July 31st, 2025

The ethereal glow of the computer screen offset the overall darkness that occupied my room. Truthfully, it was relatively late in the night. My sister had gone to bed an hour ago and my parents just turned out their lights. However, I was staying up extra late; the server will finally be unlocked worldwide.

I glanced up at my alarm clock, which sits conveniently on a night stand near my low-standing bed. The defined numbers, bolded with thick, red coloration, read 11:56. A small little PM indication hangs off the side of the eight. I smile—two more minutes until I can finally relive the beautiful game I played before.

First, let me explain. Out of the three million applications sent to Game Freak's recent Pokémon sweepstakes, only about 500 people got to play Pokémon's first VRMMORPG spinoff demo. Somehow, I was one of the lucky few picked. The only requirements to win the sweepstakes were to own a Nintendo Vii and have an account on Pokémon's official website. The Nintendo Vii is, of course, an innovation of the regular Wii from the earlier 2000s, but it now includes the virtual reality concept introduced by the Oculus Rift. With the hookup, the Nintendo Vii could send the user into an almost-perfect world that feels just as real as the one we live in today.

As I was in an upper class family, my parents had no problem buying me the Nintendo Vii the day it came out. The first games were poorly crafted; the recently-released Unova remakes are still full of bugs after several months. However, Game Freak is not involved directly with this particular spinoff. A new company—called True Reality—has taken over control to give us an exciting game with even more possibilities: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Online.

And as a beta-tester for the game, I knew all the nooks and crannies. Most of the concepts of the past PMD games were the same—belly, IQ, move sets, dungeons—but there were striking advances made for this particular game. You were the Pokémon, like before, but this time you actually were the Pokémon. This game did not have a single player mode, either; it's an MMO, which means everyone is going to collaborate together. Teammates weren't limited to NPCs—they're your actual friends. You created your own guilds and teams and explored in groups of two to six. The game was fascinating. The Arkaés region was full of dungeons you had to beat together, so cooperation was a must.

I don't know how many dungeons there were in the game, but my friends and I beat the ninth dungeon boss the last day the demo was playable. What happens after the last boss is also a mystery to me, but the thrill of becoming a Pokémon was absolutely amazing.

With now only three minutes left on the clock, I turned back to my computer screen after going over all the basics in my head. My computer still displayed the chat I had with my fellow beta-testing friends. One of them, BoyBuizel, posted a message of anticipation.

"Get ready, Rio!"

Buizel was the character he played in the beta. Though we were in a party of six, the two of us were much closer than any of the others. I learned recently that he lived about 45 minutes from my town of Salinas, California. We yearned to meet each other at some point, but with everything so busy the past few days, we lost track of time.

I glanced back over at my clock to see 11:59 PM in the anticipating red lettering. I turn on the game console and put the Nintendo Vii—which is a helmet (in order to persuade the senses of in-game reality)—over my head. I press the small power button and close my eyes. The menu is present in front of my eyes and I see the small PMD:O icon still being labeled as "unreleased." I refreshed the screen multiple times. Refresh, unreleased. Refresh, unreleased. I almost turn it off to message the others when the game suddenly opens itself up without my authority. Startled, I wondered if it's a bug or an update.

The screen froze for a moment, but soon a gray message box popped out in front of me. It required the usual words that all Vii games require—the vocal command:

"Game start!" I whispered.

Suddenly, my own mind went numb as the game opened itself up and my imagination slipped away into the technology. The Nintendo background rocketed itself toward my eyes with a pulsating, almost hypnotic effect. I found myself falling into a tube of color, of pixels, and finally let myself go into the familiar beginning of "game start."

My senses kicked in as I found myself standing on a small white circle in the middle of black nothingness. Suddenly, a light blue screen popped up in front of my face. It began with statements about my account and its relevance to the game.

"We have recorded your beta test progress and thank you for your dedication," it read. I scrolled down further.

"Because of your participation, you are awarded the choice of your Pokémon for the first run-through of the game."

It suddenly changed to one of the loading screens with the circle spinning endlessly. It loads my name, my age, and my gender. Soon after, another screen appeared—the Pokémon choosing screen.

The concept was unique. Other than legendary Pokémon and evolved forms of Pokémon, you could be anything you wanted—a Bulbasaur, a Cleffa, a Clauncher. However, I noticed some of the Pokémon choices were blank. As I scrolled through, I realized most of the starters were already gone. Eevee had the fraction 5/8 next to its name. With some panic, I slid my fingers against the screen until I got into the 400s in National Pokédex order. I stopped scrolling as the screen's dial spins the numbers. 426, 434, 440, 442, 443. I slightly moved the arrow one last time to point to the number 447—the Emanation Pokémon.

