"And this is the sitting room, which is used for hosting and conversing with guests," Lillie chimed, guiding Jason into a room with a lofty ceiling and varnished wooden walls. The spacious room featured floor-to-ceiling arched windows flanked by teal-green curtains, a teal-green carpet, and modern-looking off-white sofas and chairs arranged around a rectangular, transparent glass table. In the far corner of the room, there was a raised area with a curved facade, two marbled steps that followed the curve, a shiny, checker-patterned marble floor with ivory white and gold squares, and an elegant, circular table with a glass top and a gold frame—flanked by white leather, faux-gold cafe chairs.
"Ren sit here...?" Ren questioned, glancing at Lillie with a curious, slightly confused look.
"That's correct. Though we'll probably need to replace the table with one less susceptible to breakage," Lillie affirmed, making her way over to the closest of the off-white, bed-like sofas and setting Runa down. One didn't even have a backrest, allowing prospective sitters to plop down on it from any direction.
"That can certainly be arranged, but shouldn't be necessary, Lady Lillie," Hobbes interjected, explaining, "The table here might resemble glass, but it's a top-quality crystal polymer whose hardness is comparable to quartz, while also being shatter-resistant."
"That's a relief. But my primary concern is the sharp edges. Please have them rounded off or the table replaced as soon as possible," Lillie stated, her tone calm but suffused with a natural authority.
"As you wish, Lady Lillie. I shall see that it is completed before dinner is served," Hobbes affirmed, placing a white-gloved hand over his heart and bowing respectfully before turning smoothly on his heels to go and make the necessary arrangements.
"My future wife is a woman of action~" Jason teased, prompting Lillie to startle, straighten her back, and glance at him as he made his way over to one of the windows to glance outside. The mansion was perched along a reinforced concrete-and-stone cliff, so the view from the window was the canopy of a dense tropical forest. The glass pane didn't seem sufficient to protect against break-ins or wild Pokémon, but if one looked closely, they would notice that the pane along the frame was several centimeters thick.
"Not long from now, the two of us will be able to explore this forest and many other unique and interesting locations..." Lillie remarked, taking her place at Jason's side with her hands folded neatly over her lap.
"If everything goes as planned, it will only be ninety-seven more days..." Jason noted, extrapolating the number from his and Lillie's three-month timeline, plus the thirteen days they had remaining before their entrance ceremony.
"At least ninety-seven days," Lillie corrected, bumping Jason's shoulder with her own before looking up at him with a smile and reminding, "Let's not forget the advice everyone has given us. Mother and the League are highly competent. We do not need to rush to join them. Because, even if we did, our presence wouldn't change much without powerful Pokémon at our side and the experience to lead them."
"Fair enough..." Jason conceded, slipping his hand around Lillie's back to gently clasp her shoulder. He couldn't help but worry about what Team Rainbow Rocket and his attacker were up to, but as Lillie had pointed out, there was little he could do to thwart them with the power he possessed at that moment. If he wanted to change that, he needed to become much stronger.
'It feels as though I have the same revelation each day...' Jason mused, exhaling faintly from his nose but maintaining a contented smile.
"You're thinking about training, aren't you...?" Lillie questioned, glancing up at Jason with a playful, knowing smile.
"In a sense," Jason confirmed, releasing his hold on Lillie's shoulder and glancing behind them as he appended, "Though I was also wondering where Maeve and Nanahoshi were. Is the security team stationed away from the mansion?"
sffssffs
Reacting to Jason's words, Ren raised her snout and sniffed at the air before bolting toward the room's entrance as she exclaimed, "Maeve is this way...!"
"..."
"It's good to see Ren so full of spirit, despite the change in scenery~" Lillie hummed, making her way over to Runa to pick her up and hold her in her arms. Then, glancing back at Jason, she asked, "Shall we head toward the kitchen?"
"You know something you're not telling me," Jason noted, prompting Lillie to giggle and tease, "It's nothing bad—I promise," before leading the way out of the room. Jason curiously followed, and not too long after, he found Ren clinging to one of three conservatively dressed Maids preparing food in the kitchen—one with distinctive pink hair.
"Maeve is here~" Ren chimed, confirming Jason's suspicions and leaving him slack-jawed.
"No way...Maeve...?" Jason asked, prompting the pink-haired Maid to turn and stare at him with notably flushed cheeks.
"What's with that stupefied look? Do you have a problem with me dressing as a Maid...?" Maeve questioned flatly.
"No! Of course not...!" Jason answered quickly, raising his hands in an almost instinctual gesture of surrender as he added, "You look great, no matter what you wear..." with a slightly cramped smile. He couldn't deny that his image of Maeve as a cool, assured, and slightly thug-like beauty had been diminished, but she really did look great.
Looking around the kitchen, Jason expected to find Nanahoshi as well. Instead, there was a Maid with notably tanned skin, long, silvery-white hair, and bright teal eyes. The other had short, chin-length black hair and hime-style bangs that framed her face—set with notably sharp, cerulean-blue, almost cat-like eyes.
'Something wrong here...' Jason felt instinctively, his gaze lingering on the third Maid as she stared unblinkingly back at him.
"If you're looking for Nana, she isn't here right now. She and the others are participating in a walk-through of the Pokémon School to ensure its security is up to snuff..." Maeve revealed, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.
Though he would normally look at Maeve as she spoke, Jason kept his eyes on the strange woman, remarking, "I don't mean to come across as rude or accusatory...but this person here...they're not human..."
"Oh? The Young Lady's fiancé is perceptive. Is it that False Third Eye of yours that allowed you to see through my partner's Illusion...?" asked the silver-haired woman, prompting her raven-haired counterpart to transform into a Pokémon Jason both recognized but didn't. Its bipedal, ebon-black, red-accented, and spiky-maned, fox-like appearance were characteristics of a Zoroark—one of his favorite Pokémon.
