Lavender Version 1/2 (Game 1)

For awhile I just sat there, looking the game over, trying to see if there was anything else abnormal about it. I was a bit too hesitate to just immediately start playing; I knew there was something wrong with it, and I didn't want to just rush in playing. For the most part though, I was just extremely freaked out about how I'd even gotten this. The old couple I'd bought the game from didn't seem like hackers, and as far as they knew when I talked to them about it they didn't even know they had it. That meant someone must have been watching me, maybe they even planted the game there for someone to get.

I sighed, and decided that I maybe was just thinking too much into the whole thing. It was perfectly possible that this was just some kind of joke after all, and that someone was watching me, laughing at me for freaking out over a game, and especially over a Pokemon game of all things. I chuckled a bit when I thought about it, and had already convinced myself that there wasn't anything weird about this at all. I figured everything would still go as normal despite this, and that my life would still be as boring as ever.

Still, that didn't stop me from being curious about what would happen in this new game. Despite numerous attempts to distract myself, whether it be by watching TV or playing games, I just couldn't get my mind off the cartridge. I eventually gave up and decided that I might as well try it out. It's not like I get cheap gem games every day, I thought that I might as well take advantage of it. So, I popped out Red Version and put the purple game pak in. I hesitated for a moment, then I finally turned by SP on.

At first, everything seemed to be normal. The screen crediting the developers and Nintendo was still there, and I began heard the familiar tune of when Jigglypuff/Nidorino and Snorlax fight each other. However, it wasn't any of those Pokemon. Instead, Mew and Mewtwo were battling, with Mew's back to the screen. I watched them fight for their little segment, amazed as I saw Mew dodge a move that looked like Shadow Ball, and then rush in to do some sort of tackling move. I figured the cut scene would end there, but I was surprised as I saw Mewtwo simply smacked Mew away with one hand. Mew lied down a bit away from Mewtwo, looking defeated as its enemy charged up and then launched yet another Shadow Ball at Mew.

The cut scene then finally ended right before the attack hit, going right to the title screen after that. At that part, it didn't just show the protagonist standing there with a Pokemon. Instead, it showed him standing on the left side of the screen, with his rival standing at the right side using his first sprite pose, and then finally Professor Oak standing in the middle. After I finished taking all that in, I saw that this game had another title other than just 'Pokemon'.

It was titled 'Lavender Version'.

I can already guess what most of you might be thinking, and that a few of probably just groaned as soon as you read that. Surprisingly, the infamous Lavender Town hardly even had any play time in this, probably only an extra ten minutes of involvement than usual. Why it was even titled Lavender Version puzzled me for a long time until I got to the end. It was then that mostly everything made sense, but I'm getting a bit ahead right now, it's time to get back to what happened.

Once I got enough of looking at the title screen, I pressed the A button and continued on to the next screen. The screen stayed white for a bit, a little while longer than usual, then some familiar music began to play. A bit confused, I had been expecting the New Game, Continue, and Options choices to come up, but soon I realized that the music when Professor Oak talks about Pokemon was playing instead. I wasn't given any options to start with, but so far it looked like New Game was the automatic choice. Oak's sprite began to appear after a few moments, but it seemed to just fade in a lot slower than usual before his sprite was fully there. He then began his speech, which was now completely different.

OAK: Good, good, you've made it!
I'm so glad that you decided to take
on yet another request by me!

He faded away, and soon Mewtwo took his place.

OAK: See here? This is the
Pokemon I was telling you about.
I don't know where it's gone,
and that's what worries me. You
just saw it's powers, so you
already know it's deadly powerful.

As Mewtwo faded away and the protagonist's sprite came back into view, I wondered if Oak was actually referring to the Mew/Mewtwo battle. I thought that was a bit strange, that he was talking about a cut scene, but then again this wasn't any normal game. I figured that I should get used to anything out of the ordinary happening in this. I then took a deep breath as I continued on with Oak's speech.

OAK: Now then...
It looks like you're going to have
your hands full trying to find it
after everything that's happened.

The text then stopped, as well as the music. A strange sound then started to play while the screen became distorted and fuzzy. The sound itself sounded a lot like a lot of Drowzee cries playing at once over and over until the whole process stopped. The whole thing surprised me a bit, and made me think that maybe the game was glitching out. However though, everything seemed to return to normal, and Oak began to talk some more.

OAK: There. It's done.
Also, remember to check
by the lab later, I'll have
something for you that just
might help you on your way.
*the text stops*
OAK: Good luck, RED.

The game then transitioned the usual way to the starting room, though once again it seemed to just lag a bit while it happened. As soon as I could, I checked the menu, and indeed saw that my character's name was Red. A bit disappointed I didn't get to name myself, I also soon realized I didn't get to name my rival either. I decided that it must have been part of the plot to do that, and didn't worry about it too much.

As for the game, everything went normally until I went to get my starter. Oak instead individually handed me and my rival, who was automatically named Blue, each of our Pokemon. He gave me mine first, a Charmander, and then gave a Squirtle to Blue. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the time, but Oak also seemed to be a bit indifferent to Blue. It wasn't until the first battle started I began to notice that Oak seemed to be favoring Red more. Charmander had started out as Level 10, while Squirtle began as the usual Level 5. Having the obvious advantage, I beat Blue easily, though his losing speech was still the same.

