Searching Far and Wide - 109

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 II

[Daisy Waterflower]

“You can still back down,” someone said and it was surprising that it wasn’t Daisy herself doing so. Instead, it was Lance, which made it all the more surprising, really. Not to say that the man would happily endanger others, but he tended to be a practical kind of guy, if not outrageously so.

She could easily agree that this was outrageous though.

“We have precautions,” Pierce said, entirely too relaxed for the situation at hand, with the swarm of Water pokemon rushing at them in the horizon. He was tense, for sure, but Daisy would have expected a much more reasonably terrified expression and posture from him. Instead, while he looked more nervous than they were, nobody else would have been nearly as “calm” as he was. “If you tell me this is useless, then I will back down, but something tells me you’d have done so already if that were the case.”

“Your intuition would be right,” Lance said, a grim expression on his face.

Daisy knew they were both right, but she still didn’t like this any more than she had before that short conversation. The world hardly ever gave one what they wanted or expected though. What was about to go down would be something that’d go down in history. People would remember this, it’d mark Vermillion like few things marked a city.

That many pokemon could only cause a disaster, even with every high level trainer, Leader, Elite and the Champion himself. So many enraged gyarados together with so many other pokemon that wouldn’t be in any better state were coming their way. The best they could do against that would be to contain it, push it so that the schools wouldn’t spread to other parts of the coastal area and try not to let Vermillion disappear.

Pierce coming in with a school of gyarados as backup was useful. There was no denying that. Gyarados were one of the few pokemon that needed next to no training to be a force to be reckoned with. It was partly why newly evolved ones were so dangerous. With the right motivation, any gyarados could be a monster. Pierce hadn’t let Bellatrix be part of the school he was with, but then again, none of the ones he was with were that newly evolved. There was a risk that Bellatrix would go mad in this event and that was a much smaller chance with the rest of the school he’d personally helped recover a great deal.

Now, Daisy guessed they’d all see how good that recovery had been in the last few months and how good a control Pierce had of those gyarados.

“Just don’t try to talk them down, will you?” Daisy asked, trying to push down her fears and nerves and likely failing miserably. This was proven right when Pierce turned to look at her and he gave her a reassuring smile. How was it that he seemed to be the least concerned with what was going on?

What had he done to her?

A voice that sounded suspiciously like Lily in her mind gave very unhelpful answers to that question.

“Even I’m not that crazy,” Pierce said with a wry smile. “I’ll stay behind all of you and get out of here as soon as things get out of hand,” he promised, but somehow she doubted that. Daisy knew that the man couldn’t turn away from a pokemon that needed help. She had very real concerns of what would happen when his self-preservation was tested against a pokemon in a bad situation. She’d seen him petting a newly evolved gyarados, after all, so he didn’t have great precedents on that front.

“My pokemon will be ready,” Sabrina said from somewhere to Daisy’s right and she almost sighed in relief at the reminder. Right, the precautions that Pierce had mentioned. He brought the gyarados and Sabrina had brought a bunch of her lower level pokemon to teleport him and the school of gyarados out of there if things got out of hand.

‘Maybe I’m worrying for nothing and he won’t be here for more than a few minutes,’ Daisy thought, trying to gulp down her nerves. Somehow though, she very much doubted she’d be that lucky. It was a terrible hunch to have, but it was there all the same.

“Everyone ready,” Lance said and every single person there straightened their backs. Sure enough, the schools of pokemon were getting closer. Soon, they’d be within move distance and the chaos would start. “Prepare,” the Champion said and immediately started barking orders for his dragons and other pokemon.

Everyone else did the same, Daisy included. The first contact would be key. They couldn’t stop the frenzy nor the charge, but maybe they could take away some of its momentum if they used enough force. That was the hope, at least, but even if they succeeded with that, it’d be a minimal gain. Nothing about what was going to go down shortly afterwards was going to be easy nor simple, after all.

It was going to be a nightmare of a day, maybe even days.

Why, oh why did Pierce need to throw himself at this?

‘You better not die, Pierce, or I’ll find a way to kill you myself anyway,’ she thought to herself, hands balling into fists. After she was done giving her orders to her pokemon, she chanced a glance towards the man himself. At least he was sticking with his promise that he’d be behind them, so there was that. ‘Thank God for small mercies.’

She was a little taken aback though – and a little impressed, admittedly – when she saw him simply raising his hands instead of giving orders. The gyarados he’d gathered reacted as if he’d spoken though, just as much as her own pokemon had or any of her fellow Leaders or Elites. They straightened and energies started swirling around them, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

Daisy heard Bruno bark out a laugh.

“Well, isn’t that interesting!” the man exclaimed, looking at the same thing Daisy had been.

And she would have agreed, although she’d probably have used the word crazy instead of interesting.

