Putting down the pen, I blew softly on the ink to help it dry, then gave it one last read over.

  ‘Greetings, Director.

  My name is Nemona Glitterati, and I’d like to be considered for early admission into your school. I know this is an exceptional request, but I believe I’d have much to offer the Academy.

  First, I am aware of the emphasis your school places on battling. While young, I am a Champion-ranked Trainer, and the youngest to ever clear an Elite Gauntlet. I have little experience with the Double Battle style of Blueberry Academy, but I’m eager to try out that new style.

  The studying is also of paramount importance as the primary purpose of an educational facility. I have no prior formal schooling, but I’ve studied vigorously with my tutors in a variety of subjects. There’s so much to learn about in this world. History, the arts, physics, engineering, and so much more. While I can’t hope to study everything in the time I'll have at your school, I look forward to discovering much if I’m accepted into the Academy.

  Finally, I must admit that I’m simply fascinated by the makeup of the school, in particular the Terarium. Building such a structure underwater must have been a huge endeavor, and it’s allowed you to make truly unique environments within the Terarium. I would love to learn more about it and possibly one day (with guidance from the teachers) run my own experiments there. The researchers at Blueberry discovered how to evolve Scythers into Kleavors, and I had some ideas of my own about some lost evolution methods from similar eras.

  In all, I believe that I have much to learn from your academy, and hopefully my presence will offer benefits to it as well. Thank you for taking the time to consider my application to Blueberry Academy.

  Nemona Glitterati’

  “Think it looks good?” I asked, holding the paper up for Dun to read, peering over my shoulder. He scanned the paper briefly before nodding his head very authoritatively. It would mean more if he was good enough to have read my cursive that fast, but I know he means well and wants to offer his support.

  “Thanks. I hope it’ll be enough,” I said, passing it around for the others in my room to read. Despite how massive my room was, with nine Pokemon on my team now, and some of them fairly large, it started to feel a little full (though not that crowded; it truly was ridiculous how much space I had). If—once I get in—I’ll be living at Blueberry for most of the year. By the time I get back to living here full-time, switching rooms anyways might be a good idea.

  This being the world it was, organizations and the like did have rules and exceptions carved out for ‘geniuses.’ The exceptional prodigies that seemed to scatter the world and show off incredible potential from even a young age. As society got more stable, however, things like the age to join certain facilities got bumped up.

  In many ways my Gym Challenge was aided by the precedents set around its founding; most trainers these days don’t start their journey that early anymore, but they did in the past. Since we’d adopted the League system first founded in Kanto, those precedents remained, even as I’d heard talk of them thinking of changing the rules over there.

  Blueberry Academy had a storied history, but not those precedents, nor did it have Uva’s broad range of educational levels. If I were to get in, I’d need to be personally approved of by Director Cyranno. This meant passing an advanced test and convincing him with my application letter that I deserved to be let in early.

  Do I add something to the letter mentioning my age specifically? No, he’s not the director of a prestigious school for nothing. Is the reason why I need to write this letter in the first place assumed? Maybe it's about the fact that I was born in Unova and wish to explore my heritage there? Ehh, that could cause some tension with how separated the school is from the mainland, though; I’m not sure I want to highlight that.

  Literally sensing my frustration, Athena placed a paw on my shoulder. ‘You can do this. Don’t falter now.’

  Notch chimed in too, [‘Just be yourself and they will see your holy glory! Make sure to mention how you can enlighten them with your wisdom too.’] I carefully didn’t meet Notch’s eyes as I made an ‘mhmm’ sound and nodded. Honestly, I feel guilty enough hinting at the idea of running experiments in conjunction with their staff alone, and that’s with my big, academically peer-reviewed legendary discovery! Still, the belief they have in me is nice.

  “Thanks, guys. Just—I know that I put this off for a long time to make sure we could defeat the Elite Four and dissuade Turo. If I’m found lacking here, then we won’t be able to make it, and I know my friends are waiting for me there. Since I was the one to convince them to apply early, it’d look really embarrassing if I couldn’t make it there.” Even if Arven would be happy at least. I really do want to just have a relaxing schoolgirl life now that the plot has been thoroughly derailed.

