A/N: Almost a month ago, someone sent me a list of Creepypastas that I could try and rewrite. I don't usually get requests and I was starting to reconsider it, but that someone has changed that and made me realize how much I've missed. Now, of course, I won't do ALL of them, but at least I made a list of what stories I should give a shot. I didn't read Pokemon Dead Channel until it was requested, but now that I did, I can definitely say that star-byte was just as competent at writing as JC-the-Hyena. I mean, this was Sonic.exe before Sonic.exe because of the child-friendly characters becoming evil murderers. And the fact that I found it on DeviantArt didn't help. So, I present to you what star-byte could've done.
And special thanks to the one who requested the story:
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I was introduced to video games a tad later than most other people. To say I was asocial during my early childhood would be an understatement. I'd spent most of my days in a prison-like school, and my nights rotted away with mind-numbing TV. Life was dull, and all I had were my stuffed animals and cheap plastic toys to keep me company.
But everything changed when I got a GameCube.
I believe it was the Christmas of 2003. When I got my very first video game console, I was overjoyed. It came with three games: Super Mario Sunshine, Pac-Man World 2, and Pokémon Channel. Each of those games still holds a special place in my heart today. When the GameCube was set up and ready to go, I began playing it immediately.
The first game I played was Super Mario Sunshine. This game is what got me hooked on the Mario series. After playing it for hours and finally beating a level that gave me a headache, I turned to Pac-Man World 2. Amazingly enough, I got stuck on level two. Infuriated that I couldn't find the way out (even though the answer was literally RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES), I quit and started playing my first-ever Pokémon game: Pokémon Channel.
I know now that not many people like this game, but when I started playing, it didn't take long for me to fall in love with it.
When the time came for me to name my Pikachu, I unwittingly called it BRVR, short for Brother. What compelled me to give him such a strange nickname that didn't even sound like a shortened version of brother? I'll never know. Regardless, I still enjoyed playing.
There is no way for me to describe how much I love this game. It was everything that I had ever dreamed of. In this game, I had a friend that I could play with. I could watch TV with BRVR, go fishing with him, play tic-tac-toe with him, talk to other Pokémon with him, grow a garden, build a snowman, explore ancient ruins, play musicals, tell stories around campfires, gaze at the stars, and so much more. All the things I never got to do with anyone in real life, I was able to do in this virtual world with BRVR, the best friend I never had.
In case I didn't make it obvious, I was addicted, but I had nothing else to use up my time with. Instead, I put it all into this game. I preferred to stay oblivious to everything happening in the real world and spend my time in this Pokémon fantasy with my best friend, BRVR.
Whenever I was sad, he would appear to look and act depressed with me. Whenever I was angry, he would show and express my rage. If I needed something to cheer me up, he would act goofy, leap at me, and do other silly things.
Later on, when I grew older and wiser, I just assumed that all of these strange events never really happened, and when I was younger, I had just simply imagined it, but it was still fun to pretend he was real.
But then I began to play too much, and my parents noticed it. Two years after I started playing Pokémon, my parents had had enough of me playing video games all day, doing nothing, getting awful grades, and never bothering to go out and meet actual people.
They sold my GameCube to someone who "actually deserved to have it." I threw a fit; I screamed, kicked, and cursed, but it did nothing. BRVR, the closest thing to a friend I ever had, was gone forever.
I fell into a depression after that, but it slowly went away after I began to focus on my schoolwork. Not that I had any choice.
Eventually, I moved from a private grade school to a public middle school, and I learned new things, which helped me improve. Unlike my other school, people weren't mean or cruel to me; they would greet me when I passed them in the halls. I discovered I could do more than just play video games. I could draw, I started listening to other songs I could listen to, and my grades began dramatically rising.
Time went on, and I had finally grown up, but even after all that time, I still could not forget about BRVR. But at least, almost all the things I did in the game, I was able to do in real life now.
But still, I had a difficult time making friends. Though I got along with others nicely enough, I was not close to them by any means.
