Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 265

“You ready, Azzy?”“Haunt! Haunter!”

“You know you don’t have to do this, right? You put on an amazing performance against Chuck’s Pokemon. I’d say you’ve more than earned your Evolution.”

“Haunter, haunt!” But Nina’s beloved Ghost girl was stubborn. Azzy started the Trial of Ascension and now she was determined to see it through.

Nina giggled. “Alright. Let’s do this then.” She declared as they hiked, hand in hand, up the scenic hill housing the Sprout Tower.

Near the summit, they were met by an elder sage who gestured for the pair to follow. Zuki had called ahead to inform the monks of Nina’s challenge today, so they already had everything set up.

“In light of Lady Zuki’s referral and your recurring presence in our sacred tower. We have agreed to advance your starting point from number one to number thirty.” That meant Nina and Azzy got to skip ahead and start near the middle of the trial.

“Our thanks for your magnanimity, sagely one.”

The elderly monk nodded as they came up to a familiar wooden platform where the battle was going to be held. And having already done this a few times, Nina was familiar with the appropriate etiquette. She bowed towards the sage who guided them, then towards the arena and walked up the wooden platform where she was faced with her first opponent; a generic looking monk who was different from the previous No. 30 she faced. It seemed the monks had a reshuffling of their ranks as well.

The monk bowed and so did Nina, before he expanded a Pokeball while Azzy moved into the arena. To the side, a number of monks lit a giant incense and the elderly sage signaled for the start of the battle with the bassy ring of a bell.

With a flash, a Bellsprout appeared in front of Azzy, as was the norm with the tower’s monks. Until its head glowed incandescent and an intense ball of Fire was summoned right in the middle of the wooden arena. Sunny day — one so intense that it was liable to set the floor on fire.

Nina frowned, “Going all out right at the start eh?” then contorted her hands into a Shadow Sign, prompting Azzy to expel a cold mist from her maw with squinted eyes — Haze and Icy Wind combo. Its purpose was to diffuse the light of the Bellsprout’s artificial sun.

However, the Bellsprout wouldn’t be idle as a Power Whip cut through the Haze towards Azzy. 

“Haunt!” Instead of dodging or blocking, Nina’s Haunter invalidated the attack by triggering Shadow Sneak and swapped places with her opponent’s shadow to bear down on them with a Fire Punch — a move she learned from Nitey after mastering Will-O-Wisp.

“Sprout!!!” The Bell Sprout smashed down on the ground and soon found itself consumed by a torrent of Poison from the relentless Azzy — Sludge Wave. 

Nina grinned as she flashed another sign. One thing the duo had discussed beforehand was the terrain. Given that they would be stuck on this wooden arena throughout the duration of the trial, there was no reason why they couldn’t just terraform it to their liking. That meant destroying it to create sources of shade and covering it with Poison to disadvantage their future opponents.

“Compared to Chuck’s Star Team, these Bellsprouts are nothing!” Especially given their martial nature, which Brucey, Espy and Azzy had proven to be very susceptible to less ‘confrontational’ tactics.

Covered in Poison and stuck in a sticky bog, the Bellsprout was about as effective as a buried Oddish despite the ongoing healing provided by its Sunny Day — some variation of Photosynthesis that Nina didn’t even know Bellsprouts were capable of learning. “But then again, it does make sense given their physiology.”

So naturally, a few Shadow Balls from Azzy was enough to seal the round in their favour, the Haunter and her trainer bowing respectfully to their ascetic opponent as he stepped down to make space for monk number 31.

“That’s one down, thirty-nine to go. Let’s see what sort of gimmicks this next Bellsprout has up its roots…”

***

“Hoho… Long time no see, my guy!” Nina waved at her next opponent with a cheeky grin, a familiar face whom she and Azzy had met before.

The monk, for his part, just ascended onto the now-ruined wooden arena with an impassive glare, eyes smouldering in silent rage which he barely suppressed by mouthing rhythmic chants and fiddling with a string of prayer beads. It was the ‘Asura’ and his berserker Bellsprout who pushed Azzy towards an Evolution back when she was just a Gastly. Nina recalled the guy being No. 28 last time. But now, he was No. 40.

“Congrats on the promotion!” The girl chirped. “I hope you managed to rein in your Bellsprout’s fiery temper.” 

