"What if we lead off with an Aura Wheel/Pyro Ball combo, or somethin'?", Marnie suggested. "Somethin' that'll hit 'em both hard n' fast, yeah? I doubt Milo or Nessa have a Pokemon that can outspeed Morpeko or Cinderace."

"You're certainly thinking my style, I respect that", Marcus replied with a grin. "But no, I don't think that's gonna cut it, at least not for the opening round."

She raised a brow. "How come?"

Marcus took a sip of soda from the carry-out cup on the nightstand to his side. "Well, Nessa's all about setting up her "flow", and Milo will do whatever he needs to to play along", he explained, placing his chin between the crux of his right index finger and thumb. "If they lead with Shiftree and Golisopod like they normally do, or even a similar configuration, I'm willing to wager they'll start off with a Fake-Out/First Impression combo to try to halt any of my attacks while simultaneously dealing a truckload of super-effective damage on whatever dark-type you've got out on the field. If that happened, we'd be down one, first move."

Morpeko made a sudden switch to Hangry Mode, both out of hunger from the scents of food that wafted around her and from the notion that she'd so easily allow herself to be knocked out of a battle on the first turn; she was not too keen on being underestimated.

Marcus tittered as he reached into the large take-out bag that sat on the bedspread between he and Marnie and pulled out a french fry, handing it to the seething Pokemon as she sat in her trainer's lap. "It's nothing personal, Morpeko, but Golisopod is a hard hitter, and taking heavy hits has never been your specialty. You'll get your time to shine during this match, I promise, it's just not going to happen in round one."

Quickly snatching up the fry from Marcus's hand and scarfing it down, Morpeko's anger became adequately pacified, allowing a smooth transition from Hangry Mode back to her right state-of-mind. With her appetite sated, she was able to reflect more rationally on what Marcus had said. And while she was about as stubborn as her trainer when it came to admitting her shortcomings, she reluctantly agreed to the truth of his statement. She wanted her time to shine, and she couldn't have that if she got knocked out of the running before it even started.

"Right", Marnie sighed, placing an index finger to the side of her face. "That makes sense… it's what I'd do if I were them."

Marcus' eyes widened in an instant of revelation. "That's it! Let's do it!"

"Huh?" Marnie looked at Marcus with puzzled expression.

"Your Liepard still knows Fake-Out, right?", Marcus began. "If you were to call that move and have her use it on Shiftree, for instance, I have no doubt she could land it before he'd even get the chance to use it himself."

Marnie's eyes widened slightly as she began to piece this strategy together. "Right, I get it; a priority move's only as fast as its user when faced 'gainst another priority move."

"Exactly", Marcus replied. "So Liepard uses Fake-Out to cancel out Shiftree's, and then one of my Pokemon will use a priority move - Sucker Punch, or something - to get the jump on a much-slower Golisopod…"

"...And with enough force, it could be enough to trigger Golisopod's Emergency Exit and send it off the field, all in the first turn!", Marnie finished. "I like that... that's pretty smart o' ya, Marcus."

Marcus chuckled softly. "Don't look at me, you're the one who thought of it."

It had only been a few weeks since the former-champion, Leon, had announced the first Galarian Star Tournament. Yet already in that short time, it had become a smash-hit across the region for trainers and audience members alike. The former-champion's dream had always been to see Galar grow stronger together, and encouraging the region's star trainers to battle and work with one another in a competitive combat setting seemed like the logical next step in making that dream a reality. The now-League Chairman, Aster, was thrilled with this idea - both from a marketing perspective as well as what it could do for the growth of Galar - and gave Leon the green-light to organize this event however he saw fit. Evidently, the participants were equally excited; in anticipation for the first Star Tournament, Galar's finest trainers and their Pokemon rose to unprecedented heights that rivaled those of the champions of other regions.

It was an event that none would soon forget, with the team of Marcus and Hop taking a stunning victory after a tense final round against the team of former-champions, Peony and Mustard. The legendary lineups, the high-octane battles, the team matchups of Galar's favorite trainers; all of it was nearly enough to bring the 90,000 spectators at Wyndon Stadium to tears - both for the sheer glory of it all, and from the sadness that something so great would have to come to an end.

So when Leon and Aster announced that the Star Tournament would continue through the competitive season and would remain a part of all seasons to come, the collective excitement of the region knew no bounds. Trainers continued working harder than ever with their Pokemon to achieve greater strides in hopes of taking the glory of one of these coveted cups. Meanwhile, fans and audience members began gleefully speculating which of their favorite trainers would partner up next. Would Opal and Mustard finally collaborate again for the first time in over thirty years? Maybe Raihan and Piers would come together again to form what many fans had taken to dubbing as the "Scream Team"? Or Maybe Allister and Bea would pair up to represent the best of Stow-On-Side? The possibilities seemed nearly endless.

