[b][u][color=f49ac2][h3][center]~Melody Hemlock~[/center][/h3][/color][/u][/b]
[color=662d91]“Abigail. Abigail Blanchett.”[/color]

Melody’s smile brightened even further. Of course her new best friend –Abigail, Melody corrected herself—had a beautiful name! It was like… like with paintings, right? You didn’t paint a masterpiece and name it “untitled”, did you? Nope! You named it something amazing, and fitting of its beauty!

Before she had a chance to do anything (like, for example, praise Abigail’s name or ask her any more questions), however, a voice rang out from the back of the lab. An older man in a lab coat and some very, very ugly clothes emerged from the back room. He seemed rather chirpy. “Oh! So[b]rry for the hold up, kids! I was running some tests in the back. Let's see… Well, it seems like we're still missing one, but it can't be helped. If he's late, then he's late. Uhm... let’s see, right! Introductions first, I think!”[/b]

He introduced himself. Professor Elm, huh? Well, Melody had obviously heard the name before. He was world famous! Of course, he’d lost quite a few fans since the Pokemon all started getting aggressive. Still a household name, of course, but… well, he certainly wasn’t as popular as he’d once been.

And he was also nattering on and on about… eggs? Boring, boring! Melody’s attention started to drift, but before the Professor had rambled on for [i]too[/i] long, his assistant came over to tug at his lab coat. Well, thank goodness for that!

[b]“Hm? Oh, right! Sorry!”[/b] he said.

Melody frowned. [color=f49ac2]“He’s kind of weird, huh?” [/color]she whispered to Abigail.

Nevertheless, after getting back on track, the Professor showed them to the back of the lab, and they all lined up. Somehow, Melody had ended up fourth in line, and Abigail was… last? What? How had that happened?!

Melody bit her lip, chastising herself for not sticking closer to Abigail. What if one of the other trainers tried chatting her up, or something?

The first kid in line had seemed pretty frantic about getting first pick. He chose his Pokemon easily… a Swinub? Huh, well that was pretty cool.

The next person was a girl. She was short: even shorter than Melody, in fact! Wow, that was actually pretty amazing. Melody didn’t meet many people shorter than her. She hesitated for a long time at the table, and Melody frowned. That wasn’t good. Abigail was all the way at the back, after all. The longer this girl took deciding, the longer Abigail would have to wait.

She decided on a Pokemon eventually though, and released it: a small, red and black… dog thing. Wait, she knew what that was! A Houndour, right?

It promptly bit her on the arm. Melody suppressed a smile: okay, this girl probably wouldn’t be a threat to her friendship with Abigail. She seemed too… helpless. Maybe she’d go strike up a conversation with her later.

The third person in line chose a Phanpy… and promptly starting crying.

[i]What[/i]? Maybe she’d seen wrong. She took a closer look, just in case—woah, he really [i]was[/i] crying! Okay, he definitely wouldn’t be a threat to her and Abigail. She’d talk to him too.

And then it was her turn. She walked up to the table… and promptly froze, suddenly uncharacteristically uncertain about what to do.

It was just… there were so many [i]options[/i], and she didn’t know what to do. What if she chose wrong? What if she chose a Pokemon that didn’t like her? Scratch that, what if she chose a Pokemon that Abigail didn’t like?

Or worse. What if she chose a Pokemon that Abigail really [i]did[/i] like, and deprived her of something?

The thought sent chills down her spine. That was definitely the worst case scenario. She quickly went over everything she knew about Abigail: well, her name was Abigail Blanchett. She was really, [i]really[/i] pretty, kind of like a goddess, descended upon earth. And… uh… she seemed kind of tough! Maybe she liked tough Pokemon?

Well, that settled it. She skimmed the selection of Pokemon, and quickly came to the conclusion that she couldn’t go for the Tyrogue. And Eevee was a pretty popular Pokemon too, wasn’t it? Well, she couldn’t choose that one either, then! After all, if it was popular, then there was a good chance that Abigail would want one!

What else couldn’t she choose? Hm… the classical starters. Everyone liked the classical starters. So she couldn’t take one of those. Instead, she’d choose…

The Mareep!

That was perfect. After all, it was relatively common, so if Abigail wanted one, she’d easily be able to grab one for herself. It wasn’t a popular choice for a starter, either, mostly [i]because[/i] it was so common.

And it was cute. Okay, Melody wasn’t going to lie: that had been a big part of her decision too.

[color=f49ac2]“I’ll take the Mareep!”[/color] she said out loud. She moved away from the table, and released it.

It was just as cute as she’d thought. To be honest, she had no idea if it was a boy or a girl, so she’d hold off on naming it until she got a Pokedex or something. She picked it up.

Ow, static shock. But never mind: it was so cute!

Now what? Should she go keep Abigail company at the back of the line? But she’d seemed kind of annoyed earlier… maybe she should talk to someone else. The crying boy? Yeah, the crying boy.

With that settled, she inched over and tapped him on the shoulder. Was he too busy crying to hear her? Well, she’d try anyway. Friends were important! Not the same thing as Best-Friends-Forever, of course, but important!

[color=f49ac2]“Uh,”[/color] she said, bending down until she was eye level with him. [color=f49ac2]“Hi. I’m Melody. Melody Avery Hemlock, actually! I was wondering… are you alright?”[/color]

There. That was perfectly friendly.