Sketches
By Fox McCloude
Disclaimer: Pokémon and all related characters belong to Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo and GAMEFREAK. All rights reserved.
Pallet Town, Oak's lab…
At Professor Oak's laboratory there was always lots of work to do, even when the scientist himself wasn't home. When that was the case, his most trusted assistant, Tracey Sketchit, would stay in charge, although as expected, he couldn't deal with everything, so sometimes he'd have to ask for a pair of additional hands for help.
Ash Ketchum never had any problem on lending his help to whoever needed it, especially when it came to his closest friends, but when it came to cleaning duties and home remodeling, he had to admit it was… quite tedious. However, Tracey had asked as a favor and, since he had nothing else to do at the time, he had no reasons to refuse.
"Oof, how did all this got hoarded in here?" he asked as he moved a bunch of heavy cardboard boxes. "Hey, Tracey, where should I post these?"
"All of that goes to the back storage room! Then we'll sort it out between what stays and what goes!" the former Pokémon watcher replied from the other side.
With that in mind, Ash grabbed and lifted the box, heading for the aforementioned storage room. Pikachu helped by opening the doors so he could pass easily, having literally his hands full from carrying all that weight. The box he carried seemed full of folders, documents and notebooks. Once he reached his destination, he placed the box on a corner and headed back for the next.
However, when he lifted the box, it opened from below, emptying all its contents on the floor. Luckily for Ash there wasn't any breakable stuff, nor something heavy that could fall on his feet, but the stack of documents, folders and whatnot now was all spread on the floor.
"Ah, great. Tracey, this box needs fixing!"
"I'll go get some tape," the aforementioned replied. "Meanwhile, pick up what you can to put it back in, alright?"
As Tracey went to get the tape, Ash tried to get back all the stuff that was discarded, starting by the papers to make stacks and put them back into folders. Some of them had been gnawed on, possibly by the Rattata who'd often sneak into the lab, so they'd most likely end on the recycle bin. Professor Oak preferred to save money on office material by recycling paper, so probably all of that would be destined to that.
"Pikapi?" Pikachu suddenly perked up, interrupting Ash's activity.
"Huh? What's up, Pikachu?"
The electric mouse pointed at what looked like a large notebook. However, a closer look revealed it was actually a sketchbook… one of the many Tracey used during their journeys across the Orange Islands. There were plenty of them among the stack of stuff that fell out of the box.
Out of curiosity, Ash grabbed one and opened it on a random page. He was surprised to see the drawing of the muscular, dark-skinned Nurse Joy from the Orange Islands, along with the Gyarados who'd evolved from a giant Magikarp. Seeing that brought him many memories.
"Wow, it's been so long since then," he said with a smile.
He flipped through the book, finding a few other pictures he'd seen Tracey draw before during their journeys. There was Cissy, the Mikan Gym Leader, surfing on the back of her Blastoise; the pink Rhyhorn from Pinkan island (although it wasn't actually colored); among many others. Ash chuckled a little when he noticed that at least a third of the pics were of pretty girls and not Pokémon, revealing that the watcher had some proclivities even then.
However, he found a few that he didn't recall seeing Tracey do. One in particular that caught his eye was of Misty directing that wild Golduck, when they all thought Psyduck had evolved. He still recalled how he spoiled Misty's victory, saying that it didn't count because he'd won with a Pokémon that wasn't even hers.
In hindsight, he may have been a bit too mean doing that.
"Truth is, Misty looks pretty good in this sketch," Ash said, giving it a closer look.
Indeed; Misty looked pretty focused and determined. Despite some of the comments he made, Ash never thought Misty was ugly in the least. Beyond her explosive temper when provoked (which generally only happened because he did so), she was a good friend and a really sweet girl once you got to know her.
He kept flipping through the pics, finding plenty more that brought him further memories. This sketchbook looked more like an adventure blog, which made him travel across the memory lane, recalling plenty of good moments… until he found one in particular that caught his attention.
It was a pic of himself and Misty, both of them sleeping under a tree. They seemed quite peaceful and relaxed, with their heads leaning on each other's shoulders. Ash didn't recall exactly when that happened; could have been one of the many times they encountered Jigglypuff, but that was discarded as neither had marker doodles on their faces. Then again, Tracey could have chosen not to draw those specifically, unlikely as it seemed.
