Fourth Dream: Nightmares [Action]

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Yuuna’s Dream

[This particular dream is set in Union, inside a large room covered in gymnastics mats. On one end is a tall woman, shaved bald and wearing a martial arts gi and standing beside a Meinfoo while on the other end is Yuuna, dressed in the same, with Gouken the Hitmonchan at her side.

The woman and her Pokemon square off against her, rushing at them with a battlecry, and the fight is on. And it doesn’t take a particularly observant person to see just how outmatched Yuuna is. Her movements are clumsy and sluggish, as are Gouken’s. The woman catches her with a right cross that knocks her flat, and Meinfoo sends Gouken flying with a single throw. Scrambling to their feet, they try again. And again, and again and again…and they just can’t seem to get in a hit.]

Why keep fighting? It is pointless. You should just give up and go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. Only the strong should be allowed to train Pokemon. You’re just a waste of space. Someone who’s abilities are just so limited doesn’t even deserve to be called a trainer, much less pretend to be a Ranger.

[Yuuna growls and shakes her head, trying to get up again and stumbling, wiping blood from her mouth. Gouken does, however. And he looks to his trainer, eyes filled with disdain. That says it all, really. You’re weak, and you’re just holding me back. Slowly, he turns and walks over to join the other woman. The look of shock and horror on Yuuna’ s face is beyond hurt. It’s a breaking, and she drops back down, fists clenched in disbelief, tears darkening the mat in front of her.]

See, even your closest companion doesn’t want to be with a weakling like you. You’re nothing, Yuuna. Just trash, waiting to be swept away!



Gouken’s Dream

[This, much the same as the other, is set in some sort of training room, only this one is much more run down and shabby. Only this time there’s no other human. Just Gouken, Yuuna, and another Pokemon. A monstrous form, amorphous and evershifting, the creature seems to be intent on attacking the human. Gouken lunges in the way, hammering at the shadow with his fists, but each blow is just swallowed up by shadow.]

Pointlessssss

[A hissing laughter fills the room, and the shadow flows around the Hitmonchan. Yuuna’s eyes go wide and she shrieks in horror as tenebrous arms reach for her, grabbing her up by the throat.]

G-Gou…ack…ken! H-help me!

[Again he tries, pounding away with Ice, Fire, Lightning and every other kind of attack he knows but nothing seems to phase the strange Pokemon. It just absorbs the blows again, loosening it’s grip and shaking Yuuna from side to side as it slowly chokes her. She squeaks in pain again, unable to cry for help anymore as the Hitmonchan continues a barrage of punches.

And all the shadow does is laugh…]



Dream World

[Here’s someone who seems prepared, at least. Yuuna, in her long sleeved white martial arts uniform, meanders through the through the odd landscape. A Ranger’s insignia is emblazoned on the arm now, and she’s wearing handwraps like always. Her hand is never far from her sword, and she’s surrounded by several Pokemon, six visible, though anyone with preternatural senses will catch a 7th in the area…though it’s well hidden. She approaches anyone without much reservation, waving and announcing her presence well in advance.]

Hey. You okay?

[OOC: Catch her in any place, or help Gouken out! I’m totally open with this!]

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Yuuna looked up at that voice, eyes wet with tears, and swallowed hard. How could she face Rei like this? He wasn’t a weakling. His Pokemon weren’t abandoning him. She was weak, and what could she possibly do or say to the contrary. The bald woman, however, just laughed at the boy.

“Said one weakling about another,” she jeered, “You’re just a prop to her, someone who’ll do what she says and follow her and make her feel important. You’re just as weak, boy, following a piece of trash like her. Don’t try and act all sanctimonious with me.”

Yuuna’s eyes lowered at the statement, stunned by the words and suddenly very, very angry. Her hands clench and unclench, but she doesn’t get up yet.

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Rei's hand clenched into a fist by his side in an outward show of his frustration, and his eyes narrowed in anger at the woman.

"The only ones who make a big deal about strength are the people who lack it," he said, standing tall beneath the formidable weight of the woman's words. "Yuuna has friends-- many of them, or else she wouldn't be a trainer or a ranger like she is now.

There's no strength in being alone. From where I stand, you're the only one here who is weak."

