Your favorite ''Creepypasta''?

Courtesy of MetaSeraphim (not his though), Come Follow Me.

There is quite a number of Pokemon Creepypastas that range from good, to bad, to down right horrible and idiotic.

Here are a few of the better ones.

 Glitchy Red

 Lost Silver

You see, I am a simple college student living alone in an apartment. I was very enthusiastic about the release of HeartGold/SoulSilver on the states. I have purposely locked myself out of all media and the internet aside for school purposes. That means no 4chan, no /v/, no Bulbapedia, etc.

As I was busy with the school year and being a poorfag at the time, I wasn’t able to buy SoulSilver on launch date. After my school year ended, I ordered SoulSilver on Amazon (sorry, I’m not a faggy pirate). However, it would take a week for it to arrive. I decided that during that time, I replay my Crystal version on my Gameboy Color.

However, I realized that long ago, my mom threw it away because I told her the save went dead, and I was very upset about it then. She also threw away my Silver version, so all I have is my Gameboy Color. As such, I set out to Gamestop and bought a used Silver version, as it’s the only Pokemon game left that they have for the GBC. Ten dollars – fairly cheap despite it being Gamestop.

I went home and started it up for a nostalgia trip. However, that’s where things started getting bizarre, and most likely the reason why you read this.

The Gamefreak logo started up as normal, but it just froze there. I thought the cart was just errored or something, so I turned it off and on. The same thing happened. I tried pressing A and Start over and over, and all of the buttons. Eventually, the logo vanished and there was a black screen for about five seconds. Suddenly, rather than going to the usual menu screen, I was already in the game in a previous saved file, which was odd as I was expecting all of these carts to have been wiped by the poor battery. Either way, I wasn’t complaining, as I would have chosen the “Continue” option to see what the previous guy did anyways.

First off, I checked his trainer information. His name was just “…” – He didn’t have much originality.

I checked his profile and apparently he had 999:99 hours put into the game, with all 16 badges, 999999 Pokedollars and all 251 Pokemon on the Pokedex.

Seeing as he apparently had Mew and Celebi logged also, I am guessing he either used a Game Genie or is a really hardcore Pokemon player back then.

I checked his Pokemon to see what badass team he has. To my surprise, I saw 5 Unowns and a sixth Pokemon named “HURRY”. I’m thinking that this must be some cruel joke by the person who last played this game, but I decided to check the profiles of those Pokemon anyways. As expected, they were different letters of Unown, all Level 5. I was a bit shaky with my Unown alphabet at the time, but I identified the word spelled out to be “LEAVE”.

As for the sixth Pokemon, it turned out to be a Cyndaquil (mind you, this is before there were individualized Pokemon icons). The Cyndaquil looked normal, but it was Level 5 with only 1 HP left with only two attacks: “Leer” and “Flash”. I don’t know why they named him “HURRY”, but at the time, I just disregarded it. The most eerie thing was that, despite my volume being at max, none of the Pokemon he had said their usual cries. Just pure silence.

Having enough of the team, I closed it. I was parked at what appears to be a room inside Bellsprout Tower. However, for some reason, there were no NPCs around. Even more eerie was that the “pillar” in the middle didn’t move at all, as if just leaning on its side. There was no music at all, and there was no exit or ladder, or least I thought there wasn’t.

I walked around for a few minutes but can’t seem to find a way out. This was certainly not a room I’ve seen in the Bellsprout Tower before. I’ve tried checking my items for an Escape Rope, but the bag was completely empty. There wasn’t any Wild Pokemon either.

Finally, I’ve managed to find a ladder, which turned out to be behind the “pillar”. The screen turned black and the music finally started playing. I had a sudden chill, as I recognize that melody I heard to be the theme you hear when you listened to the radio at the Alph Ruins where the Unown are at.

I immediately realize that it wasn’t a loading transition, but rather I was in a dark room and would need Flash. Before I took care of that though, I immediately checked my Pokegear to change the radio to something more pleasant, but it turns out that there was no Radio card, or even a Phone nor Time cards. There was only a Map card in which Gold (“…” from earlier, and I will call him Gold from now on) was just walking in a midst of black.

I recall that Cyndaquil has Flash, so I turned off my Pokegear and made Cyndaquil use Flash. I didn’t see any message saying “HURRY has used Flash!” or anything like that. The room just became lit just like that, and I soon regretted it. The room was a chilling blood-red with a linear gray path heading south. The ladder I used to go up/down was not there at all.

I had no choice but to head south. The screen got darker every 20 steps I made, until I finally made it to the end, which appears to be a sign. I read the sign, which said “TURN BACK NOW”.

Suddenly, I was asked to answer YES/NO, but there was no question asked. I chose YES as I do not know what it was asking, and the screen went black again, making a “ladder climbed” sound. The Unown Radio music stopped, and in a few seconds was replaced with the not-as-creepy Poke Flute radio music.

I was in another dark room, but I held my breath and used Flash again. Suddenly, it said that “HURRY has fainted!” which was odd since I recall that there was no status conditions like Poison on him, and I clearly wasn’t in a battle. I checked my Pokemon quickly and suddenly he’s no longer in my party. In fact, after a bit of investigating, none of my Pokemon are there, but instead all replaced with Level 10 Unown. I did the same thing as before and spelled out the Unown. My then team of Unown spelled “HEDIED”.

