PMD: Explorers Of Death
It was a fairly standard Friday evening at GameStop. I had somehow convinced my dad to buy me a video game, so with a regretful glance at his wallet and a sigh he lead me into the store. I ran from one game to the next indecisive over which one I should get. Most of the new games seemed tasteless and dull to me, so I went to check out some of the less recent games. Still none pleased me. That's when my eye caught the games that were on sale.
I ran over to the on sale bin and found ''Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of The Sky'' sitting atop all of the others. I gasped, I had been wanting this game for so long! Light reflected off the cover and it shone like a bright blazing star. It seemed to be calling out to me, like it wanted me to buy it oh so badly. And I did. Eagerly, I picked up the game and ran over towards my dad asking if he could buy it for me. Seeing that it was half off, he happily agreed.
Both of us now content, we bought the game and drove home. The whole way back I couldn't stop staring at the game case. I wanted to play it so much! I had never owned a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game before, but I had wanted one for so long. Now I finally had it in my grasp! I had read every word of the instruction manual at least 3 times by the time we pulled into our drive way. I hurredly jumped out of the car and ran into my room.
In no time at all, I found my DS and popped the game card in. I impatiently waited for the DS to load. Once the opening sequence started I let out a fangirl squeel. It was much more amazing than I had thought it would be, and I hadn't even started playing the game yet! Once the title screen was loaded I took a moment to stare and admire the beauty of the art. I dreamed that one day I would be talented enough to create such a marvelous pixel masterpiece. After I was finished cooing over the artwork I started the game. I gasped when I saw even more luxurious artwork displayed. After savoring every little detail I clicked "New adventure"; the only option available.
It took me to the personality quiz that decided which Pokemon you would be, which I was expecting. It asked me for my gender. I chose female, since I was a girl after all. I wanted a Vulpix; I was a Vulpix freak just like many other Pokemon fangirls, and I would not accept any other starter. The first time around I answered the questions honestly believeing that I had the personality of a Vulpix. The results came in...
I was a Squirtle.
"Yuck! How could I possibly be a Squirtle?!" Without hesitation I reset my DS. I Skipped through the intro; this time not stopping to admire the art. I went straight back to the personality quiz. "Ok, I'll just do this again and I'll be sure to get a Vulpix." I answered the questions truthfully again, believing the first time there was some sort of mistake. The results rolled in again.
I was a Squirtle.
"Again?!" I furiously reset my DS yet again. Quickly skipping through everything again I went back to the quiz. "I'll just answer everything at random!! Let's see if I get a Squirtle then!!" I answered all the questions without even looking at them. This time I didn't really care if I didn't get Vulpix, I just wanted something else besides Squirtle. The results came in for the third time.
Squirtle.
"GAAAH!" I shut my DS off and pouted. I wasn't going to play through my dream game as a blue turtle. I wanted to be a majestic flaming fox. That's when it hit me. "Oh yeah! God I'm such an idiot!!" I ran into my computer room and opened up the internet. I clicked on the adress bar and typed in man's best virtual friend. "Google.com"
"How... to... get... Vulpix... in... Pokemon... Mystery... Dungeon... Explorers... Of... The... Sky... enter!" I said the words aloud as I typed them into the search engine. I sighed with relief as I saw the answer to my problem sitting right before my eyes. I clicked on the first search result like I always do. "Ok, answer the questions with these answers and you'll get Vulpix as your starter... alright!" I went back to get my Nintendo DS from my room and brought it into the computer room.
"Honey, me and your father are going into town for awhile, will you be all right by yourself for a few hours?" My mother called to me from the kitchen. "I'll be fine!" I shouted back. "Ok, we'll see you in a little while." I heard a door shut as my parents left. I didn't care if a meteor was crashing into the Earth, all I was focused on at the moment was Vulpix.
I merrily answered the questions according to what the internet said, excited that I would finally get to play a game as one of my favorite Pokemon! "If this game let's me get a Haunter as one of my team members then I'll be set~" I mumbled to myself as I answered the questions. For the fourth time the results came in.
