Chapter Thirty-Five - Union Cave

Choco looked over as Jazz cheered.

The girl was in a better mood than he'd ever seen her in. Mostly because the pokemon she was holding up in front of her (upside-down, she was holding him by his little taloned feet in front of her) was dripping some caustic purple-y goop from his mouth.

"Broccoli, Zubat here knows Poison Fang!" Jazz said.

"I see that," Broccoli said with a polite clap.

Choco looked at her, then clapped his paws together too. It seemed like the nice thing to do. Plus, Azurill couldn't clap, so now he could rub it in.

"Azu!" Congratulations!

They were back on the road. It was already evening out, the sun well on its way to setting, but Jazz said they had an hour or two of walking left in them, and she wanted to make up for lost time. Zubat had been healed by the pokemon centre's chansey, but he was still told not to fly. When Jazz had visited him, he'd apparently agreed to join their team and at least lead them through Union Cave.

Broccoli had told him and Azurill to be on their best behaviour with their new friend. Almost being kidnapped was very traumatic, after all.

The group was making good time retracing their steps back to the cave's entrance when they were stopped by a large human man who smiled at them in a way that Choco wasn't sure he liked. "Hey there, kids," he said. "What fantastic timing! I happen to be looking for some discerning young folk who are looking to make the purchase of a lifetime!"

"You're selling something?" Broccoli asked.

"Indeed I am!" he said before patting a small case next to him. "Genuine, freshly-cut, slowpoke tails!"

"Isn't that illegal?" Jazz asked.

"Only to cut! There's no law against selling it!" the man said. "But they are very rare, and considered a delicacy!"

Choco wondered what slowpoke tail was. Was it like the bibarel-tails they sold at the ice cream parlour? That had been a sort of squished pastry, covered in chocolate drizzle and powdered sugar, and it was very tasty.

"I don't know," Broccoli said. "That sounds a little strange. Who tries to sell things like that out in the open?"

"I'll make you a special deal, so that I don't need to carry this all the way back to Violet City," the man said with a grin. "One million Pokedollars!"

Jazz started to walk away.

"I'm vegetarian," Broccoli said. Then she paused and tapped her chin. "Also, I'm poor!"

The man huffed. "And here I thought that all the kids these days were loaded! What a waste of time!"

With that altercation taken care of, it didn't take too long for them to reach the entrance of the cave. Jazz was challenged to a fight by a young trainer who wanted zubat for some reason, but she told him to eat dirt, and then Sage roared from behind the trainer's head, sending him scampering away.

With all of that done, then finally entered the cave. "Time for some light!" Broccoli said. She made a small light ball appear in her hand, then looked to Choco. He focused hard, then made a smaller light above his own paw.

"Bun! Buneary, bun bun buneary." Got it! Don't worry, Azurill, you'll get it too in a million years.

Azurill turned his way, then spat a Water Gun at Choco's light ball, extinguishing it with a splash of Water-type energy.

Broccoli giggled, then swept Azurill up and into her arms. "I'll show you how it's done," she said as she launched into another explanation on how to use Cleaning magic while they walked. Jazz had her light out too, casting a much stronger beam that reached further into the cave as they started through it.

Choco hopped forwards a few times, taking up the spot at the very front of the group. Soon it had stretched into a line, with him bouncing ahead at the front, Broccoli and Azurill behind him, and then Jazz and the others. Jazz would occasionally call out directions as the zubat pointed the way with his functional wing, but otherwise it was pretty quiet for the next hour or so.

By the time they came to a resting spot, Choco was exhausted. Not from hopping along, but from holding up his paw and keeping that little light going.

"You did great, Choco!" Broccoli said as she swept him up in a hug. "Take a break while we set up camp, okay?"

"Bun!" he said with a nod.

They did just that, setting up their tents in a small sort of alcove along the main lit-up path through the cave. This had clearly been a spot used by other trainers since there were a few discarded tools and someone had drilled tent pegs into the rock somehow. There were small slabs along the wall that someone might be able to sleep on, and a small metal chest at the back had a few things in it for emergencies. A first aid kit, some survival rations, and things like that.

They didn't take anything, of course.

Instead they set up the tent, then snuggled in for the night. "Azu... azurill rill?" Azurill asked. Can you... tell us a story?

