18: Team Registration

Stella – Rockruff

 

“…Welcome to the HAPPI office, how may I help you?” Liepard once again unenthusiastically greeted me as I strutted up to her desk, the others right behind me.

I flashed a cocky grin. “Oh you know exactly why I’m here.”

“You again, miss Rockruff… I see you’ve got enough for a team with you this time.”

“You bet—” I was about to keep going, but Ichi suddenly cut me off.

“Hi! We’d like to register as a rescue team, please!”

I scoffed. Forgot for a moment—he’s supposed to be the leader. Not me. That kinda sucked, to be honest—me and my old team, we were all on equal footing, for the most part. We all did our fair share. Now I’m betting imma be stuck following the orders of this rodent. 

Eh, could be worse, in my opinion. As long as I got back into rescuer work, I could bear with being with these guys. It’s just gonna be a temporary thing. Well, it better be, I thought.

“…one moment.” She stepped away from the counter and trudged over to the big file cabinet behind her, loudly creaking open one of its drawers. She gently fished out a bunch of identical-looking forms with her mouth, then laid them down on the counter, in front of us. “…Fill these out, then bring them back here.”

“Is- is that it? We just gotta fill out a form?” Rei asked.

“Yep. That’s it. Pens are right here.” The feline nudged a cup filled with them.

Ichi grabbed a pawful of pens and the pile of papers. “Thanks!”

 

The four of us sat at a bench right outside the door. Ichi passed out the sheets to each of us. “Should be easy, no?”

I was the only one who was on the floor instead. “I mean, we’re just writing down shit. ‘Course it’ll be easy,” I grumbled before picking up the pen with my mouth, staring at the page. 

“Do you, uh, need help with that?” Rei was looking at me funny.

“B’nn do’n’ th’ fer ye’rrz,” I told him as I scrawled my name onto the paper.

“Huh?”

I scoffed, dropping the pen. “I said, I’ve been doin’ this for years. Don’t need any of your help.”

“…jeez, okay.” The serpent ‘mon frowned before picking up his pen, leaving me be. 

I looked over at Aiden, who’d already flipped over to the other side of the form. “You’re done already?” I asked him.

“Hm? Er, no, no… There’s this loooong list of terms and conditions on the back. I thought it’d be important to read before actually signing.” He flipped his paper again, showing us.

Rei turned his paper over too, squinting at it. “…holy shit that is long. Huh.”

“Eh, ignore it, guys. It’s just fine print, most of what they put on there is pretty irrelevant to us.” Ichi waved his paw dismissively.

“Did you not learn your lesson last time?” The Snivy looked at the Pikachu. 

“Last time?” Aiden asked.

“We don’t talk about last time!!” Ichi blurted. “Anyway!! It’s fine this time, it’s HAPPI we’re dealin’ with, not some shady nobody!”

 “Who knows? The association could be full of shit too.” Rei laughed.

“…ok I’m gonna be honest, I just don’t wanna read all that crap. Do you see how long it is??” Ichi shoved the form in Rei’s face, so close it was nearly touching his pointy snout.

“Yes, I have the form too, buddy. It is long.” Rei inched away. “Get that outta my face.”

I snickered as I watched them mess around. Ichi sure is one great role model… Totally a dependable-leader type. I left my pen on the ground before interrupting. “I can probably sum up all you guys need to know about this rescuer business anyway. Probably the same as back in the Grass, after all. No need for y’all to read.”

Ichi’s ears perked up. “Oh, isn’t that convenient! Tell us, Stella!”

I smirked. Time to shine. “Well, first off, the only actual requirement to be a rescuer is that you’re at least thirteen,” I said. “I’m fourteen, you guys are of age, right?”

“I’m fourteen too!” Ichi smiled.

“Fifteen.” Aiden nodded.

“Sixteen… I’m… older than all of you? Really?” Rei was surprised.

