Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Charlie's current Pokemon.

• Typhoon the Poliwhirl (F)
• Growlithe (unnamed) (F)
• Murphy Jr the Donphan (F)

***

“RUUUNNN!!!” 

Charlie and his team booked it, yelping in pain each time they felt solid beaks against their tender flesh. Murphy Jr was unaffected though. But the armor Pokemon wasn’t as fast as her companions, so she took to curling up and rolling beside them, further discouraging any of the Spearows from going after her.

“Dammit! What did I do wrong? I approached the flock with Berries and everything!” Charlie lamented. He could have sworn he’d seen his childhood friend do this dozens of times before, and it always worked for her.

“Ouch!” Charlie exclaimed as he pulled his cap down to secure it, even raising his arms to cover his head against the relentless onslaught of angry Spearows. “Dammit! Growlithe, use Ember, scare them away!” The boy commanded, but that was a mistake.

The Fire from his Growlithe only served to further agitate the bird Pokemon, and because Growlithe had to pause in her steps to execute the move, it turned her into an easy target as the Spearow all piled onto her.

“Shoot!” Charlie cursed, running back to shield his puppy with his body and scooping her up in his embrace before continuing their frantic escape.

Charlie gasped as he collapsed underneath a tree. It took a while, but the Spearows finally relented and gave up on pursuing them.

“That was a close one huh, Typhoon?” Charlie almost saw his life flashing before his eyes  when one of the Spearows overtook them and charged towards his face with its claws primed. However, just as the boy was reaching to pat his partner on the back, the Poliwhirl winced in pain.

“Oh shoot!” Charlie unslung his backpack and frantically began searching. In his relief, he had completely neglected the sorry state of his Pokemon. “Dammit Charlie, you gotta do better than this!” He chided, eyes teary, while completely ignoring the bloody wounds that he himself had sustained as well.

After a bit of rummaging, he finally grabbed hold of a Super Potion, one of the only three that he bought, but now was not the time to be stingy. In fact, Charlie regretted not buying more since it would take over a week for him to trek from Cerulean to Pewter City, thanks to the rough terrain of Route 3.

“There, buddy, how does that feel? Did I miss a spot?”

Typhoon pointed to a few other areas that Charlie had overlooked, prompting the boy to continue spraying the healing Potion. After that was done, the Poliwhirl rubbed at her belly with a subdued “Whirl…”

“Hmm? What’s the matter, girl? Did you get a tummy ache? Or are you hungry?” Typhoon nodded at the latter and Charlie checked his Pokegear for the time. “Oh wow, we wasted the whole day on that chase.” 

They had set out from Cerulean City at around mid-morning, and it was now late noon, which meant that they had completely skipped over lunch. In fact, it was now closer to dinner time than lunch time. No wonder Typhoon was hungry, and after such a strenuous run to boot.

“Sorry, buddy. Let me tend to Growlithe and Murph and I’ll go get dinner ready for us, okay?” said Charlie, which was exactly what he did as he grabbed his Fire puppy and did a thorough check of her health. Murphy Jr was completely fine though, just a little hungry as well.

Charlie laid out Typhoon’s bowl and filled it with a combination of Pokechow and a mix of fresh and preserved Berries. 

The boy had purchased a Silph Co backpack using some of his hard earned money, but it was one of the more basic models that lacked any refrigeration compartments. So he couldn’t stock up on as many Berries as he would like. He did have Berry Pouches which were good for preserving the fruits, but those were meant to be portable and could only hold a handful of Berries at most.

As it was, the majority of the Berries he carried might go bad within the week, but using it all upfront would expend them in mere days. So his parents suggested getting dried and pickled Berries to stretch his supplies.

“Alright Typhoon, dig in. And make sure to take your supplements as well, alright?” Charlie said, as he laid a thumb sized pill on the edge of Typhoon’s bowl, eliciting a shudder from the Poliwhirl.

Charlie let out a wry smile and gave his partner a reassuring pat. The nasty looking green pill was a herbal supplement that one of Nina’s friends, the Joy girl, had recommended to him. And as everyone knows, one does not simply ignore the advice of a Joy.

Next, he moved on to his glutinous Growlithe, who, thankfully, was being distracted by Murphy Jr who was tossing the Fire dog into the air over and over again with her powerful trunk.

Charlie laughed at the sight and reached out to grab hold of Growlithe on her way down, causing the canine to whimper in disappointment as she licked her trainer in retaliation. “Sorry to ruin your fun, but it’s chow time, girl. If you want to keep playing, I can serve Murphy first.”

