Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)
Chapter 163

“Do you honestly think that our Gym’s Star Pokemon are weak enough to be scared of a little water?” Forrest chuckled in amusement. “You’re too naive, mermaid girl… Rise, Golem!”

Deep underwater, the megaton Pokemon slammed all of its weight into a single stomp, causing the entire cavern to shake even more, like a magnitude 3 Earthquake had just occurred.

Nina yelped as she crouched down to hug the stalagmite she was standing on, even releasing Espy to shield against the falling debris threatening to impale her. “Dammit! This has to count as sabotage right?!” The girl exclaimed in her mind.

But when Nina looked over to check on the other humans, she saw that both Harrison brothers were unbothered, stoic as ever like the earthquake was just a pleasant massage.

Midway through the quaking, the lake stirred, towering pillars of stone rose, elevating Forrest’s Golem above the water. It was quite the sight; two dozen giant pillars rising from the turbulent waves as storm clouds continued to rumble high above — the battlefield was transformed once more.

Nina groaned and forced herself up again. “And you’d be naive to think that a Gym Trainer would underestimate a Star Pokemon!” The girl replied. “Nitey! Time for a Gyarados special!”

The first ever Star battle that Nina and her partner witnessed in their lives was in the Cerulean Gym. The sight of the rampaging Gyarados that Misty put down at the time never left their minds.

And so Nitey howled, conjuring a powerful Hurricane surrounding Forrest’s Golem that sucked up some of the water surrounding the stone pillar to create a water spout. A water spout crackling with Electricity that became larger and larger the more that it was fed, closing in on Golem to suck it into its vortex.

“GOO!!!” Golem cried, trying but failing to break free of the vicious water spout as it was spun around like a lone sock in a washing machine.

And for the first time since the match began, Forrest broke his composure. “Cannonball! Use the momentum!” He yelled.

Golem grunted and manipulated his weight, increasing it to disrupt the centripetal force of Nitey’s vortex, spinning further and further away from the center until it eventually broke free from the Hurricane and flung towards Nitey with a dangerous glow.

Nitey let out a haughty huff. The Golem’s intentions were clear as day. And the moment that the barreling Rock Pokemon came within range of its Explosion, Nitey was already gone in Extreme Speed, causing the Golem to sacrifice itself in vain.

An ear deafening blast happened, and the entire cavern quaked once more. Luckily, Nina had Espy to shield her from the aftermath.

On the other end of the field, Nitey reappeared above Forrest, glaring down at the Gym Leader who hurriedly returned his Golem before it sunk fully into the water.

Forrest scoffed. “Going for a sweep right at the beginning. Well played. As expected of Misty’s finest.” The young Gym Leader then expanded an Ultra Ball and smirked at his challenger. “Well then. If that’s how you want to roll, then don’t mind if I do.”

Nina frowned, but just told Nitey to ready himself. She had already expected that Forrest would meet her tit for tat in this scenario. No matter, her goal was already accomplished.

However, what Forrest sent out next was beyond even her wildest imagination. “Is that…”

A metallic roar shook the cavern, like an over-amped electric guitar. And the Pokemon who made that noise could only be described by Nina as being a rainbow Steelix.

The Steelix emerged wrapped around a pillar, its head a greyish gunmetal, followed by a neck of ruby, then emerald, iron, sapphire, amethyst, obsidian, bronze and so on, ending with a sharp tip of gleaming diamond.

If Nina didn’t know any better, she would have thought that the anomaly in front of her was an artificial creation — some sort of ostentatious statue given life.

Forrest laughed at the flabbergasted look on Nina’s face. “Haha! Incredible right? She’s my pride and joy. I don’t get to use her in battle very often so this is a rare treat.” Like all Pokemon Trainers, Forrest had a great deal of pride in his Pokemon and was eager to show off his one of a kind Steelix.

