Chapter Twenty-Seven - Azu! To the Battlefield!

Jazz eyed Broccoli for a bit and wondered how they'd come to this.

Broccoli having a buneary was... strange, but maybe not all that unusual. The story that she told of Choco being hunted as an invasive species by the rangers made sense. And having one uncommon pokemon on one's team wasn't so unusual.

The Azurill made for two. Two pokemon gained in a distinctly unusual way.

Most people Jazz knew got new pokemon by catching them, or more commonly, buying them from a breeder or having them as part of their family.

Then again, the average person wasn't a battler, and they'd settle for a pet meowth or rattata picked off the street, or maybe something more unusual if their job called for it.

Whatever. Jazz shook her head and looked at Broccoli, who was hugging Azurill close while Choco sat on her head and pouted with his little arms crossed. Maybe Broccoli wasn't in a great situation after all.

Bellsprout and Sage got along really well, which was nice. Sage played the role of teasing older brother and Bellsprout was just really calm and in his own little world most of the time. Jazz was lucky. It was hard to tell how pokemon would interact with each other on a team, and it could make or break a team's composition if there were rivalries and anger or Arceus-forbid love triangles in one's team.

Broccoli seemed to be on a straight path to discovering that kind of issue as Choco made faces at the Azurill clutched in Broccoli's arms. "Now now," Broccoli said as she saw Azurill stick her tongue out. "Come on, we're all friends here, aren't we?"

"Bun, buneary!"

"Azu, azuu!"

Broccoli shook her head, then came to a slow stop. "Jazz, do you mind if we take a minute?"

"Sure," Jazz said. Their day's travelling was already shot. The constant stops by Broccoli to hug every mareep and then the whole thing with Azurill had taken up a lot of their day. She tugged out her phone, noticed Azurill glancing at her, then checked her Pokenav. They were... about half as far along as she had hoped to be by the end of the day.

Oh well. She'd make a bigger push of it in the morning. Getting another pokemon on the team was a respectable enough reason to slow down a little.

She eyed the azurill. It wasn't exactly a pokemon that had a reputation for being strong. She'd looked it up a little on the Pokenet. Its evolutions were better. Azumarills were tough little pokemon with a surprisingly wide array of moves. Plus, as Water-types, they had some great type match-ups and coverage.

She was looking forward to having her own. Maybe a tentacruel? But that was for later. For now, Azurill would need to first fit into the team.

"Practice time!" she said as she had Bellsprout and Sage spread out. They were just off the road, in a spot with a bit of tall grass that gently sloped down towards the ocean. There were a few shops in the distance, including an inn that she hadn't intended to stop at. There was a long set of docks here, with smaller fishing boats docked and bobbing in the water and a decent number of fishermen with rods out over the ocean.

A lot of the fish in Violet City came from here. It wasn't a huge industry, but it did attract a lot of people who fished as a hobby.

She set Bellsprout to spitting out large gobs of sap-covered Poison Powder. It would be her first step towards working on Acid as a move.

Sage, meanwhile, was tasked with picking up those gobs of proto-Acid and dispersing them. She wanted him as familiar with Poison-type energy as could be. Venoshock wouldn't happen all on its own.

Her pokemon knew what they were doing at this point, and she was happy to see a bit of progress, even compared to this morning. That meant that she could snoop in on Broccoli's conversation.

"Okay," Broccoli said as she placed both of her little pokemon on the grass ahead of her. She patted both of their heads between their ears, then nodded seriously. "Let's talk this out."

"Un!" Choco said while pointing to Azurill.

"Azu!" Azurill glared back.

Broccoli shook her head. "No no. Alright, let's start with Choco, since you're older and more mature. Why do you dislike Azurill?"

The buneary went on a small tirade, then ended by crossing his arms.

"Hmm, Choco, you know that you're my friend, right? But... I'm not a one-friend kind of girl. Jazz is my friend, and I have a heap of other friends that you've never met too! Plus, if we're going to travel together, you can bet that I'll be trying to make friends all day everyday! That doesn't mean that you're not special to me. All of my friends are! So there's no need to be jealous. I've got infinity plus one room for friends!"

Choco pouted, cheeks going huge as he let out a few muttered, 'buns.'

