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The moment my preordered copy of Pokemon Black fell into my hands, I was already playing it. Like many other fans I'd been waiting eagerly for days prior to its release, as I had for every new Pokemon game ever since Crystal; and despite the years my passion has by no means dulled. Perhaps ordering a Japanese copy of White ruined the experience slightly, but once the English version was switched on I couldn't put it down.

My starter and I quickly progressed, defeating the first Gym leader fairly easily. After trading opened I started up White on my other DS and quickly traded over a Zorua egg, bred from my Wi-Fi event Zoroark.

By the time I had earned the Icirrus City badge, my team had grown to five, picking up a Gothitelle, Minccino, and the event Victini along the way. Aside from Minccino, all were fully evolved, but I had one problem; nothing on my team could learn Fly, which I needed for the constant travelling in the next part of the game. I headed into the grass north of the city to catch a Tranquill. After Serperior accidentally defeated the first, I captured a male and rushed to the Pokemon Center to add it to my team (replacing my Surf slave, Panpour).

The Pokemon's nature was gentle. There is of course nothing odd about this in itself, but my favourite nature happens to be gentle, for no reason other than my very favourite Pokemon has it. Smiling at this, I replaced Taunt with Fly and checked the Pokemon's summary.

Then I blinked, flipped through my other Pokemon's summaries, and returned to Tranquill's. For some reason its back sprite was showing on the page rather than its front sprite. Healing my team did nothing to fix this glitch, so I ignored it and left the center to Fly to Nimbasa City.

A wild encounter began in the Desert Resort; a Sandile. When Tranquill was the first Pokemon sent out, I barely managed to keep from dropping the DS. A moment later I remembered; Zoroark was at the head of my party, of course, and Tranquill was in the last place. It had startled me similarly the first time Victini took the last place. However, as I selected the fight option, the animation for Whirlwind played, blowing my Pokemon off-screen. The words 'Tranquill fled from battle!' appeared before the screen returned to the overworld view.

... That was strange. No attacks had been used on either side. I checked Tranquill again, its persistent back sprite now disturbing me slightly, and continued.

Unsurprisingly, soon another battle was beginning. Once again Zoroark was released with the bird's appearance. And once again a mysterious wind accompanied my Pokemon's flight from battle. This time the black screen lingered for a moment after the battle and a text box appeared, containing one word: Why?

The overworld screen gave no sign of anything being amiss. I didn't bother to check Tranquill's summary again, knowing what I'd see. However, I carefully avoided the darker sand on the way to the ruins, wary of any more battles. Unfortunately the same was impossible once inside.

Zoroark entered the battle against Team Plasma. I had considered switching my team around or simply switching the game off, but I was curious as to how this would play out in a battle where fleeing was impossible. I selected fight and waited for something to happen.

The Whirldwind animation played and the words 'Tranquill fled from battle!' appeared again. After this... nothing. The screen froze facing the grunt's Pokemon. After waiting a moment, I was about to hit reset when the battle suddenly disappeared. But rather than being in the Relic Castle, I seemed to be in... Icirrus City?

My character was standing by the Pokemon Center, and strangely, no people were around. Despite being nighttime, the sky was an unusual shade of dull red. At first the game refused to respond but finally the sprite moved, walking toward the Center doors. They refused to open.

The game froze again, reloading a moment later with me standing away from the door again.

I tried entering Twist Mountain, which resulted in another game freeze. Leaving via the marshland and entering the Gym yielded similar results. Eventually I had no option but to switch the game off, or head north.

"I'm not going to deal with this," I muttered, hitting reset. I had saved not long before battling the Team Plasma grunt, and fortunately the game loaded correctly. I opened my party to switch my team around and my blood ran cold. My entire team, save for Zoroark and Tranquill, had been knocked out. I was out of Revives so I turned and exited the castle to heal my team.

The outside world never loaded.

Beneath the blank loading screen, a text box appeared. "You're trying to run now?"

I hesitantly pressed A, realizing that this would repeat if I reset again. The text continued.

"I know what you did.

Why?

Why do you abuse us?

Why do you sully our image?"

The screen loaded in Icirrus Town again. Once again I had no choice but to go north. This time I did so, moving reluctantly one step at a time. The entrance to the tower also froze my game, leaving the grass as the only choice.

My sprite stepped into the grass and a battle began.

"Tranquill appeared!"

My trainer released Zoroark, which had no illusory form this time. But rather than the options, a text box appeared.

"Tranquill: Do you know what it's like; what you do to us?

Do you want to know?"

Zoroark transformed into... me?! An illusory version of the male trainer sprite appeared in Zoroark's place, facing the opponent. The trainer used Night Slash without my order, barely chipping away any of Tranquill's HP.

"Tranquill: How does it feel?"

"Trainer Ari used Snarl!"

"Tranquill: How does it feel to have your image stolen?"

"Trainer Ari used Cut!"

"Tranquill: How does it feel to watch your reputation fall apart?"

"Foe Tranquill used Fly! Trainer Ari fainted!"

The battle ended abruptly. This time the black screen never changed; after several minutes I reset the DS. I found myself in the Icirrus City Pokemon Center, at a point before I had moved Tranquill into my party and taught it Fly.

I loaded up the PC and released my newest capture.