Then I turned seventeen. I got my own money and bought a GameCube online. It'd already been used, so I didn't expect it to have the best quality. But on the bright side, it was very cheap.
When the console finally came, I was ready to relive my childhood memories. To my surprise, there were three other games along with the GameCube: Mario Sunshine, Pac-Man World 2, and Pokémon Channel.
I was taken aback because I expected to receive only the console and planned to buy the games myself. But what was weird was how they were the exact same games that came with my GameCube all those years ago. Still, I didn't complain. At least I got to save some money.
Unlike that Christmas morning, I chose to play Pokémon Channel first because of my special connection with that game. I inserted the game disc into the GameCube, grabbed the controller, and waited to relive those memories.
I selected "Continue" and saw something I had trouble believing. It had my name. Lana.
Part of me thought this was some crazy coincidence. But the other part knew it was more than that. It may have been my old GameCube. Through unbelievable dumb luck and coincidences, it made its way back to me. But I wasn't sure until I selected "Yes".
As the transition Pokéballs rolled across the screen, part of me expected to see BRVR again.
When the transition was over, I appeared to be in my room. The usual cutscene where Pikachu is asleep on top of the shelf and wakes up didn't play, but at that moment, I had almost completely forgotten about that. The only thing on my mind was BRVR. I searched around the room, but he wasn't anywhere in sight.
"De bi de? De bi dee!"
The Delibird that delivers the goods you buy from the Shop 'N Squirtle channel was at the door. I smiled warmly at the sight. I remember I bought something from that channel almost every day when I was younger. Maybe the previous owner did the same thing, and I thought they must have purchased something the last time they played. Curious about what was in the delivery, I eagerly headed for the door.
Then I heard it.
A deep moaning sound stopped me before I could reach the door. I turned the screen and saw a Pikachu crawl out from under the bed. I had never seen him climb out from underneath the bed before, except when he was searching for the Pokémon Mini at the beginning of the game. When he turned and saw me, he had a shocked expression.
Then I got a good look at him, and he looked much different. He looked beat up and depressed. I know there isn't a single model in the game that makes Pokémon look like that. Someone must've changed the game and added it themselves. Then I checked his name, and it was indeed BRVR.
Under normal circumstances, I would be pissed as hell that someone tampered with my game, but I was too shocked when I saw my old virtual friend like that.
"Hey, Brother, it's me!" I whispered, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. But instead of a joyous look and cheering, "Pika pikaa!" he gave me a furious glare.
I was confused. Why was BRVR angry? But before I could ponder the subject, the Delibird called again from the door.
Brushing off the whole incident from my thoughts, I turned and opened the door. I was comforted when the Delibird handed over the box. BRVR smiled and waved as Delibird flew off.
"A package arrived with merchandise from Shop 'N Squirtle!" I quickly pressed A as that message appeared.
I wondered what was inside as BRVR leaned inside the box and took out the items.
"You got a Pikachu TV Z! The Pikachu TV Z has been displayed."
A menacing and gruesome-looking Pikachu TV was set up, replacing my old Voltorb TV. It looked like a Pikachu head facing the camera with its jaws wide open. Inside its mouth was the TV screen with the fangs hanging over the top and bottom. It looked like the skin was tearing and ripping apart in places since the TV screen was too large for its mouth.
Whoever made the model for that had serious talent, I'll give them that, but I was surprised at how scary the TV looked.
"You got Red Wallpaper Z! The wallpaper has been displayed."
I almost jumped when the wallpaper got put up. It had a dark red background and featured multiple Pikachus with sick, twisted smiles. They each were bright red. I was beginning to worry.
"You got Pikachu Doll Z! The doll has been displayed."
I winced when I saw the morbid Pikachu placing itself on the top of one of the shelves. It had the same eerie grin as the Pikachus on the wallpaper, except with long fangs. Its eyes were small, ruby red, and dilated. The tip of its tail curved inwards like a hook, and it had sharp-looking claws.
"You got Pikachu Doll Z! The doll has been displayed."
"You got Pikachu Doll Z! The doll has been displayed."