Either way, after that creepy change, the room was lit to reveal myself in a very small room that appears to be only four squares big. The walls of that room were gray bricks, as if I was inside something that was hollowed out. Outside that room appears to be a bunch of graves similar to the ones in Pokemon Red/Blue. I’ve walked around that small room and pressed A but nothing happened.

I’ve already concluded that this was clearly a hacked game and some sadistic pineapple sold it to Gamestop. However, my curiosity kept me going. I checked the trainer profile of “…” again only to find out that the sprite of Gold was missing his arms. He also seems to appear less smug, but rather seems more sad and empty in a way that I do not know how to describe. For some reason, it also now said that he has 24 badges, which was clearly impossible.

After a few minutes of aimless wondering, my character suddenly spun and did the Escape Rope spinning animation. Instead of flying up though, my character spun downwards slowly, as if sinking.

After that screen, the music stopped. After finally landing, the overworld sprite of Gold is coloured differently now. Instead of the usual red colour he dons, he appears completely white now, including his skin. It’s as if he came straight from the colorless Game Boy games placed into a colored background of the Gameboy Color. I checked his profile, and now, while now is as white as his overworld sprite, he lost his legs and has what appears to be bloody tears from his eyes. It also says he now has 32 badges, which now starts to disturb me as this change of number seems to represent something important.

I also checked my Pokemon, which this time contains 5 Unowns and a Level 100 Celebi without a nickname. The Unown are this time Leveled 15 and spelled out “DYING”. I checked the Celebi’s profile. It was a shiny Celebi, except there’s only half of the sprite. One leg, one arm, one eye. It only has one attack: “Perish Song”.

The area I was in itself was the Sprout Tower with the immobile pillar as before, except everything is apparently red now. I walked north for what felt like forever. Eventually, I finally encountered some generic men and women NPC. They were all lined up to the side just facing the long slantish pillar in the middle. They were also white, and nothing happens when I try to speak to them. I kept on going north until eventually the pillar finally appears chopped off, with a transparent Red in that spot. I went up to Red and without even pressing A, I was suddenly engaged and finally in a battle.

The music starts again, which it sounds like the Unown Radio music again, but played backwards. Gold’s battle backsprite matches his front one with the bloody eyes, white skin, and lack of arms, while Red’s sprite was the same as before in GSC except transparent. The text simply said “wants to battle!” as if he has no name, and both of us only have one Pokemon each, which is weird as I swear I had six with the Unowns. My shiny Celebi came out, conveniently with half-a-sprite for the back sprite also. The “Shiny” noise and animation was different, as the sounds it made sound like multiple “Screech” attacks used consecutively. Red sent out a seemingly normal male Pikachu, except he is Level 255 and his sprite seems sad and has tears in his eyes.

Rather than the usual “FIGHT/ITEM/PKMN/RUN” menu, I was only given the option to use the Attacks. Since Celebi only has one, I chose it. Naturally, since Pikachu was Level 255, he went first.

“PIKACHU used CURSE!”, lowering his Speed and increasing his other Stats. I’m not even sure if Pikachu could even use Curse.

“CELEBI used PERISH SONG!” In three turns, both Pokemon get KO’d – not like I have a choice.

At this point, it didn’t even go back to the Fight menu, as the battle just continued without me. Also note that there was no animations at all for some reason.

“PIKACHU used FLAIL!”, which didn’t do much damage despite his Level and boost as his health was maxed.

“CELEBI used Perish Song!” Nothing happens as it was already used.

“PIKACHU used FRUSTRATION!”, which did a shitton of damage, knocking Celebi down to less than 10 HP.

“CELEBI used Pain Split!”, which surprised me as Celebi didn’t even have that attack in the first place. Now Celebi and Pikachu have about 150 HP.

“PIKACHU used MEAN LOOK!” Not like that did anything.

As expected, due to the effects of Perish Song, my Celebi fainted. Except in the text, it said “CELEBI has died!” and instead of the ordinary drop off the screen animation, the CELEBI backsprite just vanished. For some reason, the Pikachu was still up even with Perish Song and it didn’t count as my lost. Pikachu used one more different attack beyond the 5 attack limit:

“PIKACHU used DESTINY BOND!”

Afterwards, it said “PIKACHU has died!”, with a slow fade-out animation. Apparently, I was the winner, as the transparent Red Sprite showed up and said “……….”

At that point, I just freaked out, as that transparent Red sprite was suddenly beheaded, leaving nothing but his transparent body. The battle then ended at that point and faded out along with the music.

I’m back in the overworld, with another change to the Gold sprite – he’s now as transparent as Red’s overworld sprite. I quickly checked Gold’s profile, where this time the only thing remains of him is his head, with a transparent skin. The head was zoomed in a bit, showing a black void in his eyes. It now stated that he now has 40 badges. I then backed out and checked my Pokemon. They were all Level 20 Shiny Unown, which when spelled out, read “NOMORE”.

