Author's note: I modified the story line from "A Tent Situation" slightly for this fic – hope you don't mind my taking creative liberties with it!

Journal entry - I can't believe I'm finally going to meet Professor Oak today! I'm so excited that I don't think I slept at all last night. Ever since I hooked up with Ash and Misty, this is what I've been dreaming about for months.

"Mmmm! Mom, you make the best deep dish chili cheese dog pizza pot pie!" Ash Ketchum said as he wolfed down his third helping.

"Oh thanks, honey, but I can't take the credit. Brock made it," she said, indicating the young man in an apron standing next to the stove.

"Eat up, guys," Brock said as he pulled another pot pie out of the oven. "There's plenty more where that came from."

"Aren't you going to eat anything, Tracey?" Misty asked the other young man sitting at the kitchen table in the Ketchum house.

"I can't eat," Tracey replied anxiously. "Just knowing that in a few minutes I'll actually be meeting Professor Oak…that I'll finally be meeting my idol face-to-face…that I'll…" Tracey suddenly looked ill. "'Scuse me." Tracey clapped his hand over his mouth and ran for the bathroom.

"Is Tracey sick?" Delia asked with some concern as Tracey bolted down the hall.

"No, he's just excited about meeting Professor Oak today," Misty told her as she fed Togepi a bite of her pot pie. "Ever since we started traveling together, that's all he's been talking about."

"Sounds like Tracey's a big fan of Professor Oak," Brock smiled as he placed another piping hot pastry on the table.

"I'll say," Ash agreed in between bites. "But I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, Professor Oak's a nice guy and all…"

"That's because you've known him all your life," Delia smiled as she poured her son a glass of milk. "To you, he's your next-door neighbor. But Professor Oak is a very important figure in the world of Pokémon research. He's quite famous outside of Pallet Town. He's a very smart, talented, handsome man."

At the mention of the word "handsome", a surprised Brock and Misty turned around to look at Mrs. Ketchum, who was blushing.

"Uh, I meant that Professor Oak is a very well-known Pokémon scientist," Delia said hastily. "More milk, anyone?"

A very pale-looking Tracey came back into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"Feeling better, dear?" Delia asked as she poured him a glass of milk.

"Tracey, that's the third time you've thrown up since we got back to Pallet Town," Misty commented as she caught sight of her nauseated-looking friend's face.

"I know, but I'm so excited about getting to meet Professor Oak in person," Tracey said shakily as he sipped his milk.

"Speaking of which," Ash said as he looked at his watch. "We'd better get over there. We told him that we'd be over there by two."

---

"Tracey, did you have to bring every sketchbook you ever did?" Ash asked as he watched his friend struggle up the steps leading to Professor Oak's hilltop lab.

"I couldn't decide which ones I wanted to show Professor Oak, so I thought I'd play it safe and bring all of them," Tracey puffed as he tried to keep the stack of sketchbooks in his hands from toppling over.

As Misty rang the doorbell, the three friends heard a voice from inside the hallway yell, "Aaugh!"

"Uh-oh, bet I know what that is," Ash said as he pushed open the door and saw Professor Oak lying underneath Muk.

"Muk!" said the giant sludge Pokémon happily as it caught sight of its old trainer and advanced on Ash with open arms.

"Muk, no! Stay away from…" Ash then was knocked to the ground as Muk embraced him heartily.

"Looks like Muk's happy to see you again, Ash," Misty grinned as Ash disappeared underneath the sludgy Pokémon's bulk.

"Yes, I was just cleaning Muk and I was trying to towel him off before he started tracking water all over the house," Professor Oak said as he got to his feet and tried to wipe the sludge off of his lab coat.

Oh my God, he's really real! Tracey thought at his first glance of the man he had idolized for years. He had been trying to make a brief sketch of Professor Oak underneath Muk so he would have a memento of his very first meeting with the world-famous scientist, but his hands were shaking so much now that he couldn't continue drawing.

"All right, Muk, get off of Ash and go outside now," Professor Oak ordered as he tried to pull the loving Pokémon off of the struggling boy. "I'll be out to feed you later."

"Whew, thanks, Professor," Ash said as Muk gave him one last slimy kiss then headed outside.

"It's good to see you all again," Professor Oak said as he helped Ash to his feet.

"Yeah, it's great to be back in Pallet Town again, Professor Oak," Ash said as he straightened his baseball cap and the little group followed Professor Oak into the adjacent living room.

