Emolga and Aipom were right about the size of Pokéopolis; it was big. And more importantly, it was busy. The roads hardly ever widened from what they experienced in the outskirts of the city, but they frequently narrowed, and even where they didn't they were filled with Pokémon lined with shops and houses. Pokémon of all shapes and sizes, from ones even smaller than they were to ones who needed to take up the entire street, wandered around, all of them seeming to have their own separate destinations. It was like nothing Ethan had ever seen! Well, he assumed. He couldn't remember if he ever had.

By the time they reached the large Academy, its four stories of intricately-carved wood overlooking a picturesque garden filled with fountains and plants, the sun was high in the sky and beating down on the group of four making their way through the city. Fennekin seemed to enjoy it, but she appeared alone in that regard. "It's so pretty!" she exclaimed as they walked through the front gate and were almost immediately sheltered from the sun by large branches growing over the walkway.

"The garden's one of my favorite places to relax," Emolga said, her words combining with a sigh of relief. From the shade or being back at the Academy, Ethan wasn't sure.

The doors to the Academy were wide open, and once stepping inside, a wave of cool rushed over Ethan. It was relaxing, but such a transition made the interior seem almost too cold. He would warm up, he hoped. The building was not particularly wide, and the first floor seemed mostly like a lobby for the rest of the Academy. Some Pokémon were present in the first room, most of which were around the back wall; a set of stairs that went up and then doubled back around split the wall into two halves, and most of the Pokémon seemed to be around one of the two halves.

"Roserade's probably either on the second or fourth floors," Emolga said, walking past the crowds towards the stairs. "This first floor is for the public, and it's also where our job boards are. Pokémon who have jobs can come here to submit them to be put up, and then any of us or any of the affiliate teams can fulfill them and claim the rewards."

"Affiliate teams?" Fennekin echoed. "Like, teams that aren't a part of the Academy?"

"Correct," Emolga nodded. "The Academy is a part of the Adventuring Society, which organizes Exploration Teams and funds resources for them like the Academy. You don't have to go through or be a part of the Academy to make a team, but a lot of them do. Any affiliate teams would usually be down here; everything above us is for the Academy and its purposes."

While being lead by Emolga, Ethan looked back and forth between the crowds at the two boards, trying to take in all of the various Pokémon at both. Large, small, colorful, drab — it seemed that no two were exactly alike. Were these all explorers, or were they other Pokémon wanting to post jobs of their own? There was no way to tell them apart, not that Ethan saw. A few of them wore scarves tied around their necks, but Emolga and Aipom weren't so it obviously wasn't a uniform for exploration teams and he didn't think he had seen any other Pokémon in the city wearing them.

"Upstairs is the gathering hall," Emolga explained as they started walking up the flight of stairs. "That's where we have Academy meetings, and where most of us will spend time during the day if we're not out on missions or in town. Roserade, Luxio, and Cinccino, the Pokémon who are in charge of and run the Academy, also have their offices there.

"Cinccino?" Fennekin beamed almost immediately after Emolga finished speaking. "The Cinccino, the famous explorer? I read all the stories about his adventurers, I didn't know he helped run the Academy!"

"He does run the Academy!" Aipom butted in as Emolga opened her mouth to speak. "Roserade oversees all the operations and Luxio trains us, while Cinccino oversees both of them and deals with the Exploration Society. He's not around a lot, but he's really helpful when he is!"

As they crested the stairs to the next floor, Ethan looked around and saw significantly fewer Pokémon on that floor than the previous one. "Roserade!" Emolga called out to a Pokémon on the far end of the room from them, looking out a window at the garden below.

"I thought that was you two coming in," the Pokémon, a green two-legged Pokémon with a long cape and arms that ended in wide and broad flowers, responded. "You're back so soon?"

"It didn't go super well," Emolga admitted through gritted teeth. "We found these two, there was some miscommunication," she said, shooting an icy glare to Aipom, "and we battled them."

"Emolga told me to attack them and they beat us," Aipom spoke casually, almost exceedingly so. "They said they were interested in joining the Academy."

Roserade sighed, then walked up to the four of them. "Go find Luxio, tell her you got defeated in the forest. I'm sure she'll be able to find some training for you so this doesn't happen again."

"Yes, Roserade," both Emolga and Aipom mumbled before quickly turning around and going up the stairs.