I was at what I now know is next to the end. There was apparently no music playing, but for some reason I still felt like something was there that could be heard. I was back in my room in New Bark Town. Maybe finally I get to play this game properly, but who am I kidding. I knew that sadistic pineapple must have done something. I “walked” around my room to interact with things, as I’m a bit afraid to go down the stairs to see what was awaiting down there. Note I said “walked”, as while the background was moving, Gold was not moving his transparent limbs at all while doing so, just floating like those ghosts you see in Diamond/Pearl.

As expected, the radio, computer, and TV did not work, so I had no choice but to go down the stairs. I ended up in the same lower level room of my house. Everything appears normal, except mom isn’t home. After failing to interact with anything in this room, I decided to go outside. To my surprised, that door leading outside at the south didn’t work, and instead I just walk straight through it to a void. I continued moving south to see what the pineapple was going on. My house vanishes as I head south into the void. It was creepy as when I entered the void, the outline on Gold’s transparent sprite turned white to contrast with the pitch black. Eventually, I reached a white area and Gold’s sprite turned black and transparent again. I continued south without thinking of stopping at all.

After a long trek south, I finally encountered something. It was GOLD’s regular sprite. I talked to it. He said “Good bye forever ….” (notably with a space inbetween the forever and ….), and vanished. As that happened, it said “??? used NIGHTMARE” which at that point, I would not deny that being possible. Gold did another Escape Rope animation spinning slowly downwards like before.

I’m now back into that small hollowed-out room surrounded by graves earlier. Or at least I say I was back there, as there’s no sprite anymore. I tried to walk around but nothing moved – not even wall bumping noise. I checked my trainer profile with absolutely no Gold sprite left. It said I have 0 badges and all the pictures of the Johto Gym Leaders at the bottom were replaced with skulls.

I checked my Pokemon, which were all Level 25 Unown. As expected, it spelled out a phrase that I dared to read. “IMDEAD”

As soon as I went back to the overworld, the room I supposedly was in was then covered with the same blocks as the walls. I then figured out what exactly that room was when the final text was said: “R.I.P. …”

That room was a big grave, surrounded by other grave. Gold has already been dead. He died presumably a few years after he defeated Red.

He was a young trainer who, despite his efforts in collecting so many badges and attempts at becoming a Pokemon master, was still unable to avoid the inevitable fate of death, and his efforts were eventually forgotten by the next generation.

I was unable to escape from that text no matter what I pressed. I tried resetting the game, and the same thing happened, at which I then finally decided to give up on that horrible nightmare. After that experience, I will never look at the “gimmick” Unown the same way again. They say that only the first generation have folk tales and legends, but the second generation have shown me how unpleasant the truth can be. I eventually enjoyed SoulSilver immensely, but I still can’t unthink what that rigged game have told me.

 Tarnished Gold

Early this morning, I was browsing the emails I had gotten during the night; a few facebook updates, a little spam, a newsletter, and an email from a sender with the name "NO MORE". The address was "Hope_abandoned". The subject? Tarnished Gold.
I was intrigued. I opened my email to find a wall of text starting simply with "I hear you're in the market for creepy Pokemon things...here's one for you. Enjoy."
And then, I began to read.

Being someone who isn't nearly as computer savvy as someone from this generation should be, I know very little about what technology is capable of. Aside from email, IM, and the occasional download of something otherwise unobtainable for me at the moment, I have about the same amount of knowledge an eighty-year-old might possess about the electronic world.

For example, and for the sake of this tale I'm about to recount, I was totally unaware that someone is capable of hacking pokemon games to make their own sub-story of the world, even less so that it was possible to make a physical copy of the game in a real cartridge.

However, I happened to learn about this in one of the most disturbing ways possible.

When I was younger, Pokemon Gold was my very first game from the ever popular franchise. I became very attached to the little creatures my character (named after myself even though the character was male) and often fantasized about the adventures we would go through had a preset storyline not been in place.

That isn't quite important, though.

Was is important is the fact that I never truly let go of my childhood fantasies, the memories had from that first game were far too cherished to set free. As such, I still have my old Gold game, complete with a total abuse of the copy glitch. I refuse to restart my game though, as I'm afraid too much of the old magic would be lost.

I wanted to play a whole new game of the version that I recall being the happiest with, but older cartridges are rather hard to find outside of the Internet nowadays, the most my local flea markets have are GBA games...hardly any being Pokemon.

Fortunately for me, my grandmother still fully supports my long-standing love for Pokemon and often buys boxes of cards, toys, video tapes and other items she comes across during her frequent visits to local auctions. Granted, very little of these thing she gives me are in good condition; long forgotten items stowed away in a musty basement after the phase in their owner's life has passed hardly ever are. But, as gifts from a dear relative, I cherish them as if they were made of gold...pun not intended.

Most recently, she gave me a box with a brand new video tape containing episodes from early on in the first season, several hundred battered and well used cards, and a game cartridge with no label.

The cartridge was the familiar metallic gold color of the game I had been looking for. Even though the label had been removed, and a large red 'X' drawn in sharpie in the place where the sticker should have been, I could easily tell what it was...what other game had that color? You can imagine my excitement for finally finding another copy! -I hate ordering things online, this was a rather big relief- I thanked her profusely and promised I would play it as soon as I got home, which I did.

