Nothing but the photo

“…nothing.” You finish.

“…Sorry, what?” Blue just stares at you, as if she didn’t understand what you said.

“I’m not taking a forfeit from you. You can go heal your Wartortle and then be on your way.” You say as evenly as you can.

She narrows her eyes, regarding you with suspicion. “What kind of trick is this? What are you doing?”

You sigh, shaking your head. “It isn’t a trick, Blue. It’s… well, I wanted to pay you back for the coffee you bought me.” You say quietly.

“…Are you fucking serious?” Your rival gives you the most disbelieving expression you’ve ever seen. When you simply nod in response, indicating that yes, you are serious, Blue snorts… then chuckles… then busts out into raucous laughter. “HahahHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAAAA! No FUCKING way, dude, you have got to be shitting me!” Your ears burn, but you just bite your tongue and let her have her fun.

Eventually, she sees the testy look on your face, and manages to contain her mirth. “Sorry, sorry, just… really? It meant that much to you? It was just a coffee!”

“I don’t like to let other people pay for me, Blue!” You snap. “It… doesn’t sit right with me. And since I don’t have enough money to pay you back, I figured I could let you off the hook once like this. So there.”

The beautiful blonde’s humor slowly fades. “I… sorry. I didn’t know it was such a big deal to you. But, it was only like, what 500 PD or something? It’s not th-“

“It was 490 PD, and that was more than I could afford, then and now!” You groan in frustration. “It’s just… look, I get it wasn’t anything to an Oak, but I couldn’t let the debt stand. I hate taking handouts, okay?”

Blue’s face shifts to one of concern. “Wait, hold on… when you said you couldn’t afford it yesterday… I-I thought you were exaggerating, or had just forgotten to charge your Pokédex and couldn’t access your money-manager. You’re not telling me you…?”

You sink into yourself slightly. “Yeah, Blue. I meant I couldn’t afford it. I only have 360 PD on me.”

“Y-yeah, in your pockets maybe, but in the ban-“

You cut her off again. “That is in the bank, Blue.”

Her concerned face shifts into one of abject horror. “Wha- how- but… What the fuck!?”

“Not every family is as well off as yours, Oak. I didn’t feel like taking much from Mom when I left, and I’ve spent most of it on items.” You tell her.

You watch as, for quite possibly the first time in her life, Blue realizes that she may in fact be a little privileged. “I… s-sorry. I’m sorry… Oh, then why don’t you just take prize money from me, instead of no forfeit at all?” She suggests.

You just sigh though. “Then I wouldn’t be paying you back for the coffee, now would I?”

“I don’t care ab-“ Blue starts.

Yet again though, you cut her off. “I do though. It’s that simple.” Then you sigh, also yet again. “Look, Blue… I appreciate you actually… caring.” She flushes and purses her lips. “But I can take care of myself. The Pokécenters are free, so I’ll be fine as long as I’m near one. And I’ll get more money from beating trainers, and winning badges or tournaments. I will be fine. So I don’t want any handouts, from you or anyone else. Okay?”

Blue listens to your words quietly, then nods in understanding. “Yeah, I get it. Okay, Red. Thank you for not taking a forfeit. Coffee repaid.” She smiles gently. “So, I guess we’re done here?”

“Not quite.” You correct her. “There’s still my victory photo, remember?” You had been thinking of skipping that too, but her laugh-fest earlier had irritated you. Just a little.

The sandy-blonde grimaces. “Right…” Victory photos/videos and forfeits are treated separately, and a girl always has to allow a photo or video if she loses. Even if the winner claims prize money or no forfeit at all, they can still claim the photo/video if they want too. And since the girls have to pose however you want, in whatever state of undress you want, some people actually just go around claiming both prize money and photos or videos. “Well… okay! What do you want?” She does her best to sound happy about this, maybe trying to cheer you up.

“Hm. Well it needs to be something that helps me in getting my **** on you for… for our lives.” She flinches, possibly having forgotten the little **** scheme you had promised her in Viridian. “Plus, you did laugh at me just a bit ago…” Now, how to embarrass her without doing anything too over the top… aha! “Okay, got an idea.”

