"Couriway City isn't that long of a way from my house," said Marcus. "Just down Route 18. Mom goes there several times a month to shop. Couriway doesn't have a gym, but it's the first stop on the way to the first gym."
Meditite drew upon her past knowledge, endeavoring to make sense of those words Marcus had spoken. Gym was familiar, a word for a place where Trainers went to test their Pokemon's strength against the Gym Leader, and defeating a Gym Leader earned one respect among other Trainers. Route was a term for a path, City a word for a Trainer community, and House was probably the place she and Marcus had only left half an hour ago. Shop, though, was alien to Meditite.
At this point, they'd left the house far behind and were traveling through what was quite clearly the forest; though it was a part of the forest unfamiliar to Meditite, the sounds and scents were all in place. She could even faintly hear the chittering of a Spinarak; ruefully, she reflected that she'd never been so pleased to hear that noise.
"So, Meditite," said Marcus. "I'd like to see what you can do."
Meditite cocked her head. Did he simply want a demonstration of her abilities? Or were these the moves that Trainers applied to specific powers Pokemon held?
"Could you use Meditate?" Marcus pressed.
Meditation, at least, was something Meditite knew how to do. She sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes. "Psychic Calm." With that, her mind drew back, shifting into the meditative trance that always helped clear it of unwanted baggage.
"Um, Meditite?"
Meditite opened her eyes at the renewed voice.
"Was that Meditate?" Marcus asked.
Psychic Calm, but whatever you want to call it is fine. Meditite stifled the urge to say the words out loud, knowing Marcus wouldn't understand her, and simply nodded.
"Let's see," said Marcus, holding up his Pokedex once again. "Bide is useless without something to practice on...oh, wait. Hold on, Meditite. I'm going to gently push you, and I need you to use Bide."
Meditite blinked. That made no sense whatsoever. She glanced up at Marcus disbelievingly. "I know it's weird," the Trainer said, "but trust me, I just want to see your moves."
Meditite nodded slowly. Marcus kneeled down, reached out his hand, and gently pressed on her head.
Meditite knew what kind of thing he was attempting. Bide was such an odd name for it, though. She mostly used it for when something was close and overpowering her physically, not when something was gently pressing on her, but force was force. She drew upon that power now, absorbing the pressure of Marcus's hand and converting it into power.
"Psychic Retribution."
The energy leaped out, throwing Marcus's hand away. Thankfully, the pressure had been light enough that it didn't seem to hurt. Marcus nodded. "Great! Now, let's try Confusion. Somehow…"
"Oh, hey, what's going on?"
Meditite and Marcus both turned to see another human. This one was a broad-chested man in a brown coat, and Meditite noted multiple Pokeballs wrapped around his waist. Another Trainer. "Hi," Marcus said, sounding somewhat unnerved.
"I'm Dennis," the new arrival said. "Are you working with your Pokemon?"
"It's my first day," Marcus responded. "I'm trying to figure out how it can demonstrate Confusion without locating a wild Pokemon."
Dennis smiled broadly. "Well, then, you're in luck," he said. "Hikers like me love to exercise up around here, but we also are happy to let our Pokemon exercise too!"
"Are you challenging me?" Marcus asked.
"Not officially," said Dennis. "Not for money or anything. But, you know, it pays to practice, am I right?"
"Okay then," said Marcus. "Meditite, you up for this?"
Meditite knew what her Trainer desired of her. She hadn't entirely been prepared for the amount of ceremony surrounding battles between trained Pokemon. Her mind eased slightly when she saw her opponent.
Dennis had sent out a Geodude. At least it was a species she was familiar with, rather than some completely unrecognizable Pokemon. "You're up, Geodude," said Dennis.
Meditite managed to hold back a smile. Several Geodudes had challenged her back in the woods, whether in response to Spinarak complaints or just for fun. They had very quickly learned why the Spinaraks were complaining. This fight wouldn't be too hard.
"A Fighting-type? Are you sure?" Geodude didn't seem all that confident as he looked back at Dennis.
"My Golems bred this guy only a few weeks ago," said Dennis. "I'm looking to work on his moves, too."
"Thanks," said Marcus. "Okay, Meditite, this is just a test."
"Geodude, you know what to do," said Dennis. "Sure, it's a Fighting-type, but we've trained for this, remember?"
"Yeah, right." Geodude flexed its rocky fists, ready to fight. "Let's do this, whatever you are."
"Okay, Meditite, show me your Confusion," said Marcus.
Meditite had no idea what Confusion was (she supposed it was what she was feeling now. Ha ha), but she could infer. They'd worked on her counterattacking and her meditation. She could safely assume that Marcus meant Psychic Blast.
Human names for techniques were so strange.
"Geodude, use Tackle," Dennis ordered.
"Rock Roller!" Geodude leaped forward, body ready to slam into Meditite. A familiar move, the standard attack used by most Geodudes back in the forest.
Meditite opened her eyes - "Psychic Blast." - and expelled her psychic energy at the charging Geodude, expecting to stop its charge in midair if not throw it away altogether. But, though the Geodude winced as the wave of psychic energy struck it, it continued onwards.
