Life: Thanks for coming back!

Kelly: But the question is...why did you come back. I've given you repeated warnings...

Life: Kelly, watch it...

Leien: Uh, story time!

---

Three: More Early Guests

Delia flipped to the next page in her photo album. She smiled at the picture of Ash sitting at the table with a birthday cake in front of him. He had a huge smile on his face, and a fork in his hand. Ten lit candles stood tall on the cake.

A knock at the door made Delia look up from her photo album. She was about to get up, but Mr. Mime swept his way to the door and opened it before she could stand up.

"Hey, Mimerella," a familiar voice said. "Is Ms. Delia home?"

Delia walked to the door and brightened when she saw the two familiar faces. "Jenny! Maia!" she exclaimed. "How wonderful to see you again! Come right in!"

Maia happily bopped in. Jenny followed.

"What brings you here so early?" Delia asked.

Jenny explained why they were in Pallet Town. Brock had chased Maia down all over the place, loudly declaring his psychotic love, and Jenny had come to the rescue. Her eyebrow twitched as she mentioned Brock.

"Oh, my," Delia said. "Well, Brock is a very woman-appreciating teen!"

"Aw, just say it, Ms. Delia," Jenny said. "He's a womanizer."

Somebody made a lot of noise as they fell down the stairs for the second time. Delia turned. "Ash?" she called.

"Y-Yeahhhh," Ash groaned. He ambled into the room, rubbing his back. "Jenny? Maia? What're you guys doing here?"

"Nice to see you again, Drool Face," Jenny said cheerfully.

Ash let out a yell. "Not again!" he cried, putting his hands up to his face.

Jenny laughed. "Just kiddin'," she assured him. "You don't have anything, drool or otherwise, on your face." Then her face turned serious suddenly. "You're not inviting Brock the Weirdo, are you, Ms. Delia?" Jenny asked.

"We'll tie him to a chair if need be!" Delia assured her cheerfully.

"No..." Ash squeaked. He had hoped his mother had forgotten.

Ash peeked out the window again. Still no sign of anyone. His hopes rose just a little. Maybe his mom had been playing a cruel joke on him, and there wasn't going to be a big dinner. That wasn't too far a stretch, was it?

"What are you looking out the window for, dear?" Delia asked, poking her head out of the kitchen. A big cloud of steam poked its head out with her.

"The guests," Ash said, hoping Delia was about to say "Just kidding!" or say he was on Candid Camera.

Delia smiled. "They should be arriving soon. By the way, do you still want breakfast and lunch?"

Ash put a hand on his stomach. "Suddenly I'm not so hungry, Mom."

"All right!" Delia said. "And if anybody comes, get the door!"

Ash slumped down on the sofa. He didn't even want to be here, and he still had to be the doorman? Why was life so unfair to him?

Delia left him to get to cooking. Pikachu stayed in the living room with Ash, Jenny and Maia and sat on the sofa, totally uncaring about the plans that Ash felt were sure to be a disaster.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Ash stayed where he was, hoping he was just dreaming.

The door rang again.

"Ash!" Delia called. "Please get that!"

Ash didn't move.

The door rang five quick times, then it rang again five times.

"Ash Ketchum!" Delia said, raising her voice. "Get that door!"

Ash finally motivated himself enough to slump to the door. He opened it with dread.

Two girls stood in front of him. "Hi," the first one said. "We're here for dinner."

Ash looked at the clock. 3:47. He looked back at the girls. The first one had light brown hair just below her shoulders and blue eyes. The second had brown hair and green eyes was in all black.

"We know we're a little early," the second girl said, "but we really wanted to get here fast. I'm kinda psyched! You know, I've never been to a large meal in my entire life. It sounds so fun!"

Ash almost laughed at that. "You wish," he muttered. "Well, come in anyway, I guess."

"You know, this is a nice house," the first girl said.

"Thanks," Ash said. "But can I ask you a question?"

They nodded.

"Who are you?"

The first girl burst into laughter. "That's funny," she said. "Anyway, I'm Elizabeth Thompson and this is my pen pal Lia."

"I'm Jenny." Jenny had suddenly appeared, and she was looking at Lia with a weird smile. "Nice to meet you, I think."

"I'd say the same, but I don't feel like it," Lia said.

Both girls smiled at each other.

Maia came up and introduced herself too. Maia and Elizabeth seemed to like each other a lot, while Lia was getting along considerably well with Jenny.

Ash just wanted it all to be a dream.

---

Life: Another chapter finished!

Leien: Great!

Kelly: The best part was when it was over.

Life: We'll see you next time!

And previews, of course...

(Misty calls Gary...)

"Could you please try not to eat anything Ash puts dibs on this time? Ms. Ketchum wants a non-hazard dinner."

"You got it. But Ash always does dibs in his head. How'm I s'posed to know when he dibs something?"

"He'll stick a fork in it like the last two times."

(and Ash calls Brock...)

"Maia's coming? Ohhh, my everlasting love has returned! Ash, you can be sure I'm going to be there in ten minutes!

"But, Brock, it's only ten, and the dinner isn't until--"

Click.

"--Six."

That's in the next chapter, "All Around Call Around"!

Life, Leien & Kelly