Pokemon Shattered Shield

This isn't the first time I've shared this story, and won't be the last.

My name is Nicholas, but you can just call me Niko. I'm a 15 year old boy, though I was 14 at the time this happened, and I absolutely love video games. My parents bought me a Wii when I was 5 years old, and I quickly began to love video games. Throughout the years, I began to discover new games and new information about games I've already played. The world of technology always fascinated me, and being able to see all the advancements of technology happening is something beautiful to see, at least for someone like me. Recently, 2 games, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield released for the Nintendo Switch. Despite all the controversy of more than half of all Pokemon being cut from the game, I was still very excited to play it. I eventually decided to buy Pokemon Shield, because I thought the legendary Pokemon on the box, Zamazenta, looked a lot better than the Pokemon Sword legendary Pokemon, Zacian.

In order to download the game to my system, I needed more space, as Smash Ultimate took up most of it, so my dad and I drove to Target to pick up a MicroSD card to put in my Switch. I inserted the card into my Switch, and formatted it. After restarting the system, there was a new game that wasn't displayed on the home screen before. The game was called Pokemon Shattered Shield. "This shouldn't be possible," I thought, "Formatting the SD card removes all data from it, and I've never seen anything about a 'Shattered' Shield." I asked my Dad, who is a computer programmer, about the SD card, and all he told me was that the card he grabbed was at the back of the shelf. I searched the internet for any information on the game, and, surprise, surprise, found nothing. At that point, 3 emotions sparked in my brain, confusion, excitement, and suspicion. I was confused because I had no idea why this game no one knows about was here, I was excited because I just stumbled upon a game no one knows about, and suspicion because of the sudden appearance of a game that no one knows about, appearing under normally impossible circumstances.

I decided to open the game. Everything felt normal, until I walked outside the starting house, and the cutscene where the Wooloo was trying to break down the gate was different from everything that happened before. The Wooloo looked distressed, like it was trying to get away from something. The Wooloo successfully broke down the fence, which I later learned wasn't supposed to happen at that point. I went after the Pokemon thinking that was the way to progress and ended up in the Slumbering Weald. I went the only way forward, but upon stepping into tall grass, a battle began, but I had no Pokemon. Instead the Skwovet that I would have fought with my Pokemon jumped at me and attacked my character. Injuring their arm. I selected the Fight option, but my character had no moves. I went to the Item menu to be greeted by a whole lot of nothing, so I used the last option on the menu. Run. My character successfully fled the battle, but was still hurt. I kept moving forward, and entered another battle against a Rookidee. I tried to run, but my character couldn't get away. The bird flew at my character and used Peck, which missed. I was able to flee on the next turn, without sustaining any damage, but my character was still hurt from the first encounter.

In the grass, there was an item that I could pick up. I maneuvered my way over to the item, taking the shortest route to avoid another encounter. I picked up the item, which was a potion, and decided to keep it for later use. As I pursued the Wooloo, the mist began to thicken. It was getting hard to see anything. I unknowingly stepped into the grass and another encounter began, but I couldn't see the opposing Pokemon. I failed to run on the first turn, and then the hidden Pokemon used Ember. The move connected, and upon hitting my character, I felt my Switch to start heating up. My character was down to half HP, and I once again failed to run on my next turn. The hidden Pokemon used a move I had never heard of, Fire Chase, and once the move was called, my character exited the battle. A text box appeared, "Run!" Behind my character was a ball of fire, quickly approaching as it got closer, my switch started heating up. I couldn't bear the thought of what might happen if it caught up to me. I dashed forward, squinting at the screen to see if I could find any exit through the mist of the Slumbering Weald. The Fire was catching up, I kept looking around to no avail. But just when I was ready to give up, I saw the Wooloo roll offscreen. I realized that means that the Wooloo went into another area. The flame was almost right on me, so I had to act fast, I quickly pressed the home button on the right Joy-Con, and repositioned my left stick to be facing the exact direction the Wooloo went, so once I reopened the game, I would immediately move in that direction without a moment passing in between my inputs. My quick thinking is what saved me in that moment, but even though I narrowly escaped that chase, my switch was still blazing hot, so I decided to set it down for a few minutes to cool down as I went to make a sandwich.

