As far as Mew was concerned, Mystery Jungle lived up to its name. But that might just be because Mew had no memories. Everything about the place was mysterious beyond belief: the strange sky that changed between blue and grey and black; the denizens of this place who attacked Mew on sight for seemingly no reason; the way the land itself shifted and moved around like it had a mind of its own; and all of those strange, green and brown things that stuck out from the soil, waving to and fro.

Most of those weird green things couldn't talk. There was one, however, who could walk and talk perfectly fine—in fact, he was walking away from Mew right now. He carried a brown bag and wore a blueish-green piece of cloth around his neck. Mew silently floated after him. When the green thing had first found Mew he'd been really excited, going on and on about some kind of "Dark Matter" and "reincarnation" or whatever it was. But when Mew revealed that they couldn't remember anything, never mind a Dark Matter, his interest in them had taken a drop off a cliff. Mew didn't know what his problem was. It wasn't like they had chosen to lose all of their memories. They'd just woken up one morning with an empty head (and an empty stomach, for that matter).

The walking green thing stopped, heaved a great a sigh, and turned around to face Mew. "I thought I told you to stop following me," he said in a dead, toneless voice.

It seemed to Mew that walking green thing might not be the nicest thing to call him. So they said, "Sorry, what was your name again?"

He stared at them blankly. "Aster."

"Right, that. Aster. I've got another question."

"Can't you ask someone else?"

"Who else am I gonna ask? You're the only guy here who hasn't tried to hurt me yet! Come on, please?"

With a mighty groan, Aster spun on his heel and set off at a brisk pace. Mew decided to take that as a yes.

"So there's these green and brown thingies popping up from the ground, do you see them?" Mew darted through the humid air to each in turn, pointing them out as they went. "Right over here, and there, and we just passed by a humongous one! You seeing this?"

"I see them," he said without stopping.

"What are they?"

"They're plants."

"What are plants?"

"The green objects you keep talking about," he said, staring straight forward. "Now go away."

Mew didn't go away. They saw no reason to, really. Yes, Aster was grumpy and cold and a bit of a jerk, but he was the only Pokemon in the entire jungle who actually spoke to them instead of attacking. And he'd given them food—a sweet red thing he called an apple—so maybe he would give more if they kept following.

A sudden rustling came from a shadow to their left, and then a purple and yellow blur leapt out. Mew only caught a glimpse of gleaming fangs and piercing red eyes before a gust of wind pummeled the Pokemon in its side, sending it flying back where it came from. Aster was pulling Mew away with one scaly paw and brandishing a brown, gnarled stick with the other. "Don't nod off. It's dangerous here," he said.

"Yeah, I know it's dangerous. I've been living here for weeks, and every day someone comes after me!" Mew flew up, latched onto the top of Aster's head, and peeked down at him. "All the more reason why I should come with you, right? Wherever you come from, it's gotta be less dangerous than this place!"

Aster silently glared up at them. After a few unsuccessful attempts at peeling them off, he threw his paws in the air in frustration with an unintelligible shout and started stomping through the jungle, occasionally peeking over his shoulder to check for something (maybe another angry Pokemon who was waiting to attack them). For their part, Mew stayed on Aster's head. It was far easier to rest and let him do the work of walking instead of expending their own energy to fly.

As they walked, Mew looked up at the canopy. Between the tops of the plants, they saw the big blue expanse up above; they had overheard a wild Pokemon calling it the "sky" once. A bunch of puffy white things drifted lazily across the sky, forming strange and fluffy shapes.

"Aster?" they asked.

He didn't answer. He just kept walking.

"Hey, Aster." Mew tapped the top of his head, then pointed up. "What're those white things in the sky?"

Aster still didn't reply! Honestly, what was with him? It was like he had forgotten they were even there.

Mew rapped the top of his head several times. "Aster!"

"What? What do you want?!" he snapped.

"Didn't you hear my question? I asked what those puffy white things in the sky are!"

He jerked his head back roughly and glared at the sky. "They're clouds. Now leave me alone!" With that, he continued stomping through the jungle.

