“Alright, Nitey. Time to get serious.”

Nina’s mind had been in complete disarray recently. There were simply too many mysteries to solve and not enough answers for her liking.

So she decided to just tackle things one at a time. Her most immediate goal was to train up her team to face Falkner at his Gym and whatever awaited her in Ilex Forest. 

Then, there was the Mew Gem, which meant visiting Agatha’s ancestral home in Lavender Town, which also meant getting strong enough to earn her Volcano Badge. And for that, she also needed a strong team.

“I’m basically handicapped with only four battle-ready Pokemon. Poppy should be able to Evolve and get stronger easily enough, as all regional starters tend to be. Gastly though, requires more delicate handling…” Worst comes to worst, Nina would have to catch additional Pokemon to supplement her battle strength.

“Nite!” Nitey let out a determined cry and pulled Nina from her musings with a boop to her nose, eliciting an annoyed pout from the girl.

Nina sighed in resignation and returned her partner’s assurance with a chuckle. “Nitey, this place is completely out of the way, so no need to worry about disturbing the peace. I want you and Espy to go off on your own to work on your Aura and your Ice domain. Remember Red’s Charizard? Think you can do better if we meet them again, buddy?”

“Dragooo…” Nitey growled, eyes sharp and full of determination. 

“And Espy, remember what we discussed last time after our encounter with Tyranitar? About infusing your Psychic constructs with Fairy Type Energy? That should make them more resistant towards Dark Type attacks. And when it comes to mixing Type Energies, there’s really no one better than Nitey. So make sure to ask for his advice. Don’t be so stubborn.

“Es.” The Espeon cried in affirmation before beckoning her adoptive brother to carry them off somewhere that would avoid causing harm to their companions. When Nitey and Espy went all out, the collateral damage was no joke. So best to keep a distance.

“Sir Clodington,” Nina continued as she turned her attention to the Clodsire. “Your domain is coming along very nicely, but your Aura still needs work. I want you to spar with Brucey today, push yourself to your limit, but without your domain. Your goal is to force Brucey down onto the ground through the sheer pressure of your willpower.”

“Cloood!” cried the determined Clodsire.

“And Brucey,” Nina pulled her Golbat in for a reassuring hug. “You’ve been falling behind, buddy…”

“Gol…” 

“I know it’s hard for you to focus. But I still want you to know that I can see how hard you’ve been working, and you’re definitely improving. So don’t give up, okay?”

“Kukuku…” The Golbat laughed since he didn’t know how to reply.

“So today, I want you to go all out and try to give Clody the worst time of his life. Think you can do that?” Nina asked, eliciting a sinister laugh from her prankster. 

Brucey had been holding back on his pranks in recent times in consideration of his family’s feelings — a great development of his character that Nina was extremely proud of. But that was all the more reason for him to let loose every once in a while so that he didn’t lose himself. 

And with that, the pair of rivals set off to find a spot where they could battle to their hearts’ content, taunting and jabbing at each other all the while.

Then there were the little ones. Kerry was still busy seeing patients in the village, but Nina borrowed some of her non-essential Pokemon to help train them, while also giving her own Pokemon opponents of the appropriate level. The Pokemon she borrowed were Lynxie the Shinx and Rocky the Geodude.

“Alright Lynxie, you’re really close to Evolution.”

“Shiiinx!!!” The chubby lion cub roared in pride.

“However, you’re not trying hard enough.”

“Shinx…”

“Honestly, by all accounts you really should have evolved by now. So today, we’re going to pressure you. Your opponent is going to be both Gastly and Rocky at the same time. No Berries for lunch today unless you can beat both of them.”

“Shinx! Shinx!” Lynxie cried out in indignation. But Nina was having none of it as she just crouched down to tie a little ribbon around the Shinx’s star tail.

“Gastly, Rocky, your goal isn’t to faint Lynxie, but to steal this ribbon from him. While Lynxie will try to defend and faint you in return.”

“Dude,” affirmed Rocky, while Gastly just nodded in response.

“Gastly,” Nina pulled her phantom ball of gas into an embrace. “I appreciate the fact that you want to devote yourself to my protection. But you can’t be a good bodyguard if you can’t battle.”

“Gas…”

“So for today, you’re Rocky’s bodyguard. Try to defend him against Lynxie and try to sneakily steal Lynxie’s ribbon from him. Do you think you can do that?”

“Gas.” Gastly gave Nina a little lick and nuzzle in response. 

“And finally, Poppy.”

“Po-po!”

Nina giggled and swooped the Popplio into her arms. “You learned a ton of strategies and techniques from the others in Gastly’s dream already. What you lack is just experience and solid fundamentals. So we’ll work on your foundations to start. Then, once one of the others gets knocked out, I’ll have them battle you. Okay?”

“Po! Popplio!”

***

“Nina! Nina! Guess what?!” The girl in question let out a strained oomph as Kerry crashed into her the moment that she returned.

The young nurse tugged at her friend and gestured wildly at the bouncy pink blob that was trailing her. “Peppy finally evolved!”

“Chance! Chansey!”

“Congratulations, Kerry!” Nina cheered and pulled her friend into a hug, spinning her around the air as she did before throwing herself into Peppy’s welcoming embrace and luxuriating in the scent of milk and cookies emanating from the Chansey.

“Chansey, chance…” Chansey gave Nina’s head a soft pat using her stubby little flippers, causing the girl’s mind to turn blank from comfort, like she had returned to her mother’s womb.

