The customary notes that Shadowcat always gives the reader before a
story: This work, was, like "Never Go Back", inspired by the TV
episode, "Go West Young Meowth!", although this work is not based upon
it like "Never Go Back" is
Now, we have been getting to know a lot about some of the "Pokemon"
characters' pasts from some of the recent episodes of the show, ("Holy
Matrimony", "Go West, Young Meowth!").  There is one character that
will probably never get such an in-depth study of their past on the
show, he is probably the most overlooked member of Team Rocket,
Giovanni's pet Persian!

I find Giovanni's Persian a rather enigmatic character.  How did
Giovanni get him?  Why does he like him so much better than Meowth? (a
cat that talks IS pretty special)!  Is that Persian more sinister than
he appears?  You could say that I'm a little obsessed with the Persian.
 (Hey!  I like cats!  Hence my pen name, Duh!).  He appears in many of
my fanfics, most notably as the very sinister "Cigarette Smoking Cat"
in my "Chu-Files" Series.  For this tale, however, the "Chu-Files" fans
reading this will have to suspend that notion, for here the Persian is
simply the Persian and NOT the CSC!  Got it?  Good!  Now on with the
story!      

Rating:  I'm not sure if this should be "G" or "PG".  It depends upon
how squeamish you are around certain aspects of nature.   Think
"National Geographic" Special.  It has been translated from its
original Persian language; not one word has been omitted!


"Perrrrrrrrrrrrsiaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnn!" (How did you get my
diary?!)

SC:  "Meowth gave it to me!  Honest!" 

"Rrrrraaaaaaaaaooooow!  Hiss!" (I'll show you to look at my personal
things and translate them for humans to read!)

The Persian leaps upon Shadowcat, hair bristling, sharp claws and teeth
bared!  

SC: "No!  Don't!  Somebody out there! Heeeeeeellllllllpppppppppp
meeeeeeeeeee!"      
**********************************************************************

"A PERSIAN'S TALE"  


Chapter 1- The Farm

	My earliest memories are of hay, golden strands of hay, and its dry,
dusty, slightly sweet scent.  The hay was a place of warmth, Mother was
there, my two brothers, and two sisters.  Mother left sometimes, but
she always returned with something special for us.  Usually it was a
small pidgey or rattatta that she had killed.  
	Meat was difficult to eat at first, as I had to chew with new, young
teeth.  It did not taste like milk, but I soon learned to like the
taste.  Mother then started taking my siblings and me on hunting
forays. I learned that we lived on something called a "farm" that was
owned by creatures called "humans".  They called my kind "meowths".  
	I also learned that meowths, pidgeys, rattattas and other beings
besides the humans belonged to a group called the Pokemon.  The humans
were considered separate from pokemon, though I wasn't sure why.  Maybe
it was because they did not have special powers.  
	All the pokemon of the farm considered the humans superior somehow, as
the bosses of the farm.  We all had an instinctual fear of them,
though, for most of us, it was only slight.   Still, even the pokemon
that were closest to the humans of the farm could never bring
themselves to look at them straight in the eyes, at least, not for very
long.  
	There were many pokemon on the farm of various kinds.  There was a
small herd of tauros, kept behind a structure called a "pen" that was
made of logs.  There were pidgeots-kept by the humans for the eggs that
they laid, which they liked to eat.  There was also a rapidash, who,
like the tauros, was kept in a pen.  There were also two growlithes on
the farm, their job was to protect the humans from danger.  Then there
was my kind, the meowths and the persians.  We were kept because we ate
rattattas, which the humans considered to be pests.
	The community of cat-pokemon on the farm was vast.  There was a clear
clawing-order among us, my mother being quite low in that order, but by
no means the lowest.  That dishonor belonged to a meowth named "Rags"
who was always in ill-health and had fur that resembled a pile of dirty
rags.  
	I found my place in the clawing-order soon after leaving my hayloft
nursery.  I was the top-cat among my brothers and sisters, superior to
Rags, though he was my elder, and I was just below my mother.    
	The top-cat of the farm was a strong and fierce persian, whom the
humans had dubbed "Dragon" for his ill temper.  He was very distrustful
of the humans, more so than any of the other cat-pokemon.  There were
too many of us around the farm for the humans to name, but they gave
names to a few individuals whom they thought "special".  Dragon was
such an individual, and soon, I received a name too.  

