Before I had even fully woken up, I knew it would be a horrible day. I rolled over on my twin bed, my still damp clothes resisting the change of position. I was all ready to fall back asleep for a few more hours when I heard a strange noise. It was a sort of…tired moan. At first I didn't think anything of it.

And then I remembered last night.

I jumped up.

"Shit!"

I stumbled around for a moment, furiously rubbing my eyes and trying to wake up faster. Somehow I fell and ended up, ass first, on the cold floor. That was when I saw the trail of blood on the wooden floor. It was faint, but it was there. I flopped down onto my stomach and looked under my bed.

Those same brown eyes I had seen for only a moment last night were now staring back at me. I blinked, not remembering putting the Pokémon under the bed. Or did I?

"Are you okay?" I winced at the smell of my own morning breath. "If you're bleeding…" I let the sentence trail off, and stuck my arm under the bed. I almost thought I had got it, before it scratched me.

"Oww! Not cool." I recoiled and sat up. It hurt, but the skin wasn't broken. The Pokémon looked more defensive now, and I didn't blame it. "I'm sorry."

I stood, once again aware that my clothes were still damp. For the moment, I ignored the Pokémon, and went about my morning (or early afternoon, really) as usual. I cleaned up, changed into so clean jeans and a tank top, and threw my hair back into a pony tail. If the Pokémon wanted to hide under the bed, that wasn't my problem. Obviously it was alive enough to be a bitch.

So I went over to the mini fridge to check what was for breakfast. I frowned. Apparently today was grocery day; because the entire fridge was bottled lemonade and an old, half eaten burger. Even I wasn't dumb enough to eat that. To the grocery store, then.

Purse in hand, I barely remembered to talk to whatever was hiding under my bed. I kneeled down and looked at its brown eyes. "I'm going to get food," I explained. "I'll be back. I'll get you something, too. While I'm gone, don't die."

It didn't reply, but I assumed it got the message.

The Stop and Shop around the block from my apartment complex wasn't really a grocery store. It did, however, have all of the essentials, like bread, milk, cereal, and lemonade. I nodded a friendly hello to the shop keeper, grabbed a basket, and went on my way.

Even with all the tips, I tend to shop generic. Who really needs to buy Eevee-O's when there's generic cereal? It tastes the same—I know; I've tried them both. But somehow just buy having something as stupid as cereal or peanut butter endorsed by Gary Oak makes it that much better. Ash Ketchum also does his fair share of endorsements, but this tiny place couldn't even afford to stock that.

Honestly, this day and age it's near impossible to find a product that's not endorsed by a Pokémon celebrity.

With my basket nearly full, I wandered over to the pokefood section. If the glossy labeled cans and bags weren't enough to make my head spin, the prices sure were. I'd never shopped for pokefood before, but apparently every aspect of training was now ungodly expensive. I sent a silent apology to my mother; no wonder she could never afford it.

I grabbed a can and examined it. A whole collection of happy Pokémon decorated the front, looking very well feed. I didn't buy it. Instead, I flipped the can over and checked the ingredients. Fruit! The stupid Pokémon food was nothing but fancy canned fruit mix, topped with crushed up pokeblocks! I threw it back on the shelf in disgust, hoping the woman who ran the place didn't see me do it.

Then I went over to the produce section. I grabbed a box of strawberries, a bag of apples, and a box of blueberries—the three main ingredients of that stupid food. I checked out, and headed back to my apartment.

"Hey, Ali!"

I kept walking.

"Allison Carmichael!"

I stopped. Really? Now? Why!

I turned around. "Hey, Aiden."

He looked at the bags and laughed. "You forgot. I knew you would. Here," he said, taking the bags, "Let me help you with that."

I begrudgingly let him, and we began walking together. "Forget what?" I paused, but not long enough for him to answer. "Don't you have school right now?"

Aiden laughed. "No, that's what forgot. I have the day off today, and we were supposed to get lunch."

"Oh, right." I took a closer look at my best friend. It was hard to believe I had once been taller than him, as he pushed six feet. And even though he did not have his backpack today, he had college kid written all over him. Short cropped brown hair, glasses, and a collared shirt. I rolled my eyes, hoping he didn't see. Even on his day off, he looked like he was in school! "And why don't you have school today?"
"It's Professor Oak's birthday. It's…an academic thing."

I looked up to the sky. No clouds, but the rains from last night kept the weather nice and cool. "Yeah, yeah, I know. An academic thing like a failure like me couldn't possibly understand." We were about a block from my apartment now. Out of habit, I began to fish around in my purse for the key.

Aiden sighed. "You know that's not what I mean, Ali. You're not a failure."

"Aiden, you're the top student at C.C and definitely going to get a fellowship by the end of the year. You're allowed to be a little full of yourself."

He just sighed again. "I guess."

We walked in silence for a while, until we were right in front of my door. My key was halfway into the lock when Aiden asked, "Hey, why did you get so much fruit?" He snickered. "I didn't think you even knew what fruit was, Ali."

It had never happened before, but I knew what it was. All the color had just drained from my face. I was not about to tell a college student about the illegal Pokémon I was harboring, even if he was my best friend.

