Ash X Marnie Oneshot

It's been months since Marnie has seen Ash last. When she last saw him, she met the ambitious trainer on her terms. The battle that ensued may have led to her defeat, but she got her own unique opportunity to learn more about the Kantonian boy. She still clings onto the feeling of his lips—the way he held her in the darkness on the outskirts of Spikemuth. Marnie knew that Ash would return to Galar eventually, and she made sure to pay attention to see if he would. Yet, months zoomed by as the distracted Spikemuth resident counted down the days. Spending her off time battling passerby and sparring with her older brother Piers, she sought to keep her mind off of the particular trainer from Kanto.

Even now, she finds herself at the same fence where she last saw the boy.

"Your eyes didn't leave mine during the battle, your eyes didn't leave mine after the battle… and they won't leave mine now even as you have the opportunity to walk away."

The emptiness in her heart was as accented as ever. She spent so much of her life pushing people away so that she could amount to something on her own terms that when she found herself spiraling for one specific person—it crashed her system. She was high-strung by his departure, feeling as though the boy should have stayed since they shared such an emotional connection, even if for only mere minutes. It was an oiled machine that she hated with every atom of her being. She would trust someone—like someone—get close to them—and then they would abandon her due to her roots and the social standing of Galar. Even as she knew how the game was played, it didn't stop her from missing him.

The nighttime fog settled in around the same time that she had seen him last, and she frowned, Morpeko attempting to spur a rise from her trainer by dancing it out on her exposed legs. It worked to a degree as Marnie cracked an amused smile before reaching out and stroking Morpeko three times behind the ears and pulling her close. A woman who once detested hugs had been changed by one man in particular—thanks to his radiating body heat and warm milk-chocolate eyes.

Footsteps to her right dragged her out of her rueful look as she turned her head accordingly, only to meet the eyes of her older brother, Piers. His hands were in his pockets, and though his eyes met hers, he quickly looked down and paced to her side, where he looked out over the fence line.

"I thought I'd find you here." Piers said, resting his arms on the railing as Morpeko waved out to him, receiving a slight smile and wave in return.

At first, Marnie refused to say a word as she merely wanted to sit by herself and wallow over her own feelings. She gave a few moments of silence to Piers before she realized he hadn't moved an inch. "Aren't you supposed to be sleepin'?" She asked without turning her head.

She saw Piers let out a gasp of air before cracking his knuckles over the railing, a small smile appearing on his lips. "I could say the same for you, Marn. It's much too late to be out and about like this, yano'?"

Marnie rolled her eyes and stirred uncomfortably. "I have Morpeko and some others—don't I?" She looked down at Morpeko, who had made her way down to her lap once more. The electric and dark type spun around energetically as Marnie felt a grin appear. Remembering that her brother was beside her, she blinked away her emotion. "Don't worry about me."

"It's not just you I'm worried about, mate," Piers chuckled, "You're just as responsible for your pokémon as you are yourself."

Marnie said nothing more, internally agreeing to his commentary. She hadn't given it much thought since Morpeko was really excited to go anywhere with her trainer, and the others were tidied up into their respective balls. In her moment of reflection, Piers finally turned his head to face his little sister.

"Come on, open up with it already." He growled, returning his eyes to the view ahead of them.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Now it was Piers's turn to roll his eyes as he knew exactly how she was going to play out. If there was a script for her attitude, Piers was in on it and predicted every statement she made down to the defensiveness and all.

"Why not? Because I'm not dad?"

"Hey!" Marnie yelled suddenly, jolting Piers slightly. "Don'tchu bring him into this, alright? My problem isn't with you, so don't be startin' nothin'."

Simmering from her outburst, Piers scoffed, shaking his head before grabbing a piece of chipped concrete and chucking it out as far as he could toss it. Marnie watched it glisten a dim amount of street light before fading into the darkness.

"You always act like that, Marn…"

"Piers, don't—"

"Don't what?" Piers interrupted her with a growl. "You've been nothin' but bitter since you lost to Ash—and I don't know if it's your pride that's taken a beatin', or if you're just so diluted by this whole Spikemuth vs. Galar thin', but I'm not having any of it. You're being ridiculous and making us look bad while you're at it."

