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INFO

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Chapter 1

"Where are you, Bubbles?" Gloria called out with glee.

The Sea Otter Pokémon watched from five meters away as the six year old poked around some bushes. She giggled. Maybe Bubbles had hidden herself so well that her trainer had no idea where she was. Boy, she was looking at the wrong place. She claimed to be good at hide-and-seek, yet she hadn't found her after 20 minutes. Bubbles giggled again, she readjusted to a more comfortable position. A twig snapped.

Gloria turned, her eyes centering on the pink Oshawott. Bubbles blushed, she had found her.

"There you are, Bubbles!"

Bubbles burst out laughing as Gloria rushed toward her, she pulled her Oshawott out of the bushes and scooped her up. "You were so good at hiding!"

"I can't hide as well as you, though," said Bubbles, even though her trainer wouldn't understand a lick of her speech.

Gloria cradled Bubbles for a full minute. It felt like hours. Bubbles cooed and buried her face into her trainer's shoulder. Her pink dress smelling much like bubblegum. Bubblegum was her favorite candy. She had bubblegum-flavored ice cream, bubblegum-scented shampoo, bubblegum-textured clothes. Practically everything in her room was either pink and or bubblegum-scented. Bubbles breathed in through her nose, then awe. She loved that bubblegum smell.

"I love you, Bubbles," Gloria cooed.

"I love you too, Gloria."

She sat Bubbles down and smiled, "Okay, your turn to find me now!"

Bubbles grinned, "Okay, I'll find you soon!"

Gloria spun around, the bell of her dress bobbing up and down as she skipped through the woods. Before vanishing within the trees, she spun around for a brief second. "Don't look!" she called out.

Bubbles rushed up to a tree and covered her eyes, "Okay!" she called back.

She waited till Gloria's footsteps faded into the background noise, then started counting to one hundred.

It was barely a year now since Bubbles was introduced into Gloria's family. Her Mommy brought her to the Pokémon breeder because Gloria wanted a Pokémon for her fifth birthday. Bubbles was barely a few weeks old at the time. She couldn't remember much besides being bathed and fed. What she remembered best was the breeder groomed her almost every day. Smoothing out her fur, making her look her best. It felt so nice, relieving, like being on a cloud of warmed marshmallows. "Oh you looks so pretty," the breeder would say. "So so pretty."

Bubbles really cooed from that. She loved being adored. People were so friendly, so caring. Loving even. When she first met Gloria that day, she prayed for her to pick her. The Sea Otter Pokémon saw that Gloria was that loving and affectionate type. So young, and innocent. A precious beauty who would return her love. Bubbles had several rejections before, six of them to be exact. She was nervous, her heart racing as Gloria approached her.

It was love at first sight.

Gloria scooped her up and nearly crushed her in her arms. But it was alright. Her love help relieve the pressure.

"This one! This one!" Gloria cried to her mother as she desperately tugged at the older women's pants leg. "I want this one!"

A pink Oshawott, oh boy that would make her friends all jealous inside. Normally an Oshawott would be sky-blue, but she was a precious bubblegum pink. A sprite like her was rare, so rare the breeder hesitated to let her go. In the end, Gloria was the victor and ended up carrying her out of the Pokémon lab. She would see that place nor the breeder ever again.

The first thing Gloria did with her was give her a bath. It was a lovely bath, more lovely than the baths at the Pokémon lab. Her new trainer's hands were delicate, more tender and caring. The water was warmer too, and the tub was like the size of a swimming pool. Bubbles would sink her head into the water and blow bubbles, the suds would often expel huge bubbles which would float around the air like clouds. Gloria would laugh her head off, eventually adding more bubble bath into the water despite her mommy's orders. Bubbles had agitated the water so much that somehow, the whole bathroom got filled with suds. "Bubbles," she teared. "Lots and lots of bubbles!"

She turned to the Oshawott. "Would you like your name to be Bubbles?"

Bubbles nodded vigorously.

Gloria giggled, "Okay, Bubbles. Let's clean this all up before Mommy sees this, she'll get angry if we don't."

