Scyther’s carapace felt unlike what Nina imagined. It was hard, of course. But texture wise, it was quite unique; very similar to how a leaf feels to touch — that distinctly smooth yet gummy texture of a leaf’s surface.
Then there were the Pokemon’s scythe blades which were actually composed of a sharp chitinous material, not tal. So contrary to Nina’s expectations, they did not have a shine to them, but rather a milky opaqueness. Not that it detracts from their toughness or sharpness in any way, a Scyther could still easily cut an adult in half with their scythe arms.
This actually served as an advantage since there were no risks of the deadly blades gleaming under sunlight and alerting any prey they were stalking. And their green leaf-like coloration also helped to camouflage them in the forest.
“He looks absolutely incredible…” Nina praised as she fed so Berries to the Scyther she was admiring.
Sumr break was now over, and after wrapping up any outstanding matters in Cerulean City, Nina had made her way back to the Vermilion Fla where classes comnced once more and life went back to normal.
And as usual, Nina was in the inner courtyard having lunch with Kerry, Lilian and Justin, who ca back from Celadon City with a new friend.
“Hehe. Found Scyther off Route 8,” said the smug Justin. “He tried to attack , thought I couldn’t see him hiding in the bushes. And after Wartortle beat him, he decided to co along to beco stronger with us.” Then the boy averted his gaze a little.
“I showed him a picture of Kleavor and he got super excited. So now I don’t even know what to do about it. The Black stone thing I need to evolve him with is crazy expensive right?”
“Expensive and rare.” Nina corrected. “But oh well, what can you do? I’m sure you’ll get lucky at so point. It’s a good thing you managed to get that extra slot in the inter school et, otherwise Scyther would be hanging around Professor Oak’s ranch right now.”
Justin, as he himself predicted, did not do well enough in the midterms to earn his third carry slot. Nina did, however. Though surprisingly, she didn’t co first in her year for once. She was actually ranked second behind Kerry whose extra curricular activities as a nurse helped to earn her lots of extra credit that boosted her grades.
Nina then turned her attention away from Scyther and moved back to Topaz the Mareep, who Lilian was kind enough to release for Kerry and Nina to cuddle with. “What about you, Kerr? Have you thought about expanding your team as well.
Kerry, whose blissfully derpy face was halfway buried in Mareeps’s wool, humd softly at the question. “Dunno… I’m not in a rush~ Maybe later…”
Nina laughed at her friend’s euphoria and fed so more Berries to Topaz before going back to her own lunch.
“And yourself, lina Jones? I would assu you to be soone who ticulously plans out her captures, given your impressive retinue so far.” Lilian chid.
Nina shook her head in denial. “I had sowhat expected Espy when I made a connection with Professor Bill, but Nairy was a happy coincidence. Though you are right that I have a third mber in mind. In fact, I might head down to Diglett’s Cave this weekend to see if I can catch them.”
Justin perked up at the ntion of an excursion, only to be quickly turned down by Nina. “No Jillen, I’m not looking for company. Rather, I’d prefer to go at it alone this ti.”
The boy’s penchant for trouble aside, Nina would have also denied Kerry if she asked to co. She wanted to focus on her own mission without any distractions. Besides, it’s been a long ti since she last went on an excursion with just her Pokemon and she wanted to spend so quality ti together with them.
It was this last excuse that she gave to her friends as an explanation. “Nairy’s been stuck in his Pokeball a lot these days, so I thought a little adventure might do him so good.” This was true as well, Nairy’s equally as adventurous as Nina. It was what they bonded over when they first t after all.
She actually felt bad for her partner at tis because he kept having to patiently wait for her to be ready before he could go out and explore the wider world like he always wanted.
“Nair~” Sensing her lancholy, Nairy ca over and booped Nina with his crumb covered snout. Nina giggled and cradled the ssy Dragonair’s head to wipe his face with a handkerchief.
“It’s Justin…” Justin grumbled. He was a lot less sharp in his retort these days, probably recognizing how futile it was. “Anyways, what Pokemon are you planning to catch?”
Nina placed a finger on her lips and winked at the boy. “That is a secret. You’ll just have to wait to find out.”
***
Nina stretched her arms and relished in the satisfying pop of her shoulder joints as she once again strolled down Route 11 with the company of her two Pokemon. She felt a lot lighter than normal since both her Pokemon were now too big to hitch a ride on her.
It was late afternoon on a Friday when they set off because Nina wanted to spend as much ti as possible underground to maximize their chances of a fortuitous encounter.
The route felt busier than usual since they were about to enter the height of the Gym season. By this point, most fledgling trainers would have trained up their Pokemon to a reasonable degree and begun their rush to finish the Gym Circuit in ti for the conference.
