I doubt I have any more than maybe seven or eight people who still check back here but that's what I get for being inactive I guess. I really do this more for me anymore than past or potential readers. My brief tenure in prose fanfiction has been quite the learning experience and helped me find my legs as a writer, but even so, the sooner I can leave it behind the better. None the less, I hope to get myself back to a working schedule, fell pretty far since my grandma died but that's far enough behind me that I think I should try to get back to it, or try if nothing else. If you see it cut off near the bottom it's because I can finish it within the night but I want it uploaded on what is technically Red's birthday(where I am anyway). Sorry about that. Anyway, enough of me depressing you, here's a story to make up for it.
Update: Okay there was some problems with the document(not the site, the document) that cut it off but now the whole thing should be there.
Early morning on August 8th, the day it should feel different but it just never does. For Red at least. He never did more than little things for himself on his birthday. You'd think living on one's own with only Pokémon would mess someone up badly but Red was very well adjusted. Much, much better adjusted than someone in his position should've been anyway, even more so than many of his colleagues who did have guardians looking after them. He was not devoid of social human contact, he spent a lot of time outside, talking to others, living his life as though he wasn't any different for the fact, he might not have been, all things considered. Still he grew up mostly with just his Poliwag.
Perhaps he wasn't all that okay, maybe he was just so backwards in the head that he seemed otherwise. But if it had any benefits, it was that Red didn't have much to expect or worry about for a long time. Not that he didn't appreciate the fact that people would come to see him, mostly from his twelfth onward, it's just that he didn't feel that the day he was born was anything all that special. That wasn't a bad thing, at least he didn't think so. Not when you're one of those people who can make everyday that doesn't involve some terrorist conspiracy to take over the world a good day.
It was just a day to him, so like any day he forced himself from his bed to find only Vui was there to meet him, per usual. He smiled knowingly.
...
Outside his house, some of Red's Pokémon were running laps around the others. It was a habit that Pika, Poli and Saur had developed while training under Green during a time when Red and Green had accidentally switched Pokémon. Gyara, a Pokémon that normally flew around anyway and Lax, a Pokémon that preferred to laze around more than anything normally didn't join in. Lax sleeping and Gyara watching as the three Pokémon circled him. Well four technically. Aero was flying above the other five but otherwise following the running group. Vui was usually Red's stay-at-home Pokémon, that watched the house and was eager for his return if he left, so it dutifully stayed inside even if his other Pokémon were used to going outside every morning.
Coming out the doorway, their trainer yelled; "Ten-hut!" Taking attention, the six of them came running up to their trainer with varying degrees of excitement. Even Lax had woken up, being trained to be a light sleeper, and walked calmly after the others, "I couldn't resist." Red thought aloud, "You guys excited?" From the looks of them they were in fact very excited.
Red was smiling at them with nothing to say until a voice came from a few feet behind him and to his left, "Excited for what?"
He turned his head and saw none other than Blue standing there having snuck up on him somehow, "Hey."
"Hey." She properly greeted.
She walked up to him and gave him a hug, resting her arms on his shoulders and pulling him towards her by the back of the neck. Red was caught off guard at first, perhaps even a little nervous, but he picked himself up quickly.
"So you miss me?" He said, semi-sarcastically, "It's been what, two months?"
She released him and put one hand to her waist, letting the other arm hang, "Two months and six or seven days, the time between my birthday and yours yes."
"That long eh?"
He meant to say something else after that but Blue spoke up first, "Not long enough that I've lost the key I had from when I lived here." She said, flashing said key, "And not so long that I don't know exactly what's gonna happen when I do this." And before Red could react properly she dived for his front door, opened it and called out; "Vui!" The Pokémon jolted up, coming into visibility from the couch, ears perked up, "Come 'ere." On that exact command Red's Espeon jumped from the couch and scampered over to the brunette that called it. Blue knelt down to meet him, scratching behind his ears and under his chin, "Who's my Vuivee?"
"Vuivee? That's a new one." Red said to her.
"How can you stand to keep him cooped up in your claustrophobic old house." Blue asked, cuddling Vui.
"You never thought it was claustrophobic before, and you know I get him out of the house every few days a week." Red defended himself.
"Well make today one of those days." Blue urged, putting her cheek against Vui's, "Look at 'im. He says, 'I wanna go for a walk'."
