Exotos: And here we have the fifth chapter! Don't worry, nobody dies here, unless you count death by laughter or embarrassment, in which case someone will definitely wind up dead by the end of this.
Cross: Out of the curious it seems like the most popular stories were that of Chloe, Acerola and Reeve based on what I see on FFnet, Archive, Spacebattles, and Discord. Huh, thought Juliet's would be more popular. Eh, I got to use that 'Impidimp steal clothes' joke I'm amazed I never see used so I'm happy about that at least.
Exotos: Sure, Cross, you do you.
Cross: Anyway expect a MAJOR shift in the Blossomverse portrayal of X character in this chapter. Enjoy. Probably. Maybe. Just remember, as I've likely said on spacebattles, that this is a Blossomverse thing and not a Resetverse one. Saw a bit of confusion on the Spanish FFnet version, and I'll just reiterate that. This Chloe is based on the BlossomVerse one more than the Reset one. This is a fusion fic between the two universes to let me have some fun while chapters cook for Reset and to hopefully make Green PQ (The Blossomverse head writer) happy with some fun. The former is more successful…
Exotos: No comment.
Cross: Anyway, chapter time.
CHAPTER START!
The good news for Chloe was that today her work vacation was a work vacation, so she got to put on her swimsuit and go for a swim at the party up at the clothed lake. It was even amazingly clear for a post rainstorm lake, and she wasn't going to ask if they did something to make it that clear. If any Suicune weren't seen by Chloe, she didn't have to ponder someone capturing such a rare and powerful Pokemon.
(Or maybe the Ranger summoned one. She thought she heard somewhere they could do that. Or maybe the lake was just naturally unmuddied by the rain or some third solution.)
The bad news is that everybody else in Ash's family came too. In all their bikini and trunks-wearing glory. Though the part of her vacation that did involve work today did give her a bit of a break from the hot people in swimsuits.
"One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four…."
"One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!"
She could frolic as much as she wanted once she helped a few of the younger kids get some swimming lessons in. It was like when she had helped Jinny, just that these couple of Jinnys had enough siblings to take over a few large cities if they wanted to. Because she had mentioned that past work, she was also, thankfully, off food duty today.
"Oh you are a doll. You must be a really nice girl." One of the moms praised after she helped get their child swimming on their own. She had let go, and now the 6 year old little boy was swimming on his own.
"Not especially."
The mom, and all the other moms, laughed merrily at her quip.
"Ah what, compared to everyone else? That's hardly a fair comparison, everyone here's so nice!"
These kids seemed to be the youngest that the Ash father had spawned. At age 6, there would be no more in the family outside of the family itself spawning a new generation. Hopefully.
…
What was very different from the couple of six year olds present were the older siblings. The hundreds of them, and all of them seemingly some form of hot. And with the swimming lessons done, she had nothing between her and them. Nothing except swimsuits.
"Hello Chloe!" Juliet Avon, Galarian sibling, greeted her in a pink bikini that did not make it clear which of them was older. "How are you doing?"
"F...fine." She stammered as Juliet smiled.
"Glad to hear. Your story yesterday was great, do you have any more?"
"Ye...yeah…"
"Cool! Maybe we can share stories later, if that's okay with you?"
She nodded and the girl was soon off, getting called over by the Alolan twins for a volleyball game. There was a partner already there, so she didn't need her to come over.
She was popular!? When did that happen!?
"Funny girl!"
Her gaze, and form, spun around to a row of weights and exercise equipment where several people were doing fitness things. Lifting, pulling, stuff like that. Jinx, in a one piece black swimsuit, waved her over.
"Me?"
"Want to work on yourself? You don't need to be funny, green, and small! Go home with strength and humor!"
Small!
Dolomite whispered up into Jinx's ear and she looked surprised before correcting herself
"Small in your arms, legs, and torso. Your breasts are fine." Jinx said in a genuine apology, like it hadn't occurred to her what she could be taken as.
"Thanks but.. I like my weak nerd arms."
Jinx seemed confused but accepted.
"Find me if you change your mind!"
She shook her head as she got away from that. It was nice that people were friendly with her, it was a good change of pace, but it was also so…
Well okay, they were all half Ash (...or 37.45% or whatever half siblings were), so that made sense. Ash was friendly with nearly everyone he met, including her….
"Oh hey, it's the girl who tells really scary stories!" Reeve of the terrible nightmare got her attention next, who was standing with a bunch of other younger siblings and a giant pool of bobbing apples...no they were too round.
"Hey Chloe! Want to try out some ball bobbing?" Pendula, the performer sister in a light yellow bikini, waved.
"Ball bobbing?" She tried to keep her dirty thoughts only in her head. Reeve was 10 and she could see some in line with him who were younger. Pendula nodded.
"Yeah, it's like bobbing for apples but with Pokeballs! You keep the ones you get in your mouth!" Pendula showed off the vat of water that houses dozens of Pokeballs floating around in it, flashes of color showing a few that were not standard Pokeballs.
"Is that...safe for your teeth?" Chloe questioned. Pendula smiled before bending over, holding her arms crossed behind her back, her face in the water as she tried to grab at a ball with her teeth. Chloe's attention kept shifting between the girl's actively bobbing head and her raised buttucks, a conflict the younger kids did not have.
"Go get one!"
"Get the Great Ball, get the Great Ball!"
Pendula lifted her head up after a few minutes, a ball in her mouth. She muttered a muffled something, and said it again after spitting the ball out.
"See, completely safe. They do it all the time on boats like the S.S Anne."
"Didn't that sink violently?!"
"Yeah, but not because of any dental problems. Now, want to give it a go?"
"Bob! Bob! Bob! Bob!" The little kids cheered/demanded in that way little kids only could.
"...Fine, but if I break my teeth…"
"Ash will pay the bill." Pendula finished.
"No, you will." It wasn't Ash who was telling her to bite solid objects that hurt Goh when Gengar struck him with them.
"He provided the balls…"
Chloe had to bite her tongue before she said anything about that which ten years old were best without hearing. Ash did provide Goh his Pokeballs, which apparently was a huge budget windfall. And she could believe that. But phrasing was unfortunate. But enough on Ash and his balls.