As they traveled, Mew didn't leave him alone. Quite the opposite, in fact. Every so often Mew would ask a question about something they saw, and Aster would blow them off, and they would ask again and again until he would finally relent and give them a short, curt answer. It went like this for hours, during which Mew managed to extract a surprising amount of information from Aster's mind, especially considering how reluctant he was to speak. For example, there were actually several different types of plants. The massive brown ones that towered high above them were trees, while the short, wide, green ones were called ferns.

"So what kind of plant are you?" Mew eventually asked.

"Not a plant."

"How come you're all green, then? And look at this!" Mew reached down and poked the huge, dark green protrusion sticking out from Aster's rear end. "This has to be a plant! It's green and it's growing out of you. By that logic you're a plant, right?"

His shoulders tensed up as he exhaled through his teeth. "If you must know, I'm a Treecko. Why do you ask so many questions?"

"I can't help it! This is all so interesting!" Mew took off from his head and flew into the air. They gestured at the surrounding jungle, filled with things they couldn't recognize. "I know I can't really remember anything, and I know you're not happy about that, but this just means I get to find out about all sorts of stuff for the first time again! I've already learned about so many things, like plants and the sun and soil! And there's loads more to find out, stuff that I probably can't even imagine! Like, I don't even know what sand is! And maybe I'll find out if I follow you!"

As Mew spoke, they zipped and flew all around the jungle. They were filled to the brim with excitement at having finally met someone who was willing to answer the questions they had, and they needed an outlet for all that energy. So they flew around in circles, going higher and higher, the wind blowing through their short pink fur. Aster turned this way and that in a vain attempt to keep up with their movements; eventually the Treecko pressed a paw to his head.

"Okay, okay," he said, eyes spinning in their sockets. "Calm down, you're making me dizzy."

Mew came to a halt, and lowered their altitude to hover before him.

He stared at them for a moment, chewing on the inside of his cheek, then said, "You say you're curious about the world because you don't remember anything?"

"Yep!"

Something flashed in his eyes—recognition, or maybe sympathy. The Treecko rubbed his nose, then blew out a long breath. "Alright…I'll make a deal with you. I'll show you one thing, anything you want, within reason. After that, you have to leave me alone. Sound good?"

"Oh, yeah! So I can just ask you to show me whatever I want?!"

"Any single thing—"

"I overhear all kinds of stuff in this jungle! Can you show me icebergs? Can you show me a chair too? What about a den? Oh, oh! This one time, some flying guy was moaning about Pokemon coming from something called a 'town'. How about you show me a town as well?!"

"I said I would show you one thing," he grumbled.

"Oh, right," Mew said. They pressed a paw to their chin. "Uh… You come from a town, right? Can you show me the town you live in?"

"You sure that's what you want?" The Treecko shifted from one foot to the other, his expression suddenly uneasy. "I could show you, um, an iceberg. The Lapras Liner can take us to the Mist Continent; there are loads of icebergs there. Or…maybe that chair you mentioned. Would you like that?"

"Nah, chairs and icebergs don't seem all that interesting," Mew said. "You're one of those explorer types, right? And that means you must be from a town!"

"But you just said—" Aster rubbed his tired eyes, then sighed. "…Okay. I'll take you to the town I'm from. And in exchange, you have to leave me alone after I'm done showing you around." He extended his paw. "Deal?"

"Deal!"

But Aster didn't make any move to start taking Mew to his home; instead, he stood there with his paw outstretched. Seemed he was waiting for something.

Mew tilted their head. "Something wrong?"

"…Never mind." He lowered his paw. "Come on, follow me. I reckon the trip to my home will take a while, so don't get impatient with me."

"Oh, great!" They flew up and latched onto his head again. "Lead the way!"

With one last sigh, he set off.

The trip to wherever Aster lived was slow going. The Treecko had trouble trudging through the jungle's undergrowth, to the point where he regularly stumbled over exposed roots or slipped on fallen leaves. More than once he tripped and fell flat onto his face, then slowly rose to his feet with many grumbles. After the fourth time, Mew made sure to leverage their flight by grabbing onto his shoulders and keeping him on his feet whenever he tripped. After what felt like years, they finally spotted something other than the jungle.

