Pichu's Fate
It all began when I ordered a copy of Super Smash Brothers Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube off of eBay. It was extremely cheap, about 5 dollars, I bought it immediately. Maybe it was too much of a bargain, but I was willing to risk it since the game is hard to find in stores these days.
I received the game three days after placing the order and decided to play it straight away. I vaguely remember the case containing a piece of paper. If memory serves right, it was a note from the seller himself notifying me that the game had some sort of a technical problem. I recall this making me slightly angry at first, as he also explained how there were no refunds involved with such a cheap item. However, my anger wore off as soon as I began to play the game.
About a week into gameplay, I honestly began to wonder why such a cheap game, with an apparent fault, was running so smoothly, although I definitely wasn't complaining.
I was nearing the end of the game, having almost all the characters unlocked. The next unlockbale was Pichu, who was one of my favourite Pokémon, so naturally, I was excited to finally get the chance to play as him.
As soon as I met the condition to unlock him, the screen displayed, "Challenger Approaching", along with Pichu's sillouhette and a rather alarming sound effect - every unlockable character was presented in this way. I began to doubt as to whether I was going to be able to win, but before I was even given the chance, the screen cut off and my console shut itself down.
At first I was extremely frustrated because I had not saved the game, so I had to unlock Pichu all over again. My frustration got the better of me so I completely forgot about the piece of paper that was given to me. I then angrily turned the console back on, and was ready to unlock Pichu once again.
The game loaded up and I entered the single player mode. I found myself at the character selection screen and for some odd reason, Pichu was selectable. I was confused, but at the same time, excited - I could finally play as him. I realised that his sprite was different from the last time I had played this game, it seemed sad and very distraught. Nevertheless I chose to play as him, but to my dismay, the game froze and exactly three seconds later, the stage "Final Destination" loaded.
The stage's background was completely black, with no music, just sound effects. My character, Pichu, was standing in the middle of a void. I had no opponents, and there was no timer. I attempted to move, but as soon as I did, Pichu took damage and the controller began to vibrate. I looked at the screen and there was nothing there. I had no idea what was attacking my character. This continued, and Pichu's percentage began to increase at a faster rate with each hit. I put the controller down since I couldn't do anything and soon after the vibrations stopped. Pichu, however, was continually receiving blows, and all I could do was watch.
His percentage then came to an abrupt stop at exactly 666%. I began to have second thoughts as to what kind of "technical issues" this game had. Instantly, after hitting the 666% mark, music began to play. It was the ordinary soundtrack to the game, but instead, It was played in reverse and slowed down. It sounded like some sort of demonic chant.
After the music had been playing for about five seconds, Pichu began to receive damage once again - his percentage increasing at higher rate this time. A soft, weak voice began to whisper through my speakers. I couldn't make out what was being said. Then there was another whisper, this time louder, and clearer. The Pichu asked for help, mulmbling the words "Help Me" repeatedly, there was a desperate tone in his voice. At this point I was in disbelief. I could not believe a character in a game had just spoken to me. I wondered if someone had hacked this into the game, or if some supernatural being was actually speaking to me. Undoubtedly I was in over my head.
I picked up the controller and tried to do something about it, but it still wouldn't work. I was scared, and I couldn't imagine what was going to happen when Pichu hit 999%. I considered switching the game off, but I was so drawn in by it, I forced myself to keep watching. As soon as I knew it, Pichu hit the 999% mark which was the most damage you can take in the game - everything stopped. There was no sound, no movement, nothing, Pichu just lay there still, as if he were dead. He started to bleed - I was now desperate and wanted to shut the game off. I hit the power button but it remained switched on. It's as if the game was running on its own electricity.
The screen then faded into a dark void, just like before, and a few seconds later a disturbing image appeared. The image showcased a bloody Pichu, beat up and bruised, with text placed at the bottom. Something made me read it out loud, so I did. The sentence "You should have saved him" came out of my mouth and before I was able to react, my console, along with the television shut off, and soon after there was a temporary power cut in my house. I noticed both my console and television were completely broken after a few attempts of trying to turn them on. I had no words for what had just happened, so instead, I took the game and burnt it. I made sure no one else had to experience this bizarre and frightening encounter.
Credited to Abwlp
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