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"So, she's a sponge, is that it?" the woman scoffed, both she and the Meinfoo taking a step towards Rei. "Being propped up by weaklings, children, and buffoons doesn't make her strong. It makes her even more of a failure.

Someone who's truly strong doesn't need to rely on anyone else. They're tough enough on their own, or they're useless. Failures and pretenders."

Another step closer, and the woman is within arm's length of the boy, her eyes locked onto his, arms folded across her chest. Yuuna's found her way to her knees now, turning to focus on the woman and Rei, a fist wiping away more blood as her eyes blaze in anger.

"Why are you even wasting your time with someone like her, anyway? You want a teacher, there are plenty of better choices. Hitmonchan made the right choice..."

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"Enough of that already!'

His words, far louder in pitch, held nothing back. Rei reached for one of the bo staffs resting on the wall nearby, and held it tightly in both hands as if it were a baseball bat. It was far shorter than any staff he had held before, but the smoothe lines of the wood were familiar enough for him to latch onto if only by the feel of it.

Although he was entirely untrained, he had watched Yuuna enough times. If something happened, he was confident that he could figure something out.

It was never wise to take him for a fool.



"There's no grace or beauty in anything that you're doing. You're like a wild beast whose been pushed from the pack, someone that no one care's about and no one admires. Even the most solitary person in the world doesn't truly wish to be alone-- they want someone they can open up to, someone to trust, but they're afraid to.

...And that's why I'd prefer having someone like Yuuna be my teacher. She's kind and open hearted, not someone to be pitied like you are!"

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The bald woman doesn't even blink when she sees the staff, and her laughter turns even more mocking.

"And what lessons has this pathetic teacher of yours shared? Certainly not how to properly hold a staff. Grace and beauty are just as pointless, and that's just something the weak tell themselves as they dandy themselves up. But if you think I'm someone to be pitied, boy, you've got another thing coming."

She waved her hand in a mocking gesture, a martial artist's taunt. She was through with games now, and wanted to make that perfectly clear. Her lips curled into a sneer as she went on. "Give me your best shot, show me this strength you're supposedly sharing with that pathetic lump over there."

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Rei didn't even need encouragement in the face of those taunts-- he moved without thought, lashing out at the maddening woman with the stick that he grasped in his hands.

"Yuuna taught me-- to never-- ever-- give up!!"

He grunted out his reply between inelegant strikes, his teeth gritted as he tried to ignore the agitated thumping of his heart.

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Each strike is batted aside by the gigantic woman, the shocks of impact against her resounding through the staff and into Rei's hands. She laughed mockingly and reached out a massive hand to grab the boy up by his shirt.

Lifting him, she pulled him in close and leered at him.

"Sometimes giving up is better. You're an embarrassment, almost as much of one as she is. If you gave up, at least you'd still have a chance to run away."

With that, she began to shake Rei, jostling him by his shirt and pushing forward, driving him into the wall with a thunk.

"One last chance. Give up or I keep pushing, worm. Or fight back, get free. Prove me wrong."

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The wooden staff fell to the ground with a clatter that echoed through the spacious training room that was silent-- but for the sounds of his ragged breathing as he tried to get his lungs to work normally again. Rei's mind, solely focused on attack in the stream of calculations he had been running, reeled off course when he was forced to switch gears and focus on defense instead. He didn't know where to place his feet or hold his hands--

Instead he froze, and stared at the woman with wide eyes.

"I...I won't."

The words were stuttered out, betraying his own fears.

"I won't."

The words were repeated, this time more firmly, and he closed his eyes.

He had to have faith. This wasn't over yet.

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"You won't?"

The woman raises a fist, her lip curled in a cruel smile. She means to punch him through the wall, teach him a lesson. The cloth of her handwrap creaks as she makes it tighter, her grip on his shirt remaining implacable.

"And if he won't," comes a different voice, softer and from behind the aggressor, "Then I sure as hell can't either!"

A fist slams into the woman's side, a hammerblow backed by pure fury. A second blow slips in, a kick to the back of the woman's knee. Her grip falters and she stumbles to one knee.

"Say what you will about me, call me weak, a coward, useless, whatever. But you don't touch one of my students. Even if he is a pigheaded fool, he's a better person than you are." Another strike comes in hard, a jab to her kidney, and then another.

"G-ouk-en!" the woman chokes out, "Gai...stop her."

