Author's Note: If anyone is wondering what Alexis and Chazz are doing in classes with Jaden and Sy if they're second year students, I figure that the school is sort of like college in that some classes can be taken at any time. They wouldn't be in the really basic classes, but they might have some classes with freshmen, seniors, etc.
I should also note that there will be original or semi-original characters in this fic, but I'm pretty sure they'll all be villains and teachers, and they will be bit parts at the best.
Turn 3
Love Letter Lies! Battle at the Girl's Dorm
"The tough skin of rock-types cannot conduct electricity, so Electric-type moves have no effect on them. Poison and acid are useless against them for the same reason. Fighting and Water-type moves, however, can crack their exterior and easily defeat them."
Alexis finished her answer and bowed, before sitting -- well, hovering lower in her seat. At the front of the lecture hall, Crowler grinned broadly and clapped.
"Perfect! But I should expect nothing less from one of my top-ranked Articunos," the Jynx gushed, then looked over the array of other students sitting in the seats. Young morphs decked out in the red of Moltres, the yellow of Zapdos and proud blue Articuno coats all sat at attention. His eyes fell on a short Eevee sitting in the front row, who was fiddling with a pencil nervously.
"You! What was it, Syrus?"
Syrus jerked his head upright and froze. Biting his lip, he stood, spine stiff as a board. "Y-yes sir?"
"Would you explain to the class why one can't use regular attacks against Ghosts?"
Syrus blinked in confusion. "B-because they don't exist?" A Gastly sitting several rows back growled, and the Eevee jumped. "Oh, those Ghosts! You can't... um... use regular attacks, because... they... they don't work? No, wait, I mean --"
"Oh, well done, Syrus," Crowler spoke flatly, "You are a master of the obvious."
Syrus raised his ears. "Really?"
"It wasn't a compliment, Moltres!" Crowler raised his voice, and the Eevee cowered back down in his seat, "Can someone who's actually bothered to study answer? Preferably someone from a dorm without a Fire-type for a mascot?"
"Hey, don't be down on Moltres Red, Dr. C," Jaden lifted his head, grinning and holding his coat lapels, "I mean, if a Moltres are weak, and one managed to defeat you -- well, what's that say about you?"
Crowler's eyelid twitched violently. It got worse when a few red-coated students started snickering. He could have sworn some wearing other colors did as well.
"Jyyy..." The ruler in Dr. Crowler's hands gained a coating of icy frost and threatened to snap. The Jynx opened his mouth to reprimand his class, but words failed him, and instead he stormed out of the room.
Banner stepped aside for the furious Ice-type, carefully balancing a box full of chemistry equipment in his arms. When the other teacher had left, he entered the room and set his box on the desk. The Persian grinned, arching his eyebrows behind his glasses. "Nya, which one of you made a comment about his hair this time?"
The class laughed more brazenly this time, and Syrus leaned over to Jaden. "T... thanks, Jaden."
"Hmm? What'd I do?" the Venonat blinked sleepily.
"You know, standing up to Crowler like that after I couldn't answer," Syrus shrank in his seat, looking away, "I mean, I knew the answer, I just couldn't... spit it out I guess."
"Naa, it's nothin," Jaden yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eye. He gave Syrus a thumbs up with what little energy he seemed to have.
The Eevee frowned at his friend. "You really shouldn't stay up so late, you're barely conscious for our morning classes --"
"Syrus?" Banner's voice interrupted him, and Syrus flinched. He quickly sat at attention, steeling himself for more humiliation.
"You may want to get Pharaoh. He has an unhealthy interest in students with certain fluffy appendages, nya," Banner smiled, and Syrus looked down. Sure enough, the rotund Meowth was hunched by Syrus's feet and looked ready to pounce on the Eevee's nervously flicking tail.
---
"That useless --!" Crowler snarled and stormed into his office. "I'm not going to suffer his presence another second! Stupid judges! I don't care how many times they've watched the tape of the fight, that Venonat must have cheated somehow!"
The Jynx's rampage brought him to his desk, and he eyed a blank piece of paper. "Perhaps it's time to take matters into my own hands..."
The teacher's oversized lips became a wicked smile, and he started writing furiously.
---
Jaden stood, though he swayed sleepily on his feet, with other assembled students. He looked down at the loose-fitting gi uniform he had been assigned with mixed feelings. On one hand, he could feel like he was in a kung fu movie -- but on the other hand, it also felt like he was wearing pajamas.
