"Hey, you guys… be careful, alright?" Brock said.
Hearing that, Misty felt so embarrassed she wished she could disappear into the ground.
Whatever happened between her and Ash inside the tent must have been misunderstood by Brock. The thought made her feel both awkward and uneasy.
"I… I…"
Misty stammered, not knowing how to explain herself.
In the end, she simply lowered her head and focused on eating breakfast.
It was all Ash's fault.
After a while, Ash greeted them and sat beside Misty as usual to eat breakfast.
I'm never waking Ash up again…
Misty acted like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, slowly eating her breakfast.
"Brock, what were you yelling about just now?" Ash asked casually, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere. "Did you hurt yourself while cooking?"
"No, no." Brock glanced subtly at Misty and replied quietly, "I just suddenly remembered something."
Ash nodded and quickly finished his breakfast. It was getting late—they needed to get moving.
Because of the earlier embarrassment, Misty's cheeks were still red, and she didn't dare look directly at Ash.
And Brock had even teased her about it. Getting punched once was already letting him off easy.
Pikachu, meanwhile, was too busy filling its stomach to notice the strange tension between the three.
After packing up their temporary campsite, Ash prepared to head toward Gringey City, a declining industrial city known as the habitat of Muk.
"Are we really going to Gringey City?" Misty asked with a frown.
She had heard rumors about the place—the air there supposedly smelled strange.
"Yeah. It's the closer route," Ash replied.
Of course, his real goal was to catch a Muk. Otherwise, he would have preferred avoiding Gringey City altogether.
They had set out early in the morning, and by noon they finally reached the outskirts of the city.
The once blue sky was now hidden beneath thick clouds, leaving only a dull gray overhead.
With the wind blowing, billowing black smoke poured from factory chimneys, churning as it surged toward the dark clouds above.
"These factories have ruined Gringey City," Misty said while observing their surroundings.
The entire city was shrouded in industrial pollution. Thick smog covered the sky, and even at midday the place felt as dim and gloomy as night.
The sea breeze carried the foul smell of sludge, seriously affecting the mood of any passing Trainers.
Looking around, the buildings and streets seemed cold and desolate. A chilling wind swept through the empty roads, and there were barely any pedestrians.
"That's true," Ash agreed.
The factories discharged wastewater without treatment, destroying the surrounding environment. As a result, Gringey City remained under perpetual darkness.
Most of the facilities were badly worn down, and many Trainers would rather take a long detour than pass through here.
Just like in the original story, Gringey City was still a heavy industrial city.
Ash and his friends happened to arrive during the incident where the power company's seawater generator was being disrupted.
At the same time, Pikachu had caught a cold and was accidentally discharging electricity.
Unfortunately, the Pokémon Center had lost power, so Pikachu couldn't receive treatment.
The culprit behind everything was Muk, who had led a group of Grimer to block the seawater intake.
Later, with the help of Magnemite, the Grimer dispersed, leaving only their boss Muk fighting alone—giving Ash the chance to catch it.
Although Muk was captured just like that, the aftermath was… quite something.
The Poké Ball had only lightly tapped Muk's head.
But for some reason—whether due to the Poké Ball's quality or Muk's natural "body fragrance"—the Poké Ball immediately became contaminated with Muk's smell.
Ash planned to bring Muk along when challenging Fuchsia Gym.
Sure, it smelled terrible, but its strength was undeniable—it was a Poison-type Pokémon.
"Let's hurry up. It smells awful here," Misty said, covering her nose and mouth with a frown.
"Look over there," Brock said, pointing ahead.
A large group of Grimer was moving together. It was immediately clear why the place smelled so bad.
"Let's go take a look," Ash said as he spotted a larger Muk at the back of the group.
Right now, they were probably heading to block the seawater intake.
The Grimer seemed determined to stop the factories from dumping wastewater.
"Do we really need to go closer? It smells so bad I might faint if we stay here too long," Misty complained.
"You want to catch that Muk?" Brock asked.
Ash nodded.
That was exactly his plan. Catch Muk—and also prevent the power outage incident affecting Pokémon.
"It would be nice if we had gas masks here," Misty muttered while following behind.
Pikachu, on the other hand, didn't seem as bothered by the smell as the others.
Following the Grimer, they arrived at the shoreline and saw them piled up near the factory wastewater drain.
"Ash, I think this capture might be difficult," Brock said.
They were completely surrounded by Grimer, and the pungent smell filled the air.
That's some serious poison-type damage…
"To deal with a Poison-type like Muk, you need a Psychic-type Pokémon."
"Misty Staryu, go—"
Before Misty could finish releasing Staryu, Psyduck suddenly popped out of its Poké Ball on its own.
"Psyduck?!"
Misty was speechless.
She had called for Staryu, not that goofy Psyduck.
Looking at Psyduck's blank expression, Misty had no hope that it could defeat all these Grimer.
"Starmie!"
She quickly recalled Psyduck and sent out Starmie instead. To avoid Psyduck jumping out again when hearing Staryu's name, she decided it was safer to use Starmie.
Ash had actually wanted to see Psyduck's combat ability. If it used Confusion, it might defeat the whole group of Grimer.
"Pikachu, you join too."
"Starmie, use Psybeam!"
Misty's Starmie had been training with Ash's team, so its strength had improved quite a bit.
She rarely battled herself, so this was a good chance to test its strength.
Pokémon: Muk — Lv. 38
The other Grimer were mostly around Lv. 30.
Pikachu first used Thunderbolt to clear out the Grimer underlings.
Starmie and Muk were about the same level, so this was a good opportunity to see if Starmie could defeat it.
Muk endured two Psybeams, then began repeatedly using Minimize.
Its body shrank smaller and smaller until Starmie's next two Psybeams both missed.
"You're shrinking again?!" Misty shouted angrily. "Can't you use another move?!"
At this rate, they'd need a magnifying glass to see it.
I like this Muk… Ash thought, remembering Muk's notoriously annoying stall strategy.
"Starmie, use Swift!"
That move never misses, instantly locking onto Muk.
"Dodge the Sludge Bomb!"
Starmie moved like a UFO, skillfully avoiding Muk's attack.
"It's all yours now," Misty said.
She had already weakened this strange Muk for Ash. It kept using Minimize—fortunately it hadn't used Toxic, or the battle would have turned into a long war of attrition.
Ash capturing this Muk…
Was he planning to use one of those disgusting stall tactics?
While Misty was thinking about it, Ash threw a Poké Ball and successfully caught Muk.
Since his team was already full, he immediately sent Muk to Professor Oak's Laboratory.
PS: I've been releasing chapters daily . Honestly, it hurts seeing almost no support on Patreon after all that work.If you're enjoying the fic, even a little, supporting me would mean a lot. It helps a student stay independent .
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