It was a nervous first day for this young girl. Melody Summers was a newbie to the VCC, one who had a certain disability; blindness. While she bared the psychic abilities of her Abra genes, her powers would only let her see so much - only from living creatures could she see an aura that glowed with a warm presence to it. It was a hard visual to describe, namely because such a visual was not new to Melody. It was the only sight she knew. 

That wasn't what made her nervous, however. It was certainly a hit to her self-esteem, but that hit had been made ages ago. Rather, she was going to this college at the age of 16, noticeably shorter and younger than her peers. People come in many shapes and sizes due to their species, so she had to just grab onto this hope that she wouldn't stand out, and that her age would never come up during her time here. 

Melody left her dorm in the morning and strolled through the pathway with her new friend and roommate, Angela. Her lack of sight made it difficult to identify all species of Pokemon, but Angela's Reuniclus genes provided her with large translucent arms of a thick yet gelatin-like texture. Through the aura vision, it appeared to Melody that she was simply armless, but she could probably crush a boulder - or at least, that's how Angela put it. 

She was very unpredictable that way. Angela floated by Melody's side and hummed happily on the cool autumn day that Melody could at least feel the breeze of. Despite her high energy, Melody felt comfortable around Angela, because she hardly found that important aspect of her life weird - in fact, Angela said that she had an uncle who was also blind. 

She also proceeded to tell Melody about her uncle's 46th birthday in great detail, right down to the jokes that were told and the dumb patterns on the wallpaper... before cutting herself off when she 'remembered' that she didn't have an older sister like the one she had in her memory. Perhaps, Melody thought, it was nice to not be the strange one here. 

"Aaanyway, I can't wait to meet your pet!" Angela suddenly changed the topic, snapping Melody out of her train of thought. 

"Hm?" 

"You brought him with you, right?" 

"Oh. I don't know if I told you this, but... Doofy probably wouldn't do very well in a busy school environment, he's too old." Melody explained. 

Doofy was Melody's pet. More specifically, her guide. The uncreatively named Bidoof had been useful to her in earlier years, but his age was apparent since he used to be a pet of her father's. 

"But my dad did get a new one." Melody added. "It'll arrive sometime this week." 

"Ooh! What is it?" Angela squealed excitedly. 

"Dunno. We'll see." 

The two girls made their way to the main building and soon went their separate ways for their own classes. Melody was walking down the hall - with her cane extended and in hand, she was feeling a bit nervous. She could plainly see just enough to know that no one was looking her way, perhaps more concerned with their own lives. 

She did, however, end up seeing one girl looking in her direction. As she walked past the girl, the girl seems to quickly look down at whatever she had in her hands - possibly a phone - as to avoid eye contact. But not a few seconds later, the girl followed Melody. 

"Hey, why are you wearing those shades?" The girl asked. Her southern tinge had been noticeable. 

Melody stopped in her tracks. The girl put a hand on her shoulder, which gave her a bit of a scare. 

"You know you don't hafta wear them to look cool, right? Just be yerself!" The girl said in a joyful, assuring tone. She acted like she knew what she was talking about, but Melody wasn't wearing these shades for the looks. 

"I... I'm blind, actually." The timid Melody replied flatly, clenching her cane with both hands. 

"Oh, I-- I'm sorry!" The girl said as she jumped back in surprise. "Oh gosh what do I do, I've never met a-- not that this is weird or anything, I just--" 

"I should get to class." Melody moved her head slightly to address the girl, "Sorry to, uhm, bother you." 

It was after that Melody had made it to history class, which had been one of the simpler classes to take - it was a subject she was always interested in, and all she had to do was listen. 

. . . 

When class let out, she could get easily lost in a crowd of students. As another class nearby let out, it was almost like a flood of older teens had entered the hall, and Melody found herself getting knocked down by the rowdy bunch. She fell to her knees, dropping her backpack nearby. 

Nervously, she was tempted to feel around for it, fearing she'd probably get hurt by uncaring footsteps. She felt a hand grab her, however, and help her up. Once she noticed the students had been out of earshot, she allowed her aura vision to see the person - it looked like it may have been the girl from before, who was holding a familiar backpack. 

"Here, ya dropped this." 

"Oh... thanks." Melody took her backpack and looked down slightly in thought. "Sorry if that was weird before." 

"It's okay, really!" She assured her. "Actually, I was tryna think of how to speak to ya again, and... I couldn't think of anything. So, heya, the name's Myra." 

Melody huffed lightly with a small smile on her face at the honesty of the person before her. "Melody." 

"We should hang out during lunch, if that's cool with you." 

Melody nodded. 