"Um, Aiden, can you wait out here?"

He gave me a suspicious look. "Why?"

I turned the key in the lock to open the door, but did not push it open. "Because… I have underwear all over the floor. I don't want you seeing that." Even though it was nice outside, I could feel sweat forming on the nape of my neck.

"I'm sure I've seen worse, Ali. Just let me in."

He reached for the door, and I blocked him. "No!"

"Stop it!" Aiden pushed past me, and opened the door. He stepped inside, and turned back to look at me. "See, it's not that bad, even by my standards. Now, come inside."

I obeyed, shutting the door behind me. Maybe, I thought, I could get him to leave before he noticed the Pokémon. Aiden was already at my fridge, putting the groceries away.

"You know, Ali, you really need to throw away that burger," he said. "Studies have shown that—"

But Aiden never got to finish that pretentious sentence. Instead, he was interrupted by a growling noise. A growling noise coming from under my bed. He looked at me. "Ali, what's that?"

"It's a…" my eyes darted around the room, searching for an answer. "Feminine problem?" I answered, wondering if he would buy it.

Nope.

Aiden walked over to my bed. "Seriously, it can't be that bad. Just let me look…"

I followed, standing behind Aiden as he kneeled and looked under my bed.

"What is under your bed?"

I gulped. "Nothing."

"Ali, I can see something. Now tell me what it is."

I knew that tone. It was the same tone he used on me when I was eight and accidentally destroyed his mini microscope. Or when I was seventeen, and scared one of his dates away by explaining how he has to separate each food on his plate and never let them touch.

Which, by the way, he still does.

So, I spilled. I told him about last night, and my dumpster diving expedition. However, I left out the part about the illegal Pokémon fighting being underneath my job. I conveniently moved the dumpster a few blocks away. I wanted to confide in Aiden, but I still didn't want to lose my job.

For a moment, all Aiden did was stare at me. I braced for it. I was expecting some sort of speech, or for him to whip out his phone and call the police to take the Pokémon away. Instead, all he did was look back to the bed, then to me, and ask, "So do you know what type of Pokémon it is?"

I was too shocked to think up something witty to say. I just fumbled out a, "N-no," and stared at Aiden like he grew an extra head. "But I think it was bleeding earlier. It went under the bed when I was sleeping. And I think it's hungry, too. That's what the fruit is for."

And so for the next twenty minutes, Aiden and I tried to feed the creature under my bed. First, we tried the apples. We rolled one under the bed, only to have to shot back out at us a moment later, with a tiny bite mark taken out of it. Whatever it was, it wasn't desperately hungry.

Second, we tried the blueberries. Those too were thrown back, but not after a full ten seconds of growling. Not that I blamed it; blueberries are gross.

Lastly, we tried the strawberries. I threw one under the bed and waited. After a moment, when the berry wasn't throw back, Aiden and I declared a winner.

"But you can't just feed it strawberries, especially if it's hurt. You need to know what Pokémon it is, so that you can feed it a balanced diet in order to speed up the recovery process." He threw another strawberry under the bed. "Do you think it understands you?
I gave the creature another berry. "I really don't know. I have been talking to it, though." Even though it didn't work out last time, I reached under the bed to try and grab it. This time, it bit me.

"Hey!"

Aiden looked ready to shit a brick. "Are you okay? You're bleeding!"

I rubbed my hand. "No, I'm not. It's just berry goop."

Aiden was still frowning. "Whatever it is, it reminds me of you as a little kid."

A smile crept over my face. That may have been the best insult I ever heard. I grabbed the box of strawberries and crawled towards the bed. "Hey, Pokémon," I said, making eye contact with it. "Show me your tail, and I'll give you two strawberries."

"Are you really trying to bribe a Pokémon?"

And just as Aiden was about to tell me why bribery is wrong, we saw something strange come out from under the bed.

Aiden's eyes grew wide. "How did you know it had a tail?"

"Don't all Pokémon have tails?" I shrugged, and grabbed three, plump strawberries. I rolled them under the bed. "Thanks." I know I said two, but it deserved three.

"I know what it is," Aiden said, biting his lip. "But if it is what I think it is, there's something I don't get. Why hasn't it shocked you yet?"

I gave him my classic what the hell are you talking about look.

"The Pokémon under your bed is a male Raichu. If it's aggressive enough to bite you, why won't it use Thundershock or something?"

I told Aiden about the Suppression Collar, and we agreed that it had to be taken off right away. Also, that the thing—the Raichu—needed medical attention.

"You do know that keeping an unlicensed Pokémon is extremely illegal, right?" Aiden asked, throwing the Raichu a strawberry.

I nodded. "What, are you going to call Officer Jenny on me?"

He stood up. "No. All I'm saying is that we're going to have to be very careful when we sneak it into the Student's Lab at C.C"

My mouth dropped open. "Really? You're going to help me?"

He helped me up off the floor. "I wouldn't be much of a best friend if I didn't." Aiden punched me gently in the shoulder. "Even if it is my one day off."