His words made their impact on Marnie, who recoiled at his venomous retort. Her immediate reaction was to tear him apart following his silence, but a sudden pang at her heart told her it wasn't worth it. Unfortunately, she hadn't spoken up fast enough, and before long, Piers was back on her heels.
"I'm not just a gym leader—I'm not just tryin' to retire soon—I'm also your big Arceus forsaken brother, Marnie. Have you forgotten that?" Piers battered further as Marnie shook her head slightly, eyes filling with tears as she sat with her legs dangling off the edge. "You're not some bloody hero from Spikemuth, damnit. It's not your job to make us look good; it's your job to be the best that YOU can be. Right now, you're just hurtin' yourself, understand?"

"Piers…" Marnie whined through a choked-up voice, attempting to mask her sorrow with a forced volume. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Piers soften, and she looked down again. "I know I'm nothin' special… but, I just wanted to show the League that Spikemuth isn't a floor mat that they can wipe their disgustin' shoes on…"

"That's my point, Marn." Piers continued with a much gentler tone now. "You've been doin' that just fine! You don't need to hurt yourself to show em' that." She wiped away a single tear as Piers cleared his throat. "And, what's this about you not bein' special? You're the one that I want to pass my gym off to, dummy. If you're nothin' special, then who is?"

"What…!?" Marnie shrieked as she hooked herself off of the railing and planted her shoes onto the concrete below. "What do you mean you're passin' it off to me…? I—I—"

"Don't even think 'bout tellin' me that you're not ready. You are." Piers fought back with a smile. "When I saw you, battlin' Ash—you seemed ready to carry on the importance of bein' a dark type gym leader."

At the sound of Ash's name, Marnie loosened a bit and heard her brother for what it was worth. Even if she didn't feel ready to be a gym leader, the sentiment was nice. Still, she didn't understand fully.

"B—but, you're the gym leader! You can't just quit on em' like that."

"I'm not quittin' a thing, Marns. I'm just steppin' down, and I'd like it if you would take care of the gym for me."

Marnie shook her head. "I'm competin' in the Coronation, though… I can't take over."

"Then I guess you'll have to win the series for me. If you don't, you'll still have an important spot waiting for you at home, Marns. You always will—gym leader or not."

With that, the two hugged briefly as Marnie let out a small compilation of tears. Piers awkwardly rubbed the back of his much shorter sister and attempted to comfort her at the best of his ability until she pulled away. It was the rare moments of vulnerability from her that reminded him of how important it was to stay open to the people around you. As he saw Marnie withdraw and wipe away her tears, Piers noticed an article of clothing matched to her waist that he hadn't seen prior. Cocking his head slightly to inspect it, he realized it was a hat of some sort.

"You don't strike me as the ball cap kind of gal," Piers pointed out as he gestured down to the hat, "what's up with that?"

Recoiling as if to hide that she was spotted with said item, she backed away and leaned back against the railing. "It's just a hat, so what?"

"If it's just a hat—why are you hidin' it?" Piers inquired further as he reached down to grab it, only for Marnie to jump back again, retrieving it herself after undoing the snaps on the rear side of the cap.

She held it up in the air for her brother to see, and instantly Piers widened his eyes to the size of a full moon as he realized just who owned this hat.

"Isn't that…!? That's that Kanto lad's hat, innit?" Piers implored as he saw Marnie turn a dim shade of red. "Bugger me, Marns, did you steal his cap!?"

She waved her hands defensively. "No! I didn't steal his hat, you muppet; he just forgot it after—err, after our battle." Marnie couldn't tell right away, but Piers wasn't buying a syllable of her lie—whether it was a stretch or not. The blush on her face only grew in vigorousness as he raised a single eyebrow. "Whaaaat?" She groaned annoyingly.

"I can see it in your face, and you twit—you've got starry eyes for that boy, don't you?"

Throwing her hands up in defeat, Marnie began walking away from her interaction with Piers as he cracked up into voluminous laughter. His eyes tracked her as she paced down the street until he waved her off and returned to his respective place. At least he learned something new about his younger sister.

As Ash and Goh both entered Ballonlea, the two of them marveled at the iridescent glowing mushrooms sprouting up into the air dozens of feet taller than they stood. The air was thick with a cool-mist which allowed the Pokémon Center to glow magnificently. Just on the atmosphere alone, Ash swore that this had to be the most incredible location in all of Galar. Yet, even as the setting seemed so warm and moist, there were hardly any people around at this time of day.

Ash had found himself back in Galar following the challenge he received from a trainer named Bede. The challenge stemmed from Ballonlea, and it listed the trainer as an elite class trainer challenging him to a battle in the stadium itself. His nerves were running high as he approached though they were thwarted slightly by the calming presence of the beautifully shimmering lights of the surrounding mushrooms. Goh seemed to be more enamored by the mushrooms over Ash's excitement for his upcoming challenge.

