“Ah, I ain’t takin’ ye there, lad. Nothin’ but a reef, risin’ out of the ocean.”
The crusty old wolf put a rotting pipe back in his muzzle and took a few thoughtful puffs. His fur was mottled and long, giving him the appearance of a skeleton draped in seaweed. His threadbare uniform, which might once have been a sharp black, now had all the vibrant colors of a dusty tire. It almost seemed like he was judging the hotshot Pokemon trainer, clutching a tattered brown parchment like it was a golden ticket.

“It’s there, I know it!” the hare leaned in as he spoke, his words tinged by desperation. “I saw the island on the boat into Hoenn, and if it hadn’t been so…”

He paused, mentally calculating exactly how to phrase this. The old sea dog lifted a brow, inviting the Trainer to make a mistake.
“Blurry Yeah. I had some binoculars. That’s how I saw it.”

The wolf didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, but also sighed and settled into his chair. He wasn’t going to challenge it.
“There’s nothin’ on that island for ye, my boy. Now, before yeh ask, there ain’t a coin in this world that would make me think otherwise.”

The grungy wolf swept from his wooden stool. His forearms bulged as he worked to haul up the anchor keeping his craft settled in the bay. The hare knew better than to keep haranguing him, and there were plenty of other sailors on the marina besides.

- - -

Three days. Sirocco had been puttering around Lilycove City for three days before a shady fox finally agreed to charter passage to the bizarre island. He was a strange, white fox with long fur sprouting from his ears. He spoke in an accent the hare didn’t quite recognize, and insisted that the island was cursed. The fox said that he would get him there, but getting home would be on him.

The jackrabbit agreed with a gleam in his eye! A quick trip to the Pokemon Center and he was ready to go. The foremost Pokeball on his belt had been replaced by an Ultra Ball containing one of his ace Pokemon - Alakazam. He made sure the Psychic got a good look at the Pokemon Center while Nurse Joy ran him through the healing routine.

Hurrying back to the docks, he was glad that he did! The rusty old bucket the fox had lovingly titled ’S.S. Mercy” looked like it was only a single good kick away from dropping straight to the bottom of the ocean! It rattled and hummed and struggled the whole way, leaking a trail of some noxious red substance that left glassy-eyed Magikarp in its wake. Sirocco kept his paw on Alakazam’s Pokeball, ready to Teleport away the second this all got too dodgy.

The journey took the better part of the day. The further they travelled from the mainland, the more dangerous the ocean became. Giant waves threatened to toss their little tugboat around like a toy, yet somehow the hardy little craft trudged forward. It was a tiny and stoic force, all it’s own.

Sometime close to sunset, a rocky outcropping of land began to peer out of the ocean. Sirocco was surprised to see a rotting wooden dock already built on the mysterious island. He threw himself from the boat and kissed the first piece of solid land he could find. His stomach felt like it was still riding the waves.

It took a few minutes for Sirocco to get his land legs back. He was being prodded by the captain the whole time. He, in fact, still had the engine running. The strange fox didn’t even bother to count his earnings before the tugboat was sputtering back into open waters. Strange..

It became clear to the trainer that he was far from the first person to step foot on the island. There was not only an aging marina, but a signpost whose lettering had long since faded. As he ventured inland, he even discovered the tatters of a canvas tent, which was almost entirely overtaken by the vines and shrubbery hiding it. His heart skipped a beat as when noticed broken down computers bearing the Packard-Bellossom logo. This place hadn’t been visited in a long time, but the fact somebody had launched an expedition here bode well for him!

As he ventured further into the wild, a strange thing occurred to him - the island had Pokemon on it, but it wasn’t overrun by them. A place this isolated meant that the local Pokéfauna should have evolved in strange ways. They would have to compete for resources, making them monstrously big or strong. If there were few predators, the prey species would become abundant, possibly resulting in curious variations.

However, the only thing he encountered were extremely low-level Tailow, Wurmple, and Zigzagoon - critters so common, they were almost considered pests. Certainly, starting area Pokemon were no match for a team that had bested the Elite Four.