And so, putting her arms beyond her back, she walked up to the tub and put her head in. Her face was in chilled water, her mouth making contact with balls and trying to latch her mouth onto one firmly, but they kept slipping away.
Nom! Nom! Nom!
Eventually she managed to latch onto a ball and raised the ball to the sky, to the cheers of the children and Pendula's claps. And hey, that didn't feel like biting a hard as steel nut.
"Hey she got a Repeat Ball!"
A Repeat Ball, what was…
She notices a crowd of older siblings than the bobbing fans, probably 14 or so, that had gathered behind the younger ones. Mostly guys but a few girls. Their gazes had suddenly raised as if what they'd been staring at just suddenly moved.
"Yeah, I have a butt! What about it!?" She told the older siblings to the confusion of Reeve and company.
"Why were they staring at her butt?" One of the younger girls asked.
"Because it's a very nice butt." One of the older brothers admitted before Aether jabbed him in the stomach. (Ow!)
"Hey, there's a girl attached to that butt, and she's really nice." He had also clearly been looking at her butt.
"And if you want the nice girl and her butt not to yell at you, try serenading before leering."
"What does serenading mean and how do we do it?" One of the thirsty girls asked.
Oh crap!
"She's with a girl named Lita." Pendula quickly fibbed and the teens quickly apologized and dropped any serenading thoughts.
"Oh, you two got together. Congratulations." Aether genuinely applauded, while not pointing out that Lita wouldn't necessarily care if something happened.
So would she get away from them now or…
…
"I went overboard but it's just...ever grow up in a small town? You're the only girl there who only likes girls and you get into the world and you just don't know what to look for." Said the girl who asked about serenading, the whole group of them and her under the shade of a tree just off the beach
"It's not any easier in a big city. I know a few other girls who are into girls and they're all bitches so they don't count." Chloe assured her. Just because it was somewhat known that Sara would glance at Julie when the larger girl wasn't looking did not mean that Sara x Chloe was the way.
...Or, instead of getting away from the horny (and lonely) crowd she'd end up as their sounding board. Okay weird week, you were still in good form.
The girl, whose name was Delaney, lay on her back, letting Chloe see her green bikini-clad body rather well. She had some nice muscle definition, but admiring that too much would muddy things and then she'd be serenaded!
"It was stupid but I saw you looking at that older sister of mine's butt and I thought 'a girl who likes girls! I can ask her out without it being a complete nightmare. Then maybe…'"
"You could travel around with her. Same." A brother named Germander, a thinner guy with dark hair and a Celadon University sun hat and swim trunks, sighed.
"I see a lot of our older siblings, and even some our age, with people they love seeing the world. I'd like to find something like that, and I just...I don't know where to start about that. A pretty girl I guess, and one who is nice to little kids. You were the one helping them learn to swim earlier, right?"
Chloe nodded.
"It's just stupid but...I never had friends. I don't know why, I just didn't. I've traveled for years as a trainer and I'd love to have someone to travel with too, I just don't seem to find someone. I thought maybe I was too subtle…" Hence why he was part of the bold crowd.
"Have you tried to see if anyone in town might be someone like that? Far less chances of stepping on someone's toes there." Choe asked as Germander wiggled his fingers nervously.
"I mean I know it can be done: I am kind of next door to an older sister of mine named Meliae who's really nice and she's always with some person from town. Only seen this one older girl twice, I think her name is Daisy but I heard that more…" He blushed, and they got the idea, "...but I guess...that's another reason I'm scared. What if they find out I have powers and run away screaming? We could travel a region together and I want to show her the truth….maybe that's why I never had friends."
"You can't be scared to get the connections you want. Friends, love interests, you have to be bold or you won't get anywhere." Chloe was such a hypocrite in that statement she was half expecting Arceus to come down behind her and tell her 'you wanted to see Ash's story about me trying to blow him up right now!?' and then do just that. But no sign of the creator of the universe coming down to punish her about her hypocrisy while sounding like an abridged vampire so she was safe for now.
"Just, be bold with someone who isn't with another person." Delaney summed up.
"Yep." And thankfully, again, Aether didn't tell them that 'no, that other person is fine with you seducing Chloe'.
This was certainly a different direction that she half expected this all to go.
"You're not being friendly so you can cope a feel, are you?" Mental Chloe growled at the crowd desperate to seduce her. "Because jokes on you, there's nothing to feel!"
It always took Chloe in her mind a second to realize what she said.
"No, there is plenty to feel. And we want to touch it all!' The mental vision crowd declared.
What alternate universe did she go to where that was almost plausible? Seriously, this was feeling more like an ecchi anime than reality sometimes! And if did make the jump to hentai...she still didn't know if that scared her or was what she hoped.
Anyway, Chloes' advice corner continued for a bit after that before they all had something to chew on for later.
...
"Hi, Chloe! How's it going?"
A bit later while she walked in the lake shallows the redhead turned around, and saw Ash swimming up to her, a wide smile on his face.
"Well I impressed some kids and talked out some problems with some admirers of mine, not sure what happens next. Do you have any ideas for some fun?"
Ash took a deep breath and hummed, scratching his chin until he got an idea.
"Combusken fight!"
"Wait, what?!" Chloe exclaimed at the idea Ash came to. "Ash, I don't even have a Combusken to fight with!"
The guy laughed. "Not that kind of Combusken fight!"
Ash dived into the water, then rose back up, Chloe sitting on his shoulders as she tried to regain her balance. As she saw a few other groups of people doing the same thing, and trying to knock others off. She saw Vedia knock the female Lono twin off her brother from her mount Belladonna for one such bout.
And before Chloe knew it, another pair swam up to them, and the older girl grabbed and clenched hands with her. She recognized her as Iolani, the trial captain.
Now stuck in a struggle with the older girl, Chloe had no choice but to play along, and do it quick, because if she knew anything about Bloodliners, is that their superior strength
*BONK!*
"Ow!"
"Haha, nice try, kid!" Iolani chuckled in amusement. "But in this family we all have quite thick skulls!"
"Is that why Ash is so dense?!"
"Yeah, kind of!" Ash admitted from below her.
And the struggle continued, Iolani overpowering Chloe more and more as the redhead tried to figure out what to do.
It was then that she noticed Iolani's bikini top, and remembered how one of the biggest weaknesses of a woman was her modesty.
