I was now seated on my new bed which was really soft and somehow this beautiful Kalos babe was sitting down next to me on the bed while looking down with a shy face.
"So…" She began but stopped in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for using your room to dance."
"You've said that like three times already." I said and even Ralts let out a sound from my head.
We were tired of hearing sorry, I wanted to more or less know those dance moves. "And you still haven't answered my question either. You're a dancer?"
"Not exactly, but I aim to become a professional. That's the whole reason I came to Lumiose City in the first place." She said with a downcast expression. "I originally came to the city with a roommate here but she ran off the moment she got signed with an agency and left the rent of our apartment to me. Taunie helped me out and I live here now."
"I see… and I'm guessing you come to this room to practice where nobody can hear you."
"Yes, nobody but Floette knows of this. I don't really want to fret everyone since there's barely enough space to practice here." She said, putting her hands together. "So please don't tell AZ your room was already opened, it's against policy."
I blinked… It wasn't like I was planning to do so anyway.
"No need to worry, so I assume you're practicing for a debut performance or something like that?" I asked and she perked up.
"Yes I was." She replied. "It's contemporary street jazz, know what it is?"
I nodded naturally though I didn't know what the fuck this was. Contemporary Street Dance? When did dancing on the streets become contemporary?
"You look clueless, you know that? But that's what I plan to perform on stage at the end of the month. Are you sure you know what it is?" She blinked at me and I nodded.
"Of course I do… I'm not dumb, isn't it the kind of dancing where you move your body?"
She looked at me and then face-palmed.
"What kind of dances do you do where you don't have to move your body?" She let out before laughing. "Thanks, I needed that. It's just so stressful, I feel like I have to be perfect like my big brother though I've never met him. He's not only a professional dancer but he's good with Pokémon as well while I can barely perform a simple dance without making a mistake and my Pokémon aren't even as strong as his."
She became even more downcast after laughing and honestly, it didn't fit her beautiful face so I cleared my throat.
"Well, he can't shake ass like you do." I chimed in, after all, what I saw back then was sensational hip movement and she reddened.
"He most certainly can." She said while averting her eyes. "Plus don't you know it's wrong to sneak a peek at a girl's behind without her knowing… I can get you arrested for that, you know."
"It is?" I blinked. "Well then, take me to jail. It was an excellent sight."
After those words left my mouth, I got a weird aftertaste. What I said just now was so cringe that I wanted to die and Ralts had even given up dragging my hair too… That was how bad it was.
After that, the woman laughed and kept laughing for a while, even throwing her head back on the bed.
Was it that funny?
"Sorry… I-I… I just haven't met someone like you before." She said and sat back up while extending a hand. "I'm Lida and I live in Room 204, if you need anything then you can just tell me."
She stood up and was about to leave, however I stopped her by holding her hand and she turned back to me with a flush on her cheeks.
"What? You wanna keep talking about my ass?" She asked and honestly I didn't mind, though I'd rather feel it than talk about it.
"Not exactly, I'd like to see you dancing, hell I even want to join you." I suggested, I couldn't relate to being inferior to someone since I didn't remember but from what it seemed, she wanted to prove herself through her dancing which was a nice goal.
'A simple ass joke won't cut it… besides I'm a simple guy, I want to see more.'
Lida looked back at me and pursed her lips.
"You're sure I'm not disturbing you?" She asked and I nodded so she sighed and let go of my hand. "Well if you think so, but you barely know the steps, how are you going to manage?"
"I'm a quick learner, right Ralts?" I asked and she immediately brought out both hands, bending them out in a way like she was giving us a thumbs-down.
"Ralts~"
Both of us laughed and I let her down to the bed while Lida closed the door and pulled out a speaker she had placed under the bed.
"Just one dance… It's my turn to make dinner after all." She said and then played the music.
The beat that came out was low and groovy, it was the kind of music that made your shoulders want to move before your brain caught up.
Lida straightened up immediately, her whole posture shifting the moment the sound hit her like a switch had been flipped.
"Come on." She said, pulling me off the bed and taking several steps back before she started moving her body. "Move your body too, Paxton."
I began moving like her and well…
"Whoa, whoa whoa." I slipped and my back hit the wall.
"You're not athletic at all." Lida said with a pout. However I silenced her by spinning off the wall and continuing the dance.
She rolled her eyes but kept going and I kept watching her feet to try and follow along.
The problem was her feet weren't even the interesting part… it was her whole torso, the way her ribcage and shoulders moved independently like they didn't belong to the same body with sharp movements that snapped on the beat and then melted fluidly right after. She was amazing at it.
I was doing my version of it which mostly meant swinging my arms a bit and hoping for the best.
