Chapter 21: Chapter 21

One of the benefits of apprenticing in a Gym was that Nina got to spectate any of the higher level battles that occur within its domain. Such was the case of the Star battle she was witnessing right now.

Unfortunately, she joined in midway through the battle, having only finished her assigned work and hurrying over to pick up Tini. Nina was well aware her partner would be interested in a Star battle, it would also help to give him an idea of what high level battles were like to aid in his training.

“Your Walrein is quite powerful, very sturdy too. Shame you didn’t bother training his movements underwater… You do realize your Pokemon can swim right?” Taunted the haughty Misty.

The challenger that Misty was facing was apparently a native Kantonian who returned from Hoenn this season to challenge his home Conference. What was interesting was that he was also a Water Type specialist, indicating that the guy was out here with something to prove rather than trying to score a strategic Star badge as most people do.

The challenger watched with gritted teeth as Misty’s Kingdra deftly danced around his Walrein’s Sword Dance empowered Crunch. A faint purple aura could be seen enshrouding the draconic seahorse, indicating to Nina that Misty had somehow trained her Pokemon to use Dragon Dance as an evasive maneuver, empowering her Kingdra as he dodged.

“Incredible…” muttered Nina.

Beverly, who was watching next to her junior, snorted. “Yeah, this guy is fucked. Coming into our Gym and thinking he can beat Misty’s main team with Water Pokemon that can’t swim for shit.”

The Cerulean Gym’s main arena was mostly water, with a single round platform in the middle for Pokemon to stand on. It was part and parcel of the challenge that any trainer, regardless of skill level, had to overcome if they wanted to earn Misty’s Water Badge. Naturally, the difficulty was further compounded when dealing with the Gym Leader’s ace team on their home turf.

“Isn’t this guy a Water specialist? How’s he doing so poorly?” Asked Nina. She noticed that the guy was down to only three Pokemon, including the currently active Walrein, while Misty still had four.

Beverly let out scoff. “Dumbass sent in a Ludicolo with Sunny Day to start, probably thinking he could cheat with a Grass Type. Seaking ended up just dancing all over him. Afterwards, he sent out some creepy electric eel thing with hands and that thing did quite a number on Misty’s Pokemon until she took it out with Kingdra.”

Nina nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. Eelektross are commonly found in the ocean, but they’re actually pure Electric Type. Quite rare as well. So it could be that Misty just didn’t recognise what it was.”

The Gym Trainers around Nina made disbelieving noises at her statement. “Motherfucker!” cursed Lily. “And this twink has the audacity to come into our turf and claim to be a Water Type specialist?! Kick his ass Misty!”

Lily’s outburst triggered a whole series of jeers towards the challenger and cheers towards Misty. This was clearly unprofessional behavior that they could get in trouble for, but none of them seem to care in the heat of the moment.

Even Tini joined in on the commotion, yelling “Tin! Tin!” Even though Nina was pretty sure he had no idea what was going on.

A flash of bright light lit up the water as Misty made a pose and clicked her fingers. At his trainer’s signal, Kingdra leapt out of the water with a flourish to show off its triumph. Meanwhile, Walrein floated limply onto the water’s surface after eating a full on Hyper Beam to the face.

“Challenger Mizutani’s Walrein is unable to battle, the winner of this round is Leader Misty’s Kingdra.” Announced the referee.

Mizutani slammed his hand on his railing in frustration after he recalled his fainted Pokemon, knuckles white from how hard he was clenching them. He seemed to consider his options for the moment before adopting a manic grin on his face. His expression combined with the strands of wavy long hair over his face made him seem like something straight out of a horror movie.

He then aggressively pulled a Pokeball from his belt and threw it out with all his might, releasing an angry looking Gyarados onto the Arena.

The blue serpentine Pokemon let out an earth shattering Roar upon its entry, prompting everyone present to cover their ears in pain.

Normally at this point, an average Pokemon would be scrambling to get back into their Pokeball from fear, but Misty’s Kingdra remained steadfast, only flinching slightly before sharpening his gaze against the opponent over ten times his size.

This was a flaw that all low level utility moves seem to share. After a certain point, they just stop working on higher level battles, because most Pokemon that fight at such lofty heights would have trained to resist them to a certain degree. Which was why there was a misunderstanding among ignorant trainers that utility moves were unimportant.

“Yeah, this guy is fucked,” declared Beverly once more, earning her a look of confusion from Nina.

“Misty hates Gyarados with a passion,” explained Beverly. “And all her Pokemon are trained to handle rampaging Gyarados. She’s usually the one that the Sea Rangers call to deal with Gyarados hordes when they get out of hand.”

With that new knowledge in hand, Nina turned her attention back to Misty whose eyes were now glazed over with chilling disdain. “You know what to do,” she said to her Kingdra, her tone equally chilly.

“Huh, I remember Misty getting over her beef with Gyarados in the anime. Maybe not.”

“Bring this whole place down Gyarados! Let’s show the world who's the strongest Water Type Master around!!!”

