DPA: Rivals

Chapter 12: Day At The Museum

"We believe this specimen to be roughly a thousand years old," the curator said, looking at the enormous Dragonite skeleton that towered over the group of museum patrons, Daryon and his crew being among them. "It was collected during an excavation in Mt. Moon about a decade ago, along with dozens of other fossils, although the Dragonite skeleton is the only piece they had managed to find entirely intact."

"That's amazing," Cameron exclaimed, in awe at this amazing piece of Pokémon history. "Do we know if the Dragonite that this skeleton belonged to resembled the Dragonite that can be found in modern day Kanto?"

"It's unlikely," replied the curator, clearly happy to have such a curious young visitor in such an otherwise uninterested crowd. "Looking at the history of Pokémon descent, we find that most species are constantly in a flux of evolutionary change. Unlike human DNA, which is relatively stable, Pokémon DNA is regularly adapting to its environment and circumstances, which can result in long term changes, such as the introduction of brand new species, to even major changes in the short term level, such as what is popularly, but inaccurately dubbed Pokémon evolution."

"Does science tell us at all why Pokémon DNA is so easily adaptable?" Cameron asked, studiously taking notes within his Pokédex.

"Well, the majority of research indicates that the ancestor of all Pokémon seemed to have DNA so unstable that it was morphing every few microseconds. We've dubbed this ancestor Pokémon Mew, after finding ancient text in Johto that seems to document what could've been the last known sightings. This ancient civilization referred to this Pokémon as M'Yu, which, when transliterated into our language, is Mew. These ruins even came with fragments of what is believed to be a Mew egg, based on the DNA that was collected in it."

"What happened to this egg?" Daryon interjected. He had been relatively disinterested, only coming to the Pewter Museum because Cameron had wanted to go, but the thought of a super rare Pokémon had caught his attention.

"We use to have about 70% of these shell fragments in our collection," the curator said, his attitude shifting from that of an excited teacher to that of someone who had suffered great loss. "Unfortunately, about a year ago a group of hooligans calling themselves Team Rocket broke in and took almost everything before security could stop them. Fortunately, we still own a small fragment."

He walked over to a small glass case, locked up tight. Two security guards, dressed in uniform, stood silently on either side. Inside the case, Cameron could see a small piece of egg shell, hardly bigger than his thumb, bright blue, like the sky. It's hard to believe that this tiny fragment was all that remained of a Pokémon that was so important to Kanto and Johto history.

Cameron and the rest of the group finished the Museum tour before leaving to explore more of Pewter City. Max, who clearly had no interest in the history of the Pokémon world, seemed relieved to be out of there. Skye, who had been trying to stop Max from complaining, also seemed happy to be back outside. Daryon and Vince were discussing what the mysterious Pokémon could be, with Daryon arguing for Eevee, and Vince arguing for Ditto. But even they didn't seem to understand the point of why Cameron had asked them to go with him.

There was so much more to Pokémon than catching and battling. There was a whole world to explore and learn about, and Cameron felt like he was the only one who understood that. Yes, he wanted to battle too, he wanted to grow stronger and catch Pokémon and train, just like Daryon did. But he also wanted to enjoy his time out in the world, meet new people, learn as much as he could.

That Museum tour had taught Cameron that this world had so much to offer, so much more than just catch, train, battle, repeat. Unfortunately, Daryon was clearly too obsessed with becoming a Pokémon Champion to really take in anything along the way. And that made Cameron sad. They were best friends, they wanted to do everything together, as a team. Unfortunately, the two couldn't be a team if their goals didn't line up.

The group, stopping at an outdoor cafe to rest and eat, Cameron opened up his backpack. Mudkip, having just woken up, yawned, stretching its limbs before looking up at Cameron and yipping, rested and happy. Cameron took a glass of water and slowly poured it over Mudkip, who relished in the cool flow, rolling around like a Growlithe would roll in mud. He took out a towel from his bag, wrapping up the small Mud Fish Pokémon warm and tight like a freshly baked malasada, placing his partner in his lap before taking a sip of hot tea. At least his partner Pokémon seemed to be content with going with the flow.