Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Author's Note:

Double chapter release to celebrate Scribble Hub reaching 100k views!!!

I'll be honest with you guys, I actually wasn't planning on posting today due to aforementioned reasons. However, it seemed unfair to celebrate a milestone on RR but not here on SH.

That said, I likely won't be online and looking at any comments today. So I'll thank you now in advance for any kind comments that you leave down below.

Also, next chapter release will likely be on Sunday. But things should ease off after that and go back to normal, hopefully.

***

Nina cheered as she watched Kerry send out her Poliwag against an opponent Machop. The girl was actually quite the proficient battler, not by virtue of raw talent like Justin, but through sheer persistence and hard work.

The young Joy had been following the training regime that Nina previously set out for her like a religious doctrine. Which resulted in her Poliwag becoming quite strong by the standards of her species. As evident by the powerful Hydro Pump that Polly just unleashed upon her opponent.

Honestly, Polly was probably ready for Evolution. The tadpole Pokemon grew at an incredibly fast rate. But after hearing Nina espouse some of Bill’s theories on Pokemon Evolution, Kerry decided that she wanted to further shore up her Poliwag’s fundamentals a little before moving on to the next phase.

Preferably, Kerry wanted a few more wins under her belt before evolving Polly, which was one of the primary reasons why she took part in this casual tournament.

These sorts of friendly competition was common all throughout the Vermilion Flame. The school encouraged it as a form of extra-curricular activity and it served as an effective avenue for students to step out of their circle and engage their other peers in battle.

For the first time since she enrolled, Nina joined in on one of these tournaments with Brucey and Sir Clodington in tow. Children developed at an astounding pace, and by this point, most of her classmates were more than capable of giving her a challenge. So long as she didn’t break out Nairy or Espy. Those two were still very powerful, even by wider standards.

In fact, Nina had already been challenged several times since the start of the new school year, and Brucey had lost almost as much as he won, leading to a very sulky Golbat. Much to Nairy and Sir Clodington’s chagrin, since Brucey used pranks as an outlet for his frustrations.

Even Nina wasn’t unscathed, finding her shoes hanging from the balcony one day, and grabbing a bite from her snack drawer, only to find that the contents were swapped out for Pokechow.

It also didn’t help that her Golbat was making very slow progress in learning Kage Bunshin. He’d been stuck at only ten clones for months now, and his finer control wasn’t improving in any way.

So Nina decided to pivot. Learning Kage Bunshin would still be a long term goal of theirs, but for now, she was having Brucey focus more on his sound based attacks and his Poison which they had been underutilizing up to this point. 

She also began training Brucey on Confuse Ray since it was more efficient than Supersonic at causing Confusion, albeit less subtle. The hope was that combining the use of the two moves would make their harassment strategy more foolproof.

Nina was working really hard to shore up Brucey’s weaknesses. She planned on evolving him into a Crobat primarily through battles after all. But although they had a good understanding of each other’s intent by now, she was still struggling with Brucey to form that invisible bond she shared with Nairy.

It was hard to describe, but basically, Nina could largely extrapolate Brucey’s intent through observing his actions in battle, but she couldn’t feel it the same way that she could feel Nairy. This missing link irked her to no end, since she felt that it was an important aspect of Friendship Evolution, something that Professor Oak actually agreed with when she consulted him about it.

And speaking of Professor Oak, there was also the matter of Brucey’s emotional development — something which couldn’t really be rushed. It was especially difficult without any established precedence, since Nina had to figure out her own methods as she went along. That said, the good Professor had been very helpful with all his subtle hints and recommended resources on Pokemon Psychology.

“Kukuku…”

Nina reached out to caress the Golbat perched on her side to calm him down. She recognized that glint in Brucey’s eyes, it was the same look he had every time he was feeling mischievous.

In particular, he was eyeing the very obvious toupee her teacher was wearing as he refereed the ongoing match. It was likely that Brucey was feeling antsy at the lack of action. “It’ll be your turn soon, Brucey. Just take it easy alright, we’re looking to learn and improve, not win all the time.” The girl assuaged.

Nina cheered out once more as Kerry’s Poliwag tripped Machop with a Tail Whip and finished the match with a Body Slam. All the while, she kept a hand on Brucey to prevent him from flying off to do something that could get both of them in trouble.

***

Nina palmed the two Pokeball in her hands like stress balls, rotating them around and around in a rhythmic manner as she stepped onto the arena. Her opponent was a boy in the same year as her.

With a sleight of hand, Nina hid her Pokeballs behind her back and expanded one of them out of sight. The girl’s Pokeballs were distinctive and most of her peers recognized them by this point. Any student worth their salt would have done their research before stepping into the arena, a habit that the Vermilion Flame made sure to instill into their students early on.

Nina’s opponent frowned at the subterfuge before expanding his own bog standard Pokeball. This was all part of the pre-battle mind games that was standard in more equal settings, which was exactly what Nina wanted at the moment.

The moment that the referee signaled for the start of the match, Nina tossed out her Pokeball to reveal…

“Woop!”

A dark colored Paldean Wooper wearing a Dragon Scale earring took to the field with a determined look on his face, eager to impress his ‘liege’ who was watching on the bleachers with Espy and Kerry. His opponent was a Hitmonlee who emerged with a spirited cry and a flurry of blows to the air.

Nina held back her frown. This match was convenient and inconvenient at the same time. The upside being it would be pretty straightforward, and Sir Clodington wouldn’t have to deal with any environmental hazards or complicated setups — ideal for a new Pokemon still lacking in experience. The downside was that his opponent was a fully evolved Pokemon, which implied a certain disparity in strength.

