It was a great inconvenience for the only library of particular note in the region to be so far from her home, but gathering information for her magnitudinous quest was all-important. So Cindy was happy to brave the wilds between Celestic Town and the Canalave Library.
The quest to perfect the prototype Pokemon Index, gifted to her by Professor Oak, had turned her into a remarkable trainer. Wild Pokemon and anxious trainers jumped out her at every turn, forcing her to become stronger or risk the failure of her mission. After all, if she wasn't strong enough to face the world, she couldn't very well study it.
Some people didn't take losses well, she discovered; one boy in particular, a hyperactive child with messy spikes of blonde hair, a contrast to her carefully straightened strands (that were just as blonde), hounded her whenever he could for a rematch. And lost every time. It made her wonder why he kept trying, and how long he'd stick around until she could get some actual quiet time to study.
"Hey! Hey Cynthia, HEY!" The boy sat on the opposite side of the table she did, body hanging over the edge of it, arms spastically flopping about in a rocksteady rhythm. "Are you done yet? Can we battle? I want to battle!" Like he wasn't annoying enough, he had to call her by her full name. It was embarrassing.
It was such an ugly sweater he wore, the deep forest green clashing with his bright hair. Not like her; blondes pulled off a mostly-black ensemble perfectly well. The silks and felts didn't appreciate the harshness of traveling, but they could put a sock in it.
"Palmer." The young girl began calmly, flipping her hair without ever taking her eyes from the book she was currently engrossed in. The frustration was there, and in full force, but she was getting good at keeping it tucked away. "You know, Rhyhorn are very stubborn Pokemon. Once they have their sights locked on a target, they won't stop chasing them until they've caught them."
Palmer smirked, deciding it was some kind of comment on his dogged determination. "Heh. Sound pretty awesome to me! With enough determination and effort, anything can be-"
"It's not from any particular sense of accomplishment. Their brains are roughly the size of an Apricorn. They'll also lose a target if they forget about them."
Palmer pouted and slapped his arms against the table again. "I'm way smarter than a Rhyhorn! I'll never give up on my dreams, nothing can make me forget! Now let's battle!"
"No." She replied quickly, sighing in exasperation and turning the page of her book.
"GAAAH. You're afraid, that's it!" He shouted out, louder than one should be in a library. Her aloofness was driving him crazy! "You know your good luck has run out, and you can't bring yourself to face me again in case your win streak ends! I bet if we-"
"Hey Palmer." She interrupted again, flipping the book around so he could see. A picture of an ugly-looking fish, staring agape into the camera. "This is a Pokemon called Feebas. They're extremely rare, despite being difficult to raise and, well...difficult to look at. Why do you suppose that is?" His
Palmer narrowed his golden eyes at the black and white photograph, puffing out his cheeks in thought. "Well...maybe they're so ugly, they can't stand to look at each other, so they just stopped breeding! Not like me. I am going to be swimming in ladies once I become Champion."
Cindy flipped to the next page in his book, another black and white photograph. This one of a serpentine fish, tail a lovely array of color...as far as black and white photographs could show, at least. "This is Milotic. The adult form of Feebas. It's very beautiful and quite powerful. No one's really sure how the evolution works yet, but it's been recorded to happen a few times. It's very mysterious."
Palmer puffed his cheeks out again, putting on a dumbfounded expression. He didn't really get where she was going with all this.
"Take it to heart; just because something is one way, doesn't mean it will always be that way. Someone you think of as an ugly little Feebas right now could become a majestic Milotic while you're not looking. My grandma always taught me that the potential in-"
"NERRRRRRD." It was Palmer's turn to interrupt now, standing up and pointing accusingly at the girl, his shout raising the ire of the few other people on their floor of library. "This is all pointless! Your lecture is dumb! I wasn't even calling you ugly, I was calling you a jerk! You're very pretty!"
"Thank you!" She accepted the compliment with a smile.
"But you're also a jerk who won't battle me because you're too busy passing out jerk lessons to other jerks at your jerk seminar in here! It's like some kind of jerk convention and I got lost on my way to the totally sweet rally!"
Gah, he never shut up! Cindy slammed the book down angrily, standing up and slamming the heavy tome on the table. "FINE! We'll battle, you impatient hothead! LET'S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE."
They didn't have much of a choice, since the librarian kicked them both out for making such ruckus.