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Chapter Four: Choices

Risiko trudged toward his house, mentally preparing himself for what lied ahead. He was sure his mother would be apathetic toward his Eevee hatching, as she seemed towards all things, but he could not be sure of his father’s reaction. Distress showed in Risiko’s grey eyes as he pondered over his father's potential reaction.

Eevee took notice of the weight on Risiko’s mind. The young pokémon could not understand much of the grief that plagued his friend, but decided to bat at a strand of the long black hair in front of Risiko’s eyes. This seemed to distract Risiko, causing the small fluffy Eevee to beam with the pride of achieving his goal.

“You like my hair, huh?” Risiko said to his Eevee while the pokémon continued to bat at the stray lock of hair. “Dad says it looks weird, all long in the front and short in the back. It’s really funny that he says that, actually. You’ll see what I mean once you meet my dad.”

Eevee gave a small squeak and squirmed in Risiko’s arms excitedly.

Risiko paused for a moment before he reached his home. He gazed at the intricate architecture of the traditional looking house. He smiled down at his Eevee and explained, “This is where we live. Welcome home, Eevee.”

Eevee gave another excited squeak before pulling himself free of Risiko’s arms. The small pokémon bounded off inside the house while Risiko ran in after him, calling “Wait a minute, Eevee!”

The newly hatched pokémon had already bounded off to meet with Vupix by the time Risiko caught up with him. Eevee grinned at Vulpix happily and seemed to be introducing himself in his pokémon language.

A hint of jealousy flickered in Vulpix’s eyes for a moment. She turned away from Eevee and trotted toward Risiko’s mother, who was sipping tea at the small table (as usual).

Before Vulpix could reach Risiko’s mother, Eevee had pounced upon her. Both pokémon toppled over each other on the floor. Eevee grinned at a chagrined Vulpix. The fire pokémon glared at Eevee before shoving him off and resuming her position beside Risiko’s mother.

Risiko gathered Eevee in his arms and sighed. “You should be more careful in the house. You might not mean to, but you could knock something over and get hurt.”

The emerald green eyes of Risiko’s mother lit up when she heard he son speak. She masked her excitement with a calm expression as she looked away from her tea and toward her son.

Risiko stiffened as she met his gaze. The embarrassing heat rose to his face once again as he stuttered, “Um, my egg, it sort of... Well, you see.” He held out his Eevee with shaky hands for his mother to inspect.

“Eevee, meet my mom,” Risiko said to the pokémon, his voice strangely calm.

“Speak to your Eevee again, Risiko,” Risiko’s mother commanded.

Risiko nodded, his blush still evident on his pale face. “She looks a lot like me, doesn’t she? We both have straight black hair, we’re both skinny, and we’re both on the short side.”

Risiko’s mother gave a small laugh as she saw her son interact with his pokémon. The laughing took Risiko by surprise. He could not recall the last time his mother had expressed herself in such a way, and it shocked him. His grey eyes were wide as he stared at her.

“I do have emotions, you know,” she explained herself. “I just find it funny that you can speak so clearly to this creature, but humans make you so uncomfortable. You even have trouble talking to your father and me, but this little Eevee puts you at ease.”

“I’m sorry,” Risiko apologized quickly. He turned his gaze to floor, avoiding eye contact to speak more clearly. “I don’t know why I’m like that, I know I’m strange…”

“You’ll grow,” Risiko’s mother assured him, the smile now a feint trace on her lips. “That Eevee will be good for you.” She rummaged around in the sleek, black kimono for a moment before pulling out a plain looking stone. “I planned to give you this when you decided to train your first pokémon. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you.”

“N-no, it’s okay,” Risiko replied as he took the stone from his mother. He glanced down at Eevee, who looked at the stone with utter fascination.

“That’s an Ever Stone,” Risiko’s mother explained. “It’ll keep Eevee from evolving. Attach it to a collar of some sort quickly before your father gets home.”

