“— Nina, Nina… Melina Jones!”

Nina woke up with a jolt from something impacting against her desk. She looked up to see the angry face of her teacher, Ms Roxy, glaring down at her.

“After school. Faculty Office.” Said Roxy, simply. While the rest of the class burst into laughter at Nina’s plight.

“You’ve been having trouble focusing recently,” said Roxy the moment Nina sat down in front of her desk.

“I’m sorry for falling asleep in your class, Ms Roxy.” It was always best to start out with an apology, soften the blow.

However, by this point, Roxy was very familiar with Nina’s tactics and wasn't as susceptible to them as she used to.

Roxy frowned. “When Patrick told me that you’ve been apprenticed at the Cerulean Gym, I was quite against it. There’s a reason why we coddle children who have yet to come of age. These sorts of responsibilities are simply too much for a young child to manage. And your recent behavior is a testament to that.”

Nina rolled her eyes. “Of course, you’ve been talking to dad…”

Roxy flinched at Nina’s insinuation.

“Might I point out that my grades haven’t suffered in any way.” Nina continued. “If anything, as a teacher shouldn’t you be supportive that one of your students managed to land such an opportunity. After all, I have you to thank for it since the Gym only found me through the Little League.”

“Please don’t misunderstand, Nina. I AM happy for you,” said Roxy, her tone noticeably softer than it was before. “But I’m worried you’re overworking yourself. When was the last time you took a break?”

Nina scoffed. “Have you forgotten that we’re just about to enter into winter break and Golden Week?” Golden week referred to the first week of the New Year where multiple public holidays overlapped to effectively form a week of break for most people.

“Yes, but you won’t be resting during that time, will you?” Rebuked Roxy.

“No. No, I won’t.” Nina sighed. “The Gym has all sorts of events and festivities going on and I was asked to help out.” In fact, Tini was even cast as a leading role in this year's Cerulean on Ice and has been working hard in rehearsals.

“Then you see my point… Actually, one moment. Let me make us some tea. Ms Hiromi went to Cinnabar Island and came back with lots of souvenirs.”

Roxy stood up to go to the kitchen while Nina took the time to rest her eyes a little only to be shaken awake not too long after.

“Here, I got us some magma senbei and candied pineapple.”

Nina took a sip of the tea and a few bites of the snacks, and immediately felt more invigorated. “Thank you…” She muttered.

“You’re welcome.” Roxy smiled. “You know, Mrs Tanaka was asking about you recently. You should stop by the library some time.”

Mrs Tanaka was the old lady who looked after the school’s library. During the first year that Leanette was hospitalized, the library was practically Nina’s second home with how frequently she went there. So much so that the old librarian even learned what Nina’s favorite snacks were.

Nina promised to stop by later on. It’s been a while since she got any reading done anyway. Maybe she’ll go to her usual spot and just read for a bit.

“Are you still fishing near Bill’s place?”

Nina shook her head. “Not over the past month or so, because the Gym was busy with the October surge. We’ll be stopping soon regardless, Tini can’t stand the cold and temperature’s been on a steady decline.”

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“Do you still plan on going once the weather gets warmer?” Asked Roxy. “You should be earning enough to afford food for him right? And he’s eating in the Gym four days out of the week usually.”

“Technically, he’s only getting a single free meal during the school days that I go. But yes, I rather enjoy going fishing with Tini. It’s fun to swim with my Pokemon, and sitting there while looking out at the sea really helps relax me.”

Roxy smirked. “Sounds to me like it's only a matter of time before I see you performing in the Monthly Exhibit. Don’t forget good old Roxy when you become Gym Leader Nina, yeah?”

Nina snorted. “You’re joking. No way that’s happening.” It would take extreme circumstances for a Gym to be inherited by someone outside the family managing it.

“Besides, I don’t plan on specializing in Water Types. I want to be an explorer. So whatever Pokemon I catch would ultimately contribute to that goal.”

Roxy nodded. “Then it’s a good thing you haven’t lost yourself. It’s easy to scramble your brain when you get immersed in a singular environment for too long.” The teacher paused to take a sip of her tea.

“So I want you to promise me Nina, to take a day off each week to rest. Not for my sake, because I know you can keep up with your studies, but for your own wellbeing. Take the time to do things for yourself. Not for Dratini, and certainly not for the Cerulean Gym. I don’t care if you just read or spend the time lazing about. It’s important for people to rest to avoid burnout.”

Nina was very familiar with burnout. There was a period of time in her past life where Miles was unemployed for a few months because he had a mental breakdown. He ended up moving back with his parents to recover during that time.

