Following an engaging but uneventful day of classes, Jason planned to meet with Wicke and discuss the existence of Ren's Pactio with her and Lillie. Before he could, a familiar figure and two others blacked their path in the hallway.
"Jason Springfield! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" shouted Jake, the blue-haired youth that Jason and Ren had beaten the previous week with very little effort. Flanking him was a tall and stocky youth with short green dreadlocks and another, comparably handsome youth with some of the fairest skin Jason had ever witnessed, swept-back white hair, and red eyes that made him appear albino.
Though his first instinct was to ask if Jake was sure about his decision, Jason ultimately decided against it. Jake's resolve was clear, so even if it weren't what motivated him, it would be easy for the blue-haired youth to misinterpret his words as misguided sympathy or rudeness.
"Alright. We accept your challenge," Jason responded, briefly exchanging a glance with Lillie, who immediately supported his decision with a happy smile.
pap
"Ren will win...!" Ren asserted, punching her right fist into the open palm of her left paw.
"Ha! We'll see how confident you are after our match...!" Jake responded, sporting a broad, clearly excited smile that failed to completely mask his nervousness. He and his Pokémon had trained hard since their last battle with Jason and Ren, but he knew that he, Sammy, and his recently caught secret weapon weren't unique in their desire to grow stronger. Jason and Ren were powerful because they had trained hard long before enrolling in the Pokémon School. To overcome them, Jake knew he would need to be resilient and never break—no matter how many times he and his Pokémon were defeated...
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After relocating to the twin battlefields, which, as usual, had become the congregation point for nearly the entire student body after classes, Jason spent a few minutes talking with Kiawe, Hau, Elio, and Sophocles while he and Ren awaited their rematch with Jake. When the time finally arrived, he couldn't help feeling exposed and a little embarrassed when Lillie, Mallow, Selene, and Lana appeared out of the blue, all wearing matching, Lucario-themed Cheerleader outfits.
"Come on, Jason and Ren! You've got this in the bag~!" Mallow cheered, shaking a pair of cobalt-blue pom poms.
"Yeah, you heard her—kick their butts! But you should also do your best, Jake! Show Jason and Ren what you can do~!" Selene appended, waving her personal pom poms over her head. Lillie had asked that they cheer for both sides, so while she naturally wanted Jason and Ren to win, she also wanted Jake to give them a good match.
Not expecting to hear cheers for him, Jake's countenance, which had hardened into a deep frown, promptly lit up. For a fleeting moment, he had been hoping to stomp Jason and Ren to embarrass them in front of their cheerleading section. Now, his cheeks tinted a faint shade of red as he pulled one of the two Poké Balls from his belt and shouted, "C-Come on out, Bailey...!"
pshaaa
'Oh? That's new...' Jason noted, expecting to see Jake field Sammy, his Oshawot. Instead, what appeared was a large, anthropomorphized bird with scarlet, black-trimmed fringe feathers that resembled the flowing dress of a salsa dancer. It was around a meter tall, and if the prominent bulge of its chest, elongated legs, and the purple, mascara-like markings around its half-lidded eyes were anything to go by, it was female.
"Oricori~" hummed the incredibly feminine-coded bird, turning its back to Ren and striking a pose with its right wing raised high and its left wrapped across its body like a dancer, its head turned nearly 180 degrees, allowing it to maintain eye contact.
"How about it? Beginning to feel nervous...?" Jake asked, sporting a broad smile as he confidently revealed, "This is my new Pokémon, Bailey. She's a Baile Style Oricorio—a dual Fire- and Flying-type. I noticed how you and your Lucario struggled against Kiawe and his Charizard, so I journeyed all the way to Akala Island this past weekend to catch something that could defeat you...!"
"Oricori colo~!" appended Bailey, sporting a determined expression that mirrored Jake's passion.
"She's a very beautiful and capable-looking Pokémon," Jason affirmed, nodding. He got the strange feeling that Jake was treating him as a kind of Gym Leader, but he didn't mind. He and Ren needed more experience battling Fire and Flying Types, so it was actually to their benefit that Jake had gone out of his way to prepare a suitable opponent for them.
"Ori...?"
Hearing Jason call her beautiful, Bailey, despite possessing a curved beak in place of lips, managed a narrow-eyed, surprisingly expressive smile. It was clear she relished comments about her appearance, and in response, she gave her flowing tail feathers a clearly provocative wiggle.
"Bird annoying..." Ren growled, frowning deeply as she tensed her arms and paws, veiling the latter in Fighting-type energy.
"Ori? Oricoocoocoo~?" Bailey hummed, clearly noticing Ren's annoyance and choosing to capitalize on it, provoking her further.
"A-Alright, Bailey!" Jake shouted, recovering from a momentary stupor to exclaim, "Let's kick things off with Revelation Dance! And remember to fly into the air if she attacks...!"
"Ori~!"
Sweeping her wings and twisting her hips in a smooth, spinning arc that caused her tail feathers to brush across the ground like the hem of a long dress, Bailey sent a rapidly expanding tornado of flames that sped toward Ren and attempted to envelop her.
"You're in control, Ren!" Jason shouted, feeling a wave of incongruence wash over him as he was fairly certain that the phrase that had just left his lips was an actual line of battle dialogue from the handheld Pokémon console games.
"Ren will win...!" Ren asserted, darting toward the tempest of flames with no fear or hesitation.
"Ren will win~!" repeated Lillie, Mallow, Selene, and Lana, striking a hastily rehearsed pose.
