Pokémon: Nemesis [PG-13]

[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.”

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Seven
We made our way over to the Graveler who hardly seemed thrilled about being woken up from his stupor. He was already in the middle of a conversation with his guards, alternating between speaking with the force of authority and grabbing his lumpy head in a vain attempt to fend off a headache.

“I’m the reason why those three Pokémon are here. They’re after me,” Mew said.

Stoneheart’s eyes narrowed at this news. “How did you know about these three intruders?”

My companion was silent, so I stepped in. “The great and powerful Mew has her ways,” I said.

“Enough!” Stoneheart roared. He then focused his ire on Mew. “Control your servant or my warriors will control him for you. Now what do you mean that they are after you?”

My fur bristled at being called a servant again, but I held my tongue and let Mew respond to his question. “This trio has been following me for many weeks, seeking to destroy me,” she said. “They have followed me across oceans, forests, and now even mountains have failed to deter their dark aims. The two of us wanted to warn you. You and your warriors are mighty, but these three Pokémon are powerful, and we are eager to offer our assistance in fighting them off.”

“What?” I whispered to Mew, but she maintained eye contact with Stoneheart. To these two, my concerns were insignificant. I could make a fuss, interrupt their conversation, or even just walk away, but I knew that I wouldn’t. Even if I silently argued that it was for Mew’s sake, it didn’t remedy the sour taste in my mouth. Instead, I stood there and listened, unable to stop from hating myself for doing so.

“Thank you, noble Mew,” the Rock-type said, “for your generous offer. But your assistance is not needed in this fight. Go. My warriors and I will be more than able to halt your persecutors.”

Mew looked as if she was about to protest, but before I could intervene she swallowed her words down. “Thank you, Stoneheart. You are truly a brave leader for these mountains.”

The Graveler smiled at this compliment, but his face quickly returned to its stony façade as he turned to his guards. “You, Pebblethrow! Take the Mew and her servant to the tunnels and see to it that they make it out safely.”

The Geodude being addressed saluted sharply and began loping toward one of the cavern’s walls, swinging his body forward by using his powerful arms as leverage. With a shrug, we followed him to a huge boulder. The Rock-type Pokémon grabbed the sides of the boulder and, with only a few grunts of exertion, pulled it a few feet in a tremendous display of strength, revealing a small tunnel. It was far darker than the cavern we were in, and I was loathe to leave the faint but present light generated by the mushrooms in the cavern, but it looked like we had no choice. Mew looked like she had her own qualms about squeezing into a tight recess where she may not be able to levitate.

Before either of us could voice our concerns though, a clamor rose up among the Geodude as one of them came bustling into the cavern crying, “They’re coming, they’re coming!”

“Go,” Pebblethrow said, and we complied. I let Mew go first, then followed after, giving my yellow paws one last look before they were engulfed by darkness. Once we were in, Pebblethrow followed us, and with a groan, dragged the huge rock back over the entrance of our exit, leaving only a small sliver uncovered. Immediately, all three of us rushed to press up against one another to watch the events going on within the cavern. After some initial jostling and complaints, we managed to get in a relatively comfortable position to watch the cavern.

We didn’t have to wait long. The three Pokémon that I had encountered in the Viridian Forest were just as large as I had remembered them, and the soft green light of the cave’s fungus lit them in a fit of shadows. The Hitmonchan wore a soft gambler’s smile, but his companions looked bored. The Snorlax even let out a loud yawn. In contrast to the respect that Mew had showed Stoneheart, this trio waited for the leader of the Geodude to come to them.

“Welcome to the domain of Stoneheart, Lord of the Moon Stone,” the Graveler said. “What brings you into my mountain?” His Geodude honor guard formed up behind him, glaring at those trespassing on their domain.

“I am Blackjack, and these are my co-workers, Scimitar and Club,” the tan Pokémon said, gesturing to his two companions. “We have tracked Mew to this cave. Tell us where she is.”

The Rock-type Pokémon gave the best incredulous look his craggy face could manage. “The legendary Pokémon?”

“The same.”

“I’m sorry,” Stoneheart said, spreading his four arms out, “but we have never encountered her in all of our years dwelling in these mountains.”

“Why is this place such a dump?” Scimitar spat, kicking at one of the stone platters from the previous night’s festivities lightly.

“Good question,” her Fighting-type ally said. “What happened here?”

“We had a feast last night, commemorating the full moon by honoring the Moon Stone.”

“I thought that the full moon wasn’t for a few more days,” Mew said with a whisper.

“Exactly. He’s lying to them,” I hissed back.

“Oh!”

I rolled my eyes as best I could being pressed up against a huge rock. “Now be quiet!”

“Did we really miss a feast, Blackjack?” Club the Snorlax muttered in a low, rumbling voice.

The Hitmonchan ignored him. “You’re sure that you haven’t seen Mew?”

“Yes,” Stoneheart said curtly.

“Hmm, interesting,” Blackjack said, shifting his gaze over the Graveler’s shoulder. “How many Geodude warriors do you have with you?”

The large Rock-type quickly glanced behind him, before stating confidently, “Eleven.”

“Funny,” the taller Pokémon said, beginning to walk around the Graveler, “it appears to me that they’re lined up in three columns of four, with a gap at the end of the second row. It seems like your soldiers are well-trained, but to leave such a gap, it makes me wonder where your twelfth Geodude is.”

“He was watching you come in,” the gray Pokémon said, a small tremble entering his voice.

“That’s a lie! That’s the one that was spying on us right there!” Scimitar said, gesturing at a Geodude in the first row with her scythe.

Blackjack gave the Graveler a grin. “Looks like the jig is up. Tell us where Mew is or die.”

With that, the cavern spiraled into violence as Stoneheart leapt at the trio of intruders. There was a quick flash of violence, a red blur, but when the dust cleared after these frantic seconds, one of the Hitmonchan’s fists was lodged where the top-left corner of the Graveler’s head had once been. The Rock-type stood stunned, the missing chunk making him look like a macabre piece of modern art. He glanced at our hiding spot, grimaced, and then yelled, “Attack!”

As one, the Geodude sprang into action, swinging wildly at the three enemy Pokémon with their fists and attempting to outright ram them. There was no finesse or strategy, just a mob of angry Pokémon trying to carry out their leader’s order. Stoneheart himself attempted to clobber the Pokémon, but his wild assault was hampered by the blood flowing over his eyes and by the sheer amount of skill shown by the trio of Blackjack, Scimitar, and Club. The trio deflected and intercepted attacks that came at that, coalescing into a mass then spreading out again to strike as the moment was fit. They made an incredibly well-balanced team, each member covering the weak points of the others and routing the rabble of Geodude.

Seeing how his leader and tribesmen were failing, Pebblethrow pushed the boulder aside and rushed into the battle.

“He left us,” I whispered harshly, pressing Mew and myself up against the shadow still cast by the disturbed rock. “He was supposed to be our guide out of this place!”

“He’s trying to turn the tide of the battle,” the pink Pokémon responded in soothing tones. No sooner were the words out of her mouth that Pebblethrow leaped at Blackjack only to receive a devastating blow from the Hitmonchan’s boxing glove. The crimson fist dented the Geodude’s skull, sending the gung-ho Rock-type to the ground, sprawled out as his blood joined Stoneheart’s other soldiers in painting the cave floor.

