Waking to the feeling of a cool and familiar sensation spreading through his body, Jason was unsurprised to find Ren seated atop him as he lay on his back, using Life Dew to resuscitate him.
"Hmn? Did I pass out...?" Jason asked, checking his watch to see that it was only 3:42 PM. In other words, barely half an hour had passed since he and Ren had exited the villa for training.
"Jason feels better now...?" Ren asked, looked concerned, and more than a little apologetic.
"Mmn...much better..." Jason confirmed with a nod. He could have done with being straddled by Ren's inordinate weight, but he didn't ask her to remove herself. Instead, he closed his eyes and added, "But it would help if you kept using Life Dew on me..."
"Nn~!"
As she could now sense Jason's doubts and apprehensions directly, it meant a great deal to Ren that he was willing to ignore them in order to not hurt her feelings. On the other side of the equation, Jason could feel Ren's slight guilt, as she knew she shouldn't be sitting on him the way she was. She simply couldn't help wanting to be like others who were close to him—even if her being a Pokémon meant there were boundaries and lines he was unwilling to cross with her...
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After two more Life Dews helped him recover enough energy to move, Jason relocated with Ren to his Sanctum, where they spent three hours training and soaking in his spring. He had informed Lillie that they would be back by 7 PM, so when it was nearing that time, they returned to the outside world, finding the sky a mesmerizing mix of oranges, pinks, and deepening amethyst purple.
"Alright, time for dinner," Jason stated, adopting a broad smile as Ren responded with a spirited, "Dinner~!" before they made their way up the stairs at the exit of the battlefield and toward the villa's back entrance. It was locked, but as his hand grabbed the handle, it scanned his biometric data and immediately clicked open.
Following the sounds of girls spiritedly conversing, Jason was unsurprised to find Lillie, Mallow, and Selene setting the table with the plates and food passed off to them by Maeve and Nanahoshi. He was, however, surprised to see one more among their number—a familiar figure with blue hair, blue eyes, and a familiar, net-themed hair ornament.
"You...you owe me a kiss...!" the figure, Lana, asserted, pointing at Jason with an uncharacteristically serious and scary look—clearly having heard about him making out with Mallow and Selene earlier that afternoon.
"I don't owe you a kiss..." Jason corrected, exhaling exasperatedly from his nose as he conceded, "But if you want one, I'm not against it. There's no need to get riled up."
"Oh? You're not going to refuse...?" Lana questioned, blinking several times in surprise. She hadn't been thinking that Jason had kissed Mallow and Selene to spite her, but she wasn't expecting him to agree so quickly. After all, he had put up a great deal of resistance during their outing with Miss Mina and Stella.
"For now, you should be content with a peck on the lips," Lillie inserted, her tone calm but full of authority as she expressed, "Now is the time for dinner, not making out."
"Making out will come later~" Mallow appended, giving Jason a playful wink.
"Oh, uh...okay...?" Lana responded, feeling a little put on the spot and behind everyone else. Despite that, her expression became resolute as she made her way around the dinner table and walked directly over to Jason, the top of her head barely reaching his chest.
"Kiss me..." Lana demanded, her cheeks gaining a hint of ruddiness and her blue eyes shimmering with anticipation.
"Sure..." Jason responded, bending down and turning his head slightly to the side. He was going to wait for Lana to initiate, but she didn't hesitate for a single moment, giving him a lingering peck on the lips and producing a loud mmmmwah.
"Good boy~" Lana said, smiling happily before reaching up to pet the top of Jason's head, leaving him at a slight loss and with the urge to exhale a scoffing chuckle...
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As he couldn't reveal the existence of Pactios to Mallow, Selene, and Lana, at least for the time being, Jason largely sat in observant silence as the three girls pressed Maeve and Nanahoshi regarding their journeys and careers as Trainers. The revelation that they were both Top-60 Trainers in the WCS—combined with the fact that they were prospective Alolan Gym Leaders—had naturally thrilled the three girls. Meanwhile, Jason and Lillie had little to contribute to the discussion, leaving them to sit in silence and smile at the trio's enthusiasm...
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Following dinner and parting ways with their respective partner Pokémon, Jason, feeling just a tad nervous, accompanied Lillie, Mallow, Selene, and Lana back to their shared room, where the girls began changing into their pajamas right in front of him.
"Just as a reminder. If we're going to take turns kissing Jason, I'm either first or after Lillie. The two of you already got to make out with him, and I started liking him first..." Lana asserted, shedding her navy-blue sukumizu swimsuit and donning a pair of off-white panties, patterned with colorful bubbles.
"Sure, but you also blew off our sleepover to sneak away and spend a full day with Jason behind our backs..." Mallow reminded plainly, leaving Lana at a loss for words.
"Instead of arguing about it, why don't we make it into a game? We can all write down what we want to do with Jason on a slip of paper and then put it in a cup. Then we can spin a bottle or something to determine who goes first," Selene proffered.
"Wouldn't it be easier just to spin the bottle? Why write down what we want to do on a slip...?" Mallow questioned, her curiosity piqued, but her mind failing to make sense of Selene's suggestion.
