Professor Laurel Oak looked up from the computer and rubbed her eyes. Ever since she had taken over operation of the research lab, she had constantly been amazed at just how much work her father had done each day. Even though he was now officially retired, Professor Oak still kept himself busy with the day-to-day operations of the lab and the surrounding preserve. Right now he was at the ranch with Gary and Brock checking out the latest additions to the Tauros herd. Upon his retirement, Professor Oak had turned over the lab to his daughter and given control of the ranch and preserve to his grandchildren, Gary and May, and May's husband, Brock. It had been a wise decision. After all, it was Gary who had been almost solely responsible for collecting the over one thousand Pokémon that roamed the grounds surrounding the lab. Many people had even suspected that when Gary had married Lara Laramie last year, he had done it just to get his hands on her famous herd of Ponyta and Rapidash. The jury was still out on that one, but it did seem as if the two genuinely loved each other. If nothing else, they both were passionate about establishing the largest herd of horse-type Pokémon in the country.
But they couldn't have done it without Brock's help. His reputation as a Pokémon breeder was legendary, and people came from miles around to see the famous livestock of the Po-ké Corral. Now that his and May's twin sons were old enough to help around the ranch, Brock was teaching them everything he knew about raising Pokémon. May handled the business side of the house: she kept track of the finances, ordered the feed and supplies, set up the tours of the ranch, and saw to it that everything kept running smoothly. It was a successful partnership all around.
"I hate to bother you, honey, but could you keep an eye on Brooke and Will while I go help Mimie with the dishes?" Delia Oak's head popped through the open door of the lab. Even at sixty-four, people still commented on the uncanny resemblance between mother and daughter, although her auburn hair was now almost completely gray.
"Sure, Mom," Laurel said as she turned off the computer. "Besides, Tracey's picking me up for lunch in a few minutes."
Tracey had still been working at the lab when she was born, but had left soon thereafter to study Pokémon ecology. He eventually took over Professor Ivey's lab when she retired, and he and Laurel frequently collaborated on research projects over the phone and computer. But it wasn't until they had finally met face-to-face at a conference last year that sparks had flown between them. She had finished presenting her paper on the genetic similarities between Venomoth and Butterfree when Tracey had come up to her, handed her a rather flattering sketch he had done of her while she was presenting her talk, and asked her out for coffee. They had been dating ever since then.
"Aunt Laurie! Look at me! I'm gonna catch a Charizard!" Five-year old Brooke was standing on the couch, getting ready to hurl a Poké ball at her imaginary Pokémon. One-year old Will toddled up to his aunt and handed her his stuffed Magikarp.
"Thank you, Will," Laurel said as she kissed her nephew's red head.
Laurel heard the front door open. At the sound of footsteps, Brooke ran screaming into the hall.
"Daddy!"
Ash Ketchum picked up his dark-haired daughter. "What Pokémon did you capture today, Brooke?" he asked as he hugged her.
"I caught a Venusaur, a Ninetails, a Wigglytuff, and I almost caught a Charizard!"
"Looks like we have another Pokémon Master in the making," he laughed as he whirled his daughter around in a circle.
Laurel smiled. After becoming one of the youngest persons ever to become a Pokémon Master, Ash had returned to Pallet Town to establish the first gymnasium there. Ash had also successfully petitioned the Indigo League to accept Pallet Town's Power Badge as their ninth required badge for membership in the Pokémon League. When she was growing up, Laurel had idolized her older half-brother and spent a couple of years trying to follow in his footsteps. She enjoyed being a Pokémon trainer and even competed in the Indigo League championship one year (losing in the third round), but her heart was with research. She had grown up in the lab and knew every inch of the grounds and every Pokémon that lived there. Her father had started teaching her the names of the Pokémon as soon as she could talk and by the time she was six, she was helping him out in the lab on a regular basis. After becoming one of the youngest persons ever to graduate from Pokémon University, Laurel returned home and the Professors Oak still continued to write research papers together.
"Ma-ma!" Will toddled over to his mother as she entered the room. Misty bent down and scooped up her son.
"Don't forget Magikarp," Laurel said as she handed the toy fish to Misty.
"Thanks, Laurie," Misty said as she handed the toy fish back to her son. "By the way, I've got some interesting numbers on the Politoed samples I took yesterday. I'll stop by later and give them to you."
Dr. Misty Ketchum had a Ph.D. in Pokémon marine biology and oversaw the water Pokémon research at the lab. She and her sister-in-law frequently collaborated on research projects.
A yellow mouse Pokémon scampered out from behind Misty.
"Pi-ka-chu!"