Not that... She was speaking from experience.
So, she took a deep breath, leaned forward, bit and pulled back...
*SNAP!*
"KYAAAAH!"
*SPLASH!*
By the time Chloe returned to reality, she saw Iolani jump out of the water, the other half-siblings of Ash staring at the duo, and Iolani's bikini top stuck to her mouth, which she spat out as everybody cheered and clapped.
Even Ash, which caused Chloe to hit the water. Fortunately, the redhead was okay, emerging out with a look of pure shock and disbelief.
"I can't believe that happened... That I even did that... Ash, please tell me that what happened didn't really happen!"
"I think you're overreacting a bit, Chloe," Ash replied. "Besides, shouldn't you be happy? You won! That's something to be proud of!"
"Is it, Ash? Is it?" Chloe shook her head. "I could be proud of beating a member of your family in a Pokémon Battle, or a Tournament, or a Contest, but a Combusken Fight? And one I only won by playing dirty, to boot!"
"A victory's still a victory, Chloe. Besides, quick thinking and outside-the-box tactics are pretty well regarded in my family. I'm sure you got someone's respect."
"Ha! Girls got mine!"
Iolani seemed to have no hard feelings even as she held a hand out for her top and fixed up back on, covering herself back to decency.
"Really?"
"Sure. I appreciate guts and thinking outside the box. It's what makes a trial winner after all. Though if you wanted to put your face in my chest… sorry, I'm straight."
Why was she blushing harder!? She hadn't just been topless!
"But if you really want to," Iolani pressed her breasts together and leaned forward. "I guess I can make an exception."
Chloe actually made Combusken sounds before swimming away, the amused Iolani laughing as the Cerise girl kept running.
…
And she ran right into something with a lot of jiggling.
"Oh hey Chloe! You want to join in this tug of war! It's moms versus kids!" Lita waved her down in a black bikini that made the obvious quite obvious. She was right at the end of a large rope where many were currently gathering. She recognized Betty and Jaime, Dawn, the Charlotte kin, Serena, and Travis among others.
"Isn't that a slaughter?!" Chloe questioned. She had just tried bonking the head of one of these guys and the moms thought they could win?
"Oh we cheat a little." Charlotte assured her from the other end of the rope. Chloe assumed by 'cheating' she meant the fact that the moms had a few Pokemon on their end who were also holding onto the rope.
"But my mom isn't here….unless one of you teleported her over or something in which case…" she would say 'Arceus no, no, no, no, anything but that, please no.'
Fortunately no one offered to do so.
"We need one more to make it fair on the kids side, so join the fun kid!" A red haired mom with a real 'I am a mom' haircut said in a loud, booming voice that sounded like she owned a rambunctious business. Was she the mother of Travis who previously hosted a reunion at a hotel?
"You should have some fun today Chloe, and this will be a blast!" Delia waved from the front of the mom line. "It helps that I borrowed a few of Ash's to make sure we win of course, mom's tax and all."
Behind Delia an Incinerorar waved at her before gripping the rope behind Delia again.
"Yeah, get in front of me Chloe, it's more strategic that way!" Lita called for her.
Strategic, how? Was she supposed to use Lita's boobs as leverage to avoid falling or something?
…
"Chloe, keep pulling! I'll keep your body steady with my boobs so you won't fall over!"
She had been kidding when she thought that!
"Lita, can you repeat that! Your boobs are muffling my hearing!"
...
After that came lunch, which was more like an all-you-can-eat buffet than a normal dinner, given all the hungry people devouring food without a care in the world. Fortunately, she was not serving any food today, or she might lose a hand.
"So I heard you won a game of Combusken Fighting by flashing everyone." Lita asked her with a grin.
"Which I totally intend on telling everyone back in Alola, by the way!" Iolani laughed. "It'll be a story that'll be told for generations!"
"I really hope that's not the case," Chloe grimaced. She didn't need to be internationally known as a pervert or something.
Lita smiled teasingly. "So, you really did grab Iolani's bikini with your teeth and snapped it off with them?"
"I'm a complicated individual, bite me."
"Oh do it with Thunder Fang!" Evanna called from a few rows down, sounding like she liked being bitten with elemental fangs. Did Belladonna…
"No...let's not." Lita replied.
"Well don't worry about me stealing her from you sis. I prefer biceps to boobs." Iolani assured Lita.
"That's good. She's really popular." Lita declared with a smile and an arm over her shoulder.
And she still didn't get why.
"Do Vedia or Jaime get this sort of attention?" She sarcastically asked. Was it just because she wasn't, despite Pendula's cover fib, in a relationship and was thus 'a free agent, game, or otherwise available'.
"Well for one thing Jaime and Betty are strictly a two person thing. We know that, we don't bother them, we gently let everyone know that if it ever comes up. Usually only after people realize that not everyone is like that and they start hoping. As to My Sweet Vedia…" Belladonna poked her head to Chloe's other side, opposite of Lita, and gave her a bit of a good view of her purple bikini top. Vedia, whose one piece swimsuit was a similar color, finished for her.
"...I don't advertise that I occasionally desire a man."
"You're Bi?"
Vedia nodded.
"Yeah, don't ask me what her appeal is. I've seen naked men who aren't my brothers and I've never gotten what makes My Sweet tick." Belladonna shrugged as she swiped a large slice of pie. One could envy the crumbs that promptly fell down into her chest.
"I've explained it to you, Aurora, and Evanna, you just don't get it." Vedia didn't sound argumentative as much as she did matter of fact.
Chloe had a few dozen things she wondered about asking at that moment, but fear of answering of what they might mean kept them down.
"So I guess that any of the boys looking at your other two isn't going anywhere." Lita japed for her as Vedia nodded.
A slight disruption came over the table, and Chloe and the others broke from their conv to figure out what it was. It seemed to be two people arriving, a boy and a girl, one related and one not.
The girl had tanned skin, z-marks under her eyes, white hair and a pink one piece swimsuit. Her eyes were red like many of her siblings.
The guy had lighter skin, green hair, and wore green trunks. He made Chloe guess they were about her age, given the girl was more Lita than Dawn
"Hey there, everyone!" the z-marked girl shouted. "Sorry for being so late!"
"Not at all, Spinel," Iolani rolled her eyes. "There's always room for one more."