“Huh. Didn’t expect you to be the oldest, Rei-” I scoffed.

“…the hell is that supposed to mean?” 

“Er– not much, just… I dunno, I’d expect the eldest to take the lead or somethin’.” I tilted my head. 

“…uh, yeah. Right.” Rei strangely grew quiet all of a sudden. 

“…yeah,” I repeated. I genuinely didn’t mean much by it, what’s up with him? “Uh, anyway, rescuer work’s pretty intimidating at first—after all, everybody knows the rescuers for being super-brave mon who trek through the dungeons around the world, right? To be honest, it ain’t really like that at all, especially when you’re just startin’ out… Nowadays it’s more common for rescuers to be hired for more menial, boring jobs, so if you were hyped about dungeon diving, don’t get your hopes up too high.”

Honestly, that little speech was an attempt to convince myself, too.

 

“So I was right, we’re just glorified errand boys. Thank god,” Rei sighed.

“That’s reassuring. The last time I was in a dungeon, it was a little frightening…” Aiden chuckled.

“Yeah I don’t mind that.” Ichi grinned. “Just sounds like easier dough to me.”

“…wait are you guys fucking serious? I- I thought everybody who wanted to be a rescuer was willing to risk their lives in search of fame and fortune!”

“Hell no. Imma be real, I just came up with this outta spite against some guy who had his own team.” Rei laughed, before admitting, “……also ’cause, I dunno, Ichi wanted more ‘mon on his side for his little project.”

“Aw, you did it for me? I’m flattered…”

“Shut it,” Rei quickly shot back.

“If we’re all being honest… I was originally expecting I’d only be helping Mr. Ichi with his ‘project’.. But I don’t mind becoming a rescuer either,” Aiden said. “I told you, didn’t I, Stella? I considered going into rescuer work because it’d be a nice change of pace.”

“Uh, yeah, you told me ‘bout that.”

“Well, I’ve made up my mind now! Rescuer work it is!” he declared, before flipping over his sheet and finally beginning to fill it out. “…erm… wait… address?”

“Yeah, put in your address,” Ichi told him.

“Well, um… about that…” He trailed off.

“…we both need a place to stay,” I admitted to Ichi and Rei. “Long story short, Aiden doesn’t have a home anymore, and I was stayin’ with him, so both of us are stayin’ in the inn for now.”

“…’anymore’?” Rei raised an eyebrow.

“…it burned down,” Aiden whispered.

Rei blinked. “Oh shit that was your house? I mean– uh– fuck, I’m sorry, man… that’s rough.”

“Wait wait wait, this is the first I’m hearin’ of this! Your house burned down?” Ichi gasped.

Aiden nodded silently, lowering his head.

“Holy shit, I saw smoke rising into the air yesterday, that was your house?” he repeated.

“Wait you saw it?? And you never told me ‘bout it??”

“Because I didn’t think it was important! It wasn’t our problem, anyway!” Rei argued. “Uh, I don’t mean to be rude, Aiden!”

“…aight, can you two shut the fuck up?” I growled, glancing back at the Audino, who was getting increasingly uncomfortable by the second. “Let’s not talk about it now. Now isn’t the time. Aight?”

Rei froze before shifting his gaze away from me, burying his face back into the sheet of paper.

“A-alright, alright, Stella, sheesh.” Ichi scratched the back of his neck before getting back to work.

“Hmph.” I picked back up my pen too.

“…s-so… what do I put under address?” Aiden asked again.

“Uhh… just put down my address for now, I guess. We can figure that out later,” the Pikachu told him.

“What, are they gonna live with us or something?” Rei asked him.

“Honestly, I’m considering it. Like, our house is big enough for it, no? Besides, more roommates, more fun!”

“…ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fine.” Rei sighed. 

“You’re really going to let us stay with you?” Aiden started to smile again.

“I mean, if you two got nowhere else to go, I might as well take you two in.” Ichi shrugged.

