"So... this is Mount Coronet, huh?" Ryan observed while Pidgeot descended onto the ground. The huge range of mountains stretched across a vast distance, into the horizon. The spot where Pidgeot had just landed was at the base of the mountain, where a small cliff suddenly elevated itself over the forest it was next to. Leaf and Ryan dismounted Pidegot and began scanning the area surrounding them.

"Hmm... I don't see the thief anywhere," Leaf said as she looked around. The area next to the cliff was a clearing surrounded by trees. A path, leading to the cliff, cut it's way through the forest. From what Professor Maple had told her before, his excavation team had carefully plowed a manmade path for their trucks to get through during their excavation. She pulled Pidgeot's pokeball and turned to it. "Thanks Pidgeot, take a good rest!" Leaf said as she returned Pidgeot to it's Pokeball and pocketed it in her yellow messenger bag.

Something caught Ryan's eye as he looked at the base of the cliff. There was a dark opening that seemed to lead into the cliff itself. He could hear water dripping, echoing through to the entrance, from where he stood.

"Okay, we're at Mount Coronet, right? But where's the thief and Espeon?" Ryan asked as he stepped slightly into the opening, causing his voice to slightly echo.

"I don't- hmm?" Leaf stopped suddenly as she felt a vibration coming from her messenger bag.

"What's wrong?"

"I think someone's calling me..." Leaf surmised as she pulled her Pokegear out from a pocket in her messenger bag. "It's the Arrowroot Pokemon Center!" Leaf said as she quickly pressed a button to answer the incoming call.

"Hey, Leaf!" Professor Maple greeted as he appeared onto the Pokegear's screen, along with Ash, Dawn, and Brock standing around him. Leaf slightly winced as Professor Maple used her name in front of the others. However, she shrugged it off- it was bound to come out eventually, Leaf figured.

"Oops..." Professor Maple thought, realizing his folly.

"Professor!" Ryan greeted as he came up next to Leaf and looked at the Pokegear's screen. "Hey guys! You're back!" Ryan said as he noticed the others huddling around Professor Maple.

"We'll have to catch up later," Leaf told him as she turned back to Professor Maple on her Pokegear. "What's up?"

"As you can see, they've taken care of Team Rocket, for the time being," Professor Maple said, pointing towards Ash and the others, who waved. "How are things on your end?" Professor Maple asked as he seemed to be looking past Leaf and Ryan, noticing the opening behind them.

"We're next to a cliff at the base of Mount Coronet... Espeon seemed to have left a line of Murkrow and Honchkrow pointing in this direction," Leaf answered as she looked back at the forest. The line of bird pokemon seemed to have wandered off since she last saw them.

"Mount Coronet?" Professor Maple asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but we haven't seen Espeon or the thief yet!" Ryan chimed in and added. A brief period of silence followed as Professor Maple closed his eyes and crossed his arms in thought.

"I wonder where Espeon could be? I'll have to check, hang on for a second," Professor Maple said as he shifted his complete focus to a mind that was fair distance away.

The tunnel Espeon was slowly creeping in was a dark and damp place. It had the illusion of being a simple tunnel, but along the middle of the tunnel path, it branched down into a dark abyss- something Espeon and Professor Maple had skipped intentionally the first time he crossed the tunnel path. Somehow, dripping could be heard echoing from that branch in the path... Luckily, that wasn't where the thief was headed, Espeon thought as he smelled the path. A light at the end of the tunnel was slowly growing bigger.

"The ruins..? Why would this man want to go here? He has Matt's translations already!" Espeon thought as he emerged from the tunnel. The tunnel had led him to an open grassy area, surrounded by rocky walls. The grass faded the further away one strayed from the tunnel's end, leading to a series of ruined stone bricked flooring, along with remnants of a shrine-like structure. Aged stone pillars began lining up on the side of the stone brick path. The thief was standing next to something at the very end, like he was waiting for something, Espeon hypothesized.

Under the cover of darkness, Espeon began sneaking up towards the thief, avoiding the bits of light from the moon and finding cover behind the stone debris and the tall grass in case the thief happened to look back. Thankfully, there were a few bushes growing somewhat away from where the thief stood that gave Espeon a fair vantage point. As Espeon suspected, the thief stood next to, what looked like, the beginning of a staircase that went underground!

