Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

“Nina, I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!”

“It’s too cold for me to be dealing with your nonsense today, Justin.” Nina simply ignored the boy as she walked past him with her bento boxes in hand.

“Wait! Where are you going?” 

Nina held back a sigh, not wanting to waste her breath in this weather. It was November now and winter had fully descended onto the Vermilion Flame in the form of biting winds, on account of the school being located right next to the seaside.

The inner courtyard where Nina and her gang usually lunched at was now too unpleasant to eat in. Not to mention Kerry was away at Indigo Village at the moment, since the entirety of the Kantonian Joy Clan, including the apprentices, had to be mobilized to deal with the Indigo Conference’s preliminaries. Leaving only the minimal amount of staff necessary to operate all the local Pokemon Centers.

Nina was unwilling to eat without the warmth of her Pokemon or her closest school friend. So she decided to take her food and bring it back to her dorm room for consumption.

“I’m coming with.” Justin declared when Nina explained her intentions.

“Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s rude to follow a girl back to her room without permission?” Nina didn’t care of course, but it was funny to watch the awkward expression on the boy’s face.

“Come on,” she urged the now-hesitant Justin. “We’ll need to ask Mrs Phillipe for permission first. You’re a boy trying to sneak into the girls’ dorm afterall. We don’t want her siccing her Gengar on you.”

Mrs Phillipe was fine with Justin coming to Nina’s dorm room. By this point, she knew that Nina was mature enough to conduct herself with the proper decorum. And should Justin try anything untowards, Nina was more than capable of keeping her guest in line.

That said, the dorm mother still made sure to give the boy a stern glare and a series of severe warnings, punctuated by her writhing shadow, to send Justin reeling in fear.

The first thing that Nina did when she reached her abode was release her Pokemon and turn on the TV while Justin looked around curiously. As if the boy hadn’t seen the insides of the school’s dorm room before. To Nina’s knowledge, Justin’s room was pretty much a carbon copy of hers, but facing the main school building instead.

“Feel free to let out your Pokemon as well — except Carvanha. You haven’t fully tamed him yet, and I don’t want him chewing on my stuff,” said Nina. But she received no response as Justin was intently staring out into the ocean from her balcony for some reason.

“Oh come on, at least close the door first. You’re letting the wind in!” The girl chastised in annoyance.

“Don’t you feel it, Nina? The ocean’s crying…”

Nina frowned and went out to check on her classmate, only to find Justin’s eyes glazed over slightly as he continued staring intently at the distance. Nina followed the boy’s gaze and indeed, the ocean did seem to be in turmoil; turbulent waves crashed against the cliffside, winds howling like a grieving Arcanine, and skies so dark it might as well be nighttime.

She instinctively grabbed at her Mew Gem and felt it to be warmer than usual, almost to the point where it might be scalding to touch.

Nina dragged Justin back indoors and shut the balcony door before flipping through the TV until she reached the interregional news channel.

“— can see behind me, Ron. The view from Mossdeep City is looking quite dire as the Pokemon League is still unwilling to comment on the nature of this unusual storm. All we know is that the origins appear to be from the vicinity of Sootopolis, which still remains isolated from the Pokenet and beyond any communicable means…”

Just as the reporter said, the image being broadcasted in her background did look quite bleak, with hurricanes and water spouts linking the sea and the sky like writhing pillars of doom. Nina watched as a medium sized boat flipped over from the violent waves and what appeared to be a post box being unseated and tossed through the air from the fierce winds.

It was honestly quite impressive that the reporter was able to remain standing under such harrowing conditions.

“A blanket travel ban is in full effect, grounding all flights and prohibiting any and all forms of sea travel. Residents have been advised to stay indoors and call emergency services for any urgent matters instead of venturing out on their own…”

“What’s happening?” Justin asked, face full of concern, while Nina’s frown deepened. If she wasn’t mistaken, then Hoenn might be facing a world ending crisis right now from the misguided ambitions of Teams Aqua and Magma.

