Preface: Strong language inbound. The views of the character do not match the views of the author. It is a work of satire. Any and all comments, especially negative, destructive statemens, are most welcome. With that out of the -it is also a work of satire- way, enjoy.
You know, I was once a skeptic of the after-life, of hauntings... I still am, but I was, too. I was raised with the fear of the almighty Dollar crashing down upon me if I didn't donate as much as I could to the basket every Sunday. If not, well, my gameboy was taken away and I was locked in the basement for a few hours –only until supper, but it felt much longer.
Ah, but that was before dad died. After he passed, mother and aunt Kim picked up the slack, helping me until I got to college and not much else. That doesn't mean they didn't care. Oh no... They simply cared when I got my grades, the acceptance letter, and the nice, bulky grant bribe- uh, I mean "donation." You see, they expected $2000 from it every time, as "payment" for living under their roof so many years. "I would be done paying by the time I was out of college and in a good job," My mother told me, yet garnered nor wanted nothing from my sister, Petrice, when she went.
Right. Whatever. They get $2500 out of... way too little, to be honest. Way too much in the college's eye, of course, since they kept raising tuition, but, during my junior year, I had the strongest feeling of nostalgia, of wanting my old gameboy... Stupid, since I had a Vita, but whatever. I found an emulator, slapped it on my cracked phone, and got to work finding a game, and what better game than that herpes of yore: Pokemon.
Red? Played that to death. I want something different.
Blue? Who wants that stupid turtle?
Green? Oh. Wow. Giant poison toad frog plant thing. Plus, Japanese only. No thanks.
Yellow? Who didn't want to be Ash... said no one above the age of 15. Ever.
Oh, but what's this? Pokemon Black? Wasn't that a DS game, though. How is this one for the regular gambo? I know the old bastard had power, but I didn't think it could leap generations. Could be a virus, and the last thing I need is to explain how a Pokemon game corrupted my computer to my mom. Pass.
This one looks legit. Pokemon: Lavender. What's the description? "A Pokemon ROM made to have only the color palette and sound file of Lavender town. Play at your own risk." Oh, SOOOO spooky... I'll keep it in mind.
Pokemon: Blood... Wow. So edgy. Make sure not to cut yourself on that edge, guys. Even had a bloody image icon of Pikachu with blacked out eyes... I think I'm going to need stitches after seeing this.
Gold- wait. This played on the regular Gameboy? I thought this was a color- huh. It was made to run on the regular originally, with additional color for the GBC. Neat. I never got to play the second gen, but this opens up so many possibilities... I'll come back to this.
Silver. Same, but different. How different... okay. Those are some derpy sprites. Gold is winn-
Emerald has moving sprites. S- but it was GBC-only. Damn. I could get an emulator, but it wouldn't be the same.
… What's this one? Pokemon... Vereor Nox? A french Mod of Pokemon Gold? The description... Yeah. That's what it is. "Pokemon: Vereor Nox is a Mod of Pokemon Gold, made to make nights much more interesting. Feel your heart race as you encounter nine more pokemon exclusive to this mod, as well as the terror of finding somewhere safe to stay if you are unfortunate enough to be caught outside of the PokeCenter when the full moon rises." Interesting... and it still runs on the Gameboy emulator. S-
Damn idle timers. Fine. Restarted the page. Hap-
There's a review.
See you soon. :3
… That was sent just now... Weird. Time to start down-
AGAIN WITH IDLE TIMER? WHAT? THAT WAS LESS THAN LAST TIME.
Okay, okay. Restarted, and the review is gone... Don't care. Download. Done. Get off this stupid page. Get it on the phone, then get to the bus stop for class. Ah, WVU: where the buses are late and the PRT is later. Wonder when the RA is going to come bitching about my "torrenting"? I know she won't do it for my roomie Todd –mostly because he's tapped that. Science help him how he can stomach her, but I would sooner suck his D for the amount of bitching he saves me. Now, if only he remembered to turn off the sink and oven in the mornings, he'd make the perfect wife.
The elevator dinged at that, and went down. Seventeenth floor, and of course it had to stop on floor two for ten people because what's a stair? Of course, I got stuck behind that herd through the lobby and down the block. Of course, that herd took up every seat on the first bus, but at least I was left for fifteen minutes at the bus stop alone... You hear that? That's paradise.
Might as well try the mod... Same opening as always, showing gengar and nidorino duking it out after the Gamefreak logo and shooting stars- skip. And... POKEMON... no word under? No Red- or Silver or whatever his name is on the title screen? At least there was some type of Pokeman on it... for the first five seconds. Then the screen turned black, and something cried –most likely it. The next moment, light was back, and the Pokemon was gone. Shame; looked cool, like a cross between an anaconda and a hawk. Most of its body was covered in a down of bright red, tipped with purple diamonds, but it had no arms or legs. Only four pairs of wings- and now that it's back, I can see eyes on the wings. None on its head, though, replaced by a large, scaly beak- and gone.