  “Okay, let’s go over it one more time.” That earned a series of groans from Nightwing and Anya, who found reading and writing annoying. Bahamut feels the same way, but I know he’s too polite to say it.

  Interestingly, I found some of my team quite enjoyed literature. Radiance leaned more to non-fiction (and hadn’t needed any guidance from me on how to read, interestingly—I wondered if all Paradox Pokemon could do so), while Phantasm had picked up fiction, with a bit of effort. I’ve noticed her working on a story recently. She’s indicated she’s not ready for anyone to read it yet, but I can’t wait for the time when she’s ready for me to check it out.

  Wrangling my easily distracted brain back to the task at hand, I began writing my next draft of the letter, making a few minor changes. After this, I’ve got some studying to do. The written test should at least be easier than this, with clear-cut questions and answers.

  ***

  Oh god, oh god, oh Arceus, I did not expect it to be this hard! Objectively, I knew that it was supposed to be a very tough assessment test and that Lacey, Kieran, and Carmine had been studying hard for the past year to pass it, but still! I guess a part of me just thought that with my isekai/more advanced mind, I’d handle this easier.

  It wasn’t like I’d forgone any prep work, but my time training for and going on my journey had basically had me skipping any tutoring for the past year and a half before it finished. The studying I did afterwards was hardly as intense as what I did for Pokemon training or the like, but I did the practice tests online, and I thought I had this down!

  Somehow as I took the test, though, it felt like everything was off. What I did know was not getting tested, and the other topics I was less sure of. Okay, deep breaths, Nemona, focus. I calmed myself down, glancing up at the clock in the exam hall, which showed I still had an hour and a half left.

  We were in a room about the size of a university auditorium, from what I remembered of my old life, with the participants widely spaced out. There were very few prospective students there with me, about a dozen or so others, which made it very easy for the proctor to keep an eye on all of us. Not too many kids try to enter early, and there’s another exam earlier in the year, which most of them take. Most of these are probably ones who failed last time but weren’t discouraged enough and want to try again.

  Wrangling my thoughts back in line was difficult and likely partly due to the jet lag, which I hadn’t quite shaken. Since Blueberry Academy was in Unova, it was expected that any early entries would take the test there (though not within the underwater academy directly, just another facility they had received permission to use for the day), and I had left less time in between landing and taking the test than I should have.

  But it’s fine, I’ve got this. Carefully, I analyzed the test, going through my answers. About seventy-five percent of the questions had been answered, aside from the essay questions. I’ll go over them carefully and answer everything I can. Trying and getting it wrong won’t hurt any more than leaving them blank.

  My hope was that it would give me an hour to tackle the two essay questions, but combined with double-checking and correcting a couple of the questions I’d already tackled, I had about fifty-five minutes left by the time I started the essay questions. The first one (and my review of the other questions) gave me a hint as to where some of my problems lay.

  This test was designed for Unovan students. It uses questions about the ecology and habitats of Unovan Pokemon! Part of me was worried that for some of the Pokemon that could be found at home and here, they might have different environmental indicators and habits across the two regions, but there was no time to go back now. With a quick note of being from Paldea woven into my opening paragraph and being clear on the Paldean regions whenever I referenced the Pokemon that lived in both.

  Hopefully that will help—seventeen minutes left! Whipping over the page, I got the final question, which was about ‘what we [humans] could do to ensure we lived with respect and care for wild Pokemon while still advancing civilization and scientific interests.’ I stared at it for a second before biting back a scream.

  I’m supposed to write on this in a couple of minutes?! I could write about this for days and still not be in-depth enough, ahhhhh! Furiously, I took to the page, writing down as much as I could. My hand was well and cramping up by this point, but knowing every second counted, I pushed through the pain, trying to write as much as I could while still giving the essay a broad, easy-to-read-and-understand frame.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “Time’s up!” The proctor called out. “Please put down your pencils and come up to the front.” He turned to me as I slammed my pencil down, having just finished my last sentence as he spoke. He gave me a bemused look, but no reprimand, as I rose from my seat, carrying the papers over to him.

