"Since both Trainers have taken their positions, I will now go over the rules for today's World Coronation Series Normal-Class match-up. You will each be able to use one Pokémon. And as this is a Dynamic Battle, the match will end when either the Trainer or their Pokémon has been knocked unconscious," explained the League-affiliated Rotom Drone, hovering over the battlefield to both record and referee the match between Korrina and her opponent, Black Belt Mandrew.
"I am grateful for this opportunity...!" shouted Mandrew, tossing a blue, white, and black-striped Poké Ball into the air before striking a pose and punching it full force to send it flying toward the center of the battlefield. What emerged from within was one of the more humanoid Pokémon Jason had seen, standing roughly 160cm tall with matte, cobalt-blue skin, a jagged black marking over its right eye and nose, and three-digit hands and feet. Its lean and muscular body was garbed in what looked like a blue-hued karate gi, but it was actually a part of its body.
"Sawa..." muttered the blue-skinned Pokémon, adopting a karate-like pose but with a broader and more open stance compared to Mandrew.
"Nice! That's one tough-looking Sawk! But my Laani and I won't be defeated easily...!" chimed Korrina, spinning on her heel and performing a sharp kick at the air before flinging Laani's custom brown, beige, and black-ribboned Poké Ball forward, unleashing her from her confines.
"Lopunny..." muttered Laani, holding up her furry, palm-palm-wristed hands and striking a pose as if she were reluctant to take part in the battle to come. Her reddish-pink eyes, however, were sharp, fully focused on the Sawk before her.
"Aha! I had thought you might have brought a Lopunny based on your outfit! A perfect Pokémon for a Gym Leader famed for her kicking power...!" exclaimed Mandrew, wasting no time in rushing forward and springboarding off one of the large stones littering the battlefield.
"Just remember, you asked for this...!" chimed Korrina, beaming excitedly as she accelerated forward to meet Mandrew directly. In Dynamic Battles, it was common for Trainers to focus on one another while their Pokémon fought it out without commands. Fighting-type specialists considered this the purist form of Pokémon battling, as it was the most effective way of exhibiting just how well-trained their Pokémon were.
Despite their differences in size and build, Korrina used her superior speed to send the markedly slower Mandrew flying backward with a startlingly loud kick to the center of his abdomen. It genuinely sounded as though she had kicked a boulder or something of similar hardness, but Mandrew drew back his fists and pumped his chest mid-flight to somehow slow his backward momentum before countering with a sharp punch toward the approaching Korrina's head.
As Jason tensed off to the side, Korrina leaned forward and spun her body at the exact same rate as Mandrew's punch, narrowly evading it as she drove the back of her left heel into the center of his face.
'She really is a martial arts prodigy...' Jason noted, sweat beading on his brow as he watched Korrina perform a series of movements and sharp combos that even the most well-trained fighters from his previous world wouldn't have been able to emulate. To Mandrew's credit, he was able to tank her hits like a champ. He even managed to land a heavy-looking kick to her right flank, but other than looking surprised, Korrina didn't appear to sustain any meaningful damage from the blow before resuming her almost one-sided assault.
"Gym Leader Korrina is so cool...and her Lopunny is too cute..." muttered one of the Trainers observing the match alongside Jason, prompting him to look to his left, where a bookish-looking girl with purple hair fixed into pigtails and circular glasses posed with her hands held up, clenched into fists. She was around the same height and build as Lillie, suggesting she was fairly young, and in place of a black belt like Mandrew, her waist was bound in bright yellow.
Though he was briefly tempted to make conversation, Jason promptly returned his attention to the battlefield, this time focusing on Laani—much like Ren, who was fidgeting and tensing excitedly on his shoulders. Her opponent, Sawk, had kept up a constant string of air-tearing punches and sharp, sweeping kicks, but she was able to nimbly evade every single attack with room to spare.
'Is she—'
Just as Jason was wondering whether Laani would attack back, she performed a sharp pirouette, clearly copied from Korrina. The Sawk had begun to tire from its constant barrage of attacks, so it was about to pull back to regain its breath and center itself. At that exact moment, Laani's furry, beige-hued, paw-padded left foot shot out at near-imperceptible speed, hammering the Sawk in the face the instant it relaxed its guard.
Taking advantage of Sawk closing its eyes and flinching, Laani, her body veiled in a pink haze, moved forward and tackled him with the proficiency of a skilled MMA fighter. Then, to Jason's horror, she unexpectedly mounted the Sawk and began striking him with heavy, crisp-sounding slaps.
"Oh, no! That's the Fairy-type move, Play Rough! That's super-effective against Fighting-types...!" exclaimed the bespectacled karateka to Jason's left, gasping and covering her mouth in shock.
'So, that's how it is...I was wondering why Korrina had caught and trained a Lopunny when it's not a true Fighting-type. As a Normal-type, it takes double damage from Fighting-type moves. But since it's able to dodge with such ease, it can deal double-damage in turn with Fairy-type attacks...' Jason realized, his expression hardening thoughtfully. Play Rough also had the effect of lowering a target's Attack, and with Pokémon Powers like Baby Doll Eyes in her repertoire, Laani could ostensibly stack debuffs to leave most Fighting-type wholly unable to mount an offensive...
"..."
As Jason was thinking Laani couldn't get any more frightening, the lewd-coded Pokémon left him and everyone else speechless by firmly grabbing the sides of the befuddled Sawk's face, leaning forward with glowing pink steam emanating from her mouth, and giving him a kiss. As she did, the Sawk's body glowed with a similar pink hue, its eyes rolling back as Laani used the super-effective Fairy-type move, Draining Kiss, to siphon its health, causing its body to visibly shrivel like it was drained of fluids.
