Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Pokémon or any of its parent companies. I am merely a humble storyteller. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.

Note: I am English, so some of the wording, spellings, and expressions will be those commonly used in England.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Monster and the Myth

Leaf ducked behind the building, holding her breath as it went past, screeching and shrieking as it hunted for them.

Her heart thumped like a jackhammer, a stitch stabbed her side, her legs and feet screamed at her as they burned, tortured by all the work they had to do.

Eevee and Ivysaur plunked down next to her, breathing quickly, eyes alert and exhausted simultaneously. They all shivered as it screeched again, mercifully further away this time.

Okay, okay, she had time to think again. But what was there to think about? She had no clue where she was. She had no clue what was chasing her. She had no clue about anything! No, no that was not the correct way to ruminate over her situation, was it? She had to be calm. Leaf took a deep breath and started again.

o~o~o~o~o

The beginning was her arriving on Cinnabar Island, watching the island grow ever larger the nearer her Fearow flew, until the Flying-type touched down on the sandy shore and was returned to her Poké Ball for a much-needed rest.

What happened after? Oh, a game of 'Find the Pokémon Centre' was next on the agenda, of course. But she had no chance to search for it when she was distracted by a Krabby, the pre-evolved form of Kingler, basically a much smaller version of the latter only with both its claws the same size and its crown not as prominent.

One Razor Leaf later and its name in her Pokédex had a minute Poké Ball next to it. Didn't that bode well for her time on Cinnabar? An immediate capture? Surely it did.

Temptation tried to persuade Leaf to linger and catch a few more Pokémon, simply scan the horizon for something she had not yet added to her collection, its silky-smooth voice preventing her from heading off to the Pokémon Centre. What was the harm? Her party – bar Fearow – were healthy and fighting fit, so couldn't she take the time to search for more Pokémon? There had to be plenty of Water-types she could snag. And the Cinnabar Lab was not going anywhere.

Buoyed by that thought, Leaf searched the beach and skimmed the ocean for any Pokémon, walking up and down along the coast, even wading out into the water a couple of times. And she was successful, catching a Tentacool who drifted too close to shore and a Shellder that was half buried in the sand.

But those were the only two others she captured. She would have captured more, of course she would have, if not for the fact that something strange happened. And to say strange would be undercutting it quite a bit, truth be told. If one was being honest, describing it as downright bizarre and utterly frightening would be more appropriate.

The moment Shellder's Poké Ball burst into millions of shards of data and disappeared, Leaf was suddenly greeted with silence. And not the good, peaceful silence we all crave, not at all; it was as if all sound vanished, gone all at once leaving behind a vacuum of noiselessness, no waves crashing against the shore, no Cinnabar inhabitants enjoying the sun, no wild Pokémon splashing in the waves, nothing. There was not even any wind.

The eeriness stuck to Leaf's skin, made her clammy. Eevee whined, eyes darting, tail upright. Ivysaur, who aided in the capture of the first and the third capture, growled.

"What's going on?" Leaf whispered to them, a part of her wondering why she was whispering and another part demanding she stop shouting.

The most perfect answer came in the form of an entity that moved towards them. And why was the word 'moved' used to describe how it headed to them? Well, for the life of Leaf, she could not say whether it was walking, drifting, flying, skipping, or anything. As a matter of fact, she could not say where it came from. It was as if she blinked and it suddenly appeared. Not materialising or forming or anything of the sort, but simply appeared, as if it had always been there.

And what was it? Leaf could not say. She could barely discern what it looked like. Did it have arms, or were they tentacles? Did it have claws? Were those feathers or scales? Or was it fur? Or was it all of that and none of it too? Either way, it was something that obviously filled Ivysaur and Eevee with trepidation, and common sense said it was probably better to leave it be. Except that…

Was it a Pokémon? If it was, it was one Leaf had never seen or heard of before. Maybe it was an undiscovered species? In that case, was it not prudent to capture it? The answer to Leaf was a resounding yes.

"Ivysaur, use Razor Leaf," she said.

Knife-like leaves slashed through the air, eager for a taste of the unknown creature. It was not as delicious as they thought; their sharp edges may have been blunt for all the damage they caused to it, simply floating down, dead.

