I'm not going to bother explaining how Aiden and I got that stupid mouse to C.C.. Let's just say that it took about eight boxes of strawberries, and a pillow case I'm never going to be able to use again.

But all things considered, it was scarily easy to break into the Celadon College. Because I'd graduated in the bottom half of my high school class, I'd never been to C.C before…though I'd always imagined it being a big, imposing building with lots of locks and security measures. Turns out, the main entrance is through a gate. A simple, wooden gate, and inside the place looks more like a park than a college. There are trees, a pond, and even a playground.

That, of course, it all outside the lab.

Once Aiden got the three of us inside the building, I saw it. Honestly, getting inside was almost easier than getting through the gate. All Aiden had to do was tell the sleepy security guard that he was showing around a potential student.

"You studious types," the guard had quipped, shaking his head. "Even on your day off…"

The guy didn't even notice the ripped pillowcase I was carrying, or the stains of what could possibly have been blood. Yeah, it was blood alright. The blood of the hundreds of strawberries sacrificed to keep the stupid Pokémon quiet.

The lab was more like what I had been expecting: lots of metal, beeping machines, and charts on the wall. It was cold, and the air smelled like gross medicines. I skimmed most of the charts, not caring to read about type match ups or how Ditto breeding works. It was all a bunch of college mumbo jumbo. Though I will admit, the one nice thing about the college was the new resources.

Instead of bribing the Raichu, Aiden simply stuck it, while still in the pillowcase, with a syringe full of what he called a sedative.

"Don't worry," he told me, spotting the look in my face. "It's just a blend of Stun Spore and Sleep Powder from a resident Butterfree. The Raichu will be right as rain as soon as its sprayed with a Full Heal."

I relaxed a little bit, and stepped back to watch as Aiden took the Raichu out of the pillowcase and laid it on to the metal examining table. He stared at the unconscious Pokémon for a moment before turning around.

"I'm going to need help with this," he said, speaking without looking at me. He went over to what looked to be a wall full of drawers, opened one, and scanned it. The drawer was full of Pokéballs! I watched as Aiden took one out, pressed the button once to expand the ball to its true size, and again to release the Pokémon inside of it.

As it materialized from the red light, I asked, "Are you really sure a Pokémon is going to help?"

Aiden just smiled at me. "Of course, Wiggles is used to doing lab reports with me. She's a pro at it."

My jaw dropped. "Wiggles?" I repeated incredulously. "You're Pokémon can't be named—"

And then it appeared. It was a pink puff ball, with stubby arms and legs and a belly that made me crave red jello. But despite its cute appearance, the thing's blue eyes were intense and calculating, looking ready for a challenge. Then it saw me.

"Wiggly, wiggly!"

The puff ball ran over and engulfed me in a hug. I was so flattered I forgot to breath. I looked at Aiden as it let me go, beaming from ear to ear. "Why didn't you tell me you had a Pokémon!"

He just shrugged and blushed a little as the Pokémon scampered over to his side. "I've raised Wiggles from an egg, and I've already made arrangements with the college to take it once I graduate. But it's sort of not something I'm supposed to be bragging about."

The Pokémon bounced in place, glowing with pride.

"So what Pokémon is it?"

Aiden rubbed its puffy hair. "This is a Wigglytuff. I named it Wiggles right when it first hatched, because it wouldn't stop moving. The name just sort of…stuck."

With all the formalities out of the way, I watched as Aiden and Wiggles examined the Raichu from top to bottom, measuring every inch of it and checking its wounds. As the exam drew to a close almost an hour later, I was sitting on some counter I probably shouldn't have been sitting on, waiting to hear my good and bad news.

The good news? Whatever had been fighting the Raichu had left a deep puncture wound, but it had not pierced any vital organs and the wound was healing nicely. The Pokémon would recover to near full health.

Then Aiden sighed. "The bad news is that, as the collar indicates, this is an illegal Pokémon."

I frowned, but said nothing.

"Basically, as soon as this Pokémon hatched, it was hurried into evolving into a Pikachu. Then, as soon as it was a Pikachu, it had a Thunder Stone slapped on it." He paused to sigh again, petting Wiggles for support. "It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't understand the mechanics behind proper breeding, but this Raichu is messed up, Ali. From the way his skin looks, he's had that collar on since he hatched."

The realization of what that meant made me sick to my stomach. That stupid, strawberry loving Raichu had never once gotten to use its natural power. I silently wondered if it even knew the power it was supposed to posses.

"That's horrible," was all I could say.

He nodded in agreement. "What's worse is that no one here at the college will take him in—he's too much of a project with too little payoff. No investor wants to know how to rehabilitate an abused Pokémon. I'm sorry, Ali, but there's really only one thing to humanley do to this Pokémon."

The Wigglytuff looked like she was about to cry.

I bit my lip. "It's not fair!" I yelled, unaware of how loud I had been until my voice echoed off the metal inside and Wiggles jumped back. "Just because none of you college nerds want him doesn't mean that he's not a good Pokémon. If only someone would give him a chance!"

