The Secret of MissingNo

By Mandy Nader

Pidgeot landed gently on the soft, warm sands of Cinnabar Island. Jeremy slid off the large bird's back and softly patted its feathery head.

"Thanks, Windslicer," he said quietly. "You deserve a nice rest." Pulling the empty Poke Ball from his belt, Jeremy aimed it at his companion. The bird vanished in a beam of bright red light.

Jeremy took off his baseball cap and smoothed his hair, readjusting his short ponytail. Flying on Pidgeot's back was a thrilling way to travel, but it certainly didn't do much for physical appearance. The young trainer sighed deeply. It was certainly warm here, a lot nicer than it had been in Viridian today. Jeremy removed his black bomber jacket, stuffing it into his red knapsack, before heading to the Pokemon Center.

"Joy, have you ever heard of Glitch Pokemon?" he asked as the pretty nurse treated his tired Pokemon.

"It's funny you should mention that," she answered, smoothing her pinkish-red ponytails. "There was a trainer in here this morning talking about Glitch Pokemon. After I treated her Pokemon, she said she was going Surfing around the island, trying to catch one. She might be able to give you some information on them."

"Oh yeah?" asked Jeremy. "What did she look like?"

"Well… she had long blonde hair, and she was training a giant Blastoise," said Joy with a smile. "You shouldn't have too much trouble locating her."

A machine dinged, and Joy turned around. "Here you go," she said, handing Jeremy the six small spheres. "Your Pokemon are back to perfect health." She nodded once. "We hope to see you again!"

Jeremy headed outside, the pleasant ocean breeze gently ruffling his light brown ponytail. A few sea birds circled overhead as he walked to the beach, searching for the girl the nurse had mentioned. The beach was empty, except for a few girls with fishing rods and a young couple having a picnic.

Finally he spotted the person Joy had told him about. The girl was skillfully Surfing on the back of an enormous Blastoise, not too far out to sea. She looked several years younger than his brother. Jeremy watched her for a while, admiring the size and strength of the creature she was riding.

“Excuse me!” he finally yelled. The girl turned around, and Jeremy waved anxiously to her. She pointed to herself, and Jeremy nodded. The girl shrugged, said something to her Blastoise, and approached the shore.

Gracefully leaping from the giant turtle’s back, the girl faced the young trainer, a quizzical look on her face. “You were calling me?” she asked, brushing windblown strands of blonde hair from her eyes. “What did you want?”

“That’s, uh, that’s a really nice Blastoise you have there,” Jeremy said, trying to think of something intelligent to say.

“Oh, thanks,” she said, smiling. “I started off with a Squirtle, once upon a time, and we’ve been training together ever since. My name’s Rose, by the way.”

“I’m Jeremy… I’m a Pokemon trainer. I’m trying to train for the Indigo Plateau…”

“Sorry, I don’t have time for a battle now,” said Rose. “Nothing personal. If you’ll excuse me… I’m really in the middle of something…” She turned away, preparing to resume Surfing.

“Something to do with Glitch Pokemon?” asked Jeremy, giving her a sly smile.

“How’d you know about that?” she asked defensively, spinning around to face him. “Are you spying on me or something?” She and her Blastoise glared at the young trainer.

“No, no!” Jeremy answered, hastily trying to explain himself. “No, I’m looking for Glitch Pokemon too! Joy said I should ask you about them! I need to find the Glitches, but I don’t even know where to look, except that they’re somewhere on Cinnabar Island. At least that’s what my brother said…”

"You’re interested in Glitch Pokemon, huh? Well, I haven't had much luck finding any yet," Rose admitted, her expression softening. "All the rumors I've heard say that the Glitches can be found on the East coast of Cinnabar." She sighed. "But I've been looking all morning and I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary."

"There are rumors about these things? All I know is they were supposed to be Mew clones that got weird and escaped."

"Really?" Rose seemed excited. "I've always wondered about the origins of the Glitches! There's so little accurate information about them." With a far-off smile, she gazed out at the waves. "Ever since I was a little girl, I always had a fascination with the mysteries of Pokemon. I've been to the Ruins of Alph, I own a full set of Unowns, I even tried catching some Legendaries, but nothing intrigued me more than the reports of Glitch Pokemon."

"What exactly HAVE you heard about them?"

“Let’s see...” she began, “I’ve heard that they don’t look like any kind of Pokemon the world has ever seen. Something about one that looks like a scramble, and one that looks like a ghost. They’re supposed to cause computer viruses... oh! And they’re supposed to have the amazing ability to clone items. Something about residual effects from the cloning technology that created them. There’s more to it, but it’s highly technical. I barely understand it myself.”