"Espeon... can you hear me?" Espeon suddenly heard. The familiar voice came from inside of his head.

"Matt! I was just about to call for you... I've followed the thief, and they're back at the ruins site!" Espeon responded with his thoughts as he continued to monitor the thief.

"Wh-what? The ruins? I'll tell Leaf right away!"

"Speaking of Leaf, did she find the perching flock of Murkrow and Honchkrow for directions?"

"Yeah, she's right in front of what looks like the opening to the tunnel leading to the site... I'll let her know where you are, alright?"

"Sounds good. I hope you and her get here soon, because things might get rough..." Espeon said through his thoughts as he noticed a uniformed trio emerging from the tunnel. He couldn't hear Professor Maple's voice any longer as the uniformed trio approached the thief and began to speak.

"Espeon's at the end of that tunnel behind you guys," Professor Maple said suddenly after a minute of silence. Ash and the others looked surprised as they tried to figure out how Professor Maple could have found that out. "He's hiding in that open area, as it looks like the thief's waiting for something or someone... Meet up with Espeon, and I'll make sure I get there as soon as I can!" Professor Maple added.

"Right!" Leaf and Ryan nodded.

"Be careful out there! See you soon." Professor Maple said before hanging up. He disappeared from the Pokegear's screen as 'Call Ended' flashed instead. Leaf placed her Pokegear in her messenger bag while Ryan pulled Eevee and Umbreon's Pokeballs out from his pockets.

"Hmm, I've always wanted to do this... Eevee, Umbreon, come on out, guys!" Ryan enlarged their Pokeballs and held them as they opened up. Eevee and Umbreon materialized from their Pokeballs in front of Ryan.

"Wait, why did you let them out?" Leaf asked as she prepared a flashlight, from her messenger bag, in her hand.

"I-I thought they might be able to help somehow," Ryan answered while realizing there really was no reason to let them out. He just felt like letting them out of their Pokeballs, he thought as he reached down and gently petted both Eevee and Umbreon. They showed their affection back by gently rubbing their heads against his arm. Leaf shrugged as she turned to the dark tunnel that stood in front of them and switched her flashlight on.

"We need to meet up with Espeon as soon as we can, so let's hurry."

The two of them, along with Umbreon and Eevee, disappeared into the tunnel. Unknown to them, a bush rattled behind them as it's occupant emerged and began to quietly pursue them into the tunnel from a safe distance.

A few minutes passed as the group quietly crossed the tunnel. To pass the time, Ryan began asking Leaf a few questions, ranging from what it was like traveling, to Professor Maple's jeep. The dripping sound Ryan heard from earlier rang louder than it did outside, alternating with the muffled sounds of his footsteps. They had passed an alternate route in the tunnel, where the dripping sound seemed to echo from, Ryan noted. Afterwards, the dripping sound began to slowly fade in loudness, being replaced by the occasional sniffing noises coming from Eevee and Umbreon. Looking around, there wasn't much to see, but he noticed something peculiar as he looked at Umbreon walking beside him.

"Hey Leaf, I was wondering... Why are the rings on Umbreon glowing?" Ryan asked as he eyed them.

"Those rings on Umbreon absorb sunlight during the day and release it at night," Leaf explained in a hushed voice. She began to explain a little more, but stopped herself as the end of the tunnel showed itself to them. "I'll explain later. Looks like we're getting close to the thief... keep it down, alright?"

Leaf quickly switched her flashlight off and stowed it away in her messenger bag, leaving them shrouded by the shadows as they approached the end of the tunnel. They stopped before they emerged from it, as they could see a pair of heads, one with long reddish violet hair and the other with short light violet hair, disappearing into the ground.

"Can't tell for sure, but that kinda looked like Team Rocket!" Ryan quietly noted aloud. "I wonder what they're doing here? I'm pretty sure Ash and the others took care of them," he continued his aloud thoughts, picturing Team Rocket blasting off into the sky.

"I don't know for sure yet, but they might be meeting up with the thief for some reason. It's possible they were working together from the start," Leaf speculated as she checked to see if the coast was clear before motioning to follow her.