Aiden took the offensive. "And who's going to do that, Ali? Who? Just try to find one spoiled rich brat that would take a broken Raichu over some new, imported Totodile or Lillipup. You can't. People today don't care about fixing anything that's broken."

I jumped off from where I was sitting. I felt only inches from punching Aiden in his glasses wearing face. By now, Wiggles was hiding in a corner. Heart racing, I walked over to the table where the Raichu was.

"I want him."
"You can't have him." Aiden said, with a strange tone of stern and humorous. "You're not in any position to start a Pokémon journey, and no college in there right mind would admit you." Aiden was worked up now; I could see it in his red face. We were both about to start saying things we truly believed, but never said out loud in respect of our friendship.

"And you're not in any position to tell me what to do! You may have gone to college, but you're just as stupid as everyone else. You'd rather kill that poor Pokémon than give it a chance."

I was ready to launch another verbal attack, when Aiden surprised me. "You really think you can hack being a Pokémon trainer?"

His soft tone and steady voice took me aback. "I…I don't know. But I do know that I'm responsible for that Pokémon."

Wiggles had cautiously shimmied back over to us. I may have been wrong, but it sounded like the pink thing was purring.

"What I'm about to help you do is highly illegal." Aiden said, giving Wiggles a nod. The Pokémon ran off to another part of the lab.

I raised an eyebrow. "More illegal than using school property without permission?"

Aiden nodded. "Oh yeah. Way more illegal."

Turns out that he wasn't kidding.

First, Aiden forged me a Pokémon license. It was easier than I thought it would be. All he did was design something to look just like his college Pokémon license, change a few words around, add my name, add my picture, and print it. Viola! I stared at the thing incredulously. It takes four to six weeks to get clearance for a real Pokémon license, not to mention the arm and a leg fee, and here I had gotten mine for free! Sure, it was a fake, but it looked damn good to me.

Next came the tough part: a Pokédex. Traditional Pokédexes were the red, blocky things with one, slightly creepy, male voice. Nowadays, the Pokédex is some franekstien fusion of a tablet, a cell phone, a laptop, and a Pokémon database all rolled into one. I could barely afford to look at one, much less pay for it or the outrageous data plan that came with it.

Luckily, Aiden had a better solution.

"Because of the special licensing they use now, using a Pokédex for identification is superfluous. So," he pulled out a blue, blocky thing I assumed to be a Pokédex, "No one will care if your Pokédex doesn't work."

I grabbed the dinosaur technology and examined it. It felt oddly light.

"All the internal components have been removed." He smiled. "Basically, all you have there is an empty shell of what used to be a Pokédex. No one will know it doesn't work except you, and if any one asks, just say it's vintage."

I cracked up at that one. "Aiden, you're a genius."

He gave me a playful wink. "I know."

So that was that. I had my Pokémon, my liscence, and my Pokémon. I was good to go.

Or so I thought. After tuning out everything else Aiden said I needed before I got started, he eventually gave up and offered to get everything together for me. And so while he put the bag together, I played with Wiggles.

Once the bag was all set to go, filled with maps and charts and who knows what else, Aiden and I knew we had one last thing to do.

"Before I take it off, though," Aiden said, "I want you to have these."

I couldn't believe what he was holding out for me: a pair of garish, yellow gloves with hot pink lining. "Uh, what?"

He blushed a little. "It's based off the legend of Ash Ketchum. When he first got his Pikachu, he was given a pair of rubber gloves by his mother. The rumor of the legend is that those gloves helped him train the Pikachu to be extremely powerful."

I just stuffed the gloves into the backpack and gave Aiden a skeptical, "Uhu."

With that out of the way, he finally removed the Suppression Collar from the Raichu. It was a slow process, not only because the collar was not designed to be removed, but because it was almost too small for the poor Pokémon. Even though the Raichu was unconscious, he took in a large gasp of air as soon as the collar was removed. Aiden gave the collar to Wiggles, who disposed of it somewhere, I assumed.

Then Wiggles brought Aiden the bottle of Full Heal.

"Before I wake it up though," Aiden said.

"What? You need to give me an apron to go with my gloves?"

"No." He handed me a Pokéball. You should capture the Pokémon, so you can quickly put it in the ball. An illegal Pokémon is much less conspicuous its ball.

I had to agree. So I gently tossed the ball against the unconscious Raichu. I captured him without a hitch. Then I let him back out, and Aiden sprayed him.

Groggy, the Raichu rubbed his eyes and stretched out. I smiled; he was so cute.

But as soon as he had fully awakened, something changed. The Raichu looked around the lab, panicked, and screamed, "Rai-CHU!"

A bolt of lightening erupted from the Raichu. The energy seared a hole through the celing, set off the fire alarms and set off the sprinkler system.

I fumbled with the Pokéball before pointing it at the Raichu and yelling, "Return!"

In the distance, Aiden and I could hear sirens.

Wiggles retreated back into her Pokéball.

Aiden looked ready to explode. "You have to go now!" He ordered, shoving the backpack into my hands and pushing me out the door. I put the Pokéball in my pocket, and looked at Aiden one last time.

"Thank you."

"Run!"

I didn't have to be told that twice.