A/N- Sorry about taking so long, but you know how things go. Besides, it was only a little over a week so get over it. Read & Review, Rest & Relax, and all that stuff. Seriously, though, REVIEW!
The Close Call
Grace awoke during the night, the warmth of the body next to her beckoning her to move closer. Her little plan had gone off without a hitch and Locke was sleeping next to her facing the opposite direction. In pure bliss, she almost didn't notice when he began to mumble in his sleep.
"Grace, please… don't go…" As he said this, Grace sensed emotions of fear and despair flow through the Riolu. Moving her body closer to his and wrapping her arms around him, she smiled when the emotions ceased and were replaced by a calm joy that seemed to warm his body even more.
"I promise you Locke… that no matter what happens, no matter what we face, I'll never leave you…" Wrapping her arms tighter around him and feeling his soft warmth, she slowly slipped back to sleep.
But through the heavy drowsiness that fogged her mind, she heard a faint, almost inaudible response, "Thank you, Grace…"
***
The morning sun slipped through the hotel window and began to wake Locke from his peaceful sleep. Feeling the warmth of someone else's body surrounding him, he smiled. 'So it had been her…' he thought. Locke had dreamt that Grace was leaving him. In his despair he called out to her and the dream ended. She had found him when he needed her most.
Gently removing her arms from around him, Locke got out of the bed and found his way to the hotel's wash basin. Splashing the cold water in his face, it cleared the drowsiness from his vision. Searching the hotel room, he found a stack of blank sheets of paper and a quill pen on the room's table. Scribbling a quick note to tell Grace where he'd gone, he slipped out of the room as quietly as possible.
John was still in the town and this could be his only chance to speak to him before he left. The Gabite would disappear once he was fully healed. Walking to the sheriff's office, he knocked on the door lightly.
Frank's voice answered him from inside, "Who knocks on the door to a sheriff's office? It's a public building. Come in." Entering the room, Locke was relieved to find that a heavy door separated the office from the jail cells. He wouldn't have to see Serena and that was fine with him.
The rest of the room was typical of most law offices that he'd seen. A cot was in the corner of the room, providing the elected sheriff a place to sleep when he worked long hours. The floor was made of wood, just like every other building in Orsa village. At the wall opposite the entrance, was a large desk where Frank was currently sitting behind. Stacks of papers littered the desk and the floor around it. 'No wonder he was so upset last night,' Locke thought, 'He's already up to his horn in paper work.'
"Oh Locke, it's you. I didn't think you'd want to check up on Serena after what she put y'all through," Frank said.
"Actually, I'm here to find out where John is. I heard he was still too injured to leave town, so I wanted talk to him before I left again."
"Well I do know where he is," Frank replied, "but first you're gonna have to tell me something."
Locke's let out a deep sigh. He had a pretty good idea where this was heading and he didn't want to go there. His past with the Gabite was something he didn't want to discuss. "What exactly do you want to know?"
"How much do you care for Grace?" This took Locke by surprise. He hadn't expected Grace to be the subject and his face showed as much. "Before you two restart your journey, I'd like to know."
Locke began to feel anger swell up inside of him. The question wasn't Frank's to ask. Locke replied, "How I feel about her is my own business."
"You're sure afraid of your feelings, aren't you? Do you feel guilty for some reason? Did you hurt someone? How do I know you won't hurt Grace as well?"
Locke became furious and yelled, "My past has nothing to do with this and I would never harm Grace! Why the hell do you care? You're of no relation to her!"
Frank stood up from behind his desk, the flame on his tail growing noticeably fiercer. "I've grown fond of the girl is all," Frank's voice began to climb in volume, "and I don't want some oblivious bastard treading all over her feelings! Now tell me, damn it!"
Locke felt like his emotions were going to tear him apart. "I care for her more than my own life!" His voice softened as he continued, "I'll do everything I have to do to protect her…"
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Frank sat down again and said, "Well congratulations. You passed… Root, Mack, you can come out now." The two bartenders walked through the heavy door that connected the office to the jail, seeming very uneasy about the situation.
Mack was the first one to speak, "Well sorry boy, but we had to find out if you really cared for the lass is all. If you're mad, then you can just get over it."
