Drowned Sapphire

I searched &quot;Pokemon Sapphire 2&quot; on Ebay, hoping for a sequel, but of course not. So, I just bought a normal Sapphire game. It was surprisingly 5 dollars, so I thought it was a great deal! I already had Ruby, but I started hearing about Sapphire being much better. About 1 week later, the Sapphire game was here! I almost squealed in excitement knowing that I would play the &quot;better&quot; version of the two. However, when I opened the box, the cartridge was just a blue game with a piece of paper that said &quot;Drowned Sapphire&quot; with a skull at the bottom corner. Probaby a sick joke from whoever sold this to me.

I turned on the GBA when it was in the slot, but it just stayed white for a long time so I restarted. After about 1 minute of loading, a flash of static came and the game finally came up. I almost screamed at what I saw. It was a mangled sprite of Kyogre under the word &quot;SAPPHIRE&quot; in drippy red font. I almost switched it off when I saw the title screen, but now I was caught by morbid curiosity. I moved on to see the used profile. The name was 731, and there was a sprite next to it that looked normal except the eyes were red. When I started the file to see where the previous user had left off. Surprisingly I was in Lavender Town. Not only that, but the original theme was playing. I shuddered at memories, because someone had sold me a japanese Pokemon Green cartridge a couple years ago. I played on, trying to ignore the music. I turned the volume down, but it turned louder when I did that. Sighing, I went to the Pokemon team. Naturally the first one was Kyogre named DROWNED. Great, now I knew this was a hack. Next was a Groudon named BLOOD. The third one was a Rayquaza named DEATH.

I then got a text message on my phone. I almost screamed (yes, again) when I heard the tone because I wasn't expecting anyone messaging me. Relieved, I checked the message just to be alarmed again by huge, red words that said CHECK THE SUMMARY... and then the same title screenshot at the beginning. I shut off the phone and looked at the summary.

I wished I hadn't.

Kyogre's cry played, but it was very demented as if a man was screaming with it. The sprite was awful as well. Kyogre's left fin was half torn off, with hyper-realistic blood all over it as if you could feel it on the screen. Both of its eyes were just dark voids, and it had a demented, fanged smile across its face. Not to mention its color was a sick gray. I moved on to Groudon, the Lavender Town theme seeming to drill into my thoughts. Its cry was mixed with Kyogre's but with a bubbling sound in it. Its eyes were black with red irises. The mouth was the same demented smile as Kyogre's except they were covered with more hyper-realistic blood on some fangs. Half of its head was gone and its brain was showing, implying that the skull was gone, too. It only had one leg. It was also the same gray as Kyogre except it was darker. Now used to the theme song, I went to Rayquaza.

A horrible mistake. Its sprite was actually animated. It was black like a shiny Rayquaza, the gold parts were replaced by blood, and the animation was of it actually KILLING Kyogre and Groudon with blood-covered claws. Before it laid a claw on Groudon I closed the summary.

I didn't dare look at the trainer card, so I went into the Pokemon Tower because it was the only place that wasn't blocked by a pile of dead NPC players. I ventured through and on the 3rd floor I went to battle. It was White Hand. Knowing the rumors, I figuired what was on top. I ran back to the entrance, only to be teleported back to the 3rd floor. Sighing, I moved on. On the first step music from the radio in the Ruins of Alph played. Very spooked, I moved to the top floor. When I moved to where the Marowak ghost was supposed to be, Some text played...

BA: You're... here.

BA: I'm lonely...

BA: So very lonely...

BA: Won't you join me?

A battle started, and on the other side there was a sprite of what looked like a zombie struggling out of the ground. &quot;Buried Alive wants to battle!&quot; Knowing he would have a Gengar, a Muk, and two White Hand, I plowed through them all with Rayquaza who knew Perish Song. Rayquaza kept battling with zero health. Buried Alive slided onscreen. A surprising script popped up.

BA: Any last words, EMMA?

I froze. That's my real name! Gulping, I used Perish Song. Too late. Buried Alive just randomly knocked out all of them in one turn. I knew what the next line would be.

BA: Finally, Fresh meat!

It ended with a screenshot of the boy player's mangled face. No eyes, brain showing, some skin peeled off. I tore it out of the slot and burned it in the fireplace. If you ever find a cartridge that says &quot;Drowned Sapphire&quot; on it, don't ever play it. Buried Alive is waiting...