=Legal Disclaimer=

        Pokémon is a registered trademark of Nintendo Entertainment Inc., or 
whatever it is they're calling their company. As a big business, they are 
inherently evil, but fair is fair, so I'm not allowed to make money using their 
characters. As such, those of you who would like to purchase any Dixie 
merchandise or memorabilia are welcome to send random amounts of money to:

        Cyberwraith T. Nine

        666 Spooky Road

        Ghostland, TX 00666

BadgeQuest

The Big Goodbye

=Part 1=

Catching Up With Old Friends

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The coarse rock face crumbled beneath fingers that were once soft and 
delicate as she scrabbled her way up the side of a cliff she had never seen 
before, and probably wouldn't see again once she left. Tiny pieces of the 
mountain fell into her eyes, bringing stinging tears to both clean and cloud her 
vision. She paused a moment to let her eyes blink the refuse out. After all, 
when she was suspended three hundred meters above the ground, she wanted to make 
sure she was good and secure and one hundred percent on the ball.

        A year ago, had someone told her that she could climb mountains, she 
would have laughed at them before returning to her fashion magazine. However, it 
had been an enlightening year for her; not only could she climb mountains, she 
could jump from an airliner with nothing but an emergency chute, fight off a 
hoard of hungry Onix, freestyle down a triple black diamond slope on a makeshift 
board, and ignore the nails that she broke while doing so. Never, in her entire 
life, had she thought herself capable of such incredible, demeaning physical 
acts. After all, servants were meant for such things…hired muscle, goons, and 
the rest of the ilk her parents weren't fond of employing. But she had a 
powerful driving force that kept her going on the longest, coldest of nights…

        She was the one.

        Not him.

        Her.

        "You need to turn back, child…" A voice hissed from all around her, 
echoing off of the twilight-lit canyon she was in the process of scaling. The 
spectacular light show that nature was putting on set the entire valley on fire. 
It was a pity she couldn't stop to enjoy it.

        "Not on your life, Missingno," Giselle hissed, gaining another hand-hold 
and hauling herself higher. The top of the cliff was just a few meters away, and 
she wasn't about to let the creature get away again. She had come too far, 
worked too hard to let that bag of gas slip through her fingers. He had managed 
to dodge her a half a dozen times over the past twelve months. She had watched 
him suck entire villages dry, dropping people faster than she could count. He 
had taken down entire farms of livestock, farmhands and all, in the blink of an 
eye. But tonight, it was over. "Tonight," she promised the monster, "You're 
mine!"

        "So you say," Missingno's hideous tone hissed from all around her, 
murmuring sweet nothings of death and torture into her ear, "But you've said 
that before, haven't you? Remember that family you said you'd protect? The one I 
devoured before you could even scream in horror?"

        "Shut up," she growled, finding another hold.

        "You were unconscious for nearly an hour. And do you know what I did?"

        "I said shut up…"

        "Absolutely nothing," the demon cackled gleefully. I watched you as you 
slept. I whispered into your dreams…but you remained unscathed. And do you know 
why?"

        "STOP IT!"

        "Because I knew it would be absolute torture," Missingno murmured, "To 
have lived to see those hollow, empty shells."

        Giselle's hand finally found its way to the top of the cliff, scrabbling 
for a firm hold among the jagged rocks. "I swear to you, monster," she snarled, 
"I'll destroy you myself if I have to." With another grunt, she was on top of 
the cliff, high above the valleys and mountainous channels that ran near the sea 
just south of Pallet Town. She pulled a pair of Pokéballs from her pocket, 
expanding them to full size. She may not have collected the complete set yet, 
but two elemental titans were far better than none. "Get ready, Zapdos, 
Moltres…" she murmured.

        Missingno's cackling laughter echoed all around her as the last rays of 
the sun slipped down below the rocky peaks. "Those two again?" he sneered, 
"Didn't you learn your lesson back at Cinnabar Island?"

        Despite her earlier bravado, Giselle could feel a modicum of fear 
creeping into her; she had fought Missingno long enough to know that he was 
strongest when it was dark. Already, the top of her lonely cliff had grown cold 
without the radiant touch of the sun, and a dense fog had begun to seep in 
around her feet, rising slowly as she searched about. "This time will be 
different, Missingno."

        "I agree," Missingno's ominous voice replied cheerily. "This time, you 
won't be getting away."

        "That's my line." Giselle's eyes darted about, searching for the 
familiar wisp of black smoke that signaled the demon's approach, but there was 
no sign of him. The fog had grown too thick to see anything, and even the rising 
moon's circle of light was beginning to fade. "Where are you?"

        "Right here."

        The fog suddenly took on a life of its own, wrapping around her. She 
could feel the darkness pressing in on her from all sides, immobilizing her in a 
cold, perverse embrace. The fog entered her through every orifice, every pore in 
her body, seeping into her and tainting her soul. Giselle screamed, but the fog 
moved to choke her, forcing its way inside of her. Just as her consciousness was 
slipping away, as the demon began devouring everything that she was, she heard a 
tiny murmur enter her mind;

        "Gotcha."

=To Be Continued=