To her delight, the day went about how it would for anyone else. She had idle conversation with Myra, warming up to her with their shared disdain for Math class and anticipation for History. As they talked idly during lunch, another person joined them - a friendly pink Gothitelle who smiled brightly. 

"Greetings! I hope this seat isn't taken?" Simone sat on the opposite side, facing them. "I don't think we're in any of the same classes so I haven't even had a chance to introduce myself, Melody." 

"Huh?" Melody found that wording confusing. 

"I'm your new roommate!" She said brightly. "I moved in last night. You didn't see my bags by the bed when you woke up?" 

"Uhhh." Myra looked between the two. 

She then looked to the Gothitelle as she attempted to subtly point to Melody's shades. The girl blinked, wondering why Myra was doing this, then gasped to herself. 

"Oh dear, Angela did tell me you had trouble seeing, but I didn't think she meant that. I'm sorry." She giggled, "But... yes, I arrived pretty late and could hardly sleep, so I was up and out before you woke up." 

"I see..." Melody took a bit of her food. 

"I'm Simone Astrimanger." She introduced herself. "My cousin Angela gave a pretty shining recommendation for this college so I thought it'd be exciting to see it for myself." 

"There's more of you?" Melody asked, catching herself too late. "Nnnot that there's anything wrong with..." 

"Must be nice havin' family close by." Myra remarked. 

"Oh yes, especially her - she and I are a lot alike! Plus, between you and me," Simone leaned in, in a hushed tone, "She could probably stand to be around someone with a little discipline." 

"Maybe it won't be so bad." Melody mumbled with a smile at the thought. Though, she had no idea how lenient Simone could actually be. 

. . . 

"It's here, it's here!" Angela said excitedly. 

On one Saturday, Angela had barged into her dorm. Simone had been writing on her bed, with Melody on her own bed reading a braile book. Angela opened their door and had an animal carrier with her that she'd received at the door. 

"Look!" 

"What's this?" Simone asked. 

"Melody's new pet - I signed for it." Angela grinned. 

"You signed for something addressed to me?" Melody put her book down and looked over at her accusingly. 

"Well it's not like YOU were gonna sign anything." Angela chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's pop this baby open!" 

Angela plopped the carrier on the floor with not a lot of force, but enough to get Simone to let out a small yelp. 

"Careful, you could hurt the poor thing!" Simone scolded. 

Angela kneeled down to look into the cage. "I'm sure it's fi-- Huh?" 

Angela opened the front of the carrier to see that there was nothing inside. 

"What's wrong?" Melody asked, worried by that sudden silence. 

"Did your dad get an imaginary pet?" 

A small purple ball of gas phased through the wall, going over to Angela. She suddenly shrieked when she felt a stinging chill run up her back, falling over the carrier and causing a racket to Melody's ears. Simone and Angela turned their attention to the cause, with Melody's aura vision revealing... a ball shape floating there. 

"A Gastly?" Simone asked. 

"Ohhh, it's a ghosty-ghost!" Angela realized. 

Simone inspected the carrier to find a tag. "Ahh, and SHE is trained to be a guide for Melody - wonderful." Simone smiled to Melody. 

"She musta just gone through the cage when she got in here. What a merry prankster!" 

Melody stood up to approach it carefully. The Gastly quirked a brow to watch her, but quickly decided to jump into her arms for a hug. Simone cupped her hands together, seeing the precious pair. 

"My new pet..." Melody realized. "What am I gonna call you?" 

"Oooh, how about Pootpoot?" Angela brought up. "Or Pumbloom! Oh, I know, Wadd--" 

"Don't just rattle off silly names." Melody snapped at her. "It's gotta be easy to remember..." 

"Hmmm." Simone thought for a second. "Seeing as she's a guide, maybe she could be named after Circinus - it's Latin for 'Compass'." 

"See, I like the sound of that." Melody said. "I guess your name can be... Circi." 

The Gastly blinked, then licked Melody's face with her tongue, which was off-putting to Melody due to how sudden it was. As she let go of Circi, the playful pet bounced back in the air, phasing through the window. 

Simone looked out the window, gasping. "Melody!" 

"What, where did she go?" Melody looked around with her aura vision. 

"Circi's makin' a run for it!" Angela floated up to peek out the window with Simone. 

"And it looks like it's starting to rain," Simone looked to the grey clouds, "We need to look for her!" 

A cool breeze drifted in the air, and the rain over the VCC had started off as a light enough drizzle - it wouldn't be so bad if they found Circi now. However, as Melody tried to focus her aura vision, seeing as far as she could before the shapes faded away, she could see a little ball leaving the gate. She and Simone begrudgingly started to leave the school grounds, looking around for the mischievous ghost. 

"Just hold my hand and point." Simone instructed Melody. "I'll keep you out of harm's way."