Title: Of Fairytales
Fandom: Pokemon (Gameverse, Gen. III)
Pairing: May x Brendan
Rating: PG (for overzealously imagined romance and awkward pre-teen moments)
Summary: She was a princess who'd been handed a sword. (MayxBrendan)
Note(s): Inspired by the prompt "summer skin" at the LJ Community Pokeprompts.
Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The water's warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin
I don't recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labour Day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin
("Summer Skin" - Death Cab for Cutie)
Back then, she thought she was the crowned princess of some glitter-bound fairytale. What reason had she not to believe? After all, all fairytales begin with "Once upon a time," or "A long time ago in a land far, far away…" and May was young; far, far away indeed from "happily ever after."
In Littleroot Town, summer mornings were heavy and the air was close. Outside her window, the temperature climbed as the second hand of her red enamel alarm clock on her nightstand chugged away tirelessly in her ear as she stretched lazily over her twin mattress, the Ponyta-patterned sheets and quilt kicked into a saggy, defeated pile on the floor by her dangling arm. Too hot to sleep and too lazy to get up and reach for the remote of the miniature TV in the corner of her room, May daydreamed with her glassy eyes open, felt the cool rock of a mountainside behind her back, imagined her loose fingers clenched at her sides and her lips parted in fear as she stared up at a shadowy beast thrice her size. Then, a burst of red light, the same color as the warm blankness beneath her eyelids, and the tall shadowy shape of a man, his outstretched arm reaching for her and holding her close. "Are you okay?" He'd sometimes say, and on other, more lucid mornings, if she dared: "Never leave my side again." and he'd sweep his Champion cape protectively over them both before releasing a great-winged creature from the capsule in his belt to fly them away to safety and privacy.
It embarrassed her to pass Brendan on her way out the door after lunch after envisioning a man - a man - so powerful, so perfect, kissing her passionately like the adults in romance movies. They brushed shoulders and May would grit her teeth, ducking her head to disguise her blush and charging on her way, and Brendan's garnet gaze would flicker past her like candle flames disturbed by wind. There'd be a second of discomfort as they waited for enough distance to pass between them, then the boy next door would shrug his shoulders and revert his attention on that blipping handheld machine he never left home without.
"Oh, May," he called out once, and May had stopped sharp, digging her heels into the dirt as she inwardly fretted about what he could possibly want with her.
"Dad said I should help you catch a Pokémon," he said. "You don't have one yet, right?"
May threw a cautious glance at him from over her shoulder and mumbled something inaudible.
"Cool, well," he said, his expression permanently indifferent. "I'm helping out at the Lab today with some research, but another time, okay? Before summer ends. I promise."
A pause. Then: "Thanks," she managed. The corners of his mouth quirked upwards and she smiled a little in return, secretly delighted that she had managed to make him happy. He had made her a promise. A trek through the tall grass outside town limits alone – that was essentially a date, was it not? May watched the bends of his knees as he strode out of sight.
That afternoon, the rhythmic droning of bug Pokémon seemed to resonate from every standing tree in Littleroot Town and drowned out the sounds of the town's goings-on: the lazy thud of heat-weary feet going about their business at one-quarter's pace, girlish laughter and dark murmurs from couples picnicking by the lake and children squealing during an ambush water gun fight. The sharp shout of a man in trouble outside the town limits tore through the heavy air like a crack of lightning and May checked the sky in confusion for signs of a summer shower. She hesitated on the rock she was perched upon, improving the tan she wanted to sport for the photographs she would send her old friends in Johto, but one of the neighbour's children cried out her name.
"Someone's in trouble, May," he wibbled, "I heard, May, I know it. Come on, May, you're older and scarier. You could chase the bad guy away."
She lifted her chin and looked down at him with pressed lips. "You're wrong. I am not at all scary," she said. Somewhere beyond town limits, the man shrieked again.
May stared at the gilled creature she'd released from the Pokéball flung haphazardly from the man in peril's fallen briefcase. It took another strangled noise of distress from Professor Birch to shake her out of her reverie and prod her into action. Her leadership skills were awkward and clunky at best; the voice giving commands didn't sound like her voice and the victory didn't feel like her victory when the attacking Poochyena yelped and skittered away, leaving a relieved Professor slumped against the tree he was cornered against.
The little blue Pokémon bounced over to her and butted her ankle playfully, asking to be rewarded. The translucent fin on its head felt like wet rubber against her bare leg.
"Good job," she told it. It stared at her, uncomprehending.
Bending down slightly, she held the palm of her hand uncertainly over its head and blinked when it struggled to lean up into her touch. Laughing a little, she patted the side of its head, avoiding the rubbery fin protruding from the centre.
"Good job," she said again.
"The start of a fruitful partnership, I think," the Professor declared. He had stood up and adjusted his skewed glasses with a ruffled grin. "Come on; let's hightail it back to the Lab. It looks like we have things to discuss."
He told her to leave the heavy wooden door to the Lab slightly ajar for his son and May glanced backwards as he lead her further into the building, half-expecting Brendan to have already slipped in behind them. Tendrils of oven-like air wisped into the room and wrapped around her chilled arms, trying to pull her back outside, but the air-conditioning welcomed her in.
Professor Birch's voice floated in and out of her ears. "…might have what it takes to vie for Champion, and have you ever considered taking the Pokémon League Challenge?"
May shook her head, giving herself a headache, and checked behind her again to see if Brendan had shown up yet. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen, she thought dizzyingly; she was a princess who'd been handed a sword. This wasn't her dream, it was someone else's.
She left the Professor's Lab with the Pokeball he'd given her still clutched in one hilly fist, slowly at first, as if dazed, then her stride stretched and lengthened, rolling and gaining speed like a train being brought to life, until she was cleaving through the middle of Littleroot Town at a fast clip. She caught herself on the splintery fence in front of Brendan's house and paused only for a moment to look breathlessly up at the right-hand second storey window. The light was out – he wasn't home. May gulped down some air and ran.
She didn't stop smiling all the way to Cherrygrove City, where she called her mother from a payphone to tell her she'd undertaken a quest and not to wait up for her.