Title: You Can Do Better
Summary: You can do better. Four sad words. Those four words are the story of Electra's life.

A/N: Forgive me. I uploaded the wrong chapter last time. Thank you to the unknown, for pointing that out. For this unexpected delay, I will upload another chapter ASAP.

To my awesome, quick, favorite reviewers:

To PlatoLuvr-08: Sorry, I didn't have time yesterday! But here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reviewing!

To A: That's so nice of you to say. A little short in the review, but thank you so much! I hope you read this!

To AdrenalineRush16: Thank you for reviewing! I agree with Skimble being caring and kind. That was in the musical, when Electra is a lot older. I'm portraying Skimble as a complicated character. He is at first sort of hard on her, but later she sort of softens him. Something like that. You should post your story about Electra, it seems interesting!

To xx-jenii-xx: Thanks for reviewing! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

To mungo'skitty18: Here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy this one too. Thanks!

To musicgal3: Thanks for reviewing! I will try to update as soon as possible.

To soraskybeauty: I think she's really pretty too. Thanks for reviewing!

To the unknown: Many thanks for telling me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Note: If you think the story is going slowly, please read the last sentence in this chapter over and over again. Don't just skip to that sentence though. Thanks!

Note: Rewritten, if you haven't read this chapter before, just carry on. Thanks! Read and review, please.

7 months later

Jenny and Jelly were taking care of the younger kittens and talking at the same time. After so many years of looking after kittens, it was relatively easy for them to multitask. Jenny sighed suddenly, "How is Electra doing in reading?"

"Reading? Oh, she doesn't show much interest", Jelly replied truthfully, "But if she knew about books, I bet she'd love them."

"I think the books we have are a little too mature for a five year old", Jenny laughed, "But I'll try to find a children's book for her."

"That seems like a good idea."

Jenny watched her daughter playing tag with the toms and the corners of her mouth lifted up slightly.

Skimble was doing his job, overseeing the trains, etc. As he worked, he couldn't help but think about his daughter, that little beam of hope for him. He knew he was putting a lot on her shoulders, but his father had done that to him and ultimately it was for her own good. The other day Electra had come running to him when he had finally returned home and gave him a paper flower that she had folded. The look on her face had been so happy, he couldn't help but laugh with her.

There were times when Skimble wanted a different daughter and times when he wanted a new life. He couldn't be content with what he had and the one most important thing he didn't know was that: The greatest of harm can come from the best intentions.

1 month later

Electra was only five, but she knew that emotions were peculiar; certain things made her feel one way and others made her feel another. The feeling called happiness was the most pleasant she had ever experienced and it was like her heart was bursting with rays of light. She would want to laugh forever when she felt that way and then there was a terrible thing called sadness. Electra was well acquainted with that one, too. It was what she felt when her father looked at her and then away. Then her heart would want to break into a million tiny pieces and even then, she would love her father with those little pieces.

When you're young, the world is simple in a complicated way.

1 month later

Tumblebrutus was playing tag with Jemima, Electra and Etcetera. While they were running, Tumble paid special attention to Electra such as making sure that if she was "it", he would let her tag him. Her leg made her slow down quite a bit and it was hard to pretend, but being a year older, Tumblebrutus could take humiliation better than most toms.

From the sidelines, Pouncival yelled, "I can't believe you let a girl catch you, Tumblebrutus!"

Tumble stopped abruptly and turned to his loud friend. Then with a solemn expression he said, "She's faster than I am."

Hearing this, Electra smiled happily, at least Tumble would always pretend for her. She knew he pretended, but that made their relationship so much more special.

3 months later

Electra sighed once more and listened to Victoria reading out of a children's book. The stories were quite dull for her since the ending was always the same.

"…and they lived happily ever after!" Victoria finished the fairy tale while Etcetera laughed and said, "That was better than the Cinder Princess story."

"It was Cinderella", Jemima whispered to her, but the hyper kitten only rolled her eyes and pulled Electra impatiently.

"Come on, let's play a game", Etcetera cheered anyway as Electra looked at her friend and asked, "What game?"

"I don't know. Something that involves a lot of running", Etcetera smiled at the very thought.

2 months later

Skimble watched his daughter carefully as she lifted a tire up and off the railroad track. He enlisted her help on days when it was carefree and slightly windy. Electra smiled and ran around the railway station, admiring every little thing she saw, but she really was a little kitten.

3 months later

Pouncival continued to harass Electra, it was the best sort of entertainment for the mischievous tom. The best part of the game was that Electra never backed down, unlike Jemima or Etcetera. They were such queens.

"Electra, why are you so dumb?" Pouncival teased with a lopsided grin. For Electra, that lopsided grin was an evil smirk. Different people interpret things differently. The dark tabby looked at Pouncival and said, "Why are you so dumb?"

