A week of intensive later, Trevor slowly rose from his nest one morning and stretched his weary limbs, his joints aching slightly from training nonstop the previous day. It was only after he had already washed the morning fatigue from his eyes and taken an Oran Berry from the table that he realized something peculiar: Aiden hadn't woken him up for training. She wasn't in the house at all; her punching bag, now covered in hastily sewn up puncture marks and scratches, remained motionless in the corner. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, he swiftly devoured his breakfast and hurried outside.

Trevor pushed open the wooden door and was met with a blast of warm and cozy sunlight. The brilliant blue sky extended over the massive field of green which seemed to envelop everything in sight. The air was still - so still to the point that even the fickle grass refused to sway. The only thing that seemed to be moving was Aiden, huddled over a black box about half her height.

"Hey, Treph, good timing!" Aiden beamed as Trevor drew near. "This finally dropped in, straight from the Explorer Association! C'mon, let's bring it inside already!" Aiden moved to one side of the box and motioned Trevor towards the other - a giddy smile stretched across her face.

Upon closer examination, Trevor found that the dark box was, specifically, a chest composed of black wood and studded iron. To its sides were two gleaming silver handles which jutted out, giving Trevor the impression that the chest was extending its arms for a hug. On the chest's center was a giant, golden latch with a conspicuous-looking keyhole underneath, and above the latch was the mark of the Explorer Association, the familiar winged Pokéball insignia, etched onto the chest's black surface in gold. Despite looking incredibly bulky, he found the process of carrying it into the house to be surprisingly easy - he wasn't quite sure whether it was due to the chest being deceptively light, Aiden's help, or the result of the time spent wailing on Aiden's battered training bag throughout the week.

The pair stared silently at the chest in silent admiration for a few seconds before Aiden turned away and began rummaging through a nearby pile of newspapers. After a few seconds of searching, Aiden popped up with a thin, silver key in hand. Neatly etched on its handle was the word "SPIRIT."

"This key was delivered to us a couple days ago," Aiden explained happily as she inserted the key into the keyhole, turned it, then thrust open the golden latch. "This here's a Pokémon Exploration Team Kit. The association delivers these bad boys out to any new teams who've just joined as a bit of a welcoming gift! Took a while for ours to come, but who cares! Let's just see if everything's inside!"

Not wanting to wait another second, Aiden threw the chest's hinge open and the pair eagerly peeked into its interior.

Inside the chest was an assortment of white bandannas, a set of bronze badges, a small lumpy sack, and a giant, dusty scroll wrapped with a thin, red ribbon. Aiden, upon seeing the collection of bandannas, delightfully grabbed one and immediately tied around her neck and excitedly encouraged Trevor to do the same.

"C'mon, take one and put it on! These scarves'll show everyone that we're in a team together!"

Trevor took one of the many white bandannas left in the chest and promptly tied it around his neck.

"Hey, that looks good on you!" Aiden gave Trevor a hard slap on the back as the two admired themselves on the surface of a washbowl. How do I look?"

"Err- good!" Trevor answered a bit too abruptly. "You look great!"

Aiden gave an unconvinced look. "You think I look silly, don't you? With the way my scarf blends into my fur? Looks as if the scarf isn't there at all."

"N-no! You look great, honest!"

Aiden chuckled. "Man, you can't lie to save your life! I kinda admire that, but you should probably learn to keep a straight face for once! Maybe I'll add that to your training routine!

The pair shared a lighthearted laugh before Trevor looked back into the remaining items in the chest curiously. "Why are there so many scarves left over? There's, like, five or six still in the chest."

"For more teammates, of course! We can't expect Team Spirit to only have two members forever! As we inevitably gain popularity, we'll have more Pokémon joining us! Although having only two to four Pokémon in a dungeon at once is necessary so as to avoid attract an excessive amount of crawlers, we can theoretically recruit as many members as we want! Some teams even join explorer guilds, the best ones having near a hundred members!"

Trevor's attention turned towards the scroll; he tentatively picked it up from the chest's interior, unwrapped the red ribbon, then unfurled it to reveal an impressively sized map displaying a eight giant landmasses and a plethora of smaller islands separated by a massive expanse of blue. Each landmass was marked with a plethora of multicolored icons with accompanying names, and Trevor noticed that some of these names had varying numbers next to them.

