This chapter is dedicated to PikaChick, she is great pokémon fanfiction writer, but sadly, she had retired from Wattpad. And so she deserves this dedication to honor her.

The song in the YouTube video is called "Again" by Yui and was used in the opening for Fullmetal Alchemist. I was listening to it while I was editing this chapter.

It's pretty nice, but skip it if you like! ^^

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Chapter 1: The Brother

Edited (2/5/2017)

  
   An abra, right there in the middle of the dirt path, peacefully humming a colorful tune.

   But it didn't know that Travis was creeping towards it while it had its back turned. The fourteen-year-old had his tree bark colored eyes focused directly on his prey.

  Sweat cascaded down his face, and so he used the sleeve of his black jacket to wipe it away. It was devastatingly hot, and so he thought might as well take it off, leaving only his orange shirt on.

   He took out a poké ball from his blue jean pocket, but then a feeling of anxiety arise in his chest, especially when he's in an intense situation like this. His heart bounced around in his rib cage and the poké ball began shaking because of his trembling hands. He took deep breaths to calm himself down. Here goes nothing.

   "Marill, use tackle!" he tossed the poké ball in the air and it opened, revealing the water type.

   The marill immediately sprinted at full velocity towards the abra.

   "Abra?" The physic type could hear tiny feet skidding across dirt and it turned around to see a blue blur coming towards it. The abra gasped and was about to use teleport. But the marill lunged at the abra and smashed into its shoulder.

   "Good, Marill!" Travis cheered.

   The marill expected the abra to faint, but only to see it vaguely flinch. The abra laughed to mock the marill's failed attempt and teleported to a far away place, never to be seen again.

   Marill sighed. Another loss. But it showed the best it could offer.

   "Great, great, great! Great job, marill!" No, the teen wasn't cheering again to uplift its mood. The marill was treated with a sarcastic tone. Then he shifted to a more serious one.

   "This is your fault that we lost! If your tackle was strong enough, none of this would have happened!" All of that channeled frustration fired at the water-type.

   It was usual for the marill. After losing a battle or when it made a mistake, the teen would strain his vocal cords from shouting. Now it had enough of his anger thrown at it. It decided it didn't want to go on his journey since it just started anyways. It bolted straight into the forest greenery. It was quickly consumed by the undergrowth that thrived on the forest grown, and its small figure couldn't be spotted under all of the plants.

   "Marill? Where are you going?! Marill!" Travis called out. He tried to chase after it, but the thick tree trunks didn't leave any space for him to squeeze through. The teen could only hear the sound of rustling undergrowth becoming distant. Farther....farther...until it had escaped from his ears.

   The wind whistled and the rattling of tree leaves was the only thing that kept the deafening silence at bay. It was comforting, but it only signaled Travis that he was truly alone. That's when his heart ached.

   "Marill?..." Travis hopelessly called again as his voice cracked. 
  
   He loved that Marill, truly he did. When he first got it as a starter, he instantly fell in love with it. He cared for their relationship, but then he soon devalued it later on. And so it would constantly fluctuate. 

   If only he didn't blame his mistakes on it. If only his idea of being a perfect pokémon trainer could get out of his head. And most of all: If only his rage could stop burning deep inside him and be put out like a candle light.

   "Damnit!" He shouted and kicked dust up from off the ground. He sniffled and held back the tears that desired to stream down his cheeks.

   He picked up his jacket and headed home since he didn't venture far from it.

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   Daniel was a determined twenty-four-year-old man. He sat at his desk in his room, trying to think of the best new thing he could draw. After his pokémon journey ended when he was younger, he picked up drawing and so being an artist was his next big thing.

   The tall blond tapped the pencil on his lip as his thoughts swam in his mind for a brilliant idea to come along. A lamp shed light on a blank piece of white paper. That was the only thing that lit up his room in the darkness.

   He was creative mostly when he was comfortable. Thankfully, he was wearing something nicely refreshing. A blue suit with a striped tie. Ok, so that isn't what you think what's ideal for comfort, but Daniel's a weird and goofy man at heart and he looked good doing so.

   Then, it hit him. "Aye? Not a bad idea," he said to himself and began drawing. "This goin' to reach top status for s-"

   Slam!

   The blond yelped and threw his pencil across the room at the sound of a door being slammed. He heard stomping coming from the doorsteps.

   Oh, cheeses! I forgot to lock the door again! He thought it might be robbers coming into his house. He heard another door slammed, but this time it was the door belonged to the room next to his.