"Pikachu's looking well," Professor Oak grinned as he scratched the little yellow Pokémon's head. "And Togepi looks pretty happy too, Misty."

"Togei!" the baby Pokémon chirruped happily as Professor Oak patted its head.

"And it's nice to finally meet you in person, Tracey," Professor Oak smiled as he held out his hand. "Although I've heard so much about you from Ash that I feel like I know you already."

"You're real! You're really real!" Tracey gaped as he held out his violently shaking hand. The moment Professor Oak's hand touched his, Tracey fell over in a dead faint.

---

"Tracey?"

"I think he's still breathing."

"Hey, Trace? You okay?"

"Stand back, everyone. Let the boy get some air. I think he's coming around now."

Tracey's eyelids fluttered open and Professor Oak's face slowly came into focus.

Am I in heaven? Tracey thought as he blinked in disbelief.

"How do you feel, son?" Professor Oak asked kindly. "Do you think you can sit up?"

Tracey, overwhelmed at being in such close proximity to his idol, opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

As Misty, Brock, and Ash helped Tracey into a sitting position, Professor Oak stood up. "Why don't I go get you a cup of tea? I think you'll feel better once you have something in your stomach."

As he disappeared down the hall, Tracey turned to his friends. "What happened? What did I miss while I was out? Did Professor Oak say or do anything?"

"I hate to disappoint you, Tracey, but the only thing Professor Oak did while you were out was check your pulse to make sure you were still alive," Misty informed him.

But even this news was enough to send Tracey into hysterics.

"He checked my pulse? The man who successfully diagnosed the first case of Pokémon influenza ever recorded in a Sandshrew actually examined me? He actually touched my wrist with his own hand?"

"Tracey, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Misty asked as she gave her friend a funny look.

"Yeah, are you sure you didn't hit your head or something when you fell?" Ash asked.

"Here you go. A nice cup of tea should make you feel better, Tracey," Professor Oak said as he came back into the room.

Tracey eagerly stuck out his arm. "Could you check my pulse again, Professor? I missed it the first time you did it."

Professor Oak gave Tracey a funny look, not unlike the one Misty had given him a moment ago. "Well, there's no need for that now since you're awake. Why don't you just drink your tea?" he said as he handed the cup of hot tea to Tracey and sat down on the couch. "Well, Ash, when we last talked, you were telling me about the little Lapras that you and your friends traveled with in the Orange Islands."

"Yeah, Lapras finally met up with his family and went off with them," Ash said as he nibbled on the plate of cookies that Professor Oak had also brought.

"I'm going to miss Lapras," Misty said wistfully. "But Tracey did some really great sketches of it."

"Really?" said Professor Oak, impressed. "I'd like to see your sketches sometime, Tracey."

Upon hearing the words that he had been hoping to hear for months, Tracey swallowed the wrong way and started choking on his tea.

"Hey, Tracey, are you all right?" Ash asked as Misty started pounding on Tracey's back.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right, son?" Professor Oak asked as Tracey gasped for breath.

"I'm…I'm…" Tracey sputtered as he got his breath back.

"Why don't you show Professor Oak all the cool drawings you did while we were in the Orange Islands?" Ash suggested.

Tracey, who was too stunned to speak, picked up his sketchbooks and, with trembling hands, handed them to Professor Oak.

"Oh my, you're a very talented artist, Tracey," Professor Oak said admiringly as he started examining the drawings in the first sketchbook. "I especially like this one you did of the crystal Onix. I would love to study this Pokémon." After responding to Brock's comment on his thoughts of the quality of Tracey's drawings, Professor Oak continued looking through the sketchbook and smiled. "And I see that not only Brock is fond of Nurse Joy."

"Oh yeah, that's the Nurse Joy we met who travels to all the small islands in her kayak," Ash told Professor Oak.

"Nurse Joy?" Brock exclaimed. "Let me see!" He peered over Professor Oak's shoulder to get a better look at Tracey's sketch. "Oh yeah, that's Nurse Joy, all right!" Brock smiled as he started blushing and a goofy expression appeared on his face.

"Well, looks like Brock hasn't changed since we've been gone," Ash said as Brock began drooling over Tracey's accurate depiction of the object of his fantasies.

"I believe you called her the 'Florence Nightingale of Pokémon', didn't you, Tracey?" Misty teased.

Tracey didn't respond. He was too busy staring at Professor Oak with an anxious expression on his face.

