Chapter 75: Chapter 75

“Alright you lot, Arceus has blessed us with a rare opportunity today,” began Mr Yamada as he gestured towards Nina. “This here is Nina, she is a certified Gym Trainer under the employ of the Cerulean Gym, and also the direct disciple of Lady Misty Mizuhana herself, Flower of Kanto.”

Nina had to hold herself back from laughing at ‘Flower of Kanto’, she had forgotten that drunkard had a nickname like that. “Shouldn’t that title go to Erika instead? Also, direct disciple!? How much did that woman glaze me up in her letter?”

“So pay attention,” continued Yamada. “Cause what you’re about to face today will likely be the level of standards that are expected of you when you inevitably challenge a Gym at the beginner tier.” The mention of facing a Gym challenge made all the students perk up.

In truth, Tini was already at the intermediate tier and Espy was getting close as well. But Nina did not bother to correct her teacher, just wishing that she could get this over with.

The first one to get called up was, predictably, Justin. Because of course it was him.

Nina first sent out her Eevee, as is courtesy for Gym Trainers, and Espy appeared on the flat arena while looking at her surroundings in confusion.

“Sorry, Espy,” said Nina, calling her Pokemon’s attention to her. “I’m gonna need you to play with these kids a bit. They won’t pose a threat to you, so just think of it as an exercise and try to use your Gift wherever possible. And there’s no need to go so hard that your fur gets all ruffled.”

Espy simply stared at her human with a little puff of her cheeks before acquiescing with an impassive “E.” Knowing that the girl will likely take extra care in grooming her tonight as compensation.

Meanwhile, Justin did a very Ash-like behavior of pulling out his Pokedex to scan Eevee. The little red device spouting out trivia about the Eevee line in its signature mechanical voice.

“Why didn’t he just do that during lunch?” Nina wondered. “Eh, probably just forgot about it.”

After the boy was done, he threw out his Pokeball with gusto while yelling for his Squirtle who eventually emerged from the flash of light.

“This is it, Squirtle!” Called the boisterous Justin. “Let’s beat that Eevee and force her to take out the Dratini!”

Nina sighed at his overconfidence and gave a glance at Mr Yamada, who was refereeing at the side, to signal for him to start the battle.

“Alright, trainers. Are you ready?!”

“Ready!”

“Ready.”

“3, 2, 1, and begin!”

“Right Espy, let’s test his reaction speed with Quick Attack.”

“Squirtle, Water—” But before Justin could call out his move, Squirtle was already sent flying by a little brown blur that struck at his front.

Nina winced a little. “Too hard, Espy. Dial it down a couple of notches, remember we’re just testing them, so try not to take out the upcoming Pokemons immediately. Just dance around Squirtle for a bit and see how well he responds.”

Espy’s back was to Nina, but the girl could feel her Eevee rolling her eyes at how troublesome this was.

“Squirtle squir!” With a cry, Squirtle did a little spin on his shell and forced himself back onto his feet. But before he could do anything else, Espy suddenly appeared in front of him and threw sand into his face, causing the turtle Pokemon to cry out in surprise and began randomly shooting Water everywhere.

Espy casually jumped around the spray and even whipped her tail out to trip her opponent, causing Squirtle to fall on his back again.

“Use water to wash your face, Squirtle!” Justin called, earning him a nod of approval from Nina and Yamada for the quick thinking.

Squirtle did as he was told, while Espy just stood to the side, yawning at the sight of the clumsy turtle and waiting for him to get up.

“Alright Espy, let’s test his defenses next. Use Swift but tone it down as well,” said Nina, after deciding that she’d given enough leeway to her opponent.

Espy casually wagged her shining tail back and forth, sending waves of glittering stardust towards Squirtle. The intensity of the attack was a far cry from the shuriken sized Swift stars that she usually let out, but even that might have been a bit too much for her opponent as Squirtle cried out in pain and desperately covered his face with his stubby hands.

“Get back into your shell!” Justin yelled, while Nina asked Espy to widen the spread of her Swift because they were doing a bit too much damage in aggregate.

