The kitten could not figure out why Mama was not waking up. She had been asleep for an awfully long time. The kitten looked up to the sky and saw that it was almost going to turn black again. The sky had turned black three different times since the last time Mama was awake. The sky would turn black for a long time, and then it would light up again and everything would be colorful. That kept happening, but Mama would not wake up. He had never seen Mama sleep this much. The kitten wondered if Mama was waking up when he was asleep, but it didn’t seem like it. He would wake up hungry, but Mama had not brought any new food. It was really hard having to eat without Mama’s help. Why didn’t she know that? There were some really loud bugs that made high-pitched noise when the sky went black, and those were the only things the kitten could catch. If they got smarter and didn’t make as much noise this time, he might not be able to find them again.

The kitten butted Mama in the belly with his head, hoping that the shiny there would wake her up. The shiny on his head was useful for getting the food bugs; if the kitten swung his head really fast, it would come off and hit the bugs hard enough to knock them over so he could catch them. It wouldn’t even take long for a new shiny to grow in and replace the old one. He really wanted to tell Mama how brave he was and how losing his shiny didn’t even hurt. Why wouldn’t she wake up? He bumped his shiny into her again, but she still didn’t move. 

The sky was getting really black. The kitten tried hard to remember what Mama had called it when that happened. After a little bit, he remembered: it was night! Mama said that night was good, and that it was when they could get food the best. But all the kitten knew about night was that it made him want to go to sleep. Mama used to be really warm when he wanted to sleep, but since she wasn’t waking up, she wasn’t as warm for him as she used to be. He let out a mew for her and bumped her belly again; he missed food and he missed her being warm and he wanted her to wake up and take care of him again. 

He heard his neck make that vibrating noise again. He knew that meant everything was okay, but it didn’t feel okay. The kitten was hungry and the sky going black meant it was going to be colder. It was hard to believe that everything was all right. But that’s what Mama said. Mama told him that whenever his neck makes the vibrating noise that everything is okay. He told himself he would be brave again. Mama was probably just teaching him a lesson.

The last time Mama taught him, she told him about those wormy bugs. She said that he could eat them, but he had to be really careful when he caught them because they had a pointy tail, and their pointy tail was dangerous. When she tried to catch a wormy bug, she got poked by the pointy tail. The kitten knew she let that happen to show him it was dangerous because she looked really sad when it happened. He didn’t want to be sad, so if he went after a wormy bug, he wouldn’t let it poke him like that. He didn’t even see any wormy bugs, though. Just the really small loud noise bugs that weren’t very smart. That was okay, though; he didn’t like to think it, but he was still kind of scared of the wormy bugs since he saw one poke Mama. 

The kitten pressed his claws into Mama’s belly like he used to when he was just a baby and wanted milk. He was too big for milk now–Mama told him that–but for some reason, doing that made him feel better. It also made him want to sleep again even though he was still hungry. He thought maybe he could just sleep for a little bit, and hopefully Mama would wake up. If not, he would go get some more of the small noisy bugs while she rested. He rubbed his side against Mama’s belly and then turned back and rubbed his other side against her before finally settling in next to her. He hoped the pain in his stomach wouldn’t make it too hard to sleep. He licked his front paw and used it to smooth down the thick pair of whiskers on both sides of his face. He liked to do that before he fell asleep; it made him feel sleepy just like pressing his claws into Mama’s belly. 

The kitten wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when the noise woke him up. It wasn’t a noise like the noisy bugs; it was like the sound he made when he walked through the grass and leaves. But it was louder! The kitten turned his ears in all directions trying to find out where the grassy sound was coming from. It was getting louder, and all he could do was close his eyes and press harder against Mama. She needed to wake up and stop teaching him about the wormy bug now. He hoped that whatever was making the sound wouldn’t see him.

“Well hey there. What are you?” The kitten heard something say in a loud voice. He opened one eye and turned his head away from Mama. The tall thing standing there must have said it. The tall thing stood on its two back legs and was huge. Much bigger than the kitten or even Mama or anything else he’d seen before. The tall thing was all kinds of colors. Its face seemed to be the same color as its hands, but its legs were blue and its feet were white and its body was red and black. Even the top of its head was brown and a different color than the rest of it. The kitten knew that his hind legs and tail were a slightly darker color than the rest of him, but he didn’t look as colorful as the tall thing. It was even more colorful than everything around the kitten when the sky wasn’t black. The kitten opened its mouth and made a spitting sound. Maybe if the tall thing thought he was a snake, it’d leave him and Mama alone.

“Aw, it’s okay. You don’t need to hiss at me. Hey, are you a pokémon?” The tall thing reached into the side of its own leg and pulled out a red square. Something about that word pokémon caught the kitten’s attention, though. Mama had said they were both pokémon before. How did the tall thing know that?

