Eliza split her attention between the unrolled papers before her and watching Riley. He had always been quiet, but never before had she felt the silence so keenly. He didn't lift his eyes from the wooden, painted figures on the tables in a large, sprawling arrangement.

Eliza refocused on the paper. She read each sentence carefully so as to not miss a single detail. Her eyes flicked back up to Riley, still considering the figures. He moved one, painted dark blue, then went back to staring and considering. Eliza went back to her papers and quickly found her place.

This had... interesting implications. The problem was, as it always was with these sorts of things, figuring out what was truth, what was exaggeration, and what was outright lies. Eliza mentally flicked through what she knew about Sol, Eevee, Jak and Dhiren. It all seemed unlikely. But they hadn't been alone, that much she was certain had to be true. Hadn't Sol herself mentioned Dusknoir's name as if she knew him?

She needed more information. The article frequently referenced an earlier one, which would have come out before she and Riley left the clan. The clan didn't follow the half truths, out of context statements and tweaked stories that outsiders passed off as fact. She never read that particular one, but perhaps there was a copy around somewhere. It would have been pretty big news, after all.

Eliza shuffled up the pages of the newspaper and put them in the bag at her side. She didn't want Riley to see them, not yet. She had to sort everything out first. Never act before you have all the information. A code of the clan that Eliza was always careful to follow.

Riley didn't look up from the wooden soldiers, each one individual and different from the others. Most were carved Lucario, either painted blue or yellow, but those coloured green featured various Pokémon species. They were arranged amid a landscape of stacked books, scarves, cutlery, all placed to simulate a battle field where the opposed camps of yellow and blue waged battle.

A mug of untouched hot chocolate was rapidly turning cold near his elbow. Eliza wasn't surprised. The commissary at the clan offered a small selection of luxury items imported from the outside. The other Riolu loved these treats and would save up their hard earned tokens to trade in. Riley never did. He saved his tokens but never spent them, not on candy, games or other luxury items as the others, or on comfort items like softer blankets that weren't quite as warm, fancier cloaks with stitched designs, or pretty baubles that sparkled in the light. Nothing that didn't serve a clear purpose.

She had been hopeful when he finally traded in for the sets of wooden soldiers. Perhaps finally he'd waste a little time and play for once. A fool she was to expect a change without a motivator or reason behind it. No, the soldiers were just another form of training, working out strategies for anything from small skirmishes to full out wars. And then he'd work out the ensuing treaties. Then how they would inevitably be broken. Eliza never claimed that Riley didn't have a good imagination. She just wished he'd focus it elsewhere sometimes.

He took the clan's teachings a little too seriously. His was a respectable attitude in a Lucario, but Riley wasn't a Lucario. He denied himself his own childhood and very soon it would be too late to take it back. Eliza worried that in this she had failed him as his Theynin.

"I will return shortly," Eliza said. Riley looked up, a hint of worry on his face.

"Where are you going?" He didn't ask out of curiosity. Riley was never curious. He accepted things as they were without bothering with the why or the how. No, he just didn't want to be left alone with the others, all filled with agonizing worry and grief as they waited for their friend to wake up.

Riley couldn't understand them, even before Sol's fall. They were reckless, headstrong, emotional, full of hopes and dreams, young. Riley had never been young. He never allowed himself to be and his separate training served only to reinforce that standpoint.

"You will be fine," Eliza said. And it was true. Despite what Riley feared, those four meant them no harm. Riley would never be completely turned from his views, but perhaps spending some time with the others would make him come out of his shell, teach him that a little random and nonsensical wasn't something to abhor.

...

"Eliza!"

Riley looked up from the table. He heard the sound of paws hitting the floor, claws skittering on wood for traction and a soft 'whoof' as they bumped into the wall. Eevee charged down the stairs of the hospit, nearly barreling down a surprised Shaymin, his head swiveling this way and that as he searched for the Lucario.

"Where'd Eliza go?" Eevee asked when he couldn't spot her.

"Out," Riley answered.

"Out where? When is she coming back?!"

Eevee's words were hurried, almost panicked, and it was making Riley feel very uncomfortable. He toyed with one of the wooden figures, a blue Lucario with a spot of uneven painting across its chest. There was one more blue than yellow figurines, so Riley believed it had been rejected but somehow found its way into the box with the others. He could never figure out a way to make it fit into the array.

"I don't know." There was a short pause, then Riley figured he was probably looking for a bit more information than that. "She left not that long ago. I am not sure how long she will be."

"But Sol woke up!"

Riley very carefully put the figurine back on the table, willing his hands not to shake. Why did she have to wake up now, the very first time in days that Eliza decided to leave? What was he supposed to do? Go up to see her? Stay where he was? Go track down Eliza?

He didn't move from his chair. Eevee looked up at him with big eyes. What was he waiting for? What did he want him to do? Why did he think that Riley knew anything? Why didn't he go find Dhiren or that Charmander, Jak? Come to think of it, where were they, anyway?

