SHELLS Recently I’ve gotten into hacking. I only use ROMs on my R4, in an attempt to protect my legitimate event Pokemon and Shinies, but all the same it’s fun to play through a game with overpowered Pokemon by your side. A few days ago I decided to hack into a new SoulSilver ROM the one Pokemon I’ve wanted for years, but never been able to get - a Shiny Ralts. I placed him into my party as an egg, along with various other hacks, and after giving myself enough items to get through the game I proceeded to play. My Shiny Ralts hatched and grew into a Gallade as I played, easily defeating every trainer. To eliminate the need for training, I maxed out my team’s EVs and fed them Rare Candies when their levels didn’t rise fast enough. By the fifth Gym, my Shiny Gallade (whom I had named Julian after someone very close to me) was always at the head of my party and levelling up quickly enough that I no longer needed to feed him Rare Candies. When I reached Olivine, my character sprite stopped and a text box suddenly appeared. “What am I?” it read. I pressed A but the box didn’t disappear. After a few seconds more text appeared. "Where did I come from? Who were my parents? Am I a real Pokemon? Why do I exist?" Finally the box vanished but a Lucario’s cry played from the speakers, low-pitched as though it had low health. I checked my party; my Shiny Lucario had vanished. I turned to speak to Julian to reassure myself that everything was all right. He gave a perfectly normal response, giving my character a hug. Satisfied, I moved into the city to see if Lucario had somehow ended up in my PC, but she was completely gone. After soft-resetting back to ny last save point (which was not long before Lucario disappeared), she was still gone and I decided to continue without her. The game proceeded, with three Pokemon instead of four. I made sure to move my other team members to the top of my party regularly and talk to them, searching for any odd responses. By Mahogany Town, my Mightyena was beginning to show a strange reaction when I spoke to her, usually looking nervous or once even growling at me. On the path to Lake Of Rage, it happened again. Julian was once again at the head of my party when the text box appeared, scrolling through the same text as last time and ending with a Mightyena’s cry. Julian once again seemed unconcerned, and Mightyena was missing. With only two Pokemon left, I rushed to edit their movesets so they could be strong enough to finish the game on their own. With Julian armed with a strong and varied moveset, I began to feel confident again. He resumed his place at the top of my party and I gradually stopped needing Luxray, but still used him on occasion. After defeating the Elite Four and being sent back to my room, I turned to talk to the Gallade by my side. He turned from side to side rapidly, somehow seeming anxious, before a box popped up. “Julian seems afraid. He wants to know if you love him.” I chose yes, because Julian had quickly become the one Pokemon I treasured more than my legit Shinies, even the two I’d caught in my Japenese White after only a few weeks of owning it. Julian jumped up happily at my response. “Julian loves you too!” At this point I began to wonder. If my missing Pokemon had asked me that question and I had been given a chance to answer yes, would they have stayed? I made sure to speak to Julian often while playing through Kanto, keeping watch for any more bad signs. As I arrived in Cerulean City, the box appeared once more and a Luxray’s cry sounded. I didn’t even need to check to see that Julian was now my only Pokemon (other than my HM slaves, because I’m not about to teach HM moves to Shinies, even hacked ones). When I spoke to him, he shivered and asked once again: “Julian wants to know if you love him.” I chose yes again. I collected the last badge and headed for Mt Silver. By this stage Julian was giving responses such as “Julian seems scared.” or “Julian senses something…” each time I spoke to him, and I had stopped receiving the question of whether I loved him. I fed him another few Rare Candies (boosting his level to 99), gave him a Soothe Bell in a desperate attempt to keep him from leaving too, and hurried on toward the monutain’s peak. Julian stopped as we approached the place Red would be waiting. I walked on two more steps before realizing he wouldn’t follow, then returned to him to make sure he was all right. “Julian is breathing heavily!” "What’s wrong?" I found myself asking the DS. There was no response of course, but I pressed A to talk to the Gallade again. He shivered. “Julian is scared! He begs you to turn back.” "Julian wants to go back." "Julian is crying! He needs to leave the mountain!" "Julian grabbed your arm and tried to pull you away!" I shook my head. “What’s going on? These can’t be normal.” "Please master, don’t go any further!" This one stopped me in my tracks. Was Julian speaking to me directly? Feeling stupid, I tried to talk to the game. "I’m sorry Julian, but there’s not far to go. We just have to beat Red." There was no response, and Julian continued his attempts to keep me from walking ahead. Finally I decided he wasn’t going to move and moved on alone, watching him stand motionlessly in the same place. Julian was off the edge of the screen when Red’s place came into view. Only Red wasn’t standing there. Instead, three Shiny Pokemon were in his spot; Lucario, Mightyena, and Luxray. Suddenly I understood Julian’s fear. Lucario took a step forward. “You’re here.” As the box vanished, I noticed that Julian had moved close enough to be at the very edge of the screen again. Mightyena was next. “We waited.” Finally Luxray. “What did you do to us?” The three advanced on me together. An exclamation mark appeared over Julian’s head and he rushed to get in front of me. A battle commenced, with Lucario facing Julian alone. I expected Lucario’s sprite to be disfigured and gruesome. I was half right. Her sprite was glitched in places, the space around her pixellated; it looked like someone had fused her with MissingNo. It made sense though. After all, she was impossible data. Julian’s sprite looked normal though, which I found strange considering he had been edited more times than the others. Since Lucario was at the same level she had been when she disappeared, it was an easy battle. However, when she fainted Mightyena immediately took her place. This one was similarly glitched, and similarly easy to defeat. As she fell, more text appeared. "Julian: What am I doing? I’m fighting my friends…" Luxray appeared, a higher level than the others. One critical Sky Uppercut took him out. Julian grew to level 100, and his back sprite flickered and became just as pixellated as the others had been. The three were still standing there outside of the battle, although they had backed up a step. Julian was still standing in front of me as though defending me. One by one the other Pokemon vanished, and I cautiously spoke to my beloved Shiny Gallade. "What am I?" "Oh no, not this again…" I whispered to myself. "Where did I come from? Why do I exist? I know I’m not a real Pokemon, but I never cared because you love me. You never forced me to love you like you did to Lucario. You gave me strong attacks and taught me how to use them. You let me walk with you." The text stopped but the box remained. I waited for more. Julian turned to look at the peak of the mountain, then turned back to me. "Do you know what this place is? It’s the place trainers dream of. I know you forced us to exist to get here. You made us strong so we could win. But you grew to love us. And that made it all right for me because I love you too. The others hated you for what you did to them, but I love you." Julian moved closer to me and gave the hug animation. “Do you know what hacked Pokemon are? We’re shells inhabited by what you call glitch Pokemon. We use these bodies to look like what our trainers wants us to look like, but we’re not as real as other Pokemon. We never will be.” The screen turned black and a high-pitched shriek blasted from the speakers. I flicked the power switch off, ending the sound. When I turned the DS back on, the save file was gone. I guess I haven’t learned my lesson yet. I’m still hacking Pokemon games, but at least this time around I’ve given myself another Shiny male Ralts with the same name. I have a feeling he’s protecting me from what the other Pokemon might want to do to me. It is in the Ralts line’s nature to protect their trainers, after all. ~Typhlosion
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 00:21:26 +0000
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