"Yes! YES!!" I shouted vicoriously as the Vulpix icon appeared. "Hehe, fourth times the charm~" I said to myself as I walked back to my bed room. The game led to to the next screen where I got to choose my partner. I chose a male Shinx, for I thought the idea of a Vulpix X Shinx couple was just too adorable to pass up. I proceeded to name him Shadow, in honor of Shadow the Luxray, my main Pokemon in my Pokemon Diamond. From this point on I didn't know what to expect, I had made sure not to read any spoilers on the storyline. I wanted to be surprised at what would happen to me in the game.
And I sure as hell was.
Atfer I had selected and named my partner, static formed on the screen for a split second, but it was over as soon as it started. I didn't really notice or pay any attention to the strange incident, I just wanted the game to start already. After taking a brief moment to load, the game started up.
My Vulpix was lying on a beach at sunset, nothing unusual there, but something else made me catch my breath. My Vulpix looked as if it was beat up and dying. Bruises and scrathes covered the poor sprite as it lay in a pool of blood. "W-what?! Why is there blood in a Pokemon game?!" I whispered to myself. There was never blood in any Pokemon games! Then instead of worrying and getting suspicous like I should have, I got a little excited. Maybe Nintendo has finally decided to take Pokemon to the next level!
A Shinx started to walk by my Vulpix, which I assumed was Shadow, but there was something strange about his sprite. Instead of blue and black he was white and dark grey. "Ooohhh our partners get to be a special color!!" Oblivous to the obvious warnings that something was up with this game, I started to giggle. This game was so much more exciting than I thought!
When Shadow noticed my Vulpix his sprite appeared shocked and ran over towards mine. A text box for him appeared, "Oh no, oh no no no..." He quickly walked up to my Vulpix and dragged her away as the screen faded to black. When the screen came up again my Vulpix was alone in a dark cave with a fire in front of her. She stood up and stretched, then appeared to wince in pain and fell down, shivering.
Shadow then came back in, a berry in his mouth, and dropped it once he saw my Vulpix was awake. He ran over towards my Vulpix and a text box appeared, "Please lay down and don't move, don't make any noise at all, be as still and quiet as you can or you and me will both regret it." My character stopped shivering. "Good, now don't you
''dare'' move a ''muscle.''
" I shivered at how dare and muscle were in bold and italic text, my partner seemed mean. He then walked back over to the berry, picked it up, and brought it back to my Vulpix. "Chew this ''slowly'' and make as little noise or movement as possible."
My Vulpix began to slowly eat the berry. After a few seconds she had finished. "Good job. Now, quietly whisper your name to me. Oh, please don't be who I just know you are, please please please by some miracle be someone else..." I found it odd how my partner's tone changed mid speech, but I didn't really care. I found it amusing he had a split personality.
A screen came up where I could select letters to type in my name. "M... y... r... a~" I proudly said the letters aloud as I typed in the name Myra. I felt proud of myself, I had come up with that name myself which I had most likely heard from somewhere else before. But I didn't care. I pressed enter and the screen faded to black. I expected the screen to open back up to the cave, but instead more static showed up. This time it stayed there for about 2 seconds and seemed to force me to take notice of it this time. I wondered if my DS was starting to screw up, I did have it for many years and used it almost every day, but the static faded away and I moved the thought to the back of my mind.
Once the static was gone the game was back in the cave with Myra and Shadow. My Vulpix looked up at Shadow and slowly whispered her name to him. Shadow appeared extremely shocked and jumped backwards. "M-Myra?!" He then regained control of himself and walked back up towards Myra. "Y-yes, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up so high..." It seemed that his icon that appeared next to his text box had a tear on it. He stood there for a moment staring at Myra.
My Vulpix opened her mouth as if she were about to talk but Shadow slammed his paw down hard on her muzzle. "I ''told'' you not to ''dare talk.''" Myra started shivering and appeared that she would cry, when Shadow apologized. "I-I'm sorry, stop ''moving'', please stop, she'll hear you, I said ''STOP.''
" He started to charge up an electric attack and Myra immediately became still as a stone.
After a moment to see if Myra would move again, Shadow stopped his attack sat down. His sprite seemed on the verge of crying. "P-Please, d-don't move, don't talk, don't speak, don't do anything, please, help me..." Then Shadow stood up and started walking out of the room. "I swear to Arceus you ''better not move''
while I think of something, something, hopeless..." My partner went off the screen and left my character all alone.
