"Pokemon: Personal Edition" (Written by Seeth)
This is a note for those who are just starting out on the career path. More than anything, it is for them to remain cautious. Shortly after I graduated from my university, I fortunately managed to get hired at a well-known company in the city. I had a very good hope of helping people. I was calm for several months. One day a family of three arrived , they wanted to put their son in my hands, and they described him as someone with slight problems, or at least those were the parents' words. They gave me their phone number in case of any problems, and confirmed that the next day, their son would be present here. It was my first session with this guy. Young, no more than 20 years old. Always with your head down. It was a complicated day, he did not adequately answer the questions I asked him. But it was a matter of time before more was released.
For two weeks, little by little he told me more about him. He had average grades in his school, his great inspiration was engineering, he practiced and created things from the age of 9. But his parents did not agree with him dedicating himself to that, so he had to do it secretly. But he showed a sparkle in his eyes when he said that in the future he would be a great engineer. He told me that I could finally talk to someone about this topic. Every time the day's session ended, I secretly wondered what kind of problems the parents were referring to when they described it. But there was one occasion when he did not attend for 3 days. At first, I imagined it was because he felt calm and thought he no longer needed to come. He returned, but his head was bowed again, with signs of not having slept well, and some marks on his arms.
The first thing I did in that session was ask him the reason for the marks, he told me that he had someone who bothered him at school, and since he can't stand being disturbed, he had a fight. He told me that he managed to win easily, and smiled. I also responded with a light laugh, congratulating him. This atmosphere became heavy the moment I asked why there were signs of not having slept. He didn't want to respond, in any way. Most of the day was spent in failed attempts to get him to answer why. As he was about to end the session for the day, he told me that he had been working on something for a short time, but he wanted everyone to try it, including me.
I didn't understand at first, why me? He gave me a medium-sized envelope, with some slight lumps. When I touched it, the inside felt fragile, so I left it on my desk. Before leaving, this young man thanked me for having accepted this invention, or so he called it. And that I would return the following Monday, since that time it was Thursday, and on Fridays I was not available. It was the first time a patient gave me something, but it didn't seem strange to me, just a nice gesture. I would see what this gift from him was about a few days later. Saturday afternoon, I had free time, so I grabbed the envelope and sat in my chair to see what it was about. I opened it carefully, a small gray plastic object came out. I couldn't see any shape, it had a small opening in one part where you could see an electronic board, or at least that's what I thought. It had a label made of paper that said. “Pokémon: Personal Final Version” Pokémon? Staff? It was what I least expected, was it a game? My gesture was pure confusion, did he give me a game without even knowing that I had the respective console?
I looked a little deeper into the envelope, and saw that there was something, a console. I didn't recognize what it was, so I had to look online. It was a Game Boy Advance SP, but a little modified from what I saw in the images I looked for, since it had one or another loose cable, and there were small holes in the plastic that allowed us to see the inside. I was with many doubts, as I looked at the console. I had long forgotten about Pokémon, but I used to watch the series on television, and in high school I played the Emerald edition, I wasn't completely oblivious to the subject. I had nothing to lose in trying it, I prepared myself something to drink and settled into my chair. It took me a few minutes to figure out where to turn on the console, but I finally could. The first that came out was the credits of the game and his company. Then a silhouette of a Charizard appeared, completely black. While the title of the game was just Pokémon, without any subtitle underneath.
At first I thought the controls would be a little difficult for me, but as soon as I pressed start, I was sent a screen with a Pikachu on the side, where it explained everything I needed to know, a to accept and dialogue, b to cancel or close menus. It was all that was necessary.
I thought the process where they welcome you and enter your name would have to be repeated . It was not so. Instead, it was a greenish screen, and the text that came out, was:
“I finally wake up, my dream must be fulfilled, and my great companion will help me. What was my name?”
5 options appeared, but they all marked the only selection, Adam. That was my patient's name. It seems he had edited a game to place himself. What a nice detail, I thought. After that, something else, showing what I easily recognized, as a Meowth. “Do you want to give my great friend a name?” This time he let me name it whatever I wanted, but I preferred to leave it as it was.
After that, a graphic appeared, it was Adam and the Meowth from before. "Get ready Meowth, together we will get through this."
I could finally move, I was in a small room, with some stairs to go down. Adam's graphic was a little out of harmony with the rest of the graphics, you could see the big difference in the graphics he made, and the ones he took from the original game.
