I should probably warn you, this thing is much, much darker than Anomaly, or the rest of what is called the ANI universe, combined. And, later on, it'll be a fair bit more gorey too. So not for the faint hearted.
Although it is using Eve, Aeris' character, it is technically not set in Anomaly at all. Infact, you could call it an alternate universe. Because it is, and it's canon. Because this Mew, is the one known as Anti. And this is his story.
Anomaly Anniversary Fic- Act One - Worlds Apart
Hiking was, without a doubt, one of the most boring things in existence. All there was, in every direction, was more trees. Trees of all kinds. Not even Trainers went this far into the wilderness, there was no easy prey for their Pokéballs. There was no prey at all, for that matter... Red eyes glanced around at the surroundings, not making out any life beyond that of trees, grass and the occasional berry plant.
"Where is all the wildlife?" Eve 'muttered', her telepathy not directed at anyone at all, which is why she nearly jumped out of her fur when she got a reply.
"Probably saw your face."
Eve spun, hands instinctively moving to put a barrier between her and the speaker, in both a physical and psychic sense. The barrier lowered as instantly as it rose as she scowled down at the figure that she'd stepped over, how had she missed him? In that bright pink shirt, pale skin and baby blue eyes looking up at her, he should have stood out like... well, like a human in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere!
"You really should stop complaining about being bored, then you'd see a lot more," the Human smirked as he got up, placing the familiar brown hat, one that he had 'borrowed' from a costume of some movie character, some Indiana whatsit, back upon his head.
"Mew, what have I told you about sneaking up on me?! And get out of my mind."
"Aww, but it's so nice and roomy in there."
Eve just stared, unblinking, at him. It took five seconds; it always took five seconds, before his gaze wavered. He looked down at his shoes, although they were closer to sandals with the amount of wear and tear they had suffered.
"Fine, I'll get out." he muttered after yet another five seconds. Ten seconds to break him.
"And stay out!"
"I promise nothing," there was that smirk, visible under the rim of his hat, as he started walking ahead of her, shouldering his leathery jacket, and backpack as he went. That was the reason for his Human form, it made travelling slightly easier, especially considering the dark rings that surrounded both of his eyes, eyes that sparkled with life yet still seemed to radiate with a tiredness that had appeared ever since Mewtwo had...
Eve shook her head; thinking about it wasn't going to help, as she ran to catch up. Thinking about it only made her unhappy, which seemed to upset Mew more than losing Mewtwo did. Her 'brother' was whistling some tune to himself, what he told her earlier was the theme of the guy he stole the hat from.
"Where'd you go earlier?" Maybe a conversation would distract her from the boredom of the trees all around her.
"Flame's got involved in some crap in Johto."
"Ah..." There was no need to ask further, the mere name of that lizard said more than enough.
There was a minute of silence, an awkward choking silence that caused Eve to say anything, anything at all, just to get rid of it.
"Why are we out here?" Wow, for once she'd blurted out a question that wasn't silly. That fact seemed to amaze both of the psychics.
"Well..." Mew slowly turned to look her straight in the eye, having to look up thanks to his height being slightly smaller, before his blue eyes turned crimson as he gave a toothy smile, his canines becoming pointier, and growled, "so I could feast on your soul!"
Eve blinked.
"Can you even do that?"
"Sorta," his features returned to their normal state, their normal Human state, "Dream Eater, if overdone, could turn someone into a mindless drone, nothing more than a soulless shell.'Course, only really powerful pure-psychics can use it to that degree. And you'd need to be sleeping. But, yeah, I could eat your soul."
"Okay..."
"I had someone try to do it to me once, not a nice feeling. Like being flushed down the toilet... never doing that again either," Mew mused, before returning to his whistling, resorting to telepathy to keep on talking, "Come on Eve, if you're bored then you should join in!"
He had to be joking, right? "Not on your life."
"Come on, I'll make it worth your while."
Eve stared across at him, even as he unslung his rucksack and started rummaging through it. Then, he did actually pull out something that had a chance of getting her to listen to him. A bag of fresh, she knew that much from the scent wafting through the air, doughnuts. He removed one and took a bite, humming in-between chews.
"Mmm, shugary!" She didn't even want to know why even his telepathy sounded like he had his mouth full...
"Nice try." There was no way in hell he was going to bribe her with those.
"I got one wish stra'berry jam!"
"No. Not going to work."
"Oooooh, Cheri..."
