Author's Notes:

I don't own the Pokemon franchise.


Fighting-Type Cousins

"I still can't believe you're not happy about this, Little Bro," Jordan said to his lucario brother, Ryan. "I thought you liked it whenever Adam and Ben visited."

"I already told you, I don't mind Adam and Ben, but I do mind Blaze," Ryan replied.

"C'mon, Ryan, Blaze is our cousin, and he's the only other member of the Konerson family that's a pokemon. You two seem like a good match."

The young lucario groaned. "Okay. First of all; he's your cousin, not mine. Second of all; we do not make a good match. For starters: we may both be Fighting-Types; but as an infernape, Blaze is primarily a Fire-Type; and as a lucario, I'm a secondary Steel-Type!"

"This coming from the guy whose best friend will grow up to be a Fire/Flying-Type?" Jordan asked.

"U-uh um… Dragon's an exception! We met two weeks before I decided to evolve!" snapped Ryan.

"C'mon, Little Bro," Jordan spoke softly, "tell me the truth. Why aren't you happy about this?"

The young lucario sighed as he sat down on the living room sofa. "Okay," Ryan spoke softly to his human brother as he sat down alongside him, "the thing is that Blaze and I always fight whenever we cross each other's paths. Whether it's over who gets their turn on The Force Unleashed 2 or the last slice of pizza, we're just two cooks who've mastered the recipe for disaster. So what's the point in considering that infernape my cousin, if all we're gonna do is fight?"

As Ryan gazed down and frowned, Jordan wrapped his left arm around him. "Well, Ryan, have you ever though about walking in Blaze's footsteps? How would you feel if Blaze felt the same way about you?"

Ryan remained silent for several moments. He remembered everything he had said and imagined Blaze saying it all, directly at him. "I guess I kinda sounded like a jerk a few minutes ago, didn't I?" the young lucario sighed as he looked up at his human brother. "But even if we're not fighting, Blaze never talks to me. I bet he wants to hang me by my collar."

"Blaze is not gonna hang you by your collar," Jordan chuckled.

Ryan glared up at Jordan.

"I'm serious, Jordan," the young lucario said firmly, "Even if I am nice to Blaze, he just hates me."

"I don't think he hates you, Ryan," Jordan replied, "I think he just feels the same way about you. I mean, from what I've observed, you've kinda been defensive and you overreact a lot."

"I am NOT defensive, and I do NOT OVERREACT!" Ryan harshly reacted. Jordan was slightly frightened, and Ryan soon realized by the fear in Jordan's brown eyes what he had done. "I-I'm sorry, Jordan! I-I-I didn't mean to!"

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about," Jordan said, as he pulled himself back together. "Maybe this is what Blaze wants to avoid."

Ryan frowned and looked down. He felt so ashamed in himself that he started whimpering. The fifteen-year-old boy scooted closer to the young lucario and carefully hugged him without touching the spike on Ryan's chest.

"Alright," Ryan said, "I'm sorry." Jordan pulled away from Ryan and listened to him. "Maybe I have been as hot-headed as Blaze is." Jordan and Ryan silently chuckle.

"That's funny, because Blaze literally is 'hot-headed.'"

The young lucario's smile fades as he sighs. "But… what if Blaze doesn't give me a chance?"

Jordan placed his left hand on the back of Ryan's head, above the appendages, and rubbed it. "I believe he will, because he's your cousin as well as mine."

DING-DONG!

"Well, that's them!" Jordan said as he stood up. "Do you wanna go say 'hi,' Ryan?"

"You go on ahead. I'll catch up in a minute." Jordan nodded and left the living room. Ryan bowed his head, put his paws together, and prayed silently. "Dear Heavenly Father, please help me. I haven't been completely been treating Blaze like family, so I need You to help me control myself, not overreact, and treat my infernape cousin as family. Amen."

Then Ryan heard the door open. He got up off the couch and walked into the entry way. There he saw Jordan meeting up with a thirteen-year-old boy with short blond hair wearing a gray Seattle Huskies sweatshirt and black jeans, and a four-feet-tall, humanoid monkey with white and brownish-red fur and a big flame burning on his head. The young lucario smiled and came to say hi.

"Hey there, Ryan," Ben said as he rubbed Ryan's head. "How's it going?"

"Great," Ryan replied. "It's good to see you, too, Ben." Then he looked around and saw that there was no one else left. "W-where's Adam?"

"Adam's off in Africa," Ben replied. "The plane left last night."

Ryan felt disappointed. "So… it's just… the four of us this weekend?" the young lucario asked.

Jordan came over and rubbed Ryan's head. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll still have fun together."

"Yeah, you're right," Ryan replied, but as he saw Blaze's cold look, he knew that that the young infernape wasn't thinking the same thing. But then Ryan decided to pluck up courage. "Blaze," the young lucario spoke, "we need to talk."

Blaze, feeling disoriented, replied, "Um, okay?"

It wasn't too long before Jordan figured out what Ryan meant.

"Hey…, uh, Ben," Jordan spoke, "why don't we just give our pokemon some privacy and head upstairs to my room to play some basketball on Mario Sports Mix?"

"I'm cool with that," Ben replied.

Then Jordan and Ben raced upstairs, leaving Blaze and Ryan alone in awkward silence.

It was brief moment before Blaze finally said, "Well? What did you want to talk to me about?"

Ryan sighed as he confronted his infernape cousin. "Blaze… have we been treating each other like family?"

"Pft! No," Blaze said as he crossed his arms. "All we ever do is fight. And you wanna know somethin'? It always starts with you. You get so defensive, you only care about winning*, and you always get me to lose my temper."

Ryan remained silent and contemplated all that Blaze just said. Then he sighed, and said two words, "I'm sorry."

Blaze blinked in confusion. "….What?"

"I said…"

"N-n-no… I-I believe you, i-it's just that… I don't believe it. Are you really apologizing to me?"

"Blaze," Ryan spoke softly, "I know that we haven't been getting along together, but that doesn't mean we can't change that. I mean… we do have some things in common; we both consider our owners our brothers; we talk like humans, due to brain surgery; and we're the only two members of the Konerson family who're pokemon. Blaze… what would God want from us?"

"Well… I do remember the Bible saying to love our neighbor as ourselves. A-and the twelve Disciples were like family-except one of them." Then the young infernape gazed at the young lucario, and then smiled. "I think we need to stop acting like adversaries…" Blaze began.

"…and start acting like a family," Ryan finished as he smiled. Then the young lucario and infernape cousins clinch their right paws into fists, and bump their knuckles together. "Cousins?" Ryan asked as he and Blaze both withdrew their arms.

"Cousins," Blaze assured as he gave a light punch on Ryan's right arm.

"Hey, take it easy!" Ryan chuckled. "I'm a Steel-Type, remember?"

"Relax, dog. It's not like I have the ability Iron Fist. Oh, wait! I do have that ability."

"Really? I always thought you had the ability Blaze."

"What makes you think that?" Blaze asked with confusion.

Ryan just laughed. "You know what? Why don't we just head upstairs? Sports Mix is a 4-player game, right?" Blaze nods. "C'mon, Little Cous'."

"Right behind you, Big Cous'." Blaze replies.

Then Ryan and Blaze headed upstairs to play along with their human brothers and cousins.

The End


Author's Notes:

* "A Friendly Match" One-shot reference.

Anyways, I might draw a cover for this story. (If I have the time.) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd like to know what you guys think about it. In other words…

READ AND REVIEW… PLEASE!