"Thank you, Ms. Ketchum. I'm Harry." Harry said thankfully; he was a little hungry. Inside the house was neat and tidy, with picture frames all over the place, the main one's being of a black haired youth wearing a red and white cap with a yellow mouse-like Pokémon on his shoulder, each one holding a different award or ribbon in each photo. Most of the same awards were on mantle in the living room, where Mr. Mime led Harry.
"Please sit, I'll be right back." He said, not expecting an answer and walked out. A few minutes later Delila and Mr. Mime came out with sandwiches and drinks. Sitting the platter down on the coffee table, the duo sat across from Harry.
"Please help yourself." Delila said with a smile, taking a sandwich.
"Thank you again ma'am. Who is that in the photos? There are an awful lot of them." Harry asked politely.
"Those of are my son Ash, a Pokémon Trainer, and his Pikachu. Whenever he comes home he brings awards for me to display."
"He must be a great Trainer for so many awards." His hostess smiled.
"He is, and though I worry about him all the time, I'm so proud of him." The three finished off the sandwiches in silence, just enjoying the quiet. "There now dear, I bet you feel a lot better now you're filled."
"Yes, Ms. Ketchum, they were delicious." Harry said with a grin. Mr. Mime took the platter away, humming contently as he did so.
"Now Harry, what brought you here in such a state? Those clothes are way too big for you, and you shouldn't be wondering around all alone, not without a parent or something." Delila asked, concern shining in her eyes. Harry's own eyes shadowed slightly with sadness,
"My parents died in an accident when I was a baby." 'Sort of true' "I did live with some relatives, but they wanted nothing to do with me, in any way, shape, or form. These clothes belonged to my much larger cousin, because they didn't want to spend good money on a freak and a burden. I ran away, not being able to take it anymore; I never want to see or hear from them ever again." 'Pretty much true, I just didn't run away.' Delilah's heart went out to the child, her maternal instincts kicking in. She pulled Harry into a hug, feeling him stiffen slightly but ignored it.
"You will just stay here with me, there's plenty of room. And I won't hear another word about it."
'She's giving off the same feeling as Mrs. Weasley did,' Harry thought, still in the hug. "Thank you, ma'am, I promise not to be a burden."
"You'll never be a burden to me or anyone. You're much too sweet," she said, pulling away from the hug. She giggled at the blush on Harry's face. "Now, you go clean up, I'll fish out some of Ash's old clothes for you to wear until I can make you some more or we go shopping in Viridian. Pallet doesn't have any stores, only problem with the town." She said with a sigh. Delila led Harry to the bathroom, walking past a sweeping Mr. Mime. "Mimey, could you prepare the guest room for Harry? He'll be staying with us for awhile."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Just leave your old clothes outside the door; I'll get rid of them. I don't think you'll want them anymore?" She smirked at him playfully, gently shoving him into the bathroom.
'Yup, definitely Mrs. Weasley.' Harry thought amusedly. Doing as told, Harry dumped his old clothes outside the door and hopped into the shower. Ten minutes later he got out, towel around his waist and one drying his hair. Hearing the door quietly open, he saw Mr. Mime's hands holding out a small pile of clothes, even some shoes with them.
"Thanks Mr. Mime." Harry said, taking the clothes. Though they were a little big, they fit him pretty well. The clothes were just a plain green shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. Throwing the towels into the hamper, Harry left the steamy bathroom. Delila was sitting at the kitchen table with some material. "Thank you, Ms. Ketchum, the clothes fit really well."
She looked up and smiled, "I'm glad, now come here for a minute, I need to take some measurements. Afterwards, Mr. Mime will show you to your room; I'm sure you're tired. I'll wake you later." Harry held out his arms for the woman to get his measurements.
"Thank you very much, ma'am. I am a little tired."
A few minutes later, a bleary eyed Harry was shown to his new room. The colors were ivory and cream, the furniture a bed, dresser, and a side table. Pretty nice for just a guest room. Collapsing on the soft bed, Harry was out like a light. When Delila went to wake him for dinner that night, she saw that Harry looked so exhausted that she just let him sleep as long as he could.
Harry woke with a start early the next morning, hand covering his mouth to muffle his screams. He had another nightmare about Voldemort's doings, though he wasn't sure if this was just a repeat of something he'd seen before or if it was a vision. Looking out his window, he saw dawn was beginning to break. With a sigh he got out of bed, stretching as he did so. Out of habit he checked his drawers for something to wear, temporarily forgetting what had happened the day before. Inside were new clothes, the perfect size for him which caused the memories to all return.
"I'm in a new world…man everything weird really does happen to me." He muttered to himself, smiling slightly. He quickly changed and then wondered what he should do until Delila woke up. Hit with a sudden idea, he quickly and quietly made his way to the kitchen, absently wondering where Mr. Mime slept. He went to the fridge and got out some bacon, eggs, sausage, pancake mix, the whole nine yards. He wanted to treat the two who took him in to a great breakfast, and thanks to the Dursleys he could cook, but since they always criticized everything he did he wasn't sure if it was good or not.