“Sure…” Risiko brought his eyes to meet his mother’s. The heat remained on his cheeks, but a genuine smile was on his lips. “Tha… Thank you, Mom.”

Risiko’s mother nodded shortly and waved her son away. “Go quickly. If your father has an elemental stone with him, he may try to evolve your Eevee for you.”

Risiko rushed into his room with Eevee in his arms. He quickly pulled a rope from of his desk and attached the Ever Stone to it. He tied the rope around Eevee’s neck, careful not to fasten it too tightly. When he was done making his crude collar, Risiko looked to Eevee expectantly. The small pokémon pawed at the Ever Stone before giving a small yip of approval.

“I’m glad you like it,” Risiko said happily. “Now you won’t ever have to evolve, if you don’t want to.”

Eevee pranced around happily in a circle, seemingly very pleased by the notion of never having to evolve. He jumped into Risiko’s arms and rubbed his head against Risiko’s cheek affectionately.

Risiko started to scratch behind Eevee’s ear, but jumped in surprise as his door burst open. Risiko’s red haired father stood in the doorway, beaming down at his son.

“Ah! It hatched!” Risiko’s father shouted.

Eevee stared at Risiko’s father with curious brown eyes. He yielded to the red haired man’s touch as Risiko’s father scratched under Eevee’s chin.

“I personally wouldn’t have picked Flareon for a first pokémon, but to each his own. Flareon doesn’t have the greatest move pool, but at least it has a powerful attack,” Risiko’s father said, his blue eyes filled with pride. “I’m so proud! My son’s finally going to begin training fire pokémon, just like his old man!”

“Um, Dad…” Risiko interjected. “I don’t… Eevee should decide what he wants to evolve into, if he wants to evolve at all…”

“Of course!” Risiko’s father smiled broadly and spoke to the small pokémon. “And you want to evolve into Flareon, don’t you little guy?”

Eevee’s eyes widened, not quite comprehending Risiko’s father’s words, but shook his head quickly. Eevee began to speak in his native pokémon tongue, which succeeded in completely confusing Risiko’s father.

Risiko smiled as he rubbed Eevee’s head affectionately. “He says he doesn’t want to grow up.”

“Well, you don’t have to evolve right away,” Risiko’s father said as he dug around in his pocket. He pulled out an orange stone; a small flame inscribed upon it. He handed the elemental stone to his son. “You take that Fire Stone. Don’t wait too long to use it. You can finally start training with your mother and I!”

Risiko’s father left as suddenly as he had appeared. Risiko looked at the Fire Stone in his hand with slight disdain. “I won’t use this on you unless you want me to,” he said to Eevee.

Eevee shook his head again and pawed at his Ever Stone. He grinned up at his human friend and spoke in his pokémon language.

“Right,” Risiko agreed. “You don’t ever have to grow up.”

***

Risiko began to write once more as his Eevee slept contently in his lap. Every once in a while, Risiko would pause from his writing and stroke Eevee’s fur or scratch behind Eevee’s ear. The newborn pokémon would yield happily to Risiko’s touch even in his unconscious state.

Eevee awoke and placed his front paws on Risiko’s desk. Curious as to what Risiko was doing, Eevee gazed up at his human friend. The pokémon pawed at Risiko’s hair until the young man ceased his writing and smiled down at his Eevee.

“Do you want to hear a story?” Risiko asked. He was met with an enthusiastic nod. Risiko continued to beam at his Eevee as he said, “Alright, I’ll tell you one.”

Eevee adjusted to a comfortable position in Risiko’s lap before his human friend began to tell the tale.

“Well,” Risiko started. “The story I’m writing right now is about a little Eevee. The small creature was being abused by an awful trainer. The trainer would physically reprimand the Eevee for not being strong enough to suit his needs. The Eevee, having been hatched from an egg by the abusive trainer, felt he had nowhere else to turn to.

