CHAPTER 3

His bedroom was just how I remembered it. At least, that's what I wanted to say, but I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the room. Instead, I locked gazes with the man sitting upright in bed, a pillow propped up behind his back. We both stared at each other in obvious surprise. I don't think either of us had been truly prepared for this jarring reunion.

Dad barely looked like how he did in my memories. I had expected him to look older of course, considering the passage of time, but it was still shocking.

His hair, once a deep pink, had dulled considerably, with white streaks running rampant around his head. Once determined and bright blue eyes were now full of weariness. Lines and wrinkles ran across his haggard face. He had a newspaper on him which he slowly set down on the sheets. I didn't miss the tremor of his hand.

He looked… tired. So very, very tired. It was a stark contrast to the vibrant and steadfast person he had used to be.

We took in each other's appearances for a few more seconds, committing this moment to memory.

"Son," he finally said, breaking the silence. There was a slight raspy undertone to his voice.

I felt my throat dry up. It almost felt… uncomfortable to hear him call me that. What was I supposed to call him in return? Dad? Father? Adriel?

In the end, I settled for a stiff nod.

Dad looked at me a little longer before gesturing to a chair at a desk nearby. He hesitated before speaking. "Would… would you like to have a seat?"

We were walking on pin needles around each other. I nodded again wordlessly, walking over stiffly and dragging the chair closer to the bed before sitting down on it.

I could feel him staring at me, but I chose to focus on the bed instead. It was quiet in the room for several long, uncomfortable seconds. It wasn't hard to realize that he was struggling with what to say.

"I'm surprised you came… and so quickly, too. Were you close by…?" Dad eventually asked, trailing off.

I stared a hole through the blanket in front of me. "No. Flew here on one of my Pokemon. It took eight hours."

Dad's eyes widened. "I… I see."

Silence followed again.

And this time, I'd had enough.

"Why did you message me?" I asked suddenly, finally shifting my head to look him in the eyes. He looked startled by the intensity of my gaze. My voice was quiet and steady, but my eyes held all of the fury and accusation I'd held in for years now. "Not once in ten years did you ever contact me, so why now?"

"I wanted to see you," he said weakly. I glared at him.

"Ten years ago, you were the one who told me to leave and never come back. You thought my Ability was a bad omen. You called me weak. That I was worthless," I said in as level of a voice as I could manage, but I spat out the last word. I couldn't help but enjoy the way he flinched. Perhaps it was the vindictive fairy side of me reveling in it. "I was only ten years old. I hope you remember, because I certainly do."

Dad didn't look away from me. His reply was a broken, almost inaudible whisper.

"I do."

I didn't say anything for a moment, instead trying to calm the rage that was simmering within me and threatening to boil over. We both looked down, suddenly unable to meet each other's gazes anymore.

"I wanted to apologize."

My head snapped toward him.

"What?" I whispered. I almost forgot how to breathe.

"I wanted to apologize," he repeated, this time more loudly. "That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"You're lying," I said instantly, clenching a fist.

When he raised his own head to look at me, I faltered. In his eyes and facial expression, I could see great remorse and shame. It wasn't an act. It was real.

"I'm sorry, Arin. I'm so, so sorry," he said. With a shuddering breath, he continued. "I've regretted it every day since then. I never should have pushed you into following my footsteps. You were… and always have been… a brilliant child. I saw your talent for bonding with Pokemon and expected you to take after me. I forced my own views onto you. In the end, my own foolishness blinded me to what really mattered… my son's happiness."

He paused briefly. I realized he was crying silently. "No matter how much I wish to, I can't erase my past actions or hateful words. Those mistakes will follow me for the rest of my life. But… I want to tell you that I was wrong. You are not worthless, son. I don't know what you've been up to in these last ten years, but I just know you've achieved many things for yourself. Your Ability is not a curse but a gift. I'm sorry I couldn't see that before. I'm sorry it took me so long to work up the courage to talk to you. I was scared."

