Primarina- Follow the Bouncing Ball
It was a very warm day with the Sun shining down from a cloudless blue sky. Sunlight danced upon the surface of an exhibit in the Oceanarium, causing the crystal-clear waters to shimmer and sparkle as tiny waves moved on top of the water.
A pink ball with several golden star outlines all around it bobbed up and down slightly as it floated in place in the water. Suddenly, the ball was whacked straight up out of the water by a large pink fish-like tail that broke the water's surface.
The tail was pulled back into the water quickly, and the head and upper body of a Primarina broke the surface with a dramatic upward splash. She held her round pink nose up with an eager look on her face, and the ball fell back down and landed perfectly on her nose. Primarina balanced the ball flawlessly and, apparently, effortlessly.
Primarina then held out her pure white sea lion flippers and dropped the ball into them. She hugged the ball close, closing her eyes and smiling happily as she rested her chin upon it lovingly. Then she tossed the ball upward and began bouncing it up and down off her head. She turned to the now empty bleachers where the audience would sit and watch her during show times, imagining that they were full. She made a show of putting her left flipper over her mouth yawning as she performed her trick, then she bumped the ball extra high, quickly dived beneath of the water, and jumped straight up after it. She deftly caught it between her flippers as she splashed back down into the water.
She came up again, balancing the ball on her nose again, but this time she was facing a basketball hoop on the far side of her exhibit. She eyed her target carefully, and then turned her back to it and tossed the ball straight up into the air. She then jumped out of the water and performed a flawless backflip. During her flip, her light blue hair swung and flourished before the bright blue sky above, and her tail slapped the ball solidly, sending it right towards the hoop.
Primarina splashed down, and quickly came back up to see the ball sail towards the basketball hoop, only to get jammed in between the hoop and backboard.
She gasped and covered her mouth with her left flipper. She blushed as she turned towards the crowd, only to see and remember that there was no crowd there. She put her flipper down and sighed in relief, only to become worried again when she saw that her precious ball was stuck.
She quickly swam beneath surface, zooming right over to the hoop in seconds, and popped back up and reached with her flippers. The hoop was mounted about 12 feet up on the wall of her enclosure, making it simply too high to reach.
Undaunted, Primarina dived back beneath the water and swam back to the opposite side of the enclosure. She came back up and eyed the hoop that kept her ball trapped and out of reach. She then took a deep breath, and quickly zoomed just beneath the surface, only to leap out of the water two thirds of the way across the enclosure.
As she sailed towards the hoop, she smiled enthusiastically and reached out with her flippers, only to smack hard into the wall to the right of the hoop. She stuck there for a moment, the side of her face pushed up against the wall, her left eye open and staring at her ball. She shakily reached out with a flipper, inches away from the ball, only for her body to slide right off the wall and splash back down into the water.
Primarina promptly resurfaced, looking very much annoyed, and looked right at her ball with determination. Then, without any further ado, she used Hydro Pump, scoring a direct hit on it. The attacked easily knocked the ball out of where it was stuck.
At first, Primarina nodded and watched eagerly as the ball went flying. Then she shrieked out in horror when she saw the ball land on the opposite side of the wall.
Breathing heavily in a panicked state, Primarina quickly swam back to the far wall and put her back to it. She took several deep breaths and thrashed her tail beneath her several times. Then, after swallowing a lump in her throat, she dashed forward as fast as she possibly could. She worked her tail in overtime so she could shoot through the water. Then, at just the right moment, she leapt right out of the water higher than ever before.
Primarina extended her flippers as fart out as they could go, and when she collided with the wall, her flippers grabbed onto the top of it. Hanging on tightly, Primarina tried with all her might to pull herself up. However, her flippers didn't seem to have the muscles required to lift her own body weight straight up.
Desperate to get to her ball, Primarina swung her tail out behind her and then brought it back in quick while bending it. Her tail fins smacked against the side of the wall and managed to get a kind of a grip on it. Her aquatic body was now curved like an inch worm on the side of the wall.
