Pokémon: Nemesis [PG-13]

[Ganyu]

Wow, this is quite an interesting plot you have here. I like the part when the protagonist resisted "Mew's" mind-reading attempts; for a gentle-looking goddess, she seems pretty forceful. xD I wonder what the three mercenaries want with her too. I'll be awaiting the next installation. :3

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Three
After emerging from the forest and clearing my smoke-filled lungs, I took in the sight before me. A stretch of highway spread into the horizon as far as my eyes could see, with the winking red lights of sirens and the telltale wail of emergency vehicles drawing nearer, summoned by the blaze I had escaped from. Focused on these sights and sounds, I was unprepared for the tap on my shoulder and nearly jumped out of my fur. Spinning around, I found myself face-to-face with the same pink Pokémon I had encountered in the forest.

"Are you okay?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the effect that she had on me. "I saw the fire, and I was-"

I interrupted her concern with a surprised series of wracking coughs. "I'm fine, no thanks to you," I said after recovering. "Those three Pokémon really meant business. What did you do to piss them off?"

The floating creature offered me a sympathetic smile, but nothing more.

"Fine, whatever. I honestly don't need to get involved in any of this," I said, beginning to walk towards the road. The firefighting vehicles had finally made it to the forest and the humans who emerged were attempting to put out the inferno with the aid of their Water-type Pokémon. It was a noble cause, but looked to be a futile effort. In fact, the only noticeable effect of the whole struggle seemed to be backing up traffic on the highway with a long line of honking vehicles voicing their displeasure at the situation. I gave the impromptu convoy a once-over before deciding on a large gray moving van marked with the familiar logo of "Machoke Movers, the friendly company!" The driver had left his vehicle unattended in order to have a heated dispute with the driver of the small sedan behind him.

The two humans were so engrossed in their argument that they failed to notice me crawling onto the rear of the van and lifting up the rear door. Before I could climb inside though, I saw the pink Pokémon I had encountered in the forest staring at me blankly from behind a sign.

What are you doing? I heard in my head.

The surprise of being communicated with telepathically caused me to release my grip on the door and it fell onto my paws. Stifling a cry of pain, I thought as angrily as I could, Getting out of here, what does it look like?

Can I join you? came the response, the psychic Pokémon apparently oblivious to my annoyance. I need to get away from those Pokémon you met in the forest.

I can't stop you, I muttered in my head as I redoubled my efforts on lifting the door before I was sighted. Just as I ducked my head under the door, I caught sight of another Pikachu running towards the van. She ducked past the humans arguing outside before leaping onto the back of the van, scrambling a bit to make up for the miscalculation of her trajectory. She made it in alright and gave me a smile.

Alright, where are we going?

I turned to the other Pokémon in the van in shock. "Mew?"

Yes?

"Is that you?"

Yes, I heard in my head. What do you think? she broadcast as the Pikachu gave a quick spin.

"You didn't have to possess a Pikachu!" I shouted. "You could have just gotten in yourself!"

What? Oh, no, came the voice again and the Pikachu I had found myself admiring began to change before my eyes. Her fur lost its color and then began to drip off of her in great globs before the rest of her body followed, melting into a pink gelatinous-looking pile. I was about to heave up my breakfast into a nearby vase when the goo began to shift again, reshaping itself into the more familiar shape of the Pokémon who I had met this morning. Tada! she broadcast with a flourish of her tail.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I muttered, turning my back to her and grabbing a seat on an ugly floral print couch that was being hauled.

What? the psychic Pokémon thought as she flew over to me. I thought it would be better to blend in when humans were around.

I shifted on my perch as the van began to move. "It's still really weird, and kind of gross to be honest," I said. When I looked back to her, her blue eyes were downcast. Suppressing a pang of guilt, I decided to change the subject. "So, do you mind switching back to talking out loud instead of the telepathy thing you're doing?"

Oh! "I mean, 'oh!'" she said, giggling a bit. "I didn't even realize I was doing that! It just feels so natural the other way though. I mean, don't you get tired moving your mouth around so much?"

"Not in recent memory," I replied. My eyes scanned the contents of the van we were in. It looked like someone was moving. Not only were there the vases and the couch, but there were the disassembled pieces of some bedframes and two mattresses pushed toward the back and some other miscellaneous furniture as well. We weren't exactly traveling in first class accommodations, but it could have been a lot worse.

My train of thought was derailed by a sudden prick in the back of my head. I turned to see that my worst fears confirmed; my fellow passenger's eyes were glowing pink and she was surrounded by the same aura from earlier. "What do you think you're doing?" I barked, shocking her out of her trance.