I sat very, very still in my seat. If I clenched my fist any harder, then I was sure my nails would draw blood. These were words I'd wanted to hear a long time ago. All the hurt I felt back then came swelling back up. My eyes watered slightly, but I refused to cry.

"You don't have to forgive me," Dad said, almost whispering. "I don't expect you to. I just… needed to tell you this before it was too late."

As if I wasn't already surprised enough by the turn of events, Dad dropped another surprise on me.

"I have a terminal illness," he revealed, and I stared at him in shock. Re-examining his features, it suddenly made more sense now why he looked so abnormally tired. "I never had the best of health, but it doesn't help that I'm getting old either. The doctor said I probably have a year and a half at most if I don't overwork myself. Now that I've seen you again, I'm satisfied. I think I could pass away peacefully—"

"DON'T say that," I cut him off sharply. I took a ragged breath. "Don't… talk about dying like that."

He just offered a wry smile. "I've made my peace with it."

I stared at him in silence, trying desperately to gather my thoughts.

How could he drop all this on me? First a long-awaited apology, then the fact that he didn't have much longer to live. I'd hated him for a long time, but even I wouldn't wish an early death upon my last remaining blood relative.

A part of me couldn't help but think how… how selfish he was to only seek me out after finding out he wasn't long for this world. Yet another part of me was glad he had the sincerity to own up to his mistakes.

I was a Fairy Specialist. Fairies could hold grudges until the end of time.

I wasn't sure dad deserved forgiveness.

But as I looked at this broken shell of a man, and the earnest remorse he showed me, I faltered. I did have bad memories of dad… but I also had plenty of good ones.

I thought about how dad used to read me stories every night before bed even after he was tired from working in the gym all day long.

I thought about how he'd bring me to the Silver Conference every year and excitedly explain the decisions and strategies trainers made.

I thought about dad's proud smile when I won a local rookie competition with Vel back when he was an Eevee.

Many more memories flashed through my mind of happier times, and my lips moved before I realized it.

"I can't forget the past," I finally said. Dad hardly reacted except for the slight clenching of his fist that I saw. "You're right that you can't erase what you did before. It's not something I won't ever forget for the rest of my life. But," I took a deep breath. "I'm willing to start over."

Dad stared at me in shock. I looked back at him with watery eyes and nodded.

Despite the mistakes he'd made, he was still my family.

"I can't forget, but I forgive you…" I trailed off, hesitating before I added softly, "Dad."

He broke down sobbing at my words. I watched him cry for a few moments before getting up and awkwardly pulling him into a tentative hug. He leaned on me heavily, but I didn't mind. I was too busy furiously blinking away tears of my own.

At least ten minutes passed before dad calmed down enough to talk again, and I settled back into my chair. Both of us were a sight to see with extremely red-rimmed eyes.

"So…" Dad stopped, sniffling.

"So," I echoed.

We looked at each other with awkward smiles on our faces. It was still hard to believe we'd made up. Although it would take some time for me to feel fully comfortable around him again, I was confident that we would eventually bridge that gap. I tried not to fixate on his looming death as that was something I couldn't control.

I cleared my throat. We needed a change of pace. "Do you wanna meet my Pokemon?"

He nodded enthusiastically, quite interested. "Of course! My room's a bit small though. Maybe I can see a few of them right now and I can meet the rest of your team tomorrow?"

I readily agreed. It was getting late anyway. I didn't waste any time in sending out Vel and Yuno, especially Vel for several reasons.

Both appeared in flashes of light, greeting me with happy cries before looking around curiously. Vel spotted dad first and realized immediately who he was looking at. Yuno had never met dad before, but he had enough context clues from the situation and what bits of information I'd told him before to connect the dots. Both looked at him with disdain.

Dad's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he took in the Sylveon and Milotic that had suddenly appeared in his bedroom.

