Chapter Thirty - Pokeballs, Sticks, and Green Rumours!

"You need to get your pokemon into pokeballs," was the first thing that Jazz said when she met up with Broccoli.

Truth be told, Jazz was currently a little out of breath, and she had a stitch in her side, but she wasn't about to let that show. All she'd had to do was jog for what felt like a quarter of Route 32 to make it down the far side of the cliffs where the piers ended.

She'd seen Broccoli jump off the very same, very tall, cliffs just a couple of hours ago, and the image had kind of stuck in her head. She was determined not to complain too much... about physical exertion. Broccoli's lack of common sense, however, was fair game.

Broccoli blinked at her dumbly. "What?"

"If Azurill and Choco had pokeballs, then you could have just recalled them," Jazz said. "They're designed to recall pokemon in the middle of a fight. They'd have grabbed both without any issue, and we wouldn't have split up. Besides, pokeballs have incredible utility."

Jazz eyed Broccoli's two pokemon. They were both in her arms, sleeping soundly. It looked like Broccoli wasn't ready to let them go just yet, and she couldn't blame her. "I guess," Broccoli said. "I don't know if I like those things. They're all weird on the inside."

"We can probably grab some in the next stop," Jazz said. She pointed behind her. Route 32 was a trainer route, which only really meant that it wasn't as tame and as patrolled as civilian roads. Still, some parts were. The area after the pier here had cobbled roads and a few fisherman's shacks. A couple of trucks were parked nearby as well. "If we head down that way, following the last bit of this road, we'll reach the entrance to Union cave."

"You mentioned a pokemon centre, right?" Broccoli asked.

"Yeah, not too far from the cave's entrance," Jazz said. "Are any of them injured?"

"I don't think so," Broccoli said. "But Choco took a hard smack into the water, and Azurill did get bit by that mean bird. I'd like to have them checked up on, just in case."

Jazz could understand that. So she nodded, then took a deep breath. Chatting for a couple of minutes had done away with her stitch, at least, so there was that. She tugged her phone out from a pocket and glanced at the time. It was approaching mid-afternoon. Her map said they had a few kilometres to go. "We'll be making it to the centre before nightfall, I think."

"Ah, we did kind of rush a little, huh?" Broccoli said.

"Compared to our normal pace, with the constant distractions? Yes, we did hurry a little," Jazz said.

She wanted to be annoyed, but in all honesty, it hadn't been that bad. It was more training time, and she definitely needed that. The second gym would be tougher than the first, and she hadn't developed a full strategy for it yet.

"So, have you started to think of ideas on how to train Azurill?"

"To fight, you mean?" Broccoli asked. She hummed. "I don't know. I guess if she wants to. It'll be strange to practice, because she doesn't have arms. I'll have to rethink how I do things."

"She's a natural Water-Type," Jazz said. "That's pretty strong, honestly. You might want to train up her non-physical side. I mean, she's small and not exactly quick or able to hit hard, so might as well lean hard into special attacks. Water Gun, maybe Bubblebeam if she can figure it out."

Broccoli's eyebrows rose. "What's a Bubblebeam?"

Jazz pulled out her phone and typed that in. It took ages for even the first page to load. The reception around here was spotty at best. After a couple of minutes though, she had a small explanatory video from PokeTube loaded up. It featured a vaporeon and a young adult trainer called Evelyn Eon.

Jazz had watched some of her videos before. She was something of a multi-type expert, with a team of six eeveelutions that she used to become somewhat famous. Jazz skipped past the bit where she asked for followers, plugged some product, then did a little dance with her vaporeon and went right to the part where she demonstrated Bubblebeam.

Yes, Evelyn was a spotlight hogger, but she was also a really good trainer. "Okay! This is Vapey's Bubblebeam! It's a rather common move you'll see in the early circuit and even sometimes in the higher badge-level fights. Vapey, take it away!"

Jazz leaned the phone to the side so Broccoli could see better. Azurill had woken up at some point and was staring intently at the screen too. On it, the vaporeon shot out a massive beam of large, expanding water bubbles. Some of them carried across the training room they were in and struck a few small targets (with the names of frequent subscribers on them, of course) and then exploded with loud pops.

"It's a good move," Jazz said with a nod. The video started to buffer as Evelyn went on, so she turned off the PokeTube app. "I know some higher-level fights use it as a sort of trap move? The bubbles can linger if your pokemon makes them the right way, and then pop on contact. And I think some small pokemon can use them to move as well."

"Whoa, that's neat!" Broccoli said. She smiled down at Azurill. "Would you like to learn that?"

"Azu!" the little pokemon said with a nod.

"Great! We'll get to training later. I want to teach you some Cleaning magic tricks too, and I'm sure Choco has some tricks he can teach you as well. He's a very dedicated learner, but teaching others is also a great way to get better yourself."

"Bun?" the buneary asked.

Jazz was just happy that they were having a good time. Her legs were aching something fierce as they had to climb uphill for a while. The terrain grew rocky, and there was a small... well, the hills that Union Cave was in weren't quite a mountain range. It was too small for that, but it was very rocky and hilly, with lots of crags and impassable areas.

The non-trainer routes had to zig-zag a lot, and cut into the mountain via a few large tunnels.

That'd be a problem for later though, because she could see the rest stop up ahead.

There was a pokemon centre, one that was notably smaller than the one back in Violet City, and a small souvenir shop was standing next door. Further out was a hiking gear store, then a small inn for hikers and tourists. A small side-road beyond that led to a row of small cottage-like homes that probably had a nice view of the oceanside. Probably the spot where the nurses and workers lived. She couldn't imagine them driving all the way back to Violet City every evening.

The pokemon centre had a few trainers lingering within, most of them a year or two younger than Jazz and Broccoli. They were mostly minding their own though, focused on their phones or Pokegear while using the pokemon centre's free wifi. It was definitely way faster than anything they could get out in the field.

"Alright, want to check Choco and Azurill in?" Jazz asked. "I'm going to see if I can't buy a few pokeballs. There has to be someone selling them around here. Then we can gather up for some more training?"

"Okay!" Broccoli said before she skipped off to the front of the centre. Soon she was saying hi to a Nurse Joy and placing Azurill and Choco on the counter. Jazz overheard her telling Choco to watch over Azurill because it was her first time, and the little buneary reached down and placed a paw atop Azurill's head, as if to keep her close.

She smiled, then left the centre. The gift shop was a bust, but the hiking gear place sold pokeballs. It was at a ridiculous markup, and Jazz winced as five hundred pokedollars slipped out of her hands, but it was worth it in the end.

She had a couple of balls in her bag, but those she was saving for something special.

There were a few pokemon nearby that she wouldn't mind catching. And the first step there was getting some information. "So, um, you're familiar with the cave, right?" she asked the man behind the hiking shop's counter. The least he could do was give her some information after up-charging on those pokeballs.

The man, a big-bellied fellow in pristine hiking gear, chuckled. "Know it like the back of my hand. Are you a trainer on your way to Azalea? We have some gear that could make the trip smoother."

"I am, and maybe. I'm mostly wondering about the Zubats," she said.

His bushy eyebrows rose a little. "Are you after the green one?"

"The what?" Jazz asked.

He sniffed. "Bunch of trainers have been snooping around. Swear they saw a green zubat in the caves."

Jazz blinked. "That's not right. Zubat are blue and purple."

"That's what I keep saying!" he said with a booming laugh. "Bah, kids these days. Anyway! What kind of walking stick are you using? Because let me tell you, you definitely need one to make your hikes easier!"

***