That was just par for the course with Pierce though.

[}-o-{]

[Pierce Lawson]

The first move that fired off was a Zap Cannon, he was pretty sure.

He didn’t actually see it, his eyes fixed on the incoming barrage of pokemon. Furthermore, he was too shaken by the power that the attack bathed the whole area in to really be able to react to it. Instead, Pierce just sort of… froze where he stood on top of the gyarados.

And that was before the other moves.

More Zap Cannons were shot, together with some other equally as strong Electric moves. There were other moves around though, Hyper Beams and Solar Beams and so on, if he had to bet. There were other moves that he couldn’t quite identify, but it wasn’t like he was really trying.

It was only after a few seconds that he realized that he should be part of the move rain. Or, at least, the gyarados that he’d brought with him should be. So, snapping out of it, he extended his hands forwards and the sea serpents fired their own moves. Not anywhere near as strong as the attacks of the positive monsters around him, but Pierce didn’t expect them to be.

They were strong though, some of them were even very strong.

It was just that they didn’t feel like they shook his soul when they were fired.

‘I shouldn’t be here,’ he thought, gulping. Everyone was terrified of gyarados and especially when they’d been in a group at Cerulean. So, he thought maybe he could do something if he asked them for help with the current situation. They’d even agreed surprisingly fast and all, so Pierce had thought he was onto something.

Now, standing next to the Leaders, the Elites, the Champion.

He felt like nothing.

He already considered himself an average trainer at best, maybe slightly above average if one was generous. Then and there though, was when he finally felt just how low in the rankings he likely was. Brock was around his age, same with Violet and Lily. Daisy barely counted as older than him. Sabrina was probably around that too. To see the difference at that very moment, to feel it in his bones, was a humbling moment if he’d ever been through one.

‘I shouldn’t be here,’ he repeated in his own mind, even as he made the gyarados shoot once more.

Why had he been allowed to do what he’d done? What difference was he making? Was he making a difference at all? Was he getting in the way? He hadn’t been teleported away, so he imagined he wasn’t being a hindrance, at least. That was a comforting thought, if a minimal one.

He could barely focus on anything other than the moves being shot and how they rattled the world around him. His vision shook, barely allowing him to see what was in front of him, the flashes of light and the still approaching wave of pokemon. His ears might as well not have been working anymore for all the information they gave him. Everything else was numb, inconsequential, even more so than the static noise he heard all around.

He went to make the gyarados shoot again, but when he pulled back his arms…

Everything stopped, at least to him.

There was a split second in which the world seemed to freeze. An instant of silence, a coincidence, an alignment of the planets even. For but a moment, Pierce heard nothing other than the faint sound of the waves, agitated and angry… And in the distance, he noticed it. The faint roar of the pokemon, wild, enraged, chaotic and scared.

Then it was over, what lasted almost no time at all ended and more moves were shot. The pokemon wave was starting to shoot back, but the pinnacles of all things trainer in front of him didn’t let anything get past them. Pierce still felt overwhelmed and small. He still felt next to useless and out of place.

And yet…

The roars echoed in his mind. They reminded him of the swarm in Viridian, desperate and lashing out. They reminded him of Mama Onix, concerned and afraid. They reminded him of the fairies in Mt. Moon, nervous and wary. They reminded him of the very gyarados that were fighting with him, in pain, hurt. They reminded him of Bellatrix, confused and lost.

And at that moment, Pierce knew that it didn’t matter that he shouldn’t be there. His brain stopped focusing on how scary the trainers around him were and focused on how scared the pokemon ahead of him were. Whether or not he was small or weak or not skilled enough didn’t matter, what mattered was what he could do despite all that.

His feet found themselves more grounded on top of the gyarados, his hands stopped shaking, his gaze sharpened and Pierce felt himself more firm. He was still scared, unsure, but he was past letting that matter. He’d done scary things before and he could do something scary once more.

So, with all the confidence he found himself having at that moment, he waved his arms, first the right, then the left, and back to the right, rinse and repeat. Maybe he wasn’t making a difference, maybe he was. If he did nothing, then he definitely wouldn’t, and that was what mattered. He needed to help and for that he needed to do something. Pokemon needed his help, the ones behind him in Vermillion and the wilds around it and the ones in the waters ahead of him, charging at them.

First, they needed to stop the chaos and then would come the time to truly help those.

With any luck, maybe he’d be more useful in the aftermath.

[}-o-{]

[Gyarados, the Unbroken Giant]

The chaos was almost nostalgic, he found.

Having so many ridiculously strong pokemon around was kind of new though, if not completely so. The barely noticeable weight of a man standing on top of him was not so new and surprising, but also not old or unwelcome. Having so many gyarados fighting by his side and also against him was new too, even if it was what he’d agreed to.

