Chapter Forty-Nine - Battle.

Jazz was sweating, but she didn't want anyone to know.

"Go, Sage," she said, her voice almost a growl.

It was the growl, or sobs, and so she chose to mask her pain with anger. She'd done it before, actually. It's what made her Jazz Poison.

Sage appeared in a wash of red before her and took in the scene. The barely hurt slowpoke, Tabitha standing across from them looking impossibly serene and uncaring and maybe just a little bit smug.

Jazz wanted to pull on her hair.

"Sage, Confuse Ray into Hypnosis!"

Sage chuckled, then charged up his attack. Then he flinched as he started to be stuck by invisible impacts. That stupid Psychic Prod thing that Tabitha had taught her slowpoke already.

She chewed on her lip. There was nothing she could do but watch. Sage's Confuse Ray went off without much of a hitch, hitting the slowpoke dead on. And it did... nothing. Or nothing apparent, at least.

Right, slowpoke were... slow. Would confusing such a dumb pokemon even do anything? She cursed at herself. Going in with Hypnosis first would have been the smarter play by far. Now Sage was suffering for it.

"Come on, you can do it, knock it to sleep!" Jazz shouted in encouragement even as Sage started to spin.

Then the slowpoke smashed a Water Gun right into Sage's face, and the Hypnotizing swirls of his gas broke apart.

She tsked again. This was why she hated Tabitha. Not the psychic powers. If Jazz hated someone for being different, then she'd never get along with someone like Broccoli. No, it was because Jazz had the sinking suspicion that Tabitha was just better than she was.

Jazz was a pretty ordinary, tomboyish looking girl at the best of times, with no money to her name and nothing but a dream and a few friends keeping her going.

Tabitha oozed wealth. Expensive trainer gear, her pokemon had Ultra balls, she had manicured nails and talked as if she was put through a nice school. She was at least a year younger than Jazz, and yet seemed so much more put together.

Jazz had hoped that she was at least better in a fight, but Tabitha was rolling her over.

She'd figured out Hex with Sage, and it was useless now because nothing was sticking to her slowpoke.

"Another Water Gun, Slowking," Tabitha said.

And that was it, Sage went down without even properly hurting the pink blob. "Return, Sage," Jazz said as she raised her pokeball.

She reached to her belt and hesitated. Was this wise? Her teeth ground together, and she flung the ball out. Zubat appeared with a cry, then flew around in a tight circle.

"Zubat, I need you on this one," Jazz said. "The Slowpoke's hurt. I need you to take it out, decisively."

Tabitha smiled, then raised a pokeball and recalled the slowpoke. She carefully lowered the ball and placed it into her satchel, then pulled out another. Jazz glared the entire time. "Slowking hasn't been trained to fight flyers just yet. Or high mobility targets. You'll have to contend with King Krabby."

Her crab-like pokemon appeared and clicked her pinchers together. "Krabby!"

"Zu!"

Jazz glared.

Broccoli, remembering her place, jumped and stepped up. "Uh, right, round three? Two and a bit? Anyway, Zubat versus King Krabby... go!"

"Zubat, Supersonic!" Jazz snapped.

Zubat screamed at the krabby, and Jazz could see the waves of power in the air.

The krabby pinched the air a few times, eyes turning this way and that. It had worked!

"King Krabby, pay attention, it's just Confusion. Throw it off." King Krabby shook herself, then refocused. Jazz felt her heart plummet. Of course the psychic would train her pokemon to resist that kind of move. "Now Bubble Beam."

King Krabby's mouth opened and a jet of expanding bubbles shot out.

"Zubat, dodge!" Jazz shouted. "Then close in, Poison Fang!"

Zubat was quick and agile. Not enough to dodge everything, but he avoided a number of bubbles that would have hit him if he were any slower. Then he closed in, mouth opening wide.

"King Krabby, grab it," Tabitha said.

Jazz gasped as the krabby moved. It was so damned fast, and worse, it moved to the side, completely dodging Zubat's attack and grabbing him out of the air in its claws. But she had options. "Absorb!" she called out.

"Zuuuu!"

Greenish Grass-type energy suffused Zubat, then it started to pull from King Krabby. It was hurting it!

"Metal Claw," Tabitha said dispassionately.

King Krabby's claw glimmered and tightened.

"Keep Absorb going!" Jazz shouted.

It was a race now, between Absorb and Metal Claw's crushing strength.

It was a race they lost.

"Jazz, can you recall Zubat, please?" Broccoli asked.

The question snapped Jazz out of her funk. Zubat wasn't unconscious, but it was a near thing. King Krabby had carefully placed Zubat down onto the ground before itself. Jazz raised her pokeball and recalled Zubat. "I... I have to go," she said.

She retreated.

No.

No, she didn't retreat. She ran away.

She wasn't an idiot, of course. She ran towards the pokemon centre, the bastion of safety in times like these. She ran in and the nurse behind the counter immediately perked up at her entry. When Jazz placed her pokeballs on the counter, the nurse quickly scooped them up onto a tray, handed them to a chansey who ran off, then turned back to Jazz with some pointed questions.

