Chapter Fifty-Seven - FIREBALL!

Choco appeared out of the wash of the pokeball and shook himself. It always tingled a little and made his fur poofs stand on end. Still, he was here, and he was ready!

"Bun un buneary!" You won't win this one!

The beedrill across from him glared. Or maybe that was just how his face looked. "Bee, beedrill!" No, you're dying!

The beedrill's wings beat angrily and the beedrill hovered up a little higher off the ground. His big lance-like arms clinked together and he shook his entire torso in a weird way.

"Gym leader Bugsy, trainer Bunch, are you ready?" the referee asked. When they both agreed he nodded. "Battle... begin!"

"Beedrill, sweep in, Fury Attack!" Bugsy shouted.

Choco lowered himself, ready to jump. "Let's keep some range!" Broccoli shouted.

"Bun!" he agreed as he leapt to the side, spun, and then smacked the ground with his ear to continue his roll away from the beedrill who swept in where he was with a big stab of his drills. The beedrill growled, then turned his way and flew after him.

"Now! Nail him in the face!"

Choco grinned right back and launched a pair of quick Clean Balls at the beedrill.

The large wasp-like pokemon flinched, raising his lances to protect his torso... only for the Clean Balls to do nothing against him.

When the beedrill lowered his drills, it was to discover Choco already finishing his next move. The comforting tingle of a Defence Curl washed over him, and he felt just a little bit stronger and readier to take on the bigger pokemon.

"Clever, Beedrill, String Shot! Let's slow the little guy down!" Bugsy ordered.

"Beedrill drill drill bedrill!" I'd rather just stab you to death!

Still, the beedrill listened, opening his mouth wide to spit out a long string of goopy stuff. Choco ducked to the side, but the beedrill just turned his head, still spitting more string out. "Shield!" Broccoli called out.

It was a good idea. He raised a paw and focused for just a split second. All that practice came in handy, forming a round shield between himself and the String Shot that the goopy string splattered into and through... only to do nothing as it bounced off of Choco's fur. All the goopiness was gooped out!

"Buneary." Weak.

"Beedrill! Drill Drill!" I'm gonna kill you! Dead dead!

Oh, this guy was easy to taunt. And he was scary... so Choco did the natural thing and allowed his eyes to water, let tears gather, and made his lower lip tremble. "B-b-b-buneary?"

The beedrill blinked, then screeched as it flew towards Choco, drills already stabbing.

Choco blinked the tears away while hopping out of the bug's murderous path. So, Baby-Doll Eyes didn't work on murderous nutjobs?

"Keep up the Fury Attacks," Bugsy said. "You're not quite as agile, but you are faster, it'll hit eventually!"

Choco eeped as he turned to find the beedrill rushing up to him again. Another dodge worked, but then the beedrill flew past, spun in the air, and came rushing back. He couldn't continue dodging like this forever.

"Choco! It's time for your secret weapon!" Broccoli shouted.

Right! Choco focused while dodging the next blow, bringing all of the energy he could gather to his paws, forcing it into a ball, then the tricky part, whi—

Choco's eyes went wide as a hard blow smacked him in the side. The beedrill had stopped mid-charge and had spun around, hitting him with the length of its drill.

"You got complacent," Bugsy said. "Sorry. Beedrill, end it with a Twineedle!"

"Bee!" The beedrill charged at Choco who was still off balance, both of his drills glowed, and Choco couldn't do anything to dodge as they rammed right into him.

He coughed and was flung backwards to the sound of Broccoli's gasp being captured by the arena's microphone.

Choco landed in a roll, then coughed some more. His tummy and ribs hurt. It wasn't like when Marill sparred with him, this was a lot more painful. Worse, he could feel something ickly spreading through him.

Poison?

Choco grunted, and climbed to his feet. The beedrill was grinning.

He focused some of that energy back into himself, trying to fight the poison sweeping through him. He was... pretty sure that hadn't worked.

