Rival Blue

Specter Sent me this when he wrote it down on a Google Docs. It is not my story, but his.

One day I was walking home from the local GameStop, with a “used” Pokemon Blue cartridge. The cartridge looked remarkably normal, not even a scratch on the sticker. for a used game, this one was clearly taken good care of. obviously, this was too good to be true.

I slid the cartridge into a GBA SP, and the animation of the nidorino fighting a gengar booted up. strangely, the title screen said “red version?” notably with a question mark. taking a second look at the cartridge, it was indeed a blue version. but meh, crazy shit happens sometimes.

Additionally, the pokemon next to the trainer was a bulbasaur, rather than a charmander. I dismissed this because I had noticed the pokemon cycle through a few times in the chaos with the cartridge.

Upon pressing start, there was a CONTINUE option available, upon clicking it, red was trapped in a blank void with the pokemon tower music playing. I hated this so much I didn't bother checking the party and immediately turned it off and back on. the title screen again having a bulbasaur, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be in pain. i noticed this only momentarily, as the pokemon cycled through again, changing it to a normal-looking zubat. Now fearful of the game, I turned it off and went upstairs to my room.

A few days later and i was suddenly intrigued at what the game had to offer, after all, i hadn’t hardly played it at all. so i grabbed my GBA sp, and turned it on. The disturbed bulbasaur returned, and I hit New Game. Upon doing so, the Professor Oak speech was normal, until it reached the part where you name your trainer.

“you already have a name, don’t you?”

“ASH”

“…no, you’re not him, sorry.”

“So what IS your name?”

This I found VERY odd. i again rebooted my system to check the previous owner’s name on with the CONTINUE option. “ASH”

Again I started a new game, I didn't worry when it asked my name this time since I knew it was just taking from the last save file.

“So, SPECTER…”

“Let me warn you, now that you’ve started, there’s no escape”

“Try not to end up like ASH, i don’t want to see this happen again…”

The game then booted me to the starting room, no asking for the rival’s name, no “Your pokemon journey begins now!” statement. I was liking this game less and less. professor oak said there’s no escape. escape from WHAT? I proceeded like normal, my rival apparently named the default “BLUE”. knowing how gen 1 works, i chose bulbasaur noting that bulbasaur seemed relatively normal at the starter selection area, despite what had been on the title screen. My rival obviously chose charmander, and we entered the battle.

Upon the rivals turn, his charmander used scratch, and bulbasaur fainted in one hit.

OAK: “not again…”

Again?! i didn’t like the sound of this, and after all, it WAS a critical hit. so i reset, realizing i hadn’t saved, and clicked NEW GAME again.

“Welcome back SPECTER”

“I warned you that there was no escape”

The game booted me back to immediately after the rival battle. bulbasaur was fully healed, as he would be, and checking his status, he was OK.

anyways, professor oak gave me the pokedex, followed by:

“My grandson…”

“if he gets competitive, stay AWAY from him, or you could get hurt”

I proceeded with the game as normal, grinding on wild pidgey and rattata. completely ignoring oak’s warning, i went to route 22 for the optional rival battle, with my bulbasaur at level 13, what could go wrong?

he first sent out his spearow, which bulbasaur one-shot with ease. Then he sent out his charmander, at level 8. “This is revenge for the lab,” I said as I selected tackle as bulbasaur’s move. Charmander took a mere 1 damage.

“CHARMANDER used BLAST BURN!”

“PLANT BOI fainted!”

This is the point when I remembered Oak’s warning.

Fortunately, i had caught a mankey who actually dealt more than 1 damage to his charmander, and managed to barely win. I figured this was the gimmick of the rival battles. the rival’s starter would absolutely destroy yours every time you fought him.

I was wrong.

Bulbasaur carried my team throughout the game, leveling up faster than the rest of my teammates. it was a Venusaur before even facing LT. Surge. every rival battle after the optional one played as it normally would, no overpowered fire moves.

He was level 100 by the time I reached cinnebar and even DESTROYED Blaine single-handedly. Giovanni was even easier, because grass is super effective against ground.

“Well well, you’d make a great team rocket member, with that death machine in your control”

“heh, just kidding. take this Earth Badge and get out of my sight”

That was the first odd thing I'd seen in a while. I proceeded to victory road, destroying my rival, whom I was secretly hoping would use an overpowered fire move again.

The elite four were a joke. Lorelei DID freeze venusaur once or twice, but i had a frz heal on hand just in case. Bruno put up a fight, and was honestly the only challenging fight in the game, almost knocking venusaur out. i used a full restore before facing Agatha, who lost every pokemon in one hit, despite type matchups. Lance was almost as much a joke as Giovanni was, even admitting that he wasn’t trying his best. After that, I moved on to the next room...

The rival was not there. Oak immediately congratulated me on becoming champion, and the screen faded to white.

“THE END”

I was confused. I thought this was a cursed game. upon hitting CONTINUE, it showed “the end” again. i sat there for a moment wondering what was going on, when suddenly,

“CHARIZARD used BLAST BURN!”

The sound that plays when a super effective move hits played, then a slowed down venusaur cry. the game booted back into play, and i was in pallet town, or so i thought, i was invisible.

OAK: “i warned you”

I checked my trainer card. red was absent from it. there were no pokemon in my party, and all of my badges were gone. I couldn't move.

OAK: “do you understand what has happened?” ->Yes No

obviously, i hit “No”

OAK: “…”

OAK: “let me show you then”

I was transported to what appeared to be pokemon tower. There were 5 pokemon sprites standing in a circle around 2 graves. I was in control of a sprite that was an outline of red’s, and it could move through solid blocks.

I inspected the graves.

the first: SPECTER: beloved champion of kanto. 1988-1998.

The second: PLANT BOI: his beloved Venusaur. 1992-1998.

i noted that 1995 was the year pokemon red and blue were released, and hesitantly inspected the pokemon surrounding the two.

M O N K E Y: Pri-Primape…

PIGEON: pidg-pidgeot…

And it continued with the rest of my party in a similar fashion. at this point, i wondered if this was how it ended, or if there was a whole extra chapter, like it tended to be with these games. There were two figures in the room, Blue, and professor oak.

I first interacted with blue:

BLUE: “I didn’t mean for this to happen, i just got a little-“

OAK: “competitive?”

BLUE: “…”

OAK: “either way, you took your competition too far.

BLUE: "..."

Before i could react, oak spoke to me:

OAK: “do you accept that this has happened?”

again, i selected no.

OAK: “…”

OAK: “you have to”

“no”

OAK: “…”

OAK: “you have to”

I could tell I had no choice.

upon selecting “yes” i was sent back to the title screen, with the disturbed bulbasaur and all. when i hit continue, i was in an empty void, with the pokemon tower theme paying. i could move, but no matter how far i walked in any direction, there was nothing to see. if i tried to hit new game, oak would just say “accept your fate, SPECTER”

i still don’t understand what happened myself, was this game meant to be scary? it wasn’t really working if it was, just stupid and pointless. in the end, i sold the game to some brat on the internet who sent me an Email a few weeks later:

“What the fuck is this?! First you have a blue cartridge that claims to be red version, with bulbasaur as the ONLY starter you can choose. not only that but the rival is too fucking OP, and what does it mean ‘you’re not him’? I give up, this game sucks, so i sold it to my friend for the same price i bought it from you. where the hell did you get this crap?”

I couldn’t reply, my email account simply wouldn’t let me log in. nor any form of social media or website.

“accept your fate SPECTER.”