Rival Me This [Pokémon Fanfiction]

04| And it All Falls Down

Blue awoke bright and early the next morning. Well, not "bright," but definitely early. It had to be about eight-thirty when he finally got up. Silver was supposed to meet Blue and Bede at the Gym by ten, quarter after at the latest.

After getting dressed and washing up, Blue decided to make himself some coffee while he waited for Bede to get up. He had a feeling the kid was a late sleeper, and he wasn't about to start the morning off with an angry marshmallow shooting him daggers. But he would knock on the door come nine because he didn't want to deal with another mob of pissed-off Gym challengers.

Believe it or not, Blue had actually come up with a plan of what to do with Bede today. Firstly, he'd have him sit in on a few more battles with some analysis afterwards. He'd even gone and written up a little list of questions he would ask Bede about the battles themselves.

   Following that, he'd totally not use Bede's idea and quiz him on different Pokémon and what strategies would be required to defeat them. And if those weren't enough, he was thinking that Bede could actually have a hand at battling a few challengers himself (with their agreements of course). He would probably be sick of sitting around if he already wasn't.

Really, Blue was positive that everything he had planned was what the other Kanto leaders had done as well, but every Leader was different, they all had their own methods. At least that was what he told himself. And there was no real counting on Bede's cooperation, so it was like a Snipe Shot in the dark.

As Blue was finishing off his first cup of coffee, he heard the creak of a door opening. He was startled for a moment before realizing it was just Bede finally getting up, and he tossed a glance to the office door.

Bede stood in the mostly-open doorway, clearly still half-asleep as he was rubbing his foggy eyes. His hair was an absolute mess, sticking out every which-way and resembling a tangled, curly cloud... or unbrushed Wooloo wool. Silver had unfortunately won that one. But Blue wouldn't have thought that Bede owned pink pajamas. They actually looked like they would be pretty comfy, too.

"Uh, mornin'," Blue said. "I was actually gonna wake you up in a few minutes. Sleep well?"

Bede froze when he heard Blue speak. Any tiredness plaguing him vanished instantly as his eyes widened, and he looked at Blue. Their gazes met for a split-second before Bede slammed the door shut.

"Good morning to you too," Blue muttered, taking another drink. If that wasn't a good omen for how the day was going to go, he didn't know what was.

Minute after minute passed, and Blue had a feeling Bede wasn't actually going to come out of that room any time soon. He just decided to finish getting ready himself and went to get out some cereal. Even if Bede wasn't hungry, he sure as hell was.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and Blue startled when he heard the sink turn on in the bathroom. He hadn't even heard the office door open again, and somehow Bede managed to slip into the bathroom without him knowing. The kid was a damn Zorua! At least he remembered which door it was.