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Description
Chapter Two: Reconcile

Doubt entered Risiko’s mind as he neared the wooden steps of his house. He looked to the egg in his arms, anxiety evident in his grey eyes. A thousand different ways to explain the situation entered his mind, but no way seemed to be satisfactory enough.

Risiko considered hiding the egg from his parents, but immediately dismissed the idea. The boy never felt right about behaving dishonestly. He knew if he tried to cover up the situation, his poor acting skills were more than likely to make the situation worse.

Well, I am eighteen, Risiko thought to himself. Leaving the house is always an option. As much as he dreaded the thought, he found it a much more suitable possibility than leaving the egg, the only parting gift he received from his long time friend.

Tension tightened every muscle in Risiko’s body as he entered his family’s small house. His mother was drinking tea at the table, while his father was no where to be seen. Risiko visibly stiffened as his mother’s emerald green eyes set on him before settling on the egg in his arms.

“Is that a pokémon egg?” His mother asked.

“It, um, you see,” Risiko stammered, again searching for the best possible explanation. “It was, uh, it was a gift.”

“A gift, was it?” His mother turned her stern gaze back to the tea cup in her hands. “A gift like your Vulpix was a gift?”

The small fox pokémon trotted over to Risiko’s mother when she heard her name. Her soft brown eyes beheld an innocent gaze when they turned to Risiko. The boy felt guilt stab at him within his chest when the pokémon did this. The pain in the little fox creature’s eyes caused the boy to mutter a small apology. He said, “I’ve never thought of it that way before. I’m so sorry, Vulpix.”

“Sorry enough to finally accept her?” The stern emerald gaze was now set on Risiko. “She’s been waiting for you, you know.”

“I just…” Risiko sank to his knees and held his hand out to Vulpix. “I’m so sorry,” Risiko said again, this time much clearer. “Vulpix, would you… Would you like to be my partner?”

The small fire pokémon stared at Risiko in disbelief. She trotted over to Risiko’s mother and sat by the small wooden chair. Vulpix looked up to Risiko’s mother with adoration, but when the fox pokémon’s soft eyes settled on Risiko, there was a distinct distrust within them.

“She is registered as my pokémon, now.” Risiko’s mother explained. “She was the product of my Ninetails, after all. As a trainer, you’re much too inexperienced to handle her right now. I would have to trade her to you, for one thing, and traded pokémon are quick to take advantage of a young trainer. Besides, from the way to hold that egg of yours, I doubt that you would be interested in trading it.”

Acting on instinct, Risiko turned away from his mother with egg, protecting it. He had not had the egg long, but already he felt a connection to it. It was his link to Shiki, and he had made a promise to raise the pokémon inside to the best of his ability. His unwillingness to give up the egg was more than obvious to his mother, who gave a disappointed sigh.

“Risiko, it is no longer my intention to give you Vulpix,” his mother confessed. “I wanted to see you and Vulpix grow strong together at first, but it’s obvious to me now that you are simply not like your father and I. But that does not mean that you can’t learn from this. Vulpix had been expecting to be your partner for a very long time. Eventually, she simply gave up on you and committed to training with me. You neglected her, Risiko, and now she is hurt when she looks at you. Learn from this.”

Risiko’s uneasy grey gaze set on the egg he held, his heart sinking further into his chest with his mother’s every word. He gave a solemn nod as he gently held the egg.

Another sigh escaped Risiko’s mother. She said, “So you are learning. Good. Now perhaps you’ll know what it means to raise a pokémon. For the sake of that creature inside that egg, please don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“I won’t, mom,” Risiko promised as he patted the egg affectionately. He shot a pained glance in the direction of the small fox pokémon and thought; I won’t ever make anyone or anything feel that way. Never again.

“Go on, now,” Risiko’s mother waved the boy away. “Your father will be in soon. I can’t be sure how he’ll react, you know how he is. Keep the egg out of sight until I think of a way to break this to him.”

Risiko nodded and walked down a narrow hallway to his bedroom. He stepped into the small room as his mother called out, “Don’t close the door on Vulpix.”

The thin boy looked down to see the small fire pokémon trailing behind him. She stopped as he turned around, keeping a distance of about four paces behind him.

Risiko smiled at the small creature. “Want to come in with me?” he asked her.

Vulpix looked to Risiko with caution. She quickly ran passed him and into the small room, avoiding close proximity with the boy as much as possible.

Risiko sighed. “Are you sure you’ll be comfortable in here?” he asked the pokémon. “I’m going to shut the door…”

Vulpix sat in the center of the room and simply stared at Risiko. He took her silence as consent, and gently pushed the door closed behind him with his free hand.

