Faraway Version

Mew is the last Pokemon you'd expect to be cruel. With those big blue eyes and playful demeanor, it seems to be the cutest and most innocent of them all. Right? However, in a rom I played, this is not the case.

I learned that Mew can be a cruel, evil, vicious monster.

All because of a hack I downloaded from a so called "friend".

I remember the date exactly; January 21st. Snow was light, yet dark clouds had hid all the sunlight in my area. I was on my laptop, making my rounds with typing bloody fan fictions; my forte. When someone I didn't even know messaged me on my long-lost Skype account my laptop was constantly logged in to. Rolling my eyes, I opened Skype, and read it.

"Hi friend! You may not know me, but I know you. I know you love Pokemon, so I think this hack I found might be of your interests!"

I blinked, slightly confused. Looking to the profile of the sender, no name was shown. No phone number, no profile picture, no personal information filled out. I assumed it was all hidden, leading me to assume the rom was a spam message or a scam at the most. However, upon rolling my mouse to the link, it was forwarding to a website I knew that gave out Pokemon hacks and roms in an endless gallery. Sighing, and hoping the link wasn't a scam, I clicked on it. To my surprise, the website loaded, and the white page I was familiar with for giving my roms and hacks had another link, this time for downloading. Above it was text reading: "Pokemon: Faraway Version". I shrugged; another hack, another play through, another story possibly better than the main Pokemon series. Clicking the download, it instantly began downloading. Within a matter of minutes, the .zip file was downloaded and saved onto my laptop. Opening my Virtual Boy, I selected the game from the long list I already owned. Making the game full screen, the Emerald Version of the Game Freak logo appeared, this indicating to me that it was a hack of Pokemon Emerald, one of my favorite classic titles. The into began playing, I suddenly realizing there was no music whatsoever. Eerie as it was, I brushed it off, the intro starting as the basic leaf with dew sliding down and dropping from the tip. However, the background behind the leaf and puddle was vastly different. It appeared to be a jungle, with thick undergrowth instead of the smaller plants and leaves. Vines were spread all across the ground around many smaller jungle plants. Within the undergrowth, I could make out two hovering pairs of glowing red eyes. Before I could see the shadow of what Pokemon hid there, the dew plummeted from the leaf, and many other dewdrops followed, the camera panning up before I could get a good look at the figure. As the camera panned up, I realized it wasn't the plain full of leaves like the original. It was a dense jungle, with tall trees and tropical flowers everywhere. Then, akin to the original intro, a shadow flew by the dense undergrowth, rising into what appeared to be a night sky. The screen faded to black for a moment, then returned to show a scene of a Mew shadow flying across a jungle. I was shocked as much as I was happy. I loved Mew with all my heart. It was a beautiful Pokemon, yet so happy and joyful all the same. However, one thing that stood out to me was that the Mew was completely black, as if it was a sentient shadow, it's red eyes glaring at me, despite it being faced to the left and having a flying animation. The jungle background flew behind it. Soon, the screen faded to black once more, it returning with the Groudon-Kyogre intro. Instead of the two beasts however, it was the red eyed Mew from before roaring a cry of a Groudon. The Kyogre was replaced with a shiny Mew, it seeming to wail in distress, making me fear of what was wrong with it. It's eyes were empty and black, it having a shiny animation before it going to the scene with Rayquaza in the clouds. Instead of Rayquaza, however, it was the red eyed Mew again, it roaring the roar of Groudon once again, firing a beam from it's mouth, akin to the original. Soon, the logo appeared, it reading "Pokemon Faraway Edition" as I expected. The Mew this time was on the title screen, it in it's normal Emerald Sprite position, it's eyes still gleaming red. While this was indeed unsettling, I ignored it and pressed the keyboard equivalent of 'start'. The Mew cry played, yet at a slower speed, it lasting longer before sending me to the game screen. Oddly enough, there was already a save file, with the name "Aria" on it. I was shocked by this. How did it know that was what I wanted to name my character? To add more shock, it even had 3 badges and the exact play time of my physical copy of Emerald. While this was a bit eerie, I pressed 'continue', I having saved in Mauville City , the same place I saved in my Pokemon Emerald cartridge. I checked my Pokemon, they all having been copied, even my precious Grovyle, Ivy. However, I remembered having an open slot on my party. Filling that empty slot was an event Mew. It was relatively normal upon reading it's stats.

Met at Lv. 30 at Faraway Island

Bashful Nature

Speed: 328

Attack: 215

Defense: 210

Special Attack: 245

Special Defense: 219

It's moves were Transform, Pound, Duplicate, and Dark Pulse.

