The doctors said he could go home in the morning, so Cedric was just sitting on the floor of the lobby, thinking about what he would have said to Beck in goodbye. He didn't really expect Beck to stay behind because he had to, but he couldn't help but hope. He just couldn't believe a friend as good as Beck would leave so abruptly and without any hint of fellowship in his goodbye.
Something caught his eye. He stood and walked to the item by the garbage. It was a little red necklace, the red part being half of a Pokéball. He touched the trinket hanging on his neck. He pulled around his head and held it up next to the found necklace. The red half fit perfectly with his white half, making it read "Friends forever." He sat there for hours with the completed Pokéball in his hands. Many things happened that day: getting mauled by a Furret, having his Pokémon license revoked, but the most painful one was the end of a lifelong friendship. Cedric got to his feet, tossed the necklaces into the waste basket and returned to his room.
In a room adjacent to the lobby, a Sentret was sleeping in a comfy floor bed. The slam of a door woke it up. How long it had been sleeping it did not know. It had been carried to this silent place by a fire-headed she-human. Yawning, it scurried from its sleeping place. It stumbled and a cry of pain and surprise escaped from it. Looking down, it saw the source of its pain: a bandaged stump where its right foreleg had been. It took a few minutes to moan in mourning, then it stood and limped to a light that was streaming from a crack in the wall. It went to investigate and found that a portion of the wall had swung open to reveal an entrance into another peaceful, bland room. It made its way to the middle of the room, not knowing where to go. It attempted to explore and jump up on the giant pedestals, but could not. It saw a container in an accessible area and went to it. It bumped its head against the sleek cylinder until it tipped to the ground and scattered intriguing items onto the floor. It sifted through the trash with its tail until it uncovered something interesting. It was a ball of ruby and ivory with human symbols etched into it. The Sentret immediately became attached to it, so it picked it up feverishly by the silver and gold chains that circled around it and limped back to its sleeping quarters.
A few months past and Cedric was enrolled in school. He got over what he was calling "Beck's betrayal." He was still depressed about the loss of a friend and a missed chance of a lifetime, but he was content. Cedric opened the door to Adeline's house in New Bark Town. Adeline had stayed behind with Cedric. He didn't know if it was sympathy, friendship, or that she was taking her own words of advice and prepare for her journey. Cedric and Adeline made a deal that he would go to school and she would learn everything she could from Professor Elm as his understudy. The two would come meet up at his or Adeline's house every day to exchange notes. Cedric told Adeline about the battle techniques and type classifications he had learned that day and Adeline showed Cedric the evolution and breeding notes she took from Professor Elm's lecture. After they chatted about their day and Adeline showed some sketches she drew of the Pokémon at the edge of the town.
"I want to watch you draw. Come on!" He grabbed her art supplies and led her down to the edge of town. Adeline ran to a stump and sat cross-legged on it, pencil to paper, waiting. Cedric sat at the edge of the stump, looking over her shoulder. He tried to start a conversation, but Adeline shushed him.
"You'll scare them away." She whispered. After a few lagging minutes they heard a rustle. A Hoothoot bounced out of the grass sleepily. Adeline drew some lines, then erased them. She drew the shape of the Hoothoot's body then carefully and slowly marked where the eyes were. The Hoothoot pecked at the ground. There was the snap of a pencil tip snapping, Adeline cursed and the Hoothoot flew away. Adeline sighed. "I guess I'll have to draw the rest from memory…" She turned around at Cedric. "What are you laughing at?" Cedric was bent over. He couldn't stop laughing.
"I… don't… think… that scenario... could have been… played out more perfectly than that." She punched him, which made him start laughing all over again. He wiped the tears out of his eyes.
"I didn't know you were capable of cursing."
"Neither did I." They both shared a laughed.
The water tasted fresh and good. It wet its throat and satisfied its belly. The reflection of white and crimson light danced in the rippling water. A sound made it perk up. It was a loud, deep sound that filled its heart with warmth. It was a feeling it hadn't felt before. Curious about the source of the sound, it crept, a little at a time, towards the source. Keeping its ears perked it made its way through the lush green grass. Every blade that touched it made it be more soothed. Its nose twitched with new scents as it reached a tall stump. Two humans, like the ones that took its leg, were sitting. It sat down and listened to the rich sound that seemed to radiate from their hearts and souls. It wanted to make that sound.
Their laugh was interrupted by a shrill, chirping noise coming from behind. They both turned, startled, around at the source of the noise.
