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She didn’t know how she kept getting herself stuck in these kinds of situations.
Trubbish knew that her kind were… less than accepted around humans, and honestly she understood completely- she didn’t smell the best and she was highly toxic, but she wouldn’t have expected such… cruelty of them. She knew they could have done worse. That she could have left that fight with far more painful wounds than simply a gash in her side, yet still…
Still…
She sighed quietly as she curled her arms around her body, looking down at the ground. She should be counting herself lucky, the pansear had only managed to land a Cut, after all, and she had gotten away without being burnt by its flames. She should be pleased, or at least… proud… yet the human’s words echoed too loudly for her to think.
“Oh it’s one of these things again… ugh, don’t you know you only dirty up the alleyways? The people around here were complaining about a horrible smell…” they smirked, “who knows, they might just thank me for taking out the trash”
She grit her teeth at the memory, pulling herself into a tighter ball. She wasn't the one the people there had been complaining about. Often, the people there didn’t bother to put their garbage out correctly for the men that picked it up, letting it all rot in the back alleyways. She had been there to clean it up. She was trying to help them! And yet she was still-!
She slumped to the ground, too tired to remain angry. This was the fifth time this week she had been forced to run from some pokemon trainer that thought they were going to “help get rid of the horrible smell” in the area. She wasn't very fast, her short legs doing her no favors, and the only thing that had kept her from getting caught was the Poison Gas she expelled, acting as a smoke screen.
The area she had run to was rather clean, meaning she probably wouldn’t be able to find any easy food unless she felt like rooting through the huge metal boxes they usually put a lot of trash in. Unfortunately such structures were made to keep her kind out, and with the gash in her side she’d rather avoid climbing. She sighed again, letting out a faint stream of poison gas. She would have to move soon, lest someone find her curled up here and decide to “clean up”. Night was falling and that was usually the time people set out their trash, and being tucked right up aganst a storage place of it was not the best place to be.
She hissed as she dragged herself up, pressing her arm to her side in order to avoid letting out the grunge held inside her body. Normally pokemon would not be so injured from one attack like she was, but her bag had been unusually frail as of late. She could only assume it was from the lack of meals she could scavenge recently, as well as being unable to heal up from the last few battles she’d had. She pressed harder against her side and shuffled on further into the alleyway, hoping to avoid any more prying eyes.
Luck was, as usual, not on her side.
“Hey! Looks like some trash didn’t get put in the dumpster!”
She turned around sharply, already preparing some kind of poison attack to drive them away. If she could divert their attention with Poison Gas, she could probably manage to dash to the other end of the alleyway. She just hoped they wouldn’t follow her.
“Well, are we going to clean it up?”
“You kidding man? It’s all grimy! I bet zubat wouldn’t mind dealing with it though!”
“Haha! Bet sandile wants to help too?”
“Doesn’t hurt to ask!”
Oh dear.
Two flashes of light signified the two Pokémon being released before she managed to release the gas building up in her lungs in a thick cloud. She attempted to bolt away, but the sandile was quick, managing to Dig its way in front of her. The zubat was equally as unaffected, Screeching through the cloud and making her clutch her ears in pain.
This was terribly unfair, she couldn’t help but think as the sandile Bit her hard. But life never really was fair. She Pounded the sandile away, and then turned to spew acid up at where she could see the wind currents the zubat was making in the cloud. The Acid Spray didn’t do much, but its surprised cry was all she needed to try to escape again. She ran further into the alleyway, back where she had come from. She knew there was a smaller ally she could run though, and hopefully the grimy walls of it would discourage the two trainers from attacking her.
Just as she was about to run through, the sandile popped out of the ground in front of her again, immediately swiping its tail across the ground in a Sand Attack that left her uselessly attempting to blink away the sting in her eyes. A sharp Twack against her back had her reeling as an Astonish landed hard. She stumbled back, wildly swinging out her arms in hopes that a stray Pound would hit one of them.
She wasn't going to win this battle, but she wasn't about to go down without a fight.
“Hey Look! they cornered it!”
“Good job sandile! Now, let’s finish it with a Sand Tomb!”
She shook away the sand in here eyes as best she could, just barely managing to avoid the super effective attack. The humans jeered behind their pokemon, shouting out commands she was too busy avoiding attacks to hear, when suddenly a loud voice made them freeze.
“Just what do you think you’re doing!?”
“Ah-“ she looked up to see the two humans gaping at the boy before them. He was definitely younger than the two other humans, cheeks still plump with childishness, and wore a black hoodie with white sleeves. He didn’t look too happy to be here. Hopefully she could slip away before things got even worse for her.
“What do you want, kid?” One of the humans sneered.
