Muk and Cherrim

Squelch, squelch, squelch.

The mud was in a gooey state, partly dried after the evening rain. The old street lights hummed and flickered, attracting some nocturnal Bugs. Just beyond the rings of light, unseen Pokemon prowled around, reluctant to leave the darkness. Wild ones hunting or captive ones guarding? It was hard to tell.

In the lights, a small Pokemon hopped along the dirty sidewalk. He looked like a flower with closed purple petals. He had two sets of feet: one on the green stem topping his current form like a small cap, and the other at the tips of his petals. Using the latter, he hurried and used the light for safety.

The flower stopped hopping for a bit to creep along on his tiny petal feet. There was a horrid stench around here, like rotting vegetation and death. Cautiously, he peeled few of his petals apart to look around. Due to the night, it only revealed his yellow eyes in shadow. He could only see a fence of chicken wire and black silhouettes of buildings and trees. Inside the chicken wire fence, there seemed to be a heap of kitchen garbage.

"Is that what stinks?" he whispered to himself. "What're they doing with the garbage out in the open?" He hopped closer to check things out.

"I'd be careful if I were you," a quiet female voice said.

He peeked out of his petals again to see something he'd missed the first time: violet ooze on the ground. As he watched, the ooze lifted itself off the ground and grew, becoming taller and wider than he was. Some of the ooze shifted, revealing large yellow eyes oddly like his own.

Hopping back, he bowed. "Oh! Um, sorry. I didn't mean to disturb anybody."

The ooze formed a mouth, like a smile. "Not a disturbance, dear, I'm just worried about accidentally poisoning a little plant like you."

"You're worried about that?"

"Yes, it wouldn't be very neighborly of me if I poisoned everything and everyone around me. Problem is, it's far too easy for me to do that, so I'm careful. Call me Muk; I don't bother with nicknames or anything silly like that."

"Right. I'm a Cherrim. My Trainer is visiting her grandparents, so I'm just here for a few weeks."

She nodded, as much as a pile of ooze could nod. "I see. They're nice people and leave the garbage out for me."

"Why would that be nice? It's smelly over here. I came over to find out why."

"Oh, pardon me. That's partly me as well. It's nice that they leave it out because that's what I eat. Just not the metal things, but they know that."

Cherrim shied away. "So, erm, you eat all the old vegetables and table scraps?"

Muk chuckled. "You have nothing to fear from me, dear, so long as you don't touch me. You're much too fresh for my tastes."

"Oh, right. But why would you eat garbage? That stuff's smelly and is probably rotten."

"It makes no difference to me. But think, what would happen if I didn't eat this garbage? It would all pile up and turn even worse as it decays. As it is, I come by here and other houses in the area to eat their garbage, then leave them some things to help with their gardens. So it all works out well for everyone."

The flower bud titled himself, puzzled. "What, you leave them garden tools or something? How do you manage that?"

She grinned. "It's not quite what you're thinking. That's my secret anyhow. I just can't get caught by the humans. Most of them get disgusted when they see me and try to drive me out. Not these people, though. They know what I do for them."

"I never thought about what happens to garbage after it gets thrown away, so I guess they must not either."

"So then, Cherrim, what are you doing out here this late? I thought most plants didn't like to be out at night."

"Like I said, I was just exploring. It was all rainy and gray today anyhow, so I haven't done much. My girl's inside talking with her grandparents and really not doing much interesting."

"Ah, a curious one. Well, you'd best go on back inside. There's some wild Pokemon around at this time that wouldn't hesitate to snack on you."

He shivered. "Ah, okay. Thanks Muk! Have a good night."

"You too, little dear," she replied as he hopped back towards the house.

The next day was bright and sunny. It was Cherrim's favorite kind of weather. As soon as his Trainer let him go, he flipped himself inside-out to blossom into a cheery pink flower. Since his petal feet were now spread out too far, he tilted his stem back in order to use those feet for support. He ran through the lush grass, cheering as loud and leaping as high as he could go.

When he came to a rocky area, he caught a whiff of an awful smell, like garbage. But this wasn't anywhere near the fenced in garbage pile he'd seen last night. He hopped onto a rock and looked around. "Hey, Muk! You here?"

Part of the ground seemed to shift, and the oozy Pokemon appeared. "Good morning. Who are you?"

He laughed. "It's me, from last night! Cherrim!"

She smiled. "Ah, yes, so you would be. Good to see you again."

Cherrim twirled around. "I heard, from Grandpa, that you do help out with their garbage and garden. And I was thinking, you know exactly what you're here for, which is great. Sometimes I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I look pretty on sunny days and smell nice, but you help keep things clean despite looking kinda dirty." He stopped spinning. "Does that make you better than me?"

"It's makes us different, but not necessarily better. You seem like you would be good at cheering people up. I saw you a little while ago jumping around the field and it was a thing to make most people smile."

He hopped in place. "I do cheer people up! Especially on nice sunny days like today, where I feel so happy that it all seems infectious and everybody feels great."

"That's what you're here for. Still, why would a flower like you come out to say hi to someone like me?"

"Just because."

"You don't mind the way I smell?"

Cherrim laughed again. "Not really! Gloom smells worse than you, actually, and I have to battle with him a lot! So I got used to not minding the smell a long time ago. I can be your friend for three weeks, if you like."

"That would be nice."

And so they met daily for three weeks, just to talk and laugh.

…

Muk Fire Red entry: It is usually undetectable because it blends in with the ground. Touching it can cause terrible poisoning.

Cherrim Pearl entry: It is docile as a bud, but turns cheerful when it blooms. It folds back into a bud if sunlight wanes.

I love doing unexpected things with these little stories. Muk makes such an obvious antagonist that I wanted to make it a good guy.