You don't belong here like this.

Pokémon SoulSilver was the first Pokémon game that I ever played.

I started playing the game sometime in May of 2010, when I was about six years old. Back then, I was very naive in terms of problem solving, or even video games, for that matter. I struggled with other games I had on my DS, like Super Mario 64's DS remake or games that I played on my brother's Wii, like Kirby Air Ride. I remember those times with fondness, although I was very sensitive and would often cry at even the implication of a loss to either AI or my own brother.

But I digress. Back to the events of what happened on my SoulSilver cartridge. It is because of SoulSilver that Meganium remains to be my favorite Pokémon, no matter the opinion of others or what its true stats and weaknesses may be; it was always the strongest in my eyes, and the star of my team. Although I still think about many other Pokémon that I obtained all those years ago; my Nidoqueen, my Pidgeotto, my Alakazam, my Vaporeon... the list goes on, of course.

And I suppose it's also thanks to SoulSilver that I have such fond memories and nostalgia for Johto and all its characters, locations, stories, the like. As the years have passed Kanto has absorbed most of the regional attention, due to the classic "Kanto-milking" we've all become accustomed to, while Johto and all the other cherishable regions have stood out of the limelight.

And I guess it's also for this reason that it makes me like Johto all the more; it's something that, at least in my opinion, hasn't gotten the attention it has long properly deserved, despite how many people clearly love it.

Yet there's always one character that's repeatedly caught my attention, one that I feel that, similar to the entire Johto region, similarly hasn't gotten the attention they've deserved.

That would be the classic rival of Johto, Silver himself.

Excluding Wally and Hugh, he's never been included nor mentioned throughout the entirety of the mainline anime, and he's never made a reappearance in any mainline game as of yet. He's always interested me somehow; perhaps it's his backstory with Giovanni as his father, or his character progression near the very end of HGSS, or the double battle with him in the Dragon's Den, or his dramatic introduction in the opening, or simply his dark appearance (I've always been a fan of dark colors, after all). Whatever it is, he's always been a fascinating and nostalgic character to me.

But allow me to get into the true meat of this story. I've rambled on far too long about HGSS and some red-haired fictional character. For now, at least.

I'd not played any Pokémon games for a while, but one day I suddenly decided, on a whim, to find a ROM of SoulSilver. In light of the Sword and Shield controversy, I'd thought about how much fun I'd had with SoulSilver and since I'd been ignoring the Pokémon community for quite a while, I didn't see any reason as to why I shouldn't go back for at least a little visit to one of my favorite games. But this time would be different. I'd been intrigued by randomizers, and I wanted to go back and see what would happen on my own little randomizer adventure. So, I downloaded the Universal Pokémon Randomizer and an emulator, struggled a little to find a file containing SoulSilver that would be compatible, set all my options, and generated the new ROM.

I was a newbie, though, and by mistake I opened the un-randomized ROM in the emulator.

This is where the real story begins.

I had been sure that I'd done the wrong thing, but I decided to just go and check on the starter Pokémon to be sure. I skipped through the intro I've seen so many times before and quickly selected the 'New Game' option.

"... ...

How so very peculiar."

Well, that wasn't supposed to happen.

Now my intrigue with this "unedited" ROM had grown more than the randomizer I had been planning. I quickly checked to see if I had selected the wrong one, and most certainly, I had. I knew that the randomizer wouldn't have done this, anyways--that would just be an idiotic idea. I was a little frustrated with myself for having accidentally downloaded what I assumed to be some sort of ROM hack, despite the website quite clearly stating that it was, indeed, a regular and completely unedited version of SoulSilver. I guess I would just have to get back to searching when I was done with this--ROM websites were a little unreliable, anyways.

"It seems that things have become quite redundant.

Wouldn't you agree?

I think that it's time to change things a little.

'''More than usual. A randomizer, if you will.'''

And thanks to you, we can do that.

But I promise that you'll have fun.

This time."

I had no idea what that could possibly mean. I advanced the text in anticipation.

The black screen faded into a friendlier, regular blue one, but Professor Oak, or anyone else for that matter, were absent. After just a few more moments, finally someone came into view--or rather, a silhouette. As the HGSS veteran I was I tried to make out whose sprite it could possibly be, but to no avail. This person seemed new and almost vaguely humanoid.

Nonetheless, I pressed on and saw what they had to say.

"It's a scary world out there.

Don't worry about what you were told back then.

Just do what you think is right.

Come and see me.

It's been a long time..."

Huh. Alright, then.

I just hoped that whatever I was about to get myself into, it wasn't something of the ordinary. I had high hopes from the odd but fascinating introduction, and I was more eager to see what the ROM could offer me than whatever the randomizer did. The latter could always come another day.

I was expecting to select either Lyra or Ethan as usual, to name my character and go through naturally with the rest of the introductory process, but to my slight expectations no option for that ever came. I was sent into the world, and not in the player's house. Rather, it was the very lowest part of Route 49, near the route's exit, and it must have been in the dead of night, as the screen had been darkened to a somewhat unreasonable degree--I had to turn up my computer's brightness to see that it was even Route 49 in the first place. The NPC that usually stood in the grass was absent, but there was one person there--in the midst of it all stood Silver's sprite, something which I wasn't sure how to feel about.