"Oh, sorry!" she said shyly. "I was trying to figure out where we were headed."

"So ask me!"

"Um, where are we going?"

"Pewter City," I said with a sigh.

"What's that?"

"It's the biggest city near the Pokémon League and the Johto border. I normally only make it up there for special items, but it's prosperous enough that it shouldn't be too hard to set up a new life there." I shot a glance at the pink Pokémon floating beside me. "There's also a lot of people and Pokémon, so that might be able to help you lose those Pokémon who are following you."

She smiled at my weak attempt to help her out, but said nothing and we sat in silence as the moving van continued down the highway to Pewter City.

I broke the impasse first. "When you tried to read my mind earlier, it didn't hurt as bad. Why?"

"Well, just now I only wanted to find out where we were going," she said, "but back in the forest I tried to learn everything about you." She stopped floating to sink onto the couch. "I guess I went too far."

I grimaced. "Yeah, you could say that."

"It's strange," the psychic said, "talking like this, having a conversation."

"Well, I can't say I've been having a lot of them myself," I admitted. "It's pretty easy to get the hang of it though." We sat for a while longer. "What did you want to know about me when we first met?"

"Like I said, everything really," she said, "Who you are, what you've seen, where you're going."

"So then, you must have plenty of questions for me?"

Mew smiled. "I guess so," she said, "how about: what's your name?"

"I'm," I started, before pausing, trying to figure out how to word my answer.

"I thought that would be a pretty easy one," the pink Pokémon teased.

I ignored her though, finally settling on my wording. "I call myself Ezekiel, Zeke for short."

"Zeke? It's an odd name," my travel companion said thoughtfully, "but it fits you."

"Glad you approve," I muttered. "Any more questions?"

"Nope," she chirped.

"What? I thought you wanted to know everything about me."

"Oh, I still do," she said, a large grin spreading across her pink-furred face, "but I think I'll get plenty of information just by spending time with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I already know that you're not a wild Pokémon and that you've had some experience battling, for starters."

I swallowed nervously. "Uh, that's not what I was talking about. I meant what do you mean by saying that you'll be spending time with me?"

"Well, I was just guessing that you'd be willing to help me get used to living in a big city."

"That's a mighty big assumption," I grunted, but upon chancing a glance at the psychic Pokémon's face, I saw her near-perpetual grin falter. Luckily, the van stopped moving so I was saved from trying to make amends, for the moment at least. Hopping off the couch, I made my way to the door at the back of the van. Lifting it up gingerly, I peeked outside and saw the streets and buildings of downtown Pewter. "This is our stop," I offered.

"Alright, let's go," came a new voice. When I turned around, I saw that the pink form of Mew had been replaced with a fellow Pikachu. Ignoring my brief flash of confusion, she leisurely strolled past me and hopped out of the stopped van. With a shrug, I followed after.

"So, where to?" Mew asked.

"I have a little place in the city," I said. "I guess you can come with me until you get something figured out."

The transformed Pokémon practically leapt into my arms. "Really? You mean it?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I gently extracted myself from her embrace.

"Great! Let's go!" she said, and bounded down the street. She quickly returned however. "I think you'll need to lead the way," she said sheepishly.

I smiled in spite of myself. "Come on, follow me." I led her through a series of alleys and avenues, attempting to stay unencumbered by the throngs of humans massing in the streets. I focused most of my attention on Mew and making sure she didn't get lost, but I was still able to pick up snippets of conversation. The usual concerns about the political situation in Hoenn and the failure of Kanto's president to handle the growing tensions with Johto were still there, but paled in comparison to talk of the fire that had ravaged the Viridian Forest. Some were even saying that the area would never recover. I tried to ignore the gnawing feeling that what had happened was my fault, but it wasn't easy.

"What's wrong?" the Pokémon following me asked.

"You're not trying to read my mind again, are you?"

"I don't need them to see that you're upset."

"I was just thinking," I quickly lied, "if you can transform into other Pokémon, why not just stay like that until those guys stop following you?"

"Well, first of all I can only stay in a different form for two hours before I get stuck like that and can't turn back," she explained, "but even if I could, I think they have some way of tracking me even when I do my best to lose them."

"That must be what those red devices on their eyes were for," I said more to myself than to her. We walked along in silence for a while longer before we finally reached the Pewter City Pokémon Gym. "Here we are," I announced.

