Hi Professor! I have a few different pokemon and just recently I adopted a Trubbish named Henry! However my Tentacruel, the Madame, does not seem to get along with him much. He is not allowed to come near her. It is strange because she normally is so nice to young pokemon. Henry gets along well with my Muk, Slushie, and many of my other pokemon but not her. What should I do?
Well, before I address the main problem, I just want to make sure that Slushie isn’t an Alolan muk. As Alolan muk prey on trubbish, it could be dangerous to keep them together without constant supervision-- no matter how well-trained Slushie is, it still might go after Henry. Muk from other parts of the world do not eat trubbish, so if Slushie isn’t Alolan, there shouldn’t be an issue, but I just wanted to make sure you knew.
Now, regarding the Madame. Not every pokémon minds the smell of trubbish, but it’s the most likely cause for her reaction to Henry, given that this behavior is out of character for her. Unfortunately, despite common belief, it’s not as simple as “trubbish stop producing odours when they make a friend”; rather, trubbish produce bad smells as an unconscious defense mechanism, so if Henry feels unsafe around the Madame, he will not be able to stop producing the odours, and the cycle will perpetuate itself. I think the best thing you can do in this situation is allow the Madame time to adjust to a trubbish in the household, while scheduling short and supervised interactions between them. Keep Henry in his Poké Ball while the Madame is in the room outside of these interactions, until she starts getting used to him and is able to handle his presence. It can help if you feed her her favorite treats during the interactions, so that she learns to associate Henry’s presence with something good. Over time, she will become used to him, and he will be able to feel safe in her presence.