Chapter 1: Tracey's Past Upon Meeting Todd
You all know the story of Ash, how he grew up to overthrow Giovanni and become the Pokemon Master, but what about his two best friends Tracy and Todd? Well, this is the story within the story, the untold tale of the two unsung heroes of the Kanto region. This is their story-
As you know, Ash grew up in Pallet in western Kanto. Now you might think Tracey is from the Orange Islands, and that's true, but he was born in a place called Crimson City, in the far eastern outskirts of Kanto nearing Joto. Back when Ash was very young, and even just a baby, Crimson City was populated but that fact was a trying one....
"What was that?" A boy stopped in the middle of the road, his sister ran into him.
"What was that?" She repeated, looking around.
"Sh!" A few people poked their heads around corners or through open windows and doors, "Quick before Pokemon come."
The boy and girl looked up to the lookout tower where the guard yelled, "All clear!"
Everyone continued on with their business, scurrying along the streets. Crimson City, being at the edge of the county and in the farthest reaches from PokeMaster Ketchum's residence, terror reigned. Pokemon attacked the city often, and the people constantly lived in fear. A new power was rising, and that was none other than Team Rocket.
"Keep on running, keep running, keep on running." A chant could be heard through the street. "When you're building don't forget to run, you can run once you're done."
"What's that!" A voice screamed and everyone paused, looking around again.
"Quick before Pokemon come." The people continued to hurry as the chant grew louder and clearer. "Keep on building, never get done. Keep on running, before the Pokemon come. Build a wall, build a wall."
The adults were constructing a wall of wood and concrete cement blocks around the city, the older children were gathering supplies as the elder people helped out where they could. Some people were standing on ladders putting barbed wire on the top of the eight foot walls. These people were serious about protecting their hometown from the dangers that lay outside, and they had good reason too.
"Keep on running that's what we do, life's a wall and we build it too. Keep on running that's what we sing, keep on building, that's everything. Wood and cement are our best friend, you never know what's around the bend. And when you get to the walls end, hallelujah let's build again."
Tracey was about six and a half, seven, at this time, he could've left to become a Pokemon Trainer but he didn't have the desire, and not to mention that the town he currently resided in feared them. But Tracey was one of the workers who helped the adults build the fences and other things to protect them. He was the middle child, he had an older brother and younger sister, they lived with both parents. Speaking of parents, Tracey's mom was looking for him. She was kinda chunky but still pretty looking, she had hair like Misty, only her red orange hair had the ponytail in the back of her head.
"Hello, uhm, excuse me, have any of you guys seen Tracey?" She would ask random people on the street, but the only replies she would get were, 'run, build, wall, little faster, what was that'. "Has my son passed through here?" Finally she found somebody that might know, her husband. "Max."
"Ah!" He flinched and turned around to his wife. He had short dark gray hair and was fairly skinny, except for his beer belly. "Unca, don't scare me like that."
"Relax, have you seen Tracey?"
"Hmm, well let's see. So far there's been no fractures, no hernias, no concussions, contusions or any of the sort. Nope, it's been a good day, no sign of Tracey's handy work anywhere..." But before Max could finish, a huge crack appeared in the wall behind them. Screams rang out as it collapsed. Max stood up from the dust and dirt, "That would be.... Tracey!"
Everyone whirled around to see Tracey freeze by the end of the wall and smirk, "Hi..." Unca walked over to her son. "I was making a window, you know, so we could spy out?"
"Oh, a window, how creative." She grimaced between her teeth as she brushed the dirt off her son, then muttered to herself, "Not again."
"Sorry, sorry everyone." Tracey gulped, trying not to blush with humiliation.
The town began to mutter angry things under their breath like, 'yea we could see them, and they could see us!' or 'way to go man' or 'haha, nice work' or 'fourth time this week, who else could do that' or 'not again'
"Why don't I just take him and have a talk with him." Unca pushed Tracey to the back of the town as everyone picked up where they left off. "What's the matter with you son?"
"I'm sorry mom, I was just trying to help. It's just that I don't understand what we've got here. All we do is run and hide so we can build and build so we can run and hide."
"Son, this can't go on much longer. Just this month alone you've pulled down four walls and collapsed two lookout posts. We have to look out for each other, our survival depends on it." She begins to brush through his hair.
"But what's the point?" He jerks away. "I don't wanna have to live a life of fear, where all we do is build for our safety and then run and hide in it. What's so bad of dreaming about a better home?"
Unca sighed, "Tracey, I want to show you something." She opened one of the hatches in a wooden wall. "Look out there.... well go on, look." She pushed her son's head. "Look out there, everything the light touches, the land, the treetops, the sky...." Tracey wore a wide grin as he surveyed the beautiful scenery. "Belongs to someone else." She closed the hatch.