At that point, there was no choice left. “We have to go,” I said, grabbing Mew’s arm and pulling her into the cave. She looked reluctant to leave the tribe behind, but she remained silent and floated after me. The light emitted from the cavern’s fungus gradually faded as we made our way deeper and deeper into the tunnels. I had no idea where we were headed or where we were going, I just knew that we had to get away from the carnage that we had been witnessing. If Pokémon literally composed of rocks were not able to stand up to those three Pokémon that were chasing Mew, what chance did fleshy constructs like us have?

The openings grew narrower and narrower, but we pressed on. The sounds of battle faded, leaving just the sounds of my and Mew’s breathing. She was the one to break the silence. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, just give me a second to think.”

Suddenly, a voice echoed down the network of tunnels, being amplified by the constant bouncing and reinforcement of the system of passageways. “Mew! We’re coming for you!” It was Blackjack. He must have saw the hole partly uncovered by the boulder Pebblethrow had moved.

“They can’t follow us in here, right?” Mew asked warily.

“I doubt it, especially with that fat Snorlax on their side.” Before I could assuage her fears about our safety, a sudden orange light lit up the tunnel we had just turned out of. I tugged my psychic companion close to me and away from the opening just before a huge gout of flame surged past it. The Zubat that had survived were flapping around, screeching wildly. “That would be the Snorlax,” I said with a grimace.

“So what’s their plan, try and burn us out?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, lighting up my cheeks with a small surge of electricity. Just as I had feared, the soft yellow glow revealed that the rocks in the path of the fire attack were dripping. “They’re going to burn us to death or melt big enough holes for them to crawl through.”

Mew grimaced at the sight as well. “What are we going to do?”

I looked around the cave, trying to think. My light had begun to irritate the Zubat who had not been roasted alive, and their constantly shuffling wings and shrieks were not making it easy to concentrate. If only there was some way to get rid of these Zubat, I thought. That’s when it hit me. I let more electricity surge through my cheeks, feeling the warmth fill them and the sparks dancing around my face.

“What are you doing?”

“Stand back,” I said, and then let loose with a sharp jolt of electricity at the center of a flock of Zubat. The blast had the desired effect. None of the Zubat were seriously hurt, but they were panicked and began flying away from the crazy Pikachu who was attacking them. “Follow them!” I yelled as another orange light began to light up the tunnel behind us.

“What?” Mew yelled.

“The Zubat have to know a way out of the cave!” As realization dawned in her blue eyes, the pink Pokémon began to float after the fleeing Pokémon, while I followed on my paws, ignoring the scratches and scrapes that occurred as my paws hit the rocky floor. The Zubat were fast, but they paused often to rest, thinking themselves out of danger. I changed their minds with more surges of electricity and we continued our ascent, trying to push the Pokémon behind us out of mind.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Eight
We emerged from the tunnels as quickly as we could follow the Zubat out, but the heat of Club's fire attacks still licked our heels. Looking towards the sun lazily lifting off from the horizon on its daily quest across the sky, there was a moment when it seemed like everything was alright. We had emerged from the dank caves under Mount Moon onto a rocky outcropping of sheer cliff overlooking a rushing river below. Across a narrow bridge of stone worn by the steady erosion of time lay a vast field of grass and flowers that sparkled with the morning dew and interrupted only by a brook that bisected the greenery. The water continued on a gentle journey towards a city that undoubtedly was miles away, but seemed closer due to our vantage point and the general flatness of the landscape before us.

For a moment it seemed like everything was okay. But then I grabbed Mew's pink-furred arm and began leading her to the rocky passage from the cold, grey mountain to the emerald countryside beyond.

The illusion was shattered when I noticed a noise echoing from the inside of the cave. Slowing to a stop, I turned my head back towards the entrance, black-tipped ears perking up and swiveling along with my gaze. It was a droning noise, magnified in decibel by the soundwaves bouncing off of the walls of the tunnel to the surface. By the time I realized what the noise was, it was too late.

I tugged Mew harder and attempted to yell out that we had to run, but my words were swallowed by the cacophony of sound as Scimitar the Scyther burst from the exit of Mount Moon, followed shortly by a gout of flame that roared after her and sent the Spearow looking for food in the fields to take off in a great consternation of cawing and flapping wings.

The mantis-like Pokémon shot clean over my and Mew's heads, the compact folding of her limbs and wings to enable passage through the narrow tunnels undone as she revealed her blades in their full glory to land on the bridge, cutting us off from any escape by that route. My eyes met hers, but while mine narrowed as I started to charge the electric pouches in my cheeks, hers danced merrily, a smile tugging the corners of her cruel mouth.

Her scythe-like appendages were folded across her chest, but I knew that any attempt to breech her blockade would mean getting cut to pieces in the blink of an eye. Mew seemed to realize this too, and her paw relaxed in my grip. For whatever reason, Scimitar wasn't attacking us in a whirling dervish of blades. Instead, the green Pokémon was simply standing there, the only motion being a flicker of her eye behind the red glass of the device affixed to the left side of her head as some text scrolled across it. Once the message had vanished, the Scyther spoke. "The others will be here shortly. I've been instructed to hold you here until they can arrive," Scimitar said curtly. Another gout of flame, larger this time, erupted from the cave's entrance as if to punctuate her point about Club and Blackjack working their way out of the caves.

I was not feeling predisposed to waiting around, so I asked, "And what if we decide to jump and risk out chances with the rapids below?"

The Scyther looked at me, then grinned, revealing a mouth full of sharp, reptilian teeth. "If you were stupid enough to try that, I would join you for the descent and reduce the both of you to cubes of flesh before you ever got the chance to be dashed on the rocks," she said. Scimitar shifted her feet a bit. "Don't get me wrong, I would be delighted to do so, but it would seem like such a waste to our employer."

That last word caught my attention, but before I could investigate further. Another blast of fire came from the now much wider opening of Mount Moon, followed by the emergence of Club the Snorlax and Blackjack the Hitmonchan from the gash in the rock. The Hitmonchan removed his eyepiece, wiped the steam off of the red glass, and then replaced it. "So nice of you to join us," he said, opening his arms wide as he did so.

"What do you want from me?" Mew asked, her attempts to fortify her voice with the same authority she had enjoyed with Stoneheart undermined by the constant shivering of her body.

"That's for us to know and you to find out," Blackjack responded with a smile at the smaller Pokémon's evident terror.

Some surge of protective instinct surged in me and I squeezed Mew's paw in what I hoped was reassurance and said, "We already know you're working for someone else. Who is it?"

At that, the Hitmonchan's cocky eyes hardened and he shot a glare at Scimitar. "You let something like that slip out? I expect such carelessness from Club, but not from you."

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" the Snorlax in question asked.

"What does it matter?" Scimitar asked, ignoring Club's question and massive bulk entirely. "We have the Mew. Our job's just about done."

"It's about professionalism, you stupid sadist," Blackjack said, his voice dripping with contempt. "We're what's left, the nucleus of what is to come. How long do you think that's going to last if you make all of us look like rank amateurs?"

"You tell me, oh-mighty-leader," the green Pokémon snapped. "Instead of capturing or killing the Pikachu who was obviously working with the Mew, you decided we should burn down an entire forest! How's that for professionalism?"

