Abandoned Mew

Most people don't still wear their Pokéwalkers. Remember? The cute little pedometers that came with Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, looking like a little poké ball? I hear some geeks bought an extra five online and walked around with them on their belts, pretending they were real trainers. It was cute. It was a fun way to get free items and rare Pokémon. Then people got bored of them, and the unfortunate innate embarrassment that comes with being a Pokémon fan in public these days set in, and now they're sitting in most people's desk drawers or game bags somewhere.

I kept wearing mine, though, because the novelty never really wore off for me. I especially loved a path called "Night Sky's Edge", which I don't know when it turned up, but I think it might have been after I traded for a Japanese Celebi over the GTS, hoping it would be an event Celebi and I could battle Giovanni. It wasn't, sadly, so nothing happened in Ilex Forest, but I did get a cool path out of it, laden with Stardust and Moon Stones and a new item, called the Rare Bone. I'd never seen it before, but I quickly grew fond of it and the five thousand dollars that the Pokémarts would pay for it.

I was so happy when the Mew event happened. Mew had always been one of my favourites and was, I felt, the true ultimate legendary; the original, the rarest, the best. I loved it. I put it straight onto my Pokéwalker so that I could always walk around with it. Unlike other Pokémon, I didn't have to worry about missing moves by leveling it up on the Pokéwalker, since of course Mew can learn every TM and HM, so I could give it an epic moveset at any time of my choosing. For now, I just enjoyed walking around with Mew in my pocket.

As it happened, my brother was one of those who didn't carry his Pokéwalker anymore, so he let me keep it to Mystery Gift every day for extra stuff. He seemed to have forgotten that he'd left his Arceus on it, but since he wasn't even playing the game anymore, it would probably be forever until he'd notice. I just thought it was cute that Arceus and Mew were playing together! Two of the most powerful Pokémon in existence! It was adorable.

I really should have read the messages onscreen a little closer.

The first time, I got a Rare Bone. Great, more money, I was gearing up to climb Mt Silver and I'd need all the items my Tardislike bag could carry. The next day, I got another, and another. I figured that rare Pokémon would give the rarest items.

After a few days, I got a new item. Rare Skull. That was new. It went into my Item pocket, and the man at the Pokémart offered me ten thousand quid for it, but I'm a bit of a magpie so I kept it and decided that if I got another I'd sell it.

I didn't get a Rare Skull the next day, or just a Rare Bone. I got a Rare Spine. And I was starting to get creeped out. So the next day, rather than absent-mindedly clicking buttons, I closely watched the screens of the Pokéwalkers.

Normally, you know, it says things like "went for a walk" or "played a game". But the message that came up on my Pokéwalker was chilling.

"ARCEUS is nothing."

"MEW will prove it."

On the screen of my brother's Pokéwalker... I wish I'd paid attention before, I wish, I wish... but now there was just a jumble of bones, and spilling out from them, no longer contained, were shapes that my eye skipped over, refusing to let me dwell on them. I'd never seen such detail in the relatively simple little Pokéwalker sprites.

Mew brought me a Rare Hide. It was white.

Not wanting to tell my brother that my Mew had killed his Arceus, I quickly "borrowed" his copy of SoulSilver and tried to return Arceus to it. But when I tried, the game said that the Pokéwalker was empty. There was nothing there. Arceus was nothing. I tried to return Mew to my game—something I hadn't done for weeks, maybe months, I'd only ever taken items back- but... it refused.

"MEW won't go back to the PC box."

"MEW doesn't want to be forgotten again."

"MEW wants to stay with you."

"MEW is the strongest."

"MEW wants to show the world."

"MEW will keep bringing you gifts."

"MEW will make you a master."

"Will you help MEW?"

There was a YES or NO option. I didn't choose either. I barely saw the selection box. I switched off my DS, I threw away the Pokéwalker, I hid the game at the bottom of my drawer and didn't go back to it for months. I went straight to NEW GAME. I didn't care that I'd missed the end of the Mew event, and wouldn't be able to get another without trading.

I regret my actions now. I shouldn't have thrown the Pokéwalker away. Mew had once been so proud, so special, and then we all threw it away for the shiny new Pokémon. We had abandoned it. We twisted it. And now, just when it had thought that it had found a trainer who remembered how special it was, I abandoned it again.

I just hope that Pokéwalker gets destroyed in a dump, somewhere. It must have hated Arceus, who took its place as the first. Now it must hate me, too.

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