Chapter Twenty-Five - Not a Rattata

Choco focused on his paw, then punched it forwards. A small ball of glowing light flew out ahead.

He walked a few dozen steps, keeping up with Broccoli and Jazz while still focused on his paw. The next punch came with another light, but this one flowed a lot better and further. "Bun?"

"Oh, that one was a lot better," Broccoli said. "What changed?"

He shrugged, then tried again. After five more attempts he figured it out. If he made the cleaning attack take on a specific shape, it worked a lot better. In this case, a sort of star-like shape. Less a ball and more a big spiky shape. It worked even better if he focused it in the distance at something specific, flying straight for that thing until it popped harmlessly on its side.

"Bun, bun bun, buneary," he said. I think I've got the hang of it.

"It sure looks that way," Broccoli said simply, but with plenty of pride in her voice.

He walked with his back a little straighter after that. Yeah, he was doing much better!

"Oh, look! More Mareep!" Broccoli said as she pointed out ahead. There was a groan from Jazz. Choco didn't get why Jazz complained so much. She'd hugged the Mareep too, and Choco had seen her smiling the entire time. She was just being a big grumpy human.

"I didn't factor in 'Broccoli getting distracted time' into the maths for how long this trip would take," Jazz said with her arms crossed. Sage floated in her shadows, chuckling at her ire, and Bellsprout was clinging to her arm with his usual wiggles.

Choco squinted out ahead and then shaded his eyes with a paw. There was another slight bend in the road, and then a long tall fence, twice as tall as Choco himself, even with his ears stretched out!

As they walked along, they'd met a lot of other humans with their pokemon. Early on there were lots of picnickers, which he learned was a word that meant humans that left their little human houses to eat on hilltops and in forests. Some of them wanted to fight, but he and Broccoli had avoided those.

Later on, they pretty much only met other trainers and young humans out and about in the woods and along Route 32 trying to catch wild pokemon. They also avoided those fights.

Jazz had not. She took great pleasure in having Sage fight some kids. They usually had Rattatas and weaker wild pokemon, and they rarely had a way to actually hurt the ghost pokemon.

Bellsprout got a few fights too, mostly against wild pokemon though. Jazz had Bellsprout practising with his Vine Whip, but also a move called Sleep Powder. It was pretty great when they ran into a few wild rattata led by a grumpy raticate. Putting the whole swarm to sleep let them run by without issue.

Earlier in the day, they'd run across a sage from the Sprout tower while Broccoli was busy saying hello to every mareep in another flock and giving each of them a hug. Choco had watched over her and Jazz as she spoke to the old human. He had been surprised to meet Sage, then he gave Bellsprout a few tips with his own much bigger, much tougher-looking bellsprout. He had a Weepinbell as well who flexed and showed off to both Jazz and Bellsprout before they continued on their way.

Choco was pretty happy with their trip so far. He was growing stronger every hour, and was sure that by the time they reached that second gym, he'd be way more than twice as strong as he was at the first!

"Hello!" Broccoli called out to the field of mareep. A few of them looked up from their grazing. "My name's Broccoli Bunch, and I really wanna hug you!"

"Maaa," said one of them. Weirdo.

"Bun, buneary!" Hey, she's not...."Un." Nevermind.

"I'm not weird," Broccoli said. She leapt up and landed atop the post between two lengths of fencing. "Is it weird to want to cuddle? Is it not the duty of a good bun to find the softest, squishiest pokemon she's ever seen and hug it? I stand before you today with a dream! A dream deeply rooted in the very essence of companionship and affection. A dream that one day, today even, under these vast meadows under this endless sky, I will encounter the cutest, cuddliest creatures the world has ever known. And I will hug the heck outta them!"

"You know, if she applied half that passion to pokemon battles, we'd have eight badges by now," Jazz said.

Choco shrugged. This was Broccoli. She'd been practising and refining her speech all day.

"Ma... mareep," the doubtful mareep said. Well, maybe a small hug.

"Yes!" Broccoli cheered. She jumped off the post and crashed into the mareep's fluffy fur, sinking in with an audible poof. Broccoli rubbed her face left and right. "So soft," she sighed.

