PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Return

Poképark Wii to me was one of those games I picked up once, powered through, then never touched again. It's fun and amusing the first round, but after a while, the mini-games and running to and fro get a tad bit stale. I personally found it a bit amusing how every Pokémon you make friends with always asks you to play with them again sometime later on.

Especially Mew.

That thing must've been one of the single most frustrating bosses I've ever fought in my gaming life. To think such a simple game would have something so frustrating to end it off still boggles my mind. I sure wasn't going to re-challenge it for fun any time soon. When you think about it, it's really no wonder Mew is stuck up alone on that Sky Pavilion with no friends.

Somewhere along the line, the pleas of the Pokémon for me to return must have gotten to me, since recently I found a desire to play the game once more. When I turned the game on, I had figured I wouldn't be playing for very long. I'd just run around and talk to a few Pokémon until I got bored and quit, then never look at the game again for another year.

Pikachu pranced around on the loading screen, and I couldn't help but grin. I had to give credit: This game was adorable. I mentally concluded I'd visit all the main attractions in all the zones to start off. I was dropped off at the Poképark Entrance, which was a bit strange. There wasn't really any reason for me to have gone there the last time I saved, but alas, just a few extra seconds for me to run. I powered through the trail abusing the dash ability.

The forest around the trail seemed… Odd, though. It seemed a bit more dark than normal. There weren't that many trees, and what few there were dead and shriveled. The path I was walking on seemed to be made of ash too. I couldn't wait to get out of there and make it to Meadow Zone. Except, when I did, I almost wished I was back at the Entrance.

The Meadow Zone laid in ruins. There wasn't a living tree, plant, or anything green in sight. The landscape was barren and grey, as well as the sky, with a few columns of smoke spiraling out of the cracked ground. A few oddly shaped stones were here and there, and scattered about were what appeared to be… corpses? I took a few steps forward, but was confronted by a wonderful sight: Mew.

"Oh, you're finally back! We've been waiting for you for a long time." I didn't know what it meant by "we", considering there wasn't a living thing in sight for miles. "Hey, wanna play a game?" I pondered whether to choose yes or not, considering I didn't feel like going through the pain of battling it all over again. Then considering the current situation, I selected yes, and if it came to worst and I had to fight it then I'd just shut this accursed game off and never let it see the light of day again.

It giggled, then replied with, "Think you can win?" It paused, seemingly to let that statement settle in, then spoke once more, "Meet me at Venasaur's old attraction!" Then flew off. I started to dash off after it, then realized something:

What the heck is going on here.

I had a feeling this would probably be the best moment to shut this game off than to see what was in store, but… Curiosity got the better of me. I continued my chase.

I didn't reach very far until I was stopped by a cut scene as I neared the first corpse in my path: a Buneary. It shook, then rose off the ground. It stared at me with white, soulless eyes, its blood matted fur covered in dirt, grime, and gaping gashes. Then the abomination spoke, "Will you play with me?" I selected no, not really wanting to play with… whatever it was. It looked genuinely distressed, and persisted, "But… we just wanted to play with you… It's been so long..."

It slowly, almost painfully, crawled towards my Pikachu, then began to attack it. Or, look more like it was trying to murder it than attack it. I fought back in self-defense with an Iron Tail to the face and promptly sliced its head in half. It fell to the ground, a pile of flesh. It took me a moment for it to set in that I just killed a Pokémon. I calmly backed away from the crime scene and continued my trek on chasing after the Mew as I was before.

As I sped along, other corpses began to rise, although most I just knocked out of the way and into the river while dashing through. I reached Venasaur's attraction, to instead find Chikorita standing in the middle of the platform. It wasn't a zombie-like the previous animated corpses but looked as if it had gone through the apocalypse and back. It looked it'd been cut up and beat down mercilessly, the only discernible feature being its uncharacteristically grey eyes. "Help me." was the only thing it said.

I turned around to find the Mew right behind me, which giggled and asked, "Ready to play?" It showed the basic instructions, swing on the vine, jump as far as you can, the whole package. Except when it came time to pick my character, Pikachu was the only one available, although it still had the sad animation playing as if you couldn't select it.

The gameplay was normal, except for the fact Pikachu wasn't swinging on a vine. Instead, there was a Tropius hanging from the branch, with its intestines falling out of its mouth. Pikachu clung to the intestines, although looked as if it would rather give up and drop down immediately instead of being forced to hold onto that. I wouldn't blame it. I swung the "vine" back and forth, and when I felt I had enough momentum, let go.

Pikachu soared across the track and landed just short of where the Mew stood waiting. On the after screen, Pikachu slumped onto the ground defeated, as apparently, I hadn't broke the top current record. Mew giggled and spun around in the background, apparently thrilled that I lost. There was no Pokémon to be gloomy with me or cheer with Mew, as at the moment, they were all dead corpses. When asked if I would like to replay the attraction, I selected "No" without a doubt.

