SSYXWBPDSRSGGR

Before this pandemic started, I managed to get my hands on a used cart of the Pokemon game "Sword," which I have ordered from eBay, and it came in a clear disk case. I have recently become an adult and became too busy to continue playing Pokemon games. Luckily for me, since I am not allowed to go to work because of this virus, I have more time on my hands. I went home, inserted the game into my Switch, and finally started up Sword, something that I wasn't able to play before.

The CD case was written in what looks to be from a black sharpie, reading "SSMSYXWBPDSRSGGR," and at that point, I had no clue as to why someone would write such random letters on the matter. I then chose to ignore this as it probably did not serve any meaning.

But, this is where the differences start. Upon starting the game up, the title screen was skipped entirely, along with the introduction. I reset the game to see if the same thing happened, and it did. Oh well, I guess the gameplay is more important. Afterward, I noticed that it didn't show their trainer class or name whenever I battled someone. It merely said, "You are challenged by," and nothing else. "Something is seriously wrong with this cartridge," I thought to myself, but at least the battles worked as they should.

One other thing was that whenever I tried to change my appearance, a text box appears reading, "There is no need to change how you look, you are fine." It would forcefully exit the accessory screen afterward. I never thought I would ever see that happen in my life, but I suppose battling is the most important part of Pokemon. After I made it to the first gym, I only had a Raboot, Vanillite, and a Magikarp. I was a tad bit under-leveled, but I still managed to defeat him. However, once it came back to the overworld, something very unexpected occurred.

I was at the place where the first Trial happened, from Sun and Moon. What the hell just happened? At first, I was battling Milo, and then I got transported here, an area in a completely different generation. This was a hack that teased me into thinking I was playing a standard copy of Sword, which was very interesting. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to continue where it was. I checked my Pokemon and bag and noticed things that are off with the team. My Raboot is absent, but I still have the rest of my Pokemon. In the bag, I noticed that I have the Normalium Z, meaning I have already beaten the first Trial. Despite that, I did not battle the Totem Pokemon, odd. I also had all my potions and Pokeballs from before. The glitched parts of the game were still intact, where the character's names and trainer classes did not show, and I was not allowed to change my appearance. I shrugged and continued playing, and I traversed to play as if I was playing Sun and Moon usually, I defeated Hala and got the Tauros ride. Sun and Moon was a pleasant experience, so I wasn't complaining.

I then arrived at Akala Island; everything was going normal. I then head to Brooklet hill, where I can do Lana's Trial. The Trial was how it always had run; I later battled the Totem Wishiwashi; after a few tries, I managed to win barely surviving. When Lana handed me the Waterium Z and was showing me how to use it, the unexpected thing happened again.

The game froze for a few seconds, and it took me to a black screen. I then appeared in Grant's gym, from X and Y. I couldn't believe it. I was having fun with the game, and now I had to get used to change again. This hack was very tricked out. I checked my bag to see that everything, except the key items I needed, was all gone. Well, that's just fantastic. This was getting ridiculous, and now I had to round up more things.

I caught a few Pokemon, including a Combee that I got lucky that it was female, which I was able to evolve into a Vespiquen. It happens to be my favorite Pokemon. I was getting used to playing the game until after I defeated Korrina. Once again, the game froze, and it took me back a generation. I was in Burgh's gym with Black and White's graphics. My Skiddo was gone, but the rest stayed. I then noticed that on rare occurrences, the trainers would say lines of Japanese out of nowhere. "Why is this hack getting so weird?" I thought to myself, seriously questioning if I should keep going. I decided to continue, and I caught a Sandile. It evolved into a Krokorok, and I went to challenge Elesa. I used my Vanillish and my Krokorok against her, which made it a breeze. But as I expected, after I defeated her, I was in Wake's gym from Diamond and Pearl.

After I left, not a single NPC mentioned Team Galactic, and characters speaking Japanese became more frequent. My full team, which had two useful gen 5 Pokemon, now only had two left, my Gyarados and Vespiquen. What I also noticed was that fewer NPCs appeared, which I found pretty unsettling. I then remembered the badge case and opened it. To my surprise, I only had Wake's gym badge and no other. That couldn't be possible, could it?

After I defeated Fantina, I got sent to Norman's gym, as I expected. My dear Vespiquen was gone from my party, which was a shame, as she was a powerhouse. Upon leaving the gym, I noticed that Wally's house was not where it should be, and instead, his house was replaced by a bunch of trees. It seems like the hack just kept becoming more and more barren the more I progress. I had enough money to afford a few Pokeballs, but I figured it wasn't worth it, as my Gyarados can probably lead me to the end. When I headed to Winona's gym, some of the trainers were static, and I couldn't interact with them. Upon defeating Winona, I was transferred straight to Jasmine's gym, in Gold and Silver.