"Your choice is Riolu?" the screen read. I pressed the confirmation button and three different buttons appeared on the screen.

I read the choices: Inner Focus, Steadfast, and Prankster. These three abilities were at my selection? I clicked the words "Inner Focus" and the screen drew a blank, but it eventually showed the loading sign once again.

One final message stated that my Pokémon had not been chosen yet. However, I thought more than one person could be a certain Pokémon…had the concept changed? If it had, then it would severely limit the amount of players on the server. I dismissed the idea as I dematerialized from the small chamber I selected from.

. . .

I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands. They weren't hands; in fact, they weren't human. My hands were replaced by blue paws. The look was familiar, however the transformation still left me breathless. I feel of my ears, though they felt floppy like a puppy's. My feet were similar—I was a bipedal dog Pokémon.

Of course I had been Riolu in the beta, but that was by random generation. I never really knew about my Pokémon until I became him; after all, I preferred Normal-type Pokémon like Lillipup or Munchlax. After experiencing Riolu's abilities, I knew he was going to be my choice today. I'm a lovable puppy that evolves into a powerhouse. Chicks dig strong dogs, right?

I sat in the grass for a while. Looking around, I was in the same woods that the beta starts off in. However, this area's one of the only user-only areas in the game. I guessed it was for everyone to get used to being a Pokémon, but I just enjoyed taking in the scenery before the action started. I smelled the fresh air, which reminded me of the garden my mom tended to in her spare time. Tomorrow is her birthday, so I cannot stay up too late playing PMD:O, but I could at least get the basics down.

I put my paw into the saturated grass and lifted myself off the ground. Though it was nighttime at home, it is always daylight in the beginning stage. Otherwise, real time is used to correlate with day/night. I walked over to a small pond and looked at my reflection in the mirrored water. A dark mask of black circled my eyes and curved off at my nose, while a yellow collar hid my throat. My eyes looked fierce and brown, just like in real life. The resemblance was rather unfamiliar than in the beta, where you could tell everything was fake. Apart from the Pokémon themselves, the game seemed so alive. I smiled at the natural surroundings, and even though I knew the companies were just showing off their virtual reality right here, I couldn't help but be impressed. The Arkaés region was just so breathtaking when you actually focus on that sort of thing.

I walked over to a brown gate and a small screen popped up:

"Do you need a tutorial before you begin?" it asked.

I declined the offer and walk into my first town: Fountainhead City. As I passed through the gates, I felt strange upon entering the first city. Something seemed off, though the town itself hadn't changed.

The city was divided in four quadrants, and roads distinctively set the boundaries for each area. In the middle of the town stood this large, multi-level water fountain. It was easily several hundred feet in the air. Several Water-type Pokémon, such as a Feebas and a Psyduck, splashed around in the base of the fountain. The water flowed so realistically; I heard its genuinely calm trickling and cool atmosphere. I walked up to the gigantic fountain of marble and dipped my paw into its water. The sensation was so amazing—the beta still had little idiosyncrasies that just seemed off. This time around, though, it was almost perfect. Almost.

Around the city, bird Pokémon flew and chattered as they appreciated their alternate reality. I admired the tall buildings and noted the Kecleon-ran Pokémart stationed in one of the corners. In another corner was the infamous Duskull Bank, which I always suspected to have stolen some of my money back in beta. Other shops and gyms were available straight away, however I had to get to the meeting place for my gang of friends.

I started to run away from the fountain and sped toward the southern gate of town. I stop at the gate's boundaries and look around. None of the others have arrived yet? Something seemed off. As I began to walk away from the tall arching sign for town, I decided to check the first dungeon to see if they waited there instead. In this game, the edge of town was a portal to the next floor, but still the first Pokémon dungeon.

That's how the world was set up: one floor was a town, the next was a series of dungeon floors that lead up to the second town. If there were ten towns, then the tenth would be on floor 19, with the tenth dungeon on floor twenty.

I stepped into the portal and got beamed to the dungeon's first floor. I opened my eyes and saw the familiar setting of the Tiny Woods. With little trees setting the boundaries of my movement, I knew exactly where to go and how to get there. The only issue was the location of the checkpoint, which is this version's equivalent of the dungeon's stairs. It was a small circle with a green beam slightly emanating from its position. I looked around quickly for both the beam and my friends, but neither were around. I turn to leave, but soon hear the desperate plea for help.

