Into the Unown Ch 213 + 213.5: Nina's Journal

Chapter 213

“Seriously, can’t the two of you go anywhere without causing trouble?”

“I don’t wanna hear that from you!” yelled Justin. “These guys are small fry compared to the group that you and Lilian picked a fight with!”

Nina chuckled and got a little closer to scrutinize the latest batch of Rocket goons that Justin and Lucy apprehended. In particular, she was intrigued by the oldest among them — a man wearing a set of goofy looking clothes akin to sheets of tinfoil.

“You… You’re Team Galactic aren’t you?” The girl questioned, only to receive an intense glare from the man, all bound and gagged. “Now what is a man of your ilk doing here, I wonder…”

In truth, Nina already knew the answer to that question. Lucy was gracious enough to fill her in on their encounter. Based on what she overheard, Nina had no doubts that the fanatic from Sinnoh was after the hidden segment of the Ruins of Alph contained within Union Cave.

“The real question is, how do they even know about its existence in the first place? And what’s their connection with Team Rocket?” Nina hummed in consideration as she maintained eye contact with the bastard.

According to her research on the Pokenet, Team Galactic started off as a rogue extremist faction within the Church of Origin. They came into prominence briefly for a short period of time before being ousted by the more moderate members of the church. And under Cyrus’s leadership, have since morphed into a wide reaching criminal organisation within the Sinnoh region, not too dissimilar to Team Rocket in a sense.

“These assholes are definitely still after Arceus, looking to remake the entire universe or whatever.” Which meant that their interest in the Unown and the Ruins of Alph were not entirely uncalled for.

“Have you contacted the authorities yet?”

After an inordinately long staring session, to the point where even the Galactic grunt was beginning to squirm and sweat, Nina finally broke the silence by addressing Lucy.

The other girl gestured towards the outpost. “Well… Kerry went and informed the Rangers. So we’re on guard duty until they can call in a Jenny from the city.” It seemed that the Rangers were treating this with minimal urgency since they saw that Justin and Lucy had everything under control.

Nina shook her head in exasperation. “Not good enough. We have an agent from Team Galactic on our hands — this is an interregional incident. I’ll make a call to my contact in the Ace Corp. Pretty sure they’ll want to intervene.”

“You have a contact from the Ace Corp?! That’s so cool!”

Nina ignored Justin’s astonishment and walked away from earshot to make the call on her Pokedex. It took a few minutes, but the call did go through eventually.

“You okay, kiddo? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Nina laughed. “Why is it that everyone always assumes the worst when I call?”

A low growl emanated from the speaker. “Stop messing around, kid! I gave you this number for emergencies, NOT for housecalls! So unless you’re captured or lying dead in a ditch somewhere, I don’t wanna hear it!”

Nina winced. The person that she called was Valerie, the friendly Ace Trainer whom she and Kerry met on Mount Silver. But it seemed like she might have caught her at a bad time.

“Miss Valerie, relax… Believe me, I wouldn’t have bothered you unless it was important.”

The sound of a long breath being exhaled could be heard as Valerie regained her composure. “Right, yeah, sorry about that. Kinda in the middle of something right now. So, what’s up?”

The girl chuckled. “Yeah, I figured as much. Anyways, the reason why I’m calling is because my friends caught a member of Team Galactic who was in cahoots with Team Rocket…”

Nina then proceeded to repeat what Lucy had told her about their encounter, before talking about the ruins that she found in Union Cave and some of her speculations. Without being too specific of course. 

“If Valerie is as well informed as I think she is, then she should understand the gravity of the situation and be able to fill in the blanks herself.”

“......” A long silence was held until Valerie finally spoke again. “Who else knows about this? And do you have the coordinates for the ruins?”

“Among my companions, no one else but me understands what the Galactic grunt was after — pretty sure they didn’t even know he was Team Galactic until I told them. As for the coordinates… Yes, I do. But it’ll do you no good because the path to get there is super convoluted.”

Nina’s plans for if she needed to return to the ruin was to have Espy Teleport her. Which, incidentally, was also how she got out of there in the first place. Albeit, after they gained some distance away from the EMI field first, to avoid any unwanted accidents.

