Nairy dove into the school pool and cordoned off a small corner with his long serpentine body. He was fully alert and ready to jump in if something bad were to happen.

Seeing her partner in position, Nina nodded at Justin who was currently wearing an exaggerated set of bulky looking overalls and thick mittens that covered up til his elbows. She was a little uncomfortable about the fact that the boy wouldn’t be wearing a helmet, but it couldn’t be helped. His Pokemon needed to learn his face after all.

Next to Nina, Lilian was observing curiously. The Blackthorn scion had been coming to school more often than she said she would. It was clear to Nina that the girl found the experience of being a ‘regular’ schoolgirl quite enjoyable, despite her perpetually stoic and uptight demeanor. Which was kind of endearing actually.

Sapphire, the Dratini by her side, only had eyes for Nairy. Nina could tell that the little Dratini had fallen hard for her partner. But the way that she expressed it was very similar to battle aggression, which made the air between the two a little awkward, since Nairy was an innocent little boy utterly inexperienced in romance. For now, the two trainers decided to just observe their Dragons passively and see how it goes.

Justin took a deep breath to keep his jitters under control and released his Carvanha into the pool.

When the Pokeball’s light eventually cleared, the trio could see the anxious looking piranha Pokemon take in the field, snapping his jaws as he jerked his body every which way to assess his environment. Even at a distance, Nina could see the rabid hunger in his eyes.

Food anxiety; it was a condition that plagued a number of the world’s most troublesome Pokemon species. In particular, low intelligence and instinct based Pokemon like Carvanha, Zubat, and Gible among others. Which was why Lilian had joined in, because her family had experience dealing with Gible before.

The problem largely dissipates after Evolution, once the Pokemon gains a bit more sentience and self control. But for a Carvanha, which typically lived among a shoal of close to fifty others of its kind in the wild, only one or two Sharpedoes would emerge from the midst. Largely due to the fact that the Pokemon would resort to cannibalism in times of want.

Justin took in another breath and let out a genial smile. “Hey again, Carvanha. It’s me, Justin? Do you remember?” He began as he steadily reached a hand out to the snappy Pokemon, who immediately flew out of the water and latched on to the mittens with Crunch.

Justin winced in pain at the impact on his hands, but was otherwise unhurt. His special mittens helped to soften the blow and keep his limbs intact as he underwent the strenuous process of taming his newest capture. Both Nina and Nairy watched on anxiously, ready to step in should the worst case scenario occur.

It would have been more reassuring if Kerry was here, but the young Joy had duties in the nurse’s office after school today and couldn’t join in.

Justin reached out with his other hand to stroke Carvanha near the underfin of his belly. It's the one soft spot that the boy found was effective in calming the fish down. As he gently stroked at that spot, Carvanha began to loosen his jaw and let go of his trainer’s hand.

Once it was loose enough for Justin to break free, he immediately gripped the piranha Pokemon on his sides, turned him around and clamped the hardy Pokemon underneath his armpit to secure him in place and keep him from lashing out.

Carvanha snapped his jaws in aggression at the sudden maneuver, but found himself biting only air as Justin gently whispered at him to sooth his anxieties. “Hey, hey… It’s okay. It’s me, Justin. Remember? I just fed you this morning. No one’s gonna hurt you. I even got more food for you, see?”

Justin reached into the bucket of meat by his side that they prepared beforehand. It was just some red meat that had been cut up into bite sized slivers that he got from the cafeteria. “Here, see. No need to worry about food now. So long as you’re with me, I’ll make sure to feed you everyday. You’re gonna be the happiest Carvanha in the world.”

The Pokemon’s snapping intensified at the sight of food, while Justin slowly brought the meat closer and fed it to him. The moment that Carvanha bit down on the meat, Justin began caressing his belly again, this was to prevent the piranha Pokemon from chewing too aggressively and swallowing immediately.

One of the most effective ways to soothe food anxiety in Pokemon was to teach them that eating food was an enjoyable experience and not just a means of survival and sustenance. So Justin needed to slow his Carvanha’s mastication down so that he would learn how to properly taste what he was eating.