Back in the overworld, Mew and Chikorita were still there. Except after a few seconds, Chikorita disappeared. "You lost." Mew informed me, "Although they aren't your friends anymore anyways… You left them, remember?" Mew giggled, "Let's play some more! Meet me at the Iceberg Zone!" And with that, flew off, presumably towards the mentioned zone.

I wasn't really feeling up to hanging out in the Meadow Zone any longer, so I ran as fast as I could to the Meeting Place with a pack of zombies trailing behind me. When I arrived, I saw it had been spared no mercy. The huge treehouse that used to stand in the center was now a pile of twigs and broken planks, crushed by a gigantic boulder, a few bodies trapped underneath as well. The gates to the other Zones and all other structures were torn or burned down as well.

Thankfully as I walked around here, the dead didn't rise to life and chase me. Because of this though, this place seemed more like a desolate graveyard. It actually made me feel a little gloomy, so I pressed on to the Beach Zone. Of course, the Drifblim at the Drifblim stop was nowhere to be seen, so I had to walk by foot everywhere.

The beach was no better off than anywhere else. The stark white sand contrasted with the depressing grey sky. The water had bodies floating in it, tainting parts of the ocean red. The palm trees drooped low to the ground as if the smallest gust of wind would bowl them over. There were zombies here just as in the Meadow Zone, still after my throat.

I let one of the zombies reach Pikachu and defeat him, just to see what would happen. A Corphish clawed and pounded at Pikachu with no mercy, until he fell over, unmoving. "How do you like being used and left behind?" It spoke, then crawled off. Pikachu laid in a pool of his own lifeblood for a minute, which then melted into two, three, four… It ended with me restarting the Wii. Thankfully I restarted at the same spot on the beach as where I was last, this time alive and breathing.

After taking measure to maul a Corphish, I sprinted across the beach to where the Lapras resided. Its skin was cracked and rotten, with some nasty looking liquid oozing out. Its shell was decayed and weathered, barely recognizable. Its head hung low, and for a brief moment, I thought it was dead just like the other Pokémon. As I approached though, a cut scene triggered, and it raised its head to speak,

"…You've come back, have you? A little too late for that, I'm afraid… Since you've cared enough to arrive, though, might as well try to fix what can be saved…" It bowed it's head once more, and Pikachu hopped onto its back, a little unenthusiastic about the procedure. It sailed towards the Iceberg Zone, although I couldn't help but wonder if the Lapras would actually make it that far.

When the screen faded to black, a few speech bubbles popped up in the darkness, presumably from the Lapras,

"...When they attack you, they don't mean it. They're just sad, angry, restless, frustrated... They just want things back to normal... We all do..."

After which, we reached our destination. At the new Zone, the ice was cracked and broken in several areas, making it difficult to maneuver through. The living dead here were frostbitten, almost like they'd been frozen alive. The huge snow Piplup and igloos were in shambles. The ice tree was broken too, many Pokémon impaled on its spikes. After several frustrating minutes of maneuvering through the tricky landscape, I made it to what used to be Empoleon's attraction.

This time, Piplup was there to greet me, beat up beyond all belief, and still adorning grey eyes. "Help me." once again being the only words it spoke. Mew then floated down and asked, "Ready to play?". Pikachu was still the only Pokémon I could select.

Thankfully this attraction wasn't as grotesque as the previous. Pikachu slid down the icy ramp to the goal as normal, although the ice was cracked from several large stones in numerous areas, making it difficult to traverse. Constantly slipping on several patches of blood from the Pokémon crushed underneath the boulders didn't help either. Eventually, I made it to the goal, with probably the slowest record possible.

Piplup disappeared just as Chikorita had. "You lost." Mew told me once more, "Although they aren't your friends anymore anyways… You left them, remember?" Mew paused to giggle once again, "Let's play some more! Meet me at the Lava Zone!" And then, was gone.

I painfully made my way back to Lapras and was actually thankful to board its horrid figure than remain in the broken icy landscape. Once we made it back to the Beach Zone, however, the Lapras washed up onto the sand and laid stark still. It wouldn't stir again so matter how much I tried talking to it or hitting it with a lightning bolt. Personally, never visiting the Iceberg Zone again didn't upset me very much.

After much running and zombie chasing, I found myself in the Cavern Zone. Most of the tunnels were caved in by piles of boulders. Many of the rocks had decaying hands from crushed Pokémon reaching out from underneath, feebly grasping for Pikachu. I made caution to avoid getting caught by one of the hands.

Eventually, after some aimless wandering, I found where the hot spring used to be. The water was even more sickly green than usual, with some vile substances floating around in it I'd rather not know about.