The moment that the referee signaled for the match to begin, Gyarados howled, forming twisting air currents all around its body as he used Hurricane. Meanwhile, Kingdra just silently submerged into the water.

“Don’t let it get away! Destroy everything if you have to!” Yelled Mizutani.

“For all his melodrama, this guy isn’t exactly a pushover either…” mused Nina, after noticing how the Gyarados was somehow able to maintain Hurricane even after it used Trash.

The entire arena began shaking as Gyarados mindlessly thrashed its body around, even prompting the referee to dive behind cover to avoid getting implicated in the indiscriminate destruction.

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Meanwhile, Nina could feel Tini’s grip on her tightening. Her little guardian Dragon moved his head in front of hers, ready to jump to her defense at a moment’s notice. Nina giggled, leaning slightly to kiss her partner for how cute he was being.

A water spout began forming as the Hurricane sucked up all the pool’s water into its vortex, trapping Kingdra inside and hurtling him towards the thrashing Gyarados like a blender.

“Seems this guy isn’t entirely an idiot after all,” commented Lily.

However, Misty was unphased — standing there cooly in her high heels and bikini even while her hair was being whipped around by the fierce winds. “Blizzard,” she commanded.

Ice crystals and chilly winds began forming around the waterspout, merging with the hurricane. Blizzard was already a fairly potent Ice Type move, but combined with the fierce momentum of the fast spinning Hurricane, its effectiveness was compounded and caused the water spout to freeze in place almost instantaneously.

Peace descended upon the arena after Gyarados ceased its thrashing, having been partially frozen in place by the ice-y pillar that now took up the center. Mizutani looked on in disbelief, yelling at his Gyarados to break free while Misty simply commanded her Kingdra to “Finish the job.”

With the ice in the way, there was no way for Nina to look inside. The only signs of activity coming from the arena were flashes of light showing Kingdra’s silhouette as the draconic seahorse skated around the interior of the frozen vortex, relentlessly assaulting the helpless Gyarados. Until eventually, the ice cracked and came shattering down from the force of a powerful Hyper Beam, unveiling a worn down Kingdra and an unconscious Gyarados, half frozen in ice.

Seeing his strongest Pokemon being defeated without even downing a single opponent must have shattered Mizutani’s spirit, because he listlessly returned Gyarados and declared his surrender. Not even attempting to give his final Pokemon a chance to turn the tide.

“W-winner of this match i-is Gym Leader Misty!” Declared the referee, teeth clattering from cold and residual adrenaline.

The Gym Leader in question simply turned her back and left, without acknowledging her opponent or giving out any advice in commiseration.

“Welp, that guy’s getting a black mark on his record after today,” said Lily, before clapping her hands to get the attention of her subordinates.

“Alright everyone, get to work. We need to get this place restored by tomorrow,” she declared, eliciting a wave of groans from her surroundings. “And someone kick that loser out of here. But make sure he gets fined for the damage and pay the penalty first.”

It was customary for Gyms to reward winners with a cash prize based on their challenge level. But conversely, it was also expected for losers to pay a penalty. Fines for damages to an arena are enforceable but most Gyms tend not to, barring extreme circumstances.

Nina suspected that the fine in Mizutani’s case was more pettiness than anything since there wasn't any long lasting structural damage to the building.

Lily then turned towards Nina. “Nina, babe. Could you grab some hot cocoa and go cheer up Misty for me please.”

Nina tilted her head in confusion. “Why me?”

“Because you’re cute and Misty needs a dose of cuteness to distract her. Maybe bring your Dratini along as well. She’s always grinning like a pervert everytime she sees the two of you.”

Nina chose to ignore the disturbing new fact she learned about her boss and nodded her head. Being used as a human plushie by an attractive woman was much more preferable than cleaning up the mess that was the arena.

On her way out, she actually heard Beverly complaining about being excluded only for Lily to make fun of her for being “an annoying little brat”.

***

Nina gingerly knocked on the door of Misty’s dressing room with a tray containing two mugs of hot cocoa and a variety of snacks in hand.

“Hey Misty, it’s Nina. I brought you some snacks. Do you mind if I come in?”

“One sec!” Responded a muffled voice. Followed by a crash and the clinking of glass.

The door opened to the sight of a slightly disheveled looking Misty in a Mudkip onesie, looking very different from her usual salacious self.

“Sorry, was I bothering you? I was told to bring some snacks for you, so I won’t be long.”

“Tiin. Ti tin!”

Nina giggled. “I think Tini wants to say that he thinks you looked really cool just now.”

“Why thank you, Tini. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Misty smiled at the compliment, responding with a kiss on the Dratini’s snout. She then gave Nina an affectionate pat on the head before grabbing the tray of food from her. “And please come in, the both of you. You’re no bother at all.”

Nina took the Gym Leader up on her invitation but couldn’t help noticing the smell of alcohol in her breath.

