Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)
Bonus Chapter: Fuyumi

Author's note:

This is a bonus release accompanying Ch 150 so go back if you accidentally skipped the chapter.

This chapter takes place between Ch 144 and Ch 145.

It's just a fun little idea that I've had for awhile now that I finally wrote down after abruptly waking up in the middle of the night in a fit of inspiration.

The battle isn't really supposed to be realistic or sensible in anyway. Like I said, it's just a bit of fun.

***

Fuyumi walked up the stairs of the platform on one end of the arena, her heart pounding and mouth claggy from excitement. It felt just like yesterday that she experienced the joy of receiving a call from the Cerulean Gym, informing her and her sister that they had been chosen as their newest apprentices. 

And on the other end of the arena was the girl they had to thank for such a fortune, according to Daisy, who casually confided in them last time. Cool, calm and collected, Nina casually strutted up onto her platform and waved at her with a warm smile. Looking nonchalant as ever despite the fact that she had just been discharged from the infirmary. 

Fuyumi returned the gesture with a blush and a stiff smile, her heart rate spiking as she fiddled with the Pokeball on her belt. 

“So, Fuyumi? How do you want to do this?” Nina asked, in her usual carefree tone. 

The younger girl had always been envious of her senior, of how she could remain so self-assured most of the time. After all, there was only a single year separating them. So Fuyumi had thought that, maybe, once she got older, things would just click together and make sense, that she would just automatically gain the same confidence as her idol. Boy, was she wrong. 

Eventually, she figured it out. Nina wasn't confident. Not at all. The girl was simply indifferent. Unlike Fuyumi, who desperately wanted to prove her worth, that she was more than just a gimmick — simply one half of a cute pair of marketable twins — Nina just didn't care. The older girl wanted to go out and explore the world, to just have fun in life and pursue knowledge, not be a Pokemon Master and the best there ever was. 

It was a revelation that left a bitter taste in Fuyumi's mouth. The thought that her presence didn't even register in her idol's mind. Despite the fact that she had been desperately chasing after her shadow this entire time. But more importantly, the fact that the gulf in their natural talent was just that wide. 

“Fuyu?” Nina called, pulling the girl out of her reverie, voice tinged with concern. 

“Err… Sorry, zoned out for a bit there. Hehe. I don't want to burden you too much so I'd like to just request for a match between Artoria and Nairy.”

“Of course,” Nina smiled. “I'm looking forward to seeing Artoria's progress as well. He's already evolved into a Kingler right?” 

Fuyumi nodded and, in response, threw her Pokeball into the arena to unveil a Kingler with a sharp look in his eyes. Artoria had been training long and hard in anticipation of this moment. 

“King…” And with a determined cry, he slammed his massive left pincer onto the ground, the scarlet red carapace gleaming a metallic sheen. This wasn't Artoria cheating before the match began, but a natural result of his training, no Steel Type Energy involved at all. 

The Kingler had been continuously breaking and regenerating his battle pincer in accordance with advice from their seniors in the Gym, even subjecting it to immense pressure, extreme heat and freezing cold. All to temper the ultimate shield and the ultimate hammer, behind which concealed the ultimate sword. All to slay the Dragon before him. 

“Nair!” Nairy appeared in a flash, affable as ever and waving excitedly at his junior with his tail. 

The Dragonair's nonchalance irked Artoria even more as he glared viciously at him, eagerly awaiting the referee's call. 

“Have they taught you about domains yet?” Nina chimed, right before the referee was about to start his countdown.

Fuyumi frowned, but nodded in response. “Artoria is still struggling, but his Aura is coming along nicely.” 

Nina chuckled. “Yeah, I figured as much. Artoria's more the martial sort. A shame, I wanted to see his domain so I was going to cede the advantage to you guys.” 

Fuyumi growled, her indignant rage synchronizing with Artoria’s through their shared bond. “Don't you dare look down on us! Artoria!” 

“King!” And the moment that the referee declared the start of the match, Artoria spewed a sea of foam and clouds of bubbles from his mouth, completely covering the humble arena in his domain. 

Nairy looked around in intrigue, feeling equal parts amused and tickled by the foam surrounding him. 