To that end, he also alternated between Berries and meat for some complexity. All the while, Justin kept assuring Carvanha with his voice, to get the Pokemon used to his presence and to let him know that he was a benevolent force in his life.

Once Nina had judged that Carvanha was calm enough, she began approaching from his blindspot. “Hey there Carvanha, you’re looking good today. Great appetite as usual.”

Carvanha started squirming and snapping again at the sudden intrusion of an unfamiliar voice, only to be soothed immediately by Justin’s gentle caress. “It’s okay, it’s just Nina. You remember Nina right? She’s the one who found you. She can be a bit mean a lot of the time, but she’s a real softie inside.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Nina’s eyes twitched at her friend’s unflattering description of her but held herself back and continued on with a regular conversation. “How’s Carvanha looking Justin? The vibrancy of the red, blues, and yellows of his body is an indication of health.”

Justin hummed. “The colors look deeper… I think? Honestly I can’t really tell. All I know is that he’s a lot fatter than he was in the beginning.”

Nina rolled her eyes at the boy’s undiscerning eyes. “Men!” She scoffed, despite having been one in her past life.

Slowly and steadily, Nina entered Carvanha's line of sight so as not to startle him with her presence. Carvanha seemed alarmed at first from the inclusion of the unfamiliar human, only to be quickly cowed by a glare that Nairy shot him from the background. Instinct based Pokemon were very quick to pick up the presence of any hostile apex predators as a means of self preservation.

Nina and Justin continued on with their conversation while the boy occasionally fed Carvanha some meat and Berries. The intent was to condition the savage Pokemon and teach him that humans were neither threats nor food. This is important if Justin ever wants to use the Pokemon in battle, otherwise he risks getting disqualified for directly assaulting an opposing trainer.

Once they determined that Carvanha was fully sated, Justin gently returned the much calmer Pokemon into the pool, maintaining eye contact and a toothless smile all the while.

“Okay, Carvanha. Good job today. I’ll see you again tonight, okay?” He said, before returning the Pokemon into his Pokeball. Feeding without Nina and Nairy around was less involved, Justin would simply release the Pokemon into his dorm’s bathtub and toss a piece of steak into the water for the Pokemon to chow down on.

These sessions were tedious, but necessary, to gradually condition Carvanha so that he may be introduced to human society at some point.

“Bravo!” A series of claps sounded out after Nina and Justin had settled down from that heart pounding experience. The children looked over to see the compact figure of Principal Niko and his supermodel tier secretary approach them from a distance.

“A very exemplary display of how to handle aggressive Pokemon. Truly the stars shine bright upon our humble academy.” He continued.

“Principal Niko,” Nina greeted with a faux smile. “It’s good to see you again. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Miss Jones, radiant as ever! Mr Mayo, I see Professor Oak’s assessment of you was spot on!” He then turned towards Lilian and gave a respectful bow. “And how could we neglect our esteemed guest? Lady Blackthorn, it is an honor, as always to be graced by your magnificent presence.”

Nina could tell that Lilian was doing her best in resisting the heavy urge to roll her eyes at the sycophantic old man. A sentiment that Nina could strongly relate to.

“I am here today to seek out Mr Mayo actually.” Yes, Justin’s last name was Mayo. Ash Ketchum and Justin Mayo, Professor Oak has quite the sense of humor in picking out trainers.

Niko continued. “I was wondering if Mr Mayo would do us the honor of representing the Vermilion Flame in an upcoming inter school meet that is happening during summer break. It is custom for each Kantonian school to elect a representative from each year, and we’d like you to represent the first years. Naturally, all expenses are paid for and we will reward you with extra credit for any outstanding performance.”

Justin tilted his head in confusion and looked at Nina. “That’s fine, but shouldn’t you be asking Nina instead?”

The principal let out a wry smile and looked wistfully at the girl in question. “That would indeed be ideal, yes. No offense to you of course, Mr Mayo. But I believe Miss Jones is already preoccupied with more important matters this summer. Hence we would like to extend the opportunity to you instead.”

