Chapter Twenty-Two - Chaos Cuddles

Jazz was grinning from ear to ear as she and Broccoli slipped out of the gym. They'd won! Both of them!

That was not only a badge to mark the start of their (rather late) journey, but also a heap of pokedollars. She pulled up her phone, then the little accounting app she had on it where she tracked her expenses and Broccoli's. The other girl was... more laissez-faire about money than Jazz was. She didn't begrudge her that, but...

Well, Broccoli had bought ice cream four days in a row, and had eaten out twice, and there was a one hundred pokedollar donation to the local SaveThePoliwag foundation. Still, that wasn't too bad as far as spending went. Broccoli didn't buy luxuries and mostly kept her spending within limits.

Right now, with their earnings, they had... she crunched a few numbers. About four thousand to spend on camping materials. "Okay!" Jazz said with a nod. "We need to gear up for the next leg of our trip."

"Oh?" Broccoli asked. She was giving Buneary a ride atop her head, as usual. The little pokemon had been checked out by the gym's Chansey and other than a tiny bandage around one arm, looked perfectly fine. "What sort of gear?"

Jazz rubbed her chin. "A backpack for you. A few pokeballs, of course. Then we might want a tent. Actually, we'll definitely want a tent. And some flashlights. The land route goes through a cave, and while it might not be too dark, it'll still be dark."

Broccoli nodded, then did a little hop-walk to check her shoes as she moved. "My shoes have a while to go." She pinched the arms of her... was it a gambeson? Then tugged at her skirt. "I think I'm good, clothing-wise! I could use a good spade if we have the money for it."

"A spade? Like a shovel?"

"Yeah!" Broccoli said. "It's the best tool and one of my favourite weapons! Super-duper handy, too."

"Uh, yeah, I guess we can budget for one," Jazz said. There wasn't that much digging involved in camping and such, but there was some. Rangers sometimes suggested digging mini-latrines and firepits. It could be used to leverage rocks around too, she supposed.

Broccoli grinned and skipped ahead. "Are we heading out today?"

"I was thinking tomorrow," Jazz said, then she paused. "But if you don't mind camping a little more, we could head out today. I mean, there's nothing stopping us, and it's only one. We still have at least five hours of walking time. Minus one if we stop to pick things up."

"I like it!" Broccoli said.

Jazz grinned. "So, celebratory burgers at Miss Mime's, then we grab what we need from a trainer supply store?"

"Burgers!" Broccoli cheered. "Do they do meatless burgers?"

"I think so?" Jazz said.

"Burgers!" Broccoli cheered again. Buneary joined her, raising both paws in the air over his head too, though Jazz doubted he knew what a burger was. He was probably happy because Broccoli was happy.

Their first stop was the pokemon centre they were staying at. Jazz had had her pokemon checked out by the gym chansey, but another look didn't hurt, and they might as well pick up their things while they were at it. All of her stuff fit into her backpack. It was one of the few more-expensive items she owned. An older SylphCo backpack, from their second generation. It wasn't nearly as good at the current third-gen bags she saw all over, but it worked. Her extra clothes were stuffed away, and then she took a quick shower because it might be her last for a while.

On leaving, she picked up her pokemon and let them out to enjoy the day. Bellsprout clung to her arm as usual, and Sage floated along behind her, usually sticking to her shadow when she slowed down.

"So, Buneary and I have been thinking of names," Broccoli said.

"Names?" Jazz asked as she looked up the location of the nearest Miss Mime's.

"For Buneary," Broccoli said. "I met a lot of pokemon in Violet City, and a lot of them have their species name as their name, which is neat, but I find that a little strange. I was thinking we could give Buneary a name-name."

"Oh," Jazz said. "Like Sage." She patted the gastly next to her. Her hand went right through, of course, but the gastly grinned anyway, liking the attention.

Broccoli nodded. "Your bellsprout is just Bellsprout though? He says that he doesn't have a first name, just a family name."

"Wait, he has a family name?" Jazz asked. She looked at Bellsprout's flower head bobbing next to her arm.

"Bell!~" he said with a wiggle.

"It's Wigglesworth," Broccoli confirmed.

"Huh," Jazz said with a blink. She supposed that was good to know. She glanced at her little bellsprout and then gave his head a pat too. She had only known him for a few weeks, but he was a good pokemon so far. "So, names! What did you come up with so far?"

"Well, we want something that fits Buneary, right?" Broccoli started. "So far, we've come up with a few. My favourite is Chaos Cuddles Cauliflower."

Jazz stared.

"It's a lot shorter than the other options," Broccoli said.

"Bun!" Buneary agreed.

"We were originally thinking Shadow Bounce the Battle Bunny, or Wrathnibbler Savage Spring, the Eternal Damnator."

Jazz worked her jaw. Nicknames were common enough. They were cute, after all, and lots of trainers liked that kind of thing. Some were a little edgy. She had a kid at the trainer school she went to with a rattata called Bloodrat, but she wasn't expecting this level of thisness from Broccoli.

"Bun, bun buneary!" Buneary said as he shadowboxed the air ahead of him.

"He wants something as fierce and brave as he is," Broccoli said, translating.

