Disabled

When it comes to Pokémon, my favourites have to be Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff. When I was a little girl, I’d dream of having a puffy Jigglypuff. I even used to have a bunch of Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff plushies.

They would surround my pillow, and each night, I would cuddle with a different one, just to make sure they each got some love.

Anytime my Jigglypuff or Wigglytuff used Sing, I would hum the little tune with them, thinking it made my chances better for the opposing Pokémon to fall asleep. I was very naïve back then, but it was blissful innocence, to be honest.

Hell, I even played Jigglypuff in the Brawl games. I didn’t care if anyone else didn’t like her, I did.

## The Story

So, when I got my hands on Pokémon Soul Silver when it first came out, I, of course, made it my mini mission to find a Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff. I went through the game, waiting for Puffs and Tuffs to show up. I encountered the occasional trainer with a Puff or Tuff, but I soon found out that Jigglypuffs could only be caught in one set area, which I later found to be the game's Safari Zone, and Wigglytuffs could not be found in the wild at all for me.

At that point, Safari Zone was not active for me, so I was stuck waiting a little while longer to capture my beloved Puff.

After a week or so of battling and school work, Safari Zone was finally available. I went there once I had a chance to go and went on a hunt for Jigglypuff. And, of course, it was not easy. I ran into maybe eight the first trip and lost all eight of them. I remember calling my DS lite a cheater.

Next day, though, I finally caught my first Jigglypuff. I happily named her Juun and put her in my party ASAP. It took some time to get her up to the level of the rest of my team, but well worth it for me. I even kept her Sing, since it felt so nostalgic to hear that lovely tune again.

Sadly, school got busy for me for a while, so I was forced to put my game on hold. But, once I got my free time back, I went right back to work, making sure all my Pokémon loved me, especially my Juun.

But I still didn’t have my Wigglytuff. I didn’t want to lose Juun so I thought about getting an already evolved Wigglytuff, since Safari Zone has proven its dislike of me. So I set a call out on the Wireless Trade asking for a Wigglytuff, any gender and any level. I wasn’t picky at the time, but now I wish I had been picky. In exchange for a new Wigglytuff, I put out a wonderfully bred Totodile that had some killer moves, even for a level six.

I waited for hours, thinking someone would see the quality right away and send a trade. I waited days, maybe someone would just happen to want a Totodile to raise. Nearly two weeks had passed and I still had no response. I had already given up hope and was ready to use a Moon Stone on Juun.

I ended up checking one last time to make sure, and I wanted to get my Totodile back somehow, if no one was going to take him. But it didn’t send me to the main menu for the Wireless Trading. Instead, I got the dramatic evolving music and a Pokéball came flying from the top screen to the bottom. Finally, I got my Wigglytuff.

I quickly logged out to see my new friend. A female Wigglytuff, level twenty-six. The name was a bit odd though. DISABLED. In all caps. I didn’t get why someone would name a Wigglytuff that, but I had seen stranger names for Pokémon. I just wished I could have changed it, but for some reason, you could never change the name of traded Pokémon.

Its information was a bit odd, but I was never one for those kinds of details, or learning the meanings behind those details.

Gloomy nature.

And it only knew one move. Sing.

I didn’t recall ever seeing Gloomy before, but I had seen Timid, so I figured if they can be shy they can be sad too. Though, you would have to wonder what Pokémon would be Gloomy. And the fact it only knew Sing did bug me. It would have been nice if its previous trainer left some more moves, but I had some nice TMs to try on it anyway.

Despite the off information, I was eager to try out the Wigglytuff in battle. I checked my character's bag and picked the best TM I was almost sure would work. I ended up picking Hidden Power, Swagger, and Explosion. I headed over to the nearest patch of grass and walked around aimlessly looking for a fight.

The battle music came on and the Pokémon was a Ponyta. I picked "Fight" and used "Sing", just to make Wigglytuff's first fight was easy. It failed.

Well, I knew Sing didn’t always work, so I didn’t think anything of it.

Ponyta used "Tail Whip". It was cute, but only lowered my defense.

My turn again, so I used "Hidden Power", just to see if I was in the right place for it. I wasn’t, since I barely made a nick in the Ponyta's HP. It used Tail Whip again. I figured that the game was using that same trick the lower level Pokémon used.

This time I tried Sing again. The screen acted like it had used sing but there was no sound.

"Sing was disabled."

I just stared at my screen. How was its Sing unusable? Was it a stupid trick?

I let Ponyta used its Tail Whip again, but then WigglyTuff shook a bit like it was suffering from an effect. I thought I saw the sprite change, but then I realized that I probably got a glitchy pokémon.

I cussed a bit, pissed that I lost a good pokemon for a hacked one. I didn’t want this one messing with my game, so I picked "Run".

"DISABLED wants to fight. You could not leave the battle."

