Bede lets a long, monotone whine escape from his nose as he tucks his head down and rubs his right eye with a tightly clenched fist.
"Either the sun has decided it hates me, or I've spent a little too much time in that bloody forest," the white-haired boy hisses. His puffy lavender winter coat, perfect for the chilly air in Galar, now hung wide open — so loosely clinging to his shoulders that he threatens to let it fall to the floor and explore Pasio in only the pink-and-blue swirled Gym Leader uniform underneath.
"To be fair, the floor is right glossy." Galar's newest Champion, Victor, responds in a tone that straddles the line between sympathy and teasing jest. "Makes everything stand out, eh?"
As Bede drops his hand to his side, he tilts his head just enough to scowl at Victor through his peripheral vision. Clearly he did not appreciate the tone.
However he loses the opportunity to speak up when Marnie, walking at Victor's other side, tramples over him.
"I'm thinkin' you sound a little too chuffed, fairy boy."
The pastel goth girl leans forward just enough to look at Bede past Victor's scarlet red-collared Henley. Her expression is flat to anyone looking upon the trio as they wander down the yellow, cobbled road away from a bustling port. Yet the two boys can pick out the slightest hint of a smirk curling at the edges of her lips.
Bede rolls his dark purple eyes and huffs with his nose. "Is that sarcasm Marnie? How out of character for you."
"I've lived in Spikemuth my whole life. You've no right complainin' about dark places."
The girl's tone is muted and has an air of finality as she flips the curls of hair hanging over her right eye and straightens out.
"It's positively smashing here if you ask me." She glances at the little rodent Morpeko standing on the right shoulder of her studded leather jacket and hastens a smile. Her Pokémon was in its yellow-hued "Full Belly" form, and happily smiles back. "Dare say I've not seen such a nice joint since laying eyes on Wyndon the first time."
While Bede tries to take another look around at the Oz-like yellow road and the multi-colored, digital screen-dotted buildings surrounding it, Victor warmly smiles at Marnie and adjusts his grey knit cap while watching her scratch her Pokemon's ear.
As soon as she looks back and catches his gaze, her cheeks dust pink. She tilts her head slightly and offers a reserved look in return.
"Can we visit some a' the boutiques, Vic? Before we came I was hearin' all sorts of rumors about the fashion designers visitin' this place."
He gives a single, definitive nod. "'Course we can. Anything you want, at this point it's on Leon's tenner. Bloke doesn't know when to give up trying to beat me."
Marnie giggles and rests the shaved left side of her head on Victor's shoulder. They hold hands between them.
Bede, on the other side, rubs his temple as he watches them snuggle up and draw all kinds of attention from trainers dressed in the popular garbs of their home Regions.
"Swear this whole lovebird schtick between the two of you really makes me ill."
Despite his words being biting and venomous, underscoring the usual flamboyant notes of his tenor voice, Victor looks over and shrugs his free shoulder. The brown-haired boy's leather, suitcase backpack strap nearly slips off in the process.
"Just because Hop isn't here for you to chat up doesn't mean you have to be all cranky about the rest of us having fun, Bede."
The purple-cloaked Gym Leader audibly gags and holds up his right hand.
"Me and Hop? Don't even start." Victor and Marnie chuckle at Bede's reaction.
"Where is that idiot anyway?" The white-haired boy continues, clearly eager to change the subject. "You're supposed to be his keeper, aren't you?"
"Don't ask me," Victor says. "Boy ran off soon as the barge touched land."
"I'm imaginin' the prospect of seein' all these new Pokémon was too excitin'." Marnie chimes in, her free hand tugging down the hem of her pink dress under her heavy jacket. "Baffles me Sonia's kept 'im in-line so long."
"Well she's got her gran's blood, ain't she?" Victor laughs softly as he bumps shoulders with her.
Before Bede can give them any more guff, the town's bustling atmosphere runs cold under a sharp wail. Every trainer lining the streets looks around for its source. Victor and Marnie both perked up at the spine-tingling cry, and the Galar Champion starts to run after it without a second thought.
