Well is this ain't just one more bucketful dumped on the mountain of shit I have to deal with.

Sol glared at the sky. Eliza had completely over reacted after the incident at the police station. Sol couldn't even throw up and nearly pass out for no reason without the Lucario thinking that it was another assassination attempt. When exactly would someone have been able to poison her?

At any rate, Sol hadn't been in any shape to protest when Eliza had taken her away. That hadn't stopped her from trying. It didn't make any difference, not that she had expected it to. It was done more out of habit and stubborn pride, but it was becoming exhausting to keep up. She was just so tired of constant fighting.

"Why does Eevee have to stay behind?" Sol asked. The question was serious this time, not just a way to spout her anger. She had recovered from whatever had come over her at the police station and was ready to hear an actual answer this time.

"An Eevee has no place in the clan."

"That's what you keep saying but you're not explaining anything." Sol did her best to keep her voice level instead of instantly resorting to shouting. Sol kicked a pebble laying at the side of the road. She wasn't sure what Eliza had intended by bringing her all the way out here to the outskirts of the town. Was she planning on dragging Sol all the way to the clan? Would Sol really be surprised if she had?

"Outsiders are not permitted to stay within the clan, Cheynin. There will be some that object to you, but given the circumstances you should be permitted as you are a Riolu."

Sol wanted to get angry again. She held herself back and tried to think this through calmly. Calm was not strong her strong suit though and she couldn't stop the bitterness and bite that seeped into her words.

"How long do you expect this to take, exactly?"

"I do not know."

"Not even a best guess? Are we talking weeks? Months?"

"I do not know. All I can say is that you must come now. We cannot afford to waste anymore time with your antics."

Sol's frustration rose. She was trying here. Couldn't she at least get a little credit for that?

"I'm not leaving until I talk to Eevee."

"Cheynin, we cannot-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. Time is of the essence and all that. But, seeing as nothing has happened since my fall, I don't see how a few more hours here is going to matter."

Eliza gave Sol a hard stare for a long moment. Sol crossed her arms and stared right back. Riley shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably several metres away.

"A few hours," the Lucario finally conceded. "That is all we can afford."

Sol nodded. She could agree to that for now. Whether or not she would agree to that a few hours from now was anyone's guess.

...

They were gone. Eevee bit his lip nervously. Where was Sol? They had finally released him after a very long questioning that kept looping back on itself, but his partner was nowhere to be found. Had she left without even saying goodbye?

Eevee sat out side the police station without an idea of what to do next. Being back in his home town brought back too many memories, and for the first time in a long time he found himself without any of his teammates. It was enough to make him want to cry.

In a daze, Eevee got up and started walking without a destination in mind. He earned stares and whispers from several of the locals he passed. It would seem word of his return had gotten around. It was like he was a little kid again. After everything that had happened in the Split Krow, he had suddenly become aware of how people reacted to him. He noticed the disapproving looks, the scowls, the muttered words. A thug from a family of thugs. His mother had been right when she said they had just been waiting for him to slip up and prove their expectations right. As a kid it had made him feel little better than garbage and it had the same effect now.

That night made Eevee realize so many things. Before, he had seen criminals in romanticized light. His father's stories had painted a pretty, idealized picture filled with suave charm and dark nobility. None of it had been true. Reality contained more sadistic cruelty and cowards who ran without helping. Criminals aren't to be idolized. They were to be feared. Eevee saw what happened when you tried to stand your ground. You were beaten until you couldn't stand back up. He saw what happened when you ran. You left someone else, either a stranger or someone you cared about, to be hurt instead.

It was ironic, really. The event that forced him to this realization was also what made the town certain that Eevee was destined to become a criminal himself. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, after all. He was the young thug who stole from the market, broke windows, caused trouble unending with that no good brother of his and now look at what he did to his poor mother. It was all his fault, after all. That was the story they told, that he had sneaked out to a bar in the middle of the night and picked a fight with a bunch of strangers.

Eevee made took a sharp turn down a side street. It wasn't right what happened to her. But at least he could show her that they had all been wrong. He hadn't turned out cruel and rotten. He wasn't a coward who stood by and let others get hurt, either. Not anymore. He was an explorer. He helped people. He brought down bad Pokémon like those Pinsirs and that Scizor. He wouldn't end up like his father, selling illegal contraband from the back of a bar.

...

And... Eevee was gone. They finally let him go and it just had to be right after they had left. Sol ground her teeth and didn't spare Eliza so much as a glance. If given the chance Sol was certain that Eliza would use this as an excuse to leave early. Sol marched down the street as if she knew where she was going. She kept this act up for several blocks with Eliza and Riley trailing behind her. Sol thought she must have appeared confident enough for neither of them to attempt to interfere.

Sol scanned the street in front of her. The buildings in this part of the town seemed older and of a different style than the others. Instead of being built in the shape of a Pokémon, they were simpler and less colourful but featuring rather detailed carvings around the doorways and window frames. She had no idea where she was, nothing looked familiar-

Wait. Something big and green was coming into view, something she would recognize anywhere. Sol quickened her pace until she reached a point where the street opened up into a large, open plaza thronged with a variety of Pokémon. In the center of the plaza stood a large, bronze statue of an Alakazam, Charizard and Tyranitar together in a battle ready pose. But what really caught Sol's eye was a very familiar shop. While the base of the structure was in the local style of unpainted wood and stone, the overhanging roof was brilliant green and shaped like the head of a Kecleon.

Sol's head swiveled as she caught sight of something else familiar out of the corner of her eye. Yes, over there looked like a Kangaskhan storage. And over there, that building looked quite similar to the dojo back in Treasure Town. Hmm... Sol wasn't sure if she should find this strange or not. This did give her a good starting point, though. She approached the Kangaskhan storage first.