"Funny, I kinda pictured you go down a different path here...." He smirked to himself.
"Out there is a land of Pokemon and trainers."
"She's right son." Max appeared almost from out of nowhere. "It's a scary place filled with fear."
"Come on honey, get a grip." Unca sighed.
"It's like a whole circle of life kinda thing hu?" Tracey went on.
"What, how so?"
"Pokemon attack humans and humans train Pokemon.... you know, circle of life?"
"Circle of life? More like line of irony!" Max paused and began to think aloud to himself. "Wait, is that the right word I'm looking for here?"
"Thank you Max." Unca rolled her eyes. "You've been a big help."
"But we can catch Pokemon!" Tracey protested.
"But Pokemon can eat us!" Max cut him off. "Some people just can't train Pokemon, they're not trainer material."
"Uhm..." Tracey began but was cut off.
"Oh come on Max." Unca spoke up. "I bet anyone could train Pokemon when old enough."
"Even me?" Tracey perked up.
"Well, uh..."
"There's better out there, I just know it. We can go..." Tracey asked.
"To where." Max frowned. "We're not trainers, how could we tame those ravenous, vicious Pokemon that attack our poor fair city?"
"Well," Unca spoke up. "I have heard of a new region beyond Kanto out there, it's called the Orange Islands."
"What about it?" Max asked.
"Out there is a beautiful land where people live in peace and what little Pokemon known out there stay in the water and the land types are shy and live in harmony with the humans."
"That's just a fantasy utopia Unca." Max caused her to frown.
"Then why don't we move there?" Tracey asked.
Unca turned around, "We can't leave them now. Your father and I grew up here, we raised you and your brother and sister here. This is our home, we can't stick here for the good and turn our tails and run during the bad."
"Yea." Tracey sighed. "I understand."
"Don't worry son." Unca sighed and began to brush her son's messed up hair with her hands. Tracey smirked, feeling like a little child. "Everything works out in the end, you'll see. I just know there's a way for you to fit in here." One rebellious lock of hair fell out of place and Tracey shook his head to mess his hair back up.
"Shift call." A voice echoed in the distance. "Tracey on sentry."
"Tracey on sentry?" Max gasped.
"Did you hear that!" Unca smiled. "My son, the sentry!"
"But mom...." Tracey couldn't finish, Unca was pushing him back to the front gate as Max followed.
"This is just what you wanted, it's open, outside, away from building."
"But Unca, Tracey a sentry? Might as well open the doors now and allow the Pokemon to kill us." Max said.
"You know he's right you know." Tracey agreed.
"Well we could always put you back with construction." Unca suggested.
"No!" Tracey, Max and the town cried in unison. They all froze and looked at each other, then resumed their work.
"Then it's settled, Tracey is the sentry." Unca smiled.
"Sentry, yea. I mean, how hard can it be?" Tracey gulped.
"Your brother was the previous sentry." Unca looked up at the lookout spot where Tracey's older brother, Joe, was tattered and shaggy, dirty, scrawny, and hair all grayish brown and messy. "Uhm, Max, do you mind?"
"Sure, sure..." Max walked over to his son and dragged him away as he was muttering and laughing insanely in gibberish.
"Well, now I'm convinced." Tracey gulped sarcastically.
"Don't worry, your dad was a sentry before, he'll tell you everything you need to know." Unca took Joe back to their house and left Max with Tracey. "Oh and one more thing, remember honey, try to make this one work out..."
"Now all you have to remember is took look out for Pokemon. And if you see one, what do you do?"
"Yell: mommy!"
"That's right. Because it's a fraught world out there, fraught I tell you."
"Oh boy, here we go with the fraught fest again..." Tracey zoned out as his dad rambled on.
"You got it?"
"Yes sir!"
"That's my boy." Max left.
Tracey stood on the post and looked out, "Hey, this isn't so hard..." He stopped when he saw a small little lake shimmering in the sun, there were beautiful flowers hidden in the bushes under the trees. "Wow, I gotta make a sketch of this!" He took out his pocket book and began to draw. And as he did, he sung a song to himself:
There's more to life than panic Or being a Pokemon's snack I may be a target for an attack But this human's fighting back
I'll put building walls behind me I've got a new attitude And I'll catch and train Pokemon, to remind me That I'm not just food
For once I'll be looking out for me, yea!
(But Tracey was so into his song that he didn't notice three pairs of eyes watching him.)
I'll tell you what I want, this kid is moving on!
