I awaken to a knocking on the door. For a moment I forget where I am—this isn't my room…I'm lying in hay…and why is Seviper in the bed instead of Stephanie? Then I remember; yesterday we woke up in the Delcatty's world, at the Exploration Center no less. It seems some time in the night Seviper made her way over to my bed—she's partially wrapped around me, the sharpened side of her tail dangerously close to my face.

"I'm coming…" I say groggily as I extract myself from Seviper's grip while she mumbles in her sleep. I open the door, not to Delcatty, but to an cheerful looking cradily.

"Good morning Gwen! I'm Cradily, one of Master Delcatty's teammates! I've heard so much about you all, I feel like I already know you! It's a pleasure to finally get to meet you!" "Oh! Nice to meet you too!" I say, shaking the frond she offers in lieu of a hand. "Master Delcatty regrets that she could not greet you herself, but she received an urgent message this morning that she had to tend to! She asked that I bring you to the Explorer's Lounge as soon as you're ready!" "Oh, ok. Uh, we'll be out in a minute!" I say, glancing back to Seviper, who's still sleeping. "No hurry!" Cradily beams as I gently close the door.

"Seviper! It's morning! We've been called to the Explorer's Lounge, it sounds like Delcatty might have news!" I say, shaking her gently. I never realized what a heavy sleeper she is. "Seviper!" "…huh?" She finally wakes, looks around with confusion, then speaks, "Gwen? Ough, I forgot…we're not at home. What's happening?" I tell her about Cradily's message, and the prospect of news instantly brings her to attention. A few moments later we're out the door, following her down.

About 15 minutes later, we're outside the Explorer's Lounge. It's so early, the rest of the Center is barely up and about yet. I stifle a yawn as Delcatty emerges. "Good morning Gwen! And Seviper! I hope you had a pleasant night!" She says cheerfully. I wonder for a moment how long she's been up—I suppose the Center's duties start quite early. "I have something I think you're gonna like, c'mon!" She beckons with her tail as she enters the Lounge. We cross the threshold, and my heart stops. In front of me is Dragalge, Rotom, and a fennekin with tears in their eyes.

"Gwen? Seviper?" The fennekin says, tentatively stepping forward. I immediately recognize the voice as the gears turn in my head "…Stephanie!?" As I finish her name, I'm knocked over as she leaps onto me for a hug, the tears flowing freely now. Seviper wraps around the both of us, holding us tightly. "Gwen! Oh my—you're…you're actually here? How? Why?" She pulls away, searching my eyes. I grin and kiss the tears from her cheek while she laughs.

"And Seviper…wow! I-I can't believe it!" She says as Seviper presses her forehead to hers. I notice Dragalge and Rotom approach. I peel myself from our group hug to make a new one with them. "Gwen! Are you—your memories are…?" Dragalge queries nervously. "Fully intact this time, thank Arceus," I reply, seeing relief flood their faces. "You should've pretended to lose them again! Could have hours of fun with that!" Rotom says as I laugh. "Yeah? I'll keep that in mind for next time!"

Stephanie approaches me again, "Gwen? Where…where's Elliot? If you're here…he's here too, right?" My heart sinks. Stephanie, Rotom, and Dragalge are here…so that means…Elliot and the others are likely somewhere too. The implications of my silence hit her like a train, I can almost see the light leaving her eyes. "Gwen? You mean he's…not with you? Oh-oh…my baby boy…where…?" She's starting to hyperventilate. I go to hold her, but to be honest I'm feeling the panic too. I hadn't realized how much I'd hoped she, and by extension he, weren't here. If it was just Seviper and I, that's one thing, but imagining him out there? Possibly alone?

"Hey, hey! None of that! If he's anywhere out there, we'll find him!" Delcatty offers, "Delcatty, has there been any other info, any news at all?" I plead. She thinks for a moment, then shakes her head, frowning, "not yet, but chin up! Our explorers found Stephanie and co before they even knew to look! If he's out there, we'll find him, I promise." Stephanie's breathing slows a little, "th-thank you, for everything," she says shakily. "Of course, Gwen, may I speak with you? There's much to discuss!" Delcatty says, looking excited. Stephanie is still trembling beside me, stifling sobs, "Can I…can we uh…could we talk later? I'm sorry…but I think Stephanie and I…need each other…right now." For a moment, I think I see a flash of disappointment, or possibly anger, cross Delcatty's face, but the next moment it's gone, her expression understanding, "of course, whenever you're ready you can get ahold of me through reception." She says, "I apologize, but there are many things to attend to today, so for now I will leave you to it. Goodbye for now," she says, before hurrying off.

I decide we should go back to the dorm to take a breather. I tell them about Seviper and I waking up in the Center's hospital, while she tells me about running into Espathra and Grapploct—or Flittle and Clobbopus, as I knew them—in a beachside town and traveling half the night to get here.

"Wow, that's quite a journey…it's really amazing you found them!" I say, still not believing it. "I know right? What are the odds?" Stephanie says, "if Dragalge hadn't noticed their badges…who knows when we would've found the Center…if at all!" It is truly remarkable. And lucky. To have only been able to find each other by luck alone…

It makes me worry about Elliot and the others. I just hope he isn't out there all by himself.

After we're all caught up, Stephanie and I break away from the group to speak in relative privacy. "So…how are you finding it? Being a fennekin?" "It's…pretty weird. I mean, it's great being able to speak to our pokemon," she looks lovingly towards them, then back to me "but it's also kind of disorienting…like, Seviper was hugging me, and…she's so big! I don't think I'm used to being this small yet," she laughs shakily. "Yeah…that took some time to get used to. The first time I saw Serperior up close had me kind of scared…although, come to think of it, he actually might have been trying to kill me, so that could have played a role," I say, remembering his reaction to seeing me with his pokeball before realizing who I actually was.

A pause, "so…Serperior and Noivern? You don't know where they are either?" "No…no sign of them yet…" I reply. While I am of course the most worried about Elliot…not knowing where they are…it doesn't let me rest easy. Maybe they ended up together…I sincerely hope so. I'm confident they'd take good care of him, keep him safe and out of trouble.

Stephanie and I sit together for a while, holding each other while our pokemon catch up. We're too emotionally drained to do much else, but for now being in each other's company is enough.

—

I'm heading over to the prison in a huff. I can't believe Gwen fobbed me off again! We were supposed to spend some time together today, and she'd rather cry with Stephanie? She's got to see Stephanie everyday since the day they met, but what about me? I've dedicated the last few years of my life to finding a way to get her back!

I take a couple of calming breaths. Of course she's worried, her son is missing for goodness sake. It's not her fault, it's that blasted Hoopa…making things difficult just in the name of having 'a little fun.' Ugh.

I didn't want to have to come out here, poking around the prison, but Ampharos seemed certain I'd want to see one of the inmates myself before they went to trial. Honestly? I couldn't care less. I don't know why they bring all the continent's high profile criminals to go to trial here, can't the local courts just deal with it? It just creates more work for me on top of the other million tasks I have to handle. Anyway, my mood can't get much worse than this, so may as well check it out.

Ampharos opens the trap door, and we start our descent. The cells are all empty, except for one. That's a plus at least—less paperwork for me. I hear a kid babbling about something—a kid, really? C'mon, this is the high profile criminal? I give Ampharos a look to show my disdain, but he just waves me off. "Wait 'til you see," he says simply. We round the corner, and in the cell, I see an impidimp running around hyperactively, and trying to calm him down…

"Serperior?!"