"This is where you live?" Mew asked, her voice colored by awe.

"Well, underneath it at least, but it's still prime real estate," I said, making my way over to a pile of loose rubble and wooden boards against the side of the gym. With some effort, I cleared the debris away to reveal an unlocked window to the gym's basement. "Come on, before someone sees."

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Four
The next few days passed by rather uneventfully. I managed to make the adjustment to living in Pewter City full-time without too much difficulty. Most days were spent going on excursions to fetch food or other supplies. Sometimes I was accompanied by Mew, who was careful to remain in her Pikachu guise whenever we ventured out. The fact was that hosting a guest for any period of time required some changes. More and more trips were needed to feed two mouths instead of one. Luckily, after some initial resistance, Mew was growing to tolerate and even enjoy the taste of the pilfered human cuisine that made up a sizable portion of my diet.

Her impact wasn’t limited to just food though. In order to accommodate her, I gave Mew her pick of sleeping arrangements. Naturally, she decided on my bed, an old mattress apparently abandoned by the Gym Leader, leaving me to spend fitful nights on a lumpy bean bag chair. The surface I was trying to sleep on was about the only simulation I received once the sun went down though. It didn’t take long after that for the pink Pokémon I was playing host to would go across the room to fall asleep. I was curious about her, but after watching her go comatose night after night and waking up each morning to find her in the same position, I figured that she needed the rest more than I needed information. I only then got an inkling of just how long she had been running from the trio of Pokémon I had met in the forest.

There were more selfish reasons for my leaving her alone though. Any sustained conversation might lead to her asking me questions about myself, and not all of those answers were ones I wanted to relive. Plus, there was the possibility that the subject would come up of when exactly she would start living on her own. While I had been clear that the current situation was just a temporary fix when it was first brought up, I wasn’t sure that she was ready to be alone in the city. Plus, it had been somewhat nice not spending all of my days by myself. Even though she was still a Pokémon, Mew had a way of brightening my day and I wanted that for just a little longer before driving her away. Obviously, I kept all of these thoughts and concerns to myself though. There was no reason to share them. None at all.

I awoke one day to find the water bed bare and Mew floating around the basement, using her psychic powers to rearrange furniture causing both herself and the various items to be surrounded with a pink glow. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, some amusement creeping into my annoyance despite my best efforts.

“Oh!” she said with a start, causing the furniture to fall. It was only then that I noticed that the bean bag chair I had been resting on was also being lifted by the psychic Pokémon. I hit the ground with a whump, but was unharmed. “Sorry, Zeke,” she whispered.

“It’s fine,” I said, getting to my feet. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, I just decided that it might be nice if there was a rhyme and reason to our place and everything wasn’t just haphazardly thrown around.”

“Maybe I like my mess where it is,” I muttered, picking up a few books that had fallen off of a shelf when it was dropped. I thought about saying something about her usage of “our place,” but I decided that it probably was just a slip of the tongue. Instead, I turned the topic to the day ahead. “What do you want to do today?”

“Well, do we have enough food?”

Sparing a glance toward the veritable mountain of foodstuffs in the corner of the basement, I gave her a nod. She lounged in midair and thought, when I was struck by an idea of my own. “Look, we don’t need an excuse to get out and about,” I said. “Why not just go somewhere just for fun?”

“Okay!” she exclaimed with a joyous loop. “Where are we going?”

Again, I found that I couldn’t help but grin at her infectious enthusiasm. “Don’t worry about it. Just grab some food and follow me.” While she set about transforming into a Pikachu and complying with my request, I made my way to the window that served as the entrance to my humble abode. Climbing onto a large bookshelf full of moth-eaten manuals for raising Pokémon, I lifted myself up to the glass and peered out at the world beyond it. The coast appeared to be clear, so I gingerly opened the window and squeezed myself through the portal. Once clear, I continued to hold it open, letting my guest toss me the food she had picked out. A bag of chips, an apple, a loaf of bread, and some peanut butter would be our lunch today. When she was outside, I gently closed the window, and we gathered up the food and headed out.

I made sure we stuck to backstreets, little-used alleys, and avenues that were under construction in order to avoid the questions that would have been raised if someone saw two Pikachu carrying things like peanut butter. All the way, Mew asked me where we were headed, but I just told her to be patient, which naturally caused her to grow even more insistent in her questioning. Just when it seemed like she would burst from curiosity, I told her we had arrived.

“Zeke, what is this place?” she asked, peering through the chain-link fence before us.

