Chapter 5: Fools Rush In
If truth be told, Kate was nervous. How could she not be, this was her life's dream unfolding before her eyes. A human partner, joining the Expedition Society, and a free Sitrus berry to top it all off, it was hard to focus! Yet, a small voice persisted, insisting she would mess everything up. That she was wrong and they were not destined to be heroes, but failures. Fortunately, she did not have long to listen to such voices, as the doors to the guildmaster's office swung open, and Miss Laurel ushered them inside.
Kate had been in this office before, and always found it strange a world-renowned explorer and the former head of flight operations for the Expedition Society would have such a simple office. The walls were plain, decorated here and there by a peculiar fossil or two, bookshelves framed on either side of the room, a desk with windows behind, illuminating the room, and simple wooden chairs. The desk itself was a bit more decorated, with a few stray papers and a strange-looking meteorite fragment held aloft on a small brass pedestal. Behind the desk was a smiling Archeops with a pair of goggles resting on his forehead.
"Kate! Wonderful to see you back again," the Archeops said, his voice pleasant and cheerful, "Laurel here tells me you're ready to join the guild. You do have permission from your grandparents this time, right?"
"Of course," Kate said, taking a small letter from her bag and passing it to Miss Laurel, who took a moment to read over it before nodding.
"That's a relief," the Archeops said with a sigh, "We wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last year. I would rather not have an enraged Skeledirge in my office again."
Kate looked down, the memory of that scolding still fresh in her mind, but she quickly rebounded, "Well, no need to worry this time. Edward and I are ready to become full Expedition Society Members!"
The Archeops nodded, and then turned to Edward, "I assume you have permission from your guardians as well. I sincerely hope I won't have a pair of angry Eeveelutions storm through my office?"
"I, err-"
"Edward kinda washed ashore the other day," Kate intervened, "He's…suffering some amnesia from the event, and is hoping that joining the Expedition Society will help him find answers as to what happened to him."
"I see," the Archeops said, his eyes narrowing as he looked Edward over, "Is that correct?"
Kate looked at Edward and briefly worried that he might contradict her, not sticking to the plan she had given him, "It is," Edward said, and Kate stifled a sigh of relief, "I also hope to…improve my capabilities. It's been quite the shock, the past two days, and it feels like I have to learn everything over again."
The Archeops nodded, a smile returning to his beak, "Well then, I hope that we can help you find your way. Oh, you would probably like a proper introduction then," the Archeops cleared his throat, "I am Arnold, leader of the Sarah Expedition Guild, pleased to meet you!"
"Pleased to meet you as well, sir," Edward replied stiffly. Inwardly, Kate groaned, Could you not at least look a little pleased to be here?
"Well, everything appears to be in order," Arnold said, sweeping his wing in a grand motion, "So let's get down to business, shall we? Miss Laurel, could you hand them the registration documents?"
"Of course," the Arboliva said and used her branches to grab a document from the guildmaster's desk and hand it to Kate, "You'll need to sign the document and come up with a team name. Please pick one you will stick with, the paperwork to get it changed is exhausting."
Kate held the papers up allowing Edward to read the document, "Oh, this is so cool!" Kate whispered, barely reading any of the legalese, "Oh, what should our team name be? It has to be something cool! Something dramatic! How about…. Firepower! Or…Tenacity? Team Tenacity! Or what about-"
"Can it be something more…noble sounding?" Edward interjected, clearly still reading through the document line by line.
"Noble sounding?" Kate asked, tilting her head, "What does that even mean?"
"Something knightly," Edward said, taking his eyes off the document and looking up, "Like Team Tower and Shield, or Team Garnet?"
"Nightly?" Kate questioned. If she didn't know that Edward had no idea what an Umbreon was, she would have thought he was declaring his intent to become one. Instead, she was sure that whatever he meant by nightly, it didn't involve the actual night. This left her in a predicament, as neither of the names he had suggested worked. Tower and Shield might work if they had Aegislash on the team. Garnet would have worked if they were rock types, but it was still a strange name to suggest even if they had been rock types. It was obvious that Edward had different meanings attached to these words, and it fell to Kate to bridge the gap. She put a hand to her cheek and furrowed her brow, thinking. It had to have symbolic value, that much was certain. It needed to represent them somehow, the problem being of course they didn't yet know each other very well. In the legends it seems so easy for the heroes to pick their team name, she silently thought, Think! What sounds really awesome and describes us as a team….
Kate snapped her claws, "How about Team Horizon?"
"Hmm?" Edward questioned, turning to her, his head tilting to the side, "Team Horizon?"
"Yeah," Kate replied happily, "I mean, we met on a beach, which basically has one big horizon, and we have a bright future ahead, and we'll be exploring the unknown, beyond the horizon!"
Edward hummed, and was silent for a moment before nodding, "That will do. We'll be team Horizon."
"Excellent," Arnold hooted, "Team Horizon, that sounds like a splendid name!"
Miss Laurel handed Kate a quill and inkwell, and she quickly wrote down the team's new name and her own, before handing the document to Edward for him to sign. The Eevee looked befuddled for a moment, looking at the quill and then the document, and then to his paws. "Oh, Edward," Kate began, "You just have to-" She stopped as the Eevee did something entirely out of left field, carefully extending one claw, dipping it in ink, and with a surprising amount of control, signed his name next to Kate's. It was barely legible, but still something she had not seen before.
