Project: Titans -- A Pokemon Story (OC x Piers)

Chapter 31

I woke up to someone humming a song of some sort. My face felt puffy, and my eyes felt dry. I had cried myself to sleep last night, and the effects could be felt even more now that I was awake. Stretching out my sore legs, I peeked at the person humming. It was the gym leader, Marnie, sitting on the edge of the 'roof' of my cell, absentmindedly swinging her legs to and fro, kicking the walls.

"Could you stop that?" I asked, my voice distorted from my sadness. Immediately, she hopped down from the top and faced me, leaning against the fence. "I heard you cryin' last night. How come?"
"I wasn't crying," I said, my face heating up with embarrassment. Great. There goes my tough exterior.

"Okay," she said, dropping the subject without a fight. Humming, she twirled around the tiny gym, her partner, Morepeko, sitting just outside my cell, laughing and clapping its little paws together. "Why are you even here?" I finally snapped, and she stopped. "'Cause my bro can't shut me up inside all day," she replied, and resumed her dancing. I groaned, turning away from her.

Meowsie was twirling along with her, mimicking her movements perfectly. At least, until she tripped over a broken bottle and slammed into the gate, and one of the boards laying across the top of my cell fell. I barely moved Toxie out of the way in time before it crashed into the ground where she had been sitting before momentarily. "Woah! Hey," I yelped, jumping up. "What the heck just happened?!"

"Uh, a board fell over an' almost hit you in the head," Marnie said slowly, eying the ceiling above me like it might collapse if you even looked at it wrong. "That thing is a safety hazard to everybody in this town," I insisted. "Especially me! I guess you'll tell me next that the roof isn't screwed on properly!"
"Actually, it isn't screwed on at all," she murmured, and I completely flipped my lid.

"How can your brother afford to practically run a town that's falling apart around us?!"
"He can't."
"Huh?" I looked up to whoever had spoken. It was a Team Yell grunt, a man, standing dejected in the shadows. "I said he can't. Nobody here can. Spikemuth's barely standin' as it is, an' all Piers says is 'Don't worry.'"

"The Chairman says he can move us far away to some valley or somethin', but nobody really wants to go," another chimed in.
"And Piers don't like Dynamax much, so he an' the chairman keep havin' great big rows 'bout movin',' a third, this one a girl, added.

"He's a great guy, an' we all know he means well, but it's startin' to affect us an' how many tourists we bring in," Marnie finished. "Piers tried to get a loan from Chairman Rose to improve the stadium, an' Rose gave it to him, but now he needs to pay him back an' he don't got the dough to do it."

"That sounds awful," I said, trying to draw weakness from their self-pity. "But, wait. This is one of the major gyms in the Galar League, and it's the last gym before Gym Challengers challenge Raihan. Rose wouldn't risk losing another revenue stream, and the loyalty of the people who live here."

"He would if he thought we weren't good enough to shine his shoes," the female Team Yell member said bitterly. "Which he does. To him, we're nothin' but scabs waitin' to be picked off an' flicked away."
"Disgusting use of a metaphor, but you have a valid point," I said, standing. "You guys have to bring in the tourists, big time. If you can start some tours, maybe a little activity station, who knows? Maybe in a few years it'll start to get some recognition."

"We don't have years," Marnie said miserably. Her Morpeko walked over to her and cooed sadly. Scooping it up, she thoughtfully played with its ears as she explained the problem. "See, what my bro don't know is that I know what's happenin' to Spikemuth. I heard his conversation with Rose about what'll happen if he doesn't pay off that loan in six months."

"What?" I leaned forward, now genuinely curious. Biting her lip, she walked forward and pressed her face to the fence. "If he can't pay it off in six months, the whole town'll be evicted from this spot," she whispered loudly. "I looked up the word, an' it ain't good. My bro needs the cash now, but we don't have any way to get it." She looked up at me, wide-eyed and hopeful. "At least, we didn't, 'till you came along."

"How in the world am I expected to raise money to improve a ramshackled, oversized shack with people living in it?" I asked, and Team Yell threatened me with their giant horns. Marnie waved them off with a hand. "I know it don't look like much," she admitted. "But this town means a lot to me. To all of us. An' I know he don't exactly show it, but my bro's worried too. That's why we need the help."

"But why me?" I asked. "Why not grab some other poor soul off the street and decide to force them to do your bidding?"
"'Cause you've got the convincin' skills to get people to come here," she said. That, I couldn't deny. "You could charm a Silicobra to twist itself into a bloody pretzel. You're a fit bird, and can convince a room full of celebrities you belong with 'em. If you can do that, you can help us!"

"And who says I even want to help you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. Marnie shuffled her feet, looking at her toes. Apparently, she hadn't thought that far ahead. "Tell you what. If you help us with one thing, I'll let you negotiate with my bro for you gettin' out of this tin can."

I looked down to Meowsie, and she looked up at me. After a while, I turned back to Marnie with my answer. "Miss Marnie, you have just acquired the prestigious assistance of my business talents."