The plain white belt that held his pants up didn't help. There were older kids in the class, training separately, that had yellow, green and even a few blue belts. Only he and other kids he recognized from the entrance exams were stuck with white, and a disproportionate number of them seemed to have red headbands, too.
A student's dorm color was marked by the red, yellow or blue headband that kept their hair, ears, antennae, whiskers or whatever else they may possess out of their face. Jaden's had ended up lopsided and threatened to fall over one eye. He kept tightening it, but the art of the knot eluded him and it drooped again.
Syrus wasn't anywhere to be seen either. Jaden knew he had this class with him, and was almost worried at his friend's absence. Syrus may not have been the most academically gifted student, but he did always try to get to class and do his work to the best of his abilities. The Eevee wasn't the kind to go truant.
The click of sharp, heavy talons against the floor distracted Jaden and brought his attention back to the front of the room. He blinked when he saw their teacher.
A tall Blaziken with sculpted arms strode to the center of the room. Long white hair fell behind his -- no, her head and there was a stoic, hawk-like scowl above her beak. She wore a sleeveless red gi top with matching pants, held up by not one, but several black belts, all decorated with stripes of rank.
"First year students," the Blaziken addressed the room with a forceful voice that made all the students stop fiddling with their belts and headbands and pay attention, "This is the fighting and physical education class. While you are in my dojo, I am Kaen-Sensei, and my word is law. I will be teaching you how to make your bodies into weapons, and I fully expect you to take care accordingly."
Her blazing golden eyes swept across the room, as if individually challenging each student to doubt her authority. No one dared. "In here, your dorm does not matter. Your element does not matter. Your species does not matter. Other classes will teach you how to take advantage of such specific factors. But you all have hands, or reasonable facsimiles, and it's my job to teach you how to use them. If you fail to learn, then I have failed to teach you.
"But I don't fail without one heck of a fight."
Jaden sighed to himself mutely. Whatever you're doing, bud... believe me, take your time.
---
"Oh man, why do I have to take this class again?" Syrus mumbled as he ran into the boy's locker room, harried by time. He dove into his locker, digging around for his gi. Instead, he found Jaden's coat, recognizable by the bite marks on the sleeve and the stylized J! written on the inside of the collar.
"Well, he is going to become a moth, I guess he would eat clothes," Syrus grimaced and reached for the coat, "I just hope he sticks to his own. He could stick to his own locker while he's at it..."
But when the Eevee lifted the red blazer, an envelope that had been set atop it fell away. Syrus blinked and kneeled down, picking it up. His eyes widened when he saw the lipstick over the seal. "I'm pretty sure that's not his. It was in my locker, though... is this for me?"
Fighting class forgotten, Syrus sat down. He scanned the room with both his eyes and ears before huddling over the envelope and opening it. The Eevee's ears dropped in shock when he read the contents of the letter. He cleaned his glasses to make sure he had read correctly.
"...In love with you! Meet me at the girl's dorm at midnight! Signed, Alexis Rhodes?" Syrus blushed furiously and recalled the night Jaden and Chazz had that off-hours fight, when he first saw her. He couldn't recall the Gardevoir even looking at him, but who was he to question these things?
"Oh, Syrus," the Alexis his mind had conjured cooed and stroked his ears with the broad, silken ribbons that acted as her hands, "I must confess, I just can't resist adorable little Eevees..."
He smiled shyly, and the indoor breeze his wagging tail created blew his locker door shut.
For once, the sound escaped him. He had become too steeped in daydreaming to pay attention.
---
"Hey, Sy, the shower's free," Jaden ran a towel over his hair, antennae popping up in its wake. He stepped back into the main room and looked around.
"Sy's not around," Chumley informed him from his place in the top bunk of the bed, "He left a little while ago, and he must've been real happy about something, since his tail wagging managed to kick up every speck of dust in this room." The Snorlax sniffled his indignation.
"Really? Huh, I've never seen him that excited about anything before," Jaden slid into the chair in front of his desk, "Maybe he's got a date."
Chumley raised an eyebrow at him. "You gotta be kidding."
"Hey, you never know. He's a sweet guy, and practically a puppy. Girls go nuts over the cute types," Jaden set his feet on his desk, grinning. "We shouldn't be jealous just 'cause we don't have huge adorable eyes or floppy ears or a furry tail to woo the ladies with."
"I'm not jealous," Chumley scowled and rolled over in his bed, "Some ladies like big guys!"
