MunchMunch turned and waved goodbye to Chansey as they walked out of the PokeCenter. He held his Trainer’s hand, who Mama Gastly had told him was actually named Teddy (MunchMunch had no idea why he needed two names, maybe it was like him — Munchlax and MunchMunch?), and in the other hand he had his yummy snack. He was careful not to drop it, even as he was waving.

  They had a lot of fun in the PokeCenter! Teddy had tried to pick him up, and couldn’t get him to budge, which MunchMunch was proud of - it meant he was growing up fast, and that meant he would get to try new food! Mama Gastly had come out of the shadows just to laugh at Teddy, and he had made the funny noises that didn’t sound mean and made MunchMunch smile.

  Then Chansey had taught him how to walk! So now he was walking with his trainer and Mama Gastly outside for the first time!

  As soon as he turned around after waving, MunchMunch gasped. It was really, really, really pretty!

  “What are those!” He gasped, trying really hard to look aaaaalll the way up. He had to fall on his back just to see the top!

  “Those are trees, MunchMunch,” Mama Gastly cackled, making fun of Teddy for falling down too when MunchMunch forgot to let go of his hand.

  “Trees,” MunchMunch cooed. “Thanks Mama Gastly!”

  Gastly snorted. “You can just call me Gastly, sweetie.”

  “Ok,” MunchMunch chirped as he stood back up. After all, he could just say “Mama” in his head before saying “Gastly.”

  He took a bite from his yummiest snack to reward himself for being so smart!

  “Oh it looks so pretty! And smells so good — Oh and look at the Pokemon over there! With all the legs!” MunchMunch gasped, taking in the sights. He happily waddled up to see a Pokemon on a tree.

  “Caterpie!” It squeaked, before climbing higher.

  “Look Mama Gastly! What is that!” he exclaimed, pulling Teddy along after him.

  “That is a house,” Gastly said from the shadow she was hiding in. She liked hiding in shadows, and there were lots of them here from all the trees.

  “House,” Munchlax giggled, waddling up to see if maybe it was tasty.

  “Munchlax!” His trainer called out, and somehow MunchMunch knew it meant he wasn’t supposed to eat the house. It was ok, it didn’t taste very good anyway!

  MunchMunch took a bite of his favorite snack and decided to let Teddy lead. He followed him around the town, knocking on doors - which Mama Gastly told him was a way of letting people know you were there. She liked to slip in through the shadows before they opened the door. It made MunchMunch giggle to see her winking behind the people when they opened the door. He was pretty sure he was the only one who could see her - not even Teddy knew she was there. It was probably because Mama Gastly thought he was special, and that made him feel happy in his chest.

  “It looks like the Slowpoke are missing, we are trying to figure out why,” she eventually told him. Apparently, Slowpoke was a Pokemon too, and didn’t have anything to do with poking his belly slowly.

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  “Is that bad?” MunchMunch asked.

  “Hmm, it is certainly weird,” she answered. “I don’t really care, but Teddy likes to help people, so I will help him. Plus, I am sure he will train us on the way, too.”

  “Train?” he asked.

  “Remember when that Zubat bit you and it hurt?” She asked.

  MunchMunch did remember. It was the first time he had felt water in his eyes. It would be a long time before he forgot that.

  “Well, Teddy can make you stronger so that never happens again. He can make you so strong, that even if that Zubat were to bite you, you wouldn’t even notice!” She explained.

  MunchMunch’s eyes sparkled. “So that is what strong means?” He asked.

  *Mama* Gastly nodded.

  “Mama Gastly, I want to be very, very strong,” he said seriously.

  “I know you do, and it is just Gastly sweetie,” she responded.

  “Oops! Sorry,” he exclaimed, taking a bite from his most favorite thing to hide the heat in his face. Mama Gastly seemed to think it was funny, which just made his face feel warmer.

  They were at a house that was a bit further away from the other houses now - they even had to climb stairs to get there. They were the first stairs MunchMunch had ever seen!

  He didn’t like them at all. They made him tired and his legs were too small to use them like his Teddy did. He had to eat two whole bites from his happy snack before his felt happy again.

  But now they were inside the house, and it smelled wonderful.

  “What are those,” he gasped, pointing at all the colorful food on the walls.

  “Those are Apricorns and we don’t get to eat those,” Gastly explained.

  “Oh,” he immediately deflated, taking an absentminded munch from his yummy snack.

  “Why not?” He eventually asked. For the life of him, he could not figure out why they couldn’t eat food. Wasn’t it there to eat?

  “Because those belong to the other two-legs — they are not ours,” she said.

  “Oh, that makes sense,” MunchMunch chirped. “Is that because the other two-legs is stronger? If I became very strong, could I eat all the food?”

  Gastly stopped to look at him. “Yes, you could, but that is the wrong kind of strong.”

  “Wrong kind?”

  “Yes, what I mean is — oh!”

  Suddenly, the other two-legs ran out of the house.

  “Gastly, Munchlax!” Teddy cried, followed by other noises. They didn’t make sense, but MunchMunch could tell his Trainer wanted them to follow, so they followed as fast as they could.

  They ran down the stairs (which was much better. MunchMunch decided he didn’t mind stairs when they went down), and across town - even past the PokeCenter. By the time they stopped, MunchMunch was starving, and his favorite snack didn’t fill him up enough. His eyes started getting water in them again, but then his Trainer reached down and handed him a blue berry.

  MunchMunch gasped and forgot to finish crying. He had never seen this food before! Teddy must have been very proud he kept up - maybe this is what training was? He stuffed the whole berry in his mouth, and it was sooooo good. Oh, MunchMunch loved his most favorite thing, but there were so many other foods…maybe they could all be his favorite things, after his number one most favorite?

  When he finished his food, he noticed Gastly and Teddy looking at him - Teddy making the funny noises again. MunchMunch tried to copy the noise — he liked it a lot! That made his Teddy make the noises louder, which probably meant he was doing it right!

  Then his Trainer made some mouth noises. Gastly told him it meant they had found the Slowpoke—and needed to help them.

  Munchlax was super excited - he had never seen a Slowpoke before!