Pokémon: Nemesis [PG-13]

[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.