Nina and her Pokemon watched as a Growlithe and a Zigzagoon used Bite on each other. The two canines latched on and tousled in a pile of fur on the arena floor. She knew that Bite was a dangerous move, yet couldn’t help but swoon at the two doggos and their amateurish play fighting.

“Excuse me, we have brought the Ultra Deluxe Jumbo Berry Parfait that was ordered,” said an approaching waiter.

Nina looked over and held back a sigh as the waiter and his two colleagues gingerly set down the super massive portion of desserts in front of them.

They were currently in a Battle Cafe chain in Vermilion City, to celebrate Nairy’s evolution. And since it was Nairy’s special occasion, she had asked where the Dragon wanted to go. Which was a mistake, because he had just seen an ad on TV for this monstrosity of a dish and begged to come here.

Nina didn’t mind too much. It was just that Battle Cafe food tended to have extra generous portion sizes with a quality that can only be described as aggressively mediocre.

Nairy’s eyes sparkled at the bowl of sugary treats that were larger than the size of his head, while Nina just shared a helpless look with Espy. “One sec, Nairy. Lemme split a portion for Espy. And make sure to thank her for winning this for you, okay?”

In keeping with the theme of the Cafe, the menu and pricing available for guests were determined by their performance in battle based on an audience score. One could still access the high score menus even if they did poorly, just that the prices would be fairly unreasonable in comparison to earning it.

“Nair!” The jovial Dragonair cheered as he affectionately rubbed at Espy’s cheeks. The Eevee looked as impassive as ever. By this point, she was fairly used to her companion’s tendency for physical affection.

Nina spooned some soft serve onto a bowl, with extra Berries and crispy bits. She knew that Espy liked the sour little starburst candies that pop in her mouth, so she grabbed some extras of those as well, before spooning a mouthful to taste for herself.

“Yeap, that’s a whole lot of sugar. And the soft serve is not creamy at all — tastes like its 80% water or something. Is there even any Miltank milk in here?”

“Kay, Nairy… Make sure to eat it slowly, I don’t want you to get a brain freeze.” How was it that an Ice weak Dragon developed a love for ice cream, she will never know.

“Nairrr!” The inattentive Dragon cried out, before promptly shoving his face into the comically large pile of sweets.

Nina sighed and took a sip of her tea, knowing that her gluttonous Dragonair was definitely not finishing the dish, and he was most certainly going to get a tummy ache afterwards. Which was why she didn’t order anything since she abhorred wasting food. “Though I doubt I’ll be able to make a dent in that either.”

***

Nina and Espy tilted their heads in confusion at the eye-searingly shiny building in front of them. It looked as if someone had just crumpled a very large sheet of aluminum foil and plopped it down in the middle of an elevated square.

“What do you think, Espy? Can this be considered art?”

“E, eevee e?” The fact that even a connoisseur like Espy was unsure was telling enough.

The meme-worthy building they were looking at was Surge’s Electric Gym. They had decided to take a walk and do some sightseeing in the city after that ridiculous meal. Only Espy was out with Nina since Nairy was now too large to roam around in populated areas without being a nuisance.

Besides, true to Nina’s prediction, the Dragonair was now in a sugar coma. So she had returned him to his Pokeball which she now wore around her neck in transparency mode. It was a sad state of affairs since Nina’s day was less lively without her partner's constant yapping and excited gestures. But it couldn’t be helped.

“Apparently Surge wanted to ‘modernize’ his Gym, just like the Cerulean Sisters. And this was the result.”

“E?”

“The guy’s very competitive, and has a one sided rivalry with us. As you’d expect from a former soldier." From what Nina could tell, her bosses mostly treated the boomer Gym Leader with barely veiled disdain, further fueling the guy’s competitive flare.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Surge’s Gym had indeed become somewhat of a meme on the Pokenet, with people making fun of it by cropping out the ‘aluminum ball’ and editing it onto various kitchen or dining room settings. Some even replaced the building with various different objects on the square and captioned it with “When Surge hires a(n) X to design his building” and so on.

“I wonder where he even finds the space to train his Pokemon. That building is like what? A tenth of the size of Cerulean Gym?”

“Vee~” Espy tapped at Nina’s shoulder and pointed down.

“Underground, huh? Seems like a safety hazard to me.”

It reminded Nina of a trip to Seoul she once made in her past life. Miles was just doing touristy stuff on Gwanghwamun Square when he stumbled upon a small space behind the giant statue of some ye olde great king. He walked in out of curiosity and saw some tourists heading down a set of stairs. Imagine his surprise when he found a full on museum down the seemingly never ending stairwell. It was a place that he didn’t know existed since it didn’t show on Google maps.

After having their fill of ridiculing the Vermilion City Gym, the girl cradling her Pokemon continued walking down the cityscape. Nina hadn’t had a chance to fully explore the city yet. That first week when she first arrived, she mostly hung out in Breakwater Bay; the little college town that was next to her new school.

There was a lot of stuff to do there as well as an abundance of foods and boutique shops. And since she and her Pokemon were all gourmands in one way or another, they spent a lot of time there to familiarize themselves with the local culinary scene.

