Pokémon: Nemesis [PG-13]

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Two
I made no effort to hide my disbelief, opting instead to fix this intruder with a withering stare. “You’re telling me that you’re Mew.”

“That’s right!” she chirped.

“Mew, the Legendary Pokémon, one of the gods in Arceus’s pantheon?”

The pink creature giggled at that. “Well, technically a goddess.” I was not fazed and she finally seemed to pick up on this. “Don’t you believe me?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.

I scoffed as I moved to put my hard-won cereal into a small cellar fashioned underneath the rock I used as a table. “Frankly, no. You’re just confused, and most likely lost. Maybe you hit your head on one of those branches and woke up with delusions of grandeur.”

“Have you ever seen a Pokémon like me before?” she argued, doing a brief circle around my head as if to accentuate her point.

“No,” I conceded, “but there are regions and countries that I can’t name with Pokémon I can’t even begin to imagine.” She continued to lazily loop around me, so I took an angry swat, missing her pink tail by inches. “It’s a lot easier to believe that you’re some insane foreigner than a god.”

“Goddess,” she said absent-mindedly, as her focus, and soaring, had ceased. Instead, she hovered in front of me, studying me with her big blue eyes. Finally, she said, “You’re not like them, are you?”

“You mean there are other Pokémon whose homes you’ve broken into?”

She ignored my retort. “You don’t talk like them.” Then she paused before speaking again. “And you don’t think like them either.”

“Who?” I asked, my anger starting to ebb in favor of curiosity.

“Wild Pokémon,” the stranger said, flashing me a brief smile. “What’s your story?” she queried. I made a motion to respond, rudely, but the words stopped in my throat as I noticed that she was not paying the slightest attention to me. Her eyes were closed and her hovering was now colored by a faint bob, moving her pink body up and down against the green backdrop of the forest. Just as I was about to move away, a harsh pink glow started emanating from her body, creating a stark outline around her gently moving figure. Then, the Pokémon claiming to be Mew opened her eyes, but instead of the blue eyes that she had possessed before, both of her eyes were glowing with the same harsh pink light. They fixed on me, and I suddenly felt a pressure on my head. The pain was emanating from between where my ears jutted out, but somehow underneath the protective layers of fur and skin. I did not know how to describe it then, and even now, the closest thing that I could relate it to was as if someone was attempting to open up my skull with two shovels. I clutched my temples, but the feeling only seemed to intensify before the pressure was accompanied by the feeling of something oozing its way into where the crack in my head would be.

That’s when I realized what this Pokémon was trying to do, and in addition to the pain, I felt a surge of anger. I decided to focus on the latter feeling and felt my fur bristle and my cheeks grow warm as sparks danced over their crimson surfaces. “Get out of my head!” I cried, punctuating the last word with a blast of electricity aimed at my psychic interloper.

“Oh,” she squeaked out as the glow around her expanded into a bubble, meeting my attack and deflecting it to the sky. The bolt of current rose like a beacon, blowing an opening in the canopy of leaves over us. Gazing up at the breach my attack had made, she whispered, “What have you done?”

“I defended myself,” I muttered. Taking a rueful look at the rays off light that were trickling with greater strength with the removal of their obstacle, I added, “And tore a hole in my roof.”

I was surprised when the psychic Pokémon turned to me, her blue eyes wide and fearful. “You don’t understand,” she babbled, “they’ll be coming now.”

“Who?”

She either did not hear me, or ignored me, instead continuing to speak. “I have to go, I have to run. They’ll be coming soon.” She stopped, before picking up again, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice, “They’re already coming. Can’t you hear them?”

Frowning, I tilted my head and tried to tune out the strange Pokémon hovering in my home. I opened my senses to the sounds of the forest, but in addition to the usual chattering and chirping of Pokémon, there was a new sound, a faint whirring coming from the south and growing louder. It sounded like a lawnmower being run on overdrive. Shaking my head, I returned to the hyperventilating and possibly insane creature and asked, “Who are ‘they’ exactly?”

“There’s no time to explain,” she said, and for one brief moment she seemed to be the picture of calm. “I’m sorry,” she said, and then, she was gone, zipping north through the forest as a pink blur, her speed causing grass to be kicked up as she flew.

I was left puzzled by the odd encounter. Briefly, I tried to replay the scene in my mind, until I remembered the whirring noise. It had continued to grow louder, and was now accompanied by a rhythmic thumping that shook the younger branches of the forest’s trees. My instincts told me to run just as my uninvited guest had, but another part of me was more curious than afraid. I shot a glance at my stockpile of food, topped by the newest sugary addition. No, I was not going to open the door for some enterprising thief to take from me what was rightfully mine. I steeled myself as the approaching sounds grew louder and louder.