I remembered having a hacked Mew on my phone with these exact stats as well. And even luckier for me, the Mew from my phone had it's IVs for Speed altered be the highest they could, just like the one in this Faraway Version. However, it's name was different from the Mew on my phone, it's name being M3W. While this was odd, I found it fascinating, I having been wanting to name a Mew this for a while, just to see how others would react upon showing them. A move in it's move set stuck out to me as well; Duplicate. Reading the effects, it read; The user unleashes psychic power to duplicate a move, causing the opposing Pokemon to d̵̶̡̀i̢̧͘͞e̛҉҉̨͘. The jumbled text at the end puzzled me. What was the game attempting to say for this unknown move? I shrugged, merely passing it off as a coincidence. Knowing the third badge indicated I had beaten the Mauville Gym, I checked my Pokemon once more for Rock Smash. Oddly, all their stats shared something; their IVs for Speed were all maxed. I wondered why, I having no memory of a Max IV for any Pokemon aside from Mew in either my phone or cartridge. While this came across as odd, I continued, searching for a Pokemon with Rock Smash to make it to the Fourth Gym to face Flannery. After looking for a while, I realized my Grovyle knew Rock Smash, selecting it to use the move.

Ivy was stopped by M3W!

Stopped? I tried using it again, it switching to the over world and a text box showing up.

M3W used DUPLICATE!

M3W learned ROCK SMASH!

M3W killed Ivy!

I jumped. The messages flew so quickly by, I hardly had time to read them. However, when I looked back to my party, Ivy was gone, an open slot there, and M3W now holding Ivy's spot at the front of my party. I sighed. My Ivy was gone, replaced with this Mew. I hummed in thought, going to the Pokemon Center, and putting M3W in the PC, releasing it. Instead of saying Bye, M3W! like normal, It said Y̢͟͡O̢̕U̶͠'̴͡L̶͟L̶͟ ̶̢̛͠͝Ṕ̕͘͡A̷̶̡Y̸̧̢ ̷̨̀́F́͠͞Ó҉̧̛͢R͏̀̕̕͞ ̨̡́͜͜T͢͏H̸̸̡̢͏I͢͢҉S̛͘͢. This scared me. The text was so jumbled and messed up, it was difficult to read before I pressed 'A' and made it vanish. I opened up the Cheats menu in the Virtual Boy emulator, selecting the Wild Pokemon Modifier. I decided that since that Mew was really fucked up, I might as well get a new one that wasn't as glitchy. After setting up cheats to obtain a functioning Shiny Mew, I ran around in the tall grass around the Day Care center. A wild encounter began. And just as I expected, a wild Shiny Mew at level 14, the route's level limit. My character sent out a level 20 Mightyena named Darkness. I looked at the move set, quickly selecting Bite. It brought the wild Mew to low health. Looking through my bag, I used the last Ultra Ball I owned. With the three shakes the ball gave off seeming like forever, I finally caught my Shiny Mew. Skimming through the capture process, I gave it a nickname to give myself some chuckles; WEM, which was it's species name backwards. I laughed to myself at this joke, it filling one of the two empty slots in my party. I checked it's stats and, oddly enough, it's Speed stats were at it's max in IVs, the trend having spread to my new addition. I shrugged; at least it was a desirable trend. Heck, the Mew even had PokeRus! Win-Win! After using more cheats, I gave it Rare Candies to both increase friendship and the 20-25 leveling of my team. Being the big fan of Mew as I was, I leveled WEM to the max level of 25 to fit my team and obedience level at the time with room for leveling. The perfect system. However, as soon as I finished saving my progress and heading back to the rocks to teach WEM the move and progress further into the game, the game froze. Before I closed out of it, I saw a swift image of a Mew mutilating another Mew, it gone in the blink of an eye. Eager to see if I did something wrong, I opened the game, it continuing to freeze when I attempted to use Rock Smash. When I reset it for the last time, a black screen greeted me, a text box opening, and jumbled text within it;

M͟3̧̛́͟͞Ẁ͞ ̵͠I҉҉Ş ̴͜҉̶A̷̧̡N҉̴G̶̀̕͢R̶̀͜͡͏Ý̴̨͟

M̡̢͡3̶̨̀͏W̡̛̛̕ ͘W͏͝I̡̕͟͠Ļ́͘͢L̕͝͝͠ ̛͡҉̴̕M̶̷̶̕͜Á̕͘͢͞K̛E̷̡̢͞ ̸̵Y̡͘͟͢Ò͠Ư̷̶͘ ̛͜͡҉Ẁ̸̨͞͝A͝͡҉̡I̴̢͘T́͠

T̕͡R̨͘A̸͠͏Ì̵̶T͏̷O҉̷̷R̢̀͜͡

The game suddenly closed itself, I continuing to type my fanfiction.

