Muddy was in his lane, flourishing. There was nothing in this world that could disturb him from his slumber. He was relaxing. There was enough mud to go around, and all of Muddy's muddy buddies could share with him, if they so wished.

However, there was someone nearby. Not a muddy buddy, but a muddy threat.

A muddy devil.

"ME EAT MUD YES VERY GOOD DELICIOUS MMMMM YUMMY YUMMY!" A Munchlax stood at the edge of the pit, shoveling handfuls of wet dirt into his mouth and chewing obnoxiously. "DELICIOUS YUM YUM!"

One of his hands scooped up a Wooper, unaware of the plight he was about to cause. The Munchlax pulled the Wooper towards his mouth. Its cute little eyes looked at Muddy, large and pleading.

"SAVE ME, MUDDY!" They seemed to say.

---

Grigori Sokolov

Muddy the Mudkip, in all of his nonexistent wisdom, could only stare in the general direction of the Munchlax. There was no reason to move since it was not actively attacking him. Even as the Wooper was haplessly stolen from its muddy bath and became the next big snack, Muddy was too stupid to know what to do.

Survival instincts were where the train departed and arrived. Oh, and for warmth and food, but the daycare owners had fed them all earlier. And he was pretty warm right now…

“Mudkip.”

No, not that! Think! Anything at all! The wooper, which he didn’t know anything about, was going to be eaten by the nefarious Munchlax! Surely there was something to be done in the aid of his… the stranger.

“Muuuuuuuuuuu–”

Its jaw stayed wide open. Slowly, yet surely, water poured down into the brown slop. Even more incrementally, it picked up speed. After ten long, grueling seconds, a ring of water finally emerged. The Water Pulse sent the Wooper flying, straight past the fence and out into the wilderness.

“Mudkip.”

---

Althus Rex

The Wooper was sent flying, unhurt by the Water Pulse due to the fish's Water Absorb. Yet it left Munchlax's hands empty as he reached towards his mouth to feast, before chomping down on his hand.

Nom.

"HMMMMM THIS FOOD TASTES GOOD WHAT IS IT???" Munchlax pulled its hand out and inspected it, noting the rapidly swelling with all the speed of a glacier slowly cutting through a mountain. "WAIT THAT'S NOT FOOD THAT'S ME!!!"

What an educated fellow. This Munchlax sat at the pinnacle of truly wise gluttons, capable of indulging and feasting and, at the end of it all, realizing that they were actually out of food. To rectify that issue, a Munchlax should start to look for new sources of nutrients.

The truly wise ate mud.

"FOOD???" Munchlax turned towards Muddy and began running forward. "YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

---

Grigori Sokolov

The blue and white blob got closer. It yelled at the top of its lungs, then charged straight at Muddy the Mudkip. The first second was spent gathering the stimuli from the environment. The second second was dedicated to processing it.

The third was the minute brain telling the body that there was danger in the area. And that actions should be taken to prevent his untimely demise. But how?

Mud rippled out from the heavy footsteps. Shakily, like a toddler or a drunk man, Mudkip leaped forward. He fell immediately onto his face. Buried in the mud, the senses no longer detected danger. Safety was in the mud. Danger was outside the–

No, danger could also be in the mud. Munchlax plucked him from where he sank. His body lit up with fear and danger, but it made no appearance in his body.

Well, it actually did. Because before Munchlax could get his teeth around the small creature, his body turned bright white. Then, it grew. Double in size and with so much potential. Limitless, some would say. This would be a new day for Muddy the Mudkip. No longer would he dwell in the mud. Sink into its dirty waters and bask in its warmth.

Intelligence was his, now. Brain power finally increased. Multiplied by a hundred, thousand– no, a MILLION fold. Such a multiplication had to go in the record books. Nothing had ever done it before. Even Arceus would quiver at the sight of this awkward, gangly creature holding the wisdom of all the gods combined.

“Marshtomp.”

Munchlax still bit into him, but now he was too big. He didn’t fit past the widest part of his jaws, let alone his stubby arms. The creature fell straight out and back into the mud. It was warm. Nice. Pleasant. Why leave?

Anything times zero is still zero.

---

Althus Rex  

As if blessed by divine providence itself, Muddy escaped a voracious fate by ascending to the next stage of evolution. Good for him. Bad for Munchlax.

