The white place where Pewter had taken the kitten got dark sometimes, too. Pewter said that was night time, just like Mama had said. When the white place went dark, Pewter would tell him to get some rest and put the kitten in the red and white circle. The kitten didn’t mind because before he knew it, he’d be back out of the circle. And he’d feel really well-rested, too. Pewter was a funny tall thing, though; every time the kitten saw him again, he’d change colors. Sometimes his body was red and black like when the kitten first saw him, and sometimes he was blue or orange or white. The first time this happened, the kitten did not even recognize him! He remembered swatting at Pewter, but the tall thing just told him he had changed. The kitten wondered if he could change, too, but every time he was out of the circle, he was still the same colors. 

When Pewter and the kitten were together, they played a lot. Pewter told the kitten that he was not ready to battle yet, so he should practice attacking things. The kitten still missed Mama, but the tall thing was nice, too. Sometimes the tall thing would bring the kitten a can of food. The kitten did not trust the food at first–it was brown and squishy and didn’t look like anything he’d seen when he was with Mama–but it tasted really good, even if it was colder than what he was used to. 

After playing and eating, sometimes the tall thing would carry the kitten around or lie down with him on the thing Pewter called my bed. The kitten didn’t think that Pewter was as soft or nice as Mama, but he sure didn’t think it was bad, either. He knew Pewter would protect him.

After a few night times had past, a weird thing happened. After having some of the brown, squishy food, the kitten was getting ready to play with Pewter by licking his paws. Suddenly, there was a loud noise! The kitten jumped back and moved its head fast trying to find what made the noise. Was he in danger? Was Pewter? What was that?

Pewter just laughed and rubbed the kitten’s ear. “Silly Meowth. That was just my doorbell. We must have a visitor.” 

Pewter seemed to be okay with having a visitor, but Mama always told the kitten that visitors were bad. She used that word once to describe a round, brown animal with a big tail that came by the bush they were hiding in. The round thing stood up on its tail and yelled at Mama, but she was able to scare him away. When the kitten asked what it wanted, Mama just told him that it was an unwelcome visitor and not to worry about it. Would Pewter have to go scare away the doorbell thing? 

The kitten watched to see what the tall thing would do, but it did not seem to be bothered; it just picked something up from the floor and held it out for the kitten to see. It was a round, blue thing. It didn’t seem to have a face or anything else. It was just… round and blue. The kitten looked at it and then up to Pewter. The tall thing’s eyes were bright, so it didn’t seem likely the round thing was harmful. The kitten moved in close to the round thing very slowly. Maybe he could get to it before it noticed him. The kitten was about to sniff at the round thing when he jumped back. Did it move? He thought he saw it move! Maybe it knew he was coming. The kitten eyed it for a bit, but it was not moving. Pewter continued to hold it out. The kitten moved in again and pressed his nose to it. The round thing smelled kind of like Pewter.

“Do you want it?”

The kitten didn’t understand. Why would he want the round thing? Suddenly the round thing jumped out of Pewter’s hand and rolled across the smooth tree. It was moving! The kitten rushed over to the round thing and jumped on it without even thinking about it. He grabbed the round thing in his paws and dug his claws into it as he flopped over onto his side. He batted at the round thing with his paw, and it started moving again! It was getting away! The kitten scrambled to his feet and pounced on it again. It was very hard to get the round thing to stop moving, but it didn’t seem dangerous. It wasn’t hurting him. It was just trying to get away from him. As the kitten chased the round thing to the other end of the smooth tree, he heard Pewter laughing. Pewter must have really enjoyed watching him try to stop the round thing.

“Pewter! Honey!”

The kitten was shocked by this sound, too, and he accidentally knocked his round thing off of the edge of the smooth tree. The sound talked like Pewter, but it wasn’t him. His mouth wasn’t moving, and the sound was a little softer. The kitten looked around, but Pewter was the only tall thing there was. Where had the sound come from?

“Yeah, mom?”

“Can you come downstairs? There’s someone here who wants to see you.”

Pewter called back to the new sound, and then it had talked him. The kitten continued checking out his surroundings; what was Pewter talking to?

