Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Author's Note:

I completely neglected the fact that today was Good Friday. Anyways, Happy Easter for anyone that celebrates it. I don't have any chocolates to give so here's a chapter release.

***

A gentle spring breeze rustled Nina’s hair, carrying with it the scent of grass and dew. The girl held a finger down to maintain the capriciously fluttering page of the book she was reading while she gazed out at the field of wildflowers in the Vermilion Flame’s garden.

A gentle smile bloomed on Nina’s face as she caught sight of her Pokemon playing with some of the Grass Types that other students released onto the field. The only exception was Espy, who preferred to lay by her human’s side.

“Nina! Nina! Guess what?”

Nina pried her eyes away from the textbook she was studying to look up at her eager, pink-haired friend. “What?” said the girl in return.

Kerry’s grin deepened and morphed into a haughty smirk. “You know how you sometimes talk about wanting a Shinx?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Guess who just got permission to catch one~?” said the smug girl, in a cheerful, melodic tone.

Nina gaped in stunned silence, before bursting out in surprise. “What? How? That’s not fair, I wanted a Shinx too!” Not that she could catch one at the moment, but it was one of the Pokemon on her list.

Kerry continued on with her smug tone. “Heh. I had my mom pull some strings for me. Not even Surge could resist a senior Joy!” She bragged as she produced a capture permit for Nina’s perusal.

“Aww man…” Nina whined, but quickly broke out into a genuine smile to congratulate her friend. “But congrats, it’s about time you got your third Pokemon. Do you want any help or are you planning to do this solo?” Nina might not be able to capture a Shinx, but nothing’s stopping her from tagging along to play with the cute little lion cubs!

Kerry laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm. “I knew you’d want to come along, that’s why I’m here. Wanna go play with some baby Shinx with me this weekend?”

Nina nodded vigorously in agreement. Given that the local Rangers had designated the Shinx pride as a protected species, not a lot of people knew where their location was. There were sightings from time to time, but it was all hearsay with little substance. So this was a rare opportunity to interact with the pride without getting in trouble with the authorities.

“The only thing is that the Rangers assigned a guide to keep an eye on us.” Kerry continued. “But it’s someone I know and he’s actually a great guy, so don’t worry about him being a wet blanket or anything.”

Nina replied in understanding. “Yeah, no worries. I can see where the Rangers are coming from. And any friend of yours is a friend of mine too. Is there anything else I need to prepare?”

“Nope, it’ll just be a quick day trip. Just bring loads and loads of Berries for the Shinxes.” Kerry also mentioned that any meat products were welcomed too, but not strictly necessary. That last part was mostly said for the benefit of the pescetarian Nina, since the young Joy didn’t want to force her friend to do anything that might make her uncomfortable.

And with that, their plans for the weekend were settled.

***

“Hey, Ohm! Thanks for guiding us today!”

The guy that Kerry greeted was a boy in his late teens, with a look that seemed oddly familiar to Nina; mid fade, spiky blonde hair, well built figure dressed in full camo Ranger garb, with chiseled caucasian features and a sharp nose.

“No worries,” said their guide. “Anything for little Kerry.” He added as he reached out to give Kerry a gentle pat on the head, like that of an older sibling. But Kerry seemed to shrink a little and blush at the contact while giving the guy a doe-eyed look.

Nina raised an eyebrow at her friend as if to say; “Really, that’s your type?” Her friend must have read her perfectly because Kerry puffed her cheeks up in defiance and glared at her.

“You must be Kerry’s friend? I’m Ohm, nice to meet you.” The Ranger said as he extended a hand to Nina, which the girl reciprocated with a firm shake.

“Hi, I’m Nina. Thanks for guiding us today.” Nina replied. “And say, you look familiar. Have we met before?”

Ohm let out a wry smile at Nina’s probing. “Nope, but Kerry tells me you’re from the Cerulean Gym, so you probably know my dad, Lieutenant Surge?”

Nina’s mouth gaped in realization, thinking that the family resemblance was uncanny. The boy did indeed look like a younger Surge, except with a much more amicable face than the perpetually cocky grin of his father. 

The girl laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, you must get that a lot huh?” She said, sheepishly. But inside she was thinking; “Really, Surge? You named your kid Ohm? What kind of name is that?!”

Ohm chuckled and just waved off her concern. “Tell me about it. Anyways, the place we’re going to is quite a ways from here, do any of you have a Rider or a Flyer?” Both girls shook their heads in response. “No worries, both of you are small enough that you can probably all ride with me.” He said as he threw out a Pokeball to unveil an imposing looking Manectric.

Nina’s eyes sparkled at the Pokemon before here. “Is this a Manectric with the giant’s gene?” She asked. The last Manectric she encountered was Lucy’s, but Ohm’s Manectric was almost double the size and could fit all three of them on its back easily.

Ohm smiled and reached up to caress his partner’s snout. “Yup, Thor here is a Coming of Age gift from my dad. Apparently he got the egg from an auction, but I didn’t care to learn the details.” The boy’s smile faltered somewhat at the mention of an auction. Nina presumed that as a Ranger, he probably disapproved of such practice. A sentiment that the girl was inclined to agree with.

“Have you tried tracking down his mother?” Nina asked. “I doubt there’s many Manectrics out there with the giant’s gene.”

