"You're back already?"
Delia opened the door to welcome Ash and Misty. She was still wearing an apron—clearly the meal hadn't finished cooking yet.
"Aunt Delia!"
"It's been so long since I tasted Mom's cooking," Ash said with a grin, pulling Misty along.
Then he teased,
"Someone kept urging me to hurry home, saying—"
Before he could finish, Misty squeezed his hand slightly.
Smiling nervously, she said,
"Aunt Delia… hello. I'm Ash's girlfriend now."
Her voice trembled a little.
Misty's palms were slightly sweaty. Back when they met in Blue Lagoon City, she and Ash hadn't confirmed their relationship yet, so she hadn't felt nearly this nervous.
"Misty, I've missed you too," Delia said warmly, stepping forward and leading them inside.
Then she quickly went back to preparing lunch.
Her dense son had finally grown up.
And this time, he had even come home with a girlfriend.
Delia chatted happily with Misty.
Misty volunteered to help in the kitchen. Her cooking wasn't great, but she could at least assist.
She talked about their journey together, her eyes shining as she described their adventures.
And she kept praising Ash.
Delia listened with a mix of joy and tenderness.
She was happy to see Ash grow—
But also a little heartbroken thinking about all the effort he must have put in behind the scenes.
After half an hour, the meal was finally ready.
To celebrate Ash and Misty's return, Delia prepared an especially rich dinner.
Ash couldn't help smiling.
Mom's cooking is unbeatable…
After all, it was those homemade lunches that had first won Misty over.
Misty complimented Delia's cooking repeatedly, making Delia laugh happily.
"If you like it, eat more."
Delia placed extra food into Misty's bowl—and then into Ash's as well.
The dinner ended in cheerful conversation.
That night, Misty stayed at Ash's house.
"Don't move your hands."
"You had quite an interesting childhood," Misty said while looking at the photo wall in Ash's room.
"It was alright," Ash replied.
"But it wasn't as happy as when I'm with you."
He hugged Misty from behind, gently breathing in the scent of her hair and teasing the edge of her ear.
"Stop that."
"Why didn't you say things like this before?" Misty said, stopping his hand.
She still remembered how Ash used to argue with her all the time.
"I think I'm pretty lucky to have met you," Ash said softly.
"I learned a lot from you. When you take over the Cerulean Gym someday, you'll definitely handle it easily."
Misty leaned back slightly against him.
Her body stiffened for a moment.
Ash responded with actions rather than words.
"Mmm—hey! That hurts!"
"Ahem…"
…
The next morning, Ash arrived at the breakfast table looking refreshed.
"Ash, there's a circus performance nearby," Delia said.
"Why don't you and Misty go watch it?"
"Sure," Ash replied immediately.
It would be nice to relax for once.
Besides, there might even be a Mr. Mime working there to help with house chores.
"No problem for me," Misty said.
"Let's invite Brock and Professor Oak too," Ash added.
Ash called Professor Oak.
But Oak was busy running an experiment.
Gary was also unavailable.
Brock, however, was very interested in seeing the circus.
After cleaning up the table, Ash noticed something amusing.
Delia and Misty had already changed into casual clothes.
They almost looked like two sisters.
Ash had also spent some of his saved League currency to buy a car for his mother.
That way, traveling around would be easier for her.
In the Pokémon world, driver's licenses weren't really necessary.
Otherwise Gary wouldn't have started his journey driving a sports car.
As long as you knew how to drive, you were good.
Following the route Delia provided, Ash drove smoothly toward the circus venue.
The place was packed with people.
Luckily Brock had bought tickets in advance.
Judging by the crowd, it would have taken at least half an hour to get tickets on-site.
"Ash, the show is about to start," Brock said.
"Let's go in," Ash replied after parking the car.
Inside the circus, many incredible performances took place:
Ponyta jumping through flaming hoops
Machoke walking across a tightrope
Dodrio leaping over obstacles
All kinds of creative acts appeared one after another.
Finally, Mr. Mime appeared for the grand finale.
The act began with a performer locked inside a large water tank.
The performer attempted to escape from chains while a giant rock was suspended overhead.
Suddenly—
An accident occurred.
The rock began falling.
The audience gasped.
At the critical moment, Mr. Mime used its barrier abilities to stop the disaster, while Machoke smashed the falling rock with a powerful kick.
The entire audience erupted into applause.
It was rare to see such an entertaining circus show.
And the performers included plenty of beautiful assistants—nice to look at as well.
It wasn't that the show was bad.
It was just that Ash had seen similar tricks before.
He could even predict the "accident" part of the act.
So the surprise factor was gone.
Delia and Misty, however, were enjoying themselves greatly.
Brock wasn't paying attention to the story at all—
His eyes were glued to the female performers.
After the circus ended, the group wandered around outside.
Since the circus would stay for five days, many vendors had set up temporary stalls nearby.
The area had turned into a small street food market.
Visitors often bought snacks before heading into the circus.
Ash bought a few snacks just to satisfy his cravings.
"Ash… is your candied hawthorn sweet?" Misty asked, staring at the snack in his hand.
"Crunch—yeah, it's delicious," Ash replied after taking a bite.
Misty glared at him and turned away.
She refused to talk to this troublemaker.
"Alright, here—try some."
As they joked around, they noticed a Mr. Mime standing near the trees, staring directly at the candied hawthorn.
"Is that the circus's Mr. Mime?" Misty asked.
"Doesn't seem like it."
Ash walked closer to take a look.
This Mr. Mime seemed much shyer.
And its body size was slightly different from the circus one.
Ash handed it some snacks.
He wondered if this was the same Mr. Mime from the original story—the one that sneaked into Ash's house for food.
In the original plot, it was basically recruited after just one meal.
In other words—
A free housekeeper.
As long as you fed it regularly, it would handle:
Cleaning the house
Taking care of the garden
Moving heavy objects
Ash couldn't help smiling while imagining it.
Misty suddenly felt that Ash looked like someone trying to trick a child, especially with that suspicious grin.
"Mr. Mime, I have more food here," Brock said, offering some of his homemade cooking.
The hungry Mr. Mime happily accepted.
After chatting and wandering around for a while, the Mr. Mime suddenly disappeared again.
Ash didn't rush to catch it.
Right now, there was something more important.
They needed to visit Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Professor Oak had said he had something important to announce.
Gary had also called Ash over.
What reward could Professor Oak be preparing?
Ash roughly guessed what it was about.
Probably something related to:
The Pokédex research results
The Indigo Plateau Conference schedule
Meanwhile, Gary was eager to battle Ash.
He wanted to see just how strong his old rival had become.
After all—
Brock had told him that Ash earned all his Gym Badges through real strength.
PS: I've been releasing chapters daily . Honestly, it hurts seeing almost no support on Patreon after all that work.If you're enjoying the fic, even a little, supporting me would mean a lot. It helps a student stay independent .
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