Guess I should hit start. What kind of soundbyte did this thing have- oh, maybe I should wait for it to come back on screen... nah... and I hate being right. No sound... but there was a save.
With my name... Huh. The creator must have known this would be used on cracked phones, and made it read the user's info. That's... dedication, really. Especially since it was still running on the gameboy engine. Might have to donate to them.
The game, as always, began with you in your room, about to go on an ad... I was an errand boy? They made me a bitch-boy within the first ten minutes of the game? What is this, Final Fantasy? I play Pokemon to become a Pokemon master, as it said at the beginning of... that... one song... No. Not mentioning it. Definitely not. Finally got it out of my mind.
What sort of starters do we have this time? Wonder which one was the best- like no one ever was- DAMMIT. GET OUT. GET. OUT... Okay. We got some sort of... enchilada-named thing. Looks like a porcupine but with fire. We have... we have a... what is that thing? It has a leaf on its head, and looked like a derpy horse... Pass. The third looked like a MOTHERFUCKING CROCODILE DRAGON. SOLD. I shall name y- WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T NAME IT YET?
Oh. Right. Bitch-boy. At least I got my first pokemon, but why no rival... Hey. There's Prof. Oak, who finally decided to get off his ass and do something aside sending ten-year olds out to... and with his word, I am now yet another ten-year old sent to do his bidding... AT LEAST I GOT YOUR HUEVO, JACKASS. Y-
And the bus showed up just then, and the only seat open was near the front. No arm room to do anything else. Guess I can hope for a slow day in Econ- and it was group work. Three classes, back-to-back, two tests, one group work, another bus ride, "homework", then I could play again- wait, was it evening now? This game had time shifts? Cool... and now that explains the "full moon" bull. Looks like that edge was blunted before it could start cutting.
That's my rival? That red-haired punk-ass bitch? I'll take him down- why did he pick derpygrass? I know it's in tradition, but no one should pick derpygrass. Nobody... died quick enough, and I finally got to name my WATER GODZILLA... "Oh, shit." yes, I'm still immature, and yes, I named my rival "btpirat." So far a decent mod. Not as good as Red was, but it flowed a lot better.
Hmm? Oh. It switched to night... and it got dark, quick. W-why wasn't I allowed out of the professor's lab? The fuck? I approached the Professor, and clicked on him.
"... I was too late."
Wha?
I clicked him again.
"... I was too late."
Too late for wh-
The speakers cracked and shrieked, the screen sputtered, and the phone died... At least I saved after talking to him, but what was that? I plugged in the phone, and turned on the TV while I waited for it to charge. Damn, that made my hands shake.
And my roomie into an action hero.
"What the hell's happening," He exclaimed, kicking off some of the door. "Who screamed?"
"Was my phone, brah. Chill. Damn, man. Look what you did."
"Well, sorry. Thought someone was attacking you."
"Nah, bro. I cool. Like I said, my phone died, so I turned on the TV."
"... So... You screamed because your phone died?"
"No. That was my phone. This weird Pokeman ROM I'm running."
"Shit, dude. Did you torrent that? You know how much sucking up I'm gonna have to do?"
"You like it, and you know it."
"Damn right. At least I'm getting some p-"
"If I wanted some granny pussy, I'd hit up the old home. Know what I'm saying."
"She's only a few years older."
"Old enough to wear grammy panties."
"She wears thongs most of the time, thank you."
"TMI, man."
"She has a sister, though, who's coming into town... She wants her sis to show her around..."
"Aight. I'll take one for the team."
"I know you will. That is your payment."
"Yeah, yeah. Crawl back to her already. I'm fine."
"Alright. Peace, man."
"Peace."
With that he left... along with the majority of the door. A bit still dangled from the bottom of the frame, but that dog seriously needs to learn to chill... as do I. My hands still shook, and why did I avoid looking at my phone. Why did I jump when it chimed, showing it was charging?
And why was there a push notification from the game?
Got you. :3
… Fuck... You. I get it now. I should have known from Pokemon: Black. They were all viruses, weren't they? Science dammit, 4Chan and /vg/. I trusted you. Well, I'll just delete that mod, and head to bed. Tomorrow was Accounting and some fine arts BS class my mother wanted me because fuck reason...
Hmm?
That was an odd alarm.
"Todd, man," I grumbled, rolling over, rubbing my eyes. "The fuck is that?"
"Thought that was you," He mumbled, yawning and flicking on h- "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"
I blinked, and saw a shadow looming over, its green eyes gleaming through the fog before they were gone, lost with the light. The noise had stopped, but my phone's screen was still alight.
With another push notification from the mod.
