Into the Unown (Poke Chapter 23

A cloud of white mist expelled from Nina’s mouth as she poured her entire body weight into scrubbing the stubborn stain on the floor.

Seel and Dewgong, despite their innocent appearance, are very promiscuous. Whatever horror stories Nina heard about seals and dolphins in her past life can pretty much all be applied to the Pokemon.

The girl had no idea what resulted in the stain she was currently cleaning, nor was she interested to find out.

“Sup, Nins. Sorry I’m late. Mrs Bitchface wouldn’t let

go until I finished all my howork. I an it’s just Maths anyway, who cares how many Oran Berries Jimmy can fit into his basket?!”

Nina laughed at her friend’s ramblings. “Hey Bev, no worries. I already fed your Horsea for you.”

Beverly jumped towards her junior apprentice for an affectionate hug. “Thanks, girl~ You’re the best.”

Nina nearly fell over, but she sohow managed to prop herself up using the handle of her scrub and just giggled in response.

“Nins, we gotta do sothing about your hair. It’s an absolute wreck!” said Beverly as she ran her fingers through Nina’s frayed and bleached hair.

This was the result of prolonged exposure to seawater from her and Tini’s frequent fishing trips. Which has resulted in her previously raven black hair to fade slightly and take on a subtle shade of brown. Her hair has also beco more fragile and harder to brush as of late due to the drying from the salt water.

“Maybe, but I don’t really know what to do about it. Nor do I have the ti really.” Nina’s schedule has been quite dense as of late.

“This weekend!” Beverly announced. “The two of us can go to Saphira’s for a shopping spree! And I’ll teach you all you need to know.”

“But my Dratini…”

“Tini’ll be fine,” assured the older girl. “He’s been at it for months already. If you stay with him then those bitches will just rope you into being their lackey. Co on, it’ll be fun — nothing beats shopping with your bestie.”

Nina was feeling anxious about being away from Tini. The two of them had been inseparable ever since she caught him. She even carried Tini’s Pokeball with her whenever she went to class.

She gave a weak smile to her friend. “I’ll think about it and get back to you before the weekend. I promise.” Nina replied.

However, Beverly seed to have gotten ahead of herself and was already yapping about all the fun places she was going to bring her.

“Actually, Bev, I nearly forgot. Do you mind if I leave a bit early today? I need to go visit my mom before visiting hours are over.” Nina promised her father that she would go in his stead today.

Beverly made an unhappy face. “Is she still freaking out everyti she sees you?”

Nina sighed and touched her hair. “She’s getting better… at least she didn’t totally freak out the last ti I went.”

At so point during the past few months, right when her hair was starting to change and her skin was getting a healthy tan, Nina had gone to visit her mother. Both Leanette’s doctors and Patrick had deed that she was stable enough to interact with her daughter — the source of her trauma.

Needless to say, Nina’s mother did not take well to the slight changes in her daughter’s appearance. Sothing that her doctor’s did not anticipate. The woman was convinced that they had sohow swapped out her baby for an imposter.

Beverly pulled her in for another hug. “You know that’s all the more reason why we should fix up your looks right?”

Nina frowned. “I dunno Bev… There’s nothing I can do about the lanin. Though, I did think about dying my hair after the initial freakout. But the doctors said to leave it. They thought this might be a good opportunity for my mom to learn that her daughter is going to continue to change and grow up, and that she’ll just need to cope.”

Nina shrugged. “Not sure if they’re just making shit up and posturing though.”

Beverly wrinkled her nose. “Sounds like a whole bunch of Tauros poo to .”

“Yeah…” Nina laughed. “It does, doesn’t it? But she has been getting better so no point triggering her with more changes. You are right that my hair is icky though. It’s such a pain to brush it these days.”

“So does that an you’ll go shopping with ?!” asked the sparkly eyed girl.

Nina chuckled. “Sure. Yes, Beverly. I’ll go shopping with you.”

***

Nina shivered as she stepped out of the Cerulean Gym. They were well into December, and while there wasn’t any snowfall, it was common to find a layer of thin ice on the City’s nurous waterways.

Pikachu was at ho today and Tini refused to leave his Pokeball in this weather. Dragon Types were weak to Ice after all. So naturally, her little blue noodle did not handle winter very well.

Nina pulled her scarf up a little to cover the lower half of her face, then psyched herself up with a little hop before heading to the tram station.