"More like two more," Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Who's the guy with you?"
"Oh, him? He's Alabaster," Beatrice blushed. "Some of you knew him already.. He's… my boyfriend."
"Oh gods you finally tied the knot!" Belladonna outright squeed, a sound that made Chloe almost dread what she'd sound like when marriage was a thing. And she wasn't the only one with loud approval. Claps and cheers and squees came from everyone quite loudly.
"Wow! I told you it wouldn't be a problem! You just had to say what you both felt out loud and it all clicked in place!" Pendula added from a few tables down.
"Good on you guys, I wish I was you." Germander admitted as he got a few comforting pats on his back.
Red nodded at the two.
"Yeah, I just...I just had to stop being scared about rejection. I had to take a risk and it was all worth it." The sibling said before the two cuddled to the approval of the entire family.
And a weight came over Chloe's heart.
She quietly stepped out.
…
She was at the lake alone when she realized that Lita had followed her.
"...Why can't I be like that?" She asked Lita as the taller girl caught up to her.
"Like what?"
Chloe pushed her fingers into the side of her skull in frustration.
"Like...like that! Just able to go ahead and just do it! Just...just….urgghhh I can't say it without sounding so corny!"
"I play Kingdom Hearts, hit me." Lita confidently told her.
"Not that kind of corny!"
"Oh… tell me anyway."
"...I'd have to give so much context it would take an hour to get through but I...I want to be like those two." She cut off any DARKNESS before it could slip out.
"They had years and you've been here five days, not even that. Don't be too hard on yourself...I'd say but you really want to, don't you?"
Chloe nodded, biting her tongue.
"I just...like I feel like if I could just get this one or two things I'm feeling out I'd feel so much...lighter. But I have no idea how to do it without embarrassing myself in front of everyone."
"Yo, Chloe!"
"Ash?" the redhead inquired as the guy approached her, having followed her and Lita apparently. "Do you need something? I'm kind of having a moment."
That was a slight warning that if it wasn't related he should probably get away, but it was in fact related.
"Well I was going to see what was bothering you, but seeing as you just said you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone, which you wouldn't trust me, maybe you could try my Lapras. Right in the middle of the lake, too deep for most swimmers. It's as private as you can get without going too far."
"That's a great idea! Plus he probably doesn't need the hour of context!" Lita agreed to it.
"Can you fit three people on a Lapras?" Chloe felt odd leaving Lita behind on this, but she waved it off.
"It's no problem. I want you to get everything off your chest, emotionally speaking. You can find me when I'm done if you want to get everything off your chest in other ways."
Chloe blushed at the double entendre as Ash laughed before a quick request that if she did that 'to do it where you won't be stumbled on'.
"Is that okay with you Chloe?"
Chloe blushed and twiddled her fingers. "It is...and I always wanted to ride in the back of a Lapras…"
Ash extended his hand forward, and after staring at it for a few seconds, Chloe grabbed it with a little smile.
...
"Chloe… are you sexually frustrated?"
The redheaded girl stared at Ash for a few seconds, then scoffed at his choice of an opening question. "This is what I get for asking you about a Bloodliner's sex drive before I even got here, isn't it?" Or was it an ice breaker?
"Well you also went up to a skinny dipping lake, looked at quite a few of my siblings with wanting eyes, smacked Lita's….."
"Okay okay I get it…" She waved him off before he said something she didn't want to ponder or have repeated. Like maybe she had stared at his mom's butt too long at one point and he had noticed or something.
The two of them were sitting on Ash's Lapras, who had a sash on her saying 'Lake Safety Pokemon', so she could lay back and not start taking in water. Somehow the spike laden shell was actually rather comfy to lie back on.
"...Yah, I guess I am confused, frustrated, and scared all at once…...you were fifteen once right Ash?" She asked a dumb question.
"Yep."
"...What was it like for you?"
Ash hummed to himself.
"Well I just learned that people liked me romantically….." she resisted her urge to snark, she really had to bite it down. It was so snark open it was obvious. It was a cue even Goh could see, "...and that was being figured out. It was another layer to life: friends, traveling, battling, added reasons why Serena did some things and May other things and stuff like that…."
"My life doesn't really have layers. Outside of Goh...not sure I'd trust anyone my age with anything, not even my lunch." She tried to phrase that so she wasn't directly knocking Ash. He was hearing her out after all, and he was nice enough to not eat her lunch. It was just the chips in the shared pantry that she probably could just have put a 'CHLOE' on to keep him from eating them.
"...No one in school likes me. Teachers do but...they're teachers, they don't count. Anyone new quickly sees me as weird or scary, and I don't even know how much of that is this one girl named Sara. I hear and see things, but there is a barrier between me and doing anything. I don't like the lab that much, but it's not like there are any clubs that would have me. Only thing worse than playing a game alone at the lab is a club of one. But I still hear things….I still feel things…."
"You still want things." Ash finished for her. She nodded.
"...I do, but I don't even know what I can do about it. I mean I can't exactly ask my parents….best I'd get is my mom giving me too much information about what I sometimes hear at night. Of course when I bring it up to dad…."
"You did say it pretty bluntly and out of nowhere. Mom apparently knew about everything before I did. So when it came up….she just smiled and said 'no grandkids before I'm 40'."
"I guess I did….." She admitted. "It's just….I sort of imagine how I'd say things in my head at times, and rehearse them. They...well they build up sometimes. I have this entire thing about how no one wants to be my friend scripted out….but I don't think you want to hear it."
"How long's the script?"
"Fifteen minutes, give or take."
"Then let's skip it."
She nodded slowly in agreement.
"Guessed. It's kind of...silly to actually say when I'm not boiling with anger. Then it sounds perfect. Still...I'm surrounded by sex and goofiyness and fun like nothing I've had before, I want some of the sex and enjoy the goofiyness despite myself, but I'm scared to death of it at the same time. Aren't I pathetic?"
"Chloe, that's never a word you should use about yourself. You aren't pathetic, and you've never been." Ash said with a firmer tone before going back to his regular one, "You are just nervous about something that you want and is right there, but could go wrong if you do it badly. It's kind of like the couple of times I've been at the Running of the Tauros. I want to get a trophy for touching a horn of one while they're stampeding and I'm used to Tauros trust me, but even I can't help but flinch and avoid being run over. Used to be because of nerves, now it is because when I do things like that the girls get annoyed at me."