"What's wrong with Tracey?" Misty whispered to Ash.

"Dunno. He looks kind of sick again. I hope he doesn't throw up on Professor Oak," Ash whispered back.

"Well, Tracey," Professor Oak said as he finished examining the sketchbook and then put it down on the coffee table (and then Brock picked it up to see if he could find the drawing of Nurse Joy again), "You certainly are a very observant Pokémon watcher. If you don't mind, I'd like to keep your drawings for a little while so I can study them."

"You…you want to study my drawings?" Tracey stammered in shocked disbelief.

"Yes, Tracey," Professor Oak smiled at the stunned-looking boy. "Do you have any more of them?"

Tracey picked up the pile of sketchbooks sitting next to him and handed them to Professor Oak.

"I did all of these in the Orange Islands, but some of these are ones I did since we got back to Pallet Town," Tracey babbled eagerly as he started showing Professor Oak his entire collection of sketches.

"Come on, Misty," Ash sighed as he stood up and headed for the door. "Looks like Tracey's gonna be keeping Professor Oak busy for a while."

For the next hour, Tracey told Professor Oak in excruciating detail everything about every sketch he had done while the older man listened politely.

"Tracey, I have an idea," Professor Oak said as he put down the fifth sketchbook and stood up. "Would you like a tour of my lab? That would give us a chance to take a little break and stretch our legs a bit."

Tracey gasped in astonishment. "Oh my…I actually get to see where you perform your research? I get to see the place where you did your study on the adaptation of the respiratory system of Goldeen to various water depths and temperatures?"

"Well, yes, Tracey," Professor Oak replied, somewhat amazed at Tracey's knowledge of his research. "Although I'm surprised that you're familiar with that study. That's one of my earlier research papers."

"Oh, I'm very familiar with your research, Professor," Tracey babbled excitedly as he followed Professor Oak down the hallway to the lab. "I've read every paper you've ever published!"

"Well, uh, that's very nice of you, Tracey," said Professor Oak, somewhat embarrassed at Tracey's excessive adulation. "Anyway, here's the lab."

Tracey's jaw dropped open at the sight of the huge, high-ceilinged lab filled with computers and machines.

"Professor, this place is huge! It's even larger that I ever dreamed!"

"You dreamed about my lab?" a surprised Professor Oak replied with an odd look in Tracey's direction.

Tracey's face turned bright red. "Uh…what I meant was, that this place is so big. I bet you must have hundreds of lab assistants to help you out."

"Actually, Tracey, right now I don't have any assistants to help me out. I've been in the market for one for quite some time. You don't know anyone who might be willing to help me with my research, do you?" Professor Oak grinned at the star-struck youth.

"Oh, Professor…I…I…" Tracey's mouth fell open at the realization that his long-held fantasy was on the verge of finally coming true.

"Tracey, would you be interested in the job?" Professor Oak asked. "Would you like to be my research assistant, seeing that you're already quite familiar with my work?"

Tracey squealed excitedly and jumped straight into the air. "Oh yes, Professor Oak! Yes! I want to be your helper more than anything in the whole wide world!" Tracey started to hyperventilate. "Oh my God, I can't believe it! I'm finally going to be working with the great Professor Oak! This is a dream come true!"

"Uh, Tracey, why don't you calm down for a moment?" Professor Oak advised. "I think you're getting a little too worked up..."

Tracey, sent over the moon by his dream coming true, didn't hear a word his new boss had said. "I'm gonna be Professor Oak's lab assistant!" Tracey ran up and down the lab, telling any Pokémon who would listen that he was going to be Professor Oak's new research assistant.

"Tracey, why don't you sit down and try to calm down for a second?" Professor Oak said as he watched Tracey race through the lab. "I know you're excited about this, but you're going to hurt yourself if you don't…"

"I'm gonna be Professor Oak's new lab assistant!" Tracey eagerly informed the Seadra floating in the water tank in the far corner of the lab. Seadra, who was none too happy at being awakened from its nap by a near-hysterical stranger, shot a blast of water in Tracey's face.

"Tracey, I should have warned you," Professor Oak said, trying hard to suppress a giggle, "That Seadra in particular doesn't like having its naps disturbed. But you'll learn about him and all the other Pokémon in this lab." He handed the waterlogged Tracey a towel. "Why don't you go get cleaned up and we can talk about your new duties as my assistant later?"