Chapter 18

They hiked together for hours through the jungle, long enough that Lane grew tired of flying and found a more comfortable perch on Elisa's shoulder.

She had an excuse: she had to save her strength in case they encountered anything dangerous!

There were plenty of dangerous things out in the jungle, though not nearly as many as they'd been led to believe.

"None of these Pokémon attack humans on sight," Dominic said, when they were finally settling down to camp for the night. "I'm starting to think that the Orchidae jungle was just another way to scare people away from coming here. It's not that bad."

They'd found some clear ground by a pond, which trickled just fast enough to provide for their water needs, without any signs of Pokémon. Lane flew across the whole area twice sniffing for danger, but there was no sign of large Pokémon occupying it. It was as safe as Lane could think of, under the circumstances.

"Not just anyone, it's probably for trainers." Elisa collapsed to the ground, laying limply for a moment on her oversized backpack. "Somewhere as remote as this, with rumors of powerful rare Pokémon to catch—it's going to attract attention. I know plenty who wouldn't care about the penalty for getting caught. If they got away with something that made their career, it would be worth it. And most of them have families rich enough to buy them out of trouble for trespassing…"

Lane watched from the air, not wanting to interfere. They had to haul themselves out with every step, and all she did was persuade a few liepard to ignore the humans walking along one of their trails. "There are dangerous Pokémon out here. I almost got killed by a salamence yesterday. I'm pretty sure Mew didn't kill it, so it's still out there somewhere…"

Dominic started setting up. They didn't light a campfire—that would make their presence obvious to ranger drones. But he had a tent, and he hurried to get it set up before the rest of the light faded. "You wouldn't, Elisa?

Do you not care about being a Pokémon champion anymore?"

"No," she answered, voice flat. "I'm too old for that game. I gave it my best when I was younger, but… it didn't feel right. You can only see your team lose so many times before it starts to hurt you too. But Lopunny stuck with me, even when I released the others. She wouldn't leave, no matter what I did. I'm only a trainer by technicality anymore."

Lopunny watched her intently, and there was some real comprehension on her face. "Can you understand them?" Lane asked, floating over to her.

"I've always wondered about that."

The rabbit tilted her head towards Lane, shrugging one shoulder. "Yeah.

Of course. Humans don't always make sense, but the important parts do. It's them who don't listen."

"You're talking to her," Elisa said, sitting up on her backpack. Her mouth hung open for a second. "I… you can talk to Pokémon. Lane, do you have any idea how cool that is?"

She spun in the air, drooping down to Elisa's head level. She switched to telepathy by instinct this time. Following her friends around all day had helped train her too. "I guess. Talking to Mew was supposed to be the coolest part. It was… the reason I came out here in the first place. But I didn't need to get transformed to understand her. And she turned out to be… kinda mean."

"Kinda mean? She threatened to kill you, she tricked us into possibly walking straight to our deaths, and you think she's 'kinda mean'?" Dominic squinted at her, holding out a bundle of support poles. "Help me with this, Elisa."

She did, leaving Lane hovering in the air. She probably should hate Korina for everything she'd done, shouldn't she? Most of it would be criminal if there were laws for mythical Pokémon. But the emotions just wouldn't come. Korina took care of her. Korina was there to save her when she got into danger.

Think rationally, Lane. Don't get confused by instinct. Korina is the reason you were ever in danger in the first place. But she couldn't just force herself to be angry.

"You've been idolizing mew your whole life," Elisa said, a little more sensitively. "Having Korina do this to you must be awful. Unless you… like it?"

"No," she snapped, without thinking. "Don't even say that, Elisa. I begged

her to change me back. All I wanted was to go home and never have to think about this again."

"That's reassuring." Dominic finished with the tent, flipping on a little light inside. That was as much as they dared, considering where they had come. Any more obvious, and the rangers might find them. I don't think I could make them forget the way Korina does. "Having a legendary hovering behind me is weird enough. I don't want to be questioning whose side you're on."

"Yours." Lane didn't hesitate. "I can't fight Korina, but at least we can finish her stupid game together. How much longer until we reach the waterfall?"

Elisa was the last to climb into the tent, zipping it closed behind them. A thin plastic sheet between them and the rest of the world hardly seemed like very good protection—but maybe it would be enough. Being out of sight and having their scent not spread so far would probably help, anyway.

"Tomorrow," Dominic said, as soon as he'd dug the trail finder out of his pack. "I think so. This whole area is unmarked, since they… don't want people coming here. But the topology is still here. I don't see any more traps in our way. I guess now's probably an inconvenient time to point out that we'll still have to hike out when this is over. The rangers could just be waiting for us in Cayari."

