Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If I did, the dubbed version wouldn't be so idiotic.
Mew pulled her small hands through the sand, and felt the grit on her skin. She was lying in the sand, its rough texture digging into her, while she mused all the while that maybe she should get up. That was what you did, after all, when hit in the barbaric game of Hu. The sun beat its rays violently onto Mew's back. The other players hadn't even noticed she had fallen. It was natural for them to ignore her. She was small and extremely testy, and had been since she was a small child, introduced for the very first time to the classmates she would have all throughout her school years. That really the only drawback to school-the people. That and Exercise class at midday. Mew thought it was sadistic that Exercise was placed in the hottest hour of the day. She loathed the game with all her being, even when it wasn't so hot you could see the moisture evaporating from your skin.
The class Teacher, who had been standing outside of the court, suddenly noticed Mew. "Get up! You'll be okay!" she said, with her mind. It was far to noisy in the playing field for Mew to even hope of hearing the Teacher's spoken voice. Mew rolled over, sweating, and found her eyes met with the glare of the sun. She flinched, and immediately shut her eyes, wishing she could disappear into a small, dark corner of the Forest. Slowly, Mew floated off the sand, shaking it out of her fur as much as she could. This really explained why the Mew people, living on the beach, had decided to have all their buildings up high, usually built into trees, and they all chose to float to their destinations. Sand could get into everything, and could feel awful if you got a bit of it stuck in the wrong places. Mew groaned a bit for that reason, as she floated back into the game.
After a few minutes of dodging the ball and other players, the Teacher called a halt to the game. "It is time for lunch," she shouted, not having the energy to mind-talk with all her pupils. Mew thanked the Key and whoever else was involved that the time of Exercise had gone fairly quickly. The class, her worst, had a tendency to drag on forever. The students rushed to the classroom, a large treehouse nestled in a congregation of ancient, tall palm trees. Mew took her time. The sun felt as though it were pulling her down to the sands, and if she looked up it made her a bit queasy. Could anyone expect her to eat in this heat? The School had just changed its schedule from having cool-time in the year off, to having cool-time as its off-season. So now the hottest, laziest times of the year were spent toiling in a stuffy classroom. Mew knew she wasn't the only one who hated the new schedule, the whole class would frequently groan about it. She looked longingly toward the ocean, lusting after its cool blue depths. Students weren't allowed to swim during the school day, not even during lunch. Sometimes a few of the older students, whose classrooms were located in the direct sun, would ignore this, and go swimming anyway. They had initially been reprimanded, as was per usual, but the Teachers of the Senior Division had taken a liking to the water also. Now the Senior Class was visible every day in the lunch hour, taking their daily swim, just in sight of the oppressed younger pupils, longing to be free.
Mew flew off, blessedly alone; she did not want or need the company of her classmates; and settled a moment later in a tropical-looking tree overlooking the sparkling water. Alone, and in the shade, things seemed to look up a bit. Mew sat in silence, listening to the sound of the waves crashing upon the shore. The sound was completely natural, a beautiful sound that was as common for the Mews as the birds calling in the trees or an animal's heartbeat. She floated upward, to the top of the tree, and peeked her head out from the fronds. It was one
of the best views in the area, she knew. She could see a large portion of her little tribe-village, where she had lived all her life, and could identify each structure in the trees. The underlying white sand was untouched, but further down the beach large, spiky rocks lay in wait for those who dared fly too low to the ground. "Freshwater! For the students of the School!" shouted a Teacher, opening her mind-voice to everyone within reasonable distance. In Mew's mind, her voice was faint. Mew's mouth watered. Her kind could, and usually did, live off salt water, (their magick automatically separated the water from the salt, and the salt was disposed of) but freshwater was a rare delicacy.
To get it, someone from the tribe had to go about a half-mile inland. Somewhere during that half-mile, in the thick, gloomy forest, the sound of the ocean would be muted, making the unfortunate water-bearer's heart rate go up, and make them extremely jumpy. The forest animals threatened the water-bearer all the way. Each day, a different adult in the tribe would be assigned to get water. Most never got the courage to go, however, so only occasionally did anyone get freshwater.
Within seconds of the Teacher's announcement, schoolchildren came flying at him for their chance at a bit of the water. By the time Mew had untangled herself from the tree to go get some, the Teacher said in mind-voice, "Okay, no more! It's all gone!" Her heart sank with disappointment. She was so thirsty she could fall from the tree, and drink the sand, never even noticing the difference. Then she spied it. A coconut, large and juicy, ripe for the picking.
Mew looked in all directions before flying up a little ways to get it, to make sure no one would see her. Eating food other than what was strictly necessary for survival (the tatra plant) was frowned upon within the tribe. She could get reprimanded for gluttony. She wasn't being a glutton, she just hadn't gotten any freshwater, and was terribly thirsty. Not to mention she hadn't gotten a lunch. It's your own fault, she reminded herself. She hadn't had the energy to brave the busy classroom to go and get it. Mew looked around again, and satisfied that no one was present to witness her rule-breaking, easily pulled it off the tree and cracked it with her mind. She made it float to her, and pulled it open, sticking her small hands into the sweet, sticky substance of the coconut milk. Mew sniffed it, enjoying the smell, and held it hesitantly to her mouth. She took a long swig of it. The more she drank, the faster she would drink it, until it was all gone, and she was left sucking the now-dry coconut meat. Mew pulled her face away, saving the meat for a later time, and licked the milk off her face with a long, lithe pink tongue.
