DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon. Pokémon is published and owned by Japanese video game company Nintendo, and was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996.
Thea turned bright red as she turned to face her uncle and his friend. She felt like she was 3-years-old all over again with her hand caught in a cookie jar. For what felt like an hour, no one said anything, all the while Mew just looked over the group, apparently curious as to the nature of how human beings can be so dumbfounded that it robs them of the ability to speak. If not for the fact that it was trying to keep from being seen by them up until now, meaning it likewise felt caught, it probably would've found this situation quite entertaining.
Jaros, on the other hand, was just trying to process this. It was one thing when he found out his niece had run off and thought she'd gotten herself into trouble. Now, as it turned out, she was playing with a Mythical Pokémon. Few believed Mew even existed, and here one was playing with his 10-year-old niece. He wasn't sure whether to scold Thea, grab an empty Poké Ball and try to catch Mew, or just stand there dumbfounded for the rest of the day.
Harmony, however, was quicker to come to a decision. Out of pure instinct, she reached into her pocket and pulled out an Ultra Ball. Mew must've caught a glimpse of this, though, because it immediately reached out with its psychic powers to toss Harmony several feet across the ground, its eyes glowing bright blue.
"WHOA!" Harmony shouted as she finally came to a stop. Seeing this, Cucubo and Paul E. immediately prepared for battle, but Thea jumped in front of Mew, her arms out to her sides.
"Stop!" Thea cried, keeping a defensive stance in front of Mew. "Mew didn't mean any harm, it just...it doesn't want to be caught!"
Jaros was still trying to process all of this, but seeing Thea so adamantly protect Mew, he finally went into action, holding Paul E. back. "Easy, buddy! Cucubo, you too!"
The two Pokémon looked a bit uncertain, but conferred to Jaros, standing down. Mew, however, remained behind Thea, still a little afraid. Harmony got back up and dusted herself off, putting the Ultra Ball away.
"I'm sorry," Harmony apologized. "It's just, it was instinct. I've never seen a Mythical Pokémon before."
"How long have you been hanging around with Mew?" Jaros inquired, taking his hat off and running his fingers through his hair.
Thea blushed and squirmed a little, Mew doing the same behind her. "Umm...about a year now?"
Jaros' jaw nearly hit the ground at this revelation. "A YEAR? Does your mother know about this?!"
"No," Thea admitted, scuffing her feet at the dirt. "Like I said, Mew doesn't wanna be caught in a ball, and Mom's kind of an Ace Trainer. Plus, Mew's kinda shy."
Peering over Thea's shoulder, it was easy for Harmony to recognize this. Despite myths of Mew's incredible strength, this one seemed to be a bit on the scared and timid side. She reached down and scooped up Cucubo, holding it to her chest and smiling warmly at Mew.
"It's okay, Mew," Harmony said assuringly. "No one here is gonna hurt you."
Mew looked to Thea, who nodded to the small Psychic-type. Feeling a bit reassured, Mew floated up off the ground and hovered alongside Thea, no longer using her as a shield. As it did so, Jaros pulled out his cellphone and used his Pokédex app to scan it.
"Wow, for such a shy Pokémon, it's super strong!" Jaros exclaimed. "Its Charge Attack is Psychic. That explains how it tossed Harmony just by thinking it."
"Y'know, it occurs to me that, if Mew doesn't wanna be seen by everyone, this isn't the best place for it to be," Harmony pointed out.
Realizing she was right, the lot of them decided to head back to the house, all the while keeping Mew as covered as possible. However, unbeknownst to them, someone had already spotted them. Standing atop a tall building far away, watching the group through a pair of binoculars, was a man with neck-length brown hair, wearing a long black trench coat, black gloves, a dark blue dress shirt, a black tie, black jeans, and brown boots. His coat bore a pin resembling the shape of a Dragonite, and he had a bluetooth in his ear.
"This is Tetch," the man said into his bluetooth's microphone. "Target M-01 acquired. Permission to proceed with extraction."
"Permission granted," a filtered voice replied. "Be discreet as possible, but above all else, prioritize your mission's success. For the Resurgence."
"For the Resurgence," Tetch muttered, his lips twisting into a dark smirk.
Jaros sighed, letting himself drop back down onto the couch. It was late in the day, and his Pokémon had already eaten and been sent back to their balls, so now it was his turn to get some sleep. The day had gone by rather slowly, but it was spent mostly watching Thea play with Mew, who he'd agreed to let stay in the house until his sister got home, while Harmony took notes on Mew's behaviour. Speaking of, Harmony had decided to spend the night as well, since she didn't have any Team Instinct missions to fulfill, and the chance to observe a Mythical Pokémon was far too fascinating and exciting a prospect to turn down.
"It's amazing how child-like Mew is," Harmony noted, going over everything she'd written down one last time and having changed into her pink Cleffa pajamas. "I had expected a Pokémon rumoured to be among the oldest living species to be a bit...different. I wonder if that's why it seems to keep coming back to Thea?"
"Maybe," Jaros replied. "But I've got my own theory on that."
"Oh yeah?" Harmony asked with a smirk. "By all means, let's hear it."
Jaros sighed, laying back with his arms folded behind his head. "Thea's been procrastinating going to see Professor Willow about getting her first Pokémon, and it's been excuse after excuse with her. First that she wanted to go over her notes on what she knew about them, then that she was waiting to see what her friends picked, and so on. And you remember what she said about Mew."
"You think she's intentionally holding back on becoming a Trainer so that Mew will keep seeing her?" Harmony inquired, tilting her head.
