Tale of a Mew
Avalon, an island continent, is home to creatures with extraordinary abilities. These creatures call themselves Pokémon. They exist in two different types: the Wild Pokémon, who roam the forests and wilderness, always on the hunt, and the Sapient Pokémon, who live simple village lives. Twelve villages are spread throughout Avalon, each one home to hundreds of Pokémon. The villages peacefully coexist with each other, working together to help each other.
But Avalon is far from peaceful. Strange Pokémon, more savage and dangerous than ever, have been attacking the villages. They are called Shadows, for only in darkness do they appear. The Shadows are the most powerful thing on Avalon. No one has beaten one, until now…
"Hello? Are you okay?"
He could hear a female voice, and it was concerned. He opened his eyes to see who it was, but his vision was clouded. All he could see was white. Slowly, colors began to appear, his vision sharpening. Eventually, his vision cleared, and he could see the speaker. First thing he could see was aquamarine hair, around two purple eyes set in a white face. Two orange horns shaped like hairpins were on the top of her head. She smiled when she saw him looking at her.
"Oh good, you're not dead," she said. She straightened herself up and he could see her body.
He could see her white upper body with two thin arms which ended in two digits, three ruffles on each hip and thin aquamarine legs. She was standing on the tips of her feet and seemed to be balanced quite well. He then realized that she was a Shiny Kirlia.
"Are you hurt?" the Kirlia asked.
He pushed himself up so he was sitting, only now realizing that he had been laying down. He brought his arm up to his head, feeling a headache that he needed to soothe. When he did, something felt wrong. He looked at his arm and realized that it was shorter, and covered in fine blue fur. His arm ended in a three digit paw. He looked at the rest of himself and saw his whole body was different.
His body was tear-shaped, and he saw both his arms were short with three-digit paws, and two short legs with ridiculously long feet with three digits each. He felt his head and found it was about as large as his body, mostly oval-shaped, with two triangular ears, and a short nub which seemed to be a nose on the front. He felt something behind him and saw a tail which was twice as long as himself and which had an oval-shaped end. His whole body was covered in fine blue fur. He subconsciously recognizes his species as a Mew and he was evidently Shiny. He saw on his right arm a gold band with a small purple gem on the top.
"No," was his response to the Kirlia.
"What's your name? And what are you? I've never seen a Pokémon like you before," the Kirlia asked again.
"You haven't told me your name. Why should I tell you mine?" the Mew asked.
"Well, then, my name is Bella," she said with a happy tone.
"My name is…" he paused to think, "Myu."
"Well, Myu, nice to meet you," she said while holding out her hand. After a moment of contemplation, Myu grabbed her hand with his paw and shook it.
"Nice to meet you too," Myu said back.
"So what were you doing lying on the beach?" Bella asked once they were done.
Myu looked around and sure enough, they were on a beach, the ocean just behind him. "I don't know," was his response.
"You don't know? How can you not know? If I washed up on a beach, I think I would know what happened," she asked.
"I don't know how I even got in the water," Myu responded.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Bella asked.
"Well, I do have a headache."
"Then let's get you to my village so the healer can help. It's not far." She motioned for him to follow. He tried standing up, but almost immediately fell back. Bella patiently waited for him to get up, but she could see he was struggling. "You need help?"
"No, I can do it," Myu replied, wanting to try something else. Instead of standing up on his whole foot, he tried standing on the balls of his feet. Sure enough, he found that standing position easy. His tail whipped around behind him, trying to help him balance, before it settled on an S-shaped orientation.
Seeing that he was good, Bella stated walking, heading for the grassy area. Myu followed, a little unsteady on his feet, but he eventually managed to get the hang of it.
They walked away from the beach and onto a grassy hill. Once they reached the top, Myu saw a village not too far away. Bella motioned for him to follow. Myu followed down the hill, reaching the village. It was mostly dirt ground, with grassy patches. There were wooden stands off to his left, and four arenas outlined in white to his right. He followed Bella through the village taking a left turn to several dome-shaped wooden huts. They walked through them until they reached one hut. Bella knocked on the door, and an aged Audino answered.
"Hello, Bella. What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Hi, Lapin. I've got someone here who needs to be looked at," Bella replied, gesturing to Myu. He waved his paw at the Audino, who gave a smile in return.