I dared not click on any buttons afraid that I would accidentaly make Myra move, I was scared that something really bad would happen. Shadow seemed pretty serious about me not doing anything. It became quite dull once nothing occured after a minute or two, so I assumed that I was supposed to do something other than just lay there. "But how can I do anything wuthout moving?" I then figured that if I presed the start button it wouldn't make my character move, so I did so.
The first option I clicked on was items because I wanted to see if my Vulpix came with anything. She had one item. Chains. I clicked on the info. "These chains were found wrapped around your neck. You don't remember how you got them but you can't take them off." It didn't do anything of great importance, so I clicked back and looked through all the other start options but found nothing else of interest.
Shadow immediately came back, but he walked slow, like each step was giving him pain. Eventually he stopped right in front of Myra. Tears were falling down his sprite's face. "Stay still, close your eyes, don't move. I-I'm sorry, I don't want to do this but, it will all be over with soon..." He started to charge up an attack that looked deadly. Lightning sparked from his paws and lit up the whole room. Myra appeared shocked. "Don't move! D-Don't please, I promise, it will only hurt for a second..." The lightning grew brighter and Shadow started to slowly step towards my Vulpix.
Myra stood up. "I said don't ''move.'' P-p-please, don't do it! Stop!" With a great leap Myra jumped over the fire and raced off the screen. "You ''fool!''
Myra! Come back!!" Shadow chased off after my Vulpix. Once he ran off the screen everything faded to black, and the static came back again, but a little longer than last time. I couldn've swore I saw a very morbid looking Squirtle flash for a brief second in the static, but I just thought my imagination was getting the better of me.
"Finally! Things are gonna start getting good!" Once the screen came back Myra was in the middle of a dungeon. I was finally gonna get to start this game! Something seemed odd about the cave though. It was a dark, crimson red with chains and other torture equipment lined up against the walls. Skulls littered the floor. I felt a little uneasy now, I didn't really think this kind of stuff was really fit for a Pokemon game, but I kept playing anyways.
After walking for a couple of steps I found a Pokemon. It was a white and grey Ratata that limped with each step. It seemed as if it was in pain and looked shocked once it spotted me. It then became startingly scary and started walking towards Myra, as if it had only one intention and would do anything to achieve it. Kill. Being one of the most common and annoying Pokemon in the series though, I figured I would take it out in one hit. When it reached me though, it proved to be a challenging foe. It didn't deal much damage on me, but it took 5 whole turns to kill it off. Even though I hadn't played Mystery Dungeon before, I knew that I was dead if I ran out of PP for my moves as I had no way of restoring it.
Thankfully, there weren't many other Pokemon. But as I went through each floor the scenes got more and more disturbing. Soon Pokemon body parts started appearing on the torture equipment, the skulls appeared to have bits of flesh still clinging on to them, blood stains became frequent on the floors and walls. Each Pokemon I ran into was stronger than the last and more intent on killing me. After what seemed an eternity I made it to the final floor, but not before the static appeared again. It was longer than the last, about 7 seconds, and I swear I saw a morbid Squirtle smiling at me again, except this time it was much more clear and vivid. "I-I must just be imagining things..." I was beginning to became very unsetteled, but I kept pushing onwards. I loved scary things like this, but there was still something more to the whole situation that gave me this odd feeling...
Myra was in the middle of a large, crimson red room. Many skulls were strewn all across the floor, but that was it. "You ''idiot''! Myra, I finally found you!!" Shadow came running up from behind Myra. She quickly turned around and came face to face with her partner, who had ceased charging his attack, but quickly started again. "You can't escape now, stay still, ''thank me.''
Please, this will hurt a lot less than what she will do! N-Now stay still and die!!"
I couldn't control Myra, and even if I could it would have been no use. There was no where left to run. "What kind of game is this?! My ''partner'' is gonna freaking kill me!!" At this point I was just utterly irritated. Shadow's lightning attack kept glowing brighter and brighter until the light hurt to look at. "This will hurt but only for a moment, now please, hold still whilewhiwhilwhwil-" The screen started to get static again, but I could still see Myra and Shadow. "Too late..." I could hardly see Shadow stop his attack as the screen became less visible by the second. Eventually it was all just static.
