Chapter 2-December 19

It was 9:00 in the morning and Professor Oak was still asleep. The doorknob rattled a bit and then turned. A person in an amorphous blue hoodie and jeans walked in and pulled the key from the door as they took off their snow boots.
"Hello… Professor Oak!"

When no answer came back the person looked around and spied the stairs in the far corner. They followed them up, a bag clutched against their chest. Upstairs was a massive main room filled with some couches and chairs and a television in one corner with doors off to the side that lead to a few sparsely furnished bedrooms. Opposite the stairs was a kitchenette and full bathroom in another corner. It felt like a dormitory. That wasn't far from the truth. Usually, one of the Professor's assistants stayed the night to take care of the pokemon. Professor Oak snored gently from the couch. A slight smile flashed across the person's face and they set the bag down as they reached out to gently shake his shoulder.

"Wake up Professor Oak."

He yawned and his eyes fluttered open. "Hmm. What's that?"

He caught sight of the hooded person and bolted upright. "Who are you and what are you doing in my lab? How did you get in here?"

The person pushed back her hood to reveal…

"Oh, it's just you Mrs. Ketchum."

"Sorry I startled you. Tracy stopped by my house last night and gave me these keys. He told me I should check on you this morning."

"That was nice of him. Thank you for waking me. I probably would have slept till this afternoon."

She caught sight of the bandage on his leg. "Are you all right?"

"Hmm? Oh, that. It's really nothing."

"Call it a mother's intuition, but I think I should take a look at it."

She shifted his leg to her lap, unwrapped the ace bandage, and pulled back the gauze.

"No, really Mrs. Ketchum. That's not necessary."

"Oh, my God!"

"What? You can't tell me scared of a bit of blood?"

Wordlessly, she removed the rest of the gauze to give him a good view of his shin. It looked as if the cuts had completely healed but his leg was the color of pewter. Mrs. Ketchum reached out and tentatively touched it.

"Does that hurt?"

"No… I can't feel anything."

She rapped it with her knuckles. "The skin here feels like stone."

"Stone? No…"

He looked to the stairs that led down to his lab.

"What?"

"That's not possible."

He abruptly got up and limped down the stairs and across the lab to the fossil. She caught up to him as he was unwrapping it.

"What is that Professor?"

"It's a Kabuto fossil that your son sent me. I was doing some research on it last night for Nurse Joy. I had found a way to produce Kabuto oil from chips of the shell. Supposedly, it has curative properties. I accidentally broke a vial of it last night and cut my shin on the shards of glass."

"You didn't do anything?"

"I cleaned it and everything seemed fine."

"You should have gone to the doctor."

"I thought you were Ash's mother not mine."

"You still should have gone to the doctor."

"I know. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to cure this."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I appreciate the offer but, no, I doubt it."

"Then I'll get breakfast."

Professor Oak's stomach growled loudly in reply.

She quirked an eyebrow. "Sounds like you need it."

"Upstairs is completely furnished and functional."

She trotted upstairs and he got to work on examining the other vial of Kabuto oil.

!ELDERSHIPPING!

Mrs. Ketchum opened and closed the cupboards. When she couldn't find anything she liked, she emptied the grocery bag that she had brought on to the counter. Staring at the medley of food in front of her she chewed on the end of a pencil she found on the coffee table by the couch.

"Aha!"

And with that she twisted her hair up, shoved the pencil through the messy bun, and went to work.

!ELDERSHIPPING!

Down in the lab Professor Oak fumed to himself as he worked.

What right does Tracy have to go behind my back and ask poor Mrs. Ketchum to baby-sit me?

He looked over his shoulder at the stairs for a second. Although, I do have to admit, she's one of the nicest looking baby-sitters I've ever had.

Professor Oak shook his head. Stop it, Samuel! You're starting to sound like a dirty old man. Well, you've got part of it right, the old man part. You're fifty-four for God's sake. But that doesn't mean I'm so old that I need someone to watch over me. Especially not some poor woman who's lived down the road from you for years and is actually, quiet attractive…

He mentally slapped himself. What a way to think! Get a hold of yourself man. She can't be much older than thirty. You could be her father!

He huffed in frustration and went back to work. As he looked at the slide of Kabuto oil he made notes on a pad of paper near by.

!ELDERSHIPPING!

Delia Ketchum easily flipped the enormous omelet on to a plate along with two of her homemade rolls, a bowl of oatmeal, and a glass of orange juice.

