MunchMunch froze mid-bite, one paw in his mouth, the other full of berries.

  It was a new berry he had never had before, a Mint berry. It was so good, he made sure to eat every single one of them.

  After he saved one for Happy, of course.

  “You found my Teddy and Happy?”

  “Well, I can’t be sure — “

  “We found our Teddy and Happy~” MunchMunch sang at the top of his lungs, dancing on the pillow and stuffing as many berries into his mouth as he could.

  “Ahem. Yes. Well, as I was saying. I can’t be sure — “

  “Where are they! Are they ok? Can we go now?” MunchMunch shouted.

  Twilight huffed in bemused displeasure while a passing Clefairy chuckled.

  “MunchMunch, let her finish her sentence, Sweetie,” Shadow chided gently.

  “Oh! Sorry! My chest just got so full I had to let it out! Just like when I eat too much and my tummy gets full. Actually,” he continued thoughtfully, “I don’t think my tummy has ever been too full…”

  Twilight blinked while Shadow cackled softly.

  Then she sighed with a smile. “It’s quite all right,” she said, gesturing for him to come sit back down.

  He hurried to listen, bouncing excitedly while he waited.

  “Now, I can’t be sure, but the Eevee I sent out earlier saw an injured human boy in a wheelchair —“

  “Injured?” Shadow cut in sharply.

  “What’s a wheelchair?” MunchMunch asked.

  “Would you please let me finish,” Twilight huffed, glaring at Gastly and sighing at MunchMunch.

  They both nodded together.

  “As I was saying, for the fifth time now,” she said, looking at both of them pointedly.

  “An injured boy in a wheelchair, with a Joy pushing him.”

  She paused for effect, grinning when she saw Shadow’s eyes bulging in impatience.

  “Cleefee, can we please get some more tea?”

  “Dark Types,” Shadow exclaimed.

  “But I don’t want tea, I want my Team…” MunchMunch said in confusion.

  Twilight looked at MunchMunch, then slumped slightly.

  “Right yes, my apologies. The important piece of information was something I remember you telling me, little one,” she gestured to MunchMunch.

  “He was tossing an infant Togepi 2 to 3 Eevee heights into the air — “

  Shadow gasped.

  “That’s him!” MunchMunch cried, scrambling up to hug Twilight. “You found my Teddy and Happy!” He cried, sobbed and laughed all at the same time.

  Several of the patrons and workers looked at Twilight in shock.

  Twilight sat frozen as well, as MunchMunch smeared tears and berry juice all over her.

  “Sweetie, I don’t think you are supposed to touch Lady Twilight,” Shadow whispered, although the grin split her entire face.

  “Oh!” MunchMunch exclaimed, immediately letting go.

  Twilight shivered and blinked slowly, looking down at her now soiled fur.

  “Uhm… here, you can have this,” MunchMunch said, holding up his last Mint berry. Well, last after the one he saved for Happy.

  No one could have that one.

  Except maybe Shadow, if she could eat berries.

  “I’ve never had these before and I like them a lot. It’s the last one. I’m sorry,” he said.

  Twilight blinked, then tittered.

  “Oh, I am most definitely keeping you!” she exclaimed.

  MunchMunch smiled while the rest of the onlookers went back to their business.

  Twilight shook her fur and used Moonlight, the golden dust floating across her midnight fur more brilliantly than ever before.

  “Is Moonlight supposed to do that,” Shadow asked in exasperation.

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  “Of course not. However, I am a very talented Lady. With priorities,” she finished with a wink.

  “Your fur is so pretty,” MunchMunch breathed, his eyes wide.

  Then he shook his head.

  “Mama! Let’s go find our team!”

  Then he turned and MunchMunch-skipped as fast and hard as he could toward the cave entrance.

  ____

  Even though MunchMunch was skipping as hard as he could, Twilight and Shadow still caught up to him.

  And Twilight was only walking, while Shadow drifted comfortably.

  MunchMunch huffed.

  “One day, I’ll be fast,” he said.

  “I don’t doubt it for a second,” Twilight smiled.

  “Where did you say they were? They must be nearby, if your Eevee found them?” Gastly asked, slipping into MunchMunch’s shadow comfortably.

  “Oh, you’ll see when we get there,” Twilight tittered.

  “Dark Types,” Gastly groused from her shadow.

  “Is it far, Twilight?” MunchMunch asked, holding onto his backpack straps tightly to keep his pack from bouncing.

  “Does it annoy you, kicking your tummy when you walk?” Twilight asked instead.

  “Nope! It’s proof I’m big and strong!” he explained. “But I can roll faster than I walk. Even faster than I can skip, too! But then I can’t see where I’m going,” he explained seriously. “I’ve been practicing my roll a lot though. It’s really fun.”

  “I see,” Twilight nodded seriously to him. “Well, do you remember the way back to the Rangers’ Station?”

  “Nope! I just follow Mama,” he smiled.

  “Ah, I see,” Twilight faltered. “Well in that case, you can follow me for now,” she smiled.

  ____

  Gastly watched with pensive anticipation from MunchMunch’s shadow.

  The description did match. And she didn’t know many trainers willing to throw their baby Pokémon in the air.

  She remembered when he tried it with MunchMunch. Amusingly, he was too heavy even freshly hatched.