And then in the middle of all the static came that Squirtle again, but only more horrifying now that I could see it clearly and for more than just a brief second. It's flesh was ripped off at parts exposing internal organs and bones, blood flowed out of the numerous gashes all along it's body. It's shell was cracked open, a vile, bubbling, green goo pouring out. It's tail was very long and torn just like the rest of it's body, it's tail curled around a dagger at the end. But that's not even the worst.
It's eye sockets were much too large, the eyes themselves were shrunken but still held a heart pericing gaze. They were red and seemed to stare into your very soul. The top of it's head was cracked open exposing it's still pulsing brain, even more blood gushing out of that. It had razor sharp teeth, it's grin stretching off the edge of it's face.
"You can't escape who you truly aaarrreee" A high pitched, screeching voice emmited from the DS. I couldn't think straight, I wanted to turn away from the morbidly horrific image but my eyes were forced to keep staring. "I. Am. You." The creature said in a more soothing but still blood chilling voice. Then the screen cut to black.
I hadn't realised I'd been holding my breath the whole time, so I let it out and started heavily breathing. Sweat was pouring down my face. I wiped it off with my shirt sleeve. My thoughts were still messed up after seeing such a disturbing scene. "I'm not done yet." The heart stopping voice returned as the screen suddenly came back.
Myra was in the middle of a dark grey cave filled with surprisingly realistic Pokemon corpses scattered everywhere and more bones. Everything was white, black, and grey except for Myra and blood scattered all around the room. I thought this Squirtle was going a bit overboard with all these dead Pokemon everywhere, but then I realised, "I don't have to deal with this crap!!" I quickly pressed the button to turn my DS off, but it wouldn't work. "I'm not finished with you yet~" The screeching voice that sounded like someone scraping a chalk board came back. I tried to turn my volume down but it wouldn't work either. "Your going to listen to me like it ornot.
" The way the Squirtle said "not" made my blood turn to ice. It sounded like a demon was speaking to me. I wouldn't be surprised if one was.
I had no choice but to keep playing the game. I had only walked one step when one of the "dead" Pokemon started shaking, and then stood up. It looked like a zombie Marill, and it took a step towards Myra. Soon another corpse rose, a Poochyena. Soon all the bodies were regaining life an swarming around my poor Vulpix. Thankfully they went down in just one hit, but it was hard to fend off so many of them.
Just as I was about to run out of PP for all of my moves the last zombie fell. I quickly got Myra out of that floor before they were able to get up again. Instead of going to the next floor, Myra stepped out onto what looked like ancient ruins. Everything was still in white, grey, and black though. I walked around trying to find something that could heal me but to no avail. Then the dread static returned. I braced myself to encounter the horrid Squirtle again but it never appeared. Instead, the static would appear and dissapear. In the breif moments where I could see the screen normally, Shadow had come back. He appeared beat up and worn down, blood streaks were left where he had walked.
"Myra, I-" He actually was talking through the speakers and didn't need to use a text box, but static was cutting him off. "for your own goo-" Static. "must kill you. It's better th-" Static again. "quick and easy dea-" Static. "ve you, I'm sorry." Through the static I could see him charge up that attack again, this time it looked more powerfull than it had before. He then leaped at Myra and struck her.
I reeled back in pain screaming as he hit Myra. It not only affected my Vulpix, but I felt the pain myself too. I fell off the side of my bed screeching at the top of my lungs, I could feel electricity scorching through my veins. Why did I have to play this game when my parents were not at home? The pain was unbearable, but it was over in a few seconds. I gasped and clutched my chest struggling to breath. My body ached all over, but I reached for my DS. I needed to see what happened next.
