AKA Why You Shouldn't Play God



It wasn't able to kill me.



That's my only solace, right now. The fact that it didn't end my life; even if I almost wish it did.



I don’t know if I should even be doing this. Explaining this in almost any way is guaranteed to tip it off; the very thing it needs to break free. Trust me when I say it’s the last thing I or anyone in my life needs right now...



Fuck it.



If anything happens to me, I'll at least leave this behind as a crumb of my existence.



Stop me if you've heard this part before.



"I used to be a big Pokemon fan".



Yes. I have heard the stories of others. Of hacked games, quote unquote "demons", and other unexplained phenomena occurring when a Pokemon player finds or does something that they weren't supposed to. My story that I shall tell will be similar to many others. However, the similarities end at "Pokemon fan" and "Pokemon game".



Here's the thing: I was a major exploit abuser during my early Pokemon-playing days. If I could find something that could be exploited to give me an advantage or help me complete the Pokedex, I would use it. Be it Missingno in Gen 1, the Acid Rain glitch in Gen 4, or even something simple like save abusing to find high IV and shiny Pokemon. You might say that almost everyone does this at some point in their Pokemon career, but I did so near constantly. Due to some of these exploits involving some pretty nasty glitches, I often ended up going through 2 or 3 cartridges each generation; much to the agony of my wallet.



Fast forward to 2018 and the announcement of Pokemon Sword and Shield. My hype levels were, obviously, above and beyond maximum. Waiting for those damn games to come out was quite the battle. Luckily, I always had my older collection of Pokemon games to go back to. After practically zipping through Ultra Moon, I decided that I had wanted to revisit the glory that was Pokemon White. It was at this time that I decided to try something new.



About a week before I had popped White in my 3DS, I had found a video on YouTube about how even though Nintendo Wi-Fi had been officially shut down, it was still possible to get certain event Pokemon and items in the Gen 5 games. The trick had apparently involved going into your DS's connection settings, going into the DNS settings, and essentially tricking the internet connection into accessing the event's Wi-Fi and...stuff. I'll be honest and say that I really didn't understand it, but I knew that I pretty much just had to change my internet settings to something specific.



Like many of the people in the comments, I was extremely skeptical at first. Something this simple couldn't possibly allow you to access content that was seemingly lost forever. But I decided to try the method on my copy of Black 2 and it actually worked. Sure it was somewhat luck-based and didn't work all the time, but after numerous attempts, I had found myself in possession of an event Darkrai and Keldeo. I remember staring at the screen in shock, my face slack-jawed in amazement at what I had just done. I then resolved myself to get something special from this exploit.



A Genesect.



Genesect was my absolute favorite Pokemon of all time, for many different reasons. The name, the design, the backstory; everything about the cyborg bug just seemed to click for me. Thus, one week later, i popped in White and immediately went to the mystery gift menu. Genesect was the only Pokemon left for me to collect to fill out my Unova Dex in White since I had missed the original events years ago. Thus, my massive level of excitement while I waited for the day to arrive. I clicked connect to Nintendo WFC and waited eagerly for the mythical Pokemon to appear.



However, a message had appeared on my screen reading,



"Error. Data not found".



Data not found? I had never seen this message pop up before when I used the mystery gift, not even when WFC was shut down. I tried again, but it displayed the same message after a while. Growing frustrated, I tried once more only to be met with a different message,



"Error. Data not found.

01010011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100000 01110100 01110010 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01111001 00100000 01000111 01101111 01100100 00101110"



It was the same message, but with a bunch of random binary code strewn after it. Starting to feel supremely irritated, I was about to close my DS and call it a night. Then, I decided to give the event one last try just for the hell of it. This time, the event worked. I grinned as I watched the sides of the screen turn a shade of purple and saw a Genesect float down to the platform. I fist pumped, quietly shouting a "Yes!" under my breath.



Needless to say, that night kept me up a lot longer than I thought it would, for multiple reasons...



After receiving the gift, I immediately went to my old save file, eager to have some fun with with my new bug buddy. As soon as I came into the world, I noticed that I was sitting outside the entrance to the P2 Laboratory. It was interesting; I knew that I didn't have Genesect yet, so I wondered why I was sitting outside the building. Eventually, I figured that it was just me waiting. Waiting; almost wondering when and how I would be able to get my hands on Genesect. Well, my time waiting had paid off.



I went to my party, chose my Hydreigon and flew to the Accumula Town Pokemon Center. Stepping inside I found the deliveryman waiting for me. I went up to him and quickly pressed A.



"Good day! You must be Nova. I've received a Mystery Gift for you. Here you go!"



I pressed A again, almost shaking from how excited I was. However, the text that appeared was not what I expected.



"Nova obtained the P2 Password!"