   "They're in Travis' room. Could it be?" Daniel mumbled to himself. His half brother's room was emptied out and now a guest room since Travis didn't need it anymore. There's only a bed, a giant TV, and a wooden chair. Why would robbers go in there?

   He went out of his room to investigate, but he grabbed his pocket knife just in case. He opened the room door and prepare to witness any danger.

   But there was Travis sitting on his bed, glaring at the carpet. The evening had come, which meant blue rays of light from the darkening night sky crept through the window and coated the whole room, giving it such a mellow tone.

   "Hey, Travis! Whatcha here for?" Daniel put the pocket knife into his pocket and greeted his brother with a jolly grin.

   But when Travis' glare shifted aim towards Daniel, and that's when his frown turned upside down.

   "What's wrong, bud?" He said, his tone soft instead of cheerful. He maybe forgetful, but he didn't forget how Travis's emotions can get.

   "Nothing," Travis growled and turned away from his half-brother. He would say no more.

   Strike one.

   Daniel knew that was the oldest lie in the book. "C'mon, Travis, ya can talk to me about it."

   Strike two.

   "Can you just leave me alone?!" Travis barked. But in his mind he thought, please don't leave. His breathing became rancorous and his heart battered fiercely. He grabbed a fistful of his bed's covers.

   Then Daniel knew why. "Your pokémon ran away again?"

   Strike three.

   Travis couldn't take it anymore, he leaped up from his bed and picked up the chair. He threatened to throw the chair at him. "Just go away!" his brown eyes showed the most white it could, he gritted his teeth, and an animalistic anger coursed through his body. He was trembling an awful a lot.

  Daniel stepped back. "Easy there, easy there. Remember, deep breaths and think about dad."

   Travis felt comfortable letting his anger sit in his body. But then he started taking deep breaths, one bigger than the other. He closed his eyes and pictured himself in the fields full of vibrantly-colored flowers, and he could swear he could smell their sweet fragrance. They swayed at the wind's command. A tall and masculine man with long blonde hair. His lips formed into a loving smile.

   Travis's body began to calm down, but his heart motioned to another emotion: sadness. The chair slipped out of his hands and he finally let out the tears he was holding.

   "Come here, Travis." Daniel opened his arms wide.

   Travis immediately dived into them and hugged his half-brother for dear life. Travis sobbed into his shoulder as Daniel embraced him back.

   "It's alright, Travis, it's alright." Daniel patted his head. He tried to whisper as many good things as possible into his ear.
  
   He lifted his head. "I'm never going to be as good as father!"

   "Don't say that..."

   His father was titled the best trainer in all of Mojo Region. Travis hoped to be just like his father. And so his father promised he'll go with him on his pokémon journey, but that promise was broken when he got into a car accident and died half a year ago. The police couldn't find his body, and so they didn't get a chance to have a funeral to say goodbye.

  Since Travis' mother is also deceased, and Daniel's is nowhere to be found, Daniel had to take care of Travis himself.

  But when Travis hit adolescence, his behavior had changed drastically. Intense mood swings and anger, always trying to consume pain pills, and so much more. Many assumed that it was just "regular teenage behavior", but Travis' emotions were more extreme than others.

   And so Daniel took him to a neurologist. Daniel was shocked when she said Travis was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD for short.

  That's why he didn't do so well with pokémon and they kept on leaving him, even if they're aware that he has this mental illness. They just don't have enough patience to deal with it, unlike Daniel.

   Daniel exactly what will cheer Travis up.

   "I'll be back right quick. I gotta get something special for ya." Daniel broke the embrace and headed out of the room. He came back with a dog tag dangling from his hand. "It's the dog tag you, dad, and I made. We lost it years ago, but I finally fount in the basement where we used to play."

   Daniel placed it in his little brother's hand. Travis felt the cold silver chain against his fingers. He read what was inscribed on it:

   It doesn't matter if I'm far away. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake. It doesn't matter if I'm in heaven. I'll still love you with every inch of my heart.
                                   -Dad
  

   "And we're also going to Loren Forest to catch pokémon there. I have few poké balls ready to have a pokémon in them!" his jolly attitude was revived.

   "Thank you," Travis sniffled, "Thank you so much..." He cried again, but this time much lighter than before. He used the sleeves of his jacket to wipe away the last of the tears.

   "Anything for my little bud." He flashed him a light-hearted smile.

   "You're such a good brother," Travis said as he returned the smile weakly.

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  Author's Note: Guuuuh! Took me hours to redo and edit this chapter. Hours! Thank God it's over.

I hoped you all enjoyed the first chapter to "Heartship"! 😀