Crossed Paths

It was a warm and busy day at the town. Pokémons of the most varied kinds ran around, some even aimlessly, and the incessant noise could be heard since the city's entrance.

"Hello, Grassveil!"

The Shinx breathed in deeply, inhaling the humid and warm air. She was quite happy to be there. The town's constant motion could only be a sign of prosperity and great opportunities.

Laura looked around, admiring and trying to engrave on her mind all the small details of her surroundings.

This could be the start of a great adventure! she thought.

After her detailed inspection, she decided to ask someone about somewhere she could stay until she was able to settle in.
Deciding it wouldn't matter who she was going to ask, she just picked the first one that appeared, who seemed to be slightly in a hurry.

"Excuse me, sir, would you know if-"
"Get out of my way, miss" he said abruptly, while shoving her out of his path.

She stumbled back, not falling only thanks to her great balance.
Angered, she yelled to her aggressor:
"No need to be so rude, ***!"

After calming down, she decided to just continue walking down the street. In such a busy town like this, something interesting was bound to happen, right?

Ren was coming back from a regular run she started to take after "starting" in the guild. With starting she meant going on useless tasks and doing exercises. They were kind for her, but without a partner the advised her not to take requests yet. She was not sure why, some of those requests seemed fairly easily like fetching an apple. So she decided it would be best to train a bit, if she was not looking for a partner. Which she did regularly.

She just heard someone shouting to someone. She heard that someone shoved a girl out of the path when she was trying to ask him something. She replied rather furious, but Ren would do the same in the girls case. She went to the Shinx. "Um, are you alright? What were you about to ask?" She asked to poor Shinx. Hoping to ease and maybe even help the girl a bit.

The Shinx turned to where the voice she heard came from. A bit ticked off by what happened, she didn't give time to process what had just been said to her.

This better not be another- Laura's thoughts were cut off by the sight of a truly worried Torchic, and just then she realised what the question was.

"Yeah, thanks for asking. Is everyone here like this?" asked Laura, slightly annoyed again at the thought of the recent event.

Well, certainly she isn't. She seems to be pretty nice. Maybe she could help me?

Hoping the other could be of help, the Shinx explained:
"You see, I have just arrived here. I was just going to ask if he knew of somewhere I could stay for some time, until I can find a place for myself. Would you happen to know of anywhere?"

The shinx seemed to be annoyed by what just happened. Ren understood, she would be upset as well. "Well, I am not like that, and there are tons of Pokémon here that aren't like that." Ren replied to cheer the girl up. Next the Shinx explained her situation to Ren. This might be just her luck, or not. But she had to ask. This Pokémon did not seemed to be that bad. Ren thought it was good to try and ask her. "Well, I can't help with a place for some time. But, maybe if you want to stay somewhere a little more permanent, I might know something. There is a exploration guild nearby. I signed up, but they discouraged me to take any job alone. So I am looking for someone to join." She paused a bit to let it come to the mind of the Shinx, before finishing. "So, You're interested?" She asked on a hopeful tone.

"...There is an exploration guild nearby. I-"

"Exploration guild? Hell yeah! Do we explore all day?" said Laura, cutting the other one's sentence.
"Oh man, I hope we do. Oh, oh, do we have mission and battles and stuff? If so, we so totally should do it together! It would be super fun!"

Realising she went a bit overboard, she calmed herself down and let the other one finish:
"I mean, that sounds very nice! I'm sorry, please keep going."

The Torchic was a bit taken aback by the other Pokémon's sudden interruption, but continued anyway:
"Er, I signed up but they discouraged me to take any job alone. So I am looking for someone to join."

At that moment the Shinx got filled with joy, anticipating the proposal. Only a few minutes in the town and she already made a friend? How lucky she is!

"So, you're interested?"

As soon as she finished her question, Laura gave the answer:
"Definitely yes! I would love to be your partner!"

Well, that was easy. If she knew it was that easy to find a partner she would have spent more time on finding one instead of training. But in that case she would not have met this Shinx, which she did not even knew the name of. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Ren. I would like to know yours, as it would be strange to go exploring out and not know each others names." She told the girl.

Well if that was out of the way then they would need to meet Faye. The guildmaster. With her they could register their team. There was still one thing to discuss. "We still have to think of a team name, I can't think of anything of the bat. Do you have a good idea?" She asked the girl. She asked this now so they would not have to wait another half hour thinking of a name in the presence of the master.