“A Growlithe soon caught wind of what was happening to the abused Eevee. She, along with her partner Luxio, set out to help the poor little Eevee. (Eventually Eevee began to accept the way he was treated, and Eevee’s love grew for his trainer. He became a gallant Umbreon despite the treatment he received.) The Umbreon began to speak with the Growlithe and soon learned that his relationship with his trainer was greatly unhealthy.

“So Growlithe and Luxio concocted a plan to help the abused Umbreon. The three pokémon would attack the abusive trainer together, but only after Growlithe found a Fire Stone and became an Arcanine.

“In the meantime, Umbreon was dealt a terrible blow from his trainer. By the time Growlithe (who had found a Fire stone and had become Arcanine) and Luxio found him, they feared it was too late for their friend. Nonetheless they fought hard against the trainer, Arcanine conjuring a great wheel of fire while Luxio shocked the trainer into submission.

“The trainer vowed never to treat pokémon in such a way ever again, but he knew his relationship with Umbreon was damaged beyond repair. He left Umbreon to start a fresh relationship with a new pokémon.

“All this while a powerful attraction had been growing between Umbreon and Arcanine. When the trainer left, Umbreon and Arcanine finally acknowledged their feelings for each other. They, together with Luxio, lived happily in the wild for the rest of their lives.”

Eevee gave an approving yip at the end of the story. He pawed at Risiko’s chest, urging him to tell another tale.

“I’ll tell you another story tomorrow,” Risiko promised. “It’s time for bed, now.”

Risiko continued to stroke Eevee’s fur calmly as the pokémon pleaded for another story.

“But you’ll have something to look forward to, now,” Risiko explained. “I’ll run out of stories if I tell you all of them tonight!”

“Oh fine,” Risiko whirled around to see his father standing behind him. His grey eyes widened in amazement. He had not known it was possible for his father to remain silent for such a long period of time. (The man even talked in his sleep!)

“That’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk, son!” Risiko's father said with amazement. “Well, I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear your next story…”

“Oh!” Risiko said with heat rising to his face. “Um, you can… You can read it, if you want.” He focused on his Eevee as he spoke to keep his voice even. “I left out a lot of detail just now. I really just summarized.”

“You mean it?” Risiko’s father replied.

“Sure, Dad.” Risiko beamed, his heart thudding with the joy of receiving his father’s approval. He gathered up a stack of paper in which the story was written on and handed the stack to his father.

Risiko’s father browsed through the pages before mumbling to himself, “Kid’s got a knack for this stuff…” and wandering out of the room without another word.

“Dad really likes it,” Risiko said, a rare ecstatic note in his voice. “He even thinks I’m talented!” He lifted Eevee into the air and twirled abut the room with his pokémon. “He’s finally giving me a chance!”

Eevee lifted his forepaws up and down as if he was flying with Risiko. Indeed, the young man's spirits felt rather high after receiving such praise from his father.

“Maybe now Dad will even approve of Urban-“ Risiko cut himself off immediately. The excitement faded as he remembered his lost brother, and worry overcame him.

“I miss Urban…” Risiko admitted softly, praying that his parents did not hear him speaking to his Eevee. “I think about going off to find him sometimes. But where could he possibly be? He might not even be in Johto anymore. Where is he? Kanto? Hoenn? Sinnoh? It’s a big world…”

This notion excited Eevee. The small pokémon began to babble at once, fascinated that there was more to the world than Ecruteak City.

“I don’t really think I should do it,” Risiko admitted. Pain flashed in his grey eyes when he saw how this disappointed Eevee. “But it’s something to think about. Tell you what; give me a day or two to consider it.”

Eevee nodded enthusiastically, apparently accepting Risiko’s half answer as “yes, let’s travel the world!”

“It might be inspirational…” Risiko mentioned to himself as he changed into a pair of baggy pants as Eevee sat patiently on the bed. Risiko crawled under the covers as Eevee curled up close to him.

“Night, Eevee,” Risiko said before drifting into the fantastic dream world that he imagined the rest of Johto to be.