Contrasting the image that Jason had in his head, which included the version from the Encyclopedia Pokémonica, the Zoroark posing with a wide stance before him was distinctly female. More significantly, it had red markings on its arms and legs, a thicker mane that was black with red accents instead of red with black accents, and a long, dark crimson, fox-like tail. It also had pale green piercings above its eyes, matching hooped earrings, and braided fringe bangs with beads.
As Jason was wondering if the Zoroark was a shiny or a regional variant he had never seen, the inordinately buxom Pokémon offered a courteous, hand-over-heart bow and introduced herself in a deep, distinctly feminine tone, stating, "Xandalah greets the Young Master..." with an almost Creole accent.
Giving voice to one of the many questions in Jason's mind, Lillie asked, "What Region are you from, Miss Xandalah? I've heard of many Zoroark who can speak, but I've never seen one with your features."
"That's classified information," said the silver-haired woman, offering a bow of her own as she revealed, "I am Special Agent Jenni Nowak, with the International Police Force's Special Interests Bureau. My partner and I have been assigned to watch over and protect Young Master Springfield and Lady Lillie for the duration of your enrollment at the Pokémon School. Please regard us as you would any other Maid."
"The Special Interests Bureau...isn't that the group assigned to provide security to Guardians...?" Lillie questioned, her brows creasing slightly as she hadn't been informed that Jenni and Xandalah would be a part of her and Jason's security detail.
"That is correct, Lady Lillie. Though I'm afraid I can't answer much more than that," Jenni confirmed, raising her head and beaming. Then, as if to say the conversation was over, she turned around and resumed chopping the fruits and vegetables she had been tasked to prepare.
Contrasting her partner, Xandalah didn't revert to her human form to continue working. Instead, she approached Jason with her naturally hunched, nearly two-meter posture and extended a four-clawed, red-padded paw, affirming, "You have good eyes..." while continuing to hold his gaze.
"Thank you...?" Jason responded, extending his hand to accept the calm but intimidating Zoroark's handshake.
[You have become a [Person of Interest] to the 3-Star Entity, [Xandalah of Great Qing]. Initial Bond Level: 49]
'Three Stars...she's on the same level as Luca...' Jason noted, surprised by the notification, the softness of Xandalah's paw pads, and the control she had of her strength. She had a very delicate grip, and though her crimson claws looked capable of sinking into and rending flesh, they were soft and flexible.
As Jason was preparing to retract his hand, Xandalah surprised him by abruptly transforming into him. The feeling of its hand didn't change, as its appearance was ultimately an illusion, but its outward appearance was virtually identical to his own.
"Amazing! Two Jasons...!" Ren exclaimed, going from sporting a slight, suspicious frown to wide-eyed excitement.
Glancing at Ren, Xandalah further demonstrated its prowess by copying her appearance next. Her voice, however, remained the same as she said, "Little Lucario...you have the potential to be strong..."
Though she was confused to see another her staring back at her, Ren reacted to Xandalah's words by pumping her paws and asserting, "Ren will be the strongest...!"
"Perhaps you will be..." Xandalah affirmed, her words calm but cryptic-sounding as she released her hold on Jason's hand and returned to her station. Jason couldn't help noticing that she all but ignored Lillie, but it wasn't difficult to deduce that Xandalah and Jenni were there to keep an eye on him, specifically. The International Police were supposed to have been a part of the beachside project from its inception, but Lusamine had stonewalled them. Now, there was much they likely wished to confirm for themselves...
...
..
.
Feeling a little on edge after his encounter with Jenni and Xandalah, Jason followed Lillie's tour by inviting her, Ren, and Runa for a relaxing, pre-lunch soak in his hot spring, where he revealed, "When I shook that Zoroark's hand, her name was listed as 'Xandalah of Great Qing.' Unless I'm mistaken, that's the name of one of the nations that exists outside of the League's control, is it not?"
"It is," Lillie confirmed, her brows creasing slightly as she revealed, "I've never been there myself, but I've heard it's a land of mystics and martial artists. They have an oppressive, hierarchical society where the powerful and affluent rule over the weak. And due to constantly being at war, both with itself and its neighbors, it's a place where many Ghost-types dwell in valleys perpetually shrouded in mist."
Though Lillie's words sounded like propaganda, Jason didn't refute them. He had no idea what Great Qing was truly like, but as Lillie described it, it sounded a lot like ancient China. Unfortunately, he knew very little about their culture and period outside of tidbits he had picked up from reading a handful of Wuxia novels.
"I'm guessing that Jenni is a lot like Bianca's friend, Hilda—the one who helped to defeat the group called Team Plasma," Jason guessed, leaning his head back and staring up at the void overhead as he added, "If that's the case, Xandalah might not even be her strongest Pokémon..."
"Hmmn...I'll contact mother once we leave here. But the IPF is very careful about protecting the information of its Special Agents..." Lillie proposed, picking Runa up and holding her like a baby. The infant-sized Pokémon couldn't soak in the spring for too long without overheating, so as Jason turned his head to admire her cute but shapely, she carried Runa over to the changing area to blow dry her and cool her down with a bottle of Moo Moo Milk.
"Ren will keep Jason company~" Ren expressed, moving over and sitting to Jason's right, emulating the behavior of other girls by resting her head on his shoulder.
"Mmn..." Jason responded, linking his arm around Ren's shoulders, facing forward, and closing his eyes. Ren had gradually learned what she should and shouldn't do while they were naked—especially in the bath. And as it had been nearly three months since she evolved, Jason had gotten much better at not minding the firm, fur-covered softness pressing into his side as she snuggled up to him, closed her eyes, and rested her heavy paw on his abdomen...
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