Simply put, Mew didn't know how to describe what they saw. They just didn't know the words for it. A whole bunch of unfamiliar shapes and colors and smells assaulted their senses, overwhelming them with stuff that was simply new. Hundreds of voices overlapping and something sizzling. The taste of fallen trees. The air smelled sweet and sour and salty, and the odors only grew stronger as they approached the new place. A dirt path led them out of the jungle and to a huge wooden platform, and beyond that platform stood a group of trees, but these ones were different from the trees Mew had seen in Mystery Jungle: the trees here had odd rectangular growths and shapes jutting out from them, crisscrossing sets of lines connecting the wide trunks to each other. Distant silhouettes could be seen walking on the lines.

Mew tapped the top of Aster's head to get his attention, then pointed at the growths on the trees. "What are those?" they asked.

Aster didn't respond. As usual.

Undeterred, Mew tapped his head again. "Hey, Aster. Hey. Hey. Hey!"

"What?!"

"What are those things coming out of the trees?"

The Treecko took a moment to find what they were pointing at. Testily, he said, "Those are houses."

"What are houses?"

"Places Pokemon live in."

"Wooaaaah." Mew giggled excitedly. "So is Mystery Jungle a house? I see loads of Pokemon living in that place!"

Aster started walking again, making his way across the wooden platform. "If you keep asking questions, we'll never get to Lively Town."

"What's Lively—"

"I just told you: no questions."

And that was that.

As the Treecko stepped across the huge wooden platform and past all the houses, Mew spotted all sorts of new things: wooden planks connected by ropes; outdoor booths that emitted the sizzling noises and salty odors from earlier; brand new colors they didn't know the name of; and most importantly, a few Pokemon they didn't recognize. There weren't many of the Pokemon, but one fact stood out: these Pokemon didn't attack Mew on sight. In fact, they didn't seem to pay any attention to them!

"Hey, Aster!" Mew pointed at one of the Pokemon as they passed by. This one was big and burly, covered in black and white fur and wearing an ugly grimace. "These guys don't wanna beat me up either!"

The Pokemon they pointed at shot them a funny look, and Aster shushed Mew. To the Pokemon, he said, "Sorry about that. This one doesn't really know, um, anything."

The Pokemon snorted, and Aster scurried away. "Keep your mouth shut," he told Mew.

"But why didn't that Pokemon attack us?" Mew said.

"Pokemon in towns don't attack on sight. Now stop asking questions before you get us in trouble!"

Mew rolled their eyes, then asked, "What about the Pokemon inside of Mystery Dungeons?"

"I don't know! Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You lived in a Mystery Dungeon, but you didn't attack me, so—" He stopped talking and came to a halt. "I just told you no questions."

"You did," Mew said, a little smugly. "But you answered me anyways."

The Treecko's shoulders tensed up, and for a moment Mew thought they had made him really mad. But instead of exploding into rage, he only slumped over and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

The rest of their trip through the unfamiliar place passed without incident, save for the sheer volume of unfamiliar objects Mew saw. They didn't ask about the new things, though; it wouldn't do to annoy Aster too much, or else he might take back his offer to take them to his home! As the Treecko made his way past the last house, Mew spotted yet another brand new thing: an absolutely massive body of water that crashed against the shore over and over again. The water gleamed and frothed and foamed beneath the sunlight, full of seemingly endless energy and stretching all the way to the horizon.

"Before you ask," Aster said, "that's an ocean."

"Wow…" Mew lifted off from his head and flew down to the water. Tentatively, they reached out and poked the ocean as it pushed up the shore. It was cold. Very cold! "Woah!" They giggled and poked it several more times, sending little water droplets flying with each poke.

The Treecko passed by and took their paw, pulling them along behind him. "Come on, Mew. I don't have all day."

"Aw, but I wasn't done playing with it!"

But he didn't let go. Mew made a mental note to check out the ocean later while the two made their way to a set of wooden planks jutting out from the ground, towards another Pokemon that floated in the water. This one was blue and grey, with a gentle smile on their face and what looked like a…shell? That's what Mew had overheard once in Mystery Jungle, that a round hard thing on a Pokemon's back was called a shell.