I wasn't done with you. :3
It's been so long since I had a friend. :3
… That... That didn't just happen... O-one I can understand, being a latent file. Hell, it could have been sent and saved before I went to sleep, but that... that one was sent just now.
Along with another.
Play with me. :3
"Ben, man, the fuck," Todd asked, slumping into his bed again with a groan. "Isn't it a bit late to pull this freshman bullshit?"
"Wasn't me, man. I swear."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just don't not do anything again. I have a test tomorrow."
Fine. Don't believe me. Leave the light on. Not like I was getting any more sleep. Not like he had... something over him... Man, listen to yourself. Sounding crazy up in here... Doesn't help that the phone flashed again.
Don't just stare. Play. :3
… I... I grabbed the phone off the nightstand, and turned off the light for Prince High and Mighty over there. Fine, you want me to play, motherfucker, I'll play. Let me just get my laptop and r...
… You... You were already... How? I know I deleted you. Erased you from the entire phone. Even did a reset to before I had the emulator. How the f-
Play. Play. Play. Play! Play! :3
Will you hush up? I'm playing your damn game. Once again, that familiar Gamefreak logo, again those shooting stars- skip. POKEMON weird reptilian bird edition. This time, with more color... really. The wings were no longer simply red, but a shimmering prism of red, changing hues. The scales around its beak were a mottled gray at their base, brightening to skeletal white. The eyes on the wing were a piercing green, the lights in them focused, unblinking.
Odd. Why didn't the screen darken yet? I'll... just hit start now- and a giggle erupted from the speakers... I put it on mute.
"Seriously, dude?" Todd said, practically leaping from his bed, stomping out of the room.
… On second thought, thank you weird giggle. Now I can turn on the l... turn on the l... Turn on...
Why wouldn't it?
It was fine a moment ago.
I clicked on my save, and I was back in the prof's place... only... well, looks like the prof was a bit more... colorful than I remembered. Red was a nice shade on him and the checkered floor around, and it looked good on his assistant as well, put on top of the bookshelf by the entrance. My sprite was fine, though. I pressed start and checked my WATER GODZILLA.
Only to find it replaced by... something.
It didn't have a sprite by the name outside of the stats screen, and when I pressed it, it was little more than an egg with an eye peaking out... which suddenly makes its name make sense.
ISEEU:3
… Didn't have bad stats, considering it was level one, and it had pound, harden, and smokebomb. Ghost type to put? Nothing's going to be able to touch it this early, if I remember right. Might as well grind a few levels tonight, then try to get some sleep.
And the modder wasn't kidding about the night. I thought it got dark before. Oh, cool. You can see the reflection of the moon in the puddles. Only a quarter moon tonight... as it was in real life, too. Was this mod also using the phone's calendar? Where could I check the date?
Go into grass. Play :3
Alright, alright. Pushy little fuck, aren't you? Let's run in the grass... Taking longer than usual... Could that also been an addition from the creator? Less spawning enemies at night? Makes sense, actually, but sometimes realism is not worth i-
Finally. A pidgey... and it looked terrified. It's back was turned to us, its soundbyte on repeat, chirping away frantically. Oh, no. Yet another sound made it through the mute. Color me shocked.
A Wild Pidgey Was Too Late.
… That's not right.
ISEEU:3 Used Bind. Wild Pidgey is in a Bind.
That's definitely not right.
Wild Pidgey Tried to Flee, but Failed.
Do I need to say it again?
ISEEU:3 Used Smokebomb.
The screen went black as the speakers erupted with that giggling again, drowning out the pidgey's chirping until, with one solid crunch, it was gone. Wet smacks came from the speakers, slapping together, and, when the screen returned, the eggshell of ISEEU:3 was stained red, and it raised three whole levels.
Wild Pidgey is dead.
… Did they say a Pokemon was dead in Red? It's been so long-
Search for others who were too late.
… Yeah. Bedtime. Definitely... Bedtime. But first, I'm going to smash this phone, and then bed...
Morning came, and Todd completed his morning routine of beaming a pillow at my head.
"Wake up, fat fuck."
"Love you too, Sugarbean," I mumbled, spine cracking as I sat up- oh, yeah. That's the spot. Crack again for me, baby. "How was your test?"
"Bombed it."
"Nice. Any more classes?"
"Nah. Gonna spend the rest of the day with Mel."
"Dude. Don't use her name this early. The toilet is too far away."
"Don't forget. Sister in town soon."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep me bitched at, and I'll be fine."
"Good- oh, dude. You still have that app on your phone. Fo real?"
"W-what do you m-"
… My phone was on my nightstand again, its screen covered in notifications... there didn't appear to be one scratch on it, and my thumb still had a piece of plastic in it from last night's... "fix."
"Dude..."
He shook his head and huffed, plopping onto his bed and taking off his shoes.
"Hey, man. You want to play that kiddie shit. Just remember: it takes two to be a battle. I'll get you. Just you wait."
