ML54: Hey, would ya look at that, I was right! Shorter chapters equals quicker uploads!

Gracie: U-um...B-but won't the ch-chapters g-get longer when the adventuring s-starts?

ML54: ...

Gracie: ...

ML54: *Grumbles* Just do the disclaimer...

Pachirisu: K! ML54 doesn't own Pokémon!

Serene Clan

"Here it is!" Pachirisu declared, jumping off her boyfriend's head, to stand before him and Gracie, her arms spread out in a grandiose fashion. "Welcome to the Serene Clan!"

Gracie looked around to scan the area. It was a large, flower filled meadow with several tents set up in a large circle. Each tent had a fairly distinct look, though were about equal in size and shape. One was coloured blue and green, for example, while another was red and yellow.

There were a couple solid buildings too, one in the shape of a green chameleon's head and one in the shape of a brown…Well she thought it looked like a cross between a bear and a kangaroo, she wasn't sure.

Then there was a tent at the far end of the camp which looked a lot larger than any of the others, pink in colour, and had a large banner over the entrance that had the words 'Clan Boss' written across it.

"Wow! It's really pretty!" Gracie squealed, happily, bouncing to the centre to look over a patch of wild flowers being looked over by a small, green pokémon with a couple of leaves on the top of its head. "Look at all of these flowers! They're all so beautiful!"

"Aw thanks, I'm glad you like them!" The little green pokémon said from besides her, causing her to jump slightly and face it. "I put a lot of work into them, so I'm glad it paid off!"

"R-really, you look after them all by yourself!" The buneary said, admiringly. "That's amazing, I was never any good at looking after plants."

"Aw, well thanks sweetheart," The pokémon said, female by the voice, using her stubby arm to rub her cheek. "My name's Petunia, or you can call me Petilil if you want. That's fine too."

"I'm Gracie, nice to meet you Petunia," She said, before something occurred to her and she turned to Buizel and Pachirisu, who had followed her over. "Wait, don't you two have names?"

The two blinked, before Buizel replied. "Yeah, Buizel and Pachirisu, we told you earlier," He explained, grinning teasingly. "I know you have amnesia, but you can't have forgotten that already."

"N-no, I mean…Um I uh…"

"I know what you mean," Petunia reassured her, putting a stubby arm on the bunny's side to get her attention. "The reason they're named after their species is because they were born in Chansey's Day-Care."

Gracie blinked, before she gasped in horror. "W-wait…You mean they're…Orphans?!"

"Yuppers!" Pachirisu piped in, happily. "But that's okay, mama Chansey was always so nice to all of us!" She continued, reassuring the girl that she wasn't offended or anything.

"Yeah, see because of heats and the like, a lot of unwanted eggs are abandoned…" Buizel said, his eyes hardening a little, clearly not as laid back about it as his partner. "So pokémon like mama Chansey take in the eggs to raise the little ones herself. But, because there's so many of us, it's just easier for her to call us by our species name, otherwise she'd have to name, like, hundreds of us!"

"We just got so used to being called by our species name that we just never grew out of it!" Pachirisu finished, laying a paw on Buizel's paw to calm him down, having noticed him tense up a little.

Gracie blinked and suddenly found herself fiddling with the fluff on her waist again, feeling awkward. "W-well…I'm sorry f-for bringing it up…"

Pachirisu waved off her concerns, climbing up her partner to rest on his head again. "Don't worry about it, Gracie, you're not the first one to be curious, and you're hardly going to be the last one. As I said, mama Chansey was great so I never felt like I missed out on anything!"

"Yeah," Buizel sighed, nodding towards the big tent. "Anyway, sorry to steal you away from the flowers, but we still need to talk to the boss about getting you into the clan."

"Oh right!" Gracie gasped, turning apologetically to Petunia. "I'm s-sorry Petunia, but I have t-to go now."

Petunia just waved off her concerns. "Oh, don't worry, dear, I'm sure we'll run into each-other again soon. Good luck!" She called out to them, as the three left for the tent.

"Okay, just remain calm, and don't worry about trying to impress the boss," Buizel advised Gracie as they stood outside the big tent. Gracie was hopping from one foot to the other, biting her lip and smoothing out the fur on her chest.

"H-how do I look?" The buneary asked, causing Buizel to roll his eyes.