Description
Chapter Four: Choices

Risiko trudged toward his house, mentally preparing himself for what lied ahead. He was sure his mother would be apathetic toward his Eevee hatching, as she seemed towards all things, but he could not be sure of his father’s reaction. Distress showed in Risiko’s grey eyes as he pondered over his father's potential reaction.

Eevee took notice of the weight on Risiko’s mind. The young pokémon could not understand much of the grief that plagued his friend, but decided to bat at a strand of the long black hair in front of Risiko’s eyes. This seemed to distract Risiko, causing the small fluffy Eevee to beam with the pride of achieving his goal.

“You like my hair, huh?” Risiko said to his Eevee while the pokémon continued to bat at the stray lock of hair. “Dad says it looks weird, all long in the front and short in the back. It’s really funny that he says that, actually. You’ll see what I mean once you meet my dad.”

Eevee gave a small squeak and squirmed in Risiko’s arms excitedly.

Risiko paused for a moment before he reached his home. He gazed at the intricate architecture of the traditional looking house. He smiled down at his Eevee and explained, “This is where we live. Welcome home, Eevee.”

Eevee gave another excited squeak before pulling himself free of Risiko’s arms. The small pokémon bounded off inside the house while Risiko ran in after him, calling “Wait a minute, Eevee!”

The newly hatched pokémon had already bounded off to meet with Vupix by the time Risiko caught up with him. Eevee grinned at Vulpix happily and seemed to be introducing himself in his pokémon language.

A hint of jealousy flickered in Vulpix’s eyes for a moment. She turned away from Eevee and trotted toward Risiko’s mother, who was sipping tea at the small table (as usual).

Before Vulpix could reach Risiko’s mother, Eevee had pounced upon her. Both pokémon toppled over each other on the floor. Eevee grinned at a chagrined Vulpix. The fire pokémon glared at Eevee before shoving him off and resuming her position beside Risiko’s mother.

Risiko gathered Eevee in his arms and sighed. “You should be more careful in the house. You might not mean to, but you could knock something over and get hurt.”

The emerald green eyes of Risiko’s mother lit up when she heard he son speak. She masked her excitement with a calm expression as she looked away from her tea and toward her son.

Risiko stiffened as she met his gaze. The embarrassing heat rose to his face once again as he stuttered, “Um, my egg, it sort of... Well, you see.” He held out his Eevee with shaky hands for his mother to inspect.

“Eevee, meet my mom,” Risiko said to the pokémon, his voice strangely calm.

“Speak to your Eevee again, Risiko,” Risiko’s mother commanded.

Risiko nodded, his blush still evident on his pale face. “She looks a lot like me, doesn’t she? We both have straight black hair, we’re both skinny, and we’re both on the short side.”

Risiko’s mother gave a small laugh as she saw her son interact with his pokémon. The laughing took Risiko by surprise. He could not recall the last time his mother had expressed herself in such a way, and it shocked him. His grey eyes were wide as he stared at her.

“I do have emotions, you know,” she explained herself. “I just find it funny that you can speak so clearly to this creature, but humans make you so uncomfortable. You even have trouble talking to your father and me, but this little Eevee puts you at ease.”

“I’m sorry,” Risiko apologized quickly. He turned his gaze to floor, avoiding eye contact to speak more clearly. “I don’t know why I’m like that, I know I’m strange…”

“You’ll grow,” Risiko’s mother assured him, the smile now a feint trace on her lips. “That Eevee will be good for you.” She rummaged around in the sleek, black kimono for a moment before pulling out a plain looking stone. “I planned to give you this when you decided to train your first pokémon. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you.”

“N-no, it’s okay,” Risiko replied as he took the stone from his mother. He glanced down at Eevee, who looked at the stone with utter fascination.

“That’s an Ever Stone,” Risiko’s mother explained. “It’ll keep Eevee from evolving. Attach it to a collar of some sort quickly before your father gets home.”

