Chapter Text
Another day, another dollar. That’s what they say, right? Right. Except that the days were long and she could only spend so much money on Electric Lettuce before rent became an issue, and she couldn’t even smoke at work. Rewarding her ass.
“Oh well. Not much I can do until I can go to university,” She said to herself, walking through the Motostoke Wild Area. She was trying to get a catalogue of the pokemon in the area, but it wasn’t like it stayed the same. It varied. This was way different from the Spikemuth Biological Society. They were all in captivity. It also didn’t help that she was constantly getting hit on by hot-shot wannabe trainers.
“Look out lady! Runaway Wooloo!” a guy shouted, and she snapped her head up from the clipboard. She frowned and looked past the rolling ball of white. Was that the Champion?
“OOF!” she said as a big ball of fuzz slammed into her and knocked her off her feet. She fell on her ass on the ground and just blinked as the Wooloo staggered, dazed. Did she… Did she just get drive-byed by the Champion’s Wooloo?
“Hey! Are you okay?!” the guy asked, coming into view, and she looked at him. Blue short hair, dark skin, he kinda looked like the champion but with fashion sense. The denim jacket was a good look.
“Ow.”
“I’m so sorry. We were practicing and he started to go downhill and couldn’t stop.” He offered her a hand and she took it.
“It’s okay, I guess. I should have paid more attention.”
He looked at her then knelt down and looked at his Wooloo, and Marnie had a chance to really look at him. He was cute and definitely looked like the champion. Probably another fanboy, but he didn’t have the stupid hat and cape like the rest of them did. “Sorry, Wooly. You okay?” he asked. The Wooloo snorted and shook its head, then nodded and he smiled. “Good to hear. You had me scared to death.” He looked back at her. “Sorry. I’m Hop,” he said, extending his hand.
“No. You’re standing,” she said, like that was obvious.
“No no, that’s my name. I’m Hop.”
She looked at his hand, then took it and stood, yanking on him and using him for support. He was pretty sturdy. “Marnie. Anyone tell you you look like the champion?”
“Yeah, I would hope so,” he said, smiling. She blinked. He was expecting… something. “You… have no idea who I am?”
“Should I?”
“I guess… not? I haven’t signed up for the league yet. Leon is my brother.”
“Oh!” she said. “I heard he had a brother and you look so similar, I guess I should have realized.” She put a hand to her mouth, embarrassed.
“No, it’s okay, I guess. I’m just training up so that I can beat my brother in a champion bout.”
She frowned. That sounded like it was going to be a bit of a challenge, especially if he couldn’t keep a Wooloo in line. Then, Piers wasn’t very good when he first started. Maybe that’d change.
“So uh… You a trainer too?” he asked.
She blinked then shook her head, caught off-guard by the question. “Oh, no. I don’t think I’d be very good,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck and smiling. It was more that she didn’t want to have to take Piers’ position someday. That and she didn’t want the disgusting fanboys sending her jars of their blood in the mail. That still happened, right? That and crowds were a bit too much. Okay, there were a lot of reasons, but none of them had to do with her skill as a trainer.
“Oh… Then no offense, but why are you out here?” He asked, looking concerned.
“Good question,” she said, nodding and trying to not get distracted by the thought of gross fanboys. “I work for the Spikemuth Biological Society.”
He nodded. “I mean, that’s cool and everything, but Spikemuth is way north of here.”
Dammit. What was it with pretty boys that made her act like an idiot? “Right, so I used to work for them, and I just got transferred to Motostoke. Sorry, this is like… my first day.”
“Right,” he said, looking around, then rubbed his hands on his jeans. “Well, I’m glad you’re alright. Take care,” he said then turned and started back up the hill. She waited until she was sure he wouldn’t look back, then frowned. Way to go, Marn. The one time you want a boy to talk to you, you sound like a complete idiot. Piers would be laughing at you.
She thumped herself in the head with the clipboard, then looked at it. Oh well. They were a dime-a-dozen. Next on the list was Tyrogue? What the fuck was a Tyrogue? She sat on a stump and pulled out her phone, tapping it in. Sure, she didn’t have a fancy pokedex, but that’s what the internet was for.
“Tyrogue,” she muttered to herself, which she’d gotten into the habit of doing to deal with the quiet. Usually she had headphones in, but she was being careful til she got the feel of how things worked. She was pretty certain she was being watched. “The scuffle Pokemon. Even though it is small, it can't be ignored because it’ll slug any handy target without warning,” She read, then sighed. “I must be getting hazed.”
She stood and glanced around, then headed up the hill. How was she gonna find one of these things, let alone a nest of them?
“OW, YOU CHEEKY LITTLE SHIT!” She heard Hop yell. He must have found one. She headed over to see him bouncing up and down, holding his knee. The Tyrogue that he had come across was down in a wrestling pose, watching him.
“You okay?” Marnie asked, and the Tyrogue’s eyes shifted to her, and they narrowed. Oh shit. It started running at her, and instead of doing what most normal people would do and run, she panicked and stood there like a Deerling in the headlights. It ran up to her, jumped, then kicked her in the chest. This tiny little pokemon jumped a full five feet into the air and drop-kicked her in the chest. She was more amazed than injured.
She fell on her ass again, stunned.
“Hey you little imp! Leave her alone!” Hop shouted, and the Tyoruge turned around and ran back towards him. He looked like he wanted to bolt, but he hunkered down, relying on the fact that he was sturdy. It was a mistake. The Tyrogue skidded to a halt at the last minute, then kicked him with all it had. His eyes went wide and he dropped to the ground holding himself. That was a cheap move.