Chapter 2-Excelcior

	My name among the humans was given to me by the family's little girl,
Kate.  The human family that oversaw the farm was made up of a man, a
woman, a young man, and Kate.  
	Kate loved us meowths and persians and would feed us scraps from the
breakfast table and pet us.  I loved bacon.  She would give us these
chewy and burnt ends of bacon that were left from her breakfast and I
just loved them.  
	She favored me and she named me "Excelsior".  It was supposed to be an
elegant name, a valiant name, like the one that the family had given
the rapidash, "Ignaciaus".  
	I often spoke with Ignaciaus while sitting on a railing of his pen. 
The rapidash despised the humans and greatly feared them.  He had been
with other humans before coming to our farm, which he said, did
terrible things to him.  He pointed out patches of hair on his body
that were bright white, contrasting with the overall cream-color of his
coat.  Scars.  Some were made by something called a "whip" and others
by different means.  
	Ignaciaus had one on his back that he told me was formed by humans
riding him with a saddle but without a saddle blanket underneath it. 
The saddle had torn chunks from his flesh.  
	The two growlithes of the farm, Shere Khan and Akela, said that humans
were good.  They pledged their lives to serve and protect them, as all
good growlithes were, in their words, "put upon the Earth to do."  I
was the only feline-pokemon bold enough to speak with them.  Kate
taught the fire-dogs not to chase me as they often did the other
meowths and persians.  
	Kate began to train me to be a battling pokemon.  She said that when
she was old enough to get her Pokemon License, that she wanted me to be
her starter-pokemon.  She studied hard in her spare time, learning from
what humans call "books".  She had me train by practice-battling wild
pidgeys, wild spearows, and even Shere Khan and Akela.  
	I grew strong and clawed my way up in the feline clawing-order of the
farm thanks to Kate's training.  One day I evolved into a persian! 
Kate was elated that her starter-pokemon when it came the time for her
to begin her Journey was going to be an already evolved pokemon!  
	Dragon, who was ever aloof toward the humans told me that I was a fool
for giving so much affection to the girl.  
	"All humans are bad;" he warned me; "I only am here at this farm
because its barn and fields attract so much food for me.  There are
many rattattas and pidgeys to hunt here and the humans leave their
trash in that wonderful bin for me to raid.  I once gave my heart to a
human, only to have him betray me.  Humans do not really care about us
pokemon, especially lowly cats.  Trust me, young Excelsior, the girl
will betray you someday."  

Chapter 3- When Life As I Knew It Was Shattered  

	One day, all that Dragon had warned me about came to pass.  The humans
decided to leave the farm.  I was not sure why, but I think it had
something to do with a scarcity of money.  I knew a little bit about
money.  Kate had given me small copper coins to play with throughout
the time when I was a meowth, and she had also taught me an attack
called "Payday".  
	One cold morning, I watched as the man, the woman and their teenaged
son, with much difficulty, loaded Ignaciaus into a horse-trailer.  They
had sold all of the tauros and pidgeots to neighboring ranchers.  I
watched as the humans loaded the growlithes into the back of their
pickup-truck and drove off, leaving us cat-pokemon behind.

************************************    

	"Daddy!  We can't leave the cats!" cried a tearful Kate to her father
as he laid down blankets in the truck-bed for Shere Khan and Akela.
	"Honey, we can't take all those mangy meowths and persians with us. 
They'll be able to fend for themselves."
	"But what about Excelsior!  We can't leave without Excelsior!  He was
going to be my starter-pokemon!"
	"We can always find you another cat, dear.  Besides, the Pokemon
Professor in Pallet can give you a much better starter-pokemon than a
mangy persian!  A squirtle or charmander would suit you a lot better!" 
	Kate continued her plea to go back to get her persian, but her
protests were ignored as her mother and father hurried her into the
truck and buckled her seat-belt.  
****************************************

	I watched in sorrow and disbelief as the red pickup sped away, towing
the horse-trailer behind it.  My Kate was leaving me!  Dragon walked up
beside me.  
	"I told you it would happen, did I not?  Now you see the true nature
of man.  They care about little else than themselves.  Come, the barn
is still ours and so is this farm.  Let us catch something to eat."  


Chapter 4- The Forest Wild

	For several months, the meowths and persians had the run of the farm. 
Rattattas and pidgeys were still attracted to the abandoned fields.  I
spent the time recovering from the shock of my Best Friend's leaving me
behind.  With the fields abandoned and unplanted, the rattattas and
pidgeys no longer came to eat their grain.  The meowths and persians
began leaving.  Dragon and I were the last to leave. 
	Dragon said that we should take to the forest now, that prey would be
available for us there.  He chose to stay with me, to teach me the ways
of the wild, ways that he had known before he had ever come to the farm
as a stray.  They were ways that he had learned between then and his
time that he had spent with that human friend he had often spoken to me
of.   

