The moment the match was declared to be over, Nina rushed into the arena towards her newly evolved Dragonair. “You did it Nairy! You finally evolved!” The girl exclaimed in joy.

“Nair!!!” Nairy cried out as well and rushed towards Nina to wrap around her. The Dragon was now fully capable of encompassing Nina’s tiny body with his coils, completely immobilizing the girl as he went in for nuzzles and boops, eliciting giggles and endless laughter from his partner.

“Nairy, stop~ No, don’t lick me… You’re going to get my uniform all wet!” Nina struggled in Nairy’s grasp. But unfortunately, her Dragon wasn’t so little that she could wrestle with him anymore. Instead, she now found herself completely at his mercy as Nairy did whatever he wanted with her.

After Nairy had his fill of teasing, Nina embraced her Dragon’s slender neck and the two of them simply luxuriated in each other's presence in silence. Completely disregarding the commotion that was happening in the gym all around them.

“That was an incredible match. It was completely worth the effort to come here today.” After allowing Nina and her newly evolved Dragonair some time together, Lilian approached the pair to congratulate them.

“Thanks Miss Blackthorn, your Sapphire was incredible as well. I didn’t know that a Dratini could harness such an incredible amount of Electric Type Energy.” Nina reached out to shake the other girl’s hand, but couldn’t get very far since she was still stuck in Nairy’s coils.

Nina looked up at her partner. “Erm… Nairy, could you loosen up a bit. I need to talk to Miss Blackthorn.” She pleaded, but Nairy simply hummed a tune in ignorance and averted his gaze.

Lilian chuckled at the sight and reached across Nairy to shake Nina’s hands. “Please, call me Lilian. I insist. And the Thunder is nothing special — just like how your Nairy’s element of choice is Water, Sapphire’s is Electric. Though she has a hard time holding back, so it’s something of a last resort for us.”

Nina nodded in understanding as she looked around, spotting Kerry in the distance who was currently assisting a school nurse in treating Sapphire. “Yeah, despite my family’s Pikachu doing her best, Nairy can’t really get the hang of Electric Type Moves. The best he can do is Thunder Wave, which is still useful, but powerful moves like Thunderbolt take too long to charge up.”

“What I’m most intrigued by is your Nairy’s application of Dragon Dance.” Lilian said, with a sharp glint in her eyes. “I dare say I have never seen such sublime elegance and beauty even amongst our clan’s Dragons.”

Nina snorted and dismissed the other girl’s praise with a casual wave. “Oh that’s nothing. Wait til you see Misty’s Kingdra — she’s the Gym Leader of Cerulean City, by the way — Kingsley’s Dragon Dance is completely effortless. And Josephine, her Milotic, the amount of power she can harness with just a single Dance is staggering.”

Lilian hummed in curiosity. “Interesting… I’ve never considered Kanto’s premier Water Gym to be such expert Dragon Tamers. Thank you for sharing, I shall make a visit sometime. In the meantime, I’d like to reward you for such an excellent bout. I am certain that this experience will do much in strengthening the flames of Sapphire’s ambition. And for that, I am infinitely grateful.”

Lilian snapped her fingers and Alfred appeared once more in the blink of an eye. Nina could almost swear that the guy was teleporting or something. The butler opened his briefcase again to showcase its contents.

“I’ve taken the liberty of adding to your reward for going above and beyond in showing me such a splendid evolutionary sight. Never have I ever seen a Dratini evolve to a Dragon Dance of such caliber,” said the generous Blackthorn scion. 

And indeed, Nina could see a TM case in addition to two massive golden balls. The thought of how much each item is worth was enough to make the girl salivate. Just because she was no longer pressed for money, does not mean that Nina has moved on from her miserly ways. She did spend a lot of time working under Violet after all.

“The Technical Machine is for Flamethrower.” Alfred explained. “Years of expertise in nurturing the Dragonite line has given the Blackthorn family more insight into their natural development than most others. In particular, the great ancestors have noticed that Dratinis and Dragonairs experience a great deal of difficulty in sensing Fire Type Energy at their stages of Evolution.”

Lilian nodded in approval at her servant’s words. “Indeed. In our clan, we will make an attempt to naturally attune our Dratinis to Fire. But should we fail, we will use a TM at the Dragonair stage to introduce them to the element. You’ll find that it also serves as a good deterrent should some arrogant fool challenge you with Ice Pokemon.”

Nina thanked the two Blackthorns and reached out to grab her prize, which Alfred handed to her with the briefcase and all. She almost felt embarrassed for being more excited than she should about the free briefcase. “I mean it looks really sturdy and super expensive. Waste not want not, right?”

“I will see you again, Melina Jones.” Lilian concluded. “I have greatly enjoyed… ‘school life’ with you. I believe I shall come back and do this again. Please be ready to accept my challenge when the time comes — victory will be mine the next time we battle.”

Nina chuckled at the girl’s awkwardness. Lilian felt to her like a noble lady who spent her entire life being sheltered from the larger world, which makes sense given her background. “You can just call me Nina,” she said. “And sure, come by anytime. There aren’t a lot of trainers around here that can match up to Nairy, unfortunately.”

Lilian laughed. “A dilemma that I am very familiar with. But no, I shall not call you Nina. Nicknames and terms of affection are reserved for family. While full names are for those whom I have acknowledged as being worthy. Conversely, the names of the unworthy aren’t even fit to enter my mind. And with that, I bid you farewell, Melina Jones.”

With a flourish of her half cape, Lilian Blackthorn sauntered out of the gym in a straight line, the crowd parting in her wake.

Nina caressed Nairy until he had his fill of cuddles and finally decided to let her go. They were technically hogging the arena and obstructing the maintenance people from fixing the floor. But nobody dared to admonish the scary looking Dragonair who had just beaten a Blackthorn Dragon.

