Sol stared at the ceiling and absently kicked her feet. She was second in the line up, right behind the Machoke sitting opposite her who fidgeted anxiously in his seat. Sol would be happy to finally have her casts removed but wasn't bothered by the wait. Here in the Ragsport clinic's waiting room, Sol didn't have to do anything but sit there. Even thinking was optional.

"Sol."

She blinked and refocused on her surroundings.

"Sol, they're calling you," Eevee said from beside her.

It wasn't until then that Sol realized the Machoke was gone and a very tired looking Medicham holding a clipboard was standing at the door to the office. Sol got up from her seat and Eevee helped her walk over.

"Are you Sol?" the Medicham said and frowned at Eevee.

"No, but-"

"Wait outside," she said, gesturing with her clipboard for Sol to enter.

"But-"

"Patients only."

The two explorers shared a look, then Sol shrugged and went inside. The Medicham shut the door in Eevee's face quite forcefully and flipped through the papers on her clipboard.

"You're late."

"What?" Sol asked, confused. They had just gotten to Ragsport that day, and the clinic had been the first place they stopped at.

"The letter said you would arrive six days ago, with a possible difference of three days. You are late. Now sit down."

She pushed Sol onto a cot at the side of the room, which was little more than a thinly padded bench. The Medicham didn't so much as glance at Sol. She instead focused on her clipboard, flipping through the papers and making the occasional mark with a quill pen.

"You suffered a fall while attempting to climb Sky Peak mountain. In the winter." The words 'like an idiot' were unspoken but heavily implied. "This resulted in three broken ribs, a broken tibia, and a broken humerus. You spent two months recovering in Shaymin village, then approximately another month on the road here. I assume all of this information is correct."

She didn't wait for an answer, reached behind her desk and pulled out a foot long saw.

"The hell is that for?!"

"Riolu and Lucario heal quickly. Side effects of the aura. The casts need to come off. Hold still."

It was a small while later that Sol emerged from the office, hurrying through the waiting room with her eyes pointed straight ahead. She didn't slow for Eevee who had to jog to keep up on his shorter legs.

"Never again," Sol said. "Never a freakin' 'gain."

"What happened?"

"The single most terrifying experience of my life." Sol pushed open the doors of the clinic and stepped out onto the straight. Ragsport could easily fit eight Treasure Towns within its boundaries and still have room to spare. It sat right on the eastern coast and saw constant traffic in and out. Anyone wanting to travel to Pokemon Square, and by extension Eliza's clan, had to pass through the city.

Sol stopped in the center of the street. Ragsport was just so... full. So many people, and they all had places to go, things to do, too busy to pay much attention to some Riolu. It left one feeling removed and isolated, but also free. No one cared what she did, so she could do anything. Sol wasn't special here.

A Combusken bumped into Sol in his way past and didn't look back or apologize. Sol smiled. The following she had on the trip here had been fun, but anonymity was a fresh experience.

"To the post office now, right?" Sol said. Ren and Jak knew where they were heading, and hopefully Ren would have sent something to let know how they were doing.

"Yeah, but, hmmm," Eevee bit his lip. "I'm not sure where that is. This place has changed a lot."

"You've been here before?"

"Once, on my way to Treasure Town. That was a long time ago, though."

"Nothing like good ole aimless wandering," Sol declared and set off down a random street.

"We could ask for directions."

"But aimless wandering though."

Eevee shook his head with a smile and followed after her.

...

They were late. Eliza had expected that, but at this point it was getting ridiculous. The post office was nearly empty and would be closing soon, Espeon was waiting for them at the inn they had found, and she and Riley could only sit and meditate for so long. She would have sent Riley back to wait with Espeon is she wasn't so worried about the thought of him alone in this city.

When Sol finally made her way through the door with Eevee, Eliza was debating between a speech or silent disappointment. Doing nothing would only encourage this sort of behaviour. Except Sol was smiling. A real smile, not an amused smirk or an excited grin, but an unwavering, genuine smile born of contentment rather than momentary highs.

With everything happening in the poor girl's life, a few hours wait was a fair trade for that.

The two stopped just inside the door, exchanged a few brief words, and then Eevee approached the counter while Sol wandered over to Eliza and Riley nonchalantly. She was still smiling, unconcerned, swept her eyes over the two of them briefly before leaning against a wall and crossing her arms, now free of their casts.

"I trust all is well?" Eliza said.

Sol looked at her from the corner of her eye but didn't say a word. A silence remained between them, not cold or hostile, just empty. Eliza had a hard time determining just what Sol was thinking by her actions alone and so she called upon the aura.

