Large groups of Drifblim floating through the sky was not unusual. What was, however, was how clustered they were, close enough that bumping into each other was inevitable. A big, purple cloud drifted through the sky with a construction of wood suspended beneath them so much smaller in comparison. Every so often a flock of flying type Pokémon would create enough of a current to correct their course as the Drifblim themselves had little control over direction.

Travel by air was not a new concept. For as long as Flying types have had wings those stuck on the ground have been hitching rides. But a ship moving through the skies, transporting whole crowds of people at a time? This was a recent advancement in travel and so it was that passage on the Sky Without was expensive and difficult to acquire.

Because of this, passengers expected a certain level of sophistication. They certainly did not expect the number of odd occurrences and strange behaviors that plagued the journey.

The first happened during the boarding of the Sky Without, as those first aboard were finding their rooms. The words "Holy shit, ain't this place ritzy?" were shouted down the corridors of first class.

The second was during lift off, as the Drifblim rose into the sky and took the ship with them. An Eevee shouted "Onwards!" to those assembled on the observation deck. A Riolu then loudly threatened to throw him off the side if he kept stealing her line.

Third happened on the deck of the ship's prow, where a Riolu leaned over the railing and taunted the sea below.

"Can't get me up here, can ya?! Stupid water!" the Riolu raved. This continued for some time. Then "There are a whole lot of tiny islands down there. Wait. The Dotted Sea. The Dotted Sea! It's called the Dotted Sea!" she exclaimed, this time to her fellow passengers.

The fourth happened in the port side lounge. However, through unspoken agreement, the unknowing participants and hapless witnesses never spoke of or acknowledged that as ever having happened, instead casting their eyes down to the floor if they met in the cramped hallways and shuffled pass. It was better that way.

Those who had ridden aboard the Sky Without before insisted to their fellow passengers that instances like this had never happened before, and the staff vowed that behavior such as this was unacceptable and would not be permitted to happen again. While the Sky Without would not suffer a drop in ticket booking, for the next several months attendants would be pestered by entitled passengers about whether they should expect any outbreaks in uncouth behavior.

...

Sol had to admit she hadn't been exactly sure what to expect. She was happy to discover the Sky Without wasn't some mad man's project cobbled together with plywood and wild theories. It was the real deal, and Lumen had gotten Sol the best room available. Not that Sol had spent much time there. Aside from the initial drop off of her belongings, Sol had spent most of the day outside on the upper deck. It wasn't a large space nor heavily populated as most of the passengers would go to the observation deck for a better view and a ceiling. This was much better than staring out a window, though.

The railing encircling the deck was higher than Sol was tall, made of sturdy metal bars implanted in the wooden deck. Sure, she could look through the bars, but the vantage sucked and she couldn't see anything clearly. So she climbed up, wedged her feet between the bars, and leaned over the side. Attendants would periodically come by and yell at her. That was fine. Having everyone mad at her felt oddly familiar, like an old, worn sweater that smelled a little funny but was warm and comfortable.

Sol liked it up here. The sky was freedom and filled her with a simplistic clarity. A full grin split her face as she watched the ocean pass by far beneath her, countless small islands breaking through the surface. Water could be pretty. As long as it kept its distance and didn't threaten to kill her.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Eevee asked, his was of saying 'that is extremely unsafe and I wish you'd get away from there'. Eevee wasn't afraid of flying, but he didn't tempt fate the way Sol did and kept a token distance between him and the edge.

"Perfectly!"

Sol leaned back and flashed Eevee a cocky grin. He frowned, looking anxious.

"Oh, come on! This is great! Every time I go anywhere I'm either walking or horribly injured. We're traveling in style now."

"I... guess this is pretty cool..."

"And cost us absolutely nothing! Now get over her and take a look before someone comes back to yell at me."

"I think I'm going to check out the rest of the ship before my interview with Lumen. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure. But let's avoid the lounge. Some weird stuff has been going on in there."

Sol hopped off the railing and they made their way into the ship's interior. Glowstones were embedded into the wooden walls of the corridors and cast a soft light across the ground.

"Hey, have you seen Riley since we got on board?" Sol asked. "He didn't even show up to watch the ship take off and I want to nag him about it."

"We could swing by his room and check on him. He and Eliza are on one of the lower floors."

"Uh. I don't want to talk to Eliza. She's been even worse than usual."

"I don't think she wanted to take an airship."