"You might want to aim for something shorter. A name that long won't fit on the prompters at gyms," Jazz said. She hoped that would curtail some of the enthusiasm.

Broccoli looked up without moving her head back. "What about the name of some famous bunnies? Like Bugs?"

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"Bun?"

"Hmm, yeah, that's way too obscure," Broccoli muttered.

They never reached a consensus before arriving at Miss Mime's. They did have veggie burgers though, which Jazz pointedly didn't order for herself. She placed Bellsprout into a flowerbox set outside that divided the sidewalk from the eating area. He dug his roots in next to some lilies and fanned his leaves out to catch some sun. Sage she let wander around. He spooked some school kids on what looked like a lunch break, then cackled as they ran screaming down the street.

They ate, with Broccoli and Jazz going on about potential names for a while. In the end, they did settle on a name for Buneary.

A provisional name, one that was going to be changed if he felt that it didn't fit in a week's time.

"Well, uh, nice to meet you, Chaos Cuddles Cauliflower," Jazz said as she raised a fry in salute.

"Bun! Buneary, bun bun," the buneary, or she supposed Chaos, said.

Broccoli giggled. "He said that since you're a friend, you can call him by his nickname's nickname."

"And that is?" Jazz asked.

"Choco!" Broccoli said.

Choco the buneary crossed his little arms and nodded seriously. He had ketchup on his face and mustard on his nose, but Jazz decided to take him seriously anyway.

Broccoli's gym fight had been a little... non-standard. She recalled sitting there and watching as bun--Choco pulled off at least two moves that she didn't know even existed. Were those the Cleaning-type Broccoli was so certain existed, or just some half-formed versions of other moves?

She imagined they'd find out eventually. "Route 32 isn't super busy, and it's pretty safe, being so close to Violet City. I think rangers train around here. So it's a good spot for newer trainers to fight wild pokemon, each other, and for us to practice new moves," Jazz said. "Did you have anything in mind?"

Broccoli tapped her chin with a fry. "I think we need to perfect what we have, first, but then I want Choco to pick up some other moves too. Fireball is a must, but that can wait until he's learned how to project his Cleaning magic better. So magic shaping is the first step, and we can use the trip as an excuse to get physically stronger too! Walking is fantastic exercise, you know!"

"You might want to pick up Quick Attack, then. It's a solid replacement for Pound, and it kind of flows naturally as an upgrade from there. Same type-energy, similar basic principles. And I think it's a move that buneary learn naturally. Though I can't look that up as easily."

"Oh? Why not?" Broccoli asked. She took a loud sip from a large miltankshake.

"Because buneary aren't native here, and the pokenet between here and Sinnoh, where they are native, is spotty at best."

Broccoli blinked at that. "There's no worldwide internet?"

"Pokenet," Jazz corrected. That was another Broccoli-ism. "And no. We barely have an idea of what the world looks like, even today. We've only known about Sinnoh for like, a few years, and Sinnoh are practically neighbours. Our League and their League have joined up, though. We have our own Champions, but we'll soon have a sorta-unified government, but with our own laws. I don't know, I don't really follow politics."

"Interesting," Broccoli said. "I thought... well, the technology I see here is pretty advanced sometimes, and other times it's way behind. I guess things are just different."

They chatted a little about the things that Broccoli felt were weird while polishing up their meal, and when they were done, they headed to the nearest Pokemart for a few essentials. Jazz picked up some potions, an antidote, and a pair of pokeballs. She winced at the total at the counter. That was 800 pokedollars down.

Next, a trainer supply store; there was one on the western end of the city, not too far from the entrance to Route 32. The tents on display were cool, but Jazz felt a little sick just looking at their price. Getting two decent tents was not gonna happen. She was a little iffy about sleeping in the same tent as Broccoli, but eventually decided that one larger, better tent was better than two cheap ones. For that extra price, they could get one with a bag that had expanded space in it, so the tent would fit in a backpack's side pocket.

They picked up a few more essentials. Salves for chafing, extra-thick socks, a pair of blankets that they'd have to live with until they could afford sleeping bags, and a set of tiny personal hygiene items. Jazz wasn't comfortable with Broccoli's easy dismissal when it came to bringing toothbrushes and soap and the like.

She bought a pair of heavy-duty rechargeable flashlights too. They were expensive, but could be charged with a spinning handle that came out of the side. Better than lugging a backpack-full of batteries. The next thing was travel-rations. A few cans of beans, some trail bars, a bit of jerky for Jazz. Enough, she figured, for a solid two meals a day for a week.

Finally, Broccoli bought two baseball caps. They were blue, one sized for an adult, the other was novelty-sized, for children. "It's important to wear the right hat while working," Broccoli said before burning a pair of holes into each of them.

She pinched the tips of her ears to pass them through the holes, then helped Choco put on his own hat.

Jazz didn't say anything, but they both looked rather silly with trainer caps on, at least they matched.

The cuteness didn't make up for the hole in their budget. They'd be eating lean for a while.

And with that, they gathered on the edge of Route 32. The sun was still up in the sky, though it was approaching three forty in the afternoon.

"Alright," Jazz said as she looked back at Violet City. "On to the next city!"

"And the next big adventure!" Broccoli cheered.

"Bun, bu-bun bun!" Choco added.

***