White Ditto

This story is true, and to this day has freaked me out, so I figured I'd share it for Halloween since it is almost here and since it is one of my favorite holidays. I have never told anyone this before because it has been so bizarre for me to take in. Could my game be "haunted"?

Is there more to the MISSINGNO glitch than meets the eye? Did some GameFreak developer die while working on this game and is this is some kind of tribute, or could this even be a paranormal happening?? I don't know, but this freaks me out. Enjoy. :/

The background music is the theme that played in Lavender Town in the game, but reversed. The picture is some weird Jigglypuff thing I found off google images. Fitting to say the least.

EDIT: Right after I got through uploading this at 5.30am in the morning, my phone rings... it says "Private Caller" on the caller ID and they leave no message. WTF. Who could be calling at this hour?

Watch til the end, holy shit. Also, I have some good news, and some bad news.

The good news is I re-installed Vegas after I recorded this video and it is working. Even though I am freaked out and slightly scared, I plan to post the ending to the story and my explanation of the events soon because you guys are so interested.

More good news is that I bought a device that will let me transfer my Pokemon Blue Save file to my computer to be played on a rom so I can record it and show you guys the infamous creepy "White Ditto" as well as a freaky event that happened in-game that will be revealed in the story conclusion.

The bad news is that I don't know what other bad luck or strange happenings will come my way, or what may halt my progress with this strange video game phenomenon. It definitely seems some outside force does NOT want me to share any of this, though.

Everyone thinks this is a creepy pasta, or a Halloween prank. Despite how many times I say "this is real" people on the internet will believe what they want. So, do just that, I don't care. But I'm glad this has received such a good response and is entertaining regardless of what you believe. It's just a shame this has all been so stressful for me, as these "paranormal happenings" really do scare me.

Ok, so, I had to re-install Sony Vegas just to edit this. The music used is a slowed down version of Lavender town music.

No matter how many times I say "this is real" or "this isn't a Halloween" prank people will believe what they want, so draw your own assumptions. I'm on the fence as to whether or not this is coincidence or something paranormal.

The blue theory is very interesting one that you guys pointed out. Everything that has been messed with or has screwed up has been blue. This includes; the blue cartridge, the glacier blue gameboy, the blue SD card, blue screening Laptop, a drawer with blue items in it, Sony Vegas' icon is blue, my blue LED mouse, and now, I realize, even my Blue Snowball. My Twitter page, which is blue, keeps saying I don't exist sometimes when people try to go to it. What could it all mean? Could something be trying to lead me on with clues? I don't know.

I now have a fever though and am laid up in bed. I've been having some bad headaches too. So I'll save some more explanations for the next video.

Here's the paranormal investigation I did a year ago that I reference in the video... I think this might be related somehow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aarz02U-nT8

I will have footage of the white ditto on my channel tomorrow, along with another weird anomaly I discovered on my version of the game.

Re-posting this as for whatever reason, the old video was deleted from my videos here on YouTube. The quality might be worse than the old one too, so sorry.

So, this investigation was done in my former home. The last time I played Pokemon Blue was around this time period, and before the investigation, my friends and I did in fact use a Ouija board. I really think this has something to do with the events occurring in my new home, and I think it has something to do with the Blue cartridge.

I haven't messed with the cartridge for a few days now. I've been trying to stay out of my house and have been going over to friends' houses a lot. I did transfer the save file from the cartridge to my PC though to easily record the white ditto, but I haven't bothered to record it yet. I bought another Gameboy and its shipping to me in due time. I'm afraid it will break as well though. We'll see.

What could all this mean? The blue items being messed with, videos vanishing, the white ditto... I feel as if I'm trying to figure out a puzzle with missing pieces. Please leave your thoughts below in the comments, I need your help in uncovering what is actually going on.

Ok, so after transferring my save file from my cartridge over to my PC, I was able to record this without any technology problems... sort of. However, as I suspected, the emulator/screen recorder crashed soon afterward, oddly enough at the same time. I am going to mess around in the game more and try to record stuff for you guys.

Lately the odd sounds in my house are getting worse. I'm going to start recording myself at all times, or at least parts of my house to see if I can catch anything to upload.

At this point, I am genuinely scared. After this was recorded, I captured something on Blue a second ago that pretty much solidifies that all this is connected to the game. I'll upload it tomorrow. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen.

Also, please realize that I can't upload commentated gaming videos unless I go to my friend's house as my mic is on the fritz. Please be patient and stop annoying me about it in the comments, thankyou.

EDIT: There is definitely no "cut" at 1:52 in the video, but a camera glitch or glitch that happened in rendering that was not my doing. I just looked at it and it "replays" the same scene that just happened for a split second. Very odd, could be a frame skip or something. A little later on the camera pixelates and cuts out as well, so I'd say its the camera and not something that glitched in the render.

I don't know what to title this video, so I'll just make the title what the capture program assigned it. Anyway, the story goes like this.

While waiting for my Gameboy Advance to come in the mail (stupid ebay and their slow shipping) I decided, since the save for my Pokemon Blue is on my computer, that I would play around on it and see if I could catch any other odd occurrences, as I was certain that this game and the paranormal events that are currently happening to me are somehow related.

So, I started up the game, started my screen capture program, and right away I noticed something strange. The white Ditto had magically gained 15 levels and was at around half health. Now, I hadn't touched the game since I recorded the "original" white Ditto video, and no one else has access to my PC, so I don't know how the hell this happened. But, I just chalked it up to some random glitch/bug and moved on.

I noticed on my save file that I only had 6 badges, so I looked to see which gyms my cousin hadn't beaten. One was Viridian, obviously, and the other was Saffron. So, I boxed some of the higher level guys my cousin had glitched and/or obtained, and brought out some of the guys I was using before I let him borrow the game, like Magmar, Muk, etc. I then set out to Saffron, battling some random trainers on the way, obtaining some useful TM's like Psychic from Mr. Psychic's house, and so forth.

I always loved Saffron as a kid because there were TWO gyms instead of one; the traditional Psychic gym that was home to Sabrina, and a Fighting gym at the top of town that gave you a Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan upon beating the leader.

I decided to hit up the Fighting gym first to do some leveling, as Sabrina is a very tough trainer to face due to Psychic types being so dominate in R/B/Y.

I managed to pretty easily handle the most of the trainers in the gym due to Muk being a Poison type (thus being resistant to Fighting moves), but upon realizing that Muk would be useless against Sabrina, I switched over to Magmar to just decimate everything with Fire Blast.

I got to the leader of the gym, saved my game, and was beginning to think that nothing substantially odd would happen. It was about 15 after 1, and I had been recording for a good 30-45 minutes or so at this point, so I was about to cut off my screen recorder. But, I decided to keep recording just for the hell of it, at least until I decided I didn't want to play anymore.

With the help of a lucky burn, I beat the gym leader pretty easily with Magmar's Fire Blast, and prepared to claim my prize of either Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan. But, something strange started happening that honestly scared the hell out of me.

After beating the leader and coming out of the battle screen, the music that would normally play wasn't there. What was there was a strange, second or so loop of the same note or two over and over. This went on for a few seconds before coming to a halt altogether so no music was playing whatsoever.

But that wasn't the scary part, it was what the beaten leader said. Instead of his usual shtick about letting me choose between Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee for beating him, he said, word for word, the dialogue bit from the creepy girl in Lavender Town; "Hahaha, I guess not. That white hand on your shoulder, it's not real."

A random Pokemon cry broke the silence, and the odd looped notes started up again as the dialogue disappeared from the text box completely. Although initially frightened, for a moment I thought the game had glitched and just randomly froze.

