I don't have much to say, except I've reached a road block for A Multifarious Conundrum, and this was born out of the intense boredom floating about within my mind. Review if you have a chance, and if you've read A Multifarious Conundrum, suggesstions are welcome!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon. Period. Simple as that...

Even in their day to day CONFLICT, these two may fall in love yet... slight ConflictingShipping

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"Blue…?"

The brown haired, green eyed teen turned at the sound of his name. Standing not too far away was a girl several inches shorter than him. She was dressed in a short red skirt that reached her mid-thighs and a blue v-neck t-shirt over a black undershirt. Blue leggings hung over white tennis shoes and a white hat with a pokéball symbol on it sat atop her mess of long caramel hair. Light mocha eyes stared at him in surprise as she clutched a yellow bag slung over one shoulder. Blue couldn't help the cocky smirk that flitted to his lips.

"Yo, Leaf."

She snorted in an unladylike manner, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Gosh, I'm surprised you even remember my name this time."

Blue raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer it if I called you 'Squirt' or 'the-girl-that-just-so-happens-to-live-next-door'?"

"Very creative." Leaf spat sarcastically.

An almost real smile followed Blue's usual cocky smirk. It had been a while since he'd last seen her; she was better friends with Red anyway.

"I'll get Squirtle!" a twelve-year-old Leaf shouted excitedly, lifting the small blue turtle Pokémon off of the table. She clutched the started to her chest as he cooed appreciatively. Blue smirked before grabbing the pokéball to the left side.

"I guess that means I pick Bulbasaur."

"What do you mean, 'you guess'?" Leaf accused with an eyebrow raised for effect. Blue couldn't help but chuckle.

"To give me an advantage over you, of course." He answered flippantly. Leaf's face turned red with anger, but before she could start to mouth off to him, Red placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"I'll take Charmander." Red said monotonously. Leaf gave him a questioning glance.

"You know you don't have to. Professor said he'd let us have any of the starters, even if two of us choose the same Pokémon."

"I know," Red said slowly, "but I want to have a strong Pokémon that's only weakness is you, just like me."

Leaf's face turned red once again, only instead of out of anger it was a blush of affection. "Thanks, Red." She said, adding a dazzling smile. "Besides, it just makes it easier for you to beat Blue." She turned to stick her tongue out at the brown haired trainer. Blue scowled at her and said nothing.

Leaf lifted the small, blue turtle Pokémon up and peered at him questioningly. The Squirtle shouted his name affectionately and nuzzled her cheek. Leaf giggled and nudged him back. "You're so cute! I'm gonna call you…" she paused while she thought of a name, he tongue sticking out of her mouth ever so slightly, "…Blaster." She finished with a satisfied smile. Blaster cooed at the name.

Blue couldn't help the chuckle that followed. "Blaster" was just so generic! "Blastoise" was the final form of Squirtle, so it was kind of redundant to nickname a Pokémon with the first few letters of its name. It was like calling Typhlosion "Ty" or Arkanine "Ark" for Arceus sake! Knowing Leaf, she'd probably end up nicknaming all of her Pokémon the same way.

Leaf turned and glared at Blue. "And what is so funny all of a sudden?" she demanded. Blue just waved a hand in the air dismissively.

"Nothing, nothing, forget it." He replied cockily, smothering what chuckles he could. "Let's battle."

Blue found himself chuckling fondly at the memory. He had won, naturally, and all it had done was rile up the already angry girl. Leaf had a fierce temper and was a horrible force to be reckoned with. He could still see her blazing brown eyes and lips set in an angry snarl as she tackled him to the ground after loosing (he kind of deserved it, though; he had laughed at her and ridiculed her "weak" Pokémon).

"What's so funny?" Leaf demanded, still standing not too far away from him. Blue shrugged and his arms came around behind his head as he sat on the bench comfortably. He motioned Leaf over and she hesitantly obliged. She sat beside him, but as far away from him as possible. Blue chuckled.

"I don't bite, Squirt, I promise."

Leaf made a face at his old nickname for her. She reached for a pokéball and released a small, yellow Pokémon with its eyes closed and a long tail with cute pointed ears. She scratched the Abra behind its left ear and it cooed its name affectionately.