"Beedrill, finish him off with another Twineedle!"

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"Beee!" My pleasure!

Choco smiled.

Then he raised both paws, focused harder than he'd ever focused before, and launched a pair of Fireballs from each paw. The twin balls of fire spun on themselves and wooshed forwards, trailing a wake of twisted air as they rushed at the incoming bug pokemon.

The beedrill's eyes widened and he raised his drills to catch the move. It worked, barely. The fireballs burst apart against the beedrill who shook his drills and hissed.

Just in time to eat a third Fireball to the face.

"Yeah! Keep it up, Choco!" Broccoli cheered.

He did, or at least, he tried. He could only do four or five in a row while practising, and he was really pushing himself already as he launched two more, then two more after that.

The beedrill dodged one, then got smacked by the rest in quick succession. It buzzed angrily as big red splotches appeared on its fuzzy body.

"Quick!" Broccoli shouted.

"Bun!" he agreed as he launched himself forwards as hard and fast as he could. So far he'd been playing keepaway from the bigger pokemon, avoiding it as best he could, but he wasn't a one-trick bunny!

With a leap into the air, Choco used a Quick Attack to get in real close, then his ears launched forwards with a hard smack right against the beedrill's torso.

The bug pokemon folded, flying back to crash into the ground.

Choco landed on the pads of his feet and bounced on the spot a few times, paws swinging out to shadow box. "Bun, bun bun bun!" Take that, and this and this and this!

The beedrill buzzed, a needle digging into the arena's dirt as it pushed itself up.

Choco grinned at it, then rubbed under his nose with the back of a paw. He was feeling terrible, he wasn't even sure he'd be able to keep his lunch, but he wasn't going to let that show!

The beedrill charged.

So did Choco!

He ducked at the last moment, barely avoiding getting skewered as he spun, ducked into the beedrill's guard, then hopped forwards with all of his might and fired one of his ears up like a rocket.

The Pound rammed into the beedrill's chin, knocking its head back.

The pokemon hung in the air for a moment, then came crashing down with a flump.

The referee paused for a moment, then nodded. "Beedrill is unable to battle! The winner of this match is Trainer Broccoli Bunch!"

"Buuun!"

"Good job!" Broccoli said. Like last time, she hopped down from her spot and landed nearby, only this time when she scooped him up for victory hugs, he was squished up next to Marill. That was probably for the best, Marill was a very squishy fish and his ribs still stung. "You did great! Both of you!"

"That really was something," Bugsy said. The gym leader was ambling over with a gentle smile on, one hand scratching at the back of his head. "I didn't know Buneary could learn Ember!"

"Fireball," Broccoli corrected. "And yeah! Why not?"

"Uh... I mean... well, whatever. In any case! You've definitely earned this!" He raised a little badge. "The Hive badge, proving that you have what it takes to earn your second badge is a big accomplishment! Good job!"

Broccoli thanked him and accepted the badge. She didn't have a place to put it, so Choco got to hold onto it for now while Broccoli and the gym leader went over some other things. They got a TM? Choco didn't know who that was, but he hoped it wasn't another pokemon.

The moment they were out of the arena, Broccoli ran over to her friends, and then binkies were had!

Choco was let down, and he taught Marill how to make happy binkies too, because no one had taught her yet. She seemed to think it was silly, but it was in fact her who was silly.

"Oh!" Broccoli gasped. "Now that Marill's won a gym battle, should she get a name-name too?"

"Are you trying to start a tradition?" Jazz asked.

"Traditions can be fun," Broccoli said with a firm nod. "Not that they're necessary. If Marill just wants to be Marill, that's okay too!"

"Ma?" Huh? "Marill, marill rill rill ma marill? You, you want me to have a name like Choco?

"Yeah!" Broccoli said. "Something cute!"

"Buneary bun! Buneary... bun?" I have an idea! What about... Fishy?

She smacked him in the side, which was extra painful after the fight... but still totally worth it!

***