CHAPTER 5 — To Dream

Our Pokemon jumped into action without us having to say anything.

Pink mist exploded outwards from Vel's feet and covered every inch of the field in a Misty Terrain. At the same time, blades of grass suddenly popped up on the ground around Meguri and multiplied outwards rapidly.

"Keep it at bay," I ordered.

Vel snarled at the sea of grass spreading underneath the cloud of shimmering dust. He wasn't going to allow it to encroach further on the domain of a fairy. His eyes glowed as he willed the world to bend to him.

The mist across the field thickened at once and pressed down, smothering the grass underneath with its oppressive presence. The half-formed Grassy Terrain trembled violently and started to disappear in small spots. Meguri roared furiously and channeled more of his energy to regrow the grass, but even then, the two Terrains were locked in a standstill.

Dad frowned and switched tactics.

"Sunny Day," he barked.

Meguri let go of his hold on the grass to throw an orb of light into the sky, making the sun's rays bear down more harshly on us. Dad warily eyed the pink mist brushing up against his starter's legs. He'd never seen Misty Terrain before, so he didn't know what it did.

I had won control over the field for the time being, but now I had to contend with what I knew were incoming boosted Solar Beams. It was a decent trade. Grassy Terrain needed to be out of the picture for as long as possible.

I had seen what kind of stuff Meguri could do with it in the past, and it was always very, very bad for the challenger.

"Poison Blizzard, then Energy Ball!" Dad called out as soon as the Sunny Day had fully materialized. Dozens of petals with a purple sheen materialized around Meguri and surged forward.

"Swift and Quick Attack. Stay on the move," I said quickly.

Stars infused with fairy energy appeared above Vel's head and flew off, meeting the leaves head-on in colorful collisions. Meanwhile, Vel darted around in quick bursts of energy. Orbs of crackling green energy came soaring one after another in his direction, each leaving craters in the earth where Vel once stood.

New sets of petals flew in Vel's direction, and he was forced to constantly weave around to avoid Energy Balls while firing back Pixilate-boosted Swift barrages at the Petal Blizzard. Vel would have had an easier time if he had been able to hide in the mist like I'd originally planned, but the light of Sunny Day pierced through it too much for that to be viable.

More and more petals managed to find Vel through all the chaos and cut into his fur, drawing blood, but he braved on. I saw dad's face contort slightly in surprise before he smoothed it back out. If I had to guess, he was surprised by the fact that Vel didn't seem to be poisoned. Poison Blizzard had sounded like a custom move where Meguri coated the flowers from Petal Blizzard with Poison Powder.

If I was right, then it was even more of a good thing we had Misty Terrain up at the moment.

Vel wasn't the only one gradually taking damage from our little throwing contest. Some stars from Vel's Swift found their mark through the floral storm and slashed Meguri's skin in various places.

My eyes narrowed in concentration. I just knew dad was waiting for a gap to hit us with Solar Beam. I had an idea of what he was planning, and I needed to bait him.

I swept an arm forward.

"Wish!"

Vel let one last Swift sail through the air before he paused in place. A twinkling star of a different kind of energy slowly formed over his head as he concentrated. The latest wave of Petal Blizzard cut him in the process.

"Beam!" Dad yelled, seeing the opportunity I'd intentionally given him. I clenched my fist at my side. I trusted that Vel would be able to dodge on time.

Meguri stopped his previous onslaught as the petals around his neck glowed. In an instant, a humongous beam of light mixed with green flew from his mouth. Vel narrowly finished crafting the Wish and dove to the side. The beam sailed harmlessly past and went straight into the barrier's wall, causing it to fracture and shake wildly. Dad's Exeggutor calmly patched it up.

But that wasn't the end of it.

"Again!" Dad ordered, and Meguri was more than happy to comply. Another near-instantaneous Solar Beam shot towards Vel.

"Hyper Beam! Match it!" I said sharply. "Get in closer."