However, perhaps the biggest question on everyone's minds leading up to the second Galarian Star Tournament circulated around the sixteen year-old champion; who would Marcus choose as his partner for the next matchup? Would he continue to battle alongside Hop as the self-titled "Postwick Dream Team"? Perhaps he and one of the Gym Leaders could do an unexpected collaboration? Or maybe Galar would finally be blessed with a pairing between him and Leon, one of the most anticipated and requested pairings by the fanbase to date? All of Galar was abuzz in excited conjecture over the possibilities. But Marcus himself had always known who his next partner would be, ever since the announcement of a second Star Tournament. To him, it was an absolute no-brainer.

"Thanks again for choosin' me for this tournament, Marcus", Marnie said with a tender smile.

Marcus looked on at her curiously. "What're you thanking me for?"

She chuckled under her breath, shrugging slightly. "I dunno… I mean, I'm sure you got people left n' right offerin' to be your plus-one for this thing-"

"Marnie, you were the obvious choice", Marcus cut her off. "You were the only choice." He mirrored her smile with warmth. "Honestly, I would've asked you to be my partner for the first Star Tournament, but you and Piers looked as if you'd partnered up already, and…"

"...And Hop?", Marnie finished with a smirk.

Marcus tittered. "He just ambushed me outta nowhere, you know? You know how excited he gets about that sort of thing." He reached once more into the take-out bag, pulling out a small handful of french fries, almost immediately triggering Morpeko to extend her arms upwards and begin squeaking and begging - demanding, even - for more food of her own as she sat in Marnie's lap. "Plus, it'd been awhile since he and I had battled together", Marcus continued as he extended the longest french fry of the bunch to Morpeko, who munched away with a grateful smile on her face. "We hadn't had the chance to do a multi-battle together since the whole thing with Sordward and Shielbert went down, and I kinda wanted to fix that for old time's sake."

"Nah, I get it", Marnie replied. "You two go way back. Honestly, it was pretty neat watchin' the two o' ya represent Postwick together, n' all. Not to mention, seein' Zacian and Zamazenta battle together like that was like somethin' out of a fairytale."

Marcus nodded, taking the fries into his mouth and swiftly chasing them with a brief sip of soda. "I'll be honest, Marn, I'm actually a little surprised you said yes to battling with me", he laughed.

"Well, y'know, turnin' down an invitation from the champ makes for bad publicity", she teased.

"Woooooow", Marcus said low with a grin on his face, his jaw agape. "''What's this fun and romantic interest you're referring to, Marcus? I'm just here for the clout.'' That about right?"

Marnie smirked coyly with a light chortle as she took hold of his right hand, tenderly weaving her fingers between his. "C'mon, I'm just playin', you know I could never turn down my sweet, handsome, funny, wonderful, doe-eyed champion-boyfriend, dontcha?"

Marcus blushed, his cheeks splashed with heated crimson. "C'mon, this is just damage-control now", he chuckled in a playful fluster. "You're just saying that to butter me up."

Marnie broke eye-contact, "Well, I did mean every lick o' what I just said…", before meeting his gaze once more with a subtle nod; "...but yes."

Marcus couldn't help but giggle as his cheeks flushed further. Seeing Marnie having adopted his sense of humor - the punchlines and their delivery - was both amusing and endearing to him. Seven months together, and everything she did or said still made his heart flutter. "You… you're just swell, you know that?" He shook his head at himself in disapproval as he hid his brow beneath the palm of his left hand. Really? "Swell"? That's the best you could come up with? He wished he could have worded it more eloquently.

Marnie didn't seem to mind, however. His intent was in those words, silly as they may have been, and the subtle rose tint on her own pale face upon hearing them was a clear indicator that it meant all the same to her. "You too."

Marcus collected himself; back on topic now. "Seriously, though, I am a little surprised. I mean, I get pairing up with the champion to save face and all", he remarked sarcastically, his statement being met with a smirk and an eye-roll from Marnie. "But I mean, I figured you'd probably be looking to take every chance you could to beat me in a battle, right?"

"Any other time, yeah", Marnie answered. "Don't get me wrong, Marcus, I got plenty o' pent-up frustration from losin' to ya all the time that I'd love to let loose." Her hand squeezed his hand a little tighter; a playful demonstration of some of that frustration. "But the first Star Tournament got me kinda curious. I mean, we make a great pair off the pitch, n' all. Now I wanna know what kinda duo we make in a battle, y'know?"

