Author's Note: If this sounds familiar at all, it is not plagiarized. I wrote the original story "The Trial," and it was up on DeviantArt, but since my deletion of account, I've lost the file, and this was a particular favorite of mine, so I'm going to go ahead and rewrite it from memory.

If you haven't heard Pink Floyd's The Wall, I would go ahead and recommend it, not because it's absolutely crucial, but because it's good music and you will probably get addicted and listen to nothing but The Wall for a good month. Or at least, that's how it went with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pink Floyd, The Wall, Pokemon, Game Freak, Nintendo, or anything else but my own ideas, thoughts, and characters. Please support the original products and franchises.

I do normal things. I don't pick up games from off the streets, I don't buy them from pawn shops or yard sales, and I definitely don't accept them as gifts from strangers.

I'm a normal guy.

Or at least, I was.

You see, like most other people you'll see submitting stories like these, I've liked Pokemon since I was a little kid. I was always enthused with Silver, the rival. My Pokemon Silver version was the first version I can really remember everything about; when I played Red version, I was too young to understand that Green Oak is - and always will be, mind you - a douche bag, or that upon beating Green the last time as champion, you yanked the pride of his grandfather out of his hands.

Silver, though, he liked to live life on the edge. There was always something about Silver that just appealed to me more than any other rival. It was probably the twisted, dark edge to his background, being the son of Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, still ending up to a life of crime, despite the fact that he despised Team Rocket and his father, as revealed through the Giovanni battle event for HG/SS. The kid has real balls.

I had a friend, Sarah, who liked hacking cartridges and reading creepypastas and whatnot. When I told her about how I really liked Silver, she said she got a hack inspiration. Sure enough, for my seventeenth birthday, my gift from Sarah was a hacked Silver cartridge.

As I began to play, she'd talk to me about how she made it. She was so excited over it. I was excited to have found a new Pokemon gaming experience that I hadn't enjoyed since when I first picked up Silver all those years ago. I had named the character Silver and not Steven, to make the experience all the better.

The hacking made it so that I could play through as Silver. Most of the changes were right in the beginning. I stole a Pokemon of my choice (unlike what happened in Tarnished Gold), a Cyndaquil. I wasn't creative enough to nickname him, but I could have if I had wanted to. I didn't go from town to town beating up gym leaders. I wasn't led into the back of the Viridian City gym to see my rival's slaughter. It was pretty much the same game except for a few dialogue changes.

Sarah, though, throughout my time playing it, had changed a little. You could tell a little bit was off, and all she ever talked about was my Silver version. She always told me there was a surprise in Mt. Silver, that it would be really awesome, and I'd like it.

I rushed through all of the gyms and the Elite Four, getting to the surprise quickly. As I'd played, I'd begun theorizing what was in Mt. Silver. Was it another master ball? A cool, awesome legendary, like Mew or Celebi? Some kind of event?

I searched all around, seeing Red's ghost in his cavern and deciding to take him on after I found and caught the mind-crushingly strong legendary. I could take him on even without the legendary, seeing as I'd trained my team to levels seventy and up.

When I'd searched all over, deciding that there were no awesome cool legendaries, I went ahead and fought Red, figuring something about the fight would be the surprise. It was more of a trip down creepy-ass road.

Normally, all Red will say is an ellipsis. Just "..." as a parody on how he never spoke when you played as him in Red and Blue. Instead, what he said was this:

"...

"... ...

"... ... ...

"Tear it down.

"... ...

"... ...

"Tear it down!

"...

"... ...

"TEAR DOWN THE WALL!"

And so, the battle began.

The order in which he sent his team out was different, and from what my darting eyes could tell, he only had four Pokemon. He sent out his Venusaur first, nicknamed "WAITING".

"WAITING"? What the heck?

WAITING took down my first two Pokemon, only leaving me with three more (I had left a slot open for the legendary). I managed to beat WAITING, only to find that he was about to send out a Charizard. I sent out my Poliwrath, hoping to make mincemeat of the lizard.

Charizard had an odd nickname like WAITING; it was "FOR". At this point I figured I was having something spelled out to me.

Poliwrath barely took FOR down.

I managed to get through all four of his Pokemon.

A Venusaur named WAITING.

A Charizard named FOR.

A Blastoise named THE.

And finally, Red's Pikachu, named WORMS.

"WAITING FOR THE WORMS."

In my panic, something faint in the back of my mind told me that I'd heard that before, but I ignored it, dealing with the task at hand. I wanted to beat Red so I could never touch this stupid hacked cartridge again and get on with my life.

My last Pokemon, Typhlosion, was in the red zone when WORMS was called out. I knew it was over. I was going to lose. It was one single move, "WORMS used THUNDERSHOCK. TYPHLOSION fainted! SILVER is out of usable POKEMON."

But instead of whiting out, it moved to a black screen, showing Red's trainer sprite, and below him, in a text box, was simply, "TEAR DOWN THE WALL!"

I stifled a scream. My palms had grown sweaty and my eyelids were weighing down on me. I was exhausted and frightened, and when the game reverted to the start screen, as if I had beat him, I switched my GBA off and tossed it down on my nightstand.

