I squinted my eyes, trying to read what the screen was telling me. All the mixed colors were so confusing, and I had hardly learned how to properly read those strange lines yet. “I focused, trying to remember the letters I had learned in class and how to pronounce them. “W… Waaaa… Watle?” I mumbled, not really understanding what the word meant, or if I had got it right. “How do you get Mark confused with Watle?” My big brother snatched the DS out of my hands. Apparently I didn’t get the word right.
“Why are you even looking at my trainer card?” I opened my mouth, having not really thinking of a response yet but wanting to look smart, but he cut me off anyways, “Whatever.” He fumbled around with the DS, pressing buttons in a mystical pattern I couldn’t imagine ever perfecting. After a minute he gave it back to me. I eagerly clutched the game. The character was standing in the middle of the dirt road once more, ready for battle. I was relieved, as I didn’t really know how to exit out of that “Trainer card” as my big brother put it.
“Just be sure not to mess anything up, idiot.” I gasped in utter shock. He had said the “I” word. “You aren’t supposed to say tha-” “Mommy and daddy aren’t here, they can’t hear me all the way at the grocery store. I can say all I want.” He taunted as he resumed playing his DSi. I scowled at his despicable behavior and instead turned my attention back to my game, or to be more precise, his game. I wasn’t allowed to have a video game of my own yet, considering how I could barely read.
All other thoughts pushed to the back of my mind, I started walking around in the patch of grass closest to me. I started thinking about how this HeartGold game was so fun, even though I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying. Just as I was thinking about how I could plead to my parents to buy me my own game, the screen flashed, and I entered a battle.
The Pokémon that appeared on the other side of the screen looked absolutely adorable, plus it was pink, my favorite color. It sparkled, and I let out a squeal. “I found a Whopper!” My big brother sighed and shook his head in a “What am I going to do with you?” kind of manner, then spoke, “You dumbo, it’s Wooper, not Whopper.” I huffed, “Whatever.” and went back to the battle, eyes gleaming.
I was controlling some ugly rat thing that had the number 10. The pink “Wooper” had the number 6. I clicked on the word that started with “F”, since I knew that would let me attack, even though I didn’t know how to pronounce it. Alright, gotta use a not really strong attack to make it weak… I felt proud of myself for at least knowing a little bit on how to control the game. I clicked on “Cut”, since I didn’t think it was tough, plus I actually could read it.
“Ratface used Cut!” He attacked the pink Wooper. “Critical hit!” I didn’t know what the word meant, but I gasped when the pink Wooper’s bar was at red. I knew that meant it was about to die. It attacked the rat with Water Gun, but it didn’t hurt him much. I clicked on the bag option, and looked around at all the choices until I found the one with the red and white ball picture. I selected it and threw it at the Wooper.
Shake, shake, shake… Sweat started to pour down my forehead in suspence. </i>…Click!</i> “Yes! Yes!!” I jumped for joy when I saw I had successfully caught my pink Wooper. I started moving my feet and waggling my arms, doing a little dance of my own I made up as I went along. I only stopped when I dropped the DS, barely catching it in time before it collided with the floor. “Hey, watch it! I told you to be careful with that. Man, you’re so stupid at times.” My brother criticized me. “Well, sorry. I’m just really happy that I caught a pink Whopper.” I retorted back. “It’s Wooper, dip sh- Wait, a pink one? They’re supposed to be blue, not pink! Gimme that.” He reached out and snatched the game from me once more before I could react.
His eyes grew wide as he stared at the game, “Woah, you actually caught a shiny!” “Yeah, it did sparkle when I found it… I wanna name it Shelly!” I shouted out to him, despite him being able to hear me clearly enough. “Shelly? That’s a stupid name, but since you caught it, I guess just this once… <small>Plus I can change it later…</small>” He pressed some more buttons, and in a flash I had the game back.
I grinned manically when I saw the pink creature standing behind the trainer. I pressed the A button and talked to it. A heart popped about its head, and some words appeared, “Woah! Shelly suddenly hugged you!” I could only understand the word hugged, but just that sent me into a fit of giggles. “She’s so cute!” I spoke aloud to myself. “Who? Oh, that Wooper? It’s a boy, you know.” My big brother informed me, never looking up from his game.
I froze in place, my giggles quickly dead. “It’s a… boy?” My brother mindlessly nodded his head as a response, still focused on his game. I looked back at the Wooper, and just stared dumbly at it for a moment. “…Eeeww! That’s so gross! It’s a boy and it’s pink!” My brother seemed to just ignore me. I clicked on the button with the green ball, and switched the rat to the first slot instead of Shelly.
I was utterly dissapointed, and my heart sunk. Shelly was so cute, but I didn’t want it if it was going to be a boy. I walked back in the grass and tried to find another one to catch, which would hopefully be a girl this time. The screen flashed, and I entered another battle. This time another Wooper appeared, but instead of being pink and sparkly, and it was blue and purple. Hmm… This one looks like a boy… So it can be a boy! My logic seemed perfectly flawless at the time, so I decided to catch this one also.
