The Ketchums
The person that opened the door could be described as a mature beauty. The house dress and the makeup-less face could not hide the beauty of the woman. Plump breasts, thic thighes, slim waist with her trademark sunny smile accentuated the beauty of the woman in her late twenties. Ethan was momentarily tongue-tied at her beauty.
However, Daisy being at the front had obscured the figure of little Gary behind her. So, he could escape the otherwise embarrasement he would have faced.
"Oh! Professor! Oh my! Who do we have here little Daisy and tiny Gary?"
"Mou! Aunt Delia, don't call me little. Now I've grown up", came a swift retort from Daisy Oak with a pout. As if to prove her point, the elder sister folded her arms under her breasts in an effort to make them more pronounced.
Gary too acknowledged her greeting with a silent nod. Internally he was controlling himself from having his face turn red from embarrassment.
Delia Ketchum fixed her stare on Daisy and a teasing smile appeared on her face, "Hmm, I can already see that."
Daisy instantly turned red like a red apple.
Gary internally noted that the future Daisy must have got her teasing personality from Delia Ketchum.
"Haha, Delia, good to see you after a long time. How's the business going and where's our future pokemon master?"
"Don't speak of the little devil, you will find him somewhere in the outskirts of the forest trying to find a pokemon."
Gary mentally snorted, 'As if pokemon are cabbages, they will come to you and help you to catch them.'
"Hahahaha", rang ou a booming laugh, "Typical Ash."
"I am sincerely sorry on behalf of my son, Professor, if Ash had disturbed you", Delia bowed to the aged man.
Professor Oak waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, indicating that it was not a trouble.
While the conversation was ongoing, the little band of four had already entered the small but cozy cottage and made themselves comfortable in the sofa.
The Professor took one of the two single seats while the other was occupied by Delia Ketchum, facing the door. Gary and Daisy sat in the long seat side by side.
Throughout the entire episode, Gary was often secretly peeking at Delia.
According to the previous Gary's memories, Delia Ketchum was an awesome cook and so, Ethan held a lot of expectations towards today's lunch.
Looking at the small clock hanging at the wall, Delia stood up, "I am going to set the table, it's time for Ash to arrive."
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, the door of the house opened with a bang and lo behold, the Ash Ketchum in flesh and blood was standing in his full glory. The child that appeared had a spiky raven black hair with two z-marks on his two cheeks. As a result of being exposed to the sun for prolonged durations, his skin had taken a healthy brown colour and was nowhere near as white as his mother.
"Professor Oak! Sister Daisy! Gar....."
Seeing his enthusiastic face, Gary could realise why the Gary in the anime always liked to rile him up.
"Yo! Ashy-boy! Still trying to find a pokemon??"
"Che, you will see Gare-bear I will catch the strongest pokemon and show you."
"Ok enough Ash. Now, straight to the shower, I have placed your change of clothes in your room, dress up and come to the dining room."
"Yes, Mom." The missile named Ash immediately took off for the shower.
The quatret that had been stifling their giggles burst out into peals of laughter at Ash's antics.
Then they set off for the dining room. Ethan couldn't help but stare at the shapely rear of Delia Ketchum bouncing from side to side. Ethan cursed at his situations when the thoughts of an adult was locked inside the body of a child.
To divert his thoughts, he focused on his dilemma about Ash. Till a year ago, they were the best of friends. But that incident completely changed the friendship between Ash and the previous Gary.
One afternoon, both of the friends were fishing by a river with a single rod trying to catch a pokemon. Their rod suddenly dragged up an old rusted pokeball. A fight ensued over its possession. When both of them were tugging the pokeball, it suddenly split from the middle with the upper half in Gary's hand while the lower half was possessed by Ash. The sudden loss of force disbalanced both of them and they fell into the river.
The rest was a blur for Gary. A flying black silhouette of a pokemon rescued them which he strongly suspected as his grandfather's Dragonite. Both of them were confined to bed with severe fever for more than a month.
That incident had soured their relationship to such a point that they hardly talked with each other.
That's why Ash earlier reacted so violently to Gary's teasing. Ethan finally decided to let nature take its course and see what the future had in store for them.
Shifting his thoughts to the back of his mind, he decided to concentrate on the food in front of him that was giving off wafts of mouth-watering aroma.
He quickly rubbed off the drool that was involuntarily leaking off from his mouth and took his first bite.
The food was, in one word, flawless. Ethan doubted if Delia was the part of any hidden Nakiri Family of the Pokemon world.
He couldn't help being jealous of Ash for being able to eat this heavenly food everyday. This was far better than the trash his Grandfather cooked and was a notch above Alice's cooking.
Gary was thinking of inviting himself shamelessly to this heavenly sight and food..ahmmm.... yes, this is all for the sake of good food, right?
The chitchat continued during the lunch as Delia inquired about Daisy's school and lamented about Ash's poor grades in theory.
The Professor asked Ash's mother about her restaurant in detail such as how much was the monthly profit whether they were enough for the family of two and as such.
Ethan was a businessman in his previous life, a person who was well affluent in reading expressions. He spotted a familial love in the Professor's eyes when he talked with Delia. Suspicious, he inwardly reminded himself to investigate this suspicious behaviour of his grandfather's.
After lunch, Ash quickly ran out, shouting, "Mom, I am going to the forests' outskirts!!!"
"Don't go too deep and if you are even a second late after five, I will permanently put a stop to these field trips of yours."
In the end, the voice of Delia Ketchum turned into such a demonic one that even Gary silently prayed for Ash who was rarely punctual.
'I can only pray for you, my friend', Gary inwardly mused.
After the lunch, the Oak trio departed from the Ketchum household profusely thanking Delia for the exquisite meal.
As Gary trudged along behind his grandfather and elder sister, he was trying to come to a conclusion regarding Ash's character. He realised that Ash Ketchum was the same knucklehead as depicted in the anime. If Ash would retain this behaviour of his till the license exams, it would be impossible for him to get into the top three. So, he couldn't help but muse, 'Even though he did not receive an official starter, how could Ash still get the Oak sponsorship?'
The sponsorship of the Oak Laboratories was not just getting a pokedex, it also involved that the person could keep his extra pokemons in the Oak Coral free of charge. Usually, the other places where the normal trainers stored their excess pokemons had to be paid a hefty sum monthly. Besides, the sponsorship also included a monthly stipend of a substantial amount for the rearing of the pokemons.
The amount was so good that one could even maintain a dragon type in his/her rooster without making a hole in his/her pocket. It is widely accepted that bringing up a dragon type pokemon is the costliest, so it speaks volumes about the Oak sponsorship.
Gary had even seen a Snorlax among the pokemons of th trainers sponsored by his Gramps. The special food for a Snorlax cost around 100,000 pokedollars per month.
Gary felt that he could get the answers to these questions if he was able to know why his grandfather was showering fatherly love over Delia Ketchum.
Speaking of Delia Ketchum, it looked like he had developed a soft spot for the widowed woman.
With these thoughts churning inside his mind, young Gary followed Daisy and the Professor towards their home under the warm rays of the setting sun.
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END
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The next chapter will most probably be a timeskip but to when, well, that will be revealed in the next chapter.