"It was nice of the Academy to let us have a room even though we're not enrolled yet," Ethan said, adjusting the piled hay that was his bed. Was hay on the floor normal, or was that something thrown together quickly to accommodate them since they had nowhere else to go?

"I don't even think I'll be able to sleep tonight," Fennekin giggled while looking out of the small, open window in their room. "I've wanted to join the Academy for as long as I can remember, it almost doesn't feel real that I'm here." She took a deep breath in, then gently exhaled. "It's weird looking out at the stars tonight. I loved looking at the night sky when I was little, and even though I'm so far from home, they're the same stars I've always seen."

Ethan got up and walked over to the window, brushing tiny bits of hay dust off his body while doing so. Fennekin scooted over, allowing him to take in the view. The room was on the back wall of the Academy, allowing them to look over the city and up to the sky without the trees of the courtyard in the way. A few windows in the city were illuminated with the dancing, flickering light characteristic of candles or lanterns, but darkness had fallen over the majority of the city and settled it into a quiet that felt strange contrasted with the chaos of the daytime.

"Do you see Ursaring Major?" She pointed at a cluster of stars high in the sky, yet all Ethan saw was thousands of little lights practically indistinguishable from each other. "I always really liked that one. And if you follow those two stars there, you can find Ursaring Minor as well!"

"They just all look like stars to me," he admitted.

She tilted her head far to the right, nearly to her shoulder, then quickly snapped it to the other shoulder. "They're kind of hard to see from here," she muttered to herself. "Why don't we go up to the roof, and I can show you all of the constellations I know?"

"The roof?" he echoed. "Can we even get up there?"

"I don't know, but we can look! Come on, we've had a long day and I want to make sure to get plenty of rest to start training tomorrow, so we don't have much time." Before he could even respond, Fennekin grabbed his hand and dragged him to the door, but as soon as she swung it open, she came to a halt. She seemed so excited, what could make her stop?

"Perfect timing," he heard Roserade say from the hallway. "Cinccino just returned and said he was willing to enroll you tonight if you wished, so I came to see if you were still awake. Is this a good time?"

"Yes!" Fennekin beamed as she tore her paw away from his hand. Once she went to take a step, however, she paused and turned back to Ethan. "Oh, Ethan, I should ask you! Are you ready to go become an exploration team?"

Ethan opened his mouth to respond, but found that nothing came out. He was definitely prepared, sure, but it was all such a shock. A day ago he...well, he had no idea where, or even who he was a day ago. He didn't even know what he was a day ago; was he really a human? If so, how long ago did he change? And how? More importantly, why?

"Are you okay?" Roserade asked, snapping him back into reality. "You had a thousand-yard stare, and you looked troubled. Do you need somebody?"

"I'm fine," he shakily laughed, trying to ease his nerves. "Sorry, it's been a long day. We can go make an exploration team now."

"Cinccino's office isn't very far, just by the stairs. I trust that the room is acceptable? It was all that we could do on such short notice."

"It's perfect!" Fennekin exclaimed. "I've been traveling for a while, so just having a bed is so nice. And it's super comfy, too!"

Roserade laughed a little, a wide smile growing on her face. "I'm glad that you think so. It's no resort here, but we do what we can to make our recruits comfortable. We ask a lot of you all, so it's only fair we do what we can to make your time here less stressful."

As they passed by numerous other rooms on the way to the stairs, Ethan could hear soft voices coming from nearly all of them, hushed conversations of what seemed like plans for explorations or tales of treasure, all with wildly varying degrees of realism. Truth be told, he didn't understand the excitement behind some of the stories of unbelievable treasures to be found or powers to be gained. It was good to have dreams, for sure, but to him it seemed like many of them were just aiming for something out of their reach, literally or realistically.

Before long, their small group arrived at a narrow door just to the right of the stairs down to the lower floors; an identical one mirrored it on the left. "Cinccino," Roserade called out as she opened the door, "the newcomers are willing to be inducted tonight." She took a few steps in, then turned her head back and motioned for Ethan and Fennekin to follow her in.

"Welcome!" a new voice called out as they stepped inside. On the far side of the room, behind a desk piled high with papers and cluttered with all sorts of unique-looking baubles, stood a short gray Pokémon with a sweeping mane of fine white hair surrounding him. Despite the fact that it seemed to almost envelop the small Pokémon, it looked very glossy and meticulously styled, creating a wave of controlled chaos around him. It flipped as he moved, and Ethan could swear he smelled flowers when it did so. "My name is Cinccino, and I run the Adventuring Academy. What are your names?"

"I'm Fennekin," she responded, "and this is Ethan. We're really excited to join the Academy!"

"And we'd be pleased to have you!" he beamed with just as much excitement as she had. "We handle all of the paperwork and certifications to become an exploration team for you, so all you have to do is commit and decide on a name!"

"A name…" Fennekin looked at Ethan and laughed sheepishly while doing so. "Honestly, I never thought of a name." That made Ethan tilt his head a little bit in confusion; she'd never thought of a name? Ever?

"What about Team Stargazers?" he blurted out before he even knew he was finished with his thought. "You know, because, well, we were just looking at the stars, and—"

"Team Stargazers!" she exclaimed. "I love it, it's perfect!"

"What a lovely name!" Cinccino announced. "Team Stargazers, a name to remember for sure!" A quick smile flashed on his face, and then he reached down under his desk to pull out a small wooden chest. Tucking it under one arm, he quickly threw papers aside and on top of the existing piles — Roserade winced at the ever-growing mess that was his desk — and set the chest down once there was a small clear space on his desk. "Now come on, open it!"

"A box?" Fennekin asked as she walked up to the desk and began studying it. "Why a box?"

