Into the Unown (Poke Chapter 4

After their little heart to heart in a Munchies of all places, Nina explicitly told Patrick that she did not want to return ho. “I’m scared of mom. There’ve been tis where she feels more dangerous than any wild Pokemon I could ever encounter,” she said.

Nina did feel a little bad about throwing her mother under the bus like that, but she couldn’t get over Leanette’s

manic eyes and that inhuman shriek she made during their last mont together.

It was a good thing that her father easily acquiesced to Nina’s demand and rented a hotel room that was near her school.

“I’m gonna head back ho to pack up so of your things because it looks like we’ll be in this for the long haul. I’ll leave Pikachu here with you for now, feel free to go to bed without ,” said Patrick.

Nina was worried about her father’s safety and strongly urged him to bring Pikachu along. “The hotel’s relatively safe. You need her more than I do.” But Patrick was quite firm in his rejection, saying that Pikachu couldn’t bring herself to hurt Leanette even if he ordered her to.

It was an excuse of course. Nina was confident that Pikachu would prioritize her trainer’s safety over his spouse. It was actually Patrick who could not bear to hurt his wife.

Therefore, it troubled Nina even more to find that Patrick had returned in the middle of the night with a torn and bloody shirt, and scratch marks all over his body.

“This can’t go on, that woman needs to be locked up in an asylum or sothing,” thought Nina. Not that she knew if asylums even exist in this world. Psychic type pokemon have done wonders in managing psychiatric and ntal health issues.

It might sound heartless, but she had only been living as Nina Jones for three years. Prior to that, she was a thirty year old working adult up til the unfortunate accident. Even an objective observer would agree that Leanette Jones was dealing with so nasty demons and was in need of urgent help.

That, and Nina did genuinely like Patrick. He was a good father and devoted husband, and she could not bear to see him suffer through such a toxic relationship.

“— Nina, Nina… lina Jones!”

Nina was woken up from her stupor by the fervent calling of her teacher.

Roxy frowned at Nina’s inattentiveness. “Co see

in the faculty office later on.”

It was hard to get a read on Ms Roxy’s tone due to how distracted Nina was, so she simply nodded in acknowledgent, unsure if she was in trouble or not.

The rest of the class, however, snickered at her predicant. Clearly assuming that Nina was being punished for daydreaming.

***

“Here, I reached out to my alma mater and managed to get a list of reading recomndations that you requested,” began Roxy.

“Thank you.” Nina replied, in a half-hearted manner. She then glanced at the sheets of paper she was given and absent-mindedly flipped through them.

Roxy sighed. “Are you okay, Nina? I was never a genius so I could not even begin to relate. But I can understand that classes at this level must seem awfully dull for soone of your intellect. Nonetheless, as a student, it is important to show due respect and at least pretend to pay attention in class.”

Nina snapped her head back up to look at her horoom teacher. “W-what?! No. That’s not the issue…” She sputtered, followed by an exasperated sigh.

Nina’s eyes glanced around, seeing that the office was mostly empty owing to the fact that it was now lunch break. She considered her words carefully, not wanting to be misunderstood.

“I… I need help, Ms Roxy. My mother… She’s not right in the head.” Nina’s eyes began to water to really sell the performance. It was all fake of course. She had learned early on in her new life how to effectively appeal to the adults around her.

Ms Roxy was none the wiser. Instead, she recognised the severity of Nina’s tone and beckoned her towards a private eting room at the back.

Once they were properly settled, Nina began recollecting her family circumstances, taking care to put things into a perspective that was favorable towards her and Patrick, without demonizing Leanette too much. Instead, her mother was depicted more like a victim struggling with inner demons.

“Dad ca back to the hotel room last night all bloodied and scratched up. He said he was attacked by a stray owth, but it was obvious he was lying. I know for a fact that it was mom who hurt him. But despite everything, he still loves her too much to take any aningful action against her.” Nina took in a shaky breath before continuing.

“What he doesn’t seem to realize is that this isn’t sothing he can fix. He’s a bureaucrat, a paper pusher working for the League, not a dical professional. And mom is only going to keep getting worse if we continue indulging her like this.” She concluded.

Roxy leaned back against her chair, fingers rubbing on her chin as she was prone to do when she was deep in thought. “Do you mind if I report this to the principal?” She responded, after a period of silence.

“W-why?” asked a seemingly nervous Nina. She was not actually nervous, but right now she was portraying a traumatized five year old and needed to be consistent.

Roxy gave the vulnerable girl in front of her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble, and neither are you parents. Rather, I agree with what you said about your mom needing help. But in order to help her, we might need to get so social workers involved. And for that, I need approval from the principal. Does that sound okay to you?”