  "Ahh, my hand hurts so much," was basically all I could think of as I deposited the paper down. “Please proceed to the next room for the practical test.” The young man said, and I nodded, walking out of the exam room to another room down the hall. This one was just as large as the previous room but, instead of desks and a stage, was dominated by an arena in the center.

  The other reason why the testing has to happen in Unova is that they can’t just run the Pokémon battle online like they could for a written test… unless everyone used Porygons. Do Porygons have battles in virtual space?

  My questions would need to be researched later, as I had a battle to get through now. Right now, as it turned out, as the examiner for this test, a dark-skinned athletic woman immediately called me up. “Nemona Glitterati, you’re up first.”

  Obediently, I took my place across from her on the other end of the arena. “You might be a Champion-Ranked Trainer over in Paldea, Miss Glitterati, but things work differently over in Blueberry Academy. We’re going to have us a double battle to see if you make the cut. You up for that, kid?”

  “We’ll see,” I replied calmly, drawing two Poké Balls from my belt, having eased the feeling back into my right hand. If she thinks I’m going to act surprised by this being a double battle, then I don’t know what to say. Sure, the application rules only specified a battle without items or enhancement effects, but c’mon! This school is famous for Double Battling—of course I know that. I’m prepared for it too.

  Behind me, in the makeshift stands where the other contestants were sitting, I heard them whispering, mostly about me, wondering how strong I was. Some were dismissive of me, being from Paldea (though the bravado might be false in an attempt to bolster themselves up), while others were eager to see what the battle would look like.

  One boy in particular seemed keen to see my performance. He had mostly white hair, and I recalled him as the one who’d fallen asleep halfway through the three hours for the written test. Something about him radiates danger in a way I can’t quite put words to. I’m surprised he’s here for the later test, though like me, he might have had his reasons for why he couldn’t make the early test. I didn’t think for a second he wasn’t strong enough to have made it through this portion, which I could feel the other boys and girls fretting about.

  She explained the rest of the rules (battle until defeat/withdrawal of both Pokemon, no switches allowed), and we got ready. On the signal given, we both released our Pokemon onto the field. A smallish, humanoid-ish cactus-like Pokemon appeared on the ground in front of her, while in the sky a many-colored bird took flight, his body beige, with many blue and green feathers joining the plumage around his wings and feet. Maractus and Archeops, not bad. But no match for Dun and Miles.

  Said Pokemon were standing/hovering in front of me, keenly eyeing up the competition. Dun let out a derisive hiss, to which Maractus puffed up her cheeks, glaring at him. Archeops tried to look unworried, but I caught a hint of fear in his eyes at the crackling of Miles’ unbound lightbulb-esque body.

  Another examiner counted us in, and when he gave the signal, I leapt into action. “Boomburst, Shadow Ball!”

  At the same time, they moved quickly as well, the Archeops darting for a lightning-fast acrobatics that saw the bird tearing into Dun for a second, until the swollen land-snake shouted. The deafening wave of sound blasted the Flying Pokemon back, despite their resistance to the Normal-type move.

  Maractus was covering her ears in pain, the long flowered protrusions on her head wilting slightly from the attack. This was only further intensified by the Shadow Balls that pelted the Grass Type, Miles being unaffected by Boomburst in their current form.

  Despite the barrage, Maractus managed to throw up a ball of burning fire into the sky, where it hung aloft, warming up the entire arena. Maractus soaked in the rays, speeding up and wiggling away on her one ‘leg’ from the Shadow Balls.

  Archeops dived down, opening his beak and letting loose a heat wave over the field. “Cover and tail! Keep at the assault!” I shouted as I saw the sun-empowered attack sweep towards my Pokemon. Despite not calling them by name, each of them had practiced their role here and followed perfectly.

  Dun shifted over, rising up to cover Miles, who floated behind him. The Heat Wave hit Dun, who tanked the blow while Miles continued their assault, firing Shadow Balls through Dun, the Ghost-type attack phasing through my Normal-type starter without harm and hitting Archeops dead on.

  The bird squawked as he fell back, Maractus following a command to toss spores down over the arena. The cotton spores drifted towards Dun and Miles, but the former had done more than just guard with that motion, his wings beating hard to set up a tailwind. With a slight flex, he adjusted the air current at his back to push away the spores that would have dragged them down.