The food was really good. Gloria's mommy's homemade Pokémon food was so good, it made Bubbles's taste buds pucker. On the holidays, where they would have a mass-gathering, she would eat and eat until her belly was stuffed. The food was way better than the kind of food she used to eat at the Pokémon lab. This food was not only filling, it was satisfying. It would often make her sleepy, in which Gloria had to take her to bed.

The bed was pretty much the best.

When Bubbles snuggled into Gloria's bed for the first time, she practically melted into the mattress. Her last bed, a stiff pillow cushion, pale in comparison with Gloria's. Not only was it soft, the blankets were padded and warming. Snuggling with Gloria under the plush pink covers drawn a happy end to a long fun-filled day.

By the time Bubbles counted to 73, she was already considering to head back home. She planned on a hot bath, plus a nap on the bed, and then dinner, and then sleep. She felt tired, drained. Bubbles wondered if she could take a short nap before going out to find Gloria.

No, that could wait. That could all wait. First she find Gloria, then she could head back home. Who knows, maybe Gloria would carry her back home. That would be a nice bonus for the end of the day.

"One-hundred," said Bubbles, she turned around and shouted, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Bubbles jogged to where she thought Gloria ran off to. Immediately she checked for footprints, disturbed grass, broken twigs, pretty much anything that doesn't look natural. She was getting good at this game. Though the forest wasn't exactly her preferred environment to dwell in, she was good at finding things in it. Bubbles had played this game for so long that not only does she find Gloria sooner, she also found hidden goodies like wild berries and shiny silver coins. One time her mommy lost her purse so Gloria sent her to go search for it. It didn't take long for the Oshawott to find the purse. It somehow got under the master bed. Mommy patted her on the head and gave her an ice-cream sandwich as a reward. It gave Bubbles brain freeze, but it was still the best ice-cream sandwich she ever had.

"Gloria," she called out, "Where are you!?"

No response. No faint giggling or the crunching of leaves. Gloria had either gotten better at staying quiet, or she had climbed up a tree and was looking down from above. Bubbles looked up, so far no pink fabric among the green leaves.

"Gloria?" she called out again.

Tricky little girl, sometimes she would sneak around her and find a new hiding place. Not exactly going against the rules, but it made things a whole lot harder. Bubbles checked the usual hiding places: The hollowed out remains of a fallen log, the large hole in the tree, the small crevice in the ditch. She wasn't there. Bubbles scratched her head. Hmm, where could she be? Normally she would have found her by now.

Leaves shuffled as something thumped to the ground, Bubbles turned towards the noise, "Gloria?"

Bubbles crouched and made her way towards the source. It often could be Gloria's tricks, sometimes she would throw a rock or a branch to get her to move out of her escape zone. Bubbles occasionally peaked behind her, sometimes she would catch her trying to sneak by. She looked behind her shoulder, half expecting to see Gloria tip-toing around the corner. There were only trees and bushes instead.

"Uh, Gloria," Bubbles called out. "We're pretty far from the house!"

Again, the Sea Otter had no doubt that Gloria couldn't understand that, but she said it anyway. Bubbles was getting nervous. Her mommy said sternly not – repeat, not – go too far into the woods, or they risked getting lost. Bubbles hadn't realized how far they were out. Hopefully Gloria knew her way around the forest, Bubbles couldn't imagine spending the night out here.

"Gloria!?" Bubbles called out again.

Still nothing.

Bubbles approached some bushes and pushed them aside, then gasped.

Gloria laid face down in the middle of a clearing. She was motionless, eerily still. Bubbles blinked, then shook her head. Of course, Gloria must be really tired, so tired that she passed out into sleepyland. But the way she lay . . . she normally sleep on her back, not on her belly. Bubbles stepped out of the bushes and called out. "Gloria?"

She didn't respond, let alone flinch.

When Bubbles got closer, she saw something out of the ordinary. A stick, a long slender stick, stuck out of the back of her head. There were red feathers glued to the end, but why? Bubbles held out two fingers and smoothed one out.

What is this?

