Cruel Woman would be here soon.

"Hey Meowth, you hungry? Want some Jigglypuff?"

Meowth looked up at the incredibly annoying sound of James' voice. It scowled up at him in utter contempt - the boy was well-meaning, but generally ended up being a nuisance. "Will you please be quiet? I'm trying to have an internal flashback sequence here."

"Oh... okay... sorry," James replied, looking completely confused. Meowth sighed.

Because Cruel Woman would come, that much was as inevitable as the cage the eyes were forced to stare out of all night and a large part of the day. The eyes blinked, then sadly closed under the weight of horrible memories.

When they had barely reached the point of opening, the eyes had witnessed the terrible and sudden removal of the rest of the litter. Then there had been darkness for days on end, the only sound the desperate mewing that the mouth made, sad crying for the only comfort it had ever known. And after those days of despair, Small Woman had arrived.

The name was not the woman's true name, but was based on the comparison of her to another woman who sometimes appeared beside her, a larger and older woman, demanding things in an angry-sounding voice. This other woman it had designated as Cruel Woman.

Yet Small Woman was kind and never raised her voice, and provided milk from a strange apparatus that bore no resemblance to a real mother, at least not by what the eyes could see. Those days passed quickly, and the pleasure that came from being held in Small Woman's arms while it was fed disappeared when solid food began arriving instead. The only time the eyes saw anything but the darkness of that room was when Cruel Woman came to remove it.

And what the eyes saw then made it long for the old darkness.

A short time later, the eyes reopened reluctantly at the sound of the door creaking. With customary roughness, the cage door was pulled open and a hand grasped carelessly at the scruff of it's neck, pulling it up and carrying it out of the room at arm's length as though out of fear, or maybe loathing. The eyes closed again temporarily to avoid the sights as it dangled there; besides, it was always the same anyway. Endless dark tunnels leading to countless unseen places, although the eyes had only seen two of those places, one being the dark room with the cage, and the other...

The brightness of the light indicated that they had arrived at the second room. The eyes blinked at the harshness before the sensation arose of being dropped onto a familiar surface. With it's limited knowledge of the sights of the world, the only observations the eyes could make about this room was that the space on which it was resting was circular, reflective and smooth to the touch, and also elevated from the ground. There was room enough for it to lay stretched out, which it often did, it's limbs held in place by something tightly fastened over them.

The rest of the room could only be generalized as it appeared to the eyes; the glaring of the light being most prominent, and then besides that the strangely twisted shapes that populated the room. Those shapes made it feel fear, one of the only emotions it was used to experiencing for an extended period of time. Cruel Woman used the shapes sometimes, placing them directly overhead of where it rested above the ground. And when those shapes began emitting peculiar noises, it had learned that the sensation of pain would not be far behind, leaving it trembling and frightened by the time Cruel Woman took it back to the cage, with the terrible knowledge that all this would happen again, as it had before.

On this day, a shape appeared overhead that the eyes had never seen before, yet it inspired no more or no less fear than any of the countless others that had been used multiple times. As usual, Cruel Woman was moving about the shape, touching it in various places so that it began to produce noise. The eyes darted around as if to seek the presence of Small Woman, even though she had never appeared before in this room.

Also before, it had always remembered that it was restrained from moving when the shapes were placed overhead, and this time it was not. Still, the concept of escape was a foreign one to it's mind.

The pain began, a burning sensation that seemed centered in an area between and behind the eyes. A dome of strangely colored lights began to flicker and dance around it, colors the eyes had no name for, and soon the urge to sleep arose, and the eyes slid closed, welcoming the darkness.

When the eyes opened again, everything seemed the same - the familiar surroundings of the laboratory, the twisted mechanical devices, the bright light, the metallic platform. Except...

The eyes blinked, and it tried to steady itself. The names for those places and objects had never before simply appeared in it's mind the way they seemed to now. And when it thought about it, pictures and names of objects that it had never even seen were also in it's mind. It was a struggle not to be overwhelmed by the vast amount of knowledge which was just suddenly there.

And then it became aware of the voices, understanding the words in a way it never had before.

"Do you see? I believe it worked... It looks intelligent already, doesn't it?"

"I don't know, sister. How can you be sure?"

"Just watch."

It swiveled it's head to see Small Woman and Cruel Woman studying it from a short distance away, conversing. Cruel Woman stepped forward and began to speak again.

"Alright then, you Monster... Do you understand me? Talk!"

"What have you... What have you done to me?" was all it could think to ask. Having human language come out of it's mouth was another nearly overwhelming experience.