But neither Pokemon answers, leaving Yuuna to go for a knockout blow. With that business attended to, she turns to the Hitmonchan. "Well. Have I proven myself yet?" The Pokemon smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, not entirely sure what he was thinking.

"Rei?" Yuuna speaks without looking at him, still facing Hitmonchan and Meinfoo.

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"Yuuna."

His voice sounded shaken as he picked himself up off of the floor on legs that were wobbly and unsteady with his fear.

Straightening his stance, he replaced his glasses that had fallen off in the tumult and did his best to stand tall.



"I'm glad to see you're back to normal."

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"Thanks to you."

She turned and grabbed him, yanking him into a hug.

"You're an idiot, you know. She could've killed you."

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Rei froze again for a second, not sure what to do about the sudden physical contact, but quickly relaxed into the hug when he understood what was happening.

"I know," He said, chuckling softly, "but I couldn't stand there and let that woman have her way either.

Are you okay, Yuuna-senpai?"

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"Fine. Just...I'm fine." Her answer is a bit too quick, but it's firm enough. "A little shaken. But it's a dream. That's...what they do."

She pulled back and looked him square in the face, jaw set. "And did you call me senpai?"

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He raised an eyebrow.

"You're not that much older than me, so I didn't think you'd appreciate being called 'sensei'..."

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"Still, it's something I haven't heard in years." She hugged him again, sighing thoughtfully as she does. "You're an odd ducklett, you know. But you're a good guy.

Just...we're going to have to work on that stance."

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Rei sighed as well, clearly still somewhat shaken from the whole experience.

"I never imagined I'd ever do something like that. It's so strange."

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"It's a good kind of strange, though. Just relax, take slow breaths. The adrenaline will fade in a minute." She looked back over her shoulder at a very sheepish Gouken, too.

"And you better not ever think about doing that again, or it'll be you on the ground next time. I'm not losing my best friend."

Which...prompts a goofy grin from the Pokemon, who crosses and joins in a group hug.

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It was a very strange, very warm group-- it wasn't a bad thing eithe, in Rei's opinion.

"Let's not have any one of us do any of that again. We're much better off doing what we already do, and not trying to be anything but who we already are."

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"It's true." And Gouken nods in agreement. "We are something of a team, after all."

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"...we are."

He smiled, heaving a deep sigh of relief. When he first started working with Pokemon, he had never dreamed that he would ever stand on a level that would allow him to team up with anyone like this. It wasn't athletics training, like he was used to...

No, it was different. It was something that was far more special.

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Yuuna paused and pulled away from the hug, looking around and shaking her head as the dreamscape began to melt away. She was waking up, and it took only a moment for the room to fade away, leaving Rei there alone.

But only for a moment, as the dreamer slipped into the dream world, appearing not far away.

"...That...is not what I would've wanted just anyone to see."

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The shift in the landscape from the dojo to the strange, foggy forest that existed in the world between dreams was hardly a surprise for Rei at that point in time. He had been flitting through this aspect of the world since he had woken up that first morning, and had passed through both worlds at various points.

He was merely glad that he wasn't in his pajamas this time, but in his usual school uniform.

"I don't imagine it would be," He replied, adapting to the shift easily. He turned around and faced Yuuna. "It was personal, as dreams tend to be."

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"At the same time...I guess there are worse people who could've seen it."

She shrugged and waved her hand, calling out Gouken, Zedd, and Uzushio. The three Pokemon, her oldest friends, immediately guessed something was wrong and hovered protectively. The Politoed especially, climbing up her shoulders.

"That's my nightmare, I guess. Being too weak to be worth their time."

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"...our fears aren't dissimilar."

Rei admitted with a small degree of hesitation-- this wasn't a part of himself that he was overly proud of.

"Except, for me, I'm always afraid of holding others back because I'm not skilled enough. It's part of why I work so hard, because I don't want to let other people down."

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"I used to be like that. Master Yashio kinda beat that out of me. Gouken helped," Yuuna answered with a weak grin. "There's no shame in being unskilled, y'know. The shame is not trying to fix that lack of skill. And you've certainly tried hard."

She wrapped her arms around him again, giving him another hug and a half smile. "Honestly, I wish I had the drive to work half as hard as you do. And I've never thought you were holding me or anyone back."