"Ya see," Root continued, "we've come too really like that girl and we don't want to see her hurt. I hope you can forgive us."
Locke crossed his arms and sighed, regaining control of his emotions before replying, "You had no right. Now where can I find John?"
Frank answered him, "He's staying at the clinic a street over…"
"Thanks." Locke walked out of the office without another word.
***
Grace awoke slowly, with a certain, familiar warmth missing from her side. The chill of the morning air had found its way into the room and she curled into a ball, shivering. Realizing that Locke wasn't in the room, she ignored the cold and walked over to the washbasin. After cleaning up a little she almost walked out of the room, but stopped when she noticed the slip of paper on the table. All it said was that he was going to the sheriff's office for a bit and would be back soon.
At that moment, she felt Locke's emotions sky rocket out of control. It was a mix of fury, anger and confusion. Rushing out of the room, she flew down the hall, but was blocked by the Slowbro that she'd talked to the night before. "Uh, excuse me sir, I'm in a bit of a hurry so if you don't mind…"
The clerk turned around painfully slow and a grin spread across his face. "Oh it's you. How did last night go?"
Grace eyes glowed as she lifted the Slowbro into the air above her with a Confusion attack and set him behind her. Running off she called back, "Sorry, but I don't have time right now." The clerk chuckled to himself at her actions and stopped her with his own psychic powers.
Pulling her back he said, "Whoa, now… Why in such a rush?"
Grace's limbs flailed uselessly in the air as she tried to free herself. "I don't have time for this!" Focusing her mind on the street outside, Grace Teleported in a blue flash of light leaving the clerk to puzzle what had just happened.
Reappearing in the street, Grace dashed to the sheriff's office fearful of what may have happened. Locke's emotions had died back down extremely fast and she couldn't sense them anymore. Arriving at her destination, she burst into the office to find Frank, Root, and Mack all with surprised looks on their faces. "Where's Locke? Is something wrong?"
Mack rushed over to her and said, "Relax little lady, Locke's doing fine. We just upset him a bit is all."
Frank stood up from behind his desk and said, "A wanted poster came in with his description. We confronted him and he became angry, alright? The matter's been resolved now so there ain't anything to worry about. It was all just a big misunderstanding."
Grace focused her horns solely on the Charmeleon. 'Let's see if that's really the truth,' she thought, but she frowned when she felt hardly anything from him at all. He had complete control of his emotions and Grace couldn't tell either way. "I suppose I'll have to believe you… Where is he now?"
"He went to visit that bounty hunter before y'all leave town again," Root said, "but I think you'd best not follow him. He seemed like he wanted to talk to him alone."
Grace sighed. She knew this was personal for him and she would just have to give him some space. Based on what had already happened, it was going to be a long day.
***
"So we're finally done fighting each other?"
John nodded and said, "I lost in a fair fight. There's nothing holding me down anymore."
Locke was sitting next to the former bounty hunters bed. "What about your boss? He'll never let you out of that contract."
John clenched his claws into a fist and said, "I can give you a few good places of where he should shove that contract. Besides, he doesn't have any influence out West and that's where I'm planning on going next."
Locke took on a less serious tone, "Aren't you a little old to be dreaming of adventure?"
John smiled and said, "Adventure is the farthest thing from my mind. I'm hoping to find a decent mate and settle down. You're lucky, Locke. You're already halfway there."
Locke blushed and said, "Me and Grace aren't like that."
"Could a fooled me," John replied.
"Oh what do you know?"
"Oh admit it. You love her."
"I care about her. That's all there is to it."
"No it ain't."
"Yes it is!"
"Oh come on. You're turning beet red, which is hard to do when your fur's blue."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I never said anything about girlfriends. You must really like her to already be thinking about that."
"Oh just shut up already!"
***
Grace was walking back to the hotel. She just couldn't figure out why Locke could have been so upset. He wasn't one to lose his temper over something as harmless as a wanted poster… Not to that degree anyway. Frank had obviously known the real reason, but it wouldn't have done any good to ask him. Grace was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice when a Ponyta stepped in front of her and she walked right into him. She fell back and landed on her butt with a loud "Ouch! Watch where you're going, asshole!"
