Work Text:
Mew had no idea where he was. A forest, certainly- definitely up there as far as his favorite forests went, even if he'd never actually been here before. Not a lot of forests had trees that wavered in and out of his sight in fuzzy duplicate, or blurry edges that crept in on his vision with each breath he took, and there was this little pink thing that kept following him behind his back for some reason that he found utterly fascinating!
Verdancy blurred by in pale evanescence, stars like moonlight whirling above him as he flitted from canopy to root and meadows in springtide bloom. Soft winds whispered in so many voices he’d never heard as he tottered forward, drooping exhaustion echoing cold rock foundations, firmaments undone in stellar color. The way the stars split into rainbows and rainbows to cascading swirls of color was really beautiful… eight out of ten on the Mew forest scale, for sure .
An excited squeal slipped out of his mouth as he spotted a point of warm light on the distance, faint shadows against darkling skies of a stoic tower and squat building silhouette- and as he drew closer, drifting out of the forest and into a really big meadow , he realized it wasn’t just one point of light- but multiple ! Gasping in delight, he shot forward towards one of the glowy squares, excitedly homing in on the blurry metal machines that looked really fun to play with! He’d-
It was the moment when he bounced off the window that he realized eating those berries might not have been a good idea. In his defense, Zorua had said they tasted good, though maybe the snickering and general air of mischievousness should have been a warning…
Nah. He was perfectly… fine! That exhaustion creeping up on him, that dull ache in his head? Probably just more cool forest stuff. He floated weakly into the air, dipping drunkenly every few seconds as he flew aimlessly through the night-darkened meadow. See? He could still fly, which meant- he gasped in delight as he saw something amazing! Squeaking excitedly he rushed at the cool golden rectangle and the crazy machines beyond-
The window, as a pane of glass, had absolutely no respect for its seniors. Mew bonked off the glass for the second time that night- and this time he didn’t get up again.
………
It was late, and Professor Oak was tired. You’d think opening a lab on some of Kanto’s cheapest property, funded by a long list of government funding and an even longer list of personal funds would be easy , but Samuel couldn’t remember the last time he got a full night’s rest. There was always something new to do, some tiny aspect of the ranch he’d failed to account for that needed to be solved immediately-
A dull thunk echoed through the lab, and the professor groaned as he dropped his head onto the long list of paperwork he’d been trying to complete. He knew that sound. Knew it very well, in fact- why he’d thought buying perfectly clear windows for his lab had been a good idea, he’d never know. The number of pidgey and spearow who flew into them daily was probably enough to write a whole dissertation on.
The professor shuffled a few of his papers off to the side, trying his best to put the local bird population out of his mind as he strained to describe complex socioeconomic structures within the local wildlife populations in a way that was both accurate and would get him the sort of funding he’d need to protect the forests around Pallet.
As if he’d be that lucky. He was almost expecting it as another thump quivered through the building- louder this time, and strong enough to rattle several of the more delicate pieces of machinery he’d bought. Samuel dropped his pen to the side and stumbled out of his chair with an exhausted sigh, yawning widely as he grabbed Dragonite’s pokeball.
Crisp night air greeted him with the chirping of a thousand cicadas, a gentle breeze ruffling the ranch’s newly planted lawn- which, as an aside- also needed to be fixed- as he stepped outside. Faint forest’s aroma settled imperceptibly across the entire field as he walked through the dew-soaked grass, grumbling internally about how he’d have to finish the rest of his paperwork with wet socks. From what he’d heard the birds had been hitting the back window again, which as the side closest to the forest made plenty of sense.
Holding up the small flashlight he’d fished out of the spare tools bin, he quickly scanned over the lawn for any stray flying-types. After a few long seconds he shrugged- probably just flew… away… there was something sticking out from beneath one of the bushes. A… tongue? No, as his little flashlight dispelled the shadows beneath the squat bushes he realized it was part of a long tail attached to an indistinct pink pokemon he’d never seen before.
Maybe it was some sort of rare foreign pokemon? He considered himself one of the most well educated pokemon professionals, but there were always new species waiting to be discovered. Either way it couldn’t be comfortable like that, draped awkwardly beneath some of the lower branches of a particularly thorny plant. Carefully, gingerly cursing whatever unnoticeable aneurysm had made him think building a lab in Pallet Town had been a good idea, he reached into the bush and extricated the pokemon.
On the plus side, the little pink feline was remarkably unharmed by it all. On other hand, though, his arms were not half so lucky. You’d think one day he’d realize the real danger of caring for pokemon wasn’t the grevious wounds, but all the little scratches he’d gotten along the way.