Leaf frowned. "Try Vine Whip instead."

The vines failed in the same way their weaponised plant brethren did, doing nothing to the creature who edged nearer.

Leaf took an automatic step backwards but quickly composed herself. Maybe it was a type that resisted Grass? Maybe it was a type that double resisted it? Yes, that had to be it. In that case, another Pokémon would work far better, one with a versatile moveset…

"Eevee, use Bouncy Bubble!" Leaf said.

Countless water droplets merged into one giant bubble, and Eevee butted it towards the otherworldly creature. It exploded upon connecting with it, becoming droplets once more before suffering their final fate of evaporation and disappearing into the atmosphere.

But the creature still stood strong, only pausing, it seemed, to take the attack. It continued its venture forth towards Leaf, Eevee, and Ivysaur.

"Use Buzzy Buzz instead," Leaf said, a harsh chill spreading throughout her body.

Buzzy Buzz did as much to the creature as the other attacks. As did Quick Attack.

Leaf's knees knocked together, and her trembling fingers took out Butterfree's Poké Ball. Maybe a Bug-type or a Psychic-type technique was in order? It couldn't hurt. She hurled the Poké Ball.

The Poké Ball rolled across the ground.

It did not open.

There was no Butterfree.

The Poké Ball did not return to her hand like a Bonemerang. Or a boomerang if one would prefer.

"What?" Leaf said in a high voice. She rushed over and picked up Butterfree's Poké Ball, pressing the button over and over, trying to release the giant butterfly for battle. The creature edged nearer still.

She attempted to send out a Poliwag she caught by the river near Bill's. No luck. As an experiment she called back Ivysaur to his Poké Ball, only for him to stay where he was, solid, unbroken into data and not transported into the device.

Now, Leaf would have to be quite a silly person not to understand how things were transpiring – and she completely did understand – but she brandished her Pokédex regardless. She held it up to the creature.

Nothing.

It was as dead as the Poké Balls.

Leaf gulped, the whooshing sensation of unconsciousness threatening to take over. She called for a half-hearted Bouncy Bubble and Razor Leaf. They stalled it for about a second. The creature was so close it could no doubt see the whites of her eyes.

A carmine glow formed in front of what might have been its face. A devastating beam of the same hue demolished the ground just behind Leaf and her Pokémon, the destructive shock wave of the impact throwing the trio several metres into the air.

A billow of dust filled the area.

When it was gone, all that was left was a smouldering crater.

Hyper Beam. It knew Hyper Beam.

There was only one thing left to do.

"Let's get out of here!" Leaf screamed, turning on her heels, ensuring her two Pokémon were ahead of her.

They fled as quickly as they could, ignoring the tempting call to look back, to get a moment's respite as they observed how far it was behind them. There was no point. Its screeching rang loud in their ears, so loud it might have been right beside them, or near enough.

Yet, the further they ran, the more Leaf noticed, her fear and near delirium not strong enough to distract her from her surroundings. But none of what she was seeing could be real.

She was on Cinnabar Island, wasn't she? No, she definitely on Cinnabar. There was a sign that had declared: 'Cinnabar Island, The Fiery Town of Burning Desire.'. Her Town Map had told her she arrived here. She had seen people and buildings, captured Pokémon, had been on the island long enough to know, or at least suspect, if it was not.

But she could not have been there any longer. The place she was running through, trying her utmost best to escape the monster on her tail, could not have been Cinnabar.

Truth be told, it could not have been any place on earth.

It was as if a veil shrouded her surroundings, making everything blur and wave. The buildings seemed to be dancing, dancing to a morbid tune that could only reach their ears. The sound of the ocean was muffled to Leaf, as if she was wearing earmuffs. The sky was blue, but it was not any sort of blue known to man, an alien blue that enticed and frightened simultaneously. No sun rested behind the sparse grey clouds, bringing up the horrific question of where the light was coming from.

No, this could not be Cinnabar. It could not be Kanto. It could not be anywhere on earth.

Could it?

Another carmine blast. A building obliterated. Leaf and her Pokémon kept running.