Nina gave a hesitant nod. “It’s not dad’s fault…” she repeated. “He’s trying his best. It’s… It’s all my fault. This is all because of …” Nina began choking up, her voice wavering.

“Oh sweetie…” Roxy got up and made her way over to Nina to pull her into an embrace. “Don’t you ever say that. It’s not your fault, do you hear ? You’re just a child, and an extrely courageous one at that. You’ve done your part, now let us adults take care of the rest.”

Nina nodded once more, but deep down she was patting herself on the back for such an Oscar worthy performance. The die has been cast, now she just has to wait and see how competent the school is and take it from there. Everything up to this point was pure improv, Nina did not exactly think her actions through, so she could not help but feel nervous about how her parents would react.

Turns out, things progressed faster than she had anticipated. Nina was surprised to find her father waiting for her after school. Apparently, he had gotten a call from the principal and was asked to co in for a eting.

Nina wasn’t allowed to sit in with the adults, which suited her just fine. Instead, Mr Larry, the PE teacher was called in to help distract Nina with an impromptu lesson on Pokemon battles.

“Ms Roxy ntioned that you wanted to attend trainer school right?” asked Margaret, the heavyset woman who acted as the principal of Nina’s elentary school.

Nina nodded enthusiastically in response.

Margaret gave her a motherly smile. “Well it just so happens that Mr Larry here used to be quite the Pokemon Trainer back in his day. He even managed to reach the top 128 during his conference run. Why don’t you head out to the courtyard with him and get so pointers while we speak with your father.”

For context, top 128 in the Indigo Plateau Conference ant that Larry only managed to get past the preliminaries, which isn’t really that impressive. But Nina was happy all the sa. After all, beggars can’t be choosers.

***

“Right then, kiddo. Pick your Pokemon.” Larry instructed, as he presented three identical looking Pokeballs in front of Nina.

The Pokeballs were slightly transparent which afforded Nina a glimpse inside its contents. But she could only make out vague silhouettes. It reminded Nina of her past childhood where there was always a “Who’s that Pokemon?” segnt in each episode of the ani.

“Can I ask what’s in each Pokeball?”

Larry gave a hearty laugh before responding. “Nope, either you figure it out with the clues I gave you or pray to Arceus you get the Pokemon you want.”

Nina frowned, it was hard to discern anything from just the silhouette. So instead, she turned her gaze towards her PE teacher for so context clues.

“Let’s see here… Larry’s sporting a buzzcut and a green tracksuit. In terms of physique, he’s muscular but not overly so. He has a band-aid over the bridge of his nose and… Are those calluses on his knuckles?”

It wasn’t good to stereotype soone like this. Nina reminded herself that this was real life and not a ga, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to work with. “So either Fighting, Rock, or Normal. Maybe even a Ground type specialist.”

Nina rotated each of the three pokeballs for further inspection. “This one is likely a Geodude with its arms crossed… This one’s tricky, Nidorina/Nidoran maybe? This one is definitely Rattata.”

After a brief deliberation, Nina went with the one she believed to be a Geodude. She was tempted to grab the one that could be either a Nidorina or Nidoran, since Nidoking was one of her favorite pokemons, but ultimately decided against it. The silhouette was too ambiguous to know for certain. Whilst she was fairly confident with Geodude and its battle capabilities.

Larry grinned. “Last chance to change your mind.”

Nina snorted, as if she would fall for such obvious mind gas. “Nope, I’m sticking with my choice.” She said, confidently.

The two of them then went to opposing sides of the field that Larry had drawn out beforehand using chalk.

“Whenever you’re ready!” Larry declared.

Nina took in a deep breath and clicked on the tactile button of her borrowed Pokeball to expand it. “First real Pokemon battle of my life. How exciting!”

She wound up her arm and tossed out the Pokeball with all her might. “Go, I choose you!”

Larry tossed out his Pokeball at the sa ti, and what appeared on the field after a flash of light was Geodude on Nina’s side, as she expected, and Nidoran on Larry’s side.

“Dammit!” Cursed Nina. “I wanted a Nidoran.”

Larry let out another hearty laugh. “Well too bad, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Nina sighed. “No point crying over spilled milk.”

“Battle will start once this rock hits the ground!”

“Wait!” Nina yelled. “I don’t know what moves my Geodude has.”

Larry scratches his head in embarrassnt. “Right, my bad. This particular Geodude knows Tackle and Defense Curl.”

Nina stifled a groan. “It would have been nice to have Rock Polish at least. Welp, we work with what we’ve got.”

Larry tossed the rock in his hand… And the mont that it landed, Nina called on Geodude to use Defense Curl.

In response, Geodude crossed its arms in an X shape to guard its body. Its levitation also ceased being as wobbly and beca more steady, almost like the Rock Pokemon has been fixed to that exact point in space.

