Morning came sooner than anyone thought it would and where this day was the day that Atticus and his family had to be somewhere. Mo made a quick breakfast for everyone.
"So, what's the quick breakfast for?" Vincent asked.
"We're going to be seeing someone in his office." Atticus said.
"We didn't do anything wrong, Principal Shields..." Akito yawned.
"Not that," Mo told her kids. "Someone very important wants to see us, we'll explain later."
"And besides, Principal Shields is a woman." Atticus said.
"Sorry, Mom, sorry, Dad, we thought we were in trouble." Estelle said.
"When do you guys get into trouble?" Mo hugged her children.
"Not on purpose..." the siblings replied to their mother.
"That's right, now please, hurry and eat," Mo told them then. "Fortunately we have a shortcut to the office, but it's tomorrow morning and we were scheduled to come in soon."
"Hopefully he isn't impatient." Patch said.
"Something tells me he can be..." Atticus whispered.
Mo gave her kids their breakfast as she then drank her cup of coffee to relax herself a little. The entire breakfast was delicious and the moment they were done, all of them then went to get to the appointment.
"Okay, where are we going?" Vincent asked.
"We're going to the Witches Council," Atticus finally revealed. "It's millions of light-years away past time and space, but luckily, there's a shortcut through our linen closet."
The kids looked very curious, but due to their upbringing, they believed every word their father said and followed him through the closet and shut the door behind them which summoned lightning.
There was a plucky bowler hatted man behind a table with a computer and telephone who seemed to be fast asleep, snoring loudly and drooling over his table.
"Ahem!" Atticus cleared his throat.
The man shot up and his eyes widened, he then yawned and shut his eyes, shaking his head.'
Atticus did a double take slightly. "Skippy...?"
The man looked to him and rubbed his eyes, putting on a pair of glasses and smiled once he recognized Atticus, then shook his hand.
"Uh, who are you?" Estelle asked.
Skippy did a sleight of hand, then made a card appear and held out his card to her.
"'Skippy: The Overlord's Underling'." Estelle read aloud.
"If you're Skippy, then where's Drell?" Akito asked.
Skippy pointed to the office door and put a finger up.
"We have to wait a minute." Atticus translated.
Skippy nodded then.
"I'm sorry, but do you speak English?" Vincent asked.
Skippy put his finger up again, he then coughed slightly and spit into his hand and made a frog slide out of his throat.
"You have a frog in your throat?" Akito asked.
Skippy nodded with a silly smile.
"You never changed much..." Mo smirked to him.
Skippy was then about to take a smoke break, he took out his pipe and was just about to get ready, but then he heard the office door open, ruining his smoke break.
"Skippy, come here a moment, please?"
Skippy let out an inaudible sigh, then put his pipe back into his coat pocket and came into the office door and shut it behind him to have a brief word with the owner before allowing the visiting family to meet the owner.
"I don't like this place," Akito winced. "It reminds me of the principal's office."
"Don't worry." Atticus said.
Skippy opened the door with a small smile.
"Drell will see us now." Mo told her kids.
Akito, Estelle, and Vincent looked curious, but walked in the room with their parents.
Drell was doing paperwork behind his desk, then looked over to his guests he had summoned. "Ah, good, you're here."
"Well, when you sent us that letter, we just had to come." Atticus said.
"Ohh, so that's what I overheard with my super-hearing." Akito said.
"That and Drell doesn't have an inside voice." Mo whispered jokingly.
"Heard that, Monique." Drell snarled slightly.
Mo smiled nervously then. "Um, so, why have you called us?"
"I'm looking for someone to be the new head honcho of the Witches Council while still doing his/her original job." Drell said.
"I thought you retired from that after you married Hilda?" Atticus replied.
"I did, but I'm looking for someone to replace you-know-who." Drell said.
"Not working out?" Mo asked.
"Cassandra's been abusing her title in Witch School with Sabrina and Penelope in their high school years," Drell reminded them. "Casting spells on each other... At least they're all grown up now, but Enchantra is just impossible..."
"You can do that even though you're not the head anymore?" Atticus asked.
"It's in my blood since the witches council title has been in my family bloodline until I took over after my parents couldn't have a daughter." Drell explained.
