Chapter 6: Getting Back To Life

Once they had touched down in Viridian City, Tracey and Carla got off of the plane and gathered the bags that they had checked. Then they found where Tracey had parked the car three days before and left the airport to make the two hour drive to Pallet Town.

"It's sure going to be nice to get back into a normal routine." Carla said, trying to keep Tracey distracted.

"I know. I'm looking forward to getting back to some inkling of normality after all that I've been through. There's probably going to be plenty of work to get lost in today." Tracey agreed.

"I think it'll be nice just to be home. I hope nothing earth shattering has happened since we left."

"I doubt it. If something interesting had been going on, Professor Oak would have called us. I told him where we were going to be."

Before they knew it, Tracey and Carla had arrived back at Professor Oak's lab. The first thing that Tracey did when he got out of the car was to let Buddy out of the back seat. Then he and Carla got their bags and went inside.

"We're back, Professor!" Tracey called as he opened the door.

"Oh, good. I'm glad to have you back. How are you doing, Tracey?" Professor Oak asked.

"I need to get back to work. Have you fed the Pokemon yet, Professor?"

"Not yet. I was just going to when you two came in." Professor Oak said and then he noticed Buddy peek his head from behind Tracey's leg. "Where did this little guy come from?"

"Oh. This is Buddy. I found him when I was on the beach the morning after my mother died. He was an orphan so I decided to take him in. I think he'll get on great here."

"Hello there. I know you'll like it here. There are lots of other Growlithe here for you to enjoy running with during the day and then at night you can stay here in the house with Tracey like his other Pokemon." Professor Oak smiled and knelt down to pat Buddy on the head.

"I hoped you'd like him. Well, I'm going to go and feed the Pokemon and take Buddy to the Fire Preserve for a little exercise. I'll see you later." Tracey gave Carla a quick kiss and headed out the back door with Buddy on his heels.

* * * * *

Carla was just about to go out and help Tracey see to the Pokemon after she had put the bags away when Professor Oak stopped her short.

"Carla what is it? I noticed a strange look in your eyes earlier when Tracey left and went outside. Is it anything that I can help out with?" Professor Oak asked quietly.

"Not unless you can convince Tracey to slow down I'm afraid." Carla sighed.

"I don't think I quite understand what you mean."

"I mean that if Tracey doesn't take it down a notch he's going to completely exhaust himself. In fact I suspect he's nearly to that point already. He hasn't so much as closed his eyes since we were on the plane to Valencia Island. I'm really worried about him."

Professor Oak was silent for a long moment as he thought on what Carla had just said. He had to think of a way that they could help Tracey. Suddenly a light bulb went on in his head and he had his answer.

"I have an idea about how we might be able to get Tracey to take it easy for a little while at least. Don't worry about anything. I have a way to help Tracey." Professor Oak assured her.

"Okay. I hope whatever you have in mind works." Carla said as she turned and headed out the back door to find Tracey.

* * * * *

It didn't take Carla very long to locate Tracey. She found him on the Fire Preserve playing with Buddy and the other Growlithe. It made Carla smile because Tracey really seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Hey. I thought you were feeding the Pokemon." Carla said as she approached.

"I already did so I decided to come and check on Buddy and he wanted to play." Tracey stopped a moment to see Carla's puzzled look. "Well when you've spent as long as I have feeding all these Pokemon, you tend to build up some speed at it."

"Oh. Well I just decided to come out here and see how you were doing. You seemed to be enjoying yourself when I came up."

"Yeah. Doing things like playing with the Pokemon seems to help me lose myself whenever I get upset or stressed out. That's just what I need right now." Tracey said as he threw a ball and watched in amusement when the Growlithe all went for it at the same time.

"I know that this will do you good." Carla observed as she put her arms around Tracey and hugged him.

"Hey, I'm going to go to the stalls and clean those out. I need to as much as those Ponyta and Rapidash eat. Wanna come with me?" Tracey asked.

