Pokémon Creepypasta: Scary Stories in the Pokémon Games

Not sure what possessed me to write this at midnight, but screw sleep and pleasant dreams. Here we go.

We all know Pokémon for what it’s meant to be perceived as – a franchise aimed at kids, with cute and cool-looking monsters that non-lethally fight in good spirit. But, like most children’s series created in the 90s, there’s some darker stuff beneath the surface that you don’t quite get until you’ve gained a few levels yourself. Things I either ignored or didn’t think much of in the games now make me want to sleep with the nightlight on and cuddle up with Mr. Snugglepuss. Seriously, a lot of this stuff would be perfectly welcome in an episode of X-Files or Criminal Minds. Things like…

1. Elevator Girl

One of the more recent entries on this list, Elevator Girl (as I like to call her, because that makes her sound way less threatening than she probably really is), is found in one of the many buildings in Lumiose City. You go in, take the elevator up, and you come out on an empty floor. Then the screen goes black…

AND OH MY GOD SHE’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU.

That’s not even the end of it. She then moves around you with no freaking walking animation, then stares at the corner and says something along the lines of “No, you’re not the one.” Then she’s gone. She doesn’t say goodbye, which is kind of rude, but I guess that’s better than having my soul ripped out through my eyes, so I’ll take it.

Then there’s another building where you find a girl with the same character model. If for whatever reason you think it’s a good idea to go up and talk to her, she just says “Don’t talk to me…If you do, I can’t hear the elevator.”

And that’s it. Nobody knows what this girl’s story is. She’s literally (at this point) in this game solely to fill our pants with lemonade and chocolate bars. There’s some rumors that maybe she’s just waiting for someone with a specific Trainer ID (a number randomly assigned to each player), and that when she finds him or her she’ll reveal her secret. Not really sure I want to know. Excuse me for a second. I’m going to go sob in the corner…
…
…
…Alright, I think I’m good now. Sorry. Now what’s next…

2. Pokémon Tower

Oh God why. Well, it needed to be said. This is a morbid-as-hell town. It’s a town literally devoted to death. Its only purpose, its sole excuse for existing, is to be the home for a mass graveyard of dead Pokémon. You walk into town, hear that music (which I’ll get to soon…) and walk right into Pokémon Tower, which is filled with the gravestones of dead animals. Their owners and friends stand around and mourn them, and they never leave. Ever. They just stand there and cry for eternity. Then, you get attacked by an actual goddamned ghost which you are completely defenseless against at that point in time. This is almost exactly like Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, except instead of stabbing children you’re beating the crap out of adorable dead animals and their heartbroken loved ones. You monster.

Then, of course, there’s the music. The town is designed to be creepy, so it makes sense that the music would be too. But there’s a little story floating around on the internet that takes it to new heights…

3. Lavender Town Syndrome

The story goes that the original music for Lavender Town in the Japanese Red and Green Versions caused a huge increase in the amount of suicide among kids. There was a high-pitched sound that only the kids could hear due to their younger and stronger ears. 200 of those kids either hanged themselves or jumped from large heights. The rest acted irrationally for days and had severe headaches that they couldn’t shake. Supposedly, this was fixed when the game shipped to North America. The difference isn't that noticeable, but don't you get a feeling that something just isn't... right in this town?

Even knowing it’s fake, reading this story always sends chills up my spine.


4. Old Chateau

Yep, another creepy building. This place is from Gen IV, and is only accessible with Cut. You walk in and, with the cojones of an action star and look around like nothing’s wrong, even when the game tells you that the statue appears to be glaring at you and the eyes of the painting are following you. Alright, alright, maybe that’s just paranoia.

Oh Arceus, a little girl just walked across the screen. I’ll just follow her into that room, maybe talk to her and find out what she’s doing here…wait, where’d she go?

Oh look, a nice butler setting the table. Wait, how are you moving if you aren’t walking? Why aren’t your legs moving? Sir, you aren’t supposed to be able to phase through walls, only ghosts…can…do that…
Oh well, I didn’t need to sleep tonight anyway.

5. The Pokédex Entries

Oh God, the Pokédex entries…I already kind of went into some of this in my last article, but since there’s 721 Pokémon, there’s way too much to cover in one article, and a lot of it is seriously jacked up. I said before that most of these creatures, due to natural selection, wouldn’t be able to exist. Some of these things wouldn’t be allowed to exist. We’d straight up go genocidal on these pocket monsters. I compiled a few of my favorites here, in no particular order.

Gourgeist

X: Singing in eerie voices, they wander town streets on the night of the new moon. Anyone who hears their song is cursed.
Y: It enwraps its prey in its hair-like arms. It sings joyfully as it observes the suffering of its prey.

What the actual hell?

What kind of curse does it put on people? Is it something simple, like not being able to win a baseball game? Or something horrible, like not being able to eat bacon ever again? Not knowing is almost as terrifying. And do we have to be awake to be cursed? Because we still sort of hear things while we sleep – oftentimes, it’s implemented somehow into our dream, like hearing our alarm going off while you’re taking the math test in your underwear. Are we still cursed? Because that’s just not fair.

