Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

In the end, about a dozen children and nearly forty lost Pokemon were rescued from that particular Rocket den. Which really brought into question the competency of the local law enforcement. 

A fact that Misty made full use of as she mercilessly tore into the commanding officer in charge of the subjugation efforts when she finally arrived at the scene.

“So not only did you stubbornly refused and hampered the aid of Interpol and the League’s Ace Trainers for the sake of your vainglorious pursuit, but you also had to rely on two of my apprentices to spearhead the operation for you — who I should also note, are only ten and twelve years old. Thereby placing them in dire danger where either of them could have been killed or worse!”

The middle aged Jenny, the superior of the Jenny that accompanied Nina earlier, reeled back at the Gym Leader’s fierce admonishment, looking flushed with indignation. “We would have successfully completed the operation even without the cooperation of —”’

“Would’ve! Could’ve!” Misty interrupted. “The fact of the matter is, without Nina and Beverly’s efforts, this operation would have been a wash. You could have allowed Team Rocket to escape. Or worse! The hostages could have been harmed or we’d be forced into a standoff where the city would have had to negotiate with terrorists!”

Nina and Beverly just spectated the drama on the sidelines, with the younger girl sitting on her uncle’s lap — who, she should note, was also fuming silently. Ali had apparently spent the whole day trying to cut through all the red tape keeping him from rushing over to his niece’s rescue.

“And that’s not even accounting for the fact that the city allowed these terrorists to impersonate council personnel to go on an unrestrained crime spree!” The enraged Gym leader continued. “Ten! That’s how many kids were rescued by my girls! How in Distortion did the Cerulean police allow ten missing children’s cases to go unresolved for so long!”

Commander Jenny groaned and glared at Misty. “Thanks to you, my officers have been spread far too thin during this time! And we already had detectives working on tracking down the missing children—”

“Oh, fuck off! My sisters and I have already informed the City Council of our plans beforehand. And might I remind you that it was the council who decided they wanted to double down and cash in on our wedding. We did want to profit on merchandising and some sponsorships to make up for the extravagant costs, yes. But it was never meant to be turned into this spectacle. So don’t you dare try to shift the blame on me or my Gym!”

Misty huffed and gestured for her people to follow her in leaving. “I expect accurate reporting, commander. Fully reflecting you and your people’s ineptitudes. Don’t let me catch you trying to overstate your meager contributions and downplay the true heroes of this operation.” She gestured towards Nina and Beverly with that last sentence. “I’ll be making my own separate report to the League as well to ensure full transparency and accountability.”

“Interpol will also be interceding,” chimed Ali. “For months, we have been feeding intel to local authorities on suspected criminal activities. It is devastating to know that our efforts have not been treated with due severity. 

“Your inaction nearly allowed all of these missing children and stolen Pokemon to be trafficked out of the region from right under your noses. Had it not been for the bravery of my niece and her fellow Gym Trainer, these victims might be halfway across the Eastern Ocean by now.”

And with that ultimatum, the Interpol inspector followed after his fuming fiance with Nina in his embrace and Beverly to the side. Normally, Nina wouldn’t allow herself to be coddled like this, but given how on edge her uncle was, she decided to just let Ali indulge in the comfort of her presence for now.

On the way out, Nina waved at a meek looking Lieutenant Jenny who was also present. Despite the circumstances, they were comrades who fought together. And the policewoman was also kind enough to play along with her reckless whims. A fact that she would no doubt be admonished for later on. Not that they’d be able to do much to her, the woman was one of the reasons why this controversial operation did not end in a disaster after all.

In truth, Nina felt a little mixed towards that tense exchange. On one hand, she understood why the Cerulean Police was reluctant to allow external organizations to undermine their authority. But on the other hand, she also felt that they were too heavy handed in trying to obstruct the helping hand that was offered to them, for no good reason other than to preserve their vanity.

