Consequences - Animal Jam Creepypasta

All actions have consequences, whether good or bad. You could watch TV instead of doing your homework, but this could end in your grade failing. You could avoid a party instead of joining it, and as a result you wouldn't become far too exhausted to do something the following day. Life has consequences around every turn. It's just how it goes, and that's how you learn from your mistakes and become wiser than most others.

This is what a young eighteen-year-old learned while wasting his free time upon a child's game. "Animal Jam" is what it was called, a family-friendly game with delightful animals and a happy aura all around. The only reason Micheal even touched the game was because he found it enjoyable; even though it could drag on and become repetitive.

He often would stroll around Jamaa, urging the newer Jammers to explore a bit, and even teaching the youngsters how to do most things. Micheal was a pro, for it was a simple game to him. Even trading wasn't all that hard, but of course he didn't really have a care for it. In fact, he despised it so much so that he, a brown-and-pale panda, didn't bother to search and hunt for items. He considered it untrustworthy, and often warned his much younger friends to be very careful when trading.

Most would think Micheal was a young man wasting his life. But, there was an unnerving truth beneath all that wisdom and calmness of which he showed when playing the child's game. In reality, he was searching for ways to hack into the game—for reasons only he appreciated.

You see, Micheal was a zoologist in training. He loved nature, in ways one couldn't possibly ever imagine. He wanted to find out every scrap of information of even the smallest of organisms. And naturally, he loved anything that was realistic. Realistic movies, books, tales; games.

And much to Micheal's disliking, there were very few games that showed realism. The "realistic" games often were lies, and mostly consisted of the same cliche noises, poor animations, and inaccurate animal models that made him want to shout in outrage. When his eyes landed upon the innocent, "inaccurate" game of Animal Jam, he felt just the same.

However, a few key details caught his eye. Apparently, Animal Jam had been hacked many, many times before—to the point of which it became absurd. Animal Jam was vulnerable to even the most poor of hackers. Secondly, it was a kid's game. Children who are exposed to friendly, foolish lies about animals and their habitats.

But, if he managed to hack the game, he could educate the youngsters. He could finally teach the new generation about the truth of the wild world! There was no such thing as bright pink wolves with ties—only wolves who worked together instinctively and took down a elk with one swift twist of its neck.

And so, he began to work to try and figure out the ways of hacking, all the while letting out subtle hints about the future he would give to Animal Jam.

Remember that little opinion he had on the trading part of Animal Jam, and how he warned the youngsters about it? That was his other plan to drag the kids away from the "lie" that animals could talk and trade. He hated the trading system, only because it supposedly blinded the children in the way the real animal kingdom worked.

And believe it or not, he would also speak to the kids in a strange, but subtle fashion in order to slowly make them recognize the future:

"Did you know that my favorite color is brown? That's because most animals in the wild are brown! What's your favorite color?"

"I actually didn't know that animals danced. I don't think they do, and honestly I think it looks a little silly. Don't real animals just walk around, sit, and sleep?"

"I don't like all this trading stuff. Let's roleplay like real animals! I think that's a lot more fun!"

And so forth-

Ah, but one day, as he made it to the Animal Jam home screen, he was filled with delight and excitement. He had finally mastered his hacking skills, after practicing it on rather simple flash games around the internet. Finally, he could show the children the "real" world of Animal Jam.

He began his work, until finally, he had gained access into all servers, all textures, all animations—all of it. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately for the innocent folk, he had already made his own textures, animations, and that such. He was more than ready to edit this seemingly innocent game of "lies".

After what was hours upon hours, he finally finished. And with that, and with a satisfying "click", he turned on all networks of the new and improved Animal Jam. A grin was plastered upon his face as the new home screen appeared, and he could barely contain his pride.

Micheal's Animal Jam home screen showed the picture of a wolf pack, in high realism, bounding through the forest. It was made completely from photoshop, drawn with a tablet. At lead was a large gray-brown wolf, drool flying from its jaws as his family followed his lead. Already, Animal Jam was showing improvements.

He, himself, made a new account. He was overall proud of his choices, for now the option of naming your character was limited to only one word. Along with that, but the Animal Jam style was completely replaced by realistic redrawings of the animals. He was mostly proud of the rabbit, of which appeared to be a dusty brown color, with small, pure black eyes and flattened ears. The rabbit was in the realistic crouching position, the stem of a dandelion hanging from its lips.

