Deleted Scenes & Original Ideas

The Secret of MissingNo has been a work in progress since February 2002. During these past few years, many changes have been made to the plot, characters, and concepts behind the glitches.

Original Draft

In the first draft, much of the prologue was laid out - most of this was kept exactly as it was (with a few minor changes). However, this introduction had originally been set years in the past. Professor Stone was originally going to be Rose's father. I remember not wanting him to be an attractive "bishonen" character, instead built more solidly. He wasn't even going to appear in the story at all, except for the intro, an appearance in Viridian City as the coffee man, and perhaps somewhere at the end. Also, the hero trainer was going to be a young Team Rocket member. In the very first sketches, he was a much younger boy, dressed similarly to Jeremy, except wearing a shirt with a large "R" on the back.

Here is the very first draft of TSOM, in its entirety (dated 2-19-02):

"Radio Mr. Giovanni, at once!" yelled the panicked young intern. "They've escaped!"

Scientists dashed madly around the main laboratory of the Cinnabar Island Research Facility. Utter chaos ensued. If one of those… THINGS were to escape into the outside world, who knows what might happen?

Professor Stone wrung his hands as he glanced at the shattered window in dismay. Just when everything had been going so well…

Once the DNA from that Mew eyelash had been extracted, creating a new Pokemon had actually been quite simple. But creating the "ultimate" Pokemon that Giovanni demanded was another story altogether. But no time to think about that now. Those clones… those half-completed clones had escaped.

If there had been time to fully complete and test these new Pokemon, their escape into the wild might not have been a problem. But these were still in the experimental stage… no one had yet been able to create a genetic Pokemon that could safely be captured in a Poke Ball and stored on a PC without fear of "side effects". There were rumors of terrible computer viruses spreading through the world, infecting every computer on the network, if an unfinished or 'glitched' Pokemon was sent to a computer storage system.

These mistake Pokemon must be contained, at any cost.

"Professor, what should we do?" cried a laboratory assistant, on the verge of panic. Everyone in the lab paused to hear their superior's decision.

"The only way off the island is by Surfing. Neither of those 'mistakes' knew that attack, so they can't have gotten far," Stone said, glancing at their expectant faces. He nodded to the three senior members of the research team. "Mark, take a group of five and scour the west coast. Tina, you do the same for the east coast, and Janet, you take the south coast. Take along some of the new Master Balls… if you can catch these clones, do so. At any rate, report back to me as soon as you find anything unusual."

As they ran out of the Research Facility, Stone turned to the rest of the group. "Everyone else needs to remain calm. We have the situation under control. Remember that Mr. Giovanni is counting on us to create the world's most powerful Pokemon… and we're going to do it, despite this minor setback!"

A cheer went up from the remaining scientists. Stone smiled at the crowd, feeling anything but optimistic about these recent developments.

"Now let's get this place cleaned up and get back to work. We have Pokemon to create!"

As the other researchers quickly returned to their workstations, the Professor gazed out the broken window once again, grabbing his ever-present mug of coffee from the lab table. It's really too bad this had to happen, especially when things had been going so well. Even though they hadn't actually created a real Mew-clone yet, they were getting closer. This last batch of experiments had been progressing quite nicely. Stone was especially proud of the Water Gun and Sky Attack he'd managed to teach the first clone, and the second clone's ability to mimic the opposing Pokemon's type was an unprecedented achievement.

But Giovanni had not been impressed when Stone had called him about these new breakthroughs. "You fool!" the Rocket Boss had shouted over the videophone. "What's so incredible about that? A common Ditto can imitate attacks!"

"But sir," Stone had argued. "This Pokemon doesn't need to Transform! It can-"

"Stop wasting my valuable time. Report back to me when you create something powerful."

Stone took a large gulp of his coffee. "The man doesn't even know what he's asking for," growled the Professor, swirling the coffee around in his mug. "We're doing the impossible, but all he cares about are results. He's asking us to play God, just so he can control the world's most powerful creature."