Shaking her head, she looked up to see the Ponyta was dressed in a purple cloth of some sort with a gold trim. You couldn't really even call it clothes though. It was just a large piece of cloth with holes for his head and mane that stretched to the middle of his legs. Even so, it looked very expensive
"Why you ungrateful little whelp!" the Ponyta shouted at Grace, "I give you a job as my personal servant, provide a roof over your head, and as soon as we leave the estate you run off!" He turned to a Hitmonchan and said, "Restrain her, Jean, and bring the brat with us. We're taking her back to the estate. As for you Julia, I don't want to hear any whining. I'll show you what happens when you cross a Cavelo."
Grace went wide eyed at what was happening. Jean grabbed her and slipped some sort of necklace around her neck. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" she yelled.
"Oh shut up Julia," the Ponyta said, "you should have known I was going to find you."
Grace struggled desperately in the Hitmonchan's grasp. "What are you talking about?" she cried frantically, "My name's Grace!" The Ponyta trotted off and Jean followed with her thrown over his shoulder. Realizing she couldn't free herself from his grasp, she focused all of her energy into a Confusion attack. The mental waves seemed to bounce around in her mind as she screamed in pain and passed out.
***
Locke waved goodbye to John and walked out the door. He felt good. It had been a long time since he'd gotten a chance to have a true conversation with him. 'Out West…" he thought, 'maybe Grace and I could… No, I couldn't possibly protect her out there…' Mentally chastising himself as he went, Locke strolled toward Frank's office. His head was clearer and he wasn't as angry about what had happened.
'They care for Grace too, is all.' With all the assholes walking around, he could even understand their reasons a bit. Just yesterday he had run into such a jerk; a rich, conceited Ponyta named Simon Cavelo. His family owned a sprawling estate to the north, a little closer to the Capitol. Serena had put on quite a show and, being the idiot he was, Simon had fallen for it. Grace happened to be off collecting water from a nearby stream at the time so she hadn't yet had the displeasure of meeting him.
It was probably for the best too. Simon was searching for a runaway indentured servant named Julia who just happened to be a Ralts. Had Grace been there it would have probably caused unnecessary complications.
Reaching the sheriff's office, he paused and took a deep breath. Opening the door, he found that Root and Mack had already left. Frank was sitting behind his desk doing paperwork and didn't seem to notice him come in. "I'm sorry I got so angry. It was uncalled for," Locke said.
"We rubbed you the wrong way. It was only natural for you to be mad," Frank replied, "By the way, Grace came in here looking for you. She sensed your outburst from the hotel and came running. I told her we had shown you a falsified wanted poster of yourself, but I don't think she bought it. I explained where you were going, too, and I'm pretty sure she went back to the hotel."
"Thanks. Give my regards to Root and Mack," Locke said.
"Uh-huh…" Frank went back to his paperwork and Locke left the office.
On his way back, he was stopped by a Slowbro whom he recognized to be the hotel's clerk. The clerk paused and breathed in a slow, deep rhythm, apparently out of breath. Finally he said, "I've been looking… everywhere… for you. Your Kirlia friend is in trouble."
Locke's dark, green eyes widened in panic. "What do you mean? How do you know?"
"I felt her mind scream out in pain about an hour ago," the clerk said, "When I went to find her, she was being carried off by a Hitmonchan. He was following a Ponyta toward the northern edge of town."
Locke silently cursed under his breath and turned to dash after Grace. Just before he took the first step the Slowbro grabbed his paw and pulled him back. "Wait, I collected your things." At this the clerk handed Locke both his and Grace's packs.
Nodding, Locke turned and sprinted to the North. 'I should have known that rich bastard was going to be trouble…'
***
When Grace awoke, she was still being carried by the Hitmonchan. Focusing her sensors, she tried to get a better idea of what she was dealing with. She was met, however, with a throbbing pain that wracked her entire body. Something was wrong. Feeling a heavy weight on her neck, her eyesight came into focus to find she was wearing a dark, purple pendent.