Getting started was difficult, not because the game was faulty, but because I had sold my GBA to my little brother several years ago for some of his better pokemon cards...once something belongs to him, it's difficult to get him to lend it out to me. Such is sibling relations, I suppose.

After much bribery, I finally got my hands on my former GBA and quickly inserted the vandalized game. Chills ran through my body as the opening 'movie' for the game began to play, sending a wave of nostalgia crashing over me, it was good to see it again.

The game opened normally, the pixelated image of Ho-oh flying through the sky beneath the title presented itself before leading into the normal selection screen. The person who owned the game before me still had the game on file, but I cared very little for what someone did before me. Considering the condition of their things, they must have been very young. I was bound to be met with a team full of Pikachu with ridiculous names.

I started a new game.

It was here that I realized something wasn't quite right with the game. The normal intro involving a Professor introducing you to the world of Pokemon didn't play out. Rather, it went more like this:

It started out with a black screen, which was quite familiar considering that’s how the Gold, Silver, and Crystal games begin. But, instead of the normal ‘What time is it?’ dialogue, I was met with…

………..
……
…
Pokemon are nothing more than tools.
Use them, and throw them away.
……..

The black screen faded away, revealing an empty area at night. It looked familiar; I vaguely remember it being a route in an earlier part of the game, but since I’ve been away from the game for so long, I couldn’t place it.

In the silence of this scene, the sprite of your rival –henceforth noted as Silver- walked in from the left; he moved a little slower than normal as if he were hesitant about something. Once he had moved to the middle of the screen, he stopped and turned back to look at where he came from, turned towards where he was going, and turned back towards where he had came once again.

For a moment, he stood there simply staring towards the left side of the screen before a dialogue box popped up beneath him saying nothing more than “…”. After that, he turned back around yet again, only this time, he continued off to walk off screen.

The scene faded away to be replaced with Silver standing in the place where you first officially see him, just outside Professor Elm’s laboratory. It was clearly in a slightly later part of the game than normal as the professor and his assistants all exited the lab and went their separate ways; the assistants left the town, and Elm walked further downward off screen –which I assume that meant he left for his home and remained in town. The character of Gold was nowhere to be seen.

After that small scene, it stayed on Silver. I thought the game had frozen for a minute, but I finally realized I was able to move him. Honestly I was a little excited, Silver was –and always has been- my favorite of the rivals, it was an interesting thing to be able to play has him.

I moved him a little further downward to see if I was able to explore, but it stopped me each time I moved one step away from the front of the lab. A dialogue box popped up that said, “I can’t leave yet…”, and it backed me up a step. I moved back up to the place he had originally been standing and moved into the window, it worked much like a door as it allowed me to enter Professor Elm’s lab.

Aside from the regular equipment -bookshelves, computers, trashcans, tables, all that- the lab was empty; which was to be expected since the employees had left just a moment ago. On the table was a single pokeball, being without one at the moment, I walked over and took it.

A dialogue box popped up and said ‘Obtained TOTODILE’ but no ‘item get’ music played…apparently, stealing wasn’t condoned even by the game. After pressing ‘A’, it gave me the option of naming the pokemon, I picked ‘yes’ as I love naming these things. As it took me to the naming screen, another dialogue box popped up, interrupting the naming process:

“Don’t name it! You’ll only get attached.
Don’t love it, use it.”

It was clearly the ‘voice’ of the same person who spoke in the very beginning…I found it odd…

The naming screen faded away leaving me in the empty lab, which I quickly tried to leave through the front door, but was stopped by Silver saying, “Not through there…” Again, he backed up and I exited through the window I had come in from.

As if things weren’t strange enough as they were, when I left New Bark Town to begin the adventure and stepped into the grass, it was nearly impossible to get a random battle to start. Normally, I go out of my way to avoid them later on in the game, but during the beginning, it was something I enjoyed to get my pokemon to level up…being unable to find something to fight was a little frustrating.

After several minutes of walking back and forth in patches of grass, I finally encountered a pokemon. A Sentret, nothing out of the ordinary, but when I sent out my Totodile and chose the only presently useful move he had –Scratch-, the pokemon fled. I was rather confused, wild pokemon never ran…not so early in the game. After a few more tries, all with the same outcome, I continued on to Cherrygrove.

Just before I entered the city, I recognized the small area as the one Silver had walked through in the beginning. After entering the city, I bumped into Gold, who wordlessly challenged me to a battle.

His pokemon, a Cyndaquil, was already a slightly higher level than mine (I was still stuck at level five, he was already at level seven) and, even though I had the type advantage, he beat me. Before whiting out, his sprite switched out with the Cyndaquil’s…he looked disappointed.

After exiting the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center –I hadn’t used it prior, but it was apparently the only option I had-, I walked back to the place he had challenged me only to find I was unable to battle him at this point again.

The game was getting a little annoying by now, I had no money, pokegear, or pokedex, and I was unable to battle wild pokemon. Fortunately, once I entered Route 30 onward, there were other pokemon trainers in which I could battle and easily beat…though none of them seemed eager to speak to me after I had won.