“Let’s see here…” Nina flicked open her Pokedex and checked on the public registry of Pokemon Trainers. “Brendan Birch and May Maple… There, right here. Registered last year and competed in the Ever Grande Conference this year.” Both of them lost but that's besides the point. It served as confirmation for Nina’s suspicions and meant that things were going to be alright.

She also looked up information on either Zinnia or Aster, but as expected of the secretive Draconid tribe, nothing came up in the public registry.

Nina sighed. “This is just the prelude. Things will be way worse down the line when the remnants of those fools try to awaken one of the Primals. That’s also when the meteorite will be arriving as well…”

“It’ll be fine, Jackson. No need to worry,” assuaged Nina, but Justin was too rattled to respond with his usual quip at the moment.

“Yeah, but what’s happening though?” Justin continued to ask in an anxious tone. Nina couldn’t blame him, his shonen protagonist senses must be tingling like crazy right now.

Nina tilted her head in consideration, thinking about how much she was willing to divulge. “Some terrorists are trying to end the world. But no worries, the Hoenn League should have the situation under control. There’s nothing we can do on our end anyways, so let’s just eat our lunch soon and get back to class.”

“How can you be so calm?!” The boy exclaimed. “The world is ending and you expect me to just go back to school?!”

Nina shrugged. “I mean what else do you wanna do? Rather, what else can you do? We’re completely helpless in the grand scheme of things. It’s not like we can just fly over there. And even if we could, we’d just be in the way of Steven Stone and his Elite Four. You know? The people who are actually strong enough to handle the situation.”

Justin still looked unconvinced so Nina pulled the boy to a chair and sat him down.

“Look, I know it’s frustrating,” the girl continued. “But we just need to have faith in our betters until we one day reach a position where we can solve these problems on our own.” Nina pressed down on Justin’s shoulders and looked the boy straight in his eyes.

“And mark my words, Justin. The world will need us to step up at some point in the future. Bad things will never stop happening. So long as we humans and our misguided ambitions exist, there will always be a crisis that needs solving.”

Nina pointed towards the TV screen currently showing one of Steven Stone’s Metagross teleporting into Mossdeep City and was now maintaining a citywide barrier to protect the populace from the errant weather.

“People like Steven Stone and Lance Blackthorn, their reigns won’t last. There’ll come a time where a new generation is expected to step up and take over.” Nina jabbed a finger at Justin’s chest. “And with how poorly new trainers are performing these days, it’s all the more important that people like us work harder to fill in the gaps.”

Justin stared intently at his friend with a fiery gaze before returning Nina’s words with a determined nod.

Nina smiled in response and ruffled the boy’s hair before gesturing towards their bento boxes. “Can’t become stronger if you and your Pokemon don’t eat. So let’s dig in already. I’ll even let Brucey spar with you after school. I’m curious to see how your Noibat performs in battle.”

With that, Justin released his Pokemon and the group sat around the sofa to follow the news as they ate. 

For a long time, nothing really happened on screen. Now that things have calmed down a little from the Hoenn League’s intervention, the news anchor was mostly just regurgitating known facts that they had already gone over earlier. 

The local League officials were keeping a tight lid on the amount of information they were releasing to prevent mass panic. But checking on the Pokenet, Nina could already see a whole bunch of wild rumours and speculations being spread en masse.

It was really funny how some of them were actually pretty close to the truth, but she knew for a fact that it was just baseless drivel conjured up in the imaginations of some troll on the Pokenet. In that sense, this facet of humanity was pretty consistent with Nina’s old world. A fact which the girl found to be equally as appalling.

***

Meanwhile, Lilian Blackthorn was sitting at the head of a conference table surrounded by League officials. The girl tapped at the table impatiently and glared at one of the officials. “Are those fools still refusing our help?” She snapped.

“I just came in here today for a meeting with some old fogies. How in the world did I get roped in to preside over such a major incident?!” Lilian mused.