"Friend," came Acquaintance's voice from behind her. Mew jumped, startled, then caught herself before she slipped out of the branches. Being caught with a coconut in her hand wasn't a good idea. She shut her eyes, and concentrated, making it teleport away, to the sand behind the tree. "Enjoying yourself?" Acquaintance asked, in simple spoken voice. I was until you came along, Mew thought, annoyed, but the feeling quickly burnt out; it was too hot for being mad at the annoying creature. "Yeah," Mew responded shortly, looking out at the electric blue water. "You?" Acquaintance sighed at the question, settling herself beside Mew. "Not really," she admitted. "A Classmate stole my freshwater." "Who?" Mew inquired, faintly curious. "Your Rival," Acquaintance said, rolling her eyes to the heavens. "She called me fat, too. Well, actually, one of her friends did." Mew really did feel sorry for Acquaintance at times, the other children were very cruel to her. She wasn't a very pretty girl, and, as Mew knew too well, could be needy and annoying. At least the other children had learned to leave Mew alone. Acquaintance almost projected "please come make fun of me" vibes. Still, Mew had trouble solving all of her problems. "Just tell her she's a kanei-euk," she said, using her language's term
for "bitch." Acquaintance gasped at the inappropriate word, and Mew was decidedly pleased with her reaction. "I couldn't do that!" she said forcefully. "I did, and it worked," Mew muttered, but the girl still heard her. "You did?" Acquaintance said, in awe of such bravery. "Look, I say this to you all the time, but it's true," Mew said, "You've got to stand up for yourself, or she's just going to keep doing it." Acquaintance finally shut her mouth, which had been hanging open. "Oh, Friend," she said sappily, Mew wincing at her choice of relation-names, "I wish I were more like you. You're so brave and so strong. I could never be like that." Mew suddenly felt terribly uncomfortable with the admiration. "It's not so hard," she ventured, in an attempt to get Acquaintance off the subject. "You should try it." The shrill mind-voice of a Teacher came into the students' minds. "Get back inside your classrooms. Lunch is over." Saved by the bell twice in one day, Mew thought, immensely grateful.
After lunch each day, the School ordered schoolchildren under a certain age to get a certain amount of time to sleep. The cut-off age for these siestas was 14, so Mew and her classmates were required to follow this regulation. No talking and playing of any sort of game was allowed, so quite a few of her classmates despised this time. It was a pointless activity, as very few actually slept. Mew didn't mind; she was content to float at the bronze sundial by the window and daydream. The only trouble was when she actually did fall asleep. The other children would come and make fun of her, as they did with all other sleepers, and poke her until she woke up, or until the Teacher ordered them to stop and follow her example by going to sleep. On rare occasions, something worse would happen. A vision of the future, astonishingly clear, would come to her instead of a dream. Mew shivered at the thought. "Get a nap-spot, children," her class's Teacher said calmingly, to quiet the other pupils down. In response, Mew floated to the sundial, and hung in the warm air by the windowsill. She stared with wide, blank eyes at the world outside her schoolhouse. Now that she had the chance to sleep, she realized she was indeed tired, but fought it. Nothing good ever came out of her falling asleep at School. The other schoolchildren had settled down, and a hush fell over the room. Somewhere, an insect buzzed lazily. The heat rose and hung, billowing like still, thick clouds over the ocean. Birds called to one another, and the sound of a Pidgey's gentle song filled the air. Mew's eyelids felt astonishingly heavy, with afternoon sounds conspiring to make her fall asleep. Stay awake, her reasonable mind called, but Mew ignored it. With a small sigh, she surrendered to the all-powerful embrace of sleep.
Mew opened her eyes. She was in class, but somehow the atmosphere was different. Students huddled up in the classroom's corners, quietly talking in fearful, hushed tones. It was dark, like the early stages of twilight on a warm-time evening, where insects hum, and people sit outside, eating and laughing. There was no laughter here, though. In fact, one girl was crying on the floor, into her folded arms. "What's going on?" Mew asked, the strength of her spoken voice shocking herself in the quiet room. No one answered. She looked to the window, and saw-herself, leaning against it, staring out with huge, understanding eyes. Mew felt sick. It was a vision, and she was watching her future self realizing it was coming true. She flew over to her "self," and looked at where the other "her" was looking at so pointedly. Mew gasped as she saw it. The sky was covered in a swirling mass of black clouds, which spiraled into an eye. The eye of the strange, gigantic storm was a deep red, burning itself into the black folds surrounding it. The sight sent a cold chill tricking down Mew's spine. "What kind of storm is that?" a voice from across the room said. She recognized the voice as Rival's after a few seconds of thinking. It didn't sound like hers at all; it was thin and shaky, and strangely high-pitched. Mew closed her eyes, absorbing the information, and abruptly the vision ended.
Mew woke up, and found herself staring out of the window at a cerulean blue, perfectly clear sky. She started, before reminding herself not to give away anything that could indicate that she had had a vision. Who knew what could happen if someone knew about her strange gift? Mew fought to push the disturbing images of the vision out of her mind as she quietly studied the classroom for signs on how long she had been asleep. No one had purposely awoken her, it appeared, so that meant she hadn't been asleep for long. Quiet amiable chatter filled the schoolhouse, which the Teacher, from the look on her face, had given up trying to prevent. Mew guessed it was halfway through the hour. She still had another half-hour to wonder about the vision. Mew, in all her years of having visions, had never had one so ominous and strange. Mew had just taken for granted the ever-present rhythm of life in the tribe-village. It seemed something was coming, something bad that no one had ever seen before. She forced herself to stare out the window to assure herself everything would be all right, but no assurance came. Her stomach felt like a sack of wet sand, and her heart ran along at a pace far too fast. Mew spent the afternoon in deep thought, praying ceaselessly to the Three Spirits that her vision would not come true.