"Why, I've given you intelligence. An intelligence that many Monsters shall never achieve. I finally did it... The machinery is perfected..." This last part sounded as if she was talking to herself, but she soon looked up again to speak to it. "It's too bad that I will have to dispose of you, my first triumph... You were the smallest test subject I could find, but I feel there would be more recognition if I found a larger and more... useful subject, now that I know this works."

Cruel Woman was smiling darkly; Small Woman looked frightened. All it knew, as the information sank into it's newly intelligent brain, was that it could not allow this to happen. And that was when it finally began to realize that it could do something to change it's fate.

Faster than either woman could react, it sprang toward the machine that had caused all of this, claws slashing at wires and tubes; as a result of this action, part of the machine exploded violently, with enough force to knock both of the women hard to the floor, pieces of metal and glass cutting deeply into flesh. It stopped, bewildered, staring at the fire that had sprung up on the wooden planks of the floor as a result of flying sparks. It backed away from the wreckage, eyeing the two women at last.

Small Woman had a small hole in the center of her forehead, which slowly seeped a clear fluid. She was dead.

But Cruel Woman was staring at it, unable to get up, but still glowering, her hands gesturing weakly. A blue light was hovering around it now, which it couldn't think of the cause of until it realized it must be some kind of magic.

"I... I curse you..." the woman choked out in gasps. "They all... laughed at me... at my machines... and my magic... They would have seen.. but you... ruined it. At least now you have nowhere to go... You will always be seen as a freak... always... to be kept in a cage... or hopefully... killed..." Her eyes went blank, and it knew she was dead.

With her words ringing in it's ears, it fled.

"Meowth? Hey, Meowth? Are you coming or what? You're so far behind that you're gonna get lost!"

Meowth looked up to see Jessie waving back to it from further up they path they were walking along. It growled deep in it's throat; the girl had no discipline whatsoever, interrupting an important sequence like that. "I'm fine, just go on."

Jessie shook her head before running to catch up with James. The strange little Monster had been acting stranger than normal all day, although for what reason she wasn't sure.

Meanwhile, Meowth sighed again, hitching it's cape up a little and resettling it's thoughts.

The labyrinthine tunnels proved to be difficult to navigate, but with patience and a little luck, it finally found the one that led up to the outside. It vaguely wondered how long it had been underground. Blinking in the sunlight, it recognized the objects around it - grass, a few trees, a stream of water. It's new mind told it to find a city, someplace with people, although--

It's thoughts were distracted by the burning, itching sensation tingling along it's skin. Close inspection revealed tiny patches of some substance rising through the skin, still too small to identify. Putting that aside for a moment, it firmed it's resolve to find a city, and set off in a random direction.

Several weeks later, it had thought itself well settled into it's new life. Luck had still been with it in finding a town within a few days. An abandoned scrap of fabric, crudely fashioned into a cloak and hood, provided a covering for it's body in order for it to wander more freely about the city. For it's appearance definitely would not be overlooked.

The patches on it's skin had grown to roughly the size of it's paw, or smaller. These could be seen more clearly now as rock, which it's mind told it were similar to those of the Golem Monster. Whatever that curse had been, it had obviously been an attempt to make it seem even more hideous, a sort of intelligent, talking mutant. The cloak helped, however, and it was amazed at how many people tossed it coins, probably thinking it a poor, orphaned child. The money it used for material for a better cloak, as well as a few empty Monster Orbs, in spite of the strange looks of the shopkeepers at the height of their customer.

It worked very hard outside the city, battling against Monsters itself to capture them. It's efforts were rewarded with a Beedrill, which it then used to capture a lovely set of Nidoran. These it planned to perhaps sell or use to enter the stadium battles that the city seemed so obsessed with.

But then one day it had been careless, falling asleep beneath a tree out in the open, where it had been discovered by a group of greedy men. Upon finding a wonderful "freak of nature", as they put it, they promptly sold it to the stadium, earning themselves quite a large sum. It had not opened it's mouth to speak, for fear of the repercussions that would bring. Stripped of all it's possessions, it was forced to fight in battles against Monsters usually four or five times larger than itself, losing them all, and sometimes getting badly injured in the process. It might have been a big attraction, but it was not the sort of fame it might wish for.

All this continued, day after day, until... Until rescue had come in the form of two people it had never seen before...

"That's it... perfect," Meowth muttered to itself satisfactorily. "Now all I need is something to write it down on... my glorious autobiography..." The little Monster started again in it's mind from the beginning until it caught a piece of Jessie and James' conversation as they walked farther ahead. Jessie was pointing off to the right at a clump of trees near the path.

