"Pssst, hey newbie...Wake up!" Theo's nose wrinkled and he sputtered, as he felt a pillow smack him in the face. "What do you want…? What time is it?" The new student sat up groggily and yelped as Keith yanked his covers off. "Initiation time, meet us in the common room in five." Theo sat up, rubbing his eyes and sliding his feet into his slippers. The teen was wearing pajamas he had gotten from his parents for Christmas the past winter. They were made out of Mareep wool, so the static electricity was a real side effect and it made his brown hair elevate off his head slightly. He smoothed it out with a satisfying crinkle and shuffled out of the dormitory to see Rhythmi and Keith, also in their pajamas, waiting patiently and talking quietly in the dark alongside two other students, Lunick the boy who had the bunk above him and a girl he recognized from his tour earlier, he wasn't sure of her name though.

"You ready?"
"...For what exactly?"

"The Test of Courage! A Ranger School Tradition-" Rhythmi cut him off, "We've hidden our stylers in four places in the school: Our classroom-"

"-and ours!" the other girl chimed in, "Yes, and theirs, the teacher lounge and the library." Theo already hated the sound of this. It all just seemed so tedious. "Tradition? Seriously?"

"Yes! We all did it too when we joined, it's just what new students have to do to prove their bravery...No biggie. But it isn't totally safe to go alone at night soooo…" The blonde girl lolled her head to the side to look at Keith who was busy sipping water from his water bottle. "Right...the student seated next to the initiate has to accompany them, looks like we'll be bravery buddies." He grinned, sending a confident wink to the sleepy teen. "Once you collect all the stylers, simply line them up at the foot of the door to the room in the basement! Simple as that." Theo sighed, "You'll have to do some target clears to get to some of the stylers, so here-" Lunick stepped forward and placed a student styler in Theo's hands. "Miss April asked me to deliver that to you, I know you've already been shown how to use it, right?" Theo nodded, Rhythmi had shown him during their tour. "Keith can give you a refresher if you need it."

"Meh, he probably will-" The confident teen swung his arm around the others shoulders, "Don't worry, noob - I'll make you my protege." He promised, laughing as the new student simply rolled his eyes. "Good luck Theo! We're all cheering you on!" The three remaining students cheered quietly as they sent the two boys off into the dark school.

"You're not scared of the dark are you, newbie? You're moving awfully slow." Keith seemed relentless when it came to teasing. Was there no escape from it? "Not at all, I'm just still recovering from being rudely awoken by someone who takes style inspiration from Cyndaquil." Theo quipped, alerting the other bpy of the epiphany he'd had before when it came to the others appearance. "Wha...Hey! At least my hair doesn't look like I got shocked by a pikachu just a moment ago-"

"I do not look like I got shocked by a pikachu, man - you're just mad because you see the resemblance, don't you Cyndi?" Theo had another burn locked and loaded if the other tried to keep the banter going but he wasn't expecting Keith to practically jump into his arms. "Th-there's something there! In the dark!" He exclaimed, pointing ahead after crying out in terror. Theo looked over, just the tiniest bit of anxiety budding in his chest, but soon his face fell flat and he dropped his grip on the other. "Man, you need to get your shit together - it's just one of the bidoof." He huffed, rolling his eyes as the other laughed awkwardly. "I know! I...I was just trying to scare you...I'm a pretty good actor right?"

"So good you're still playing the part? Or were you just gonna hold onto my shirt the whole time?"

"Huh?" Keith looked at his hand, desperately gripping the others pajama shirt and quickly dropped it. "That's just how dedicated I am to the craft."

"And you gave me crap about theatrics? Is that hypocrisy I smell?" Theo sniffed the air around Keith playfully, snickering as the other frowned. "Come on Brad Van Darn, let's get this thing over with...I wanna get back to my dreams. Theo figured they'd walk to the front of the school and work their way back towards the stairs. "Let's start in our class I guess…" Theo opened the door and stared at the room, "The hint for this room is: What wasn't here during the daytime?"

"That's a terrible hint. Actually, who would need that hint? I know I didn't really go to class today, but I think I would remember a bunch of crates being scattered everywhere."