I made the ugly rat use Cut again, which didn’t hurt it as much as last time. The Wooper attacked with Tail Whip, which didn’t do anything except make the rat turn a different color. Afterwards I immediately went to the bag and threw another red and white sphere at it. Shake, shake, shake… Click! I didn’t dance or shout for joy this time, as this victory didn’t seem as sweet. But I still felt a bit pleased nonetheless.
I handed the DS to my big brother, who unwillingly put down his DSi and accepted it. “I caught another Wooper,” I informed him, “And I want him to be named, uhh…” I hadn’t really thought of a name to give him yet. My brother interrupted all possible thoughts of concentration though, “It’s a girl, not a boy.” It took a moment for the words to set in, and when they did, I started to fume in anger, “What?! But it looks like a boy! It has to be a boy!!” My big brother pressed some buttons on the DS, oblivious to my obvious unsatisfaction. “Here, I named it Shelly just for you. Now don’t bug me again.” He told me strictly as he handed the game back. I unwillingly took it back.
The new Shelly was standing behind the trainer, bobbing around happily. I talked to her, and a heart popped above her head, along with the same words as before with the other Shelly. “Bleck, I like that rat better than this thing.” I switched out the rat for new Shelly, happy to have those two things out of my sight.
“A wild Shelly appeared!” A Pokémon appeared on the other side of the screen that was most definitely not normal. It looked as if someone had ripped apart different body segments of a normal and pink Wooper, and pieced them together with strings of skin. Half of its head was shiny, the other half normal. Pieces of its own flesh were tied around them to keep them held together. Same for its torso, feet, and tail. Not to mention it was bloody.
“Look! We’re everything you wanted!” The letters were in blue and pink, making hem a tad difficult to read. That didn’t matter because I couldn’t understand the sentence. And that mattered even less as I was too busy panicking at the sight before me. My fingers trembled, and my head started to get sweaty. After a moment of sheer panic, I remembered the “Run” button and how is lets you escape a battle. I pressed down on that button as if my life depended on it, nearly bending the touch screen. “You still don’t love us…?” I quickly zoomed through the text without taking a second glance.
It went back to the character in the main world, standing in the grass with the rat. I breathed heavily, the image of that Wooper still fresh on my mind. My breath started to fog up the screen, so I mindlessly wiped it off. I couldn’t concentrate, and all my thoughts were of uncontrollable fear. The DS started to slip out of my hands, but I quickly clutched it tighter.
I decided I would try one of my techniques that I saved for occasions like this. I closed my eyes, scrunched up my face, and blocked everything that just happened out of my head. I instead thought of cute things, like kitties, and puppies, and getting my own dog one day, and running around with it, and eating ice cream, and how sweet it is, and how it drastically cools me off on a hot summer day, and how summer itself was just around the corner, and all the swimming I would be able to do… After a few minutes of thinking of things such as those, I felt a little better. Eventually I felt good enough to open my eyes again and look at the game. I carefully opened my eye lid, a bit wary as to what I might see.
The Wooper from the previous battle was standing in front of the character, bouncing happily. Behind it laid the ugly rat, a bloody, torn up mess. His head was ripped off, and crimson red matted his fur. It twitched and squirmed a little, but couldn’t stand up. My heart beat started to pick up again, as did my breathing. I talked to the Wooper, “Look! We killed that ugly rat for you!” The text was still in pink and blue. The only word that truly registered in my mind was killed, and that word scared me.
I just stared blankly at the screen, fear crawling through my skin. “…You don’t like it? We’ll do better!” I didn’t even try to understand that sentence, as I wouldn’t be able to if I tried. Relief unlike ever before washed over me when the screen faded to black. I sighed, and brushed the sweat off my forehead. My heart skipped a beat when the screen on the DS flickered back into life, as I had thought if was turned off.
I examined the screen, and at first I didn’t notice anything odd, besides the zombie Wooper standing next to the character. It bounced up and down, and a happy icon popped above its head. It walked into the grass, and the character followed behind. They walked around in circles for a few seconds, until more words appeared, “We killed all the Pokémon! No more annoying battles!” There was that word again, killed. I noticed there were some flecks of scarlet in the grass, and in one corner there was a Rattata hidden in the grass, unmoving.
The Wooper bounced around happily for a moment, then stopped. “…Still? We can do better!” Then screen went to black again, but turned back on before I could fully react. It still looked the same as before. The Wooper started to walk away, and the character followed. After a couple of steps they encountered a green hat on the ground, with a dark red stain on it.
