Bella's Game

As per usual, strange things have played a part in my life. This story is one that I now feel comfortable sharing, as I am sure it will not happen again... At least, I hope not...

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It all started a few weeks after Christmas. The holiday commercials has become fewer and fewer, but were still many in numbers. My sister, having gotten the new Pokemon White 2 game, wandered into my room, asking me for help. She knew I knew much about Pokemon, as I had played just about every game, and had been playing Pokemon since about 2nd grade. She handed me her game and asked how to beat the first Gym Leader, to which I replied with "Let me see your White game."

My sister and I had started a tradition since the release of Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Since Game Freak always released a version that reflected the other one (with minor alterations), me and my sister would always get the opposite version of one another. So, that being said, when Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver were released, she got SoulSilver, and I got HeartGold. She rarely played her games, though, and when she did, she would ask me for help, since, by then, I'd have beaten the game three times over. I used her games to complete my Pokedex, since the opposite versions seemingly always had the other half of the Pokedex. So, when the release of Black and White came, of course, I had borrowed her Pokemon, and given her the Pokemon she wanted, since I always had duplicates. She adored the Fire-type starters, so I always gave her the Fire starter from any region she chose.

This time, however, on her Pokemon White game, this seemed to be a big mistake. I told her that she'd need a weak Grass-type Pokemon to balance out her team on White 2, and she had none, claiming "I only want my Fire-types. I only love them." This sounded strange to me, but I inquired no further, giving her the simple information she needed and having her leave me in peace while she packed her bag to head out to Montana. She left her White with me so I could do some training and housekeeping on the game. I sighed. "Well, let's start this puppy up..." I muttered, inserting the game into my own DSi and starting it up. The opening went about as usual, but I skipped it, eager to dig into my new project. However, when I got to the starting menu, her game, Bella, was unable to be opened, and everytime I tried, the game would state, "You are not Bella.", and send me to the beginning of the opening scenes. I got frustrated, knowing I was letting my sister down by not training her cute little Tepigs and Charmanders. On the seventh try, however, the game froze on the opening scenes, taking me straight into my sister's save file. Her sprite was in a dark cave, and, when the box stating the location of the player did not appear, I rationalized my sister had been training in Twist Mountain, as the surroundings did not remind me of anything I had seen while exploring Victory Road.

I gave myself a silent "yes", because this was the perfect place to level up her Pokemon. I opened up the Pokemon party, which I assumed would be her normal party of her Zekrom, her Emboar, and a few other ever-changing, miscellaneous Pokemon. But, to my surprise, she only carried her Emboar, which was so lovingly named Honey. I shrugged, thinking she had been doing training without me being aware, since she rarely ever played Pokemon, unless she was where I could be found. Honey was at level 66, which made me think more and more that she had been training it. But, realizing that the Pokemon in Twist Mountain wouldn't have given her much Exp., I began wondering where I was. As I moved her character through the mass of tunnels the game had presented me with, no Pokemon appeared before me. I wondered if this was because of the effect of a Repel, and I checked the Bag. Strangely, the only items in it were a Charcoal and a Cherish Ball. "Where the heck did she get a Cherish Ball?" I wondered. We didn't have an Action Replay, and neither of us knew how to hack the games. Cherish Balls were only obtainable with an Event Pokemon, and even then, the Cherish Ball held the Pokemon itself.

Still pondering over this, I continued further, until the game's screen started to get more and more red. I wondered what was going on until a high-pitched keening made me drop the DS. I let out a whine, and held my hands over my ears. The volume was off, as I rarely played with it on, and I had been reaching a hand towards the DS when a voice sent a chill up my spine. "You're not Bella..." The voice rasped. The screen flickered, and went white. The sprite was standing in the middle of it, and the Trainer Card screen suddenly came up. It was my Trainer Card from Black, and it showed my character, Katrine, with red pupils and black eyes. The smile she normally wore was replaced with a cruel grin, and all her Badges were missing. She was broke, and her Pokedex held only six Pokemon. Enough for one party. The screen went glitchy, and the repeated cry of a Snivy, my favorite starter, was heard. It progressively got lower and slower, and each cry was more sinister than the last. The party screen appeared, and, now terrified, I hesitantly picked up the system, looking through the party. All Grass-types. I've always had a love for Grass-types. There was a Snivy, nicknamed "To Die". The other Pokemon, one I instantly recognized as my beloved Petlil, Rosemary, had one HP left. She was Burned, which I thought was nothing special, since Burns don't cause damage as you walk. The screen glitched, and I saw a message saying that Rosemary had lost some HP from her burn. I hit the A button, and another message appeared, saying Rosemary was now dead. Her sprite was replaced with a tombstone, much like the ones seen in Celestial Tower. I couldn't help but let out a cry of sadness. Rosemary had only been level one, and it seemed so unfair that she had suddenly somehow died. I then watched in horror as the screen glitched again, and I tried to power down the system. A voice whispered, "Where do you think you're going? The fun has just begun!" I tried to remove the game cartridge, but it wouldn't budge, no matter how hard I pushed or pulled. I started sobbing, watching as the Pokemon battle screen came up. My character sprite faced Bella, and a text box appeared that said, "Katrine: Bella, don't do this!"

A conversation carried on between the two characters. I sat, not touching the system, and watched the conversation play out something like this...

Katrine: "Don't do this, Bella!" Bella: "But why?" (it was that voice... That haunting voice that had spoken to me earlier) "It's so much fun to torment you!" (the next words Katrine spoke were nothing more than glitched symbols) Katrine: @#&%@*@)*&% Bella: "Ah hahaha! You will pay for violating my game!"

At this point, the screen went staticky and flickered, turning to an image that caused me to burst into tears. My Snivy was being roasted alive by her Emboar's Flamethrower. I watched in horror as the features of my Snivy burned away in the fire. It looked so life-like, too.... I sniffled, and the smell of charred leaves and flesh assailed my nostrils. I sobbed harder, and watched through blurry eyes as a textbox appeared. "Honey used Flamethrower!" it read. I was confused, as I should have blacked out, due to the lack of usable Pokemon. I realized with a shock that the attack was directed not at a Pokemon, but at my character. I watched as she was burned alive, and the smell of burning flesh grew stronger. A flash of pain washed through me, making me let out a whimper, then a scream of agony. Burns appeared all over my body, and my hair was charred. I heard a loud, sinister laugh, and it seemed to surround me from all sides. My eyes teared up even more, and I threw the DS at the wall. It turned off, but I could still hear the laughing. The last thing I remember was stumbling down my steps and feeling a sharp pain in my side.

I woke up in the hospital several hours later, the worried faces of my family surrounding me. They asked me what happened, and I lied and said I didn't remember. They shrugged it off and blamed it on me hitting my head on my fall down the stairs. About a week later, I saw my sister again. She was always with me and mom over the weekends. I gave the game back to her and started sobbing, saying I couldn't progress her much in the game. Confused, and every so slightly annoyed, she turned on the game, and opened her save file. She broke out into a grin and showed me her party, which contained her Zekrom, her Emboar, and a few other miscellaneous Pokemon, as always. Her Zekrom was now level 85, and her other Pokemon, levels ranging from 30-50. Her Emboar, however, was still at level 66. "Are you sure you didn't do any training?!" She laughed happily. I stared at the screen. She was in a Pokemon Center. I weakly lifted the DS to take a closer look at it. A text box appeared reading, "I'll remember the fun we had." I screamed, dropping the DS on my lap. She quickly picked it back up, and looked at the screen. "What? It's just the options for Honey. You're so weird." She closed the DS, stood up, and left the room.

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