Thick, moisture-covered underbrush. Warm pools of water full of gnat larvae. The fragrant smell of soil mixed with the aromas of various flora, fauna, and natural decay. Slippery root systems that jutted up from the ground as if deliberately placed to trip people.
After returning from the bathroom and finishing their early lunch, Jason, Ren, Lana, Stella, Mina, and the sleeping Dex ventured their way into the tropical forest that made up three-quarters of the school's total campus. It was significantly more humid than Jason had expected, but his months of dieting and exercise allowed him to push ahead without difficulty.
"Oh! Look, Jason! It's a Surskit...!" Lana exclaimed, pointing to a Pokémon with a pale blue spherical body, beady black eyes, a tiny yellow antenna on the top of its head, and four elongated legs that allowed it to walk atop a small pond without breaking the surface tension.
"Then that pond must be the output of a freshwater spring. Surskit only inhabit the freshest of waters..." Jason noted, considerably less enthused but still intrigued.
"Hoooo? You're very knowledgeable..." Mina remarked wistfully, barely sweating even though her bag and supplies weighed nearly as much as she did. Jason had offered to take on some of the supplies, but she had refused to allow even Ren to lighten her load, contending that it was her responsibility.
"Coincidentally, this is our first stop. There's a clearing on the opposite side of the pond where we can set up our easels, so we just need to go around," Mina revealed.
"Right. Sounds good..." Jason responded, nodding. Mina had directed her words at him, so he felt compelled to acknowledge them.
"Miss Mina. Would it be okay if I went for a swim once we set down our supplies...?" Lana questioned, pulling at the collar of her sailor top as she added, "This forest is really muggy."
"Of course. You can even take a bath if you want to. Just remember to use biodegradable, plant-based soaps and shampoo. We're here to appreciate the beauty of nature, not spoil it..." Mina answered.
"Mmn. I spend a lot of time in and on the water, so I know the rules," Lana affirmed, pivoting her gaze to Jason and catching him just a tad off guard by asking, "Want to go for a swim with me? We could also take a bath, but it's a bit early."
"Oh! Ren loves baths...!" Ren chimed in, clenching and pumping her paws in excitement.
"A Steel-type that enjoys baths? That's odd..." Stella commented, mostly to herself.
"She's been bathing two to three times a day since she hatched," Jason stated, causing Stella to pause as she wasn't expecting him to respond to what she had said.
"Mmn! Ren can even bathe herself...!" Ren appended, raising her chin and puffing out her chest, her paws resting on her hips.
"Wow...Ren is even more incredible than I thought..." Lana remarked, her blue eyes twinkling with fascination.
"She really is..." Jason confirmed, taking advantage of Ren's proximity to caress her head.
"This is the spot," Mina said, guiding the group into a mossy clearing that was barely five meters across.
"It's a little cramped," Jason observed, scanning the area for a good spot to drop his own pack and supplies.
"As I said before, this is only our first stop. Our actual camping site is about 600 meters to the east, near a large rock formation. We'll spend three to four hours here before moving on and making camp just as the sun's going down," Mina stated, dropping her backpack at the clearing's center.
'She's surprisingly reliable...' Jason noted, his brows rising as his valuation of Mina increased.
"Hey. Do you mind if I place my things with yours...?" Lana questioned, grabbing and gently shaking Jason's right forearm as if she were afraid he might ignore her if she asked normally.
"I don't see why not...?" Jason responded, various flags erecting in his mind. Instead of minding them, however, he led the way over to a tree and pulled out a climbing rope. His food and medical supplies were in a bag that sealed in scents, but just to be safe, he applied a Max Repel to the exterior before suspending it a few meters off the ground.
"You really know what you're doing..." Lana commented, watching from the sidelines as Jason handled everything without asking for assistance.
"This isn't my first time camping..." Jason stated, affixing the rope to the tree's trunk before turning his head in search of Stella. He was going to ask if she needed help with her own supplies, but she had already done so, her pale blue eyes focused on him as she stood, arms crossed, three trees away.
"Hold on. I know an even better knot than the one you're using," Lana interjected, stepping forward, grabbing the rope, and positioning herself between Jason and the tree before saying, "Watch closely. You want to wrap this part around here and then pull this bit..."
'She's definitely interested in me...' Jason noted, unable to ignore how Lana brushed against him with her back and right shoulder as she got between him and the tree. He had gotten used to people in the world of Pokémon having no sense of distance, but Lana's focus on him made it clear she wanted them to be closer. Whether she wanted to be friends or something more remained to be seen...
"Now you try," Lana said, undoing the knot she had demonstrated before returning the rope to Jason's hands and stepping aside.
"Sorry. I wasn't paying proper attention..." Jason expressed, prompting Lana to exhale from her nose, smile, and state, "Here. I'll show it to you again," before taking the rope back. This time, when she stepped in front of him, her shoulders bumped against Jason's chest, the tips of her ears tinting red as she demonstrated the knot two more times...
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After getting their supplies into the tree, Jason slowly stripped down to his swim trunks, taking care to fold each piece of clothing he removed while Lana, having hastily shed her outer layers and dropped them onto the ground around her feet in mere seconds, remarked, "You have a really incredible body..."
"Thanks. I work out, train with Ren, and maintain a healthy diet..." Jason responded, forcing a smile. He was still getting used to being gawked at, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as it used to be.
"What kind of exercises do you do...?" Lana asked, stepping forward and unabashedly getting a closer look at Jason's body, with a particular focus on his abs.
Recognizing the look on Lana's face, Jason asked, "Do you want to touch them...?"
