[center][h1][color=00a651]~ROUTE 29~[/color][/h1][/center]
[b][u][color=f49ac2][h3][center]~Melody Hemlock~[/center][/h3][/color][/u][/b]
[color=662d91]"Ahah! Take that you stupid bug!"[/color] shouted Abigail, sounding very much pleased with herself. She picked up the Pokeball with a smile.

Melody couldn’t help but smile in return. Abigail had caught her first Pokemon! And they’d fought off a veritable army of Spinarak, too. Abigail was so [i]amazing![/i] They'd never have been able to do any of this without her. After all, what kind of newbie trainer ended up battling swarms of wild Pokemon within the first hour of their career as a trainer? 

Heck, what kind of newbie trainer battled swarms of wild Pokemon within the first hour of their career as a trainer and [i]won?[/i]

Abigail did, of course. Maybe Melody had helped a little, but Abigail was the one who had led their battle and beaten off those Spinarak in the end, wasn't she?

There really [i]was[/i] no one quite as amazing as Abigail.

And then a stream of webbing shot out of a tree, attaching itself to Abigail and dragging the other girl away, and Melody froze. There came a loud, angry hiss... and out of the trees descended the most enormous Ariados that she had ever seen in her life.

Not, of course, that Melody had seen many Ariados, being the sheltered city girl that she was. But. Well--

[i]THAT THING WAS FREAKING HUGE.[/i]

Also, Melody did [i]not[/i] like how close its jaws were to Abigail's leg. She couldn't very well have Tesla attack it: there was no way the Mareep was going to be able to beat [i]that,[/i] type advantage or not, so she went for her switchblade instead. Maybe it wouldn't do too much damage, but at least she'd be able to distract it while Abigail ran--

Oh. Never mind. Abigail was already scrambling to her feet and running for the main path, as was Avery.

Well, they clearly had the right idea.

Returning Tesla to his Pokeball with a quick press of a button, Melody span on her heel and ran for it. She sure as hell wasn't going to try and fight that thing if she didn't have to.

It didn't take long for her to catch up to Abigail. Melody's rather small stature meant for less wind resistance, right? But they had to keep running: the Ariados was howling behind them, and judging by the webbing that was getting sprayed [i]everywhere,[/i] it was definitely giving chase.

And... hey, was that Blake?

[color=darkkhaki]"Use Mudsport! That ought to slow them down!"[/color] he yelled to his Swinub. Well, that was certainly smart of him... but Melody sure as hell wasn't sticking around to see what happened next.

[color=f49ac2]"Come on!" [/color]she said, grabbing Abigail's hand. Under normal circumstances, this would probably have delighted her (after all, she was [i]holding Abigail's hand[/i]), but right now... yeah, she was a little more concerned with running faster than the rampaging spider monster chasing them.

By the time they burst onto the main path, it looked like they had lost the Ariados. All three of them were absolutely [i]covered[/i] in webbing, though it didn't look like the other two had noticed yet.

Melody looked down at her web-covered clothes, back up at the others who had missed their little misadventure in the woods... and promptly started giggling.

[color=f49ac2]"Oh Arceus,"[/color] she choked out between peals of laughter. [color=f49ac2]"We just fought off a horde of Spinarak. And faced certain death by Ariados. Oh Arceus."[/color] She was laughing so hard that she had to stop talking, letting go of Abigail's hand to cover her face as she giggled helplessly. [color=f49ac2]"And we're [i]covered[/i] in Spinarak webbing. I can help you get it out of your hair, if you want?" [/color]

Okay, the laughter was starting to stop, finally. Thank goodness. She looked up to meet Abigail's gaze, and then promptly blushed and had to look away again. [color=f49ac2]"I'm, um... pretty good with fashion. And stuff like that. And, uh... your hair's really pretty, so it would be a shame to let it get ruined by that dumb Ariados, right?"[/color]

Then she remembered her manners. Oh, right! She certainly couldn't exclude Avery-- after all, he was just as web-covered as Abigail was. Granted, [i]he[/i] wasn't her Best-Friend-Forever, but, well. It was important to be gracious, wasn't it?

[color=f49ac2]"I can help you get the webbing out of your hair, too?"[/color] she offered Avery, biting her lip. [color=f49ac2]"It's not really too hard, actually... but Spinarak webbing is kind of like glue, and if you don't get it out right, you might have to cut it out."[/color]