"Enough!" Blackjack roared. My eyes, which had been darting back and forth between the two arguing villains zipped back to the tan Pokémon. "This is something we can discuss later, for now let's just deal with what's on our plate."

Club chipped in again, "Speaking of plates, what are we going to do with the Pikachu? The boss didn't say anything about a Pikachu, so we can do whatever with it, right?"

The Punching Pokémon arched an eyebrow at this. "That's a good point, Club, but I think that I should be the one to handle the little rodent." He shot a glance at Scimitar. "That way I can fix my own mistake and someone else's."

"Oh, shut up and get it over with," the Mantis Pokémon spat.

"Wait, I thought I had dibs on the Pikachu!"

"This is personal, Club," Blackjack said, "but don't worry – you dispose of what's left when I'm finished."

The Snorlax sat down in a huff, causing the cliff to shake and muttering to himself, "I didn't want leftovers."

I turned my attention to my opponent. Releasing Mew's paw, I stepped between her and Blackjack, sizing the Hitmonchan up. He was many times my size, with a corresponding longer reach and stride. Combined with the hindrances to my mobility caused by our narrow arena of cliff, this could be deadly. I couldn't recall how fast a Hitmonchan was supposed to be able to punch, but I was sure that the species was known for lightning strikes as opposed to generally more plodding movement of other Fighting-type Pokémon. I was not sure how much of my past battling experience would be applicable. We were not fighting for any tournament trophy, gym badge, or even our trainer's approval. I was fighting for my life, which meant that nothing was off the table. I curled my paws into fists and began charging my red cheeks with electricity.

No sooner had the first spark danced across my face than the first of Blackjack's blows slammed into my face. His red gloves were almost the size of my head, so it felt like a ton of bricks hitting me. I dropped to my knees and gingerly ran my paw over the rapidly swelling area of my cheek. Then I looked up and saw the tan-colored Pokémon looming over me and grinning. Two realizations sprung to my mind in that moment. The first was that he was not going to grant me a quick death, but rather prolong it for his and his companions' amusement. The second was that if there was no way to save Mew, then the least I could do would be to wipe that smile off of his face.

I pushed off the ground and began to rise to my feet, charging up for an electric attack that was sure to take the spring out of my opponent's step. But before I could unleash the accumulated voltage, a heavy, double-handed blow to the back of my skull sent me down again, my reserves of electricity dissipating into the air as the shock of the attack made me lose the concentration required for gathering and storing a large amount of charge. The back of my head tingled a bit, and I knew why. Blackjack had charged up his fists with his own electricity. This latest round of taunting only increased my desire to survive.

Instead of working towards a massive outpouring of electricity, I decided to opt for smaller blows to attempt to throw the Hitmonchan off-guard. As soon as my cheeks began to hum with energy, I released it, resulting in several low-voltage shocks that raced through the air toward my tan assailant. As I had hoped, he shifted his concentration away from me and toward batting the weak electric bursts away with his heavy red gloves. This gave me the chance to finally get back on my feet. As soon as Blackjack had finished deflecting my attacks and turned his attention back to me, I held my paw out in a rude gesture I had learned from humans. He quickly launched a devastating blow towards me, but I had been just launching into a leap while flipping the Hitmonchan off, so his punch blazed past my feet to leave a heavy impact crater in the rock below. I smiled to myself. All the speed in the world meant nothing if one could not think as fast as they could attack.

Satisfied with myself, I began to charge up with electricity again, savoring the crackle in the air and the feeling of colored sparks racing around my body. It had been so long since I had ever been in a fight of any magnitude close to this, and I was actually enjoying the feeling of combat after so long. That was until Blackjack launched a savage uppercut that caught me mid-air and sent me flying, my charged energy once again dissipating from my body.

I hit the ground hard and grimaced in pain as I checked to make sure that all of my limbs were still working. My head lay heavy on the rocky ground, but when I saw Mew's face, it hurt far more than any of Blackjack's attacks. Her blue eyes were glistening with tears, but underneath the concern there was a distance, a kind of pity for the mere mortal who was getting knocked around in order to protect her. Why should she need protection anyway? What was so scary about these Pokémon? I flipped onto my stomach, grunting at the hurt caused by my bones shifting during the motion. Before I could get up for another round, one of Blackjack's purple clad feet landed in front of my head. "Give up, Pikachu," he said, "you've lost."

"You think you've won?" I asked, trying to sound tough despite my position.

"We have Mew and are about to tie up the last loose end, so I would say so."

I laughed bitterly at that. "How about granting a dying Pokémon a last request?"

Blackjack crouched down at this, his face close enough that I could spit on him. I didn't, although I wanted to. "And what would that be?"

"Just a single question, to give me some closure."

"Go on."

"Mew said that you three have been following her for across oceans, mountains, forests, you name it. How have you been able to track her so well?" I asked. "None of you look like a Growlithe to me."

"I suppose there's no harm in telling a dead Pokémon," Blackjack said. The Hitmonchan smiled and tapped the eyepiece on the left side of his head. "This device lets us track outpourings of psychic energy. Because the Mew is so powerful, it is constantly giving off a unique psychic signature that we can roughly track. But if we want more precise coordinates, then all we have to do is wait for the Mew to utilize its psychic powers, whether telepathy or telekinesis, and the resulting spike tells us right where it is."

I took in all of this information, but my attention was split between biding my time and attempting a technique that my trainer had taught me a long time ago. By using my charged electricity to stimulate my muscles instead of creating a reservoir of power to attack with, I had been able to dramatically increase my speed. At the price of pushing my body to its limits, I might be able to salvage something from the jaws of defeat. "So, those devices were the key to finding her," I said, attempting to sound weary. I was alarmed at how easy it was.

"Exactly."

"Then let's make it more challenging," I said as I leaped toward Blackjack's face. He attempted to cut me off with a punch, but I could actually see it coming and managed to rotate around the incoming fist to grab the device on the Punching Pokémon's face. Then, I released a series of short, sharp electric bursts. A series of frantic beeps emitted from the small machine and were accompanied by smoke. Blackjack swept me off of his tan face with a heavy motion of his right arm while his left ripped the device off from his eye and threw it away, just before it exploded in a shower of fragments of white plastic, circuits, and red glass. As I hit the ground again, I yelled, "Mew! Run!" I barely heard myself though over the pounding of my head from the exertion of my last-ditch maneuver and the damage I had taken during the fight.

"That's enough!" Blackjack roared as he stepped over me to deliver the killing blow.

"I agree," said another voice. I turned towards the source of the noise, which seemed to be everywhere at once, and found myself staring at Mew. Only it wasn't the Mew that I had come to know. Instead of a face bright with excitement or darkened by worry, her face was expressionless. Her eyes were glowing a harsh, radiant pink as they had when she had used her psychic powers in the past, but this time she was also surrounded by what I can only call an aura of swirling pink energy that swarmed around her like a bubble of fireworks, each one bursting and cracking as it reached its zenith only to be replaced by three more.

