Okay, just so everybody knows, I do not own Pokemon or have any sort of affiliation with it. All of the OCs in the story belong to me; characters and Pokemon from the game such as, for example, Professor Birch and Pikachu, belong to Nintendo and Gamefreak. Otherwise... enjoy!

Chapter Four: Trial By Dawn

The next morning introduced itself by shining a single ray of sunlight through Cole's bedroom window and into his face. For a moment the light did not bother him, but when the ray suddenly grew larger Cole awoke with a very irritated grunt. He slowly forced his sleep-filled eyes open enough to see that Ralts was now hopping her way down from the window and making her way over to his bedside. Apparently Ralts had been standing in the way of the light, and when she moved the morning light hit her trainer at full intensity into her trainer's face. Even so, the young man could not stop himself from smiling at the sight. Ralts doesn't like the cramped space in the Pokeball; she likes being able to look out at the world around her… she also likes waking me up at six-fifty-two in the friggin' morning.

Since the bed was too high for Ralts to hop over, she closed her violet eyes and seemed to concentrate. In a few seconds she began to lift off of the wooden floor; then, once she was high enough over the bed, the invisible psychic energy carried her above the bed and suddenly released her, letting Ralts drop down beside Cole, who was now waist-out from under the bedcovers. He ran his right hand through his shaggy bed-hair, then motioned for Ralts to sit in his lap. Cautiously but eventually, the little Pokemon climbed over the mountain of blankets and made a comfortable seat on Cole's lap.

"Well Ralts," Cole told her as he yawned and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes, "This is the big day. You and I get to start our Pokemon journey, traveling from city to city, seeing new sights, meeting new people and new Pokemon everywhere we go. What do you think of that?"

Ralts thought for a moment before letting out a happy-sounding "Ralts!"

Cole laughed; at least she seemed to be agreeing with him. It was funny how Pokemon could be so attuned to people's minds and hearts, as if they possessed a human side to their own animal instincts. He did not think half the questions he had about Pokemon could be answered even by the great Pokemon professors, like Professor Birch or even Professor Oak. "Well, that's good. But we have to get ready really soon. We won't be able to leave without participating in that battle with Grandpa. Can we do our best to work as a team?"

He extended his right hand to Ralts and, after she tilted her head and looked as if she were trying to read his mind or his heart, extended out her own hand, which Cole gently took in his and shook. He could feel the tiny little digits in her hand; the fingers could not normally been seen and the hand itself almost felt like a dog's paw. Ralts raised her head and from beneath her green hair, her eyes met and kept Cole's gaze.

Then she smiled at him. "Ralts!"

Cole smiled and replied, "Great. Now, time to get ready." He got out of bed, went over to his chest of drawers and began shuffling through his clothes, searching for the most appropriate set of clothes for this special day. After a few minutes the clothes were picked out and, with the clothes in hand, Cole proceeded to the bathroom, where he took a refreshing half-hour shower. Once finished with that, he cleaned himself up and went back to his room to change.

Soon after, there was a knock at the door. "Cole!" came his mother's voice.

"What is it?" he asked as he started pulling on some black jeans.

"Your grandfather is waiting for you outside. He said for you to come out whenever you're ready."

"Will do."

"Um, Cole?" Dahlia sounded closer to the door now.

"Yes, Mom?"

"Um… well, you see, what I wanted to say is… I hope your Pokemon can stand against your grandfather's Pokemon. Just give it your best shot, okay?"

Cole smiled; he understood what his mom was saying. "I will, Mom. Let Grandpa know I'll be down soon."

Dahlia's footsteps could be heard walking down the stairs, and Cole resumed dressing. After a minute or so, he was completely dressed in a dark blue, zipped-up shirt, his blue jean jacket, black jean pants, boots, and gloves. Taking a look at himself in his bedroom mirror, Cole grinned and told himself, "Damn, you look pretty good, my friend." He gave himself a wink and a thumbs-up sign, then scooped up Ralts in one hand and grabbed his pack of goods with the other. "Time for the action to start…" he said aloud as he exited his room without looking back.

Amazingly, the entire family was awake and waiting when Cole and Ralts finally came out of the house. Everybody had gathered on the front lawn, with Dahlia, Elliot, Brooke, and Grandma sitting in folding chairs near the driveway, and Grandpa patiently standing in the wet morning grass. The sun shined its great light over them all, hidden only slightly by the neighboring mountains and forests in the distance. Along with a crisp morning breeze and his family members' looks of anticipation, Cole could not picture a more perfect beginning to his first true day as a Pokemon trainer.

