C079 - Aromatisse and Romanti...sse?

Valerie kept her eyes closed while smelling the gourd Pete had twisted open but looked around quickly when she heard gasps from the girls around her. After opening her eyes, she eventually saw Pete gently placing the fransa next to her glowing Spritzee and then hurry toward his bag resting at the water edge.

In swift movements, he took out a handheld item that was a camera linked to his personal tablet most likely, pointed it at Spritzee to monitor its evolution, and changed into research mode as he dictated the happenings of the last few hours before the evolution.

"Spritzee's evolution was induced after spending time in a flower field, followed by picking pleasant smelling flowers. Since evolution didn't happen at that time, a fragrant bath in the freshly picked flower petals was prepared. An hour later, the pokemon was introduced to a relatively new smell; the aroma of a freshly picked Fransa. I deduce that the requirement for evolution is either the introduction of a new, likely pleasant smell, an olfactory overload, a calm environment, intense smells from nature, flowery or otherwise, or a combination of all of the above. To cross-examine the evolution requirement, I suggest we first rule out fransa as the needed evolution 'ingredient' by exposing other Spritzee to a fresh fransa gourd. Further tests are required."

Whitney was about to say something about how naughty it was of Pete that he started recording a bunch of girls in bathing suits, but Jasmine knew her friend and sent her a dry stare.

Valerie ran to Pete and gave him a big hug, uncaring that they were both in a 'worrying' state of undress and bathing, "I knew coming to you was the correct decision!"

When the noises of shifting bones and flesh stopped and the glow faded the pokemon that used to be more or less a pink bird sphere turned into a bipedal varieté dancer with a pink and purple feathery skirt and a masquerade mask-like face.

Valerie finally released Pete and jumped over to her Aromatisse to greet her, "Hello lovely~! You're an Aromatisse now, right? I knew you could do it!"

It was a little awkward how much her trainer had to look up now because Spritzee was roughly on the same height when sitting on the boulder in the pool before, but as Aromatisse she was four times taller and everyone, even Pete had to look up. The pokemon, therefore, decided to gracefully jump over to the spring's edge and talk to her trainer from there. It seemed like she didn't want to wet her new feather dress, even to greet her trainer.

It wasn't necessary to do a thorough examination, so he left it at measuring a few parameters like height and weight, after which Pete packed his camera and gear away. He then grabbed Jasmine by the waist and dragged her back into the pool.

Resting his eyes and enjoying some tame skinship with Jasmine, Pete was awoken from his calm state by Whitney trying to stir up some stuff once more.

"Say Pete. I won a bet with Jasmine, which means I'm allowed to ask you some questions. The answer cannot be Jasmine or Sophie because that would be cheating," Whitney started, and Pete already groaned. He knew exactly where this was going.

"You once told me you're not a butt-man, so let's skip butts for now~," the normal type gym leader continued with a wide grin, and Pete groaned even louder..?

"Can't you just discuss this amongst yourself and leave me out of it?" Pete grumbled as he tried to use Jasmine as a shield and hid his face behind her back.

Whitney giggled mischievously and countered, "We've already finished our list. We now need the input from an unrelated party, so to speak."

"How's that fair if I can't talk about Jasmine and her identical twin?"

"We have a system in place," Sophie immediately answered with a grin of her own, happy to see Pete squirm a bit.

"Courtney and Sophie told me you regularly massage legs and feet," Whitney gleefully and grandly embellished.

"Jasmine's mostly, very rarely the two girls. And yes, it helps me relax to see her relax. Plus, I train my affinities while doing it. Mostly ground and water," Pete chimed in before Whitney could add some weird kinks into the mix.

Valerie came back, sat next to Courtney, and curiously asked, "What are we talking about?"

Courtney whispered the answer into her ear, and both girls gained a playful grin.

"As I was saying, who here has the prettiest legs in your mind?"

Pete was half a mind to simply ask Espeon to teleport him into his personal bathroom to skip this line of interrogation, but the teasing would only grow with Whitney, so he played along. If anyone's feelings got hurt, that was their own fault.

"Hmm, Valerie."

"And second?"

"Hihi, thanks~"

"Oh, you want me to give you top threes for my answer? That'll just be a lose-lose for me, so I'll pass on answering who is 2 and 3 on my list," Pete answered with a sigh.

Whitney and Sophie looked to one another and talked with just their eyes for a moment before nodding at the same time as both said, "Fair. Permission granted."

Pete just groaned once more at the two troublemakers.

"Alright, other side of the body, favorite hair?"

"Style, color or overall?"

Whitney and Sophie once more discussed with their eyes before answering, "Overall."

Jasmine patted his head softly to reassure him as Pete answered, "Courtney. Her hair color is very lovely. Before you ask, the same goes for her eyes."

"She really does have pretty eyes. You got nice taste, Pete," Valerie praised as she looked into Courtney's eyes with appreciation.

"We accept the answer, but please refrain from interrupting the interrogation process, Mr Lang," Sophie haughtily declared, barely able to keep a straight face.

"Okay, let's go on to style. Who chose the best bathing suit for this occasion?"

Pete sighed, and moments later answered, "Tie between Courtney and Whitney."

