MunchMunch already thought his Teddy was the greatest trainer ever. But when his Teddy pulled out a snack from his backpack and handed it to him, MunchMunch had to wipe the water falling out of his eyes before grabbing the snack.

  “Gastly look!!” He shouted, shoving the whole thing in his mouth. “Teddy remembered snacks!”

  Then he turned to Happy, so he could tell her all about how it tasted. After all, she would hatch one day, and he wanted her to know how much she had to look forward to!

  “It’s nummy,” he mumbled, taking another chew. “It also makes my nose tingle and my tummy warm! Oh, and it makes my mouth water a whole bunch!”

  MunchMunch looked at the Egg’s shell. “It was also the same color as one of the stars on your shell, so I bet you will like it too!”

  “That was an asper berry,” Gastly whispered from a shadow she was hiding in.

  “I like asper berries!” He chirped to the Egg. It also made him smile to see Gastly enjoying her time in the shadows. Her eyes always pointed up more when she thought she was being sneaky!

  MunchMunch skipped next to his Trainer, humming to himself and enjoying the gentle shadows of the forest. He could smell the rain from last night, and it made everything even better.

  “Mama Gastly, look!” He pointed when he noticed a group of Spinarak in a tree. He started to wave, but noticed they didn’t look very friendly.

  “…Gastly?” He whispered in confusion.

  “Shhh little one, shh,” she whispered back, looking at the Spinarak seriously.

  Gastly floated out from a shadow, her eyes flashing ominously. The group of Spinarak instantly scuttled back, obviously not expecting to see a ghost.

  Gastly cackled, but it didn’t sound like her usual happy laugh. This one made the fur on MunchMunch’s neck stand up in a way he had never felt before.

  He was really glad she was his Gastly, because he thought it would be really scary if she wasn’t.

  The Spinarak apparently agreed, because they turned and disappeared into the shadows faster than MunchMunch could blink!

  “Did we do something to make them unhappy?” He asked softly.

  “No,” she said sadly. “Sometimes you don’t have to do anything to make other’s not like you, Sweetie.”

  MunchMunch thought about that for a moment. But no matter how he looked at it, it just didn’t make sense.

  Then, his tummy rumbled. He tried to keep thinking about what Gastly said, but his tummy rumbled again. So, he took a bite of his favorite forever-snack… it tasted really good.

  By the time he finished eating it, he forgot what they had been talking about.

  “Do you think we will get to see the shrine?” He asked, looking at the Egg. He really, really wanted to show the shrine to Happy!

  Gastly paused a beat before cackling. “Maybe,” she smiled.

  “I wonder what it will be like!” He shouted, bouncing the Egg up and down so she could feel what jumping was like. “Maybe it will be really pretty? Or suuuper quiet? Mama Gastly, what do you think?”

  Gastly floated up off the ground and blinked her laugher-tears away.

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  “I think it’ll be a very special place,” she smiled. “Probably the most special place you have ever seen.”

  MunchMunch smiled. He thought so too. Even more special than the restaurant gym - which was the most amazing place he had seen so far.

  ____

  Thud.

  They had only been walking for a few more hours when MunchMunch saw the strangest thing.

  Thud.

  Just off the path ahead of them was a human. Well, half a human — because his head looked like it was stuck in a tree.

  MunchMunch watched as the human pulled his head out of the tree and backed up… before lowering his head and ramming into the tree again.

  Thud.

  A couple leaves fell from the tree. Some of the Pokemon sitting in the trees around them laughed.

  “Oh! That was a good one!” A small Pokemon he didn’t recognize hooted. It looked like Farfetch’d, except much rounder and with very big eyes. And it stood on one foot.

  MunchMunch couldn’t help but reach up and rub his head. He didn’t know why the human was doing that, but it seemed like it probably hurt really bad!

  “Gastly what… what is wrong with him?” MunchMunch asked.

  Before she could reply, the human turned around, put his hands on his hips, and started bellowing something at his Teddy. MunchMunch couldn’t understand him, but that didn’t matter.

  What mattered were his eyes. They looked like Scyther’s.

  After MunchMunch had used his magic paw on him. Except… he didn’t remember using his magic paw on this person!

  “Mama… ?”

  “He is asking our Trainer if you would like to learn Headbutt,” she laughed, sounding bemused. “Well, more like demanding — he says it’ll be good for you.”

  “What’s Headbutt?” MunchMunch asked in confusion.

  “It will let you do what he is doing when he runs into the tree,” she smiled down at him.

  MunchMunch gasped. Then he started trembling. That sounded horrible!

  He waddled up to his Teddy as fast as he could, forgetting to skip in his rush.

  “Nooo!!! Please no!!” He cried, pulling on his Teddy’s sleeve as hard as he could. “Mama Gastly please tell him I don’t want it! I like my eyes! I don’t want to break my eyes!!” He cried, tears rolling down his face.

  He turned to see Mama Gastly rolling on the ground, cackling. He didn’t… he didn’t think this was very funny!

  “Gastly!” He cried.

  Then his Teddy knelt down in front of him and patted his head, whispering something to him. MunchMunch didn’t understand the words, but his voice was really kind and it made him feel safer. While he might not understand the words, he could tell what his Teddy was saying: You don’t have to learn it.

  “K… ,” MunchMunch nodded gratefully, using his paw to wipe the water from his face. He looked over at the person who was smiling widely and nodding at him, but his eyes were still facing the wrong way and it made MunchMunch sad.

  What if the poor human’s eyes never got fixed? He scooted to hide behind his Teddy.

  “Munch,” he whispered, grabbing his Teddy’s coat. He had seen some pretty scary things so far.

  MunchMunch thought this human might be the scariest.

  He had never seen a move that hurt like that before.

  “Gastly?” He asked, “If I get stronger, will I have to learn moves that hurt me too?”

  “Why do you ask that?” She responded, floating down to be eye level with him so he knew she was taking him seriously.

  “Well… you have Curse, which is amazing but it made you faint. And then when I used Hyper Beam… I fell asleep. And this poor human, his eyes might be broken forever…”

  Gastly smiled.

  “Pokémon only learn moves that work for them, Munchlax,” she said, settling on the ground next to him. Teddy was talking with the broken man behind them.

  “You like to protect — I don’t think you could learn a move that hurts you even if you wanted too,” she smiled. “Plus, our Teddy isn’t the kind of trainer to do that,” she finished, matter-of-factly.

  “OH! That makes a lot more sense!” MunchMunch fist pumped. “Ok, I am ready to keep getting stronger!”

  MunchMunch held the Egg up happily. “This means you don’t have to learn bad moves either, Happy!” He crowed.

  “That’s my MunchMunch,” Gastly smiled. MunchMunch grinned too — one day they were going to be sooo strong, they could do anything!