Nina huffed in exhaustion as she forced herself up the twenty meter high wall. “Damn those teachers!” She cursed. There were no clearly protruding colored footholds for her convenience — it was raw rockface the entire way through. The girl could feel blisters forming on her palms, and her whole body felt like it was on fire.

Midterms in the Vermilion Flame were pretty straightforward; there was the written portion and then the practical portion.

For once in Nina’s new life, she felt some challenge in the syllabus she was subjected to. Though, nothing a bit of diligent studying couldn’t resolve. Math was especially annoying, it had been a long time since she did Algebra, Calculus and Geometry.

Miles was an accountant, but knowing how to balance a balance sheet had little to do with knowing how to find the value of x in an equation, or the length of a hypotenuse. Matter of fact, what is a hypotenuse? Why can’t they just say the longest side of a triangle? Why all the jargon?

But this was all just Nina venting. She understood the importance of advanced mathematics and tried her best to learn it. Didn’t mean she would enjoy it though. She still hadn’t unraveled the workings of a Pokeball even after all these years. But she was undeterred, and had taken it on as a personal long term challenge.

The practical portions were, as usual, the more interesting parts and one that a school full of extroverted Pokemon Trainers actually looked forward to. There was physical fitness, wilderness survival and Pokemon battles, of course.

Physical fitness was another obstacle course, and students were graded on time or in the case of a DNF, how much of the course did they complete before tapping out. The latter was more common than Nina had initially expected.

The obstacle course portion of the gym was actually quite impressive. It was a modular terrain that used state of the art technology to create whatever simple constructs the teachers could think of. Any additional accessories or natural elements will need to be added manually, but that could easily be accomplished with the help of Pokemon.

For the exam though, they really upped the difficulty of the obstacles compared to the ones they usually went through during P.E class. Even Nina struggled to finish as she took in another pained breath and languidly retracted the Escape Rope she used to secure her on the way up, only to tie it onto anchors prepared at the top of the Rock Wall to scale her way back down the other side again.

The way down was a lot easier, but the ordeal was not over yet as Nina was subsequently dropped onto a sticky, noxious swamp which she had to wade through.

By the time she reached the goal, she felt like her whole body was on fire. Arceus bless Kerry who offered her decrepit looking friend one of Happiny’s eggs to help with her recovery, otherwise she’d be sore all week.

Wilderness survival was the one Nina enjoyed the most. This one involved a two day camping trip out in the forests. Students were split into groups of ten and asked to accomplish a few tasks during this time without any adult supervision. Instead, there were drones that followed after them to monitor their progress.

This portion of the exam actually took a whole week, since they needed to stagger the examinees to avoid overcrowding the forests. But overall, it was quite relaxing actually. Most trainer school students would have gone camping at some point or other during their life, so everyone was reasonably competent and had a lot of fun.

They trekked through the woods to reach a spot designated to them on the map, a physical one and not their Pokegear. Nina even had to surrender her Pokedex to a Nurse Joy in a lockbox, given how valuable it was. Instead they were each given a backpack’s worth of standard supplies and equipment.

Once there they had to split up, a few members of their group were tasked with searching for a water source while the rest set up camp. Food was also an issue, the good thing was that they were allowed their Pokemon, but subject to restrictions.

For Nina, she wasn’t allowed to bring Nairy, much to the Dragonair’s consternation. He almost went berserk when it was time to separate the pair and Nina had to send him over to Bill just to make sure he had friendly company. Their separation anxiety had gotten better over the years, but a two day absence of his partner was still too much for him.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

For the rest of the kids, there were no elemental movesets allowed. Basically, the Pokemon were only allowed physical abilities or whatever biological functions they were endowed with. So for example, Pokemon with wings were allowed to fly and Ghost Pokemon were allowed to shadow travel and so on.

Cheating would be punished depending on the severity. But funnily enough, Espy’s empathic abilities were not against the rules, so it made tracking and hunting easier. Nina did not partake in the meat, instead she borrowed a Goldeen to go fishing and an Oddish for foraging.

The only groups that encountered issues were the ones where the members didn’t get along or if there was an especially conceited one who thought they could score extra points by ‘leading’ the group, thereby triggering a petty internal power squabble.

Nina had none of those issues. She had cultivated an air of intimidation and admiration in her year. Whatever she says goes, with minimal complaints. Naturally, she wasn’t a tyrant and tried to be diplomatic and friendly with her classmates most times. But whenever there was some dumb argument or petty conflict, she would step in and quickly put an end to it.

The Pokemon battle portion though, was disappointing. This part was actually held simultaneously during the wilderness survival week for maximum efficiency. Since the students who weren’t out camping were just idle in school.