The one in black simply glared at them, “my question was simple, it is not my fault if your systems are nonfunctional.”
“You-!”
“Alright that’s it! You're on, kid!”
The boy in black merely scoffed, taking a step forward. That… was unusual for a pokemon battle between humans… normally they stepped back?
“Alright sandile, let’s show this kid some manners!”
“On guard zubat!”
The boy in black walked closer, and before she could really register it, was pulling back and punching one of the humans square in the jaw. She blinked. What. He turned to the other human, who was looking at the boy in shock, and Glared.
She swore it was almost a Pokémon move.
The human picked up their companion and ran, pokemon quickly following behind.
The boy huffed, crossing his arms. “Act so tough until they experience a real battle. Honestly .”
She couldn’t help the flinch as he turned towards her. Immediately, and crouched down to her level and tucked his arms together. He looked away from her, body language screaming no threat and sorry .
She blinked, astonished. Humans very rarely knew how to speak without their voices, yet this one did it like it was second nature. In turn, she settled down on the ground, arms relaxing a little in acceptance. It was probably a bad idea to trust a human of all things so easily, but he had helped her.
“I’m sorry about them,” the boy mumbled, though it was still rather loud, “they always look to stir up trouble, except they can’t take what they dish out.” The boy huffed, “that’s why they pick on whoever they think is down on their luck.”
The boy shifted, moving to lean against the wall and looked for something in his pocket, and pulled out a wrapped price of candy.
“Here,” he offered it to her, “it’s not much, but it’s all I have right now. I have more healing stuff at Drayden house, if you want to come. You don’t have to or anything, but those scratches look pretty concerning.”
She reached out for the candy before flinching back. It was always dangerous to take things from someone, lest they demand a favor back. No to mention that this human had already helped them considerably.
“Right, sorry, too much?” The boy looked apologetic, “sorry I… I know it’s hard to- to accept help. I’m not good at it either, but… I promise I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to.” Everything about the boy seemed to curl up into what was supposed to be reassurance but his mouth refused to move beyond its downturn curve. She blinked in surprise. Normally humans would smile with their mouths, and nothing else, but this one did the opposite.
“Besides, us street urchins have to stick together, right?” he looked down again, body shifting into melancholy , “though i suppose i'm not much of one anymore, with… drayden. Beats being on the streets though, and it means I can help you.”
He offered his hand, meeting her eyes, “so, let me help you. Ok?”
She took in his face, unsmiling in the way most humans read it but radiating genuine with the rest of his body. She silently placed her grimy limb in his hand. He was a good one, she could tell. Many people and pokemon would have trouble disliking him if they just paid attention.
He nodded, then gently lifted her into his arms, being careful of her wounds. “Alright, my room should have enough stuff to patch you up.”
She settled into the gentle rocking of his arms.
“I’m sorry it stings- that means it’s working, just please hold still…”
Trubbish winced as the boy sprayed more of the potion on her side. It was a concerningly large wound, meaning it would take more than a few minutes to close up. Not to mention that, from what she had gathered from the boys mumbling, the “stem cells” in the potion did not work as well on pokemon that were more inorganic in nature. She would have been fine with the prolonged healing if it didn’t sting so much. Still, she did her best to remain still for the boy.
He had given her some berries earlier as well, which were nice, though she would have honestly enjoyed the trash can overflowing with paper more than anything else. The boy probably didn’t know much about trubbish, but that was alright. She would take what she could get.
“There, nearly done now.”
She looked up at the boy, who had settled back into the floor next to her, apparently done leaning over her to see the healing scratches. He seemed very tired, but in the quiet way of being very used to exhaustion. That was not good. Trubbish did not know much about humans, but she was sure that the small ones should get a good amount of sleep each night. Had this boy truly just ignored his health to care for her?
She narrowed her eyes at him, then looked over at the soft thing in the other room. She had sometimes seen huge furniture pieces like that broken next to other pieces of garbage. It was rather comfortable to sleep on, and presumably humans thought that as well.
The white form completely knocked out on a replica of the furniture at the other side of the room only made her more certain of that fact. She gestured to him, and then the soft thing, puffing out a question and why not sleep. The human seemed to be a bit confused with the last one, which was understandable, it was a hard one to read when they’ve only just met.
“Uh.. that’s a bed? Or do you mean my brother? He won’t wake up, he used to sleep next to me, so nothing short of the world ending will do that.”
She shook her head, sighing. She wrapped an arm around his wrist and pulled a bit, urging him towards the “bed”.
“Oh!” He ducked down at the somewhat loud exclamation, “you want me to sleep?” He practically breathed out, though it was still louder than a whisper somehow. “I can’t. Sorry, I just Ah…” he looked down at his hands, then back at his brother, and then at his window, “I can’t.”