The room that the two now occupied seemed to be completely empty, save for the mattress to the far right corner of the room and a single desk. The mattress was fitted with grey sheets and rested on the floor, rather than on a box spring. The desk opposite the mattress was overflowing with pages of notes Risiko had taken on his story ideas. He felt the need to organize them whenever he saw them, but this idea would never go too far. Instead, he would glace at the notes, become absorbed in them and begin writing again.

Risiko avoided this at the moment and sat down on his mattress. Vulpix had not moved from the center of the room and was now eyeing Risiko with caution.

“You have every right to dislike me,” Risiko confessed to the pokémon. “I completely ignored you, even though you were bred specifically for me. I had thought that my parents were simply pushing you on me, wanting me to train you so I could be like them. I associated you with their goals for me without even considering your feelings. I’m so sorry.”

The gaze in Vulpix’s eyes seemed to change then. She had known the boy to be a gentle soul; she knew he would never harm her intentionally. Yet, as unintentional as the cause of the pain was, she was still hurt by the boy. Though she had suspected his reason for ignoring her before, hearing Risiko confess to it out loud here in this room somehow eased her pain. That is not to say the pain was gone, exactly, but it did ease her disdain for him. She bowed her head in acceptance of the boy’s apology.

“You forgive me?” Risiko asked, his hand outstretched in a peaceful gesture.

The Vulpix nodded, but did not come to the boy. The gaze in her eyes was much lighter now, relieved. She gave a small yelp as if to say, “Yes, I forgive you” and walked over to the door.

Risiko gave an understanding nod and followed Vulpix to the door. The fox pokémon still eyed him cautiously as he drew near to her, but she did not dart away as she had before. She trotted out the door at a quick pace as it opened, but looked back to Risiko reassuringly. She nodded, as if to say, “Don’t worry, I don’t hate you,” and walked off to sit beside Risiko’s mother once more.

Risiko closed the door after the fox pokémon. His mind was fogged as he walked back to his desk. He thought of Shiki and already he felt as if she had taken a piece of him with her on her journey. He thought of his father and the pressure that came with thinking of him. And of course he thought of the egg that lay on the modest mattress.

Risiko scooped the egg off of the mattress. The fragile egg was placed securely in his lap as he shifted through the papers on his desk. He smiled slightly as he came across one particular story idea.

The main character of the story had been Shiki’s Umbreon. In the fantasy realm Risiko had created, the Umbreon (as well as all the pokémon in the fantasy world) had been born with wings, regardless of whether they were a Flying Type or not. The wings would change color in Risiko’s story. Had the pokémon been good and innocent, its wings would remain pure and white. Had the pokémon been evil, the white feathers would molt and become replaced with bright red feathers.

The idea mulled over in Risiko’s mind for a moment before he picked up a mechanical pencil and began to write again. Hours began to pass without him noticing, the egg safely absorbing his warmth all the while.

***

Risiko’s concentration did not break until the sound of the front door of the house bursting open caught his attention. This was a typical entrance for his energetic father, but the noisiness of it was not something Risiko had ever become used to. The thin boy carried the egg with him as he tip-toed to his door and very slightly cracked it open.

Through the crack Risiko could see his father’s bright red hair very clearly, but nothing else. What he saw did not matter then. What was important to Risiko is what he could hear.

“The girl next door started her journey today,” Risiko’s mother said. The sound of tea pouring into a cup reached Risiko’s ears.

“No kidding?” Risiko’s father replied. “And here I though she’d stay in that Dance Hall forever! You know, like her mother.”

“It seems that children don’t take after their parents these days,” Risiko’s mother said. More tea pouring was heard between the bits of conversation.

“I’ll say!” Risiko’s father paused to slurp his tea. “Thanks for the tea, hun. So, how’d Risiko take it?”

“I couldn’t really tell. He’s always so quiet, I can never be sure of what’s on his mind.”

“Yeah. Takes after his mother.”

“Is that so?”

“Just kidding, honey!”

“Hm. Well, you should know; Shiki left Risiko a gift. More tea, dear?”

“Please!”

Again, tea was poured to drown out the silence.

Risiko’s mother continued. “She left Risiko a pokémon egg.”

“Uh-huh,” Risiko’s father said as the conversation elapsed into silence. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“You should go congratulate him,” Risiko’s mother suggested. “He will begin to raise a pokémon once it hatches.”

“Well, let’s have a look.”