The monk’s murmuring chants became increasingly agitated at Nina’s taunt as the jade beads wrapped around his palm rotated faster than ever. And in his approach, the icy mist pervading the arena seemed to almost melt away at the monk’s fury. The guy was clearly a practitioner of Aura. No surprise, really, given how swole and uptight he was.

Nina chuckled and her opponent plucked a Pokeball from his string of beads which he then expanded and threw into the arena. To reveal, in all of its glory, NOT a Bellsprout, but a fully Evolved Victreebell, the prominent burn mark still present on their face.

The girl whistled at the sight. “Oh wow. So you decided to let go of that whole martial Bellsprout gimmick huh? Honestly, respect. I’m sure your Pokemon is happier to not be constrained as well.” Nina’s words seemed to have earned a little smile from her opponent as he bowed to her in recognition, prompting her to do the same.

“Alright, Azzy. No need to go easy on this one…” Nina thought as she signed accordingly. “Man, I’m really starting to feel like Naruto here. Maybe I should start calling out random jutsu names just to mess with people…”

She was honestly looking forward to this battle because all the matches preceding this had been fairly mundane. The Bellsprouts were strong, obviously, but when Pokemon were forced into a narrow niche like what the monks were doing, they became exceedingly predictable. 

“Azzy’s own Aura may not be as refined as these ascetic Bellsprouts but she spends her days training with Pokemon who are way stronger than this.” The intense martial Qi and killing intent being exuded by the specially trained Grass Pokemon might be enough to overwhelm most average Pokemon but they could hardly compare to Nitey, Espy and even Sir Clodington when they got serious. 

And as a matter of fact, that was really all there was to the monks of Sprout Tower. The only difference denoting their ranking was the intensity and refinement of their Pokemon’s martial Aura mixed in with a few recurring gimmicks. Because physically, in terms of skill level, they were more or less equal and could hardly compare to bonafide Fighting Types.

As the elderly sage called for a resumption of battle, Nina reined in her disappointment and locked in for the upcoming match.

“Bell!” The Victreebell cried as a Leaf Storm exploded and a Grassy Terrain formed from the remnants of Poison and bog. The Victreebell’s domain unfolded so quickly and unexpectedly that both Nina and Azzy were completely taken aback. To the side, the presiding sage shook his head in disapproval.

Then, with uncanny speed, the ferocious flycatcher Pokemon crashed into Azzy with a green flash — Grassy Glide.

“Shoot!” Nina manipulated her fingers and Azzy summoned an Army of Will-O-Wisp to bear down on the arena, even directing a portion of them to Burn her opponent and raze the Grassy Terrain as she slipped into the resulting shadow.

“BEEELLL” The Berserkerbell howled, seemingly empowered by the Fire and pain as they directed the Leaf Storm to cover the arena and and consume the surrounding Will-O-Wisp. 

Ashes rained and leaves fell, the infernal downpour would have set the arena aflame were it not for Poison caked onto its surface. And amidst the chaos, Azzy reappeared and smashed an Ice Fist into her opponent.

“BEEELLL!!!” The Victreebell howled in pain, but they seemed to have been expecting the ambush. Because at the same time, Azzy found herself wrapped in Aura imbued vines as the Victreebell expanded in size and and their leaves took on a deadly sheen — likely an application of Growth and Swords Dance.

Another set of Shadow Signs and Azzy triggered Shadow Sneak once more to escape the vines. The moment that she did, there was another explosion of Leaf Storm, forcing Azzy to employ defensive measures with her own storm of Will-O-Wisp instead of going through with the attack.

“Slow it down, Azzy!” Nina gestured and her Haunter expelled another slew of Haze and Icy Wind at point blank, in the hopes that the Ice Type Energy would Freeze the Grass Type Pokemon.

“Om Ami Dewa Hrih…!” The Asura’s chants doubled in volume and the greyish blue flames consuming his Victreebell expanded in response to their burgeoning Aura while melting away the encroaching frost — the pair of berserkers seemed intent on consuming their own lifeforce to achieve victory.

Nina scowled and gestured for Azzy to lay down a Curse and a Perish Song. The plan was to faint the Victreebell before they could harm themself even further.

A stabbing pain pierced through the Victreebell’s iron will as a sense of urgency invaded their very being. In its panicked state, the Victreebell violently lashed out with its whip, the air cracking in its wake.

