Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 262

“Brucey, use Snatch!”“Cro!”

Silence, then a lazy “Cloood…” from Sir Clodington.

“Heh. I guess it’s not the flashiest of moves.”

It had been a few days since Nina’s trip to Johnny’s shop, and the man finally came through with a Pelipper that landed in front of her apartment this morning with her requested TMs. So naturally, she put them all to good use and made her way over to the Lake of Ether for testing.

“What do you think, Espy?”

“Es.” At her question, the Espeon transmitted a bunch of imagery into her human’s head illustrating the flow of Type Energy invoked by Brucey’s use of Snatch.

The girl nodded sagely. “So kinda like Thief but instead of items, Brucey steals the opponent’s Type Energy before they have the chance to even apply it to themselves… And Clody? What did Brucey steal from you? Can you tell?”

“Clooood.”

“So only Endure then…” Nina frowned. She had asked her Clodsire to use Amnesia, Acid Armor, Protect and Endure all at the same time to see if Snatch would yoink all four status moves or just a single one.

Incidentally, the move Amnesia didn’t literally make the user forget things. It was more similar to Calm Mind where it cleansed the mind of any superfluous thoughts so that they may focus all of their willpower onto a single move at a time, thereby increasing their potency — special attacks more specifically, though there were general benefits as well.

It was not a move that Sir Clodington needed to use much on the regular. Nitey’s stubborn little paladin was single-minded enough already, with a mental strength that was second only to Espy’s, a bonafide Psychic Type, to the point where most debuffs or mind affecting moves just bounce right off him. 

In fact, Amnesia just hindered him because it made him unable to multitask — a trait that Nina made sure to instill in every single one of her Pokemon; the ability to use multiple moves at the same time or maintain awareness of their surroundings, for example.

“Let’s try that again.” Nina commanded. “I wanna see if Snatch just goes for a random buff or something.” It would be extremely inconvenient if it was only capable of ‘snatching’ the move with the least complexity of the bunch.

“Clooood!”

“Kukuku… Cro!”

And so they did it again. This time, it was Amnesia that was diverted at random. Nina nodded with a sigh of relief. “That’s good. It means we can also direct it with enough practice. I wonder if Brucey’ll be able to reach a point where he can Snatch ALL of the status moves being used though…” The ability to execute multiple buffs at the same time was pretty common in high-level battles — no point wasting time using one move at a time after all. “Espy?”

“Es.” The Espeon nodded in response to Nina’s query, indicating that it should theoretically be possible based on her observations.

“Awesome! So we’ll set that as the final goal for this training arc then. Along with figuring out how to combine all of your Poison moves with Kage Bunshin.” 

As a regular, Johnny was well aware of Nina’s preferences for ‘raw’ TMs. That was, unrefined TMs acquired from lower level Pokemon. Hence, the Snatch that he acquired for her was from a juvenile Sneasel with plenty of room for interpretation and adaptation.

“Cro!” Brucey nuzzled affectionately against Nina in affirmation, eliciting giggles from the girl.

“Next up, we’ll see if you can’t Snatch more complex moves, like Nitey’s Dragon Dance.” Which would be incredibly broken and theoretically possible based on Nina’s understanding of Snatch’s mechanic. Imagine a Crobat with Swords Dance! “And also weather moves.” That would completely invalidate all of their opponent’s domain. 

“Of course, they would still benefit from the elemental advantage but the Type Energy would no longer be in their control. Unless they try to wrestle it back, which leaves them vulnerable.” 

“Cro!”

“Nite!” The two Pokemon in question cried in affirmation and moved a little further to experiment.

Nina chuckled. It seemed her darling Crobat wasn’t moving away from harassment tactics anytime soon. If anything Brucey’s menace had only leveled up with this one simple inclusion. 

