Chapter 21 - Action and Procedure
Yellow light colliding with the front of my eyelids finally tempted them to open and meet the plaster ceiling above. I could feel something peculiarly fluffy touching my scales, and I might've looked down to inspect it if I wasn't so embellished by its texture. Every ounce of muscle was weighed down by a thousand-ton anchor, so movement wasn't an option either. At least my ears functioned during this trance, alerting my not-so-functional brain to the steady breathing of someone close-by. I found it offsetting that I couldn't hear or feel any significant wind currents, instead only faintly picking up a conditioned draft at my flank. I could hear no birds chirping above or trees whistling in the breeze - only the imperceptible sounds of activity outside.
The warmth of my bed coaxed my eyes to close again against the urge of morning light. After a few minutes of dozing in and out of consciousness passed, I began to recollect what had happened yesterday. We had walked through a cave, where I had hurt my foot. We reached Lively Town, and then ate a lot of food, and-
Pop!
My heart hit the ceiling and my eyes shot back open. I hastily scrambled to my feet, unsheathing my vines halfway in case there was some kind of threat behind the impetuous sound.
My vision was spotty and needed to adjust to the light pouring behind me through the window, but I could still vaguely make out the form of a small orange mouse rolling on the ground laughing. She had the confetti gun from last night with her, and I could tell she had used it again by the strips of colored paper that floated down all throughout the room. To my side I saw a flash of orange and yellow spring up from the other feather bed on the floor. Leah shook her head a few times to clear some of the disarranged fur that had fallen over her face, and then glared at Dedenne.
"Rise and shine, newbies!" the electric-type giggled, picking herself off the floor and flashing her big buck-teeth in a cheeky smile.
"Is that really necessary?" I grunted.
"Yep! That's only the first step of your inauguration." Dedenne cleared her throat and then adopted a more professional tone. "But on a serious note, Ampharos wants everyone to meet in the main room for morning announcements in five, so get yourselves ready. I'll see you out there."
With that, she scurried off down the hall in similar fashion to how she did last night. I watched her go, and processed her words. My head still felt heavy, but now the events of yesterday had been recollected.
Leah was not her usual energetic morning self, the journey having taken an equal toll on her as it did on me. She stretched her limbs for a few prolonged seconds by extending her tail upward and placing her paws on the ground just anterior to her nose, before firmly shakimg her head in place a couple of times to wake herself up.
"...Oh, g'mornin' Smugleaf," she yawned when she saw me out of the corner of her eye. "She said something about morning announcements?"
"Mm hmm. Five minutes."
She stared into the distance for a moment, nodding her head absently, before her eyes abruptly widened in realization. "Oh! Oh yeah! We're members of the Expedition Society now!"
She sprang to action immediately, grabbing her scarf and hastily throwing it into a loop around her neck. I instinctively felt my own neck seeing her do it, and realized that I had been so tired last night that I didn't even thought to remove my own. Then again, I had done that plenty of times since Leah had given it to me and hardly even noticed. I figured that it was just because I had worn it so often that it had become congenital around my neck and basically never needed to be removed. Not for the first time, I gave it a sniff thinking I might need to wash it, as it surely had soaked up some of the sweat and blood from our recent adventures. I would get the same results every time; the square of mysterious fiber was just as immaculately spotless as it was when Leah first gave it to me. She had said that the scarves were "basically indestructible", so I guess it made a little bit of sense.
Meanwhile, Leah had already tossed all of our items into the bag and popped a twig in her mouth, while motioning for me to follow her out the door.
"Come on! We can't be late on day one!"
With a wordless agreement, I followed her out as she bounded down the hallway. We emerged into the main chamber, where Ampharos and his assistant with the glasses were standing before a group of half-asleep Pokemon who were idly chatting amongst themselves. I saw a few Pokemon from the day before already there, as well as a few I didn't know. A couple more were filtering in from the opposite hallway, where I saw more living spaces existed. Once we all stood at attention before him, we waited in silence for him to speak.
For a moment, nothing happened. The Pokemon standing beside Ampharos seemed to notice his slowness right away, and nudged his thigh to get his attention.
"Huh, hmm?" he mumbled, shaking his head and blinking a few times. He shot his companion a blank stare and then scanned the room. "-Oh... Oh! Yes, it seems that everyone is here. I apologize to you all if I am a bit slow on this lovely morning. I'm afraid I was up very late last night."
"Working on Operation Chisel?" Archen asked loudly.
Ampharos shot him a look of mild disapproval. "Something of the sort. We will all discuss that topic another time."
Archen opened his beak to respond, but said nothing. Ampharos cleared the last of the morning's grogginess out of his throat, and then put on a cheerful smile. "In the meantime, we shall begin this fine day by introducing our two newest members! I know this comes off as forthright, but would you two mind stepping up and telling us a bit about yourselves?"