By the time I entered Violet City, my pokemon’s level was still too low to take on the gym leader. But with the money I had won from the trainers I fought before, I was at least able to buy some potions, so I felt I was set.

The lesser trainers of the gym were easy enough, I was only forced to use two of my previously purchased potions and I leveled up once. Though, as I took on the gym leader, he proved to me too much and I lost yet again. Upon winning, he did the very same thing Gold had done…and he looked disappointed as well.

When the battle ended, I didn’t white out, rather I had to endure a lecture about treating pokemon correctly from the leader. Once he finished speaking, I received a one-worded option: ‘Steal?’

I chose the only option given to me, ‘Yes’.

Silver backed up one step and slammed into the gym leader, kicking him backwards. Another dialogue box popped up telling me that I had stolen the gym badge, TM31, and $500.

After that, I whited out.

This is how it continued on for the remainder of the game, while I was able to defeat lesser trainers on the paths to cities and in the gyms, I constantly lost to the leader and was forced to steal their badges. The ‘steal’ option also worked on people who would normally give you items in the game, this is how I was able to obtain key items such as the Itemfinder, the bicycle, the water pail, HMs, and many more…They refused to give me anything otherwise.

Anyone I spoke to either refused to talk, greeting me only with “…” or lectured me a little on how to properly treat pokemon…it was beginning to get that way with Nurse Joy as well. By the time I had progressed to Goldenrod City, anytime I whited out, she’d scold me.

Pokemon continued to avoid me as well, if I wanted to better my team I had to hope that the pokeballs I used worked the first time. What was stranger about random battles is that, even if I locked the pokemon in battle with Mean Look, the pokemon passed out. Literally. After my first attack of Mean Look –If I got to the first attack that is, sometimes the pokemon had a higher speed than mine-, before I was able to choose another, the pokemon would faint on its own.

The dialogue box proclaimed, “-POKEMON- forced itself to pass out!” and the battle ended.

The only thing that seemed to go normally for me was the battles with Team Rocket. I always won against them and they always treated me like a punk kid getting in their way.

The rest of the game up until a certain point isn’t entirely important. Aside from win, lose, and steal, everything was more or less normal. While my pokemon matured slowly due to frequent losses, they did grow to like me a little as I began giving them haircuts and other little things to boost our bond. The last I had checked, the person who rated their happiness –one of the very few people who spoke to me normally- said “It’s quite cute.”
I know you must be thinking that this isn’t disturbing at all, that I should just accept the fact that this is simply a hack made to tell Silver’s side of the story…Well, I did and it was, but I’m not quite finished yet.

Once I had finally made it to Kanto -continuing the process of win, lose, and steal-, I ventured into Viridian City. The second I stepped foot into the city, the music cut off. I thought for certain that this was simply a glitch in the programming, that I was now to walk through a soundless game. But as a stood there for a moment, a very faint noise picked up and faded away.

I was now sure that the music had messed up, like it was trying to play, but couldn’t. But as I stepped back into the route I had just come from, the music picked up perfectly…it was only Viridian City that was silent.

I was now curious, so I stepped back into the silent city and began to explore. There wasn’t a person in site…No one out in the open, no one in the houses, not even anyone in the in the Pokemart or Pokemon Center. The city was entirely empty…just the silence and the occasional soft noise which I still hadn’t identified.

As I walked towards the gym, the sound grew a little louder. I figured the noise was coming from the inside, so I entered. There was no one there either, but that was to be expected, the gym was always empty until much later.

The noise didn’t play in here, but it was still dead silent.

I walked up to where the gym leader normally stood and, as I walked past the spot and into the brink wall –I do that sometimes, I like the noise- I was transported to another room…the wall had hidden a set of stairs.
This place was silent as well…but the noise began to play yet again. It was much louder this time, just a bunch of random, high-pitched noises…but it sounded like screams.

By this time, as you could well imagine, my heart was pounding…I don’t take screaming –or things that sound like screaming- very well due to an unfortunate experience with a very graphic haunted house when I was three years old…but I digress.

Regardless of my pounding heart and shaking hands, I explored the room…which was tinted in a muted red much like everything was in Pokemon Red. The room followed a sideways zigzag pattern and the ‘screams’ came at random, some short, some long and drawn out…it sounded as if someone was being tortured.

As I continued down the zigzagging hallways, I came across several disturbing images; sprites of NPCs without their heads, as well as heads without bodies. Anytime I tried to examine the bodies, Silver simply said “Don’t look…”

The bodies and heads became more frequent as I went on, clogging up the hallways and leaving only a small path for me to follow…and the screaming became more frequent.

The screen began to flicker as I walked, just like it would if one of my pokemon was poisoned…but none of them were. Just in case, I checked the status of my party. None of them were poisoned, but their health was going down. In an attempt to heal them, I picked a super potion out of my bag and used it on my Feralligator.

A dialogue box popped up and said “It won’t have any effect.”

Now I was disturbed, I knew none of this was supposed to happen. Regardless, I continued on, hoping that if they all fainted from this, I’d be taken back to a pokemon center and things would return to normal.