They didn’t look like they were going to wake up anytime soon. For shame . Gently cradling the strange pokemon in his hands he returned to his lab. He’d get the little ‘mon situated, and then he’d finish his paperwork if it was the last thing he did. Enough about catching all the pokemon- there were still some grants in Kanto he’d not snapped up yet! He could always hire grunts- read, research assistants- to do that kind of legwork for him.
So- socioeconomic structures in wildlife populations. He could make this work…
………
Mew woke up. Now, he usually did this, and even when he didn’t he usually managed anyway, but this wasn’t quite the everyday situation. The last thing he remembered clearly was eating those overripe mago, and then… oh, teleport. That was a fun move. Now, if only he could remember what’d happened after that, he’d be golden. Something about a forest where he kept seeing double, an open field, some cool machines… oh, the golden rectangle!
He opened his eyes with a start, casting his gaze around for the thing that’d hit him so knavishly. He’d exact his revenge against golden rectangles! Leaping to the air- he got tangled in a bunch of sheets that had been carefully tucked over him. Huh. So that’s why he’d been so comfortable. Come to think of it, hadn’t he been outside when he’d been dishonorably struck down? There’d been this thorny bush, if he remembered correctly…
Not that he was against stealing some random human’s bed for his own purpose, but usually he was the one doing the stealing. Mew prodded curiously at the soft sheets, wondering- who’d stolen them for him? He’d have to thank them. Maybe he could ask Zorua to procure some more weird mago berries…
Oh, right. Death to all glowing rectangles. If only he could find one… he gasped slowly as he took in the room he’d been sleeping in, because there were machines everywhere . Massive banks of metal constructions, blinking lights, little noises - it was like a dream come true! Alight with all the possibilities and with thoughts of criminal rectangles banished to the back of his mind, Mew darted off to play with all the complex-looking stuff he didn’t understand at all , batting at the lights and flicking all the super-satisfying switches.
Clearly he’d woken up in cat-heaven. Maybe Celebi had done him another favor after he’d been attacked? He could totally see her doing something like this… some of the lights stopped working when he flicked a particular switch, and hurriedly he flipped it back- but different lights activated! So confusing! Whoever had designed this sort of stuff needed to be demoted. To… um. Lead undersecretary. Or something. Mew shrugged and abandoned the thought as he bent his considerable intelect to restoring nominal functionality to that particular bank of-
Anwyas, leaving the smoking, hopefully not important wreck behind, he darted through the rest of the lab, poking at everything that looked like it could even vaguely withstand his attention, and half the things that didn’t. Boy was he glad that all the warning signs showed humans getting banned from doing all the cool things like drinking the colors, ‘cause he didn’t have to listen to those. If they hadn’t wanted him to flip the switch labeled MASS SPECTROMETER - IONIZING RADIATION, then they would have put a cat on the warning sign instead.
Giggling as he left a scene of mild chaos behind, he darted down the stairs to an even bigger lab . More machines to mess with, more buttons to press, more room to explore- more dead humans- wait. He locked onto the body sprawled out over the table in sudden concern, then sighed in relief as he spotted the faint rise and fall of the human’s chest.
He might enjoy fiddling with all the funky machines, but he didn’t want to kill anyone… lets see, no, no… he had a move somewhere that could help, he was sure… there! Life dew, that was always a fun one- he still remembered the cranidos who’d inspired him to make the move. What a silly guy… so, if he remembered correctly it was just a little- twist, pull at the water type energy until the little globlue of mystical water was just floating there and done!
A splash of water landed on the human’s head, eliciting a surprised gasp as they jerked upright. “Dragonite! Not with the paperwork! I just finished talking about why pidgey flocks deserve money too- Dragonite?” The human looked around in confusion, probably because Mew wasn’t a dragonite. At least not right now . “Who did that?”
“ Heya! Nice to meetcha, human! ” Oh right, he had to go down from the ceiling where she’d dropped the life dew if he wanted the human to spot him. “ I’m Mew! Were you the one who stole those blankets for me? ”
The human stared at the small pink cat floating above his paperwork with a thoroughly dumbfounded expression, and Mew got the impression that he’d been recognised. Odd, because he was pretty sure most humans had forgotten he existed , much less what he looked like- “...Mew?” That was, in fact, his name. Life dew didn’t burn his brain out of his skull! He was glad he’d gotten that problem fixed… what was it, five million years ago? “I thought you were extinct?”