I was about to reset the rom when suddenly, the game white screened, and I appeared in a dark cave (I assumed it to be Rock Tunnel, above Lavender Town) with the most awful sounding music I have ever heard playing in the background.

This wasn't normal music from the game on loop or anything either (hell, I wouldn't even call this music as it had no real rhythm or timing), this was a loud static hum over top of of seemingly random notes of sound. I have never heard anything like this in ANY game, let alone Pokemon.

At this point I really wanted to turn the game off out of fear, but my curiosity got the best of me. Considering I couldn't see anything in this dark cave, I decided to go to my Clefable and use Flash. When I went to my list of Pokemon, however, I noticed something really strange.

The white Ditto's overworld sprite had changed from its usual substitute doll-esque sprite to the sprite of the old man laying down at the start of the game who will only get up if you give him coffee, or something along those lines.

I go to check the stats of the thing, and it's in-game sprite was non-existent, with the only thing there being a white background. Very strange. I quickly exited out and proceeded to go up to Clefable and use Flash; upon doing so however, the game again white screened, and I then was staring at Professor Oak's sprite from the start of the game. He wasn't moving, the text box wasn't coming up, and an ANOTHER bit of weird music was playing in the background this time.

At this point my palms were sweating from nervousness and fright. I started hammering the A button, and even though I heard the "ding" selection sound it makes when going through the menus, nothing changed on the screen. I hit every button on my NES USB controller and nothing changed still.

I was about to just shut down the emulator when I realized I could reset the game by simultaneously holding select, start, A and B. I quickly did this and luckily, the game reset... only not really. Before doing so, the text box popped up under Professor Oak and simply said "Hell" before taking me back to the opening startup screen.

At this point, I realized this was all too strange to be a random glitch... this was a message. And although the game had been reset, something was still off.

Yet another form of strange music began playing as I cruised through the opening credit screens and opening video sequences. The title screen wasn't displaying properly either, not cycling through the Pokemon as it normally would, all the while a strange music played in the background.

At this point, I reset the game through the emulator menu just to see if my game was going to be permanently like this. After resetting again though, the music and sounds began to play normally again.

I stared blankly at the title screen which was displaying properly now, still in awe at what had just taken place. I then quickly shut the game off and stopped the screen capture. I had to get out of the house after what had just taken place. This, above all things, was proof enough for me that this is all connected to the game.

I haven't played since I recorded this.

(This story is credited to BlameTruth on Youtube.)

Pokemon: Tarnished Gold

Being someone who isn't nearly as computer savvy as someone from this generation should be, I know very little about what technology is capable of. Aside from email, IM, and the occasional download of something otherwise unobtainable for me at the moment, I have about the same amount of knowledge an eighty-year-old might possess about the electronic world.

For example, and for the sake of this tale I'm about to recount, I was totally unaware that someone is capable of hacking Pokemon games to make their own sub-story of the world - even less so that it was possible to make a physical copy of the game in a real cartridge.

However, I happened to learn about this one in one of the most disturbing ways possible.

When I was younger, Pokemon Gold was my very first game from the ever-popular franchise. I became very attached to the little creatures my character (name after myself even though the character was male) caught and often fantasized about the adventures we would go through had a preset storyline not been in place.

That isn't quite important, though.

What is important is the fact that I never truly let go of my childhood fantasies; the memories from that first game were far too cherished to set free. As such, I still have my old Gold cartridge, compleete with a total abuse of the copy glitch. I refuse to restart my game, though. I'm afraid too much of the old magic would be lost.

I wanted to play a whole new game of the version that I recall being the happiest with, but older cartridges are rather hard to find outside of the Internet nowadays; the most my local flea markets have are GBA games, with hardly any being Pokemon.

Fortunately for me, my grandmother still fully supports my long-standing love for Pokemon and often buys boxes of carts, toys, video tapes, and other items she comes across during her frequent visits to local auctions. Granted, very little of these things she gives me are in good condition; long forgotten items stowed away in a musty basement after the phase in their owner's life has passed hardly ever are. But, as gifts from a dear relative, I cherish them as if they were made of gold...pun not intended.

Most recently, she gave me a box with a brand new video tape containing episodes from early on in the first season, several hundred battered and well-used cards, and a game cartridge with no label.

The cartridge was the familiar metallic gold color of the game I had been looking for. Even though the label had been removed and a lard red X was drawin in sharpie in the place the sticker should have been, I could easily tell what it was. What other game had that color? You can imagine my excitement for finally finding another copy! I thanked her profusely and promised I would play it as soon as I got home, which I did.

Getting started was difficult - not because the game was faulty, but because I had sold my GBA to my little brother several years ago for some of his better Pokemon cards. Once something belongs to him, it's difficult to get him to lend it out to me. Such is sibling relations, I suppose.

After much bribery, I finally got my hands on my former GBA and quickly inserted the vandalized game. Chills ran through my body as the opening 'movie' for the game began to play, sending a wave of nostalgia crashing over me. It was good to see it again.

The game opened normally; the pixelated image of Ho-oh flying through the sky beneath the title presented itself before leading into the normal selection screen. The person who owned the game before me still had a game file, but I cared very little about what someone did before me. Considering the condition of their things, they must have been very young. I was bound to be met with a team full of Pikachu with ridiculous names.

I started a new game.

It was here that I realized something wasn't quite right with the game. The normal intro involving a Professor introducing you to the world of Pokemon didn't play out. Rather, it played like this:

It started out with a black screen, which was quite familiar considering that's how Gold, Silver, and Crystal begin. Instead of the normal "What time is it?" dialogue, however, I was met with something else.

"........

......

...

Pokemon are nothing more than tools.

Use them and throw them away.

........"

The black screen faded away, revealing an empty area at night. It looked familiar; I vguely remember it being a route in an earlier part of the game. Since I've been away from the game for so long, I couldn't place it.

In the silence of this scene, the sprite of your rival (henceforth noted as Silver) walked in from the left. He moved a little slower than normal, as if he were hesitant about something. Once he had moved to the middle of the screen, he stopped and turned back to look at where he came from, turned toward where he was going, and turned back towards where he had came once again.

For a moment, he stood there, simply staring towards the left side of the screen before a dialogue box popped up beneath him saying nothing more than "..." After that, he turned around yet again, only to continue off to walk off-screen.

The scene faded away to be replaced with Silver standing in the place where you first officially see him just outside Professor Elm's laboratory. It was clearly in a slightly later part of the game than normal as the professor and his assistants all exited the lab and went their separate ways: the assistants left the town and Elm walked further downward off screen. I assume that meant he left for his home and rmeained in town. The character of Gold was nowhere to be seen.

After that small scene, it stayed on Silver. I thought the game had frozen for a minute, but I finally realized I was able to move him. Honestly, I was a little excited. Silver was (and always has been) my favorite of the rivals. It was an interesting thing to be able to play as him.

I moved him a little further downward to see if I was able to explore, but it stopped me each time I moved one step away from the front of the lab. A dialogue box poppuped up that said, "I can't leave yet..." It backed me up a step afterward. I moved back up to the place he had originally been standing and moved into the window. It worked much like a door and it allowed me to ender Professor Elm's lab.

Aside from the regular equipment (bookshelves, computers, trash cans, tables, etc), the lab was empty. It was to be expected, since the employees had just left a moment ago. On the table was a single Pokeball. Being without one at the moment, I walked over and took it.