“Th-thank you so much, sir!” Aiden exclaimed.

“Ehh, can you forget all the formalities? I’m not in business mode right now. Just call me Ichi!” He winked.

“Okay! Thank you, Ichi!”

 

I was trying to ignore all three of them as I filled out the rest of the form, checking off boxes, filling in boxes, you name it. Even though it was only just a page, their talking made it feel like it was dragging on and on. 

Why do these three gotta be so entertaining… it’s distracting me, and it’s getting on my nerves. I growled again as I began to fill out the moveset section. …Rock Throw… Sand Attack… Bite…

“…yo, Ich’…” I overheard Rei scooting over to Ichi. “Help me out here…” He started whispering into his ear.

“…oh, right, uh…” Ichi was mumbling back—I could barely pick up what either of them were saying.

Aiden was watching them, getting a little sidetracked. As the pair kept whispering, the Audino looked at Rei confusedly. “…you don’t know any moves, Rei?”

“Wha- were you listening??” Rei yelled.

“S-sorry! Audino ears, it’s a habit…” Aiden flinched.

“Uhhh, what my partner means is, he… doesn’t know what moves to put down! Rei knows a lot, believe it or not!” Ichi quickly replied.

I put down my pen. “You’re obviously making shit up.” I then looked at the Snivy. “And… you kidding me? Really? Like, all ‘mon know at least one or two moves. Come on.” I chuckled.

“…” Rei was silent.

“Pfft, for real?” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on, not even a Tackle?”

“…O-of course I know what a Tackle is.” Rei stuttered. 

“Bwahaha!” I couldn’t hold it in! “Sorry, sorry, just… look, I can’t help it, man… haha!”

“At least fighting isn’t all there is to being a rescuer… you said it yourself.” Rei scowled. “How about you shut the fuck up, huh?” He got defensive. 

“Ah, alright…” I shrugged it off and picked back up my pen. Did I strike a nerve there or something? I was able to joke like this all the time with my old friends… guess these people just don’t like my humor, I thought. 

We handed our signed forms back to the Liepard, who set the papers aside and gave us one more sheet to look at. “…this one’s for your team as a whole now. You just need to put in your names and a team name.”

“Well, we already know what that name’s gonna be!” Ichi smirked as he quickly scribbled in “The Moguls.”

“Why ‘Moguls’ anyway?” Aiden asked. 

“My parents always called me a little mogul back when I was young. Sounds exotic, no? I just like the way it sounds. The Moguls ,” Ichi enunciated as he wrote down all of our names. “Ichi Pikachu… Rei Snivy… Aiden Audino… and Stella Rockruff.”

“The first name listed’s gonna be marked down as the team’s leader, by the way,” Liepard mentioned. “Team leaders are in charge of making monthly payments to the association so they stay registered.

“Well, we already agreed I’m the leader! …Right guys?”

“…a subscription fee… to work?” Rei narrowed his eyes. He was getting a lot more quieter than earlier. A part of me was startin’ to feel bad, but… eh, it’d have been awkward to apologize then and there. “Really?”

“Seems more like taxes to me,” Aiden said. “It’s an obligation, no? HAPPI’s funds need to come from somewhere.”

“Eh, I hate taxes,” Ichi laughed it off. “But fine. Gotta spend money to make money.”

“I-Ichi! You can’t just say that in a government building!” The Audino gasped.

“…snrk-” The Liepard unexpectedly snickered. “…okay, you know what, Pikachu, you don’t seem half bad.”

“Eh?!” Aiden stared at the receptionist.

“It’s very obvious that I don’t like working here,” she said with a tired smile. “Also I agree, fuck taxes.”

“B-but– you work for HAPPI!”

“Sir I just sit at a desk all day. I’m only here ‘cause it pays a lot.” 

 

“…wait the leader has to pay a monthly fee?” I realized. “Okay never mind, glad I’m not the leader, sheesh,” I grumbled to myself.

