this tomorrow, if that’s fine with you, Mr. Lawson.”

“The sooner the better,” was all he replied with, shrugging and taking another sip from his coffee. “How did your talk with the companies go?”

“One of the pokemon food ones got back to me fairly quickly. If you’re open to always wearing something with their name, logo or something of the sort on it, they are open to a partnership,” she said and he didn’t know if he was intrigued or worried about that prospect. After all, they had discussed such a thing before, but Grace was making it sound like- “And yes, when I say always, I mean always.”

“How bad is the stuff I’d have to wear?” he asked warily.

Another idea they had weighed was striking a deal with some of the companies that had been interested in him advertising for them. They had even added some of those that hadn’t been interested. If he could get supplies for the sanctuary at a cheaper price, that’d be a great boon. It was one of the reasons why he’d lowered his “requirements”, if one could call them that, in order to try and tempt people.

“They haven’t told me specifics, which makes me think we have some wiggle room. As it is, considering how quick they were to jump at the idea, I think we can keep them waiting, see if we can make them budge. If not… Well, I think we can manage even without any deals,” Grace commented idly, looking over things. “On a somewhat related note though, the League is willing to offer a lot of help with this if you promise that you and your pokemon will be ready to answer calls during major incidents.”

“You mean like what happened here?” he asked, more than a little uneasy at the idea. Sure, he’d done it at the moment, but that was because he’d been right there. There was a difference between that and jumping at every such situation that popped up. Although, he was already likely to be called to them, he supposed, much like he had in that very instance. If that happened, could he not do the same thing he’d already done there?

Thinking of it like that…

“How much help are we talking about here?” he asked, taking a sip from his coffee while internally sighing.

[}-o-{]

“Yeah, I think you guys are getting the hang of it,” Pierce commented, getting pleased sounds from both Andromeda and Regulus. The meowth was, admittedly, a lot more open and enthusiastic. Although, to be fair, he was getting a lot done, despite his lazy nature. Not quite the speed that Andromeda had, but then again, he was much newer to the training thing and he wasn’t as motivated as Pierce’s other pokemon. He wanted to get stronger, but the effort required was something he kind of lacked.

Pierce could definitely relate.

Andromeda was very much happy with her increased progress over Dig though, even if she seemed reluctant to express as much. It showed in her determined expression and how she didn’t get as frustrated as she did before, when she was still kind of struggling with her approach. Their new outlook on the move had certainly helped, evidently. Not only was she progressing faster, even if not by much, but she was also a lot less annoyed.

“Keep it up, yeah? We’ll get the hang of that any day soon and that’ll be one step closer to challenging Surge,” he commented and maybe he needed to bring that kind of thing up more, because it seemed to lit a fire under Regulus. Idly, Pierce wondered if his meowth was more motivated by the destination than the journey. Because his pokemon seemed to mostly be happy just with the fact that they were getting stronger. That reaction from Regulus made him wonder if the Normal type was more interested in the victory that came with strength.

Kinda like Narcissa, except the beedrill enjoyed getting stronger just as much as dominating her enemies.

Something to ponder on, he imagined. If it was true and he could confirm it though, that’d be great, not only in getting his meowth to train but also in the battles themselves. Knowing what got his partners to give their hundred and ten percent during fights was part of his new approach to battling, after all. He needed to know them inside and out and-

His train of thought was interrupted when the wind brought a handful of dirt straight to his face.

“Bleh, some of that got in my mouth,” he groaned before turning and giving a glare to the sort-of laughing meowth by his side. “I know where you sleep, you little shit,” he hissed and that only seemed to amuse the Normal type further. Rolling his eyes, he looked to the side to a very apologetic looking Bellatrix. Apparently, her latest attempt at Bulldoze had ended up knocking some dirt into the wind and afterwards onto his face. “Don’t worry about it, girl,” he mumbled, probably not very convincingly. That had been annoying though, in his defense. “Maybe you can continue working on Ice Fang until the wind calms down a bit?” he suggested and the gyarados gave an embarrassed grumbling response that made whatever little anger he was feeling melt away.

