Into the Unown Ch 204 (Rewrite pending)

EDIT:

I've decided to do a quick rewrite of this chapter after seeing @Theredscare77's comments.

This will be an important rewrite and I'll make sure to release it by today. So for now, please hold off on reading too much into this chapter.

Chapter 204

Despite a fresh coating of Fairy Type Energy to reinforce it, Espy’s Psychic barrier flickered precariously at every bolt of Darkness that struck. 

Meanwhile, the Espeon herself was desperately trying to dodge the rain of Dark Pulses from the Honchkrow, crying out every so often at the shadowy projectiles that encroached upon her previously immaculate lilac fur.

“We really need to double down on strengthening your Fairy Type prowess.”

A wave of annoyance permeated Nina’s mind, which she interpreted as “I know already! Can’t you see I’m working on it?!”

The girl chuckled. “How long will your barrier last without you present on the field, Espy?” Nina asked through their mental link, and frowned in response to the answer she got.

“Three seconds? That’s not very long at all.” And that time could only be bought with Espy’s full concentration.

If this was an enclosed space then Espy, who had been training hard to counter Dark Types, could eventually take down the Honchkrow with some effort. But in an open arena, all that awaited her was frustration as her opponent could simply keep at a distance and bombard her into submission.

But equally, persisting with the current circumstance would only lead to a slow defeat, since Espy’s mental bandwidth was hampered by her need to maintain the barrier.

“No choice. Secure your barrier and swap out with Brucey, Espy.” Nina commanded, prompting the Espeon to trigger Baton Pass and call upon the Psychic signature linking her to her Pokeball, dissolving in a flash of light and returning herself to Nina’s belt.

This all happened at the exact same time that Nina threw out Brucey’s Pokeball, to save on the precious few seconds that they had.

“Uproar, Brucey!” Nina called, not even bothering to whistle or put on her earplugs like she normally did.

“GOOOL!!!”

A sharp and bassy screech echoed in the domed barrier, causing it to crack under strain.

Honchkrow cried out in pain as well as its delicate eardrums ruptured from the Golbat’s aural assault. And even Nina was not unscathed as she desperately plugged her ears to mitigate the noise. Falkner though, just calmly shoved cotton into his ears with a look of mild annoyance.

Unfortunately, the sound of shattering glass soon resounded when Espy’s barrier finally broke, freeing the way for Honchkrow to escape into the wide open skies and get away from the offensive noise, the Gravity field had long since dissipated with Espy’s withdrawal.

Then, with a swipe of his sleeves, Falkner signaled for Honchkrow to start bombing Brucey with a mix of Air Cutter and Dark Pulse. The damage, thankfully, knocked Brucey out of Uproar.

The problem with the move was that the Pokemon using it couldn’t hear any instructions during its duration, and Brucey was too scatterbrained to have the situational awareness to know when to stop on his own, despite Nina and Espy’s best efforts.

Nina whistled and clicked her tongue, signalling for Brucey to burst into two dozen Kage Bunshin clones and employ Poison and stall tactics. She eschewed Hurricane since that would only serve to benefit the Honchkrow.

Brucey and his clones swarmed the Honchkrow. But already, a lot of them were popping from his opponent’s indiscriminate bombardment. And none of his attacks were hitting either because Falkner’s specially trained birds were much more skilled than Brucey in flight. Not even the Golbat’s erratic flight patterns could juke it since it could just persist with its widespread attack.

Worse of all, Brucey had the weakest mental strength among all of Nina’s Pokemon. So he quickly fell victim to the Honchkrow’s Taunt and Swagger, completely sealing his utility moves and confusing him, as evident from the scattered and erratic spread of his swarm. Like mosquitoes to a light, they were picked off one by one.

And since they were too high up in the sky and beyond earshot, Nina couldn’t return Brucey either. Just forced to helplessly watch as her precious Pokemon took a beating.

Nina scowled. “Damned Dark Types and their damned debuffs!” She cursed, receiving a mental pulse of agreement from Espy in her Ball.

Eventually, Nina’s beloved Golbat fell from the sky and the girl had to frantically run towards the edge to return him, lest he fall to the ground and injure himself.

The Honchkrow hovered in the air, cawing with an insufferably smug grin on its face, making Nina’s blood boil.

“Stupid bird! Alright… If you want a beat down then so be it!”

“No mercy, Nitey!” And with that angry call, Nina’s Dragonite took to the scene and immediately crashed into the Honchkrow with Extreme Speed and a Thunder Punch before grabbing the haughty bird by the wings, whipped it around and slammed it against the floor. Then again, and again, Hulk smashing the Honchkrow until that stupid grin faded from its face.

“DRAGOOO!!!” Nitey roared in triumph, glaring at Falkner to make the next move.