"Nope. You are not getting me to whistle and that is final!"
"Whipped cream?" He pulled out a can of the stuff from his bag.
That was it, Eve snapped, grabbing the can and launching a spray of cream straight into her brother's face. As he was blinded, wiping away the cream from his eyes, she made off with the doughnuts and sat a little way off, on a rather large tree stump, eating them.
"That wasn't nice," Mew frowned when he'd gotten the worst of it gone, psychically removing the rest.
"Since when have you ever played nice and fair? I'm just following your lead." Eve smirked, managing to mimic his speech patterns from earlier, "mmm shugary."
"Those are my doughnuts!" He stamped his foot; much like a child would, causing Eve to cock an eyebrow at him.
"Not anymore."
He whimpered slightly, tears building... Eve frowned, since when was that a legal tactic for the eldest of the group, only the youngest one was supposed to do that!
"Fine. Here." She lobbed over the last two of the doughnuts in the packet, Mew scrambling forwards and catching them, ripping open the packaging and munching away like he was a two year old who'd been given candy. "Do you ever act your age?"
"No idea, how are six-thousand year olds supposed to act?" Damn, he had her on that one... Wait a sec.
"You're six thousand years old?!" She nearly dropped her, nearly-finished, doughnut in shock.
"Rounded down, yeah. I think it's actually six-thousand, two-hundred and thirty eight, give or take a decade or so." Mew shrugged slightly, "it's because, once we reach a certain age, our power has grown enough that it can stop us aging further. So we're essentially immortal, barring accidents..." He paused, looking away.
Eve knew what he was thinking, it was obvious. That 'accident' that had befallen Mewtwo... He needed a distraction before he got too upset... so she just shovelled the rest of the doughnut in, not even bothering to chew, before swallowing. The resulting coughing fit was more than enough to startle Mew out of his emo-fest. He raced over, yanking a bottle of water out of his pack, which she grabbed in order to guzzle it down and clear her airways.
"Better?" He gave a smile, which made her wonder if she should be the one asking him the question. It was still a rather empty smile, but it was better than the nearly invisible ones she had been getting in the months before.
"A little."
"Well, I'll give you a minute to catch your breath before we should start moving again. I want to get through this damn forest as fast as possible."
"Why don't we fly over it? It'd be a lot more direct than having to weave through trees."
"It's been three days, and you've only now just asked that?" He actually looked genuinely amused, "well, because I don't want to risk being spotted."
"By what? All that is out here is trees!" She swept her hand to the side to guesture to the surrounding area, an attempt to prove her point.
"I've been hit by a tree before, while in midair. It wasn't fun. Besides, there is usually some wildlife in a forest. Some Pokemon, but we haven't even seen a weedle."
"And for that I am eternally grateful. Weedle give me the creeps."
Mew just gave her a blank stare, before he gave one of the first warm smiles he'd given off in weeks. And then the hiking started again.
"You really six thousand?"
"Yup. Saw humanity grow. Been in just about every war going, got married to a princess a couple of centuries back."
"You're full of it."
"No, really. There was a party and everything, got the portrait to prove it. Lovely woman, if a bit overly formal. Can't remember her name though... 'Course, when she died and I was still kicking around, they thought I was a witch and tried to get me hung. Probably because I did use telekinesis a lot back then... a lot of people had that ability, and were killed for it, so the reason that psychic power is so rare in Humans is because there weren't many people left with the ability after all the torture and murder and crap. So it wasn't passed on to as many kids."
"That... is disgusting."
"Humans have their good sides. That was just a bad time in their history. It was better before, especially for me. I used to get offerings of food and ceremonial booze. Entire civiliations built around worshipping me."
"So that's where you got the ego from."
"Oh very fun-"
Mew stopped, Eve stopping right behind him. She knew the signs by then, the way even his arms were still, fingers not even twitching. If he still had his tail, which was a weird mental image in itself, even that wouldn't have moved, as he focused completely on his surroundings. She could feel the slight tingle in the air, the psychic pulse feeling around for a single sign of trouble.
"Mew?" She whispered. Whenever he did that, it usually involved running from something. Usually something that wanted to eat them, or shoot them, or a strange combination of the two. She'd rather know what to expect this time.
"Can you feel it? In the air?" Mew whispered back. What was that supposed to mean? All she could feel was that psychic aura that he was giving... wait a sec, it didn't seem to be coming from him at all. Now that she knew that, it was obvious to her what the differences were. It was a harder, edgier aura. And, if she could feel it, then the producer of it could also feel them.