"You know something, James? I've heard that through those trees is an enchanted spring of some sort that has amazing restorative powers. It's said that anyone who drinks the water will be completely healed, whether it's from a curse or from anything that's been done to change the body."

"Really? That's great! Why don't we tell Me-- Ouch! That really hurts, you know!"

"Will you shut up? You are so dense!" Jessie hissed, dragging him along faster. But Meowth had stopped listening after Jessie had finished describing the spring. Making sure that no one was watching, it quickly slipped in among the trees.

The spring was there, just as Jessie had said. Meowth stood staring at the crystalline water, lost deep in thought. This spring could give it it's heart's desire for so long - to be normal again. It walked to the very edge of the water, sitting down to gaze at it's own reflection. It had wanted this for so long, and all of a sudden here was a chance... And yet...

Reasons why it would be better to remain the way it was now began to wash over it in a sudden flood. It would go back to being a plain, ordinary Meowth - no special intelligence, the ability to speak gone, just another Monster in the world to be easily captured by a human. It shuddered, pulling it's cape closer as though a chill wind had begun to blow. Those ideas were entirely unappealing.

Also... It now had something it had never had before: friends, no matter how annoying they were sometimes. They had saved it when it had begun to lose hope. Most of the time it enjoyed the companionship after being alone for so long...

Shaking it's head, it stood up and gathered it's cape tighter, looking one last time at the water. "I won't regret this decision," it whispered, as if promising itself. Then it turned to head back through the trees. And saw that Jessie was standing only a few feet away. Meowth's eyes bulged.

"What the hell are you doing here?" it snapped, without really meaning to be so angry.

"Hey, whoa, calm down," Jessie grinned, spreading her hands in front of her. "I was just making sure you weren't doing anything stupid, like... say... drinking that water."

"Don't be ridiculous," it stated irritably in reply, folding it's arms tightly. "Why would I do such an idiotic thing? Lose my intelligence? Be a normal Meowth again? I think not."

"Yeah, but you seemed to think differently before."

"That was before I realized how boring it would be if I went back."

"Right, right. We'd miss you, too. Besides..." Jessie continued before dissolving into a fit of giggling.

"Well, what is it?" Meowth demanded impatiently, tapping a foot.

"You see..." she began, choking the words out through her laughter, "I.. made... the... whole thing... up!"

Meowth stared. "You what?"

"This spring! It's just normal water! I made up that story about it being enchanted!" Then she continued laughing hysterically.

Meowth glared at her. "You know, if I was any less of a Meowth... I'd claw your eyes out."

Jessie finally got up from the ground, wiping her eyes with a gloved hand. "I just wanted to see if you would make the right decision, if you were ever faced with a choice. Plus, it's just so funny," she giggled.

"And how did you know there was an even a spring here?"

"I could hear water running, obviously. So funny..."

"Fine. If you're quite through with your little lesson now, can we get going?"

"Oh, I have one more question first."

"What? What is it?"

"When are you going to write your book?"

Meowth's jaw quite literally dropped to the ground. "How do you know... know about..."

"We were walking down the trail awhile ago, right? Well, you were muttering to yourself again. The wind was blowing in just the right direction, and actually, you were talking a little more loudly than usual. It's quite an interesting story, really." She sounded sincere. Meowth just stared, dumbfounded, before a sly grin began to slip over it's face.

"So, when are you writing the book?" Jessie demanded again.

"Would you like to know a secret?" Meowth whispered conspiratorially, coming several steps closer.

"Sure!"

"You see... I made that story up, too. Hey! Watch where you're falling, you almost squished me!"

Jessie stared dazedly up at the sky. "You must be kidding... How could you make that up..."

"No, I'm quite serious. Well, everything after my little underground "escape" is true. But the rest before that isn't."

"How can you say that... So what really happened?"

"I stole a carrot from some old woman's garden. She was feeling pretty cranky that day, so she cursed me, the result being what you see now," Meowth shrugged casually.

"I can't believe it! Then why would you make up something like that big fancy story?"

"Are you serious? How many best-selling autobiographies start off with 'I stole a carrot'?"

Jessie got up and promptly re-fell over, limbs twitching occasionally. "You are insane... you must be..." she moaned to the sky.

"Not as insane as a girl who makes up stories about enchanted springs. Now, if you're done falling about, let's go already."

"Alright," Jessie grinned, bouncing to her feet and dusting herself off. "Why don't you tell the carrot story to James when we catch up? I'm sure he'd love it."

Meowth just glared at her until she turned her back and began walking out the way they had come. Then it smiled, already composing an even better story in it's mind.

There wouldn't be any carrots in this one, either.

Any comments, even if it's just on how weird I am, would be appreciated. ^_^

Episode Six
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