“Well, I need to catch one,” said Jeremy, thinking of the Master Ball in his backpack.

“You do?” she asked, giving him an odd look. “What would a trainer like you want with one of the Glitches? Aren’t you afraid it’ll mess up your PC data?”

“Huh?” asked Jeremy. This was new information to him.

“There are rumors that if you catch a Glitch and send it to your PC, it’ll put a virus in the Pokemon Retrieval System. Worst case scenario, you can’t access any of your stored Pokemon. Then there’s nothing you can do except format and reload your system, which means losing all your Pokedex information… not to mention your stored Pokemon.”

“Whoa… I didn’t know about that…” Jeremy hesitated. Convenient how his brother hadn’t mentioned that little risk.

“That’s why I only carry five Pokemon with me at a time,” Rose explained. “I don’t want my storage system to get screwed up. You might wanna transfer one of yours before you go Glitch-hunting.”

Jeremy paused, thinking aloud. “Who should I send back? Persian, maybe… or Graveler…”

Something started beeping, and Rose quickly pulled a small communicator from her pocket. “Just a second,” she said to Jeremy as she turned on the device.

“Yes?” she said into the communicator, irritation in her voice. “Fine, I’ll be there in a couple minutes. Yes, I’m leaving now.” She switched it off, glaring at the device. “Hey, kid, I’ve gotta run. Mom needs backup on her latest mission. Again.”

Jeremy just stared at her, waiting for an explanation. One never came.

“Uh, Rose? Before you go… um… I always wondered what Pokemon Surfing was like… is there a chance I could maybe borrow your Blastoise for a little while?” he asked hopefully. “Please?”

The girl seemed taken aback by his question. “What, are you out of your mind? I’m not just going to hand over my very first Pokemon to some kid I just met five minutes ago.”

“Why not?” asked Jeremy, genuinely confused. “I always heard that trainers liked trading Pokemon, it helps them grow faster.”

“Yeah, well, how do I know you’re not some little con artist who’s gonna swipe my Squirty and run?” asked Rose skeptically.

“I told you I’d trade!” Jeremy answered, slightly offended.

Rose shook her head. “Nothing doing. Sorry, but I can’t afford to take that kind of risk. Besides, I’ve gotta run…”

Jeremy was getting frantic. His one opportunity at Pokemon Surfing was rapidly slipping away. “Wait, Rose… you said you only carry five Pokemon with you at a time, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What if… what if I trade you TWO Pokemon if I can borrow Blastoise?”

Rose sighed. “Stubborn, aren’t you? Well, maybe… as long as they’re good Pokemon you’re willing to trade.”

“How about… Persian and Graveler?” Jeremy asked hopefully.

“Well… all right. I have a Meowth myself, so I know how to handle cute kitty cats. And I’ve always wanted to play around with a Rock Pokemon. Make sure you’re careful with my Squirty, ok?”

“Of course I’ll be careful.”

Rose leaned close to Jeremy’s face, her voice barely above a threatening whisper. “And no thoughts about swiping my Pokemon and running. If I return and you’re nowhere in sight, I’ll just take your Poke Balls to the nearest police station. They’ll put out a search on your ID number, and the next time you heal up at a Pokemon Center… busted!” A second later, her pleasant smile returned just as quickly as it had vanished. “No offense of course...”

Jeremy felt a little nervous as he handed the two Poke Balls to Rose. She seemed nice enough, but he felt sorry for anyone who messed with her. This girl was definitely tougher than she looked. “Goodbye, Persian. See ya, Graveler,” he whispered. “I’ll see you guys in a little while, ok?”

Rose walked to her water Pokemon and lightly patted its huge head. “Now Squirty, this boy wants to try some Pokemon Surfing, just like we’ve been doing. I’ll be back in just a little bit, so you have a good time playing in the water, ok?”

“Blaaaast!” Squirty bellowed.

Rose lowered her voice. “And keep an eye on this trainer. If he tries anything stupid, don’t hesitate to dump him in the ocean and go for help.”

“Ok, now, you have fun!” she said in her normal voice, blowing a kiss to her Pokemon. Squirty happily blew several transparent bubbles from his cannons. “Oh, you’re so silly!” the girl laughed, handing the empty Poke Ball to Jeremy.

“If anything happens, just take Squirty back to the Pokemon Center. I should be back within an hour,” Rose said, reaching into her backpack. Jeremy nodded.

“Go, Sapphire!” Rose dramatically tossed a Poke Ball into the air and a huge, sparkling ice-blue bird Pokemon materialized in a brilliant flash of light.

“Whoa... you have an Articuno?” Jeremy was obviously impressed.