Before I could try to talk to Mew, I felt myself begin to slip into the blackness of unconsciousness, my descent lit only by the pink light of psychic power that had burned itself into my retinas.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Nine
My eyes shot open as I awoke in the dark. I was scared and confused, unsure of how long I had been out or where I had been taken. I knew I was alive though – the aches and pains throughout my body made sure I didn't forget it. I was honestly amazed by that fact. I had fought tough Pokémon before, sure. But Blackjack had made it explicit that he meant to kill me. If it hadn't been for Mew, then I would have died. At the thought of her, I bolted up. Despite the pain of my sudden movement, I still managed to shout, "Mew!"

"Quiet down," a familiar voice said. "I'm here, there's no need to yell."

My eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness, but it was useless. Wherever we were was pitch-dark. "Where are-" I started, only to stop when I felt her soft paw against my forehead.

"I'm here," she said again soothingly.

My eyes began to make out her form above me, a less dark outline in the overall blackness. I swallowed and began to speak again, calmer this time. "Where are we?"

"A cave by the city," Mew said. "We're safe here."

"Are we back under Mount Moon?"

Her head shook slightly in dark. "No, somewhere more hidden."

I tried to remember the maps of Kanto that my trainer had studied, but my head started to pound and I gave up and instead rested back against the ground. At that point, I noticed just how soft the surface was. My paw curled around some light and fluffy kind of moss or maybe another species of plant. My mind was struggling to make connections, but all I could firmly grasp was the feeling that something was unusual about this place. Despite our being in a cave, the atmosphere did not feel oppressive or dank, but rather brimming with energy. It hurt to think about it, or to do much of anything really, so I was grateful when Mew touched something cool against my head, giving me a chance to distract myself. "What was that?" I asked.

"It's a species of mushroom planted by the Parasect who once lived in this cave. It has some healing properties, but you still need to rest for a few days."

"Give it to me straight, doc," I said. "How bad is it?"

I could almost see her smile in the dark. "That Hitmonchan really did a number on you," she said, rubbing what I assumed was another one of these healing fungi on my battered body. "He wasn't holding back."

"Yeah." Then realization hit me, and I tried to get up again. "You can't stay here for a few days, you have to keep running! They'll be coming for you!"

"No," she said quietly. Her eyes refused to meet me in the dark.

My hysterics ground to a halt at her single word. "What do you mean?"

"They won't be bothering us for a while."

"Why?" I asked. Then, the images came flooding back. Mew being surrounded in a violent pink glow. The crackling and snapping of psychic fireworks around her. Her empty eyes. "Mew, what did you do?" She ignored me, so I repeated my question, but quieter.

Finally, the dam burst. "I hurt them!" Mew cried out in a voice that echoed inside of my skull. Her whole form was surrounded by a pink glow again, but it was softer and duller than it had been on the cliff. It was still enough to light up the entire grotto we were in, revealing high ceilings and a lagoon, all devoid of Pokémon besides the two of us. "They were going to kill you, Zeke," she continued, seemingly unaware of the anguish she was radiating from her small body. "They hurt you so I hurt them!"

I unsteadily rose to my feet. Any pain that I was feeling was overwhelmed by the waves of despair that Mew's aura was radiating, and as I moved closer to the legendary Pokémon to hug her, the feeling only intensified. Still, I powered through and wrapped myself around Mew's floating form. I thought about reassuring her with words, but nothing that I said seemed like it would be enough. So instead I held her until I felt her aura dissipate and saw the cave grow dark again.

Finally, I felt her look up. Feeling awkward at the prolonged contact, I disentangled myself from Mew. The pain in my body had resumed its preeminence, but it was tempered by a feeling of joy that kept a smile on my face no matter what I felt. "Thank you," she said.

"I should be thanking you," I sputtered. "You saved my life." I paused for a second. "I don't want to upset you, but what did you do them?"

I could feel Mew's hesitation, and I was ready to drop the subject entirely. Instead she looked at me and whispered, "I could show you."

"Show me?"

But instead of explaining, she placed her paws against my head. Her eyes began to glow pink, and then everything in the blackness seemed to have a pink hue to it. It took me a few seconds to realize that the cause of this was that my own eyes were glowing too. I jerked back in fright, but Mew held on to my head and pressed her forehead against mine.

Suddenly a surge of memories and feelings filled me. I saw myself get beaten by Blackjack from Mew's point of view and felt her mounting fury. I heard her speak and felt the surge of psychic power rush through her veins. I watched Mew stretch out her paw and, with a flick of her tiny wrist, send the Hitmonchan careening into the side of Mount Moon. Club and Scimitar were sent crashing into each other, and the trio were pulled from the crumbled mass of bodies by Mew's psychic powers to be juggled about like rag dolls. Mew orchestrated their every mid-air collision and their every rise to the heavens and crash to the earth with her paws, but the scariest part of the whole experience was that Mew's fury had been replaced by a void of feeling. She was focused on hurting them, but only in a mechanical, methodical way. Finally, the trio of broken and bloody bodies were unceremoniously dumped in the river below the cliff, their cries cut short by a loud splash.

The vision ended with Mew releasing me. I was sent sprawling back onto the mat of moss. Silence hung in the air as I attempted to process what I had seen. Finally, I sat up and spoke. "Did you kill them?"

"No," Mew said, shaking her head violently in the dark.

"Why not? You could have stopped them from chasing you at any time."

"Zeke," she said, a forcefulness in her voice that I had not heard in a while, "I am Mew, the legendary Pokémon embodying the creation of life. I am supposed to be friend to all living things. I hate violence. I hate to hurt. It goes against everything that I am."

"But you could do it?" I pressed.

The psychic Pokémon sighed. "I don't know. I've never tried. It's been so long since I tried anything like what I did with those three. In order to hurt them, I had to turn off any part of me that makes me who I am. I had to give into that desire to hurt and hope that I'd still be able to find my way back from that emptiness."

"But you took that risk for me," I said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"You said you had done something like that before. What prompted it then?"

"Do you remember how I said that legendary Pokémon had sanctuaries where they could rest?" Mew gestured in the dark to the cave around us. "This used to be my domain. A cave full of Pokémon who worshipped me and served me as protectors and retainers."

"Worshipped you?" I asked incredulously.

"Yup," Mew said. "That was a long time ago, before the city nearby was built. In fact, it was the construction of the city that was the root cause of the problem. Human tribes had always lived in this area, but a few centuries ago, they began to consolidate into larger and larger groups, eventually forming towns, cities, and even countries. My cave and the area surrounding it were always treated with reverence by the nomadic tribes in the area, but as more humans moved into the area from the south, drawn by its flowing waterways and mineral deposits, tensions grew. Not only did the humans clash, but increasingly our sanctuary was intruded upon. At first I made the decision to retreat deeper into the caves and let the humans fight it out.

"But we were pressed for space and resources. Some of the Pokémon wanted to meet the humans in battle and retake the area surrounding this cave in my name. I refused to countenance such an action, but things only got worse. The increase in the human population made it more and more dangerous for my disciples to forage for food, with humans capturing them or killing them, for food, trophies, or even sport."

"So you struck back against the humans?" I asked, my eyes wide at her story.

"Not exactly," Mew said, her voice tentative but strong. "Among my followers, things came to a head, with two factions forming. One wanted to attempt to wait out the human settlement. The other sought the destruction of the encroachers and the reclamation of what they still thought of as their land. When the two sides of Pokémon came to blows, I separated them with force. I wasn't as brutal with them as I was with the trio of Pokémon outside Mount Moon, but I still hurt the ringleaders enough to force them to stop."

