Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Sixteen schools and representatives from each five years. Yes, trainer schools only had five years of curriculum to account for the sabbatical that they afford their students as compared to the more standard six years of general schools and vocational schools.

Although, most trainer school kids tended to run off after their second or third year to undertake their conference run. A case like Charlie where he only took his sabbatical in his penultimate year was rare but not exactly unheard of either.

All in all, trainer school students were still in the minority, because until relatively recently, there just weren’t that many of them. Being enrolled in a trainer school was a sign of prestige and excellence. Though some of the more traditional conservatives also decry it as cowardice, because it was originally meant for scions of the rich and wealthy to dodge military duty during the war.

Things were starting to change though. With the emergence of new generation trainer schools and the prevalence of peace. Parents were now starting to prefer trainer schools as opposed to throwing their ten-year olds into the wilderness immediately after they came of age. Justin was a good example of that, even though he ran off after he did the barest of minimums to appease his mother.

So for the restricted tournament on the second day of the meet, it would be 16 participants of each year facing off against each other in four rounds of single elimination until a winner was crowned. Matches would be two on two for the sake of expediency and to account for anyone who still only had two Pokemon for whatever reason.

In the case of Nina, she wanted to give her newer Pokemon a shot at some experience while still keeping her promise of “preserving the prestige of her school” by winning the whole thing. So she did what Beverly did in her conference preliminaries and paired a less experienced Pokemon with an ace. In this case, it would be Brucey/Espy and Sir Clodington/Nairy. Mostly out of personal chemistry more than anything.

Her first opponent though was tricky; a representative of the Kanto Military Academy, who were hyper competitive and possessed a deep disdain for the Vermilion Flame, which many considered to be the region’s number one training school.

Nina sighed as she stepped up to the arena platform in her maroon school jersey. The other girl though, was wearing a severe look on her face and full on military garb. The girl held a Pokeball in her hand on full display — green top etched with a silver chrysanthemum, a standard issue Ball among the military.

Nina smiled. “No wonder she looks like she wants to strangle me. Girl’s a career soldier, probably from one of the legacy military families as well.” She mused. That and the fact that Nina was a Gym trainer working under one of the great Kantonian clans and studying in VF. 

From the other girl’s perspective, Nina was not only a rival, but also a political pariah. So it was likely that she would be desperate to win this just to prove a point to her sponsors.

“Change of plans, sorry Brucey.” Nina muttered a silent apology to Brucey in her mind and shifted her Pokeballs around with a sleight of hand. She didn’t mind losing, but only if it didn’t affect her sponsors’ prestige. And in this case, there was too much at stake for her to play around.

At the call of the referee, both trainers threw out their Pokeballs simultaneously, revealing their first picks. And when Nina caught a glimpse of her opponent’s Pokemon, the girl had to hold back a squeal. Because what appeared on the opposite end of the arena was a Nidoking, one of Nina’s all time favorites. 

“Dammit! If not for all these inane politics, I could go and make friends with the girl and ask to pet her Nidoking!” Nina cursed. Meanwhile, her first choice of Pokemon was the stoic looking Espy, whose silver collar was already gleaming a menacing light in preparation for the match.

“Nidokiiiing!!!” The regal Poison Pokemon roared with maximum aggression as it stomped its feet on the ground and glared at his puny opponent.

“This match will be between Tanya of Pewter, representing the great Kanto Military Academy and the great Morimoto family…” The word ‘great’ was said with a great deal of sass from the referee's part, likely an unreasonable imposition thrust upon him. “And Nina of Cerulean, representing the Vermilion Flame, the Laboratory of Professor Bill, Professor Oak, and the Cerulean Gym.”

A tense silence fell onto the arena at the end of the introductions as both sides waited for the countdown. The soldier girl leveled a poisonous glare at Nina, but she simply ignored her and continued conversing with Espy in her head. 

As the seconds ticked by, the referee finally spoke. “3… 2… 1… And, begin!” He called.

At the start of the match, both Pokemon sprung into action completely unprompted. Nidoking roared and stomped his foot onto the ground to invoke a Sandstorm. But the moment that he did, the cloud of sand was immediately suppressed by an oppressive Psychic aura that descended upon the entire arena.

Gravity — but despite the name of the move, it had little to do with the manipulation of the natural phenomenon. Instead, the principles involved blanketing a space with an all encompassing Psychic aura and using it to weigh down on the occupants through sheer force of will.

“Nido... Nidoking!” Espy’s opponent buckled ever so slightly under pressure, but cried out in defiance and righted himself with pure brute force.

Tanya the soldier girl frowned and called for an Earthquake, prompting Espy’s Gravity to falter as she jumped onto a Psychic platform she created in the air. 

“Blizzard, Nidoking!” Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, Nidoking set up his next move by summoning a raging snowstorm onto the field. All the while, he was also trying to subtly inflict Taunt and Torment onto Espy, a pointless endeavour given Espy’s overwhelming Calm Mind enhanced willpower. 

Nina laughed, she had nearly forgotten how versatile Nidoking was as a species. The Pokemon probably had access to more Type Energy variety than your average Dragon Type. In fact, she distinctly recalled teaching her Nidoking Surf in the Pokemon games of her past life. “How the heck would that move even work in the real world?”

Nina’s musings were interrupted by a nagging sense of irritation over her Psychic connection with Espy. The Espeon was not happy about having to deal with environmental hazards and constant mental assaults at the same time. The solution? Get rid of one of them.

With that thought, Espy’s forehead jewel gleamed as she shot a beam of light into the ceiling, completely dispelling the snow clouds and replacing it with Sunny Day, a move she learned directly from Nairy.

