In Spikemuth

Friend

Marnie awoke to a hard thud on her stomach. Her eyes flared open to see a Purrloin sitting on her looking surprised. Marnie leapt out of bed in shock and coved her mouth to stifle a terrified scream. She looked up to the ceiling to see a large hole that the Purrloin must have fallen through, the wood panels and dry paint crumbling downward to where her feet were. 

The Purrloin looked up desperately at the attic it had fallen from and flopped onto Marnie's bed. It started to seem to..cry. It was whining and sobbing and rolling around in a ball of sorrow. Marnie crawled toward it slightly, still wrapped in a bundle of bedsheets. She approached the poor kitten and looked at it for a moment as it curled up and continued to cry at the loss of it's home- or at least access to it.

Marnie raised a quivering hand and gently rested it on the Purrloin's head and stroked it slightly. The Purrloin looked up with wet eyes and a purr started to rumble in its chest. Marnie smiled and rubbed its cheek and stroked its soft fur. The Purrloin started to stop crying and rubbed its nose against Marnie's hand. 

"Hey, there," Marnie whispered and smiled, the Purrloin mewed, "it's okay, I wasn't expecting you to fall through either." The Purrloin smiled and jumped into Marnie's arms, which is when she finally realised how cold the pokemon was from living up in the attic above. She pulled the sheets off of her back and wrapped the Purrloin inside, then placed it next to a heater. 

She crouched near the sleeping pokemon and rubbed its head calmly. 

"It's okay," she whispered, "you're gonna turn out alright." 

The Purrloin smiled slightly as it shivered and closed its eyes peacefully. 

Marnie straightened up onto her knees. She decided to release Morpeko to watch over Purrloin and smiled the moment he came out. Marnie nodded at the Purrloin and Morpeko quickly went over to hug them and keep them warm. Marnie smiled and sighed. 

She looked outside and saw Sonia with her Yamper sitting on a bench, reading a book. She looked back at the Purrloin and Morpeko, 

"Could you watch her, Peko? I'm just to get some food for us, can you handle it here?" she asked. Morpeko nodded and squeaked. Marnie smiled and jogged out the room, locking the door behind her. She rushed down the stairs and saw the mysterious man, Gladion, scowl at her as she rushed through the door. 

She skidded in front of Sonia and swiped her wishing star out of her bag and tossed it toward Sonia before she had noticed Marnie standing in front of her face. In a wild panic, she quickly caught it and dropped her book, her bookmark dropping out of it. She scowled at Marnie, 

"You lost my page!" she hissed and slipped the wishing star into her pocket before picking up her bookmark and started flipping through the pages. Marnie shrugged, 

"I'd say that about eight grams, right there," she said and folded her arms, leaning on her right foot with a cocky grin. Sonia pulled the rock back out and weighed it in her hand, she nodded, 

"Impressive. Do you weigh things often?" she asked. Marnie blinked, wallets, she thought- remembering back to her pick-pocketing days back when she was seven and acted all innocent to distract someone. She ended up shaking her head and shrugging.

Sonia nodded, "Thanks, anyway. I'm actually going to Hammerlocke today, do you mind watching the lab, actually, Marnie?" she asked with a sweet smile. Marnie shrugged with a nod,

"Yeah, go on then," she said and looked upward toward the window she was looking out of before back at Sonia. Sonia found her page and inserted her bookmark before slamming it and standing up to brush herself down. Marnie scanned the book she was reading, 

"Gosh, boring book. Galar's monarchy history? How could you bring yourself to read that thing?" she asked, her arms fell downward in disappointment. Sonia raised an eyebrow and glanced at the book. 

"I'm just looking into some History. It's my passion to learn the story of Galar," she said and flipped through it to a page with a photo of a tapestry with a king and a queen on it. Marnie faked a yawn, making Sonia scowl. 

"It's a big conspiracy, these two don't look familiar?" she asked and pulled another boom from her bag. It was a book on ancient Galar legends, and on the cover were the two underneath a dark, red and purple sky. Marnie rolled her eyes. 

"Whatever, you can be into what you want," Marnie said monotony and slipped the labs key into her pocket that Sonia had handed to her, "I have to go now, got some business somewhere, but we'll catch up soon when I have more rocks for your children stories obsession." Before Sonia could clap back, Marnie finger-saluted Sonia and jogged back into the pub, feeling smug. 

Gladion tried to stop Marnie as she ran up the stairs and ended up having to shout "You only have an hour left on your room, Miss!" 

"Marnie!" she called back down from the top of the stairs, "call me Marnie, man! And I'm just leaving, hold your rapidash!" She felt adrenaline rush through her veins as if she had gotten a sudden surge of energy, like ticking off Gladion and Sonia had fueled her excitement! 

She burst into her room and thanked Peko for looking after Purrloin before returning him. She kneeled in front of Purrloin and beamed from ear to ear. The pokemon immediately lit up when she saw Marnie. 

"I hope you feel better, but we have to go now," she said. Purrloin looked shattered and rubbed itself against the Duskball, trying to catch itself. Marnie felt a light ignite inside her. 

"You wanna," she pulled the ball off of her belt with a sharp tug, "come with?" The Purrloin lit up and mewed in consent. Marnie smiled and threw the Pokeball at her new friend. She didn't even have to wait a moment before the Purrloin accepted her place in the Pokeball. She smiled and hugged the Pokeball in delight! She spotted a sharpie on the splintered bedside-table. She scribbled the nickname 

'Lion' on the Pokeball and smiled, then wrote 'Peko' on Morpeko's Pokeball. She buckled them to her belt once more and stood straight with a cocky grin once more. 

"Let's do this."