  But she was also afraid to be too hopeful. Dark Types rarely gave without a caveat. And while Twilight seemed nice enough, there was far more to her than met the eye.

  Shadow still didn’t understand what Kimono meant. Was it a clan? A lineage?

  Regardless, she knew there would be a price. If it meant getting her MunchMunch back to Teddy faster, she would gladly pay it.

  She only hoped she had the ability to do so.

  Then there was the matter of the Summons. She had ignored them once.

  If she was able to find her team today, it would prevent her from having to ignore them twice.

  She would be more indebted to Twilight than the Dark Type knew.

  Not that Shadow would ever tell her.

  Gastly huffed and settled deeper into MunchMunch’s shadow as he stepped into a sunny portion of the path.

  She was also nervous, loathe as she was to admit it. It had been many years since she had spent time with ghosts.

  The truth was, Shadow was old. Old enough, she didn’t remember when she had formed from the twilight that pervaded the Hallow-winds.

  In comparison, her Journey with her team was but a moment. Yet not all moments were equal, and her time with her Team had changed her more than many of the countless years before.

  Shadow was afraid, which was a curious thing for her.

  Ghosts didn’t feel emotion — didn’t know or understand it.

  So all she could do was guess it was fear.

  Fear is what came after trepidation, right?

  Trepidation, she knew well.

  So no, it wasn’t that.

  She had begun to experience things she hadn’t known were possible. Things that caused her confusion.

  Like when MunchMunch smiled at her. Or when Teddy relied on her.

  She didn’t know what they were, nor how to explain them.

  So no, she wasn’t afraid of her peers.

  She was afraid of the cost of going back.

  ____

  “And you are absolutely sure they were here?” Teddy asked Pete, the Ranger behind the counter.

  “The Station Noctowl is out for the day, but yes, I remember seeing them,” Pete nodded. “A Gastly and a Munchlax are a rather uncommon duo,” he chuckled.

  “Would you like to wait here?” Joy asked.

  “Yes, please,” Teddy nodded, his stomach doing flips.

  “Alright. Well, I have to get back to the Center. Send your Gastly along to get me when you are ready to return,” she raised a finger to cut off his protests.

  “No buts. And do not try to walk on those feet,” she finished sternly, looking up at Pete, who nodded back.

  Teddy sagged. “Thanks again, Nurse.”

  She smiled and ruffled his hair. “You should keep your cap off more often.”

  With that she turned and left.

  Teddy fixed his hair and replaced his cap, wheeling himself into a corner to wait.

  “Pii.” Happy huffed the moment he parked.

  “Sorry girl,” he whispered, ruffling the tiny nubs on her head. She cooed in response before bouncing up and down. Teddy chuckled and tossed her a few feet in the air.

  “Most people would have a conniption, seeing a Pokémon tossed in the air like that,” Pete observed.

  “I know,” Teddy laughed. He was so anxious he could barely sit still. Despite the protests of his stomach, he was grateful he had skipped breakfast.

  Much to Joy’s and Chansey’s displeasure, as the apple and breakfast bar in his backpack attested to.

  “I’ve seen worse,” the Ranger nodded. “And she seems to like it,” he observed as Happy trilled in joy during her fall.

  “Yeah, she loves being in the air,” Teddy smiled, poking her nose gently.

  Happy squealed and latched onto his finger.

  “A ghost, a normal-type and a fairy. You sure you know what you are doing, kid?” Pete chuckled, but there was genuine curiosity in his voice.

  “Well, I’m here to get advice on raising ghosts,” Teddy answered honestly. “But just watch, we will be the strongest.”

  Pete smiled. “That’s the spirit.”

  Happy resumed her demands to be airborne with growing urgency, forcing Teddy to take out her Cheri berry.

  She immediately latched onto it, cooing and giggling, all demands forgotten.

  “You do seem to know how to treat her, at least,” Pete laughed.

  Teddy joined his laughter. “I’ve been lucky to have a team that just kinda fits together.”

  “What you call luck, others call skill — care to shoot me your Trainer info? I’d be interested to keep up on your Gym progress.”

  Teddy blinked, startled. While he had never been asked, he knew how it worked — give someone your trainer code and they could plug it in to watch past and future Gym battles from a Terminal at any Poké Center. Honestly, being asked was a huge compliment.

  “Uhm, sure,” he blushed, wheeling over and penning it down.

  “The Station will be rooting for you,” Pete winked. “Don’t let us down.”

  “We won’t,” he promised.

  Then again, more quietly to himself.

  We won’t.

  A giant Noctowl swooped through an opening in the roof a moment later.

  “Welcome back,” Pete nodded. The Noctowl ruffled its feathers and nodded back, glancing at Teddy.

  “Yup, he is here for the Munchlax and Gastly,” Pete nodded.

  Noctowl hooted and settled into his perch. Teddy couldn’t help but wonder where he had been for the day.

  Maybe he would have a Pokémon that could fly one day? He knew Happy would evolve into Togetic, but they were too small to carry a person.

  A thought for another time.

  Teddy settled back into his corner, the hours slowly fading towards afternoon.

  With each hour, his anxiety grew. What if they weren’t MunchMunch and Shadow? What if they were still out there, while he was sitting here waiting out the day. What if —

  A door swung open, startling him from his unwilling doze.

  “… Munch?”