I stared glumly at the screen as the credits rolled and the theme song began to play. “Every journey has a choice…to listen to the –” I switched off the TV and murmured to myself, “I wish they were real.” But I’d been saying this for half a year now, and I knew it would never come true. My name is Phoebe and I’m 10 and a half years old. I live in Queensland, Australia, with my sister, mum, and dad. I’m totally obsessed with Pokemon and/or anything to do with Pokemon, and that’s why I wish the same impossible thing every single day. I sighed and called to my mum, “I’m going to see Stephanie, okay?” Steph is one of my best friends. She’s nearly as crazy about Pokemon as me. I slipped on a pair of sandals and headed over to her house. She lives just at the end of our street, so I can go and see her practically any time. As I arrived at her house, I heard something. A sound I’d never heard before. I had no idea where it was coming from. I paused and listened again. This time I realised it was actually lots of sounds fighting to be the loudest. I strained my ears.

“Ai! Pom, pom, pom, pom!”

“Sen-tret! Sentret!”

My eyes widened, I swayed on the spot. I rubbed my ears. I had to be hearing things? But no, they were there. I ran up to Stephanie’s front door and rang the doorbell. Her mum, Pam, opened the door. “Oh, hi, Phoebe,” she said amiably. “Steph’s downstairs.”

“Thanks!” I cried. I didn’t wait for her reaction to Pokemon – real ones – but just shot downstairs. Stephanie was playing Pokemon Ruby on her Gameboy SP. I’d always been jealous of her SP – I just had a plain Gameboy Advance. But I didn’t have to be from now on. They were real. “Stephanie!” I shrieked. “Look outside!” At that moment Stephanie’s mum gave a yell.

“Mum?” Steph called. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” came the weak, unconvincing reply.

“Steph, look out the window,” I urged.

“Hm?” asked Steph. She looked out the window. And screamed. “Gosh, wouldn’t Kate love to see this,” I marvelled. Kate is my best friend ever. She is even more obsessed than me – if that’s possible. She was on vacation in Western Australia just then.

Stephanie looked at me with confusion and delight in her eyes. “They can’t be real,” she said quietly. “They just can’t…or can they?”

After a few months, everyone was kind of used to Pokemon being real. But I was still amazed and a little disbelieving about it. It all just felt like a dream, a great dream that I’d wake up from soon. I didn’t think the truth would ever sink in for me. One day in November, it was nearing the end of spring. (Here it’s like that; the hottest day of the year is the day before Christmas.) Steph and I were swimming in her pool; Kate was still on vacation.

“Brrrr, it’s freezing,” I said. “You wanna get out?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Steph replied. A flock of Pidgey flew by.

“I still don’t believe it,” I whispered. Suddenly I felt a weird sensation, like the whole world was being sucked away from me, and there was a sound in my ears, a roaring, like someone had pulled a plug and the ocean was draining down into the earth’s core. “STEPH!” I screamed, but I couldn’t even hear my own voice over the roaring, and I swayed and felt very cold and the world went blurry and disappeared.

I rubbed my eyes. “Where am I?” I asked nobody in particular.

“Nowhere,” replied a voice, and it was clear and gentle and reminded me of everything white, a dandelion, the snow, an ancient Chinese woman’s powdered face, crisp white bed sheets and a beautiful ivory swan. And when I thought about it, it really was nowhere; it felt like I was simply floating in space looking out at the velvety blue sky, with its swirling grey clouds and infinite, intense dome. “And who are you?” I said to the voice. A clear, crisp sound like a bell made of pure gold floated through the still air, and something white and pink emerged. My heart skipped a beat. “Mew,” I said softly. Mew was one of my favourite Pokemon, right from the very start, and I had undying respect for it. “Are you real?” I asked. “You and all Pokemon?”

“Do you want us to be real?” replied Mew, and a faint smile appeared on its kind, gentle face.

“Of course I do,” I said fervently. “More than anything.”

Mew’s smile broadened and it let out a small, tinkling laugh. “Then we are real.”

I opened my eyes and blinked. The sky danced above me, casting strange shadows on my body. I suddenly became aware I was holding my breath. “I must be underwater,” I thought, and the thought scared me, so I broke the surface, gasping for air. “Phoebe!” cried Steph. “What happened? Your eyes just glazed over and you fell into the pool and stayed there for ages, I thought you were having a fit or something!”

I recounted to her exactly what I’d seen. She gaped all the way through until the end. “Wow,” she said, impressed. “You’re pretty lucky, Phoebe, to speak face to face with Mew!”

“Yeah,” I agreed, still a little bit shaken but overall I felt amazing. It’s a great feeling, speaking to a legendary Pokemon. Like nothing in the world could hurt you.

Okley dokeys, that’s the end of part 1! Check back soon for the next update. Oh by the way all the characters in this story are real. My name really is Phoebe and I do live in QLD, Australia. My best friends really are Kate and Steph, not to mention a few others, some of whom actually come into the story. Now my duckies, to leave you on a cliff-hanger or to update soon? Hmmm…to be or not to be? That is the question, lol. See ya later!