Alright... let's see what I can do when water is just about the only place the protagonist can go.

Enjoy.

Call of the Sea: A Legend's Life

Chapter 3: Just Under the Surface

Allen found himself in a blank space, where he was simply floating.

He looked human here… but that was because he was in his own mind here. It was little more than a dream.

Before long, Mew showed up, appearing without warning and flying closer.

"Why?" the word came out of Allen's mouth first thing, "Why did you do this?" somehow, his tone was composed and even. There was hope of an explanation afterall. Perhaps he could discuss this action Mew had undertaken peacefully and get the feline to turn him back.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mew asked, sounding genuinely puzzled, "You asked for this. You wished you could be like me, didn't you?"

The human boy couldn't deny that much… though he certainly had meant it in a different spirit. And he hadn't expected the wish to be granted either.

"I'm simply dropping in to see how you're adapting to your new body. I'll be keeping in-touch." Mew said cheerily, "Good luck finding me around Sinnoh."

The cat then vanished, leaving Allen alone. Some corner of his mind wanted to yell at Mew, yell after him to change him back, but he didn't.

Perhaps it was simply the fact that he still felt confused at present… and perhaps a bit curious about the body he now possessed in the waking world.

Either way, he had decided that he had (intentionally or not) agreed to this game and so he would follow through on it. There was only one thing to do: go find Mew.

-0-

He awoke to the sound of water flowing. The pulse of the currents. The gentle heartbeat-like pounding of water upon the bubble he had encased himself in.

He raised his head, which made contact with the skin of his small container, and it popped, allowing water to flood in and Allen floated free in the water.

He looked at himself again and took a moment to come to terms one more time with what he was. Whatever he was.

He still had no idea what pokemon he had been turned into or any idea of the full extent of his abilities.

Looking around, he wasn't sure where to go first… what to do. His objective was clear… but where was that objective? Where was Mew hiding? Much of Sinnoh was surrounded by water… but quite a bit of the region was also contained deep within land.

And if Mew's on-land… how do I get to him in a body like this? Yesterday was enough to show me that I can't really walk. The best I could do there is crawl.

Allen took some comfort in the fact that he was apparently amphibious as he hadn't been suffocating on-land and breathed just as well under-water as he ever had on dry land. But even if he could survive on-land, it wasn't clear how he would get anywhere on it.

Well, maybe he'll keep to water…

Then again, Mew had said he wouldn't make it easy for him. So it didn't seem likely that Mew would be sticking that close to water.

Perhaps he's still close to Sandgem Town though.

This in mind, Allen propelled himself through the water, going towards the shore he had crawled off of into the ocean the previous day.

-0-

It didn't take him long at all to arrive at the shore. He surfaced from the water and looked around the beach from several feet away. It didn't surprise him when he saw the same human boy from before searching the area, no doubt hoping to spot the unique pokemon he'd seen yesterday once more. He wasn't looking out at the sea though and so Allen was going unnoticed for now.

Looking around the water, Allen saw no sign of Mew anywhere in the vicinity. There wasn't any sign the cat had been there.

Don't know what I was thinking… of course there's no sign of him here. He's probably gone further than just beyond the town itself.

Thinking further out, Allen had heard about some sort of place roughly south-east of Sandgem that was only accessible by water (or flying). If Mew was as curious about humans as Allen suspect he was, the location might have drawn his interest.

Right. I'll go investigate that.

"Hey! There you are!"

Allen jumped a little when he heard the boy, who had noticed him thinking out in the water.

"Come here. Please? I didn't mean to scare you or anything yesterday." The boy called to him.

However Allen had already had enough of the boy from yesterday. The boy had gotten his good, close look at him then and that was all he was going to get.

Turning himself around, Allen turned and swam at fairly high speed away from the shore, going around the small isle that laid a short distance out.

He heard a splash behind him and paused to look back. He was surprised at the boy's persistent when he realized the lad had dived into the water and was trying to follow him.

I know for a fact no human's gonna be able to catch up to me in the water. I'm way too fast.

Confident in his innate swimming abilities in his present body, Allen turned and continued to swim away.

"Wait! Please!" the boy yelled after him again as he went over the isle that Allen had swam around.

He continued to swim away as he heard another splash and he was about to put the boy of his mind, when he quite suddenly heard a terrified scream.

Allen righted himself in the water, throwing water out in front of him to halt his momentum in the water before looking back.

The human boy was floundering in the water, crying for help, but there weren't any humans in the area that could help him. Allen was sure the boy could swim, given how he had chased him this far already so there had to be something else at work.

Diving underwater, Allen quickly spotted what the source was and he was suddenly quite sure few humans would be able to help the boy even if any had been present.

An enormous jellyfish of a pokemon, a Tentacruel seemed to be simply entertaining itself tugging on the boy's ankle with one tentacle, making it impossible for the boy to swim. The boy probably wasn't even aware of what was yanking him down every few seconds.

The Tentacruel had a large blue head with red gem-like growths on it and a multitude of tentacles floating in the water beneath it.

"Hey!" Allen yelled through the water, "Let him go! He didn't do anything to you!"

The Tentacruel's eyes shifted over to Allen, who promptly faltered where he was.

Oh… crap, did I just turn myself in a new target here?

The jellyfish regarded Allen for a moment, before looking up at its play-toy struggling to stay on the surface… then, to Allen's surprise, it released the boy's ankle without a word and the human quickly swam back to shore where he disappeared, presumably onto dry land.

"The human drifted in my territory. I was simply having a little fun with it, but if you wish, I can leave the creature alone." The Tentacruel said afterwards, no visible mouth speaking but its deep voice (matching its size) had rather gentle tones that Allen hadn't expected. And was that a note of deference he heard in that voice?

The jellyfish then drifted harmlessly by Allen, heading back into deeper water where it had come from.

"Er, thank you…" Allen said, stunned that the massive pokemon had obeyed his demand so willingly. On top of that, the pokemon had spoken to Allen… and he understood every word as clearly as if a human being had said them. He pulled his mind away from his astonishment though…

Surfacing again, Allen looked at the miniature isle the boy had escaped onto and saw he was okay, though he was breathing hard and fast, staring at the water in evident fear.

Upon seeing the little pokemon emerge from the water, the boy jumped and scurried back a little further, thinking his attacker had surfaced to face him.

Rather than trying to resume pursuit, the boy scrambled to his feet and headed back to town, clearly scared away from trying to chase him anymore.

I hope he doesn't think I did that. I never would've done anything of the sort.

Still, the human boy was off his tail and was safe back in town.

At least he's safe now… and he probably won't go into the water so recklessly, if ever again.

Allen dove under again and swam off.

-0-

As he headed towards the portion of land that was his destination, he continued to think about how the massive Tentacruel had listened and obeyed without argument.

Heck, it could've just swatted me aside I bet. I'm tiny compared to it. So why did it seem to respect my wish for it to leave that boy alone?

Nothing about the behavior made sense. Surely the jellyfish would consider him a trespasser on its territory as much as the boy it was tormenting. Then wouldn't it have just disregarded him or even attacked him itself?

Allen paused mid-way in his course and looked at himself again.

Or is it something about me, about what I am that influenced it? Are all pokemon affected that way?

It was something Allen couldn't really grasp or understand, and for that reason, the odd ability to command other pokemon like that only disturbed him further.

This kind of power… it could be used wrong if it was used irresponsibly. What allows me to do this anyways?

He looked at his various features again, looking for something that seemed to hold power… but all he could really see were the antenna on his head and his flippers. Neither seemed like a likely source.

His thoughts continued to race as he resumed his course for his intended destination.

What am I?