"Well, don't just stand around enjoying the scenery, get your butt over here!" Grandpa called to him with a warm laugh. Cole set Ralts in the grass and let her hop after him as he made his way to the "playing field". Elliot gave Cole a nod when he passed by, and even Brooke gave him a thumbs-up sign for good measure. Her Umbreon was still out of its Pokeball as well and sat at her feet, seeming as if it was just as interested as everyone else to see the fight. Dahlia did not make a move or say anything to Cole, but instead gave him a little smile and kept quiet.

"Okay, Cole, here is what we are going to do," Grandpa began to say as he rolled up his sleeves. "Since you only have Ralts and the purpose of this exercise is mainly to get you used to the overall mechanics of battling, I am going to start out easy on you. In the unlikely event that you defeat my Pokemon before I begin to get serious, I'll bring out another Pokemon and see how you fare against that one. Now, I don't want you to focus on defeating me. Try to become used to Ralts' techniques and work together on your teamwork. Once you feel comfortable with her…" The old man had his sleeves rolled up just above the elbows, but the expression of anticipation was clear on his face; in fact, it made him look several decades younger. "That's when the real battle will begin. Now, are you ready?"

"Good luck, Cole!" Grandma Richards cheered from the sidelines. "And don't be too hard on him, Greg!"

"Hey, little bro," said Brooke, who surprised Cole by speaking. She ran a hand through her ebony hair and smiled at him. "Just take it easy. Battling doesn't come naturally; it takes lots of practice to get really good. Keep your cool and you'll get through it."

Cole smiled back at his sister and gave her his thanks. Then, turning back to his Grandpa, said, "Okay, I'm ready."

Grandpa Richards grinned and nodded. "Then let's get it started."

Ralts hopped forward and stood about fight feet in front of Cole. From across the lawn, Grandpa moved a hand to his belt and plucked a Pokeball from it. He tossed the ball at the ground and within seconds the ball opened and released its inhabitant: the Shroomish that Cole had seen in Grandpa's lap the previous night. The grass Pokemon was just as small as Ralts, and from what Cole could tell, looked as if it had lived for quite a long while.

"This will be your first obstacle, Cole," Grandpa told him, tossing Shroomish's Pokeball up and down in his hands. "First, you should know a few of Ralts' techniques. For example, you already know that she can use Teleport, but some of her other attacks include Confusion and Double Team. I'm going to come at you with Shroomish and I'm not going to go easy on you, so you had better learn to act quickly. Shroomish, Tackle Ralts, now!"

The attack was so sudden that Cole did not realize what was happening until after the attack was complete. Shroomish charged at Ralts with surprising speed, then lowered its head and "tackled" Ralts in the chest, knocking the psychic Pokemon onto the ground.

"Ralts!" Cole cried, shocked that she had been hit so suddenly. He was about to check on her before he heard Grandpa shout, "Don't rush into the battlefield yourself, and pay attention! Shroomish, Tackle her again!"

As Shroomish began rearing for another attack, Cole gritted his teeth and, forcing his mind to think of an attack, said the first thing that came to mind: "Ralts, Teleport!" At that moment, Ralts hopped back onto her feet and disappeared just a second before Shroomish made contact with her again. She reappeared on Grandpa's side of the lawn, and Cole grinned; that was fast thinking, he thought to himself.

"Good, Cole! Now Shroomish, Stun Spore!"

The plant Pokemon shuddered as it began releasing its paralyzing spores into the air; Cole recognized the attack and knew that he could not let Ralts be hit by those spores. "Ralts, use Confusion!" he commanded her. At that moment, a purple aura began to envelop Ralts, and though unseen by everyone, her eyes were completely lit a dark violet. The psychic energy she released shot at Shroomish from clear across the lawn, and the grass Pokemon was flung backwards; the majority of the stun spore were caught in the attack as well, and they dissolved before they hit the grass.

Grandpa smiled from his standing point. "That's very good. I can see you are catching on faster than I expected. Then let's see what else we can pull out of our hat, shall we, Shroomish? Use Absorb, now!"

The mushroom look-alike, though clearly dazed and struggling to get over the Confusion attack, began to glow a light green and released an equally green beam at Ralts, which struck her and then disappeared. Though Cole was confused at first, he watched as Shroomish stood up, looking a tad bit stronger than it had been a few seconds ago. That attack must have healed it, thought Cole. Okay, now I have two attacks that I have to watch out for…

"Shroomish, Tackle Ralts again!"

This time, however, Cole was ready for the attack. He called out, "Use Double Team!" Immediately Ralts' body became a blur as she seemingly created multiple copies of herself; not even Cole could tell which was the real Ralts. Shroomish made contact with one of them, but charged right through it and hit its head on the ground. Now I have it! "Ralts, Confusion again!" The same purple energy from before flew out toward Shroomish, who was flung away again, this time towards Grandpa. The little Pokemon tried to stand back up, but with a grunt, it fell down and collapsed in the wet grass.

