Serperior skids to a halt so suddenly I might have whiplash. "Your PARENTS'?" "Keep your voice down! You wanna wake the whole street?" "Excuse me if I don't trust that your parents are going to want to house a bunch of criminals!" He's shaking Skitty—and I—just a tad too vigorously; it's a shame I'm not in his other vine with Noibat. "…you're excused, now move." She says, tugging the vine. "Skitty…" I must say I agree, they may be her family, but this is a pretty big…favor…to ask. "They…they'll take us in, at least for a night, just so we can figure things out. And the Center won't think to look here. Please, just trust me."

As Serperior begrudgingly follows her directions, I wonder, why hasn't she mentioned them before? Is their relationship…alright? Why shouldn't the Center think about checking there? She didn't exactly sound enthusiastic about seeing them.

Although I can understand that; the circumstances aren't ideal.

We've been deposited back on the ground; Skitty doesn't think we need to race through the quaint streets anymore and I think she was tired of being carted around. Me too—since hopping into the bag at the Artifacts Wing, we haven't had the chance to stretch our legs. She stops us in front of a circular house. It has a purple roof, with ornaments dangling from all around, rather similar to the three prongs on Skitty's tail. A tidy hedge encircles the property, and a stone path extends from the front door, beckoning us in.

Skitty appears to be steeling herself. "Well, it's now or never, let's go." She rings the doorbell, and I see a light switch on inside. There's some noise, followed by the door creaking open.

A delcatty stands proudly at the door, eying us up and down before settling her gaze on Skitty.

I have to say, she doesn't look at all impressed.

"Mom, I—" Letting out a sigh, her mom screws her eyes shut, "I always knew this day would come. Against my better judgement, I'll allow you and your…associates inside. Come," she turns away briskly.

Serperior and I exchange a furtive glance. I don't know what kind of history they have, but I can't like anyone who talks to Skitty like that. Her embarrassment is almost physically palpable as she looks at her feet.

"I said come!" Delcatty's shrill voice calls from inside. We hurry in, closing the door behind us.

I consider the interior. Everything's so…frilly. There's doilies on every table, finely stitched covers on the furniture, elegant rugs, ornaments adorning every surface. And seeing how Delcatty regards each of us in turn, face becoming more sour by the moment, I realize I'm more nervous in here than I was playing thief in the Artifacts Wing. I'm suddenly aware of how battered we all look after our scuffle in the Center; quite at odds with her carefully manicured home.

"Don't. Touch. Anything. I'll get your father." Oh Arceus, not another one. Skitty stands next to me, curled into herself, a stark contrast to the funny, sassy, confident pokemon I've known up to now. I touch my cheek to hers, "hey…are you ok?" She nuzzles back slightly, "it's just…always been so oppressive here. I don't know, I feel so suffocated…being back again…it's been a long time…" "it's alright, we're here to get you through it. It's just temporary." I see tears at the edges of Skitty's eyes. "Thank you…" her voice shakes.

Delcatty returns with who must be Skitty's father, a surly ambipom.

Searching my non-existent memory, I instinctively know ambipoms typically don a bright, cheerful smile.

This one does not.

Looking at his deep frown lines, I'm not sure if he's ever smiled.

"Hmph, I'm surprised you didn't bail out of your little exploration phase sooner," he says gruffly. "But here you are, with two outlaws and a…flying rattata in tow." "I…I know what the Center's been saying, but…" "don't argue." He interrupts tersely, "you were always so lazy…so quick to give up. I bet the moment exploring became too challenging, you took the easy way out by joining this…this…band of criminals! What did you think, that you'd become some kind of big-shot? That you'd get away with it?" Skitty is trembling beside me, and I'm absolutely fuming. I'm about to give him a piece of my mind, but I'm surprised by Serperior beating me to it.