"So, why not give the job to Penelope?" Mo asked.
"She says she doesn't want the spot." Drell said.
"I thought she would," Atticus shrugged sheepishly. "When we first met her, she was kind of a spoiled brat who got what she wanted in the Netherworld because you were her father."
"Don't remind me..." Drell rolled his eyes. "Thank Gandolf she's over that phase."
"What about Zelda?" Mo suggested. "She's always been so responsible."
"She isn't interested either, too much responsibility, I'm looking for someone who's strong in both magic and strength and can be the head of the witch council while still able to do his/her job." Drell said.
Akito, Estelle, and Vincent looked too tired and bored to think, wondering why they had to even come here in the first place.
"Wait, I think I know the very person that could be perfect for the job." Mo said.
Atticus looked a little nervous.
"Do tell, Monique..." Drell leaned forward with his fingertips underneath his chin with an eager smirk.
"Don't call me that." Mo muttered.
"Ah, you're an adult now, live a little..." Drell shrugged that off. "Anyway?"
"It's Atticus, he's the perfect one for the job." Mo said.
"Oh, I dunno..." Atticus chuckled. "I'm only a Wiccan."
"Too late, I already had you in mind, no exceptions." Drell said like a playground bully getting someone to do what he wanted just by saying so.
"Go on, Dad, accept the job, this is like a big one time thing." Akito smiled.
"So, you're Drell?" Estelle asked.
"That's my name." Drell nodded proudly like he was the best person in the universe.
"You sounded skinnier in Dad's stories." Vincent said.
Drell glared, but didn't harm him. "Thank you... So, Atticus, what do you say?"
"Well, it sounds great and where I would be able to teach Enchantra a lesson." Atticus said.
"Good, oh, and also, the Pokemon Princess will be there too to judge who is best for the job." Drell said.
"Did you say Pokemon Princess?" Akito rubbed his arm slightly.
"I wanted to mix things up a little and I recently heard about this Pokemon phenomenon, so I decided to go with it..." Drell leaned back with his hands behind his head. "Why? You know her?"
Akito blushed slightly. "I happen to know a lot about her."
"Yeah, she's his girlfriend." Estelle teased.
"Hey!" Akito pouted.
"It's true..." Vincent smirked.
"Then you must know about her powers she has." Drell said.
"Yeah..." Akito said as he was turning red slightly since they were talking about Emi.
"You seem sweet on her..." Drell noticed that. "I know a lot about women."
"You left Hilda at the altar at your first wedding." Mo reminded.
"That wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault!" Drell got paranoid again. "IT WAS A STUPID MEETING!'
"Okay, okay, let's not bring up anything bad from the past." Atticus said.
"Where is Hilda anyway?" Mo asked.
"Please stop..." Drell sounded very much in pain.
"Uh... When's this Witches Council tournament thing?" Vincent then asked so Drell wouldn't get mad and do anything to hurt them in any way.
"It starts in about three hours." Drell said.
"That gives me plenty of time to go see Emi." Akito smiled.
Vincent and Estelle giggled to him.
'Shut up." Akito glared.
"You can use my linen closet to get to her." Drell said.
"Closet?" the Fudo siblings asked. "What's with you witches and closets?"
"Picky..." Drell rolled his eyes and shook his head, then saw a letter pop up from his toaster. "Oh, 'scuse me a sec..." he then reached into the toaster and took out the letter, quietly reading it to himself.
"Must be from Hilda or the council or something." Mo said.
"For Drell's sake, I hope it's from Hilda." Atticus whispered.
"Why's that, Dad?" Akito asked.
"Drell's a mystery..." Atticus sighed.
Drell looked through the letter and sighed himself, putting it face down. He then pushed a button. "Skippy, come in here a moment, please."
Skippy came through the door, looking very exhausted, but he came behind Drell and started to massage his back.
"Who's it from, Drell?" Atticus asked.
"Just more information on the competition..." Drell said, then winced. "SKIPPY, NOT SO ROUGH!"
Skippy winced, then tried a little more gently this time and yawned heavily.
"I keep tellin' ya, you shouldn't have met with Angela, those kids will keep you up all night." Drell glared up at him.
"Anyway, what did you find out?" Mo asked.