"You know, that's probably the first strange story I've heard here that I actually get. Palmpona right?"
"Yep."
Chloe just hummed, falling silent until she gathered enough courage to ask:
"Ash, if I asked you to help me…. Blow off some steam, would you help me?"
"...Give me a second, I need to send a message first…."
To her surprise Ash had one of his Pokemon (she thought it was a Noivern) fly off for some reason. At least, until she had thought about what she had just said.
Given how she had phrased that, she almost expected Ash to have sent his dragon off to get permission. The following minutes were filled with the scenarios of her accidentally propositioning Ash and every possible scenario that could happen as a result of it and unable to say anything to Ash to tell him that she didn't mean it like that!
Either she was going to be rejected for asking that and end up in the place she feared the most because she had to open her mouth or...or….or….
'We give you permission Ash. Go mate with Chloe!' An imitation of Iris's voice played in her head.
'Yes Ash, you may claim Chloe as a royal concubine. Have fun breaking her in!' Her questionable mind-Acerola chimed in.
'She's been a very naughty girl Ash, make sure you spank her a few times.' Fictional Misty suggested.
'Just remember that no means no; don't force her to do something she doesn't want,' the mental Serena said. Guess even in her own thoughts, Serena was the reasonable one.
"... Why are you looking at me?" Mind May asked, and Chloe wasn't sure if she was asking Ash or Chloe herself.
'Chloe, it's time to show you the family great-sword.' She was pretty sure that even if Ash…..well even if he was going to follow up on what she had just asked him, he would not be quoting lines from some of the questionable fanfics she had read as seductive dialogue. She really hoped not….
Those were more hilarious than if he also posed like in those fanfics for emphasis.
Noivern returned, but with the honey blonde who had suggested she get a thirteen year old's swimsuit from her first day here. She was as tall and busty as before, just in a somewhat daring one piece swimsuit instead of a sling bikini. What….what did this mean!?
"Chloe, this is my sister Meliae. She's….well she doesn't have a degree but I think the closest term is 'sex counselor'. At least she's sort of that informally for a lot of us."
A what!?
The girl smiled.
"I wouldn't call myself that, that's a bit of a different thing than you think it does Ash. (Then what does it mean Ash had asked…..) I am, however, good at helping when those in our extended family are having trouble with things like relationships, sexuality, things like that."
"I'm not…" Chloe pointed out as Meliae shook her head.
"You want to be….though perhaps on your own terms. No one's married yet, though no one would say that anyone like Jamie or Serena or Vedia aren't part of the family. Everyone's happy to belong to something, even something that's kind of screwed up and crazy."
Chloe decided not to ask about that any further.
"So… what's the first thing to do?"
"First things first, you need to get over this fear you have. What are you scared of?"
"Do you want me to tell her or…" Ash offered but she declined.
"I'm scared of sex, and the sexually explicit. Yet I also...want it if that makes any sense." Chloe told the older girl. Ash would genuinely give it his best, but she had to say it.
"It does. It's a perfectly natural contradiction to feel. Sex, or perhaps sexuality and affection in general, is both wondrous and scary." Meliae assured her. "But there's more to it than that, isn't it?"
"Mostly my body image stuff. Guess no one here would know anything about that… don't know if you were in school past age 10, but it's everywhere. Hormones, crushes, lust….I see it everywhere and it's talked about everywhere, but always around me. It's this thing that everyone seems to do but me, and I'm saying that as someone whose sure Yeardley only knows his hands. I could walk into the guy's locker room and strip and nothing would happen. There's a barrier between me and everyone else….and that's even worse.I….I…."
Oh geez if she said it she would sound so melodramatic.
"Go right ahead Chloe, you can trust us." Ash assured her.
"...More than I might joke or mean about wanting sex, I just want someone who loves me! I mean I have my family and Goh but something different than that! I'm seeing everyone here with people they love and lust for and show everything too and even without a barrier or people treating me like a freak….I just feel so alone! I know that everytime I hear someone in school talking about their boyfriend or their girlfriend is just going to end in a break-up a week later, or that they probably aren't having as much sex as rumored, or that real love and teen love are different things, but I just want some of it! I don't want to be alone, but everything about it scares me! What if I screw up! What if I really am ugly! What if I don't know what I'm doing! What if it just feels like I'm being used! What if what if what if!"
She had to stop to breathe, and that brought her back to earth….and back to fear.
"Do I get thrown off Lapras now for shouting all of that out?"
"Not at all." Meliae assured her.
"What if you took a deep breath and tried again?" Ash suggested. "Don't take this the wrong way, Chloe, but I can't understand you if you speak faster than a Ponyta galloping."
"Kantonian or Galarian?"
"The fiery one."
"Aren't they both fiery?"
Chloe took a deep calming breath. Now to say all that in more than a single breath.
…
"Oh, okay," Ash nodded after she repeated herself comprehensively. "That's understandable."
"I agree," Meliae scratched her chin. "If you'd like my opinion, I think you should start by taking baby steps towards breaking out of your comfort zone."
"And how do I do that? Do I need to accept that nothing bad will happen if I touch someone's boob or something? Or just do it without being spur of the moment and consciously do so since I keep doing it unconsciously?"
Meliae smiled.
"Well if that is what you need to do. Go ahead, nothing bad will happen if you do. The sky won't fall and no one will be mean to you. You can do it because you want to and intentionally chose to do so. With me first, then that cute little sister of mine you're with."
"Ash….your sister is telling me to touch her boobs….." Chloe whispered in shock, she had been half joking!
"Don't worry, she's saying it completely platonically." Ash….well he didn't quite miss what she was worried about, but he didn't quite hit the target either.
And so…. very…. very… very…. slowly, with much dread in her heart, she pushed her hand forward. Finger after finger broke and fled, leaving just one finger to do the poking. It pushed into the ample flesh, a layer of cloth separating the two….and it stayed there.
The only sound was the lake water lapping against Lapas.
"See Chloe, nothing bad happened." Meliae assured her "They aren't bombs."
Chloe quickly pulled her hand away. "How are you not scared about being judged?"
She meant that about a lot of things. She'd let Meliae guess what she specifically meant.