A dialogue box popped up and said "Obtained TOTODILE" but no 'item get' music played. Apparently, stealing wasn't condoned even by the game. After pressing A, it gave me the option of naming the Pokemon. I picked yes, as I love naming these things. As it took me to the naming screen, however, another dialogue popped up and interrupted the naming process.

"Don't name it! You'll only get attached.

Don't love it. Use it."

It was clearly the voice of the same person who spoke in the very beginning. I found it odd.

The naming screen faded away, leaving me in the empty lab. I quickly tried to leave through the front door, but was stopped by Silver saying, "Not through here..." Again, he backed up and I was forced to exit through the window I had come in from.

As if things weren't strange enough as they were, it was nearly impossible to get a random battle to start once I left New Bark Town and stepped in the grass. I go out of my way to avoid them later on in the game, but during the beginning it was something I enjoyed to get my Pokemon to level up. Being unable to find something to fight was a little frustrating.

After several minutes of walking back and forth in patches of grss, I finally encountered a Pokemon: a Sentret. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but when I sent out my Totodile and chose the only presently-useful move he had, Scratch, the Pokemon fled. I was rather confused; a wild Pokemon never ran, not so early in the game. After a few more tries, all with the same outcome, I continued on to Cherrygrove.

Just before I entered the city, I recognized the small area as the one Silver had walked through in the beginning. After entering the city, I bumped into Gold, who wordlessly challenged me to a battle.

His Pokemon, a Cyndaquil, was already a slightly higher level than mine (I was still stuck at level five, but he was already at level seven) and, even though I had the type advantage, he beat me. Before whiting out, his sprite switched out with the Cyndaquil's. He looked disappointed.

After exiting the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center (I hadn't used it prior, but it was apparently the only option I had), I walked back to the place he had challenged me only to find I was unable to battle him at this point again.

The game was getting a little annoying by now. I had no money, Pokegear, or Pokedex. I was also unable to battle wild Pokemon. Fortunately, once I entered route 30 onward, there were other Pokemon Trainers in which I could battle and easily beat, though none of them seemed eager to speak to me after I had won.

By the time I entered Violet City, my Pokemon's level was still too low to take on the gym leader. However, with the money I had won from the trainers I fought before, I was at least able to buy some potions. I felt I was set.

The lesser trainers of the gym were easy enough. I was only forced to use two of my previously purchased potions and I leveled up once. As I took on the gym leader, he proved to be too much and I lost yet again. Upon winning, he did the very same thing Gold had done: he looked disappointed as well.

When the battle ended, I didn't white out. Rather, I had to endure a lecture about treating Pokemon correctly from the leader. Once he finished speaking, I received a one-worded question: "Steal?"

I chose the only option given to me: "Yes."

Silver backed u one step and slammed into the gym leader, kicking him backwards. Another dialogue box popped up telling me that I had stolen the gym badge, TM31, and $500.

After that, I whited out.

This is how it continued on for the remainder of the game. While I was able to defeat lesser trainers on the paths to cities and in the gyms, I constantly lost to the leader and was forced to steal their badges. The steal option also worked on people who would normally give you items in the game; this is how I was able to obtain key items like the Itemfinder, the bicycle, the water pail, HMs, and more. They refused to give me anything otherwise.

Anyone I spoke to either refused to talk, greeting me only with "...", or lectured me a little on how to properly treat Pokemon. It was beginning to get that way with Nurse Joy, as well. By the time I had progressed to Goldenrod City, she would scold me any time I whited out.

Pokemon continued to avoid me, as well. If I wanted to better my team, I had to hope that the Pokeballs I used worked the first time. What was stranger about random battles is that even if I locked the Pokemon in battle with Mean Look, the Pokemon passed out. Literally. After my first attack of Mean Look (if I got the first attack, that is), the Pokemon would faint on its own before I could choose another attack.

The dialogue box proclaimed, "-POKEMON- forced itself to pass out!" and the battle ended.

The only thing that seemed to go normally for me was the battles with Team Rocket. I always won against them and they always treated me like a punk kid getting in their way.

The rest of the game, up until a certain point, isn't entirely important. Aside from win, lose, and steal, everything was more or less normal. While my Pokemon matured slowly due to frequent losses, they did grow to like me a little as I began giving them haircuts and other little things to boost our bond. The last I had checked, the person who rated their happiness (one of the very few people who spoke to me normall) said, "It's quite cute."

I know you must be thinking that this isn't disturbing at all and that I should just accept the fact that this is simply a hack made to tell Silver's side of the story... Well, I did. It was. However, I'm not quite finished yet.

Once I had finally made it to Kanto (continuing the process of win, lose, and steal), I ventured into Viridian City. The second I stepped foot into the city, the music cut off. I thought for certain that this was a glitch in the programming, that I was now to walk through a soundless game. As I stood there for a second, though, a very faint noise picked up and faded away.

I was now sure that the music had messed up, like it was trying to play but couldn't. I stepped back into the route I had just come from and the music picked up perfectly. It was only Viridian City that was silent.

I was now curious, so I stepped back into the silent town and began to explore. There wasn't a person in sight; no one was out in the open and no one was in the houses. There wasn't even anyone in the Pokemart or Pokemon Center. The city was entirely empty. All there was was the silence and the occasional soft noise, which I still hadn't identified.

As I walked towards the gym, the sound grew a little louder. I figured the noise was coming from inside, so I entered. There was no one there, either, but that was to be expected; the gym was always empty until much later.

The noise didn't play in here, but it was still dead silent.

I walked up to where the gym leader normally stood and, as I walked past the spot and into the wall (I do that sometimes. I like the noise) I was transported to another room. The wall had hidden a set of stairs.

This place was silent, as well, but the noise began to play yet again. It was much louder this time - a bunch of random high-pitched noises - but it sounded like screams.

By this time, as you could well imagine, my heart was pounding. I don't take screaming or anything that sounds like screaming very well. It's due to an unfortunate experience with a very graphic haunted house when I was three...but I digress.

Regardless of my pounding heart and my shaking hands, I explored the room. It was tinted in a muted red much like everything was in Pokemon Red. The room followed a sideways zig-zag pattern and the screams came at random. Some were short, but some were long and drawn out. It sounded as if someone was being tortured.

As I continued down the zig-zagging hallways, i came across several disturbing images: sprites of NPCs without their heads, as well as heads without bodies. Any time I tried to examine either of these, Silver would simply say, "Don't look..."

The bodies and heads became more frequent as I went on, clogging up the hallways and leaving only a small path for me to follow. The screaming was becoming more frequent, as well.

The screen began to flicker as I walked, just like it would if one of my Pokemon was poisoned. I was certain none of them were, however. Just in case, I opened my party menu to check. None of my Pokemon were afflicted with poison, but their health had started to lower. In an attempt to fix this, I picked a super potion out of my bag and tried to use it on my Feraligatr.

A dialogue box popped up and said, "It won't have any effect."

Now I was disturbed. I knew none of this was supposed to happen. Regardless, I continued on, hoping that if they all fainted from this, I'd be taken back to a Pokemon Center and things would return to normal.

It was stupid of me to assume that.

I continued along the morbid path, the screen flickering in and out. I began to notice that Silver himself was beginning to move a little slower, as well. I don't know what, but something was draining my Pokemon's energy as well as my own.

Finally, Silver stopped as the dialogue box had popped up telling me that all my Pokemon had fainted, but it didn't say what I had hoped.

It said, "ALL DEAD."

By now, I was ready to cry, but I couldn't stop myself from trying to get to the end of this disturbing experience. If I didn't do this now, I'd just be tempted to try it again some other time.