“Oh! I know! Stealing moves are great and all but there’s only so many buffs Brucey can take. So how about just stealing parts of it?” Because behind every move was a complicated nexus of Type Energy manipulation and biological function. “For a move to work, all these components need to work in sync. So if even just one part goes missing, the whole thing will fall apart like a jenga tower!”

Not to mention combo moves! In order for multiple moves to be executed all at once, a delicate balance needed to be maintained — moves needed to be executed in sequence and with different intensities. A fact that Nina usually took for granted since Nitey had always been naturally talented in this regard and was able to coach the rest of her team. 

“But if Brucey could swoop in and sever that link…” Nina broke out into a cackle. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner! This is good, we’re gonna turn Brucey into the ultimate trickster god! Muahahaha!”

While Nina was deep in her malicious reveries, she felt a heavy nudge against her legs. “Hmm? Clody? What’s up?”

“CLOOOD!” The Clodsire cried in displeasure.

“Oh, right. I did promise to take you out somewhere to let loose huh?”

“CLOOOOD!”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry, buddy. I’ll focus all of my attention on you today, is that okay?”

“Clod!”

“Hehe. Right, let’s wait for Espy to be done with Brucey’s experiments first then we’ll have her Teleport us.”

Sir Clodington gave Nina another little nudge in agreement — the closest to any form of physical affection that the stoic knight was willing to express, eliciting giggles from his trainer.

***

“Alright, Clody. First off…” With a swipe of her hand, Nina flashed three TMs in front of the big brown blob. The pair of them, along with Azzy, were currently in the middle of an uninhabited forest in Route 4. Espy had already gone back to train with the rest of the team and said that she would come pick them up later on. But more than likely she would overdo it and expend herself, leaving Nitey to pick up the slack.

“Clooood…” Sir Clodington’s eyes practically sparkled at the sight, eliciting more giggles from the girl. 

This was the happiest that the Clodsire will ever be. Out of all of Nina’s Pokemon, her big bouncy pudding boi was the most training obsessed, relishing in every opportunity to gain strength.

“Now, I know we’ve already loaded you up with a few TMs already. Yawn and High Horsepower should be easy enough to master so I’m not too fussed. As for Trailblaze, you’ve never handled Grass Type Energy before so make sure to work with Espy on that one okay?” Espeons were also compatible with Trailblaze so Nina had applied it to Espy as well.

“CLOOOD!” Sir Clodington slammed his bouncy blubber against the ground in affirmation then nudged impatiently against Nina to get her to hurry up.

“Heh. That said!”

“CloOoOoOd!”

“I’m not finished yet Clody, be patient.” The Clodsire deflated with a huff. “Anyways, as I was saying, it’s not good for you to load up on so many TMs in one day—”

“CLOOOD!”

“However! If any Pokemon can handle it, then it’d be your stubborn, masochistic ass.”

“CLOD! Clodsire!” The proud knight affirmed with a haughty puff of his chest.

“But, I do have conditions.”

“Cloood…” Sir Clodington deflated once more.

“Hehe… It’s not that bad, just hear me out. The moves contained within these TMs are Stockpile, Spit Up and Swallow. These three combined are, frankly, utterly ridiculous combos. Stockpile ramps up real slowly, but it allows you to hold an excess of Type Energy within yourself, up to three times your current reserve—”

“Clod!”

“And! Spit Up let’s you unleash all of that excess in one destructive go. I’m thinking we can have Nitey teach you Hyper Beam and combine the two moves since both of them are Normal Type.” Nina’s Clodsire was practically bouncing up and down in excitement at this point, like a Magikarp out of water, causing mild quakes on the ground.

“While Swallow allows you to consume the energy for healing. Not that I expect you to need it much with how good your Water Absorb has gotten recently.” Prolonged exposure to such a Water dense environment had been extremely beneficial in the development of that particular ability. 