"Somebody!" a voice screeched.

I closed my eyes and gave a pitiful smirk. The poor guy was suffering from the first floor dungeon. How pathetic, right? Nevertheless, I quickly ran through the starting area and into the second, where I see a Fire-type starter running from one of the beginning Rattata. His eyes grew wide when he saw me and quickly hid behind me.

"Please, help me, Riolu!" he said with intensity.

Before I asked him how he knew my name, I gave myself an internal face-palm. I'm a Riolu. I smiled at my ignorance and quickly encountered the Rattata in battle. Both of us were at level one. While that could sound difficult, many Pokémon worked together on this floor in the beta, so it was easy to finish quick with a few level-ups.

"Okay," I began. "I'll Quick Attack and you use your best move."

The Pokémon, an orange chimp, frowned. "What?"

I paused and looked him over. His green cursor, which demonstrated both his human-operated actions and his clean slate in regard to the legality of the game, was already evident without noticing it above his head. The frightened look and unsure attitude indicated he was new to the game.

I wiped my forehead as the Rattata stared me down. It has a small red cursor above it, signalling the fact that it was a monster and not a player. Now, Pokémon wouldn't normally wait on a first move, but this was the first floor and we're allowed to talk strategy. As such, I turned to the Pokémon one last time.

"If you're a Chimchar," I continued, "then you use your Scratch attack when I tell you to, alright?"

Chimchar nodded with optimism. "Got it!"

With one space between myself and the Rattata, I used Quick Attack and knocked into it despite being out of regular range. The Pokémon took few points of damage, but I nodded for Chimchar to do a follow-up Scratch attack from the side. The Rattata then shot at us with a Tackle attack and I dodged it by hitting with another Quick Attack. Chimchar used Scratch on its hide to knock it out, and I finished the foe with one last use of my priority move. With that being my only move, I have no STAB to get a boost from. From the experience, we both leveled up one and I guided Chimchar out of the dungeon and back to the safety of Fountainhead City.

. . .

We teleported back through the gates and Chimchar falls over from the relief. He quickly scrambled back to his feet and shook my hand vigorously.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved my life! What's your name?" he said with a little too much enthusiasm.

I flinched from the eagerness in his voice. "Just call me Riolu," I remarked. "You know, it's smarter to wait for, or make some, friends before going off into the dungeon. It doesn't matter right now since you'll just be beamed back near the fountain, but in the later dungeons, and even the later floors, you need to team up with people. Even the lower floors have Monster Houses now, you know," I smiled.

"What? You must be one of those beta testers!" he grinned. "Thank you for the information! Do you have any room in your party to include me?"

My smile faded. My party actually was reserved by five other people, which reached the maximum capacity for Pokémon parties. I'm just waiting for some people.

"Sorry," I murmured. "I'm waiting on five friends to come online. I do hope we'll get to work together at the front lines, though!" I said with some perkiness in it.

"Front lines? Do you mean like on the back of the game cover? The people who 'raid' those boss rooms? Do you think I could do something like that?" Chimchar asked, his flaming tail burning bright.

"Of course," I laughed. "Anyone can since there isn't any danger to it. If we fail at the raid, we just get everyone back together and teleport back to the door. It's no big deal."

The two of us exchanged a few more comments and parted ways. Technically, he left me at the gates while he went to go recruit friends. I stayed in hopes that my friends would eventually come. I quickly clicked in the air and summoned a Main Menu screen. I scrolled through the options to check the time. It was 12:04 AM. All that happened in four short minutes? I scrolled all the way down to where the logout button is and figured I'd catch up to the others later.

"Huh?" I whispered.

For some reason, the logout button from the beta mode was gone. I looked through all of the other settings, the bag, the tactics, etc. Nothing was there. I quickly ran back over to where people were at. I saw a familiar friend from the beta test—none other than Buizel himself— screaming at Fletchling as they raced to where I was just located. I greeted them and exchanged a few words really quick.

Buizel, an orange-colored sea otter, was my best online friend. He was clumsy and forgetful, but his humor makes up for everything. Fletchling was cool, too, but he couldn't always keep that cool. He had temper tantrums every now and then. The two were the other attackers in our party, though I was the main offense with my Force Palm back in beta.

