The weather had completely ruined the day. Nobody could have expected such an unseasonable weather. The sky above was full of tumultuous, dark, ragged clouds which grew ominously which meant threatening rain. A bolt of lightning tore across the sky and a peal of thunder came close upon each other, and it wasn't late when a curtain of heavy rain began to beat down.
Delia heard a tapping on the window and then it became a pitter-patter, as she got up to take a look outside. She could see few people outside opening their umbrellas as the clouds spat their beads of water. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier. Everything from the walkway of her house to the dirt road was flooding with dull, muddy water. The rain bore endlessly, pounded on her rooftops. The monotonous sound of raindrops beating on the sidewalk blended in with the occasional whoosh of the breeze through her tall plants, droplets of moisture began to drip from the leaves.
On one hand, she was appreciative. Pallet Town hadn't received enough rainfall for nearly a year and but look at the better side, it was trying to keep her beautiful garden thriving in such conditions had become a real hassle. Her garden was greener than ever. On the other hand, she had been entrusted to look after her three young grandchildren. Ash and May were out shopping for Ruby's upcoming first birthday and they took the baby along with them. She directed her gaze in the living room to find her grandchildren growing restless, busy doing all sorts of various activities finding ways to avoid boredom. Kaylin was busy coloring at the table, trying to keep herself entertained while Chris and Carol were not in her direct line of vision. They had chosen to play a game of hide and seek with Mimey, which Delia thought sounded like a fun and safe activity. Every once in a while either of them would come into the kitchen to hide or seek out each other. Neither would hide or even go near Kaylin likely because either she would give away their hiding spot or get into a fight for making noise while she was drawing.
For now, Delia was busy signing a few important papers for her new restaurant she planned to open in Viridian City and just as she was working on the last few papers, her grandchildren appeared before her, with their pouty faces, clearly expressing displeasure.
"Aw, what's wrong, my Pumpkin pies, why so glum?'' Delia asked sweetly.
"When will the rain stop?" Carol whined.
Delia hummed and looked over her shoulder at the window, where she could clearly see the rain was falling that the sound blurred, into one long, whirring noise." I am afraid it won't stop anytime soon, sweety. It doesn't look good.'' Just then, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky followed by a peal of thunder. "Make that so not good,'' Delia sighed
Chris groaned, having a feeling of melancholy." But we're so bored!''
''Why? Weren't you playing Hide and Seek just now? That's your favourite game, isn't it?" Delia asked, looking right back at them.
"We were playing but Mimey got tired and then it got boring.'' Chris complained.
''Oh,'' Delia smiled. She could have seen this coming. Poor Mimey had been running after the kids, playing with them non-stop. ''Well, then what about your toys?''
''We have been playing with those forever,'' Kaylin replied.
''Right, I forgot that totally!'' Delia giggled. ''Why don't you all go watch some TV?''
''But our favourite show got over already,'' Kaylin whined.
''And I have even finished reading my comics,'' Chris commented
Delia blushed, remembering that she had in fact seen the triplets enjoying their favourite TV show earlier that day. ''Looks like my memory isn't working today! Must be all the paperwork!''
''It's all because of the rain!'' Carol vociferated, causing her siblings to cover their ears
''I think you are right, Cozy,'' Delia agreed with a smile. ''That means you don't like the rain very much, do you?'' She asked causing Carol to nod her head eagerly.
''I like rain,'' Chris murmured, shuffling closer to the window so he could press his hands and face against it'. ''But not now, cause we can't go out to play today!''
''Aw, I'm sorry Sweetheart,'' Delia apologized as she got up and walked towards the boy.
''It's not your fault, Grandma!'' Carol cried as she ran towards her grandmother.
''Yeah, it's the rain!'' Kaylin shrieked as well.
''Oh, yes, bad rain! Very bad!'' Delia chimed, as she beamed at her grandchildren. She giggled,'' But what else could we do, we can't control rains and bring them whenever we are in need, right? But since the rain has foiled our plans, how about we have some fun together in the house? But first let me just wrap up all of this paper work, and then I'll tell you what we'll do,'' she said, trying to imply them that being stuck inside on a rainy day, isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Carol squeaked, jumping up and down excitedly, her siblings copying her actions. Once Delia had finished with her work, she nestled all the papers neatly on the table, placing a paperweight on them and smiled at her grandchildren. ''There! All set!''
''Alright!'' Kaylin squealed in ecstasy.
Chris bounded away from the window, grinning at his grandmother. ''What is it? What are we gonna do?'' He cheered curiously, throwing up his little hands in the air.
Delia tittered and winked at her grandchildren. '' Take a seat all of you while I put these papers away.'', she instructed, motioning at the table. She lifted the bunch of papers and headed for the living room, while the triplets occupied their seats on the table, gazing up at their grandmother looking for her in the living room, eagerly awaiting her return. As she entered the living room, she spotted Mimey on the couch, out like a light. Feeling pity for Mimey, she smiled at the Barrier Pokémon and pulled out a blanket over its body. She then got up and placed the clipped papers neatly on the shelf.
She returned into the kitchen, pulled out a chair taking a seat next to Kaylin and looked at her grandchildren who looked back at here, attentively waiting for further instruction. ''How about we make some slime?'' Delia suggested. The faces of the triplets began to read different expressions. While Chris looked like he was about to explode with excitement, Carol simply had a blank question mark on her face and Kaylin looked positively disgusted.