One thing was for sure: that image brought a strange warmth to his chest. And something told him he shouldn't keep it to himself.
With that in mind, he grabbed his Rotom Phone and snapped a photo of it, knowing exactly who he should send it to.
…
Many kilometers away from there, in the Cerulean Gym, Misty was resting on her bed, bored as hell and with nothing to do. Today had been a slow day, with no challengers or maintenance duties to carry out, if only to stay busy. Her sisters were also out, in a photoshoot for a calendar, and although she'd been invited, she'd declined. She could have gone to the pool to swim with her Pokémon, but sincerely today she didn't feel like it.
"How boring… I wish something interesting happened."
And as if answering her wished, right then a beep went off on her night table. Her Rotom Phone had a message alert. The ID revealed it was from Ash, which made her smile. Maybe he had something interesting to say to liven up her day just a little…
"Hmmm?" When she opened it, she was surprised. There was a photo attached, of a sketch of them when they were kids… sleeping under a tree. "What's this?"
Under the photo, there was a quick message that read "Found this while cleaning the lab. Thought you may want to see it."
Misty giggled. That drawing brought her memories, and it was easy to deduce who'd made it. She'd have a few words for Tracey the next time he visited, but regardless, she quickly keyed a response. "Thanks for sharing it, I was really bored here."
The girl dropped herself on her pillow, watching the picture she'd been sent. While she did have a few photos of her journeys with Ash in her room, few of them had the two alone. After all, it'd always been him, her, and either Brock or Tracey playing third wheel, except for short periods before meeting either of them.
Those were very fond memories. So many adventures, misadventures, laughter and sadness they shared together. She missed it. When she could take a sabbatical from the Gym, maybe she'd like to travel again… but only with Ash if possible.
Maybe, next time she went to Pallet Town she'd drop the suggestion. He never stayed in a single place for too long, so she doubted he'd refuse.
…
Back at Oak laboratory, Ash archived Misty's message and decided to put Tracey's old sketchbook away, focusing on what he had to do: clean up the mess. By then, the watcher had returned with the tape to patch up the box, and together they put back all its contents inside neatly.
"Okay, I guess that's it. I'll be organizing the library, if you need something, just give me a shout," Tracey said before leaving.
"Hey, Tracey!" the trainer called out.
The watcher turned around, and Ash held up the sketchbook he'd taken before (intentionally left it for last as the filled the box again).
"Can I keep this?" he asked.
The watcher for his part arched an eyebrow. "Isn't that one of my old sketchbooks? What do you want it for?"
"Nothing special, just… for memories."
Tracey shrugged, but saw no reason to refuse. In the end, he decided he had those aplenty, so it wouldn't matter too much to allow Ash to keep one, for sentimental value.
There was still plenty of stuff to clean up, but having found that little drawing made him think a lot of… her. That was why he couldn't resist sending her the picture so she could see it. He was certain it'd bring Misty many memories of those special moments they shared together.
Next time they met, he'd ask her if she could take a sabbatical from the Gym, to travel together. Just the two of them obviously, with no one like Brock or Tracey to play third wheel.
Outside her own compromise with the Gym, he didn't think she'd have reasons to refuse.
FIN.
Author's notes:
How's it going people? Okay, this year's PokéShipping Week has begun. Good news, this year I did get ideas for every day. Bad news, with all the stuff I had to do (house cleaning, schoolwork, etc.) I didn't have time to write them all. In fact, I only managed to finish the oneshots for the first and last day, but now that I'm out of class, I'll try to finish the rest, if you don't mind me posting them a little later.
The theme for today was Tracey's drawings, so I quickly put this one together (helped a lot that I was cleaning a lot of stuff here). I'm a little sad that Tracey's been all but forgotten, considering he's got his own quirks and could be a pretty good middleman in these stories. And while I was glad they mentioned him in the current series, was it too hard to give him a flashback cameo like they did Paul? Really, with the characters returning, I'm hoping they give him one proper, if only brief, since we're approaching the 100th episode mark (meaning we're two thirds into this saga, by following the pattern of the previous seasons).
Anyway, I've got nothing more to say. Hope you guys enjoy this oneshot, and I apologize if I don't answer quickly (the site's not sending me alerts of updates, PMs or anything). See you on Sunday for the other oneshot I finished for this week, and maybe earlier if I can finish another.