“ I’m extinct? ” Mew didn’t know what an extinct was, but he got the idea that it wasn’t good. Oh no- what if it was a status? Or a disease? He hated diseases, especially the ones that managed to get through his immune system. He’d spent a long time making that! “ Do you know a pokemon that can cure that? Um, asking for a friend. ”
The human looked confused for a second before they snorted in laughter. “No, extinct means the species died off. The fact that you’re here means that those scientists were wrong.” Oh, that made a lot more sense. He supposed he could see why people would think he’s extinct, what with his recent work at the Tree of Beginning. “You know, many people revere mew as spirits of creation, or in the case of some religions, the creator deity.”
“ No, that’s Arceus. ” Who’d think he was a creator deity? Arceus had the whole embodiment of fundamental order thing, what with the ring and imposing stature. Mew was perfectly fine with his job as it was, no need to put running a universe on top of it. “ I was second. Man, you humans are kind of dumb. ”
“ Fascinating . Would you mind sticking around for a few questions?” There was an uncomfortably sharp glint in the professor’s eyes- “maybe a physical? There’s a lot we don’t know about pokemon and- hey, put that down!” The sheafs of paper on his desk had started to float into the air, constellations of pink bubbles and gentle psychic glow enforcing spreading them surreptitiously throughout the room as Mew glanced across them for anything interesting. “I have a lot of important work there!”
“ I won’t break them, promise! ” Seconds later a few papers drifted into a fan, and got ripped to pieces. “ I won’t break them too much, promise! ”
“Mew, put the papers down please.” Pouting Mew returned all the fun paperwork to the desk before he accidentally destroyed any more of it. “Sorry about that, but I spent days on some of those things… running a lab by myself is hard .”
“ That's why you want to hire grunts, right? ”
Samuel groaned, dropping his head into his hands with what Mew was pretty sure was a fierce blush. “ This . This is why I shouldn’t have called them grunts in my personal notes. A prepared pokemon professor should always be ready for deities to spot check their work.”
Mew gasped, eyes shining as an absolutely brilliant idea came to him. “ Can I be a grunt? ”
“No.” A long second passed as Samuel looked like he’d very much regret the next thing he said. “Maybe. I suppose , conditionally, I can take you on. We’d have to negotiate a salary-”
“ Do you have any candy? Like- ” Mew spread his hands wide, as though that clarified anything- “ those little red gummy fish! The ones that taste all mmm and yum. ”
“...yes. I can get you some gummy fish.” Mew cheered excitedly, running dizzying loops in the air as he excitedly chased after his tail. Samuel looked at the hyperactive mythical, and felt the first notes of despair.
“ Great! So, um, first question. How do I fix the machines I broke upstairs? ” Mew stared at him earnestly, slowly floating up the stairs towards where he’d tucked him to rest- and the professor got a bad feeling about what he’d find up there…
………
As it turned out, Mew was both the best and worst research assistant he could have asked for. Beyond the more mundane benefits of having a translator on hand, having the pokemon personally responsible for much of the world’s biodiversity on hand went a long way to solving a lot of the questions that'd plagued him for ages . On the other hand, ask a question about anything other than the few specific fields Mew seemed to know everything about and he could get the most eclectic, downright idiotic responses.
Worst of all, as he settled in his lab over the years he found the main body of his research dealt with human-pokemon relations, which Mew knew next to nothing about. Which led to their current predicament- the venerable professor Oak, dragging a five year old boy covered in soot through the streets of Pallet Town, one goal in mind- education!
“Are you sure this is necessary? I can totally, um, read books! Right, information is stored in the books. Then I’ll read them, and it’ll osmosis into me!” Professor Oak was pretty sure the cat had chosen such a young-looking form specifically to keep that whimsical, high pitched voice of his, but it certainly made for awkward stares as the townsfolk saw him dragging a whining kid through the streets.
“Mew. What happened the last time you tried to read a book?” The cat-as-child blushed furiously at the memory of that thoroughly chewed up piece of literature. “This will be good for you. Think about it as expanding your horizons! You’ve seen how I tell the kids getting their starters at the ranch about fostering that special bond between them and their pokemon- this is the same thing for you, except in reverse.”
Mew pouted, which looked adorable on the little kid’s face. “You’re too logical . I still don’t want to go to school . That sounds like torture. Torture!” Oak was very glad they’d passed the main part of the town by then, because getting child protective services called on him was absolutely not on his bucket list for the decade.
Pallet’s sleepy hills rose beyond the sleepy town, farmland and forests almost wild nestled betwixt- the occasional abandoned homestead and quiet street paired, all alight in that same spring sunlight. Amongst the lot of them the professor had his eye out for one in particular- a well maintained, if quaint, house- nestled amongst the windswept grass of an empty meadow, its little gardens a spot of color in a wash of pale green.
