Meditite followed Marcus as he strode through the grasses, brushing the taller ones aside as he walked. They'd encountered a few Pokemon already who sought to challenge Meditite, and each one fell prey to her new move, which Marcus told her was called Low Sweep. She'd already come up with her own name for it.
At heart, it seemed simple; all she had to do was sweep her leg out and strike an enemy's legs with a swift but harmful blow to trip them up. Of course, it was far more complicated than that. The sweep had to be perfectly timed; too slow, and it wouldn't hurt at all, but too fast and it would be clumsy and easily avoided.
"There!"
Meditite straightened at Marcus's cry. In the grass up ahead, a small Pokemon lurked, watching the two of them with large blue beady eyes.
As they stared, the Pokemon emerged. Meditite's first thought was that she didn't recognize it. It looked somewhat akin to Spinarak, but more like a scorpion than a spider, and that its eyes were actually quite large compared to the rest of its body. The second thought was 'Arceus, that's a lot of spikes'.
The third was the realization that it was grinning.
"Now you look like someone ah'd be interested in fightin'," the Scorpion Pokemon growled, eyes narrowed.
"Fine," Meditite retorted. "Psychic Blast."
Unlike the match with Dennis's Geodude, the Confusion lanced out in under a second, sending the Scorpion Pokemon staggering. Unfortunately, it recovered quickly, and much to Meditite's frustration, it didn't seem all that injured.
Oh, great. Another strong Pokemon. Is this another Trained one?
The Scorpion Pokemon glared at Meditite with narrowed eyes. "Was that supposed ta hurt?" it growled, and something in its inflection seemed to claw at Meditite.
Meditite stumbled, feeling surprisingly vulnerable under the Scorpion Pokemon's gaze.
"That's Leer!" Marcus cried just as the scorpion Pokemon charged with a snarl of "Rend."
Its mouth opened and revealed a row of snaggly teeth. As it hurled itself at Meditite, both the teeth and the pincers on either side of its mouth glowed black. Meditite had seen this kind of attack before, on Ekans and on some of the bugs that inhabited the woods, a bite that for whatever reason caused her immense pain whenever it hit. Like Ekans's arrival to the forest. That had been a day.
Meditite leaped to the side, not wanting to take the brutal attack, and the Scorpion Pokemon's pincers gnashed where she had been a second ago.
"Inject." Then the Scorpion Pokemon's double-pincered tail whipped around and struck her in the side.
Not again.
Meditite staggered under the blow. Worse, unlike Geodude, the scorpion Pokemon took almost no time to recover. It turned on her and opened its maw again. "No Escape."
This time a beam of Dark energy lanced out from its mouth and sent Meditite backwards. She landed with a huff, breath streaming from her mouth as her back hit the ground.
The scorpion Pokemon began to stalk towards Meditite. "Did ya really think ah was just some weak wanderin' Pokemon?" it snarled. "Ya Psychics are all the same. Always thinkin' yer superior just 'cause ya got so much more 'mental strength'."
"What are you?" Meditite asked.
The scorpion Pokemon continued to move closer. "Ah'm a Skorupi," it said, unable to keep its voice from sounding boastful. "And ah'm built to counter Psychic's like yerself. Ya lost this fight before it even started."
"Meditite, get ready," said Marcus.
"And ya even got a Trainer," Skorupi growled. "That ain't gonna be enough ta save ya either. Mah grasp can catch ya even inside yer Pokeball. Ye'd be finished before yer Trainer can get ya away."
He reached Meditite. "Let's finish this." His eyes gleamed and every spike on his body glowed with Dark energy. "Prey."
"Fighting Strike!"
Skorupi's eyes widened in sudden terror as Meditite lashed her leg out. The Scorpion Pokemon's legs slipped out from under it, and it slammed into the ground with a huff of pain.
"Psychic Blast!" Truth be told, Meditite had expected it to finish the Skorupi, but it stubbornly remained standing, even though it winced in pain as it hauled itself up. "Ah…" it snarled. "Love it when my prey puts up this much of a fight."
Meditite began summoning up more Psychic energy, readying another Psychic Blast to fling the Skorupi away.
Skorupi crouched down. "Doesn't matter," it growled. "Yah can fight all yah want. Ah'll still-"
Then a Pokeball flew from behind Meditite, struck Skorupi in the side, and sucked it in.
Meditite froze as the Pokeball shook three times and then flashed, indicating a successful capture. Then she turned to glare at Marcus.
"What?" Marcus asked defensively, stooping to pick up the Pokeball. "It's a cool Pokemon."
Meditite glared at Marcus some more. The last being she'd glared at like this was Scamper after the Delcatty had used Cute Charm on her. She and Skorupi were enemies that had been fighting. Now Marcus expected them to both be on the same team, to work together?
This arrangement would be anything but functional.
She knew there was no help for it. That gleam in Marcus's eyes, the same as when he had found her, told her all she needed to know. He was already enamored with Skorupi's strength. And to a Trainer, strength was all a Pokemon needed to be on their team.