When I tried to speak to Jasmine, she was static, just like trainers in Winona's gym. I once again checked my party to see that my Gyarados had forcibly been taught Surf, I wasn't sure why this happened, but I was able to Surf in Route 42. It seemed that the caves had been caved in, and I couldn't access them anymore. When I entered the tall grass, I saw a Pokemon that looked to be an Ariados but looking pretty different. It appeared to have more simple looking eyes, with its other face looking like a pumpkin. I could've sworn that Ariados looked nothing like this in the Pokemon Gold I knew and loved. Upon entering Pryce's gym, the place was altered to have a simple wooden floor, with Pryce in the middle, instead of the ice puzzle. When I battled Pryce, he had a Sneasel that also looked pretty different, looking more like a weasel as opposed to the cat-like appearance it had. I eventually defeated Pryce, but he didn't give me any Pokedollars, and he didn't say a word. I was now in Sabrina's gym from Pokemon Red and Green. Wait a minute, wasn't Sabrina the sixth leader and not the seventh? This was very off. I headed to Viridian City and noticed that wild Pokemon refused to appear. After I got there to challenge Giovanni, I saw that he was not there. He was replaced by a young kid who wasn't static. His dialogue was in Japanese, and I had to use an online translator. It appeared to translate to "What do you want? You already defeated me."

This couldn't be true. Why would Blaine become the 8th gym leader? I held my questions back and traveled straight to Cinnabar Island to challenge him, his gym was once again simplified just like Pryce's gym, with one single room, with no NPCs inside the room. After I challenged him to a battle, I couldn't believe my eyes. He had 5 Pokemon that didn't resemble any Pokemon that I knew of. One of them appeared to be a large fox, with fur that was blowing in the wind, and another was a bird creature without any legs. I then thought to myself, is this the last battle? After I defeat Blaine, there would be no other generations before this one. I thought for a while, but then commanded my level 80 Gyarados to beat all 5 of them; it was easy since all were fire types. But everything changed after I defeated him. I didn't recognize a single thing afterward. The graphics looked messy and rather terrible, but I could still tell what things were. There was what seemed to be the protagonist and an NPC that never appeared in Red and Green. The music now seemed to be unfinished, with high-pitched sounds becoming the more dominant note. After this, the game barely had any English text, and I had to wander through a region I had never seen before. From what I gathered from the translator, the region's name was "Toku," which translated to "Far away." And all the towns were named "Ichi Machi," meaning "City Town." It seems that this new region took little effort, but oddly memorable to me. The few NPCs that were left started repeating the same thing, saying, "Don't forget" in Japanese.

When walking in the tall grass, I encountered a Pokemon. As I expected, I knew it never existed in the games I know of, and the sprites looked terrible, but at least I could tell what they were based on. One was based on a scorpion from the looks of it, but I couldn't catch it because I didn't have money to get more Pokeballs. I could only use my Gyarados, who was thankfully still in my party. But one thing was off about him; he looked nothing like my Gyarados. It resembled a leech-like creature with sharp teeth and a circular mouth. It had no eyes and sported claws. Why did my trusty Gyarados suddenly become this monster? After going through a couple of routes and a few towns, I eventually found Victory Road. When I entered, I just appeared on the other side, implying that the cave wasn't implemented yet. I then headed into the plateau to see that it was an empty room, with only one trainer, which I presumed to be the champion. After I defeated his full party of Pokemon, the game froze, but this time, it stayed that way for a while. I sighed and tried to remember when I last saved, reaching for the reset button, but then suddenly, the game transported me to a long, narrow passage.

This was it; this had to be near the end of the game. I guided my character to go north, and I eventually saw a black block. As soon as I touched it, the game froze, and my Nintendo Switch showed "Capture Taken" at the corner of the screen. When I checked the album, all that was there was a black picture with a white Japanese text, which translated into:

"Nobody remembers us. Our creators threw us away like garbage, and they left us to rot. Our goal in life was to serve our purpose, but they tossed us away before that could happen. Now that you've seen us, please never forget. Never forget us."

I looked at the clock to see that I was playing the game for hours. How could I have lost track of time so easily? From that day forward, I couldn't get the images of those Pokemon out of my head. The Pokemon, who supposedly never existed.