"You're just doing anything." She said and moved back with a quick cross-step with her right foot sweeping behind her left before popping her weight forward in a way that looked effortless and I raised both hands in surrender.
"I ain't doing that." I said and she giggled.
We kept going and I stopped trying to copy her and just moved in whatever way felt right, which apparently looked ridiculous enough to make her laugh twice more but then we got to the part I recognized… the part I'd watched her do in the empty room before she knew I was there.
I watched as the beautiful woman wound her hips in my direction and I almost felt like crying. It was simply amazing… then she did something from her body, it was a full smooth roll that traveled up through her waist, it followed through her ribcage without breaking, and then her shoulders catching it at the top. It was like her whole body had turned into a wave at that moment then suddenly Lida stopped.
"Huh? The music's not done though." I looked at Lida who was standing straight and staring at the ground, I couldn't see her face. "Lida, are you okay?"
"Y…" She suddenly jumped on me and I staggered back, slipping and falling onto the bed with Lida on top of me and Ralts bouncing off the mattress beside us. "I finally got the step right. I've been practicing it for weeks at this point and I couldn't seem to get it right but dancing with you helped. Thanks Paxton, I'm so happy I could kiss you."
"What's stopping you then?" I asked with a bit of a grin on my face, she was really heavy on my body though. 'I really need to go to the gym.'
She looked at my face like she was actually contemplating it however she scrambled back immediately with a blush on her cheeks.
"N-no… it's inappropriate." She said before turning off her speaker and tucking it under her arm and taking her phone as well. "I-I also need to cook dinner but thanks again. Also check out the roof before you do anything else, it's a nice view."
With that, Lida ran out of Room 202 and I settled back on the bed as Ralts jumped onto my chest.
"Ra~"
"Alright, let's check out the roof like Lida suggested." I said while placing Ralts on my head once again but hey, at least we weren't carrying that heavy ass bag anymore. I locked the door with the key and went to the elevator.
…
Upon reaching the top floor of Hotel Z, the elevator door opened and the first thing I felt was the air.
It was cool and open up here which was nothing like the city's warm air down in the streets.
The roof itself was flat and simple with a few old railings along the edges, a water tank in the far corner, and the white walls of the building's upper trim catching what was left of the evening light.
There was no furniture or decoration here and it still managed to look beautiful as well… above it, the sky had gone fully dark and was doing its thing.
There were stars, a lot of them in the sky.
Lumiose had enough light pollution that I hadn't expected to see them this clearly but from up here with the roof's own lights dim and the open sky overhead, they were out properly.
The Prism Tower was still towering into the sky and it was even glowing a bit.
"Raaaa~" Ralts even spread her arms all around and began twirling on my head, nearly losing her balance twice while the fresh breeze moved across both of us.
"Hold tight and don't fall off." I said while walking to one of the railings and taking hold of it.
Hotel Z was quite big though the buildings side by side were taller. From up here I could see a decent part of the city. "Hm, what's that red thing?"
It spread along the alleyway that I thought we had passed through and even onto the street at the front of the Hotel and it was all red. They looked like glowing boundaries, like the city itself had been marked by them.
"That's a Battle Zone." Taunie said as she came onto the roof as well from the Elevator. "I told you about it, once you're registered in the Z-A Royale, then you'll have to enter these Battle Zones to battle trainers. We would have registered online tonight but I'd rather you do it in the morning to prevent complications and you'll need to get more Pokémon too… It's not that easy to participate in the Royale, Félix for example has been losing a lot of battles."
"I see." I said as I leaned a bit on the railing.
From below I could see two people battling… though I couldn't make out much of it, I could at least recognize Andi's signature hat that she wore and she had just won the battle with Pancham.
"Paxton… or Pax, can I call you that?" Taunie asked.
"Sure, I'll call you Tawn too."
"Come on… so many nicknames and you choose to call me Tawn." She puffed her cheeks a bit. "But I like it. Pax, what is your goal in the Z-A Royale?"
"To get rich." I replied quickly and she laughed.
"You have a one-track mind, huh?" She let out. "Well my own wish is that I want to help people… I normally help people out anyway I can but I don't want to do it in the small way I do now. If I reach Rank A then I can wish for something that actually makes a difference for everyone in Lumiose, not only the people that I happen to run into."
Someone's pretty noble, huh? It was a nice goal and all but not everyone could be noble like her, especially me.
"That's nice Tawn, I wish the best for you but we both know that I'll snag the prize for myself." I said and she turned to me with a grin.
"Well then, I'll make sure to beat that confident grin off your face." Taunie said with a small nod. "Well then, we have a little bit of time to waste and Lida's making dinner. Why don't we go downstairs and battle or something?"