At long last, a hint of motion caught the jackrabbit’s eye. Something moving fast! With a soft cheer, he scurried after it. It lead him through tangled underbrush and a labyrinth of trees, finally disappearing into a thicket of tall grass nestled inside of a quaint clearing. The hare took a minute to catch his breath. Leaning against a tree, he flipped open his PokeDex and scanned the area.
<<Pokemon Detected!>>
<<. . . . . >>
<<Identification Scan Failed. Pokemon Unknown>>

He gasped. This was it! A legendary Pokemon! Or, at the very least, one unknown to science thus far! The nauseating boat ride, the haggling, the research… it had all been worth it for this moment!

A thin, pink tail peeked up through the blades of grass. The bulb-shaped tip peered back and forth, almost like the periscope of a submarine. Or a flag, giving away its location. The hare crept through the grass, stealthily as he could, to get his first look. As if the thing sensed him, it’s ‘periscope’ dipped into the grass and scurried off, poking back up some 30 feet away. No matter, he just had to be a little sneakier.

As he closed in once more, the thing’s tail disappeared again, re-emerging where he had first entered the grass. It was a cute game, but by the fifth attempt, Sirocco decided he’d had enough!

“Alright, that’s it! Let’s go, Samurott - use CUT!”
He held up an antique Pokeball that clicked audibly as the shadow of a horned beast emerged. With a rumbling cry, it whipped its horned head to one side, transforming every patch of grass into all-natural confetti. The tiny creature who had been hiding therein was still giggling when it finally realized it had been exposed!

Sirocco’s eyes went wide. He recognized it immediately! He’d heard legends, seen illustrations of it in old research books. There was a tablet depicting one in the Pewter City Museum of Sciences. The one and only Mew! Though this one had… curious markings. Theories suggested the Pokemon’s fur was either a bubblegum pink or a sky blue, but this one somehow had a mixture of both. Maybe it was shiny variation? Sirocco wasted no time whipping an Ultraball at it!

Even with it’s improved capture rate, the Ultraball only shook once before exploding into pieces!
“Heyyy!! What’s the big idea!?”

It… could talk?!
Well, more like it mewled and chirrled, but somehow the trainer understand what it was saying. Almost like a live translation in his head. “I’m… trying to catch you, I guess?”
“And who said I wanted to be catched, huh!? You ever think of THAT, Mr. Smartypants League Champion?”

The Mew teleported right in front of him and booped him a few times on the nose.
“It’s… I mean, that’s just how Trainers do things? Ahh! Why am I debating with the find of a century!? Go, Alakazam! Let’s bring them down together!”

Sirocco tossed the Ultraball into the field, releasing a burst of light that shaped itself into a bearded magician Pokemon.
“Ah-la-khaaa…” The Pokemon’s face blanched as he realized who was on the other side of the field from him! He promptly turned on his heel and marched RIGHT back into his Ultraball, leaving Sirocco to collect his jaw off the floor. Mew, meanwhile, just chuffed and crossed his arms. “Yeah, that’s what I thought!”

“Alright, obviously Psychic type. I have just the thing for that! Go, Samurott!”
The hare casually tossed his Pokeball into the air, letting the big, brutish Dark type come crashing into the clearing. It gave an intimidating roar before leveling it’s serrated horn at the Pokemon before it. Mew, for it’s part, looked completely unfazed by this show of force. “Ooooohh… biiig, SCARY sea-sausage. So tough and well-trained. Well, I bet you haven’t aaaaalways been!”

“Alright, big guy! Let’s hit ‘em with a Ceaseless Edge!”
“Samuhrrrr!!!”

