The Pokémon journey begins in Galar

"Congratulations to both of you on clearing your first Gym challenge."

Just arriving at the Pokémon Center, Sonia pulled out the chair next to Marie and sat down as she offered her congratulations.

"Hehe~ thanks!"

Yuri scratched her head with a cheerful grin, clearly enjoying the praise. Marie, on the other hand, looked unfazed as usual and gave a simple nod.

"Thanks. By the way, did your investigation turn up anything?"

Caught off guard by the sudden switch to work talk, Sonia sighed and shook her head. She reached out, snatched Marie's drink, removed the straw, and took a bold swig before speaking again.

"Absolutely nothing... Turffield doesn't even have a dedicated archive of historical documents. All I had to go on were vague rumors, and they didn't lead anywhere useful. And..."

She trailed off.

"And what?" Marie asked.

"No, it's nothing. I'm probably just overthinking it."

Sonia didn't elaborate further. During her investigation, she'd heard about certain artifacts and books that might have been clues. But they had already been examined by someone else and only recently returned.

Before she became a researcher, Sonia had once competed with Leon as a Trainer, so naturally, she didn't believe in convenient coincidences. The timing was too strange why were those items returned right before she started her investigation?

Still, she had only covered Turffield so far. Maybe she was overthinking it. At the very least, she couldn't afford to jump to conclusions before checking out the other towns.

"Anyway, enough about that. Let's go get lunch! Anything you feel like eating? Big sis here will treat you to a feast!"

Sonia clapped her hands and shifted the conversation to something lighter.

"Yay! That sounds awesome! We've been training so much lately, I haven't had time to relax!"

Yuri was the first to jump on board. Marie was still a little curious about what Sonia had left unsaid, but she didn't feel like pressing her. It probably had to do with Eternatus or something related. If Sonia didn't want to talk about it, she must have her reasons.

"Alright then. We'll count on you today."

Marie finished the last sip of her drink, stood up, and the three of them left the Pokémon Center together.

The moment they stepped outside, Marie pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. As her Pokémon appeared, she turned to them and said,

"Sonia's treating us today. If you see anything you want to eat, go ahead and indulge."

"Hey, wait! That's not what we agreed on!"

Sonia was already flustered. Did Marie seriously just let out Barro the Dragapult such a huge Pokémon and expect him to eat however much he wanted?

"Could you really bear to let your Pokémon go hungry?"

Marie gave a casual wave to the little Dreepy floating in midair. Dreepy promptly drifted down into Sonia's arms and, in a pitifully sweet voice, chirped:

"Pi~ pi~ (Big sis~ I'm hungry~)"

"Aww, you're so cute! Such a sweetheart! Marie, did you catch this one recently?"

Sonia cuddled Dreepy close, rubbing her cheek against it. As a pre-evolution, the little thing was indeed kind of adorable so long as you couldn't understand what it was actually saying.

"Pi~ pi~ pi~ (Yup~ just like that~ soft and warm~ hehehe~)"

"..."

Marie, the only one who did understand it, twitched slightly at the corners of her eyes. Watching Dreepy shamelessly snuggle in, she had to resist the urge to stomp it into the ground and quickly looked away.

Seeing Marie do it, Yuri followed suit and released her own Pokémon in hopes of scoring a free meal too.

"Alright, alright. You really don't leave me any choice, huh? Fine, I'll treat everyone."

Still holding and rubbing Dreepy, Sonia finally gave in. It wasn't a big deal anyway she wasn't short on money. A few extra Pokémon wouldn't break the bank. Even if someone brought out a Snorlax, she could probably still afford to feed it.

As they walked down the road, Sonia eventually let go of Dreepy and turned her attention to playing with the playful Dreepy twins and Yuri's Eevee.

"Pi... (Aw man... I wasn't done cuddling...)"

Marie glanced at the mumbling Dreepy and noticed that the little rascal had shifted its gaze back to her and not in a particularly polite way.

Her expression darkened instantly, and the look she gave Dreepy turned increasingly unfriendly.

"..."

"Pi-! (I didn't mean it! I didn't see anything!)"

Dreepy flinched and bolted, fluttering up onto Barro's head to hide.

Marie shook her head helplessly. There was no fixing this little troublemaker. She turned her attention back to the conversation and caught Yuri asking Sonia something.

"Sonia, do you know where I might find a Milcery?"

"A Milcery? You're interested in one, Yuri-chan?"

"Yup yup!"

Yuri nodded enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling with daydreams.

"If I catch an Alcremie, I'll have free gourmet whipped cream forever!"

"...Yuri-chan, if you go in with that mindset, don't be surprised when you turn into a chubby little gremlin."

Sonia gave her a solemn pat on the shoulder. Something in her expression made Marie wonder if this wasn't just a warning, but a hard-learned lesson.

"Eh... You sound just like Marie-chan. I... I'll keep it under control, promise!"

Yuri averted her gaze, not even convincing herself with that answer.

Sonia pulled her hand back with a smile and asked,

"By the way, didn't you two spend the past few days training on Route 4? You didn't run into any Milcery there?"

Yuri shook her head in confusion.

"Nope, not a single one."

Marie shrugged. "We probably just got unlucky. Besides, Milcery isn't that common around here anyway."

"That's probably for the best. I'm serious you'll turn into a couch potato before you even realize it!"

Sonia's ominous warning made Yuri shrink back a little. She clutched Marie's sleeve like a kid hiding behind her big sister.

Now Marie was even more curious. Just what kind of dark past did Sonia go through?

"Alright, alright, I'll stop scaring you. Let's go get some ice cream! There's a place here in Turffield that's run by an Alcremie and a Vanilluxe, you know!"

Sonia waved cheerfully, acting like her previous warning was just a joke. But the moment she mentioned sweets, Yuri perked up immediately.

Even Marie found herself interested. Alcremie and Vanilluxe? Whoever came up with that combo had to be some kind of dessert genius. The flavors had to be divine.

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