With a huff and a puff, Primarina pulled herself up again while flattening her body, pushing herself forward from where her tail fins met the wall. This pushed her upper body above the wall, allowing her to get a better hold of the top of it with her flippers. Finally able to see over the wall, she quickly looked around and spotted her ball bouncing towards the doors of a building across from the wall of her enclosure.
With eyes closed and teeth clenched, Primarina pulled herself forward with her flippers and thrashed her tail upwards again and again until she felt her body swing over the wall and fall over it. Primarina landed on the hard sidewalk face first, her tail sticking straight up before falling flat to the ground with a loud wet slap.
Primarina recovered from her impact rather quickly, and put her flippers on the ground in front of her to lift her upper body up to look around. She spotted her ball bouncing into the building across the street. She wore a relieved smile, happy that now she'd actually be able to get to her ball, and began pulling her body across the ground.
However, this made her rather huffy, as she was moving rather slowly and didn't like to drag her beautiful blue tail across the ground, unless it was sand. She stopped for a moment, and her eyes lit up as an idea came to her. She used Hydro Pump to soak the ground before her, forming a path from where she lay to the entrance to the building her ball had entered. Then, using both flippers, she elegantly pushed off and slid effortlessly across the wet ground.
Primarina laughed softly to herself as she slid along and held her head high, striking an elegant pose. However, this was interrupted when she hit something. She blinked and stared at the doors in front of her, noticing that they were now closed. She raised her flippers and pressed them against the glass doors, and began pushing with all her might. When they didn't move, Primarina cried out in frustration and slapped the ground hard with her flippers.
Much to her surprise, the doors suddenly opened by themselves. She stared at the doors in shock, and then leaned forward a bit. At that moment, the doors closed right on her round, pink nose. She cried out in pain and tried to pull free. She battered at the doors in a panic for a few seconds, until she suddenly paused with a thoughtful expression, and slapped the ground again with her flippers.
The doors opened, and Primarina breathed out in relief, sniffling a few times as well. She quickly pulled herself into the building, and quickly spotted her ball coming to a stop a few yards away from her. She gleefully made to approach it, but found herself held back by her tail. She turned to look behind her and saw to her dismay that the door had closed on her tail fins.
Primarina gave a loud whine, and started tugging herself forward repeatedly with her flippers. This resulted in her pulling her tail fins free, but her underbelly was still wet from earlier, so she started sliding forward rather quickly. Primarina tried to stop herself with her flippers, but she found that the floor of the building gave her no traction at all. She was soon spinning around out of control, sliding past her ball and giving it a whack with her tail wins.
Primarina cried out in distress and quickly pulled her flippers in close to her body in an attempt to stop herself. It worked, and she eventually came to a halt. She looked around frantically, eventually figuring out where she had whacked her ball, but hesitated to move lest she slide around out of control again. She looked around at all the aisles of various stuff that filled the building, until a selection of beach towels caught her eye.
Primarina laughed prettily, feeling very clever at the moment, and slid over to the towels. She quickly grabbed one and began rubbing her flippers dry. She then rolled over and dried off her belly, giggling a bit as the towel tickled her slightly.
When she was satisfied, Primarina rolled back over, dropped the beach towel, and made her way towards the aisle she had inadvertently sent her precious ball. She spotted her ball in the center of the aisle, and wore a gleeful expression as she moved her body towards it.
Primarina slid in a tight circle as she reached her ball, scooping it up in her flippers and hugging it close. She sat there with her eyes closed as she caressed her beloved ball with her cheek for a moment, but when she opened them again, they became widened by what she saw. The shelves on either side of her were lined with a great abundance of plastic balls of nearly every color and pattern imaginable.
Primarina was so overjoyed by what she was seeing that tears of joy came to her eyes. She gave a loud sniff, blinked the tears out of her eyes, and then took another look at the ball she held in her flippers. She frowned, and the carelessly tossed the pink and golden starred ball over her shoulder. She then giggled gleefully as she clapped her flippers in excitement.
