"I found her in an alley last night while it was raining," Mari explained. "She must have been out there long enough to catch a cold."
"Aw, poor Porschia," Hannah snuggled Skitty. "Thank you so much for getting her out of there! I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't found her!"
"Yes," Matt interjected. "You probably don't realize, Mari, how valuable Porschia is. Aside from being our dear friend, she is the daughter of Lady Victoria, the pride and joy of our breeding center. Victoria has won virtually every show she has ever been in, and if Porschia is anything like her mother, she will help maintain Addison Breeding Center's sterling reputation."
"Wow," Mari raised an eyebrow and scratched Porschia's ear. "I knew you were pretty, but I didn't know you were that pretty!"
Matt and Hannah laughed.
"We really must do something to thank you," Hannah said.
"Oh, yes!" Matt agreed.
"Oh, no, really, it was enough just to be able to spend some time with Porschia!" Mari protested.
"No," Hannah said firmly. "We were just about to send out notice of a reward for returning Porschia. We really must do something for you to thank you for your honesty."
Matt nodded in agreement and said, "You're a trainer, right Mari?"
She nodded.
Matt thought for a moment. "Hey, Hannah, what about Blitz's egg?"
Hannah thought about this for a moment. "That's an excellent idea! I'll go get it." She handed Porschia to Matt and walked out of the large reception area into another room of the building.
"A Pokemon egg?" Mari asked.
Matt nodded.
"I couldn't take that from you! You need Pokemon for your breeding center!"
"Well, normally I'd agree with you, but this egg's father was a terror in shows! He was absolutely beautiful, but had a disposition that made him very hard to show. Some trainer friends of mine told me he'd be great in battles, but my sister and I didn't have the heart to give him away to some trainer. In any event, this egg is very likely to have a similar personality, so it'll be better off with you!"
At that moment Hannah returned with an egg-shaped, thoroughly cushioned pale green backpack-like egg holder. The crown of the sunny orange egg was showing out of the top. "Here you go," Hannah handed the egg in its holder to Mari.
"Thank you so much!" Mari said taking the less-than-one-foot long egg. "Are you sure you want to give this to me?"
"Yes," Matt and Hannah said in unison.
Castform approached the egg with curiosity. "What kind of Pokemon is it?"
Matt and Hannah started at hearing the Pokemon speak. "You… can talk?" Hannah asked with amazement.
"Yup," Castform said.
"Wow," Matt said. "Talking Pokemon aren't too common. Uh, Mari, don't take this the wrong way, but would you want to trade your Pokemon for one of ours?"
Mari was about to refuse when Hannah chided her brother. "Oh, Matt, leave her alone!"
"Sorry," Matt said to both Hannah and Mari. "But I just had to ask!"
"So," Mari continued, "Like Castform said. What kind of Pokemon is it?"
"Hm," Hannah smiled mischievously. "I don't think I'm going to tell you. Let it be a surprise!"
"Oh, c'mon!" Mari protested. "Well, then, why don't you just tell me its type? That way I'll be sure not to catch a Pokemon of the same type before it hatches."
Hannah thought for a moment. "Oh, alright. It's a fire type."
Mari giggled. "Well, thanks for the egg. Don't worry about it too much, I learned in school how to care for eggs. And I'll be sure to call you when it hatches!"
"Good," Hannah said and wrote the Center's number on a piece of paper.
Mari took it and put it in her backpack. "Thanks!" Glancing at her watch she said, "Oh, I better be leaving! I have to catch the ferry to Dewford."
"Okay," Matt said. "Well it was nice to meet you both!"
"The same to both of you!" Mari said. Turning to pet Porschia one last time she said, "It was nice meeting you too."
Porschia smiled at Mari in goodbye.
Castform smiled goodbye to them, and closely followed Mari outside..
Back on the paved streets of Slateport, Mari shouldered the egg's sack and quickened her pace.
"We should hurry, Castform," she said to her companion. "I'd like to catch the next ferry to Dewford, and it could be leaving very soon."
"Could?" Castform asked.
"Heh, I forgot to check the ferry times while we were at the Pokemon Center."
Castform shook her head and sped up next to her trainer.
They arrived at the ferry ticket booth at the docks a while later, and both were slightly out of breath. Mari noted in a hurry that the ferry was still there, and slowed to catch her breath.
Turning to her equally expended Castform, she said, "Okay, when we get to Dewford, we start some serious training."
Castform smiled at the joke.
Mari approached a small hut with a sign reading 'Ferry Tickets'. On its front were three windows, with a man behind one of them. There was a short line before Mari got up to him.
"How may I help you?" asked the young employee.