"Hey, Vic!" Marnie calls as she follows in his wake, stride a little more awkward with her metal spike-heeled boots compared to his brown loafers.
Bede lingers for a moment before he sighs and casually saunters behind.
When the three Galarian visitors come across the source of the crying, an unusual sight awaits them.
A young woman with hot pink hair tied off in twin ponytails is collapsed to her knees, sobbing loudly into her hands as two short-haired brunettes in sleeveless black dresses and white t-shirts try to console her.
Standing across from them was a burly guy with a golden skull medallion hanging from a chain around his neck, and a pair of yellow glasses with a dented left frame held up by his scruffy white hair just above his sullen, black-ringed eyes. The man looks confused as he aggressively ruffles his hair with both hands. A slender girl nearly as tall as him, with hair cascading from a pair of skull-shaped accessories on her head in alternating pink and yellow bands, chats with a very young girl in a navy blue outfit somewhere between a gi and a kimono.
Victor runs up to the burly man and throws his left arm out energetically.
"What did you do to her?" He says loud enough to draw the girls' attention.
The man looks down at Victor and sizes him up for a moment before moving his hands down to his hips, right onto the short-sleeve black jacket that hung baggy over his white shirt. His gold chain jangles as it bounces over the shirt's deep U-neck.
"What's it to ya, punk?" The man asks with an intimidating snarl.
Marnie and Bede approach the crying girl, but before they can say anything she jumps up. Her knees are scuffed up and she clutches the yellow buttons of her white shirt.
"You're a real meanie, you know that?!" The girl manages through stifled sobs before she runs off.
The two brunettes scramble to catch up.
"Whitney!"
"Hang on, slow down!"
Once the three of them are gone, Victor turns his attention to the burly man.
"Didn't your mum ever teach you that making little girls cry is wrong?"
The man's mouth hangs open, baffled. Then, he rears his head back and laughs like a maniac.
"Listen to this little mama's boy, Plumeria. Thinks he can tell me what to do."
The girl with the colorful strands of hair grins and brings a hand to the side of her head, drawing attention to the thick white make-up around her eyes.
As the man leans forward again to engulf Victor in his shadow, a huge insectoid Pokémon with a gleaning silver samurai shell walks up next to its master. It leans in and roars in Victor's face, the sound clicking as it escapes from its mandibles.
Victor shies away from the Golisopod's sharp, black claws.
"Listen up." The man suddenly looks serious, eyes boring into Victor's soul as his deep voice echoes. "I don't care what part of the world you came from with that dumbass accent. No way you're telling the biggest, baddest boss in all of Alola what he can't do."
As he starts to walk forward, Victor has to back away to avoid being run over. The man grins widely and cackles.
"I'm the hated boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up."
The tall girl behind him whoops and then calls out a soft, "Yeah."
"Wanna see what destruction looks like? Here it is in human form." The man's grin evolves into something far more wild and unkempt. "It's your boy, Guzma!"
As Victor backs into a wall, Marnie runs between them and shoves Guzma away.
The sullen-eyed man blinks a few times as he acclimates to what just happened.
"Feisty." He remarks with a slight nod toward the scowling girl in black and pink. "You gunna let your girlfriend here fight your battles for you, kid?"
"Piss off," Marnie spits. Her Pokémon's fur had bristled and faded into a dark purple. "I'm the only one that's gettin' to beat this loser hollow, understand?"
"Thanks Marnie…" Victor mumbles at her spin as he rubs his neck.
Guzma laughs heartily again.
"Oh, I like you girlie!"
However, the two start bickering with each other.
Bede, having left his bulky coat on a bench, approaches Plumeria and the young girl accompanying her.
"I swear these people are ridiculous," he mutters, rubbing his temple.
Plumeria snorts, resting her hand on the pink skull tattooed to her midriff.
"Tell me about it. I can't go six feet without that dummy getting into a fight." Her free hand pets the black-and-purple lizard on its hind legs beside her, barely tall enough to reach the top of her pants. "Salazzle and I always have to pick up the slack."
Plumeria and Bede look at each other and seem to come to an understanding, achievable only by those who know what it's like to look after headstrong idiots.
