Into the Unown Ch 116 & 117

Author's note:

Double chapter today since Ch 116 feels kind of transitory.

***

Chapter 116

Nina raised her scarf to shield her face from the biting winds. The Sky Taxi’s Fly Basket had been modified with an acrylic shield to help dissipate the winds somewhat. But at the altitude that Nina and her friends were currently travelling at, its protection wasn’t as prominent as they would have liked.

It was now winter break of Nina’s tenth year, the students of the Vermillion Flame had just finished their final exams and were now pretty much free until school restarted in February.

Most students at this point would either go out on their own adventures or return home to roost. Nina was no different, but her purpose in going back to Cerulean City was less for leisure and more for work. Because this year’s Cerulean on Ice was going to be a repeat of her and Beverly’s performance from back in summer.

Since the only people who got to see the two apprentices perform in person were guests of Misty’s wedding, there was a lot of demand from the general populace who wanted to view it in a live setting as well. So rather than come up with anything new, the Cerulean Sisters decided to cheat and just have their two apprentices do all the work this time around.

The performance was going to be spruced up a little of course, with extra visual effects and some minor additions, like an extension of Beverly’s ‘fight’ with Nairy complemented by a solo singing sequence from Nina. The girl wasn’t taken by surprise this time since she was given the song beforehand to practice, all that remained was just refreshing her memory on the dance choreography when she got back to the Gym.

Naturally, when Nina told her friends about this, they all wanted to tag along. Nina didn’t mind. Kerry had never been to one of the Cerulean Gym’s winter celebrations before, and she even agreed to bring Justin because she was secretly hoping for some sort of crisis that would lead to the cancellation of her performance.

Lilian wanted to tag along as well, but winter break was a very demanding time for a scion of the great Blackthorn Clan. Though she did vow to make it to one of Nina’s performances no matter the costs and even asked for tickets to be reserved.

Nina ducked down into the basket where Kerry and Justin were both sitting to seek refuge from the cold.

“Here, Nina. Some lotion for your face.” Kerry offered. “We don’t want any scuffs before your big performance.”

Nina let out a wry smile underneath her scarf but thanked the young Joy and accepted the offering all the same.

“So… are you gonna be in a bikini or something?” asked the prudish Justin, earning him glares from both his female companions.

“No, Jennifer. I will not be in a bikini. It’s more of a leotard. Aoi, one of our Gym Trainers, said that she was designing something new for the occasion but I don’t know any of the details.”

Justin grumbled. “It’s Justin… Jennifer’s not even a boy’s name!”

Kerry scoffed at the boy’s indignance. “With how interested you are in women's clothing, maybe you should go and become a girl already. You even asked me about why girls wear bras the other day.”

Justin sputtered, face red with embarrassment as he scrambled over to Kerry to shut her mouth. Meanwhile, Nina just laughed at the awkward teen. It was normal for kids at Justin’s age to be fascinated by these things, but it was still funny to tease him nonetheless.

Nina remembered that conversation from back when she had requested Kerry’s help to go underwear shopping with her. It was especially awkward for Nina since she secretly possessed the mind of an adult male and had no idea how these things worked.

Kerry, being an apprentice nurse, was much more knowledgeable despite her young age and offered to help out. Back then, Justin hadn't just asked insensitive questions about the matter, but had even hinted at wanting to tag along, a desire that both girls blatantly ignored for obvious reasons.

Nina sighed, she really wanted to curse Arceus for making her body develop so early. For the life of her she just couldn’t understand why. As far as she could tell, her other classmates weren’t such quick bloomers. And all the research she did online did not provide any further elucidation. The finer details of puberty remained as much of a black box in this new world as it did in her old one.

“Does this have something to do with my unique circumstances?” Nina wondered. Even speculating that her overly mature mind had affected her unnatural growth somehow.

The lady at the store measured her and said that Nina was growing at a steady and relatively continuous pace, and recommended a flexible, padded undershirt for her as opposed to a bra since she would outgrow them quickly enough. 

The girl had even asked if there was a way to stop the growth, earning her amused laughter from her friend and the store attendant at the time.

At a certain point, she began suspecting that maybe Mew’s Gem was to blame and refused to wear it to school for some time. Not that it mattered. Whenever Nina would rummage around in her bag, she would see the pink Gem nestled safely in a nook somewhere despite having been left behind in her room’s lockbox the morning prior.

