Nina dissolved a packet of powdered supplements into Nairy’s old bathtub. The powder contained salts and electrolytes that were essential for the health of the Poliwag line. She then gently lifted Typhoon and placed her into the water for a soak, the Water Pokemon moaning in pleasure at the coolness of the water.

“Nairy, keep an eye on Typhoon and make sure she drinks this glass of nutrient shake, it looks green and nasty but it doesn’t taste bad at all.” She then turned towards her Eevee. “Espy, this bowl of Berries is for Typhoon, okay? So don’t eat it. You too Nairy.”

Espy gave her human a haughty flick of the head, slightly offended by the insinuation that she would be so lacking in self control, eliciting giggles and an apology from Nina.

The girl was technically breaking the rules by carrying a third Pokemon in school. Which was why she hid Typhoon’s Ball in her backpack on the way back. What the school didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them after all.

Next up, she took a seat and dialed out to Kumiko. The woman picked up with lightning fast speed, and Nina could tell that she was wearing her work uniform as well. Which showed how anxious she was for an update.

“Nina! Please tell me you found Charlie. He’s not picking up and he’s usually so good about it!” said the distraught woman.

“Relax, Kumiko. I did find Charlie…” Nina then told Kumiko about what had happened, everything her son said and her personal observations. “Typhoon’s in a bad state, I can tell that Charlie has been neglecting her care in his depressed state, so I took custody of her for now.” Nina panned her Pokedex to give the woman a view of the Poliwhirl who was currently enjoying her first ever spa day.

“Just a heads up though, I might need to transfer her over to you soon, because I’m not allowed to carry more than two Pokemon in school just yet.” Nina couldn’t just leave Typhoon alone in her room when she was out during the day. There wouldn’t be anyone to feed her.

Kumiko nodded with tearfilled gratitude. “Of course, dear. I’ll take over her care. This should’ve been Charlie’s responsibility anyway. That boy…” The woman’s eyes quivered at all the things that Nina just revealed about her son.

“Thank you so much, Nina. I don’t… I wouldn’t have known. Not until it was too late. I don’t know how to repay you.”

Nina shook her head in denial. “It’s fine. Ever since my mom got hospitalized, you guys have been like a second family to me. I especially appreciate how you treated me like I was your own daughter. So like I said last time, this is just my way of repaying you. I don’t really know how else to help Charlie though…”

Kumiko gave a gentle shake of her head. “No, you’ve done enough. I’ll give him a call and take some time off work to check on him. Please, if Charlie ever shares anything else with you or if you see him in trouble, do let me know.”

“Will do, Kumiko.” Nina agreed. “I do suggest pulling him out of school though. Either a full withdrawal or a sabbatical. He’s clearly not cut out for this. But that’s just my opinion, you should talk to him before making any big decisions.”

Kumiko nodded in agreement and once again thanked Nina. The two exchanged some more pleasantries which mostly involved Nina assuring the inconsolable woman before finally ending the call.

***

“Who's the Psyduck?”

Nina shot Justin a look, which prompted the boy to stop talking and begin shovelling food into his mouth.

“This is Charlie, an old friend from my hometown,” introduced Nina. “Charlie, these are my friends, Kerry and Justin. Come, have a seat. How are you doing?”

Charlie glanced nervously at the two unfamiliar kids. “I err… I'm fine, thanks for asking.”

Nina nodded. “Have you eaten yet?” The boy looked at the bento boxes being held in each of his schoolmates hands and flushed in embarrassment.

“Justin, could you do me a favor and grab some food for Charlie here? And a portion for a Growlithe as well please.” Nina asked.

“What?! Why can’t he go get his own dam— Ow!’ Justin’s complaint was interrupted by an elbow jab from Kerry who gave Nina an understanding look.

“Come on, Jackie. I’ll go with you since you’re such a baby.” The young Joy beckoned.

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“Not you too! It’s Justin! How hard is it to remember my name!” Justin grumbled but got up and followed after Kerry regardless.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys… I just wanted to thank you, and properly apologize for… well, everything.” Charlie continued. “Also, mom called. Said that she was gonna come visit.”

Nina chuckled. “No worries, Charlie. After all, that’s what friends are for.”

Charlie shook his head. “No. Not all friends. You really went out of your way… I don’t know why, but thank you.”

Nina sighed. “Like I told Kumiko, it’s because you guys took good care of me when my mom was being treated in the hospital. Without meeting you and getting to know your family, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet Nairy when I did… and life would have been a whole lot different. You’re like a brother to me, Charlie. So no need to be all stiff.”

Charlie felt a stabbing pain in his heart at the word ‘brother’, but forced himself to let out a brittle smile. “Is that Tini, by the way?” He asked, in an attempt to change the subject. “I hardly recognized him.”

“Yeap!” Nina reached up to pat her Dragonair on the cheek. “He’s become Nairy now… Nairy, you recognize Charlie right?”

“Nair~” The Dragon cried as he got closer to Charlie to sniff him, only to jerk back a little afterwards.

The boy’s face reddened like a Magmar. “Sorry, my cousin was hogging the shower this morning.” He explained.

Nina laughed and scolded Nairy for his rude behavior. “It’s fine, Nairy’s just being a drama queen like always. But if it really bothers you, there are showers in the gym you can use,” she suggested.

Charlie nodded sheepishly. “I might go and do that.”

“You’re not still working are you?” asked the skeptical Nina.