"What happened next?"

"Some of them thought about turning on me, but the majority were quelled for the time being. When I came back to myself, I was ashamed at how I had acted, and I fled. I sought out another sanctuary to the southern seas and abandoned them to their fates." The Pokémon spun around the cave, surveying the emptiness. "I shouldn't have been so surprised to see this place empty. I wonder if any of the wild Pokémon around here still know how to find the entrances to this cave," she said ruefully.

I laid down on the moss, feeling the cool surface mold itself to the weight of my body. "You intervened then to stop Pokémon you care about from getting hurt, and you intervened again to protect me," I said, more to myself than to her. Then, to her, I asked, "What does that make us?"

Mew drifted closer to me and lowered herself onto the cave's overgrown floor as well. "Friends, I suppose," she said after a while.

"Friends," I said, trying out the word on my tongue. It felt like an old friend coming home. "I like it, Mew."

"I suppose it's only fair to tell you that that's not my name," she said with a giggle.

"What?"

"It's more of a title than anything."

"So what's your real name?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"No one knows outside of legendary Pokémon. Do you think you're ready for that kind of responsibility?" she teased.

I felt a smile spread across my face. "I think I'll take my chances."

Mew took a deep breath, let it out, and then said, "Amie."

"Huh," I said, "the Kalosian word for friend. Fitting for someone who is supposed to be a friend to all living creatures."

"They got it from me, actually."

I laughed at that, and it wasn't long before she started laughing too. My sides hurt from the injuries I had sustained, but I kept on chortling. As long as I kept laughing, I could forget about the fact that Amie might still be in danger. I could forget about not having a clue of what the future held. And most importantly, I could focus on the Pokémon that was giggling so hard she was snorting and try to forget the vision she had shown me of her effortlessly hurting three powerful and vicious Pokémon. So I kept laughing and tried to ignore the sinking feeling that things were far from over.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Ten
After a few days of resting, I was feeling like my old self again. It was no Pokémon Center, but whatever herbs and skills Amie had been using provided a good enough substitute. The days passed surprisingly quickly, largely because I spent a great deal of time resting, doctor's orders and all. The rest of the time was spent either talking with Amie about what we should do next or engaging in some kind of physical therapy to make sure that my body would heal properly and my muscles and bones were all in working order. Fortunately, Blackjack had not broken anything when he pummeled me, but there were enough bruises and other blemishes to make sure that I did not take my halting progress towards being fighting fit for granted.

What I found more pressing than my health was how to make sure that Amie would be safe. Given that they had been following her for so long already, I became convinced that the trio of Pokémon that had engaged us would likely be back. As much as she disliked talking about it, I was able to tease out more information from my psychic companion about her past experiences with Blackjack, Scimitar, and Club. While I offered shadows of my doubts and reasoning in our discussions, I kept the plan that I was forming to myself for the most part. Once I had all of the components clear in my head, I presented it to Amie after we finished a meal scavenged from the nearby countryside.

"I think I know a way to get you away from those Pokémon that are after you for a long while, if not for good," I said abruptly.

Amie seemed surprised, her blue eyes widening in the light from that which filtered in through the cave entrance where we had eaten our meal, but she maintained her composure and gestured for me to continue.

"Well, from what you've told me," I began, "it's only these three Pokémon that are after you. They have an ability to get around to chase you, but the fact that you've only seen a Hitmonchan, a Scyther, and a Snorlax this whole time – that they haven't assembled some sort of ambush to intercept you or gathered some sort of reinforcements to help with hunting you down – suggests to me that they don't have any kind of infrastructure or support network. So once you lose those three, you should be in the clear."

Amie sat mulling over what I had said. "What about those devices that they wear over their eyes?" she asked. "Doesn't that suggest a benefactor or organization of sorts?"

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully with my paw. "Possibly, but it could also be something they stole or picked up along the way. They can track you to a certain degree, but that they had to resort to asking a Pikachu if he had seen you makes me think that they don't have a very strong or wide network supporting them."

"Beyond their employer," Amie said. "Going back to those tracking devices, how do you plan on getting around them?"

I smiled to myself. "Two ways. First, you're to refrain from using any of your psychic abilities while we travel. Blackjack said that they could track you somewhat from what you emit regularly, but that they were only able to pinpoint your location when you used your psychic powers. Second, we're going to hide you, so that even that your basic trail won't be of much use to them."

"And how will we do that?"

"The city of Saffron!" I said with a dramatic flourish of my paws. "It's home to the largest concentration of psychic humans in the world, and psychic humans like Psychic-type Pokémon, so there's plenty of white noise that should be able to obscure you, even if you are a goddess."

"So that's the plan? To hide me in a city?" She didn't sound disappointed, not at all, but she didn't seem too impressed either. That's when I sprung the next part of my plan.

"Saffron isn't just home to a bunch of telekinetic weirdos," I said. "It's also one of the central hubs for the Magnet Train."

"The what?"

"It's this whole rail system that connects the country, you can get just about anywhere in the Union with it."

"What's a rail system?" Amie asked.

I let out a slightly frustrated exhalation. "The important thing is that this rail system can get you out of Kanto and into Johto."

"Why would some human-made boundary do more to stop those three than the ocean I travelled over?"

"Well," I said, "although Kanto and Johto are part of the same country, they still check all the traffic that goes into and out of their jurisdiction to catch smugglers, terrorists, and the like. They don't pay too close attention to small, harmless Pokémon like Rattata or Pikachu, but three powerful and battle-hardened Pokémon like them will raise a lot of suspicion, especially if they're unaccompanied by a trainer. So we'll be able to buy a lot of time for you to get far away."

Her expression was blank, but her head was bobbing in understanding. I was expecting any of a number of questions about my plan ranging from further explanation of the nitty gritty details to reservations about the scheme as a whole. But instead of many questions, Amie only had one. "Zeke, are you well enough to travel?"

"Yeah, I'm right as rain. Whatever was in those mushrooms did wonders for me," I said, downplaying the small, manageable aches I still was enjoying.

"Since we want to get a head-start on that trio, we should leave as soon as possible," she said. "Today, if we can."

My eyes widened, but I nodded once sharply. "Alright," I said, "we're going to have to go into the city then. I have an old contact who should be able to help us."

We spent little time in the cave after that conversation, just enough to finish our food and for me to refuse another round of treatments from Amie's fungi. We covered the entrance to the cave with a few nearby ferns, but I convinced my companion to leave the entrance just visible enough to anyone dead-set on finding it. I hoped that would mean Blackjack and his posse would waste valuable time searching the cave. When we were satisfied with our handiwork, Mew took me to the river's edge that served as an unofficial border between the city of Cerulean and the still somewhat untamed wilds. The river was wide, a sparkling blue surface that hardly betrayed the speed that caused rapids closer to Mount Moon. On the other side were a few houses, shacks really, piled on top of and crushed next to one another so that precious room could be devoted to aquatic-based industries that helped sustain the city. The morning sun's position in the sky meant that the dockworkers and fishermen that worked hard to sustain their families' poverty-line existences were gone, their children were most likely in the overcrowded Cerulean public schools, and their wives were out running errands. In other words, it was the perfect time for a daring river crossing undertaken by a legendary Pokémon in the broad daylight.