There were a lot of passing eyes on Nina and her uber rare Pokemon, but the trio simply paid them no mind and continued on their little excursion. Gawking busybodies felt trivial in comparison to the heart pounding anxiety the girl felt when she had to perform in front of an arena’s worth of discerning gazes.
Even the Ranger outpost that Nina just went to in order to gather intel was packed with people who couldn’t afford accommodation and decided to camp out instead. A common occurrence, since the journeying trainers could save up on costs by sharing one big bonfire as well as taking advantage of the public toilets and showers available to them. Not to ntion, it was also a good opportunity to socialize with their fellow campers.
The Ranger that Nina t earlier was a different one from before so she was unable to get an update on the Carvanha and Mankey situation, but she was kind enough to tell Nina about potential Golbat colonies in the tunnel. Even going so far as to mark out a few hidden side paths that Nina could explore thanks to her credentials as a Pokedex holder.
Yes, that’s right. Nina wanted to catch a Golbat as her third Pokemon. She would settle for a Zubat as well if they had the right temperant, but she really wanted a Golbat to save the hassle of guiding the Pokemon through their juvenile, ntally undeveloped state.
The reason being; the bat Pokemon were very useful to have when exploring caves and other dark enclosed spaces thanks to their echolocation ability. Unlike the gas where all you needed to pass through Mount Moon was Flash and an abundance of Repel, the real world was a lot more complicated. There were risks of cave-ins, and for certain places with an abundance of Diggers like Onix, the layout of a cavern could be ever changing. Not to ntion the lack of maps in less explored areas.
A Dark Type and a Ghost Type would also serve as an adequate replacent for a Golbat. But since Nina already had Espy, a Psychic Type, in the team, she didn’t want to risk any irreconcilable conflicts with a Dark Type Pokemon.
As for Ghost Types, they were on the list and Nina did plan to acquire one in the future. Ghost Type Pokemon made for phenonal bodyguards because they could hide in a person’s shadow, effectively functioning as eyes behind one’s back and the first line of defense against any ambushes.
Another reason was because Koga was her favorite Gym Leader. “I an who doesn’t like a cool ass ninja black ops guy.” Though in this world, Koga had relinquished his Gym Leader position to his daughter and was now a full ti Elite Four mber.
Nina rembered the mont when she saw footage of one of Koga’s battles. The man only had a Golbat since he treated his Pokemon like tools and didn’t develop much friendship with them, but boy was that Golbat fearso.
Nina couldn’t tell if the Golbat used Double-Team or if it was just Substitute taken to its logical extre. But that singular bat Pokemon literally turned into an entire cauldron that proceeded to swarm its opponent and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. The sight reminded Nina of Dracula when he swished his cape and disintegrated into bats. Little Nina’s eyes practically popped out of her sockets from how cool that battle was.
Not to ntion, as a certified abuser of Supersonic spammage, how could she not get her very own discombobulator? Just the thought of harassing so uppity brat with her ultrasonic nuisance made her giddy with satisfaction.
She had a plan, of course. There was a reason why she opted to have Nairy out with her without any worries of the Dragon scaring away wild Pokemon. She was looking for a Golbat with the personality of a tenacious battle maniac.
Friendship Evolutions were always tricky, just because a trainer got along with their Pokemon, did not an they were guaranteed to achieve a Friendship Evolution. There needed to be a genuine bond between the two parties before that phenonon could occur.
In that sense, she lucked out with Espy. Though the semi canine nature of Eevees ant that developing friendship was never really an issue. The sowhat feral and sinister nature of Golbats on the other hand made that difficult, since they didn’t really calm down until they evolved into Crobat.
Which was why Nina wanted a battle maniac. That way she could develop a relationship with the Pokemon purely through battle, an activity that they would likely enjoy. This would also allow her to bench Espy and Nairy until she really needed them, since neither of her current Pokemon enjoyed battling too much.
Nairy was mostly indifferent to battles, neither passionate nor adverse. Espy was more adverse, though she does fight if necessary. That said, Nina noticed that her princess had gotten quite lazy since her Evolution to Espeon.
In every spar that she’s engaged in thus far, Espy would just sit there and throw her opponent around using her overwhelming Psychic ability. Pretty much the only ones who could do anything to her were Nairy and so of the Gym’s more senior Pokemon. Even Beverly had to pull out either Luna, Ryu or Sir Quagsalot to face her. Everyone else just gets picked up and thrown around like a wet paper towel.
Nina didn’t mind too much, but Psychic Type Energy had no effect whatsoever on Dark Types. She was worried that Espy would beco helpless in the face of another Dark Pokemon like that Rocket grunt’s Houndoom if she relied on her Psychic abilities too much.
