Random Encounters with Missingno: Chapter 52

Chapter 52- A Random Broom

Missingno and Cassandra sit in a diner, waiting for their food in the soft morning light.

Missingno waves his fork in the air. “Wa~ffles! Wa~ffles! Wa~ffles!”

Is that going to be a thing now?

“Ma~ybe! Ma~ybe! Ma-”

“Missingno!” Cassandra slams a hand on the table. “Our waffles are here already, so cut it out. You aren’t going to make that a thing, are you?”

He opens his mouth, but her stare makes him reconsider. He turns to Driller, who is sitting in a high chair. “You’re with me, right?”

Driller looks at him, shrugs, and goes back to eating waffles. Which still consists of him putting his face on it and letting it absorb into his skin.

“Still cool.” He turns back to Cassandra. “So what are we doing today?”

“We still need to beat Eri-”

Missingno jabs a finger at her. “THE SAME THING WE DO EVERY NIGHT! TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!”

“... What?”

“Nevermind. We should really finish eating so we can fight Erika.”

“Driller and I are already done. You still have your giant pile left.” She looks up to the top of the tower of waffles. “How many is that? 30?”

“Ha! More like 50!”

Cassandra stands up. “We’re gonna go. Catch up when you are done.”

“Wait!” Missingno starts stuffing waffles in his pockets. “You didn’t leave a tip!”

“Why would I leave a tip? This place is just something you made.”

He puts his hand on his heart. “Why would you say that?”

She gestures to the workers rushing around. “Probably because you are the waiter, the cook, the bus boy, the dishes guy, even that ‘broom holder’.” A Missingno near the door waves at them as he balances several customer’s brooms.

“Fine. Let’s go.” The original Missingno grabs a broom and pushes Cassandra out the door, into the streets of Celadon City. The building they just left sits next to the hotel. They walk beside a line of trees that travels along the street towards the gym.

Driller flies up and down in small circles

Missingno laughs. “Looks like you are anxious to fight something.” He turns to Cassandra. “I know you don’t want to, but we should go fight Erika.”

She glares at him. “Whatever. Are you just going to leave that thing as is?” She jabs her thumb at the diner.

“Yeah. The diner down the street never seems to be open, and I’m broke after buying all these TMs.” Missingno holds up a large collection of disks. He eats them, swings the broom over his shoulder and points. “Onward!”

Cassandra rolls her eyes as she follows behind Missingno, who is marching down the street. They don’t go far before they reach a scraggly tree blocking the trail towards the gym. Missingno takes a step back and winds up the broom like a golf club. With a powerful swing, a gust of wind lifts the tree out of the ground, roots and all. Missingno whistles as he walks through his opened path.

They make it to the Celadon Gym, where an old man is looking through the window.

Missingno stares at him. “... You are a creepy old man.”

“Thank you.”

“Normal people would run if they were caught doing this.”

“I am not ‘normal people’.”

“That’s for sure! Don’t you think so, Cassan-” He turns around, but she is nowhere to be seen. “Hey, old man. Have you seen my friend?”

“Yeah, she went inside a while ago.”

Missingno bolts into the gym. He spots her along the wall, finishing a battle with a Jr. Trainer Girl.

“MAN! I didn’t get to do my thing…” Missingno’s shoulders slump as he looks at the floor. “It’s been a while, and I was hoping to do it again…”

Cassandra brushes some vines off of Driller. “Is it really that important?”

“To create something that readers will immediately associate with my character? This is even more important than Driller not being hit by Toxic right now!”

She raises an eyebrow. “I got none of that.”

In regards to the second part, if a Pokemon in gen 1 is both badly poisoned and hit with Leech Seed, the Leech Seed increases damage every turn, like with Toxic.

“Hey! I wanted to say that!” He crosses his arms. “Today is not my day.”

Cassandra sighs. “If you really want to, I can’t get past these trees to Erika. You can say it while cutting it down.”

Missingno weakly swings the broom. “Hey-yo…” The wall of trees surrounding the gym leader are cut down with large blades of wind.

“What was that?”

He shrugs weakly. “Peck, maybe? That’s a Flying type attack, right? I needed one of those to beat their Grass type Pokemon.”

“What was that!?” She looks at the line of trainers, and the group of fainted Pokemon at their feet. “Why!?”

“Don’t worry. I left Erika for you.”

“... Thanks.” Cassandra glares as she shoves past him. “Erika! I am Cassandra, possessor of three Gym Badges. I’m here to claim my fourth!”

The elegant woman before them remains kneeling as she greets her guests. “Hello. Lovely weather isn’t it?” She smoothes out the wrinkles of her simple kimono.  

Missingno sighs. “We’re here to fight you.”

“It’s so pleasant.” She fixes a strand of hair that is slightly out of place.

“We’re here to fight you.”

“...Oh dear… I must have dozed off.”

“We’re here to fight you.”

“Welcome. My name is Erika. I am the leader of Celadon Gym.”

“We already know that. Also, we’re here to fight you.”

“I teach the art of flower arranging. My Pokemon are of the grass-type.”

“We’re here to fight you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I had no idea that you wished to challenge me.”

“Really?! Even if I hadn’t said anything, you think that would have been obvious. What do you think we are doing here? Not to mention, we have been fighting the other trainers for a while now. I’m not sure how you didn’t piece that together!”

Cassandra rubs her temples. “Can I ask why she has a Pokeball floating in front of her?”

Erika holds out her hands, cupped to catch the Pokeball that just hangs there.

“Best you don’t. All the Gym Leaders in this gen have really weird poses. I thought you got over it by Lt. Surge. He was squatting strangely.”

“I think I was distracted by the crazy things he was saying.”

“Yeah, that was weird…”