Then, the sound stopped. Still unsure that the threat had passed, I took a cautious step toward the edge of my clearing. I was rewarded by a large green shape bursting from the brambles, tackling me to the ground before I could even utter a cry. My mind struggled to catch up with the circumstances I had found myself in. I was lying on my back, with a large Pokémon standing over me, holding some kind of blade held to my throat. My eyes came to focus on this latest trespasser's sharp, reptilian face, the angular features of which were contorted into a strange combination of disappointment and a sneer. The oddest thing though was the presence of a small red lens fit over her left eye and secured to the side of her head. “It’s not her,” she said, relaxing her weapon only slightly.

“Well, let it go then,” a male voice said, and I struggled to turn my head to the area of undergrowth from which my attacker had emerged. A Hitmonchan and a Snorlax, each fitted with headpieces similar to that worn by their companion, stood at the end of an incredible swathe torn through the forest. I couldn’t be sure, but the devastation to the vegetation appeared to stretch all the way to the edge of the woods in a straight line. “Falchion, now,” the former commanded.

The green Pokémon growled, but reluctantly stepped back, giving me room to get to my feet. I gave her a once over. I had been attacked by a Scyther, a rare Pokémon for these parts. Come to think of it, all three of them were out of place geographically.

“I apologize for my companion’s overzealous greeting,” the Fighting-type Pokémon said, the words flowing easily from his lips, “but we are on the trail of someone and thought that you might be them.”

“No friend of yours, I’m guessing,” I grumbled, rubbing the back of my head where it had hit the ground.

“No, not quite,” the Hitmonchan smiled. “Please, allow me to introduce us. My name is Blackjack, and these,” he gestured to the others, “are Club and Falchion. And you are?”

“Wondering why you’re still bothering me,” I said.

“He’s snotty,” the Scyther said, “can we just kill him?”

“I haven’t had Pikachu in a long time,” the Snorlax added.

“Enough!” their leader said, losing his professional façade in a flash of anger. “Let’s give him a chance to tell us what he knows.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked gruffly.

“We’re on the trail of the Legendary Pokémon Mew,” the humanoid Pokémon said, his smile returning, “and we tracked her to this location. Where is she?”

I took in the trio before me carefully, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Blackjack’s smile hardened. “So, can you explain that bolt of lightning we saw earlier?” he asked, gesturing to the hole in the leaves above us with a red boxing glove.

“There was a Weedle that was bugging me, so I dealt with it,” I said coolly.

“I think he’s lying,” the Snorlax said.

“Definitely,” agreed Falchion, before adding, “I think we should teach him some manners.”

The larger Pokémon grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

“Now, now,” the Hitmonchan said, “let’s give him one more chance to be honest with us.” He took a step towards me, “Where is Mew? Don’t be difficult now.”

“Come any closer, and I’ll show you how difficult I can be.”

Blackjack grimaced and nodded at me, “Kill him.”

I was not about to give them the chance. While Falchion and Club were preparing to attack, I quickly spun in a circle, letting a shower of stars to erupt from it as it completed its arc. While his followers shielded themselves from the barrage, the Fighting-type decided to counter my attack with one of his own. One of his gloves became engulfed in fire and he shot it forward in a quick jab that disrupted the flow of stars coming at him and also sent sparks flying onto the grass around us. He smiled as he surveyed the few small fires that had started on the grass, dry from the long summer months they had just endured. “That’s actually not a bad idea,” he said. Blackjack then turned to the Snorlax. “Club, we’re burning the forest down.”

The Normal-type Pokémon’s annoyance at my attack evaporated as a confused expression overtook his pudgy face. “Why would we do that?” he asked.

“So we can flush out Mew, you idiot,” Falchion contributed.

“Oh, but what about the Pikachu?”

“Let him go, we can’t lose sight of our goal,” the Hitmonchan said. He lit up his fist again with a fiery aura. “After all, what’s more important: a single Pikachu or the legendary Mew?” He answered his own question by sending his fist into the nearest tree, cracking the trunk in two and causing its insides to erupt in flames. Club did not need any further encouragement and began breathing a large stream of fire onto the surrounding bushes and other plant life. “Run while you can, little Pikachu,” Blackjack said before punching another tree in half.

I watched the flames grow larger and the smoke rise from the dying plants, shocked at the lengths this trio was willing to go through in order to find Mew. I began to run, partially to escape the devastation being inflicted on not only my home, but the Viridian Forest as a whole. I also needed to try and catch up with the stranger I had encountered earlier. Whether or not she really was Mew, these Pokémon seemed to think that she was, and I felt some responsibility to tell her about my encounter with Blackjack, Falchion, and Club. So I ran from the flames, never once looking back. There would be nothing left for me in the ashes.