When I found out there was a new event for HG/SS that allowed players to get a Mew, I was excited to say the very least. I had never in any of my Pokémon games come to own a Mew, given the Nintendo events for them had since past and I wasn’t about to risk screwing up a game with the Mew glitch. I was at my sister’s when I found out and was unfortunately without my DS at the time, so I had to wait until I was back at my dad’s to receive my Mew. Just about the moment I got back in the house, I immediately went off to get my new Pokémon; despite not being that big of a Pokémon fan anymore, the anticipation of receiving this rare and special bunch of data brought back some of the excitement I used to feel when I first started playing the games.
However the Mew would have to wait to be used, since I had a strict training regiment in place for my present team at the time I got the legendary. All my Pokémon needed to be at level 20 before I could start training my Mew, despite how badly I wanted to start its training. Soon enough I was through training the rest of my team and proceeded to put Mew up front for battle. The Mew’s cry made me smile, as did the sight of its adorable little sprite floating along behind my character.
I probably would not have been so happy if I had known how bad things were eventually going to get.
My Mew was just as the event notice I had read described: Level 5 and only knew the move Pound. I figured it would take a lot of time to raise him to level 20 like the other members of my team, but thanks to the fact he gained boosted EXP it barely took any time at all. I have no idea why he got boosted EXP, but I figured that was just what happened with Event Pokémon as it does with traded ones. Now, here’s where things began to get… Weird.
I needed to train the rest of my team again and get everyone up to level 30, so I switched Mew with my ever faithful Quilava (who was so cleverly named Wildfire). My other Pokémon were organized according to how much EXP they needed before reaching the next level before heading off into the grass to train. I anticipated Wildfire’s battle cry and his back sprite… But instead Mew came up. I was confused, knowing I had in fact moved Mew to the back of my team… Something wasn’t right here.
There was no way my game could be a hacked version though, as I had gotten it brand new from a Gamestop. Had the event I got my Mew through screwed something in the programming up? As I finally refocused on the screen, I noticed there was a text box that I certainly had never seen before. It read ‘MEW wants to battle!’.
I looked almost annoyed at this, now sure something had been screwed up in my game. I huffed and went through the battle as usual, letting the Mew take down the opposing Rattata with a Megapunch. When I got out of the battle, I was surprised to see Mew had taken Wildfire’s place behind my character. I went back to my team, figuring I’d just move Mew back… But Mew was still at the back of my group and Wildfire was still in the lead.
I looked at the screen confusedly, wondering how on Earth a scheduled event had messed the programming up like this. I sighed, deciding that perhaps it could be fixed by turning the DS off and back on without saving… But I decided I needed to make absolutely sure that something was wrong. I went ahead and travelled through the grass, Mew floating along behind me like a ghost. The next three battles were exactly the same, Mew taking Wildfire’s place and the text box with “MEW wants to battle!” coming up.
So I decided to restart the DS, and with some hesitation went ahead and did so without saving. The game started up as normal but when I pressed start it put me right back into the game, right where I had been when I had switched the system off. My character turned to the Mew of its own accord and I heard the Mew’s cry, a heart appearing above its head. Normally I might have been charmed by this and found it cute, but considering what was going on I was just freaked out.
A text box appeared saying “MEW wants to serve you!”, which is something I’m sure should not exist. I started to walk off, going on into Goldenrod to take care of Whitney (yeah, I wasn’t too far, go ahead and laugh). I made sure Wildfire was in first place, despite the fact my Quilava was not following me. I went ahead and challenged her, Wildfire coming up much to my relief… But then a sort of distressed and distorted cry played and Wildfire was replaced by Mew.
A text box appeared saying “MEW forced Wildfire out! MEW wants to battle!”. Uneasily I continued through the fight, noticing how easily the Mew seemed to take out Whitney’s Pokémon. The victory somehow felt hollow, underneath all the perplexed feelings I had over what was going on with the Mew. After the battle Whitney didn’t speak to me as she usually would, a notice just coming up saying the badge and TM I had received.
I tried to speak with her but it just wouldn’t let me, which creeped me out a little. All of the other trainers in the gym had mysteriously disappeared, along with the guy who advises you on what to do in the battle. I left the gym quickly, Mew’s cry going off once I was out. My character turned to it and a text box popped up saying “MEW want to know if you are pleased!” along with yes or no options.
Despite having to really have wanted to use Wildfire to get him some EXP, I just clicked yes… As if I was fearful of what might happen if I picked no. The Mew gave two of its usual cries, the sprite moving around as if overjoyed and a heart appearing over its head. A text box saying “MEW want to continue serving you!” came up and I felt a little more uneasy. I decided to shake it off and just continued on.
The Mew kept taking battles away from Wildfire, as well as any other Pokémon I tried to put in front. The same text box saying “MEW wants to battle!” text box would come up and eventually I just got used to it… But then it took an aggressive turn as I kept trying to get a new Pokémon to fight. The text box that appeared as I tried to put Skai (My Fearow) into battle said “MEW shoved Skai away! MEW wants to fight!”. I heard Skai give a distorted cry, swearing I could hear pain in it… But wasn’t this just a game?
After the battle, my character turned to the Mew as it gave a high-pitched screech, causing me to wince. A text box appeared saying “MEW wants to serve you! LET IT.”. The way ‘let it’ was in all caps and everything freaked me out and I stopped trying to move my Pokémon around… I had to check on Skai though. To my shock, her HP was at 0.
