Blake was completely oblivious to Abigail's comments. The girl in front of him had his complete attention. Thankfully, she had followed Blake's advice and started mumbling to herself the
'I am fine' mantra. Alex approached them, bringing with him a chair for her to sit. Blake watched as she nodded thanks to Alex and sat down on the chair.
"Thanks man" Blake told Alex as he himself stood up, tidying up his coat.
"Phew, you gotta be carefull with those panic attacks" he told the girl with a smile.
“Here! I got this for you guys. And I hope you feel better soon, Peggy."
Said the pink-haired girl and placed a repel down on the floor, next to the chair.
"So timid girl's name is Peggy. Noted."“Nice to meet you. My name’s Melody Hemlock. This is Avery, and that’s Peggy. And that just now, with the Nidoran, was Abigail!”
"...and her name is Melody. I already knew about Avery from Elm's little introduction earlier, Hey" he responded to Avery's greeting.
"...but why are you excited to introduce her?" Blake wondered. In the small amount of time he had known Abigail, he had already grown to despise her guts. He resolved to completely ignore her, now and throughout their journey.
Then, Prof. Elm jumped in their little conversation,
"Alright everyone! It's been a pleasure making all of your acquaintances! Now though, its time all of you got going."
"Well, I guess he has a point. Everyone except her is getting along fine" Blake nodded in agreement.
"....and what about our licences?" he was about to say but Elm's little assistant beat him to it,
"Um, professor? What about their licences?" The professor seemed to space out for a moment, processing the question before giving an answer,
"Oh, right! Sorry, I almost forgot. Alfred, if you could pass them out please. Make sure you keep up with those. They are very important if the Police decide to make sure you are a legal trainer."
He told them as Alfred was handing out their licences.
"With this, I'm officially a Pokemon Trainer!" Blake thought excited. He put the licence in one of the pockets of his bag while listening to Prof. Elm continuing his speech.
"I apologize for the last second hold up! But now that everything is done, young trainers, the world of pokemon now awaits you! You'll face many challenges - especially if you decide to challenge the Gyms, but I'm certain that all of you will do great things. Now, enough of me rambling like the old man I am. Now, your first stop would be Route 29, just east of New Bark. Some of you came through there on your way in. It'll probably take you a day on foot to reach Cherry Grove, but I'm certain all of you will make it. Now, be careful out there and have a fun journey!"
Well, Cherrygrove City seemed like a logical first destination to Blake as he looked at his Pokegear's map. Although, they could very much follow the path he took to get to New Bark. Go through the Dark Cave straight to Blackthorn. Of course, Blake had the help of experienced Hikers when he traveled through the Cave. This group was pretty much just a bunch of newbie trainers, making it very possible for someone to get hurt while travelling. Melody for one though, seemed unfazed by all that. Blake could swear she would follow Abigail to the end of the world, if it came down to that.
Blake watched as one after another, they started leaving the lab. First was Abigail, followed by Melody. After bidding farewell to Alfred, Avery followed behind the two. Then Ryley and Peggy and after them, Alex.
"Well, what am I waiting for?" Blake told himself and with his usual, confident stride, exited Elm's Lab. He quickly looked around, found the group and joined them.