The two continued walking on down the dirt path, finding more hats, shoes, and even a human limb or two. Eventually they reached the outskirts of Violet City. “No more trainers either!” It ran into the city, and my character ran along behind. Inside the town, there were several blood splatters along the walls and buildings. The Wooper and the character ran into the orange building, which was the place where you healed your Pokémon at. I could care less, still stricken from all I was seeing.
Inside there was no one, not even the pink nurse lady. Of course more scarlet red was there to add to the atmosphere. “No more waiting to heal your Pokémon… You don’t even need Pokémon any more!” I checked the character’s Pokémon, and sure enough, they were all gone. I exited out, and the Wooper was bouncing up and down cheerfully next to the trainer, if anything a little too enthusiastic.
It ran out of the building, the character following behind. They ran across town to the blue store building, where you bought items. Inside, shelves and items were toppled over. By some strand of ultimate luck, the guy you talked to actually buy items was still alive. I was prompted to do so by a nudge from the Wooper. I hesitantly walked the character over to talk to him, a bit more worried what would happen if I didn’t.
He didn’t greet me, just took me straight to the item selection. All of the items were free. I didn’t choose any, as I wasn’t really in any mood for shopping at the time. I exited out, and the Wooper started bouncing around. “Free items! No more money needed!” It ran around in circles, then practically flew out the door. Before the character could move, the screen faded to black. It took a few minutes for it to come back on.
When it did, the character was still standing in the store. The Wooper ran back in, jumped up and down, then ran back out, the character following behind this time. Outside it was total chaos. Different buildings and landmarks from all different sections of the game were all together in that one city. Colors clashed and glitched squares were everywhere. Textures mixed and welded together, making it difficult to tell one surface feature form another.
“Everything is in one place! No need to walk around!” The Wooper ran in circles around the character, then abruptly stopped, an exclamation point popping above its head. The screen faded to black once more, but came back even faster. This time there was only darkness, the character and Wooper being the only things visible.
“There’s nothing! No need to worry about anything!” It bounced up and down, with a happy icon, “Perfect!” It ran all around the character, spinning, jumping. My hands shook, and so did the DS. My thoughts were slowly starting to connect again, and I was able to focus more clearly. My brain finally was able to process everything that just happened. That was when a warm tear rolled down my cheek, and I started to sniffle.
The Wooper stopped its joyous little dance and turned to the character, “…You still don’t love us?” I could care less about what it said as more tears started cascading down my face. In a few moments I was all out crying. Before I knew it, the DS was snatched out of my hands. My big brother was looking at me with a worried expression, “What happened? What the heck are you crying for?” I tried to respond, but my words would only come out as sobs.
He groaned, and instead turned his attention to his DS, the one I had been playing. He pressed the power button, as it was apparently turned off. He messed around with it for a couple of minutes, and with a shrug, turned it back off. “I don’t know what you did, but you better stop crying all over the place before mom and dad get back home. I don’t wanna get in trouble for something I didn’t do.” He turned back to his DSi, and left me sitting on the floor, a sobbing mess.
After a while I was able to mostly regain control of myself. I was still sniffling a little, but fairly good overall. Eventually our parents came home from the store. I don’t think I had ever before been so excited to see them in my life. I ran up to them and gave them a big hug. “Woah, didn’t think you’d be so excited to see us!” My dad chuckled. “Hey, we got you something…” My mom teased.
My ears immediately perked up. I needed something to cheer me up after what had just happened. “You said you wanted a video game of your own for a while, so…” My dad chimed in. “We got you this!” My mom reached into the grocery bag. I jumped up and down, eager to see what gift I was receiving. She dramatically pulled whatever it was out, and it turned out to be…
Pokémon HeartGold.
I screamed my lungs out and fled from the kitchen. I ran into my room and slammed the door shut, causing a picture in the hallway to fall and break. My parents stared back after me, completely bewildered. “Well, that went well…” My dad muttered. “Maybe she was so excited she couldn’t handle it..?” My mom offered weakly.
—-
From the living room I burst out laughing, having watched the whole scene. “Ha, looks like one extra game for me then.” I spoke to no one in particular except myself. I reached for my own DS, feeling a bit grateful that my little sister obviously didn’t want her HeartGold, as she would have to use my DS and I didn’t want her breaking it. I started to play my own HeartGold, to double check and make sure she hadn’t messed up anything.
When it started up, a pink Wooper was bouncing playfully behind my Pokémon trainer. “Oh, that Shelly thing, I’ll screw around with it later…” I muttered to myself. I switched out Shelly #1 for my Raticate, but when I went back to the overworld Shelly #2 was idling behind my trainer. A bit confused, but mostly irritated, I switched out Shelly #2 for my Raticate. This time it finally worked.
I started walking down the route, but a text box stopped me midstep, “Shelly has run away! Shelly has run away!” “Hey, what gives?!” I checked my Pokémon, and both Shellys were missing. Sighing in frustration, I exited out and started walking down the route again. I walked into a patch of tall grass by accident, and the screen flashed.
A battle started.