Was I excited? Yes, of course I was, any scene involving Silver was bound to be interesting. Was I confused? That, too.

After a few long moments of nothing happening, I started to wonder if this was actually a scene. A little bored with the current standstill, I pressed the keys to try and see if I could move. And I could.

This must have been what that voice at the beginning was talking about with things being different. And true to their word, I was sure that I was going to have fun if I was in control of Silver! My mind raced with the possibilities of what plotline could ensue in this situation, as I looked downwards at the “bottom screen” of the emulator to see what my menu options were.

Instantaneously I also recognized that most of the menu options were missing, as they were at the start of every new HGSS adventure. All that the menu seemed to have at its disposal was OPTIONS, BAG, and POKéGEAR. I found it very odd that the omnipresent SAVE option wasn’t there, but it’s not like I would be utilizing that anyways—save states were my main method of saving anyways in emulators.

Silver’s bag was empty aside for a singular Potion, although in contrast the Pokégear had all of its functions available. The theme was a black and red one, appropriate for Silver’s style; it was similar to the Rocket theme in normal HGSS, but of course lacking the signature red ‘R’ at the top. I couldn’t alter the theme in any way and all attempts to tune into the radio were met with white noise.

A little unsatisfied with what I found, I exited out of the menu and began to navigate Silver towards the exit, which he did without hesitation. As I expected, no NPCs in there either—and it was uncannily dark in there. I continued forward, assuming that I was supposed to go to New Bark Town. No Pokémon appeared in the wild grass, as I had hoped, although I was able to skip over most of it by making use of the ledges.

In New Bark Town, some of the darkness had been alleviated thanks to light sources in the form of some stray outdoor lamps placed about the area, enough to make the screen go back to what it normally would have been at night in normal HGSS. I was a bit uncertain of what I had to do at first, despite my first assumption being to go to Elm’s lab--I checked the doors fruitlessly.

'''“Door’s locked. It’s useless.”''' I surmised Silver to be the narrator now.

I proceeded to the door of Elm’s lab as I thought was intended, and surprisingly I was able to walk right through the door. With Silver’s original status as a thief of Elm’s lab, I thought that maybe I would have had to go through the window, but I suppose not.

Once inside, another text box appeared, assumedly from Silver as well.

“No one here…

Maybe I shouldn’t do this…

But there’s no going back now.”

I thought that what he meant by “this” was stealing the Pokémon, something that would later be proven correct when I directed Silver over to the three starters. I liked it a little bit that he seemed almost reluctant this time around to steal the Pokémon--perhaps this Silver was a little different in morals?

I got to choose the starter rather than Silver, and for me, there was only one option.

“Silver obtained CHIKORITA!”

There was a bit of a pause before the option for nicknaming came up, almost like Silver was hesitant to do it. But nonetheless, he allowed me to go through the nicknaming process without much of a hitch. I always loved to nickname my Pokémon--it helped me feel more attached to them and helped me give them more of a personality, and plus it was just fun to me.

I hesitated before naming the Chikorita (which was female, by the way--lucky me), and I went with calling her Megaree, after Crystal’s Meganium in Adventures, obviously. It was a cute name to me.

The nicknaming process ended, and another text box appeared.

“This one’s weak…

But it’ll have to do for now.”

Thanks for insulting my favorite Pokémon, Silver. Although I guess I should’ve expected something like that coming from him.

I started to walk out of the lab, taking note that Megaree wasn’t following behind. Again, something I should’ve expected coming from him—in HGSS, Silver only allowed his Pokémon to follow him at the very end.

I checked my new Chikorita’s summary. Hardy nature, characteristic of “likes to fight”, level 5, knows Tackle and Growl. Everything was pretty regular.

Outside, everything was still quiet. But I was no longer in control. Megaree was released, and Silver turned to talk to it.

“Listen, ‘Megaree’...

We have a job to do.

There’s someone in this world that

we must battle…

And people in this world that must be

dealt with.

You will have to be the strongest Pokémon

alive to accomplish this.

Do you understand?”

There was nothing for a moment, then Megaree jumped in place to signify what I can only assume would be her agreeance.

“...Good.

Then let’s go.

We have a lot to do.”

Megaree was returned to her Poké Ball, and Silver walked offscreen without my input.

When I was in control again, I was in a patch of grass on Route 29, and assumed that I was intended to train here or go forward. It was now daytime in accordance with what the time was really on my end. I started towards Cherrygrove next, as when I tried to go back to New Bark Town, I was interrupted by Silver who would only state:

“Are you serious?

Not that way.” and turn the other way.

In Cherrygrove, the old man who gave me the tutorial never approached me, although he was still inside his house and somewhat reluctantly handed over a pair of running shoes to Silver, saying:

'''“Oh my! You look quite tired.'''

I was going to give you these running shoes,

but maybe you’ll tired yourself out more…

Ah, well, maybe not.

Running shoes are revitalizers!

'''You’ll see. Take these!'''

Just make sure to not push yourself

too hard, OK?”

Silver replied with nothing and we went on our merry way with a brand new pair of running shoes.