When Helper-Voice had called, after all, the man had explained and they’d all answered.

How could they not, after all, respond to the plea of the man that had given them a hand when they were at their lowest, deepest, darkest moment? When everything was the most lost, the most hurt and the most painful, he’d been there with a smile and a calming presence that was almost foreign to them all. He’d talked to them like they were normal pokemon instead of husks of what they should be. He’d nudged them into a future that they’d only seen in dreams, if that. He’d spoken, they’d listened and it had helped. No wonder he was Marked as he was.

He’d taken him, the biggest, baddest gyarados of the bunch – he admitted to that, even if he hated it – and turned him into part of a school.

Not even with the Team Rocket had he ever fit anywhere. He’d been too big, too strong and thus deemed better to work alone for someone that was in a bigger position with the humans of the group that had taken them all in. Not even while in that dark, painful place had he found companionship.

But Helper-Voice had changed that. He’d approached them all and made them into something better, nicer, healthier. Every single one of them bore scars that had nothing to do with their scales. All of them were disturbed and shattered to pieces, but Helper-Voice had put them all together, by themselves and into a school of their own. He’d given them peace, goals, a group and a challenge.

He’d woken them all up from the lethargic, depressing state they’d all been in.

Now though, he was going beyond that. The least they could do was answer his call and help him as he’d helped them. The man could have asked them all to follow him to fight legendaries for him, asked them to do despicable things for him like Team Rocket and they’d have done it all happily. Because he’d been what they needed at their worst moment and none of them would ever forget that.

Yet, there the man was, asking them for help so that he could help more. He’d called so that they could defend the land, other pokemon and other humans. Helper-Voice had requested assistance so that he could heal the world and the gyarados himself was sure that he’d extend a hand to his disturbed, confused and lost counterparts on the other side of the ongoing disaster.

“He’s done!” he heard Helper-Voice call and it took Gyarados a second to notice one of his own, from the wave, that had reached them. It floated their way, somehow having gotten past the barrage of attacks but certainly not unscathed. “Focus forward, where they are still coming!” Helper-Voice commanded and they listened. Most of them, anyway, because Gyarados himself and a few others were still eyeing the floating, unconscious member of their line in the water. Several of them were wary, much like Gyarados himself was, but there were some that were looking ready to shoot at their fellow Water type, just in case. Not that he blamed them, but- “It’s out! That’s what we’re here for, guys! Stopping them, not killing them, not fighting them! Stopping them!”

And thus, they went back to shooting, because Helper-Voice spoke and they listened.

As well they should.

If he wanted them to stop the wave, then they would try. They’d likely fail, but they’d damn well try anyway. Because he’d tried for them, so the least they could do was try for him. The wave was getting closer though, and there was no way they’d stop it. Not even the other trainers and their absolutely monstrous pokemon would be able to stop the tide.

Gyarados could only hope they’d all survive, but it was looking worse by the second.

They’d been shooting for a while, all of them, and if they were making a difference, he wasn’t seeing it. Soon, there were more floating pokemon reaching the water near them, but no matter how many of the pokemon from the wave they hurt and knocked out, there was no stopping it. Still, with every wave of Helper-Voice’s hand, they shot their attacks. Because that’s what they were there to do and that’s what they’d do.

Simple as that.

Until, that is, one of the gyarados floating by woke up.

That wasn’t so simple.

It was small, which probably meant that it had gotten knocked out fairly quickly and with minimal damage. In turn, that was why it woke up faster than the others. Thankfully, it was still so out of it that it couldn’t go back to rampaging just yet. No, instead, it looked around, as if trying to figure out what had happened. Gyarados had already turned towards him though, along with another two or three in the school.

A solid hit and the other gyarados would-

“Join or leave!” Helper-Voice yelled and all the members of the school that had noticed the other gyarados – and some that hadn’t – froze. “But we’re stopping this madness here!” he said simply, decisively.

And that was that, because they would stop it.

His voice was heard and it was listened.

And the Giant, the biggest and strongest of the whole school that Helper-Voice had gathered, saw the smaller member of his line listen and cower. It flinched away from Helper-Voice, like the sound of his words was an attack all on its own. The Giant thought he could understand, if not completely, because the man had a way of just making himself heard.

“Join or leave,” Helper-Voice said, his voice much lower, not meant to be heard as he continued waving his hands and guiding the school. And yet, he was heard all the same, because his Voice couldn’t be ignored. Not when he Spoke.

So, the Giant went back to following the school. He couldn’t see Helper-Voice, but he could see the rest of the school and follow. He could feel the human shifting on top of him, if barely. And he was, for once, not alone, standing out. He was part of the group, helping, useful and accompanied.

And he could only be happy for the smaller gyarados.