"What—but how...!?" Jake shouted, his eyes wide and mouth agape as Ren used Life Dew to coat her body in Water-type energy, allowing her to pass through Bailey's tornado of flames. The latter quickly took to the sky, but since Ren knew that was how she planned to evade, she pounced into the air on an intercepting course.
"Ori—!?"
Not expecting Ren to be so fast, Bailey's narrowed eyes opened to their limits before she was unceremoniously spiked to the ground, striking and bouncing against it hard.
Despite the heavy blow, Bailey demonstrated her determination and resilience by smoothly transitioning into a dancing pose, her expression serious as she began performing a swift, mesmerizing salsa, her wings swooping, her hips twisting, and her tail feathers producing a sound akin to a tamborine chime as she persistently quivered them.
Having never witnessed a Pokémon break out into dance mid-battle, Ren briefly hesitated, her mouth opening as if she intended to ask Bailey what she was doing. To her surprise, she found it difficult to look away from the sweeping of Bailey's wings, a feeling of dizziness washing over her as her eyes tried to focus on the ever-shifting patterns of red, black, and glowing white energy.
"Ren! Snap out of it...!" Jason shouted, but his words failed to reach Ren's ears. Bailey's movements were actually the move, Teeter Dance, causing those who observed it to fall into a state of Confusion. It wasn't the most practical move, relying on the opponent not to attack in the interval when it was being used, but the results were effective.
Taking advantage of Ren's trance-like state, Bailey struck her dancer-esque preparatory pose and waited for Jake to exclaim, "Use Revelation Dance...!" before sweeping her wings and producing a second tornado of flames.
Swept up by Bailey's attack, Ren was lifted from the ground and forced to spin like a suspended top, her fur becoming singed and her body heating rapidly from the invasion of Fire-type Energy. Her weight made it difficult for the flames to keep her contained, but the attack dealt a fair amount of damage due to her Steel Typing and Baile Style Oracorio possessing high Special Attack.
"Yeah! How do you like that...!?" Jake exclaimed triumphantly, striking a pose with his right fist clenched tightly. He thought the match was over after Ren landed heavily, face-first, on the ground. But before his words even had a chance to settle...
Shaking from head to tail as if she were shaking out water, Ren picked herself up, hunched her body, and raised her paws like a wrestler who was preparing for a charge. Bailey immediately leaped back and tried to use Teeter Dance a second time, but Ren caught up with her in the blink of an eye using Quick Attack. Then, making use of her far superior weight, she shoulder-checked the barely 7kg Bailey and sent her careening back nearly ten meters.
To her credit, Bailely managed to maintain her form and posture without falling over or being knocked off balance. Ren's hit had visibly damaged her wings and left her shaky on her feet, but she remained upright like a dancer who refused to quit before their performance was finished.
'I had no idea Oracorio could be so resolute...' Jason noted, impressed by Bailey's determination. He had written Oracorio off due to their low BST in the games and the fact that they were a regional delicacy, but it was clear from Bailey's performance that, if nothing else, there were outliers among the group of avian dancers...
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Though Jake and Bailey gave it their all, Ren's greater speed, strength, durability, and experience allowed her to secure the win with very little input from Jason. In the aftermath, Jake announced to everyone present that he would eventually defeat Jason and Ren, a statement that earned him considerable fanfare from the other students...
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After parting ways with their friends, Jason, Lillie, Ren, and Runa made their way to the in-school Pokémon Center before relocating to Wicke's office to wait for the buxom researcher-turned-teacher.
"Oh! Congratulations, Ren! I'm so very happy for you~!" Lillie chimed, reacting to Jason's revelation that he and Ren had formed a Pactio the previous afternoon.
"Ren can protect Jason even better now~" Ren asserted, raising her chin and puffing her chest smugly.
"Right? I'll be counting on you when I'm not there to support and protect him myself~" Lillie chimed, prompting Runa, who was cradled in her arms, to tilt her head quizzically and telepathically inquire, 'What is Pactio? Is it a good thing...?'
"It's a very good thing~" Lillie affirmed, donning her white-and-gold Pactio dress to reinforce her words as she explained the significance of the phenomenon. Runa wasn't able to follow along with everything she said, but that didn't stop the tiny Ralts' pale red eyes from widening and shimmering with fascination.
kacha
"Sorry for the wait. If you had informed me earlier this afternoon that you had something to discuss, I would have found someone to replace me as the after-class battle officiant," Wicke expressed, bursting into her office with considerable momentum. It was evident that she had hurried over as soon as she was able, and since she was a bit sweaty, she didn't hesitate to peel off her outer layers and pull her thermally-regulated sweater over her head, allowing her large and hefty breasts to bounce free—bound in a lavender, Butterfree-embroidered bra.
"Shall we relocate to Sanctum...?" Wicke proposed, her gaze focusing on Jason's with a playful, provocative smile.
"It would afford us greater privacy..." Jason acknowledged calmly, belying the tightness that had formed in his throat. He knew why Wicke wanted to transition to his Sanctum, and if he were to be completely honest, he had been hoping they would. It had been nearly a week since he was last with the purple-haired woman, and though his needs were more than met back at the villa, that didn't stop him from yearning to spend time with those he wasn't readily able to meet...
And thus, while Jason eventually informed Wicke about his and Ren's Pactio, which naturally stoked her scientific intrigue, it came after they had a chance to catch up and had relocated to his hot spring...
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