A pink beam shot out from Vel's mouth to meet the incoming ray of light, shaking the field with the ensuing explosion from their collision.

Meguri shot off more Solar Beams like it was nobody's business thanks to the power of the sun, but Vel matched him one-for-one with his own beams as he ran forward with the aid of Quick Attacks. He managed to outmaneuver Meguri at one point and nailed him right in the chest with a Hyper Beam, but the Meganium stood tall. I waited until Vel got within perfect striking distance.

"Ensnare! Play Rough!"

Ribbons shot forward and wrapped around Meguri's entire body, including his mouth before he could form another Solar Beam. The Meganium's eyes glazed over momentarily as Vel weakened his fighting spirit through the power of his ribbons.

Vel took that chance to launch himself forward. Paws infused with fairy energy viciously hammered against the Grass type over and over as if he was a ragdoll.

"Body Slam!" Dad roared, and Meguri answered with one of his own as he slammed against the ground with Vel pinned in between. He moved to do it again, but Vel quickly loosened his ribbons and jumped back. His body had a big new bruise. Meguri fired a Solar Beam at his retreating back.

"Detect then Hyper Voice!" I said sharply.

Vel was one step ahead of me, eyes glowing brightly as he whipped around and dodged the beam with ease. Before Meguri could get another one off, Vel opened his mouth and screamed.

Huge sound waves tinged with pink slammed into Meguri. They were powerful enough that the heavy Pokemon actually stumbled backwards, disoriented. He roared in pain from both the noise and the impact. Even I couldn't stand Hyper Voice's volume.

At least it was muted slightly for people outside the barrier. Inside, Meguri was taking the brunt of it.

Vel kept the Hyper Voice going, but Dad wasn't having any of it.

"Solar Beam, Meguri!"

Even though he was still half-disoriented from the Hyper Voice, Meguri stood his ground and released a perfectly aimed beam of light. It slammed into Vel and knocked him clean off his feet, ending the Hyper Voice.

"Use Synthesis," Dad said immediately when Vel hit the floor. I gritted my teeth as Meguri's petals glowed and he began healing under the rejuvenating rays of the sun.

"Dazzling Gleam! Interrupt it! Then follow up with Moonblast!" I ordered.

Vel didn't even bother getting up fully from the ground as he hissed. Light rushed outwards from his body in one big blinding wave and slammed into Meguri mere seconds into the Grass type's attempt to heal. The Meganium reared up from the pain as his petals abruptly stopped glowing. His eyes were closed shut.

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Vel finally leaped up into an upright position, his fur still a smoking mess from the previous Solar Beam he'd taken. The illusion of a pale moon rose up behind him as he gathered a swirling mass of pink energy and fired it without delay.

Meguri didn't have a chance to react. The Moonblast exploded against his side and burned some skin off, and he had to dig his feet into the ground in order to not topple over.

When he raised his head and I saw glowing eyes, not to mention the greenish aura which suddenly appeared around his body, I knew the battle was entering stage two.

Overgrow had come into play.

Dad grinned when he saw his starter's appearance. "Petal Dance, then Sunny Day again."

I frowned. Meguri had a few moves that he specialized in, and Petal Dance was one of them. "Push back with Hyper Voice!"

An absolute maelstrom of petals was already unleashed by the time I finished. The piercing sound waves Vel produced were able to push it back, but there were just too many petals. Half swerved around and mobbed him from behind, littering his body with even more bloody cuts. The sun burned just a little brighter for a moment as Sunny Day was renewed.

The Wish Vel used earlier finally came back down and entered his body, restoring some health, but that was when things went from bad to worse.

While Vel was getting overwhelmed by the Petal Blizzard, the Misty Terrain around the field started fading. Meguri didn't miss this window of opportunity.

He bellowed.

Grass boosted by Overgrow shot forth from the ground in waves, and this time, Vel couldn't stop the Grassy Terrain.

I knew what was about to happen, and I braced myself.