My dad came downstairs and told me that he and my mom were going out with relatives to eat, which was great news to hear at the time because the living room on the first floor was my favorite place to be when I was alone. My sister was out babysitting the kids of the relatives my parents went out with, so I had the whole house to myself and our puppy Gus. I went back upstairs to grab my phone and switch and went to the television to dock my switch. Much better. I grabbed my Joy-Con grip and inserted my controllers and pulled the game back up. In the instant I opened the game, I swear I saw a shadowy figure leap across a corridor. When I went to investigate, there was a knock at the door. I jumped at the sudden sound, but I remembered that my dad literally always told me to not answer the door, because if it was someone we knew, they would've called first, and if it was one of them they would have the keys. My dog began to bark like he always does when someone is at the door. So I went to a window to see who it was, but nobody was there. Thinking it was just a prank by one of the kids next-door, I just ignored it.

I moved towards the location of where the figure leaped, but whenever I moved about 10 steps, there was a knock at the door. After this happened twice I undocked the switch and moved to the window. I moved 10 steps forward, and when the knocks occurred, they were louder, harder, and slower. And when I looked out the window, there was a shadowy figure knocking at the door, and just as the knocking stopped, it disappeared. I ran back to the living room, picked up my phone and called the police. They told me they were sending over some officers to investigate. After I hung up, I heard the front door's doorknob begin to rattle. It's trying to get in. I ran over as fast as I could, my dog was barking his lungs out, I grabbed a chair from the dining room next to the front door and lodged the door close, but I could still see the knob shaking. There was a knock at the door. I turned away, there was a knock at the door. I ran to the kitchen, there was a knock at the door! I grabbed a knife, THERE WAS A KNOCK AT THE DOOR!

I hid in a corner for what felt like days. There was no knock at the door. Thinking it was over, I stood up. Checked on my dog. Fine. Checked the door. Fine. Looked around upstairs. Fine. I went to my room with my switch, the knife, and my phone. There was a knock at the door. It was the police. I removed the chair and I told them what happened, and they did notice dents in the front door. They decided to keep an eye on my house for the night. I thanked them and went back upstairs to my room, and I sat down and called my parents. They were definitely drunk, and an hour away from home, and not wanting them to get into any trouble, I just hung up.

I suddenly realized I had forgotten about something. The dog. The back door of our house was made of glass, and the dog is barricaded in the kitchen, because he's still just a puppy and my parents don't want him finding any clothes to chew up on the second floor. I slowly went back down the stairs, tightly gripping my knife. I turned the corner. I saw my dog. He was fine, thank god. I put on his leash and went back upstairs with him, and I kept him in my room with me, so he didn't go and get himself in trouble. An hour passed where, I think for the first time in my life, I did absolutely nothing for a whole slow, painful hour. I eventually got bored, like every 14 year old boy, and decided to pick the game back up. I moved towards where the figure moved, but there was no knock at the door.

I kept moving and found the Wooloo, but something was wrong. It looked like it was looking for something. I went towards the Wooloo, and a cutscene began. The sheep found what appeared to be fragments of metal, and began moving the pieces together, after about 30 seconds of the most boring cutscene I've ever seen, the fragments were all together and formed a shape. The shape of a shield. The cutscene ended and my character learned a new move, "Mega Punch". Suddenly, another Rookidee flew out from a nearby tree. A battle began, and this time, I wasn't running away. I selected Fight and used Mega Punch, and the text read, Niko used Mega Punch. I hadn't even entered a name yet for my character. Being the rational person I am, I made myself believe that it just took my Switch profile name, like it would do in online Smash, but deep down I knew the truth. This wasn't a game. I defeated the Rookidee in a single hit, but I didn't gain any XP, which I guess made sense. When I turned back to the Wooloo, it was… drained.

It's wool was gone, and it looked starved. I began to sweat. What was happening. The music stopped. There was a knock at the door. I looked through the window. A package was at the doorstep, I went down and opened the door, and it smelled like death. The police came to the door, saying that they didn't see anyone leave the package. I went to the kitchen and grabbed an oven mitt to carry the package inside. I went to the kitchen and opened the package with a knife, and the contents of the package sparked an emotion in my head that I can only describe as true horror. Inside the package was a coat of wool and chunks of flesh, fat, and muscle all mushed together, oozing blood and mucus, painted black. I got lightheaded and closed the package, moving over to the sink, just in case I threw up. I swallowed my vomit and I checked the outside of the package to see if I could find any shipping information. And on the side of the package that was facing away from me there were 4 words. "Build Your Own Wooloo" then, my puke was finally able to build up enough and erupted from my mouth, adding to the already terrible scent. There was a knock at the door. I froze. I heard an officer yell "Freeze!" Then I heard that same voice screaming.