“Arf! Aroof!” Growlithe pawed frantically at Charlie, eager to be fed. The boy grinned and nuzzled at Growlithe’s warm fur in response, before setting her down to prepare her food.

***

“A Spearow might be out of the question for now…” Charlie sighed as he adjusted the grip on his fishing rod.

Since there was still a few hours of daylight left, Charlie consulted his map and was able to locate a little water source just twenty minute’s walk from where they were resting earlier. He wanted to try his hand at fishing for Water Pokemon, so he packed up and made his way there. Not to mention, it was simply more convenient to camp near a source of water.

On the far edge of the pond, Typhoon was languidly floating in leisure, Murphy was roaming around trying to forage for snacks, while Growlithe just laid beside Charlie in bliss.

Seeing the peaceful look on Growlithe's face elicited a yawn from Charlie. Having a warm bundle of fur cuddled up so close to him really served to compound the exhaustion he felt after a long day of running for his life.

But before he could doze off, his fishing rod started shaking. “Dammit!” Charlie cursed as he frantically began reeling his catch in. He must have hooked a feisty one because the line was violently jerking from side to side, practically on the verge of snapping.

“Typhoon! Dive in and weaken it!” He called, spurring the Poliwhirl into action.

Shortly after, Charlie’s struggle against the fishing rod intensified, nearly pulling him into water, before calming down again.

Sensing that the time was right, the boy heaved with all his might and pulled his catch free from the water to reveal an unhappy looking Goldeen on the other end, followed by a Poliwhirl who jumped out of the water at almost the same time.

The Goldeen flopped onto shore, but was otherwise unrelenting as it glared at the boy holding a fishing rod in his hands and shot a Water Gun at him. Charlie fell on his butt in an attempt to dodge the attack, before Typhoon interceded and slammed a Pound onto the Goldeen.

The Goldeen yelped in pain as it was sent bouncing on the ground. But to its credit, it somehow managed to right itself awkwardly before refocusing its attention on Typhoon to unleash a Water Pulse on the tadpole Pokemon.

“Tank it, Typhoon! Let’s test out your Water Absorb.”

Typhoon grunted at the impact, but was then partially rejuvenated by the Water Type Energy contained within the Water Pulse. The ability wasn’t perfected just yet, but it was enough to give the Poliwhirl an edge in aquatic battles for now. Charlie recalled his mother’s advice of using the ability in battle whenever possible, since the stress will help Typhoon develop it faster.

“Hypnosis, Typhoon. Let’s try our best not to hurt Goldeen too much.” Charlie called as the lines on Typhoon’s belly began swirling around in a dizzying pattern. 

The lines weren’t actually moving of course, it was merely an optical illusion. But a very effective one, as Goldeen’s eyes began to droop in lethargy. The Goldeen’s sprightly bounce faltered, becoming weak little flops as the Pokemon was lulled into sleep.

Charlie held back his cheer and grabbed an empty Pokeball on his belt to throw at Goldeen. The impact woke the goldfish Pokemon, but it didn’t matter as it was absorbed into the red and white sphere in a flash of light.

The Pokeball fell onto the ground and began wiggling. This was always the most tense moment when it came to battle captures like this. Because if the Pokemon was dead set on not wanting to go with a human, no amount of attempts afterwards would work, and Charlie would have to give up. Unless he was willing to faint the Pokemon, to prevent it from struggling. 

However, that was something that the boy was unwilling to do. Besides, the nurses in the Pokemon Center were sure to do an emotional evaluation on any Pokemon that they received. So any force captures would be swiftly dealt with.@@novelbin@@

The whole process took longer than Charlie was expecting. Or perhaps it was just his nerves diluting his sense of time. But after a few more wiggles, the Pokeball finally stopped moving and flashed red with a satisfying thunk.

“Heck yeah!” Charlie jumped up in excitement, prompting Typhoon to do the same, as the pair of trainer and mon held each other’s hands and danced around in a circle to celebrate their victory.

Once everyone had settled down, Charlie prepared a bowl with some Pokechow and Berries to welcome his newest family member. His other three Pokemon stood at a distance in equal parts excitement and trepidation. They didn’t want to overwhelm the Goldeen and trigger its fight or flight response.

The post capture experience for Pokemon was always jarring. After all, they went from an intense battle, to being confined in some mechanical doodad, to having a Psychic signature imprinted onto them, only to be released again — possibly in an entirely new environment. It was a very stressful ordeal, and having unfamiliar Pokemon surround them upon release was only going to make things worse.

