Drowned Sapphire

It was the fall of 2016 when this happened. Despite how popular Pokémon was and always had been among my friends and even my cousins I, myself, had never played it a lot but did own a few games such as HeartGold, Black 2, Diamond & Pokémon Ranger:Guardian Signs.

As much as I liked those games I REALLY wanted to try the third generation of Pokémon mainly because of how  my cousin told me how many times she replayed her Emerald copy over the years. Maybe she was just really over exaggerating how good the third generation was because of her nostalgia but it really did sound like all she was making it out to be.

So I headed out to my local GameStop with the hope to buy Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire as I just knew there wasn’t much of a chance they sold the older games such as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald due to their rarity and just in general how old those games are.

Unfortunately after arriving at the store and browsing around a bit then asking if they had Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire after not seeing those games I was told they didn’t have any copies in stock but they did have a single copy of the original Pokémon Sapphire Version. It was also super cheap and probably due to the fact the cartridge had the ‘Pokémon Sapphire’ label mostly scratched off. So it didn’t look as ‘authentic’ as some people would hope it’d be.

I didn’t think twice before getting out my wallet and forking over the required money for the game before heading out and driving home all the while being excited about getting to play the game once I got back to my place and got my hands on my DS and that’s just what I did.

I watched with delight as the opening ‘movie’ for Pokémon sapphire played out on the screen and eventually the title screen brought up. I pressed A before the title screen theme could even play for a few seconds and to my surprise there was already a save file on it.

BENNY.

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There was no indication of having the pokedex or any gym badges since that wasn’t shown at all on the screen under the trainer’s name and play time. So the person who lasted owned this just created a save file then immediately after just sold it? Okay. That’s their problem not mine. I immediately went to create a new save file only for the game to freeze and this happened several more times before I finally said fuck it and started up the old save file.

I really wanted to play the game after all and didn’t want to drive all the way back out when it was already getting late in the night.

BENNY was standing right outside his house and without knowing what to do next he went inside the house and talked to his mom who told him to go introduce himself to the neighbors. They had a daughter just around his age.

That was easily said and done but when he went over to the neighbor’s house Professor Birch’s wife mentioned a daughter the same age as him. By the name of SASHA and how she wasn’t home right now and in fact hadn’t been home all day since she left in the morning. Shouldn’t her name be MAY? That’s not the name he was expecting.

She was out doing errands for her father who wasn’t at all referred to as the professor that he thought would’ve been mentioned. From there the beginning of things went smoothly with BENNY flawlessly saving Professor Birch from a wild Poochyena by using Mudkip.

The professor sent him out to see his daughter and have battle with her. That’s just what BENNY did when he got past Oldale Town. There was SASHA checking out what Pokémon were on the route but she didn’t speak a word to him when he interacted with her and instead a battle immediately began. The way she looked at him made him nervous with dark blue eyes and creepy pale blue skin. It looked like she was sick or something.

It was more than obvious what her Pokémon would be since he had chosen Mudkip but what he wasn’t expecting was her Treecko to already be at Level 8. He BARELY won the battle and had to sigh in relief when it was over then listening to what SASHA might say next.

She said nothing and quickly left for Littleroot Town without even waiting to see if he was following her or not. Upon getting back to Littleroot Towna and entering Professor Birch’s lab there was absolutely no sign of SASHA which confused him. Wouldn’t she be here? The professor handed him his pokedex and pokeballs while oddly saying his daughter hadn’t been by the lab and that it was a bit concerning.

Things continued on like a breeze at least with the first two gyms being a cakewalk and to be honest? He was probably thinking he was already too good for this but that was until he encountered SASHA again on Route 110 and she didn’t say a word to him through the battle as she nearly mopped the floor with his team. Her Pokémon again being a higher level then originally expected and after being defeated she finally spoke.

‘Not fair. Not fair. Not fair. Not fair.’ Was what she said before she rudely shoved him to the side and stormed off disappearing out of his sight like before. Unsettled again by her behavior he still followed through with going to the next city to hopefully challenge the next gym leader and gain another badge for his Pokémon League Challenge.