Ohm shook his head in denial. “Be that as it may, a giant isn’t guaranteed to give birth to other giants and vice versa.” Meaning, there was no guarantee that Thor’s parents had gigantism either. “Besides, it’s not like it’ll matter after so many years. I doubt Thor’s parents would even recognize him.” He continued, with a tinge of melancholy in his voice.

Nina nodded in understanding and reached out to brush her hands against the Manectric as well. The Electric wolf’s fur had an almost coarse, bristle-like texture to it, and if Nina was less careful about her touch, the added friction was liable to incite strong sparks of electricity and shock her.

In the meantime, Ohm had taken out a supersized saddle and hoisted it on top of his Manectric before inviting the girls to climb aboard. Nina, being the good wingwoman that she was, got up first and sat at the very front, that way Kerry would be sandwiched between her and Ohm. “You’re welcome, Kerr.” The mischievous girl gave her blushing friend a cheeky smirk.

“Hold on tight, this might get a little rough.” Ohm firmly placed both of Nina’s hands on a little nub at the front of the saddle, while the Ranger himself held on to the edge of the leather, with a red-faced Kerry secured tightly between them. 

Before Nina could quip about how rough it could get, the Manectric burst forth in a stream of light, not even giving the girls a chance to scream.

***

Nina groaned and begrudgingly picked at all the leaves, sticks and debris that had stuck to her hair. 

The journey over was rough, as Ohm warned. It was all a blur to Nina, due to the ludicrous speed that Thor was running at. All she knew was that at some point, the Manectric had left the main route and was barreling through bushes and jumping above tree tops. Neither Nina nor Kerry could even scream in the midst of that high speed roller coaster ride amidst their tightly clenched teeth

“Haha! Told you!” Ohm laughed exuberantly, earning him a glare from Nina. 

The girl suspected that his action was a deliberate attempt to obscure their way to the Shinx pride, that way the girls could not retrace their steps. “I mean surely it’s not because he’s just an inconsiderate speedster right? Surely not. Surely, he just overlooked the fact that we can just check our Pokedexes to track our location. Yup, let’s go with that. Silly Ohm.”

Ohm had to help Nina dismount from his Manectric because she was frozen from fear. Kerry was absolutely fine since her thoughts were preoccupied with other matters during the ride over. It also helped that Nina was in front of her to block the worst of the debris.

“You could have given more of a warning!” Nina chided as she got off the Manectric. “That way I could have wrapped me and Kerry’s head up before we zoomed off.”

Ohm let out a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “Sorry…” He murmured.

“It’s okay, I’m alright. And that was really exhilarating.” Kerry said, earning her a wild eyed glare from Nina. Combined with her disheveled and dirtied hair, Kerry’s friend looked like she had just gone through a particularly rough trek in the forest.

Kerry, feeling a little guilty about her earlier remark, offered to help Nina tidy up before they continued walking the rest of the way. Ohm didn’t want to intrude too abruptly and alarm the Luxray guarding his pride, so he only brought them to the periphery of their territory. It was also for this same reason that he recalled his gargantuan Manectric and summoned a Raichu in his stead.

“Raichu will guide us. But be on alert, okay? The two of you should stick together and stay a few steps behind me.” Ohm instructed as he wade through the untamed forest.

“Should I release one of my Pokemon as well?” Nina asked, Espy would be ideal in this scenario. But Ohm simply shook his head in response.

“No, we want to avoid alarming them, so best we don’t mix in any unfamiliar Pokemon for now.” He said, to which Nina nodded in understanding and got close to Kerry like she was told. Her friend wanted to hold hands, but was denied because Nina worried that she might need both her hands free in an emergency. One of those hands was constantly hovering above her Pokeballs in preparation.

They continued on, but surprisingly, Ohm was not opposed to chatting, despite his caution. The Ranger explained that it helped announce their presence. “Only poachers stalk around suspiciously.” He said.

“So Ohm, are you not a Gym trainer?” Nina asked, to which the guy simply shrugged in return.

“I am, but part-time. The old man wanted me to join the military and do a bit of time before coming back to take over, but I opted to join the Rangers instead.”

Nina laughed, trying to imagine how that conversation went. “Not a fan of Surge and his methods? I get you, my grandma used to be a drill sergeant in Pewter City and she can be a little heavy handed at times.”

“Urgh… Heavy handed doesn’t even cut it…”

The trio continued chatting while maintaining a healthy degree of vigilance, until Ohm announced that they were near. “Alright, it’s just across those bushes. Stay here while I — Get down!” Ohm yelled as soon as he noticed a change in the air, but before he could act on his own warning, a bolt of Thunder descended from the air and struck the Ranger.

Kerry screamed in terror while the disbelieving Nina acted on her instincts and began dragging her friend as far away as possible from the incapacitated Ranger. Meanwhile, Raichu cried in outrage as she hurriedly imbued her tail with Steel Type Energy and raised it towards the air as a lightning rod to divert any follow up attacks away from her fallen trainer.

“No! Ohm! We have to go back and get him!” Kerry screeched. But Nina was having none of it as she struggled against the girl to get her to safety.

“Dammit! What the heck is going on!” Nina exclaimed.