“I found her back when she was just a crystal Onix. Took a lot to evolve her, let me tell you. Got a lot of help from Professor Oak in exchange for letting him study her.”

“Wait,” Nina chimed. “Does that mean your Steelix didn’t evolve from a Metal Coat?”

“Nope,” Forrest said with a wink. “But the details are secret.”

Nina’s eyes were practically sparkling with curiosity now, eager to get close to the variant Steelix to examine her. “C-can I play with her later?” The girl pleaded, leveraging the full power of her Baby-doll Eyes and eliciting another round of laughter from the older trainer.

“Sure, if Steelix is fine with it.” Forrest responded with a smirk.

“No fair! He’s basically telling me that I won’t be able to touch that special Steelix if Nitey beats her up too badly.”

However, before Nina could retort, their back and forth was interrupted by a throaty cough from Brock. “Guys, camera’s still rolling and we’re still in the middle of a match here.” The older Harrison chimed, instantly restoring the severity of the situation.

“Dammit! Nitey, we’re ending this match quickly to go play with Steelix later!”

“Niiite!” Nina’s adventurous partner was also gleaming in curiosity at the dazzling Pokemon in front of him. He once again disappeared in Extreme Speed, appearing next to the Steelix to slam a Fire infused Focus Punch to her face.

Steelix groaned, but barely budged, as she whipped her serpentine body around, her gleaming diamond tail tip grazed past Nitey as he frantically got out of the way. Nina’s Dragonite was unharmed, but there was now a very obvious gash on his abdomen from the surface of his scales being sheared off in that brief interaction.

“Kingsley strats, Nitey!” Nina called for a long ranged hit and run while she furrowed her brows in contemplation. The problem they were faced with right now was the variant Steelix’s Typing. “I can clearly see metal in her body, so obviously she still retained her Steel Typing… But there has to be a secondary Type since Nitey’s Fire Punch did nothing to her.”

Nitey pulled away as instructed and unleashed his signature Double Pulse, banking on the fact that regardless of Typing, Steelix should be limited in terms of ranged attack options. 

But that presumption was soon proven wrong because Steelix just tanked the attack. All the while, every single one of her gemstone segments lit up one by one, ultimately culminating in a powerful Hyperbeam that she shot towards her Flying opponent.

Nitey danced out of the way, empowering himself at the same time. However, the Hyperbeam did not relent, chasing after the Dragonite and cutting through the rocky cavern walls. It was honestly a miracle that the whole place hadn’t collapsed yet.

The two traded blows, Nitey bombarding the Steelix with bolts of Type Energy whenever he had an opening while Steelix was unrelenting in her Hyperbeam, almost like she had an unlimited reserve of Type Energy. 

“That rainbow Steelix… She's absorbing Energy from Nitey's attacks!” With each bolt of Double Pulse that Steelix took, the gemstone segments of her body pulsed and her dwindling Hyperbeam reignited. 

Forrest smirked at the girl’s words but offered no confirmation.

Meanwhile, Nitey ceased his attacks at his partner’s revelation. Then he flew. He flew and he flew, the space around him falling apart as a beam of searing hot light trailed after him. 

Nitey tried as best as he could to lead the Hyperbeam away from his partner and to bait it into hitting the eyeless human they were fighting instead. But the glittery Pokemon was too well trained, always managing to miss her trainer as the light of destruction veered away and found itself back on his tail.

“Bring everything down, Nitey!”

At his partner’s command, Nitey dove into the lake he created, the sounds of destruction muffled and distorted at his entry. The water hissed and boiled behind him as the stubborn beam of light followed suit, nearly singing Nitey’s precious tail from the sudden refraction of the Hyperbeam.

With a determined glare, Nitey jetted through the water, at a speed that was even faster than his old serpentine form. The Dragonite charged through one of his opponent’s stone pillars with a dull crash, then another and another. One by one, the rocky protrusions crumbled and fell, from the outside going in, until eventually, he reached the final pillar where Steelix was wrapped around.