I couldn't open the game this entire time.

Until now.

Halloween Day, 2015.

I was bored, here on my laptop typing my fanfiction when the Virtual Boy Emulator opened up by itself. Seeing Faraway Version was the last game I played on it, it began to start up. I attempted to close it, but to no avail. I sighed, skipping the intro, and seeing the title screen for the first time in, what, 10 months? It was vastly different this time, however. Instead of the absence of music, the Ruins of Alph Unown signals played in a low tone, almost low enough that it sounded like random garbling. While this was creepy, I brushed it off. When I eventually continued the game, the music changed, the Unown theme and the Lavender Town music mixed together, the Unown Frequencies playing in reverse. Other than this, I realized that I was in LilyCove City, near the Harbor. I checked my trainer. I had all 8 badges, max Money, and max play time. I exited the Trainer menu and went to my Pokemon. Only WEM remained. All my other spaces were empty. Quickly, I tried to run to the PC, a text box opening.

WEM stops you.

WEM wants to go home.

Home? Curious, and a bit hesitant, I went into the Harbor, speaking to the lady, the text within the box all jumbled.

M҉̸̡̛3̷̸̧̧̕W̶͠҉ ̸͢͝I̴͡S̴̸̡̛̛ ̸͡W҉̛A͡͠I̢͘͟͝͠T͏҉͠I͏̕͢͞N̡͘G͠ ̛҉F̀́͜O͘͟͏̀R̴̢ ̴̕Ỳ̶͘̕͠Ó̡̀̀͘U̴͘.̷͟͝

G̵͘O͏̴́͞ ̶̢̕͢T̶̶̛͘O̴̡ ͏͢͡͏F̴̢͘͝A̡͠Ŗ̕͟Á̡͘̕͝Ẃ̨A̧͘Y̢҉ ̧̕͜͞Į͞S̢͡L̛͟҉A̵̢̕N̸͢҉́D̶̷͝?̷̡͞͠

A 'yes' and 'no' option box opened. I tried selecting no, the lady responding with

Ḿ͞3̴̸̢̛͞W̸̸͘͜ ̢̛́̕͘D́̀҉͏E̵̛̛͟͠M̴̶͠Ą̢̨̛Ņ͘̕͘͜D͘҉S̀͢͞ ̢Y҉O҉̵̸̧͡Ų̨̡̛̕ ̴̨̛T̷͠͝O͢͜͞ ̨͢͟À͠҉́̕R̸̶̀R̸I̕҉V͏͞͏Ę̵́̕

I gave up and decided to select yes. The lady said nothing, moving aside to let me onto the ship, and the cut scene of the boat sailing across the ocean playing. Once at Faraway Island, WEM's over world sprite appeared to wander for a moment. I noticed something odd about it; two black dots where were the eyes were supposed to be. WEM approached me, it's cry playing slowly, the mixed Lavender Town and Unown music stopping once the cry sounded. A text box appeared.

WEM doesn't like this.

WEM wants to go back.

I sighed. With WEM returning to it's Poke'Ball, I pressed forward. Despite a text box saying.

WEM's Poke'Ball shakes in fear!

Every time my character took a step, it swiftly became annoying. I pressed forward regardless. Upon walking through the maze of trees, I realized that the puddles of water that were usually around the island were tinted red. Gulping, I pressed onward. Entering the area where the event would trigger a game of chase with Mew, I realized that no grass was to be found. Faintly, I could hear a Mew cry. Walking forward, WEM's text boxes of fear ceased popping up, I seeing the back of an over world sprite of Mew. However, it was very bloodied. No pink fur remained on the sprite. I also noticed the pool of blood it was surrounded in, despite it seeming to float. A text box opened.

̸̨̛͟͏W҉̕E̶̡̛͠L̴̶̴͘͏C͏̡͞Ǫ̴̛̕M̴̵È̡,͘͟͜ ͘͠T̨͡Ŕ͡A͏̴͝I̡͢T̴͘O̡͝R̛͜.̸͟

With the text as jumbled and nearly unreadable as ever, I continued. Another one opened.