  Quick as a wink, Maractus gathered the spores as they were pushed back to her and formed them into a Cotton Guard around herself in response before jumping above Archeops and making a tangled, spikey thicket with her arms to block the Thunder Miles attempted to call down upon the bird Pokemon. With all the cotton and Spikey Shield, she barely even looks like a Maractus anymore. Still hard to believe that an Archeops is the slowest one on the battlefield—

  “Turn the winds in our favor!” The examiner called, and as Archeops started whipping up his own Tailwind, I realized that wouldn’t be the case for long.

  “Glare, stop him,” I told Dun, who fixed the bird with his best murder stare. The easily discouraged bird froze up, literally crashing to the ground, their move failing.

  “Hex, turn this into a two-on-one!” Great shadows were conjured beneath the Archeops, and there was no clever positioning or defensive move that Maractus could use to defend her partner this time—but I did notice her toss something green his way before chasing after Dun, carving beams of energy across the field with the sun still on her side. The Solar Beam burnt his scales, but he responded with an Ice Beam from his tail to try and cut the Grass Type off if unable to freeze the speedy Maractus directly.

  Miles attempted to join the fray only to be assaulted with a powerful stone piercing up from the ground into them. Archeops cackled wildly before charging in, eager to devastate my Ghost Type up close. How is he still so strong? Did she train him out of defeatism? The buried fears would make him vulnerable to Dark-type attacks, but the level of effort that takes—no, I see.

  In the bright light, I caught the green seed held in Archeops' claws. Worry Seed, a clever way to remove Archeops' glaring weakness in a double battle. But if they want to keep his strength up, it’s not like we can’t turn that into a weakness too.

  “Play dirty,” I told Miles, who got a bright gleam in their plasmic eyes, creating a Substitute in front of themself. The enemy crashed through it in an instant, chomping through the construct with a powerful crunch. He bit through the air a second time, then a third. But on the fourth bite, as he neared Miles, my Pokemon reached out with a plasmic hand, yanking their tongue forward as his beak clamped down.

  Archeops screeched in pain from the foul play, his own strength turned against him. With that opening, a quick shock wave had the bird flying back, nearly defeated. On the other side of the arena, both Dun and Maractus were looking a little more hurt, my starter having switched to Flamethrowers without any input on my part. Good thinking; with Archeops distracted, the fire was a great counter to Maractus.

  “Dun, Thunder. Miles Light Screen.” Switching targets, Dun moved to finish off the Archeops on his last wings, trusting his partner to shield him from the worst of Maractus’ attacks. In response, the examiner changed up her tactics as well.

  “Tailwind! Mar, help him,” she called out quickly. Clapping her hands together for a speedy After you, Archeops beat his wings hard, whipping up a tailwind for their own side, just before being struck by the bolt of thunder Dun had called down. With a weary cry, the fossil Pokemon collapsed, defeated.

  The examiner appeared unworried by this as she recalled her fallen Pokemon. “You might have taken down one of my Pokemon, but Maractus is all charged up!” At her words, I saw how her remaining Pokemon soaked in the sun, a quick Synthesis recovering most of her wounds. “And with the field clear, a little Petal Blizzard is all it takes,” she smirked as the cotton-covered cactus conjured countless petals.

  Our own Tailwind will end soon, and she’s zipping around the field like this. Miles could put up Reflect too, but that’s just delaying things. We need to change the state of things if we’re to win. “Miles Rain Dance, Dun, and Roost around them.”

  Once more, Dun used his body to shield Miles’ far frailer one. He curled around Miles, careful to leave just enough space under his head to let Miles do his thing as he roosted, recovering from the flurry of cuts Maractus laid into him, and then some. I’m glad we trained Roost so hard; it makes Dun an excellent tank.

  While I couldn’t see Miles’ dance, the faux sun flickering out and being replaced by a rain cloud showed it was working. Maractus immediately slowed down in response, though my keen eyes noticed how the droplets seemed to be absorbed by her body quite quickly. Water absorption as well as chlorophyll? Not bad, though Storm Drain would be a better tool to guard Archeops in a Double Battle, but Hidden Abilities are harder to train than regular ones.

