Pokemon BLOOD

I worked at a video game store with one of my best friends, Alex, and it was.. eh. It was nearly always empty, except for the occasional 12-year old and their parents or grandparents. Everything was somewhat fine until one day. July 17th, to be exact. It was summer break, and the store was empty, as per usual. Me and Alex were on lunch break, in the back and watching the cameras, making sure people weren't stealing and such, until it started glitching out.

"Hey! What happened to the cameras?" Alex asked in her usual kinda-whiney voice.

"Eh. Who cares?" I asked while munching on some chips.

"But, someone could be stealing stuff!" She said again, sounding more worried than she should be about a stupid camera.

"If you're that worried about it, go to the storefront and see." I replied, popping another chip in my mouth. Alex got up and went to the storefront, while I was wondering why she cared about this stupid job anyways. I've seen her applying for other jobs before, and she's fully capable of finding another one in a snap. I'm really the one who should care about it, but I don't. Then I heard Alex yelp, and I sighed, then put down my chips. What kind of insignificant thing is she going to blow out of proportion today? I walked to the storefront, glancing at Alex, who was staring at the counter. I took a look at the counter and saw a cartrage of some pokemon game. Pokemon red. Except it had marker scribbled on it so it said 'Pokemon BLOOD'. Alex was wide eyed, and I gave her a confused look.

"Why.. just why. Why is this terrifying to you?" She turned her head towards me and looked at me like I was crazy.

"How can I not be terrified?! Look at it!" She gestured towards the cartrage with a dramatic flair. I looked at it again, and picked it up.

"It is just some cartrage a weird-ass dude scribbled on." She still looked quite scared.

"Look, if you're that scared of It, I'll play the damn game tonight, and you can watch. Nothing will happen." I said as I tucked the cartrage into my back pocket.

"No! Don't!" She said as she reached for it.

"Dude. Calm down. It is just a fucking game." I said as I looked around the store to see if anything noticeable changed. Nothing.

".. fine.. we should still check the store to make sure nobody stole anything.."

"Puh-lease. As if someone could tamper with the cameras, come in, place that cartrage there, steal something, and get away, all without making a sound, mind you." I replied, leaning on the counter and watching Alex already checking everything 3 times over to make sure it wasn't stolen.

"Why do you even care about this job? Even if you were fired, you could get re-hired in a snap."

"Why don't you?" She shot back.

"Eh. Valid question." I said, yawning.

[C]-Later That Night..-

"Finally home! God, today was long!" I exclaimed as we walked inside our apartment, stretching.

"Y-Yeah.." Alex replied shakily.

"Are you still all wrapped up about that game?"

"Yeah..." She said in a dissapointed tone. I sighed.

"Here, I'll go to my mom's house, and find a game boy, and play it."

"What if she doesn't have one?"

"She'll have one. She's one of those nostalgia horders."

"Oh.."

"You just.. I dunno, do whatever, I guess. Don't burn the place down, but, like, make some food or something, or whatever you do in your free time." I said as I started to leave.

"Ok... be safe.." Alex said as I closed the door. I went to my mom's house and, sure enough, she had one. I went back to the apartment, and flopped onto the couch, next to Alex, who was eating spaghetti.

"You eat that every night. How do you not get tired of it?"

"It's my comfort food.." she mumbled as I got the GameBoy and the Pokemon cartrage out. I sighed.

"Here. I'll show you that there's nothing wrong with the game." I popped the cartrage into the GameBoy, and turned it on. The GameBoy logo flashed on the screen, differently from the normal way it did. The music was distorted, and the logo was red and dripping with what I could assume was blood.

"See? It's haunted!" Alex said sharply, fear clearly in her eyes and voice. I sighed and facepalmed.

"Do you know how old this is, and what it's been through? I sure don't. It could've been through Hell for all I know. So this is probably just a glitch for all we know." Alex stayed quiet for a while after that while I was figuring out the controls and whatnot. After I had, I went to the title screen of Pokemon Red, which had been replaced by Pokemon BLOOD, which sounds just plain stupid. The title screen, of course, said Pokemon BLOOD, with some blood dripping off of the title. Then, below that, the trainer had blood all over him, and dead pokemon surrounded him. Alex screamed for about a milisecond, when I covered her mouth.

"Shh! People are sleeping, dumbass!" I said, not taking my hand off of her mouth until she nodded. She still looked extremely tense, though.

"You ok? It's just a title screen.." I said, trying to be comforting.

"I-I don't like it.." I shook my head.

"It's most likely just a hack.." I thought about that for a bit.

"What a twisted motherfucker!" I said, laughing.

"They came to give this back, and it's a hacked copy!" I laughed some more, Alex looking on with confusion.

"I would've hated to get this copy!" I laughed even more, thinking about how terrified a potential child would be to get this. They'd probably write about it and then, I dunno, kill themselves? Is that what people do after playing a scary game? That's what I hear they do.

"A weird copy of a game shows up.. The camera static.. No trace of a person.. OH DEAR LORD!!" Alex suddenly yelled out, scaring me a bit.

"What are you on about?" I asked, wiping a tear.

"N-Nothing!" She said, though I could tell she was lying.

"Whatever.." I said, shrugging and getting back to the game. I pressed start, and there were 2 save files. NO, and HOPE. I started a new one, called 'Fuck You', and then the GameBoy shut off.

"Wait... What? Is that it?" I said in disbelief.

"That's stupid! Why make a game where, when you try to play it, the console turns off!" Alex, on the other hand, looked quite relieved.

"I didn't like the game too much.." She said timidly.

"No shit, Sherlock. Anyways, yoy have ant of that spaghetti left? I'm hungry and tired."

"Yeah.. It's on the stove.." She said as i hot up and went to the kitchen. I served myself a plate, and looked for the sauce, to the realization that Alex never puts sauce on her pasta.

"Alex!" I called out.

"Yeah..?" She responded

"Why don't you put sauce on your pasta?"

"I just.. prefer it that way."

"It's obviously superior with sauce."

"Sometimes I like it that way.." What a creepy way of eating pasta! Without sauce! And she's the Italian! Wait, why am I worked up over this again? Eh, whatever. I'm hungry. I ate my slightly cold pasta, without sauce, and then went to bed, having a dreamless night.