"You got Pikachu Doll Z! The doll has been displayed."
That same sequence happened repeatedly until the entire room was full of those disturbing Pikachu dolls. They replaced all of the other dolls.
BRVR got up and looked around the room. He nodded in satisfaction and walked towards the TV. I sat in my chair, stricken with fear. Even though it had been years since I'd played the game, I knew these items were never in it.
A threatening and commanding call came from Pikachu. It sounded like he had a different voice actor. He was standing in front of the TV, glaring at me. I knew he wanted me to go over there.
I walked to the TV and turned it on. It opened to the Report channel like normal. I changed the channels but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I quickly opened up my diary, which is the start menu in this game, and clicked on the TVS tab. I chose the Voltorb TV, but as soon as I did, my diary closed, but I didn't press B. BRVR stared at me with a threatening glare and shook his head disapprovingly.
BRVR turned back to the TV and changed it to the Fortune Channel. Then, a message drifted by the bottom of the TV screen.
"Choose your cookie!"
I chose the top one like I always do. The cookie floated down into Chansey's hands and cracked open. Another message popped up.
"Do you really want to know your fortune?"
I froze. Something about that fortune seemed eerie. It appeared that the Chansey on the screen was laughing.
BRVR changed the channel again. He changed it to the relaxation channel. Instead of the fluffy Mareep, what greeted me were morbid Pikachus that looked just like the dolls jumping over the fence. I quickly pressed B and went back to the center of the room. In the past, BRVR would turn around and motion me to come back and watch it with him, but this time, he didn't seem to care.
I walked over to my old painting. A beautifully colored Jirachi surrounded by a cute Pikachu border hung against the wall. I sighed with relief. At least one thing was still normal. I took a few moments to stare at the old painting, mostly just because I didn't want to look at the gruesome wallpaper or the dolls.
"BRVR is looking at the painting too."
I pressed B, and BRVR was standing before the painting. It seemed like he had a sad expression like he was reminiscing about long-lost happy moments. He turned to me, still with the same depressed expression. He looked like he was about to cry. I felt sorry for him and wished there was something I could do to cheer him up.
BRVR approached me and asked me a question, which is normal for your Pikachu to do. But what made my blood chill was what he asked, "BRVR wants to know if you still love him." It had an O (Yes) and X (No) option.
BRVR has never asked that before. I immediately clicked O. He smiled and then bent over laughing. I was a bit confused as to why he was having a laughing fit. When he was done laughing, he looked back up at me with an evil smile. A message appeared at the top of the screen.
"You're lying."
He then turned back to watch the TV.
By this point, I didn't know what to do anymore. I knew for sure that all this wasn't supposed to be happening. I thought that maybe if I restarted my GameCube, everything would return to normal. I got up and reached for the restart button, but when I pressed it, nothing happened. I did it again, and still nothing.
"The game cannot be reset right now."
My heart skipped a beat. After dumbly staring at the screen for a solid minute, I sat back down and decided I would continue playing.
"Might as well see where this goes..." I whispered to myself.
I just looked around the room for about a minute. Aside from the wallpaper, dolls, and TV, everything was about the same. I tried to smile while looking at the old Pokémon Mini and posters, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. The cutesy and cheerful music made the room darker and more disturbing. It looked as if all of the morbid dolls had their eyes focused on me, like they were about to spring to life and eat me alive.
Another message appeared.
"BRVR wants to go outside."
Before I could do anything, BRVR went outside, and the game forced me to follow him.
I was not prepared for what I saw next.
The sky was crimson with dark clouds swirling in it. There were patches of fire scattered across the lawn, all the plants were dead, and the grass was an ugly brown. That sight was painful to look at.
BRVR moved around, then turned to me and flashed a toothy smile. He walked up to me, and a message appeared on the screen.
"Do you like what I did to the game?"
I stopped to stare at the screen and be sure I wasn't seeing things. Messages like that are never in the first person.