"BUBBLE! GET BACK!" I roared.

Trees shot out of the ground even before I finished. Yes, entire trees that eventually became a whole damn forest. It was purely Meguri's mastery over Grass type energy that allowed him to manipulate plants to his will at the highest level. It didn't help that the stacked effects of Grassy Terrain, Overgrow, and Sunny Day were enabling him to grow so much so fast.

There was nowhere to run. Lush grass had overtaken the entire field, and the tree branches curled outwards menacingly.

Meguri had full reign over the field now.

Vel barely had time to weave fairy energy into the air around his body when trees everywhere suddenly lurched, hurling glowing leaves at him. Razor and Magical Leaf.

The trees could attack, too.

None of the leaves actually hit Vel, though. They crashed into the air just inches from his body instead, which visibly rippled with every impact.

If the Grass type was centered around growth and propagation, then the Fairy type was centered around belief and perception. Fairies used their belief to shape the world around them, much like Vel was doing now. He had created a so-called bubble of influence around himself and was willing the attacks to not reach him.

Meguri groaned as he swayed a bit from side to side. The earlier Petal Dance had left him feeling some confusion as an aftereffect. Vel bunched his legs in preparation to dart away, but the grass at his feet writhed and wrapped around his limbs, holding him in place. His ribbons lashed out like blades around him, but no matter how he hacked and sliced at the grass, it grew back before he could tear himself away.

This was not good. Any second now, Meguri might snap back to his senses—

"Frenzy Plant," Dad ordered quietly with gleaming eyes. Meguri was still confused, but he managed to bring himself out of it long enough to concentrate. I grimaced but kept my cool.

"PROTECT!" I said loudly. Vel threw up the move just before the earth split open.

Gigantic roots with thorns ripped themselves out of the ground and lashed out violently, each with the force of a truck behind them. They slammed against Vel's Protect without mercy, and it already gained a small crack. I knew neither the Protect or Vel's earlier fairy coating would hold for long, especially when the surrounding trees started shooting leaves again to add to the onslaught.

I came to a decision instantly.

"Calm Mind into Moonblast, Gravity version," I said. "Make it a big one."

Vel immediately glowed as he focused his mind, ignoring the roots and leaves aiming for him from all sides. I eyed Meguri's form on the field. He had snapped out of his confusion, but his head hung low as he took deep breaths. He had to recharge after unleashing an attack as powerful as Frenzy Plant. We needed to finish this before then.

Crack.

Vel's Protect finally buckled underneath the weight of everything being thrown against it. There was still the fairy bubble around him for protection, but there were only so many attacks it could wink out of existence. It shimmered away right as Vel began charging up a gigantic Moonblast in his mouth. Countless roots and leaves slammed into him. Any other Trainer might have panicked, but I stayed calm. Vel wasn't my starter nor one of my defensive powerhouses for no reason.

And to answer my strong belief, the Sylveon stood his ground defiantly, tanking the blows without so much as blinking. He was ready to show a fraction of the true power a fairy could wield. The Moonblast was finally released.

It howled.

Tendrils of light writhed around the mesmerizing orb Vel had crafted. It was a force of nature in itself. Like the moon, it pulled everything in towards it as it flew along.

The lush Terrain fell apart in an instant as grass disintegrated in the wind. All the trees were ripped right out of the ground from the gravitational pull and slammed together as they swirled around in the air. It was like the forest had never been there in the first place.

Nothing could stop the Moonblast's destructive path as it tore a path down the middle.

Meguri was pulled right into its waiting embrace. His harrowing scream filled the air as the Moonblast popped against him, creating an explosion so large that the smoke took up nearly half the entire field.

I squinted as I stared into the smoke, trying to see if Meguri was still standing. I knew from what I'd seen earlier that Vel was still in good enough condition to keep fighting despite having taken on a Solar Beam, Frenzy Plant, and everything else. We would claim victory no matter what.

