One-shot #0 – Better Summer Days ((DONE)) – Leaf remembers lazy sunny days, where they didn't have a care in the world.
*UPDATED: This one-shot is more popular than I thought. I can't say how happy I am for you guys taking time to review. Thanks! A quick note to readers; I will be writing a chapter version of Better Summer Days. But I will also write two versions of Better Summer Days with Red and Blue as the narrators. I do not own Steven, Mike, and Miki. The 3 OCs belong to ShadowMaleRenamon's creepypasta.
Leaf remembers better summer days. She remembers Blue not being mean, Red not being idiotic, her not being cursed.
She remembered Professor Oak preaching at them, when they were much younger, yelling at them to not be so reckless. When they were just kids, they used to play together all the time. They never left Pallet Town, but they didn't need to. Blue, Red, and Leaf made the whole town their playground, running down the streets, through the trees, and into the small pond near the Professor's lab.
She remembers when they smiled a lot more, without cruelty. There was no rivalry between them, just friendship. Leaf didn't feel the need to mediate between her two friends, and she didn't need to worry about them constantly.
Back then, she could get away with her silly pranks, dumping ice into Red's pants and de-panting Blue. But all was well after a loud giggle fit, and the three would chase each other throughout town, "disturbing the peace," as Officer Jenny put it.
Back then, Steven and Mike were normal guys. Daisy didn't lock herself up during one day of the year. They were all smiling, all enjoying those lazy, sunny days.
Whenever the kids were too tired or bored to do something, they went to the edge of town to see Steven and Mike, but mostly Steven. Steven was Red's hero. Tall, strong, with long, gorgeous black hair, Steven always had a friendly, welcoming smile that made his brother's look small. He always told the three friends stories of great Legends, of mysterious Pokémon that no one knew about.
Even when Steven and Mike left for their journey, Steven always made an effort to come back home and check up on his "little fans." Even though Blue and Leaf didn't idolize him, they always came to greet him at the gate, eagerly waiting to see what stories he could tell them then.
Those were such simple, easy, lazy sunny days.
Then Steven became Champion. The whole town celebrated. A huge party was held in Steven's honor. After Oak convinced Steven to make an acceptance speech, like always, he talked about Miki, his faithful Charizard. He chatted on and on, but Red hung on to every word, like it was his last breath. Leaf had always thought Miki was beautiful for Charizard, how her orange scales gleamed with a healthy light, and how, even then, she still managed to give off a warm radiance of peace, making Leaf feel secure.
When Steven returned to traveling, Miki followed him. Mike decided to work on completing his Pokedex on Oak's request. Leaf remembered how she and Blue had tried to chat with him as much as possible, trying to squeeze every detail on new Pokémon he had seen, and if he saw any Legends, like in Steven's stories.
Sweet, beautiful, simple, easy, lazy sunny days.
And then all Hell broke loose.
Mike had apparently gotten close to completing his Pokedex. After trading and traveling for so long, he came home with one thing in mind. A simple offer, a quick trade between him and his brother. His Blastoise for Steven's Miki.
It was supposed to be painless, quick, and easy. Just long enough for data to be transferred to Mike's Pokedex. It was far from that, though.
In one night, everything changed. The old trading machine in Oak's lab broke. Both Pokemon… gone. After Miki's tragic death, Steven lost all will to live. His brother sent him to a hospital, and Mike himself left Pallet Town, neither ever to be seen again. But neither were forgotten.
That year, however, Miki's death didn't just affect Steven and Mike's lives. It seemed with Miki's passing, the light present in Pallet Town dissipated. No more happy smiles. No more senseless giggling or mindless chatter. For weeks, just silence, moaning.
Leaf remembered things getting worse from there. While Pallet Town slowly returned to its normal vibrate life, Leaf and her friends were far from okay. Red's whole world seemed to crash. He came to fear losing his dream, like his infallible idol Steven. How no one had thought Mr. Perfect had everything go wrong for him so quickly?
The incident hit Blue, too. Blue began to think of the world being made of two types of people; weak and strong. He put people like Steven and Red into the weak category, and he aimed to become strong. In this, he thought hanging out with weak people would make him weak, so he distanced himself from Red. She didn't know if or when she went on his weak list, but somehow, Blue began to treat Leaf differently. Not cruelly, like with Red. Almost like everything was a test for her.
And all the while this was happening, Leaf left herself change. She began to notice how small she was, how minor of a person she had let herself become. Perhaps that was why Blue made it his life goal to make Red's life a living hell and Leaf's a challenging battle. She wouldn't lie about her becoming jealous of Red, when his birthday approached, when he began to plan his adventure, just like his hero Steven. He was going to get a Charmander, he had decided. Blue, on that note, picked Squirtle, just to torture Red more.
What did that leave Leaf? Red was showing promise of being the new Steven, doing everything he could to follow in his hero's steps. Blue was the grandson of the great Professor Oak, brother of the beautiful and intelligent Daisy Oak.
And Leaf? Leaf was just Leaf. A nobody, a blimp on the screen.
How she wished for those glorious, blissful, sweet, beautiful, simple, easy, lazy sunny days again.
Where she didn't need to prove to anyone she was someone.
Where Red didn't feel the growing fear of what could become of him if he's not careful.
Where Blue doesn't need to evaluate everything in black and white.
But Leaf didn't have that luxury anymore.
As she followed her two childhood friends towards Oak's lab, she made a silent vow. She would outs both of them, in a blink of an eye. She would become Champion, she would stomp out Steven's memory from everyone's hearts. Then they'd celebrate her. Then her friends could return to normal.
In the lab, she skillfully bumped the table, knocking the PokeBalls clean off. Apologizing, she leaned over and picked up each Ball, careful in which was which. Then, quicker than an Ekans, she switched the Bulbasaur Ball with the Charmander Ball. While Blue got his Squirtle like he wanted, adding his pet Eevee to his roster, Red got a shock.
And Leaf left Pallet Town, with Candle the Charmander on her heel, glaring daggers at the old, abandoned home of Steven.
I'll beat you. I'll beat you all.
But still, even with this goal, even with her determination, even with her frustration, she still remembered better summer days.
Which was perhaps far crueler to remember something that could never happen again.