"This serpentine Pokemon… It's one of the rarer Hoenn Pokemon, right? Milotic, I think? I heard the Waterflower sisters in Kanto recently acquired one," Dad remarked, staring at Yuno in wonder. Then he turned his attention to Vel. "I don't think I've ever seen this kind of Pokemon before… I can't even begin to guess what type it is. A Normal type perhaps? Psychic? Anyway, both of them are quite lovely. I can tell you've cared for them greatly."

His brows furrowed as he finally realized that my Pokemon were giving him dark looks. "Oh, they don't look very happy…"

I chuckled, drawing my Pokemon's attention to me. "Vel, Yuno, it's fine. I made up with dad. He apologized to me, and I agreed to start over. Be nice to him," I told my friends. Behind them, Dad let out a short gasp of surprise.

"Did you say Vel?" Dad's gaze swiveled back to Vel once more. The Sylveon was no longer giving him the stink eye, but he wore an impassive look as Dad looked him over. "I didn't know Eevee could evolve into, er, whatever species this is."

"Sylveon," I supplied readily. I glanced down at Vel, sharing a proud grin with him. "It might be a new evolution for the Kinjoh Area, but outside of it, it's been a widely known evolution for some time now. He's a Fairy type Pokemon. Yuno here is a Water and Fairy type. In fact, most of my Pokemon are Fairy types, dad. I'm a Type Specialist." I paused, fiddling with my fingers a bit. "My… Ability. It's being able to understand and bond with Fairy type Pokemon. We just didn't know back then because the Fairy type wasn't known on this side of the world yet."

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Dad blinked a couple times as he processed the information I'd just revealed to him. "A new Eeveelution… That's incredible. And Fairy type, you say? That's something I've heard mentioned in the news a couple times," Dad said with a slow nod of his head. "My son is a Fairy Type Specialist who can communicate with Pokemon… amazing."

I stopped myself from preening at the praise, but I couldn't help a small smile from appearing on my face.

Dad wore a thoughtful expression when he next spoke. "You mentioned 'on this side of the world.' I'm curious to hear about what you meant, but first…" he trailed off, and I watched curiously as he focused his attention on Vel. To my and my Pokemon's astonishment, he bowed his head. "Vel, I'm sorry for the way I treated you and Arin before you left. You knew Arin better than I did and stayed by him as he tried to walk his own path. I should have done the same."

Vel's ears flattened momentarily in sadness. If I had to guess, he was probably remembering the times when dad had told me to stop training an Eevee and focus on Grass types instead.

I held my breath as Vel sat there in silence. Then, slowly, Vel lifted one of his feelers and held it out to Dad. Dad looked up at me with a bewildered expression.

I simply smiled. "He's offering a friendly handshake, dad. Those feelers of his let him read and share emotions," I explained.

Dad made an 'o' shape with his mouth and quickly put a hand forward, gently taking the end of Vel's ribbon. I think I had some sort of silly smile on my face as I watched him gingerly shake the ribbon up and down. Dad even let out a gasp of wonder as he presumably felt Vel sending him a small wave of positive emotion. I saw Vel was smiling as he pulled his feeler away.

I clapped my hands together. My chest felt so much lighter than it had in ages. "Okay, since it's late, I'll give a brief overview, but let me tell you more about the Fairy type and share some of my adventures with you…"

Vel hopped up into my lap as I began recounting a bit of what I'd been up to in the last ten years. Yuno coiled up next to my chair and placed his head on the chair armrest. And Dad?

Dad listened with rapt attention, hellbent on making up for lost time as he learned about the person I had become.

I couldn't go too in depth because of the time, but I did share the most important parts of my journey so far. I told dad about how I'd traveled to Hoenn and Sinnoh first. The first month had been brutal purely because I had still been emotionally devastated at that point in time. But after that, things started going more smoothly as I quickly acclimated myself to the life of a wandering trainer.

I spent a year each in Hoenn and Sinnoh. Then I did something pretty crazy for a twelve-year-old at the time.