"If you live your life worried about everyone else's thoughts on you, you'll be so scared that you'll never do anything you want to do. If what you want to do doesn't hurt no one unfairly, you should only ask yourself if you can do so and not what others think." Meliae spoke sagely.
"Why the caveat about hurting people unfairly? What's hurting someone fairly?" Chloe questioned.
"I have my own league trophies." League Champion Meliae quipped. Huh good point. "Where I can I try to have everyone be happy, but sometimes competition is the way and we all know how that goes."
Try to have everyone be happy...
Hearing that, Chloe looked back at Meliae's ample bosom, the sense of unease on acting on her desires starting to crumble and asked a bold question.
"Could I… hug you? With my head between your breasts?"
"Of course. Whatever you need."
Chloe promptly rested her head against one of Meliae's soft breasts. She stayed like that for a few minutes, feeling her worries crumble further.
"You know, this can go as far as you need it to Chloe." Meliae gently told her. She looked up at the honey-blond sister, not a hundred percent sure what she meant.
"When you say that…"
The older girl smiled.
"I absolutely do not mean that just platonically. We'd get off Lapras of course, but if you need to get every worry out of you I can make them all go away."
Lapras let out a sound that could be best described as 'please don't fuck on me.'
"Not sure I'd stack up…" Chloe wasn't sure how to phrase what she had heard without accidentally ruining things by calling Meliae a slut or loose or some insulting term. Meliae chuckled.
"You say that like I'm looking for someone perfect. A match that would complete me and be at my side forever. And you know, I would like someone like that, but until then I have no reason to not enjoy myself."
Meliae stroked Chloe's hair gently, her fingers running through the lengthy red strands with a smooth practice.
"If you want to put aside all your worries and doubts about yourself, I can do that for you. I can show you just how beautiful your body is. I can give you the experience and the confidence to know that you have nothing to dread."
Her eyes briefly darted to Ash, who had a look that told her 'this is going a bit of a different direction than I expected it, you want me to intervene?'
She shook her head, only once because her head was still nestled, but he got it. This was….unexpected, but she could handle it herself.
"It's the corniest thing to say but…" she began as Meliae chuckled.
"Oh, you want to figure it out on your own, or perhaps with someone you know. That little sister of mine seems rather fond of you, and I'm guessing you like to try things with her. Dating, affection…"
"...And everything else."
"Love and affection adds a certain oomph to sex Chloe. One that can surpass any other factor."
"Any other factor…" Chloe whispered as Meliae nodded.
"Indeed. Our...father, for lack of a better term, could be called many things, and among the few positives could be in regards to sex. A very narrow and shallow definition of positive sure, but indeed. Physically there was little any of our mothers could disagree with, but in the regards to passion, compassion, love, care, empathy, and all the other spices of love and sex he was lacking."
So because her mother was not some sort of sociopathic god complex murderous nutcase she was a better lover to Ash's mom than the guy who could probably do the 13th labor of Hercules every night. Ideally she would never think that thought again, but she got the point.
Wanting to stay far away from the comparison her mind made, she approached the other subject.
"Lita...doesn't seem to have an issue with me finding the same thing with a guy…"
"Well, everything I said still applies. If you want to find someone whom you feel something for that's all on you, and if you want someone who can show you everything...well I can give you some suggestions. Just make sure you tell Lita what you are doing, if you want to be more with Lita first of course. In a relationship of any sorts, communication is key."
The final weight on her nerves was starting to creak open...and she didn't think she could stop it. She'd let it all out, and if it went wrong or right…
"Ash I….I…..I….have a confession to make. This is…..er….."
"You can say whatever you have to. This is a safe place Chloe." Meliae said gently. Oh how fortunate they all had the family bonehead gene, for as little as that would lessen the impact.
"...You have...no idea how….it's…..this….." Chloe knew what she wanted to say. It was something that had always been on her mind, it was something that lurked inside her. It was something that she had often tried to pretend wasn't real, that it wasn't a thing. It was a secret she had kept from everyone, and the fact that the only person to have even gotten anywhere near it were Parker and Goh….
Well that either said something about luck, chance, or that Goh really knew her better than either of them thought.
"Ash…..I think you're… interesting!"
Lapras, who was not paying attention at the time, gave a confused sound off.
"Interesting as in…" Meliae asked as every word from her deepest secrets burst out.
"Yes! Cool! Hot! Sexy! My Type! Amazing! Beyond me! Too Good for Me! I know it's stupid and girlish and I honestly seem to find everyone around here hot in some way but its true! You're big and strong and nice and friendly and you talk to me even when I don't always talk back to you and that was before I saw you naked! I don't like traveling to jungles to fight the hordes of death like you do but that's not the only reason I really said no! I was always worried you'd find me boring or stupid or I'd see you naked and make a fool of myself or you'd see me naked and consider be ugly or even that I'd walk in on you and Goh and I might have fantasized about that maybe once without the NTR! Yes Goh was right I probably do act like a Tsundere but I don't know what else to do! I'm embarrassed and self conscious and I'm nothing in your league at all. I'm just Professor Cerises's daughter, and that must make it weird too somehow!"
"Chloe I…..I…...don't know what to say. Well I can say that Goh and I aren't together in any way and I have no idea what 'NTR' is but…." Ash seemed to be trying to formulate a response that would fit what she had just admitted to. "Also, you talked really fast. It was kinda hard to follow it all so I really don't know what to say."
Chloe sighed, taking calming breaths to say things more clearly. "I just… I don't know… I do feel like I might like you, I definitely find you really attractive, but if I admit to it, some kind of higher power is going to punish me for it. Or worse, punish my family and friends to keep me in line!"
"Chloe, no one would ever punish you for how you feel…." Ash assured her, before hugging her. It wasn't like being in the soft chest of Meliae, but the solid chest of Ash…..well it was warm and soft in its own way. And solid as his words of assurance. It was an odd feeling in a sibling sandwich.
"...I feel silly. Here I am confessing to everyone it seems….." She muttered into Meliae's chest as he felt his hand gently rub her back. The touch was soothing, exciting, and comforting.
"Well everyone's attracted to a lot of people, it's nothing that weird. And we're nearly all being so nice to you...it sounds bad to say it but I don't think you're used to that." Meliae said soothingly.
