Introduction
A young boy no more than fifteen was exploring the charred remains of a mansion on Cinnabar Island. He had a perpetually determined expression on his face, bangs of rusty brown hanging in front of his eyes, and falling to his shoulders in the back. The boy had piercing green eyes, which now scanned the rubble for any signs of life. He wore a tannish-yellow backpack by one strap over a shoulder, and had a belt with curious little red and white balls clipped to it.
At the boy's side, a small dog-like creature stands, loyally and proudly. Its pelt is dark orange-red with black stripes. On top of its head sits an odd tuft of fur, a mammalian crest of sorts, swaying slightly every time the dog moved. Its tail, of a similar fur to that of its tuft, wags madly as it barks happily, unaware of any danger that could very well befall its owner and itself. "Growlithe!" it chimes.
The boy shushes it as a small pebble's plummet reverberates through the multistoried mansion. As his eyes sweep the scene, a dusty tome attracts his attention. He stares at it a moment more before approaching it and taking it up in both arms, as it is a heavy volume.
He flips a few pages in wonder of what such a large book would be doing in such a place, and wonders silently why the book is so dusty and intact, even though the table it was sitting on was charred black. He stops reading abruptly after his eyes alight on the word "clone." He stared at it a moment before beginning to read rapidly, his mind thirsting ravenously for the cause of the mysterious and horrendous fire that had reduced the mansion to such a state.
The boy read of an enigmatic ancient Pokémon known simply as Mew. Top scientists of a much-recognized crime ring known as Team Rocket had planned to use fossilized Mew cells to create a clone. Originally, the clone was to be just a Mew, supposedly the strongest creature ever to live, but the power-hungry leader of the Rockets ordered that a super-clone be created. He demanded that this monstrosity be stronger, faster, and smarter than anything known to man, including man himself.
After years of horrific genetic engineering experiments, the super-clone, dubbed Mewtwo, was at long-last created. However, the Rocket leader's greed for power still was not satiated. He decreed that another, stronger clone be made, and it was: a sleek, sinewy, and, above all, female creature named Mewthree. Unfortunately, even that was not enough for the Rocket boss' power lust. He ordered that a third clone be produced; one that would put the previous two to shame, and it was done.
Many of the following pages described the developments of the three clones: Mewtwo fast maturing in its test tube, Mewthree becoming more and more akin to a dragon as time went on, but Mewfour was the most startling. Every few weeks, as it became stronger and stronger and stronger it would suddenly mutate drastically in a matter of minutes, almost as if it were evolving rapidly. It had begun as a small kitten, looking much like the original Mew, then progressed to a Mewtwo-esque look, then went a completely separate path.
The changes weren't even logical. It would grow a turtle's shell, and then lose it in favour of a horn next time it underwent changes. At one time, its eyes sealed shut and it had grown flippers in place of its normal limbs, then gone right back to a terrestrial form the next. After a time, the "Changes," as the scientists called them, began to slow in frequency and strangeness.
The boy flipped the page again to find it only half-filled. He read that Mews Two and Three had awoken and that Four was to awake soon enough. The author stated his position as sitting in front of Mewfour's tank as he wrote this account. Mewfour was much like a black, red-striped Mewtwo at that point. Suddenly, Mewfour's glowing blue eyes snapped open and—
The writing stopped abruptly.
Taken aback, the boy set the book down on the table he'd found it on. He was either too young or overwhelmed to understand the significance of what he'd just taken in. As it all rushed through his mind, his companion began yapping at something invisible in the distance as dogs often do. The boy shushed it again.
But the Growlithe didn't stop and soon the boy would know why. He stared slack-jawed as the pup was encased in pure blue ice-crystal. He paused, before he went to help the poor creature when the ice exploded, suddenly and unexpectedly. The shards flew in all directions, not the least of which was straight at the dog's owner. He was pinned to the wall by the icicles, as they buried themselves into the wall through his clothes and his flesh; instead of crying out for his lost beloved pet, he was crying in anguish. Upon opening his eyes, he found another's eye staring back at him from inside an icicle, and the boy suddenly felt very sick.
Then the charred walls and icicles faded into black, leaving him in an endless monotone plane, no defined surfaces to be had. He glanced around wildly, until he saw himself nose-to-nose with a giant black, red-striped snake. The snake grinned a wide toothy grin and he saw himself swallowed whole. He glanced another way and saw himself trod on by a gargantuan monster of the same colours. Overwhelmed and confused, he sank into a fetal position and shut his eyes so tightly that it hurt.
He waited until he had gotten a somewhat slippery grip on things in his mind before he opened his eyes. The world was still black, but the visions were gone. They were replaced by a small creature, maybe two feet tall, if even that, with black skin embellished with red stripes. It stared at him through glowing ice-blue eyes, entertainment evident in its gaze. Then it grinned evilly and dissipated as if it were no more solid than mist. Afterwards, the boy clenched his eyes shut again and whimpered, rocking back and forth, back and forth.
He opened his eyes timidly a second time to see the welcoming face of his Growlithe. The boy threw his arms around the animal, sobbing. Then the pup began whimpering and backed away. Confused, the boy looked at the dog, and discovered it was looking above him instead of at him. He looked back slowly, then up about six feet to meet with the eyes of a black, red-striped monster. It wore a Gengar's grin on its macabre visage, staring evilly at its Victim with cold azure eyes. The boy's own eyes lost their determined look finally, and the monster Changed.