"I'm pretty sure that's not what he's saying." Red said with a small smile on his face.
"Oh just humor me." She replied.
"Okay, so Pokémon whisperer, do you also do parties?" Red asked bemusedly.
"If you can call what you do today a party sure." Blue said before standing up, "So, where to first?"
"I thought I'd drop by Prof. Oak's lab before heading out to Viridian." Red answered, "How long have you been here anyway? I only woke up a second ago."
"What, you think I was watching you sleep or something?"
"No, I'm just wondering if you were waiting for a long time."
"I think I've been watching your Pokémon circle each other for a good fifteen minutes."
"Sorry, shouldn't keep a lady waiting, as they say." Red said while he recalled most of his Pokémon.
Blue chuckled, "You're in the best mood today. That's good, it's your birthday and all."
"Well that's not why. Shall we?" Red said as he began to walk.
"We shall. Come on Vui." She called, Vui walked alongside them, Pika sat on Red's shoulder, and you couldn't see him because he was transformed, but Blue's Ditto "Meta-chan" was hidden somewhere on her person, "But Red, I know you don't find your birthday all that special, I mean how many people do after a certain point, honestly. But it's special to us. I mean, me, Yellow, Prof. Oak, Green, your Gym Leader friends, all of the other Pokédex owners in their own way. I mean you're the backbone of a lot of our lives, I can't imagine where I'd be and what I'd be doing if I never met you. So in a lot of ways the day you were born was the most important day for all of us."
"Aw I, I don't know about that." Red said bashfully, rubbing his left hand behind his head.
"Well I do." Blue said bumping him lightly with her elbow, "Have I said happy birthday today?"
"I think you've said plenty." Red replied, exchanging a grateful smile with her.
...
After a sort-of-long-but-not-really morning trekking from the lab through Route 1, scaring off some small, troublesome Pokémon with their larger, stronger, more menacing Pokémon, and to Viridian City, Red and Blue closed in on Viridian Gym. Their visit with Prof. Oak was brief but pleasant, mostly talk about old memories, and a parting gift before the Professor had to get back to work. He felt bad that he didn't make more time for Red on the boy's birthday, but he knew Red only really wanted to do one thing on this day anyway. He'd gotten him a pair of sunglasses, nothing out of his way but Oak felt it would be a nice little gift that wouldn't be too imposing in the event he didn't like them. As they approached the door to the gym, it opened and out came a familiar face.
"Yellow. Hi." Blue spoke up with a renewed smile.
"Hey Yellow."
"Hey you guys. I wondered when you would get here." She greeted in her usual friendly tone as her Pikachu, Chuchu ran from her side to greet Pika, who'd just jumped from Red's shoulder.
"You were here at the Gym?" Red asked.
"Yeah, I knew you two would come here eventually, so instead of looking for you I just decided to come here and wait for you. I was just going to step outside for some air." Yellow explained.
"Yellow, you should really shut the door when you walk out!" Someone else hollered from back inside the building.
"Sorry, they're here Green!" She called back.
She signalled them to follow her and the three of them plus the Pokémon following them went in. Green came up to meet them, having been in the process of inspecting the gym.
"Hey Green." Red greeted.
"Hello." He greeted back.
"What's up?" Red asked.
"Minor renovations. I've spent some of today and most of yesterday cleaning up after a battle I had with a challenger. It got pretty intense considering the battles I usually get."
"Does that mean you're not ready for a battle?" Red asked challengingly.
Green smirked, "I'm always ready, I wouldn't be much of a battler if I wasn't."
"I'm the Battler remember, your title was the Trainer." Red said.
"Yes, so I trained my Pokémon to be better than yours at battling." Green quipped.
"I doubt that, and the trainer giving the commands is an important component in that mix. And I'm better at it than you." Red trashed.
"Pretty big words, you'd better be able to back them up."
"You know I can."
Yellow spoke up, "Wait." The other three turned their attention to her, "I don't want to spoil anyone's fun but Red you just got here, don't you maybe wanna relax, catch up before the battle? And Green your Pokémon have been working pretty hard, shouldn't you let them rest for just a bit?"
"That makes sense but we'd probably just bore him by delaying the battle." Green contested.
"No it's fine, I think this day is as much for my friends as it is for me. Well probably more actually."
