'Clear mind...serene thoughts...' Jason repeated to himself, washing his hair while Lana, naked as the day she was born, showered with Ren next to him.
"I haven't seen many female Lucario, but aren't Ren's boobs bigger than usual...?" Lana questioned, her words clearly directed at Jason.
"Ren has big boobs...?" Ren repeated, tilting her head as Lana cupped her breasts from behind.
"Really big..." Lana affirmed, resting her chin on Ren's right shoulder, the latter's tail tucked between her thighs.
'Now that she mentions it...she's not wrong...' Jason noted, stealing a glance at the duo. The books he had read on Lucario care portrayed a female with modest breasts, with the most notable difference between them and their male counterparts being their fluffier tails and markedly more shapely hips. Ren, comparably, was stacked...
'Could it be the effects of the spring...?' Jason considered. Its effects were still being researched, but he knew from his own experience that it could significantly influence a person's appearance. He would have rated himself a five or six previously, but now, particularly with his six-pack and lean build, he felt he was closer to an eight or nine.
"Lana's breasts are very small. Small and cute~" Ren noted, turning to face the blue-haired girl before cupping her sides and using her thumbs to depress Lana's pale pink nipples.
"Yeah...unfortunately, my mom's aren't very big either. But at least it makes swimming easier..." Lana sighed, removing Ren's hands from her chest before turning to Jason and asking, "What do you think, Jason? Is there hope for me?" while cupping and accentuating her breasts as best she could.
"Hope is the one thing that never dies..." Jason responded, glancing at Lana's chest as he added, "But I think you're fine as you are. It's okay to be cute. The most important thing is that you're able to pursue the things that interest you..."
"You think I'm cute...?" Lana questioned, tilting her head to the side and adopting a happy smile.
"Anyone who states otherwise is either lying, blind, or simply jealous..." Jason answered, averting his eyes, closing them, and stepping under the shower's warm, cleansing stream.
"Mmn...then maybe it's okay to have small breasts..." Lana hummed, the smile on her face persisting for the remainder of the shower. In her view, Jason was one of the most mature and attractive boys she had ever met. She would have preferred it if he thought she was cool, but she could live with him thinking she was cute...
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"Mmn...nice body..." Mina stated, giving Jason a thumbs up as he, Lana, and Ren returned from their shower. It wasn't too long before they would turn in for the night, so Jason was wearing a form-fitting black shirt, white shorts, and sandals in preparation.
"Thanks. I get that a lot..." Jason responded, forcing a wry smile before taking a seat on one of the four thick logs surrounding the campfire. He expected Ren to sit next to him, but the conscientious Pokémon sat next to Mina, freeing the space for Lana.
"Alright. Now that everyone is here, please bring out your partners. We're going to close out the day by sharing what we most appreciate about our partners with the group~" Mina stated, simultaneously producing a Poké Ball with a yellow top, a white bottom, and a butterfly wing pattern on the front.
"This is one of my partners, Bebe," Mina stated, unleashing what looked like a tiny, anthropomorphic, fairy-like bee with a yellow body, large black eyes, thin black limbs, and egg-white wings with a pastel beige pattern of three circles near their base.
"Rheaaaaa~!" greeted the Pokémon, raising its tiny arms and producing a happy-sounding chime.
"Oh! It's a Ribombee! How cute~!" Lana expressed, her blue eyes shining as she held up and clenched her fists in excitement.
"Rooooo~"
Ostensibly pleased with Lana's response, Bebe performed a mid-air spin before flying over and settling atop the former's head, flapping its wings to produce a faint, bell-like chime.
"Ooooh...Bebe says you have a heart as big as the ocean..." Mina droned in her characteristically sleepy tone.
Nodding its tiny but proportionally large head, Bebe shifted from Lana's head to Jason's before producing a distinctly different sound of chimes. Their pitch was slightly higher, and they came in short bursts rather than in a continuous stream.
"Hmmn...I see..." Mina muttered, nodding her head several times before meeting Jason's gaze and stating, "Bebe says you should relax more. It's fine to want to better yourself, but if you overdo it, you'll hit a wall or burn yourself out."
"Mmn...I'll keep that in mind..." Jason responded, offering a curt nod.
"Oooh! Do Ren next...!" Ren exclaimed, her wine-red eyes glistening with expectation.
"Ribombee~"
Flitting over to Ren's head, prompting her to clutch her paws and remain as still as she was able, Bebe tilted its head from side to side a few times before producing a series of short, warbling chimes.
"Oh? Bebe says you also need to relax more. It seems that you and Jason have that in common..." Mina noted, causing Ren's eyes to illuminate even more, specifically at the insinuation that she and Jason were alike.
"Bebe is awesome~" Ren hummed, wiggling happily while doing her best to keep her head still.
"I don't need your evaluation..." Stella asserted, sporting a slight frown from her solitary position atop the log opposite Mina and Ren. She had released Gooey from its PokéBall, as Mina had instructed, but she was against allowing Bebe to sit on her head and analyze her.
"That's fine. Consent is important," Mina acknowledged. Then, without skipping a beat, she glanced at Jason and added, "You should have Dex join us. His energy reserves aren't going to be depleted within just a few hours."
"Sure," Jason responded, getting up from the log and making his way over to his tent, a two-person, sand-colored, wedge-shaped shelter designed for camping in just about any environment. Dex had been in sleep mode to preserve power, but he was easy to rouse with a light caress to the top of his head.
"Mmn? Jason? Did something happen? Do I need to call emergency services...?"
Rousing from his slumber, Dex floated free of his charging case and bent his body as if he were stretching. Jason had told him he would remain in sleep mode unless there was an emergency, so he assumed that was the reason he had been woken.
