[b][u][color=f49ac2][h3][center]~Melody Hemlock~[/center][/h3][/color][/u][/b]
[color=39b54a]“Let's get out of here! Jasper!"[/color]

Peggy was the first to follow after her when Melody broke into a run. The other girl had seemed to have a bit of trouble with her Houndour, and had had to recall it, but caught up quickly enough. Next came Avery, and then Ryley --who seemed to be doing some kind of bizarre multi-dimensional growl attack thing with his Chikorita, Fern—and then finally, Abigail.

Sprinting past, Melody hadn’t been able to ignore the strangely unhappy look on the other girl’s face. What was Abigail thinking? But then, of course, Abigail seemed to snap out of it, recalling her Spinarak and joining her escaping companions.

And for a moment, it looked like they were in the clear. Melody sighed in relief, feeling a little hopeful--

But the Onix, of course, didn’t seem particularly happy about this. It roared and suddenly started to pick up speed. [i]Rock Polish?[/i] Melody thought in disbelief. [i]Are you kidding me?[/i]

It leapt into the air, surprisingly nimble for such an enormous creature, lobbing rocks at them with its tail as it made to cut off their escape path.

Could they drive it off? Melody bit her lip, uncertain. Even if Blake and Jackson combined forces with their Swinub and Totodile… they were clearly outmatched. All of them were beginners, after all. Would they be able to do it, with a brute-force strategy like that?

A rock landed only inches away from Abigail, and Melody sucked in a breath. She couldn’t let Abigail get hurt. She couldn’t! And what if Blake and Jackson couldn’t drive the creature off?

[color=662d91]"We need a new plan! Like now!"[/color] shouted Abigail. 

There was only one option for Melody. She couldn’t just stay passive and follow after Abigail, hoping that they'd both be fine. If she wanted to be Abigail’s best friend…

Then she had to [i]prove[/i] herself, didn’t she?

She recalled Tesla, and prepared to do something reckless, heroic and maybe a little bit suicidal.

Because really. How [i]dare[/i] that stupid Onix try to endanger Abigail? Okay, so maybe she couldn’t beat it yet… but she could at least try to distract it, right?

[color=f49ac2]“Run, Abigail!” [/color]she yelled. [color=f49ac2]“It’s too fast, we have to split up! I’ll try and lead it in a different direction. You guys get away, I’ll be fine!”[/color]

Would she really…? She wasn’t sure. But, well… let it never be said that Melody Avery Hemlock was a coward. And if this had even the slightest chance of helping Abigail…

Then really, she had no other choice.

Melody swerved, breaking away from the group and towards the Onix.[color=f49ac2] “Thunder wave on the eyes, again!”[/color] she said, and Tesla shot an electrical wave right at the Onix. The bright lights caught its attention, and it howled in fury, swinging around to face her.

She kept running. Melody wasn’t much of an endurance runner, but at least she wasn’t too bad at sprinting when she wanted to be… though she had to admit that she definitely preferred her mother’s emphasis on prim, graceful walking to speeding around like Sonic the Shaymin.

This was quite possibly the bravest, most terrifying thing she’d ever done in her entire life

[color=f49ac2]“Let’s lead it away, Zubat!”[/color] she yelled. Zubat swooped in for another aerial attack, and succeeded in driving the Onix away from the main group… but only narrowly missing getting chomped on.

The Onix roared. It was getting closer and closer, and Melody was starting to get out of breath… but she had to keep running. The Onix was chasing her, wasn't it? She couldn’t see the other trainers when she glanced behind her.

That was a good thing, she told herself. That meant that Abigail was out of danger.

But she couldn’t help the fear making her veins feel like they’d iced over.[color=f49ac2] “Thunder wave again, Tesla!”[/color] she yelled.[color=f49ac2] “On the eyes!”[/color]

Tesla was getting surprisingly good at this whole “aim-for-the-eyes-and-keep-running” thing. Temporarily blinded, the Onix howled. It swung around blindly.

Now what? She was definitely out of breath. Terrified, she threw herself under a bush, doing her best to ignore the creeping sense of revulsion that she was getting from being on her hands and knees in the dirt and grass. It couldn’t see her… right?