Aresdra had set the whole thing up thinking it would be a straightforward way to prove that her current so-called "boyfriend" was completely out of her league — but the battle had backfired on her in the best possible way. All it had actually done was confirm what Nova already knew about himself: as a Professional Trainer, he was operating on a completely different level from the students at that school.
The boys and girls of the Specialized Vocational School had been thoroughly put in their place. With no decent argument left — and not nearly enough nerve to keep giving Aresdra trouble — they scattered the moment the battle ended.
Thinking back on it later, Nova found the whole situation almost funny. Aresdra filled him in on the details afterward: apparently, the students had written him off entirely because, after more than a year working as a Professional Trainer, he still only had one Pokémon to his name. In their minds, that could only mean one thing — he had to be weak.
To them, a real Professional Trainer meant a full team of six. Regional-level tournaments were fought six-on-six, after all, so anything less than that simply didn't count.
What they hadn't considered was that they were looking at everything through the narrow lens of their school curriculum — Gym Badges, the Norlandia Alliance's annual Championship title, the official progression path that everyone was expected to follow. They had never stopped to think about what raising Pokémon actually involved in practice.
Time, money, and energy were all finite. Unless someone was born into wealth, Nova was convinced that catching six Pokémon at once and trying to train them all simultaneously was a reliable path to burning out and going broke.
His own situation was a perfect example. Supporting two people's daily expenses had meant pouring every resource he had into Nidorino so it could grow quickly enough to handle most bounty jobs. That was the only way to keep his finances from going negative. If he had pushed to raise a second Pokémon at the same time, he would have been completely out of money within days.
Koga, on the other hand, had no financial worries at all. And yet — despite coming from a wealthy family, despite having an earlier start than Nova — spreading his attention across six Pokémon at once had left every single one of them below level 35, with his starter not even fully evolved. Under Nidoking's overwhelming power, his entire team had been swept away with almost no resistance.
After a battle that one-sided, the experience Nidoking gained barely moved its level bar.
Still, Nova wouldn't call the fight meaningless. For both Corvisquire and Nidoking, it had actually been something significant — their first real battle.
It was Corvisquire's first official match since being caught. Not a fight against some wild Pokémon or a run-in with a criminal — a proper battle against a real Trainer.
And it was Nidoking's very first fight since evolving.
The results had been clean, but the ever-observant Nova had noticed several problems worth addressing.
The first concerned Corvisquire.
Nova had assumed it was simply behind in level and would catch up naturally over time, but the battle made something clearer. With its current move pool, any matchup that didn't go in its favor left it with almost no way to hit hard or take hits effectively.
Brave Bird was devastating — one of the most powerful Flying-type moves available — but the one-turn charge required to use it made timing unpredictable. There would be situations where there simply wasn't a safe window to pull it off. In a formal one-on-one battle, that was a real problem. Unlike a wild encounter, there was no partner to cover for it while it prepared.
If Brave Bird wasn't an option, that left only Peck — a base 60 physical move that felt painfully underpowered by comparison.
Beyond that, Corvisquire's offensive type coverage was extremely limited. Even once it evolved into Corviknight, with its steel plating and impressive bulk, it would still fill the role of the team's wall rather than its main attacker. Defense would always take priority.
To deal with this, Nova planned to put Corvisquire through a focused defense training regimen. When funds allowed, he also intended to make a trip to Stone City— the steel city of the Norlandia Alliance — to pick up a proper metal coat from a master craftsman, which didn't come cheap. On top of that, he would carve out time for Corvisquire to learn a few coverage moves and drill them until they were reliable.
The second concern was Nidoking — and it was more serious.
Nidoking was balanced and powerful, capable of steamrolling opponents like a main battle tank. But one significant gap had surfaced: it had no reliable Ground-type move.
Before evolving, Nidorino had been a pure Poison-type, so Nova had built its move set entirely around that typing. Its current Poison moves were Poison Sting, Toxic Spikes, Venom Drench, and Sludge Bomb. Sludge Bomb — a base 90 special attack — worked beautifully with Nidoking's new Sheer Force ability, which boosted moves with secondary effects while removing those effects entirely, turning Sludge Bomb into a clean, high-damage hit. It had become Nidoking's go-to offensive move.
Nova hadn't even bothered using it in the recent battle. Double Kick had been more than enough. Why pull out the big moves when the opponent folded to basics?
The issue was coverage. Poison-type attacks weren't well-rounded — four different types resisted them, and Steel-types were completely immune. Leaning on Poison alone would leave Nidoking stumped against certain matchups. A secondary Ground-type move would patch most of those holes cleanly, since Ground-type coverage complemented Poison nicely.
The problem was that Nidoking's Ground-type move pool was almost empty.
The only Ground move it currently had was Stomping Tantrum. It had been the move that clinched the final clash with Thelma— but it only activated at full power if the previous move had failed, which made it too conditional to use as a primary attack. It also couldn't benefit from Sheer Force.
If Nidorino had stayed unevolved until level 71, it would have learned Earth Power naturally — the perfect Ground-type special move, ideal in every way. But level 71? By the time Nidorino reached that point, both Pokémon and Trainer would have been long past their patience.
That option was gone. The only practical solution now was to simply buy the TM.
After a relaxed lunch with Aresdra, Nova mentioned that he was planning to head north into the desert for a while. He had a short adventure in mind — something away from Harmony City for a stretch of time.