Blowing Bubbles

Chapter 2: The abandoned Popplio

That pokemon looked so cute, but why was it tied up in a rope? I carefully held out my hand to try and pet it, but it instantly backed off; I could tell it was scared. "Hey, I won't hurt you," I reminded softly. I then took out a pair of scissors. I picked up the pokemon, who was flailing around and probably thinking I would hurt it with the scissors. I gently cut the rope, then took it off of the frightened pokemon. "Popplio..." it muttered weakly. So its name was Popplio? I gave it a pokebean, remembering how skinny it was.

After taking Popplio to the pokemon center, I put it back where I found it. But every time I tried to put it down, for some reason Popplio always jumped back in my hands. "I'm sorry, Popplio," I apologized, "I can't play with you right now, or I'll be late for school." Popplio hung its head as I walked away, which made me start to feel bad for it.
I decided to give it another pokebean before leaving, but then a pokeball I still had from last night fell out of my backpack; I had kept them in the water bottle pouch, which had a fairly large hole. Before I could grab the pokeball, Popplio got it and pushed it over to me with its pink nose. I looked at it in confusion for a few seconds before realizing that Popplio wanted me to catch it. "Okay," I nodded with a small giggle, "into the pokeball with you!" I lightly tapped the pokeball on Popplios head, making it turn red and go into the pokeball. It shook a few times before it finally stopped. I had caught my first pokemon. This was the first step to becoming a trainer! "I'm gonna call you..." I muttered, trying to decide a name, "mmm...Bubble!"

I was late for school, but at least I had a good reason for it. As I sat down in my desk, Logan gave me a smug, stupid grin. "So, loser," he taunted, "still don't have a pokemon?" I wanted to give this idiot a piece of my mind, so for the first time, I sent Bubble out of its pokeball. "Millie?" Our teacher, Ms. Chancellor came up. "I thought you weren't allowed to catch pokemon." Oh no! I had completely forgotten about Mom! The last thing I wanted was for Mom to find out about Bubble and forcing me to release it. "Well, she finally decided I was allowed," I lied. "Good!" Ms. Chancellor praised as she pulled out a reddish orange device. "This is a pokedex. The other students got these at the beginning of the year, but now that you have your Popplio, you can have a pokedex as well!" I took the pokedex with a smile. "Wow...thanks! I'll take good care of it!" Just then, it jumped up. How could a pokedex do that? What looked like a pair of eyes opened up and blinked.
"Nice to meet you, zrrt!" It greeted in a robotic voice. Was this pokedex possessed or something? "I am the Rotom Pokedex!" Rotom? I thought. Just then, I remembered that rotom was a pokemon that was native to the Sinnoh region; it was known to infiltrate electronics, including Alolan pokedexes. "Is it good for battling?" I asked Ms. Chancellor, who simply shook her head. "No, Millie," she replied with a smile, "this Rotom won't battle, but it will help you fill your pokedex and tell you where to go next. It'll come in handy if and when you start your island challenge." I heard Logan and his friends snicker when Ms. Chancellor spoke those last two words.

I was walking home from school with Bubble and Rotom, until I was stopped by Logan, Mike and Brandon. Their pokemon were out of their pokeballs; Brandon with a Caterpie, Mike with a Yungoos, and Logan with that stupid Duskull.
"You're not going anywhere until you battle me," Logan stated.
I asked Rotom to check Bubbles moves; it had two, which were Pound and Water Gun. I had also found out that Bubble was a female. "Challenge accepted," I agreed. "Bubble, are you ready? This is your first battle." "Pop!" Bubble looked at me with trusting eyes, then nodded.
"Litten, I choose you!" I was surprised Logan didn't use Duskull first. Out of the pokeball came a black cat pokemon with red stripes on its forehead. There were two red stripes on each of its legs, along with a shaggy tail tip. It had ambition and determination in its huge yellow eyes. "Bubble, start it off with Pound!" "Litten, use Scratch!" Bubbles left flipper started to glow, and at the same time, three sharp, glowing claws came out of Littens left paw. As it swiped its claws across Bubbles hip, Bubble slapped it. But it didn't seem like pound did anything. "Wow, he's pretty strong," I told Logan. "He?!" Logan echoed. "Millie, if you haven't noticed, Litten is a female!" "Oh. Bubble, Water Gun!" A blast of water shot out of Bubbles mouth, which instantly defeated Litten.
Logan returned her, then looked up with determination. "I still have Duskull, y'know," he reminded. "Now, Duskull, use Shadow Ball!" A ghostly purple ball hit Bubble in the face, knocking her out completely. This was my first battle, and I had lost.
"You see," Logan explained with a smirk, "a pokemon is only good if it's strong and you have a close friendship with it. Your Popplio is weak, and it barely knows you." Logan then shoved me to the ground, grabbed Bubble and ran away laughing with Mike and Brandon.

I quickly got up and chased after the boys. "Give her back!" I shouted. Soon, Logan pinned Bubble to the ground, and then him, Brandon and Mike started punching and hitting her. Bubble shrieked and thrashed her head around, tears scattering on the grass.

I jumped in and tried to protect Bubble. When Logan tried to push me away, I yanked his shoulder-length brown hair and shoved him away. I curled up in a ball, letting myself get hurt. Just then, my pokemon poked her head out between my arms and shot out a huge Water Gun. "Quick, guys, run!" Logan shouted as he, Brandon and Mike backed away from me and fled.