Heavy sneakers thudded against the wooden floor of the house. Risiko quickly sat down at his desk, with the egg again in his lap, before his father opened the door.

“Hey there, son,” Risiko’s father said, his voice strangely calm. “Mind if I check out your parting gift, there?” He pointed to the egg in Risiko’s lap.

“Uh, sure, of course.” Risiko held the warm, brown egg out to his father.

“I see,” Risiko’s father inspected the egg, turning it over gently in his hands. “Any idea what’s going to come out of it?”

“I’m really not sure,” Risiko admitted with a slight blush. “Shiki made it sound as if it would be obvious to me, but I honestly can’t tell.”

“Then I won’t ruin the surprise for you,” Risiko’s father smiled broadly as he handed the egg back to his son. “This is a good thing, boy. You’re finally going to take some responsibility in your life. Raising a pokémon will be good for ya.”

Risiko nodded and smiled back at his father, “You mean you don’t mind that I might not be raising a fire type pokémon?”

“I didn’t say that,” Risiko’s father replied quickly. Pain flashed in his dark blue eyes when Risiko’s smile fell. He continued, “But we’ll see. For now, I’m just glad to see you’ve taken a step forward. Just don’t get any crazy ideas about running away from home, now.”

Risiko grimaced at his father’s words. He knew full well what the fire pokémon trainer had been referring to. Risiko’s younger brother had also resisted fire pokémon training, insisting on becoming a Pokémon Breeder instead. The young boy felt compelled to escape from his parent’s iron will. No one in Risiko’s family had heard from the younger brother in over a year. The topic was hardly ever broached in conversation, and when it was the conversation was quick to end.

“I’ll let you know if I decide to start my own journey,” Risiko promised. He wanted to ask his father about his brother, but instead allowed the conversation to end.

“Mom’s making dinner,” Risiko’s father said as he exited the room.

Risiko sighed as he thought of his brother. Mom and Dad may have disowned you for following your dreams, but I never will, Urban, Risiko thought quietly to himself. In fact, I admire you for it.

All of Risiko’s will seemed to have been lost in that moment. He dragged himself over to his mattress and pulled his egg close to him. Images of his brother and Shiki swirled in his mind as he closed his eyes, dinner completely absent from his mind.

Description
Chapter Two: Reconcile

Doubt entered Risiko’s mind as he neared the wooden steps of his house. He looked to the egg in his arms, anxiety evident in his grey eyes. A thousand different ways to explain the situation entered his mind, but no way seemed to be satisfactory enough.

Risiko considered hiding the egg from his parents, but immediately dismissed the idea. The boy never felt right about behaving dishonestly. He knew if he tried to cover up the situation, his poor acting skills were more than likely to make the situation worse.

Well, I am eighteen, Risiko thought to himself. Leaving the house is always an option. As much as he dreaded the thought, he found it a much more suitable possibility than leaving the egg, the only parting gift he received from his long time friend.

Tension tightened every muscle in Risiko’s body as he entered his family’s small house. His mother was drinking tea at the table, while his father was no where to be seen. Risiko visibly stiffened as his mother’s emerald green eyes set on him before settling on the egg in his arms.

“Is that a pokémon egg?” His mother asked.

“It, um, you see,” Risiko stammered, again searching for the best possible explanation. “It was, uh, it was a gift.”

“A gift, was it?” His mother turned her stern gaze back to the tea cup in her hands. “A gift like your Vulpix was a gift?”

The small fox pokémon trotted over to Risiko’s mother when she heard her name. Her soft brown eyes beheld an innocent gaze when they turned to Risiko. The boy felt guilt stab at him within his chest when the pokémon did this. The pain in the little fox creature’s eyes caused the boy to mutter a small apology. He said, “I’ve never thought of it that way before. I’m so sorry, Vulpix.”

“Sorry enough to finally accept her?” The stern emerald gaze was now set on Risiko. “She’s been waiting for you, you know.”

“I just…” Risiko sank to his knees and held his hand out to Vulpix. “I’m so sorry,” Risiko said again, this time much clearer. “Vulpix, would you… Would you like to be my partner?”

The small fire pokémon stared at Risiko in disbelief. She trotted over to Risiko’s mother and sat by the small wooden chair. Vulpix looked up to Risiko’s mother with adoration, but when the fox pokémon’s soft eyes settled on Risiko, there was a distinct distrust within them.

