Chapter Text
Strato had tried to follow the two guild members for a while, but refused to follow them into the desert. She had asked around town, and learned that the group pursuing the Zorua were from the Gale Guild. The Gale Guild’s home of Galadin was conveniently where she was planning to go to ask for help liberating Oasis.
She considered walking there, but didn’t want to rely on the goodwill of others again. While she didn’t have much money, she did have enough to hire a transport pokemon. Luckily, Galadin was somewhat close, meaning it wouldn’t cost too much and she would have enough to give a reward for her request. She went to the transport center, and hired a runner, which had unfortunately cost extra for not being a guild member. Despite this, she paid for it anyway, and patiently waited.
__________
Weave, Jenn, and the Poochyena, who’s name was Umbra, headed over to the guild tower, getting help moving the Hippopotas. When they got to the tower, the Rattata at the desk gave them their pay, and had the Dune Gang transported to the guild’s jail.
With the bounty taken care of, they needed to register Umbra into the team. This however didn’t happen as the Rattata had asked them something else. “You never told me your team name. You needed one but you already left before I got around to asking”. Weave had forgotten that they needed a team name, and looked to Jenn who didn’t respond with an idea either.
The Rattata gave an understanding look before saying, “If you don’t have a team name, you can get a default one and change it when you decide on one.” Weave took the opportunity to postpone the choice as agreed.
With that settled, they registered Umbra into the newly named Team #361, signifying that they were the 361st team currently in the Gale guild. The Rattata paused when they mentioned that Umbra was technically a feral, despite showing no signs of this despite his inability to speak, but didn’t say anything. Weave was grateful, as he’s experienced a lot of hate towards ferals in the past, and hated it on a personal level.
With a paycheck in hand, they checked into their guild assigned room to rest. Unfortunately, it currently only has two beds. Weave was willing to give Umbra the bed, as he was able to make a makeshift bed out of his String Shot until the guild gave them a third bed. So finally being able to rest after the day’s adventures, Jenn and Umbra collapsed into their beds, while Weave quickly formed his. While Jenn had fallen asleep instantly and Umbra was seemingly asleep, Weave was still awake. He lay in his makeshift bed, still awake as he worried over the future of his new team, and more importantly, what might happen when the truth came out. Luckily, he was interrupted by a knock at the door. “We’ve got someone interested in joining your team.”
__________
Strato was teleported into Galadin, and was amazed by the crowd just in its travel station. After making her way outside, she walked out and planned to go to the Gale Guild to post a request for Oasis,then find the Zorua.
Unfortunately, she had no idea where the guild was and instead decided to wander around. She was amazed by the sheer quantity of pokemon here. In Oasis, there were only about fifty pokemon, but Galadin seemed to have thousands. She wondered how they managed to have so many pokemon in such a confined space.
Eventually, she happened upon a particularly large crowd, some with scarves, bags, badges, and the like. These were guild members. Her eyes drifted towards the large tower and assumed that this was the main building. Walking in, she saw a Rattata sitting at a desk, humming away happily.
“Excuse me, how would I put up a request?” Strato asked, with no shame or hesitance. The secretary was quick to answer. “Do you already have a poster for the board?” Strato shook her head, and the Rattata didn’t skip a beat as they pulled out a poster asking “Alright, tell me about your request. Where is it, what needs to be done, how difficult, and how much the reward is.”.
“The town of Oasis in Arian was taken over by the King’s Rock gang. I’d say it would be an A or even S rank mission, and the reward is 1,000 Poke. Also, it would be an escort mission.” Strato recited the specifications as if practiced. The Rattata’s eyes widened a bit, before writing it all down neatly and quickly on the poster. “Before we’re done, how could we contact you when someone takes the request?” the Rattata asked, as if they hadn’t just thrown Strato completely off guard.
“Actually, I don’t have a place to stay right now…” Strato said, her confidence having faded away. The Rattata was quick to calm her nerves saying, “Don’t worry, we get this more often than you think. You could either pay some extra Poke to stay in the guild, or you could remove the escort part.”
She checked her coin pouch and recounted her Poke, and found exactly 1,000 Poke. She couldn’t lower the reward because Oasis needed to be saved as soon as possible. The problem was that she had to go, as it was her home and she intended to be a part of it.
Luckily, the Rattata saw this and gave her another option, one that let her join the mission without having to pay. “If you joined a team, even if you leave immediately afterwards you could stay without paying. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a team that could take the job! But don’t tell anybody I told you that.”
