“Alright, everyone. Great work today! Let’s take a short break and head back to town for lunch.”

Nina, and her Pokemon were back in their little training ground by the base of Mount Silver, with Toki and Totodile in tow. They had just concluded the morning’s training session when Toki rushed over with what might as well be a bomb in his hands.

“Nina! Nina! Look what I found! Isn’t he cute?”

What the boy found was a green, reptilian Pokemon, with black markings across its eyes and body, rocky skin, red belly, and a perpetual glare on its face.

Nina immediately dropped the Pokeball she was holding, mouth agape in horror. “Get away from that Larvitar, now!” She cried, then exchanged a frantic look with her Pokemon.

“Espy, barrier! Nitey, separate Toki and get him away from that child!”

With resolute cries, the two Pokemon shifted to a look of severity as they promptly jumped into action, just in time for the trees to shake, snow splattering on the ground from an angry roar in the distance.

“Espy! Are you sure you want to do this? Last chance to pass the ball over to Nitey.” The Dragonite was probably the best candidate to take on the encroaching Tyranitar, but Nina would prioritize Espy’s wishes.

“Es!” cried the Espeon, along with a mental pulse of resolution to Nina’s mind, eliciting a helpless sigh from the girl. 

“Alright, drop the barrier and concentrate on the fight. Clody, take over for Espy — raise the ground and build us a wall.”

“Clod.” Sir Clodington cried in affirmation and slammed his bulbous tail onto the ground to create an earthen fortress. Meanwhile, Espy did a little hop and hovered over to the other side.

“What happened? Did I do something wrong?” Toki asked, voice full of anxiety as Nitey let him down from his embrace. The Larvitar was just left alone where it originally stood, away from the group.

Nina shook her head and gave the boy a reassuring pat on the head. “No, it’s my fault. I should have given you a warning.” The girl then pointed towards a direction in the forest, where one could clearly see a rippling canopy of trees, steadily approaching their direction.

“That Larvitar you found, it isn’t alone. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the Pokemon who’s currently headed our way is probably its mother.”

And sure enough, as Nina’s words concluded, the forest split apart, to reveal the imposing figure of an angry looking Tyranitar headed their way, her blood red eyes scanning the surroundings to confirm the presence of her child before landing a glare on Espy who stood at the forefront with a look of insolence on her face.

“TAAAR!!!”

With an angry roar, an orb of pure Type Energy manifested in front of Tyraintar’s gaping jaw.

“Shoot! Going all out from the get go huh?” Nina groaned and held Toki down in a protective embrace. “Damned Tyranitars and their Hyper Beams!”

“Es!” 

Espy cried and formed her signature Deflect barrier at an angle, redirecting a bulk of the destructive beam towards the sky. The rest spilled over and impacted Sir Clodington’s earthen wall, causing it to crack and rumble.

“CLOOOD!!!” 

With a determined cry, the stalwart Clodsire, refreshed the wall with a steady infusion of Earth Type Energy and covered the exterior with a layer of mud to diffuse the impact.

Eventually, the beam faltered as searing hot steam poured out of the angular holes lining the rocky green exterior of the Tyranitar’s chest and thighs.

“Espy, those holes are vents! The Tyranitar line can temporarily overclock their physique and use those vents to dissipate all that extra heat.” If one were to look closely, there would be a layer of meshy rock fiber protecting the orifices.

The Espeon hissed and disappeared in a blur of Quick Attack, then proceeded to harass her opponent by slinging Mud Shots to clog up the vents in question.

“TAAAR!!!”

Tyranitar roared and lashed out in fury by stomping all over the ground and swiping at the pesky pink Eeveelution.

Espy just scoffed, casually dodging the flimsy tantrum of the wild, untrained brute. Then, eventually found her way up the Tyranitar’s spiny back by nimbly bouncing off her girthy tail.

“Espeon…” A seductive whisper wormed its way into Tyranitar’s ears, containing an almost angelic and intoxicating quality. Alluring Voice — a high level Fairy Type move that Espy learned from Elizabeth, Ali’s Gardevoir, Nina’s uncle.

And for a fleeting moment, the angry Rock lizard relaxed, as if all her woes just melted into the wind. But then just as abruptly, the invasive Fairy Type Energy exploded, giving Tyranitar the worst migraine of her life.

“TYRANITAAAAR!” The Pokemon roared, wildly shook her head and attempted to Crunch down on the pesky Espeon riding on her back.

Espy scoffed and gracefully jumped onto Tyranitar’s snout, then back on the ground again to continue her harassment.

“I-Is Espy going to be okay…?” Toki quivered. “Dark is strong against Psychic right?”

Nina let out a reassuring smile and bent down a little to meet the boy’s gaze with a head pat. “That’s right! Great job! You’ve been studying huh?”

