Trubbish Line
Morphs [Oak Catalog #]
- Trubbish [#568]
- Garbodor [#569]
Physical Description
A Trubbish resembles a small tied up garbage bag, with a lumpy green-black main body, two long ears, and a "seam" that wraps around it vertically. The seam is interrupted on the front by a black hole rimmed with sharp teeth that bear a resemblance to glass shards, and a pair of white eyespots with small black pupils complete the primitive face. Two tiny feet are directly connected to the base of the creature, and thick clumps of tannish gunk embedded with pink and blue objects burst out of the sack's side to form arms. A small portion of the species has a slightly different digestive system, resulting in their main body being more of a blue-black color and their being yellow objects instead of pink ones in their arms.
A Garbodor resembles a giant, partially exploded Trubbish, which isn't too far from the truth. The outer skin now primarily covers the head area, with four ragged strips dripping down a thick body and two longer, thicker strips falling down the back. The body itself is made of the same tannish material a Trubbish's arms were made out of, and the same pink and blue objects are embedded throughout a Garbodor's body. The ear-forms have burst open to reveal two barely spherical clumps of the garbage material, and the flat dumpy feet are now made of the same. Two jointless arms stretch out from the creature's shoulders; each of these have a single grey tube within them, but the left has more exposed portions on its length while the right one is completely covered in the garbage substance, with only three tube-like fingers emerging from a clump on the end. Blue-black Trubbish will retain their mutation when they evolve, but their skin will be a far brighter blue and the blue clumps in their body will be replaced by green ones.
Notable Biology
The Trubbish organism is comprised of two primary parts: the outer skin, which serves as a primitive meshwork of neurons embedded in plastics, and the rubber tubing within that forms a combination of skeletal, muscular, and digestive system. Trubbish will supplement their basic biology by consuming any form of garbage they find, which is then incorporated around the piping as a form of fat. Trubbish appear to be highly intelligent, about as smart as kindergartners. When a Trubbish has accumulated enough internal garbage it will evolve into a Garbodor, expanding both its internal tubing and its outer skin. Garbodor's arms are in fact capable of being rotated around its body, with the left and right switching positions; however, this is apparently extremely unpopular for whatever reason and a Garbodor caught in such a position will always be incredibly embarrassed.
Due to their unique diet, the internal body of the Trubbish line is a literal trash heap, with the expected chemical reactions that decomposition brings; Trubbish and Garbodor are both able to weaponize these reactions, with Garbodor specifically using its tri-fingered hand to spray a filthy liquid at assailants. Both morphs often belch out poisonous gases generated by decomposition; this stench has been known to knock out trainers for a week at a time, and a good portion of both Trubbish and Garbodor use it to discourage hostile pokemon from attacking. Many other Trubbish generate a sticky fluid as part of their garbage digestion, making it nigh impossible to steal anything that it has in its grip; this same fluid loses cohesion upon evolution, however, and physical attacks will tear chunks of garbage of the Garbodor, which makes it weaker but also makes it faster. A few Garbodor have learned to release a large cloud of noxious gas as they faint, which seriously weakens the enemy; this ability can also be inherited by Trubbish, but no "wild" population as of yet has it and all such Trubbish have been deliberately bred.
Habitat and History
The Trubbish first appeared in the Nimbasa City landfill after a less-than-scrupulous company dumped industrial waste into it. While the source of the waste and the exact reaction has yet to be identified, it is widely presumed that the first Trubbish was made when the waste came into contact with a bag of sub-par tubing. The creatures remained local myths, wandering the trash heaps unnoticed except by the few who brought garbage to the landfill, until Nimbasa's growing population forced the city council to seriously streamline their internal logistics. This had the side effect of reducing the landfill, forcing the Trubbish to leak out onto the routes near Nimbasa and feed off the litter and occasional road-kill there. The landfill is now off limits to unauthorized trainers as the Trubbish is considered a protected species, but the route-based Trubbish are not under Nimbasa protection.
One entrepreneur, upon seeing the Trubbish's ability to consume and digest garbage, brought a couple up to Shopping Mall Nine and housed them in a specially ventilated back room. The shop-keepers were encouraged to dump any out of date products or just ordinary trash into the Trubbish room, for a small fee, and for a time this worked out well. However, the entrepreneur overworked his Trubbish to the point of practically force feeding them and would not allow them any comforts; he would soon be the first one to discover Trubbish's evolved Garbodor form, and the Garbodors broke out of containment and escaped onto Route Nine proper.