I tried to select Skai, but a text box popped up saying “don’t…” and it wouldn’t let me do anything. I frowned and started playing again, healing my Pokémon once reaching the next city. I tried to move Skai again but the same “don’t…” text box popped up… Then a new one popped up saying “MOVE?” with the yes or no options. I decided to try and get Skai back in first, blinking as I heard a soft cry of a Fearow… It sounded almost afraid.
I went back into the grass to train, and as I expected Mew took Skai’s place… But this time it was more aggressive. I heard Skai’s cry except it was high-pitched and came to a sudden stop. A text box popped up saying “MEW has killed Skai! Mew wants to battle!”. I was shaken slightly by this, as I had never seen the term ‘killed’ used in a Pokémon game besides when it was said a Marowak in Pokémon Tower had been killed… Skai had just fainted right?
After the battle the Mew gave a screech like last time, making a movement as if agitated. A text box popped up saying “MEW wants to serve you! You should have let it…”, a chill going through me as I read the words. I quickly went and checked on my Pokémon, giving a sort of gasp as I saw Skai’s sprite had a red X over it and was grey. I clicked it and a message saying “Skai is dead!” came up.
In a panic I switched the game off, desperately hoping that a restart would fix everything, that the psycho Mew would be gone and Skai would be fine so I could get on with the game. The game started up the same as it had last time, watching as my character turned to the Mew which was rather still. I watched a message pop up saying “MEW wants to serve you. MEW will not let other Pokémon interfere.”. I shuddered a little, watching as the sprite moved as if happy and a heart appeared above its head.
I went to the Pokémon Center and tried to place Mew in the PC, but it outright refused to go. Every time I tried a message saying “MEW doesn’t want to leave you!” kept coming up, as if I was releasing it. Eventually I gave up and exited the Pokémon Center, my character turning to an oddly still Mew once out. A text box came up asking “MEW wants to know if you are unhappy.” with the yes and no options.
I instantly clicked yes and was met with an ungodly loud screech from the DS’ speakers, making me drop the thing. Hesitantly I picked it back up once the screech stopped, shuddering as I read the new text box: “MEW used DEATH SONG. Wildfire has died! Uso has died! Kaze has died! Voice has died!”. Then a new box came up of its own accord saying “Now you have to use me” in eerie red text. I tried turning off the game several times, but each time resulted in a message from Mew saying “You can’t get rid of me.” in that same red text.
I tried to play the game from there, thinking maybe I could catch new Pokémon. However any Pokémon Mew defeated would be killed, as in “____ has died!”. My dead team was still firmly in place, and as if to disturb me further the game let me know that “Skai is decomposing! You must bury your Pokémon!”. Once I exited out of the text box, my character suddenly spun as if I had just commanded a Pokémon to use fly, despite the fact I certainly had not.
I found I had been taken to Pokémon Tower, which was absolutely impossible since I wasn’t even close to being in Lavender Town yet. Stranger still, it was filled with graves as opposed to being a radio tower like it should have been. A text box popped up, saying “You can bury them now” in red text. The screen moved to show 5 new graves and I went along them, a Pokémon being laid to rest with each hole I passed.
After they were buried my character turned to the Mew, a text box popping up saying “Are you sad?” with yes and no options. I clicked yes and the Mew seemed to give a sad wail, a flurry of text boxes claiming “I’m sorry!” written in blue text coming up. Then the Mew sprite seemed to twitch and a new text box came up proclaiming “I will make you happy. I will serve you.” in red text, making me shudder. I tried switching the system off repeatedly but it refused to shut off, a loud screech issuing from the speakers.
A text box saying “YoU cAn’T gEt RiD oF mE… I WoN’t LeT yOu.” came up and an odd laughing noise started issuing from the speakers. I panicked and completely freaked out, hurling the DS at the adjacent wall of my room. Getting yelled at for breaking it was the absolute farthest thing from my mind at the moment. The DS seemed oddly enough unharmed despite making a loud bang as it collided with the wall, though the noise stopped.
It took forever but I eventually went over and looked down at it, discovering it had shut off due to a low battery. I was too afraid at the moment to actually pick the DS up, just staring at the black dual screens as if I expected something to come out of them. I let out a cry of alarm as I swore I saw something Mew-shaped flicker across in the reflection on the screen behind me. I turned around swiftly and expected to see the Pokémon I had come to fear floating in the air behind me…
But there was nothing.
—————-
I tried to tell my friend Minion about everything that had happened but she was skeptical, especially once I told her I seemed to have blacked out after my little scare with the reflection and woke up in bed. I had asked my dad about that to see if he had maybe found me passed out in the other room and dragged me to bed but he said he did not. It was soon decided by Minion that the entire thing had just been a dream and I eventually agreed with her, as it all seemed to make sense if it was put that way. My conscious was eased now, putting the terrible nightmare behind me.
Given my reassured safety, I went to play SoulSilver again, smiling as the game started up as it should and everything. However my blood ran cold as I saw the Mew sprite floating behind my character, a distorted cry playing. I watched tensely as my character turned to face it, watching the sprite as it danced around a bit and heart appeared above its head. A text box came up and I just stared in blank horror at it.
“WeLcOmE BaCk. LeT mE sErVe YoU.”