“Hehe…” Toki let out a nervous laugh in spite of himself. “Dad said I need to study hard if I wanna be a Pokemon Master.”

The girl giggled. “And yes, to answer your question. Dark and Psychic are diametrically opposed. So it’s not just that Dark is strong against Psychic. But that Psychic moves are entirely ineffective against Dark Types.”

The boy frowned. “Then isn’t Espy in big trouble?”

Nina chuckled. “Not at all. Espy’s dad is actually an Umbreon. And her goal at the moment is to beat her dad in a battle. So she’s been training real hard. My Uncle Ali, he has a Gardevoir you see… And ever since Nitey evolved into a Dragonite, it was super easy for me to go visit my family back in Cerulean City.”

In fact, having a Dragonite was like having a jet engine at her disposal. So Nina flew back almost once a week during her recovery period. Partially to let her Pokemon train with the Gym and partially to alleviate her mother’s anxiety. And during that interval, Espy would often spend time with Ali’s Gardevoir to train her Psychic prowess and learn from the half-Fairy.

“To that end, Espy’s been training hard to counter Dark Types. And as you know, Fairy is super strong against Dark. Just don’t ask her to use moves like Draining Kiss and Charm or anything, she gets all angsty about it.” 

Actually, Espy would never admit to it, but she was fine with using Charm and would even have it activated subtly whenever she was around her peers. She did like being fawned over by Beverly’s Vaporeon and her cousins after all. Baby-Doll Eyes though, was rarely used these days unless she was begging Nina to buy cosmetics for her.

“Anyways, just watch. No way my princess would lose to some instinct driven ‘barbarian’, as Espy would put it.”

Toki nodded and turned his attention back to the fight, just in time to see Tyranitar stumble from a Dazzling Gleam — Nina and Espy actually had a theory that they might be able to combine that move with Sunny Day. But so far, their experimentation hadn't been very fruitful. Unlike Nitey, Espy was less adept when it came to combining Type Energy.

“TAAAR!!!” 

Tyranitar roared in fury as its hardy green carapace started steaming and took on a reddish hue. “Seems like those clogged vents are starting to take their toll.”

“Es!” A cry from Espy and images of a stampeding Tyranitar and broken earth appeared in the minds of Nina and her Pokemon.

“Shoot!” Nina grabbed Toki and dragged him down from the wall. “Clody! Anti-Earthquake! Nitey! Keep Poppy safe!”

Nitey scooped up the members of his family and hovered away from the ground while Sir Clodington slammed his bulbous tail to counter the Tyranitar’s Earthquake. 

The ground trembled, but not as bad as it would have been had Tyranitar been allowed to run amok. Espy, levitating above the ground, let out an Alluring Voice and Dazzling Gleam combo, breaking the overgrown dinosaur Pokemon from her tantrum.

And in a fit of pain and rage, Tyranitar stomped down on the ground once more, to summon a slab of stone. Which it then punched with all its might to send a spread of Rock Blast towards Espy, who calmly dodged around the rocky projectiles and occasionally blocked with her barriers. The rest of the debris impacted against Sir Clodington’s sturdy wall.

While the Espeon was kept at bay, an orb of Dark Type Energy coalesced in Tyranitar’s jaw and shot out in a stream of Dark Pulse.

“Es….!” Espy hissed and turned frantic in her dodging, trying to block the Dark Type Energy would only serve to rapidly drain her reserve.

“Remember, Espy… Try to coat your barriers with Fairy Type Energy to help dampen the Darkness.”

A wave of annoyance punctuated Nina’s mind as Espy attempted to do as she was told. It was something that they had been working on in their training. But so far, Espy has had limited success.

But as was always the case with Pokemon, breakthroughs often occurred during the throes of battle.

“ESSSS!!!” 

Espy howled and encased herself in a spherical orb of Psychic Type Energy — a barrier that was glowing a bright pink of Fairy Type Energy, almost like a lightbulb.

Nina chuckled at the result, this was more like using Dazzling Gleam at the same time as her barriers. But well… progress was progress. “Silly Espy, we’ll continue working on this next time.”

Espy responded with a mental groan as she slammed the glowing lightbulb against the Tyranitar’s face in frustration.

Tyranitar stumbled and fell flat on her face, and Nina could feel a pang of disappointment from Espy over their mental link. The Espeon was obviously expecting more of a fight. But just as she had that thought, Larvitar cried out in distress at the sight of its struggling mother, completely breaking her out of her sorry state.

“TAAAR!!!” 

The Tyranitar roared in fury, her jade-like outer shell beginning to glow a bright red as it overheated, the surrounding snow melting into muddy puddles.

Tyranitar propped herself up with a forceful stomp, sending a powerful shockwave rippling across the ground. In front of her gaping maw was a ball of bright white condensed Type Energy the size of her head, larger than the one she showed at the beginning, primed and ready to be unleashed.

