Chapter 29- A Random Shovel

"Missingno!" Cassandra cups her hands over her mouth. "Missingno! Where did you go?!"

She walks alongside the bridge, searching both sides of the rock walls that line the water. She spots him halfway down, sitting along the coast with a fishing pole. She catches up and leans against the wall next to him.

"What are you doing?"

He groans in despair. "I hate this Old Rod. I've been at this for three hours already, and so far I've found 4 Kinglers, 7 Seakings, 19 Arboks, 22 Golems, 6 golems, 113 Scythers, 5 Dragonites, and 3 Mewtwos. BUT NO MAGIKARPS!" He gestures to the giant pile of Pokemon and a few magical clay figures that are flopping around like fish. He pushes the pile back into the water and returns to his fishing pole. "I am not leaving this spot until I catch a Magikarp!"

"Missingno."

"Coming!" He throws his Old Rod over his shoulder and follows behind her.

They make it back to Cerulean, and as soon as they jump down a ledge, Missingno heads east. He ducks between some trees, and into a backyard, where he counts three steps, turns south, and rips up the bricks there. He holds up a Rare Candy for Cassandra to see.

"What are you doing back there?!" She looks around. "Get back here before you get arrested for trespassing."

"Don't worry. It is the privilege of the protagonist to be provided with the possibility to pilfer the small plunders that are positioned around a pied-à-terre."

Cassandra raises her eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know most people don't know French, but that was the only word for a home that fit the alliteration."

She shakes her head and continues towards the Pokecenter to heal Koons. She thought of stopping by Grandma's again, but decided against it. She knew she would waste a lot of time there, and she would end up not wanting to leave. She heads the other way around the Pokecenter, over the ledge, and walks to the robbed house.

The officer has finally moved, and Missingno is glaring at his apathetic expression. She smacks him upside the head and enters the house. Inside is plenty of evidence of a robbery; the bookshelves have been tossed, a plant is knocked over, strange footprints and pools of water litter the floor. The chairs have been moved, the corner of the table is broken, and the wall is cracked in many places with one large hole gaping to the backyard.

"Um, I don't think those last things specifically relate to a robbery."

Cassandra walks up to the woman pacing the floor. Despite her situation, she is smiling.

"Team Rocket Launcher must be trying to DIG their way into no good!"

Missingno stares at her. "Wow, that is… a pun."

"Team Rocket Launcher must be trying to DIG their way into no good!"

"... I know that NPC's have specific lines, but you need to know when a joke is used too much."

Cassandra walks up to the man huddled in the corner by the hole in the wall. "Can you tell us what happened here?"

The man tilts his hat down. "They don't believe me. The thief is standing right there in the backyard. They stole my very valuable TM!"

"Honey!" The woman glares at him.

"Oh, and they wrecked our house."

"What did the TM do?"

"It is for teaching a Pokemon how to dig a hole."

Missingno pops over her shoulder. "... That's it? Give me a shovel and I can do that, easy."

Cassandra shakes her head. "We'll go get it back for you."

"You will? Thank you, I need to teach Dig to my Pokemon at all costs."

"All right, we'll be right back!" She grips her bag and storms out the hole.

"I'm just saying. If you have a shovel…"

"Missingno!"

"Coming!"

Missingno jumps outside, where Cassandra and Koons have already defeated the Rocket Launcher grunt. Laying at his feet are a small, grey humanoid Pokemon, and a yellow and brown tapir-esque Pokemon.

The grunt holds up a CD. "Stop! I give up! I'll return the TM I sto-"

Missingno knocks him out.

"What was that for?"

"He tried to pull a weapon."

"That was the Dig TM!"

He stoops down beside the grunt and picks up a shovel. "That's what I said."

"... Did you just change the TM into that?"

He puts a hand on his heart. "You understand me so well. Besides, did you see those footprints. Those were not Machop or Drowzee footprints. The only Pokemon they fit is a Golduck. To try and frame an innocent Pokemon like that, he had it coming."

Cassandra shakes her head. She looks back in the hole. "We got your… TM… back."

The man shrugs. "I figure what's lost is lost. I decided to teach Diglett how to Dig without a TM!"

Missingno crashes through the wall, creating a new hole. "Wait, this was all about a DIGLETT!? It learns Dig naturally! And at level 19!" He flips the table. "We nearly died getting that back!"

"No we didn't."

"It took us over 3 hours!"

"It was about a minute."

"And then after all that hiking-"

"It was right outside."

"You wanted it for a Pokemon that cannot be caught under level 15?!"

"Team Rocket Launcher must be trying to-"

"YOU BE QUIET!"