“Hmm… I can’t go there personally, but I can send a couple of my juniors over to handle things. You said you guys are at the Ranger outpost near Union Cave right? Mind sticking around until they show up to guide them? Oh, and if any Jenny shows up, tell them that the Ace Corp has authority over the case and that they should keep their grubby little paws to themselves.”

Nina responded with nervous laughter. “I thought you guys would be happy to have some help, given how busy and understaffed the Ace Corp is.”

Valerie scoffed. “Hah! If we leave it up to those blue haired Growlithes, I can almost guarantee you that we’ll be dealing with a prison break in a couple months tops! And guess who’s gonna be the ones who’ll have to chase them down and wipe their asses? Better to do things right from the start.”

Having personally experienced the politics surrounding law enforcement back in Cerulean City, Nina wisely decided to bite back her response and proceeded to hammer out a few more details with Valerie before ending the call.

***

“Greetings! My name is Gwen, and this is my colleague, Nick.”

“Sup.”

Nina smiled and greeted the pair of Ace Trainers who came up to her in their signature red and black uniform. Meanwhile, Justin and Lucy were mouth agape and absolutely starstruck by the encounter — Ace Trainers were considered the League’s cream of the crop after all.

Gwen was a girl in her early twenties who had her jet black hair tied up in a little bun. While Nick, the belligerent looking man, also had black, unkempt hair and looked equally as young. Nine could see some mild perspiration seeping from their brows along with small but noticeable circles around their eyes — the two had likely rushed to get here in time.

“Hi, I’m Nina and these are my companions; Justin, Lucy and Kerry. You’re here just in time. The Jennies arrived a while ago and they’re all starting to look a little antsy.”

The mention of Jennies elicited a sneer from Nick. “Heh. So what? Those prudes can go suc— Ow!”

Whatever the guy had wanted to say, the world would never know, because Gwen intervened with a hard elbow to his flank, causing him to fold over like a Shellder.

“What my colleague had been trying to say was… Don’t worry about the police — Nick and I will handle it. In the meantime, why don’t you guys go get some rest. I’m sure it’s been an exhausting day, so we’ll take over for now and come find you once we’re ready.”

Nina and Lucy giggled at the sight of the struggling Ace Trainer and thanked Gwen for her consideration. “Here’s our room number, we’re probably gonna go cook some dinner now, so feel free to come by and join in. We’ll make enough for the two of you.”

“Sure thing, see ya later!” And with that, Gwen dragged her companion with her to go liaise with the blue haired policewomen while Nina and her friends got some much needed rest.

***

“Incredible… and you’re the only one who's been here recently, Nina?”

“As far as I can tell, yeah. This place hasn’t been disturbed in a long time until I stumbled upon it.” The girl replied as she gently caressed the limp pile of Espeon in her embrace. 

Trying to Teleport once was already a strain on Espy, and trying to Teleport three humans simultaneously was even more so. Fortunately, she wouldn’t be responsible for the return trip since Nick had his own Psychic.

“Eh, it’s all just a pile of rocks and Unown. The fuck are those weirdoes so obssessed with?” Nick chimed, clearly not erudite enough to appreciate the splendor of the ruins before him.

Gwen responded with a wry smile. “No idea, but whatever it is that Team Galactic is after, I doubt it’s anything decent. So good job on you and your friends for pulling a fast one on them.”

The younger girl shrugged. “Eh, I just stumbled upon the ruins by chance. It’s Justin and Lucy who captured them. And speaking of… any idea why those Rocket goons were working with a foreigner?”

“Who knows… Nick and I tried interrogating them, but the Galactic guy wouldn’t talk. And as far as we can tell, the Rocket members were all just bottom tier grunts blindly following orders. We’ll have to bring them in to one of our specialists, maybe even involve Lady Sabrina.”

Nina nodded and chose not to press any further. She doubted that the two Ace Trainers were as ignorant as they claimed. But she also understood that a civilian like her had no business being too nosy about the matter, lest she invite suspicion upon herself. “I’m already lying about how I discovered the ruins and keeping quiet about Zed’s existence.”

Just as Nina surmised, the unregistered Beast Ball containing her Unown did not transfer to Storage — an act that was very much considered a misdemeanor under the eyes of the law. So for fear of getting in trouble, Nina had hid the contraband in her backpack and omitted it from her statement.