She shook her head. None of her pokemon were that injured. No poisons, no afflictions, no missing limbs. She went through the list and the nurse relaxed only after the chansey called out her own name in a soothing tone.

Stolen novel; please report.

Jazz excused herself and marched to her room. There, she flopped onto the bed face-first and just... lay there.

The click of the door opening had her cursing herself again. "No, it's... something private. How about both of you go outside and play a little in the park in the back? Alright? Thank you," Broccoli said. Jazz could make out the faint patter-patter of buneary paws and the squishier thumping of marill feet leaving.

Broccoli slid into the room and carefully closed the door with a faint clink. Then, after what felt like an eternity, she came over to Jazz's bed and sat up alongside Jazz.

Jazz almost flinched when Broccoli started to run her hand through her hair.

No one had played with her hair since her mother, and that had been... a while ago. A painful while ago. "Did you want to talk about it?" Broccoli asked.

"No," Jazz said into her rumpled blankets. She hadn't done her bed and was regretting it now. Broccoli continued to run her fingers through Jazz's hair, just patiently sitting there while Jazz stewed. "You can go," Jazz said.

"I know," Broccoli replied.

"That was more of a suggestion," Jazz clarified.

Broccoli exhaled, but it sounded amused. "I know," she repeated. She didn't stop petting Jazz' head. "But when a friend is hurting... well, sometimes they need space, but sometimes they need you to be there. And I'd rather be there and be annoying than not being there when they really need you."

Jazz sighed, then pushed herself over so that she was resting on her back. That way she could better glare at Broccoli who took the glare with a gentle smile. "You are annoying," she said. There wasn't much heat to it, though.

"I'm good at being annoying," Broccoli said with a serious nod. "I've had a lot of people tell me that over the years."

"Hmph. Fine, let's see you be annoying, then," Jazz said. She crossed her arms. It probably wasn't as effective with her laying down like this and not towering over Broccoli, not that that was normally doable in any case. Stupid tall people. "Do you know why I'm upset?" Jazz asked.

"Oh, there's a few reasons," Broccoli said. "But I wouldn't be a good friend if I just listed them all, would I?"

Jazz sniffed. "No no, do it," she said. "Or maybe you're a bad friend and you weren't paying enough attention to even know."

Broccoli's smile faded a little, but there was no anger in her, just a bit of sadness. Damnit, Broccoli could give Choco a run for his money when it came to Baby-Doll Eyes. "If that's what you really want," Broccoli said. "But I don't like doing it."

"Try me," Jazz snapped.

Broccoli raised a hand and started counting off. "First, you're feeling inferior. You're a smart girl, and you know a lot, but you weren't always the luckiest. Tabitha looks like someone who was. You don't know enough about her yet to know that she's hurting in her own ways too, so you think that she's just much better than you. She's rich where we're poor, you find her prettier than you are—even if that's quite silly—and you don't like that she's special in a way that you think you aren't."

Jazz felt anger boiling in her all of a sudden, but a ball grew in her throat too, keeping her still.

Broccoli raised another finger. "You're upset that you lost, even though you did your best, even though Tabitha had time to plan. You had great strategies, but haven't had time to perfect them, and Tabitha's ahead of you in some ways. You'll catch up, but you haven't yet, and that means that you lost fair and square, and that's always upsetting."

Jazz grunted. That was a little more fair.

Another finger. "You're also angry because being angry means that you're not sad." Broccoli's hand dropped and she met Jazz's eyes. "But, Jazz, I don't think you should be sad, or angry. It's not fair to tell someone who's feeling big emotions that they shouldn't, but... but you're my friend, and I'll be a little mean if it means helping you be better. Okay?"

"I..." Jazz swallowed. It was hard, her throat felt blocked. She wanted to be angry again. She knew that it was wrong to be. Broccoli has just disassembled her in a few sentences and she couldn't decide if she should cry from the sheer vertigo she felt or slap Broccoli across the face for it.

Broccoli sniffled, and Jazz felt a shock run through her.

Broccoli was crying. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Why are you crying?" Jazz asked. She felt tears stinging her own eyes now too.

"I'm sorry," Broccoli repeated. "You're hurting, and I can't do anything to help. I'm sorry that whatever hurt you before happened. It's not fair. Nothing's fair."

Jazz sat up and looked the other way. She blinked a few times. "Yeah, it's not fair," she groused. "People like Tabitha and—"

Broccoli touched her arm and she turned back to see the girl shaking her head. "No. I think she had her own ghosts. Today was mean of her, but not as much as you think. I think she just wanted to be friends, but doesn't know how yet. But that's not important. I'm really sorry, Jazz. You're so much better than you think you are. Trust me?"

Jazz swallowed. "Okay," she said. She wasn't sure if it was honest or not. She wasn't sure what to think, her head felt cloudy.

"Hug?" Broccoli asked, and Jazz chuckled wetly. Well, maybe some things didn't have to be confusing.

And if that hug lasted a long time, and if she maybe snotted up Broccoli's shoulder when she finally broke... well, Broccoli never said a thing about it.

Damnit, the bunny-eared idiot had been right. She was good at hugs.

***