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Pokémon has always been a great pastime for me. I played Pokémon Red Version. I made short work of Silver Version. Out of all of them, Emerald was my favorite. There was a great plot, cool Pokémon, and the antagonists were pretty cool, too. Well, I must have lost my copy at school or something, because I could never find it. One day, sheer boredom gave me a yearning to relive childhood memories; I ordered a copy of Emerald online.

When it finally arrived, I slid it into my old Gameboy Advance. It was covered in scratches and dents from all the years of abuse, but I didn’t mind. Nostalgia is a great feeling. I picked ‘new game’, seeing as that was the only option, and began the game. It skipped past the part where I gave my name and gender, and I was worried. I’d heard about hacked copies of games, and had actually read a few stories on them. I was about to turn the game off, but a text box appeared on the screen

Jake: Wake up, Oz!

The screen showed the normal protagonist’s room in Littleroot Town, with a trainer sprite was in bed. I pressed right on the D-Pad to move my character. He moved out of bed. The character was different from the one in Emerald. He had no headband, and wore red clothing. His hair was slightly spiky, but looked mature in a way. I knew it was pointless, but I checked the PC on the desk. It was filled with useless information about how to save the game. After that, there really was nothing else to do, so I went downstairs. I was greeted by a character sprite that didn’t look very different my own. The only visible difference was the clothing and hair (this doesn’t say much, though. They are pixelated sprites). Naturally, I assumed they were brothers.

Jake: C’mon! We need to go!

Oz: I know, I know. Do you have to be so loud?

I almost laughed. This part truly amazed me. The character in Pokémon never speaks! Whoever hacked this was a genius! The two characters walked outside into a town I faintly recognized as Littleroot. It was a bit bigger than it was in the real game, with a few more houses. You could hardly call it a town anymore; Littleroot was now a city. The over world seemed more joyous than the original, and the NPCs more congenial. I walked around Littleroot for a while and talked to some people that were walking around the city. I found myself amazed at the greetings from the NPCs. They all had programmed dialogue, and talking to them didn’t give me some stupid tutorial about how to store Pokémon in a PC. It was like my character, Oz, was actually friends with these characters. He had obvious relations with these people, who all seemed to enjoy him and know him. And why wouldn’t he? Oz grew up in this town with all the others. His whole life had been spent in this town. It made for a believable plot, and I loved it!

??? : Over here, Oz!

The text box appeared as I was walking out of the town. May’s sprite walked over to me, and the two stood there for a while.

May: Have a nice journey. I know you can do it. -Kiss-

I was taken a bit by surprise. My character was in a relationship? Unlike the original Emerald Version, my character was actually somebody. A person who was known in his community, and had legitimate conversations; he wasn’t some cliché, cookie-cutter protagonist that any “hero” could be. Even the conversations with NPCs were entertaining! The story had a charm to it that Nintendo should be putting into their Pokémon games. I didn’t think for a second about putting this hacked game down.

There wasn’t much to do, so I checked my trainer card. The picture of my character was incredibly HD. He had green eyes, and a mischievous smile. His hair fell around his head like it knew exactly where to be. I exited the menu and walked out of the town. Jake (and after talking to NPCs, I found out he was indeed Oz’s brother) was waiting for me.

Jake: Here: I walked to the Pokémon Center and had Fate all fixed up.

Oz received Fate!

Oz responded thankfully, and the two walked to Oldale Town. The two of them bantered for a while over who would be the best Trainer. It was enchanting how the two of them actually had conversations together and even more so when I realized how realistic their relationship was. The dialogue eventually dragged me into a battle. It turns out that Fate was actually a Lvl. 5 Chimeco, a Pokémon I had been planning to catch anyway. Jake sent out a Lvl. 5 Treecko. I followed the standard sequence of Tackle, Scratch, Tackle, Scratch, until I won purely because I had the first move. After battle monologue rolled off the screen and Jake laughed and said his goodbyes.