“Tayata Om Bekanze Bekanze Maha Bekanze Radza Samudgate Soha!” The Asura intoned and his Victreebell ceased in their senseless flailing. Then, a ball of Fire shot out from the Victreebell’s mouth to summon a Sunny Day while Photosynthesis took hold.

Taking advantage of the lull, Azzy lunged in with a blade of Night Shade which was intercepted by the Victreebell’s Swords Dance empowered leaf. The two Pokemon engaged in a brief melee before Azzy ducked back into the shadows with Phantom Force, opting to bombard the Victreebell with a barrage of Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball instead.

“Om Muni Muni Mahamuni Shakyamuniye Svaha!” The bonfire of Ghostly flames consuming Victreebell glowed ever brighter as the flycatcher resumed the flailing of its whip, to intercept all the projectiles and destroy the arena.

“Damn it!” Nina stumbled as she struggled to regain her balance amidst the collapsing floor. 

“Haunter!” Azzy scowled, deciding that enough was enough before her beloved human got hurt. So she ensnared her opponent with a net of Cursed Thorns and dragged the Victreebell into Limbo.

“You did it, Azzy!” Nina cheered with unbridled joy. This was the first time that Azzy had ever been able to spirit away a properly living being. Whether or not she could protect the Berserkerbell from the maddening influence of the shadow realm was a different matter but it’s not like they could get any crazier than they already were anyway. “Man, the stress of battle really does accelerate a Pokemon’s development…”

Unfortunately, it also meant that she and Azzy were disqualified from the trial. Because abducting a Pokemon into the shadows during the midst of an official battle was a universal violation of the League regulations. The only exception being if the opponent was capable of entering Limbo on their own and she baited them into it. Like during Azzy’s battle with Chuck’s Annihilape.

“Doesn’t matter, Azzy’s gained plenty from this gauntlet already.” Nina laughed and raised an arm to forfeit while also gesturing to the shadows for Azzy to release her hold on the Victreebell. The shadows writhed, coming alive to deposit the unconscious form of a now fainted and no-longer-on-fire Victreebell. “Heh. Good to know that Azzy would have won regardless…”

Nina’s opponent did not share her sentiment however as his mumbling became more discordant and the beads in his hand audibly cracked at the ambivalent ending.

“Douse your flames, young one!” The presiding sage exclaimed in admonishment. “The match is over and you have won. But ask yourself this in meditation; was it worth it? Will this path of immolation truly lead to enlightenment?”

The Asura ground his teeth in frustration, the cracking of enamel like thunder amidst the ensuing silence. And without responding to his elder’s words, the monk returned his Victreebell and bowed stiffly towards Nina.

“And you, girl…” Nina jolted at the sage’s attention. “The bond you share with your Pokemon is commendable. However, the Sprout Tower’s trial was designed for martial pursuit. Even had the match continued, you would find that there is little to gain from our order’s paltry wisdom. Take solace in your Haunter’s unwavering trust and I wish you good fortunes in the journey ahead.”

Both Nina and Azzy put their hands together and bowed deeply at the sage’s parting words. “We thank you for your kind words, O Venerable Sage.”

“Haunt. Haunter.”

The elderly monk nodded and dismissed the pair with a flap of his oversized sleeve.

“Hehehe… You did it, Azzy! Good job!”

“Haunt, haunter!” Azzy seemed a little incensed that she couldn’t finish the trial. But the sage was right that there was little more to gain from continuing. Not to mention they had succeeded in overcoming one of Azzy’s biggest hurdles.

“I guess it’s finally time for your Evolution huh? Maybe we can ask Zuki to help out with the trade…”

“Haunt! Haunter, haunt!”

“Oh, you promised Rocky that you would Evolve with him?” Azzy nodded and responded with a happy little twirl. “Hehehe… You’re so adorable, Azzy. C’mon, let’s get you some flowers to commemorate!”

“Haunter, haunt!”

And so the girl and her endearing Haunter made their way down the hill once more.

***

Author's note:

Azzy's Evolution will occur in a later chapter.

https://linktr.ee/zebraunicorn

Also, been a while since I wrote one of these.

If you're reading this from a website that isn't ROYAL ROAD, NovelFire or P.A.T.R.E.O.N then you're getting scammed!

Not to mention, these chapters only get scrapped once. Whoever's stealing them won't bother updating any changes I made post-release. So yeah, it is an objectively worst experience.

Be people, not sheep.