S.R: Just to clear up any confusion from the little note at the end of the last chapter, Muk will be Ash's Pokemon but there will be other reasons behind catching it so It's his Pokemon but he won't catch the Muk for himself only.

Ash: I guess that makes sense, but hey where's M.R?

S.R: Shhhhh I'm writing this without the wifey.

Ash: Why?

S.R: I'm writing this chapter on my own to surprise her for her birthday.

Ash: Well I mean I guess that is a good enough reason….

S.R: Yes. Yes it is, and now to get on with the story.

ASH'S POV

I slowly crept out of my room trying to be silent so I didn't wake anyone else since I wasn't sure who all noticed the foul smell. Pikachu despite being tired was alert and ready to battle if needed walking along side me. Following the rank scent we made our way outside, standing just by the door to let our eyes adjust to the moonlight.

Once we were both sure that we could see properly Pikachu and I set off once more tracking the smell. As we walked I noticed that the small watermill that generated electricity for the Pokemon Center seemed to be where the awful smell was coming from. Just before we could enter and see what the problem was, Pikachu and I had to jump back as a purple slime like substance was shot at where we had been standing. Wildly looking around it to me a minute to notice where the sludge had come from.

A purple pile of sludge with eyes stared at the two of us, not making another move after it got our attention. Never having seen a Pokemon like that I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned it. "Muk the sludge Pokemon. Not much is known about this Pokemon as few are willing to get close due to it's overpowering stench."

Listening to the Pokedex I kept my eye on the now identified Muk. Muk tilted it's head down in what appeared to be shame as the Pokedex finished informing me about it. I couldn't help but wonder if Muk was trying to cause an issue just to get someone to approach it and acknowledge it.

"Hey Muk! Are you the reason this watermill isn't generating electricity for the Pokemon Center nearby?"

Muk cried out in response nodding it's head, as it did I noticed the smell starting to fade. Taking that as another sign that much just wanted attention I calmly moved forward until I stood just in front of it. Slowly moving my hand to Muk's head I explained my intent, getting a smile from the Pokemon.

'Hi there Muk! I'm Ash.'

'Hello Ash.'

'I don't want to be mean but… Are you causing problems to get attention?'

'I'm sorry. It's just I've always been alone, not even other Pokemon want to come near me.'

'Hey, I'm not yelling at you. I can understand not liking being alone. But it seems you can control the main reason everyone stays away. Why not just keep the smell so faint that it's not noticeable and try to interact that way?'

'The few times I tried it I scared the others away because I look like I'm melting.'

'Hey, I've got an idea. Do you mind if I call someone really quick?'

'Not at all. If you can find a way for me to be able to talk with other Pokemon I'll be so thankful.'

Nodding my head at Muk's words I pulled the Pokedex back out and used the call function, hoping that Professor Oak would be able to answer.

"Ash why are you calling me at this hour?!"

"Sorry professor, but I needed to ask you a few questions. Did you know that Muk can control the stench they produce?"

"I had suspected, but I haven't been able to study a Muk in years so I wasn't certain. Why do you ask though?"

"The Pokemon Center I'm staying in for the night is suffering a power outage due to a Muk. I managed to create an aura link and talk to it. The Muk is tired of being alone, and was causing problems for attention."

"So you wanted to ask me if I would like to study it, and in return the Muk would no longer be lonely or cause problems… Clever boy. It's a good idea, but you'd have to catch the Muk and send it to me unless you want it to follow you around until you get the chance to come back to the lab."

"I was also wanting to ask if any of my Pokemon at the lab were awake right now. After all you can't spend all your time with Muk, so I wanted to see if my Pokemon would be willing to become Muk's friends."

"Actually your Gyarados, Beedrill, and Nidorino are awake right now."

"Alright I'll use our aura links to ask them. I'll call you in the morning to tell you what happens."

"Okay. Good night Ash."

"Good night Professor."

Taking a deep breath I linked up to my Pokemon that were awake back at the Professor's ranch, and explained the situation to them. The three of them were all for it, though Gyarados wanted me to make sure Muk could give them a good battle, since that's how the Pokemon back at the ranch were training right now.