I clicked X, and BRVR's sick grin deepened even more. He walked over to the garden. Two plants were fully grown and had strange-looking fruits. I don't know what they were, but they were throbbing and had greenish-brown mold. BRVR plucked one and started to eat it. It was disgusting to watch. I tried to turn away from the gruesome sight, but something glued my eyes to the screen.
After taking his time, BRVR ate the other "fruit." Once he finished, he smiled wickedly again and leaped out of the garden. Again, I had no choice but to follow him.
BRVR was done messing around outside and went straight inside. I'd hoped we would just stay inside and do nothing. But he wasn't done showing me the world he had created yet. Almost as soon as we went inside, BRVR went immediately to the back door. Guess who was forced to follow yet again?
When we went outside, it wasn't as bad as the front lawn, much to my relief, but the sky was still an ominous crimson. When I tried to go back inside, BRVR wouldn't let me. He would just turn and give a disapproving head shake. The Viridian Forest bus pulled up, and BRVR walked up to it without me even clicking on it. The transition played, the bus riding over the map to the Viridian forest, but when arrived, the whole forest was on fire.
Carcasses of other Pokémon were lying everywhere as the trees wildly burned, their bodies charred black by the flames. BRVR seemed unaffected by the blazing fire.
Then he ran over to the bell that started the Pokémon concert. Instead of Clefairies, those morbid Pikachu toys appeared around BRVR. Using the bells, they played the most haunting and blood-chilling tune I had ever heard. I was awestruck. It sounded so beautiful, yet so horrifying. It was high-pitched and made my ears ache, but I was in a trance and couldn't think to turn the volume down. After a few minutes, the play was finally over.
Glancing around, BRVR seemed satisfied with the burning forest and headed back toward the bus. Again, I was forced to stand outside my house while I awaited whatever horrors BRVR would make me see. I thought he would want to take the Mt. Snowfall bus, but he had other ideas. He just let that bus pass by. Instead, he decided to take the bus to Cobalt Coast next.
The beach was littered with algae, dead fish, and piles of garbage with flies buzzing around them. The ocean was green and polluted. It looked just so ugly.
Then, a look of desolation swept over his face. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, so I used the c stick to pet him, but as soon as the cursor touched him, his angry look returned. He ran over to the fishing area, and I unwillingly followed behind.
BRVR stood on his rock and cast his fishing line into the green ocean, waiting for a bite. I did nothing, for there was nothing I could do, but he turned and gave me a menacing glare like I was supposed to be helping him.
That's when I remembered the bait. I clicked on the jar labeled bait, but instead of a chocolate-glazed doughnut, I got a ball full of maggots and earthworms. Things like that had always made me feel squeamish. And the fact that I could see them squirming and pulsating and hearing them make those wet, disgusting noises didn't help.
Nauseous and full-on creeped out, I quickly tossed it into the ocean. Shortly afterward, BRVR caught something on his line. With a great yank, the creature came flying out of the ocean.
It looked like an oversized, dark purple Magikarp, but it was foaming at the mouth and had spikes and green gashes all over its body. Parts of its scales had been scraped away, exposing muscle underneath, and some parts of its flesh looked to have been eaten, leaving bones sticking out. It flopped around and gasped for air while emitting disturbing, gurgling sounds.
I threw up in my mouth when I saw it. BRVR turned to me and grinned. He slowly climbed down from the rock, taking as much time as possible to let the wretched creature suffer that much more. Then he started to eat it while it was still alive.
I covered my mouth as I watched the gruesome sight. Strangely, the thought of turning the game off didn't cross my mind. I wish I'd thought about it sooner.
Once he finished his meal, he turned to me and smiled a happy, playful smile. I couldn't believe this was once my close virtual friend that I looked forward to seeing every day after school.
After... THAT, BRVR cheerfully skipped along the beach back to the bus stop, singing, "Pi ka, Pi ka chu~" in a deep, raspy voice. It was uncanny, and BRVR's merriment made the situation that much more horrifying. While waiting for the Mt. Snowfall bus, BRVR stood in the middle of the walkway as he stared at me.