"Fine, but you're only going in to ask to join the Clan, not to get a date," Gracie's face flushed a pure red, while Pachirisu fell off of Buizel's head, laughing hard.

"Oh no! I don't want to freak her out! Um…I know, I'll mess the fluff on my ears up a little!" She said, pulling her left ear down and putting her right paw into the fluff to rough it up a bit.

This, however, upset her balance a little and she fell backwards, knocking into a pokémon who had been leaving the tent, causing them both to fall on the ground. "Ow…"

"Hey, watch what you're doing?!" She heard the other pokémon yell at her and she flinched, looking over, finding a yellow mouse carrying the same kind of brown bag that Buizel had been carrying.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?!" Gracie panicked, offering the mouse her paw to help him up.

He, rudely, slapped the paw away and got up himself. "Yeah, I'm fine, no thanks to you," He said, harshly, glaring at the bunny, who flinched and pulled her waist fur up to hide the embarrassment on her face.

"Tyson, it was only an accident, lay off her!" Pachirisu exclaimed, running in front of her new friend, glaring right back at the mouse, who turned his gaze back and forth between the squirrel and the rabbit.

"…tch, just don't let it happen again," He said, grumpily, folding his arms and walking away, oblivious to the glares that Buizel and Pachirisu were sending him.

Once he was safely out of earshot, the two turned to Gracie, who was now even more mortified and embarrassed. "Oh, I'm just a world class screw up! I didn't-"

"Oh, ignore him," Pachirisu said, rolling her eyes. "Tyson's always like that."

"Yeah, he's one of the most stuck-up pikachus I've ever met," Buizel added, kneeling down to put a comforting paw on his friend's shoulder. "He'd find a way to dislike you, even if you hadn't done anything."

"Um…o-okay," Gracie mumbled, kicking a little dust up, before turning to go inside. "Well…I-I guess I better g-get this over with…" She continued as she walked into the tent, out of view of Buizel and Pachirisu.

After a few more seconds, Buizel cursed to himself and folded his arms, angrily. "Great, as if she wasn't already nervous!"

"Don't worry Bui-Bui," Pachirisu comforted him, nuzzling her face just under his ribcage. "Everything'll be okay."

He sighed and knelt down again, to nuzzle his girlfriend properly. "I hope so, Pachi, I hope so."

"U-um…hello?" Gracie called out once she got into the tent, which had a purple mist coating the ground, reaching up to the top of her waist, and a weird, purple wobbly effect on the walls around her. There were a few, ancient looking totems surrounding the area, and a couple of tables with pieces of paper and a few pencils scattered around.

In the centre of the room, however, there appeared to be a strange, pink orb like thing.

Gracie blinked, tilting her head at the odd-looking thing, approaching the centre of the room. "U-um… I'm uh…s-sorry if I'm intruding, b-but Buizel s-said I needed to t-talk to the b-boss!"

She waited for a reply, bouncing over to the orb to get a closer look. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to have a cone like shape on the top and a couple of round protrusions in the back, some white diamond patterns running along the centre of it.

"About what?" She heard a feminine voice call out, calmly, just as she was about to touch the weird thing, causing her to shriek and jump backwards, pulling her waist fluff up to her chin.

"U-u-u-um…T-t-to join the c-c-clan to earn s-s-s-some money…" She continued, looking around herself, fearfully, trying to find a glimpse of the pokémon talking to her.

"There's no need to be alarmed," The voice said, causing Gracie to jump again, turning to look back where she had come in from, her back now facing the orb.

"I'm s-s-sorry…Are you the b-b-boss?"

"…" There was a pause, until Gracie noticed a glowing from behind her and turned to the orb…

…only for the top to burst upwards, revealing a black-skinned pokémon with pink hair to pop out.

Gracie, not expecting this, jumped back and pulled her fluff up further, now covering her face, and shivering in fear.

The new pokémon, noticing this, flinched and floated over to the girl to lay one of its hands on her shoulder. "Do not fear, little one, I apologise if I scared you," The pokémon said, causing Gracie to lower her fluff so that she can see it, eye to eye.

The pokémon, lacking a mouth, seemed to smile, calmly, at her. "See, nothing to fear!" She said, Gracie noticing that it was her voice that she had been hearing the whole time. "Now for some introductions. I'm the boss, but I prefer Tapu Lele, or just Lele if you prefer."