In fact, she didn’t even tell her friends about it to avoid the risk of one of them — Justin — accidentally blabbing on her. It wouldn’t be too big of a hassle though. From what Nina could tell, Zed didn’t really require any sustenance. In fact, the Unown didn’t even possess any sort of mouth or discernible organs aside from their massive eyeball.

“I really should look into what Zed needs. I mean, surely even Unown require some form of energy, right?”

“We’ll just leave it to the higher ups to decide on how to handle this place.” Gwen declared, bringing Nina out of her reverie. “More than likely they’ll cordon the place off and keep it secret from the boffins. This image of Ho-Oh is especially concerning. Definitely not something we can trust just anyone with…”

Gwen gave Nina a meaningful glance which she returned by miming a zipping motion over her mouth. Nina knew better than to be a Loudred, especially now that she knew that Team Galactic was explicitly after the ruins.

Chapter 213.5: Nina’s Journal

Year 9 AT, March 11th.

Gah, my head hurts! My head hurts so bad. Arceus, Jesus or whoever, make it stop!

Stupid Unown! Stupid ruins!

I should consult Kerry about this migraine before bed.

But before I forget. Unown Pokeball experiment was a failure? Kind of. It did go into the Ball but the Psychic signature did not take hold. Maybe. Did it?

So that means Unown are Ultra beast, right? 

Whatever, I’ll think about it tomorrow.

Oh, and Justin and Lucy are here. Finally!

***

Year 9 AT, March 12th.

I’m tired. Today’s been very stressful.

Dealing with death is never easy… Poor Kaipo. I hope Kerry can help unravel her baggage.

That Marowak’s really battle crazy, though. Challenged me and Nitey to a battle right away after everything got settled with the Jennies.

I wonder if it has something to do with that memory fragment she shared with Espy?

Be the very best, like no one ever was, huh?

Such lofty ambition, an abominable curse if any. I would never. What’s the point of burning your life away for fame and vanity? In every Region, there can only be one Champion, four Elites and eight major Gym Leaders. Such a tiny pool of glory is simply not worth fighting over.

But still, this might be good. Kaipo’s a veteran Ghost Type, even if she is more biased towards Fire from what I can see. I might be able to convince her to help with Haunter’s training.

***

Year 9 AT, March 13th.

Training log.

Espy:

My beautiful Espeon princess is a genius as usual. She might not be able to mix Type Energy as deftly as Nitey. But she has succeeded in coating her barriers with a layer of Fairy Type Energy. Hopefully, that should make them more resilient towards Dark Types.

Teleport still needs a lot of work. To date, her limit is only a single one way Teleport. After that, she practically melts into a puddle of fuzzy wuzzy. It’s super cute actually.

Ouch! Espy gave me a mental jab at that. What’s wrong with me calling my princess cute? Cute Espy is cute! 

Anyways, I’ve put a stop to Teleport training for now. Don’t want to risk any accidents when we have a Gym Battle scheduled so soon.

Nitey:

Ice Type training is stagnant. So for a change of pace, I had him spar with Justin’s Pokemon today.

The lack of qualified sparring partners has been an issue with Nitey and Espy all this while. And with the guidance of Blastoise, we might finally be able to make some progress with Blizzard as well.

Nitey has always been more of a visual learner. But visual learning has its limits. Being able to actually feel the freeze of a fully developed Blizzard should go a long way in helping his understanding of the element.

In exchange, I’ve agreed to help with the training of Justin’s Wigglytuff. Not that I wouldn’t have done so otherwise. I have a full page of notes from Misty on the bugger and fully intend to make good on them.

Needless to say, none of Justin’s Pokemon were able to contend with my tubby orange Barney. But Blastoise held up for an inordinately long time. That turtle’s gonna become an invincible tank in due time. Not that his offensive capabilities were lacking in any way. Which makes him all the more fearsome.

Sir Clodington:

Not much to say here really. Clody’s always been very diligent and stubborn to a fault. His Water Absorb is coming along very nicely. I estimate a 70% efficiency through direct contact and a 40% efficiency through ambient moisture. 

Not bad, but not perfect. It should help him last a lot longer in battle and work better with Nitey’s Water domain at least.