"Out of the way!" Marcus cried, though the order was superfluous, for Meditite was already endeavoring to dodge the charging Geodude. A friendly pat from a Geodude back home would cause her back to ache for about an hour; she didn't want to know what a full-powered slam from a Geodude would do to her.
The Geodude plowed into the ground, but Meditite only had a split second of relief before its rocky fist lashed out - "Hiyah!" - and struck a glancing blow at Meditite's shoulder as she twisted. It was only that, a glancing blow, but it still hurt, and Meditite fell, reflexively sticking out her hands to avoid slamming into the ground herself.
"Geodude, Defense Curl while it's winded!" Dennis called.
"Rock Defense!" The Geodude clenched its fists and crouched, tightening its defensive abilities. This, too, was a common ability; in the forest, the Geodudes never missed an opportunity to boast about their unbreakable defense. It never seemed to help against Meditite's psychic abilities, but then again, this was a trained Pokemon who had been able to take a Psychic Blast and continue going. Maybe this one's defense was more unbreakable than those Meditite had seen.
"Okay, Meditite, Meditate!" Marcus seemed to be barely stifling a chuckle at that. Meditite again retreated into her mind, endeavoring to clear away the pain from her shoulder and tighten her mental focus. "Psychic Calm."
"Tackle again!" Dennis called. With a renewed cry of "Rock Roller!", Geodude hurled himself at Meditite again.
"Meditite, this is gonna hurt!" Marcus said. "Use Bide!"
Oh, you've got to be kidding. Meditite knew it was stupid to take this kind of attack from a Geodude. She would much rather have continued to dodge and fire off Psychic Blasts. There was no way this Geodude, no matter how well-trained it was, could take too many of those.
But her Trainer had commanded Bide, and so Meditite closed her eyes for a third time and prepared for the upcoming pain.
"HIYAH!" Geodude saw fit to accompany his attack with a battle cry. Meditite felt the wind burst out of her chest and stream from her mouth, and she coughed, barely maintaining concentration on her energy.
Both Dennis and the Geodude saw Meditite's body glowing at the exact same time.
"Get out of there!" Dennis cried.
Geodude's eyes widened. "Oh, crapcrapcrap!" Geodude cried, backpedaling as fast as he could, but he couldn't do it that fast.
"Psychic Retribution!"
Meditite lashed out with her built-up psychic energy, and the familiar blast of bright white energy lanced out from Meditite and struck the retreating Geodude, sending it flying backwards. It slammed into the ground again, spraying a cloud of dirt into the air as it landed.
She'd never seen that from Psychic Retribution (or Bide, as Marcus called it) before, but then again, she'd never taken such a hard hit for the technique before. But her hopes for the fight to be over were dashed as Geodude rose. "Ugh," he groaned. "That hurt."
"Oho! Now this is getting the blood pumping." Dennis seemed quite cheery at the sight of Meditite and Geodude beating each other to a pulp. "Geodude, let's bust out that new move we've been trying! Use Rock Polish, then Tackle!"
Geodude crouched again. "Nice move, but you're going down now! Rock Shift!"
This time, Meditite could have sworn a silvery sheen twinkled on Geodude's body. Then Geodude rushed her, and Meditite was certain she had never seen a Geodude move that fast before. It was impossibly quick.
"Rock Roller!"
Meditite hauled back for a punch, but the speedy Geodude was on her before she could even swing her fist. She felt something crack, felt complete weightlessness for a second, and then she hit the ground. Her whole body was aching now.
"Confusion again! Before it recovers!"
It was impossible. There was no mental energy left, replaced with pain, and Meditite simply could not summon another Psychic Blast.
"Geodude, get back," Dennis ordered.
Meditite opened her eyes blearily to see Geodude rolling back to its Trainer, who had brought out some kind of bottle. "Did you see that?" Geodude asked, sounding quite cheery despite the obvious pain in his voice. "I beat a Fighting-type! Wait until I tell the other Geodudes, they're going to be so jealous!"
"Nice work, Geodude," Dennis complimented. To Marcus he added, "I'm betting those were your only three moves."
"I'm afraid so," I said.
"Here." Dennis tossed Marcus another Potion. "That Bide was powerful. It might have taken Geodude out without that Defense Curl."
"Yeah, I've got a physical attacker with one situational physical move," Marcus chuckled.
"Give it some more physical moves and you'll have a good Pokemon," Dennis said. "There's a Gym Leader over in Hoenn that uses a Meditite, and even with a lousy moveset it's pretty decent."
"You've been to Hoenn?" Marcus asked.
"No, but I've got a cousin over there whose son's taking the Gym Challenge," said Dennis. "Guy's got a Treecko, a Swellow and a Beautifly and is ripping through it so far."
Marcus said more, obviously interested, but Meditite tuned those thoughts out. Marcus's words had struck Meditite like another blow. Was Marcus saying that she wasn't a very good Pokemon? Well, she'd lost to a Geodude. That hurt, she had to admit.
She shook that off. What was she thinking, worried about disappointing her trainer when she should be more worried about herself? About the pain that wracked her entire body?
