Tarnished

*****- This made me so sad.;A; It almost made me cry.;A;
This is made by *TriforceDragon on Deviantart.com !
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"Dad, thanks!" I said happily, clutching the box in my hands gleefully.

It was a copy of Heart Gold off of Ebay; they said it'd never been opened, yet there was no cellophane around it.

But regardless, I was sitting on the family couch, grinning my teeth out, the small brown packet in my lap, bubble wrap scattered around--and popped.

"It's no problem, Sophia," said my father, and I just grinned even further before taking the package and my DS- which I had lovingly been playing Golden Sun DS on for a while - to my room, bouncing on my bed as I opened my laptop on the rather low bedside table, letting it come to life.

Now it was time to research Pokemon! Yes, I had never been into Pokemon before. I knew its mascots, yes, but I hadn't ever gotten a copy of it until now; my friend had highly suggested Heart Gold to me, and I had agreed - plus, it had 'gold' in the title!

That made me think of Golden Sun, and it pleased me oh-so-much; gold was one of my favorite colors, and Golden Sun was a great game. How fondly my friend spoke of Heart Gold had made me want to play it, too; so I had begged Dad to pre-order it for me, using my birthday money, as I wasn't even old enough to use Ebay yet.

I logged into my messaging service, then began typing to 'Endgame,' as his username was. He was quite nice, really, despite how ominous his name sounded.

'hello,' typed Endgame, and I was so giddy that my fingers kept hitting the wrong keys, but eventually I managed to get the message I wanted to send right.

'Hi, I got Heart gold, which starter should I get? There are three, right?'

'yes,' answered Endgame. 'you should either get the fire-type, cyndaquil, or the water-type, totodile. chikorita, the grass-type, sucks.'

Chikorita sucked? I frowned and shrugged, popping the game from the box into my DS, replacing Golden Sun safely into its box, then turning on my DS.

The opening intro was beautiful - a large bird with many colors flying, the art quite good...

I chuckled and pressed start. To my surprise, the game wasn't new - but it was only a few minutes in. It also said my character's name was Gold. I shrugged and inquired as to this.

'maybe they just tested it to make sure it was working before sending it,' he said.

I agreed ('Yeah, probably!') then shrugged it off. I was a male; he'd said I would have a choice of either a female or a male. The game seemed to go normally, at least what from he said; only, I was starting in Prof. Elm's lab, right in front of the table where, as Endgame had said, three balls were, each containing a starter.

I blinked and checked the balls, staring at one then the next until I had inspected all of them; now I entered the judging stage, wondering which one to pick.

The Chikorita was the cutest, but Endgame had said it sucked; Cyndaquil was adorable, and Totodile... Well, I didn't like Totodile much due to a fear of crocodiles and alligators, so I went with Chikorita despite my friend saying it sucked... I didn't want to pick Cyndaquil; he had said 'everyone and their mom picks it'.

It was a male, so I named it Charles; I thought it was a sweet name, and I told my friend so. He just gave me a series of periods before demanding why I chose Chikorita.

I told him the truth; that I liked it best. He responded with 'if you say so, but have fun with bugsy and falkner and that stupid cow lady! it's stupid not to restart until you get a female thanks to that cow.'

Cow lady? I shrugged it off; I would see her when the time came!

The game proceeded, and Professor Elm told me to go see Mr... Pokemon? Well, might as well as.

I proceeded; soon enough, I had gotten an egg - Endgame informed me a Togepi was in it - and evolved Charles, and found out that Whitney was the cow lady; and she indeed was evil, but eventually Charles came over his attraction to Razor Leaf her Miltank into fainting, and I rejoiced happily.

I also became somewhat unsettled when Professor Elm called me right after Luce, my Togepi, hatched; I dared to ask, and Endgame said it was fine. He also said to watch out for my Rival - who I had named Silver, how original! - later, in the Radio Tower.

Well, then; I was off!