Stone slammed his fist down on the table. Curse that Mew! Curse that Rocket member, Miya something or other, who discovered that creature's existence almost 20 years ago! Once she brought back conclusive evidence of a powerful "new" Pokemon, Giovanni simply HAD to have one. He moaned and complained like a spoilt brat, getting his mother, Madam Boss, to send out countless search parties to capture a Mew. The elusive kitten Pokemon simply could not be found.

When Giovanni assumed exclusive control of the Team Rocket organization, he changed his tactics. If the real Mew was impossible to find, he reasoned, all other plans were to be put on hold until one could be scientifically created. But no longer was Giovanni content with owning a Mew; he wanted something even better than Mew… a creature similar, but superior in every way. Project Duplicate was born.

Some sort of chemical confines them to the coast…everyone thinks the problem is past.

Then, a young trainer meets Prof. Stone, who is now simply a coffee-crazed man living in Viridian (having been kicked off TR because of the disaster). Curious, he visits Cinnabar to investigate. There, he meets a girl named Rose, a Pokemon researcher who specializes in Glitch Pokemon. She's trying to learn all she can about them, in an attempt to help her father get his job back. She begins to explain the Glitches to the trainer, and is about to show him her sketch of one, when she suddenly gets a call from her mother (a TR agent) who needs backup on a mission at Seafoam Islands. She promises to return shortly.

Meanwhile, the trainer is getting bored. Calling out a Water Pokemon, he begins to Surf along the coast, and meets a strange new Ghost Pokemon (or so he thinks).

Excitedly, the kid captures it… but now the Glitches have been released from their confinement and are out for revenge! It's up to the trainer and Rose to stop them from exacting their revenge on the entire Pokemon world!!!

Rose/Stone Shipping

Once I decided that Eric Stone was going to be much younger, as well as an active character in the story, I realized that my plot was missing something: romance! All good animes have at least some undertone of romantic interest, so I decided that the only logical explanation was to pair up Rose and Eric (I certainly wasn't going to pair her with Jeremy or Butch!) This problem was easily taken care of with the introduction of the PC Technician Entei character. Here are a few of the deleted bits of dialogue that supported Rose/Stone shipping.

From Chapter 3 (Jeremy's phone call to Eric from prison) - 2/21/02

"Arrested? Aw, Jer, what'd ya do this time?" Stone seemed to be taking this whole disaster as one big joke.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" screamed Jeremy. "If I hadn't tried to be a nice guy, and help you catch those stupid Glitch things, I never woulda gotten into this mess!"

"Now wait," interrupted Stone, "what could this possibly have to do with me? Or those Glitches?"

"There was this girl on Cinnabar named Rose, an expert on Pokemon mysteries. She and I were going to hunt down those Glitches together, when…"

"…Rose? It can't be… not after all these years…"

"What, you KNOW her or something?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Hey, you still there?" demanded Jeremy.

"Oh, sorry. Just remembering…" Stone's voice suddenly sounded strange and airy. "She and I used to attend Pokemon University together, back in the day. I thought I'd never see her again…"

"Yeah, well, you can see her all you like if you get down here to the police station at Pallet. They've got her and me locked up. Something to do with a Team Rocket scam…"

"Team Rocket?!? You mean she DID join up? Ohhh all these years, I coulda been with her! We coulda been partners even! WHY didn't I sign up for active duty like I meant to…!"

"Wait a minute. YOU were gonna be a Rocket?"

"Uh… Jeremy? Didn't you ever realize that I technically WAS a Rocket member? Sure, I worked in the lab, but Giovanni paid my salary. Just like he pays Dad's."

The young trainer was stunned. "Dad… Dad's a Rocket too?!?"

***

"…so are you gonna get me outta here, or what?" demanded Jeremy. It seemed like the world he thought he knew was falling to pieces. His dad… his brother… that girl with the Blastoise… was EVERYONE employed by some part of Team Rocket?

"Well… um…"

"Look," said the young trainer impatiently. "You're already hiding out from the underground authorities. Can your situation GET much worse?"

"You do have a point…"

"Besides, don't you and that Rose girl have some catching up to do…?" Jeremy added slyly.

Stone sighed dreamily. "Y… no, no!" he interrupted himself. "It's just not right!"

"Says the guy who used to work for Giovanni himself. Come ON, learn ta live a little."

There was hesitation on the other end of the phone line.

"Well?"

