Chapter Twelve - Bun Bun Swagger

Buneary didn't quite swagger up to his spot across from the gastly... Sage was it? That was a weird name, most pokemon he knew only went by their name. He was Buneary the buneary, and that was that.

Not that he'd mind having another name. Humans had their own. His human was Broccoli the human, wasn't she? Although he wasn't sure if she was just a human. Maybe she was what humans evolved into? He had pretty large ears, but his mom had had huge, long ears, kind of like Broccolis, so maybe when a human evolved they'd gain theirs?

That made sense.

"Bun, buneary!" he said. I'm ready to fight you!

"Gasstly," Sage replied. I'm not sure you are.

He narrowed his eyes at the ghostly figure, then stretched his paws. He had very small claws, but he did have them.

"Alright, so," Jazz said. "This will be a one-on-one fight, no switches. We're going slow here, boys. No maiming, no aiming for the eyes. This is meant to be practice and a way for us trainers to see what both of you can do."

Buneary nodded. He got it.

"I really don't know much about being a trainer," Broccoli said. "Do we just sit back and watch?"

"Oh, no no, you call out moves that your pokemon knows. Pokemon are sometimes pretty good in a fight, but if you leave them to it, half the time they'll just wail at each other, or use the same move over and over. If you remind them what move to use, then they'll use it if they trust you. Plus as a trainer you have a more... strategic look on the fight. Poison one pokemon, then switch out to a tankier pokemon, for example."

"I see," Broccoli said.

"Plus a trainer takes care of their pokemon. Well, a good one does. That's feeding them and spending time on training, learning new moves, working out strategies and tactics. A trainer is the core of the team, the pokemon they have are the... hmm, tools isn't the right word for it, nor is weapons. They're the way that the trainer can react to what another trainer is doing, I guess."

Buneary wasn't sure he followed entirely, but it sounded like Jazz thought that trainers were important. He wasn't so sure. He was plenty strong already when he wasn't being chased by stupid fire-breathing dogs.

"Alright, let's start this. Gastly, I have a list of moves you might know right here, we'll work through them, alright?"

"Gastly!"

"Do you have a list like that for Buneary?" Broccoli asked.

"Sure! Wait, one sec guys." Jazz had Broccoli pull out her own little human machine and after a few clicks and such Broccoli's eyes lit up.

Jazz started the fight by tossing a rock up, and the fight started when it thumped into the ground.

"Buneary, quick! Use, uh, Pound!"

Buneary grinned as he raced ahead with quick little bounds. He jumped as hard as he could, then twirled in the air to smash into Sage butt-first.

Then he passed right through the ghostly pokemon who chuckled darkly. There was a wash of coldness as he did so, but no impact, not until he smacked into the ground then rolled over a couple of times.

"Huh?" Broccoli asked. He felt the same way.

Jazz giggled along with Sage's laughter. "Normal-type moves don't work on ghosts," she said. "Gastly, Lick!"

The ghost spun around and flew towards Buneary.

"Buneary, uh, Defense Curl? Is that a good move?"

What even was a Defence Curl? Buneary wondered. Wait... was it like... He rolled himself up into a little ball, covering himself up with his outstretched ears as well. He focused hard, and then felt a wash of energy covering him. He glowed a little, but it was very faint. Still, he did feel a little tougher.

That didn't help much at all when Sage's tongue lolled out of his mouth and slathered itself across his entire body, ripping him out of his little ball. Buneary spat and sputtered, but he also hurt a little. It wasn't super painful, but it felt like the lick had made his blood run cold.

Buneary stumbled back, then looked over to Broccoli. He didn't know what to do. "Uh, shoot, you said Normal-type moves don't work on ghosts?" Broccoli asked. "Jazz, all of the moves on this list are Normal-type except for Double-Kick, and I don't know what that even is."

Buneary had no idea either.

"Buneary, try... Baby-Doll Eyes?"