Because it listened and it joined.

And thus, the school grew.

[}-o-{]

[Sabrina Shen]

How very odd.

The world was chaos. There were screams everywhere, out loud and in peoples and pokemon’s minds. She could hear all of that too, every cry, every roar, every shout, every single little thing. The world was hers to feel and read and…

And yet, in the middle of erratic waves, powerful attacks and disturbed pokemon, there was a patch of calm.

Or, maybe it was better to say that there was a patch of order. Her fellow Leaders, the Elites, Lance, all of them were part of that patch. Their pokemon were disciplined, their minds were focused, their actions were purposeful. Yet, she found herself surprised, once more, by the same man that had held a considerable amount of her attention for a while by then.

Pierce Lawson.

Because he was yet another patch of order in the chaos. One that, contrary to every other piece, didn’t have any business existing. Because there were rangers and other high level trainers around, but they weren’t order. They were scared, or angry, or a mix of both or even something else entirely, but not order, definitely not that. Some of them approached that state at times, but they slipped. The situation was overwhelming and Sabrina could hardly blame them for that, but it happened all the same.

Yet Pierce remained steadfast. He’d been chaos too, at the start of things, but then he’d showed that side of him. He’d focused, his mind honed like a blade and suddenly he was a different person. In a moment’s notice, he was the talented mind that Sabrina had known him to be, the one she’d seen flashes of during their classes and their conversations.

How very interesting, that the calm zones of her Gym were difficult for him, but he could find himself, center himself, in the middle of the disaster that was going on around them, in Vermillion. Fascinating, but then again, Sabrina had already known him to be. This was just a more clear look into that, she supposed, and it was a huge shame that she wasn’t able to properly admire that.

Instead, she needed to focus herself, because any slip would be devastating in the situation they were in.

Not that she needed to focus much. Her pokemon were amongst the kind that needed the least instructions, even amongst the heavily trained kind like the ones surrounding her and her team. Furthermore, she didn’t need to voice commands. A single thought would suffice in order to get her pokemon to know what to do

She also kind of did need to pay attention to Pierce.

Some of her lowest level pokemon were in charge of getting him and his gyarados school away from the disaster zone when things got out of hand. When, not if, because there was just no way they’d be able to stop the charge forever. It was already kind of impressive that they were holding up as well as they were, she’d admit.

Then again, not only did they have the power to slow them down. They also had numbers, much more than they usually would have. Normally, in such a situation, it’d be just them, at the frontline and with some other high level trainers behind them. Now though, there wasn’t quite that much of a divide, with Pierce and his slightly unaccounted for school of gyarados filling in the void inbetween.

Furthermore…

“Join or leave,” she heard, not with her ears but with her mind. Pierce’s words, after all, echoed in the pokemon around him, those that could hear him and even those that Sabrina was sure shouldn’t be able to. His words rippled like the water of a still pond after a rock was thrown in. Helper-Voice indeed. The Voice would be heard, understood, listened. It was impressive, she’d admit.

Just as impressive as the fact that Pierce’s school of pokemon was growing. There were even tentacruel and other pokemon in between the gyarados now. They heard him and then they fell into place. He was forming his own wave and Sabrina wondered if he even knew, because his mind seemed to be almost in a different place than where they all were.

It was silent, almost, which was something not even her pokemon could boast about. His mind was working through things like there was nothing else to do other than guiding the pokemon of his school and ordering those that were wild. He was…

He was one with them, Sabrina noticed. The pokemon around him weren’t quite as focused as the man himself was, but she noticed that the sharp concentration was bleeding onto them. Somehow, whatever Pierce was doing, with his gestures, with his voice, with his presence, was helping the school have a modicum of the control that – for example – her own pokemon had.

‘So very fascinating indeed,’ Sabrina thought, a slight smile tugging at her lips as she considered that before coordinating her pokemon a little more. And if she had some of her less equipped ones push the unconscious pokemon in the water towards Pierce and nudge their minds to wake them up… Well, it was working rather well, wasn’t it?

She wasn’t sure how Pierce was doing what he was, but that was not a time to consider that.

No, the important part was that Pierce was making things easier, however marginally, and it’d only get more and more useful if he could have more pokemon in his school.

So, Sabrina would give him a hand, just like he was giving them one.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Well, this is one of those moments in a story that just keeps on going, isn’t it? Then again, it’s a big event. Part of me wonders how I’d even top this off without a Legendary. I don’t think I can and part of me feels like it’s early for this kind of thing. Then again, it’s not like I did this on purpose. The Muse will do Muse things and I just gotta deal with it.

Here’s hoping I’m wrong.

And here’s hoping you enjoyed the chapter, of course.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What’s your zodiac sign? Mine is Aries.

See you.