"Oh, wow. Look at how long and fluffy her tail is. I wonder if it's because she has a habit of moving around on all fours...?" Korrina speculated, her brows raised as she knelt beside Ren and began curiously inspecting the changes in her body.
"Ren fluffy...?" asked Ren, tilting her head as Korrina ran her right hand along the underside of her tail.
"Ren is very fluffy~" Korrina affirmed, beaming from ear to ear as she cupped and fluffed the sides of Ren's face. Her fur was notably softer than Luca's, but her muscles were well-developed, and the sheen of the steel spikes protruding from her chest and the backs of her forearms had an almost polished quality to them.
"Fufunn. Ren fluffy~" Ren repeated, grabbing Korrina's wrists to remove her hands from her face. Then, turning to Jason, who had risen to tower over her, she looked up at him, smiled, and stated, "Jason. Ren big now," before expectantly cupping her breasts for emphasis.
"You certainly are..." Jason affirmed, smiling awkwardly and extending his right hand to caress Ren's head.
Noticing Jason's discomfort, Ren tilted her head slightly and questioned, "Jason no like Ren big?"
"You're exactly how you should be," Jason countered, smoothing down Ren's left ear and massaging it with his thumb as he smiled and added, "I was just hoping you'd stay small a while longer. Now, instead of cute, you look cool and strong."
"Cool and strong~" Ren repeated, pumping her fists cutely and narrowing her eyes in satisfaction. Jason could tell she was copying Korrina, but that didn't make the action any less adorable.
"But you're going to need to be careful from now on. Okay, Ren?" Korrina interjected, drawing Ren's attention by touching the spike protruding from her chest and noting, "This is very dangerous. If you jump on and cling to Jason the same way you used to, you can hurt him really bad."
"Ren hurt Jason...?" Ren repeated, staring down at her chest and using the middle finger of her right hand to touch the pointed protrusion. She could feel how sharp it was, and with her evolution greatly boosting her mental capacity, she quickly grasped Korrina's meaning.
"Jason..." muttered Ren, looking up at Jason with rapidly moistening eyes. Clinging to and cuddling him were two of her favorite things to do, so the thought that she wouldn't be able to any longer caused her to feel a form of pain she had never experienced.
Before Jason could try to reassure her, Korrina got around to Ren's back and hugged her tightly as she appended, "Hey, no need to get upset. I've got just the thing."
After implicitly demonstrating to Ren at least one way Jason could still cuddle her, Korrina released the teary-eyed Lucario and knelt beside her backpack. A few seconds later, she pulled out what looked like a rubber ball with a hole in the side.
"Oh? As expected of someone who's evolved multiple Riolu into Lucario. You're well prepared," Alexa remarked with a smile.
"Is it a cap of some kind...?" asked Jason, hitting the nail on the head as Korrina nodded and confirmed, "That's right. Since Riolu evolve through friendship and strong bonds, it's not uncommon for them to inadvertently injure their Trainers with their chest spikes. That's where this comes in..."
Placing the rubber ball on Ren's chest spike, Korrina explained, "This is a Training Cap made from adhesive rubber. Once it sets, you need to apply a fair amount of heat to remove it. But it will prevent Ren from accidentally impaling you as she gets used to her new form."
"Strange feeling..." expressed Ren, pawing at the rubbery attachment with a slight frown.
"That's because your spikes function like antennae to help you attune and channel Aura," explained Korrina, caressing Ren's head with her left hand as she advised, "You can remove it during training and battling, but if you want to hug Jason, you need to wear it properly, okay?"
"Mmn...okay..." responded Ren, her tail swishing and swaying behind her as she looked expectantly at Jason. He immediately understood what she wanted, so, following a soft exhale through his nose, he stepped forward and pulled her into a reassuring hug.
"Jason soft...warm..." Ren muttered, closing her eyes and resting her chin atop Jason's shoulder while reciprocally hugging and clawing the back of his shirt. Contrastingly, one of the first things Jason noticed was how firm her body was. Certain parts of her were substantially softer, but her body as a whole felt taut—like carefully woven bundles of flexible steel cabling coated in furry, floral-smelling velvet.
"Hey, now...let's not get carried away..." said Jason, his voice low, tinged with exasperation as Ren began licking his neck with her surprisingly long, durable-feeling tongue. He understood it was normal for Riolu and Lucario to groom those with whom they had formed a strong bond, but Ren had a habit of trying to emulate his interactions with Korrina and others. If he let her do as she pleased, he knew from experience she would eventually try licking the inside of his mouth.
Fortunately for Jason, Ren generally listened when he deepened his tone. Thus, instead of licking him, she rubbed her muzzle and cheek against his neck and jaw as if trying to mark him with her scent. And though her nails pricked his back, she used just enough strength not to pierce the skin and tear the fabric of his shirt.
"Ah mon dieu. It's no wonder Ren evolved with so little experience. I've never seen someone hold their Pokémon so...tenderly..." remarked Alexa, snapping a photo of Jason's and Ren's interaction. At first, she compared it to an embrace between a father and his cherished daughter. But as she continued observing the scene, she couldn't help but notice the tension in Jason's body and actions—almost as if he were afraid. But if that were the case, Ren surely would have picked up on it.
