I was playing my Pokemon Heartgold game, like I usually did on a Saturday morning, when it happened. I had recently heard of a glitch that allows you to catch any wild Pokemon without fail if you press the A button at a certain time during a capture. I considered the possible consequenses for a minute, remembering all the crazy stuff that had happened in the Pokemon creepypastas that I had read about. I quickly abandoned those thoughts, assuring myself that that happening was a one-in-a-million chance, and nothing bad could possibly happen to me from playing this game after glitching it.
How wrong I was.
I reset my game, and started on a route, exactly where I had saved. I walked into the tall grass, hoping I could find something that would be worth my time to capture, so I could test the glitch. Almost immediately, a shiny Raticate appeared, which was a pleasant surprise, since I already had a shiny Rattatta. I quickly selected a Poke ball, and the second the Raticate was in the Pokeball, I pressed and held A. The screen went black for less than a second, with some red lines that I couldn't make out, and then I heard the click of the Poke ball. The qlitch had worked.
A second after the Poke ball clicked, I found myself back on the road. The game had never asked me if I wanted to name my newly captured Raticate. Thinking this was strange, I pressed X and selected my Pokemon to examine my Raticate, and see what its stats were. For some reason, though, the Raticate was not there. My game had never said the Raticate was sent to my PC, and I had three empty spaces in my party, which freaked me out because I had originally had only one empty space for the next Pokemon I had caught (I was looking for Entei). I sighed, and looked at my Typhlosion, Blaze (aka the only Pokemon I had ever really trained), and immediately threw my DS into the air from shock.
When I picked the system back up, I cautiously looked at the screen again, and found that my eyes had not decieved me. Where my Typhlosion once was, there was a circle with a question mark in the middle. A Missingno. I was confused for a second, before I decided it was probably a small glitch in the game caused by the Raticate, so I decided to go and try to find another Pokemon to capture.
Since I had defeated bothe the Champion and Red, I decided that I may as well go capture Mewtwo, since I had not yet done that. I went to Cerulean cave, and straight down to the bottom floor, fighting several Pokemon which, somehow, were almost all shiny. I only saw one normally colored Pokemon, and even the normal one had strange patches of the shiny coloring on it.
I got to the bottom floor of the cave, becoming more nervous by the second. With every shiny Pokemon I captured, the red lines on the screen became brighter, and several red splatters appeared around. The lines and splatters were still too dark to make out, however, and they never stayed long. My Typhlosion's backsprite had returned to normal, and I had not bothered to open my party to examine my new Pokemon. There was nothing following me, but I thought it was just the fact that Cerulean cave was considered sacred ground, and my Pokemon was not "worthy."
After searching the bottom floor for Mewtwo and finding nothing but shiny Parasects, I decided that I was bored, and might as well check my party. I opened the menu and selected "Pokemon," but for some reason, there were now five empty spaces in my party, where there had been a Gengar, Ho-oh, Articuno, Shaymin, and a blank space that was supposed to be holding my Raticate. If there are that many empty spaces, I thought, shouldn't my new shiny Pokemon be in those spaces? I selected my Typhlosion, and nearly sent my DS flying through the air again.
The Typhlosion's back, which I had set my DS to show in my party through a different glitch, appeared to be fine, except for being pretty badly pixelated. I could barely tell exactly what it looked like through the blocks of data. It's HP said 13/25, which scared me because Blaze was a level 100 Typhlosion, and level 100 Pokemon, unless it is a Shedinja, never had less than 75 HP. Its stats were lower too, as if something had happened to weaken it. Its status said "ILL", which I assumed meant "ill" as in some kind of sickness. I pressed select to see the front, which is what caused the worst shock to me so far.
When I pressed select, I never heard Typhlosion's cry, which I usually would when turning back to the frontsprite of the Pokemon. His name was displayed above him, and instead of Blaze, the Pokemon's name was "Why?" This surprised me, because I had not gone to the Name Rater and changed its name, except for when I got bored of just calling it "TYPHLOSION." It seemed as if the Pokemon was actually trying to ask me why something was happening. I pressed down, not expecting anything to happen, but like I had been the last few times, I was wrong.
Instead of a sound to tell me I had no more Pokemon, I saw the screen flash the black animation, but instead of my Gengar, which should be there, there was a pile of red pixels. There was a name above it, and I could tell immediately that it broke the ten-character name rule. The name was "Why did you kill us?" I looked at the species, but instead of the normal Pokemon font, there was a set of UNOWN letters. After a minute of thought, I found that the UNOWN spelled out RAGNEG, which after several minutes of thought, I interpreted as "Gengar" backwards. Its status was "DED."