"No. That's okay. I'm going to go unpack things and see if Delia needs any help in the house. You go ahead and I'll catch up to you later on." Carla said as Tracey turned and headed toward the stables.

"I hope that whatever Professor Oak has in mind to help him works. He can't keep going like this."

* * * * *

When she got back to the house, Carla went up to the bedroom and started to unpack everything and put things away. As she was working, she couldn't stop thinking about Tracey and what he was doing to himself. It was really upsetting her that she couldn't help him.

"Are you all right, dear?" Delia asked, causing Carla to whirl around. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's okay. My mind isn't really all here right now."

"Would you like to talk about it? It might make you feel better."

"It's just that I'm worried about Tracey. Delia, he's been going non stop since we got back. Not to mention that he hasn't so much as closed his eyes in two days. Losing his mother has his Tracey very hard." Carla confessed.

"I understand how you feel. When someone you love is going through a hard time there's not always a way to help them. I know it can get frustrating at times but you need to remember that you're helping him just by being there for him to talk to and lean on."

"Thanks, Delia. I do feel a whole lot better now. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Now why don't you come downstairs? You can help me make dinner and we can make something nice to make Tracey feel a little bit better."

"That does sound like a nice idea. I would love to do that." Carla smiled and followed Delia down into the kitchen.

* * * * *

An hour later, dinner was ready and all were concerned when Tracey was nowhere to be found.

"I wonder where in the world Tracey could be." Professor Oak said.

"I don't know but I have an idea where he might be. He mentioned to me earlier that he was going to go and clean the stables. I'll go look for him. I'm sure he's hungry." Carla said as she turned and headed for the stables.

When Carla got to the stables, she found Tracey there as she expected. He was sitting on a feed bucket with his head in his hands and Buddy was sitting beside him.

"Hey. There you are. We were worried when you didn't come back after you finished."

"Oh. I didn't realize how late it was." Tracey looked at his watch and noticed that he had been there for almost two hours. "I didn't mean to worry anybody. I guess I must have lost track of time."

"It's okay. Why don't you come back to the house with me? Delia and I made some chili. I know you've got to be hungry."

"I'm starving. I haven't eaten anything all day. Let's go." Tracey said as they walked back to the house hand in hand.

When they got back, everything was ready for them to eat supper. Delia had set things up beautifully.

"There you are. Why don't we have some of this wonderful chili that the women made. It looks great." Professor Oak said.

They all sat down and had a very nice dinner. While they were eating, Tracey's friends tried very hard to keep his attention engaged and off of the pain that he was going through.

"Thanks to all of you. That was a wonderful dinner. I don't think I realized how hungry I really was. I also appreciate all the support." Tracey smiled at his friends. "Right now I think I'm going to go upstairs for a while."

"I'll come with you." Carla said as she followed Tracey upstairs.

* * * * *

"Do you feel any better now that you have something in your stomach?" Carla asked as she and Tracey walked into the bedroom.

"Yeah. I do. You and Delia did a wonderful job on the food. The only complaint I have now is that my back is absolutely killing me. I think I over did it a little today."

"I told you that you needed to try and take it easy. Why don't you lie down for a while and see if that doesn't make you feel a little better."

"Maybe I will. Listen, babe. Can I get you to do me a favor?" Tracey asked.

"Of course. What is it?"

"I would really appreciate it if you could go and ask Professor Oak if he has any aspirin I can have. That would really help me out a lot."

"Sure. I'll be right back." Carla said as she turned and headed back downstairs.

"Is something wrong, Carla?" Professor Oak asked as Delia reappeared in the dining room where he and Delia were having some tea.

"Not really. Tracey wanted me to ask you if there's any aspirin. He over did it a bit and he has a backache." Carla explained.

"Sure. I have some aspirin in the kitchen. I'll go get some. Be right back." Professor Oak said. "This is good. This will definitely make my idea a lot easier. I can't let Carla find out what I have in mind just yet though." Professor Oak thought to himself as he disappeared into the kitchen.