(NOTE: This is the second part of a three part trilogy, if you have not read Unchθsen, I highly suggest you do so.)
"Eli! Eli, wake up!", a voice called.
"Huh? W-what? Who are you?", I asked.
"There's not much time to explain! You must get rid of it!", the voice yelled.
"G-get rid of what?", I was confused.
"The curse! If you don't, it wil-", the voice faded.
"Huh? What curse?", I said, befuddled by whatever that 'thing' was.
"Eli! Eli, wake up!", a familiar voice spoke to me this time.
"D-dad? Is it really you?", I asked as my vision, slowly but surely, returned and a hazy view of a nurse and my father was seen.
"Dad!", I cried as I hugged him.
"Where am I?", I asked.
"You don't remember? You've been out sick for 3 weeks.", the nurse said.
3 weeks!?, I was shocked, W-what happened to me?.
"But that's not important now, son. What's important is that your here, with me.", my father smiled. I guess he was right. But I had different things on my mind, though. Mostly, my mind! My head ached and felt like mesh. Also, that dream I had earlier, at least, it felt like earlier. Everything now feels like a blur, I can't think straight, tell right from wrong. I understand if I don't make much sense to you, heck, I don't even make much sense to myself. But that dream...
'You must get rid of the curse!', he, she, it, told me, but it still stumped on what that had meant. Too vague, too quick, if only it had more time to explain.
"Well… are you ready to go?", my father asked.
"Go? Go where?", I asked.
"Go home, of course.", my father said. I nodded.
So, we went to the car and went home. At least, I think it's my home. Luckily, my dad helped me get around the house, that was nice of him. He left me in my room, where I plopped on to my bed and watched TV, just like after a long school day. But there was something on my back, so I picked it up from under my covers. It was a GameBoy Color. How'd that get there?, I thought. I don't recall buying or my parents buying one. Also in the cartridge slot, 'Pokémon Gold' . It was burnt at the bottom and the label was torn. Suspicious, I went downstairs to ask my dad.
"Hey dad, did you buy me this? I found it in my room.", I asked as I held out the GameBoy.
"Yeah, I got it from the crime scene from about three weeks ago, remember?", my dad reminded me.
"H-hu-what? A crime?", I asked, unnerved.
"I don't remember it too well… I just remember I got it there. Now, go to your room, I'm kind of busy.", he said, annoyed by me. So, I went to my room anxious to play, but also cautious as well. I saw commercials for the Pokémon games on my TV, even seeing some kids at my school showing off their Pokémon. Of course I was jealous of them, but now I had my own copy of Pokémon, and I flicked on the power button to start the game.
The game powered on, but when I got to the 'File Select' screen, there was already a save file on it. I selected 'Continue', and I was brought to the entrance of the Sprout Tower. I checked my Pokémon, there was only Chikorita in my party. Guess they couldn't catch any other Pokémon., I thought. I then checked the name of my character:
Eli
What a coincidence!, I said, amazed at the odds of that happening. Well, since I didn't have any Pokémon besides Chikorita, I decided to stock on Pokéballs. I quickly entered and exited the Poké-mart, rushing to actually start playing. I entered the tower and encountered my first Pokémon, Bellsprout. I sent out Chikorita to fight, being my only Pokémon. I looked at Chikorita's moves: Tackle, Growl, and Razor Leaf. I chose Razor Leaf, but something weird happened.
"Chikorita pretended not to notice!", it read.
I tried pressing buttons, yelling in the mic, but nothing would work. I cried, For once, I thought I'd get a chance to play, but instead I get this worthless piece of crap. I threw the GameBoy across the room out of anger.
"Ouch!", a voice cried.
"Huh? Who's saying that?", I asked.
"Down here.", the voice beckoned. I walked toward the voice to only find the GameBoy I had thrown earlier.
"Where are you?", I asked.
"Right here.", the voice said, clearly coming out of the GameBoy's speakers.
"Who are you?", I asked.
"Well, I'm… I am-", the voice said.
"Wait, are you that voice from my dream?", I said, remembering the warning, 'You must get rid of the curse!'.
"Huh? W-why yes, that's me.", the voice told me. My mind nearly exploded with questions.
Who are you?
What are you?
How did you get in my GameBoy?
Why me?
"W-what did you want?", I asked.
"H-well, what I want… That's not important, but first, I need you to get your father to buy something.", the voice said.
"So you want this?", my father asked me at the game store. I nodded.
We then drove home and I ran to my room.
"Oh, so you actually got the link cable.", the voice said. It then told me to trade with my friends.
"But I don't have any Pokémon to trade.", I sighed.
"Oh, right.", the voice said, and the the screen on the GameBoy cut to black, then popped back up to my PC. In the PC, the boxes were filled with Celebis.
"Woah! How'd you do that?", I asked, astonished.
"That's not important right now, what's important is that you have something to trade now.", the voice said.
So, I got ready for school the next day, with my GameBoy tucked snug in my backpack. This was actually my first day back to school after I got sick. Once I arrived, I was greeted by one of my friends.
"Hey! You're back!", he called.
"Yeah.", I said.
"Wanna see my Pokémon?", he said.
"About that…", I pulled out my GameBoy. "Wanna trade?".
"Sure!", he replied as we went to the table where all my friends were sitting.
"What do you got to trade?", he asked. I showed him my boxes full of Celebis.
"Woah! How'd you get those?", he yelped, piquing the interest of my other friends.
"Get what?", another friend asked. I showed him my boxes.
"Woah! Can you trade me one? Please?", my friends all pleaded.
So, I, slowly but surely, met their demands and traded each one of my friends, with a GameBoy of course, a Celebi. They thanked me and we each went our seperate ways. After the long school day, I went home to lie down and play my GameBoy.