Nina still remembered how hard it was to pick up all the broken pieces of her mind and put them back together again. So she conceded to Roxy’s point.

“Once every two weeks,” she said. “Every two weeks, I’ll take a day where I was supposed to go fishing with Tini and rest instead.”

Roxy didn’t seem entirely happy but ultimately nodded at the compromise. “Very well. And to serve as motivation, if you can keep it up, I might have an opportunity for you in the coming year.”

Nina’s eyes lit up. But despite her incessant prodding, her teacher refused to divulge anymore details. “Guess I’ll just have to find out then.”

***

Despite her promise with Ms Roxy, Nina still took a bus to the Sea Cottage that very same day. After she had gone to say hi to Mrs Tanaka of course, to assuage the old librarian’s concerns.

“Alright Tini, today’s gonna be our last fishing day for some time.”

“Tiin!” Cheered the Dragon. Tini was reluctant enough as it was to leave his Pokeball these days. Even though winter hasn’t completely set in yet.

The area near the Sea Cottage wasn’t too bad actually. The mountains to the north held back the worst of the winds. But it won’t be long until the frost from Mount Silver begins to set in from the west.

In fact, according to her last call with her grandma, Nina learned that there was already a light dusting of snow in Pewter and Viridian City.

“Okay Tini, before we get into the water. Let’s run through some of the moves that you learned from the Gym first. Go ahead and use that boulder over there as a target.”

“Tiin~” The little blue Dragon turned his head towards where Nina was pointing and let out a circular pulse of water at the target, shaking the boulder but not breaking it.

Nina nodded in satisfaction. “Awesome work, Tini. I can tell your Water Pulse is already way stronger than it was before. Next, can you try a Water Gun?”

The Dratini did as he was told and let out a weak stream of water in the same direction. The weakness of the move wasn’t his fault, but rather an inherent flaw of the move itself. It was frustrating, but Nina knew that Tini needed to learn Water Gun to eventually develop it into Hydro Pump.

“Great work Tini. We just gotta work on slowly ramping up your volume and pressure. I know it’s hard on you this early on, Hydro Pump has a lot to do with how mature your body is. But let’s do our best, okay?”

Tini huffed, looking a little worn down, but cried out in determination regardless.

“Alright, enough with the Water moves for now. Your capacity for Water Type Energy will only steadily grow from now on. Let’s work on your Electric moves next. Remember what Pikachu taught you?”

Pikachu perked up at hearing her name. Crying “Pika!” in a show of solidarity.

Tini gave his mousey friend a look and gave a determined nod. Meanwhile, Nina took a few steps back as her Dratini let out a tingling burst of electricity.

“Awesome! Now try to concentrate that same Electric Energy and let it out in a concentrated blast.”

Tini shut his eyes in concentration, forming a small ball of electricity in front of his mouth with much effort before releasing it towards the boulder he was facing. The ball of Electric Type Energy impacted against the hard surface and burst apart in a crackling surge.

Nina and Pikachu both jumped up in celebration. After months of work, Dratini had finally learned Thunderbolt. Nina rushed forwards to hug her unsteady partner, gently carrying him over to her camping chair for some rest.

“You did well, Tini,” she praised, while feeding Dratini with some of his favorite Bluk Berries. “Rest up for a bit, then we’ll try out your Dragon Type moves on the fishies.”

“Tiin…” Tini nuzzled against Nina lethargically. His round beady eyes looked a little droopy.

A lot of the moves that Nina was pushing for her partner to learn were well beyond the scope of a Dratini at his stage of growth. So it was expected that it would put a lot of strain on him until he gets strong enough to handle it.

On the Bright side, Tini’s endurance has been steadily increasing since he began training with the Cerulean Gym. By the time that Nina came of age, Dratini would become an unstoppable battler.

“If you’re really not feeling up for it, we can just sit here for a bit until you feel better and head back okay?”

“Tiin!” Cried the Dratini, with a bit more enthusiasm.

Nina giggled and booped her partner’s snout. “You’re a lazy little noodle boy aren’t you? Here, I bought some heat packs from the school store. These things are really cool, you just open them up and give it a shake in the air, and they’ll start producing heat.”

The girl demonstrated the usage of a disposable heat pack and placed the item right on where Tini was coiled up on her lap.

“Tiin!” The little blue Dragon cried out in amazement after feeling the heat, having never seen anything so miraculous before. “Tin Tiin!”

“Yeap, nice and warm right? So let’s rest up a bit before trying out your Dragon and Aqua Tail combo. Then I think we’ll call it a day.”