Into the Unown Ch 123 & 124

Author's Note:

Double chapter today as promised, since the Coffee tier members have already read Ch 123.

With this you guys are officially 15 chapters ahead of the public release.

Also, I didn't have much time to edit last night so please forgive any glaring errors you may spot.

This is the third time that I've fallen sick this year. 2025 has truly been a disaster so far.

***

Chapter 123

“Woop woop! Wooper, wooper woop woop. Wooper!”

“Wooper!!!”

“Woop~ Woopy woop woop. Woop~ Woop!”

“Woop~ Woop!!!”

“Err… What’s going on?” Nina asked.

Before her were two groups of Woopers on opposite ends of a frozen pond; one side consisted of bog standard water variant Woopers with their antennae-shaped gills, while the other side were dark colored Paldean Woopers with bone-shaped gills.

The two sides appeared to be at odds with each other, and each led by a leader who was facing their respective groups on an elevated space, gesturing enthusiastically, and giving what appeared to be rallying speeches.

Their followers responded with fervour to their leaders’ words and glared at their opponents. Or at the very least, they glared as best as their inherently derpy faces would allow.

“It’s a turf war.” Charlotte answered, though the expression of mirth on the female Ranger’s face did not seem to match up to the severity of her statement.

“Should we do something…?”

Charlotte chuckled. “It’s fine, just watch.” She said, as she pulled out her Pokedex to record the scene.

“This is one of the few ponds in the area that hasn’t completely frozen over yet.” The Ranger gestured towards one of the muddy banks of the pond on the far side. “Woopers, no matter the variant, like to play in mud. But there’s not enough space here to accommodate both groups.” She explained.

“Wooper woop! Wooper!” The leader of the Paldean Woopers cried out and charged headfirst into battle, its stubby little feet trudged aggressively on the ice as best as they could, while its paddle tail slapped limply against the ice at every step.

Nina knew that this was a very serious moment for the little brown blob, but she couldn’t help but swoon at its adorable gait.

“Woop~ Woop~ Wooper!” The leader of the regular Woopers let out its own battlecry in response. Except this one appeared to be smarter, as it flopped onto its belly and slid across the ice into battle. 

The initiative of both leaders prompted their ‘armies’ to follow suit, hopping onto the ice and charging into battle with a chorus of determined “woops”.

After seeing the ingenious strategy being employed by its opponents, the leader of the Paldeans conceded its pride and begrudgingly aped them, also flopping on its belly to slide on the ice, prompting its subordinates to mimic the action. 

The two army of Woopers clashed, blue against brown, their bodies jiggling like jelly as they slapped against each other. Some even attempted to bite at their enemies despite their lack of teeth.

Meanwhile, the two leaders, a determined looking Paldean Wooper and a haughty looking regular Wooper, faced off in the center of the pond. Both their armies consciously steered clear of them to allow the two leaders ample space for their duel.

“Wooper woop!” The Paldean Wooper cried out in defiance and slapped its paddle tail on the ice as an act of provocation.

“Woop~” But the regular Wooper was undeterred, puffing its chest up arrogantly and wiggling its tail back and forth to taunt its opponent — to great success, as the Paldean Wooper fumed and was goaded into making the first move by tackling its opponent.

The leader of the regular Wooper stumbled clumsily to the side to dodge the Tackle, and retaliated with its own. But despite its initial genius, the fight between the two leaders still devolved into a childish play fight between two distinctly colored blobs, much like the rest of their compatriots, as they merely slapped lamely against each other, got knocked down, awkwardly struggled to get back on their feet and repeated the whole process all over again.

Nina couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the ridiculous sight. Despite all their bravado, the Woopers were just like children wrestling with each other.

However, the girl’s laughter inadvertently gave away their hiding position, because the startled Woopers all stopped what they were doing and focused their gaze towards the two humans hiding behind a bush.

An awkward silence descended upon the field as Nina waved feebly at her audience. “Err… Hey guys, don’t mind us… Just keep doing what you’re doing.” Nina said, with a chuckle, as she slowly retreated into the shade.

“Wooper, woop?” The Paldean Wooper turned towards its counterpart and asked.

“Woop~ Woop~” The regular Wooper responded.

