Music Box

Author's notes: First of all, this is a prequel to my other fanfic, New Species, so I recommend that you first read chapter one (my numbered chapter, not ) in order to better understand what's going on.

That being said, enjoy! :)

Chapter 1: Put Your Hands Up! She's Playin' My Song!

One night, a pink cat like Pokémon was flying in the sky towards Pallet Town, doing several playful back flips as it soared amongst the stars. All was quiet as it stopped near the edge of town, tilting its head to the side curiously as it gazed at all the houses filled with sleeping locals.

"Mew!" the Pokémon giggled, bending over backwards to try and catch his tail. This'll be fun! I'll be perfectly safe here and there will be so many Pokémon for me to play with! The little Pokémon gazed around town, but found no sign of any other Pokémon nearby. Tilting his head to the side quizzically, he flew up into the sky, taking in the view of the town. Slowly, understanding filled his baby blue eyes. This was a human place, and if he wanted to remain unnoticed he had two choices.

He could just turn himself invisible, but what fun would that be? Concentrating, the pink kitten closed his eyes and his body began to glow with a multicolored light. Pink fur faded away to be replaced with hairless flesh as the fur on his head grew out, falling along his shoulders. His tail was absorbed into his spine and tiny paws morphed themselves into human hands. He stumbled briefly as his feet touched the ground, unused to supporting himself with his legs. As the light faded the former Mew proceeded to examine his handiwork.

Where a Mew had been a few moments earlier their now stood a tall blue-eyed man with pink hair who appeared to be in his early twenties. Correction, a tall naked blue-eyed man with pink hair who appeared to be in his early twenties.

Mew shook his head. No, this wouldn't do, humans didn't go around looking like that. Focusing once again, the multicolored glow returned, clothing the former legendary. Taking several shaky practice steps to get used to his new body, Mew glanced out at the sleeping town, amusement sparkling in his bright blue eyes.

"Mew!" he whispered, his voice laced with laughter. Fun! Giggling to himself, the man walked off into Pallet Town, smiling all the way.

The next morning, the citizens of Pallet Town were surprised to find that they had a visitor, a man with bright blue eyes and unusual pink hair. The locals were puzzled. No one ever came to Pallet Town, there was nothing to see!

"Who do you think he is?" a young women whispered to her neighbor, glancing over at the man who was now watching a butterfly float through the air.

"I don't know, but he sure is cute!" her friend replied dreamily. The two girls burst into fits of giggling as the butterfly landed on the man's nose, causing him to stare at it cross-eyed before it flew away.

"That's it, I'm going to go talk to him!" the first woman squealed, leaving her companion to watch encouragingly from the sidelines. She skipped eagerly up to the man, a huge smile on her face. "Hi, you're a new face around here. What's your name?"

Mew turned to the woman who had just addressed him, a blank look on his face. What had she just said? He tilted his head to the side in confusion, unsure of what he was supposed to do. The woman's smile slowly turned into a frown and she said something else he didn't understand. Then her friend came up and began talking to him, leaving him feeling very lost. After a couple of minutes, the two girls left him and Mew went to look for his butterfly.

Thus it went, with anyone attempting to talk with him receiving only a head tilt in response. Eventually, the locals reasoned that he must be a foreigner who didn't understand their language, but efforts to discern his native tongue were fruitless as he never spoke a word.

Humans sure talk funny, Mew thought to himself in amusement as he walked leisurely through Pallet Town, enjoying the gentle breeze through his hair. Suddenly, a nostalgically beautiful melody reached his ears, causing him to stop in his tracks. That's my song! Somebody's playing my song!

Searching for the source of the sound, Mew came across a garden where a young woman sat listening to the melody, which seemed to be coming from some sort of box, a contented smile on her face. Carefully approaching the item, he examined it from every which way, longing to know what it was and how it knew his song.

The woman turned to him, a kind smile on her face. "It's a music box."

"Really?" Mew asked in surprise. He'd thought that the legendary item didn't exist anymore, only having heard about it in myths and fairy tales.

"Yes," she replied with a smile. "It's said to be the favorite of Mew."

The man and the woman regarded each other for a moment, and as he stared into her brown eyes, he realized that he could understand every word she was saying.

"Yes," he said with a nod and a smile.

