Will awoke to find a pile of goods laid out on the floor of his room. His mother had apparently been anticipating that he might be leaving on his journey sometime soon and she had been gathering a stockpile of goods for him in his closet: a durable backpack to carry his gear (not the flimsy school pack he had), quite a varied array of medicines and potions, and even a few TM's she had found at the local market on sale, not to mention the tent and sleeping bag and other standard fare for camping in the wilderness. He and Ralts looked at the pile and he went through the process of loading his things into his pack. He figured today would be as good a day as any to check how useful this gear really was.

After ensuring that everything was good and secure, Will headed downstairs with Ralts close behind, trying to keep up with her excited master. As they reached the first floor, Will's mother was standing there apparently waiting for them to head out. "I see you didn't waste any time getting your pack ready" She said, looking at the larger, sturdier backpack that Will had carefully loaded with his supplies. "Well I suppose this time had to come someday, but..." She choked back tears, "I still can't believe you're going already!" At this point, she could no longer contain herself and broke down crying.

"It's okay Mom." Will tried to console her. "We're just going for a day trip out to Floaroma Meadow to meet up with everyone."

When he said this, she stopped and looked up at him with red eyes. "Oh," she said rather sheepishly, "I... Uhh... That's great, honey." She was still doubtful and pointedly looked at his equipment. "But why bring all that just for one day?"

"Well I just want to see how it works out, and this is the perfect opportunity." Will explained to his mother. "That way, we can see what I need to change with the load I'm carrying and all that sort of stuff." His mother's fears seemed to be assuaged by this, and so Will hoisted the pack a little higher and began heading for the door.

"Wait." His mother stopped him at the doorway, and he turned to her. "I got you this too." She handed him a hand-wrapped package about the size of a football. Will opened it and inside was a brand-new pokénav from Devon Co! "I thought you could use this, since the pokétch doesn't have a phone or a proper map, so this way you can stay in touch."

"Thanks Mom! I'll make sure to call as often as I can." Will turned it on and saw that his mother had already set it up; it was completely ready to go. It was the newest model too, so it also was also able to double as a pokédex, GPS, medical scanner, and it was even solar powered too! "Well," Will said after tucking his new phone in his pocket, "We'd better get a move on before the others wonder where we are. Bye Mom!"

And with that he and Ralts began the ride out to Floaroma, Will riding his bike and Ralts perched on his neck, enjoying every minute of her ride. They quickly made their way out of Eterna City, and began heading in the direction of the forest.Chapter End Notes:This is easily the longest chapter I have done so far, and I still debate with myself sometimes about whether or not to split it into two smaller segments. For now though, this is the way it is...

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON JUNE 20, 2008:
Hey Chapter 4! Finally! Like I promised, this is at least twice as long as any of the others yet, and I actually had to cut myself short. Ah, yes, MC warning; because I don't know if that was too graphic for no warning, even though I don't detail it... How do Absol manage to not cause fatalities in normal battles wha with them having scythes for tails and headgear? I mean "Absol used Tail Whip"... I think that would do a little more than just lower defense, am I right? Anyways, the whole Poochyena twist was actually unplanned right up until the sentence it happened. Heh, so much for planning and storyboarding! Well, I'm happy with this, and I hope to make the majority of the other chapters about this long; the first ones were pretty short 'cause I was kinda forcing the intro crap out, but now I'm gonna really open up!

Oh, and sorry Sanakou, I just couldn't add it in without making the chapter about twice as long and about another five days. I swear to you that it is revealed in the very next paragraph I'm writing which will be the second of the next chapter, due in about five days! I promise! And to head off any questions, from anyone else, Sanakou is the only one so far without a real kaishakunin, or partne pokemon. Yet. That comes quite a ways from now, but she will get one. And I suppose to anyone who hasn't read Sinners that wants to know where the term kaishakunin comes from, it comes from the Japanese tradition of Seppuku ritual suicide. The Kaishakunin was the person (generally a trusted and close friend) who would behead the person performing seppuku at the moment of agony. I took this term from Slash Firestorm's story, Sinners, and as he puts it, it seems fitting, since it would take a great deal of trust to give a person that responsibility, just as it would to have a pokémon at your side 24/7 when he/she/it could easily kill you with its power. Wow, I suppose this explanation should have come after Ch 3 when I actually USED the term, but better late than never, right?

Wow, this is a long author's comment, so I'll just end it with the obligatory credits and copyrights...

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

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

Much credit to Slash Firestorm for his great work that I borrow from.