Finally, I reached the center room. The screen was tinted a deep red now. I assumed this was to simulate the fact that the room was filled with blood. However, there were only a few bodies scattered around it. In the center were a few live figures: a man, an unknown Pokemon, Gold, and another Pokemon I could only assume was his Typhlosion.

Gold's Typhlosion attacked the man's Pokemon, but it was quickly struck down. Its sprite turned red, then grey, then disappeared. The man's Pokemon had killed it.

Silver's sprite stepped forward on its own and the man finally acknowledged he was there.

GIOVANNI: "Ah, son, you've made it. Come to see your rival's demise, have you?"

This caused Gold to turn arund to look at Silver. The only thing he said was, "..."

Silver continued to move on his own. He approached the Giovanni and kicked him backwards. It obviously enraged the man.

GIOVANNI: "You're going to help him?

You've become just as weak as the others!

If he seems worth saving to you...

Perhaps I should show you that there's no sense in getting attached!

MEWTWO, take care of him!"

Mewtwo obeyed his creator's command and approached Gold. I'm still uncertain of what it actually did, but it struck Gold, causing a scream much louder than before as the prite of Silver's rival lost its head and faded to deep red and then grey.

GIOVANNI: "I told you long ago, Silver. Either manipulate or be manipulated.

Pokemon are nothing more than tools.

People are nothing more than tools.

After they've served your purpose, they're no longer useful...

...

MEWTWO.

Kill him!"

The Mewtwo didn't obey this time; Giovanni's words must have angered it. It turned to him and actually spoke.

MEWTWO: "...You're no longer useful..."

It struck Giovanni just as it had done Gold and Typhlosion, but the scream Giovanni produced was much longer than any other I had heard. Mewtwo was torturing him.

Finally, the scream faded away into nothingness and Giovanni's sprite did just as Gold's did, leaving only Silver and Mewtwo alive n the room. As Mewtwo turned to face me, I knew that wouldn't last for long.

MEWTWO: "...Not useful..."

It struck me, initiating a battle in which I was totally unable to participate. My sprite was in the place of any Pokemon; my health had dwindled past the halfway point, but I knew it didn't matter either way. I chose to run, but I couldn't. I chose to attack, but I had nothing to use. I jsut had to stand there as mewtwo use Psychic on Silver's defenseless image.

Even with the sound turned to a low level, the scream coming from Silver was disturbingly loud. Even as the battle screen faded away, the scream lingered until Silver's sprite turned from red to grey, which I now assume symbolizes the coldness of death. Silver, along with Gold and everyone else who had been unfortunate enough to wander into this place from Viridian, was now dead.

The screen faded to black, all except for Mewtwo's sprite, which remained in the scenter of the screen. My paranoid mind immediately made me think he was somehow going to turn on me next, but the word END simply faded in just underneath him and the screen cut to black, taking me back to the opening sequence.

I'm still unsure why this was made, why someone shoved it into a box to sell, and why I happened to find it. I can assure you I'm swearing off all randomly found games, too. Either it's new, or I'll never risk touching it again.

The game I just described has slipped out of my possession since that first playthrough. I have no idea where it is, but I hope it's rotting in a dump somewhere.

Buried Alive Model

Often referred to as its code name, the Buryman Script, the Buried Alive Model was to be found on the final story of the Pokémon Tower in the spot of what has been replaced with the Marowak ghost. According to the scripts assigned to it, the Buried Alive Model was intended to be the "boss" of the tower. Upon reaching the top floor, the following conversation would have taken place.

Buried Alive: You're...here.
Buried Alive: I'm trapped...
Buried Alive: ...and I'm lonely...
Buried Alive: ...so very lonely...
Buried Alive: Won't you join me?

After this, the battle would have been initiated. One in "battle view," the Buried Alive Model appears to be a decaying human corpse attempting to crawl out of the ground. It has been programmed to have two White Hands, a Gengar, and a Muk. Strangely enough, a protocol for Buried Alive's actions after defeat wasn't written.

In the case of the player defeating him, the game would freeze. However, an unknown programmer is said to have wrote a speciic ending that was supposed to play once Buried Alive was defeated.

In this ending, Buried Alive was to have stated, "Finally, fresh meat!" followed by several lines of Gibberish. He was to have then dragged the player into the ground surrounding him. The scene would finish with a typical "Game Over" screen. However, in the background an image of Buried Alive devouring the player was to have been shown.

Especially strange are the protocols for after this scene. The cartridge was to download this image to the small internal memory contained in the Game Boy, overwriting the title screen that normally accompanied a Game Boy turning on.

Afterward, whenever the Game Boy was started, the player would view this same image of Buried Alive devouring the player character from the Pokémon games as a sound file known as staticmesh.wav was played. The intended purpose for this effect, unlike many of the other factors leading toward LTS, is unknown.

White Hand Sprite

Known in the code as WhitHand.gif, this was scripted to appear as a Pokémon on the third floor of the Lavender Tower. It is divided into four separate animations: an introduction (the "cry" a Pokémon unleashes before a battle), an idle, and two attacks. These attacks are unknown, as they are listed simply as "Fist" and "Brutal."

While viewing the animation has been proven to be hazardous, viewing the individual frames of the model has been proven to have no adverse effects. The White Hand is depicted as a shriveled, slightly decayed hand with sprising attention to the detail: flesh is peeling back from the bone and several tendons dangle realistically out of the wrist.

The first attack is the hand balling into a fist and swinging forward. However, the "brutal" animation is missing several frames. The hand seems to open up, then cuts out. After a few seconds, it reappears, closed again. No record has been found of these missing frames.

Pokemon Blue

I love Pokemon. It was the first game I ever really got into when I was young - maybe sixteen or seventeen - and it stayed with me as I grew up. I always thought I'd play Pokemon all my life because I could never put it down. It just has that effect on you. You already probably know what I mean, right?

I guess I was a bit older than the average Pokemon fan when I got my hands on my first game, which I remember quite clearly being a copy of Pokemon Blue. Like a million of other kids that year, I received it as a Christmas gift. Across the country, countless Pokemon games were being unwrapped that very morning. They all came from the very same factory in Japan, crafted together by the same hands. They were all stuck in shiny new Game Boy handhelds and turned on for the very first time. I remember I had the biggest smile on my face when I began my adventure, nestled beside the Christmas Tree, decked out in full winter pajamas.

I selected Bulbasaur as my starter, caught a Pidgey and a Caterpie, and brought my strong three-man team through the first couple of gyms without a hitch. I thought everything was going well. Brock and Misty were a piece of cake - Bulbasaur IS easy mode, though. Rock and Water types bow down to Gross. Admittedly, Lt. Surge gave me some issues, but I eventually triumphed after a bit of grinding. It was one after the other.

Eventually, I came across the HM Cut and was given access to Route 9 and soon after, Rock Tunnel. It took me a day to navigate through the darkness, but I did it. By then, the month of December was reaching its close. I'd shut myself up in my room for a few hours every day playing Pokemon, grinding Pidgeotto, Butterfree, and Ivysaur up a few levels each time. I didn't care. I was having a blast. A friend of mine even traded me a Sandslash for a herpaderp, which brought my team up to four strong. I didn't think the game could get any better. Then I stepped foot into Lavender Town.

For a few seconds, I stared at my Game Boy's screen as the color scheme turned gloomy. The music began playing and I made a face. Lavender Town's melody was melancholy and sad - completely unlike all the other themes I'd heard so far. I immediately realized this place was something else, something the developers wanted to set apart from the rest. I didn't know any other reason they would have gone to the lengths they did to make Lavender Town seem so dark. The haunting music followed me into every building, even the Pokemon Center. No longer smiling, I waited impatiently for Nurse Joy to heal up my pals as the depressing sounds wore on. I thought they'd never end.