“Do you want to come with me? I’ll carry you down, all right?”

The kitten was not sure. There was another voice somewhere, but he couldn’t see it. That was pretty scary. Still, Pewter had promised never to let him be sad again, so maybe it would be okay. He hesitated for only a second before walking over to the tall thing. Pewter reached down and grabbed him under his arms and pulled him into the air. It was certainly more pleasant than his Mama carrying him around by his scruff, and the kitten rubbed his head against the Pewter’s body to show his appreciation. 

Pewter pulled part of the big white thing away and made a hole that it could go through. It reminded the kitten of how Mama would move the branches of their bush aside so they could go outside to find bugs or play with trees. Everything after the white place was a blur, especially when Pewter bounced as he walked down some kind of sloping path. Before the kitten knew it, he was in a place like the white place, except it was brown. The area was surrounded not by white, but by a large, solid tree without leaves or branches. It was brown and looked like a tree, but there were black lines going down it. The kitten had really never seen any place like where Pewter lived. He looked up; there was no sky here, either, but the white area was still above him.

In the new tree place, the kitten was shocked to see three more tall things! They were all even taller than Pewter was, at that! The closest one to Pewter had really long fur on its head that went down to its arms. Its body was pink and white, and its mouth was a brighter color of red than Pewter’s or the other tall things’. Next to that one was another tall thing. It had no fur on the top of its head, but a big, fluffy line of fur above its eyes. The kitten giggled to itself because it thought that line looked silly, like he had a fuzzy bug on his face. This tall thing’s body was a pattern of brown and blue squares, and its legs were blue like Pewter’s. The last one was the most far away. Its body and legs were a dark grey, and it had a red line that went down from its neck before disappearing in the grey. 

“Pewter Wilson?” The grey tall thing said. “I’m Agent Eric Boucher. It’s nice to meet you, son.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, I guess,” Pewter said, as he and the grey tall thing named Agent Eric Boucher grabbed each others’ hands. Pewter turned back to the other two tall things, but he didn’t grab their hands or ask who they were. “What’s going on, guys?”

The tall thing with the long fur looked down at its hands and played with them a bit. It made the kitten fidget in Pewter’s arms; he wanted to get those hands like he had gotten the round thing earlier. “Agent Boucher just…,” the tall thing stared at the kitten, making him uncomfortable, “wants to talk to you a bit.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all, son. Is that the new pokémon you caught recently?” 

“Meowth? Yeah, I just found it last week, actually. He’s pretty skittish or I’d let you say hello.”

The kitten yawned and burrowed his face into Pewter’s body. The tall thing with the long fur wasn’t wiggling its fingers anymore, and he couldn’t figure out what Pewter and Agent Eric Boucher were talking about. The kitten started thinking about the round thing in the white place. He wondered if it would escape while he wasn’t there to get it. 

“So it is a Meowth. I see. Just as what I was told.”

“Yeah, they’re supposed to be extinct, right? But I found this one under a bush before it got too dark out. Isn’t that awesome?”

“Yes, I suppose it would be awesome to find something so rare. And you’re right, they are supposed to be extinct.” The kitten’s ears perked at the way Agent Eric Boucher’s voice pressed when he said the word supposed. Whatever the tall thing said, it must have been important. 

The tall thing with the blue legs like Pewter’s put its hand around the one with the long fur on its head. The furry tall thing seemed to be upset about something. Its posture was very slumped, and the kitten could sense its fear. Was one of the other tall things going to eat it? Why was it being so afraid?

“What’s wrong, mom?”

“I’m sure she’s fine, Pewter. Can I tell you why I’m here?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Pewter answered the grey tall thing.

“When your pokédex scanned that Meowth, it sent a signal to Professor Elm’s laboratory. He’s responsible for all the pokédexes in Johto, and he receives information on everything recorded by them. Obviously, with Meowths being extinct and all, it sent up a lot of red flags when a pokédex scanned one. So the professor called my offices–I work for the National Defense Administration. We were very…intrigued that a Meowth was recorded in this day and age.”