I'm missing out on all the fun I could be the big cheese Far from this dismal scene Riding on a cool ocean breeze To a little place just for me
And I'll be relaxing in a hammock By a peaceful pond or stream Miles away from any wall Or construction scene Looking after your one and only Will be my only greed
That's all I need That's all I need
I've always been good at hiding And running away Well now I'm running head on I've always been a Pokemon's prey
But my status no aint so quo...
This life is for the birds, my true life's gonna shine I'm not asking for a lot, but what's mine is mine Whose gonna wanna argue with my chorus line My dream is sublime, it's rumble time
But before Tracey could even repeat the chorus of, "That's All I Need", he noticed the three eyes and they weren't so far off, they were standing right next to him. Tracey dropped his sketchbook and pencil as he cowered before two pre-teens, a boy and a girl, but even scarier than the red 'R' that they wore on their shirts was the Meowth that stood before him, bared tooth and claw.
"Hey look at this, a dinner and a meal." The Meowth joked.
"A talk... a talk... a talk..." Tracey stuttered.
"No, the time for talk has passed my friend." The girl, Jessy, smirked.
"Oh, it's rumble time!" The boy, James, yelled, quoting one of the last lines of Tracey's songs.
"Mommy." Tracey whispered as Meowth slashed at him, he rolled down the hill off the lookout post and down through the front gates where he crashed into his dad who was pacing around on guard duty.
"Tracey!" He got up. "What are you doing down here this is no time to fool around, you're supposed to be on the lookout for..." But before he could finish, Max saw the trio. "Intruders!"
Everyone looked up and screamed as they began to run into their houses, the security on guard went to close the door but the trio was too close and too fast, they got in.
"Go Ekans!"
"Go Koffing!"
"Woohoo, look at em go, this is just how I like it!" Meowth laughed.
Jessy, James and the three Pokemon began to attack the people who had not yet made it to safety. Max was trying to help some of the others get to safety. Tracey cowered in a ball, he hadn't moved from where he was.
"Get in here!" She pulled Tracey inside where she was with her other two children. "Ok, you three are here but... where's your dad!" She gasped. Max was the only one left outside and the intruders were blocking the door to his house.
"Ah!" Max turned and saw them.
"Dad, run for your life!" Joe yelled.
"Play dead!" Joe and Tracey's sister cried.
"You got it, almost there!" Unca said but they attacked. "Oh no." Everyone cringed but suddenly the door opened and Max fell in, everyone gasped. "Max, are you alright?" But he just muttered something in a groan and collapsed.
"Man that was great." James laughed as he returned Koffing.
"Yea, it never gets old." Jessy agreed as she returned Ekans.
"Gotta love it." Meowth retracted his claws.
Everyone came outside as soon as the trio was gone to see how Max was doing. Joe was waving him with a fan, he was pretty beat up. Everyone leered over at Tracey, "Hey, sorry, I uhm, I guess I owe everybody an apology, I made one little mistake.... someday we'll all look back on this and laugh right? I mean come on now, how many of you have broken into song while on century, show of hands?" Tracey was the only one with his in the air. Everyone frowned and scowled as they walked off to restore the damage made in the attack. "Come on, I said I was sorry. I promise it won't happen again." Tracey looked over at his dad. "Trust me!"
"I did trust you."
"But...."
And with that, Max went back inside. Tracey sighed and looked down at his little sister, she had blond yellow hair and a dark tanned skin, "Way to go, bro." She followed her dad inside and slammed the door. Unca sighed and turned to see Tracey walking off out the back gate.
"Oh, honey." She followed him to where they were talking earlier, "So you made a mistake, things can be fixed."
"Come on mom, I can't fit in here, nobody wants me here, nobody likes me."
"There's people who like you..."
"Other than you, mom."
"Oh, well there's uh...." She began to think.
"This isn't the right place for me, I don't belong here." Tracey sighed and looked at the sunset.
Unca began to brush her son's hair with her hands again, "Yes it is, we just have to find it, and we will. So you don't like building walls and century wasn't the right job. Here's an idea, you could...."
"Forget it mom!" He ruffled his hair. "And enough with the hair!" He sighed. "My place is out there, I may not know exactly where, but I gotta go, no matter how far."
"No wait, I know, if we just..."
"No mom."
"This may be the life set out for us, but I guess it's not the right life for you. Maybe it's time you find out what is." Tracey looked down at his hands, his mom was holding them tight. "You can change, if given the chance." He looked up at his mom's face, he understood what she was saying by reading her eyes. "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for son."
"But what about you guys mom?"
"Don't worry honey, things will be fine for us here." She smiled. "You go out there and you find what you were meant to do, find out who you were meant to be."
