The Tracey Chronicles
Chapter Seven: Embarking
They stayed at the Pokemon Center a few days before leaving because the storm had lingered. Tracey didn't mind as it had given him plenty of time to actually talk more with his sister and really catch up with what he had missed since he had left home. To his dismay, he found that he had missed a lot. Several times, Janie had tried to get him to talk about why he had suddenly left Professor Oak's but he'd promptly told her to stay out of the situation. But on a brighter note, in the few days they'd been stuck at the center waiting for the storm to blow over, he'd gotten to know Mikey a little better.
As it turned out, the boy was from a small town called Stone Town at the base of a mountain and was aspiring to be an Eevee trainer like his three older brothers. But, as he'd said earlier, his brothers had disappeared a few months ago when they'd set out to explore a distant, unknown region of the world. Naturally, Mikey had grown worried and decided to take it upon himself to go look for them. Tracey had been impressed that the child had managed to make it this far and still be alive.
"Eevee's a lot tougher than he looks," Mikey gushed proudly when Tracey had complimented him one morning when the two of them were sitting in the guest lounge of the Pokemon Center.
"Eee!" Eevee chimed in merrily, cradled in Mikey's arms. He hadn't wandered far from the boy since Nurse Joy had declared him well enough to leave a day ago.
"Hey guys," Janie said as she emerged from the lobby of the Pokemon center and joined them in the lounge. "The storm cleared up last night. I think it's safe for us to set out now."
"That's great. I was starting to get restless staying here," Tracey said. He stood and stretched. Then, glanced at his sister curiously. "Speaking of which, where are we going anyway?"
"I don't know," Janie shrugged and smiled a bit sheepishly. "I really didn't have any direction in mind to tell you the truth. But Nurse Joy asked me to do her a favor so at least we have a starting point."
"A favor? What kind of favor?"
Janie slung her backpack off and rummaged through it. She revealed a plastic rectangular box with a red Poke Ball sticker on the lid with the Meadow Valley Pokemon Center insignia underneath it. She opened the lid and turned it so Tracey and Mikey could see the contents. "She wanted me to deliver these to the Viridian City Pokemon Center."
Mikey looked at the bottles filled with various colored liquids and frowned. "What are they? Medicine?"
"Yes, something like that," Janie answered, closing the lid to the box and tucking it back into her backpack. "They're running low on resources there and the storm caused some damage to the roads so Viridian's Nurse Joy called Meadow Valley for some help." She looked at Tracey. "Trace, have you ever been there?"
"A few times, running errands for Professor Oak," Tracey replied.
"Well good, we'll have a guide then!" Janie smiled. She picked Pichu up and looked down at Mikey. "So Mikey…what are your plans?"
This seemed to surprise Mikey. "Plans? Oh I, uh, I don't know really…"
"Weren't you planning on heading to Bubble Town?" asked Tracey.
"Yeah, but," Mikey looked down at Eevee and sighed, "I don't think we'll get very far. I want to find my brothers but I think it's too dangerous for Eevee and me to go alone."
"Vee…" Eevee added, sounding depressed.
"So you're going back to Stone Town?" Janie inquired tentatively.
Mikey shrugged half-heartedly, obviously sad. Tracey's heart went out to him. "We'll come with you. You know, just to make sure you get home okay." He looked at Janie to make sure she was okay with the decision. She just smiled briefly and shrugged.
"Thanks a lot," Mikey offered them a shy smile in return.
"Well we're not going to get far just standing around here," Janie piped up cheerfully. "Let's hit the road, troops!"
It was a beautiful day. The storm had completely cleared up and left a crisp, blue sky inhabited only by the bright sun and a few straggly white clouds. Tracey heard Pidgey chirping happily and saw Caterpie and Weedle scuttling about, enjoying the warm sunshine. A Mankey came swinging by overhead on the tree branches. A soft fluttering noise filled the air as a swarm of Butterfree flitted past them.
"I can't thank you enough for doing this for me," Joy said to them as she walked them to the door of the Pokemon Center. Behind her, the Chansey were waving and chanting their good-byes.
"It's no problem Nurse Joy, really," Janie said to her with a bright smile.
"You kids take care. Tell my sister I said hello," Joy grinned gratefully and saw them off.
It was nice to be on the road again, Tracey admitted to himself. As much as he had enjoyed his stay with Professor Oak where he could spend as much time as he wished studying all sorts of different Pokemon, he'd missed having adventures. He sighed. Professor Oak. Just the thought of his idol's name made Tracey sad. It still hurt to think about what the Professor had said about him and how painfully close it was to the words his own father had said to him the night he was disowned.
