Sorry about the delay, folks! I don't believe that it was too long of a wait, but nevertheless. I've had school and just life in general, but hopefully this chapter will be worth it all to you. It's in Mr. Mime's POV this time and while nothing is described, I would insist that anyone under the recommended age for this fic to skip it. Or skip the fic altogether. A very difficult chapter to write for me, as I got writer's block in the middle of it, but it should be enjoyable anyways. Enjoy!~
Ch. 4: Lunchtime! (Mr. Mime's POV)
Mr. Mime woke up the next morning with a heavy blanket on top of him in an unfamiliar bed.
Where was he? This wasn't his home! And where was Delia?
"MUKKK!"
It was with a sudden and quick sense of dread that Mr. Mime remembered exactly where he was and what bed he was sleeping in. He sat up quickly and used an attack known as 'Barrier' to stop Muk from dive bombing on him in the bed. The beast was stupid enough to keep running up against Mr. Mime's clear protective shield like a fly running repeatedly into a window.
Mr. Mime gagged at the large glob. And gagged again when he realized that he was in an assistant's bed at the disgusting Oak Lab.
Needless to say, he was in desperate need of Germ-X ASAP and scented, preferably.
Mr. Mime went ahead and finished his Barrier attack on Muk. When Mr. Mime left the room to go find Delia, the massive purple blob was trapped within a small, invisible box.
And yet it was still going head first in the same direction like a misdirected fly.
Mr. Mime just shook his head. He didn't feel bad about trapping it like that. If anything, he'd kept it safe from harming itself and others for the time being and the barrier did fade after a while. Mr. Mime walked quickly in his attempt to find Delia. He looked behind every door and even occasionally stopped to listen for the sound of her voice. The lab was huge, so finding his Trainer with no idea where she was quite a task. But, he wanted to find her quickly, before Oak did.
Oak.
The name alone put Mr. Mime walking at a faster pace, his teeth gritted and his brow furrowed. The last thing he wanted was that old man to be pulling the moves on her.
Like an ancient Pokémon fossil like him even had any moves. Mr. Mime shuddered at the thought.
Ew. Just 'ew'.
Especially with Delia. Poor woman was as nice as she could be, but she could be so ditzy sometimes. And she was completely oblivious to the fact that she was a very attractive individual and the effect she had on the male variety. Yes, Mr. Mime noticed the stares and gaping mouths from some of these males when they were out. Reminded him of a caught Magikarp, to be perfectly honest.
Mr. Mime stumbled into a back door and realized that it lead to one of the old man's main lab rooms where he kept some of the Pokémon. Mr. Mime crept further in, hiding himself behind large machinery. You never knew what was lurking about in this zany lab…It wasn't long before he realized that this was one of the further rooms. The old man fed the Pokémon each morning. Mr. Mime assumed that he started from the beginning and moved himself further back during the feeding routine. He wasn't sure of the time, but he knew that the old man had to be in the middle of feeding the Pokémon now and that this would probably be the last room he would visit.
Mr. Mime suddenly heard a metallic clang and the rhythmic pattern of footsteps on the linoleum floor.
"Last feeding for the morning…" he heard the old man mutter to himself. Was he a Psychic Pokémon, or what?
Mr. Mime peeked behind his hiding place to see the old man fiddle with some buttons on a small piece of machinery next to the wall of lined Poke'Balls. In a sudden flash of light, a Teddiursa, Staryu, Raichu, Swablu, Smeagle, Skitty, Taillow, Piplup, Spearow and Gengar appeared.
Of course. With the weather like it was, the professor had to feed the Pokémon the old fashion way instead of just releasing everybody outside. And of course he could only release a few at a time, as releasing all the Pokémon in the lab would get chaotic.
Poor guy. Mr. Mime knew that the work had to be tedious. He probably should lend a hand.
Nah.
Mr. Mime quickly escaped without being seen and continued his search for Delia. A thought struck him: it was almost lunchtime.
Delia was in the kitchen!
Mr. Mime quickly navigated his way to the kitchen of the Oak Lab and stopped dead in his tracks at the entrance of the kitchen when he saw his Trainer.
Dear Arceus, please tell me that the old man didn't see her like this!
Delia turned from the hot stove to face her Pokémon, her hair in a high pony tail and the loose shirt she wore turning with her actions. Her cheeks were flushed from having her head over the steaming pot.
"Good morning, Mimie!" beamed Delia, as she tucked away a fly away hair. Mr. Mime could only stare.