Tracey was silent for a moment, but then he hugged his mom who squeezed back, "Ow, mom, choking, not breathing." Finally she let go and returned to holding his hands. "I'll return mom, I'll come back here and things will be better, you just wait and see."
"I know they will." Unca sighed and reluctantly let go of her son's hands.
"I'll be ok too."
"I know you will."
"By mom, I love you." And with that Tracey began to walk off into the sunset.
Unca watched her son go, "Oh, I love you too, just be careful."
"I will."
"Remember, don't talk to strangers."
"I know mom."
"Always wear clean underwear."
"Mom!" Tracey turned around. "I'm not a little boy anymore, I'm growing up!" He continued walking.
"Tracey!" Unca began yelling some more but Tracey was too far to hear it.
"What?" He turned and tried to listen, but he couldn't make it out. "Good by mom!" And with that, Tracey began his new life. He walked through grasslands, through forests. But as night settled and he found himself in a cold dark desert, he finally realized that he was on his own. "Ah, I want my mommy. Oh mom!" He began to cry before some sort of rest house that was set up for travelers like Pokemon Trainers. "What am I doing, where should I go?"
All of a sudden, somebody jumped out in front of him, "Hello!"
"Ah!"
"That depends on where you're going."
Tracey didn't hear that, he was still in shock, "Who are you?"
"The better question is, where are you going?" It was Professor Oak.
"Oh someplace wonderful, mister. I... you didn't happen to catch the song I was singing a few minutes ago now did ya?"
"No, I'm sorry I didn't have the pleasure."
"Well, to sum it up for ya, I'm going someplace where I have no worries, have a perfect life of freedom."
"Ah, I see you want to live by your motto."
"Yea, exactly! Wait, I have a motto?"
"You want to live a perfect life of freedoms and no worries. Everyone seeks that."
"So then can you help me?"
Professor Oak put his hand on Tracey's shoulder, "To find what you desire, you must look beyond what you see."
"Look beyond what I see?" Tracey looked out. He saw rocks and trees and blank hills, until finally he saw something far off in the distance. "Wait a sec, I think I've got it, something's coming to me. Either it's my dinner turning on my stomach or I think I'm having an epiphany! I'm going to that town over there! Right?" He turned but the figure was gone. "Ok, wow, what just happened here? Who was that stranger? Oh well, dream life, here I come." After thinking for a moment, Tracey began to walk on. He was out of the small patch of desert and walking through a normal terrain through some long grass. A wind picked up and blew eerily through them, causing Tracey's neck hair to bristle. "Uhm, hello? Strange but wise person?" He heard a strange clicking and whirring sound, and he began to run for his life with something in pursuit. He ran through the grass like a deer being chased by a lion. Finally he emerged and the light from the sunrise blinded him. When he got his vision back, he realized something was in front of him. "Ah!" He screamed as he skidded to a halt.
"Ah!" The person in front of him gasped, startled as well.
"Ah!" They both screamed for a while before Tracey finally spoke up.
"Oh please don't hurt me trainer, please have your Pokemon destroy me quickly because I have a low level pain tolerance!"
"Easy there, I'm not a trainer, I'm too young anyways." The boy replied. Tracey looked up to see a boy with brown hair, he was about the same age as him.
"You aren't?" Tracey stood up. "Wait, if you weren't trying to kill me, then why were you chasing me?"
"I just saw you walking around and figured a guy like you shouldn't be out here at night all alone."
"Oh. Well what about you, you're alone. Wait, you are all alone aren't you?" Tracey began to look around nervously.
"Yea, Pokemon get startled easily whenever they notice that I'm around."
"They do?" Tracey perked up.
"Yea." The boy looked at his camera.
"What, you have some super special secret power?"
"No, I just scare them with my camera, the noises make them run."
"Oh I see. You're a photographer? Cool, I draw."
"Cool."
"Well buddy, you're hired."
"Great! Uhm, for what?"
"You're gonna get me to that place." Tracey pointed to the town in the distance.
"Why?"
"Some guy told me," He spoke in a mocking voice. "Look beyond what you see." He spoke normally. "So I'm going to that town."
"Ok." The boy shrugged. "So you want me to go with you?" Tracey nodded. "Well then, I'm your man."
Tracey smiled, "I can see it now, you and me, we see eye to eye."
"By the way, my name's Tracey."
"No really? Todd." He smiled. "Here, let me get a picture of my new friend."
"Whoa, we just met pal. We're more like, an acquaintances."
"Oh." He sighed. "Great, well put it there, acquaintance."
"Well, alright then, let's hit the road." They shook hands and began to walk to the town as Tracey spoke up, "You know something bud, I think this is gonna be the start of something big."