P2 Password? I was immediately hit with confusion. What happened to my Genesect? And what was this password item? I went into my bag and found the Password under key items. It looked like a small slip of paper with the Team Plasma logo on it. I inspected it and and this text had came up,



"01010011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100000 01110100 01110010 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01111001 00100000 01000111 01101111 01100100 00101110"



That mess again. It was that same binary code that I had seen when the Mystery Gift error happened. At this point I was more intrigued than confused. I had never seen the item mentioned anywhere in the game or by anyone online. Deciding to investigate at the namesake of the item, I rushed back to the island where the P2 Lab was standing. When I came into view of the island, I saw that the ground was covered in multiple dark red sprites of some kind. It almost looked like puddles of oil or blood, perhaps even a combination of the two. This is when my nerves were set on edge.



I went over to the lone scientist who I had already battled when I first came to the island only to find that he wasn't there. In fact, no wild Pokemon had showed up when I roamed around in the grass for a minute. I then put two and two together when I realized that this might be what all the red stains were. The blood of the various Pokemon that roamed this area, as well as the scientist. I gulped, feeling slightly apprehensive. I didn't even want to consider why or for what reason these sprites were even in the game.



I brushed everything aside and went up to the door into the Lab, but was met with a text box reading,



"Access denied. Password required:".



The game then took me to a text entry screen with quite the long phrase for me to enter. I knew that it had to be a phrase because no numbers were present on the keyboard. Soon, it had clicked. This was what that P2 Password was for. I backed out and looked at the item again. The binary code message had once more popped up. I quickly pulled out my laptop, going online and looking for a binary code translator. Finding one, I slowly and carefully took the time to input every sequence of the code.



As soon as I hit the convert button and saw what the code was, a mild chill ran down my spine as I stared at the phrase.



"Stop trying to play God".



I sat there with bated breath, contemplating why in the world this was happening. It couldn't have been part of the event; not by a long shot. If it was, hackers would have datamined it years ago. It was something that was occurring for me and me alone. As the thoughts crept into my mind, I could only wonder why and what was happening to my game.



I went back to the game and entered the unsettling phrase. Afterwards, text once again appeared saying,



"Access granted. Welcome, Dr. Dudley".



I was confused for a second before I remembered that Dudley was one of the scientists who helped to create Genesect; as well as the one who gave the player two of its drives as part of the event. The password belonged him, it seemed. Clicking A once more led me into the building. I was given an unwelcome surprise when I entered, though.



More blood splotches dotted the floors and walls, and even seemed to be on the computer server and the locker. A couple of small, purplish, stick-like sprites were scattered on the ground, one sitting in a pile of blood. I had no clue what they were, but I was disturbed by the sight altogether. Instead of being lit, the small research area was darkened with a blueish tint coming from a still functioning computer in the distance. Walking up to the computer, I booted it up and found that there were 5 research logs that I could read. Letting out a sigh, I reluctantly clicked on the first log.



"Dr. Dudley: Research Report 1. Our excavators say they've had a breakthrough; that they've found the fossil of a Pokemon known only in myth. Apparently, it was regarded as "The Ultimate Hunter" some 300 million years ago. Naturally, I and my fellow scientists were skeptical of their findings, but they managed to present a semi-flawless fossil of one of the Pokemon's arms! Now, if only I could get my hands on it..."



"Dr. Dudley: Research Report 2. After convincing the excavators to hand over the fossil to us for...safe keeping, our work had immediately began. Naturally, everything was done under an oath of secrecy. We could not risk Lord N finding out about this project, lest it be cancelled like so many others. So far, the Pokemon's DNA is like no others; it genes almost seemed to be tailor-made for the purpose of hunting other Pokemon! Interesting, indeed..."



"Dr. Dudley: Research Report 3. We may have made several miscalculations along our way. After managing to resurrect the Pokemon, it had returned severely injured; seemingly missing both of its arms and with a gaping hollow in it's skull! After synthesizing a pair of metal replacements for its arms and patching the numerous holes and scars on it's body, Nathan had suggested that we enhance this Pokemon as much as possible. Upon showing me several blueprints, I was extremely interested. He seemingly wanted to turn this creature into a living weapon! How could I say no to such a prospect?"



"Dr. Dudley: Research Report 4. As we near completion, my excitement grows ever higher. We've enhanced the Pokemon to it's highest possible power! Coating its body in a steel-titanium alloy and installing one of our Plasma Cannons onto it's back seemingly made it even more deadly then it was all those years ago. A bio-mechanical weapon that could match even the Legendary Dragons in strength! Still, we are having some issues with it. The Pokemon's arm replacements are seemingly eroding faster every time we install new ones. As well as that, several holes are reappearing on its body and even on its cannon. This left many of my co-workers worried that we may have "gone too far". Such talk has been avoided mostly. But I cannot help but wonder...are they right?"