They both then nodded at each other and turned towards Nina. An unspoken signal must have been given, because both Wooper armies paused their conflict and turned their attention towards the girl who had intruded upon their domain.

“Charlotte… What’s going on?” Nina asked her guide, tone filled with apprehension. But the Ranger was just keeled over and trembling as she struggled to hold back her own laughter at the situation.

“Wooper woop! Wooper!”

“Woop~ Woop!”

“Wooper!!!” 

With another round of battle cries, the Woopers charged towards Nina as a collective, in a joint attempt to defend their turf against the encroachment of the titanic humanoid who had invaded them. And for just a brief moment in time, Nina could have sworn she heard Guren no Yumiya playing in the background.

“Ouch! Hey, that hurts!” Nina exclaimed, as she reached out to snatch a Wooper who soared through the air towards her, only to be tackled at the shins by another Wooper, toppling her onto the ground and allowing the rest of the great Wooper army to pile on top of her.

By this point, Charlotte had given up on her inhibitions and was prone on the ground, laughing her ass off. Meanwhile, Nina felt a jolt of pain everytime one of the Woopers touched her bare skin thanks to the mild Poison that coated their bodies. It wasn’t anything lethal, but it was annoying as heck.

“Not fair! Why are they after me and not you?!” Nina yelled, in between her desperate struggle to extricate herself from the pile of Pokemon, each vying to make contact with her in some way to prove that they had done their part in the battle.

“Hey! Not the face!” Nina brushed aside a paddle tail that came dangerously close to smacking her.

“That’s because they know me…” Charlotte said, her voice still wheezing slightly from residual laughter. “I was the one in charge of monitoring the Paldean Woopers when they were first introduced into the Safari, just to make sure they didn't clash with the existing population of Woopers.”

After explaining herself, the woman finally regained enough of her composure to get up and help Nina out of her predicament. “Don’t worry, these little guys are smart enough that they know not to harm humans. Not unless it’s in self-defense,” said the Ranger as she picked up one of the Woopers, which Nina recognized to be the leader of the regulars, and cradled the blue blob in her arms.

“Hey there, Wooper. Do you mind asking your friends to go easy on my guest? Nina’s a really nice girl, and she’s actually here to recruit one of you into her team, if anyone is up for it.”

“Woop?” The Wooper in Charlotte’s arms tilted its head in confusion, but still cried out to tell his companions to get off the human girl.

“Thanks, Charlotte.” Nina groaned. “But a heads up would have been nice…”

“Haha! Now where’s the fun in that?” 

Nina rolled her eyes at the mischievous Ranger and took out some of the Berries she reserved for Nairy’s family. “Here, some sustenance for you all after your epic battle.” She offered.

“Woop!!!” The Woopers all cheered out in triumph as they crowded around Nina to claim their spoils.

“So yeah, like Charlotte said, I’m looking for someone to join my little family. We’re looking to go out, explore the world, meet new people and Pokemon, and eat good food.” Nina continued. “Is anyone interested?”

“Wooper woop~” The leader of the blue Woopers turned to its brown counterpart and nodded. The latter then stepped up to Nina with a glare and aggressively slapped its tail around while making whooping noises.

Nina tilted her head in confusion, really wishing that she had Espy with her right now. 

“The Woopers are challenging you to a battle.” Charlotte explained, finally being helpful for once.

Nina frowned. “I don’t have my Golbat with me. I don’t think any of the Woopers here will be a match for Nairy — it wouldn’t be fair.” Nina had returned Nairy earlier, to avoid startling the Woopers. Her partner was currently dangling around her neck while watching the proceedings.

However, Charlotte simply dismissed Nina’s concern with a casual wave. “That’s up to the Woopers to decide. It’d be an issue if I wasn’t around to supervise, but we’re well equipped enough to provide emergency aid if anyone gets hurt.”

Nina nodded reluctantly and expanded Nairy’s Pokeball. Regardless of Charlotte’s assurances, Nina trusts that Nairy had enough control over his strength and was too good natured to hurt the cute little Woopers too much.

“Alright, Nairy. Be nice, okay?” Nina said as she tossed the Pokeball out in a flash to reveal an excited looking Dragonair who had never seen so many Woopers in one place before.

