Remember how I said things couldn't possibly get weirder?
Yeah. About that.
I've battled Trainers with action commands. I've watched my shiny Umbreon talk a move out of existence. I've seen my sleepy Snorlax get promoted to the Elite Four without standing up. But none of that compares to what happened today.
Because today I met him.
The other one.
The one who saved before me.
And apparently, I've been living in his file this whole time.
The Glitch Signal
It started early.
Amber's PokéGear started glitching out, showing lines of binary that translated to:
load::SaveFile_001::user=Player_X::error=overwrite_detected
"Cool," I said. "So I'm not the only one who hacked the universe."
Amber frowned. "This shouldn't be possible. Your 'file' was isolated. You're a narrative exception—like an author with admin powers. There shouldn't be another one."
Karen floated by, sipping tea made of glowing particles. "The vibes have doubled."
Even Chadlax opened one eye.
And Midnight Daddy? He stopped brooding in his corner, stood up, and said:
"He's here."
That's right. My Umbreon spoke before the dramatic entrance.
Never a good sign.
He Appears
It happened at sunset. Of course it did. Because dramatic lighting is his thing, apparently.
One moment I was casually resetting the snack machine (which kept dispensing Master Balls), and the next?
The sky glitched.
Pixels spread like corrupted data. Everything slowed. Music faded out, replaced by a heartbeat sound.
And then he walked out of the shimmer.
Tall. Cloaked. Wearing a corrupted Trainer sprite that kept flickering between Red, a Gen 3 protagonist, and what I swear was me. His name tag just read:
[FILE_X]
And beneath that:
The Original Player
Midnight Daddy stepped forward. "Save File Zero."
"Save File what now?" I asked.
Lore Dump: Speedrun Edition
Amber was frantically typing on her handheld. "Okay, listen carefully," she said, sweat beading.
"There was another transmigrator before you. YEARS ago, game-time. He was the prototype."
"Meaning?"
"He broke everything. He maxed out every stat, beat the League in twelve seconds, caught Arceus with a Nest Ball, and deleted Team Rocket with a single cutscene."
"…Legend."
"No. Monster," she hissed. "He went too far. Tried to force the story to revolve only around him. Eventually, the system panicked and quarantined his file."
Karen added, "But now he's back. And he wants his file back."
Confrontation Time
FILE_X walked right up to me, glitching every third frame. His voice didn't come out of his mouth — it typed directly into my system text box:
You took my save file.
"Hey man, I didn't know it was yours. It just said 'New Game + Special Mode.' You think I read fine print?"
I was the first. I wrote the fine print.
He extended a hand, and I got a pop-up:
[TRANSFER NARRATIVE CONTROL TO: FILE_X?][YES] [NO] [Fight Me IRL]
I clicked [Fight Me IRL].
Karen clapped slowly.
The Battle: Save File vs. Save File
He didn't throw a PokéBall. He just loaded a Pokémon out of raw code.
[FILE_X sent out: MISSINGNO.Ω]
What came out was a floating, inverted question mark surrounded by code shards, screaming in 8-bit. Its typing?
Type: ALL / NONEAbility: Glitch Cascade
It immediately rewrote the battlefield.
Battlefield set to: Variable Memory HeapEffect: All moves roll a random outcome. Critical hits may result in enlightenment or waffles.
I sent out Midnight Daddy.
He didn't move. He just looked at MISSINGNO.Ω and said:
"I remember you."
MISSINGNO.Ω trembled.
Midnight Daddy Goes Full Anime
This was it.
The first real challenge my shiny Umbreon had ever faced — not just in power, but in meta presence. Midnight Daddy stopped flickering and suddenly looked… even more evolved.
Amber stared at the screen. "That's… that's not a move."
"What is it?" I asked.
She pointed. "He's manifesting a new ability."
New Ability: "Plot Armor++"If this Pokémon has already suffered enough emotionally, it auto-wins.
Karen looked thoughtful. "He broods so much. Of course it evolved."
Midnight Daddy stepped forward. Used:
Move: "Character Development Arc"
And MISSINGNO.Ω? It froze. Literally. As if it had to watch the whole tragic backstory being projected from Midnight Daddy's soul. Like an emotional Spirit Bomb of unresolved issues.
Then Midnight Daddy used "Closure".
It was super effective.
MISSINGNO.Ω dissolved into flickering tears.
The Fallout
FILE_X stumbled back, hands shaking.
"You… you rewrote my Pokémon."
I nodded. "No, he did. I just watched."
FILE_X's form started breaking apart, pixel by pixel.
[Narrative authority revoked from USER: FILE_X][SaveFileGod now recognized as Primary Protagonist]
"Wait, what happens to him?" I asked, as the sky started glitching back to normal.
Amber shrugged. "He'll respawn eventually. Maybe in a different genre."
"Wait, what—?"
FILE_X has logged out.
Karen Gets Weirder (Again)
As everything settled, Karen floated up beside me and whispered:
"I remember him."
"You do?"
"I was in his party. Before the fall."
"Karen…"
"I was his vibe judge too. But he never listened."
Her flower glowed ominously.
I looked at Amber. "Does she remember alternate timelines now?"
Amber just sighed. "At this point, she's basically a vibe-based time god. Don't worry about it."
"...I'm worrying."
Meanwhile, Chadlax
Chadlax had slept through the whole thing.
At one point, FILE_X almost tripped over him.
Chadlax grabbed his leg in his sleep, muttered something about "extra salsa," and rolled over, trapping FILE_X's sprite for a solid three minutes before the battlefield rendered it back into place.
Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some sleep through a multiversal war and still get a snack.
Final Message
That night, a new message appeared in my glitch chat.
[USER_404]You beat him. That was impressive.But now you've made waves.There's more coming. Bigger than him.We'll need you at the top.The League Summit begins soon.Get ready.
[P.S.]Bring snacks. Chadlax is part of catering.
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