I picked up my phone and called up Sarah. It rang five times and then went to her voicemail. "Hey, it's Steven. Your surprise? Not funny. Call me back, asshole." I hung up and turned off my bedside lamp, climbing under my covers and trying to relax.

As I drifted off into sleep, I repeated the phrase over in my head, "WAITING FOR THE WORMS" ...

"WAITING FOR THE WORMS" ...

... Tear it down ...

Next thing I knew, I was looking around in a bright, cone-shaped room. I was at the bottom, and all around me were seats. One section, which was sectioned off, was slowly being filled by faceless people. There was a door in the back which they filed through. A few other people filled the miscellaneous areas. Behind everyone else was a tiny little man with a scrunched up face and sharp, jaggedy shark teeth, who smiled a menacing smile.

He bowed and swept his arms to one side, calling out loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the honorable judge Red!"

With his announcement, Red filed in through the door, shutting it behind him. He had on a long black coat, just as a judge would wear. He still had his hat, and now he wore a menacing smile as well. He clamored up onto a tall seat, looking down at me with a smug look on his face.

It was at this moment that I realized I was asleep and dreaming. I closed my eyes and told myself to wake up. This was not what I needed.

When I opened my eyes, I was still in the dream. It amazed me - it was the most vivid dream I had ever had. I could usually control things if I realized it was a dream and became lucid. I tried closing my eyes to change scenery, but I was still there when I opened them. I looked around, and the shark-toothed man talked in a sing-songy voice.

"Good morning, your honor! The crown will plainly show the prisoner who now stands before you."

The crown? Prisoner? Why had he looked at me when he said that? I suppose I was the prisoner. Was this a trial? It all clicked. The sectioned off area was a jury, Red was my judge.

"Silver, I assume you understand what your charges are, let's get this show on the road."

I blinked once, crying out, "My name's not Silver! My name is Steven. You're mistaken. This is a dream. I'm dreaming! What are you charging me for? I haven't done anything!"

The shark-toothed man glared at me, moving around erratically as he spoke to me. "Of course you haven't done anything, that was the point. You've been charged with showing feelings of a..." He struggled for a word. "Of a human nature. That will not do, tsk tsk. Of course you'd want to say that you haven't done anything, that you aren't Silver. Well, here you go." He pulled out a mirror, walked over to me through a simple gate, and thrust it in my face. "Is this not Silver?"

What I saw in the mirror was indeed Silver. A young man with messy, firetruck-red hair, with a shocked and horrified expression on his face. There were even dark circles under my eyes. The shark-toothed man stepped back next to Red, closing the little gate behind him.

All around, the faceless people muttered to themselves and others, and I could imagine that if they had eyes they'd all be pointed in my direction.

"CALL THE FIRST WITNESS!" The shark-toothed man cried, and the bailiff, who stood in front of the only door, opened it and stepped through for a few moments.

When he stepped back in, Faulkner followed behind him, looking annoyed. He sat down in another barred-off area I hadn't noticed before. He glared dead at me, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"You may give your testament now."

He crossed his arms and looked at me again, at the shark-toothed man, and the silent Red. "Silver, as he is known, is a bad criminal, who steals Pokemon, items, badges, and the dignity of others. But this Silver..." He shook his head. "This Silver, the only thing he's ever done is steal one pokemon. One! And when he fought me, he beat me fair and square! Tch." He bit his lip, staring at the base of Red's seat, his arms still crossed. "I should have beat some sense into the punk." He looked up at me, his eyes filled with fire. "But I didn't. And look at where that got us."

I felt my face growing red-hot. I could tolerate so much, but this was ridiculous.

"So, what's wrong with being nice? Would you have liked it if I had just beaten the crap out of you and taken the badge instead of following the rules?"

"I wouldn't enjoy it. But it was what you were supposed to do, and you didn't do it. You're a rule breaker either way, you should do it in a way that's approved." He turned to the jury in his chair. "Did you know that I didn't even faint his pokemon? He would switch them out before they fainted." The faceless people gasped, and he smiled a little, a smirk. One that made me want to hit him.

I tried to rush over and sock him once in the nose, just once, that's all I needed, but I couldn't move my feet. I looked down at the clamps around my ankles, keeping me firmly attached to the floor, and my arms were in chains, not allowing me to raise my hands above the elbow. I screamed, pulling against the restraints, "I've done nothing wrong here! You people are crazy!"

Faulkner shot up and pointed a finger at me. "We're crazy? You're the crazy little bastard who doesn't do as he's told!"

Red spoke for the first time, a booming voice that echoed over our little frenzy. "That's enough from you, Faulkner. Now both of you calm down. I do believe you may leave now, Faulkner. Bailiff, escort this gentlemen out, please."

He smirked at me. He had a little spark in his eye. The shark-toothed man reminded the bailiff to bring in the next witness. When he brought in a Nurse Joy, it almost set me off-balance.

She had shifty eyes, looking around at everyone in the room. Upon sitting down she leaned across to me and hissed, "You little shit! You've done it now. I hope they throw away the key."

"You may begin your testament."