“Nairy, nair~” The Dragonair eagerly began approaching the cute little blobs surrounding him. But understandably, all the Woopers were petrified in fear at the Dragon that suddenly showed up in their midst. Or so Nina thought…

“Wooper woop. Wooper!”

“Wooper!!!”

Instead, what happened was that the Woopers all stood in attention and lowered their head in reverence towards Nairy. Even the leader of the regular Woopers fought to get out of Charlotte’s embrace so that it could join in on the display.

Nina looked towards Charlotte for an explanation, but even the Ranger was confused, having never seen the Woopers behave in such a manner before.

Their behaviour almost seemed tribal to Nina, like a bunch of primitives worshipping a sacred beast, the way that they lowered their bodies while repeatedly bowing towards Nairy. All the while, producing rhythmic whoops like chants of prayer.

Nina watched on in fascination, not wanting to interrupt the proceedings. But Nairy seemed extremely troubled by the worship he was receiving as he glanced around in a panic before turning towards Nina with a pleading gaze.

The girl chuckled and approached the Dragon for a hug, a gesture that seemed to alarm the Woopers as they began making a fuss. 

“Have they never seen one of Nairy’s kind before?” Nina asked her guide.

Charlotte shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised. The Dratinis are known to sneak out for a bit of mischief, but the Dragonairs are generally smart enough to remain stealthy even if they do venture out. Plus, this place is a ways away from Victoria’s nest, so it’s likely they’ve never had a chance to encounter members of her brood.”

“So what do we do now? Neither Nairy nor I are looking to form some sort of weird Wooper cult.” But right as Nina said that, the Woopers began to move; with the majority of them forming a circle around the two leader Woopers as they slapped their tails on the ground while letting out baritone whoops, kind of like one of those Australian didgeridoos actually.

The scene was reminiscent of a tribal war dance. In fact, Nina was pretty sure that the two Woopers were going to battle each other to determine who was most worthy to be by Nairy’s side.

Nina chuckled in amusement, and took out her Pokedex to record the scene. In hindsight, she probably should have started recording sooner. “Man, the researchers in Bill’s lab are gonna lose their minds when they see this.” 

In fact, Nina wasn’t even sure if her friends would believe her if she told them about what she saw today.

The moment that the collective whoops crescendoed and abruptly stopped. The two Wooper leaders launched into action. Or at least they rushed forwards as far as their stubby little legs would allow.

The first move went to the Paldean Wooper, who conjured up some mud and flung it at its opponent with a whip of its tail. The regular variant Wooper, not being able to dodge in time, took the Mud Shot straight in the face, and completely halted its momentum.

“Wooper!” The Paldean Wooper cried out and followed up with a Tackle, unwilling to let its advantage go to waste. But its opponent was no slouch either, having anticipated that the brown blob would follow up almost immediately. It was clear that these two had a long history of battling against each other.

“Woop~” The blue Wooper lashed out with a wide sweeping Aqua Tail as a deterrent, intimidating the Paldean Wooper enough to stop it mid-Tackle. Its vision was still slightly obscured, but at least the blue Wooper was smart enough to use that brief moment of reprieve to wash its face with a Water Gun.

Annoyed that its attack was disrupted, the Paldean Wooper jumped forwards and did an impressive front flip to slam its own tail attack against the opponent, but this time, the move was covered in Poison Type Energy.

The regular Wooper yelped in pain and retaliated with Water Pulse. Nina whistled in admiration, it was clear to her that these two Woopers were leaders of their respective groups for a reason. They were both very battle savvy by wild Pokemon standards. In particular, the blue one was of a more strategic and cautious mind, while the Paldean one leaned more into brute strength and power.

Nina would happily welcome either one of them into her team. In fact, she’d be open to catching both of them even, if not for the fact that the rest of the Woopers would be left leaderless. For the sake of their wellbeing, one of them needed to stay behind to lead the Pokemon. Who knows? This might even mark the beginning of a long lasting peace between the two Wooper tribes.

But just as things looked like they might come to a standstill, The Paldean Wooper did something that Nina had never seen any Pokemon do before. It slammed its tail on the ground, causing the earth to undulate like non-newtonian fluid on a speaker, before sinking its body underground.

