Disclaimer: Pokemon is owned by the Nintendo, Hakunon/Fate is owned by the all-powerful Mushroom(Nasu), and all that stuff.
"Tinkatink!" The little Metalsmith Pokemon growled out as quickly dashed behind a rock, she followed their small nascent plan, admittedly it wasn't the best one she had thought of, she didn't have enough information to design one with fewer loopholes.
A week was such a short but long time to make plans compared to the singular night they had. Her eyes scanned the pup as soon as it emerged from its owner's ball, the dog was extremely well groomed, without a speck of dirt on its bone plates. The Howl it released sounded healthy and clear, the Houndour's nails cleaned meticulously with a faint silver gleam, not a single sign of it being more than… well a dolled-up pet.
She hadn't noticed it online, but the Houndour was easily twice as tall as Nomia. They can use that.
She felt the familiar calming sensation of being in a match, This was not to the Death, no chance to die with Nurse Joy and Maizie here. She had to stay focused, she had to get used to fights not life-ending.
"Dis! Use Smog and cover the field!" Hakuno blinked, and the loyal hound paused its howl before spewing out a dark orchard smoke. She narrowed her eyes, was this a plan to limit their movements?
"Nomia, scare them!" Her Steel Typing made her immune to most Poison moves, the little Gnome ducked into the cloud, and her chittering laughter came as she appeared in the dog's blind spot.
"Watch out it's on your right!" The Dark Pokemon flinched in surprise as Nomia's face took on a frightening vistage taking a step back Nomia smacked the Pokemon with one of her hammers.
"Dour!" The hound yelped and jumped backward, nearly out of bounds before shaking its head, teeth clicking as sparks converged in its waiting mouth.
"Nomia, get cover!" The Metalsmith quickly began to waddle towards a nearby rock, but she was slower than the hound.
"Wait Dis! Don't use Ember!" Hakuno glanced at her opponent, why not? "Use Smog instead!" Even her Houndour was confused, "It resists fire!"
She felt her mind pause, What? No, she doesn't. Nomia was specifically weak to heat.
Yoko did fail her tests… and she might not know what typing a Tinkatink was… or maybe not understand what Steel Type was weak too. Her hound gave her a final pitying look before another curtain of purple smoke erupted from its mouth.
Hakuno spared a glance towards Officer Jenny who just looked irritated.
It should be evident that Nomia was immune due to how she dived into the Smog the first time. The little Gnome didn't even bother dodging the Poison-Type move letting it wash over her. Hakuno made a note to wipe her down before touching her next.
"Nomia, scare them into the cloud." The little gnome ducked, the top of her little hair barely peaking above the cloud as Nomia charged through the already fading smoke.
"Why isn't it working!" Yoko shouted, "Try Sucker Punch!" The hound's eyes glinted as Nomia exited the Cloud before its teeth sunk into Nomia's arm. The hound shook its head as Dark-Type energy coalesced around its mouth.
"Nomia!" Hakuno's heart clenched as the little Gnome's hand reached towards the Hound and a familiar glitter-infused gust whipped into existence, buying her a moment of respite. Nomia gave Hakuno a thumbs up, Hakuno felt her heart calm down.
"Ok… sweet not immune to Dark… what was Rock weak to again…" She could barely hear Yoko's mumbling. She thought Nomia was a rock-type? Why was she pushing so much on Poison was it just to get Nomia poisoned? "Sucker Punch again!"
"Nomia, Eyes." Nomia shook off the drool on her arm before 'tripping' on the ground, her eyes welled up, causing the Houndour to pause in front of Nomia as she began crying in full.
"Control your Pokemon! We are in a serious fight!" Hakuno shook her head at Yoko's order, before Hakuno could give her the follow-up command, Nomia smirked and with an unfamiliar glow the first hammer she made glowed silver before slamming and twisting into the Houndour's jaw.
Was that Steel-Type energy?
The Pokemon reeled back and yelped in pain.
"Dis!" Yoko took a step forward snarling, "Fuck it! Burn that little shit!" Houndour's eyes gleamed maliciously as its teeth began to spark.
"Nomia rock now!" To compare the fire the Houndour spewed out to Nero's would be to compare a small match to the sun, but the small ball of fire seared through Nomia's hammer into her flesh. The small Gnome Shrieked in pain while…
Yoko fist-bumped.
