Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 259

Nina once again succumbed to the feeling of oneness, the familiar heartbeat of Nitey resonating within her chest. There was a surge of power coursing through her veins yet, simultaneously, was burdened by a strain deep within her core.The sudden surge felt more intense than usual, owing to the unique environment of the energy-dense power spot they were in. But equally, the strain against Nina’s very being was proportionately diminished, making it an ideal environment to train their Mega Evolution combo.

Meanwhile, across from the girl and her Mega Dragonite was the rest of Nina’s Pokemon and Violet. The blue-haired Cerulean Sister had volunteered to supervise Nina today.

“You’re probably feeling invincible right now. Like the world’s in the palm of your hands — that is a mistake.” said the woman, her tone uncharacteristically sincere. For all of Violet's faults, she did care about Nina and all the rest of her Gym’s apprentices. And not just purely for the sake of mercantile motives either.

“You are not invincible and neither is your Pokemon — you can still get hurt just the same. Especially if you’re being stupid about it.” Violet warned. “That high you’re feeling is transient. Don’t let it consume you. Take some time to let it settle and wrench back control.”

Nina frowned. “From what?” She could relate to the first part but she wasn’t feeling any loss of control. If anything, the girl felt more alert than ever.

“From your Dragonite.” Violet replied. “The two of you are more connected than ever. And I know you might think of it as a good thing, but it’s not. It’s dangerous and, not to mention, exhausting. Humans aren’t Pokemon. We’re squishy and weak. You must have felt it right? When you were fooling around? That drain on your lifeforce whenever Nitey was using a move in his Mega form.”

Nina nodded.

“That’s your body subconsciously mimicking your Dragonite’s energy circulation — that’s how connected you are.” Violet narrowed her eyes in a severe glare. “You can’t store Type Energy and your body isn’t fit to handle it. Attempting to channel it will only lead to a whole ton of complications… and an early grave.”

Nina gulped. “What if I learned how to use Aura?”

“Ha!” Violet scoffed. “Yeah, unless one of your ancestors fucked a Gardevoir or something, that ain’t happening.”

“So it’s true then. Only Nephilims can use Aura?”

Violet shrugged. “Depends. Some people figured out how to circulate Type Energy around their body in perpetuity. It allows them to mimic certain aspects of a Pokemon’s moves, like Harden and Strength. You’ve met Chuck and Bruno right?”

Nina nodded once again.

“Ever wondered why they’re as dumb as a Snorlax? It’s ‘cause most of their noggin’s busy making sure they don’t blow up.”

“Huh?” Nina hummed, already feeling less… floaty. That initial high had begun to settle. “What If I learn to circulate Type Energy like a martial artist then? Would that help?” She felt like she could do it if she tried hard enough.

“Only if you’re prepared to keep doing it for the rest of your life!” Violet snorted. “Those guys don’t just work out for show. They have to keep active to stop the energy from ripping them apart. And when I say in perpetuity, I mean it. You gotta learn how to keep it going even in your sleep.”

Nina groaned. “Yeah, that’s not sounding very appealing… My name ain’t Gon or Killua” For better or for worse, Nina was all too cognizant of how laidback of a person she was.

“Anyways, enough chit-chat. Let’s get on with it already. I ain’t got all day here.” Violet motioned for Nina’s Pokemon to prepare for battle — she’d be commanding them against the Mega Dragonite. All of them at once.

“Wait!” Nina exclaimed. “Aren’t we supposed to learn how to compartmentalize our connection first? And what happened to health complications and stuff?!”

Violet responded with a dismissive wave. “Learn as you do. And I’ll stop you if it gets dangerous. Why else would I be here?”

Nina shared a doubtful glance with her Mega Dragonite and his goofy ear wings, a hundred thoughts passing through their collective minds in a single moment. Until they were interrupted by a Psybeam from Espy.

“Dang it” The two of them cursed in their own way before locking in. They recognised that glint in Espy’s eyes. The Espeon was feeling particularly vindictive today, either due to Nina leaving her to Eric’s mercy or because of her resentment towards not being able to Mega Evolve. Or, more than likely, a combination of both.

Nitey responded by disappearing in Extreme Speed, eschewing their usual openers — the pair had already reached an agreement to take it easy and limit their destruction. That meant no weather domains and no buffs

However, before Nitey could get anywhere close to the Psychic, he crashed into an earthen wall raised by Sir Clodington followed by a deafening Screech, Supersonic and Confuse Ray combo from Brucey.

The Mega Dragonite was unaffected by the debuffs of course. But it slowed him down enough for Azzy to enshroud him in a shadowy smog and inflict a Curse on him.

Nina nearly keeled over from the pain of the attack, like a spike had been driven straight into her heart, a sentiment that Nitey shared as he groaned. “And that was Azzy going easy on us! How freaking excruciating would it be to be hit with the real thing?!” She understood now why Ghosts and Psychics were so feared. And speaking of Psychics…

Nitey recovered only to find himself encased in a Psychic barrier and surrounded by a localized Blizzard — a collaboration between Brinny and Aurora.

Sharing in Nitey’s senses, Nina shivered from the cold despite being isolated from the storm. “I can’t believe Aurora’s first battle is going to be against her own team.”