Thirty minutes later, Mr. Mime walked in to the smell of breakfast cooking. Seeing Harry standing there fixing everything as well as cleaning everything as he did so surprised the Pokémon.
"You don't have to do that, that's usually my or Delilah's job." He chastised gently, starting to help Harry.
"I know I didn't need to, but I wanted to do something for you two. You've been very kind to me." Harry said, shocking the Pokémon.
"You can understand me?"
"Yeah, it's an ability of mine. I don't like to tell a lot of people about it…" Harry trailed off, eyes glazed slightly as he was caught in memories. Mr. Mime, seeing the look in the child's eyes, said,
"Thank you for the meal. Do you know how to make Pokémon food?" His distraction worked. Harry blinked and came back to his senses and replied he didn't know how. "Here, I'll show you…" Quickly the Psychic Pokémon fixed up a batch of food for himself, Harry watching his moves carefully. "And there we have it. Now you try, if you want, you could try adding extra things for flavors. Who knows what you can come up with? I'll set the table."
Mr. Mime left to do its task, while Harry started to prepare it with some food. He basically followed the directions, but used his instincts on adding certain things. When Mr. Mime came back, Harry held out a bowl uncertainly. The Pokémon took a bite and its eyes widened,
"This is fantastic! Best PokeFood I've ever had!" Blushing, Harry mumbled something incoherently and grabbed some the rest of the food. Taking it to the dining room, he saw Delila just sitting down.
"Good morning, Ms. Ketchum." Harry said and sat down as well. Mr. Mime followed him, holding the bowl of PokeFood Harry made and munching happily.
"Morning Harry….Harry, did you make all of this?" Delila asked curiously.
Harry blushed and ducked his head, "Yes ma'am. I wanted to do something for you and Mr. Mime as thanks for taking me in like this, and for everything you've done for me so far. I always wake up early and thought this would be a good start."
The woman nodded and took a bite of her breakfast; her eyes widened just like her Pokémon's, "Harry, this is delicious! Who taught you to cook like this?"
Harry tried to fight down his monster blush. "My relatives' ma'am forced me to do everything for them; I've cooked for them since I can remember. I never knew though if it was any good because they criticized everything that I did." Harry replied, eating his own food. Delilah's eyes darkened slightly at the mention of Harry's relatives, just as Mr. Mime's did, but brightened again when she said,
"Well, your cooking is excellent. Reminds me of a professional chef." She laughed when Harry turned beet red again.
After breakfast and cleaning everything up, the trio went outside to tend to the garden for a few hours. Harry once again impressed the two with his knowledge of this and helped them tremendously. Nearing noon, they headed inside for lunch, made by Mr. Mime. During which, Delila turned on the TV and together they watched different programs about Pokémon, from their care, to battles, to where they could be found. After lunch they cleaned whatever needed cleaning in the house and when that was done, they sat down and played games together. The three had a great time playing all the games (though Harry was certain Mr. Mime used his abilities to cheat at certain points) and at last, they had dinner made by Delila and went to bed. This was the norm for a few days, the trio growing closer as a family, when Delila decided to change things a bit.
After breakfast one day Delila said, "Harry, I need to go to see a friend of mine, Professor Oak. Would you like to come with me? You could see all of the Pokémon he takes care of."
Nodding in agreement, Harry and Delila left the house in the care of Mr. Mime and make the short walk to the Pokémon Prof.'s lab. The emerald eyed youth shied behind Delila as they walked in and were greeted by an older man, maybe in his sixties, wearing an open lab coat with grey hair and large dark eyebrows. He gave off the air of a grandfather just like Dumbledore; he liked the older man immediately.
"Delila! How are you doing?" The man greeted, shaking hands with Delila.
"Just fine Prof. Oak. I want you to meet someone. This is Harry; he's staying with me for a while." She said, pulling the shy boy out into view.
Oak kneeled down to be more eye-level and smiled warmly, "Hello Harry. My name is Prof. Oak." Harry smiled slightly, shaking the offered hand lightly. Oak stood up again, smile still on his face, "Let's go out back. We can have something to drink and Harry can play with the Pokémon out in the pastures."
Harry smiled more when he heard this, causing the adults to grin to themselves. They made their way to the bag of the lab and walked out into the bright sunshine. Out back were rolling hills, with ponds and trees scattered about. Some areas were more dirt and desert. As well as areas that were extremely muddy. And all kinds of Pokémon were everywhere, lounging, playing, racing, fighting, you name it.
"Just be careful, but go ahead and play. Most of them are just fine with humans, and nearly all Pokémon love kids." Oak said happily, sitting down on the patio with Delila. Feeling a burst of energy from nowhere, Harry raced down the stairs towards a group of Pokémon playing tag.
"Hi, I'm Harry." He greeted a bunch of Pokémon, and thanks to some of his new knowledge, he knew what a few of them were.
"Hi Harry! Would you like to play tag with us?" A Bulbasaur asked
"I would love to play tag." Harry said grinning. A Rattata smirked.