Nina smiled. “Very flashy, but quite a half-baked effort.” That smile soon faded as the senior Gym Apprentice leveled a disappointed gaze at her naive junior. “You see, Fuyu… Such a flimsy domain can easily be dispelled like so.” And with a click of her fingers, Nairy casually summoned a tall wave of water to wash away the surrounding sea of foam. 

“Artoria's a Water Pokemon, Fuyu… If you're going to claim a domain, then do it properly. Don't rely on such gimmicks if you ever want me to take you seriously.” Nina continued in her admonishment, her tone cold and lecturing. 

Fuyumi clenched her teeth in frustration, her mind boiling with rage. “Time to lock in Artoria — will of iron, claws of steel!”

“KIIING!!!” The Kingler struck a dynamic pose, before slamming his massive pincer down again, harnessing Steel Type Energy to suffuse Artoria’s already-sturdy carapace — Harden, Endure, Iron Defense and Swords Dance, all in a single, efficient maneuver.

Nina whistled, impressed by her junior’s progress. But Fuyumi wasn’t done yet, because immediately after, she commanded her Kingler to “CHAARGE!!!”

“King!” Artoria conjured a Surf with a wave of his massive claw, but instead of immediately sending it towards Nairy, he used it to propel himself forwards and swung an empowered Crabhammer at the Dragonair.

Unfortunately for Artoria, his increase in defense and raw power resulted in a sacrifice in speed and agility. With such an obvious lead up before impact, Nairy easily danced out of the way, causing the Crabhammer to miss and hit the ground instead.

“Don’t let up Artoria, stick to him!”

“King!”

However, credit to the Kingler, he had long since gotten used to the unwieldy nature of his battle claw and had trained specifically to make use of the residual momentum to empower his next attack. So, instead of reeling from the aftermath, Artoria deftly pivoted, shifting his weight around to once again swing at Nairy with a circular motion, only for the Dragonair to dodge yet again.

“Again!”

Artoria flailed, stabbing his off-claw into the ground to use as a fulcrum, once again redirecting the momentum to use in another Crabhammer directed at Nairy.

“Nair!” Nairy jolted in surprise, hastily slithering to the side to evade the empowered pincer that slammed down and crushed the ground he once stood. All the while, bracing himself for another follow up from the brutish Kingler — a follow up attack that never came as Artoria strained to retract his claw with a forceful heave.

Fuyumi groaned. That combo of his put a lot of strain on Artoria’s joints, and at the moment three consecutive hits was the best that her partner could do, leaving him vulnerable at the end. A fact that they had already prepared for.

“Reset, Artoria!”

“King!” Taking advantage of Nairy’s momentary surprise, Artoria flung a Mud Shot ball at his opponent with his off-claw to force some distance between him and Nairy.

On the other end of the arena, Nina nodded in approval, face full of pride. But she still fell short of taking Fuyumi seriously, as evident by the fact that the girl had yet to call out a single command yet. A fact that irked Fuyumi to no end.

“We’re not done yet! Artoria! Time to unsheath your blade. Cut him down!”

“King… Kingler!” Right from the beginning, everything that Artoria had done was for the purpose of buying time. All to charge up the ball of pure Type Energy ruminating within the confines of his battle claw, as a radiant light spilled out from the gaps of his pincer.

And with a powerful swing, Artoria swung his claw, slashing at Nairy with a condensed energy blade that decimated the walls of the arena as Nairy hastily air swimmed out of the way, the blade of Hyper Beam just barely singing the surface of his scales.

This was the signature move that Fuyumi developed with Artoria. The idea was; by keeping a perpetually charged Hyper Beam at the ready, contained within Artoria’s battle claw, the Kingler could use it in brief intervals, before shutting his pincers again to prevent the the Type Energy from dissipating, thereby completely bypassing the cumbersome initial charge up time associated with Hyper Beams. And during its “sheathed” state Artoria would continue to feed into the ball of energy to rebuild its power for the next surprise attack.

The end result was a sword of pure energy that Fuyumi named Excalibur, after the legendary sword in the stone.

Nina laughed and showered her junior’s efforts with rapturous applause. “I love it! That’s very chuuni of you, Fuyu. Lemme guess? Did you name that move Excalibur as well?”

Fuyu frowned. What did “chuuni” mean? And how did the older girl know what she named it?

Nina let out a sunny grin. “Good. I’m proud of you, Fuyu. You wanted me to take you seriously? Then so be it. Nairy, Sapphire strats!”

