The Flame of Resolve - Part 2

"It'll be okay, Ryoshi. I'll be right here with you."

As Amy gently grasped the Mawile's hand and hugged him while helping him up the mountain through the frigid air, she knew that it would take some time and effort to help Ryoshi get over his fear of fire to the point where he'd allow a fireplace to be built in their house.

After he had told the story of why he was afraid of fire to her, there were several times when she wished she could have just gone back in time and punched out that stupid Magmortar before he even ran into Ryoshi and tried to burn him alive, that jerk. But what was done was done, and if there was any hope left, it would be that she would still be able to fix the mess that Magmortar made with her husband.

Though getting over a fear certainly wouldn't be an easy feat, as she herself knew that it took her forever to get over a debilitating fear of Pokémon with sharp, pointy stingers back when she was 12 (and even now, she'd still get nervous around guys like Ned the Skorupi), she was determined to help Ryoshi in every way possible. After all, her strange fear of snakes seemed to sort of just slowly go away. Not to mention some...other fears, especially after Ryoshi came into the picture...

But it was more important than that. There were few things more than cold that she hated in terms of weather, and there was nothing more she wanted to do than to help him out, if only so she wouldn't freeze like those last five winters she was out by herself...but at the same time, she loved him, so she didn't want to hurt him too much...

Still, though, he had said that he was willing to try, if only for her sake, and that was enough for her.

The Jigglypuff had suggested that they start by using a teepee from her tribe, as those structures were best suited for building fires inside, before trying to start a campfire in their own house. Plus, it would be easier for the Mawile to back out of if the fire got too out of hand for him.

Meanwhile, the Mawile gripped his wife's hand tighter as they both climbed higher up. He was nervous, very nervous, but who could blame him? He was about to come face to face with his worst fear, after all...

Still though, Amy had been suffering the harsh cold of the Aether winter all because he was too frightened to keep a fireplace in their home, and that was something that had been eating him up inside ever since he had realized how much it bothered her. And since she was willing to help him try to get over it, he could at least try for her...

His guts squirmed just thinking about the Magmortar that made him afraid of fire in the first place and the cave full of fire and lava in the Trail of Wisdom. Could he actually manage to get over this? He had a panic attack the last time he was confronted with flames. Sure, it had been a lot of flames all at once, but... What would happen if he had another attack during all this? What if he just broke down in front of Amy and became incapable of doing anything?

Ryoshi shook his head. If he kept thinking like this, he could be sure that he would. He couldn't freak himself out. And besides, hadn't he managed to overcome his last panic attack because of Amy anyway? Surely, if she was actually there the whole time, he could get somewhere, right?

Soon enough, the teepees that were unmistakably that of the Pelaruna tribe came in sight. At least their distinctive dark-blue starry night sky-styled surfaces didn't change, even if the tribe's name did.

The two of them walked towards one of the smallest teepees that weren't in use; that is, it was Amy's old teepee that she set up when she first came to Aether. When her dad arrived a few months afterward, he sort of ended up accidentally destroying it, but all the same, he had repaired it rather recently as a sentimental way of never forgetting her after she married Ryoshi.

Speaking of her father...

The large Clefable was standing right next to it looking as though he just set it up, dusting it off and making sure it was all okay. It still had the whimsical, colorful paintings all over it that Amy had drawn on whenever she was bored quite a while ago. His long pointy ears twitched as the Jigglypuff and Mawile came up.

"Hey Dad." Amy waved and drew a five-point star sign in the air. "I'm guessing you heard? Thanks." As usual, she had expected her father's super-hearing to pick up on pretty much everything she and Ryoshi said even if they were rather far away.

"Sure thing." Jukidoor nodded, smiled, and walked up to them before bending down to pat both his daughter's head and Ryoshi's. "I know this sort of thing isn't easy, little man, but I'm sure my daughter can help. I know it."

"T—Thanks, Jukidoor." Ryoshi nodded shakily. "I'll try my best with this, but I appreciate you and Amy's help with all this stuff." He pulled open the flap of the teepee for Amy, and followed her inside.

Inside the familiar teepee, there were sleeping bags set up around the center, where Jukidoor already helped set up some stones to surround where the fire could go, but with very, very tiny sticks for the actual fireplace. Amy planned on starting with the smallest of fires for Ryoshi anyway, so she smiled at the fact that everything was already ready.