The route from Cerulean Gym to the hospital was quite familiar to her by this point; two stops and a transit. Then walk 5 minutes to reach the white sterile building.

Hospitals all seem to have the sa scent to them, no matter which world Nina was in. That of latex, disinfectant and plastic. She walked up to the tired looking receptionist to register herself then proceeded to head towards her mother’s room.

Leanette had long since been moved out of the padded cell that Nina first saw her in, having been deed stable enough by the psychiatrist that she wouldn’t hurt herself. Her new room was a private suite with a simple bed, sofa and kitchenette for beverages.

The Pokemon League offered excellent insurance to their employees and imdiate family, which ant Patrick had no issues affording a certain standard of care for his wife.

Nina walked into the room and saw her mother and grandmother peeling oranges while watching so sort of farming show on TV. Note oranges and not Oran Berries. While they may look similar, they weren’t the sa.

“Hey mom, hey grandma. How’s it going?” Nina greeted.

“Nina! My favorite granddaughter!” lina Ashes rose from where she was sitting and went over to give her granddaughter a passionate hug, lifting her up into the air and spinning her around a few tis.

Leanette sighed. “Mom, that’s enough. You’re making her dizzy… Co here, Nina. Let

have a good look at you.” Nina’s mother patted the side of her bed to beckon her daughter.

As Nina’s grandmother let her down, she gave a look to the elderly woman, to which she responded with a small nod. “It seems mom is stable today. That’s good.”

It took a lot of work, but lina finally learned to take it easy when in the presence of her ntally unstable daughter. That said, she still couldn’t help but butt heads with Patrick whenever he was around, which was why the man was absent today.

“Hey mom, you look good today. Have you eaten yet?” Nina said, as she went to sit next to her mother.

Leanette nodded. “Your grandma bought

so food. How about you, you’re looking a little skinny.” She said, as she examined Nina’s cheeks.

“Not yet, mom. I just ca straight from the Gym. I’ll grab sothing on the way back ho.”

Leanette frowned. “Nina… have you been eating junk food again? I told you, eating Munchies everyday isn’t good for you.”

“It’s not Munchies, mom…” Nina whined. “There’s a new Paldean place that opened up recently and they make the best mushroom pizza.”

“And pray tell, how is pizza not junk food?” Leanette questioned.

Nina sputtered. “Well… erm…”

The pizza place was really convenient to her because not only is it on the way, but Nina’s six — nearly seven — year old body couldn’t finish a large pizza by herself. So she would have plenty of leftovers remaining which she could have for dinner the subsequent nights. It was budget friendly as well since it’s cost efficient. Not that her mother needed to know any of this.

“I an I don’t just eat the pizza, I also supplent with so Berries for all the nutrients I need in a day,” said Nina, in an attempt to assuage Leanette’s worries. “Besides, I’ve been eating fish recently for so extra protein whenever my Dratini catches extra. I know you’ve bugged

a lot in the past about eating so at.”

Nina did not miss the twitch in her mother’s eyes when Dratini was ntioned. This was intentional on her part.

Leanette was still a little sensitive towards the presence of Pokemon. But the doctors thought that she might benefit from people bringing up Pokemon in casual conversation to, for a lack of a better term, humanize the creatures in her cognition and slowly ease her into becoming more tolerant of their presence.

“That’s great, honey… You should eat at more often.” Leanette’s eyes glazed over briefly as she reached out to pat her daughter on the head.

“She’s right you know,” chid lina. “If you don’t eat more at, you can’t grow up strong like grandma.” To illustrate her point, Nina’s grandmother rolled up her sleeves and flexed the incredible mountains she calls her biceps.

“Won’t have enough energy to wrangle a Dragon if you aren’t big and strong like !”

Nina poked and prod at lina’s muscles, mouth gaping in awe.

“Don’t they get in the way, grandma? Like, you know, after you’ve gone to the bathroom and stuff. Wouldn’t it be hard to reach behind you?”

lina laughed out loud at her granddaughter's crude question. “Then you just gotta wipe from the front, you silly!”

“Mom!” Leanette exclaid. “Stop teaching Nina weird things. And Nina, dear… So things shouldn’t be said out loud.”

Nina simply giggled in response and lina joined in with her laughter. From the looks of things, it won’t take much longer for Leanette to be discharged.