"How did your expedition go, Aster?" the Pokemon asked.

"It was fine," he said. To Mew, he continued, "This is Lapras. She'll give us a ride across the ocean to my home."

"Hi, Lapras!" Mew said. "I'm Mew! Nice to meet you!"

"It's a pleasure—" Lapras' eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Wait. You're Mew? But I thought—I thought you vanished! Nobody's seen you for thousands of years! And now you just…show up?!"

Mew tilted their head, uncomprehending. "What do you mean?"

"I said I'd find Mew," Aster told Lapras, his expression unamused. "And I did."

Lapras stared blankly at Mew, her mouth slightly open.

"Can we…can we get going now?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Right. Okay. Never mind. Back to business. I suppose you two will want a ride back to Lively Town?"

"Yeah." Aster reached into his bag and extracted two passes to show her. After that he hopped onto Lapras' shell, then held out his paw towards Mew. "Grab on."

Mew did so, and he pulled them onto the shell as well. Once they were on the shell they asked, "Why did you look so surprised, Lapras?"

"Oh…it's nothing important," Lapras said. "It's just been a while since anyone's seen a Mew. I honestly didn't think I'd ever see one in my lifetime."

"So does that make me famous or something?"

"I suppose it does," she said. "Don't you know? People have been searching for you for millennia. I expected you to be this wise and powerful god, but you seem like…a kid."

Aster sighed and pointedly stared at the horizon. "Mew doesn't remember anything."

"Oh, so they're like you?" Lapras said.

Mew turned to Aster, a wide grin glued to their face. "You don't have any memories either?!"

"No."

"Why not?"

He shook his head. "That's none of your business. Now can we get going already?"

"Getting impatient?" Lapras said with a chuckle. "Okay, you two. Get comfy, because this ride will take a while." The shell rocked beneath Mew as she pushed off from the shore and began swimming, the saltwater sloshing beneath her. The further she swam the deeper the water got, to the point where Mew couldn't see the bottom anymore. The Grass Continent slowly shrank over the next few minutes, and soon the houses and Pokemon were little more than tiny specks on the landmass.

"So that place we were just in," Mew said. "Was that a town?"

Aster didn't respond, but Lapras did. "Oh, yes," she said. "That place is called Capim Town. It's a coastal settlement on the Grass Continent."

"Wow…" Their curiosity satisfied for the time being, Mew stared down into the ocean. All sorts of colorful Pokemon swam beneath the surface, some big and some small. They were blue and green and red and yellow, swimming either in groups or independently, rising to the surface or falling into the dark depths. Their colors shimmered as the wavering sunlight pierced the water's surface. Watching them swim was relaxing, the same way watching a river course through the jungle's undergrowth was. Their eyelids drooped lower and lower as they continued staring. "Cool…"

Mew spent what felt like hours staring down at the water, taking note of all the Pokemon they saw. Eventually they looked up at Aster (who sat cross-legged with his arms folded) and asked, "Are we there yet?"

He stared blankly at them. "We've been travelling for three minutes, Mew."

"So…are we getting close?"

"No."

"Oh."

They stared down at the water some more. They looked up at the Treecko.

"What about now?"

Lapras turned to face them, an amused look on her face. "Mew, this trip will take a few hours at minimum, assuming we don't run into any storms or large waves. I told you to get comfy, didn't I?"

"Um…how long is an hour?"

"Sixty minutes," she said.

"How long is a minute?"

"Sixty seconds," she said.

"How long is a second?"

Lapras chuckled quietly. To Aster, she said, "You weren't kidding when you said Mew doesn't remember anything." And to Mew: "Maybe you should try to get some sleep. You must be exhausted from that trek through Mystery Jungle."

"Not really! Aster carried me most of the way, so I'm not that tired!" Mew said, even though their arms felt heavy and their mind foggy. "But maybe…maybe I could rest my eyes for a minute."

"You do that," Lapras said, then turned back to the waves before her.

Despite their claim that they weren't tired, it took Mew a surprisingly small amount of time to fall asleep. Their eyes drooped, their feet ached, and their thoughts grew disheveled and increasingly harder to grasp. As they drifted away, they pondered the differences between seconds and minutes and hours.