Strato was quick to take this opportunity and eagerly asked, “Are there any teams willing to take anyone in?” The Rattata shuffled through a large stack of paper, before pulling out one, where she skimmed and then put it down. “Good news for you! We’ve recently accepted a new team that has a free slot. They just got a new member so they’re clearly willing to. I can get them for you now if you like”. Strato didn’t hesitate before nodding. The Rattata promptly exited the room and left Strato alone.
After a while, the Rattata returned, being followed by a Sewaddle, the same one that was hunting the Zorua. Strato gulped, but didn’t let personal feelings interfere. The fate of Oasis was far more important. Despite this, she dreaded the necessary interaction she was about to have.
“Hello! My name’s Weave. I heard you’re interested in joining?” the Sewaddle, or Weave now, asked. “I was planning on joining a team. But only for a bit though.” she answered, not looking him in the eye. Weave however, either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he said “I’m fine with it, but I’d have to ask my teammates when they wake up, so you’d need to wait a bit.”.
So Strato sat still, for what felt like hours. While Weave talked with the secretary, Strato sat in silence. Despite his seemingly friendly chat with the secretary, she felt like he was staring at her, as if he were trying to size her up. She was desperately hoping for the rest of this team to wake up.
Luckily, this convoluted form of torture was ended as Weave went to check on his team. While it was even more silent, it did give a reprieve from Weave’s staring. Unfortunately, when he brings back the rest of his team, the staring will be tripled. She took this moment to brace herself for that.
Weave came back with the Audino she also saw, and a Poochyena she didn’t see with them before. They must be the new member the secretary mentioned. “So we’re getting a new member?” the Audino asked. Weave responded with “Not until we all agree on it. That includes you too, Umbra.” and he looked at the Poochyena. Strato tucked the Poochyena’s name for later, trying to get as much information as possible.
“Why don’t we have a battle?” Weave asked, unintentionally dooming her. While she was decent in battle, she was nowhere near the power of a coordinated team, much less a guild team. She hoped that they would only have her fight one of them.
“So, who do you want to fight?” Weave asked. Unfortunately, Strato was so caught up in her worries that she didn’t hear him. Weave’s “Um, hello?” startled her out of her train of thought and was alert again. “Which one of us do you want to fight?” Weave luckily repeated, to which Strato considered it for a moment. The Audino would probably be the easiest to fight, due to Audinos famously being healers.
So, she pointed at the Audino, who seemed pretty tired. This was perfect. Even if the fight was really unfair, it would still make her look good, and subsequently, a better candidate to join the team.
Weave proceeded to drag the Audino outside, while Strato took the moment to question the secretary. “When will the request be posted?” she asked in a rush. “It’ll be up as soon as you join their team,” she pointed at Weave, who was facing resistance from the Audino, “Or you decide on something else.”.
Deciding to just get it over with, Strato turned around and briskly walked away. To her surprise, there was a large field with several smaller fields in it, with several being occupied on the other side of the tower. Weave directed the Audino to an empty field and Strato followed, narrowly dodging a stray Seed Bomb from a nearby field by jumping to the side.
With a new rush of adrenaline, she walked to one side of the field, the Audino doing the same. While Strato tried to focus on her next actions, Weave started to shout “The battle will end when one side is unable to continue or surrenders! 3, 2, 1!”. The Audino rushed at her, firing some type of blue energy.
Strato performed a similar move to what she did before the battle, and jumped to the side. Unfortunately, she was left vulnerable as the Audino took advantage of her mistake by attacking with a volley of a similar energy, this time green. As she scrambled to dodge it, she heard a groaning sound. As she quickly looked towards the source of the noise, she saw Weave collapsing from some type of sudden exhaustion.
Her attention however, was quickly diverted back to the Audino due to the attacks not ceasing regardless of what was going on. Because of her distraction, she was hit by some of the energy, causing her to flinch. What was one attack snowballed into Strato getting pummeled by the Audino’s attacks.
Despite the attacks causing her to flinch, she attacked with a Water Sport, covering the field in water. The Audino however, dodged anyways despite the move not dealing damage. The wet field luckily caused them to trip, giving Strato a chance to turn the tables.
She didn’t waste a moment as she fired a Water Gun, which pushed the Audino back a few steps. Strato however, learned from her mistakes and was quick to close the distance while using Defence Curl.
The Audino got up, and saw Strato close, so they decided to throw a punch with as much force behind it as possible. Luckily, Strato’s Defence Curl negated most of the damage, which allowed Strato to attack with another Water Gun, before closing the distance again.
The Audino wised up to her strategy however, as instead of throwing another punch, they jumped to the side, making space again. They attacked with green energy again, which Strato was now prepared for. She countered the attack with a Water Gun, which caused both attacks to dissipate.
