Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 277

“Mr Fuji! Mr Fuji, look! I drew a Goldeen!”Professor Inoru Fuji, now simply known as Mr Fuji, bent down with a radiant smile to admire the childish scribbles of the girl who ran up to him.

“That’s very beautiful, child. I reckon you have a bright future ahead as an artist.”

“Nuh-uh!” The girl denied. “I wanna open up a daycare and take in all the lost Pokemon! I’m gonna give them a home and take super-duper good care of them. Just like you, Mr Fuji!”

The man chuckled at the girl’s response and rewarded her efforts with one of the little hard candies that he always kept on his person.

The girl giggled, thanked her benefactor and ran off to go play with the rest of her housemates — the sight of children and Pokemon living in harmony never failed to put a smile on Fuji’s face.

“Life is peaceful… Too peaceful…” Sometimes Fuji wondered if all this happiness was deserved. After all that he had done, all the pain and suffering that he had wrought, was it okay? For him to go unpunished? For his crimes to never see the light of day?

The man had renounced all of his worldly titles, his name, his estate, and devoted it all towards charity, towards those lost and abandoned, all in the hopes of redemption, to make up for all the harm he had caused.

“Blaine, blessed Blaine…” His student, his confidante and his once-accomplice. The former Champion had been instrumental in jolting Fuji out of his guilt and setting him back down on the right path. “I wonder how he’s doing these days… Maybe I should take the time to visit one day. Goodness knows he’s too much of a scatterbrain to come visit me himself — probably off causing mischief again.”

As Fuji immersed himself in nostalgia, he was summoned yet again. This time, by a frantic looking boy and his companion Growlithe who were calling out to him in distress.

“Mr Fuji! Mr Fuji!”

“Woof! Woof!”

“Woah… Easy there, my boy… What happened? Are the two of you hurt anywhere?”

The boy shook his head in denial. “No. It’s just— Growly and me was out walking, you know? But then we saw this guy — this super creepy guy! He was, like, shaking and all covered up. And, and! He kept calling your name; ‘Fujiii~ Fujiiii~’” The boy drawled while miming the stranger’s shambling gait. “Except, like, he wasn’t talking, you know? His voice, it was in my head going like; ‘Fujiii~ Fujiiii~’” The boy repeated once more and Fuji placated him with a pat on the head.

“Calm down, my boy. It was probably just a lost soul.” The man assured. But deep down, he was equally as disturbed by the mention of this mysterious figure. “Why don’t you tell me where you last saw this person and I’ll go and take a look myself.”

The boy nodded and began rambling once more, not stopping until Fuji rewarded him with some candy before leaving the House of Memories to go look for this moaning figure.

“Hello, sir. I heard you were looking for me?” Fuji began as he cautiously approached the individual cloaked in tattered rags, sitting collapsed against the Pokemon Tower.

“Fu…ji…” A voice, broken and weary, echoed in his head, just as the boy had said.

“Yes, my name is Fuji. Though most folks around here call me Mr Fuji. Do we know each other by chance?” Mr Fuji smiled and crouched low to peer up into the stranger’s cloak, only to be stunned in place by the ashen visage that returned his gaze. “Mew…two?”

The figure lunged, grabbing hold of Fuji’s shoulder with his long and inhuman fingers. “Fu…ji…!” Mewtwo growled, with all the rage and resentment of an abandoned child.

***

“Mewtwo was falling apart…” Fuji frowned. “Literally melting at the seams. His DNA, unraveling strand by strand and tethering on the brink of devolution into a mindless Ditto.”

He sighed. “There was no way to fix him. Not without aid from The Ancestor themself. So I proposed a stopgap measure.” The man gestured towards the Odd Keystone sitting on the table. “To lull Mewtwo’s entire being into deep slumber in an effort to slow down the decay while I search for a solution.”

Agatha snorted. “Pfeh! I told you my family’s secret in confidence! Not so that you can abuse them, as misguided as those fools maybe, to function as a sedative for your pet abomination. And without my permission to boot!”

