Agatha trotted merrily next to her girl, careful not to walk too far ahead. April liked to think she was the fastest out of the two of them, but she had another thing coming if she thought she could best her Absol in a race. Not that she'd tell her that - her girl would be miserable (not to mention insufferable) in her useless efforts to surpass her.

No, she thought as she looked at her girl, it would be best if April doesn't know she's the human equivalent of a Blastoise.

Speaking of pokémon, Aggie and her peltless friend would be getting a new travel companion! She didn't much enjoy the idea of having to share April with another 'mon, but she supposed it couldn't hurt to have a backup to protect her friend if she wasn't there for some reason or another.

It would be nice not to be the only one stressing out over my girl tripping over her own feet...

Speaking of which -

"Watch out!"

"Fuck!"

And down she went. Who knew going from Petalburg to Littleroot would be this much of a hassle?

Well, she did. Obviously. Her girl just hadn't gotten the memo yet, though she doubted it would do much good considered this was, you know, April.

Agatha actually used to wonder if her disaster sense was faulty, before realizing her girl was just unlucky. Really, really unlucky. Honestly, it was a wonder April hadn't killed herself yet. Who knew what she'd do if that ever happened in her lifetime. Probably something bold...and stupid.

Mostly stupid.

Agatha shoved those cryptic thoughts to the back of her mind - where they belonged - and tried to help her girl up, which was quite difficult considering she had claws and no opposable thumbs whatsoever. In the end, they managed, but at the cost of a bit of skin from her girl. April said she was fine, but that didn't stop the Absol from trying to bite her nails off when her girl wasn't looking.

Meanwhile, April dusted herself off, scowling to herself. "Jeez, if I'm like this on the way to the freaking lab, I won't even make it halfway to the first badge..." She seemed to remember something and turned towards her, flashing a smile. "Thanks, by the way."

Agatha yipped a quick "You're welcome", before pushing her snout against her to assess the damage.

April smiled at her antics, probably thinking she was just being silly. She'd stopped being embarrassed at such a thing years ago. Instead, she pushed herself closer to her girl, and a nice warm hand stroked her fur before going still.

Her girl sighed. "Was this a mistake, Aggie?" If she'd looked at her, she would have seen her frown. "Be honest with me. Will it be worth it?"

Agatha took a step away from her girl and closed her eyes, focusing solely on her disaster-sense.

Righteous anger...

Breathtaking fear...

Unstoppable euphoria...

Awe and...hope...

She opened her eyes, only to see her girl staring expectantly at her.

"So...?" Oh, sweet Arceus, she's even biting her lip!

She raised a paw, conflicted. If she told her about the first batch, she would no doubt be heartbroken. If she said everything would be okay, she'd be lying.

She ended up drawing a plus and a minus together, their symbol for So, so. Her girl pursed her lips, a little off-put by the lack of information.

Finally, she shrugged, letting the matter rest for the moment. "I guess it would be kind of unfair to ask you to predict an entire journey, huh?" She smiled, though her heart clearly wasn't in it.

"Let's go."