She smiled warmly at him, her long brown hair catching the sun's rays. "Would you like to join me?"

Mew tilted his head to the side in confusion but nodded, happy that he could understand someone in the human place. He leaned back and looked up at the sky, the clouds puffy and perfect, just beginning to glow with the traces of the oncoming sunset. A robin flew by, chirping merrily as it flew off into the distance.

Mew sighed. It sure is pretty, but there's not much to do here. Instead he turned his attention to the beautiful melody of the Music Box, the sound so warm and familiar, like the lullaby that was sung to him as a newborn. Turning to the woman next to him, he noticed that she seemed to be in a similar state of bliss.

They sat like that for about an hour before the woman stood and picked up the Music Box, turning to head back inside. Mew was very disappointed, wanting to listen to the music some more.

Apparently noticing his disappointed expression, she said to him, "You can come back tomorrow if you'd like, but I think I'd better head inside. It's getting late."

Mew's expression brightened and he nodded, eyes shining with anticipation of the day to come.

"Ok then, see you tomorrow!" she laughed, waving to him and heading inside.

Mew looked at where she had disappeared to for a few moments, then stood up and headed off through the streets of Pallet Town.

The sky soon darkened and Mew decided that he had better find for someplace to sleep for the night, recalling that his vision wasn't as good in that form. His stomach growled demandingly and he decided that he had better take care of that problem first.

He came to an ally where some cats were pawing at a black trash bag, yowling in irritation. Being feline himself, he was able to pick up some of their words, such as "claw" and "want" and began to make his way over to them.

A scrawny black and white tom turned towards him as he approached, tail fluffing out, and yowled a very clear message at him. "Mine!"

"I'm not here to take your food," Mew replied with a gentle smile, knowing that they would understand. "Let me help you."

The cat's fur bristled, but he allowed Mew to reach out and tare a hole in the bag. As soon as the hole in the trash sack was made, the group of cats pounced on it, using their claws to make the opening bigger, hungrily devouring the contents.

Mew wrinkled his nose in distaste as the foul odor of long spoiled food reached his nostrils, wondering how his animal counterparts could stand it. He took one last glance at the alley cats before continuing on his way with a sigh. The truth was that they were as different from him as he was from humans. In fact, the only reason he could even partially understand them was that he was cat-like, the same reason why Growlithe could understand dogs to some degree.

Mew chuckled to himself as the irony of the fact hit him. His species may have been the ancestor of all Pokémon, but that didn't mean that he could talk to animals. Humans didn't even make any sense to him yet. He frowned as this thought hit him. Usually if he Transformed into something its language came to him naturally, but so far he was getting nothing in regards to the human language. He understood none of their strange sound patterns and found himself unable to replicate them.

Yet still…he had been able to understand that woman earlier. Why was that?

Shaking his head and snapping back to reality, Mew resumed his search for a meal, eventually coming to an apple tree where he proceeded to eat his fill.

Feeling full and sleepy, he curled up in the branches with a yawn and a contented purr. It was a tighter fit than it normally would have been, but he managed just the same, falling asleep within moments.

The next morning…

Mew awoke the next morning to find some strange man shouting at him for some reason, looking rather angry. Mew blinked his eyes to rid them of the sleep that still hung heavily upon him, then turned his attention to the man, who was pointing at the ground and shouting strange words he did not understand.

"Get out of my apple tree you lunatic! What, were you raised in a barn?"

Mew wasn't sure what the man was saying, but the man seemed so angry he decided he should at least try to make an effort to communicate. He nodded his head up and down; humans seemed to like it when he did that.

But for some strange reason this only seemed to make the man angrier, and he shouted some other things Mew didn't understand, pointing to the ground more forcefully and stomping his foot.

"Oh a wise guy, huh? That's it! Either you get out of the tree RIGHT NOW or I'm calling the cops!"

Maybe he wants some apples! Mew thought optimistically. His eyes brightened. Yes! That must be it! He wants some apples and I'm in his way!

Mew jumped out of the tree and landed in front of the man, smiling as friendlily as he knew how, waiting for the man to go and get some apples of his own.

Instead, the man began shouting at him again, making gestures and pointing, none of which Mew was able to make heads or tails of.

"What are you waiting for? Go on! GIT!"

"What is it honey?"