"Lopun..."
Finished with her protracted, super-effective assault, Laani raised her face from the slack-jawed Sawk's, licked her lips, and giggled in amusement. The cobalt-skinned Pokémon was still conscious, but its previously white pupils now glowed faintly pink, a telltale indicator that it had been Charmed and no longer had any desire to battle. Unfortunately for it, Laani had no intention of reciprocating its infatuation. Instead, with her paws glowing fiery orange and a radiant smile adorning her face, she began to pummel the unresponsive Sawk's face with blindingly swift Mach Punches...
"Holy fucking shit..." Jason cursed softly, leaving Ren confused as he abruptly reached up to remove her from his shoulders and hug her face to his chest so she couldn't witness the brutal assault. He didn't want her learning from Laani's fighting style. Fortunately, Ren liked being held, so as he hugged her close and gave her back a series of firm pats, she closed her eyes and hugged him tightly in turn...
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Shortly after Jason removed Ren from his shoulders, the Rotom Drone loudly declared, "Sawk is unable to battle! The Trainer, Gym Leader Korrina, and her Lopunny, Laani, are the victors...!"
"Hmmm...?"
Stopping abruptly with her foot two centimeters from making contact with the left side of Mandrew's jaw, Korrina retracted it and looked over at where Laani was posing cutely over the downed Sawk's body. Mandrew did the same, and when he saw his partner lying on the ground with massive swollen cheeks, he ran over, shouting, "Sawyer...!" in a panic.
Despite the severe beating it had sustained, the Sawk, Sawyer, briefly awoke to give an OK gesture with its right hand before once again falling unconscious with a strangely content look on its face. It was still under the effects of Laani's Charm, so rather than feeling as though it had been brutalized, it was happy to have been beaten by her.
"You did your best, buddy..." muttered Mandrew, kneeling next to Sawyer and cradling the unconscious Pokémon like a cherished comrade. He had no idea how Laani had defeated Sawyer, but he trusted that his partner had given the match everything he had.
Stopping behind Mandrew, Korrina, posing with her arms crossed, adopted a broad smile and remarked, "You and your Sawk battled well, but I trained my Laani to specifically counteract Fighting-types. Any Trainers who think she'll be an easy target because of her Fighting-type weakness are bound to be in for a big surprise."
"As expected of the Granddaughter of Grandmaster Gurkinn. Thank you, once again, for this opportunity..." expressed Mandrew, exhaling faintly from his nose as he looked at Korrina with a broad smile and glistening eyes. Korrina, in turn, rubbed the underside of her nose before turning to Laani to praise her for a job well done.
"Lo-punny~" chimed Laani, beaming happily as Korrina knelt before her, gently kneading her squishy cheeks and scratching around the base of her fluffy ears.
"That was an awesome battle...both of you..." expressed Jason, approaching with Alexa following to his right. At the same time, Ren ran up to Laani, causing the latter to startle and recoil as she enthusiastically exclaimed, "Laani strong! Laani strong~!" before stopping before the reticent Pokémon and wagging her tail excitedly.
"Lo-Lowaann..." responded Laani, extending her right hand to tentatively pat Ren's head.
"Hey, did that Riolu just speak...?" asked one of Mandrew's companions, a bald man with buckteeth, thick brows, and uncannily circular eyes. He and his other companions had heard Ren speaking before, but as they were more concerned with the battle, they hadn't drawn attention to it.
"Sorry, but we need to get going. We were on our way to Shalour City when Gym Leader Korrina received your friend's challenge, so we need to return to the train station as soon as possible," interjected Alexa, her casual but matter-of-factly manner of speaking leaving the group of five feeling awkward and apologetic. All four of Mandrew's companions had been planning to request a battle with Jason and Ren, but as they didn't want to inconvenience their idol, Korrina, any further, they suppressed their battle spirits and wished the group well in their travels. Before they left, Korrina gave each of them her autograph and took a commemorative photo with them, so Laani's brutality aside, it was an overall positive experience for everyone involved...
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After returning to the city and parting ways with Mandrew's group, Jason, Ren, and Alexa waited for Korrina to change into her travel attire before grabbing a bite to eat at a local diner and boarding the earliest outbound train for Cyllage City, one of two more stops they would have to make before reaching Shalour in the late afternoon. At least, that was the original itinerary Jason and Korrina agreed to that morning.
"How about spending the night in Cyllage City once we disembark?" proposed Alexa, revealing, at least to Jason, "My sister is staying there with her boyfriend during the League's off-season. It's a coastal city famed for its many Rock-type Pokémon and climbing locations. And I believe Ren would enjoy exploring in her natural habitat."
Piggybacking off of Alexa's words, Korrina explained, "Lucario and Riolu are native to mountainous regions, particularly those near the coast where snow builds heavily at the peaks. In fact, many Fighting-type Pokémon live in such locations, as the environment is perfect for training martial arts."
"I see..." muttered Jason, well aware of everything Korrina was saying, as he had studied the ecology of Lucario and Riolu extensively. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of Ren exploring mountains and caves on her own, but since it was an important part of a Fighting-type's journey to reaching the peak of their power as a Pokémon, he knew he needed to give her the leeway to spread her wings and possibly live independently from him...
"Ren...?" questioned Ren, tilting her head back and staring up at Jason from where she sat on his lap. She could sense his discomfort, but more than that, she could sense his care and concern for her as he smiled, gently grabbed her by her sides, and began to tickle her as a distraction...
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