You all know the story of Ash, how he grew up to overthrow Giovanni and become the Pokemon Master, but what about his two best friends Tracy and Todd? Well, this is the story within the story, the untold tale of the two unsung heroes of the Kanto region. This is their story-
As you know, Ash grew up in Pallet in western Kanto. Now you might think Tracey is from the Orange Islands, and that's true, but he was born in a place called Crimson City, in the far eastern outskirts of Kanto nearing Joto. Back when Ash was very young, and even just a baby, Crimson City was populated but that fact was a trying one....
"What was that?" A boy stopped in the middle of the road, his sister ran into him.
"What was that?" She repeated, looking around.
"Sh!" A few people poked their heads around corners or through open windows and doors, "Quick before Pokemon come."
The boy and girl looked up to the lookout tower where the guard yelled, "All clear!"
Everyone continued on with their business, scurrying along the streets. Crimson City, being at the edge of the county and in the farthest reaches from PokeMaster Ketchum's residence, terror reigned. Pokemon attacked the city often, and the people constantly lived in fear. A new power was rising, and that was none other than Team Rocket.
"Keep on running, keep running, keep on running." A chant could be heard through the street. "When you're building don't forget to run, you can run once you're done."
"What's that!" A voice screamed and everyone paused, looking around again.
"Quick before Pokemon come." The people continued to hurry as the chant grew louder and clearer. "Keep on building, never get done. Keep on running, before the Pokemon come. Build a wall, build a wall."
The adults were constructing a wall of wood and concrete cement blocks around the city, the older children were gathering supplies as the elder people helped out where they could. Some people were standing on ladders putting barbed wire on the top of the eight foot walls. These people were serious about protecting their hometown from the dangers that lay outside, and they had good reason too.
"Keep on running that's what we do, life's a wall and we build it too. Keep on running that's what we sing, keep on building, that's everything. Wood and cement are our best friend, you never know what's around the bend. And when you get to the walls end, hallelujah let's build again."
Tracey was about six and a half, seven, at this time, he could've left to become a Pokemon Trainer but he didn't have the desire, and not to mention that the town he currently resided in feared them. But Tracey was one of the workers who helped the adults build the fences and other things to protect them. He was the middle child, he had an older brother and younger sister, they lived with both parents. Speaking of parents, Tracey's mom was looking for him. She was kinda chunky but still pretty looking, she had hair like Misty, only her red orange hair had the ponytail in the back of her head.
"Hello, uhm, excuse me, have any of you guys seen Tracey?" She would ask random people on the street, but the only replies she would get were, 'run, build, wall, little faster, what was that'. "Has my son passed through here?" Finally she found somebody that might know, her husband. "Max."
"Ah!" He flinched and turned around to his wife. He had short dark gray hair and was fairly skinny, except for his beer belly. "Unca, don't scare me like that."
"Relax, have you seen Tracey?"
"Hmm, well let's see. So far there's been no fractures, no hernias, no concussions, contusions or any of the sort. Nope, it's been a good day, no sign of Tracey's handy work anywhere..." But before Max could finish, a huge crack appeared in the wall behind them. Screams rang out as it collapsed. Max stood up from the dust and dirt, "That would be.... Tracey!"
Everyone whirled around to see Tracey freeze by the end of the wall and smirk, "Hi..." Unca walked over to her son. "I was making a window, you know, so we could spy out?"
"Oh, a window, how creative." She grimaced between her teeth as she brushed the dirt off her son, then muttered to herself, "Not again."
"Sorry, sorry everyone." Tracey gulped, trying not to blush with humiliation.
The town began to mutter angry things under their breath like, 'yea we could see them, and they could see us!' or 'way to go man' or 'haha, nice work' or 'fourth time this week, who else could do that' or 'not again'
"Why don't I just take him and have a talk with him." Unca pushed Tracey to the back of the town as everyone picked up where they left off. "What's the matter with you son?"
"I'm sorry mom, I was just trying to help. It's just that I don't understand what we've got here. All we do is run and hide so we can build and build so we can run and hide."
"Son, this can't go on much longer. Just this month alone you've pulled down four walls and collapsed two lookout posts. We have to look out for each other, our survival depends on it." She begins to brush through his hair.
"But what's the point?" He jerks away. "I don't wanna have to live a life of fear, where all we do is build for our safety and then run and hide in it. What's so bad of dreaming about a better home?"
Unca sighed, "Tracey, I want to show you something." She opened one of the hatches in a wooden wall. "Look out there.... well go on, look." She pushed her son's head. "Look out there, everything the light touches, the land, the treetops, the sky...." Tracey wore a wide grin as he surveyed the beautiful scenery. "Belongs to someone else." She closed the hatch.