"Managing to defeat two of the trainees here," Roserade mused as she looked between Ethan and Fennekin. "Not very easy, even if those two are more explorers than battlers. Are you two an exploration team?"

"I'm not even an explorer," Fennekin responded meekly after a few moments pause. "And I don't even know if Ethan is either." Before Roserade could even ask, he shook his head.

"We're always accepting aspiring explorers if they have the drive and determination. Unfortunately, while I am willing to induct you two, that decision lies with Cinccino, who is meeting with the Society today. Why don't you two come back tomorrow, and we can discuss joining the Academy?"

Fennekin winced, then looked at Ethan almost expectedly. "We...don't have any place to stay in the city, I don't think. I'm not from here."

The longer Fennekin stared at him, the more evident it became what she was thinking. "I don't even remember anything before this morning," he muttered. "I don't think I have a place to stay."

"We have two spare beds together," Roserade mused. "Cinccino wouldn't mind me letting you two use them tonight. And if he does…" She laughed to herself, then looked at one of the Pokémon sitting by the window on a side wall of the building. "Helioptile, you have no missions today, correct?"

The Pokémon placed a book on the windowsill and walked over; it stood on two legs, body covered in light yellow skin turning to back at the ends of its extremities and long ears hanging down the sides of its head. "I don't, why?" she asked upon getting up to the group.

"We have two Pokémon that are interested in joining the Academy," Roserade explained. "Cinccino is busy today and they are new to Pokéopolis, so why not show them around town and tell them about life as a trainee?"

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed, nearly bouncing on her feet. "You two are going to love Pokéopolis, it's the best city ever!"

"Feel free to ask Helioptile any questions you have about being a trainee. While she is one of our newer entrants, she has still made plenty of successes and is one of our most enthusiastic members."

"I won't be able to show you everything today," Helioptile proclaimed while walking to the stairs, "but I can show you some of my favorite spots!"

Fennekin and Ethan followed her to the stairs, Fennekin's excitement almost matching Helioptile's. "That sounds great! How do you like being at the Academy, by the way?"

"It's the best thing ever! There are all sorts of really fun jobs that come in, and we get sent on explorations a lot whenever Roserade or Cinccino hear rumors about treasure. And everybody in the Academy is so much fun to work with, too!"

"How many Pokémon are at the Academy?" Fennekin wondered aloud. "We met Emolga and Aipom, and they told us about Luxio and Cinccino. Anybody else we should know?"

"You'll meet them all for sure, and there's a lot of us! You probably saw Emolga fight with Aipom, but they're both really nice when they're not fighting with each other. They're also both really good at exploring, it's why they get sent out on adventures together, even if they bicker all the time." Her giggle carried a slight undertone of what seemed like pity, but for which Pokémon, Ethan couldn't tell.

"What kinds of jobs does the Academy have? What do you usually get sent on?"

The heat hit Ethan again as they walked out of the building into the garden, but this time it seemed like only he minded it. "We go on all types of missions," Helioptile explained, "but if you have certain types of missions or explorations you like, they'll try to send you on more of those. I like everything so they send me on any type of mission, but somebody like Yamper who is really good at treasure hunting they'll try to send on missions to investigate rumors of treasure. Starting out, though, they'll probably have you do everything so you can find out what you like."

As they walked through the crowded streets of Pokéopolis, Ethan had to struggle to keep up with Helioptile effortlessly weaving in and out of traffic and sliding past and even under much larger Pokémon. Miraculously, neither he nor Fennekin got separated, and the group stopped in front of a small corner shop with a sign in the shape of a cup of tea hanging above the door. "This is my favorite café in the whole city!" Helioptile beamed as she opened the door and walked in.

Following after her, the inside of the café was a remarkably different atmosphere than the crowded street. Pokémon were still present, sure, but only slightly less than half of the tables were occupied, with two Pokémon behind the counter; one floating in what looked like a tea kettle, and another short, pink one off to the side mixing dough. "Helioptile!" the floating one exclaimed as soon as he saw her. "No missions today?"

"I'm actually showing two newcomers around the city!" She stepped aside, then turned to face them. "This is Polteageist, he runs this café. And that over there is Alcremie, his business partner."

Fennekin waved at the one named Polteageist. "Hello, Polteageist! You have a very nice shop, I'd love to come buy something sometime once I have some money!"

