Zombreon

A friend once told me that there was supposed to be 4 new evolutions for Eevee in Pokemon Gold and Silver. The two that are already in the game are Espeon (a Psychic-type) and Umbreon (a Dark-type). The other two were dropped from the game. These were Poison- and Ghost-types. I wasn't convinced this was true, so I decided to see for myself by trying a beta version of Pokémon Gold.

The beta rom was hard to find, because most of the roms were either normal (not beta), japanese, or didn't work. When I finally found a working rom, I loaded it up to search for the new Eevee evolutions. I wasn't quite sure what to do to get an Eevee to evolve into the Poison- or Ghost-type, so I just played the game normally and figured I would find out at some point. I eventually ended up beating the Elite Four, and all of Kanto. The game was pretty much the same, other than a few different locations, dialogue, etc. Oh, and Dunsparce didn't seem to appear, but I won't complain too much about that; I don't really like Dunsparce.

But, by the time I beat the game, I still hadn't figured out how to evolve my Eevee. I tried leveling up at night, day, in caves, etc. After hours of trying, I finally decided to find the evolutions the easy way. By cheating. I tried to use Gameshark codes, but most of them did nothing. So, I decided to ask for help online, and someone on Newgrounds said he could work on a code that should give me all the items.

After a few days, he sent me back a code that I put into the Gameshark. I loaded the beta rom, and sure enough, the code gave me every item in the game. I looked through the items, and everything was the same, except for an item called 'Toxic Stone'. I knew this was the item I was looking for. I used it on my Eevee and...

Nothing happened. The game simply told me, "It has no effect." I tried over and over, but nothing. I was pissed. Was this all I got after I went through this damn game? There had to be something that I did wrong, so I thought maybe NPCs could help me out. I got the typical text from the NPCs.

"Man, that TEAM ROCKET sure is persistent."

"I love my JIGGLYPUFF."

"Have you visited the RADIO TOWER in the KANTO region?"

But, one NPC told me something that stood out. "Did you know there's a STONE that can evolve a POKéMON after it has fainted?" This was where I went wrong! I had to use the Toxic Stone on my Eevee after it fainted... at least, I hoped so.

My Eevee didn't take any time to be defeated, especially since it was around level 40, and I was in a level 60 area. After it was defeated, I went into my bag and used the stone on my fainted Eevee.

"What's this? EEVEE is evolving!" Yes! Yes! Finally!

"EEVEE has evolved into ZOMBREON!"...This was not what I was thinking.

Zombreon looked like a normal Eevee, but was green colored, and parts of it were missing. Also, it's cry was just a lower version of Eevee's. Oh, and once it evolved, it learned an attack called 'Zomb. Bite'. But, this was all I worked for? A recolored Eevee? Come on!

I calmed down a bit, and decided to test it out in the tall grass near New Bark Town. A wild Sentret appeared, and I threw out Zombreon. I figured it would be pointless to use a move I have used a million times, like Tackle or Flash. So, I used "Zomb. Bite" instead. The attack animation was odd. It looked like bite, but with two poison symbols flashing near the teeth. The attack was a one-hit KO, according to the text box. But what was strange now, was that the game asked me if I would like to nickname Sentret, and it told me Sentret was sent to the PC.

I didn't use a Poké Ball, so why did the game say I caught the Sentret? I rushed over to the PC, and checked for the Sentret. It was not a normal Sentret anymore. It was now green, a poison type, and it had the move 'Zomb. Bite'. Wait. I know what's going on. Every time I use the attack 'Zomb. Bite' (which I figure means Zombie Bite), the enemy Pokémon will get infected, joining my team. This was pretty obvious, considering Zombreon was basically Zombie + Eon.

I wondered... What would happen if I infected a trainer's pokemon? I used Fly to go to one of the routes in Kanto that I skipped most of, and ran into a trainer. The battle started, the opposing trainer threw out an Kadabra and I immediately chose 'Zomb. Bite'. It was a one-hit KO. But, rather than throwing out the next Pokémon, the opposing trainer just came out and said, "What did you do to my Pokémon?!". The battle was won, and I recieved the EXP and money.

After the battle, the trainer was simply gone. Just, gone. In fact, none of the other trainers were there either. This began to creep me out a little bit. I walked around the area to look for another trainer, but found nothing. When I walked into the grass, a wild Kadabra appeared. Although, this wasn't a normal Kadabra... it was green, and zombie-like... like the Sentret was. And, I didn't even have to fight it, it just lost all of its health and the game told me I caught it.