"Okay Professor, damn! I was just trying to help you out…" It took a few tries, and an annoying amount of back and forth to recapture the Bidoof from earlier, but Theo finally cleared a crate at the front of the class and found the first styler. "Sweet. One down, three to go." He tossed the styler up slightly and caught it again, feeling pretty proud of himself. This really wasn't that hard was it? The same set up was in Kincaid's room but he got lucky and got the styler on the first try this time. Keith had been quiet since the first room, he was a little intimidated by Theo's natural proficiency with his styler...He had been kidding about the whole rival thing, he hadn't meant it! "Uuh hello? Earth to Keith?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if you wanted to do the teachers lounge next?"

"Oh, sure. Sorry-" Theo gave him a funny look before leading him out, and back towards the second half of the rooms on the main floor. He creaked the door open and stared at the room for a moment, frowning. This one wasn't quite as obvious..."Got any hints for this one, Cyndi?" The nickname earned a frown from his classmate, and a reluctant answer. "The styler in this room won't stay still." He cracked a grin, expecting Theo to be stumped for at least a moment. "Oh, the pichu then." He was not stumped for even a moment. Damn it. It did take Theo a couple minutes to catch the Pichu, his sleepy, slippered feet weren't much of a match for the nimble, little pokemon. But once he caught it and retrieved the styler he was quick to praise the nervous little pokemon. "Great running little buddy, thanks for playing with me." Pichu seemed to enjoy that comment and gave the teen a crackly little nuzzle of his head against his cheek. "Pi! Pichu!" It leapt from his arms and followed after the duo of boys as they moved on to the library. "Jeez...More crates? When did you guys find the time to set this all up?"

"Rhythmi and I are top of our class, did you really think we needed extra study time when we ditched you at dinner time?" The teens managed to clear their way through the library and collect the fourth, and final, styler. "Thank Ho-Oh, let's finish this up." Theo yawned and led them off towards the basement, he ignored the heat he felt creeping up his neck as the other boy gripped his shirt again as they ventured slowly down the stairs into the dark only to be met by…

"Another crate?! Are you freaking kidding me?!"

"I swear we didn't set this one up! I've never seen a target clear down here..." Theo groaned as they backtracked to capture the same damn Bidoof yet again, and cleared the crates in their path. Too annoyed to be spooked at the moment. "Alright plunk the stylers down and let's go - this place is giving me the heebie jeebies.' Keith insisted, still sticking close to the new student. "Oh, I thought you were just acting again." Theo bravely marched to the door to Kincaid's lab and knelt down to set the stylers down. "There we go, all done, let's get out of here-" Theo paused as a strange noise crept through the air, and screamed when Keith did as four Ghastly jumped out of the wall and bombarded the boys. "What the hell man?! There's Ghastly in this school?!"

"I didn't know!" The teens clung to one another while they caught their breath, only to scream again when the laboratory door swung open with a slam. "WHO GOES THERE? This laboratory is off-limits to everyone but myself!" A red faced yelled, looking down in confusion as his foot stepped on the pile of stylers at his door. "Is this some kind of prank?" By the time he looked up, Keith had grabbed Theo's hand and yanked him back towards the stairs. Both teens running as fast as their legs would carry them back upstairs and back to Rhythmi, Lunick, and the other classmate who was waiting for them. "What happened? You two look like you saw a real ghost!" The two boys stumbled over each other's sentences as they tried to explain what had just happened, but their classmates only found it amusing as the two were using their hands to talk but Keith still had Theo's in a firm grip.

"What are you all still doing up?" The skittish teens screamed again, hugging each other - much to their classmates' amusement. "We could ask you the same, Isaac." The girl from his class looked displeased to see him. "Oh, I was...studying!" The blonde boy looked a little nervous, "But I'm finished now so...Goodnight!"

"Night mushroom head." Rhythmi frowned, "Jeez, Solana what's your beef with Isaac?"
"I just don't trust him...Anyways, ghosts or not we should all be heading to bed as well." Rhythmi nodded, "Good job Theo, you've proven your bravery! Barely." She teased, turning to join the other girl. "Goodnight boys!" Lunick patted their backs as he passed, "Night night, ghostbusters." He chuckled, leaving the two boys - who were still embracing - alone again. "Oh um-" Theo let go and took a notably large step back, unable to ignore the heat that spread across his cheeks this time. "Th-thanks for coming with me tonight Keith, it would have been a lot less fun without you…'

"Right...Same to you, thanks for not giving me grief about being a coward...At least, not too much." He rubbed the back of his neck, and both teens quietly shuffled back to their dorm to go to sleep. Intensely aware of the others' presence as they both lay down in their beds.