A/N:

I landed upon the idea for this story when I was (very annoyingly so) plagued by a wasp. I mused what Blue would do in a similar situation, and, well - the answer should be obvious. She'd try to make the most out of it, of course! In which way, exactly... you'll have to read the story to find that out.

Also: love for Ibuberu for proof-reading my stories! I know I've become a better writer thanks to her constructive criticism and praise. (You should check out her stories if you love Pokémon Special!)

Disclaimer: Pokémon isn't mine. I just wish it was...

Tricks

Because of its hardened skin, a Rhydon can withstand flames of more than 2000 degrees. When well-trained, this can go up by a certain amount, depending on the level of the Rhydon in question and the intensity of the training.

Green turned the page, eyes rapidly going over the content. He paused when he came upon an essential-looking passage, leaving his finger on the paragraph. With his other hand, he reached for the pencil in his pocket. Just when he was on the point of marking the lines in question, the door behind him broke open and a shouting person crashed in.

"Ohmygoshohmygosh-whatamIgoingtodo-IhavebeenstungbyaWeedle-helpmeGreenhelpme!"

Green put his pencil back in his pocket, closing his eyes momentarily, before he turned around. "Blue. Could you repeat that in a somewhat slower tempo?"

The girl in front of him seemed to be on the brink of hyperventilating, her arms flailing in an attempt to wave fresh air to her face. After a few failed tries she swallowed visibly, drew a deep breath, and said in a heavily restrained voice: "I have been stung by a Weedle. Now what am I going to do?"

Green raised an eyebrow. "That was what that scene was about?"

The girl lifted her hands in the air, signs of hyperventilation starting to show again. "Okay, okay – " He held up a palm to silence her. "So you've been stung by a Weedle. There are worse things, Blue. If it had been a Seviper, the fuss you made would have been justified. But a Weedle hardly contains enough poison to knock out a Pidgey, let alone a full-grown human..."

"I have allergies!"

It was blurted out in a rather obvious attempt of talking over his protests, and Green lifted an eyebrow.

"Since when?"

"Since… always!" They looked at each other for a few seconds, Blue panting and Green completely still. Then, he got to his feet.

"Right. The first thing to do when you've been stung by a poison-jabbing Pokémon and you have allergies, is to stay calm. I don't know how many times you've been bitten by a Weedle, but acting all aggravated worsens the diagnose by about four times. If this is your usual protocol after a bite, you'd have died twenty times already."

Blue laughed, waving his comment aside. "Silly, it takes more than a Weedle to take me down. Hohoho!"

Green merely raised his eyebrows, wordlessly reminding her of the scene displayed just seconds before. Upon seeing this, she changed her confident expression for a pouting face in no time, conjuring a piteous smile on her countenance. "But the poison needs to get out, Green…that's why I came here. Sure you know how to do that?" She batted her lashes, eyeing him in a way that was much too flirty for the situation.

He ignored the flattery, putting a hand under his chin instead. "Where has that Weedle bitten you?"

"There." She pointed to a small spot on her lower foot, which indeed seemed to be redder than the light skin around it.

"Hm…" He squatted down, examining it from up close. "It doesn't seem to be swollen yet. Nor does it look very big…"

"Yes, but it will get if we wait any longer! I've read that after five minutes, the poison will enter your nerve system and you'll be paralyzed for life!"

He looked up at her, eyebrows raised to his hair roots. "Where have you read that? It seems highly unlikely that the nerve system plays a role in the infection – "

"Oh, stop the scientific talk," she interrupted with a snarl. "I'm dying here, okay, and all you care about is the veracity of some unimportant side issue?"

Green would have liked to point out that something like that could hardly be called a side issue, and that death didn't seem to be in the picture any time soon (especially since Blue herself had just moments before proclaimed that one single Pokémon wouldn't get her down) – but the look on Blue's face was so fierce that he decided against contradicting her. He came to his feet with a sigh.

"Right. I have a pump somewhere lying around here, it should be in the first-aid kit. Wait a sec –"

He stopped abruptly when Blue grabbed his shirt, forcing him to turn around. "Green, have you listened to anything I've been saying? I. Have. A. Wound. On. My. Foot. There's no time to search the house for a pump we don't even know of if it exists. The poison needs to get out now; and by now, I mean now."

She stretched her leg in his direction to stress her point. Green looked at it, then at Blue's face – and he knew what she meant. And he just didn't want to do it.

"Why don't you suck it out yourself?" he asked waveringly, in a half-hearted attempt of talking himself out of it.

"Because a) I am allergic to the stuff, and b) how do you expect me to even reach that spot?"

"…weren't you the one who claimed to be able to put her leg in her neck?"

She started, then wove his comment aside. "Yes, well, but I'm still allergic."

He growled; because no matter how he looked at it, he didn't see a way to counter that last statement. "Annoying girl! You bring me nothing but trouble…"

"I can't help it that a Weedle decided to jab its horn in my foot, can I?" she answered with innocence, tears shimmering behind her lashes.

