Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

“So you’re heading off then, Justin?”

“Yup!”

True to his word, Nina’s classmate was going to take a break from school and head out on his journey. So they were now having a little farewell party for him.

“But before I go…”

Nina chuckled wryly. “I know, you want a battle right?”

Justin grinned at his rival before flashing the girl a ridiculous pose with a big thumbs up.

Nina laughed in spite of herself. “I hate to say this, J. But I think I might miss having you around a little.”

“Heh. I’ll see you again at the top, when you come and challenge me for the mantle of Champion.” The boy boasted.

Nina shook her head in exasperation. “You’ll have to beat me first if you even want a chance at reaching Lilian, let alone Lance. Speaking of, do you mind reffing us, Lilian?”

The Blackthorn girl nodded in amusement, eager to see the beat down that was about to occur. While Kerry-Anne stood by for medical duties. They had rented out a Battle Cafe for the party, courtesy of Lilian’s generosity, so all Nina and Justin had to do was step into the central arena.

“I really don’t get why the boys in this world are so obsessed with Battle Cafes. The food is shit and all they have going for them is the gimmick. Am I just old now? Was Miles like this as well when he was younger?”

The audience cheered, mostly consisting of Justin’s other friends from school, majority of whom Nina never had much interaction with outside of battles.

As usual, Nina sent out Brucey to start her off, since she felt Sir Clodington wasn’t ready for debut yet. While Justin chose his Scyther, who was eager for a rematch with the Golbat.

“Let’s go, Scyther! Let’s show ‘em the fruits of your training!” Justin yelled, with a determined look on his face.

“Kukuku…” Brucey laughed at the boy’s confidence and began his usual juking maneuvers.

“You know what to do, Scyther!”

“Scy…” The Scyther hissed as he compressed his powerful quadriceps and leapt into the air in a barely perceptible blur.

Brucey yelped in surprise and barely dodged out of the way as the Bug Type grazed past him.

“Keep your guard up, Brucey,” Nina warned. “Scyther’s not the same as when you first fought him last year.”

Meanwhile, the mantis Pokemon’s wings fluttered to arrest the momentum of his Quick Attack, and at the same time, taking advantage of the counter inertia to serve as a cushion for Scyther to launch into another Quick Attack, much to Brucey’s chagrin.

Nina nodded in approval. Scyther wasn’t as fast as Espy just yet, but she could tell that Justin and his Pokemon had found their own solution to the technique that they learned from her.

Brucey attempted to use Supersonic and Screech to interrupt his opponent’s barrage, but Scyther was simply too fast for him to nail down. At some point, the assault became too overwhelming for the Golbat to bear as Scyther eventually sliced into him with his sharp mantis blades.

“Hmm… This might be something that I need to work on with Brucey in the future. After all, there’s no shortage of insanely fast Flying Types out there.”

“Watch out, Scyther —” Justin attempted to yell out a warning after noticing his opponent’s gesture, but it was too late. Because the moment that Brucey perceived Nina’s signal, he launched into an Uproar, deafening his surroundings with ear splitting noise and causing Scyther to falter in his charge and fall to the ground in anguish.

The audience all groaned and plugged their ears with their fingers, while Alfred had shown up at some point to cover Lillian and Kerry’s ears with earmuffs like the magical super butler that he was.

Glass cups began cracking as the windows of the Battle Cafe vibrated at the offensive sound waves that they were being subjected to.

Nina winced, hoping that Lilian wouldn’t mind paying for the collateral damage Brucey was causing.

The overwhelming Uproar lasted for a whole minute before Brucey became too winded to continue. Nina was hoping to triple that duration at some point, to use the move as a killswitch that would take Brucey’s opponents down with him whenever he was on his last legs.

But surprisingly, Scyther endured through the strain and shakily stood up from where he was balled up in a defensive maneuver. It seemed Justin took Nina’s advice and got Protect for all his Pokemon, which was just barely able to see his Pokemon through.

Nina sighed in resignation, having already accepted Brucey’s defeat. It was an inevitable fact that a demanding move like Uproar would leave its users completely winded. As evident by the fact that Brucey was now grounded on the arena to Roost.

