"So, we're off to the world of Pokémon again, huh?" Kaede asked.
"Yep. Last time we were there was for the Galarian Star Tournament, which was… Actually, for us, it wasn't really that long ago." Zacian said.
"Yes. Last time we were there, it was with Reformed Society. Himeno and Tsumugi won it that time." Teba said.
"Yeah but this time we aren't here for a tournament. We're here for...wait, why are we here?" Dan asked.
"It's for an environmental survey." Mahiru said.
"Yes. Mahiru got a call for a sort of expedition requiring photographers." Revali said.
"He allowed friends to accompany her, so of course we had to come along." Sectonia said.
"You know, there was someone a while back who took photos of Pokémon as well." Mari said. "Todd Snap is his name."
"Yes, I've heard his name around the Beast Universe." Double D said.
"Still, I'm glad you're getting this opportunity, Mahiru." Hope said.
"Thanks." Mahiru said as they walked down a dirt path towards a small laboratory with a number of Pokemon running around it.
"Ah...so glad you made it." a voice said as a man in a white lab coat came out. "Welcome to the Laboratory of Ecological and Natural Sciences or L.E.N.S. My name is Mirror. I'm the one conducting this survey across all of Florio and all the other islands in the Lental Region."
"Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mirror." Mahiru said, shaking hands with the researcher.
"Believe me, I should be thanking you for accepting my offer." Mirror said. "An ecological survey like the one I'm doing hasn't been done in 100 years."
They entered a lab to see it sort of high tech with a holographic map set up.
"Wow...is this the whole Lental Region?" Mahiru asked.
"No. That's only showing the island we're on now: Florio." Mirror said.
"It's amazing." Mari said as Mercury popped out and looked as well.
"Mahiru's job is to take photos of Pokémon in their natural habitat all over the island and the others, right?" Hagakure asked. "How is she gonna do that? She can't go everywhere on foot."
"She will be given a vehicle to traverse across the island. But first...she'll need this." Mirror said handing her a high tech looking camera. "This is your Research Camera. This is what you'll use to take pictures with."
"Wow… looks pretty advanced. Nothing at all like what I've used before." Mahiru looked at the camera.
"I'm sure you'll get used to it in no time. It works just like any camera. But it also analyzes the data of Pokémon you take in your photos to store in a special database, which I call the Photodex, and acts as a communicator to speak with me and the other members of the team." Mirror said.
"I guess with technology, everything improves, even with something you're good at using." Mahiru said. "Thank you, Professor Mirror."
"Now...let me show you your vehicle." Mirror said as he led the group to a strange looking vehicle. "This is the NEO-ONE. It's an all terrain pod that will protect the people inside from all sorts of danger." he said. "Fits two at a time." he explained.
"So I could bring a friend with me to explore some of these places. Nice." Mahiru said.
"Now, without Further ado, why don't you hop in the NEO-ONE and start your first expedition?" Mirror recommended. "Whenever you're ready to go, touch your camera to the startup panel, and the vehicle will teleport to your first research route."
Mahiru climbed into the front seat as she looked to the others. "Anyone wanna come along with me?"
"I'll take that ride." Elize said getting in with her with Teepo by her side.
"Okay...off we go." Mahiru said, touching her camera to the console as the pod vanished.
"Whoa...where'd they go?" Luna asked.
"No worries. They're just vanished to the point I set up in Florio Nature Park. The camera I gave Mahiru also lets us see what they see." Mirror said showing footage of them arriving in a large nature park.
"Incredible." Lance said in awe.
The NEO-ONE moved into the park as they all looked in awe.
"Wow...oh! Look over there!" Elize said as the two noticed a small Pichu playing with a Grookey.
"Cute." Mahiru said snapping a photo, scaring off the two pokemon. "Aw." she said before snapping some more pics of the Pokemon she passed such as a Dodrio and Wurmple.
"Coming up onto a lake and...whoa." Elize said as they saw a few small pokemon with buck teeth working with wood.
"Bidoof…" Aelita said from the lab.
"Yeah. Looks like them. Guess they're building a dam." Nami said.
"Huh...bet it'll look nice once it's finished." Mahiru said snapping a pic of the dam with the Bidoof as they continued on to a large flower field with a number of Comfey flying about along with a red flower Florges who was exploring the fields.
"Oh wow… She looks so majestic." Teepo said.
"Florges?" Simon asked.
"Bzzt! Florges, the Garden Pokemon and the evolved form of Floette. A Fairy Type.
Florges can live for hundreds of years, and it devotes its entire life to protecting a single garden." Rotomphone said.
"Interesting, to be honest this is the first I've heard of them." Simon said.
"Even though some of us have Florges for quite some time now? The one with the White Flower pattern is Jude's and the Flabebe with the Orange Flower is Applejack's." Genis said. "Their colors usually depend on the flower fields they're found in."
"Yes. That's a quality that makes Flabebe's evolution line so unique." Jude said. "It's one of the few evolutionary lines to have multiple variations depending on the environment they are found in."
"Yeah. Like Genis said. There's five colors: red, orange, blue, yellow and white." Twilight said.
"Interesting." Simon said.
"It's weird you didn't know about Florges before, Simon. Jude has one." Gemini said.
"Then again, it wasn't brought out in front of him, so it's likely he didn't know until he saw one." Ichiro added.
"Well, when you have so many Pokémon like some of us do, some of them tend to be left out. It's quite unfortunate, really." David said.
"Whoa…" Mahiru said as the Florges appeared to be waving at them as Mahiru snapped a pic of this. "Guess this one is friendly around humans."
"Okay...you're coming to the end now." Mirror said as they hit the end of the course and teleported back to the lab. "Now…" he said as the photos from Mahiru's camera were taken. "Hmm...quite a number of interesting photographs." he said before printing them out and putting them in an album. "This is your Photodex. You can use it to categorize all of the Pokémon you've taken pictures of." he said.
"Okay. Pichu, Grookey, Dodrio, Wurmple, Bidoof, Comfey and Florges have been registered." Mahiru said proudly. "That was kinda fun. So what next?"
"Now...we'll go there again...this time at night. I'm certain the Illumina effect will be active by then." Mirror said.
"Illumina Effect?" Titanica asked.
"It's something that happens here in Lental. It's when a Pokémon starts to glow." Mirror said.
"That's true. Some Pokémon tend to have different behavioral patterns at nighttime." Zacian said.
"But...glowing at night? Doesn't that happen when something is bioluminescent?" Sachiko asked.
"Well...guess we'll have to try it tonight to see what we can learn." Mahiru said.
"Bioluminescent? What does that mean?" Dawn asked.
"It means that the organism emits light and therefore starts glowing in the dark." Dusk said.
"Like fireflies and creatures that reside in the deep sea for example." Mari said.
"There are some Pokémon who use bioluminescence naturally, like Morelull and Shiinotic. But I've never heard of Pokémon not like those glowing constantly." Titanica added.
"Maybe it's because of the Illumina Effect." Papelne said.
"Either way...think I'm going to like this survey." Mahiru smiled.