"Funny, I kinda pictured you go down a different path here...." He smirked to himself.
"Out there is a land of Pokemon and trainers."
"She's right son." Max appeared almost from out of nowhere. "It's a scary place filled with fear."
"Come on honey, get a grip." Unca sighed.
"It's like a whole circle of life kinda thing hu?" Tracey went on.
"What, how so?"
"Pokemon attack humans and humans train Pokemon.... you know, circle of life?"
"Circle of life? More like line of irony!" Max paused and began to think aloud to himself. "Wait, is that the right word I'm looking for here?"
"Thank you Max." Unca rolled her eyes. "You've been a big help."
"But we can catch Pokemon!" Tracey protested.
"But Pokemon can eat us!" Max cut him off. "Some people just can't train Pokemon, they're not trainer material."
"Uhm..." Tracey began but was cut off.
"Oh come on Max." Unca spoke up. "I bet anyone could train Pokemon when old enough."
"Even me?" Tracey perked up.
"Well, uh..."
"There's better out there, I just know it. We can go..." Tracey asked.
"To where." Max frowned. "We're not trainers, how could we tame those ravenous, vicious Pokemon that attack our poor fair city?"
"Well," Unca spoke up. "I have heard of a new region beyond Kanto out there, it's called the Orange Islands."
"What about it?" Max asked.
"Out there is a beautiful land where people live in peace and what little Pokemon known out there stay in the water and the land types are shy and live in harmony with the humans."
"That's just a fantasy utopia Unca." Max caused her to frown.
"Then why don't we move there?" Tracey asked.
Unca turned around, "We can't leave them now. Your father and I grew up here, we raised you and your brother and sister here. This is our home, we can't stick here for the good and turn our tails and run during the bad."
"Yea." Tracey sighed. "I understand."
"Don't worry son." Unca sighed and began to brush her son's messed up hair with her hands. Tracey smirked, feeling like a little child. "Everything works out in the end, you'll see. I just know there's a way for you to fit in here." One rebellious lock of hair fell out of place and Tracey shook his head to mess his hair back up.
"Shift call." A voice echoed in the distance. "Tracey on sentry."
"Tracey on sentry?" Max gasped.
"Did you hear that!" Unca smiled. "My son, the sentry!"
"But mom...." Tracey couldn't finish, Unca was pushing him back to the front gate as Max followed.
"This is just what you wanted, it's open, outside, away from building."
"But Unca, Tracey a sentry? Might as well open the doors now and allow the Pokemon to kill us." Max said.
"You know he's right you know." Tracey agreed.
"Well we could always put you back with construction." Unca suggested.
"No!" Tracey, Max and the town cried in unison. They all froze and looked at each other, then resumed their work.
"Then it's settled, Tracey is the sentry." Unca smiled.
"Sentry, yea. I mean, how hard can it be?" Tracey gulped.
"Your brother was the previous sentry." Unca looked up at the lookout spot where Tracey's older brother, Joe, was tattered and shaggy, dirty, scrawny, and hair all grayish brown and messy. "Uhm, Max, do you mind?"
"Sure, sure..." Max walked over to his son and dragged him away as he was muttering and laughing insanely in gibberish.
"Well, now I'm convinced." Tracey gulped sarcastically.
"Don't worry, your dad was a sentry before, he'll tell you everything you need to know." Unca took Joe back to their house and left Max with Tracey. "Oh and one more thing, remember honey, try to make this one work out..."
"Now all you have to remember is took look out for Pokemon. And if you see one, what do you do?"
"Yell: mommy!"
"That's right. Because it's a fraught world out there, fraught I tell you."
"Oh boy, here we go with the fraught fest again..." Tracey zoned out as his dad rambled on.
"You got it?"
"Yes sir!"
"That's my boy." Max left.
Tracey stood on the post and looked out, "Hey, this isn't so hard..." He stopped when he saw a small little lake shimmering in the sun, there were beautiful flowers hidden in the bushes under the trees. "Wow, I gotta make a sketch of this!" He took out his pocket book and began to draw. And as he did, he sung a song to himself:
There's more to life than panic Or being a Pokemon's snack I may be a target for an attack But this human's fighting back
I'll put building walls behind me I've got a new attitude And I'll catch and train Pokemon, to remind me That I'm not just food
For once I'll be looking out for me, yea!
(But Tracey was so into his song that he didn't notice three pairs of eyes watching him.)
I'll tell you what I want, this kid is moving on!
