Tia stepped onto the weed-choked grass. Naito, her Natu, flopped onto the grass and hopped onto her shoulder. Aidan followed, standing next to her. A large Dewgong floated in the nearby water.
Tia looked up at the Dewgong and stroked the smooth fur on her head. “Thank you, Emi. Return!” Emi murmured softly and disappeared into the Poke Ball.
Aidan looked around at the sparse scenery. Rusted tools and vehicles were scattered across the landscape, along with a few lonely trees. The ruins of a large building were visible some distance away.
“So this is the place?” Aidan asked.
Tia nodded. “According to the legend.”
Aidan frowned. “I’m not sure I’d call something like this a legend.”
Tia laughed. “Maybe not, but it’s an old story. Every kid in Vermilion City for the past 30 years has known about it.” She looked around somberly. “But I never thought I’d actually set foot here.”
“Tell me how the story goes again.”
Tia took a breath and recited, “About 50 years ago, a heavy machinery factory was built on one of the islands off the coast of Vermilion City. For a few years, the factory thrived, but then strange things started happening. Finished machines started breaking down soon after they were completed. Tools started disappearing and reappearing in inaccessible areas. Parts of the assembly line were being destroyed during the night.”
Tia walked over to a stunted tree and laid a hand on the trunk. “Eventually, it was discovered that the factory was destroying the environment. Gallons of waste were being dumped into the bay, and harmful chemicals were leaching into the soil. The strange things happening at the factory were actually the local Pokemon fighting back.”
“So the factory closed down?”
Tia nodded. “Yes. But the Pokemon managed to get the last laugh. On the night of the closure, the workers loaded up one final truck full of machinery in order to drive it down to the dock for shipping. But they never made it there. They were ambushed by scores of Dark and Ghost Pokemon, and eventually the workers ran off in terror, leaving the truck behind. The Pokemon were led by a very large Houndoom, but one of the workers swore up and down that it was actually a Mew in disguise.”
Aidan smirked. “And so began the rumors of Mew sightings in abandoned trucks.”
Tia shrugged. “It’s a start.” Her gaze grew wistful. “My classmates used to whisper about coming here and finding Mew once they became Trainers. Only a few of them actually did become Trainers, and probably even fewer of them came here. I mean, a Trainer would have more important things on their mind, like the League.”
“We’re lucky that no one seems to care about this place,” Aidan added, “Otherwise we’d be arrested for trespassing!”
Tia made a face, then looked around one more time. She glanced over at Aidan. “Shall we begin?”
After a half and hour of searching, they finally found the abandoned truck. It stood lopsided, with half of its tires shredded and crumbling. Its once pristine white paint was scattered with red rust, and the container’s doors were cracked open, the lock rusted through.
“Are we sure this is it?” Aidan asked.
“It has to be,” Tia answered, “It’s pretty far away from the factory.” She peered into the gap between the container doors, then gingerly grabbed hold of one door and tugged it open. Aidan grabbed the other door and pulled. The two of them pulled on the doors until they groaned open, creating a gap big enough for a person to squeeze through.
Tia looked over at Aidan. “Stay out here and keep an eye out. I’ll go in.” Aidan looked like he wanted to argue, but nodded.
Tia climbed onto the back bumper of the truck and carefully stepped inside. Naito hopped from her shoulder and onto the container floor.
“Be careful, Naito,” Tia said, pulling out a flashlight and turning it on. “Stay close to me.”
“Tuut-tuu!” Naito answered as he hopped over groups of rusty debris.
“Watch your step,” Aidan called out, “We don’t want to get hurt in a place like this. All this rust…”
Tia played her flashlight around as she walked through the container, sidestepping debris and rusted-out holes in the floor. There were loads of rusted and broken machinery covered in cobwebs and rotted tarps.
“Do you see anything?” Aidan called out again.
“Nothing but rusty machines,” Tia answered, pointing her flashlight at the corners of the container.
“Come back out, then,” Aidan replied, “It’s getting late – I don’t want to be here when it gets dark.”
Tia smiled. “You scared?”
“You aren’t?” His reply came from outside.
Tia was about to turn around and make her way back out when Naito chirped nearby.
“Tuuu!”
Tia blinked. “Huh? Naito?” He had sounded spooked. “Where are you?”
