The cleaning closet was not exactly the safest of sanctuaries. It was cramped, damp, and full of decades-old chemicals that were likely highly hazardous to her health. Yet, she'd already committed to her fairly stupid plan, so she had to see it through.

Not that she was seeing much, except for the dust and the rust and the aforementioned chemicals. Maybe it would be more accurate to say she was hearing it through? But again, she wasn't hearing much. A lot of yelling from Rex, blades slashing and clashing, the warble of ghostly energy, and all of it muffled by the thick door and the metal walls. It began to occur to her that she didn't really know when the Spiritomb would be in the proper position for her plan. But Rex would tell her, right? Sure, she didn't really disclose any details of her plan, and okay, he didn't exactly seem to have it all together, and alright, there was a chance that the Spiritomb might not fall for it in the first place, and yeah, there was an even greater chance that the plan might backfire and she'd be stuck in a closet with a vengeful ghost, and--

CLUNK!

Heck!Was that the signal? Heck, they didn't have a signal... But if they did, that'd probably be it, right? So, it'd be now? Yeah, it'd definitely be now, right? Okay, okay, okay okay okay, okay... OKAY!

"HUP!"

Pushing open the door, Mitsuru put her plan into action. As the Spiritomb was still reeling from the impact, she pulled a Pokeball from her belt and then tossed it towards the malicious fiend. Then, as the ball hit against the keystone and absorbed the ghost inside it, all she could do was cross her fingers and hold her breath.

Wobble, wobble, woooooobbleeeeeeeeee...?

Click!

...Whew! That was too close. With one source of her stress now "sealed", Mitsuru breathed a sigh so long and so relieved that she practically deflated in real time. Now, that just left her with the other source of her stress to handle.

"Hey, Rex? I'm heading back to shore now. PLEASE don't touch anything else, okay?"

---

Althus Rex

"Hm... Yeah, I think that'll work!"

Mitsuru didn't know the first thing about architecture. She did, however, once fix a wonky table by putting a book under one of the too-short legs. That was basically the same as this, right? Except it was a big metal beam instead of her paperback copy of Fifty Shades of Glalie. All that was to say, it'd be fineeeeeeeeeee!

O-of course, if the book failed, her table would just lean a little to the side, and if this beam failed, there was a chance a good part of Sea Mauville would sink into the ocean... But it'd be probably be fine, right?

"So, how do we get it in there?"

---

Katharina Strophe

The apple landed amidst the slime, and with an ear-ripping crackle, the electricity was released all at once. The sheer paralysing power of the Zap Cannon spread throughout the wretched mass, yellow arcs of electricity dancing from the ceiling to the floor. Eventually, once the last of the charge had been spent, all of the Muk seemed to sag downwards, and the room was mercifully quiet.

Well, except for all the Grimer who were trapped in the trash bags, who were constantly repeating their names over and over, presumably crying and screaming and begging for their parents to rescue them from--

Hang on... Are we the baddies?

"...Miss Blooms, I don't want to be here anymore. I think I'm going to go home now."

With that, Mitsuru scooped her Trubbish into her arms and began the long walk (and boat trip) of shame back to dry land. Lovely, lovely dry land, where she could take a warm shower and not have to deal with the crushing moral ambiguity anymore. And so she could wash this sludge off her face.

She really, really hoped this sludge would wash off her face.

---

DESIREE BLOOMS

What did she mean, "do literally anything"?! She was doing! Doing her best!!! Wasn't that good enough?!?!?!

No, unfortunately. Not good enough to stop the Klawf, and not enough to stop June from being upset with her. Not that she was doing much better, mind, sending out a one-ton van in a mostly aquatic environment. Didn't she have something more fitting than a Starmobile to help with this situation? Some kind of Starcraft? A Starsloop? The HMS Star?

Evidently not. So, it was up to her. To "do something", so to speak.

"UM! Lee! Use, uh... Crab Defeating Attack!"

She wasn't sure if her Mienfoo knew that iconic move, but she certainly hoped it did. And, never one to disappoint, her Pokemon stepped up to the plate. With a mighty leap, it Bounced high into the air, before coming crashing down, slamming through the water and right onto the hefty exoskeleton of the cretinous crustacean!

---

june sleigh

Yeah... Yeah! Screw these little jerks! Why did they have to be all nice and respectful, while they acted like real pieces of work and got away with it? If these pieces of filth were playing dirty, then it was only fair that they got to play dirty, too!

And so, grabbing a whole roll of trash bags, she proceeded to Grimernap as many of them as possible, until before long, both Mitsuru and Desiree had caught every one. The whole place was clean! Well, as clean as a trash compactor could possibly be. There was still plenty of old cardboard boxes, and empty tin cans, and the thick layer of muk on the floor, and rotting food, and generalised gunk, and--

"MUUUUUUUUUUUUK!"

