Ok, I guess I better share my story. Who knows, someone could be interested.
See, I’ve always been a big fan of Pokemon. To date there’s only been a couple Pokemon games, spinoff or otherwise, that I haven’t touched. There used to be one I hadn’t ever even seen: Pokemon Crystal Version.
So I was browsing the local GameStop while my mom was shopping, and for once I actually had some cash on me. Imagine my surprise when there was a single copy of Crystal sitting in the used games case, and at a price I could afford. Naturally, I snatched it up immediately. I got out my SP to play it as soon as I got home.
The cartridge itself looked pretty normal, or so I thought. Someone had written “PANDORA” across the label in black pen. I figured it was just a label so the previous owner would know which one was theirs. The plastic was kind of scratched up and even dented a little, which I assumed was because it had been used often. Just wear and tear from getting carried around, lost, handled, and generally getting thrown around a little, you know? It must have been well-loved to have taken that much damage.
So I started the game up. I thought it was normal, having never played or watched someone play Crystal before. But things were… different. The differences started as early as the title screen. All the colors were much darker than they should have been. I did notice one strange thing right away, though. The Pokemon logo was distorted, having what appeared to be cracks in it. Being a Pokemon fan, I knew that wasn’t right. However, I blew it off as a glitch. Crystal isn’t exactly a new game, after all. I figured there wouldn’t be much issue, it was just a few coincidentally eerie distorted pixels.
The game began. The colors were still too dark, but I still thought they were meant to be that way. Naturally, I chose the female character. I named her Syna, though that doesn’t have much to do with anything. I think. I can’t be certain.
At any rate, things continued to be just a bit off. It might have just been my eyes playing tricks on me with the darkened colors, but just before the traditional explanation of Pokemon opening that comes in every game, I thought I saw a flash of a face of some kind. I only saw it for a split second, and I might not have even seen it at all. It was more bestial than human. White, on a black background, with red eyes the exact shade of blood.
I got a bit apprehensive then, but otherwise it seemed to go normally. I chose my starter, Chickorita, just like I did in Gold and SoulSilver. As soon as I could, I checked out my little dino.
And then I knew for sure something was weird. There was an extra Pokemon in my party. It didn’t have a sprite next to it, and the name was blank. I examined Chickorita’s stats and moves, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Then I looked at the second Pokemon. The picture of the Pokemon was nothing more than a black box, like the Pokemon itself was a black cube. Still no name or species name, but there was an HP bar and everything else. Oddly, it was level 100. It had incredible stats. I’m no expert, and I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I don’t think those numbers are actually possible in the mainline games. I realized that this game was either hacked or a really, really weird glitch. When I got to the moves screen, there was nothing. I had this bizarro level 100 cube Pokemon with no name or species and incredible stats and it couldn’t do a thing in battle. Needless to say, I was a bit weirded out.
I continued playing, though. I figured it couldn’t have too much effect on the game, and I could just drop it off in the PC when I got the chance. Things progressed normally, until I met my rival. The strange thing was that he already had a name. I remembered from Gold that you got to name your rival, and figured that since that wasn’t changed in SoulSilver it would be the same in Crystal. Yet here I was, battling my rival for the very first time, and he already had a name. He was named Phobos. I defeated him easily enough.
After that battle, his dialogue was different from everything I’d read about Crystal Version. He said, “You idiot! Don’t you even realize what you’re carrying? You don’t have much time, come on!” I was then given a Yes/No option. Curious, I picked “Yes”. I lost control, and watched my character follow Phobos. Evey ten steps or so, the screen got darker. Eventually, it just cut to black. Panicking, I pressed a few buttons. Nothing happened.
After about a minute, the game continued. My character was back in New Bark Town, in her bed. I took this as a clue that she had fainted while following Phobos. Nevertheless, the game proceeded.
Everything seemed normal after that. Mostly, anyway. After each battle with my rival, he would hint that I was carrying something dangerous and reference time running out. He got more urgent as I got closer to Indigo Plateau. Each time, I would get a Yes/No option. If I picked “No”, Phobos would stalk off. If I picked “Yes”, I would watch my character follow him until the screen went dark. She would then “wake up” at the nearest Pokemon Center. I also couldn’t remove the cube Pokemon thing from my team, and gym leaders seemed almost scared when I battled them. The weird cube Pokemon also would never come out when put in the front of my team. The battle would default to my second Pokemon.