Taking a deep breath, Charlie expanded Goldeen’s Pokeball and released it by the edge of the pond.

“Deen!” The Goldeen looked around in confusion, before its brilliant blue eyes settled on the boy who attacked it earlier.

Charlie smiled awkwardly at his newest capture. “Hi, Goldeen… Sorry about rudely disturbing your peace. I’ve got some food and Berries here for you as a token of my apology.” He said as he gestured towards the bowl of food he laid out.

Goldeen narrowed its eyes at Charlie, but still huffed in indignation and chowed down on the free food that it was offered.

Charlie’s smile became more confident, happy that he had succeeded in taking the first step towards a more cordial relationship. “Anyways, the reason why I was fishing around is because I was looking for a Water Pokemon to add into my little family.” The boy gestured towards his other Pokemon who each greeted the newbie with a friendly wave, Murphy Jr with her trunk, and Growlithe with a friendly bark.

“I might not be the best trainer around, but I’m willing to work hard and train you to be the strongest you can be.” Charlie then talked about his mother who was a Water Type specialist, and his friend who was a Gym Trainer. “So yeah, if there’s stuff I don’t know, you can bet that help is just a call away.”

Charlie paused, allowing his words to sink in as the Goldeen considered his offer. Taming Pokemon was quite the ordeal, and something that Charlie was not confident in. He remembered taking some classes on the subject back in school. But he was completely devoid of any practical experience. 

So if at all possible, he preferred it if Goldeen would work with him willingly. Otherwise, he would simply finish feeding the Pokemon and release it back into the wild.

“So… if you’re up for it, I’d like it if you could join my team and go around challenging strong trainers.” Charlie said, before quickly backtracking on his statement a little. “But like, if you’re not that into battling, that’s fine as well. I can’t promise you I won’t use you in battle, but I’ll try my best to keep you out of any non-essential ones.

Goldeen did not respond, simply continuing to focus on its meal. In particular, Charlie noticed that it had quite the fondness for Rawst Berries, which the boy made sure to note down in his mind for future reference.

“Deen.” After it was done eating, the Goldeen returned its attention to Charlie, carefully looking the boy over from top to bottom, before turning its gaze towards the boy’s Pokemon, as if trying to assess their worthiness.

“Deen… Goldeen.” After much deliberation, Goldeen returned its gaze to Charlie and gave him a curt little nod in affirmation, prompting another round of celebratory dance to break out.

The Goldeen that Charlie captured ended up being male. Which was great, since every one of his team had been female so far. And given his gruff demeanor, Charlie decided to name him Lance, after the Indigo League’s Champion.

***

“Make sure to teach Goldeen how to Air Swim before challenging the Pewter Gym,” said Kumiko, when Charlie called back home to check in at one point. 

Needless to say, the woman was not happy about her son’s close encounter with the Spearows, a fact that Charlie had tried to hide, but in vain. Kumiko knew better than to ignore her instincts now, especially when it pertained to her children. So she relentlessly hounded Charlie until he opened up.

“And say hi to the folks over at the Gym for me will ya?” Stephen added. “I heard Brock got himself into a spot of trouble recently.”

“Will do, dad.” Charlie responded.

That call was over a week ago, and Charlie now found himself nearing the borders of Pewter City. The trip was a little rough at times, especially when he had to hunker down for a whole day when it started raining heavily all of a sudden. But compared to the ordeal he had to endure during that first day, everything went relatively smoothly. 

Charlie had briefly entertained the idea of passing through Mount Moon, but ultimately gave up. His Pokemon were exhausted after a week-long hike, and his limited backpack capacity meant that he was running precariously low on supplies. A detour into the bowels of Mount Moon was the last thing he needed.

However, the boy did pass by the Ranger outpost on Route 3 just to check on the availability of the campgrounds. He would have liked to just pay for lodgings in one of the city’s numerous hostels, but he needed to be conscious of his limited budget and opted to camp out for free instead. 

The campgrounds run by the Rangers had basic amenities like showers and toilets, so he wouldn’t be left wanting. The only thing Charlie had to pay for was firewood, but there was a tradition among the campers where they would all just pool their funds together to maintain one big bonfire to save money. 

And given that this was the tail end of spring, the weather was pleasant enough that a large bonfire wouldn’t really be necessary anyway. So it’s likely that Charlie could just make do with his portable stove.

Thankfully, the campgrounds surrounding Pewter City were relatively empty during this time of year, since most people preferred Pewter as their first Gym. So Charlie registered his name at the reception and headed back out to go visit the Pokemon Center. His Pokemon were in need of a more thorough checkup after such a long journey.