“Tuut... tuu…” His chirps were coming from behind a large machine, covered in a tarp.
Tia stepped over to the machine and lifted the tarp.
Suddenly, a bright, blue light shot out of the machine, almost grazing Tia on the cheek. Tia let out a shout, and her gaze followed the blue light as it zipped wildly around the inside of the container.
“Naito!” Tia called out, “Psychic! See if you can slow it down!”
“Tuu!” The psionic waves from Naito’s attack hit the blue light and it shuddered.
“All right, we got you!” Tia shouted.
The blue light continued to hover in the air, then slowly materialized. A blue-furred creature with a rounded, wide snout, triangular ears, and large blue eyes appeared.
Tia stared back at the Pokemon, mesmerized. In the back of her mind, she could hear Aidan calling out to her from outside, but with the adrenaline rushing through her ears, it was muffled. She slowly reached out a hand toward the Pokemon.
“Mew!”
The Pokemon suddenly reverted to the blue light, and re-materialized, transforming into a very large Crobat.
Tia let out a scream, and ran, scrambling, toward the container doors. Naito hopped onto Tia’s head and glowed. Moments later, they both appeared outside the container, dropping to the ground.
Aidan ran over to them “Tia!” he shouted, “What- how-”
He was interrupted by the large Crobat flying out of the container and reverting to the ball of blue light. He watched as the blue light zoomed off and faded into the distance, then turned his attention to Tia and Naito, who were picking themselves off the ground.
“What happened in there?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Tia answered shakily, “I think… I saw Mew.”
“Mew?”
Tia nodded. “But it looked different from the pictures we saw. It was blue!”
Aidan’s eyes widened. “A shiny…”
Then Tia scowled. “Then it transformed into a bat and scared me off!”
A slight smile crossed Aidan’s face, and he stifled a laugh.
“It’s not funny!” Tia retorted. But that just made him laugh harder.
They were interrupted by a loud ticking sound.
“Huh?” Tia looked around. “What’s that noise?”
“It sounds like…” Aidan listened closely, “It’s coming from under the truck.”
Naito hopped off Tia’s shoulder and hopped under the truck before she could stop him.
“Naito, wait!” Tia said frantically. What if it was a bomb?
Naito quickly emerged from underneath the truck, carrying something in his beak. He dropped it into Tia’s hands and chirped, looking proud of himself.
Tia turned the item around in her hands. “What’s this?”
“It’s a Metronome,” Aidan answered. He glanced over at the truck. “Those things are rare – what was it doing underneath a truck in the middle of nowhere? It looks pretty new, too!”
Tia looked at the Metronome in her hands, feeling a little spooked. “I think we should go,” she said softly, “I’ve had enough weirdness for one day!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Aidan replied.
Later, at the Vermilion City Pokemon Center, the two of them settled down to do some research. Aidan had set up his laptop and pulled up an image of Mew – a pink-furred version of the Pokemon Tia had seen inside the truck.
“This is the Mew reported in nearly every sighting within the past 25 years,” Aidan said. Then he clicked a couple of links, and an image of the blue Mew appeared.
Tia pointed at the image. “That’s the Mew I saw.”
“This Mew was seen only once, by an old man stranded on some uncharted, faraway island, and he reported it 5 years after he was rescued.” Aidan looked skeptical. “It’s probably only hearsay.”
“It’s not. I saw it.”
Aidan put up a hand. “I know, I believe you. But that means you saw the rarest Mew of all.”
“And we can track it!” Tia said excitedly, pulling out her Pokedex. A nearly empty entry for Mew appeared, with no data except for an image of the Pokemon and the areas it could be found. Tia tapped a button to view the found areas, only to get the notification “Area Unknown.” She frowned.
“Hmm. I guess I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy…” she muttered.
“It must not be in Kanto or Johto at the moment,” Aidan replied.
Tia let out a groan. “It could be anywhere!”
“Don’t worry about it!” Aidan said reassuringly, “Just keep checking it every now and then. If it shows up somewhere, we’ll follow it. It’s no big loss. We still have the other Legendaries to track, after all.”
Tia nodded. This was just the beginning of their journey. There was no doubt that eventually they would find a Legendary Pokemon and have an epic battle.