"Don't you dare talk about her like that," he says, tone even but dangerous. "You obviously don't know her half as well as you think if you can spew such vitriolic nonsense." Ambipom meets his gaze, then quickly looks away. I'm glad for a moment that at least one of our current team members is on the more…threatening side. Although I feel like being pretty threatening right about now, despite the fluffy zorua exterior. It seems like we'll need all the strength we can get to make it out of here in one piece.

He looks at Skitty again, "one day, then you're all out of here, and we didn't see nothing. You don't contact us, you don't tell cops about us when you get caught." "…thank you father." Is all Skitty can manage in response. With that, her parents return to what I assume is their bedroom, the door closing with a decisive click.

She lets out a heavy breath. "Let's…go to my old room to talk." She says, leading us up a staircase. "And Serperior?" She looks his way, "Thank you." "Don't mention it, he needed to know the truth. You've…been leading us through all this, it's thanks to you we've made it this far." "I-thank you." She says again, swallowing her tears and turning back to the stairs.

She leads us to her bedroom. It's a little girl's dream, everything princess themed, pink ruffles everywhere, elegant porcelain dolls arranged on the surfaces.

I'm almost certain she hates it.

It's so aggressively un-Skitty, that it takes a moment to adjust. It looks like an extension of the rest of the house, utterly devoid of her own spirit. No wonder she found it suffocating here. That and the nightmare parents.

I briefly wonder about my own parents…what are they like? Are they worried about us? I obviously don't remember them, but I'm almost certain they're better than Skitty's.

"So…don't touch that!" She says, startling Noibat, who was reaching out for a doll. "If something happens to those, mom will kill me." "Ah, sorry," he says, retracting his hand. "So…we seem to have a place…for now at least." She continues. I'm having a little trouble focusing on our current situation, imagining the pair of hydreigons sleeping just downstairs. "Now what?"

We sit in silence for a few moments. Now what indeed?

"Well, I think the boss will be working on the wormhole in his base up on uh…Permafrost Mountain? He said results would be better at an elevation," Noibat says. "I guess first we need to reorient Dragalge and Rotom to our…situation" I say, remembering how, to them, I'm some kind of bounty hunter, and as far as they know, they're totally lost and alone in this world.

And…I would love the opportunity to 'meet' them properly, before we move ahead with everything.

Now isn't the time or place, but I am at least a little tempted to release a pair of confused, powerful pokemon into Skitty's parents' lovely home.

"Right…is there somewhere secluded we could go on our way to the mountain?" Serperior asks. "There's the Frosty Woods, they have cabins scattered around for travelers to rest and recover before tackling the mountain" Skitty says. "Would we be alone?" "I think so, they're few and far between, and not many are confident enough in their abilities to test the peak."

We're not confident; we're desperate. Dr. Laurel cannot be allowed to open a wormhole and exploit this world to fulfill some weird power fantasy…we need to do whatever it takes.

Noibat lets out a big yawn. "Mmm, sorry, after everything, I'm exhausted…" "ha, not me, I'm fired up and ready to go!" Skitty says as an even bigger yawn escapes from her, "well, ready to go to bed anyway," she laughs.

Skitty divvies up the numerous cushions from her bed and the surroundings, and offers everyone the prime real estate (a very fluffy, although rather small bed) in turn. We all refuse; I think she should sleep in it, Noibat is happier hanging upside down, and when she asked Serperior, he just rested the end of his tail in it, graciously thanking her and making a comment about how it was 'oh-so comfortable.' That earned him a friendly smack, "It was my bed as a kid" she says, as he laughs.

I smile. It really is nice seeing them get along.

As the three of us settle into the cushions on the floor (Noibat was firm about hanging upside down, I guess there just wasn't anything good to hang from in the dorms), I feel a sense of calm I haven't for several days. We're all here, together and safe. We have Rotom and Dragalge, even if they don't realize it yet. We may have challenges ahead, but right now I'm resting my head on something soft, surrounded by members of my old and new teams, and drifting asleep to the rhythmic sounds of their breathing. In this moment, there is peace.