"Uh oh."
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly... well, mine are ruder. Like a big flashing siren going 'oh bollocks' over and over. Methinks it's running time now."
"What if it isn't hostile?" Which was true, a few times it had just been a kit or something who'd wandered off from the nest. The psychic aura was rather unfocused, it reminded her an awfull lot of what hers used to be like. So it was entirely possible that the owner of the pulse was a newborn.
Then Mew knocked her to the floor as a series of purple glowing spikes slammed into the bark of the tree, passing through exactly where her head had been. She landed on her tail, having to fight back a particularly rude curse at the jarring sensation. Why was it always the tail?
"I think that counts it as hostile!" Mew yelled, scrambling to his feet, grabbing his hat from where it had fallen, while simultaneously hauling her to her feet. She didn't need telling twice, levitating slightly off of the floor to avoid tripping on roots and they both shot off through the trees.
High speed flight in a forest was rather exhilarating, having to weave around trees and avoid lower branches. Problem was, it was also dangerous. But not quite as dangerous as flying above the treetops, Mew'd been shot down before like that. Mew, despite being on the ground, was still keeping up with her, vaulting over large tree roots and berry bushes while keeping tabs on the thing following them. It was easy to track the attacker's movements as it smashed through the undergrowth.
"What the hell is it?!"
"What makes you think I know!?" Mew yelled right back, just as they reached the tip of the psychic aura, beyond the range of their attacker's ability to sense them.
A few more minutes running before Mew called a halt, panting for breath. Eve wasn't that tired, but the Legendary's Human body couldn't keep going at high speeds for anywhere near as long as she could. Even then, she could see his eyes searching the surroundings for a sign of another attack. Instead, he stared, his gasping for air stopping cold, at a large, oddly shaped boulder that was between two great trees, the plants parted away, almost like they were avoiding it... Then Eve spotted the cracks in the rock, seeping a brown liquid. Then she spotted it moving, slow and deep breaths... It wasn't a rock. Rocks were not alive. This thing was, just.
"...Okay, I think I just figured out what shot at us," Mew managed to choke out, Eve actually letting herself feel fear when she heard that same feeling in Mew's voice as he spoke to the wounded Pokemon. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
The rock twitched, just once, before it started to move. It had fallen in the soft soil, limbs buried underneath it's massive weight. Limbs that now freed themselves as it pushed itself up, despite the fact that its back was seeping with blood. Was it blood? It was the wrong colour, almost as if it was stained by an outside force.
"Eve..." Mew muttered, she glanced across in time to catch the hat that he had slung at her. "Hold onto that and run. Head for the mountain range," he guestured in the direction they had been going,
"What?" She didn't get it, why would Mew what her to run, even as the behemoth reached its full height, managing to tower over the two. There was a name for Pokemon like that... Rhydon, she thought it was. But, there was something iffy about this one. Not only was it completely ignoring the wounds it had picked up, but the rocky hide on its stomach was a dark purple, its eyes crimson... it scared her.
"Go!" Mew yelled, Eve stumbling away as she felt herself pushed by her brother's psychic abilities, even as the Rhydon stared him down.
Then it charged, the trees in its path buckling under its collosal might, Mew not moving even as Eve scrambled to fight through the psychic barrier and push him out of its path. Then there was that familiar white light, one that grew bigger and bigger untill it matched the Rhydon in size, just as it hit. The light blinked out, leaving another Pokemon standing where Mew had been, great green arms catching the Rhydon's claws in midswing even as it was pushed back by the sheer force of the charge, tearing great grooves into the earth in an attempt to keep upright.
The Tyranitar, Mew, managed to get enough grip and threw the Rhydon off of him, trees being smashed and splintered as the great behemoth crashed into them. And yet, despite that, it still got up, a deep growling sending shivers through her body.
"What are you waiting for?!" Mew yelled, his voice deeper and darker than she had ever heard it before as he didn't take his eyes off of the rising Rhydon, "Get moving! I'll be fine, I'll catch up in ten minutes, easy!"
There was no arguing with him, not as the Rhydon charged again, so she turned to flee, only to stop as Mew called out one last time.
"Eve... Don't you dare drop my hat!" He cracked, even as the Rhydon hit him full in the stomach, knocking him down, only to be flung overhead in the process.