The navy of Sol's aura was lighter than usual in places, turning a more even, plainer blue, while in others in had darkened and shifted into a warm, cozy brown that webbed in between the red diamonds, shrunk down to mere specks. All in all, it spoke of someone very calm with their surroundings. Good, but it told Eliza nothing about what Sol was thinking about the people around her. Unless she was purposely ignoring them and all thoughts of them, like a petty child pretending a sibling didn't exist out of spite.

"The city is too big," Riley suddenly said. "Too many people, too many goals, how does one know which lead to follow when unity is impossible to achieve?"

"Why does that have to be a bad thing?" Sol asked. Eliza supposed it was just her that Sol was ignoring. "Getting lost can be just what a person needs, and there's no pressure when no one knows who you are."

Riley squinted at her. "But what is a person without a purpose? Existing for the sake of existing?"

"You sound way too much like Ren." Sol chuckled and shook her head. "And as much as I would love to explain the beautiful, poetic point I was trying to make, I forgot."

Eevee returned then, looking relieved, and pulled a stack of papers from his satchel.

"Aren't we popular," Sol said. "Who's been sending us so much mail? Who even knew we were coming here?"

"It's just the letter from Ren, but we know their ok now!" Eevee smiled.

"Did he send us a freaking novel?" Sol asked, reaching for the papers. "It'd be just like Ren to write like he speaks, and we're going to have to shift through pages about the philosophy behind mail carriers just to..." Sol trailed off, holding the pages of Ren's letter and staring down at them with blank, unfocused eyes.

Eliza quickly called on the aura. Sol's aura had gone completely still, the colours bleeding together into an unintelligible soup. Then Sol blinked and it was over, her aura snapping back to normal with clearly defined colours and boundaries.

"Sol! Did you have a vision!" Eevee asked excitedly. "What did you see? What are they doing?"

Sol didn't say anything. Very slowly and carefully, she handed the letter back to Eevee without looking at him, and backed away. Outwardly she appeared calm, if distant and unfocused, but her aura was spinning rapidly, the red spiked and the blue darkened, and cracks of orange broke through from underneath like fissures in the Earth.

"Sol?"

Sol kept backing away from them, eyes staring off into a distance that no other could see. Her back struck the door and she jumped into action, spinning around and throwing it open before sprinting out into the street.

"Sol!"

Eevee ran after her, followed by Eliza with Riley taking up the rear. They made it outside just in time to see Sol disappear around the side of a building. They gave chase. Eliza easily outpaced Eevee, soon leaving him behind to pleadingly shout at Sol to come back.

It was getting late, but in the city of Ragsport business never fully halted. Enough Pokemon crowded the streets that Eliza had to slow down to dodge them. Sol didn't bother. She pushed right through them, ignoring their indignant shouts and leaving Eliza a trail of angry Pokemon to follow.

Even then it would have been easy to lose track of Sol. Eliza had only ever briefly entered cities before. She wasn't used to them, didn't know the intricacies of how they worked, couldn't read the patterns in the flow of people, while Sol seemed to be able to slip into their midst without a hitch. And so it was the Eliza had to rely on the aura, a difficult thing to do when surrounded by so many in such a relatively small place, but Eliza kept her senses attuned to the distinctive feel of Sol's aura, and like a compass needle pointing the way, she kept on Sol's trail even after the Riolu had left her sight.

Eliza felt Sol's aura come to a stop. She slowed her own pace and tried to get a read on how Sol was doing as she approached. She was awash of pain, grief and guilt, entwining around her in a bubble of anguish that became stronger the nearer Eliza became, though the specifics behind the emotions were a mystery.

Eevee had thought Sol had had a vision. If that were the case, just what had Sol seen? Given there present situation, any manner of horribleness was possible to befall the group. But if Sol had seen what was going to happen, wouldn't she be doing everything in her power to prevent it?

Eliza found Sol alone in a cramped alley, curled up with her knees pulled into her chest. Sobs wracked her body and her shaking hands couldn't stay still, hugging her legs tighter against her, braced flat against the ground, touching her face, rubbing her head.

Sol was terrified. Eliza had only ever seen Sol turn to anger rage, never to fear and grief. She would have expected Sol to jump on the offensive and march against whatever would dare to threaten her team, not breakdown in tears.

Then again, how well did Eliza know Sol? She wasn't even sure how old Sol was. Sol was larger and remarkably taller than the average Riolu, making Eliza think she, at the very least, had to be a few years older than Riley and ready to evolve at the drop of a hat. But her markings were very juvenile, her yellow collar no thicker than a finger and her spikes nearly nonexistent, like a toddler. Sol could be fifteen or twenty-three and Eliza would believe it, and either was still quite young. Too young.

Eliza walked over and sat down beside her. Sol choked out another sob. Eliza was silent for a long while before putting an arm around her. Sol didn't react before slowly leaning into the embrace.