Not to mention how they jumped the gun and pushed through a half-baked operation just to get ahead of their rival organisations. “And for what exactly? Credit? Pride? Pettiness?” Truly a vainglorious pursuit, as Misty said. Not that she and her sisters were entirely faultless either, with their excessively ostentatious display.

At the end of the day, it was all just inane politics and a clash of egos. Nothing that would involve her and Beverly. Or at least she hoped the adults around her would shield them from it. In fact, the one sided verbal beatdown the older Jenny received was clearly a warning for the police to back off and not attempt any funny business with the two children.

So basically; “If you go back on your word and try to press charges on our girls, we’ll make you regret it.” Just another layer of leverage and assurance to keep each other in line. And in return, Misty and Ali will just make a token gesture of admonishment and refrain from pursuing any tangible actions in retaliation as well.

***

“WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING!” Nina and Beverly winced at Misty’s admonishment.

“That was extremely reckless of you two. You shouldn’t have agreed to their stupid plan like that,” Ali scolded.

After getting both Nina and Beverly looked at by the paramedics, the group took shelter from nosy reporters in the private room of a nearby restaurant.

Nina would have loved to just go straight home to change out of her ruined clothes, but she didn’t want to worry her parents. So she managed to convince the two adults to allow her some leeway to buy some new clothes and get changed before they head back. Which they agreed to, by having one of Misty’s regular stores bring a selection over to this restaurant.

That way, they could avoid the scrutiny of Aquarium Girl being seen in public looking like she had just escaped from a Charizard’s maw. And since they were here anyways, might as well have some lunch while they were at it.

“It’s not Nina’s fault… I would have charged in even if she refused,” said Beverly, earning her a gentle stroke on the head from Nina.

“No, I thought the plan was feasible since we would have backup. If anything I shouldn’t have asked Beverly to take on the Rocket executives without a full grasp of their capabilities.” Nina cuddled up to her friend. “I nearly got you killed, sorry Bev.”

But the older girl simply pulled her junior in for a hug and scoffed. “Please, those guys were chumps. I only struggled a bit in the beginning cause they ganged up on me.”

“They’re criminals, Bev! What did you expect?!” Misty rebuked, as she took a sip of the cocktail she ordered. “Criminals don’t play by the rules. They’re not going to take you one on one with a referee, kid!”

“I already know that…” Beverly whined.

“She’s right,” said Ali, before addressing Nina again. “You got lucky with that Houndoom. If it had its pack with it, then you’d be in a cage by now.”

Nina wilted. “I know… I wasn’t expecting anyone strong to be guarding a bunch of helpless kids. But I guess if they were thinking of them as precious ‘merchandise’ then it kind of makes sense.” She added that she was too caught up with trying to prevent a hostage situation.

“One misstep and you could have gotten those hostages killed, Nina.”

“I know… I’m really sorry, Uncle Ali. I should have texted you and asked for your opinion before agreeing to anything.”

The man nodded in satisfaction at Nina’s words. Ali knew that his niece wasn’t an idiot and that she would learn from her mistakes. At the end of the day, both the girls were safe and got out of that tricky situation as heroes. That was something worth celebrating at least.

So he called the waiter over and told them to order whatever they wanted, in an attempt to ease their collective nerves. “In celebration of our two heroes, and Espy’s evolution. Cheers!”

The girls cheered along and clinked glasses with each other. Though Misty was still fuming at the whole ordeal. Something that she quickly got over once she had a few drinks in her.

“By the way, could you keep this a secret from mom? I’m worried that she’s gonna have a freakout,” Nina said to Ali at some point.

The older man sighed. “There’s no point. The media is already hounding the parents of the rescued children. It’s only a matter of time until it's known that ‘Aquarium Girl’ rescued a bunch of kidnapped children and stolen Pokemon. Best we break the news to Leanette on our terms. At least we can shift the narrative a bit and soften the blow.”@@novelbin@@

Nina sighed but nodded in agreement. Her uncle was right, no point trying to hide it from her parents.

