Blowing Bubbles

Chapter 5: Enter Ilima!

"Yes..." I answered, "who are you?" "My name's Ilima," the man replied. "I'm a normal-type trial captain." "Oh, well my name's Millie," I introduced as I shook hands with him. "Nice to meet you. Hey, wait...if you're a trial captain, can I do your trial?" "Okay," Ilima agreed, "but first, I want you to battle with me. I want to see if you're ready for the trial."

We both went to Hau'oli beach to battle. I sent out Spike, while Ilima sent out a Yungoos. "Alright, Spike, start it off with poison sting!" "Yungoos, use leer!" A bunch of small purple spikes shot out of the Mareanies mouth as Yungoos' eyes began to glow red. The glowing stopped when Spikes attack hit it. "Now, Yungoos, use tackle!" Ilimas pokemon began to run towards Spike. "Dodge it and use scald!" Spike tried to dodge, but ended up getting hit. He slid backwards a bit, then shot out a blast of water, which left behind a trail of steam. As Yungoos was thrown into the air, it let out a high shriek, but landed gracefully on its feet. "Now use poison sting!" "Tackle, lets go!" Spike shot out as many purple spikes as he could as Yungoos threw itself on top of him. But Yungoos was no match for Spike; the beige pokemon quickly fainted.
"Your Mareanie is pretty strong," Ilima commented as he returned Yungoos to its pokeball and sent out another pokemon. "But do you think it'll be able to take down Smeargle, especially when it knows a grass type move?" Just because Smeargle knew a grass type move didn't mean I was going to lose my confidence, even though both my pokemon were water types.
"Spike, use poison sting!" "Smeargle, tackle!" Smeargle dashed forward, its paintbrush-like tail fluttering in the wind as it ran. At the same time, Spike shot out as many purple spikes as he could. I guess his strategy was to use his attack to push Smeargle back. Smeargle started hacking and coughing a bit; it was probably poisoned. But it slammed right into Spike, knocking him over. Spike tried once to get up, but failed and fainted.
I sighed, then sent out Bubble, who had a hint of determination in her eyes. "Bubble, start it off with pound!" "Smeargle, tackle!" Bubble threw herself at Smeargle, slapping it with her glowing flipper. The two pokemon rolled around until Ilima ordered another move. "Leafage, go!" Oh dear. I knew Bubble wasn't going to survive against a grass-type move. Smeargle summoned a bunch of glowing green leaves, then shot them at Bubble. I expected her to faint immediately, but thank the mighty Arceus Bubble dodged. "Now use water gun!" Bubble, with all the determination she had, fired the biggest water gun she could. Smeargle slammed into a palm tree, but despite the fact that it was low on health, it wasn't finished yet.
"Smeargle, leafage again!" Bubble tried to dodge the attack, but ended up getting hit. I thought for sure Bubble was down and we had lost the battle, but she slowly got up, that spark of determination still in her eyes. I ordered her to use water gun, but for some reason she disobeyed and screeched, a weird pink heart shape shooting out of her mouth. The heart hit Smeargle, who fainted, showing defeat.
"What move was that?" I asked Ilima. "That was disarming voice," he replied. "Your popplio just learned a new move." No way! It was a bit of a relief Bubble didn't just have to rely on pound and water gun anymore. "Now," Ilima continued, "are you ready for the trial?" "You bet!" "Then go heal your pokemon and meet me here afterwards." I nodded, then began to walk to the pokemon center.

My first trial was about to begin!