Chapter 3: Dream Home, Dream Life

Tracey and Todd had chosen to live in Crimson City, they were able to clean up the debris and make it livable again, but it still looked so gray and lifeless. There was plenty of food (preservatives) and utilities like water, but it just wasn't home. Some Pokemon lived in the abandoned houses, and Tracey was able to catch a young Venonat that was lost from its pack. He had no idea what was with his dad, Pokemon were great as soon as you caught them, they were nothing like the ones the Rocket's used to attack their town. Tracey and Todd had fun but got lonely at times, sometimes they'd host a trainer passing through on their journeys, but it still wasn't the same, their dream lives were still missing something...

"You know Todd," Tracey spoke up one day as they were walking back home from around the outside of the city. "This place is great, it's nice to be back home, but our dream home doesn't feel complete, you know?"

"Yea." Todd nodded. "I mean, we've been here for a while now but I just can't put my finger on it."

"I know what you mean." They continued walking. "I mean look at this place, it has anything we'd ever want and everything we'd ever need. Food, shelter, utilities, you name it."

"We should be celebrating, we found that perfect life, just like that guy said."

"Yea, what was it?"

"Uhm.... I dunno." Todd didn't know, not only had he never met Prof. Oak, but Tracey had never told him. Tracey sat down to think. "I'll fix up something to eat, maybe a snack will refresh your memory."

"Maybe." Tracey began to ponder.

"Tomato tomoto."

"What was it?"

"Potato patato."

"It was catchy...."

Todd stuck a finger in his cooking, "This outa be hotter."

"Yet familiar."

"I'll be in the grotto."

"Think, think...." Tracey was banging his head on the wall, causing the dresser to shake, the camera was on it and it fell and flashed. "Oops." He got up and picked it up. "I forget, I'm sorry."

"Meh, that's our motto." Todd shrugged and went back to his cooking.

"Come again?" Tracey froze.

"Our motto, you know something we life by."

"Oh." Tracey remembered now. "A perfect life of freedom and no worries, that's what I wanted."

"A perfect life... And isn't that what you have?"

"Yea. Yea!" Tracey stood tall. "I have the perfect life, I've achieved my dream, and furthermore, I'm home!"

"Yay!" Todd cheered and came over with his burnt food. "Oops, sorry, I got so distracted with this I forgot I had food cooking."

Tracey looked at it and turned up his nose, but shrugged, "Hey, our motto." Todd just smirked. Tracey sighed happily and mumbled it to himself, "Our motto, our motto...."

"Your what?"

"Motto, motto." Prof. Oak was explaining to Unca. He was at the Orange Islands to visit one of his colleagues when he ran into Unca and Max shopping on Valencia Island. "It's a live of freedom and no worries."

"I see..."

"So as I was saying, I told your boy in order to find your motto, you must look beyond what you see."

"Oh, a metaphor." Unca understands and is less skeptical.

"Well actually, it's not a meta..."

Unca cuts him off, grabbing him by his collar, "You used a metaphor on my son! He takes things literally!" She lets go and begins to pace panicking. "That's it, he's starving out there, all lost, alone and scared, I just know it! Max, Tracey's out there chasing metaphors, we gotta go find him!"

"Are you nuts?" He called from a stand.

Unca shakes her head in disgust, "Nice to have a supporting family isn't it." She sighs and grabs his arm. "Well, here we go."

"Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first one step."

"Oh, thanks." She smirks. "Here's mine." She stomps hard on his foot.

"Ah!"

"Don't move Tracey." Todd was putting a bandage on Tracey when he screamed from the medicine.

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken a picture of that Fearow." He groaned.

"I'm sorry, I just gotta find the perfect Pokemon picture." Todd said in a determined voice.

"Well choose a less vicious one. Oh man, memories of being attacked came flooding back, I saw my short pathetic life flashing before my eyes!" Tracey said shakily.

"There, all done." Todd cut the bandage, Tracey's arm had a bandage wrapped around the wound.

"Well I'm done."

"Aw come on, just one more try."