She then turned to him and helped him take a seat on the sleeping bags before sitting down and snuggling up to him, trying to pet his hand in reassurance. "Anyway, thanks, Ryoshi. For coming all this way. Like I said before, you're really brave for agreeing to get even this far, so I'm sure if I explain to you the truth, you'll understand for sure."

"This is for you too, so..." He gave her a soft squeeze. "I'm willing to try anything if it's for your sake."

He gave the sticks in the center a small poke. They might have been nothing now, but he knew that in a few seconds, they would be nightmare fuel. Ugh... At least they were starting out small. He had used a candle in the past, a tiny, tiny flame that he had managed to grow a mutual respect for, so the beginning flames shouldn't be anything he couldn't handle. It was when they moved to the bigger flames that he was worried about.

"I'm glad you are..." Amy turned to look at the pile of sticks and gulped. She really hoped that the plan she had in mind would help, even if only a little bit, but it was better than nothing.

She then walked up to it and carefully set the sticks up, ready to cause a spark on the tiny mound of sticks, and once again shivered. Not only was she nervous for Ryoshi's sake, as she knew if she were in his shoes, she'd probably be pretty frightened by now, but she also hoped that she didn't mess up on this, either. It had been a while since she was able to start a campfire, after all. She hoped she wouldn't strain his nerves too much if it took her several tries to get it right...

"...You ready, Ryoshi?"

He gulped quite audibly, but slowly nodded. "I... I sure hope so. G—Go for it..."

With only a few strokes, the small pile of sticks caught fire, and Amy immediately felt relieved by the amount of warmth it provided. But she still had to help Ryoshi.

She quickly backed away and hugged him, putting herself between him and the tiny flame if that would help at all. "It's okay, Ryoshi. You can already feel that even a tiny flame has a life force, right? And that's why you like to stay away from it, right? Well, like all life forces, it eventually has to come to an end, but you never, ever forget it for everything it's done to help you get through even a day of cold. See? There aren't enough sticks to make it last very long."

Amy explained the fire in a way that, on his own, Ryoshi probably would never have thought of. Her tribe looked at everything as if it could have life, even the things that weren't Pokémon.

The small flame didn't scare him, given that he managed to get over a fear of tiny flames a while ago, but the way Amy described it, almost as a person that was only trying to help out before it died... It almost made him feel bad for it.

He inched his way around the Jigglypuff, holding onto her all the same, until he could see the flame face-to... metaphorical face. And there he sat, staring intently at it until it exhausted its fuel supply and fizzled out.

Amy was relieved to see that Ryoshi didn't panic at the sight of a tiny flame, and while she wasn't sure whether or not it was because of his candle at home or her explanation, she was glad that at least he could handle this one. But she knew that if there was going to be any hope of him letting her build a fireplace in their house, he'd have to keep going until he could stand fires that lasted for hours.

"See? That wasn't so bad. But I know I'll never forget it, because it helped you. We can try a slightly bigger one now, if you like." She pointed to the piles of sticks on the opposite side of the teepee; specifically at the smallest of the gradually increasing ones.

The Mawile squeezed her hand, but still nodded all the same. "Only way to get closer to getting over this, I suppose... Yeah, go ahead and set it up a bit bigger."

Amy nodded and walked over to the pile she pointed to him earlier, which was about twice as big as the previous one. This one would probably last for about a minute or two, but she certainly hoped that it wouldn't be too much for Ryoshi. Then again, if they didn't try, it wasn't going to work.

She then picked it up and carried it over to the center, making sure to clear away the previous pile of burnt-out sticks and silently praying to them. "Thank you..." she whispered, before moving the larger pile of sticks on top.

As she set up the lighter sticks in position, she then whispered to them, "I hope you can help Ryoshi too..." before lighting it, carefully putting the sticks to the side, and immediately proceeding to hug her husband again.

The larger flame was when Ryoshi's heart jumped. It wasn't too much larger than the last flame, but it was still large enough to make him worried. But with Amy clinging to him, he managed to take deep breaths and remain with his arms wrapped tightly around the Jigglypuff for the few minutes it took for the flame to go out.

This time, Amy noticed how Ryoshi seemed to have a harder time than usual. But at least he stood it for those minutes, so it seemed to be working, and it was definitely a good start.

"You did it, Ryoshi...I knew you could." She smiled at him and cupped his chin, gently giving him a tender kiss on the lips, before releasing him. "You know, the next one might last for several minutes, and so on and so forth, so if you ever get too scared, you can always run out of here, and we can try again tomorrow. It doesn't have to be all in one day, after all. We can do this."