Catching sight of the neat little place Mew perked up considerably, rushing off ahead of him to poke curiously at the colorful flowers- inadvertently leaving smears of ash all over the bushes. Sighing fondly, Samuel turned away from the god cat’s antics, knocking solidly at the door. A few seconds passed with no response but a somewhat bored looking Mew stumbling back over to his side, excitedly bouncing in place. Perhaps his five year old incarnation was more fitting than he’d originally thought…
Something chimed lightly as the door swung open, two eyes half hidden by a mop of messy red hair blinking owlishly at him. “Samuel? What’s up? I fed all the pokemon on monday, and I made absolutely sure that Venusaur got his supplements. I don’t… what is that?” Her eyes widened as they landed on Mew’s human form. “Why do you have a child? ”
A genial, totally not nervous smile plastered itself across his face as he took in the sight of his old research assistant. “Ah, Delia! It’s good to see you again! This is my research assistant, M-” he paused nervously, because there was no way Delia wouldn’t immediately connect the dots.
“Ash! I’m Ash! Nice to meetcha!” Mew- Ash - grinned widely as he stuck out his sooty hand, giggling as Delia shook it and ended up with powdery black residue all over his palm.
Ash opened his mouth to say something- probably to beg for more fish gummies, and Samuel decided right then was the perfect time to start explaining “I was hoping you could do me a favor. M- Ash here is extremely intelligent, but he’s lacking a lot of the basics. Plus, he’s still a kid-” Samuel hoped Delia couldn’t tell he was lying through his teeth here, but the way Ash kept bouncing around in vapid excitement probably helped his case- “and he needs to get an education. I thought it’d be better for him to stay with you for a little bit while he attends the local primary school.”
Delia grimaced as she glanced at Ash, who’d gotten distracted by a cricket and was currently wandering into the bushes, mouth agape in delighted awe. “You have no idea what to do with him, do you?”
“I have no idea what to do with him.” For different ways than Delia likely thought, but the thought held true nonetheless. Plus, there were… hopefully… less breakable things around Delia’s house then there were in the lab. The number of broken machines was getting ridiculous, not to mention his poor windows. “You’ll like him.” Ash tripped over a root and faceplanted into a flower bed. “Promise.”
Delia sighed, a slight smile writing itself across her face as she watched Ash gently pick up the cricket he’d been chasing. “Gah, fine. I’ll take care of him. I think I have a room or two that I could remodel…” Samuel smiled as Delia wandered off into her thoughts of renovation- another job well done. He hoped they’d get along- but looking at the way Ash was discreetly cleaning the flower’s he’d dirtied earlier- at the way Delia looked so suddenly eager… he didn’t think he’d have to worry.
………
There was something up with Ash. Delia wasn’t an expert on children by any means, but she at least had the basic background knowledge to know what Ash did wasn’t normal in the slightest , and her theories were driving her mad. Most of the time he’d act perfectly normal, if a bit ditzy, but over the months there were always those few events that made her certain there was something more behind his innocent, bright eyes.
She loved the kid, she really did, but some of the things he did were downright odd . He’d spent the entire summer working at the professor’s lab, but the first time she took him with her to the ranch he’d gaped at every landmark on the route as though they were entirely new to him. When he’d play with the other kids on the jungle gym he could be at times impossibly lithe, yet the next moment get distracted and slam into the ground before picking himself up, completely unharmed. The room she’d made for him was always a mess, but he never failed to find something. Eventually. Only half the kids at the camp she’d signed him up for even saw him, despite all the group activities she’d helped plan. He got along swimmingly with Gary, but both of them somehow always got in the craziest trouble.
Admittedly that last one was fairly regular behavior for a six and a half year old boy, but whatever it was, she’d come to an epiphany- she was the mother here, and figuring things out could be as simple as just asking . “Ash. There’s a few things I’ve noticed…” Ash fidgeted nervously in his chair, looking away from her guiltily. “I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. You’re a smart boy.” She waited for a second-
“I’m sorry!” Ash’s eyes were almost piteously bright. “I know you keep your garden super neat, but I put some gracidea in there anyways! Please don’t get mad…” Delia stared at Ash- who looked close to tears, and for his sake tried to keep herself from breaking out in laughter.
She’d been wondering where those beautiful pink flowers had been coming from- but that was entirely immaterial to her real concerns. “Ash. I liked your flowers-” the boy lit up in energetic excitement, all but cheering. It was a really endearing sight, actually- “but that’s not what I was talking about. I’m more concerned about some of the less… explicable things. Like, how did you not know the route to the ranch despite working there for months?”
