The Ashes of Alola

It was a sunny day in October, leaves dancing in the wind as I spent the day digging through my stuff. I was looking for my copy of Pokemon Ultra Sun. After an hour or so of looking, I laid my eyes upon what I had been trying to find. I squealed in joy, snatching my copy of Pokemon Ultra Sun out of the bin I had been looking in. I hadn't used it in somewhere around 2-3 years and wanted to play it again. I popped it into my 3-Ds, excited as ever that I could revisit Alola. I hit the power button to turn it on, and hastily selected the game as soon as the 3-Ds turned on.

Dusk Mane Necrozma flew across the screen, and I took a moment to gaze at it before pressing A to load to the next screen. Without even glancing at the file's stuff, I loaded into the file. I appeared at the Pokemon Center and immediately went over to my pc boxes. My team was a single level 32 shiny Sylveon, with decent Ivs and Docile nature. I had a lot of random pokemon in my boxes, along with a box dedicated to my shinies. The only pokemon that surpassed level 60 was a female Primarina, Solgaleo, Necrozma, and a Female Loppunny. I apparently had beaten the game already. When I was done with looking at my Pokemon, I headed out of the Pokemon Center.

I was met with Heahea City. I thought that the music was slower than what I remembered, but brushed it off as there wasn't much to worry about. My mom called me for lunch, and I turned off my 3-Ds.

-15 minutes later-

I booted my 3-Ds back up and selected the game. After going through the same steps to get into your save file, I loaded back into the Pokemon Center. "Must have forgotten to save," I said. I went out of the Pokemon Center, this time, something was off. The sunny sky had a grey tint to it, and the music seemed a tad bit slower than last time. I went towards the Hano Grand Resort. My screen faded to black, and I was teleported to the tunnel that goes from route 7 to route 8. "Uhm... That's strange." I said, obviously put off from this. I headed to route 8, where it was certain that this was not normal. The trees were bare, and the water had gone down quite a bit. I would have turned the game off at this point, but I wanted to see what exactly was going on here.

The route was devoid of any trainers, and the music was quiet. My trainer also looked subtly disturbed. I proceeded with caution, aware that anything could happen at this point. I headed up the slope to where the berry tree was and was greeted with a cutscene. A Pikipeck was nibbling at the berries, upon further inspection, you could notice that this Pikipeck looked like it had faint bruises on it. It turned to my trainer and looked spooked. It flew away before anything else. I walked over to the tree and hit A to inspect it.

...

Being the cautious one I am, I immediately turned off the game. "Okay... Something is up with this game." I muttered. I knew that this couldn't be a hacked game, since it had been bought from Walmart, and had nothing wrong with the packaging or cartridge. I even had the receipt to prove the purchase somewhere in my drawer. "Maybe since I left it for so long, it had an effect on the game's world? No, no. That can't be it, that's a dumb idea." I talked to myself about what had just happened and concluded that maybe the game was just straight-up haunted. I decided to boot up the game once more and just play along.

I loaded back into route 8, even though I had never saved in there. "Eh, not surprised, after all, this game is clearly not normal," I stated. The spot where the Pikipeck had been nibbling at the berries had a few dots of scarlet. I wanted to see what was different in Wela Volcano Park, so I headed there.

Upon entering, I heard the cry of an Eevee. I wandered around, noticing that this area was also devoid of life. A textbox appeared saying:

Sylveon is scared!

I decided not to question it, since if I were a Pokemon and suddenly the world changed like this, I would be at least disturbed. I headed up, eventually reaching the place where the trial is supposed to happen. Kiawe was nowhere to be seen, and what stood on the platform scared me. An Eevee sprawled over, with Pikipeck pecking at it. The Eevee was letting out a slow cry, likely of pain. The Eevee's back had a wound in it, where a thin trail of blood was seeping from it. A battle sequence happened, with 4 Pikipeck against my single shiny Sylveon. From what it looked like, Sylveon had picked a fight with the Pikipeck, to save the poor Eevee. After a while of mashing fairy wind and draining kiss, I fainted all the Pikipeck. It cut back to the overworld where the Eevee was standing. I walked up to the Eevee and hit A, and a textbox appeared saying:

...

You know why this is happening, right?

It was a Yes/No question, and I selected no since I was in fact clueless as to why this happened.

...

You left us, you left us all.

This is your fault.

Over the years, it all broke apart.