Then the girl in the blue gi steps out of line and waves enthusiastically at Bede.
"Hi! I'm Liza, nice to meet you!"
The Galarian boy looks down at the girl, and then tilts his head.
"Uh… Hi." He momentarily glances over at Guzma — who was aggressively performing some kind of arm-flailing dance move at Marnie.
"Is there a reason you're bumming around with weirdos like these?"
"Hey!" Plumeria scowls. "Watch it."
"Mr. Guzma and Ms. Plumeria are helping me get stronger," Liza chimes in. She completely ignores the taller girl's hostile energy. "I need to exceed my brother, Tate."
Bede scratches his hair.
"Hang on. Liza… And Tate… Where have I heard those names?"
Before he can get an answer Guzma yells, "That's it!"
Everyone watches as he storms to Plumeria and Liza, making Bede back away.
"Come on, we're kicking these punks all the way back where they came from."
Plumeria grins sharply and crosses her arms over her stomach.
"If you insist."
Bede scampers to the opposite side of the street where Victor stood beside a worked-up Marnie. As Plumeria and Liza line up around Guzma, their Pokémon form up in the same order in front of them: Salazzle on the left, Golisopod in the middle, and the levitating moon-shaped rock Lunatone on the right.
"You've all battled Pasio-style, right?" Liza calls out.
The three Galarian trainers look between one another, and Victor shrugs.
"We got a crash course on the way over. Haven't tried it yet."
"It's bloody-well time," Marnie mumbles as she squints daggers at Guzma.
Guzma grins back at her. "Better pick it up quick, it's no fun to beat down trash!"
Marnie cries out in an exasperated scoff. She tugs at the metal ring hanging from the choker around her neck and pulls a Dusk Ball from the side compartment of her studded pink backpack.
She tosses the ball: Out comes Grimmsnarl, a tall and nasty looking green goblin wrapped in black hair so thickly woven it looked like tree bark around its beefy limbs.
Victor and Bede follow suit with a Pokéball and Great Ball respectively.
To Grimmsnarl's left is Victor's prized partner Cinderace, the snow-white humanoid rabbit confidently smirking as it rests its stumpy hands on the red fur pattern around its hips. To Grimmsnarl's right is Bede's Hatterene, a tiny alien creature with alluring black eyes wrapped in a jelly coat of hair that obscures it in the guise of a witch.
"What freaks," Guzma says with a tantalized smirk. "Let's beat 'em good."
The big, bad boss squats on the spot and rests his elbows on his unshaking knees.
He nods, and his massive Bug-type Pokémon seems to understand. It roars, and then rushes at Grimmsnarl so quickly that the Galarian trainers could only perceive its movement as low frame rate afterimages.
Golisopod jams the pair of black spikes emerging from the shield-shaped armor plating of its right arm into Grimmsnarl's stomach, which leaves the goblin doubled over. The First Impression does not seem to penetrate that thick black hair.
"Grimmsnarl, False Surrender." Marnie orders. "Get him away."
Her Pokémon immediately lifts its right arm up behind its head, and the hair wrapped around that limb forms itself into a large spike.
Grimmsnarl drives that spike into Golisopod's head and barely pushes it away.
"Back them up with a Pyro Ball!" Victor calls out, to which his Cinderace triumphantly purrs in response.
Cinderace jams its foot into the stone floor and knocks a pebble into the air. It starts to kick the tiny rock like a footbag, Each kick bristling a fiery aura around the pebble until Cinderace was juggling a fireball the size of a proper soccer ball.
Victor's athletic rabbit knocks the Pyro Ball high into the air before leaping up. It drives the ball directly onto Golisopod with a hefty kick, and the bug is sent sprawling.
The armored Pokémon skids to a halt at Guzma's feet just as Cinderace lands deftly on the ground again. At that point, Plumeria was feeding a second pair of X Sp. Atk and X Speed to her Salazzle.
"You could help you know!" Guzma yells at her.
Plumeria is unfazed, and gets right back up in his face.
"It's not my fault you chose to run off on your own!"
"Well why do I keep you on if you can't do at least that much for me, huh?"