"Yeah, maybe some of them like antennae, poisonous fangs and a coat of bristly fuzz, too," Jaden sighed wistfully, said fangs gnawing his lip.
"Seriously, what do you think he's doing?" Chumley sat up.
"Personally? My money's on him getting lost on the way to fighting class," Jaden looked at the Snorlax over his shoulder. "He's got his PokéNav with him, he should be fine."
"I dunno, weird things happen on this island at night sometimes..." Chumley glanced out the window.
"Like what? This place seems pretty normal so far."
"Jaden, we've got an active volcano in the middle of campus."
"Really? I thought that was just a weird-shaped mountain! Awesome!"
Chumley sighed and went back to sleep.
---
Syrus rowed the tiny boat with all his strength. He leaned back, catching his breath, and grimaced when he noticed he wasn't even 30 feet from the docks yet.
"When they say love hurts, I don't think this is what they meant," he murmured to himself and rubbed his already cramped shoulder.
He concentrated on the soft lights of the girls' dorm across the lake -- which was about all he could see anyway -- and pushed himself to keep rowing.
Elsewhere, much closer to the girls' dorm, a certain Jynx instructor was prowling in the shadows. Crowler had traded his uniform for a form-fitting spandex suit, and was armed with a camera.
"Unbeknownst to Jaden, the girls are taking baths right now. When he shows up looking for his Juliet, I'll snap a photo and the whole campus will think he's a peeping tom!" Crowler snickered to himself and crouched in some bushes, keeping watch on the lake shore. "He'll have to be expelled!"
Inside the dorm, Alexis leaned back against the edge of the steaming pool. "Thanks, Jasmine, this is so much better. I bet all the girls wish they knew a Fire-type."
Her Ninetails friend smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "It's no big deal, really. I just have to get in and the pool becomes a hot spring."
Alexis and her friends laughed. Mindy sank in deeper and brushed her leaves out of her face. The Roselia sighed in contentment. "It's great to stretch out your legs in a nice hot bath after a long day of training... er, well, you know what I mean, Alex."
The Gardevoir laughed and waved her arm. "It's cool. I like floating everywhere -- and hey, I only have to shop for half a wardrobe."
Jasmine tilted her head. "I don't understand you, Alexis. We're in a male-dominated sport, surrounded by guys -- you should be embracing your femininity!"
"I do. I just don't consider having fifty pairs of designer jeans a necessary aspect of womanhood," Alexis laced her arms behind her head.
"Hmm..." Mindy shifted uncertainly, "Hey, Alex, mind if I ask you something?"
"You don't have to, Mindy. Believe me, that rumor is a grave distortion of the truth," Alexis answered, closing her eyes in exasperation. "Yes, I had to drag Chazz back to the dorms a few nights ago, late at night. The idiot got his tail jammed in a socket and shorted himself and the Articuno arena out. That's what he gets for picking on freshmen."
"Oh," Mindy blinked at the psychic-type, "A freshman did that?"
"Yeah, but in Jaden's defense, Chazz was the one that started the whole thing."
"Jaden... he's that guy that beat Crowler at the entrance exams, right?" Jasmine scowled, "The Moltres Red frosh that's so full of himself?"
"I dunno," Alexis grinned and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I kinda like his attitude. He's not all talk, you know."
Her friends just shook their heads in disbelief.
Outside, Syrus finally pushed the boat up to the opposite shore and stumbled out, panting. He lifted his head, looking up at the looming dorm building. "I'm coming, Alexis..."
He stumbled into Crowler's sights and the Jynx recoiled. "That's not Jaden!"
The Ice-type's shriek of surprise reached the ears of the bathing girls, and a few of them stuck their heads out of the door to investigate. Crowler yelped and dove into the lake. The glares of a few dozen angry, towel-clad females fell on the small Eevee petrified in front of the dorm's entrance.
"A boy!" a Zangoose hissed, brandishing her claws. Syrus whimpered and tried to disappear into the ground.
"Wait, guys, I mean, um -- I thought -- where's Alexis?" He tried to protest, but he went without a fight. It wasn't long before he was surrounded and tied up.
Jasmine and Mindy dragged him inside and brought him before Alexis. "This runt was looking for you."
Alexis raised an eyebrow and leaned down until she was eye-level with Syrus. "Yes?"
"You, um," Syrus lost his voice, shuffling in the ropes that bound his feet, "Didn't... didn't you invite me here? You wrote that letter!"