“I’m really not looking forward to when I eventually start my menstrual cycle…” Nina made a mental note to do some research on the matter so she wouldn’t have to embarrass herself again. “Or maybe I should ask mom or grandmother. I mean, it’s kind of their job isn’t it?” 

***

As it turned out, Nina’s rapid growth meant that Aoi needed to do a lot of last minute modifications just to properly fit her new outfit. Height was also a factor, an area of growth that Nina actually welcomed. She was already pretty tall for a kid her age, but now she was head and shoulders above her peers. 

Beverly was not happy of course, the older girl was still pretty lanky with little to no curves to her name. A fact that Nina relished in reminding her every chance she got. 

“Fatso…” grumbled the discontent girl. But Nina merely smirked at her and grabbed hold of Beverly’s arms to press against her budding breast, causing veins to pop on the older girl’s forehead.

“It really is quite a bother…” Nina sighed. “It feels like someone strapped two Dittos to the front of me. They keep rebelling against my body at every turn and threaten to rip right off if I’m not careful about my movement. Can’t even run as fast as I used to anymore.” 

The girl hummed, completely ignoring the glare that her friend was sending her way. “Maybe I should get a sports bra. But what am I saying? I doubt you’ll know much about bras, Bev. I should be talking to one of your cousins instead.”

Beverly growled. “Or maybe I should just rip them out for you? That way you don’t have to worry anymore!”

Nina chuckled. “Honestly, I would if I could…”

“Alright girls, that’s enough!” Mizuho chided. “You’ll be going out soon, so make sure to put your game faces on.”

Nina took in a deep breath and replied with a firm nod. Her heart felt like it might burst out of her chest at any moment.

She had been really dreading this. Unlike before where she had a close to a month of practice, they only had a couple of days worth of rehearsals this time. She was pleased to find that her muscle memory remained. But even then, she still messed up a bit during practice.

Beverly grabbed hold of her junior’s hand and gave it a little squeeze. It was only times like this where the girl seemed extra reliable.

Nina returned the sentiment with a squeeze of her own and the two girls once again skated out into the ice covered arena to the fervent cheers of a much larger audience than what they faced during the wedding months ago.

***

“Happy Coming of Age!!!”

Colorful confetti flew out with a series of pops and rained down onto the two girls in the center. 

It was a new year and that meant another batch of children were once again celebrating the momentous milestone of turning ten years old.

The two stars of the occasion were the Tendou twins who opted to have one big celebration at the Cerulean Gym. The sisters stood in stark contrast to each other despite their identical faces, with Natsumi wearing a cute green dress adorned with frills and yellow accessories, while Fuyumi opted for a more mature looking red cocktail dress with white hair pins.

But despite their best efforts to differentiate from each other, at this very moment, the twins wore the same bashful look at all the affectionate attention they were receiving from their friends and loved ones.

“Congrats, girls! Here, this is a gift from me and Bev,” said Nina, when she saw that there was finally an opening for her and Beverly to approach.

“Thanks, Big Sis Nina, Big Sis Beverly!” The two girls said in unison, both looking equally eager to open up their present right away.

Nina laughed at their enthusiasm and urged them on. “Go on now, there’s no need to be shy. And when are you two gonna drop the ‘Big Sis’? You’re ten years old now, I think it’s about time, no?”

“Never!” The two girls exclaimed as they giggled and gingerly began unwrapping the box they were given, to ultimately reveal a full set of expensive looking cosmetic items.

“These are travel series packs from Saphira,” explained Beverly. “I know you two aren’t going on your journey just yet, but it’s never too late to start taking care of your skin. Especially you Natsu, ‘cause I know you wanna become a mermaid just like me, your favorite Big Sis.”

Nina chuckled at the unnecessary emphasis in Beverly’s words. “Bev was going to buy you two a full suite, but I talked her out of it because I know first hand how overwhelming this sort of stuff can be. The travel pack also works as a good beginner’s package for you to try out all the essentials before branching out into the more specialized stuff in the future, if you find yourself lacking in any way.”

The twins beamed bright smiles at their senior apprentices and thanked them once again. “We love it! We’ll make sure to use them everyday and grow up to be all pretty like you, Big Sis Nina!

