"This is… god, is this even working? This is field agent Reggie Driscoll, Team Black Zeta Niner, calling Team Rocket Central Command, requesting immediate medevac and support, I repeat – we have lost one man and several Pokemon, we need medevac and support! We are located on Cinnabar Island east coast, co-ordinates…
A slight pause.
"I-I have no idea. Please track the… the transmission or…"
A pause, longer. Ragged breathing.
"We were engaged on a search-and-rescue mission to find Team Black Beta Three, who had gone missing while on routine Pokemon snatching. We found their boat – it had crashed into the rocks and was completely abandoned, all the electronics scrambled. We didn't know what could have done that, so we sent a Corphish down to check the seabed for any remains-"
Sudden halt in the conversation. The speaker walks away to talk with another agent – their words cannot be made out but they sound worried.
"Thought I heard- anyway, Corphish didn't resurface. So we assumed there was some type of predator down there and we sent another Pokemon in to draw it out – sucks about Beta Three and Corphish, but anything that dangerous could be a lucrative catch. So we try to lure it onto land so we can hit it with a co-ordinated attack, and…
"And it…"
The speaker pauses again to take deep breaths. When he resumes speaking, he remains hysterical.
"It wasn't, I've never seen, I – it had no damn body, it was this this this SHAPE, no not even that, like smoke, it-
"I heard it I HEARD IT!"
The speaker suddenly leaves again, talking hysterical for a good twenty seconds with the other agent. He returns immediately after, noticeably rattled.
"I repeat again, we need immediate medevac and support. My partner disagrees but I know I heard something, it could be- Anyway. What we saw. It has to be a Pokemon. It has to. It's… I mean, Spiritomb, right? If that can be a normal Pokemon, then…
"Anyway, we we we attacked it, yes, followed training, triangulated field of fire and – We were using weaponry on it and it did something that fried the electronics, so we were down to just Pokemon and it smashed them all into the ground with the fastest Sky Attack I ever damn well saw and we had to run and it it grabbed Stevens with something and I heard him screaming and he was DISSOLVING-
"We're currently holed up in the caves, I'm not entirely sure where, but we need immediate I know I heard something-"
At this point, the transmission begins to distort as if something is jamming it. Background noise is barely comprehensible except for a single piercing scream.
"IT'S HERE IT's---------EEP AWAY KEEP EVERYONE AWAY IT'-------- KILL U-"
Transmission is lost.
-
Giovanni idly tapped out a drumbeat on the tape. "I presume you cancelled the medevac when transmission was lost."
"Yes sir," said the Cinnabar Director. "Didn't seem much point."
"Are these the only teams lost?
"We're not sure. In the past six months we have lost several agents in that general area, and local newspapers mention several missing residents and trainers. We're assuming now that many of them are down to this… entity but we're not sure of the exact number. We're codenaming it 'MissingNo' as a result."
Giovanni continued to tap. "And we don't know what it is or where it came from."
"No sir."
"An alien being, frighteningly powerful and completely murderous. Nothing can stand against it."
"Yes sir. I've ordered all Cinnabar Rockets to avoid the east coast-"
"Cancel that order and draft a briefing on every team and weapon you have."
"Sir, why-?"
"Because we're going to start sending in bigger teams."