"Well…" began Stone haltingly. "Well… I'll see what I can do. But what was it you said? 'No promises'."

From Chapter 10 (The Seafoam Islands Donut Shop conversation) - 3-2-02

"So, why did you join up with Team Rocket?" Jeremy asked Rose.

"I tried to get a legitimate job at a Pokemon Research Center, but nobody took me seriously," she explained. "People hear 'specialist in Pokemon mysteries' and automatically think I'm chasing down Clefairy in flying saucers. Team Rocket had decent hours, the pay wasn't bad, plus they had this wonderful cappuccino machine in the Deli…" Rose suddenly got a happy, far-off look in her eyes.

"She's a angel," murmured Professor Stone dreamily.

"COFFEE?" yelled Jeremy in disbelief. "You joined up with a dangerous, international crime ring for their COFFEE?"

"Not coffee, cappuccino," said Rose loftily. "There IS a difference."

Jeremy looked from Rose to his brother, shaking his head. "I will never understand you guys."

Rose the Push-Over

In early drafts of the story, I had Rose suggesting the trade between herself and Jeremy, so he could Surf and see 'M for the first time. This was necessary for the plot to continue, since it was Jeremy (and not Rose) who had spoken with "the coffee man" in Viridian. Later it was pointed out to me that this part didn't make sense. Why would a TR member trade her starter to some kid she just met? I improved this part later, having Jeremy insist on the trade, and offer two of his Pokemon for the Blastoise (since Rose only carried 5 Pokemon with her when glitch-hunting).

From Chapter 2 (Trading Pokemon) - 2-26-02

Rose sighed, giving him a half-smile. "Tell ya what. I know how much you wanted a ride on my Blastoise. I should be back within the hour. Why don't we temporarily trade Pokemon? Once you're done Surfing, take Squirty back to Joy. I'll meet you back at the Pokemon Center, and I'll give your Pokemon back then, ok?"

"Well..." Jeremy was torn. He didn't want to trade any of his carefully-trained Pokemon, even temporarily, but he REALLY wanted to try his hand at Pokemon Surfing...

"If you're worried, just let me take your Persian for awhile," Rose said, pulling Squirty's empty Poke Ball from her backpack. "I have a Meowth myself, so I know how to handle cute little kitty cats. Ok?"

"Um... all right," Jeremy finally answered, grabbing a sphere from his belt. "You'll give it back, right?"

"Of course! I'm certainly not letting you keep my Squirty." She leaned close to Jeremy's face, her voice barely above a threatening whisper. "And no thoughts about taking my Pokemon and running. I could track you down in a heartbeat." Her pleasant smile returned, just as quickly as it had vanished. "Just kidding..."

Summoning the Glitch Pokemon

Long before Entei was added to the story, I wrote the scene where Jeremy and Rose finally encounter 'M and MissingNo on the coast of Cinnabar. I had no idea this would happen so late in the story, as it was one of the first parts I wrote. This was before Eric Stone even had a first name. He did, however, have his coffee addiction.

From Chapter 7 (Discovering the Glitch Pokemon) - 2-26-02

"I… I don't like the looks of this," began Stone nervously. "Do you see that sky? Looks like a storm's coming." He took a sip of the fresh coffee he had picked up at the Pokemon Mart.

"We don't have time to wait," replied Rose. "We know that one of those Glitches knows Sky Attack. That means it could learn Fly, too. If it Flies away from here, we might never have the chance to catch it again."

"Yeah, where's your sense of adventure?" asked Jeremy. "Besides, I've always wanted a rare and valuable Pokemon for my very own."

"I still don't think it's a good idea…" muttered the Professor. "You'll get yourselves killed out there."

"Everybody ready?" asked Rose. She stood on Squirty's back, the strong winds whipping her long blonde hair over her shoulders. Beside her, Jeremy stood shakily on the back of the Azumarill he had borrowed from his brother, holding onto his baseball cap with one hand. Professor Stone remained on the beach, research journal at the ready. Butch leaned against the Pokemon Center, watching. He had no particular interest in these Glitch things, but he had nothing better to do.

"Let's do this!" shouted Jeremy excitedly.