̸̴̡̛͜W͠H͏҉͟͡Y̸̷ ̢͘͏D̷Į̀͠͠D̴̨̛͟͠ ̡͟͟͏Ỳ̵̨͜O҉̴U̴͏͞ ̴̡̕͠͝R̢͘E͘͢҉̶L҉̷̷E͟͏͟A̷̴̢S̷̛̀͘E̶̕͡ ̸͜M̵͟͡È̢̛́̕ ̸̷Į̷̷̴͘Ń̸̕T͢͠O̶̢͏ ̵̵̡T̶̕H̷͞͝I̧͜͏́S̷̕͜͡ ̷̨̢Ć͡Ǫ͟͟L̸͠Ḑ͜͝,̷̵̢͏ ̡̧҉̷̀D̸̨̕͜͟Á̴̧̀R̴̛Ḱ̴̵ ̶̸͏W̷̡̢͡Ǫ̡̀̕͟R̢̛͢L̷̨̡̧D̷̶̸͜͠?̴̀͘͞

I flinched in terror. It remembered? Suddenly, another text box appeared, along with a slower version of the Red and Blue Lavender Town theme;

G̷̢I͘͏̛V̵̵̨̛͜E̸̢̢ ̷̸̶̀͡Ḿ̵̧́͘E̶̷͏ ̸́͡A͝҉͘ ̡͝͝R͘̕E͝҉͏A͢҉͘͞S̵͡O͏̕N҉̛ ̛͏̢̛͢T͘͟͞O͜҉̶̀͞ ̛͟͢͠W̷̢͠H҉̵̶͡͡Ỳ̡́͡ ̡̧͡҉Y̴̢̢O͘͢҉U͘͜ ̸̕͜͝͞A̶͡B̸́̀A͜͏̴͏Ņ̵̢̢͜D̶̡̛͡O͘͞͞N̸E͢͡D̵̸̀̕͢ ́҉̀M͘͠E͢͏͢͢!̷̢͜͏

Suddenly, a a wild encounter ensued, the battle music being Mt. Pyre's music sped up to nearly two times it's normal speed. When M3W's battle sprite appeared, I nearly jumped. It was bloody, it's eyes blood red with black pupils. It's animation, too, was unsettling, it's cry now transfixed to sound like laughter, and it laughing as it did it's normal battle animation. I sent out WEM, who seemed to be crying, it's tail lowered. Quickly, I looked to it's move set.

Slash

Thunderbolt

Curse

Dark Pulse

I selected Thunderbolt, it hitting M3W, yet dealing merely one damage.

M3W used Fury Attack!

The Fury Attack animation followed. Instead of clean, cartoon strikes like normal, they gushed blood after every hit, I hearing a Mew cry after every hit, it choppy, sounding as if it was in extreme pain.

WEM's eyes were pulled from their sockets!

It was at this point that my jaw dropped in utter dismay. Just the thought of that made me want to barf! I looked to WEM's health, it at red, yet no low-health beeps followed, just the swiftly playing Mt. Pyre battle music of M3W. I selected Dark Pulse, it hitting M3W as Super Effective!, yet only dealing 10 damage.

M3W used Duplicate!

M3W learned Curse!

WEM is barely holding on!

Quickly, I tried running from the fight, I succeeding and returning to the overworld, where M3W's sprite awaited me. The surrounding area was darkened, and the Mt. Pyre music was now slower, yet still slower than normal. WEM's over world sprite appeared, it's eyes missing.

WEM began trying to talk sense into M3W!

I closed the text box, attempting to move, and coming to terms that I was frozen in place. The Mt. Pyre music faded out slowly, being replaced with FireRed and LeafGreen's version of Lavender Town, it too slowed to the point of total horror. After a minute or two of waiting, a text box opened.

M̴̕͘͘͢3̕͘͝W̷̢ ̸̷̕͘͟H̴̴A̷͢T̛͟͏̨̨E̷̕̕͠S͡ ̴̢̛͝W̵҉̨͠Ę̶M̛̕͢͢!̨̢

M̢̛3̸͏W̵̡̨̡ ̧͞Ú̵͢͠S͜͏̧́͜E̸̶̸͢D͜͝ ̢͏C̵Ų̴̸̧R̀̀́S̶͞E҉͢͝!̴̢̡̛ ̧̢ ̀͞Ẁ̶̧̧̕E̶̷͜͠͠M̴̵̵̨͡ ̀͘D̵̢̨̧̕I̶̶̢E̷D̨̛͏!̷̨̕͡

WEM's over world sprite fell over, blood staining it's small sprite, M3W's over world sprite hovering to me, slowly, step by step. With every step it took, a text box appeared.

