Chapter Thirty-Four - Sage Advice

Sage yawned hugely. It wasn't so much that he was tired—he hardly needed all that much sleep on account of being a ghost—but he was a little... bored.

Boredom was a great threat to ghosts everywhere.

Jazz hadn't recalled him after that fight with the ruffian dressed in all black. Instead, she'd kept him around to watch over the human while Broccoli confiscated his pokeballs and tied his wrists together at the small of his back under the watchful eye of the buneary and the small blue orb.

Hmm, he hadn't spooked that one yet, had he? Something to take note of and rectify later!

Jazz carefully carried the injured zubat, cradling it in her arms even as she folded his wing back into place. The little one was grievously injured, but seemed to still have a great deal of fight in him. Still, he wasn't unreasonable.

With the pokemon safe and the foolish human secured, they made their way out of the cave and back into the full light of day. Almost as soon as they were out, they discovered some fresh-faced youth about to enter the cave. There was a gasp then, and Sage chuckled as more attention was given to the strange green colouration of their new companion than to the tied-up criminal behind them.

It took Jazz growling in a rather uncouth fashion for the youth to disperse. One of them was instructed to call the authorities on one of those newfangled little squares Jazz seemed so enamoured of.

Back in his day, they sent letters. What was the world coming to now? This generation had it too good!

The group made their way to the pokemon centre where Jazz, who'd been explaining things to the zubat, told him that he'd be safe there, overlooked by kindly nurses and their trustworthy chansey.

She needn't explain too much. The nurses he'd encountered had an... aura about them. A sense of calm and wellbeing and kindness that was hard for a pokemon to mistake as anything other than compassion made manifest. Sage suspected that even the most foul-tempered of wild pokemon would calm down in the presence of a nurse and her chansey.

The zubat was brought in, and the criminal was held outside, weathering the confused and distrustful glares of local trainers and their pokemon. That lasted until a woman in a blue uniform rushed over on a bicycle and made the arrest more formally. She frog-marched the ruffian into the station, but also strongly encouraged—in the way that a superior would strongly encourage a lesser with no choice—Jazz and Broccoli to attend to her in a moment. She had questions that needed answering.

Which left... well, it left Sage and the other pokemon with very little to do. They were all out of the pokeballs, so they gathered together in the backyard of the pokemon centre. Bellsprout spread his leaves and decided to enjoy the sunlight while he could. The cave was too dark for him.

Choco and the child, Azurill, started a friendly game of tag in the back, using the trees and bushes as obstacles as they chased each other around. Choco had a clear advantage, being taller and faster, but Azurill was cleverer than the little buneary. A lot more cunning and likely to wait in ambush or push herself to suddenly move faster.

Sage suspected that these two would either become fast friends or remain rivals for some time, at least until one got the advantage over the other, which might well take a long time.

He... had little to do at the moment. A shame... and maybe an opportunity. Sage was rather fond of his newfound little family.

Oh, perhaps they weren't a family yet, but a century spent in the confines of the Sprout Tower and its compound had taught him that family was what one made of things. There was the making of something here. Friends and companions with links and a long journey ahead of them to forge those links into something more solid.

It would come. Jazz had a lot of issues to work through, but she was making the effort to do so. Broccoli had the feeling of someone who desired family and friends above all else. She'd forge those bonds if it was the last thing she did.

And Sage... well, he wasn't averse to helping a little.

Which was why when Bellsprout fell asleep under the gentle caress of the sun, and Choco and Azurill joined him, slumping down onto the ground to sleep in a warm pile next to him, Sage took that moment of quiet to slip away unnoticed.

He shifted back into the centre, slipping through cracks, wafting across the ceiling. No one noticed him because there was so little to notice, at least until he reached the middle of the pokemon centre. Here were the surgery rooms, with confusing new machines that helped pokemon heal. A few were in glass-walled containers off to the side, sleeping off their hurts atop thickly padded cushions.

One was in a more delicate position, on a small bed where all he could do was stare at the ceiling while his once-broken wing was held out by his side, the bones carefully realigned with small metallic rods holding the wing in place.

A chansey muttered her own name as she went through a few steps, then she gave the zubat a comforting pat on the head before darting away to care for other matters.

Sage lowered himself in that moment. "Gasss," he said. Hello, new one.

"Zu?" the zubat asked as he tilted his head up to see Sage. "Zu, zubat bat." You, you were with the purple one.

Sage nodded. "Gas, gastly." I was. "Gastly, gas gaaaaasss." I've come to see how you are doing, how you are healing.

The zubat frowned, then looked at his wing. "Zubat, zuuubat." It doesn't hurt, not anymore.

That was good. Sage nodded, then took a moment to extol the virtues of the nurses and chanseys who cared so much for pokemon. It was only proper to be complimentative of one's hosts. And besides, he had a good feeling about this zubat. "Gas, gastly?" What's your story?

The zubat's ears twitched. "Zubat, bat?" Why should I tell you?

"Gagagagastlye," he chuckled. Because you have nothing better to do!

The zubat couldn't fault him for that logic, but still hesitated a little more before starting his story. He was a cave dweller. Union Cave was his home and his world. And yet for all of that, gastly didn't get the sense that this zubat was all that attached to his swarm and blood-family.

"Gastly, gastly gas gastly." Jazz, the human will make you an offer, to join her team on our journey. You should accept it.

"Zu?" Why?

"Gassstly, gastly." Because it would be good for you. I see something in you, little zubat. You are a blank slate now, but there's a small yearning for more. You could be more.

There would be other trainers interested in him. Not because he was a zubat, but because his fur's colouration was strange. Humans put a lot of emphasis on such things, a lot of importance. Gastly understood, for he had maybe been a human once, and he'd certainly spent plenty of time studying them.

The strange and unique was appealing. The zubat was both.

But more importantly, he was a way for Jazz to finally stand out. It was her greatest desire. He knew it was, beyond her childish dreams, what she wanted was acknowledgement.

She had it, in Bellsprout and himself, and in her friend Broccoli, but that wasn't quite enough. "Gastly, gasssss," Think on what I said. It will be worth it.

Once the zubat was part of the team, Sage might finally have to put some effort in to grow stronger himself. They couldn't have their newest member upstage the rest.

So maybe it was time he 'learned' how to Hex someone? Jazz would be proud of him, at the very least, and it might be a nice way to give Bellsprout the push he needed to grow stronger.

Yes, his little family had all it needed to be excellent already. He just needed to give it the right push.

He was leaving the clinic room when he discovered Broccoli and Jazz leaving a small conference room. Jazz looked annoyed and Broccoli rather placid.

"I can't believe it," Jazz said.

"I guess it makes sense, but it does seem a little unfair," Broccoli said.

"He's a criminal. He's wearing their logo! So what if we didn't see him committing a crime. Those nets can't have been legal!"

"Miss Officer Jenny said that they're just frowned upon, not illegal," Broccoli said.

Jazz grumbled. "He's wearing the uniform. Shouldn't that be enough to convict him? Arceus, if it takes this much proof to lock someone away, no wonder Team Rocket is still around."

Broccoli patted her on the back. "There, there. So... it feels like today's not going to be a travel day. Want to do a bit of sparring in the back? Azurill needs the practice and Choco needs motivation!"

"Urgh, fine! I want to look in on that zubat too. I don't know if he'll want to join, but... maybe. It might mean that we'll be stuck here for longer if he's too hurt to move though," Jazz said.

"That's okay too!" Broccoli replied.

Gastly chuckled, then slipped ahead of them. It wouldn't do for them to wonder where he'd wandered off to.

***