“Welp, guess that means I’m the boss.” Ichi nodded.

“I thought we already agreed upon this…” Aiden mumbled.

“Well we’re agreeing a second time, ‘cause why not!” Ichi nudged the final paper back across the counter.

Liepard decided not to revert back to her resting bitch face, amusingly. “…anyway, all teams recieve a free beginner’s kit, courtesy of HAPPI.” She seemed to already have it prepared for us, as she started pushing a cardboard box around the reception desk and presenting it to us. The box was pretty big, almost as big as the feline herself.

“Enjoy. Also, leave the box here because I’ll be… ‘reusing’ it.”

“You… reuse the same box for every new team’s gear?” I asked.

“Not like that.”

“Are- are you gonna do that thing cats do with boxes or something? Where they’d like, sit and hide in ‘em?” Rei asked.

“…don’t tell anybody else.”

“S-seriously…?”

“Look, it’d be a waste of cardboard! That’s bad for the trees, you know.” Liepard laughed. “Also, can you blame me? It’s a big box.”

“…it does look comfy to sit in, I agree.” Aiden nodded. “What’s inside, anyway?”

“Free stuff HAPPI provides for new teams. Bags, badges, a map and compass… think that’s all.”

“That’s so little compared to what Wigglytuff’s gives out to rookies…” I complained.

“Well we aren’t as fancy as your little guild, miss Bronze-rank. ” Liepard rolled her eyes. “Don’t complain to me, complain to the higher-ups or something.” She walked back to her desk to sip on a bit of coffee. She had one of those fancy quadruped mugs, one where there were handles for both your front paws to go in. Always wanted one of those, not gonna lie.

 

Ichi opened up the box and revealed four bags. Just four bags. They were darkly colored—grey, maroon, navy blue, and black—and somewhat cheap-looking, so I wasn’t planning on replacing my bag with one of them anyway.

Besides, the bag I had on me right now, I was supposed to return to the guild—I was still using it out of spite.

Rei picked up the black bag and stared at it. “I call dibs on this one. I dunno why, it’s like… this one’s just callin’ for me.”

“It’s… just a bag,” I reminded him.

“A cool-looking bag. It’s got a nice aesthetic.”

“What aesthetic? It seems pretty average to me.”

“Eh, you don’t get it.” He slipped it on. “…fits me perfectly too. Wow.”

“Heh, looks good on you, Rei!” Ichi grinned. 

Rei opened up the bag. “…oh, this is all the shit she mentioned. Huh.” He fished out one of HAPPI’s official badges—the Mist’s had a golden ring with a red gem in the center, wings on either side, and three more gold rings looped above the gem.

The Snivy also dug out a little booklet. “…are these… instructions for the badge? What’s so special about this lil thing?”

“Don’t bother reading those, all you need to know is that there’re two buttons on the thing,” Liepard told him. “Button at the top lets you talk with your teammates from a distance, button in the middle works like an Escape Orb, except it’s rechargeable. Just press it and it’ll take you back to Post Town. 50 Poké for a recharge, first one’s free.”

Rei blinked. “…you sound like you’ve memorized that entire spiel.”

“I have, thank you for noticing~”

“Wait, you can talk into the badge? I didn’t know that!” Ichi snagged the blue bag from the box and whipped out his own badge, holding the top button. “YO!”

Ichi’s voice echoed through the Snivy’s badge. We could also hear a muffled “yo” from the box.

Rei pressed the button on his badge too. “Yo.”

“YO! I can hear you, dude!” Ichi held up the badge closer to his ear.

“I know, I’m right in front of you,” Rei responded, deadpan.

“…don’t go wasting the charge on that function, the fee’s 75 per badge,” Liepard warned them.

“Whoops-” Ichi quickly stuffed the badge back in the bag once he heard that number. 

“Separate fees? Really?” Rei complained.