Having hung around Lavender Town long enough, I made my way to the western exit. Everything was going according to plan until I realized I had majorly goofed and forgot to check out the town's main feature: the Pokemon Tower. Lying back on my bed, I pulled the Game Boy close to my face and squinted. Pretty much everything was har to see because the Game Boy obviously didn't have a bcklight, so I turned on myroom's lamp and glanced at the window. It was maybe nine or ten PM about then. Everyone in my house was going to head off to sleep soon.

I decided to play on. As I walked into the Pokemon Tower and talked to the depressed NPCs, I began to lose some of my focus. My eyelids were getting heavy and I was mashing buttons subsconsciously. I talked to the same girl over and over without realizing it. Her dialogue filled the bottom of my screen a few times. "Growlithe, why did you die? Growlithe, why did you die? Growlithe, why did you die?" It was weird how the characters always say the same thing over and over again. You'd think it was an error or something - that these poor NPCs are glitchy fragments of real people, doomed to say the same thing over and over until the end of time. Here, at least, it seemed fitting. They were only mourning.

I progressed up the levels of the tower, beat my Rival, and entered the floor with the mystical healing pad. I walked over it a few times, tentative to breach the edges, let another unidentifiable 'Ghost' appear. I was getting tired of my Pokemon being immobilized with fear.

While facing one of the Pokemon tombs, I selected Sandslash and scrolled down his options. The friend that had given him to me already taught him Strength. Curious, I opted to use the move and was intrigued to read the game's note: "You can now move heavy boulders around!" I know a tombstone wasn't what the developers had in mind for Strength's purpose, but I had Sandslash push at it anyway. To my surprise, it moved, revealing a small black hole in its place. My character immediately dropped through it.

I thought I would appear on the floor below, but I didn't. Instead, my character was surrounded by a black screen with the Lavender Town music playing. I scootched back on my bed and brought the Game Boy right up under my lamp, thinking I'd be able to pick out some features of the new level if the screen was better lit. There was nothing to be seen. I tried to move my character, but the game just emitted that 'dunt dunt' sound it always does when you walk into something.

Next thing I knew, the Lavender Town music stopped playing; it cut off right in the middle. I figured the game froze, but when I tried to move my character's feet still jostled and I still got that 'dunt dunt' sound telling me I couldn't walk anywhere. I swallowed; there was a lump in my throat. I was nervous. I hadn't saved my progresss in a while and I didn't want to lose everything I had accomplished by flicking the power off. Plagued by indecision, I set my Game Boy down, reeled my legs over the side of the bed, and put a hand to my forehead. I was sweaty and clammy. My attention darted back to my Game Boy and I saw that the sides of it where my hands had been resting were slick with sweat as well. I must have had a fever.

I stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the lights, looking at my gaunt reflection in the mirror. I was pale as a sheet, my eyes seemed milky and glassy, my lips were pale, and my hair was unkempt. I stunk from devoting all my time to Pokemon and not hygeine. Just as I reached forward to turn on the faucet, something on the corner of the counter caught my eye. It was my Game Boy. I hadn't brought it in with me, had I? I retracted my hand from the faucet and set it on the small electronic device instead, pulling it up and frowning at the screen. It was all black now, but still dead quiet.

Maybe it was partially because I was in a daze from having a temperature or I was just really tired, but I couldn't drag my eyes off the screen. My eyelids peeled back and I kept staring into the black abyss, wondering where my character had gone. The Game Boy's power light was lit, so it hadn't shut itself off. The game was still running.

After a minute or so, the chill from my bathroom was starting to get to me. The feeling of little icy fingers dragged up my spine and fixed around the back of my neck. I breathed in deeply and looked back up in the mirror.

My reflection was gone.

Instead, I was seeing the reflection of my empty bathroom and the dopen doorway leading into the dark hallway by my room. I rubbed my eyes a few times, but my reflection didn't appear. It was obvious I was having some sort of nightmare. Smiling to mysel fand thinking it stupid to get scared over what was clearly a fever-induced dream, I picked up my Game Boy and rolled it over my fingers a few times. Ready to pinch myself and wake up, I looked at the screen one last time and froze. I was now looking into a very pixelated, distorted version of my reflection. My eye sockets had gone black and my empty mouth was gaping open, stretched down my face. My fingers were digging into my temples. Music started playing and got louder and louder, even though I wasn't touching the volume dial. It wasn't Lavender Town's theme. It was eerier, less constructed. It didn't take me a minute to realize it was the song being run backwards.

I dropped the Game Boy, which clattered against the bathroom tile. The back popped open and the batteries flew out and rolled towards the doorway. Throwing my hands into my sweaty, messy hair, I went weak at the knees and sunk back against the wall, pinching at myself, trying to wake myself up. The music was getting louder still, even with the Game Boy face down, without batteries. My glazed eyes darted to the mirror.

It was entirely black, as if it and the Game Boy had swapped visuals. My heart began beating really fast and I could feel those icy fingers scraping down my back, forcing me to look over my shoulder. It was then that the lights in the bathroom went off, making everything pitch black. I screamed and jumped out of my skin, spinning around and feeling for the light switch, trying to turn it back on. I must have turned the wrong way because I was no sooner facing my mirror, which had the faintest glow to it, like a weak electronic screen. I cried and beat my hand against it, waiting to feel the glass-like sheet to shatter against my fist. It didn't Nothing broke. All I heard was a soft 'dunt dunt.'

I spun away and tried to feel around the darkness, but it was as if all the walls had closed in around me. The music was blaring in my ears, hot and unnerving, making my head want to burst. Tears streamed out of my eyes as I struggled, but there was nowhere to go. Dunt dunt. Dunt dunt. Dunt dunt.

Where do you think you are?

In every Pokemon game, there are dark caves that require the move "Flash" for you to be able to see inside them. However, have you ever tried getting through them without it?

I discovered this trick on Pokemon Gold and have since tried it on every Pokemon game I own. It works on them all, even Gen 1 games.

You must be in a dark cave or anywhere you should use Flash. Walk around, fight Pokemon in the dark, bump into trainers, and keep wandering in the dark. Eventually, you will find a ladder that isn't on the map. Go down it.

The screen will go black as you hear the 'going down stairs' nnoise, but it will play four times, as if you've just gone down four floors.

A text box will appear on the black screen, simply saying "Where do you think you are?" The music will be distorted for a few seconds as the screen glitches up. Sometimes you might hear a 'thud' noise as if you walked into a wall or a distorted Pokemon cry that sounds like a scream.

After that, you'll be able to see. In the older generations of Pokemon, it simply looked like you'd found a new area that wasn't on the map. In newer generations, you can tell something is wrong because everything is in black and white.

You'll be in a big, empty room. The four walls all have something written on them - usually your player name and the time or the names of your Pokemon. You can walk through one of the walls, but which one depends on the game. If I remember correctly, it's the north wall in Diamond and the left one in Yellow...so on, so forth.

When you go through the wall, you'll be back in the overworld outside the cave. Everything will still be in black and white. The music will be slower and lower; occasionally, it jumps, too. Trying to talk to people is useless; you can't interact with them any more.

In Pokemon Yellow, the sprite of the Pikachu that follows you around becomes that of a Ghost from Lavender Town. If you check your Pokemon, they will all be there - same stats, nicknames, and moves - but all their sprites have changed into that of the Ghost.

If you go into the grass and find Wild Pokemon, they will amost immediately flee from you.

