Offense and Defense

Milt was receiving several odd looks from the citizens of Grassveil town. For a pokemon that was well known for its defense, the aron looked pretty beat up. His metal plating was scratched and didn't shine in the sun it was so dirty, but even so, he looked rather content. The didn't know, but Milt had just completed a dungeon all on his own, and that was a major acomplishment for him. He had been in Grassveil for a while now, and he intended to form an exploration team. However, he told himself that he wasn't steppin a foot into that place until he completed a dungeon on his own, and he had just done so.

As much as he wanted to go right there and form a team, he was tired, hungry, and there was no way he was going into that building looking the way he did. The guild wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Alkere was sitting by her house, enjoying the relaxing sunlight and the natural ambient noise of the town. For a while, that's what she had been doing, anyway. After five minutes or so sitting around and doing nothing got boring, so now she was pacing around the streets of Grassveil. She was still preparing for her next misadventure after that trip to Rainfront. It was funny, but life had a way of throwing her into odd situations. It was, at least partially, her own fault. You ended up making a few mistakes when you ran into everything headfirst. But, the way she saw it, you wouldn't get anything done if you sat around and tried to calculate the perfect path to victory. Life was too unpredictable for that, you couldn't solve it like a math equation. Even if you could, wouldn't that take all the fun out of it?

The little Dragon type walked onward until she noticed a somewhat messy looking Aron farther down the path. She sped up her pace to a light jog to catch up with him. "Hey, are you alright?" She wondered out loud. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, that was a tick of hers whenever she got curious about something. "You look a little beat up." She noted frankly, concerned for the stranger.

Milt slowed down a bit when Alkere came up alongside him. He seemed rather surprised that another pokemon would seem so concerned about him. In his eyes, he was totally fine. "Yeah I'm fine! This was nothing; just a couple of scratches," he assured the bagon, tilting his head as well to mirror hers. "I've been beaten worse. If anything, I'm just hungry... heh," Milt admitted to her. "But still, I can't be sad after a day like today!"

"If you're sure. Did something good happen?" She asked curiously, adjusting the ribbon on her wrist as she spoke. While she'd been in Rainfront, she ran into a Feebas by the Beach. He'd been nice enough to sell her this ribbon, said it would help her grow stronger. She bought it more or less without a second thought, even though it cost most of her money. She needed to get stronger if she wanted to join the guild, and in the far future, evolve into a Salamence. Man, she was looking forward to the day she got to be an awesome, flying, superpowered dragon...

... she snapped out of her thoughts and looked back at the Aron. She still thought he looked a little injured, but he said he was alright. Best not to push it. Like he said, just a couple of scratches, she'd gotten hurt more badly before when she entered Mystery Dungeons. ... even though that was most likely because she insisted on going to ones that were way above her skill level. But that was neither here nor there.

Milt noticed her adjust her ribbon. Was... Was that a joy ribbon?! The Aron hid his inner excitement. Of course he was looking for one himself, and even though it wasn't his, he was glad he could even see one. "Well yeah! You see, I came here wanting to join the guild but during the trip , I realized that I wasn't prepared to form an exploration team. The only reason I got through those dungeons was because I had other pokemon to help me. And so I told myself: until I could get through an entire dungeon on my own, I wouldn't step foot into that guilt. But now I can...! Well... tomorrow I will. There's no way I'm going in there like this," he chuckled.

"Congrats, then!" The dragon smiled. She was pretty sure she could take a dungeon on her own... even though she did prefer having company. Talking to others definitely beat walking around in silence, she thought. "I actually want to join the guild, too. Haven't gotten around to it yet, though..." She trailed off. She wasn't exactly sure when she planned on joining the guild. Seeing this Aron ready to join made her wonder if she was ready yet. Yeah, the guild wasn't going anywhere. But at the same time, she could hardly wait to join... and really, what was stopping her? Surely she'd grow stronger doing missions and guild work. Maybe it was time.

"Thanks! Why do you want to join, and why haven't you yet?" the Aron asked, curious to know why. The idea of having a partner had crossed his mind once or twice, but he never asked himself exactly what kind of partner he was looking for. Alkere was a dragon type, a strong pokemon that would only get stronger as she evolved. Maybe she could be a possible partner for him. Milt could absorb the damage as she dished it out.

