SLACKERS

EPISODE XXIII

SINS OF THE FATHER

CHAPTER SIX - DISCOVERY AND SHOOTING STARS

Present day

Far away from the civilized world, the ocean's calm surface was disrupted by the flight of two small creatures, skimming along the water fast enough to create a splashing wake reaching nearly ten feet high. From a distance, the sight would have looked like two bright lights leaving trails of stardust behind them, one pink, the other jade.

The pink light broke away from its light green counterpart, submerging itself and illuminating a tiny corner of the ocean before emerging with a blinding, dazzling light and circling around its green twin.

From there, the green light sped up, challenging the pink to catch up. This turned into a furious race of light that ended with another dive below, and a spectacular breach to create a watery explosion. The lights flew closer together, looking like one single, multicolor ball of energy barrelling over the ocean.

"Mew?" the green light inquired.

The pink light drew closer.

"I'm glad you suggested we go home this way. I've never had so much fun in my life!"

The pink light flew in circles around the green, and a boyish voice came from it.

It said "I can't get enough of you, Celebi. I wanted to find you for so long… and I still can't believe you're actually here!"

The green light smiled as the slightest hint of a red hue affected its color. "I always will be, Mew. Now and forever."

For the last few weeks, Mew and Celebi had been fully immersing themselves in their shared longing for adventure. A while back, Mew had asked Celebi to be his partner, and she had politely turned him down. This devastated Mew until months later, when, on a joint mission to rescue Emily Dualwielder from the clutches of Ganon, Mew sacrificed his life to save his friends, and was resurrected by God. One might think Celebi had pretty high standards in order to fall for someone that way, but if you asked her, she'd disagree vehemently, telling you she finally fell for Mew when she saw how dedicated he was to his family.

For all her life up until that day, she loved being alone. She had no ties, no obligations, and no commitments. It was just Celebi in the great big universe. She always thought a relationship would slow her down and take away from the wanderlust. Now, she has never been so happy to be wrong in her life. Now she's seeing everything she wanted to and more, with her faithful Mew at her side.

Mew and Celebi spent some time seeing the world for a few reasons. Mew, having had enough of being the only one of his kind, was longing for answers about his origin. He had no idea how old he was, where he came from, when or even if he was ever born. Along their way searching for the answers, they vowed they would enjoy the journey no matter what. As long as they had each other, they were happy.

Mew had already gained a reputation for absolutely spoiling Celebi and treating her like a princess. He always had a cocky playboy exterior, but underneath was a longing for love and companionship. With Celebi, Mew could confidently declare that he now had everything he ever wanted. Instead of flying over the ocean in a straight line, simply going from Point A to Point B, now he was performing acrobatics with her. He loved every second of it.

Their adventure even took them high into outer space to see if Pokemon existed on any other worlds. If they did, perhaps they would discover that Mew had come from one of them. While they did see dozens of new worlds, and had even paid a visit to Morrowind to see Marikoth and Puddles, they were ultimately unable to find the answers to Mew's unknown past. And now, having seen all they've seen, they had decided it was finally time to go home. Their current path was leading them to Hyrule so Celebi could go home to her human partner, Princess Zelda (formerly known as Emily Dualwielder).

From there, Mew would warp back home. As mythical Psychic Pokemon, they had the ability to teleport anywhere familiar to them at an instant. But a teleport would mean the abrupt end of their adventure, so for them, flying home the old-fashioned way was the way to go. They wanted to keep this up for as long as they could. On the other side of the same coin, Mew knew he wasn't looking forward to flying all the way from Hyrule to New Donk City without Celebi, so an abrupt teleport back to Mihalis and his other friends sounded far more ideal.

"Hey, Mew?" Celebi asked again.

He looked to his left, a wide smile across his face.

"Hm?"

"Can we stop for a moment?"

"Why?"

"I see an island up ahead, and... well..."

Celebi still hadn't quite got the hang of sharing her feelings on such an intimate level. Well, neither of them had, really. But it was something they were learning together, both for the first time.

"I want to sit on the beach and watch the ocean with you before we go home."

Mew flew more circles around Celebi before returning to her side.

"Sure, I'd love that!"

Then came the playful side of Mew that was always a part of him, alone or otherwise.

"Race you there!"

Mew took off at full speed towards the island Celebi mentioned. She grumbled for a few seconds before rolling her eyes and smiling. Then she darted off in the same direction, determined to overtake her competitive boyfriend.

Having gotten a bit of an unfair head start, Mew easily arrived at the island first. In his appropriately dramatic Mew fashion, he came skidding to a halt along the beach before leaping up, flipping in midair, and landing on his two feet. It was a pretty rare moment to see Mew actually standing, as he vastly preferred to hover in place.