She looked down at the back of Gloria's head, whatever the stick was it seemed to be lodged deep. Bubbles grabbed it, it felt like it was made out of something hard. Really hard. Something metal, perhaps? The Sea Otter pressed a hand against Gloria's head and pulled against the stick. It began to slide out.

Bubbles couldn't prepare herself for what came out with the stick. Her eyes bulged as thick crimson liquid spewed out, like a geyser of some sort. It spewed out over Gloria's hair and dress, splattering in circular drops. Bubbles blinked, her heart pounding viciously in her chest. She put in more muscle, grunting as she gave the stick another hard pull.

The stick came out in a sickly plop. Bubbles held it up, squinting her eyes to see more clearly. The tip of the stick was bullet-shaped, seemingly well-worn. The crimson liquid marked how deep it went. Bubbles had no idea about measurements and math but it didn't take much thinking to see how deep it really was. She dropped the stick, then stumbled back. Bubbles fell on her butt and kicked away from Gloria. She panicked, gasping for air. What happened to Gloria? What was going on!?

Bubbles was just about to scream her head off when a slender sky-blue arm emerged from the bushes, it ringed her around the neck and brought her into a chokehold. Bubbles yelped, she kicked her legs and tried to pry the arm off with her fingers. It was no use, the arm was too strong.

"You scream, I'll snap your fat neck," hissed the voice of a Dewott.

Bubbles stopped kicking. Tears escaped her eyes as she whimpered, "Don't hurt me!"

The Dewott pulled a black bag over her head and tied a knot in it. A hard blow then came down on the back of her neck. Bubbles grunted and fell forward, her mind started clouded up. She moaned as the Dewott hoisted her over its shoulder. It didn't say anything, it just simply got up and started walking. Its footsteps was the last she heard before slipping into the dark void.

. . .

She couldn't remember much of the trip. Everything was black, save for the twinkling lights that penetrated the sack. Bubbles heard voices. Someone shouting commands. The hard rapid-fire pacing of feet. The clattering of light metal. She was terrified, but was in no shape to react. Her body was still numbed by the blow, she couldn't bring herself to lift her own head.

After what seemed like forever, she was dumped on the ground. Bubbles squirmed, then realized her hands and feet were bound by something plastic. She was scared. Something bad was going on, something so wrong that a part of her brain was overwhelmed by sheer horror. As she struggled to break through her bonds, someone gave her a sharp kick in the butt. Bubbles grunted, her face smashed against the ground.

"Move, and I'll break your legs!" hissed the Dewott.

A hand grabbed the bag over head and pulled it off, Bubbles eyes sunk into her skull from what she saw.

Small bi-pedal Pokémon stood before her. They were armed with crossbows and rifles. Bubbles had seen multiple Pokémon on TV, but never one in person until now. Every weapon that was present seemed to be aimed at her, primed with itchy trigger fingers. Bubbles tried to scream, but couldn't, her voice was caught.

The Dewott in question came before her, he held a crossbow over his shoulders as he wielded a scalchop. It had a half-meter long sky-blue blade sticking out the front, and it was huge.

Razor Shell, Bubbles thought.

It was the only weapon she was familiar with and she knew its capabilities. The Discipline Pokémon held the tip of his plasma blade to her throat, its eyes burning with hate. "You sit right there," he warned. "If you even let out a peep, I'll drive this Razor Shell into your belly and tear out your innards. Do you hear me?"

Bubbles stared at her, too shocked to react.

The Dewott stomped on her solar plexus, then barked into her face. "I said, DO YOU F*CKEN HEAR ME!?"

Bubbles teared up and nodded vigorously. The stomp on her gut hurt so much, she felt she was being torn apart. This was pain completely foreign to her.

He pulled his foot off and withdrew his Razor Shell, "Good," he said. "Now you listen here you little pink sh*t, if you-"

"Wotter," called out the voice of a Scrafty, "That's enough!"

Bubbles looked up, a Scrafty came walking up into the fray. He carried a big clunky assault rifle. Ugly as a Trash Heap Pokémon, meaner than the Dewott. There were all sorts of modifications added to it, she couldn't tell what they were. All she could tell was that the weapon was weathered and had been abused a lot.

