Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)
Chapter 165

Nina sighed. “Espy, it’s not nice to call people names like that…” But what was next depended on Forrest, which ended up being a Kabutops. So Nina called Espy to come back and sent out Brucey instead.

Gastly wasn’t much of a battler but Brucey would hate being left out of a Star battle. Not to mention, Nina wanted her Golbat to get as much experience as possible anyway. The fact that he hadn’t evolved into Crobat yet, despite her and Espy’s best efforts was worrying.

“Brucey’s been making good progress on his emotional development. Though he’s not fully there yet. Professor Oak said to keep trying and was even nice enough to share with me all the reports that he had been getting from his other trainers.” 

It was also concerning that none of Nina’s other senior trainers managed to evolve their Golbat either. It really made her rethink her theory on Crobat Evolution, that maybe she was just wrong from the start.

“Oh well, no point thinking about it now.” Nina sighed and whistled her instructions to Brucey. The Golbat’s first ever battle opponent was a Scyther, and Kabutops looked pretty similar to his old rival, except without the wings, so he had a good idea on what needed to be done.

The moment that the round started, Kabutops dove into the water, since it was part Water Type. So that ruled out any of Brucey’s usual sound based harassment.

But no matter, because the Golbat immediately dumped a load of Poison into the now, very polluted, underground lake.

Kabutops shot out of the water with a jetstream of reverse Waterfall and attempted to slice at Brucey with a Swords Dance empowered X-Scissor. But Nina’s Golbat just handily dodged out of the way with a sinister laugh.

The fossil Pokemon would probably catch Brucey at some point, but Nina had no intention of waiting for that to happen. Instead, she let out a whistle and called on Brucey to use Hurricane — a move that he was now very proficient with thanks to the patient guidance of Nitey.

And just like his senior, the Hurricane sucked up the surrounding water and Kabutops with it. The combination move didn’t look as grand as Nitey’s, but it was good enough for most cases. What made Brucey’s application unique though, was that Brucey centered the Water Spout around himself and let loose with an Uproar in the middle.

The Water Spout bulged and undulated, causing the turbulent vortex to become even more distorted as Kabutops struggled to regain its bearings. Not even knowing up from down and left to right, Kabutops couldn’t get out of the Water Spout despite being a Water Pokemon. 

Forrest called on Kabutops to use Whirlpool and reverse the rotation of the Water Spout — a valiant effort. But Kabutops eventually fainted from accumulated damage.

In the end, all that was left was an exhausted Golbat and a limp Kabutops floating atop muddied and poisoned water.

At the loss of his latest Pokemon, Forrest raised a hand to surrender, eliciting an indignant cry from Nina.

“Wait, no! You still have one more Pokemon left. You can’t just leave me hanging here!” The girl exclaimed. It wasn’t everyday that she got to fight a Star battle after all.

Forrest sighed. “My last Pokemon is an Aerodactyl. And while I would love to give you a good fight, I doubt Aerith could beat that Espeon of yours. Also, I need to Fly home after this too.”

“I can Fly you back!” Nina argued.

“With what?” Forrest retorted. “Your Dragonite is fainted, remember?”

Nina looked toward Brock with a pleading gaze, eliciting laughter from the older Harrison.

“It’s alright,” assured Brock. “I can Fly you both back. Melina should have returned by now anyway, so maybe Nina can spend the night over at her grandma’s place.”

Forrest sighed, unable to refute his brother’s logic. So he reluctantly released his Aerodactyl, who handily beat both the Rock-weak Brucey and Nina’s pacifist Gastly before being taken down by Espy.

Again, Type advantage wasn’t everything. But when it came to Star battles, every little bit counted.

***

“Congratulations on earning a Boulder Badge, with a star.”

Nina accepted the award with giddy excitement. The girl may say that she didn’t particularly care about battles and badges and stuff. But as an otherworlder who spent her entire past life playing the Pokemon games, she’d be lying if she didn’t feel a deep sense of catharsis at earning her first ever Gym badge.

Forrest chuckled at the peppy girl before him and gestured towards the two hunk of rocks that Brock retrieved from a little hut that he had taken to using as storage near the Moon Shrine.