Charlie shook his head in denial. “No, mom told me to focus on school for now and see how it goes. We’ll discuss things when she comes by… on whether or not I want to continue…” Then he jolted, as if he just remembered something. “How’s Typhoon by the way… I know I haven’t been the best to her. But is she okay?”

Nina nodded in approval at the boy’s concern. “She’s fine. I actually transferred Typhoon over to Kumiko last night. So she has custody of her right now. Will you be alright with just your Growlithe for the time being?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine, I think. Not like I’ll be doing much battling,” The boy said, in a dejected manner.

“Cheer up, you’ll be reunited with Typhoon soon enough. And once Kumiko is done with her, she’ll be stronger than ever,” assured Nina. “I don’t think I’ve ever met your Growlithe. Mind introducing us?”

“Oh, right… Here,” Charlie threw out a Pokeball and released an energetic looking canine Pokemon on the grass.

Nina swooned at the cute little fire doggo and immediately grabbed some Berries from her pouch.

“Arf!” At the sight of treats, Charlie’s Growlithe immediately rushed to Nina’s side, allowing the girl to ruffle her warm fur while she ate off her palm.

“Who’s the good girl? You are! Yes, you are~” Nina was severely tempted to catch a Growlithe of her own at that very moment. Espy was great, but she acted more like a cat than a dog. And there was just something magical about the unconditional love that only a dog can provide.

Meanwhile, Charlie just continued watching his friend pamper the doggo, until Kerry and Justin returned with a couple of boxes, much to Growlithe’s excitement when she smelled food.

Two weeks later, Kumiko told Nina that Charlie was taking a sabbatical to go on his journey, using all of the money he saved up so far. By that point she had already spent a week with her son and met up with Nina a few times for dinner.

It was a bit late in the season, and Nina was worried that Charlie might be aiming to compete in the Indigo Conference that year to catch his rival, but the boy assured her that he was not. And that he would take the time to ready his team first, however long it took.

But before he set out, the boy would first head back to Cerulean City to rest and spend some time with his family.

Nina gave her blessings to Charlie, whose eyes looked clearer, free from most of the doubts that had been plaguing him all these years.

***

Author's note:

This is to give you guys some context surrounding Charlie as a character. And I felt that it was important enough to write it here instead of at the little blue box below.

As I mentioned before in one of my notes, when I first conceived Into the Unown, Nina's starters were never meant to be a Dratini and an Eevee.

The original starters were never forgotten and will make an appearance at some point, but it did mean that I had to pivot the story considerably. Since the original was more of an underdog story as opposed to that of a child prodigy like Nina is treated right now.

In the original version of the story, Charlie was meant to play a much bigger role as that of a rival and a senior, much like Nemona from Scarlet and Violet.

But with Nina surpassing him so early on, I find myself at a loss on how to deal with Charlie as a character. Should I keep him as a casual side character or give him an advantage that might make him more prominent. Because I still wanted to keep the thread of visiting the Safari Zone, which heavily relied on Nina's connection with the boy. But at the same time, it didn't feel right to just leave him and his family as a one-off plot device.

I considered many options. Some of you have commented about pointing him towards a criminal path, the "Sasuke" option basically. In that route, Nina would delve into the bowels of Vermilion City's underworld with Kumiko and Stephen (Charlie's parents) in tow and try to fish the kid out of murky waters. But ultimately, it just didn't feel right to do my boy like that. Because Charlie, despite his faults, is fundamentally a good natured person who wouldn't dare to bring harm to others. Not to mention, it also clashed with a future arc I have planned.

I also considered a comeback arc, where Nina would help him train so that he could go and challenge his rival to another battle. He'd probably lose in the end, but would earn his rival's acknowledgement. However, after writing a quick draft of that, it felt a little too cheesy for my taste, so I ended up scrapping it.

In the end, I decided to relegate Charlie to the role of a secondary MC, with his own series of short stories to better allow me the space to develop this character further. The short stories won't be released on Royal Road and will be exclusive to my most generous supporters, but things may or may not change in the future. TLDR; it's going to be a more conventional badge collector but from the perspective of an underdog as opposed to an isekai MC with meta knwoledge.

I recently came across a viable idea that might allow me to rewrite Charlie into the main story and get him involved in the climax of Book one. I'm still working on incorporating it, but at the moment I'm pretty confident. If things work out, I might not need to prime you guys for his reappearance. If not, then I might take any plot relevant bits from the short story and release it as an interlude chapter to give some context.

In hindsight, there were probably other ideas that I overlooked. For example, I saw a comment previously about taking a Team Star angle, which would have been a great idea. But unfortunately, that ship has sailed.

My approach to dealing with this character feels rough, because it is. This was the last major wrinkle from my reworking of the whole story that I couldn't smooth out properly. My intention with putting Charlie through the grinder is because I wanted to temper his personality a bit and give him a shot of maturity to better write his exclusive story. Some of you will disagree with me and that's fine, just respect the fact that this is the choice I made.

I also know that some people have taken offense at my treatment of this character. First off, thank you for caring enough to be offended. I released these three chapters fully anticipating backlash, and I'd be open to taking any criticism you throw my way, so long as you do so in a civil manner and not misrepresent my intentions or the written story in the process.

Now then, I'm just gonna go stand on that platform over there for you guys to throw tomatoes and eggs at me or something. No frozen eggs though, and certainly no spittle. Let's try to keep things classy here.