Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Author's Note:

In all honesty, I was planning on doing a thing where I announced the cancellation of the public release of the story and moving exclusively to Patreon as an April Fools joke. But then I realised that people can be a little oblivious sometimes and some of y'all mighty actually take it too seriously, not recognizing that it's a joke. Haha.

Also, April Fools is dumb anyway and I didn't have the time to write a joke chapter.

***

“Naaaaaiiir!!!”

Nina laughed at her Dragonair who was sticking his head out of the moving jeep like an overly excited doggo.

It was Nairy’s first time on an open back motor vehicle. And this was necessary because the 4.5 meter long Draconic serpent was too big to fit in the Fly Baskets they used here in the Safari Zone. But it was fine, since most of their route was through unobstructed grassy plains anyway.

That was, until they finally reached the border of a forest where Masayuki instructed his passengers to disembark.

“So somewhere in that forest is a hidden cave that leads to Nairy’s childhood home?” It was unfortunate that Nina and Nairy were now too big to fit in the underwater cavern that the girl went through to get to the nest last time. So they had to take an alternative route.

Masayuki nodded. “Yup, you’ve done a good job of it so far. So I don’t think I need to say this. But try to keep it a secret, yeah? For the sake of your partner’s family.”

“Of course.” Nina promised, as they began trekking through the snow covered pine trees.

“Nairy nair nair~ Nairy nairy~ Nairy nair nair~” 

Nina giggled and gently stroked her Dragonair who was happily singing as they were going through the forests. She could tell that her partner was very excited to finally be back home. It was a shame that there weren’t many Pokemon around them, with most of them either hibernating or too afraid to approach the jovial Dragon.

In fact, the forest felt more eerily silent than usual. With the only sounds being the crunching of snow as the trio went along.

“I’ve always wondered. Victoria’s brood shouldn’t be the only one in the Safari Zone right.”

Masayuki grinned. “That’s right. Otherwise where would she find her mates from? Although the other nests are deep in the danger zones and far too inaccessible for your common tourists.”

“So how do you deal with the excess population then? Victoria’s nest probably doesn’t have enough space for all her grown up children, and I doubt there’s enough resources around to support too many Dragon’s nests.”

“Heh, how else do you think we’re able to trade for Galarian Ponytas?” Masayuki said, but quickly elaborated further when he noticed Nina frowning at him. “It’s a bit more complicated than what you’re thinking of.”

He explained that they deal with the extra Dratinis differently depending on their respective temperament. Some of the more combative ones were sent to the Blackthorns in their Dragon sanctuary for training to become potential battlers. Others who were more adventurous might get involved in their exchange programs with other regional sanctuaries. Then there were the ones who encountered suitable trainers and chose to be caught, of course.

“Whatever we do, we do so with the permission of their parents. And in truth, broodmothers like Victoria are actually quite thankful to be rid of their more mature children. So even if we didn’t take them, they’d be kicked out of the nest anyways. Which, as you can imagine, might end up disrupting the local ecosystem. Not a lot of natural predators for Dragons around these parts.”

“What about the Accord between the Dragon Tamer clans?” Nina asked. “Doesn’t the casual relocation of the Kantonian Dragon population go against that?”

Masayuki whistled and gave Nina an impressed look. “I’m surprised you even know about that. But then again, I s'pose you do have a Pokedex now, huh?”

Nina smiled but didn’t bother to correct the man on his misunderstanding. Such high level information was not available at her access level, but it’s not like it would matter much anyway. She wasn’t a Blackthorn and had no intentions of becoming a specialist Dragon Tamer.

“To answer your question, Dratinis can be found all over the world. They’re just rarer than most other Dragons due to how passive they are. Which means they can’t compete with the more aggressive species. That’s why they’re valuable even to the nature reserves of other regions. In fact, Kanto and Johto probably have the highest population of the Dragonite line in the entire world due to our lack of competing Dragon species.”

He also explained that the only region the Indigo Safari Zone can’t trade with was Alola. Since the independent isles didn’t have any of the Dragonite line. “A shame really, Alola probably has the most diverse Dragon population in the entire world.” Which was probably the issue, since the islands did not have enough space for non-combative Dragons to thrive.

Nina nodded in understanding, whilst recording the conversation in her Pokedex all the while. “Does that mean there might be Dragonite flying around in the Safari Zone somewhere? Why have there not been any reported sightings? I would think that a big orange Dragon flying at the speed of sound would be quite noticeable, even from here.”

Masayuki chuckled. “Nope, not a single one. I mean if you could fly anywhere you want in this world, would you really wanna limit yourself to this little patch of earth? Or at least that’s what we think is going on. In truth, we don’t really know if any of the local Dragonairs have ever evolved that far. There’s been no observations, and it’s not like we can keep a constant eye on every single one of them either.”

“Nair!” Their conversation was interrupted by Nairy crying out and dashing ahead of the two humans while excitedly looking around.

“Do you recognize this place, Nairy?” Nina asked, to which the Dragon turned his head around and nodded eagerly at his partner.

Masayuki laughed. “Yeah, this one probably snuck out on his own all the time. They usually don’t stray too far from the cave.”

“Nairy was a curious little boy when I first met him. He’s gotten a lot calmer these days though.” Nina remarked.