"YES! We did it, Ralts!" Cole exclaimed happily, leaping into the air and practically clicking his heels as he did so. Ralts levitated through the air and flew into his arms, both of them calling out into the air in celebration of their very first victory. Behind them, Brooke, Grandma and Elliot were clapping, both very happy to see that Cole had caught onto battling so easily. Dahlia sat still, quiet as a mouse, but a smile had managed to creep onto her face.

Grandpa simply smirked and kneeled down beside his weakened Pokemon. "You did a great job, old friend. It seems the young ones are stronger than we expected," he told the mushroom Pokemon as it stared at him. "Shroomish…" it said quietly as Grandpa returned it to its Pokeball. Then the old man stood up and gazed across the lawn at Cole and Ralts. "Congratulations, Cole, but that was just the warm-up. After all, Shroomish is quite old and not as strong as he used to be. This time, however, I want to come at you with my real Pokemon. What do you say?"

Cole looked at Grandpa, then at Ralts, who looked at him through her large helmet and smiled. "Ralts!" she told him, and he suspected he knew the answer. "Yeah, Grandpa, we'll do it," he said with a smirk. "We feel pretty good right now, so let's see how we measure up to your other Pokemon."

Beside Brooke, Grandma sighed deeply, and her granddaughter looked at her in surprise. "What's wrong, Grandmama? Aren't you happy Cole managed to beat Grandpa's Shroomish?"

Grandma nodded but continued to look ahead. "Greg hasn't battled in so long, I knew that he would enjoy this match with Cole. But it's been years since he last used his main Pokemon."

"Well, which Pokemon is his main?" Brooke asked curiously. "Will it give Cole more trouble than his Shroomish?"

"I have a feeling that Dad is feeling an adrenaline rush like he hasn't felt in years," Elliot said, intently watching his own father and son getting ready for the next battle. "Do you remember how he used to act, Mom, whenever he would battle someone in his younger days? I mean, you could feel the excitement and anxiousness practically radiating off of him. You could simply never find a person more ready to battle than Greg Richards."

Grandma only nodded in response to her son's words and laid back in her seat. "If he doesn't let his excitement take over, then Cole might stand a chance. Ralts has the type advantage, but even so, the

biggest difference between Cole and Greg is simply experience. The boy may have a chance, but that chance is very slim at best."

Brooke was growing irritated. "Which one is he going to use, then?! Tell me!"

Elliot smirked and patted his daughter's arm. "Just settle down and watch the show, honey. You'll see in just a minute."

Back on the lawn, Grandpa was most definitely showing signs of uncontainable excitement. In fact, Cole had not seen the old man this excited in his whole lifetime. Just gotta keep focus… Trust in Ralts and everything will be okay. I can do this.

"Okay, Cole," Grandpa said as he grabbed the other Pokeball on his belt. "I will admit, I did not expect you to overcome my Shroomish so easily. But I think the time has come to show you that it takes a little bit more than luck and guts to truly win a Pokemon battle. Let me introduce you to my oldest friend…" He chucked the Pokeball into the air and released the Pokemon within. This one stood much taller than the Shroomish, and by the time it had fully materialized, Cole was starting to think that it might have been wiser to decline the fight.

The Pokemon that now stood before them was almost four feet in height, only vaguely resembling its predecessor, Shroomish. It wore a green mushroom "cap" that, in combination with the Pokemon's tan head and neck and green body, made it look like a mushroom with legs. Its lower half was dark green, while its stumped arms and feet resembled red leaves. Connected to its lower back was a green tail with several green seeds. As it stared at Cole with its big black eyes, the trainer wondered if he and Ralts really stood a chance against it.

"This is Breloom," Grandpa announced, his voice filled with obvious pride. "I have used him ever since a was a young trainer not much older than yourself, Cole. He may be old, but he still packs quite the punch. Don't you, old fellow?" Breloom replied by shouting its name and suddenly bursting into a stream of lighting-fast punches, its tiny arms stretching to incredible lengths and retracting just as fast. Grandpa continued to grin as he watched his Pokemon's display of power. "Breloom is both a Grass- and Fighting-type of Pokemon. He might look silly, but he is superior to Shroomish in both strength and agility. Still feel like going another round with us, Cole?"

This time, it was Ralts who made the decision. She hopped out of Cole's arms and then looked back up at him, once again showing her eyes to him. "Ralts!" she told him, even though he did not quite understand her. He lowered himself to one knee and stared at his Pokemon. "Are you… are you still wanting to go against them?"

Ralts nodded and gave one more "Ralts!"

Cole grinned widely and rose to his feet. Looking his grandfather straight in the eyes, he said, "Yeah, Grandpa. We want to see how far we can go."

The old man laughed; it sounded genuinely happy. "Very well, then. Brace yourselves! Breloom, go!"