Alexis blinked, and her friends exchanged an incredulous look. The Gardevoir concentrated for a moment, then closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly and chuckling. "I'm sorry, Syrus, someone's messing with you. I didn't write anything."
"H-Huh?" He blinked at the psychic and she reached into his coat, pulling out the letter he had stashed there.
"You know this Moltres?" Mindy seemed taken aback.
"He's Jaden's friend," Alexis read the letter over. "And I think you need some new glasses, Sy. This isn't even addressed to you, it's to him."
"Eee?" Syrus blinked, then sagged. His ears drooped limply. "I can't even get a prank love letter."
"Aww..." Jasmine and Mindy started, but they caught themselves. Jasmine shook her head. "Well, we can't just let him get away with sneaking to our dorm."
"No... hmm," Alexis's eyes took on a faraway look, and she smirked faintly. "I know what we can do with him."
Syrus wasn't sure he liked that tone of voice. He tucked his tail up and lowered his head.
"Oh, we can't turn him in," Mindy sighed, setting her flower-covered hands on her hips. "Just look at him!" The Eevee in question blushed and tried to withdraw his head into turtleneck.
"Don't worry, maybe we won't," Alexis grinned, "But now I wonder just how much of Jaden's bragging is just talk. I know just how to get him out here, too..."
Jasmine looked at Mindy and lowered her voice. "What was that she said about picking on freshman?"
---
Jaden bit his lip in concentration and furiously mashed the buttons on his handheld game. He leaned forward and back, and bounced in his seat when he made his character jump. "C'mon! Just a few more -- what the?"
The Venonat was interrupted by the sound of his PokéNav ringing. He fished it out of his pocket and examined it curiously, hitting the 'receive' button. A static, distorted audio message started playing.
"We have your little Eevee friend, bug," the masked voice growled threateningly, "If you ever want to see him again, come to the girls' dorm and be ready for a fight."
"Oh man, Sy, what'd you get into now?" Jaden replaced his Nav and set his game aside.
---
Jaden rowed a spare boat across the lake at a record-breaking pace. The moon was in the sky, and the night breeze invigorated the nocturnal Venonat. Though he didn't know who would have captured Sy or why they would demand to meet at the girls' dorm, he wasn't going to waste time pondering.
He rowed up to the shore and beached the boat clumsily, standing. Shadowy figures loomed on the dock, and it took him a moment to recognize the floating outline of Alexis. Syrus stood with her and a handful of other girls. His hands and feet were bound, and he stared at the ground mournfully.
"Sy! What are you guys doing with him?" Jaden jumped onto the shore.
"We caught him trespassing -- just like you are," Alexis grinned, "If any of the faculty found out where you two are, you'd both get expelled."
"What! Sy, what were you doing over here, man? Haha, you did have a date, didn't ya? You sly dog!" Jaden laughed, and Alexis scowled as her threat fell on deaf ears.
"No, apparently not," Syrus frowned and drew his hands up to his chest. A few of the girls frowned with him sympathetically.
"Maybe we could just keep him..." a Nidarina set her claws together, and Alexis looked even less amused.
"No, we're not keeping him," the psychic rolled her eyes, "We're going to turn him and Jaden in to the teachers -- unless..."
"No way! I'm not gonna let you get me and Sy expelled, we were invited over!" Jaden pointed at them accusingly, already assuming a battle stance.
Alexis regained her mischievous smile. "Unless Jaden can defeat me in a fight."
The other girls let out a collective, intrigued 'ooh', and Sy's head shot up. "A fight! Jaden, don't do it, she's like the top sophmore in Articuno --"
"You got it!" Jaden interrupted and pointed a claw at Alexis. "If I win, I get Sy back and no one hears about any of this!"
"Someone's possessive," Alexis raised her eyebrows, the nodded to the lake. "Let's make this interesting. We'll fight on the water."
"Whatever floats your boat," Jaden grinned and stuck his tongue out, and the girls -- along with Syrus -- groaned at the pun.
---
Soon, two boats had sailed into the middle of the lake. In one stood Jaden, cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders, with Sy huddled at his feet. The other held Jasmine and Mindy, while Alexis hovered beside the bow.
"Jaden, please," Syrus tugged on Jaden's pants leg, "She has a type advantage over you, I don't want you to get hurt --"
"Advantage-shmantage!" the Venonat looked down and gave Sy a thumbs up, "I'll be fine. Remember, bug beats psychic, too!"
