It was my tenth birthday, and my mom is finally taking me to GameStop to get my very own Pokemon game. I was bouncing excitedly in my seat, my Piplup plushie in my lap. I looked out the car window with wide eyes as we pulled into the parking lot.

I unbuckled and got out, my Piplup plushie in my arms. I waited beside the car for my mother, and then we went inside. My eyes widened at all the games and toys.

"Go ahead and browse," my mother said. "I'll wait at the front."

I excitedly ran towards the back aisle labeled "Pokemon" and scanned the games. There were games for all the Nintendo systems, the Gbc, Gba, and Ds. I glanced them over, and came over a game called Pokemon Black Death. I frowned. Shouldn't it just be Black? Why the word Death? It showed the usual Reshiram on the front, and looked normal, except that the Reshiram's eyes were a blood red instead of the usual light blue, and blood was on it's jaws.

Hmmm…

Intrigued, I picked the case and turned it over to the back, and was startled to see the characters looked… different. The girl had red eyes, and the boy had black eyes. Cheren and Bianca's eyes were all white.

I decided to buy it. Maybe it is a special edition or something. I grabbed a Pikachu keychain and Pokeball pillow along the way and walked to the front where my mother was waiting. She stood, smiling. "Ready, sweetie?" I nodded and we went up to the counter. The cashier took the case from my hands and his eyes widened when he saw it.

"Uh… uh… this is not for sale…," he said, stammering.

I turned to my mother. "Mommy! That's not true! They wouldn't put it in the aisle if it wasn't being sold!" I was in tears, clutching my Piplup plushie tight to my chest. For some reason, I really wanted this game.

My mother turned to the cashier. "Mister... " she glanced at his name tag. "Patrick. If this game was not for sale, it would not be among the products that are for sale, not would it?" She said this politely, but with the hidden protectiveness of a mother who's child was turned down. And that is the exact case.

Patrick shook his head meekly and scanned the game before bagging it along with the other things and handing it to me. "That'll be $8.99."

My mother took the money from her wallet and handed it to him, then she steered me towards the door. We went out and got in the car. I set my Piplup plushie on the seat beside me and dug into my bag, pulling out the game. I studied it, still puzzled over it, and stared at it until we pulled into our driveway. I opened the door and jumped out, and my mother and I went inside. Then I ran upstairs, throwing my Pokeball pillow and Pikachu keychain on the bed, and grabbed my metallic pink Ds from my closet, replacing it with my Piplup plushie.

Settling into my light purple bean bag, I inserted the game card into the Ds and selected the game icon on the main menu. But, as the game intro started, it showed Reshiram flying over the region, using Fusion Flare on everything. Then the screen cut to Nuvema Town, where NPC sprites were doing their day to day things, but they looked… weird. They had bandages and blood on them, and the town didn't look modern. It looked medieval.

Whaaa…?

I grabbed the game case from the floor and looked at it again. I reread the title. Black death… black death… wasn't that a disease from a long time ago?

I looked back at my Ds and was startled to see that the screen had faded to black, with these words in red letters: "Black Death Is Back"

What the heck?! This was getting scary. I watched the screen as it cut to the part of the intro where the Pokemon Professor introduces the game. I was relieved, seeing as it seemed normal now. I chose my avatar, which was the girl, of course, but the thing that was different was that her eyes were red. But I let it pass. I named her "Haley", as usual, and started the game. Like usual, I chose my Pokemon, one called "Snivy". I went on through the game, battling and training my Pokemon.

By the time I reached the fourth town, I had a pretty good team of Pokemon. I had Vine, my Servine, level 26, Whiskers, my Liepard, level 24, Pigge, my Tranquill, level 27, Woofstache, my Herdier, level 25, and Vapor, my Panpour, level 25. I felt ready for anything, so I decided to battle Lenora, the Nacrene City gym leader. If I defeated her, I would have my second gym badge. My first gym battle for the Trio badge had been so easy, that getting the Basic badge would be just as simple. I just had to be careful of Lenora's Watchog and it's Super Fang and Hypnosis attacks, and I would be fine. It couldn't be that much harder than the first gym was, right?

