The Lovely Tales of Marina

The First Meeting

Welcome to Ula'ula Island! The southeastern part of the four main islands of Alola! The third island that trainers visit when trying to beat all the Alolan Trials. The island that held the Electric and Ghost trials. This was something that Andy wasn't really interested in.

Yes, our main character, an 8 year old child, was actually not interested in becoming a trainer. Well, let me rephrase that, he actually wasn't interested in becoming a trainer to defeat the trials. He actually wanted to become a trainer to befriend Pokémon. He wasn't a big fan of battling, and always saw Pokémon as precious creatures that deserved love and kindness. That's what he thought for many years, and it's continued today.

But anyway, we're on Route 15. The beachside area on the western side of the island. This is where most trainers would find the Ghost Trial if they headed to the left. However, there was another team across the large sea that scared Andy.

Their name was Team Skull, probably the most dangerous group of all of Alola. While most members of the crew weren't too bright or heck, even had powerful Pokémon, they were definitely persistent which made them a dangerous group. Plus their leader was a feared trainer himself, he was not one who you should've messed with. Thankfully, Andy had never met a Team Skull member nor had to battle them, and to be honest, he hoped it stood that way.

"POP! POP!"

This is what Andy immediately heard a could of minutes after relaxing on the beach. It sounded like a Pokémon. I mean, no human just randomly yells POP out loud and... wait a minute... was the Pokémon a Popplio?

A Popplio was a ver rare Pokémon to see around the region. Sure they were native to said region, but it was very, very rare to go out into the water and see one. But Andy didn't have time to think of how rare of a Pokémon Popplio was, from the yelling it sounded like the Pokémon was in trouble!

"POPPLIO!"

This was heard once again as Andy's answer was question. It was definitely a Popplio that was making the noise. It sounded like it was coming from up the hill onto Route 14. Whatever the problem was, he was only 8 there was no way he could just randomly solve the problem on his own, right?

Slowly navigating up the hill, he saw his horror come true! Two Team Skull grunts had captured the Popplio which was trapped inside the net that they caught the Popplio with. The Popplio appeared to be crying in the net. Probably scared of its own life, knowing how dangerous Team Skull was.

"We got'chu now little guy, a piece of cake. Did yo really think you could escape us?"

One of the Grunts said.

"Now all we gots to do is take you to da boss! Then we can sell you and get our paychecks, fool!"

The other grunt continued.

Meanwhile the Popplio continued to cry, as she was in complete danger. She wanted to see her mom, the mother she hadn't seen in years. But she never came back, and there was nothing she could do but try to defend herself. But now finally being captured by Team Skull was basically her worst nightmare come true.

Team Skull we're about to continue hauling the net, when all of a sudden the phone of the Skull Grunt on the left started to ring. It was the boss.

"Aw darn it, we gotta let this go. We need to hear what da boss gots to say." That Grunt said to the other.

"Alrighty, well hurry up and answer it Dawg, we don't wanna attract attention around deez parts." The other grunt continued as they both walked away from the net, planting the sticks in the ground, so the Popplio wouldn't escape.

Andy witnessed the whole thing and was horrified. The Popplio was crying and there were two members of Team Skull right in front of him! The best thing to do right now would be to save the captured Popplio, but an urge in the back of his mind told himself that was a bad idea. What if the Grunts saw him? What if they had weapons? What if they sent their Pokémon out? The thought was scary... but he couldn't let the innocent soul of a Popplio go through the torture of Team Skull. He had to save the Popplio at all costs!

Slowly getting on his hands and knees, he carefully and quietly crawled to the net. Noticing that the conversation wasn't ending, he slowly approached the net. This got the Popplio's attention. Andy quickly put a finger to his own mouth, signaling the Popplio to be quiet. Understanding, the Popplio nodded. Andy saw the middle stick and slowly but steadily pulled it out. The Popplio slowly crawled out right to Andy as he put the stick down to the ground quietly before picking the Popplio up. From there, he turned around with the Popplio in his arms, slowly and quietly walking back to Route 15. An eternity felt like it was passing with each and every step. But eventually, the two reached Route 15 successfully as the two hid behind a giant rock, well beyond Team Skull's sight.

They still remained quiet however, one loud noise could alert Team Skull to their location and could mess both of them up. They waited and waited until finally the call was finished and waited to see what the two Team Skull members had to say, seeing Popplio gone.

"WHAT!? The Popplio escaped! How is that possible!? Yo, didn't you set up the trap correctly?!"

"Yo! What'chu mean!? You doubting me!? Of course I did. You think I wouldn't!?"

The two Team Skull members got into an argument with one another, both of them going back and forth until one of them finally decided to die down the situation.

"You know what, whatever it was, that Popplio must have not gotten too far. It probably went over to Route 13, where those other humans are, no worries. We should be able to find that Popplio there."

The two Team Skull members nodded before walking on over to Route 13, well beyond able to hear Andy and the Popplio. Once sighing in relief, the Popplio immediately hugged Andy with a tackle and licked his face many times. This in return made Andy laugh, it was clear he was enjoying all the licks from the Popplio.

However, what happened next surprised him.

"Thank you for saving me! You're my hero mister!" The Popplio spoke!

Just to give you an idea on how rare this was, while Popplios were very rare to find in Alola, it was definitely possible and some trainers are able to find one in the ocean. However, there's about one case of talking Pokémon per year and the fact that Andy had found one shocked him!

"Woah! You can talk!?" Andy said, clearly surprised at this.

"Yep! Sure can! Oh! I forgot to say, my name is Marina! It's nice to meet you, mister!" The Popplio, now known as Marina stated, the cute smile of hers never leaving her face.

"It's nice to meet you too Marina, my name is Andy! Thank you for all the licks. I've never received that kind of love from a Pokémon in my life." Andy admitted to her as he rubbed her head which she very much enjoyed. This in return received another licking session from Marina as once again it made Andy laugh.

After it was done, Andy asked her,

"Hey, where are your parents? They should be worried about you. I should probably return you to your home."

This is when he learned the sad truth about Marina,

"I don't know where my mom is. I haven't seen her in years, I've been searching for her for so long but I still haven't found her." She whimpered a little which made Andy upset.

"Awww, don't cry sweet Marina. Don't worry, I'll help you! And I won't stop helping you until we find your family!" Andy said, smiling as he knew that with teamwork, they could find Marina's parents!

"Really? Yay! Thank you Andy!" She said, giving Andy a big hug in response which Andy happily hugged back.

While the two had a great bond together, it was clear that they needed some help in order to fight off Team Skull Grunts and try to find Marina's parents. They needed more teammates, they needed more help. Perhaps they could go around the island. Perhaps he could ask his parents for help, they actually had Pokémon.

This was the start of the adventure of Andy and Marina.