He nodded. He was pretty sure he knew what move that was. Sage was looking at him, a stupid grin on his face and tongue still rolled out. So Buneary blinked a few times, allowing tears to fill his eyes--which weren't there already, he swore--then he looked at the ghost with his lower lip trembling.

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The ghost hesitated, looking from Buneary to his trainer.

"It's just a trick," Jazz said. "Do you know Payback, Sage?"

The ghost shook his body left and right.

"Spite? Curse? Hex? No, alright. Any Poison-type moves?" Jazz' face fell. "Aww, that's rough, but I'll teach you a few of those, promise. How about Hypnosis?"

Gastly grinned, then turned towards Buneary.

Suddenly the ghost started to spin and twirl, the gases around him forming a disk that spun and spun and Buneary found himself staring at it more and more. He blinked, eyes growing heavy, but it wasn't time to sleep, it was... it was...

He awoke with a start, arms and feet kicking out until he realized that he was cradled in Broccoli's arms. "Hi," she said with a kindly smile. "Hey, you fell asleep there. It's okay, the fight's over."

Buneary looked around. Jazz was on the other side of the yard, chatting with big gestures at both of her pokemon. He sighed, then slumped a little. "Bun buuuun." We Loooost.

"Aww, don't be that way. I don't think we've had all that much practice not to lose, right? But I was still really impressed." He gave her a look, and she laughed. "Yes, really! That Defence Curl move, that was cool! Jazz said she was gonna teach Sage a few more moves, and that gave me an idea. Want me to teach you some of the moves I know?"

"Buneary?"

"Yeah! I know fireball, and every permutation of Cleaning magic there is. I could make you a Cleaning-type expert in no time. And you know what Ghost-type's biggest weakness is?"

He shook his head.

"Cleaning magic!"

Oh! That was... that was actually very nice! He wanted to know, so that he'd make Sage pay for giving him a lick like that. It was gross!

"Alright! We'll be walking over to the gym, I think, but in the meantime, let's do a bit of practice, huh?"

He nodded. Broccoli went over to join Jazz, then they left the back of the Pokemon Centre and started down one of the streets of Violet City. Broccoli told Jazz to walk ahead a little so that she could give Buneary some tips, and the girl didn't seem to mind that at all.

"Okay! First... urgh, I wish Amaryllis was here, she knows magic. But we'll make do! So, can you concentrate your mana into your paw?"

Buneary frowned. "Bun? Buneary?" What's mana?

"Mana is... this." Broccoli unfolded one of the arms holding him to her chest and opened her hand. There was something wavering there, some sort of energy that flickered and moved and glowed. "I think it's what you used for that Defence Curl move! And Baby-Doll Eyes had some too, but it was pinkish? I think you're using two different kinds of mana there. We'll need to see if you can focus it into a spot, then turn it into the right type of mana, then we can learn some spells!"

Buneary felt like that was all pretty complicated, but he tried anyway. He focused and focused and focused until with a grunt, he managed to make his paw glow... for about a second.

"Good work!" Broccoli cheered. "You're better at this than I was at first, trust me!"

That made him feel a little better, he supposed.

"I think it's a lot about remembering what that feels like, then it gets easier to make the feeling return to using the move again. Keep practising. Maybe switch between one paw and the other?"

Buneary kept practising as they walked through the city and past homes and schools and a few little shops. They even passed in front of the bridge leading to the Sprout Tower. That's about when he figured out how to summon that mana stuff more easily. He just had to focus it to the tips of his ears!

"Well done!" Broccoli said with a giggle. He even got an extra squeezy hug for his efforts.

"This is it!" Jazz said as she stopped in front of the biggest building Buneary had ever seen. It wasn't as tall as the Sprout Tower, but it was probably close. A huge building made of metal and human-stuff, with lots of glass at the front and a dozen people milling around. "This is the Violet City Gym, where Falkner will test any pokemon trainer with his aerial superiority. Come on! Seating's free for trainers!"

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