“That tech’s expensive, I hear. Pretty sure HAPPI struck a deal with the Water’s Expedition Society. No wonder it’s expensive…” Ichi’s ears drooped.

Aiden picked out the maroon-colored satchel. “…I think this is too small for me, ehe…” He just took out whatever was inside, which was just the badge and its instruction booklet, along with a little compass and a map of the Mist Continent. 

“Do we just get only one map and compass?” Ichi asked. “Can’t find it in here…” He took another peek into his own bag.

Liepard nodded. “Don’t lose that one, heh.”

“I-I’ll take good care of it…” Aiden nodded back, gently placing them back into his bag.

“…dude it’s just a map and a compass,” I reminded him.

“But we only get one…”

“We can probably find those at Kecleon’s or something.”

“…I mean she’s not wrong,” Liepard snickered. “Literally the only thing worth anything that was in that box were those badges. Now those you don’t wanna lose.”

“…how much to replace those?” Aiden asked.

“Oh, those? Free. We got a surplus of those.”

“Oh, really—”

“There’s a fee for syncing those back up with your team’s, though. Fee gets bigger as your team gets larger.”

“…oh.”

“Dammit, you got my hopes up,” Ichi pouted.

 

I took the remaining bag—the grey one. Grey’s such a boring color… even if it was made outta the best fabric, I still wouldn’t use it. I took out the badge and stared at it for a bit.

Guess I’m no longer a guild member. I clipped the badge onto my bag strap, right below my old one. Now I’m an associate rescuer.

…ehh, I like the sound of guild member more.

I left the bag lying on the ground. Aiden picked it up, now carrying both bags in his arms. “…maybe I could find a use for these…”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I dunno.”

“If you don’t know, then get rid of ‘em,” I told him straight.

“…no. What if I figure out what to do with them after I’ve already gotten rid of them?”

“…fair.”

Now that the box was empty, Liepard started nudging it away from us, for her own personal use.

“W-wait a second!” Aiden blurted. “Can I… try sitting in the box, please? Just for a moment. I want to see what makes it so enjoyable…”

Liepard rolled her eyes. “If you insist.”

 

Aiden clapped his paws before eagerly hopping into the box and sitting in it. The Audino took up nearly the entire box as he sat.

“…uh.” Rei was speechless.

“Soooo… what’s it like, Aiden?” Ichi asked.

“…snug. A little small for my size, but in a good way. How do I describe it… it’s a comforting feeling, being encased by this box.” Aiden smiled. “…snug,” he repeated. “Dunno how else to put it in words. You all should try it, too!”

“…eh, you know what? You ‘Moguls’ don’t seem too bad. I’ll let ya keep the box.”

Aiden gasped. “Really?!”

“I have a bunch at home already…” Her tail flicked.

“How many boxes do you have?” Ichi was astonished.

“A lot. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, it makes me feel young again!” Liepard laughed.

“…Is this, like… normal for you guys or something…?” Rei mumbled.

“Eh?” Aiden looked at the Snivy, peeking his head from the box.

“Like, am I the only one weirded out by this, I mean?”

“…nothing seems wrong here, dunno what’cha mean.” I tilted my head.

“…uh, okay. Just- just checking.” Rei stuttered awkwardly.

We all kinda gave the serpent a weird look, before Liepard clicked her tongue. “…anyway, congrats, Moguls, you all are now an official team under HAPPI. Good luck out there.” 

“Let’s go, Moguls!” Ichi cheered. “Woo!” 

“…heh, thanks a lot, Liepard.” I grinned, before looking at the Audino in the box. “…come on Aiden, get outta the box.”

“I.. can’t.”

“….what do you mean, you can’t.”

“It’s… a little cramped in here. It’s too snug.”

“Aiden, get out of the box,” I repeated.

“No, I physically can’t!”

“…aw man, I thought this was gonna be quick…” Ichi frowned.