Although most people in Cherrygrove seemed to always say something along the lines of “you look quite tired”; I had no way of checking Silver’s appearance due to the lack of a Trainer Card, but I guess I would have to take their word for it.

Nonetheless, there were no further interruptions as I continued my way through the game; of course there were slight alterations now that Silver was the playable character, such as some NPCs not giving their usual advice and instead commenting on either Silver’s tiredness or how “scary” he looked. I nor Silver didn’t really care.

Although there was one thing I cared about; I didn’t really know where to go. Mr. Pokémon’s house seemed somewhat unfeasible, and Violet City seemed like a more reasonable destination. But out of curiosity, I took the path to the house instead.

'''“Ah! You must be the assistant'''

Professor Elm sent, right?

It’s good to see that he’s employing

lost youth like you.

Here, I’ve got this Egg for you.

Take good care of it!”

Okay, now that was kind of funny.

Professor Oak wasn’t in the room, keeping me from getting the Pokédex. Oh well. I’d probably get it sometime or another, I thought. I was glad that I’d managed to get the Togepi egg, though; I was a little worried that I’d have to go without it, seeing as I always loved to use it and its evolutions on my teams if possible.

And Silver seemed rather glad of it too, having gotten another Pokémon without even trying.

But when I came back outside, maybe he wasn’t as glad as I thought.

“This Egg is useless, it can’t battle.

Why even bother with it?”

Well in another 2570 to 2826 steps, he’d change his mind. For now I’d force him to keep it in his party, whether he liked it or not.

For a little while more nothing much of note happened. I went to Violet City and tried to catch more Pokémon. I eventually acquired a Mareep which I named Static, and a Pidgey (which I only intended to use for the sake of having a chance against Falkner) which I left unnamed, something Silver must have liked I suppose.

I ascended the Bell Tower and made quick work of the monks there, the only change being that the Elder commented that Silver should be careful to moderate how he values his Pokémon. Megaree actually seemed to be pretty strong, which I was glad about—I knew that she’d be weak against Falkner but I didn’t really care. I had Static, after all, and she’d be able to make quick work of Falkner as well.

Something I should ask mention is the complete and total absence of a rival character in this game—no Ethan, no Lyra, no competition. I could cruise through the game at my leisure, but I guess that this lack of a personal challenger was counteracted by increased battle difficulty, which I’ll get into in just a moment.

Now is where I explain how the Gym Leaders in this game work. Unlike the normal games, all Trainers in the gym must be defeated before the Leader can be challenged—something about “proving your worth” or something like that. The music in these battles is also just a bit different from usual; a bit slowed down, with some of the notes missing. It’s hard to place my finger on what exactly was different about it—all I can say is that it was different.

Afterwards I would always be conferred the badge of the gym, but no TM would follow. The TMs that I never obtained from the Leaders were simply spread about the region for me to collect on my own.

The Leaders themselves seemed very determined to beat me this time around, too—even if I knocked down a Pokémon’s health to the yellow, they would insist on using some kind of Potion to heal it, and they were relentless in their damage-dealing attacks. Each one of them seemed to do as much damage to me as possible. I was impressed that the author to this game was able to make such a change to the AI, even if at times I didn’t really appreciate the sudden difficulty spike. Their teams had also been a little expanded, with Falkner having four Pokémon (Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Hoothoot, and a low-level Noctowl) rather than just two.

Let me also take the time to talk about the events of Slowpoke Well before I skim over the more simple gameplay parts. Rather than having to go get Kurt to access the well, it seemed that Silver wasn’t having any of that. After a quick and painless battle with the grunt guarding it, he merely shoved him aside and forced himself in.

The Rocket segments are really where Silver’s personality really shined, I think. There was absolutely no mercy from him when it came to dealing with Team Rocket, something I was expecting a little but was also very happy to see, as I’ve always wished there were more interactions between the two parties. If there was something in the normal game you had to do to make a Rocket grunt move out of the way, Silver didn’t care—they were shoved, pushed, yelled at until they agreed to give way. Although this was a little different when the Executives came into the picture.

At that point I’d only witnessed Silver’s anger be dealt upon Proton, and interestingly they seemed to have some history together.

“Well look who it is!

I’ve been waiting for you.

I thought you’d come, my friend.

After your little stunt of escape,

I knew you’d eventually come crawling

right back home.”

“We aren’t friends.

I’ve come to destroy you and

everything you’ve been holding dear.

I don’t care if you want to give up now.

I’ll tear you apart.”

And true to his word, we demolished Proton and the Slowpoke Well operation was no more, with Silver classically noting that they were “cowards” upon Proton’s defeat.

I finished a good part of the game in the initial day that I started playing it. I fought a majority of the Trainers on all the routes, defeated Bugsy with some difficulty, took care of Whitney and Morty, caught a couple more filler Pokémon to take care of the Gym Leaders until I had a full team, and went back to Union Cave to catch myself a Lapras, Belle. Static evolved into Flaaffy and Megaree became a Bayleef. I acquired a Yanma near National Park, which I named Meganeura, and the egg hatched into a Togepi I called Togerora. My team was coming together, and I was getting stronger.

