"As I said, simple."
"Man, I always wanted to toilet-paper this place."
Protector of Silence
Chapter Five – Night Stalker
Moonlight shone through the curtains into Kellyn's eyes. But that wasn't what woke him. It was Keith, poking his arm which was hanging off the edge of the bunk-bed. Kellyn wasn't an easy one to annoy, to he just pretended to still be asleep and let Keith carry on with his restless poking.
"Kel! Kel! Come on! Wake up Kel!" the ginger growled in a sort-of whisper "Kellyn! Come on! Up and at it! Rise and shine!"
'It's the middle of the night!' Kellyn groaned inwardly.
"Come on! Move it!"
That was it! He couldn't take any more of this! He grabbed some item and chucked it over the edge of the bed. He heard a yelp as it made contact with Keith's forehead.
"Owwww!" he complained "That's it! I know you're awake now so you've got to get up!"
Kellyn groaned and sat up, complying with what Keith said. Only way to keep the peace around here. He slipped on his school jumper and placed his notebook and pencil in one pocket of his pyjamas bottoms, a torch in the other. Nothing was worse than writing a message and no one being able to read it. He then climbed down the ladder and allowed himself to be dragged by Keith outside into the common room. The big lamp was the only light on and in the light of it Kellyn made out three people: Rhythmi, Kate and buff black-haired girl who he had learnt earlier was called Rebecca, although she preferred to be called Becs.
"You kept us waiting long enough Dazaru" Becs growled, referring to Keith by his last name.
"Zip it Jackson!" Keith used the same surname method of addressing his opposer. "It's not my fault that Kel here could sleep through a hurricane ripping the school apart!"
'Could not!' Kellyn wanted to counter and give Keith a piece of his mind. But as he tried to speak he felt his throat tighten to the point he couldn't breathe and gave up. Nothing had changed there then.
"Enough!" Rhythmi sighed "Let's get on with our test of courage and bravery to welcome Kellyn."
'Test of bravery and courage?' Kellyn wondered, his white pupils dilating 'If it's anything like Clio's bravery test, I refuse to jump into the sea in a bikini!' He shuddered as he remembered what the green-eyed girl had make Luke do. But it was either that or wear a chicken hat in public for the next month.
Since he couldn't ask or protest, he did the only thing he could do to get their attention: cock his head it the side in a confused manner and give what Melissa had dubbed his 'Confused Squeak'.
"Sssssh! Keep it down!" all the others hissed. That just made him even more confused. Why were they whispering?
"Shut up, pipsqueak!" Becs hissed "We're all here for your sake anyhow!"
Pipsqueak?! What was next, mouse jokes? He gave another squeak, this one of protest. Once again he was shushed.
"Don't mind Becs, she's not exactly an early riser" Keith sighed to his roommate "We just want you to prove you're brave. I've had to do it before. It's no big deal."
'Yes, but we have different idea of what a big deal is' Kellyn thought.
"And nothing against you Kellyn, but you have that easily-spooked look on you" Keith added "No offence or anything. Oh don't give me that look! I was just teasing! We just need to be sure!"
'You could have at least let me get dressed' Kellyn though bitterly 'It's freezing out there, and I know you'll make me go outside! You have that gleam in your eyes, the same as Clio's!'
"Don't tease him Keith" Rhythmi sighed "Okay, Agent Solluna. That is your last name isn't it? Good, that's confirmed. Anyway, here's your mission. The four of us have hidden our stylers in a room in the school. All you have to do is find them and out them at the top of the steps to the basement. And to make sure you don't cheat, Keith's going with you."
"Whatever difference that'll make" Becs muttered. Kate elbowed her and gave her a look that pleaded for her to say no more.
"As I said, simple" Rhythmi concluded, dismissing although agreeing with Becs' comment "So, off you go."
'Oh fine' Kellyn thought, rolling his eyes a bit 'Either this or look like a wuss for the rest of the year. Just a little scavenger hunt, what could possibly go wrong?'
Outside the lights were dimly lit up and down the courtyard. Clouds covered the sky now so not a single star could shine down upon the concrete. Everything seemed so silent, it was almost freaky. There came the sound of wings flapping.
"WAAAAHHHH!" Keith screamed, hiding behind Kellyn - which was fairly hard to do considering how diminutive the brunet was. "W-What was that?!"