Now imagine watching this thing hunt…whatever it is it hunts. It finally catches it and begins to squeeze with its “hair-like arms,” which kind of skeeves me out, but it’s fairly normal in the animal kingdom.

Then it starts singing - a happy, joyful tune completely at odds with the murder that’s happening in front of your eyes. Imagine having those millions of tiny hairs coiling around you, blotting out the sky and slowly making it harder and harder to breathe. Then, just before you go, you hear singing. Is it angels? No, it’s the monster killing you, singing as it watches you die.

Drifloon

Pearl: It tugs on the hands of children to steal them away.

Black 2/White 2: These Pokémon are called the ‘Signpost for Wandering Spirits.’ Children holding them sometimes vanish.

In the English versions of the games, it leaves it there. We never find out where they’re taken, for what purpose, or if they’re ever returned. The Japanese versions clarify a little bit of that…they take the kids to the “world of the dead.” What. First, imagine being a parent of one of these kids. You’re having an excellent day out with your child. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and a balloon just happens to pass by. You grab it and hand it to your kid, and smile as their face brightens at the surprise present. You notice that the balloon seems to be tugging a bit strongly, but you ignore it. It’s just a balloon, right? And look at how happy it makes your kid. It’d break their heart if you took it back now. So you let it slide. You turn around, briefly, maybe searching for your wallet or your car keys. When you look back…they're gone. You’ll never see them again. You’ll never see them grow old, or become a Pokémon Trainer…you won’t be there for their first Gym Battle, or their first kiss. You’ll never see them get married and maybe have a family of their own. And the entire time, you’ll know it’s your fault. Now, imagine being the kid. You’re out with your parents, and they hand you a balloon. Being a child, you love balloons. Something about them is just awesome and fun. It pulls at your arm a little, but you keep a tight grip. You won’t let it float away. Your parents look away for a second…and you’re someplace else. Someplace dark, and cold. Creatures float by and ghostly hands reach out of the darkness to catch a quick touch of warm, living skin. You call out, but no sound comes. It’s quiet here. It’ll always be quiet. You want your mom, your dad, anybody, but soon you realize that nobody’s coming. You’re stuck, and your only company is the dead.

Banette

FireRed/LeafGreen: Strong feelings of hatred turned a puppet into a Pokémon. If it opens its mouth, its cursed energy escapes. Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: A doll that became a Pokémon over its grudge from being junked. It seeks the child that disowned it.

Unlike some other Pokémon, this thing’s entry pretty much reiterates the same information from game to game. It never says what it would do to the child if it found it, but it’s pretty safe to assume it isn’t nice. This Pokémon is pretty much Lotso from Toy Story 3 meets Chucky from Child’s Play. This is a creature that was literally born of hatred and holds a never-ending grudge against its old friend and, in a way, creator. You’re probably saving the lives of those children by capturing these things.

And what are the other criteria for creating a Banette? Is it only puppets? If so, the solution is simple – stop freaking making puppets, you idiots. These things are coming to life and killing children.

If it can be just any doll or toy, we’re screwed. Children grow up. They lose interest in toys either out of boredom or grow out of them. Do you honestly want to tell me you still play with blocks, or you still try to put the square block into the round hole? Can those become Banette? If it needs to be a doll, kids go through those all the time, too. They might be given one when they’re four or five and lose it, or it gets stolen. Does it become a Banette then? Are some of these Banette alive solely based on a misconception? There’s pretty much an unlimited number of them, so that’s scary likely.

Phantump

X: These Pokémon are created when spirits possess rotten tree stumps. They prefer to live in abandoned forests.
Y: According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest.

That’s pretty freaking dark. This does happen in our world – more often than we’d like to think about, I’m sure – but it must happen a lot for there to be so many of the damn things. Children, for whatever reason, wander into the forest and get lost. Then, whether it’s from exposure to the elements, from a wild Pokémon attack, or starvation…they die. Their spirits can’t be at rest, so they possess a tree stump, and are stuck like that. When you capture a Phantump, you’re imprisoning the soul of a lost, scared, dead child.

Duskull

Platinum: It loves the crying of children. It startles bad kids by passing through walls and making them cry.
HeartGold/SoulSilver: If it finds bad children who won’t listen to their parents, it will spirit them away – or so it’s said.

HeartGold/SoulSilver’s entry could be chalked up to scare tactics used by parents to make their children behave, kind of like the Boogeyman of our world. Although, this is a bit more messed up because it actually happens (See Drifloon above). They’re just using the wrong Pokémon.

Its Platinum entry, though, is something it has done, and that’s fairly dark by itself. It enjoys scaring children, loves the sound of them crying, and will seek them out and intentionally make them cry.

Holy crap. This is a pretty horrible world for kids to live in. Balloons want to kidnap you and take you to the world of the dead. Your discarded toys come back with a vengeance and supernatural powers. If you get lost in a forest and die, you’re stranded inside a tree stump. If you somehow manage to avoid all that, there are still creatures that will target you and scare you solely for fun. Just for the lulz.

What are your favorite creepy Pokédex entries? Any town or building give you nightmares? Be sure to let us know!

- Azathoth