Regardless of how the other Pokemon felt.
Regardless of any feelings Meditite might have, she knew she was stuck with Skorupi.
Marcus lifted Skorupi's Pokeball and held a Potion up to it. The nozzle fit perfectly in the circular slot on the front of the Pokeball, and when Marcus sprayed down the Potion filled the Pokeball, administering its healing properties to the Pokemon inside.
Meditite sighed and prepared herself, gathering up a small scrap of mental power for a Confusion. Just in case this turned violent again.
Marcus sent Skorupi back out. The first sign that this wasn't going to go nearly as Meditite had expected was that Skorupi was back to grinning.
"Heh," the Scorpion Pokemon said. "Gotta admit, didn't expect that."
"Okay," said Meditite, trying to figure out what to say to Skorupi. "So-"
"Don't bother," Skorupi growled. "Ah know the spiel. Trainers make ya stronger, an' all that. An' ah'm down fer this. Yer Trainer wants ta make me stronger? He can go righ' ahead."
"What about your…" Meditite searched for a word."...life?"
"What life?" Skorupi asked. "Never had much of one, ta be honest. Why do ya think ah was just waitin' in the bushes?"
"So…" said Meditite, "you're all right with this?"
Skorupi shrugged. "Not gonna complain, that's fer sure."
And so it was that barely three minutes after Meditite had been expecting to have to find some words to comfort a terrified, furious Skorupi, the two of them were battling it out with a pair of surprisingly aggressive Bellsprouts.
"Vine Whip!"
"Psychic Blast!" Meditite was on point, hurling a burst of Psychic energy at one of the oncoming Bellsprouts.
"Rend." Skorupi leaped forward, Dark energy on his jaws, and caught that Bellsprout's Vine Whip in his teeth. With a shake of his head he sent the Bellsprout into the ground.
The other Bellsprout's Vine Whip struck Meditite, but her eyes were already closed in concentration and her body was beginning to glow white. Skorupi, reasoning that Meditite had that Bellsprout under control, whirled and leaped on the downed Bellsprout. "Inject." His two-pronged tail slammed into the Bellsprout's vine-like neck and pinned it down.
As the Bellsprout thrashed, trying to break free, Skorupi turned to look back just as - "Psychic Retribution!" - Meditite let fly with her stored Psychic energy and sent the other Bellsprout flying.
He had to admit that Meditite was strong.
As the other Bellsprout landed, Skorupi twisted, making sure to maintain his hold on his prey. "No Escape." The Bellsprout cried out in pain. At this, the pinned Bellsprout thrashed even further.
Skorupi turned and Leered at it. The Bellsprout gulped.
"Okay, that's enough," the Trainer called.
Meditite instantly broke off her attack. Skorupi glared down at the Bellsprout beneath him. "Yer lucky," he snarled, and then withdrew.
The two Bellsprouts wasted no time in running.
"Good work, you two," said the Trainer. "Let's go find some more."
Skorupi stepped after the Trainer and his Meditite, noting that the Meditite was pointedly looking away from him but not making anything more than a mental note. He could understand why she was put off by him. He didn't really care.
He had to admit that the Meditite was strong. Possibly stronger than him. And with this Trainer providing him all the fights he could ever want…well, he would be lying if he said that this wasn't preferable to what he'd left behind.
He'd be glad to never have to deal with that ever again.
So it was for two hours more.
"Psychic Blast!"
Meditite unleashed the now-familiar wave of psychic energy at the schoolboy's Pidgey, only for it to miss once again. The Pidgey had spent the entire fight using what it called Strike Blind, a type of move Meditite remembered from the ground-types of the forest. It utilized a faint psychic suggestion to make the opponent think they had sand in their eyes, resulting in missed attacks.
The schoolboy called it 'Sand-Attack' in his orders. Meditite couldn't say she enjoyed it.
The Pidgey's Trainer pointed a finger. "Pidgey, Tackle!"
"Take this! Air Slam!" the Pidgey squawked, confident in its ability now that Meditite was half-blind.
"Meditite, take it and Bide!" Marcus cried.
The opposing Trainer gasped. "Pidgey, no!" he cried, but Pidgey was already streaking towards Meditite with a victorious shriek. Meditite took the attack and was sent skidding backwards. The Pidgey grinned, ready to strike again, and then heard its Trainer's exhortations and saw the bright white glow around Meditite's body.
"Oh, you have gotta be kidding me," the Pidgey muttered.
"Psychic Retribution." The blast of Psychic energy lanced out from Meditite's body and hurled the Pidgey across the clearing.
"Pachirisu, Quick Attack!" the enemy Trainer called.
"Swift Strike!" the Pachirisu cried, lunging forward with decent speed.
"Meet it with Poison Sting!" Skorupi's Trainer - Marcus, the Meditite had called him - responded.
"Hyah!" The Pachirisu shrieked an unnecessary battle cry and leaped forwards with decent speed. But Skorupi had faced many Pokemon with similar attacking styles before. In an instant he knew it would slam into him and stop, for it was clearly overcommitting to the strike.
