“Can I have that one?” MunchMunch asked, smooshing his face as hard as he could into the glass.

  He wanted to get as close as possible to the berries on the other side. The colors were so bright, he could almost smell them!

  Orange and Blue, Green and Purple.

  He knew the Blue one — that was an Oran berry. He liked that one a whole lot, but he hadn’t tried the others.

  “Shmfadow!” he giggled into the glass. She cackled and floated down next to him.

  “The purple one?” she guessed.

  MunchMunch nodded enthusiastically.

  So far, he absolutely loved the mall. It was full of absolutely amazing food! And other things too, but those weren’t important.

  His Teddy and Shadow looked at those. Some of them were things called medicine.

  They smelled like they wanted to be food, but didn’t know how.

  MunchMunch was not interested in those.

  There were also clothes. Teddy had him try on a thing called a “shirt”.

  MunchMunch laughed when he saw it on him. It would get covered in Chocolate Cake the first time he ate.

  His Teddy and Shadow seemed to agree, as they put it back.

  His Teddy was currently off looking at things called “TMs”, which didn’t look or smell anything like food.

  Which was why MunchMunch was looking at the important berries instead.

  “You’re getting slobber all over the glass,” the shopkeeper’s Pidgey commented dryly from its perch above the counter.

  MunchMunch pulled back and blinked. She was right, the glass was dirty now. “Sorry!” he exclaimed, hurriedly trying to lick the glass clean.

  It wasn’t working, so he tried licking harder.

  “Shadow! It’s not working!” he cried.

  “Are you kidding me?!” the Pidgey exclaimed as MunchMunch continued to cover the window in slobber.

  “Just take the berry and go! Your trainer can come back and pay later,” it chirped to Shadow.

  MunchMunch giggled, giving a final lick. He noticed that while he wasn’t able to clean the glass, he was able to draw on it with his tongue - so he made a drawing of what he imagined Happy was going to look like when she hatched!

  ____

  Teddy needed to purchase a TM. Shadow Ball. Shadow was sorely lacking in well… damage in general.

  He knew it was better for Pokémon to learn their moves naturally. TM’s weren’t bad per se, but they weren’t really good, either. Kind of like a Bitter-Berry Drink. Instant energy, but you paid for it in the long run.

  The issue was, he had no idea how to train a Ghost. Up until now he just did what seemed right — and it had worked.

  Whitney had quite literally beaten sense into him.

  And his team paid the price.

  So now he was torn.

  There was no way MunchMunch would be able to carry him through the Goldenrod’s Gym. He was shaping up to be an insurmountable wall in the future.

  But that was the future. And his little gremlin just didn’t have the damage to get through the now.

  All things he hadn’t considered until he got back a black-and-blue Munchlax and a Gastly that could barely keep herself afloat.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  No, he had messed up.

  He had messed up by thinking he could just figure things out as he went.

  He needed to be strong enough to impress Morty.

  Then he could ask for advice.

  As it stood? They would probably have to skip Goldenrod’s Gym for now. He wouldn’t tell his team, of course. They wouldn’t agree.

  But he didn’t think they had any way to win right now, aside from a fluke. Maybe if Shadow got off her Hypnosis, Curse combo… but if that didn’t work.

  Well, he didn’t want his team to look like this ever again.

  So here he was, looking at TM’s.

  Sadly, his coin purse was just… a victim to his food gremlin’s appetite.

  Truth be told, he could barely afford to keep feeding the tiny ball of joy.

  And he just ate more and more every day.

  Teddy had no idea how so much food fit in such a small creature.

  “I really hope he doesn’t evolve any time soon,” he whispered to himself. MunchMunch would be the wall he stood behind to face the League - if all went well. But right now, the biggest wall was money.

  To top it all off, he knew the Egg would be hatching soon.

  It was frustrating to admit just how much the earnings from his last gym battle saved him. That and Whitney’s mercy in letting him skip the required payment for losing a gym battle.

  The sound of heated squawking and Shadow’s cackling startled him from his thoughts. Glancing over, he saw a Pidgey fluttering animatedly, screeching at MunchMunch as he proceeded to paint the entire glass stall front with slobber. Giggling and bouncing all the while.

  Egged on by Shadow’s cackling.

  The shopkeeper was just standing there in his blue vest and plaid shirt, hands on his hips, staring at Teddy.

  Almost like the Gym knew, Teddy thought wryly.

  He sighed and headed over to get his troublemakers.

  ____

  MunchMunch stood transfixed, a berry in each paw.

  His Teddy had gotten him a purple and an orange one!

  Now normally? He would shove both into his mouth as soon as possible, and his tummy would thank him for it! But he was wondering if he should eat one now, and save one for later? That way he could —

  “Shadow, where did the berries go!” MunchMunch cried in alarm. Someone had just taken them out of his paws! They were right there, and then they were gone!

  “You ate them, Sweetie,” Shadow cackled floating around and laughing as their Teddy cleaned MunchMunch’s drawing off of the shop stall’s glass.

  “I… I did?” MunchMunch asked, confused. He didn’t remember…

  Well, his tummy did feel pretty happy, so it was possible.

  “Shadow,” he whispered in awe, “food loves me so much I don’t even have to think about eating it anymore. It just happens!”

  MunchMunch turned wide-eyed back to the stall while Gastly plopped into his shadow, laughing hysterically.

  If he stared hard enough, would all the food behind the counter appear in his tummy? MunchMunch stared really hard —

  “Would you stop that!” Pidgey squawked, plopping itself down in front of the counter. “It feels like you are going to eat the entire shop!”

  “Nope! Just the berries.” MunchMunch chirped happily, staring at an indigo berry.

  He had now idea how he knew what indigo was. But he liked the color.

  A lot.

  MunchMunch blinked.

  He couldn’t tell if Shadow was laughing anymore. It kind of sounded more like she was choking and wheezing while the Pidgey slowly stepped back in alarm.

  That didn’t make much sense, because she had told him Ghosts couldn’t eat.

  He would never forget that. That seemed like the saddest thing ever.

  “MunchMunch, Shadow,” their Teddy abruptly called, grabbing MunchMunch’s paw and pulling him away.

  “Mama! He knows my name!” MunchMunch cried happily. “He knows my name just like he knows yours!”

  MunchMunch immediately latched onto their Teddy’s leg and gave him the biggest MunchMunch-squeeze he could.

  “Munch!”

  His Teddy chuckled and patted him on the head — right in his favorite spot. He started talking too, so MunchMunch turned to Shadow expectantly to translate.

  “Teddy wants to buy something, but he says it’s a secret,” she grumbled — as if the idea of not being allowed to know something personally offended her.

  Then Shadow froze. “MunchMunch, he needs our help,” she grinned mischievously. “He needs us to beat up a bunch of trainers to help him get money.”

  “That is not even remotely how he just worded it,” the Pidgey squawked indignantly.

  Shadow cackled and ignored her.

  “MunchMunch, it’s time to battle!”

  MunchMunch stared deeply into Shadow’s eyes.

  Then he stared at his Teddy.

  He began to Gengar-Cackle hard.

  Harder and louder than he ever had before.

  Gastly cackled back.

  Pidgey fled.

  Teddy smiled and handed the Egg to his little MunchMunch.

  Who instantly stopped cackling and immediately began cooing.

  Teddy wouldn’t change his team for the world.