Was this what being a Trainer's Pokemon meant? To fight constantly, to end every fight hurting like a tree had fallen on top of her? She'd been cautiously excited just a few minutes ago. Now she dreaded the next battle.
Scamper had warned her of this. That there would be battles like this. Back in the woods, Meditite had been able to take down practically any challenger with her psychic abilities and melee combat alone.
But this power level was normal for Trained Pokemon. She thought back to how Scamper had barely been damaged by her best attacks. Leaning on those abilities wouldn't work anymore.
She would have to train.
Of course, she realized, wondering why she hadn't made the connection until now. To work under a Trainer, to properly battle, to win, that was what made a Trained Pokemon so strong. Training.
The Geodude had clearly trained. So had Scamper.
"Well, kid, see you around." Dennis recalled Geodude, turned, and walked away.
Through her haze of pain, Meditite beheld Marcus kneeling down next to her. "We learned a lot today," he whispered. "I know it hurts, but now we know what we need to work on."
He lifted the bottle and pressed down on the top of it. Almost immediately, the pain disappeared, leeched out of her by whatever liquid came out of that bottle. Meditite sighed in relief.
She had lost. There was no denying that. But with that loss had come a new understanding.
As soon as the pain completely healed and her mind stopped aching, she would begin training.
"Two major things," said Marcus. "First, Dennis was right. We need to learn some more physical moves to take advantage of your Fighting abilities. Second, we need to improve the reaction time on Confusion."
Marcus stood back up. "We'll practice Confusion on any wandering Pokemon we see," he said. "And I'll look into finding a good physical move for you."
Meditite nodded in agreement, though again she could only tangentially understand the terms Marcus was throwing around. Marcus began to walk, this time allowing Meditite to fall into step behind him.
The next few hours were marked with Psychic Blast after Psychic Blast. It was difficult; Meditite had never done so many Psychic Blasts in a row, normally preferring to combine it with melee strikes and, if necessary, Psychic Retribution. Yet now Marcus was asking her to treat it like a basic attack, like a tackle from a Geodude or a bite from a Spinarak's pincers.
It was almost a relief that quite a few Pokemon challenged Meditite. Apparently the fight between Meditite and Dennis's Geodude had attracted an audience, because most of the challengers seemed to think that she would be easy prey. Several wild Geodudes especially sought to take her on, and were quickly disabused of that notion; a few Sandshrews, Arons and Durants met the same fate. Even a Shuckle decided to take them on at one point; as Meditite sent that particular one to the ground, she could not help but notice Marcus clutching a Pokeball, though he eventually decided against catching the Shuckle.
At least these were not Trained Pokemon, merely overconfident Wild Pokemon. As such, they were easy to take down.
The main problem was, as expected, mental stamina. By the fourth Psychic Blast she could already feel the strain on her mind; by the seventh, she was having to force them out through more and more pain. But with every attack, she felt Psychic Blast getting faster, more focused. So even when her own head started aching from the sheer amount of psychic power she was putting out, she continued on.
It took a dozen Psychic Blasts before she finally collapsed from the pain, and Marcus withdrew her into her Pokeball. But she'd cut down the time necessary to use Psychic Blast to under a second. Tomorrow, she would aim for half a second.
The past couple hours had been bliss. Whatever a Pokemon Center was, she wouldn't have complained if she'd been told to spend an entire day in there. They'd sprayed her with another bottle that cleared her mental pain from the multiple Psychic Blasts in an instant, and the Pokemon there were unfamiliar but quite kind, seeming motherly in many ways.
Meditite usually healed her physical and mental wounds via rest and meditation, not, as the Pokemon Center Pokemon had put it, Potions and PP-Ups. But the Trainer methods were much nicer. That was a boon of being a Trained Pokemon, that was for sure.
Eventually, Marcus had come to collect her, and now the two of them were standing in a patch of empty grass. The sun was beginning to lower in the sky, but there were still a good few hours of daylight remaining.
"I found a way to fix your lack of physical moves," said Marcus. He held up a small disk.
Meditite's first reaction was surprise. The disk was clearly artificial, and a quick racking of her memory came up with nothing to identify it. After a moment of hesitation, she reached for it, interested in examination.
"Hold on," Marcus said. "It says here I have to imprint it on you while you're in your Pokeball."
Meditite stifled the question of why he let her out of the Pokeball in the first place as she was recalled.
A few seconds later, she felt a strange sensation in her mind, almost like it was being reformed around her. Suddenly, the thought of a new ability entered her mind.
She was instantly drawn back to Scamper's talk about Abilities. That one moment he didn't have one, the next he felt as if he'd known about his Ability all his life. That was what Meditite felt; a technique, burned into her brain.
It was different from usual. This was no standard melee attack, nor a Psychic attack; this attack would utilize Fighting energy, something Meditite was not experienced with. And yet, instinctively, she already knew how to use this technique.
This didn't seem like an Ability. But it was interesting all the same.
Then Meditite was released again to see Marcus grinning in delight. "All right, Meditite, let's find the nearest Pokemon and try out our new technique."