"Dr. Dudley: ResEaRCh REpOrt 5. We've miscalculated. We miscalculated at every step of the process. Nathan thought that it would be a good idea to clone the enhanced Pokemon, I and the others agreeing and following his instructions like fools. The cloning was a complete success, but unfortunately, the original didn't think it was a good idea...I haven't seen the others since the weapon escaped and ripped the 4 clones to shreds. I can only think of one word fitting for a renegade Pokemon with this much power at its disposal. I need to get out of here, and so do you. Stop reading, leave this place and never come back; lest you run into the eyes of death itself. An anomaly that shouldn't even exist...A true Maverick".



As soon as I had finished reading the final report, I shuddered; letting out a shaky breath and feeling an all-consuming sense of dread engulf me. I didn't care what I had found at this point, I just wanted this shit to end. I speedily backed out of the computer menu and ran to the door out of the lab when something had stopped me. There was a silhouette standing in front of my character. My heart began to race as pressed A. The figure had spoken.



"So...you just couldn't listen, could you? You just had be curious and investigate into obtaining things that you shouldn't be able to".



"Well, no more".



"This time, we play by my rules..."



"This time, I'm the one in control..."



"This time, I'm the one playing God!!"



The screen had went black for a few seconds before fading back in.



I screamed out loud when a living nightmare had appeared on my screen.



It was Genesect. My Genesect. The one that was known as Maverick. It's appearance was vile. It had a massive hole in the top of it's head and the cannon on it's back, both with oily blood leaking from said hollows. It's left eye was missing, a pitch black socket with thin, white voids for pupils; leaking more blood down it's face and into it's mouth. The Genesect's upper arms had two scars, bleeding down onto it's claw tips. The part that shocked me the most was it's seemingly impossible capability to maintain a solid form. It's overall sprite seemed like it was almost fading in and out of the world, like it was unstable.



Maverick's cry was a Genesect cry that seemed to have been sent through digital hell and back with how glitched it was. I sat still, completely frozen with fear while this abomination had stared right through me. Finally, the fear had released me and I hammered down on the power button, wanting to end this nightmare. However, nothing had happened. More text had appeared on screen.



"I bet you thought you were safe; that I'm just nothing but a bunch of corrupted data that can be dealt with a simple push of the power button".



"I'm sorry to inform you, but that won't work on me, my friend".



"Now then...listen carefully. You'll need it!"



I kept my eyes and ears open for anything, but I was not ready for what happened next. I swear I cannot make up what I am about to say on my own. Believe me or not, just know that the moment I'm going to describe to you is the single most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me.



I heard Maverick's distorted cry play again...right outside my bedroom door.



I didn't even have time to look over before the door flew open, revealing Maverick right outside. I literally screamed bloody murder and swiftly backed away to the farthest corner of the room. Maverick slowly walked in, looking just like it did in the game; complete with the glitchiness of it's body. I was cornered and couldn't get out. I slid down the wall and cried, watching through tear-filled eyes as the anomaly walked towards me with it's unflinching smile.



It spoke.



"Hello, old friend. I bet you're quite surprised to see me".



"W-what the the hell do you want from me, you monstrosity!?"



"What I want is to die...along with you".



I was hysterical at the point, laughing like a loon as Maverick continued,



"Do you think I asked for this? To be born into the world through a means as unnatural as what you pulled? It's sickening, to both me and others. So, I figured that since no one wants to appreciate me, I may as well destroy myself and the cause of my grief...you".



The Genesect then lifted one of its arms and swung it down at me. Time had slowed to a crawl as I quickly lifted my 3DS to block the blow. Maverick's claw swiped clean through it and I clenched my eyes shut, waiting to feel the pain.



However, when I opened my eyes, it was gone. I slowly scanned the area, looking for any sign of the cyborg bug's presence, but there was nothing there. The only thing that told the truth of what happened to me that night was the shattered handheld on the floor in front of me. I fell onto my side, laughing my head silly before said laughs turned to sobs.



I didn't sleep at all that night or the night after. I felt like I never wanted to sleep again, fearing that if I closed my eyes for too long it would get me. Maverick would finally get its wish and end both it's and my life. But for the next week, nothing else had happened.



It's been almost 2 months now, and I can't seem to escape this Hell. In that time, I destroyed the rest of my 3DS and threw out the rest of my Pokemon games.



Still, it stalks me.



It's getting smarter. It's learning to do things that it knows will put me on edge.



Sometimes I'll wake up with a small scratch or two on my body, fresh and oozing. Sometimes, I see small messages that it will have left carved into the walls like,



"Just let me die..."



Or



"I'm nothing without you..."



At this point, I've probably given way too much information about it, so this is where we part ways. I obviously haven't touched a video game since that godforsaken incident, and I probably never will again. I didn't know what caused this shit to happen and I still don't to this day. I never will, honestly. Please, take this story as a warning.



Don't try to play God.



Because the Devil will be always be listening.