"I'm not… Say, I don't have to join your harem now, do I?" She asked Ash, wondering what was supposed to happen now. Was there going to be a rejection, an acceptance, some third thing that was less good an acceptance and less bad than a rejection.
"My girlfriends and I….we've been through a lot together. I traveled with many of them for years before we agreed to anything serious, figured out our feelings, and stuff like that."
"Yes or no, Ash?" She did not want his deflection, she wanted an answer.
"Well… I'd say it's up to you. Well and May, Misty, Serena, Anabel, and Acerola too."
Did Iris's lack of a mention suggest Chloe had gotten her spot on in her head?!
"Bloodliners are more or less human, though there are some differences beyond us having powers and eating a lot. That includes mental things which include a certain….laxity in relationships compared to regular people." Meliae explained
"Is that why Lita didn't seem to get angry that three of her brothers wanted to bang me?"
"To an extent, though it is not a hard and fast rule and it varies among each of us. I said we tend towards being a bit less possessive and such, not lacking it or being fine with everything. Relationships are ever evolving things Chloe. And of course, there is a difference between a physical relationship, an emotional relationship, and both, as well as how those around you would react to you wanting one. "
Chloe, realizing she was still using Meliae's chest as a pillow this entire time, quickly got up and blushed.
"Sorry, I got carried away."
"That's fine, it always feels nice having someone use my breasts as pillows."
Chloe paused. "Your family's weird, Ash."
"And you noticed just now?"
"..."
"It doesn't bother you, does it?" Ash didn't ask.
"No." Because he didn't have to question it.
…
Ash would have to explain things and ask all those he was with before anything could be said one way or another, and until then it was her choice to do with what she will. And there was one thing she wanted to do first, regardless of the answer.
She was dropped off on the beach right next to Lita by a smiling Meliae, who took the Water-type along and away as they were alone on a quiet stretch of beach. She could hear the rest of the family further up and down the lake, but for now it was just the two of them. Chloe took a deep breath and approached the Bloodliner, twiddling her fingers as she did.
"Lita, uh…. I was wondering… do you think maybe you and I could….um…..da...er...do things….er…."
"You want to have a date!?" Lita exclaimed, sounding unbelievably happy.
"...yes.…."
"The answer's yes!"
And if only that was all there was to it.
"There's a little…you want me to explain it in full?"
"Sure!"
And she did. Amazingly at no point in explaining her full complication of emotions did Lita look like she wanted to slap her or call her two-timing or something.
"Well it sounds like we just have to wait until Ash gets back to you." Lita took that away from it all instead of...well anything else. "Okay, let's have some fun!"
Did she mean fun like…
…
"Combusken Fight!"
Chloe, now on Lita's shoulders, was more than a little disturbed.
"Will I get fired if I win?" She asked the one who shouted that.
"Only if you take my top off in order to win. Oh dear, what a day to wear a bikini." Delia Ketchum giggled from Grace's shoulders.
"Chloe, we got this!" Lita declared from below. Well at least one of them was confident. She'd just be happy to not get fired in the next minute or two.
…
About five minutes later her boss emerged from the water, laughing after she'd been pushed off by a triumphant Chloe.
"See Chloe, I told you!" Lita cheered from below her. She, she did win. She wasn't fired. She..she was smiling.
…
"To the left!"
SWING!
"Lefter!"
SWING!
TWRAK!
"Yay! She hit it!"
Chloe removed her blindfold to see the massive fruit that she had just cracked.
"Wow...that felt harder than hitting a pinata." Chloe admitted as she grabbed her slice before the younger kids grabbed a few slices.
"Well I guess you are hitting the air instead of the dirt."
"I don't get it." Jinx was as confused before the activity as she had been after seeing it.
"The idea is hitting something you can't see and eating it after you break it. It's a fun party game." Chloe explained to the terrifying girl who made Ash looked worldly.
"It doesn't seem like good training. How would you learn to disembowel someone that way?"
"...How do you take a bowl from someone with a stick?" An innocent seven year old asked his older sister without fear. The power of family and familiar naivety perhaps.
"It's a saying, and it's not to be elaborated on." Chloe heavily hinted towards the amazon/weirdo/scary girl/whatever Jinx was.
"You want a go at the next one?" Lita offered her older sister the stick Chloe had been using. Jinx examined it for a moment.
"Can I use an axe?"
She brought an axe!?
"No." Lita managed to say with a straight face and Jinx took the smashing stick from Lita with a thoughtful face, as if trying to figure out how to best use it. Chloe instinctively shepherded the young and small a safe distance away.
...
"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"
Chloe would love to explain how Lita had been talked into a competition to drink an entire tub of melted ice cream in competition with several of her siblings, but she couldn't. She was just rooting for Lita at the moment and was going to wish for her victory.
"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"
…
"Well I didn't win that, and now I'm all sticky." Lita complained as Chloe walked up to her, feeling just that bolder.
"Well we can swim most of that off in a minute, but I think I can help with some of that." Chloe informed the tall girl.
"Oh?"
"Lean over a bit." And when Lita did she took her lips in a nice kiss. There, some of it was gone, the lake could get the rest of it.
The cheers from the gathered siblings were full of approval.
….
"If all that was fun, I can't wait to see what your idea of a date will be." Lita said cheerfully, having finished a swim to get the rest of the melted ice cream off.
"Just don't spill ice cream on yourself." Chloe joked. The two were alone in a little wooded bank of the lake, somewhat private from the rest of the group.
"You don't want to kiss off the rest of it?" Lita quipped.
"I prefer ice cream that is somewhat solid. Anyway, as to something that is actually a date I got a big chunk of tomorrow off. Want to actually try golf?"
"Sure!"
Chloe bit her lips with the last of her worry, at least for now. Depending on what the answer was she might get more later.
"I know I must seem like a lot of fun now, but at home I'm kind of boring. I read scary stories and write fanfics and play cards. I don't go on adventures. I can't even bring myself to go to an amusement park."
And she did want to go to Gengar Gengaland, though that was partially because the amusement park gave free drinks if you brought a Gengar with you and the only person she knew who had a Gengar...
"And from what I heard your best friend was hyper-focused on a single topic for years and he goes on adventures. He just needed a spark to go on it. Maybe you just need a pretty face to ask you."