“Hey!” exclaimed the indignant Beverly, to which the mischievous twins giggled in good humor and added; “You too, Big Sis Beverly!”

“And I thank you two as well for all your patience in guiding my foolish daughters,” chimed Mrs Tendou, the twin’s mother. 

“No worries, Mrs Tendou. Bev and I are just doing our part. Besides, you have two very bright children who would have done fine even without our meddling.”

The older woman shook her head with an amicable smile. “Regardless, we would still like to thank you. So if there’s anything we can do for either of you in the future, you need only ask,” she said.

“We are also very grateful that you would be going with Fuyu and Natsu to Pallet Town.” Mrs Tendou added. “My husband and I were so worried that they might accidentally offend the great Professor.”

Nina laughed at the woman’s concern and casually waved a hand at her. “There’s no need to worry about offending Professor Oak, he’s a friendly old grandpa who adores children. Fuyu and Natsu’ll be fine. Speaking of…” Nina turned towards the twins in question.

“When do you guys wanna set out? It’s quite chilly right now, but it’s not really gonna get any better until February. Which would be a little too late then.”

Fuyumi and Natsumi nodded their heads in unison. 

“As soon as possible!” Natsumi exclaimed.

“Whenever it’s most convenient for you, Big Sis.” Fuyumi corrected.

Nina nodded and briefly discussed a few more details about their trip before making way for other guests who wanted to come and congratulate the twins for the occasion. 

Chapter 117

The one who would be flying the Cerulean Gym girls to Viridian City was going to be Ryu, Beverly’s Gyarados. For the longest time, the scar-faced Gyarados had trouble learning Fly since he evolved post-battle and not through ascending a waterfall, which was how the species typically learned the move.

Beverly had stubbornly insisted that her hardworking boy would get the hang of it on his own eventually. But after a whole year of fruitless effort, she finally caved and got a TM for Ryu. Unfortunately, this was before Nina’s revelation about Espy’s empathic ability. Otherwise, she could have asked had Kumiko’s Gyarados to teach Ryu how to Fly.

Nina released the Fly Basket that she had borrowed from her Uncle Ali from its storage device. It wasn’t as big as the one Kumiko used all those years ago, but it was plenty enough space for four little girls to comfortably fit in. They wouldn’t be able to have any Pokemon companions with them though. Not that any one of their Pokemon would be willing to be out in this chilling weather anyway.

“Alright, you bitches ready to roll?” Beverly asked, only to receive admonishment from Nina in return.

“Mind your language around the twins, Bev. We don’t need another set of potty mouths at the Gym.”

Beverly parroted Nina’s words in a mocking tone. “‘Mind your language around the twins…’ Okay, grandma…” The older girl whined.

Nina simply shook her head in exasperation and finished feeding some Berries to Ryu. All the while, whispering to the sea serpent about what a hopeless idiot his trainer was.

“Alright, girls. Picture time!” Beverly exclaimed. The older girl wanted to take some pics and record a few shorts for Pokegram. 

Nina found the whole affair to be quite vexing, but wanted to be supportive of her friend’s social media ambitions, so she decided to play along. “Make sure to run everything through us before posting okay?” She reminded. “And no live streams. We don’t want any weirdos stalking us during our trip.”

“Okay, sheesh! I’m not an idiot, Nins. Daphne taught me all about etiquette and stuff. ‘Sides, the twins don’t mind. Right, girls?!”

“Yup!” Natsumi answered, though Fuyumi looked a little reluctant. It was honestly fascinating how their personalities had begun to diverge.

Nina sighed. “Doesn’t matter, it’s only polite to ask. I trust that you’ll do the right thing, Bev. But enough about that, let’s all get on. I wanna reach Viridian before we miss the last tram.” Nina was determined to hitch a ride on the tram this time around, instead of flying straight to Pallet Town.

Beverly sighed. “What’s so good about some rusty ol’ engine anyway?”

But Nina ignored the older girl’s grumbling and hopped into the Fly Basket, feeling a fair bit of anticipation for the upcoming trip.

***

Viridian City was a weird place. Out of all the great Kantonian cities, it was the least developed with clusters of buildings interspersed across fairly lengthy distances from one another, and without a single skyscraper in sight. 

The place definitely had the capacity to house a city’s worth of population for sure, but from the outside looking in, one wouldn’t be faulted if they had thought that this was a sleepy little town instead.