"Oh, come on!" I remember saying out loud. I kept thinking that it was probably about to ruin my game. I thought Ponyta was about to attack this turn, but it didn’t. Its little sprite shook like it was poisoned.

"Ponyta was frozen in fear. It might not attack."

I knew this was getting too weird. I tried to pick Run again but another weird text came up.

"DISABLED wants to fight. You cannot leave the battle."

I didn’t even see that the text was different this time…

I was able to pick another option. I couldn’t run so I fought. I tried Hidden Power again.

"Hidden Power was Disabled."

I had to pick another one…

I tried Swagger.

"Swagger was Disabled."

What was doing this to its moves? All these questions popped up in my head, one after another. What did that guy who gave me this Wigglytuff do? I have to escape, I can’t keep this pokemon. I knew I could just turn the game off, but I wanted to see what was happening. I wanted to see what was wrong with “my” Wigglytuff.

I was stuck with only two options: Sing and Explosion.

Sing was already disabled from past attempts so I could only use Explosion. That move would take out the Wigglytuff and the Ponyta too, ending the battle. I thought that maybe it was a good thing.

"Explosion was Disabled."

I didn’t even have a chance to react before more text came up.

"DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled."

It was doing it on its own. The sprite started shaking a bit more than before, more obviously.

"Ponyta is frozen in fear. It can no longer escape from battle."

I felt my heart start to pound. Maybe this was what Ponyta was feeling at the time.

"DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled."

"DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled"

"DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled"

"DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled. DISABLED tried using Sing. Sing was Disabled."

Each time the text passed Wigglytuffs sprite turned dark and darker.

"DISABLED used Struggle."

I watched in horror as the Wigglytuff used Struggle, like it had no other moves to use. Most of the time it didn’t even hit the Ponyta, just Wigglytuff, like it was hurting itself.

The Ponyta finally fled from the battle and the sequence ended. I wished I could have gone with it. Since Wigglytuff was first in my party it was walking along with me on screen. Its colors looked dirty and red could be seen on it. I turned my character to talk to it.

"…"

It didn’t say anything to me. I tried again, becoming strangely desperate to figure out what was happening to the Wigglytuff I was so joyed to finally have.

"…"

"I just wanted to Sing…"

I wasn’t sure who was talking. "*Maybe it was a voice over*," I thought. I talked to it again.

"Why… why… why can’t I Sing?"

"Just... Sing… sing…"

Each time I spoke to it, its cry grew softer and softer, like it was a toy breaking. I began to feel bad for Wigglytuff and headed back for the city to heal it. It was the least I could do before I turned my game off, taking it back to the time when I just barely got it. Before I used it.

Sadly, we didn’t get far. We encountered another Pokémon battle, another Ponyta. I picked Run but just like last time:

"DISABLED wants to fight. You cannot escape the battle."

No one had time to react to what happened during this fight. Ponyta was too slow for some reason and was stuck in battle. The options menu did not come up for me.

"DISABLED tried to use Sing. Singsingsingsingsingsingsingsingsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss..."

There was so much text it moved off the box itself. It was finally glitching out I thought.

"DISABLED used Struggle. It Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled. And Struggled."

With each Struggle, Wigglytuff took more and more damage, though this time the wild Ponyta got hit more this time too.

"The Wild Ponyta Fled."

I thought the fight was over but the battle screen stayed up. I began mashing the buttons, thinking maybe it was going to talk again and I needed to press A or B.

The screen faded and changed to the evolving screen. I couldn’t speak. My heart sank and I felt my eyes water. The once normal Wigglytuff sprite was faded. Its left ear was torn off, and red pixel covered the broken end. Its tired eyes were pitch black, with only a red dot to show its pupils. Even its mouth had red coming from it, like blood was dripping out.

"Why can’t I Sing? Why? Why?"

"Can you Sing?"

Yes or No.

I picked no. I just wanted this to end.

"You’re lying. You... can Sing. Give me your Sing."

Yes or No.

I hit No about four or five times.

"Sing. Sing. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS(\*&\*&(($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"

The speakers let out a high pitch screech, making me drop my DS to get it away.

I ran out of my room and called a friend. I couldn’t touch the game after that. My friend came over, seeing as I could not hide the panic I was feeling. She laughed at me but I told her I wasn’t touching the game. She picked it up for me and looked at it, shaking her head as she turned it off and closed it. She handed it back to me.

"I think you broke it," she told me, leaving my room and heading for the living room.

She stayed with me the rest of the day and night. I couldn’t get that image out of my head.

The next morning, with my friend sitting next to me, I put the Wigglytuff up for trade. I found someone that was offering a Cyndaquil in exchange for a Wigglytuff. I hit the button as hard as I could, wanting it to hurry up. The trade went through.

I still have that Cyndaquil. Whoever had him, named him Hurry.

## Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nZTEhpSUCk&t=2s