“Hehe! And with this, I’m no longer an apprentice!” Kerry declared triumphant, eager to call her family and notify them of the good news.

“Congrats Kerr!” Nina said once more. “I guess good deeds do pay off. And speaking of Evolutions…”

Nina reluctantly extricated herself from Peppy’s embrace and took on a triumphant pose of her own. “Guess what?” The girl then gestured towards Nitey, who moved aside to unveil a proud looking Luxio standing firmly behind him. “Lynxie evolved too!!!”

Kerry gasped, mouth agape in disbelief. “You… You evolved my Pokemon without me?!”

Nina winced. She had been expecting this reaction, but she was hoping that the double whammy of good news would help to temper her friend’s anger a little. “I mean er… It kind of just happened…? Sorry Kerr…” Nina stuttered, wilting as she did.

In truth, Nina really was not expecting the Evolution. But Lynxie had a really hard time during the day. And out of all of Kerry’s Pokemon, her Geodude was the most battle proficient, thanks in large part to Nina and VF’s boxing club. Combine that with the absolute defense of Nina’s Gastly and it was everything that Lynxie could do to stand his ground and avoid getting his ribbon stolen.

Despite Gastly’s pacifist leanings, the Ghost Type really was serious about Nina’s protection. So she was actually quite eager to absorb any knowledge that would help on that front, resulting in a Pokemon that was very proficient in defense and counters.

In particular, Gastly was a really strong visual learner, much like Nitey. So Nina badgered Purple Shadow incessantly to get the ninja to send her tips on how to train the Gengar line. As well as leveraging Lilian and Alfred, both of his bosses, to get him to record some really awkward training footage for them to reference. The man’s Gengar was the most powerful that Nina had ever encountered after all.

So everytime Lynxie tried to attack in range, Gastly would perfectly intercept the Shinx’s Thunderbolt with her own Shadow Ball. And if he tried to get close, she would supplement Geodude’s defense with veils of shadow and ghastly fog to confuse Lynxie’s senses. 

And whenever the opportunity presented itself, Gastly would try to swipe at Lynxie’s ribbon as well, though she wasn’t as good at this part. Mainly because she struggled with taking the initiative.

In the end, as they were approaching lunchtime. Nina once more touted the fact that Lynxie wouldn’t be getting Berries for lunch, just to motivate him for one last push. Little did she know, that last push propelled Lynxie across the Evolutionary line as the lion cub roared in hunger, his body enveloped by the Light of Evolution and morphing him into a mighty Luxio.

Kerry glared at Nina with her cheeks bulged, letting out an incensed “Hmph!” before reaching down to swoop Poppy up into her arms. “Come on Poppy, I’m stealing you from Nina — you’re sleeping with me tonight!” The girl declared, before stomping off with an angry huff.

“Oh come on, Kerr… I said I was sorry!” Nina called as she hurried after her friend to appease her.

***

“You might want to get one of them fancy stasis machines. Pretty sure they sell portable versions of them these days.” Maizie said.

Nina nodded and graciously accepted the trio of Apricorn Balls that were handed to her.

The biggest difference between Apricorn Balls and regular Pokeballs was the lack of functionality. Apricorn Balls had a pinlock for safety and a basic transparency mode but not much else. In return, they made up for it with more unique features and customizability. It was a compromise that Nina could deal with, so she didn’t mind it too much for the sake of novelty.

“Thanks Maizie,” said Nina as the girl admired the results of her commission. Unlike her grandpa, Maizie’s Apricorn Balls were colored throughout and patterned from top to bottom, making them seem like a massive piece of candy one couldn’t help but take a little lick of. 

Overall, the Balls were inlaid with colorful minerals and seashells to form their distinctive patterns, as well as a lacquered finish to them that felt a little uneven to the touch in a sort of charming, handmade, artisanal sort of way. Just little imperfections here and there that denote the item as being unique and one of a kind. Exactly the sort of stuff that Nina loved, both in her past and current life.

“What about mine?” Kerry chimed, eliciting a chuckle from the older girl.

“‘Course, Miss Joy. We’ll have them ready for you soon. It’s the least we can do after all the good you’ve done for this village. Some of the old timers were even fighting to do the commission until gramps stepped in and said that he would do it himself.”

Kerry laughed. “Sure, just tell him to be careful of his wrists okay? I don’t want all my work to go to waste.”

“Haha. Will do. Oh, and here, Nina.” Maizie handed Nina’s Beast Ball back to her. “We should have everything that we need from it, though no guarantees we can do anything with that knowledge. Also, we didn’t break it, fortunately. Came close a few times though.” The girl added with a laugh, eliciting a relieved sigh from Nina.

“Thanks Maizie, and give our regards to your grandpa and Mr Pokemon.” Nina waved as she and Kerry climbed on the back of her Dragonite. The two girls were not eager to repeat their hike back down the mountainous terrain.

“Sure thing! You two take care now, you hear?”

And with that, the two girls flew off into the skies, to continue on their journey to Violet City.

***

Author's Note:

I want to go back to writing GESTALT. I have a half a CH 0 just sitting there, waiting to be completed. Then I want to completely scrap CH 1 - 3 and rewrite it entirely.

But I've been on a roll with Into the Unown lately and I'm reluctant to step away.

It's September now and work is only going to get busier as we approach the end of the year.

Argh. This is hard. Why is there only 24 hours in a day?