My fingers shaking, I pressed the down arrow again, to see what kind of horror I might encounter with my Ho-oh, and found it sitting on the bottom of the square image section, looking at the ground sadly. There was a small pile of pixels under where its right wing would be, and when I looked at its backsprite, its wing was missing. It had somehow forgotten all its Fire and Flying type moves, and the only move it had left was Frustration. Its status was "HRT," and its name had been changed to "We thought you loved us."
I examined the rest of my Pokemon, trying to interpret the message I was receiving. After writing down all of their new names, this is the message I got:
"Why? Why did you kill us? We thought you loved us. But you tried to replace us. With a level 25 Raticate."
Terrified, I exited my party, and quickly selected it again to see if that had somehow fixed the game. But instead, it seemed to have made things worse. Now, all of my Pokemons' statuses were "DED", and their names had been changed again, this time to:
"Go. To. Where. Mewtwo. Resides."
A little relieved that their names did not break the ten-character rule anymore, I decided to do as they were "telling" me. I walked all the way back across the cave, a little freaked out by the fact that no wild Pokemon were appearing. There was no music, but every step I took, there was a sound like a footstep, which seemed to grow progressively louder as I neared Mewtwo's small home. It seemed like the footsteps were coming from all around me.
When I reached Mewtwo's pedestal, there was nothing there, but I was suddenly forced into a battle. However, instead of Mewtwo, I was fighting a Jirachi. Thinking maybe my luck had turned, and this glitch would turn out to be a good thing, I threw a Pokeball and pressed A. However, the Pokemon immediately Broke free, and without warning, a text box appeared at the bottom of the screen.
"Why would you try to replace your precious Pokemon, Kaylee?" I was confused. There had never been a Pokemon that had ever spoken to me, let alone use my character's name. I hesitated, and the text box was replaced by a new one. "They only wanted you to be their friend, Akira."
"How do you know my nickname?" I spoke into the mic, know it was not likely that the Jirachi could hear me through the mic, but somehow, it did. Another text box appeared as soon as the second one disappeared.
"Your name on your Gameboy is Akira. Your Mii's name is Akira. You name so many of your characters Akira, it is impossible not to know, Akira-chan." Now I was freaked out. I knew I had named a lot of characters Akira, but this information was not in my DS system, except for on my GBA game, and I had NEVER used Akira-chan on a game, ever. And, I knew that no Pokemon or human in an english Pokemon game would ever use the suffix -chan. How did Jirachi know that my friends call me that?
As if reading my thoughts, Jirachi spoke again, and this time I could have sworn I heard a high-pitched voice in my ear. "You want to capture me, I can tell. I'll make a deal with you. I will let you capture me, if you promise to love all of us. And maybe love me a little more."
Terrified, and wanting out of this nightmare, I nearly screamed into the microphone. "Yes, yes! I'll do anything! Just get me out of this nightmare!"
"Okay, Akira-chan, I will make everything all better. Just throw a Poke ball at me, and I will fix everything you have caused." I threw a Poke ball, not pressing A, but, as if I had, the screen flashed black, and the Jirachi was instantly caught. I was suddenly back in the cave, but right by the exit ladder, which was all the way on the opposite side of the cave. It was as if a ladder had appeared right beside me. I checked my party, and all of my Pokemon had come back, and their names were normal. I read through the list happily, thinking all of this had been a weird hallucination, then saw the Jirachi at the very bottom of my party. It had been named Masquerade by the game, and I wondered if this was another glitch, or if the Jirachi had already had that name. I shrugged it off, and went up the ladder to find myself in a place I thought I had never seen before.
It appeared to be a ruin, with several buildings either crumbled to the ground, or partially destroyed. The buildings that were partially intact looked suspiciously like those in cerulean city, and to the north, there was a crumbling golden bridge. I checked my map, and it said I was in the exact spot of Cerulean city, but there was no city there. It was as if the city had been completely eliminated from the game. In fact, there was noting on the map, only oceans and -weirdly- black ground, as if everything had burned up or something.
Hearing a small giggling, I looked around the area curiously. "Who's there?"
"Heehee, it's me, Akira-chan. Masquerade."
"D-did you do this?"
"I did it all for you. Now you can love your Pokemon, and me especially, all the more. Aren't you happy?"
A yes/no box appeared on my screen, and I selected no. I had wanted all my Pokemon back, of cousre, but I hadn't wanted the whole region destroyed.
"You're not happy? But... don't you love me?" Another text box appeared, and this one said:
"Why won't you talk to me? You were happy talking to me before, now you won't say a word..."
Realizing the game wanted me to speak, I held the microphone a little closer to my face. "I love you, masquerade, but I didn't want... this."
"But can't you see that I did it for you? I did this so you would be happy, and love your Pokemon."
