reynard531

Here's a new one, the origin of Pokemon. First off, let's talk about Arceus and Mew. Some people have been debating over which one is the true creator of Pokemon. Before Arceus, Mew was looked at like God. Nowadays, that is incorrect. Let's just get this established: Arceus is supposed to be the creator of all Pokemon and the Poke-Earth, and Mew is the ancestor of all Pokemon. Arceus is religion, Mew is science.

The story about Mew is that is the ancestor of all Pokemon, that all Pokemon developed from it. It "contains the DNA of every Pokemon within it". It also knows every move, including Transform. Now consider that "DNA of every Pokemon" bit. Is that to say that it has the complete genetic pattern of every single future Pokemon within it? Well that's one interpretation.

I think this is a good point to put in an overview of how DNA works, along with my favorite metaphor for DNA. You probably know what DNA is, that spiral shaped molecule that serves as your blueprint, and that humans have 23 chromosome pairs of DNA. That's the simple version. Actually, chromosomes are made of those spiral molecules, not the other way around. DNA is wrapped around proteins and folded many, many times to fit inside the nucleus of your cells. Actually, trying to fit a single human chromosome in a nucleus is like trying to fit the length of a football field inside of a baseball.

Think of the nucleus of the cell as one giant library, one filled with books so very important that they are never allowed to leave the building. Each chromosome is a section or row, and each section is lined with books (your genes). These books are filled with diagrams and instructions for everything you could need, from "How to build a human foot: Step 1..." to "growth patterns" to "How to make Protein X for Function Y".

When a cell does a job, it consults the nucleus. Proteins are sent in. Imagine they are workers. These workers walk in, find the right section and the books with the instructions they need, open them up (unravel the DNA), and then, since they can't take the books out, they make a copy. This copy is RNA. DNA is complementary, with four chemical components, abbreviated as A, T, G, and C. If you have A on one strand, then it connects only with a T on the other strand, while G only fits C. RNA uses that to make copies, though T is replaced with another chemical with the same properties we will call U.

After that, the books are closed and put back, and the copies are taken outside to the cell factory, the ribosomes. They make proteins and everything else. The RNA is then fed into the machine, and the machine reads it reverse to get the instructions to make whatever proteins it needs.

Back to Pokemon. It is not very reasonable to think that Mew literally has the full instructions for all Pokemon. That would be a ridiculous amount of data, and impossible to fit in a nucleus without popping it. And why would Mew need stuff titled "How to Build a Pikachu...step 1: Ears..."?

A better interpretation of that statement is that Mew possessed  the TYPE GENES of all Pokemon. What I mean is that it had possession of many sets of genes, with each set detailing those physical characteristics that Poke-Earth researchers use to identify each Pokemon type. So it had the Water type set, the Fire type set, the Grass type set, so on and so fourth. This would also explain how Mew knows every move, because it had the instructions for the qualities needed to use them. Now this idea also results in a very large amount of data that probably wouldn't fit in a nucleus, but it is far more reasonable than the other interpretation, so let's just use willing suspension for the rest.

Now about the Transform power. Transform would be controlled by its own gene. But Transform would have been rather useless to Mew on its own in the beginning. Ditto uses Transform to copy the strengths and skills of its enemies, or to hide. When Mew was first around, it was the only species on the planet, so Transform wouldn't have had a use all alone, except for turning into trees and rocks. But the Transform gene could have been used to make using all the other genes easier. Fire type skills require an internal flamethrower. With the Transform gene, Mew could have rearranged it's body to accommodate.

Now comes the subject of Pokemon evolution. And by that I mean regular, normal evolution. What we see in the franchise isn't really "evolution" (as in the concept by Darwin) per say. If anything, in biology terms it is more like metamorphosis. But that amounts to semantics right now, and it is a staple of the franchise. So let's just distinguish what Pokemon do as Evolution with a capital E, and regular Darwin evolution with a lower case e.