“Now, normally we would give you a monetary reward and a TM along with the badge. But I doubt you care about the money — heck, you probably earn more from your modelling work than I do as a Gym Leader!” Forrest laughed, much to the miserly girl’s dismay. “But we don’t have any TMs with us right now. So how about you pick one of these as your reward instead.”

Nina, still reeling from the fact that she wouldn’t be paid, looked at the man with skeptical eyes. “I don’t get it, are these precious geodes or something?” The girl asked, while gingerly examining the two oval-shaped rocks that were placed before her.

Forrest chuckled in amusement. “I mean we do have plenty of geodes lying around if you want those instead. But no, these two are fossils, but not just any fossils — fossilized eggs. Perfectly preserved, just like the day they were laid. I can tell you that a fossil hunter would willingly give an arm and a leg to get their hands on one of these.”

Nina squealed, jumping around like a Spoink before giving each of the Harrison brothers an enthusiastic hug and kisses on their cheeks.

Forrest wasn’t kidding when he said that a fossil hunter would give up their limbs for one of these. Fossilized eggs were some of the most valuable finds in the world, more expensive than even the rarest Evolution Stones and equivalent to the rarest of Pokemon. 

That was because, once revived, a fossil egg would not have any of the lifespan and health issues that one would commonly associate with conventionally revived fossil Pokemon. They would just be like any regular Pokemon for all intents and purposes, just brought forwards through the passage of time into the modern era. With the right gender and paired with the appropriate egg group, one could even start breeding them!

“Thank you, thank you! Thank you so muuuuch!” Nine screeched and doled out another round of hugs and kisses to the two burly brothers, until her grandma stepped in to restrain her.

“Nina, get a hold of yourself! A proper girl like you shouldn’t be so promiscuous!” The woman chided. She then leveled a glare at the pair of awkward brothers. “And you two! I better not catch you harboring any weird thoughts towards my precious granddaughter, or else!”

Brock laughed. “Relax, Melina. My love life might not be going so well, but I’m not so desperate that I would lay a hand on a child. How old is she? Twelve?” The muscular man then crossed his arms and made a buzzing sound. “Heck no. Not even if Giratina pointed a Hyberbeam at me.”

To his side, Forrest nodded fervently with a fiery blush, fully in agreement with his brother’s words.

Melina relented with a huff, once Nina settled down and promised to behave herself. “So erm…” The girl continued. “What eggs are these? What are my choices?”

Unfortunately, both Brock and Forrest just shook their heads in ignorance. “No idea,” said the older Harrison. “I just found these while I was spelunking in Mount Moon recently. Haven’t even had a chance to have them looked at, yet. Not that there’s a single expert out there capable of analysing them — it’s almost impossible to tell what a fossil egg contains without cracking them open.”

That last sentence caused Nina to whip her ponytail around with a vehement headshake, eliciting laughter from Brock.

“So yeah, although I said you can choose. Truth is, I found them in close proximity to one another at the same time. So chances are, they’re the same species, from the same nest. I just have no idea what Pokemon they contain.”

Nina nodded in understanding. “Alright, I’ll just pick a random one then. Do you know where I can go to get them revived?”

“There are labs all over the region, but most people go to Cinnabar. Just make sure the person you leave the egg with is trustworthy.” Forrest warned. “It takes a while to perfectly revive a fossil and there’s the possibility that someone blinded by greed might swap the fossil out for a Zubat egg or something and claim that it was just bad luck.”

Nina nodded and thanked the Gym Leader. Some Pokemon species had a long history on this world, so it wouldn’t be entirely farfetched for such a scam to occur.

“I suggest you ask your sponsors for a referral. I doubt there’s a single moron in academia that would dare to cross Professor Oak or Bill.” Forrest continued.

“Thanks Mr Forrest, I’ll make sure to do that. And thanks for the Gym battle today as well. I learned a lot!” Nina exclaimed, before sheepishly looking up at the man with Baby-doll Eyes. “And erm… You said you would let me play with Steelix…?”