Fortunately, in Nitey’s current form, he was basically a master of all the natural elements as he deftly hijacked the Blizzard with a swoop of his tail crystal and swung it against the barrier in an improvised Ice Tail.

The barrier froze then shattered and Nina could feel every step of that process, her butt clenching in tandem with her partner’s strain and the Ice Type Energy threatening to freeze her veins. “Yeah, Violet’s right. This is dangerous.” The girl thought, prompting her to double her efforts in diluting that connection.

The girl’s distraction endangered her partner’s focus as well, as Nitey stuttered in his movement and allowed Espy to Teleport onto his head where she proceeded to slice at his ear wings with Psycho Cut.

Nina winced at the fresh wave of pain, then fell onto her knees when Brucey charged in with a Cross Poison. It was all that she could do to maintain her connection, further strengthening it in a desperate hold rather than diluting it.

“Stop!” Violet called, fully cognizant of her apprentice’s precarious state. “Stubborn lil’ twerp aren’tcha? You lasted longer than I thought. Personally, I would’ve called it after that Curse.” The woman approached with a bottle of Shuckle juice in hand. “Take a break and reset yourself. You now have a better idea of what to expect. So I want you to do better next time.”

Nina growled, swiped at the bottle then collapsed on the cavern floor. “Urgh. Easy for you to say. You’re not the one being assaulted by your own Pokemon.”

Violet scoffed. “I know. It is easy for me to say. But do you honestly think I don’t know how you feel? I went through the same shit when they were training me to Mega as well. Threw a fucking fit and told dad that I’d rather just stick to my desk and handle the numbers. You’ll get over it. I know you will. You’re more tenacious than I ever was at your age…”

Nina, who was sipping at her Shuckle juice, choked at the compliment, nearly losing control of her Mega Evolution as she did. But before she could tease the woman for being a sap, Violet smacked her on the head and announced a resumption of their training.

“C’mon! Let’s get back to it. I still gotta go and arrange that stupid meeting with your in-laws.”

“Urgh. They’re not my in-laws! And don’t pretend like you’re not looking forward to it.” The conniving Cerulean Sister was practically chomping at the bits when she found out that she could potentially extort the Blackthorns for some benefits. Nina almost felt bad for whoever the Dragon clan was sending to negotiate the rights to fabricate her Dragonitite.

Violet chuckled and flashed an ominous grin. “Oh you bet your spanky little ass I’m looking forward to it.” She was already planning to squeeze those stuck up assholes for everything they’re worth; financial compensation, material resources, political leverage, secret knowledge… By the time that Violet was done with them, the Blackthorns would be indebted to them for generations to come. Such was the value of Nina’s discovery.

She had to admit. Back when Daisy said she wanted to take in this random nobody she found on the streets, Violet was skeptical. But as it turned out, that had been the most fortuitous decision her fool of a sister had ever made.

From her natural charisma to her striking intelligence to her uncanny, albeit reluctant, affinity with social media, and her propensity to stumble upon, and prevail against, nefarious conspiracies, Nina had risen to become one of their brightest stars and greatly renewed the embers of their Gym’s steadily waning popularity.

“Now if only she wasn’t so stubborn about doing more work…” Violet sighed. If Nina was willing to cooperate with her plans instead of defying her at every turn, she would have made the girl into a millionaire by now. But as she was, Nina seemed content to just mess around in dusty old ruins and hang with nerdy old professors.

“But then again, that is part of her charm I guess…” Violet looked towards Nina who had her eyes shut in meditation, likely trying to adjust her connection with her Dragonite.

“Oh, I know! Maybe we can have her do one of those IRL streams with Bev. Daphne’s been having a lot of success with streaming her day in the life at the Gym.” As a whole bunch of money-making schemes swirled in Violet’s head, she snapped her fingers and restarted the battle.

The Pokemon responded almost immediately, especially that Espeon. “That’s one other thing that Nina seems to be unnaturally good at — training Pokemon.” Usually, Pokemon would hesitate when put under the command of a foreign trainer, especially when they were also asked to attack their bonded trainer.

But Nina’s Pokemon barely wavered, even coordinating with one another to entrap their friend. They even knew to hold back and lower the intensity of their moves without instruction. “Pretty sure that cheeky Espeon had them all linked in a Psychic network.” Not that Violet could be sure, since she wasn’t invited.

Honestly, her role at the moment was more of a referee than anything.

She watched on as Nitey was trapped in a Trick Room, which the Dragonite shattered with some sort of supercharged Dragon Pulse. Then, the Haunter summoned a veritable army of Will-O-Wisp to surround him. Rather than the inflicting of status effects, of which the Dragonite was immune to, the intent seemed more towards the creation of shadows, allowing Azzy to travel between them for guerilla assaults. Meanwhile, the rest of the team kept at a distance and focused on whittling Nitey down with ranged projectiles from every angle.

As all of that was going on, Nina endured her Dragonite’s overwhelming senses with furrowed brows and gritted teeth.

“Hmph! Seems like she’s already starting to get the hang of it…” No doubt the girl would be completely adjusted by the end of the week. Until then… Violet smirked. No point going too easy on her.

***

Author's note:

Reminder that next chapter release on Monday will be Ch 259.5.

We will be alternating between main chapters and 0.5 chapters for the duration of the training arc.