Go back into the dark cave you came out of. This is now the only place you can fight Wild Pokemon and other trainers, so long as you don't use Flash.

I discovered recently that if you play the game like this for long enough, you will eventually see a trainer that uses the main character's sprite in that one dark cave. They stand out, for they are in color when everything else is not.

However, if you try to talk to them, a text box pops up saying "Where do you think you are?" The screen goes black and you hear the distorted music, thud, or scream from before...

Jigglypuff

Here is the GIF version, if you want it.

Ruins of Alph Embedded Images and Strangeness

Defying my belief that this should be kept confidential, I will share this in the sole interest of two individuals. My name is Ruben. I have always been interested in subliminal techniques, regardless of the media or way in which they are conveyed. However, I did not go looking for this particular example. No, it found its way to me. It’s certainly no coincidence that the move ‘Curse’ was introduced in Generation II with the release of Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions.

Often heard that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? A sound should not be judged by the way you hear it. There can be so much more, that of which the single sense of hearing can not handle by itself. Sounds are visual as well, despite what some may say. Any piece of music can alter your state of mind and emotions. What else can sounds do? Maybe a certain group of individuals set out to answer just that.

New concepts were realized with version 1.0 of the Lavender Town music released in early Pokemon Green and Red cartridges in Japan. There’s no doubt that there was interest from the sound team to create an eerie effect from special inflictions in the music, most notably the high pitched frequencies which could only be heard by those with especially acute hearing. Version 1.1 of the Lavender Town music soon replaced its older counterpart in newer cartridges in order to avoid suspicions. Perhaps enough data had been collected anyway.

The person who posted the previous video was surprised to find that his friend, Anthony, had developed a special way to retrieve the frequencies that were lost when the developed music was redesigned in order to fit within the limitations of the Game Boy. According to him, certain hints were left in the music which encouraged him to develop a way to analyze the sound and insert special tones which mimicked the original intentions of the music.

Although Anthony may have never realized this, the tones which he added constructed unusual images within the sound when combined with the original Pokemon music. These images had been embedded into the music through certain methods of steganography. In Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, these images were waiting for their key to be unlocked.

Likewise, two sound files from the Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal soundtrack fit together in an interesting way. One you are most likely familiar with; the other you would have only heard if you had listened to your radio while within the Ruins of Alph. These files can never be played concurrently while playing the game. However, they can be while using a computer.

I am not the one who posted the previous video. I will refer to him as Edwin from this point on. When he looked through Anthony’s laptop, he copied more than an audio file and just a few pictures. Edwin found an entire algorithm which Anthony had written which was able to reconstruct the lost images within particular Pokemon sound files. Anthony had created the sound file featured in the last video from this algorithm and a generic binaural beat, which he had downloaded from the internet, and many viewers/listeners have recognized.

Subsequently after discovering Anthony’s creation (lavender.wav) and his homemade algorithm, Edwin himself became obsessed with the oddness of Lavender Town. Despite what he wrote in the previous video, he did not lose interest. Edwin spent his time up until posting the last video testing Anthony’s algorithm. He became quite familiar with it and tried it on numerous sounds from the early Pokemon games. Eventually, he tried combining the Ruins of Alph music with the erratic sounds that play on the radio. After running this through Anthony’s algorithm, results even more astounding than Anthony’s original discovery were found. The outcome is this video.

To my dismay, I am the “sound enthusiast” which Edwin mentioned in the description of the last video. This is why I know so much of this ordeal and have felt the need to write this description as well as post this video. Edwin contacted me through the internet requesting help with the lavender audio file, so I sent him a spectrogram program. He began to send me more and more details about the problems he was facing as time went on, and I grew to know him pretty well. Eventually, he sent me the password to this account along with a terrifying note.

“Even after researching the sounds which caused Anthony’s death for so long, I still don’t feel better about it. It was my fault he died. If I had just played through my Blue version with him, he wouldn’t have become so interested in the Lavender Town stuff, we would have just kept playing. He was my best friend, but I let him down. I wasn’t a true friend. It’s like I hardly knew him anymore after we went our separate ways. I can’t stand living with this burden.”

He attached the audio file playing in the video above as well as a password so I could access this account. To say the least, I was baffled at the time. The day after the previous video was posted, Edwin was found dead in his room, astonishingly with no flesh wounds to be found. Had he figured out the exact cause for Anthony’s seizure? Was it suicide? Both?

Never did he mention any specific details about this audio file, other than what has already been mentioned in this description. I didn’t want to have to get involved further in this incident, but as I have already stated, I feel like it is my obligation. I don’t, however, feel the need to describe the occurrences that take place in this video. I will let you decide for your own about that.

Keep in mind, though, that in the game the scientists in the ruins claim that Unown communicate with radio waves. What was constructed in place of the Pokemon Tower in Lavender? The Kanto Radio Tower. I must let you know that this sound file was created with Anthony’s algorithm with a binaural beat added in the background. Do the Lavender Town theme and the Ruins of Alph music have something in common? An accident? Something that could... drive someone insane?

Pokemon Sapphire

Hello there internet. I’ve been recently have been having serious problems lately, and I feel that I could be in danger. Sorry if it’s a long read, but this has gotten really freaky for me. This is regarding a used game of Pokémon Sapphire I just recently got.

For those who don’t know, I’m somewhat of a Poké-nerd. I’ve been a fan of the series since me and my older brother got the first generation games, Red for him, and Blue for me. Eventually as time passed, my brother grew out of it, but I still remained faithful to the series (well, gamewise, at least. The show has gone downhill after the first series in my opinion.)

Anyways, it started a few weeks ago, when one of my internet buddies posted that he was going to start his Pokémon Ruby version over, and recording his progress and posting it on youtube. After talking about it for a bit with him, he joked about how I should restart a sapphire game. Even though it wasn’t serious, it got me in the mood to possibly play through it again.

However, I didn’t want to restart my old sapphire game over, since I had gotten so far in it, as well as had a lot of Pokémon not found in that game in the Pokédex. And I didn’t want to download an emulator and rom, so I decided that I would just get my hands on a new copy of the game. I searched for a few days online, finding a lot of sapphire games, but most were too pricey for me.

Finally, I found one that was about $3. The description said it was in good condition, with a scratch on the label, and some writing on the back with black permanent marker. Satisfied with what I found, I decided to purchase it. I couldn’t wait to get it in the mail.

A few days later, it finally arrived in the mail. As I unboxed it, I noticed the label had a scratch through the middle of it, like the description said online. As I turned it around, and saw the word “Sorrow” etched on the back of the cartridge in black permanent marker as well. Other than that, it looked like it was in fine shape. So then I put it in my Gameboy Advance SP and turned the power on.

After the title screen played, I looked at the first selection screen, when I noticed the save file on the game to be somewhat perplexing. The trainer’s name was “DAVE”, and he had all 386 Pokémon on his Pokédex. I checked his game file, and sure enough, he had every single Pokémon, even a legit Celebi (I checked Serebii.net to confirm this)! I was so astonished at this, as this was a goldmine for a Pokémon collector.

I also checked his team out, all of them level 100. This is his team:

Salamence

Girafarig

Plusle (nicknamed “Bolty”)

Sceptile

Blaziken

Swampert (nicknamed “Miko”)

Though, I was at a dilemma about what to do with his game file, whether to erase it, or preserve it. In the end, I transferred legendary, rare, and team to my Heart Gold game, so they wouldn’t be totally erased. After that, I started a new game, called my trainer “Brendan” (this is his default name. I chose Torchic as my starter, beat May, and got the Pokédex from Professor Birch, and saved my game at Oldale town. After that, I shut off the game, giving myself a break from it.

