ML54: Alright guys, time for chapter seven!

Tyson: Don't you have coursework to do?

ML54: It's only the first week back.

Tyson: ...oh.

ML54: As always, I don't own pokémon! And I have gone back to university now, third year, so please forgive me if an update comes a little late.


Apprehending the Outlaw

Tyson, Gracie and Wottson walked along a similar forest path as yesterday, on their way to Verdant Cavern, in a tense silence. It was like the awkward silence she and Tyson had yesterday, but this time it was caused by a lack of desire to talk than anything.

Wottson was leading the way a few steps ahead of them, so starting a conversation with him would be a little impractical, so the only pokémon she could talk to was Tyson. And she was still a little upset with him, so didn't want to talk to him, which seemed to suit him fine as he glared at nothing in particular.

Gracie sighed, deciding to just be left alone with her thoughts. Just hold strong, Gracie! Like Wottson said, you're in the right here! You can't spend your whole time as a pokémon as a doormat!

But then her promise to herself the night before came to mind, the promise to get him to smile, and she flinched, rubbing her arm with the other.

After a little bit more time passed, she sighed. "T-Tyson?"

"What?" He asked, grunting a little, showing that he was still in a bad mood. Gracie flinched.

"I…I-I'm sorry f-for snapping at y-you…It…it was uncalled f-for-"

She heard him sigh before he lightly punched her in the shoulder to get her to stop talking. "No, I'm sorry. You did ask me to stop grabbing you and I didn't. I just…you know, didn't expect you to suddenly grow a pair," He replied, grinning slightly. "Now if only you were a little consistent with it."

"H-hey! I helped you w-with that raticate yesterday!" She answered, pouting and folding her arms. Tyson chuckled.

"Yeah, and you got blasted in the face with a hyper beam. There's a difference between being tough and being stupid," He smirked, poking her nose, causing her to flinch back and for her nose to start twitching wildly. "And attacking a pokémon that had ten levels over you after I said I could handle it was pretty stupid."

"Well sorry, n-next time I'll just l-let it bite your tail off," She shot back, her grumpy reply somewhat diminished with her lips twitching into a smile.

"As I said, I can handle it," He finished, before noticing the rather large gap between them and Wottson. "Hey, maybe we should catch up to the Detective, Long-Ears, or he'll start leaving us behind."

"Hey, what's w-with the n-nicknames anyway?" she asked, picking up her pace regardless.

Tyson shrugged. "I don't know, it's easy to come up with nicknames for you, Cream-Brows," He answered, teasingly, causing her to grin back.

"Th-that one was a r-reach and you know it," The buneary replied, folding her arms. Tyson shrugged.

"Fair enough, I'll stick to the other four I've got, eh Fluff-Butt?" He smiled, causing Gracie to blink.

He's smiling again! She thought, happily nodding. "I-I guess so…"

They let the conversation stop there, but Gracie did notice his smile die down a little, but it didn't go back to a frown. It was more like it morphed back down to a subtle smirk. So, it was definitely an improvement over this morning, so Gracie counted it as a victory.

"Okay chaps, we're here!" Wottson announced, turning and presenting the entrance to a new cave. This time though, rather than crystals, the entrance had vines and other plant life entering it around the edges of it.

Tyson nodded, picking an item out of the bag he had around him, and attaching it to his wrist.

Gracie noticed and tilted her head in confusion, silently asking what it was. When Tyson noticed, he flashed the bracelet at her and explained: "This is a bracelet that holds my light ball. I only bring it out for outlaw chases."

"What's a l-light ball?" Gracie asked, tugging on her waist fluff a little.

"It's a special item that increases a pikachu's attack and special attack," Wottson explained, before pulling something off one of the vines on the entrance to the dungeon. "Looks like our bouffalant was here recently, I found some of his hair."

He showed the two of them the ball of dark brown fuzz he found, causing Tyson to fold his arms and roll his eyes. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"U-um…Yeah!" Gracie encouraged, uncertainly pumping a fist into the air.

Wottson blinked, before grinning and throwing the hair he found in his own bag. "Okay, then let's get to it!"


Floor B1

"Ekansssss…" A purple, snake like pokémon hissed, spotting the small group, causing Gracie to jump back a little.

