Chapter 28
Mew




Video log #1, day 1 of the Volomans Project. I am Mew, the 6th Guardian of this world. It's been 749 years since I was born. This will be my first project as a guardian. Back when I first became the guardian, I heard a myth about Volomans spread by the mortals; they said that if you traveled to the heart of the volcano and spoke a wish, your wish would be granted. What actually happened is that a previous guardian secretly stopped the volcano from erupting and saved a bunch of people, thus 'granting their wish' for their village to be saved.

Despite the misunderstanding, I've recently decided that a wish granting mountain would make a good addition to the world. I haven't figured out exactly how to do it, but I plan to build a machine that will give the volcano the ability to grant wishes. Using former Guardian Jirachi's theory of desire, which describes...

What follows is 2 minutes complicated scientific jargon, followed by 5 more minutes on how that jargon will be used in the machine.

... so in summary, the machine will react to the pokemon's desire, draw power from the volcano's heat, and, somehow, use that power to grant the pokemon's wish. I haven't figured out how exactly to make it do that yet, but I'm in no rush to finish this project; I have plenty of time to experiment. I've set up a laboratory inside Volomans, where I'll work on the project. Of course, I'll be recording all my discoveries and progress for future guardians and my own reference.

The video ends, and another automatically starts.

Video log #2, day 5 of the Volomans Project. I've built a small device that responds to desire. It only measures the strength of the desire, not the nature, but it's a necessary step. It was difficult to test, since I can't just go around talking to the pokemon of the world. It had a few bugs, but I think I've got it figured out. Details will be in a separate file, along with blueprints of other machines and such.


Video log #3, day 13 of the Volomans Project. I've made a miniature version of the final product. It reacts to desire, and upon sensing a high enough level of it, starts drawing power from the volcano's heat. It doesn't necessarily grant the pokemon's wish, but right now I have it powering a microwave. Whenever I feel hungry, it automatically makes me popcorn, so I'm pretty sure it has potential. It also makes popcorn whenever I strongly desire anything, but popcorn is just pretty satisfying in general, so it's fine. You can find the blueprints in the other file.


Video log #4, day 53 of the Volomans Project. I've made a breakthrough! 3 weeks ago, I was reading up on Jirachi's reports, and I might have found a way to make the device really grant wishes! So Jirachi discovered that...

... and that's how it could work! Basically, I can use Jirachi's theories to make the power drawn by the machine recognize the nature of the desire it detects and follow the lead of that desire. I made a new device that can detect the nature of a desire, rather than just its strength. After I got that working, I used it to modify the miniature machine and hooked it up to multiple colored lights. It guides electricity using the desire it detects and lights up the light that you want. It took a while to do, and it still has some glitches, but the fact that it even partly works shows great potential! In other news, I've reworked the microwave to work the same way. It still sometimes makes popcorn for no reason, but that's life.


Video log #5, day 71 of the Volomans Project. I've been experimenting with the new machines, and I think energy might be an issue; the volcano's heat just doesn't provide enough power to do what I need it to. To address this, I'll be building the final product, the Wish Machine, in the deepest part of Volomans to ensure it has enough heat to convert to electricity.

Aside from that, my experiments are proceeding nicely, and the mini machine now works wirelessly, able to power the microwave from across the room! I'm still having trouble with properly directing the desire, however...


Video log #6, day 108 of the Volomans Project. Another breakthrough! I've changed the way the machine works; instead of trying to read the desire and direct the power that way, the new method is to just direct the energy into the source of the desire! It's more complicated than that; I'm not just going to be pumping geothermal energy into poor unsuspecting mortals, so the energy will have some programming attached. The way it works is with the findings of Guardian Uxie...

... and that allows me to program code into the energy itself! Basically, by giving the energy to the person making the wish, they can then grant the wish themself. I haven't tested it on any living beings yet, obviously, so some of Jirachi's machines have been useful in artificially simulating desires for testing. As always, the details will be in the usual file. Unfortunately, the power output still seems a bit weak, and the energy seems to give out too early. I'll be working on those problems next.


Video log #7, day 145 of the Volomans Project. I've been making steady progress so far, but just recently I've managed to make sure that the energy sticks around until the wish is granted; that is, until the desire fully disappears. I've also increased the amount of energy, and made it able to replenish itself even after leaving the machine, so it's guaranteed to stick around for as long as it needs to! I did end up frying a few machines with the extra power, so it'll be a while until organic testing.

Oh yeah, and I've finally started construction on the Wish Machine! It's pretty inconvenient to go back and forth between the lab and the core, so I've been getting lots of practice with teleporting myself. I wonder how mortals do it, walking around so much...