"But how can I love a MURDERER?" I screamed the last word into the mircophone, and the Jirachi's smiles faded. It's eyes, which were bright and happy, suddenly seemed to be shadowed by something darker, like a desire to kill. Bu there was nothing left to kill, except the five other Pokemon in my party. The screen flashed crimson, and when it faded back to the game, my trainer was covered in red splatters. I opened my party of Pokemon to see what had happened, and all of my Pokemon except Jirachi had the same "DED" status as before. But this time, there was only a pile of bones where the sprites had once existed.
"No... No..." I scrolled through my Pokemon, and when I got to the Jirachi, its eyes were bright red, and a psychopathic smile danced across its face. There were red pixels splashed across him, and there was red dripping from his mouth. I quickly realized why the other Pkemon were skeletons: he had eaten them.
"YOU CANNIBAL! WHY WOULD YOU EAT YOUR FELOW POKEMON, YOU SICK CREATURE?!"
"You don't understand? But I thought the master was always supposed to understand why. I guess you're not fit to be master. So now, it's MY turn." The Jirachi's grin grew wider, and another text box appeared, this time in a different font, which looked like the Chiller font on a computer:
"Masquerade used Doom Desire"
This confused me even further, because I wasn't in a battle. But I quickly realized what it meant when the cries of all the Pokemon I had originally had in my party blasted through my headphones, much louder and higher-pitched than they should be. The second the cries stopped, I was met by another flash of the screen, and I was in Pokemon tower, which surprised me because this wasn't even a location in Pokemon Heartgold. The Lavender town music was playing in my ears. I wanted to stop playing, but I was desperate to see how the game would end.
I walked around the first floor for a bit, but could not find an exit, so I went up the stairs to the second floor. I immediately regretted my decision when I met a ghost the first step I took. A tex box appeared, saying:
"Akira can recognize the ghost of her own Pokemon!" My own Pokemon? And how did the game know what my nickname was, I wondered again. The ghost's image faded into a picture of my Typhlosion, only its eyes were empty sockets, with red pixels dripping from them. There was a dark red hole in its chest, and there were places on it where it appeared as if its skin had been ripped from the bones.
Masquerade's sprite turned its head to me and winked before the text box appeared saying that Masquerade had used Doom Desire. After it it, Blaze's sprite seemed to become distorted, and its cry played several times, distorted and oddly high-pitched. The battle ended there, and when I found myself back in the tower, there was a small pool of red beneath my feet.
This happened three more times before I got to the second-to-last floor, each sprite more gruesome than the last. When I got to this floor, however, Everything was quiet. Even the music was gone. I knew that my Shaymin, which I had loved nearly to death, should be there. I looked around, hoping against hope that it wouldn't be there, but sure enough, the screen flashed, telling me I had found a Pokemon. The Shaymin stood in front of me. Its name had been replaced with "Please," and its status was "HLP."
The Shaymin itself seemed to have been gruesomely murdered. One of its flowers was hanging from its head at a strange angle, and there were red splashes covering the bush on its back. Red tears leaked from its eyes, and one of its paws seemed to have been ripped off of its body. A small puddle of red pixels surrounded it.
"Should I kill this one too, slave, or do you want to?" Jirachi's sprite grinned, and I could tell I had no choice. The Pokemon was going to force me to kill my favorite teammate. It grinned, and suddenly, my character appeared in Jirachi's place, a knife in her hand. "Hm... I don't really want to... You do it."
There was a piercing sound in my ear, which I soon recognized to be the Lavender Town music, played at an extremely high pitch, and much louder than it should be. I tried to cover my ears, but then remembered that I had my headphones on, and I decided to leave then on in case Jirachi had something to say. I selected FIGHT, which was the only available option, then looked at my only choice: KILL. I selected this, tears forming in my eyes, and watched as my character stabbed the Shaymin, killing it. The sprite vanished, and I thought I was done. But I was wrong.
"Now, didn't that feel good?" A yes/no box appeared on my screen, and I selected no, feeling the hot tears rolling down my cheeks.
"It didn't?" I heard a haunting melody start playing, but then another one started playing underneath it, one that now sends chills down my spine: the Lavender Town theme. "Well, we can't have that, can we? My slave has to enjoy killing, or else what fun will her master have?" The melody grew louder, becoming almost hypnotizing, and a grin grew on my face.
"You're right, masquerade. A servant should always be able to do her master's bidding. I am deeply sorry."
"Good. Now, come with me, slave, we're going to have some fun." My character's sprite nodded, and followed the Jirachi out of the tower, and the black screen flashed again, only this time, I could read the words. They were in a different language, but here, I will put the translation:
"Be careful what you capture."
I have one more message. Always look up any glitches you find, or ask several people about them, because you never know what they can do. And always be careful what Pokemon you run-
"Come on, Akira. It's time to Plaaaaaay..."
"Yes, master."