My heart sank. Whatever I was dealing with was able to overpower a police officer. I had no chance at a head on attack, or defense… but I knew that if conflict didn't occur, I wouldn't have to worry about those things. I had to hide. I heard gunshots, followed by more screaming. I left the package on the counter forgetting to look for shipping information. I bolted back upstairs, my dog was whining. There was a knock at the door. I picked up my dog, my switch, and knife. There was a knock at the door. I moved to the closet with the items. I heard more sirens coming. There was a knock at the door. I run back out and grab my phone, close the door to my room and run back to the closet. There was a knock at the door. I looked at the switch, there was a picture of the shattered shield, along with the Wooloo, still alive. My character was nowhere to be seen. I still don't know what happened to them, but at that moment I didn't care. There was a knock at the door.

The Switch's internal fan was turning fast, which means it's loud, and I was trying to hide. I tried everything to turn the switch off. Nothing worked, and when I tried to break it, just before I made contact… the door opened. I heard heavy footsteps going up the stairs. My dog didn't make a sound. The only thing that gave us away was the light and sound coming from the switch. The same picture of the shield. Tears flew from my eyes as I tried to not make a sound. There was a knock at the door. I stayed completely still. My bedroom door swung open. Nothing was going through my mind, other than the thought that I was about to die. I closed my eyes and prepared for the inevitable. There was a knock at the door. The only thing between me and whatever was there was my closet door. The door swung open.

I saw it. It was indescribable. Its as if Fear itself stood before me. It picked me up by the neck. Adrenaline flew through my veins and I kicked and punched at whatever was holding me to no avail. Try as I might, this THING wouldn't let go. It threw me into my dresser, breaking my left arm. I screeched as loud as I could. My dog realized what was going on and ran at whatever is killing me, biting its leg. It stopped paying attention to me for enough time for me to run back to my closet to grab my knife. I turned and tried to pick it up with my broken arm, which obviously didn't work. I yelled in agony, and then the Thing shook my dog off. I grabbed my knife and just as I turned around to stab at it, it grabbed me by my neck again. It threw me over its shoulder and began to leave with me. I swung my knife down and stabbed it in the back. It made the most loud, most blood curdling sound I've ever heard, but more importantly it dropped me. Unfortunately, the knife was still lodged in its back. My dog was unconscious, I was bleeding, and I'm pretty sure the bone wasn't supposed to stick out like that. I was in so much pain and was screaming the whole time. My strength had all but left me. I was done for. But then I saw a light. It wasn't the light of God, like I thought, but it was the light of my Switch. As I grabbed it, the Thing yanked the knife out of its back and tried to stab me.

Subconsciously, I grabbed the Switch and moved it to try and block the stab. The creature stopped and moved backwards away from the Switch. Second wind hit like a truck. I stood up and held the Switch out, walking towards the creature. It squealed in pain as I moved closer. It tried to back up, unfortunately for it, rooms have walls. I moved closer to it, while it tried to flee. I touched it with the Switch. The light on the Switch grew incredibly bright. The creature vanished. I passed out. The next day was me moving in and out of consciousness. When I fully awoke, There was a knock on the door. I froze.

And in came my sister, parents, and my dog. I cried tears of joy. I asked for my switch. They said they had it at home, charging. I asked about the package. They said they found it. It still had the things in it, though some of it had rotted away. I asked about the creature. They had no idea what I was talking about. Good. I killed it. After a week, I went back home, though I still needed rest. The first day home was strange. It felt like The No Man's Land on a battlefield, but you won the battle that took place, and were the only survivor of that battle. I picked up my Switch. I opened up Pokemon Shattered Shield, with confidence that I had won. "The Software was closed Due to an Error" never have I been happier to see that message. I reformatted the SD Card, and the game vanished. Day turned to night. I fell asleep knowing I had won the battle.

That night, there was a knock at the door.