An Insecure Child

The young Zorua was sitting on the windowsill and looking at the other children playing outside. Her small back seemed so lonely and forlorn.

Ark and Loki stood outside the classroom and had a small discussion.

"This child was born 2 years ago. Her mother could not accept her uniqueness and became aloof towards her. When I learned of this, I took her in as one of my own."

"I did my best but she still view herself as a cursed child and fears I will also see her as one and leave her like her mother. She is shy and reserved, and hides all of her troubles and fears from me and everyone else." Ark spoke in a sorrowful voice.

"A few months ago, I enrolled her in this school, hoping she will make some friends of her own age and step out from her shell. But children are sometimes more cruel than adults."

"It started with a few kids teasing her for her looks. She never defended herself or talked about this to anyone. I only found out when she returned home with light bruises one day. She tried to hide it with some illusion but how could I not notice it."

"I talked with the school and the bullying immediately stopped. But any time I try to talk about this with her, she just says she is fine and change the subject. She looks so afraid of speaking her true feelings, I was not able to bring myself to force her to speak about it."

The old pokemon had always regretted the fact that he could not ease the fear of his granddaughter. Loki also lamented about the fate of this unfortunate child.

Being a Shiny was already akin to a small curse. As if that was not enough, this child was also a Hisuian variant, a species that has not appeared for the last century.

Of course, Hisuian Zoroark were rare but you could still find a dozen of them in this tribe. No parents would be spooked out if their child suddenly turned out to be a Hisuian variant. As a matter of fact, they would be happy because their child would have a better future.

Her mother should have been the same. The only problem should have been her shiny nature.

Despite the advancement of civilization, discrimination did not end completely. There were many parents like Voir, who didn't care about the uniqueness of her child. However, there were always a rare few who still held onto stupid beliefs and viewed Shiny pokemon differently.

There was no need to speak about the attitude of children. Just being different from the rest was enough to earn their attention. Some children would be amazed while some would be repulsed. Unfortunately, the latter won here.

The only one who helped this young child was Ark and a few others. And she seemed to fear that they would also leave her at some point. A classic case of trauma.

"How should I help?" Loki asked.

Ark looked at the forlorn back of his granddaughter and reminisced the memories he made with her. A while passed before he made a solemn request.

"Please take her with you to the other world."

Loki had already expected this kind of request so he did not even need to think and agreed readily.

"Alright."

Ark nodded gratefully.

"Thank you. She has always seen you as her idol and she always looked so happy when I told stories about you. This would mean a lot to her."

Loki felt happy to hear this but this quickly led to a feeling of annoyance. He wondered why Ark didn't come to him sooner and informed him about this child

"Why didn't you tell me about her sooner?"

'If you had, she would not have suffered until now. I would have made sure of that.' Loki left this part unsaid.

Ark understood nonetheless and helplessly shook his head. When he had learned of the circumstances of this child 2 years ago, he had indeed approached Loki but he quickly changed his mind.

"I did come to find you but had you seen yourself in the mirror at that time? You looked like you had lost all interest with this world and completely secluded yourself in your room. How could I entrust the safety of a child to someone like that?" Ark didn't hold back in his words.

Hearing this remark, Loki was stunned into silence. When he thought back to the recent past, something like that did happen and he was not proud of it. He shook his head and didn't argue further.

"Let's go and talk with this child."

_____

As the door opened with a soft creak, the young Zorua was instantly spooked. She jolted from her spot at the windowsill and landed on the floor. But as soon as she saw Arc, she 'calmed' down and showed a wide smile.

(Grandpa.) She ran towards them with an excited look in her eye.

"Yes, your grandpa is here."

Ark caught her in his arms and gently began to brush her fur. Loki glanced at this small interaction, realizing why his friend was so troubled. This child had such a rapid change in attitude, even he was speechless.

"Guess who is here?"

Hearing this reminder, the young child finally turned her head to face him and he gave his biggest smile. She recognized him in a matter of seconds and her eyes widened considerably.

(Lord!?) She made an astonished yelp before she realized her own outburst and lowered her head shyly.

(...I have always looked upto you...) She whispered with a soft cry.

Loki laughed lightly and petted her with affection.

"Aren't you an adorable one?"

The young Zorua seemed to bury her head even deeper. It took a while before she finally looked up with a shy yet curious look in her eyes.

"You always wanted to meet Loki, right? That's why I brought him here." Ark spoke to her.

Hearing his words, she seemed happy but also a bit troubled. The first thing she did was apologize.

(I am sorry. Lord must have been busy but because of someone like me-)

"Don't worry." Loki cut her off. "I have a lot of free time."

He could have said that she was not just 'someone' but he didn't. She clearly needed a lot of time before developing some confidence in her own worth. A word or two would not help.

"My child, you are going to live with him from now on. Even if he is busy, you don't need to worry about wasting his time."

Ark added with a warm smile and the young child tilted her head confused. When she eventually realized the meaning in his words, tears began to well up in her eyes.

(Grandpa, are you leaving me?) She asked.

"Of course not. I would never even think of leaving my cute granddaughter. Even if you live with Loki, we can still meet regularly."

Ark quickly reassured her but it didn't work at all and she began to sob quietly.

(I am sorry... I will be good...) The young child nestled closer to his chest and cried softly. (...Please don't leave me..)

The old pokemon was unable to respond properly as his granddaughter showed her real emotions for the very first time. Seeing this scene, Loki sighed lightly and clapped his hands.

"Alright. That is enough from the both of you."

His loud and forceful voice made Ark immediately turn to him with annoyance.

'Just play along.' He mouthed these words at his friend and looked at the young child. She had her head buried but Loki knew she was listening to him.

"Don't be afraid. Your grandpa is not leaving you at all. He is also going to live with us."

Loki spoke with a calm voice. Ark widened his eyes for a brief moment before he understood what was happening.

"That is right." He hurriedly spoke. "I will also come with you so please don't cry."

It took a while before the young Zorua looked up with tearful eyes and asked in a soft whisper. (..Really..?)

"Of course. I will never lie to you."

Ark had to assure her for several minutes before she finally believed he will not leave her. As the emotional rush came to an end and the exhaustion kicked in, she fell asleep in his arms.

He slowly adjusted the position of his arms so that his child can sleep more comfortably. Then he shared a glance with Loki and the two began to whisper to each other.

"What was up with that? Why were you so direct?" Loki spoke in a disappointed tone.

"You are going senile, my old friend. Did you really think this child will come with me happily just because I am her idol? She might look upto me but the one she trust is you."

Ark could not say anything as he had also realized his own stupidity a while ago. Once a intelligent and capable leader, his intellectual capabilities have been diminishing due to old age.

"Don't mind. You can do better from now on."

Loki patted him on the shoulders and Ark nodded to express his gratitude. He then made a troubled expression and raised another problem.

"I promised this child that I would come with her but who will look after this place when I am gone?"

Hearing his worry, Loki could only laugh in disbelief.

"Why are you worrying about something so stupid? Just choose a substitute. It is not like you are leaving for forever."

_____

_____

PS: I wanted to introduce the discrimination between Shiny and Normal pokemon. It took me a lot of time to flesh out the details and I am relatively satisfied with how this chapter turned out.

The next chapter should be the final chapter of Volume 1. I hope you will take a few time to give some honest reviews and suggestions as it would help me a lot to improve this fanfic.