Justin gritted his teeth in frustration, trying desperately to wrack his brain for a solution to this overwhelming beatdown. “Water gun inside your shell, Squirtle. Blast your way over to her!”

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Water began gushing out of all five holes on Squirtle’s shell, causing the shell to spin and begin moving slowly towards Espy.

Nina whistled in admiration for the genuinely ingenious thinking on Justin’s part. A sentiment that his teacher seemed to also share as Yamada began writing on his tablet with a slight smirk.

“Professor Oak really does have an eye for talent alright,” mused the girl.

“Espy, let’s try holding Squirtle in place with your Gift. Try to aim for the centroid of the shell and pin him down. It might be a bit difficult since you’ll need to concentrate more than usual but it might be an interesting exercise.”

Espy broke her facade of boredom and let out a slight grin at the challenge presented to her. The Eevee narrowed her eyes at the spinning shell that was slowly approaching her at a turtle’s pace.

A purple aura of Psychic Energy eventually emerged to cover the spinning Squirtle’s shell. The spread was too broad at first which made it difficult to maintain due to the constant movement of Espy’s target. But eventually, she got used to the resistance and gradually shrunk the Psychic Energy until it was just a concentrated blob in the center of the shell.

Espy pressed down on the advancing Squirtle with just her willpower, and with a loud “Vee!” The Squirtle’s momentum grinded to a halt and began digging into the ground instead. Not long after that, the Water Pokemon’s stamina gave out and Squirtle’s head reemerged with his eyes spinning in circles.

“Squirtle is unable to battle. Winner is Eevee!” Declared Yamada, as Justin immediately ran over to check on his Pokemon.

“Good work on using Squirtle’s own Water to clean up after Sand Attack. And I especially liked what you did with the concentrated Water Gun in the shell. A very inspired idea,” commended Nina.

“I would suggest further developing that move by having Squirtle concentrate it in one hole instead, for maximum propulsion. It’s a move known as Aqua Jet and it’ll be very useful in making up for Squirtle’s lack of mobility.”

Justin seemed to puff up a bit at Nina’s praise, having already gotten over the fact that he had just lost to an overwhelming degree.

“I also like how much Water Squirtle is able to produce on his own. It shows that your Pokemon has a lot of promise,” continued Nina, eliciting a haughty grin from the boy. “However, that is not something to be proud of! Because I can tell that was an ability that your Squirtle had to develop out of necessity.” Nina gestured towards the fainted Pokemon.

“Look at him!” She yelled. “Look at how dehydrated your Squirtle is and tell me! When was the last time that you brought your Squirtle swimming!”

Justin stuttered, trying to conjure up an excuse, but ultimately wilted at Nina’s stern gaze.

“The ocean’s right there!” Nina pointed. She had no idea which direction the ocean was, but it didn’t matter. The point was made. “Instead of playing around with your friends, consider taking your Squirtle out for swims when you have free time.”

And with that, Nina ended her lecture and called for the next challenger to step out. Completely bypassing Mr Yamada who fumbled his tablet to keep up with her. But the girl didn’t care, she was in full on Gym Trainer mode at this point.

The rest of the thirty-six matches went much the same way. With Espy messing around with her opponents for a little bit before finishing them off, and with Nina pointing out strengths and weaknesses before giving out tips after each match.

The only match that Nina considered interesting was a girl who sent out a Tyrogue. Not because it was particularly challenging, but because of how mischievous Espy was during the entire match.

During the match, whenever the Fighting Type Pokemon attempted to charge towards Espy, she would trip them by conjuring some Psychic Type Energy to bind either one of its legs mid step. And when they did finally get close, Espy would just Quick Attack somewhere else and leave them swinging at the air.

There were a few times where the Eevee had allowed her opponent to come close. But everytime, she would just sit there and watch as every single one of the Tyrogue’s attacks inexplicably missed its mark. Espy was effectively flexing her control of Psychic Energy by deflecting each blow as they came, with the only move she had to dodge being a Low Kick that she casually hopped over.