"Oh, so your finally awake," said the Hitmonchan who still had her thrown over his shoulder, "Really Julia, you should know better than to run away. Master Simon is really angry."
"Who the hell is Julia?" Grace yelled in frustration, "My name's Grace!" Grace began to struggle again, but to no avail.
"It doesn't really matter," he said, "The master says that you're Julia and what he says goes."
"Why can't I use my psychic powers?"
"You should know that Julia. You've had to wear that pendant ever since you started working for the Cavelo family."
Grace immediately tried to pull it off of her, but she was thrown into agony when she did. Screaming, she let the pendant go and the pain stopped. Gasping for breath, she went limp.
When she regained her breath, she began to look around. They were on the same path she and Locke had been traveling on before. 'We've left the village…' Grace felt her emotions welling up inside of her. 'Locke doesn't know where I am… he doesn't know…' The tears began to stream down her face as she thought about her hopeless situation. "Locke…" she whispered.
"Oh please. Stop your blasted crying," the Ponyta from before said. He maneuvered himself behind Jean and continued, "Your escape attempt failed, get over it. You still have another six years on your contract and I don't want to be around a crybaby."
Grace broke out into sobs, unable to hold back anymore. "Locke," she whispered, "save me…"
***
Locke was sprinting as fast as he could. He had to get Grace back. Realizing that he was tiring himself out, he slowed to a jog. If his assumptions were correct, than that Ponyta had mistaken Grace for the indentured servant he was looking for. He would punish that arrogant bastard for this.
Focusing his Aura, Locke searched the road ahead as far as he could. He could just barely feel Grace's Aura. They were only about a mile farther up the path. Picking up his speed again, he cursed himself again for not preventing this in the first place. 'I won't lose her,' he thought, 'I won't…'
Locke continued to run. Finally, he topped a rise in the road and they came into to view. Dashing forward with added energy he closed the distance between them. Grace was still being held by the Hitmonchan that the hotel clerk had described and Simon was trotting ahead of them.
Locke jumped over the Hitmonchan and grabbed Grace out of his arms, landing near the side of the path. She was unconscious and her face was stained with tears.
"What do you think you're doing?" cried Simon, "That girl belongs to me! Jean, get her back, now!"
"You monster," Locke yelled, "She is not yours to own!" Placing her down gently on the ground and setting the packs down as well, he stood up ready to fight. This was going to be difficult. He could handle the Ponyta easily, but the Hitmonchan was a different story. He had scars across his body, showing that he'd been in many fights. He was more experienced and not to be taken lightly.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jean," the Hitmonchan said, "May I ask you what your name is?"
"Shut the hell up!" Locke replied, "You're as much of a monster as he is and you're both going to pay for taking Grace!" Locke rushed forward and launched a fury of punches and kicks at his opponent. Jean dodged each attack with ease and fired his fist forward at the first sign of an opening. Locke tried to jump back, but the punch was too fast and made contact with his chest. Locke flew backward and slammed into a tree. 'He's quick; I'll have to beat him some other way…'
"Good show, Jean. Now finish him off!"
"Why don't you stop playing around and fight me for real?" Jean taunted, ignoring his Master's order.
Locke retook a fighting stance and smiled. He ran towards Jean again, but this time used Double Team. The images surrounded the Hitmonchan on all sides who responded by destroying every single one of them with a quick jab. When all of the images were gone, he looked around frantically, unable to find the original. "Up here, idiot." Locke had used the images as a diversion and had jumped above Jean while he was distracted. Using Force Palm, Locke smashed Jean's head into the ground, knocking him unconscious. "I guess you weren't experienced as I thought you were."
Locke turned to Simon who had a look of horror on his face. "As for you, I think I'll make your suffering last a while before I knock you out." Locke took one step toward him and Simon peed himself before fainting and falling over. "That's what I thought…"
Turning his attention back to Grace, he walked over to where she was. Picking her and the packs up, he started walking. After putting some distance between him and Grace's kidnappers, Locke found a shady tree near the road and set Grace and the packs down. Carrying so much weight after everything that had happened had worn him rather quickly.
