Who is Hyper? Excuse me, who was Hyper.... I suppose I should start at the beginning.
My very first Pokémon game was Silver Version, which I received with a Gameboy Color at Christmas of the year 2000. My character was named Silver and my starter Pokémon was a Chikorita, which later became a Bayleef. I remember having a Suicune and a Dragonair as well. I didn't use Bayleef much at all, because I relied on another Pokémon as my strongest.
Hyper was a Raticate that I had raised from his early life as a Rattata all the way to level 96. He would have been my first level 100 Pokémon.
Back then, one of my friends was also into Pokémon. He had a lot of cheats for the games, whether he made them up or believed what a friend told him, I do not know. We spent hours on the bus ride home from school combing through the gyms for a key that would supposedly unlock a bookshelf and send you to the moon, where you could find Mews and Mewtwos. We never found it.
He also told me that a level 100 Pokémon would revert back to being a level 1 Pokémon once they leveled up. Me never having a level 100, I didn't know if this was true. Of course, I didn't want Hyper to be a level 1 Raticate.
Around this time, I was becoming bored with the game, as Hyper and I had wiped out all the trainers, gym leaders, and Elite Four members that dared to stand in our way. I considered restarting, without considering to save my Pokémon. I don't know if I even had a way to at that point, but I decided to restart my game. Everything was lost... including my dear Hyper. I cannot believe that I could ever be so stupid.
I have a Raticate named Hyper in nearly all of my Pokémon games. I keep saying I'll raise one to level 96, truly in honor of the original Hyper. But it's never happened. Perhaps something like this just can't be redone, and shouldn't be redone.
I'll always miss Hyper. My prized Pokémon and my partner... I will always love him.
