Prologue: An Unusual Invitation

Samuel Trepper was not your typical 12 year old. He didn't want to be a trainer, he didn't dream of being a Pokémon master, in fact, he wasn't even really interested in Pokémon besides the family Pokémon, Charity the Chansey, and then it was only as a friend, not a partner. All he wanted to do in life was write stories, live an easy life, and keep an eye on his bed-ridden father. Most people looked at him and thought that he was heartless to Pokémon, being seeing as he barely paid any attention to them, no matter how badly they needed his help; but the truth was he couldn't have been more respectful.

When he saw a Pokémon that was hurt, but refused to give up, he knew that it was trying to pull itself up again on its own. He believed that Pokémon had pride, much the same as humans, and by letting them fight their own battles with life he was letting them keep it. The only time he ever helped was when the Pokémon simply couldn't keep fighting anymore, and was desperately in need of medical attention. Then, he had carried it to the Pokémon Center, left some money on the counter to pay for its pokeball, and left before Nurse Joy could even ask his name.

That had happened only once in his life, when he noticed a Pichu stuck in the mud of a riverbank. He had heard that it had gotten a trainer partner, and the two had since grown to be best friends. It made him happy to know that he had made another being happy; because he couldn't remember the last time he had felt such happiness… the joy of partnership…

"I'm home!" I called as I pulled the door shut. Charity came up to me. "Chansey! Chan?" "No thanks Charity, I had lunch on my way home." "Sey." And she went back to doing whatever she'd been doing before I came home. How did I understand her? Live with a Pokémon for 12 years, and the name-only thing starts to turn into words. Now, I can't understand Pokémon, but I CAN understand the one I grew up with. I made my way up to my dad's room and knocked on the door. "Hey dad, I got the book you wanted from the library." A heard his faint voice form the other side. "Good. Bring it to me…" I opened the door and went in.

My dad was ill, that was the only word for it. Nobody in the town knew what it was, but it was there, and it was getting worse every day. He was bed-ridden, barely able to speak, and I think he forgot my name for the third time last night. And the worst part was that we couldn't afford to get him to a hospital, no matter how bad he got. When my mother died in childbirth, he had been the only one supporting our family. And when he fell ill, it fell upon me to make enough money for us to live, but even with two shifts at the local general store, it was all I could do to afford enough for food for the three of us.

"Here" I passed him the book. In his condition, the only form of entertainment he could enjoy was reading, and the local library had been kind enough to let him have more freedom with whatever he borrowed, and no late fees. Strangely, no matter how ill he got, his mind was as sharp as ever. His body just couldn't keep up with it anymore. "Ah… Great Pokémon Legends… One of…the finest…novels I…ever had the…honor of helping… publish…"

When he was a trainer, he had an unusual experience while in the Hoenn region. He once encountered the legendary Ho-oh, and had offered the journal he wrote of the experience to the publisher of the book. The publisher gave us some good cash for it, but right now, we're saving it in the bank so we have a little money in case a real emergency happens, but despite our best attempts, the back-up money just keeps getting sucked into our bills.

I made to leave, but he motioned for me to stay. "Son… have I… ever told you about… the greatest experience…of my life?" That was weird. "I think so, but I thought that seeing Ho-oh was the greatest." "It was… great… but not… the greatest…" "Oh. Then what was your greatest?" "Here…" He held the book out to me as best he could, and I took it. "Read… the legend… of…" He was drifting off. He'd been doing it more and more as he got worse. "Legend of what?" "…m…e…w…" And he was out, sleeping peacefully.

I stood there for a moment, making sure that he hadn't fallen into a coma, and then I got up, left, and closed the door. I went to my room, which was down the hall from dad's. I sat down on the bed, and looked through the table of contents. "Let's see… The Legend of Memories, The Legend of Mini Pokémon, The Legend of Pokémon Mummies, ah: The Legend of Mew." I turned to the page, and read the subtitle: from the journal of Thomas Trepper. "Never knew his journal had more than one legend in it…"

It said that Mew was the second greatest of all legendaries, as well as the second most powerful, next to Arceus. It stated that despite its awesome power, it was very playful and immature, although very well behaved. It had abilities unmatched, being able to manipulate reality itself, and even create a small world within ours that could be manipulated at its will as easily as a ditto could transform. However, despite the endless possibilities it could achieve with such power, it was rather bored and lonely, and longed for a playmate.

