A few days later, Hoopa appears in our living room in the middle of our movie night.

"Hoopy!" Elliot cries, flinging microwaved popcorn everywhere. "Elliot! Oh…look what you've done!" Stephanie says, glaring at Hoopa. They yawn dramatically, feigning boredom, then open a hoop and have the mess sucked away into some unknown dimension.

"Hey, you upset Seviper! She said she was gonna eat that!" Rotom grins, while dodging the retaliatory swinging tail. "Guys, knock it off," I say while side-eying Hoopa, who is now bent over in laughter. "Rotom, translation please?"

Rotom adopts a serious expression while Hoopa starts telling her whatever news they've come to deliver. Eventually she breaks out in a huge grin, "no kidding, really? Wow, that is just a-ma-zing! It's truly beyond belief! Why, I don't know—" "Rotom!" I snap, trying to bring her back to attention. "Oh you. So impatient! Now what were you asking? Oh, yes!" She says brightly. "Delcatty is asking when we can all come back! She's apparently planning some training for us! Although, I don't know what we need training for…I bet I could kick her butt in battle any day!"

To disprove her theory regarding her battling expertise, Serperior deftly catches her rather unawares with a vine. Her tone changes as she struggles to break free, "you better watch out, or I'll use my Volt Switch so quick you'll—" "you know the rules, no moves in the house!" Stephanie quickly interrupts.

Hoopa's looking between us with an impish grin. "Well I think it's a great idea! Learning how to be explorers…it'll be fun! And different to regular battling, I bet," I say, feeling the excitement of the message wash over me.

I briefly think about my time in Delcatty's world. In all honesty, I think I went on…maybe two proper missions as an explorer? And they both involved arresting my teammates. When I had joined the Exploration Center, I hadn't really imagined it would just be a modified police force…I was hoping there would be more actual exploring involved. Plus, I'd love a chance to develop my own battling skills. I may be an experienced trainer, but…well let's just say I'd like to have more in my arsenal than Slash.

We tell Hoopa about our schedules, and they reply through Rotom that they'll let Delcatty know, and try to be back to collect us when we're next free. Although, after seeing the TV, they don't seem entirely inclined to hurry off just yet—they decide to stay and watch the rest of the animated movie we have on for Elliot. Something about a wurmple in a family of beautiflies who yearns to become a dustox. It's very cute, and by the end Hoopa's hugging a cushion and crying.

It's funny—Delcatty's world has electricity (it seems they figured out how to harness it from electric types at least), and a degree of technology (I recall with a shudder, thinking about Rotom jumping from appliance to appliance during our junkyard battle), but they don't seem to have got much further then that. I don't recall seeing anything with a screen, and no real equivalent to a phone. Now that we have the time, I'd love to show her some human tech. I wonder what she'd make of it? Maybe they can learn from it and advance their own stuff. Plus, I'm sure Rotom would love the opportunity to show off her pokedex.

After wiping their tears all over our cushion, Hoopa wishes us a goodnight and disappears through a portal. Lying in bed that night, I struggle to fall asleep. It's all so exciting—I wonder what Delcatty has in mind? We had let Hoopa know we'd be free in a few days over the weekend, during which my parents had been planning to have Elliot at their place. She and I talked about it, before bed—whether to include him on these missions or not.

"I mean…we could bring him back there sometimes…but he's too young for any kind of 'training'. At least the kind Delcatty has in mind," I said. Stephanie nodded slowly while studying a patch of the carpet, "do you think it's…good for him? To go there? It won't…mess him up or something?" I'll admit, I had been a little concerned…not only is it weird for him to be going back and forth, seemingly without his parents, but…are there any physical or developmental effects caused by these types of portals? Arceus knows there's no research about it. Is it really good for his little body to be turned from human to pokemon and back again every couple of weeks? Is it even good for our bodies?

The scientist in me can see it would make a fascinating case study. But the mom in me is adamant that my son shouldn't be the first test subject.

We ultimately agreed that he can come along once in a while, but we should try to minimize it. "Plus, we don't want him getting picked on if he decides to talk about it…I don't want him being the 'weird' kid or anything," Stephanie laughed weakly, rubbing her forehead. I certainly hope he doesn't spill the beans either—if it got back to my parents that I was voluntarily going back to the dimension where "the incident" took place, I'd never hear the end of it. They were a nervous wreck after I got back the first time, and I couldn't bear putting them through the worry again. Plus, after all that, I don't think they'd be best pleased to learn we were going there willingly, especially when I had to lay it on thick about how terrifying and dangerous it was in the name of discouraging future studies. For now, it's our own secret.

I eventually manage to drift off to sleep, thinking about what we could possibly expect upon returning to the Center.