Broccoli smiled. "Sure... hmm, but which one... oh! How about the story of the time my best friend and I kidnapped our other best friend? See, she wasn't our best friend yet. We were visiting her place with her uncle, a big, tough guy called Abraham Bristlecone. He had a fantastic moustache, and was very loud. We met him in a city called Port Royal where a bunch of frog people live...."

Choco listened to Broccoli's story. She was... not very good at telling stories. She bounced from topic to topic and from little mini-story to mini-story, like a baby buneary who discovered a glade with ten berry trees who couldn't decide which to pick from first.

Somehow it still worked to make Azurill fall asleep, then he surrendered to the snooze too.

The next morning, they had travel rations for breakfast because starting a fire was too dangerous. "I don't want to be in this cave all day," Jazz said. "No offence." That last was aimed at Zubat who shrugged.

"Zu, zubat." None taken.

With all of their stuff packed up and away, they continued on their trek through the caverns. This time, Choco paced himself with his move. Building endurance was nice, but he had to actually turn it into a move, not just a small shiny light. So, to that end, he started to flick little balls of cleaning magic out ahead of him as fast and hard as he could. It was also just neat seeing them zip through the dark cavern.

"I think we're ready to start learning more," Broccoli said. "Hmm, we could go two ways. Either try learning to turn the magic into another kind of magic, like Fire magic that'll turn the spell into fireballs instead of Cleaning balls, or—-if you want—we can start you on learning how to move the spell once it's cast!"

"Bun buneary?" Move the spell?

Broccoli grinded, then flicked out a little ball of glowing magic of her own. It flew forwards, then stopped dead, returned, did a circle of their entire group, then split into two little balls that flew in a tightening spiral that ended with both colliding and bursting apart into a little shower of spark.

"Azuuuuu!" Azurill said, amazed.

That had been impressive! Choco wanted to learn how to do that first. Doing fire stuff could wait!

Unfortunately, Broccoli's little show didn't go unnoticed. There was a thumping as a rock flew in their direction, then crashed into the ground before them. "Geo! Geodude!" You! I challenge you!

Broccoli blinked at the rock-like pokemon. His core was about as tall as Choco was, but a lot wider, and his arms were pretty muscular-looking. Still, Choco had the impression that this was a pretty young geodude.

"Um... do we have to?" she asked.

"Geo!" Yeah!

Zubat warned them that the local geodude could be like this. Mostly just smacking them around a little would convince them to leave someone alone.

Broccoli hummed, then set Azurill down. "Choco, stay close. This'll be Azurill's fight. You can get the next one, okay?"

Choco wasn't super pleased about it, but... well, Azurill did need to toughen up. So he flopped backwards onto his bum and watched the fight play out.

It wasn't very impressive. Geodude tossed a few large pebbles at Azurill who bounced out of their way, then she fired a few quick Water Guns at the Rock-type pokemon. That hurt him a whole lot more than a spritz ought to, but sometimes that was just how moves worked.

Azurill won, of course. He wouldn't associate with her if she was weak, so of course she had to be strong!

Broccoli gave the losing Geodue a pat on the head and a spritz from her potion to heal him up, then she sent him on his way.

The next fight happened an hour or two later. A zubat came swooping down, accusing them of getting in her way. Choco took the lead in that fight. The noise the zubat could make made his head spin, and sometimes he'd forget how to use his new trick, but eventually he nailed the zubat in the face with a perfect cleaning ball... which did nothing.

"Ah, right, I guess Cleaning magic is kind of... situational," Broccoli said.

"It's a terrible type—if it is a type," Jazz said. "Not being able to hurt enemies on contact basically makes it useless."

"It's super strong against Ghosts and Poison though!" Broccoli pointed out.

Jazz sniffed haughtily at that.

Choco had to change up his fighting style. He did get the zubat eventually. A Defence Curl to toughen up, a few tears in his eyes to look sad for the zubat, then a quick one-two pound with his ears after jumping way up into the air with a Quick Attack to launch him.

He was getting much stronger!

The zubat was given a pat on the head and a bit of potion too. Jazz, of course, complained about the waste, but Broccoli insisted that they not actually hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. And even then....

Finally though, there was a light at the end of the cavern. They crossed a small group of hiking enthusiasts who pointed behind them and said that the exit of Union Cave was just a short jog away.

Choco didn't think he'd appreciate the sun as much as he did, but it was undeniably nice to step out and into the light.

Which is why he was a little annoyed when someone walked right up to them within ten seconds of their exit, pointed to Broccoli in the face and said. "I want your brain."

***