No Dream Impossible - Drifting Beauty
By Chris Devlin
E-Mail: devlin1983@hotmail.com
AN: Ok, this is a Birthday fic for ~*Chuchino The Cabbit*~. I'm sorry its late, but I went back up to Uni in Dundee, and the Internet connection in my room wasn't working properly (Big blooming surprise there). Anyway Karlie I hope you like this, I've abandoned my usual anti-Tracey stance for this fic so you should have absolutely nothing to complain about (Unless its complete crap). Oh and quick extra bit. This is a kinda prequel to No Dream Impossible (Yes I know I aint finished it yet. But give me time people) and explains how Tracey and Karlie get together originally, and how Togepi begins its journey towards the darkside of the force (Heh, George Lucas aint got nothing on me. Only kidding about that Togepi bit though, maybe in another fic).
Moonlight shone down on to the cool calm waters of the Orange Islands, its rippling reflection shimmering on the near still liquid. Under the surface, shoals of Magikarp splashed their way around, while several Mantine sliced through the water and through the wake of a passing row-boat. The boat cut across the surface before coming to a rest, the wake catching up before disappearing. The occupant rested the oars and lay back in the boat with a sigh. He was young, perhaps sixteen years old, with black hair and a red head band across his forehead. He sat up again, almost as if forgetting something. Reaching across the small boat, he grabbed a beaten old back-pack with the name Tracey Sketchit embroidered across one of the pouches in worn, faded letters. Opening it up he withdrew a pad of A4 paper and a pencil case. Tracey lay back again, this time opening up the pad and examining the sketches within.
~^~^~
The minutes past like hours, each one spent mentally stripping each sketch to the bare skeleton of a memory. He would then rebuild it, and thus remember the story behind each sketch. One reminded him of being attacked by a charging Mankey, another reminded him of one of the many times he'd assisted an Officer Jenny. He continued to do this with each and every sketch in the book, until finally he reached the final blank page. Staring at the paper he wondered what would take shape when he began to draw on it. He hoped it would be some kind of rare Pokémon. But then that hope was used on every other page he'd drawn as well. Sighing and putting the pad to the side, he sat up and looked around him. He was greeted by the sight of endless water on one side of the small vessel and a thin string of pinprick lights between the night sky and the shoreline on the other. The lights flickered in the dark night, like a colony of firefly's. As he gazed at them he became aware of a sound in the distance, slowly but surely getting louder. Turning round to face out over the ocean he could make out a shape on the horizon. As it approached the sound became clearer and he identified it as the sound of someone gasping from exhaustion. The shape also became clearer, a person holding onto a piece of driftwood as they desperately tried to make their way towards the shore.
~^~^~
The oars cut through the water as Tracey rowed as fast as he could towards the castaway. Getting closer he saw it was a girl, around his age with brown hair and glasses. He couldn't make out her height from where he was but it was obvious she wasn't in the best of shape. By the time he reached her it was clear that she had passed out and was about to fall off the piece of debris she had been holding on to. Slowly her arms lost their grip on the wood and she began to slip under the water. As her head submerged Tracey grabbed her remaining arm roughly and hauled her out of the water, over the side of his boat. The boat rocked violently, threatening to tip over. Tracey managed to steady it, but not before the oars slipped over the side into the cold water. As he reached over to grab them before they floated out of reach, a small Gyarados, not much bigger than a car appeared from beneath the surface crunching both oars into matchwood before Tracey could do anything to stop it. The water Pokémon roared before vanishing under the waves again, a ripple and floating pieces of broken wood the only evidence it had ever been there. Tracey stared in disbelief at the water.
"Great." he muttered. The spluttering of the girl caused him to turn round quickly. She coughed violently, her lungs obviously holding some small remnants of water. After a few seconds she stopped and opened her eyes to see Tracey before her, a look of concern on his face.
"Hey." she said in greeting, a weak smile on her face. Tracey smiled at her, reaching over to his back-pack he withdrew an old blanket and offered it to her. She smiled a bit more. "So, uh... What should I call you?" the girl asked as she wrapped the blanket around herself.
"Tracey" he replied, blushing uncontrollably. He hadn't been prepare for her eyes, the perfect shade of blue that seemed to cry "I am the kindest, most loving person you're ever likely to meet." Mentally Tracey scolded himself for having thoughts like that. The girl has just been through a life threatening experience and I'm acting like she just asked me out on a date. The girl seemed to notice the silence that followed.
"Well I'm Karlie. But my friends just call me Kaz." the girl said, introducing herself. Tracey felt his insides melt at this.
"That's uh... That's a nice name." he said cursing himself for it immediately afterwards. Why don't I just write, I WANT TO KISS YOU on my forehead and have done with it. he thought. Karlie smiled again. "So, uh... Why were you just drifting?" Tracey asked, trying to move the conversation along. Karlie laughed slightly.
"I was out at sea, just getting inspiration for this new story I'm writing." she started "Anyway, I'd managed to write a chapter or so when this large Magikarp shaped submarine sped through my boat. They smashed it up pretty bad. Then to make matters worse about five Gyarados then went chasing after it. It was quite surreal." she finished. Tracey just stared at her in disbelief.
"Seriously?" he asked. Karlie nodded as she wrapped the blanket the blanket tighter around her. "Wow... That's some weird stuff." he added. "Still. I suppose we better get you back to land somehow. Just get you a doctor. Can't be too careful." he finished. An awkward silence descended as Tracey desperately searched for something to talk about. "So you're a writer then?" he asked. Karlie nodded again, slower this time, her exhaustion returning to her. A few minutes later and she was lying down on one of the seats, sleeping peacefully. Tracey just watched her, blow away by the effect she'd had on him in only five short minutes.