And seizing the opportunity, Celebi took advantage of Mew standing instead of floating, and flew straight into him, knocking him over. They tumbled together along the beach before stopping, Celebi on top of Mew, the two of them laughing and smiling at each other. They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like forever. Mew was so madly in love, he couldn't believe it. He felt like the luckiest Pokemon that ever lived.

And the most powerful, until a few moments later.

"Mew?"

Celebi leapt off Mew at the sound of the voice. Immediately, they floated so close to each other their arms squished each other.

The voice was deep, but weak. And it was coming from inside a cave about a hundred feet away from their location.

"... hello?" Mew eventually responded.

"Mew?" the low voice repeated.

He froze in place.

"I'm... I'm here..." he said.

"Can it be? Is that really you, Mew?" the low, soft voice continued, echoing from the cave.

Normally Mew was fearless, with the exception of being in the company of strong, Dark-type Pokemon.

This was different. This spooked him.

Mew had never been here before, nor did he recognize the voice, but he was feeling a presence that felt eerily and alarmingly familiar somehow. He felt a subconscious psychic wavelength that he had always thought only he was able to project. And he was feeling that exact same wavelength from something, or someone else.

He froze at the possibility of this mysterious voice coming from another Mew.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" demanded Mew, flexing his arm without even realizing it.

"Are you alone?" asked the voice.

"Why?"

"Are you alone?" the voice repeated, a bit more tension overtaking it this time.

Celebi could feel the psychic presence as well, and indeed it felt the exact same as Mew's aura. This would mean they were in the presence of something extremely powerful, possibly even as powerful as Mew. She trembled a little and took his hand. This small gesture let Celebi feel Mew's confidence, even if it wasn't at its peak. Maybe it hadn't been, but Mew did feel that confidence improve quite a bit as he felt her hand in every nerve of his own.

"It's just me and Celebi out here," Mew finally answered. "No one else."

After about ten very long seconds of silence, the source of the voice made itself known.

Mew and Celebi saw a lavender-colored creature, possibly a Pokemon, emerging from the cave. It looked to be at least seven feet tall, with two arms and two massive legs, protrusions that looked like small horns were ears should have been, and a long, deep violet tail.

"What the hell are you?!" said Mew.

The creature whose presence felt nearly identical to Mew's floated the way Mew did, gently gliding closer to them. Mew and Celebi still felt that rush of adrenaline causing them to feel far more alarmed than anything else might have made them feel, so they backed up a few feet as the stranger got closer, eventually stopping about twenty feet in front of them.

It looked at them like they were a sight for sore eyes.

"I see I was successful if you don't recognize me, Mew," said the powerful creature.

"Recognize you? What are you talking about? Why do I sense the energy of a Mew coming from you?"

The creature closed its eyes and shook its head.

"You sense a fair facsimile of that energy. To feel the genuine, naturally-birthed one coming from you is a presence I haven't encountered in a long time. In a way, it's refreshing."

Mew furrowed his brow, clearly not giving a shit about how annoyed he looked.

"Quit talking out of your ass and answer my questions, dammit!" he shouted, oddly echoing his trainer's rhetoric.

"Mew," sharply whispered Celebi as she elbowed his side, reminding him to use what little manners he had.

"It appears your patience has worn rather thin since our last encounter. Perhaps it is a characteristic of our DNA."

"You're not a Mew," he said. "So quit acting like it."

"I abandoned the notion of imitating a naturally-born Pokemon a long time ago. I only intend on behaving as myself, what I am."

"Why do you keep talking about not being natural, being a fac-facs-ugh, Celebi? "

"Facsimile," she said.

"Yeah, that! Facselebi! Simile! Fuck! You know what I mean!"

The creature sighed, closed its eyes, and looked at the ground.

"Let's return to my dwelling. I fear what will happen if we remain out here in the open any longer than what's necessary."

"Go in your cave with you? Are you kidding me?" asked Mew.

"I promise, I will answer all of your questions, and tell you everything you wish to know. But I ask you, please, to accompany me."

If this had been just any stranger he had encountered, Mew probably would have told him to suck on a cactus and fly off.

But his curiosity began to rise when he realized that this creature felt eerily similar to him. If there was a chance he was telling the truth, that he had encountered him before, it's possible it could have happened as early as the time before Mew's oldest memories. Plus, it gave him a reason to spend an even longer amount of time with Celebi, and it went without saying that she would follow him inside. So she did.

The creature calmly flew back into its cave, and Mew and Celebi followed him.

Maybe by "everything you wish to know," he could have even meant the answers they had been searching for all this time, the entire reason they went on their adventure.

What a weird coincidence would that be.

This is it! Mew is finally going to figure out all of the answers he's been looking for! Too bad they'll be totally overshadowed. You'll see what I mean.