AN: Later, during the telepathic conversation, there won't be much to describe, so as a heads up, for every line break, that means the other person/pokemon is talking. Also, Pokemon Opal will come out soon, but my thoughts are sorta scattered so sorry my updates are coming less frequently.
Reminder: Thoughtspeak
Ch. 23: Reaching Mini-Medi
"Are you sure we should just attack him like this?"
The human trio were standing a fair distance away from Mini-Medi subconsciously following the Ponytas' actions. Mini-Medi hovered in the air in front of them, crates of Pokemon Food and straw floating around him slowly as if trapped in an orbit. However, it seemed the only thing Bryce noticed was that Mini-Medi had his eyes closed.
"I mean, he doesn't even realize we're-"
"Trust me, he knows we're here, we have to do it Bryce, he's spooking all the pokemon," Stormie said, cutting off the naive comment while a vision of a flying Combusken immediately came to mind. "And I hate to say it, but you're on your own."
"Wh-what?" Bryce asked alarmed, staggering back a couple of steps.
"You're not scared are you Bryski?" Taylor giggled.
At the accusation, Bryce didn't reply. With his head held up and fierce determination in his eyes, he stepped forward and pulled a random pokeball.
"Go Grotle!"
The ball burst open and in a white light, Grotle appeared, lying on her four legs with a yawn. She glanced wearily at Bryce before turning her head and nodding off. She cared for the boy but she was, much to Bryce's dismay, a little too tired to deal with him at the moment. Taylor however was delighted.
"That's your pokemon Bryce? She's so cute!"
She leapt forward and hugged the slumbering pokemon around her armored head to which Grotle responded with a snort. Bryce smacked himself on the head before jumping up and pushing Grotle hard in the rear, running to keep up his momentum.
"C'mon Grotle! It's time to battle!"
Grotle yawned once more and slowly stood up. Satisfied, Bryce stopped pushing her and pointed at Mini-Medi.
"Lets start things off with Tackle!"
With a grunt, Grotle plowed forward, lumbering towards the seemingly oblivious Mini-Medi. Just as she reached the orbit in which the wooden boxes were rotating around the meditating pokemon, she abruptly stopped. Her head suddenly snapped upwards as though she had run into something and, for a moment, the air she had just approached flashed blue and the wooden boxes crashed to the ground. With wide eyes she slowly slid onto the ground, stunned.
"What the-?" Bryce cried, "What happened?"
Stormie shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's Protect."
Bryce nodded, he'd seen this on his father's victory tape and Protect usually didn't work twice in a row.
"Lets try this again Grotle!"
Grotle snorted, backing away from Protect's range before scraping a foot across the ground. After doing this three times she charged at the meditating pokemon once more. This time, her head didn't hit the Protect so she triumphantly sped up once she passed the obstacle. However, as she approached Mini-Medi, Bryce saw something flash green behind the pokemon's eyelids. Before he could shout out a warning, the pokemon swerved to the side, never once touching the ground.
Grotle flew by and skidded to a screeching halt, she turned her head at the unharmed pokemon with a confused look on her face.
"And that would be Detect."
His teeth gnashing, Bryce pointed at the elusive pokemon and shouted, "Razor Leaf, go!"
Grotle turned her vast body around, her bushes bristling as though they were living creatures. A vast barrage of razor sharp leaves shot out at Mini-Medi. It did not meet the Protect barrier nor did the Meditite's eyes flash beneath the curtains that were its eyelids. Just when Bryce thought they'd meet their mark, the pokemon raised both hands in front of it. With a flash of blue on each palm, the pokemon waved its arms rapidly, deflecting each and every leaf.
Bryce turned to Stormie, mouth agape. Stormie just shrugged, maintaining her usual poise.
"That would be Protect again. I'm going to assume that Mini-Medi didn't have time to form a whole barrier, so he reduced it to his hands instead. Attacks can have more than one appearance y'know." She paused with a grimace, "You should see a way Combusken uses Ember."
Out of the corner of his eye, Bryce saw Haunter at the picnic table point at his backside before giving a wide grin and pointing at Mini-Medi. Bryce followed the finger with his eyes to find the unresponsive pokemon was a little different. A corner of its mouth had made a slight movement upward, it was so subtle, that Bryce barely noticed at first. But when he fully registered what the pokemon was doing, he snarled and returned the Grotle immediately.
"That's a smirk! Mini-Medi's making fun of me! I'll show him, go Omen!"
His second pokeball burst open, the small crow appeared in the air with its head was under its wing. It fell through the air like a stone and hit its head on the ground. It immediately jumped up, wincing while glowering at the young trainer.
'Murkrow!' It demanded as it clutched at its mild injury. However, Bryce was too ticked off to notice.
"Omen, Wing Attack, Night Shade, Peck!" Bryce shouted in rapid succession. The bird snorted before opening its wings, finding a warm air current before taking off. Its wings started to glow bright white as it grew nearer and nearer to its target. However, right before he reached Mini-Medi, it's eyelids flashed green again.
"Just as I predicted." Bryce mumbled under his breath as he watched the events unfold. Once again, Mini-Medi swiveled to the side unharmed as Omen flew past him. The bird remembered its earlier orders however and didn't stop to dwindle on the curious move. It turned in the air once it was a fair distance from her target and dived towards the target with her wings wide. Jagged black and violet beams shot from the tips of its feathered appendages. Just as before, the beam met with the bright blue barrier that was Protect.
Omen never stopped her mid-air assault. Once Night Shade faded and the blue barrier disappeared, she put her wings to her side, dive-bombing the Meditite with her curved beak that slightly resembled a scimitar. Bryce held his breath in anticipation. This time, there was no way out for Mini-Medi. No time for Detect, and it was too soon for Protect again. So why was the type hybrid rotating?