Uh oh.

As the mass of sludge pulled itself off the floor and congealed together, Mitsuru yelped in terror. It turned out, gigantic blobs of pollution? Didn't like it when their smaller blob children were stolen from them. Which shouldn't have been surprising, but as it prepared to launch a massive Sludge Wave towards them, Mitsuru felt nothing but surprise.

"EEP! Desiree, do something!"

---

DESIREE BLOOMS

As the Trubbish came back to her, dejected and sniffling and with eyes full of bin juice tears, Mitsuru looked back to the gang of Grimer with disdain in her eyes. What a bunch of jerks! How dare they act like that! To one of their fellow Poison types, no less! Part of her just wanted to leave them here to their squalor, but alas, that wasn't the job she volunteered for.

So, as Trubby hid behind her legs and quietly whined to himself, she begrudgingly joined Desiree in "cleaning up". Picking up a garbage bag, she began to scoop up months-old dirt and years-old rot. What a dump. No wonder they were so irritable when they lived like this--

"Grime! GRIME! GRIME GRIME GRIME!"

All of a sudden, a blob of Sludge was thrown by one of the unruly creatures, and hit her directly in the face.

"EEP!"

---

DESIREE BLOOMS

Get off the Corviknight? Really? Did she have to?? Did she REALLY have to???

Another block of debris bounced off the heavy armour of the bird, a mere wingspan away from crushing her into a fine paste. Okay! Maybe it's time to get off the Corviknight now.

"R-right! On it!" Mitsuru called, grabbing a Pokeball and tossing forth her Mienfoo. "Lee! Hit that big crab, please!"

With a deep breath and a high-pitched exclamation, the weasel obliged. Sprinting forth, it narrowly weaved through the rain of junk falling from the sky, and straight up to the rampaging crustacean. Then, pulling its arm back as far as it could go, it hopped right up to the face of its opponent, and with a mighty thrust--

BONK.

--Tapped it lightly in the face with a Fake Out. Mitsuru blinked. The Klawf blinked. Mitsuru blinked again. The Klawf did not.

"KLAAAAAAAAAAAWF!"

A pincer was raised up high, ready to deliver a devastating Crabhammer.

---

june sleigh

Heck, she noticed! Which shouldn't have been surprising, given how much the dodgy green splotch stood out on her otherwise beige outfit, but still! She'd been hoping to just try and ignore it, but now that attention had been drawn to it, she guess there was no choice but to address it.

"What, this?" Mitsuru blinked, looking down at the swathe of damp as though it were an inconspicuous drop of water. "Nah, it'll be fine! I'll just change later."

She really, really wanted to change now, but the idea of bringing the entire mission grinding to a halt over it was mortifying. The mere thought of Katharina having to sit around as she waited for her jumpsuit to go through the washing cycle made her cringe so hard she physically flinched. No, given the option between physical and social discomfort, she'd grin and bear the former a dozen times over before she had to go through the latter once.

In fact, even thinking about it in the bad tense is bad for her soul. So, time to move quickly on to the construction efforts!

"Yeah, we can do that!" She agreed, turning to her Varoom whose name was apparently now simply Varoom. "Okay, buddy, can you bring some support beams over there?"

"Varoom."

And so, the little engine chugged forth.

---

Katharina Strophe

Aurelie Lefevre was gone. Noelani Kekoa was gone. Entei was gone. And now, Trubby had left her, too.

All around her, the war was reaching a fever pitch. Tens of thousands of people and Pokemon flooded the battlefield in a desperate struggle. And yet, Mitsuru had never felt so alone.

"Trubby...!"

As the light of the Origin Pulse faded away, she looked upon what remained of her companion. Torn plastic littered the ground, and chunks of beige gunk stuck to the grass. Specks of pink and blue trash lay amidst them all, like dull gemstones torn from their crown. Mere moments earlier, this collection of trash had been her Pokemon, her friend, the closest thing to a son she had left. And now, now it was... He was...

The rain was lashing down everywhere, but all of a sudden, it seemed to be falling heavier on her face.

Trubby. Dead. Gone.

...

...

But even in a place as cruel as this, perhaps there was still some kindness left to spare.

"...Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarb?"

Garby. Alive. Here.

---

_Gm2GEIz

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X Type One Evo on Trubbish (100 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

100 PD

Alright, she needed a break from Primarina Twists. What about an Over-the-Gyarados? Sure, it was a little harder, but at this point, she'd do anything to get her mind off the pervasive question of whether Primarina twist. So, time for a change of pace...!

...But what was the Gyarados over, though?

---

5K PLUS
KyLXWl1a