"Hello, Flash," Laurel said as the Pokémon scampered up to her. Flash was a descendant of Ash's Pikachu, who had died of extreme old age a few years ago. Ash had built a memorial to his first Pokémon in the courtyard of the Pallet Town Gymnasium, so all young trainers would see it as they first entered the gym.
That's the real power,
he had told her. The power of love."Hey, Misty, we'd better get going. It's lunchtime," Ash said. "I'm starving!"
"Daddy," Brooke chimed in, "can we stop at Rocket Burger and get a Meowth Meal? And we've gotta bring Togetic back a Koffing Kone!"
Misty rolled her eyes. She still couldn't believe how well Jessie and James had done with their Rocket Burger franchise.
"Yeah, Rocket Burgers!" Ash's stomach growled.
"Okay, we'll head to Rocket Burger," sighed Misty. "See you later, Laurie."
"See ya', Sis!" Ash said as he carried his daughter down the hall with Flash following at his heels.
Laurel could hear Brooke singing the Rocket Burger jingle all the way out the door.
"To protect the world from hunger and thirst,
Our food's not bad, at least not the worst…."
Laurel went back to the kitchen to see her mother. Delia had just finished the dishes and Mimie was going to the living room to vacuum up after the kids.
"Hey, Mom! Ash and Misty just took the kids to Rocket Burger, so I'm going to go get ready for lunch with Tracey."
"Okay, dear," Delia said as her daughter ran upstairs. Just then, a smiling and disheveled Professor Oak swung open the back door.
"Samuel, what in the world have you been doing?" Delia exclaimed at the sight of her husband. "I thought you'd be back earlier."
"Oh, Lara wanted me to see her new filly, so we went down to the lower pasture. Of course, I had to try out the new horse; her name's Solarbeam, by the way. I then challenged Lara to a race around the Fire Pokémon Preserve, and we obviously lost track of time. I won, by the way," he said with a triumphant grin.
Delia shook her head. Her husband might be ninety years old, but he sure didn't act like it.
"Where's Laurel?" he said as he sat down at the kitchen table.
"Upstairs, getting ready for her lunch date with Tracey." The smile faded on her husband's face.
"I'm still not so sure about those two. Tracey's much too old for her."
Delia smiled. "As I recall, you're twenty-six years older than I am."
"That's different, Delia. We were older when we got married. And Laurel's just…"
"Twenty-five years old, Samuel. She's an adult. Besides, you know as well as I do that Tracey's a very nice young man and he makes Laurel happy." She took his hand. "After all, we turned out all right, didn't we?"
"Yes, we certainly did," he smiled and stood up. "After all that horseback riding today, I think I'm going to go upstairs and take a little nap. Care to join me?"
Delia knew that gleam in his eye.
"Samuel, it's eleven-thirty in the morning!"
"So what?" He put his arms around his wife's waist. "I might be an old man, but I'm not dead yet." He started nibbling on her neck.
"Samuel, stop!" she squealed. "Stop it! You really are a dirty old man," she said as she playfully pushed him away.
He started out the kitchen. "So, will you be joining me?"
Delia gave him a mischievous look. "Okay, but first, let me have your lab coat since I know how much you like seeing me in it."
She gave him a playful swat as they walked down the hall towards the stairs. Laurel was standing at the front door with Tracey.
"Hello, Professor Oak. Mrs. Oak." He nodded in their direction.
"Hello, Tracey," giggled Delia. "Would you like to come in for a minute?"
"Uh, that's okay. I don't want to..uh..interrupt anything." He had noticed that Mrs. Oak was wearing her husband's lab coat.
"Yeah, we're going out to eat anyway," said Laurel hurriedly as she stepped out the door. "See you later." Her parents still embarrassed her sometimes the way the acted.
Once outside on the porch, Tracey turned to her with a naughty grin and said, "Hey, Laurie, do you think we'll still be doing it when we're their age?"
Her mouth opened in shock. "Tracey!!" She smacked him lightly on the back of the head.
"Ow! Hey! What did I say?"
Laurel shook her head as the two went down the sidewalk.
Back inside, the frown had returned to Professor Oak's face.
Delia slipped her arm around her husband. "They'll be fine, Samuel. You've got to let her go sometime."
"She'll always be my little girl, no matter how old she is," he said sadly.
"True. And I'll still be your big girl, no matter how old I am." She kissed him.
"Come on, old man," she said, leading him up the stairs. "Now that we've got the house to ourselves, let's enjoy it….or are you so old that you've already forgotten what we were planning on doing?"
The gleam was back in his eye. "Race you up the stairs!" he said as he ran past her.
"Hey! No fair! You cheated!" Delia said as she ran after him. He was pretty fast for an old man.