Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Nina reached her hand out and revelled at the tingling sensation of the melting snowflake in her palm. The girl let out a silly grin at the feeling of mundane happiness that she was experiencing and stretched her body, allowing the hot water to wash away the exhaustion and aches in her ankles.

“This is the life… Don’t you agree, Nairy?” 

Nothing beats a late night soak where one could hog the entirety of a spacious public bath to themselves. Especially in the midst of dainty snowflakes raining from the sky. The contrast between the cool air chilling Nina’s face and the heat permeating her body was simply divine.

“Nair~” Nina’s partner appeared to agree as the languid Dragon coiled around his partner to provide her with a backrest to lean on.

Even Espy was looking more relaxed than usual as she allowed her body to float limply in the hot bath.

The only one missing from Nina’s team was Brucey, who disliked baths and didn’t do well with the cold weather. So she set his Friend Ball to transparency mode and allowed it to float on the water like a rubber ducky, just so that her Golbat wouldn’t feel left out.

An important tip to know when one stayed in a ryokan with a public bath was for the guest to note down the cleaning time of the baths. Because right when cleaning ends was usually when the bath was completely empty. That, and early dawn or late midnight.

In the case of this particular ryokan where Nina and her friends were staying the night in, they did the cleaning during dinner time. And since they had reserved the Kantonian course meal, Nina couldn’t get to the bath during that time.

Nairy leaned in for a lazy boop with Nina, eliciting giggles from the girl as she affectionately pulled him in for an embrace. “Are you excited to go see your family tomorrow?”

“Nair!”

Nina gave her excited Dragon a little kiss. “Mr Masa said that not a lot of people visit the Safari Zone during winter so he can bend the rules a bit and give us a full-on tour of the reserve — well, parts of it anyway.” The nature reserve was massive, and more than half of it was deemed too unsafe for visitation. It was a good thing that Nairy’s old neighbourhood wasn’t part of those areas.

Nairy nodded fervently and began singing a little tune to express his anticipation. A contented smile bloomed on Nina’s face as she leaned back against her partner to enjoy the live Dragon song that served as the cherry on top of this luxurious outdoor bath experience.

***

“Mr Masa, Long time no see!”

“Hoho… Is that you girlie?” Masayuki asked, looking a little bewildered. He could scarcely believe that the young beauty in front of him was the same quirky little girl he had met all those years ago.

“Yup! I’m all grown up now,” said Nina as she did a little twirl to let the old Safari Ranger get a good look at her.

Meanwhile, Masayuki looked much the same as he did back when Nina first met him. However, she did notice that the man seemed to have shrunk a little. Probably a byproduct of his advancing age.

“I’ll say, they musta been feeding you good over at Cerulean City. I feel old just looking at ya.” Masayuki reached out to pat the girl affectionately, earning him giggles in return. “And these must be your friends.” He then turned to greet the rest of Nina’s entourage.

“That’s right, this is Beverly, Fuyumi and Natsumi. We’re all apprentices from the Cerulean Gym,” said Nina.

“Nice to meet you sir,” greeted Natsumi. “Thanks for having us,” added Fuyumi.

Meanwhile, Beverly just gave a curt nod, being awkward around strangers as usual.

“Heh, to think I’ll be showing a bunch of little mermaids around. Wait till I tell those youngsters at work.” Masayuki gestured towards the little electric cart that he drove to get here. “Come on over and hop on. Y’all should be tiny enough to fit in.”

The lodge that the girls were driven to was a quaint little two storey with enough rooms for each of the girls, and even a spacious lawn where they could release their Pokemon on.

“We don’t have a lot of guests around right now so I took the liberty of picking out one of the better lodgings for you girlies.”

“Thanks Mr Masa,” said Nina as she released all her Pokemon into the lodge.

Masayuki whistled at the sight of the now-evolved Nairy. “My oh my, Is that you, Noodles? You’re a thick noodle now huh…”

“Nair~” Nairy perked up at the familiar face and got in close to nuzzle at the senior Ranger.

Masayuki chuckled and gave the Dragonair a few firm pats to assess Nairy’s condition. “Flexible and hardy scales with dense muscles underneath. I can tell that Noodles here has been shedding healthily and getting loads of exercise.” The man nodded in approval. “Good work, girlie. And here I remember you panicking about not being able to take good care of him way back when.”

Nina rubbed at the back of her head sheepishly. “Yeah, it’s all thanks to the Cerulean Gym taking me in honestly. I doubt Nairy would be in such great condition if not for all their support and training.”

And the girl did indeed have a chest full of Dragon Scales now that she had stowed away in her dorm room. Too much to really know what to do with. So when she asked Lilian, the Dragon Tamer proposed that she saved them to be made into a cloak in the future. “The Blackthorns do love their gaudy capes.” 

“When there’s a will, there’s a way. I told you back then didn’t I? The most important thing is that you care. You’d be surprised at how many people lack even that.”

Nina nodded. Having gained more experience in this world and been exposed to all its different facets, she could now wholeheartedly agree with the older man’s words.

