I've always been a big fan of the Pokémon games, ever since they were released back in the 90s. I had all the games and was always on the hunt for more, be it bootlegged roms or any sort of merchandise I could lay my hands on. I was in a charity shop and came across a Pokemon Red cartridge. Of course, being the avid collector I was, I bought the game and took it home. I immediately put it into my GameBoy and was excited about the game, as I hadn't played Red in a very long time. Instead of skipping the theme, I watched it, and noticed something fairly odd and peculiar. The music was slightly lower and was going at a slower pace, and the graphics were slightly different. The characters seemed to be slightly distorted. When it got to the menu, instead of displaying the usual, it said 'Pokemon Reactive Red' and flashed quickly, before fading to the usual menu. I decided to take no notice of that and went in to start my new save file. As usual, Professor Oak appeared and asked if I was a girl or a boy, what my name was, what his grandson's name was, etc. As I waited for it to load into the home in Pallet Town, I noticed I was not in my house. The player I was playing was not me. I went downstairs, expecting my mother to be down there, but noticed I was in the Pokemon Laboratory and Professor Oak and my player was already there. As I went to talk to the Professor, he addressed me as his grandson. I did not get to pick my Pokemon before the other player, and as expected, he chose Charmander. Using my initiative, I clicked on Squirtle, but then Oak flashed on the screen and said 'There is a time and place for everything, but not now.' I clicked Squirtle again but the same message appeared. I was forced to choose Bulbasaur. The player walked out of the room after being handed his Pokedex and I didn't see him again for a long time. I was also given my Pokedex, and started my adventure too. As I levelled up, I noticed that my so-called 'rival' was always a little ahead of me, until I got to the league, when suddenly everything turned completely bizarre. I was against the 'Champion', but instead of showing a player sprite, it showed somewhat of a deceased ghost, not dissimilar to the one you see in Lavender Town. I sent out my Ivysaur, and I tried to attack the ghost, but it KO'd all my Pokemon. Instead of saying the battle was over, my player was sent out. The only move I could perform was 'Flail' and it did minimal damage. Every time the opposite ghost attacked me, it seemed to grow bigger and more distorted, its eyes getting bigger and its ghostlke figure getting more realistic every turn. I then noticed something absolutely crazy. Every hit, I lost part of my player. First, the right arm holding my pokeballs, then my right leg, then the same for the left side of me. Once all my limbs had strangely disappeared, a skeletal figure started to emerge out of where my arms would be. Then, my screen flashed on and off, and I was teleported to a strange room, with nothing in except a trophy like figure. I noticed my player was no longer a person, and I was in fact, a Pokemon. I seemed to be yellow in colour, and I had the appearance not dissimilar from a Kadabra, except taller and thinner. Suddenly, a ghost flew past my entire screen, and the player that I would be on a normal game appeared, except there was something very strange indeed about this player. Half of its body was missing, and in its place was the distorted ghost. It seemed to only have its left side of its normal body. I walked up to it, and it said to me 'You must help me, they are stealing my soul, I only wanted to become the Cha-'The screen then faded, and I was teleported back to Lavender Town. Except, there was no music. I checked to see if my GameBoy was working properly, and it was. I walked around and everything seemed pretty normal. But, whenever I tried to leave the town, I was teleported back to outside the cave. I had no choice but to enter. It all seemed normal, but when I walked up to a grave, instead of displaying the usual, it displayed a player's name and the date. I walked up and checked every grave, and could not help but realise, these were previous owners of the games. Then, I walked up to the final grave. It had my name on it and the date and time. It read '31/10/2009 5:09pm' The time currently was 4:57 and the date was correct. I then walked up to the staircase and went up them. Upstairs, there seemed to be dead Pokemon bodies all over the floor, leaving one small path up to a white hole in the wall. I had no choice but to walk through it, where it played all the Pokemon's cries at once, and then a human-like wail. Suddenly, on the screen, letters of the Unown appeared, one after the other flashing in my face. It spelt out:'Y O U R   T I M E   H A S   C O M E'I then dropped my GameBoy in fright, and then it played a very long, high pitched note, the same note as the third note played in the Lavender Town music, which had always previously freaked me out. Slowly, the screen faded. I took out the cartridge and noticed something impossible on the back. All the names from the graves had been scratched into the plastic and my name was also on there. The even weirder thing? They were all crossed out except mine. I then felt a weird aura around me, as if I was being hypnotised, and I collapsed.The next thing I knew, it was the next day, and I woke up and got off the ground. I picked up the cartridge and noticed my name had now been crossed off, and I had a strange wound on my arm. Over the next few days other bizarre things started happening to me, like I would have the urge to hold a knife, or I would somehow pass out. I then noticed my GameBoy, which was still surprisingly on, and left on the ground where I had dropped it. The music had drowned out, but there was a word imprinted on the front of it, saying:'We react to every gesture. Unluckily for some, it is not always good.'I saw there was a blood drop on the side of it, presumably from my arm. The screen showed a picture of a dead old man, lying on the floor. Whatever I tried, I couldn't get it to go away. I threw away the cartridge immediately. I even tried taking the battery out, but nothing would get it to go away. I ended up giving it to the charity shop because I couldn't bear the sight of that thing. I still get headaches from thinking about that note, and I hope that the cartridge I had was the only one in existence.