Nina was flabbergasted, and even Charlotte was mouth agape at the sight. The level of control over Ground Type Energy that a Pokemon needed to accomplish such a feat boggled the mind. Especially when one considered that the Wooper had, presumably, never been trained before.

“Seems like you found yourself a Digger.” said the Pokemon Ranger, eliciting a nod from Nina.

The Paldean Wooper didn’t fully sink into the ground, half of its body was still sticking out. But that was enough to allow the Wooper to swim through the ground like it was made of mud — the Ground and Poison Type’s natural habitat.

“It’s a land shark!” Nina exclaimed. The way that the Paldean Wooper was circling its opponent menacingly really was reminiscent of a shark on land as it threw Mud Shots at the regular Wooper, and occasionally jumped out of the ground to Slam into it.

Nina’s mind raced with all the different possibilities of what she could do with a Pokemon like that in her roster. Not to mention the convenience of wading through difficult terrain like swamps. The young Gym Trainer was already drafting a training regimen for the Paldean Wooper in her mind. Hence why it was fortunate that it was the Paldean Wooper who ended up prevailing.

With the pond completely frozen, the blue Wooper was unable to escape into the water to even the odds. It did, however, try to use a rudimentary version of Earthquake to force the Paldean Wooper out of the ground, but to no avail. The nascent move only managed to shake the ground somewhat and help to loosen it further for the brown Wooper.

In the end, the Paldean Wooper stood triumphantly over his fallen opponent and cried out in victory, prompting the surrounding Woopers to also chant in celebration.

“Woopwoopwoopwoop!!!”

Chapter 124

“Hehe… Copycat.”

Nina ignored Beverly and continued to focus her attention on the tiny Wooper who was huffing his chest and posturing at Sir Quagsalot, Beverly’s Quagsire.

Her newest companion, whom Nina had decided to name Sir Clodington, to match with Beverly, was very combative as evident by their first encounter, and he had taken to treating the senior Quagsire like a rival of sorts. 

Nina felt an inexplicably impulsive urge to name the Wooper Jeff for whatever reason, but ultimately decided to listen to her rational mind. She was already being made fun of for Brucey’s name, not that anyone in this world would get the reference.

In response to his junior’s provocation, Sir Quagsalot, being the friendly and amicable little derp that he was, just gave a friendly wave at his junior and plopped a hand on Sir Clodington’s head to dot on him, much to the Wooper’s annoyance.

Nina’s face bloomed into a big dumb smile at the sight of the silly Wooper, who proceeded to approach Nairy and petition his ‘god’ to strike down the infidel who dared disrespect him. Nairy seemed troubled by the plea and gave Sir Quagsalot a helpless look. In return, the Quagsire merely tilted his head in confusion.

Nina laughed at the comedy unfolding before her and couldn’t resist the urge to scoop Sir Clodington into her arms. Which was a mistake, because she yelped out in pain immediately after making skin contact, like someone had stung her with a dozen needles.

“Dammit! I gotta stop doing that.” The girl exclaimed, eliciting laughter from her senior apprentice.

“Good luck with that. It took me forever to train Sir Quagsalot to suppress his poison when interacting with people.” said Beverly.

The mucous coating a Wooper’s body was a part of their natural bodily function. That’s to say, it was a passive defense mechanism that couldn’t be eliminated entirely, only suppressed. Which for a regular bog standard Wooper, was not a problem. Since they were Water and Ground Type hybrids, the poison wasn’t very potent to begin with and served little purpose.

Paldean Woopers on the other hand, were Ground and Poison Type. Which meant that their bodies were oozing with Poison. The passively excreted ones weren’t very lethal, but it also meant that it was almost impossible to suppress it to the point where Nina wouldn’t feel a prick if she tried to touch Sir Clodington.

Nina sighed. “There goes my plans for a cuddly little blob that I can hug to sleep at night.” Not that Sir Clodington would have agreed to it anyway. The Wooper was quite a stickler on ceremony and proper decorum. To the point where Nina would say that he was worse than pre-evolved Espy.

Not to mention, the Wooper line was very sensitive to temperature. They prefer cool environments, which was why the species was typically only active during night time, when the sun was out. The only reason why Nina was able to encounter them during the day was because it was winter time.

