Chapter Twenty-Nine - Saved!

Azurill winced as she was squished between the beak of the wingull. It cackled, even with her in its mouth.

She was caught facing the sky, and was entirely unable to spin herself around. Her quick Water Gun just shot into the air and did nothing but make the bird pokemon laugh louder. "Azuuuu!" she cried.

First, she lost home, and momma, and now she was being taken away again. No more Broccoli, no more safety. Azurill was afraid that she was cursed.

"Buneary!"

Azurill blinked as a form blurred into being right above the wingull carrying her. It was Choco, and his eyes were narrowed with more anger than she'd seen even when she stole his place on Broccoli's head.

The rabbit pokemon grunted, then slammed his head forwards while both ears snapped out, glowing with barely restrained power.

The wingull cawed as it was slammed in the back by Choco's full-force attack.

That caw was enough for her. She squeezed herself out, then thumped the wingull under the head with a swing of her tail. That'd show him!

Then gravity took a hold of her, and she started to fall. She wasn't the only one. Above her, Choco's eyes went wide and he started to swing his arms and legs around widely. "Buuuuuuun!"

The other wingulls flew past, catching up with their beaten friend before they circled around in the distance. Azurill ignored them when she noticed that she was still falling, and there was a big cliffside next to her.

A swing of her tail had her spinning around, and it was her turn to open her eyes wide. "Azuuuuu!" she screamed as she plummeted towards the ocean.

"Bun, buneary, bun!" I don't know how to swim!

Azurill pinched her eyes shut. That was... not good. But she did know how to swim. In fact, she barely needed to swim at all since she floated so well. Azurill sucked in some air until she was properly puffed up, then spat it all out in a hard Water Gun that shot her backwards until she collided with Choco. "Azu! Azurill!" Hold on tight!

They hit the ocean like a slap to the face.

Azurill felt herself deflating, and her world went white for just a moment before the splashing of water against her face kept her awake. Next to her, her tail bobbed in the water, gripped by a dazed Choco.

"Azu?" Alive?

"Buuuuun." Uuuuurgh.

That was good enough for her. She kicked her feet to stay afloat, then looked around herself. They had landed not too far from that long wooden pier that the fisherman humans used to tie their boats to and cast out lines into the ocean. No one seemed too close, though there were some fishermen further down.

"Bun, buneary!" Look, above!

Azurill tilted herself back. She had been about to tell Choco off for gripping her tail too hard, but her words died off when she saw the forms hovering above. Wingulls, three of them, with distended, fat tummies and mean looks in their eyes. One of them looked like his face was swelling up, and his wings beat with an off-kilter rhythm. He looked like he was one move away from fainting, but his pals were staying close. That is, when they weren't looking down at Azurill and Choco.

"Bun, buneary un bun." I don't like the way they're looking at us.

Azurill could only nod. They looked... well, not hungry, all three still had berry juices on their face, but they looked hungry in a different way. She didn't like it, not one bit.

"Azu... azurill?" Are we going to be eaten?

"Buneary, bun?" It's that or drown?

Azuril spun and gave him a look. She wasn't going to drown. In fact, she wasn't going to let Choco die either. If the idiot rabbit learned how to swim, then he'd be the fish!

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The wingulls came down, and Azurill tensed. She prepared herself to spit out a Water gun, if she could nail one of them, at least, then...

A big boom! sounded out and Azurill jumped even in the water. Choco grabbed onto her tail harder, and the wingulls broke off and flew upwards while turning towards where the sound had come from.

There was a small wave displaced by the fall of one of the piers as it sank into the water. It rose, and with it, Broccoli rose from a crouch. She wasn't smiling.

"What was that?" she asked, her eyes flicking from Azurill and Choco, then back up to the wingulls. "Did you just try to kidnap Azurill?"

"Wingull, wing wing!" Ignore her, it's just a trainer.

Broccoli continued not to smile. The air around her shimmered, then a dozen small balls of fire sparked to life.

The wingulls stared.

Azurill stared.

"Azu...rill?" Humans can... do that?

"Buneary, bun buneary." Broccoli can.

The wingulls glanced at each other, then one of them spoke up. "Wing...gull gull?" Maybe we made our point?

Azurill watched them flap a few times, then start to scamper away. The two uninjured ones didn't even stop to help their hurt friend keep up.

"Choco! Azurill, are you okay?" Broccoli shouted as she ran to the edge of the pier, her fireballs poofing out behind her. "Can you swim closer?"

"Azu!" she said before she started to kick her legs out to swim towards Broccoli. She glanced back at Choco who was still clinging on. He kicked his legs a little too, which didn't help that much, but it was something. "Azurill... Azu azu." Thank you... for coming to save me.

Choco blinked, then looked at her and smiled. "Buneary! Bun buneary!" Of course! You're my favourite fish!

She accidentally dunked her tail down under the water a moment later when they were at the edge of the pier, which happened to accidentally splash Choco's face into the water too.

"Alright, up up!" Broccoli said. "Oh, you're both going to be all dirtied up, huh? Are you hurt anywhere? I left my bag with Jazz, so I don't have a potion. I should carry one in my bandoleer going forwards."

Broccoli checked them over, and used some magic to wash them off. They were still wet in the end, but Azurill felt clean and wet, like when her momma finished grooming her fur. Broccoli scooped them both up and held them close to her chest.

Azurill wanted to complain, but after a moment she found it kind of warm and a little bit nice, even if she was squeezed in next to Choco. She could forgive some of his insults, a little. He had tried to save her.

"Let's get to Jazz! She'll be waiting for us at the end of the pier... wow, this is a long pier, isn't it?"

Choco shrugged and Azurill felt the same. She didn't have much context for how big human things got.

"We're gonna take a while to meet up with Jazz, I think," Broccoli said. "She needs to cross a lot of grassy terrain and the road didn't look super easy to walk across compared to here."

They continued forwards, Broccoli bouncing a little with every step.

After a few minutes of that, Choco sighed and closed his eyes.

"Azu? Azurill?" Hey, hey, are you going to sleep?

"Bun," he replied. Yeah.

"Azu! Azu azu azurill!" Well, don't expect me to be a pillow.

He opened one eye, and looked at her. "Bun. Buneary." You're not a pillow. "Unny." Fishy.

Azurill growled, but decided to ignore the insult. It was fine. She was warm and not hungry, and maybe she would just... nap a little too. She had had a very exciting morning.

The last thing she heard before closing her eyes was Broccoli humming a soft tune as she walked down the pier.

***