Silver did steal some items the beginning (or shall I say “steal”; more like, items that conveniently happened to be left unattended), but most times he would simply acquire items out of some sort of pity. He seemed to dislike that, as sometimes he would snap back at people, but otherwise he’d get the item one way or another.

Silver’s role as “the chosen one”, rather than Ethan or Lyra, was a little altered—Suicune didn’t exactly seem willing to interact with him at first, nor did any of the other legendary beasts, with Eusine making note of this. Whenever there was a scene where Suicune would just normally appear and then run away, I would have to battle it instead. I would never be able to get Suicune down to less than half its health, at which it would end the battle—it was almost like it was testing me, as was also true of Entei and Raikou, who would often wait to battle me a little longer before fleeing. Although the Kanto section of the game isn’t covered in this story, I was also unable to catch Suicune at its encounter and only battle it, and I was disallowed from catching Entei or Raikou as well—all three would only avoid the ball and nothing else would happen.

Something rather interesting was steadily coming to my attention though, the longer I used Megaree and the more frequent she battled—the usual happy, goofy Bayleef expression soon began to change into a fiercer, more determined and angry one. I liked this change quite a bit—it helped to reflect Silver’s effect on his Pokémon. This soon became true for some of the others; Togerora started to look a little meaner, Static’s head was tilted down to look somewhat menacing. Meganeura and Belle remained seemingly unaffected, which I thought was strange—but I guess I had been keeping the others in my party longer, even if Togerora had just been an egg then.

I also thought it interesting that, where I currently was in the game, that NPCs would merely comment on my Pokémon looking “mean” rather than spewing constant reminders to treat my Pokémon well. I could only assume that maybe now that I was in control, Silver never had much of a chance to “abuse” his Pokémon or anything of the sort? My Pokémon seemed to like me as well, and eventually they began to follow me sometime after I conquered Morty’s gym.

The rest of the game went on relatively normal. Chuck, Pryce, Jasmine, and Clair all eventually fell to me; I caught a Ponyta, Flare, for my team in the Safari Zone; Silver was naturally acting like Silver during the Radio Tower takeover and the infiltration into the Rocket Base (although, rather oddly, Ariana was absent both places and Archer instead took her place at the base) and he of course declined Lance’s assistance; I went to the Ice Path and found a female Sneasel (a cool addition, I thought, as a nod to Crystal version) that I named Shadow and swapped Belle with; I went to fight Lugia and the Kimono Girls, although I was forbidden from catching Lugia just like the other legendaries; and before I knew it, I had a fully-evolved team and had beaten the Elite Four, and Silver had become the Johto Champion, mostly thanks to Megaree, who had become a cherished star of my team.

I had used Megaree for every battle and she followed me nearly everywhere. Her angry, battle-ready expression had only deepened once she became a Meganium, and her moves seemed to hit the hardest. That being said my other members were fantastic as well—Shadow could handle most Pokémon with ease, Togerora’s expression was also deepened and his Extrasensory was mostly a 1-hit KO, Meganeura was a great Bug-type, Static learned some particularly powerful moves, Flare evolved and was a valuable member as a Fire-type. But Megaree had always come first.

I’ll spare you with the intricate details of what happened between Morty and the rest of the game, but if you’re really so curious, then just imagine the plotline of HGSS with Silver’s input and constant presence.

Throughout the game, Silver himself had changed as well; he was now more hopeful. Now when I checked his Trainer Card, (which I had obtained during a sequence in which Silver returned to apologize for the stolen Pokémon (as he does offscreen in the normal game), along with a Pokédex) he looked much more content with himself and people had stopped commenting on his “scary” appearance—rather, he seemed quite accepted. I was happy to have a game where at least Silver could get the ending he’d always wants in a positive way. He’d progressed from the callous person he was at the beginning to someone more emotionally mature, and while he was still reckless evident by his actions during both of the Rocket sequences, at least he was nicer to his companions.

Really, the only strange thing that had happened throughout the entire course of my adventure was that NPCs would randomly say the following message:

“You don’t belong here like this.”

and after that, they would refuse to speak to me anymore. They would still be on the map, of course, but I could no longer interact with them. Luckily this never seemed to happen for important NPCs or those that give out items, and if it did, it would be after I already possessed said item. I found the message unnerving and random, but I tried to excuse it as nothing more than some weird bug left in by the game’s creator.

It was after beating the Elite Four that things began to change.

I went to walk into Kanto, as one would; but in place of the normal entrance, there was only a tunnel comprised of glitchy trash tiles. Water next to tall grass next to a piece of a tower…

I panicked at first, thinking somehow I had broken the game; but the longer I looked at it, somehow the more intentional it looked.

Cautiously, I unwillingly began to walk into the strange tunnel with Meganeura in tow, and without warning, I was visited by an old friend from the beginning.

“Hello there.

'''It’s me! You remember me.'''

From the start!

Are you enjoying my game?

That’s good.

But there are people you’ll find in there

that don’t like my game very much.

I will protect your little vessel from

the powers that be.

But I can only protect your valiant

fighters whilst in battle.

Should they follow you otherwise, they

will be promptly destroyed.

So I suggest you keep them inside,

or else.

Well, have fun and thanks for being

a bug-fixer!”