We both walked up to stand beside Ampharos, and I stepped up to go first. I obviously couldn't tell them about my human origins, at least until they got to trusting me, so for now, I had to keep it simple. A little white lie thrown in there couldn't hurt.
"Uh- hi," I started a little sheepishly. "My name is Sage, from Serene Village. I was adopted by a Nuzleaf, and I've always enjoyed the rush of adventure since I was a small child, so I wanted to join the Expedition Society to further that drive."
I took no more than ten seconds on the introduction. After I was finished, I nodded at the nervous Fennekin beside me for her to start. I felt sympathy for her, since she was clearly stressed out about what they thought of her. It wasn't like Leah to get all nervous like this unless it was about something super important.
"Don't worry about it," I whispered. "Just be yourself."
She nodded gratefully, and stepped up. "Hi," she began, her voice sounding more confident as she went along. "I'm Leah, and I'm also from Serene Village. That's where I met Sage here, who, with Ampharos's help, I formed an exploration team with."
"Is that how you got those badges?" Buizel asked.
She nodded. "They're only Junior Society badges, but they worked just fine for us."
Everyone in the crowd looked at us funny. They clearly had no idea what she was talking about.
"Junior badges? What the hell?" Mincinno remarked, crossing his arms.
"Oh!" Ampharos exclaimed. I looked back at him and saw that he was trying to contain laughter. "I must confess that I lied to you two when I gave you that equipment. It was the real Expedition gear all along. In truth, there is no such thing as the 'junior' Society. Your gadget and badges are as authentic as can be."
Leah's eyes widened in surprise. "So does that mean we've been doing real Society work all along?"
"Quite right," Ampharos admitted. "Even though the work done from the connection orb technically isn't delegated by the Expedition Society, it still does make up a lot of what we do. In other words, you've basically been freelancing up to this point, and you will continue to do so on most of your days as official members. Now that you're here, however, you'll be able to help us with our worldwide cartography program, as well as other large-scale projects that could affect many Pokemon in many places."
I nodded, memorizing the components of how this was all supposed to work. Right off the bat I was pleased that our routine would basically return to how it was in Serene Village, as it occurred to me that there would probably be plenty of jobs to do this close to the heavily-populated coastline. But Ampharos also mentioned larger-scale projects too, which could prove beneficial to our growth, and earn us a bit of respect on top of it. And I'm sure Leah's excited about the exploring and mapmaking, which was the biggest reason she wanted to join in the first place.
"Wait. There is one thing I forgot," Ampharos continued, reaching behind him to grab something. He held a brown leather bag with the Society's emblem encrusted onto the sides in a brass color, that looked nicer than anything we'd had access to back in Serene Village. He handed it to Leah, who examined its features and then passed it to me to do the same. "As an honorary member of the Expedition Society, you shall receive this stylish bag designed to hold items efficiently and conveniently. Don't worry if you lose it or it tears. We've got a whole bunch since they're susceptible to wear out eventually."
I quickly moved the few items we had remaining from the journey into the new bag, and then gave Leah the old empty one. I slung the new one around my shoulder, adjusting the strap to fit my body length. Right away I could feel how its design would help save precious time in a tight spot, with specific pockets and sections sewed for certain items. I put the one blast seed we had left in the pocket right where my relaxed arm would rest on top of, so that I could whip one out in a moment's notice. This would've really been nice to have when that Mandibuzz appeared over Revelation Mountain, so I could've grabbed an escape orb in time instead of Leah having to save my tail with that fireball-interception stunt.
Ampharos scanned the room once more, and moved on. "Together, these two make up Team Prism. They will be working with all of you on various missions around the world, and for now will be operating in the local area doing smaller jobs that various Pokemon need completed, just as most of you do. Once morning announcements have concluded, and they have completed the traditional introductions, you may become acquainted with them as you please. As I said last night, do be kind to them, and make sure to make them feel welcome."
All of the Pokemon nodded their assent. What caught my eye, however, was the obvious smirks that a few of them tried to force down when Ampharos mentioned the "traditional introductions". From the 'one-big-family' impression I'd been getting from my new home so far, I'd kind of figured there would be some kind of meme-trial of sorts for new members. Maybe they'd have us clean the entire compound? More likely would be that they'd have us get food for everyone, judging by the ravenous actions of some of them last night. Whatever was in store, it surely couldn't be as difficult as the journey we'd been through to get here, so I wasn't too worried. I had a full night's sleep to back me up this time.
"Now that they have introduced themselves, it is time for all of you to do the same." Ampharos nodded his head at them to start. "One at a time."
"I'll go first!" Buizel jumped forward before any of his companions could object. "I'm Buizel, and I go on expeditions! If you're exploring the ocean, or mapping out water currents, I'm your guy!"
