A gym, it turns out, was a place where trainers who weren’t bad trainers got together so everyone could have fun battling!

  MunchMunch waddled along happily, one paw holding his Teddy’s hand, the other with the Egg tucked under. While the restaurant was a house for food, this was a house for Pokemon! MunchMunch gasped as a Spinarak surprised him, plopping down on the floor in front of them before scurrying away!

  There were whole trees inside!

  Big.

  Giant.

  Trees.

  Inside!

  It was dark, gloomy and full of bugs! He saw more Caterpie — just like outside, and even some yellow bugs with horns that called themselves Weedle. There were some super cool Pokemon flying around, but he had no idea what they were!

  “Munch Munch!” He shouted excitedly. They trudged through the gym-forest, the leaves making fun noises under their feet. MunchMunch made sure to step extra hard so the leaves made extra noise! He even noticed they made a different noise if he kicked them instead, almost like a Swoosh! Swoosh! It worked really well with his MunchMunch-skip!

  He didn’t see Gastly, but he knew she was hiding in the shadows somewhere. He couldn’t wait to see who she popped out to surprise! The thought made him smile impishly.

  Suddenly, a trainer popped out from behind a tree! At first MunchMunch was scared, but then the trainer was nice and started talking to his Teddy — which made him feel much better! He knew Mama Gastly had said the trainers here were nice, but he was still nervous because he had never met a nice trainer.

  There was a big Caterpie on the trainer’s shoulder — and while they were talking, the Caterpie hopped down to talk to MunchMunch!

  “Hi! Welcome to Azalea Gym — the greatest bug gym in all of Johto!” Caterpie said.

  MunchMunch gasped — the Caterpie was being nice, like Nurse Chansey!

  “MunchMunchMunch,” he responded animatedly, waddling up to meet him.

  “This is my first time in a gym,” MunchMunch said enthusiastically. “It is really cool here! Also, what’s a Johto!”

  “Yea! Bugs are absolutely the coolest, and our Gym Leader made our gym super cool too!” Caterpie answered, “And Johto is the name of the place we live!”

  “That’s Awesome!” MunchMunch shouted enthusiastically. “So, what do we do? Do we get to battle? I can’t wait to battle! I want to get really strong!” MunchMunch exclaimed.

  The Caterpie laughed. “Usually, I wouldn’t get to fight, but since you are on your second gym, I will get to test you myself!” He said proudly.

  MunchMunch looked confused. “Nope, this is the first gym I’ve been to,” he said. He was pretty sure he would remember if he had been to another gym. “Unless the restaurant is a gym? Oh! If it is, I bet I beat it!”

  He thought he heard Gastly cackle from a shadow somewhere, but he couldn’t be sure. She was probably still hiding, waiting for the perfect moment!

  “Uh,” the Caterpie said, looking confused. A few of the Pokemon in the trees were watching with interest, too. “Well, no — but your Trainer has one badge already. It’s called the Zephyr badge and he would have won it from the Violet City gym,” the Caterpie explained.

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  MunchMunch thought about that for a moment. He would have to ask Mama Gastly about the time before he joined the team sometime! But it made sense she had already beaten a gym all by herself. She was just so super strong! MunchMunch really hoped he could be strong like her one day.

  “So how do we win gyms? Do I just hit you until you faint?” MunchMunch asked happily.

  Caterpie looked offended, but a few of the watching Spinarak and a Weedle laughed.

  “I’ll have you know, I am one of my Trainers strongest Pokemon,” he sniffed.

  “That’s awesome!” MunchMunch crowed, even more excited. “I love fighting strong Pokemon!”

  The Caterpie looked somewhat mollified. “So…how long have you been battling?” He asked.

  MunchMunch paused. He looked at his paws, and then his toes.

  “Uhm…I was born two hand-paws and….not all my foot-paws ago?” Then he thought really hard. “Uhm, except for the Zubat who beat me up as soon as I was born, this will be my…he held up three fingers on his paw that many battles!”

  The Caterpie stared at him with his mouth open. Actually, all of the Pokemon around them were staring with their mouths open. MunchMunch thought they looked really funny!

  “You mean to tell me…You are not even two weeks old, and this will be your third battle ever?” Caterpie asked incredulously.

  MunchMunch nodded happily. “I think so! I have seen Nurse Chansey he looked at his paw three times now, too! I think sometimes I am there longer than I realize, and I have no idea how long a week is — but the number of battles sounds right! She also told me she didn’t want to see me so often, but she always has yummy eggs so I don’t mind!”

  “Good Grief,” the Caterpie mumbled. MunchMunch definitely heard Mama Gastly cackling from a tree somewhere!

  “Are you…sure it is ok if we battle? I am pretty strong…” the Caterpie asked uncertainly.

  “Yep!” MunchMunch nodded enthusiastically, MunchMunch-skipping over to his Teddy to hand him the Egg. His Trainer nodded at him, letting MunchMunch know it was ok to battle!

  The was going to be super, duper fun!

  ____

  Caterpie and MunchMunch both stood in front of their trainers, ready to battle. Off to the side there was another trainer - who Caterpie had told him was called a referee.

  MunchMunch liked these kinds of battles way more than the scary kind so far! The Pokemon here were really nice, and the rules made it feel safe!

  The referee shouted, and the battle began!

  “Munchlax, use — “ his Teddy began.

  But MunchMunch was too excited! He started waving his paw around as fast as he could. Then suddenly, he Flew waaaaaaay high up in the air! The Caterpie used String Shot, but MunchMunch was already gone and it missed and hit the ground underneath him!

  MunchMunch flapped his arms like he had seen the Zubat do and giggled giddily! Some of the Pokemon flying around looked at him in confusion.

  “Munch!!!” He shouted. He loved his magic paw! Metronome, he thought his Trainer had called it!

  He felt himself starting to fall, so he aimed at the Caterpie.

  “Wheeeeeeeeee!” He screamed.

  The Caterpie looked up at him in terror. The Caterpie’s trainer shouted something, but MunchMunch didn’t hear it over his own screaming and laughing.

  Then, he smooshed into the Caterpie! Thankfully the ground was soft, or it might have hurt his belly!

  MunchMunch got up as quick as he could, looking around for the Caterpie - but he couldn’t find him!

  “Caterpie?” He asked, getting ready for a surprise attack. He bet the Caterpie had a super cool one! Because bugs were super cool!

  But then he found him. He was squished into the ground under where his belly had been, fainted inside the hole!

  MunchMunch gasped. That meant he had won!

  Gastly popped out from the shadows, cackling madly! She was laughing harder than MunchMunch had ever heard her laugh before!

  “MunchMunchmunchMunch!” He shouted happily, MunchMunch-skipping in a circle and happily chomping on his favorite-snack in celebration.

  The Caterpie’s trainer was standing there with his mouth open, just like all the watching Pokemon! MunchMunch looked at his Teddy and saw him smack his forehead with his hand, but he had a giant smile, so he figured it was ok!

  MunchMunch really liked gym battles!