The Hydroflames

I see, so that's how it is then." Ampharos said.
Patience volunteered to explain everything to Ampharos, and also ask a few questions of her own.
Poliwrath River was a nightmare for Patience, the entire dungeon was nothing but water type Pokemon, and Patience being a fire type, it wasn't going to be a smooth run. After traversing to the deepest part of the dungeon, they were ambushed by the Poliwrath Brothers, three water type Pokemon that mean business. The three attacked on sight, specifically aiming at Patience. Ian's quick reflexes managed to push the fire fox Pokemon from harm's way, saving her. Ian managed to singlehandedly defeat two of the Poliwraths, with the usage of several wands and Blast Seeds. The third managed to avoid his attacks and blast him with a Hydro Pump, hurting the mudfish Pokemon. Patience tried to intervene but was met with the same fate. It was then that Ampharos stepped in, taking down the last Poliwrath with a swift Electro Ball to the back, saving Ian and Patience.
"What in blazes are you two kids doing here?!" The lighthouse Pokemon said.
"W-we came looking for you..!" Ian managed to say.
"Is that so? And why's that?"
Patience was about to show the Connection Orb to Ampharos, but was interrupted.
"Let's go to some place more safer before we talk eh? How about the hill with the big tree? That would be an ideal spot."
And now here there were, under the big tree, the sun just setting, turning from a dark orange sky to a brightly lit sky filled with stars. Patience had handed the Connection Orb back to Ampharos, much to his surprise.
"My, my! How careless of me to drop such a important item." He embarrassingly said. "Not only that, but have kids risk themselves to hand it back to me!"
"Ah, it's nothing." Ian said.
"Um... Ampharos? Would you mind if I ask you something?" Patience nervously said.
"Hm..? What is it? Um, Patience, was it?" Ampharos said.
Patience nodded.
"What is it you would like to ask?"
Patience shook nervously, both scared and excited to ask him. Ian noticed it and nodded to the fire fox Pokemon.
"A-are you... working with the Expedition Society?"
Ampharos remained quiet.
"Kecleon told us that the only Pokemon that uses a Connection Orb are shopkeepers, and members of the Expedition Society, and you don't look like a shopkeeper to me..." She explained.
"No. I do not work for the Expedition Society." Ampharos said.
Patience reacted in shock at that, and so did Ian, although he was less surprised than Patience.
"Y-you don't work for the Expedition Society...?!"
Ampharos shook his head.
Patience looked down in disappointment. She was honestly expecting the lighthouse Pokemon to be a member, but for all she know, she could just be a shopkeeper from some faraway land who doubles as an explorer.
"Why do you ask?" Ampharos said.
"Well... I thought you would be a member of the Expedition Society, because it is my dream to join the society and make a map of the world!" She explained.
"Is that so? That's a really nice dream to have!" Ampharos said.
"But, I can't do it..." Patience said moodily. "They don't let kids into the Expedition Society."
"Is that so? Well that's a shame..." Ampharos sympathized. "I wonder who thought of such a ridiculous rule. But, I think I could help you out with that."
Ian and Patience looked at Ampharos in confusion, as he reached into his bag. He took out a small box and tossed it to Ian, who barely managed to catch it.
"Go ahead, open it." He ordered.
Ian opened the box, inside were all sorts of items, badges, almost a few dozen littered inside, a bag with a logo similar to the badges, and two odd round looking objects with 5 spheres attached to it, a sixth slot missing.
"These-" Ampharos announced, and started posing. "-are Junior Expedition Society equipment!"
"Junior... Expedition Society?" Ian wondered. "That's a thing?"
"Why yes, it is a lower branch of the Expedition Society, comprised of kids like you! Helping out those in need! Consider this a thank you gift from me."
"W-wow! That's so cool!" Patience exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement.
"And here, I think you'll need this more than I do." Ampharos tossed the Connection Orb back to Ian. "You see those round looking objects there? That is an Expedition Gadget. More specifically: A Junior Expedition Society Gadget!"
"What's it for?" Ian asked.
"Push the button at the side and see for yourself!"
Ian did as told and push the small button that was at the side of the gadget, and soon after, a holographic image projected from the Expedition Gadget, five images labeled: Map, Team, Connections, List and Contact appeared before him.
"Holy moly...!" He whispered.
"Th-this is amazing...!" Patience exclaimed.
"Impressive eh? Tap on Map for me will ya?"
Ian tapped on the sphere that projected Map and the image faded and switched to a blank screen.
"There's nothing here." Ian said disappointingly.
"Try fitting in that Connection Orb." Ampharos said.
Ian took the Connection Orb and placed it into the Expedition Gadget, making a distinct "click" noise. A few seconds later, the Connection Orb glowed, and a map of the world suddenly appeared right before their eyes. A blinking red dot appeared on the center of the map, their current location. Ian zoomed in at the red dot and the words "Serene Village" appeared above the red dot.
"H-how... How and why do you have all this...?!" Ian asked.
Ampharos chucked.
"You really want to know? Well in truth, I'm actually-!"
"We really don't need to know!" Patience said.
"Patience...?! What the heck?!" Ian annoyingly said.