Aiden eagerly peeked over Trevor's shoulder as he tried making sense of this seemingly incomprehensible jumble of words and shapes. "Cool, I've never seen a map this detailed before! Look, it has towns, landmarks...even discovered mystery dungeons as well as their intensity scales! Though, there are many dungeons that remain unexplored, as well as intensity scales that may not be set in stone..."

After briefly scanning the map in its entirety, Trevor took note of an oval-shaped of an oval-shaped landmass on the center, black, bold letters forming the words: "LUSH CONTINENT." Upon perusing more closely, he pointed towards a tiny black dot on the continent's edge labelled "SUNRISE TOWN."

"Yep, good eye!" Aiden praised, "That's around where we are right now. One of the great things about Sunrise is that it's near the coast, so we can easily travel to other islands and continents by sea! How convenient is that?!"

As Aiden continued occupying herself with the map's contents, Trevor picked up the small, lumpy sack innocently tucked away at the corner of the chest with a curious expression. It sagged when being held from its top end and jangled loudly upon being shaken. He cautiously undid the string holding the sack together, then spilled its contents onto the table. In an instant, the map became obscured in a pile of golden doubloons, a giant "P" etched into each sparkling surface.

Both Aiden and Trevor gawked disbelievingly with wide eyes and slack-jawed mouths as their minds struggled to comprehend the sheer amount of money suddenly thrust upon them. Trevor, noticing a small note still stuck to the now empty sack, shook himself out of his dazed state and hastily grabbed it.

"To Team Spirit," he read aloud, "Please accept this 10,000 Poké as a reward for helping to apprehend the Bush Burners. Courtesy of the Explorer Association."

"We're rich!" Aiden hollered as she leapt up into the air, "Treph, can you believe it?! We've only been explorers for a month, yet we've already made enough money to last us a long while! I think I'll get ourselves a new bag, some quality equipment, maybe we can even do some renovations..."

Trevor remained complacent. "Wait," he remarked while staring at the pile of golden coins, "What about our hospital bills? And you also said that this house was expensive. Don't you have debts to pay off?"

"Ah, right," Aiden stopped dead in her tracks and began calculating numbers in her head, "So once we pay off all our debts, it leaves us..."

"Back where we started," Trevor finished glumly.

Aiden struggled to hide her disappointment, her celebratory smile having completely dissipated as she now stared at the pile of Poké on her table with a newfound sense of longing. It didn't take long, however, for Aiden to spring back up with a grin.

"Hey, it's no big deal - we just need to take on some missions at the ol' request board! That'll net us some quick cash for sure, and you'll be able to get some good dungeon experience as well!" Aiden noticed Trevor's confused expression. "Right, you don't know about that, sorry. I'll...explain later - right now, we need to get over to Sunrise Town ASAP! Meet me outside in five minutes! And put that map and some of those coins into your bag! And put the badges in too, the ones still in the chest!"

With that, Aiden swiftly grabbed a berry from the table and rushed outside, slamming the door behind her. Trevor, meanwhile, remained astounded as to how she could recover from her prior disappointment so unnaturally quickly. "Maybe she's just that resilient," he thought to himself, unsure of whether her sudden burst of optimism was genuine or simply a forced attempt to look good.

-

As Team Spirit passed by row after row of flat, grassy plains on their way to Sunrise Town, a single, solitary question circled around in Trevor's headspace. Although the events of the entry exam as well as Aiden's tedious training routine had pushed it towards the back of his head for the past month, it was all he could think of as he stared at the dirt road pushing against his feet. After a few minutes of silent deliberation, Trevor finally gained the resolve to ask, "So, what's the whole deal about me not mentioning how I'm a...you-know-what?"

Aiden instantly stopped in her tracks and looked at Trevor concernedly. "Right, I forgot that you didn't know." She looked scanned the grassy meadows around them to make sure that nobody was nearby. "This is a bit of an awkward place to tell you, but I suppose you ought to know before we move on."

Aiden motioned forwards with her paw, and the pair continued to stroll along the straight dirt road. As the two continued to walk, Aiden began speaking.

"Alright, I may not have all the details here, but I think I have the story down based on gossip I've heard back home. I guess I should start by saying that you're not the first instance of a human being turned into a Pokémon. There was one recorded case from before you arrived."