"Not right now. We're having a sharing circle, and the instructor asked me to have you join," Jason revealed, prompting Dex to tilt his body and stare at him curiously.
"A sharing circle...?" Dex repeated quizzically.
"Basically, she wants us to say what we appreciate about our Pokémon partners. That includes you," Jason stated.
"Oh? That sounds wonderful~!" Dex exclaimed, darting past Jason to exit the tent before shouting, "Hurry, hurry! No need to be shy! Come and tell me how amazing you think I am!"
"Haha..."
Following an awkward chuckle, Jason exited the tent and rejoined the group. From there, everyone ate dinner together and revealed what they appreciated about their partners. Mina also opened the floor for them to share what they thought about one another, during which Lana revealed that she thought both he and Stella were cool. This surprised Stella, but when it was her turn to share, she ultimately opted out, stating that she preferred to keep her thoughts and opinions private...
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'I'll need to purchase a bigger tent for when Lillie and I set out on our journey...' Jason thought, staring listlessly at the canopy of his tent with Ren emitting heat like a furnace to his left, Lana sleeping with her back to him on his right, and Poppy nestled within her arms. Luckily, the tent had a small AC and air-purification unit, so it wasn't too unbearable.
'I wonder how Lillie and the others are getting along...?' Jason mused dully. With Lana and Stella there with him, that left only Lillie and Selene to attend Mallow's sleepover. That thought invariably made him wonder about Lana's and Stella's intentions. The former was very clearly there to spend time with him and Ren, but the latter...it was difficult to say.
'At the very least, she doesn't appear to have malicious intentions...' Jason noted. Had that been the case, Ren would have undoubtedly picked up on them due to her ability to read auras. Since she hadn't, Stella shouldn't be an enemy. Rather, it seemed highly probable that she was a League plant, placed in the Pokémon School to keep tabs on him and Lillie. His evidence for this was that Stella had avoided physical contact with him, suggesting she was aware of his System's ability to ascertain people's identities and quantify how they viewed him...
'I wouldn't have to stress over these things if I were kept in the loop...' Jason sighed internally. He knew there was much being kept from him and Lillie so they could focus on their studies. And that wasn't factoring in all the information that was being kept from him as a potential enemy. The League was treating him well at the moment, but if it became evident that he was a threat to their world, there was no doubt in Jason's mind that he would be detained—possibly in the same facility as before...
With such thoughts in mind, combined with the hard ground below, and Lillie being absent from his side, Jason found it difficult to fall asleep. He did, eventually, but only well after midnight...
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Before Jason's struggles with sleep, specifically around the time that Mina was hosting the sharing circle, Lillie found herself wide-eyed as Mallow asked, "How does this look? Too bold...?"
Starkly contrasting her usual light-grey overall look, Mallow was seeking Lillie's and Selene's opinions on a lime-green-and-white-striped spaghetti string top, white short shorts, and, most notably, bright red bikini bottoms that resembled a thong when worn with her shorts.
"It's definitely bold..." Selene affirmed, her expression just as shocked as Lillie's.
"Might I ask what is wrong with your usual outfit...?" Lillie questioned, appending, "At the very least, it's a lot more balanced than what you're wearing now. These clothes seem better suited to appealing to boys on the beach..."
"Well, yeah. That was kind of the idea," Mallow stated, pulling the string-like band of her bikini further up her waist before releasing it with a crisp, skin-slapping pop.
"You're planning to pick up a boy...?" Selene questioned, surprised. She had also been considering giving dating a try, but she expected it would happen naturally. The thought of donning a bikini and picking boys up at the beach was both exciting and terrifying to her...
"Not really?" Mallow responded, leaving Lillie and Selene confused until she revealed, "It's only a matter of time before our class visits the beach. When we do, I'm planning to give the boys a bit of a view to see how they react. I haven't decided if I want to try dating any of them yet. But setting out on a journey alone is dangerous, especially for us girls."
"That makes sense," Selene acknowledged, adopting a broad smile and puffing out her chest as she added, "I'm pretty lucky in that regard. Elio and I are planning to travel together for at least two to three years. But I can't deny that it would be exciting to travel with a boy my own age who isn't my brother."
"Right? You and Lillie are super lucky..." Mallow sighed, noting, "Jason seems really calm and mature—and his body is insane. Elio is quiet, but he seems like the type who would take good care of the girls he travels with."
"Yeah. Elio is great at cooking; he does all my chores without me even needing to ask, and he's a good listener. If he weren't my twin brother, I would definitely make him my boyfriend..." Selene sighed, embracing her Rowlet, Bowie.
"Hmmn...I would ask if it's okay for me to date him, but I won't want to interfere with your plans..." Mallow stated, exhaling through her nose in faint exasperation. She was somewhat annoyed that the two boys who would have made the best boyfriends in her class were already spoken for, but she was confident in her looks. If that failed, she was even more confident in her cooking.
"If you would like, why don't you accompany Jason and me for our Island Challenge?" Lillie proposed, reasoning, "Since your goal is to inherit your family's restaurant, we would only be traveling together for a short while. But I believe it would be a fun and memorable experience."
"Is that okay...?" Mallow questioned, her brows raised in surprise as she asked, "Wouldn't you prefer to travel with just Jason? I don't want to get in the way or be a third wheel."
"We would naturally need to confirm it with Jason. But I am reasonably, roughly seventy percent certain he will respond favorably," Lillie attested, leaving Mallow at a slight loss. She had previously dismissed Jason as a prospective travel companion because of his and Lillie's engagement. But with Lillie herself giving the green light, she didn't mind placing him back at the top of her list. After all, if he was good enough to be acknowledged by Tapu Koko, he was definitely worth befriending and getting to know on a personal level...
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