"Alright then, there are some rooms in the back of the gym, we can hang out there for a while." Green offered.
...
The back of the Viridian City Gym was actually quite homely. Tables, chairs, a couch, a small kitchen even. Anything one might need. You could probably throw a decent party with what was available. And per Yellow's request the four of them slowly but surely made conversation while their Pokémon lounged about.
In particular, Blue had something she wanted to ask Yellow, "So, listen." Blue began, Yellow perked up attentively, "I know you don't like battling but you know it's just what, Red and Green and, well, Pokémon in general do right. I mean, nobody's going to get hurt."
"No, Blue, I know, it's not about stopping them." She explained, "I just wanted to spend time with you guys, I don't see any of you all that often anymore."
"I'm sorry, you know how it is, a lot happens. Especially recently with my parents." Blue replied.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. Besides we're all here right now. Let's just enjoy that."
"Yeah." Blue finished, Red and Green apparently weren't talking about anything so she decided to break the newfound silence, "So Red."
"Huh?"
"What've you been up to lately?" Blue asked.
"Oh you know, same old. Pallet Town is a quiet place, I lead a simple life." Red answered.
"You're boring Red. How can a League Champion and Pokédex Holder whose taken down Team Rocket no less than three times, and is constantly training to better himself be so boring?" She complained.
"I'm not boring, things are just slow right now. I can't imagine 'staying with my parents' is the thriller of the year." Red retorted.
"I guess everyone's earned themselves a breather after what happened." Yellow said.
"Maybe this battle will have the excitement everyone's craving." Red stated.
"Getting impatient are we?" Green asked.
Red shot him a determined look, evidently getting anxious about the battle in question.
"Hang on." Yellow spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention, "I know I'm being a real buzzkill for you guys but... Don't you think we should do something more, I don't know, birthday-ish? You know, presents, cake, ice cream, cake. Oops I already said cake." She chuckled.
"Usually the battle is the present." Red said.
"And we don't have any cake, I don't have the stuff to make one either. We know we don't usually do it so..." Green took notice of Yellow's expression, one that was trying to hold down a smile, "I know that look."
"You went and got one anyway didn't you?" Blue said.
"Heh heh. They only had chocolate so I hope that's okay with everyone."
Red smiled, "You're such a sweetheart."
"Ah, well, ya know." Yellow replied bashfully.
...
"I hope you enjoyed that cake Red, because you're going to throw it back up when I'm done with you." Green boasted.
"Real nice, must've taken you at least half a minute to come up with that one." Red shot back.
"Seems a bit hostile doesn't it?" Yellow whispered to Blue.
"Yellow, you're so cute when you're naive."
"What?"
"Just let them have their dog fight. It just makes them happy." Blue urged.
"Okay, if you're sure."
"Oh yeah, don't worry, they won't hurt each other." She assured.
The first choice of Pokémon is what begins the tide of a battle, the first thing that puts the trainer closer to the reins of control in the battle. It's a small step though, there is at no point in a battle where there is no hope of turning the tides. It mostly depends on the trainer. And you don't get much better or much closer than Red and Green. Whoever cracks and sends out the first Pokémon usually sets themselves up for a disadvantage, giving their opponent a chance to pick a perfect counter.
But in this case, evenness was everything, at the end of both of their preferred waiting time, as if oncue, they threw the Poké Balls on their belt and released their chosen Pokémon. Red's Poliwrath, "Poli" and Green's Machamp. Green smiled, luck seemed to be on his side today. Poli had a history of losing to Green's Pokémon. He didn't seem to stack well against his team. Green wiped the smile from his face immediately, Red wouldn't use Poli first if he didn't have a plan, he had to stay on his toes.
"Hydro Pump." Red commanded.
Poli shot a powerful jet stream of water from its hand. Machamp, by instinct did a good job of staying out of its range. Red didn't seem worried, the fact that the attack was going seemed to be good enough for him. Machamp ran around the stadium and jumped over the stream, whatever he needed to do to close the gap. Red and Green never wavered they had to keep their expression the same, to look serene, never giving any hints or cues and trying not to so much as blink. Machamp closed the distance and grabbed Poliwrath, waiting for the command it knew was imminent.
"Seismic Toss!"
