"Do you feel better now, Ash?" Misty asked the groggy, semi-conscious boy.
"Guess so," Ash mumbled as he leaned his head against the trunk of the massive oak tree.
After Ash's attempt to throw himself over the cliff at the cemetery had been thwarted by Brock, both Brock and Misty had sat with him while the distraught boy had screamed and cried over his mother's grave until he collapsed in exhaustion. The two then carried him to the tree next to Professor Oak's grave where Misty held Ash's head in her lap and stroked his untidy hair while he slept for nearly two hours.
"Do you feel like eating anything, Ash?" Brock asked. "While you were sleeping I went to the store and got us some sandwiches." He offered Ash a ham and cheese sandwich.
"No thanks, Brock," Ash said softly as he closed his eyes. "I don't really feel much like eating."
"Ash, you've got to eat something," Misty insisted.
"Pikachu," agreed his Pokémon, who had remained by Ash's side the whole time as he slept.
Reluctantly, Ash opened his eyes and took the sandwich from Brock.
"So what are you going to do now?" Brock asked his young friend.
"Dunno," Ash said, shrugging his shoulders. "But I guess I'm gonna have to go see Giovanni whether I like it or not."
"Ash," gasped Misty. "You can't be serious!"
"What choice do I have, Misty? Like it or not, the guy's my father and they'll probably send me away to go live with him anyhow."
"Ash, you don't have to do this. I'm still willing to adopt you," Brock insisted.
"Yeah, but won't they have to tell Giovanni if you're gonna do that?"
Brock was silent; Ash did have a point.
Ash fed the rest of his sandwich to Pikachu and stiffly stood up. "If we're going to make it to Viridian City by tonight, we'd better get going."
"Are you sure this is what you want to do, Ash?" Misty asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm sure, Misty. Come on, Pikachu." As the Pokémon leapt onto his shoulder, Ash turned around and looked at the two fresh graves one last time. "Be sure to take good care of my mom, Professor Oak."
The three then started down the road to Viridian City.
---
Before leaving Pallet Town, Ash, Misty, and Brock stopped at the Oak lab to say good-bye to Tracey.
"Aren't you going to stay for the reading of Professor Oak's will tomorrow?" Tracey asked as he picked up the Nidoran that was attempting to sneak out the door.
"Nahh. I already know what he left me," Ash said.
"Oh wait." Tracey disappeared with the Nidoran into the lab and returned with a small velvet box.
"What's this?" asked Ash as Tracey handed him the little box.
"It's the ring Professor Oak gave to your mother. Gary didn't want it, so I figured that you might like to have it. I guess it's yours anyway, since technically it belonged to your mom."
Ash opened the box and gasped along with Misty and Brock at the sight of the gold Kadabra with the sparkling crystal in its forehead.
"It's beautiful," exclaimed Misty.
"Professor Oak gave this to my mom because they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. And instead they both died," Ash said with a quavering voice as he stared at the unusual ring pillowed in the velvet box. Regaining his composure, Ash pocketed the ring. "I'm gonna find out who did this to my mom," he said with fierce determination. "Let's go."
"Take care of yourself, everybody. And be careful," warned Tracey as the three started down the steps. Tracey then quickly shut the door to keep the runaway Nidoran from making another escape attempt. Running a Pokémon lab single-handedly was hard work.
---
The three friends made it to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City shortly after nightfall.
"I'm gonna go see Giovanni right now," Ash declared after he dropped his things next to his bed in the Pokémon Center.
"Ash, like it or not, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow morning," Brock informed his friend as he grabbed him by the shirt collar. "The gym isn't open now. And besides, I think we all need to have something to eat and then get some rest."
"Brock's right, Ash," Misty agreed. "Let's go find a burger place."
---
Back at the Oak lab, an exhausted Tracey wearily trudged up the stairs to his bedroom. Between the events of the past few days and having to take care of the hundreds of Pokémon in the lab by himself, he didn't think he could take much more. Starting tomorrow, he was going to put out advertisements for some help. Maybe he could find another assistant or a graduate student or two to help him out until Professor Hale could get his house in Greenfield sold. At the funeral, Professor Hale had volunteered to take over the lab, mentioning that he had been wanting to move his family back to Pallet Town for some time.
"It's the least I can do for him," Spencer had told Tracey at the funeral. "After he helped me and Molly escape from the Unown."
As Tracey passed by the room that had been Professor Oak's he said a silent prayer for the man who had helped him learn so much about the amazing creatures called Pokémon. Tracey then opened the door to his own bedroom, collapsed on his bed and immediately fell asleep, not bothering to change into his pajamas.
He was sleeping so soundly that he didn't hear the alarm go off as someone slid open the window in the rear of the lab.