Nina watched on in amusement and eventually called for Espy to wrap things up when she determined that Tyrogue’s trainer was about to implode from rage and that there was nothing else left for Espy to learn.

They had even gathered an audience at some point as the other first years came to watch. Most of them were cheering against the overwhelming Espy and rooting for the underdogs.

“That’s not fair! That Eevee is clearly stronger than all our Pokemons,” cried a sore loser at some point, earning him a demerit in Yamada’s tablet.

But in response to the criticism, the teacher also picked out a student at random and asked them to lend their Pokemon to Nina, before asking the girl to “teach that one a lesson.”

Which she did, handily, by using her loaner Oddish against the kid’s Pidgey. A matchup that would usually be quite bad for Oddish, until Nina instilled upon him the horrors of Sweet Scent. The Pidgey was so inebriated by the end of the match that it was liable to be locked up for drunk flying.

“Good work, Nina. You showed them alright,” said Yamada as he gestured towards the losing kids with fiery gazes, all of which were directed towards Nina.

Nina sighed at the sight. “I would like to make a request, Mr Yamada.”

“Of course, Nina. After a performance like that, I’m sure there’s much we can do for you.”

“Thank you, but this is just a simple one. I would like you to discourage the other first years from challenging me outside of class for the foreseeable future,” continued Nina, eliciting a frown from the teacher. “I would hate to be forced to transfer away to a different school just to get a moment of peace around campus.”

The threat of an implied transfer immediately made Yamada compliant as he began squirming and lowering his head at his student. “Of course, that’s perfectly reasonable. But as you’re well aware, all students have a right to challenge each other so long as they abide by school regulations when doing so — it’s how we keep them sharp, by continuously honing the students against each other.”

“I understand,” nodded Nina. “Which is why I’d like to make a proposal — make it so that anyone who wishes to challenge earns at least 30 legitimate wins in school sanctioned matches before approaching. I don’t want to waste my Pokemon’s time by facing them off against weaklings, it’s bad for their development.”

Nina’s final sentence triggered boisterous laughter from the P.E teacher. “Well I can hardly say no to that. Leave it to me.”

Yamada walked towards the crowd and called for everyone’s attention. “Alright, you losers!” He shouted, completely taking Nina aback. “What a disgrace, 37 against 1 and you can’t even take out a single Eevee! I’m disappointed,” he said, causing each of the losing students to grit their teeth in frustration.

“Do you want a rematch?” The teacher asked, eliciting cheers in return.

“Do you wanna go back out there right now and redeem yourself?”

“Yeah!!!”

“Well too bad. You ain’t getting it!” Denied Yamada, triggering a wave of groans and boos.

The P.E teacher scoffed. “Look at you lot, barely a few minutes in since you got your asses kicked and you’re already eager for more? Why don’t you look into the mirror and ask yourselves, ‘Am I good enough to challenge Nina right now with my pathetic skills?’” Shoulders drooped in disappointment and indignant whines could be heard from the group.

“And you,” Yamada pointed a finger towards Justin. “Professor Oak must be going senile in his golden years. How is it possible for such a big difference to exist between two trainers sponsored by the same person?!”

Nina wanted to groan into her palm. “Did he really need to publicize my backing so openly like that?” She could already hear people murmuring stuff about her in the background.

“So until you people shape up… No one!” Yamada turned and looked at all the gathered first year students, regardless of whether they had participated in Nina’s assessment or not. “No one is to disturb Miss Jones with any more challenges, am I understood?” Another wave of groans could be heard from the crowd.

“The only ones who are allowed to challenge her are students who have managed to secure at least 30 wins in their school record. No exceptions!”

“But she said 10 to me before!” Justin cried, only for his voice to be drowned out by the commotion in the Gym.

“No exceptions!” Reiterated Yamada, before calling for an end to class.

Nina took it as her cue to make a run for it, having already snuck up to the dressing room as much as possible during her teacher’s speech.