Until Dad made me go to sleep at about two in the morning. Endgame had gone to bed two hours prior to that. I was proud of myself, however; I'd managed to get five badges and had a mighty team of a male Togetic, named Luce; a male Meganium, named Charles; a female Crobat named Zooter; and, finally but not least of all, a male Furret named Fella.

I awoke at ten and happily grabbed my DS off of the table, tapping away at the buttons, resuming my tirade of beating the gym leaders. Yes, I swore; I, the ultimate Gold, would kick tush with Charles, Zooter, Luce, and Fella!

Endgame was awake, oddly enough, but I typed a happy greeting to him regardless.

'how's your game going?' he questioned, and I answered 'Good! I've got five badges now!"

He seemed impressed due to his next comment, and then I happily continued scorching everyone with Charles and Zooter; Fella and Luce usually didn't get used thanks to Zooter and Charles doing such fast work.

Eventually, at lunchtime(about three pm), I'd gotten my sixth badge and was now wondering where to go. Everyone was at a good level, and I was fine with Silver stripping me(thank god I was a male; it would've been awkward if I was female) in the tower.

Then, finally, once again at midnight, I got my eighth badge.

Endgame didn't answer when I informed him of this, but I shrugged it off - he usually went to sleep around this time; usually, he left his computer on as well by accident.

Once again, at one am - after I had FINALLY gotten through Victory Road and said bye to Lyra(my childhood friend, apparently), Dad forced me to go sleep.

In the morning, I was once again excited; I grabbed my Heart Gold without turning on my laptop, and started playing it happily, humming loudly.

In the previous night, I had acquired two new Pokemon for my party: Fussy the female Heracross, who took FOREVER to get due to having to put honey on a tree, and finally, Fluffy the male Piloswine; I'd evolved him as soon as possible, and I had loved him when he was a Swinub, but being a Piloswine, he was so much cuter!

Elite Four time!

Will went down quite easily to Fluffy; he Earthquaked everything but those Xatus. I had to Blizzard them..

Koga was slightly more challenging, but finally, most of his Pokemon fell to Fluffy's mighty Earthquake, and I had him Blizzard the Crobat as well.

Bruno, I decided to use Charles and Zooter for; Charles one-hit-koed his Onix with such ease, I literally laughed, and I had Zooter spam fly over and over on his others.

Eventually, I came to Karen; she would have been a challenge had I not had Fussy - Fussy easily Close Combated every one of her Pokemon, and I wondered, finally, at this point why none of them had six Pokemon.

Then came Lance, and I was amazed by his choice... His Charizard Flamethrowered poor Fluffy and Charles; his Gyarados toppled Zooter; and one of his Dragonites toppled my poor Heracross. Finally, with just Fella left(his Aerodactyl took out my Togetic), I won; Fella delivered an devastating Headbutt to his last Dragonite, and I was breathing hard even by this point, amazed by the fact that I had narrowly won; even Silver, at this point, couldn't tarnish my record!

Proudly, I, the so-called Gold, accepted my victory. The credits rolled, and I finally turned on my laptop to tell Endgame of my victory.

'great job, queen!' he rewarded me. My username was 'Queen of Unicorns,' so I was somewhat embarrassed, but being called Queen was quite nice.

After the credits went, I was happy to see that I could save-- and my team would still exist!

...But then I was surprised when it was another cut scene, different than the ones from before.

This time, it was just Lyra walking to the left of New Bark, her Marill following her. Her sprite moved at half-speed as well and when she stopped, there was a rather large tree; I swear it wasn't there before... It was to the right of Professor Elm's laboratory, and I was watching intently.

"Huh?" This was me, bemused as I watched.

Her sprite had stopped, and a text box popped up.

It said, "What is that?"... It was Lyra speaking, I could tell. For one thing, the text was pink; it clearly belonged to her.

She stepped ahead two 'boxes,' and then what I saw shocked me.

Silver was at the bottom of the tree; his sprite looked like it was sitting.

"Are you okay?" said the new text box, and I saw Lyra's sprite move forward another two steps, right up to Silver's side.

