Author's Note: In the main fic, there was a line originally meant as a throwaway joke that implied Rin was really awesome at sentry duty and that Iris was really terrible at it. I decided it would be funny to make a side story out of it, so here you go.
The Sentries
"Hey, Team Shadow? Can one of you take over sentry duty for me?"
Diglett had just popped out of the floor in front of the group of four, and he was currently looking over at the grate anxiously.
"Sure! Does your dad need you to keep up with the boards today?" Claire asked.
Diglett nodded, and Claire turned to look at her teammates. Rin and Iris looked a bit confused; they'd just joined recently, so they weren't quite sure how sentry duty worked.
"Hey, how about you give it a try, Iris?" Claire suggested. "Loudred will explain to you how it works. Since you've never done it before, you should see if you like it or not!"
"Okay, I guess…" Iris shrugged. "Fine with me!"
"Thanks, Machop!"
Diglett burrowed back underground as Iris strode over to Loudred. Claire waved to her as she, Rin, and Felix walked towards the ladder.
"We'll meet you in our room when we get back later! Good luck!"
"It can't be that hard, can it?"
Iris grinned as she watched her three friends walk away, unaware of what, exactly, she was getting herself into.
"Visitor detected!"
"Whose footprint?"
Iris squinted up at the grate above her. There were two paws shuffling back and forth, and they kind of looked brown… or tan, or yellow; it was hard to tell with the minimal lighting. The shuffling didn't help, either.
"…Raticate?"
"Nowhere CLOSE! It's Raichu!"
Iris rolled her eyes. One mistake wasn't that big of a deal, was it?
Another Pokémon stepped onto the grate after a few seconds, and Iris tilted her head to the side as she looked up at the feet. These were considerably larger, and somewhat claw-like… She frowned.
"You better bet taking so long because you're THINKING, Machop!"
"Um… Sceptile?"
"No, that's WRONG! It's a Charizard! URGH! What's next?"
"…Meganium?"
"Venusaur! That's THREE wrong now! You better get the NEXT ONE right!"
"Nidoking?"
"No, Nidoqueen!"
Iris groaned as Loudred ran up to let Nidoqueen in. The next Pokémon shuffled onto the grate the instant Nidoqueen stepped off, and fortunately, Iris had a few seconds before Loudred came back… Not that the extra time really helped her at all.
"The next visitor is Scyther!"
"WAY off! That's Blastoise! Who's next?"
"…Nidorina?"
"No, THIS ONE is a Nidoking!"
Iris scowled. This was going to be a very, very long day if this kept up…
When the final visitors were allowed into the guild, Iris all-too-eagerly scrambled out of the sentry tunnel. She was met by a very irritated Loudred and Chatot.
"You're TERRIBLE! What were you THINKING?" Loudred demanded.
Chatot squawked. "I came to see how things were going, and Loudred says you didn't identify a single footprint correctly all day!"
"Well, sorry," Iris replied, rolling her eyes again. "It's not like I've ever done this before—"
"And you aren't doing it ever again!"
Chatot fluttered away indignantly. Upon seeing Iris's scowl, Loudred doubled over in laughter.
"Well, maybe I don't want to do sentry duty ever again, anyway!" she shouted, and then stormed away towards her team's bedroom…
A few days later, Diglett once again approached Team Shadow for help with sentry duty. Rin volunteered quite willingly, much to Iris's shock. She listened attentively during Loudred's explanation, and then quickly climbed into the grate's tunnel.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn't too long before the day's first visitor arrived.
"Visitor detected!" Rin called.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Loudred shouted back.
Rin carefully looked up at the feet on the grate. She and Iris had traveled around a lot shortly before they'd joined the guild, and consequently, they'd met a lot of different kinds of Pokémon. While Iris was less attentive, Rin often noticed what kinds of footprints the Pokémon would leave when they'd part ways, perhaps due to Rin's tendency to hang back and observe rather than talk. Therefore, she was easily able to identify the Pokémon on the grate.
"The footprint is Roselia's!"
"Hey, that's RIGHT! Who's next?"
Rin smiled; she may have been quiet, but being praised still felt nice. She quickly looked back up at the grate, however, trying to keep herself on track.
"Luxio! The footprint is Luxio's!"
"GOOD! That's TWO now. Keep it up!"
"The next visitor is Prinplup!"
"That's RIGHT!"
Three so far, Rin counted. She hadn't expected herself to fail, but this was going much more smoothly than she'd anticipated… Perhaps Iris's performance had just made her anxious.
"Footprint detected! It's Flareon!"
"Right again! Can you get the NEXT one right, too?"
"The next visitor is a Kirlia! Oh — a Dusclops just stepped up too—"
"Good WORK! Keep them coming!"
At the end of the day, Rin wore a small smile as she climbed out of the sentry tunnel. It had been a busy day, but she'd done well. She was a bit surprised to see Chatot waiting with Loudred, but then again, Iris had mentioned Chatot appraising her work…
"You did WELL today, Cubone!" Loudred congratulated.
"Yes, yes, much better than Machop, I hear!" Chatot nodded appraisingly. "You identified every visitor correctly. That is good work, indeed! Here's a small reward for you."
The Flying-Type had a small stack of items next to him, and he pushed them towards Rin with his wing. Rin felt her eyes widen when she examined her prizes; Chatot had given her a few coins, a Defense Scarf, a Heal Seed, and even a Reviver Seed!
"I hope YOU'LL do this again!" Loudred added.
"As do I."
Chatot gave her a pleased look before heading towards Wigglytuff's room. After Rin gathered up her rewards, she waved quietly towards Loudred and walked over to her team's room. Claire would definitely be happy to hear the good news…
Author's Note x2: As a bonus, this is also where Iris's infamous dislike for Chatot begins. He can be a nice guy on occasion, though, as indicated by his praise for Rin…