"I think, whether she realizes it or not, that she's scared that Mew might be afraid to come back," Jaros answered. "It might not be afraid to be around US, but you notice that Thea has to at least be in the room to assure it that we're good folk? But now imagine if Thea was a Trainer, too."
Harmony frowned sadly, setting her sleep bag on the floor. "You might be right. But her mom's not gonna let her keep putting off a visit to Professor Willow for much longer before she either thinks something's wrong or that Thea just doesn't want to be a Pokémon Trainer anymore. Sooner or later, she's gonna find out the truth."
"I'm surprised she hasn't already," Jaros admitted. "She's usually way too observant to let something like this fly under the radar. Thea must be getting better at the secret-keeping thing."
"Better than YOU, you mean?" Harmony asked teasingly, slipping into her bag.
Jaros' jaw dropped slightly. "Hey, I can keep secrets!"
Harmony folded her arms. "Oh yeah? Tell me something, Jaros: How did you catch Paul E.?"
"Well, my family was moving one day, and I fell out of the truck into a mud pile, and-" Jaros started to explain before getting where Harmony was going with this. "...And Paul E. said, 'Jaros, you stink at keeping secrets'. Wow, I'm bad at this."
"Maybe when your sister gets home, you should just leave without saying anything," Harmony joked, turning away and getting comfy in her sleeping bag. "No eye contact or anything."
"I really hate you some days," Jaros growled, pulling his hat down over his eyes.
Unbeknownst to the two downstairs, Thea was awake and listening to them as she laid in bed, cuddled up to the sleeping Mew. Thea frowned sadly, wondering if her uncle and his friend were right or not. Was she really afraid to be a Trainer if it meant scaring Mew away? Feeling Mew up close to her, knowing how painful it would be to never see it again, it was becoming more and more clear that that was exactly what was going on.
Before she could consider this any further, though, Thea's eyes widened in horror as she heard the sound of her window slowly being forced open behind her. There was no question: Someone was trying to break into her room. However, this meant they probably thought she was asleep.
Thea saw the shadow loom over her as the window was opened, the figure beginning to slip inside. Keeping most of her body as still as possible, she reached to her nightstand, grabbing her flashlight that she kept there in case of power outages. Her grip tightened as she heard a creak next to her bed, sweat rolling down her forehead as she knew the intruder was close. However, despite her fear and the fact that, based on the shadow, this was a grown adult sneaking up on her, as she felt Mew in her other arm, she knew one important thing in her heart.
No matter what happened next, she was going to give this intruder hell.
"I'm just saying, most people catch their first Pokémon in the tall grass," Harmony went on, "or fish them out of a pond, but you? Nope, you slipped and fell in a mud pile and ended up landing on him. Because, what, you decided to do it with style?"
Jaros sneered. "Yeah, well, at least some of us don't accidentally trip and slam head first into the stone skull their first Pokémon wears ALL THE TIME."
Harmony's jaw dropped indignantly. "...Dude, that only happened once!... … ...Okay, maybe twice, but I-"
The two were interrupted in the middle of their bickering by the sound of a loud crash from upstairs, followed by a scream they knew belonged to Thea. Without a second's hesitation, the two got to their feet and raced upstairs and barged into her room, spotting her being held up by a man in black as she tried smacking him in the arm over and over with her flashlight. Mew was also being held up, but with some sort of device that was keeping it in an electrified orb of energy.
"LET HER GO!" Jaros roared, hands on his Poké Balls in an instant. Without missing a beat, the intruder tossed Thea at Jaros, sending the two tumbling to the ground.
"Sorry, no time, can't stay!" Tetch yelled, tossing a pair of Ultra Balls at the floor, releasing a Gengar and an Alakazam.
"Make time, creep!" Harmony shouted back, sending out Cucubo and Eotto. Before they could even react, though, Alakazam used his spoons to wrench the Cubone's bone from his hands, sending it tumbling across the floor, just before he rushed forward and punched Cucubo into Eotto, knocking the two and their Trainer clean out of the room.
"I believe I warned you!" Tetch taunted as he turned to leave, only to find Gengar and Alakazam getting shoved back against him by Hypen O. and Haunt R. while Jaros got back to his feet.
"You're not going anywhere with Mew!" Jaros exclaimed. "Hypen O., Shadow Ball! Haunt R., Dark Pulse!"
"Gengar, Sludge Bomb!" Tetch ordered. "Alakazam, Dazzling Gleam!"
The four Pokémon immediately charged up their various attacks, pressing up against each other as they built up energy. Realizing where this was going, Jaros grabbed Thea and ran down the hall, Harmony just behind them, before the quartet of attacks exploded in a large shockwave. It launched the three against a wall, knocking Jaros and Thea out immediately. Harmony, however, managed to stay awake just long enough to see their Pokémon unconscious on the floor in front of the smoking ruins of Thea's room. Tetch and Mew were nowhere to be seen.
"Mew…" Harmony moaned, trying to get back up, only to collapse as the world around her went dark…
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Before anyone asks if I feel irresponsible putting stuff like I did here in a fanfic intended for a little girl, I would just like to point out that said little girl thoroughly enjoys Five Nights At Freddy's, a game that generally scares the heck outta me. And it's not even like she doesn't get what's going on in the game, either. She understands EXACTLY what's going on in the games, and finds them legitimately entertaining. In other words, this little girl clearly has more fortitude than me, her 31-year-old uncle, so I'm not too worried about possibly scaring her, nor did I as it turned out. lol
Anyway, be sure to read next chapter to learn the aftermath of what happened, who Tetch is, and why he kidnapped Mew. Ja né!