"We need to get back to her!" Eevee finally said and ran back up the stairs. Riley hesitated before following at a much slower pace.

The hospit was quiet, and while the downstairs held a few Pokémon waiting for minor care, the isolated village had no one with serious enough injuries to be given a room upstairs for prolonged care. Except for Sol. Of course she was the only one crazy enough to walk off a cliff.

And Riley was the only one stupid enough to let her fall.

No, no, don't think about that.

Riley stopped outside of Sol's room. He could hear Eevee and Sol talking inside. She sounded annoyed. And mad. Really mad. Or maybe just frustrated. Was there a difference? Riley did not want to go in there. He doubted Sol wanted him there either. He was the one who let her fall. He flinched away when he should have pulled her back, dropped her when he should have held on tight. Sol probably hated him even more than she did before. Riley had felt her rage when it was over an imagined slight and he couldn't even guess what it would be like now that there was an actual, real reason behind it.

Riley couldn't make himself go in. He turned to leave just as a certain Charmander came charging down the hall and forcefully pushed past him. Jak. All violence and impatience, but there was a certain barbaric logic behind her actions. Riley could at least understand her when he put his mind to it.

Dhiren wasn't far behind Jak. He nodded at Riley as he passed. The Cubone was much calmer than his companions. He actually reminded Riley of the older Lucario of the clans, the ones who saw more through the aura than they did through any of their other senses. His manner would lull Riley into a false sense of security, then snap him back when he realized that this Pokémon was not one of the respected clan elders. Familiarity from a stranger made Riley uncomfortable.

A lot of things made Riley uncomfortable lately.

"Hey, you!"

With a start Riley realized that Jak had pushed him in front of the door, directly in sight of those inside. Sol was squirming in her bed, trying to prop herself up and failing miserably with her arm tied by her head.

"Eevee won't say anything, but how about you tell me what the Hell is going on."

Riley felt a spike of nerves and drew on the aura by instinct. With surprise he saw that Sol's aura wasn't consumed by red as he expected. The red diamonds had actually shrunk to no more than small dots on a sea of dark blue, the purple ribbons swirling tranquily.

"I- I don't think..." Riley took a breath to calm himself. Sol wasn't attacking him, wasn't throwing blame at him, wasn't accusing him. "Eliza can explain it better than I."

"What the Hell is so complicated about this that no one can seem to explain it to me!" Sol exclaimed.

"It's... a hard thing to believe," Eevee said. "I don't really understand it myself."

"Psychic trickery," Jak growled.

"Ok, now not only did I fall off a damned mountain, which I cannot even remember by the way," Riley felt relief followed strongly by guilt that she did not remember his failure, "but now you lot are refusing to tell me too?"

"We didn't see you fall," Eevee said. "We were all still asleep. Riley was the one who woke us up."

Sol released a frustrated breath and dropped her head back down on her pillow. She set one tired, blue eye on Riley. "I don't suppose you'll be telling me anything."

"Eliza can explain it better than I," Riley repeated, feeling foolish. He really was useless, wasn't he? He couldn't hold on to Sol, couldn't stop her from falling, couldn't even tell her what happened. In truth, he didn't even know. He saw the green threads infecting her aura like a sickness, the blank look in her eyes suddenly turning to terror, Sol falling... He had told his Theynin everything and a faraway expression had clouded her expression.

And the conclusion she came to? That Sol had been tricked into walking off that cliff. Whatever that meant. Riley thought Eliza may have gave Eevee a bit more information. It was Eevee's teammate that this concerned. But how could anyone be tricked into such a thing? Sol hadn't even seemed to know where she was... and what about her aura? At least it was back to normal now.

Sol kept staring at Riley with her odd, odd eye. Riley squirmed under her gaze and felt relieved when she finally closed her eyes with an exasperated sigh. Then they snapped back open. She looked at him with questioning confusion.

"Did you wrestle a bear?"

In all his life, Riley never expected to be asked that. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, then quickly left down the hall.

Mister L: Now that you mention it, it does make me think of Portal 2! I love that game.

ZoruaInTheShadowsformerlyknownasUnamedGenericGuest: About time you got an account!

Original Unnamed: I never considered that anyone who hasn't played the game was reading this. I'd expect you were lost on a lot of things.

coaster3000: Nothing like falling off a cliff to improve relationships.

Taeniaea: Your name has a lot of vowels. That is all.

Last Guest: It is really hard keeping all of you straight. I must be a better writer than I thought if all the pain felt real. And don't worry about Eevee. Things will get better for him eventually.

dna6123: Chicken and mayonnaise are delicious and there is nothing unnatural about a chicken salad sandwich. Culinary tastes aside, I don't plan on making this fic 'creepy weird' as you put it. And the romance angle is still undecided. When I started this fic I had no intention of writing any romance and I am still planning with this mindset, and if I do end up changing my mind, emphasis on if, it will remain platonic.