Nina got an automatic pass with the highest grade the school could afford her for the battle portion. There wasn’t even any doubt. Ever since her little showcase during that first day P.E Class, all the teachers had taken to using her as a teaching assistant of sorts in every single one of her Phys Ed classes. The girl had half a mind to demand a salary with all the extra work she was doing.

In reality, most of the teachers in the Vermilion Flame had also undergone the Gym Trainer Qualification Exam. Problem was, they never got employed at a proper Gym. Otherwise, they wouldn't be pursuing a teaching career.

Gym Trainers were often treated as minor celebrities. And when it came to the many bombshell beauties of the Cerulean Gym, most of them were part time models, actresses, social media influencers and so on. Gym work always took precedence though, so everything worked out in the end.

In truth, some of Nina’s teachers even felt a little intimidated by her. Because oftentimes, during the occasional lectures and outbursts that Nina would break into, they would listen along as well as they learned little nuggets of Mizuhana clan knowledge that they weren’t privy to before.

***

“What do I do, Nina?” Justin whined. “You gotta save me! I’m not gonna get that third slot at this rate. I’ll have to wait til next year!”

Nina laughed. “Didn’t you just confidently declare not too long ago that you’ll get that third slot easily enough?”

“I didn’t know the written exams would be that hard! And that obstacle course was Tauros poo. How the heck did anyone manage to clear that at all?”

“You simply need to work harder,” chimed Lilian, who was elegantly drinking tea that her butler prepared for her. The best part about having lunch with Lilian was that Alfred would always prepare a feast for all the children and their Pokemon, with food fit for a princess of Kanto-Johto’s leading clan.

“I had a go at this ‘Giratina devised’ obstacle course after hearing all the chatter surrounding it. It was an adequate workout. I believe Melina Jones completed it just fine. And not only are we the same age as you, but we also possess feminine physiques which puts us at an inherent disadvantage. You have no excuse.”

Justin groaned but remained speechless at the finality of Lilian’s statement, eliciting snickers from Nina and Kerry.

“Cheer up, Jayce,” assured Nina. “If you’d gone and read the email that Principal Niko sent you, you’ll know that you can expand your carry limit by performing well in the inter school meet.”

Justin frowned. “It’s Justin! Jayce isn’t even two syllables. Are you guys just messing with me?”

Nina snorted. “About time you figured that out.”

But just as quickly, the boy lit up with hope again. His face really was like a traffic light with how quickly it changes. “So I just gotta kick the butt of some first year kid and I’ll earn that extra slot then? Awesome! Now this is more like it!”

Nina chuckled. It was more nuanced than that but it wasn’t like it mattered with Justin anyway. His shonen protagonist luck will pull him through as usual. She then turned to Kerry.

“Anyways, Kerr. I got that invite for you to my uncle’s wedding. You can bring one person along with you, but you’ll be sharing a table with the local Joys. Is that okay with you?”

Kerry tackled Nina with an enthusiastic hug and kissed her friend on the cheek. “Of course! Thanks Nina, you’re the best!”

“Ah, you must be referring to the wedding of Misty Mizuhana and her fiance. Just so happens I was invited as well,” said Lilian. “I suppose we shall convene in the venue then.”

“Huh? I didn’t know they invited you too.” To Nina’s knowledge, Misty didn’t like the Blackthorns very much. And the couple was very adamant that the ceremony itself must be focused on family and friends, and free of any political power plays.

That’s why invitations were so exclusive. Even high ranking League officials and Lance Blackthorn, Lilian’s uncle, did not receive invitations to avoid any inane drama.

Lilian took another sip of her tea. “As mentioned before, I made a visit to the Cerulean Gym. After a few compromises, Lady Mizuhana agreed to my request for a demonstration of her prowess. She extended me an invitation after the fact. I have to say, contrary to her reputation, your mentor is a very amicable woman,” she said.

Nina raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Misty? Amicable? Are we talking about the same person here or did she go to the Celadon Gym by accident?”

“What’s so special about some wedding anyway?” Justin scoffed, probably lashing out because he felt left out, only to trigger Kerry and launch her into a tirade about the virtues of love and how wonderful Misty’s proposal was.

The way the young Joy described it, it was as if Misty was some sort of queenly figure in a fairy tale who fell in love with her dashing knight and overcame all sorts of obstacles and hardships to finally be together.

The girl was clearly delusional, but Nina did not have the heart to burst her fantastical bubble. “Let the kid believe in true love for just a bit longer.”

Surprisingly, Lilian nodded along as well. Nina did not think the girl was such hopeless romantic.