She was just that adorable, honestly.

“Anyway, yeah, keep it up, guys,” he said, deliberately petting Regulus with his dirt-covered hand. He got some hissing for it, but it was a victory all the same. “Gotta check up on the others now, but let me know if you need anything,” he added, deliberately ignoring the baleful look his Normal type was directing his way. Andromeda seemed to find the both of them hilarious, if the amused glint in her look was anything to go by.

Thus, he walked away… trying to get away before Regulus decided it was worth it to scratch him with his claws. It was all fun and games until the little shit decided to be a menace, after all. He had some marks on his right calf that attested to that.

“Hey Cyg, how’s it-”

“Don’t call me Cyg.”

“-over here?” Pierce asked, not even batting an eye at the curt, angry mental interruption. “Great, huh?” he answered for himself, a little amused as his kadabra gave him a look not unlike the one he’d just escaped from. A second later, he felt his sight kind of… slide away from Cygnus, like he had a hard time focusing on him, even though he wanted to and he was right there. Literally everything else seemed to draw his attention away from the kadabra.

The odd, very unnerving experience lasted a few seconds in which he considered what was happening.

“Feels like you’re making progress with Kinesis, buddy.”

“Not good enough yet, difficult to maintain and the effect isn’t perfect,” the Psychic type self-criticized. Pierce thought he might have been a bit too harsh on himself, but if he wanted to be perfect at what he did, then he’d just have to help Cygnus get there, he supposed. “I think I’m fine on my own. Almost got it, I just have to polish what I’ve managed to get so far,” the kadabra said and Pierce was sure that was true, but he’d mostly left Cygnus to his own devices for quite a bit as of late, when it came to training.

So, Pierce decided he might as well try to help him anyway.

“Can always use an actual target instead of just working by yourself, right?” he asked, knowing full well that it would be a very unpleasant experience. The things he did for his pokemon, he supposed. “You don’t need to be that excited about using the move on me though, you know?” he added wryly.

“No idea what you’re talking about, Protector-Voice.”

[}-o-{]

“So, that’s kind of what’s been going on here, sorry I haven’t been as active as I was before,” he said to the camera, his best smile on his face all the same. Some of his weariness might have shown though. ‘I shouldn’t have waited until the end of the day to record,’ he lamented, but then again, it wasn’t like he could do much else. Grace was too busy for him to mess with her schedule too and he didn’t want to half-ass his team’s training.

Thus, he’d had to record a video at the end of his day when he was the most done with everything. At least dealing with the episode’s “guests” was easy. The squirtle line were some of the most tame pokemon out there, after all. There was a reason why they were starters. Besides, much like the bulbasaur line and unlike the charmander line, they were fairly tame all throughout their evolution stages. They didn’t become troublesome later on or anything.

At most, people just needed some help knowing how not to bother them and differentiating when they were hiding in their shells to sleep or to hide. There were other tips and pieces of advice here and there, but for the most part it was a fairly peaceful video. Which he was grateful for, certainly. Much better than having to go over a more troublesome pokemon like the tentacool line.

“Gonna be a busy few days while we set things up for the school and such. The good thing is that I have no shortage of pokemon to have in videos even though I’m kind of trapped inside the city, so there’s that,” he commented with a grin, patting the squirtle that was sitting next to him on the head. The Water type didn’t so much as look up from the snacks he was eating. “Hope you guys don’t mind too much. Also minor spoiler, next episode should have my first ad, not unrelated to the current situation. I’m trying to gather money for the sanctuary, obviously, but I also gotta test products too, so there’s that. Here’s hoping we find some good stuff, yeah? As it is, I think that’s enough rambling on my part for you all to be happy with. See you in the next video and don’t forget to be friendly and understanding. Most important part of getting along with pokemon,” he said, waving at the camera and deflating a moment later when Cygnus moved the camera down, signaling that he’d cut the recording.