“What is it?” Blue asks hesitantly.

“It's gonna be a selfie, with you kissing me as enthusiastically as you can.” You grin at the busty blonde.

“WHAT!? But… but… butbutbut!” You chuckle at her dilemma. People are already gossiping about you two on TPP, and this is going to throw gasoline onto the fire. Especially since she won’t look recently-fucked in the picture. It won’t look like a victory photo, it’ll look like a couple taking a picture together.

“Chop chop Blue! You’re in a rush, yeah?” A massive grin splits your face.

Blue’s face screws up in embarrassed fury, turning a deep red. “FINE!” She marches up to you and grabs your face, pulling it down onto her hers and mushing your lips together for a couple of seconds before pulling back. “There, you happy!?”

“…I… I don’t even have my Pokédex out yet Blue…” You cautiously tell the impatient girl, who blinks in shock before blushing an even deeper red in embarrassment when she realizes that she just kissed you for no real reason. “Okay, got it out now… let’s go again.” This time, you grab her. You pull her up against you in an embrace, leaning down to take her lips. You don’t take the photo right away, instead waiting for her to relax. After several seconds, you feel her begin returning the kiss and pressing her body further into yours, and you snap the photo.

“Done!” You pull back from Blue, seeing that her face is now flushed for multiple reasons. “Thanks Blue. Now, let’s go get our Pokémon healed so you can be on your way.” You say cheerily, uploading the picture.

You catch a faint smile from her at your improved mood. “Yeah, whatever you piece of shit.” She grumbles. With that, the two of you make your quick return journey to Pewter City. Blue tries to stomp ahead of you, but your longer legs let you keep up with ease, standing beside the blushing girl the entire time.

When the two of you reenter the Pokécenter, Blue marches straight up to the reception counter and holds out her Wartortle’s Pokéball. “Heal this please!”

Joy looks up in surprise, then smiles. “But of course. How did the battle go?” Blue says nothing, but you give the nurse a wink over her shoulder. The pink-haired woman nods slightly, winking back. The three of you wait in silence for the machine to heal your rival’s Wartortle.

Once it dings and Nurse Joy hands back the ball, Blue says “Thanks. Bye.” and spins to leave.

“Oh, Blue? Hold on.” You grab her shoulder as she passes you.

“What!?” She snaps.

“I know you already know this, but be careful on Route 3, okay?” You say with concern.

The blonde girl relaxes slightly. “I know, yeah. I’ll be careful. Don’t worry too much, I got past those bug catchers in Viridian Forest just fine after all.”

“Oh yeah. How did you do that? I asked, and they said that they never even saw you.” You inquire.

“Got lucky.” She admits. “They were already ‘busy’ with another girl, so I just snuck past.”

“Oh… that was probably Leah.” You guess based on the timing. Blue tilts her head at you, and you explain. “A girl I met in the gatehouse on the Viridian side, who had been left there after they were done with her. She’s a rookie trainer like us, and Brooke’s little sister.”

“Oh, huh. Well hopefully I can thank her at some point. Now, I-“ As she starts to pull out of your grasp, you stop her.

“One more thing?” You ask, and she dramatically rolls her eyes, but stays. “I wanted to pass on some advice that Leah mentioned. Advice that Brooke gave her… You, um, have to enjoy it.”

Blue looks at you in confusion, clearly needing clarification. “Well, I mean… look, you may not want to hear it from me, but this is advice from a gym leader, okay? You have to… try and enjoy the forfeits when they happen. To a degree. If you just hate it the whole time, you’ll end up miserable or broken. You shouldn’t enjoy it too much, that can be bad too. But… well, there it is.” You do your best to relay the words Leah had heard from her sister.

The beautiful girl stares at you in silence, before turning away. “A gym leader’s advice, huh? I’ll… remember that. Can I go now?”

You release her shoulder. “Yeah. Sorry for taking up your time. Good luck in Mt. Moon, and I’ll catch up with you soon. Bye, Blue.”

“…Yeah. Don’t fall too far behind. See ya.” She walks away, exiting the Pokécenter and heading out to face whatever challenges come her way. All you can do is pray to Arceus for her safety.