With the Audino evening out the odds, Strato was nervous. This nervousness was reflected through her battling, as she backed away despite the Audino being weaker at close quarters. They were stuck in a stalemate as when one attacked, the other would simply counter it with their own attack.
Strato eventually realized that she would lose if this went on, as the attacks she had taken at the beginning put the Audino at an advantage. Deciding to go all in, she charged in using Tackle, causing the Audino to dodge. Luckily, the Audino slowed down their dodge to avoid tripping again, allowing Strato to land the attack.
The Audino was sent tumbling backwards as Strato quickly closed the gap again, covering the field with a second layer of Water Sport, paranoid that the water might dry up. The Audino scrambled to get up, but was hit by another Tackle, sending them sliding backwards on the wet ground.
The Audino tried to get up multiple times, but was Tackled again each time. “I give up!” the Audino shouted as Strato was preparing another Tackle. Despite everybody involved hearing the Audino, Weave decided to announce, “Jenn has surrendered! Maril is the winner!” for good measure.
Strato tucked the Audino’s name for later, as she got up and walked out of the field, the Audino, or Jenn now, following suit. As the two bruised combatants exited the field, a Chansey that presumably worked for the guild rushed towards them and administered a Heal Pulse on both of them, soothing all of their injuries.
“You did great! What’s your name though?” Weave asked, completely oblivious to the fact that they might want to rest. Strato responded regardless, saying “My name’s Strato. Nice to meet you.”.
“While you have my approval, you need Jenn’s and Umbra’s approval too.” Weave informed her. Despite not being done yet, Strato walked back into the building, hoping to gain the team’s approval.
When she got back to the lobby, the Rattata was busy with some papers that seemed like forms. Worried that the secretary was doing something important, Strato stayed silent. Weave however, came into the room immediately afterwards, and didn’t notice the secretary’s work as he shouted “Hey Umbra! Strato here beat Jenn!” while gesturing to them, “Do you think we should accept her?”
The Poochyena stayed silent before nodding. While Strato was the one who was being accepted into the team, Weave smiled like he was the one to be accepted, despite that they hadn’t gotten Jenn’s opinion yet. Weave looked towards Jenn, who immediately got the silent question that was asked. “Weave, you’re basically the leader of this team. If you think she’s good, I’m fine with it,” Jenn said, “Besides, she beat me, so I approve either way.”.
Strato let out a breath she was holding throughout this interaction, and looked to the Rattata, who was now paying attention to their antics. “I’ve already got a form ready to go. It’ll just take a bit for us to get your standard bag, badge, and scarf. It’s convenient because we’re already expecting those for Umbra. We’ll just need to double it.”
While all of this made sense to Strato, Weave was confused, asking “Wait, if they’re getting scarves, why didn’t we get anything?”.
The secretary’s eyes widened, before picking up a paper on their desk, frantically reading it. “I don’t know how I missed this! I mean, this is a major mistake!” she responded, the panic apparent in their tone. Suddenly, their eyes became even wider as they said “The boss is going to kill me! Please don’t tell anybody about this mix up, I’ll get you your scarves with the Umbra’s and Strato’s.”
Weave agreed. “Don’t worry, it’s only some scarves.” The secretary was very relieved, as she said “Thank you so much! I owe you a favor now, so if you need anything, just let me know.”
Weave thought for a moment, before responding, asking “Could we get two more beds?” she was confused for a moment, before quickly scanning her paper, realizing in horror that they never gave Umbra a bed. “I owe you two favors,” the secretary muttered in panicked tone as she started to write something down. “They’ll be here with everything else.”
With everything settled, the team retreated back into their collective room, Strato in tow. Unfortunately, there were still only three beds, one only being made of silk, making it only usable by Weave.
“So, who’s stuck with the floor then?” Jenn asked, eyeing the beds and preparing to take one at a moment's notice. Strato however, wanted to make a good impression on the team, paranoid that they might kick her out for any reason. “I’ll take the floor,” she said, not wanting to lose her chance to get her request posted.
Despite Strato volunteering, Weave was uncomfortable with the idea of somebody sleeping on the floor “I could make another bed with String Shot, although you’ll wake up very sticky,” he offered. Strato was quick to take the offer, as she could simply wash off with Water Sport in the morning. So, Weave adeptly made a bed only using String Shot in a matter of minutes. Strato was impressed by both the skillful weaving he performed, and the sheer quantity of silk he produced.
Lying on the makeshift bed, Strato slowly began to drift off despite it not being particularly late yet. The other however, followed suit as they were probably exhausted hunting the Zorua.
Remembering the Zorua she needed to thank, she made a mental note to ask the secretary about them when she got a chance.
With an idea of tomorrow, Strato finally fell asleep.