"Tracey?" Janie was looking at him in concern. "You okay?"
"Huh? Yeah! I'm fine. Just…uh…thinking," Tracey lied and forced a smile to reassure her. She tilted her head at him slightly and regarded him doubtfully but, thankfully, let it go with a nod before turning away.
"Wow! What's that?" Mikey asked excitedly, looking up. The wind was carrying a swarm of Hoppip along over them. It was a long line of the peaceful grass-types, gently crooning as they rode the breeze.
"Those are Hoppip. They're extremely light so whenever there's a wind current, they're easily swept up and carried along. It's an easy method of travelling for them," Tracey informed him. "They usually try to stay on wind currents that lead them away from cities and towns. It gets dangerous because of the buildings."
"Hoppip! Hoppip! Hoppip!" The Hoppip's soft voices could be heard as they drifted along.
"There's so many of them!" Janie remarked.
Tracey nodded, eyes on the drifting Pokemon. "Yeah. Professor Oak and I did a lot of observations on them. They're really amazing. This isn't anything. In some places where there is a lot of Hoppip, it could get really crowded. Come mating season and it becomes chaos."
"Why? What do they do in mating season?" Mikey innocently asked, eyes wide.
Tracey could feel his face flush. He stammered, "U-uh, nothing. It's just…um, it's just a thing…"
Thankfully, though she was thoroughly enjoying his embarrassment at being stuck explaining Pokemon mating, Janie interrupted. "You know what? I say we get off this path and cut through Viridian Forest. It'll be much faster."
"You know what, you're right. Let's go!" Tracey began walking faster, eagerly escaping Mikey and his question.
They found the path that lead straight to Viridian City from the forest. As the three of them walked along, many Pokemon were out and about, some even stopping to peer at them curiously. Janie took it all in stride while Mikey eyed each one in awe. Tracey got the urge several times to whip out his sketchpad and draw some of them but forced himself to stop. It wasn't as if they would matter any more anyway.
"You seem to know your way pretty well around here, Tracey," the younger Sketchit commented suddenly.
"Professor Oak and I did a lot of work out here," Tracey said a bit sadly. "Once, we some how walked off of the path and got completely lost. Thank goodness Marill has such great hearing. She could hear Ash's Snorlax complaining from miles away when lunch time came around!"
"You two must be close," Janie answered neutrally.
Tracey lowered his head a little and shrugged. "Sure…"
"You must miss him, being away and all," she continued lightly.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. He misses you. He's worried you too."
Tracey glanced at her suspiciously. "What? How do you know?"
Janie suddenly looked guilty. Hesitantly, she glanced at him and shrugged a little. "Because he told me…?"
"He told you…" Tracey stopped and stared at her. "Janie, you didn't! Did you call Professor Oak?"
"It's not like you would have!" Janie retorted. "And he is worried about you, Tracey! He's been worried sick since you just disappeared like that. It isn't like you, you know."
"Janie, I told you to stay out of this! You don't even know what happened so just drop it," Tracey replied and started walking away, annoyed with her.
"Tracey…" Janie pleaded but he ignored her and kept walking ahead. His own sister had betrayed him! He couldn't believe this.
Mikey watched uncomfortably as the two argued briefly. He had pulled a little behind when the two of them had started talking, not wanting to intrude on the conversation. They were obviously close and the few days he'd spent getting to know them better had proven that. Still, there seemed to be something Janie was constantly trying to get out of Tracey that he wasn't ready to share with her yet. Though he'd tried to act oblivious, Mikey had picked up that much from overhearing them talk.
"They remind me of my brothers and I," Mikey said with a small smile to Eevee.
"Eeee," Eevee agreed.
"Uh oh," Mikey murmured when Tracey stormed forward and away from Janie. He exchanged worried glances with Eevee, tightened his grip on his backpack, and then started walking faster to catch up with Janie.
She looked visibly upset, staring down petulantly as she walked. Pichu was cooing softly and rubbing its cheek against hers from its perch on her shoulder.
"Janie…are you two okay?" Mikey asked lamely. He didn't know what else to say.
She offered him a weak smile. "I don't know. Don't think badly of this, Mikey. We're not always like this." She looked up pensively at Tracey, who was a short distance ahead of them. "And he's not always like this. Well, he wasn't when I knew him. But I guess four years really changes things, huh?"
"I guess," Mikey agreed softly. Privately, he was glad that Pyro, Rainer, and Sparky had never been away from him for that long. He wouldn't know what to do without his big brothers.
A/N: Tell me your thoughts, people. Read and Review.