Author's Note: Okay, a lot of people may not like this, but it needs to happen. This is what happens when you shove three rival shippings into a little room and let them dogfight it out. It doesn't always turn out the way you want it to.
That said, I thought I should write this, based on a recent real life experience of mine. It has a pretty clear-cut lesson that the more well-read among you should catch immediately. It's in the title, after all.
Enjoy, and don't hurt me if you don't like the resulting shipping; that's not the point of writing this.
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Carpe Diem
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A young girl of fifteen years sighed, discouraged, blond ponytail whipping in the wind. As she sat on the roof of her house, she felt the sun baking her pale face. The feeling was good; it distracted her from unexpected plight.
She glanced down at the carefully folded envelope in her left hand, parchment color nearly matching that of the hand itself. Expensive paper, gold print. In fact, it was handwritten, and almost no one did that these days. That meant that it was something very special.
And then she opened the envelope, to better remind herself about the invitation inside. 'Celebrity dinner,' it said. 'In one week, to be held in the Pewter City Museum. Formal attire, no cost.' And then the most important line; 'You may bring one guest.'
There were many things wrong with this invitation, she thought dubiously. First of all, since when was she a celebrity? And how was she supposed to find something to wear in just a single week? It had been nearly two years since the last time she'd bought new clothes. She would definitely need some assistance with the wardrobe side of this event.
But then… the guest part, the part that terrified her most. She knew exactly who she wanted to invite; she had known since the last formal event that she hadn't attended, two years earlier. She wished she could walk up to him and just... ask him.
And she knew she couldn't do it. She just knew.
After all, Red would surely reject a boyish-looking girl like her. Heck, he hadn't even realized her femininity until two years after the others.
Yes, Red was far out of her league. True, they had saved each other over and over. True, they had lived off the land and laughed like little children at the stupidest of jokes. But, then, he had done the same when training with Gold, or when Blue dragged him to buy new clothes.
No, Red didn't think of her as anything more than a younger sister. Maybe even a younger brother.
With a discouraging certainty that she didn't have a shot in the world, Yellow descended from the rooftop and pulled out her cell phone. She would have to find another way to catch the eye of her first and only crush.
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Meanwhile, Misty of Cerulean City had just received a very similar invitation.
Climbing out of her pool and thanking the messenger boy who had delivered it, she tore open the envelope delicately before she was even dry. She quickly scanned the letter and then tossed it aside, deep in thought all of a sudden.
She too found the last line of this letter alarming and a bit frightening. '…bring one guest…' The words rang through her mind as she sunk deep into the clean, salty blue water.
She knew exactly who she wanted to bring. In fact, it would not do for her to bring anyone except that particular young man. Red, who she had traveled with and helped countless times. Red, who had grown into a strapping young man of seventeen-and-a-half years. Red, who had saved her life.
Red, who no doubt had his eyes on Yellow. Red, who was too oblivious to take even the most simple of hints.
Still, it couldn't hurt to, well, talk to the boy, could it?
She dried her sopping body and found her cell phone. Then she dialed his number, biting her lip as it rang once, twice, thrice, four ti-
"Hullo?" Her heart skipped a beat when she heard his voice.
"Hi, Red. It's Misty. Did you get that invitation in the mail?"
There was a beat, and then Red responded, "Uh, I haven't checked…"
Misty explained, "There's a Celebrity Dinner in Pewter City next week." She paused to look down at her pool, biting her lip. "You'll be there, won't you?"
He laughed. "Of course! You and all my other friends will be there." There was a pause, and then – "Do you think Yellow will go?"
She mentally sighed; instinct had once again proved correct. In, out, in, out – this wasn't the end of the world… "Yes, probably."
Red, as usual, missed the pain in her voice. "Great! Well, I'll see ya then, Misty!"
There was a click, and then silence, and Misty sighed and tossed the phone wearily to the floor and dove back into the pool. She could worry about what to wear later. For now, she had more thinking to do…
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Half the week later, Red still hadn't done anything to prepare for the dinner. He didn't care much about formal events, though he did enjoy food. Not as much as his two fellow Dex holders from Johto and Sinnoh, but he could hold his own.
Either way, he had not obtained a tuxedo, and he had yet to obtain a 'guest' for the event.
Honestly, he didn't know whether he was going to ask anyone to the dinner. From what he was told, he would see all of his friends there, and he didn't care to ask some stranger to go.
Plus, who would he ask?
Yellow came to mind first. But he immediately put her out of mind; it would be embarrassing to bring her, since every time he thought of her these days he blushed a bit too heavily. He would only end up making a fool of himself. Furthermore, she probably didn't even see him as any more than an elder brother.
Misty, maybe, but she would most likely say no. After all, she'd already called to make sure that he was going along, so why would she want to go with him? (No one ever said that the logic of the boy made sense.)
He had just begun thinking of a third person he could possibly ask (and probably would not ask, to be certain) his phone rang again, and he answered it.