Primarina grabbed limbfuls of balls of the selves, hugging them all and holding them close. She tossed them high and laughed as they raised down around her. She pushed herself up on her tail fins as she cheered in delight before falling flat on her back and lying down with flippers spread wide, feeling happier than ever before.
She then gave a contented sigh and sat back, then picked up one of the balls, a purple one with blue spots, and brought in in close to hug and nuzzle it. However, the moment she gave it a squeeze, it emitted a loud squeak that nearly caused her to drop it. She blinked her eyes, and gave the ball another quick squeeze. The louder squeak caused her to drop the ball fast and huff at it. Primarina then scooped up another ball, a green one with gold stripes, and squeezed it between her flippers. The ball gave in and deformed easily, much to Primarina's dismay.
She then picked up a blue ball and dropped it. It fell like a lead weight, barely bouncing at all. Primarina watched in disappointment as it rolled away.
She then held an orange ball to her nose and sniffed it, only to recoil in disgust at its scent.
She took a good look at a bright red ball, and dropped it to see it bounce. The ball rebounded speedily off the floor and slapped against the underside of her flipper painfully. Primarina's flipper swung back and slapped her cheek, much to her shock. She then screamed and quickly laid down flat as the red ball ricocheted like crazy around the aisle, sending scores of other balls flying and bouncing around as well.
Primarina quickly crawled away from the chaos, breathing heavily in a slightly traumatized manner. She lay there feeling confused and dismayed for a moment, then perked up as she suddenly remembered her original beloved ball. Primarina looked around quickly, and spotted her familiar pink and golden starred ball bouncing out the door back out into the street.
It took a while for Primarina to crawl out after it, and when she did, she saw her ball bounce right over a wooden fence. A few seconds later, she heard a splash. Intrigued by this, Primarina crossed the street as quickly as she could, and then grabbed the top of the fence with her flippers to pull herself up. She was delighted to see her ball floating in the middle of a large pool.
After clapping her flippers happily, Primarina climbed over the fence and then quickly moved to the edge of the pool. She was about to slide into the pool when her nose caught wind of an odd smell coming from the water. Confused and slightly off put by it, Primarina leaned in close to the water's surface and gave it a few sniffs. The odd scent caused her to make a face, but her curiosity caused her to stick her head under the water's surface. She also stuck her tongue out to give the surrounding water a little taste.
After no more than two seconds, Primarina quickly pulled her head out of the water, her normally crystal blue eyes now red and irritated as she coughed and spat in a desperate attempt to get the taste of chlorine out of her mouth. She then rubbed at her eyes with her flippers until the irritation had subsided, and took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
After the ordeal was over, Primarina look out to her ball, which was still floating out in the middle of the pool. Primarina let out a sob and fell flat on the ground. She buried her face in her crossed upper flippers and sobbed in despair. She stopped for a moment to lifted her face and take one last look at her ball, when something caught her eye. It was a diving board that extended about a fourth of the way into the pool, and next to the diving board was a long-handled pool cleaning net.
Primarina sat back up, her face now joyful and hopeful, and she quickly crawled over to the diving board. She grabbed the net with her flippers, and slowly climbed onto the diving board. She held the net long ways at first, using it like a balance pole tightrope walkers held as she slowly moved her body along the diving board. Eventually, she made it to the very end of the diving board, and she could see that her ball was still a good distance away from her.
Primarina took a deep breath, and slowly let it out as she held out the net with her flippers, slowly extending it towards her ball. Primarina was breathing heavily as she focused with all she had, occasionally licking her lips which were just beginning to get a little dry. With her eyes focused directly on her ball, and her flippers being kept as steady as could be, Primarina carefully dipped the pool net under the water, and slowly brought it up from underneath her ball.