Bending down he inspected Grace to make sure she wasn't hurt. She seemed to be alright physically, but the Aura she was giving off showed her to be in some sort of pain. It was then that Locke noticed the pendant. He removed it from around her neck in order to get a better look at it. Grace's Aura became noticeably more peaceful and her eyes slowly opened. "L-Locke… Is that you?"
"Don't worry, you're safe now," he said, "I took care of things." Locke sat down and leaned against the tree. "You really had me worried, you know. Why didn't you just Teleport out of there?"
Grace tried to sit up, but was too fatigued so she settled with laying her head on Locke's lap instead. "It's not my fault," she said, "The stone on that pendent is real similar to the stones in that cave behind the waterfall that I took you to. It threw my attacks back at me and made me pass out. When I tried to take it off the pain became unbearable."
"I see… well get some rest. We'll leave once you're ready to go." Grace didn't answer. She had already dosed off in his lap. Locke smiled and closed his eyes. 'I won't lose her,' he thought, 'it won't happen again…'
"Well isn't that a cute sight?" Locke's eyes opened to find Jack hovering in front of him. "You two just make the cutest couple."
"Why the hell are you here?! I thought we'd gotten rid of you!" Locke said, "Don't you have dead stuff to do or something?"
The Gastly frowned and said, "Why can't people get it through their thick skulls? I'm… ALIVE!"
"Maybe because you don't have a skull to begin with?"
Jack moaned in a way that only a ghost could manage. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! Anyways, I've got another job to do so I'll leave soon. But first…" half of Jack's body became covered by a creepy smile, "just how far have you two gone so far?"
Locke growled and said, "We haven't done anything. Now leave us alone."
"So you're telling me that you two sleep together and you're not even dating?"
Locke blushed. "There were only a few rooms left and none of them had two beds."
"Oh, sure," the ghost's grin grew even larger, "That's the reason…"
"You act like a damn stalker. Now put fifty miles between us or I'll kick you twice that far!"
"Okay, okay, I'm leaving," Jack's body began to fade, "Can't even take a stupid joke…"
Locke sighed and settled back against the tree. Grace hadn't woken up and for that he was thankful. 'I have a feeling that won't be the last time we see him… At least he's not another enemy. I can't say the same for Simon though. The next time we see him, there'll be trouble…'
***
It had been three days since Grace's kidnapping and she still couldn't keep herself from looking over her shoulder every ten minutes. She was scared to the point where she almost stopped trying to get Locke to rest in the same sleeping bag with her… almost…
"But Locke, what if they try to take me again?" Grace made her face look as pitiful as possible, "Wouldn't it be safer if we stay close to each other?"
Locke smiled and said, "What'll people think if they see us doing that kind a thing?"
Grace groaned in frustration. He'd been like this ever since they started traveling again. There wasn't anybody watching them and Locke had to know it. It was as if he was oblivious to her advances. It's not like she was going too far. Grace just wanted to be close to him.
"There's no one out here! It doesn't matter anyways. Please? I get lonely…" Grace sensed a wave of guilt come from Locke. 'Ah hah! I've got him now,' she thought.
"Look… the last couple of times have been because they were running short on beds at the hotel. It just doesn't seem appropriate to do it out here…"
"But sleeping by myself reminds me of how it was before I met you…" Grace almost lost control when she felt his emotional response. The whole reason he'd promised to stay with her was because she was lonely.
She almost regretted what she was doing, making him feel so guilty, but all of her doubts disappeared when he said, "Alright, but we face different directions."
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Grace wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tight as she could.
"Now that that's settled, what do you want to eat for supper?"
"No supper," Grace whispered, "Just you…"
"Grace, I can hardly hear you. What did you say?"
"Uhhhh… Leppa Berries! I want some Leppa berries!"
"Why is it that every time you say something I can't hear, you tell me you want some Leppa berries? They're not even that good."
"Anything's good when I'm with you…"
"What?"
"I said I want some Sitrus berries, too. Now hurry up, I'm starving."
A/N- Not by best work by far, I know. I really needed to get them out of Orsa village and this seemed like a way to do it. Wasn't much room for jokes though. Review and tell me what you think. Oh, and thanks goes to xxxxxSilverDrumxxxxx for the character Simon Cavelo.