And so as the Pachirisu rammed into Skorupi, he swung his tail around to meet it with its grasping pincers. "Inject."
"Back!" the enemy Trainer shouted, but Skorupi's tail clamped around the EleSquirrel Pokemon's midsection.
"Let me go!" the Pachirisu cried, struggling desperately to escape.
Skorupi smirked. "That'll be a no. Ah've got a battle ta win."
"Bite," Marcus ordered.
Skorupi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew what to do when a Pokemon was caught; he didn't need his Trainer to tell him that. But he pushed that thought away. "Prey."
With that, he clamped teeth covered in Dark energy around the Pachirisu's shoulder, and at the same time rammed his tail, filled with Poison energy, into the Pachirisu's midsection. The Pachirisu squalled in pain. Skorupi grinned, relishing the terror in Pachirisu's eyes.
"All right! I give!" At the enemy Trainer's cry, the Pachirisu sighed in blessed relief a second before the Pokeball pulled it away from Skorupi's grasp.
Skorupi uncoiled, irritated at the Trainer and yet relishing his victory, the fifth today. These trained Pokemon put up more of a fight than the untrained ones back in the grasslands, who had always disappointingly frozen in fear the instant Skorupi got his claws into them. It was such a shame the Trainers always recalled them before Skorupi could finish it.
As the enemy Trainer handed Marcus a stack of money, Skorupi spied another Trainer approaching. He grinned, ready to sink his teeth and claws into another opponent.
Eventually, the day waned, but by that point their battles had taken their small group a decent ways towards what Marcus called Santalune City, and so they continued on into the night. Surprisingly, many Trainers still roamed around, looking for challenges, and so there was no shortage of fights to be done. Meditite watched a few of Skorupi's battles, and she knew Skorupi watched a few of hers. He was scoping her out, seeing if she had any techniques she hadn't used on him, but when she watched, she watched not to scope out moves, but to scope out just how Skorupi battled.
It wasn't pleasant to watch. Skorupi was just as vicious as he had been against her, and now Meditite saw truly what he would have done to her had she not thrown him off. His Prey technique was designed to hurt, stabbing opposing Pokemon with everything Skorupi had, and more often than not those opponents were left pleading for mercy before their Trainers recalled them.
She couldn't help but shudder at the thought of being on the same team as the fearsome Skorupi, no matter what Marcus said or did. Even Marcus seemed to have discerned that they didn't exactly like each other; not once did the two Pokemon work together on a battle all day.
Would it be impossible for them, two Pokemon with completely different attitudes towards fighting, to work together? She had to hope not, even though it was looking increasingly like that would be the case.
Speaking of Marcus, the Trainer was also attempting to work on some new moves. He had noticed that Meditite was having to dodge a lot of attacks, and so he began to ask her to utilize some Psychic energy to anticipate and more easily dodge attacks, a move that Marcus called Detect and she called Psychic Dodge. It was incredibly draining, and just one use left Meditite tired for at least a minute. At least focusing on Psychic Dodge helped her take her mind off Skorupi.
Skorupi, for his part, was learning to infuse his claws with the same dark energy that let him utilize Bite so effectively. It was a move Marcus called Knock Off, though in his typical fashion Skorupi referred to it as Rip, and it seemed to be a targeted strike, aimed at stripping away the berries some Pokemon held in battle to boost their health or ability mid-fight. In practice, all it really did was make the fights between Skorupi and his opponents even harder to watch.
As they got closer to Santalune, Skorupi began learning another move, Pin Missile (at least that was what Marcus called it; Skorupi preferred Pierce), a move that allowed him to fire off the regenerative spikes growing out from his head at opponents, finally giving him an option to attack aside from the trapping strategy that he'd exclusively been using up until then. In practice, Skorupi utilized it to force his opponents to charge him, then trapped them as he always did.
The battles Meditite fought allowed her to take her mind off Skorupi a bit and focus on continuing to master Psychic Dodge. Slowly, she was beginning to utilize it more and more casually. In a fight with a Dedenne who had no chance of winning against her, she tried slipping into a meditative trance to strengthen herself and activate Psychic Dodge at the same time, a move she decided she would call Psychic Avoidance.
It didn't work, but it was food for thought.
And, as well as the new moves, Meditite continued to work on increasing her stamina with Psychic Blast. She felt confident that she could let off four in quick succession without very much mental pain, but the spread-out pace of the fights prevented her from truly gauging just how many she could utilize before the pain became too much to bear.
By the time the group finally reached a Pokemon Center, it was late at night, and so Marcus left Meditite and Skorupi inside overnight while he left to find a space to sleep. In spite of all her worries, Meditite was pleased with the day's progress. She hadn't lost a battle all day, her new techniques had fit easily into her repertoire, and after only a few days with Marcus she could already feel her Psychic powers growing in strength.
That night was easily the most comfortable night Meditite had ever experienced.