Chapter Fifteen - Getting Ready to Rock!

Buneary was having the time of his life at the moment... not that what he was doing was easy, but it was a lot of fun even if it was hard.

It was currently noon, and the second day since Broccoli decided that they needed to train. Apparently they'd be having a big fight against some sort of trainer in two days, but he wasn't too concerned about that.

Every day, he'd wake up, eat delicious human food, then follow Broccoli outside where they'd play games and run around. It was kind of like what he used to do when he was younger, only now he didn't have to worry about a fearow swooping down and flying off with him or one of his siblings.

He could feel himself getting tougher... also, the food was good.

Lunch happened (lunch was human for a mid-day meal, and he very much agreed with the idea of lunch) and Buneary got to share from Broccoli's plate. She had something called spaghetti, which she ate by twirling the noodles on a fork. He would grab onto the fork when it was his turn and stuffed it into his mouth until the noodles hung out in front of him.

Broccoli used her Cleaning-type moves to clean him up after, which was nice too, but she told him that soon he'd be able to do that himself.

Once lunch was done they sat under a tree outside for their after-lunch nap, and then it was more play time and training.

Today, they headed out of the city and into a nearby park with a bit of taller grass and a few big trees. It was still close to the city, so the only wild pokemon out here were some birds and a few brave Bug-types. There was a big pond nearby where a family of poliwag were hopping around a much larger poliwhirl on the shore. A few humans were out picnicking, battling with their pokemon, or just enjoying the sun like they were.

Buneary wasn't ready to practice more. Not because he didn't want to, but because his tummy was so stuffed that it was bulging out and he wasn't sure he could spar, even if he wanted to.

"Urgh," Jazz said as she laid down on the grass nearby. Bellsprout climbed up onto her chest and started to wiggle.

"Bell bell bellsprout," he said. Oh baby, wiggle in the sunlight baby!

"Are we going to do more practice?" Broccoli asked. She was leaning against the tree, and didn't look any more ready than Buneary was.

"I guess," Jazz said without moving. "Later. Maybe... maybe we can practice with our minds."

Broccoli giggled, and Buneary chuckled too even if he didn't quite get it. How did someone practice with their minds? That was silly. They weren't Psychic-types!

"So, uh, I have a question," Broccoli said.

"Hm?" Jazz asked.

"A move is just a trick, right?"

"Eh, sorta," Jazz said. "It's... more like a trick or a... move that a lot of people understand. It's shorthand? Uh, like, pokemon are all different, right, so they won't do the same move the same way, necessarily, but the end result is pretty similar. A two-legged pokemon won't Tackle the same way as a four-legged one, but Tackle is still Tackle."

"Okay," Broccoli said.

"How many moves does Buneary know?" Jazz asked.

"Uh," Broccoli said. She glanced at Buneary who tried to shrug, but it made his tummy gurgle so he gave up. Digesting was hard work. "Let's see... there's that big butt-smash move he knows."

"That's Pound," Jazz said.

Broccoli nodded. "And he knows that move that makes him a tough little ball?"

"Defence Curl," Jazz supplied. "You really need to learn the names of these to call them out."

Broccoli hummed, then she reached over and started to scritch Buneary on the head. He closed his eyes and let her. "I will. I think that's it, actually."

"He knows Baby-Doll-Eyes," Jazz said.

"Wait, when he makes his eyes big?" Broccoli said. "That's... that's weaponized cuteness. It's wrong."

"It's a strong move, and one I think Buneary are naturally good at," Jazz said.

Broccoli sounded a little upset. "I'm sorry Buneary. No one should be burdened with cuteness."

Buneary waved a hand dismissively. "Un," he said. I don't mind.

"Buneary can definitely learn Quick Attack," Jazz said. "You're gonna want that one. And that'll make four moves."

"Is four special?" Broccoli asked.

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"Eh, sorta," Jazz said. "So, common sense says that you should focus on four moves per pokemon."

"I don't get it," Broccoli said. "Can't a pokemon learn more than four? I want to teach Buneary some Cleaning magic, and Fireball."

"Setting aside the impossibility of that, the four-move thing is more... think about it this way; to master a move, you need to practice it a lot, right? So, let's say it takes three hours of practice a week just to keep a move well-practised."

"That sounds reasonable," Broccoli said.

"So, four moves, with three hours a week, that's twelve hours of pure practice a week. That's a lot of hours. Five moves makes it fifteen hours. Six makes it eighteen, and so on. And that's not practising to mastery, that's practising just to keep the move up. At pretty much all levels of competition, trainers will focus on only a few moves and teach them very well. That's not to say that you don't want to know others. Like... Quick Attack can be used in a fight to dodge or get in close. So it's good to know even if it's not a main move."

"I think I get it," Broccoli said. "And if you have like, a dozen pokemon, you can't really practice as much with all of them."

"Exactly. I mean, pokemon can practice on their own a little too, but it's not as good," Jazz said.

Buneary supposed that he understood.

"Well, I'm hoping that Buneary picks up both Cleaning magic's basics and Fireball soon," Broccoli said. "He's very clever, you know."

Buneary smiled smugly. Darn right he was.

He opened his mouth and let out a little burp.

Broccoli smiled and booped his nose.

At some point, he fell asleep, but it wasn't for very long. The sun was still high in the sky when he woke up to feel his ears being played with. His head was up against Broccoli's leg, and his ears were stretched out across her thighs where she was flattening them out.

"Bun, buneary?" What are you doing?

"Oh, sorry. Did I hurt you?" Broccoli asked.

He shook his head a little.

"Just playing with your ears. They're very long, you know!"

Buneary nodded. His ears were pretty long, he supposed. Broccoli's ears were only about as long as her head was tall, maybe a bit longer. His ears could reach all the way to the floor when he stood.

"Ready for more practice?" Broccoli asked.

He yawned, then rolled over and pushed himself up to his feet. "Bun!" Ready.

Broccoli laughed. "Alright! But first... do you have a name that's not Buneary? Because... well, that's like if my name was Bun."

"Bun?" he asked, actually repeating what she said instead of speaking normally.

"That's my species!" she said, her ears flicking for emphasis.

"Bun!" he replied. Oh! "Buneary... Buneary." I'm Buneary.

"Mhm! Well, think on it! Sage has a name. Jazz said that Bellsprout never seemed to care for nicknames, but some pokemon like them. If you want, we can find you something appropriately cool!"

He nodded. He'd think about it, but for now Buneary was good enough.

"Okay! Magic time!" Broccoli said with a cheer.

Buneary cheered too, raising his arms up as high as they could go. "Buun!"

Broccoli was trying to teach him three things for the fight that was coming up. First, how to push some energy into his legs to jump real well. That had turned out to be pretty hard. Sure, he figured it out, but his legs were kind of short and stubby, so the best he could do was a bounce that sent him about as high as Broccoli's head. That was useful for getting head-top rides, but it was too slow and too low to be good against bird pokemon.

When he used the same trick with his ears, though, it let him fling himself way up and into the air.

He hadn't figured out landing yet, so Broccoli mostly ran around and caught him, which was fun!

Next was practising both Cleaning-type energy and learning how to make Fire-type energy for fireballs. He wasn't sure he was going to be ready with either one, but he was getting there! He could reliably make his paws glow, and Broccoli said that the mana was feeling more and more like Cleaning-type.

A bit more, and he was sure he'd be mastering it just like Broccoli did!

When that fight in the gym came up, he was sure he'd be ready to kick some stupid birb's butt!

***