I'm missing out on all the fun I could be the big cheese Far from this dismal scene Riding on a cool ocean breeze To a little place just for me
And I'll be relaxing in a hammock By a peaceful pond or stream Miles away from any wall Or construction scene Looking after your one and only Will be my only greed
That's all I need That's all I need
I've always been good at hiding And running away Well now I'm running head on I've always been a Pokemon's prey
But my status no aint so quo...
This life is for the birds, my true life's gonna shine I'm not asking for a lot, but what's mine is mine Whose gonna wanna argue with my chorus line My dream is sublime, it's rumble time
But before Tracey could even repeat the chorus of, "That's All I Need", he noticed the three eyes and they weren't so far off, they were standing right next to him. Tracey dropped his sketchbook and pencil as he cowered before two pre-teens, a boy and a girl, but even scarier than the red 'R' that they wore on their shirts was the Meowth that stood before him, bared tooth and claw.
"Hey look at this, a dinner and a meal." The Meowth joked.
"A talk... a talk... a talk..." Tracey stuttered.
"No, the time for talk has passed my friend." The girl, Jessy, smirked.
"Oh, it's rumble time!" The boy, James, yelled, quoting one of the last lines of Tracey's songs.
"Mommy." Tracey whispered as Meowth slashed at him, he rolled down the hill off the lookout post and down through the front gates where he crashed into his dad who was pacing around on guard duty.
"Tracey!" He got up. "What are you doing down here this is no time to fool around, you're supposed to be on the lookout for..." But before he could finish, Max saw the trio. "Intruders!"
Everyone looked up and screamed as they began to run into their houses, the security on guard went to close the door but the trio was too close and too fast, they got in.
"Go Ekans!"
"Go Koffing!"
"Woohoo, look at em go, this is just how I like it!" Meowth laughed.
Jessy, James and the three Pokemon began to attack the people who had not yet made it to safety. Max was trying to help some of the others get to safety. Tracey cowered in a ball, he hadn't moved from where he was.
"Get in here!" She pulled Tracey inside where she was with her other two children. "Ok, you three are here but... where's your dad!" She gasped. Max was the only one left outside and the intruders were blocking the door to his house.
"Ah!" Max turned and saw them.
"Dad, run for your life!" Joe yelled.
"Play dead!" Joe and Tracey's sister cried.
"You got it, almost there!" Unca said but they attacked. "Oh no." Everyone cringed but suddenly the door opened and Max fell in, everyone gasped. "Max, are you alright?" But he just muttered something in a groan and collapsed.
"Man that was great." James laughed as he returned Koffing.
"Yea, it never gets old." Jessy agreed as she returned Ekans.
"Gotta love it." Meowth retracted his claws.
Everyone came outside as soon as the trio was gone to see how Max was doing. Joe was waving him with a fan, he was pretty beat up. Everyone leered over at Tracey, "Hey, sorry, I uhm, I guess I owe everybody an apology, I made one little mistake.... someday we'll all look back on this and laugh right? I mean come on now, how many of you have broken into song while on century, show of hands?" Tracey was the only one with his in the air. Everyone frowned and scowled as they walked off to restore the damage made in the attack. "Come on, I said I was sorry. I promise it won't happen again." Tracey looked over at his dad. "Trust me!"
"I did trust you."
"But...."
And with that, Max went back inside. Tracey sighed and looked down at his little sister, she had blond yellow hair and a dark tanned skin, "Way to go, bro." She followed her dad inside and slammed the door. Unca sighed and turned to see Tracey walking off out the back gate.
"Oh, honey." She followed him to where they were talking earlier, "So you made a mistake, things can be fixed."
"Come on mom, I can't fit in here, nobody wants me here, nobody likes me."
"There's people who like you..."
"Other than you, mom."
"Oh, well there's uh...." She began to think.
"This isn't the right place for me, I don't belong here." Tracey sighed and looked at the sunset.
Unca began to brush her son's hair with her hands again, "Yes it is, we just have to find it, and we will. So you don't like building walls and century wasn't the right job. Here's an idea, you could...."
"Forget it mom!" He ruffled his hair. "And enough with the hair!" He sighed. "My place is out there, I may not know exactly where, but I gotta go, no matter how far."
"No wait, I know, if we just..."
"No mom."
"This may be the life set out for us, but I guess it's not the right life for you. Maybe it's time you find out what is." Tracey looked down at his hands, his mom was holding them tight. "You can change, if given the chance." He looked up at his mom's face, he understood what she was saying by reading her eyes. "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for son."
"But what about you guys mom?"
"Don't worry honey, things will be fine for us here." She smiled. "You go out there and you find what you were meant to do, find out who you were meant to be."