The excitement came to a pause as a familiar set of people stepped onto the path before them and crossed their arms. Pink and black-dressed men and women blocked their way towards the stadium as a devious smirk appeared across their faces.

Hey, what the—" Ash stammered as the tallest man rushed at him, knocking him back to the ground. Goh responded by clutching a poké ball but was stopped as another man stepped forward and blocked his path.

"Come on. We see what you're doin' over here, clowns!" One of them shouted.

"Yeah, trynna' take the top spot for yourself after beatin' Marnie, are ya?" Another muttered as he stepped closer to Ash, who stammered to his feet.

"Marnie…?" Ash whispered as he was instantly taken back to his serene moment with the aforementioned Spikemuth girl. Simply hearing her name seemed to spark a rise from him as he grabbed for his poké ball, Pikachu launching himself off of his shoulders as well.

"Oh, what? You got a problem with the way we do things?" The man who threw Ash down to the ground spoke up finally, grabbing his own poké ball in response.

"Pikachu! Use thunderbolt!" Ash shouted to his electric rodent as it flew up into the air, sparking an immense bolt of electricity that came down in epic proportions. The two Galarian Zigzagoons bounced in opposite directions to avoid the bolt of lightning as they readjusted to the incoming dragon claw towards one of the Zigzagoon. Catching it by the tail, Dragonite grappled the small pokémon before throwing it down to the ground. "Iron tail that Zigzagoon, Pikachu!"

As Pikachu hopped up before hardening its tail, the other Zigzagoon hopped up and slammed into Pikachu, throwing it off to the side, doing only minimal damage.

"You seeminly' bested Marnie with this? Come onnnnn!" A grunt yelled as he directed his Zigzagoon to attack again. "Slam!"

"Intercept it!" Ash called to his Dragonite as it swooped down and grabbed the Zigzagoon before contacting Pikachu again. "Take it into the air!"

Yet, as the dragon flew up into the sky, handfuls of Team Yell arrived in the perimeter before calling out their pokémon. Goh saw how out of hand it was becoming and, after battling it out with two other grunts, decided to withdraw to Ash's side, where the two stood in defensive stances. They had the firepower to defend themselves, but they lacked the numbers to keep up.

Dragonite finally dropped the Zigzagoon as Ash called out for another attack. "Hyper Beam!"

Dragonite charged up a massive volley of pure energy as it opened its mouth, showering the poor Zigzagoon with its full power. After the explosion, the Zigzagoon crashed into the ground below and enveloped the group with a thick cloud of dust. Ash covered his eyes as Pikachu struggled back to its feet. Goh sheltered Grookey with his arm as they recoiled from the rush of air. Only once Dragonite returned to Ash's side did the dust settle, revealing six different pokémon standing in a fanned out half-circle flanking each of Ash and Goh's pokémon. Gritting his teeth, Ash clenched a fist.

"We're not giving up!" Ash yelled. "You can't stop me from becoming the strongest I can be! Dragonite, dragon claw! Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

As his two partners erupted into action, a spinning orb of blackness quickly enveloped the battlefield, knocking the Zigzagoon off-camber as they stumbled backward. In doing so, Dragonite and Pikachu fumbled their actions and looked at the swift-moving object as it orbited the trainers twice before unraveling itself. Standing between both sides rested a Grimmsnarl that looked between Ash, Goh, and the Team Yell grunts. As Ash and Goh stared back and forth in confusion, the grunts seemed to recoil sharply as they looked around for the source of this action.

Before they knew it, the group of a half dozen grunts split down the middle as a familiar face paced between the group before stopping as they looked up to see what the cause of the commotion had been.

Ash felt his heart stop as Marnie came into view, and she looked just as surprised as he had been.

"Marnie…!?" Ash shouted a little more excited than he had intended to sound as he nearly fell over at the sight of such a beautiful woman. Goh blinked twice and waved in surprise.

"Ash! That was you—" Marnie exclaimed before catching herself in her act. At the sight of Ash, she lost her cool and had begun attempting to find it again. That's when her eyes turned to daggers as they peered at the men and women around her. "Would you stop hasslin' the trainers around here!? You could have seriously hurt them!"

"S—sorry, Marnie…! We just—we weren't trying to hurt anybody…! He just beat you back in Spikemuth, and we only want you to become champ—"

"Save it," Marnie grunted as she waved a hand dismissively. "You owe Ash and… Goh, was it? An apology." Using the calmness of the group as an opportunity to do so, Ash recalled Dragonite into his poké ball.