I began to get a little creeped out, so I began to head back to town when another wild Pokémon appeared. It was a normal looking Raticate. I didn't want to fight it so I pressed run. It didn't work.

"ZOMBREON is staring at the foe hungrily." The game told me. Then the Raticate attacked Zombreon with Bite, but after the attack animation played, the game said, "ZOMBREON countered the attack with ZOMB. BITE!" and the Zomb. Bite animation played, causing the Raticate to lose all its HP and join my team.

I wanted to get out of this area immediately, so I went into my team to use Fly. I wasn't expecting what I saw.

All of my Pokémon were green and zombified, and all of them now knew Zomb. Bite. I made my Lugia use Fly and take me to Saffron city. When I got there, all the NPCs were there which helped me to relax a little. I decided to go into the Pokémon Center to check the PC, and when I did, the game let out an ear-splitting beep that made me jump a little.

In front of the center's counter was the trainer with the Kadabra that I defeated earlier. A text box came up.

"Th-That's the man that hurt my Kadabra!", then the trainer ran to the corner of the Pokémon center.

A man sitting on one of the seats walked up to me and said, "Don't worry, I'll stop him." Then I was forced to battle him. He sent out an Arcanine and I sent out Zombreon. I tried to use tackle, and it worked, but after the animation finished, the game said, "ZOMBREON used TACKLE, followed by ZOMB. BITE!"

The battle ended, and when the game went back to the Pokémon center, a greenish sprite of the Arcanine stood next to the man.

"What happened to my ARCANINE? What are you?!" The man said before running out of the Pokémon center. The Arcanine walked up to me, the game told me that Arcanine was sent to the PC box, and then the Arcanine disappeared. This was starting to get kind of creepy...

I tried talking to the trainer in the corner but all he would say was "Please... No more..."

I tried talking to the Nurse, but all she would say was, "Get out of my POKéMON CENTER!!!". I checked the PC, and sure enough, I had zombie versions of all the Pokémon from earlier. When I backed out of the PC, I noticed a new option on the PC screen called "Release All". I tried pressing it, but it told me, "Not enough ZOMB. POKéMON!" Darn.

I walked out of the center and the speakers of my computer were filled with a loud barrage of high and low pitched beeps, and all the NPCs outside of the center ran towards the exits of the city. I tried to talk to one of them, but they were moving too fast to do anything. When I walked out of the town, there were no trainers around. I figured if I went to a different town, everything would be normal. So, I made my Lugia fly to Goldenrod city.

When I landed there, there were no NPCs here either, and the music wasn't playing. I tried walking into a building, but the game told me, "The door is locked..."

I tried a few other buildings, but those were locked too, so I went to the Pokémon Center. The door opened as usual and I went inside. Nobody was inside of it, but I noticed something new... There was (what appeared to be) a radio on the counter. When I interacted with it, a text box came up.

"Beware of strange Pokémon! Trainers from the Kanto region have been reporting strange green Pokémon attacking and infecting other Pokémon and trainers. Remain indoors, and avoid all contact with strange Pokémon and people," followed by, "I'm so lonely..."

I figured there was nothing to do down here, so I walked to the second floor. On the second floor there were a bunch of NPCs standing still facing the stairs. Once I got to the top of the stairs a loud beep played and a text box said "Get out of here! You... you aren't normal!"

A trainer standing in front of the crowd ran up to me and a battle started. The opposing trainer sent out a Ditto, and I sent out Zombreon. I tried using flash, but instead the game said "ZOMBREON spat poison at DITTO!" and, Ditto was defeated. After the battle, the man backed up into the crowd. Suddenly, Zombreon walked out and the game said "ZOMBREON cannot wait any longer!" and Zombreon ran into the crowd, touching every trainer and Pokémon. When it touched Pokémon, they would turn green, but when it touched trainers, the game let out the loud beep, then the trainer would disappear.

Once all the trainers were gone, and all the Pokémon were infected, a text box said "JIGGLYPUFF, ABRA, DITTO, and CLEFAIRY were sent to the PC!" Then the Pokémon disappeared. I checked my trainer card, because I remember the trainer from earlier saying that I wasn't 'normal'. Sure enough, my trainer was zombified too.