The middle-aged official shrank a little at the girl’s overbearing demeanour. “Unfortunately so, Lady Blackthorn. The Hoenn League maintains that they have the situation under control.”

Lilian scowled and turned her gaze back onto the screen in front of her. The image was grainy and of extremely low fidelity, but she could still somewhat make out the silhouette of two titanic Pokemon facing off outside of Sootopolis. 

Powerful waves clashed against molten earth to send shockwaves through the drone that they had deployed to capture the footage, causing the feed to momentarily cut out before resuming again.

Lilian slammed a palm against the conference table. “Where in Distortion is our Champion?! And why aren’t any of the Elite Four here yet?”

In the midst of Lilian’s outburst, the conference room door slammed open to admit the imposing but nonchalant figure of Lance Blackthorn strutting in with his signature cape billowing behind him.

“Do not fret, Lily,” said the newcomer. Lance’s voice was as deep and authoritative as ever, possessing a quality that demanded one's respect and attention. “Hoenn’s new Champion is no slouch. Besides, the Accords are clear — the Draconids will not take kindly to our meddling in their affairs.”

Lance stood next to the seated Lilian and gazed down on her, earning him an annoyed growl as the girl vacated the leading seat for her uncle. In turn, Lilian then glared at the League official sitting directly to her right in an unspoken demand, which the man promptly complied by relinquishing his seat.

“This is an event that could reshape the entire world! How could they possibly expect for us to just standby and watch it happen?!” Lilian yelled.

But the girl’s voice was utterly ignored as Lance’s attention was fully immersed in the screen in front of him. “Groudon and Kyogre…” He muttered. “What I wouldn’t do to test my mettle against such Legends.” 

Even the Pokeball by Lance’s belt was trembling in excitement as the man ran a finger through it affectionately. “Yes, I know you’re eager as well my friend.” He whispered. “But that blasted Accord stands in our way. We have no choice but to wait patiently for our turn…”

To his right, Lilian was rolling her eyes in disdain at the sight of the hopeless battle maniac who was supposed to be their level-headed leader.

Not long after, a halo of light burst through the thick canopy of dark clouds to come between the cataclysmic conflict of the two Legendary Pokemon. As the weather cleared and calm was restored, the camera panned up to show the illuminating figure of Rayquaza descending onto the battlefield.

With a divine roar and a bright flash of light, the footage abruptly cut out as the drone was blown away by the shockwave of the Legendary Dragon’s overwhelming Hyper Beam.

Lilian sat speechless at the awe inspiring sight. As a member of a clan of Dragon Tamers, it was inevitable that the girl would feel a deep sense of reverence for the Emerald Sky Dragon who served as this world’s guardian. Even Lance had his eyes closed in silent prayer for Rayquaza’s benevolence.

“Well then, I guess the show’s over. But do send me the incident report once Hoenn gets around to it.” Lance ordered as he promptly left the conference room not long after he just arrived.

As usual, it would be up to the League officials and Lilian, as the clan’s representative in the Kanto region, to deal with all the tedious paperwork that followed after a near-apocalyptic event. This led Lilian to grit her teeth and once again renew her vow to wrest the mantle of champion from the irresponsible man-child that was her uncle.

“With Lance becoming increasingly distant and aloof these days, it’s no wonder the troublemakers in the League are stirring.” Lilian could only hope that Alfred’s investigation would bear fruit soon, now that he had the assistance of Purple Shadow to share some of the leg work. 

“Even the clan elders are starting to become restless. I’ll have to hurry up and produce results before they decide to groom a backup candidate.” Lilian frowned as she felt a deep sense of urgency welling within her, but quickly suppressed it by yelling at a League official who was being a little too chatty. 

“Haste makes waste, Lilian. Haste makes waste…” She chanted. It was a phrase that she heard Melina Jones recite at one point, and it was poignant enough that she had taken to using it during meditation.