“Just trust me, alright?” I said, before lobbing the chips and the loaf of bread over the fence with twin grunts of effort.

“What did you do that for?” my companion asked in alarm.

Instead of answering her, I lifted up the corner of the fence and passed under it, holding it up so that she could do the same.

Instead of being satisfied, the questions continued. “Why is this area sectioned off?”

“Humans are planning on building a new wing to the science museum over there,” I said, gesturing lazily before scooping up the chips and bread and heading up the grassy hill.

“How do you know that?”

“I just do, alright?” I muttered, focusing on working my way up the incline. Mew seemed to get the hint from that and was silent until we reached the top, but even then when she wanted to speak, no words would come out. The view from the top of the hill was amazing. Pewter City was stretched out before us like a map. People and Pokémon moved about their business through the maze of urban planning, seemingly unaware of just how small of cogs they were in this living organism called a city.

“Wow,” the other Pokémon finally spoke and then lapsed back into silent awe.

I let her enjoy the view a little longer while I opened the bag of chips and broke off pieces of bread to scoop peanut butter with.

“I can feel all of them,” she said reverently.

“I’m glad you like it,” I responded, handing her a piece of bread. She ate it quietly, going through the motions of eating while her real attention was all being paid to the cityscape laid out before her. As I continued to eat, I passed her more food, and she would take them, but continued to devote herself more to looking at Pewter and its inhabitants. This went on for a while before her blank expression contorted into a look of sudden pain.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re here,” she got out from clenched teeth.

“Who?” I asked, before realizing the answer. As I looked down the hill, the picturesque view was spoiled by a series of commotions where a large blue-black figure and two smaller tan figures, one tan and one green, were pushing past others. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the path they were taking was leading them straight to the gym. “Then it’s not safe for you here either,” I muttered, but when I looked at Mew, she was still closing her eyes and gritting her teeth against whatever she was sensing. I reached out and shook her gently. “Hey, you’ve got to get out of here.”

That snapped her out of whatever trance she had been in. “Where can I go though?”

I pointed with one small yellow paw to the east. “See those mountains?” I said. “There’s a path that leads the rest of the country. You might be able to buy some time if you go that way.”

“What should I take with me?” she asked, her eyes filled with a kind of helplessness that I didn’t expect from a legendary Pokémon.

“Nothing, it’d be too dangerous to spend time getting supplies. Besides, there will be food in the foothills of the mountain, even though it might not be barbeque-flavored,” I said, offering her a small smile.

“Oh, okay,” she said, seeming to gather some of her wits. “But what about you?”

“Me? Well,” I started, but before I could even think of a response, the words tumbled out of my mouth. “I’m going with you.”

At the time, I told myself that it was because I couldn’t go back to the gym, and that was true. If the three Pokémon who were after Mew saw me there, they probably wouldn’t let me go again. But I still could have tried to find another place to lay my head and build up a stockpile of food. I could have let this Pokémon go off into the unknown, alone, and hoped the best for her. But the truth was I couldn’t. If I had been honest with myself, my rationale would have been that, without me, I didn’t think this mythical deity could find her way out of a paper bag if I wasn’t there to help her.

“Really?” she asked, and any doubts that I had vanished at the sight of her small black eyes welling up with emotion.

“Yeah,” I replied, attempting to offer her the best reassuring smile I could muster. “But we have to get going!”

After a determined nod, the Pikachu that I had been comforting melted into pink sludge only to reemerge in the form I had grown so used to in the last few days. “Let’s go,” she said, grabbing the bag of chips.

I led her down another side of the hill so that we would be taken behind the science museum. From there, some backroads would be able to take us outside the city while avoiding any unwanted attention. It was a steep descent, and it didn’t help my concentration to have a pink Pokémon floating behind me and having a snack. Still, I managed to make it down the hill without incident. We peeked around the side of the museum, and, seeing that the coast was clear, we dashed for the service road leading away from the facility.