Amie spent a few minutes looking at the river and what lay beyond, her mouth silently moving in what I assumed was a running dialogue of calculation and inspiration. Finally, she spoke, "I have a plan."

I grinned at her. "As long as you're not planning on giving me a psychic heave-ho across, I'm all ears." I gave my black-tipped appendages a slight twitch as emphasis.

She smiled at that, and it was wonderful to see that smile spread across her pink-furred face. "Not quite," she said. "We agreed that I should try to downplay my psychic abilities for a while, but that doesn't mean I don't have other skills."

"I don't think being nice works on bodies of water, Amie."

She shook her head, but did not say a word, instead floating toward the edge of the water. Then, she lowered towards the ground until she was almost hidden among the reeds that swayed along the river's edge. Her form began to distort and shrink below the pitiful canopy of reeds, but before I could approach her to see if everything was alright, a new shape emerged from among the plants. Slowly, but powerfully, a blue head erupted from the cover, perched on a long, elegant neck and topped with a horn that seemed more gentle than violent. The neck was connected to a body covered with a thick gray shell, upon which numerous spikes were spread, but again this feature seemed to be less threatening in nature than it should be in theory. The protrusions were spaced far-enough apart that even a few humans could likely all find themselves a perch on this graceful creature's back. This Pokémon began to move into the water of the river, dragging herself along on thick flippers. Then the Lapras turned its neck toward me and chirped, "Hop on!"

"Amie," I whispered, "this is incredible." I walked up to her new form and placed my hand on one of the spikes of her shell, but did not pull myself up yet, preferring instead to let my eyes roam over this majestic being.

"Count yourself lucky you're the servant of such an awe-inspiring goddess!" she laughed.

"Oh hush, you're just a glorified psychic Ditto," I said as I pulled myself onto her back and set about finding a comfortable and safe place to stand for the trip across the water. "Although you're a lot cuter than a Ditto," I said absentmindedly.

Neither of us said anything for the rest of the trek across the river. Amie pulled herself into the water and, after testing out her unfamiliar form, powered across the river, spooking the vividly orange Magikarp in the water with her speed and total disregard for the wishes of the current. I almost wished that the river had been longer, or even a larger body of water altogether, so that I would have the chance to really see what this form could do, but that would have meant an extension of the heavy silence that had settled over us, so I was thankful that the crossing was mercifully brief. After I had disembarked onto a rickety wooden dock that looked like it had not seen better days for at least a decade, Amie transformed back into her Mew form.

Her pink form hovered over to be next to me with a curious look on her face. "It's much bigger than I remembered," she said, and as much as I wanted to make a joke about her long lifespan, the fact was that I felt the same way. I had not been this far from the Viridian Forest since journeying with my trainer. In my disconnected and fading memories, the city of Cerulean was just a few homes, a Pokémon Center, a store, a Pokémon League gym, and a few other landmarks. What I could see before me through the opening provided by an alleyway between two of the countless ramshackle tenements was a city in every sense of the word. Away beyond these slums lay a network of glass and steel buildings honeycombed so densely that you could hardly tell where one building ended and the next began. I had thought it would be easy to quickly find my contact and then get out before Amie's pursuers could close too much of the gap between us and them. Now, looking at this veritable maze, I was not so confident.

I was snapped out of my revelry by a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a female Pikachu looking at me expectantly. "Are you ready to go?" Amie asked.

Seeing the hope in her eyes, undeterred by any mere physical transformation, filled me with a kind of determination that was not there before. "Yeah," I said, turning my attention back to the challenge before us, "just follow me." Then the two of us set off through the alleyway before us into the heart of Cerulean proper.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Eleven
The city of Cerulean may have been bigger than I remembered, but once Amie and I were in the heart of the metropolis I began to feel at home. While living in the woods had its own kind of charm, the main appeal of the former Viridian Forest for me was that it was situated between two urban areas where I could go and experience, and steal, some of the parts of my past life that I missed. Belonging to a human, no matter for how short a period, had an undeniable impact on a Pokémon, and for one like me that was trained for years the changes were even more pronounced. So I was not surprised that, despite all of my genetic forbearers that made their lives in the wild, who were born, grew old, and died within the same stretch of woods, I felt far more comfortable among the paved streets and smell of engine exhaust underlying a thousand other smells. I stopped in the middle of an empty sidewalk, rose up on my hind legs, and just sniffed the air. A wealth of information poured into my brain as I quickly, instinctually really, separated the odors from one another and categorized them as "food", "not-food", and "maybe-food".

My concentration was broken when Amie prodded my shoulder gently. "Uh, Zeke, are you okay?" she asked.

I snapped out of my trance and flashed her a grin. "Sorry, just got a whiff of some things I'd missed while we were holed up eating roots and berries." I shook my head to finish clearing the fog and then dropped back to all-fours. "Let's go," I said, and we set off to the south.

For all intents in purposes, we were just two Pikachu scampering around a big city, hardly an unusual sight in a place like this where merchants, travelers, and, especially, food congregated and passed through in bulk. We winded around the legs of the stray humans that wandered into our paths, I with the practiced ease of a creature well-versed in the rhythms and movements of the large creatures and Amie with her characteristic politeness, letting human after human pass by instead of taking a chance and leaping through a small gap in the foot traffic. I teased her about this at first, but shut up after a fruit vendor responded by giving the more well-behaved Pokémon a bright red apple from off of his stand.

The scents of a city were one thing, but I also delighted in the noises around me, and not just the honking of horns or the screeching of tires. Any Pokémon has a pretty basic understanding of human communication, or are at least able to follow along the intonations and body language in order to decipher meaning, but spending years with a trainer gives you pretty strong grasp of the language they used to command, to comfort, and to confide. So as Amie and I continued to meander south to our destination, I listened to snippets of the conversations that we passed by. A lot of it was fairly mundane stuff such as a couple having relationship issues or a customer trying to haggle their way for a better deal on some produce. One group of humans we passed by caused me to slow down and try to subtly swivel my ears toward what they were saying. It was a group of four men huddled together on a stoop, all of them fairly elderly and dressed in long coats of varying shades of gray. They were passing around pages of newsprint and murmuring over the contents. I was able to catch all of it, but the sentence that stuck in my mind was delivered by what appeared to be the youngest of the wizened figures, who said, "I can't believe they would pull something like this! After all we've done for them and they think they can shut us out!" The others murmured more quietly, but their tones indicated that they all agreed with the sentiment.

A part of me wanted to wait for them to disperse and throw away the newspaper so I could attempt to read it myself with what ability to do so I had picked up through osmosis during my training. While Pokémon had their own ways of spreading information, in some ways far more all-encompassing and accurate than similar human efforts, there was something about the crisp display of black and white text that seemed so much more authoritative to me, especially since the latest rumors and developments were compiled and delivered on a daily basis rather than relying on the chance that a flock of migrating Flying-types would settle in for a few days' rest in the forest you called home. As strong as the temptation to reaffirm my fading connection to the life I had once led, the more important factor was Amie and getting her to safety was a time-sensitive issue while whatever had developed such a buzz among those four humans was more likely not. So when Amie gave me a questioning gaze with her big beautiful eyes, I turned away from the council of men debating current events and ran to catch up with her.