"Ooh, I'm next!" Dedenne and Swirlix called out at the same time, before glaring at each other.
"Me first!" Swirlix demanded, making Dedenne visibly bristle.
The steel-type at Ampharos's side clamped the large mouth on the back of her head down tight, sending a ringing metallic clang throughout the room and making Dedenne and Swirlix instantly stop their bickering. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You two, cut it out please. Dedenne, go first."
"Gladly!" the little mouse exclaimed, stepping forward to greet us with a smile. "I'm Dedenne, and I'm in charge of communications around here! I don't go exploring as often as the others, so you'll find me mostly stationed here either organizing the place or keeping everyone in touch with each other."
"And I'm Swirlix!" the rounded chef exclaimed, hopping up to the front. I had to hide a grin when I noticed she still had faint traces of marker drawn on her face from when she passed out in the middle of the upstairs room the day before. She licked her lips with her long tongue and bounced up and down as she gave her introduction. "I'm the steward! I don't explore that often, but I make sure everyone has a full belly when they're finished with a long day of hard work! ...Except... sometimes... I just can't wait to eat."
"See, that's what I'm talking about!" Buizel fumed. "You've gotta cut that out!"
Bunnelby stepped up before Buizel or Swirlix could engage in a legitimate argument with each other. He twitched his ears and nodded his head in a curt greeting.
"I'm Bunnelby. I'm the one in charge of excavation missions. If you need any quarrying or drilling done, I'm the one you want to consult. It's a pleasure to have you both." He nodded again and stepped back into the crowd. Next up was Archen.
"My name's Archen, as you probably already know. I'm in charge of aerial exploration, which is often much more practical than ground travel." The multi-colored bird scratched the back of his head with one of his claws, and let out two syllables of a chuckle. "...Only problem is that I can't actually fly..."
I tilted my head, taking note of how the design of his wings would indeed make it difficult to get airborne.
"I don't mean to be rude by asking, but how can you manage to explore up in the sky if you can't fly?" Leah asked a little hesitantly, hoping to avoid offending the flightless bird.
Archen laughed and waved his arms dismissively. "Don't worry, I get that question all the time. If you want to know the answer, I could show you two what I've been working on sometime that allows me to do what I do." With that, he stepped back into the crowd, allowing someone else to come forward.
Emerging from the crowd were two Pokemon this time. One of them was best described as a floating string of flowers, with her head being a light green crest with an orange face and bright yellow eyes. Attached to her tiny arms was what looked like a small vine that was entirely enveloped by flowers of many colors. The line of flowers curled into a circle that ended near the back of the her head, forming a circular-shaped outline.
The Pokemon beside her bore no resemblance to her floating companion, bearing flippers rather than flowers. Her snout bore a subtle relation to my own, only it wasn't as long and ended with a pink spherical nose rather than curving off entirely. Her entire body varied anywhere from a sapphire blue to a blue so pale it was basically white, coloring her segmented ears and three ruffle-like growths extending from her midsection.
"Hello-o-o!" the one with the flower string sang out in blatant defiance toward the slow pace of the average morning. "I'm Comfey! I'm the Society's standing doctor, and this is my assistant Brionne!" The string of flowers moved from its circular position and rested on the water-type's shoulders, making her rub the back of her head nervously.
"H-hi," she stumbled, obviously uncomfortable with the attention. "I'm Brionne. I-if you're sick or something, we'd be happy to help you." She visibly shrunk with every word, and it seemed like she couldn't wait to return to the crowd with her energized medical superior. I was a bit amused by the stark contrast between Comfey, who was practically doing mid-air cartwheels with her energy, and then Brionne, who looked completely flushed from this little social accommodation. Regardless, they both seemed equally nice.
Rounding out the whole group, I saw the Mincinno from last night emerge, as well as two more Pokemon that I didn't know. They immediately gave the impression of a team, as both Pokemon I hadn't seen before flanked the Mincinno on either side, with the normal-type in the middle clearly being the leader.
One of the two Pokemon looked peculiarly familiar to a fire-type species that would sometimes appear in one of the dungeons around Serene Village. But this one was clearly no fire-type, with its coloration sporting an icy-blue as opposed to the regular orange. The other one with them was a pale yellow lizard-like Pokemon with a tapering tail and two long ears hanging down from its black forehead.
"I'm Mincinno, from the southern Mist continent. We met last night," Mincinno stated flatly, still considerably sounding like he hadn't gotten any sufficient sleep lately. "I'm the leader of Team Carbon, which consists of the three of us. It's good to have you." He took a step back as soon as he finished, gesturing for his teammates to introduce themselves.