"Right then," Edward said as Miss Laurel took the document, "Is there a formal introduction or…?"
"Hmm, oh, yes," Arnold said, turning to Miss Laurel, "I think Tiomon is still in? He can show them around."
"I'll go get him," Miss Laurel said, moving past the new exploration team and out into the guild. The guildmaster then moved two white badges with golden wings and a pink dot in the center, "These are your badges," Arnold explained, "They identify you as guild members and signify your rank, which, due to Miss Kate here having completed her Junior Exploration training…twice, will start out at Normal rank."
"Yes!" Kate said as she dashed forward, quickly pinning the badge to her scarf. She then grabbed the other badge and turned to Edward, "Want me to pin yours to your scarf as well."
Edward nodded, and as Kate pinned the badge to his scarf, said, "Junior Exploration training? I assume that training includes the basics of exploration?"
"Indeed," Arnold said, putting two more items on his desk, which Kate quickly recognized as an escape orb and a Reviver Seed, "Typically, we would put new teams through the course, but Kate here passed with flying colors."
"Yep!" Kate said, grinning, "Heck, I bet I could teach the course!"
"That is what I am betting on," Arnold declared confidently, "That does mean I don't want you pursuing outlaws yet. Focus on simple missions, Kate, and let Edward build up some experience."
Kate gave a salute, "Aye aye captain! I was planning on doing that anyway, we wouldn't want to lose an outlaw on our first mission!"
Arnold nodded, "Good, now you can take these two items to help out in case you get into some trouble. The escape orb will teleport you out of the dungeon, while a Reviver Seed will bring you up if you get knocked out. Both of these items are expended when used, so use them wisely."
Kate nodded and retrieved the items, putting them in her bag. As she secured the buckle on her bag, Miss Laurel returned followed by a small quadrupedal pokemon with brown fur over most of his body with yellow fur around his neck, "This," Miss Laurel said, gesturing to the Yamper, "is Tiomon. He's a member of Team Tuft, and he'll be showing you to your rooms and around the guild."
The Yamper smiled, "Yep! Good to meet y'all! It will be nice not to be the 'rookie team' anymore."
Edward tilted his head, looking at the bronze emblem that adorned the Yamper's badge, "I thought we were starting out as 'Normal rank'."
Tiomon laughed, "As if that'd stop the other teams from call'n y'all rookies." He turned and led them back out to the main hall.
Kate and Edward followed, though Kate glanced back one last time to the guildmaster, only to catch him staring at them as they left his office, a troubled expression on his face.
First up on their tour was the dorms, "Yep, it may not look like much," the Yamper said, pointing at the two small beds, desk, and empty bookcase that furnished the 15-foot by 20-foot room, "But it's cozy. Just, ah, be wary if you recruit a third member. They'll try and stuff another bed in here."
"The two they have in here hardly fit as it is," Edward grumbled.
"Well, I think it's splendid," Kate lied while keeping a smile on her face and tone of voice hopeful, "Besides, as we advance, we'll get access to a bigger room."
Tiomon nodded, "Yep! And most teams once they reach Gold graduate and move out, so the guild is never too crowded."
"How far do the ranks go?" Edward asked as they walked away from the dorms.
"Well, starting with-"
"Oh, that's easy. The final rank is held by the Grand Master of the guild," Kate answered as they walked, "before that is Master rank, then Hyper, Ultra, Ace, Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Normal, and finally Rookie! Though, Rookie is more an informal rank given to prospective members before they join the Expedition Society."
"Yep!" Tiomon said with a nod, "Man, Varys was right, you sure do know your stuff Kate!"
Kate beamed at the compliment. All that learning and listening is sure paying off, she thought to herself, Edward doesn't know how lucky he is to have someone who went through the Junior Exploration training twice just for fun!
"Who is Varys?" Edward asked.
"Varys is-"
"He's an Ariados who helps run the guild," Kate answered, "He keeps tabs on what's going on in town, updates the missions board, and teaches Junior Exploration classes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday."
"Uhm, yes," Tiomon said with a huff, "Well, next up is the dining hall," The Yamper pointed down the hall and through a doorway where a few pokemon mulled about cleaning plates, "We serve a light breakfast from six to eight and a hardy dinner from seven to nine. Now, Chef-"
"Chef is a Grapploct, and one of the best cooks out there," Kate added, "You'll have to try his roast pork when they serve it, it's delicious!"
Edward gave her a strange look, but Tiomon kept walking and said, "How about I show you the mission board?"
"Oh, and then we can pick out our first mission!" Kate exclaimed, "That will be so fun and-"
"Kate," Edward interrupted.
She turned to the Eevee, who was still giving her a strange look, "Err, yes?"
Edward walked closer, and gently whispered, "You're being a bit rude."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kate asked, tilting her head.
"You keep interrupting Tiomon," Edward said, "He told us how excited he was not to be the newbie for once. Let him explain things."
Kate was about to counter that she hadn't been interrupting Tiomon, but thinking back on it, she perhaps saw how she might have given off that impression. Kate felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment, "Ah, right. Will do."
For his part, Edward nodded and said, "Right, now let's go get our first mission."
Taking a deep breath, Kate nodded, and felt her grin return to her maw, "Yep! And before all the good ones are gone!"
Sorry for yet another two-week wait! This one took longer than expected, but hopefully, I can get back on a roll!