"Yet another reason why she's crazy 'cause this is awesome. But sure, let's go find Riley."

...

Lumen had and would always go the extra mile. An impromptu jaunt across the sea certainly was just another hurdle on the road to a great story. She kept telling herself this and stubbornly ignored the simmering annoyance she just couldn't seem to stamp out. It would be worth it. No one else had ever gotten a one-on-one interview with Sol. Her article would be the talk of the town.

But still, that feeling of annoyance persisted, and it was that feeling that drove Lumen to hunt down Sol and make damn sure she got the interview she needed before the ship landed. They had agreed to speak later in the day after some of the novelty of the airship had died down, but if Lumen's life was going to be interrupted in such a fashion then Sol could stand the inconvenience of a spontaneous change of schedule.

Lumen left her private room in the Sky Without, traversed four doors down the hallway before knocking on the one to her right. She waited. As much as Lumen hadn't wanted to be here, the Sky Without was surely something to behold. Even the hallways were richly decorated, the red carpet plush under her feet and the dark wooden walls themselves carved to resemble vines and blooming flowers. Glowstones, more than Lumen had ever seen in a single place, were embedded into the designs and cast a soft, soothing glow. Truly this was transport meant for only the most influential of Pokemon. Which was why certain persons weren't officially on board.

It wasn't like Lumen was doing anything wrong. Sure, she sneaked a few extra people on board. It was for a good cause! And she would have paid for it if the tickets had actually been available. So Eevee and that Riolu would do well to keep a low profile. Maybe Lumen should have told them the reason why they had to share a room with Sol and Eliza.

Meh. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Unless it did. But until then, it wouldn't hurt them.

Lumen knocked on the door again after a minute had gone by with no response. Maybe they weren't in there. Sol did seem eager to explore the ship. Once again beating down her annoyance, telling herself that this hadn't been planned until later and there was no reason for Sol to have waited in her room, Lumen left in search of the leader of team Wanderers.

No Riolu in the Observation deck. The port side lounge was strangely empty of anyone. Maybe Sol was in her friend's room on the lower floors? Lumen found a stairwell and went down to the second floor from the bottom, vaguely noticing as the decor went from extravagant to purely functional.

Lumen found the room that was, if anyone asked, Eliza's, but also happened to house a Riolu named Riley. Lumen was curious how these two fit into Sol's story. She'd find out soon enough. The Skitty knocked on the door.

A shuffling came from inside and the door cracked open an inch. An eye the colour of red river mud peered out. An awkward moment passed in which neither of them spoke up.

"Is Sol here?" Lumen finally said when she realized Riley wasn't going to say anything.

"No." The door began to creak closed.

"Do you know where she is?"

The door stopped only a hair from being closed completely. Anything the Riolu had planned to say was rendered moot when loud footsteps came running down the hall and Lumen jumped back in surprise as a hand suddenly came from beside her and slapped against the door, forcing it open a foot.

"You jerk, you completely blew us off!" Sol exclaimed, glaring at Riley who looked caught between bewilderment and terror. Lumen was completely ignored by the two.

"I- I uh..."

Sol made a disgusted sound. She pushed past Lumen and Riley into the room. Eevee walked up then, giving Lumen a friendly smile.

"Hello. This place is really nice. Thank you for getting us all tickets."

"My pleasure."

"The hell is wrong with you?" Sol said from just inside the room. A voice answered her from further away, presumably Eliza, but in a much quieter and more reserved tone. Lumen couldn't make out the individual words, but the general feeling was similar to what Lumen experienced whenever she spoke to sources who went on far too many unnecessary and unimportant tangents. Sol's response was much clearer.

"Whatever you say. But I'm taking Riley with me."

More words, quiet and reserved but with an edge of annoyance. Lumen tried to peek inside, but intentionally or not Riley was blocking her view through the doorway.

"Psh. If we were on a boat, you'd tell me to just tough it out, so... deal with it." A short pause. "Whatever."

Sol reentered the hallway and Riley closed the door behind her.

"Eliza's being weird and Riley's being just as weird, so we're on our own till we land."

"Is something wrong?" Eevee asked. Sol shrugged.

"If I may interject here," Lumen cut in, "I would like to begin our interview now."

"Why the jump in schedule?" Sol asked. Her head tilted to the side as she looked at Lumen, and the reporter couldn't pin down what that expression was.

"A story like this needs as much time as is reasonable to work out and write."