Ș̷͒h̵̻̿e̷̦͗ ̸̼̀i̶̬͑s̵̩͐ ̶̢̑g̶̦͝o̴͕͝i̸̹͝n̶͖̎g̵͈͊ ̵͖̎t̴̲͊o̴̜̿ ̶͓͑k̸̨͗i̶͙͗ľ̶̪ļ̶̆ ̸̤̍h̸͇̔e̷̽ͅŕ̵̥!̷̣͂ ̵̭̚Ǩ̵̨i̸̮̽l̶̮̾l̷͕̅ ̸̳̀h̴̜̐ĕ̷̞r̸͈͌ ̶͆͜f̷̪̈ĭ̷̺r̴͎̚-̵̰̾
"TINKATINK!" The little Gnome's shout snapped her back into focus. Nomia had dropped the melted remains of her first hammer with tears in her eyes but she still gave Hakuno a thumbs up. It was shaky and the poor Fae was obviously burned and in pain but…
She still wanted to fight.
Taking a moment to calm her breathing, she glanced at Officer Jenny who was watching intently, still not calling the end of the match. Meaning if Hakuno wanted to end it she would have to make the call and possibly destroy what trust Nomia had in her.
Or…
Hakuno refocused, Nomia was still willing to fight, and the little Gnome's drive was incandescent. Her Starter refused to give up… and Hakuno never had before, she can't betray that lone aspect of herself. Hakuno's eyes darted toward a possible path to victory.
"Nomia, use cover and hop up." Nomia's movement was far slower and she had to carefully move around the pool of quickly cooling metal, as the Houndour was preening at its Trainer's praise not fully paying attention. The wound on her shoulder wasn't causing difficulties yet, but adrenaline only lasted so long.
"Wait Dis! Focus!" The Hound gave her a blank look before turning back to where Nomia was not even paying attention to the nearby stone, it wasn't large enough to hide but just enough to level their body as Nomia leaped onto the Houndour.
"Break!/Dis!" The shouts overlapped as Nomia slammed her remaining hammer into the Houndour's skull plate. The dog unable to respond fast enough fired a thin fireball that soared off the mark before Nomia slammed again and again with her mace covered in silver light into her opponent.
The Houndour collapsed onto the floor, and Nomia walked off before shrieking her name and raising her little hammer. Hakuno flinched half expecting a wall of data to form between the parties for Yoko and Dis to die and disappear from her story.
But…
Nothing like that happened.
She wasn't in that world anymore.
"Houndour is unable to battle... Hakuno Kishinami is the winner."
Seeing the red light from her opponent's Pokeball and the tears in her eyes gave her pause… while Nomia waddled towards her with the biggest smile. Hakuno fell to her knees and scooped the little Gnome into her arms. Her little trooper was fine alive and hale.
She was so tired.
Nomia was high on life, She had done it and defeated the fire-breathing beast! Admittedly it was mainly due to their trainer being a complete idiot, how could she dare think that her pristine chest piece was simple stone!?
She made sure to drill her old hammer into the Houndour's jaw with all the force that stupid Shuckle had taught her. She was tired though, Fire hurts. Climbing onto her Trainer, no, her Boss, and resting beside her head barely fitting on her shoulder as she kicked her legs.
"Nomia… Let's get you patched up." She huffed, she didn't want to she wanted to bask in her glory, and see the dumb look on that girl's face. She should have rubbed that Houndour's face into the ground.
Boss was such a worrywart. But perhaps, just maybe as she felt the edges of her sight growing dimmer, might just be right this time. Could be worse, she could have fainted and lost like a stupid Houndour did, there was one time when she passed out due to eating a spoiled Oran berry the pain the next few days made her wish she was dead.
"Oh you poor little thing, don't worry we'll get you right fixed up, ya hear?" She felt Boss's hands wrap around her, her and her Pokeball being handed to an Audino. The Not-Fae but Sort-of-Fae's feelers tickled her as they explored her wounds.
She huffed, not willing to leave her Boss's side but…Well, something that is ingrained into the very being of most Pokemon is something simple, you don't argue with the ones who heal you.
Hakuno could see the bitter emotions rolling off of Yoko and the indifference from Officer Jenny. She had won, she hated how much of the fight was due to the other girl's well… incompetence could be a word she could use.
Not figuring out Nomia's immunity to poison allowed them to get hits where they shouldn't, if the Houndour had focused on staying at range with its flames… they would have certainly lost.
But… a win was a win.
Hopefully… the fights aren't as serious as that last one was, although Nomia was in love with the fight and… she had to admit the way the little Tinkatink fought gave her tiny reminders of her Rose… just without the Spark that she had.
No pun intended.
She… isn't feeling as conflicted as she did with the Gym's Ledyba, maybe because it wasn't her first battle in this World? Or maybe crying two times into a Chansey's arms had made her a bit more used to her turbulent emotions. She does wonder if it was the same Chansey or not…
Although she had to hope not many of her next fights used fire… the smell of searing flesh was still in the air. They had to get Nomia's Fairy Wind to act more defensively, if Nomia wanted to focus on hitting things then a light dusting range attack wouldn't be very useful.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yoko had begun to storm off towards the Pokemon Center but froze when Maizie spoke up. "Don't you think you owe Hakuno somethin'?" She had almost forgotten the bet.