Someone shook Mew's shoulders. "Wake up."

"Mmngh?"

"Mew. Wake up. We're almost there and I don't want to have to carry you."

The ground rocked beneath Mew as they opened their eyes and let out a big yawn, stretching their limbs out as far as they would go. As a gust of salty air blew by, they remembered they weren't actually on the ground—rather, they were riding Lapras, who had agreed to carry them across the…ocean, was it? Whatever it was called, there was a lot of water all around them. Aster sat across from Mew on Lapras' shell and stared blankly at the orange horizon while fiddling with the piece of cloth he wore around his neck.

Mew pointed at the cloth. "What's that?"

"A scarf."

Something about the scarf called to Mew. "Can I…can I see it?"

"No."

"Oh, come on! Can I—" They reached for it, but Aster smacked their paw away.

"I said no."

"Fine, then." Mew huffed and folded their arms, the same way they saw him do. "Keep your stupid scarf."

But their bad mood didn't last long: behind the Treecko, Mew spotted a massive landmass that was only growing larger, blocking out the pink and orange sunset. And on that landmass stood a town much like the one they had left earlier, only this town had houses growing out of the ground.

"Ooh, I see it!" Mew shouted. They scurried to the front of the shell and pushed Aster aside to get a better view. "I see…land! Aster, is this where you're from?!"

He didn't respond, but Lapras chuckled and turned to smile at Mew. "Yes, this is the Water Continent. It's your first time here, right?"

Mew nodded.

"I think you'll enjoy it. Lively Town, the biggest city on the continent, is right next to the docks. There's a whole host of things to do and sights to see. You won't ever be bored there."

As they steadily approached the Water Continent, Mew's impatience grew more and more severe to the point where, when they were reasonably close to the continent, Mew leaped off of Lapras' shell and barreled face-first onto the shore. Their landing sent sand flying up into the air, attracting the stares of several Pokemon who were carrying crates to and from the docks. The Pokemon looked at Mew with concerned expressions, but they didn't start attacking. It seemed Aster was right—Pokemon inside towns weren't as aggressive. Mew filed the fact away in their mental list of interesting things.

Said list was only growing. The Water Continent boasted a completely different atmosphere: where the Mystery Jungle had heat, humidity, and the whispering of ferns in the wind, the Water Continent had a cool ocean breeze and hundreds of voices sounding off in the distance. And voices meant Pokemon, who were probably friendly. Mew's heart beat faster as they rocketed up the rickety wooden stairs leading from the docks to a stone path that meandered up a grassy hill.

When Mew finally reached the end of the path, they let out a little gasp at what they saw. They made their way underneath a stone arch to find dozens of structures in countless colors, most of which they had never seen before. Some were wood, others were stone, and they came in all shapes and sizes. Loads of unfamiliar smells barraged Mew—food being prepared in a building with a label they couldn't read, a metallic stench coming from what looked like a gold and black tree trunk with a shadowed face that sent chills down their spine, and faintly sweet scents emanating from dozens of flowers growing in boxes scattered throughout.

And the Pokemon!

Mew had never seen so many in one place! They were all so different! Big and small, young and old, and more color variation than the plain blue ocean could ever hope to match. They were all talking, laughing, singing, playing, running, smiling, living.
With an excited laugh, Mew soared forth to explore as much as they could. They flew through the crowds of Pokemon, sending them scrambling for cover as they darted between unfamiliar objects to take it all in. Lapras was right: they would never get bored here. Everything here was so bright and colorful, more alive than anything they had seen before. But they didn't get far before finding a familiar face sitting forlornly in front of the food building from earlier. Aster met their eyes as they approached. "Are you finished freaking out? Can we go now?" he said.

"Go where?"

He pointed up the road to a massive, yellow and blue building that towered above the rest. "The Expedition Society. It's where I work. They're the ones who sent me to find you, and I'm betting they'll want to take a good look at you."

"Aww, but I wasn't finished here!" Mew whined. "And you said you'd show me around!"

"I'll show you around the town later." He motioned towards the bag he carried. "I need to unpack and report the results of my trip."