"You know you'd be lost taking care of those dummies back home without me."
While they bicker, Liza meekly steps up and clears her throat.
"Come on guys, let's be of one mind here!"
Her Lunatone calls out in response, its ethereal voice rolling like a wave. Golisopod and Salazzle both cry in response, and all three Pokémon appear pumped up.
Meanwhile, Bede glances at his partners — particularly the fuming punk girl.
"Marnie."
She looks back at him. "Mm?"
"Like we rehearsed, yeah?"
Marnie seems lost, but she nods as soon as realization flashes in her eyes.
The two of them step forward. Marnie throws her right arm out, and Morpeko leaps down off it. Bede throws out his left while tilting his head back condescendingly.
"Reflect."
"Light Screen!"
Grimmsnarl pulls his arms back and roars to the heavens as Hatterene closes her eyes and concentrates. Soon both of them, as well as Victor's Cinderace, are cloaked in a fluid mosaic of golden light intermingling with a platinum-silver light. The twin veils bask across every inch of each Pokémon before sinking into their skins.
"If Hop were here, he'd probably say we were about to have a champion time." Victor grins and pumps his right arm.
"We'll see about that."
Plumeria holds out her hand, raspy voice scraping against her throat. "Salazzle, use Sludge Wave!"
The lizard's pink flame patterns on its stomach begin to glow as it gets down on its hands and feet. As it calls out with an inorganic stutter, its body becomes engulfed in flames. Suddenly, Salazzle begins to lift itself up on a pillar of bubbling purple toxin.
As Plumeria lifts her hand to the sky, Salazzle jumps from its perch on the poisonous pillar and dives into it. That causes the structure to collapse, and the ensuing wave of freed liquid sludge cascades onto all three of Salazzle's opponents.
"Look out!" Victor calls as he, Marnie and Bede cover their faces. Each of their Pokémon are caught by the wave and knocked to the floor, submerging into the poison.
Once it passes all three Pokémon stand up again — though Grimmsnarl seems worse for the wear.
Marnie looks to her Pokémon partner with concern before glancing at both their allies with desperation in her voice.
"C'mon you lot, let's beat 'em hollow already."
The Galar Pokémon seem just as reassured by the sentiment as their trainers, and all three are ready to make sure their next attacks counted.
"Cinderace, Blaze Kick!" Victor says.
Bede nods. "Follow up with a Psychic, Hatterene."
The blazing rabbit runs ahead at top speed, pumping its arms and kicking up dust. It makes a beeline for Golisopod, who covers its face with both its plate-like arms.
Cinderace skids to a near stop on its left foot just before running into the Bug-type. It carries over the momentum by swinging its right foot high into the air and delivering a roundhouse kick to Guzma's partner. Its foot explodes in a brilliant scarlet burst of fire that sends Golisopod stumbling back.
Guzma stands up and starts aggressively rustling his hair again, rocking his upper body back and forth in the process.
"Guzma! What is wrong with you?!" He chastises to himself. "If I had the energy left to spare we'd thrash all these people in an instant!"
Plumeria tries to assist by pumping up the team with more conviction, but is interrupted as Bede's Hatterene flips the limb-like appendage on its hat frontward so it can hold out the hand on the end and channel a burst of energy into the Poison-type.
Salazzle, quite the glass cannon, tumbles back from the force with a pained cry — much to Plumeria's chagrin.
"Watch it!" She yells.
Before Marnie can follow-up with another False Surrender, her Pokémon is pelted by a Psychic blast from Lunatone; whose red eyes illuminated wildly even without Liza having to verbalize a single command.
"No fair! Here I am thinkin' Psychic-type moves have no effect on Dark Pokémon." Marnie decries, crossing her arms with a huff.
"The rules are different on Pasio," Liza replies with a sweet smile. "Lear, the guy who built the island, apparently had his people install special enhancement nodes that—"
"Less talking," Guzma interrupts with a growl. "More smashing."
"I'm sure we can hear all about that later…" Victor grumbles before he turns to Marnie. "In the meantime, here."
