"Hey look! Look at me! Wake up up UP!" "Mmm, five more minutes…" I mutter, half asleep. "No, now, NOW! Sperpy get UP!"

That gets my attention. I snap my eyes open, expecting to see Gwen and Stephanie's little boy, Elliot, about to do something insane. Instead I see an impidimp jumping up and down, trying to get my attention. Ah, so this is a dream, because no one calls me that (and gets away with it) except for him. I'm about to close my eyes again and will the dream to change to something more peaceful when the little creature starts shouting directly in my ear. "Wake UP! LOOK!" I jump up with a start, pretty sure that, dreaming or not, I'd be awake for good now.

The impidimp is running around and giggling. "Hide 'n seek! Mommy and mama are playing hide 'n seek! And I fouuund you!" He says, poking me. "Elliot? Is that you?" I've never met another living thing with his energy, but…it can't be, surely. "Oooh you can talk! Mommyyyy! Sperpy talked! Mommy…?" He looks around, and, failing to find them, looks up at me, tears suddenly appearing in his eyes, "where's mommy and mama? I want mommy!" He whines. Where are mommy and mama indeed? I look all around—we're in a wooded area, but I don't see any sign of them. What I do see tangled in a few low-hanging branches is an unconscious Noivern.

I try to distract Elliot from what I'm assuming is his mounting panic. "Look, it's Noivern! Let's get him down, ok?" I'm attempting to make it into a game or something, but he just stands there looking ready to cry.

I love Elliot, really and truly, but…well I've never had to be responsible for a child before, let alone one as wild as him. Even though I'm technically an adult, I still feel like a child most of the time. And appearing to be alone and currently solely responsible for him is a tad…unnerving. Our interactions usually involve him trying to climb on my back or tie my vines into a bow—not exactly prime childcare experience.

I'm struggling to untangle Noivern with my vines while Elliot smacks my side. "I want Mommy! Mommyyy!" He cries. I temporarily abandon Noivern, who's still unconscious and hopelessly stuck, to pick up the crying boy. "Shhhh, it's ok, we'll find mommy, ok? But first we've got to get Noivern down, alright? Look, he's all stuck!" I say, pointing and trying to look playfully shocked, in an attempt to make him feel like we have things under control. In reality, nothing is under control—what if Noivern is seriosuly injured? I don't know if I can carry him, keep Elliot safe, and find a place to get help all by myself. Of course, Elliot doesn't need to know any of that; what's important is that he thinks it's all going to be ok. "Ok…" he sniffles while hugging me.

I continue struggling with the branches, until I finally manage to free him. Once I've lowered him to the ground, Elliot tries to leap from my arms. "Down, DOWN! Noivy!" He says, kicking his legs. I put him down before he falls and gets a concussion, and he runs over to Noivern, who's just starting to wake.

"NOIVY!" He screams in his ear, making him jump. I stifle my laughter—I'll admit, it's funnier when it's happening to someone else.

"AH! What the heck! Serperior? What is that thing?" he says pointing to Elliot, "Where are we? What's happening? What time is it? Did I miss breakfast?" He's up and running with questions. "Slow down, are you ok?" I say while Elliot keeps letting Noivern know it's him. "I'm fine…just a headache…but where are we? That's not really Elliot, is it? Where is everyone?" I'm speaking over Elliot now, "I don't know, he woke me up just a few minutes ago, but…if Elliot's a pokemon…do you think we could be…?" I'm not sure I can even voice the thought, it seems so outlandish. Noivern, however, has no problem, "what, in Skitty's world? No way, how would that even happen?" "…I don't know…but, but why else would he be a pokemon?" That seems to stump him—he thinks for a moment, but stays silent. "If we are back in Skitty's world…our best bet to find answers is to find the Exploration Center."

But first, we need a short break. Despite just waking up, my head is already pounding, courtesy of Elliot. It seems turning into a pokemon and waking up in a strange world isn't such a daunting event for a little boy. We decide to rest for a few minutes, then plan to find the Exploration Center.

—

Bleh…what's in my mouth? Is that…sand?

I thought we were in the garden, about to have lunch. Why is my mouth full of sand? And my ears ringing? I remember…falling…was it some kind of elaborate dream? I open my eyes against the harsh sun, looking at the glittering waves breaking before me. Looking around, I see Rotom's Pokédex, cracked and crackling with electricity, the screen off, and Dragalge, seemingly asleep a short distance away. Struggling to stand, I notice the sensation is…weird. I drag myself up and look down at my hands—no, not hands…instead I'm looking down at a…a pair of yellow paws.

Now I know I must be dreaming. But, dream or not, I have to see what exactly I'm supposed to be. Working my way to the Pokédex, I regard my reflection in the cracked screen. I'm a…a…a fennekin?!

Memories of Gwen's stories race through my mind. She woke up in a strange world once following a lab accident. She was an odd type of zorua. She could understand pokemon. She lost her memories. I search my own—they appear to be intact, but…but could such a thing…?

The screen flashes to life for a second before going black again, startling me. Electricity pours out, and Rotom appears above it a moment later, frowning. "Ooh…my Pokédex! It's ruined! Gwen's not gonna like that…oh! Hello there, who are you?" She says, noticing me for the first time. "Rotom? Gwen's rotom? It's me! Stephanie!" "Stephanie? No way, really? Well look at you!" She says, flying all around me, "a fennekin, huh? Wait 'til Gwen sees!" I look around, but other than the three of us, I can't see anyone.

Groaning from Dragalge gets our attention. They start to get up as Rotom asks about their well-being. Being a fennekin is going to take some serious getting used to—I know Dragalge is a decently sized pokemon—taller than me as a human, anyway—but from my current vantage point they're quite intimidating.

"Huh? Stephanie?" They say as Rotom brings them up to speed. "Do you think we're—" "I think so! The energy here…it feels like Skitty's world! But I didn't feel the wormhole energy! It's a total mystery how we got here!" Rotom's fired up, seemingly confident about our destination. "But…what? How? And if that's true…how do we get home?" I pipe in. "…no idea!" She says with a grin. I feel my heart sink. It's unbelievable that we could actually be here, but…but not being able to get home?

Gwen had told me that, without her memories, she and her team made a choice to sacrifice themselves to stay in this world to protect it from her old supervisor. But that was before she met me, before we had Elliot…

Elliot! I look around frantically, but don't see any sign of him. I regard the breaking waves of the ocean again, this time with terror. He surely couldn't have—

"I'm not detecting any other energies nearby," Rotom says, seeing my panic. "I think it's just the three of us here." I try to calm myself, but struggle—this kind of dangerous place for a little boy…it's too much to consider.

"I think," Dragalge starts, "our best bet of finding any way home is to find the Exploration Center that took Gwen in." Right, yes, I've heard of the famous 'Center,' which very quickly turned against her and her team thanks to Dr. Laurel. They sounded like a traitorous bunch, but she swore it was all a big misunderstanding, that what they were truly interested in was preserving peace and pursuing knowledge. But I could never be sure.

Still, if finding the Center, and probably the great Skitty I've heard so much about, will help get us home, then that's what we'll have to do.