"Mhm, I expected this answer but to my defense I did not bring something suitable and only borrowed this piece from Courtney," Valerie explained as she looked at the lavender and brown bikini of Courtney and the wine red and pink one-piece swimsuit of Whitney with a bit of lace and extra strings.

A few bordering-on-obscene questions later, where Pete managed to place the girls first roughly the same amount without having to lie, Whitney asked her final question.

"Okay, now we're talking butts. Who's got the nicest ass?"

Pete sighed once more and, with a shake of his head, answered, "You all got nothing on Clair now that she changed out that ridiculous wet suit."

Sophie and Whitney wanted to argue that the answer wasn't fair because Clair wasn't present but eventually accepted the answer. She did have a nice behind.

"Okay. You have given us a lot to think about so shoo. We'll have some more girl talk to get through," Sophie playfully ordered, so Pete got up and walked to Arcanine. It was right around midnight, and his feet were wrinkled long ago anyway.

After telling his pokemon to sleep on dry land with a wink, the two made it into his house. Arcanine dried herself and Pete quickly with fire energy before even reaching the house, so they entered, and Pete made the two of them another drink for hydration.

Arcanine left to sleep in her personal den in the 'pokemon cave' that was connected to his home, and Pete got ready for his own bed.

After slipping into his bed and almost drifted away, Jasmine slipped under the cover behind him.

"I love being the little spoon. Very comforting," Pete whispered with a small laugh.

"I know you do. Sorry for the silliness earlier. You know how they are when my sister and Whitney get together."

"Ah, no worries. I know you know I'm well aware of the... redeeming qualities of everyone, but I'm sure you would rather not have me list them out in the open like that. So I'm sorry, too."

Jasmine pulled him closer and placed her hand over his.

"You think I'd be jealous? Hmm, maybe at the start of our relationship. But you've been the best boyfriend I could ask for, so I don't mind."

"Want to gossip a little?"

"Haha, sure. What scoop you got?"

"Courtney cheated on you, I think she's hooking up with Valerie right now."

"Pfft, old news. And she's not my girlfriend! Valerie pretty much gave everyone the bedroom eyes just now. You didn't see that? I think she's playing both teams, same as Courtney. And good for her, Courtney, I mean. She's been under a bit of stress lately ever since you opened up the second Combee nest and those two foal hatched. Who knew Zebstrika and Rapidash's offspring would be such a handful. Those two were so well-behaved as kids... not even grandma Rapidash can keep them in line. Though sometimes I think she's goading the foal on. You know, for shits and giggles."

"Hey! I thought I had the scoop on the gossip! Also, do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Where did that potty talk come from young lady!?"

Jasmine had to laugh and shoved Pete away a little. He quickly turned in bed and pulled her into his arms, chest to chest. But only a short moment later, he started tickling his girlfriend, and a short-lived 'fight' broke out that Pete won easily because he knew her 'tickle weak spot'. It was right between her shoulderblades. The weak spot was something she hadn't found on him yet.

As they both comfortably rested in each others arms, Jasmine spoke up once more in a tiny voice, "Would you want to try something with one of them?"

Pete furrowed his brows. His natural instinct as a man in a monogamous relationship was to immediately scream 'of course not' to appease his significant other, but even with a question like this, he didn't want to lie. Being truthful and direct was something he prided himself in. And Jasmine, so Pete would like to believe, did hint at something along those lines some time ago already.

"Hmm, before I answer. Is this a one-time thing, or do you want to have an open relationship? I don't think I'm comfortable with the latter," Pete eventually said in a diplomatic voice.

Jasmine's old shy self once more came to the surface as she blushed heavily and stuttered out, "N-no. I... I-I read about this in one of... t-the novels Sophie reads secretly. A-and I think they are pretty, t-too."

"Hmm, and we're young and not yet married, so you reckon it's still okay to try?"

Jasmine nodded and burrowed her head in his chest.

"I mean, I'd lie if I say I wasn't interested, just physically speaking. But think about it long-term. Would you really be okay with knowing you shared me with them? I have a bit of a macho perspective since the third partner you suggest will be a woman, and I can probably just convince myself I didn't share you with our partner. But you won't be able to do that."

Jasmine stayed silent, so Pete continued with a grin, "And just think if you somehow manage to convince Whitney or, Arceus forbid, Clair. They'll be your co-workers in two weeks time and you'll be their superior once you beat Lance and establish a Johto only circuit like you planned and then become the Johto champion by the end of the year."

"I just hope you don't think I need this to be happy in our relationship, Jas," Pete reassured when Jasmine stayed quiet even a minute later.

By the even breathing of his girlfriend, Pete mused that she either fell asleep because of the stressful day and the fact that she finally managed to speak her mind... or she simply pretended to be asleep so she wouldn't have to keep talking about this embarrassing topic. If it was the latter, it was very convincing. So Pete sighed and fell asleep with Jasmine glued to him.

When she noticed Pete was asleep, she opened her eyes and looked at his faint, gentle smile he always had on when he slept.

"Ugh, why do I make it so hard for myself," Jasmine whispered to herself more than the sleeping Pete.

She placed a hand on his cheek and gently brushed it. With a sigh, she eventually closed her eyes and fell asleep, too.