Mew groaned. "Five more minutes, please? Five minutes and then we can go, okay?"

"I really don't—"

"Great, thanks! You're the best!"

With that settled, Mew flew away to continue their sight-seeing, and after what felt like two minutes but Aster insisted was seven, they finally agreed to go and check out the Expedition Society. As they made their way up the stone road between the buildings that Aster called houses, they fell back into their routine of questioning, only this time it was far more intense due to the sheer amount of unrecognized objects. Mew's list of interesting things grew larger and larger: booths, telescopes, clay pots, coffee, the color indigo, and the names of roughly forty different types of Pokemon that they spotted on the street. Mew had never felt happier. Lively Town was everything they had thought it would be.

When they finally reached the Expedition Society headquarters, Mew took a moment to get a good look. The building's width alone was equal to three ancient jungle trees stuck together, and Mew swore it was tall enough to reach the clouds. Absolutely incredible. Eventually Aster grew impatient at Mew's marveling and pulled them through the front door, only to mutter something under his breath and storm deeper into the building when Mew marveled even harder at the interior. The place was somehow elegant and worn-down at the same time. Between the freshly painted walls and fancy rugs, Mew saw used equipment and dirty footprints marring the floor, and muffled voices echoed throughout halls that were stained red by the sunset shining through the windows. Mew supposed it wouldn't hurt to take a good look around. The room broke into three paths: two hallways leading left and right, and stairs heading directly up. In Mew's experience with flying, vertical movement was far more interesting than horizontal, so they went ahead and floated up the stairs, ogling their surroundings.

At the top of the stairs they found a room similar in shape to the one they had just left, only with a massive blue contraption in the center. It was made up of a huge blue sphere contained within a set of rings that were connected to a frame embedded in the floor. The sphere pulsed with a gentle light as Mew drew closer. It seemed so…familiar. But they had never seen it before, so why…?

Mew suddenly felt dizzy—a piercing pain broke through their head as countless voices talked at once. It was as though Mew were in the middle of an invisible crowd. The voices fell away, one by one, and—

And Mew remembered this machine was called a Nexus. A database designed to record the geography of the world. But…where did they learn that?

"There you are," Aster was saying behind them. "What did you run off for? Everyone wants to meet you." He scoffed. "I reckon you're already popular."

Mew didn't reply—they felt dizzy from the unexpected revelation. They could hear voices, real voices this time, off in the distance. Footsteps approached, and then Aster moved to stand beside them.

"Are you gonna keep standing here? Everyone's downstairs waiting for you," he said.

"…Right. Yeah." Mew put on a smile, but it felt forced. "Quick question: this machine, is it called a Nexus?"

"Yeah. Now come on, let's get moving."

Something about this Nexus brought out a longing from deep within, a longing for something they couldn't recognize. A little voice in the back of their head said that this Nexus needed to be completed, the world needed to be documented. If this archive were to be finished, it would be a dream come true. Mew shook their head to clear it. "Okay. Let's go," they said.

The Treecko led them down the stairs and into the room they had just left, where four unfamiliar Pokemon now stood waiting for them. One of them, a round orangeish Pokemon with a long, thin tail and big ears, held a weird blue device and was chattering frantically into it. The sun had set completely, leaving the building with naught but its pink and red afterglow. A set of lights embedded in the ceiling and walls activated all at once, illuminating the halls with a golden glow. Waves crashed and rolled in the distance.

As the two approached the unfamiliar Pokemon, Aster gestured towards Mew. "Behold," he told the group sarcastically.

One of the Pokemon stepped forth; this one was yellow with black stripes and an orb embedded in his forehead. Curiosity wrote itself all over his face as he gazed at Mew. He said, "Aster, you said this one followed you home? You didn't…coerce them or do anything of the sort?"

The Treecko shook his head.

"Nice to meet you!" Mew said. "I'm Mew. What's your name?"

Several of the Pokemon gasped and fell to muttering amongst themselves, but the one who had stepped forward only chuckled at himself. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Ampharos. I'm the chief of the Expedition Society, which would be these wonderful Pokemon." He gestured at the three Pokemon behind him.

