Life: It's me! Again! Thank you all for the lovely reviews! Here we go!

***

Four: Meal Madness

Everyone stared. Jessie, James and Meowth had just come into the dining room. Even though Delia had said loudly and clearly that she wanted to invite them in, no one was happy to see them.

"Well, good afternoon, Team Rocket!" Delia said cheerfully.

Jessie and James looked at each other. And then the music started up out of nowhere.

"Prepare for trouble, we're here for lunch!" Jessie said.

"Make it double, we'll eat a whole bunch!" James added.

Ash walked in. "We don't really care, so just shut up."

The music stopped abruptly. Jessie and James stared at Ash and then sat down at the table.

"So, what's your name?" Maia asked Gary.

"Gary Oak," Gary said.

"Don't you have, like, six cheerleaders following you around everywhere?" Maia went on.

Gary nodded. "I gather you've seen me on TV?"

"Did you see 'im when he lost to me?" Ash butted in as he sat back in his chair.

"Now, Ash, no interrupting at the table," Delia admonished.

James stared at the huge plate of hamburgers, his mouth agape. He looked frozen in time.

"Yes! I saw the whole entire Johto League Competition!" Maia said, smiling so big that her eyes were almost closed. "It was great! Too bad Ash kicked your butt in the second round. And then Harrison kicked his butt in the top sixteen. And then Harrison's butt got kicked by John Dixson who--"

"All right, we get it," Jenny cut in.

Maia turned to look at Jenny. "I wasn't finished," she said evenly.

"You've said enough for the entire population of Kanto, Perky," Jenny shot back, getting herself some grilled cheese.

"And you ought to be a member of Team Rocket with that attitude," Maia replied. She grinned. "Oh, well, I'll just talk to this redhead over here. So what is your name?" she asked Misty.

"Mommmmm," Ash whined, "Team Rocket's got all the cheeseburgers. I wanted sommmmme!"

"Now, Team Rocket," Delia admonished. "Remember there's---" Delia suddenly stopped talking and did a head count "--five other people plus Pikachu that wants some of everything too."

Jessie got a gleam in her eye. Ah, how could we forget Pikachu? she thought evilly. This lunch is so big everyone'll be stuffed to capacity. No one will be able to move, and then after lunch we can capture Pikachu! *Sigh* A girl with smarts, style, and good looks is terribly hard to come by these days!

Ash reached for the big, juicy burger he had put dibs on. He wanted to eat it now. Only...it wasn't there.

Ash's head immediately swung around to face Gary. Gary was eating a big, juicy cheeseburger.

"GAREEEE!" Ash screeched. "I HAD DIBS!!"

Gary smacked loudly to anger Ash. "I coulda sworn we've already been through how useless dibs are," he said as he bit into the cheeseburger.

Gary will PAY before lunch's over, Ash promised himself as he glared at Gary. If looks could kill, Ash would have been wanted for murder.

James packed one burger after another into his wide open mouth like he was afraid they'd all disappear if not eaten in three to five minutes. "Mmm--" munch, munch, smack "--y'mmy!"

Misty stared at him. Maia had to tap her on the shoulder seven times before she finally responded by jumping and knocking her hamburger onto Jenny's legs.

"Aaah!" Jenny screeched, leaping out of her seat. Burger grease, ketchup and a few bits of melted cheese decorated her lap. "You stupid idiot, I ought to kill you!" she screamed, shaking her fist in Misty's face.

The room fell silent.

"Jenny, there's a bathroom down the hall," Delia mentioned cautiously.

Jenny smoothed her hair and cleared her throat. "Okay, I'll go clean up." She left.

Everyone watched her go.

"My, Ms. Ketchum, this soup is delicious!" Brock complimented.

"Why, thank you," Delia said sincerely.

Somehow the assorted conversations resumed.

***

Well, that was sorta short. But unfortunately for me, I have this terrible, horrible, possibly terminal disease which is interfering with my recreation in storytelling. It's called Writer's Blockosis. So, um...get me Tylenol. Yeah, Tylenol cures everything! *gags on Tylenol* except choking. But you probably don't even care if I die from Writer's Blockosis so long as I finish up my story. Well, I will. Here's your previews!

*If Ash loves food, James worships it.*

James couldn't even close his mouth, he had packed so much food in. Even Ash thought that was ridiculous.

That is so gross, Ash thought as he smuggled another hamburger into his pocket.

*And Brock is teetering dangerously on the edge...*

"I swear by the sun, moon and stars that I will win your heart!" Brock pledged dramatically.

"Get away from me," Jenny said.

Everyone except Brock did just that.

"There's no use denying it!" Brock said, his face so romance red that it was nearly aglow. "Someday you too will admit that we were meant to be together!"

Crack!

I bet you wonder what that crack was. Well, maybe you can guess, but you won't know for sure unless you tune back in! That's next in Chapter 5 "Food Worship And Squashed Love"! Doesn't it just sound like something insane?

~Life, the girl with too much time on her hands.