"Any friend of Helioptile's is a friend of mine! Why don't I make you three some tea, on the house! It's not every day you get to join the Academy."

"Come on," Helioptile said, "let's find a table."

Not long after sitting at one of the unoccupied tables, Polteageist floated over with a large tray and placed it down in front of them. A polished white ceramic tea kettle with three matching cups shared the space with three small plates, each with a matching donut with a milky white glaze over it. "Take some tea and a donut," Helioptile ordered. "Polteageist sometimes puts things in the tea that can help you out on an adventure, and Alcremie uses a lot of gummis to make her donut glazes."

"Gummi?" Ethan repeated, taking one of the plates and looking at it. He couldn't remember if he had ever had a donut before, but it sure looked tasty.

"A gummi is a super delicious candy you can buy or find in dungeons." Helioptile's smile grew almost to the point of no longer being contained on her face. "They come in all different colors, and different types of Pokémon love different ones! I love the yellow and white gummis because I'm an electric and a normal type. Since you're also an electric type, I bet you'll love yellow gummis as well!"

"I love the red ones," Fennekin smiled as she grabbed one of the remaining plates and an empty teacup, "but I'll eat almost all of them! Except the blue ones. And the brown ones. And the gray ones taste kinda funny, too…"

"Make sure to drink some of this tea!" Helioptile continued, grabbing the pot and beginning to pour some for Ethan. "It smells like Polteageist made a really hearty tea, so you'll be able to take more hits in a dungeon before fainting."

As instructed, Ethan took the cup of the steamy tea and sniffed it. It smelled rather normal — he wasn't sure how he knew what was normal was for tea, but he did — but rich and pleasant nonetheless. It tasted similarly, a rich and slightly bitter and earthy warmth that quickly spread relaxation from his stomach out through his body. He felt less aware of his body, but in a good way, tiny little uncomfortable sensations he didn't even know he felt going away.

Helioptile poured a cup and handed it to Fennekin, then poured herself one. "Polteageist isn't the only Pokémon that makes lots of different types of teas, so you can find find some Pokémon in dungeons carrying different types. Sometimes you can buy them too, and if you bring them to Polteageist, he'll brew it for you!"

"I can see why you love this place!" Fennekin chirped after taking a sip of her tea. "This is delicious! Do you get a lot of time to come here?"

"Not really," she laughed nervously. "There's always a lot of missions coming in, and it seems like more and more are coming in every day with all of these mystery dungeons popping up. Nearly every exploration team in the city is busy every single day, and there's still missions that don't get completed! The Academy gives us some days off so we don't get burnt out, but there's still a lot of work."

"How bad have the mystery dungeons been getting?" Fennekin asked with a mouthful of donut, sending crumbs across the table. "I know there's been a lot more of them, but how worried is everybody about it? Is Misty Forest the only one by Pokéopolis?"

"It's definitely the closest. As for everyone else? A lot of Pokémon in town are scared, even if it doesn't look like they are; they're just trying to keep calm. As for explorers, I know a lot of them are trying to find out why it's happening and why it seems to be getting worse, but they haven't found anything that I know of. That then makes it hard to stay calm, because the best explorers in the world don't know, you know? But I'm sure they'll find something soon, none of them got to where they are today by not finding the answers to all sorts of mysteries!"

"That's a good way to think about it," Ethan nodded.

A loud clattering of ceramic on ceramic announced that Fennekin was done with her tea, as she practically slammed her empty mug back down on her crumb-covered plate after finishing it. "That was really delicious! Where should we go next?"

Ethan couldn't exactly read the look on Helioptile's face, but it was something very similar to disappointment. Or was she upset? "You're already done?"

"It was really good!" Surprise, that was the emotion on Helioptile's face. And not a good surprise; something told him that she wanted to spend much more time in the café. That, or she wasn't supposed to just scarf down her food and instead take the time to enjoy it. Now that he thought of it, it was likely both.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it at least…" Helioptile took a big bite of her donut before washing it down with a large gulp of tea. "We can go see something else if you'd like. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see?"

After a few seconds deep in thought, Fennekin nearly jumped for joy. "I always heard that there are a ton of shops in Pokéopolis, is that true?"

"Oh my gosh, you're going to love the market! Come on, I know exactly where we should go!"