A Rotten Stench

Word Count: 833

            Salami's eyes were closed. His back was leaning against old wooden boards that had begun to rot and he could feel his whiskers twitching in agitation. The fish-fused trainer had never had a great sense of smell but there was something rotting in here. Somewhere that he didn't know exactly where and the thought of it made his fingers tap unhappily upon the ground beside him. He could feel with every tap a faint sensation of slime or sludge- presumably from the fact this whole house was decomposing. 

 

            He had been sent here to see if there was something useful and so far it had turned up empty. This house had been picked dry, torn apart and left emptier than the soul of his boss. Which was impressive, as Salami had always been quite convinced that man had no soul nor heart. "What nonsense.." He whispered under his breath before he opened his eyes again. This house was a few hours out from the city, he needed enough time to try and get back home before dark but something within the house had made him dizzy. Perhaps it was the mold that was growing, he didn't know exactly but he did know he was feeling weak thanks to whatever it was. 

 

            It made him want to get up and leave, but if he reported back without anything in hand he would be scolded quite a lot. There was only one thing he could do and so with a heavy sigh he carefully he picked himself back up. Salami was wobbling only slightly as his eyes scanned the surroundings. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary and so far he had checked both the top floor and middle floor, which meant that whatever was causing this was most likely in the basement. 

 

            He hated basements. 

 

            Still though, he knew he would have to and so without any more complains he began to walk in that direction. His hand was kept on the wall to keep him steady as he walked forward, when he went to open the door the entire thing creaked before falling off it's own hinges. Landing on the ground with a loud thud and sending up enough dust to cause the magikarp-man to burst into a fit of coughs. Waving at the air to disperse it he slowly looked down into the darkness. You know what else he hated alongside basements? Darkness. 

 

            He hated the darkness.

 

            It made him think of the fog despite how for the moment this area was still safe. Slowly he wandered down the creaky stairs, being careful to test each and everyone he stepped on before he put it's full weight on them. If it broke beneath him then that would be quite bad wouldn't it? Salami sure thought so but the stairs were stable enough and he was able to make it down safely. Sort of. His eyebrows quirked up at the sight infront of him as a hand raised up to cover his nose. 

 

            The smell down here was atrocious, worst than when it was upstairs but it was quite a pleasant sight to behold. Some kind of moss, or perhaps mold was growing along the floor and ceilings with glowing mushrooms intermingled among them. He didn't know exactly what all this was, it wasn't his business to know what he was out here collecting merely that there was something he was supposed to get. 

 

            Considering the fact that this house had seemingly absolutely nothing in it this was his best bet at what was here that he was supposed to get. He rather wished he had more guidance on what may or may not be useful but, there really was nothing else in this old abandoned house so carefully he reached over into his backpack to pull out a few different containers. Once he got this stuff in there it would seal them tightly, and if these things were poisonous- which he was starting to believe they were based on his headache- it should be able to ensure that it wouldn't infect anything else. It should be able to contain everything about it.

 

            With gloves on Salami slowly leaned down to start trying to scoop some of it up into the jars. He could feel it though the gloves and the texture was just as bad as the smell. Still though, he was diligent in his actions and soon had a sizeable collection. Screwing the lids of the containers on Salami looked at them closely and hoped it would be enough to appease his boss-man. What exactly they would do with it he didn't know, but just as it wasn't his job to know what he was getting it wasn't his job to know what would happen with it. He was better off not knowing and so he quickly dismissed any questions he had. He had a new task- and that was to get back to Brookfell before the sun would set.