M̀͠3҉̸̶̛́W̡̕͞͝ ̷̛̀J͡҉̶U҉̶́S̸̨̕͢T̡̛̀͡ ̴͡W̴̵҉̡A͝҉̸̧N̴͟͝T̷҉́É̕̕͡D̀͞ ̶̕͜҉L̛̀́͢Ò͞҉V̶̷Ę̨́̕͝

M҉3͝҉̸͝W҉͜͏̴͘ ̶͜J̕͡͞Ù̶Ş̶͟T̢͞ ̛̕W̢͞͏͏̕A̷̸͢͞͝N̶̵͢T̷̸͞E͜͝D́҉ ̴̷̡͜Á͞ ̴̧͞͞T̨R̶҉҉͞A̛͟I̕͝N̵̕È͡R̶̡͜

N̢̕O҉̵̸̕͞W̴͢͟͡͡ ̧́͟T͏̵̴̛H͡͝͞͠ĄT̷̶҉͡ ̨͢Ḿ͢͜3҉̴͜͞Ẃ͜ ̧̛́̕͝H̵͜͝A͟͏́S̡͜͞҉ ͘͡S̸̛͡͝È̛͡É̸̢N̵̶ ͡T̶̡̡H̸̴̶͝È̷̛̕͞ ͞͠͠D̢͞Á̶̧͘͡R̸Ḱ̛͘͠E̸̢҉̡S̶͟T̀͟͟͠ ̀́͢H͢͏̡O̡̢̕͘͢U͜͠Ŕ̵̴ ̸̢́͘I̴̡N̷̕ ̷͠T̴̸́͠H̀͝͞E̷͝ ͡҉̡҉D̕͢͠A̢̕͠R̵̡͏͞K̷̡̢͠E͟͢͡Ś̛͠T̢̀ ̛̕͢͝D҉̨͘A̢̢͝Y̸̨̡̡

M̶͝͡3̶̀W̧̢͠͡ ̷͞͠W̡̕͢͞͝I̡͘̕҉L͏̴̴̶̶L̷̷͘ ́̀͟T̨͘̕͠Ę̵R͢͞M̡͘͏͠Į̵̨̕N͡͏̸̷̢Á͢͠͡T̛̀̀͏̀E̶͟͠ ̵̵̡́͡Y̨̛͘͢Ó͞U̵̡

Á̡́͝N̸̵̸̨͞D̶̨̛͏̕ ̷̴̀͠͝F̨͜I҉Ņ͘D̸͢͞ ̴̀̕͜S̡̡͘͝͞O͡҉̸͡͞M̷҉̢E͝͡O҉͠͏̷N̷͠͡͝E͞͡ ̴̕͝E̸̴̛̛ĻS҉̷͡E͏̨҉҉ ̧̨T͟҉̢́Ó̵ ̶́͟͏L҉͞͞O̧͘͠͏V̢̕̕͜͝Ę̴̷̕ ̡̧͘҉H̛҉I̡̧͜Ḿ̶͘

Suddenly, my over world sprite seemed to fall over, M3W hovering over her body, and the laughing Mew cry playing again.

Y̴̢O̷͟Ù̵͘͠'̴̴̛L͏̛͟L̨̨̨̛͡ ͏͡͠͠L͏̶O̧̨͘V̴̷͞Ę̵͜ ̵̸͟M͏̀E̷̴

̵̛̛̕Ẁ̷̨̡̧Ò̕Ǹ͏͟'̷T̡͝ ͘͏̸̨͡Y̵͘O͏͢҉͠Ư̵̵̧͟,̧̛͝ ̴̧A̵͠R͏̸Í̵͘͢K̶҉A̷̸͘͝͡?̷̨̀

I gasped.

It knew my name.

My laptop shut itself off. And once I closed it, I jumped. Behind the screen of my laptop and on the wooden dinner table lay a Mew Plush a friend had given me for my birthday. It was covered in blood, it's red eyes as piercing as ever, and a message of blood written below it, reading;

B͠E ̷C͡AŔEF҉UĻ WITH̡ ҉W̷HĄT ̶YO͢U ̀C̸H͏EA͠T FO̧R![]

After this ordeal, I scanned through the game's code.

Minutes after I recovered the sprites for WEM and M3W; the game erased itself from my laptop. When I attempted to revisit the site I originally downloaded it from, it had been removed.

Below are the sprites I could recover before it had been deleted.