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The night of the dinner began rather stressfully for Yellow, who had also had a particularly stressful week.
She'd called Blue first, hoping that the elder girl would be willing to help her prepare for the big night. However, the brunette seemed vague about the whole thing, and by the end of the conversation, Yellow only understood that Blue would be busy with business of her own throughout the week.
So Yellow, in desperate stupidity, had decided to call up the most fashion-savvy person that she knew.
Ruby.
The boy hadn't even bothered taking Yellow shopping, calling all the dresses that stores could offer 'cheap' and unfitting. The boy, who seemed rather competent in the battle arena, was downright scary in the dressing room as he took measurements, sewed up the sides of something that she couldn't quite see, and snapped at her every time she moved even the tiniest bit.
It's all for Red, she told herself as she narrowly avoided being pricked with a needle for the umpteenth time. Anything for Red.
And after that, he'd abruptly pulled the fabric off her frame, leaving her awkwardly trying to cover herself. However, her junior didn't even glance; he was too marking down numbers and notes on a clipboard. "Okay," he'd cheerfully told her, ignoring a scarred glare, "your dress will be done in just a few days! I'll come by a few hours before the dinner so that you can try it on and such.
And that was what was causing Yellow such stress on such a beautiful evening.
After thirty more minutes of minute adjustments and fixups, Ruby dropped his sewing kit and pushed a floor-length mirror in front of the blond girl, who'd had the forethought to have her hair done up earlier in the day.
She gasped; the girl before her was not the one that had received that invitation one week earlier. "Wow," she said in awe, turning slightly and blushing heavily.
The dress, colored a pinkish purple, was long, puffing out on the skirt. Meanwhile, the focus was her slender shoulders, which were entirely, well, bare. The dress supported itself around her upper arms.
"Uh, isn't it a bit… low cut?" Yellow asked nervously; she hadn't anticipated showing this much skin.
Ruby bristled. "No, it's just right!" he insisted. "Here, some gloves to match."
And sure enough, Ruby had made gloves out of the remaining fabric; they covered the length of her arm.
One necklace, two earrings, and a hair pendant later, Ruby was satisfied. "Perfect… very beautiful!" he declared, helping her into her flats. "Now, hurry!"
And so she did. The stares she attracted on the way to the Pewter Museum… well, there certainly were a lot of them. She'd never blushed so much in all her life, she believed.
Even at the Museum, where refreshments and dancing were the main events of the evening, she certainly stood out, like a bright jewel. She searched the crowd desperately, looking for a certain young man…
She didn't find him, but she did see Misty draining a glass of punch and ambled over. "Hi, Misty," she said shyly. "You look nice…"
Misty wore a teal dress that didn't quite make it to her knees; it certainly exaggerated both the color of her eyes and the length of her legs. She smiled, but it seemed oddly strained. "Thank you." She glanced around. "Have you seen Red anywhere?"
Yellow shook her head, suspecting none of the heartache that they both shared. "No…"
Of course, that was the moment that something in the universe must have snapped, because that moment Red chose to walk out of the sea of dancing people. A girl in an elegant candy apple red dress had latched to his arm determinedly, eyes sparkling as she laughed at something he'd said.
It took Yellow a moment to realize that she knew this girl quite well, actually.
"Hello, Yellow! Tee-hee, that rhymes! Hi, Misty. Enjoying the party?"
It was Blue.
The girls both stared at her, too shocked (and in Misty's case, angry) to say anything. Finally, though, Misty recovered enough to choke out, "You two are here… together?"
Red, of course, caught none of the emotion in any of the girls' eyes. Blue, however, smiled, using it against them. "Oh, yes! We did. I asked him on last Tuesday, and he's just so sweet. He came right along!" She smiled at Red, who appeared braindead in comparison with the constantly scheming, consistently destructive aqua eyes. "Come on, we should dance!"
And both of the other girls stared, wide-eyed, into the crowd as a devious thief of a girl slow-danced with the man that both of them loved. They'd never had so much in common in all their lives!
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Fin
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Author's Note: I told you that you probably wouldn't like the outcome. As a SpecialShipper, this story serves as a particularly grim reminder of something that I have recently learned – if you don't seize the day, someone else will.
Yellow's personality prevented her from doing anything. She was too shy and meek, and so she asked for help from someone else. She doubted herself from the beginning, even though Red actually did like her. Meanwhile, Misty decided that they were friends by default and nothing more, even though she liked him. So she took a couple of steps, but nothing more. Blue was the winner. Blue had confidence and willpower; Blue took control of the situation. Blue wore the sexy red gown, and Blue was completely shameless. And thus, she was the one dancing with Red.
Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Conquer your fears and let the Blue inside your heart make that special someone fall in love.
Review, please!
(Oh, and if you want to find out what happens when Yellow wears high heels instead of flats, check out the SpecialShipping chapter of my 'Romances and Second Chances'.)