We made good time, I thought, especially for dirt roads, but I knew that we still had a ways to go when we reached the city limits. Unlike the well-traveled road between Viridian and Pewter, there was no highway going east. The mountains were considered treacherous to get through, so most took the much more developed Diglett’s Tunnel between Viridian and Vermilion. It wouldn’t be an easy trek, but that was the idea. Maybe this mountain range would help Mew lose her pursuers. Then she’d be safe. As for me? Well, I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but there was still time I figured. So I pushed those lingering doubts down and set off toward the peaks, confident that everything would be alright once we reached the other side.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Five
The foothills that bled into the mountain range were quiet. There were some Pokémon, tough specimens like Spearow and Nidoran who were able to make their living on the sparse amount of food that the land provided, but they would only appraise us briefly and, deciding the two of us were no threat, choose to ignore us. The humans would have proved more troublesome, if there were any at all. With the opening of the tunnel in Viridian City the only people who braved the pass through Mount Moon were aspiring trainers and hikers, two different types of masochists in my opinion. Even with a functioning Pokémon Center in the area, we only saw one human during our walk that night. He was a young boy looking for Pokémon in a field of dying grass. Despite his shorts leaving his legs bare, the kid didn’t seem to be bothered by the waves of brown plant life that jostled his limbs.

When we saw him, I gave a nod to Mew and she transformed into her Pikachu guise. Once we had passed him and reached a safe distance, she turned back. We hadn’t talked much since leaving Pewter, so it came as a surprise when the silence was broken by a soft voice. “How much farther?”

I turned to her quickly, too quickly. Before I could think to hide the contempt written on my face, she saw it and stopped cold. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear. I was just surprised that a legendary Pokémon would already be getting tired, and still a little upset at myself for getting caught up in my first sizable trek in years. “Look,” I started, but before I could comfort her she spoke again.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“No, it’s fine,” I said, feeling that special brand of disgust I reserved only for myself. “Let’s take a break.” We stopped moving. I sat down and was followed shortly by the sound of my companion gently dropping out of the air to lay on the ground. Even though the surface was rough and littered with rocks and weeds, I had to admit that it felt nice just to rest and the contented sigh from Mew signaled her agreement. We just stayed there for a while, waiting for nothing in particular. I spoke though, to try and comfort the other Pokémon. “Are you okay?”

She lifted her head up to look at me. “I’m alright, just thought I’d have more time to rest before having to move again.”

“How long have those Pokémon been chasing you?”

This time, my concern was met with a faint smile. “For weeks they’ve been chasing me. Ever since I found myself here, they’ve been chasing me.”

My ears perked up at that. “What do you mean by ‘here’?” I asked.

“Here, in this world.”

“What? Where are you from?”

“Oh, I’m not an alien or anything like that! It’s just that,” she started, and then paused to collect her thoughts. I was genuinely interested in her answer, but I was also pleased to see that her mind appeared to have been taken off of her exhaustion. “Alright, so you know that there are legendary Pokémon, right?”

“You’re here in front of me, aren’t you?”

“Exactly! So, most of the time, we spend our time in our homes, or roaming around. Exploring, dealing with our individual responsibilities, but sometimes we’re all called together by the big fellow himself.”

“Arceus.”

“Right, and so because it’d be difficult to get everyone together, we sort of meet on a higher plane of existence. We can project ourselves outside of our bodies to meet in a safe, neutral place.”

“Wow, astral projection,” I said to myself. “So you met with the other legendary Pokémon, then what happened?”

“Well, when we have our councils, we leave our bodies behind so we have to make sure we leave them in a safe place. Some of us have guardians, but I tried to find an isolated location and leave myself there, on an island far to the south.” Her brow furrowed. “Not long after I returned though, those three found me.”

“Who are they?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what they want. All I know is that they don’t give up. As soon as I found out that they were trying to hurt me, I raced back to the mainland. But each time I stopped at an island to rest, they would show up, and it wasn’t long before they were actively racing after me on a boat. I couldn’t slow down and I couldn’t sleep, I had to keep moving no matter what.”

“You said they had a boat?”

“Yes.”

I stroked my chin with my paw thoughtfully. “Then they can’t be wild Pokémon. How many trainers have you seen with them?”

“None,” Mew admitted, “but to be honest, I didn’t look too hard for them.”

I let the issue drop and motioned for her to continue.

“I finally landed in this small town, kept making my way north and then I met you!” she finished.

I returned her grin with one of my own. “Well, I think that we’ve rested enough,” I said rising to my feet. “Ready to get going?”

Mew levitated into the air and favored me with another smile. “Yup, that break was just what I needed! Thanks for listening to me, it felt good to get that off my chest.”

“No problem,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Let’s get a move on though, there should be a Pokémon Center not too far from here. We can make camp near there.” The psychic Pokémon nodded and we set off again. The ground seemed less treacherous after our brief break even as the hills began to become steeper and we drew closer to the mountains. Each hill that we crested offered us a new view of our destination. The entrance to the cave was a wide mouth into the earth bordered by the Pokémon Center that served as the lone building in this area, and with every yard we covered, new details became apparent.