"When does the next ferry leave?"
"At ten o'clock, about twenty minutes from now."
"Okay," she took her ferry pass from her wallet and displayed it to him. "Who do I show this to?"
"Just have it out as you board the ferry, you can now if you want."
"Great, thanks!" Mari left the ticket booth and walked down a wooden platform to the ferry, again there was a short line in front of her.
A man with a purple 'Slateport-Dewford Ferry' uniform shirt on stood on the right side of the ramp leading into the ferry. "Tickets, please," he was saying.
Mari showed him her pass and he waved her along.
"Let's try to get some good seats, Castform," she said anxiously. The ferry was starting to fill up, and Mari headed down the side of the two-story ship. The cool ocean air threatened a chilly ride for those sitting outside. Mari entered a cabin filled with red sofas against grey bay window filled walls. In the middle of the large room was a snack stand.
"Perfect," Mari commented. Many people had already taken up the sofas, and Mari sat down at an empty one overlooking the ocean through the windows.
Castform settled into the sofa on her left and Mari placed the egg given her by the Addison siblings on her right, along with her backpack.
Gazing at the egg with a smile she spoke to Castform, "I wonder what kind of Pokemon it's going to be! They said it would be a fire type. Let's see, there's Magby, Vulpix, Torkoal, Numel, it'd be almost impossible to figure out what it'll be."
Castform looked over at the golden-orange egg with curiosity. "It sure is pretty," she noted.
Mari looked at Castform. "Yes, it is. It's beautiful!" She glanced at her watch. "We'll be leaving soon, but this is going to be a four-hour trip."
"Four hours!" she replied with anxiety.
"You shouldn't get bored. I have reading to do, and I could show you some things in my Pokedex. I also have snacks, and you could always take a nap."
Castform relaxed a bit but remained skeptical.
Mari laughed. "You should take advantage of this rest! The instant we hit Dewford, the training begins!"
"Sure," Castform said and made herself comfortable for the trip.
"Oh!" Mari exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you! I think I came up with the perfect nickname for you."
"Really?" she perked with interest.
"What do you think of 'Morf'? You morph with the weather, and it's with an 'f' instead of 'ph' so it's more of a name than a word. So…" she waited for a response.
Castform wrinkled the place where her nose would be if she had one in thought for a moment, but relaxed it shortly. "I like it!" she announced.
"Great! I'm glad you like it, Morf."
Morf made a goofy smile upon being called her new name for the first time.
"Well, then," Mari said, "I guess now we just have to wait out the ride to Dewford."
Four hours later, neither trainer nor Pokemon was in such a cheerful mood.
"Ugh, I though we'd never get off that thing!" Mari said, stretching her arms as they walked off the ferry and onto a wooden boardwalk. A dirt road in front of it could lead to either Dewford City, or the mountainous forest north of the town.
Mari guided Morf towards the northern part of the island, where she explained that they would train for at least a few days before going to the city and challenge Dewford's Gym Leader.
After a fairly short walk, the dirt road led the travelers into the Dewford forest, which surrounded a small cavernous mountain.
"Well, Morf," Mari said, "we might as well set up a camp now to act as a base for training."
"Okay," Morf replied.
They walked off the beaten path for quite a ways until they were submerged in the salt-aired quiet depths of the green, well out of the reach of the casual hiker or trainer. They found a small area in between towering grey-barked trees that wouldn't quite qualify as a clearing, but was large enough for a small campsite.
Using more Pokeball-like technology, similar to her CEIS Bin, Mari soon had a one-person grey tent out a small matching table with two chairs.
Mari then got down to the business of preparing Castform for Dewford's Gym.
"Okay, Morf, one more time!" Mari called.
Morf, panting, nodded and shot through a small obstacle course of rocks, tree branches, and stumps for about the thirtieth time in an hour. When she finished, she slowly went over to Mari and collapsed in her arms. "Okay…" she panted. "I'm done."
Mari laughed lightly. "You sure are! You've done a lot today!" She carried her Pokemon back to the nearby campsite and winced with every other step as she ruefully recalled the strenuous activities of transporting firewood and then setting up Morf's obstacle course. They'd both had a good workout.
Mari set Castform down on the small portable table and pulled a potion out of her backpack. After spraying Morf's wounds, Mari set about making dinner. She'd been carrying around the egg all day and placed it on one of the two chairs.
With Morf's help a fire was started, and Mari cooked up a soup from a pre-made mix, and added some fresh vegetables she'd found in the forest. By the time they were done eating, it was getting dark and soft starlight trickled through the leaves above them. Going to bed early, Mari had an even more demanding training regimen planned for the next day.