Upon arriving at the bottom floor, I was greeted with a message in capital letters. “WHY DON'T YOU STOP MAKING NOISE? PLEASE, I'M TRYING TO WORK, BETTER GO OUT FOR A WHILE AND DON'T DISTURB.” I couldn't see any charts of a person beyond mine, but as I moved around, it was just another chart made by Adam. It seems that it was his mother.
If I tried to talk to her, she didn't answer me. When I left home, I was in a small town, with more graphics that clashed with each other.
Apparently I had nothing to do, just take the only route there was. Since the houses wouldn't let me enter.
I thought it was strange that the only person who was around said to me, “Do you think this is a good idea?”
Until then, I hadn't checked the menu. I opened all the options, I already had a Pokémon, that level 10 Meowth, and the card showed a very simple Adam graphic. It didn't have any object. But I didn't have a problem, since the Pokémon that appeared in the grass barely reached level 4. Out of curiosity, I pressed the other buttons on the console to see if they had a function, if there was at least one. A blue screen appeared with text in capital letters. "SERVICE SUPPORT. YOUR GOAL IS TO BRING MEOWTH TO LEVEL 100.”
Oh really? Level 100? I don't remember getting to that even in my game of Esmeralda. That put me back, I was about to turn off the console, but it was Saturday, and it was also a gift. It could take me the rest of the afternoon and evening to try to get there. I listened to my instincts to deduce where I had to go to continue advancing. When I reached the first town, I saw a large building, just above where you can heal Pokémon. They wouldn't let me enter another building, so it was the only option.
Upon entering, there was only one person at the back of the room who appeared to be a woman, I went to talk to her. “Oh, hey Adam, there's no class right now, but if you want to check your notes, they're here.” Then a graphic was shown on the screen showing what appeared to be a white piece of paper with a number 6.
After that, if I tried to talk to this person again, he would not answer me. I didn't know what to do now, I tried to deduce, if it was a Pokémon game, then I should go to the League and win the medals, even though they haven't mentioned them at any point. Maybe this way it will be faster to achieve the goal they had set for me. I left the building, at that moment, an event occurred, Adam started talking to himself, or I think he was talking to the Meowth in his Pokéball. “Don't worry, between the two of us we can do everything.” After that, I could move again, Adam kept saying positive phrases that would encourage you to continue. Even though it was directed at his Meowth, it seemed like he was saying them to me as well. I made my way towards a forest, in which I managed to climb quite quickly.
lI checked the level of my Meowth, It went from level 12 to 21. The only strange thing, and that was repeated with each person I spoke to, was that they didn't say anything when challenging me to fight, and when I won, if I spoke to them again, They said phrases like “Are you sure?” “Do you think carefully about what you do?” “You should change your mind” At the same time, I get a box to answer yes or no, but neither of the two options gave me a different answer, I just closed the text box.
I arrived at the first city that contained a gym, I went directly there. What I saw made me pay attention to whatever came next, because the leader was just a white box, there was no one else apart from that box, there was no introductory dialogue. He didn't have a name either, there was just his empty painting.
His team consisted of only 3 Chansey, all at level 20. I managed to beat him, and they gave me huge amounts of experience, so Meowth went from level 21 to 29 in just that fight. When I exited, the transition when a Pokémon is about to evolve appeared, but it was canceled, along with a bunch of ellipses.
I left the gym, and Adam blurted out another sentence. “It doesn't matter what they do to me, if you are with me I can do anything”.
I thought it was another positive phrase, but when I pressed the button to close the text, another one appeared. “Maybe there is another way…”
I didn't understand the last part, another way for what? They were just a few words thrown out like that. The whole game stayed like this, people who challenged me to fight asked me questions about whether I was sure to do something. And the Gym leaders were just some white squares with Chansey cigars to level up quickly. But whenever I left a building, whether it was a place to cure Meowth, or a gym, my character would say an encouraging phrase, but then wonder if there is any other way to do something. There was no need to use movements to cross sea or caves, everything was made as a narrow path for just walking.
I didn't see the need to capture another Pokémon, Meowth was in charge of every fight, plus I didn't have money to buy anything, the trainers on the routes didn't give me money when I defeated them. When I defeated the last white box, and when I left the gym, I thought there was going to be another positive message, but it was something else. “Why do they doubt me, if I love them. It doesn’t matter, you keep me whole and safe.”
