I decided to cross the street toward the two houses, heading to the left one of the pair. The house had a dull, pale orange paint on its exterior. I curl my fingers on one hand and knock on the wooden door with the same one, hoping my friend would answer. Seconds later, I get a response from an orange-ish yellow tiger man.

Not Dr. Nekko.

"O-Oh, sorry, this isn't the house I was looking for." I apologized, chuckling nervously. The tiger simply looked at me with a groggy expression before closing the door. I put my hand against my face before shaking off the embarrassment and going to the house that was right next to that one. I knocked on that door, fully expecting the doc to open up. To my relief, a purple lizard man in a tidy lab coat unlocked the door before opening it. "There you are, doc!" I greeted my friend. "I was expecting you, Lighty. Come in, we have quite a bit to discuss," the doctor got inside as I followed, closing the door behind me.

"What's... What's going on? Why did my Mom send me here? Where is she?" I had a ton of questions to ask, but only asked the most important ones. "Lighty, this... may be a lot of information, but you know that necklace you wear?" Nekko asked. I held the crystal on my necklace and nodded. "It's actually a powerful artifact. So much so that the King wants it; Your mother and your sister want you and the artifact safe, which is why you were sent here." The doc explained. "...?" I was confused to say the least.

Before I could ask any questions, another knocking could be heard at the door. It sounded urgent, giving me a feeling of dread of what the person on the other side was going to say. Nekko went over and opened the door, seeing a bright blue Yoshi. It was my older sister, Alex. She had a worried expression as she looked at Nekko. She opened her mouth and said...

"Doc, we have a very serious problem!"