We continued on for a few more blocks, playfully nipping at each other's tails and gradually taking our time with getting toward our destination. While I believe that Amie was honestly enjoying our games, I was at least partially doing it in order to take my mind off of things and to try and just enjoy this time with her. If everything went according to plan, she would be in Johto, and I had no idea where I would be. I was pulled away from the thoughts that threatened to pervade my simple joy at being in a city and being with Amie when I found myself looking at our destination.

It was a garishly built building, bright red and built like a huge doughnut. If the massive glass windows displaying the store's wares did not give away the purpose of the building, the giant inflated bicycle that rested on the top of the doughnut gave it and secured by numerous cables running to the ground gave it away. The destination was not what was important however. Rather it was the Pokémon standing in front of the store, a slack-jawed Slowbro with a glazed over look in his eyes. When he noticed me looking at him, however, this face transformed from one displaying empty idiocy to a serious gaze. He began to walk towards Amie and I, swinging his Shellder-encrusted tail behind him in a gentle rocking arc.

"You got a lotta nerve showing your face around here, you low-life, double-crossing rat," the pink Pokémon said with real venom in his voice.

Amie flashed a concerned look at me and I quickly stood up on my rear legs, spreading my arms in an attempt at humility. "Come on, Ham, you can't still be holding that against me."

The larger Pokémon drew nearer, looming over me. I was about to start charging the pouches in my cheeks when like a flash the Slowbro's narrowed eyes widened in mirth and he wrapped me up in a tight hug. "Zeke!" he laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face." Before his tight grip could do too much damage, I was released and the pastel-colored creature made his way over to Amie. "Well, well, well," he said with a slanted grin, "I never figured you to be the type to settle down, Ezekiel!" He took one of the still-startled Pokémon's paws, bowed low, and kissed it. "Hamilton Sheldon Scott, Esquire, at your service, miss?" he said in a charming baritone.

"I'm Amie," she giggled.

"Charmed," the Slowbro said. He stood back up and turned back to me. "So, Zeke," Hamilton said, "what brings you all the way out here?"

"I was looking for you, we need your help," I admitted.

His rounded ears perked up at that. "Really? Do tell."

"It's important. Can you talk?"

Hamilton shot a glance behind him at the bicycle retailer. "Yeah, I should be good for a bit.

I peered around him to try and look through the large windows showcasing displays of sleek two-wheelers. "She's still seeing that guy, then?" I asked.

"Not exactly," the pink Pokémon sighed. "They had a nasty break-up after she said that a clerk at a bicycle store was never going to get anywhere in life. But with the possibility that he might be called up soon, they're probably making up in there."

The three of us took seats on the curb outside of the bike shop. "For reasons I can't really go into, I need to get this Pikachu, Amie, over the border into Johto," I said. "Magnet Train looks like our best bet."

Hamilton smiled a wide grin showing his puny fangs. "There's something you're not telling me, Ezekiel, but that's okay. I know a lot about playing things close to the chest. What do you need from me?" said Hamilton.

"I've been out of things for a while, but you've always known this city like the back of your hand," I explained. "We need to know which Magnet Train stop in Cerulean would be the easiest for two stray Pokémon to board without attract any attention."

Hamilton stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "You aren't planning anything illegal, are you?" the larger Pokémon asked. I gave him a sharp look and he laughed. "Kidding, kidding, Ezekiel. That's none of my business. My business is telling you that there's a station a few blocks to the north where there's been some kind of construction work under way over the past few weeks to expand it into some kind of regional hub. Because of that, most of the ticketing booths are closed off, save for one or two. While that's a problem for the humans, two nimble electric mice should be able to get through most of the so-called barriers that the humans put up and hop on the first train going towards Saffron."

"Thanks, Ham," I said, shaking one of his paws with both of mine. "This is really important to me."

The Slowbro chuckled. "Then you owe me one the next time you're in Cerulean, okay?"

I gave him a nod and Amie thanked him before we started to head north.

"You keep an eye on him, alright, Amie?" Hamilton shouted after us with a final laugh before turning his attention back to resuming his charade of being completely out of it.

After we had gone past the bicycle store, Amie told me that she was reaching the time limit on her transformation. We ducked into a side alley and Amie's form began to melt and reshape from that of a yellow Pikachu to her true form as Mew, literal Pokémon goddess. Right before she changed back, she said, "Your friend seemed nice. How do you know him?"

"Hamilton?" I said, trying not to stare at the process of Amie becoming a Pikachu out of some desire to respect her modesty. Another legacy of being trained by a human I suppose. "He's alright," I continued. "We used to run together for a while when my trainer was staying in Cerulean, and when I was on my own, I came back to Cerulean for a while and we did a few small jobs together."

Amie was back to being a Pikachu like me, albeit a much more feminine one, and a more beautiful one if I had to be honest with myself. "What happened with your trainer, anyways?" she asked with a kind of innocent curiosity.

But I was not ready to answer that question. Not now, with a pressing goal before me. "It's not important," I said. "Come on, it's just a little longer to the station Hamilton told us about." Coming out of the alley, I set off down the pavement, trusting that Amie was close behind. After a few minutes of this pace, we found ourselves deposited into a square where a surprising number of people for this time of day were hurrying to their destinations, milling about, or caught somewhere halfway in-between the two extremes. A series of monorail tracks that dipped from the horizon into a station and then rose up to the sky again as they passed over or around the people in the square. This was the last hurdle, I told myself. If I could get Amie on the Magnet Train and into Johto, everything would be okay.

[Kentucky Fried Torchic]

Chapter Twelve
The two of us made our way to the outskirt of the crowd that had gathered outside of the station, and not a minute too soon, in my opinion. It was a mass of people, all pushing and bustling in order to try and gain access to either the single open pair of turnstiles leading to the tracks, or to the ticket station, which was manned by a harried-looking bespectacled man who looked positively terrified of the mob. People jostled into one another and shouted at real or perceived rudeness, but stopped short of antagonizing the two heavily-armed guards dressed in the khaki uniforms of the Tohjo Union's armed forces who stood to the side of the turnstiles to deter jumpers as well as potentially more serious crimes. They looked at the crowd of citizens hemmed into the narrow pathways provided to them for their journeying with stone-faced silence that seemed to serve just as effectively as the guns they held in front of their barreled chests at preventing any of the isolated scuffles in the crowd from erupting into a general outbreak of violence.

Overall, it was clear to me that it would not be worth trying to get through this multitude, as I thought that it would be far too easy for Amie and I to get trampled underfoot or, even if we could avoid that, getting apprehended by two professional soldiers who would likely not be too sympathetic to the plight of two Pokémon, no matter how cute they were. No, it was better to find another way in, and it seemed like it would be easy enough to do so. After all, the construction had not only shut down most of the entrances to the boarding area for the Magnet Train, but it had also concentrated people at what two openings still existed, creating a ready and effective distraction without me needing to do any work. "Come on," I said, briefly grabbing one of Amie's yellow paws in one of my own, before darting away from the crowd of people, mindful of any sounds or smells that would signal that the men guarding the entrance had any idea of what was going through my head.

