The Professor's Lab was the tallest building in the town near the school besides the Pokemon Center. Professor Jason was spending his time in there, studying the special Pokemon that lived in the region. Dawn entered the building and took the elevator to the top floor, where his lab was. There was a button for the basement that she didn't realize the building had, but remembered buildings need maintenance and reminded herself that the power was mentioned before to be down there.

Professor Jason had short, messy, brown hair. His square glasses framed his round face. He noticed Dawn.

"Oh! You must be part of the class doing the field test. What can I do for you? I really hope you're the last one, I've been answering questions all morning!"

"I only have one, so don't worry. I won't take much of your time."

"Alright, what's the issue?"

"My name's Dawn. I was wondering about understanding Pokemon. Is it actually possible to understand Pokemon?"

"Understand Pokemon? That's impossible! They speak a different language than us! But you can read emotions and actions. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you were somehow born being able to understand their language?"

"What? You think I know how to speak...Pokemon? But then how come I haven't heard Shelly speak yet, if that's true?"

"Hm...Maybe, just maybe, they need a strong connection with their owner first. What Pokemon did you hear speak?"

"Some rude kid. I don't know his name, but he had a Smeargle. Know him?"

"Olly Shokunin, I'm familiar with him. His father is a friend of mine. He's a bit rude at first, but he warms up fast when he likes you."

"Good to know. His Smeargle responded back with a 'right' when he told it to attack."

Professor Jason began pacing. "I see...So you really can hear them. I wonder..." He tossed a Pokeball towards the middle of the room.

The Pokemon inside was a light green, grass-covered, alligator-like, Pokemon. The back pattern of stripes had small pieces of dirt falling from it when it moved. The arms nearly touched the ground.

"This is an Alligrarock," Professor Jason explained. "He's been with me for a bit now, a few weeks, so you should try talking to him and see if you really can understand them."

Dawn walked over to the Alligrarock. "Hello there! Professor Jason seems like a nice guy. How's he been treating you?"

"Alright," the Alligrarock responded in clear English. "He can be a bit harsh though. At least he caught me before I found a friend. Otherwise, the rest of my clan would've stormed his lab by now."

"He seems to think alright of you," Dawn said. "You might need to hang out with him a bit more instead of your work though. Sounds like he wants a friend."

"So they can understand you in return! Absolutely fascinating!" He began scribbling down on a sheet of paper. "So it seems like I was correct, you can only understand their speech when they've had an owner for a while."

"Don't you mean partner?"

"I see them as...pets more than the human 'partner' relationship. Is that weird?"

"No, it's fine. I was just wondering. I think your reason for saying owner instead of partner is reasonable."

The elevator dinged, and Olly entered the room. His jaw dropped when he saw Dawn.

"You?! I was being sarcastic! Why did you even come here?!"

"Relax, Olly," Professor Jason said. "She wasn't bothering me or anything. Plus, she's been a big help."

"Her? Help? She asked if you could understand Pokemon. How's she helpful?"

"Actually, she just showed me she could. Olly, please take out your Pokemon. Any one of them."

Olly rolled his eyes and grabbed a Pokeball. He was holding this one sideways. "Here. Use Stapler."

He tossed the Pokeball, and out popped a black dog-like Pokemon with silver accents in its fur. He immediately walked over to Olly and rubbed his head on Olly's legs.

"Stapler?" Dawn asked.

"He's still a puppy. I got him when he was teething, and he really loved to eat my shoes. Once, he left a loose tooth in one, giving him the name Stapler."

"That's kind of cute!" She pet Stapler's head a few times.

"Huh. He seems to like you. Usually he isn't that friendly."

"Hey there! You're a cutie!"

Stapler wagged his tail a bit, then sat down. "I love to play with him!" He spoke in barks. "But if you hurt him, I bite."

Dawn smiled. "He really likes you, which is good. And he also either vowed to protect you with his life, or injure me in some way. Or both."

Olly's jaw dropped again. "You-you really can hear Pokemon?! No way! That's crazy! Absurd!"

"This is great for research, but if somebody else had their hands on that gift...that could lead to a lot of entropy," Professor Jason said. "Be careful not to tell anyone else about this. There could be people all over the world who would want to use that to control Pokemon."

"When do you think I could understand Shelly?" Dawn asked.

Stapler retreated back into his Pokeball.

"Maybe a few days to a few weeks? It may take some time, but if he loves you a lot, it may even take less time than that!"

"Where are going off to?" Olly asked. "Because I wanted to challenge the Gyms."

"Gyms?" Dawn questioned.

He nodded. "Gyms are led by people who are really great at training a Pokemon type. There's actually one pretty close to here, the Grass Gym. My father said I couldn't go alone, but maybe, if you came too, I might be able to do it. Please? My sister would offer, but he wants her to stay home with him until she gets better..."

"Is she sick?"

"Yeah, she got hit with a pretty bad case of food poisoning just yesterday. I feel bad there's nothing I can do for her right now..."

"Speaking of which," Professor Jason added, "the greenery in Salin has begun to die. Do you have any idea why this is happening? Wasn't your dad studying up on this strange phenomena?"

"Yeah, but he hasn't found out why. If this keeps up, things will go downhill, fast. Not even water can help the plants now..."

"How about I help you find out why this is happening?" Dawn offered. "You seem nice enough, and plus I want to take some of the load off your dad so he can take care of your sister."

"You don't need to do that, our father hardly cares for us anyways. He's too busy with work, so his Pokemon take care of us instead. I guess that's why I like Pokemon more than people...But you are a lot nicer than everyone else my age, so I guess I can help you with that. I'll have to ask father first, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Oh yeah, I meant to call my dad and show him Shelly!"

"We can meet back here later. Outside. The train station is just past here."

"That sounds like a plan. I'll see you later, Olly!"