…It was stupid of me to assume that…

I continued along the morbid path, the screen flickering in and out. Finally, Silver stopped as the dialogue box popped up telling me that all my pokemon had fainted…but it didn’t say what I had hoped…

It said ‘ALL DEAD’.

By now, I was read to cry, but I couldn’t stop myself from trying to get to the end of this disturbing experience…if I didn’t do this now, I’d just be tempted to try it again some other time…

Finally, I reached the center room, which was now tinted a deep red…I assumed this was to simulate the fact that the room was filled with blood, however there were only a few bodies scattered around it. In the center, there were a few live figures, a man, a pokemon, Gold, and another pokemon I could only assumed was his Typhlosion.

Gold’s Typhlosion attacked the man’s pokemon, but it was quickly struck down, its sprite first turning red, then grey, then disappearing…the man’s pokemon had killed it.

Silver’s sprite stepped forward on its own and the man finally acknowledged he was there.

GIOVANNI: Ah, son, you’ve made it. Come to see your rival’s demise, have you?

This caused Gold to turn around to look at you; the only thing he said was “…”

Silver continued to move on his own; he approached the man and kicked him backwards…Which obviously enraged Giovanni.

GIOVANNI: You’re going to help him? HA! You’ve become just as weak as the others! If he seems worth saving to you…perhaps I should show you that there’s no sense in getting attached! MEWTWO, take care of him!

Mewtwo obeyed his creator’s command and approached Gold. I’m still uncertain of what it actually did, but it struck Gold, causing a scream much louder than before as the sprite of Silver’s rival lost its head and faded to deep red to grey.

GIOVANNI: I told you long ago, Silver, Pokemon are nothing more than tools! People are as well. Use them and throw them away once they’ve server your purpose. MEWTWO, kill him!

The Mewtwo didn’t obey this time; Giovanni’s words must have angered it. It turned to him and actually spoke.

MEWTWO: …You’re no longer useful…

It struck Giovanni just as it had done Gold and Typhlosion, but the scream Giovanni produced was much longer than any other I had heard…Mewtwo was torturing him.

Finally, the scream faded away into nothingness and Giovanni’s sprite did just as Gold’s did…leaving only Silver and Mewtwo alive in the room. As Mewtwo turned to face me, I knew that wouldn’t last for long.

MEWTWO: …Not useful…

It struck me, initiating a battle in which I was totally unable to participate. My sprite was in the place of any pokemon, my health was full, but I knew it wouldn’t help. I chose to run, but I couldn’t…I chose to attack, but I had nothing to use…I just had to stand there as Mewtwo used Psychic on Silver’s defenseless image.

Even with the sound turned to a low level, the ‘scream’ coming from Silver was disturbingly loud. Even as the battle screen faded away, the scream lingered until Silver’s sprite turned from red to grey – which I now assume symbolizes the coldness of death-…Silver, along with Gold and everyone else who had been unfortunate enough to wander into this place from Viridian, was now dead.

The screen faded to black, all except for Mewtwo’s sprite, which remain in the center of the screen. My paranoid mind immediately made me think he was somehow going to turn on me next, but the word ‘END’ simply faded in just underneath him and the screen cut to black, taking me back to the opening sequence.

I’m still unsure why this was made, why someone just shoved it into a box to sell, and why I happened to find it…But I can assure you that I’m swearing off all randomly found games…either it’s new, or I’ll never risk touching it again.

The game I just described has slipped out of my possession since that first play through…I have no idea where it is, but I hope it’s rotting in a dump somewhere.