He offers the girl a potion, which she readily takes and offers to her Grimmsnarl. Immediately after she sprays the juice onto him, Grimmsnarl roars energetically.
"Thanks a bunch, Vic."
"You can snog me later for it."
He grins, at which she rolls her eyes. That pink hue dusts her cheeks again.
However she does not have much time to think that over before she suddenly looks down and starts fumbling with her jacket as if looking for a lost object.
Both Bede and Victor notice and give her a strange look.
"Er… Got your knickers in a twist there?" Bede asks.
"Piss off," Marnie mumbles before she pulls a red-and-blue Poryphone from the inner-right pocket of her jacket. "This bloody thing is vibratin' up a storm."
The eyes of the facsimile Porygon at the top of the phone glows bright red, and a rainbow-colored hexagon just below the device's main screen flashes like a carnival attraction. Her arm buzzes each time it jostles and rings as though she were getting a call.
As Marnie presses the button, the device flashes like a strobe light. She flinches away from the brightness and drops it to the yellow road, cursing under her breath.
That was just enough to get the process going. As Marnie looks back out onto the battlefield, she'd find her Grimmsnarl bathed in an oscillating rainbow light from below.
With one last roar, the Pokémon is sucked back into Marnie's Pokéball; which seemed to emerge from her pocket on its own. The same rainbow light now engulfs the capture device, which levitates into the air above her.
The ball expands three separate times, and then falls into Marnie's arms. It was a familiar size, one that was comfortable in her grasp. She looks surprised all the same.
Guzma seems just as confused from the other side of the arena, and scratches his head as he, Plumeria and Liza watch with bated breath.
"Is there a…?" Marnie begins, her voice hoarse.
Bede shrugs, and Victor pumps both arms twice with a smile.
"Might as well give it a go!"
The Dark-type trainer nods and turns her back to their opponents. She lifts the hulking rainbow-colored Pokéball above her head before tossing it with a grunt.
When the ball releases its contents, the ethereal form of Grimmsnarl lingers in the air for just a moment before exploding into an amorphous blob of red energy. That blob pulsates a number of times, getting demonstrably bigger with each wave of power. The maroon residue that's shaved away each time the blob grows starts to fly toward the stratosphere, and over time cracks through the baby blue sky to reveal black-and-red clouds swirling out of a hazy spatial wormhole.
The clouds expand until they fill a quarter of the entire airspace above Pasio, drenching the island in shadow. Meanwhile the blob of energy was ten times the size of the tallest building. It suddenly contracts into a humanoid shape, and then shatters into a web of disparate scales. The light dissolves, leaving behind Gigantamax Grimmsnarl.
This new form is entirely coated in black hair, now so finely woven that it resembled high-grade armor around its fit, top-heavy form. A sparkling red diamond on the core of Grimmsnarl's chest emanates a hazy red glow that encompasses his outline.
Guzma, Plumeria, and Liza are gobsmacked as they stare up to the godly presence of the Gigantamax Pokémon. The big bad boss nearly catches a fly in his gaping maw.
"No way…" He mumbles.
"That's enough chin flappin'," Marnie giggles. "Let's do this. G-Max Snooze."
Though there was no conceivable way her Pokémon heard that meager command, it knows exactly what needs to be done. Grimmsnarl rears its tri-talon claw of a hand back before swiping it across the sky. The motion is slowed by drag from the wind, but the sound of it cutting through the heavens can be heard for miles around Pasio.
From Grimmsnarl's hand emerges a violently twisting array of black-and-purple energy wisps that resemble its writhing hair. The wisps fall like meteorites and burst atop Golisopod with a dazzlingly display that envelops Salazzle and Lunatone as well.
Once the energy fades, leaving only a few pitch-black embers falling to the yellow brick road, all three Pokémon are down for the count.
In that same moment, Grimmsnarl's Gigantamax form explodes into particles of light that zip down to the ground and congregate in front of Marnie. When the light dissipates, the Pokémon has returned to its original form. The maelstrom in the sky takes a bit longer to return to normal.
However, Marnie simply walks up to her Pokémon and brushes its upper arm.
"Nicely done, mate."