The City itself was surrounded on all sides by the Great Viridian Forests, all except for the side facing Mount Silver — a barren piece of land which had been decimated over the course of the region’s protracted war with Johto. Even today, that area was left uninhabited for fear that a new round of conflict might break out at any point.

In the background of all this was Mount Silver, looming over the city like an impassive deity, the most prominent landmark that separated the borders between Kanto and Johto.

“There used to be a wall there, you know?” Nina pointed towards the space between Viridian City and no man’s land. “The wall demarcated Kanto’s border on this side of Mount Silver. It suffered through years of violent assault from Johto, knocked down and rebuilt over and over again for as long as the war waged on.”

But in the present day, Nina could see that only a rough outline of the wall’s foundation remained as a reminder of the region’s bloody past. 

“One of the more radical things that Lance did when he ascended the Champion’s seat was order the dismantlement of the borders on both sides of Mount Silver. And when the politicians at the time tried to obstruct him, he swooped in with his Dragonite and did the deed himself.”

Many still resent the Blackthorn patriarch for the careless vandalism, but Nina thought that it was one of the more enlightened things that the man had done in his career. Even if the actual intent behind the act wasn’t as profound as the history books made it out to be. 

“There’s still plenty of time, how about we grab some food in Viridian City before transiting?” Nina proposed. 

Viridian City’s main produce to this day was agriculture, which goes to show just how backwards the place was. But in recent times, there had been a bunch of farm to table type establishments popping up, including one owned by Bobby’s father which Nina had a standing invitation on.

Nina’s companion’s cheered in approval at her proposal, and Beverly asked Ryu to make landing. Though Nina had to remind her friend to land her Gyarados somewhere secluded and out of sight.

“Lots of war vets living around these parts. Best not to traumatise them too much. We don’t want any trouble.” She said.

Viridian City was known as the City of Evergreen, but in this particular season, it looked like a ski town more than anything as the boots of the four girls crunched through the thin layer of snow and ice on the road.

Nina thought that the roads were surprisingly well maintained. “They must have a snow plow that goes through here every so often…” She murmured. But that comment was soon proven to be not entirely accurate when they eventually came across a Rhyhorn towing a plow through some of the accumulated snow.

The four girls waved and called out a friendly greeting to the old man steering the Rhyhorn.

“Ho there,” the man greeted in return. “Visitors are ye? Ain’t never seen such pretty lassies ‘round b‘fore.”

“Yup!” answered the perky Natsumi. “We’re headed to see Professor Oak in Pallet Town.”

“Ahh… One of the Poke Prof’s are ye?” The man said, with a smile and an approving gaze. “I’d offer to take you to the tram station meself, but well…” He gestured towards the pile up in front of him. “This snow ain’t gonna plow itself.”

Nina lightly shook her head at the offer. “It’s okay, mister. We’re actually headed to grab a meal before taking the tram. You wouldn’t happen to know about this place do you?” She said, before showing the man the details of the restaurant they were headed to on her Pokedex.

“Aye, that’s one of them fancy ones them tourists always like to go to. Done a lot of good for the city they have.” The man nodded with a hum. “That’a one’s just a skippity hop away. ‘Bout ten minutes walk I reckon.”

The girls thanked the kindly old man as he pointed them towards the right direction. In truth they could have just checked their maps, but it was always nice to interact with the locals like this. It was Nina’s favorite part about traveling — just getting to know the people and immersing herself in these niche little microcosms.

***

“Hey, Mr Mime. How’s it going? Is Professor Oak around?”

The perpetually smiling mime Pokemon flashed Nina a thumbs up and ‘called out’ silently towards the door.

Nina giggled at the bewildered look on her friends’ faces and simply told them to “Wait for it.”

And soon enough, the elderly Professor Oak opened his door to greet his guests. “Why hello there, dear Nina. And these must be Miss Mizuhana and the two Miss Tendous.”

“Professor Oak!” Nina exclaimed as she jumped up the front porch to give the Pokemon Professor a hug.

The old man chuckled in amusement and gently caressed Nina’s head. “It’s good to see you again too, dear. Now please, come on in. You all must be freezing out here.”

Professor Oak’s house was the same as usual, looking mundane and lived in. Were it not for the stacks of books and research papers strewn about here and there, one wouldn’t even think that this was the abode of one of the Pokemon World’s greatest minds.