"Well, then, come in," she said, opening the door the rest of the way. Bella and Myu entered. Myu saw the hut was mostly filled with various medicines and books. "Sit on the table and I'll be right back. I need to consult my species book to know what I'm treating." Lapin left for a while, but came back with a rather old looking book. "Let's see, what species are you?" she asked, flipping through the pages.
"I'm a Mew," Myu answered.
"Mew, Mew, Mew," Lapin repeated as she searched through the pages. "Let's see… Metang… Metapod… Mienfoo… hmm, don't see a Mew here." She continued looking through the pages, thinking she overlooked it, but came up empty. "Huh. Well, son, I don't think your species is in my book, which is a first."
"So, what are you going to do?" Bella asked.
"Go with what I can figure out. You seem to be related to the Meowth somewhat, so I'll go with that for treatment." She grabbed the feelers on her ears and placed them on Myu's chest. "So, what precisely is wrong with you?"
"I have a slight headache," Myu answered.
"He said he also can't remember what happened to him to get him to where I found him," Bella said.
"I'll check your head then," Lapin said, moving her feelers to Myu's head. She felt around, but couldn't sense anything wrong. "Well, as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong. I want to do a physical check-up just to be sure I'm not missing something." She placed her feelers back on Myu's chest. "Breathe deeply for me." Myu complied. She listened where she assumed his lungs were. She couldn't tell if anything was wrong. She then moved them to where she thought his heart would be. She could hear it beating, though it was going really fast. Almost twice as fast as the average heartbeat. But his heart sounded strong, so, nothing wrong there. "Well, as far as I can tell, you're perfectly healthy. But I want to do another checkup in a couple days just to be sure." She took her feelers off him. "You may go now. That's all I can do."
Myu hopped off the table and Bella gestured for him to follow. They walked out of the hut and Bella asked what Myu was planning to do.
"I don't know to be honest. I don't know where my home is now, so I could be here a while."
"Well, then, let's arrange a place for you to stay. Come on!" Bella took off to a larger hut, Myu trying to keep up. Bella knocked on the door, and just as Myu caught up, the door opened. Standing in the doorway was a Gardevoir.
"What is it Bella?" she asked.
"Hi, mom," Bella started. "This is Myu," she gestured to the Mew, "and he needs a place to stay for the time being."
"Well, I'll see what I can do for him. In the meantime, you could take him on a tour of the village," the Gardevoir said. She bent down so she was more level with the small Pokémon. "My name is Devoir, and I'm the Chieftess of Crimson Village. It's nice to meet you." She extended her hand, which Myu took.
"Nice to meet you, too," Myu said. Devoir turned around and closed her hut door, before walking off to make arrangements for Myu.
"Come on Myu, I'll show you around." Bella took Myu's paw and pulled him to the north part of the village. There was a grassy area with flowers and orchards. "This is where we grow our berries and other types of fruit." She picked an Oran Berry and handed it to Myu. He took the fruit and bit into it. It wasn't all that bad. He continued to eat the fruit as he followed Bella. Eventually they found a Buneary, who Bella greeted. "Hi, Mimi. How's the planting going?"
The Buneary turned around and saw Bella, along with her companion. "It's going fine. We're planting a few more berry trees so they'll be ready for the harvest. We're also planting a few new flowers for the year," she said. "So, who's he?" gesturing to Myu.
"This is Myu. He's going to be staying in the village for a while, so I'm showing him around," Bella answered.
"Well, then, hi. I'm Mimi," she said while holding out her paw for greeting. Myu extended one of his paws, only then realizing he was holding the berry in it, so he switched paws.
"Well, hi to you too. So, you grow berries here for food?"
"Yeah. Don't they do that everywhere?" she asked. She turned around and resumed her planting, digging out a hole with her paws, then placing the seeds in the hole. She covered them back up with the dirt then patted the mound down.
"Moving on," Bella said while taking Myu's free paw, leading him to the south. She led him to a really large wooden dome. "This is our gathering hall, where we hold village meetings or use as an emergency shelter."
"Smart," Myu said while taking another bite of the berry.
