Instant Family (SWSH Fanfic)

Interlude: She Sees the Best in People (part 3)

Marnie swallowed hard, her eyes scanning her surroundings. The staffers were slowly closing in on the group. She craned her neck and started counting.

...Seven, eight nine... okay. We can do this. We can do this right? Grimmsnarl and toxicroak are still hanging out by the front— we can—

"Soo..." Piers held his hands up as the staffers continued to approach the gang, his tone of voice remaining calm, "We don't want any trouble— we just were gonna—"

"Individuals without passes—" a particularly skinny grunt yanked her lanyard, pulling her key card free, "— are not permitted to ride the monorail at this time." She held her hand up, clenching it into a fist to signal the rest of her crew to stop walking. Piers shifted his view from her lanyard, to his shoes, to Marnie and Nessa, who were still backed up against the monorail entrance. "You three will have to come with us."

An awkward silence hung, the tenseness between the gym leaders and the staffers continued to rise. Marnie shifted her gaze upward to look at Nessa, finding herself shocked at how composed the typically air-headed gym leader was. She strode toward Piers, planting her feet and crossing her arms. "And if we don't wanna go with you guys...?"

"Then you'd be making a mistake."

Piers and Nessa looked at each other or a brief moment, then back to Marnie. Piers sighed, shrugged, then adjusted his own belt. Nessa nodded and waved weakly to Marnie.

This is not good, what about—

Marnie's thoughts were cut short by a sequence of blinding, flashing lights coming from the activation of several poke balls at once. Panicked, she stepped backwards into the the station entrance, stumbling as the cries of various pokemon were drowned out by the shut of the industrial door. She turned around to see the station manager looking at her with wide eyes. She narrowed hers, slamming her hands onto the counter. She gritted her teeth as flashes of light and bangs rang out behind her.

"Get me a one way to the Rose Tower."

The station manager gulped, timidly gesturing to the train with one hand, quietly tapping at the keyboard with his others. Marnie boarded and peeked her head through the window, craning her neck to view the scene. Her pokemon loyally joined the battle under Pier's team, the two gym leaders were back-to-back as they navigated the onslaught of attacks from the various staffers. She caught the eye of one of them, seeing him rip his sunglasses off his face and point vigorously at the departing train. Marnie whipped her head away from the window and sunk into the hard plastic bench of the train. She shut her eyes hard, summoning courage as the train shot toward the looming tower in the distance.

She sighed and gripped the straps of her backpack.

"I'm comin', Gloria..."

-•-

What the HELL is that...?

Marnie's forehead was pressed to the window as the Rose Tower's dynamic architecture jutted into her view. She could vaguely see pink sparks flying from the clouds that were swirling at the peak of the tower, horrible thunderous waves shook the monorail as she continued to speed almost certainly to impending doom. She looked down at her hands.

I'm way out of my league here. I can't do this. This is the sort of thing that makes Gloria so... FUCK. Can I do this???

*THUMP*

The monorail once again rattled against the tremors that radiated from the tower, making Marnie's forehead bonk unceremoniously against the window. "...Owww..." Marnie's hand rubbed her forehead as she examined the smudge she left on the window. She shook her head, swiping her fingertips through her bangs as her eyes refocused on the tower. She steeled her composure and stood up, letting the sliding doors jolt her back to the reality at hand. "time to fin— the fuck??" Marnie stepped out of the train and into the courtyard of the Rose Tower. Her eyes dragged across the carnage. Various staffers were cradling fainted pokemon in their arms, shying away from Marnie as she strode to the front doors. She singled one out, crouching down to be eye level with him. "Oi," she set her hands down firmly on the staffer's shoulders, "look here. What happened here." Marnie pointed her pointer and middle fingers in a "v" shape from the staffer's eyes to her own. He timidly connected his gaze with hers, she could see his eyes faintly through his sunglasses.