The haze finally cleared enough for me to make out two forms. One was Vel standing with an alert expression. Further down the field from him was Meguri.

Much to my surprise, the Meganium was still on his feet. I was about to issue an order for another Moonblast, but there was no need in the end. Meguri groaned and collapsed into a heap on the floor. I let out a quiet sigh.

It was over.

We'd defeated dad and Meguri.

There were resounding cheers from our spectators as dad and I quickly walked forward to check on our Pokemon. Vel barked happily at me as I reached down and pulled him in for a hug, whispering praises for how well he'd fought. I glanced over quickly to see how Meguri was doing. The Meganium was still conscious, but he was too tired to get up from the ground. Dad told him something that made the Grass type smile.

Today, we had achieved one of our childhood dreams. We had defeated our role models.

It brought a sense of wistfulness, but it also reaffirmed something for me.

I stood back up when I saw dad walking over. He stopped in front of me and held out a hand. Pride glittered in his eyes.

"That was probably the most fun battle I've ever had, and I'm not being biased," Dad confessed. "You and your Pokemon have truly become forces to reckon with, Arin. I'm so proud of you."

My heart swelled as I grasped dad's hand and shook it. "That… means a lot to me. Thanks, dad."

We shared soft smiles as we retracted our hands. Vel padded over to talk to Meguri after the fight, but I stayed where I was.

I looked dad in the eye.

"There's something I need to tell you," I told him, and I took a deep breath.

"I'm going to become the next Cherrygrove Gym Leader."

Dad's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but I wasn't done talking yet.

"I'm going to surpass you," I announced with a smile that grew by the second. "I'm going to become the best gym leader that Cherrygrove has ever seen— no… that the world has ever seen. I'm going to make people remember the name Arin Watanuki."

A warm, tingly feeling spread throughout my chest with every word I spoke. Everything just sounded and felt right to me, like missing puzzle pieces finally dropping into place. "I'm not taking over the gym out of guilt or pressure, dad. No, this is a dream I've had for a long time and am only now finally chasing again."

I paused, staring into dad's eyes, and tapped my chest lightly with a closed fist. "I'm sorry, but I can't and will not follow your footsteps, dad. I can't run a Grass type Cherrygrove Gym."

My eyes hardened with determination.

"But I will become the greatest Fairy Specialist, and I will turn this place into the most famous Fairy Gym. That is my promise to both me and you, and the path I have chosen to walk on from today onward."

Dad's face had been morphing constantly between different states of emotion during my speech, but now he just looked at me calmly. I waited almost anxiously for him to say something, anything.

And he did.

"The path you've chosen for yourself will be full of strife," Dad began slowly. I held my breath. "I can't say much about the rest of the world, but at least in Kanto-Johto, people are usually adverse to great change. They fear the unknown. Those high up in power cling to tradition like a lifeline. They won't look kindly upon the idea of a Fairy Gym. There are going to be many, many obstacles in your path on the way to the top."

He looked right at me. "Will you still choose that path for yourself in spite of all this, Arin?"

I didn't hesitate. My gaze was resolute as a single word came out of my mouth.

"Yes."

Everything dad said had been right, but I wasn't scared. This was what I wanted and had chosen for myself, and I was going to fight for it.

No more running away.

Dad smiled, nodding his head in approval as he placed a warm hand on my shoulder.

"If this is what you want to do, then go for it. I believe in you, Arin, and I'll offer my support every step of the way," he promised in a soft voice.

I couldn't help it. My voice choked a bit with emotion as I placed a hand on top of his. "Thank you, dad."

I don't think I ever could have imagined a day like this before, one where I announced my firm decision to run a Fairy Gym, or where dad gave me his full support and blessings for what I wanted to do. I was sure I was going to remember today for the rest of my life.

The future was uncertain. I didn't know what exactly was waiting for me on the path I'd chosen.

But I did know at least one thing here and now.

Everything that had happened in my life so far — both the good and the bad — had led me here to this moment.

The moment where I began to dream again.