Once we were a few yards away from the commotion, I tilted my head toward one of the turnstiles that was covered with a mess of tape warning people off. Making sure that the coast was clear, I sprinted over to the obstructed path and held up some of the tape in order to make an entrance large enough for a Pikachu to squeeze through before frantically beckoning Amie to go through. She obliged, and once she was through, she mimicked my actions from the other side of the threshold and I followed after, working quickly and hoping that my yellow fur would provide some kind of camouflage with the similarly-colored tape.

We caught our breath, leaning against the out-of-order plastic-coated machinery of the turnstile for support. "I think I'm getting close to my limit, Zeke," my transformed companion said. "Can you cover me while I change?"

I nodded my assent and averted my eyes as Amie changed back into her natural form as Mew, a literal goddess of Pokémon, and then back into the shape of a female Pikachu, so similar to my own body in the larger trends of the species, but different enough in important ways where I could notice the differences that her femininity granted her. Once she was finished cycling through the forms, she chirped, "Done!" and I turned back around.

"Let's go then," I said and began exploring the sectioned-off part of the station. As Ham said, there appeared to be a lot of construction going on, with plenty of piles of earth and a number of empty vehicles capable of moving them and making more of them scattered about, a nice sign that my old acquaintance was still at least a little trustworthy. Except this heavy machinery did not look the least bit familiar to any that I had seen during past projects, like those I had observed taking place on the highway parallel to the Viridian Forest before it had been burned down. Instead of being painted in bright colors, they were colored with subdued shades of tan and green. Furthermore, the work on the tunnels seemed to be far greater than I had expected to see. Instead of just touching up on the construction that had been a part of Cerulean for as long as I could remember, it looked like there were some massive earthworks underway, that seemed designed to both create more lines of rail but also to adjust the size of the tracks, placing the two parallel iron bars farther apart in the tracks that smelled and looked more recent. I assumed that this would mean that they could accommodate a heavier load than usual, but I could not fathom why this would be necessary unless all of the news stories about humans getting fatter and fatter were a lot more pressing than I had made them out to be.

My observations were cut short by Amie as she called my attention to an opening that she had found leading to the untouched part of the station. I tried to be enthusiastic about this progress, but I was a little disappointed to be torn away from my investigations and I think that Amie could pick up on it. Before she could say anything though, I led her through the passage she had found.

We found ourselves staring at the series of track and platforms that comprised the interior of the Cerulean Central Magnet Train Station. More people were inside than were out, but their dispersal across a greater area, as well as the numbing effect of waiting for something, made it a less hostile and unpredictable environment. I led Amie around the humans, ducking behind a sign or slipping into a shadowy corner when there was a risk of discovery, and often having to pull my too-trusting companion after me. The humans we were encountering may not have been on top of their game, but there would be something just plain conspicuous about two yellow Pokémon boarding a train without a human accompanying them. This was the great downside to the human world: for all of its splendor and treasures, it just was not easy for a Pokémon to make their way alone. Some quote about the pros and cons of serving in heaven versus ruling in hell flitted through my mind, but the memory was old and stale and I was not able to attach a speaker or an author to the idea.

No matter, the past was the past and the present was the present, I thought to myself just before I my eyes set upon a man wheeling a small trolley ladled high with boxes toward the northern end of the platform, the farthest end from Saffron. I glanced at Amie and made a series of gestures with my head, face, ears, and tail in order to convey what I had seen.

Her response was a blank stare.

After letting out a sigh, I quickly explained, "There's a cart full of boxes that I think are going to be loaded onto the next train and what looks like only a single man handling the work. If we can find a hiding spot closer to that spot, we should be able to get on board. After all, it'll be easier to sneak past one person than many."

The disguised legendary Pokémon nodded, and, after again taking painstaking care to make sure that our path was clear, the two of us set off, sneaking behind the turned back of commuters either too tired or too preoccupied with their technological distractions to notice. We made it past not only the bulk of the waiting people, but the fringes as well and found another hiding place behind a pillar a little bit past the pile of boxes sitting on the now-abandoned orange trolley. Darting my head around the side of the pillar, I poured over the electronic board hanging above the head of the waiting people that detailed the arrival and departure times of the next few trains. Despite the construction and the armed guards outside the station, it looked like Cerulean was still receiving trains to Saffron every fifteen minutes, with the next one scheduled to arrive very shortly, to my relief. Satisfied, I returned to stand by Amie behind the stone pillar. "It won't be long," I said, settling against the smooth stone to try and get comfortable as best I could.

"Good," my companion said. "How long do you think that it will take for us to get into Johto?"

"Uh, I don't know for sure."

"How long did it take last time you went?" Amie asked, fixing me with her wide-eyed gaze.

I coughed into my hand and muttered something quietly.

"What was that?"

"I've actually never been there before," I repeated, before hastily adding, "but I'm sure this plan will work!"

Amie's smile spread across her face like a sunrise over a field and she said, "Don't fret, I have the fullest confidence in you."

The train started to pull in, giving me an excuse to tear my eyes away from Amie and focus on something else. The doors by the waiting humans hissed open and spit out a number of people in business attire who pushed and shoved in their rush to get out of the station and to wherever their destinations were. The door by the waiting cargo boxes did not open until the attendant pressed a card against a panel to the side of the door, but once it slid open, he quickly set to work, tossing the boxes haphazardly into the open door. I watched him carefully in order to get the timing of his motions down just right as he settled into a routine of picking up each crate, swiveling around to the open door, tossing it in, and then turning back to the trolley for the next victim of his rough handling. Once I was confident that I had it down, I sprint behind the stack of boxes when he was turning to toss one of them through the open door and then dashed through that opening as soon as he turned to pick up another box. It was a struggle to find a comfortable place in the car where there was no danger of being hit by any of the unsecured objects that were sure to roll around once the train got moving, but I managed to discover a small perch by the window that could accommodate two relatively small Pokémon.

I had no sooner finished crawling up on that narrow ledge that Amie appeared inside of the car. She paused to catch her breath and then allowed me to help her up onto the roost I had found. "That was fun!" she said once the door had closed and we were both comfortably situated.

Before I could respond an automated female voice echoed through the train, saying, "Stand clear of the doors. Train now departing. Next stop: Saffron."

"Well, that settles it," I said to Amie once the announcement had concluded, "we're on our way to the city of Saffron."

"Is anyone going to bother us?"

"Nah, this is a cargo car, and if anyone cared about that I'm sure that guy would've been much more careful with all of these boxes."

"Oh good," Amie said and her body began to shift and mold first into an amorphous rose-colored blob before regaining the features and appearance of her true form as Mew. She noticed my studied attempt not to stare, but must have misinterpreted it as she said quietly, "It's a lot of fun being a Pikachu like you, Zeke, but I just thought that it would be better not to risk running out of time."

"It's fine," I reassured her, at which her body from her ears to her long thin tail perked up noticeably and she did a small loop through the space above all of the crates, relishing her regained ability to fly. "So, how do you want to pass the time?"

"I was thinking that you could tell me more about your past," she said, before adding, "I mean traveling around with a trainer and all of that. What was that like?"

"Aw, come on, you don't want to hear that," I chuckled, but as I looked into her big, expectant blue eyes, I knew that I was kidding myself. So I took a deep breath, made myself comfortable on my makeshift seat, and began to tell her about my life before.