Unfortunately, Omen didn't notice this movement until it was too late. As soon as Protect was destroyed, Mini-Medi had started to spin with its arms extended, slow and steady at first but it started picking up speed. Soon the pokemon was nothing but a blur blue and gray air. When it reached its maximum velocity, the air around it made the sound of a fierce wind as though the pokemon was sucking it in. Bryce noted that both of its arms were completely obscured by a couple of miniature tornadoes. Then, as soon as Omen reached the pokemon, Mini-Medi came to sudden halt and pushed both palms forward towards Omen (Imagine Kamehameha DBZ fans).
The twisters that surrounded its arms shot out and came in contact with each other, creating a titanic wind vortex that slammed towards the surprised Murkrow who tumbled and fell, its beak hitting the ground hard. Bryce observed a trickle of blood come from the corner of the wounded pokemon's beak.
"What kind of move was that?"
"Mama called it Vacuum Wave," Taylor chimed in for the first time in a while.
Bryce returned his dark crow before scratching himself on the head.
"I don't get it...How is he so powerful?"
"Well Bryce," Stormie started, "You have to consider that Mini-Medi's been meditating since the day he was born. To compensate the fact that he's small in stature and didn't believe he could be physically strong, obviously he decided to raise his special attacks, and here's the result."
"Then how are we supposed to catch him?"
"Catch him?"
"Of course we have to catch him, he obviously can't stay here. Once we get him, we'll release him with a group of Medicham or something."
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"Well, a full-on attack is out of the question so we'll have to resort to stealth."
"And how do you suppose that will work? He can sense us coming before we even reach him!"
"That's cause he's reading your mind."
Bryce and Stormie turned around towards Taylor. After a minute, Bryce finally spoke up.
"What do you mean he's reading our minds?"
"I told you earlier he was tele...tele..." Taylor stopped as she tried to remember the word.
"Telekinetic." Stormie said.
"Yeah! That! But he can only do it when the mind he's trying to read is a certain distance away."
"So... You're saying nothing we can do will beat him?" Bryce asked, astounded.
"No, I'm saying you should talk to him."
Hmmm...
They stopped?...
So soon?...
No...
I think...
They are still planning to attempt something...
If only they were closer...
Bryce swallowed as he stood outside the perimeter Protect usually inhabited. He turned around at his audience which consisted of Taylor, Stormie, and the newly refreshed Haunter who waved cheerily at Bryce's predicament. He stared at the floating pokemon, turned back towards his friends, then turned back around.
"What are you afraid of? It's a Meditite, not a Gyarados." Stormie teased with a small smile on her face while Taylor just burst into a fit of giggles.
"He's a Psychic type though. He can mess with my head!"
"Quit worrying and go in!" Stormie said before pushing Bryce forward. To his mild surprise, there was no Protect to stop his passage. He swallowed again and licked his parched lips before sitting cross-legged in front of Mini-Medi. He had no idea what to do next so he just mimicked the pokemon and closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen before starting to think.
How am I supposed to know when he's reading my mind?
You'll know...
Mini-Medi?
No, that is not my real name, just the title the girl prefers to call me, to which I have no objections. My spiritual name is Salah satu yang mendapat penerangan-penerangan, it means The Enlightened One.
Uh, I think I'll call you Mini-Medi.
That's what she said.
Was that a joke?
No, she really said it. She... As in the young girl... Why must you humans always associate innocent remarks to subjects of the sexual nature?
That's sexual?
Oh dear...
Bryce then began to think of an idea to capture the elusive Mini-Medi before he heard the pokemon's voice chime in his head once more.
That won't work... Neither will that... A very nice plan, it's too bad that I can read your mind... You do realize you're not facing an incompetent rodent? You might as well be straightforward. I know what you're trying to do, I know how you plan to do it, and I know when you will try to carry it out. And if you try it as of now, I will be able to thwart your efforts.
Uh...Then how am I supposed to...erm... How do I put this?... Catch you?
Well for one, you could try asking.
Asking?
Yes, like an intelligent individual... Pretend for a moment that you are an intelligent individual.
...Fine, I'll ignore that comment but...Will you let me catch you?
Hmmmm, would you say your mental capacity is at least the level of a Mankey's?
My mental what now?
Arceus give me strength, this child is going to need a lot of mental stimulation.
Hey! Are you saying I'm dumb?
Are you insinuating that you're dumb?
Are you mocking me?
Am I?
Cut it out!
How can I cut anything without the proper instruments?
I mean stop!
How can I stop if I am not moving from this spot? If I am correct, I would first need to "Go" before I can "Stop"
AH!
Now you're just speaking Dunsparce. Listen, I have decided to join you.
You've, decided? Why would I catch a pokemon who does nothing but belittle my intelligence?
Because, if what I am receiving from your brainwaves are correct, then you will need a pokemon with a lot of Chi.
...
...It's what you humans call... I believe a Psychic Type?
Oh? For the next gym?
Not only that dear child, but for your quest.
My quest?... Oh! You mean Team Galactic... Well I'll have Stormie with me and she has Psy and Psych.
Yes and if what I've received from them is true, then the one called Psych, the Psyduck I believe, is an idiot, and Psy... Hmmm Psy does not wish to exert himself until it is absolutely necessary. A very wise creature.
Fine you can come, but only if you tell me something.
Sure.
Why are you calling me child? You're younger than I am!
Your ignorance reveals itself once again child.
AN: Mini-Medi's spiritual name is actually Indonese for The Enlightened One. I looked it up :P