The Tracey Chronicles

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, those of you who have actually been keeping up with this story. Hopefully, I won't disappoint. Enjoy.

Chapter Six: Understanding

After giving his account of what had happened to Officer Jenny and bidding farewell to a grateful Veronica and Ray, all Tracey wanted to do was change out of his uncomfortable, wet clothing and eat something warm. One of Jenny's police officers was nice enough to off him and Janie a ride back to the Pokemon Center. They accepted and rode back in silence, watching the dark clouds in the sky drift away as the storm began lightening up.

Tracey didn't notice at first, but the entire way back, Janie kept throwing him odd, furtive looks. Her eyes would quickly dart in his direction, stare for a moment, and then turn away…only to repeat the process a few seconds later. After a few cycles, it got to him and he turned to look at her directly.

"What?"

She seemed surprised that he had caught her. "What, what?"

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"Looking at you like what?"

"Janie…I'm not in the mood for games…"

"It's nothing," Janie answered, looking away from him and out the window. She'd said it quickly. A little TOO quickly, Tracey noted. Which, of course, meant it was something.

"You're a terrible liar."

"Whatever."

Before he could say anything in return, they were pulling up in front of the Pokemon Center. Tracey spotted Mikey waiting anxiously for them in front of the wide doors with Pichu sitting on his head. His large blue eyes lit up when he saw the police cruiser stop.

"Tracey! You're back! Are you okay?" Mikey immediately demanded as he ran up to them.

"PI-CHU!" Pichu dove off of the boy's head and right into Janie, burying its small face into her chest.

"I'm fine. Everything's okay," Tracey replied with a confident grin.

"Did you stop the bad guys from stealing the Pokemon?"

"Yeah, but we'll talk about it later. I'm freezing."

Janie frowned at him disapprovingly, reminding Tracey of how eerily she resembled their mother when she was displeased. "And it's no wonder. Look at you! You're soaked. Imagine that, running out in the middle of a storm…come on. Let's get you changed before you get yourself sick."

Nurse Joy, who greeted them warmly, met them when they entered. She quickly called for Chansey to bring some towels and dinner. Tracey was practically attacked by a group of concerned Chansey. "Chansey! Chansey!"

"Gah! Hey, watch it-mmmfff!" Tracey's voice grew muffled as a Chansey threw a towel over his head and started roughly rubbing it to dry his hair.

Janie, enjoying this far too much, quickly pawed through his backpack to find some dry clothes to replace the wet ones. She assembled a shirt and shorts for him and found some socks. Giggling at his befuddled expression as the Chansey finished its assault on his hair, Janie handed him the clothes.

"You might need these, Trace."

"Thanks," Tracey fended off the Chansey when they started following him to the bathroom to help him change, claiming he could do it himself.

"Wow," He heard Mikey muse to Janie, "I thought the stories of unrivaled service in the Pokemon Center of Meadow Valley were just rumors…"

When Tracey was comfortably dry and warm, he made his way to the counter. He took out his Poke Balls with Marill and Venonat and handed them to Joy. "They got pretty banged up in the battles I had with Team Rocket."

She nodded understandingly while taking them from him. "Nothing a little treatment and rest won't cure. Go relax, Tracey. You're the hero, tonight."

Tracey blushed, "No, I'm not-"

"But you are, Tracey!" Mikey interrupted, looking at him with a look of awe. "You're so brave! You just rushed off to help that girl the moment you heard the Pokemon Nursery was in trouble!"

"And you even managed to save the day," Janie added with a proud smile.

"Oh come on, guys. You're embarrassing me," He muttered and sat down to the table. He changed the subject, "Wow, this looks great! I'm starving."

He ate while trying to answer the questions Janie and Mikey fired at him about what had just happened. Joy walked out from the back room and up to their table. "Mikey? Great news. Eevee is going to be just fine."

Mikey leaped to his feet happily. "He is? YES! Can I see him?"

"Of course. This way," Joy gestured towards the door that she had just emerged from. Mikey followed her out of the room, the door swinging shut behind them. A Chansey came by to clear the table as soon as Tracey finished his meal.

"So…are you going to tell me why you keep looking at me like that?" Tracey asked Janie.

"It's nothing," she replied with a shrug. "You're just…so different now."

Tracey frowned. "Different? What do you mean."

His sister shrugged again. "I don't know. You just…are. But not in a bad way."

"Okay…" He answered, not sure how to reply. What did she mean by 'different'?

She seemed to pick up on his confusion. "It's just…I don't know. The Tracey I remember wouldn't have just up and left without a word to anyone." He didn't reply so she arched an eyebrow at him. "What, did you think I wouldn't notice that something was wrong? Come on Tracey, it hasn't been that long."

"I just needed to…get away, you know?" It wasn't a lie, just not the complete truth.

"So you just left? Without telling Professor Oak? He must be worried," Janie continued dubiously.

"Sure he is. That's why he's so eager to get rid of me!" Tracey blurted out sarcastically before he could stop himself. Janie's eyes went wide at this.

"…What?"

"Er…nothing. Look, I think I'm going to go to sleep early. I'm beat and we've got some travelling to do tomorrow. Good night, sis," Tracey quickly said and walked away.

"Okay…good night," he heard Janie reply quietly behind him as turned the corner and disappeared into the room Joy had allowed them to spend the night in.

Janie watched as her brother run away from her again. She looked down at Pichu and absently scratched it behind its ears. "He's not very good at lying either, isn't he, Pichu?"

"Pi-chu," Pichu tilted its head at her inquisitively.

"Yeah, I know," Janie sighed and reached into her backpack to pull out the sketchpad she had found in the dirt by Mrs. Ketchum's house. As she flipped through the pages filled with beautiful, detailed drawings, Tracey's words haunted her.

"Sure he is. That's why he's so eager to get rid of me!"

Janie sighed and peered down at the notebook in her hands. It was ironic how Tracey had said words similar to those to her before. Only then, it had been about their father, the result of a terrible argument that had ended with Tracey leaving the Sketchits' household for good.

But that had been years ago. And then, she had been too young to assure him that she loved him, if not anyone else. He was her big brother after all. Well, that had been then. This was now.

"Pichu," Janie looked down at the curious Pokemon sitting on the table as she closed the sketchpad. "I say we give Professor Oak a call tomorrow. I don't like this. Not at all."

A/N: Yeah, yeah. Pure talking and no action, I know. You try developing a relationship on pure mindless action. Anyway, read and review! Tell me your thoughts.