The Rock Head Pokemon tilted her head in thought. "Honestly, I wanted to get more powerful first. But now that I think about it, I guess that's pretty silly. You get stronger doing guild work in the first place." She recalled. Maybe she should've thought about this a little more...? Oh well, what was done was done. She had gotten a good bit stronger for her efforts over the last few days, so it hadn't been a waste of time. "As for why I want to join... I have the same reason as everyone, really. I want to help people, like the heroes from old myths and legends." She confessed, a faint smile on her face. "Your turn. Why did you want to join the guild?" It was only fair to return the question, she decided. She was a bit curious about this Aron's reasoning as well.

That was any easy one. Milt had been carrying that answer the entire time he'd been traveling here. "Well you see, my dad is a guide for the Black Spear Mountain Range. He helps pokemon that are too weak or don't know where their going get across. I wanted to do something similar. I'm going to grow up to be an Aggron after all, so I can protect those who can't protect themselves. And what's the easiest way to help the most pokemon? Forming an exploration team!"

The Bagon nodded, leaning up against a nearby building as she heard the Aron speak. Interesting. Her parents had both been explorers, or so she had heard, but they had retired when she was born. "Nice to meet someone else who plans on joining the guild." She said. She did feel a slight sense of kinship toward the other explorers. The dragon type had entered a good amount Mystery Dungeons before, so she considered herself an explorer, even though she wasn't part of the guild yet. "Hmm. I don't think I've heard your name yet?" She realised, raising her voice faintly to be heard above the ambient noise of the town. "I'm Alkere."

"The name's Milt!" he said happily. He then looked off to the side for a moment before looking back at Alkere and speaking again. "Hey Alkere. If you want to be an explorer, and I want to be an explorer, why don't we form a team together?!" he suggest quite enthusiastically. Milt wasn't shy about it at all. This Bagon seemed friendly, and he already considered her a friend even though they only just met. He could just feel it in his gut. If they formed an exploration team together, they'd do great! "Well? Whadaya say?"

The little dragon type paused. Was that a good idea? She did want to join a team, but she also literally just met this guy... "Well, I'd be willing to give it a shot, and we'll see how things work out." She decided after a moment of consideration. Even if things didn't work out, signing up with this guy wasn't going to hurt her. She could just leave if they had trouble working together, right? But it probably wouldn't come to that. Milt seemed nice enough. "Did you have any ideas for team names?" She wondered, running a few names through her head. She had wanted to be an explorer since she was just a little girl, so she'd had a bit of time to think about what she wanted to name her team. But most of the names she dreamed up, even she admitted were horribly cheesy.

"Just one," he answered with a bit of pride. Before he had begun his journey here, Milt had given that question a ton of thought. He wanted a name that embodied what he was after, what he wanted to be as a rescue team. It took a while to get it just right, but he eventually found a name he was both happy and proud of. "Sentinel. Exploration Team Sentinel," he told her with a bit of a grin. "What do you think? Pretty good huh?"

Alkere smiled to herself. Team Sentinel, that had a nice ring to it. "Exploration Team Sentinel." She echoed. That wasn't bad at all. The smile on her face grew a bit wider. "Yeah, that is pretty good." She admitted. "Well, Milt... I guess that settles it. When should we go to the guild?" If Alkere had it her way, the answer would be 'now'. She was never good at the whole 'waiting' and 'patience' stuff. But... Milt did look a little beat up. Maybe he'd want to wait a bit? He didn't seem to be in pain or anything, though, so the dragon type wasn't too sure.

Milt wanted to go to the guild as much as Alkere wanted to, maybe even more, but there was no way he was going to present himself looking the way he did. He was already worn out, and he wanted to look and be his best when he stood in front of the guildmaster. "No. Not yet. I look a little too beat up or that," he told her with a light chuckle. "How about I clean up, get a good night's rest, then we can head over there first thing in the morning?" he suggested. Sure it was a bit of a wait, but Milt wanted this moment to be perfect.