"And over there are our battle arenas, where we practice our moves and fighting," Bella said, pointing to the white outlines that vaguely resembled rectangular arenas, split by a white line across the middle of each. "Oh, looks like there are two fighters practicing right now." She walked to the nearest arena with Myu following. He saw a Riolu, which was a small blue, male, bipedal canine, with black appendages on either side of his head, and a Dratini, which was a long, female, blue serpent, with a white underside and wing-like ears.
"Hi, Lykos. Hi, Ryu," Bella greeted the two combatants. They stopped their battle to look at her.
"Hi, Bella," the Riolu greeted. "Who's the small cat?"
Myu noticed that the Riolu's voice was rather high pitched, and guessed that he was young.
"This is Myu. He's going to be staying with the village for a while," Bella said.
"Well, hi. I'm Lykos. Nice to meet you!" the Riolu said energetically. Myu definitely knew now that he was a kid. The Dratini slithered up and waved her tail at Myu.
"Hi. I'm Ryu," she said rather quietly. Myu nodded to her.
"Ryu is a really powerful Dratini, Myu," Bella told the Mew. "She's one of the strongest fighters here, save my mom and some of the other adults."
"And me," said a rather strange voice. Bella flinched and Myu got the distinct impression that her happy mood had left her. She turned around to face an eel-like creature with a sucking mouth, two clawed arms, and a long, tentacle-like appendage extending from the back of his head. It was an Eelecktross.
"Hi, Dominus," Bella greeted with a forced smile, though Dominus didn't seem to know.
"Check it out. I evolved," he said. "Which means you need to evolve soon, too." He glanced at Myu and his look turned sour. "Who's the kitty?"
"This is Myu," Bella explained. "He's going to be staying in our village for the time being."
"Well, tell him to watch where he steps. I'm sure there are some people who would love to beat up a weakling like him," Dominus said. He flew off, leaving an irritated Mew behind.
"So, who's the jerk?" Myu asked.
"He's Dominus, and he's my future mate," Bella explained, her tone telling Myu that she wasn't excited about that.
Myu did a double take, confused. "Him?" he tried to clarify.
"Yes," Bella confirmed.
"What was that word you used to describe him?" Lykos asked Myu.
"Jerk," Myu said.
"I don't know why, but that makes me want to laugh," Lykos said, trying to suppress a giggle.
"Don't know what a 'jerk' is, but I think that's accurate," Ryu said. "He's not very nice."
"Moving on," Bella said. "What should I show next?"
Myu's stomach growled, giving Bella a suggestion. "I guess we'll go eat." She grabbed Myu's paw again and started running off. She led him west, to a wooden structure with a leafy roof. A post on either end kept it up, with a solid wood wall holding up the south part. Myu could see tables underneath and around the place, indicating it was a diner of sorts. She led him to the wall, where there was a counter made of the same wood. A rotund bovine Pokémon, with mostly pink fur, black angular markings along her back, a black hood-like marking surrounding its face and a prominent yellow udder with pink teats was there. She was a Miltank, and she came up to attend to the customers.
"Hello, Bella, who's this?" she asked politely.
"Hi, Friesian. This is Myu, and he's going to be staying with us for a while," Bella said, introducing the Miltank to Myu.
"Well, hello sweetie. I'll give you two a table," she said, walking out from behind the counter, leading them to one of the tables. "What can I get you to drink?" she asked after they sat down.
"I'll have an Oran Berry drink," Bella said. "Get one for Myu, too."
"And to eat?" Friesian asked.
"I'll have a Pecha Poffin, and get one for Myu too," Bella requested.
"Okay. I'll be back with your drinks first," Friesian said, walking off.
"So, how good is the food here?" Myu asked.
"It's great," Bella answered. "Not as good as the food in Amazon Village, but still very good."
"So, Dominus is your future mate," Myu wondered. "I'm curious. Why would you want to be married to someone like that?" When he got a blank expression from Bella, he corrected his sentence. "Why would you want to be his mate?"
"It…wasn't exactly my choice. It's something my mom arranged for me when we were just kids," Bella explained.
"And you're going along with it?" Myu asked, finding it strange.
"What's the alternative?"
"Maybe ask your mom if you could have someone else," Myu stated. "He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy you should spend your life with."
"I don't think that's possible Myu, and why does it sound like you're against that?" Bella asked.
"Because my people don't do that, not anymore. We don't force people to fall in love. Everyone gets to choose who they fall for," Myu explained. "I was raised on that, and I believe in that wholeheartedly."