"..." was his reply--and his words were silver, not pink or black or even red.

"What's wrong?" Lyra again.

"..."

I frowned; this looked like it was going nowhere--

and then it surprised me.

"Sneasel..."

His text box had changed, and at last, he'd spoken. A 'sad' icon appeared over Lyra, like they did for Pokemon.

"What happened?" she inquired.

"He... Gold..."

"What's it?" she persisted, and seemed to enter a sitting position as well; Marill's sprite jumped onto her legs, and it looked like she was sitting with Marril on her lap.

"Gold killed my Sneasel!"

His text had become bold now, and both I and Lyra jumped back; I dropped the DS - thankfully on my bed - and typed to Endgame, asking if this happened.

His response really scared me.

"no... it must be hacked. get rid of it as soon as you can cos hacked games are NOT good, queen."

Despite my fear of it, I swallowed and turned back to my game, pressing A to let the dialogue go further. I was quite stupid, but... well, curiosity killed the cat. I should've called myself the Queen of Cats instead of unicorns.

"Gold killed my Sneasel!"

And now it was apparent; I'd ignored it, thought it was just some random leaves over his legs--but it was now clearly a Sneasel. It wasn't torn or bloody, though. Just... limp.

"Gold?" Lyra said, and she 'stood' and took a step back.

"Gold wouldn't do something like that!"

I felt proud of her; she was defending me, my namesake...

"He-he wouldn't... Right? What's your name?"

And now my jaw dropped. She wasn't defending me anymore? She seemed pretty uncertain now; her sprite had turned upward, then downward, then toward Silver again, like she was looking from side to side uncertainly.

"Silver," said Silver, and he seemed to bend over further over the corpse of Sneasel.

This got me wondering...

Had I really killed his Sneasel?

Come to think of that, what happened to the rest of his Pokemon...?

Curious, I glanced down to find that Lyra was speaking again.

"Silver... Right? I'm... sorry for your loss. I don't know what I'd do if my Marill-"

I winced.

"-died, but... I... I'm sorry, Silver. I promise I'll talk to Gold."

Urp.

I had actually swallowed. I wasn't expecting this. What if she interrogated me?

No, that was silly. They were just pixels, right? Then again, Endgame had told me most stories like this, that were super creepy, started like that and got worse, since the people were trying to deny it.... So I, deciding to be a rebel, just embraced it and braced myself for the inevitable interrogation.

Once I looked back down, it was back to me, sitting - not in my room - but downstairs with 'Mom,' and she was saying something.

"Lyra wants to talk to you, Gold..."

I sighed and closed my eyes before pressing A.

Then when I closed my eyes, Lyra was in the room with me and my mother, and my mother said she had to go see one of her friends in Cherrygrove; she would see me later. Then her sprite left.

And I was alone with Lyra.

Her Marill wasn't there, either; maybe she had left it behind with Silver... Yes, I could see Lyra offering him her Pokemon for a companion while she talked to her best friend.

"Gold?" Pink text again; it sounded... sad, and I was sure there was a sad chime somewhere too, but maybe that was just my imagination.

"Silver... A boy, with red hair..."

She was talking like I didn't know my rival; maybe she didn't know I knew him...

"...he says you killed his Pokemon. His Typholsion, his Sneasel... Did you?"

Up came the yes/no option screen.

I switched between the two, eying yes then no cautiously.

Yes... would probably provoke a quite violent reaction, considering what Endgame had told me of glitched and hacked games, and also just plain haunted games..

No, judging by the same things he'd told me, would probably provoke a "DON'T LIE!" sentence.

I sighed and braced myself. Then I clicked A.

'Yes,' said a new text box.

The text was golden; it was definitely me, as Gold, speaking.

Then it disappeared, and Lyra's sprite took a step backward.

"..."

Then she took a step back forward.

"Why?"

A text box with gold text popped up as soon as I hit A to advance it.

"I don't know... It just happened."

"Well... If it was an accident..."

