Project: Titans -- A Pokemon Story (OC x Piers)

Chapter 33

"Alright, guys, just keep it coming!" I waved the board into place with a hand, then floated up and hammered it into place. Malamar's grip on me was firm and steady, and I found myself putting a lot of trust into my enemy's partner. Espeon was busy helping Marnie to repaint the traditional Y-esque logo on the front of the building.

I trusted Espeon to hold a child upright a lot more than I trusted Piers' Malamar. As much as I hated him, his sister wasn't all that bad. Besides, I didn't want the blame of the gym leader getting injured falling to me.

"Malamar, do you mind lifting me up just a little higher? I need to mark where the Mareanie need to aim their Spike Cannons." Malamar complied, spots and eyes glowing bright blue with psychic power.

I fastened blue painter's tape in a line where the board needed more support. "Open fire," I yelled once I was out of the danger zone, and the Mareanie shot their spikes into the boards in perfect sync. "Perfect," I grinned, flashing a thumbs-up to the people on the ground, who cheered in delight.

Lowering me to the ground slowly, I stumbled for a moment before regaining my balance, and I looked up to the newly repaired clubhouse with pride. The entrance was bordered with a large, upside down Y painted fuschia, the logo of the Dark Gym.

The entrance itself was a triangle shape, and through the entrance the inside was the clubhouse itself. Instead of a trash-filled room with mountains of dust, there was a clean, blank canvas of 20 by 15 feet, just waiting for redecoration. I was in a pretty great mood. Until I noticed two operatives spray-painting the wall.

"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing them before they could decimate the wall further. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Um," one of them murmured, scratching his head.

"We was just makin' some art," the other murmured.
"By doing graffiti? What are you, seven?" They said nothing. "What are your names?"
"I'm Donnie, an' this is Steve," the first one spoke up, then pointed to his companion. "Well, Donnie and Steve, you have just earned yourself the prestigious honor of scrubbing all the paint off this wall," I said flatly.

"Yeesh. Piers never was this rough on us," Steve murmured.
"Well, you might've not noticed, but right now, I'm running this team. And when I run this team, I expect people to work for what they want, not vandalize public property like total hooligans! The brushes are by the bucket in the corner." Turning, they shuffled over to their tools and started to work.

"Now, I'm not opposed to the idea of some artwork in here," I mused, mapping out an idea in my head. "But if we're going to do it, we need to make sure the paint won't fade away in a week. See, without priming the surface-" I rubbed my hand over the paint the boys had sprayed on the wall, smudging it and my fingertips black.

"-you'd have to repaint the wall every day to keep it looking nice, and nobody wants the tedious task of doing that. Once this is nice and ready, I'll let you do whatever you want on here." The guys perked up a bit at that and grabbed their brushes without complaint.

"Now, for the rest of the decorating," I said, turning a full 360 to see the room. "Any ideas, Marnie?"
"I dunno," she murmured, scratching her head with a hand. "This place never really had a plan, an' I'm not sure what usual clubhouses look like."

"Well, that's the beauty of it," I twirled around the open space. "There's no 'wrong' thing to put in here!" My voice echoed around the room like a cavern. "These are some great acoustics," I grinned. "This would be one heck of a place for a karaoke sing-off." Instantly, Marnie's face lit up with a grin. "Oooh, I love karaoke," she squealed. "Maybe we could have a stage over here in the back, an' then the screen for lyrics over here!"