Chapter Sixty-Three - Borb

After two and a bit days in the forest, Choco was ready to get out of there. It wasn't that he minded the trees and the bugs and the bug-type pokemon and the bugs.

Maybe he minded the bugs a little?

Fortunately, even when they were in the centre of the forest where the bugs were at their thickest, they were never too much of a threat. Choco had Fireball, which was a direct counter to bugs.

He grew to really enjoy the crackling noise they made when he caught them in a wash of flames.

They decided on the second day to divide things into shifts. Jazz's team had the morning, Tabitha's the middle of the day around lunch—which was when the local bugs were the most active—and Broccoli's team, his team, had the evening up to when they set up camp for the night.

It meant that each team had a good amount of time to fight the wild bugs that swarmed them looking for a fight.

He actually had time to ask a nice Butterfree that Jazz's team beat about it. Buttterfree, he was discovering, were huge gossips. They told him that the reason was twofold. First, a fight against trainers was great practice without having to worry about making enemies in the forest. This route was otherwise pretty safe because the Rangers patrolled it and smacked down anyone unruly.

The second reason was because some of them wanted to be caught. It wasn't a secret, apparently, that pokemon who had trainers were a lot stronger than pokemon without.

Choco supposed that it was true for him as well, but Broccoli wasn't the average trainer. They'd crossed too many bug-catching youth who were barely worth noticing to really believe that.

So Choco formed his own opinion. These wild pokemon were probably in it for the free food. He never wanted a trainer, but that was before he was introduced to toast with butter.

The afternoon rolled around, and Tabitha's team took over. She was better at sensing where pokemon were than any of them, and her team was pretty strong. King Krabby was still probably the strongest pokemon in their group... for now, and Slowking wasn't too far behind.

Even though he was slow and new, he somehow managed to pack one heck of a punch. Choco didn't get it. Maybe Slowking had been strong for a long time before Tabitha recruited him? Yeah, that'd make sense.

It was a few hours after lunch when Tabitha turned towards Broccoli and Jazz—and also Choco and Oran, who were both in post-lunch food comas with distended tummies and all. Broccoli had her arms cradled together so that she could hold both of them at the same time. Choco wasn't comfortable. Choco was too lazy and his tummy was too full for him to do anything about it.

"We're being followed. Someone distressed," Tabitha said.

That had Broccoli perking up. "Someone's in trouble?"

"It's a pokemon," Tabitha said after a moment of keeping her eyes closed. How that helped her know, Choco had no idea, but it seemed to help. She pointed back the way they'd come. "They're coming this way as quickly as they can. One person. Their mind feels... young, and innocent. If we leave now we can avoid..."

It was too late though, because Broccoli was heading that way already. "Hey!" Jazz shouted. "That's off the trail!"

"Only a little," Broccoli said. She had barely stepped off the road that some bushes rustled ahead, and then a pokemon came stumbling out of the underbrush, fell, landed in a roll, and then flopped back upright and kept on running their way. "Hey little guy," Broccoli said as she carefully dropped to her knees.

Choco and Oran were jostled by the movement, but it did let them see the pokemon coming their way better. It was green.

"Bud! Bud budew! Bud bud bud bud bud bud bud!" Help! Help Budew! Help help help help help help help!

"Whoa there, little guy," Broccoli said as she carefully placed Choco and Oran down. "What's wrong, what do you need help with?"

The pokemon, Budew, paused and took a deep breath. He was a little guy, barely half as tall as Choco was, and all green except for a splotch of yellow where his face was. "Bud budew budew dew bud!" Budew's friend is hurt and I can't help!

"Oh no," Broccoli said. "Do you think you can lead us to your friend?"

"Broccoli, what's that little thing saying?" Jazz asked.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"It's a budew," Tabitha said. "A relatively uncommon Grass and Poison-type pokemon. They're usually quite friendly, with trainers and other pokemon." She reached into her pocket and came out with her pokedex thing and scanned Budew while he bounced around.

Broccoli stood and faced the others. "His friend needs help," she said.

"We can't go off trail," Jazz said.

"Sure we can," Broccoli said. "It's not advisable, but we can for an emergency, and I think this counts, right? Mister Budew, do you know where your friend is? Why did you come to us for help?"

The budew bounced and chattered at a million budews an hour. Budew knows where Budew's friend is! Budew came to you because humans help when pokemon are hurt and Budew's friend is hurt!

"Damnit," Jazz said. "Fine! But we're marking our path out of here. Cuts on the trees... Tabitha, can King Krabby manage that? And I'll have Zubat scout from the air for us."

With Zubat above and King Krabby happily scratching every tree as they followed Budew, they made their way deeper into the woods. Choco wasn't happy about having to bounce along after the group, but Broccoli seemed to have completely forgotten that her job at the moment was to act as a mobile snoozing platform for them.

Budew paused every so often to look back and see if they were following. It waved a few petals ahead and let out more cries of its name. And then they burst through the trees and found themselves in a clearing. "Budew bud budew dew budew!" This is Budew's friend who's hurt!

Sitting there, on a large rock, was a pidgey.

It was on its back, and its breathing was laboured. But that wasn't the only thing that caught Choco's eyes. He couldn't help but notice that the area around the pidgey was covered in bits of ripped-up bread.

The pidgey rolled slightly to look their way. "Pidg...ey." It... hurts.

The pidgey's tummy was huge. It was so big that Choco was sure that they could fit at least to whole loaves of bread in there.

"Hey there, little guy," Broccoli said. "Um, what happened? Your friend Budew went and got us, he said you were hurt and needed help?"

"Pidg, pidgey pidgey," the pidgey complained. I ate it, I ate all of the food.

"I can see that," Broccoli said.

Jazz knelt down and scooped up a lump of bread. It was the worse bit, on the very end of the loaf. "This is kind of hard. Where did they get this much bread?"

"That's a good question, but maybe we can help the pidgey before the interrogation?" Broccoli asked.

"I think this is a problem that will solve itself," Tabitha said.

"Budew dew dew?!" Budew's friend is going to die?!

"No, no, I'm sure that's not what Tabitha meant," Broccoli said as she calmed the budew down. "Right Tabby?"

"I meant that the food will... digest itself," Tabitha said. "We can give the pidgey a small amount of potion, just in case. I think I have a simple potion in my bag, one moment."

"Pidg. Pidgey pidgey. Pidgey. Pidgey, pidg pidg." It's over. I'll never be able to fly again. The pidgey flapped its wings feebly. Budew. Budew, thank you for being my friend.

"Budeeeew!" The budew started to bawl next to the pidgey, great big tears running down its leafy face.

Choco edged closer to Oran and they both stood there awkwardly while Tabitha passed a small blue thing to Broccoli and whispered an explanation on how to use it.

Broccoli knelt next to the pidgey, waited for the two pokemon to finish hugging, then she carefully patted the pidgey's tummy. When it opened its beak, she spritzed some potion in. "There you go," she said. "Uh, things should pass soon."

"Pidgey?" I'm not dying?

"I don't think so? I mean, you might want to consider a change in diets. Where did you find so much bread anyway?"

The pidgey explained about a spot where a truck had dumped a bunch of trash on the edge of the forest, and Broccoli relayed that to Jazz who took notes while shaking her head and complaining about dirty litterers.

And then it happened. Just as food went in, it must come out.

Choco felt his face going green before he turned.

Sure, there was Cleaning magic for this kind of thing, but no amount of that would cure the dirty, dirty scars in his mind.

They really couldn't get out of this forest soon enough!

***