"Nothing much has changed," Drell said. "I'm sure you recall when I was fighting for my title after Penelope was accepted into your school before you joined Canterlot High."
"Yeah, boy, that was an intense night." Atticus remembered.
"It's pretty much that, only, since I'm retiring, I get to be a judge better than Madame Spella herself." Drell smiled smugly.
"Cool." Atticus smiled.
"Yeah..." Drell smiled, then winced again. "SKIPPY!"
Skippy had fallen asleep in the middle of the floor.
Drell rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I told him not to mate with a gargoyle... I warned him... And what does he do? MATE WITH A GARGOYLE!"
"Need a massage?" Atticus asked, rolling up his sleeves.
"Oh, thank you, that's very-" Drell was about to decline until Atticus started. "Ooohh, my..." he then smiled in zen.
"Yep, seems like you had a little knot here." Atticus said while massaging him.
"I've been under a lot of stress lately..." Drell slowly shut his eyes.
"This wouldn't happen to be because Hilda isn't here, would it?" Atticus asked while massaging him.
"No...?" Drell's eyes darted back and forth.
Atticus began to put some more strength into it, finding what Drell said not truthful.
"Gah... Atticus, easy..." Drell winced slightly.
"Oops, so sorry." Atticus said.
"Alright, yes, it is because she's not here." Drell said.
"What happened?" Atticus asked.
"I don't know..." Drell sighed. "I guess she just decided to give me a taste of my own medicine."
"No, that doesn't sound like Hilda." Atticus said.
"Well, I don't know, she's just gone..." Drell sighed. "I was even gonna go visit Sabrina, Harvey, and Jackson for lunch to maybe get my mind off her."
"Maybe something happened to her." Vincent said.
Drell shrugged. "Oh, well..."
Atticus and Mo frowned, they felt a little sorry for Drell.
"Sabrina was a half-witch, right?" Akito asked, trying to remember.
"That's right." Mo said.
"Even Wendy the good little witch had better abilities than her..." Drell mumbled, despite Sabrina being the niece of his one true love.
"Well, then, why don't one of us go and find out where Hilda is?" Estelle asked.
"If you want to..." Drell sounded miserable.
Mo patted him gently on the back. "Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine."
"I'll go and find out where she is, by the way, which is it to her house?" Estelle asked.
"Go through that door on the right and don't let the time-space continuum hit you on the way out." Drell instructed.
"Thanks," Estelle said as she walked ahead. "I'm a babysitter now, I'm sure this'll be nothing."
"Oh, really?" Drell asked.
"How hard could it be?" Estelle shrugged.
Drell sighed and stood up. "I'm gonna meet Sabrina's new family."
"We haven't seen Sabrina since she left her wedding to run away with Harvey." Mo said.
"Yeah." Atticus said.
Drell sighed. "You wanna come?"
"Oh, if you don't want us to, that's okay..." Mo said. "It's just we haven't seen them since then..."
"Okay..." Drell then looked to the Fudo siblings. "You kids find Hilda, I'm gonna meet Sabrina for lunch."
"You got it." The Fudo siblings smiled.
"Be careful, okay?" Atticus told his kids. "The realms are very constructive and confusing if you haven't been to them before."
"We will!" the Fudo siblings promised as they went off to look for Hilda for the warlock.
Drell stood in front of a mirror and waved his wand to pick out something suitable to wear when visiting Sabrina and Harvey.
"So, Drell, where's Penelope?" Mo asked, curiously.
"Out with her friends." Drell said.
"She behaving herself?" Atticus asked.
"Most of the time..." Drell said, then put on a suit that wasn't too casual, but not too dressy either. It was only lunch with family after all. "At least she isn't a little brat anymore... Reminds me of myself when I found out my mother was the Queen of all Witches when I was a boy."
Skippy fell asleep at his desk again.
"What's with him?" Mo asked.
"He has half-gargoyle children now," Drell said. "I think it's messed with his sleep cycle."
"Yikes." Atticus and Mo said.
"I warned him when he and Angela wanted to take it to the next level..." Drell said, then led them to the door to Sabrina's new house.
Atticus and Mo followed after as their children were going to find Hilda. Drell opened the door and Atticus shut it after he and Mo went first and they were transported to a whole new home.