"Not everyone gets that choice."
"Well, everyone should."
Friesian returned with their drink, which came in wooden cups. "Here's your drinks. Your Poffins will be out in a minute." She left to oversee the Poffins.
"Your people seem to have unique customs and views," Bella said. "Where did you say you were from again?"
"A faraway land," Myu answered. "You probably haven't heard of it."
"I've heard of all sorts of places all across Avalon. None of them have your customs," Bella rebutted.
"Avalon?" Myu asked.
"That's the name of the land? What do you call it?"
"Never heard of Avalon. Anything beyond it?"
"Nope. Just an endless ocean. There is nothing beyond Avalon."
Myu took a moment to think before forming an answer. "I wouldn't be so sure. I don't come from anywhere on Avalon."
"Wait. You mean, you come from beyond the ocean? I didn't think there was anything out there." Bella could hardly believe her ears. She has never heard of anything beyond Avalon.
"Here are your Poffins," Friesian said as she came back with two pink oval-shaped buns.
"Thanks," Myu said as he took one.
"How did you get across the ocean anyway?" Bella asked.
"Not sure. Right now, I'm hungry," Myu said, taking a bite of the Poffin. Bella got the idea and began eating. Myu like the flavor of the Poffin. He didn't notice at first as his tail wagged behind him. He eventually noticed, but paid it no mind; he was enjoying this meal.
Unfortunately, due to the length of his tail, it wagged in completely random directions, and it accidently slapped an unsuspecting Squirtle that was passing by, sending him to the ground face first, and causing the papers he was carrying to go flying. Myu felt the sensation on his tail, and heard the Squirtle's cry when his tail slapped the back of his head. He looked down and saw the Squirtle splayed on the floor.
"Oops, sorry," Myu said after swallowing his bite. He hopped down and tried to help the Squirtle get his papers back together. He noticed on one of the papers there were notes pertaining to how the orbit of a moon – probably this planet's moon – could be affecting the tides. "Huh, impressive."
"Uh, it's not really," the Squirtle said, taking the paper back. "I just noticed one day that the tides always seem to be higher when the moon is overhead, but I can never figure out why the tides rise when the moon isn't even in the sky. No one believes that there could even be a correlation between the moon and the rising of the tides."
"Well, actually, there is," Myu said, resuming picking up the papers. "The moon's gravitational force pulls on the ocean, causing the water level to rise in the process, and if you look at the times for the other tide, you'll notice that it's the exact opposite for the first one."
The Squirtle took a look at his papers and reviewed some of the times he took down for high tide and saw Myu was right. "Huh, you're right. I never thought of it like that." He put the paper back and extended his hand. "I'm Zeni." Myu took his hand and shook it for a few seconds before Zeni took a closer look at Myu's arms. "Your arms are rather short."
"Yeah, I know," Myu said, returning his paw to his side.
"You're the first one who hasn't completely rejected my tidal theory. What did you say caused it? The moon's 'grabitational' force?"
Myu giggled at Zeni's goof before correcting him. "'Gravitational', and yes."
"You're not seriously buying that, are you Myu?" Bella asked, skeptical.
"It's true. My people have proved the same thing," Myu defended.
"If they have, then you must believe in the heliocentric model of our solar system!" Zeni said, excited.
"Yes, we do. We know that the planet actually revolves around our sun, and our world actually rotates on an invisible axis, with the moon being the only thing rotating around it."
"How could you figure that out?"
"By observing the orbit paths of the planets in the heavens. They rotate around the sun in circular orbits like our world."
"Finally. Someone who speaks Common!" Zeni said, overjoyed.
"Is that what just happened?" Bella muttered.
"While I would love to continue this, I need to get back to the ocean to make more observations," Zeni said, preparing to leave. "Oh, wait." He stopped and face Myu. "I never did get your name."
"It's Myu."
"Myu, great to meet you. Got to go!" Zeni took off as fast as he could.
"You don't really buy that 'sun is the center of our solar system garbage', do you?" Bella asked.
"I do actually," Myu said. Further conversation was cut off when a large explosion shook the ground. "What was that?" Myu asked.
"Nothing good," Bella said. They ran out to find a pillar of smoke coming from the huts.
"What's going on?" Myu asked as they ran to the huts.
