Trubbish, Vileplume, and Amoonguss

She entered the room and wrinkled her nose as the atrocious smell. At the other end of the room, there were six Pokemon playing around. A Vileplume was in the center, bouncing her large red petals around and sending small yellow pollen clouds out every time she did. Dancing around her were three Trubbish, dragging around what seemed to be trails of trash. Off to the side, there was an Amoonguss, swaying and slowly turning the mushroom caps on his arms. A fourth Trubbish was rummaging in a waste bin, tossing out things it didn't want.

She shook her head. "Geez, did you have to say I could work with anything? Not like I would deny it, but... who'd come if it wasn't for the competition?" She went closer to the playing Pokemon, getting some of them to pay attention. "So it looks like we're working together for a few months. I'm Jennifer, Master Coordinator and theater star. I'm going to put you in a wonderful show. How's that sound?"

"Vowoooo!" Vileplume said, bouncing vigorously to agree. The Trubbish all stopped what they were doing and jumped too (although they sounded like trash bags being tossed around doing that). Meanwhile, the Amoonguss just swayed and watched her, not as excited.

"Well it's good that most of you are eager to go," Jennifer said. "So let's figure out what you all can do. Looks like you could do some dancing with direction. Can any of you sing?"

"Gaaaooo trub trub," one of the Trubbish replied, then started to sing. Before long, the other Trubbish sang too. The one at the waste bin even hurried over to join the chorus. It wasn't a pretty song, but wasn't bad either.

If only it didn't increase the smell and give it an addition like hot grease. Maybe it would help when they had the stage to separate the Pokemon from the audience. "We can work with that," she said, putting a hand to her head. It seemed stuffy in here now that the smell was so thick. "We can do a song and dance show, although I don't know if to clean you all up fully or," she yawned, "maybe polish you up to not look so..." she fell asleep before she even realized she was tired.

The next time Jennifer saw the Pokemon she was using for the competition, it was a week later. Apparently the person who had assigned this group to her had neglected to mention that she'd need a face mask to avoid breathing in the aerial toxins that every single one of them could produce. Coming back into the room, she found that it was had gotten more damp and littered with trash. Had they been stealing trash from other rooms to do that? And why didn't the janitors do something about it?

"Okay, my actors, do you remember me?" Jennifer asked. "We lost a number of days, but there's still time to get an act together. Now while I was waiting on being released from the hospital, I found some songs we could work with. I'll let you listen to them while we work on the dancing part. So then," she waved a hand through the air; it turned yellow. "Was the pollen this bad last time? I don't remember it like this."

The Vileplume laughed. In the wake of her every movement, the plumes of yellow pollen moved and built. Wanting to work in clear air (as she wasn't sure even the face mask would be enough, Jennifer brought the Poison Pokemon troupe outdoors for practice. She just hoped that no one would blame her if there was a sudden increase in the Oddish population over the next few months.

It took a while to start on her dance plans, since the Vileplume and Trubbish wanted to play dance instead. It was always the five Pokemon playing together, as the Amoonguss stayed to the side. Since the show wouldn't go as smoothly if that continued, Jennifer went over to the large mushroom Pokemon. "There's no need to be shy," she said. "I think you would be a great part of the show. We'll have you and the Vileplume as leads, since you're both the same size, and the smaller Trubbish can act as a chorus. How do you dance?"

For a moment, the Amoonguss just stared at her. Then he backed up and bowed his head. To the music currently playing on the portable stereo, the Amoonguss swayed and twirled in a dance. He was particularly expressive with the smaller caps on his arms, even if his face didn't change much. He was actually quite talented, something Jennifer wouldn't have guessed.

She clapped her hands for him. "Very nice! You could be quite a star. Hmm?" She shook her right hand, which felt odd. Yellow pollen came off in large puffs. "I hope this pollination passes by the time the competition starts. Come on, Amoonguss, work with the rest of us."

"Oshu," the Amoonguss replied, then shuffled over to the other Pokemon. Mostly, he looked at the Vileplume.

The Trubbish group all cheered, happy to have another Pokemon to play with. On the other hand, the Vileplume went still on seeing the Amoonguss come up. They stared at each other as if they were familiar with each other, but not in a good way. The Vileplume then turned away, frowning.

Great, she had in-fighting and since she didn't know these Pokemon that well, she had no idea what to do about it. "Please, can we get along? We could make an great show and you two would be," she had to think about it a moment, "a cute couple on stage." Jennifer wasn't sure cute was the right word to describe a really smelly flower and an oversized mushroom, but maybe someone would think of it that way. "Come on, Trubbish, you all can sing while they dance."

The Trubbish were happy to help and changed their path so that they circled around both the larger Pokemon. Jennifer could manage to get the Vileplume and Amoonguss to dance separately or with the Trubbish, but not at the same time. But, perhaps another day. She had to cut off the practice sooner than she wanted because the odd sensation in her hand turned into paralysis over that whole arm.

For the rest of the practice sessions, Jennifer arrived with long gloves, a long sleeved dress, full stockings, a long scarf, and the face mask. As it turned out, the pollen the Vileplume was producing prodigiously right now could inflict paralysis with sufficient skin contact. She asked about the Amoonguss so she didn't end up missing more days trying to work with them. It turned out that its spores could cause nausea. As she already had the face mask, she was protected.

Getting the Vileplume and the Amoonguss to work together took up much of her time. For a long time, she refused to look at him. Jennifer found her stubborn, so she tried convincing the Amoonguss to do something. "What are you two arguing about?" she asked. "If you're arguing. Were you really a couple or something?"

"Fooo," he said.

"Or maybe I'm thinking it's some soap opera," Jennifer said. "It's not like you're having some lover's feud that could be fixed with giving her some flowers and an apology will work. You're not that kind of Pokemon."

The Amoonguss gave her a long look, so she went to try teaching the Vileplume the dance moves she wanted her to use. So far, she preferred bouncy moves that showed off her large petals (but also spread lots of pollen). Jennifer wanted her to do some twirls too. Then they got interrupted by the four Trubbish, who all chattered and threw various small flowers at the Vileplume. The Amoonguss was a short ways behind them; he threw a group of cornflowers at her.

"What did I start?" she said, putting her hand to her cheek. But then the Vileplume smiled and ran over to hug him. His longer arms worked for that better than her little ones, but seeing them with her flower and his cap tilted back to be close was cute. Not just them, but the Trubbish were extra excited and bounced around them.

Maybe they weren't the dirty and dumb Pokemon she'd thought them to be.

…

Emerald entry: In seasons when it produces more pollen, the air around a Vileplume turns yellow with the powder as it walks. The pollen is highly toxic and causes paralysis.

Amoonguss B2/W2 entry: It moves the caps on both arms and does a dance to lure prey. It prefers damp places.

Trubbish Black entry: Inhaling the gas they belch will make you sleep for a week. They prefer unsanitary places.

For the twelfth day of Christmas... a story about love. It was an unexpectedly tricky entry, too.

Well, missed a second day during this, but still, I got twelve entries in two weeks. Not too bad.