The Gym Leader scoffed. “Dragons… Uncouth as ever, no matter the origin. Let’s see if this one holds up to its lineage.”

Falkner’s next pick was a Swellow, vibrant red and midnight blue feathers, the swallow Pokemon emerged with a sharp gaze and a dignified bearing as it slowly tilted its head up to assess its opponent and gave Nitey a curt nod.

Nina held back her squeal, Swellow had always been among her favorite of the avian Pokemon — the species’s gentlemanly look made her want to dress them up in a monocle and a bowtie just to complete the ensemble.

“Now then, Tsubame. Kami no ikari o misete kure!” — Show them the wrath of god!

“SCREEE!!!”

The Swellow itself though, was not gentle by any means. The moment that Falkner called out to it, the swallow Pokemon flared its wings and summoned a violent vortex of Flying Type Energy that churned all around it, wrapping its elegant silhouette to form a shining chrysalis.

Nina, who was almost blown off the tower from the surge of wind, winced and yelled out to Nitey high above; “Brace yourself, Nitey! I have a bad feeling about this! Sapphire strats!”

It took everything the girl had to stay grounded and not bite back with a retort of Falkner being a weeb. The latter was mostly because Nina remembered that she too was a weeb herself.

“Niiite!”

The Dragonite cried out in affirmation and shot towards the clouds to begin dancing, summoning storm, Thunder and Hurricane in his wake.

Falkner gestured past his shining Swellow, towards Nina in a haughty manner. “In centuries past, the Tsubasa clan were famed as priests and heralds of the two Guardian Birds, responsible for leading their worship with dance and ceremony.”

The Gym Leader then raised an arm to point at the dancing Dragonite high above. “And in exchange for our devotion, we were granted a small fraction of their power — behold, Sky Attack!”

At his call, the chrysalis of light and wind launched towards the sky like a heaven piercing spear, its spiralling tip aimed at the orange Dragon glowing purple, blue and crackling with Electricity.

“DRAGO!!!” Nitey roared and directed a powerful bolt of Thunder to strike at the ascending Swellow. But the Electric Type Energy merely twisted along the deadly vortex and fizzled into nothing.

“NITEEEY!!!” Nina yelled, her feelings transcending distance and empowering her partner to run away through their shared bond.

‘NIIITE!!!” Nitey shifted and disappeared in Extreme Speed to avoid the Sky Attack’s trajectory.

However, unfortunately for him, Swellow’s spear was not a rigid one. Because it simply changed course and followed after the wily Dragonite.

Nina watched helplessly as the shining spear of Sky Attack chased after the orange streak in the sky. Because while Nitey was incredibly fast in a straight line, he struggled to maneuver at Extreme Speed — an inherent flaw of the move as opposed to the Dragonite’s own shortcoming.

Falkner’s Swellow on the other hand, was both fast and agile, easily keeping up with Nitey and even cutting him off at times to eventually strike him in the belly.

“DRAGOO!!!” Nitey cried out in pain, and with a severe frown, held on to the twisting spiral of Flying Type Energy with his claws to keep it at bay. 

Then, with a strained heave, he unleashed a Draco Pulse at the Swellow at point blank range. Again and again and again. Until the Swellow ceased in its momentum, leaving a nasty gash on Nitey’s belly, barely piercing flesh by the Dragonite’s hardy scales.

“Don’t let up, Nitey!”

Nitey resonated with Nina’s anger, his eyes glowed red in partial-Outrage as he grabbed hold of the Swellow’s wings and laid into the bird with a relentless torrent of Thunder Punches, each hit crackling with fury until they crashed back down onto the side of the hill housing the Sprout Tower.

“DRAGOO!!!” Then, with a triumphant roar, Nitey popped back up from the edge of the tower right behind Nina, the pair of trainer and mon glaring furiously at their opponent trainer.

Falkner chuckled then burst into laughter. “Not bad, not bad at all. That Dragonite could give even a Blackthorn a run for their money. But child… ours is a region ruled by Dragon Tamers. And all powers, big or small, need to be held accountable.”

The Gym Leader retrieved another Pokeball from his sleeves and expanded it with a flourish — this one being a Love Ball of all things.

“So you would be mistaken if you thought that the Great Clans of Johto were negligent enough to allow the Blackthorns to run rampant without bane.”

With a casual toss, Falkner threw out his pink Pokeball to unveil the chirpy, chubby and angelic appearance of a Togekiss from fading light.

Nina groaned. “Urgh, not this again!”

***

Author's note:

Just FYI because I only now realize that this might cause confusion. It's against the rules for Nina to communicate via Espy's telepathy while she's not on the field. Because that would be considered cheating.

The exception here is that if Nina herself was a natural Psychic and had her own telepathy, then she's free to use with any of her Pokemon.