Chapter Text
Piers once told her there were two types of people: stars, and the ones who chase them. When the annual Gym Challenge was announced, Marnie was determined to stop chasing and be a star.
She was finally old enough for Piers to relent and start a journey of her very own. He was even younger when he left Spikemuth for the first time ever and took up the Gym Challenge. His success earned him the spot of the seventh gym leader and a fanbase that spanned the Galar region; with a little more effort, he could have been a legend.
Turns out, what Piers really wanted was the simple life of a rockstar. Singing was his blood and music his soul; Marnie knew he was happiest in front of the mic. When Piers saw Marnie’s budding talent for battling, he insisted she take up the mantle and do what she was born to do only, he stressed, when she was ready. It took a few years longer and a heap of begging, but Piers finally relented. What more could he want from her? Spikemuth adored her, Team Yell respected her, and there were few trainers Marnie hadn’t mopped the floor with since she learned how to hold a PokeBall. She was ready .
The nerves, however, persisted. Marnie didn’t want to disappoint her hometown, and she certainly didn’t want to disappoint her brother. Piers and Spikemuth were her whole world. But does that mean she has to give up on her dream of breathing life back into Spikemuth? Should she settle on being Piers’s successor and never see what she was truly capable of?
Nah.
Marnie had her bags packed and nearly stumbled on her way out the gate toward Motostoke. Ultimately, she decided that she wanted to go out and see Galar. Meet people. Encounter new Pokemon. Maybe catch a few. Visit all the boutiques. And on the way? She’d show everyone the power of a Spikemuth trainer. She wanted it all.
Piers finally saw how serious she was. He never said a word about stopping her anymore. Even saw her off, but not without one grand goodbye.
“Alright, kiddo, last order of business,” Piers started to tell her at the shutter out of Spikemuth. Neither one of them excelled at expressing their feelings. Piers' awkward frame hunched down without a mic stand to hold him up, and Marnie doubted her face gave away anything other than a guarded calm. However, she knew him enough to hear the melancholy in his sing-song voice. He was going to miss her. “Knock ‘em dead out there. I know you got what it takes to be the champ.”
“Thanks, Piers.” She tried to smile; she swore to practice before setting off but forgot in all the pandemonium. Morpeko, out of his ball as usual, chirruped a quick goodbye from her backpack. “I won’t let you down.”
He smirked. “No doubt about that. You’re a talented kid, and my little sister on top a’ that. Win or lose, you’ll leave a lastin’ impression for sure.” Piers looked down, lowering his voice a few notches. “Don’t forget our deal, though. You lose, you’re takin’ over the gym. You win, I back off, figure out somethin’ else.”
Marnie nodded. Becoming the champion, she concluded, was the most sure-fire way to breathe life back into Spikemuth. There would be rushes of people to encourage renovations of old venues. Burnt-out neon would finally get replaced and blasted speakers swapped for new ones. Tourists would line up for Piers’s concerts every week and people around the world would get to hear her brother’s music. The town would revive and spark a new renaissance of Dark-type Pokemon and punk rock like they always dreamed.
Piers straightened up, tall and proud. “Get outta here. Don’t come back here with any regrets.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “We know you’ll do us proud.”
The large crowd that had gathered to see her off shouted into their megaphones, stirring up a frenzy. A few members of Team Yell had prepared banners with the words Go Team Marnie! painted in hot pink and purple letters. From the back, someone was throwing black and white confetti in a shower with the help of a few bouncy Zigzagoon.
“Marnie, we love you!”
“You can do it!”
“You’ll be the best champion Galar has ever seen!”
“Kick their asses, Marnie!”
“OY! Shut it,” Piers shouted back, sending a glare that silenced most of the unruly ones at the front and roused some laughs from the ones in back. A couple waved at Marnie and she felt a warmth in her chest. They may be rowdy, but they were her people, and they believed in her. Piers rested a hand on her shoulder and the warm feeling grew. “Don’t worry ‘bout them, I’ll keep ‘em in check.”
“It’s okay, Piers,” Marnie assured him, “it’ll be awhile before they cheer me on again. Might as well.”
She cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling just loud enough to be considered an indoor voice. “Watch for me on the telly! I’ll be doin’ Spikemuth proud!”
The crowd sent up a roar and Marnie smiled fully. She might not like their cheering every now and again, but she supposed she could drink it in this one time. She won’t be seeing any of them for awhile.
Without a doubt, Team Yell and Piers would trash the Budew Drop Inn and start a mosh pit in the halls if they boarded here. She remembered what happened last time - someone had re-engineered the room lamps into strobe lights while someone else had brought spray paint. Within minutes they had transformed the dining hall into a rave with glow-in-the-dark graffiti covering the walls. Hotel Ionia still held its ban that Piers could stay there only if he came without Team Yell. Thankfully, it was just Marnie.
Rather, she assumed she was alone. It was not until she saw Team Yell strewn about the lobby, moaning pitifully and clutching megaphones and banners to their chests, that she understood that Team Yell was a persistent lot. They were going to come and cheer for her whether she liked it or not. So much for Piers keeping an eye on them.
Beside the beaten members of Team Yell was, she assumed again, the two who knocked them down a peg. One was a boy around Marnie’s age with dark hair and an intense smile. The other was a rather plain girl, brown eyes drawn down as she regarded Marnie’s people with a disapproving frown. In front of them were their Pokemon, a Scorbunny and Sobble by the look of it. The Pokemon cooed at their masters as the boy chatted with the girl animatedly, arms gesturing wide with victorious glee.
She approached them quietly. “What’re you lot doin’ here?”
The members of Team Yell jumped, spinning toward her with horror creeping over their faces. “Marnie? N-n-nothin’... we was just…”
Marnie cut in, “I know you all are terribly curious ‘bout the other Gym Challengers, but you gotta show a bit of restraint.”
She turned to the two trainers, apologizing for her fans' rough behavior. Really, she should have known they were gonna come. She sent them home with a warning not to bother the other Challengers again. They’d be back, but for now, she’d keep the peace. Despite the displeasure of her team trashing the lobby, Marnie grew curious. Team Yell, while pushovers, were not easy marks. She assessed the competition that took her team down more seriously.
They introduced themselves as Hop and Gloria, Challengers endorsed by Champion Leon himself. She remembered seeing them in Motostoke stadium the other day for registration, but nothing about them was particularly memorable. Their dress was not terrible, yet it was leagues away from good and as such left no lasting impression on her. After seeing their Pokemon too, Marnie concluded that the Champion had about as much taste in trainers as he did in fashion.
Hop, however, shone that spotlight smile on her. “So you’re a Gym Challenger, too? Team Yell, was it? Pretty amazing you already have fans you can call your own!”
Marnie was taken aback. Team Yell was a nuisance on a good day, but to be praised for having them after they disrupted the hotel staff and mucked with the other Gym Challengers? Marnie nodded approvingly.
Gloria looked Marnie over with a decisive glance, settling on a curt nod that Marnie did not know how to interpret. A silent fellow, but Marnie sensed no trace of malice. Gloria smiled when Marnie nodded at her as well.
A trainer of few words; Marnie understood that more than the boy who mirrored his Scorbunny, bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to bolt toward the next big thing. Marnie knew his type. Hop armed himself with his conviction and an eye that saw further than he could reach. Gloria, on the other hand, held herself with a self-assured strength. She, Marnie knew, was the one to look out for.
The next morning, as the lot of them headed back to Motostoke stadium, Gloria paused across the lobby from Marnie. There was a charge to the air Marnie could only describe as electric, a challenge issued with the fewest words. Marnie tried to look imposing, inclining her head to look down just so at her newest rival.
“Wouldn’t blame you for droppin’ out now. The champion title is as good as mine.”
The intended effect was to unsettle the mooning girl, but all Marnie got was an amused smirk. Gloria nodded (out of respect? mockery? she couldn’t tell) then raced out the door to join Hop for the next leg of the Gym Challenge.
The next time she saw her, Marnie decided, she’d let her skills do the talking.