The Snorlax was still asleep in the middle of the springs too. Except for its hands, feet, and other parts of its body that were submerged under the acid-like water were morphed into a melted clump of goo. Pus oozed out of its empty eye sockets, mouth, and through several cracks running along its wrinkly skin. It looked more like a fleshy, rotting tub of goo than a Pokémon.

The thing that disturbed me the most though was the fact it was still breathing.

I wasn't eager to join Snorlax, so I continued my trek through the cave. There wasn't any further sign of life, except the occasional straggling Zubat or two that still wanted me dead. I finally made it to the gate that lead into the Lava Zone, but as I approached the mine cart that lead into it Mawile walked up behind me.

She looked pale and bruised, although not enough to be a zombie. Vines grew around the snake-mouth attached to her head like a muzzle, keeping it clamped shut. The snake-mouth looked infected and swollen, with blood seeping out of its tightly shut mouth. "What are you doing here..?" She spoke, then glanced at the mine cart, then back to Pikachu with a look of understanding, "...Going alone is suicide."

Pikachu and Mawile hopped into the mine cart, and it slowly started rolling past the gate. When the screen faded to black though, speech bubbles started popping up, presumably from the Mawile,

"Things have changed since you left us. Without you, nobody was able to keep Mew in check. Then it fell. And when it fell, we all fell down with it. You can't change what damage has already been done, and there's no further damage to prevent. Why don't you save yourself while you still can?"

Afterwards, we arrived in the Lava Zone. Many places were still caved in. Parts of the ground were cracked, lava bubbling up from underneath. The undead here were melting as they walked. Their skin bubbled and dripped off their bones, collecting in pools on the floor. Skeletons and skulls littered the floor, presumably from Pokémon that had completely melted away. There were several zombie Pokémon here, and some of them managed to reach Pikachu. Whenever one did though, Mawile helped fight them off, acting sort of like a bodyguard.

After some wandering, a cut scene triggered when we neared the edge of a large pit. The camera panned over the edge to view dozens, maybe even hundreds, or corpses filling up the hole. The bodies were melded and morphed into each other, creating an unidentifiable mass of flesh.

Pikachu stood near the edge of the pit, and Mawile walked up towards him, "This is where we stored all the bodies that didn't have a grave. Eventually, there were so many bodies, all the lava that was previously in the pit was soaked up by them." She put a hand on Pikachu's shoulder, "Don't be one of them."

Some traveling and slaying later, we found Blaziken's attraction. Charmander was here this time, worn down and grey-eyed, pleading with, "Help me." Except when Mew asked if I was ready to play, Mawile stepped in front of Pikachu with, "I am." On the character selection screen, Mawile was the only one I was able to select.

Mawile stood on the cliff looking over the lava, adjacent to the other cliff where Mew floated with the canon. Lava filled the crater between the two cliffs, molten hands reaching out from the depths that tried to grasp for Mawile and Mew.

The cannon fired. Instead of boulders though, skulls and bones flew out towards Mawile. I swung and she easily blocked them with her snake-mouth. Progressively, though, larger and larger skeletons were being fired more frequently, and more than once Mawile was knocked down before I could react in time. At the end, I was just 500 points short of the goal.

Instead of a "You lost" screen, Mew fired another skull, which knocked out Mawile. This time though, she didn't get up. It left the attraction game and went back to Pikachu. Charmander disappeared as per protocol, alongside Mew's, "You lost. Although they aren't your friends anymore anyways… You left them, remember?" This time, I felt more like Mew's words was directed towards Mawile, who was laying on the ground in front of the attraction, unmoving. Mew giggled, "Let's play again! Meet me at the Haunted Zone!" And then fled.

I walked over to Mawile and tried speaking to her, and was faintly surprised when she actually responded, "Leave now... Don't come back." I tried speaking to her again, and she actually said something different, "Please... Save yourself..." Again, "..." Once more just to make sure she had nothing else important to say,

"You know, when you left... everyone missed you. I missed you.

...

Everyone still misses you."

With that, Mawile stopped breathing and became unresponsive regardless of how much I tried talking to her again. This was the first death in this game so far that actually genuinely upset me. Figuring there wasn't much point in trying to bring the dead back to life, especially considering she'd probably turn into a zombie that would try to kill me, I left. The travel back out of the Lava and Cavern zones was a bit more challenging than entering, Pikachu dying on several occasions without a bodyguard, but eventually, I made it out.

The Haunted Zone was desolate and decrypted. All statues and things that once stood were torn down and broken. Unusual rocks and boulders were here too, just like the other Zones. The mansion itself had holes in its roof, and it looked like several rooms had been burned down.

