Play

I'd always been a Pokémon fan, ever since I was little. I'd played almost every game, caught almost every Pokémon, and enjoyed reading creepypasta. The old games always had a special place in my heart - especially Pokémon yellow. The instant I heard about Pokemon Black and White, I was hooked. I'd stalked the web, looking for anything I could about the game, and when it came out in Japan, I caved in and ordered it off eBay, even though I can't read a single word of Japanese.

I played the game for weeks once I got it. I tried out each starter, favoring Pokebu the most. Eventually, I played it enough times that I stopped for awhile, deciding to wait until the game came out in the US so I'd be able to read everything. Looking at squiggly writing I can't read gave me somewhat of a headache. After two weeks of playing Pokemon Yellow, however, I began to miss Black. I ignored my save file, looking at the large image of Reshiram as he flapped his wings. I erased my game, waiting for it to delete. It took quite a while, since I'd gotten long past the E4.

Once it was finished, I gladly started my new adventure.

The common question of which squiggy I could read more popped up, selecting the top one, then continuing to the screen with the professor lady.
I watched Chillarmy bounce for awhile, smiling. I loved the fact that Pokémon in this game moved. After I finished my joy of watching it dance, I began to jam the A button.

Squigglies I can't read, squigglies I can't read, squigglies I can't read.

I selected my gender - male - and inserted my name, Scott. I did hate the fact that the English characters stood out so much compared to the fancy looking squigglies, but if I didn't use my English name, I wouldn't know when they were talking to me.

Squigglies, squigglies, squigglies.

I jammed the A button again until the text stopped. I smiled when I found out that, on the game, it was Spring, though wouldn't be Spring for long. January was almost over, which would lead to Fall in February.

Squiggliiiieeeeeessss.

I A-jammed again, letting my friends talk. I didn't care what they had to say, I just wanted my Pokebu.

The ribbon on the box slid off, then opened. When I hit A, like always, Pokebu was in the center, but... something seemed off. I switched between the other Pokémon - Tsutarja had its always snotty face, Mijumaru always looked somewhat sad, but didn't Pokebu always have a small smile? I was sure of it! But this time, he looked almost angry. I decided it was best to ignore it, clicking on the fire-pig monster.

SQUIGGLIEEEEEESSS.

Once the battle with my first friend started, I was already happy to see her grass-type bouncing, even if it looked snobby, but when Pokebu came out - a girl this time, which I'd never gotten before - she proved to be wrong again.
She didn't bounce.

She stood still, like a Pokémon in the older games would.

Ignoring it, I clicked fight, and selected the move I knew was tackle. Tsutarja attacked first, as he was faster, then Pokebu got her turn. The screen zoomed in on Tsutarja, but instead of the tackle action I was use to seeing, this was a red X across the grass-type, and instead of squishing down slightly, its eyes closed and it cringed back like it was in pain. That was odd... The sprites didn't react like that in this game. When the camera zoomed out, Tsutarja's HP was fully gone. He fainted instantly. Pokebu didn't get any EXP, like the glitch in the ROM for the game would do when you tried to play it on a computer. When the battle ended, there was an exclamation bubble over the male friend's head. I couldn't read what he said, but I knew it wasn't his normal text. My room wasn't destroyed either, and the male friend didn't try to battle me. He simply left quickly, followed by the female friend.

This was much too pasta like for my tastes. I pressed down the little power button, watching the screen go black before re-starting the game. I didn't get to see the opening, nor to select a file. I simply got the nick-name screen, Pokebu's sprite already by the five-slot area. Inserted in the five-slots was "Play".

When I clicked B to delete the nick-name, it didn't delete anything. I tried using the touch screen, but it didn't seem to respond. Maybe my DS was on the fritz, but I couldn't use my DSi, the game was region locked. I groaned. Cliche creepypasta shit, here I come, 'cause I wanna play my game.

I hit A and, instead of being in my room, was outside. It was night, and the Koromori fluttered away, like I was in the cut scene. But I didn't see my female friend walking away, and I could see the lab, and my male friend wasn't standing there.

I walked down to my female friend's house, trying to walk into the door, but it didn't do anything. Like I was walking into a wall. I clicked A, being greeted with a short like of squigglies. Squigglies I can't read.

I walked to the lab, trying to enter that door. The same problem, the same squigglies. I was starting to have the feeling my game was trolling me. And it was working really, really well.

I walked up to the north-east corner of the hometown, not seeing my friends either. I didn't see the professor either. The game let me walk out of town with no problems. I was somewhat sad, this would mean I wouldn't get any pokéballs. How would I catch any Pokémon?

In the center of the first patch of grass, I noticed something that made me smile. One of the tuffs of green was enlarged and shaking. I knew what that meant - and in the early parts of the game, it was my favorite. Tabunne. They always helped me the most, giving me a ton of EXP. I slowly walked into the grass, hoping not to run into anything else. Once I stepped into the shaking grass, the battle began. Tabunne was level three, but that would be enough. The battle ended rather quickly, this time, tackle acting like normal. It only took a few hits before Play had defeated her foe, gaining enough EXP to make it to level eight, learning some fire move, which I assumed was Ember.

