Mew Like Me

Chapter 4

Things were supposed to go easy for Lane once he reached the expedition's destination. A few cameras, a few hours watching covertly from the underbrush, and Mew would be there. If he was very lucky, he'd get to meet her, and learn why mew were so hard to find.

There was just one problem: that didn't happen.

Not to say his next few days didn't go well. Spending time alone with Elisa was always fun, and without Dominic around she could be as overt as she wanted without getting embarrassed. It wasn't like they'd been traveling together for years now just because they liked the same rare Pokémon.

But as nice as that was, Lane was really here for the data his cameras would share with him the next morning. It didn't matter if Elisa complained—he squeezed out of the sleeping bag and went to recover the traps.

They weren't there.

Elisa found him beside the river in his boxers, knee-deep and searching for any glint of glass. Maybe something had knocked it down where he couldn't see, or a gust of wind had torn the branch he'd used. It had to be somewhere!

"What are you doing in there, Lane?" she asked, glaring. "Yesterday you said you didn't want to go swimming."

He splashed to shore, defeated. "It's my camera, Elisa. That was the last one, and it's gone too."

"What do you mean gone?" She offered him a camp towel, though didn't get close enough she'd get wet. "You sure you put them out? Maybe you... only picked the spots or something?"

Lane sighed, pointing to a bit of bent branch on a nearby bush. "I put it right here. I took photos of each one with my phone, in case I had trouble remembering. I'm telling you, it was right here."

He didn't even care he was muddy and disgusting all the way back to camp. "I didn't even get a single night's worth of pictures. Every single one of them, gone."

He looked back, and very nearly asked if she'd scooped them up before he got up. But that was stupid—he'd wake the instant she got up. She hadn't touched them.

"Maybe... your Pokémon doesn't like cameras?" she suggested, wrapping one arm around his shoulder. "This could be a good thing. Maybe Mew noticed us, and she's waiting back at camp!"

There was no mew waiting back at camp. By the time afternoon came, Lane could add a torrential downpour to the list of obstacles they'd had to face. But while they kept warm together, his mind was elsewhere. One camera going missing might be a little miscalculation in placement, but all of them? Someone was working against them.

Or maybe Elisa was right, and Mew just didn't like cameras.

The rain didn't let up, so when dinner came they were forced to make do with granola and some dried fruit.

"I'm sorry the trip didn't go well," Elisa said, stuffed Pokémon secure in her lap. It was the only part of her still dry, despite their best efforts to keep out the rain. "But I think we'll have to turn around. If things are dry tomorrow... there's no telling if they'll stay that way. We were stupid not to think of the weather."

"We have two more days of supplies!" he argued. Though even he felt weak as he said it. "We could keep looking!"

"How?" She nudged the side of the tent with a leg, dislodging a flood of droplets. "No more hidden cameras. At this point you're just waiting for that Pokémon to fly right into us."

He spent the better part of that night watching out the tiny tent window, and hoping for rain. But he didn't see rain or Mew any time after midnight.

"Don't bother with the tent," he said, resting one hand on Elisa's before she could throw the pokéball. "You can leave it. I'm staying."