'Slimy slime, like Daddy's Muk?'' Kaylin repeated, her voice laced with equal repulsion.
"It's won't be a real thing, KoKo,'' Delia giggled. ''. It's an edible craft and science experiment all mixed together. Its lots of fun ."
''Cool!'' Chris marveled, pressing his hands on the table as he pushed himself up. ''I wanna do that!'' Carol, not knowing what it is, decided to give it a try,'' I wanna do it too!''. Kaylin still looked unsure but didn't protest any further.
''It's very simple, and it doesn't take very long at all,'' Delia explained. ''Professor Oak taught me how to do it! When your daddy was a little boy, and sometimes when it would be raining real badly like this, he would always ask me to do this with him. He loved it because it was fun, a little bit messy and because he enjoyed it a lot!''
''I like all of those things too!'' Chris laughed merrily. ''I am gonna make some!" Carol joined in as well.
''I guess I can give it a try…'' Kaylin murmured diffidently.
''Good girl! '' Delia commended her granddaughter earning a smile from the young brunette. ''Trust me, you guys will love this!''
She got up to step away from the table, and walked toward the cabinet to quickly return with a bowl of white transparent craft glue, a quart jar, Borax powder, food coloring, warm water, a mixing spoon and a big plastic bowl.
''That's it?'' Carol asked, pointing at the ingredients.
''That's all you will need!'' Delia confirmed with a giggle ''and it's easy and quick! Now, KoKo will you start by pouring the glue into the bowl?''
Kaylin nodded her head, as she reached for the bottle of the glue, unscrewing the cap and pouring the thick, translucent liquid into the bowl. Chris, fascinated by the process, inched closer to the bowl.
"There!" Kaylin crowed once she had emptied the contents of the bottle. ''Now?''
"Now, Carol mixes the Borax powder into the water, won't you, Cozy?''. Carol quickly nodded in response as she picked up the spoon and mixed the powder into the warm water and continued to stir it until the borax was completely dissolved, creating a watery cohesive solution. ''Like this?" Carol looked up at her grandmother.
"Yes, exactly that way, now Chris would you pour the starch in!'' Delia instructed, handing the quart jar containing the mixture of Borax powder and water to her grandson
''On it!" Chris chirped quickly dumping the mixture in. However, that all the combination of the2 ingredients had created was a giant puddle of pellucid liquid. Also, it wasn't the final color yet. ''This isn't gooey!" he frowned.
''Not yet but it will be! Watch me!'' Delia giggled as she picked up a little bottle of food coloring and removed the top, squirting three small drops of the red liquid into the mixture that the triplets had created. The more the liquid, the more pigment. Next, using a separate mixing spoon, Delia began to whip up everything. As she stirred the red food coloring began to spread around, and the mixture began to thicken and change color, as if some Thermocolor paint. The triplets were astonished by the process, and by now they were leaning over the table to get a batter look. They were witnessing some like that for the first time. Once Delia was done with the mixture, the compound in the bowl finally began to look like a real slime: gelatinous, sticky and just the perfect shade of red.
"Cool!" Carol goggled at the bowl in total disbelief.
"Now you can play with it,'' Delia continued, grabbing some old table cloth and laying it down on the table in front of the triplets. "Take it out from the bowl and place it in front of you!''
Chris reached into the bowl and grabbed the red slime, his eyes widening once his hands touched the gunk. "No way, it's so mushy!''
"Mushy?'' Kaylin squeaked. Once Chris put the slime down, Kaylin cautiously poked at it with her finger, bringing a wry smile to her face,'' it's warm too!''. Carol giggled as she too began to play with their creation.
"There!'' Delia chirped, a smile gracing her face and stared at the triplets but her Trans was soon interrupted by Mimey entering the kitchen. ''Hi there Mimey, had a nice nap?'' she beamed at her loyal Pokémon.'
"Mime Mr. Mime…." The Barrier Pokémon yawned.
''Ewwy!''
Delia and Mimey turned back towards the triplets and were relieved to see that Kaylin, despite the last cry was laughing and playing with the slime just as happily as her siblings. Together, they were pulling at their concoction, watching it slowly drip back down towards the old table cloth and holding their hands out to let it spill over their fingers. That scene of the day, took her back to the days of Ash's childhood.
As she watched the three, a beam of sunlight suddenly washed over them. Humming, Delia looked over at the window and smiled. The sun was out again, casting slanted beams of light across the meadow. Steam rose slowly from the grass. It rose up eerily and drifted mist-like towards the molten-gold sun.
"Look, it stopped raining!'' Delia announced which caught the triplet's attention, causing them to look over at the window as well. "Would you finally like to go out?''
They exchanged looks, nodded at one other before smiling and turning back towards their grandmother.
"Nah, we're good!'' Carol replied.
''Yeah, this slime is really fun!" Chris laughed, squeezing the goop between his hands.
"And it isn't so yucky either!'' Kaylin cheered.
Delia smiled and looked back outside the window, to look up at the gleaming disc of the sun, thinking about the fun they all ended up having….Rain wasn't really that bad after all.