Chapter Two
A Trial of Courage
Dear Grandpa,
I've arrived at the Ranger School, don't worry I'm not dead! Almia is a lot different than Sinnoh by a long shot. I've asked my friend Rhythmi (who wants to be an Operator) and apparently they don't have Trainers, Co-ordinators and no Pokeballs!
There's a guy in my class who sits next to me named Keith. Oh man, a big head on that one for sure!
But, I'm still having fun. Even though it is only my first day.
Are you proud of me Grandpa?
Write soon!
Love, Kate
I stretched my arms over my head with a yawn and tucked the letter into the white envelope. No one else was in the dorm, everyone was either in the common room or outside doing things.
Rhythmi said I give this to Janice I recalled, glancing at the letter in my hand.
I got up and left the dorm, finding Janice outside watering the garden.
"Janice, can you post this for me?" I asked and she nodded, grabbing the letter from my hand with a smile.
"Sure thing sweetie" she replied as I left and had a shower in the girl's bathroom.
I was sitting on my bed, drying my hair when Rhythmi came in, her eyes searching for something and then found me.
"Kate, I was looking for you" she smiled and I frowned, getting up and placing the towel around my neck. I wore green pyjama pants with Aipoms all over it with a matching singlet with a sleeping Aipom saying 'Wake me when there's pancakes'
"What's up?" I asked her and she grinned.
"Let's sneak out later" she suggested and I frowned. "After lights out of course!"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure I guess"
"Are you kidding me?" I groaned, wishing I was back in bed. It was past eleven o'clock, where Rhythmi dragged me out of bed to meet up in the common room with Keith and two other kids.
"Thanks for waiting" Rhythmi said, pulling my along with her in case I made another break for my bed.
Keith growled in impatience. "Yeah, kept us waiting Rhythmi" he said sarcastically and she glared at him.
"Not my fault Kate was glued to her bed!" she snapped at him and then turned to the rest. "Okay, let's get started with our test of courage to welcome Kate"
I frowned in confusion as Keith saw it.
"We just want you to prove you're brave" he explained and I gave him a look.
"This is why you dragged me out of bed?" I said slowly, emphasising on how stupid I thought it was. "Guys, I'm tired and cranky thanks to Rhythmi's nice wake-up call"
"Don't sweat it. I had to do it before, too. It's no big deal" Keith reassured me and then looked me over. "But, you know, you do have that easily spooked look to you. No offence"
I had the look that was saying 'I'm going to strangle you if you don't let me sleep'.
Rhythmi ignored the exchange. "The rules are simple. The four of us have hidden our Stylers in four different places in the School. They are: Ms April's class, Mr Kincaid's class, the Staff Room, and the Library"
"Gather all four Stylers, then put them in front of the door to the basement room. It's not hard or anything, but it's also not safe to go alone. That's why we've always had this one rule: the student seated next to the initiate has to go, too"
Keith realised it was him and groaned. "Gweh…you mean me…"
I raised an eyebrow as a smirk played on my lips. "Scared?"
"Never!" he shouted and Rhythmi slapped a hand over his mouth, shushing him and he glared.
"Okay, you two. Off you go" she shooed us, releasing Keith as he muttered something under his breath. "What was that?"
"Nothing! Geez woman" he muttered, following me down the stairs.
I grabbed the flashlight off of him and shone it in front of me, looking around at the empty hall.
There was a soft cry and Keith jumped back, shoving me in front of him in fear.
"Wah! Did you hear something just now?" he asked me and I shone the light further down the hall.
I snickered. "Wow, the mysterious Bidoof ghost. Congrats on finding him"
Keith glared and shoved me in front. "It just startled me, that's all"
I mouthed 'sure' before walking over to it. The Bidoof looked at me curiously before rubbing up against my leg.
"Hey little guy" I murmured, stroking its fur before heading to the classroom.
"That Bidoof is following us" Keith observed and I glanced behind my shoulder to see he was telling the truth. "How'd you get it to do that without capturing it?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Dunno"
Opening the class door, Keith and I walked in with Bidoof hanging outside.
"Even our own classroom's kind of creepy at night…I'll give you a hint. What wasn't here during the daytime?" Keith said and I looked at the five crates in the room.
My gut was telling me the Styler was hidden in the one next to Ms April's desk as Bidoof went over to it, sniffing the crate before smiling at me.
