“Gastly!” MunchMunch shouted happily as she floated out from the shadows.

  “Hello MunchMunch,” she smiled.

  “Your shadows are back where they are supposed to be!” He said, waddling around her while holding the Egg. Gastly burst into a cackle, so MunchMunch cackled with her! He had been worried about her after what Croconaw had done, but Nurse Chansey was right Mama Gastly really was strong.

  Teddy pet his head and then gestured to his shadow — an invitation Gastly happily took. She grinned out at MunchMunch from her ride.

  MunchMunch gasped. Then he waddled up to Teddy and looked at him with the biggest eyes he could make. He wanted to be carried too! His Teddy just laughed and took out one of the amazing blue berries — which Gastly told him was an Oran berry.

  He gladly took it and started munching. Maybe Mama Gastly got to ride in their Teddy’s cool shadow, but he got an Oran berry! He giggled and happily followed along.

  It was still pretty nummy. Almost as good as the first time he had one.

  But…

  He had also had cake now.

  Chocolate Cake.

  He had tasted amazing things now.

  Both were good…but one was better

  Yet somehow…the berry made his tummy feel warmer.

  MunchMunch thought hard about that —

  It didn’t make sense.

  If the cake was better, shouldn’t it make him feel better?

  He shrugged. It was something to think about next time he had chocolate. He could ask his Teddy for an Oran berry, too. Oh! Maybe he could try eating both at the same time? MunchMunch giggled at the thought, happily shoving his paw in his mouth to clean off the juice from the berry.

  When he looked up, they were outside the Apricorn man’s house again!

  MunchMunch slowly turned around. He gasped. The stairs from last time were still there, but he hadn’t even noticed them! Maybe…maybe Oran berries were magic berries? Like when he waved his paw around, only these let him ignore stairs?

  That sounded amazing! Next to him, Gastly was cackling again, and even his Teddy was smiling. He didn’t know why, but decided to giggle along too — lifting his legs a little higher with each step in what he would now call a MunchMunch-skip!

  It was much better than a real skip, because he didn’t actually have to jump off the ground. He still made sure to lift the Egg up and down though, so it could skip, too!

  His Teddy walked up to the door and hit it a couple times with his hand. MunchMunch thought that looked really fun, so he waddled up and tried, too! The door made a funny sound, which MunchMunch liked — so he kept hitting the door!

  “Munchlax,” his Teddy cried while Gastly cackled. MunchMunch looked up while he kept hitting the door, but this time there was no door there! Without a door, his paw kept going! MunchMunch gasped as he fell forward, doing his best to hold the Egg to his side so it wouldn’t get hurt.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  MunchMunch would have hit his face, except his belly was super big now, so his face didn’t hit the ground! He giggled while rolling back onto his feet. When he looked up, he saw the Apricorn man looking down at him with what looked like an annoyed smile.

  MunchMunch had never seen that kind of smile before — he wanted to try it too! He tried really hard but…it was harder than it looked. By the end, one side of his mouth felt like a smile, the other like a frown. Everyone around him was laughing though, so he must have done it right!

  They all went into the Apricorn’s man’s house, and MunchMunch smelled aaaall of the apricorns again…and he really, really wanted to eat them. But he remembered what Mama Gastly said about them not being his, so he didn’t.

  He still felt water filling up his mouth, and couldn’t help but think how good they would taste. Maybe that one would taste like chocolate? And maybe the blue one would taste like the Oran berries! There was a pink one, and he had no idea what that would taste like.

  Then the Apricorn man took out something that looked like a Pokeball, but smelled like an apricorn. At first, MunchMunch almost cried because it was wasted food.

  But then.

  Then, all the air in his body went out in one biiiig whoosh — something like a gasp, but also a grunt. He waddled up to Teddy as fast as he could. He had realized something.

  If it was a Pokeball made of food, then he could actually live inside food.

  “Munch! Munch! Munchmunchchchuuuunch Munch!” He gasped urgently, pulling on his Teddy’s shirt while staring at the Foodball. His Teddy looked at him in confusion, so MunchMunch told Gastly what he was thinking. She could probably tell how serious he was, because she didn’t laugh. Instead, she turned to their Trainer with a perfectly serious look on her face.

  MunchMunch appreciated she was taking this so seriously.

  “Gass gas Gasstly,” she said.

  His Teddy made a sound that was a little like a hiccup, but he didn’t laugh. MunchMunch nodded seriously. This…this was very important.

  Then Teddy looked at him and shook his head sadly.

  “Munch!” He gasped. It felt like a bite had been taken out of his heart, and his eyes started making water.

  He…he didn’t understand why he couldn’t use it. It was a terrible thing.

  But he trusted his Trainer.

  So instead, he reached out his paw. This was just too important for him not to take care of. He took the Foodball from his Teddy. It was very beautiful, just like the Egg.

  It was so white it almost glowed, and it had really light pink swirls in it. It was very special

  Yes, MunchMunch thought. He would keep this safe for just the right time. He put it in his other cheek, where it would be perfectly safe. He petted the Egg while thinking to himself.

  “Hey MunchMunch,” Gastly floated down to his ear, “How would you like to go to the Gym next?” She asked.

  Munchlax looked up in surprise. He had no idea what a gym was.

  But the way Mama Gastly said it…made him very interested.

  ____

  Teddy didn’t know much about Munchlax’s. He knew they were big eaters, and that an adult Snorlax could eat enough to feed an entire team.

  He tried his best not to think about what that meant for his pocketbook in the future. He couldn’t help but suspect that no matter what, he wouldn’t ever have much extra in his wallet.

  It was ok though. He wouldn’t give up his Munchlax for the world. The little guy was a ball of joy, literally a ball, and Teddy could tell he was going to be an unstoppable monster in the future. He was excited to see what he could do in the upcoming gym, where he didn’t have to worry about anything but learning and having fun.

  One thing that concerned him though…his Munchlax seemed very interested in food. Like…extra interested. He didn’t know if it was normal for Munchlax as a whole to completely forget about everything around them when they got food.

  It might be a good idea to call Professor Elm. He just had no idea how he was going to explain a Munchlax to him.

  Or Team Rocket.