"Be careful!" Eve called over her shoulder, clutching the dusty hat in her arms as she shot through the trees, the sound of earth and wood tearing itself apart behind her slowly fading... Stupid, why had she ran? Surely she would be more use there, her Ice Beam would rip through a Rhydon, Mewtwo had taught her that much. But... that one. It had looked so different, those burning eyes... the vivid mental image of them caused her to shudder uncontrollably for several seconds before she had recovered enough to continue running.
She wondered, could Mew handle it? The Rhydon was beaten up pretty badly yet didn't even seem to notice. There was a piercing scream from behind her, her ears straining to hear it better, to try and find out who had screamed...
The area of forest, what had previously been filled with trees, was now more of a clearing. The wooden watchers of the woods had been knocked down and crushed, the earth torn up by great claws and sweeping tails. Mew felt the scales covering his lower torso being stained with crimson as he fought back another yell, the Rhydon ramming into his stomach again and again.
It took every scrap of strength that Mew possessed to push the Rhydon back, the horn imbedded in his lower stomach slowly being yanked free even as he took blows to the sides from the flailing arms. With another loud yell, he threw the Rhydon back, sending it crashing through an old oak tree, the wood not even standing a chance against the blow as splinters flew everywhere. And yet it still got back up, still going strong even as Mew weakened. The wounds from before had even healed up, further confirming to Mew what he had feared.
A Shadow... The Rhydon had become one of the most feared creatures in existence. A being that healed so fast that they could regrow an arm in an hour, a being that couldn't feel pain... couldn't, wouldn't stop untill one of them died. Or, if Mew had put up enough of a fight...
"No... I am not turning into one of you!" He let loose a roar, even as it felt as though his stomach was tearing in two. Then the Rhydon charged again, Mew's form no longer being able to withstand the brutal impact and his transformation reversed.
A sweep of the Rhydon's massive clawed fist send the psychic kitten crashing to the ground, his pink fur stained with dirt and blood. His wound was still there, albet shrunken to fit with his new size, still leaking blood that he couldn't afford to lose. He didn't have the power to keep on going much longer, if he recovered then he'd be too weak to fight... but if he didn't...
"I've got nothing to lose," he gasped out, his voice no more than a whisper, as his tail started flicking, a minute movement every half second.
The Rhydon charged forwards again, brute force the only thing it's infected mind could allow it. Then, the flicking stopped, after exactly five seconds, as Mew clapped his paws together, his eyes glowing a pure white. Every little shred of power inside him swirled and shifted, before settling on a technique... The pink kitten glowed bright green, along with the surroundings, just as the Rhydon hit.
It found itself held back, one mighty paw by Mew, the other by his tail, as the glowing kitten smirked as the light got stronger still.
"I got lucky. Giga Drain!" Was the great yell, green orbs of pure energy being pulled from the surroundings, and a near endless supply from the Rhydon itself, all being absorbed into the broken Mew, his wounds fading away and his tiredness with it.
Then he shot up into the air, the green glow fading apart from on his tail, as he whipped it around. The 'Leaf Blade' hit its mark, the Rhydon letting out a roar as its throat was sliced straight through. Yet the cut would heal in a few seconds, no where near long enough to kill the Rhydon. Yet Mew used the momentary weakness to get to where its heart would be, placing his paws on the great armour. He had an ability much like Celebi, able to purify Shadows. But, unlike the fairy, his wasn't refined enough. It reopened wounds inflicted during the rampage, effectively killing whoever it was used on.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Mew repeated, over and over, as he released the built up power, the discoloured armour returning to its usual shade as the Rhydon roared, pain finally starting to register. Mew could feel its agony, which made keeping the purification going that much harder, as the gashes along its back and throat reopened and its blood crimson once more. The roar softened, weakened, before stopping completely, as the Rhydon crumpled to the floor. Mew had to fight back tears, he always did when he had to murder, because that is what it was when they turned back into their normal selves. "I wish there was another way..."
Then he froze, that pulse was back, those shadowy tendrils... and it was close now. So very close. So close, in fact, it was right on the edge of the newfound clearing. Mew slowly turned, just as it ripped through the last of the foliage. Its purple and black carapice shining in the light, not because it was reflective but because of the sap... the blood of trees, mixed in with real, crimson blood. The great spider's hollow glare locked straight onto Mew, as it opened it's mouth, great fangs that glistened with poison made its intentions all too clear.
"Oh shit..."
-To Be Continued-