The mountain air was cool and crisp, and the trees rustled their lush foliage at every slight breeze, making the sound of ocean waves appear to echo through the foothills. There was no other sound, save the crooning of flocks of Pidgey and some lesser birds, and the chirrup of cicadas somewhere in the undergrowth. No humans came this way, or had ever some this way, as far as many of the forest’s creatures could remember. The isolation was complete, and that suited the wild pokemon of this area just fine. In one of the more secluded meadows nestled amid the mountain cliffs, a small herd of Meriipu bleated and grazed contentedly.

Suddenly, there was a flash of pink light, which sent the Meriipu running for the cover of the trees. Peering out from behind the tree trunks, the nervous Meriipu saw what looked a sparkling pink bubble descend until it was just over the tops of the long grass of the meadow. Then with a small *pop* it disappeared! Instead of a bubble, now a small pokemon hovered over the grass, looking around curiously. It was pale pink, with a catlike face and ears, tiny hands and a long tail with a little tuft at the end. It did a few flips and mid-air spins. “Mew?” It asked. (“Where’d everybody go?”) With little “mii mii”s of relief, the Meriipu scampered back into the field, relieved. It was only another pokemon!

When Mew saw them it squeaked with delight. It hovered closer to the ground and did little spins around the closest of the Meriipu, teleporting here and there as if playing with them. The Meriipu had never seen a Mew before, but they instinctively knew that it was a friend. Mew itself had never seen a Meriipu before either, and was very curious. It lived in seclusion on the remote part of the mountain, and had not come down into the foothills until recently. It was a very secretive and shy pokemon.
Recently, though, it had noticed that many strange pokemon were starting to appear near it’s home. Just the other day, in fact, Mew had been quite surprised to see what looked like a spiky gray bird flying across the sky. Mew quickly flew over in its protective bubble (just in case the other pokemon turned out unfriendly) and introduced itself as politely as it could. “Mew? Mew mew mew! “ (Could you tell me who you are? I’ve never seen you before around here!) While talking Mew made sure it stayed a polite distance away; after all, it was a very shy pokemon.

The gray birdlike pokemon looked Mew up and down and made a rude noise. “ Eaa! Eaa Eaa!” It squawked. (You don’t have wings, what do you think you’re doing by flying?!”)

Mew blushed. It wasn’t sure how to answer at first. “Mew! I’m called Mew.” It said finally. “I am an ESP pokemon-I fly with my mind!”

The birdlike pokemon didn’t look impressed. “Hmf! I am Eaamudo!! Flying with wings is much more impressive-more real than by just thinking of flying!” And with that Eaamudo dipped it’s wings and soared away.

Mew was a little sad after this meeting. It hoped that the other strange new pokemon would not be as rude as Eaamudo. When it saw the little herd of Meriipu, it decided to try again. Maybe these cute sheep-pokemon would be nicer!

“Hello, I am called Mew!” Mew said. It waited for the Meriipu to say something mean, but instead the herd leader made a friendly face. “Mii mii! Hello! We are called Meriipu. We are new to this mountain.” It wagged its ball-tipped tail happily.

“Mew! Mew mew!” Mew replied, and made a few more midair flips. The Meriipu looked impressed.

“Where have you all come from?” Mew asked, settling down again.

“What do you mean, mii?” Meriipu asked. “We just came from where we were before, that’s all.”

“Oh…” Mew didn’t really understand, but it decided not to say so. The Meriipu might think it was a silly Mew.

“Do you know where other new pokemon are, mew? Mew asked. It wanted to meet even more pokemon now that it had a good experience with Meriipu!

“We don’t know anyone here yet. But while we were migrating to this meadow we saw a strange little pokemon, greenish and with big eyes, down below in the valley. It seemed lost. It didn’t speak to us though, it just ran away. We saw it at the place where the route splits into two roads.”

“Oh?” Thought Mew. “Maybe it’s just shy like me!” The idea of having a friend like itself was a fun idea! Mew was usually too secretive to have many friends. But a pokemon who could understand how it felt would make a good playmate! “Maybe I’ll find this new pokemon!” It said aloud to the Meriipu. It waved goodbye with its little paw as it popped back into its sparkling bubble and rose into the sky again. As Mew flew off, the Meriipu looked even more impressed. “How does it do that without wings?!” They asked in awe.