"Yea, I'm sure another fierce Pokemon can hurt my other arm, or even both my legs." Tracey muttered sarcastically. Todd just sighed as Tracey walked off.... "Ah what the hell, you only life once." Tracey jumped back. "Come on, let's go."

"Yea!" Todd smiled and they walked off. "Hey look." Todd stopped Tracey and laughed. "It's that Fearow, come on, let's go scare him."

"Yea, revenge." Tracey rubbed his hands with a smirk and a laugh. "Besides, it's not like the end result of this is gonna affect our lives in any way."

"Ah!" They both ran at the Fearow and it flew off in a panic, they laughed.

"Man, scaring him was great!" Todd laughed.

"Get outa here." Tracey laughed. "We should get him every time."

"Hey look." Todd turned to what the Fearow was looking at.

"Ew, what is it." Tracey looked. It was Ash unconscious and tattered on the ground.

Todd went over to it, "I think it's still alive."

And so with that, Todd and Tracey rescued and took in Ash, but what the young duo hadn't expected with the boy even younger than them, was the joys of parenthood. The second night Ash stayed with them, he slept in Tracey and his sibling's old room while Tracey and Todd shared the big bed in his parent's old room. Then came a small voice...

"Tracey? Tracey, Tracey!"

"What, what!" Tracey snapped away, Todd still slept.

It was Ash, "I gotta go."

"Go? Go where?"

"You know, go. Bad."

Tracey jumped up, understanding, "Oh go. Why didn't you say so? Come on, let's go." He walked him to the bathroom. "When you gotta go, you gotta go."

Later, "Tracey?"

Tracey was only half asleep, "What, again?"

"No. I'm thirsty."

Tracey sighed and walked him to the bathroom again, "You know this means you'll be up again two hours from now..."

Later, "Tracey?" He had to go again, just like Tracey had said.

Tracey sighed, not asleep yet, "I'm gonna get old walking you down the hall..."

Later again, "Tracey?"

He's mad now, "What! What do you have against the concept of a good night sleep hu?"

"Actually, I... uhm, had a bad dream."

"Oh." Tracey softens. "Well, uhm..." He jabs Todd.

He wakes up, "Say ch..."

"Ash had a bad dream."

"Oh." Todd was awake now. "Why don't you sleep here with us?"

Ash smiles and gets in, "Alright!" A resolution, without walking down the hall half asleep. "Good night."

"Sleep tight." Tracey stretched.

"Don't let the Pokemon bite." Todd chimed in, and with that, they fell asleep, together.

Little did Todd and Tracey know what they subconsciously came to realize, Ash was the missing link in their perfect life. They had everything they wanted, they had their dream home, they had each other, they were happy. But they did have their adventures, the fun of raising a younger child, I could make a whole series about that... but I wont, instead I'll just summarize a few.

"Woo!" Ash was surfing on a huge piece of a hollowed out log, only the rapids were leading to the waterfall.

"You man." Tracey tried to sound strict. "You get out of there!"

"Alright!" Ash was just having fun. "Hey you guys, surfs up!" He laughed.

"I'm counting to three!" Tracey warned.

"Yahoo!" Ash went off the waterfall edge, but gasped.

"Uh oh." Todd sees this, Tracey doesn't and is counting.

"One, two..." A huge tidal wave throws Todd onto Tracey, he has his face muffled in the dirt. "Three..." Ash is safe and continued to surf.

Another day, Ash was on the roof jumping across buildings, "Wee!"

"Hang on Ash, I'll save you!" Tracey climbed to the top of one roof, but Ash gets down and the old work on the roof Tracey's climbing breaks and he falls. "Ah!"

But all in all, they had their fun, they lived their lives together happily. Time was going on though, and soon years had passed. Tracey had just turned ten, Todd was about to turn nine, and Ash was already seven. Tracey was legally allowed to become a trainer, he was able to catch a wild Marill and therefore had two Pokemon. The trio was sleeping in late one morning, still all together in the same bed. Ash stretches and yawns, his mouth right in the face of Tracey.

