Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

“Alright, Espy. Let’s get this over with.”

Given that Nina had been holding back in her battle performance this year in favor of training her two new Pokemon. The school deemed it fit to actually assess her battle prowess during the midterms instead of affording her an automatic pass like last year.

But Nina, ever the pragmatic gal, didn’t want to risk her grades over her silly reservations and decided to go all out during the exams. “I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to VF after my journey. But hey, better safe than sorry.” She mused as she watched her Espeon demolish every opponent that came her way.

The current one was an Electabuzz, who charged towards her with a Thunder Punch, only for Espy to casually lower her body to duck out of the way. By this point, Espy had long since achieved mastery over Calm Mind, able to keep it active almost perpetually like a passive ability. 

There weren’t a lot of moves capable of actually hitting her anymore, unless it was perfectly executed by Pokemon of the Ace tier or indiscriminate area of effect attacks that Espy couldn’t dodge. But even then, she could rely on her Psychic barrier to mitigate damage. Just like right now, when Nina’s opponent commanded her Electabuzz to blast the entire arena with Thunder.

Espy yawned as she made a game out of Electabuzz’s barrage, forgoing the use of an all encompassing barrier in favor of tiny Protect panels that materialized right in front of the bolts of Thunder only when they came her way.

Nina shook her head in exasperation but held her silence since she knew that Espy was smart enough to not overexert herself. Despite her stoic demeanour, the Espeon was indeed straining herself with this flashy stunt. In fact, Nina could feel the ridiculous amount of mental strain that Espy was subjecting herself to through their Psychic link. 

It took a lot to simultaneously predict where Thunder was going to strike and to conjure up a strong enough barrier at rapid speeds to block it at the last minute. The strain was so great that Nina could feel Espy’s Calm Mind faltering. The Espeon even had to offload some of the burden onto her trainer’s mind a few times, causing a wave of exhaustion to wash over Nina each time. 

The pair had only recently begun intensifying the use of their Psychic link. Maintaining an active connection in the midst of heated battle was actually an advanced technique and much more difficult than people might think. It also required an active effort from both sides of the connection to prevent one mind from encroaching upon the other and utterly dominating it.

If Nina let her guard down even for a moment, she risked Espy accidentally damaging her mind with her overwhelming Psychic prowess. Or worst, Espy’s personality might subsume Nina’s and result in her developing a split personality or a shattered mind, a mere vessel being puppeteered by her Pokemon as opposed to her own person. 

The level of danger involved was the reason why they had been very conservative in training this aspect of Espy’s abilities until they each felt confident enough to be able to terminate the connection at a moment’s notice.

“That’s enough, Espy. You’re approaching your limit. Finish this match right now.”

Espy returned Nina’s thoughts with a pulse of affirmation and triggered the Future Sight that she had set up beforehand.

Nina actually didn’t fully understand how Future Sight worked. From what she observed and from what Espy explained to her, it involved analyzing the opponent’s weakness and seeing into the future to prime an attack to hit a critical spot, right as the target was at their most vulnerable. 

In essence it was like setting up a clairvoyant trap, one that needed to be manually triggered by maneuvering an opponent to just the right spot. Which was what Espy did, as she repositioned herself with a Quick Attack and tossed sand into the Electabuzz’s eyes. It was Espy’s favorite combo that she kept using even at such an advanced stage. Sometimes, Nina worried if her Espeon was influenced a little too much by Eric, Misty’s sadistic Slowking.

Electabuzz cried out and stumbled at the underhanded Sand Attack. But before he could fully recover, a Light Screen empowered Psybeam materialized out of nowhere and struck the Electric Pokemon in the back of the head.

Espy then followed up by encasing the faltering Pokemon with a layer of Psychic aura and proceeded to Hulk slam Electabuzz into the ground over and over again until it fainted. 

Nina shot an apologetic look to her opponent over Espy’s rough treatment. “Yup, definitely spent too much time with Eric.” She thought, in response to Espy aping her senior’s signature maneuver.

The invigilating teacher declared Nina the winner with an almost flabbergasted look and both students moved on to their next match, which Nina called on Nairy to handle, much to the despair of her next opponent.

***

“Trains!” That was the means by which Nina and the rest of the VF representatives for the inter-school meet were going to travel to Celadon City. Naturally, as a bonafide train enthusiast who had never taken the Magnet Train before, Nina was super excited. 

“Slow down, Nina.” Kerry laughed at her friend who was acting like her age for once. 

Nina was currently rushing into the train’s bento shop along with other busy travelers who were all taking the train for myriad reasons. Wading through the hustle and the bustle of a busy train station during rush hour was also a quintessential experience when taking a train.

“Hurry up, Kerr! Or all the limited edition lunchboxes are gonna be sold out!” Nina exclaimed in excitement. Ekiben were a must when one embarked on a protracted train ride. In fact, she had arrived at the station an hour and a half early just to vie for some of the Vermilion Station’s specialty bentos.

That said, they had to make a stop in Saffron City where the region’s Central Station was before transiting to Celadon. And there was a one hour break in between that would allow passengers to disembark and grab a bite to eat. “Dammit! I wanna go eat at one of the standing eateries too.”

Nina glanced back anxiously to see if Kerry was still trailing her when she got a brilliant idea. “That’s right, I can share the bentos with Kerry. That way we can get a nice variety and I’ll hopefully have some room for Udon when we get to Central Station!” 

With a plan in place and her determination renewed, Nina hardened her resolve and threw herself into the throng of individuals crowding the bento shop.