Kellyn removed his torch from his pocket and pointed it at the centre of the courtyard. A startled Starly took flight.
"Oh...just a Starly" Keith gave a sigh of relief, stepping out from behind the shorter boy. "But it spooked me. You were spooked too, right?" Kellyn raised his eyebrows and shook his head. Keith looked a bit embarrassed and a little frustrated. "Er...so...where first?"
Kellyn held his torch under his chin as he wrote down the answer and showed it to Keith in the torchlight.
The classrooms maybe?
"Yeah, sure" Keith shrugged "We'll start with ours."
They headed across the courtyard to their own classroom. The lights refused to come on so they had to go by torchlight. There were three large crates in the classroom.
"Even our own classroom looks creepy" Keith gulped, shaking his head to remove it of any scared thoughts. "Okay, I'll tell you it's Becs' styler we're looking for."
'Well, Becs is a tough girl' thought Kellyn 'Has great physical strength... Wait a minute. Physical strength!' He motioned with his hand for Keith to stay, handing him his torch before disappearing out the door. He reappeared about a minute later, rubbing his styler with a Bidoof at his heels.
"Where'd you find that?" Keith asked.
Roaming around. One of Kaplan's?
"Yeah probably" Keith nodded, handing the torch back "So, what are you planning on doing with it?"
'Target clear!' Kellyn turned to face one of the crates and told the Bidoof it's order mentally. 'Bidoof - Crush!'
"On it!" The Bidoof's head blazed with blue and white light as it smashed the crate into pieces. In the midst of the rumble, Becs' styler glinted in the torchlight.
'Thank you Bidoof' he smiled, turning the knob on his Capture Styler and letting the Bidoof leave. He picked up the styler and showed it to Keith.
"One down, three to go" Keith smiled "The staff room next?"
With Kellyn's consenting nod, they crept across to the staff room where a frightened Pichu was running around aimlessly.
"The staff room" said Keith, his brown eyes dancing nervously in the dim light "Clue for this room: Kate's styler."
'Kate' Kellyn thought 'Where would Kate hide a styler?' He looked at the scared Pichu 'Ah ha! That's it! The way Kate treated those Bidoof, it's obvious she really likes Pokémon! So she would hide her styler on a Pokémon!' He allowed the antenna on his styler to materialise. His eyes converted to their psychic blue-white colour, ghostly and pale in the darkness of the staff room.
'Capture...on!' The capture disk flew towards the scared Pichu and began making circles of light. The Pichu only took about two circles for it to be captured.
'Capture complete' Kellyn smiled, walking over to the shaking Pichu. 'Hello there.' He saw the Pichu was clutching a styler with both paws. 'Do you mind if I borrow that styler?'
"Oh...t-this?" the Pichu stuttered "Oh...o-okay then..." It handed him the styler and he patted it's head, making it smile slightly. He showed Keith the styler as he walked over, but the ginger-haired wanna-be ranger was staring at him queerly. Kellyn gave him the classic 'What?' look.
"Oh, nothing" Keith mumbled "It's just...I thought I..." He shook his head. "Never mind. Let's go to Mr Kincaid's classroom."
Kincaid's classroom was just about the same as theirs, minus the crates.
"Okay, this clue" Keith began, then he stopped and beamed "Man, I always wanted to toilet-paper this place. Argh...no! Stop thinking about pranks Keith! Huh?... Did I say that out loud? Never mind, here's the clue: Rhythmi's styler."
'Rhythmi's styler' Kellyn folded his arms and thought 'Well, that's obvious.' He walked over to Kincaid's desk, opened the only book on it and removed the styler from the core of it.
"So quick?" Keith complained "How did you know it was there?"
She's obvious: a bookworm.
"That obvious?" Keith asked, he sighed "I guess. Well, only one left. The library." The crossed to the final room in the north-west of the courtyard. The library lights worked, but they were so dim they were near useless. But Kellyn could see the styler: hanging on a string dangling from the ceiling.
'Oh great, trust Keith to make me do a Flying Angel or something!' he thought 'How'd he get it up there anyway?' He walked under the styler and tried to jump up and catch it. He missed. He did an half-turn mid-jump and his fingers clipped it. Finally, he lost his patience. His eyes turned blue-white and the string automatically snapped, the styler falling into Kellyn's hand. But although he grinned at Keith, the other boy's eyes were wide with shock.