Out of curiosity, I pressed the button hat opened the blue screen where it told me the objective. No. Nothing, I was still with the same thing as level 100.
At this point in the game, Meowth was level 89. It was already late at night and I was sleepy. I left he console off on a small table next to the couch and went to sleep. I had woken up too early for a Sunday. It was almost 6 in the morning. I think it was one of those cases where you only get a few hours of sleep and feel well rested. After breakfast, I sat back down on the couch to continue this game. As I walked around trying to find a way into the league to challenge the high command, more people were starting to appear than I remember there being when I walked by.
If I talked to them, they sent me more messages questioning what I was doing. Others told me that I had to abandon everything. So much time searching ended up tiring me out, I was eleven levels away from meeting the objective.
When I finally reached level 100, I immediately consulted the help screen. Now a text appeared in capital letters: “OH PLEASE NO” and below that phrase, “Go to a Pokémon center.”
I couldn't see what this text in capital letters referred to, but I fulfilled the objective they told me, I went to the nearest center.
When the door closed, the game's fade to black stayed that way, all black, and silent. For a long time. When it was over, I was in the first room where I appeared the first time, but there was something. The entire place was covered in what appears to be fog, and Adam's chart was completely white, minus his hair.
I moved everywhere, I couldn't interact with anything. I went down the stairs, there was the chart of Adam's mother and father, they also had a white chart. If I talked to them, they threw out phrases that I didn't understand very well at first, but they seemed unpleasant to my taste. “YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL, I HAD TO STAND WITH YOU AND THAT FOR A LONG TIME” “WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? NOT THAT IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT, NOW FOCUS ON WHAT DOES MATTER”
When I left the house, another text box appeared: “I have to find another way, it's not right, I don't want to end up like them.”
I moved throughout the town, it was all covered in fog, and the few people who were there were dressed in white, and they said phrases to me that I couldn't understand. “I HOPE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU CHANGES YOU FOR THE GOOD.” “DON'T BE STUPID, BECAUSE YOU WOULD BE LIKE THIS FOR SOMETHING SO MINOR.”
I couldn't leave the town, a fog blockade wouldn't let me leave it, but what I did manage to see was that there was now a large lake of water on a well-hidden side. I approached him, and pressed the button to interact. A message: “It seems there was another way.” And the screen went black, along with a distorted sound, but what seemed to be a stream of water.
After that, the game restarted, again from the beginning, but my game was no longer available, if I wanted to enter, an error sound was heard. I turned off the console. I only had silence in my living room. He wanted to draw a conclusion from what he had seen. Half a day... I still didn't get anything, among so much doubt, I decided to call the phone number that the parents had provided me, to try to communicate directly with Adam. In the first three attempts, no one answered me. But in the fourth, the mother attended to me, she sounded nervous and showed signs of having been devastated.
"Hello, good morning ma'am, I would like to ask about Adam, he is my patient, and I wanted to fill out some paperwork about him."
"Hello... I'm sorry... but... my son passed away."
"He has? How?"
"Last night, when we were all sleeping, he ran away from home and threw himself off a bridge into a river near here."
"It was then that I connected absolutely everything I saw in that game. But I had to confirm it somehow."
"Oh. I am truly, deeply sorry… I just have one more question before hanging up… do you have pets?”
"Yes, we had one, but he died a few weeks ago due to age."
My whole head put it all together, the game, it was a way for Adam to express what he's been suffering through most of his short life. His parents and people doubted him, he only had his pet that accompanied him and motivated him, until he left. Adam had nothing left to go on. The phrase "maybe there is another way" now made sense. I said goodbye to the mother, without anything else, already knowing what they were hiding, I didn't feel like continuing talking. I called a co-worker, asked him about the paperwork these parents filled out, since a home address was required in case of emergency.
I packed the game along with his console, and sent it to that address. It was all I could do. With only a hope that they would play it, and discover that they themselves brought about its end. The sun was setting, I was still sitting in my chair, thinking. All people discover their own methods of telling their things through any medium. I leave this noted. It will work for everyone who starts working here, you can expect things you would never imagine. I was barely a newcomer when it happened. But there's something that usually runs through my head when I'm at home, if I hadn't fallen asleep, and discovered the purpose of the game earlier. Maybe... I could have helped him... I would have consoled him to find some solution... and his fate would have been different.