"You have three Pokémon and I have one. If you're trying to bully me, just say so." I said with a deadpan look on my face and she laughed before pushing off the railing.
"Well then, go have a bath. You smell like sweat." She said before entering the elevator and leaving and I raised my arm up, taking a whiff of my armpit before nearly falling over.
"I talked to two girls like this? The hell?" With that, I rushed to the elevator. "Ralts, it's time for a long nice bath."
…
I walked downstairs and to the side there was a table with different chairs and a sweet smell in the air as well.
AZ was behind the counter as usual though this time he was sitting down while reading a book. It made me wonder how his legs even fit under the receptionist counter. It was not that I had a thing against tall guys and all, I wasn't even six foot in this body but bro, it gets to a point or maybe I was jealous and wanted a bit of his inches too.
On the table was Taunie, Lida, Félix, as well as a dark-skinned young man I hadn't met before.
He was lean and average height with long brown hair pulled back in neat braids and small orange beads along them catching the light.
His jacket was white with a logo layered over an orange shirt and a green tie which was an unusual combination that somehow worked with his purple sneakers. A Rotomphone hovered in front of him and he had one earbud in.
This new person was not paying attention to anything happening at the table, though there were five bowls of food and it smelled amazing.
"Glad you could make it, Paxton." Lida said as I sat down next to her with Taunie and Félix opposite us while the guy in the braids occupied one end of the table like he was sitting at the head of a very different meeting. "Everyone at the table… This is Paxton, he's our newest addition to Hotel Z and a member of Team MZ as well, right?"
I nodded.
"It's nice to meet all of you." I said and Taunie immediately perked up.
"I'll introduce everyone… I'm Taunie and also the Leader of Team MZ, I'm ranked Y in the Z-A Royale since I haven't had much time to get into battle as I've been helping people out." Taunie said and Félix clapped his hands together.
"I think it's wonderful that you can go around helping people without asking for anything in return, you're like a Superhero." Félix said and Taunie smiled while the rest of us made a face.
This simp was trying too goddamn hard… It was very hard to watch.
"Next is Lida, I'm sure both of you have met but she wants to be an aspiring dancer and a Pokémon trainer too." Taunie said.
"W-well…" Lida said while looking at her plate. "I've only won three battles in the Z-A Royale so I'm not that strong so I doubt I'll be of use."
"That isn't true at all girl, you need more confidence in yourself." Taunie said and then turned to Félix. "This is Félix and he's another member of Team MZ as well and an active member in the Z-A Royale."
"Right, I'm almost close to getting a challenger ticket to head to Rank Y." He said confidently and she nodded.
"Over there is Naveen," Taunie said, already smiling like she was building up to something good. "He's a fashion designer in the making, he joined Team MZ for the studio space downstairs and he's honestly one of the most talented people I—"
"I'd appreciate it if you don't tell everything about me to a random stranger." Naveen said without looking up from his plate.
"Hey! Not at the table!" Lida gritted her teeth at him then turned back to me. "Please don't mind him… Naveen is really rude."
"I don't really mind." I said while taking a taste of the food that Lida made and swallowing it. "Wow… it tastes really good."
"You think so?" Lida asked while rolling a finger around her hair shyly. "And I also put another spoon in there for Ralts… I don't think you got her Pokémon food so maybe she can join in."
"Thank you." I nodded and let Ralts down to the table.
She looked at the food carefully with her eyes moving between the chicken cutlet and the white rice, then extended a tiny arm and pointed firmly at the rice.
She wanted none of the meat, apparently so I fed her a small spoonful and she nearly went sideways with it.
"Raaaa~!" She hopped around the table setting and Lida giggled.
"Can you keep it down?" Naveen asked, however at the same instance, the earbud in his ear crackled and his Rotomphone chimed loudly enough for the whole table to hear.
[⚡ ZAPPRINCESS_CANARI just received your gift! ⚡]
[Zap_devotee99 gifted a ✨ Eelektross Plush ✨ worth 1,000 Pokédollars!]
[ZAPPRINCESS_CANARI says: "omg WHO… wait.. 👀 okay that's actually adorable, sending you a thunder wave rn, zap_devotee❤️⚡"]
His cheeks reddened as everyone turned to him and I couldn't help it.
"Pfffttt!"
The table went quiet for exactly one second and then Lida started first, covering her mouth, then Taunie followed with her shoulders shaking and even Félix looked like he was fighting it.
Naveen set his fork down slowly, looked at his Rotomphone, then looked at the table.
"It's fit for Princess Canari but you all wouldn't understand." He said flatly and went back to eating.