Nina was starting to have a little regret about her newest capture. She had been so caught up on the Pokemon’s potential that she failed to account for the practical aspects of owning a Paldean Wooper. Chiefly, she would have to prepare a mud bath or some other means to keep the Pokemon cool in her dorms. Also, she needed to figure out a way to maintain Sir Clodington’s activities when the weather was hot as well.

“I still have time before winter’s end. And spring should be bearable with all the rain. Hmm… I wonder if there’s a held item I can get… Never-Melt Ice? Too expensive, and too potent. Icy Rock or Damp Rock perhaps…”

Outside of Espy’s silver spoon, Nina hadn’t dealt with held items too much. There was a subsect of trainers who considered it cheating. Not to mention, some items were just straight banned in tournaments. A lot of them were scammy placebos as well, like a Black Belt or a Silk Scarf for example, all of which had been debunked as having no tangible effects on a Pokemon’s Type Energy.

“Hey Bev, how are you keeping Sir Quagsalot cool usually?” Nina asked.

The older girl shrugged. “I mean, so long as there’s water then Quagsy is fine. My Pokemon aren’t chumps that can’t handle a bit of heat. I think you’re overthinking it, Nins — Woopers aren’t so weak that they can’t handle a bit of sun. You’re the one who’s always going on about how sturdy they are.”

“In game terms maybe.” Nina thought. “Yeah, but I want my Pokemon to be happy and comfortable, you know?”

“Eh, just keep him in his Pokeball,” dismissed Beverly. “I doubt that Wooper of yours will care, seems like a real Nosepass to me.”

Speaking of Pokeballs, Sir Clodington did not care for anything specific, so Nina ended up just keeping him in a camo-skinned Pokeball styled after Safari Balls that she bought from the Safari Park gift shop. It was twice the price of a regular Pokeball despite just having a cosmetic difference, but Nina wanted to commemorate where the Wooper was captured.

“Big Sis Nina, now that you have Sir Clodington, are we still going to Lavender Town?” asked a timid Fuyumi.

Nina smiled and gave the girl a reassuring pat on the head. She had originally intended to go to the periphery of Lavender Town as a backup plan if she couldn’t find anything in the Safari Zone. Not the town itself or even Lavender Mansion, just near the edge, maybe around Route 8 to try her luck with any stray Ghost Pokemon. Hikari did offer her an alternative, but she didn’t feel like speaking to the woman right now.

Her companions agreed to come with her, even Fuyumi, who was scared of ghosts. It was always a good idea to have backup when dealing with Ghost Types. Surprisingly, Natsumi was actually quite enthusiastic about the paranormal, which really served to accentuate the difference between the personalities of the twins.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think I’ll be headed to Lavender town for some time yet.” Nina said, eliciting a gentle sigh of relief from Fuyumi. 

In truth, Nina was feeling a little conflicted. Hikari said that Mew’s Gem might pull her towards Agatha’s ancestral mansion, but if that was the case, wouldn’t Nina have failed to capture a Pokemon in the Safari Zone somehow? That way, the girl would be inclined to travel to its vicinity. 

The girl sighed. “Am I supposed to go or not? I can’t tell.”

***

“Cut it out you two!” Nina stepped in between the bickering Golbat and Wooper, her head pounding in frustration.

This had become a common occurrence in their household ever since Sir Clodington joined the team. The Wooper possessed a great deal of reverence for Nairy, despite having seen the more mundane side of the Dragonair. And from what Nina could tell, it was largely based on a sense of primal instinct as opposed to any rational reasoning.

So naturally, whenever Brucey saw fit to mess with Sir Clodington’s ‘god’, the Wooper took extreme offense towards the infidel and would seek to punish him for the transgression. But little did the Wooper know, his outrage only served to trigger Brucey’s mischievousness and spur him on even further.

“I need to do something about this.” Nina thought. 

The easiest solution would be to get Nairy to give his follower a stern talking to, but her partner had proven to be less than reliable on the matter. In fact, Nairy almost seemed afraid of the Wooper and his zealousness — always hiding behind Nina everytime Sir Clodington tried to show his devotion through various misguided gestures; like the offering of sensitive clothing items that he stole from Nina’s drawers, or in this instance, confronting Brucey who had just filled the Dragonair’s bean bag with rocks.