Then, I winced and almost dropped my DS again; I had to clench my teeth just in case. It wasn't that scary, but still pretty unsettling.

Thank goodness Dad hadn't come in to see what was wrong with me, but then again, I was usually quiet while focusing on games.

Another yes/no screen had popped up.

I swallowed, thinking, and then decided what was most sensible... then pressed A. 'No.'

"It wasn't an accident, Lyra."

"W-what are you saying?"

"I did it by accident of the mind, perhaps... But I killed his Pokemon on purpose, Lyra."

"W-what?!"

"They died painlessly, no worries. That's why there were no marks, or even blood, on them. I had Zooter-"

I let out a small gasp. The game was using my Pokemon's names...

"-Toxic them, so they would die without pain. Poison is painless; the only thing you feel is energy ebbing... I... I thought they should be put out of their misery, but maybe I was wrong; I don't know why I thought that, Lyra..."

And now his tirade of text went into a series of "...", and Lyra was speaking again. Her sprite had taken another step back.

"But..."

Lyra's sprite took yet another step backward, on the rug that marked the end of the room and the entrance to outside.

"Why?"

"Like I said, I don't know."

Then she departed, and Gold was left alone in the room, and I frowned. I felt... oddly sad... Empty inside, too. Was this how Gold was feeling? His childhood friend had left, and he didn't even know why he'd killed his rival's Pokemon outside of seeing them suffer... At least he hadn't been so heartless to give them a lot of pain; he'd let them die...

Then, I realized.

"Gold," I said into the mic, feeling stupid but brave. "You killed them because they were being abused by Silver, right? He kept getting mad at them, and abusing them, and yelling at them... So you killed them to give them a release from the Hell they were in..."

The sprite didn't move, but I smiled. I felt better now. I was still quite sad, and... It was like I was feeling Gold's exact emotions; or maybe he was feeling mine.

"So don't worry... Lyra, and Silver, will both realize this, and I bet you'll have Lyra talking to you really soon again. Heck, I bet they're even talking with each other about it right now."

Then I sighed and saved the game - there was literally nothing else I could do; everything but the save option in the menu was blocked after I'd popped it up; even exiting did nothing. After I saved, however, Gold turned to face me, and I jumped in surprise. I had NOT hit the control pad. He took a step forward as if to go out of the house... and then stepped backward.

He seemed... really hesitant to go outside. I could see why. I sighed and spoke into the mic again.

"Don't worry, Gold. We'll... I promise, we'll see what happens tomorrow."

He did the same movement, only slower; he was nodding this time, and I nodded back. Then I saved once again - assuring him that this would save our conversation so he and I didn't 'forget' so to speak - and turned off my DS.

In the morning, I woke up, and, slightly nervous but somewhat raring to go, turned on my DS before my laptop. I would try to talk to Endgame, and see if he agreed with me getting involved with this... creepy game.

Beep. The game turned on. Everything was normal.

I shrugged and clicked the game file.

It was normal; I was still in the room, and Gold was still alone. Mother wasn't back yet, either.

He was facing the door now, though; right before I'd saved, he had turned to the side of his own accord.

I sighed softly and tried to move him. It worked; he exited the door.

And now we were in New Bark Town, and I was slightly apprehensive.

What if Lyra and Silver came up to challenge me? What if my Pokemon had, overnight, been killed by Silver?

This compelled me to open up my menu and see my team. It was normal; everyone was where they were, and Charles urged me onward when I talked to him, a 'sad' expression popping above his head. It was like he understood.

I let out a long breath of slight disappointment, but mostly relief, before pushing the control pad; I was having him walk toward the tree.

As I had hoped, upon reaching it, I saw Lyra and Silver there. The Sneasel corpse was gone, but there was a grave under it, and there were several more graves to the sides of the tree - the rest of his Pokemon that I, Gold, had killed.

"Hello," said a text box. It was pink font - Lyra was speaking. I wondered where her Marril was; it usually followed her. Maybe she'd left it at home.

"I'm sorry, Gold, Silver..."

Wait, why was she apologizing to both of us?