"WHAT THE...?" Munchlax's eyes opened in shock, bulging at the sight of the evolved Mudkip. "FOOD GET BIGGER???"

Munchlax tried to gnaw on Muddy's arm, yet he was ultimately ineffective. He was tossed into the mud pit's shallow depths, where he began to sink due to his weight. The shaggy fur bristled as Munchlax began to vibrate intensely as he attempted to flee this muddy prison. Yet no matter what he did, escape seemed impossible.

"HEY BIG FOOD!!!" Munchlax yapped before he submerged completely. "HOW YOU BECOME BIG FOOD???"

Munchlax had never seen food get larger before. It was a useful trick.

---

Grigori Sokolov

The trouble had been vanquished. Down into the depths sank Munchlax, until it was no more than a faint memory. Something that’d give him scares later down the line. A thing that might haunt his days and plague his nights. Evil incarnate, the physical embodiment of Gluttony, a deadly sin.

… What was going on again?

Oh, right. The Mud Pit. How comfortable it was. How serene. Peaceful. Woopers continued to frolic and play, and Clodsire watched without a single thought in the world. They were his brethren. He was just like them, except for looks. But looks didn’t matter for any of them.

Surely no one would ruin The Mud Pit by evolving to be as big and round as it. That’d be awful. Muddy the Marshtomp inhaled a big mouthful of mud and–

---

Althus Rex

The ground shook. Why had Muddy cursed the world with such an implication? Now it was definitely going to happen.

In Munchlax's final moments, he grasped the meaning of evolution. It had taken a near-death experience, but he had finally cracked the code on breaking through his limits and reaching for the next step. Food was a distant memory, but Munchlax would glut himself later on. Besides, the day care lacked the food required to feed a Snorlax, after all.

Yet evolution was a high unlike any other.

Massive paws gripped at the sides of the mud pit and heaved, displacing dozens of Clodsire with the manuever. Both them and Woopers were sent squealing out of the way as a giant bear-like entity rose from the muck.

"Good heavens, that was remarkably poor of me." Snorlax's deep voice rumbled with a voice box few living Pokemon could replicate. "Sorry about that, gentlemen. I was famished, I say. Quite famished indeed..."

He climbed out of the mud pit, covered in the stuff. Snorlax shook violently, sending large globules of mud everywhere.

"I'm not me when I'm hungry."

---

Grigori Sokolov

Muddy the Marshtomps Mud Pit Mud Bath was rudely interrupted by the gift of evolution. Some would claim it was a gift from the gods, the ability for Pokémon to rise up and overcome adversity. Others turned to science as an explanation, mutations and literal evolution to mold them into something better for survival purpose.

Muddy, well… what the fuck did he know? He wasn’t smart enough to comprehend all that. For him, evolution was the thing that ruined his mud pit. The blue body soared off to the side, and slapped against the daycare wall.

Mud-caked skin kept him stuck to the plastic tile, but not enough to keep him from slowly sliding down. Eventually, his body hit soft grass and plopped over.

Warmth was gone. Mud was gone. What was left but a massive mass of flesh and bone and refined hunger?

“Marshtomp.”

The creature pulled itself upright, then absentmindedly crawled to the Snorlax. A gentle touch told him the big guy was warm. And there was still some mud dug into his fur. Thus, he practically threw himself into the ‘rival’ and tried to relish the feeling of peace and comfort for a second more.

To everyone else, it just looked like he was violently rubbing his face into the Snorlax’s ass cheek. Weird.

Gross. But not that it could bother him.

---

Althus Rex

"That's assault, my friend. I appreciate the compliment, but I must bathe and return to my spry form posthaste." Snorlax grabbed the Marshstomp by the neck and placed him back in the mud pit. "There we go."

With all the Woopers and Clodsires displaced, Snorlax had created quite the mess. Picking up various Pokémon, he tossed them into the mud pit where they could return to a moment of bliss. The poor person in charge of cleaning this up would likely curse his name, but that was simply how it went.

"I must now find a bath, so I can instill justice everywhere in this daycare before my trainer picks me up. I wish you the best, odd Marshstomp."

Like a bolt of lightning, Snorlax lunged off into the distance to go ruin some other Pokémon's life.

"Farewell!"

---

Grigori Sokolov