Chapter 46: Chapter 46

“Nina! Someone screwed up and gave Nurse Joy a box of Antidotes instead of Potions!”

“On it!”

Nina dropped the signboard she was using to guide the registration line and dashed into the storeroom. She opened up a box of Potions to double check the labels before hefting it up and power walked her way to the nurse’s station.

“Hi Nurse Joy, I brought a box of Potions over. Do you want me to take those Antidotes off your hands?”

The pink haired nurse took Nina’s burden away from her and smiled. “No worries dear, we’re not lacking in space so you can just leave it there for now.”

“Okay!” Beamed Nina, happy that she did not have to carry more stuff around.

However, at this point, Nina’s walkie-talkie crackled to life. “Nina, come in! We’re running out of Staryus in booth two.”

The girl sighed, thinking that she had spoken too soon. Nina pressed a button on her device and replied that she was on her way to go get more, then ran off to the logistics room.

Due to the increased number of participants this year, the Little League was going to be held over the course of two days, with the preliminaries taking place on a Saturday. There were a little over a hundred kids competing as compared to the forty to fifty of most years, so they had to make use of the smaller sub arenas just to get through everyone in a timely manner.

It also made managing the crowd easier, since parents were only really interested in watching their own kid’s matches anyway. So the people were all scattered across the different venues and would likely leave once their kid loses.

The problem was the limited number of loaners that the Gym had on hand. “We’re out of Staryus?!” Exclaimed Nina.

“The ones that are battle ready anyway,” added Nanami.

“So what should we do? Do I head over to the exhibit and catch a few more?”

The older woman shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t be fair to the competitors. Tell the girls to start a waitlist. The kids that want a Staryu can either choose to settle on a different Pokemon or wait for a Staryu to become available. I’m sure there’ll be a few losers being returned soon enough.”

“Okay, but the match up is randomized right? Do we rig it so that the waitlist kids go later?” Asked Nina in return.

Nanami gave Nina a wink. “We’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”

Nina smiled and thanked the woman before rushing out into the chaos once more.

***

“Argh… I’m dead,” groaned Nina, as she crashed onto a sofa in the break room.

“Thanks for all your hard work,” one of the staff members giggled as she pressed a bottle of chilled Shuckle juice against the girl’s cheek.

Nina jolted from the sudden chill and grabbed the bottle with a pout. “Thanks Mizuho…” She whined, before cracking open the bottle and greedily gulping down its content.

“Ahh… Bluk and Sitrus, Tini would have loved this.” Her little Dragon was currently hanging out in the Milotic exhibit as usual. Meanwhile, Espy’s Pokeball was on her belt since the tsundere Eevee didn’t like being away from her human. “Right, I should let her out.”

Nina expanded her Eevee’s Pokeball and released Espy in a flash of light. “Hey Espy, sorry for the wait. Did you miss me?”

Espy did not deign to reply and simply jumped onto Nina’s lap to curl up against her.

Nina giggled at her Eevee’s awkwardness. “Gosh she’s so damned cute. Espy misses me but doesn’t want to admit it.”

Nina began gently stroking Espy’s fur as she turned her eyes towards the different monitors showing the low level battles that were taking place in the arena right now. She saw a match where two girls using Goldeens were just spamming Peck at each other. And another monitor was displaying a Marill struggling to use Rollout on water much like that kid Nina faced during her Little League match way back when.

The girl sighed, lamenting the poor quality of trainers they were seeing. “No wonder Charlie and I stood out so much. This is really painful to watch.” She could only hope that the later matches would be better.

Mizuho sat beside Nina with a bottle of Shuckle juice of her own and noticed her junior’s disappointment. “It can’t be helped. They’re all just kids. Not everyone is an anomaly like you. And Bev was mostly brought up in the Gym so she’s an exception as well.”

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“But surely they would have seen professional matches on TV right? I mean there’s an entire channel devoted to the Conference matches happening every month, all across the world,” argued Nina.

The senior staff member shook her head. “Being able to apply what you see on TV isn’t something everyone is able to do. I mean look at me, I see Pokemon battles on the regular here at the Gym but you don’t see me becoming a Gym Trainer.”

“Why not?” Asked Nina. “If it’s just screening battles, I’m sure most of the staff here are more qualified than the randos that come into the Gym begging to be mermaids.”

Mizuho chuckled. “Most people, when it comes down to it, will blank out and just call out moves they remember from their Pokemon’s move sheet. Besides…” The woman looked down and gave her belly a little pinch. “Yeah, no…” She murmured.

“Oh come off it!” Exclaimed Nina. “You’re a beautiful woman, Mizuho. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

The woman swooned and pulled Nina into a hug while kissing the girl on the forehead. “You’re such a sweetie, Nina. But I’m also 36 years old now and have no business strutting about in a bikini. I imagine my son will be very embarrassed by his mother’s shamelessness.”

Nina just smiled and made a mental note to ask the Sisters to consider abolishing their stupid policy. Another option was to create another group of Gym Trainers purely dedicated to battle without the need to take part in performances. “It really is a shame that such banal views on beauty and age are still a thing here in this world.”

The first day of matches ended without any true standouts. Though Nina did note down a few names for how caring they were towards their Pokemon. “Battle skills can be learned, but empathy is difficult to foster,” she thought, hoping that at least a couple of them will make it to the finals so that she could advocate for them.

***

“Nice to meet you, big sis Nina. We’re looking forward to working with you!” Said a pair of twins to Nina, fully in sync with one another.

Nina, now a senior apprentice, had to hold back a screech at how cute her two new juniors were. “I get it now, Bev. I totally get it now!”

The children that Nina ended up advocating for were a pair of twins just a year younger than her, Natsumi and Fuyumi, who ended up facing off against each other in the finals. The two girls were extremely caring towards their Pokemon, passed Nina’s test with flying colors, and most importantly, they were super easy to market.