As Grimmsnarl leans into its trainer's affection, Victor scoffs from behind them.
"I thought Sonia told us there were no Power Spots here on Pasio? How were you able to Dynamax?"
Marnie shrugs while he ponders the question, but Bede seems to have an idea. He wanders over to the punk girl's old spot and picks her Poryphone up off the ground.
"Could have something to do with whatever's in this." Bede holds it to the light.
"You mean the Sync Stone."
All three of the Galar trainers look up as Guzma speaks in front of them with his shoulders slumped in resignation. They'd been beaten, fair and square.
"Sync Stone?" Victor asks. "Is that anything like a Wishing Star?"
Team Skull's head snorts and rolls his eyes, arms crossed around his chain.
"You act like I know what that is. I didn't invent the damn things." He raises his hands to over-emphasize his shrug before using them to pick up his sagging pants. "They got the same energy whatsits as Z-Crystals from Alola too."
"Fascinating." Bede holds the phone closer to his face. "Now I kind of do wish Hop was here to take a look at things.
Marnie snatches up her phone and rubs the fog of Bede's breath off on her dress.
As she does, Guzma looks down.
"Hey, Marnie was it?" She doesn't offer him a response, so he continues. "Nice goin'. You and that monster of yours really know how to give a hell of a beat down."
Guzma grins, and the sentiment is enough to draw a slight smile out of her too.
"Thanks." She nods. "What else would ya be expectin' from a Gym Leader?"
The burly man squints his sullen eyes, and then he turns around — showing off the white skull pattern on the back of his jacket — and tucks his hands in his pockets.
"Gym Leader, huh?" He shakes his head before shrugging as he walks off.
"Guess they can't all be perfect."
Marnie scowls and flips Guzma off as he helps his Golisopod stand, and then leads his team off the premises. Only Liza excitedly waves goodbye.
"Looks like you made a friend already, huh?" Victor chuckles as he rests a hand on Marnie's shoulder.
She brushes it off.
"I've met a lot of rude punks in my day, but he takes the whole Alcremie cake."
Marnie lets her attitude simmer down before she turns to Victor and pulls him into a tight hug. They embrace for a while, at which point Bede walks off to grab his jacket.
Just when the two pull apart, a spry girl with long brunette hair tied off into buns accosts them.
"Excuse me!" She manages while panting, having run a good distance alongside her partner Serperior. "Were you the one with that ginormous Pokémon just now!?"
"Perhaps," Marnie responds flatly with a cautious squint. "What's it to ya?"
The new girl grins and adjusts her pink-striped visor.
"I'm Rosa!" She pulls off a pose, holding her right hand out with V-shaped fingers as her left hand hikes up her bag.
"I think you guys should come meet a friend of mine!"
Hey, thanks for taking the time to read this! I know you have plenty of choices for your self-isolation entertainment, so I appreciate you going with me.
As I mentioned in the update posted to my Fire Emblem: Three Houses fanfic "Entwined by Misfortune" (pls read, thank), the whole global pandemic thing has left me in a bit of a funk. So I decided I should start cranking out smaller, fun story ideas during the brief intervals when I'm not working three freelance gigs at the same time.
Guzma and Plumeria recently appearing in the mobile game Pokémon Masters not so subtly inspired this particular story. I told myself I wasn't going to write Masters-related content because the game is essentially a canonical fanfiction in its own right, but what can I say. The prospect of Guzma and Marnie arguing about who gets to beat up Victor was too hilarious in my brain to not go forward with.
Shout out to anyone who remembers my Victor/Marnie fic "Riverside Rendezvous" that I said I was going to build off of before jobs stole all my time. I swear I still have a lot of ideas to go back to one of these days.
One final note, thanks to Blazblade [id: 8144344] for taking a look at the draft of this story in exchange for me looking at his Pokémon/Sonic crossover. Also for being a cool guy I can bounce Pokémon-related ideas off of.
Hope you all are safe, healthy and find more good stuff to read!
The Featured Image is a self-made split screen comprised of two pictures:
Guzma fanart made by memorinn on Tumblr
Marnie fanart made by zamzamisims on DeviantArt