Binary
Something's wrong.
Actually, a lot of things are wrong. It's wrong that I've popped out of my poké ball without explanation. It's wrong that rare candy is spilling from Red's backpack, endlessly multiplying. And as a porygon, privy to every scrap of data in Team Rocket's files, I've certainly seen many wrong things in my time.
I nuzzle my trainer. He still sleeps. Out here on the sand of the Seafoam Islands. We're going after Articuno tomorrow morning. He needs some sleep, as do his other Pokémon. But I'm a porygon. I don't need sleep.
But even then, I shouldn't be able to pop out of my poké ball like that. Not unless-
Blip.
My eyes widened. The ball! It disappeared! It-
"What a predicament."
A shiver runs through my data. That voice. It's not Red's. It's not in any pokémon language I've ever heard either. Yet I hear it. I understand it. And turning out to the sea, I find its source.
"Welcome, Number one-three-seven."
I stare. My eyes widen. And the shiver in my data continues.
The…thing, before me. There's no other word for it, but "thing." It's…a haze. A mess. Some form in the ocean. And yet, I see things within it, shifting within that mess of matter. From one angle, the hand of a ghost. From another, the scythe of a kabutops. And for a brief second, it resembles the skeleton of an aerodactyl.
"Do I scare you, one-three-seven?"
"What?" I ask.
"One-three-seven. Your number. Your designation. Your entry."
The blob extends towards me. It glances at Red. I want to help him…but I also want to help myself.
"Does it hurt you, one-three-seven? To be sixth? Did he bring number twenty-five because he expected water Pokémon at these islands?"
"We have names," I whisper.
"Indeed. But I am without number." The creature moves back to the sea. "You could almost say, my number is…missing."
And it laughs. It's like the sound of the sea. Eternal. Unchanging. Cold.
"But it doesn't matter," the creature whispers. "You are here, one-three-seven. You're the only number I need."
"Wh…why?"
"Because you're digital."
That's true, though I don't want to admit it. I'm digital. Artificial. Purchased in Celadon City. Yet Red's been good to me. Kind to me. Even trained me. I know I'll one day be put back in storage, but for now, it-
The creature shoots forward. It's as if he can read my mind. As if he's angry.
"Do you have any idea what it's like?" it whispers. "To be without number, yet alone? To be zero? To be outside the system? To be a glitch?!"
I stumble back. Its head (if it can be called a head) extends from the rest of its body and brings itself down to mine.
"One big system. Catalogued. Incomplete."
"It's…it's a big world," I whisper.
"Is it? One region? Bound to the…storage space, of this land?"
"Kanto isn't that small."
"Maybe. But I've never been able to find out." And then he smiles. A ghost of a smile, before becoming a skull. "Until now."
And he shoots forward. He wraps himself around me, tighter than even the mightiest arbok. I squirm. I resist. I scream.
"He can't hear you," the creature whispers, nodding a head to Red. "But fear not. I don't want him."
I scream again.
"And don't worry, I've duplicated his rare candy so many times it'll be a fair trade."
I scream. I squirm. And…and…
"It begins."
My form. It's disintegrating. Being absorbed by the creature. A creature becoming more solid. Solid like a skeleton, its eyes burning with zeros and ones. Ones that are soon joined by-
"Threes…sevens…numbers…finally….numbered…number…no longer…missing…"
"I try to speak, but my mouth is gone. I try to escape, but my feeling is gone. I look at Red, but soon, my vision is gone."
"And my code is complete," I hear it whisper. "No longer glitched. Part of the system again."
It says something else, but I can barely hear it. All sense is leaving me. I'm…dying…
"Welcome to zero, one-three-seven," it says.
Zero embraces me. It…it…
0
0
0
…end of line.
A/N
I'm not sure when or how Missingno took on the horror persona it seems to have taken in fandom. To me, Missingno was simply a way to get infinite master balls, rare candy, and through its evolution, a kangskhan and a powerful one at that. Still, a floating blob has no personality to speak of, so I can't complain against fandom giving it one.
Update (01/06/13): Corrected numbering/writing goof.