The trainers would start getting violent in their acts of leveling up, until their Pokemon had reached the limit.

Even after they had the ultimate power, they were not satisfied.

They decided to leave Alola since there was not enough Pokemon to survive their rampages.

All of this could have been avoided if you had stayed.

...

If you had just stayed, this never would have happened.

Your own mother even left Alola for good.

It was as if you died, removing all rules and boundaries.

...

"I never knew!" I screeched at the game, not caring if my parents heard. All I cared about was this game now. The Eevee just stared at me, and then a textbox appeared saying:

Leave.

...

Just leave.

This land will suffer a slow death, and there's nothing you can do about it.

The consequences of your actions cannot be healed.

...

With that, the Eevee fled. I turned around and hit up on the D-Pad to call Charizard. I picked Melemele island and hit the feather that appeared above my house. I just wanted to see what was going on with this messed up game. When I arrived at my house, I noticed that Meowth was sitting on the porch. It looked depressed. Since I had been informed that my mom had even left, I understood why Meowth was sad. Its family was gone. I walked closer, and the Meowth looked up at me. Its eyes lit up, and it ran toward me. My trainer bent over to pet Meowth, and the Meowth buried its cream fur into my hand. My trainer looked glad to see Meowth. A textbox appeared saying:

You came back!

I missed you, Myra.

I was taken aback by this, Myra was not what I had named my trainer. In fact, this was my name. "I.. I missed you too, Meowth" The words flooded out of my mouth, and I couldn't help but feel bad. I walked to Iki Town, and Meowth followed. The trees were bare, and not much was still alive. The sky was overcast as well. The housing was abandoned, and not a single soul was there. My eyes darted to the centerpiece, and I walked over there to find the same Eevee I had met at Wela Volcano Park.

The Eevee looked sad. Its eyes darted to me and Meowth, and it hopped up. A textbox appeared saying:

Why haven't you left yet?

...

Did you really come to help us?

It was a Yes/No question, and I selected Yes.

...

But.. Why?

...

You left us, and now you want to help?!

The Eevee let out an enraged cry and charged at me. Meowth blocked the Eevee from hitting me. The Eevee tried to stop a moment too late, and Meowth was tossed aside. Eevee rushed to where Meowth lay. It had been flung into a decaying fence and had been hurt badly by the blow. A textbox appeared saying:

I'm sorry...

It was presumably from the Eevee, who lay by Meowth. It nudged Meowth. No response. Another textbox appeared saying:

Please don't go.

...

I don't want to be alone!

The Eevee was crying at this point, so was I. I never knew that a game could make me feel deep emotions. The Eevee looked at me and spoke through the speakers "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Sylveon forced herself out of her Pokeball and sat by the Eevee. This wasn't a game to me at this point. Tears streamed down my face as I pushed on. The screen faded to black.

The screen faded back in on the Eevee. It was nibbling at the organs of a Pokemon. Its eyes held the look of depression. The Eevee looked up at me and stopped. It spoke: "Oh, s-sorry." The Eevee kicked the organs away with it's left hind leg and turned to face me. "Sorry you had to see that... There just isn't any other food here." The Eevee's paws were bloodstained. I was shaken by this, and I felt my stomach churn. I understood why the Eevee was eating them though, there was no other food, and even though it was disgusting, it allowed the Eevee to cling on to life. "Where's S-Sylveon?" I asked. The Eevee looked at me and shook its head. "I'm sorry for your loss," it spoke. I felt my heart breaking, my precious shiny Sylveon was dead. Life in Alola was really coming to an end...

Even my trainer had to resort to this grotesque method of survival. I looked up at the clock. It read 2:50 Am. I had been playing this "game" for a while now, but refused to succumb to sleep. With a heavy heart, I went on. The screen faded to black, and then I saw the Eevee, barely being able to go on. It collapsed and slowly breathed until the last breath was drawn. My trainer who had also barely clung to life sat down beside the Eevee. She fell over, laying beside the Eevee. One last textbox appeared speaking:

Rest in peace.

...

See you in the waking world.

...

I sobbed, my eyes heavy as I was exhausted. I turned the 3-Ds off and succumbed to sleep.

-The next day-

I woke up to find an Eevee plushie and a shiny Sylveon plushie sitting on my desk, with a card attached to the Eevee reading:

I will always be in your heart, see you when you get older.

Love, Eevee

-Your loved ones will always be with you, even if they cannot last forever.