"Okay," it touched Harry's leg. "You're it!" And the group scattered. Harry blinked, realizing just what happened.
"I'll get you for that!" He yelled, grinning and took off. The game of tag continued for about fifteen minutes, and then the Pokémon and human collapsed into a pile, exhausted. "You guys can sure run fast."
"Nah, you're just slow." A Ponyta teased.
"I wish I could run as fast as you guys do. That'd be wicked." Harry said, sitting up.
"That can be arranged cub." An older voice said. Turning their heads, the group saw an Arcanine smirking. "Climb on cub and we'll race with the wind."
"Really? Sweet!" Harry said, climbing up the Fire-type's back. As soon as he was situated, Arcanine took off. Harry yelled in glee as the wind whipped through his wild hair, he had to hunch closer to the Pokémon's back to make sure he wouldn't get blown off.
After a few passes around the pasture, Arcanine slows to a stop near the evolved Pokémon area, each were telling stories about battles they've been in, who were also very close to the lab. Harry climbed down and rested near Arcanine and listened with fascination. He started asking questions about their fights, and when the Pokémon realized he could understand them, started explaining in earnest to Harry.
Delila and Oak had finished their talk and were watching Harry play with all the Pokémon.
"He seems to have a gift with them. They all seem happier." Oak noticed.
"Yeah, you should see him with Mr. Mime. I swear they can understand each other." Delila laughed, relaxing in her chair. They continued to watch Harry sit with the evolved Pokémon, and they noticed he seemed to…
"Is Harry talking with them?" Oak asked, confused but intrigued.
"Sure seems that way, though he hasn't told me if he can. But then again we did just meet a few days ago; he may not trust me that much yet. With how those horrid relatives of his…" Delila trailed off, the usually happy and kind woman having a glare on her face. She came too when Oak stood up and started walking. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to go ask him about it. You never get answers just wondering things, Delila." Oak grinned and set off, the woman on his heels. As they neared Harry, they heard him say,
"Wow Machoke, what did you do next?"
"Harry, can we talk to you for a second?" Oak asked politely, observing the boy sitting with all the Pokémon. They had arranged themselves in a semi-circle to let the child see them all.
"Sir?" Harry tilted his head.
"Well, we couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be talking to the Pokémon, and understanding them. I wanted to ask you if you really could."
Harry's eyes widened in slight fear, the Pokémon sensing this started to prepare to fight for their new human friend. Oak and Delila watched them all warily and tried to appear non-threatening as possible. He ducked his head and responded quietly,
"It's an ability I have; I've always had it…" His eyes misted over, hearing the Dursleys calling him 'Freak' because of his magical abilities. "I'm sorry that I'm weird, please don't hate me…" The adults' eyes widened when they heard this from him and the fear in his voice. They both strode over and gathered Harry in their arms.
"Harry you are not a freak, in any way. Your relatives were wrong and horrible people." Delila murmured.
"Your gift is incredible Harry. Nothing to be ashamed of, tons of people wish they could talk to their Pokémon, heck even I do!" Oak said with a grin, causing Harry to laugh quietly.
"Thank you." The raven-haired boy said quietly, giving them both a smile. The Pokémon around them relaxed, seeing Harry smile again.
"Would you mind giving a couple demonstrations? I would love to see you in action, so to speak." Oak asked eagerly, like a little kid in a candy store. Harry laughed at his antics along with Delila.
"Sure, what would you like to know from them?" The Professor thought for a second.
"Well, are they all happy with how things are done around here? Do they want anything changed?" Harry turned to the Pokémon, who all began talking at once.
"Whoa calm down, one at a time please." He laughed. Each one went in turn; telling Harry something, though all Oak and Delila heard was their names. "Alright, the Fire-types would like spicy food; the Water-types would like more ponds as they're getting kinda crowded…" He explained what each one would like changed; Oak was taking notes with an excited look on his face.
"Fascinating, I'll make these changes at once. This is incredible…I'll have to research this…" He started mumbling to himself, a grin on his face the whole time.
"Well, we'll let you get to work Professor Oak." Delila said giggling. "See you later."
"Bye Professor!" Harry waved as he walked off with the woman. "That was a lot of fun." He commented on the way back."
"Yes it was, and very interesting. I understand why you didn't tell me you could talk to Pokémon before this and I don't blame you in the slightest. You can tell me anything when you're ready." Delila said kindly, reaching the fence surrounding the house. "I'll go start dinner; we were at Oak's longer than I thought. You can play outside for awhile, just be careful."
With a grin Harry took off, yelling, "Thanks!" He started walking around the edge of the town, nearing the forest where he first arrived in this new world. He had just entered the trees when he spotted something coming at him at a jog. It was a cat looking Pokémon with a round jewel in the middle of its forehead, about the size of a lioness.
"Hello there, what's your name?" Harry asked it. He grew worried at the slightly panicked look in its eyes.
"My name is Persian," She started. "Please, I need help. My Trainer fell off the side of the cliff and hurt his leg, he can't get up." Harry's 'saving-people-thing' showed up.
"Where is he, I'll do what I can."
"This way cub."