A “bug-fixer”? What, was this some meta plotpoint about Silver fixing the technical errors of this game? That didn’t seem to make much sense, but alright, I suppose. I’d see where it went. Meganeura went back to his ball without complaint once the transition into the corridor began.

Once inside the corridor, though, my ears were assaulted with the distant, discordant screeching of noise presented as “music”. It sounded like a fragment of every noise in the game was being played at random without care. Halves of Pokémon cries, half-second snippets of music, and random sound effects all came together in one horrible cacophony. I had to turn my volume down just to bear it. I checked Silver’s Trainer Card briefly to see if he was affected by it too, and indeed he was; his content expression was now replaced with a horrified one.

But the inside of the tunnel was worse. It looked somewhat normal, but random tiles and even sometimes half of an NPC or Pokémon’s face or body would be strewn about. The lighting in there was a ghastly red, and all the rock tiles were affected by it, including Silver.

Unsure of what to think, I went forward.

“You are just another character.”

What, was this place going to taunt him?

“You are not supposed to be the one.”

I guess so.

“You are only special because they like you.”

Who were “they”?

I tried to excuse the out-of-place comments and continue further. Vaguely I began to recognize where I might have been walking among all the trash tiles across the screen. I saw a waterfall, then two...

“You are not wanted.”

Glitchy stairs lead me up to an opening in the cavern wall. I entered, already having some idea of what this might be.

“Your father never loved you.”

That confirmed it a little.

“You are just another tool.”

At the back of the room I saw what was a familiar but long-gone face to Silver, the one that he’d always desired to engage in one last battle. Quite simply, Giovanni was standing there. I found it odd that now was the time that I would face his father. Had Giovanni been responsible for this? Did he mess everything up like this? If so, that was rather gruesome, considering that there were technically cut-up pieces of people and Pokémon scattered around. But if he had indeed done this, how? And more importantly, why? “...Father.” “...You came.

I know already what you think

of me.

I don’t have time to worry about that now.

My son, I need you to help me.” “Why would I help you?!

You’re just another coward in

a mass sea of them!

You don’t need help!

You left me all alone!”

“I can’t fight you on this right now.

We will both be stuck here

forever if you don’t help me.”

“Who’s keeping you here, then?

What, are you such a weakling

that you can’t bear to beat them?”

It seemed that Silver’s original traits would emerge in the face of his father. Should’ve seen that coming.

'''“No. This is not a matter'''

of strength.

We still have the chance to run

'''away. Stop biding time.”''' '''“I don’t care! You’re lying!'''

Come on, fight me!

I’ll show you who’s the

strongest now!” Without any more input from his father, Silver hastily began a battle.

Instantly I noticed something off about Giovanni’s opposing sprite. He didn’t animate like he usually did. His colors seemed a little duller, and I could make out some colorful, out-of-place squares gathering on his skin. This is a phenomenon that I’ll be referring to as “the glitch” from now on—it seemed that if a “glitch infection” remained unhelped for a certain period of time, then the infected would eventually become nothing more than more colorful pixels.

Giovanni’s team was nothing out of the ordinary. Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Rhyperior, Honchkrow, Persian. I took them each down with my own Pokémon with a little difficulty, but the battle wasn’t particularly notable or unusual. I was a little confused as to why Giovanni would so suddenly appear, though—in fact, he’d been the last person I’d expected to see here. I went back to the overworld.

'''“Look! See how strong I’ve become?!'''

I swore to you I’d beat everyone in

Team Rocket, and you!

What do you think of me now?!”

Apparently Silver’s anger had got too much of a hold on him to care about the atmosphere around him.

“... …”

There was nothing further than that. Before Silver could react, Giovanni left the room and the exit was eaten over by more trash tiles. A new opening appeared on the opposite wall.

“...Again…

...You left me.”

At that I felt pretty bad for Silver. He’d been abandoned by his own father twice now. And I didn’t know if this time was better or worse. I could understand it to a degree—perhaps Giovanni didn’t want his son to see him in such a weak state, or perhaps he was just simply too desperate to escape this place to properly deal with Silver. But whatever it was, he was gone. At least Silver had finally accomplished his goal of defeating his father, right?

So I went through the opening and kept going.

On the other side was a rather long and confusing maze, drenched in more garbage tiles. The wild Pokémon I ran into were hardly Pokémon at all. They were more of garbled, incoherent messes of pixels than anything, with names that didn’t make any sense. I didn’t really bother with dealing with them, as I wanted to preserve my HP. I did once try to catch one, but just like with the legendary beasts, the ball always missed.

I don’t know or care to remember how long I was in there; all I know is that it was a long time. Eventually I came to a long stretch that was easily the most corrupted area in the whole game, and I was struck with another discouraging reminder from my friend, the other voice:

“You don’t belong here.”

I continued onward. I didn’t care if Silver didn’t “belong” as the protagonist. This was his adventure, and I didn’t understand why the game was suddenly so stubborn to take it all away from him. He had been happy with himself. He had been moving on from the perceptions that everyone was weak, and that he needed no one. He had started to open up and accept normal things. It was not his fault that he was apparently “in the way” of what the game now wanted to happen, or perhaps what was always intended; if anything, it was probably mine for starting this whole thing in the first place.