Ash shrugged. “I teleported.”
Delia had the sinking feeling that she’d missed something big . “ How did you teleport?”
“Well, um-” Ash stuck his tongue out over his lip, crossing his eyes in concentration. “It’s kinda complicated, but you take the psychic-type energy stuff, then fold it in that weird woop and shwish way and bam, you’re there!” The boy gesticulated wildly with his hands, as that would explain anything . Ash seemed to pick that up too, eventually, excited motions fading to a few owlish blinks. “Didn’t the professor tell you?”
“Samuel told me nothing.” That sinking feeling bloomed, an ink drop in a sea of white to so terrible a conviction- there was something about her kid that Professor Oak had been hiding from her, something important. “Ash. Can you tell me what I was supposed to know?”
“Oh! I’m Mew!” Delia blinked as her face blanked, entirely short circuited by the declaration- and with a flash of light her son’s form folded in on itself, leaving a cute little pink pokemon floating entirely out of place above the dining table. “ Wow! The house looks so different when I’m small! Oh! Mom, cause you didn’t know, do I still have to do my homework today- ”
“Yes.” She laughed breathily, reaching across the table to pet her son’s head- giggling as Ash batted weakly at her hand with his tail. “You’re still my little Ash, Mew or not- and Ash has to do his homework.”
The mew pouted for a few long seconds before transforming back into the human shape Delia knew so well. “ C’mon! Now that you know I’m actually a super venerable and respectable legendary, can’t I at least skip the homework? It’s so boring! ”
“You don’t have to do your homework when you can show me perfect grades, young man.” Not young, if what she’d just seen was any indication, but he certainly acted like it. Ash got lost in a daydream about skipping homework for a second before he realized that not doing work would end up making his grades less than perfect, invalidating the whole thing- but by that point Delia had already fished out the worksheets from his bag.
Mew or not, he was going to finish his homework!
………
So the years passed. School came and went in seasons of summer and not, and the world moved ever onwards, technology warring its bitter battles against unknown frontiers, and Ash got paid plenty of gummy fish to keep up the good work at Professor Oak’s ranch.
Mew had to admit, he’d misjudged trainers- between Gary’s passionate rants and all the various people that came to the ranch for whatever reason, and of course, the super cool flashy televised battles- he had to admit that there was something pretty cool going on.
He and Gary spent pretty much every moment of their free time looking into the most interesting upcoming and established trainers, and Ash still barely felt like he’d scratched the surface of all the cool things humanity was doing. He swore every time he turned on the TV he saw an exciting new way to use even the most boring of his old moves- and that wasn’t even mentioning all the stuff that wasn’t related to training.
It was Gary who brought up the idea first, by the small river a bit out in the woods, completely by accident. They’d been ‘fishing-’ or, as it was for them, messing around in the water as they played make-believe trainer battles.
Gary had just finished his ultimate G-Max cannonade splash attack, which had thoroughly soaked the both of them when he brought it up as they pulled themselves onto the streambank. “So, Ashy-boy, which starter are you planning to get? I’ma get a squirtle, and then totally rock you!”
It was an offhand comment, as they splayed themselves out in the dripping sunlight on a bed of moss. Gary clearly saw both of them becoming trainers as a stone-set fact of the world, but to Ash it was a different question entirely. A lot of arguments and dull lessons on pokemon-human relations he’d absorbed by his proximity to the professor flicked through his mind- some of them even had good points! Still, there was one thought that dominated all the rest-
Being a pokemon trainer would be so cool. It was all Ash could do not to squeal in excited delight as possibilities he hadn’t even considered flooded his mind, so many myriad potentialities- “Charmander!” He was still proud of how far he’d managed to extend their lifespan just by adding a little flame to the end of their tails. The fire was cool too, he guessed.
“My squirtle’s going to beat your charmander to the ground !”
“Is not!” Ash giggled as Gary pushed him in return for that solid denial, and then they were mock-fighting again, this time with grass-type and the occasional muddy ground-type surprised as they tussled through the riverside glen-
That moment, as time stretched long, moments to months to long years further- remained. A little jewel he’d turn over in his head even after he and Gary broke that pokeball in half, as his tenth and just over four billionth birthday finally approached around.
A dream, a morphed ambition, eager anticipation and long nights spent giggling alongside professor Oak as they planned an airtight ID- as he got ready to challenge the league. Mew- Ash Ketchum - got ready to leave home and fulfill his dream-
To be a pokemon master, whatever that meant, and of course- have some fun!