Another Hyper Beam followed. It missed by a few dozen yards. The distance between them and the creature grew, the strain of repeated Hyper Beams causing the latter to fall behind. That was good, but good only went so far in a situation like this. Still, Leaf would take it.

o~o~o~o~o

And that is what led them to their current situation, simply fleeing from the destructive creature, struggling to stay alive, living off the rations in her rucksack. How long had it been? How long had she, Eevee, and Ivysaur been staying ahead of the malevolent force, skulking in the shadows, holding their breath when it passed by, so close its aura seemed to brush beside them? Logic told her it had been a few days. Imagination told her it had been several weeks.

They had almost been caught half a dozen times, and spied in the distance a few more, those vicious Hyper Beams salivating at the thought of obliterating them.

What more could they do? It was only the three of them. Her Pokémon Box was useless, the team she had on hand were trapped within their Poké Balls, and there was no one about, no humans nor Pokémon, to form an alliance with, to help her.

Was this it? Would the rest of their lives be devoted to fleeing the malignant monster that sought to render their lives forfeit? How long would they be able to keep it up? The term 'rest of one's life' brings up images of a long, happy life, doesn't it? It had never meant the opposite of that more than it did now to poor Leaf.

The creature shrieked again. An explosion followed. More shrieking.

Bile built up in Leaf's throat. She laid her head between her knees and hyperventilated, tears prickling the corners of her eyes. Why was this happening to her? What did she do to deserve this? All she desired was to explore Kanto and then the world, befriending Pokémon and uncovering historic secrets. Was that too much to ask? Considering all that had been thrown at her since she started her journey, maybe it was.

A rumble and a deafening boom. The shrieking was louder, rattling Leaf's bones.

There was movement either side of her and a tiny warmth spread throughout her body as Eevee and Ivysaur nuzzled her, but against the frigid terror the creature instilled within her, it was scant reward.

What would her mum and dad think? She had no clue where she was, so if she did indeed enter the realm of the non-living would she be found? Would they ever gain closure if she never appeared again? And what about Red? Even Blue? What about all her other Pokémon? What about the ones who would be trapped in their Poké Balls forever? Maybe being annihilated by a Hyper Beam would be a mercy in that case. Gosh, if she got out of this, she would give them all the biggest hugs in the world!

However, that seemed increasingly unlikely. This creature did not appear to need to rest or even eat. Its sole motivating factor was the hunt. It would not stop. Reality struck her with as much force as a Giga Impact and all thoughts, delusions of a possible escape faded.

Leaf pulled out her Pokédex and opened it, staring at her reflection in its blank, dark screen. The eleven-year-old girl who gazed back through wide, terrified eyes almost seemed to be begging 'Please, get me out of this'.

But there was not anything else for Leaf to do, was there? They could only flee for so long, their pursuer an unrelenting force of nature that would not give up on its prey. Was it better to go out there and fight, even if it was utterly, utterly futile? What difference would it make if they were going to go out the same way regardless? Going down fighting had to be a much better option than scurrying away until a Hyper Beam ended up landing on their heads, didn't it? That was bravery, pride, and a warrior's spirit.

Slowly, reluctantly, she stood, leaning against the wall of the building in case her wobbly legs fell out from under her. She bit her quivering lip and gestured to where the screeching was coming from, her eyes glassy. Eevee and Ivysaur nodded back, their shaking limbs mitigated by the fierce mien of determination in their faces.

"L-Let's go," she stammered, and the trio rushed out to meet the monster.

The monster apparently did not see them, its attention on a random, wizened tree, as though something hiding behind it caught its attention. It took a Bouncy Bubble and Razor Leaf and turned around, its indeterminate features and body language giving off the ambience of rage. It shrieked and made its way towards its prey.

"Buzzy Buzz!" Leaf screamed. "Razor Leaf again!"

Electricity and leaves combined to form spinning green blades that shone yellow. They bounced off the monster and shrivelled up on the ground. The predator edged closer.

Eevee and Ivysaur launched a new barrage of attacks, Water and Grass being the types to make an attempt at harming the monster. This time, the monster paused.

"Again!" Leaf shouted, her Pokédex glued to her hand.