Rose and Jeremy ordered their Water Pokemon to begin Surfing along the coast. After a few minutes, Rose noticed a faint glowing light ahead of them. Motioning for Jeremy to follow her, Rose slowly approached the light, which seemed to emanate from an odd, L-shaped source. Pulling a small digital camera from her backpack, Rose took a picture of the strange object.

At the sound of her camera beeping, the L-shaped thing drifted closer to the two trainers.

Rose's Unhelpful Mom

In the first drafts of the prison scene, the phone conversation between Rose and her mom was very sparse. Originally, I thought it might give more character development if I made her mom unwilling to do much to help her daughter out. Later, I added Desiree as a helpful character in the story, and this all changed. As a result, this rare piece of angst was written out.

From Chapter 3 (Rose's Phone Call) 8-25-02

"But… but Mom!" pleaded Rose anxiously into the telephone receiver. "They caught me! What am I supposed to do?"

"Look, I'm sorry that had to happen to you. But there was no time to reach you. We just received word that the cops were coming, moments after I called you, and we barely had enough time to escape ourselves."

"But… but… I'M IN PRISON, MOM!"

"Oh well. Deal with it."

"Deal with it? You- you've gotta get me outta here!" Rose was getting frantic.

"Fine. I'll talk to the Boss about it, ok? But I wouldn't expect much. He certainly wasn't in any hurry to bail out those two friends of yours, and you're in the same rank as they are. He's even getting fed up with bailing out Black Rockets."

"W-w-what am I supposed to do then?"

"Play the slots, that's the only advice I can offer you. You're an adult now, you've gotta deal with this on your own," said Rose's mom, her voice devoid of sympathy. "Good luck…"

"Yeah, good luck to you too," muttered Rose as the phone line went dead. Play the slots. The Rocket code for "try to escape". Not much chance of that. And apparently, Butch was in for the long haul as well… at least if it was true that Giovanni wasn't bailing members out like he used to.

Later in Chapter 3

Rose turned to face the wall, becoming more upset and frustrated with every word. "Yeah, that's the best I heard. Try to bust outta this joint cause there's no shot at a second chance. I'm doomed to spend the rest of my life here… alone… now I've even been abandoned by my own mom…" Rose stared out the barred window, desperately trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks at any moment. The Meowth patted her shoulder affectionately.

Team Rocket - not all bad?

After Jeremy's battle with Kevin in the alleyway, I originally had him make the observation to Entei that the Team Rocket members he'd met recently were a lot nicer than an ordinary trainer. In the first draft, only Entei had returned to help out (Rose and Eric had already returned to the lab), and there hadn't even been a battle - Entei showed up right after Kevin released his Pokemon.

Chapter 13 (After Rival Challenge) 6-18-04

"Any special reason that guy's got a stick up his *ss?" [Entei]

Jeremy shook his head. "He thinks I'm part of Team Rocket. Apparently he's had trouble with them before."

"And what, he's blaming you for that?"

"You know, it's ironic. Rose, Mondo, Josh, and Desiree are some of the nicest people I've met lately, and they're all Team Rocket members. This guy's an ordinary trainer, and he's vowing revenge against me for stuff I don't even know about."

Myall Appears

Although she doesn't appear until Chapter 14, I had the idea for Myall for over a year before she entered the story. Since I also didn't know where the plot was going up until that point, I wrote her appearance as something to work in later. Here was the original draft for the scene where Myall appears (this was very sparse, and the Glitches attacked right after she met the group - Eric Stone never gets to see her abilities until during the battle).

Chapter 14 (Myall Appears) 6-18-04

"What should we call her… our little wonder?" sighed Stone, gazing at the remarkable creature that flew happy circles around their heads.

"How about 'Myall'?" asked Rose. "Kinda like a Mew helped by all of us."

"How about it, girl?" asked Jeremy, grinning at the little feline. "Myall?"

Myall! the creature said in a high, airy voice. It giggled. Myall!

"Aw, isn't that cute!" said Entei, and the little cat perched on his shaggy head. Everyone laughed, including the huge Legendary.

