Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 133

“Shinx!”

“Not yet, we still gotta wait a little longer.” Nina giggled and gently caressed the drooling Shinx and his siblings by her side. In particular, Nina was especially enamored by the cute little star shaped tails that they were waving around in barely contained excitement — a hallmark of the species that they carry with them throughout their Evolution. 

“The most efficient way to get to a Pokemon’s heart was through their stomach!” The girl proclaimed.

The moment that Nina got a fire going, she immediately started roasting some of the sausages that she brought with her. A portion of them were made with vegan meat for her own consumption, but the rest were meant for the Shinx which she bought an excess of since she didn’t know how big their appetite was.

Setting up camp was easy since no one brought tents with them. Both Nina and Kerry only had blankets, but that was fine, because Nairy could coil himself up and allow the girls to sleep against him.

Once the smell of succulent sausages permeated the surrounding air, the eager Shinxes began to congregate and not even their parents could stop them.

“Lux!”

Nina turned to see a Luxio with a perpetual frown on his face approaching his younger siblings who were all bunched up around her.

“Hey, Luxio. Do you want some sausages too?” The girl asked, only for the Luxio to turn his head in contempt, but then deepened his frown when his stomach began to growl at the wafting smell.

Nina laughed and beckoned for the posturing Pokemon to come over. “Come on, you just went through a battle. And I betcha you didn’t eat much while you were guarding your dad.” Nina waved a stick of sausage in front of Luxio, and the awkward lion couldn’t help but snap at the piece of meat.

“Shinx! Shinx!” Seeing that their older sibling got to eat before them, the younger Shinxes all cried out in unfairness, eliciting more giggles from Nina. 

“Alright, alright. You guys can dig in too.” Unable to resist the adorable little lion cubs, Nina finally acquiesced and placed the medium well sausages on a few bowls that she had lined up beforehand, thinking that the carnivores could probably handle a bit of raw meat. She also produced some Berries and added them to the pile as well just to help supplement the juvenile Pokemon’s diet. “Here Luxio, this is yours.” Nina said as she prepared a separate bowl for the rapidly growing Luxio.

“Lux.” The Luxio, unable to resist the tasty food before him, begrudgingly acknowledged Nina and chowed down on the offering.

“No fair, you started without me!” Kerry exclaimed as she approached the Shinx litter to pet them. The girl had earlier gone into the cave with Ohm to check on the Luxray patriarch’s recovery.

Nina chuckled and offered one of the vegan sausages to the girl — those didn’t require much cooking since they weren’t raw. “Why don’t you stay here and hang out with them while I go feed our Pokemon then?” She said as she got up to do just that. Nina had enough tact to allow Kerry some space to bond with the Shinxes. After all, their primary objective was to help her obtain one.

“Thanks for all your hard work earlier, Clody.” Nina commended her Wooper by feeding him some Berries. She would have loved to pet the little guy, but it still stung to touch him due to the poisonous membrane coating him. Which at this point, they had all but given up on trying to suppress. Sir Clodington’s Poison Energy manipulation just wasn’t deft enough for such a subtle feat. And Nina did not want to risk neutering the overall potency of his Poison.

“And you too, Espy.” Nina reached out with her other hand to scratch the nonchalant Espy by the nape of her neck, receiving a mental wave of haughty dismissal in return. Nina laughed and pulled her princess in for a hug. “Haha, this is a small matter to you huh? Not even a fully evolved Luxray could trouble you.” 

After spending a bit more time with her Pokemon, Nina set about preparing food for them. It was a good thing that she brought enough for a day’s meal, but she still supplemented the feed with some freshly roasted sausages, much to Nairy and Brucey’s delight.

***

That night they all gathered around to bask in the warmth of the campfire, even the two Luxrays joined in at the urging of their children. So both Nina and Kerry were luxuriating amongst a heap of sparky lion cubs at the moment, while Ohm was busy preparing dinner for everyone.

Normally they wouldn’t have enough supplies to feed the entire Shinx pride, but the local Pokemon Rangers dropped off a care package in the periphery of the pride’s territory after their call with Ohm. It contained within it a whole bunch of nutritious foodstuff and medical supplies that allowed Kerry to further heal the previously injured Luxray. 