“Ahh… Sweet air conditioning…” Charlie moaned, the moment that he stepped into the Pokemon Center — air conditioning truly was the hallmark of civilization. Luckily there was no one paying attention to his embarrassing little outburst, because they were all focused on the vicinity of the reception desk for some reason.

Charlie followed the gaze of the small crowd to find a familiar looking macho man grovelling in front of the reception.

“Please! Ayaka, it’s not what you think!” Brock pleaded, only to be met with a disgusted gaze from the Joy who was manning the reception.

“Mind your decorum, Mr Harrison. As Gym Leader, it is your responsibility to uphold our city’s dignity.” The nurse rebuked, who Charlie presumed was the Ayaka in question. The woman gestured towards their spectators and once again, in no uncertain terms, told her disfranchised paramour to stand up and stop making a fool of himself

However, Brock was undeterred and simply persisted in his plea. “Ayaka, please! You have to believe me — I love you, and only you! There’s no other woman I’d rather be with. This is all just a misunderstanding!”

Charlie could tell that the nurse was starting to lose her patience as veins began bulging on her temple. “Save it for someone who cares, Mr Harrison. Perhaps that blue haired skank you’re so enamoured with… Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have patients that need tending to.” The nurse turned to leave with a haughty flick of her bouncy pink hair, while gesturing towards a security guard who was standing by the side.

The guard let out an exasperated sigh and approached the Gym Leader to give the man a gentle pat on the back. “Alright, up you go Brock… The missus is right, you’re making a fool of yourself. Come on, I’ll walk you out.” The heavyset man gently grabbed Brock by his arm and coaxed him up on his feet as they made their way out of the Pokemon Center.

Charlie and the rest of the crowd watched on in amusement, some even recorded the entire proceeding. There was no doubt that today’s events would probably make it on the Pokenet in due time. It was now up to the court of public opinion to decide on how to perceive Brock’s humiliation; either make a meme out of the guy or crucify his reputation, but more than likely, it'd be both.

Charlie felt bad for his dad’s childhood friend, but that drama did leave him in a bit of a dilemma — there was now no one around at the reception desk. Which meant that Charlie couldn’t get his Pokemon healed.

The boy sighed. “What now, do I wait or come back?”

Ultimately, he decided to catch up to Brock to check on the guy. Charlie’s dad did tell him to send his regards after all.

“Brock! Hey, Brock!”

The listlessly trudging Gym Leader perked up slightly and turned his head around, only to instantly fall back into depression when he saw Charlie. “Sorry, kid… I’m not in the mood for autographs right now.” He said as he continued trudging along.

Charlie frowned and planted himself in front of Brock to stop the man in his tracks. “I’m not looking for an autograph. My name is Charlie Rockford, my dad’s Stephen.” He said. “You know? Stephen Rockford? He told me to say hi to you if we ever get a chance to meet.”

Brock instantly lit up at the mention of his old friend. “Ahh… You’re Stephen’s kid!” Brock grabbed hold of Charlie’s shoulders and gave the boy a good look. “Yeap, that’s Stephen’s nose alright.” The man laughed and pulled Charlie in for a friendly hug. “Gosh, I remember you were just a little kid the last time I saw you. Time flies, huh?”

Charlie let out an awkward laugh at the man’s enthusiasm. The rapid change in Brock’s mood was quite jarring. “Yeah, I just took some time off school to go on my journey. I was actually planning to go challenge your Gym at some point, but only once I have my newest Pokemon trained up.”

Brock nodded in approval. “Good lad, don’t just settle for a baby badge like some of these other kids. Try to aim higher if you can. There’s nothing wrong with being over-prepared.” The man then invited Charlie to go have a meal with him, citing the fact that he thought the boy needed to bulk up a little — a sentiment that Stephen also shared.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Don’t you need to return to the Gym?”

“I err…” Brock’s smile faltered somewhat at the query, as he gazed wistfully at the direction of the Pokemon Center that he was just evicted from. “It’ll be fine,” he said, finally. “I left things in Forrest’s hands for now. He’ll take good care of things while I’m away. ‘Sides, it’s not always I get to meet an old friend — gotta make the most of it.” 

The man, once again, beckoned for the boy to follow. “Come on, I know a great place around this neighbourhood — they’re friendly towards Pokemon as well.”

Not knowing what else to do, Charlie just shrugged and started walking with the Gym Leader as they chatted about Charlie’s family.