Then, another message appeared at the top of the screen.
"I know who you are."
My blood ran cold when that message appeared at the top of the screen. Was the guy who changed my game sending me messages through that game? Do they know who I am?
I watched as BRVR cast a sick, wicked grin that stretched from cheek to cheek, slightly confirming my suspicion. The Mt. Snowfall bus finally arrived. I don't know if I was happy at the sight or petrified at the thought of facing another gruesome scene.
Same thing as before: Innocent transitions, not-so-innocent sights. Frostbitten carcasses lay strewn out ingloriously across the frozen land, most half-buried in snow. This area had a more sad atmosphere than a morbid one. BRVR slowly walked over to where Kecleon and Jigglypuff would usually sing, but since they were both buried under the snow, who knows where he took their place?
BRVR sang the most beautiful yet saddest song I had ever heard. It changed from the new deep voice to that of his voice actress. His harmonious voice sounded like violins playing the most tear-jerking tune I had ever heard. He had a melancholic expression while singing the tune. I couldn't control the tears while he sang. My heart broke in two listening to this sorrowful melody.
After a few minutes, BRVR finally finished. He looked me in the eye before quickly turning away and running towards the second half of Mt. Snowfall.
We stood in front of the Ruins of Truth. For many moments, BRVR simply stood still while staring at the ruins. Then he glanced at me and ran inside. It was jet black inside, like it was supposed to be. He used a thunderbolt to light the electric flowers, which caused the entire ruins to light up.
All along the walls, ceiling, and floors were names written on the surfaces. I recognized them. They belonged to my parents, some of my classmates, my favorite teacher, and some of my other family members.
BRVR walked over to the other side of the ruins where the True or False tablet stood. I had no choice but to click on it.
"You let BRVR to rot alone in this virtual world. True or False?"
Whoever changed the game certainly knew how to push my buttons. I didn't abandon BRVR willingly. That game always knew how to cheer me up. Because of my emotional dependency on it, I adopted an unhealthy behavior, and my parents had no choice but to step in. But in the process, BRVR was handed to a terrible person.
I slapped myself across the face. What was I thinking?? Pokémon Channel was just a game, and BRVR was just a bunch of moving pixels made only to entertain children. I wasn't supposed to devote my life to them. They weren't real. I took a minute to ponder my last statement: they weren't real. I thought about all the things the person did to scare me. And it was.
I selected O for true, because it was. I admitted to abandoning BRVR and leaving him alone to rot. Instead of the tablet sinking back into the ground, it glowed green as if the game agreed with my answer. The screen did not fade to black like expected. Instead, another text appeared.
"You are afraid and alone. True or False?"
I selected O without thinking, even though I probably would've answered otherwise if I had time to process it. And then more questions appeared.
"Your parents are about to divorce. True or False?"
"You are self-conscious about your appearance. True or False?"
"A bully locked you in the bathroom in grade school. True or False?"
"You're crushing on three boys in your class. True or False?"
"Worms repulse you. True or False?"
"You keep a dream journal. True or False?"
The more questions came, the more I was having trouble staying calm. I finally lost it. Those were deeply personal things that I never shared with anyone, and every one of them was true! Someone had stalked me for God knows how long, and now they rubbed it in my face with the thing I cherished most.
Finally, everything started to fade into black, except for BRVR. He stood in the center of the screen, sporting that toothy grin. One more message appeared.
"I'll see you soon, Lana."
Then, his grin slowly widened and became more grotesque as I heard a loud ringing sound from the speakers. Finally, I steeled myself, got up, and unplugged the GameCube. I put the console back in the box and threw it out the window.
I shouldn't have done that, but I was too scared to think straight, so I did it in the heat of the moment. Regardless, I locked my door and window. I sat in my bed the whole evening and cried because I was afraid for my own safety. Eventually, I became tired and finally fell asleep.
I'm writing this post because I know that not even a locked door or window can save me. When I woke up this morning, I saw a Pikachu Doll Z at the foot of my bed with a note beside it:
"You look so nice when you sleep."