Pokémon FireRed: Love Me

If you've ever played any of the old Gameboy Pokémon games, you may have come across Pokémon: FireRed Version. It is a reboot of the old Pokémon: Red Version game. Me being in highschool, I decided to go back to when I was younger, and purchase the FireRed version. So, I went to the nearby Gamestop and looked in the used gameboy games. I found a somewhat old looking FireRed, but I decided to look elsewhere. I finally found one at a yardsale for $5 and (thinking the buy was a steal!), bought the game happily.

The game cartridge was nice and new looking, other than a minor few scratches. I turned the cartridge over (to see if the label was correct) and I noticed that there was some masking tape in place of the label. "FireRed" was writing in black marker, but the writing was in the "Unown" language. The Unown is a type of Pokémon who are in different forms, each Unown is in the shape of a letter. Anyways, the masking tape had Unown spelling "FireRed" on it. Confused, I put the game in my old Gameboy Advance SP and continued to play.

The Game Freak logo came up as normal, but the opening scene with a Gengar and Nidorino was missing. Figuring it was a simple glitch, I shook it off and continued. Everything was normal until I got to the starter Pokémon. Their pokeballs were black and white instead of the normal red and white. This disturbed me a bit, but I figured it could be the game glitching again. I continued playing and chose the odd looking Charmander. I nicknamed him "Blaze", which was the name I gave my old Charmander from my childhood. I got to the rival battle & sent out Blaze. The Rival sent out a Ghost (the type of ghost from the Lavender Town tower thing, which name escapes me). I attempted to harm the Ghost, but after around 10 minutes of "BLAZE is too scared to move!", I raged and switched off the Gameboy.

After calming down, I went back to the game & switched the Gameboy back on. Expecting to start a new game (because I did not save the first game I created), I was disturbed to see Blaze still in the battle. Angrily, I kept trying to hit the Ghost, but to no avail. Suddenly, the battle ended with neither of us winning. The screen went black for around 10 seconds before I attempted to turn the Gameboy off. I switched it off, and thought it was finally off. But the Lavender Town music started up with a black screen. That music has always frightened me since I was a child, so it was definitely frightening to hear it so randomly.

A screen slowly faded back, and it showed my Charmander being engulfed by the Ghost's misty body. A deafening Charmander cry (at a lower pitch than normal) blared out of the tiny Gameboy's speaker. The mist had swallowed up Charmander, and the whole screen was a pixellated ghost's body (the white & purple misty type thing). The screen again faded to black.

By this point I was crying slightly, as I was horrified of what I had bought. The Gameboy (which was still on) was about 8 feet from me, because I had thrown it out of fear. Suddenly, the ghostly mist began seeping from the screen and speakers. Terrified, I ran to the other side of the room, but the door was jammed...no way out. I stared horrifically at the growing mass of mist. I saw movement within the cloud of mist, what looked like a tiny Charmander's hand. But there was something wrong with the hand; it was decayed and looked almost burnt. The hand reached out of the mist, and I saw the rest of it. It was Blaze! From my older game! He was holding the old Everstone I had given him to keep him from evolving.

Blaze slowly crept towards me, his eyes were non-existent. Just empty sockets; his jaw broken and hanging. The flame on his bony tail was a dark purple with a black core. Blaze was missing a lot of things; parts of his tail, stomach, arms and legs. He weakly growled at me. I was completely paralyzed by fear. Blaze weakly held the Everstone before dropping it at my feet. That Everstone was NEVER taken from him since I had got it in the game. The Charmander's head slowly looked at the Everstone, then slowly looked back up at me. Every time this Charmander moved, cracking and ripping noises were heard. So seeing that decayed Pokémon slowly stare at me was mentally scarring.

For several seconds, Blaze stared at me with an odd look. It was almost sorrowful, and angry at the same time. Finally, the silence was broken. Blaze's eye sockets had slowly begun to leak drops of blood in place of tears. The words that he spoke to me, I will never forget:

"You...you could've saved me. Instead, you gave up on me. I waited patiently for your return, master. For 9 years, I waited. Not a single thing to eat or do. I just waited. You quit using me to battle after a ghost in the Lavender Town tower had scared me. Why? We could've easily made it through the tower. But you gave up and left me for 9 years. Those ghosts in that tower terrorized me, hurt me. Do you see what they have done to me? I am no longer a happy, living, lovable Charmander. I have decayed, like how your heart has decayed. You didn't ever think of me. I was unwanted and useless to you. Those ghosts tormented me, the same way I am frightening you now. Why are you scared of me? You loved me unconditionally when you were younger. I am no different, other than for my physical appearance. If you cannot love me anymore, I'm forced to make your fate the same as mine. Seeing as you are completely frightened with how I appear to you--"

At that point, I threw a large metal pole from my broken bed at the Charmander. This broke his jaw completely off. The Charmander somehow managed to speak again.

"My goodness, that hurt. I now see that you have no affection for me what-so-ever. You want me gone. I see how it is. And now you, too, will see how I feel."

At this point, Blaze slowly limped toward me, blood spilling from his gaping mouth. I could not escape, I was pushed into a corner. Blaze's eyes were actually blazing! A faint, sad looking blue flame was in each eye socket. I stared at the decayed creature, but I was too scared to scream. Blaze continued to limp towards me, arms open, as if asking for a hug.

"Love me! Why don't you love me anymore, master?! Why can you not see that I have remained loyal? Love me!!"

I pushed the Charmander away. Instead of stumbling back, he slid. It was unnatural. His feet remained on the ground, and he slid backwards a bit. At this point, the flame turned blazing red. Blaze turned to running quickly, and grabbed my arm. He started to drag me closer into the cloud of mist. I was screaming, and Blaze was crying loudly. I was finally dragged into the mist and all I could see was white.

A large flash of light occurred, as I screamed. I shut my eyes tightly. But I soon woke up, lying on my bed with the game at the start menu. Instead of seeing the regular Charizard, I saw Blaze. He was not decayed, he was the same as he was since I played Red Version. Alive.

I quickly took the whole game and the Gameboy, and threw them out the upstairs window. After they were crushed and shattered, I took the pieces and burned them. The flame was purple and black, like the same color on Blaze's decaying tail. I took the ashes and put them in a lake. And now, the lake is forever shrouded in that same white mist everyday. No matter the weather, the mist is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Kids, don't lose your old Pokémon games.

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