She’s still here

You exit the stands, leaving Daniel and Kayla to finish up, and make your way into the hallway that leads out of the gym. Hoping to catch Blue, you realize you’re in luck when you see her in the gym lobby, surrounded by a small group of people. Some are taking pictures, others are talking to her excitedly, a couple even ask for her autograph. Guess they want to be there at the start of the craze for this hot rookie.

One woman, holding a small notebook that she’s writing in furiously, asks question after question. “Do you think being born an Oak has anything to do with your success? How long exactly have you been training? Anyone you would credit as an inspiration? Do you expect you’ll make it to the next Pokémon League Tournament? Do-“ The woman isn’t even giving Blue time to answer, she’s just rapid firing nonstop.

Blue is doing her best to keep up with everyone, but she’s clearly struggling to split her attention so many ways. Then, she notices you out of the corner of her eye, and says “Oh, I need to go talk to someone! Sorry!” before beelining it to your side.

You smile at her approach, glad she views you as less annoying than getting overwhelmed by questions, at least. “Hey, Blue. Congratulations on your win!”

“Thank you! Glad you managed to make it!” She smiles brightly, before catching herself. She shakes her head a bit, forcing her smile to become a cocky smirk. “Guess I’m ahead after all, huh? Try not to dip too far behind, I’ll get bored.”

You smirk right back. Comparing her now to how dejected she acted after her second loss to you, you much prefer this. Confidence is attractive, and her self-doubt had hurt your heart. “I’ll do my best to keep up, though I think I’m gonna need to take some extra time to train, considering my team. You planning on heading out right away?”

“Nah, think I’ll relax tonight, then leave tomorrow. I-“ suddenly, Blue is cut off by the motor-mouth woman once again.

“How do you know this young man? Is he a friend? Rival? Sweetheart? Have you ever battled him? Who won? Does he plan to challenge Brooke as well?” She doesn’t even ask you anything, the woman’s just chewing Blue’s ear off.

“He’s Red. Both from Pallet. Need to leave. Bye!” Blue quickly dismisses the woman, grabbing you by the hand and pulling you out the front of the gym. You follow along, seeing some of Blue’s new fans point and stare as you two pass. Oh boy, TPP is gonna blow up with this. Hm, maybe you’ll get some exposure too!

Blue keeps dragging you, eventually stopping at a small coffee shop called Coal Brews. As the two of you enter, the barista behind the counter speaks. “Hi, welcome to Coal Brews. What can I get you?” The place smells lovely, but is empty at the moment, so she’s probably happy for any business. Oh shit, you’re broke as fuck.

“Two house blends, please.” Blue says, without consulting you. The barista nods, then turns to start preparing your coffee.

“Blue, I’m not sure I can aff-“ You start explaining.

“Yeah, yeah, why am I not surprised. Spend all your money on hookers or some shit?” You roll your eyes at your rival’s words. “I’ll pay, as thanks for giving me an excuse to get the hell out of there. So be grateful!”

“A-are you sure?” You don’t know how to feel about mooching off of her.

“It’s just a coffee. If it bothers you that much, pay me back sometime or something. Whatever.” She waves off your concerns. Must be nice, being an Oak, not worrying about money.

After several minutes, you two are handed your coffees which Blue pays for. It costs 490 PD per cup, just slightly more than you can afford. The sandy-blonde then drags you to the most isolated table in the empty shop, where you both sit down to chat and drink. It’s good, bitter, but with a nice aftertaste.

A minute of quiet passes, then Blue sighs. “Ugh, battling and fucking in front of an audience was rough enough, but that crazy question lady was just too much. I’m not that big of a deal yet, what the hell was that?”

You shrug, then say “Maybe a rookie journalist hoping to be at the base floor of your rise to stardom? Who knows. You already looked pretty popular though, put on a heck of a show.” Those first-gym autographs people got will be pretty valuable if Blue becomes a superstar trainer.

“Oh, wipe that grin off your face! Bet you enjoyed it, huh?” She says like it’s something you should be embarrassed about. You’re not.

“Sure did! Liked it even more since I knew a bunch of the audience was imagining doing things to you that I’ve already done.” You tease her, earning a blush in response.

“Yeah, whatever… How do you think you’ll handle the crowd? I mean, you got some practice last night, so…” She trails off, waiting for you to speak.

She has to be referring to you having sex with Joy. “Oh, you know about that? How?” You ask cautiously.

“Someone took a video of it, tagged your TPP. Another person tagged you in a video of you filming two chicks going at it, then cumming on one of them. You’ve been busy, huh?” She doesn’t seem upset, or even surprised really… so Silver did upload the video. Where is she now, you wonder…

“Guess I have. I don’t know if bending over a nurse in front of five people will translate to doing it in front of an audience that big, but I hope it helps at least.” You’re worried about this, but you need to train before anything else, so you’ve been pushing it to the back of your mind. “You did really well though, I think you’ve earned a lot of fans with that performance. Both the battle, and the sex.” You smile at Blue, and quite genuinely.

She sighs, but smiles back. “I just know that my family is going to see that though. Mom is gonna tease me fucking relentlessly…”

“Kim would do that anyway, for any reason she can. You just need to do what you can to be successful as a trainer, and I think you’re doing great so far.” You down the last of your coffee.

“…Thanks. That… means a lot. Good luck with your battle against Brooke, whenever you get around to it.” She gives you a small smile, and finishes her own coffee. She stands, getting ready to leave.

“Oh Blue?” You catch her before she leaves, and she tilts her head at you questioningly. “Could we battle tomorrow morning, before you leave?”

She stiffens, then responds. “You can just challenge me now, you know. My Squirtle’s hurt, so yo-“

You interrupt her sharp words. “No, you wanted to relax for the rest of the day, remember? Plus, I’m not trying to get an easy win, I’m trying to get some practice in. If we do it early tomorrow, you’ll still have plenty of time to heal your Pokémon and get moving. What do you say?”

She stares at you in blank surprise for several seconds, then just huffs and shakes her head. “What am I gonna do with you? Fine, we battle at 7:00 AM tomorrow. Don’t be late, or I just bail. See ya, nerd.” With that, she spins on her heel and walks out of the café, leaving you behind.

Well, that went pretty well. You need to set an alarm for 7:00 AM tomorrow for sure. You thank the barista and leave the café yourself. Now, it’s about noon, what to do with the rest of your day?

Word from the author: I like these quarterly reports, so I’m gonna keep doing them; this is the 50th chapter I’ve written. Thank you all for the support, it means a lot and helps me keep going. I’m gonna link a poll under this author’s note. The poll is gonna be to decide which Fossil Pokémon Red gets gifted later on. I’ll leave the poll up until… until I write the chapter where he gets the Pokémon! So, vote if you care! Thanks, and I hope you all enjoy!

Poll now closed. Results revealed in chapter 84 (yes it took that long).