After that was over, it was then time to leave Pallet Town. It was considerably easier to get through Route 1 now, especially since Charmander knew Ember, but still just the same. Viridian Town was also basically the same, just with a couple minor speech tweaks: The old man who wants coffee now instead says that Oak told him to remind Red to get Oak's Parcel when he saw him, and that I couldn't go further until I did so. His granddaughter also said something different as well, saying that her grandpa seemed a little nervous about something, and that I should just come back later. The store keeper's speech was still the same though, and once he gave me Oak's Parcel I went back on my way to the lab. Oak now said something completely different when I got back to him with his package.

OAK: Hmm...when's that
boy gonna get back yet...
*the text stops*
OAK: Oh, you're here!
What's that?
Oh, my PARCEL? Well
guess what? It's my
present to you for being
such a great trainer!

Blue then came into the room with his usual talk, and Oak then went back to his normal speech and gave us each our Pokedex. However, when he gave me mine, he said:

OAK: *whisper whisper*
Hey RED, make sure you
don't let BLUE see your
present!
*whisper whisper*
Hey BLUE! Daisy wanted
me to tell you that she was
looking for you!

Blue left the lab right after that, still talking with his regular speeches. Red immediately walked back to Oak, who then told him about the parcel.

OAK: RED, inside my
PARCEL is a strange new
Pokemon that our researchers
discovered. It appears to only
be a remnant of it's former-
self. Perhaps if one was able
to raise it properly...
*the text stops*
OAK: RED, I think that you
are a talented Trainer from
what I've already seen you do.
I want you to raise it.
Will you do for me this
last favor?

A yes/no option came up. I automatically chose yes, excitedly wondering what this new Pokemon was. I thought it was a bit strange though that it had to travel by package, couldn't it just be sent over the PC? Neverless, I didn't really care too much, I just really wanted to know what was going to happen next.

OAK: Thank you so much!
Good l...u...c...kkkkk...
...

"Uh...that was a bit strange." I said out loud. "What is?" someone asked. I jumped a bit, since I didn't even realize that someone else had come into the room. "Jeez, you're jumpy today." It was my little sister, Alyssa. Well, she wasn't really that little, she was only a couple years younger than me, we both even went to high school together.

"It's nothing," I told her, "Just a weird glitch." "Mhm," she replied, "So, what're you playing?" Already beginning to get annoyed, I said "I'm just playing Pokemon, it's the one I bought a few days ago." "Oh," was all she said after that. I looked over to her, and saw she had pulled out our DS from my drawers and was already beginning to play. She put in her own new used game she'd bought as well, Heart Gold, and soon left the room, finally leaving me to my peace.

I then turned back to my game, and saw that my menu was open. I didn't remember already opening it, but figured it was part of the game to do that now. I couldn't exit out of the menu at that point, all that would happen is the cancel sound. I figured that I was supposed to go and 'use' Oak's Parcel, so I went straight to the menu and scrolled down over to it. I selected it, chose 'use', then waited. The game seemed to lag once more, but soon enough went back to normal.

RED unleashed OAK'S
PARCEL!
RED has chosen to take
PRIESTESS under his care!

I thought that was a weird way to put it, but I still didn't pay much attention to all the little weird things that were happening. The only thing I really cared about at that time was what I was given. Wondering what Priestess was, I checked my party, and saw that I now had a new Pokemon. It's menu sprite was just a black block, so I decided to check it's stats to get a better look. Surprisingly, it was Level 0, had 1HP, 1 as all it's stats, 1 EXP to level up, and was a Psychic/Ghost type with no moves. What really caught my eye though was the sprite.

It was the Ghost sprite, the one from Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. I got a bit excited at that point, I thought that maybe I had ran into one of the actual Creepy Black hacked games, just like from the creepypasta story that I had read so many times before. The only thing wrong with my theory though was, well, just about everything. Other than the sprite, it was nothing like GHOST. Other than everything I already mentioned, other things that were different was it's cry, which sounded basically like the low-health theme that only went on for two seconds. Also, it couldn't get sent out to battle, even if it were in the front of my party, and it couldn't be switched to get sent out during a battle either. Because of this, it couldn't level up normally, not even through the use of items like Rare Candy. This made me wonder what I was supposed to do with it for the longest time, especially since I couldn't put in my PC or release it either.

The most frustrating part about it though was that this meant that I basically only had a party of five Pokemon to use this time around. I figured it would be hell to try to get through the Elite Four now unless I did some major grinding, which I'd never been a fan of in the first place. I figured that I just wouldn't use the Nugget Bridge Mew glitch this time since Mew had always just been an extra, unneeded powerhouse on my team, and that I would use the best all-around team I could find instead. I planned to have a final team with Charizard, Raichu, Gyrados, Hitmonchan, and Hypno, figuring it was the most balanced team I could think of at the time.

And so for the next few days, I played through the hacked game. Even after I had already gone through the beginning eerie events of the game, I still had no idea that the worst had truly yet to come...