“Anyways, you two wanna go visit ol’ Victoria right?”

“Can we come?” Beverly chimed. The older girl had been eyeing the chance to get a Dratini of her own for a very long time.

Unfortunately, Masayuki let out a wry smile and shook his head in response. “No can't do girlie, the brood is mostly hibernating right now and in a very vulnerable state. Not saying that I don't trust you or anything, but it's too easy for peeps to come in and swoop them up at the moment, so we have to be real careful here.” 

He then turned his attention back to Nina. “Which is another thing I gotta talk to you about. With how much Noodles here has changed, there's a small chance that his mother won't be able to recognise him.” Nairy drooped his head at the depressing warning. “So play it by the ear and try not to be too pushy alright? Victoria's real sensitive right now.” 

Nina returned the senior Ranger's concern with a grave nod. 

“Aww… We wanted to play with baby Tinis…” Natsumi whined, genuinely disappointed that she wouldn't be able to bury herself in a spaghetti of little blue noodle Dragons. 

Masayuki chuckled. “One of the rules we have when it comes to the Dratinis is, ‘if it's meant to be then it's meant to be’. Only people who accidentally fish one up or encounter them naturally in the wild get to have a chance to catch them — just like Nina here. I'm not gonna stop you from coming back some other time to try your luck though.”

The Safari Ranger also said that he would arrange for his colleagues to guide the other girls while he and Nina were off visiting Victoria. “In fact, one of them is a familiar face.” Masayuki added in a suggestive tone, eliciting a confused look from Nina.

Masayuki chuckled. “It’s Stephen’s kid. You remember him right?”

Nina lit up at the realization. “Wait, Charlie’s still here?” The girl did remember that her childhood friend mentioned wanting to revisit the Safari Zone again. But that was months ago, so she had assumed the boy would have moved on by now. “Last time he called me was right before he left Pewter City, said he was gonna go catch a boat in Pallet Town or something. But it’s been what? 4-5 months now?”

“Yup, showed up right on our doorstep.” The Ranger continued. “Took him in for a couple of weeks and showed him the ropes. Boy then decided he wanted to experience the Ranger life in more depth, so we hired him as an unpai- I mean, voluntary apprentice. Him and his buddy both — the youngest Harrison boy.”

Beverly’s face seemed to twist into a scowl when Masayuki mentioned something about a youngest Harrison boy.

“What’s wrong Bev?” Nina asked. “Harrison is Brock’s last name right? I thought we had a great relationship with them. He even sent such thoughtful gifts to Misty for her wedding.” Not to mention the two’s long acquaintance from their journeying days way back when.

Beverly sighed. “Are you sure it’s the youngest Harrison sibling?” She asked Masayuki in return.

The man nodded with a wry smile. “I know what you’re thinking. But the boy’s turned over a new leaf, so no sense in getting too hung up on those baseless rumors. Better to hold onto your judgement until you actually meet him, alright?”

In lieu of a reply, Beverly just nodded silently and squished Nina’s cheeks to vent.

“Dammit, Bev! What’s your problem?!” Nina exclaimed, prompting Masayuki to laugh out at their childish antics.

“Anyways, you girls should get settled down and take it easy for now while I go make arrangements for tomorrow.”

“Thank you Mr Masa. And sorry to be such a bother,” said the apologetic Nina as she embraced the pouting Beverly to comfort her

Masayuki laughed. “Not at all, we're quite idle during winter without as many tourists around.” He explained that most of their work during the season involved dealing with Pokemon who were out of hibernation for whatever reason.

Those reasons may include stuff like lack of preparation and food during autumn, Pokemon who were unable to compete for shelter, or any disturbances that caused Pokemon to awaken prematurely and go berserk, and so on. 

“Oh, and the poachers.” Masayuki continued. “Can’t forget them. Winter is like buffet season for those ne-er-do wells — not a lot of dangerous Pokemon roaming around and lots of sleeping ones.”

“So how do you deal with them then?” Nina asked. To which the Ranger explained that they have watchtowers and outposts set up all around the nature preserve. A lone Ranger would spend a week there in isolation, paired with at least one Psychic Pokemon and a full team of battlers. After the week was up, someone else would come by and take over.

It actually sounded really appealing to Nina, like one of those firewatch people who would spend entire months in the middle of nowhere just to watch out for bushfires.

“Also, you'll be happy to know that we recently acquired some Galarian Ponyta as part of our exchange program with the region.” Masayuki added. “They're not entirely settled in yet, so I'll have your friends brought over to the pen to make up for the Dratini.”

The twins instantly lit up at the proposition. If there was one thing more appealing to girls than Dragons, it was unicorns. 

Nina chuckled. She wanted to go see the rainbow ponies as well, but Nairy's family reunion took precedence. “Besides, I'm not a horse girl, so why would I obsess over unicorns? Nope. Nuh-uh. Dragons were cooler. Who needs those virgin obsessed perverts anyway.” 

“Can’t catch 'em though.” The older man added, eliciting groans of disappointment from the other girls and a relieved sigh from Nina.