"Vulpix!" Skadi calls as she bursts out of her ball in the room. She takes a moment to look around before skipping over to me and rubbing against my ankle.
"Hey, sweetheart. Sorry for keeping you in your pokeball so much. I didn't want you to get stepped on or lost as we got off the boat."
"Pix." She answers exasperatedly as she shakes her head.
"Yeah, yeah. You wouldn't get lost, but I didn't want to risk it." I tell her as I squat down and softly pet her head. She pushes her head into my hand, making little contented sounds. Behind me, I hear the sound of a pokeball releasing before the released Pokemon lets itself be known.
"Arooo~!" Flannery's newest partner lets himself be known with a happy little howl. I take a quick peek over my shoulder and see my lover smothering the fluffy pup with affection. I smile at the adorable sight of Growlithe eating up all the attention. Skadi decides that I am not paying enough attention to her as she smacks her head against my palm.
"What's the plan for now?" I ask as I start letting out the rest of my team, save Zephyr, as she is a little large for the current room.
Flannery hums to herself for a moment before answering me. "It's still fairly early, so we could head out to explore the city, or we could relax in the bath and chat with the other trainers on the floor."
I slowly tilt my head side to side as I think about the options. I mean, we did just arrive in the city and could use the time to explore as well as have an evening date. A bath sounds like a decent plan as well. The ship didn't have any kind of bath outside of the assorted hot tubs, but they really are not the same.
"A bath and doing laundry sounds like a plan to me. I am out of clean outfits, even with hardly wearing anything on the cruise all week," I tell my lover with a quick shrug of my shoulders. I slowly stand up and reach behind my neck to untie the ice blue bikini top I am wearing, letting it freely fall to the floor as the twinned knot on the back unravels. Reaching down to my thigh as I kick off my shoes, I quickly unfasten my bag and toss it onto the bed as I start unbuttoning my shorts.
"Sounds good to me." She answers as I see Flannery quickly divesting her clothes as well. A few quick movements later, and the two of us are standing naked in the room as we gather our dirty clothes from our bags and the floor. I just grab everything from my bag, not really paying much attention, as everything was in some state of needing to be washed, and toss the load into the nearby washer.
Before I can step away, I feel a sharp pain on my butt followed by a loud smack a millisecond later, causing me to yelp. I hear a playful snicker coming from behind me as I whip around and see the bronze skin of Flannery's perfect ass moving away from me. Deciding that revenge will be swift, I pull back my arm, cup my hand slightly, and snap it across her buns as I sprint past her and out the door with a laugh of my own.
The resulting sound echoed into the common area, causing a few of the nearby trainers to look in my direction. I give them a smile and wave as I head towards the nearby showers with the members of my team following closely behind me. As I get closer, I notice that the showers look almost like a field of sunflowers with heavy drooping heads that let out water in an almost rain-like fashion. The wet wood beneath my bare feet isn't slick like normal wood, but has a slight, grippy texture that allows for safe walking. I quickly claim an open shower and start washing myself. A few moments later, my lover slips under the same shower as me and presses her hot skin against me. I give her a soft kiss and slide over slightly so we can share the shower.
It takes the two of us a while to wash ourselves and our teams in the shower, but before long, we find ourselves relaxing in the onsen-like waters of the bath. The water feels almost fiery around me, but the constant heat seeps deeply into my body, causing me to relax and sink in until my shoulders are covered. Out of the corner of my eye, I can spot Skadi covering herself in a small fog of ice, causing the moisture in the air to sparkle in the lights like little diamonds. Once she finishes herself, she goes to the other members of my team and "freeze-dries" them as well.
I feel Flannery slip her arm around my shoulders and pull me closer. I don't resist and snuggle next to her, resting my head on her shoulder as I close my eyes to enjoy the peace. Nearby, I can hear a few female trainers coo at us as a couple of guys grumble under their breath about being taken, but I ignore them as I am feeling content right now. The heat of the water, along with the hot body of my fiery lover, causes me to relax more than I realize, and before I know it, I am lightly snoozing.
Some unknown time later, a soft shaking draws me out of my drowsy state. I slowly blink, letting my brain catch up to speed as I tip my chin up, following the scent of cinnamon as I place a sleepy kiss on Flannery's cheek.
"Come on, sleepyhead, time to get out of the water." She says quietly as she gives me a soft smile before gently pushing me. A small groan escapes my lips as I comply and slowly get out of the water. The much cooler air of the lobby whisks away the last of my tiredness as I do a full body stretch, tensing my loosened muscles in the process, and getting a whistle of appreciation from somewhere nearby.
