When Will awoke the next morning, the blissey had gone on to care for other patients, and both he and Ralts felt refreshed and healed, if still slightly sore. He checked both of them out of the pokémon center, and called home on the videophone to assure his mother that he was okay, and to excitedly tell her what had happened. Once he was finished, he transferred her call to the nurse who had had cared for them the previous night, so she could explain more fully, and then headed out with Ralts happily perched on his shoulder. They left the building and headed down the road towards the gym. "Okay Ralts, let's go see Gardenia." The pokémon on his back chirped happily as the two of them entered the sliding glass doors of the gym, feeling the cool air in his face as they took in the appearance of the gym as he entered.

The entrance to the gym was a glass and steel facade flanked by tall trees and flowering shrubs. Potted plants dotted the lobby which was about as large as a small food court, and indeed there were a few concession stands, next to the stairways that led up to the observation balconies. The stairways leading to the audience seating above were large, wide things; one sat on each side of the building, leading up to a single long landing where there were rows of doors that led into the balcony itself. Just between the two stairways was a moderately small hallway, about 8 feet across, which led to the competitors' lockers. To the left of the entrance to the gym was the Gym's infirmary: all gyms had one at the ready, just in case the contestants seriously injured each other. Just inside the doors on the right side of the gym, opposite to the medical center, was a reception desk that was staffed by one of Gardenia's acolytes, who was apparently expecting him

"Are you Will?" She called to him from across the hall. She then looked from him to Ralts and nodded her head more to herself than him.

"Yeah, Gardenia told me to come here today to pick up my trainer's certification, and," he added, "for a bit of training with me and Ralts here."

"Okay Will, we've been waiting for you" she smiled, recognizing his name and his Ralts from what Gardenia had told her earlier in the morning. "She wanted me to have you fill out this form so that we can print out your Trainer Card. Now if you'll just sign... here." She finished as Will filled in the appropriate sections on the official papers. Once he signed his John Hancock, she fed the sheet into a slot in the desk, and he heard a humming noise as the computer system scanned and processed the application. She led him into a room just behind the desk where there was a camera suspended in the middle of the room. "Now I jut need you to stand in front of the camera and I'll be able to print out your trainer card right here." Will did as he was told, and he and Ralts grinned as their picture was taken.

Less than thirty seconds later, a printer in the corner of the room ejected his finished trainer card, with his and Ralts' picture on the front. "Okay, here you are," said the girl as she handed over the card. She opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a small wallet-sized folding case. "This is your trainer case," she said as she handed it to him. "It's to hold any badges you obtain, as well as a safe place to store your registration card." She showed him how his card fit in the clear slot on the front, and how it opened with a slot pre-set for each Sinnoh League badge, as well as for the other league badges from Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn too. He took the case and looked it over as the woman got up and walked from the room.

"Thanks a lot!" Will said to her as he looked up from his new possession.

"No problem, you earned it." The voice wasn't the receptionist, but instead it was Gardenia herself standing there; the other woman had returned to her position at the desk.

"Gardenia," Will was slightly startled, "thanks!" He regained his composure and looked towards the door by the stairs anxiously "Oh hey, could we begin our training now?" Ralts echoed his anticipation, chirruping excitedly.

"Of course we can," Gardenia chuckled at their eagerness, despite their age and size. "Just follow me"

He did as he was told and she took him through the central hallway between the stairs reserved for trainers who would face off in the gym's arena. "What are we going to do first?" Will asked. He was anxious to know what sort of knowledge an experienced Leader like Gardenia might have to teach him and his companion.

"Well, I looked at your records, and I see that you've already graduated from the Academy over in Jubilife, so I think we'll get the most out of today by doing a little sparring." She looked over her shoulder at him and saw the look of abject horror on his face, and chuckled lightly, "Oh, no, I won't be using my usual pokémon; they'd be much too powerful for this." She saw the look to relief that came over Will's face and smiled, then looked to Ralts, who was still perched atop his shoulder, then continued. "I've actually got a Roselia that I'm trying to train right now, so she'll be your opponent for now, Ralts. I know that Ralts is still going to be new to fighting with a trainer giving commands, so we'll start out by just adjusting to that." The little pokémon squeaked in anticipation at the thought of actually being taught to fight properly, and also in fear: Gardenia was right, she had never fought with anyone giving her commands before. In fact, she rarely fought at all. But she didn't want to disappoint her new master, so she would give it her all, no matter what the case was!