Fuji chuckled. “To be fair, Agatha, you had gone into seclusion at that point and there was no way to contact you without flying halfway across the world. My old bones could hardly handle such a strain, and I was in quite the rush, you see…”

“So, the Mew Gem?” Nina chimed, before the two geriatric souls could argue any further.

“That would be my doing…” Another voice joined in on the chorus, one that Nina was quite familiar with given how often they spoke over the phone.

“Hikari…” And sure enough, Nina turned around to see the painfully radiant visage of Bill’s wife strolling down the courtyard with an infuriatingly cheery smile on her face.

“Hello, Nina.” The woman bent down and covered the precociously pouting teen in a gentle embrace. “Mr Fuji came to me in search of a solution to Mewtwo’s plight — we had been previously acquainted by happenstance. And yes, I already know what you’re thinking; If I knew about the situation, why didn’t I just work with Mew to help fulfill Mewtwo’s wish and liberate Mr Fuji, am I right?”

“Stupid mystics!” Nina snorted. “So, why didn’t you?”

“Because, in order to properly seal away Mewtwo, to properly lull that child into a death-like slumber, Mr Fuji needed Spiritomb — a completed Spiritomb.”

“And, in order to complete Spiritomb, one more soul was needed.” Fuji continued.

“But you’re not of Agatha’s bloodline.” Nina retorted.

The man shook his head. “No, but while Mewtwo was not Mew, he could mimic his progenitors ability to a certain degree, subtly altering his DNA structure to vaguely resemble that of Agatha’s blood.” And by doing so, Mewtwo was able to invite the curse upon himself and allow Spiritomb to lure him into their dreamscape without losing his soul — broken or not, Mewtwo did possess the willpower of a Legendary Pokemon after all.

Fuji continued. “It did work… for a time. Until it didn’t. Mewtwo’s condition had deteriorated too much and I had no choice but to offer up what little remained of my life just to maintain his slumber.”

“Moronic fool!” Agatha exclaimed. “Such a half-cooked measure could never last. There would come a point where your soul would have been entirely consumed and the resulting abomination would have gone on a rampage and devoured Lavender Town!”

Fuji laughed. “Well good thing you and young Gretel arrived when you did, huh? Haha!” Because apparently, Mr Fuji’s waning existence was currently being anchored to Agatha’s will as the old woman was unwilling to assimilate with her ancestors, resulting in their current predicament.

“And that dream I had?” Nina asked.

“A test, girl. We needed to be sure that you were strong enough.” Agatha answered.

“And that is the reason why neither I nor The Ancestor could intervene to save that child.” Hikari continued. “We simply aren’t capable of contending with the likes of Spiritomb.” As venerated and versatile as Mew was, they were hardly a powerful battler, more a trickster than anything. Not to mention, the Dark and Ghost Type Spiritomb was anathema to Psychic.

“Because in order to wake Mewtwo from slumber, you must first break the cage of dreams holding him prisoner.” Fuji explained. “Which necessitates destroying Spiritomb for good — a berserked Spiritomb no less, since Agatha would have to let go of my soul for this endeavour to succeed.”

“But there are plenty of powerful trainers around.” Nina turned towards Hikari with an accusatory glare. “Why me? You could easily have gotten Sabrina or even Morty to help out with Bill’s connections.”

“Because we needed to be sure that the trainer was both strong and pure of heart.” Hikari smiled. “Spiritomb is capable of invoking a person’s most dreaded fears and twisting their most fervent desires, emboldening them and corrupting them at their very core through dreams and empty promises. Tell me, Nina, what dream were you shown in your slumber? Was it a nightmare? Or perhaps a paradise of carnal fulfillment?”

“I… I dreamt of my family…” Her real family…

Hikari’s smile deepened as she pulled the girl into another embrace. “Mew only appears before those who are purest of heart. What better way to guarantee our success than to cultivate our very own Pokemon Master? So long as you remained stalwart, so too would your bonded Pokemon remain faithful to their cause.”