"Guys, do you have a logout button?" I asked desperately.

Buizel quickly shook his head. "That's what we were gonna tell you, Rio. It's gone!"

"It's just a bug," Fletchling snapped. He fluttered his wings in crazy impatience. "But I'm missing sleep! We were going on a trip to Florida tomorrow and now I'm going to be all cranky."

Buizel and I exchanged smirks. We were obviously thinking about Fletchling's anger already, and an especially ill one would yield lethal results. As I glanced up at the fountain out of mere coincidence, I noticed the bottom section of marble began to glow in an in-between of white and light yellow. Suddenly, the second and third sections followed the pattern and the top portions began to light up and exhibited a mystical glow. The sky soon flashed white and the clouds began swirling above the fountain. Pokémon were being teleported straight to the fountain's base and were looking up. I noticed Shieldon, Budew, and Whismur eventually caught up to us, completing our party of six. We huddled closer together as we looked inside the far-above funnel cloud that reaches the heavens of the first floor.

A white orb of energy soon descended from the clouds and stopped at the tip of the fountain. The ball of light exploded into the beautiful appearance of a coveted Pokémon. Its white body was edged with gold along the legs, and its forehead assumed a similar color. Around its midsection was a golden "X" formation that circled the body. Either side of the "X" featured a golden curve that intersected the two lines to create a shape almost like a crossed out pair of parentheses. This Pokémon could be nothing else but a god, or God himself.

"Hello," the masculine voice said with a booming intensity, "and welcome to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Online. You may have noticed that the logout button is not currently available."

I sighed in relief as I realized the developers are merely making a patch. Of course they made some sort of grand explanation rather than having us force-close the game and start all over again. This also made the game very realistic.

"This is not a bug," he continued.

What? I blinked in disbelief.

"This VRMMORPG I created was designed to present the ultimate gaming challenge towards Pokémon lovers—living the lives of the Pokémon you captured and trained in the regular games. Whether you were a beta tester and got to choose your Pokémon or just had a randomly generated avatar, you now have to play as that Pokémon and complete the entire game."

I, along with Buizel and many others, gasped at the announcement. Complete the entire game? Even my party of six, which were the strongest frontline members of the beta test, could only make it past the ninth boss in the span of a month. How are we supposed to make it this far now?

"You cannot escape this reality alive until you defeat the game…which means that if you are to die in battle, you will die in the real world. Disconnection from the Nintendo Vii will result in the destruction of your brain."

Hundreds of Pokémon were completely silent. What does that mean? We're stuck in here to die?

After sensing the thick remorse spreading through the air, the game developer continued. "That is correct, the sensory connectors to the brain are fully-functioned to shock you to your death. Do not be alarmed, though. Tomorrow morning, the world will know to keep these devices on until you defeat all 49 dungeons and dare to challenge me to a duel in the very last. Tomorrow afternoon, I will allow your bodies to be carried to the hospital, but know that not even the best doctors or hackers can remove this device without causing internal damages."

The details flew around in my head for several seconds. If we were stuck in the game, how would winning cause our release? Was that all just a cover so he could watch us play? I reminded myself we didn't even make it to the tenth dungeon in the beta.

"If you want to waste your time away forcing Pokémon to battle in 'competitive' tiers without even appreciating the finest peculiarities each game explores, then you will waste your own life as one of those Pokémon battling by force. Rest up, gamers. There are less than 400 of you—one for each Pokémon, and a few exceptional multiples exist to cover every evolution. No final evolution is the same. It is rare to find two of the same basic forms. Make your teams well, trainers, because by the end of this game, either you win or you die. It is your call."

After the speech ended, the godly creature went back up into the atmosphere. There was no Q&A session, no lively conversational atmosphere. He was gone. He left over three hundred Pokémon clueless and afraid, myself included. There was no doubt the beta testers were planning to take over the markets and buy everything they could. There was no doubt the newbies were going to panic in a frenzy and miss out on all the items. The only doubt I had was in what I was going to do. Luckily, I had a party to back me up through the game. We're an unstoppable force. We knew how to start everything off. And until the tenth dungeon boss, we knew how to fight every monster. We were living in a nerd's paradise—a video game apocalypse.

I turned my group of five friends. Shieldon was glancing toward the ground, Budew and Whismur were huddled together, Fletchling was squawking around, and Buizel was picking in his ear. I scrunched my eyes and thought hard about the process to escaping the game. I opened my menu screen and saw I had 1000 Poké that served as the default amount for beginners. I opened up the "gift" menu and sent 100 of my Poké to my orange weasel friend.

