Journey to Cayari

Lane had been looking for hours. Turning back to the convention had been an easy choice at first—all the data in the world about legendary Pokémon assembled into one place, obviously the answers would be here.

But while there were whole sections about the climate instability caused by some recent disaster or another, and even some credibility given to an absurd region worshiping a goat-thing and some egg, Mew was almost deliberately absent.

After an hour of finding nothing and ignoring texts from his friends, Lane did the one thing he'd never imagined he would, and he took off the jacket. He might not feel fully himself without it, but this was more important than personal pride.

But while he could now pass through the crowd without a second glance, and even get reasonable answers from the ones behind each stall, he found the answers themselves unsatisfying.

At least until he found a corner of the convention hall so pathetic, he felt sorry for them. The stall had no corporate or university sponsors, and proclaimed itself only the "Saffron Historical Society." But while convention guests seemed to be purposefully avoiding it, Lane was taken in.

They'd assembled an oversized poster for the back of their display, cut and pasted together from black and white pages of plain paper. A grainy surveillance photo of a mysterious figure in the moonlight, with a bit of oversized purple tail emerging from behind its cloak. Of course, that wasn't what had caught his eye. Lane had seen those old mew carvings so many times he recognized them even from halfway across the room.

The rest of the board was hardly the kind of thing that would invite credibility. Satellite photos of a burning island were linked with red string to maps of the world covered in little pins, and random pages of… prospectus reports for investors in the Silph Genetics division?

There was only one person behind the booth, a woman several years Lane's senior who looked like she lost a few more years of her life every time someone ignored her booth.

Lane strode right up to her, eyes lingering just long enough on her nametag. "What is that thing, uh… Kate?"

She rose from her chair, startled. "One of Saffron's most interesting new urban legends. People call it the Hero of Moonlight. Most of them assume it's a person, but we know otherwise." She pushed an album across the table towards him, growing more excited the longer he stayed.

"The more time we have to make observations, the clearer it becomes that this creature is really out there."

He flipped through, mostly out of politeness. Like most of the media depicting rare or unusual Pokémon, most of it was far away or just out of focus, as though the creatures themselves vibrated to make themselves difficult to photograph.

But one shot taken near the back of the album caught Lane's eyes. It was in the back of another photo some woman had taken of herself with a plate of fancy food. But there in the background was the creature, its oversized tail clear in the air behind it.

"What is it?" he asked, touching one thumb to the edge of the photo. "That tail shape is familiar, but different at the same time."

She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "The Historical Society has been researching the answer to that question for months now. We think all this started with a mew sighting a few years ago, that had the Cinnabar Polytechnical Institute expedition returning from Guyana. Obviously this isn't a mew, but as soon as the expedition returned there were huge expenditures in genetic engineering by…"

Her eyes narrowed as a group of suit-wearing executives passed them by on their way out the door, watching her with amusement. "Well, no one will officially acknowledge they did anything with cloning or genetic enhancement. But there are some signs they created something." She pointed over her shoulder at the poster. "There have been a dozen sightings in the last year—muggings and robberies abruptly stopped, old man gets rescued from his car during a blizzard… that kind of thing."

Lane was barely listening to anything at this point. He had a general direction, an expedition, and a source of their funding. He'd just need the internet to find out where they'd gone.

But he didn't run off to do that, not yet. "Why should that creature care about humans?"

She shrugged. "That's the mystery, isn't it? We have a few stories from locals who claim to have spoken with it, very briefly. It can speak—which isn't surprising. But it doesn't seem very talkative."

"Do you know anything about the expedition?" Lane asked. "The one that you said started all this?"

She shrugged. "Only that they claim they never found anything, but all three members of the expedition went on to positions in the same biomedical firm the same year they returned."

So they did find something, and someone paid them for it. But getting into corporate espionage was way outside the realm of things that interested him. The proof that there was something to find was enough.

"Thank you for sharing all that," he said, retreating a few steps. "I should get back to my friends."

He did, but not before a brief trip around the corner to an internet cafe. She'd been right about everything she said—there really was an expedition. Though calling it that today seemed a bit silly, since there was light rail most of the way there, and a village less than a day's walk from where they'd meant to go.

Maybe they'd continued on to destinations unreported by the public press releases. Either way, Lane grabbed a few printouts, then finally met back up with the others.

"Well look who's back," Elisa said, clutching an oversized stuffed celebi in both arms. She could barely hold the thing and get around. "You lose your jacket or something, Lane?"

"Oh, no." He pulled it out of his bag, flinging it on over his shoulders. "Just thought… It doesn't matter, look." He waved the stack of papers through the air at them. "You thought this convention was cool? How about we actually find a mythical Pokémon for ourselves."