"Who cares how he got all these stuff? We're finally going to become Expedition Society members!" She gleefully exclaimed.
"Junior Expedition Society members." Ian corrected.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Ampharos coughed, snapping the two Pokemon back into attention.
"Anyway..." He said. "Why don't you enter your team name?"
"Team name?" Ian asked.
"Two or more members are able to form a team of their own." Ampharos explained. "If you would kindly tap on Team, you can enter your team name that you would like to be classified as."
Ian tapped on Team and an empty text box appeared and the Expedition Gadget projected a keyboard.
"So, what will our team name be?" Patience asked.
"Why are you asking ME?!" Ian said in surprise.
"You look like a guy who would know an awesome team name! Something that is catchy, something fits us and screams "epic"." Patience said.
"J-just give me a minute to think!" Ian said.
"Oooh! I got a few good ones! How about The Hot Waters, The Poké Duo, or even The Stormy Flames!"
Ian wanted something that would fit just perfect for the both of them, a water type and a fire type. Flames... What could he use for the water part of the team name?
It was then, he knew exactly what to call the team.
"The Hydroflames!" Ian excitingly said. "Our team can be called The Hydroflames!"
"The Hydroflames..." Patience repeated, and suddenly grinned. "Yes! That's a good name! The hydro represents you and the flames represents me!"
"Well yeah, that was what I was going for." Ian said.
"You're a genius Ian! Mind if I type in the team name?"
"Be my guest."
Ian handed over the Expedition Gadget to Patience, who typed in the team name onto the gadget.
"Annnnd done!" She said.
"Well that's that then!" Ampharos said. "You're now officially Junior Expedition Society members!"
"Watch out world, here comes The Hydroflames!" Patience announced and raised a hand in the air, Ian soon followed.
"Well then, I suppose it's time we headed back now." Ian reminded.
"Oh, right! It's a school night!" Patience exclaimed. "We got to head back home!"
Ian grabbed the box of Junior Expedition Society equipment and took off with Patience, rushing back home.
"B-but wait! I haven't even explained the rest of your equipment!" Ampharos said.
"There's always tomorrow!" Ian yelled back, and shortly afterwards, the two Pokemon disappeared from sight, leaving the lighthouse Pokemon all by himself.
Ampharos sighed. "Kids will be kids I guess..."
"Beep-beep beep-beep."
"Hmm? Now of all times?" Ampharos said. He reached into his bag and took out a device similar to the Expedition Gadget, he pushed the button to power it on and placed it at his ear.
"Ampharos here." He said.
"Boss...? Boss, is that you?" A squeaky, female voice said.
"Ah, Dedenne, what can I do for you?"
"Oh! Thank the stars! I've been trying to reach you for hours!" Dedenne said.
"Sorry about that, I was kinda busy..."
"Busy?! You just upped and left without even saying a word! With your horrible sense of direction who knows where you could have ended up?!"
"Oh ye of little faith." Ampharos sarcastically said.
"So where are you now?"
"Serene Village, just as I said I was going to." He replied.
"Serene Village...?! You actually made it there all by yourself?!" Dedenne said in surprise.
"Yes, yes, spare me the commentary."
"So, how is it? Did you find anything?" She asked.
"No, unfortunately. Nothing that relates to the case."
Dedenne remained silent for a moment, before replying.
"You think that lead was a fake?"
"I know her, she wouldn't give us bogus Intel about something like this." Ampharos replied.
"But, we haven't seen her for almost 6 months! Who knows where she could be right now!" Dedenne defended.
"Gadget has her reasons for leaving, but she's still loyal, and I'm putting my faith in her."
"If you say so Boss..."
"I will remain here for a few more days, see if anything changes." Ampharos said
"Understood, I'll see you then." Dedenne.
"Right."
Ampharos ended the call and placed the device back into his bag. He sighed, and looked onwards at the view of the village.
"Just where are you, Gadget...? And what are you planning to do...?"
----Entry #2
So we're officially Junior Expedition Society members. Quite the surprise I have to say, but hey, Patience sort of got what she wants so that's good I guess.
Ampharos is an odd fellow, in more ways than one. I have many questions about him, but few answers. Why does he have a Connection Orb, is he really "just a wanderer" like we were told? I think he bigger question is why and how does he just so happen to have "Junior" Expedition Society equipment on him? Was he expecting us? You want my guess? I think he's actually part of the Expedition Society, and he's just not telling us.
"Ian! I made some tea! Would you like some?" Nuzleaf called out from the next room.
Ian immediately stopped writing when he heard that. Ian did remember a small detail of his human past, he had a liking for tea, the smell and taste of tea always got him excited to drink some.
"There's tea in this world?!" Ian reacted in shock and excitement.
"Well, why not? Tea leaves is our village specialty, and a sought after commodity. Many come to the Serene Village just to get a taste of it!" Nuzleaf explained.
Ian grinned at the thought of drinking tea again, it felt like it's been years since his last cup of it.
"Does it come with milk?" He asked.
"Already preparing it, Junior Expedition Society member!" Nuzleaf joked.
Ian chucked at that, and continued writing a bit more before closing the book and heading off into the next room.
PS: Just found out that there's tea in this world, at least all is not lost.