From here on out, I played the game as normal. The gym leaders were friendlier, and had some pretty interesting things to say to Oz. I got the PokeNav, which seemed to be upgraded from the one in the original Emerald Version. But what I really found amazing was that my character became pretty well known. As my adventure continued, rumors spread about a trainer’s rise to the Pokémon League. I heard a little bit about Jake, too. He was on about the same level as I was. It was actually quite fun battling with Fate, but when I got to Petalburg Woods, there wasn’t a Team Aqua grunt there like normal. I remembered that the game was hacked, and just continued anyway.

As I progressed, I realized that there was neither Team Aqua nor Team Magma. The plot had different developments, such as Oz needing to help a town from being terrorized by a Gyrados, but there was no consistent antagonist that I had grown used to. I made my way around a few more gyms and got to Mt. Pyre. I was looking forward to catching a Vulpix, one of my favorite Pokémon. Instead of proceeding to the outside, the sprite of an old man stopped me.

Old Man: …. You aren’t allowed here, boy! Mind your own affairs!

My character didn’t reply like he did with the other NPCs, but I decided to ignore it. I promptly exited the mountain. There wasn’t anything else to do, as Team Aqua and Magma didn’t exist in this hacked game. By now, Fate was a solid Lvl. 55 Pokémon. The rest of my team consisted of a Sableye, Gardevoir, and Mawile. All of them were about Lvl. 50, even though I only used them when I was in a tight spot. I loved all of them, though. I tended to get attached to my Pokémon. It’s a habit I still have. The story progressed beautifully, though, with Oz becoming more and more popular in the Hoenn region. After getting to Mosdeep, I was stopped by a familiar sprite. It was Jake, who now looked a bit different. He looked older and more mature, and when I looked at Oz’s sprite, I noticed the same thing. I couldn’t tell before, but Oz had grown. Well, following an argument over who had the better Pokémon, a battle took place. His team was actually pretty good; much better than the last time I faced him in Oldale Town. His Treecko had become a Sceptile, and he added a few Pokémon like Sandslash, Absol, and Torkoal. I beat him almost easily, with only my Gardevoir having fainted. After the battle scene, Jake and Oz talked for a while and caught up. It was nice to see the two brothers get along, even if it as a video game. In a few minutes, Jake walked away.

The remaining gym leaders weren’t that challenging. I got the badges pretty quickly and, after training my Pokémon, decided it was time for the Elite Four. It was a breeze. I never had to use anything but Fate. When I entered the Champion’s room, I nearly laughed when I saw the champion. It was the player/character from the real Emerald! Everything suddenly came into place. I chuckled when I thought about how I hadn’t seen this before. There was no Team Magma or Aqua because this game took place after the events of Pokémon Emerald Version. Suddenly, a text box appeared on screen, reminding me of the beginning of the game.

Champion: Two challengers in one day? I think this is a record!

The battle began, and I sent out Fate. “That’s odd,” I said to myself, “I had Gardevoir in the front of my team…” I didn’t bother putting much thought into how this happened, and waited for the Champion to send out his Pokémon, which was a Swampert. I made short work of it, using Psychic twice. The same thing happened with the rest of his Pokémon, so I decided to send out Mawile to beat his last Pokémon for fun.

You can’t change your Fate!!

The words popped up on my screen after trying to switch. I was confused, but it didn’t matter. “Eh, what the hell.” I thought. I would just use Fate. I didn’t mind, either. I had grown attached to the little thing. His last Pokémon was Tropius, which I swiftly took out with Double Edge. After winning, it skipped the part where I get registered in the Hall of Fame, and just took me to my house. The music had stopped, yet the game hadn’t frozen. I walked downstairs, and Jake was there waiting for me.

Jake: Congrats, Oz! But… I’m sorry for your loss…

What loss? I beat the Champion, right? Oh well, I thought. I opened my menu to check for proof of my victory against the Champion, and it was there. But when I looked in my Pokemon team, I saw that Fate was missing. “What the fuck?” I said, out loud. I was slightly annoyed. Maybe the game messed up? I walked out of my house, but instead of coming out at Littleroot, I was at Mt. Pyre. I remembered I wasn’t allowed here before, and I was eager to explore. There were a lot more graves than I remember in the original, and the fog was thicker than usual, so I could hardly see a thing. I progressed up the mountain, and the speakers emitted a wind chime-like noise. A little bit later, the fog cleared up a bit.