Broccoli smiled, then leaned down and gave him a hug. After that, she turned her attention to Azurill. "Okay! We've just met, so we're not the biggest and bestest of friends yet, but I feel like we're getting along well enough. I know that Choco was a little rude, but could you be a big girl and do me a huge favour?"

"Azu?"

"Mhm! I'd really, really appreciate it if you gave Choco a chance. He's a nice bun after all! He was just afraid that you might take his place as my friend. You can understand, yeah?"

"Azu... Azurill!"

"Thank you!" Broccoli said before scooping up the azurill for a hug. Then she pulled Choco in too. "Group hug!"

Jazz shook her head. The girl was... well, insane, but also that seemed to have worked out. She knew that there were coaches out there that could help pokemon get along, either with others or with their own master. She didn't know what to think about Broccoli's skill in that regard.

"Oh-hoh!" someone said, and Jazz spun around to find an older gentleman walking their way. "What do I spy here? A few young trainers, out on their journey?"

"Hello, sir," Jazz said. She met his eyes, then winced. This old man was definitely a trainer. He had that sense about him. He wore cargo pants and a fisherman's vest which had a small bandoleer with six pokeballs attached to it.

Six... that would be trouble if it came to a fight.

"Are you girls training your pokemon up?" he asked.

"We are!" Broccoli said. She raised Azurill up a little. "This girl just joined my friends and I! So we haven't had much of a chance to work out how to fight and all that."

The man's eyebrows rose. "Well well! How about a challenge then?"

"Ah, I don't know about that," Broccoli said.

The man smiled, and while there was a bit of a challenge in the smile, it was mostly kind. "I just caught myself a few fish pokemon. I bet they'd love a chance to stretch their flippers in a proper fight. But, since there's two of you and you seem to have two pokemon each... how about a two on two? I'll stick to only four pokemon, the ones I caught today, in fact!"

Jazz blinked. That might be very fair, depending on what he caught. Four tentacools would be a tough battle, but she didn't sense that this man wanted to beat them down.

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Could he be one of those old grandpas that wanted to help the younger trainers along by giving them an easy fight? If so, she wouldn't say no to some practice and to his pocket change either!

"I'm down for it," Jazz said.

"Hmm," Broccoli hummed. "Azurill, do you want to? If you don't, that's okay too! I don't judge friends based on how well they fight."

"Azu azu!" the little pokemon said. She bounced out of Broccoli's gasp and landed on the ground with a small pair of thumps as she touched down and her tail smacked next to her. She glared up at the fisherman. "Azu!"

"Well, looks like you've got a feisty one there," he said. "Alright! Standard league rules?"

"Yup," Jazz said. She scooped a rock off the ground, then gestured for her pokemon to step back a little ways. "When this hits the ground?" Broccoli and the Fisherman nodded, which was when Jazz noticed an issue. "Uh, what's your name, sir?"

"Old Man Sam!" he said with a chuckle. "Now, toss that rock, youngster!"

Jazz smiled and tossed the rock high into the air.

Old Man Sam palmed two pokeballs and let them fly at the same time when the rock hit the ground.

"Go, Bellsprout!" Jazz called out.

"You can do it, Azurill!" Broccoli cheered.

Across from them, the two pokeballs opened up unleashing... a pair of magikarps.

The fish pokemon flopped onto the ground, then righted themselves. They looked utterly confused about what was going on, but they snapped to attention at their new trainer's voice. "Alright my boys, get ready! Keep an eye on that Bellsprout, it's got a type advantage!"

Jazz nodded. "Bellsprout! Let's start with... Vine Whip! Target the right one!" She hesitated for just a moment. It was in her nature to splash Poison Powder all over, but Azurill might run into it, and it was considered somewhat gauche to use a long-term status effect in a friendly spar.

"Azurill... actually, do you know any attack moves?" Broccoli asked.

"Azu!" the azurill said. She turned towards the leftmost Magikarp, took a deep breath, then spat out a gush of water.

"Magikarp, Splash to dodge!" Old Man Sam shouted.

The two magikarp did as he asked, flopping around on the ground. They were both hit, but it did mean that they narrowly dodged some of the attack.

"Bellsprout, again!" Jazz said.

