Pokémon Black is a Pokémon creepypasta about, naturally, a weird bootleg game in the series.
The protagonist is an enthusiast of Pokémon bootleg games and ROM hacks. However, they've brought one game that they've been unable to find info online about: a Pokémon Red and Blue hack called Pokémon Black. The protagonist doesn't actually own a copy of the game anymore, but they do remember it thoroughly. The creepypasta consists of their memories of the game.
The story goes that alongside the usual starter, the storyteller got a "ghost" Pokémon that they could never switch out of their party. No opponents were capable of attacking it, and its only move, a bizarre variant of "Curse", was almost always a One-Hit KO. If they fought a trainer, each curse caused the ball containing the opponent's mon to disappear from their roster. Once they lost all their Pokémon, they could curse the trainer directly; killing them and replacing their overworld sprite with an Instant Gravestone. After beating the Elite Four, the player got a Flash Forward to their character as an old man, recalling every Pokémon and trainer they cursed, at which point their ghost finally turns on them and subjects the player to a Hopeless Boss Fight. When their HP hit a critically low level, it cursed them and the screen turned to black and did not change. Upon resetting the game, the protagonist discovers that their save file was erased.
The story predates the official Pokemon Black, so to avoid confusion, it has since been referred to as Pokémon Creepy Black. You can read the story here
or listen to someone read it here.
Many years after the story was made, a fan made a ROM Hack that recreates the game as described in the story. One can download the patch for it here.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- The Aloner: In the final segment of the game, Red is an old man wandering alone through Kanto, with all the people and Pokémon gone. Once he returns to his childhood home in Pallet Town, Ghost confronts and kills him before deleting the player's save file.
- Ascended Extra: Originally an unobtainable Pokémon who only shows up in the Lavender Tower, Ghost is now one of the Starter Mons, and the highlight of this hack.
- Background Music Override: In the final segment, the Lavender Town music plays constantly, no matter where the player goes. During the montage of all the Pokémon and Trainers the player killed, the song gradually decreases in pitch until it's little more than a "demonic rumble".
- Contractual Boss Immunity: It’s mentioned that Ghost Pokémon are immune to the Curse move. In the ROM hack, Curse will fail when used against the ghosts in Pokémon Tower before acquiring the Silph Scope, though this detail is not incorporated for Pokémon that are Ghost-type.
- Dark Fic: The story is about a horror-themed hack where Red can use a ghost to kill Pokémon and trainers.
- Developer's Foresight:
- The Curse move cannot be used on trainers that have to be challenged again, such as the Rival or Giovanni, except in the final battles against them.
- As the player has no Pokémon to use HMs with during the epilogue, the cuttable bush by Viridian Forest's exit is removed, allowing the player to return to Pallet Town.
- Downer Ending: No matter how many Pokémon and humans Red kills with Ghost's Curse (or even if he kills no one at all), the Playable Epilogue is always the same. Many years after entering the Hall of Fame, he wanders through Kanto as an old man, finding that every other living thing has disappeared — every wild Pokémon, every NPC, and even his own Pokémon. As he returns to Pallet Town and enters his childhood home, he is confronted by a montage of every Pokémon and human he killed before being confronted by Ghost itself. He can do nothing but Struggle against it until he runs out of HP and dies.
- The Dreaded: It is impossible for any Pokémon to attack Ghost, because its mere presence makes them too terrified to move.
- Game Mod: The aforementioned ROM hack that recreates the experience of the game.
- The Hero Dies: The game ends with Ghost killing the player character.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: At the end of the game, the player character, now an old man, faces Ghost with Struggle as their only move. When their HP reaches a critical point, Ghost uses Curse and kills them, then erases the save file.
- Instant Gravestone: If the player uses Curse on a trainer, a headstone will appear in that trainer's spot in the overworld when the player leaves the area and comes back.
- Kid Hero All Grown-Up: After beating the game, the epilogue skips ahead to Red as an old man.
- Killed Off for Real: The move Curse kills the opponent's Pokémon. The player can also use Curse on the trainers.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Even if the player goes through the whole game without ever using Curse on any Pokémon or Trainer, Ghost will still kill them in the end.
- Nothing Is Scarier: During the final segment, Kanto is completely empty. No wild Pokémon appear, all the NPCs are gone, and any Pokémon in the party or PC have vanished, leaving Red completely isolated.
- No-Sell: In the story, Curse doesn't work on Ghost-type Pokémon, though this does not apply to the ROM hack.
- One-Hit Kill: Curse instantly kills any Pokémon the player uses it on.
- Permadeath: After Ghost kills the player character, the save file is erased.
- Promoted to Playable: Ghost becomes a playable Pokémon that is automatically given at the beginning of the game. It's not specified if it has a Pokédex entry, though. The ROM hack doesn't give it one.
- Reminiscing About Your Victims: Upon returning to his home in Pallet Town as an old man, Red is treated to a montage of all the Pokémon and Trainers he killed with Ghost's curse, before Ghost itself kills him.
- Required Party Member: It is impossible to remove Ghost from the party by releasing it or put it in a PC, although the player is not forced to use it in battle.
- Riddle for the Ages: It’s never found out who made the cartridge, and while the narrator does speculate on why it was made, no definitive answer is given.
- Timeskip: After defeating Blue for the final time, the game skips ahead many years. Red is now a senior.
- Unbuilt Trope: This story pre-dates a lot of the Pokémon creepypastas that have subsequently appeared, but while most of these later stories tend to have supernatural elements, everything that happens in this one could theoretically happen in real life.
- Where It All Began: The final battle against Ghost happens when the player returns to the exact same tile they started the game at.
- You Will Not Evade Me: Red is unable to run from Ghost during his final confrontation with it.