Smiling at my Pokemon's eager acceptance, I used the newly created aura link with Muk to fill it in on the situation. Muk was perfectly willingly to go along with my idea though after hearing what Gyarados said, Muk wanted me to battle and earn the right to catch it.

"Very well Muk if that's what you want…. Pikachu let's do this. Start off with a Thunderbolt to stun it."

I cried out racing a safe distance away to watch them battle. Pikachu did exactly as I asked, but Muk just shrugged the attack off before spitting a bunch of balls that looked like mud at Pikachu. Thankfully I didn't have to tell him to dodge the Mud Bomb.

"Let's try and Agility powered Iron Tail!"

Muk sat still till the last moment, sinking in on itself making Pikachu's tail go right over it's head. Right as Pikachu's body passed over, Muk lunged up with a fist coated in energy that gave off a feeling that reminded me of Gengar leading me to think it was using Shadow Punch. Pikachu took the hit and was sent spiraling into the air.

"Pikachu, rotate yourself so that when you fall you start spinning tail first! Let's try Iron Tail once more!"

Doing as I asked Pikachu managed to use his falling momentum to spin rapidly enough that I was certain his attack would create a crater if Muk didn't take the attack head on. My prediction was right, Muk shifted it's body around Pikachu as he fell, letting the attack hit the ground. Before I could blink Muk was swinging a muddy hand right at Pikachu.

Taking the Mud Slap Pikachu let the attack fling him towards me, before flipping himself and landing a safe distance away from Muk. Using the moment to think I decided to have Pikachu use Dig and cheered when Muk flinched as Pikachu came back up from underground right below Muk.

"Nice job Pikachu! I think we found Muk's weakness. Use Dig one more time!"

Once again Muk flinched as Pikachu popped up right below it, this time hitting with enough force to lift Muk off the ground. Muk slammed back down looking a lot worse for wear, as Pikachu started panting from the fight. Nodding my thanks to Pikachu I pulled out a Great Ball and threw it at Muk, happily watching as Muk barely put up a struggle. Eventually the ball stopped shaking and dinged to signal a successful capture. Digging around in my bag I pulled out a few potions for both Pikachu and Muk as I let it back out. Taking the chance I scanned Muk again, silently asking myself why the hell a Pokemon has to have been caught for the Pokedex to find it's gender.

"Muk the sludge Pokemon. Not much is known about this Pokemon as few are willing to get close due to it's overpowering stench. This Muk is male. It's ability is stench. It knows the moves Mud Slap, Mud Bomb, Sludge, Sludge Bomb, Fling, Rock Tomb, and Shadow Punch. It's egg move Shadow Punch has been activated."

At this point I could feel my exhaustion trying to catch up so I rushed back to my room in the Pokemon Center and collapsed onto the bed.

The next day

I woke up to a pounding on my bedroom door. Opening it up I found Brock and Cynthia ready to go. Blinking the sleep out of my eyes I checked the time to find that I had overslept because of last nights excursion. Sighing as I prepared for the day I explained to the two about what had happened the night before, letting Muk out of it's Pokeball as proof. Which then reminded me to call the professor and tell him that Muk was on board for being studied. Once that call was done I sent Muk over to the ranch, and we continued on with the day.

We had been traveling for maybe half the day when a Rhydon appeared cutting the path off. Knowing just how serious this could be I released Charmeleon, Squirtle, and Gengar to fight the Rhydon off with Pikachu. I left Conan in his Pokeball because even in a 5 on 1 this Rhydon could be dangerous enough to seriously hurt or even kill him despite his type advantage. Golbat and Growlithe stayed in as well since they wouldn't be very helpful in this situation. Technically Charmeleon and Pikachu wouldn't be very helpful either but without Gyarados they were my two strongest in terms of physical power. Unfortunately another two Rhydons burst through the nearby trees, probably drawn by the light from releasing my Pokemon.

"This is a very dangerous situation Ash. We have no idea just how tough these guys are and there's three of them. I have a signal flare that I'll let off, hopefully we can stall them long enough for help to arrive." Brock spoke drawing a flare gun out of his bag and shooting one off before pulling the Pokeballs for his entire team off of his belt and letting them out. Cynthia following his lead, Though she like me held back the Pokemon that wouldn't be very good in this situation either.