He smiled, his heart warmed a bit by the kiss and the encouraging words. Believe it or not, he was starting to feel a bit more confident, although if it was just Amy's confidence rubbing off on him or if he was starting to actually build his own was unknown.

"Yeah... Yeah. Let's try it. We can do it, we can do it..." He trailed off as if muttering encouragement to himself.

"I know you can~." And with that, the Jigglypuff went to grab the next pile of sticks that was even bigger than the last. This one would make the minimum size of campfire that she felt that if Ryoshi could stand up to this one, then maybe it would be enough. Nevertheless, he'd need all the help he could get.

She moved the previous sticks out of the way and put the next ones in place, whispering "You guys are doing so well! Let's keep it up!" to them both as if trying to encourage them too. Then she prepared to light this one too, but then paused for a moment, hoping that one more word of encouragement for Ryoshi would help him with this bigger flame.

"Ryoshi...I forgot to tell you. Don't think of the stupid Magmortar when you see this fire, okay? Think of me, and how much I care about you! I know it might be hard for me to compete with that idiot who looks like fire himself, but I'll always be here for you, Ryoshi! Always! And I'll be here to help you with anything!"

"Thanks Amy. That's why I love you..."

With that, Amy lit the fire again and once more ran back to hold him. Any amount of confidence Ryoshi thought he had vanished almost instantly. This fire was much larger than any of the other previous ones, and much hotter as well.

He tried his best not to think about the Magmortar, but it didn't work very well. He tried to look away, close his eyes; anything to keep himself from seeing the licking flares, but he could see them in his mind. And it didn't help that even without seeing it, he could feel the heat coming off it, reminding him off its presence.

Ryoshi gripped his wife's hand, held her as tight as a clamp against his chest, but even still, he squirmed about uncomfortably as he had to sit and watch the campfire until finally...

"I'm sorry Amy, I can't do it!" The Mawile jumped up suddenly, plopping the Jigglypuff down onto the teepee floor and scampering out the front door in a panic, panting heavily.

"Ryoshi...!"

Rats, they were so close. But like Amy said, she wasn't expecting Ryoshi to make a whole lot of progress in one day. If anything, she was glad that he was able to make it as far as he could.

She started to head towards the front flap, but then stopped, instead turning back to the fire to look at it. The way it was now, she supposed that, yes, it was somewhat biggish, though still rather small by her tribe's standards. But most importantly, it was definitely warm enough to make her not feel cold from outside at all.

Though she still had to comfort Ryoshi, so after sitting at the fire for as long as she felt Ryoshi would need to catch his breath, she slowly turned away from the slightly fading fire to leave the teepee, figuring that her dad could bring either himself or someone else in who could use the heat. No need to waste supplies, after all.

Ryoshi felt almost hollow inside as he sat just outside the conical house. He felt like he had not only failed himself, but Amy as well. Gah, why was this so hard?! Why couldn't he have been afraid of something else? Why must it have been fire..?

The Mawile was still curled up with his head in his lap when he heard the Jigglypuff walk outside. He looked up weakly, but his eyes were even more red than they usually were.

"H—Hey..." he muttered quietly. "I'm really sorry... That I couldn't do it... I'm s—sorry."

"I—no, you did fine, you got pretty far, Ryoshi...if anything, I should be sorry for not being able to help you any more..." She then shook her head as she tried to help him up by draping one of his arms over her. "Come on, w—we can always try again tomorrow..." Though she did her best to hide it, it was clear that she was feeling pretty shaky too.

"Yeah...okay."

The Mawile allowed her to help him to his feet, but once there, Ryoshi picked Amy up and began to carry her down the mountain with him. Although he still felt a little empty, holding his wife and giving her a gentle peck on the forehead made him feel a bit better.

"I just hope we can do better tomorrow..." He groaned.

Amy nodded, feeling as though Ryoshi really did want to make it up to her, and she didn't want to let him down either. "We'll keep trying however many days or weeks it takes."

That was Ryoshi's life over the next several long days.

The next day, Amy realized that the main goal of all of this shouldn't be to see how big of a fire Ryoshi could handle, but rather, how long. After all, the ultimate plan was to have a fireplace that could be burning in their house throughout winter.

So they started from scratch, beginning with the largest fire the Mawile managed to stand the first day. Amy stoked and refueled each fire as need be to keep it going, while making sure that Ryoshi could handle it.