Another strange and admittedly kind of upsetting thing about the game was what would happen to Pokemon if they fainted. Whether outside of battle from poison, or in battle, whenever one of my Pokemon fainted, the game would inform me that they had died. They would disappear from my team and wouldn’t be in the PC either. The same went for my opponent’s Pokemon. Their Pokemon would also die rather than fainting, and presumably disappeared from their teams, too, as the little pokeballs that tell you how many Pokemon a trainer has left would disappear. Trainers never wanted my Pokegear number, and I was never asked for rematches. This scared me. They were just normal battles, yet they were treated as fatal. The only exception to the rule was battling Phobos. He would never kill my Pokemon, and I couldn’t kill his.
Other than that and the darkened colors, the game was normal. Freaky, messed up, but normal. The storyline with Suicune was normal, the story with Team Rocket was normal. Being far more experienced than when I had played Gold Version, I never lost more than four Pokemon in a battle. I never used the strange cube in battle, since it seemed it couldn’t fight. So apart from what I mentioned already, I was playing your average Crystal Version.
And then I got to Indigo Plateau. To play it safe, knowing that Revives would be pointless, I blew all my money on various Potions and things I could use to keep my Pokemon alive. I’ll admit, I was scared. I never got past Will in Gold, and I had only five Pokemon to work with. Furthermore, they would die and I wouldn’t get them back if I lost. With my preparations and added gaming experience, I blew through Will, Karen, Koga, and Bruno with ease. However, Lance was far overpowered. Even all of my preparations failed. He picked off my Pokemon one by one.
When my fifth Pokemon died, however… the battle didn’t end. I was forced to send the black cube Pokemon thing into the battle. It came out as the black cube. The same sound as when you walk up or down a flight of stairs played, and the cube opened. The screen cut to black for a moment, and the same bestial white face with blood red eyes from before flashed a few times. The last time, it remained onscreen a bit longer. The red eyes appeared to be dripping. Whatever it was was crying blood. I was horrified, but couldn’t put the game down. Curiosity kept me going.
The screen returned to the battle. The cube was gone, replaced by a white, beastial shape that had the appearance of radiating darkness. The game informed me that I had sent out “BEAST”. Obviously, since it was a trainer battle, I couldn’t run. All my other Pokemon had died, so I couldn’t switch out. I tried selecting “ITEM”, but I was informed “Items can’t be used here!” I had no option but to fight. I did so, expecting BEAST to use Struggle, but was surprised to see that it had a single move. One move, with only one PP, called “Pandora”. I used Pandora, and the screen immediately cut to black. The music stopped, too.
A howling sound played. It played a second time. Then it played a third time, while several more howls chimed in, overlapping eachother. It got to the point where there were so many that it sounded like a chorus of demonic wolves. After a minute or two, the howls died away. A text box appeared. It told me “CHAMPION LANCE has died!”
The game reappeared with Syna in the final room of Indigo Plateau. Lance’s sprite was gone. She walked by herself to the Hall of Fame, and entered her team. Strangely, the Pokemon that were entered were all the members of the team that had been killed while battling the Elite Four. BEAST wasn’t included. The screen cut to black.
The game remained silent for a long time after that. An image appeared, of my character looking at graves. It was a still image, so it was pretty detailed, compared to the ususal graphics. I could read the name LANCE on the gravestone. The screen cut to black once more, and then returned to my character looking at graves in the memorial in Lavender Town. I walked around a little, exploring. There were no people anywhere. I checked my team. I had no Pokemon. I withdrew a team from the PC, figuring I couldn’t just go around unprotected, and left town. I explored all over Kanto, but there were no people at all. There weren’t even any wild Pokemon. I returned to Johto, but it was the same as Kanto. Completely empty.
I decided to check out Mt. Silver. It wasn’t hard to find my way through, only tedious, with no wild Pokemon. Music started playing again when I entered. It was the background music from Lavender Town. However, it was about an octave lower than normal. It got slower and slower as I stumbled through the mountain’s caves. I eventually found my way to Red, with the music barely recognizable. I was surprised to see both Red and Phobos waiting for me.
Red, predictably, only gave me a few ellipses. Then Phobos spoke. He said, “I tried to warn you, to get you someplace safe! I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it.” Syna turned back to Red, who gave a few more ellipses before a battle started. It was a surprisingly normal battle. Red defeated me, but I had him down to his last Pokemon. Neither his Pokemon nor mine died.
After the battle, the music stopped completely. Red offered a few more ellipses. I was surprised when he actually said something. He asked “… … … … … … …You opened it.” The screen cut to black a final time.
A single howl played, and a text box appeared. It said “SYNA: I did. Nothing will ever be the same. … … … … … I can never be forgiven.”
The text box disappeared and the screen remained black. No matter what buttons I pressed, the game wouldn’t come back. All I could do was turn off my SP, so I did. I tried turning it back on, to pick up where I left off. I thought I could at least replay the entire ending sequence from before I battled the Elite Four, but I couldn’t.
My save file was gone.
