By the time Tracey had finished with his chores, he was in a black mood. And the sight of Gary in a lab coat did nothing to help Tracey's mood.
Now he's even dressing like Professor Oak, Tracey thought bitterly as he entered the lab.
"Hello, Tracey," Professor Oak smiled in the boy's direction. "I was just showing Gary the Weedle that's an important part of the Kakuna experiment." He turned his attention back to his grandson. "Now as I was saying, Gary, this Weedle was raised in temperatures in the 30-degree Celsius range. Do you notice anything different about it?"
"Well, it's a darker shade of orange than normal," Gary said, bending down and patting the worm Pokémon's head. The Weedle made a happy noise in reply.
"Careful of the stinger, Gary," Professor Oak warned. "I wouldn't want you to get stung during your first full day as my new assistant."
Tracey, who had been seething with resentment during the entire scene, finally had had enough. Not only had Gary stolen his job, but he was wearing one of Professor Oak's lab coats and now was petting his favorite Weedle -- the one that he had raised from an egg.
"That's not the right way to pet a Weedle, Gary," Tracey growled, shoving the younger boy aside. "You have to…"
The Weedle, startled by Tracey's sudden outburst, swung around and sank its stinger into the boy's left hand.
"Ow!!" Tracey began cursing violently as the Weedle's venom excruciatingly pulsated its way into his hand.
"Tracey!" shouted Gary, pulling the frightened Weedle aside. "Oh, man…are you okay?"
Tracey swore in reply.
"Gary, will you please go get me some Weedle antivenin," Professor Oak said, taking charge of the situation. "Sit down, Tracey. It'll slow the spread of the venom." He led the injured boy to the Pokémon examination table.
"Uh…okay, Grandpa." Gary opened a nearby cabinet and was confronted by an assortment of glassware.
If Tracey hadn't been in so much pain, he would've gotten great pleasure out of seeing Gary blundering aimlessly around the lab looking for the medicine cabinet.
"It's the red cabinet on the wall behind us, Gary," Professor Oak instructed his grandson.
"Oh…right." Gary opened the cabinet to reveal a vast assortment of bottles and vials of every shape, size, and color.
Despite his agony, Tracey smiled at the sight of Gary frantically searching through all the various bottles for the Weedle antivenin.
"Grandpa, where is it?" Gary asked, tension rising in his voice. "Which bottle is it?"
"The green one with the picture of a Weedle on it," both Professor Oak and Tracey answered in unison.
"Oh, okay...hang on…found it." Gary dashed back to his grandfather's side with the bottle.
"Thank you, Gary. Now see if you can find a 5 cc syringe, please," Professor Oak asked.
"5 cc syringe…right." Gary began pulling open all the drawers of the closest lab bench.
And you thought you could do my job, Gary, you idiot, Tracey thought with perverse satisfaction before another wave of burning pain went shooting up his arm.
"Gary, the syringes aren't in there," said Professor Oak. "They're…" Tracey reached inside the drawer next to his leg and tossed the correct syringe to Professor Oak. "Oh. Thanks, Tracey."
Gary's eyes widened as Professor Oak calmly filled the syringe with the green antivenin. "Grandpa, what are you doing?"
"Let's see…2 cc's should do it." Professor Oak put the bottle back down on the bench. "Gary, whenever you work around wild Pokémon, there's always the potential of injury to yourself or your lab assistants -- hold out your arm, Tracey." Professor Oak searched for the vein in his assistant's arm. "And especially in emergency situations like this, there may not be enough time to call a doctor. That's why it's important that you have a knowledge of first aid for both humans as well as Pokémon."
Both Tracey and Gary winced as Professor Oak inserted the needle into Tracey's arm and injected the antidote.
"There, Tracey. Now sit there quietly for a few minutes until the antivenin takes effect." Professor Oak patted Tracey's shoulder reassuringly. "Situations like this happen more often than you think, Gary. Matter of fact, not too long ago I got cracked in the head by a Cubone practicing its Bonemerang attack. Tracey was the one who had to patch me up then. He did a great job bandaging the gash in my forehead…" He lifted a shock of gray hair to show his grandson an inch-long scar. "…but I still have a little reminder of that episode."
Take that, Gary, thought Tracey as the throbbing pain in his arm began to subside a little.
"That's why you need to stay calm and…" Professor Oak looked around. "Where did Weedle go?"
"It's over there, Grandpa," Gary said, pointing to the orange worm that was calmly nibbling on the potted plant in the corner. "I'll get it."
"No. I'll get it," said Tracey, jumping up from his chair. Unfortunately the moment he stood up, Tracey became lightheaded and sank to the floor. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was pushing away Gary's helping hand.
To be continued…