I decided to traverse the great seas.

It was only in recent years that Hoenn and Sinnoh had linked up with Kanto and Johto and come to be known as the Kinjoh Area. The rest of the world was still quite isolated. There were regions outside of the Kinjoh area that they either still hadn't discovered, or did know about but otherwise didn't have access to. Most of the time, it was due to the lack of feasible air or sea routes that made globalization difficult. Other times, it was because regions outside of the Kinjoh area just wanted to keep to themselves for various reasons. For example, Unova was actually aware of the Kinjoh Area, but they looked down on that continent as a backwards thinking and less democratic region and didn't see a need to interact. Another example, Paldea, was cautious of foreigners due to a desire to protect their citizens and native Pokemon population.

I had been lucky enough to actually make it to some of these regions outside of the Kinjoh Area of influence, which included the Alolan Islands, Unova, Kalos, Galar, and Paldea. Out of that bunch, only Unova was currently known to the Kinjoh Area, but Unova had so far refused to have any interregional relations with them in an official capacity.

There were some hiccups along the way (particularly in Unova), but I was granted access to each of these regions. They allowed me to explore and compete in their regional Leagues. I even won a few Conferences and narrowly defeated Elite Fours and Champions. Dad was particularly impressed by this and looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. Perhaps he would mention it after I was done.

I spent the most time talking about Paldea since it was, after all, my current base of operations and the region I'd stayed in the longest. The League there had been wary of me at first, but they'd slowly warmed up to me over time. They were particularly thankful for my help with researching Paradox Pokemon in Area Zero (I just vaguely told dad that I was helping them study certain types of Fairy Pokemon across the continent).

I ended it there for the night, promising to tell dad more another time. Throughout the entire story, his face had been one of sheer wonder.

"Wow," was all he could say when I was done, staring at me with newfound amazement. "You've… really done and seen a lot, haven't you Arin? It sounds like it was an incredible journey."

"It was," I agreed with an almost dreamy sigh. Traveling had been a lot of fun even with all the danger that had come along with it. I patted my half-asleep Pokemon's heads. When I glanced over at dad, he seemed lost in thought.

It was a bit strange, but I didn't call him out on it. Instead, I asked if he'd had dinner yet.

He and his Pokemon had, but he said I was more than welcome to help myself to the stuff in the kitchen. He also apologized for not having thought to ask me about dinner sooner given that I'd traveled to Johto from so far away. I waved him off.

I was hungry, and so were my Pokemon. I instantly went to rectify that, and dad followed me into the kitchen to get himself a cup of water.

I busied myself removing specialized kibble mixes from my expanded-space bag. As I was doing so, I couldn't help but notice the empty display case again from the edge of my vision, the same one I'd seen when I first walked in.

"Hey dad," I called out as I continued pulling out Pokemon food from my belongings. I was still eyeing the case.

I heard him shuffling around in the kitchen. "Yeah?"

"What's this display case for? There's nothing in it."

The shuffling sounds stopped abruptly. A moment of silence passed, and then dad walked out to stand next to me. I stopped what I was doing when I noticed the awkward look on his face.

"It's, uh…" Dad scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's for you."

"What?" I raised a brow at him, not understanding at all.

Dad squirmed in place a bit. "I bought it a little while after you left. I… I thought maybe… if you ever returned someday, you might return with badges and trophies from your travels. I had it ready for you if you ever did."

I stared at him, stunned.

I don't know what I was more surprised by: the idea that he had believed I would come back home someday, or that he believed in my ability as a Pokemon trainer.

Regardless, I was touched.

"Thanks, dad," I finally said sincerely. "I don't have any of the physical badges or awards I've collected on me, but the next time I come visit, I'll be sure to bring them here."

Dad beamed at that.

I idly wondered if perhaps that chipped coffee table I'd seen before had been kept for sentimental reasons. For a moment, I wanted to ask, but then I thought better of it. If I was right, well… better to save dad some more embarrassment.

