I haven’t slept in months. Every time I close my eyes, I see him. I see the children, following him wherever he goes. I fear that if I go to sleep, I will be another one of his victims. I hear his song, all day every day, on an infinite loop. You will never understand my misery, until you play the game, until you hear the story, until you fall under his spell.
A few months ago, I was a happy 21-year-old female that was obsessed with Pokemon. I would play it whenever I could. I could play it for a week straight. That is, until the email came. I was checking my email, scrolling through the past Gmail chats I had with my friends. A “ding” sound came out of my computer. I had a new message. I clicked it, and it was from an unknown user. They had sent me a download link. I was a little scared to click it, but I was curious. When it was done, I found out it was ROM version of Pokemon Red.
“Cool,” I said. I started up the game, and it looked normal. I smiled, excited to play. When I got the text after starting the game, I became confused. It was out-of-place for a Pokemon game. It read, “Some Pokemon don’t want to be cared for. Instead, they want to hurt, or even kill humans or their own trainers. They have learned from watching humans everyday activities. Some rob, some kill, and some stay in the shadows, waiting for their next victims. The most recent example is on Three Island. Children have been going missing every day, and everyone is in distress. You are going to investigate.”
After I created my character and chose my starter, I started my mission. I talked to a couple of townspeople, and what I learned was disturbing. The Pokemon Hypno, was luring children into Berry forest, and kidnapping them. They said Hypno lures them in with his voice, uses his pendulum device to hypnotize them, and then takes them into his cave where he takes over their dreams. I was in shock.
“Could I be playing a hack or something? This can’t be an actual game made by Nintendo,” I said. I walked around until I found Berry forest. I slowly walked through the trees, keeping an eye on everything I saw. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at my computer screen. Suddenly, I found a young girl standing by some bushes.
She proceed to say, “I have found another victim, Master Hypno.” Then I got caught in a battle against Hypno. My Pikachu fought hard, but it lost. The battle ended with a message saying, “Hypno put you to sleep.” After two terrifying minutes of a black screen with creepy music playing, I woke up. I was in a place that resembled Lavender Town. I couldn’t go in any of the shops, I couldn’t talk to any of the people, I couldn’t do anything. I saw Hypno standing outside of Pokemon tower, so I went inside. I was greeted by a girl that healed my Pokemon, and she said everyone inside was hypnotized expect for her. I walked around, and saw dozens of children, just standing there. I tried talking to them, but all they said was, “…”.
I was super freaked out, to the point I started crying. I prayed that this was just a nightmare, even know I knew it wasn’t. I reached the Soul Chamber, where I saw dead children staring at tombstones, saying that I killed them. I finally reached the last room, where I found Hypno.
“Why are you doing this to me!?” I shouted at my screen. I felt stupid, realizing that I was yelling at some pixels. Until he responded.
“Because, I needed to claim one more victim, then I could be set free.”
“From what?” I asked.
“From this horrible place, from this never-ending nightmare. If I killed enough children, I could live in a better place. Where the sun shines, where the flowers grow where no one judges you for how you act. So, I sent you the link to the game, and of course you played it. So now, there is no escape.”
“I could just delete the game,” I said.
“No, after you play the game to its entirety, you will be stuck under my spell, haunted by my song for the rest of your days. You can never escape, only death will set you free,” Hypno laughed like a madman, then the song played, over and over. I haven’t been the same since. Don’t fall for his tricks like I did, because if you do, you can never escape.