I felt kinda sick. Would GAME FREAK really do something like this? I shook off the feeling and tried to fly to a different town, but the game told me, "LUGIA is too weak to fly!"

Great. I went back into the center to get a new flying Pokémon from the PC. But, when I looked inside, ALL of the Pokémon in the PC were infected. I tried taking out my Pidgeotto, but pressing the 'withdraw' button would just play a buzz sound that usually played when you aren't allowed to do something. I couldn't move Pokémon either, so there was only one thing left to do...

I saved the game first, then I pressed the 'Release All' button. The game asked, "Would you like to release all ZOMB. Pokémon?"

...Yes?

"All ZOMB. Pokémon have been released!"

I checked the box, and now all my Pokémon in the PC were gone. I was confused. What is the purpose of an option like this? I walked outside, and I got quite the surprise. Parts of buildings were on fire, windows were boarded up, and NPCs were running from green Pokémon. I couldn't interact with the Pokémon or Trainers, so I decided to walk out of town. The area outside of town was similar in a way; a few trees were on fire, and there were grey particles moving in front of the screen which made it look like the screen was all smokey.

Walking into tall grass didn't cause wild Pokémon to appear, but I could talk to the small amounts of NPCs that were standing around. They would say things like:

"I had to hit my poor PIKACHU with a stick. He just wouldn't stop trying to bite me!"

"Who started this?"

"I want this all to end... I want to go home to my family."

I eventually walked to Violet City, then to Cherrygrove City, and finally to New Bark Town. This was the only place that was 'normal'... sort of. The trainers that walked around outside of the buildings weren't there anymore. I went into the laboratory to see if it was empty too...

It wasn't.

Inside was a single professor. Once I took a step forward, an exclamation point appeared above his head and he walked up to me.

"I've finally finished it! A gene that protects my Pokémon from that poison stuff that has caused all the Pokemon to turn strange. This is where it all began, and this is where it will all end!" he said, causing a battle to start. The game said that 'PROF. ELM' would like to battle. He sent out a level eighty-six Feraligatr. I threw out Zombreon. I knew Zombreon was too weak to handle this, so I switched to Lugia.

When I tried to use any attack other than Zomb. Bite, Lugia would end up using it anyways. And when Lugia did, I would get a message that said, "It has no effect on FERALIGATR!". After this, the opposing Feraligar used an attack called 'Cure' that was super effective and defeated Lugia right away. My next Pokémon was my Typhlosion, but the battle was almost the same as it went for Lugia.

I tried using flamethrower, but instead, Typhlosion used Zomb. Bite, and was instantly defeated by 'Cure'. The battle went on like this until I got to Zombreon. I pressed Zomb. Bite at this point, because I knew it was coming. It didn't work, and Feraligatr used 'Cure'. Zombreon was brought down to one HP.

The game said, "ZOMBREON refuses to give up! ZOMBREON used STRUGGLE!" Feraligatr was instantly defeated, and Zombreon was defeated by the recoil.

Professor Elm came up and said, "No. NO. NOOOOOOO!" and the battle ended.

After the battle, Elm took a step back and said, "I lost. It's over. It's all over! I WANT TO END THIS POINTLESS GAME RIGHT NOW!" and ran out of the lab.

After a few seconds, a text box said, "You hear a loud bang in the distance!"

I think I know what that meant.

I went outside, and a text box came up. "Why did this have to happen?" I didn't understand who said this, since there was nobody around. I thought maybe someone was in my character's house, so I headed there. Inside was my mom. She was sitting on a chair in the house as usual. So, I tried interacting with her... she definitely wasn't doing anything 'usual'.

"It's MOM... She's not moving." This text actually made me feel sad, but I didn't expect the screen to cut to black after the text box closed. The screen faded from black into the opening screen where you get to enter your character's name. But, my character just stood there and the text below said "All of this is my fault. All those poor people, my mom... EEVEE...

"But... was it really MY fault?"

My character glared at the screen for a split second and cut to black. Then the game went straight to the credits... Nothing was different, all the Pokémon were there as usual. Once the credits were over, the emulator froze. Now, whenever I try to load the beta ROM, the emulator just freezes.

I realized that this was only one of the two evolutions for Eevee. The ghost one was probably in Pokémon Silver... I can't imagine what would happen with this evolution of Eevee... And I don't want to know.