Hesitantly, the group finally succumbed and apologized to Marnie, Ash, and Goh before retreating backward along the trail. Once Ash and Marnie were left together, even as Goh stood mere inches away, they eyeballed each other as if unsure what to say to one another. A light blush appeared over Ash's face while Marnie seemed to be keeping herself composed much better.

It's… it's been a while!" Ash stammered, cringing at his attempt at small talk as Goh quickly recognized his friend's nervousness before chuckling. Even still, Marnie kept her eyes upon Ash as he flashed a bright red. "Wha… what's so funny?"

Oh, nothing, Ash." Goh joked as he waved his hands. "I'm going to go get us set up with a room in the PC. Get ahold of me if you're going to be away for too long."

Flashing red again, Ash felt the need to scowl at his friend, but he found that he was already retreating to the building just down the street. Now, it was just Ash and Marnie, and they exchanged a look of affection as Marnie sized him up. Before she could do anything, Morpeko jumped off of Marnie and rushed over to Pikachu, who twitched his tail curiously before the two sniffed each other out. Ash looked at her Morpeko before looking up at her again. Her smile was directed towards the two electric rodents as they pranced around each other playfully.

"I think Morpeko has taken a shine to your Pikachu," Marnie said with a giggle as she covered her slight grin, "they must have missed each other, I guess."

Glancing over with a curious look, Marnie's heavenly green eyes were peering right back into his with a half-smile on her lips.

"I—I was meaning to come back, Marnie—"

"It's not that big of a deal, Ash." Marnie lied, ushering for him to follow as she paced down the pathway perpendicular to the one they were standing on. It led to a back trail through thick mushrooms and flowing wildlife before meeting more luminous mushrooms standing much taller than they stood. They walked in silence before Marnie walked backward for a second, giving Ash a serious look. "Sometimes when I'm practicin' with Morpeko, we'll take this trail to clear our heads… it's also simply beautiful."

Ash said nothing and simply followed as his face was glowing with pink and white lights from the surrounding plant life. His eyes glistened with the reflecting lights before he noticed Marnie had stopped at the entrance to a clearing surrounded by thick trees and even taller mushrooms. It was dimly lit and highly atmospheric as she stepped into the middle, spinning on her heels.

"It's amazing!" Ash exclaimed as he felt his eyes magnetize back to Marnie, who gave him a sorrowful smile. "Wait… what's wrong?"

"I'm from Spikemuth, Ash," Marnie muttered as he dropped his shoulders and raised an eyebrow.

"I... I know. What does that have anything to do—"

"Most trainers in Galar—really the world, wouldn't be caught dead hangin' around a Spikemuth girl… we have a certain air to us, I suppose." She explained as her eyes dropped to the ground. "That's what's caused me to take on the Coronation series… to prove to the world that I can dish up a proper beat down when necessary."

Still confused, Ash went to speak before Marnie clenched a fist.

"Marnie—"

"I don't blame you for leavin' Galar after you beat me… It isn't your home, after all… but—" Her voice cracked, and Ash found an opportunity to interrupt her.

"Marnie, I'm sorry…! I didn't want to leave—" Ash attempted as Marnie looked up to him with a small number of tears in her eyes.

"Damnit, Ash! Are you so daft?" Marnie barked as she felt her breath hitch in her throat. "You don't know what it's like to hold yourself back 'cuz you're afraid of gettin' too close… because everyone is so damn afraid to associate with a Spikemuth girl!" Once more, her voice cracked, and tears streamed down her cheeks to her neck as Ash stepped forward, hesitating at the sound of her inhaling sharply. "…and when I finally find someone who doesn't care about where I come from—someone who looks past the name Spikemuth—my leather jacket, all of it— they leave me here without thinking about my feelins'…!"

Pausing at the break of her voice, Ash watched as she dropped to her knees and folded her face into her hands. The weeping that stemmed afterward shattered Ash's heart. Pikachu dropped down to comfort Morpeko, who seemingly started crying due to being unable to stop Marnie from doing the same. Left to himself, Ash walked forward as Marnie cried, shielding her face from the embarrassment of being seen in such a wreck.

But Ash didn't leave because he didn't care, and he didn't plan on being away forever. He spent every day thinking about her from the start of his day to the very end, and he jumped at the only opportunity that made sense to come back. Naturally, he felt awful for not coming back sooner, mainly because of how it made her feel, but he wasn't about to let her feel that way without knowing how he felt.

