"As you have no doubt inferred, this Pokémon egg contains a Ralts—and one with an exceptional pedigree," explained Sebas, using a handkerchief to carefully clean the egg's surface as he revealed, "Your mother received it from the estate of Champion Diantha. So you can rest assured that, if it is reared well, it will serve you ably throughout your career as a Pokémon Trainer."
"Haaaa...of course she wouldn't gift me a normal Pokémon..." sighed Lillie, eyeing the Ralts egg with a mix of interest and conflict. Its final evolution, Gardevoir, was among her favorite Pokémon. And Champion Diantha was someone she harbored tremendous respect toward. She knew she should feel grateful, but she also wanted to catch her first Pokémon herself—not have it carefully selected for her.
Noticing Lillie's apprehension, Jason smiled and expressed, "If you don't want to accept it, then don't. I'm certain that if you explain the situation to her, your mother will understand and accept your decision."
Shaking her head, Lillie regained a faint smile as she confessed, "I don't doubt your words, but my mother doubtless went through a great deal to acquire this egg for me. I don't wish to make things difficult for her or the estate of Champion Diantha, so I will accept it and do my best to ensure it hatches into a healthy Ralts."
"That's very considerate of you, Lady Lillie. I will be sure to relay the reason for your acceptance to the Madame. She will no doubt be most pleased to hear that you're making decisions for yourself, but with due consideration for others..." stated Sebas, placing his white-gloved right hand over his chest and offering a courteous bow.
"Actually, I shall call her myself," declared Lillie, pulling out a pale pink Rotom phone with a case reminiscent of a Wigglytuff. Unlike Jason's, it very rarely spoke unless addressed. And instead of flying around, it spent most of its time in her pocket, bag, or on its charging station, slumbering peacefully.
With Lillie stepping between them and disappearing down the hallway to speak with her mother in private, Jason and Sebas stood in silence for a brief moment before meeting one another's gaze. Jason felt compelled to reciprocate with an awkward smile when the man beamed at him, but his expression promptly froze when the man casually revealed, "The Madame tasked me to inform you that you should contact her more often and keep her apprised of the Young Miss's development."
Collecting himself quickly, Jason's expression became serious as he expressed, "I have no issue with calling her more often, but I'm not going to become her spy. If she wants to know how her daughter is doing, they simply need to talk."
"I will be sure to convey that to her," affirmed Sebas, offering a curt nod before pulling out a silver pocket watch and adding, "On that note, I must be going. Please continue to be a steadfast companion to the Young Miss and give my regards to Professor Burnet and Director Wicke."
"I'll do that. And thank you for traveling all this way," responded Jason, offering a nod of his own before walking with Sebas to the entrance to see him out. Soon after, the man departed on the back of his Altaria, its cloud-like wings beating with enough force to produce intense gale-force before it took flight and accelerated toward the sea, parting the waves in its wake...
"Rena..." muttered Ren, her red eyes fixated on the sight and glistening as she imagined herself battling against the clearly powerful Altaria. She had become much stronger over the past couple of weeks, but with a win-loss record of 2-33, she knew she still had a long way to go.
"Do you want to head inside and watch TV until Lillie gets off the phone? Or would you prefer to move your body and do some light training before dinner?" questioned Jason, tilting his head back slightly. In response, Ren hugged his head and rested her chin on his forehead, responding, "Rena ri riaru..." as if she could speak. Curiously, Jason was becoming increasingly certain that he understood her.
"Alright. We'll get you changed and then wait for Lillie to finish speaking with her mother. After that, we'll head over to the posts and play tag for a bit. Sound good...?" asked Jason, prompting Ren to respond with a happy, "Rena~!" before clinging to his head even tighter. Her earlier words had roughly translated to her wanting to train. But since she knew Jason liked to relax in the afternoons, she felt somewhat guilty admitting it. His ready acceptance meant a great deal to her, so, while taking care to control her strength, she hugged him as tightly as he could endure...
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After getting Ren changed into a pair of spats-like shorts and a crop top that were specifically tailored to her body, Jason sat with her in the living room watching TV, his right hand gently caressing the soft fur of her belly as she leaned against his right thigh as a pillow. News related to Korrina's exploits had been appearing with increasing frequency on many channels. Most recently, she had participated in a Pokémon Battle Royale, so Jason watched with a faint smile as she and her monster of a Mienfoo faced off against Professor Kukui's alter ego, the Masked Royal, and two others in a white and red wrestling leotard.
'She looks like she's having a blast...' noted Jason, feeling a peculiar sense of emptiness each time the camera panned or zoomed in on Korrina. Each time it did, she had the most elated smile on her face. And though it made him happy to see her enjoying herself, seeing her happy without him made her feel increasingly distant. She had never done anything to give him that feeling when they were together, but whenever he saw her accomplishing great things without his help or support, it reinforced what he had known from the start—she lived a life separate from his own, and she didn't need him to help her succeed...