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The mareep flock eyed her for a while, and Choco settled in atop the fence. He might join in later, but for now he wanted to get better with his cleaning moves.

Eventually, some minutes later, after Jazz had found a spot to train Sage and Bellsprout away from the mareep and the worst of the mud on the field, Choco noticed a yellow form approaching him.

He glanced up, then blinked at a large yellow pokemon he wasn't familiar with. It was walking with a flock of mareep all around, either guarding them or being guarded, Choco wasn't sure. "Amph, ampharos?" the big pokemon asked. What's happening here?

A few mareep baa'd some explanations, telling the ampharos that Broccoli was just hugging them, and using Cleaning magic to wash off any mud and gunk from their cottonee fur.

Ampharos settled back and watched Broccoli for a moment, then he noticed Choco on the fence and came over with big ambling steps. "Ampharos, ros ros," Hello, and who are you?

"Buneary, bun bun buneary." I'm Choco, Broccoli's friend.

The ampharos looked over to Broccoli, then Jazz and her pokemon who had paused to eye it. "Amph," it agreed. Okay. "Ampharos ros, amph?" Is she a good human?

Choco sniffed. "Buneary, un bun." She's not a human, she's a bun.

The ampharos blinked, then looked to Broccoli more attentively. Its eyes squinted and a small red gem on its forehead glimmered slightly. The ampharos started to grill Choco with questions. How long had he been with Broccoli, what kind of person was she, did she keep him fed and watered?

Choco reeled back at first, then glowered at the bigger pokemon. Broccoli was... well, she was his friend, wasn't she? He'd only known her for a little bit, but she kept him safe, taught him cool tricks, and helped him grow stronger, even if that wasn't her goal for herself.

Choco launched into a retelling of their adventure together so far, which was really only running into Jazz and then facing off against the first gym, but Choco made sure to add a lot to the story to make it sound tougher than it had been.

The ampharos seemed impressed, and when Broccoli stumbled out of her hug session and saw the big yellow pokemon, it waved kindly at her.

"Wow! You're big! And so yellow! Hi, I'm Broccoli, did you want a hug too?"

The ampharos considered it for a moment. "Amph," it agreed, and then Broccoli gave it a proper squish as well. The pokemon patted Broccoli on the head (she was only a bit taller than the pokemon) then pointed further into the field. "Amph?" Come?

Broccoli glanced at Jazz. "Hey, this big... guy? Girl? Girl! I'm sorry, I don't know how to tell. Anyway, this lady in yellow wants us to follow her out into the field."

"She's an ampharos," Jazz said as she picked up her pokemon and jogged after. "She's part of the mareep line of pokemon."

"They're related?" Broccoli asked.

"Uh-huh," Jazz said. "Not very common though. They're known to protect mareep from bigger predators. They're actually very strong pokemon, though I don't know if they're the best on a fighting team."

"Why's that?" Broccoli asked.

"They're very kindhearted. Sometimes that makes it harder to train them; though most pokemon do enjoy battling, it's not all pokemon that want to be battle-junkies," Jazz explained.

Choco hopped along after the group, listening to the entire conversation. That made sense to him. His mom hadn't liked fighting much either.

"I see," Broccoli said. "Well, that's okay too! I don't like fighting much either."

"And yet you were ready to throw down against three pokemon at the same time," Jazz muttered.

"Miss Ampharos, what sort of thing did you want to show us?" Broccoli asked.

The ampharos hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Ampharos, ros, amph." There is a baby here. It needs a guardian.

Broccoli gasped. "A mareep baby?"

The ampharos shook her head. "Amph." No. Another baby.

Jazz frowned when Broccoli translated for her. "Weird. But I think I did hear about mareep protecting hurt trainers before. They're very nice pokemon. I can see them doing the same for another pokemon that's hurt. Maybe an injured rattata?"

The ampharos lead them to a large metal basin. There was a container on top with some tubes leading down into a through for the mareep to drink from. Choco imagined that some human farmer would come around to refill it eventually.

"Amph! Ampharos!" Baby, there is someone you should meet!

The top half of a blue head popped up from the edge of the through and blinked at them all. "Azu?"

Choco suspected it wasn't a rattata.

***