“Sure…” Risiko brought his eyes to meet his mother’s. The heat remained on his cheeks, but a genuine smile was on his lips. “Tha… Thank you, Mom.”

Risiko’s mother nodded shortly and waved her son away. “Go quickly. If your father has an elemental stone with him, he may try to evolve your Eevee for you.”

Risiko rushed into his room with Eevee in his arms. He quickly pulled a rope from of his desk and attached the Ever Stone to it. He tied the rope around Eevee’s neck, careful not to fasten it too tightly. When he was done making his crude collar, Risiko looked to Eevee expectantly. The small pokémon pawed at the Ever Stone before giving a small yip of approval.

“I’m glad you like it,” Risiko said happily. “Now you won’t ever have to evolve, if you don’t want to.”

Eevee pranced around happily in a circle, seemingly very pleased by the notion of never having to evolve. He jumped into Risiko’s arms and rubbed his head against Risiko’s cheek affectionately.

Risiko started to scratch behind Eevee’s ear, but jumped in surprise as his door burst open. Risiko’s red haired father stood in the doorway, beaming down at his son.

“Ah! It hatched!” Risiko’s father shouted.

Eevee stared at Risiko’s father with curious brown eyes. He yielded to the red haired man’s touch as Risiko’s father scratched under Eevee’s chin.

“I personally wouldn’t have picked Flareon for a first pokémon, but to each his own. Flareon doesn’t have the greatest move pool, but at least it has a powerful attack,” Risiko’s father said, his blue eyes filled with pride. “I’m so proud! My son’s finally going to begin training fire pokémon, just like his old man!”

“Um, Dad…” Risiko interjected. “I don’t… Eevee should decide what he wants to evolve into, if he wants to evolve at all…”

“Of course!” Risiko’s father smiled broadly and spoke to the small pokémon. “And you want to evolve into Flareon, don’t you little guy?”

Eevee’s eyes widened, not quite comprehending Risiko’s father’s words, but shook his head quickly. Eevee began to speak in his native pokémon tongue, which succeeded in completely confusing Risiko’s father.

Risiko smiled as he rubbed Eevee’s head affectionately. “He says he doesn’t want to grow up.”

“Well, you don’t have to evolve right away,” Risiko’s father said as he dug around in his pocket. He pulled out an orange stone; a small flame inscribed upon it. He handed the elemental stone to his son. “You take that Fire Stone. Don’t wait too long to use it. You can finally start training with your mother and I!”

Risiko’s father left as suddenly as he had appeared. Risiko looked at the Fire Stone in his hand with slight disdain. “I won’t use this on you unless you want me to,” he said to Eevee.

Eevee shook his head again and pawed at his Ever Stone. He grinned up at his human friend and spoke in his pokémon language.

“Right,” Risiko agreed. “You don’t ever have to grow up.”

***

Risiko began to write once more as his Eevee slept contently in his lap. Every once in a while, Risiko would pause from his writing and stroke Eevee’s fur or scratch behind Eevee’s ear. The newborn pokémon would yield happily to Risiko’s touch even in his unconscious state.

Eevee awoke and placed his front paws on Risiko’s desk. Curious as to what Risiko was doing, Eevee gazed up at his human friend. The pokémon pawed at Risiko’s hair until the young man ceased his writing and smiled down at his Eevee.

“Do you want to hear a story?” Risiko asked. He was met with an enthusiastic nod. Risiko continued to beam at his Eevee as he said, “Alright, I’ll tell you one.”

Eevee adjusted to a comfortable position in Risiko’s lap before his human friend began to tell the tale.

“Well,” Risiko started. “The story I’m writing right now is about a little Eevee. The small creature was being abused by an awful trainer. The trainer would physically reprimand the Eevee for not being strong enough to suit his needs. The Eevee, having been hatched from an egg by the abusive trainer, felt he had nowhere else to turn to.