However, there was no room for hesitation as the Fighting Type exploded into action right away without any input from its trainer, further indicating how well trained this Hitmonlee was.

“Sink, Clody!” Nina commanded in haste. There was no way that the derpy Sir Clodington could match up to his opponent’s speed, so the Wooper needed to make up for the difference with his signature maneuver.

“Woop!” The Wooper slammed his tail into the ground, causing it to undulate and soften, but couldn’t sink fast enough before he got hit with a Low Kick from the Hitmonlee. 

“Wooper!” Sir Clodington cried out in pain as he was sent tumbling, but his actions weren’t in vain as the Hitmonlee now found that its footing was compromised by the softened ground, one of his legs swallowed by the swampy earth.

“Get out of there, Jackie!” Nina’s opponent cried, eliciting an involuntary snort from the girl.

“Really? Naming a Hitmonlee Jackie?” She was well aware that this was a different world and the people here didn’t get the reference, but it didn’t make it any less funny to her.

“Snap out of it, Sir Clodington! Take the time to sink into the ground. Remember, Nairy’s watching.” Nina urged. The mention of the Dragonair motivated the Wooper enough to grit through the pain and force himself up, once again repeating the motion of slamming his tail on the ground to soften it before steadily sinking in.

“I should probably train him out of doing that to trigger his special Dig.” From what Nina could tell, the act of tail slamming was purely habit on Sir Clodington’s part, a visualization aid as opposed to a prerequisite. So long as the Wooper was in contact with the ground, he should logically be able to manipulate the Ground Type Energy necessary for that move.

Meanwhile, the ‘swampy’ ground that had trapped Hitmonlee was merely transient without Sir Clodington around to maintain it, so it quickly solidified and allowed the Fighting Type to crush the ground and force its feet out with an aggressive huff. But by that point, it was too late to stop Sir Clodington who was now freely ‘swimming’ around the arena.

Nina had found out that her Wooper couldn’t maintain his landshark mode for too long, a shortcoming that she was planning to address down the line. “I should go get a Sandstorm TM from Johnny as well.” It would help to further compound the elusiveness of her Wooper.

“Alright, Clody. Time to set up, like we discussed last time.”

The Wooper cried out in affirmative and began spraying Poisonous liquid everywhere, which solidified into tiny little Toxic Spikes in the air to lightly coat the arena. Nina was uncaring about the indiscriminate sabotage since Sir Clodington was unaffected by his own Poison and Brucey could fly.

Nina’s opponent scowled in annoyance and ordered his Hitmonlee to “Catch up to that squirt and kick its ass!”

Hitmonlee frowned and flexed its body, seemingly contracting and expanding its muscles in a violent fashion as it used Bulk Up to empower itself. “Lee!” The Pokemon let out a determined cry as it sprinted through the prickly Toxic Spikes, completely unheeding of its Poisoned state.

“Mud Shot at Hitmonlee’s legs, Clody. Let’s not make this easy on him.” The muddy projectiles will not only serve to weaken the kicking Pokemon, but also taint the ground and make it harder for Hitmonlee to establish proper footwork. And as all martial artists would say, footwork and poise was key to delivering a powerful blow.

The boy, whose name Nina completely missed earlier, frowned and told his Pokemon to forgo running and jump instead. Nina held back a curse, having neglected what formidable jumpers the species was. As evident by the Hitmonlee’s springlike limbs, which it compressed before propelling itself into the air.

“Dive deeper, Clody. Don’t let it reach you.” Sir Clodington complied by burrowing headfirst into the ground, but was too slow to submerge completely before getting kicked in the bum by Hitmonlee. The damage had been done, but it also helped to force the Wooper deeper underground, even trapping Hitmonlee’s foot once more.

Nina was compelled to tell her Pokemon to take the chance to retaliate, but knew that Sir Clodington couldn’t hear her while underground — another shortcoming that would need to be addressed in the future. So she could only hope that the battle savvy Wooper would be smart enough to follow up. Which he was, by leaping out of the fluid ground and slapping Hitmonlee with a Poison Tail.

“Poison Jab! Don’t let up!” On the way down, Sir Clodington deftly coated his ear fins with Poison Type Energy and scratched Hitmonlee’s wide torso. But not for free, since the Fighting Type gave up its struggle to free itself and opted to slam a knee into the descending Wooper instead.

Sir Clodington was sent flying, and for a moment there, Nina worried that her Wooper would faint as he struggled to force himself up. But a cry of concern from Nairy in the audience reinvigorated the poison fish Pokemon’s determination, prompting him to rise once more with a loud “Woop!”

“Try to sink back into the ground and focus on keeping your distance, Clody. Do not engage!” Nina’s plan was to keep stalling and wear the Hitmonlee out in due time. Sir Clodington fought through his exhaustion and complied weakly, but didn’t manage to get far before a violent Double Kick from his opponent knocked him out.

Nina let out a wry smile and returned Sir Clodington while whispering words of encouragement into his Pokeball. “You did good, Hitmonlee is on its last legs. A little more and you would have had it…” She murmured as she sent Brucey out to finish the job.

In the end, Nina did manage to beat the boy and the Machoke that he sent out afterwards. But proceeded to lose the subsequent match with a Rock Type specialist. Sir Clodington and his Poison didn’t manage to faze the sturdy Rock Pokemon very much, and Brucey only managed to take out a fledgeling Geodude before being defeated by its senior Graveler with a well-timed Rock Blast.

Nina didn’t mind the loss since she hadn't expected to win anyway. She only joined for the learning experience. However, she did regret the losing streak she had inadvertently inflicted on Sir Clodington. The girl was hoping for at least one win for the Wooper, which didn’t end up happening.