"What're those Pokemon called?" Mew asked Aster. When he didn't reply, Mew repeated the question to Ampharos.

"Ah, yes." Ampharos pointed to each of them in turn, calling out their names: "Dedenne, Mawile, and Archen. Though we seem to be missing a few members…"

"You did call an emergency meeting with no forewarning," Dedenne said—she was the orange one with the blue device. "Bunnelby and Buizel are off-continent, Swirlix is busy stuffing her face, and Jirachi's probably asleep in his observatory. Does anyone feel like waking him up?"

The Society members shook their heads in unison.

"I see," Ampharos said. "Then this amount will have to do. I know better than to interfere with Jirachi's and Swirlix's…important tasks." He clapped his paws once with a business-like air. "At any rate, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mew."

Before he could continue, another of the Pokemon—this one had a giant maw sticking out of the back of her head—approached and whispered something in his ear. He furrowed his brow, the orb on his head glowing faintly, and murmured, "You're absolutely sure, Mawile?"

Mawile nodded.

"Hmm…very well, then." Ampharos nodded with an air of resolution, then turned back to Mew and said, "How would you like to join the Expedition Society?"

Aster gasped, then shook his head. "No, no. That wasn't the deal. You said to investigate reports of Mew's reappearance. You never said they'd join us!"

"I think this is Mew's decision to make," Ampharos told him. "Mew, what would you like? You could join us as an assistant for the time being and help us out on expeditions."

Mew tilted their head. "Expeditions?"

"Oh, I suppose you wouldn't know what those are. Expeditions are rescuing Pokemon, retrieving lost or stolen items, documenting unknown areas, that sort of thing," Ampharos said.

"You make it sound a lot more boring than it actually is," Archen said with a chuckle. "But I thought kids weren't allowed to join the Expedition Society."

"Yes, I suppose I did make that rule," Ampharos said. "But given the circumstances, it may be best to…ignore it, so to speak. We've already broken it twice, after all."

"You want me to join the Expedition Society…" Mew said, more to themself than anything. The idea had an odd allure about it. The more they thought about it, the more it appealed to them. Traveling the world, helping Pokemon, seeing brand new things every day—it seemed like the perfect way to satiate their curiosity. A grin spread across their face as they nodded. "Yeah! I think I'd like that!"

"Excellent!" Ampharos' eyes shone with satisfaction. "You can be Aster's assistant for the time being. Everyone else either already has a partner or doesn't need one, so—"

Aster cleared his throat, his eyes narrowed. "No way. Mew is not coming with me."

"Why not?" Mew turned to him and put on their most winning smile. "It sounds fun! I'll get to go to all kinds of places and meet all sorts of Pokemon and see things I've never seen before!"

"Those are all good points," Ampharos said, then turned to Aster. "Besides, you do need a partner. No expeditioner worth their badge goes alone into a Mystery Dungeon, not unless they have a death wish. You tried going through the Sand Dune of Spirits on your own, and look how that turned out."

The Treecko folded his arms. "I'll have you know I made it through just fine."

"On the fifth attempt, yes."

"But—"

"I don't enjoy playing this card," Ampharos said, a steely glint in his eyes, "but do remember that I am the chief of this Society, and that I have the authority to assign partners to those under my command if they lack one already."

Aster's eyes flashed, and for a moment it looked like he would refuse again. But before saying anything, he took a measured breath, then muttered, "Fine."

"Excellent!" Ampharos struck a pose, and the orb on his forehead suddenly shone as bright as the sun. Mew squinted and covered their eyes, blinking away the afterimage, and the Society members all groaned and complained. Ampharos looked a little abashed. "Oh. Oh, dear. Apologies. None of you are hurt, are you?"

After fussing over Archen for several seconds, he turned back to Mew. "Well," he said. "Welcome to the Expedition Society! Er…"

"Dinner's in half an hour," Archen said, still rubbing his eyes. With that, he made his way past Mew and down the hall to the left. Dedenne and Mawile followed suit, making their way up the stairs to do whatever it was they were doing. Ampharos approached the two and laid a paw on Aster's shoulder. The Treecko was staring at the floor, his expression unreadable. It seemed Ampharos wanted to say something to him, but he only patted his shoulder, then continued past and went upstairs as well.