“Looked good,” his kadabra commented, but then again, pokemon didn’t seem to much care for his videos. None of them did, other than when they got to play around and eat snacks. All the same though, Pierce appreciated it. At least he knew there weren’t any badly aimed parts or anything like that. Cygnus could be trusted to spot those if they happened and tell him about it. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Protector-Voice,” his Psychic type said wryly, but Pierce was quick to send a wave of amusement and a… sort of apology.

He really hadn’t meant to insult his pokemon. Just pointing out that his opinion wasn’t the best when it came to the quality of the videos as entertainment. Nothing wrong with that. He knew his own opinion was worse than useless in a number of matters too.

“Thanks for participating, buddy,” Pierce said, turning towards the squirtle by his side. The little one seemed a little confused, looking up and realizing that they weren’t recording anymore. He’d been too preoccupied there at the end with his snacks, apparently. The rest of the squirtle line pokemon around seemed to find that particularly amusing. “Same for all of you. I have more pokeblocks for you all,” he said.

He was making a lot more pokeblocks than usual those days, since they were just about the only thing he could prepare for pokemon. Poffins and pokepuffs needed a lot more than he could do with just the one hand. Pokeblocks were a bit of a struggle too, but he could manage with some work. He was also getting better at that too.

“Glad you guys liked them, by the way,” he added, taking a handful of pokeblocks in his good hand and starting to spread them between the Water types. He’d made some changes to his previous attempt at a recipe for the squirtle line and he’d gotten some feedback that had influenced the newest batch. Although, he had a feeling that they were one of those lines where each evolution had somewhat distinctive tastes instead of one of those which liked the same things across their line.

That’d be interesting to deal with if it was the case.

Annoying, but interesting.

“Well, that’s that. Let’s go back to school, yeah?” he said, sighing and moving to stand up. “Thanks, buddy,” he added when the blastoise in the squirtle line group moved to help him. A whole lot of very simple things, like pushing himself up from the ground, had become a chore those days. He was getting used to it, but that didn’t really make them any easier.

As he walked towards the wharf where the rest of the Water types waited, Pierce looked at the water wistfully. It was hitting him that there was a whole sea right there and he couldn’t swim in it, no matter how much he wanted to. Well, he probably could float and do some slow, careful swimming, but that’d feel so constraining it’d ruin the experience for him. If he had any say in the matter, he’d go swimming as soon as he could do so without concerns.

For the moment, he couldn’t and it sucked.

“Hey guys, thanks for being patient,” he said to the school, smiling as several of them perked up. One adorable seel even jumped on the wharf by his side and he just had to lean down to pat his head. “Say, you guys wanna do some dancing or swimming?” he asked and immediately a debate started. That was more or less what he expected though, so he sat down and waited for the school to come to their decision.

He kind of hoped they’d pick dancing. Sitting on top of one of them while they swam would just have him on edge. He’d go with whatever they wanted though. He could enjoy the “sailing” too, it’d just not be as carefree as waving his good arm around. Hell, even that latter option had its own risk, with the possibility that he’d make just the wrong motion.

So, thinking it over some more, Pierce guessed both options were more or less the same.

[}-o-{]

Lightning55Turbo

He calmed down a gyarados!

HE CALMED DOWN A GYARADOS!

CorphishOutOfWater

Man, the Vermillion incident really was a mess, huh? I mean, we knew that already, but the news seem to be calming down about it. Really hits you when you see this kind of thing though. The way everything’s not fine just because the main thing is over.

NamelessStacey3213

You don’t have to do any videos at all if your arm is that bad, Proxyman. We’ll understand if you wanna take a break!

Still, nice to see that the content is just as good even without Lily around and with only one arm on our man. Squirtle are really just that friendly, huh? Shame I’m too poor to ever get one, but still, neat.

Pokepuffpuff

Dude really just said, let’s open a pokemon sanctuary and is actually going through with it, huh? You do realize the insane amounts of money that’ll take, right? I know the League and Vermillion are probably paying a fortune to the guy that helped save the whole city, but still, is it that much money? Is Proxyman actually loaded?

Why the imminent ad content if that’s the case?

CorphishOutOfWater

Don’t I know it, Stacey. As a water specialist, it’s my dream to have one of those. One day, maybe.