"It isn't much but it'll have to do."

She descended the stairs, careful not to drop her tray of precious cargo. She slowly walked across the lab, her sock feet not making a sound. Professor Oak was pretty much oblivious to her, even when she set the tray down next to him.

"Professor Oak." She waited a few seconds. "You're amazing!"

Professor Oak suddenly looked up. "Huh?"

"You're like a Snorlax, oblivious to everything around you."

He smiled slightly. "Rose used to say the exact same thing."

His face immediately fell at the thought of his late wife. Mrs. Ketchum put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry."

"No, no. It's all right. I see you brought breakfast."

"It's not much."

His eyebrows shot up. "Not much? You expect me to eat all this?"

She reached over a nipped a warm roll from the tray.

"Hey, I was going to eat that."

Delia rolled her eyes. "And they say women are fickle."

When she turned her back Samuel stuck his tongue out at her and began eating the enormous omelet.

"Mm. This is delicious Mrs. Ketchum. What's in it?"

"Spinach, red bell peppers, and ham."

He smiled at the ingredients. "How'd you know those were my favorites?"

"I didn't. I just made it how Ash likes it."

"Your son likes spinach?"

"No. He just doesn't know it's in the omelet. That's why there are red bell peppers in it. It covers the taste of the spinach. It's the only way I can seem to get him to eat right." The only answer she got back was a small grunt as Professor Oak ate.

Mrs. Ketchum nibbled at the roll and looked into the microscope on the table.

"What are you working on?"

"Mime fudyig kafudo all."

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

Samuel swallowed. "A mother till the end. I said, I'm studying Kabuto oil."

She skimmed the notes next to the microscope and then looked back into the microscope. She frowned and then took a second look as she pulled the pencil out of her hair. He watched her hair cascade down around her shoulders, Samuel said va-va-voom and Professor Oak internally chided himself and immediately became interested in his oatmeal. He didn't see Delia erasing some of his notes and replacing them with her own until it was too late.

"Mrs. Ketchum! What are you doing?" He ripped the notebook away.

"Hmm? Oh, I was just correcting a few of your errors."

"Errors?"

"Mm-hmm. Come and see for yourself." She stepped back from the microscope to give him easier access to it. He read the changes she made and looked into the microscope only to find she was right. He had made some mistakes. He slowly turned his head to look at her.

"How…"

"What? You do know I majored in Cellular Anatomy and Physiology when I went to Celedon U?"

He sat down and seriously scrutinized the woman in front of him for the first time. "You went to Celedon U? I taught there."

"I know, you were my Basic Pokémon teacher."

His brows drew together as he flipped through his mental files. "I don't remember having a Delia Ketchum in my classes."

"Of course not. I was Delia Peabody then. I would have just met Will."

It was her turn to sadden at the memory of a loved one who was gone.

"I'm sorry I brought it up."

She squared her shoulders and tried to smile. "It's not your fault. I'm the one who brought up…Will, not you."

A faint smile crossed his face. "So you're Delia Peabody. That means if I was your Basic Pokémon teacher you would've had… Adam Quark for Cellular A&P Anatomy and Physiology for all you non-college students.."

"That's right. He was something else."

Samuel leaned in close. "Confidentially, he wasn't exactly battling with a full team of pokémon."

Delia burst into a fit of giggles. "You're…you are kidding, aren't you?"

He held his hands up. "May an Electabuzz's lightning bolt strike me."

Electabuzz escaped from his pokéball at that exact moment and sent a thunder shock attack at Professor Oak, who had enough sense to duck.

"Get back in your pokéball. NOW!"

"Buzz!" Electabuzz stuck out his tongue as he flashed back into his pokéball.

Delia crossed her arms over her chest, smiling. "You've been caught."

"All right, all right. He was just a bit eccentric."

"Now that's an understatement."

They both laughed for a bit and then Professor Oak got serious. "Why did you leave in the middle of your final year? You were such a promising student. Did something happen?"

She patted her now flat stomach. "Yeah, Ash is what happened."

"Ah, yes. Now I remember. Not long after you dropped out I do recall my son Robert telling me of your marriage to Will. We suspected foul play."

"No, there wasn't any foul play. Will popped the question before I got pregnant. We just decided to move our wedding date up a bit."

Professor Oak nodded knowingly.

"Well, my dear it seems you can be of some help."

Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum spent the rest of the day going over his Kabuto oil findings like they were two old colleagues who had been doing it for years.