 Hell Bell

After the fourth generation of Pokemon disappointed him so much, my brother tossed me all of his Pokemon stuff in disgust. I received hundreds of cards to add to my collection, the Blastoise plush he won at King's Island nine years ago, and the Diamond game that completely swept away his love for the game and all things associated with it. That chapter of his life came to a sad close while mine just gained something to continue on. Admittedly, the games that had come out for the DS disappointed me as well; there was just something about it all that made the magic the games normally held fade away a little. As a person who grew up with the originals, generation four simply wasn't 'my' Pokemon anymore. Regardless, I wasn't going to turn my back on something that accompanied me through my childhood simply because the game disappointed me a little. In fact, I wanted Diamond. Dialga was a hundred times better looking than Palkia and I rather enjoyed the thought of finally getting to be the one to catch it this time around instead of having to hack one or trade for it. Before I continue, I must tell you that this doesn't involve Dialga at all. I just like it and originally wanted Diamond, but had to settle for Pearl because my brother got to Diamond first. This DOES start off with a legendary Pokemon, however, though I'm certain that if I had used any other, the outcome would have been the same. This happening seemed to be meant for me. Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have happened at all, which I would have been completely fine with. I started up his saved game just to see what all he had. His save information said he had all the Pokemon in his Pokedex, even the ones that had yet to be released through wireless events, which reminded me that he really enjoyed using Action Replay codes to enhance his gaming experience. That was probably the only thing that caused him to keep the game for as long as he did, but even cheating gets old after a while. After starting his game, I checked his party. He had six shiny, level 100 Rayquazas. Like all the other Pokemon he owned, he caught them using the lengthy 'encounter any Pokemon' code where you had to discard heart scales to indicate which Pokemon you wanted to catch at level 100. While the Pokemon encountered with this code were about as weak as if you had given them a large number of Rare Candy, I still recall losing to these six frequently. I had used this code myself throughout my first play-through of Pearl, and I traded these across the net to increase my chances of winning at the lottery...or, at least that's what I did before a friend scolded me and I was more or less forced to start over cheat-free. While he needed no Pokemon to complete his Pokedex and he didn't need to win any extra items, trading was always a fun experience for me just to see where they came from. So, I went to Jubilife City and into the Global Trading Center to see what I could get for one of these Rayquazas. I know I could have traded anything, but I secretly held a grudge against these six for beating me so badly all those times. Once in the trading network, I offered one up for a Bronzong that I had picked at random out of the first list. Of course, I couldn't choose a gender, but I chose the required level to be 100, just to make it more or less an even trade. After that, I left for a little while. After doing nothing of particular interest for about six hours, I came back to see if I had any takers for the trade. I immediately got excited when the trade sequence started up. I know it was just a simple Bronzong, but still, I like this process a great deal. You could send me a Magikarp and I'll get excited for a little bit. You know how the process goes; I won't bother explaining the actions on the screen to you. Long story short, I received a shiny Bronzong named 'Hell Bell.' I was shocked to get a shiny in return. I never got a shiny when I traded in Pearl...but the name was unsettling to me. Being a slightly religious person, I'm not comfortable speaking about anything pertaining to Hell or anything like that. Even writing this makes me feel like I'm provoking a similar event to happen again. Let's just hope this functions as a learning experience for you and not something else for me. After leaving, I checked its stats. Everything was set at 666, its old trainer was named 'Beelze' (which, again, both points slip into my sensitive area), and it was caught at Lost Tower and contained in a Cherish Ball. Clearly, it was hacked, but that's what I get for offering up a hack first. The stats and other information of the Pokemon disturbed me only for the fact that I didn't like its name or information, but I assumed it was fine otherwise. Regardless, I didn't want it, so I tried offering it up for trade again...but each time I tried to put it into the GTS, the game informed me that the Pokemon couldn't be offered in a trade. This had happened to me several times before when I tried to trade hacked legendaries. I assume there's something in place that keeps people from getting truly ripped off...but I was able to trade that Rayquaza and 'Beelze' was able to trade me Hell Bell this go around. I didn't know why it wouldn't allow me to offer it again. I still wanted to be rid of it, so the only other option I had was to release it. Before I went to the PC, however, I checked the item it was holding. The sender had attached mail to it, which was always fun, even though your choices for what to say are severely limited and the letters always come out painfully cheesy (That's one of the thing I don't like, the revamp of the mail system). I chose Hell Bell and selected to read the mail, though the letter wasn't set up like it normally was in the game. It looked like it had actually been typed out like you used to be able to do in Gold and Silver. The message was only three words long. "Take me back." I wasn't quite sure what that meant. I certainly couldn't trade it again. Even if I could, there was no way I could make sure Hell Bell got back to Beelze, so I discarded the message and went to the PC to release it. I selected the 'deposit Pokemon' option and selected Hell Bell to release it, but each time the party sprite shrunk away, it immediately came back with a message saying something along the lines of "Hell Bell doesn't want to leave you!" Again, this had happened before when I was clearing out my PC box in my second play-through of Pearl. I wanted a little more room and decided to release a Shinx that I had caught early on in the game, but it kept coming back. I had thought it was cute then and made the Shinx (now a Luxray) a permanent member of my party since it appeared to like me so much, but now it was just annoying. When I checked Hell Bell again, it was holding another mail item. It made no sense, since I had taken it away the first time. I opened it and read a slightly longer message. "I can't go back on my own. Take me back." Again, I took the item and tried to release it. Another failure. When I tried to simply deposit it, the game told me to remove the mail item from the Pokemon before depositing. I know I had, twice even....but upon checking it again, Hell Bell had yet another mail item in its possession. "Lost Tower." It was finally getting more specific, which I found oddly relieving rather than feeling a little uneasy as I probably should have been. At least I knew where it wanted to