CLEARWATER, Fla. — Local Pokémon Go player Jen Wunner, 27, was rushed to the hospital and placed into a medically induced coma after encountering the glitch Pokémon known as “MissingNo.” earlier this week, according to sources close to the matter.
“Jen was just walking up and down Clearwater Beach, looking for Pokémon, when she suddenly stopped watching the TikToks I was sending her,” said Wunner’s boyfriend Josh Abrams. “After 18 minutes with no reply, I called the police. They found her having a seizure on the beach and had her airlifted to the hospital. We still don’t know if she’s going to be okay…”
An examination of Wunner’s possessions confirmed that she had encountered and captured a MissingNo. within the popular mobile game. Authorities also found 99 tablets of ibuprofen in her pockets.
“We haven’t seen a case like this in over 20 years,” said neurosurgeon Dr. Rebecca Palm. “MissingNo. are relatively safe to observe in the wild, but very dangerous if captured. The patient’s memory is totally scrambled, she may recover but she’ll never remember her Hall of Fame Pokémon ever again.”
Nintendo and Niantic have refused to comment on the incident, though word of the glitch is rapidly spreading throughout the online Pokémon Go community.
“I just want to see it for myself,” commented reddit user PkmnGoFYS, who claims to have been walking along a beach in their state searching for their own MissingNo. without any success. “And if it happens to duplicate 99 copies of the $20 bill in my pocket, well then so be it. I’m not scared, I’ll just close my eyes or something. It’s not like mobile games can actually fry your brain.”
At press time, Wunner remains unconscious and largely unresponsive, though MRI scans show spikes of brain activity whenever the name of a Pokémon is mentioned. Reddit user PkmnGoFYS has not been seen online in four days.