The light blue Pokemon looked to the side for a second, and began with her own basic introduction. "Hello," she said, padding up a couple steps and bowing her head in greeting. "My name is Vulpix." Similar to Mincinno, there was an ambience of expenditure to her voice. From the tidbit I'd heard last night, this team had been on some kind of demoralizing journey through the desert, which I'm sure didn't cooperate with what I assumed could be her ice-typing. Regardless, she tried her best to put on an enthusiastic smile for us and give a good first impression. "I traveled with Comfey and Brionne from the Alolan Isles to join the Expedition Society about eight months ago, and went on to form a team with these two. It's nice to meet you." She bowed her head once she had finished, and stepped back to allow her remaining teammate to go.
Finally came the yellow lizard-like Pokemon. Unlike the other two, he didn't seem the slightest bit tired. He walked up to us and nodded his head. "And I'm Helioptile, born in Sahara Town of the Sand Continent. I round out Team Carbon with these two. I guess you could call me the glue-guy for our team. I keep these two in check, you feel me?"
Mincinno rolled his eyes, and grabbed the electric type by the ear to pull him back in line, making him yelp in protest. "Sure you do, you nutcase," he scoffed while shaking his head. Vulpix giggled at the exchange between them as Helioptile finally gave up trying to break free and crossed his arms with a huff.
With everyone in the general crowd of members having introduced themselves, it was now the Pokemon at Ampharos's side who stepped up. We turned to face her, and she took off her glasses and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Mawile. I'm studying the history of the world, which includes subjects ranging from archeology to mineralogy. If you'd like any kind of research done, I'm the one you want to talk to. I'm also second in command around here, so I can give you assignments for specific projects if Ampharos isn't available."
"But you won't have to concern yourselves about that!" Ampharos jumped in, sticking his nose high into the air. "You can depend on me to always be available to meet your needs!"
"We can't even depend on you to find the bathroom," Bunnelby snickered under his breath. A few other members giggled with him, earning them all a heated glare from Mawile.
Ampharos didn't hear him, or just didn't care, and rounded out the introductions with his own. "And lastly, I am Ampharos! I am the chief of the Expedition Society, and I manage all operations that go on around here. If you need assistance with something, or you'd like to have a chat, my office is on the second floor near the infirmary."
Leah raised a hand, and began speaking with a hint of suspicion in her voice when he acknowledge her. "Hey, Ampharos... you said way back in Serene Village that you didn't work for the Expedition Society... and yet here you are, as the chief. What's the deal with that?"
"You are right, I did say that. It is true, I do not work for the Society... instead I manage the Society! My role is to make these Pokemon work!" He extended his arm to point at the group standing before us.
Dedenne's face scrunched up in disgust. "Eew, how obnoxious!" she squeaked.
"Dang, I don't wanna work for a boss like that!" Archen concurred.
Buizel motioned for them to huddle up. "Guys, let's start thinking about where we want to work next."
I watched with some amusement as their blatant sarcasm blew by Ampharos entirely, whose eyes widened in dismay upon hearing their words.
"O-oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" he interrupted. "Please reconsider, dear friends!"
Seeing their chief's distressed reaction, they all began laughing lightheartedly. Ampharos was suddenly caught between trying to convince them to stay and figuring out what was so funny.
Meanwhile, Mawile approached Leah and I, intending not to waste any more time. "We actually have one more member," she said in a voice that was a bit warmer than before. She gestured with the mouth on the back of her head to the staircase towards the back of the room, and explained. "He's probably sleeping up there, on the third floor observatory. As the final part of your integration into the Expedition Society, you'll need to wake him up and become acquainted with one another. Good luck."
I raised an eyebrow. "Uh... what for?"
The steel-type uncharacteristically snickered, saying nothing in response and instead turning to assist Ampharos in making sense of the other members' teasing before we could press her further. Leah and I shared an apprehensive glance, and made our way up to the third floor.
The room that we found ourselves in was circular and spacious like the main rooms in the previous two floors, except this room had no hallways extending from it. Instead, there was a large balcony to the right side with a large glass pane and a sliding glass door in place of where the wall would normally be. As far as the wall went, there was what looked like a star-patterned wallpaper covering the dome-shaped room rather than the painted wood and stone of the other floors.
An absolutely colossal telescope was placed on the wooden balcony, and upon further inspection, was supported with cables attached to the roof of the compound. I was reminded briefly of a worn-out telescope belonging to Hippopotas that Leah and I had tried to use one night in secret. But that puny thing hadn't been a tenth the size of the massive telescope on the balcony. I would definitely have to remind myself to come up here and try it out one night.
Despite being all but impossible to miss, the big telescope wasn't what caught my eye the most. That honor went to the generous augmentation of books boasting a myriad of shapes, sizes, and colors spanning most of the room. With the exception of a tidy little seating area with a glass table and a candle resting on top in the far-left area of the room, the entire wall was made up of bookshelves stacking up twelve-feet easily.