Nina had no idea how Sir Clodington managed to rummage through her clothes without arms and why he thought Nairy would like the gesture, nor did she know how Brucey managed to sneak so many rocks inside their home, but none of that was important. What’s important was that she needed to do something soon or risk being driven insane.

“Espy, some help please?” The girl pleaded, resorting to her secret weapon.

The Espeon rolled her eyes in exasperation and held the two rival Pokemon in place with her Psychic aura. Nina sighed in relief and took a seat on the sofa before asking Espy to settle the two troublemakers in front of her.

“First off, Brucey, remember what we discussed about the scale of your pranks?” said Nina, with Espy acting as an interpreter. The Golbat wilted slightly at the admonishment. “I think somehow managing to sneak 40 kilos worth of rocks into our home definitely counts,” she continued. “I expect you to clean up your own mess okay?”

“Kukuku…” Brucey cackled in acknowledgement. Nina had been with Brucey for long enough by this point that she could differentiate between her Golbat’s laugh even without Espy’s aid. She also added that Brucey should apologize to Nairy afterwards as well. Not that it needed to be said since Brucey knew the routine by now.

“And Clody,” Nina turned to address her Wooper. “Brucey doesn’t mean anything bad by his pranks, and Nairy certainly does not mind. Right, Nairy?” Nina turned to his partner with a glare, prompting him to nod vigorously at his junior.

“See? So you need to learn to loosen up. I can’t have you starting a fight during all hours of the day. It’s disrupting our peace — mine, Espy’s, and especially Nairy’s.”

“Nair, dragonair.” Nairy nodded along with Nina’s statement. This time, of his own volition. But Sir Clodington still seemed unconvinced, merely frowning at Nina’s words.

Nina held back a sigh, racking her brain for any knowledge that might help. “What motivates religious fervour?” Nina thought back on that one semester of anthropology that Miles took in her past life. Sacrifice and abstinence was the answer. “But do I want to further enforce this behaviour?”

The dilemma was that Sir Clodington was only with Nina because of his worship towards Nairy. He considered his current position to be a privilege he earned in battle against his adversary. So if Nina were to eliminate said reverence, then he might not want to stick around anymore. Or worse, he might even fall into despair at having been forsaken by his deity, thinking he committed a cardinal sin or something. 

The alternative was to double down to the point where she could guarantee absolute, unquestioning obedience, but that seemed worse somehow. Nina was quite adamant about not wanting a mindless drone among her roster.

“There has to be a middle ground…” Nina mused. 

“Espy can you keep an eye on these guys?” Nina got up and gave Espy a little pat, completely ignoring the look of exasperation the Espeon gave her, then stepped out onto the balcony to make a call to Professor Oak. She probably should have sent an email, but she knew first hand how bad the Professor was at replying to those. “Besides, why else would he give me his personal number?”

“Hello, little Nina! Are you well?” Professor Oak asked when he got on the line, a hint of concern evident in his tone.

Nina let out a wry smile, feeling a little guilty as she did. “Hello, Professor. I’m sorry to bother your busy schedule, but I just have a question in regards to my latest Pokemon. It’s nothing urgent, so I can call back at a more convenient time if you prefer.”

“No, not at all,” denied the Professor. “I was due for a break anyway — I tend to get too enamored with my work, so this is good. Please, ask away.”

Nina thanked her benefactor and explained some background and her concerns regarding Sir Clodington to him. She even sent him the recording she had of the Wooper and his ‘tribe’, much to Professor Oak’s fascination.

“What an absolutely intriguing display of Pokemon sociology…” The Professor awed. “Hmm… Perhaps I should reach out to my colleagues at the Safari Zone to request for more observations? But I digress. In regards to your concern,” the Professor hummed in consideration. “Have you tried anointment?” He said.

Nina frowned in confusion. “Anointment?” 

“Indeed. You seek a middle ground, one that would allow your Wooper to retain his individuality without compromising on his loyalty towards your Dragonair. So just anoint him to a position of perceived importance.” The Professor explained.