“Meowth: The Scratch Cat pokémon.” The new sound shot through the kitten’s body. He eagerly turned his ears about again trying to find out what made the sound. It wasn’t the same noise that the tall thing had made when it called him a pokémon. The kitten’s ears turned back towards the tall thing. The new voice seemed to come from the red square. It spoke again, “It loves things that sparkle. When it sees a shiny object, the gold coin on its head shines, too.” The kitten didn’t know what that meant. He knew he had a shiny on his head, but the rest of it didn’t make any sense. “Click for additional information,” the red square continued. More nonsense as far as he was concerned.

“Additional info?” The tall thing said. “That’s new.” 

The kitten backed into Mama’s body. She still wasn’t waking up, even with all this noise. It was going to be up to him to protect her. He swung his head really fast, like he did when he saw the tiny loud bugs, and the shiny on his head came loose and hit the tall thing in its white foot. The kitten looked all the way up to the tall thing’s face to see if it was going to run away.

“That was different. Hold on, though, okay? I have to see the other info here.” The tall thing moved his arm so fast that the kitten flinched in anticipation, but it just moved other and touched the red square. 

“Meowth: The Scratch Cat pokémon. Meowth are currently extinct following the population culling of ‘97.”

“Are you sure? There’s two of them right here. Although I don’t think the one is alive, the other sure is.”

“Meowth are currently extinct following the population culling of ‘97.”

The kitten didn’t understand any of the words the tall thing or its red square were saying. He just wanted them to go away. Even if they weren’t here to hurt him or Mama, they must have scared away all the noisy bugs. The kitten couldn’t hear them anymore. If they were gone, what was he going to eat?

“Hey buddy… I think your friend there is dead. It doesn’t look like it’s breathing. Are you okay?”

The kitten didn’t understand that. He’d only heard the word one time before. Dead. Mama used it to describe a mouse they ate once. Did the tall thing think that Mama was food? Mama was not food! He wasn’t going to let the tall thing eat Mama. He made another spitting noise and then shook his head really fast again, but he hadn’t grown a new shiny just yet. It took a little longer for his shiny to come back, but the kitten had forgotten that. 

The tall thing was not scared of his spitting sound, but he did at least put the red square back in his blue leg. When his hand came out, though, it was holding a red and white circle! The kitten looked down at his own leg. Did he have things in it that he didn’t know about? The tall thing then bent over and picked up the shiny that he threw at it. His eyes got bigger when he saw the shiny. 

“This is a five dollar coin. Hey, where’d you get this, Meowth?” So many words the kitten had never heard before. Dollar? Coin? Meowth? None of it made any sense. The tall thing could have the shiny as long as it left Mama and him alone. “Do you want to come with me, buddy? You’re really rare, and it’s a big scary world out here without your friend, I bet. I’ll take care of you.”

No, the kitten thought. He did not want to go with the tall thing! He wanted to stay with Mama. She would be waking up soon and taking care of him and teaching him all the things he still had to learn. It was big and scary out, but Mama would protect him like she always had. The kitten saw the tall thing’s arm go back and then come forward really fast, and the red and white circle came loose! Before the kitten could react, the circle bumped him hard on the head. He opened his mouth to cry out in pain, but before he could, his entire world went black. 

---

When the kitten could see again, he had no idea how long he’d been asleep. Was the whole tall thing just a dream? Did it actually happen? When the world came back into focus, the kitten knew something was wrong. Beneath his feet was a slippery, hard surface. It looked like a tree, but it was so flat and smooth and cold. He could usually stick his claws into trees, but they wouldn’t stick to this flat one. The kitten’s paws did not like the feel of it at all, and he wondered where the grass and dirt went. He looked up from the ground and saw that he could not see as far as he used to. The world had gotten very small while he was asleep. There were just big, flat, white things surrounding him; the kitten looked up to see that the giant white surface even covered up the sky. The sun was stuck to the top white thing somehow, but there was no blue or clouds or birds. Just the big white thing with the sun in the middle of it. Were there any noisy bugs here with him? How would he get food in this new, small world?

“There you are, Meowth. Were you okay in your ball?”

The kitten jumped in response to the sudden sound of the tall thing, and when he came back down, his feet slipped on the smooth tree. His belly smacked off the ground, but he quickly picked himself back up so the tall thing didn’t think he was weak.

“Are you okay? You stumbled, silly.”

The kitten mewed back that he was fine, but the tall thing did not say anything to him. It just reached over and rubbed him on the head. The kitten could feel the tall thing’s hand bumping his shiny, and he was happy it had grown back. He also didn’t want to admit it, but the tall thing’s hand felt nice rubbing his head. 

“So do you have a name?”

The kitten was confused; what was a name? He didn’t know how to answer the tall thing’s question, so he ignored it and let the tall thing continue to rub his head. 

“My name is Pewter. It’s a pretty stupid name, but it’s the name of the city my parents met in, so that’s what they called me.”

The kitten understood even less of that, so it continued not answering him.

“Do you get it, buddy? My name is Pewter. You can call me Pewter.”