“Do you, like, want to write an article on it or something?” The movement of Pewter’s body as he talked jarred the kitten alert after the Agent Eric Boucher’s talking had nearly put it to sleep. He looked up at Pewter who seemed apologetic for shocking him, and it started rubbing his chin.

“Not quite, I’m afraid,” Agent Eric Boucher said. The kitten wondered why the other two tall things weren’t talking that much. Maybe they were hunting something and didn’t want to scare it. But why were Pewter and Agent Eric Boucher making so much noise? Maybe they didn’t know the other two were hunting. “I’m sorry to tell you this, son, but Meowths didn’t quite go extinct due to natural causes. A long time ago, our government, in conjunction with the Kantoan government, was forced to round up Meowths and have them put to sleep.”

Pewter’s grip on the kitten tightened, and he squirmed and batted at Pewter to let it know it was hurting him. Pewter didn’t seem to notice. “Why? Why on Earth would you ever do that?”

“Meowths have an ability that no other pokémon have. They are able to replicate currency. Now, I’m no scientist or professor, so I have no idea how it happens. But it has something to do with how Meowths are attracted to shiny objects. At some point in their development, their body began being able to replicate our coin currency out of some kind of…I dunno…,” Agent Eric Boucher seemed to stop talking, but then began again, “self-gratification.”

“So?”

Agent Eric Boucher puffed out air. Didn’t it know you are supposed to breathe quiet? Breathing loud is how things find you. The kitten’s mother told him that. “I get that you’re young, kid, and you probably don’t understand things like inflation or economics, so I’ll try to explain this as well as I can. I know it doesn’t seem like much–a dollar or so from each Meowth–but when there are thousands of Meowths running around replicating money, it really adds up.” The kitten was, again, lost in all these words he never knew existed. He was curious, but he didn’t want to look like it, so he began licking his paw and washing his forehead while listening to the grey tall thing continue to talk. “This new, unsanctioned currency was flooding our market. I get that when you’re a kid, that doesn’t sound bad, but it is. When new money is minted, it lowers the value of all the rest of the money.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Here, like that Meowth. It’s really rare, right? Probably–hopefully–the only one left in the world. So that makes it special, right? But if there were a million of them, that one wouldn’t be so special, right? Same thing with money, really. If there’s only a few dollars in the world, everybody wants them, they’re worth a lot. But if there’s a ton of them, then they aren’t as special. The price of everything goes up because the value of a dollar decreases, and everybody gets squeezed.”

“Isn’t a dollar always worth a dollar?”

“A dollar is always worth a dollar, but sometimes a dollar isn’t worth what it used to be.” Agent Eric Boucher rubbed his nose; maybe he needed to wash himself, too. “It may not make a lot of sense, but…it’s how the world works, kid. Anyway, other regions that aren’t quite friendly with us began hearing about these Meowths, and they started acquiring them on the black market so they could further flood the world market with our currency. The Meowths were driving our nation into a financial hole.”

“So if that’s what happened, why didn’t you just change the money?”

“You’re a smart young man, Mr. Wilson. That’s actually exactly what the government did next. They began reissuing currency with new designs and new markings. They thought that if what the Meowths made was different, then the problem would solve itself, and after the new currency was at a steady rate, they could discontinue the old currency entirely. Do you have any idea what happened next?”

The kitten felt Pewter’s arms raise and then lower again while it tilted its head. Agent Eric Boucher kept talking. “The Meowths started replicating the new currency. In some, as quickly as within one or two generations. Their physiology adapted to what they saw. It started happening with our enemies overseas, too. The Meowths they imported did start out producing our money, but after a few generations, they just made more of the currency they saw in the new land. It was decided that Meowths were too much of a threat to world market stability, so the governments began… well, what I already told you.”

“That’s awful!” There was such sudden power and energy in Pewter’s voice, that the kitten grew scared. He scratched at Pewter, but it just held him more tightly and turned to the side so the kitten couldn’t see Agent Eric Boucher anymore. “You killed a bunch of innocent pokémon just because they weren’t convenient!”

“It goes a little beyond being inconvenient–”

“Wait.” Pewter’s breathing sped up; the kitten could feel the movement of its body next to him. “So why are you here?”