"This is weird… where did dad get all this information? It doesn't seem like this was found on temple walls or something like that…" I rolled over and looked around me. My room had been the only source of comfort for the last 4 years. No work, no sick father to worry about, and not a care in the world. Most people think I'd be a lazy bum if it wasn't for my father, but I don't think so. True, I prefer the nice and easy life, but it's not because I'm lazy, but because that's my style: staying calm and letting things roll.

"Sigh…" That almost never happened, and I had to keep active and fearful for my father's sake… I closed my eyes and let my mind wander. Random thoughts drifted up to me: my childhood, my only friend, my mother… I felt better though. I got up, and started writing my story. I'd been working on it for some time now. It's about a boy who's been an orphan for as long as he can remember, who befriends a young Pichu, and learns the true meaning of the word happiness. I'd written over half of it by now, and was still going strong. I'd already found a publisher, so all I had to do was finish it, and it would be published across the region. I was hoping it would be a sell well enough for me to get enough cash to take my father to the hospital. Time passed, as time does, and before I knew it, it was dark outside.

I think it was when I finished the first paragraph of chapter 32 when I heard frantic foot steps outside my room. "CHANSEY!" Charity ran so hard into my room that two of the door hinges came loose. That could only mean one thing: something must be wrong. And the only thing in this house that could go wrong that wasn't something falling apart was- Oh no. "Don't tell me it's-" "CHANSEY!" "Oh-no…" I have no idea how I got to my dad's room only six seconds after I said that, but I did. My father's condition had just hit the breaking point, and not the good kind. "DAD!" I pulled him up and checked for a pulse. It was so weak that if I hadn't spent all those days training my ability to check pulses, I'd have said it was already over. Charity came running in behind me. "Charity, you take care of him, I'm going to call the hospital."

"Chan? Chansey…" "I know it'll put us into bankruptcy, but we have to help him!" I made to run to the phone, but Charity grabbed me and held me back. "Charity? Let me go!" "Chan! Chansey Chan!" "What? He asked you to stop me if this happened?" "Chan. Chansey Chan Chansey Chansey." She looked heartbroken for having to tell me. "… Charity…" I was in denial. I couldn't believe it: my father wanted me to let him die so I'd be able to live a happy life without dept.

I don't know how long the two of us stood there, holding each other. Finally, she let me go, knowing that I would not disobey my father, not even for this. She was right. The first thing I wanted to do was run into my room and cry the night away, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn't be able to stand being in the room anymore, so instead I went downstairs to our basement. It wasn't much of a basement, just a place where we put all the junk we didn't need any more but hadn't gotten rid of yet. I sat down between two boxes full of whatever, and buried my face in my hands.

I had planned to stay there until Charity came down to tell me it was over, but like most of my plans, this one was ruined barely five minutes after I'd thought of it, though not in quite the way I'd been expecting. Poor boy. The only family he has left, and it's about to leave him all alone with only the family helper to live with. Yes, she's a great Pokémon, but she could never fill the hole in your heart that your father will leave. What the! I pulled my head up and looked around. Who's there?"

Tee hee, are you really an easy going guy? The moment you hear someone talk to you, you think it's an intruder! I think someone has been lying to himself! Te he… What? Whoever it was could tell what I was thinking? How could anyone do that? Because I'm psychic, silly. If you'd been paying attention, you might have noticed that I'm talking in your head! Oops… guess I missed that… Te, he. You're funny. "Who are you? Where are you?" I was looking around frantically now, adrenaline flowing through my veins.