"Eeep!"

Tyson rolled his eyes, before getting down on all fours, charging at the snake declaring: "Quick Attack!" and slammed into the snake, knocking it out.

Gracie blinked, impressed by how much stronger that attack looked while Wottson rolled his eyes. "Stop being a show off, Tyson!"

"You aren't my boss, Wottson!" He shot back, brushing a few stray bits of dust away. "Anyway Fluff-Butt, next one's yours. I wanna see how you fair against someone who's a higher level."

"U-um…Okay s-sure…" The buneary answered, clenching a fist to prepare herself for whatever the next thing that came at her was.


After a little bit of exploring, Wottson stopping them every now and then to look for footprints and such, another dungeon sick pokémon approached them. This one, a purple fluff ball with two large, red eyes and two white antennae.

"Veeeenooooo…" It groaned, its eyes glowing a little, causing a blue light to outline Detective Wottson, before he was suddenly thrown away.

"Careful Gracie," Tyson said, folding his arms and leaning on the entrance to the room. "That's a venonat. They can be tricky little buggers, but you should be fine. Go for it."

Gracie gulped, but nodded regardless, bouncing into range and charging electricity between her ears. "Charge beam!"

After she announced this, a thin beam of electricity shot towards the pokémon, who jumped out of the way of the beam. Tyson sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as Wottson stumbled up next to him.

"Veeenoooo!" The venonat moaned, its eyes glowing a little.

Gracie panicked as she felt the attack surround her, quickly shooting another charge beam towards the stationary target. This time, it landed a hit, shocking the venonat and causing it to stumble backwards a little. However, Gracie was still thrown back a little, landing on the ground.

She shivered a little, feeling the effects of run away start to kick in, but she held firm. "Hidden power!" She declared, firing off the green orbs, slamming them into the venonat.

"Veno!" It declared, charging and slamming into Gracie, causing her to cry out in pain.

Tyson flinched at that, his fist clenching of its own accord. He was worried, sure, but he was confident that she could do this. After all, that charge beam she used earlier had raised her special attack.

He then blinked and shook his head. Why would I be worried? It's not like she's my friend or anything.

Gracie shivered, more violently now, but tried her hardest to not bolt. I can handle this! It's just one enemy! You have to be strong!

She charged the same attack again, surrounding herself in the same glowing green orbs. Except this time, her ears charged electricity between them at the same time.

"Hidden charge beam!" She declared, firing off the orbs, then hitting the orb with the charge beam so that they became charged with electric energy.

The venonat was overcome by the attack, which sent it flying backwards, slamming into the wall behind it. Then a beam of light came from the ceiling and took the pokémon away.

Gracie panted a little, before she felt someone pat her on the shoulder and, suddenly, her run away kicked in and she ran behind a nearby stone, pulling her waist fluff up to cover her face.


Tyson sighed and facepalmed, before turning to Wottson. "You go on ahead, I'll deal with her."

"Okay then, don't take too long though," Wottson warned, going along another corridor. "We don't want to miss our chance at catching Jason!"

Tyson rolled his eyes, getting an oran berry out of the bag and rushing over to Gracie, who was whimpering and shivering in fear, her back pressed against the wall. He lightly poked her in the shoulder, causing her grip on her fluff to loosen enough to spring back down, so he could shove the berry into her mouth as she gasped.

Once she bit into it, she sighed and had calmed down again. "Thanks…"

"No problem, good job on the link move," He said, leaning back to sit next to her, waiting for her to ask the inevitable.

"W-what's a l-link move?" She asked, her left paw fiddling with a few leaves to her side.

"There it is," He whispered to himself, not realising that Gracie had heard it, due to her ultrasensitive hearing, and explained: "A link move is when you combine your moves together. Usually it's done to power a move up, but it takes a lot of energy to do it."

"…Well, yeah, n-now that y-you mention i-it I do feel a-awfully light-headed…" Tyson rolled his eyes, taking an apple out of the bag and handing it to her.

"You'll be fine after you eat this," He explained as she grabbed and bit into it, not realising how hungry she was. "Yeah, using link moves makes you really hungry, so we don't tend to use 'em often, unless we packed enough food to serve twelve snorlaxes."