“Scyther!” The determined mantis Pokemon forcefully launched himself forwards and slammed into Brucey with an X-Scissor, completely fainting the Golbat in a single move.

“Oh right, Scyther’s ability makes it so that his attacks are extra potent in the face of desperation. I forgot that was a thing.” Nina mused, having just recalled that the Scyther line possessed Swarm. The girl then recalled her fainted Golbat and whispered words of encouragement at Brucey’s Friend Ball before passing it over to Kerry for healing.

Justin cheered alongside the audience. It was always a momentous occasion whenever anyone managed to down one of their school prodigy’s Pokemon.

Nina smiled wryly and waited for the crowd to settle down before speaking. “I know you’re already working on it, but Swords Dance would have really put Brucey in a pickle. Maybe even faint him before he even got to using Uproar.” Swords Dance was still a dance after all, despite its offensive nature. So naturally, the conventionally boyish Justin had trouble trying to teach the art to his Scyther.

“You know… Those poses that you do. I would consider them a sort of dance as well…” Nina continued, in a somewhat suggestive tone.

Justin’s eyes glinted at the hint that his friend just dropped for him. While the girl was cringing inside at the monster that she had just knowingly unleashed into the world. She let out a silent prayer to all of Justin’s future opponents who would have to suffer through the boy’s brand of eye bleach.

“Anyways, I’ll let you choose your next opponent. Do you wanna battle Espy or Nairy?”

Justin grinned and turned his gaze to the sidelines where Nairy was currently busy pigging out on a jumbo sized parfait. “Do you really have to ask? I choose Nairy of course!”

Nina’s smile faltered slightly, wondering if her gluttonous Dragon was even capable of battling right now. She reluctantly called Nairy over, much to her partner’s chagrin, and sighed in relief when Nina got a closer look at her messy Dragonair.

“Thank goodness, he hasn’t eaten too much just yet.” It was a good thing that Brucey’s Uproar had interrupted Nairy’s meal earlier as well. 

“Nairy… What did I tell you last time about slowing down with the ice cream?” Nina grabbed a spare napkin from a neighbouring table and aggressively wiped at Nairy’s face in exasperation.

“Nair~” However, the easygoing Dragon was utterly unrepentant and simply nuzzled against Nina before moving into the arena.

“Alright, Nairy. Let’s give Justin and his Pokemon a fighting chance here. Flamethrower, Fire Spin and Dragon Dance only.”

“Nair!” Nairy had been doubling down on his Fire Type training recently. With Sir Clodington’s eyes on him at all times, he felt a pressure to try harder just to keep up appearances. Not that he particularly cared if the Wooper looked up to him or not. In fact, he’d rather the brown blob cut it out with his obsessiveness, but peer pressure was a funny thing and Nairy was inherently a people pleaser.

He had taken to swimming a lot less and even slept all coiled up around the heater just so that he could get used to detecting ambient Fire Type Energy. The latter of which Nina actually disapproved of since it got her oversized Dragon eel all dried out. So she upped the intensity of his Flamethrower training instead.

And with a bit of experimentation combining Flamethrower with Twister, a skill that Nairy was well versed in at this point, he had even managed to modify his Twister to become a Fire Spin.

“Don’t look down on me!” Justin exclaimed. But despite his bravado, it was undeniable that Scyther was on his last legs and was easily taken out by a Flamethrower from Nairy. The Dragonair didn’t even have to perform a Dragon Dance to do it.

The boy’s next choice was his Wartortle. Not that there was much choice to begin with. Justin’s Carvanha had improved a lot but was still a little short of being able to completely obey orders. While Noibat, his most recent capture was uncharacteristically timid for a Dragon Type. Especially when face to face with Lilian.

It seemed to Nina like the Noibat was still struggling with some trauma from her recent ordeal, requiring a bit more time and care to fully recover to a battle ready state. A process which would not be aided by having her face down against another Dragon.

Wartortle started off with an Ice Beam which he had managed to learn at some point. However, it was clear that this was a relatively recent revelation since the beam was fairly weak, allowing Nairy to effortlessly dodge around it before countering with a Flamethrower.

The fiery stream clashed with the Ice Beam and formed water vapours in the air, causing a light mist to descend onto the arena ground.

