[center][h3][color=39b54a]- Peggy Atkinson -[/color][/h3][/center]

[color=f49ac2]“Sorry, gotta go! Peggy, the repel on the floor is for you. I’m going to go catch up to Abigail. You guys hurry, okay? Bye!”[/color]

Peggy lifted her head slightly as she watched Melody rush out the lab after Abigail. She frowned slightly. After Abigail had been so mean, how could Melody be so eager to hang around her? Then again, the way Melody talked about Abigail made it seem like the two knew each other. Maybe they were childhood friends and Melody was just used to Abigail being a jerk? That was the only excuse Peggy's depressed and embittered mind could come up with.

She glanced down at the repel Melody had dropped on the floor and, despite the fact her body felt incredibly heavy, she got off the chair and scooped up the repel and put it in her bag alongside the other one.

One of the other trainers, a boy with light brown hair, spoke up to her. [color=fff200]“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just good to know you’re fine,”[/color] he said. 

Peggy managed to smile at him. Well, maybe it wasn't all that bad, then. She had two repels, which was more than anyone else had, Melody seemed to care enough about her to give her a gift, and all these trainers she hardly knew cared enough to make sure she didn't keel over from panic. How did that song go? 'Always look on the bright side of life'?

Anyhow, she decided she should run after the rest of the group so as not to be left behind. She particularly wanted to keep up with Avery and Melody, Avery because he was the first person she had met and she wanted to make sure he hadn't gotten a bad impression of her from earlier, and Melody because Peggy had decided that, of all the group, she seemed to be one of the kindest and probably the most tolerant. After all, she seemed to be able to put up with Abigail's bullshit.

[color=39b54a]'No, no, I mustn't think like that,'[/color] Peggy thought to herself scoldingly. Sure, she herself didn't like Abigail, but Melody did, and Peggy liked Melody, so she should at least try to put up with Abigail for Melody's sake, right? Right then and there, Peggy made an internal vow to try and be nice to Abigail...

... no matter how much she didn't want to. 

Steeling herself for a moment and taking in a deep breath, she made her way out of the lab, giving a shy wave behind her to the Professor and his assistant before following after the rest of the group. They were already a little ahead, so she had to run for a few minutes to catch up. One she did, she quietly started walking behind Avery, shyly pulling her hat down once again as she did so.

She thought about trying to start a conversation but quickly decided against it, knowing full well she'd probably end up sounding like an idiot. Instead, she decided to preoccupy herself with thinking about what Pokemon she would try and catch one they got onto the route. She'd definitely try to catch a Pokemon, and do her best to be gentle and friendly to it so it wouldn't take against her like Houndour had.

Oh yeah, she still needed to think of a name for Houndour. Peggy frowned. She wasn't all that good with naming things. She tried to think... what had her father name his Mightyena again? Jet, she think it was, after the gemstone. Okay, maybe a gemstone name. As they headed towards the route, she started running through the list of gemstones she knew, trying to figure out which would be the best.