After dusting the snow off their boots, the four girls followed along into the dining room where Mr Mime and Professor Oak began brewing fresh cups of hot cocoa. The smell of sweet chocolate wafting through the air helped a great deal in relaxing the weary travellers.

“Thank you for your help in guiding Lucy by the way,” said Professor Oak as he sat down in front of his own cup of tea. Apparently, his advanced age meant that he had to manage his blood sugar levels.

Nina shook her head in denial. “I didn’t do much, just gave her the battle that she wanted.”

Professor Oak laughed. “And in doing so, taught her a valuable lesson. She stopped by here not too long ago, on her way to Cinnabar island. I could tell from the look in her eyes that the girl had grown quite a fair bit from your encounter.”

“Cinnabar eh? I guess she’s serious about wanting to train up her Magby.”

“Indeed, the volcano is the perfect environment for their species. Her newly evolved Charizard will benefit greatly from the abundance of ambient Fire Type Energy in that area as well.”

“Who’s this?” Beverly chimed, feeling a bit left out.

Nina shrugged. “One of Professor Oak’s sponsored that showed up in our Gym during Crunchtober. You probably don’t remember her cause she only challenged Misty at the medium difficulty.”

Beverly snorted. “Ah, so a firecracker then.”

“Not anymore,” corrected Nina. “But anyways, enough about Lucy. How have you been, Professor?” The girl noticed that the man’s gait was a little stiff when they were coming in.

Professor Oak chuckled. “Quite well, Nina. Thank you for your concern. It’s just that my joints tend to act up during this season. I do apologize for not being able to answer all your queries though. Some things are simply beyond my control.”

The Professor was being intentionally vague, but Nina knew what he meant. One of those unanswered queries was regarding Kage Bunshin while the other was about Diglett anatomy. Though she suspected that the denial of the latter was part of some inside joke in the scientific community as opposed to true ignorance or any restrictions.

“Not to worry Professor, I achieved my own breakthrough with my Golbat with some help from a friend.” Nina said with a knowing look.

“Oh?” The Professor leaned forward in intrigue. “Well now, I had not been expecting such news. Though do be careful alright, dear? Should anybody try to give you a hard time, feel free to use my name.”

Nina beamed a bright smile at the offer and thanked her sponsor. “However, my friend who is helping me out isn’t one to be trifled with. I doubt anyone will try anything unless we go way out of line.” She added.

“Very well… And where are my manners? I seem to have neglected my other guests. It’s good to finally meet you in person, Miss Mizuhana.” Professor Oak then turned towards the twins. “And I’m delighted to have such lovely young ladies be our newest Pokedex holders.”

“Yes, my name is Fuyumi, and this is my sister Natsumi,” said the older twin with a bow.

“Thank you for choosing us, Professor Oak. We’ll do our best to meet your expectations!” Natsumi added.

Professor Oak smiled warmly at the adorable pair of twins. “No need to be so stiff, my dears. We shall do as I did with Nina last time and confer the Pokedexes and your regional starters tomorrow. For now, you should rest for the day. Mr Mime has already prepared a couple of guest rooms for your use.”

“Thanks Professor Oak, and sorry to bother,” said Nina.

“Not at all, my dear. But once you’re finished settling into your rooms, I would appreciate some time with your Espeon. I heard from Bill that you have quite the remarkable specimen.”

Nina laughed. She was already expecting this request from the Friendship Evolution expert. In fact, this was one of the reasons why she wanted to come visit in the first place. Nominal or not, it was only right that she repaid her sponsor’s generosity in any way that she could.

“Of course, Professor. I’ll be right back once I drop off my luggage.”

***

Author's note:

Is it just me or does Monster Hunter Wilds feel too easy?

I didn't really notice during the beta since my character was undergeared, but I haven't really carted at all.

I like that they've made it so that the other weapons are equally as viable instead of just endlessly buffing Long Sword, but at the same time, they've also overcompensated by making LS completely broken.

I actually made a conscious decision to forgo LS this time around because I wanted to actually play the game rather than rush through it.

Focus mode is great though, being able to reorientate your character really makes the combat feel less clunky, especially with less wieldy weapons.

Also, hot take; I don't mind the talking Palico. I was annoyed at first, but after forgetting to turn off that setting during character creation I got used to it and now I find them endearing.