“She is registered as my pokémon, now.” Risiko’s mother explained. “She was the product of my Ninetails, after all. As a trainer, you’re much too inexperienced to handle her right now. I would have to trade her to you, for one thing, and traded pokémon are quick to take advantage of a young trainer. Besides, from the way to hold that egg of yours, I doubt that you would be interested in trading it.”

Acting on instinct, Risiko turned away from his mother with egg, protecting it. He had not had the egg long, but already he felt a connection to it. It was his link to Shiki, and he had made a promise to raise the pokémon inside to the best of his ability. His unwillingness to give up the egg was more than obvious to his mother, who gave a disappointed sigh.

“Risiko, it is no longer my intention to give you Vulpix,” his mother confessed. “I wanted to see you and Vulpix grow strong together at first, but it’s obvious to me now that you are simply not like your father and I. But that does not mean that you can’t learn from this. Vulpix had been expecting to be your partner for a very long time. Eventually, she simply gave up on you and committed to training with me. You neglected her, Risiko, and now she is hurt when she looks at you. Learn from this.”

Risiko’s uneasy grey gaze set on the egg he held, his heart sinking further into his chest with his mother’s every word. He gave a solemn nod as he gently held the egg.

Another sigh escaped Risiko’s mother. She said, “So you are learning. Good. Now perhaps you’ll know what it means to raise a pokémon. For the sake of that creature inside that egg, please don’t make the same mistake twice.”

“I won’t, mom,” Risiko promised as he patted the egg affectionately. He shot a pained glance in the direction of the small fox pokémon and thought; I won’t ever make anyone or anything feel that way. Never again.

“Go on, now,” Risiko’s mother waved the boy away. “Your father will be in soon. I can’t be sure how he’ll react, you know how he is. Keep the egg out of sight until I think of a way to break this to him.”

Risiko nodded and walked down a narrow hallway to his bedroom. He stepped into the small room as his mother called out, “Don’t close the door on Vulpix.”

The thin boy looked down to see the small fire pokémon trailing behind him. She stopped as he turned around, keeping a distance of about four paces behind him.

Risiko smiled at the small creature. “Want to come in with me?” he asked her.

Vulpix looked to Risiko with caution. She quickly ran passed him and into the small room, avoiding close proximity with the boy as much as possible.

Risiko sighed. “Are you sure you’ll be comfortable in here?” he asked the pokémon. “I’m going to shut the door…”

Vulpix sat in the center of the room and simply stared at Risiko. He took her silence as consent, and gently pushed the door closed behind him with his free hand.

The room that the two now occupied seemed to be completely empty, save for the mattress to the far right corner of the room and a single desk. The mattress was fitted with grey sheets and rested on the floor, rather than on a box spring. The desk opposite the mattress was overflowing with pages of notes Risiko had taken on his story ideas. He felt the need to organize them whenever he saw them, but this idea would never go too far. Instead, he would glace at the notes, become absorbed in them and begin writing again.

Risiko avoided this at the moment and sat down on his mattress. Vulpix had not moved from the center of the room and was now eyeing Risiko with caution.

“You have every right to dislike me,” Risiko confessed to the pokémon. “I completely ignored you, even though you were bred specifically for me. I had thought that my parents were simply pushing you on me, wanting me to train you so I could be like them. I associated you with their goals for me without even considering your feelings. I’m so sorry.”

The gaze in Vulpix’s eyes seemed to change then. She had known the boy to be a gentle soul; she knew he would never harm her intentionally. Yet, as unintentional as the cause of the pain was, she was still hurt by the boy. Though she had suspected his reason for ignoring her before, hearing Risiko confess to it out loud here in this room somehow eased her pain. That is not to say the pain was gone, exactly, but it did ease her disdain for him. She bowed her head in acceptance of the boy’s apology.

“You forgive me?” Risiko asked, his hand outstretched in a peaceful gesture.

The Vulpix nodded, but did not come to the boy. The gaze in her eyes was much lighter now, relieved. She gave a small yelp as if to say, “Yes, I forgive you” and walked over to the door.

Risiko gave an understanding nod and followed Vulpix to the door. The fox pokémon still eyed him cautiously as he drew near to her, but she did not dart away as she had before. She trotted out the door at a quick pace as it opened, but looked back to Risiko reassuringly. She nodded, as if to say, “Don’t worry, I don’t hate you,” and walked off to sit beside Risiko’s mother once more.

Risiko closed the door after the fox pokémon. His mind was fogged as he walked back to his desk. He thought of Shiki and already he felt as if she had taken a piece of him with her on her journey. He thought of his father and the pressure that came with thinking of him. And of course he thought of the egg that lay on the modest mattress.