As with the names, depending on the animal you chose, it would give you a different array of words. Most names were based upon flora, the noises of the creatures, and even the different words for claws and teeth in terms of the animal. It was all perfect, according to Micheal.

Choosing his signature panda, Micheal went on until he was finally allowed access into the game. It showed him the cutscene of his panda among others of its group, peacefully eating bamboo and snuggling up amongst each other. Bold, black letters slowly appeared, stating: "Animal Jam: The Wild". The words soon faded, and he was welcomed into Jamaa township—except, not quite.

His character was in the middle of a bamboo forest, perfect for his panda. Other people with their own pandas spawned in, and much to Micheal's dismay, they seemed...scared or otherwise angry. In the chat, some kids explained that they were fearful of these changes, while others just seemed distraught.

Micheal didn't understand. Didn't they like this? Wasn't it more fun to play the real life of an animal? ''They've just joined. They haven't even seen the best parts of the game, yet! ''He mentally reminded himself, and quickly shook the worry off.

He controlled his character along through the bamboo forest, answering his character's new basic needs of food and hunger. It wasn't exactly hard to come-by, seeing as bamboo was absolutely everywhere, and water was frequently pooled at the stalks. Apparently, a rainstorm had just passed. The weather effects seemed to be working well.

All seemed well—that was until he noticed the starving, staggering characters he began to stride alongside. He became concerned as the children with these animals began to type: "I don't what to do! I'm scared! I don't want my animal to die!"

They were young, and he hadn't expected them to catch on completely. But still, it worried him. Was the fact of your character dying really that terrifying? To try and calm the terrified children, he assisted them in eating the bamboo and making their way to the nearest puddle.

However, sometimes he was far too late when someone called for help. When he'd try to assist them, sometimes he'd take too long, and find the children's character's collapsed upon the ground, experiencing seizures or otherwise thrashing in agony from the pain in their stomach. In the end, he couldn't help them, and it was admittedly horrifying to watch as the digital animal finally faltered, and their last dying breaths coming out as sharp, raspy, staggered wheezes.

Soon, after many experiences of horror and sympathy, night had fallen upon this changed Jamaa. And Micheal was soon strongly reminded of the dangers of nightfall, and in an attempt to try and seize the children's worries and possible demise, he desperately went around to try and tell them to escape to the tops of the bamboo stalks.

Some didn't listen. And when he himself hauled himself to the top of a stalk, he had to hear the agonized screams as pandas bellow were ripped apart by their tiger enemies. It must have been traumatizing to both the panda and the tiger at the gruesome, realistic sounds, for both of them soon left the game only seconds after.

He was horrified by his creations, and harshly shamed himself for what he did. But he couldn't let it end so soon—not when he had wasted all that time on making the hack. Maybe several more hours, and everyone would warm up to the game?

And when he made a new character, this time a wolf, it only got worse. He spawned into the aspen forest to find that most of the wolves were ripping each other apart, viciously fighting for the fewest scraps of rabbit. Oh, God. He hadn't even thought of the fact that most people barely even became rabbits in general—the Animal Jam favorite animal was the wolf.

Overpopulation was abundant, and it was so clear it could become glass. He was fearful as he watched as innocent children had to battle it out for rabbit or deer carcass, while he was left to quiver in the fern undergrowth, watching his own hunger slowly tick down.

Blood and dead bodies scattered the forest floors, while Micheal's character complained of nausea from the revolting scents of death. All the while, some wolves even began to feed on their own species. It was gruesome, and honestly not something to take pride for.

Oh, God. What had he done? What had he done to Animal Jam?

He changed into a seal—those with membership had sharks that were happily tearing each other apart.

Tiger.

He was met with several tigers fighting over the body of a panda.

Rabbit.

No one was there. There was only bodies...bloodied and mangled, scattered across the meadow.

Monkey.

Just the same, except that the monkeys were all huddled in the trees, fearing for their lives as some tigers prowled around. He nearly vomited at the sight of one character clutching the crippled, twisted body of a monkey in their jaws.

Koala.

Most were dying of disease, while others were finding it almost impossible to eat without becoming sick.

He had no membership, and thus didn't know of the others. But he was too afraid to bother to explore to find the members.

He was a monster. He had created the dark side of Animal Jam.

What had he done?