Forrest laughed. “Sure, sure… but maybe tomorrow? You’re spending the night with Elder Melina today, right? And all our Pokemon are exhausted right now. Best to bring them to a Pokemon Center soon.”

Nina reluctantly agreed. She actually didn’t plan on staying the night in Pewter City. But if it meant getting to touch the rainbow Steelix, then she would gladly put up with her uptight grandma for a night.

***

Forrest’s Steelix, whose name Nina found out was Crystal, was indeed partially made of precious gemstones.

Originally, Nina thought that the gems and metals were just surface level — a shell encompassing iron or rocky innards. But as Nina pressed against one of the partially translucent gemstone segments and peered through it, she could see veins circulating Type Energy throughout Crystal’s entire body, as well as sinews of rocky muscle and oddly shaped organs.

“Incredible…” Nina murmured. “No wonder you’re so protective of her… Crystal is one of the most beautiful Pokemon I’ve ever seen.” The girl added, eliciting a huff from Espy which earned her an amused smile and affectionate cuddles from Nina.

“Not as beautiful as you of course, Espy. There’s not a single Pokemon in this world more beautiful than my precious princess.” Nina swooned and kissed the Espeon on her forehead gem.

Forrest chuckled at the adorable interaction. “Yeah, Crystal is my pride and joy. And like I said, she’s more fragile than she looks. So if I could ask you to keep her existence a secret, that would be great.” Apparently, the Gym Leader did not use her for Gym battles normally to avoid causing a frenzy. He only allowed her to battle when he felt that the opponent was trustworthy.

Nina nodded with a warm smile. “Of course, I would hate to see Crystal come to harm. So will you answer my previous question? Is she fragile because of her internals?”

Forrest sighed. “Yes, metals and gemstones are sturdy on the outside. But any jeweller will tell you that they crack easily under the right conditions. And given Crystal’s unique constitution, any cracks that form won’t be easily regenerated, if they could even regenerate at all.”

The Gym leader then beckoned Nina to follow him to one of the rainbow Steelix’s segments, to showcase some of the irreversible cracks that she had accumulated throughout the years.

“I was so reckless during my youth that I failed to notice the damage that Crystal had suffered.” Forrest said, voice full of regrets.

Nina lowered her head in remorse. “Sorry, I didn’t know. Otherwise I wouldn’t have let Clody use Earthquake on her.”

Forrest shrugged. “It’s fine, you did what you had to do for the win. I only have myself to blame. Besides, like you said, you didn’t know.”

Forrest then looked at Nina with hungry eyes. “But that aside, would you be willing to teach me that special move of yours? Swampy Terrain was it? Or maybe we can exchange TMs?”

Nina laughed at the passionate Pokemon Trainer. “Sure, I won’t let you copy a TM, but I can tell you the basics and let you figure it out on your own. In exchange, I want to know everything there is to know about Crystal.” And so the two Pokemon trainers conducted a thorough exchange of knowledge. Unfortunately, Forrest also mentioned that he returned to the island where he found Crystal at one point, but couldn’t find any other Onix like her.

In fact, aside from Crystal, there wasn’t even a regular Onix in sight. Which really raised the question of how she even came to be in the first place.

Nina even enlisted the help of Espy to communicate with the rainbow Steelix to ask her some questions about her origins. However, Crystal’s memories of her early life were very murky. All she could remember was just a solitary existence in her little underground lake and the occasional interlopers. Until Forest came along and captured her.

“The name of the island where I found her is called Sunburst Island,” said Forrest. “It’s one of the many islands located within the Orange Archipelago, south of Kanto and Johto, near the southwestern region of the Orange Islands to be precise.

Nina eagerly looked the island up in her Pokedex, making sure to pin the location and check it out if she ever got a chance.

***

Author's note:

Nina will be exploring the Orange Islands during the intermission between Part Three and Four, if all goes according to plan.

Also, I do apologize. I wanted to show off Forrest's fossil Pokemon more than I did instead of just glossing over them. But I got too burnt out midway through writing this arc. I did not intend to spend 3 chapters on the battle alone, initially.

Same goes for Nina's second badge as well actually. I inadvertantly spent 10 chapters in a single city with 3 of them being the Gym battle itself.