Nina snorted. “I could hardly be considered pure of heart these days…” Not after all that she had seen and been through. The otherworldly girl had long since become jaded to the realities of this world, as magical and wondrous as it was.

Hikari chuckled. “So you say. And yet here you are, still in possession of The Ancestor’s fragment.”

“Mew’s fragment?”

“That’s right. The gem around your neck is a portion of Mew’s essence and also the cure to Mewtwo’s plight. All you need to do is bring it to him and allow Mewtwo to assimilate that fragment in order to make him whole again.”

“And in so doing, the awakened Mewtwo could also go after Giovanni and hunt him down in revenge… A two in one solution.” Nina chuckled, she could only shake her head in admiration of Mew’s cunning. “And so, where exactly is our venerable ‘Ancestor’ in such a pivotal moment?”

Hikari nuzzled her flawless face against Nina’s cheek. “I think you’re underestimating the toll The Ancestor has to exert in order to make all of this possible. Once everything is over — truly over — head to the Moon Shrine. That is where you will be reunited with Mew. But for now…” The younger woman gestured towards Agatha.

“Pfeh! Your Pokemon is strong. But better safe than sorry. If you want to exorcise Spiritomb for good, you’ll need a little extra oomph.” Agatha called out to Gretel. “Girl! Get that lazy bum to come over here!”

“Lazy bones. Why not call yourself, huh?”

“Heh. Because that unfaithful prick doesn’t listen to me anymore, only you.”

Gretel snorted and bit back with a rapid fire of Germanic slurs, but still obliged by hollering “Brummiiiiig!!!” into her shadow.

The world darkened and a chilling Aura crept up Nina’s spine. Even Azzy yelped and jumped out of her human’s shadow in alarm. Because what they felt was an overwhelmingly eerie presence, one that put even the nascent Spiritomb’s to shame.

“There you are, grumpy boy! Where you been? Sleep again?” However, while Nina and her team were on high alert, Gretel just pressed her hands against her hips and began scolding the bottomless abyss where a Gengar emerged — a Gengar so sinister, so ancient and so overwhelming that Azzy could only grovel in shame.

“Hattori and Morty’s Gengar might as well be toddlers in front of this guy…” Nina mused, eliciting fervent nods from the shivering Azzy. “But wait, if Gretel has such a powerful Pokemon at her beck and call, why can’t she be the one to destroy Spiritomb?”

“Because that child is plagued by an endless stream of darkness, child.” Agatha replied. “In fact, I was hoping that you might befriend her after this whole farce is over. Since you share the same origin and all.” The woman scowled. “I had told the girl to just deliver my ashes and go live out the rest of her life in peace. But she just won’t stop pestering me.”

Hikari giggled. “Gretel cares deeply for you, Agatha — you’re the closest thing she has to a family in this world. Though I do agree that your continued presence in her life is preventing the girl from moving on.”

Nina nodded. “Right, yeah. I’d be happy too.” Just knowing that she wasn’t alone was enough to bring a smile to her face. And no doubt, Gretel would feel the same. “Come to think of it, does she even know I’m from Earth as well? I should go introduce myself later.”

“Alright, you lazy old fart, spit it out!” Nina’s thoughts were interrupted by Agatha yelling at her former starter. 

“Gen! Gengar, gen!” The old Gengar puffed his chest out in protest but a gentle caress from Gretel was enough to placate him.

“Come, come… Brummig, don’t be brummig. I not strong enough to help. Give to pretty girl, she can help. Then we go home.”

Brummig the Gengar huffed then turned towards Nina before breaking out into a coughing fit, followed by a series of very visceral and very guttural gags, bad enough to make Nina wince and avert her eyes.

Gretel just sighed and smiled at Nina with an apologetic look. “He like to… how to say? Hochspielen. Sorry.”

Nina chuckled. “Danke schön. You can speak English to me, you know? Though it has been a while since I last spoke, so you’ll have to forgive any scuff.”

