A rounded ear flicked lazily in the warm sunlight. The small, turquoise body of a dinosaur-like animal rested in the sun, its front paws draped over the leg of a teenage girl. It's chin nestled into the fabric of her jeans and began on a train of thought.

The dark green bulb on its back was only a small reminder of what it would be when the tiny dinosaur grew up, not very much use in the state it was in now. When it was older and more experienced, that bud would become a beautiful lush flower, and finally it would be able to protect its owner better than it could right now.

The bulbasaur let out a quiet sigh. It couldn't even provide shade for its owner in it's current form, so she had to take refuge under a large tree in a berry grove to rest. She had drifted to sleep while she rested, but since she didn't believe very much in poke'balls, her faithful friends could defend her from any oncoming problems...

There was a rustling sound that threw the plant poke'mon out of its thoughts, and it looked up cautiously. It only sighed again as it realized the noise was only caused by the elder poke'mon of the small group, a raichu named Volt. Its lightning-bolt-shaped tail hung from a tree, flicking back and forth and betraying exactly where its owner was.

"Volt..." the bulbasaur said in a feminine voice, "Why are you up in that tree...?"

"Isn't it obvious?" a male voice replied, "Free food! And it's my favorite, all right!"

The orange-colored mouse poke'mon scampered down the tree, the stem of a cheri berry in his mouth. He stopped and stood on his back paws, taking the berry stem from his mouth and sniffing it. "Ah, nice and ripe!" he said cheerily.

"Those are for poke'mon less fortunate than us," the female bluntly said, pointing with a claw over to a small caterpie, munching lazily on an oran berry nearby. "Besides, I don't know why you like spicy things so much..."

"So?" Volt said even more bluntly, "We're kinda lost out here, we need it, too. And they grow back in, like, a day! They'll be fine without one of them. And spicy things are good! I don't understand why you like sweet things."

"Which reminds me..." the bulbasaur said, shifting lightly on her owner's knee for a moment, "Where's a pecha berry tree? I could stand one right about now..."

"See, you can't resist either!" Volt laughed. He produced a ripe, pink, peach-like berry for the bulbasaur. "I've already found one for you, so don't worry about it, Vinnia." He placed it off to the side for her, then plopped down beside their trainer to enjoy his meal.

Vinnia carefully removed herself from her owner to get at the sweet fruit, and the human shifted just a bit in her sleep, her backpack tilting to the side when she nudged it. Vinnia ignored the movement and began on hers as well. She'd only taken the first bite when a thought occurred to her.

"Hey, Volt?" she asked. The raichu paused before the berry reached his mouth and replied with a "Hmm?" The bulbasaur thought for a moment more before continuing. "Don't you think it's odd, this big berry grove out in the middle of nowhere? I mean, you'd think someone would tend to it."

"Well, true. The only human around here is our trainer. I haven't seen another one in miles!" Volt mused, "Maybe another helpful poke'mon from the lake waters them?"

As if on cue, small sparkles of light scattered softly around the girl and her two poke'mon, the human blissfully unaware. Both Vinnia and Volt looked up and around, confused by the odd lights. There was a small tinkling noise, like the chiming of a tiny bell, and sparkles stopped falling almost as suddenly as they'd started. "...What was that...?" Vinnia ventured.

"Why, that would be me!"

Both poke'mon whipped around at the soft cheerful voice. A pink poke'mon with a long tail hovered over the ground slightly above both of their heads. Big blue eyes blinked down at the two, tail swishing slowly as if trailing through water.

"Who are you?" Vinnia asked, not quite sure if she'd ever seen a poke'mon quite like this before.

"Why, I am Mew!" it laughed in a girl's voice, doing a back flip in midair, "I'm the caretaker of the lake and this grove. I just wanted to see who was coming to visit!"

Volt, who was staring in wonder, let his untouched cheri berry drop to the earth. "You're a mew?" he replied, amazed, "And here I thought your kind had died out a long time ago!"

Mew only giggled again. "Nope! Sure, we don't have as many as we used to, but we're only in hiding. I'm glad to see that some Poke'mon still remember us!" Vinnia only blushed past her blue-green spots, embarrassed that she hadn't known.

"Well, I'd only heard stories from my grandfather when I was a pichu..." Volt murmured, scratching his yellow cheek. "Sooo... Right." He glanced down at the cheri berry between his feet and smiled nervously. "Errr... Sorry about the berries...?"

"Oh, don't worry! Those are for anyone to enjoy, as long as you don't take too much. Have to save some for the young ones, after all," Mew waved a small paw in the air. Mew then noticed the young human girl taking a nap underneath a shady magost tree. Tilting its head, it swooped over to stare at the girl's face for a moment.

"Don't hurt her!" Vinnia blurted out worriedly, not too keen on some poke'mon they just met getting so close to their owner's face.

Mew giggled again, turning to face Volt and Vinnia again. "Oh, I don't hurt anyone! We mews don't believe much in fighting. It's much more satisfying to help someone for us," it replied, nodding. It looked back at the human's face and studied her for a moment.

Finally, the mew turned back to the two poke'mon. "You have a very nice owner. I can tell she'll take care of you for a long, long time!" Mew floated back over to them and did a slow swirl around them as it spoke. "If all of you band together and form a kinship, you can lead each other on into greatness!"

With that last bit, Mew shot up into the air a few feet and did another lazy circle. "Please stay that way. It's not often I see that potential." Mew smiled and waved. "With that, I'm off!" Mew turned to leave, then stopped after a few feet and turned. "Oh, and Vinnia..."

Vinnia blinked. She'd never said her name to the mew! "Yes?" she replied.

"Don't worry. I know you'll grow up to be a very strong venusaur, and you'll be able to protect her no matter what! So be patient, and enjoy your time as a bulbasaur while you can." Mew turned and with a flick of its long tail, it flew off and was gone.

Both Volt and Vinnia stood in silence, not sure what to say after that. They both looked to each other and blinked in utter amazement. "Uh... Our... Our berries are getting kind of soggy..." Volt mumbled the only thing that came to mind.

--

"See guys? That was all I needed! Now we can find our way out of this big forest." The human trainer walked along, Volt and Vinnia right at her heels. There was no response from them. "Is there something wrong, guys?"

Volt shook his head as if shaking himself out of a thought. "Rai-chu!" he replied, as if making sure she knew he was paying attention. The girl giggled. Volt could be so vacant sometimes...

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!" Vinnia said cheerfully, prancing at a decent pace to the human's right. Vinnia was in good spirits for the first time in ages! Maybe that rest was just what they all needed.

Suddenly, a lake came into view, a few water poke'mon swimming lazily across the gentle waters. "Oh, hey guys, look!" she said, pointing excitedly, "That's what I wanted to come and see! Supposedly, this lake used to be a gathering spot for mews because of its purity." Both of the poke'mon blinked, but the human didn't take notice.

"If there were any mews left, I'd think they'd live near here. Too bad we'll never get to see one... It sounded like a very neat poke'mon to meet!" the girl mused. Volt and Vinnia exchanged knowing looks while their trainer paid attention to the water.

"Right, we can't dawdle anymore. If all we're going to do is watch scenery, we'll never accomplish anything! C'mon guys, let's go get that next badge!" The teen marched off happily at the thought of furthering her chances of becoming a poke'mon master. The two only looked at each other one more time before smiling over at the lake then dashing after their trainer.

"Rai-Rai!" "Bul-ba!"