"He was constantly bringing in his Pokemon, and they weren't even fainted. They were mostly just in the yellow bar of health. And they all liked him. I could tell." She crossed her legs and sat back, her arms crossed, staring hatefully at me. She probably would have murdered me if she was allowed to.

The shark-toothed man grinned at her. "And you offered him service each and every time?"

She looked over at him, scowling. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Refuse service."

"I can't do that!"

"Right. You'll be charged with similar charges, then. Bailiff, take her out, please."

She had to be dragged out forcefully.

"I think that wraps things up rather nicely. Silver, do you have any witness you'd like to call in for your defense? That is, if you have one."

I nodded, and began to think quickly. I needed someone to prove that I wasn't a nice guy, that I wasn't a goody two-shoes, like what they thought. This was ridiculous, and I wanted to wake up, but knew that I couldn't. I was stuck until the end.

Suddenly, an image of Giovanni popped into my mind. It was perfect! If I was the nice guy they thought I was, I would have warmed on up to Giovanni, playing the daddy card! Instead, I had been indifferent, beating him and heading about my way, as well as despising Team Rocket. It was the best I had, and I hoped it would be enough to convince the jury.

"I wish to call in Giovanni, my father."

The shark-toothed man nodded, and gestured to the bailiff. Red grinned, showing his teeth. I glared at him. I had done nothing wrong.

After a few gut-wrenchingly long minutes, the bailiff stepped in with Giovanni, who sat down in the witness's chair. He seemed uneasy, unwilling to look at me. I sighed once and said, "Listen, Giovanni, did I ever approach you as my father?"

"No. You did not."

"And did I stick around after I beat you?"

"No."

"If I was such the nice guy that they're claiming I am, wouldn't I have stuck around and designated you 'Daddy'?"

His mouth straightened into a line, and he said indifferently, "I suppose so, son."

"There. Ignoring family is a crime in and of its own. I am innocent of these charges, let me free."

The shark-toothed man guffawed at me. "We get to ask some questions as well, Silver! Hold your horses. You're not a free man." He turned to look at Giovanni, who squirmed in his seat.

I glanced back up at Red. My stomach sank. He was still grinning. He was smiling madly.

"Tell me, Giovanni, did he do anything to show you that he was... being good?"

"When he fought me, he was even more motivated after I fainted one of his pokemon. Once he was done he rushed on to the Pokemon Center. I even heard him call his Typhlosion 'Ty.'"

The faceless people gasped, and one (I think it was a woman, it had on a skirt, anyway) made noises like she was crying.

They had reached him before. They knew I would think of him. Dammnit, they made me look like a dumb ass!

Red nodded. "Anything else, Silver?"

Tears were beginning to gather in my eyes. I shook my head. "No, that's it."

Giovanni leaned across to me, similar to what Nurse Joy had done, but his whisperings were gentle but pained. "You could have done better."

A few tears slipped from my eyes, but I still couldn't see. I couldn't even wipe my eyes. I think I saw him look back before he left, probably with a disappointed look. I couldn't tell through my tears. They just kept silently rolling. He wasn't even my real father and I felt sad that he was disappointed in me, or that he even might have been.

Red began speaking again, in his booming voice. "The evidence before the court is incontrovertible. There's no need for the jury to retire. In all my years of judging I have never heard before of someone more deserving of the full penalty of law!"

I had begun to shake. It was a dream, he couldn't hurt me, though, what had I been thinking? He was just... frightening.

"TEAR IT DOWN! TEAR DOWN THE WALL!"

With the proclamation, worms began springing up from underneath me, and my knees gave out. I fell to the extent of the restraints and my tears continued. The worms began to crawl inside of me, I was in so much pain, and I could only hear my screaming. I felt my body being battered by bad things, bad demons, all of these awful things came into my head.

But through the screaming...

Red's words, like a beacon, echoed. "And the worms ate into his brain."

I woke up covered in sweat, my covers tossed on the floor. I almost screamed when I saw my GBA on my nightstand, but sighed with relief, realizing that that's where I had left it.

That was the last moment of relaxation for a while. After that dream, I avoid going to sleep, so as to avoid the worms. Sarah had committed suicide that night, before I had called. I've been caught stealing random items, just whatever I've wanted, and I'm supposed to be going off to start therapy in two weeks, but I've decided to just run away and live on my own.

What do I need parents for? They just want to keep me controlled. They blame all of these issues on Sarah dying. I think I've changed for the better - the worms have opened my eyes to the world I live in, that everyone is a rotten bastard and you can't trust a single one of them. I'm going out to do my own thing. I'll just steal what I need and try to convince others to tear down their walls and reveal themselves to the real, cruel, awful world they live in.

Another Note: This is based on Pink Floyd's album The Wall, and the main songs used for inspiration from the album are The Trial (duh), Waiting for the Worms, and Comfortably Numb. I also used the entire concept of the mental wall, but twisted it a bit. Sort of like The Wall, in reverse. Steven, the main character, is a good kid and has a mental wall to keep bad influences up, which Red sees and tears down, when he ends up reverting to a life of crime, so he could mirror what in-game Silver was supposed to be like