Following a short trip on a ferry platform pulled by a Lapras, Jason and Korrina reached the Tower of Mastery's island, where thirteen Trainers in red-and-white, Shalour City Gymwear had gathered to welcome her back. Jason tensed when Korrina unhesitatingly introduced him to the group as her boyfriend, but the reason for that became clear when, after the party welcoming her back, she insisted that he accompany her to her room.
"Oh, wow..." Jason muttered, his eyes widening as Korrina let him into her room, which, at a glance, was more like a training hall. There was a ton of training equipment, a heavy-duty punching bag suspended by chains, and several striking dummies fashioned after Pokémon—all located on the left side of the room. The right was like stepping into a separate world, with a thick white carpet covering the floor, a massive pile of Lucario and Korrina plushies gathered in the corner, and a square-shaped bed that was partly embedded in the ground. The posterior wall was covered with dozens of posters, many of which showed Korrina and Luca posing together, and to the far right were shelves upon shelves supporting plaques, trophies, and a collection of rare or custom Poké Balls.
"Do we still need to complete your daily foundation training, or should we hop in the shower...?" asked Korrina, catching Jason a little off guard as he was still taking in his surroundings.
"Shower~!" repeated Ren, raising her paws and exclaiming excitedly from her position atop Jason's shoulders.
"I could do with moving my body a bit," responded Jason, removing Ren from his shoulders and placing her on the floor. As he did, the excitable Pokémon took off, sprinting on all fours over to the training area to begin sniffing and inspecting it.
"Awesome~!" exclaimed Korrina, pumping her fists and striking a cutesy pose before asking, "Then, do you want to try putting on pads and stuff? You mentioned earlier that you wanted to begin learning martial arts. My style isn't suitable for boys, but I can teach you the fundamentals so you can start developing your own."
"Sure. Just remember to go easy on me. Despite my build, I'm still pretty squishy..." Jason joked, cracking a wry smile. He had witnessed Korrina's kicks cracking boulders, so while she looked delicate in comparison to his improved physique, he suspected she could fracture his ribs and spine to pieces if she kicked his flank without holding back.
"I'll be gentle~" Korrina hummed, winking playfully before turning away and scampering over to a supply closet full of training equipment. Jason watched her go with a thoughtful expression. Then, feeling a gaze boring into the side of his face, he turned his head to find Luca staring directly at him.
Before Jason could say anything, Luca silenced him by stating, 'I have no say in who Korrina chooses as her human partner. But heed my words and know them to be a solemn promise. If you harm or become a hindrance to her, I will break you...'
Catching Luca a little off guard, Jason didn't hesitate to nod and respond, "I'll hold you to it..." with clear, resolved eyes. There was nothing he hated more than the prospect of harming those who had helped him. So if a day arrived when his actions caused Korrina or others to regret their meeting, Jason felt he would deserve every bit of pain, loathing, and ire directed at him.
'Without fail...' affirmed Luca, nodding, uncrossing his arms, and making his way toward Ren, leaving Jason alone near the room's entrance. For a moment, Jason felt as though he could see himself in the Pokémon's wide and surprisingly muscular shoulders. But with Korrina rushing over to him, his attention promptly turned to her as she enthusiastically showed him how to wear the padding and equipment that would allow her to beat him without breaking him completely...
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Modeling a crimson, padded helmet, gloves, and shin guards that covered the tops of her feet, Korrina eagerly explained, "Alright, the first thing you need to understand as an aspiring martial artist is this: techniques are hollow without intent. That's the biggest misconception that people have about the martial arts. They believe that learning, copying, and repeating techniques developed by someone else will make them stronger. But as they generally lack the intent that went into developing those techniques, they're functionally useless in combat."
Tapping her flat, faintly outlined abs with her left hand, Korrina smiled and added, "Everything else comes from here. Punching, kicking, grappling—it doesn't matter what the technique is. Power and resilience come from the core. Balance, flexibility, and explosivity are also important, but you can't execute a kick, throw a punch, or lock someone's joints without using your core as an axis of rotation or a fulcrum."
To punctuate her assertion, Korrina spun on her left heel, contracted her right knee toward her body, and executed an explosive straight kick to the 250kg sandbag suspended from her ceiling. At a lean 49.7kg, moving such a heavy bag should have been extremely difficult for her. Instead, the red and white bag dented considerably, rose several tens of centimeters into the air, and yanked at the chains keeping it suspended before shuddering and jolting back to a swaying rest.
"Go ahead. First, try punching with just your arm. After that, try putting your shoulder and back into it. Notice the difference," instructed Korrina, stepping back to give Jason room.
"Alright..." responded Jason, squaring up to the inordinately heavy and durable-looking bag before attempting to arrest its slight swaying with the knuckles of his left hand. He had tried striking a punching bag in the past, but as he had no idea what he was doing, he ended up spraining his wrist and tearing the skin between his ring and pinky finger. This time, he was wearing gloves. But because of the sandbag's weight, he expected it to be as hard as a rock when he actually struck it.
Starting with a left jab, Jason tapped the sandbag, barely causing it to shudder. At the same time, Korrina calmly noted, "You twisted your waist and threw your shoulder forward. Keep your hips squared and punch out with just your arm."