A few days later, we pass Elliot off to my parents and await Hoopa's return. When they eventually reappear, they produce several hoops with a flourish, which we fall through most ungracefully.

As I rub my eyes and see my gray zorua paws, I wonder absentmindedly if they managed to get everyone from the house—half of our team were in other rooms, and I think a couple may have even been in the yard. Looking around, I see they have—they're all in a heap, groaning.

"Ugh…Hoopa…really is no way to make that any less awful, huh?" Rotom says, rubbing her head. "Complain too much and I could always make it worse," they wink.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" Delcatty beams, rushing in, a tad too cheerful for my aching head. Looking around, I see we're in the Explorer's Lounge, alone save for her, Ampharos and Cradily. I slowly get to my feet. "So, you guys ready to be reeeal explorers?" She grins. "I thought Gwen and I were real explorers? We were on the team, after all." Noivern says, waving his hand dismissively. "Weeeell, yes and no. You did a couple of missions sure, buuut…well, you've gotta be out of practice at least," she grins.

That's an understatement—the last time I 'battled' was in the Echoing Ruins against its version of Elliot. That wasn't even a real opponent, and I still got my behind handed to me.

"Speak for yourself, we train at least once a week!" Serperior says proudly. Well…'train' is a strong word. It might technically be true, but it's not terribly strenuous. We haven't battled competitively for a while now, and, with no intent to do so anytime soon, we haven't been pushing it too hard. "Make no mistake! An expedition is not like your average training session!" Delcatty says, puffing out her chest. "The pokemon won't be holding back! They don't all take kindly to trespassers either, so they go all in!"

"What kinds of things do you do when exploring?" Dragalge queries. That's a good question…as an explorer, all I ever did was go after 'criminals.' But that feels more like something they probably just do to pay the bills. Their emphasis on learning and spreading knowledge…that really seems like their main focus.

"Glad you asked! Explorers do all kinds of big expeditions where we make marvelous discoveries!" Delcatty says, "but those are typically reserved for the more uh…seasoned explorers," Cradily chimes in gently. "Not jobs for total rookies, like you!" Ampharos says curtly.

"Hey, we're not total rookies!" Rotom says indignantly, "we happen to have extensive experience battling competitively!" "Now, now, I'm sure you're all very skilled," Delcatty says graciously, "but the fact remains, you'll need to get integrated properly into the Exploration Center. It's not just about battling abilities, there's much more to exploring." I regard her curiously when she doesn't continue. "Ah, well Gwen, the way we did missions back in the day was a little…out of the ordinary," she says, noting my confusion. "Normally, rookie teams don't go out on high profile criminal cases," "yeah! Most newbies couldn't manage rough and tough outlaws like us!" Rotom says, grinning while wrapping an arm around Dragalge and Serperior and pulling them close.

"Oh, let it go, will ya?" Delcatty laughs, waving a paw. "But seriously, most new teams gain experience through smaller jobs…y'know, simple rescue missions, deliveries, and the occasional arrest of a low-profile criminal," she continues.

"Huh…so is that what you have in mind for us?" I ask. "Yeah, but we've gotta take a slightly different approach. Usually teams go out in parties of up to four—it gets too unmanageable with more. So Ampharos, Cradily, and I are each going to take some of you out on different missions!"

"Is the Center going to be like…ok without you guys?" Noivern asks. He's got a point; since we first returned, this place seems to be running her ragged, demanding her attention at every turn. "Of course! We can catch up on the work later, but the Master always has time for a mission or two. We do have other pokemon to pick up the slack and manage our duties in such times, so don't you worry," she winks. Well, if she says so…

"Anywho! Ampharos, you, Stephanie, and Serperior need to collect Budew from reception before heading to the Crawling Meadows. Oh, and word of advice, keep Budew safe; if he faints, you all have to come back—mission failed," Delcatty informs them, suddenly donning a more serious, directing tone.

"Cradily, here's the oran berry you, Seviper, Rotom, and Noivern will be delivering to that client at Hazy Heights—it's a little hard to see there, and many flying types are hidden among the clouds, so be careful!" Delcatty says, passing the goods to Cradily, who carefully puts it in her bag.

"And finally, Gwen, Hoopa, Dragalge and I are going to the Shadowy Temple—eye witness reports stated Scraggy, a small-time thief, went into hiding there." Huh, so my first 'real' mission will be…arresting a guy.

I almost want to remind her how apocalyptically bad I was at arresting people last time. Although, at least this time I doubt our pasts are intertwined without my knowledge.

"Everyone happy with their assignments? Well if not, too bad! That's the roll of the dice baby! We set off immediately!" Delcatty says after the debriefing.

And with that, we wish the other parties luck, depart, and are on our way to the Shadowy Temple.