The main thing I noticed as I walked outside the mansion was there was no Pokémon insight: dead or alive. It was a little relieving to be able to walk at a normal pace without the threat of being mauled.

Inside, it appeared to be more of an abandoned mansion than one that was haunted. Moonlight filtered through holes in the roof. The walls and floor were cracked, and several doors were burned and the furniture was broken. As I surveyed the area, I would catch glimpses of ghostly Pokémon at the outskirts of the screen or turning corners at the end of hallways. Of course, whenever I tried to chase after them, they were gone.

Mew didn't appear at Dusknoir's attraction, so I assumed I was supposed to go to Rotom's. When I went into the underground lab, I found Mew floating there. This time there wasn't another one of Pikachu's old friends there to be put at stake. I walked up to speak to Mew, who laughed, not giggled, and asked once more, "Ready to play?"

Pikachu was once again my only option. He stood in the middle of the room, ready to fight off the ghosts that would soon start pouring in. When the first ghost appeared though, it was an actual spirit, not a ghost type like normal. It was a Buneary like the one in the Meadow Zone. I shot the ghost Buneary, and immediately another ghost appeared, this time a Corphish. A ton of Pokémon, mainly ones I had seen as zombies, were flying in. Three of the most noticeable ghosts that caught my attention were the Lapras, Snorlax, and Mawile. It took all I could to fend them off. There were too many though, and in almost no time at all, they captured Pikachu.

"You lost. Although, they aren't your friends anymore anyways... You left them, remember?" This time, I knew Mew meant all the Pokémon in the Poképark when he spoke. "...It's time for you to go." Mew than proceeded to fly off, to who knows where.

Without any sense of direction, I wandered around aimlessly, not sure what to do next. I was expecting some sort of grand ending more than a Pokémon telling me off. I felt like there was something more, so I headed out to the last zone I hadn't ventured to yet: The Granite Zone.

This place was even more damaged than the other zones if that were possible. The ancient ruins were in, well, ruins. Columns and structures were broken and scattered all about, and it didn't help it was already damaged before whatever happened tore down the land. The undead were easy to fend off, and before I knew it, I was in the Flower Zone.

The grass and flowers here were grey and wilted, trying to thrive on the few sparse rays of sunshine filtering through the heavy clouds. There weren't any dead bodies here. The only colorful, living thing was the Gracidea Flower, and the beaten-but-breathing Shaymin standing next to it. "This flower is our symbol of salvation... it's the only thing I have left to live for." It informed me.

I walked over to where Rayquaza's attraction once was to find Chikorita, Piplup, Charmander, and Mew in front of it. As I approached them, Pikachu's three old friends surrounded him. From each, a Water Gun, Razor Leaf, and Flamethrower were simultaneously fired at him. Pikachu tottered, then fell over on his side into the decaying foliage, not breathing. "You should've run while you still could." Mew teased, giggling.

The screen faded to black, then back, and I found myself on the Sky Pavilion. The floating ruins in the sky looked as if it was broken into a million shards, and pieced back together haphazardly. There was dense fog, making it difficult to see after a few feet. Everything visible though was grey, rugged, and devastated, including Pikachu. I walked around, trying to trigger something, but nothing happened. Eventually, though, I found Mew floating among the rubble, and spoke to it,

"...When you first came here, you did everything you could to repair the Sky Prism, to save the Poképark." Mew turned around to face away from Pikachu here, "...I broke the Sky Prism in the first place, so someone would come here, and be my friend. You promised you would be my friend. That was all I ever wanted, just one friend, just one..."

Mew turned back around, and several blue shards started to fly around him. "But you left. You left me, you left everyone, and never returned. So I broke the Sky Prism, and made sure no one recovered it, so the Sky Pavilion would crash down on everyone..." Mew started to fly off, with a few parting words spoken for the final time, "You lost. Although, I'm not your friend anymore anyways... You left me, remember?"

Before he left though, he turned to say one more thing, "Have fun enduring the loneliness I had to suffer. This is my park now." And finally flew off the screen, into the fog.

I chased after him, but only ran into the edge of the floating ruins, and would've tumbled right over had there not been an invisible wall to save me. I ran all around the Sky Pavilion multiple times until I pretty much had an entire map of the place mentally programmed into my brain and knew where I was going, despite the fog. Eventually, I gave up at finding anything or a way out.

Turning the game off and resetting could never get me out of that cursed place. Every time I got bored and played that game just to see if something would happen, I'd always still be stuck at that place, lost in the fog for eternity. Sometimes though, Mew would drop by and pay me a visit. But every time I spoke to him, he would always say the same words,

= "I won." =

This was made by someone from Deviant Art.

http://star-byte.deviantart.com/art/PokePark-Wii-Pikachu-s-Return-283363243 Link to the page on Deviant Art.