First Impression

Chapter Thirteen

   We walked onto the trial grounds that Gladion had said Sun was still in. As I looked around, all of the trainers around had been tending to their pokemon. “Sun, why did you have to hurt them so badly…?” I whispered to myself.

   I was stopped by going any further by a large body of water. I could see Sun on the opposite side of the water, following a blue haired girl.

   Sighing, I got Popplio’s pokeball out. “Ready for a little swim, girl?” I asked the pokeball. Closing my eyes, I threw the ball, summoning my friend. Lio looked at me with confused eyes. Smiling, I petted her head and looked over at the water. “You wanna go for a little swim with me?”

   Looking at her jumping up and down, I took off my shoes and socks. Hope this doesn't get wet. I thought to myself. Giving the bag to Popplio, I jumped into the water.

   “Here, Lio!” I called out to her. Popplio gave me the bag before splashing into the small lake. “Good.” I said, giving her back the bag. “Now, keep it dry.” I said as I rubbed her head gently.

   We swam all the way to where I had seen Sun. He was already gone by the time I had gotten there. Dang it! My mind yelled. “Lio?” Popplio brought me back to reality.

   Looking down at her I smiled. “We'll get to him. Just gotta keep going.” We ran until another body of water. “How about it, Popplio?” We did the same routine and got to the other side. By the time we had caught up with Sun, he was about to start his trial.

   “Alright, Lana. I'm ready for the trial.” He said to the blue haired girl.

   “Are you sure. Your pokemon could use a little bit of a rest.” She said back to him.

   “No. We're ready.” He said, filled with excitement. My eyes widened.

   “Come on, Lio!” I yelled to my exhausted pokemon. As I tried to run towards my brother, I was stopped by Popplio’s whines. Looking back, I saw that she was in pain. Kneeling down in front of her, I started to cry. “I'm so sorry, Lio…”

   Picking up the small pokemon, I saw that her tail-fin had a cut on it. Setting her down, I opened up my bag.

   “Just hang in there, Lio. I'll find something to wrap the cut with.” I said, frantically looking through the bag for some bandages. Unable to find anything, I grabbed my hat off of my head. Ripping the fabric, I tied it around Popplio’s tail. “We need to get back to the pokemon center!”

   Just as I was about to run towards the pokemon center, I heard Sun telling. “Dang it!! I couldn't beat the trial!” As I looked back, He was stomping off from the blue haired girl.

   “Sun!!” I called out to him. Putting back on my bag and picking up Popplio I ran up to him. He stopped, staring at me as I was soaking wet and my feet filthy with dirt. He helped Popplio and I across and to the pokemon center.

   I had changed into an extra outfit that the nurse joy there had in the back. I came out with a long flowered and pokeball patterned skirt and a sailor suit-like top with shorts. The top was held up by a strap around my neck. The shoes were sandal wedges with white flowers on the sides.

   I felt embarrassed coming out of the dressing room, but I knew that Popplio was waiting for me with Zorua. Walking out from the curtains, I saw Popplio flopping around with Zorua and Litten. Racing over to them I called out to my pokemon. “Zorua! Popplio!!” They ran over to me, tackling me over and onto the ground.

   “Good to see you happy.” I looked up at Sun. “But what are you doing here. It can't be that you were doing Lana’s trial. You haven't beaten Hala yet.” Knowing he would ask this question, I stood up and looked down.