'It looks like Nanahoshi's speculation was right on the money...' thought Korrina, picking up on the same cues as Alexa. Nanahoshi had speculated that, due to the sexually charged nature of humans from his world, Jason was inordinately aware of what he viewed as the sexual characteristics of Pokémon. They had all noticed how he avoided looking at Laani when she wasn't wearing clothes. And now that Ren's appearance was more human, there was an awkwardness in their interaction that seemed to elevate the embrace from simple affection to something more.
Fortunately for Jason, Korrina and Alexa found his awareness of Ren and other Pokémon more curious than discomfiting. And as far as Korrina was concerned, Jason couldn't help but feel drawn to large breasts and round, firm bottoms. Now that Ren possessed both, it made perfect sense to her that Jason would take notice.
"Alright, I think that's enough..." Jason muttered, giving Ren's upper back a few pats, prompting her to release him. Before doing so, she gave him a firm, air-expelling squeeze—making it clear she didn't want to release him but was doing so because he had asked her to.
"Good girl..." Jason appended, extending his right hand to caress the space between Ren's now pointed, fox-like ears before shifting his gaze to Korrina, Alexa, and, collaterally, Rotom.
"Weren't the two of you going to conduct and take part in an interview...?" asked Jason, smiling wryly as he attempted to return a sense of normalcy to the situation.
"How about it? I still need a few minutes to freshen up, but I'm totally down for an interview if you still want one," expressed Korrina, directing the statement at Alexa.
"That's at least part of the reason I'm here~" affirmed Alexa, regaining a playful smile as she glanced at Jason and teased, "I also wouldn't mind interviewing the Aether Foundation's rising star and his talented talking Lucario while I'm at it..."
"Maybe some other time—preferably in the far future," Jason countered with a head shake. At the same time, Ren attempted to sit as she usually did, but found it unexpectedly difficult due to the lengthening of her legs and the weight of her tail offsetting her center of gravity. As a result, she ended up plopping onto her butt with a weighty thud before attempting to play it off by beaming up at Jason with a disarming smile.
Demonstrating her growing awareness of Jason's cognitive processes, Korrina, sporting a knowing smile, proposed, "How about taking Ren over to the beach to play and warm up? Luca and I will meet you there within the hour—two at most."
"Sure, sounds good..." Jason confirmed with a nod. Then, extending his right hand to Ren, he braced himself to help her up. It felt like most of her weight was concentrated in her butt, and as her inertia was much greater than his, he had to strain himself and pull back with his full weight to get her up from the floor.
Noticing how much effort it took Jason to help her up, Ren's pointed ears angled back slightly as she asked, "Ren heavy...?" in a somber, apologetic tone.
"A little," Jason conceded, returning his right hand to Ren's head as he promptly asserted, "But that's a good thing. It means you'll be able to hit your opponents a lot harder. And though it might be a little awkward, I'm not so feeble that I can't still carry you on my back and shoulders. You'll just need to be extra careful not to move around..."
Hearing that she could still ride on Jason's shoulders, Ren's red eyes lit like torches. Unfortunately for Jason, this obligated him to put his money where his mouth was, so, after bidding farewell to a grinning Korrina and Alexa, he departed the booth with Ren perched happily on his shoulders. The walk from the booth to the stadium's entrance was like a crucible, but even with a considerable number of people stopping to take pictures and record him, he pushed himself to at least clear the virtually empty parking lot before asking Ren to get down and walk on her own...
...
..
.
Watching from the shade of the partially collapsed cliffs as Ren came to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be able to run around as easily on all fours, many conflicting thoughts fought for ground within Jason's mind. It occurred to him that Ren's tendency to emulate Korrina and others would only exacerbate over time.
Ren's penchant for emulation was so deeply engraved into her being that she had even acquired the exceptionally versatile Normal-type Pokémon Power: Copycat. The move would allow her to use the last-used move of her opponent, regardless of Typing. This was great as far as her reaching her full potential was concerned. But if he didn't take steps to address her imitating the behaviors of his lovers, there was an ever-increasing chance that Ren would begin pining after him, if for no other reason than because she viewed it as a natural means of being closer to him.
As he was confident in his ability to refuse Ren's advances on principle, Jason's most significant concern was hurting her feelings or leading her to feel as though she had done something wrong. Secondarily, he worried that Korrina and others might attempt to convince him it was okay for him to have physical relations with Pokémon. To them, sex was little different from an intimate massage, so he could easily imagine Korrina giving him a thumbs up or asking what the issue was if it allowed him and Ren to grow closer.
'The best course of action might be to leave her with Korrina so she can spend more time with her own kind...' thought Jason, experiencing a faint but growing discomfort in his chest. He didn't want to betray Ren's trust, and leaving her in Kalos, even if he believed it was for her sake, would be a betrayal of the highest degree. That left the option of explaining to her why they couldn't be as intimate as he was with others. But the issue with that was that it was an isolated view, not a position grounded in objective truth. There was, physiologically speaking, no reason they couldn't do the same things he did with Korrina and other women. It just didn't feel right...
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