Officer Jenny cleared her throat, "As this match is over, I'm going on patrol. Yoko a deal is a deal." The officer passed by her red-headed niece and Hakuno could barely hear a whisper, "Don't bring more shame to your family."
Oh.
Oh.
Now… she kind of felt bad.
Handing Nomia to Nurse Joy's Pokemon, Yoko spun around and marched up to her. "I…" She breathed out through clenched teeth rummaging in her pocket, "Only have this, I didn't think money would be involved. Next time we meet I will crush you ." She shoved something in Hakuno's hands before storming off.
Unfurling the slip of paper Hakuno had to look closer at it, it appeared to be a simple Ofuda red lines littered the paper. Tracing over the symbols Hakuno couldn't make out any words and it felt just normal perhaps the slightest hint of Type-Energy?
"Huh, well. Not really worth a Two-Badge item… but it's something useful." Hakuno tilted her head as Maizie spoke, "It's a Cleanse Tag, it's good at keeping weak Pokemon away, best hook it to your tent to try and keep Ghosts and Bugs types out while you sleep."
"Do you mind showing me how?" She had brought her backpack for that specific reason, and keeping her Tsukimihara Uniform close made her feel slightly at ease, although it wasn't like she had a lot of personal items that weren't clothing.
Seeing Maizie's eyes light up, "We should totally sleep outside tonight, just barely in the woods, like a half-hour walk there is this little clearing that a lot of people use." Hakuno thought about it before she nodded. She would have to get used to forest travel, and get a taste of what Illex would offer before she traveled through it to Palmpona.
Nothing crazy should happen that close to town, right?
Her boots were by far the best purchase she made. The forest floor wasn't bad as it was well-traveled, but she could imagine the pain she would be in if she wore her school shoes. Slippers just were not designed for this.
Nomia was running around her, the Metalsmith Pokemon using her little hammer to scare away the few Caterpee that weren't repelled by the Cleanse Tag she held onto. The little Gnome was excited as she bounded about, she was running off the high of a successful fight. Her injuries from the battle were already long gone Pokemon fights of this level weren't 'serious' enough for any chance of lasting damage as long as they got seen or put in their Pokeball.
This world was truly one full of wonders…
She felt that the strange Energy it held was slightly less effective while she was moving, but she wasn't too sure. She did not know how this world's equivalent to Mystic Codes or Formal Wear functioned.
Now that she thinks about it, she couldn't tell the two different items apart in the Moon Cell… Her Terminal did that for her…
She frowned as it buzzed again, she would have to deal with that later.
"And here we are!" Pushing through a specifically annoying tree Maizie beamed as they entered a small clearing just barely off the main path. The light flickered through the tree leaves and there were dozens of flowers in every primary color.
It was picturesque something Nero would have loved to see, she took out her Terminal and snapped a photo.
"It's magnificent."
"Mhm! A little slice of nature, a few Grass-Types swing by anytime it gets messed up, if we are lucky we might see one or two of them." As long as they didn't go towards their small camp with malicious thoughts then it should be fine.
"Alright, let's set up camp!"
The fire crackled, it had taken longer than she expected to set up her tent but Nomia smacking the tent stakes in with one swing made things a bit easier. And Teddy was able to slice and drag over enough firewood from a dead tree.
Hakuno snacked on a 'smore' as she told Maizie a slightly PG version of her origin. She didn't want to think what the girl would think of about her ruthlessly ripping out people's dreams and crushing their lives.
She would have to tell Nomia… but at least for now, she should let the girl believe she wasn't a ruthless murderer.
"So you are from the moon!? " Hakuno nodded, it would be correct in a way. The little Teddiursa pointed at her and made a 'pay me' gesture towards Slowpoke and Maizie. "Darn it… thought you were from Ransei. Fine, I'll buy you some Cornn berries…"
"Tinkatink tink." Nomia put a hand on hers, she still struggled with understanding her Starter but she could feel a bit of reassurance… at least until Nomia stole the rest of her smore.
"Nomia!" The little Gnome puffed dark-colored glitter at her as she dove into her tent. She sighed, might as well let the little gremlin have something nice. She did work hard today.
Leaning against a stool Maizie brought with her, staring up into the Moon and the Stars the two chatted for a few more hours before heading to sleep.
Author's Note: Boom! Fun stuff. The Move Nomia used was Metal Claw, just instead of well claws she used her hammer and twisted it, the jagged pieces clawing into the Houndour. I didn't want to have the fight drag out too long as both Pokemon are still well kids essentially. They won solely due to Yoko's arrogance and well foolishness. She did fail her written and battle tests after all~
But it won't be the last time they see each other. Although we are approaching the end of her start in Azalea town, maybe another chapter or two?
And then well The Worlds Her Oyster.