A sentint that her Espeon actually agreed with when Nina spoke to her about it, and has since been rectified by having Espy work on so alternative strategies and moves like Hyper Voice. Nina was also hoping to transition her Hyper Voice to Hyper Beam at so point. Though that was a long term project since even Nairy was still struggling to learn it.
Which was why Nina wanted a Pokemon that would serve as a vanguard; one that could sweep the opponent’s whole team, or if failing to do so, be capable of debilitating them and make things easier on her subsequent Pokemon.
“Alright guys, we’re here.” Nina and her two Pokemon stared down into the deep maw of the entrance leading into Diglett’s Cave as she did a final check of her equipnt, so of which she bought brand new just for today.
The lengthy set of stairs with no end in sight reminded Nina of a place that Miles went to in her past life. Back then, he saw a video about Doai Station, Japan’s deepest subterranean station that was located sowhere in the mountains of rural Gunma. And out of curiosity, Miles made a trip to the station during one of his many holidays in the country.
The entrance into Diglett’s Cave felt a lot like that ridiculously long stairwell that Miles had to go down in order to reach where the railway platforms were. Equally damp and slippery with an air of eeriness to it.
Each step down the stairs were thin and shallow, so Nina had to be careful not to fall. Visibility wasn’t an issue since there were lights lining both sides of the tunnel, though it was clear that this place wasn’t very well maintained as evident by the flickering of the dim, filth covered light bulbs.
It was a good thing that Nina visited towards the tail end of sumr, so wind wasn’t much of an issue either. During the stormy seasons of autumn and winter, the vast empty expanse of Diglett’s Cave transford into a violent wind tunnel, to the point where it needed to be closed off to prevent anyone from going in.
Nina steadily descended, feeling quite bored at tis as she ran out of things to talk about with her Pokemon. Nina rembered that Miles’s descent down into Doai Station only took about ten to fifteen minutes, give or take. But her ongoing descent down to Digglett’s Cave had already exceeded that length of ti by quite a fair bit, which goes to show just how deep underground this tunnel was.
She recalled so of the history of this place. Diglett’s Cave, as the na implies, was a tunnel that ford due to the work of a migrating Diglett colony long ago. Nobody knew what spurred such a large number of Digletts to move en masse, but the end result was quite pronounced as large swathes of earth were dug through in their wake. Leaving behind a massive cavern that was big enough to accommodate even the largest of Pokemon.
Since then, humans have gone in to reinforce the space and trimd it up a bit for their own usage. In particular, back in the war, the tunnels were considered the safest route available to transport troops and supplies back and forth between Pewter City and Vermilion City, which served as the region’s navy yard at the ti. They even considered laying down railroad tracks were it not for the fear of triggering cave-ins from the constant vibrations.
Nina breathed out in relief as she reached the bottom of the stairs. To her side, Nairy’s eyes were sparkling as he took in the sheer scale of the vast cavern that opened up before him. Even Espy had to hold herself back from crying out to test the acoustics of the large empty space.
And it was indeed quite a sight. Looking up, they could hardly see the tall ceiling covered in barely forming nubs of nascent stalactites, indicating that in the eyes of the world, this cavern was actually fairly young at less than two hundred years old.
On the floor, spotlights were set up sporadically to illuminate the space, though there were still a fair amount of dark areas that remained. There were actually less Pokemon around than Nina had expected, likely due to the blinding illumination scaring off most critters, and from the frequent trespassing of humans.
“Nair!” cried the less discreet Nairy as his voice traveled through the cavern, triggering a subdued chain of echoes. The cave was wide enough that by the ti the soundwaves of Nairy’s voice reached the far walls, most of it had already been dissipated.
Nina chuckled and gave her partner a playful slap to admonish him, before clapping her hands together a bit louder than she should, to trigger much of the sa effect. “I can’t help it, okay?”
“Alright, guys. Let’s take a quick break and then we’ll head out to explore for a bit before setting up camp for the night, does that sound good?”
“Nair!”
“Es.”
***
Author's Note:
Good news, I've completed the rewrite of the more pressing chapters.
Bad news, there's still quite a few more to get through.
I'm dealing with a very severe case of writer's block right now. It's vexing really.
Anyways, I'm hoping to have another release on Saturday, maybe.
On a side note, I read a manga called "dallist" over the past weekend. Probably the best manga I've read in a good long while. Highly recomnd it. Try to buy from legitimate sources if you can. I know that we now live in an age of abundance where content is easily and readily accessible, but that's not an excuse not to pay for the dia that we consu.
Honestly the writing for dallist is so damned good it kind of triggers my inferiority complex. Really wish I could write like that.
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