“Is Kingdra okay? Do you need me to bring him over to the transfer station?” Offered Nina. Worried that Misty might have neglected the wellbeing of her Pokemon in her distressed state

Misty chuckled. “Don’t worry, Nina. First thing I did was send him over to the Pokemon Center. As Pokemon Trainers, our main priority should always be the wellbeing of our Pokemon.” The last part was said in a lecturing tone but it was hard to take the inebriated woman seriously.

Nina sat down on the chair that was offered to her and took a sip of the hot cocoa. “That’s good. It was really cool how Kingdra used Dragon Dance to evade that Walrein’s attack! It must have taken a lot of work to be so smooth.”

Misty gave a gentle smile at the little girl’s enthusiasm, feeling all the dark emotions within her slowly being washed away. “All it is is just practice. I’m sure Tini will be able to do it himself one day. Especially with a wonderful trainer like you supporting him.”

At this point, Nina was fully in puppy dog mode. She was entrusted with the task of cheering Misty up, and fully intended to do so. “Really? You think I can be as cool and beautiful as you, one day?” She fawned.

That must have been a critical hit to the Gym Leader, because she squealed out in delight and moved over to pull Nina into a tight hug. Both the girl and her Dragon could feel their life fading away under the suffocating embrace of Misty’s mountains.

“Gosh, you’re just the cwutest! Do you wanna be my daughter, Nina? I’ll make sure to love you forever and ever.”

“But, I already have a mommy…”

“Then I’ll steal you from her! No one can get between me and my Nina!”

“Tiin…” Cried Dratini weakly.

Realizing that she was smothering her two guests, Misty finally let go. “Sorry, I got a little too ahead of myself there,” she said, clearing her throat.

“It’s okay, Tini was just being a baby.”

“Tini!” Cried the indignant Dragon in denial.

Nina booped her partner in the snout to silence him, and Dratini retaliated with more boops. Back and forth they went, causing Misty to laugh out at their antics.

“Haha… you two are just the cutest. One of my sisters must have sent you here to cheer me up right? I feel much better now, thank you.”

Nina held back her surprise at how perceptive Misty was and secretly revised her opinion of the orange haired woman. “Shizu was right, Misty is the Gym Leader for a reason.” Nina wondered what happened to cause her to deviate from the Misty she knew from the anime to being a woman of such… loose reputation.

Nina tilted her head in faux confusion. “Were you sad because of Gyarados? Beverly said you hated Gyarados with a passion, but the only Gyarados I know is the one owned by my friend Charlie’s mom. And Gary is a big old sweetheart who lets me play on him.”

Misty chuckled, and took a drink of her hot cocoa, only to make a face when she realized there was no alcohol in it. “It’s not that I hate Gyarados. I used to own one, you know? It’s just… I hate the circumstances surrounding them.”

“Circumstances?”

The woman nodded, her eyes taking on a thousand yard stare. “Gyarados are a victim of their circumstance. But they in turn cause a lot of pain and sadness that just perpetuate the cycle. I guess… It’s hard to put it into words that you’ll understand Nina. But let me ask you this, the Gyarados you saw today, do you think he’s the same as the one belonging to your friend’s family?”

Nina shook her head in denial.

“That’s right. Mizuwhatshisname’s Gyarados was angry. He was suffering the entire time that he was out of his Pokeball. Do you think he’s that way by choice?”

“Circumstances…” Replied Nina.

“That’s right, his trainer was a dickhead. You can tell by the fact that he ordered his Gyarados to cause indiscriminate destruction just for a win. Imagine what will happen when that Pokemon gets released into the wild?

“And mark my words, he WILL release him at some point. Gyarados are among the most resource intensive Pokemon to rear. The fact that your friend’s family kept theirs so happy for so long is a testament to their character and worth as Pokemon trainers.”

Nina frowned at the implications that Misty laid out. If and when Mizutani gives up on being a professional trainer, the destruction she just witnessed in the arena today might be unleashed elsewhere. And that somewhere might lack a Gym Leader to restrain it.

“So what do we do about it?” Asked Nina. “Surely we can’t just leave them be?”

Misty returned her question with a warm smile. “Don’t worry sweetie, one of the perks as a Gym Leader is that we get carte blanche when it comes to assessing Pokemon-Trainer relations. I’ve already put a note on the guy’s record. The next time he visits a Pokemon Center, the resident Nurse Joy will confiscate his Gyarados and put the trainer under arrest to do a full evaluation of his Pokemon’s wellbeing,” she explained with a somewhat sinister grin.

Nina made a mental note to write this down later. She had not known about this facet of Gyms at all.

“But enough about that!” Declared Misty, putting an end to the depressing topic. “Here, open your mouth and let mommy feed you. Ahhh……” Misty took a cookie and popped it into Nina’s mouth, swooning at the girl who was struggling with her mouth full like a Pachirisu.

“Oh. And don’t think I forgot about you, Tini. You adorable little noodle~ Ahhh……”

The pair spent their time getting doted on by the overbearing Gym Leader until it was time for Nina to leave, citing lateness and not wanting her dad to worry. Misty was sad to see them go, smothering the two with hugs and sniffing them to her satisfaction before finally relenting.