  “Paralyze her, together.” She was still quick, the wind at her back, but as Dun lifted his head to glare at Maractus, Miles shot out from underneath him, circling from the side. The Grass Type attempted to avert her gaze from Dun, but that left her open to the paralyzing jolt Miles sent from their Thunder Wave.

  In return, she blasted them with a flurry of petals, but as Miles backed off, Dun flapped all six wings hard, conjuring up a mighty hurricane to blast Maractus back. This pinned her to the wall and scattered any petals she tried to conjure to hurt them. My other Pokemon soon joined back in, Hexes layering upon their foe until she collapsed, defeated.

  I grinned, perhaps a little smugly, as the match was called in my favor. Walking up to her, I offered my hand. “In answer to your question from before, yeah, I do think I’m up for it.”

  She took it. “Alright, hot stuff, you’ve got what it takes on the battlefield, sure. Don’t count your Torchics until they hatch, though; it’s up to the director if you get in or not.”

  Biting back a frown, I nodded before returning to the stands. Might as well see how my future classmates do at least. It served as a good distraction for my fears as well, especially since I knew how unhelpful those doubts were at this point.

  Most of them failed, or only barely succeeded, and while I might have been biased, I felt that most of the other examiners fielded teams slightly weaker than the one I faced. All that is, except the white-haired boy, who used a powerful-looking Duraludon and Grovyle to defeat his examiner’s Amoongus and Jellicent, his Duraludon stalwartly ignoring the Rage Powder the Grass Type tried to use and zapping the Water Type away, quickly cleaning up the match.

  “So you’re Nemona, huh?” The boy said suddenly to me as he returned from the battle. “I’m Drayton, looking forward to seeing you at Blueberry.”

  “If we get in, yes.” He snorted in response to my words.

  “Please, after battles like that? No way we won’t get in.” Then he sighed, “Which just means more homework for me.” If he didn’t want to study more, why did he apply early? He looks like he’s my age too. A few of the other students were closer to twelve or thirteen; it was still early to attend, but less so than for us.

  Before I had the chance to answer, Miles (now back in their phone) alerted me that my ride back to the airport was ready. “Alright, uh, see you later then?” I half said, half asked, waving as I left. There is nothing to do now but to wait. They said we’ll get our acceptance or rejection letters in a week; here’s hoping the anticipation doesn’t kill me.

  ***

  One week later I was screaming with joy, clutching the acceptance letter within my hands!

  - Tera Type: Normal

  - Held Item: Expert Belt

  - Abilities: Run Away, Serene Grace

  - Moves known:

  - 'Miles' (Rotom, Genderless, Electric/Form dependent Type)

  - Tera Type: Electric

  - Held Item: Life Orb

  - Ability: Levitate

  - Moves Known:

  - 'Nightwing' (Gliscor, Female, Flying/Ground Type)

  - Tera Type: Water

  - Held Item: Toxic Orb

  - Ability: Hyper Cutter, Poison Heal

  - Moves Known:

  - 'Notch' (Diancie, Mega-Evolvable, Genderless, Rock/Fairy Type)

  - Tera Type: Fighting

  - Held Item: Light Clay

  - Ability: Clear Body

  - Moves Known:

  - 'Phantasm' (Hisuian Zoroark, Female, Normal/Ghost)

  - Tera Type: Ghost

  - Held Item: Lax Incense

  - Ability: Illusion

  - Moves Known:

  - 'Athena' (Lucario, Mega-Evolveable, Female, Fighting/Steel)

  - Tera Type: Fighting

  - Held Item: Clear Amulet

  - Ability: Steadfast

  - Moves Known:

  -'Bahamut' (Haxorus, Male, Shiny, Dragon)

  - Tera Type: Dragon

  - Held Item: Dragon Fang

  - Ability: Mold Breaker

  - Moves Known:

  - 'Radiance' (Iron Moth, Genderless, Fire/Poison)

  - Tera Type: Poison

  - Held Item: Booster Energy

  - Ability: Quark Drive

  - Moves Known:

  -'Anya' (Gothorita, Female, Psychic)

  - Tera Type: Psychic

  - Held Item: None

  - Ability: Shadow Tag

  - Moves Known:

  *Custom Moves