He lifted his head and looked at Alexis. "You ready? Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you 'cause you're a girl, either!"
"And I'm not going to pull any punches because you're a freshman," Alexis retorted, holding out one arm and curling the end of it toward herself, "Gimme your best shot, big guy."
"You got it!" Jaden started to backtrack in his boat, and Sy ducked out of the way. The Venonat ran forward and launched himself out of the boat, hard enough to send the small vessel rocking violently. Alexis blinked in surprise and narrowly dodged the tackle. Jaden hit the water with a tremendous splash.
"Did you forget that only one of us could fly?" She laughed as the bug thrashed around in the water. "Fighting on a pair of boats sort of limits you to special attacks."
"Veno!" Jaden kicked in the water, but managed to hold his head above the water long enough to grin rebelliously at the Gardevoir. "Trying to get the advantage, huh? I know psychic types have weak physical defense, and a little water's not gonna stop me -- naa, hey!"
While he talked, Alexis took the opportunity to power up a small attack, and interrupted the waterlogged bug by hitting him with a wave of distorted air. "Confusion!"
Jaden reeled back in the water. When he recovered, he blinked a few times. He then started laughing and bobbing in a circle, battle forgotten in his suddenly stupefied state. His circling made him crash into the side of the girls' boat, and he started to slide under the choppy waves. Syrus leaned out of the boat, eyes wide. "Jaden! He's going to drown!"
"He's fine," Alexis shook her head and made a lifting motion with her hands. Jaden shook his head, snapping out of confusion as he was lifted out of the water by an invisible force. Alexis chuckled. "Okay, Jaden, I admit it; I underestimated you. But I'd like to see what you can do when you can't move -- Imprison!"
Jaden blinked, then realized the same helpful force that had lifted him out of the water now constricted his arms and legs. He squirmed in the air, unable to do much more than wiggle his toes. "Veeh!"
"Come on, where's the bug that did so well at the exams? Or was that just a fluke?" Alexis taunted lightly, circling him in the air.
Jaden scowled, eyes following her, before an idea hit him. He grinned. "You want some of that, huh? Well, okay -- Supersonic!"
The Venonat lifted his head and let out a strangely cheerful, sharp-pitched howl, forcing everyone to wince and cover their ears. Alexis's concentration wavered, and when she moved her arms to cover her head, Jaden fell out of the air and back onto his boat. Syrus and Jasmine seemed particularly affected by the sound, and they slumped with relief when he finally went quiet.
"I'm still in this fight! You'll hafta do a lot better than that to get me," Jaden quickly stood and gloated in the Gardevoir's direction. The Psychic-type's head was still ringing from the attack. Jaden blew at his bangs and struck a pose. "Come on, is that all you got? You Articunos aren't so tough!"
Syrus stared at his friend in disbelief, "Jaden, you really don't want to make her mad --"
"I'm not, bud, I'm just putting Swagger to good use," Jaden lowered his voice and winked at him, then turned back to Alexis. "I bet I could take on all'a you! At once! Blindfolded!"
"Oh, really," Alexis finally recovered enough to glower at him. She focused her power, head and arms glowing faintly, and reached out to launch another attack. But Jaden's crowing broke her focus, and his Supersonic had given her a headache -- when she tried to attack, she just gave herself a migraine. "Gar!"
She hovered onto the deck of her friends' boat, and they frowned worriedly at her as she held her head in pain.
"I'm not gonna miss this time," Jaden grinned, backtracking to get a running start and once again all but flying into the night air. He hit the deck of the girls' boat hard, and ended up tackling not only the disoriented Alexis, but her two friends as well.
"Get off us, you idiot, unless you want to make this three against one!" Jasmine growled, heat wafting off of her dangerously, and Mindy bristled her thorns.
Jaden laughed sheepishly and sat up, looking for Alexis, but she was gone. The Venonat scanned the boat and the water, but she had Teleported out of view.
"It's too bad," her voice suddenly came from all directions, and Jaden glanced upwards. He paled.
Alexis and what looked like a dozen clones surrounded him completely with an expert Double Team. He spun around, but it was impossible to distinguish the real one.
"You have a lot of potential, Jaden, but it looks like you're going to be expelled," the Alexises all shook their heads and gathered power in concert. A dizzying, purple light lit up each set of ribbon-like hands, and soon cast a violet glow over the lake.