“But it’s good to have in emergencies, like when you needed to tank a massive burst of damage with Falkner’s Togekiss.” That was how they managed to defeat Sir Clodington in the Sprout Tower by the way, some sort of superpowered version of a Stored Power combo that knocked him out in one go. It wasn’t in vain though, since he managed to prevent that move from being used against Espy and Nitey.

Sir Clodington puffed up his chest in affirmation, looking much more subdued now that he realised Nina wouldn’t let him have his goodies until she was done yapping.

“Now then, my condition is simple and it relates to why I didn’t get these moves for you earlier as well… I know you, Clody. If I give you Stockpile, you're gonna have it active at all times and maybe even try to exceed the 3 times energy limit.”

“CLOOOD!” The Clodsire protested in indignation.

“Oh yeah? Can you swear on Nitey’s name that you wouldn’t?”

“Cloood…”

“Exactly. So my condition is that you’re not allowed to engage the move before my say-so. But not to worry, I plan to have you activate before a match so you will have it ready right when it matters.” It technically wasn’t cheating, just like how Espy technically wasn’t cheating by having Calm Mind active 24/7.

“And! You absolutely cannot exceed the 3 times Stockpile limit. Do you understand?”

“Clod.” Sir Clodington smacked his bulbous tail against the ground in lieu of a nod. But Nina still wasn’t convinced, so she endured the burn of Poison Point and embraced the Clodsire.

“Look, Clody… I know you’re not as attached to me the way that the others are.” In fact, while he still remained faithful to Nitey, his reverence towards the Dragonite had been tempered significantly since the days that they first met — gone was all the worship and tribute. It was hard not to be a little jaded, after travelling through the region and experiencing so much. Because a trainer’s journey was as much for their Pokemon as it was for themselves, each maturing and developing in their own way.

“But you need to understand, Clody, that I love you.” Nina sniffled. “I love you with all of my heart, even if you don’t love me the same way. And this move, it’s liable to make you burst like a balloon if you push it too far…”

“Cloood…” The big brown blob shuddered, either terrified of the prospect of exploding or moved by Nina’s declaration of love, she couldn’t really tell which.

“So promise me, okay? Promise me that you'll listen to me and only activate it when I tell you to. Alright?”

“Cloood…” The Clodsire agreed by giving Nina sloppy lick on her face, eliciting a storm of giggles from the girl.

“Thanks Clody, I love you. Now, let’s get you loaded with these TMs. And while we’re waiting for the knowledge to settle, we can work on your domain. Oh, and remember that quicksand idea that Espy proposed? I have an inkling on how to add to it. And are you familiar with the concept of erosion?”

And so the girl and her Clodsire spent the rest of the day bringing ruin upon this particular patch of the forest. By the time that they were done, the surrounding trees had been reduced to piles of sand while the ground had been converted into a toxic swamp.

If there was one thing that Sir Clodington was best at, it was his impeccable domain. The quicksand idea would still need work though, converting ground into sand turned out to be significantly more challenging than grinding wood into sawdust. But he understood the idea of erosion easily enough by simply compacting his Sandstorm and more aggressively churning the abrasive particles.

“We’re gonna need to work on this a little more. But the ultimate goal is to sink your opponent into quicksand then either blend them into a pulp or entomb them underground.” Nina remarked, right as the sun was beginning to set and Nitey flew in from the horizon.

“CLOOOOD!” The Clodsire responded with a determined huff.

“Hehe. C’mon let’s go back home for some dinner. I dunno about you, Clody, but I’m absolutely famished.”

“Clod! Clodsire!”

***

Author's note:

I do regret not highlighting Clody more.

Maybe it's because he was a Pokemon chosen from a poll, so I never had too strong of an image for him and ended up sidelining his character development quite a bit.

Hopefully this chapter can make up for it a little.

PS.

If all goes according to plan, I should be going to watch Project Hail Mary today.

I really hope it's good because I love the book. Read it three times back to back when it first released.

There's just something magical about Andy Weir's writing.

https://linktr.ee/zebraunicorn