Afterwards, Nina sought out Kerry and asked if she’d be willing to do a full physical on Nairy, just to make sure his Evolution didn’t encounter any issues. Not to mention, the supercharged Thunder he just took to the face.

***

[Dragonair: Capable of storing an enormous amount of energy inside its body. It is often called the Divine Pokemon. The crystalline orbs on its neck and tail appear to give this Pokémon the power to freely control the weather.]

Nina was playing with Nairy’s tail crystal when she suddenly got curious about what they did, her meta knowledge failing her due to the post battle exhaustion she was feeling. So the girl just pulled out her Pokedex and scanned Nairy instead.

They were currently in the nurse’s office where Nina was overseeing Nairy’s physical exam. All of the school nurses, as well as Kerry, were super excited at the prospect of being able to examine a Dragonair. It’s not exactly a Pokemon they get to encounter very often in life.

“Nairy already knows Rain Dance, so I should get Sunny Day as well just to complete the set. If he can get used to Flamethrower easily enough then maybe there’s a chance he can learn it on his own. If not, then a TM, I suppose?” The problem was that weather controlling TMs were ludicrously expensive due to how useful they were in various professions like farming.

Famine wasn’t really a thing in the Pokemon world since weather did not play a factor in food production. If a Farmer needs dry weather for harvest, then they’ll just have their Pokemon brighten the sky. If they need water for a drought, then Rain Dance. Hence why the prices of those TMs are also at an ‘industrial’ level.”

“How’s Nairy? That Thunder didn’t affect his Evolution in a bad way did it?” Nina asked Kerry, who was currently pressing her bliss-filled face against the Dragon to feel his rippling muscles and lustrous scales. A process that she insisted was very necessary to properly evaluate the Dragonair.

“Wha?” Kerry jolted awake and wiped a bit of drool from her face, eliciting giggles from her friend.

“I asked if Nairy was okay, and if the damage from the battle affected his Evolution?”

Kerry hummed. “He’s fine, just some burnt scales that were already shed during Evolution. My aunt, who’s the head nurse here, is running a few more scans just to make sure there’s no issues with Nairy’s internals. But so far the preliminary results looked good.”

Nina yawned in exhaustion. “That’s… Good to know… How much longer is this going to take?”

Kerry smiled and sat next to Nina to lend her shoulder to the girl. “Not much longer now, I know you’re exhausted. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to go through such an intense battle,” she said as she gently caressed her friend’s hair. “I was so worried for Nairy after he got hit by that Thunder.”

“Yeah…” The sleepy Nina murmured listlessly. “Me too… I was thiiiss close to returning him. But I’m glad I didn’t. Otherwise…” Nina let out another yawn and surrendered herself to Kerry’s warmth.

***

“Alright, Espy. It’s finally time.” Nina could see the cute little Eevee bouncing slightly in her seat as Nina took out her brand new Premier Ball. Or rather, it wasn’t exactly new since Espy had already begun decorating it for some time now.

The originally white Pokeball now had complex floral patterns painted on the top shell. Espy had flipped through interior design magazines of all things to determine the pattern based on some curtains and carpets she saw. Everytime she found one she liked, she would compile it into one cohesive image in her head, before transmitting it directly to Nina’s mind to double as a Psychic exercise as well. 

Then, it was up to the artistically crippled Nina to try her best in recreating that pattern on the Pokeball, all while under the intense scrutiny of Espy, who was sure to freeze Nina’s hand with a Psychic aura whenever the Eevee felt like there was going to be a mistake incoming. Again, this was to train her precognition abilities, however limited they may be.

To top everything off, Espy also picked out a few tasteful 3D stickers, mostly imitation gemstones or small leaves and flower petals, to add some sparkle and depth to the design. 

Nina had to admit, she did a pretty good job. The plain looking Premier Ball was utterly transformed into a work of art, and whatever mistakes she made weren't readily apparent at first glance. Even Espy was pleased with her handiwork, which was the most important part.

Now that Nairy has evolved into being a Dragonair, they could officially register Espy to Nina. Bill had already given his blessings beforehand, so that when the time comes, Nina just had to break the old Pokeball and transfer Espy to a new one. But regardless, she still sent a message to both Bill and Hikari as a courtesy. Hikari was quick to reply with a congratulatory message and assured Nina she would inform her absent-minded husband as well.

Nina did a convoluted series of button presses on Espy’s old Pokeball that she had set way back when. It acted as a password of sorts to help protect any stolen Pokemon from being reregistered easily. A security measure that, unfortunately, most beginner trainers forget to implement.

After the Pokeball aggressively flashed red a few times to seek confirmation from Nina. She held the button down for twenty seconds until it flashed green to open up the empty Pokeball, allowing her to forcefully break the Ball at its hinges, which were surprisingly sturdy. Even Espy had to chip in using her Psychic aura.

With a cringe-inducing snap, the Pokeball was now broken into two pieces as Espy made a weird face at the uniquely tingly feeling of a Psychic registry being erased from her head. 

“Are you okay?” Her human asked, to which Espy simply nodded and eagerly gestured towards her new custom Premier Ball. The Eevee had been looking forward to this for quite some time now.

Nina smiled at her silly princess and held out the Pokeball for her with a bow. Espy gave her human a little nod and a bend of the knee in place of a curtsy, before gently tapping on the new Ball with her paw. @@novelbin@@

The capture device barely even shook as it flashed white and made a satisfying ‘thunk’ sound to symbolize a successful capture. Apparently, the sound was from the successful application of a Psychic registry, based on what Nina read.

Then immediately after, Nina released Espy again as the pair looked at each other with giddy smiles. Finally feeling like they were officially a family.