She blinked, concerned. Was this place not safe enough to sleep in? Or was it just his mind playing tricks on him? She hated it when that happened. So used to being chased out of everywhere she found sanctuary, she got nervous if she lingered somewhere too long. Was he the same?
The rumbling of her stomach broke her out of her thoughts, making her clutch it as if that would quiet it down.
“You’re still hungry? Ah, of course you are, a few berries isn’t enough to satiate anyone.” He began to stand up, but she quickly tugged at his sleeve, shaking her head, “you… don’t want berries? You don’t have to worry about it costing you later, I swear, I just-“ she shook her head and dashed towards the trash can on the other side of the room, pointing at it.
“Oh… you eat trash?” She nodded, pulling away slightly. Would the boy not want her around once he found out how disgusting her diet was? “That is very cool!”
Oh.
“That’s why you were near the dumpster! You must be very good at cleaning up.”
She snorted at him in amusement. This boy was indeed rather strange.
“Do you want the paper there? You can have it if it would help,” she nodded, and immediately began eating up all the crumpled paper inside. It didn’t taste like much, and honestly wasn't even all that filling, but it was nice to finally have something in her stomach. She heard the boy quietly laugh behind her, “I’m glad you like it?”
She chirped and couldn’t help the small exhalation of her toxic fumes. She quickly waved it away from the sleeping human side of the room, and thankfully it was quickly dispersed in the air. Paper didn’t exactly have the most toxins out of all the trash she’s consumed.
She sighed, still hungry, but she wasn't about to ask this human for even more things other than what he had already given her. Unfortunately, he was scarily observant.
“You’re still hungry, right? I… I know there’s some trash downstairs in the kitchen. Drayden doesn’t like cleaning it out till garbage day, so it should still be full,” he walked over and picked her up gently, bringing to walk towards the door, “we just have to be super quiet. Drayden isn’t as heavy of a sleeper as Emmet is.”
He quietly sneaked down the stairs, stepping in specific spots carefully and remaining silent. She was impressed how silently the loud boy could move, though if he truly used to be as he said he was, it made sense.
He softly set her down in a tiled room with a cold floor, and then walked towards something that smelled wonderfully of trash. He silently opened the top and attempted to pull out the bag, struggling as it seemed to desperately cling to the inside of the container. When he finally pulled it out, the container rattled rather loudly, making both of them wince. The boy remained stock still for a few moments, and when nothing happened, cautiously made his way back to where Trubbish was sitting behind a line of cabinets in the center of the room.
He opened the top of the bag from where it had seemed to close a bit, and she happily dug in. This trash was much better than the paper, organic material and plastic pleasantly mixing together in a way she hadn't tasted for a long time. It astonished her that no other pokemon could see how amazing eating trash was, though she was also aware that most other pokemon did not have strong stomach acid like her.
It was a shame, but honestly she was glad for the lack of competition.
She was halfway done with the bag when a loud voice made both of them startle.
“Ingo? Are you in the kitchen?” This was probably the “Drayden” character the boy had been talking about. The boy looked quite terrified just by the sound of his voice. Then again, he was apparently doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. Hopefully they wouldn't be in too much trouble when they were inevitably found out.
The light flickered on in the room, making her wince at the sudden white light flooding the room. The boy scrunched his face before signing as he slowly stood up, gesturing to Trubbish to stay down as he did.
“Y-yeah, sorry I was… hungry.”
Draydens voice came agan, this time much closer, “what are you doing up at… one in the morning?”
“I uh.. couldn’t sleep.”
“I see… Do you need medication?”
“No! It’s fine! I can. I’ll definitely sleep later. I was just getting… some water.”
The other person hummed. She appreciated the boy’s efforts, but they weren’t getting out of this one.
“Why does getting water involve removing the trash bag out of the can? If you wanted to get it cleaned you can do it in the morning.”
“I. Uh…” the boy floundered. She sighed.
“Have you brought a pokemon inside? Surely you know that you ought to give them real food-“
“I know that!” The boy snapped, then shrunk in on himself, “it uh… I wanted…”
Footsteps approached, heavy ones. This must be an adult. A big one at that.
“Is.. that a trubbish?”
She looked over to her left from where she had been hiding behind the cabinets, and saw the largest human she had ever seen. Tales of old spoke of pokemon that grew triple the size of their peers, and if there were such things for humans, she was sure this one would be one of those Alphas spoken of. He was not large like she’d seen other humans, but instead strong , like a machamp.
Yet somehow, despite his large and intimidating stature, he seemed to give off the feeling of… nervousness? Caution? He had a strange look in his eye- one she'd never seen before.