Rose grinned, climbing onto the ice-bird’s back. “Told ya, I love mysterious Pokemon… and I think my Articuno is one of the prettiest,” she said, lightly stroking the shining feathers at Sapphire’s neck. The legendary bird made a low cooing sound. “I’ll see ya in a bit, Jeremy. Ok, Sapphire, let’s go!”

Jeremy watched as the huge bird flapped its wings and lifted gracefully into the air. Within seconds, Rose and her legendary Pokemon had vanished from sight. The young trainer then turned to Rose’s Blastoise, which was splashing in the ocean playfully, despite its huge size.

“Um… hi,” he began shakily. The Blastoise stared at him, and Jeremy felt more than a little nervous. “Uh, Rose said that, um, you and I could try Surfing…”

The giant turtle Pokemon swam to the edge of the water and looked expectantly at Jeremy.

“Um, I should, uh, climb on then?” he asked nervously. The Blastoise nodded, and Jeremy tentatively placed his hands on one of Squirty’s enormous water cannons. As he raised his foot onto the creature’s back, the trainer somehow got off balance and slipped off, landing face-down in the water.

Spitting out sand and water, Jeremy pulled himself upright as Squirty chortled aloud. At the sight of the massive Pokemon laughing, Jeremy couldn’t help but join in.

“I’m pretty pathetic at this, huh?” he said, grasping the cannons again. “Oh well, here goes nothing.”

This time, Jeremy maintained his footing and stood awkwardly on the giant Pokemon’s back. Squirty slowly began to swim away from the shore.

“Whoa… careful!” yelled the trainer, teetering from side to side. After a few minutes, he seemed to get the hang of it, and began to enjoy the experience of Surfing.

“Hey, this is pretty fun,” he told Squirty. “It’s like sailing, but without the boat… I can let you handle the steering.”

“Blaaast,” agreed the water Pokemon.

After traveling along the coast for about half an hour, Jeremy began to relax, watching the water Pokemon moving below the surface of the water. “I can see why Rose likes Surfing so much… I wonder when she’ll be back,” he mused.

As several clouds drifted in front of the sun, Jeremy looked up from the school of Magikarp he had been watching and noticed a large unidentifiable object further down the shoreline. At this distance, it was impossible to tell what it was, but it looked like some kind of dark-colored Pokemon. Wonder what THAT is, he thought. How’s it moving above the water like that? It’s not swimming… looks like it’s floating or flying or something. But it’s not a bird Pokemon… is it?

Squirty drifted closer to the dark object, but Jeremy couldn’t seem to get a good look at it. It looked almost like a thick haze had enshrouded the object.

As he strained his eyes for a better look, Jeremy faintly heard approaching sirens. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing a small army of police cars race down the Pallet Town Expressway Bridge towards Cinnabar. I remember Dad telling me they were building a bridge to the Islands… I guess they finished it, thought Jeremy absently. He returned his gaze to the ocean, but the dark mysterious object had vanished. Aww…it’s gone! Maybe next time, he thought ruefully.

The police cars were getting closer. Jeremy directed Squirty to the edge of the water, stepped off, and recalled the giant turtle Pokemon. “Wonder what’s going on,” he mumbled to himself. At a loud screeching noise from the sky, Jeremy looked up to see Rose and Sapphire, zooming overhead. The girl looked panicked, glancing over her shoulder and clutching onto her Articuno’s back anxiously.

“Hey, Rose, are you ok?” he called to her. She didn’t seem to hear him. The young trainer looked at her more closely. Either his eyes were playing tricks on him, or she was wearing some kind of white uniform. There was an insignia on the front, but he couldn’t make it out at this distance.

A moment later, police officers rushed forward, knocking Jeremy aside. One of them aimed some sort of firearm at Rose and her Pokemon. Speechless, Jeremy could only watch helplessly as the officer fired, and the shot found its mark in Sapphire’s neck. Rose screamed as she and her Articuno plummeted to the ground. Curious bystanders began to congregate behind the police cars, drawn by the fascinating scene.

Police officers closed in on Rose as Jeremy watched in horror. “What have you done to my Pokemon?” she shrieked as an officer dragged her from the ground and slapped handcuffs on her wrists.

“It was just a tranquilizer dart,” explained a female officer brusquely, as Nurse Joy and several Chanseys rushed out of the Pokemon Center. “Nurse, please treat this Articuno… we had to shoot it with a T-34. Then keep it at your Center until further instruction.”

“Oh dear,” said Joy, as her assistants carefully picked up the Legendary Bird and raced back to the hospital. “Don’t worry, Jenny, I’ll take good care of it,” she called over her shoulder as she ran.