"I'm not dumb", Pouncival protested while Electra bit her lip from laughing and caught herself in time. Spending time with Victoria really did pay off in the end. The white queen had told her once that Pouncival was easy to deal with. All you had to do was distract him. The young tom was already distracted enough and just a few words were enough to throw him off course.

"I have to go home", Electra told him and left. In any other language, but Pounce's, that meant that she was finished with him.

Plato winced as he watched Tumblebrutus and Pouncival tackle each other. Fighting was so useless, he thought. Tumblebrutus had probably been offended by some offhand remark Pouncival had said. It was remarkable how, after all this time, they could still find things to fight about.

There were a lot of things that they could still fight about in the future, truth be told. Like queens.

3 months later

Jelly couldn't believe it when she had tested Electra on reading. At first she thought it had been a fluke of some sort, but when she tried again. The result was the same.

She rushed to her friend, Jenny's house, and burst into the door. Jenny and Skimble looked up in surprise. Jelly gushed, "Hi! It's good you're here, Skimble!"

"What's wrong?" Jenny asked, very concerned for her friend's sanity.

"You mean, what not wrong!" Jelly cried out, "Electra is simply amazing!"

"What do you mean?" Skimble couldn't process those words together right. Jelly's eyes were wide with excitement.

"I tested her on basic reading and she could read just as well as Victoria", Jelly stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. Skimble blinked once. Then again. Jenny gasped and said, "That's so wonderful! I never knew Electra knew how to read so well!"

"Me neither", Jelly laughed. They stopped and looked at Skimble. His face was frozen…then he suddenly burst out, "That's amazing! I can't believe this at all!"

That night, while Skimble told his daughter how proud he was, he thanked the Everlasting Cat for giving him something so perfect. But Skimble forgot an important rule of life. Rule number 4: Life is not perfect. It will never be perfect. If things seem perfect, something wrong is bound to happen.

2 months later

Electra was, what most would call, smart. She was a different sort of smart from Victoria. Victoria was manipulatively smart. She knew how people would react to certain things. Electra was smart in the ways of learning. She soaked information up like water in a sponge. Reading was one of the ways she learned things the best. The information was always put to use in some way or another. Whether it was showing off, entertaining herself, or mocking Pouncival, it always helped.

The smarter she acted, the heavier the burden got. The burden was all the expectations of the ones she loved. But of course, the burden was still relatively light and so Electra didn't notice the pressure. After all, she had spent many years of her life being oblivious.

4 months later

On her mother's birthday, Electra wrote a short poem in the, "Roses are Red", format. She read aloud for her mother and father to hear.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. The sun only shines because of you." Electra smiled at her mother's tearful expression. It was a good tearful expression. It meant that she loved her and her poem a lot. Skimble laughed and said, "That was very short, but I liked it very much."

"It wasn't for you", Jenny joked and hugged her daughter close. Then she whispered, "Thank you. It was a wonderful poem."

3 months later

Electra had taken up on colleting little rocks and would examine them for hours. Skimble didn't like her new hobby since she had exchanged it with reading. When she stopped reading, she stopped learning important things. The Railway Cats wanted his daughter to keep on learning since it would help her one day.

"Electra, put those rocks away", Skimble called, "It's time to eat dinner."

"Coming!"

Five minutes passed and still no Electra. Skimble called again "Electra!"

"Just a second!"

"Now!"

"Please, two more minutes", Electra implored. Skimble called out even louder, "Electra, it's dinner time. Put away those silly rocks or I'll take them away."

"Fine!' Electra said. She stomped into the middle of the den and pouted. But she sat down anyway. Skimble looked at her and said, "This is the third time this has happened. I call for you, but you're examining rocks. Rocks! We're throwing them away tomorrow."

"No Dad!" Electra begged, "Please don't' throw them away!"

"Then stop wasting so much time with them! You seem to love them more than you love your parents", Skimble snapped. Electra lowered her head so he couldn't see her tears. Even though he couldn't see her tears, he sure could hear her sniffing. Jenny entered the den and exclaimed, "What's wrong, Electra?"

"She was playing with those silly rocks again", Skimble sighed. Jenny looked at Electra and whispered, "Next time just come to eat right away, okay?"

Electra nodded. The whole encounter was probably only 15 minutes long. It was a small portion of Electra's life. But she would forever remember that day because in the end, it's the little things that count the most.

Please review? This is a pretty plain chapter, it's supposed to make you think a bit. I hope you enjoyed reading and review to tell me how to make this story better.

I hope you can take the speeds of my chapters. Um...I forgot to mention, that my inspiration for this story comes from a few songs by Three Days Grace. They are an awesome band. I recommend them if you are bored and want to listen to some music.

Note: Rewritten, minor changes made.