ForestEnjoyerClub

He might just go through with it but need some extra cash for the project anyway, I guess? It’s wild that he’s going for it if that’s the case. I’m afraid to buy myself a car because I don’t know if my money situation is good enough and Proxyman is over here taking a leap to build a pokemon sanctuary.

johnyoung4733

Wild. Truly.

Respect, Proxyman. Hope it all goes well.

Wish I had money to make a donation. At least one that’d matter.

SnowflakeMeowth_Gifs

I had a friend on the Anne. We were lucky to find out he was alright the day after the whole mess. I really can’t imagine how nervewracking it must have been for those that had to wait more. Hope things go well for Lily.

And I also hope things go well with the Water types. Proxyman is a saint for going the extra mile for these pokemon.

ElectrickPyte

Thank you, Pierce, for helping Vermillion. My house was well into the area that was expected to be not just wrecked but erased and there it is, not only standing but not even touched. My family owes you everything we have right now, so, if you ever need anything, just say the word. My family and a good chunk of Vermillion will answer, I’m sure.

On that note, we’d be happy to donate to this sanctuary, if only to help you.

Pierce – Pokemon Proxy

While it would be appreciated, I don’t want to ask people for their money like that. Everyone has their own lives to worry about, be them in Vermillion or anywhere. I can make this work by myself, between compensation for services like what happened at Vermillion and the advertisement work I’ll be doing shortly. Call me arrogant, but I guess this is something I want to do for myself.

Once the sanctuary is established well enough though, we might offer ranch services for people that might be interested. That’s different from asking for donations, right?

CrystalMorgan9655

Are we sure Proxyman isn’t some kind of saint or alien? Because goddamn, guy doesn’t even want to take our money. What kind of person rejects gifted money?

I wish I were half the person you are, Proxyman.

0DarkestType0

Right, as if. I’m sure there’ll be a video sometime in the future saying how there are issues and they need more money. Somehow, nobody’s ever gonna hear about this sanctuary too. One would think people would learn to spot scams at some point.

NamelessStacey3213

Didn’t you leave a bunch of videos ago? Why stay if you hate Pierce?

We should sick the fangirls on these guy, honestly.

Poison_Sniffa

On it.

Shi89

On it.

Ruxlay

On it. (Also, would)

SphealWithoutHat

… Scary… Also, go Proxyman. If people don’t try to get their pokemon in your sanctuary instead of some other ranch, then I’ll be losing some faith in the people of Kanto. Who’s gonna treat your pokemon better than the guy that feels bad for gyarados and other scary af pokemon?

Turtwiguy38

Preach, my brother.

DanielDadford35

So, no donations, huh? What about selling merch, Proxyman? Because I’d definitely get a Proxyman shirt, I can tell you that. Either way, I’m glad to see that things are settling, even if everything seems to be a mess over there. Here’s to hoping you recover quickly and that Lily can feel better soon.

ChompChomp

People really out there devising ways to give someone money, huh? The insanity of Proxyman knows no bounds. Not that I wouldn’t get a t-shirt myself. Maybe one with a ridiculously cute sea noodle?

AndromedaFan#1

I’d get three.

AndromedaFan_1st

I’d get four.

SharpenadoStan

Thanks for posting videos even with all the mess, Proxyman. Hope the sanctuary goes well, I don’t even wanna know how much work that needs to be set up. Good luck.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Some other aspects of Pierce’s life, some training, which I wanna try and include more, more sanctuary work and channel stuff, which has been a while since I showed. Comments are always a struggle to write, it’s like trying to juggle way too many characters in a single scene, which I’ve always been bad at. People seemed to have liked it when I wrote such parts before, so I’m hoping it’s the case now.

I’m also hoping you enjoyed the chapter, of course.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Do you wear anything specific outside of the normal stuff when it’s cold? Like a scarf, or a beanie, or anything else like that. Mine would be fingerless gloves. I spend a lot of time sitting on my computer, obviously, and that usually means my hands get really cold. This way I can try and keep them a little warmer without the gloves getting in the way while I do stuff.

See you.