The attacks fell off the monster once more as it ventured forth, unhindered. However, by this time, Leaf's sharp eyes caught something.

Protect. It could use Protect too, a imperceptible one its eldritch self hid from her. Yes, it was insanely powerful, but this meant their attacks were doing something to it whenever it was unable to use Protect, no matter how negligible the damage. Could they do this?

Eevee's giant bubble exploded upon the monster and Ivysaur's leaves tried to slice it to ribbons. The monster pulled off a second successive Protect and here lied the trio's opportunity.

"Quick Attack, Eevee!" Leaf called out, undeterred and desperate. "Use Headbutt, Ivysaur!"

Her Pokémon charged forward, Eevee arriving at her opponent first and striking it somewhere even now Leaf could not say where. Ivysaur rammed his head where Eevee struck the beast, which shrieked and snarled, waving its claws or wings or tail or whatever it had wildly.

Unfortunately, Ivysaur was too close to it. The monster held the plant dinosaur in its clutches, Ivysaur trying to wiggle himself loose, squealing as the beast's grip tightened around him.

"Ivysaur!" Leaf screamed.

Eevee barked at the monster, firing off Bouncy Bubbles and Buzzy Buzzes. However, even without Protect, the monster was barely feeling anything, even with the paralysis of the Buzzy Buzzes, which it continually rid itself of with a handy little technique known as Refresh.

Then, to Leaf's complete and utter horror, a horror so complete it almost struck Leaf dead right that instant, an opening bordered by grotesque, bladelike teeth formed where the monster's face was presumed to be. Maybe it did not need to eat, but that did not mean it did not want to.

"No, Ivysaur, no!" Leaf screamed tearfully, running towards them.

Eevee growled, hackles raised, but unsure of what to do. Her Trainer was not issuing commands anymore. Should she just go for it? She had to save her friend, consequences be darned. He would save her if the roles were reversed.

Ivysaur howled as the monster squeezed his bulb and Eevee found herself running forward. Leaf screamed her name, but she ignored her, instinct taking over. A fire was stoked within her, a fire that conflagrated and engulfed her, transforming her into a flaming missile that streaked towards her enemy.

"Sizzly Slide…" Leaf said to herself, for one brief moment encapsulated by the sight of her Eevee cloaked in flames, so beautiful yet so powerful.

Eevee connected with the monster, its Protect unable to form. It screeched as it burned, loosening Ivysaur but not completely releasing him. It roared and snarled and unleashed a Hyper Beam into the sky, temporarily turning the alien blue into a rich carmine.

But having his bulb free was enough for Ivysaur. Face contorted into a mix of pain and rage, the tip of his bulb glowed purple. The purple increased in size and took on physical form, globby and spherical, and Ivysaur fired it into the opening bordered by grotesque, bladelike teeth.

The monster froze. The monster spluttered. The monster threw Ivysaur hard and screeched to high heavens. Ivysaur hit the ground heavily, stirring feebly.

"Ivysaur!" Leaf rushed to his side, her eardrums ringing as the monster's bellows seemed to go up further and further on the decibel meter. "Please be okay. Are you okay?"

Ivysaur grunted something and that was more than enough for Leaf.

"You did so well," she said. "You even learned Sludge Bomb. And Eevee perfected Sizzly Sl… Eevee? Eevee!"

A squeal was the reply as Eevee followed the same trajectory Ivysaur travelled, landing almost on top of them. She curled up, ears down, fur matted.

"Eevee!" Leaf said, picking her up and cuddling her to her chest. The monster shrieked again, calmer this time, as though it knew the game was over. It stalked its prey one final time.

"Ivysaur," Leaf mumbled. "Eevee. Looks like this is it for us." Tears came unbidden to her eyes as they raced down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I love you both."

She turned to face the monster, to live for the last time.

She would not shut her eyes.

This was it.

The monster lunged at them…

… and screeched in pain as it was flung backwards.

Was that it? Was Leaf dead? If that was the case, why was her heart still beating, why was her stomach still twisting, why was her brain still running? She had to be dead. There was no possible way for her to still be alive.