“It ah! It needed help!” The boy quickly scooped her up into his chest, as if trying to protect her, “I couldn’t just- it was hurt and! People were! I! I couldn’t just!”
“It’s alright! It’s okay Ingo, I’m not angry. You said it was hurt?”
The boy didn’t relax, even as the man’s body loosened slightly in don’t worry unconsciously, “y-yeah. It’s alright now though. I healed her.” He still held her tight.
The man backed off, “okay, I’m glad you got to help it. If you keep squeezing it like that you are going to hurt it again though.”
Immediately the grip loosened, and the boy winced out an apology. She blinked in surprise at the wordless sound, incredibly close to what a pokemon would do. He did say he was a street urchin, perhaps he was particularly familiar with their language?
“You… you’re really not mad?” He softly questioned.
“No, I promise I’m not. I’m glad you could help it, more than anything.”
“…”
The man sighed, running his finger through the thick white hair that covered his mouth, “you should let it finish eating. trubbish have very large appetites.”
Ingo wordlessly out her down, but she didn’t eat yet. She looked up at the boy, who was looking down, and met his eyes. They were completely unreadable, making his constant frown and tense body language difficult to read. She gently pat his shin and, seeing as there was very little she could do, turned back to the trash.
She had a feeling the two needed to talk alone, or at least have the illusion.
“I’m sorry,” the boy shifted slightly, still not looking at the man.
“I told you it’s alright, Ingo. I’m not exactly pleased you came in with a pokemon this late at night, but I’m more glad that you helped it.”
“You aren’t going to… kick it out?”
“No.”
“Even though it’s a trubbish?”
“Even though it’s a trubbish. Especially because it’s a trubbish.”
The boy let out a questioning humm, “what do you mean?”
The man sighed, “some pokemon were… not quite made naturally. Humans created them, either by accident or experimentation. You know about dittos, right?”
“Yeah they were ah… clones of Mew, right?”
“Yes, there are lots of other pokemon like that too. After all, there weren’t exactly gears to make klink in the past.”
“Are you saying that humans made trubbish?”
“Sort of. I believe it was an attempt to help clean the dumps of the more dangerous waste there. They did help quite a lot in the garbage disposal, but some of them got out and…”
“Didn’t know how to live in the wilds, because they needed human made things to live…”
“Yes… that’s why I’m glad you brought it home.”
“We… we aren’t going to send it to the dump, right? It… I know it’s supposed to be there but…”
“But you don’t like the idea of it being somewhere like that. I know, you are a very kind soul, Ingo.”
Trubbish should see the boy shuffle back and forth from where she was hiding in the trash bag.
“C… can we… could we just… I. I Mean if you… don’t mind it…”
“Yes,” there was some amusement in the older man’s voice, “we can keep it, Ingo.”
“Really!?”
“Yes. You just make sure you take care of it. Remember, they eat a lot. Though I’m sure the residents here wouldn’t mind a little clean up crew.”
“I’m not too sure of that… but I’ll take care of it! Promise!”
“I know you will, Ingo.”
She watched as the man’s footsteps began to move away, but before she could hear him leave the room, the boy- Ingo, spoke up.
“Drayden?”
“Yes?”
“… thank you.”
There was a small huff. She thought it sounded almost as if he was about to cry, “it’s no trouble, Ingo.”
The footsteps moved further into the house before she heard a door open and then close. Ingo slowly sank to the floor, meeting Trubbish’s eyes again. He looked sort of dazed.
“He didn’t mind…” his eyes grew a bit lighter, some childish excitement glinting in them. She hadn't realized how young he was until then, his eyes made him look much older, “you… you don’t have to go anymore, if you don’t want to. I can feed you and I think you’d love my brother. And you won’t be attacked by anything unless it’s in a play fight. But you don’t even have to do that, really, I don’t mind if you just… stay.”
She blinked at him, surprised. They had only just met a few hours ago, and he was already offering him a home? Was this safe?
She shook off the thought. Ingo had been immeasurably kind so far, and she could just eat the trash they had here… she could be safe. There really wasn’t anything for her outside, now was there?
She smiled at him, and happily gurgled an affirmative. The boy lit up, happily scooping her up in his arms and lifting her above his head, “welcome to the team, Trubbish!” She was pushed into his chest lightly as he hugged her, humming happily.
“Oh!” The human loomed down at her, surprised, “you don’t smell at all anymore!”
She laughed, and reached out to wrap her limbs around his neck, returning the hug.
Silly human, he really had no idea what that meant, did he?
Oh well, she’s sure he’ll figure it out eventually. For now, she’ll accept the attention. It has been a very long time since she’s had a hug.
When a Trubbish’s scent is no longer revolting, you know you have a partner for life.