Who am I? I think the question should be what am I? After all, I'm not a human, and you subconsciously refer to every thing that isn't human as an it. Hey! Just because I can't tell male and female Pokémon apart doesn't mean- I never said you meant it to be rude! Silly human! Te he! Ok, this was starting to get annoying now. "Can't you just show yourself to me? I'm getting tired of not having a face to talk to." Only if you say please! "Sigh… please?" Ok!

I saw a sparkle out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to see it, it had zoomed behind the box on my left. But you'll have to catch me first! "I don't have time for games! I have a father who's sick-" If you can catch me, I promise to help you with that! Ok, now I was interested. Yay! Try and catch me if you can! The next thing I knew, the sparkle was zooming around the basement. I'm going to skip over all the stumbling, falling, and running I had to do to catch that sparkle, because it can be said by repeating the following line over and over again: I jump for a catch, but I missed.

Finally, I made a grab, and caught it. Yes! Aw… you win! I opened my hands, and let the sparkle fly out. OK, you get to see me now. The sparkle grew into a large bubble, and suddenly, it became transparent, and I could see what was inside. What I couldn't do was believe my eyes. "WHAT! M-M-M-MEW!" Hey, you know what I am! What else do you know about me? "Hey, don't go looking into my mind!" Sorry, but I already did! "Grr…"

Ooh… your daddy is Thomas. Aw… to think he's gotten so sick… "Huh? You know him?" Well, duh! How do you think he got that information about me? The Internet? "You're a Pokémon, how do you know what the Internet is?" Because I can manipulate reality! Remember? I can do anything I want! Then I noticed that the stairs were missing, so even if I had turned down Mew's request to play I'd still have had to play. You just noticed that? You're a really bad noticer! "That's not even a word!" I know, but I like it.

"Ok, you promised you'd help my father, so help him before-" That was before I knew it was Thomas. "Huh? Why don't you want to help him?" It's not that I don't want to help him, it's just that he owes me a favor. I can't let him double owe me; he'd never be able to pay me back! … "So… there's no way he can be saved… Hm… Mew got all thoughtful looking. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. "A deal?" Yeah. You do know what those are right? "Hey!" Te he!

Anyway, here's the deal: I can heal your dad, but there has to be something in it for me. I didn't like the sound of that. We barely had enough cash to live. What in the world could a legendary Pokémon want that's cheaper than 5$? Silly human. I can make all the money I want. Besides, there's nothing you can buy that I can't make myself. "Grr… THEN WHY ARE YOU OFFERING ME A DEAL? THIS IS VERY PERSONAL YOU KNOW! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR JOKES!"

Hm… you also seem to be very forgetful. That could come in handy to know for later, te he. I gave up, and started looking for a way out. Aw, you want to leave? You didn't even let me tell you what I wanted… "Sigh… ok Mew, what do you want?" … "Please?" I want a playmate. It's against the rules to use my powers on a living being that doesn't let me, and I've been using these powers for so long they're boring if I don't share them with someone. So here's the deal: if you be my playmate for a while, say 30 days or so, I'll make your dad so healthy he could drink muddy water without getting a tummy ache.

…

"What exactly do you mean by playmate?" Someone to play with; it's as simple as that. "Hm… how would we work this out?" I'll stay down here in your basement, and every day for the next 30 days you come down when I want you to. Every day you play with me, I'll make your father a little healthier. I'll keep him alive for tonight, and we play tomorrow in the morning. Does that sound good for now? "Yeah." What I didn't say was- If you decide to cut the deal after your dad's healthy enough to live then the deal is off, and he'll slip right back to the way he was before I came here. Ok, never mind.

I ran it through in my head one last time: I save the life of my father, I save a fortune on his medical bills, I get an opportunity to quit my job, and all I have to do is play with a legendary Pokémon for 30 days. Of course, Mew could manipulate reality… I promise you'll be able to get back to life as if nothing ever happened once we're done, besides your father getting better of course. "Ok… then it's a deal." I held out my hand for Mew to shake, but instead she psychically moved it up and down. Be here when it gets dark tomorrow! And with that, she disappeared. "Sigh…" I mumbled as I went up the steps that had reappeared. "Hold on Dad, I'm not giving you up just yet..."