Chapter Twenty-One - Bird Versus Bun

"Are you ready?"

"Bun!"

"You're not nervous?"

"Un."

"Good luck hugs?"

"Buneary!"

Broccoli gave him a squeeze so hard he felt his arms and legs almost popping out of place. It was a good hug, because when she set him down onto the ground, he felt ready for a fight.

Buneary and Broccoli had met Jazz in that same room. Jazz looked like she was very tired, even though all she did was stand on a platform and shout a few times. He didn't get it, but he understood that she'd won against that gym leader guy, so he gave a few congratulatory hops as she and Broccoli hugged and cheered about her victory.

Then Jazz had restrained herself and gotten serious. "It's your turn out there, Broccoli," she said. "Now, you don't have a pokeball for Buneary, right?"

"No, we don't have one," Broccoli said.

"Un!" he agreed. He did not want one either. Those little things were weird. He'd much rather be free.

"In that case, you'll have to lower the platform to bring Buneary down. It shouldn't be hard, there are things in place for that. But the ref will be calling Buneary down faster," Jazz said.

"Why would he do that?" Broccoli asked.

"Because with a pokeball you can move a pokemon out of danger and into stasis. Without, well, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm sorry to spring this on you, I should have warned you earlier, we could have bought a ball."

"It's okay," Broccoli said. "We'll manage without."

Jazz shook her head. "You're confident," she said. "Good luck out there, alright?"

"Don't worry! We'll have fun!" Broccoli said.

"That wasn't my concern," Jazz muttered. "Bah, yeah, have fun, I guess."

Broccoli nodded, then Jazz left as the gym trainer that smelled like pidgey droppings came in. He placed a small device on Broccoli's belt, with a small cord to a thing that was hooked close to her clavicle. A microphone, apparently, though he didn't know what that was, exactly. There was something about a green light above the door, and then they were left on their own.

"You remember the training?" Broccoli asked.

Buneary blinked. A lot of that training time was mostly them going around and meeting people and sometimes helping people out. He didn't remember doing much that could be actually counted as training except for the parts where Broccoli taught him some magic tricks. Still, he nodded.

The light turned green, and Broccoli scooped him up. They stepped through a small corridor, then were out in the middle of the gym.

"Ladies and gentleman!" The little man in the box above said. "Prepare yourselves to see the true elegance of pokemon in flight!"

"Are you ready, trainer?" There was that gym leader guy way across from them. Falkner, the gym leader of this whole place.

Broccoli shook her head. "Um... no, sorry, can I put Buneary down? He doesn't have a pokeball."

The gym leader stared, and there were some titters from the audience. The same gym trainer ran up to the platform and pressed a button, lowering them down. They moved until they were even with the arena, and Broccoli gave his head a little pat before setting him down. "Have fun! "

Buneary nodded with a final "Bun!" and hopped forwards. He came to a stand in the middle of 'their' half of the area. He looked around him and felt kind of small. The area was huge, with a ceiling far, far ahead, and as he looked to Falkner, then the still-rising Broccoli, he couldn't help but feel like he was even smaller than usual.

Still, that didn't matter. He was a brave buneary, Broccoli told him so. So he flexed his paws and rolled forwards and back on his feet before doing a few experimental little hops on the spot. He twitched his ears, then nodded. He was ready!

"Leader Falkner?" the referee said the moment Broccoli's platform locked into place with a clunk.

The gym leader nodded. "This will be a two-on-one battle with two switch-ins. The death of a pokemon will result in the immediate cessation of any fighting and a possible disqualification from the league." He stared across the arena at Broccoli. "Are you ready, trainer? I won't be holding back just because you only have one pokemon."

"We're both ready," Broccoli said with a big smile. To anyone that didn't know her as well as he did, they might have thought she was just happy, but there was more to that smile. She was a little insulted that Falkner wasn't taking Buneary as seriously as he should.

"Alright, go, spearow!"

A red wash, and a familiar red-winged bird appeared in the sky above the second half of the arena. The spearow circled around. "Spear, row!" Prey! Prey!"

