My Name is Marcus: Dark Times

V. An Offer You Can't Refuse

"Explain this to me again", Aster demanded, beginning to lose his patience. "Why did this seem like a good idea?"

The last three weeks had been rather busy for Marcus, Marnie, and all of Spikemuth. The exhibition match that the champion initiated with the city's gym leader sparked a series of exhibition matches to be hosted in the heart of Spikemuth twice a week to houses so packed, the overflow stood in the streets and watched from outside the fence of the arena. These matches featured many of Galar's finest trainers - the young and prodigal Allister versus the Master Dojo's aspiring gym leader, Klara, was a notable match, and the long-awaited battle between former-champion, Leon, and his younger brother and hero of Galar, Hop, remained one of the most trending videos on every major social media platform even weeks after it had occurred. In addition, the attention the events garnered from outsiders began to create a surge in commercial traffic within the city - merchandisers were able to start selling again, food vendors and restaurants began to re-open their businesses, and people began to arrive from all across the region to experience the live music of the area, which even began to rival the popularity of The Maximizers. These exhibition nights continued to show a great deal of promise, both in entertaining the people of Galar and in revitalizing the shattered community of Spikemuth.

Then Marcus got the phone call from Avery, informing him about Macro Cosmos's Cease and Desist order against him. As he had expected, they'd soon caught wind of what was going on, and they were not pleased.

Marcus now sat in the same conference room as he had weeks prior. Aster had offered to host a meeting with the champion, his manager, and the Spikemuth gym leader. Avery strongly advised he attend, citing that it could be his only chance at avoiding a full-on courtroom dispute. So there he sat at the conference table, with Marnie to his left, Avery to his right, and Aster standing before them.

"Honestly, I fail to see the problem here", Marcus said with a shrug.

"Marcus, shut up", Avery whispered sharply.

"What?", Marcus interjected, "We don't owe this guy anything."

"You owe me plenty", Aster insisted with a bitter tone. "But we'll get to that momentarily. For now, I'll settle for an explanation."

Avery looked to Marcus with a hard expression.

Marnie sat nervously with her hands in her lap and her eyes fixed on the table. She could sense the tension, she didn't want to speak out of turn and end up making things worse.

Marcus let out a sigh. "As Galar's champion, I couldn't stand by and allow the community of Spikemuth to continue suffering at the hands of the League's negligence", he declared.

"Negligence, is it?" Aster asked.

"You turned your backs on them", Marcus continued. "We tried to go through your channels to address the issue, but you ignored us."

"So you decided to deliberately go against the League's best interests?" Aster interrogated

"No, Chairman", Marcus rebuffed, "I decided to deliberately go against your best interests."

Aster smiled wryly. "So, the young Litten does have claws? How cute", he chuckled as he moved away from the table and leaned back against the wall. "Really, I do find what you've been doing to be quite noble at heart, but did you honestly believe we'd let you get away with unauthorized usage of company property for your own profits?"

Marnie glared. "The Spikemuth Gym ain't your property, you git", she said firmly as she rose to her feet. "We didn't use the League name or brand, we didn't charge for any tickets. All the money that's come through the city these nights has been through Spikemuth's own businesses, got it?"