The only remaining point of concern is his insistence on keeping up with the torture training to his mind. Espy doesn’t see anything wrong with it and I trust her to hold back enough to avoid causing any permanent damage. But the fact remains that it’s very unhealthy.

The cause seems to stem from our encounter with that fake Mega Charizard last year. Despite his apparent tenacity at the time, it’s clear that Clody didn’t come out of that encounter without some baggage of his own.

Poppy:

He’s so cute. Why is my baby seal so gosh darn CUTE? >.<

Poppy was the most excited to have so many new faces join the crew. Went around introducing himself and showing off his tricks to impress his new friends. Not everyone was receptive, especially considering how edgy some of Justin and Lucy’s Pokemon are. But he was quite persistent and managed to endear everyone to him in the end.

I mostly let him do whatever he wanted today, which ended up being training with Blastoise and Sharpedo. There are certain things that can only be imparted through other Water Types after all.

Note to self: I should endeavor to give Poppy more battle experience.

He did pretty well in the Sprout Tower despite the Type disadvantage. Poppy’s instincts and reflexes in particular are quite exceptional. Likely due to his penchant for acrobatics. This is good, but we’ll need frequent, practical battles to further hone his talent.

Haunter:

Will-O-Wisp is coming together steadily. Getting Kaipo to help with Haunter’s training was quite the boon. And Espy’s empathic abilities are a cheat as always. The obstacle this time around seems to be their difference in biology which necessitates a lot of creative interpretation on Haunter’s end.

Have I ever mentioned how Haunter ultimately learned Mean Look? My adorable Ghost girl was just too wholesome to conjure up enough “meanness” to pull off that move. So every time she tried, it always just ended up looking like a pout.

So after a quick consult with Hattori, we came up with the idea of using the Ghost flames to form a menacing face and channel her intent and Type Energy through that instead. So she already has practice with Fire manipulation, which is good.

That said, Haunter’s being quite impatient with it and kept faltering. I told her to channel her frustrations into the flames, but she’s always been a bit lacking when it comes to emotional control.

No matter, she’ll figure it out in due time. I have the utmost confidence in her.

Brucey:

Poor Brucey… He was really hard on himself today. Kept picking fights with Justin and Lucy’s Pokemon. Espy and I had to step in a few times.

He was quite reluctant to do his usual emoji exercises as well.

Oh Brucey… My silly little Golbat. What am I going to do with you?

***

Year 9 AT, March 14th.

He did it! Brucey finally evolved!

Oh Brucey, I’m so proud of you.

As his reward, Brucey asked for a 2 hour long cuddle session with me and Espy.

Gosh, he’s just so cute! Why are all my Pokemon so cute?!

Naturally, we obliged. We would have done it even if it wasn’t a reward. Which then leaves the need for a more practical gift. Something I should consult Espy with later on.

Knowing Brucey, he would prefer it to be a surprise. So let’s keep it hush-hush for now.

That aside, some observations on my cool new Crobat. 

According to Espy, Brucey’s a lot more sedate now. Calmer. But he still maintained a degree of naivete and playfulness.

In particular, he still kept that disturbing laugh of his. Likely a habit at this point. But at least he’s mostly communicating with Pokespeak now.

There are still some concepts and ideas that he remains oblivious too, resulting in a healthy irreverence towards social norms. This I take to be a good sign. It means his personality hasn’t been unduly warped from his newly gained sapience and Evolution process.

My silly Brucey still remains my silly Brucey. Albeit with less of an appetite for pranks. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Actually, never mind. I’ll consider it a good thing. Nothing wrong with teaching him how to battle normally. And whatever losses in wiliness can be compensated with a blanket increase in every other aspect.

There’s only so far we can push pure harassment strats anyway. This is a truth that I’ve come to accept after our battle with Falkner. So time to crank up Brucey’s power training.

Can’t wait to Fly with him though. Brucey always seemed a little disappointed that he wasn’t big enough to carry me. So I think a nice little date in the skies with just the two of us is warranted.

***

Year 9 AT, March 17th.

We’ve finally departed from Violet City. Not gonna lie, I'll miss that place. It’s probably the most beautiful city I’ve been to in all of my two lives.