At that moment, Primarina could see that her ball was caught safely within the net. Letting out a cry of joy, Primarina swung the net upward fast without thinking. This catapulted the ball out of the net and into the air, where it sailed off somewhere behind her.
Primarina's mouth hung open and the net fell out of her flippers as she realized her mistake. However, in the next moment she narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth with rage. She then bounced once, twice, three times on the diving board, springing up into the air a few feet. She flipped in mid air and landed back on the edge of the diving board in a flipper stand. In this upside-down position, she fired a powerful Hydro Pump from her mouth, which sent her flying up into the air like a rocket. Eventually, she came back down, landing upside-down on her flippers, carrying the force of her fall and applying it to the end of the diving board. The board bent from the force of Primarina landing, and then snapped up and launched up and away in the same direction as her ball.
From up high, Primarina could see that she was heading for a dock at the shore. She could also see her ball landing on the dock and rolling towards the edge. With a determined look in her eyes, Primarina extended her flippers ahead of her as she cut through the air during her descent.
It was without a doubt an incredible feat, landing on the dock and spinning while sliding forward to snatch up the ball just as it was about roll off of the dock. Primarina spun to a stop, and simply sat rubbing her precious ball against her cheek, her eyes closed and a smile on her face as she took comfort in having the item near her.
However, Primarina moment of tranquility was interrupted by a loud metallic clanking sound, accompanied by a tightness around her tail. Primarina opened her eyes and looked to see, much to her surprise, that this dock had a mechanized harpoon gun mounted on it. She stared at the machine, and how it aimed a large harpoon out to sea, and then followed the metal chain connected to it to a large metal fetter that was now clamped around her tail.
Primarina carefully placed her ball down on the dock, and then grabbed the large fetter with her flippers and tried to push it off of her tail. She had already begun to panic, so she quickly left off pushing the fetter off and went straight to the spear gun's controls. Her blue eyes darted all over the buttons and levers, not knowing the first thing about what she was looking at. However, her eyes fell upon a big, flashing red button. She stared at it for only a second, and then slapped her right flipper on it.
Primarina flinched to the side as the harpoon was fired off towards the sea. Her eyes widened as she saw the long chain being pulled out rapidly behind the flying harpoon. Primarina let out a terrified scream and tried as hard as she could to remove the fetter around her tail, shaking it wildly with her flippers.
Then, a sudden thought gave her pause. Primarina gasped and turned to her ball. She made a desperate grab for it, and the tips of her flippers managed to just brush the side of it before the chain yanked her up and away. As Primarina's cry of despair rang out and slowly faded into the distance, her precious ball spun around a bit, and then slowly rolled off of the dock and landed in the water with a soft splash.
Out at sea, the harpoon was stuck nearly straight up in the seafloor. The chain was also held straight up as Primarina was floating vertically in the water, covering her face with her flippers as she sobbed brokenly for her ball. However, her grief was interrupted when the fetter suddenly disengaged, opening up and freeing her tail.
Primarina was caught off guard by her sudden newfound freedom, and she wobbled a bit as she reacquired her buoyancy. This also gave her a chance to take a better look at her surroundings. Primarina was awestruck by the gorgeous, colorful coral reef that surrounded her. She could also see an abundance of aquatic life swimming freely around the wide open aquatic environment. It was then that Primarina noticed that she couldn't see a single wall for miles and miles around.
Now completely overcome with joy, Primarina laughed out loud and suddenly shot straight up towards the surface. She broke the surface of the sea and jumped straight up into the air, crying out with the joy of freedom as she flipped in mid-air and splashed down magnificently.
The pink ball, with its several golden star outlines all around it, bobbed up and down slightly as it floated in place in the water. Suddenly, a pure white flipper reached out of the water and slowly pulled the ball down beneath the surface. Then, Primarina's tail came up and slapped the water before disappearing down below. After the splash shrank into ripples, the silhouette of a Soloist Pokemon could be seen moving quickly back out to open sea, and to freedom.