"Nice work, Azurill!" Broccoli cheered. "What else do you know?"

The fight devolved a little for a moment as Jazz and Bellsprout let Azurill take centre stage. She showed off a rather clumsy Tail-Whip, made comical by her tail being almost as large as her body, then she did a bit of Splashing, the same as the Magikarp.

The last move she knew, however, gave Jazz a bit of hope.

Azurill bounced from side to side, a look of deep concentration on her little face. Normal-type energy gathered around her, then shifted over to Bellsprout. The next time Bellsprout unleashed a Vine Whip, it glowed all the harder and snapped with more strength, taking one of the magikarp right out of the battle.

"What was that move?" Broccoli asked.

"I think that was Helping Hand," Jazz said. "It's an ally-buffing move."

It seemed to have taken a lot out of the little pokemon, so Jazz had Bellsprout use another Vine Whip on the remaining magikarp. It did go down eventually, its Splash only able to dodge so many hits.

"Well done!" the old trainer said. He eyed the field, then smiled. He sent out another magikarp for them to battle, but Jazz noticed that he had moved his hand off of his fourth pokeball and onto one that was far older and more worn out.

"Magi....karp?" the magikarp asked. When the trainer told him what was going on, it was quick to try and splash its way over.

"Do that water attack again," Broccoli said. "Try to aim a little ahead of it!"

"Azu!" Arurill cheered before using Water Gun in the pokemon's path, it nailed the magikarp in the face a moment before Bellsprout came in and snapped at it with a powerful Vine Whip.

The magikarp went down, and the field became quiet for a moment as Old Man Sam recalled his pokemon. "Well, that was something! But I think you're all ready for me to kick it up a notch! Oh-hoho! Get ready! Go Seaking!"

The next fish to appear was much larger than the magikarp. A seaking, orange and white with a few black spots on its large pectoral fins. It locked eyes on Bellsprout and Azurill and chirruped.

"That's right, old boy, time to show these whippersnappers what for!" Old Man Sam said.

Jazz swallowed. That pokemon had lots of little scars on it, and it was large. Its horn was chipped in a few spots, but still seemed shiny and sharp. It was a battler, and she knew that it was stronger than anything she had.

"Azurill, again!" Broccoli said.

Azurill spat out water which the Seaking dodged with a flop to the side.

"Bellsprout, try to hit it!" Jazz said.

"Soak the plant!" Sam called at the same time.

A small deluge of water poured from the Seaking and splashed across Bellsprout who wilted under the assault. It didn't seem to damage him, however, just slowing him down. What was the point of...

"Now, Icy Wind!"

The seaking sucked in a big lungful of air. Jazz gasped. That was a strong move!

"Quick, Helping Hand!" Broccoli said.

She probably didn't know that it wouldn't help Bellsprout defend himself at all, but that did help him do damage, so... "Bellsprout, quick, Vine Whip as hard as you can!"

"Bell!" her little guy shouted as he whipped his vines out.

The seaking endured a dozen strikes before a powerful blast of wind escaped him. Jazz shivered, teeth clacking together as it reached her. She was not dressed for that kind of temperature change.

Bellsprout had it worse. The water soaking him froze up, and he went stiff.

"Oh no," Broccoli said. "Azurill! You have to do something!"

"A-azu?"

"Anything! I believe in you!"

"Azuuuriillll!" Azurill shouted as she bounced hard towards the seaking and then swung her tail around. It slammed into the fish pokemon... who carefully turned their horn away from Azurill before she crashed into them.

The seaking glanced back to Old Man Sam who winked at his pokemon, then it splashed to the side, flopping onto the ground and 'fainting' dramatically.

"Oh-hoho! You've bested my old seaking!" he said. "My, that'll teach me to underestimate the new crop of youngsters, won't it?"

"Azu?" Azurill asked as she straightened herself up. She saw the downed seaking, then started to bounce on the spot with happy cries.

"You did it!" Broccoli cheered.

Azurill continued to bounce around until Choco pointed to the Seaking. "Bun, buneary bun bun," he said derisively, obviously pointing out the ruse.

A moment later Azurill used her new Slam move on his face.

So... maybe Broccoli still had a bit of work to do there.

***