Life: Welcome back! Sorry for the wait. Can you say "Writer's Block"? Anyway, here's the next chapter!
8: A Shadow Of Insanity
First Delia came out with a large tray. Arranged on it were seven different drinks, including orange soda and red Kool-Aid. She put that in the middle of the table, pulled out the heavy-duty linen napkins, gave two to everybody, and went back into the kitchen.
"What're these for?" Ash wondered aloud, holding up his napkin.
"In case you soil your underwear again," Gary snickered.
Ash glared at Gary.
"Gary," Misty said in a warning tone.
Jenny rolled her eyes.
"I'll be right out, everyone!" Delia sang from the kitchen. "There's just a lot of food to bring!"
"Do you want some help, Ms. Ketchum?" Tracey asked.
There was silence. "I didn't think of that," Ash said.
"Sure, Tracey!" Delia said. Tracey got out of his chair and went into the kitchen.
Five trips later, all the food was piled on the table. Steam rose and practically made a heat wave. Ash and James were drooling all over their plates. The people sitting beside them were scooting away.
Delia left and came back with a plastic container in her hand.
"What's that?" Ash asked.
"Something for Pikachu!" Delia said. She loosened the top and handed it down to Pikachu.
Pikachu pulled the top off, and its eyes danced when it saw the giant mound of tasty-looking eggs inside.
"Just in case!" Delia said. "I want to make sure everyone has an abundance of his or her favorite foods!"
"That would be anything edible for you, right Ashie Boy?" Gary sneered.
"Gary!" Misty and Ash yelled in unison.
Mr. Mime came out of the kitchen with a little tub full of flatware and the broom and a camera tucked under its arm. It thumped the tub onto the table and handed the camera to Delia.
"What's that camera for?" Elizabeth asked.
Delia mounted the camera on the wall behind Ash. "It's an idea Gary gave me. I would like this dinner to be safe and accident-free so I'm going to videotape my son and make sure he doesn't try to smuggle any food away!" She held up a hand-sized TV monitor she'd had in her pocket.
Ash blushed and slid down in his seat as several people snickered. Gary seemed to be enjoying the moment the most.
"Well, it sounds like you people had a wonderful time before," Lia said sarcastically. "Wouldn't it just be terrible if weird stuff like that happened this time."
"It wouldn't be terrible, it'd be expected," Jenny replied.
"So, when can we eat?" James asked eagerly.
Delia sat down in her chair. "I suppose after Mr. Mime hands out the silverware," she said.
Mr. Mime swept its way around the table, handing everybody a knife, a fork and a spoon. Then it swept its way around again, handing out glasses. Then it swept itself over to stand next to Delia's chair.
"Mom!" Ash said. "How come I have a butterknife and everyone else gets a steak knife?"
"Another one of my brilliant ideas, pal," Gary said. "I don't think you're responsible enough for a steak knife, especially after you tried to kill me with that butterknife the last time, so I made a suggestion to your mom. We want a normal dinner, or as normal a dinner as we can get with you here, don't we?"
"Gary!" Ash, Jenny, Misty, and Lia yelled.
"Gary, I'm gonna kill you," Ash growled over the mountain of food.
Elizabeth giggled.
Jessie sighed. "Can we just eat before their rivalry gets us all killed or worse, starved?" she complained.
"Certainly!" Delia said. "We can all start dinner now!"
Pikachu had already dug into its eggs happily. It was becoming an egg fiend.
Life:Well, that's the end of the chapter! -yells- Leien, have you found her yet?
Leien: -voice muffled- Uh, no not yet!
Life: Well hurry up! We can't let her ruin--
Kelly: -appears beside Life suddenly- Everything? -evil grin-
Life: AAAAAAAAAAAAH!