I crack open my eyes and glance in the direction of the whistle to find three guys, about my age or a little older, sitting on the edge of the water. I give the three of them a playful smirk as I notice all six heads pointing in my direction before I grab my lovely girlfriend as she steps out of the water and give her a passionate kiss. When the kiss ends, I give the guys a wink and grab Flannery's hand before heading towards our room. I make sure to call our Pokemon to follow us as well.
"That was just mean." Flannery teases as she bumps against my shoulder.
"I just let them know they can look but not touch~" I answer with a small giggle. "Besides, I don't think they minded at all. I mean, come on, who really cares when two hot naked women make out in front of them?"
"Especially when they are dripping wet."
"Exactly!"
The two of us break into giggles again as I feel a drop tickling its way down my spine. We didn't exactly bring any towels with us, and I didn't recall seeing any around the bath, but I remember Skadi using her ice to dry off. I wonder if I could do the same thing. Letting Flannery guide me, I close my eyes for a moment and reach for my aura core. The first few tries cause my attempt to slip, reminding me that I really need to get back to my cultivation, but eventually I am able to stimulate my core just enough that it sends a burst of icy energy through my body.
As I feel the burst go off, I open my eyes to see if my plan worked. The first thing I notice is a crystalline tinkling sound as large droplets of flash-frozen water fall to the wood floor. I glance down and notice that my snow-white skin seems even whiter for a moment as all the fine moisture on my body freezes into a fine layer of frost that quickly sublimates in the warm air, causing my body to "steam". I nod to myself as I find that my idea seems to work. I reach my free hand up to my hair and find it dry as well.
"What was that?" Flannery asks as she glances at me. "I felt a sudden wave of cold come from you."
"I got the idea from Skadi, actually." I tell her as I watch the last of the frost disappear, "She was using her ice powers to essentially freeze-dry herself. I figured I would try it, and it looks like it worked."
"Oh? That's an interesting idea. How did you do it? Maybe I could do something similar?"
"Have you formed your core yet?"
"Just started building my Foundation," she says as she shakes her head slightly.
"Maybe that would work. Here is what I did." I quickly explained to her how I made my energy burst. As I finish my explanation, Flannery nods to herself before closing her eyes. I lightly pull her hand to stop us from walking as she concentrates. A few short heartbeats later, and a small pulse of dry heat passes over me as my lover's bronze body glows for less time than a blink before all the water on her skin disappears, not even leaving behind steam.
"Great job!"
"Thanks! That is such an awesome trick. It will save so much time after bathing." Flannery gives me a blindingly bright smile as she starts back to our room. "Our clothes should be done now, so what do you want to do?"
"I was thinking of taking a better look at the city. We really didn't get to see much of the city proper as we were following the crowd in. This place is so different from anything I have seen so far, so I want to explore it more! What about you?"
"I think I am going to hang out with some of the trainers in the lobby. Hopefully, I can gather something interesting from them. Other than that, I think I will spend some time with my team." Flannery says after thinking for a moment. The beaded curtain clinks quietly behind us as we enter our rented room. The whole open room concept is odd yet kind of freeing.
"Sounds like a plan! Let me grab something to wear first, though." I respond as I slide over to the washer. Instead of my clothes still being inside the unit, they are actually sitting beside it, all nicely folded on the small stool nearby. "Huh, that is weird."
"What is?"
"My clothes are all washed, dried, and folded. Did anyone enter our room earlier?" I ask as I lightly sniff the air, but besides the smell of wood and spices from Flannery, I don't smell anything off.
"Not that I could see. Maybe it is a new type of washer?"
I just shrug as I can't really detect anything wrong. Not really caring what I wear, I grab the first thing off the pile and lift it up. The fabric feels oddly cool under my fingers as I unfold it with a flick of my wrists. In my hands is the qipao that I was wearing back in Viridian Forest, where I met Bea. I look at the dress sadly, it was partially ruined by Beedrills after all, as I flip it around to look at the back. However, instead of a gash going from hip to shoulder, there is a solid back without a single sign of damage. I give the fabric a quick tug, but it doesn't come apart and just acts like normal.
I shake my head at the weirdness of the situation, but seeing as how my qipao is fixed, I am going to wear it again! I slip it over my head, enjoying the cooling effect of the silk on my skin. It only takes a few moments before I am fully dressed, the outfit clinging to my body like a second skin and outlining every curve of my body. I slip on a matching pair of sandals and my thigh bag before recalling most of my team, except for Skadi. Taking a quick inventory and finding that I have everything, I give Flannery a quick kiss on the cheek as she waves me off into the evening. I have a city to explore!