They walked through the door into the training room; it was pristine white and as well equipped as any facility used by professional human athletes. When they had gotten situated in the small cleared-out arena in the middle of the dumbbells, machines, and punching bags, Gardenia pulled two pokéballs from her pocket. She pointed them both at the middle of the floor, and two pokémon materialized out of the swirling red energy. The first was a small nymph-like creature about Ralts' height with legs that looked like thick yet slender leaves, and two different colored roses for hands. The other was a waist-high humanoid being with wings tucked flat to its sides. It had a bird-like head, and blankly staring eyes that seemed to be focused on something in the far distance. Roselia danced over to its trainer's side, and the xatu took its position on the sideline.

"I know things probably won't get too heated here, but you should remember from the Academy that xatu are able to see into the future, very clearly up to a minute or so. Xatu here will preside over out match like he would over a real official battle, and if he senses that any of us are in danger of serious injury from the battle, he will interrupt us to stop it from happening." Gardenia explained to Will just in case he had forgotten. "Like I said, I doubt he'll need to do anything, but in my experience it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Will said. He looked down to Ralts and was acutely aware of how intimidated she was by the whole of the proceedings: she was practically quaking with fear. "Hey, don't worry; it's gonna be alright." He reassured her, patting her on the head. "I know you'll do great!"

"Ralts!" She was delighted that her trainer had such confidence in her, but the truth was, she hardly thought she'd be able to do anything at all. She moved to what seemed to be her position on the mat in front of Will, and acknowledged her readiness.

"Okay Will, let's take things slow to start with." Gardenia motioned to Xatu, who nodded back, signaling the official start of their training. "First, have Ralts come at us, and we'll try to parry it." She then looked at Roselia, who got into a defensive stance, with its roses crossed across the front of its body and its legs staggered to withstand a blow from the front.

"Alright Ralts, you heard her, let's go!" Will cheered his little pokémon on. "Use a Confusion attack!" Ralts cocked her head to one side, and her body began to glow a bright blue color. She pointed both of her shrouded arms at the Roselia across the floor and suddenly it too glowed with the ethereal blue light. It looked like it was struggling against some unseen force; it was trembling and its teeth were clenched in an effort to maintain its position. Gardenia knew that with Roselia's weakness to Psychic attacks that it had no chance of countering this assault. Suddenly the pokémon was overcome by the Psychic force and was drawn into the air about five feet and then hurled straight back down into a heap on the ground. The Grass-Poison pokémon looked to be pretty worn by the blast, but it still had a good deal of fight left in it, and now it was Gardenia's turn to attack.

"Go Roselia, use Poison Sting!" The Leader issued her orders and her pokémon immediately complied; the small plant dryad hurled its flower-arms forward and they released thorny darts that hurtled through the air at Ralts. She had rarely battled at all, and was at a loss for how to react in this situation. The little infantile pokémon was too terrified to even respond to Will's commands to Teleport away, so she sat there dumbfounded as the poisoned needles stuck into her body, giving her a sizeable dose of venom in the process.