"Sounds awesome." Dominic held a skewer of meat in one hand, and from the look of it he'd already had his fill of several others. "When do we leave?"

Elisa turned, glowering back at him. "You can't be serious. If it was that easy, real trainers would do it. Obviously you can't."

"Or real trainers don't do it because mythical Pokémon don't want to be caught." They walked together away from the convention center, back towards the hotel. "Think about it. We're not trying to reveal them to the world, or catch them for ourselves. These Pokémon are smart, right? You think they ever get to feeling insane with boredom, not having anyone to talk to? We'd probably be a nice change from their usual routine."

"What did you find?" Elisa asked. "You really think it's that easy to find mew?"

He showed them, rehearsing what he'd learned of the expedition and showing off the maps. "It won't even cost that much," he finished, about when they reached the room they were sharing. "A few tickets, a few days on a train, and we're there."

"Easy for you to say." Elisa eyed his bulging backpack, settling the stuffed doll reverently on the edge of her bed. "You spent all your money on Pokémon-hunting toys. Of course you want to go out and try it. Dominic, please talk some sense into him."

The man only shrugged. "I would if I didn't think it made sense, Elisa. But it doesn't seem as dangerous as it was a few decades ago. The villages down there are all connected. Besides—nobody in the world seems to know where to find mythical Pokémon. Maybe one Pokémon will tell us how to get to the others."

"That sounds insane too." Elisa went straight for the hotel minibar, cracking open an expensive-looking brown bottle and drinking it neat. "Fine, whatever. But when we don't find anything, Lane, I get to choose the convention next year. Even if that means going somewhere we have to stay in a hostel, or whatever."

He nodded to her. "Deal."

[hr]

So maybe the trip was a little more difficult than catching a single train and riding for a few days. Getting all the way to Cayari required tickets to the intra-regional, which meant a few hours waiting in stations for transfers.

Once they had to sleep curled in the seats of an already-closed train station, until the single staff-member arrived to sell them tickets the next day. At least it was a chance for Lane to get three new stamps in his passport, even if Elisa complained every few hours.

While they traveled, he studied. He read the entire genomic reconstruction paper, even if most of what it said went over his head, and the things that didn't were still basically useless to him. Knowing what shape Mew's teeth probably were wouldn't make one willing to talk to him.

While they rode through the night on the cheapest connections they could find, he stayed up, watching forests and tundras and eventually jungles blur by. For all he knew, the Pokémon he wanted to see was already out there, watching him back.

But though he saw many strange creatures out that window, none of them were the pink-furred cats that he was so eager to find.

Eventually though, their last train came to a stop. Not even at a proper station, but a raised platform with an extended switching section behind it. "End of the line!" called the conductor. His shouting was stupid, there was no one else aboard. "Everyone off. Connections out of Cayari are once every three days. Be on this train tomorrow morning if you don't want to miss it!"

"We won't be," Lane said, as they left the station behind. They all traveled light—just a single bag of belongings, suited to go into the wilderness if they needed it. They still had their special clothes, all handmade. Pokémanaics elsewhere could buy what they wanted in stores, but not when you cared about creatures some people didn't even think existed.

Cayari was small even compared to the places they'd visited so far. It had one street, with the train station as the largest part. A few brick buildings packed in close—a post office, an import store, and an inn. Any further, and Lane could see the lights glowing in actual treehouses, smoke rising as families all over cooked their evening meals.

"Population three hundred eleven," Dominic said, reading from the travel brochure. "But don't worry, the inn installed WiFi last year, so we'll be set."

There were a few streetlights, lighting up the area directly around the few foreign buildings. Lane caught his first glimpse of a local, wearing strange wraps instead of pants and other garments he had no names for. They were going to stand out like idiots.

But we actually made it. While all those other people sit around and tell each other how impossible this is, we'll be making history!

Well, maybe not history. Lane really wasn't trying to change the world. Elisa was the only one with a training license—he just wanted to meet Mew, even if it was only for a few minutes. He could get his costume right for next time, know what he actually wanted instead of making dumb guesses. It would be great.

"Only one night, Dominic. We aren't going to find legendary Pokémon here—we have to get out there, go where the expedition went. It's only thirty kilometers."

"Only thirty." He stopped just outside the inn, grinning wide. "The adventure to get here was enough fun for me, Lane. I'm not built to hike through a sweaty jungle getting stung by bugs and possibly lost. You do that if you want."

Lane deflated, looking to Elisa for support. "Are you staying in town too?"

She looked like she wanted to. But then she grinned, clasping him on the shoulder. "Then how would I know if you really found anything? You could brag for the next decade about how you met a legendary and neither of us had. I have to keep you honest."