Pokemon Creepypastas A.K.A scary stories

I love you to death

The title's actually just Love You To Death, but there's already a pasta here by that name. Sigh...

Call me what you will. "Nostalgiafag", whatever else you call us. But I couldn't fight the urge anymore. I was drawn to Pokémon Red. Not Fire Red. Not the Mystery Dungeon Red. Classic Pokémon Red Version.

Creepypasta and the simple rush I got from remembering all the good times I had as a child drove me to it. But I couldn't find a cartridge.

Even if I did, I wouldn't have anything to play it with. My SP had lost the ability to hold its charge years ago, and, such a tragedy, a Nintendo DS couldn't handle a Gameboy game. Luckily, I have the internet, so I went looking for a ROM.

I didn't notice anything strange about the title or the filename, I just downloaded it and started it up as fast as I could.

I took in absolutely everything: the old music, the sprites that I haven't seen in years, the dialogue I had forgotten. I didn't want to miss a second of it. I checked out the starter Pokémon. As usual, it was Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander. I recalled that Metal Claw didn't exist in these games. Since I would have no type advantage against Brock, I decided on Squirtle.

Sure, I would get held back by Misty, but there's grass Pokémon like Paras and Oddish between Pallet and Cerulean. I could handle her if I tried hard enough. I sped through the rival battle like there was no problem, and he left, as usual, but then something strange happened. Oak walked over to me after my rival left. A dialogue box appeared, and the text was dragged out very slowly, like he was trying to make a point. Or get my attention.

"Are you sure you don't want Charmander instead?" He asked. I had thought about this long and hard before I picked my starter, but I knew that even in the old games, Oak would never ask you if you had second doubts. Naturally, I picked "No". The box reappeared, and the text was back to its normal speed.

"I see." Was all it said. With that, he walked back to his spot. Curiously, I walked up to Charmander's ball, which was still on the table. Another box popped up. "It's not too late." I assumed this was Oak speaking. Yet another box popped up, but this was just a choice. "Do you want Charmander?" Well, of course I wanted Charmander, but I couldn't take Charmander and keep Squirtle. I said 'no' and left the building.

I never got the choice again, and eventually I beat the champion, my rival. But Oak did not appear. Instead, one of his aides showed up. "Something is happening at the lab! Quick, follow me, you two!" He asked. I watched the three of us leave the Pokémon League and return to Pallet Town, which was now in ruins and on fire. My rival turned to the aide.

"What's going on here!? Where's gramps!?" He asked. The aide looked to the flames in front of us, then to my rival. The animation was dragged out so he walked over to me slowly, and the text was dragged out again as he faced me and spoke, "This is your fault. You picked Charmander." What? No, I picked Squirtle! I had the Blastoise in my party to prove it! But I didn't get to check my party just yet.

Wordlessly, the aide took a step backwards into the fire. What sounded like the noise made for screech sounded, but it seemed a lot longer than usual. A text box popped up. "The aide burned alive!" Yes, yes he did. But why? Why did he kill himself like that?

My rival turned to me. "Charmander? I thought you picked Squirtle!" He voiced my thoughts. But you never get to explain yourself in these games, and that bothered me more than ever at the time. I noticed something was coming towards us slowly in the distance. It was a Pokémon sprite of some sort. "Look out!" My rival cried. He kicked me out of the way suddenly.

I say "kicked" because I remember this happening in Gold, Silver and Crystal. He could have pushed me, but I'm guessing he kicked me. I read the text box carefully. "Charmander used Flamethrower! Okibi burned alive!" Charmander? Wait, that Pokémon just set my rival on fire and killed him, why was I worried that it was Charmander? The Pokémon turned to me, and Charmander's cry rang out. I was suddenly in a battle.

There was no music as Charmander's sprite appeared. I remembered the sprite from the few times I'd seen it before I had looked for the ROM, but the one in front of me looked a lot angrier than usual. "Don't you love me, Victoria?" It asked. "Victoria"? That wasn't my trainer's name...it was my real name. There wasn't a gender option in this game, so I just named myself Ash and moved on. I didn't realize it, but I was shaking. In game, it never let me send out a Pokémon. The options were FIGHT, BAG, TALK, and RUN. I pushed Talk. "You never had doubt in me before. Why did you doubt me this time? You know I would never fail you. I would never let you down, Victoria. Come to hell with me, Victoria. Come to hell with me!" I was speechless. "Charmander used Flamethrower!" I watched as the trainer's HP went down. It stopped at a small sliver of 20 and I was burned. "Victoria burned alive!" Followed it shortly after. I tried to hold back a scream, and turned on my AC. I was actually hot. I watched as Charmander walked over to the water. "I will see you in hell Victoria. I know you still love me. You can love me in hell. We can be together in hell." Those were Charmander's last words. "Charmander jumped into the water! Charmander died!" I watched in horror as the screen cut to black and the Pokeflute music played, slowed and distorted to the point where it was almost beyond recognition. Eventually, the music stopped, and the ROM shut down on its own. I searched my folder shakily, but the ROM was missing. It had deleted itself. I searched for the ROM again, but the link wasn't in my history, and I couldn't find the page anymore. The ROM was meant for me and me alone, and now that it had served its purpose, it destroyed itself.

I looked up at my reflection in the mirror, expecting myself to look pale and stunned, but that was not the case. My cheeks were red, and I was sweating. I was burning up.

I took a glance at the dolls lying on my bed behind me for some reason. My Charizard doll was staring at me accusingly. I said nothing, mainly because I couldn't. I overheated and passed out from exhaustion onto the floor.

When I woke up, only an hour had passed. It wasn't a big deal. I began to haul myself off the floor, but I noticed something fell away from me. Wordlessly, I looked down to see what it was. I now sorely wish I hadn't. Lying on the floor glaring up at me was my Charizard doll, which had been in my hand the whole time I was on the floor.