An Essential Conversation

~ Two Years Later~

A Child woke up from what was probably their third nightmare of that week. It's gotten to the point where they don't even wake up scared anymore, they're just sad.

As A Child got out of their bed, they, for what must have been the hundredth time, took in just how plain and empty their new room was. After what happened, their mom decided that moving to the outskirts of town where they wouldn't have to look at everyone else play and work with their pokémon. She also had to buy new furniture for A Child because all of their old things were pokémon themed, but in this world finding something without a connection to pokémon is near impossible. So, with no other option, A Child and their mom had to settle for a barren house.

Once A Child left their room and entered the bathroom they started going about their daily routine. After brushing their teeth and taking their shower they had started to dry themself. As they pulled the towel from their face, they looked at themself.

A Child was now twelve, around the age where a lot of kids decide to start their journey, and had been for a while. They were around five feet tall, slightly taller than average but by no means tall. They had mocha brown skin, curly, brown hair, and golden brown eyes.

As A Child stared into their own eyes, they decided to give themself a pep talk.

"Okay…," A Child began, "today's the day. Today is the day I finally start to actually do something about this curse. No more stalling, no more making excuses, and no more wallowing in self-pity. Today is the day you start your journey to become a pokémon master, and prove to the world that you are the best. If you don't, nothing will ever change. You'll alway be the weird, sad kid who doesn't have pokémon, your mom will alway be the creepy lady who believes in curses, and… and Rexy will always be asleep. No one can do it for you, so you might as well stop acting like a baby and do it already!"

Halfway through their pep talk A Child had once again started crying. At least this time they weren't tears of sadness, but of frustration at themself. Having always considered themself weak hearted and prone to crying, A Child had finally decided enough was enough.

Once they had wiped the tears from their face and finished drying themself, they put their glasses back on and went back to their room to get dressed. They chose to wear a pair of black slacks, a dark blue shirt with a vertical white stripe going over the right shoulder, and an unzipped black leather jacket. They put on their shoes and were about to leave when they remembered the scarf their mom made for them two years ago when they were still going outside regularly. They spent about three minute looking everywhere before they found it.

The scarf had purple and pink stripes, was long enough to reach the middle of their thighs, and had holes near the end for them to put their hands into when they're cold. A Child knew that they wouldn't see their mom for a while once they left, and the thought of not having something to remind them of her broke their heart. They were just barely able to stop themself from crying as they wrapped the scarf around their neck and shoved their hands into its pockets.

Finally ready to go, A Child left their room and walked down the stairs to the living room. Immediately upon entering the living room they saw their mother.

Their mother's name was Solaha. She had the same mocha skin as A Child, but her eyes were a darker shade and her hair was all braided together into one braid that reached the middle of her back. She was a thirty-five year old, hardworking woman. She has always been amazing at knitting and sewing, so she would sell all sorts of clothing to make money. She doesn't make much, but one of the benefits of living in a small town is people are more willing to buy local so she makes enough to get by.

Solaha was faced away from the stairs and in the middle of knitting a pair of mittens when she heard her child enter the room, so she turned around to greet them.

"Oh, good… morning…" Solaha trailed off as she saw what her child was wearing. "You're… you're all dressed up and… wearing the scarf I made you."

A Child knew this would be the hardest conversation they would probably ever have, but also completely necessary. They needed to convince their mom to let them go today or they'd never work up the courage to leave again.

"Mom… today's the day." A Child said, doing their best to look her in the eyes.

Solaha immediately knew what they meant, and tried to convince them against it. "My child… Please don't ask this of me. I know you think this is what you need to do, but this is not the way. This path just leads to sadness and disappointment, so, please… just go back to your room."

"Mom, you know I can't do that. This is something that I need to do." A Child said as seriously as they could.

"And why do you think that? Because of some dream you had after Rexy? How do you even know that actually happened? You were probably just so sad that your brain came up with a way to solve a problem that didn't have a solution." Solaha argued soundly.

"I don't care whether it actually happened!" A Child blurted out to their mother's surprise. "I'm just tired of living like this. I'm tired of doing nothing all day and wasting my life. I wanna be able to think about pokémon without wanting to cry.

"This isn't about just breaking the curse anymore. This is about me getting stronger. I wanna be so strong that I don't have to worry about losing my pokémon if it turns out it was just a dream. I don't want to give up on this. I just… I don't wanna be weak anymore mom…" A Child felt a tear start to fall down their face, and quickly wiped it away.

Solaha could feel her heart breaking. The very thing she's been trying to prevent, she was causing to happen.

"I…I just don't want you to be as sad as you were back then ever again."

"Mom…I'm sad here." It hurt A Child to say that but it needed to be said. "You can't always hide me away from everything that will make me sad."

Even after hearing that, Solaha still tried her hardest to think of a way to convince her child to stay when finally:

"I'm sorry…" Solaha leaned down and wrapped her arms around her child. "It hurts to know that the only way I can help you is by letting you leave"

"Does that mean–"

"Yes…yes you can go, but, please, if it ever becomes too much or you even just miss me, don't be afraid to come back home."

A Child squeezed their mom as hard as they could. "I will…I love you mom."

"I love you too, my child, I love you too." Solaha took a deep breath and then exhaled it all. "Now, hurry up and leave before I change my mind."

"Okay, but before I leave I want you to give me Rexy's pokéball."

"What? Why do you need that?"

"If I ever start to get close to giving up, I want to be able to look at it and remember why I started this journey."

"Okay, just make sure you take care of her." Solaha grabbed Rexy's pokéball from her hip where she always kept it, and handed it to her child.

"Thank you, I will, and the next time you'll see me I'll be a pokémon master." A Child called back as they walked toward the door.

"I know baby, I can't wait to see it."

Finally, A Child was ready to start their journey. No more delays. All that was in their way was the front door. This was the beginning of their story, and it was finally time to open the door to their new life.

Next chapter A Child finally gets their starter, so what will it be?

[x] A fire type

[x] A water type

[x] A grass type