MunchMunch blinked himself awake.

  He was in bed.

  He didn’t remember getting into bed.

  In fact, he didn’t remember anything after…

  Oh, right, Chocolate Cake. MunchMunch rubbed his tummy and smiled to himself.

  That was ok though, because he liked sleeping.

  Well, he liked waking up more than sleeping. He liked waking up all wrapped in a blanket, safe and warm.

  He sighed and giggled softly, wiggling deeper into the blanket.

  “Muunch,” he sighed in contentment. He tried to fall back asleep, but the light was slipping through the blinds just right that it hit his face no matter where he turned.

  And if he covered his whole face with the blanket, it got too hot. So instead, he got up and took a chew of his leftovers. That was enough to make the day much better.

  Maybe they could even get some Goldenrod Cake today?

  He looked around and smiled. Happy sat in her incubator on the table, sparkling gently in the sun. Behind her, Mama Shadow floated gently inside the darkest corner of the room. She wasn’t sleeping — she had told MunchMunch ghosts don’t sleep, but instead they did a thing called meditating.

  MunchMunch thought sleep sounded much nicer.

  His eyes drifted over to his Trainer’s bed.

  “Munch?” He cocked his head. The bed was there, but his Trainer wasn’t. In fact, he wasn’t anywhere in the room!

  Then he noticed something else. The door was cracked. His Teddy must have accidentally left it open when he left!

  MunchMunch was out of bed and waddling towards the door as fast as his legs could carry him.

  There is no need to tell Mama Gastly, he thought to himself. I... she needs her sleep-meditation thing!

  He nodded to himself as he pulled the door open. That made perfect sense.

  The hallway was quiet, except for the soft hum of the lights. The soft white walls and warm beige of the doors made MunchMunch feel safe as he slipped out of the room, excitement rumbling in his belly.

  He looked around with interest as he waddled down the hallway. There were really pretty plants in pots every few feet, and tables with big fluffy chairs dotted the hallway. Next to one of the pots, he saw a pool of shadows that looked deeper than the rest.

  Maybe it was the Ghost Protector!

  He stood there, staring at the shadow… but nothing happened.

  “Hello,” he said, waving his paw. Still, there was no answer.

  “Mama Gastly said you are the Ghost Protector, and that I should keep you a secret!” He continued. “But I really wanted to say hi!”

  Then, the pool of shadows blinked.

  “Geeeeengaaaaaaaaar,” a voice moaned, followed by the deepest, scariest cackle MunchMunch had ever heard.

  Which was awesome! If he could learn to cackle like that, he could probably surprise Mama Gastly!

  So MunchMunch did just that! He started cackling too, doing his best to sound just like the Gengar.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The shadow paused and blinked, then began cackling again — this time deeper and slower.

  “Buwahahahaha.”

  “AAAhahahahahah!” MunchMunch cackled back. This Gengar was amazing! He was even taking time to teach MunchMunch how to cackle!

  He was going to surprised Mama Gastly so much.

  Suddenly, a golden Pokemon with a huge tail and a long mustache appeared right next to them!

  Kadabraa, it huffed, clearly unamused. MunchMunch grabbed his mouth with his paws.

  The Kadabra hadn’t moved its mouth! It had spoke directly into his mind! He had never met a Pokemon that could do that!

  He squealed in excitement.

  “Would you two please knock that off,” the Kadabra scolded. “Your auditory nonsense is disturbing multiple patients… and their trainers.” He gave a pointed look to the pool of shadows where Gengar was hiding.

  “I’ll have you know, Chansey was performing a checkup on a baby Whismur when your obnoxious cackling invaded the vents. Have you any idea how loud a Whismur can be?” He huffed. “Why do they even have a name that sounds like ‘Whisper.’ I’m going to have a headache for a week.”

  MunchMunch immediately went quiet. He didn’t mean to scare a baby Pokemon! But the Gengar had other ideas. He laughed the deepest, most ominous cackle yet.

  MunchMunch listened in rapt attention, doing his best to remember it so he could practice later.

  “Sorry,” MunchMunch moved his paw so he could whisper out the side of his mouth.

  Kadabra stared at him, squinting quietly. “You are not the one needed reprimanding, but I would appreciate your cooperation nonetheless,” he eventually huffed, Teleporting and vanishing on the spot.

  When MunchMunch glanced back at the spot where Gengar was hiding, he noticed the shadow wasn’t as dark anymore, so he knew Gengar was gone.

  He happily continued looking for Teddy, quietly practicing his cackling as he went.

  ____

  MunchMunch had found the stairs.

  Which was a bit of a problem. MunchMunch was growing up big and strong, but he really was still quite small.

  In fact, each stair was almost half as tall as he was. Which meant he was going to have a terrible time getting down. Except well… it hadn’t hurt when the giant person had tripped on him.

  So maybe… ?

  MunchMunch sat on his bottom and slowly rolled forward, plopping on his head on the first stair, and landing on his bottom on the second. He giggled. It didn’t hurt at all.

  Without hesitation, he promptly threw himself down the stairs head-first, giggling the whole time.

  When he reached the bottom, he looked up to see Nurse Chansey staring down at him, her hands on her hips.

  She looked just like the Chansey from Azalea Town when she had first met him, which made MunchMunch giggle some more.

  “Hello, Nurse Chansey!” He smiled.

  “Munchlax, what do you think you are doing?” She sighed. “First you scare half the residents with your… distinctly ghostly cackling. I just spent the past 20 minutes trying to calm down a Whismur. Then you catapult down the stairs like a laughing cannonball,” she vented.

  MunchMunch had no idea what a cannonball was, but it sounded really cool.

  “Thanks!” He said.

  Chansey’s jaw dropped as she let out a little gasp. MunchMunch thought it was a really funny look, so he copied her, before giggling some more.

  Then, he caught sight of Chansey’s egg pouch and froze.

  He knew he wasn’t supposed to ask for them. So he tried to look elsewhere. But now that he had seen it, he couldn’t stop thinking about Soft-Boiled Eggs.

  And Pecha Berries. He really loved Pecha Berries.

  “Munch,” he groaned, trying to look anywhere else and failing. His mouth started watering a whole bunch, so he chewed on his leftovers to try to help, but it just made him hungrier.

  Chansey stared at him with a bemused smile.

  “Would you like an egg, Munchlax?” She asked.

  MunchMunch squealed and grabbed both his cheeks with his paws and nodded excitedly.

  Chansey chuckled and took an egg from her pouch and handing it to him.

  He took it and cradled it close. It smelled so good! “Thanks,” he breathed, shoving the whole thing in his mouth and curling his toes in contentment.

  “Munchlax!”

  MunchMunch looked up to see his Teddy walking towards him.

  “Munch!” He cried happily. He had managed to find his Teddy!

  His Trainer squatted down and said a few words to him — which he still couldn’t understand.

  He huffed. That was getting annoying. But at least he understood what his Trainer was asking, and it ignited a fire in his tummy.

  “Want to go see the Gym?”