Pokemon: Dreams Come True

Chapter 12: Catching Ralts Part 2

I wasn't very confident—I never was.

Gardevoir, Kirlia, Vali, Eevee, and female Ralts were watching this battle intently.

Vali had a calculated look, but it had something else—expectation, maybe. It was almost as if... he knew I could win this. Why was he so confident? I wasn't as good as him.

But... he did call me his equal. And the look on his face reminded me that I needed to be confident, or else I'll end up choking and ruining the coordination that Pikachu and I had.

All this time I'd put up a façade of confidence and hubris, but in reality, I never had faith in myself.

But Vali and Eevee believed in me. Their faces were filled with encouragement and the expectation that I would win.

All this time I'd bought into the rumors that he was the biggest scum to ever walk the earth. He was hated due to his dislike for pokemon. And my brother hates him most of all because of something he did.

But now I realize that he was misunderstood. There was another piece of the puzzle that he didn't want to talk about. One that made him the way he was.

Even though we'd only been travelling together for a day (yeah, hard to believe all of this happened in just one day) but I felt I was starting to understand him more. And it was probably the same the other way around. Either that, or Vali was just naturally observant.

In summary, Vali wasn't that bad. He was cheering me on, albeit silently.

Pikachu was looking at me expectantly, his look filling me with determination. He was the one that filled me with confidence the most. He was right—they were right. I couldn't doubt myself. Second-guessing myself would only hurt me and my partner.

If I couldn't do it for myself, then I would at least do it for Pikachu.

So, in order to win this, I had to believe that I could do it. I was Vali's rival, and I would be the one to come out on top.

"Right." I said. "Get ready Ralts, because we're going to capture you!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said with equal amounts of eagerness.

"Ralts," Ralts said calmly. He used another Confusion, launching psychic power at Pikachu.

"Pikachu, run toward it, use your speed to outrun it!"

Pikachu ran to the Confusion, jumping over it at the last second. Pikachu was naturally fast, even more so than Eevee was. I should use it to my advantage.

"Ralts!" Ralts said, evidently surprised. Then, the Ralts suddenly split into five. It used Double Team. It was a move that made illusionary copies of its user to confuse and disorient enemies.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu continued, undeterred

The five Ralts all used Confusion, a mass of psychic waves shooting at Pikachu.

"Iron Tail!"

I suspected that Disable's effect wore off. I was right, as Pikachu's tail turned to metal. He used it to ride the waves of psychic power, slicing it clean with his tail.

"Pika!" he began to swing his sword-like tail at one of Ralts's clones, making it disappear as it was sliced cleanly in half.

He sliced through every Confusion as if they were butter, before cutting each clone in twain, eventually making it to the final and very real Ralts.

"Ralts!" it said in panic. A semi-translucent half-sphere of purple energy covered his head as he used Zen Headbutt, presumably in desperation. It shot toward Pikachu, its head about to bash into him.