He sighed deeply, feeling more frustrated than ever. Others might fall for her many tricks; he only felt tired because of them. Still, she had a point – the poison (if it was there) needed to get out. And since she wasn't able to do it herself…

While heaving another frustrated sigh, he grabbed her foot. Had he not been all eyes for the soft skin in his hand, he would have seen the very brief smirk that appeared on Blue's face. But her leg was so very exposed, so very long, and so very… well, perfect, really. The only imperfection was the small red dot on her instep; it seemed to glow amidst the fair skin around it, pulling his gaze to it in an inexorable way. After a few seconds of utterly blatant staring, he reminded himself that nothing had ever been gained by such a mindless activity. He pushed all distracting thoughts to the back of his mind and bowed down, pressing his lips on her instep. He felt less than comfortable while sucking out the presumed venom, especially because he had severe doubts by her Weedle-story. And if you left that particular part out… well, all that'd remain was the fact that he was basically kissing Blue in a way that couldn't be described any differently than quite advanced.

Using his will-power, he deleted the thought from his mind. There was a chance that Blue's story was true, after all; and that'd mean that he had saved one of his friends from an unknown fate. There.

After a few seemingly endless moments, when he thought he should have done enough to at least rescue her from an immediate paralysis, he let go of her taintless skin. While putting down her leg, he looked Blue in the eye. Her countenance wore an expression of modest gratitude and relief – but ever since he had met her all those years ago, he knew not to believe in any of the emotions the trick-loving girl put on for the world to see: in ninety percent of the cases, it was false. Just as he tried to discern which feelings Blue really experienced at the moment (especially the modest part seemed very suspicious), the door next to them opened once again. This time, it wasn't a hyperactive rambling that accompanied the incoming person, but a question stated in a mixture of worry and relief.

"Blue, you're here! Are you alright?"

The addressed girl turned to the black-haired boy in the door-opening, fixing a broad smile on him in the process. "Yes, I'm all good; thanks for worrying about me, Red!"

Green furrowed his brow. "Did you know she was bitten by a Weedle?"

"Huh, was she? No, the only thing I know was that she was over at my place complaining about itch, when suddenly she shouted that she had the perfect idea. And then she took off. She had that one look on her face, you know?"

Green and Red shared a moment of understanding, in which both experienced a vision of Blue with sparkling eyes, lips turned in glee and face aglow with the promise of good things to come – for her, that is, not for the future victim of her proposed schemes.

Green turned to Blue, things slowly slotting into place. "Where did you say you encountered that Weedle?"

"Just – around here," the girl answered, apprehension trickling into her composure. Green looked at Red again, both thinking the same: the last time someone had encountered a Weedle in Pallet Town was when there had still been a forest around – which was at least a hundred years back.

Blue seemed to be sensing that her lie was on the verge of coming out, because suddenly she rushed towards the door. She quickly turned it open, meanwhile throwing a Pokéball in the air. As a puffed-up, pink Pokémon appeared in a flash of light, the brunette gripped its short feet with one hand, blowing the boys in the doorway a kiss with the other.

"See you guys again!" she shouted.

The Wigglytuff took off from the ground, soaring away into the blue sky. Blue dangled on its feet, a distinct pleased expression on her face. The two boys watched her fly away, completely flabbergasted. Then, Red turned to his friend. "What was all this stuff about?"

Green didn't answer, but just looked at the girl hanging in the cloudless sky. Though she was already a certain distance away from them, he could clearly discern her figure, outlined against an azure background. Then he said, not taking his eyes off her, "Did you know that Blue was allergic to a Weedle's venom?"

"Huh? Really? I wasn't aware of any allergies with her, to be honest…"

"Neither was I," he replied, shaking his head very slightly. He waited a mere second, lost in thought, then took out his cell phone.

Weedle allergy, hm?

He selected Blue's name in his phone list, pushing the 'send' button. As he waited for a reply – he thought he could see the small figure in the sky take something out of her bag – Red's voice reached his ears.

"But what did you have to do with it? I mean, if it really was that bad I could have done something for it as well, couldn't I?" When Green didn't answer, Red pressed on, "What did you do anyway?"

"You don't want to know," he replied, faintly annoyed. A short beep alerted him he had received a message. In a swift movement, he flipped his phone open.

nah, just a regular bite

His eyebrows went up to his hair regions when he saw that she was round-out admitting her lie. Oh, he could just see the smirk on Blue's face, ravishing in the glee of a well-succeeded plan. Except that he now knew, of course. Though, on second thought, that might have been part of the scheme as well; with her, you never knew, after all.

A second beep alerted him that he had received another message. While he selected the newest text, reading its contents, his feeling of shock became complete.

cause U seemed 2 enjoy it: there's also one on my thigh. just 2 let U know…

;D

The corners of his mouth almost twitched in a suppressed moment of amusement – almost. He couldn't believe how utterly shameless she was. While he put his phone back in his pocket, ignoring Red's eager request to show him the texts, he made a resolve with himself that he'd never buy another lie of that girl again; knowing at the same time that she would find some way to get round his defences.

He turned around, walking towards the couch where his abandoned book lay; completely forgotten, because of her. Of course, it always had been Blue who distracted him from his work; from his research; from his training, frustrating and outsmarting him every single day. While he sat down, hearing Red leave behind him, he thought about the girl that now undoubtedly was coming up with a plan to get him so far as to kiss her upper-leg. He put his thumb to his mouth, brows creased, trying to detect whatever well-covered lies she would throw at him. There was a fifty percent chance she would succeed, he thought, staring mindlessly into the distance.

– and in the far corners of his mind, amidst thought he would never admit to himself, he was almost glad she would.

A/N:

Anyone who wants to see how Blue will succeed in that, raise your hand. (I'm in the mood for writing sequels, heh.)

Oh, and comments are always love!

~Snoaz