"Welcome home you guys!" Dedenne greeted. "I'm glad that you're all-"
Ian, Patience, Archen and Glaceon hastily walked past Dedenne who was standing at the entrance.
"-alright..."
The four members went up the stairs and went straight for Mawile's room.
There's no way... It can't be... Ian thought. When Glaceon had revealed to him that the rock he had found on Revelation Mountain was written in a human language, he couldn't believe it. Patience had read it just fine, it couldn't possibly be human. When asked about how she could read, Patience simply shrugged and said she just could, like Ian. They woke up Archen and asked him if he could read the engravings, but he couldn't as well.
It was then that Ian had finally confessed that he was once a human, but had lost all memories of it. He was expecting Archen and Glaceon to be shocked of the reveal, but, they seemed to take it surprisingly well. Which confused Ian. 'You're not the first time a human has come to our world you know.' Archen said. Ian felt somewhat disappointed, he enjoyed seeing Pokemon reacting in shock at them being told he was human. Either way, Ian wasn't convinced, he said that he wanted to confirm it with Mawile, for she was the Expedition Society's expert in archeology and ancient history.
Ian knocked on Mawile's room door, a loud crash could be heard from the room, followed by a muttered curse from Mawile. She opened the door, the others noticed that she had black marks covering her eyes. Indicating that she hasn't be getting enough sleep.
"Oh, welcome back." Mawile grumpily said. "What do you want?"
"I want you to take a look at this." Ian said, handing the rock to her. Mawile's eyes suddenly lit up, her grumpiness suddenly gone, she snatched the rock from Ian's hand, examining it.
"W-where did you get this from?!" She asked, still shocked with what she was looking at.
"I found it buried in dirt at Revelation Mountain, near Serene Village." Ian explained. "You know what is written on it right?"
"I can, but it might take me awhile to translate it..."
Surprised, Ian turned to Archen, who simply shrugged, resting his case. He then turned his attention to Patience, who was just as confused. How was Patience able to read human language if she was just a normal Pokemon? Unless...
No, I won't jump to conclusions just yet. Ian said to himself.
"Ian and Patience, they are somehow able to read the human language with ease." Glaceon said.
"Stop messing with me Glaceon, we all know that mastering it takes months, even years." Mawile said in disbelief, she hurried into her room, the four Pokemon following her in. She hastily placed the rock on her desk and searched through one of her bookshelf. Her room was littered with scattered books and papers, there were also a few apple cores that scattered the room. Mawile removed a blue book from her shelf, it was big and heavy, almost ten centimeters thick. 'Human Language for Dummies', Ian couldn't help but chuckle at that book title. Mawile opened the book, inside were images of human letters, next to it was the translation in Pokemon footprint writing.
It was only then that Ian suddenly realized the difference between the two languages. The human alphabet 'A', is a small footprint to Pokemon. It wasn't a surprise to him, since he was human. But Patience was a completely different story.
"Those who cannot remember the past..." Mawile translated.
"...are condemned to repeat it." Ian finished, to the shock of the archeologist.
"B-but how?! How is a kid like you able to read this like it's nothing?!"
Ian decided to confess that he was actually a human, but had lost his memories of it. Mawile, although in disbelief at first, nodded her head in understanding, as if all the pieces finally fit together.
"I see... Now it's starting to make sense." The deceiver Pokemon said, scratching her the black jaws on her head. "There's only one thing I have to ask though: How is Patience able to read it as well?"
Everyone turned their heads to the fire fox Pokemon, she nervously stood there, unsure as to how to answer that question.
"I-I don't know... I just read it without any difficulties." Patience said.
Mawile sighed, her life work, years of studying and work, is being undermined by the two new recruits, kids for that matter. She shook that thought out of her head, despite demotivated, she still had a role to play out.
"I'll study this rock further, see if there's anything else on it. In the meantime, I think you should go see the Chief."
"Oh! Which reminds me," Patience said, remembering something. She opened her Expedition Bag and started digging through it, taking the stone that he had received from Litwick.
"What's that?" Archen asked.
"A stone that someone gave to me." She replied. "What's odd is the strange symbol inside of it."
Mawile took the stone and examined it, it was a clear and spherical, light glistens from its shiny surface. A strange symbol laid in the center, a symbol that looked familiar.
A double helix.
Mawile knew she had this symbol before, but she wasn't sure where, or what it represented. Her drowsiness after only waking up just a few minutes ago wasn't helping with her memories.
Ian and the others, who didn't want to disturb Mawile further, quietly left the room and closed the door to her room. Mawile was so focused with the stone, that she didn't realize that they had left a long time ago.
Note to self, be more aware of surroundings... Mawile thought.
Just then, Mawile's stomach growled loudly, slightly embarrassing her. She was glad that no one else was in the room to hear that "Bombastic noise".
...and also not skip meals.
"So, that's your full summary of what happened in the Air Continent?" Ampharos asked, resting his hands on his desk as he sat on his chair.
"Yes sir, that's about everything." Archen said.
Entei, the Legendary Pokemon of volcanos. The question that had been going through his head: What was Entei doing here? Was he investigating the incidents as he said? Or perhaps there was another motive? The only other logical conclusion.
"Do you think Entei could be our culprit?" The lighthouse Pokemon asked.
"I highly doubt it, but I wouldn't ruled out that possibility just yet." Archen replied.
"Speaking of which, you still haven't explained how you and Entei seem to know each other." Ian reminded.
"Oh, really? My bad." The first bird Pokemon apologized, scratching his head awkwardly. "I'm sure you heard what Entei called me right?"
"Archen The Flightless?" Patience said.
"The other one."
"Son of Team...Blazing...something..."
"Team Blazing Griffin," Ampharos corrected. "a renowned exploitation team about twenty years ago. Archen's parents were the one who created the team."
"Wow! That's so cool!" Patience exclaimed in excitement.
"So... you're a prodigy?" Glaceon asked.
"You could say that, I learned everything I know about dungeon exploration from my parents." Archen said.
"And Entei?" Ian asked.
"Turns out my parents met many Legendary Pokemons back in their day, Entei being one of them. If I recall they were looking for the rainbow Pokemon."
"The rainbow Pokemon..." Patience uttered.
Ampharos let out a cough, reminding the four Pokemon that he was still here. Snapping back into attention.
"Glaceon?" He called out.
"Chief?"
"Is there something bothering you? Archen told me about how you sort of went into a state of shock when you encountered Entei." Ampharos said, donning a worried look on his face. "And I just noticed you got yourself a ribbon?"
"I-it's nothing Chief, I got this Frost Ribbon while I was in the Air Continent." Glaceon said, she looked over Ian who simply smiled and nodded in return.
"I see, I guess with that out of the way, you're all dismissed. Take the rest of the day off."
The four Expedition Society members nodded in acknowledgement, and quietly left the office. Ampharos sighed as he looked to the left of his desk to see a tall pile of paperwork. They were mostly requisition orders from Mawile and Jirachi for their research. The rest were request forms sent by organizations from other continents to help them in expeditions or capturing outlaws.
"Oh what I would do right now just to take a day off..." Ampharos muttered to himself as he began shuffling through the pile of papers.