A mewling sound caught her attention from above. Leaf looked up and became convinced she truly was dead. She had to be. There was no way what stood (floated) before her eyes was nothing short of a dying hallucination. It could not be real.

It was a pink Pokémon with a long, thin tail and large blue eyes. Its ears were triangular, its arms were short, and its feet were large. It would probably best be described as having feline features.

Leaf could not take her eyes off it. Despite the fact her life had almost – and still could – come to an end, despite the fact her Pokémon were lying wounded, despite the fact she would possibly never be able to go home even if they escaped the monster, she could not let her gaze drop from it.

Only in storybooks and history books had she seen depictions of it. No official photographs existed of it, only blurry images that may or may not have been another random pink Pokémon, the photographers swearing it was what they said it was. It was generally assumed they were lying or had been sniffing too much of the ol' Heal Powder.

But that was not the case now.

It was the Mythical Pokémon Mew.

Mew pirouetted in the air, mewling and giggling, its eyes as blue and sparkling as the oceans of Alola, wrapping its tail around itself and unwinding it again.

It was really a Mew. Honest to goodness it was a Mew in the flesh, dancing over Leaf's head. So brilliant, so pink… oh. What was that thing Leaf spied when she was leaving Bill's? That flash of pink she might have imagined? Was it… could it have been…?

"Mew…" Leaf whispered, holding out her Pokédex. However, it was still dead.

With a wry smile, Leaf laid Eevee next to Ivysaur, the duo unable to take their own eyes of Mew, the majesty of the situation striking them too. She reached out her hand to it.

"Hi, Mew," Leaf said. "You're so beautiful."

Mew cocked its head to the side and floated nearer, its mewling softer. It held out a tiny hand, inching nearer to Leaf's.

But it pulled it back as a tumultuous roar exploded from behind them. The monster recovered from the blow it took and charged towards them, a ferocious wall of white-hot fury and predatory instincts and wishes left unfulfilled.

"Watch out!" Leaf screamed.

What would Mew do? It knocked the monster down already, but did it truly have the power to defeat the fiend once and for all?

The answer was yes.

Mew barely looked at the monster, blasting it into millions of pieces with an incredible psychic power that even knocked Leaf onto her back. When she got back up, the monster was nowhere to be seen.

But what was to be seen was an instantaneous change in the environment. The haziness that cloaked the world was gone, the sky was back to its original blue, decorated with cottony clouds, and the melody of wild Pokémon cries reverberated around her, the obvious spatial manipulation of that monster eradicated along with it. And there was Mew, giggling to itself, as though it had not just taken down a murderous monster.

Had Leaf witnessed the true power of a Pokémon of legend? It defeated that perilous predator with such ease, no trace of it to be seen anymore, doing more than just forcing it to faint.

Barely a few minutes ago, she, Eevee, and Ivysaur had been destined to fall at the hands of that beast and now they were still breathing, in the company of a Mew. Mew. The mirage Pokémon. Was it a mirage? Unbidden, Leaf's fingers drifted towards it.

Was it silly, wanting to touch something that could send her the same way as that monster? Possibly. But the chances of this happening again were a thousand times more unlikely than impossible. Besides, the aura it gave off did not have a shred of maliciousness to it. As a matter of fact, it put her at ease.

Her fingers were millimetres away.

Mew bowed its head.

Her fingers connected with it.

A cool warmth travelled from her fingertips and raced around her body at lightspeed, expanding within her like an inflating balloon. She was doing it! She was touching a Mythical Pokémon! Was it covered in hair? She could have sworn it was hairless, only pink skin, but her fingers were telling her it had to be fine hair.

Eevee and Ivysaur, their metaphorical health bars almost completely depleted, sniffed at the air, gasping as Mew descended towards them and rapped them good-humouredly on their heads. It giggled some more.

A researcher's instinct took Leaf over and she held her Pokédex out to it. Would it work now they were out of that monster's world? Would it even identify Mew?

The answer was no, at least until Leaf manually typed Mew's name into it, the Pokedex's scanning system unable to recognise the Pokémon before it who had no clear, real-life image to call upon in its Pocket Monster catalogue. Upon typing 'M-E-W', the Pokédex spouted a vague sentence:

Mew, a Psychic-type Pokémon. So rare that it is still said to be a mirage by many experts. Supposedly, only a few people have seen it worldwide.