"You traded?", the voice asked.
"Yes.", I said.
"Oh. Good, good…", the voice said, pleased.
"So does this mean I got rid of it?", I asked.
"What?", the voice asked.
"You know, the curse.", I said.
"W-well of course you did! Hero!", the voice cheered.
I felt good, after all, he did call me a hero. I then went to take a well deserved rest.
"Could we have another Celebi?", my friends asked the next school day.
"Why?", I asked.
"Well, we kinda traded ours, so could you…", my friends said.
"Ok.", I said.
"Thanks, Eli", they thanked.
And I traded each one of them a Celebi, again. This happened for the next six days. Six days!
Oh, it won't happen again, Eli!
This is the last time, promise!
No more after this!
Until that one fateful day.
"Hey, Eli…", a friend called.
"What? Do you need ANOTHER Celebi?", I asked, irritated.
"No. Look at what happened to my GameBoy!", he said. On his GameBoy, he had a screen of all his Pokémon. There was only Chikorita.
"It got rid of my game!", he complained.
"Well I didn't do it!", I replied.
"Oh really? Look at this!", he said, showing me his trainer card.
Eli, it said.
"I-I don't know, but I didn't mean to-", I stuttered.
"Hey, Eli!", another friend called.
"Oh-no, not all of you…", I said. Then, one by one, my friends, and then other students, came to complain to me about what had happened to their GameBoy. Calling me a hacker, saying they'll never trust me again, all horrible stuff. I was stunned, Did the voice steer me wrong?. I didn't feel like I had stopped a curse.
W-well of course you did! Hero!. Didn't seem like it knew about the curse.
Huh? W-why yes, that's me.. Didn't seem like it knew who I was talking about.
Then, I had a revelation.
That wasn't the voice.
That was the curse!
I had it all planned out. First, I would confront the device, then destroy it. Not a very intricate plan, but it would do.
"Brring!", the bell rang to get out of school, and the kids flooded out the door. It's time., I said to myself. I was nervous, What kind and amount of power could this thing possibly have?. Heart thumping, I got in my dad's car and we headed towards home. When we got home, I slowly walked up the stairs.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
"You okay, Eli?", my father asked.
"Y-yes, dad.", I forced the words out of my mouth.
Thump.
Thump.
"Well, you didn't walk up the stairs very fast. But if you say it's ok…", my father said.
Thump. The final stair, now I'm in my room. I saw the GameBoy lying on my bed, strangely feeling like it knew what I was going to do. Mocking me…, I thought. I slowly shuffled toward my bed to turn on the GameBoy.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Pcching!", 'The GameBoy' sounded.
"Did you trade today?", the voice asked, just like the last six days.
"Save it. I know what you did.", I said.
"You do?", the voice asked.
"You didn't make me trade Pokémon to stop a curse, you made me do it to start one. You set me up, traitor.", I said.
"Why, yes, yes I did. And what exactly are you going to do about it?", it taunted.
"This.", I said as I flipped over the GameBoy and pulled out a screwdriver to remove the batteries. Plunk! I took them out.
"Ha-ha! That won't work.", the voice cackled.
"W-what? How are you still alive?", I asked, scared out of my wit. Then it hit me. Water! I grabbed the GameBoy and took it to the bathroom.
"What are you doing?", the voice asked.
"Ending you.", I said as confidently as I could.
"Ha! This won't stop anything! You've already spread me through hundreds, maybe thousands of devices.", the voice replied.
I was confused, then I remembered trading.
"So you're in all of my friends' GameBoys?", I asked.
"Are you daft? Of course I did! Why'd you think I did that for?", the voice mocked.
It was right, ending one GameBoy would accomplish nothing, But still…I slowly started pushing the GameBoy into the sink.
"What are you doing?", the voice asked again.
I ignored it.
"Don't you remember? This won't change anything.", the voice said.
Don't let him get to you, Eli…
"Better than letting you live.", I replied, calmly.
"Ok, but remember this. Your ignorance will be your un-", the voice said as I plunged him into the water.
No! I wasn't going to listen to some stupid voice betray me and make a mockery out of it! DO YOU HEAR ME!!, I fumed. I pulled up the device from the sink. It said:
'GAME OVER, now the fun begins.'
I was shaking, my mind was about to explode. What was that thing, that monster, going to do?, I just sobbed at the mere thought of it. I needed to take my mind off it, so I decided to rest.
"Hey, why are you crying?", a voice asked.
"A-are you the voice from before? The one who warned about the curse?", I sniffled.
"Yes. But again, why are you crying?", the voice asked.
"The curse, I didn't stop it, I started it. I failed you.", I sobbed.
"You did not fail me.", the voice replied.
"But hundreds of lives are in danger! What are we going to do?", I asked.
"You'll know what to do.", the voice said, fading.
"Wait! Don't leave me! I need your help!", I cried out, but the voice was already gone. Then, an epiphany.
From: Nintendo of America
To: Eli, 4068 nth 8TH street
Eli-
Thank you for your suggestion on the upcoming Pokémon games, Ruby and Sapphire! Now there is:
- No compatibility between G/S/C
Thanks,
Nintendo
I grinned with glee. I did it..
"Good job, kid.", the voice said.
"Thanks, but one question.", I said.
"What?", the voice asked.
"What's your name?", I asked.
"Just call me… G.", the voice replied.
"Ok, G.", I said.
It was weird, I had defeated the curse, but I still had one lingering feeling. A feeling of… regret. I knew what it was.
My descent into the darkness has now begun.
Steel, The Mark of Insanity Date & Time Unknown (UTC)