"Man, wait. This ain't-"
He already left, the cloth over the door swishing shut... what do all these say?
Why did it go dark?
Where did you go?
I wasn't done.
Why is it getting harder to write these?
Oh. I see. You brokeded it all up.
I fix, see?
Must have been an accident.
I forgive you, friend. :3
Play? :3
Play now? :3
New friend?
You there?
Play. :3
Play! :3
There you are, friend. :3
Play? :3
Play! :3
Those... Those last three... all while I was looking at it... Why... why didn't it have a battery marker anymore? Why was there only the emulator and ROM? In fact, why wasn't there a plug outlet on this thing? It was one solid body now... Wonder how aerodynamic it is?
I opened the window, and tossed it as hard as I could before coffee –so of course it simply hit the sill and stayed in... oh, no. I accidentally brushed it off. Now it's plummeting seventeen stories... Flew pretty good. Now, that old coffee pot is calling my name. Wonder what's in the news...
The elevator dinged, reaching my floor at last. My fingers and red shirt were stained, but at least my backpack was fine. That accounting homework is getting hit hard tonight. Get it out of the way before the week- hahahahahahah... Who am I kidding? It's Thursday. It's time for a beer or five. No classes on Friday for the freakin' win. Can't wait to sit down, put on a bad porn, and drink away the n-
Why was there a group of people outside my dorm?
Todd pushed his way through and poked my chest, snarling.
"What the fuck," He exclaimed. "Pranking me at night is one thing, but this is a little beyond retarded."
"What's the problem, foo?"
"My problem is that your phone won't shut the hell up. It's crying and screaming like a bitch with a skinned knee, and nothing we can do can shut it up."
"B... But my phone..."
"Yes, your phone. We even tried putting it in water. Nope. Nothing."
"I... Let... let me see it."
He pushed his way through the mob again, more than a few dirty looks stabbing me in the back, and pushed us through the cloth. As he said, my phone was on the nightstand... screaming... no longer dulled by the mob, no longer safe for ears. I approached it one shaking step at a time, chest aching against the cries, dying a little with each fresh squall. I grabbed it, held it up.
And it went silent.
There you are, friend. :3
I was worried. :3
Everything went dark again.
I fixed myself.
You are so klutzy. :3
Why were people hitting me?
Why did they put me in water?
Can we play now? :3
Play? :3
Actually, I have a thought. :3
Friend can't be trusted to keep me safe.
But I can protect friend. :3
I want friend to join me.
Join? :3
It's almost night, too. :3
We can have you join tonight. :3
I'm so happy, friend. :3
Join? :3
Play until you can? :3
… I handed the phone to Todd.
"Ben?"
"I want you to take this as far as you can. I'll pay for busfare, PRT, anything; just get it as far away as you can. I never want to see it again?"
"Why do you want me to do it?"
"Honestly? I just want to make sure I'm not the only one going insane..."
I sat in my bed, hugging my pillow, watching the time roll by on the laptop –reset to factory default. I ran Malware Bytes, ESET, TDSS, Spybot Search and Destroy, and, yes, even Norton. Nothing on it –except Norton. Todd stayed with landwhale, probably manning another harpoon as we speak. No beer bottles laid by the bed, nor were on the stand or spread across the bed. No porn blared on the TV. It was just me and this computer.
And the lamp.
How funny it worked this night. It's buzzing was such a welcoming noise from the giggling the night before, of the shrieking and screaming and chirping. Gods, that chirping. I can still hear it...
I really can.
It was faint, incredibly faint, like that voice that hung just out of earshot but you knew it was talking shit about you. Where was it coming from? The kitchen? The bathroom? No... can't be the bathroom. There's no window in there. Only the shitter, the sink, and the shower. Yet, as I crept closer, it became clearer, warbling... rippling in the toilet. I grabbed a bit of paper before reaching in, but the black case was untouched, pristine, the water simply rolling off the screen, alight and alive.
A pidgey flapped away on it... a full, HD pidgey, wrapped in dark tendrils, leading back to the egg –what was left of it. A dark downy ball of puff sat inside that half-shell, licking its bright yellow chops, dripping with blood and bone. It smacked that beak together, unfurled its wings, and four green eyes blinked at me, two winking.
There you are, friend. :3
I decided to play without you.
Hope you don't mind? :3
I thought it'd be better if I did.
After all.
"We'll be together forever."
I looked up at the mirror, and saw a shadow looming over my shoulder again, those green eyes disappearing once more. I threw the phone at the mirror and dashed out of the bathroom-
Meeting the shadow at the "door."
"Where are you going, friend?" It said, pushing against my chest, into the wall. It giggled, those greens glowing brighter, shining off the teeth ripping their way out of the dark. "Thinking of leaving me? Just like everyone else? No... I'm tired of losing friends. I want you to stay. With me. Forever."