Gracie giggled a little, trying to picture how much food that would entail. The phrase 'a mountain of food' didn't seem to emphasize the amount enough.

Tyson grinned at her reaction, getting up and holding out his paw for her. "So, not bad, you took on a level twelve and took it out. I'd say you passed that test. Just got to work on your aim a little."

Gracie took his paw as he pulled her back to her feet. "Level ten now, I heard the ding earlier," She answered, her eyes brightening slightly.

"Ha, you didn't stutter that time," Tyson mentioned, causing her to blink, then look down and shuffle her foot along the ground.

"Oh, ha…I guess I didn't," She mumbled, not able to help the little grin showing on her face. She then paused and looked under her foot, after she felt something on the sole.

She lifted it up and examined it a little, noting it looking like a coin with a weird red mask on the front. "What's this?"

"That's a tutor token. Good find," Tyson said, looking oddly excited. "Those things get you a move tutored to you by Hawlucha! He has a shop set up around the infirmary!"

Gracie blinked at his behaviour, putting the thing in her fluff. "I think I-I'll worry about that later. Let's go f-find Wottson, okay?"

He blinked, before sighing and smirking. "Gotcha Long-Ears, let's go!"


Floor B3

"Okay, we should be close to him now," Wottson explained, looking over some of the footprints and finding an apple core. "He was snacking on this and, since it hasn't started browning yet, he must have eaten it recently."

"Alright…" Tyson nodded, turning to Gracie, who had managed to get to level thirteen after watching Tyson take out a couple more dungeon sick pokémon…Mostly for convenience sake as they were chasing an outlaw.

She was a little put off, not being able to help, but agreed to. She had also tried to learn the move baby-doll eyes and decided to take it over foresight since, after Tyson told her what they do, she knew foresight was kind of useless to her. She didn't have any normal or fighting type moves, after all.

Tyson was going to make a comment at the time, but decided to keep his trap shut. After all, she reacted badly the last time he made a move decision for her, so just let her do what she wanted.

Gracie shuffled a little, noting the look on his face. "D-do you w-want me to sit this o-one out?"

Tyson shook his head and handed her the brown bag he was carrying. "Actually, I was going to suggest you use the items. After all, I have a couple of blast seeds that'd do more damage than you would, currently. You can also pass us an oran berry if we look a little worn out."

Gracie blinked, taking the bag and placing it round herself. Tyson gave her a quick thumbs-up. "Looks good, maybe I should have you holding the bag more often. You're a special attacker, so you won't be moving around as much as me."

"Plus, she'd be able to eat an oran berry if she feels run away start to take effect. Good thinking," Wottson approved, poking his head through the pathway to the next room. "Alright, I looked on ahead and he's in the room ahead. It doesn't have any other exits from what I've seen, so we have him cornered."

"Awesome!" Tyson cheered, turning to Gracie. "Alright, all you got to do is think about the name of the item you want and reach into the bag to get it."

"Really?" Gracie asked, her eyes sparkling. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah well, it's called a wonder bag for a reason," He teased, before pausing. "Oh right, amnesia. Sorry, I keep forgetting."

Gracie smiled at him and he realised how…nice he sounded. So, he coughed, turning his head away. "A-anyway! Time to beat this guy up and bring him to justice!"

"Yeah!" Gracie cheered, liking the sound of that. Bad people and pokémon should be punished for their crimes, after all.

"Okay so, if you stay in the entry way, Gracie, you'll block his only way out. Meanwhile, Tyson and I will engage him up close and personal!" Wottson exclaimed, pulling his scalchop off his stomach, igniting it with a blue energy.

"Let's go!" Tyson agreed, his face showing concentration and he got down on all fours. "I'll get the drop on him, you guys come in after! Quick attack!"


Jason, himself, was grumbling and looking around in his explorer bag, trying to find something. "I knew I should have upgraded to a wonder bag! Those things are so-"

His rambling was interrupted when he felt someone slam into his side and he grunted, turning to look at his assailant. "Alright! Who's the wise guy?!"

"That'd be me, Fuzz-Face!" Tyson grinned, rushing in front of him and sticking his tongue out at him. The bouffalant grunted angrily and charged at him with his head lowered.

"You'll regret that! Horn attack!"