Before Selene could respond, Jason, feeling that things would get out of control if he didn't interject, stated, "It's been a long day, and we all have school tomorrow. I appreciate how excited everyone is, but we don't need to rush things..."
"Jason is correct," Lillie appended, naturally drawing everyone's attention as she stated, "I don't mind if everyone wishes to share Jason, but you must keep in mind that we outnumber him. If we are too insistent, we will overburden and make things difficult for him."
Directing her gaze to Lana, Lillie smiled and affirmed, "Lana will be given the chance to make out with Jason—just as the rest of us were given the opportunity this afternoon. Any additional acts of intimacy with him will be predicated on whether or not everyone is willing to become his girlfriends, exclusively..."
"Exclusively...?" Selene repeated, tilting her head to the side, confused by Lillie's words. She understood what the word meant, but since they were at a stage in their lives where it was typical for boys and girls alike to have multiple boyfriends and girlfriends, she wasn't sure why Lillie was bringing it up.
"There are many reasons, including Jason's personal preference and the culture of his world," Lillie started, leaving Lana the most confused, as she had yet to learn of Jason's otherworldly status. What followed was a long explanation regarding the League's desire to regulate the dissemination of knowledge about sex. Lillie also alluded to the various secret projects the League was conducting in Alola. But as that information was restricted to project participants, she was unable to disclose the specifics unless they volunteered and joined the project—following their Island Challenges and possibly a Gym Challenge or two...
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With Lillie's explanation leading into a lengthy, somewhat meandering couch discussion regarding everyone's plans for after they graduated, Jason began to harbor hope that the night would conclude without him being a practice dummy for three curious girls and his more experienced fiancée. Instead, just as Selene wrapped up how she and Elio planned to take on and participate in the Johto League Conference, Lana, ostensibly realizing the same thing, questioned, "So, when do I get to make out with Jason? It's beginning to get late."
"Ah, Lana is correct. At this rate, if we don't get to sleep soon, we risk waking up and arriving at school late," Lillie acknowledged, her brows rising as she checked the nearby wall clock, surprised to see that it was past 9 PM.
"How long does that sex thing take?" Mallow questioned, attesting, "I'm not sure about the whole exclusivity thing, but I can promise not to date any other boys while I'm with Jason. That should be good enough, right?"
With Mallow directing the last question at him, Jason, after blinking in surprise, offered a curt nod and affirmed, "I'm well aware of how selfish and hypocritical my expectations are. Thank you for being understanding and accommodating..."
"Eh, it's not that big a deal~" Mallow responded, shrugging her shoulders before adopting a playful smile as she teased, "Though, I'm only willing to go this far because you're handsome and capable. If you can't beat Kiawe and Bruce by the time of our final island survival challenge, I may have to reconsider my opinions."
"That's fair..." Jason acknowledged, nodding. He was fairly certain that Mallow was messing with him, but if she found a better prospect by the time they graduated, he wouldn't stop her from pursuing it. After all, that was just how life went sometimes. People could fall out of love, and since he and Mallow didn't yet love one another, he couldn't expect her to make sacrifices he wasn't willing to make.
"Enough postponing. It's kissing time," Lana asserted, her expression and tone severe, giving the impression that she was beginning to get annoyed with the many delays.
"You have been very patient until now..." Jason remarked, exhaling from his nose and smiling reassuringly as he slapped his right thigh and said, "Come and take a seat..."
Though she was initially confused by Jason's offer, Lana quickly went from befuddlement to keenly intrigued when Lillie explained the concept of straddling while making out. She had no idea her crotch and butt could be used in such a way, and when Jason promptly grabbed the latter, she felt that her ears might catch fire as they proceeded to make out and she acclimated to grinding against him...
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As Jason invariably found himself at the mercy of Lillie and her friends, a yellow and orange figure he would have recognized appeared above the practice battlefield, specifically above the long burn mark Ren's electrical discharge had left upon it.
'Such powerful Electric Energy...' expressed the figure, Tapu Koko, using its beaked right hand to probe at the streak. From it, he could also sense Ren's unique energy signature, prompting him to glance in the direction of the villa with a thoughtful glimmer in his mint-green-and-orange-streaked eyes.
'The boy's fate might not be bound to this world, but the same cannot be said for the Pokémon at his side. If he was able to help his first Pokémon reach this level, he could help others do the same...' Taku Koko noted, his telepathic speech reverberating through the space despite him being the only one present. At least, that is how it would have appeared to anyone viewing the scene at a glance. In reality, he was not alone...
Following Tapu Koko's remark, a tiny, wolf-like creature with cobalt-blue, scale-covered hide and an off-white mane of spiky fur emerged from the shadow of one of the trees flanking the battlefield. Its electric-blue eyes reflected a burgeoning but fierce intellect, and in response to Tapu Koko's words, it made its way to the battlefield's center, sniffed at the electricity-formed burn mark, and then raised its head to also glance thoughtfully in the villa's direction...
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