"Whoa, watch where you aim that morning breath." Tracey wakes up, fanning his nose. "That should come with a warning label. Wow, what a wake up call."

Ash just laughs, "Looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed, what's the matter bro, had a little too much living to our motto?"

"Oh, boy, I invented our motto." He lies back down to sleep.

Sitting up, "Oh yea? Well I perfected it."

"Sure you did." Tracey closes his eyes. "Todd, who holds the record for the worlds longest burp?"

Todd replies, awake now, "Uhm, that would be Ash."

Shocked, "What? Alright then. Whose the champion of most water bottles drank?"

"Ash again."

"What!" Sitting up now. "Most preservatives eaten in one sitting?"

"Ash."

"Twinkie swallowing?"

"What?" Todd sits up at that new on. "Uhm, nobody, we've never had a contest for that before."

"Really?" Tracey looks smugly over at Ash with a smirk, Ash is confused.

Before anyone knew it, Ash and Tracey were sitting across from each other at a table, a case of twinkies by each. Ash closed his hand into a fist, cracking his knuckles. Tracey's hand pulsed and throbbed as he prepared to start the competition. Ash opened one twinkie and swallowed it whole in one bite, but gasped when he saw Tracey just yawn and stuff two in his mouth and chewing them. He growled and got two in each hand, gulping them all down, he threw down the wrappers onto the table and posed arrogantly with a devilish grin.

"I don't think this is such a good idea." Todd warned. But Tracey and Ash went back and forward faster and faster as Todd just watched as they ate more and more. Finally they were both down to one and their stomachs were pretty full. Ash had his chin on the table. He reached his hand over and eats it, chewing it slowly but then swallowing, he lets out a burp and smiles, resting his head on his hands, propped up on the table by his elbows, as he watches Tracey. Tracey grabs the last one and opens it, lifts it, but can't even open his mouth. "I told you..." Todd shook his head as Tracey's hand falls, dropping the twinkie. Todd goes over and helps him up.

"Ugh." Tracey turns and sees Ash walking off down the hall, head held high, but he makes an immediate jerk for the bathroom where he throws the door shut. Tracey sighs, "Ash is growing up." He sighs and starts half singing half talking, "Is this the little boy we carried?"

Todd does the same, "When did he grow to be so tall?"

They both chime in, "Wasn't it just yesterday when he was small?"

Sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset, swiftly fly the years... Soon more time had passed, the years went by, Ash was ten now, old enough to become a trainer, Tracey was twelve and Todd eleven, they were much bigger but the most drastic changed notice was that in Ash, he looked so different yet the same. One season flowing another, laden with happiness and tears...

"So you see, that's the real story behind preservatives." Todd was saying as he and Ash were sitting outside looking up at the starry night sky.

"Ew, you don't say." Ash makes a face. "And yet, still so tasty."

"Oh yea, and they're my favorite too." Todd turns to see Tracey.

"Ah, this is the life." He sits down by them.

"Yup, after a long day of doing nothing, it's good to kick back and relax." Todd agrees.

"Three pals, our motto, a dream life, what more could a guy want?" Ash smirked.

"Not a thing." Tracey closed his eyes as he leaned back. "We got everything."

"Well I'm out, think I'll turn in for the night." Todd got up and stretched, his camera getting banged around his neck flashes.

"Ah!" Tracey and Ash scream, holding their eyes as Todd just walks off, not noticing.

"I'm blind, I need glasses!" Tracey cried jumping up.

"So this is why mom told me to never look directly into the sun." Ash began to run around. Ash and Tracey ran after Todd just as he was getting into bed. "Ah!" Ash dove in.

"Oh, haha!" Tracey did the same.

"Whoa!" Todd laughed. "You're killing me!" They all get settled in. "Tracey, it's your turn to say good night."

"Ok, good night."

"Sleep tight." Ash yawns.

Todd ends it, "Don't let the Pokemon bite." And with that, they fall asleep. But trouble was about to appear in paradise with the arrival of one unexpected visitor...

"Misty?" Ash gasped after being taken down by the unknown attacker.