Nina frowned at the thought of the environmental destruction that such a powerful Hyper Beam would cause. “Nitey, get ready to intervene. Espy, I know I said I would leave it to you, but we can’t let that Hyper Beam spread too far.”

Both Pokemon cried in affirmation as Nitey moved to the front, ready to cover his companions on the off chance that the destructive beam ended up getting past Sir Clodington’s defenses. Meanwhile, Espy readied her signature Deflect, double layering it for good measure.

“TAAAR!!!” 

Tyranitar cried from the rapidly building pressure. With all of her vents clogged, her jade shell was almost entirely red at this point, cutting short the charge on her Hyper Beam and forcing her to release it prematurely to avoid pushing herself beyond the brink.

The destructive beam of light she unleashed was about the same girth as the Tyranitar herself as it impacted against Espy’s Deflect barrier and was redirected towards the sky, like a heaven piercing beacon. The rest of the Hyper Beam spilled over from the side and crashed against Sir Clodington’s earth fortress.

The Clodsire groaned as he did his best to repair the steadily thinning wall of earth. He was fully cognizant of the fact that if he failed to hold his ground then his liege would have to step in personally to safeguard them, and the stalwart knight absolutely refused to be subjected to such humiliation.

Fortunately for Sir Clodington, his fears never came to be as the Hyper Beam steadily waned in due time, leaving behind a lightly panting Espeon and an exhausted Tyranitar currently on her knees.

“Lar! Lar! Larvitar!” The juvenile Pokemon cried as it pumped its stubby little legs through snow and mud to reach its mother’s side. And true to its species’s reputation, the tiny Larvitar stood fearlessly in front of its mom to face the Espeon intent on harming her.

Nina smiled, trying her best to hold back on rushing over to pamper the brave little rock lizard. “That’s enough, Espy. I don’t think you’ll gain anymore from this battle. Could you try to make peace with Tyranitar, so that I can go over with a healing Potion?”

“Es.” Espy conceded easily enough, fully in agreement with her human as she steadily approached with an amicable cry. Unfortunately, the awkward Espeon wasn’t very good when it came to socializing without her telepathy. So before things could come to a blow again, Nitey flew over with the jovial Poppy in his arms to befriend the Tyranitar in her stead.

“You really should learn a thing or two from Nitey.” Nina chuckled, earning her a resentful pout from Espy. 

When it came to making friends, Nitey was in a whole other league of his own. Nina watched as Tyranitar broke out into throaty laughter at whatever it was that Nitey said to her.

Eventually, Tyranitar did consent to being healed. So Nina rushed over with her supplies. “Sorry about everything that happened.” Nina said as she cleaned the mud around Tyranitar’s vents with a damp towel. 

“We weren’t trying to steal your child or anything, Toki just found Larvitar in the forest and wanted to make friends with him.” The girl explained. “And it just so happened that Espy wanted to test her abilities against a powerful Dark Type as well…”

“Ty…” Tyranitar groaned in acknowledgement. Apparently, Nitey had already explained things to her. The Dragonite was currently trying to unclog the two cavities on Tyranitar’s chest with some Water — a fairly unpleasant experience if the frown on the stoic Rock Type’s face was any indication.

To the side, Toki, Totodile and Poppy were pampering Larvitar with Berries. Nina made a mental note to give some to Tyranitar as well, if she even had enough supplies on hand.

“I’d like to gift your family more Berries as a token of my apology. Do you mind if I stop by your cave sometime and drop them off?”

“Ty…” Tyranitar growled in contemplation, and after a timely follow up from Nitey, reluctantly agreed with a nod.

“Great! I still have some on hand, so feel free to snack on them while I apply a Hyper Potion. Is there a particular part of your body that hurts?”

Tyranitar shook her head, merely pointing at her thigh cavities. It made sense, since Espy wasn’t able to get many direct hits in, except towards the Tyranitar’s mind, that final punch to the face, and her sensitive heat vents.

“Alright, I’ll get right to it once Nitey is done with his clean up.”

And that was how Nina and her companions got acquainted with Larvitar and his mom. She invited the pair for lunch afterwards, but Tyranitar declined and opted to return to their home in Mount Silver instead.

A shame, since Toki looked quite reluctant to leave his new friend. So Nina promised to let him tag along the next day when she went to visit the cave. Under the condition that he stuck close to her and asked for permission before doing anything — to avoid a repeat of today’s incident.

***

Author's note:

Actually did a rewrite of this chapter just this week. Because I wasn't happy with the original. But you can still read it on Patreon, if you're interested. /c/zebraunicorn

On a side note, my Uma Musume addiction has finally culminated into a full on 5 chapter arc within this story.

I'm sorry, Nina, you're just gonna have to deal with being called a horse girl for the rest of your life.