“Dance, Wartortle!” Justin called, which the turtle Pokemon obliged by shrinking into his shell and spinning in place to gather up the mist and directed it towards the ceiling to form rain clouds.

Nina smiled in amusement. It seemed like her friend had been studying the match that she had with Lilian and was able to learn a trick or two.

The Rain Dance really served to empower Wartortle and further disadvantage the handicapped Nairy, who’s nascent Fire Type moves were almost instantly smothered the moment they left his control. Much to the Dragonair’s frustrations.

“It’s now or never, Nairy.” Nina urged. “This situation can easily be resolved if you can pull off a Sunny Day.” Instead of liberating Nairy from his restrictions, she just doubled down and used her partner's frustrations to motivate him instead.

“You can do it, Nairy. I know you can. Believe in the me who believes in you.”

“Nair… Dragonair!” The determined Nairy cried out as he began forming a ball of pure condensed Fire Type Energy in his mouth.

“Get close, Wartortle! Don’t let them have their way!” Justin yelled, and Wartortle moved in with an Aqua Jet before engaging Nairy with a combo of Aqua Tail and Ice Punch. 

It was unfortunate that Nairy wasn’t able to fully dodge the assault in his hyper focused state. But at least the damage he took wasn’t enough to disrupt his concentration and dispel his incomplete Sunny Day orb. 

As Wartortle’s assault continued, Nairy endured through the pain and began dancing to empower the orb of Fire he held in his mouth. 

Justin clicked his tongue in frustration and commanded his Pokemon to change tactics. “Pull back and use Surf, Wartortle! Put out Nairy’s Fire!”

“War!” The turtle Pokemon conjured up a wave of water that he sent crashing towards Nairy.

“Split the waves with a Double Tail, Nairy!” Nina commanded. Her partner was on the verge of success and she couldn’t allow him to be disrupted at this critical stage.

Nairy paused his Dragon Dance to slam an empowered tail into Wartortle’s Surf, completely obliterating the waves that were sent his way. Giving him just the boost of confidence that he needed to complete his Sunny Day orb and launch it into the sky.

The fiery orb pierced through the rain clouds and completely dispelled the Rain Dance with a bright flash of light. And for a brief moment in time, it looked as if someone had blown a hole into the ceiling and summoned an early summer sun into the Battle Cafe.

“Nair!” The divine weather Dragon roared in triumph, before letting out a stream of Dragon Dance and Sunny Day empowered Fire towards Wartortle.

Instead of faltering in shock, Wartortle’s training pulled through as he countered with a hasty Hydro Pump.

Fire and Water clashed in the middle of the arena, producing hot steam that scalded the surroundings of the Battle Cafe. But it soon became clear that Wartortles hastily conjured Hydro Pump was no match for Nairy’s empowered Flamethrower as the pressurized jet of Water was slowly pushed back towards its source.

“War… Wartortle…” The turtle Pokemon groaned in his struggle.

“You can do it, Wartortle! I believe in you. Believe in the me who believes in you!

“Oh boy…” Nina muttered. Shameless plagiarism aside, the girl could already predict what was about to happen.

And sure enough, the Battle Cafe arena was soon graced by the Light of Evolution as Wartortle steadily increased in mass until he eventually towered over his trainer and stared down at the now diminutive looking Nairy. His two newly acquired cannons primed and ready for another round of exchange with his Draconic opponent.

“Blas. Blastoise!” The fully evolved turtle Pokemon cried in a defiant tone.

“You did it, Blastoise! I knew you could!” Justin cheered and jumped in barely contained exuberance alongside the members of the audience. Seeing a mid-battle Evolution was always an exciting spectacle.

Nina was used to seeing similar sights during the course of her Gym work, but she still clapped and cheered in celebration of her friend and his Pokemon.

But the merry atmosphere was soon broken by a chillingly ominous grin from Nina. “You know, Lucy’s Charizard couldn’t even take a single hit from Nairy after he evolved. I wonder how many hits your Blastoise can take after his Evolution.”

Justin felt a shudder down his spine and hastily called for a Hydro Pump.

“Hyper Beam,” said Nina simply, prompting Nairy to unleash a ray of pure condensed Type Energy that easily overwhelmed the Blastoise’s Water canons and slammed into him with a painful cry.

