The next morning, Ollie, Eve and I set off for the PTOC building early. Well, we didn't go there straight away, we stopped at the Kecleon Market first. We had decided the previous evening that we would do our first job today. We wanted to be prepared, so we went to the market to get supplies. Ollie kept insisting that we buy a ton of food and nothing else. Eventually, Eve lost her patience with him. "Ollie! We need much more than food if we want to be a successful exploration team! Food will keep us going during the exploration, but it won't win battles, will it?" Eve stamped her foot. I sighed, hoping that this wouldn't happen every time we had to get supplies. Other Pokemon were starting to turn their heads in our direction because of the argument.

Eventually, we bought all the things we'd need: some food (but not too much), three packs to put our things in, three canteens for storing water (Ollie filled them up afterwards), a box of matches (since none of us knew any Fire-type moves) and a first-aid kit. The Kecleon Market had everything an exploration team might need. We looked at the Technical Machines as well, but they were all really expensive, and anyway Eve had spent most of the money (which she'd saved up for when she became a member of an exploration team) on the more important supplies.

After we'd put the supplies in the packs (Eve and I didn't trust Ollie with the food so we carried it, while Ollie carried the matches and first-aid kit) we made our way to the PTOC building. We were surprised at how empty it was. We figured that most of the other teams wouldn't have left for their jobs yet. However, there were only a couple of teams milling around. One of them was Team Awesomesauce. We waved to them, and they waved back. We went up to where they were standing (near the job board).

"Aww! All the exciting jobs are gone!" Bill complained.
"That's not so surprising considering the fact that YOU overslept and held us up AGAIN," Flora replied, sounding very cranky. I was surprised that they were arguing; they'd seemed like such good friends the day before.
"Guess we're stuck getting more berries to fill the Organisation's food supply," said Bill with a sigh.
"But we've been on supply gathering duty all week-because YOU keep being late!" Flora pointed at Bill with the flower she held.
Sparky stepped between them and said, "Alright, stop arguing, guys. We're a team, right? I know that berry picking isn't as exciting as rescue jobs or anything, but hey, someone has to do the job, or the PTOC's kitchen will run out! That means no more of Toasty's awesome lunches!"
"Toasty? Who's Toasty?" Ollie whispered.
"Only the best cook ever! He makes lunch for all the teams!" Bill said, turning to us.
"Yeah, my brother does make great food, huh?" Eve replied. "His secret is that he warms the food up in his fur. That makes it nice and warm before you eat it. But don't tell him I told you!"
"Wow! I never would've guessed that!" Bill replied. Something told me he and Ollie would get along very well.

"You're the new team that joined yesterday, right?" Sparky asked. "Eve, Ollie and, uh..."
"Yuki," I finished.
"Right. Sorry I kinda forgot. It's not really the sort of name you hear around here," he replied.
"Hey, uh, where exactly is everybody? We thought that there'd be more teams here, but it kinda looks like everyone's gone already," Eve inquired.
"Yeah, we made that mistake a lot when we first started too," Flora said. "Problem is, everybody realised that turning up early was a good idea-which is why you gotta get here at practically sunrise to get any of the fun jobs! But because of Bill von Lazybones here, all we ever get to do is pick berries all day long. It's so booooring."
"Like I said, somebody has to do it," said Sparky. "Anyway, Flora is right about getting here early though."
"But we thought we WERE being early," Ollie said, throwing his arms up in frustration. "Are you saying we have to get up even earlier if we want to do anything...you know, exciting?"
"Well, by exploration team standards, you got here LATE," Flora said, emphasising the last word.
"Well...maybe it's be more fun if these guys came with us?" Bill suggested.
"That sounds like fun!" Eve exclaimed, clapping her front paws. "Even berry picking can't be boring if you're doing it with friends. And as I always say, the more the....the more the, um...the more of a fun time you'll have!" She finally blurted out.
"Um, Eve? I think you mean 'the more the merrier', but you're right," I said to her. "To be honest, I was pretty nervous when I arrived here in Past Town. I didn't know anybody!"
"Alright, let's take this one," said Sparky, taking one of just six job notes that were remaining on the board. He read the title and description out: "'Berry picking in Oran Acres. We're running low on Oran berries, and we need to restock the infirmary's supply. We're going to need a couple baskets' full. Thanks!" The other jobs were similar; gathering supplies in various locations.

We took the job note to the reception area. A monkey-like Pokemon whose hair looked a bit like a bush was standing behind the desk. "Heading out, are you?" The Pokemon said.
"Morning, Simisage," Sparky replied, handing him the job note. Simisage grabbed a piece of paper and a thin stick, which he dipped in what must have been a pot of ink. He was writing something on the paper. "Let's see, Sparky, Flora and Bill, from Team Awesomesauce, and...you three?" He turned to us.
"I'm Eve, and this is Ollie and Yuki," Eve introduced us. "We're Team Cheery Cookies. We just joined yesterday."
"Oh yes, I heard about that," said Simisage. "So you're all going berry gathering in Oran Acres?"
"Yes," Sparky replied. Simisage gave us two baskets. Flora took one and I took the other.
"Good. I've filled that all out on the roll sheet, so you're good to go."

We headed out to the gate at the edge of Past Town. We double checked all our supplies and headed off. "I know it doesn't sound as exciting as the kind of job we were hoping to get, but at least we got one," Ollie said. "And one that involves food, too."
Eve and I sighed. "Ollie, we need to get berries for the infirmary, not for lunch," Eve said.
"Well, let's get them quickly so we can get back in time for your brother's tasty sounding lunch," he replied, rubbing his tummy. "Actually, I'm feeling kind of hungry already..."
"Ollie, it hasn't even been that long since breakfast," I said.
Ollie looked at us with a pleading look in his face. It was too cute to resist, so I took an apple out of our supply bag and gave it to him. He bit into it eagerly, saying what I think was "thanks" but it was hard to tell because his mouth was full of apple.
Just as Ollie finished the apple, we passed a sign pointing in the direction of Oran Acres. Ahead was a field full of bushes with blue berries on them.
"Here we go!" Eve said excitedly, jumping up and down. "Our first job as Team Cheery Cookies!"