The tall thing told him to call him Pewter? So the tall thing was a Pewter? The kitten had never heard of that before, but if that’s what it wanted to be called, then he would be okay with it. The kitten mewed back to him that he’d call it Pewter.

“Yeah, I guess you’re just Meowth, huh? If you’re supposed to be extinct, you might be the last one. So you’re Meowth. Just Meowth. Can I call you Meowth?”

The tall thing wanted to call him Meowth? He’d never been called anything before. Mama just said he was a kitten, and that was how she talked to him. The kitten realized his neck was making the vibrating noise again; maybe it was good to be called Meowth. The kitten mewed back his approval. But suddenly he realized what he’d just thought; Mama said he was a kitten, but where was Mama? He looked around the white place hurriedly. Where was Mama? He didn’t see her anywhere! Did Pewter bring Mama with them to wherever they were? The kitten turned towards Pewter and mewed the question to him.

“What’s the matter? Are you hungry? I bet you’re just confused. This is my house! You and I live together now.”

What was going on? That wasn’t what the kitten asked. He cried out again; where had Mama gone? Why was he alone in this strange white place with Pewter?

“I can go see if mom will give me some turkey breast to give you. Does that sound good?”

The kitten was dismayed; why didn’t the tall thing understand him? He tried to run off so that he could search for Mama, but his feet still weren’t able to dig into the smooth tree, and he slipped and stumbled again. He let out more cries to try to get Mama’s attention. She had to be awake by this time.

“Do you miss the other Meowth that was with you?”

The kitten’s head snapped to attention. Other Meowth? If he was Meowth, then this must mean Mama! The kitten mewed a response and bobbed its head.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” Pewter leaned down so that he was not very tall anymore. His head was at an even level with the kitten, and the rest of his body disappeared behind the edge of the smooth tree. Pewter’s blue eyes looked down, and his forehead was all wrinkled. “Your friend was dead when I found you. I couldn’t bring it with me, you know. Don’t you know what dead means? Your friend wasn’t going to wake up again. I thought you knew.”

The kitten heard the words, but didn’t understand. Mama was never going to wake up again? That didn’t make sense; the kitten woke up every time it went to sleep, so why wouldn’t Mama? He remembered Mama referring to that mouse as dead. It never woke up, even as they were eating it. One time, an acorn fell on the kitten’s head when he was sleeping and it woke him up. So if something as small as that woke him up, he would definitely wake up if something tried to eat him. So if something is dead, then it never wakes up? 

The kitten tried to take in all the information, but it was so hard to figure out. He only knew one thing must have been true: Mama was never going to wake up, and now the kitten was far away from her. His tail was flicking frantically, and he had no idea what to do now; Mama had always been there for him since he first smelled her before he could even open his eyes. Mama had fed him and bathed him and told him what night was and taught him about dangerous wormy bugs. The thought that she was gone was awful; who would take care of him now?

The kitten let out a few low mews that slowly grew in volume. Even he didn’t know what he was saying, but he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t fair! He needed Mama back! Why did that wormy bug have to hurt Mama? How would he survive without her?

He hadn’t even realized he’d buried his head in his paws when he started feeling something rubbing his neck. He turned upward and realized it was Pewter rubbing him down his back, and it felt just like how Mama used to bathe him. It made him miss her more, but it also felt good. 

“I’m, sorry, Meowth. I thought you knew your friend was gone. I didn’t want to make you sad. You’re my pokémon now, and we are partners,” Pewter smiled, and his eyes got larger; the kitten was used to seeing large eyes as a warning from scary animals, but Pewter’s eyes didn’t seem scary. They actually made the kitten feel better somehow. “I promise to do my best to not ever let you be sad again, okay?” Pewter’s voice was very low and soothing, and the kitten wanted to bump his head against Pewter’s hand so the tall thing would rub his neck some more. He couldn’t help but think about Mama, though. What if Pewter was wrong? What if she did wake up?

“Do you know what that means? That you’re my pokémon?” The kitten looked up at Pewter’s suddenly smiling face and thought. Did Mama ever use those words? If she did, he didn’t remember. The kitten shook his head. Pewter nodded very strongly. “Okay! It means you’re my best friend! And it means that I’m going to take care of you and take you with me to school. And we can battle other pokémon, too. But I don’t want you to worry. Battling is just for fun, and we won’t do it till you’re older and stronger. Do you want to be strong and battle with me?”

The kitten did not understand what battle meant, but he knew stronger. Mama had told him he’d be stronger one day, and that he’d be able to catch his own food and defend himself then. Mama was gone, so the kitten knew he’d have be stronger now. Pewter said he’d take care of him, but so did Mama, and the wormy bug still made her dead. What if something made Pewter dead, too? The kitten would be alone again, and there didn’t seem to be any small noisy bugs in this white place. He’d have to be stronger! The kitten bobbed his head back to Pewter with as much power as the tall thing had nodded his.

“Good!” Pewter cried. His voice was higher pitched with that word, but the kitten was able to sense that Pewter was happy. 

TO BE CONTINUED