Risiko scooped the egg off of the mattress. The fragile egg was placed securely in his lap as he shifted through the papers on his desk. He smiled slightly as he came across one particular story idea.

The main character of the story had been Shiki’s Umbreon. In the fantasy realm Risiko had created, the Umbreon (as well as all the pokémon in the fantasy world) had been born with wings, regardless of whether they were a Flying Type or not. The wings would change color in Risiko’s story. Had the pokémon been good and innocent, its wings would remain pure and white. Had the pokémon been evil, the white feathers would molt and become replaced with bright red feathers.

The idea mulled over in Risiko’s mind for a moment before he picked up a mechanical pencil and began to write again. Hours began to pass without him noticing, the egg safely absorbing his warmth all the while.

***

Risiko’s concentration did not break until the sound of the front door of the house bursting open caught his attention. This was a typical entrance for his energetic father, but the noisiness of it was not something Risiko had ever become used to. The thin boy carried the egg with him as he tip-toed to his door and very slightly cracked it open.

Through the crack Risiko could see his father’s bright red hair very clearly, but nothing else. What he saw did not matter then. What was important to Risiko is what he could hear.

“The girl next door started her journey today,” Risiko’s mother said. The sound of tea pouring into a cup reached Risiko’s ears.

“No kidding?” Risiko’s father replied. “And here I though she’d stay in that Dance Hall forever! You know, like her mother.”

“It seems that children don’t take after their parents these days,” Risiko’s mother said. More tea pouring was heard between the bits of conversation.

“I’ll say!” Risiko’s father paused to slurp his tea. “Thanks for the tea, hun. So, how’d Risiko take it?”

“I couldn’t really tell. He’s always so quiet, I can never be sure of what’s on his mind.”

“Yeah. Takes after his mother.”

“Is that so?”

“Just kidding, honey!”

“Hm. Well, you should know; Shiki left Risiko a gift. More tea, dear?”

“Please!”

Again, tea was poured to drown out the silence.

Risiko’s mother continued. “She left Risiko a pokémon egg.”

“Uh-huh,” Risiko’s father said as the conversation elapsed into silence. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“You should go congratulate him,” Risiko’s mother suggested. “He will begin to raise a pokémon once it hatches.”

“Well, let’s have a look.”

Heavy sneakers thudded against the wooden floor of the house. Risiko quickly sat down at his desk, with the egg again in his lap, before his father opened the door.

“Hey there, son,” Risiko’s father said, his voice strangely calm. “Mind if I check out your parting gift, there?” He pointed to the egg in Risiko’s lap.

“Uh, sure, of course.” Risiko held the warm, brown egg out to his father.

“I see,” Risiko’s father inspected the egg, turning it over gently in his hands. “Any idea what’s going to come out of it?”

“I’m really not sure,” Risiko admitted with a slight blush. “Shiki made it sound as if it would be obvious to me, but I honestly can’t tell.”

“Then I won’t ruin the surprise for you,” Risiko’s father smiled broadly as he handed the egg back to his son. “This is a good thing, boy. You’re finally going to take some responsibility in your life. Raising a pokémon will be good for ya.”

Risiko nodded and smiled back at his father, “You mean you don’t mind that I might not be raising a fire type pokémon?”

“I didn’t say that,” Risiko’s father replied quickly. Pain flashed in his dark blue eyes when Risiko’s smile fell. He continued, “But we’ll see. For now, I’m just glad to see you’ve taken a step forward. Just don’t get any crazy ideas about running away from home, now.”

Risiko grimaced at his father’s words. He knew full well what the fire pokémon trainer had been referring to. Risiko’s younger brother had also resisted fire pokémon training, insisting on becoming a Pokémon Breeder instead. The young boy felt compelled to escape from his parent’s iron will. No one in Risiko’s family had heard from the younger brother in over a year. The topic was hardly ever broached in conversation, and when it was the conversation was quick to end.

“I’ll let you know if I decide to start my own journey,” Risiko promised. He wanted to ask his father about his brother, but instead allowed the conversation to end.

“Mom’s making dinner,” Risiko’s father said as he exited the room.

Risiko sighed as he thought of his brother. Mom and Dad may have disowned you for following your dreams, but I never will, Urban, Risiko thought quietly to himself. In fact, I admire you for it.

All of Risiko’s will seemed to have been lost in that moment. He dragged himself over to his mattress and pulled his egg close to him. Images of his brother and Shiki swirled in his mind as he closed his eyes, dinner completely absent from his mind.