So was this be the library Ampharos had suggested I visit in case I ever found myself in Lively Town? With all of the getting into the Expedition Society business, which technically was still under way, I had totally forgotten about the other reason that I had wanted to come here. Mawile had just said that she was studying the history of the world, and if the Society had a selection of books this massive, then there was bound to be something here on humans. Perhaps I could even find something specifically on humans turning into Pokemon if I looked deep enough. I could still remember the silly storybook about a human who saved the whole world from the days when me and Leah were confined to the village school, so there must be something better here. It made sense.
With that thought came a strange feeling that caught me entirely off guard. It was incredibly subtle, so much so that I couldn't quite slap a name on it. But I could only best describe it as reluctance, which didn't make any sense whatsoever. I was a human who turned into a Snivy, so shouldn't I want to know more about why it happened and what can potentially be done to reverse it? This thought process was part of what had driven me to come here in the first place, and yet now that Leah and I had made it, it didn't sit rigjt anymore. And deep down, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was refusing to acknowledge why.
"Hey... you awake?"
Leah's soft voice startled me out of my thoughts, and for an instant I thought I was the one being spoken to. I looked and saw that she was actually all the way across the room near the back wall, poking at something yellow that was floating. It appeared to be the last member Mawile mentioned.
I walked over to find Leah jabbing the thing with one of her twigs unsuccessfully, the sleeping Pokemon not even twitching in response. It simply floated in midair only about a foot off the ground, with its star-shaped head facing the floor. Carefully with a vine I lifted its head up, to see that the odd yellow and gray Pokemon was indeed fast asleep, supported further by the deep steady breathing that could be heard that was in rhythm with the extension and retraction of its chest. I decided we were probably wasting time already, so it would be necessary to give intentionally waking him a shot.
"Hey," I said with a little extra volume, hoping this guy would be released from his slumber by the sound alone. "Ampharos asked us to wake you up. So... could you do us a favor and wake up? That would be great."
To my pioneered relief, he actually answered me in a masculine voice that sounded discreetly indifferent and almost child-like in tone.
"Ooh, is that true...?" he cooed. "I see... but I'm so sleepy though... I think I'll just continue sleeping..."
The Pokemon didn't once open his eyes or even hardly move his head when saying this. He was literally talking to us in his sleep.
Leah and I shared a look of absolute bewilderment.
"Uh, what? No, dude, you need to get up. It's kind of urgent," Leah impatiently insisted.
The strange floating Pokemon gave no reply whatsoever. In the following couple of minutes we found ourselves tickling him, trying to pull him to the ground, tugging on the green tags hanging off of his head, and several other unconventional methods of awakening that got us nowhere. I didn't want to attack the guy or anything, but we had basically run out of options at this point. Ampharos might start wondering what was taking us so long if we didn't wrap this up.
Unfortunately for us, we weren't really given much of a choice when the next thing he said registered.
"Sometimes when I'm asleep... I have a tendency to attack those around me... so... sorry if I do..."
"Wait, wh-"
I didn't have time to finish before I felt a sharp jolt of pain course through my body, which was followed by the unpleasant sensation of weightlessness. I hit the ground near the opposite wall, my tail thankfully cushioning most of the fall. Leah was totally caught off guard by the surprise psyshock attack, and was a moment too late in retaliating before she, too, was sent tumbling across the room.
She was on her feet and in a battle stance in an instant, facing our snoozing attacker. "What the hell! What's wrong with you?!"
"I don't think he can hear us," I grunted, some of the pain in my stiff leg being revived by the surprise-attack. "You still got those chesto berries?"
"I only have one left..." Leah answered a little reluctantly.
"Good! We can wake him up with it!"
"..."
I rolled my eyes. "Leah... seriously?"
"Can't we just knock him out instead?"
"He's already asleep!"
"...Fine," she huffed, before tossing me a single dark-blue berry. "But we're getting more."
I wasn't given time to answer her when I was forced to roll out of the way to avoid another psychic blast. It whizzed past my ear, skimming the very edge of the yellow growth that extended from my right shoulder.
"Leah!" I called to my partner as she leaped out of the way of another psyshock aimed at her, getting her attention momentarily. I tossed the berry back to her, and then unsheathed my vines. "Cover me so I can get in close. I'm gonna try and wrap him up so you can drop that berry down his throat." I glanced over in our opponent's direction and realized the amount of flammable material that was stacked behind him. "...and try sticking to just psybeam. We don't want to burn this place down on our first day."
"Understood," she confirmed, charging up and firing a psybeam that flew in a beeline aimed at the sleeping Pokemon. He didn't even try to move out of the way, begging the question if he was even capable of doing so in his lethargic state. The force spread inwards and pulsed when it hit his body, and only the hold on his dormant levitation prevented him from being launched into the bookshelf that was now only a few feet behind him.
"Ow... who did that...? I'm gonna get your ass back..."
