In Spikemuth

In Wedgehurst

Marnie scanned her ticket through the exit and stepped through into Wedgehurst. 

First things first, she thought, I need pokeballs. 

She scanned a sign outside the gym, 'Pokemon Lab this way ->'. She rubbed the side of her head, well, it had something to do with Pokemon so it must be relevant...right? She jogged down the patio in her jangly leather boots and skidded to a halt in front of a Tudor-styled library with a large Pokeball on the front. She slipped through the oak doors into a sleek library with a certain area in the corner dedicated to the actual lab facilities. A pretty girl with a red side-ponytail and cute glasses scamper up to her from the library balcony. She jumped in front of Marnie and smiled sweetly with a wave,

"Hiya! I'm sorry, but the Pokemon lab is a private building that you need permission to enter, was there a question you had about Dynamax pokemon?" she asked sweetly and twirled a thick strand of ginger hair hanging over her ear. 

Marnie blinked and raised an eyebrow, "Dynamax? What? No! I'm just looking to start my pokemon journey and... this is a pokemon lab?" she stuttered. She realised she had no idea what she was saying and blushed sheepishly while the beautiful girl looked at her, confused. Eventually, the girl smiled and shook her head. 

"Oh, right. This isn't the place for that. You actually have to wait for the gym challenge next year to get a free pokemon and battle against the gyms," she explained and pointed to some leaflets for aspiring pokemon trainers. Marnie shook her head, 

"Oh no, I'm not interested in that. I honestly just need some pokeballs and a temporary pokemon to catch a weak one," she explained and fiddled with the cuff of her leather jacket. The girl thought to herself for a moment but eventually smiled at Marnie. 

"Okay, deal. But you'll have to do me and my Grandmother a small favour," she said and twirled her hair strand again, Marnie got a bit uncomfortable, "my name's Sonia, grand-daughter of the regions famous Professor Magnolia and researcher of Galars history!" 

Sonia struck a pose and placed a hand on her chest. Marnie suppressed herself from a laugh and bit her lip, 

"Marnie," she said and held her hand out. Sonia smiled and shook it, against Marnie's ice-cold hands, Sonia physically shivered and kept the handshake swift.

"Okay, well... what's the favour?" she asked and rubbed her nose nervously. She obviously couldn't agree to anything dangerous or against her morals, despite her hometowns push to be rebellious or risky. 

"My grandmother and I are studying Dynamaxing, which can be powered by these things called wishing stars. But we're running short on a few, and need someone to fetch us some more. If we give you a pokemon and pokeballs to start your Pokemon adventure as well as my help and guidance, you get us fifty grams worth of Wishing stars," she said and slipped around a lab desk near the entrance. She pulled a purple and black rock from behind the desk and let Marne hold it. 

It was soft and soothing, Marnie felt as though she could sleep with it as her pillow. She smiled, 

"Deal," she said and passed the rock back to Sonia. Sonia lit up and clapped her hands in delight. She leaned over the desk and pulled Marnie toward her for a hug and kissed her hand in happiness. 

"Oh, that's just wonderful! Thank you, thank you, Marnie! You can find Wishing stars in any dark places the moment before the sun sets, which is the only time you can see them glimmer through the ground or rocks for a minute before they disappear," she explained and skidded around the desk back to Marnie. 

Marnie nodded, 

"And...my pokemon?" she asked. Sonia nodded and whistled to the back of the library. 

"Yamper! Could you grab one of our spare Dynamax Potential pokemon, please?" she called. Marnie sighed, what on earth even was Dynamax? Had no one thought to explain this? A cute Yamper scurried into the lab, barking and rolling a green and black Pokeball across the floor. Sonia gave a high-pitched giggle and scooped the ball off of the floor and released the pokemon inside it. It was a cute looking pokemon with big and innocent eyes.

"Morpeko," Marnie whispered and crouched down to take a closer look at it the Morpeko smiled at her. Sonia smiled and nodded, 

"Yep! I'm assuming you know about its Hangry form as well?" she said. Marnie nodded. One of the victims Team Yell thugs had bullied out of Spikemuth had a Morpeko pokemon partner, and Marnie decided to help the poor girl out without getting hurt. She had told Marnie about Morpeko and Marnie had added it to her list of pokemon she knew about. 

The Morpeko scampered toward Marnie and was attracted to her many buckles and belts. It started playing with them and happily squealed. 

"Peeko!" it squeaked, happily. Marnie smiled, she felt a warm feeling grow inside, like when she was with her brother or when she was looking through her special black box. She held her arms out, and the warm creature lit up and jumped into her arms! Sonia clasped her hands together and smiled as Marnie stood up with her new partner in her arms. Sonia slipped it into Marnie's bag and smiled sweetly, twirling her hair strand again, "Keep him!" she said.

"Good luck with your journey!" Sonia said and ushered Marnie out the door to continue studying Galars history. 

Marnie smiled and with a final thank you and grabbing a free Pokeball, scurried out of the door to start her journey to take down Team Yell. 

"Don't forget your promise!" called Sonia as she watched Marnie scurry down the patio with a smile, her hand resting on her hip. 

"Yamp!" barked Yamper, snapping Sonia to her beloved pokemon partner. She smiled, 

"Okay, where's my book on the Darkest Day?"