[center][h1][color=00a651]~ROUTE 29~[/color][/h1][/center]
[b][u][color=f49ac2][h3][center]~Melody Hemlock~[/center][/h3][/color][/u][/b]
[color=662d91]“I can take care of it myself,”[/color] said Abigail, pulling out a bottle of expensive-looking shampoo. Examining the label, Melody found herself rather impressed. That [i]was[/i] a good brand. 

"Straight from Kalos,” Abigail continued.[color= 662d91] "I made sure to come prepared. Not to mention the other stuff I have in here specifically for taking care of my hair.” [/color]She tucked the shampoo bottle away. [color=662d91]"But yes, I can handle my hair myself. I'm not letting anyone else even touch it." [/color]

Melody sighed. Well, not trusting anyone else to mess with her hair… Melody could understand that. It was pretty wise, in fact! Just as expected from Abigail.

[color=f49ac2]“Oh, of course!”[/color] she said, smiling even despite her disappointment.[color=f49ac2] “I totally understand.”[/color]

And then Avery, who had taken a little while to think his answer through, nodded and said, [color=f7941d]“I don’t wanna be bald. Please and thank you.”[/color]

Melody beamed. She’d [i]known[/i] she had a good feeling about this guy. “Great!” she said. He was a good deal taller than her, so she tugged him down more to her level, whipped out her trusty hair brush, and started brushing out most of the webbing, careful not to tug too hard.

Brushing the stuff out of Avery’s brown hair was kind of fun, actually. Once upon a time, Melody had wanted to be a hair stylist… of course, she’d also wanted to be a pastry chef, and a teacher, or maybe even a farmer. But none of those professions were appropriate for a proper young lady, or so her mother had told her, at least.

After that little impromptu haircare session was done, she released him, patting him on the shoulder. She suddenly liked Avery a whole lot more than she originally had. It was probably because he wasn’t really a threat to Abigail, [i]and[/i] he let her play with his hair. Which was always a plus.

[color=f49ac2]
“When we get… wherever we’re going,”[/color] she told him, absentmindedly finishing up her own hair as well.[color=f49ac2] “You’re going to have to borrow my shampoo and wash your hair out properly. There’s still some webbing left in there! All I got out was the dry stuff.”[/color]

[color=662d91]"So, where did we decide we were going? I still think Blackthorn would be best,"[/color] said Abigail.

[color=39b54a]"I-I don't-"[/color] That was Peggy. Melody frowned. She didn’t… agree with Abigail? Why not?

[color=f7941d]“Elm said Blackthorn, right? He always gives some good advice. I say we follow it,”[/color] Avery said.

[color=39b54a]"But, I thought-"[/color] Peggy, again.

And then someone emerged out of the blue, and… hey, wasn’t that the singing guy who’d nearly gotten eaten by his own Totodile? He was back? She’d kind of assumed that he’d gone off with some other trainers, but nope! He was back!

[color=ed1c24]"Whoa, I leave for a while and when I come back all hell has broken loose. What happened?"[/color] said the boy.

Of course, that was exactly when Peggy decided to burst forth with her own little speech. [color=39b54a]"I... we... I-I think we should go to Cherrygrove! I-I m-mean, err, that it's closer a-and our Pokemon are p-probably tired already s-so we should go there, A-and I have f-f-family there, so t-they p-probably w-w-want to know I'm o-okay... So... I think we should..." [/color]She stopped, and stared at her feet.

[color=f49ac2]“We accidentally wandered into a Spinarak nest,”[/color] Melody told the musician boy. [color=f49ac2]“But it was okay. We fought them off. Abigail was really cool! And the rest of us helped too.”[/color]

More importantly, though… Peggy didn’t want to go to Blackthorn? But why? Did she just dislike Abigail, or something? Well, to be honest, it probably [i]would[/i] be more reasonable to go to Cherrygrove. But…

Well, Melody didn’t like it. She felt a surge of resentment. What if Peggy was just trying to get Abigail’s attention? That wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t do at [i]all.[/i]

Still, she forced a smile. It looked pretty natural, actually. Melody had always been good at lying.[color=f49ac2] “Why don’t we do a vote then?” [/color]she said, fairly cheerfully. [color=f49ac2]“That way everyone gets a say. But you can abstain if you want. It’s pretty obvious that Abigail and Avery are voting for Blackthorn, and Peggy’s voting for Cherrygrove, right? I guess I’ll throw my vote in for Blackthorn, myself. I do want that Zubat, after all, and I don’t think we can get one on the way to Cherrygrove.”[/color]

There. That sounded plenty reasonable. Right?