Violet practically jumped onto Nina’s side of the court right away as the two of them waged a war against Daisy who thought that twins were a cliche and so last decade. “I mean we already have the Psychic twins over at Mossdeep. Twins are kind of overdone, don’t you think?” Said their opponent.

“Not at all!” Yelled Nina and Violet in unison as they fervently espoused the doctrine of twin supremacy.

In the end, it was Misty who served as the tie breaker, after watching a recording of the two girls giggling and playing with their loaners before a match.

The two girls were practically identical, except Fuyumi sported a ponytail and wore blue while Natsumi had pigtails and wore yellow clothing.

“Alright girls, the first order of business for the two of you would be to pick out a Pokemon each,” declared Daisy. “These Pokemon aren’t going to be registered to you, at least not yet. And depending on your performance as apprentices, we may or may not allow you to keep them as starters. After that I’ll leave you in Nina’s good hands to show you the ropes.”

“Okay!” Responded the twins in unison.

“Alright, so what would you like?” Asked Daisy. “You can choose among all of the first phase Pokemon we have available, including the Feebas, but excluding Magikarp. Though I will warn you that Milotics are extremely hard to care for and there’s no guarantee you’ll even have the means to evolve them in the first place.”

The two girls simply looked at each other before crying out “Goldeen!” at the same time.

Nina and Daisy chuckled at their chemistry. “Alright if that’s the case, then I don’t think I need to worry too much. Nins, can you take them to the Goldeen exhibit to pick out their Pokemon?”

“Will do. Come on girls, follow me,” beckoned Nina. “So why Goldeen?” She asked, while they were making their way to the exhibit, their rubber boots squishing along as they walked.

The twins were wearing matching boots that they bought in the aquarium gift shop; white for Fuyumi and red for Natsumi, same design as Nina’s. The boots were part of the Aquarium Girl series of merch which included plushies of Tini and a chibi plush of Nina, the Aquarium Girl herself. All pushed through and marketed by Violet without Nina’s consent of course.

The amount of embarrassment that Nina felt, when she first saw kids in her school hanging a likeness of her on their backpack, was immeasurable.

“Cause Goldeen are cute,” began Fuyumi. “And their fins are super pretty,” continued Natsumi.

Nina nodded along, agreeing with their sentiment and making small talk to get to know her new juniors a bit better. Until the trio finally reached the door leading to the Goldeen exhibit.

Nina unhooked her tuning fork from her utility belt and dipped it into the water after activating it, summoning a whole school of Goldeens to their attention. “I would recommend getting a utility belt like this as well just to hold your tools and your future Pokeballs,” instructed the senior apprentice.

“And here are some berries for you to feed to the Goldeen, make sure to talk to them and find one that you get along with. Remember that your starter is going to be your partner for life,” added Nina.

While the girls were doing their own thing, Nina looked out at the school of fishes and smiled when she saw a particular Seaking splash out of the water to get her attention. “Hey there, Splashy. Sorry I haven’t been around recently, things have been quite hectic since Bev left.”

Splashy was the loaner Goldeen that Nina had used back when she first competed in the Little League. The Gym had added her into their regular roster after seeing her excellent performance in battle. After three years, the showy little Goldeen had achieved Evolution in battle and grew into a Seaking.

Nina gently caressed the Seaking and took out a Tamato Berry to feed to Splashy, who as it turns out, favored dry and spicy flavors. In truth, when she became a Gym Apprentice, she was asked if she wanted to keep Splashy since the two of them got along so well. But ultimately declined, because Nina was still struggling with Tini at the time.

“Big Sis, is this Seaking yours?” Asked Natsumi as she walked over to Nina with a content looking Goldeen held in her arms.

Nina chuckled. “You can just call me Nina, no need for the ‘Big Sis’. And no, this here is Splashy. She’s the loaner Pokemon I used back when I took part in the Little League, see that dark streak of scales on her belly? That’s from the Staryu we fought in the finals.”

“That’s nice. I actually managed to find the Goldeen I loaned as well. Pururu still recognised me!” Exclaimed Natsumi, her face beaming with joy at having formed a connection with her Pokemon.

“That’s great, Natsumi! I’m glad to see that Pururu has accepted you as her partner as well,” said Nina as she grabbed a Pokeball from her belt and handed it to the girl. “You can keep Pururu in this Ball. It’s different from the temp Balls we used during Little League — those were modified to prevent the forming of a Psychic signature while this one will register it under the Gym.”

While Natsumi was completing the capture process, Nina wandered over to Fuyumi to check on the girl who seemed to be frowning at the Pokemon before her. “Is something wrong with the Goldeen, Fuyumi?”

The slightly older twin jolted up in attention. “Oh, Big Sis Nina. I was just wondering if it’s possible for me to go out and catch my own Pokemon just like you did. I can’t seem to feel anything with any of the Goldeen here.”

“Again, no need for the ‘Big Sis’, just call me Nina. And we’ll have to ask Daisy about that later. Did you not find the loaner you used the other day?”

The girl shook her head dejectedly at her senior’s question.

Nina hummed. She noticed that Fuyumi was slightly more competitive than her sister. “So maybe she feels down that she got outdone by Natsumi?”

“We’ll go and ask later,” continued Nina. “I’m sure the Gym would be okay, but we need to talk to your parents as well since the Pokemon will be registered with them. In the meantime, do you wanna go check out the other Pokemon exhibits? Maybe you’ll feel differently towards another species?”

The girl agreed to the suggestion. But in the end, Fuyumi never made up her mind, which was fine. Although Nina and Natsumi had to comfort the downtrodden girl and make a promise to go fishing with her one day.