“Hey, what about me?! I played a part too!” exclaimed the pouting Beverly, earning her laughs from Misty.

“Oh don’t you worry your pretty little head,” assured the woman. “No doubt Violet’s already concocting all sorts of Tauros poo to advertise you and pull in some sponsors. For a generous cut of course.”

Nina nodded in agreement and assured Beverly as well. “Leave it to Violet to handle your publicity. She’s expensive, but very effective as you can already tell from all my suffering.” She moaned, eliciting an excited look from the girl.

***

Nina let out an involuntary sigh as she soaked her body into the hot water. They were using Nairy’s brand new inflatable tub, but it still felt cramped in there despite Nina having ordered the largest size they had.

It wasn’t until Beverly pointed it out during one of their regular calls that Nina realized she had made a mistake in shopping for products designed for humans instead of Pokemon. “Oh well, it’s only an issue when I’m back home. There’s a separate bathtub for me and an Espy in the dorm so no harm done.” Home… since when did Nina start to consider this tiny apartment in this strange new world to be home, she wondered.

“Nair~” The water shifted as Nairy tightened his coil around his two companions, while nuzzling his snout against Nina’s face, eliciting giggles from the girl. Nina’s partner had become super clingy after their most recent ordeal, clearly still plagued by residual anxiety.

“Es…” Meanwhile, Espy was gently pressing against the pale patches of Nina’s skin, where the girl had been burned by the Houndoom’s flames earlier in the day. The Espeon was clearly still feeling guilty about letting Nina come to harm from her own perceived weakness.

Nina smiled warmly at her princess. “Or should I say queen now?” And gave the silly Espeon a loving kiss on her ruby red forehead jewel.

“No need to worry, Espy.” The girl assured while flaunting the freshly healed skin on her back. “See, it’s all healed, just like new!” That was because it literally was new, the fresh patch of glistening supple skin was a stark contrast to the rest of Nina’s tanned body, making her look like a dairy cow. Pokemon world medicine truly was miraculous. It only took a single application of Burn Heal by the nurses to fix her up.

That said, her current looks might pose a problem when it came time for her performance during the wedding, but it was nothing a bit of makeup can’t fix. And speaking of, both Nina and Beverly agreed to hold off on practice tomorrow, so the girl had the entire day free.

“Let’s head to the Sea Cottage and visit Bill and your dad tomorrow, shall we?” 

Espy nodded, perking up slightly at the prospect of reuniting with Umber. The Espeon was eager to show off her growth to her father, as evident by her newly acquired twin tails splashing around in the water, eliciting a swoon and more kisses from Nina.

“Nair!”

Nina laughed at her needy Dragonair and gave him a little boop on the nose. “Thank you both for all your hard work today.” The girl said as she pulled her two precious family members in for a hug. “But still, you guys went a little too far.” Nina continued, her tone taking on a sterner tone.

“Nairy, I know we were dealing with bad guys, but using Double Tail on that goon was too much, when a simple Water Pulse could have done the job.” Nina chided, causing Nairy to droop a little in remorse. 

“But thank you. You got all injured just to rush to me and Espy’s rescue. Otherwise, things could have turned out a lot worse for the both of us.” Nina reassured Nairy with more kisses as she and Espy repeatedly talked about how much they loved and appreciated him. 

Regardless of their circumstances, Nairy did what he did out of love for his companions. And Nina did not want to discourage him from doing the same thing again in the future if it came down to it. “Better them than us.”

She also briefly touched on Espy’s excessive handling of Team Rocket’s Flying Pokemon. Which in hindsight, was probably due to the highly emotional state that the newly evolved Espeon was in at the time. Espy was usually much calmer than that due to her perpetually active Calm Mind. So in the end, it came back to a lack of training on Nina’s part. She needed to teach her Pokemon to maintain a balanced state of mind even when under heavy stress, else they were liable to make dumb mistakes in battle.

***

“Umb.”

“Es.” 