"Bun, buneary!" he snapped back. I'm not prey.

"Row row row!" the spearow laughed. There was a mean glint in his eyes.

The tension rose until Buneary could almost feel it pressing down on him. He narrowed his eyes and made himself ready to fight.

"Battle... begin!"

"Spearow, dive in and peck!" Falkner said.

"Dive!" Broccoli said.

He nodded, then as the bird pokemon flew across the arena towards him, he waited until it was close and dove to the side, easily avoiding the spearow's glowing beak. He spun, smacked the ground with an ear, then cartwheeled some ways away. On landing, he rolled into a ball, then focused on the first step of his plan for victory. Energy raced through him and then hardened as he used Defence Curl to make himself tougher.

"Spearow!" Come here!

"Again, spearow!" Falkner said.

Buneary grinned. He was a little more ready now. As Spearow dove towards him again, he made as if to dive to the side, but the order never came. What did happen was spearow slowing down to see where he'd go.

The bird never expected him to jump up.

Spearow's eyes widened as Buneary came back down butt-first, energy gathering around him as he smacked the birb in the back with a Pound.

"Nice!" Broccoli said. "But it's now down yet!"

"Spearow," Falkner said. "Get up. Mud-Slap!"

Spearow cackled as it pressed its talons on the dirt ground of the arena. They glowed, then he raked them back. It was a move Buneary had seen before, similar to Sand-Attack, but stronger.

"Clean shield!" Broccoli shouted.

"Bun!" he replied as he brought his paws forwards and created a flat pane of Cleaning-type energy. It was a bit wobbly on the edges, and not all that thick in some spots while being too thick in others, but it was still solid enough.

The glowing mud smacked into the shield and just... disappeared.

"Row?" the spearow asked.

"Bounce over and Pound again!" Broccoli said.

"Bun!" he shouted as he jumped as quickly as he could towards the spearow.

Falkner snapped his pokemon out of it with a quick order. "Peck!"

Buneary winced as the spearow's glowing beak smacked him in the arm, but the spearow came out the worse as he spun around and smashed into the bird hip-first.

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Spearow was thrown onto the ground. "Assurance!" Falkner said.

The bird started to gather glowing dark energy in its wings, even on the ground.

"Back up!" Broccoli said.

He had almost jumped up to attack the spearow again, but he paused, then hopped backwards and out of the bird's reach. He did a few more hops as he saw that the move with the dark energy wasn't able to reach out to him. The spearow was breathing heavily as it restrained the dark-type energy of its move.

Buneary grinned, then casually used Defence Curl again.

"Row! Spearow!" Coward prey!

Buneary stuck his tongue out at the bird pokemon, then shook his hips tauntingly.

The move, whatever it had been, failed, and the spearow shook his wings before leaping onto his talons.

"You're surprisingly tricky," Falkner said. "Spearow, get in close, Peck again."

"Buneary, I believe in you!" Broccoli said.

Buneary nodded. "Bun!" he declared before rushing forwards with a single powerful leap that had him travelling close to the ground. Spearow didn't expect the sudden burst of speed, and he was caught flat-taloned as Buneary smashed into him with both ears snapping out to Pound him.

The bird pokemon flew back, flipping over to come to a stop on his side of the arena.

"Sprearow is unable to battle. Gym leader, please call out your next pokemon!" the referee said.

"Hmm," Falkner said. He recalled the spearow, then nodded and tossed out another pokemon. A larger one. "Go, Pidgeotto. Finish this."

The pidgeotto wasn't the same Jazz and her team had faced. This one was obviously a girl, for one, and it was a little bigger. "Pidg, pidgeotto!" she said. I live to serve!

Buneary walked backwards slowly, making space. Broccoli had mentioned how small pauses between activities were important, and this was the only one he'd get to calm down and cool down.

"Ready?" the referee asked. "Round start!"

"Pidgeotto, Gust," Falkner said.

Buneary grinned. This was what they'd expected.

He watched as the big bird gathered energy that swirled, wind picking up until it formed into a pair of small tornados. She swept forwards, flying towards Buneary with a rush.

