Love me

Love me...

Please love me....”

I was playing my White version, going around with my Flygon, trying to find any rare Pokémon that may have been hidden in the grass. I went through about a million battles with Pokémon like Emolga and Trubbish, when finally, a Pokémon not naturally in this area appeared; An Eevee. I immediately set into action. I lowered it’s health carefuly, and sent out an ultra ball. The Eevee went in easily, and now it was up to luck.

One, two, three...

Click.

Yes! I had caught the Eevee, and when it asked if I wanted to nickname it, I clicked “Yes” without hesitation. I nicknamed her Gigi, a French name. I giggled, and started training her by sending her out and switching for Flygon. Soon enough, she was level 23, and I stopped training her at that point. I went to find someone to battle, and this time I didn’t switch her out. I beat the person’s Pokémon easily enough, but something was strange when we battled the last Pokémon. Gigi suddenly went through the evolution process without letting me press B to stop her, and after she evolved, she was a Glaceon. I couldn’t believe it. She had all new moves, and even though she was only level 23, her attacks were about as powerful as a level 50 or 60 Pokémon. Although I was confused, I battled with her, and beat the opponent in no time.

After the battle, I went to my Pokémon party. I was surprised to see that Gigi was back to an Eevee, and I was a bit confused. Evolving without certain conditions? That wasn’t normal. “What’s your deal, Gigi?” I muttered to the DS screen. It seemed as if Gigi was smiling... Almost grinning.. But I shrugged it off and kept battling with Gigi.

The next battle I got into was harder. This person had 4 very strong Pokémon, but, of course, Gigi had no problem. The last Pokémon was sent out. Then, again, the evolution process came up. I figured she was evolving into Glaceon again, but to my surprise, she wasn’t. This time, she was an Umbreon. She was strong as she was when she was Glaceon, and beat the opponent quickly. I smiled, and said to the screen, “Gigi, I think we will have many great battles together. You’re a very special Pokémon.” If only I had thought that this was a bad glitch. I would’ve stopped playing at that moment.

***

I continued on my journey, and with Gigi, I had beaten many opponents and gym leaders. Every time, she turned into a different Eeveelution, and every time, she returned to being an Eevee after the battle, no matter which Pokémon she had evolved into. I was satisfied with Gigi’s strength. She was level 70 now, as I had been training her for months, witnessing every transformation as if it had been the first time I saw it happen. I never suspected a thing, but eventually, I started to notice weird things in the game. Every time Gigi evolved, she had a strange grin on her face, as if she knew something I didn’t. I questioned it a bit, but I didn’t stop playing, no matter how many times she grinned.

I should’ve stopped.

One day, when I was battling random Pokémon near Opelucid city, something strange happened. Gigi didn’t evolve when I was battling. I wondered why, and went to her stats. When I clicked on her moves, all it said was,

“You choose.”

I had no idea what that meant, but then it hit me. I could now choose which Eeveelution Gigi could turn into battle. I spoke aloud, “Espeon” clearly, just incase it was picking the sound up from the mic. Gigi grinned, and a text box popped up. I read what it said.

“Gigi will listen. Gigi will turn into Espeon.”

The evolution process popped up, went through, and Gigi was an Espeon. I was excited I was able to control what Gigi turned into now. I could use it to my advantage in battles. Gigi, as an Espeon, just stared at me, lovingly grinning. Just the same expression. This went on for a few minutes, and I decided to exit out of her stats. The grin had creeped me out a little bit, but I paid no attention to it after I had exited her stats.

That loving grin meant something.

***

After many months, training, and hard work, Gigi was level 100. She could still evolve, to my relief, and we battled together, having fun, the same grin every time. But one day, everything changed.

I had put my game into the 3DS, and started playing. But when I selected my file, everything turned black. My trainer appeared in the center, and then I saw Gigi walking towards my trainer. I was confused. Was this a special hidden part of the game? I had no idea. All I knew was that this was not normal. “Gigi?” I asked, and waited for a reply. About ten seconds after, a text box appeared.

“Yes, Master?”

Gigi had never called me master before. “What is all this? Why is everything black?” I asked, expecting another reply.

“I have made this world, Master, because i must ask you something.”

“What is it?” I responded, not knowing what she’d ask. I’d never seen anything like this before, and it didn’t help that I was home alone.

“Do you love me?”

I selected “yes.” Of course I loved her.

“Really? Are you sure you aren’t just keeping me because of my strength and ability to change?”

I selected “yes.”

“I change for you, Master. I’ve always changed, because my normal form was never good enough for you. I was never good enough for you.”

I was freaking out a bit. “I would never love someone because they can change.”

“You lie, Master. See, you only kept me because I could change into whatever you desired.”

As the next text box appeared, she changed into all the different Eeveelutions, staying in one form for about 4 seconds.

“I always let you pick. I let you change me. But now I ask, if you just love me for my ability, should I even change for you?”

She stepped closer to my trainer.

“I know you don’t love me. I know that you’ve been using me. Well, not anymore. You will not use me anymore.”

I made my trainer run, as I was freaking out. Gigi didn’t follow me, but text boxes appeared without warning.

“I knew you didn’t love me.”

“That’s why you’re running.”

“All I wanted was for you to love me.”

I kept running, fast as my trainer could go. More text boxes appeared.

“Wait! Stop!”

“I can still change for you!”

“Please!”

I didn’t stop, no matter how hard she pleaded. I was freaking out. Pokémon games were not supposed to be like this. Now Gigi was glitching out, rapidly changing into each Eeveelution without stopping.

“I CAN BE WHATEVER YOU WANT! I CAN CHANGE!”

“PLEASE! LOVE ME!!!”

I stopped when Gigi appeared in front of my trainer. This time, I couldn’t move. I wanted to turn off the game. I wanted it to all be over.

“Love me...

Please love me....”

I immediately ripped the cartridge out of my 3DS and threw it at the wall. I took some scissors and hacked at the game until it was no longer playable. I took the cartridge out to the kitchen and threw it away in the trash. My cat Snowfur was relaxing on the computer chair, so I picked her up and took her to my room. I sat down on my bed, Snowfur purring beside me, and I cried. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

***

About a year after the incident with Gigi happened, I decided to get a new Pokémon game, as I was bored out of my mind. I had completely forgotten about what had happened with Gigi the year before. I got Pokémon White2, and immediately started playing when I got home. I only had one choice of name, though. It wouldn’t let me type one in.

“Master.”

I chose it, feeling pretty proud it would call me “Master.” Then, when I appeared in the overworld, everything was a darker shade of what it was supposed to be. I was horrified as Gigi appeared in front of my trainer. Then, a single text box appeared.

“Will you love me?”