Soon enough BENNY was definitely effortlessly rising to becoming the next Pokémon Champion. Though a third encounter with SASHA outside the Weather Institute left a rather bad taste in his mouth.. although it wasn’t until seeing her again in Lilycove City a fourth sometime after beating Winona did he learn just why she seemed to be so rude and cold to him.

He had beaten her yet again but this time she didn’t push him aside and storm off but instead stood there in front of him silently for a few seconds before speaking.

‘Do you think this is funny? All I want is to beat you and to have revenge for what you did to me! How is everyone treating you so nicely? I bet they wouldn’t if they knew what you did to me after that argument!”

BENNY didn’t move as SASHA angrily shouted at him over what he had supposedly done but once she was finished he stepped away and turned his back to her with a smile on his face. Did she really think anyone was going to believe her? That someone as innocent as him did such a thing!!

This time he was the one who left first as SASHA stayed behind not moving an inch from where she stood and in absolute disbelief at him smiling because of what she had just said to his face and after all wasn’t that the last time he’d deal with that girl? It probably was. Her annoying rambling of ‘not fair’ wouldn’t be missed.

But to his surprise she didn’t leave him be. She wouldn’t let this go and it didn’t matter what he said or did because she was determined to see her revenge through to the end and it showed with her pursuing him through the next two cities where she forcefully battled him with a team that kept getting stronger and stronger each time.

BENNY barely had to room breathe after Team Aqua’s fuck up with Kyogre because who was waiting outside the cave of origin? SASHA. But this time she seemed to be deterred when he used the legendary Pokémon against her and that pleased him quite a bit. As well as the fact this time for sure he knew well enough that his silence was getting to her.

‘It’s not fair! Not fair, not fair, not fair. They need to know what you did to me! They all need to know! They’ll know sooner or later! BENNY!’

BENNY swore this time he could her crying as he turned his back to her yet again..but he didn’t care but at the same time it pleased him a bit to believe that she finally was giving up and that she speak a word of what happened.

Again he didn’t care. This was the last time he’d deal with that girl and after all. He had one more gym leader to face before he finally would reach the beginning of the end of a long road and become the champion he so desired to be.

But unknown to him that would never happen.

He arrived at the league soon enough though later than he hoped and after facing four tough battles with the elite four he was finally excited to face Steven and claim the title that was meant to be his but to his horror when he reached where he was sure Steven would be there was red splattered on the floor somewhat and even some on the walls.

No. No. No. No. Did she really go this far just to get to him? Why couldn’t she just accept things the way they were and stay down with what dignity she had! His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest as he stepped forward and there was SASHA standing a few feet away from where he knew Steven would’ve been.

‘BENNY. It’s over. You can’t turn back and you can’t leave. I’ve had it and because no one has done anything then I’ll fucking do it myself. You killed me. Drowned me in a river over a petty fucking argument.’

BENNY panicked as he was pulled into a battle? No. It was more of a fight all on his own as he couldn’t even use his Pokémon. SASHA stood before him looking even worse then before her eyes looked lifeless and her pale blue skin seemed to look worse then before '' and he was so sure he would’ve never faced any consequences for what he had done. ''

“IT ENDS NOW!” She screamed with tears pouring down her face though her voice quickly became calm again almost eerily quick and god, this girl was unstable or insane. Maybe both. “No more getting away. No more avoiding the consequences. I will make sure you never hurt anyone the way you hurt me and because…if I let you go…how would I forgive myself for what you might do to someone else?”

In the blink of an eye before a pokeball could be reached for a pair of pale blue hands wrapped around BENNY’s throat and slowly the life left his body. Every moment up until the world faded out was part of an agonizing struggle.

…

…

…

I know what you read may seem confusing but I assure you that’s how the events of the game played before my eyes.

Every scene.

Every bit of dialogue from a character.

Right down to watching SASHA strangle BENNY.

I plan on handing that awful fucking game over to the local police station and heading off to my parents house two towns over. I want to forget this ever happened.

Maybe with that messed up game they’ll finally find out more about the missing girl who ended up being found in the river.