“Keep your eyes on Nidoran and remain steady, I’ll call out when you need to attack.” Nina instructed, her voice just loud enough to be heard by Geodude and no one else.

“Well what’re you waiting for?! We ain’t got all day!” Larry taunted, but Nina ignored him and just kept waiting for the PE teacher to make the first move.

“Don’t mind if I do then. Nidoran, use Peck!”

Nidoran charged towards his opponent at maximum speed, a dim glow began emanating from his juvenile horn as it slowly started to accumulate Flying Type Energy.

“Steady… steady…” Nina muttered. And right as Nidoran launched itself from the ground, and soared towards Geodude, Nina called it. “Now! Use Tackle!”

Geodude rushed forwards to et its opponent, arms still crossed as the two Pokemon collided in mid-air. The sound of hamr on nails could be heard as Nidoran was sent flying back towards Larry’s side of the field with a pained yelp.

anwhile, Geodude remained solid as a rock, and was only pushed slightly back from the recoil.

What Nina had done there was effectively ti Geodude’s Tackle to be used as a pseudo-Counter. She was aware that Peck, being a Flying type move, would necessitate a bit of air ti at the end, leaving Nidoran vulnerable, especially since he did not have actual wings to maneuver away from the attack.

Larry humd. “No wonder Roxy calls you a genius. That’s a really smart use of Tackle and Defense Curl.” He comnted, as he started shadow boxing on the other end of the field. “The principles of a counter punch in boxing involves using the opponent’s own force against them. A high risk, high reward move where timing is key. Not bad… Not bad at all…”

Despite her reservations, Nina still blushed at her teacher’s complint. It was good to know that all the ti she spent reviewing battle footage was duly rewarded.

“But don’t get too cocky just yet,” warned Larry. “Co a little closer, Nidoran.” He instructed, as he knelt down closer to the poison pin Pokemon. Larry then proceeded to do what Nina did earlier and spoke in a volu that was only audible to his Pokemon.

Nina frowned and told Geodude to resu Defense Curl. It was evident that her Geodude did not co off from the previous exchange completely unphased, given how its levitation was noticeably less stable. Its arms also seed a little shaky as compared to how they were, not too long ago.

“Alright Nidoran, class is in session,” said Larry, signaling a resumption of the battle. “Go ahead and use Peck again.”

Nina frowned, “Surely this guy isn’t dumb enough to use the sa approach, right?” Regardless, there was not much that Nina could do except tell Geodude to hold steady. The Rock Pokemon was simply too slow to compete with Nidoran. Chasing after the purple Poison Type would only serve to cede the flow of the battle.

Just like last ti, Nidoran charged up his montum and launched itself off the ground. However, this ti around, the mont that Nina yelled for a Tackle, the gaze of the Poison Type took on a sharp glint, causing a montary sense of discomfort to wash over both Geodude and Nina.

That brief interruption was enough to dampen Geodude’s montum and cause his defensive arms to falter slightly, barely exposing an opening where Nidoran could push through and slam his glowing horn into Geodude’s torso.

The Rock Pokemon was sent flying back towards Nina, prompting her to clumsily fall to the ground to avoid being smashed by the sentient boulder.

“Geodude was sent out of bounds. Winner of the match is Nidoran!” Larry yelled, declaring himself the victor.

Nina was absolutely horrified by what she had just experienced. But regardless, she still dusted herself off and went to check on Geodude. She recognised that it wasn’t the Rock Pokemon’s fault she nearly got a concussion, Geodude did not intend to harm her.

“Was that Leer?” Nina asked, when Larry ca over to check on her.

“Yeap. Good eyes. Get it? Eyes. Cause Leer?” Larry guffawed at his terrible joke, while Nina just groaned.

She had always assud that Leer was one of those nonsensical moves that were only applicable in the gas. But turns out, there were so Type Energy shenanigans going on. Because that feeling of discomfort she was subjected to was definitely irregular.

“People often look down on ‘weak moves’ like Leer, Tail Whip and Splash, among others.” Larry lectured. “But experienced trainers know that these moves, if used correctly, can often be used to catch your opponent off guard and tip the battle towards your favor.”

Nina nodded, scribbling Larry’s advice down onto a notebook which she had taken out at so point.

“You’re pretty much there already with how well you used Tackle earlier. You just need more experience and in-depth knowledge.” The PE teacher advised. “Honestly, if you’re already so good at this age, I can’t wait to see how far you’ll go in another decade or so.”

Nina thanked Larry for his guidance and returned Geodude. She left school that day feeling a deep sense of fulfillnt for finally being able to experience a bonafide Pokemon battle.