Mariana was aghast. What had Amelia done to her? No amount of self-justification could change the fact that she wasn't acting like herself back there. Now she would have to travel with Amelia throughout the region. Though a small, detestable part of her felt joy at this, Mariana was dreading the upcoming days that she'd be subjected to further psychological attacks.
It'll be alright, Mariana told herself. Just keep reminding yourself just how beneath you she his, and you'll be fine.
So what had she come inside for again? Ah, right, a Pokedex.
The rest of the flock were crowding around the pile of Pokedexes, so Mariana waited until they had mostly dispersed before grabbing one for herself.
So this is a Pokedex. It's fairly bland that the only color is red, she thought - if it were up to her, no Pokedex's color scheme would match another among the new trainers. Honestly, she had no interest in documenting all Pokemon. Why do something that so many others have done? Then again, that's how she viewed Pokemon journeys, yet here she was. So, out of curiosity, she turned it on.
Silence.
That's... odd. The other trainers' Pokedexes were all describing their starter Pokemon for them in a deep and soothing voice - miles better than the robot voice the TV shows give the thing, she admitted - so why wasn't hers?
Could it be because Lancelot was currently still outside with Amelia? Yeah, nice going there, genius, leaving your Pokemon with your greatest threat. She had to admit it was not her greatest move. Was it good form for a Pokemon trainer to completely forget about a Pokemon outside its Pokeball? Probably not.
Come to think of it, though she'd brought the subject up as a joke... what was good form for a Pokemon trainer? She knew very little on the subject of Pokemon husbandry. Was this just something kids were expected to know, the intricacies of taming a crazed Vigoroth? Again, she didn't know why Pokemon journeys were so tolerated in a civilized world.
It would probably be best for her to research the topic, then, lest Lancelot turn against his master. Or die, that wouldn't be too good either. Just a simple self-help book would do, though Mariana was averse to such a middle-class genre. The lab was filled with books scattered everywhere, surely one would help her.
Confident she wouldn't be caught amidst everything else going on in the room (and preparing an excuse in case she did), she examined a disorganized bookshelf. It held books generally about Pokemon biology, in no particular order. Elmian reproduction, Darwinian metamorphosis, even some science fiction.
In the end she chose Pocamona Draconum, by Doctor Daniel Ray Agon, if only because she was a sucker for New Latin.
Next to the book was a small envelope (though envelopes, loose papers and bookmarks were strewn about the bookshelf all over, so it wasn't out of the ordinary). Pretending to do so accidentally, she grabbed both the book and the envelope with one hand and pulled them from the bookshelf. Then, after finding a seat for herself, she slipped the envelope into the book, opened the book, and began reading.