"Marnie…" Ash whispered as he stood before her, his voice mellow and confident. He could tell she was pretending not to hear it, so he repeated himself. Finally, she uncovered her face after wiping away streaking mascara. In front of her uncovered face was a single hand—Ash's hand. "Come here…"

Reluctantly, she allowed him to help her up as he pulled her into an embrace. Only then did she feel the warmth that she had spent so long craving again. It didn't matter anymore that she had been crying thanks to the radiating love she felt proliferating through her very soul. She could feel the same wounds and scars on her heart amend themselves as he didn't say another word. He didn't sway, he didn't hum, and he didn't speak for risk of breaking her silence. Instead, he rubbed his left hand up and down her back. As he felt her unclench slowly, he smiled.

"Can I tell you something…?" Ash asked. Marnie didn't respond and instead sniffled. "I haven't been the same since I left Galar last… I've been dying to see you again because… I… Arceus, I don't know how to say it because I'm AWFUL with talking to girls… but I'm so distracted by you…"

In shocked silence, Marnie hushed as he spoke, even as the tears came back by force.

"I don't care that you're from Spikemuth… I don't care that you wear a leather jacket or any of that stuff. You're special to me because you're daring… willing to get to know me even as you only just met me. It's hard to explain, but…" he paused again as if choosing his following words carefully, "the way you look at me almost makes me feel like the champion—and I'm far from that—hah!"

Marnie backed up slightly as she locked Ash at arm's length. Her smile returned when she noticed that Ash was doing the very same to her.

"I'm not sure what I did to make you think I'm so special…" Marnie admitted as her eyes looked down to his shoes, "but I won't lie to you—I was mad at you for leavin' me on that fence… please, I don't care what I have to do—don't leave again. Please—"

Ash didn't let her finish as he slid his fingers behind the back of her neck and pulled her up into a kiss, forcing her to stand on her tippy toes for a moment. As the kiss started, Marnie flashed a bright shade of red with eyes the size of planets before nestling into the embrace with all the love in the world. This time, the kiss wasn't over at first contact and instead led to several twists and turns.

Off to their side, Pikachu and Morpeko covered their eyes in embarrassment as they redirected their attention elsewhere.

When the kissing finally ended, Marnie opened her eyes to see the once overly confident and dumb trainer from before wholly transformed as the one boy who could completely change her life just by smiling at her. That's when she remembered the hat that she had hidden by her leather jacket and unsnapped it from her waist line, plastering it onto his head where it tussled his hair about briefly as he adjusted it himself.

"My hat!" Ash exploded as he blushed a bright red. "I honestly forgot you had it…"

"Of course you did… I've been holdin' onto it so I could give it back to you when I saw you again!" She admitted with a small smile. That's when Ash remembered the flag that he saw the Team Yell grunts waving back and forth—containing a wide smile portfolio of Marnie's face.

"Say… those guys back there… I know they're big fans of you and all… but where did they get that banner of you smiling?" Ash asked as Marnie nervously laughed.

"Oh—you saw that, eh?" Marnie blushed. "It's just a thing that they like… I'm not usually one for smilin', so they're always encouraging me to smile—well, Piers and Yell."

Humming in curiosity, Ash grabbed his Rotom Phone and opened the camera app while her attention was still up at his eyes. "I wanna' see that smile! I thought that they drew you like that or something…"

Marnie hesitated. "It's stupid, Ash… no."

"Come on… just one?"

"Ash."

Ash waved his hands in defeat. "Alright, then… I guess you won't get to see me make an impression of that smile, then…" As if he was a dark-type pokémon using taunt, Marnie fell for it instantly as she rolled her eyes and sighed. Spinning on her heels, she turned her back to Ash as she pulled her lips into a wide smile before spinning back around to face the boy she loved. However, as she turned, a flash of a camera illuminated her beautiful smile as it quickly deteriorated into an aggravated attempt at grabbing the phone.

"Ash Ketchum! Give me that damn phone! Oh, you sly Poochyena!" She shrieked as she chased after him, Ash easily outpacing her as they spun around the circular clearing. Pikachu and Morpeko joined in on the chase, shouting and crying out to their respective owners as they chased each other playfully.

Marnie could finally paint herself a happy girl, and Ash could finally get a taste of the love that he was begging for from the Galarian woman of his dreams. He didn't know where he was to go from here, and he didn't know what kind of trials and tribulations would follow tomorrow. But, he knew that he had Marnie and for the Kantonian boy…

That was all he needed.