She really was clueless, wasn't she?
She turned her attention back on her cooking. "I'm making vegetable soup for lunch with some left over frozen veggies that Sammie had sitting in the back of his freezer. It's almost ready, but if you're hungry now, there's some leftover pancakes from my and Sammie's breakfast…"
So he had seen her like this!
"…I let you out of your ball early this morning because I know that you don't sleep well in it. Sammie should be finishing up and then we'll eat lunch together. Mimie, be a dear and finish with the soup while I go change. I had my clothes in the wash all morning."
Happy to help her get in less revealing clothing, Mr. Mime jumped right to the task of stirring the soup with a cheerful "Mime!" as Delia left.
Mr. Mime stirred the soup with ill thoughts in his head. The old man had seen Delia like this…what was she thinking? And what if this whole thing led to another? Like if they started becoming more than friends and actually went out on dates? Then got engaged….then marriage….then….
Mr. Mime felt light-headed. He couldn't bear the thought of that.
"Good morning, Mr. Mime!"
The sound of his archrival's voice made Mr. Mime jump and spin around towards the old man, who came into the kitchen with a smile on his wrinkled face.
Seeing him only made Mr. Mime's thoughts go where they ought not to go.
Don't think about it, Mr. Mime…the idea is ludicrous! You'll give yourself nightmares thinking such thoughts…
"Anything I can do to help, Mr. Mime?" asked the old man as he started to approach the nerve raked Pokémon.
"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed Mr. Mime, as he shook his head 'no' vigorously and quickly turned back to his task. To prove his point, he used the attack 'Psychic' to levitate spoons and bowls from the drawers and cabinets and neatly onto the kitchen table.
The last thing he needed was the old man helping him to show off to Delia.
Oak gave a chuckle and settled himself in a chair at the table. "Looks like you've got it taken care of then, Mr. Mime. Impressive."
You better believe I'm impressive…
Mr. Mime continued to cook the soup and anxiously waited for Delia to return; being in the same room alone with his rival only made him antsy. By the time Delia arrived back wearing a pair of jeans and a hunter green sweater, the soup had finished cooking and Mr. Mime was dipping some out into the bowls.
"Thank you, Mimie!" said Delia, as she seated herself in the chair closest to the old man, who Mr. Mime noticed looked a little too pleased at the fact.
"Mime!" responded Mr. Mime as he seated himself at the table as well.
As the three of them began to eat, Mr. Mime couldn't help but notice how the two of them interacted. Both were smiling and looked eager to hear what the other had to say during conversation. Delia was being touchy-feely with the old man; tapping his shoulder, nudging his elbow, touching his arm when he said something funny. And the old man's eyes lit up like Christmas lights when she spoke. Mr. Mime noted that he did not return her touches (to which Mr. Mime was grateful…the old man would've gotten a few teeth knocked out for that). Instead, he treated the touches like a shy schoolboy, much to Mr. Mime astonishment. He lowered his gaze, grinned and the most surprising reaction of all was that the old man actually blushed at the touches from Delia. And unsurprisingly, Delia didn't seem to notice at all. Figures.
Mr. Mime was stunned at the reaction of the professor. Not only was the old man very well-known to the humans in the Pokémon World, but also to the Pokémon who inhabited the land as well. Mr. Mime even knew who Professor Oak was before he even met the guy. He was reverenced as a hero in the eyes of Pokémon. So to see him in khakis and an old navy sweater was surprising enough. To see him actually grinning and blushing was something else entirely.
The three of them finished their meal and Mr. Mime cleaned up with the help of his Psychic abilities. The two continued chatting as if neither one wanted to end conversation with the other. As Mr. Mime finished drying the dishes, he heard the old man sigh.
"I really hate to end such a great conversation with you, Delia, but duty calls. The Pokémon need to be fed pretty soon."
"I understand, Sammie. But, we'll have plenty of time to chat later."
Mr. Mime turned in time to see the old man smile thoughtfully at the comment.
"Good", he replied, as he stood up from the table and left the kitchen.
Delia sighed and turned to Mr. Mime with a dreamy look on her face.
"He really does have a nice smile, doesn't he, Mimie?"
Mr. Mime turned back to the sink and used all of his will not to barf at the remark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end of Chapter 4
Poor Mimie…can't catch a break, can he? And what's going on with the professor and Delia? Things are heating up, eh? Make sure you stay tuned! And review, review, review!
~MastermindMedley10