Tracey was silent for a moment, but then he hugged his mom who squeezed back, "Ow, mom, choking, not breathing." Finally she let go and returned to holding his hands. "I'll return mom, I'll come back here and things will be better, you just wait and see."
"I know they will." Unca sighed and reluctantly let go of her son's hands.
"I'll be ok too."
"I know you will."
"By mom, I love you." And with that Tracey began to walk off into the sunset.
Unca watched her son go, "Oh, I love you too, just be careful."
"I will."
"Remember, don't talk to strangers."
"I know mom."
"Always wear clean underwear."
"Mom!" Tracey turned around. "I'm not a little boy anymore, I'm growing up!" He continued walking.
"Tracey!" Unca began yelling some more but Tracey was too far to hear it.
"What?" He turned and tried to listen, but he couldn't make it out. "Good by mom!" And with that, Tracey began his new life. He walked through grasslands, through forests. But as night settled and he found himself in a cold dark desert, he finally realized that he was on his own. "Ah, I want my mommy. Oh mom!" He began to cry before some sort of rest house that was set up for travelers like Pokemon Trainers. "What am I doing, where should I go?"
All of a sudden, somebody jumped out in front of him, "Hello!"
"Ah!"
"That depends on where you're going."
Tracey didn't hear that, he was still in shock, "Who are you?"
"The better question is, where are you going?" It was Professor Oak.
"Oh someplace wonderful, mister. I... you didn't happen to catch the song I was singing a few minutes ago now did ya?"
"No, I'm sorry I didn't have the pleasure."
"Well, to sum it up for ya, I'm going someplace where I have no worries, have a perfect life of freedom."
"Ah, I see you want to live by your motto."
"Yea, exactly! Wait, I have a motto?"
"You want to live a perfect life of freedoms and no worries. Everyone seeks that."
"So then can you help me?"
Professor Oak put his hand on Tracey's shoulder, "To find what you desire, you must look beyond what you see."
"Look beyond what I see?" Tracey looked out. He saw rocks and trees and blank hills, until finally he saw something far off in the distance. "Wait a sec, I think I've got it, something's coming to me. Either it's my dinner turning on my stomach or I think I'm having an epiphany! I'm going to that town over there! Right?" He turned but the figure was gone. "Ok, wow, what just happened here? Who was that stranger? Oh well, dream life, here I come." After thinking for a moment, Tracey began to walk on. He was out of the small patch of desert and walking through a normal terrain through some long grass. A wind picked up and blew eerily through them, causing Tracey's neck hair to bristle. "Uhm, hello? Strange but wise person?" He heard a strange clicking and whirring sound, and he began to run for his life with something in pursuit. He ran through the grass like a deer being chased by a lion. Finally he emerged and the light from the sunrise blinded him. When he got his vision back, he realized something was in front of him. "Ah!" He screamed as he skidded to a halt.
"Ah!" The person in front of him gasped, startled as well.
"Ah!" They both screamed for a while before Tracey finally spoke up.
"Oh please don't hurt me trainer, please have your Pokemon destroy me quickly because I have a low level pain tolerance!"
"Easy there, I'm not a trainer, I'm too young anyways." The boy replied. Tracey looked up to see a boy with brown hair, he was about the same age as him.
"You aren't?" Tracey stood up. "Wait, if you weren't trying to kill me, then why were you chasing me?"
"I just saw you walking around and figured a guy like you shouldn't be out here at night all alone."
"Oh. Well what about you, you're alone. Wait, you are all alone aren't you?" Tracey began to look around nervously.
"Yea, Pokemon get startled easily whenever they notice that I'm around."
"They do?" Tracey perked up.
"Yea." The boy looked at his camera.
"What, you have some super special secret power?"
"No, I just scare them with my camera, the noises make them run."
"Oh I see. You're a photographer? Cool, I draw."
"Cool."
"Well buddy, you're hired."
"Great! Uhm, for what?"
"You're gonna get me to that place." Tracey pointed to the town in the distance.
"Why?"
"Some guy told me," He spoke in a mocking voice. "Look beyond what you see." He spoke normally. "So I'm going to that town."
"Ok." The boy shrugged. "So you want me to go with you?" Tracey nodded. "Well then, I'm your man."
Tracey smiled, "I can see it now, you and me, we see eye to eye."
"By the way, my name's Tracey."
"No really? Todd." He smiled. "Here, let me get a picture of my new friend."
"Whoa, we just met pal. We're more like, an acquaintances."
"Oh." He sighed. "Great, well put it there, acquaintance."
"Well, alright then, let's hit the road." They shook hands and began to walk to the town as Tracey spoke up, "You know something bud, I think this is gonna be the start of something big."