Each one of us targeted a Rhydon, and split apart just enough to prevent the trio of larger Pokemon from defending each other.

"Gengar draw its attention with Mean Look, Pikachu use Agility and build up speed til your certain you can hit it's horn with Iron Tail hard enough to knock Rhydon to the ground. Charmeleon circle around and use Metal Claw on it's back. Squirtle Water Gun give it full power!"

My team jumped into action following my orders. Gengar held Rhydon's attention long enough for Squirtle's attack to blast it in the face, but Rhydon shrugged the Water Gun off. Before it could turn to face Squirtle though Charmeleon struck raking his claws along the beasts back though that attack didn't do much either. Getting angry Rhydon let out a roar swiping it's tail down quickly forcing Charmeleon to back off. At this point Pikachu launched through the air spinning his body so that his glowing tail would hit Rhydon's horn.

Sadly Pikachu didn't hit hard enough to bring the giant Pokemon to the ground, only packing enough power to make the Rhydon stagger. It recovered quickly though and punched Pikachu in the side, forcing him away and sending him careening into a tree.

"Gengar get in close and use Poison Jab! Charmeleon back up and use Dragon Rage, while Squirtle hits it with another Water Gun!" I called out rushing over to Pikachu who was struggling to stand back up. Moving quickly I used a super potion on my buddy, praying it would numb his pain enough for Pikachu to get back into the fight right away. My prayers were answered as Pikachu let out a cry racing forward with a Volt Tackle of his own accord.

Rhydon at this point decided to take out the largest threat and turned to attack Squirtle whose attack had cut off just as Pikachu took off with his Volt Tackle. Luckily Gengar stopped the giant Pokemon in it's tracks with her Poison Jab taking affect giving Rhydon the tell tale purple glow. Gengar jumped away as Charmeleon's Dragon Rage landed drawing another enraged roar from the Rhydon. Before it could even turn to Charmeleon in anger Pikachu slammed headfirst into it's chest the Volt Tackle driving the Rhydon back a few feet.

Despite the danger I watched in awe as my team worked together without commands. After seeing how much damage Pikachu took from one attack they backed each other up and stalled Rhydon's own attacks long enough for their friends to get away. From the shape Pikachu was in I was glad to hold Conan back despite his type advantage, since he would not have been standing after taking a similar hit.

An hour passed before we were able to get a reprieve in the form of help. The miners nearby at Grampa Canyon had seen the flare and came rushing to aid us. Unfortunately even with the help the Rhydon were still very dangerous opponents. I don't know why they didn't run once it was clear they were going to lose but they fought even harder after our help showed up. Eventually we worn the Rhydon's out enough for them to be captured. Though Brock, Cynthia and I weren't sure we could handle them so I sent them to the professor and asked him to hand them over to a league official to find someone strong enough to tame them.

"You kids did a great job holding out until we could come help. Hell even after we got here you and your Pokemon continued giving it your all to bring them down. After a battle like that you guys need to rest though, so why don't you come with us over to our mining site. We've got a great campground set up, that you can take advantage of."

"Thank you sir"

With that conversation over Brock, Cynthia, and I followed the men back to the dig site at Grampa Canyon. When we arrived however it was just in time for one of the site managers to declare open season for trainers to join in on hunting for fossils. Talking it over we decided to rest for the remainder of the day and then take a day or two to search the dig site for fossils ourselves before moving on. But when it started getting dark it got a lot colder. It got cold enough that Cynthia ended up sharing a tent with Brock and I, both of us letting our Growlithe's out to help keep warm as well.

S.R: Rhydon will be back. Not for a while, but it will be back...

ON HAND:

1. Pikachu (m) 2. Riolu (m) 3. Golbat (m) 4. Gengar (f) 5. Charmeleon (m) 6. Squirtle (f)

TRAINEE FIELD RESEARCHER SLOT ADDITIONS:

7. Growlithe (f)

AT THE RANCH:

1. Bulbasaur (f) 2. Pidgeot (f) 3. Gyarados (f) 4. Beedrill (m) 5. Nidorino (m) 6. Muk (m)