"Right..." responded Jason, adopting a serious expression as he fixed his posture and punched forward with just his fist. As it made contact, what he expected to happen happened. The bag had much greater inertia than he did, and while the physics of his world didn't seamlessly correlate with those of the Pokémon world, he ended up knocking himself off balance as his poorly executed punch applied just as much force to his body as it did the unmoving bag.
Catching Jason by his shoulders, Korrina giggled and remarked, "Very good. Now take your time and try driving your fist into it while twisting your body and using your shoulder as an anchor point. Be careful not to get ahead of the movement, and never, ever fully extend your arm while it's under compressive force. Hyperextension is no joke..."
"Mmn...I'll keep that in mind..." responded Jason, doing his best to sound calm as Korrina moved her hands from his shoulders to her waist without separating from him. He suspected she was trying to feel how he tensed and shifted his weight at the moment of impact, so instead of asking her to step away and give him space, he raised his loosely clenched fists and observed the slowly turning bag as if it might reveal its secrets.
"Strike now..." muttered Korrina, prompting Jason to immediately throw his left fist forward, striking the bag's center. It barely moved, but it produced a crisp smack as the muscles in his arm, shoulder, back, and even his legs strained against its weight.
"That was much better than your first punch," Korrina affirmed, adhering closely to Jason's body and placing her palms on his abs as she asserted, "But you held back out of fear of injuring yourself. That's what it means to lack intent. Your form and follow-through were close to perfect, but since you punched with the mindset of avoiding injury, your output wasn't half of what it could have been. This time, try imagining the punching bag is a container slowly filling with water. And imagine that, within that container, Ren is staring back at you, waiting for you to free her..."
Though his body initially felt warm and tense from Korrina's proximity and husky voice, Jason's expression turned serious, his blood running cold as he visualized the scene she described. In such a scenario, he wouldn't be the least concerned with his own safety. And as his fists began slamming into the punching bag, his mind became increasingly focused, causing the bag to shudder and sway as he struck and pounded it with as much force and intensity as he could muster.
Seeing Jason going at the punching bag as if it were his mortal enemy, Korrina couldn't help raising her brows from a safe distance away. She knew his ability to focus was abnormal, as when they trained and slept together, he had the unyielding intensity of a machine. It reminded her a little of how Luca used to behave when he lost control and went berserk, but in Jason's case, his rage and intensity were focused, controlled...
Feeling her throat tighten and a heavy feeling in her chest and heart, Korrina couldn't help but swallow hard as she thought, 'He looks really cool right now...'. Jason's form was terrible, and he ended up knocking himself around more than the punching bag, but those were things that could be fixed with training. The most important thing was that he was able to place himself into the mentality that each strike served a purpose. He wasn't repeating techniques as if simply being able to move his body in a certain way made him a martial artist. He was trying to tear the bag open with each strike. And when it came to live combat, where each and every action positioned you closer or further from death or serious injury, that resolution was more important than anything else...
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"Haaaaaa...someone stick a fork in me, because I'm done..." sighed Jason, sinking into the warm and hazy waters of his Sanctum's private hot spring after releasing Ren to swim and play with an annoyed-looking but tolerant Luca.
"Where should I stick it~?" asked Korrina, setting down her towel next to where Jason was lounging before taking a seat along the spring's rim. She still had some personal matters to attend once they returned to her room, so she was avoiding getting her hair wet.
"Mmn...preferably somewhere unimportant. I'm not quite ready to depart from this world..." answered Jason, opening his eyes and turning his head to meet Korrina's gaze as she glanced down at him with a natural, slightly amused smile.
"That's good. Because you and Lillie aren't the only ones thinking about these next fifty years," Korrina quipped, winking. Jason consequently felt a wave of desire wash over him, but since Ren and Luca weren't the only Pokémon present, he bottled the emotion for later use.
Seguing away from the playful back and forth, Korrina shifted her gaze to the void-like sky above and remarked, "I'm going to give these next three to four conferences, while you're traveling with Lillie, my all. I understand that might drive a wedge between us, but I want to see how far I can get through my own efforts before fully immersing myself in your System and the Aether Foundation's plans..."
"Mmn...I understand..." responded Jason, closing his eyes and tentatively resting his head against Korrina's right thigh. In truth, the implication that she would effectively be ignoring him for six to eight years left him feeling frustrated, but he understood that wasn't her intention. They might not be able to see each other that often due to his travels and her obligations as a Gym Leader, but there was nothing to stop him from traveling to Shalour to visit her. And when everyone invariably congregated in the Galar region for the WCS, they would have ample time to get caught up...
Combing her fingers through Jason's hair, Korrina caught him completely off guard as she softly, playfully hummed, "After that, I plan to follow you to the very ends of the world and beyond. And when the time arrives, and we all start having kids...I've always wanted a big family..."
"Right...I'll do my best..." Jason responded, his expression and tone calm despite the giddiness swelling within him. With Lillie having expressed a similar desire, the realization that he might father dozens of children was a growing concern. As it was a concern for his future self, however, he set it aside to rise from the hot spring and sit next to Korrina. Then, with quite a few gazes shifting to observe them, he reciprocated when she leaned in with a bright-eyed smile for a kiss...
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