The idea was that by officially appointing Sir Clodington as an official retainer of sorts, Nina would be able to put him indirectly under her authority through specific rules of conduct as opposed to simply allowing him to act as he pleased through a set of arbitrary self-imposed beliefs.

“So long as you frame your ‘rules’ with the appropriate pretence, your Wooper will take it upon himself to act accordingly. And should he behave in any way that is untowards, simply make an addendum or render cryptic admonishment as religious authorities tend to do.”

Nina tilted her head in consideration. Everything the Professor told her made sense. If the primary worry is Sir Clodington’s unruly behavior, then this would neatly solve the issue without compromising too much on the Wooper’s personality, however twisted it may be. 

That said, she couldn’t help but feel a little ambivalent towards this solution. “It feels… deceptive somehow. But then again, what choice do I have?” Ideally, she would be able to make the Wooper see reason and endear him to the team as family as opposed to a religious sycophant. But she had enough real world experience in her past life to know that this was nothing more than vain idealism. It often took extreme events and experiences to sway someone’s beliefs, let alone completely invalidate them.

“I think I know what to do now, thank you Professor.” Nina said as she proceeded to exchange a few more pleasantries with the Professor before ending the call.

Nina sighed as she stepped back into her room, giving Espy a look all the while, eliciting an exasperated sigh from the Espeon as she read her human’s mind. Pokemon could detect lies to a certain extent, so she needed Espy to help obfuscate her intent. Not to mention, the added mystique would also help to reinforce her authority.

Nina expressed silent gratitude towards Espy as she rummaged around in her dresser to extract a single Dragon Scale from her stash, before returning to the group. Meanwhile, Espy telepathically communicated with Nairy to convey their trainer’s intent. Nairy frowned in hesitation, but a silent admonishment from Espy got him to behave.

When all was said and done, Nairy stood regally in the center of the living room, while Nina gave the Dragon a reverent bow. The atmosphere became solemn as silence descended upon the space, further amplified by the subtly oppressive draconic aura that Nairy intentionally let out.

“Sir Clodington, kneel before your liege.” Nina had intentionally avoided any reference to divinity since she wasn’t comfortable with that notion. So she sought to transform the relationship into that of a king and his knight instead. This also aligned with the Wooper’s name, so it felt more appropriate.

The Wooper jolted in attention and hurriedly lowered his body in front of Nairy and his spokesperson.

“Sir Clodington, in recognition of your devoted and selfless service to His Eminence, I hereby anoint you as Scalebearer!” said Nina, in a grandiose tone, as she produced a singular gleaming Dragon Scale under the light.

“Wooperrr…” Sir Clodington sighed in reverence and further lowered his head.

Nina suppressed that feeling of stuffiness in her chest and moved on. “As Scalebearer, you are to hereby abide by these Three Commandments;

“First Commandment: Thou shalt safeguard the wellbeing of His Eminence, Nairy, and his pantheon.” Nina didn’t just want Sir Clodington to be devoted to Nairy at the expense of everyone else, so she included the mention of pantheon to refer to the rest of the team.

“Second Commandment: Thou shalt not seek conflict in vain, lest it be to the benefit of His Eminence and his pantheon.” Hopefully, this would temper the Wooper's aggressive behavior and stop him from picking random fights. There was still room for interpretation here, which was intentional, Nina didn’t want to abstain him from battle after all. And if he acted out of line, she could just admonish him.

“Third Commandment: Love and harmony above all else.” This last one was a little contradictory to the second one, but all religions were contradictory to a certain extent. And weirdly, such contradictions only served to reinforce belief, because it gave the impression that God was all knowing and unfathomable. Nina was also hoping that this would make her Wooper second guess any acts of aggression he might be considering in the future.

For now, these three commandments were the only ones she could think of on the spot. Nina would run with these for now and see how it goes before making any additions in the future. It was hard to predict the actions and thoughts of religious zealots, because it was hard to predict what might trigger them.

“Arise, Sir Clodington, and err… accept thy burden.”

Sir Clodington rose with sparkly eyes and an enthusiastic “Woop!”

Meanwhile, Nina was dealing with the dilemma of how to attach the Dragon Scale onto the armless, slippery blob.