"Run! Shadow attacking!" one of the Pokémon said as it ran by.
"What's a Shadow?" Myu asked. He heard a roar and a jet of flame shoot over head. Myu found the source. A Charizard.
"That!" Bella said, turning around to run. Myu was puzzled as to why this Charizard was attacking, but when the Charizard saw him, it fired a Flamethrower, intending to burn Myu.
Myu thrust his arms up in a foolish attempt to protect himself, but when he did, sand was pulled from the ground and crossed in front of him, creating a shield that blocked the fire. Myu looked up when he didn't feel the fire burning him to see the sandy shield. "Did I do that?" Myu wondered, surprised. Before he could ponder on how he did that, the Charizard shot to the ground and slammed his feet down, creating an Earthquake attack that shook Myu off balance. He jumped to the side to avoid the rapidly advancing crack. "Okay, that could have been bad."
Dominus flew in along with several other Pokémon who looked ready for combat. "Sit back little kitty and let the big boys handle this," Dominus told Myu. He rushed forward with the other Pokémon, intending to attack, but with a flap of its great wings, the Charizard sent all of his attackers back.
"Myu!" Myu turned his head in the direction of the voice, and saw Devoir running over, Bella nearby but cowering behind her mother. "What are you still doing here? It's not safe."
"I didn't exactly have enough time to get away," Myu stated. "Care to explain what exactly Dominus is doing?" Myu gestured to the Eelektross, who was failing to repeal the Charizard.
"He's fighting the Shadow. We have to get rid of it before it destroys our village," Devoir explained.
"What are 'Shadows' exactly?" Myu asked.
"'Shadows' are Pokémon that actually attack us. While Wild Pokémon leave us alone unless provoked, Shadows attack for no reason," Devoir explained.
Dominus was currently facing the Shadow Charizard, ready for anything. The Charizard stomped the ground, sending an Earthquake at Dominus, but the Earthquake passed harmlessly under the flying eel. "Ha! Ground-type moves have no effect on me! I can fly over anything you send at…" The Charizard spat a Flamethrower at Dominus, sending the electric eel flying, crashing into a hut.
"Maybe next time he should move instead of talk," Myu joked, which Bella laughed at. Devoir scolded her daughter with a look, and the Shiny Kirlia straightened herself.
"Help!" Myu finally got up and saw that Lykos and Mimi were surrounded by fire. He ran to help them, ignoring the protests of the Chieftess as he did so. He rolled to avoid a Flamethrower from the Charizard as he ran, and stopped just beyond the ring of fire surrounding the Riolu and Buneary. He grabbed as much sand as he could and threw it on the fire, creating an opening big enough for the two kids to get through. The Shadow Charizard however stood in their path. It prepared to fire a Flamethrower, but a Water Gun broke his concentration.
The Charizard turned and saw Zeni standing there, but he was now shaking with fear. "Okay, didn't think that through!" He took off as the Charizard flew after him.
"Nothing anyone is doing is having an effect!" Lykos shouted. Myu saw several Pokémon fire off defensive moves, but they all missed as the Charizard altered its flight to avoid the attacks.
"We need to bring it down to the ground and keep it there," Myu thought out loud.
"How?" Mimi asked. Myu looked around and saw a Cubone that was hiding behind a rock. He ran over and got the Pokémon's attention.
"Hey, do you know Smack Down?"
"Yeah, but I can't hit that Charizard from down here!" the Cubone whined. Myu saw a Machoke and walked up to it.
"Hey, how's your throwing arm?"
The Shadow Charizard continued to unleash Flamethrower after Flamethrower on the huts, destroying several. He paid no mind to the screams around him. Destroying the village was the only thing that mattered to him.
"SMACK DOWN!" The Shadow Charizard heard the shout and turned his head to see a Cubone flying towards his right wing with its bone club raised. He couldn't react in time as the Cubone smashed the bone club into the wing, sending the Shadow Charizard down to the ground. The Cubone was caught by Devoir before he collided with the ground.
The Shadow Charizard got up and prepared to take off, but his right wing was extremely stiff. He saw a layer of rocks now covered it. He still tried to take off, and Myu realized it was only a matter of time before he got off the ground.
"We need to prevent him from flying off," he said. He turned to a Vaporeon. "Do you know any Ice-type moves that can freeze?"