The corridor continued for a while longer, until I saw a sprite at the end of the tunnel.

Lyra. Or Ethan? It looked like a combination of both, like they’d been forced together by the glitch to operate as one, for one goal, one purpose. The hair was akin to Lyra’s but black, hatted with a gold and white cap; it was Ethan’s jacket with Lyra’s overalls, and the rest of their body was consumed by colorful squares that sometimes drifted up to the rest of their sprite.

Silver seemed horrified by the abomination before him. He stepped back without my control.

“...What are you?!” “The Rightful One’s puppet.

You don’t belong here.

Silver.” “Of course I belong!

I’m the new Johto Champion!

If anything, it’s you that’s not supposed to be here!

Whatever you are!”

The amalgamete stepped forward.

“The Designer changed things.

I told you before, I am the Rightful One’s puppet.

They know what is best.

The Designer does not.

That man failed to stop you,

even though I thought that he’d destroy you

for me.

I guess that poor decoy, poor prop, doesn’t love you enough.

But no matter.

You will be dealt with in the classical way.”

The “puppet” stepped closer still. And then a battle initiated, as I had feared would happen.

The battle background was a painful array of colors and sprite tiles used throughout the game. The sprite that slid in for the opposing trainer somewhat resembled their overworld sprite, but now they were eaten more by the glitch. Only one of their eyes was now distinguishable. They had a full team of 6 just like me.

“Puppet wants to battle!”

Silver’s sprite slid in as well, but now he looked angry. I think he too understood, in a way, that whatever this thing was, and whatever the “Rightful One” was, they wanted to take away what he had accomplished. They wanted to strip him of everything and return him to the way he was before; an ignored and broken person torn apart by his own father, and that same person, under “normal” circumstances, would have never come this far on any level. And he would not let that happen without a fight.

On Silver’s side, Shadow came out as expected; but on the “puppet’s” side, there was… a Magnemite? But it was called “TRAINER.” It was level 80, a couple lower than most of my own Pokémon—I figured that at least if I was going to fight for Silver’s integrity, at least it would be a fair fight. Or so I hoped.

Shadow seemed expressionally unfazed by the opponent as usual, and unsure of what that thing could do, I selected Dark Pulse.

“Shadow used Dark Pulse!”

The move had neutral effectiveness but only barely put a dent in the opponent’s HP. I internally grimaced.

“TRAINER used Brick Break!”

Now that certainly did not just put a dent in Shadow’s HP. It took her all the way down to the yellow, on the verge of red. When I was back in control, I switched out for Meganeura, hoping to be able to sustain some more damage and do more damage myself.

That didn’t work either.

“TRAINER used Thunderbolt!”

Meganeura held on by a sliver. I began to grow hopeless. It seemed that no matter what I switched into, my opponent would always have a supereffective move. Since Meganeura had Speed Boost, though, I hoped that he’d be able to land a move first, and so I used Psychic.

Still hardly any damage, and Meganeura was knocked out by another Thunderbolt.

I knew I had to do my best though. If I lost, I didn’t know what would happen. So I sent in Static, hoping she might be able to do something.

“TRAINER used Dragon Pulse!”

Oh, wait.

Something clicked for me. This thing was borrowing Static’s moves! Brick Break, Thunderbolt, Dragon Pulse… it must have known Iron Tail as well, then. I didn’t really understand at first, but I theorized that maybe since TRAINER had no “proper existence”, so to speak, it had to borrow moves from me instead. It had nothing so it had to get something, somehow.

I felt a little better with this knowledge. If I could figure out which Pokémon of mine that the puppet’s Pokémon were mimicking, then maybe I could win. I knew my Pokémon’s moves pretty well, so I regained quite a bit of confidence.

I quickly switched in for Megaree and was hit with a measly Thunderbolt. Surprisingly, Megaree was faster, and she was able to knock out TRAINER with a surprising four Earthquakes. It was bulkier than I thought, but it went down in the end.

Up next was a mess of brown and black pixels, called “Glitch (DC)”. When it used Extrasensory, I immediately recognized it to be imitating Togerora, and while I was about to switch to Static, I remembered how Megaree wasn’t able to do much damage despite Earthquake’s assumed type advantage, and so instead I sent in Togerora to see what would happen.

Glitch (DC) did almost nothing to Togerora’s health when it attacked. I started to theorize something else about this battle—perhaps only the true Pokémon can beat their impostors the easiest, and somehow the impostors become incredibly weak in the face of their originals?

And so I was right—Togerora defeated Glitch (DC) in one Water Pulse.

I wasn’t sure what the pattern was with the opponent’s appearance and which Pokémon of mine they copied, but at that moment I didn’t really care. I just wanted to win.

“.g” was next, a mass of blue, pink, white and black. They were Meganeura this time, but this time I was forced to use Static, who was able to take their HP down to half before she fainted due to her own low health, but I got Shadow to finish .g off.

Then ゥ 4- 4, something that looked like an icy blue segmented Bulbasaur, which was Shadow. After that, ゥ▾ ||ゥ♂, a bunch of orange, red, yellow, and black pixels, who assumed the form of Flare. Then finally ゥ 4MN ゥ, a little Oddish, Megaree. In the end, Megaree was the only Pokémon I still had that hadn’t succumbed to the impostors. Even still, she barely held on by a small margin while engaged in battle with her impostor, only managing to win with a well-timed Frenzy Plant.