“Nair!” And with that command, Nairy’s weather orbs took on an iridescent glow, summoning a raging Thunder storm onto the arena. But instead of flooding the place like he would normally do, Nairy held back and instead allowed for a rain of Thunder to supercharge the waterlogged arena.

“Lightning rod, Artoria!” Fuyumi called hastily, prompting her Kingler to stab her off claw into the ground and raise his sturdy battle claw to catch the bolts of Thunder hammering down on him. The intent was to manipulate a layer of Steel Type Energy to redirect the Electric Type Energy down into the ground instead.

That said, while Artoria could mitigate a large bulk of the damage, it was still impossible to avoid it entirely through such crude methods. All the more when the Kingler had to stay still for it to work, an opening that Nairy wasn’t so naive as to let go as he continuously pelted Artoria with his signature Double Pulse.

“King…” Artoria groaned in pain as he desperately endured the endless barrage of explosions against his empowered shell, forcing him to redirect some of his energy reserves to further bolster his defenses.

Fuyumi frowned, desperately racking her brain for a way out of this predicament. “We have no choice… It’s all or nothing, Artoria! EX… CALIBUUUUR!!!”

“KING… KINGLEEERRR!!!”

With a snap of his claws, Artoria unleashed the full might of his blade, the beam of destructive light shot towards the air and crashed against the ceiling of the arena. And with another a determined cry, slashed the thick blade of Hyper Beam down towards Nairy’s direction, ripping the ground asunder in a powerful blast, sending smoke and debris into the air and causing Fuyumi to fall onto her knees

“Did… did we do it…?” Fuyumi murmured, feeling utterly exhausted for whatever inexplicable reason.

And as the dust settled, the aftermath of their battle was revealed; a massive gash had formed in the arena, splitting it in half. On one end of the devastating scar, was Artoria, legs shaky and mouth bubbling from exhaustion. 

And on the other end, was Nairy, completely unharmed and standing right next to the arena’s gash, peering into it with sparkling eyes full of interest. Meanwhile, behind him, steadily rising up from the safety of her platform was a disheveled looking Nina, head covered in residual dust as she let out a few coughs to clear her lungs.

“Holy moly! That was incredible, Fuyu!” Nina exclaimed. “Truly worthy of the name Excalibur. Saber would be proud of you. Maybe you should consider dying your hair blonde, I think that’d be a great look. Right now you’re more Rin than Artoria. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Rin’s best girl after all.”

Fuyumi frowned, utterly confused by her senior’s nonsense as she forced her wobbly leg to stand. “Did something fall and hit her on the head just now?” The Cerulean Sisters would kill her if they found out that Fuyumi and Artoria had somehow injured one of their most profitable talents.

Realizing that she was going off on an incomprehensible tangent, Nina let out another cough as she pulled herself back with a more serious look.

“Anyways, what I wanted to say was… Great work, once again. I know it’s really difficult to redirect such a powerful Hyper Beam, even if it’s just down in a simple straight line. So I can tell that you and Artoria really worked hard. And for that, I commend you.” Nina said with a warm smile. 

“That said, please don’t rest on your laurels and continue to work hard. I’m sure that some day, Artoria will be able to steer the force of his Excalibur more and be able to catch any sudden movements from his opponents.” Nina gestured towards the gash on the ground and towards Nairy. “As it is, the straightforward nature of the move makes it too easy to dodge if the Pokemon is well trained enough — which Nairy definitely is. And don’t even think about trying to hit a future seeing Psychic Type like Espy.”

Fuyumi nodded, too tired to argue with her senior. Not that she would even if she could. Nina was right, as usual. In fact, the younger girl was fully cognizant of her Kingler’s shortcomings and was working hard to make up for them.

“Anyways,” Nina continued. “I think the ending to this match is pretty obvious. So please surrender. Being able to take part in the inter-school meet is a rare privilege, and there’s other worthwhile opponents for you to fight here. No point wearing yourself out at this point.” She said, eliciting more nods from Fuyumi as she raised a hand to surrender before recalling her Kingler with gentle words of encouragement.

“Just you wait, Big Sis… I swear, I’m going to keep getting better. Artoria and I won’t keep losing forever!” Fuyumi swore as she stepped down the platform with languid steps, hot tears streaming down her cheeks all the while.

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