Switching strategies, he began to spin around in place faster and faster in a lateral motion until he was a yellow blur. As I tried to move in closer, I saw him align his body to be parallel with the floor while still spinning at the same rapid pace. Through some unseen force likely related to his natural levitation, the star-shaped Pokemon catapulted forward at breakneck speed, forcing me and Leah to immediately hit the deck to narrowly avoid contact with the vicious double-edge attack. Not hitting either of his targets, the snoozing psychic-type flew across the room and slammed headfirst into the opposite wall with a resonant boom.
"Ow... my head... Did I hit anyone?"
"New plan!" I called to Leah, who still held the berry. She was now closer to our attacker, who had gotten the top of his head stuck in the wall and was too delirious to dislodge himself in a timely manner. Leah caught on and, already being only a dozen or so feet from him, dashed over and forced the chesto berry into his mouth. He ate it willingly, chewing on it for a moment and swallowing without any resistance.
This time, his acknowledging voice was thankfully accompanied by eyes blinking open, and preceded by a massive yawn.
After yawning and blinking away the morning residue, he smacked his lips a couple of times and looked around curiously. "Woah! Hey now! I just had the weirdest drea-" He cut himself off, the content of his laterally-angled surroundings having difficulty registering. By the way he had gotten himself stuck, he viewed us sideways, which I'd assume would a disorienting perspective for anyone to wake up to. This guy was no exception, trying to make the slightest sense of his surroundings by rapidly scanning the room as best he could. It only took him a couple of seconds to notice Leah and I staring back at him expectantly, standing before him on level ground. His pupils went wide after eyeing us for another couple of seconds.
"Okay, you two were definitely both just in my dream." Before elaborating further, he awkwardly wiggled his head until it popped out of the wall, leaving an oval-shaped hole in the wallpaper and plaster that was at least several inches in diameter. Floating again, he righted himself midair and shook his head twice to knock off the bits of dust that had collected there after his aimless collision. "So, are you two like, dream fairies or something? Because I'm one-hundred-percent sure you two were both clearly in the dream I was just having."
"Dream... fairies?" I said, a little perplexed by this strange Pokemon's attitude and choice of words. "No, we aren't fairies. We're new members of the Expedition Society, and we were sent up here to wake you up."
He blinked. "Oh. They willingly sent you up here knowing I was probably asleep?"
We nodded, provoking a playful smile from him. "Well, what do you know? You really are new recruits!" He extended two gray arms to us, taking Leah's paw in one and my arm in the other. "I'm Jirachi, born in Star Cave located deep in the Grass Continent. As you can see by the giant telescope outside, I'm the Society's official astronomer and engineer. And I maintain the library up here. And I'm the assistant historian behind Mawile. And I'm the Society's exclusive mythical Pokemon. And on top of all that, I make everyone's wishes come true... maybe." He added the last part with a wink, floating up into the air and doing a lazy lap around the room before resting on top of a bookshelf and looking down on us from above. "Fortunately I'm a certified genius, so these are merely simple tasks for me."
"It's nice to meet you Jirachi," I greeted politely. "I'm Sage, from Serene Village."
"And I'm Leah, also from Serene Village." The Fennekin bowed her head in greeting, and Jirachi floated down to shake our vines and paws, respectively.
"Say..." he said, eyeing us a bit suspiciously. "Aren't you two like a couple years too young to be pursuing this line of work?"
"Uh... I guess?" I answered with an air of neutrality. Leah just shrugged.
Jirachi scratched his chin for a moment, and the big smile returned. "Well, I guess you gotta start 'em early! Regardless of age, I wish you nothing but the best."
With introductions out of the way, he flew back over towards the back of the room, where he curled his yellow entrails around his body and shut his eyes. "I'm going back to sleep now. The chief is probably waiting for you two downstairs, so I'd go see him if I were you. Good night."
Just like that, he was fast asleep again, almost as if he'd never eaten the chesto berry. Leah and I cleared out of there in a heartbeat, with no intentions of involving ourselves in another heated conflict.
We arrived downstairs to find Ampharos and Mawile discussing something alone, the other members likely gone off to complete their daily jobs. The chief saw us on the way down the stairs and waved us over.
"Ah, Team Prism! Did you meet our fabled astronomer?"
Still uncertain if the whole 'being attacked by a sleeping mythical Pokemon' part of the introductions was arranged or not, I decided to hold my tongue and play it cool.
"Yeah. He's a cool guy." I answered simply.
Ampharos looked a bit puzzled when I said it, looking the two of us over and rubbing the orb on his forehead in concern. "Say... are you two alright? You're both sweating profusely, and you've got a couple of bruises that I'm fairly certain weren't present at morning announcements. It's as if you've just engaged in a pitched boss battle."