"Why do you have an Abra and not a stronger evolution of it?" Blue questioned bewildered. Leaf glanced at him, clutching the psychic Pokémon to her chest.

"Flynn was experimented on by Rockets. When I found him, he was greatly injured, half-dead. The doctors said he had also been injected with liquefied everstone so he'd never evolve." She replied sadly. "They were going to put him out of his misery because he'd never be able to protect himself in the wild." Moist, mocha eyes with fiery determination met bright emerald. "I saved him, and now he's a strong addition to my team, one of my strongest Pokémon."

"How? I mean, Abra can only learn 'Teleport', that's it, right?"

"TMs sure do come in handy…" she muttered with a smile. The Abra cooed at her, a faint pink glow enveloping his body before he disappeared. Seconds later, he was back with a half eaten Oran berry hanging from his mouth. Blue shook his head as he watched the trainer and Pokémon interact.

"So, you put a lot of time and effort into training and raising him, huh?" he asked. Leaf nodded and Flynn turned his attention to the brown haired, green eyed trainer. He tilted his head in confusion and slowly crawled over to him.

"Aaaaabra, ab ra." He called. 'He smells like volcanic rock.'

Leaf giggled at the unrelated statement. "Come here, Flynn. You might catch Blue's stupid."

"Stupid isn't contagious." Blue corrected, as if speaking to a small child. Leaf smirked.

"I'm not taking any chances."

Flynn nodded, but spared another curious glance at Blue. "A, abr br a abra, aaabra." 'He doesn't smell like Kanto.'

Leaf nodded in agreement. "Maybe he's been to Hoenn. There's a lot of volcanic rock and soot there."

"Braaa." 'Yeah.'

"What does this conversation have to do with anything?" Blue asked. He was tired of being talked about like he wasn't even there.

"Would you rather we discuss your incredible stupidity?" Leaf mocked sweetly. Blue made a face at her.

"Very funny. You're quite the wit."

"I try."

The two fell into an uncomfortable silence in which even the Abra was afraid to disrupt. Leaf was his trainer, so he could read her easily; she was uncomfortable around the other human, but not to the point where he could be a threat. A strong sense of longing and desire flooded through the connection between trainer and Pokémon, and Flynn looked up at Leaf in confusion.

"Aaabra, a?" 'Are you okay?'

Leaf ignored her Pokémon and turned to look at Blue. "Do you remember when we were really little and would play together all the time? You know, all three of us?"

Blue let out a small, nostalgic laugh. "We were what, five?"

Leaf nodded and set her gaze upward. "What changed?"

Blue couldn't help but shrug; he'd thought about that constantly, but no answer ever truly came. "I guess, it was jealousy."

"Jealousy?"

"Yeah. It stared out with the three of us, but then I got more interested in researching Pokémon like my grandpa while you and Red were off learning how to train Pokémon and become champions. I guess, I felt like my two best friends were leaving me."

"We were always friends, Blue. But, you became so, so… hostile."

Blue turned to meet her hypnotic gaze. She was beautiful; eighteen and with the body of a goddess. Blue couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if Red and his places were reversed.

"Red became distant, you became a rival, and I was torn. I tried to stay myself, but both of you had changed so much. Red and I became a lot closer because you were always at the lab, but I wanted— I mean, I guess I was sort of— you were— we weren't—" Leaf eventually gave up trying to explain and huffed in frustration. "I guess what I'm trying to say is—"

"…Want to start over?" Blue interrupted. Leaf looked startled for a moment, but after letting the words sink in, she nodded with a smile. "It's been eight years of harbored hatred, but I think with a little bit of work, we can un-strain out relationship."

Leaf laughed. "Yeah. Wanna start over coffee?"

Blue raised an eyebrow. "But you hate coffee."

"You don't."

Blue's heart fluttered uncontrollably from inside his chest. A small smile turned the corners of his mouth up, but not into the cocky smirk that had so often graced his features. No, it was a true genuine smile that hadn't been present in almost a decade.

"It's a date."