And just like that, Leaf recorded Mew's data, her trembling fingers scarcely holding on to her Pokédex.

Suddenly, Mew's ears twitched, and it looked behind Leaf. Before her eyes, Mew disappeared in a flash of light, replaced by a plump Pidgey.

"Pidgey?" Leaf whispered. "Was that… was that Transform? You can use Transform?"

Without so much as a goodbye, the Mew-Pidgey spread its wings and fluttered into the sky, quickly becoming a tiny dot over the horizon.

"Thank you… for saving us," Leaf said, partly put out and partly jubilant.

"Hey, miss! Miss!"

Leaf flinched and swivelled around, heart leaping into her throat. But she relaxed quickly for it was a human, further evidence of her escape from that monster, of that fact she was back in her world, safe and sound. She had never been so ecstatic to see someone else ever.

"Sorry, did I stop you catching that Pidgey," the man said when he was close enough.

"Not at all," Leaf said, tearing her gaze from where Mew-Pidgey disappeared. "I thought it was a shiny, but it was just a plain, old Pidgey. Nothing special there."

"Ah, okay," the man said. "It's just that you don't seem to be in the best state. I thought you were training and took it too far." He gestured towards Eevee and Ivysaur.

Leaf stared down at her torn, sweaty clothes and grimaced. Great, more clothes ruined because something in Kanto wanted to kill her. Yet, it also meant nothing to her. What were clothes when you were allowed to continue living for another day, when those who wanted to make you breathe your last failed in those dastardly endeavours?

"You probably want the Pokémon Centre, right?" the man asked. "I'll take you there if you'd like, miss. Oh, by the way, my name's Blaine. Pleasure to meet you."

Leaf introduced herself and agreed instantly, the complete realisation of having another human be there for her as sweet as sugar, a warm as sunbeams in her chest. Ivysaur vanished gratefully into his now functional Poké Ball, she hitched her rucksack onto her back, the man graciously carried Eevee for Leaf, and they trekked over to the Pokémon Centre.

Later in her dorm – after having her Pokémon healed, eating, and bathing – Leaf sat on her bed, Eevee curled on her pillow, already bounding about joyously in the land of dreams. She hungrily took in the image of Mew, a true Mew, one she beheld, one she had touched.

Was this what it was like to hold an ancient treasure? It had to be. She had something no one else did, a reward for escaping Hell after tangoing with a demon.

Leaf smiled to herself and finally fought temptation enough to scroll through the rest of her Pokédex, pride welling up within her at the sight of all the Pokémon with tiny Poké Balls next to their names, chipping away at the solid block of anxiety, terror, and hopelessness that Mew's rescue of them had destroyed a large part of.

Until she scrolled past Mew's data once more.

Instead of taking her back to Bulbasaur, the screen, for lack of a better word, glitched. It flickered, strange shapes racing across it.

Leaf's heart almost stopped. What was happening? Was her Pokédex broken? No, this could not be? Maybe it was adapting to the new information she put into it? Yes, that had to be it.

Giving it a break was a sound option. Put it to sleep and check on it in the morning.

Yet, when Leaf was about to place it on the small desk next to her bed, text appeared on the screen. She could not make it out at first. Then it cleared slightly:

Missing No.

Well, to be more accurate, it was MissingNo.

And what accompanied that text was a susurration, a lower and subtler version of what that monster made, a sound she had never heard from her Pokédex before. The device shook and it – Leaf would swear it – growled. Then the glitching stopped, as did the shaking, and Bulbasaur appeared onscreen.

Now, a scream would have been a rather apt reaction, isn't that right? No one would blame Leaf if she decided to wrap the Pokédex in clothing and stow it away at the bottom of her rucksack for the foreseeable future. It would be quite the human thing to do.

But she did not. It was the Pokédex that recorded Mew after all.

Instead, the Pallet native said 'oh', put her Pokédex on Sleep Mode, and drifted off to a nightmare-fuelled, fitful sleep.