But speaking of beauty, Route 32 is equally as aesthetic. A sea of cherry blossoms to my right and pristine blue waters to my left. This is the life!

The others agreed to take our time for this stretch of the road. After all, a journey should be enjoyable, relaxing at times. Not just a mad dash across the region in pursuit of Gym badges and battles.

Kerry even proposed a full on beach day tomorrow which everyone heartily agreed to.

Maybe I should go diving? It has been a long, long time since I last dove in a proper ocean. Cinnabar Island was too cold when Kerry and I went last time. And it’ll be the first time that I go on a proper dive with Poppy as well. I wonder if we’ll be able to find some hidden treasures?

It’s funny, really. I was never much of an oceanophile in my past life. But now, I’m probably the most relaxed while swimming in water. Guess I really have become a bit of a mermaid after all.

***

Year 9 AT, March 18th.

I caught a new Pokemon today… Dhelmise.

It’s… I shudder to even think about it. I don’t… I just…

***

Year 9 AT, March 19th.

I tried to delve into Dhelmise’s mind again today. It was a mistake. Never again. I don’t think I can survive another peek into that eldritch abomination.

How could something be so… hungry?

***

Year 9 AT, March 20th.

I cried today.

Kerry and Peppy were so nice. Absolute angels. What would I do without them?

Peppy in particular was so warm, so soft, so fragrant. Chanseys are a gift unto this world and must be protected at all cost!

Death to all poachers! Death to Team Rocket! Death to all Sneasals!

Dhelmise, though… I’ll keep trying. I can’t give up.

***

Year 9 AT, March 21st.

I miss Clody… Wonder how he’s doing? I should call back to the Gym and ask.

***

Year 9 AT, March 24th.

I’m so tired.

It’s 2 AM now and we just got back from dealing with the local Tentacool bloom. Stupid jellyfish! Always such nuisances both in real life and in the games.

Honestly, if ever there was a Pokemon that deserves to go extinct.

Dammit! Calm down Nina, all Pokemon are beautiful and magical creatures. Except Tentacools, maybe.

Urgh, I’m being unhinged. This past week has been real sucky. I need sleep.

Tomorrow, I plan on delving into Union Cave to look for that hidden segment of the Ruins of Alph.

Or should I postpone it by another day? Get some rest first?

Whatever, I’ll think about it tomorrow.

***

Year 9 AT, March 27th.

I am currently writing this entry within the bowels of Union Cave, right in front of the Ho-Oh mural.

Man, cave diving was miserable. All those Youtube videos I used to watch don’t do justice to exactly how miserable it actually is. The darkness, the silence, the claustrophobia… I figured I’d try it at least once, but now I’m thinking I should be smarter about it next time.

It was all worth it in the end though. This is a discovery that will be talked about for years to come. Not sure if I want to disclose it just yet though. And Zed… The Z Unown.

I read the Unown Report. So I had known that the Z Unown was missing from the lineup. But to find Zed in that state…

What happened to this world? What caused Zed to glitch out like that? And more importantly what sort of ripples has it caused?

In the games, the player would have been the one to discover this section of the ruins. But this isn’t a game, despite the existence of Red. 

Besides, I wouldn’t exactly want this world to operate on game logic. I still remember how disappointed I was to collect all variations of the Unown only to receive nothing in return. But clearly, that isn’t the case here…

That vision I saw. It was fragmented, broken. I have a feeling that it has something to do with my transmigration and the origins of this world.

And Zed… The final piece. The words that Red left behind echo in my mind.

As I write this entry, my hand unconsciously rubs at the Mew Gem around my neck. Sometimes I wonder if my fascination with the Unown has anything to do with Mew’s machinations.

But no, this I know for certain. The pursuit of the Unown is mine and mine alone. 

I wish to know the mysteries surrounding my existence. Not because I want to go home, it would be foolish to give up what I have now. No, it’s because I wish to see my parents one last time. To apologize and say my farewells.

I wish for closure.

And to that end, I will keep pulling at this thread. In hopes of obtaining the clarity that I seek one day.

Note to self:

- Check on Zed’s needs

- Find a way to more effectively communicate. Can’t rely on Lucy’s Magneton forever. (PS. It seems that radio waves might be key, but further experimentation is warranted.)