Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

“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!!!”

***

Author's Note:

So for some context. When I started writing this version of the story, I had Nina's 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th slot already decided. The 4th slot and the 6th slot however were up in the air. I had candidates but nothing concrete in mind.

Initially I had written a draft of Nina catching a Shinx. But that was based on the original premise of Nina not catching a Dratini, so it was quite far removed from the current version of the story.

And when I reviewed my old work and thought about adapting it, I just didn't feel like doing it for some reason. That's when I wrote another draft of Nina catching a Ponyta. In fact, I proceeded to write an additional 3-4 chapters under that premise.

But upon review, I wasn't happy with that draft either. So I put up a vote with my advanced readers and asked them to vote on it. The candidates were Ponyta, Shinx and Wooper. That last one was a last minute addition since it's a personal favorite of mine.

I would show you a screenshot of the poll, but unfortunately, Patreon seems to be broken and everything is messed up right now. When I went back to the original post, the poll disappeared and I get an error when I try to download the results.

Anyways, point is, Ponyta only got like 2% of the votes if I remember correctly, while Shinx lost by 3% to Wooper.

It was a close call, but in the end, I went with Wooper as per the polls. And also to note, I didn't vote because if I had an opinion then I would have just gone with it instead of putting it to a vote.

Anyways, TLDR; Nina's team won't be just limited to six members. The losers of the poll will come back in one way or another. In fact, I've already written Shinx back into the story. As for Ponyta, we shall see. I came up with a funny idea in lieu of Nina getting a Ride Pokemon, so that won't be for some time yet.