"I'm sorry, but... I-I... I-I can't forgive you, Gold, or you, Silver!"

And suddenly, her sprite took off; I made Gold walk up to Silver.

He spoke, and I frowned at what he said.

"She said she wouldn't know what she did if her Marril died..."

And now I noticed that there was not six graves--but seven.

"Silver," I growled into the mic, "You jerkface." I was thirteen; what was I supposed to say?

"...So I killed it," his text went on. "With ... a... Haunter I caught. I let it go. I've learned my lesson, Gold."

He had learned, huh?

"I need to... love my Pokemon. Not hate them or get mad, but... really love them..."

"Yes," I found myself saying into the mic, answering for Gold. "Yes, that's exactly what you need to do."

I sighed in relief as Silver left, presumably to find new Pokemon, to get a new team.

Then he stopped and turned.

"But, Gold... Rest assured... I will always hate you for the rest of my life."

I shuddered, and Gold took a step backward.

Then Silver stalked off, looking quite... I don't know, but for some reason, I could feel that he was angry.

Gold turned to face me, the player, and then he took a step forward then a step backward. It was like he was nodding, sort of.

I nodded back, then grimaced.

What to do about Lyra...? The poor thing... Her only Pokemon, Marril, was dead now... And it was my fault. It was my and Gold's fault.

I brainstormed.

"Gold," I said into the mic. He turned to face me. "Let's go catch her a new Marrill."

So we did. We just named it Marril, and brought it to her house, searching for her.

"...She's not here," said Gold in a text box as soon as we had entered the house.

Her mother wasn't, either.

Then I stopped as Gold seemed to sigh.

His text box now read something else.

"Sophia..." I blinked, but wasn't surprised. "...Maybe I should disappear, like Red. Maybe I should go disappear. Will you..."

I swallowed and pushed A, letting his text flood the box again.

"...please restart? Please... Let me forget what happened..."

I stared at the mic and thought.

Restarting... would mean Gold's entire history was forgotten. Silver would forget his lesson. Lyra would have her Marril back.

It would mean that all of this hadn't happened, and something drove me to delete it--but I also didn't want to.

The text box changed its text, as if sensing what I was thinking.

"Don't worry," said Gold. "I... will be reborn, so to speak, as Ethan, if you play as Lyra... And... She won't be the one with the dead Marril. Yes, I won't have a Marril if you restart... But... It's better than Silver... going mad because of the torture he inflicted."

I sighed, then blinked. A sound had come out of nowhere. It was the sound that indicated when someone was talking to me from my laptop.

"One second," I said to the mic; now Gold's text box read "Okay. Tell Endgame hello for me."

Blinking, I glanced at my laptop. It was Endgame, sure enough, talking to me.

"Hey, Endgame," I typed. "Should I restart my Heart Gold?"

"why?" he typed back. "you just made it past the elite four..."

"Because... Gold asked me to restart so he can forget killing Silver's Pokemon."

"gold? the person in your game?!"

"Yeah, he knew your name."

"well... if he wants to forget, then why don't you let him?"

I frowned, then took up my DS.

Yes... Endgame was right. Gold did deserve this.

I wondered why no one had done it for Red, judging by the stories I had read of Red..

I sighed, and said into the mic: "I'm sorry, Gold, but... you do deserve it. I will let you. Please... make sure I'm safe, 'cause I'm gonna play as Lyra. I'm gonna keep her name Lyra, no worries."

I saved. Then soft-reset. In the menu, I choose new game. It asked me twice if I was sure. I answered yes to both.

And then, when I entered the game, I was already Lyra. It didn't give me an option. I was in her house, not Gold's', and her mother said hello to us, and to go see Professor Elm...

I sighed. Poor Gold.

Then, as I exited the house, a boy who looked like him crashed into Lyra/me. There was no Marril.

I actually said "hello!" into the mic, and he seemed to jump.

"Hello!" said a text box... with golden text.

I smiled.

It said Gold was speaking, not Ethan.

End