After a while, I decided to play some more, so I turned on the power. But after the intro screen, a message appeared on the screen:

Your save file is corrupted. The previous save file will be loaded.

And sure enough, my file was gone, and DAVE’s file was in its place. At first, I was a little disappointed, and thought nothing of it. Plus, I have experienced the same problem on my Diamond version of Pokémon, so this wasn’t something new to me. Plus, I knew a way around it; by saving the game twice. That way, it would revert to the first save, and my progress wouldn’t be deleted.

So, I restarted the game again, doing everything over, and saved twice. I turned the power off and on again, and the corrupt file message didn’t show itself, and my file was the same as when I last saved. I felt like I accomplished something there, and I went on in the game, reaching Rustboro city. I double saved it again, and went to sleep, since it was late at night at that point.

Now here’s where it starts getting freaky. The next day, I turned on the game, and the corrupt message showed up again. I chuckled at first, thinking it wasn’t a problem, but after the message went away, it showed that DAVE’s file was there! I was frustrated, and didn’t expect it, since I saved quite a few times. So, I went in and inputed the delete file code. I selected yes after it asked me if I wanted to delete it.

After that, the screen went black, and a message showed up. It said “My legacy… you’re trying to erase it…” At this point, I was freaked out of my mind. It felt like the game was talking to me. I don’t know why I didn’t shut off the game at this point, but I kept playing, like it was in control of me.

When the black screen disappeared, it showed Brendan in a cave room. I was at the south end of it, and a three square hallway in the center was to the north of me. The music that was playing was the same music you hear inside of Mt. Pyre, and Shoal cave. I checked the stats of my Pokémon and trainer, and it turned out to be the same as the trainer I made yesterday, and the Pokémon I had since my last save.

After checking, I walked through the passageway, which seemed like it was pretty long. Eventually, I found myself in another box room, just like the one I was in at the beginning. However, there was another Brendan standing in the middle of the room, facing north. I went up to the doppelganger, pressed A, and he turned around. This Brendan’s eyes were red, and he said “GO AWAY!”

Then a battle started. I was facing Pokémon Trainer DAVE, and his trainer was Brendan’s, except his eyes were red, and he looked angry. The music in the background was the Regi battle music. He had only one Pokémon with him; his Level 100 Plusle named Bolty. It looked sad, and the cry it gave out was if it fainted. Since my Pokémon were around level 11, I was no match for him, and his Plusle took out my team in one hit each. After my last Pokémon fainted, he appeared on screen again, and said “Now it’s your turn.”

Then the message said “Brendan is out of usuable Pokémon.” But instead of the normal message of “Brendan whited out…” it said “Brendan was killed.” Then the screen went black for a few seconds.

After the black screen went away, it showed a grassy field, with gravestones scattered around. There was a single golden gravestone in the middle. After a few seconds, a message appeared. It read a chilling message that made me shiver. (I changed the name part of the message on here, since I don’t want to reveal my real name):

Here lies XXX

I was shocked. There was a gravestone, with my real life name on it, and I never even used my name in the game. I turned off the game, and haven’t played it since.

I’m at a dilemma now, whether to pick it up again, or just get rid of the game, and get a new one. All I can say is that this scares the shit out of me.

Hell Bell

After the fourth generation of Pokemon disappointed him so much, my brother tossed me all of his Pokemon stuff in disgust. I received hundreds of cards to add to my collection, the Blastoise plush he won at King's Island nine years ago, and the Diamond game that completely swept away his love for the game and all things associated with it. That chapter of his life came to a sad close while mine just gained something to continue on.

Admittedly, the games that had come out for the DS disappointed me as well; there was just something about it all that made the magic the games normally held fade away a little. As a person who grew up with the originals, generation four simply wasn't 'my' Pokemon anymore. Regardless, I wasn't going to turn my back on something that accompanied me through my childhood simply because the game disappointed me a little.

In fact, I wanted Diamond. Dialga was a hundred times better looking than Palkia and I rather enjoyed the thought of finally getting to be the one to catch it this time around instead of having to hack one or trade for it.

Before I continue, I must tell you that this doesn't involve Dialga at all. I just like it and originally wanted Diamond, but had to settle for Pearl because my brother got to Diamond first. This DOES start off with a legendary Pokemon, however, though I'm certain that if I had used any other, the outcome would have been the same. This happening seemed to be meant for me. Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have happened at all, which I would have been completely fine with.

I started up his saved game just to see what all he had. His save information said he had all the Pokemon in his Pokedex, even the ones that had yet to be released through wireless events, which reminded me that he really enjoyed using Action Replay codes to enhance his gaming experience. That was probably the only thing that caused him to keep the game for as long as he did, but even cheating gets old after a while.

After starting his game, I checked his party. He had six shiny, level 100 Rayquazas. Like all the other Pokemon he owned, he caught them using the lengthy 'encounter any Pokemon' code where you had to discard heart scales to indicate which Pokemon you wanted to catch at level 100. While the Pokemon encountered with this code were about as weak as if you had given them a large number of Rare Candy, I still recall losing to these six frequently.

I had used this code myself throughout my first play-through of Pearl, and I traded these across the net to increase my chances of winning at the lottery...or, at least that's what I did before a friend scolded me and I was more or less forced to start over cheat-free. While he needed no Pokemon to complete his Pokedex and he didn't need to win any extra items, trading was always a fun experience for me just to see where they came from.

So, I went to Jubilife City and into the Global Trading Center to see what I could get for one of these Rayquazas. I know I could have traded anything, but I secretly held a grudge against these six for beating me so badly all those times.

Once in the trading network, I offered one up for a Bronzong that I had picked at random out of the first list. Of course, I couldn't choose a gender, but I chose the required level to be 100, just to make it more or less an even trade. After that, I left for a little while.

After doing nothing of particular interest for about six hours, I came back to see if I had any takers for the trade. I immediately got excited when the trade sequence started up. I know it was just a simple Bronzong, but still, I like this process a great deal. You could send me a Magikarp and I'll get excited for a little bit.

You know how the process goes; I won't bother explaining the actions on the screen to you. Long story short, I received a shiny Bronzong named 'Hell Bell.'

I was shocked to get a shiny in return. I never got a shiny when I traded in Pearl...but the name was unsettling to me. Being a slightly religious person, I'm not comfortable speaking about anything pertaining to Hell or anything like that. Even writing this makes me feel like I'm provoking a similar event to happen again. Let's just hope this functions as a learning experience for you and not something else for me.

After leaving, I checked its stats. Everything was set at 666, its old trainer was named 'Beelze' (which, again, both points slip into my sensitive area), and it was caught at Lost Tower and contained in a Cherish Ball.

Clearly, it was hacked, but that's what I get for offering up a hack first.

The stats and other information of the Pokemon disturbed me only for the fact that I didn't like its name or information, but I assumed it was fine otherwise. Regardless, I didn't want it, so I tried offering it up for trade again...but each time I tried to put it into the GTS, the game informed me that the Pokemon couldn't be offered in a trade.

This had happened to me several times before when I tried to trade hacked legendaries. I assume there's something in place that keeps people from getting truly ripped off...but I was able to trade that Rayquaza and 'Beelze' was able to trade me Hell Bell this go around. I didn't know why it wouldn't allow me to offer it again.

I still wanted to be rid of it, so the only other option I had was to release it. Before I went to the PC, however, I checked the item it was holding. The sender had attached mail to it, which was always fun, even though your choices for what to say are severely limited and the letters always come out painfully cheesy (That's one of the thing I don't like, the revamp of the mail system).