The Scrafty himself stood before her. His red crest was quite large, indicating he was the leader. The crest had a few strands of white hair in it, hinting the Hoodlum Pokémon must be middle-aged or was approaching its elderly years. The Scrafty's pupil in his right-eye was cloudy with a milky gray film. He must have poor vision in it, assuming he could see through it at all.

Both eyes were pointed straight at the Dewott, appearing calm yet authorities. The nearby Pokémon lowered their weapons, seeing they were no longer necessary. "Wotter," the Scrafty said. "What did you bring to camp during your scouting run?"

"An Oshawott, Nobark," said Wotter. "A pink one, as you can see."

Nobark crouched, he reached out and held Bubbles's head up by her chin. The Sea Otter Pokémon looked deep into his eyes. A hodgepodge of emotions was circling around in a violent vortex inside, waiting to be unleashed.

"You have a name?" he asked calmly.

Bubbles felt her heart pound hard against her chest, she gulped and muttered under her breath. "Bubbles."

"Mmm-hmm," Nobark nodded. "I can see why, you smell just like bubblegum."

Nobark picked up his gun and slung it around his back, then grabbed Bubbles with both hands. She shut her eyes, crying, "What is going on, what did I do!?"

The Hoodlum Pokémon held her up, examining every part of her body. He placed a finger on her nose and pulled her mouth open. Bubbles's felt sweat trail down the back of her neck, was he checking her out?

"You have nice teeth," said Nobark. "Really nice teeth."

He held up two fingers and pinched her belly, "And you're quite well-fed as well."

"Please," Bubbles pleaded. "I just wanted to go home!"

"There there, Bubbles," said Nobark, "Everything's alright, apparently there was some misunderstanding. We'll sort this all out. In the meantime, you come with me. I have someone you would like to meet."

The Hoodlum Pokémon turned toward Wotter. "You are dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Wotter grunted.

As Wotter walked away, the other Pokémon simply disembarked. Bubbles felt a little relieved, but was still fearful for her life. Nobark wrapped his arms around her, like he was being protective. The Oshawott felt his breath blow through her ears in steady puffs. She felt squeamish. Besides Gloria, she hadn't been this close to anyone before.

"Where am I?" she managed to say.

Nobark shrugged. "A little abode I had set up some years before."

He pushed aside some bushes, Bubbles's eyes grew big.

It was a large complex of some sort. Large concrete buildings pop-marked the landscape. They were plain, painted white. The paint was already flickering away, turning yellow from age. Wooden crates were stacked up against the buildings. They had a variety of labels: Such as Food, MRE's, and Ammunition. The crates were painted olive green, just like the paint on the buildings. It too was fading.

A multitude of Pokémon walked around the complex. Most were small and medium-size, a lot of them were bi-pedal. She saw a few quadrupeds, some of which were even walking on two feet. Many of the Pokémon were carrying tools, such as crowbars and hatchets. A lot were carried crossbows and rifles, there were a few that carried some sort of fully-automatic weapon. A weapon that could cause mass death in seconds.

She had a bad feeling with all those weapons.

Several Pokémon turned toward her. Most looked curious. Either it was because she was someone new, or it was the fact that she was pink instead of blue. A few even waved hi to her. She would wave back, but her hands were bundled. Bubbles returned the wave with a simple nod, the Pokémon got the message and went back to their activities.

They don't seem so mean like that Wotter fella, she thought.

"Evening, sir," said a Timburr as he passed by, carrying a weapon's crate over his shoulder.

"Evening, Woody," said Nobark.

The Timburr glanced over at Bubbles, curiously looking at her for a second, then turned back around and kept on walking.

Up ahead, a Snivy tended to a large fire pit. She had what looked like a black machete. It was comfortably snugged in a rough-leather holster, strapped firmly to her back. Bubbles shivered, it looked more terrifying like the other weapons. Even Wotter's Razor Shell pale in comparison.

The Grass Snake Pokémon seemed to be frying some chopped fruit in a greasy frying pan, she was just adding green peppers when Nobark approached. "Smugleaf," he said, this time in human speech.