Arthur turned to see his wife of thirty years standing in the doorway, oven mitts on her hands, her apron covered in flour.

"Nothing Mable!" he assured her with a wave of his hand. "Just some Looney who was sleeping in our apple tree! Go back inside!"

The bespectacled woman stared at her slightly balding husband and sighed. "Honestly Arthur, he's probably just hungry!" She turned to Mew, her smile kind and reassuring. "Would you like to come inside? I baked a pie!"

Mew wasn't sure what this woman had said, but she seemed a lot nicer than the grouchy old man. Slowly, he nodded his head, hoping that he wasn't making the same mistake twice. He was relieved when her eyes lit up and she walked over and took him gently by the hand, leading him inside the small red brick house.

The woman lead him into the kitchen, which was simply decorated; just a few chairs seated around the table, a small stove with a teapot sitting on top of it, and other typical furnishings. A Meowth lay curled up in a basket in a far corner of the kitchen, sleeping contentedly.

Mew's eyes lit up as his noticed the presence of another Pokémon and he wanted to go greet the creature, but the lady was already leading him by the arm towards the table, gently seating him in one of the chairs.

"It's so nice to have company for a change," Mable gushed, watching the man in front of her regard her with confusion. "Young people all want to live in big cities! Our children and grandchildren moved away years ago!" she laughed, although there was some sadness in her eyes. She went over to the windowsill and picked up an apple pie, carrying it carefully to the table where she began to cut it.

Mew stared at the apple pie wide eyed, his mouth beginning to water. I don't know what that is, but it sure smells good! Maybe she'll let me have some…?

Mable noticed the young man staring longingly at the pie and laughed. "Of course you can have some! We can't eat it all by ourselves, right Arthur?"

The man in question grunted, wanting the lazy freeloader out of his house. "I could eat it by myself just fine," he grumbled under his breath, aware that his wife's attention was currently on the pink haired stranger.

She placed a slice of pie in front of Mew, his blue eyes shining with gratitude. "You're very welcome! Now go on and-oh my!"

Mable stared at the scene before her, completely baffled. The young man was now hungrily devouring the piece of pie, face first, completely oblivious to the fork that lay nearby. He finished the pie in seconds, staring at the empty plate for a moment before looking up at her expectantly. With a sad smile Mable cut another slice of pie for the stranger, shaking her head as he began to inhale it in much the same manner as before.

The poor dear must be starved, she thought to herself sadly. I wonder, doesn't he have anywhere to go? What about his family? She looked over at the man in question, who appeared to be very happy to be getting a home cooked meal. Does the poor thing live on the streets? she wondered, her heart full of sympathy. I can't just turn him away, not if he has nowhere to go…

Arthur, on the other hand, had a much less sympathetic view of their new "guest." To him, the young man's lack of table manners only reinforced his previous opinion that the individual was an idiotic simpleton that needed to go back to wherever it was he'd come from.

Mew meanwhile had finished his second piece of pie and was now leaning back in his chair, a happy smile on his face. He stretched his arms over his head, feeling full and content.

"Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed it!" Mable laughed, taking Mew's plate and putting it in the sink. She regarded the young man with a found expression, her eyes shining as if she were reliving events long passed. "You know…" she began, oblivious to her husband's irritated sigh, "it's been so long since we've had any visitors, and we certainly have enough room." Her eyes brightened as she turned to Mew, her expression one of joy. "Won't you stay with us?"

Authors notes: A couple of things. First of all, yes, real animals exist in my version of the Pokémon world, you just don't see them that often since, after Pokémon were domesticated, the family dog was usually replaced by the family Growlithe. A little sad, isn't it? Second, Pokémon can understand animals of a similar species. Growlithe can understand dogs, Mew can understand cats, etc. Granted, they are usually only able to understand a few words, and its nowhere near proper communication. Third, (yes I know I said a couple of things, don't take me so literally! XD) the Music Box is an item from the games Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team/Blue Rescue Team. I picture it sounding like the tune from Pokémon the First Movie, (you know, the one that plays whenever Mew flies by?) hence why Mew refers to it as "his song."

Wow, that's a lot of stuff to cover! XD Hope I explained everything, and I hope everyone's enjoying this so far! :)

As always, feel free to PM me any questions you have and don't forget to review!

Thank you! :)