Please enjoy this wholesome tale of Pokéfans rallying together to save a Pokémon trapped in an old device

For those who were born post-2010, let me introduce you to the ‘Pokéwalker’. It was a device included during the release of Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver where trainers could bring one Pokémon out with them and earn points through walking. It was the original Pokémon Go, so to speak.

Well, one trainer recovered this old device and realized that their beloved Pokémon is trapped and took it to the fans to help save this Pokémon and return it to its trainer.

Reddit user u/patriotman115 shared their dilemma on r/Pokémon. This trainer found out that their Houndoom is trapped in a Pokéwalker and they’re unable to bring it back as they lost the original save file where it was from. They now have to choose whether or not this Pokémon should be deleted or not as they’d like to use the device again.

The Pokémon community has heard OP’s calls for help as the post received over 20k upvotes. Each trainer either sent their best wishes or solutions to help OP reunite with his old buddy. One trainer recalled an old video where someone recovered Blastoise from a corrupted game cartridge and suggested OP perhaps follow the instructions in that video.

Others suggested using cheats or a device like “Action Replay” as all OP needs to do is get the same Trainer ID that the Houndoom originated from. However, fans pointed out another problem — even if OP managed to get their save file to get the new ID, the game and the Pokéwalker won’t be able to communicate since the new save has a ‘no walking Pokémon’ status.

Additionally, the Pokémon isn’t “gone” per se but rather unreachable, meaning that Houndoom’s data was deleted with the original save file.

But regardless of the challenging task ahead, Pokéfans reminded OP that their in-game character isn’t the trainer – it’s themselves. They also pointed out that if Houndoom is recovered, the world would be ‘different’ compared to its previous save file. They also encouraged OP that the next Houndoom they’d meet would just be their ‘deleted’ Pokémon reuniting with them in the next life.

But if the act of releasing a Pokémon is considered to be too much for OP, they suggested just treating it like a Tamagotchi.

So far, OP has not updated on whether or not their Houndoom safely left the device. But one thing’s for sure, they plan to catch it when the new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet game comes out later this year.