Chapter Text
The real reason all of this started was Brock’s decision to keep all his extra pokémon with Professor Oak. There wasn’t a pokémon professor in Pewter City that he could send them to, and he really loved the research lab Professor Oak ran in Pallet Town. It wasn’t a major transition, just the labeling of an unused shelf in the pokéball storage room with a sticky note, and a promise to take good care of Brock’s pokémon. Tracey didn’t know him very well, apparently he was friends with Ash before Tracey ran into him and Misty. Their brief meeting at Ash’s house was overshadowed by Tracey’s excitement to meet Professor Oak and Brock’s recent misfortune with Professor Ivy. So Tracey didn’t know Brock at all.
This didn’t stop Tracey thinking about Brock more than he’d like to admit. Whenever he was working on a new type of pokémon food for the pokémon at the lab, he thought about what Ash had told him about Brock’s home made pokémon food, how it could convince even the most stubborn of pokémon to eat. They were having trouble with a particular Mareep, it wouldn’t eat anything Tracey, Professor Oak, or Ms. Ketchum prepared. It was getting weaker but was still too agitated to accept any food. It was while the Professor and Ash’s mom were watching the Mareep that Ash and the group called.
“Hello?” Tracey picked up the call, wedging the phone between his shoulder and ear as he flipped through a pokémon cookbook he picked up last time he was in town. The cover had a picture of a former famous actress alongside her pokémon, explaining how to get you and your pokémon in shape, and while Tracey wasn’t prone to pokémon dieting outside of research, but they were getting desperate and if this book had anything to help, it was worth a shot.
“Hey Tracey! It’s Ash!” Ash said excitedly into the mouthpiece. Misty and Brock stood on either side of him, with Togepi and Pikachu in Misty’s arms and on Ash’s shoulder respectively.
“Hey Ash, what’s up?” Tracey said, putting the book down and turning full attention to the screen after realizing it wasn’t another one of Gary’s weekly calls to brag about all the training he's been doing (though they all knew he missed his grandfather, he was just too proud to admit it).
“Is the professor there? I need to talk to him about a mysterious pokémon we ran into earlier today,” Ash explained.
“I’m afraid Professor Oak is busy with a Mareep we’ve been having issues with all week, but I can go get him if you’d like?” Tracey offered. He didn’t know how, but the kid seemed to run into legendaries every other day.
“Oh no, what’s wrong with Mareep?” Ash asked, always concerned for pokemon above all else.
“It just won’t eat, we’ve tried everything the three of us know, but we still can’t get it to eat. The professor has been asking every other professor he knows, I’ve been reading every book on pokémon dieting, and Ms. Ketchum has been cooking every pokémon family recipe she can imagine, and it still won’t eat,” Tracey sighed, offering a tired smile.
“That’s awful…” Misty said, and Ash nodded. Brock snatched the receiver from Ash.
“If a Mareep isn’t eating correctly, it could be that its coat hasn’t been properly discharged of electricity,” Brock explained, “Mareep need to have their electricity drained or they'll be uncomfortable and unhappy. You’ve probably been brushing or petting it too much, causing too much static electricity to build up in its wool.”
“Why didn’t we think of that?” Tracey said in shock, throwing the awful dieting book to the side.
“Most people assume all electric type pokémon become energized by static electricity, but in Mareep’s case, it builds up in their wool and overwhelms them,” Brock said.
“Why do you know so much about Mareep?” Tracey asked.
“One of my little siblings was really interested in electric types for a while, specifically Mareep, so I tried to learn everything I could about them,” Brock explained, flushing when Misty cooed and Ash smiled at him.
“That’s sweet, Brock. You’re a great breeder and an even better brother,” Tracey smiled through the video call, which only caused Brock to get more flustered. Ash took this as the perfect opportunity to take the receiver from him.
“Well, even though we couldn’t ask Professor Oak about the pokémon, it was nice to catch up with you Tracey,” Ash said, “Say hello to Bulbasaur for me!”
“I will!” Tracey responded. The screen went dark, and Tracey felt the most energized he had all week. He grinned as he ran outside, excited to share his new knowledge with the professor.