Mawile was unable to hide the beginnings of an amused smirk, confirming that our enthralling encounter with Jirachi was probably orchestrated to some degree.
"N-no, we're fine," Leah covered for us. "We're ready for our first official assignment."
"Wonderful!" Ampharos clapped his hands together and then pointed towards the door to the outside. "Today, check out some of the local jobs around town, or use your connection orb to help someone in need. I'm sure you'll find plenty to choose from compared to the humble location you were operating from before."
"And here," Mawile interrupted him, grabbing something out of the dark green book bag she was carrying. She handed me five large gold coins, totaling 500 Poké. "We heard about all of the money you spent on food last night, so this here should help you purchase supplies for the day."
"Oh, thank you." I answered, inwardly relieved that we wouldn't have to waste time scavenging. I took the money and pocketed it into the brand new bag that Ampharos had given us. We thanked her once again, and then headed out the doors to buy some food and healing items for whatever it was we'd be doing today.
Our first day had been nothing but exhausting from start to finish. I had initially been thankful that Ampharos had delegated us to do local jobs on the connection orb, hoping we could pick an easy one and coast a little bit. I might've been more energized for our first day had we not had to deal with a certain mythical Pokemon tossing around in his sleep, which had indeed given me a few bruises that made my joints stiffen up almost immediately following the bizarre attack.
Leah and I had had chosen a mission that involved rescuing a lost Dragonair from a mountain not far from Gentle Slope Cave, which would've been a relatively simple mission had we not been ambushed by a monster house right when we got there. My ankle had been getting better as the day had gone on, only for the pain to be rejuvenated by the intense fight. We did end up getting the frightened client back to her family before the sun began to set, but it was a wild ride getting there that, directly following two straight days of hiking through the mountains, had left me totally bushed. I guessed that was just the lifestyle that I've now chosen showing its true colors, and I assumed that this kind of rush would become commonplace for me. I was a bit overwhelmed by the initial thought of it, but I had to admit it was worth every second of pain and fatigue. Perhaps I would even go out on a whim and admit it was pretty fun putting in all that work and being able to call it a successful day at our new 'career'. Leah certainly seemed to think so, leaping up and down in triumph when we completed the mission in complete disregard to how draining it had been. She was probably off telling Dedenne and Vulpix about it right now, who I'd seen her locked in conversation with earlier.
I'd have been conversing with some of the other members along with her if I didn't have something specific that I needed to look into. Today during the mission, I was hit by a sand-attack from a Pidgeotto in the monster house, and that weird phenomenon happened again where the intended effect would be reversed. I had totally forgotten about it with the drama about leaving Serene Village, and abruptly reminded when it happened again today.
Following our return, I seeked out Mawile intending to learn about what was going on, who was busy with something urgent and politely referenced that I ask Jirachi. I went up to the observatory-library and, thankfully, found him wide awake. He was organizing one of the shelves towards the back when I approached.
"Hey, Jirachi?"
He turned his head at the sound my voice, and continued levitating books into place behind him while looking at me. "What's up greenie? If you wanted to try out the telescope, you'll have to come back another evening. It's too cloudy tonight."
I shook my head. "Thanks, I'll definitely have to try that. But that's not why I'm here, I actually need to research something."
Jirachi raised his eyebrows. "What do you need?" He made a sweeping gesture pointed at all of the bookshelves bordering the walls with his arm. "Whatever it is, it's probably up here."
I rubbed my chin, trying to figure out a good way to explain the strange occurrences that wouldn't stop happening to me. "Is there any reported cases you might know of where a status change is... reversed?"
"Reversed, huh?" he echoed with his head tilted.
"Yeah, like, the opposite effect intended is what occurs."
"Can you give an example?"
"Today I got hit by a sand-attack, and my accuracy went up, not down. This kind of thing has happened to me a number of times before... Is this normal?"
Jirachi paused to contemplate the anomaly that I had explained. After a few seconds, his eyes lit up in what appeared to me like understanding, and he flew over to a shelf across the room and began searching for something.
"It should be around here somewhere..." he mused. "Ah! Here it is!" He grabbed a moderately-sized red book from the top of the shelf, and flew over to me with it in tow. He handed it to me and made his back over to where he had been organizing before, giving instructions as he flew. "What you're looking for should be explained somewhere in there, so make sure to read it when you get a chance."
My eyes lit up. "Wait- really? Th-Thank you!"
Finally! At least one mystery will be brought to light.
He smiled, genuinely pleased with the interest being taken in his collection of literature. "It's truly a pleasure! Most of the time the other members are up here looking for texts and illustrations about mapmaking and medicine, so it's nice to see some of this other stuff get put to use and not continue collecting all this dust. Feel free to come up here whenever you like and look around, these books are for everyone." His face grew slightly serious. "-Just don't damage whatever you decide to use, especially books involving history, or else Mawile will find out and absolutely tear you a new one."