“A Growlithe soon caught wind of what was happening to the abused Eevee. She, along with her partner Luxio, set out to help the poor little Eevee. (Eventually Eevee began to accept the way he was treated, and Eevee’s love grew for his trainer. He became a gallant Umbreon despite the treatment he received.) The Umbreon began to speak with the Growlithe and soon learned that his relationship with his trainer was greatly unhealthy.

“So Growlithe and Luxio concocted a plan to help the abused Umbreon. The three pokémon would attack the abusive trainer together, but only after Growlithe found a Fire Stone and became an Arcanine.

“In the meantime, Umbreon was dealt a terrible blow from his trainer. By the time Growlithe (who had found a Fire stone and had become Arcanine) and Luxio found him, they feared it was too late for their friend. Nonetheless they fought hard against the trainer, Arcanine conjuring a great wheel of fire while Luxio shocked the trainer into submission.

“The trainer vowed never to treat pokémon in such a way ever again, but he knew his relationship with Umbreon was damaged beyond repair. He left Umbreon to start a fresh relationship with a new pokémon.

“All this while a powerful attraction had been growing between Umbreon and Arcanine. When the trainer left, Umbreon and Arcanine finally acknowledged their feelings for each other. They, together with Luxio, lived happily in the wild for the rest of their lives.”

Eevee gave an approving yip at the end of the story. He pawed at Risiko’s chest, urging him to tell another tale.

“I’ll tell you another story tomorrow,” Risiko promised. “It’s time for bed, now.”

Risiko continued to stroke Eevee’s fur calmly as the pokémon pleaded for another story.

“But you’ll have something to look forward to, now,” Risiko explained. “I’ll run out of stories if I tell you all of them tonight!”

“Oh fine,” Risiko whirled around to see his father standing behind him. His grey eyes widened in amazement. He had not known it was possible for his father to remain silent for such a long period of time. (The man even talked in his sleep!)

“That’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk, son!” Risiko's father said with amazement. “Well, I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear your next story…”

“Oh!” Risiko said with heat rising to his face. “Um, you can… You can read it, if you want.” He focused on his Eevee as he spoke to keep his voice even. “I left out a lot of detail just now. I really just summarized.”

“You mean it?” Risiko’s father replied.

“Sure, Dad.” Risiko beamed, his heart thudding with the joy of receiving his father’s approval. He gathered up a stack of paper in which the story was written on and handed the stack to his father.

Risiko’s father browsed through the pages before mumbling to himself, “Kid’s got a knack for this stuff…” and wandering out of the room without another word.

“Dad really likes it,” Risiko said, a rare ecstatic note in his voice. “He even thinks I’m talented!” He lifted Eevee into the air and twirled abut the room with his pokémon. “He’s finally giving me a chance!”

Eevee lifted his forepaws up and down as if he was flying with Risiko. Indeed, the young man's spirits felt rather high after receiving such praise from his father.

“Maybe now Dad will even approve of Urban-“ Risiko cut himself off immediately. The excitement faded as he remembered his lost brother, and worry overcame him.

“I miss Urban…” Risiko admitted softly, praying that his parents did not hear him speaking to his Eevee. “I think about going off to find him sometimes. But where could he possibly be? He might not even be in Johto anymore. Where is he? Kanto? Hoenn? Sinnoh? It’s a big world…”

This notion excited Eevee. The small pokémon began to babble at once, fascinated that there was more to the world than Ecruteak City.

“I don’t really think I should do it,” Risiko admitted. Pain flashed in his grey eyes when he saw how this disappointed Eevee. “But it’s something to think about. Tell you what; give me a day or two to consider it.”

Eevee nodded enthusiastically, apparently accepting Risiko’s half answer as “yes, let’s travel the world!”

“It might be inspirational…” Risiko mentioned to himself as he changed into a pair of baggy pants as Eevee sat patiently on the bed. Risiko crawled under the covers as Eevee curled up close to him.

“Night, Eevee,” Risiko said before drifting into the fantastic dream world that he imagined the rest of Johto to be.