“You… You are also like me?!” Gretel’s eyes widened like a Goldeen as the realisation of Nina’s origins dawned on her. Her English was very accented, but it was clear that she felt more at ease speaking it than the Pokemon world’s lingua franca.

However, before the two otherworlders could continue in their conversation, Gretel’s Gengar did one final gag and spat out a shiny, and very slimy, Mega Stone.

“That’s… a Gengarite!” Nina and Azzy trembled in excitement while Espy just hissed in annoyance. It was one thing for the Espeon to lose out to Nitey, but to be overshadowed by her junior as well?!

“That’s right. Take it, you’ll be needing it.” Agatha waved her staff at the precious gemstone while Nina asked Rinny to help clean the Gengarite with a spurt of water. It was also at this point that the Odd Keystone began quaking uncontrollably, as if sensing its impending demise. 

“Heh. Are you scared now?” Agatha snickered. “You better be… And you know what? Seeing as how you were desperate enough to assimilate someone not of our bloodline, I'm glad I stuck around until now. If only to ensure that this stain upon our legacy is wiped away for good.”

While Agatha was busy threatening the vengeful spirits of her ancestors, Nina got done cleaning the Gengarite and was now admiring the swirling purple glow of the helix with Azzy. “The way the light seems to almost blacken against shadow… It’s super cool, don’t you think, Azzy?”

“Gen! Gengar!”

“But how are we supposed to put it on you though? Does it count if you keep it with the rest of your origami supplies or do you need to swallow it like Brummig?”

“Gen! Gengar-gen!” Azzy shook her head in denial, unwilling to swallow the object. This was when her senior Gengar scoffed and sauntered over to her side, where he then proceeded to swipe the stone from Azzy’s hand and pressed it against her forehead.

“Gen!” Azzy yelped out in pain but an admonishing cry from Brummig was enough to freeze her in place, just long enough for the Elite Ghost Pokemon to embed the Mega Stone onto Azzy’s forehead where it gleamed sinister between her glowing red eyes.

“Ohhhh~ That’s a good look, Azzy! Very goddess-of-destruction-chic. Let’s take a few selfies and send it to Bev. That’ll really raise her hackles.” Nina still hadn’t forgiven the girl for tattling on her to Patrick.

“Alright, that’s enough, girl! Get your act together and go banish us a Spiritomb already!” Agatha scowled at the precociously posing teen and her shuttering Pokedex.

“Wait! I’ve never Mega Evolved with Azzy before. I need to practice first and make sure we don’t mess up!” Because Nina had a feeling that if she did then she might now have enough fuel in the tank to switch with Nitey. “In fact, is it even a good idea to battle Spiritomb with Azzy to begin with? Better to just stick with what I know right?”

Mr Fuji laughed. “No worries, dear. Take all the time you need. Agatha’s just being an impatient grump as usual.”

“Pfeh!”

“In fact, why don’t you take the opportunity to learn how to Mega Evolve two Pokemon at once. With the assistance of Mew’s fragment, I’m sure you’ll be able to pull it off.” The man suggested.

“Wait, is that actually possible?” Nina exclaimed, directing the question towards Hikari, their resident Mew concierge.

The woman returned with a wry smile. “It is possible if you so wish. Though it might tax The Ancestor beyond what is reasonable.”

Nina hummed and tilted her head in consideration. “For now, I’d like to take a couple of days to practice Mega Evolving with just Azzy first. Then… Then we’ll see if double Megas are possible. If not, then I’ll just proceed with Mega Nitey.” No matter how strong Spiritomb was, doubling down on them seemed a little excessive. Since Nina was already planning to sic the full might of her team at the cursed revenant anyway.

Hikari giggled. “We’ll trust in your judgement, dear. In the meantime, why don’t I cook us a proper meal. I’m sure you must be famished after spending two whole days without food. Gretel, my dear, do you mind giving me a hand?”

“Wait! Was I asleep for two days?!” No wonder her Pokemon was so concerned. “And come to think of it…” Nina’s tummy grumbled. “I am feeling kinda hungry.” The little snacks that Gretel had brought over just now had done little to sate her appetite.