"I want to joke that Goh asked me plenty of times, and he did actually ask me a lot, but given some things I've said that might imply the wrong thing." She could have probably kept that to herself, but...well sometimes the snark came out even as she knew that it could be damaging if someone heard that and got ideas.
"Well you seem to like dark hair. Me, Ash, Valerie…."
Chloe blushed furiously as Lita laughed. Lita didn't know that Goh had black hair, and she did not need to go into a long, long, long discussion on how Goh did not count towards her type and the only time Goh appeared in anything private she thought of involved Ash 'teaching him the ways of men', and Ash had confirmed that was not true.
"Hey no worries! When this is all over, I am going to go out and see things, and I can start with Vermillion City. There's a gym there after all, and then we can figure out what we want to do together. We already have a movie to catch at some point don't we?"
"Only if you read the book first." Chloe told her reflexively as Lita laughed.
"Spoilers are bad."
Chloe bit her tongue before she ranted.
"If you two are looking to figure out how to balance interests, you can ask around. Not everyone here does the same thing the other does. Jaime did cooking challenges while Betty went at gyms, and I was all about contests while Ash also went after gyms. Same with Dawn. First bit of advice is talk it out and be flexible about it, and it's not as hard of a back and forth as you probably think it is."
At some point May had found them, standing on the edge of the beach with her arms under her breasts. In a pink bikini, the fact May had one of the largest busts here that was not related to anyone else was quite apparent.
"How'd you sneak up on us?" Lita questioned in a somewhat spooked tone.
"I walked in the woods." May explained. "Anyway, you want your verdict?"
Chloe flinched as May looked surprised at her flinch.
"Oh, er, well maybe I could have used a different word that 'verdict'. That sounded a bit harsh."
"So I'm not in the harem?"
"Well first of all, don't call it that. Second, if you are talking 'I want to be romantically involved with multiple siblings', you are a bit away from that. Lana worked hard to get herself, and I quote, 'a hot twin sandwich', and you only seem to have just lost that stick up your butt. I'd now say a joke about 'if you want a new stick up your butt you're fine', but I tried that once and never again...okay that metaphor is going weirdly but congratulations Chloe. If you want to be friends with benefits with Ash, you can!"
Lita looked happy for her while she was surprised. Also she was going to assume that May was not referring to an actual stick but the part about benefits.
"Friends with...like…."
May nodded with some pep.
"Yep. You want to do anything more, well that's time and stuff. Us girls are still getting your measure and Ash is still processing that you have feelings for him. Trust me, that's not a slight against you or anything, that happens to those of us who were more clear about it for longer than you. But if you want to 'keep him company' while he's at your dad's lab, go ahead. It's fine with us."
Her surprise was now leading into a heavy blush. Oh, um….well er….so she could just ask….
She'd keep that very secret of course, but if she really wanted to she could...oh…
"I...I don't know what to say….do I say thank you or…"
"You can and it does work, though I get it. It's a surprise, though for me it was surprising when it was brought up as an idea from someone who wasn't Iris." May reminisced of days somewhat-long past.
"Got it. Don't worry, like you said I'll wait until this reunion is over and then…"
"Um, Chloe, I think that was just her using a euphemism for you and Ash fucking and not an actual timeline." Lita corrected her.
"Yeah, that is what I meant. You could ask me now and in 5 minutes Ash can be here…"
And then I could just select my tree of choice and oh!
"Can...can I think on it or call you later today or tomorrow or…" Chloe panicked as May nodded.
"Of course. Let any of us know when you're ready or send us a message. You know where we are off hours."
Chloe kept it together as May left, panic preventing her from paying attention to anything else.
"Lita this is real…"
"Yep."
"This...I mean I knew it was earlier but it's really really real."
"Yes." Lita continued patiently.
"I...I need to relax. Lita please.. "
Lita's choice to calm her down was to kiss her. Their lips had met before today, but the taller girl initiated this one. It went deeper than her own, their tongues meeting as indeed her panic started to go away. The kiss was all she felt.
Lita broke it off to breathe a minute later, smiling.
"Chloe, this is what you want it to be. No one is rushing you and no one is judging you. Just take a deep breath."
And she did. A long calming breath.
"I know. It's just I did not expect all this to happen today."
"Today's not over yet and there is still stuff to do while you . So, you want to swim back and have some more fun with everyone else?" Lita held her hand out to her, and she grasped it.
"Sure."
Today had been a day where she got a lot off her chest, and a lot of things had changed in just a few hours, and the day wasn't probably even mid-afternoon yet. But whatever happened next it was her choice. And her nerves were nearly all gone. Perhaps they could be finally vanquished later.
For now though, she had fun to get to with her girlfriend.
END Chapter
Cross: So...that was shocking wasn't it? And you know what is the most shocking of all….Ash x Chloe was never something in the initial phases. It was actually something that sort of developed as it was written, kind of like how Lita having a crush on Chloe emerged in Cherry Bloodlines.
Exotos: To give you an idea of how rare Ash X Chloe is, I think it's one of his rare ships on Bulbapedia that DON'T have a specific ship name.
Cross: Champions Confident is a fairly popular Ash x Chloe fic, but it's a rarity and not really in the Blossomingverse radar. Also Bulbapedia's ship pages have been a bit slower recently, as well as removing specific pages. (Mallow x Ash also never had a page).
Exotos: Really? Huh, I thought Mallow X Ash was a popular ship. Anyway, the idea of Ash X Chloe sounds… interesting, anyhow.
Cross: Her feeling of being alone and unwanted, her issues with Ash approaching her like any person he is trying to be friends with, Parker feeling like Chloe would be taken away by Ash, her somewhat odd shifts in her opinion on Ash, the fact she often is the same type of magnetic hero as he is….it surprisingly works. And hey with the damage she left she's as Ash harming as Trip and his guilt complex sparking!
Exotos: Let's not go there, please?
Cross: I wouldn't. If I liked that I would not be snarking about it.
Exotos: Okay, cool.
Cross: and if you want more...well outside of my control there have been complications. While I feel those out...well if they go well this chapter is technically not over, and if they don't go well I'll have to rethink how to handle the rest going forward. Well I'll handle that for now, and until next time. Bye.