Will knew that Ralts wouldn't be able to last out the battle with that toxin in her blood, so he gave her one last command that he hoped would seal the battle for them. "Now Ralts, use Confusion again!" She didn't respond, she just stood there, slightly rocking back and forth; the poison in he veins was making her dizzy. "I know you can do this," he urged her. "Just finish this battle and we can get you healed." He almost winced at how uncaring his words sounded, and realized that she just wasn't ready for this pressure yet. He looked over to Gardenia, who recognized his sentiment and she motioned for Roselia to stand down. Will then stepped forward to pick her up, but she suddenly glowed with the same blue aura as earlier. Before anyone could react, Roselia, who had been walking back to her trainer's side, was lifted into the air again, and slammed across the room, smashing through various machinery and workout equipment on the way. "Ralts, no! It's okay, you can stop, the battle's over." But Ralts didn't have any intention of losing this battle; she had to show her master that she was worthy of being his pokémon. She had to. All the while, poor Roselia was still hurtling through the air in the workout room, crashing through the gear and slamming into the walls under the influence of Ralts' psychic powers. She cried out in terror as she flew around; this sort of power could easily injure her quite seriously, and she knew it. But then with a blinding flash, Roselia sailed to the ground, no longer being dragged about by the mental energies of her adversary. In the middle of the room, Xatu stood with his wings open wide; his eyes were glowing a vibrant blue color. He was looking in the direction of Ralts and Will, the former of whom was now fast asleep on the mat under the power of Xatu's Hypnosis. Will stood there astounded at what had just happened; Ralts had gone berserk and attacked Roselia simply because he had called off the match! He and Gardenia picked up their battered pokémon and, without a word, headed out to the pokémon center in the lobby with their Xatu referee in tow.

When they got there, they revived and healed their pokémon, but were both wary of Ralts as she awoke. Gardenia quickly recalled Roselia to her pokéball, just in case Ralts had another outburst like before, while Xatu stood at the ready: waiting to see how things would play out. "Well Ralts, I'll give you this much: you certainly surprised me with how powerful you are." Gardenia gave a sort of crooked smile to the small green and white pokémon as she continued, "But you need to understand that once a match is over, it's over." The little Ralts was confused, and looked to Will for clarity.

"When trainer have a battle," he began, "It's just for sport. We don't fight to the death like most wild pokémon would battle you. When we call off a battle, it's for the good of all involved, so you need to stop when we say so." The diminutive creature nodded, conveying her comprehension. "You did very well, but when your opponent stands down, you need to stop; it's not right to attack your foe like that." She felt guilty at that; that exact sort of tactic was how she had been put in her predicament the other day...

she projected.

"Wha-?" Will nearly jumped out of his skin at hearing that light, childish voice in his mind, but quickly realized what it was, and regained his composure.

Gardenia looked at him questioningly. "What is it?" She looked down at the pokémon who was down on the gurney between them, and then back to him. Will was about to respond when Ralts 'spoke' again, grabbing his attention away from the gym leader's question.

"I was disappointed that I wasn't able to stop that attack from hitting you; not because you weren't good enough" Will reasoned with her. "It was because I felt that I should have protected you from the hits you took. You didn't have to prove anything, I'd accept you however you are, weak or strong."

Ralts' head perked up as she realized how mistaken she had been, but then lowered her eyes again when it dawned on her that she had made such a grievous error in judgment.Chapter End Notes:Okay, given that I've taken my looooong sweet time to post this, I suppose I ought to elaborate on a few points, huh? Firstly, when I say 'DA', I mean my Deviant Art account, which is simply (nonasuomi.deviantart.com). Another thing I want to point out is that I reference a few other fanfics in mine, in that there are some elements that I use that I first saw in other stories, most noticeably (next chapter, at least) is my use of the term "Kaishakunin." I explain it a greater length in a later section, but I thought I'd mention it here. And now for my original notes on the chapter.

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 5/27/08:
Chapter two is done! I really had this done already, so don't expect this sort of quick updating, especially for the next week (final exams- Gah!!!) and so anyways, here it is. Hope you like it, and please let me know how it was.

Pokemon, and all related characters, etc. (c) GameFreak, Nintendo, The Pokemon Company

Will, Sanakou, Tenrou, and all other characters, as well as all situations (as of now) (c) me (NonaSuomi)

EDIT June 12 '08: Just fixed the italics. I didn't realize that DA uses HTML to format text, and so I was copy-pasting directly from MSWord. Sorry if anyone had trouble understanding what exactly Ralts was saying... It's fixed now!

EDIT 12/16/08: I realized about thirty seconds after posting this chapter that AGNPH doesn't allow natively italic or bold text, so there may be issues with seeing what should be italic or bold and whatnot. I'll have this fixed shortly, so that you don't get confused as to what is supposed to be said and what is simply narrative.