Nina nodded in agreement. Principal Niko had already approached her previously but she turned him down, citing Misty and her uncle Ali’s wedding as an excuse. Naturally, with all the promotion going on, the principal was aware of the event and gave up easily enough.

So instead, she recommended Justin to get the trouble magnet out of the way. Kerry was really excited about the wedding and she had asked if she could get an invite. Nina said that she’d work on it. But in truth, she was worried about Justin hearing about their plans and begging to tag along.

“That’s a bummer. But sure, I’ll go. Where’s it at?” Justin replied with a bright eyed expression. The boy was clearly looking forward to some new adventures.

Principal Niko smiled at the positive response. “This year’s meet will be held in Celadon City. Hosted by the Verdant Orchid, the city’s premier trainer school. I’ll have my secretary send you all the details.” With that, the shortstack principle once again bombarded the children with flowery words and excused himself to attend to other matters.

“Man, Celadon City! I wonder what Pokemon I can catch there?” said the enthusiastic Justin.

Nina hummed in consideration. “Erika’s Gym specializes in Grass Types. So naturally, they’ve cultivated a very diverse variety of them around the city. But, there’s also a good amount of Bug Types to be found as well to keep a balanced and healthy ecosystem. Are you looking to catch your third Pokemon?”

Grass Types were some of the easier Pokemon varieties to assimilate into any region and Erika has been very prolific in trying to diversify Kanto’s severely lacking Pokemon ecosystem. This was largely due to the prolonged war between Kanto and Johto, most powerful and useful Pokemon within the region were largely driven to extinction due to either overexploitation or sabotage from the other side.

Justin made a face at the mention of Grass Types, but did perk up a little when Nina said Bug Types. “Yeah, I think I can get that third slot easily enough. I wonder if they have any Scyther’s there?”

Nina laughed. This was a boy who was painstakingly trying to tame a Carvanha just so that he could have a torpedo shark in his team. Of course he’d be into Scythers. Not that Nina could fault him, Scythers were cool.

“They should, yeah. But you’ll have to check with the local Rangers to see if they’re protected or not. Are you looking to evolve one into Scizor, or Kleavor?’

“Scyther can evolve?!” Justin exclaimed, as he excitedly pulled out his Pokedex to check. The boy hadn’t previously known that Pokedexes were good for something other than scanning Pokemon.

Nina sighed at Justin’s lack of common knowledge. “Yes, into Scizor with a Metal Coat and Kleavor with a Black Augurite.” The conversation felt familiar to Nina. She was pretty sure she’d shared this bit of trivia before. Was Scyther’s evolution really that unknown.

“Indeed,” chimed Lilian. “Though to procure Black Augurite is a fool’s errand. The last time one appeared on the market, it was snatched up by the president of Devon Corporation in an auction for an eight figure sum. Even my family with all their influence would have difficulties in procuring one.”

Nina balked at the rich girl’s words. She knew that Black Augurite was rare, but not that rare. If even the Blackthorns had trouble, then it was basically an impossibility for a plebian like her. “Welp there goes my dreams of owning a Kleavor. I’ve always preferred Scizor anyway.”

“What about the other one? Metal something…” Justin asked, readying his notepad to take notes. The boy had picked up that habit from Nina at some point after seeing how cool she looked whenever she scribbled in her notebook.

“Metal Coat,” corrected Lilian. “Those are fairly common, though you’ll have to compete with rabid Onix trainers to get them.”

“It’s fine, Scyther’s evolution is more of a sidegrade anyway,” added Nina. “So there’s no rush in evolving them. Their base form is pretty comparable to Scizor in strength, it’s just a change in Typing, which has its pros and cons. Kleavor is similar but it’s hard to say since there’s so little of them.”

Lilian nodded in agreement. “To be precise, only five are known to us. Three of which are in the hands of various trainers. While the other two are guardians of ancient forests teeming with unspeakable dangers.”

The mention of ancient forests and guardians got Nina buzzing, wondering what sort of wondrous sights she’d be able to see in such places.

Justin was buzzing as well, but for different reasons. Nina can probably expect to pet a Scyther when the boy gets back from his trip. “I can’t wait!”