Destiny Bond

It had started out just like any normal day for me, waking up and getting dressed for the day. It was the start of summer vacation, and for me that meant no school, and shutting myself in my room and playing Pokémon all day long. I had just completed the main storyline in White 2, so I was looking for one of my other Pokémon games to play. Just for the old, nostalgic experience. I went to search for my LeafGreen version, until I remembered that the save battery on it was dead, rendering me unable to play it anymore.

With that in mind, I settled on my SoulSilver version, seeing as I hadn’t played it in at least 4 years. Getting out my DS Lite, I almost broke the cartridge while booting the game up. The Game Freak logo showed up on-screen as expected, but when I got to the main title screen, I couldn’t help but notice that the theme songs’ pitch was...lowered, and somewhat distorted. Just barely noticeable, but still there.

I shrugged it off, pressing Start, while thinking nothing of it. It was a somewhat old game anyways, so as time went on there were bound to be some bugs. Totally normally stuff. As the game finished booting up, I found myself in….Lavender Town? Odd… The last I remembered, I had saved my game at the Pokémon League, because I wanted to level up my Pokémon and gain some EXP. Then again, it HAD been 4 years since I last played it, so maybe my memory was wrong.

I opened up my menu, and then went to my party, to see where I had last left off at. I had a Lvl. 30 female Banette, named “Destiny”, and...that was it. It had a Lonely nature, and its’ only known moves were Destiny Bond and Judgement. “Huh… I didn’t know Banette could learn Judgement...” I wondered aloud to myself. That was unusual. Normally, when I actively play a Pokémon game, I ALWAYS make sure to have at least 2-3 party Pokémon with me, just to be on the safe side.

I walked inside the Pokémon Center, booted up the PC, and then went to “Withdraw Pokémon”. Everything looked normal. I clicked on Concordia, my Lvl. 80 shiny female Gardevoir, and selected “Withdraw”. ''“Concordia is safer in here. You let Concordia be.”'' “What the heck?” I tried to withdraw Ivy, my Lvl. 79 female Meganium. ''“Ivy is safer in here. You let Ivy be.”'' Same thing with all my other Pokémon. Realizing that I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this, I logged off of the PC and exited the Pokémon Center.

I continued on to Rt. 10 to try and level up Destiny, and I cast out my Super Rod. “… … ! Landed a Pokémon!” “A wild ???????? appeared?!” I scrunched up my brows in confusion. How was this possible? I hadn’t been using any cheating devices, so how had I gotten a wild MissingNo? “The wild ???????? used Transform! The wild ???????? transformed into….you?” '“Go! Destiny!”' I sent out Destiny, still not entirely sure on what was going on at the moment.

''“Destiny used Judgement on Lydia! Lydia is being judged for her sins!!”'' Okay, what the actual hell?! Last time I checked, none of this is supposed to happen in any Pokémon game. Let alone any children’s game, for that matter. ''“Lydia used Atonement! Lydia is hit with recoil!” “Destiny used Judgement! It’s super-effective!” “Lydia used Pain-Split! It’s super-effective!” “Destiny used Destiny Bond! Destiny is trying to bring Lydia down with her!”''

We were both in the red HP line, with no access to any healing items. “Why…? Why did you leave me all alone?” “What are you talking ab--” '“YOU LEFT ME ALL ALONE!! ALL ALONE, FOR 4 YEARS!! I’VE BEEN WAITING 4 YEARS FOR YOU TO COME BACK TO ME!!! But you never came back… Not once, did you even consider that I, a mere string of pixels and code', might have feelings, too.”

''“Upon reading my PokéDex entry, you vowed that you would NEVER leave my side… But you did. You promised me that you’d never leave me alone, but you broke that promise!! And now, you’re going to pay for it. With your life.”'' At this point, I was straight-up terrified. This entire scene was incredibly disturbing, especially for a supposed “children’s game”. I could almost feel my sins crawling on my back.

''“4 years. For 4 years, I patiently waited for you to return. But you never did. You said that you would always be there for me, and that you give me the love that I desperately deserved. I TRUSTED you, and you just left me all alone, with nothing but a broken and hate-filled heart. So, now I’m going to make you feel the exact same heartbreak that I did.” “Destiny used Lethal Despair! Destiny is hit with recoil! Destiny died!”''

I could feel the agonizing pain of being abandoned, and left to fade away, my memory forgotten from existence. '' “Lydia is filled with sorrowful despair and heartbreak! Lydia went down with Destiny!”''