"What's that for?" he asked.

I looked around Fountainhead City. Pokémon were running around screaming, some running into the dungeon already. How much longer until the first boss would be defeated? Buizel caught onto my thinking and nodded his head.

"Guys," he said, "give me 100 Poké to cover the cost of lodging. We're going to be stuck here for a few days."

As the others readied their menus, I took over the explanation.

"A party-sized apartment is 200 Poké a night. We have a total now for a month's worth of rent. The developers did that on purpose. However, we aren't staying here a month. It will take us three days tops. Therefore, we may as well give 100 each to go ahead and afford three days of rent. The rest will be used for food and supplies. We are getting out of this," I shouted.

The five others shouted in agreement. Buizel took the money and hurried toward the apartments to buy one while he still could. I looked at the others and smiled weakly. Fletchling, the usual snob, was actually sobbing on the ground—and not because of his temper. He was scared. I shifted my focus to the other three members of my team, the ones that were late to the meeting.

"Shieldon, I want you to find out how to get a Defense Scarf as fast as you can. Budew, you need a Zinc Scarf. Whismur, just find a good berry. Do you all understand? We'll switch items up later, but we need defense on these early floors."

The three of them nod. Shieldon banged his shielded face on the ground. "I just hope it doesn't end up too hard. I can handle both defenses, but I have a four-times weakness," he frowned.

I thought about mentioning how his typing granted him two deadly weaknesses, Ground and Fighting, but the effort would just be wasted. Shieldon's impeccable defense in the first floors, and especially in the mid floors, caused his usefulness to skyrocket. Normal-types were common in the beta test. My STAB and his typing meant the two of us could cover both grounds easily, but we still had quite a few skirmishes we screwed up. Even with Buizel, a powerhouse in his own right, we're severely limited. That's why this game has parties of six and not four—we need every type we can get. Budew's typing matched Shieldon's decently, plus her special defense made for a strategic move. Budew also absorbed the status moves most of the time. Natural Cure was so amazingBuizel and I were the clearers, Fletchling was the switch-in backup, and Budew and Shieldon were the defenders. Our team was a strategy of its own. This was what made our beta progress so strong.

"A berry?" Whismur whispered. "What kind of berry do I need? What kind of berry would work in this situation?"

My grin barely held through. Whismur was a last-minute addition to our team. As Buizel's little sister, she was definitely accepted without question, but the problem was that she joined towards the end of the game. She mainly took an attack for us and fainted so we could keep going. It isn't that both of them got the beta pass; that would be too fortunate. She found out her friend from eighth grade had the code and never used it. When Buizel had her join, we were stuck with her. But now, this is a dangerous game. We can't let petty differences restrict people from staying alive…but we also couldn't have dead weight.

"Preferably an Oran Berry," I said, stretching the corners my closed mouth as far up as my muscles would allow. I had to be nice to her so she wouldn't be afraid. I at least owe that to Buizel.

"I'm worried about the new players," Budew said innocently. She was just a year older than me, but she acted more mature than the typical seventeen-year-old girl. "They don't know how to play a game like this—not a virtual one."

Budew was always the caring one. She's a destined healer; she trained so hard to reach the right level for Aromatherapy in the beta. When we get up in the further dungeons, her skills will be much more appreciated.

I put on a more serious face. "We won't let them die. We're getting out of this. I'll tell you what—you guys go check out what Buizel got us and I'll pay for the food," I offered.

Fletchling flew up and darted toward the large buildings in one of the town's corners. Budew led the others through the crowd and I moved in the opposite direction. Apples were sold for 25 Poké each—not bad if you buy three a day, but if you're a guild, you have to have sufficient funds from everyone.

I walked in between herds of panicked newbies. As a level two, I knew I was going to be training all day tomorrow for the first boss. I have to be level six at least to get a decent number on the very first dungeon boss. With only Quick Attack at my disposal, my knockout streak won't be happening for a while. I ran further on until I finally see them—the Kecleon brothers. One of them was primarily green, but the other was a shiny purple. They had been in so many Mystery Dungeon games before that I was happy to see them return to PMD:O. There was a long line of people in the front of the store. Many newbies were shaking, some checking menus, and others looking over the shoulders of those checking their menus.