"I know Aurora Beam, but it will take time with this much fire," he answered.
"Zeni!" Myu shouted, getting the Squirtle's attention. He ran over to see what was needed.
"What is it?"
"Use Water Gun on the Charizard's wing so Aurora Beam can freeze it faster," Myu ordered.
"I see," Zeni said as he took aim. He fired off a pressurized blast of water at the Shadow Charizard's wing, which was frozen by a multi-colored beam of freezing energy from the Vaporeon. In a few seconds, the Shadow Charizard's wing was completely frozen, preventing him from taking off at all.
"Now he should be an easier target," Myu said. Zeni and the Vaporeon proceeded to fire Water Guns at the Shadow Charizard, but he sent out a Flamethrower which vaporized the water. "Now we need a way around that." As he was coming up with a solution, the Charizard fired a Solar Beam at the three Pokémon there. Myu shoved Zeni out of the way, but the Vaporeon was unfortunate enough to get hit by the Solar Beam at full power, knocking him out.
"Any ideas?" Zeni asked.
"Three, so far," Myu answered.
"Three?" Zeni asked incredulously. Devoir fired a Shadow Ball at the Shadow Charizard, but he tore the attack apart with Dragon Pulse.
"I think I have a solution that could work," Myu said as he got up. "Zeni, do you know Water Pulse?"
"Yes, why?"
"On my mark, concentrate as much power as you can into it, then fire it into the air," Myu said as he ran off.
"What good will that do?" Zeni didn't get an answer as Myu ran up to Devoir.
"I don't suppose you'll mind if I give you a battle plan?" Myu asked.
"At this point? What do you have in mind?" she asked.
"I want you to fire a Shadow Ball at Zeni's Water Pulse when I say so. Can you do that?"
"Sure."
"Good." Myu turned so he was facing Zeni. "Now, Zeni!" he shouted.
Zeni put his hands to the side, concentrating as much power into making as big a water ball as he could. Once it was large enough, he fired it up into the air. Once Myu determined it was high enough, he told Devoir to fire her Shadow Ball. She shot it off, and it collided with the Water Pulse, shattering it and scattering water down, most of it concentrated on the Shadow Charizard.
The lizard roared in pain as it was pelted with several large drops of water.
"Now, we need a finishing move; something to knock it out," Myu said. "Or a combination of really powerful moves so it does take him out."
The Shadow Charizard started to flex its wings, trying to use them to take off. "Zeni, don't let it take off!" Myu shouted. Zeni fired an Ice Beam, coating the wings in a new layer of ice. Lykos and Mimi were running by when Myu stopped them. "Hey, do either of you know Quick Attack?"
"We both do, but why would you…" Lykos answered.
"I've got a plan to take him down, but I'm going to need the two of you as a distraction so he doesn't see the attack coming," Myu explained. "If the two of you go in a zig-zag pattern using Quick Attack, he won't be able to hit either of you."
"And what attack are you planning on doing?" Mimi asked.
"Devoir is going to use a Shadow Ball to hopefully knock out the Charizard," Myu said.
"I can help too," Bella added in. "I know a move that's super effective on this guy."
"Let me help too." Myu saw Ryu slither up. "I know Draco Meteor."
"Alright, three attacks should knock him out," Myu said, the plan made. "Lykos and Mimi, charge at him with Quick Attack." The pair shot off with silver streaks left behind as they ran at the Shadow Charizard, swerving as much as they could. The Shadow Charizard saw them, but got dizzy from trying to track them. "Alright, now the three of you charge your attacks, and fire them simultaneously." Devoir conjured a Shadow Ball between her hands, while Ryu focused her draconic energies into an orange sphere. Bella's body sparkled with electricity as she started charging an Electric-type move. Then, Devoir fired her Shadow Ball as Ryu fired the sphere, which split into several smaller streaks of orange power. Bella fired off her gathered electrical energies, using Thunderbolt.
The Shadow Charizard saw the attacks coming and prepared to counter with a Flamethrower, but Lykos and Mimi ran at him and used Quick Attack on the bottom of his jaw, sending the Flamethrower to the sky and exposing his chest. The three attacks collided with their target, creating a small explosion that engulfed the Shadow Charizard. When the smoke cleared, the Shadow Charizard fainted, falling to the ground.