"I wonder what her abilities are," mused Eric, watching the others play with the delicate-looking peach colored kitten. "We did start with Mew DNA, I wonder if any of Mew's traits…"

His musings were suddenly interrupted as the laboratory was rocked by a large explosion. The remaining glass cylinders shattered, yellowish goo splattering the walls as the explosions continued.

"Quick, take cover!" shouted the Professor as Jeremy and Rose climbed underneath a heavy lab table. Entei stood in the break room's doorway, looking around cautiously for a better hiding place.

"What's going on?" yelled Jeremy over the din of breaking glass and bomb-like explosions. Myall had encased herself in a translucent bubble-like sphere, and floated nervously near Eric.

Final Battle Against the Glitches

Most people don't realize that I have much more of the story written than I ever show the public. I make lots of revisions to the original outlines, and sometimes change characters entirely. More than once, I've had to go back and rewrite an earlier scene so that a later chapter makes sense. This is probably why I get so angry when people offer to "finish the story" for me. Chances are, it's already done! I don't want to show the public something subpar, so I do lots of revisions until I get a scene perfect. For example, this draft of the final battle between Myall and the glitches had been outlined for over a year before it was ever posted.

Chapter 15 (Final Battle Against the Glitches) - May 2004

"I knew it! That detestable professor created another monstrosity in that cursed laboratory," shouted MissingNo. "If you would have listened to me, he would be only a memory by now!"

"How was I to know that one of those creatures still remained?" hissed 'M, pixels flickering. "Am I a telepath?"

"You certainly thought you were," retorted MissingNo. "Divide and conquer, wasn't that what you said? That ridiculous dream-invasion plan of yours didn't seem to work very well, now did it?"

"Silence, you fool. You're the one who failed against a single trainer in Fuchsia. So much for your superior strength."

"What does that matter now? Your plan failed, and just as I said before, we are still far superior to anything they've got." MissingNo nodded towards Myall's bubble. "You can't tell me that little freak can compete with our tremendous power."

"Why don't you see for yourselves?" challenged Eric, glaring defiantly at the Glitches. Gone was the shaking, nervous coffee addict; he was replaced by an angry man finally presented with the opportunity to fix the mistake that destroyed years of his life. I'm not running away this time, he thought angrily.

<<battle>>

"Go, Myall! Use Crystal Wave," commanded Eric Stone. Please let this work, he prayed silently.

The delicate kitten closed its eyes for a moment, focusing energy. Her eyes suddenly snapped open as a shimmering stream of liquid glass poured from her tiny paws. MissingNo gasped as it fled to the ocean, dodging the attack, but 'M wasn't quite so lucky. Within moments, its pixel-patterned body was immobilized as the glass hardened. 'M's eyes burned with anger as it tried fruitlessly to escape. How dare they… MissingNo, release me from this immediately!

And get myself trapped along with you? I think not. The ghostly Glitch smiled. I suppose we see now which of us is the fool.

MissingNo drifted out of the ocean, but found its path blocked by the massive Entei. "Going somewhere, Glitch?" the Volcano Pokemon asked. MissingNo sneered and launched a Surf attack against Entei.

"Ok, Sparkles, do your thing!" cheered Rose, releasing a golden Raichu from its Poke Ball. The Team Rocket girl pointed toward MissingNo as Entei leaped out of the path of the rushing water. "Give that freakish thing a Thunderbolt!"

MissingNo screamed as the powerful electric attack traveled along its own Surf attack and zapped its genetically-created body.

"Master Ball, go!" yelled Jeremy, throwing one of the shiny new purple-pink spheres at MissingNo's smoking, paralyzed body.

"Idiotic human, that trick failed to work last time! What makes you think it will work now?" the Glitch sneered.

Jeremy just smiled. "I've got my reasons."

As the sphere bounced off the Glitch Pokemon, there was a loud sucking sound as the ghostly Pokemon was forcibly pulled inside the Master Ball.
"No! This can't be happening! I am…"

MissingNo's voice was cut off as the Master Ball slammed shut, keeping the angry genetic Pokemon trapped inside. The center light on the Master Ball flickered a few times and then stopped. Tentatively, Jeremy reached forward and picked up the Master Ball, half expecting the Glitch inside to leap back out and attack him.

"I… caught MissingNo?" he said in disbelief.

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