go...maybe it'd leave my party after I took it there. I'd like to know why this Pokemon was making my game behave so strangely. The Pokemon was hacked, not the game itself. As far as I know a decent hack doesn't affect the game and a bad hack can make it crash...but this was doing neither, more like something in between. Eager to get rid of it, I left the GTS building and stepped out into Jubilife. I was too impatient to pick an actual flying type out of the PC, so I just taught one of the Rayquaza the move 'fly' and chose to use it. Strangely, when I picked Solaceon Town from the map, the game informed that I couldn't fly there. I know my brother had visited the city before, so I don't know why I couldn't go there. I didn't take the time to actually think about it; I just flew to Hearthome instead. I didn't waste time in Hearthome. I simply left to travel through Route 209 to get to the Lost Town and hopefully rid myself of this strange Pokemon somehow by taking it where it wanted to go. I immediately noticed the lack of people on the route. Granted, I don't remember who all was there to battle and things of that sort, but I know there were at least a few people around. The area was completely vacant. Well, not completely. There was one person, who I didn't quite recognize, quickly pacing back and forth where I believe an athlete once ran. The sprite there now was of a white-haired old man. Curious, I spoke to him, which was where it began to get a little weird for me. He didn't say anything that made sense, but babbled over and over for an annoyingly long amount of time, much like when you speak to a specific cyclist on the bike trail in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. You know, the one who knows where you got your bike because the name is all over it. "RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL" That meant nothing to me. I didn't bother speaking to him again, and continued to the tower. Once inside, I tried to go up the stairs but something prevented me from moving for a moment. I thought all the hacked Pokemon had finally made the game screw up, but that wasn't the case. after a moment of complete silence, the sound of a deep, brazen bell began to slowly toll. (If you're curious about how that sounded exactly, start up your HeartGold / SoulSilver game. That bell is just like it.) After about four rings, the tombstone in the center of the room cracked and shattered like someone had used Rock Smash on it. Beneath the tombstone was a hole. Since it wasn't allowing me to go up the stairs, I walked over and fell through the hole. When I landed, I fell on a platform much like the one you find Arceus on in the Hall of Origin, except it was much darker. Where the transparent platform was white and glowing for Arceus, this one was more of a blackened red. It just seemed evil rather than the 'holy' vibe you get from the Hall of Origin. Coming from the platform was a set of wide stairs that looked as if they were made of black marble rather than white. there was no way back up (I couldn't fly, had no diggers, and I lacked Escape Ropes), so I took the stairs and the bell (which I now assume was Hell Bell, considering that Bronzong is indeed a sort of bell) continued to ring slowly. By now, I was feeling incredibly uneasy, but I continued down the stairs. As I went further, it began to get foggy and dark. when I reached the bottom, I was met with a narrow path with large pools of magma / lava on either side. It was beginning to look more like the cave in which you encounter Groudon in Ruby, except with better graphics. The path continued in a straight line for about forty steps before hanging right for another forty and finally going up. The final path was long; magma still bubbled at the side and with each step I took, the ringing of the bell began to go faster - at least as fast as a large bell could ring - but it was still just an ominous, slow tolling. With each ring, I couldn't help but repeat what the old man NPC had said earlier. "Ring the bell." Finally, I reached the end of the pathway, which was just as small was a 4x4 platform, and the bell stopped ringing. I wondered what I was supposed to do here; there was nothing to interact with, no way to release Hell Bell, and no way to get out. I received my answer in the form of a disembodied 'voice.' A dialogue box popped up. "Oh, you've returned Hell Bell to me? I really appreciate it." He faded into view one space in front of my sprite. It was just a simple 'gentleman' sprite. The party sprite of Hell Bell came out of me and stood in the space between us, facing him. The game informed me that I handed over Hell Bell. Next, something popped up on the touch screen. It looked like the part of the trainer card where you sign your name. Again, the voice spoke. "Would you mind telling me your name so I may thank you properly?" Now, this confused me...actually, everything that was happening confused me, but this really threw me for a loop. First, the game should know the character name programmed into it from the start and, as far as I know, it can't actually recognize handwriting. Regardless, I began writing my brother's character's name, which was 'Dust.' I made the first stroke - it was in black 'ink' like normal - and made a 'D.' The voice stopped me. "No, no, your real name, please. I can't thank you with a false name, you know." My heart felt like it stopped for a second and sunk right into my stomach before violently bounding back up into my chest. How the hell did the game know that I wasn't signing my real name? "Your real name, please." Again, I began writing. Why I was listening to this, watching it all play out, when I could easily turn it off or start a completely new game, I didn't know. The thought simply didn't cross my mind at the time. I don't think it was allowed to. The 'ink' in which I was now writing was a bright red color, but I still wrote my full name - first and last - in the space I was provided. After I was finished, the man spoke again. "Good, now blow, please? We don't want the ink to smudge." I blew into the mic and the 'ink' turned from bright to deep red. I was unable to make changes after that. Afterward, the screen disappeared and the man spoke again. "Thank you, miss. You'll be happy to know that you now belong to me." The bell tolled twice more as my sprite - currently male - turned to face me and shifted to the female sprite. It had brown hair and was wearing all black...just like I was at the moment. Hell Bell moved forward, overlapping my sprite, and a final dialogue box popped up. "Hell Bell used IMPRISONMENT!" After that, my DS's battery died. I was shaken, I'll admit, but it just seemed like a twisted event brought about by some sort of secret within the game unlocked by a Pokemon, but now... I can't sleep. Food seems to turn to ash in my mouth. No water can quench my thirst. People and animals both act as if the shadow of death is passing by them when I'm near. I'm not my own anymore. I belong to that man...and Hell Bell. I don't know what became of that Pokemon, but if I received it, someone else is surely to do so. Use caution while using the trading system, please...and if you receive Hell Bell, don't hesitate to reset. Your special, once-in-a-lifetime event Pokemon aren't worth the cost of your very soul.

Some of them have gore for the sake of having gore because gore is "creepy" and "scary" but they are otherwise passable.