"Oh, hello Ren! Nice to meet you, the name's Laura!" she said, with a smile.

"Team name? We need one?"

Ren affirmed positively with her head.

"Well, great. I'm not very creative..."

She decided to try anyway, as the other Pokémon has only been helpful up to now.
Surely it couldn't be so hard.

"Let's see. What could we possibly call ourselves?..."

The Shinx thought about it for a few seconds.

"Oh, I know! Team Magmashock!"

Realising how cliché it sounded, she started to laugh at the silly idea.

"Hahaha, no, no. Maybe we could think about it on our way!" Laura said with a big smile.

She was glad to have met Ren. She seemed to be pretty nice, smart, centred, and... nervous? Could it be her fault?

"Hey, Ren, you seem kinda nervous, are you ok? If it was me, sorry, I just tend to talk too much sometimes."

while the duo finally knew each other's name they could go concerning them on more important things like that team name. When Laura suggested the name Magmashock Ren could not feel but to laugh a bit. yes, but the names Ren could think of would sound somewhat similar. "How about, Blazeray, or shick, or ..." This was getting nowhere. "I don't know for sure, do you perchance like any of them?" Ren asked the Shinx. Now she asked why she was nervous. the point is she was not really that nervous. "I am not really nervous. Anyway, we should get moving to the guild. If we register fast enough, we might go exploring today. If not we probably have to wait another day." She said while nodding her head a little at the direction of the guild, starting to move soon after.

Laura followed right behind, while trying to think of a good name.

"Uhh... Lauren? Oh my god, that sounds so stupid. Maybe we should stop mixing things.
So, maybe something like team Omega or Gamma?... Eh, a bit overused..."

She decided to take a break and look around her to find any inspiration. The sky wasn't as clear as it was before, the sun hid behind some large clouds, and it felt slightly colder. There seemed to be less people on the streets now as well, though there were still a lot.

She didn't give much thought to any of it and soon dozed off. Memories of her family and her friends back at home came to her mind. She kind of missed them now.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a water drop right on her face. The Shinx looked up. Rain. She smiled.

Thanks. I needed that, she said in her mind, to no-one in particular.

She was starting to enjoy it when she realised Ren may not. She wasn't sure how it worked, but rain surely won't do any good to her.

"Hey, Ren, it's starting to rain. I'm not sure how does it affect you, but we'd better get moving faster, or we'll get soaked."

This really was getting nowhere. What was about finding a name anyway. Maybe they should just... Ren felt something, and did not like it a bit. She looked up in the sky and saw how cloudy it had become. It started to rain a bit. While Ren could live in the rain, she did not liked it one bit. It was probably because of her type, fire did not like water. While Ren could take it better then most fire types, it could still get dangerous if it lasted too long. She heard Laura noticing this, and replied immediately. "Run, to the guild, good speed!" She shouted while starting to run to the guild.

Still following Ren, Laura ran, as fast as she could. The rain started to get thicker and thicker as they ran, getting them completely soaked.

"How far are we?" she shouted, trying to overcome the loud sound of the falling rain.

The Shinx noticed no one else was still outside at this point. They were the only ones on the whole street.

"There's no one else here! We're the only ones outside!" She shouted again.

As soonas she finished saying that, she slipped on a small puddle and fell face-first to the floor.

She could feel the rain falling on her. While it did not hurt her, it felt not good. It really felt wrong. Luckily they almost had reached their destination. She could see the guild building already. "It is there that building!" She shouted as she ran and pointed to a building with her wings. Then Laura fell down, Ren first wanted to run through as she was almost there. But she could not leave her new teammate behind. She went back and helped the Shinx back up. "Are you alright? Lets get going the guild is just a stone throw away." She told the Shinx as she walked in the guild.

She hit the floor hard. The rain continued to fall on her mercilessly, unaffected. In a way, the hard rain was quite comforting: she felt safe and protected from everything else. It was kind of ironic, really.
Her stomach growled. It had been a while since she had eaten something. She could really go for a Pecha berry right now...

Distracted by her thoughts, she forgot she was laying on the floor until Ren came to her aid.

"Are you alright? Let's get going, the guild is just a stone throw away." she said, walking into the guild right after.

Laura got up and followed the other one, sprinting to the door.

She waited inside for Laura to enter. Now they would just have to think a name for their team and they would be done. "Now, all we need is that stupid name. How about... how about..." she tried to think about any other name, but she could not think of something. You think of something, your idea's sounded better to me then mine so far." She asked the Shinx.