Duly noted.
I held the book up in front of me with my vines and read the front cover. It was titled "Pokemon Abilities - An Elaborate Report", and by looking at the side, I could tell it had at least several hundred pages. I'd have to make sure to skim through it as soon as I got the chance.
"Thanks again," I said while still looking at the cover. "Hey, Swirlix said dinner should be ready any minute, so you should probab-" I stopped myself when I heard a faint snore from across the room. I had turned my back for ten seconds and just like that, Jirachi was fast asleep.
"-or not."
I hurried down the stairs before a repeat of this morning could play out, which as drained as I was, surely wouldn't have ended well for me. On the way down I heard Swirlix's call to dinner, making me redouble my efforts to ensure that I would claim my fair share of food before the hoggish chef got impatient. Being my first day, I hadn't really had a chance to experience my serving of food being eaten by the steward firsthand, but I had heard plenty of stories about this kind of thing from Bunnelby to decide not to give the fairy-type the benefit of the doubt.
At dinner, I made it a priority to become further acquainted with the rest of the members. Leah had gotten a bit of a head start on me, already hitting it off with that ice-type Vulpix and that Helioptile. I talked a bit with everyone, exchanging stories and jokes with increasing complacency as the orange light filtering through the window transitioned to blackness. I had worried that I might end up becoming something along the lines of a social outlier, as I was still getting immersed with the whole 'professional explorer' concept. But as it turned out, they were all pretty easy to get along with. They all had their own unique characteristics, like Ampharos's backwards sense of direction and Mincinno'a undying work ethic. Some of these characteristics held a bit more dead weight than others, but they gave the group a sense of balanced diversity and composure.
Leah was already fitting right in with the energetic members, from what I saw consisted of Helioptile, Dedenne, Buizel, Vulpix, Comfey, and Swirlix. They were a curious group that dominated dinnertime's tenor, making a small ruckus and occasionally talking and laughing with their mouths full.
I fit in more with the group of cool and collected members who talked less and observed more, that being Mincinno, Brionne, Mawile, and to an extent, Bunnelby and Archen. We made jokes and laughed too, but there was an air of maturity that came with it. From what I could tell, this gained me respect right away, as it's likely they had expected the youthful rookies to lack sufficiently in the self-control department. I utilized this hour of dinnertime to get to know them better than the brief morning introductions had allowed, and they did the same with me.
My heart leaped when Mawile told me that she was extensively studying the history of human influence on this world, which was apparently a distant topic that was often criticized as a waste of time. How badly I wanted to present my own case of human origin to whoever these critics were, and request that they rethink their scrutiny.
In any case, I was elated. This meant that I finally had another lead, finally had another opportunity to discover what happened to me and why. And this one didn't involve being attacked by three psychos.
My new coworkers all gave me the inherent accounts of how they had come to join the Society. I noticed right away an intriguing parallel with their stories; one that was also shared with that of Leah and I. With the exception of Mawile, who had apparently known Ampharos since childhood, everyone's debut interaction with the Expedition Society had involved some kind of chance encounter with Ampharos, who would always decide to make the individual or group in question into official members as a decision in direct opposition to what would be expected. From hearing some of their accounts, you'd think Ampharos was picking his menials at random, just as it seemed he was doing for Leah and I, who were supposedly too young because of some rule that now no longer existed.
By looking around at these Pokemon, however, not a shred of incompetency was to be found. Nobody would look at this and think that anyone here was chosen at random because of some unforeseen reason that only the chief could make sense of. It didn't take long to realize that, despite a bit of rust in differing regards to the average member's qualifications, everyone had their own collection of traits that rounded out the Society and gave it depth of both character and capability.
I recalled how Ampharos had not publicly praised Leah and I even one time for any of our accomplishments. Instead, he make sure to draw attention to what he worded as "the qualities necessary to become outstanding explorers". That guy may trip over himself wherever he goes, but his mind must be in the right place to put together something like this with nothing but sharp eyes and a gut-feeling. Even in Serene Village, on that day when Leah and I had to help him up off the ground after he walked face-first into the outside wall of the cafe, he had maintained a watchful eye.
My aching body didn't give me any time to think about it much longer, as it decided to tune down as the night lingered on. The digestion of what was an incredible dinner served only to make me desire sleep even more, and I wasn't too intent on denying it for long. Leah beat me to the punch, actually, and was already fast asleep on her feather bed when I reached our room. I should've guessed the delirious rush of our first official day at the Expedition Society would tucker her out too.
I had intended on skimming through that book tonight, but I lazily dropped it onto the desk and plopped down on my bed instead. I'd do it tomorrow. Or the next day.
No dreams or thoughts would poke at my mind as a relaxing sleep overcame me just as quickly as it did my partner. Things were looking up finally, and I was already settling in nicely.