Sol bared her teeth in a smile and Lumen decided that her expression was amused. She wasn't certain though.

"Lead the way," Sol said with a wave of her hand"

"Wait. Do you need me there too?" Eevee asked.

"I'm thinking of doing separate interviews for now."

"Oh. Ok... I guess I'll explore the ship a bit more on my own..."

"I'll be done soon," Sol said.

Lumen led the way to her quarters, a small sitting room attached to an even smaller bedroom. They sat around a coffee table made of dark wood with ornately carved legs, Lumen on a plush easy chair and Sol sitting on a patterned love seat.

Sol toyed with a loose thread on the seat's arm as Lumen fiddled with her notes.

"Let's begin then." Lumen readied a pen over a blank page. "Sol of team Wanderers, apprenticed to Wigglytuff's Guild..."

"Nope."

"Hmm?"

"We're not a part of the guild anymore. They can screw off."

Less then 6 seconds and already diving right in.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"We haven't been with them since I got back. And when I say back I mean no longer purged from existence."

"Many would say the guild is the only reason you were able to succeed in your mission. Are you saying that the moment you got what you needed, you're reason for being in the past completed, you cut ties and quit?"

Sol's eyes narrowed. "You say that like I used them. I didn't even know who I was when I reached the past, never mind that I had a mission. Temporal portals can do that to you. I joined the guild to help out Eevee, and I didn't decide to leave the guild. The guild decided to kick out Eevee, and by extension our team, and we didn't feel like going back to that. They didn't believe us about Grovyle, some of them actually wanted to lock us up, and they weren't there for Eevee when he needed them."

Lumen's pen scratched furiously across the paper, nonsensical squiggles and lines that made up her shorthand but would be nearly indecipherable to anyone else. This wasn't intentional, but footprint runes took too long to write.

"Let's back up a bit. You joined the guild to help out Eevee?"

Sol blinked, clearly surprised that of all she said that was what Lumen decided to focus on.

"Kind of. It was kind of a bit more selfish than that, though. I didn't know anyone or anything, and I got food, shelter, and time to figure things out."

Lumen jotted down a reminder to ask Eevee about this later. The interview continued and Lumen was somewhat surprised at how forthcoming Sol was with information. Lumen had only known Sol a short time, but she was certain Sol would be the sort to dodge around questions. Sol was more than happy to go on about how horrible the guild was to them ("90 percent! Can you believe it?!"), her feelings toward her teammates ("Jak is awesome. Ren is annoying but still pretty great."), and details about explorations Lumen hadn't been able to get from anyone else ("And that's how my staff was destroyed for the second time.").

The only place where Sol not so subtly hiding information was what they were doing presently.

"What's bringing you east?"

"A really cool ship."

An unimpressed stare was Lumen's only response.

"Alright. I'm heading to one of the Lucario clans for some specialized training."

"What sort of training? Are your recent injuries related to it?"

"The sort I can't get anywhere else. Aura stuff."

"It's odd for a clan to train someone who isn't a member..."

"I am not and never will be a member. After everything I've done for the world, and by extension them, they can make an exception."

"And there's nothing more to it?"

"There is."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"I... things are getting weird for me right now. Not 'future portal and Time Gear' weird, but weird enough that I don't think I should be telling everyone right now. It's my business, anyway."

Sol refused to budge on this issue. Nothing Lumen said could change her mind, not even reminding her what the tickets had cost her to get. Perhaps Eevee would be more forthcoming...

"I have a question for you," Sol said as the interview was winding down. "You've asked me about everything except Dusknoir, Grovyle, and what went down in the future. I would have thought that would be something you'd focus on."

"I've published articles already about that part of The Time Gear Crisis."

"Uh-huh."

Lumen pretended to sort her papers as she thought of a good way to put this.

"I believe myself to already be well informed on exactly what happened. The general public believes this about themselves as well, and it won't be me to tell them otherwise. I don't do smear jobs. It attracts the ire of the public, some stories more than others."

Sol was silent for several seconds. Then she started to laugh, a quiet chuckle at first but quickly growing in volume until her eyes began to water. Lumen was a little unnerved.

"So tactfully put, but I would have just said it was safer to lie. That's what it all boils down to." Sol flashed her teeth in a feral grin. Lumen was feeling very unnerved now. "Write what you want. There's no such thing as the entire truth."

Sol left. Lumen decided she would never call on her for a follow up.