Trevor recoiled in shock. "What?! There was a human here before me? What was this human like? As the human a Meowth like me? Is this human the reason why I can't reveal the fact that I'm a..."

"Hey, c'mon. Let me finish," Aiden interjected, causing Trevor to instantly close his mouth and perk his ears up attentively. "The story supposedly takes place a couple decades ago, before I was even born, when 'Explorers' were 'Rescue Teams' instead. During this time, several mystery dungeons were appearing simultaneously without explanation, similar to what's happening right now. Except back then, relatively little was known about them. Many Pokémon would lose their lives by unknowingly wandering into one of these dungeons, getting lost, then being ripped to pieces by the crawlers which housed them. Rescue Teams were therefore recruited for the sake of, well, rescuing helpless Pokémon by studying and traversing these dungeons."

Trevor recalled Grudd's monologue as well as Holly's reminiscence.

"The first human was brought to our world around this "Rescue Era" and became a part of a rescue team with a partner. And this team ended up finding a lot of success; many Pokémon recall that the human and their partner rose through the ranks unusually quickly. The human, despite having come from a separate world, was respected by the Pokémon in Pokémon Square."

Aiden gave an ominous pause, and Trevor felt an indescribable sense of foreboding.

"Until...something happened. From what I've heard, one day, a giant star or whatever was suddenly spotted descending from the heavens on a direct collision course towards Pokémon Square. Naturally, everyone panicked - but not all hope seemed lost. A respected Xatu sage prophesized that this first human, along with his trusted partner, would be able to save Pokémon Square from calamity. Plans were swiftly made, and it was soon agreed that the human, accompanied with his partner, would be psychically teleported into the sky to somehow stop it from destroying its target."

"But during the night before this mission was to be carried out, the human...disappeared. There was no sign of the human's whereabouts in the following morning - they were gone, just like that. Many Pokémon came to the conclusion that the human ended up running away. In a desperate and hasty move, it was agreed that the human's role would be replaced by that of Oracle, a powerful Alakazam from a high-ranking rescue team at the time. Both Pokémon were successfully teleported into the sky and..."

"And?" Trevor asked as he began leaning forwards, desperate to learn more.

"Nothing," Aiden answered, "All communications with Oracle and the partner were lost and the meteor ended up crashing into and destroying Pokémon Square. Although its most of its residents were able to successfully evacuate, the crash would leave them without a home or very many resources. Furthermore, the resulting quake from its collision would end up devastating many nearby towns and villages. The human, their partner, as well as Oracle haven't been seen since. Since the crash, many Pokémon've developed a sort of distrust towards humans as the story of the human's disappearance spread round. Some even proposed that the falling meteor was a direct result of the human's presence, causing widespread paranoia and incentivizing some teams to try hunting the human down. But the Association ended up destroying all records of the human's identity, so barely anybody knows who the first human was like, much less where they might be currently..."

Aiden looked back to see a mortified-looking Trevor. "W-wait," he stammered frantically, "So the Pokémon of this world want me dead?! Just because I'm a...oh no! I'm dead! Its only a matter of time before someone finds out and I'm hunted down!"

Aiden placed both hands on his shoulders. "Treph, calm down! I didn't say that every Pokémon's distrustful of humans - I'm sure it's just a very vocal minority! I mean, I for one don't think it's fair to judge all humans based on one old story which may not even have happened. And I'm positive that a majority of Pokémon out there think the same way! Trust me, you're gonna be fine! I want you to say it!"

"Huh?"

"Say that you're gonna be fine! And say it with confidence!"

Trevor's eyes looked to the side as he murmured, "I-I'm going to be fine."

"Louder! And I want you to look into my eyes as you say it!"

"I'm going to be fine."

"More! Scream with everything you've got like when we first met!"

Trevor sucked in as much air as he could manage before screaming as loud as he could. "I'M GOING TO BE FINE!" Aiden was beside herself with pride.

"That's the spirit!" Aiden praised. "I'm sure you'll learn why you've been sent to this world in time. Now c'mon, lets hurry! Sunrise Town isn't too far off!"

As Team Spirit closed in on the bustling streets of Sunrise Town, Trevor tried to clear his mind of story Aiden had just told him and think of anything else. Despite his efforts, however, by the time his feet touched the smooth cobblestone roads of Sunrise Town, his head was completely filled with speculation of what this first human was like, as well as what he would have done had he been in their situation.