diff --git a/library/Support/EncodedString5.cs b/library/Support/EncodedString5.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e57fe6e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/Support/EncodedString5.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.IO;
+
+namespace PkmnFoundations.Support
+{
+    public class EncodedString5
+    {
+        public EncodedString5(byte[] data)
+        {
+            RawData = data;
+        }
+
+        public EncodedString5(byte[] data, int start, int count)
+        {
+            if (data.Length < start + count) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("count");
+
+            byte[] trim = new byte[count];
+            Array.Copy(data, start, trim, 0, count);
+            AssignData(trim);
+        }
+
+        public EncodedString5(String text)
+        {
+            Text = text;
+        }
+
+        // todo: Use pointers for both of these
+		public static string DecodeString(byte[] data, int start, int count)
+		{
+            if (data.Length < start + count) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("count");
+
+			StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+
+            for (int i = start; i < start + count * 2; i += 2)
+			{
+				ushort gamecode = BitConverter.ToUInt16(data, i);
+				if (gamecode == 0xFFFF) { break; }
+				sb.Append((char)gamecode);
+			}
+
+			return sb.ToString();
+		}
+
+        public static String DecodeString(byte[] data)
+        {
+            return DecodeString(data, 0, data.Length);
+        }
+
+        public static byte[] EncodeString(string str)
+        {
+            MemoryStream m = new MemoryStream(str.Length * 2 + 2);
+            foreach (char c in str.ToCharArray())
+            {
+                m.Write(BitConverter.GetBytes(c), 0, 2);
+            }
+            m.WriteByte(0xff);
+            m.WriteByte(0xff);
+            return m.ToArray();
+        }
+
+		private byte[] m_raw_data;
+		private string m_text;
+
+		public string Text
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                if (m_text == null && m_raw_data == null) return null;
+                if (m_text == null) m_text = DecodeString(m_raw_data);
+                return m_text;
+            }
+            set
+            {
+                AssignText(value);
+            }
+        }
+
+		public byte[] RawData
+        {
+            get
+            {
+                if (m_raw_data == null && m_text == null) return null;
+                if (m_raw_data == null) m_raw_data = EncodeString(m_text);
+                return m_raw_data.ToArray();
+            }
+            set
+            {
+                AssignData(value.ToArray());
+            }
+        }
+
+        // lazy evaluate these conversions since they're slow
+        private void AssignData(byte[] data)
+        {
+            m_raw_data = data;
+            m_text = null;
+        }
+
+        private void AssignText(String text)
+        {
+            m_text = text;
+            m_raw_data = null;
+        }
+		
+		public override string ToString()
+		{
+			return Text;
+		}
+    }
+}