	"He came to dislike me after I had evolved.  I had always been a
tough-cat, but when I became a persian, I apparently became meaner. 
The human did not like that.  He took me to the woods one day and left
me there." 
	"You'd think he'd like you better;" I said; "Persians are stronger
than meowths.  People usually like to have strong pokemon, to win
pokemon battles with.  That's what Kate told me." 
	"Well, this man, he just wanted a pet.  And, young Excelsior, you must
get all that battle-stuff out of your head.  That is another way that
the humans abuse pokemon.  They make them fight each other into
exhaustion for their own amusement.  I've heard battle-pokemon say that
they fight for honor, but what honor is there in serving the humans? 
None that I see." 
	"Shere Khan and Akela always told me that there was much honor in
serving mankind.  They said that all growlithes were meant to be their
guardians."
	"Well, Shere Khan and Akela were treated right by the humans.  Humans
like dogs.  By my experience, they do not think as highly of cats as
they do of them.  Besides, what did they know?  They were just
growlithes!  We persians all know that felines are smarter than dogs! 
We can see the exploitative nature of humankind much more clearly. 
Remember, in dealing with man, always keep your teeth and your claws
ready, for you may need them." 

We shared conversations like this often as we wandered the wild forest.
 

	Dragon was right about the abundance of prey in the forest.  I not
only caught wild pidgeys, spearows, and rattattas, but I also learned
the fine arts of catching goldeens from creeks and streams, and even
learned how to stalk and kill wild pikachus without getting
electrocuted.  It took much stealth, as one had to catch the electric
mice completely off-guard.  I was never brave enough to make an attempt
at raichus, though, as Dragon sometimes did.  
	I also learned to avoid becoming prey.  Dragon taught me to heighten
my senses and to run quickly.  We climbed trees to avoid becoming a
meal for arcanines and sprinted with swiftness to avoid being eaten by
wild pinisrs and charizards.  We most often found ourselves pursued by
human hunters.  Dragon explained to me about "Furriers"-humans that
hunted certain types of pokemon for their skins, which they made into
fur coats.  I learned that persian pelts were highly sought after.  

Chapter 5- The Evils of Mankind

	"Aaaaaagggghhhh!" I heard echo through the forest one morning as I was
out hunting.  Dragon was in another part of the woods.  I raced through
the bushes toward the cry.  I skidded to a halt when I saw Dragon, his
right-paw caught in something metallic.  He was bleeding!  
	"Excelsior!  You've got to help me!  I smelled something interesting
and came to investigate when this thing slammed down on my paw!  I know
it's a human-trap!  You've got to help me get out of it!"  Dragon was
near panic.  
	He tried to pull his leg out from the trap, but its sharp, metal teeth
had him clamped tight.  I licked Dragon's wound, doing what I could to
help.  After several hours of agony on Dragon's part, he began to do
something desperate.  
	"Dragon!  What are you doing!" I screamed as I watched Dragon begin to
tear chunks of his own flesh from his leg!  
	"I have to chew my paw off.  It's the only way to escape before the
humans come to kill me."  
	He worked for hours and finally, Dragon freed himself.  He limped to
an abandoned sandshrew burrow.  There, he spent many weeks.  I hunted
and brought him food while he recovered.   He went on about the evils
of mankind.  He said that no pokemon would ever be so cruel to another
creature.  Sure, we persians killed things, but it was for necessity,
as we needed meat to eat.  And, we were not cruel in our killing, we
tried to dispatch with our victims as quickly and painlessly as
possible.  It was only humans that would hunt only for a skin, and only
humans who would devise such a painful method of killing as the
steel-jaw trap that had cost Dragon his right-paw.  
	Dragon healed, but had much difficulty in hunting.  He missed most of
his kills.  I often found myself hunting for the both of us.  Then one
day, something terrible happened.  
	"Char!  Rrrrroarrrrr!  Char!" we both heard echoing through the
forest, coming our way!  
	"It's a charizard!  We must run!" I cried!  This was the first time
after Dragon had lost his leg that we had encountered a predator.  I
sped like the wind, but Dragon lagged behind, as having only three legs
now made him slow.  I paused to run back to him, only to see him
scooped up into the jaws of the descending charizard!  I screamed as I
watched the great orange beast lift off into the sky, the lifeless
carcass of my Best Friend in its terrible jaws!  