He got about half way towards the pikachu, before Wottson dove in front of him and declared: "Protect!" And a green shield appeared in front of him, causing the bull to slam into it and do no damage.

Jason grunted as Tyson winked over at Gracie, who was fiddling with the wonder bag. "Stay there and prepare a blast seed! Just in case he comes near you, okay, Fluff-Butt?!"

Gracie fiddled inside the bag a little, before pulling out a seed that seemed to have 'B' on it, which she assumed was the blast seed. "Got it!"

Jason looked over to where Tyson was talking and grinned, menacingly, towards the inexperienced looking explorer. "Oh, this'll be fun!" He exclaimed, charging at her with his head lowered. "Horn attack!"

Gracie shrieked, fumbling with the seed, trying to figure out how to use it. Should she throw it at him? But if that was how it worked, wouldn't it explode, rustling around in the wonder bag? Should she break it open? She tried that, but all she got out of it was sore palms. Apparently, these seeds are really tough.

"Spark!" She heard Tyson declare, trying his hardest to catch the charging bull, rushing on all fours while coating himself in electricity…

…However, although he was fast, once the bull had gotten his momentum, there was no way he was gonna catch him.

Gracie, seeing how little time she had left, noted how sharp those horns of Jason's looked and panicked…

…and ate the seed.

She didn't know why she did this, it seemed like the dumbest thing she could do! After all, Tyson had told her these things do more damage than she could, so wouldn't eating it just hurt her?

Suddenly, though, she felt a burning sensation erupt in her throat and she cried out as she opened her mouth and a plume of flames shot out. They exploded in the bouffalant's face, causing him to stagger back in pain, his eyes burning.

Thus, allowing Tyson to slam into the bull's side, causing massive damage through one of his strongest moves.

Jason flinched, tumbling to the side, but shook off his disorientation and got up, ready to charge again…

…Before a blade of blue energy sliced into his side.

Wottson, after landing his attack, leaned on his knees and panted in exhaustion. "Jeez, you boys…run fast…don't you?"

"Arg…AHHHH!" Jason cried out, before falling to the side, his eyes being replaced with swirls.

Gracie blinked, before pouting slightly. "Was that it?"

Tyson grinned and lightly punched her in the shoulder, leaning on the wall beside her. "You sound disappointed?"

"I just…I don't know…I kinda expected him to be tougher," She whispered, noting that she didn't stutter again, looking up at him as he sighed.

"I get what ya mean," Tyson replied, casually watching as Wottson tied the bull up. "See, since I was a one guy team, the boss only sent me on easy missions. I'm level twenty-six, and yet she constantly sent me to level fifteen dungeons."

Gracie blinked as she saw his fists clench a little, a frown appearing on his face. "But she always said things like 'you'd struggle without a partner' or 'you wouldn't be able to handle it on your own' and all that junk. Honestly, this is the highest-level guy I've fought in a long time."

"…Why don't you g-get a partner then?"

"Because people don't like me," He sighed, his eyes softening a little. "I'm a little over controlling, grumpy and blunt. Most people don't look for that in a partner, so…"

Gracie's eyes softened at the little confession, but tried her best not to let her pity show on her face, knowing how he reacts to other pokémon showing concern for him. "I like you…"

He blinked in surprise, turning to find her smiling at him, shyly, before he felt a smile tugging at his lips too. "Thanks Gracie…"

That's the first time he's said my name, Gracie thought to herself, before Wottson finished tying up Jason and Tyson shook out of it.

"Well, let's get this guy in jail and get paid," He smirked, using his tail to nudge her. "Then tomorrow we can find Hawlucha and see about another move-"

"Aw, but baby-doll eyes sounds cute," Gracie pouted, to which Tyson rolled his eyes.

"Of course you'd think that," He smirked, heading towards Wottson. Gracie followed, a small smile on her face.

I'll get Tyson those tougher jobs! She thought to herself, hearing two more dings, indicating that she's now level fifteen. Slowly but surely, I will make him happy!


ML54: No real plot stuff in this chapter, just character stuff!

Pachirisu: That's fair enough!

ML54: Of course you'd say that! I wrote you to say that...Ahem, anyway, please review! I'd like to hear you guy's thoughts on the story so far! Keep on keepin' on, guys! :D