'Oh Great Arceus! He saw that!' Was the only thought pounding through Kellyn's head. Keith marched over to Kellyn and stared deep into his now blue-green eyes, as if determined to get them to change colour again.
"I knew it" he muttered. Kellyn's heart sank like a stone.
You knew I was a psychic being?
"I was actually going to say I knew your eyes changed colour" Keith corrected him "I saw it twice: first when you were capturing those Bidoof. Again when you captured that Pichu. And then it happened again now. I think I'm the only one who's noticed it though." He noticed Kellyn's worried face. "Hey, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It'll be great blackmail for the witting of the next test notes! Anyway, so they're to do with psychic powers?" Kellyn shrugged.
I think so. My brother had them, I think.
"Your brother?" Keith asked "I thought you only had a sister?" Kellyn shook his head and before his brain caught up what his hand was doing he wrote:
I have an older brother, older sister and a younger foster sister.
As Keith looked baffled, he quickly added:
Long story.
"Okay" Keith shrugged "You passed your test, that's what matters. Let's put these stylers at the top of the basement stairs then."
Kellyn had just put down the stylers on the very top step when they heard a loud bang from downstairs.
"What was that?" Keith asked, sounding spooked. Kellyn stood up and began to walk down the steps "Huh? Kel! Don't go down there! There could be ghosts... Er...I mean ghost Pokémon! Yes; ghost-type Pokémon!" Kellyn ignored him, not stopping his descent. "Wait for me!"
The corridor was light enough for Kellyn to make out a few Ghastlys hanging around, but not light enough for him to see the big wooden signpost before he banged into it. He let out a yelp just as Keith caught up to him.
"Huh? A barrier?" Keith shone the torch on a row of crates and signposts in a line across the corridor "Who put this up here?"
Kellyn shrugged, then noticed a Zubat flying around. His styler's antenna materialised.
'Capture...on!' The capture disk flew towards it's target.
'Capture complete! Zubat - Cut!' The Zubat sent a whirlwind to knock down the signpost before flying off 'Thank you!'
They progressed around a corner until they reached a door slightly ajar with light streaming out of it.
"D-do we have to look inside?" Keith stuttered in a whisper. Kellyn nodded. "Oh! Well...hustle then! I can't take much more of this!"
Without warning, two Ghastlys materialised in front of them, not looking happy at their territory being disturbed.
"BWAAAAH!" Keith fled back around the corner. Kellyn was about to reach for his styler when he clenched his hair in pain. It was like his head was burning.
'What is this?' he thought, his eyes lapsing from blue-green to blue-white again 'A new psychic power?" He took a step backwards and the Ghastlys blinked. It was like they couldn't see him as the burning sensation stopped massacring his brain. They appeared to look straight through him! He looked down at his hands and saw they weren't there anymore.
'Am I...invisible?' He looked at the plainly confused Ghastlys as the dematerialised. He then froze as the door opened. A blond-haired teacher with blue eye and way too much hair gel appeared.
'Is that...Mr Kincaid?' Kellyn pondered. The man snorted, looking straight through a stiffened Kellyn.
"Nothing" he told someone "Probably just a Ghastly."
"Oh...good" a different voice said.
'No it can't be!' Kellyn silently gasped.
"Was the experiment a success?" Mr Kincaid asked.
"It's impossible to say yet. The computer systems aren't complete. But it's only a matter of adjustment now."
"Good" Mr Kincaid said "I counting on you, you known that."
"Yes sir."
Unable to take it any more, Kellyn raced around the corner and up the stairs. One thought dominated his head.
'That second voice...I'm sure of it... It was Isaac's!'
Keith was, predictably, fretting at the top of the stairs. When he saw Kellyn return, he gave a sigh of relief.
"Kel! Oh thank Arceus!" he panted like he'd run a marathon "I was worried you'd been eaten by the Ghastlys! I was about to go searching for you!"
'Yeah, sure you were' Kellyn thought. He tried to think positive as he wrote something down.
Does this mean I pass the bravery test?
"Oh boy, does it ever!" Keith puffed "Come on, I'll kill Rhythmi of she dares give us anything less than an A*!" As they headed up the stairs, Kellyn wondered if he should tell Keith about the voices he heard. He decided against it - no need to worry his friend any more than necessary.