The enormous otter lowered his head and rushed his prey, sliding around like a seal across ice. Mew’s eyes began to glow, one pink and one blue. Floating in a quick loop, he held out both tiny paws and unleashed twin torrents of light that spiraled around each other in a double-helix pattern. The ray struck struck the oncoming samurai to seemingly little effect! Suddenly, the mighty horn on his head began crumbling to pieces. His enormous flippers shrank away into small claws, and then cute, useless nubs. Soft, blue fluff sprang up in a mantle around his neck while the armor on his shoulders fell away, revealing only two tiny clamshells on either side. The severe look on his blue muzzle softened into a doofy little snout as white fur sprouted around his now overly large, almost clownish nose!
“Wott?! Oh-shaaaaa…?! ”

Rather accustomed to being a colossal beast, the adorably small Oshawott tripped over his own beaver-like tail, hitting the grass with a chewtoy ’squeak’. He looked over his paws, then over himself, panicking and flailing about wildly. Once again, Sirocco was dumbfounded. He had never seen a technique like that. As far as he knew, it was impossible to de-evolve a Pokemon, once it had transformed into it’s higher stage!

“There!” the Mew smirked, blowing on his tiny paws like a gunslinger might cool off the smoking barrel of his weapon. “That ought to teach him some manners! Ohhhh, just lookit my grass! It was coming out so well this year! Siiigh! I think YOU could do with some manners as well!”

“What…?” Sirocco took a furtive step back. “Nononono! That’s not… Pokemon can’t attack anthros!”
“Oh! I didn’t know that!” the Mew rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He really didn’t know that. :Oh well! Not like there’s anyone’s here to call foul!”
Mew shrugged and gave him a devilish grin, raising its paws once more. “Devolution BEAM!”

Sirocco made to dodge the attack, but was caught instantly in the spiraling light. In no time, his shirt began to seem more like a tent. His shoes bloomed out until they were the size of boats, while his pants dropped out from under him! He squeaked in surprise, looking over his tiny new body. He wasn’t much bigger than his Oshy-wotter!

That pesky Psychic Pokemon couldn’t help but giggle and float in close.
“Teheheh! Looks like YOU’RE the one that needs more training now!”

————

I really should learn to stop bothering legendary Pokemon. Ugh… it’s gonna be a long time before I’m old enough to set out on my NEXT ‘First Adventure in the World of Pokemon’! I guess I'll at least start off with a leg up. I had a pretty diverse and effective team, even if they're all now lv.5.

Oops! Looks like Alakazam... er, Abra isn't going to forgive me anytime soon! X3

A bit of fun, age-regression TF by LilChu. In the TCG, one of the first versions of Mew they ever released had a very interesting attack. It was called ‘Devolution Beam’, and it did what it said on the tin; return the highest stage of Pokemon to the player’s hand. Effectively, you could turn a Charizard back into a Charmeleon, and then even a Charmander. Functionally, it was an interesting mechanic because it doesn’t heal the Pokemon being regressed of any damage. Thus, if it had 80 damage as a Charizard, it’s now KO’ed because it only has 50 HP max as a Charmander. Strangely, status conditions ARE attached to the individual card, and go away whether evolving up or down.

The move Destiny Bond is similarly very cool - if the Pokemon that cast it is knocked out, it’s opponent goes down WITH it. It’s an move with so much potential that it actually got adapted into the mainline games! We know the TCG does have that kind of crossover, and so I would love to see Mew get it's Devolution Beam in-game. Powered up into a Z-move, it could also be the basis for it’s Genesis Supernova Z-Move.

I would stat Devolution Beam as 40 damage, 90 accuracy, 5 usage Psychic type attack which devolves your Pokemon for the duration of the combat. It would ‘crack’ things like Mega Evolutions, Gigantimax, and Terastallization, returning the Pokemon to its normal form. Besides the slightly imperfect accuracy and the low usage, the move is further balanced by the tiny Psychic damage it does, making Dark-types functionally immune to it.

Even with such a weak signature move, I get the feeling Mew would get slapped into the same 'banned' tier as Mega Rayquaza, one of the most hideously, game-breaking and egregious oversights Game Freak ever released. XD

Go Fave the Original HERE
Art by  LilChu