Interrupting Jason's ruminations, Lillie emerged from the hallway looking defeated, an exasperated sigh escaping her throat as she trudged toward the sofa and complained, "I really wish my mother would stop treating me like a child..." before collapsing face-first onto the cushions.
"Do you feel like blowing off some steam with me and Ren? We were planning to head over to the posts," stated Jason, sitting Ren up so he could stand and move next to Lillie. There, he sat beside her on the very edge of the seat cushion and comfortingly caressed her back with his left hand.
Rolling onto her side—giving Jason more room to sit—Lillie placed her right hand on his thigh and affirmed, "I will, of course, accompany you. However, once we arrive, I will sit and observe from afar with my egg. I need to spend time bonding with it before the Ralts within hatches. If we haven't formed a sufficient connection by then, it's likely to teleport away the moment it realizes it isn't with its own kind..."
"Then, are you okay with going out like this? Or do you need some time to change...?" asked Jason, carefully sliding his hand from Lillie's side to her butt, causing her cheeks to flush slightly but her eyes to remain locked on him as she considered his words. She had just finished grousing about her mother regarding her as a child, so while she was briefly tempted to head out as she was, she didn't want people seeing her in her Pikachu-themed PJs and thinking she was an overgrown Poké Kid...
"Give me a kiss..." muttered Lillie, causing Jason to blink in surprise and tilt his head, confused. In the very next moment, however, he smiled and bent over, planting a chaste but lingering kiss on her lips while giving her butt a gentle squeeze.
Waiting for Jason to separate from her lips, Lillie, her face flushed more than before, whispered, "You should get changed too..." with undiguised yearning in her eyes. Seeing that exacerbated Jason's compartmentalized mental fatigue, but at the same time, his pulse began to quicken, his eyes narrowing slightly as he affirmed, "You're right..." before leaning in to give her a second kiss...
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Since he had her wait nearly an additional half-hour before they set out, Jason was giving it his all to tag Ren as she snickered and dodged most of his attempts while moving and pouncing backward. There were many instances where he crashed into one of the wooden pillars while trying to accelerate abruptly using his Omnishoes, but he viewed each collision as a learning experience, each one helping him to familiarize himself with his increased durability.
bonk
Fortunately for Jason, he wasn't just relying on his body's durability as he crashed head-first into a pillar. He was also wearing the padding, helmet, and anti-friction gloves given to him by Korrina for inline skating, so while his vision briefly whited out, he recovered almost immediately.
"Shishishishi~" snickered Ren, covering her mouth with both her hands as Jason glanced in her direction with a tired smile. He was about to propose that they take a short water break, but before the words could form in his throat, the cobalt-blue impette abruptly turned, dropped to all-fours, and gave her butt a few crisp smacks before swishing her tail in a transparent attempt to provoke him.
'Where did she pick this up...?' Jason wondered, exhaling audibly from his nose and pretending to have no interest in giving chase as he sat with his elbows on his knees in a Slavic squat. Ren could sense his deception, but as she wasn't shy when it came to trying her luck, she slowly frog-hopped toward him with a mischievous gleam in her eyes—which shifted from red to luminous blue.
"Well, that's just cheating..." Jason mused aloud, waiting for Ren to open her mouth before lunging forward and attempting to grab her. As always, she had absolutely no issues dodging him, this time flipping over him and landing flat against one of the wooden pillars. Jason turned his head and body to try to follow her path, but all he saw were brief flashes of cobalt blue and black as she bounced between the posts at a speed he couldn't follow at such close range.
'And this is just a first-stage Pokémon...' Jason reminded himself, feeling a faint but manageable sense of panic as he abandoned trying to follow Ren with his natural vision and instead activated his Faux Third Eye. Doing so worsened his kinetic vision, constricted his field of view, and impaired his ability to see past a few meters, but in exchange, he gained a limited form of polarized X-ray vision. Everything that wasn't alive became dark orange to impenetrable black past a few meters. In stark contrast, Ren became a mass of cerulean-blue, bright yellow, and silvery-white flames that zipped around at high but not untraceable speeds.
Noticing Jason was getting better at tracing her, Ren, who was beginning to pant a bit from continuous high-speed movements, bounced between three pillars in quick succession to get behind him. She felt guilty about it, but as he encouraged her to take their training seriously, she unhesitantly shoulder-checked the backs of his knees, sending his legs out from under him as she darted past him, caught a pillar with the claws of her left paw, and spun around it twice to reduce her momentum to a stop, allowing her to face him with a broad, expectant smile.
As Ren expected, Jason didn't admonish her for tripping him. Instead, he smiled wryly, exhaled a slightly pained sigh, and remarked, "You're getting faster by the day...". Then, despite his increasingly evident exhaustion, he picked himself up and hunched forward with his hands open, causing her tail to swish excitedly behind her as she matched his posture, albeit on all fours...
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