Oz: Why? Why have you done this?

Taken aback by the vagueness of this text, I searched the whole screen for the person he was talking to, but had no success. I gave up and proceeded walking forward. I noticed that Oz’s sprite had once again changed. Instead of his mature yet mischievous smile, he wore a sullen, depressed look. His hair was unkempt and didn’t carry the same look as it had before. The chimes continued until I reached the top of the mountain. Waiting for me was a stone-gray grave, which was the only grave in sight now. I tapped the A button to read it, and the text box appeared.

Here lies Fate, who gave everything to appease his master.

The wind chimes grew louder, and were almost driving me insane. Had I lost Fate? The cute Chimeco that I had grown so attached to? I walked back down the mountain, and eventually made my way back to Littleroot. I talked to a few NPCs along the way, all of whom seemed to have heard about how Fate was no longer with me. “I’m sorry” they said. The music was still that of a faint wind chime, ringing eerily. Nobody seemed eager to talk to Oz anymore, except May, who attempted to cheer to Oz up.

May: I’m sorry, Oz… these things happen…

Oz, however, didn’t talk to May like he used to. I thought “Wow. Oz really cared about Fate.” It was a stupid thought though. Of course he cared about Fate. They walked across a whole region together and made countless memories that could never be forgotten. The other NPCs were sympathetic. They told me he was in a better place, and told me to cheer up. When I explored the world a bit more, I never ran into any Pokémon or trainers that wanted to battle. They were all too sorry for me to bother. I walked into my house, where my character stopped abruptly.

Oz: I must do it… He did nothing wrong… Why must Fate be so cruel?

Oz’s face was a distorted pale color, and his eyes were bloodshot. I couldn’t figure out what to do after that, and I remembered that in my exploration across Hoenn, I didn’t go back to Ever Grande City. So I decided to check the Pokemon League, hoping to get some answers. At the gate, my character stopped again.

Oz: Yes. He must pay…

I walked into the door, half expecting to have to battle the Elite Four all over again. To my dismay, I was taken directly to the Champion. The former hero stood there looking at Oz with a sort of sadness. Not pity, like the NPCs had shown, but a true, genuine sadness.

Oz: You killed him… You killed Fate…

The wind chime music grew louder, and the screen went black. Chimeco’s ever-familiar cry rung out across the screen. I was a bit frightened, but it was just a game. When the screen flashed back on, the Champion was on the floor, surrounded by the pixelated image of what looked like blood. The sight made me uncomfortable. It became apparent that the Champion was dead, and more text came on the screen.

Oz: Fate… I’m coming for you.

The game automatically took me back into Littleroot. My sprite was even more pale than before, with his spiky hair messed up, and his eyes gone completely red. Just like it had in Mt. Pyre, fog was thick. It didn’t obscure my vision of the screen, but it certainly was giving an ominous foreshadowing effect.

Oz: You all killed him… You all will pay.

I dropped the game. I couldn’t believe it. Was he going to kill everyone? I was no longer in control of where Oz went. He walked on his own, to every single NPC in the game. The scenes were too gruesome to explain. After I could control the sprite again, blood stained every room in every city. There were no more NPCs. Even May’s sprite was a mutilated figure, bloody and beaten beyond recognition. The wind chimes were soft, and it seemed that Oz could now hear them as well.

Oz: Isn’t this what you wanted, Fate! I only want you back!

As if on cue, a Chimeco’s cry sounded in the area. The cry was creepier than before, and it sounded almost angry.

Oz: Then take me as well! If they aren’t good enough, take me!

Fate’s sprite briefly flashed on the screen, leaving a white Chimeco shape. When it disappeared, Oz wasn’t on the screen. The chime music no longer played, leaving behind the utter silence of death. The game ended, and I was taken back to the title screen.

Pokemon: Broken Emerald

Instead of Rayquaza, there was a bloody Chimeco, with an eerie grin. On this screen, the chime music played. It echoed throughout my room, just like it had when Oz was taken. I pressed A when the cursor was on “continue”, the game refused.

“… It’s too late… The chimes of Fate have rung…”