As a beta tester, I knew one of the quiet glitches we abused and never reported. I walked to the very edge of the small Kecleon shop, a building shaped appropriately to its owners' heads. I turned at a forty-five degree angle and tapped on the green Kecleon's right arm. As if two Kecleon were occupying one space, one of the characters turned to its right; the NPC's head was in two places on its neck.

"How may I help you?" it asked.

I glanced to see everyone still busy minding their own businesses. I quickly clicked the "Apple" button and clicked the quantity up to six. I was charged and ran off into the decaying sunlight without a single person in sight watching me.

. . .

In the shadows, a creature slowly moved out on all fours. It scurries over to where the Riolu had just recently touched a shop owner on the right arm. Its interest perked, it does the same command.

"How may I help you?" The same incident.

Suddenly, the insect Pokémon sensed someone nearby. It quickly closed the menu and acted surprised.

"Hey, buddy, what are you doing with Kecleon? Is that a glitch?" a Tauros roared with curiosity.

The new glitch abuser smiled. "Sir, I do not know what happened. I was just trying to get his attention."

The Tauros's eyes narrowed. "That's an NPC. They don't respond casually. You wait in line and get the same treatment as everyone else. I'm going to report this glitch and see if I can get outta this prison!"

The Bug-type nodded in approval and quickly slipped back into the alleyway shadows. After a last glance to watch for followers, he grinned ear to ear and laughed to himself quietly. He had just witnessed a character cheat the game. This Pokémon was special—he's adamant and risky. This Riolu was worth monitoring until the time came.

. . .

I made my final sprints be enough to finally make it near the temporary home. I got a message from Buizel saying that he reserved a small two-floor building in a line of identical houses. We were house twenty-three. Once I made it to the twentieth house, I started walking. Each house had a red roof with white support beams leading to the ground. There were a few stairs leading up to each house and a green front door to a white-painted house. Although the houses were cheaply made of wood, they were counted as buildings and were therefore soundproof to the regular ear. I strolled up to house 23 and smiled at the group of five talking and laughing amid the town's displeasure. If I were to be trapped in any death game, this would definitely be my pick.

I heard the scurrying of feet and turned around. A familiar face greeted mine right at the edge of my home. The Pokémon was a baby chick, and I knew exactly who she was by her speed boost. She had orange-colored feathers and yellow-tipped wings. However, she primarily ran. Torchic was a friend of mine from the beta, yet friend is a limited term. She was infamous back then because of her knowledge, and even worse because she made profits from it. She sold information and was tipped when spreading the message between two anonymous players. Torchic was the friend you could never trust but didn't mind being around.

"Hey, Rio," she said calmly. "I see your party's back together. Good for you."

I nodded. "I just wish we were playing as an option, not by force. Are you still in information selling?"

Torchic smiled. "I'll sell you that information for 300 Poké!"

I laughed. Of course I didn't like her, not like that. Still, though, she was witty and outgoing. It was a pity that she liked risking her life—especially now that her life could actually end because of it.

She looked inside the lit house and watched how it almost seemed to brighten up the whole city. "Rio," she whispered.

I acknowledge her and similarly viewed my happy friends conversing. I knew what she was going to say, but I let her say it anyway.

"Huh?"

"I haven't seen many people like you so far. We need you for the front lines. You and your party are the best we've got! Rio, we don't stand a chance without you," she sniveled. Her eyes began to tear up.

Her breakdown was a jab in the back. Reality was panging away at my back with a hammer. The shock brought me to my senses. The pain I was feeling was a pain I'd never experienced…not today, not in the beta.

My heart sank. Tomorrow's my mother's birthday. I had just bought her the brand new curling iron she had admired in the store. I may never give her that curling iron now. New Reality—the company responsible—has taken away my family, my life. My friends were happy now, but what about in the future? On Thanksgiving? Christmas? On a birthday? What happens when we start dying?

I looked to see Torchic had left. I walked up to the steps of the building and held onto one of the support beams. I looked to see Buizel telling some hilarious story, just for him to slip when reenacting the scene and causing everyone to laugh. I glanced down at my paw once again. This reality…this would be it. Anything can happen. One slip up could lead to death. This game, this game of death, was now a harsh reality.

"Rio, we don't stand a chance without you."

I opened my mouth to speak to no one.

"You better be ready, New Reality. You're in my territory now."

With that, I regained my calmness, knocked on the front door, and joined my happy friends with a bag full of dinner. The apples tasted sweeter than I remembered. The night was fun and endearing; very few memories would live up to the happiness I felt that very first night.