Chapter Six - Mis-bun-derstanding

Buneary sat on Broccoli's lap, both of his paws holding onto one of the bars that he and Broccoli had won in their first pokemon battle together.

The bar was a bit large, so he was having a hard time holding onto it, and he had to nibble at it at an angle, but it was pretty tasty. Lots of nuts and some sort of grain, and there was a sweet drizzle thing on top, and some berries mixed in.

Human food was really the best.

Tilting his head back while he chewed, Buneary looked up to Broccoli. She had finished her bar in two quick bites, of course. They were sitting on the side of a small hill, next to a human road. The sun was beaming down on them, warming his coat up until a cloud would slip past and make the air cool down all of a sudden.

It was nice.

Jazz, the trainer they'd beaten, was sitting across from them on her knees, a pout still fixed to her face. Next to her, a little bit further up the hill, was her bellsprout.

The bellsprout was dancing in the sunlight, his entire stem of a body writhing around and throwing his head from side to side while he soaked in the sun. "Bellsprout, sprout, sprouts, bell!" he said. Oh yeah, yeah yeah, check out my wiggles, baby!

Buneary decided that bellsprout was a pervert and he really didn't want anything to do with the weird little guy.

"So, you really don't know anything about pokemon?" Jazz asked.

"Nope!" Broccoli said with a shake of her head.

"I'm just gonna assume that you're clueless, then," Jazz said.

Broccoli nodded. "That works for me! So, I was mostly wondering, do you know of anyone who has stuff to make portals into other worlds?"

"That's strangely specific," Jazz asked. "And no, obviously I don't know that."

"Do you know who would know?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz rocked back a little. "Uh. I guess someone at the League. There are some professors who are really smart, and the League are the ones that bankroll a lot of research."

"The League?" Broccoli asked. "What's that?"

Buneary would have liked to help, but he really didn't know too much about how humans did things.

"The Pokemon League is the organisation that takes care of trainers and pokemon across the entire world," Jazz explained. "Here we have the Johto League, which takes care of the gym circuit, the Elite Four, the pokemon centres and the pokemon rangers. It's a super important organisation."

"Huh, alright," Broccoli said with a nod. "So I just need to ask the league for help, then."

Jazz scoffed. "You're not going to get any help if you're just some nobody."

"I thought the league would help people?"

"I mean, I guess. It helps new trainers and stuff, but the league is all about pokemon and their trainers. The stronger you are, the better the league will listen and help. If you want to get the league's attention, then you'll need some gym badges. Heck, if you want to be anything but a pokemart clerk or some office worker when you grow up, then you'll want at least a couple of badges."

Broccoli sighed and started to rub buneary on the head. He wasn't sure if he liked that. Hugs were one thing, but he wasn't some growlithe that needed petting. Actually, it was kind of insulting how sh-- oh. Broccoli started to rub his ears between her thumb and forefingers, and buneary found his eyes going half-lidded and his paw started to kick out. Yeah, that was the spot. This was fine.

"Alright, what's a badge?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz groaned and pressed her face into her hands. "You really don't know anything. A badge is what you get for defeating a gym leader. There are eight across Johto. They're all really good, strong trainers. You go to their gym, schedule a fight, and if you beat their pokemon with yours, you get their badge. If you collect all eight in under two years, you can participate in some bigger tournaments."

"So, everyone has eight badges, then?" Broccoli asked.

"What? No. Most people don't even get one, you need to be a hard-working, dedicated trainer, with good pokemon, to get even one badge."

"Oh! How many do you have?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz flopped backwards, landing on the ground in a thump. "None," she said after a moment of staring into the sky.

Bellsprout danced his way over to Jazz, then climbed up on top of her. "Bell bell bellsprout!" I'm wiggling, check me wiggling, baby!

"Thanks, bellsprout," Jazz said as she reached up to pat the flower-headed pokemon.

"You seem upset about that," Broccoli said.

"I'm seventeen years old, Broccoli! Do you know what the average age is for someone to get their first badge?"

"I literally don't know."

"It's fifteen! I... this isn't my first try at the circuit. It's my third. And it's my last one. If I can't get it this time, then I'm done for. I'll spend the rest of my miserable life... waiting tables and watching the Silver Conference on TV every night. All of my dreams of being Johto's poison-type gym leader will be trashed!"