***

“Wow there, you looking to feed an army, Nina?” Mr Yamada teased as he laughed at the girl carrying two hefty stacks of bentos in her hands. The burly teacher, along with the nerdy Mrs Smith were going to be overseeing the students heading to the inter school meet.

Nina blushed and averted her gaze in embarrassment. “I’m willing to share with everyone… So long as they let me take a few bites from each bento of course.”

“Oh? Is Aqua Girl buying lunch?” chimed an older, sporty looking female student who was wearing the school’s jersey with its sleeves all rolled up.

Nina nodded. “It’s Aquarium Girl, I don’t own a trident. And I prefer to be called by my name, Nina. Also, yes. If you’re okay sitting with me and Kerry, I’d love to share my food with you.” The older girl seemed like a big eater, which was great. It meant that there was still hope for Nina’s gourmet aspirations.

The senior student tilted her head in response. “I don’t know what a trident has to do with anything, but sure! I’ll sit with you two.” She then dragged a gloomy looking boy over, which Nina recognized as being the student council president, a final year student. “I’m Matsuri, and this doofus here is Thomas. Nice to meet you!”

Thomas seemed unbothered by the rough treatment and just followed up with a curt nod at his two juniors. “Indeed, this should be an ideal arrangement from my perspective.” The boy remarked as he pushed against the bridge of his thick rimmed glasses. “I was initially forced to forgo sampling the station’s boxed lunches in favor of partaking in a famed Udon shop situated within Central Station. But with your generosity, I shall be able to have a taste of both.”

Nina nodded fervently as an invisible connection formed between the two train enthusiasts. The girl wordlessly offloaded one of her bento stacks to her senior as they gave each other a firm handshake and nods of acknowledgement, the lens on the older boy’s glasses gleaming subtly all the while.

“Weirdoes,” said Matsuri, while Kerry just smiled warmly at Nina’s enthusiasm.

“Alright, kiddos!” Mr Yamada called. “Do one last check of your belongings and gather up for attendance.” 

Including the teachers, there were about two dozen members in their entourage; One student representing each year as battlers, volunteers like Kerry and two other nurse apprentices, as well as some other representatives from the research faculties and a couple of students from the student council that were in charge of logistics — a role which Matsuri and Thomas also shared, in addition to representing their year.

“I can already see that a lot of you have buddied up, good. This will be your group going forwards, I trust that you’ll keep each other in check and accountable. If anyone goes missing, I’ll be looking for their group mates first,” said Yamada as he scanned through the students in front of him and went through a checklist on his tablet all the while.

“Seats in the cabin are in fours, so if anyone is left out. No worries, you can come and sit with me and Mrs Smith,” said the teacher, with a wolfish grin. “Don’t worry, we don’t bite.” He added. But Nina could see students in some of the odd numbered groups looking around anxiously, not liking the idea of being forced to sit with their teacher for the 6 hour long train ride to Celadon. 

“I don’t need Espy to predict that there’s going to be some intense rock, paper, scissors coming in the future.” Nina mused.

Mrs Smith then clapped her hands to settle the rowdy students. “Now then, I’ll be going around and distributing the train tickets. Make sure to scan it properly in the turnstill and remember to retrieve it on the other side.” She instructed. “We’ll still have need for them in Central Station, and to exit Celadon Station. Any students who lose their tickets will be subject to a fine. Is that clear?”

The students nodded gravely at the mention of a fine as the two teachers settled any outstanding business before embarking on the Magnet Train with a gaggle of hyperactive teenagers in tow.

Nina, in particular, was practically sparkling at the sight of the sleek, futuristic looking chrome carriage. The whole thing just looked so surreal with round tubes levitating on top of magnetic rails as the name “Magnet Train” implied.

“Was I actually isekai’d to a sci-fi world all this time?” She mused.

Nina turned to Kerry and asked her friend to help hold her bentos for her while she pulled out her Pokedex and began snapping pictures. To her side, Thomas was even more intense as the older boy whipped a massive camera out of nowhere, with a lens that was probably the length of his forearm.

The two nerds along with some other like minded students kept at it until one of the teachers admonished them and threatened to leave them behind if they didn’t hurry it up.

The interior of the train was as sleek as its exterior, with the usual overhead compartment and velvet-lined seats. The only difference between the Magnet Train and the Shinkansen of Nina’s old world, was the lack of windows. This was because the Magnet Train actually traveled through underground tunnels.

It was unfortunate, since leisurely gazing out at the scenery was also a big part of train travel. In fact, Miles always made sure to book tickets for seats facing Mount Fuji when he took the bullet train in Nina’s past life. But it couldn’t be helped, since the denizens of this world did not want to displace any Pokemon habitats by laying down lengthy railway tracks across nature.

“I wonder how they prevent Pokemon from digging into the tunnels though?” A question that Nina would ask Collin the geologist about through a message later.

The girl then settled down next to Kerry, across from Matsuri and Thomas with a giddy smile on her face, eagerly awaiting the launch of the Magnet Train.

***

Author's Note:

For context, Matsuri and Thomas were characters that would have played a bigger role in the timeline that Nina did not catch Tini as a starter.

Matsuri in essence would have been Beverly, that annoying older sister character. While Thomas would have been a mentor of sorts. Because as per anime tradition, what school arc would have been complete without a group of dysfunctional Student Council crew?

However, at the moment, they have been largely rendered moot and are now just colorful side characters that I don't plan to do much with. I might recycle them again in the future, but we shall have to see.