"It's an official Exploration Society exploration starting kit! Everything you could ever need is inside of there!"

A single chuckle came from Roserade. "There's nothing official about it, it's just what we give new trainees. Go on, take a look. Everything in there is yours."

Ethan looked to Fennekin, and met her eyes as she looked at him. "You're the one who's always wanted to do this, you should get to open it."

"You thought of the name, you should get to open it."

Cinccino cleared his throat, then laughed nervously while brushing some of his flowing mane out of his face. "I know I gave you some fanfare, but it really is just a box…"

"Together," Ethan suggested. "What do you say?" The only response he got from Fennekin was a sly smile and a paw placed on the box. Following her lead, he reached over to the box and opened it before turning his head to look inside.

"That right there is an exploration toolbox," Cinccino explained, pointing to the small colorful box inside of the larger box. "It'll hold any items you need to take into dungeons, as well as anything that you pick up inside of dungeons!"

"Items?" Fennekin echoed. "Like berries and seeds?"

Cinccino opened his mouth to speak, but Roserade's voice cut through before he could say anything. "Amongst other things. Orbs, thrown items, food, and special items. Don't worry too much if you don't know what all of those things are, we'll teach you in time."

Cinccino continued, almost as if he was wanting to lead the conversation. "Then we have exploration badges." He pointed to two shiny metal badges nestled in the corner of the box, pale green ovals with a bright, shining silver spot in the middle. "We gave you a few for you two to use, and extras should you wish to adventure with more Pokémon. They signify that you're an official exploration team, and if you're rescuing a Pokémon in a dungeon, they allow you to magically transport them to safety once you find them."

"Wow…" was all Fennekin could say as she gently picked one up and stared at her reflection in it.

"You'll also be able to improve how they look as your team ranks up," Roserade added. "Do you see those two badges in the case on the bookshelf behind Cinccino?"

Fennekin looked up from her own badge and at the small bookcase on the back wall of Cinccino's office, where amongst the clutter and disorganized books, some half open almost as if to indicate a page, stood a small display case with two badges similar in shape and little else to their own. Both badges shone with a brightly-polished gold instead of the pale green of theirs, and two stars, one blue on the left and one green on the right, were worked into the metal. The way the stars reflected light, Ethan could have sworn they were gemstones. "Whose are those?" Fennekin asked, seemingly forgetting about the badge in her paws out of excitement.

Cinccino looked back at the badges, a nostalgic smile on his face. "Those were our badges from when we were explorers together."

"You two were Emerald rank?" Fennekin truly did forget about the badge in her hands, as she nearly crushed it while immediately jumping to all fours. "I knew you two were great explorers, but not as great as Emerald! Why would you ever stop?"

Both Cinccino and Roserade looked at each other, then began laughing. "Questions for another day, perhaps," he grinned.

"...What's Emerald rank?" Ethan asked.

Roserade opened her mouth to answer, but Fennekin blurted out before she was able to start. "It's one of the highest ranks there is! Most exploration teams dream of getting there, and very few of them do!"

"It's the fourth-highest rank there is," Roserade elaborated. "While technically it is the Two-Star Master rank, most of us just refer to it as Emerald rank because that second star is made of an emerald. Which does demonstrate nicely the point I wished to make that your badges change as you rank up; as you can see, the color is different, which is how your badge will change most of the time. The Master ranks are the only ones that add stars, and once you get five, you've hit the Grandmaster rank, which only a handful have ever held."

"How do you rank up?" He grabbed one of the other badges out from the box, and Fennekin had calmed down enough to pick up the one she had dropped and began inspecting it again.

"Doing missions and making discoveries will earn you points, which are tracked by the Adventuring Society. They'll reach out to you when you level up, sending you your new badges as well as a few items to help you out in harder missions. Some missions are even exclusive only for teams of a certain rank, if the Society deems that they're too dangerous or require some secrecy."

"What rank are we now?" Ethan asked. The badge looked to be well-made, if a little plain. Perhaps they weren't very intricate because they were supposed to move up in rank quickly; it would be a little wasteful to spend a lot of time on something you weren't going to use for long.

"You two are starting at trainee rank," Cinccino said. "Before long, though, you will likely move onto the beginner rank, which is the next rank up. After that comes rookie, and then normal, which is where most of the others in the Academy are. Those who graduate and go on to be independent explorers of their own usually do so at super or hyper rank, which are the two above normal."

"Let's work hard and get all the way to Emerald rank!" Fennekin exclaimed; when Ethan looked up, he met her eyes. "It'll be hard, but I know we can do it!"

"It's good that you're already setting goals for yourself," Roserade nodded. "Keep your dreams in mind, and never stop working to achieve them. Of course, remember to have fun along the way." A warm, thoughtful smile grew on her face as she looked to Cinccino. "Some of the most fun times I ever had were when we were ranked lower, when we had a world of opportunities in front of us waiting to be seized. I might say that the Frigid Forest expedition gave me some of my most treasured memories."

A similarly warm smile appeared on Cinccino's face, and Ethan could swear that he saw his eyes begin to glisten. "A wonderful time indeed, but you and I can reminisce later. Those items are the main things we wanted to give you tonight; do you have any further questions? I know it is late, and I would not want to keep you two up the night before your debut as explorers!"

Roserade shook her head and crossed her arms. "You're tired from all of your meetings with the Society, aren't you?"

"I admire Dragalge, you know that, but my oh my is he long-winded! But truly, our two new recruits should rest up; Luxio likes to make them hit the ground running."

"We'll let you two go," Roserade said as she closed the toolbox and handed it to Ethan. "We'll finish up your paperwork and send it off to the Society as soon as it's done. Rest well; I believe Luxio may already know what she wants you two to do tomorrow, and she is quite fond of pushing your limits to make you grow."