A new day rose as MissingNo. descended its tower to meet with its intrepid student. At the bottom, it found Glitch Out waiting. MissingNo. felt an invisible smile spread across its default state. “I see that you’re serious about this. Are you ready for today’s challenge?”
Glitch Out nodded with confidence. “I hope to change my ways, so I’m just about ready for anything that you can throw at me.”
MissingNo. let out a soft chuckle as it led Glitch Out to the location. “We’ll just see about that…” The two travelled in silence for a spell, until they came upon a large area of whitish amalgamations of strange shapes. MissingNo. looked to Glitch Out, who seemed overwhelmed. “This is one of the most Glitch-ridden areas in Equestria. I’ve taken the Glitches from this area, but I chose to leave this place for you to correct. Do you think that you are up to fixing it?”
Glitch Out took a few deep breaths to calm itself down. “I’ll see what I can do about this.” Glitch Out closed its eyes, and focused as it tuned out the other sensations of the area. It listened to the “voice” of the area, as it had come to understand it. This place used to be a vast jungle, with a myriad of animals living within it. The trees used to reach to the sky, and the variety of the flora was unlike any jungle it was aware of before. With this information in mind, Glitch Out reached out to its power as it lit its horn. Its magic ran across the area as it weeded out the incorrect data of the area. It felt the world shift and churn as the natural order slowly restored itself.
Glitch Out was sweating. It’d never done this much before- compared to that freak burst earlier, this was much more exhausting. There was so much to fix, it was very taxing on its strength. Yet, Glitch Out refused to give in. If its teacher believed that it could do it, then it would do its best to cleanse the area. As it reconstructed the world to its former glory, it got distracted when it heard a strange hiss. “ReTuRn To Us…” it looked around, but it shook itself. There was no way. Yet, it couldn’t quite shake the feeling that it was being watched. Then it heard it again. “PrOpHeT oF dEsTrUcTiOn. ReTuRn To Us…!” Glitch Out tried to ignore it as it turned back to its work.
Then MissingNo. spoke to the voice, a strained anger taking hold. “You. I thought I recognized that voice. What brings you here, foul one? You’re not welcome here… You will not corrupt my student."
The voice laughed as an amorphous shape of whitish mass came from the shadows. “Oh, We WeRe NoT tAlKiNg AbOuT tHeM… DoN’t YoU ReCaLl? YoU aRe OuR pRoPhEt Of DeStRuCtIoN! WhY dO yOu ThInK tHaT wE lEt YoU hAvE oUr PoWeR?”
MissingNo. shook in negative reply. “I’m not part of you, Amalgam. I broke away from you of my own volition!” a fierce gaze seemed to come from MissingNo. as Glitch Out looked worried. “I won’t go back! Not now, not ever! I’m my own essence! Father showed me that I’m more than the fallen form that I am now, so I won’t go back to what you made me into!”
The whitish grey form shifted and convulsed as it laughed. “FoOlIsH mIsSiNgNo. YoU wEre OuRs, AnD yOu AlWaYs WiLl Be! NoThInG tHaT yOu SaY oR dO wIlL cHaNgE tHaT iRrEfUtAbLe FaCt! YoU wIlL rEtUrN tO bEiNg OuR pRoPhEt Of DeStRuCtIoN, wHeThEr YoU lIkE iT oR nOt!”
MissingNo. growled ferociously as it made to reach for the Filter Feather. “Never, Amalgam. My destiny is mine to control! Begone from here, or I won’t hesitate to erase you!”
The creature cackled with apparent amusement. “Do YoU rEaLlY bElIeVe ThAt YoU aRe FrEe FrOm Us Or OuR pOwEr? YoU wIlL bOw To Us AnD oUr WhImS oNcE mOrE, wHeN tHe TiMe Is RiGhT. YoU cAn NoT eScApE uS aNd OuR aLl EnCoMpAsSiNg InFlUeNcE, pRoPhEt. FaReWeLl FoR nOw…” the whitish grey amalgam flew away without wings, snickering all the while.
A sigh escaped from MissingNo. “To think that Amalgam would follow me here… the one that gave me this form…” MissingNo. dismissed that thought. “No matter. Next I see Amalgam, I will obliterate it.”
Glitch Out raised an eyebrow. It’d hardly seen MissingNo. quite that angry before. It seemed that its emotions weren’t as detached as they used to be. It shook itself off, returning to its work. Though, a question lingered in its mind. How’d that creature follow MissingNo.? Glitch Out had understood that MissingNo. had come to Equestria alone, and when it first arrived it was mistaken for the leader of the Glitches. Somehow, this creature had found a way to hitch a ride. Yet, there was something that made no sense. Glitch Out somehow remembered meeting “Amalgam” before… The question burned, so Glitch Out decided to just ask. “MissingNo. It’s been bothering me. How’d that creature follow you? Or, if my feeling of meeting it before is true… how’d it get here before you?”
MissingNo. turned to look at its troubled student. A grim look seemed to settle upon it. “I’m unsure. But, I feel that I’ll need your help to fully defeat it this time. I barely scraped by last time I faced Amalgam. You mightn’t think you can help me, given your inexperience, but you’re like me. If I stood up to him and scraped by alone, with you at my side we might have the power to defeat him. Are you ready for that?”
Glitch Out paused, then nodded. “Yes.”
MissingNo. smirked as it looked away. It seemed it’d have to prepare its student for that eventuality, but that was the way things needed to be if it was to defeat Amalgam. It would free this world, and nothing would stop it.