~^~
There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don't got a lot to say
But there's something about her
And you don't know why
But you're dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl
Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
My oh my
Look like the boy too shy
Ain't gonna kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Ain't that sad?
Ain't it a shame?
Too bad, he gonna miss the girl
Now's your moment
Floating in a blue lagoon
Boy you better do it soon
No time will be better
She don't say a word
And she won't say a word
Until you kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Don't be scared
You got the mood prepared
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Don't stop now
Don't try to hide it how
You want to kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Float along
And listen to the song
The song say kiss the girl
Sha la la la la
The music play
Do what the music say
You got to kiss the girl
You've got to kiss the girl
You wanna kiss the girl
You've gotta kiss the girl
Go on and kiss the girl
~^~
The song resonated through Tracey's mind as he watched her sleep. He could almost picture the scene from the movie, all the singing animals replaced by Pokémon. This caused him to smile. Reaching towards his back-pack he brought out his Pokéballs, launching two into the water. Before him Azumarril and a Lapras emerged, both of which happily chimed their names as they saw him.
"Hey guys. Could you swim us back to the shore?" he asked the two water Pokémon as he tossed them a length of rope each. They nodded happily and had soon begun to tow them back towards the shore. He watched as the distant land slowly grew closer and closer, but his mind was on his passenger.
"Well are you going to do it or not?" came a quiet voice from behind him. He glanced round to look at Karlie, a look of confusion on his face.
"Do what?" he asked, unsure what she meant.
"Kiss me." she replied curtly. Tracey's jaw dropped about three feet and he began sweat-dropping and blushing as though his life depended on it.
"I, uh... erm... Wha... What makes you think I want to kiss you?" he asked in a manner that made it perfectly clear he did. Karlie smiled at him gently.
"Well, it could be because of the way you're acting now... Or maybe it was the way you kept humming that infernal Disney song." she replied, the smile turning into a full on grin. Tracey rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, himself now smiling in embarrassment.
"Was I? I didn't notice..." he said. Karlie smirked.
"Yes. You were." she said matter-of-factly. "So are you gonna kiss me now, or are you just gonna make me feel like a complete and total fool for presuming too much?" she asked, herself beginning to blush. Looking at the floor she tried to hide her glowing cheeks from him.
Tracey carefully made his way over to where she was sitting, still wrapped in the blanket. Sitting himself down next to her he placed his arm round her, and used his free hand to guide her head up to a position where he could gaze into the blue eyes that had him so captivated. The depth he saw in them reflected her character, a thousand and one different facets waiting to be explored and appreciated. Tracey decided he'd be best appreciating them one by one. Taking his free hand again he raised her chin slightly before moving his lips within a centimeter of hers. Karlie took in a short gasp, expecting quick contact with the young man's lips. Tracey held his position for a few seconds, anticipating the moment. Just as he sensed she was ready to hit him he closed the gap...
At first Karlie was unaware of Tracey pressing his lips to her own. He had been so subtle, so tender and gentle about it, that if someone had brushed a feather over her lips now she would have thought it was barb-wire in comparison. As her lips adjusted to the new sensations, Karlie felt him peck at her, brush her lips with his own, nibble them. Something inside her mind told her he was special, there was something about him that she knew right away would make her fall in love with him. Realizing that she was almost motionless she began to reciprocate, giving when he took, and taking when he gave.
Tracey couldn't describe how the kiss felt. The closest he could come to what he felt was "The feeling you get when you achieve one of the most important things in your life."
~^~^~
They arrived at the shore about fifteen minutes later, entwined in each others arms. Eventually they got out, Tracey helping Karlie to her feet and walking with her as they headed for the nearest Hospital.
"I'm gonna miss you Tracey. I mean, if you're off to Kanto for Gym badges* and I'm stuck here..." Karlie said as they walked hand-in-hand, her eyes getting teary. Inevitably she broke down into tears. Tracey took her in her arms, embracing her with everything he had.
"Well come with me. It beats me going alone, and you said you needed inspiration for your writing. What's better than traveling the world for inspiration?" he said in one big jumble of words. Karlie stopped crying as he said this and looked up at him.
"You mean it? You want me to come with you?" she asked. Tracey smiled at her before placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Of course I do." he told her. Karlie suddenly broke out of the hug and started dancing about the street. Eventually she stopped and put on a pose Tracey had seen all too many times.
"Yeah! I caught a Sketchit!" Tracey gave her a strange look as she stood facing an invisible crowd, her right arm outstretched with two fingers giving the universal victory sign. A couple of passing pensioners walked passed her, giving her strange looks. She stuck her tongue out at them and turned around and walked back over to Tracey before continuing towards the hospital. Tracey glanced down at her.
"So where did you learn that?"
The End. (Or... if this is a prequel, does that make this "The Beginning"?)
* These are the Gym Badges he uses to get into the Pokémon League Championship in the proper NDI series.
AN: Ok. Now as I said before this is both ~*Chuchino The Cabbit*~'s (Karlie) birthday fic and a prequel to NDI so hopefully I cover both pretty well. Again I'm sorry it's late but unavoidable circumstances and stuff. After this fic I am now left to finish off what is left in the NDI series (Another 2 parts I think) and then it's onto pastures new. I have another series Idea. It's gonna be quite dark and nasty and have Team Rocket, Giovanni, loadsa cameos, sakashipping, annoyedshipping, pencilshipping, laptopshipping, richelshipping, skiltshipping (Don't ask) and some others that I can't quite remember the names of. It'll also be ripping off some well know movies, I already have the "Empire Strikes Back" rip-off bit ready to go. Also I shall be adhering to several beliefs, some of which Arrow began for me, as well as some by others. I'm giving nothing away by saying that Evil Togepi is one of them. Ok, this is annoying me now, so here it goes. Happy Birthday Kaz, soz it's late. But hope you like it.