“BLAST!” But Blastoise did not falter, instead he withdrew into his shell and shrouded it in a layer of Water Type Energy and deep blue aura before jetting towards Nairy with his cannons and crashing into the Dragon.

Nairy howled in pain at being impacted by a sturdy shellfish nearly five times his weight and paid him back with a quick Dragon Tail in response. Unfortunately, the strike wasn’t as effective as he would like, merely landing with a dull thud against the Steel empowered shell.

Meanwhile, Nina nodded in amusement. “It seems Blastoise accidentally stumbled upon Wave Crash… Now, what to do?” The girl didn’t mind losing, but she didn’t want to be that cliche rival character that lost to plot armor either.

Nina surveyed the terrain and noticed that the arena was still wet. Nairy’s Sunny day wasn’t strong enough to instantly dry out the space the way that Beverly’s Gyarados could just yet. For that matter, she could also tell that the Sunny Day was doing very little to hamper the ambient Water Type Energy in the air, merely serving to offset it just enough to bring things back to neutral.

“No point holding back anymore, Nairy. Let’s show Justin and Blastoise what you can do! We’re going full Cerulean on Ice and Kingsley!”

Nairy was a Dragon trained in the Cerulean Gym, and he would not lose out to Pure Water Types even in favourable terrain. So in response to his trainer’s urging, Nairy canceled Sunny Day with a cry and began Rain Dancing. All the while keeping a distance from the lumbering Blastoise who tried to follow up his Wave Crash with a Rapid Spin.

“Hydro Pump again, Blastoise! Nairy’s too fast for you!” Justin called, the moment that droplets began falling from the sky again. Except the rain clouds were visibly darker and more pronounced than the ones summoned by Wartortle during the start of the match. One could hardly compete with a divine Pokemon when it came to weather control.

Another violent jet of Water assaulted Nairy, but Nina’s Dragon merely danced around it without even needing to break his rhythm. The Dragonair’s radiant orbs left residual traces of prismatic light in the gloomy space as he moved.

At his trainer’s urging, Blastoise tried to close the distance again with an empowered Wave Crash, but Nairy was ready this time and merely air swimmed out of the way with a graceful leap while shooting a Dragon pulse towards his opponent in one smooth motion.

The rest of the match proceeded in much the same way. Kingsley strats referred to the hit and run tactics that Misty’s Kingdra preferred. Blastoise was a fairly slow species to begin with, and a newly evolved one was even more so, since Justin’s Blastoise hadn’t had the opportunity to get accustomed to his much larger body yet. It was inevitable then that his movements were a little awkward.

In fact, outside of that surprising first strike, all of Blastoise’s subsequent Wave Crashes took a fair bit of telegraphing to initiate. A flaw that Nairy wasn’t so inept as to miss.

It would take a bit of practice, but Nina had absolute confidence that Justin would turn that Blastoise into a close combat menace in no time.

It took a long time to take Blastoise down though, necessitating three Double Pulses on Nairy’s end to faint him. It was clear to Nina that Blastoise was steadily getting reinvigorated by the rain as they fought. 

“Probably Rain Dish, but Blastoise doesn’t know how to fully utilize that ability just yet. Otherwise Nairy has no hope of winning the match under this weather condition.” She mused.

“Incredible work, Justin!” Nina clapped enthusiastically at the match’s end. “All the work you put into Blastoise’s training during his early phases really paid off — it’s rare to see a newly evolved Pokemon come to grips with their abilities so quickly. That Wave Crash needs more work though, but I can easily see it replacing Aqua Jet and becoming a very effective mobility move.”

She also expressed confidence in Blastoise being able to beat Lucy’s Charizard if it came down to it, eliciting a sheepish grin from the boy. 

“Charizard’s ability to fly might be a bit tricky. But in a confined space, if you train Blastoise to be able to hold the Rain Dance advantage throughout the battle and combine that with a fully developed Rain Dish, then I see no reason why you would lose.”

Justin rubbed at the back of his head at Nina’s praise and thanked his friend for the advice. 

Meanwhile, the staff of the Battle Cafe were just looking over the aftermath of that cataclysmic battle with barely contained despair at the thought of needing to clean everything up.