Before they could celebrate, an eerie purple aura surrounded the Charizard, which proceeded to blast outward before dissipating.
"What was that?" Bella wondered. Devoir walked over to the knocked out Charizard, but when she got close she recognized him.
"Don?" she questioned. The Charizard hadn't been seen in days, and yet, here he was. The Charizard, now known as Don, opened his eyes.
"Ugh, what happened?" he asked as he sat up. "And why is there ice covering my wings?" he asked when he noticed his frozen wings.
"Wait. You don't know?" Devoir asked.
"Know what?" Don asked.
"Ahem, what's going on?" Myu asked as he and the others came up.
"This is Don, he's the Chief of Azure Village," Devoir introduced the Charizard. "He went missing a couple days ago."
"Wait, what? What happened to me?" Don asked.
"You were a Shadow and tried to destroy the village," Myu said bluntly.
"What? Did I hurt anyone?" Don asked, concerned.
"Just Dominus over there," Myu said, pointing to where the Eelektross was laying. He suddenly got up and sprang back into action.
"No one does that to me and gets away with it!" he exclaimed angrily. He saw them gathered around the Charizard and was confused. "What happened?"
"Turns out the Shadow Charizard is Don, and he's now back to normal," Bella explained.
"Oh. Well uh… you're welcome!" Dominus said, trying to take credit.
"What? You were unconscious the whole time!" Lykos emphasized. "Myu's the one who beat him," he said while patting the smaller Pokémon on the back.
"What!" Dominus exclaimed.
"I didn't beat him, you guys did," Myu said, motioning to the Pokémon that did the job.
"You came up with the plan that beat him!" Bella said. "And it was awesome!"
"That little runt did what!" Dominus shouted, glaring at the Mew.
"It's true, he was quite excellent," Devoir praised.
"Well, thanks for freeing me," Don said to the Mew. "What's your name?"
"Myu."
"Well, Myu, it's not everyday someone can coordinate an attack to take me down. For that, I'm impressed," Don praised. "So, where you from? I haven't seen you before."
"I'm currently staying here for the time being," Myu explained. "Oh, by the way, where am I staying?" Myu asked.
"In…" Devoir trailed off when she pointed to one of the destroyed huts.
Myu followed her gaze and saw the destroyed hut. "Oh, so, anyplace else?" Myu asked.
"I think Don destroyed all the spare huts we had," Devoir said as she looked around. "It's going to be a while before we can repair one of them."
"Sorry," the Charizard apologized.
"Aww, too bad," Dominus sarcastically said.
"So, where am I going to spend the night?" Myu asked, noting that the sky was darkening fast.
"He could stay with us!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Bella covered it with her hands. She didn't mean to blurt that out; it was just too exciting. Everyone turned to look at her with surprised looks. "Well, I mean, he could stay in my room," Bella explained, nervously twirling her hair.
"I don't want to be a burden," Myu said.
"You wouldn't be," Bella protested. "We could arrange something for you, I'm sure, and our hut is big enough that you would hardly take up any room." She looked to her mom, hoping Devoir would be okay with this. "Please, mom?" she almost begged.
"Well, I guess, but he cannot stay on your bed," Devoir told her daughter. "Don, it's too late for you to fly back, and you need to recover first. You can stay in our hut for the night."
"Thank you," Don said to Devoir.
"Hold on. Why should that little kitty stay in Bella's room?" Dominus demanded.
"He's the first person to defeat a Shadow, if indirectly, and deserves to stay with us," Devoir defended.
"Yes!" Bella leapt for joy. "Come on, Myu, I'll show you to your new home!" she said as she took his hand and lead him away.
Dominus watched them go, irritated that that little kitty got to sleep in Bella's room, which should be his honor. He could even see it in Bella's eyes; she liked him. He was going to have to keep a close eye on that cat from now on.
In a dark place, a figure walked up to a reflective pool. He waved a paw over the water, conjuring an image. It showed their latest Shadow, a Charizard, defeated. He scanned the area around the Charizard, and saw several young Pokémon standing victorious, but something seemed wrong. He focused on one of them, and saw a small blue feline Pokémon with a long tail. He leaned closer to the pool to get a better look. The water reflected his purple-crimson eyes, as he analyzed the image and realized what it was. So, there is one left.
End of Chapter 1
15