The alarm clock was all that was needed to wake Blake from his sleep. He groggily reached over to the table beside his bed and slapped at it, wanting the racket to stop. When his hand felt nothing but the wood he slowly opened his eyes, one at a time. No clock to be seen.
He sat up. Today was shaping up to be a terrible day. And it was still early. Closing his eyes again, he fell back to the bed.
"I hid your clock, big brother. Good luck finding it," came the muffled voice from the other side of the closed door.
Blake inwardly rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time she had done this. In fact, it was practically a daily routine. He sat up again and rolled to the side of his bed, getting up and heading towards his dresser. He opened up a drawer and pulled his clock out.
"You could at least find a new hiding spot!"
"I'm not hateful!"
"Well, I am!" Blake pulled a shirt out of the dresser and pulled it on, grabbing some pants he had left out the night before. As he tore out of the room, he noticed his sister turning the corner and making for the stairs. He ran after her, only stopping to grab his school bag before continuing through the open door.
"Later mom!" He yelled back over his shoulder. He heard his mom shout back, something about a note, but in his haste to catch his sister and make it to class, the words fell on deaf ears.
School was uneventful and boring, like every day.
"Faraday! Are you even paying attention?" the teacher snapped. Blake closed his eyes after a second more, taking in the view of the sky before turning to face his teacher.
"Sorry sir, just a little distracted."
"You can stare at the sky in detention, then. After class, you and me. Sounds good?" Blake inwardly cursed.
"I'll see you there, sir." This satisfied the teacher, who turned back to the board and scribbled more notes that wouldn't be copied. Instead of listening, Blake turned to his friend James.
"Where's Aaron? It's not like him to miss school."
"Didn't you hear? He left. Got his Pokémon from the professor and skipped town. Going out on his own adventure."
Blake thought about this for a minute. They were seventeen years old. They could have gotten a Pokémon at any time in the last few years. He had thought of it himself, although he was content with life at the moment. He opened his notebook and hastily scribbled a few notes on today's lesson.
Detention was spent napping. As Blake opened the doors leading out of the school, he squinted into the setting sun. Opening his bag, he pulled a hat out and put it on. Turning down the street, he noticed the elderly Pokémon professor struggling to carry some boxes a few buildings down.
"Professor, why don't you let me help you?" he said, jogging up beside him. The professor dropped the boxes into Blake's arms without a second thought, nearly causing him to collapse under the combined weight.
"I see your mother delivered my note. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show." Blake opened his mouth to respond, but vaguely remembered his mom mentioning something about a note as he was sprinting out the door this morning.
"Uh, sure." he replied. The professor nodded.
"Good. We're on a stakeout tonight. Something's been disturbing my lab, and you and I are going to catch it, whatever it is." the professor said. He opened one of the boxes that Blake had carried into the lab and took out two flashlights, handing one to Blake.
"These are special flashlights. They emit some sort of light that allows you to see ghosts. I don't really know, I'm not a doctor."
"Don't you have to be a doctor to become a Pokémon professor?" Unfortunately, the professor didn't respond. It was probably for the best. He was noted to be rather eccentric at times. Blake wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into.
"You know what, never mind. Why me though? I'm not even a trainer. You could have gotten someone a little more useful than me."
"Indeed I could have. Consider this a test of sorts." Hardly a satisfying response, yet Blake didn't have much time before night fell. As he finished unpacking the boxes for the professor, he looked outside and noticed the black sky. He hadn't realized how long he had been in detention, and regretted wasting his day. He had homework to do, so he set his school bag down and proceeded to grab a textbook out and sit at a table, only working for a moment before being smacked in the back of the head by none other than the professor.
"What are you doing, Faraday? We have an intruder to catch!" the professor said, leaning forward, "Don't get scared, but I think it's a ghost."
"Professor, there's no such thing. Unless you mean a ghost Pokémon. But you don't need a special flashlight to see those.."
"Quiet, boy, I'm the professor! Now get up, and help me search." The professor flicked the lights off before turning on his flashlight and prompting Blake to do the same.
"Sir, I don't see anything. Are you sure there's any-" Blake was cut off by a loud rattling sound, seemingly coming from one of the discarded boxes from earlier. "Right, I think I found it."
Blake stood and walked over towards the box, as quietly as he could manage. Upon reaching it, he knelt and prepared himself for what he was about to do. Inwardly, he counted, and as soon as he reached three, he grabbed the box and flipped it, throwing his weight on top and trapping whatever was in the box. A dull thudding noise sounded against the box. Whatever was under there wasn't happy. It couldn't have been very large to have fit in the box, but it was still managing to push the box around, even with Blake's full weight on top.
"What now?" he asked the professor.
"Lift off." the professor replied.
"Lift o- whoa! " The box began to rise, and Blake along with it. After pulling him off of the ground a couple of feet, it stopped. The trapped creature then floated out of the box, leaving nothing holding the box up.
"Oh damn." was all Blake had time to say before crashing to the floor. Seeing a flash of red light, he winced and picked himself up.
"Don't worry about me, professor. I'm fine. Glad I could help." he put in sarcastically. The professor nodded.
"Invaluable, believe me. Well, that's all then. I suppose it was a Pokémon after all. Say, I don't suppose you'd like to keep it?" He didn't wait for a response and threw the Pokéball to Blake, who caught it after fumbling it for a second.
"I didn't even get to see what it was." The professor didn't listen to him, and instead pushed him out of the door hastily, throwing his school bag out behind him.
"My god.. Such a crazy old man." Blake stood up and dusted himself off. He looked at the Pokéball he was holding for a moment.
"Am I a trainer now? I didn't really earn this. I don't even know what type of Pokémon it is." There would be time for that later though, and he attached the ball to his belt and began his walk home. Today had been rather stressful, and he would be glad to get some sleep.