"Pe! Morpe Mor!", Morpeko squeaked in excitement, sharing her trainer's sentiment.

Marnie smiled. "Morpeko seems real pleased to get to battle alongside your team, too."

"I'm over the moon myself", Marcus replied with a grin as he removed the ties that held his hair in a bun, allowing his wavy brown locks to fall onto the shoulders of his black long-sleeved shirt. "We're gonna make the most formidable team in this tournament, the others won't even know what hit them!"

"A little confident, are we?" Marnie smirked at him curiously.

"What?" Marcus mirrored her expression. "Is that a problem?"

"No problem at all", Marnie replied. "Just not used to seein' you this relaxed before a tournament is all." She took the opportunity to remove the red ribbons from her hair, allowing her own long black locks to flow downward. "Figured teamin' with you meant we'd be up all night runnin' drills n' doin' last-minute trainin' with our teams. But instead, you put us up in a hotel n' order us food, and all we're doin' is waggin' our chins." She took a handful of the remaining fries from the bag, biting into one as she continued. "I ain't gonna lie, it's the last thing I expected outta ya when it comes to gettin' prepared."

"We are prepared, Marn," Marcus assured. "We're two of the best trainers in the region, and our Pokemon are second to none. I know they can pull off anything we need them to at a moment's notice, so working them last-minute would prove counterproductive. At this point, I think it's much more important that we rest and start strategizing for any and all opponents we could be facing in this tournament."

Marnie gave a gentle nod. "I ain't complainin' 'bout it, it all makes plenty o' sense to me. The only thing I'm disappointed in's that the food we're chowin' down on ain't your cooking." She shot him a playful grin.

Marcus chuckled. "When we win this whole thing, I'll cook you and all of your Pokemon whatever you guys want." He extended a balled fist and held it out towards her, a confident smile on his face. "We're gonna win all there is to win, Marnie!"

A spark of determination ignited behind her eyes as her fist made contact with his. "Rockin'!"

The couple continued to strategize over food together well-past dusk, attempting to account for every team, trainer, and Pokemon they could find themselves facing throughout the tournament. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, and they wanted to have a plan for anything. They only had eyes for first place, after all, and nothing else was going to cut it.

AN: I'm back!

It occurred to me that since today is Valentine's Day, now might be a good time to unveil another Punkbladeshipping story I've been working on. I know that the Crown Tundra DLC dropped almost four months ago now, and most of the fandom's probably moved on from Sword and Shield in light of the building hype for Pokemon Snap and the alleged Diamond and Pearl remakes, but I still have a passion for these games. I know I'll probably get flack for saying this on the internet, but I'm doing it anyways; Pokemon Sword and Shield are good. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. Sue me.

I've been enjoying the hell out of the expansion since it dropped; the Crown Tundra is beautiful and adds a much-needed open-world exploration element to the game, and the Galarian Star Tournament offered both an actual late-game challenge in addition to some character development. I know that a lot of people are/were upset that this content didn't come with the base-game, but I actually received the base-game as a gift, so I didn't mind forking over thirty bucks for the DLC.

Team Punkblade is a story inspired by my personal experiences with the Galarian Star Tournament, with some reimagining thrown in. I would've loved to have seen GameFreak play around with the idea of rotating Pokemon team lineups for some of the other trainers in the game, though I was wise enough to know that this was probably just wishful thinking. Nevertheless, it was something I wanted to play around with, in addition to exploring Punkbladeshipping in a different context than what I've written in before.

To any that might have been following me closely towards the end of 2020 (not sure how many of you there are out there, but I appreciate you all the same), I'd like to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth for four months. A lot has been happening recently, between starting a new job, adjusting to a new sleep-schedule, pursuing other artforms, dealing with one health concern after another, etc. It already takes long enough for me to post material when I'm actively working towards it, let alone when I'm on hiatus. If you've been following me for a while now, thanks for sticking with me and continuing to encourage me. Feel free to DM me and tell me how you're doing, I'd love to touch base with some of you.

As I mentioned before, I still have plenty of stories I'd like to tell. I'm not sure how many of them I'll actually be able to write and publish before Sword and Shield inevitably fall out of relevance, but I'll do my best to keep up. Upload schedule is going to be slower and more infrequent than before because I've grown especially critical of my own work as of late, and I'm going to make a painstaking effort to ensure that I only put out material that's actually worth reading.

How's the DLC been treating all of you? What did you like? What did you feel could have been handled better? Any fics you know of that relate to it? Leave a review and let me know! Thank you all for your support!