I think Pokemon still evolve as well as Evolve. Darwin's theory of evolution is very logical and sensible. Animals change to adapt to their environment, and when they find themselves in a place with different conditions that aren't favoring them, they can either move somewhere else, adapt, or perish. Animals adapt to avoid competition, and form follows function. Pokemon have specific qualities that suit them to their homes. And also, Evolution to Pokemon is more like growing up.

The one exception to evolution would be Mew. Mew is very, very powerful, and to start it was the only species. It wouldn't have needed to evolve. And that happens in real life too. Alligators and crocodiles have changed very little since the dinosaurs. And their jaw design hasn't changed at all since there is literally no room for improvement. Now when it comes to Mew, there was actually room for improvement. The very existence of Mewtwo says that people found room for improvement. But Mew did not have reason to evolve or improve.

The entire process of evolving takes a tremendous amount of time and energy as a species, so why bother with it without reason? My theory is that Mew didn't change into other Pokemon out of need, but rather a strong want. Mew is supposed to be a curious and playful sort. Suppose that you had groups of Mew that were curious about their abilities and wanted to focus on developing specific abilities (i.e. specific sets of type genes). That fits in with their personality.

This decision would have neglected the other type genes, slowly filtering them out. Ultimately Mew would have downgraded itself, so the plan wasn't the most well thought out, but it still fits with the playful nature of the species to do something like that. This is how I think Mew became other Pokemon, by first differentiating by type via groups of Mew.

Now once Mew started to change into different creatures, the Transform gene suddenly had new uses. Now it could be employed as a full on weapon. Now let's create a whole new set of Mew. This group wants to play around not with any of the type genes, but with the Transform gene alone.

Someone on the Bulbapedia forums by the name of Instrutilus once proposed the theory that Ditto were Mew that had lost their form. The idea had some good points, but for me didn't entirely work. Still, without it I never would have developed this, so I want to thank them for the idea, if I didn't do so already on the forum.

Take a look at Ditto. Take a look at its body and what it can do. Its body is a shapeless, boneless blob. Right off the bat, you would think that body shape would be a positive adaptation. After all, a shapeless, boneless, flexible body is easier to manipulate for abilities like Transform. It is certainly easier to use Transform like that than having to mess with a rigid skeleton.

And yet Ditto is supposed to have come from Mew, and Mew has been seen using Transform easily, despite having a rigid structure. So why can Mew do that and Ditto cannot? Clearly Mew has something in its DNA that allows it to change and deal with hard bones. It Ditto could do the same, why is it still a blob? Again, form follows function.

I believe that Ditto descended from their own separate Mew group, the ones that wanted to play around with Transform. These Mew had a genetic defect. This defect lay in their ability to transform easily with their bones. Because these Mew wanted to focus on Transform, they chose to adapt themselves so as to lose their rigid bone structure, thus becoming the blob-like Ditto.

Genetic flaws are not impossible for Pokemon. Remember Duplica and her second Ditto, Mini-Dit? It couldn't get bigger. That issue was never solved, and in the end Mini-Dit managed to make good of that quirk. But it was still a quirk of its body that it could never get over, unlike the first Ditto. It seems to me like another genetic flaw, something that is wrong in the part of its DNA that allows it to change size (under the power of willing suspension).

On another note, I am also of the belief that abilities like Assist, Mimic, and Metronome are all rooted in a variation of the Transform gene. Think about it. All of those abilities allow Pokemon to perform attacks that they may not normally be able to do, like May's Skitty using Razor Leaf, despite not having leaves.

Also, some other variation of the coding in the Transform gene is probably responsible for Pokemon's ability to Evolve. Again, think about it. Pokemon Evolution involves rapid change, and glowing. Transform involves glowing as well as rapid changing the body. The genes for Evolution and the ones used for Transform are probably related.

And that's it for my theories on the origin of Pokemon, Mew, and Ditto. If anybody is reading this, I hope you found it interesting, and please feel free to leave comments. I'd love to hear from others.