"Shield!" Broccoli said.

Buneary formed another shield, this one a little rounder, then he stepped into it as best he could. The wind still whipped right through it, but a few licks of the Flying-type energy were eaten up by the shield. Not all of them, though, and he winced as he felt some of it snapping against his skin. It stung!

"Pidgeotto!" Go down, please!

Buneary shook himself, then looked up at the bird who was flying along the edge of the arena. He knew that Broccoli didn't like it, but... but his eyes still watered, and his lower lip trembled even as he met the bird's eyes with his own.

The Pidgeotto slowed down, and he could feel the guilt coming off of her.

"Again, Pidgeotto," Falkner said.

"Pidge!" Sorry!

Buneary considered gathering another shield, but... he was a little tired. Actually, he was very tired. When they helped people with cleaning, he could only use Cleaning magic a little bit before he was tired, and he was approaching his limit already.

So, instead, he focused all of his strength elsewhere. Still, there was some worth in deception. It wasn't something he saw Broccoli doing, but she didn't need to because she was the strongest person he knew.

Buneary wasn't there yet.

He leaned forward, paws rising as if he was about to use another shield.

Pidgeotto created another Gust, then swept down with it. It was clear she was holding back just a little more, which was perfect, because the moment she was a bit ahead and above him, Buneary pushed all of that energy into his legs in one go and jumped.

The pidgey squawked as he met her two Broccoli-heights (ears and all) off the ground with his forehead first.

There was a loud, rather painful smack, and both of them started to tumble out of the air.

Buneary wasn't done, though. He'd seen Bellsprout using Wrap, and while he didn't have roots or vines...

His ears wrapped around the Pidgeotto's core, and he pulled himself closer. "Bun! Buneary!" Take this!

He started to struggle against her side, smacking her with little kicks and smacks of his paws. It hurt, both the bird and a little bit himself.

They crashed into the arena's floor with a hard thump, and Buneary found himself rolling off the pidgeotto in a bit of a daze.

The bird stood up too, looking confused and more than a little miffed. "Pidgeotto, use Peck, quickly now."

Buneary blinked as the bird's beak glowed. She spread her wings a little, and he realized just how much bigger she was than him.

"Buneary! Don't be afraid! Clean her up!"

He nodded, then threw a pair of punches forwards with his paws. Two little balls of Cleaning magic appeared and fired off... not very quickly, but they did go.

The pidgeotto sidestepped the first, then ducked under the second, she was still coming, though, so he made to move and...

And she was looking at his paws and the magic there, not the rest of him. He grinned.

With a little leap and a big forward twist of his body, Buneary flung out both ears with the hardest strike he could manage just as the pidgeotto came close.

It stung a little, but it hurt the bird a lot more to have her face boxed from both directions.

He landed, hopped sideways a few times, then tossed another Clean ball at her.

She winced as it struck her in the chest and did absolutely nothing. That moment of confusion was enough for him to get in close and smack her with another Pound from his ears.

The bird coughed and stumbled back, looking like she'd just had her day rocked.

Buneary hopped on the spot a few times, paws rolling and weight shifting from foot to foot. "Bun, buneary, bun bun!" Fear the way of the Mystic Bun! he said.

"Buneary, you don't actually know that one yet," Broccoli said.

He grumbled. She's mentioned it a few times, but never taught him the move. So, instead, he stepped in closer and flicked his ears at the pidgeotto a few more times.

Falkner ordered her to attack a few more times, but it was useless. She was on the ground, and Buneary had her in his range. Her Pecks landed on nothing, and he still felt more or less fine and was able to step back out of range before giving her a hard Pound to the face.

It didn't long for Pidgeotto to stumble and flop to the ground.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle! The winner of this battle is trainer Broccoli Bunch!"

Buneary blinked as the bird disappeared in a wash of red. Then he looked back to Broccoli. She grinned. Then jumped off the platform. He heard the referee gasp, but Broccoli landed with a thump and a bend of the knee, then scooped him up for victory hugs.

This was, by far, the best kind of hug he'd ever gotten!

***