And with that, I’d won. It had been a hard battle, with some of them harder to take down than perhaps I described, but in the end I made it.

“No…”

The screen faded back into the overworld, back to the corridor, looking significantly more messed up this time. It seemed as if every single tile aside for Silver and the puppet was now a completely different one—water next to half of someone’s face next to the corner of a roof next to marsh grass…

“That was nice.

But that’s not the end.

I have one more left.

I wonder if you can

beat it?”

Another battle initiated and I grew frustrated. This wasn’t fair at all. Even if it was a one-on-one battle between their new amalgamation and my Megaree, it was likely an overpowered amalgamation at that, since this puppet didn’t seem to want to play by the rules.

I didn’t know what I was expecting, but the same sprites for Silver and this puppet thing slid in, and out came Megaree on my end. On the other side was some… weird Silver-thing. It was his sprite, obviously, but as usual there were parts of it eaten away by the glitch. Any place where skin showed were more of those familiar colorful squares—on his face, his hands, and his neck. The other colors were quite dull, the vibrant red being reduced to a rusty brown and the dark purplish-black now a plain gray. This thing was simply called “You”, and lacked a level or gender.

Megaree still held her familiar angry expression. I noted that somehow her health had been fully restored; although I didn’t know how, I was grateful for it.

The puppet’s sprite came in, akin to how a Gym Leader or something would pop in to say something.

“I couldn’t copy your Pokémon any more.

So I had to copy you.

It’s sickening…”

Nervous, I told Megaree to use Earthquake. But You was faster.

You’s attack was indecipherable. The text constantly shifted, and the animation was similar to Facade but loud, clashing static erupted from the speakers when the attack hit. It took about ¼ of Megaree’s health, but that just seemed to make her angrier.

Megaree hit You with a hard Frenzy Plant, taking You down to a shocking half of its health, although You now had all the opportunity in the world to devastate Megaree since she couldn’t move.

The puppet had something to say.

“Your Meganium is very tough…

But it’s not so easy, friend.”

You now took the chance to use some sort of weird combination move to both boost its speed by two stages and heal all of its health.

Frustrated, I locked Megaree into Petal Dance. The first time it hit, it did little, and You only used the same move again to ensure it was faster than me.

The rest of that battle is a little blurry in my memory. I just remember being very frustrated at You constantly healing itself and steadily diminishing Megaree’s HP (this was the battle that I seriously regretted not keeping Synthesis) and having to deal with mocking remarks from the puppet.

I don’t remember how I did it. But some way of another, after what I can only assume to be a literal hour-long battle (well, likely less than that), You fainted. And the final battle was over, with Megaree barely hanging on again with just 2 HP.

It faded back to the overworld again.

“That’s… impossible…

You weren’t supposed to win…

… …

But you can’t destroy me…

I can summon more…

You will succumb eventually.”

At that I lost a lot of hope. This was just going to be endless battles. I could never win with just Megaree, or any one Pokémon, against an infinite amount! And how far was the puppet willing to go with this? How much were they willing to do to claim their “rightful place”?

In the midst of my thoughts I was snapped to attention by another text box, a few seconds after the puppet’s dialogue was over.

“Megaree got an idea.”

Megaree came out of her Poké Ball. I instantly wanted to recall her for fear of what might happen to her unprotected in this place, and my fear was only accentuated when I saw that the glitch began to eat her alive too.

“Megaree is sorry it had to be this way.”

“Sorry that it had to be this way”? What did that mean? Was she trying to… do some sort of sacrificial thing?

She approached the puppet, and two pixelated “arms”, being what I presume to be corruptions of her vines, reached out towards the puppet and connected to them.

“Stop that!

What are you doing?!”

Although previously immune, Megaree’s glitch infection spread to the puppet. Ah. So that was her idea...

“Megaree only wants you to be happy.”

But what would happen to Megaree?

“Megaree hopes that you don’t forget about her.”

The puppet stepped back to escape Megaree’s grasp, but it was too late. They were quickly consumed, and that was the end of them. Not a single sound came from them to signify their “death”. No shriek, no scream, no cry for mercy. They assimilated into a hulking mass of messy pixels and then they were nothing.

Megaree turned back to face Silver, her face now partially consumed as well, most of her body succumbing, her distorted vines still up as if to communicate a disconnected hug.

“Megaree loves you.”

She stepped closer but did not make contact, probably too afraid of infecting her beloved Trainer, too.

“She is glad that you are friends.”

And once I advanced the text one last time, she was gone.

Megaree had met the same silent fate just as the puppet had. No sound. No indicator that she was now gone. Her sprite was a shifting mess of color, seemingly being absorbed into the floor to truly assimilate.

I felt that that was the most unfair of all. Megaree had fought so hard and so valiantly, unwilling to give up even when it seemed like there was nothing that could be done to stop the inevitable. I used her for all my battles, for all my greatest hurdles and obstacles, and she was always there, always ready. But she, despite all her great efforts, was considered an equal to the enemy by the game and thus met the same end.

I looked downwards to see what Silver had to say about all this.