"Bidoof use Tackle" I ordered and Bidoof tackled the crate, causing it to smash into pieces, revealing the green Styler.
I grabbed it and handed it to Keith who practically ran out of the classroom. Both Bidoof and I chuckled lightly before following after him.
We headed to Kincaid's class and I saw the Styler on the desk, on the other side of the top left hand desk.
"Hurry up and find that Styler" Keith snapped and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Why don't you just wait in the hall?" I suggested and the look on his face answered it. "Fine but don't cling to me if you're scared…"
I grabbed the Styler and hurried out of the classroom in case Keith threw a fit.
I saw he was on edge and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about it, stick close to Bidoof if it helps"
He nodded and Bidoof stuck close to him as we went into the library. There were several crates, blocking the path to the Styler that laid on a desk.
"Stay here, I'll be back in a sec" I told Keith before jumping over the crates, grabbing the Styler and handing it to him in less than forty seconds.
He shook his head. "How you can do this amazes me"
I didn't say anything as we went to the last place: The Staff Room.
"Aww, it's a Pichu" I cooed, looking at the little guy. Then I noticed the Styler it held in its hand as Keith dove for it. Pichu squeaked and dodged him, running around the entire room.
Bidoof and I sweat dropped.
"Keith that's not going to work!" I called. "You're just scaring the little guy"
Keith threw me a look. "How about you try since you're so keen on pointing it out"
I rolled my eyes as I sat on my knees.
Just close your eyes…
The sun is going down,
You'll be alright…
No one can hurt you now,
Come morning light…
You and I'll be safe
And
Sound…
Pichu wandered over to me, no longer afraid of Keith and snuggled up in my arms, handing me the Styler. I smiled and scratched its ear, earning a soft mewing from it.
Keith was panting. "You…sing to…it…that's all you…had to…do?!"
I nodded as I released Pichu before standing up and holding up the Styler in my hand.
"Let's go take these to the basement" I suggested and he nodded, unable to say anything.
When we arrived, there was a fence block made out of logs stacked up on each other.
Keith frowned. "Since when have they been there?" he asked and then shook it off.
I noticed a Zubat minding its own business and quickly captured it, thrilled to see it knew the move Cut.
"Zubat us Cut" I said and Zubat slashed the fence block with a gust of air. They fell to pieces, allowing us passage to finish the test.
"Thanks Zubat" I murmured, scratching its ear before releasing it.
"Hey, Kate…" Keith said and I turned to him. He looked on edge and I frowned.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Have you been hearing anything? Like weird noises?"
"No"
Keith's face fell as I walked closer to the door and placed the Stylers in front of it. I was about to place the last one when Keith shushed me. I looked up from my crouch, glaring at him.
"I hear something funny…" Keith whispered and I paused, listening in. There was a sudden cry, with four Gastly appearing and I fell onto my butt in surprise.
"Bwaaaaah!" Keith cried out as they came closer to me.
"Keith! Help me!" I shouted and saw he was useless; he was cowering in the corner. "Tch, more work for me"
I quickly jumped to me feet and pointed the disk at one Gastly. "Capture on!"
The disk flew out and circled around the Gastly, catching it off guard. I made a circle in front of me as the white circle disappeared. I launched another disk and managed to circle around it but it disappeared.
"Are you kidding me?!" I growled in frustration and circled it two more times before capturing it. The other two disappeared more often, and it was three minutes later before I could capture them.
I panted, exhausted as Keith stood beside me, wiping the sweat off his forehead and handing me a handkerchief. I smiled at him and quickly wiped my forehead before handing it back to him.
"It was just some Gastly…" he said in relief as the door slammed open.
"WHO'S THERE?!" Mr Kincaid roared in fury, causing Keith and I to jump.
"The basement is off-limits to everyone but myself!"
Keith snatched my arm. "Aww, shoot! Run for it!" he pulled me away as we quickly ran out of the basement.
We made it to the common room, breathless and we glanced at each other before throwing our heads back and laughing.
"This was fun" I giggled and then took a deep breath. "But I'm heading to bed, jet lag sucks"
Keith nodded. "Night Kate"
I gave him one last smile before disappearing into my dorm room, crawling under the blankets and falling into a deep sleep.
Okay, I can't exactly remember whose it was, but I got the idea of singing 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift to Pichu from another fanfic so credit to that person!