Nina did make brief trips into the city, but mostly it was with a clear agenda in mind so there wasn’t much exploring. A shortcoming that she was planning on remedying today.

“It’s kind of cool how you can find obscure little shops like this in a large city huh?” Nina and Espy were walking down an unassuming alleyway when she found what she thought was a hidden little hole in the wall record shop, which turned out to be a place specializing in TMs.

According to the jazzy shop owner, who was most definitely high on something, there was a whole subculture of TM enthusiasts who make and collect rare TMs. These people believed that a Technical Machine varies in quality depending on which Pokemon it was recorded from.

For example, a Fireblast recorded from Red’s Charizard would probably cost hundreds of thousands just by virtue of how iconic that Pokemon was. Naturally, all TMs degrade over time, so Nina didn’t see much of a point in collecting them, but everyone has their own thing she supposed.

Another useful thing that Nina learned was that there was some merit in buying ‘lower grade’ TMs recorded from amateur Pokemon as well.

“See, if we use a TM from Red’s Charizard, say…” The shop owner took a puff from his inhaler before continuing. “Then what we get is a move that’s already maxed out for that one Charizard…” Another puff and a moan. “Which is fine if you wanna use it on another Charizard, but ain’t a guarantee that the two Charizard brains work the same way. And 'specially if it comes to a different species like Magmar or sumthin’”

Nina nodded. Basically, if a Pokemon learns a move from an ‘unrefined’ source, then they obtain the fundamentals which they can then further optimize to fit their specific style. It takes more time and training to effectively master the move, but it would be better in the long run, since it’ll be more personalized.

But a fully ‘mastered’ move on the other hand, will teach a Pokemon how to use said move in a way that’s fully optimized to work in a certain way that was specific to the original Pokemon. Making it very difficult to modify and leaving little leeway for any further improvement.

“Do you have any basic Protects, by any chance?” Nina asked. She had been meaning to teach that move to her Pokemon for awhile now. But despite its ubiquity, it wasn’t exactly an easy move to pick up.

The shop owner pointed to a section of the cramped little shop. “Protect pile’s right there, babe. Just know that every Pokemon uses the move different, so pick wisely.” Apparently, more Physical Pokemon manifest the move in the form of body strengthening, while special attackers conjure up a barrier of Type Energy. Each method was useful in their own way depending on the context.

Nina thanked the man and began browsing, flipping through the colorful TM cases of varying covers like she would CDs and feeling a pang of nostalgia. Nina did like going to record shops in her past life. There was just something really novel about them.

She ended up buying a barrier style Protect, copied from a Wobbuffet, and the only available copy of a physical style Protect she saw. The source of the latter was unknown though, only that it wasn’t a powerful one. “Oh well, Nairy’s adaptable enough that he should be able to work with this.” Worst comes to worst, her Dragon can also pick up barrier style Protect from Espy.

Unless she owned a Wobuffet, Protect was a last resort move that shouldn’t be used too often, given how taxing it was. Most Pokemon tend to be sluggish or immobilized for a time after using it, which leaves them vulnerable. Nina preferred her Pokemon to rely on dodging to mitigate damage.

***

Next up, Nina wanted to visit the city’s iconic lighthouse. On the way there, she passed by Vermilion Port, which had now turned into one big logistics port with stacks of shipping containers everywhere. While she was there, she made sure to peek under every single truck she could find. Much to Espy’s embarrassment.

At some point, she even grabbed Mew’s Gem over her tank top and began praying for guidance. But there were no sudden epiphany or fateful encounters. “Oh well, I guess that really was an urban legend…” She concluded. A fascinating urban legend that had managed to proliferate globally in an age where the internet wasn’t as widespread as it was when Miles died.

Nina zipped up her windbreaker with Espy’s head poking out from underneath, the winds that blew through the breakwater leading to the old Vermilion lighthouse was strong enough to blow the dainty Eevee off Nina’s back, and she didn’t want to risk any accidents.

To her left, in the distance, Nina could spot the iconic S.S. Anne docked in the Port as she struggled against the winds on her way to the lighthouse.

The old gal was still going strong despite all the other more luxurious modern cruise ships that had popped up over the years. There were always talks about decommissioning her, though it never really amounted to anything. Nina hoped to take a trip on the ship one day, just for the sake of the experience.

The historical lighthouse was quite the sight, its concrete exterior steadily enduring the harsh elements all throughout its hundreds of years of existence, with all the cracks and tears to show for it.

Even with all the advanced navigational technology of today, the lighthouse was still operational, serving as a shining beacon for any wayward ships seeking safe harbor. It was a shame that Nina couldn’t go into it. The entrance into the tower was barred with a chain and a sign that states “No Entry”.

“I saw some food trucks near the parking lot, shall we go get something to eat?” Nina said, after she’s had her fill of taking pictures. “Thanks to Nairy, my stomach’s in a weird place after that last meal.”

“Vee!” Espy echoed. She was craving something savory as well.

And so that’s what they did, as they once again braved the winds on their way back to the Port.