Because I couldn’t levitate myself over each obstacle, I began to tire again before Mew, though I never would’ve let her know. Still, I was relieved when we finally reached the last hill before the Pokémon Center. “Alright,” I said, “I think we’ve covered enough ground. Let’s stop here.”

“Are you sure? That building is right there,” Mew said, gesturing to the Pokémon Center.

“Don’t worry,” I said, giving the worn-down building a once-over. “There isn’t a lot of traffic here, so this place should be safe enough. Especially if we get up early enough.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“Sure I’m sure. Now how about some dinner?”

As I expected, her blue eyes lit up at that. “Dinner?”

“Just wait here,” I said. I crept down by the Pokémon Center. There was a lone florescent light flickering inside the building, but the desk was unoccupied and most of the machinery was dark. I didn’t think there was any danger, but it never hurt to be too careful. I reached the bottom of the hill and saw just what I had been hoping for. I had been in this area a couple of years ago, when it was a little more traveled. Back then, the Pokémon Center had been frequented by many Pokémon trainers and the staff had incorporated a further way to service them in the form of growing some berry trees.

Just as I had hoped, the descendants of the trees were there and I scavenged them for food, scooping up a pile of fruit to bring back to Mew. When I dropped them before us, she didn’t hesitate to dig in. I joined her shortly, noting that she had a particular fondness for the Pecha berries. But despite her taste, she didn’t eat all of them, leaving one untouched. I thought that maybe she wanted me to have it, but I ate around it, just in case the psychic Pokémon changed her mind. When the rest of the food was gone though, that lone berry was still there.

I gave Mew a curious look, but she had one of her own for me. “What are you doing?” she asked me.

“What?” I replied through a mouth full of food.

“You’re supposed to save a berry to plant later for good luck.”

“How is it that you have a hard time understanding that reading minds without permission isn’t good, but you’re familiar with an old superstition like that?”

She smiled but said nothing as she dug a small hole, placed the Pecha berry in it, and then covered it up with earth. It was a sweet gesture from someone who considered herself a goddess, but any warm fuzzy feelings were interrupted as I saw a lone Geodude watching us from the entrance of the cave. Before I could say anything, he picked up a rock and lobbed it at my head, missing me by inches.

“Real bad idea, Rocky,” I growled, picking up the stone. I looked up to face my attacker, ready to lob the missile back at its source, only to freeze as I found myself facing not the one Geodude I had expected but about a dozen of them instead. “Oh,” I let out as the rock dropped from my hand.

“You should’ve planted that berry,” Mew said.

“Be quiet,” I hissed to her. Then, turning back to the Geodude, I asked them, “What do you want?”

I was answered with a flurry of small rocks. I shielded myself from most of them, but my mood was not improved. So I was not feeling compliant when the lead Geodude told me, “Shut up and come with us.”

I sized up the horde before us. There was a lot more of them than us, but I might have been able to hold them off for a little bit while Mew made her escape and then make my own once she was safe. I had to tell her the plan without the other Pokémon catching on, so I tried thinking as hard as I could, willing Mew to pay attention to me. I hoped that her psychic abilities were enough to pick up on such a loudly broadcast thought.

My faith was rewarded when she gave me a look, and I heard her voice in my head: What?

I have a plan to get you away from them.

Her pink-furred head shook minutely. No, let’s see what they want.

“What?” I yelled, only to find I had attracted stares from the Geodude.

Don’t worry, Zeke, Mew thought at me, we can still escape later if we need to.

A thousand concerns flashed through my head. Well it was highly unlikely that these Rock-type Pokémon were collaborating with the trio of Pokémon that were following Mew, the thought that they could spare a dozen members to intercept travelers was still very troubling. Plus, despite Mew’s confidence, wherever they took us, they would have the home field advantage. I was curious about what they wanted myself, but not to the point of endangering myself, or Mew. As the Geodude started to encircle us, I shot a look at Mew to signal her to run, but instead of the subservience I had been expecting, the psychic Pokémon responded with a steely gaze that let me know that there would be no negotiating with her on this point. Her look also made my blood run cold as I began to realize that this Pokémon I had decided to protect was not as helpless as I had thought.