I smirked to myself as I pulled out the last of the Pokemon kibble. He was gonna be so shocked when he saw just how many badges I'd obtained over the course of the years. Speaking of badges though, something that had been nagging at the back of my mind suddenly pushed itself to the forefront. I spun around to look at Dad.

"Wait, what about the Gym?" I blurted out. I couldn't believe I hadn't asked about it sooner. Dad quietly took a sip of his water as I continued. "Did something happen to it? I passed by it on my way here and it looked terrible. And you're sick. How are you running the Gym—?"

"I'm not," Dad said almost before I finished speaking. I stared at him with wide eyes. He waved a hand through the air as he set his cup on the kitchen island. "Gym's been closed since the start of the Circuit. I had finally obtained the qualifications to apply for the test to make it one of the major gyms, so I was taking the year off to renovate it and prepare for the test. But a bunch of issues cropped up… my illness being the most major one, but also a severe lack of Pokemon and funds."

He grimaced, drumming his fingers against the counter. "It's never been easy running the Gym, Arin. We don't get nearly as much funding from the League as the major gyms, so it's mostly my own money that goes into maintaining costs for upkeep, employee salaries, feeding all the Gym Pokemon, and more. And over the last decade, my own funds have dwindled quite a bit as a result," he explained. "As for the lack of Pokemon… well, this ties into my health. You might have noticed already, but I have some issues with my right arm nowadays. Some tremors. It's very detrimental to the career of a trainer when you can't throw your Pokeballs correctly and position your Pokemon well on the field."

I nodded slowly in understanding. Dad sighed heavily, running a hand down his face. "And then my illness. To be honest, son, I kind of just gave up after I found out about it. I explained the situation to the few employees we had and the Gym Pokemon. All but one of the Gym Trainers left, and I sent the majority of our Gym Pokemon either to Erika in Kanto or found them appropriate homes. Some wanted to live here on our property and others around the city, but that's it."

I stared at him. "That's…" I trailed off, biting my lip. Everything he said made sense, but… it still felt wrong to me.

I paused suddenly. While ruminating on the boatload of bad news, I'd completely skipped over something else. "Wait. Early on, you said you had finally obtained the qualifications to apply for the test to become a major gym? Dad, that's… that's amazing!"

Minor gyms across the Indigo League were few and far in between. Kanto usually had three or four depending on the generation, but Johto?

The Cherrygrove Gym was and had only ever been the only one.

This was due to how extremely conservative Johto was even when compared to Kanto. People here had always respected the old ways and traditions. All the major gyms had been initially granted to families either of high peerage back in the day or to those who had contributed significantly in war.

Our own family had received the Cherrygrove Gym for our ancestor's contributions in battle; however, we were given the status of a 'minor' gym both due to those contributions being small and because there were already eight major gyms that had established their dominance for generations already.

The reason I was so surprised by what my dad said was because it was extremely difficult to go from a minor to major gym status.

The Gym had to show a significant performance comparable to that of the major gyms, and it couldn't just be a one-off thing. You had to keep up said significant performance for a steady period of time to prove you knew what you were doing.

For minor gyms, this was practically impossible. Most trainers gravitated towards the major gyms of their regions for the history and prestige associated with them. It didn't help that the League didn't offer as much support to minor gyms either.

There were only a few instances throughout history when a minor gym had obtained the qualifications to apply for the test to become a major gym.

None had ever succeeded.

The League gave a rigorous test for them to prove their worth. I had no idea what it entailed exactly, but it was usually too hard for applicants. Honestly, I wondered if the League made it extra hard on purpose to prevent the emergence of new powers.

And dad… dad had somehow reached that starting line. That spoke volumes of the hard work he'd poured into the Gym over the years. Yet that starting line was slipping away from him for reasons he could not control.

