One day, I was bored and decided to look for an online emulator for Pokemon Emerald; my favorite Pokemon game.
I found a site after a few minutes of searching. I had to download it as a .zip file. I usually don't like downloading things, but the site looked pretty legit so I did it anyways.
I used WinRAR to unzip the file and saw it had 3 separate folders. The first was labeled "Game", the second was labeled "Read Me", and the last was labeled "Images".
I first decided to boot up the game by double clicking the "Game folder". It brought me to a long list of files, but I eventually found the one that would boot up the game and opened it.
While I was waiting for it to load, I decided to check out the "Read Me" folder. Opening it, I was met with a single .txt file named "666.txt". Pretty strange name, but I brushed it off and opened the file.
I was met with a long page of gibberish and symbols. I was confused, but kept it open just in case.
I checked back on the game window that was now open. It didn't even go through the staring animation, it was just the start screen. Rayquaza had red eyes and the yellow patterns on his back were blood red and seemingly dripping like wounds.
I sighed, realizing this was probably some hack. I went to close it out, but the close button wouldn't work. I clicked on it a few more times, but it still wouldn't allow me to close the window.
I eventually gave up and pressed start. It went to the usual thing with Professor Birch, but his sprite looked much more sad and depressed, and he seemed thinner.
"Hello! Welcome to the world of Pokemon! My name is Birch, but people call me the Pokemon Professor!" The text went by slower than I had remembered it, but I brushed that off as well. He held up a Pokeball, and a cute little Azurill popped out. It's cry, however, was the modified version when the Pokemon is below half health or fainted. The Azurill wasn't smiling either. Instead, its sprite look sad and depressed, much like Birch's.
"This is what we call a Pokemon," The text across the bottom screen continued. There was a pause.
"We used to be happy."
My eyes widened in surprise at the sudden statement. But, just as fast as it was on screen, it was gone. The screen jumped to the character selection screen and automatically chose the character to be a boy. I thought this a bit weird, but what happened next was even stranger.
The name slot already had a name in it, "Matt". That was my name.
I began to feel a bit uneasy at this point, but continued on with the game. It loaded not in Littleroot Town, but on top of Mount Pyre where the orbs usually were.
The old people guarding it lay dead on the ground, and the orbs were missing. In their place was Rayquaza, still with red eyes and red symbols.
"Hello."
The text ran across the screen, colored green. The name above clarified that it was Rayquaza who was speaking to me.
"Do you know why this happened?"
The option came up to respond with either "Yes" or "No". I selected no.
"You did this Matt," Rayquaza said, and his sprite moved closer to mine. In turn, my sprite took a step back into the fog.
"We used to be happy, Matt," Rayquaza said, moving even closer still. "After you caught Groudon and Kyogre, the planet fell into disarray. This is all your doing, Matt."
I found myself shaking. What the hell was this game?
"This is what happens behind the scenes of the Pokemon games, Matt. This is what they choose not to show you."
Rayquaza's sprite took one last step forwards, and mine took one lat step back. The fog cleared, revelaing the stairs leading up to this point had disappeared, being replaced with a cliff.
"Goodbye, Matt."
My character fell, and the screen faded to black. I was extremely shaken at this point, ready to turn off my computer. But then, the screen came back.
The background was black, and blood spatters were all around. My character stood alone. Suddenly, the mom sprite walked over, slow. She seemed mutated and bloodied now.
"Check... The... Text..." Her dialog said, and the game window automatically closed.
Before I could o anything, the 666.txt went full screen.
I was confused, shaken, and more or less afraid. Not knowing what to do with all this gibberish, I converted the .txt file to an image, and what I saw made my stomach turn.
It was me, laying mutilated in the street just outside my house. A figure stood over me, evident by the shadow that loomed over my body. I closed out of it, and deleted the .zip file.
A part of me still wonders what lay in the "Images" folder, but after seeing the image of the dead me, I think it's best I didn't venture further.
Today, thought, there's a man standing outside my house on the street. He beckons for me to come over, wearing a green hoodie with red, Rayquaza-like symbols on it. I can't see his face, and something tells me I should be glad for that.
Though, his beckoning finger... I want to go towards him. He has something to tell me.