Video log #8, day 164 of the Volomans Project. I've perfected the machines as much as I can with artificial testing, so I'll soon be moving on to testing on living beings. Don't worry about the fried machines, I've found and tested a solution. Also, the Wish Machine in the core is now mostly complete; I've added the function for it to spread its programming to Volomans itself, so the mountain will truly be able to grant wishes. I'm looking forward to the end result!


Video log #9, day 170 of the Volomans Project. I've started organic testing, and its... difficult. Real, natural desires are pretty chaotic, and finding test subjects that have a strong enough desire to trigger the machine is hard. Luckily, most pokemon seem more than willing to help out the Guardian of the world, so no issues on that front. I do have to wipe their memories of me afterward, but that's easy. As for the results, the machine works pretty well; I've tested it with pretty simple and readily attainable desires, and the machine gives the wish-maker the power to accomplish their goal. Everything's going great!


Um, okay, uh, video log 10, day 173 of the project. There's a major glitch- I mean, 2 major glitches in the machine. So, I decided to test and see what would happen with more complex and difficult desires. When the testers' wishes couldn't be granted, I just let them go after wiping their memories. As it turns out, the energy never left their bodies, so they've been running around outside and spreading the- oh yeah, the glitch. So, I accidentally mixed some of the machine's code into the energy's programming, so now anyone carrying the energy can act like a living version of the Wish Machine, granting the energy to anyone nearby with a strong enough desire. And then those people can spread it to more people so now there's a bunch of super-powered pokemon running around AND IT'S OUT OF CONTROL!

So, um, the second glitch. Ever since I started organic testing, the machine would sometimes stop responding to controls. It used to be no issue; it would still grant wishes automatically and the problem would usually fix itself. But now, the machine hasn't been responding for the past 24 hours and it won't let me turn it off. It's starting to malfunction and overheat, and I don't know what's going to happen.


VIDEO LOG 11, PEOPLE ARE CATCHING ON FIRE!! Sorry, um, it's been a week, and I found 3 more problems. First, the energy's automatic replenishing feature never stops generating energy, so after long enough the energy overflows and people start burning from the inside! Second, the energy has some unintended effects on the holder's emotions, which end up strengthening the holder's desires, which strengthens the Wildfire- oh yeah, I decided to call this awful collection of glitches the Wildfire, because it spreads and it burns people and I NEED TO PUT IT OUT!

Third, the machine is going even more out of control. I had the idea early on to make the machine spread its programming to Volomans itself so that it could be a big wish-granting volcano and now its doing that AND I CAN'T MAKE IT STOP! Even if I remove the Wish Machine, the mountain's already been infected, and it'll keep getting worse. If this gets bad enough, I might need to remove this entire mountain, and the Wildfire has already spread so far that it'll probably take years to clean up! Even then, this thing has already done so much damage, I- I'm wasting time here, I need to go.


Video log 12. It's been a few weeks, and I'm making progress on finding some solutions. I've prioritized fixing the machine, because soon it'll make anyone near the mountain able to catch the Wildfire. I've started building a device that can forcefully reprogram the machine and make it turn Volomans back to normal.

In other news, I myself have caught the Wildfire. Ironically, it seems to be in response to my desire to stop the Wildfire, my desire to fix my mistake. I can't call this an accident; I should have tested it more thoroughly before I started organic testing. Anyway, it's not as bad as it sounds; the Wildfire's emotional effects actually help me focus on fixing all this. It should just go away after I've fixed the machine, so it probably won't be a major issue.


Video log 13, there's a major issue! I don't know how long its been, a few days or something, but there's a problem! So, all the controls for my more complex machines use soul-reading technology to let me more conveniently control them, INCLUDING the device to reprogram the Wildfire machine! As it turns out, having the Wildfire's energy inside you messes with your soul, so now the device doesn't recognize me and I can't use it.

Worse, no one else can use the device either, because it specifically recognizes a GUARDIAN'S soul. I'm also running out of time; it won't be long before I burn up. I've found a solution; I'll go to another dimension and find someone with a soul similar enough to mine to work the device. I've found a dimension that has lots of inhabitants that come pretty close, so I should be able to find at least one person there who will be able to operate the device.

As the next video starts, the screen shows Mew engulfed in glowing red flames.

Log 14, I found someone, but I messed up the return trip and they got flung to a random location. Looking for them now.

In the next video, the flames have grown to take up the entire screen, blocking the background. Mew is holding a device that looks like a big blue key.

Jamie, I'm freezing myself to stay alive! Use the device to reprogram the machine and don't unfreeze me until you do!

The video ends, and with no more videos left to play, the room finally goes quiet.




Thanks for reading! Comments, questions, and criticisms are encouraged!