Every day they moved on to slightly larger fire, with Ryoshi attempting to stay next to it as much as he could. There were a few times he needed to walk out of the room for a few minutes to steel himself, but overall, by the time the end of the day came, Ryoshi had spent so much time near the flames that when the next day came, he had enough confidence to hold himself steady with the larger flame. And with Amy by his side, he could grab onto her for support.

As the sun began to set on the last day, the fire had gotten up to the size of a large campfire, and Ryoshi had been sitting inside the teepee with Amy for a course of several hours.

"Nnngh..." Amy then blinked open her eyes. "Wait, wha—did I miss something?" Then she placed a hand on her head. "...Whoa. How long was I asleep?"

Apparently, by this point, being able to stay by the fire for several hours was enough to make her not only relax, but fall asleep, too. It was likely that the stress and effort from trying to comfort Ryoshi for the past several days had finally caught up to her.

The Mawile looked over at the Jigglypuff and chuckled. His eyes had been trained on the flames for so long that he had hardly noticed Amy had fallen asleep until long after she actually had. "Nothing much dear, just been sitting around. Sorry, I know how stressful and boring this must be on you. You've been out for a few hours now."

"A few...?" Amy then turned to the flames, and then back to her husband. "And you've been sitting here the whole time..."

Then she realized what this meant as she couldn't help but leap up to wrap her arms around his shoulders. "That's it, isn't it!? You're okay with fire enough so that we can make one in our house now, right?"

"I guess so…" He nodded, but less enthusiastic than her. "I guess I'm alright with being near it like this, but... I don't know, it still sort of makes me antsy. Do you think... Do you think I'll ever be over it entirely? A day when I can look at fire the same way I can look at a tree or a stone?"

Amy wasn't sure if such a thing would be possible, especially since fears were the sorts of things that were supposed to help people recognize and stay away from dangerous things. So she decided to tell him the truth.

"I don't know if anyone looks at fire that way, to be honest, since there's no denying that if you don't have that Magma Scale around your neck, it would be dangerous to touch. But since you do, I'm sure you will one day if you believe you will, because I believe you will too! I mean, yeah, fire can be scary, but by now, you know that it can help people too, right? I mean, it really helped me. And maybe someday...you really will understand how fire is alive and should be cherished as much as any of us, and that you'd think of me whenever you'd see it..."

By this point, she couldn't help but think of all the fires they had to burn the past several days alone, and though they were small overall compared to, say, a bonfire, it was starting to make her tear up. "...Really, Ryoshi, thank you so much for doing this for me...you have no idea how happy I am right now...th—that we didn't burn all those fires for nothing...I...I'll remember them all..." She pressed her forehead against his own, quivering. Crying, but happy, just like she said.

"Thank you for standing by me the whole time..." He cupped her chin and brought it up, placing a loving kiss on her lips before snuggling her close to his chest. "I really appreciate all the help you've been, and I'm sorry for all the cold nights I've put you through. C'mon, maybe the shops are still open and we can get a fireplace for tonight..."

"Y—yeah...I know Chasca might have a few we can get, for sure." She wiped the last of her tears and nodded at him. "Let's go…"

As Ryoshi helped carry her down the mountain again, it was like a weight had been lifted off of Amy's mind. Even though Ryoshi said he would try to get over his fear of fire from the start, Amy couldn't help but worry endlessly that he'd fail, and that it would be a pretty major inconvenience in their marriage every winter that she'd never be able to fix.

But now...

This was proof right here, that they could fix their problems if only they tried hard enough. After all, Ryoshi helped fix a lot of her fears back then and he still did now, even if he didn't seem to know it, compared to this time, where they both had to work hard to work with his fear. It also showed that they really could help fix a lot of the crap that the past might have inflicted on either of them.

Amy then gasped as she thought of an idea. If she could help Ryoshi deal with his fear of fire, then maybe, just maybe, she could help him out with whatever problems he had with 'looking girly' or whatever. While there was nothing she could do about the Fairy-type except maybe call it a different name like 'Magic-type' or 'Light-type', she did remember how he said he hated the hair on his head and could never seem to figure out how to cut it. And she did see how Masamori and a few of the other Mawile in town had clean-shaven heads, and began to wonder what that would look like on Ryoshi...

She decided. One way or another, she'd figure out a way to cut his hair the way he wanted it. And in the meantime, she'd be happy she helped him deal with fire so that she'd never have to freeze during winter again.