Garbodor and Zigzagoon

The woman scrunched up her nose. "Ugh, I don't see why they let such an ugly Pokémon stink up this beautiful park."

"And I hear they can shoot poisonous gunk out of their, er, finger things," the other woman said. "You'd think they'd get rid of it so it doesn't cause damage."

The Garbodor heard them, but he was thick skinned to that kind of comment. He picked up a paper cup and ate it; it still had its plastic lid, plastic straw, and bits of orange soda with it. In the end, it would all go to bulking up his body. He waddled on to a plastic bag that was wavering in the breeze.

And waddling was the best way to describe his gait, a constant shifting of junky materials and plastic-like skin as he plunked one foot in front of the other. Sometimes things went squelch, sometimes squish, sometimes clatter, sometimes rattle. His outer skin was tight, so he didn't drop bits of himself like he used to as a Trubbish. That was good, as otherwise he wouldn't have the job he had now.

"So disgusting," the first woman said. "They should stay… eep!"

Although she was rude, the Garbodor turned to see what had startled her (it might have been dangerous, after all). It turned out to only be a Zigzagoon, perking her ears up and standing up on her hind legs. "Ooo, shiny shiny shiny!" she said, excitedly paying attention to the woman's silver sequin purse.

A double-click sounded, getting the Zigzagoon to drop down. "Hang on girl," a park ranger said, walking over to them. "You're only after things on the ground."

"But it's soooo shiny…" the Zigzagoon whined, then reluctantly turned back to searching along the ground.

"Sorry about that," the ranger said, nodding to the two visitors. "I'm still training her."

Smiling and making a squelchy greeting, the Garbodor raised his left had and waved to the ranger; his right arm was his attack arm, so waving that would be an offensive gesture. "Good afternoon!"

"I don't mind the Zigzagoon," one of the visitors said, "but could you get rid of this walking heap of trash?"

The ranger didn't understand him, like any human, but she still waved back to him. "Oh, he's fine where he is," she said. "He's one of mine too; he helps with park cleanup."

"There!" the Zigzagoon barked and dashed off towards the plastic bag. "Found something!" She picked it up and brought it over to the Garbodor. "Here!"

"Thanks," he said, taking it to eat. Plastic bags were kind of like chewing gum, in his opinion. They could last a long time.

"Cleanup?" one of the visitors asked, surprised. "But he's one of the most unsightly Pokemon I've ever seen."

"Yes, and he smells like, pardon my language, crap," the other added.

"Oo, shiny!" the Zigzagoon said, and dashed off after what turned out to be a soda can.

The rangers just smiled at the complaint of her Pokemon's smell. "Oh, someone probably hasn't been cleaning up after walking their Pokemon here. It's gotten to be real bad, even after we upped the fees for that offense. But he cleans it all up on our daily walks. Now if people would clean up and not litter, our walks would be a lot shorter."

In fact, as more and more people learned of the ranger's walks with her Garbodor, there was less and less trash left behind to pick up.

…

Zigzagoon HG/SS entry: It gets interested in everything, which is why it zigs and zags. It is good at finding items.

Garbodor White entry: They absorb garbage and make it part of their bodies. They shoot a poisonous liquid from their right-hand fingertips.

Yet another valuable lesson to be learned in Pokedex One-Shots: be sure to clean up after your pets!