"H-hold on a sec," Ryan suddenly said, stopping Leaf in her tracks. Umbreon and Eevee were shaking uncontrollably! Everything seemed oblivious to them, as they ignored Ryan waving his hands in front of their field of vision and quietly mumbled something he couldn't understand. "Come on, you guys have to snap out of it!" The commotion stalled them in front of the tunnel, allowing Espeon to suddenly approach them from his hiding spot.

"How are you doing, Espeon? Feeling alright?" Leaf asked Espeon as she felt him rubbing against her leg. She kneeled down and affectionately petted Espeon.

"Yeah, of course!" Espeon answered.

"That's good. Matt should be coming here soon," Leaf explained. "Do you think you could help us out here?" She motioned towards the unresponsive Umbreon and Eevee.

"Does she... understand Espeon?" Ryan thought while Leaf was talking to Espeon. She had nonchalantly talked with a pokemon, something he wish he could do at the moment. Espeon approached Umbreon and Eevee and began to say something to them.

"Are you two alright? What's wrong?" Espeon began. Several moments passed as Umbreon and Eevee continued to mumble to themselves. Espeon started again, several times, but with no luck. However, he managed to decipher what the mumbling was about before withdrawing back to Leaf.

"Leaf, I couldn't talk to them. Something is seriously wrong... I can hear them mumble, 'Mama' over and over again," Espeon reported.

"Mama, over and over again?" Leaf said, baffled. Ryan's eyes shot wide open as he knelt down.

"Your mom's here? Here?" Ryan asked in astonishment as he turned to Leaf. "They must've smelled something that's close to their mom's scent!" he began to speculate to Leaf as he recalled the sniffing noises in the tunnel.

"If they could smell their mother here of all places, somehow, she must be close by," Leaf said in a hush to Ryan. "I hate to say it, but it sounds suspicious. Why would she be here?"

"I-I have no clue." Ryan began to think of a reason, but couldn't come up with any. "Maybe she had found out where her kids were, and decided to tail them? But then she could have helped them out of the forest..."

"Either way, we need to think about this later after we catch that thief," Leaf said. Ryan reluctantly nodded in agreement as he pulled out two Pokeballs.

"I'm sorry..." Ryan muttered to them as he returned Umbreon and Eevee back into their Pokeballs. Leaf had a point. They were in the middle of a pursuit, and the details surrounding the scent of their mom seemed suspicious... "We'll find her, don't worry," Ryan spoke to the Pokeballs before pocketing them.

"Hmm..." Leaf seemed to be momentarily lost in thought as she looked on at the drama that had unfolded. It reminded her of something... personal. Espeon caught her attention. "O-oh. Anyways, Espeon, where did the thief head off to? I don't see him anywhere..."

"He went down those stairs after discussing something with two other people and oddly enough, a talking Meowth!" Espeon recalled.

"A-a talking Meowth?" Leaf questioned.

"Then, that had to have been Team Rocket! I know for sure they have a talking Meowth," Ryan confirmed.

"More importantly, this definitely confirms that they were working with the thief- especially if they came out here to meet him," Leaf added as they approached the beginning of the staircase.

"We need to follow them and see what they're up to," Ryan suggested.

"I don't know... things aren't adding up here. That staircase leads to a chamber of hieroglyphs that Matt managed to partly translate. Apparently, Matt left the cipher to finish it on the translation, along with all of the untranslated text, so why is the thief here?" Leaf began to say.

"Which is exactly why we need to check it out, right?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, but the chamber's only entrance and exit would be this staircase, as far as I know," Leaf answered as she debated the option. "But, if there's a chance they could escape... I guess we'd better check it out. Espeon, could you stay here and wait for Matt to get here?"

"Of course. I'll be sure to fill him in on the situation when he gets here, along with the mother issue. I don't know about you, but I can't shake the feeling that it's somehow related to the thief being here..." Espeon replied as Leaf nodded.

"Neither can I..." Leaf thought as she pulled the flashlight out from her messenger bag once more and shone it down the dreary staircase. "Let's go," Leaf said to Ryan as they began their descent down the staircase.

"I see..."

A small figure had escaped Espeon's notice, hiding behind the same debris Espeon had used earlier. He overheard every detail of what occurred. Crossing his arms, he came to a single conclusion that answered nearly every question Leaf and Ryan had raised. He was here, no doubt about it, along with their mother. Now the question on his mind was... why?