Oh, how I was wrong.

After beating all the gym trainers, I left the gym and quickly ran back to the Pokemon Center to heal up. Then I hurried to the Poke Mart, bought ten Potions, ten Revives, and five Awakenings, and then ran back to the gym. I went through to where Lenora was waiting.

The battle commenced.

I eagerly sent out Vine, since his Toxic attack has helped me many times before. Lenora sent out her Lillipup, which was level 18, and I selected Vine's attack Vine Whip, just to bring down Lillipup's health points down a bit before using Toxic.

The Lillipup's health went down, and then it was it's turn. Lenora commanded it to use an attack I had never heard of before, called Dark Spread, and it brought my Servines health points down. Although the Lillipups turn was over, my Pokemon's health kept decreasing slowly, even as I attacked. Soon, there was barely any health left in my Pokemon. The Lillipup finished Vine off with one last Tackle attack, and Vine fainted. Shocked at being beaten so easily by a Pokemon so much weaker than mine, I sent out my next best one, Pigge, my Tranquill.

My Tranquill s best attack was it's Aerial Ace attack, which I used a lot since it never missed and did a whopping sixty damage, so I was sure that I would have the advantage. Sure enough, since my Pokemon was quicker, I attacked first with Aerial Ace, and I defeated the Lillipup. But I then noticed that my Pokemon's health was going down gradually after each turn, just like before.

What. The. HECK?!

I knew if this kept up, I would lose this gym battle for sure. Just what is Dark Spread doing this for, and why is it affecting all of my Pokemon, and not just Vine? Why is it behaving so similar to a poison or burn, since it keeps bringing my Pokemon's health down?

I kept going, though, and watched as Lenora sent out a Herdier, like mine. Hers was level 24. I knew it would be stronger than Lillipup, but Tranquil still had a lot of health left, so I might have a chance.

I used a Leer attack, successfully bringing down the Herdier's Defense stats. It attacked with Bite, bringing my Tranquill's health down more. Then its health went down more due to the Dark Spread.

Taking a risk, I attacked with a Quick Attack, and the Herdier fainted. As I was enjoying that victory, I waited for her next Pokemon, which I knew had to be a Watchog.

I was right. A Watchog was sent out, level 27. But its eyes were red, and it had bandages on its limbs, head, and tail. I was shocked.

But the battle continued like normal, although my Tranquill was very low on health now. I returned him and sent out Whiskers, my Liepard, knowing her Fury Swipes would defeat this Watchog quickly, especially if I used Leer first.

So, I did. I used Leer, bringing the Watchog's Defense down, and the Watchog used a Crunch attack. I cursed as my own Pokemon's Defense was lowered, a usual side effect of Crunch.

Although Whisker s health was gradually lowering, something I was used to by now, I was able to use Fury Swipes and Leer repeatedly, successfully weakening the Watchog bit by bit. I was getting confident when suddenly the Watchog used Hypnosis.

Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot believe I had forgotten about Hypnosis. Cursing, I returned her, knowing that an Awakening would be useless, since Watchog would likely use Hypnosis the next turn, and that would just put my Pokemon back to sleep.

I sent out Vapor, and selected its Scald attack, hoping to burn Watchog, and I did. It's health went down rapidly. I also noticed Watchog's health had been going down after each turn since it had been sent out.

Was the opponent being affected by Dark Spread as well?

I used a final Fury Swipes, and successfully defeated Watchog. I was so happy for this victory, I almost dropped my Ds as I cried out in happiness.

Lenora appeared on the field. "Well, done, Haley. Although you have made a big mistake, you have won the Basic badge."

I jumped in a startle when I read her words. Big mistake? What did she mean?

Oh, well. I watched as the badge was placed in my badge case, and I ran out the gym towards the Pokemon center.