Bubbles jumped in his arms, did he just speak human words?

"You need something, Nobark?" Smugleaf asked, still transfixed on the frying pan.

She spoke human speech too!?

"Look what Wotter dragged in."

Smugleaf looked up, at the moment she saw Bubbles her eyes lit up. "It's an Oshawott!" she squealed.

Nobark lay Bubbles on the ground, Smugleaf rushed up to her and picked her up. The Snivy pressed her nose against the Oshawott's shoulder and sniffed, "She smells like bubblegum."

"Her name is Bubbles," said Nobark. "I think Wotter done something bad to her."

Bubbles turned back to the Scrafty, she noticed that his left hand was shaking. It tremor and twitched, like it was getting ready to explode. Nobark didn't seem to notice as he ran it through the fine hairs of his crest.

"He did not hurt her or anything," Smugleaf asked. "Did he?"

"Just her pride, maybe something else too. Whatever's the case, you take good care of her. Don't let Wotter, or any other Pokémon for that matter, lay a hand on her. She's scared and confused, she'd just got here."

"She's a new recruit?"

A recruit, Bubbles asked. A recruit of what?

Nobark shrugged. "Looks that way. I better go debrief Wotter to see what happened. In the meantime, you keep her company."

Smugleaf grinned, "Will do, Nobark."

As Nobark turned around, he bent his shaking arm and pressed it against his side. His head twitched involuntarily as he walked casually out of sight.

"He has Parkinson's Disease," said Smugleaf, this time in regular Pokémon speech. "Besides that, he's fine."

"He doesn't seem quite fine."

"He's old, Oshie, you noticed his graying crest right?"

Bubbles nodded, "Yes, I had."

"Just don't worry about him, Nobark's nice. Well, his default feeling that is."

"Feeling?"

Smugleaf sat her back on the ground, she reached over her shoulder and pulled out her knife. The edge of the blade twinkled, it looked so sharp it maybe can cut through steel. Bubbles cringed and shivered.

"Relax, Bubbles," said Smugleaf. "I'm just going to cut your bonds."

The Grass Snake Pokémon cut the plastic cuffs off her legs, then her hands. Smugleaf holstered her knife and helped her up. "See, Bubbles, it's not so bad."

Bubbles just looked at her, her eyes watered. "I wanna go home."

Smugleaf gave her a tight hug. "There there, Bubbles. It's alright, everything's going to be okay."

"My trainer's hurt, or something happened to her!"

Smugleaf raised an eyebrow. "Who's your trainer?"

"Gloria, she's only six years old."

Bubbles shook her head, she got on her knees and cried. "Something bad happened to her!"

Smugleaf gasped, she stepped back and covered her mouth. "What happened?"

"She got shot with a long stick!"

Smugleaf asked, "Does it have feathers and a bullet-tip?"

Bubbles nodded. "Yes, it does. It was wedged deep into the back of her head."

Smugleaf went silent. She stared at her for a minute, then turned away. "I'm sorry, Bubbles, but I think she's dead."

"No."

"A shot to the head is a death sentence, Bubbles. It isn't something that you could put a band-aid on. If you take anything straight into your noggin, you'll-"

Smugleaf stopped when she saw Bubbles tear up, the Sea Otter Pokémon slumped on her rear and sobbed, "Why is this happening to me!?"

Bubbles covered her eyes and cried, Smugleaf grabbed a nearby rag and handed it to the Sea Otter Pokémon. She blew her nose into it and handed it back, "What is going on? What is this weird place? Why is that Dewott so mean?"

"I don't understand," Bubbles finally added. "I don't understand all this."

Smugleaf gave Bubbles a hug, "Are you tired?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I could sleep tonight."

The Grass Snake Pokémon helped Bubbles back onto her feet, "Here, I'll find you a nice warm bed to sleep in tonight. I'll explain what I can tomorrow morning."

Bubbles looked up at Smugleaf. "You'd do that for me?"

Smugleaf smiled, "I know how you feel, I went through a similar experience in the past."

The Oshawott said nothing, she just let Smugleaf take her by the hand and pull her away.

TO BE CONTINUED…