And with a loud splash, Nitey’s opponent crashed into the water. Her overheated body, brimming with energy, creaked and writhed as it cooled on impact.

Even though Nitey wasn’t a Water Type Pokemon, he was still a proud member of the Cerulean Gym, and Steelix was now in his domain.

***

Nina watched as Steelix fell into the water, her surroundings noticeably darkened after the Steelix’s radiant Hyperbeam was extinguished, Forrest not even flinching at his Pokemon’s predicament. 

“So not a Rock Type then, and likely not Ground either. An ability that would allow a Pokemon to absorb Type Energy…” There were a couple that came to mind, but none worked quite like what she saw. And given that the Steelix was a variant, it stood to reason that she would have a unique ability as well. “No matter, there has to be a limit to everything.”

“Nitey! Brute force!” The water quaked as a powerful Draconic aura suffused her partner’s visage. The Dragonite slammed into the aberrant Pokemon’s hardy body, then zoomed away again before Steelix could retaliate.

Steelix whipped her tail out in vain, trying but failing to charge into Nitey with her overwhelming weight as he outmaneuvered her in every turn. Regardless of her uniqueness, Steelix’s movement underwater was too awkward compared to the specially trained Nitey.

Then, as Nitey whipped back around for a final charge, Forrest spoke… 

“Play Rough.”

An explosion of bright pink Fairy Type Energy exploded from the Steelix as she intercepted Nitey mid-charge, crashing into him and wrapping him up before smashing him repeatedly against the cavern floor.

“Nitey!” Nina yelled in a panic. “Outrage! Break free!”

However, try as he might, the searing Fairy Type Energy and Steelix’s raw strength was simply too overwhelming. In the end, Nitey failed to break free and eventually fainted.

Nina held back her tears and returned her partner. “This is my fault, Fairy Types are so rare in this region that we don’t have much experience against them.”

“Your Steelix…” Nina croaked. “Is it Steel and Fairy Type?” It should have been so obvious. When one thought about gemstone Pokemon, the first ones that came to mind were Carbink and Diancie.

Forrest smiled. “Who knows…” He drawled, but Nina took it as confirmation. 

The girl then checked her Pokedex before deciding on her next Pokemon. “Steel and Fairy are immune to Dragon. No wonder Nitey lost.” Steelix’s impervious reaction to Nitey’s initial Fire Punch was likely a ruse as well. Otherwise, Nina would have told her partner to stick with Fire moves.

As a matter of fact, none of Nina’s Pokemon were particularly good against Forrest’s Steelix. Except Gastly, maybe. Problem was, Nina’s newest team member wasn’t ready to face the Ace of a Gym Leader’s Star team yet. Not that Type advantage was the end all be all of Pokemon battling, but when dealing with a Star battle, one needed to consider every factor.

“Nina, you have ten seconds.” Brock chimed, urging Nina to make a move soon.

Nina sighed and expanded a Pokeball, to summon her next Pokemon.

***

Author's note:

Credit where credit is due, the idea for the Rainbow Steelix was derived from the custom Shiny Steelix design from a fanmade ROM called Pokemon Reborn. When I first saw the art for it, I thought; why not just make it so that every segment of the Steelix is a different mineral type?

I believe it was Juppie from Royal Road who first told me about Reborn. Though I could be mistaken since I couldn't find the original comment anymore.

And thanks to the reader who reminded me about the existance of the Crystal Onix as well. It was something that appeared in the original anime that I had completely forgotten about. Again, I couldn't find the original comment. So do let me know if you're still around so that I may think you properly.

From Crystal Onix to a Rainbow Steelix. It just clicked together so nicely in my head that it had to be done.

One of my Patreon members also proposed a cool idea that I think would work really well with such a special variant. So I might explore it further when Nina goes to the Orange Islands, likely during the intermission of Part Three and Part Four in lieu of short stories next time.