Chapter Thirty-Seven - Weird New... Friend?

Choco blinked at the human girl. She was... well, acting pretty much the way he expected human girls to act, which was to say, it was kind of weird.

So far, his examples of how girls should behave mostly relied on Broccoli and Jazz, and he'd gotten used to them. This one seemed weird in a whole new way.

She was very short, only coming up to Broccoli's chin in height and she was half a head shorter than Jazz too. Blue hair, a little lighter than Azurill's coat, and a white dress with long sleeves. There were grass stains on her white shoes, and some mud on her white stockings. So obviously she wasn't as powerful as Broccoli, or else she'd be a lot cleaner.

Her pokemon was more telling. A small red... bug? Was it a bug? He'd never seen one of those. It walked on four legs and had two big pinchy arms. "Bun," Hi, he said.

The pokemon stared for a moment. "Krab-by," she replied. Hello. Her attention—he thought it was a her, she sounded like a she?—turned back up to their respective humans.

"Just who are you?" Jazz asked.

"I wasn't addressing you," the blue-haired one said, her attention was still on Broccoli. "If you need assistance with your mental issues, I would suggest a therapist."

"... Wait, what?" Jazz asked as she rocked back on her heels. "What are you implying?"

"I'm implying that you are mentally unsound and possibly unfit, that you have a panoply of issues and that I don't have the time or inclination to attempt to address or repair those issues," the girl said.

Broccoli stood a little taller, her ears perking up in a way that Choco knew meant she was a little bit upset under all of her happy. "Please don't talk to Jazz like that. It's very mean."

"Oh," the girl said. "Pardon me. In that case, Miss Jazz, was it? I will carve out time in my schedule in order to address your neuroses, assuming of course that this time will be recompensed by you allowing me to examine your brain?" the last was aimed at Broccoli.

Choco wasn't sure what a brain was, or if Broccoli even had one, but if she did, he wasn't about to let just anyone take a grab at it. "Bun, buneary bun un!" Don't let her take your brain, she's weird.

Broccoli giggled. "I wasn't planning on it," she said. "Jazz, one second before you blow up?"

Jazz had a hand gripped around a pokeball, Sage's judging by the little stickers on it. Her hand was shaking a little and she looked very ready for a battle. "Fine," she snapped.

Broccoli nodded, then turned a smile towards the girl. "I think we got off on the wrong foot?"

"You are correct," the girl said. She blinked a few times, then adjusted her posture. She was standing very straight, like she was working hard to imitate a plank. "Forgive me I... do not usually act so rashly. My name is Tabitha Natsume, from Kanto. I am looking for assistance." Tabitha bowed sharply, hands by her sides and her entire body very still.

Next to her, her krabby bowed too, but with her pinchers folded in before her.

"Ah, uh, nice to meet you, Tabitha! My name's Broccoli Bunch! This is Jazz Poison, and these are Chaos Cuddles Cauliflower and Azurill! We haven't figured out a name-name for Azurill yet, actually.

"Bun." Fish. Choco leaned back, deftly avoiding a quick Water Gun.

"You said you needed help with something?" Broccoli asked.

"Probably needs help bullying someone," Jazz muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Do you always walk up to people and insult them to their faces?"

"No. Forgive me. I am... out of sorts having met Broccoli. Usually I keep the insults I think about people to myself, in the privacy of my own mind. Though I have sometimes projected those insults for others to pick up psychically. It is a common action amongst psychics and Psychic-type pokemon."

"Alright, there's a lot to unpack here," Jazz said. She raised her hand, three fingers poking up. "You're psychic? You have a... thing about Broccoli? And you still need help for something, yeah?"

Tabitha blinked, then nodded. "To answer you in order... yes, no it's not like that, and yes."

Choco blinked, then ran over Jazz's questions again. So Tabitha was psychic, whatever that meant, she didn't or maybe did have a thing for Broccoli, and she did need help.

Broccoli, of course, focused on that last part. "You need help?"