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"Oh... that's actually really sad," Broccoli said. "I'm sorry. Do... you need help?"

Jazz sat up onto her elbows. "What kind of help?"

"I don't know. But you're my newest friend, and a friend helps her friends, right?"

Jazz narrowed her eyes. "You're not pulling a fast one on me?"

"I don't think so?" Broccoli said. "But hey, if I help you climb to the top of this league of yours, maybe you can help me with my problem too?"

Jazz' eyes sparkled for a moment. "That... might work! Trainers working in teams isn't unheard of. I mean, each badge is individual, but having more people can only help with travel and stuff. How much money do you have?"

"Literally none."

"Ah... that's okay! We'll earn more by beating trainers. I was already sleeping at pokemon centres, so that's cheap! We just need to get way stronger."

"Yeah!" Broccoli cheered. Buneary didn't understand entirely, but he raised his arms up in a cheer as well.

Jazz grunted, picked up bellsprout in her arms, then stood up. Then, very reluctantly, she extended a hand down to Broccoli to help her to her feet as well.

"So, what's your plan?" Broccoli asked.

"Do you know... wait, no, you probably don't. Uh... okay, so step one is getting you registered as a trainer. You'll get a trainer ID... do you have any ID?"

"Nope!"

"Alright, well, that should help, then," Jazz said. "Trainer IDs, if you're under a certain age, give you free access to healing in pokecenters and free room and board. There's a bunch of other benefits too. There are discounts on a lot of things. Once you get your first badge, it gets even better."

"Okay," Broccoli agreed easily. "That sounds nice."

"Yeah. Then... then we start planning to beat the first gym! I will succeed this time. The last eight attempts were just... information gathering. I won't be beaten this time."

"Eight attempts?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz's face reddened a little. "Look, this gym is hard for me. I have a serious type disadvantage."

The two started walking, and soon buneary found himself being lifted up and up where he was plopped onto Broccoli's head. He was worried that he might fall off, but then he let go of the granola bar with one paw and grabbed onto Broccoli's ear with the other. She giggled, then folded her ears on so that they both crossed over his legs.

"What's a type disadvantage?" Broccoli asked.

"Oh my Arceus," Jazz muttered. "Okay... so pokemon can use something called type energy. It comes in different... flavours, I guess. Pokemon have moves, basically abilities, that they can use that use that type of energy to empower them. Like... Ember is a Fire-type move that flings out little balls of fire."

"Oh, it's Fire magic," Broccoli said.

"It's not magic," Jazz countered.

Buneary didn't see why it wasn't, but he didn't complain.

"So, some types can counter others really well," Jazz continued.

"Like Water counters Fire?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz grinned. "Exactly! Now, the local gym is a hard counter to me and my kinda moves."

"You said something about being a Poison-type person?" Broccoli asked.

"A Poison-type master! Or that's what I want to be."

Broccoli nodded, which Buneary found a little stressful the way it swung him back and forth. He reached down and patted Broccoli on the head. "Un!" Then he handed her the rest of his granola bar. He was full.

"Oh, thank you!" Broccoli said. "So, Poison-type, probably countered by Cleaning type."

"Cleaning isn't a type," Jazz said.

"Are you... sure?" Broccoli asked.

Jazz huffed. "Of course I'm sure," she said. "Besides. The gym is Flying-type. It's neutral to Poison, but the problem is that almost every Poison-type pokemon in the region is either a Bug-type or a Grass-type, and Bug and Grass are both super weak to flying."

"Are all gyms based on a specific type of pokemon?" Broccoli asked.

"More or less, yeah," Jazz said. "But that goes into trainer bonds and a lot of stuff that's complicated. It's a lot easier for a trainer to have a team that shares a common type than it is to have a mixed team. For a bunch of reasons, really. So gyms tend to be focused, and a lot of good trainers do the same."

"Okay!" Broccoli said, accepting that at face value. Buneary had no stakes in it. He was just happy that his tummy was full and at the moment he was enjoying being very tall. "So, how are you going to beat this gym?"

"I need a new pokemon to join my team, someone that doesn't have the Bug or Grass type weaknesses," Jazz said. "And I think I know just the pokemon for that!"

***