"A Sentret!" Adeline cried joyfully. She began feverishly scribbling in her book.
"Hey, whatcha got there?" Cedric asked it. He had noticed the ball hanging from its neck. "Hey… That's…" Adeline stopped drawing and touched Cedric's arm.
"Cedric, look, its missing a leg." Indeed it was. The stump looked healed, but out of place.
"That thing it's wearing used to be Beck's and mine. It was our friendship necklace we got when we were kids." Adeline reached out her hand cautiously. The Sentret sniffed at her hand curiously. It nuzzled her and walked up to the two. "There was a Sentret at the lab that day." Cedric said. He picked the Sentret up and cradled it in his arms. He gently touched the stump of its right leg and it whimpered. "Just like that day…" Cedric said. "but it didn't have its leg amputated, right? I just broke it." Adeline was in a daze.
"Professor Elm said it had a serious infection and that if we didn't bring it in when we did, it would have been incurable." She looked at Cedric. "This is that Sentret and you saved its life." Cedric thoughtfully touched the ball around the Sentret's neck and it growled a bit.
"So that's where it went to, huh?" He told it. "Maybe it's fate you found it. It looks like you're our new friend!" Adeline stood up.
"Let's bring it back to my house! We can feed it there and then let it go where it likes." Cedric stood with the Sentret still in its arms and they walked off towards home.
Adeline walked through the door to Cedric's house.
"Hello Mrs. Waldron." Cedric's mom looked up from the book she was reading.
"Hello, Adeline! How was your day, dear?" Adeline smiled politely.
"It was fine, thank you. The Professor let me analyze some of his injured Pokémon." Mrs. Waldron marveled at her.
"That's great, dear! I never thought Frank would let anyone other than himself examine his Pokémon." Adeline fiddled with her hands.
"Well it was only because every time he tried to get close to that Croconaw of his, it tried to take a finger off!" Her hand went to her arm, where under the sleeve was a bandage. She would have to work on her friend-making skills.
"Well, Cedric's up in his room reading his textbook again. It was nice seeing you, dear."
"Thanks, Mrs. Waldron!" Adeline said as she started to climb the stairs. She glanced behind her to see if it was still there. It was, but it had a hard time climbing the stairs. "C'mon, you." She picked up the Sentret with a grunt and carried it upstairs. Cedric's door creaked a little when she opened it. She walked over to the bed where Cedric was reading. She placed a finger on the book in his face and pushed it down. "Sup." She said. Cedric looked up from his book.
"Hey ya." He looked at the Sentret in Adeline's arms.
"Look you followed me here." She scratched its ears, making it smile. "After we fed it and you left, it came back and wouldn't leave!" Cedric scratched The Sentret's belly.
"Hey there, little guy." Cedric stood up from his bed. "You know, if it's going to be following us around, we should give it a name!" Adeline frowned.
"Cedric, you know we're not allowed to have any Pokémon." Cedric walked over to his whiteboard on the wall.
"But that only counts if we capture it in a Pokéball." He picked up a marker. "Technically it's not ours unless it's in a Pokéball." He wrote on the board 'Names.' And underlined with in red. "So…" He shoved his face into the Sentret's.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" He said mockingly. Adeline giggled.
"This Sentret is a female." The Sentret seemed somewhat aware of what was going on and looked overjoyed to be given a name, jingling its ball around.
"How about… Elpis?" Adeline and Sentret made a face.
"Elpis?" She asked. Cedric wrote the name on the board.
"Yeah. It's supposed to mean 'Hope' in… something." The Sentret shook its head.
"Then why don't you just name is Hope?" Adeline asked sarcastically. Cedric wrote 'Hope' on the board under 'Elpis.' Adeline held out the Sentret, examining it.
"I always liked the name Millie…" Cedric wrote 'Millie' on the board reluctantly. "Ok… anything else?" After a few minutes of suggesting and rejecting names, Cedric had an idea.
"How about…" He wrote on the board 'Mellon.' Adeline gave him a skeptical look.
"Melon?" Cedric smiled.
"No. It's Mellon. Like May-On. You know how some languages pronounce double L's like a Y?" Adeline gave an "uh-huh". "Well. Mellon means 'friend' in some lost language. And since she became our acquaintance through the beginning of our friendship, we should call her that!"
'And the end of Beck's and your friendship too.' Adeline thought, but she was already warming up to the name. "Okay. Let's call her Mellon!" She looked at Mellon, who seemed to consider the name and gave something like a shrug. "Nice to meet you, Mellon!"