With Nairy leading the way, they eventually found their way to a hidden crevice nestled in the ground and underneath a large boulder. With how overgrown the vegetation surrounding the area was, it was no wonder that tourists had yet to discover it.

“Yup, this is it.” Masayuki confirmed as the Safari Ranger set about tying a rope to a nearby tree. “Gotta be careful here cause it’s a bit of a slippery slope. ‘Specially in this weather.”

Nina nodded and held on to the section of the rope that was passed to her. The entrance into the underground tunnels was as perilous as Masayuki warned about. It’s a good thing that the senior Ranger made sure they came prepared, with miners’ hats and thigh high rubber boots to deal with the damp and mildly waterlogged environment.

“I doubt we need to worry since we have Noodles with us. But the Zubats around these parts are fairly aggressive since they’re not used to humans. If they swarm in, make sure not to panic to avoid slipping. It’d be bad if you hit your head on a rock or something.” Masayuki advised. “Trying to rescue someone from a narrow cave like this is a real hassle.”

Nina hummed at the mention of Zubats, wishing she had Brucey with her. It was precisely these types of exploration that made her want to catch one of the species to begin with.

Fortunately, Nairy was very familiar with the space and served as an effective guide. And whenever any of the local Pokemon got too riled up because they inadvertently disturbed their sleep, an intimidating growl from Nairy was enough to deter them.

After another fifteen to twenty minutes of steady walking, and a couple of close calls with some deceptively deep puddles, Nairy began crying out in excitement and raced ahead.

“Nairy, slow down!” Nina called as she and Masayuki tried their best to keep up without falling.

When the humans eventually caught up, they witnessed two Dragonairs facing off against each other, one with a scrutinizing gaze and the other with pleading hopefulness. In the background, there was a tangled heap of Dratinis who were looking apprehensively in their direction.

“Nair, nairy nair. Dragonair!” Nairy gestured animatedly to his mother.

“Dra…” Victoria, warily approached the unfamiliar Dragon, sniffing at him all the while. “Dragon… Air?”

“Dra, nair!” Nairy fervently nodded his head, tears welling up all the while.

Victoria’s eyes widened in realisation as she looked back and forth between her son and Nina. “Nair, nairy. Dragonair!”

And with that, the two Dragons intertwined with each other in a tearful reunion and initiated a Dragon Dance with a beautiful duet. 

Rhythmic howls and melodic moans suffused the cave interior, enticing the other Dratinis to approach and join in the celebration with their own simplistic sways and juvenile hums in place of the more complex Dragon Dance. All of it coming together to form a unique rhapsody of Draconic voices.

“Well, I’ll be…” Masayuki whispered, awestruck by the display. “Ain’t everyday you get to see a grand sight like this. Glad I tagged along today.”

Nina nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks, her emotions synchronizing with Nairy’s and face shifting to match the same exuberant expression of her partner.

Once the Dragons settled down, Nairy cried out and returned to push Nina towards Victoria, wanting to properly introduce his partner to his mother. Which Nina conceded by doing a much more refined curtsy than she gave all those years ago, now that she had a much more dextrous and athletic body.

“It’s good to see you again, Victoria. Thank you once again for allowing Nairy to come with me back then. I hope his growth meets your expectations.”

“Nair,” affirmed the regal Dragon as she gently touched her snout against Nina’s forehead.

Nina then reached into her backpack and pulled out a whole sack of Berries that she bought just for this occasion. “Unlike last time, I made sure to bring enough Berries for you and the whole nest this time. I hope you will accept my offering.

Victoria nodded in approval and called out to the rest of her children, who all cheered out in excitement at the prospect of receiving treats.

If there was one thing that was comparable to being buried in a heap of furry Eevees, it was being buried in a heap of slippery Dratinis. The cooling sensation of the baby Dragons slithering all over Nina and the little nibbles as they ate Berries off her body elicited endless giggles from the girl.

Nina reached out randomly and pulled in one of the scaly noodles to cuddle with them, at the same time remarking about how much she missed being able to hold onto a Dratini like this. “Nairy’s too big for me to scoop him up like this anymore. These days, whenever I go in for a hug, he just wraps me up and won’t let me move.”

“Nair!” Nairy cried, seeming a little offended by Nina’s words, before returning his attention back to Victoria. The Dragonair was regaling his mother with tales of his adventures and vividly describing all the strange and remarkable sights he had seen during the course of his long journey.

There were also a handful of Dratinis that were with him and listening in with rapturous attention. Probably fantasizing about going on a journey of their own someday. Nina could only hope that they find trainers worthy of them. But maybe the Safari Rangers could help to facilitate that. She made a mental note to talk to Masayuki about it later on.

Speaking of the old Ranger, the man was content to just observe by the sidelines. All the while, wearing a genial smile on his face.

Nine felt a little bad because they ended up spending the entire day there. Nairy was reluctant to leave so soon and Nina did not have the heart to pull him away. In the end, it was Masayuki who had to remind them of the approaching dusk that they finally left. He even promised Nairy that he was free to come back anytime he wanted.

“You’ll have to inform us beforehand instead of just randomly showing up. But there shouldn’t be any problems with making a little exception for one of our own.”

“Thanks, Mr Masa!”

“Nair!”