"Maybe I can help?" Lane did a little loop in the air, ears flattening in embarrassment. "You could… say that you needed to help a mythical Pokémon you found? I'll vouch for you."

"That won't work, because we're gonna make her change you back,"

Elisa declared. "Don't worry about it, Lane. If mew can change you one way, she can change you back for sure. We just have to make her pick someone else."

They couldn't cook any of their dehydrated food, so dinner was an uneventful affair of dried fruit and cereal. Lane barely touched any of it—even her favorite brand of breakfast cereal felt like eating pebbles. She could just find something fresh tomorrow morning.

Lane found herself somewhere warm enough to sleep inside Elisa's hoodie. She had to ignore how dirty and gross she felt. It would be fine if I had my own sleeping bag again. I don't miss Starfall. I just miss having a hot meal and a shower. Mew don't have the monopoly on civilization.

She slept uneasily surrounded by more strange dreams of dark spaces and creatures that didn't care she existed. She was a fractional being in a vast space, populated entirely with creatures outside her comprehension or control. As usual, her begging requests for help or even more information were ignored.

"You're the single resonance factor we were looking for," said a strange winged being, in a voice almost as small as she was. But with far less compassion. "Remain in place, and no correction will be necessary."

Then she woke. Her friends washed as best they could with the limited resources and time, ate more dried food, and soon enough they were back on the trail.

Rather than waste her strength from the beginning, Lane landed on Elisa's shoulder as soon as they set off, digging her tiny claws into the fabric and relaxing her powers.

Elisa glanced briefly at her, rolling her eyes. "You're gonna do that all day?"

"Am I too heavy?" she asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

"I just thought I should save my powers for if we actually get attacked."

"No, but you're too adorable." Elisa tossed her phone to Dominic. "Get a picture of us together. If I don't tell anyone who the cat is, people will flip their shit over this."

Dominic obeyed, taking a few photos before handing it back. "They'd probably flip out more if you told them Lane was the mew. 'Where'd he get a costume that good?' Are you gonna update the True-Myth website with this story?"

Lane stuck her tongue out. " If Korina changes me back. Also, no details about where we went, because she will be pissed if people show up looking for her. That's part of why she changed me in the first place. She didn't want company."

Lane trailed off as she said it, looking distant. She had thought of Korina's reaction as being angry about being bothered, but she'd never actually said as much. She wanted company, someone who appreciated what mew were and knew about them. She chose me.

She had just been a jerk since—particularly with her friends. Korina doesn't want to let go. She won't change me back. Her threats were always about leaving. Anything else against the rules just annoyed her.

"I'm sure people are already getting worried about us back home," Elisa said. "Didn't you post that we were going down here looking for mew?"

Lane nodded. "I didn't get specific, but yeah. We're supposed to be setting an example for the others. Pokémaniacs all over the world can find and catch and befriend their favorite Pokémon, but we couldn't."

Elisa reached to one side, patting her gently with one hand. Human skin was still rough and uncomfortable, but she would tolerate it from Elisa. The warmth was nice, anyway. "Maybe we should start taking video of you. There's bound to be other mew fans out there—you could record an intro for the website or something. Maybe do some tricks."

Lane lifted into the air, floating away from her suddenly. "No way! I'm not doing tricks. We're going to the waterfall, we get Korina to leave you two alone, and that's it."

"And you changed back," Dominic added. "Don't forget to ask when we get there, or this trek will feel pointless."

"Right," she added. "Just be nice when you ask that part. Korina is like a tiny, temperamental god. If she shows up at all, be polite and don't argue. She can kill you without thinking if you make her too upset."

I don't know if she would. She knows that would make me hate her. "Nice to someone who kidnapped my boyfriend and made him into a plushie," Elisa muttered. "That's gonna be a breeze."

Lane floated around until she was in front of them, though her eyes were mostly for Elisa. "Just try. I want to be human again, but I want you two to live

more. Dominic, you don't know this part—but mew can transform. Korina says that eventually I'll be able to change myself into anything I want. If she doesn't do it for me, I could eventually just make myself human and walk out of here."

He rolled his eyes. "You sure she wasn't just leading you on? Ditto is just a sack of slime, it makes sense that it can change. You're… real. Fur and bones and everything."

"I'm sure." Lane folded her forelegs in front of her, looking as serious as she could. "Korina wasn't lying, I can tell. And if she can change me into a mew, then it makes sense I could change myself out again."

"If you say so." Dominic wasn't even slightly convinced. His emotions made that obvious enough. But Lane hadn't told them she could read their feelings. She would just have to pretend she couldn't, so things wouldn't get even weirder.

"Let's just focus on getting to the waterfall," Elisa said flatly. "The climb is supposed to be the hardest part, right? I can see the slope just up there."