But I kept my thoughts to myself and let the Geodude surround us and begin herding us toward a cave. I gave Mew one last pleading look, but she refused to make eye contact with me as we descended into the dark.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Six
At first, I tried lighting up the darkness by channeling a small amount of electricity through my cheeks. The effort succeeded in creating a small glow around us as we were led deeper and deeper into the cave, but I quickly found that the energy expended in keeping my surroundings visible was not worth it. Not that I was unable to successfully keep electricity flowing, no. Rather it was because all that would greet my light was rocky walls and Zubat disturbed out of their sleep by our intrusion. I decided to deal with the darkness because at least that way I couldn’t see all of the eyeless creatures with their fangs and fluttering blue wings.

The Geodude continued to prod us, pushing us to move quickly and leaving little time for me to check in with Mew. I tried to map out where we were from the entrance, but our group made so many turns and twists through echoing caverns and tight passages that I quickly gave up. Instead, I had to put my faith in our captors. I convinced myself to do so by reminding myself that these Pokémon could have simply tried to bash in our skulls in with rocks as soon as we entered the cave. For whatever reason, it was not a comforting thought.

Just when I thought that my eyes were beginning to adjust, we stepped into an opening that radiated a soft green light. I blinked a few times to get used to the vision before me. We had stepped into a large room. All along the walls and the high ceilings grew a tapestry of mushrooms that emanated the soft pulses of light that had lit up the room. Drooping stalactites and towering stalagmites lent a bizarre patchwork of shadows to the whole scene. Despite all of these odd sights, there was still something that drew my attention more than any amount of fungus or geology could.

In the center of the room sat an ancient-looking Graveler, surrounded by a dozen more Geodude. His stone body was chipped and scratched, but he still commanded attention. The Geodude who had ambushed us and brought us here dropped their rocks and dropped forward in reverence, their faces pressed into the ground and their hands stretched out towards their leader.

“Who are these outsiders you have brought before me?” the large Rock-type Pokémon thundered.

I was about to speak up when Mew gave me a look. Her blue eyes were still as hard as before, so I swallowed my words before they could escape.

The Geodude did not seem to notice our little exchange. “These two were found lurking around the mountain,” the one who had cast the first stone announced.

“But why bring them to me?” the Graveler said.

“They are not of the species native to this area, yet they appear to have no human with them,” the smaller Pokémon continued. “We do not know their purpose for being here.”

“May I?” Mew asked, but before the stunned Geodude could speak, she floated forward. “Noble Graveler, thank you for receiving us. We are but two humble travelers, seeking nothing more than safe passage through this, your wonderful mountain.”

I thought that she sounded ridiculous, but the Graveler was looking at Mew thoughtfully and rubbing his chin with one of his four arms. “You are wise, small pink one,” he rumbled, “to recognize these mountains as belonging to the domain of Stoneheart, Lord of the Moon Stone.”

I rolled my eyes at his title, but luckily it went unnoticed.

“You say that you only seek passage, and you may have it.”

Mew’s head perked up at that.

“But,” the Graveler said, negating the goodwill his last few words had evoked, “you will have to wait until we can assess you and your Pikachu companion.”

“Assess?” the psychic Pokémon asked, her tail twitching slightly behind her. “What is there to assess?”

“We have seen Pikachu in our mountain before, but none like you,” the Graveler said, folding his two sets of hands. “In a few days’ time, there will be a full moon. Then we will consult the Moon Stone and our elders to decipher what your arrival signals for the future of our tribe.”

“A few days?” Mew cried out. “We don’t have that kind of time! You see-“

“Silence!” Stoneheart roared and the psychic Pokémon fell silent.

“His name’s Stoneheart, what did you expect?” I muttered to her. “Time for a different approach.” Cracking my knuckles, I stepped in front of Mew and raised my voice so the entire cavern could hear us, including the sizeable number of Geodude that had crept out of other passageways to witness Stoneheart’s court. “Fool!” I yelled. “You dare speak with such hostility, nay, such contempt to the great and legendary Mew!”

I had hoped that my words would get us a little respect and speed up this process. I had feared that my outburst would be met with anger, maybe even violence. What I hadn’t expected was the chorus of gasps that erupted from the crowd at my revelation.

“You are Mew, pink one?” Stoneheart finally got out in a voice choked with awe.

The Pokémon in question gave me a nervous glance and I nodded. “Um, yes! I am the mighty Mew, crafter of stars and breaker of worlds!” she said, rising through the air and psychically whipping up a whirlwind of dust and small rocks to add to the effect. “I sought merely to pass between your mountains with my trusty servant, but you instead offered me only trials and obstacles to my noble aims!”

“Servant?” I mouthed to her.