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Tabitha nodded. "I do. That is why I was camped here with King Krabby. We were looking for capable trainers to assist us. We have been here since nine thirty this morning."

"It's four in the afternoon," Jazz said.

"We spent the time when no trainers were present practising," Tabitha said easily. "I brought some necessities as well." She gestured to the side where a small white satchel was sitting on the grass nearby. "I was hoping to meet some trainers far earlier into the day who would be capable of assisting me at the Well, however none have seemed willing or capable."

"Until you saw us," Jazz said with a nod.

"No. You don't seem particularly capable," Tabitha said.

Choco pouted. Was she saying he was weak?

"What do you need help with?" Broccoli asked. "And why do you need capable trainers for it?"

Tabitha took a deep breath. "I came to Azalea to challenge the local gym and obtain a pokemon that is frequently found in this area. A slowpoke. Slowpokes have immense potential. However, I've discovered that Team Rocket have taken over the well, no doubt for nefarious purposes, and—"

"Team Rocket?" Jazz shouted.

Tabitha stared for a moment, utterly uncaring about Jazz's volume. She continued where she left off. "—and so I decided to find some assistance amongst local trainers to tackle them. If I can't find any before nightfall, I will have no choice but to rely on local law-enforcement, though I'm reluctant to do so."

"We had a run-in with Team Rocket," Broccoli said.

"Unsurprising," Tabitha replied. "Your pokemon seem to be non-regional, and that zubat has an unusual colouration. It would easily be classified as a 'shiny' and may well be extremely valuable."

"Zu? Zubat?" Me? My colour's strange?

"Bun...eary?" You... didn't know?

"Zubat? Zu bat bat!" How would I know? I see with my ears, just like you!

Choco suspected that he'd have to have a conversation with Zubat later about how they each saw the world, because they were not seeing it the same way at all.

"What's Team Rocket doing in that well?" Broccoli asked. "And is it a magical well of some sort?"

"It's the Slowpoke Well, a local monument. The well is the natural habitat of some local slowpoke. Though to be precise, the well opens into a large cavern in which the slowpoke reside. They have a natural affinity for water and are... sometimes unable to fight off predators. I suspect that Team Rocket are abusing them for profit in some way. That would fit their modus operandi."

"Well, if you need help taking down bad guys, we're right here," Broccoli said.

"I was hoping for more powerful allies," Tabitha said.

"Okay, first you want Broccoli's brain, then you don't want our help?" Jazz asked.

"Yes."

Jazz glared, and Choco started to wonder if she was capable of using some Fire-type moves of her own because her face was very red and he felt like she might be about to spit fire. "You know what? Fine. We'll take them out ourselves. We fought Team Rocket in Union Cave, I bet it won't be much harder to take them out in a well. Are you coming, Broccoli?"

Broccoli looked between Tabitha and Jazz, then winced. "Sorry Tabitha! I think I should go and stop Jazz from getting herself into any amount of trouble."

"I seem to have made several mistakes," Tabitha said. "I shall accompany you, then. I don't know if we'll be able to address the Rocket threat ourselves, but with three trainers we have greater chances than on our own."

That was the spirit! Choco nodded, then when Broccoli jogged after Jazz, he hopped right along with her. They didn't have far to go because Jazz had stopped just a little ways away. "I, ah, don't actually know where the Slowpoke Well is," she admitted. "But don't tell the blue-haired weirdo."

"Is it her hair that makes her weird?" Broccoli asked as she looked back towards Tabitha who was... carefully walking after them. "Because purple hair's kind of strange too, you know?"

"What? No it isn't," Jazz said. "What's weird is having rabbit ears, or being psychic. I'm the most normal one here by a longshot."

Choco wasn't sure about that, but he didn't feel like arguing.

"Have you reconsidered?" Tabitha asked. "Oh... I see that you haven't. In that case, I will insist on assisting you. After which we can have a more amicable discussion about the research I wish to conduct with regards to your mind, Miss Bunch. I promise you it will be minimally invasive."

***