In little less than a second, Poli was smashed against the ceiling of the gym, "Keep firing." Red yelled. Poli fired again, the water bombarding his opponent below him. As Poli came down Red had to follow up, "Dynamic Punch!"
Poli launched its fist forward just as it fell within reach of Machamp. Machamp blocked it with his two right arms of his four total, still taking damage and per Dynamic Punch's effect, becoming confused, but getting the physically smaller Poliwrath in its grasp.
"Nice work, Seismic Toss again." Green said calmly, but Machamp did not respond, "I said Seismic Toss." Then as Poli casually slipped out of Machamp's unmoving grip, Green noticed a sleekness and frost coming from Machamp's figure, "You froze him."
"That was the plan." Red admitted, "Come to think of it you're defenseless, and I've yet to throw up. If this were a no holds barred battle you'd have just lost."
"Yeah, funny thing about that." The ground around Red and Poli shook, fortunately for Red, he'd been at this long enough to know what to do and dived out of the way immediately, he and Poli moving in opposite directions just as Green's Rhydon burst from the ground, "You didn't actually think you could get the upper hand in the warm up did you?"
"For a second there, I thought I did." Red replied.
Red was ready to engage again. This battle wasn't necessarily different than any other he had ever had with Green, but it was the bliss that it gave him to battle. If nothing else he always needed a battle on his birthday, even if he felt like doing nothing else. Sure, maybe Blue was right about him being boring, he was simple hearted anyway, but battle was all that he was expressed physically. His courage, his caring, his ferocity, his intelligence, his passion, everything about him came together as a perfect whole when in a battle. That's why, even if it wasn't special to him, his friends always thought to challenge him on August 8th. To give him the gift of battle. The only gift he ever really needed.
This is where I'd put a line break to separate the story from the authors comments if the document editor didn't have it in for me and insist on getting rid of them making it incredibly hard to switch gears without smacking the reader in the face.
Well, there was that, finally. How many of you feel that your birthday is more than any other day? I mean you know it consciously but how many of you feel it? I'm one of those people who needs to spend his day getting into a birthday mood.
I feel like something I have to realize as a writer is what is true to Pokéspe and what is more or less my own fanon. None of us have the inner workings of the characters that Kusaka has so we can only hope to emulate anyway but I tried to move away from some of my own recurring themes that happen when I take on these characters. For instance, usually one of the first things Blue does to Red in my stories is flirt with and tease him because she does that, but I tend to make it the centerpoint of their interactions whereas in canon it gradually moves away from that to just being a part of their relationship. Further I tend to go more over the top than the canon does when I do so but I lampshade it in stories when Blue is doing it more than usual because I'm aware I'm doing it and the reason for that is that's what's most fun to write about them, those interactions are the funnest to come up with and play out. I don't think it overtakes the two when I write them but here I made a conscious effort to avoid it.
Nothing is more dangerous in this regard I think than the fan theory. When one really likes a theory it gets absorbed into their understanding of the thing in question, and that can have damaging effects. And one of mine comes from the fact that we know Blue spent some time in Pallet Town before heading out again between RGB and Yellow but we don't know the details, like where in Pallet she stayed. So in my stories I have her stay with Red. Of course leaving two people going through puberty of the same age and opposite sex alone in a house they have to themselves with little or no supervision would sound like a terrible idea to most people but this is the Pokémon universe, insert laugh track. It gives me a lot to work with and its possible and maybe more likely that she stayed with Prof. Oak and Green, but, and I'm sorry OldRivalShippers but Blue and Green don't really do anything, they aren't all that close, so from a writer's standpoint it's not as fun. Still I have to remember that's MY addition and I have to remember not to get too attached to it. I know of a guy who's fanon basically prevented him from enjoying Skyward Sword.
I ended up attaching something new on anyway, Blue's really close to Red's Espeon for whatever reason. I guess I just can't help but put my own spin on things, which sounds harmless but it's the same mentality that possesses the fan base to turn Red into Homer Simpson, Yellow into Hinata, Gold into Master Roshi, Blue into every movie cheerleader ever, and Crystal into Batman. Still, despite the added details I hope it isn't enough to stray from the canon and become something completely different like a lot of fics, and I know I'm at least partially as guilty as anyone else in that regard, mostly my earlier work.
Also, even if I keep doing straight text fics I'm getting really sick of ff and am considering switching somewhere else.