As Mike was going over to their booth to sit down, he was hoping to just sit next to Shroomsworth, drink whatever tea they had, and that they would pay for the ice cream that was taken from him. “Uh... hey Mike, why don’t sit next to me? Shroomy’s got kind of a tender leg, y’know?” PK scooted over towards the wall in her booth, and signaled for Mike to come to her side.

Agh... not her... ugh, okay, you can swallow it down this time. Just like everyday, right? Mike scooted into PK’s seat, trying to avoid any eye contact with her. “Ahhh... yeah, that’s nice...” PK closed her eyes and began to relax, and slowly the hue of her purple was brightening.

“What’s nice?? Oh...” Mike knew why PK wanted him to sit next to her: His tail-flame would provide the warmth she so desperately wanted. Oh well, at least he would have a less-agitated Kecleon to deal with.

A minute had only passed until Vertigo returned with Mike’s tea and some biscotti. “Here you go, and heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s...” Vertigo had to do one spin before... “...THE BILL!” ...slamming the paper right down on the table, startling its occupants.

“HEY HEY, careful, you almost spilled our tea!!” PK started to take her tea very seriously. “Oops, sorry... the last beat comes out a little strong, y’know?” Vertigo recomposed himself and bowed in front of the booth.

“Oh, it’s quite alright. Now you must be busy, I’ll handle this bill!” Shroomsworth was already preparing his tea by mixing it with the essentials.

“Okay, thank you sir!!” And with that, Vertigo hopped away. “Now now, you all should prepare your tea before it chills in this cold, eh?”

“Yeah, like it’d do anything...” PK dropped seven cubes of sugar into her tea, and mixed her concoction while taking a deep sigh.

“Uh...” Mike looked down to his tea cup, this was the first time he had tea. He had absolutely no idea what he should do to it.

Sugar? No... wait, milk? I thought that was only for coffee... wait wait, is that honey??? Man I don’t know what to use... Lemon? But we didn’t order fish... hm, maybe...

Mike started to mix in a little of everything into his tea cup while looking at both PK and Shroomsworth. Shroomsworth was already drinking his tea slowly, while PK kept stirring her tea more and more... like she didn’t want it to stop for her to drink it.

Oh good, they’re not looking at me. Okay okay, I guess this is how you make tea. This isn’t so bad-- Mike took a small swig of his own mixture... and gagged. The unusual taste followed by it’s strong combination of bitter and sweet was... well, something.

“Haha!! You don’t add everything to one cup of tea, you suck at this!!” PK giggled at Mike’s unfortunate mistake.

“...mmn, now now, there are quite a few people who do drink their tea with sugar... milk, and uh... honey... and lemon as well.” Shroomsworth tried his best to cheer Mike up, but the deed was done, Mike didn’t want to drink anymore tea at the moment.

“Ugh... hey, could I have that... uh, chocolate stick?” Mike pointed at the ‘chocolate stick,’ expecting Shroomsworth to pass him one. Shroomsworth picked one up, but he didn’t give it to Mike just yet.

“You mean this biscotto? And I think you meant to say please...” He was slightly annoyed at Mike’s lack of manners.

“...uh, yeah. That biscotto, please?” Mike was equally beginning to get annoyed.

“...yes, here you are.” Shroomsworth handed Mike the biscotto, and Mike quickly began to munch on it. Another unusual taste, but it wasn’t as harsh as the tea that he made.

PK quickly drank her own tea, shuddered a bit from its taste, and then proceeded to break the silence. “So... Mikey-boy, who’s that Stunky that follows you around? Your girlfriend or something??”

“Girlfriend?! No, that’s my sister, Maple!!” Mike stopped crunching on his biscotto just to emphasize that fact. Yes, a Stunky sister for a Charmander, how odd.

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Part 4 of Mike's story!

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