"So!" Mew said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You promised to show me around the town, remember? I'd love to see what this place is like!"

Aster didn't respond at first. Then, he sighed. "Okay," he said. "Follow me."

The Treecko tried not to sleep anymore. Not because he wasn't tired—quite the opposite, he was exhausted beyond belief—but because every time he closed his eyes, the same horrors revisited him: the silent chill of the Voidlands; the slimy grasp of the shadows dragging him into the darkness; Nuzleaf, his features distorted into a mask of hatred, unleashing dark clouds that shrouded the sky; whole crowds of Pokemon petrified and helpless, their faces frozen in terror; Dark Matter dragging the planet ever closer to the sun, dooming the world to a fiery death. And Vallea, his partner, the one he held dearest, vanishing into a golden light as tears ran down her face.

So on the night after Mew joined the Expedition Society, Aster chose to remain awake and alert in his bedroom. The nightmares couldn't come if he didn't sleep. In an attempt to stay awake, he busied himself with taking inventory of the wands and orbs he carried, and reviewing the requests for help that came on the Expedition Gadget. But those distractions could only last for so long before becoming repetitive and pointless. Eventually Aster found himself doing the same thing he did every night: staring wistfully at the Harmony Scarf that Vallea had given him on the best day of his life. It lay on the desk, its threads worn and frayed, but its shades of blue and green were as bright as they had always been.

In the first few days after her disappearance, he lost track of how many times he turned and started talking, expecting to find her there. Each and every time he fell silent in the face of the emptiness that now stood where she once did. There was still so much left to tell her. The world was completely safe. Even weeks after Dark Matter's disappearance, not a single sign of that abomination could be seen. The world map was progressing slowly, bit by bit, and everyone's lives were returning to normal.

Vallea would never know that. The world the Riolu had fought so hard to save—she would never get to explore it the way she'd wanted.

Aster should have been the one to vanish. He'd only been in this world for a few months; he had less of a life to lose. Vallea, she'd had a father. A dream. A full life ahead of her.

"Where are you now?" he asked the scarf.

No response.

"You asked me for a favor, remember? You asked me not to cry. So I didn't. Now you're the one who owes me a favor," he said with a hollow laugh.

The Treecko looked across the room at Mew, who slept soundly curled up in her bed—no, in the spare bed. It wasn't hers, not anymore. He had hoped to be rid of Mew by now, but for whatever reason Ampharos had the brilliant idea of letting them actually join the Expedition Society. And now he was stuck with this annoying kid for the foreseeable future.

He blinked, and a terribly familiar Riolu slept in that bed. His heart leapt into his throat.

After rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he looked again. Now Mew slept there, curled up with their long tail forming a crescent around their body, and it felt like he had lost her all over again.

It wasn't Mew's fault, he knew that. They were just a lost kid with no memories, same as he had once been. But a small, insolent part of him still hated them for taking her place, for setting in motion the series of events that had led to her destruction. He had thought that if he could just find Mew, he would get her back. But what he found was nothing but…

The Treecko shook his head. How could he ever resent such an innocent child?

"I'm losing it," he muttered, and rounded on the scarf. "Every time I look at them I only see you."

The scarf just lay there, a useless piece of cloth.

"You owe me a favor, and I'm going to ask for it now."

Technically he had fulfilled her request: he hadn't cried once in the last few weeks, though it hadn't been by choice. He simply couldn't cry. Most nights he sat there, waiting for the tears to come and his heart to finally break, but all he found was a familiar empty feeling in his chest. It was like all that sadness was buried somewhere deep inside him in a place he couldn't reach, and all he had left was a blank slate, vacant and desolate. What was wrong with him? She meant everything to him, but he couldn't even muster a few tears at her disappearance. Maybe he didn't even have a heart to break.

"I need you to come back," he said in a measured voice. "I…I need—"

He couldn't continue. She was gone. She was gone and nothing he did could change that, regardless of how many useless bargains he made.

And without her, he was—

He was nothing.

The Treecko gently lifted the scarf and cradled it to his chest.

"…I need you."