Katie and Tiff's eyes widened, and they looked at each other briefly in disbelief before turning to the young woman again. A perplexed Katie asked:
"Wait, what do you mean, 'back to normal'? You mean you were not originally a rat?
-No, I wasn't... I came here a few months ago to find out more about the scientist who used to live here. However, I didn't know this house wasn't completely abandoned... Some men in suits of armor found me and threw me in this machine, before turning me into a rat. I've been trying to escape ever since, to no avail, as the guards always caught me first... But fortunately, you made it stop! Thank you so much!"
With these words, the overjoyed young woman's eyes filled with tears, and she hugged Katie. The latter briefly backed away, surprised by what she just learned and the suddenn hug, but soon regained her comporsure and hugged the young woman back, petting her head to try and calm her down. The girls then used the machine again to transform a few nearby pebbles into clothes for the young woman to wear, learned her name was Lucy, and asked her a few questions:
"So you've been a rat for months? Man, I can't even begin to imagine how horrible it must have felt...
-It did feel horrible... I felt constantly dirty, couldn't eat much, and I wasn't even very fast, so I couldn't escape my captors. They'd grab me and use me as a guinea pig whenever they needed upgraded the machine, and the rest of the time, they left me to fend for myself. I've only been a rat for three months, but it felt like years...
-My god... Don't worry, we'll help you get out of there.
-You will? Thank you so much, my parents and sisters must be worried sick... But how did you enter unnoticed, and what are you doing here anyway?
-We also tried to investigate this house and the scientist, to try and get a good grade on our school's reports. We weren't aware someone else had disappeared trying to investigate, but it's a good thing we didn't: if we had known, we wouldn't have set foot in here and we wouldn't have found you, even if it was by pure chance. We entered through a broken window, and we didn't meet any guards on the way; quite frankly, I didn't even know there were guards until you told us.
-I see. That was very fortunate, but I fear leaving will not be so easy... What should we do?"
The three girls pondered their options, and eventually decided to...