Mew zipped back and forth over the treetops like a pink comet, sending little sparkles trailing behind it as it flew. The trees below whipped by like a green carpet, broken only by the mirror blue of a lone lake. As Mew passed the water, surprised Upaa poked their heads out of the water to catch a glimpse of this rare sight. “Upaa uu?” (Wow!)

Once it passed the lake, Mew knew it was in the Valley. It never came here, because this was a route that pokemon trainers often took to get between the towns that lay below the mountain. Even though Mew knew that no one could catch it as long as it was alert, it was still wary of trainers. “Trainers are very skilled and dedicated. If one of them sees me, they won’t rest until they’ve caught me!!” And the last thing Mew wanted was a human following it around. “Pokemon trainers are too obsessed with catching pokemon to give any of us a rest!” It thought to itself. Even though it was a powerful pokemon, Mew knew it was foolish to underestimate humans!

Finally, Mew came to the place where the route split, just like the Meriipu had said. It hovered low over the patches of trees and bushes that grew along the road, hoping for a glimpse of any movement. “They said it was kind of green? With big eyes? I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a Metapod or something! What a waste of time that would be!” Mew giggled. Imagine trying to have a conversation with a Metapod! By this time Mew had dropped its bubble shield, to make itself less noticeable. “Mew mew meww!” (Is anyone here? Please come out!”) Just as Mew was about to look somewhere else, it heard a bush rustle. It whipped around just in time to see an antenna disappear behind one of the bigger trees. “Mew? Please don’t be scared! I’m Mew!” It waited for a moment, but the other creature didn’t come back out. Mew decided to float over to the big tree to look closer. Just as it reached the tree, a ball of white and green exploded out from behind the tree, knocking Mew over and making it spin around a couple times. When it got righted again, Mew looked over to the roadside where the other pokemon landed. It looked ready to fight!

“Sera! Biii!!” (Who are you? What do you want?! If you want to eat me, you’re gonna havta fight!!”) The little pokemon yelled.

Mew blinked in surprise. “Eat you? Mew?” It burst out laughing. “Me me me mew! That’s funny!”

“Oh yeah, laugh at me?!” The little pokemon looked mad. Really it was just scared, but it acted angry to seem tough.

“Mew! Don’t yell so loud, or a trainer might hear you!” Mew became suddenly serious.

“A t-trainer? Where?!” The other pokemon looked around warily.

“As long as you stay hidden, they won’t see you. Most are too lazy to really look in all the grassy areas, anyway!” Mew reassured it. “And I won’t eat you! I’m Mew!”

The little pokemon was still looking around nervously. It didn’t answer.

“You had better come back under the tree before someone sees you!” Mew continued. While it talked it looked the pokemon curiously. It was small with little antennae, and a crest on the back of its head. Its big dark eyes were very cute, but right now it was too scared and it was still trying to look mean, so it wasn’t actually very cute right at the moment.

And sure enough, all the noise had attracted unwanted attention. Just as the new pokemon decided to finally listen and started to get back under cover, there was a shout from down the road. “OH MY LORD!! IT’S A MEW! …. Uh, and some other weird looking pokemon, too!”

Both pokemon looked up in alarm. Instinctively Mew put up its bubble barrier. It wasn’t very worried, with its Teleport ability it could get away easily. But it was worried about the other pokemon. “Hurry! Hide!” Mew cried. But the little pokemon was too scared to think fast enough to listen.

The trainer (who had been walking around the corner and spotted them) chuckled. “A Mew will be worth millions! And I can’t lose if I catch one!” As he threw his pokeball, it came to him; “ I could beat the Indigo League, the Orange League…. even the Jouto League if I can catch it!!! -------GO! NINETALES!!”

The ball burst open with a flash of light, and a Ninetales leaped forth. “Niien!”