By this point, the young Joy determined that the Luxray patriarch could fully recover on his own and wouldn’t need to be brought to a Pokemon Center, thereby solving their biggest conundrum.

“Alright, all done!” Ohm declared, much to the excitement of the yapping Shinxes surrounding them. “Dinner tonight is meat and potato stew with a healthy dose of Berries and Chansey’s eggs to help energize everyone after a long day.” The Ranger explained as he began scooping food into bowls and distributing them to the Pokemon. Nina got up to help out as well, while suppressing Kerry and telling her to stay put. The girl was too helpful for her own good.

“Here Luxray, eat up. I loaded your bowl with extra Soft-boiled eggs to help with your healing.” Nina said as she gently caressed the luscious black mane of the injured Luxray. The male Luxray was actually a lot friendlier than his cynical mate, or maybe it was just the magic of a Joy at work.

“Wait, what are you going to eat, Nina? There’s Mareep meat inside that stew.” Kerry asked, to which Nina just shrugged in response.

“I’ve still got MREs and some vegan sausages leftover.” said Nina. “Though I wouldn’t be opposed to having some of that Chansey egg.”

“But the broth is okay?” asked a confused Ohm.

Nina frowned in hesitation. “I mean my main gripe is that I can’t really bring myself to eat Pokemon, but like, fish and unintelligent animals are fine…” Nina was wavering. Despite her having largely assimilated in this world, her unwillingness to eat Pokemon had been a constant part of her second life. “I dunno…” the girl murmured, before shaking her head to renew her conviction. “I think it’s fine, I’ll pass on the stew.”

Kerry smiled warmly at her friend and pulled her in for a reassuring hug. “It’s okay Nins, when we get back, I’ll ask my mom to cook some egg dishes for us.” Kerry’s promise immediately got the dejected Nina to perk up in anticipation.

“Lucky… Kerry’s mom is a great cook.” Ohm remarked, as he sat down with his Raichu. He opted not to release his other Pokemon to avoid overcrowding the space, saying that he would feed them separately later on.

“So, you guys are childhood friends?” Nina asked.

Ohm chuckled. “Pretty much, I’ve known Kerry since she was a tiny wittle baby.” The boy formed a small gap between his thumb and index finger to illustrate just how small Kerry was, eliciting an indignant huff from the girl. “I was never that small!” She exclaimed.

The group laughed, and Ohm continued speaking. “Yeah, I remember I was what, seven or eight? When my mom brought me over to visit little Kerry. My mom works as a nurse too, so they knew each other from work.”

“Wait, Does that mean your mom is a Joy?”

“Hah!” Ohm snorted. “Nah, as if my old man has the chops to bag a Joy. As far as I can tell, most of them can’t stand him.” Kerry nodded sheepishly at that last sentence. “My mom’s just a regular nurse. Gotta have a few of them you know? There’s not enough Joys in this world to help everyone.”

Nina nodded in understanding. In fact, she knew that the majority of people working in healthcare were not of the Joy clan. It’s just that the clan of pink haired matriarchs ran the entire system and was largely considered to be the face of healing.

The night proceeded under the auspices of a crackling campfire, the lingering smell of the savoury stew and charred firewood, like a warm blanket enveloping the sated bellies of everyone surrounding it. Both Nina and Kerry spent their night marveling at the little blue and black lions surrounding them. In particular, the Shinxes were very eager to show off their abilities to the humans by showcasing their limited movesets.

“So cuutee…” Nina swooned and pointed at one of the Shinxes who was currently flexing its stubby little legs. “Look at that one, it needs to charge up its Electricity by doing leg pumps!”

“Yeah, the Luxray line is capable of converting kinetic energy to Electric Type Energy.” Ohm explained. “Not sure how it works, but it does. And it’s also the reason why they become such incredible physical attackers once they Evolve — the stronger and more developed their muscles are, the more powerful the Electricity they can generate.”

Nina nodded. She did her re