Once we got back to the beach, I handed his "treasure" back. It was a….stone? I saw an odd pattern on it, however. I couldn't really describe it, but I thought it was beautiful, clearly, this was no random rock…..but, what was it? I handed him the stone.
"W-W-Wow thanks, Ada, I couldn't do this on my own!" Lapodo dropped his stone on the grown and beckoned to me. "See, this may just look like a rock. But, do you see the pattern there? I don't know what my Relic Fragment is, but I think it must be important. Relic Fragment is just the name I gave it."
"Well, why are you telling me this?" I asked him, after all I only just met him. "Well, I just thought we could be friends, Ada." I replied with, "Of course we can, I never said we couldn't, but I think you're going somewhere with this, no?" "Yeah, you see, I want to make an Exploration Team, but, I'm too scared to do it myself," His face fell and I saw a big frown on his face. "B-But, when I was with you there, Ada, I was more confident than I thought I could be. So, I want to form a team with you, Ada!"
That hit me like a brick. Me? An Exploration Team? I had just met him at most an hour ago. "You see, to make a team, you must sign up at a guild, but I-I-I'm a big coward, I can't even do it myself! Please, form a team with me." His face almost seemed like he was holding back tears.
I had nowhere to go, and no one to meet. It was the best option. But, still, I don't even know anything about this world. I was just put here with no memories. But I still knew declining could break him, so I accepted. "OK, Lapodo, I will join you in forming this team." "R-Really, oh thank you so much! This will be great! I can't wait!" He was hugging me, almost crying tears of joy, he was very happy! At least I had helped someone, that was good.
After a small walk upwards, I saw a big building in the shape of a Pokemon. It was pink and enormous, on either side of it were torches, the only thing lighting up the night sky, the dancing sparks leading a trail to the stars. It was a truly beautiful sight.
"Well, this is it! I have to do it, after all I have Ada with me, I have to do it," Lapodo said , almost muttering it like a chant. I guess even with me here, he still had to try and keep himself courageous. It was almost cute. He stepped on the grate right in front of the gate.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected! Whose footprints? Whose footprints?" I heard a tiny voice call up from the grate, must be some sort of…authentication system? I guess they have to have some sort of it, but I snapped out of it when I heard the voice say, "The footprint is Shinx's! The footprint is Shinx's!" Another, much louder voice called, "OK you may ENTER! BUT, your FRIEND must CONFIRM themselves, too." I guess that meant me.
I stepped up on the grate, my feet were slightly tickled, but the grate seemed a bit rickety. The tiny voice said, once more: "Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected! Whose footprints? Whose footprints?" It took an even longer time for the voice to call again. "Um...maybe Eevee's? Maybe Eevee's?" The louder voiced boomed again "MAYBE? SENTRY Diglett, aren't YOU supposed to know these footprints? HUH? ISN'T IT?" The tiny voice, I assume its name is Diglett, seemed to be arguing with the louder voice. I looked at Lapodo and shrugged, he did the same. Then, finally I heard "Well, WHATEVER, you don't SEEM bad, so you may ENTER!"
With that, I heard the gate opening. The bars raised and raised, until they were up the entire gate. I assumed it was time to go in, so Lapodo and I entered. To my surprise, the room I ended up in was tiny. It was a,soft, luscious grass floor, soft to the touch. However, the only thing in the room was a hole with a ladder, must be a way down. We went down and saw something more lively. Tons of Pokemon were talking and discussing, in front of two boards with some paper on them both.
I heard another, more high pitched voice, "Well well well, you two must be the ones who just entered, no?" I turned around and saw a strange looking bird. "Hello there, I am Chatot, the Pokemon in the know around here, now what business do you have here? If you want us to take surveys or petitions, then SCRAM!"
"We want to join the guild and join and form an Exploration Team!" I heard Lapodo tell Chatot, and his attitude completely changed. "Oh you do? Hmmm," Chatot turned his back and began thinking to himself. "Wow, these kids want to make an Exploration Team? Even if they did, our training is very intense, I wonder if this is worth it." "is the training that difficult, Mr. Chatot?" lapodo asked. Once lapodo asked that Chatot snapped out of it and responded. "O-Oh no, the training here is easy as can be, I'm sure you two will easily pass!" Somehow I wasn't sure I believed that.
"Well, the only thing we need from you, is to register with Guildmaster Wigglytuff, however, under no circumstances are you to be disrespectful towards the Guildmaster," Chatot explained what we needed to know before talking to the Guildmaster. We climbed down the ladder to the third floor and opened a small door, leading to a small room.
I saw a big, oval-shaped, Pokemon in the center, on top of a rug, his back turned to us. "Guildmaster!" Chatot called out, and the pokemon turned around. He greeted us with a joyous "Hiya!" This was the Guildmaster? He seemed too… nice, sorta creepy. Maybe I was just thinking too deep, but he seemed a bit too nice, a bit shady.
"Guildmaster, these two want to join as an Exploration Team," Chatot explained. "Oh? Some new friends? Yay! Well, all we need from you is a team name!" The Guildmaster told us. Lapodo leaned in and whispered to me: " A Team Name? I hadn't thought of one, can you come up with one, fast?" I racked my brain for a moment, a fitting name. Static Electricity sounded nice, I was a normal type, static, and Lapodo was Electric type. It seemed fitting. I decided to go with it.
"We are Static Electricity," I told them. Lapodo whispered again and told me "Nice thinking! Good name." Wigglytuff was now "Registering" our team, which seemed to me like just spinning around chanting our name, but I didn't speak out, I remembered Chatot's rule. Once he was done, Wigglytuff told us he was "All done, and had something to give us."
He gave us a box and we, of course opened it. Inside we found two Exploration Badges, a map, according to Lapodo, it was a "Wonder Map," but I saw no difference in between it and a regular map, it was mostly empty, we had to fill it out ourselves, then. We also found two matching scarves, made with one of the finest purple dyes I've ever felt, well I guess that meant it won by default. It was soft to the touch and fit our necks well, I could see it coming in handy if we needed to go to higher-up places, but not for much else.
Guildmaster Wigglytuff then told us, "Well, that's all you need to be an Exploration Team! Since it's so late, I guess you can't go on a mission today, but work starts tomorrow! Chatot, please show them their rooms. "Yes Guildmaster. Alright you two, come along," he directed us to a room farther in the west of the third floor, it was a small room, there was a window outlooking the ocean, and two beds made of hay. "Well, you two, off to bed, official work begins tomorrow!"
Once it was night time, I had to sit there, thinking about myself. Lapodo was nice and all, but I still wanted to know who I was. It was so infuriating I knew nothing of myself. I couldn't let a nagging feeling of dissatisfaction go. I hadn't learned a thing of myself, but I guess, what did I expect in less than a day. I was just being too hasty for my own good, it would all start to come back soon….right? While I had that to worry about, I still had guild duties to do tomorrow, and I couldn't drag Lapodo down, I needed rest. I let my mind stop, and went to sleep, ready for what tomorrow would bring.