The Tyrogue stood, satisfied that it’s two perceived opponents were down, then glared at Wooloo, who baa’d and dropped into a ball of soft fluff, shaking. Satisfied, the little demon huffed, then walked off into the grass.
Marnie didn’t dare move. Her chest hurt probably as bad as his junk hurt. She was worried if she moved, the monster might come back. Two grown persons got their asses kicked by a two-foot tall pokemon. Now she was really hoping that she wasn’t being watched. After an entire minute went by, she slowly stood, looked around, then went over to the guy that was trying not to sob, holding her own tit as she did. “Hey, are you okay?”
His breathing was erratic, but he managed to nod. “That hurt,” he said, his voice a little higher pitched than he probably meant. She had no idea how to help, mostly cause she didn’t understand his pain. Her own was starting to recede a little.
“Do I…”
“Don’t do anything,” he said quickly, then sat up, holding his stomach. “That little piece of shit,” he said, his voice back to normal. He was definitely feeling discomfort.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
He nodded, but just looked upset. “I was more concerned he’d hurt you.”
“He did, but you look like you need a hospital.”
He shook his head. “My pride is more wounded than me. Leon makes this look so easy, and I go and get kicked in the ‘nads. I don’t know how he did this. Was he this bad at first? Am I just trash at this? I lost my first battle to my neighbor, even with two pokemon, then I barely make it through to see Professor Magnolia, get knocked the fuck out by some weird pokemon in the forest, and now I’m getting beat up by… What even was that? I don’t know.”
She didn’t know half of what he was talking about, but she at least understood that he was upset. She knew what it felt like to be a failure. She didn’t know him really at all, but he must have been a lot like her, trying to grow up in his brother’s shadow and just sucking at it. That’s not a thing most normal people understand. She knew what might cheer him up, though, and she figured he could probably use a friend.
“Hop, right?”
He nodded, wiping at his eyes and pretending it was dirt and not tears.
“Do you have a tent? Maybe you should take a break for a bit. It’s my lunch time. Want to join me?”
He looked at her almost stunned, but she smiled, patted his knee, then stood, taking off her backpack and pulling out the equipment she brought with her. A pop-up grate, a small tea kettle, a larger cooking kettle, and started to set up sticks under the grate. He watched her for a moment, then stood, taking a deep breath or two, probably because he was still in a lot of pain, then took off his own pack, pulling out a little one-man tent. A break did sound nice. He set it up while she built the fire, then he came over with a fan. While he did that, she got into her bag and decided to do some cooking. She pulled out a few of her ingredients… tomato sauce, a precooked burger from home, some of the precooked rice, and there were a few vegetables. She threw all of it in except her burger then traipsed over to a berry bush that she saw earlier, picking the Pecha berries on it. She came back, pulled out a buck knife, then started cutting into them.
Meanwhile, Hop had stopped fanning the fire now that it was pretty sizable and good for cooking and he let out his other two pokemon to play. A Rookidee and a Sobble. They were excited to be out, and the Rookidee decided to work on it’s thermodynamics by dodging little bullets of water that Sobble shot towards it. Wooly had finally decided to come out of it’s fur, and it walked over, watching. Satisfied, he turned back to Marnie. She had finished with the berries and thrown them in already, and was now cutting the hamburger into large slices. “Ever had hamburger curry, Hop?”
“We didn’t eat a lot of curry in my house. Mom didn’t like it. She cooked a lot of the more traditional food of our people. Paella and Gazpacho. Things like that.”
“You aren’t from Galar?”
He shrugged. “I am. I mean, I was born here. So was Leon. My mom though, she’s from another region. She doesn’t talk about it a lot, but the food is amazing.”
Marnie nodded, then started stirring the curry now that it was boiling. After a few stirs, she dropped in spices that she had pre-prepped and arranged the leftover rice on two plates, then spooned some of the curry onto the plate next to the rice. To top it off, she laid the hamburger slices, which she had warmed and grilled a little over the campfire onto the plate on top and put a small amount of the curry sauce over it for flavor. Finally, she hit it with some green for garnish and slid a plate over to him. “There you are. Marnie’s Hamburger Curry,” she said with a grin then started to eat her own.
“This is really good,” he said between mouthfuls. She smiled then made a plate for the pokemon, setting it on the ground. They came over and ate it happily.
“Thanks. My brother was gone a lot for his challenge and my mom…” She paused. She didn’t want to think about it. “I learned to cook when I was small since Piers wasn’t home. I’m glad you enjoy it.”
“Hell yeah. It’s amaz…” What she said dawned on him. “Wait, Piers? Spikemuth.” It was like he was doing math in his head. It was kinda cute. Marnie smiled and ate, waiting for him to finish the equation. “So you’re that Marnie!?”
“I don’t look much like him when he dyes his hair and does the whole punk rock thing. I guess it’s hard to see. Not like you and Leon.”
He smiled. “I’m just surprised. I’d heard his little sister wasn’t gonna be a trainer, but a Biological Society?”
“Not all of us are made for the crowds. My work is important.”
“No no, it is. Your work is really important for conservation and ecology. I just guess this isn’t what I pictured.”
They ate in silence for a few more minutes, then Marnie put all the leftovers on the plate for the pokemon, who were absolutely excited about it. Then she pulled out the rest of her cleaning kit and got to work, cleaning her kettle and pouring more tea for the both of them. He was fun and surprisingly easy to talk to, but she guessed that’s what happened when someone gets pretty humbled in front of you real fast. She finished cleaning then put her things away, packing it all back up.
“I need to get back to work now. I have to go document some things, but do you have a phone? You can hit me up when you get to Motostoke and we can do real dinner or something.”
He smiled and they swapped numbers, then parted ways. Sure. Dinner. That was it. Don’t lie to yourself, Marnie.