Few businesses have implanted Trubbish populations into their infrastructure since then. A small population was transferred to route 110 in Hoenn, where they feed off the litter of cyclists and passing trainers, and one start up hotel in Kalos ordered a small amount before going bankrupt. These are the only "wild" Trubbish populations outside of the original group, and only the Hotel Trubbish are known to evolve regularly; Garbodors from the hotel have been rumored to make a journey to a hidden pokemon village in Kalos, however, and it is assumed the route 9 Garbodors have a hidden Turbbish nest somewhere.
Diet
Trubbish will eat literally anything, and can digest almost as much, but their primary diet consists of garbage, garbage, and more garbage. From plastic to paper, from expired milk to smelly cheese, from rotted meat to moldy bread, they will gobble it all up. One trainer even reported they would willingly eat human feces, although he was immediately locked up and his pokemon sent to psychiatric care. Garbodor's diet consists, quite simply, of more of the same. Trainers are advised to simply feed the packaging of whatever food they give to their other pokemon to any Trubbish or Garbodor they have.
Hazards
Trubbish and Garbodor are, quite literally, walking trash heaps in a state of partial decomposition. Direct skin contact with their bodies is not advisable, as they could pass along a number of diseases associated with rot, and the fumes and slimes they produce are often toxic to some degree. Both morphs will use these toxic substances in self defense, and angry Garbodor are also known to wrap their left arm around an opponent to hold them down while they spew toxins out of their right fingers. Despite this, the Trubbish line is not inherently aggressive, although it is known that at least one population can carry a grudge.
Social Structure and Behavior
Due to their fairly recent creation, Trubbish don't have a set social structure. Most of the time they will simply wander wherever they are living in search of trash to eat, perhaps making friends with other Trubbish, and sleeping beneath the stars. Oftentimes they beg for scraps from passing humans, and Trubbish will even try to control their stench if they befriend one. It has been noted, however, that Trubbish love garbage cans; if a Trubbish can "claim" a garbage can, they will stockpile up trash in it and spend the night there instead.
While a Trubbish's evolution is not reliant on much, most Trubbish do not become Garbodor simply because of the lack of trash in their region. The Trubbish in the Nimbasa landfill become Garbodor most frequently, but these trash heap pokemon just act like bigger, jollyer Trubbish. Trubbish in the lost Kalos hotel have been known to evolve after feeding off the decomposing building; however they find their trash cans to be too tight and migrate out shortly thereafter. Some sources claim they head for a pokemon village, but this has yet to be confirmed. The most interesting Garbodor population is the Route 9 group; they will work in tandem to bring trash back to wherever their secret lair is, and are as a whole leery towards humans in general, due to their origins.
Courting
Male trubbish will often shed an arm containing a portion of their inner tubing, regrowing the lost limb within a week. If a female trubbish finds one of these, she may choose to eat it; within a few weeks, she will vomit up a sludge filled with eggs. While no specific Trubbish guards this collection of eggs, the sludge is foul enough to deter predators, and any passing trubbish will vomit up more sludge on the eggs; when the eggs hatch, the baby Trubbish will eat up the sludge before wandering off in search of trash itself. Garbodor are capable of the same form of reproduction, but outside the Nimbasa landfill no Garbodor has been seen reproducing without prodding.
In Human Society
As a fairly recent pokemon, Trubbish have yet to be well integrated into either culture or practice of human society. Nimbasa city, the home of their primary cultural location, is both proud and embarrassed of the Trubbish line; the pokemon is both helpful and adorable in disposition, but the fact remains it is a walking trash heap created by a less-than scrupulous company's actions. The Route Nine fiasco has also caused many companies to be wary of employing the Trubbish's obvious talents, and it is hotly contested whether they should be imported to other landfills. Many novelty t-shirts portray a Trubbish stating "I love you" in a form of ironic statement, while other portrayals have them delivering anti-pollution slogans.
Garbodor initially suffered from a poor reputation, due to the Route 9 fiasco, and a number of fictional works have portrayed them as horrifying blob monsters brought on by pollution. However, after some time with trainers, the Garbodor line has been generally accepted by popular culture as a much friendlier individual, although just as often they will be seen drinking some form of liquid and lounging on the couch. One television show even portrays a glasses-wearing Garbodor as a mystic advisor to a large colony of smeargles.
The Trubbish line has been observed to have a complicated relationship with the Minccino line, as both of them live in the same area and gather random objects. During the Trubbish's original spread, Minccino demonstrated a significant degree of annoyance at what appeared to be walking trash heaps and would often attempt to "clean" the area by shoving Trubbish over to a neighboring group of Minccino. However, more recent generations of Minccino have learned to feed the Trubbish with their gathered garbage, and the two lines seem to negotiate over particularly shiny baubles. Many short comics and online cartoons now depict a Trubbish/Minccino duo with opposite personalities forced to work together.
Written by Masterweaver