There was a bit of silence before the kitten heard Agent Eric Boucher’s voice again. “I think you know, Mr. Wilson. The NDA needs to confiscate your pokémon.”

“No!” Pewter yelled back.

“Pewter, please. You have to listen to him.” The kitten remembered this voice as the one belonging to the especially furry tall thing. 

“Mr. Wilson, I’m not here to hurt your feelings and make you feel bad. It’s the law; Meowths are considered to be a threat to world economic health. Do you want to know the truth? This might make you feel better: Pokémon euthanization occurs in their pokéballs. They don’t feel anything–”

“I don’t care! Meowth is my friend! I won’t let him make any money if that’s what you want.” Pewter squeezed the kitten hard again, but it did not hurt as much as it did before. The kitten could sense Pewter’s desperation, and, since Pewter promised never to let him feel sad again, he wanted to make Pewter feel better, too. But he didn’t even know what the tall things were talking about. What could he do? Did they want Pewter to battle? Pewter had mentioned that before, right? The kitten knew he would battle if Pewter needed him to. He would protect Pewter like Pewter promised to protect him. He would do his best.

“It’s not a matter of what you let him do, Pewter. It’s a matter of what if he gets loose? What if he has kittens? What happens when one Meowth turns back into thousands of Meowths over the next few years?”

“Agent Boucher.” The kitten didn’t recognize this voice; it must have belonged to the furless tall thing that didn’t say anything yet. “What if we get this Meowth neutered or spayed? We had a dog, Sissy, while Pewter was growing up, and we had her spayed. Won’t that stop the problem?”

“I’m afraid that won’t help. Pokémon physiology is different from animals’. When they get healed at pokémon centers, they… well, they get healed. From everything.”

“Damn. Sorry, Pewter. I thought that might help. I don’t know what else…”

The kitten felt Pewter’s whole body shaking. He rubbed his face against it. Why were these other tall things upsetting him? Didn’t they see they were doing it? The kitten wished he could tell them not to make Pewter sad. Pewter’s hand moved to pet the kitten’s back, but it seemed to be shaking and uncertain. The kitten heard the vibrating noise in his neck start again; hopefully it would settle Pewter down like it had settled himself down in the past. 

“I need you to put the Meowth in its ball and hand it over, Pewter.” It was the voice of the grey tall thing again. “Please just let’s do this the easy way, okay?”

“But…he’s my friend. He’s my…my first pokémon. He’s so young and…and his friend was dead, and I saved him…,” Pewter’s voice sounded wet somehow; the kitten didn’t know how else to describe it. He looked up at his tall thing and saw water running down his face. Was Pewter some kind of fish? A really tall fish? Was it upset because it was out of water for so long? The kitten reached a paw up slowly to bat the water on Pewter’s face, but it held his paw away. Maybe Pewter needed the water. The kitten pulled its paw back down and continued looking up at it. “There’s got to be… there’s got to be some way I can keep him…”

“I’m afraid there isn’t, Pewter,” Agent Eric Boucher said. His voice was softer than it had been before. “Like I said, I promise I didn’t come here to do this to you. It’s the law, and frankly, it’s necessary. But it’s not personal.”

Pewter grabbed the kitten by his underarms and pulled him up so that he was looking right at Pewter’s face. The kitten did not like the feeling of his hind legs dangling free. “I’m sorry, Meowth,” Pewter said. “I’m sorry about your friend, and I’m sorry that I scanned you, and I’m sorry that this guy came here.” The kitten mewed. Pewter did not need to be sorry! It had been so nice to him since that night. “If I hadn’t found you that night, maybe you’d be…,” Pewter wiped his face with his arm. “I won’t forget you, okay?”

For some reason, Pewter put the kitten on the ground. The tall things looked really tall from there! The kitten backed up until he felt his tail bump into Pewter’s leg. The kitten did agree to battle for Pewter, but the tall things were pretty scary. 

The kitten looked up to see Pewter holding out the red and white circle. Maybe he wouldn’t have to battle after all; maybe it was just night time again. The kitten was happy at that thought. He would battle for Pewter when he was stronger. Then he wouldn’t be so scared of all the tall things.

“Bye, Meowth.”

And then everything went black.