“Ninetales! Fire Blast!” The trainer yelled. It had completely forgotten about the other pokemon and was totally focused on Mew. The little pokemon scurried into the tall grass finally as Ninetales let rip the fireball of Fire Blast. “Niien taaails!”

Mew giggled and gracefully dodged as the roaring fire-kanji crackled past and evaporated harmlessly.
“Dang it! Fire Spin, Ninetales, NOW!”

Mew laughed again and waited until the spiral of flames almost reached it before Teleporting out of range.
Now the Ninetales was getting irritated too. “Taiils!” It growled. Without its master’s order, it focused its glare on Mew and sent out its Confuse Ray. Mew Teleported away again. “Mew mew! What a poorly trained Ninetales! A wild Ninetales could do better!” It laughed. Mew knew it was mean to tease, but one thing Mew liked was playing with trainers. They were so funny! (Even though Mew didn’t do it very often).

“Ninetales, return!” A beam of light sucked Ninetales back into its Pokeball. The trainer seemed frustrated. “Okay, you Mew, time to pull out the real stuff! GO Alakazam!!

With another flash, the creepy psychic pokemon appeared. Brandishing its spoons, it glared at Mew. “Kazaam!” Apparently this trainer didn’t train any of his pokemon well, because without any command, the Alakazam bent a spoon and sent out its powerful Psywave. The aura around the attack made the ground crack where the waves passed over! Because Mew was overconfident, it didn’t dodge. “I’ll let this one bounce off my bubble!” However, the Psywave crashed hard into the barrier, knocking Mew over and over! When it stopped tumbling the bubble was still intact, but Mew was shaken.

Taking advantage of this, the trainer managed to toss an Ultra Ball. For a terrible instant, both Mew and bubble disappeared! The little pokemon hidden in the grass had seen enough. This Mew had tried to protect it! It wasn’t going to allow this half-bit trainer to capture it!! It leaped out of the grass just as Mew burst back out of the ball.

Sera! Biiiiiii!! It lunged at the Alakazam, who was so surprised at this newcomer that it didn’t even dodge. It got Tackled head on, but since the other pokemon was so small, it just bounced off the Alakazam’s chest!

Irritated, the Alakazam bent its other spoon and shot off a blast of Psychic. Quickly, the little pokemon jumped out of the way, just as the ball of energy crashed into where it was standing. Closing its eyes, it began to glow.

“Alaa?” The Alakazam was unsure of what was this was.

“BIIIIIIIII!!!!” The little pokemon yelled. Its eyes snapped open, and it let loose a huge ball of Psychic power. The Alakazam was blown back on top of its trainer by the force, and the two of them slid halfway back down the road!

“Sera!” (Take that!) Looking smug, the little pokemon watched at the trainer recalled his Alakazam and ran back the way he came.

“This is too crazy!” The trainer yelled as he retreated back around the corner he had come from. “Who is that pipsqueak pokemon, anyway?!”

As the human finally disappeared, Mew floated over to the other pokemon. “Wow, you’re stronger than even an Alakazam! Very impressive, mew!”

The little pokemon blushed a bit. “Maybe…”

“But you know, now that trainer will tell everyone else about the mysterious new pokemon he saw, and all the human trainers will be looking for you soon.” Mew said seriously. “Its dangerous to be a powerful pokemon, because all the best trainers will search high and low for you now!”

“Really, bii?” The other looked proud and worried at the same time.

“You should do what all the other powerful pokemon do, and find a secret place to live, where humans rarely go. That’s why I live on that distant mountain.” Mew pointed with its tiny paw. “It’s so steep few people ever go there looking for pokemon.”

“Could even I go to live there?”

“Sure!” Mew answered. “Many common pokemon live there also!”

“I think I will then…I was sorta lost anyway, to tell the truth!”

“Oh? Where did you come from?” Mew asked.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Never mind.” Mew sighed… Then it perked up suddenly. “Mew! What’s your name, anyway? I didn’t ask before.” Mew hovered close, interested to hear what this soon to be famous pokemon’s name was.

The little pokemon smiled and held out a paw for Mew to shake (which was sort of awkward for the stubby-armed Mew, but they managed to shake paws anyway).

“Bii bii! My name is Serebei!”