Chapter 6- Capture

	I wandered the forest alone now.  I remained ever watchful for the
devices of man.  I hated man.  I had once loved Kate, but no more.  I
could never look upon another human again with anything other than fear
and disgust.  They had abandoned me.  They had murdered my Best Friend.
 If he had his four legs, he surely would have escaped the charizard.  
I sometimes would come upon the forests' edge to a town and look down
upon it.  I could smell the aromas of good things coming from
restaurants, houses, and trash bins, but I would never go down into the
town, for my fear.  
	I was completely feral now, wild, and happy as such.  
	Until I so foolishly wandered into a trap.  I was not paying attention
to where I was walking, instead I was sniffing the perfume of spring
flowers on the wind.  Suddenly, I was swept up into a net!  
	"Merroooooowwwwwww!" I screamed, half hissing!  I struggled but the
net held me firm.  Then I heard voices.  
	"Sounds like we got a pokemon!" said one of the two men that
approached me. 
	"The Boss should be pleased, it's not too rare, but you know how he
likes cats."
	"He misses that meowth that he sent off on mission quite badly."
	Then one of the men turned to me, as he was about to remove the net
from the tree from which I was hanging. 
	"Nice kitty, kitty."
	I reached out a paw from between the net's webbing and scratched him! 

	"Eeeeeoooowwwwwch!  #@$#$%#%$ cat!  Looks like we'll need to use that
tranquilizer!"  
	"Right O!" 
	I felt a sharp sting as a dart was plunged into my skin, then I
drifted into a dark and heavy sleep.  

Chapter 7- Giovanni

	I awoke inside a cold, brightly lit room.  There were two men, (one I
had seen in the woods and a stranger) standing behind a pane of glass
staring at me.  
	"Ah, yes, he looks to be a fine persian, perfect for my pokemon
collection.  He has quite a grace about him, a beauty.  Perfection!"
	"But Boss, I must warn that he is quite vicious.  Did you see the
wound that he gave Agent Hyde's arm!  I'm sure he's strong, and would
make a good fighting-pokemon, but how are you going to begin training
him!" 
	"Open the cage, I want to go in."
	"But, Boss!" 
	"Do it!"  
	The taller man, dressed in red, stepped into my room from a side-door.
 I snarled at him.  
	"Ah ha!  You are quite the vicious one aren't you?  Well, I like a
mean streak in a pokemon, it shows strength."
	The man held out his hand, proffering a piece of cooked fish.  I
sniffed, not wanting to be anywhere near this human, but I was achingly
hungry, so cautiously, it took it.  Little did I know that this would
be the start of a friendship.  
	
The man whom I had come under the care of was named Giovanni.  Slowly,
he worked with me, getting me not to fear him so much.  He fed me well
and talked with me often.  Eventually I let him touch me.  
	Then, he would stroke me constantly.  I learned to like this man.  He
was like my Kate that I had lost so long ago.  Giovanni liked be
because I was graceful and strong.  He told me that I was "Perfection".
 
	Giovanni also talked of a pet meowth that he once kept as the favorite
among his collection of pokemon.  He had sent off this meowth to work
with two of his hired agents.  Giovanni ran an organization that
captured pokemon for him, Team Rocket.  To the world it was considered
criminal and evil, for often the captures were thefts of already-owned
pokemon.  What Giovanni used the other pokemon that his Agents brought
to him for, I did not know.  I was just glad to be his pet.  
	I constantly sat beside Giovanni whenever he confronted his various
Field-Agents via videophone.  I saw the meowth that he had spoken to me
about when he made a call to two Agents at a lighthouse-hideout in
Vermilion City.  The meowth was not happy at being deposed as
Giovanni's favorite pokemon, I could tell from his face on the screen. 
I inwardly gloated as my Master stroked my head.  I could tell that I
must have been special, for that meowth spoke in human tongue,
something that I've known no other pokemon to do.  To Giovanni, in
order to replace a TALKING CAT, I must have been perfection indeed.   
	I still sit by my Master's side.  I have come to feel affection for
him, and to trust him almost as I did my little girl, Kate, so long
ago.  But, he is still a human, and I always have my teeth and my claws
ready.  

THE END  

				Shadowcat, 1999