"Dad, you… you've dedicated your whole life to the Gym. It's been in the family for generations. Are you okay just… giving up here?"

Dad was silent for a long time. "I did dedicate my whole life to it," he finally agreed. His voice was very quiet. "But I've found that some things are just as, if not more, important to me… like family." He looked at me. "I only have so much time left. I'd rather spend time with my son. Besides, it's not like I can extend my life."

He quirked a wry smile at me, but I couldn't meet his gaze. How was he okay with this?

I heard dad sigh as I stared at the wall, lost in thought. "Wait here a bit, Arin."

He shuffled off somewhere, leaving me in a state of contemplation until he finally came back and held something out to me. I glanced down. They were… papers? My eyes widened upon closer inspection.

"Why are you giving me these?" I asked, staring down at the related deeds and documents for the property and ownership of the Cherrygrove Gym.

"Because," Dad began, "I owe you these. I denied you the right of inheritance to the Gym before you left, and that was wrong of me."

He held up a hand as I started forward, ready to say something. "Let me finish, Arin. I'm not asking you to take over the Gym. I don't expect that of you. When you were telling me about Paldea before, it sounded like you've made a life for yourself there, and I'm happy for you. I'm just wanting to correct one more wrong by giving you what you should have rightfully received back then. I've already given my signature on that second form there for ownership change. You can do whatever you want with the Gym, son. You were always supposed to be the rightful owner. Demolish it, keep it around, it's up to you."

"I can't keep these—" I said as soon as he finished talking, but dad held up a hand again.

"They're yours," he said simply. "Don't return them to me. I cannot and will not accept them. I'm not expecting you to make a decision right this instant, so… think about it for as long as you want to. Have a nice dinner, son. I'll see you in the morning. Your room's just as you left it, though I expanded it a bit while you were gone."

I stared after his retreating back and continued staring long after he'd disappeared down the hallway.

I… had not been expecting this development.

In the end, I decided to not think about it at all that night. I let my Pokemon outside in the backyard for their dinner and gave them a brief overview of what had happened since we last spoke. They were vastly interested in my childhood home, and I promised I would give them a tour of the house and introduce dad to them the next day.

I went through the motions of eating a simple dinner consisting of broccoli and potatoes and showering all with a dazed state of mind.

Then I took my stuff and stepped in front of a door further down from dad's. I smiled when I saw a familiar pattern of leaves decorating the wood. It was the same pattern on dad's door but in blue. I remember adamantly asking dad to give me the same pattern as him so that we could match.

I gently pushed open the door.

I was surprised to see that almost everything was as I'd left it. Dad hadn't been joking when he said he expanded the room, it was truly a big bedroom now whose size was more suitable for an adult. All the positioning of the furniture was basically the same. Dad had just pushed everything back towards the walls to fit the expansion. I quickly noticed how some of the furniture had been replaced with sizes meant for grownups, such as the bed or chairs.

I was reminded once again that dad had thought I might come back home someday, and that he'd prepared for it.

There was the ghost of a smile on my face as I fully entered the room, dropping both my bag and the gym papers on the desk as I turned around to look around my old bedroom some more. There were still a few toys and figures left out on the shelves and comic books I'd read as a kid. I could even see an old Chikorita-themed calendar on my desk that dated back to ten years ago, making me chuckle.

I jumped a bit when Vel suddenly appeared in the doorway, padding into the room. He glanced around, recognizing the bedroom he and I had once shared. I could guess why he was here. "You want to sleep here, too?" I asked knowingly, and Vel grinned. Of course. He hated sleeping without me. I did, too, to be honest.

Vel jumped onto the bed after I had pulled the covers over me and immediately curled up near my head. He fell asleep pretty quickly, but I found myself staring up at the ceiling for a while. My eyes occasionally flickered to the papers sitting innocently — or ominously — on my desk.

I sighed, closing my eyes. There would be time to think about it tomorrow.

In the end, I didn't fall asleep until nearly 2 AM that night.