The pair of father and daughter Eeveelutions were as stoic as ever as they simply sat in front of each other and exchanged curt greetings.

But in the eyes of their respective trainers, they could tell that the two socially awkward Pokemon were ecstatic at their reunion. As evident by the proud glint in Umber’s eyes and how animated Espy’s two tails were.

“Espy has become quite the remarkable Espeon. In all my years researching Eevees, I don’t believe I’ve seen a specimen quite like her,” said Bill.

“How do you figure?” Nina asked in return.

Bill gestured towards Espy, particularly her tail. “See how close the split of Espy’s tail is to her body? The depth of the split is usually a good measure of how powerful an Espeon’s Psychic potential is.” He then pulled out pictures of average Espeons on his Pokedex and showed it to Nina for comparison.

And indeed, Nina could tell that most Espeons only had a split near the final third of their tail. With the longest one that Bill had on record being a split that reached halfway. In comparison, Espy’s tails were barely conjoined for five centimeters or so before splitting.

“And look at how dextrous each of her individual tails are,” Bill continued. “They’re practically independent limbs of their own!” Apparently for most Espeons, the fork was purely aesthetic with the species being unable to move the individual splits the way that Espy could.

Bill’s high praise made Espy puff her chest up in pride, while Umber let out a rare smile and gave his daughter a nod of approval.

Nina couldn't help but tackle her Espeon with a hug at the adorably awkward display of affection. “Hear that Espy? You’re the most special Espeon in the whole wide world. As expected of my precious princess.”

“Es~” Espy reciprocated Nina’s nuzzle and gave her human a little lick with her feline-esque barbed tongue. The rough texture of the barbs made it a little unpleasant on Nina’s face but she simply endured the discomfort out of love for her Pokemon.

Nina did not want Espy to shy away from physical affection like she used to. In fact, aside from appearances, this was probably the largest change that Nina observed in Espy since the Evolution. 

Her tsundere princess’s temperament had warmed somewhat and was now much more open to physical displays of affection. Where before, Espy would dislike Nina for coddling her like this outside of grooming time. Now, she accepted it without complaint and would even reciprocate. Much to Nairy’s delight as he had been pestering Espy with non-stop cuddles.

As if Espy had literally just read Nina’s mind, probably because she actually did, the Espeon huffed and jerked her head away in embarrassment. Causing her overbearing human to swoon even more at her cuteness.

“You know Nina, when Umber and I entrusted Espy to you, we were not expecting such stellar results. I mean, we always knew that she was different from the rest of the litter, but such incredible growth was beyond even our wildest imaginations. I’m sure Professor Oak would love to use the two of you as a case study on the correlation between the potency of a Pokemon’s Friendship Evolution and the strength of their bond with a trainer.”

Nina denied the praise however, citing her conversation with Sabrina. “I met Sabrina during a brief trip to Saffron City, and she mentioned that Espy was already extraordinarily Gifted to begin with. All she needed was just a bit of diligence in nurturing her Gift. So I’m pretty sure she would have done fine even if she was under your care, Bill.”

But the Pokemon Professor shook his head in denial as well. “You’re selling yourself short, Nina. No matter how much potential a Pokemon holds, they require proper nurture in order to achieve said potential. Nurture, which you tirelessly work to provide for all of your Pokemon. Otherwise, what meaning is there in bonding with a human trainer?

“But enough about that. I’d like to run some tests on Espy, if she may be kind enough to oblige?”

That last sentence caused the Espeon to wilt in despair while sending a pleading glance to her father, who simply averted his gaze in helplessness. Nina chuckled at the silly sight and kissed Espy’s forehead jewel in assurance.

***

Author's note:

My flight got canceled! Joy! I'm stuck in a hotel room somewhere! Joy! I can't make it to work in time! Joy!

2025 is off to a great start people. Everything has gone wrong so far. And I do mean everything! How joyous! It really does feel like the whole world is against me sometimes.

Also, next chapter on Thursday.