I chose Hell Bell and selected to read the mail, though the letter wasn't set up like it normally was in the game. It looked like it had actually been typed out like you used to be able to do in Gold and Silver. The message was only three words long.

"Take me back."

I wasn't quite sure what that meant. I certainly couldn't trade it again. Even if I could, there was no way I could make sure Hell Bell got back to Beelze, so I discarded the message and went to the PC to release it.

I selected the 'deposit Pokemon' option and selected Hell Bell to release it, but each time the party sprite shrunk away, it immediately came back with a message saying something along the lines of "Hell Bell doesn't want to leave you!"

Again, this had happened before when I was clearing out my PC box in my second play-through of Pearl. I wanted a little more room and decided to release a Shinx that I had caught early on in the game, but it kept coming back. I had thought it was cute then and made the Shinx (now a Luxray) a permanent member of my party since it appeared to like me so much, but now it was just annoying.

When I checked Hell Bell again, it was holding another mail item. It made no sense, since I had taken it away the first time. I opened it and read a slightly longer message.

"I can't go back on my own. Take me back."

Again, I took the item and tried to release it. Another failure.

When I tried to simply deposit it, the game told me to remove the mail item from the Pokemon before depositing. I know I had, twice even....but upon checking it again, Hell Bell had yet another mail item in its possession.

"Lost Tower."

It was finally getting more specific, which I found oddly relieving rather than feeling a little uneasy as I probably should have been. At least I knew where it wanted to go...maybe it'd leave my party after I took it there. I'd like to know why this Pokemon was making my game behave so strangely. The Pokemon was hacked, not the game itself. As far as I know a decent hack doesn't affect the game and a bad hack can make it crash...but this was doing neither, more like something in between.

Eager to get rid of it, I left the GTS building and stepped out into Jubilife. I was too impatient to pick an actual flying type out of the PC, so I just taught one of the Rayquaza the move 'fly' and chose to use it. Strangely, when I picked Solaceon Town from the map, the game informed that I couldn't fly there. I know my brother had visited the city before, so I don't know why I couldn't go there. I didn't take the time to actually think about it; I just flew to Hearthome instead.

I didn't waste time in Hearthome. I simply left to travel through Route 209 to get to the Lost Town and hopefully rid myself of this strange Pokemon somehow by taking it where it wanted to go.

I immediately noticed the lack of people on the route. Granted, I don't remember who all was there to battle and things of that sort, but I know there were at least a few people around. The area was completely vacant.

Well, not completely. There was one person, who I didn't quite recognize, quickly pacing back and forth where I believe an athlete once ran. The sprite there now was of a white-haired old man.

Curious, I spoke to him, which was where it began to get a little weird for me. He didn't say anything that made sense, but babbled over and over for an annoyingly long amount of time, much like when you speak to a specific cyclist on the bike trail in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. You know, the one who knows where you got your bike because the name is all over it.

"RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL RING THE BELL"

That meant nothing to me. I didn't bother speaking to him again, and continued to the tower.

Once inside, I tried to go up the stairs but something prevented me from moving for a moment. I thought all the hacked Pokemon had finally made the game screw up, but that wasn't the case. after a moment of complete silence, the sound of a deep, brazen bell began to slowly toll. (If you're curious about how that sounded exactly, start up your HeartGold / SoulSilver game. That bell is just like it.)

After about four rings, the tombstone in the center of the room cracked and shattered like someone had used Rock Smash on it. Beneath the tombstone was a hole. Since it wasn't allowing me to go up the stairs, I walked over and fell through the hole.

When I landed, I fell on a platform much like the one you find Arceus on in the Hall of Origin, except it was much darker. Where the transparent platform was white and glowing for Arceus, this one was more of a blackened red. It just seemed evil rather than the 'holy' vibe you get from the Hall of Origin. Coming from the platform was a set of wide stairs that looked as if they were made of black marble rather than white.

there was no way back up (I couldn't fly, had no diggers, and I lacked Escape Ropes), so I took the stairs and the bell (which I now assume was Hell Bell, considering that Bronzong is indeed a sort of bell) continued to ring slowly.

By now, I was feeling incredibly uneasy, but I continued down the stairs. As I went further, it began to get foggy and dark. when I reached the bottom, I was met with a narrow path with large pools of magma / lava on either side. It was beginning to look more like the cave in which you encounter Groudon in Ruby, except with better graphics.

The path continued in a straight line for about forty steps before hanging right for another forty and finally going up. The final path was long; magma still bubbled at the side and with each step I took, the ringing of the bell began to go faster - at least as fast as a large bell could ring - but it was still just an ominous, slow tolling. With each ring, I couldn't help but repeat what the old man NPC had said earlier. "Ring the bell."

Finally, I reached the end of the pathway, which was just as small was a 4x4 platform, and the bell stopped ringing. I wondered what I was supposed to do here; there was nothing to interact with, no way to release Hell Bell, and no way to get out. I received my answer in the form of a disembodied 'voice.' A dialogue box popped up.

"Oh, you've returned Hell Bell to me? I really appreciate it."

He faded into view one space in front of my sprite. It was just a simple 'gentleman' sprite. The party sprite of Hell Bell came out of me and stood in the space between us, facing him. The game informed me that I handed over Hell Bell.

Next, something popped up on the touch screen. It looked like the part of the trainer card where you sign your name. Again, the voice spoke.

"Would you mind telling me your name so I may thank you properly?"

Now, this confused me...actually, everything that was happening confused me, but this really threw me for a loop. First, the game should know the character name programmed into it from the start and, as far as I know, it can't actually recognize handwriting. Regardless, I began writing my brother's character's name, which was 'Dust.' I made the first stroke - it was in black 'ink' like normal - and made a 'D.' The voice stopped me.

"No, no, your real name, please. I can't thank you with a false name, you know."

My heart felt like it stopped for a second and sunk right into my stomach before violently bounding back up into my chest. How the hell did the game know that I wasn't signing my real name?

"Your real name, please."

Again, I began writing. Why I was listening to this, watching it all play out, when I could easily turn it off or start a completely new game, I didn't know. The thought simply didn't cross my mind at the time. I don't think it was allowed to.

The 'ink' in which I was now writing was a bright red color, but I still wrote my full name - first and last - in the space I was provided. After I was finished, the man spoke again.

"Good, now blow, please? We don't want the ink to smudge."

I blew into the mic and the 'ink' turned from bright to deep red. I was unable to make changes after that. Afterward, the screen disappeared and the man spoke again.

"Thank you, miss. You'll be happy to know that you now belong to me."

The bell tolled twice more as my sprite - currently male - turned to face me and shifted to the female sprite. It had brown hair and was wearing all black...just like I was at the moment.

Hell Bell moved forward, overlapping my sprite, and a final dialogue box popped up.

"Hell Bell used IMPRISONMENT!"

After that, my DS's battery died. I was shaken, I'll admit, but it just seemed like a twisted event brought about by some sort of secret within the game unlocked by a Pokemon, but now...

I can't sleep. Food seems to turn to ash in my mouth. No water can quench my thirst. People and animals both act as if the shadow of death is passing by them when I'm near. I'm not my own anymore. I belong to that man...and Hell Bell.

I don't know what became of that Pokemon, but if I received it, someone else is surely to do so. Use caution while using the trading system, please...and if you receive Hell Bell, don't hesitate to reset. Your special, once-in-a-lifetime event Pokemon aren't worth the cost of your very soul.