But Nidoking persisted, refusing to let go of the battle’s initiative. Strands of shadow rose from his silhouette and converged into a Shadow Ball around his mouth. Then, with a silent roar, blasted the Ghostly projectile towards Espy, one after another.

Espy clicked her tongue in annoyance as she deftly avoided one shadowy bolt after another. All the while, the Nidoking was inching closer and closer to melee range, taking a step with each Shadow Bolt he unleashed.

“Don’t bother evading, Espy. Those bolts are weak, just block ‘em and begin retaliating. Nidokings are weak to Psychic.” Nina relayed over their mental link, prompting Espy to instantly shift gears as she laid down a barrier and attacked Nidoking’s mind directly with Confusion.

“Kiiing!” Nidoking cried out in pain and halted in his steps, allowing Espy the leeway to shoot a Light Screen empowered Psybeam at the purple Pokemon’s head, further compounding the damage.

“Dammit! Earth Power, Nidoking! Hold nothing back!” With a pain filled roar, the whole arena began to quake as Nidoking heaved and slammed the full weight of his Ground Energy infused body onto the arena floor. But just before the moment of impact, a Psybeam appeared out of nowhere from the ground and struck him once more in the head, completely countering the move and silencing the regal Pokemon.

Future Sight — Espy had foreseen this pivotal moment of the match and laid down a trap beforehand, just waiting to be triggered at the right time. The Nidoking’s forceful momentum, compounded by the counter of a powerful Psybeam resulted in his demise.

Tanya the soldier girl froze on her platform, eyes wide with shock and disbelief at the abrupt development. Not stirring until the referee finished his countdown and declared Nidoking the loser.

Nina’s opponent ground her teeth in frustration while she recalled her Nidoking, glaring daggers at Nina all the while. However, Nina just returned the vitriol with a wry smile. It wasn’t like she had a personal vendetta against the girl. And one couldn’t choose the circumstances of their upbringing.

Once she was done fuming, Tanya finally summoned her next Pokemon, who emerged with an imposing Howl, one so fearsome that Nina could even feel Espy wavering in her mind.

“Now I really wanna make friends with her!” Nina lamented. Because Espy’s next opponent was an Arcanine with the most majestically fluffy fur she had ever seen. Even Espy was feeling a little envious at the legendary canine’s billowing tail and luscious mane. “I wonder what product that Arcanine uses?” Both trainer and Pokemon thought at the same time.

However, those wayward thoughts were quickly interrupted when the referee called for a resumption of battle.

Nina meant to ask Espy to cancel her Sunny Day, but before she could even form a single coherent thought, Arcanine disappeared in a flash and collided into Espy with Extreme Speed. No amount of foresight and instinct could spare her if she couldn’t react in time.

“Trick Room, Espy! Create a maze!” Nina called, she was in too frantic a state for mental communication. Anything she tried to relay to Espy at this point would be tainted with noise and only cause confusion.

“Es!” Espy cried out in affirmation and attempted to oblige, but was once again tossed into the air by another Extreme Speed.

“Return!” Seeing that Dark Type Energy had begun to coalesce in Arcanine’s gaping maw, waiting on Espy’s landing, Nina immediately withdrew her princess to avoid her coming into further harm. Tanya glared from being rug pulled, but Nina did not care. The wellbeing of her beloved Pokemon was more important than her pride.

“Thanks, Espy. You did great…” Nina whispered, before hardening her gaze and expanding her next Pokeball, one decorated with stickers of stars and a Dragon’s head. “It’s your turn, Nairy. I choose you!” She yelled.

The moment that the serpentine Dragon emerged, the artificial sun dotting the ceiling faded, replaced by coalescing rain clouds as Nairy’s orbs shone in fury. No one hurts his beloved family and gets away with it.

The audience erupted into cheers. It wasn’t often that one got to witness a clash between two pseudo legendaries in person.

The crackling of thunder and the first drop of rain marked the start of the battle as Arcanine once again disappeared in a flash, colliding with Nairy, but not without cost, as the Dragonair erupted into a Thunder Wave almost immediately, shocking the Arcanine and effectively sealing the reliability of its Extreme Speed with Paralysis.

“No mercy, Nairy!”

“Nair!!!” Nairy forced himself up and fought through the pain of impact, crying out in determination as he broke into a dance, suffusing his entire body with Water Type Energy and a fierce Draconic aura. All the while, every drop of moisture was extracted from the air to form an imposing wave around him.

Tanya the soldier girl gawked at the sight and yelled at her Arcanine to push through the Paralysis. “Flare Blitz and Extreme Speed, Hachiko! Fight your way through to the other side!”

“Awooo!!!” Arcanine howled, his mane bursting into golden white flames. Flames hot enough to immediately evaporate the droplets of water all around him.

The members of the audience sat at the edge of their seats, heart pounding in anticipation at the epic scene before them — an arena dominated by raging Fire on one side and an imposing storm on the other.

“Drop it, Nairy.” And with Nina’s chilling call, the gargantuan wave fell, prompting the Arcanine to burst into action, water erupted into steam with a violent hiss the moment that the flaming canine clashed with the heavy waves.

The arena flooded, waves churned and bubbled as vapours rose from the superheated water. On the other end of the arena, Tanya clenched her fists in anxious anticipation, fully cognizant of the fact that her Arcanine needed to take the Dragonair out in a single hit or risk losing in the flooded terrain.

Nina furrowed her brows in anticipation as well, but she had absolute faith in her partner. She could tell from their shared connection that Nairy was still active, which meant that this match was all but won.

And sure enough, after a bright flash of light escaped the water’s surface, an unconscious Arcanine floated into sight while a singed and haggard looking Nairy emerged with a nasty looking Bite mark on his neck.

“Nair!!!” Nairy cheered out in triumph, signaling an end to Nina’s first round of the tournament.