She ignored me, focusing her attention on the Graveler’s reaction. Slowly, Stoneheart lifted himself off of his pedestal and lowered himself to the cave floor, a sea of Geodude parting as he came down. After a pause, he spoke. “Forgive us, oh compassionate Mew. We did not know it was you who was before us. Our eyes could see yet we were blind. We will guide you through this mountain’s many treacherous paths to light on the outside.”

“Oh, great!” Mew said. I shot her a dirty look. “Ahem. I mean, yes! Noble Stoneheart, Lord of the Moon Stone, you are truly a friend of Pokémon everywhere and a worthy leader of these Geodude!”

“You are too kind, oh celestial Mew,” the Graveler said with a small smile, “but before you leave us, I must beg of you to stay, if only for the night. Eat with us, drink with us, and let us celebrate your arrival.”

“Yes, we shall accept your generous hospitality for tonight.”

“Then let us begin!”

With that, a huge cheer rose up from the Geodude, and within minutes a number of them were ferrying trays that carried varieties of meats and fruits back and forth. But the real treat was the wine. I managed to learn from one of the Geodude that the tribe had been fermenting berries for years in order to create a series of exotic and potent wines, and had even crafted a series of stone goblets with which to serve them in. I did my best to drink responsibly, declining the few requests I received for joining in on toasts, drinking contests, or learning an ancient Geodude drinking song. For her part, Mew was too busy being showered with accolades and Stoneheart’s attention to spare any time getting drunk.

Eventually, the partying died down with one Rock-type Pokémon after another begging off or collapsing in a hiccupping heap. Even their Graveler leader began to drift off, and Mew took the opportunity to extract herself from her presence and rejoin me.

“You looked like you were having fun,” I said with a wry smile.

“Well, it was alright. It was mostly just Stoneheart giving me a list of things to ask Arceus for when I get the chance.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Oh? What then?”

“You tell me, Miss ‘breaker of worlds’.”

“Shut up,” she said, giving me a playful shove, “that was just me following your lead!”

“It worked, didn’t it? No need to wait for them to consult their rock or anything ridiculous like that.”

“You’re right, we can keep moving tomorrow.”

“Yeah, tomorrow.” With that, I curled up into a small yellow ball and closed my eyes. Before I could drift off though, I felt something pressing against me. I opened my eyes and saw Mew leaning against me, her eyes closed and her breathing coming out in a relaxed rhythm. I could’ve asked her what was going on, but there was no real need. Our hosts might have found it comfortable, but cold cave floors were not my idea of a suitable bed, and I suspected that Mew felt the same way. The food and wine helped, but body heat did a lot more to help me fall asleep, or maybe it was just her presence. Regardless, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

I awoke only a few hours later to the sight of two Geodude whispering to each other. Despite their efforts, my acute hearing was still able to pick up their conversation.

“Three more outsiders?”

“Yes. No humans either, but bigger than these two. They didn’t hesitate before heading straight into the cave.”

“Who’s on guard duty tonight?”

“Only I. Everyone else fell asleep after the celebration.”

“So there are no other warriors out there,” one of the Geodude said, an edge of panic creeping into his deep voice, “and you came here?”

“I figured I had to alert the tribe.”

“We have to wake Lord Stoneheart.”

The two Geodude swung their way over to their leader, and I picked this moment to wake Mew by shaking her gently. “Get up,” I said. “I think we have trouble.”

She grunted something in her sleep and rolled away from me, but I wasn’t about to give up that easily. With a small grunt, I began charging electricity, but before I could feel the familiar warmth in my cheeks I released it into one my fingers, giving Mew a small jolt. That woke her up, and she shot up with a small yelp, more out of surprise than pain I hoped. “What?” she hissed at me.

“Three larger Pokémon without a human entered the mountain apparently. I’m guessing it’s the same three who are after you.”

“Oh no,” she said, her anger dissipating. “Are you sure?”

“This tribe of Pokémon has been living here for a long time. If they thought a Pikachu was odd, they don’t get much traffic, so three Pokémon traveling together without a trainer probably isn’t a coincidence.”

“Then we should talk to Stoneheart, warn them what’s coming.”

“Why not just get out of here ourselves?”

Mew shot me a withering look. “Not only do we have no chance of finding our way out of this network of caves on our own, but we owe them that much for welcoming us into their home. We’re the ones who brought the risk to them.”

“But if we’re gone, maybe they’ll be left alone?”

“These are the same three Pokémon who burned down a forest when they couldn’t find me. They won’t just let them go.”

I sighed. What else could I do in response to a point like that? “Fine, let’s go tell them.”