"U-um…I'm G-Gracie," The buneary replied, finally letting go of her fur to lower her head, giving the boss a small bow, causing Tapu Lele to giggle.

"Well aren't you just precious," She said, clasping her hands together and pressing them to the side of her face as she leaned her head against them.

Gracie blushed, kicking her leg out a little, her paws behind her back, giggling back in embarrassment.

"Oh, but I'm sure you're not here for compliments," Tapu Lele said, laying her hands down onto the edge of the opening to her capsule. "You said you wanted to join the Clan, correct?"

"U-um…Yes, is that okay?" Gracie asked, a little more confidently, recognising that the pokémon in front of her was friendly.

"Of course, it's okay!" She answered, spinning in the air once, smiling. "Just need you to fill out a form, then I can get you settled in a room and get you a tutor-"

"A t-tutor?" Gracie asked, confused.

"Well yeah…Oh, I'm sorry, do you already have experience with Mystery Dungeons?" Tapu Lele asked, suddenly feeling a little bad about assuming the pokémon in front of her was new to this.

"W-well…no I was…j-just confused was all…" Gracie answered, blushing in embarrassment. I really need to stop interrupting everyone!

Tapu Lele didn't seem to mind, however, waving over to the table on the side. "Well okay, I'll get you a tutor, just take one of the forms and fill it out to the best of your abilities!" She said, before ducking into her capsule.

Gracie waited for a couple of minutes, curious as to what the boss was doing, before she felt a sweat drop go down the back of her head and she bounced over to the table.

Okay. Name: Gracie. Age: Um…um… Gracie cringed, trying to remember how old she was. I…I think sixteen…Maybe? Well it's the number that comes to mind, so I guess that's what I'll go with…

After about ten minutes of this, Tapu Lele popped out of her capsule again and smiled in Gracie's direction, only to find that she had jumped at her sudden appearance.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot how jumpy you were," Tapu Lele said, sheepishly. "Anyway, I found a tutor for you, so you all done with the form?"

"To…the b-best of my ability…I'm s-sorry, I h-have amnesia…" Gracie said, shakily handing the form over.

"That's okay, it's more for record keeping than anything else!" She replied, before she turned to the entrance. "Anyway, your tutor will be Tyson over there."

Gracie's wide eyes turned to the bored looking pikachu, leaning against one of the pillars by the entrance to the tent.

"Do I have to do this?" Tyson groaned, waving over to the bunny, who was avoiding his gaze. "I mean, look at her, I doubt she'd be too useful in the kitchen, much less a Mystery Dungeon."

"Which is why you're going to teach her," Tapu Lele explained, exasperatedly, motioning to her as well. "Plus, you need a partner as well, and since you don't get along with anyone else here, maybe you can make friends with someone new."

"I don't need a partner!" The pikachu exclaimed, folding his arms, indignantly. "I can handle anything by myself, you just won't let me!"

"There's a reason exploration teams need two members Tyson-" The boss explained, shaking her head at the adamant pokémon in front of her. "-and the clue is in the name, you need someone to watch your back and to help when enemy numbers start overwhelming you. Plus, as they say, two heads are better than one."

Tyson rolled his eyes and sighed, glaring over at Gracie, who jumped and shivered at his gaze. "Fine, but you better not get in my way and listen to what I say, capeesh?"

Gracie shivered at his tone, but nodded regardless, not noticing Tapu Lele giving Tyson a disapproving gaze. "C-capeesh…"

"…Good," He sighed, turned and nodded towards the entrance. "I'll show you where our tent is…"

"Our?!" Gracie yelped, blushing furiously.

Tapu Lele giggled at her reaction. "Relax, there are two beds. I just prefer all team-mates to remain together at all times. Helps strengthen bonds and build trust-"

"And embarrass newcomers," Tyson said, rolling his eyes as he left the tent.

Gracie was about to follow, but Tapu Lele stopped her. "Don't take what Tyson says to heart, he just…has trouble with others, is all. I'm sure he'll grow to like you," She explained, to which Gracie slowly nodded.

"Um…O-okay…" She replied, chasing after the mouse.

Once she was out of sight, Tapu Lele sighed to herself, slumping over her desk a little. "…Or at least, I hope he will…"

ML54: And there's chapter two! Chapter three will be Gracie settling into her new room and then meeting some of the other Serene Clan members! As always, thanks for reading and please R&R guys!