"Can I...?" Lana questioned, craning her head to look up at Jason, her blue eyes glistening with expectation.
"Go ahead..." Jason responded, nodding. Then, though it made his face feel like it was on fire, he deliberately tensed his abs, accentuating the six-pack he had spent the past six months of his life carefully sculpting into existence.
"So cool..." Lana muttered, her expression a look of genuine awe as she ran her palms and the fingers of her right hand along Jason's abs, tracing the gaps between his muscles.
"Jason is cool," Ren repeated, crossing her arms, closing her eyes, and nodding several times in approval.
"He really is. I swim almost every day, but my stomach is more squishy than toned. Here, see for yourself," Lana said, grabbing Jason's forearm and guiding his hand to her belly.
'It really is squishy...' Jason noted, resisting the urge to put tension into his fingers. Even without doing so, Lana's stomach felt soft, springy, and slightly moist due to her sweat having soaked into her navy blue school swimsuit.
"Oh, wow...your hand is really warm..." Lana remarked, her cheeks tinting red as she placed her own hand over Jason's, lengthening its stay against her belly.
"Boys typically burn hotter than girls—at least as far as humans go. Ren's paw pads are like stovetops after a battle..." Jason contended, extricating his hand without outright pulling it from Lana's grasp.
"Ren is like a furnace," Ren contributed, repeating words Jason had said in the past while holding up her paws, pale pink pads on full display.
"Ooooooh—"
Unable to resist the temptation, Lana raised her hands and pressed the tips of her fingers against Ren's paw pads. The two were around the same height, with Ren being a few centimeters taller, so they were practically at eye level for the interaction.
'Mmn...maybe she just has limited interaction with people who aren't her immediate family...' Jason considered. Lana seemed more fascinated by Ren's paw pads than his abs, so while it was fairly apparent that she had an interest in him, that didn't mean she was interested in him.
"How much longer are you planning to dawdle...?" Stella stated, inserting herself into the exchange and drawing Jason's gaze.
'Perhaps I was worried about the wrong person...'
Seeing Stella approach in a pastel blue, almost white bikini—her arms crossed and her cheeks suffused with the faintest shade of pink—Jason's brows shot up. Stella's physique wasn't the most feminine, but she clearly took care of herself. Her waist was tight, her stomach was flat, and while she was almost as hydrodynamic as Lana, she had wide hips and notably toned thighs.
"What are you gawking at...?" Stella questioned, her brows creasing into an icy glower as she asserted, "I'm not the first woman you've seen in a bikini, so stop staring."
"Mmn...I don't believe I was staring, but I apologize if I gave you that impression or made you feel uncomfortable..." Jason expressed, closing his eyes and offering a slow, apologetic nod.
"It's not something you need to apologize for..." Stella muttered, averting her eyes in a huff.
"I'm confused. You knew Jason would be on this trip. If you didn't want him to stare, why did you pack such a revealing swimsuit...?" Lana asked, tilting her head to the side.
"I didn't pack it for him. I'm trying to work on my tan..." Stella argued, a bead of sweat trickling down the left side of her face.
"During a one-day, one-night camping trip? I don't know...sounds pretty suspicious, if you ask me..." Lana countered, cupping her chin and striking a pose clearly copied from Alola's most famous celebrity Detective show, the internationally renowned Detective Laki.
"Well, no one asked you..." Stella asserted, her brows creasing into an irritated glower.
"Stella is mean..." Ren muttered, sporting a frown of her own.
"Huh? Mean? Me...?" Stella questioned, looking taken aback by Ren's words.
Shaking his head, Jason plopped his right hand down on Ren's head, his expression and tone patient as he stated, "It's not nice to assume things about people or label them mean, Ren. It builds up mental and emotional walls that can be difficult to knock down in the future..."
"Emotional walls...?" Ren repeated, tilting her head to the side and staring at Jason in confusion.
"That's right..." Jason confirmed, nodding slowly before raising his gaze to meet Stella's, surprising her as he stated, "Everyone has different ways of expressing themselves—be they humans or Pokémon. Some are just more awkward than others. I know the feeling..."
"..."
Understanding that Jason was taking her side, for reasons she couldn't even begin to fathom, Stella stared at him for several seconds. Then, with noticeably awkward, almost mechanical movements, she turned her head toward the nearby pond, muttering, "Just hurry up and finish changing into your swimsuit..." in a low, almost inaudible tone.
"Sure..." Jason responded, exhaling from his nose before removing his pants, taking care not to remove his cobalt-blue and soot-black, spats-like swimwear at the same time. Wearing swimming trunks under pants was more than a little uncomfortable, so he had acclimated to wearing sports swimwear known as jammers. It was embarrassing at first. But as his figure improved and he received many more compliments than glares and grimmaces, his confidence had steadily increased.
"Alright! It's time for a swim! Come on out, Poppy...!" Lana exclaimed, producing Poppy's Poké Ball and freeing her.
"Popplio~!"
Freed from her Poké Ball, Poppy raised her paw-like flippers and clapped them excitedly. Meanwhile, Jason was thinking that his impression really had been off the mark. Lana had definitely stolen a glance at his swimsuit when he removed his pants, but it was the textbook definition of cursory...
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'He's got a cute butt...' Mina noted, a faint smile adorning her face as she stole a glance at Jason from afar. Her gaze didn't linger, but she definitely committed the view to memory before returning to her task of setting up five easels and taking steps to ensure they wouldn't be ambushed by wild Pokémon in the midst of their art projects...
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