“...Got to get out of here…”

I guess he didn’t really know what to say either. He was probably too shocked to really comment on the situation.

Once I exited the text box I took one last look at what had become of my beloved starter, and then, without missing a beat, turned Silver the other way and began to run.

I wasn’t really focused on what was happening on the screen in those few minutes of getting out of there. The corridor was definitely a lot longer than what I had gone through coming in. I just ran until I saw the exit.

When I left, there was a white flash for a long time. I almost thought that the game had crashed and I lamented over having lost everything I had accomplished, everything I’d seen. But nonetheless, the game had not concluded quite yet.

The screen faded back in, and I had to squint and turn up my screen brightness a little to see where I was. Route 49, no NPCs in sight, very dark at night. I panicked a little, thinking that perhaps the game had restarted and I would be left all the way back at the beginning. I hurriedly checked the bottom menu, though, to see that I indeed had all of my menu options save for the ever-elusive SAVE option.

I checked my party, and while I was expecting it I was still sorrowful to see that Megaree was absent. All my Pokémon had fainted but I didn’t white out. I checked their summaries to see if they had changed in some macabre way. Nothing out of the usual, aside for the fact that they didn’t move when I selected them.

My bag retained all the items it had beforehand. Nothing new.

I checked Silver’s Trainer Card. No shred of arrogance or smugness or confidence. There was only a distant, unbelieving look on his face. I doubt he really could comprehend what just happened in there, nonetheless losing his starter Pokémon.

I tuned into the radio. I was somewhat relieved to see that all the normal channels were available—Buena’s Password, Mary & Oak…

Next I went to go see my Pokédex. I was just curious to see if there was any trace of Megaree’s existence at all aside for her appearance in memories. But there was still nothing. There was no entry or sighting recorded for any of the Johto starters or their evolutions.

Megaree was gone.

Dismayed, I slowly went back to New Bark Town. I didn’t know where else to go. If it’s where I went at the start of the game, it’s where I would go at the end.

“...Door’s locked…”

Of course.

I still needed to heal my fainted Pokémon, though. I went to Cherrygrove this time. No wild Pokémon were encountered.

I went into the Pokémon Center. It was almost a little sickening to see that everything in there was exactly the same, despite what had just happened. I healed my Pokémon thanks to Nurse Joy, checked to be sure that all my PC Pokémon were okay, withdrew Belle to fill the empty, lonely spot in my party, and left.

For the next couple hours I wandered the world, using Togerora to fly to various locations. I honestly I had no idea where I had to go, if anywhere. Was the game over now? I saved Silver’s legacy, didn’t I? Was this what would become of him? He had everything he’d ever wanted, only to lose his beloved Meganium, and that’s how the game would conclude?

Talking to the rest of my team elicited a melancholy reaction from each of them. They seemed to know what had happened to Megaree and they were equally as unhappy as Silver and I were.

I went to go beat Kanto with the rest of my team. Although difficult and beating each Gym Leader would usually take a few tries, I eventually made it. But even when I ascended Mt. Silver, I couldn’t make any more progress there—Red never appeared.

Later, I tried some obvious locations to seek respite. The Pokémon House made no mention of Megaree. No little “special events” at the Lavender Radio Tower to go up to its other floors. Nothing at the Ilex Forest Shrine.

Then I had no idea what to do, and sporadically went to locations around the map, double-checking every last corner. I rebattled the Elite Four and the Champion and ascended Mt. Silver to see if Red was available now. But there was nothing. Megaree had gone, and that was it.

I tried to search for Giovanni, too, since another part of me wanted to know what had become of him. Eventually I was able to technically locate him, standing out of reach in a room I could see from Union Cave if I got close enough to a certain wall—and that satisfied me for him, I guess, even though I thought it was… an incredibly odd placement. Then again, maybe Tohjo Falls is also an incredibly odd placement...

I repeated the same process every day out of sheer desperation, just to see if I was intended to do something on a certain day. When that didn’t work, I narrowed it down to time. When that didn’t work, I save-stated the game and tried to forget about it for a long while.

Months later, I still dwelled on that game’s abrupt ending. There had to be something to do. If the game was indeed made by another person, perhaps it was left unfinished and I had merely downloaded an early build? Or was there something obvious I was missing? Or was it the opposite? Was it something so incredibly secret that no player would ever discover it? If so, why?

All I could do within the passing days was check Silver’s Trainer Card for any signs of progression. Indeed, he seemed happy enough again. Perhaps now he was more understanding and accepting of what Megaree had done. After all, he was the Johto Champion. He had defeated Team Rocket seemingly for good. He had accomplished all his goals. Maybe even if Megaree was missing, he could be happy. That’s probably what she would have wanted. Although I still was a little upset about Megaree's sudden end.

After the events of this game, my opinion of Johto and all it has to offer remains mostly unchanged—I still love it as much as I always did, Meganium is still my favorite Pokémon (although now with new connotations), Silver is still my favorite rival, and I still am perfectly willing to go back and play another round of HGSS.

For now, though, I think I’ll be taking a break. If I can ever find a way to progress the game any further I’ll let people know. But I’m just a bit worn out from the whole thing. I need some time to recuperate.