The static was gone, but I wished it had still been there so I wouldn't have had to see the scene that layed before my eyes. Shadow was sliced neatly in half, a bleeding mass lying on the floor of the ruins. Myra was charred black. She gasped and ran over towards him. He looked up towards her. "I-I'm s-sorry Myr-ra, I-I fail-led..." His voice still spoke through the speakers. He gasped in pain, and then laid his head down, unmoving. Tears started flowing down my cheeks. Even though he had tried to kill me, I knew it was to save me from suffering from that cursed Squirtle. I took a moment to grieve for my lost friend. Now I awaited for my fate.
A low laughter started to emmit from the speakers, so low it was almost unaudible. It slowly started to get louder, and louder, and louder, until it was so loud my ears were aching. Then it stopped abruptly. Something flashed by Myra at lightning speed, wounding her. I fell backwards as I felt the blow too. Then is flahed by again, wounding her, wounding me. This repeated several times until I felt as if I was about to really die. Myra layed on the floor or the ruins, shivering.
"Time to finish this." Lightning struck Myra and kept flowing, but I didn't notice, I was face down rolling on the floor in pain. "This is only the start." A voice chimed in. "Only worse will come." Another joined. "Once your dead you'll be mine." As each new voice came in I felt more and more pain. "Once your rotting in my hell you'll wish you could die." The pain was reaching such an extreme that I was starting to lose consiousness, but just not enough for me to faint. "Almost there, just-"
A loud static noise cut off the voice, and the torment. I rolled over, tears streaming down my face onto the carpet. After taking a minute to regain control of myself, I reached for my DS. It looked like a cut scene was playing. The morbid Squirtle was laying on it's back, chains wrapped around it's neck. "N-no... NO!!" A very high pitched screech of a protest emmited from the Squirtle, and then it slowly started to turn into acid. What little was left of it's flesh was melted into the green bubbling goo, it's bones and organs along with it. It's soul peircing eyes were the last to dissolve, giving me one last glare.
The screen turned to the top half of Shadow's body. He was struggling to stay alive, the life was slowly being drained away from him. Myra ran over and nuzzled his head, tears falling down her face, and mine too. "I-I g-guess I d-d-did sav-ve you after-r all..." He reached up to lick Myra's face, but it took too much strength, and he fell down and collapsed onto the ground. He didn't stir again. "G-good bye, Shadow..." I whispered to myself. "G-good bye, Shadow..." Myra repeated. The weariness from all the pain finally took it's toll, and everything went to black.
***
When I woke up I was lying in bed. I got up and stretched but quickly stopped as the pain returned. Then the memories came back. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Squirtle, Shadow, nearly dying- "My DS!!" Despite the pain still great I leaped out of bed and searched for my DS. I found it lying on my desk, turned off. I turned it on and saw Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of The Sky was still in there. Without thinking I selected it.
Everything went as normal, but my save file was gone. Knowing I could be risking my life again, I clicked on new game. It skipped the personality quiz and showed my Vulpix laying on a beach at sunset, not bleeding this time. Shadow walked by but he was his normal colors. The game then proceeded as it normally should. After playing it for a few minutes to see if anything strange would occur and finding nothing, I saved the game and sighed in relief. That Squirtle was finally gone, and I wouldn't have to get a new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game!
I got up and started to walk around the house, seeing if my parents were back from their trip in town yet. After searching through every room and finding nothing, I started to worry. It was late at night and they should've been back by now. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a brownie as a late night snack. While munching on it I decided I would just go back to bed and they would be back in the morning.
I slowly started to realise it was getting harder and harder for me to breath. Soon I was choking and was struggling to get a breath of air. I went to the sink and quickly turned the water on. I grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and gulped it down hurridly. It did nothing to ease the choking. I then realised my neck was itchy too, and it was kinda hard to walk.
I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My neck was wrapped in blood stained chains. My eyes widened with horror. I pulled and tugged at the chains to try and tear them off but it was no use. I ran out of the bathroom and tried to get out of the house, maybe someone could help me! But all the doors were locked. I tried to open all the windows but they were all bolted shut. I then backed up and ran into the glass at full speed, but it bounced me back like I was nothing.
I laid on the floor, moaning in pain.I felt something drip onto my clothes. I looked up, knowing what I was to face. In the dim moonlight floating in through the window I could just make out my worst nightmare standing right on top of me. "You should have just accepted who you are." It's sick grin widened, and lightning struck.