I walked back and forth a few times in the grass, fighting this and that, moving through the rest of the route until I got to level eleven. I made it to the next city, still not running into my friends.

It made me happy that I could heal my Pokémon in peace, though. No annoying walkthrough this time.

I walked down to the mart, hoping to buy pokéballs and potions, but when I spoke to the people working at the mart, I didn't get to select to buy anything. I frowned. "The hell?" I muttered, but left.

There was no Team Plasma cut-scene, but N stood on the little hill, between the two benches. I walked up to him, talking to him. He spoke Japanese at first, but then he paused, an ellipses over his head before another textbox popped up. This time, it said, "You don't speak English."

I blinked. It had a Yes/No squiggly option, but N hadn't asked a question, he'd made a statement. I pressed the one I knew was yes.

No new textbox popped up.

I spoke to him again, and he said the same thing. "You speak English."

I sighed, walking off, but N followed my sprite.

I turned, my sprite looking at his.

"Your Pokémon looks upset. You should play with it."

N walked closer to me, and a new text box popped up, Japanese text showing N had given me something. When I checked my bag, I had five pokéballs.

When I went to the next route, things seemed to become normal again. My mother called, then gave me running shoes. I ran through the grass, finding a Minezumi. I tackled him once, leaving him in the red - just enough to be able to catch him. When I went to throw a pokéball, it flew through the air, catching him. I nicknamed him "Goodb", short for "Goodbye". I liked naming pokemon after actual words.

When I went back to the over world, though a text box came up, saying something I couldn't read, except "Play"," Goodb", and "Scott". When I checked my Pokémon, Goodb was gone. I checked Play. Her sprite looked angrier than before.

I ran into another wild Minezumi, but this time when I used tackle, the rex X came up on the foe, like it had in my very first battle, one-hit KOing the foe Pokémon.

After the battle ended, there were no trainers on the route, nor did any wild Pokémon come to fight me, but I did spot a shaking piece of grass. I quickly walked to it, a Tabunne appearing. I tackled it, this tackle like normal. I lowered its HP enough to throw a pokéball, capturing it. I nicknamed it "Gabe", after my boyfriend. They always reminded me of him, for some reason. This time, in the over world, a text box popped up in English.

"Play doesn't want to share, but Gabe refused to go away."

I figured, since Play was causing these problems, I'd go put her in the PC.
This didn't seem to work. When I'd try to deposit or move her, a box popped up that simply said "No."

I tried switching Gabe to the front of my party, but that too didn't work. A box of Japanese came up again.

"Why won't you just let me battle with someone else for a change?" I grumbled, knowing very well that the game couldn't hear me. I turned off my game, not bothering to save, and retired for the night. The next morning, I pulled my DS out when we weren't doing anything in class. I turned on the game, everything starting like normal, until I got to the over world again.

Play was walking behind me, like you'd see in Heart Gold or Soul Silver.
Japanese squiggles crossed the bottom of the screen. My laptop let out an annoying beeping sound - like when you hold a cellphone too close to a radio. I turned my volume down, ignoring the glares people in my class shot me.

When I looked down at my screen, a textbox said something in Japanese, but I could pick out "Play" and a string of numbers. Those numbers looked really familiar. I clicked a few things on my computer, and sure enough, the numbers were the IP address for my high school's network. When I looked at my DS again, Play wasn't following me.

The overhead projector let out a beep as it turned on, eliminating the wall with a picture of a smiling Pokebu. Across the bottom of the screen said, "Lets play a game!"

Mrs. Casteel glanced at the wall, frowning. "Who turned on the projector?" she asked.

Everyone just looked at her blankly. No one could have gotten up to turn it on.

"Don't you want to play?" the screen said, a yes/no option popping up.

The teacher didn't bother to press it, simply getting up to turn off the projector.

Just as she hit the power button, the Pokebu looked sad, text showing, "No one wants to play..."

I shrugged, turning off my gameboy and tapping my spacebar to wake up my computer again. My Gmail tab showed I had an email, so I clicked it. It was from "hellopokabu@gmail.com", and had no subject, but when it loaded, the text simply said, "Can we play?"

I rose an eyebrow. I clicked reply, asking who this was.

I got an answer quickly. "I wanna play."

I replied with "no".

I didn't get a reply, but simply because my computer couldn't connect to the network now, nor could anyone in my class. The server was down.

Mrs. Casteel sent me to fetch the computer administrator, so I headed down to 'The Bunker'. I slid into the room, but didn't spot the admin. "Hello?" I called, noticing his laptop was still there.

A red X was across the floor, much like Play's own attack.

I rose an eyebrow, ignoring it and heading back to my classroom. When I got back, a few rex X's dotted the classroom, each in the space of a person who had once been in that room. The projector was on once again, the picture of a Pokebu on the wall. It looked angry again.


"Play?"