Jaden shrunk back into the bow of the boat. If that attack hit him, he'd be knocked out in an instant. He didn't know which Alexis was which, so he couldn't disrupt her with a tackle, and there was no way she'd fall to Supersonic twice.
"Maybe you'll have better luck at another school," Alexis almost sounded remorseful for a moment, but her migraine was still fresh. She wasn't about to go easy on him. "Psych--"
With nothing else to save him, Jaden curled into a ball and held his arms over his head protectively.
But something came to him --
Normally harmless fuzz on his back and shoulders suddenly stood up in an array of wicked spines, tearing through his shirt and jacket. The two girls in the boat yelped and recoiled out of the way when the bug boy became a veritable porcupine.
"Pin Missile!"
The spikes shot in all directions like a hail of arrows. They ran through the Double Team clones, and the mirror images winked out of existence as they were hit. The real Alexis gasped and gave up her Psychic attack in exchange for Reflect, but she was caught off guard. The spines broke through the force field and hit her in succession, and though they bounced off, each strike of the powerful Bug attack left her dazed. When it was over, she swayed in the air, before tumbling into the water with a quiet splash.
Jaden blinked when he only felt a breeze on his back instead of agonizing pain. He opened one eye, looking between his fingers, before he realized that the team of irate Gardevoirs was no longer looming over him.
"Woah..." the Venonat glanced over his shoulder at his ruined coat and gaped. "Aw man, my jacket! What happened?"
Jasmine, Mindy and in the other boat, Syrus all warily lifted their heads once they had made sure the assault was over.
"He did it again," Syrus mumbled to himself, then sat up, wagging his tail, "You did it, Jaden! You won!"
Jaden was confused. "But she was gonna -- hey, where is she?" He noticed a white form floating in the water several yards away and frowned. "Alexis!"
The Venonat jumped into the cold water without a second thought and paddled over to the unconscious Gardevoir. He hefted the lightweight psychic over his shoulder and swam back to the girls' boat, setting her in it gingerly.
Jasmine and Mindy glared at him and checked their friend over. Mindy nudged her shoulder. "Alexis? Alex, wake up, that dork can't have knocked you out --"
Alexis groaned quietly and opened one eye. "Gh..."
Jaden folded his arms on the edge of the boat and frowned at her. "You okay, Alexis?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, I just... ow," she rubbed her arm where the pins had struck her, "I don't know how you did that, Jaden..."
"Me either," the Venonat shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. "I must have known that move without... knowing... I knew it, or something."
"I don't think so. Even if it's a Bug-type attack, Venonats can't learn Pin Missile any more than they can learn... well... Fire Blast," Alexis blinked, looking slightly puzzled. Mindy and Jasmine's glares intensified.
"I didn't cheat!" Jaden defended himself, scrunching his shoulders and afraid they'd turn him in anyway. "I swear, I didn't know I was gonna do that."
"He's telling the truth, guys," Alexis smiled faintly, sitting up and trying not to wince as she did so. "You can't lie to a Psychic. Either way, you won, fair and square. Sy's all yours. That's really strange, though..."
Jaden let out the anxious breath he'd been holding, and swam back over to his boat. He climbed in, nearly falling back into the lake, and shook off the water. "That was close! I take it back, you Articunos aren't so bad."
"I'm glad you're not all talk, either," Alexis tilted her head, "There's something special about you, Jaden. You've got some kind of gift, but people are going to think something weird is up if you keep using attacks like that. You should talk to someone."
"I guess so," Jaden sat in his boat, "Maybe I should -- "
But a small pair of arms suddenly attacked him from the side with a tight, clinging hug. Jaden nearly jumped in surprise, but the sight of a familiar tail and ears made him laugh and relax. Any other identifying features of the Eevee were buried in Jaden's side.
"I... I thought we were going to get kicked out," Syrus seemed to realize his actions and pulled back self-consciously, "I'm glad you won."
"Naa, I wasn't gonna let that happen," Jaden said with a wide, toothy smile, "Told ya I'd be fine. We better get back to our place."
Jaden grabbed the oars and looked back over his shoulder at the girls. "See you guys around! That was an awesome fight, Alexis, thanks!"
"Uh, you're welcome," Alexis blinked, watching the other boat row across the lake. When they were out of range, she let herself chuckle. Mindy and Jasmine gave her strange looks.
She shook her head and ignored them. "I dunno if it's Foresight or just my gut, but something tells me this is definitely going to be an interesting school year with that guy around..."
Her two friends looked at each other and shrugged.