Meanwhile, a male officer had pulled out a small card, and began reading Rose her rights. Rose was near hysterics by now, straining against the police officers who firmly held her arms. Jeremy, barely able to hear over the murmur of the crowd, pushed through nosy bystanders, trying to get closer to the girl whose Pokemon he had borrowed. As he approached, he noticed that she was indeed wearing a different outfit than before: instead of a typical trainer’s outfit, Rose was now wearing black boots, a white miniskirt, and a cropped white shirt with a big red R on the front. Where have I seen a getup like that before? wondered Jeremy, still very puzzled by what was going on.

The male officer finished reading the card and pulled out a small electronic device. "Now we need to check the ID numbers of your Pokemon," he explained gruffly. "Make sure you didn't steal any."

"But I-" began Rose anxiously, but the device's electronic beeping cut her off.

"AHA!" cried the male officer. "According to this, you have two Poke Balls that belong to other trainers." He flipped a switch on the device, and a red light switched on. The officer waved it in a wide arc around him, and the red light began pulsating, faster and faster, as he aimed it closer to Jeremy, who had finally gotten to the front of the crowd. He pushed another button and the machine gave a pleasant ring.

"It's a match," said the female officer who had spoken to Joy. "Looks like this is the trainer that both Poke Balls belong to."

"Look, Officer, we had-" began Jeremy, but the male officer cut in.

"Stay out of this, kid," growled the policeman. "Let the professionals handle this."

“But I didn’t steal his Pokemon!” Rose insisted, desperately looking to Jeremy for help.

“Do you or do you not have Pokemon in your possession that do not exclusively belong to you?” snarled the female police officer.

“Well yes, but it…”

“So you admit it then! That’s all I needed to hear. You’re under arrest for Pokemon theft, in addition to the other charges we have against you.”

Jeremy was stunned. “But Officer, it was just a trade…” he finally interrupted.

“A trade?” asked the policewoman, giving Jeremy a quizzical look. The boy nodded emphatically. The policewoman smiled. “Oh, I understand.”

Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. Until the officer roughly grabbed his wrists and handcuffed him as well.

“Then you’re also under arrest, for being an accomplice to this woman!”

The male officer pushed Rose and an open-mouthed Jeremy into the back of the squad car and slammed the door behind them. The pair of police officers jumped into the front seats and sped across the newly-constructed bridge that led north to Pallet Town.

The young trainer glared at the blonde girl. “Exactly WHAT is going on here?” he demanded. “What’s with the different outfit? Where did you disappear to before? Why were those cops after you? What did they arrest you for? And I don’t even do anything, but they arrest me just for trading Pokemon with you. I need some answers.”

Rose smiled weakly. “Whoa, enough with the third-degree, Jeremy! It’s a funny story, really,” she whispered, half-apologetically. “You see… I’m a Team Rocket member.”

Jeremy gasped. “Team Rocket? You're in... but I thought… aren’t you…?”

“Keep your voice down!” she hissed. “I AM a trainer and researcher, specializing in mysterious Pokemon. Once upon a time, I started off as a legitimate Pokemon trainer. I did quite well, even defeating the Elite Four. But I needed more of a challenge.” Rose pensively stared out the barred window. “It’s no fun defeating little twerps who don’t respect my fighting style. I like status-affecting moves, like Poison… those little brats always accused me of cheating. But I wasn’t cheating!” She clenched her handcuffed fists angrily as her eyes narrowed.

Looking over, she half-smiled at Jeremy’s freaked-out expression. “Sorry for yelling. But it just got old. I joined up with Team Rocket about a year ago, doing small-time stuff.”

“Like what?” This entire subject was totally new to Jeremy. This was the first time he'd actually talked to a Rocket member.

“Remember that call I got earlier? That was my mom. She’s a Rocket too, an elite. They just opened a scam Poke Mart on Seafoam Island, and…”

“Scam Poke Mart?”

“Steal stuff from trainers, sell it back to them for higher prices,” she quickly explained. “Pretty easy when there’s no real shops for miles. And if a trainer wants to sell something, or needs change, you give them counterfeit cash. I came up with that last part myself.” Rose smiled, as if pleased with her dubious accomplishment. “Mom ran out of fake money, so I was supposed to deliver another batch. But by the time I got there, the cops had gotten wise to the whole deal. The Rockets running the shop had split, then I show up, holding the fake cash.”

She smiled wryly, more than a touch of sarcasm in her voice as she continued. “Can’t imagine how they discovered I was up to anything suspicious. Think maybe the big red “R” on my shirt was their first tip-off?”

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