"Excuse me," Sol said. The Kangaskhan behind the counter perked up and faced her. She looked older than her counterpart in Treasure Town, but had the same peaceful and caring air. "I'm new in town and looking for someone, and I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. Do you happen to know..."

Damn it. Sol assumed Eevee had gone to his mother's home, he had mentioned wanting to see her, but Sol had no idea what her name was. She hadn't thought to ask. And it must have been years since Eevee had lived here, again, Sol had never thought to ask when he had moved, and it was possible no one here would remember him.

"... of an Eevee who used to live in this town? Has a Flareon brother named Adren?" That, at least, Sol remembered from Espeon. "I'm looking for his mother's home but have no idea-"

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" The Kangaskhan asked, her eyes narrowing slightly as she regarded the Riolu before her.

"Oh, I'm Sol." No response from the Kangaskhan, so Sol continued. "I'm a member of team Wanderers and-"

"You're a rescue team member?!" The Kangaskhan exclaimed. Her eyes lit up, then quickly darkened. "And you're hunting down Adren's brother. So, what's this one done?"

"Nothing! I'm just trying to find out where he went-"

"Don't I have a right to know of dangerous criminals roaming about in my town?!" The Kangaskhan screeched. Sol was getting very sick of being cut off and she was beginning to feel the same, though mush milder, dizziness from earlier. "What has he done? And why did he come back here?! Oh, he must be on the run. That whole family is nothing but rotten-"

"Shut. Up." Sol hissed at the Kangaskhan. Oh, it felt good to be the one doing the cutting off. The look on the Kangaskhan's face was also extremely satisfying. "Stop insulting my friend, who, by the way, is the best person I have ever met, certainly a better person than me." Sol placed her hands on the counter and leaned closer to the shop owner. This would have worked a lot better if the Kangaskhan's height didn't tower over Sol's, but after doing nothing to stop the police officers from insulting Eevee she wasn't going to let anyone else slander her kindhearted friend. "Just tell me what I want to know so I can be on my way."

The Kangaskhan sniffed and eyes her distastefully. Sol took her exploration badge from a side pocket of her pack and pretended to idly play with it before pinning it to her pack's shoulder strap. Saying she was a part of a team seemed to move things along before and the dizziness, while not nearly as strong as it had been back at the police station, wasn't going away.

"I see how it is. You're not part of a real rescue team, you're just part of one of those groups that likes to push Pokémon around. Well I'm certainly no push over and will not stand for that sort of thing! It figures that thug would return with a gang-"

A hot blast of yellow light erupted around Sol's hands and the Kangaskhan screeched loudly and jumped backwards, tripped over a box and landed with a thump. Sol leaned farther over the counter, now decorated with scorch marks and splinters, and glared at the frightened Pokémon. A fierce buzzing sounded in Sol's ear.

"I told you not to insult my friend, and you decide to insult my entire team. Pretty fucking stupid of you. Now, hurry up and tell me where to find Eevee, since you seem to be such a fucking fountain of information about his family, then go read a newspaper. I recommend one of Lumen's articles."

The Kangaskhan stammered out directions. When she was done, Sol turned and saw she had the attention of the entire plaza. Eliza and Riley were watching, the former with cold disappointment and the latter with barely contained horror. Sol flipped them all off and stormed away. She was done with this town. It was no wonder that Eevee had decided to leave.

The directions Sol had been given were simple and easy to follow. As she went on her way, however, Sol idly wondered if she had been lied to out of spite. At least the dizziness had suddenly stopped. The street she was on was gradually worsening in condition, the buildings surrounding her were crammed together with a few looking to be in pretty bad shape with peeling paint and missing shingles. While the street wasn't any more or less crowded than anywhere else in Pokémon Square, the people as a whole moved quite differently. They seemed to be in much more a hurry, and when they saw Sol they moved even faster. Sol was eyed with much more hostility and suspicion than she had been anywhere else. It took her some time to realize that they were staring at her badge. No love for exploration teams here?

Still, no one bothered her and Sol made it to her destination. And it was... rather underwhelming. It was just an apartment complex, perhaps a bit better maintained then some of the places she had passed, but it didn't look like much. Sol stared at the building, not quite sure what to do next. The Kangaskhan said that this was the building, but if she knew which apartment it was she hadn't told Sol. So, should she just start knocking on doors?

"Well, look who it is!"

Sol jumped, startled, then looked up to see a bright orange and yellow head shouting at her from an apartment window on the second floor of the complex.

"If it isn't my little brother's little friend!" the Flareon laughed. "Where's Vee now? Has he finally calmed down?"

"I don't know. I came here looking for him."

"Well come on up! I'm sure I can help you out, but first I want to hear all about what my little brother has been getting up to."

Sol hesitated and looked behind her to see that Eliza and Riley were no where in sight. They really must not have liked that debacle in the plaza. Something about this guy was setting off all of Sol's warning bells. While she certainly didn't think of him as an outstanding citizen before, right then she was getting some very bad vibes from the Flareon. Sol didn't need Jak to tell her that this was a bad idea.

"No, I think I'm good out here," she called up to him.

"Hold on a sec," he said after a moment's pause. His head disappeared back inside and the window closed.

Sol flexed her claws without noticing she was doing it. She just wanted to find Eevee so why did that have to be so hard?

"Aeylin!"

She turned to see Riley sprinting down the street towards her. He looked downright terrified and Eliza was still nowhere in sight.

"We have to go! Right now!" Riley exclaimed when he reached her. His eyes flicked nervously from Sol to the ground to up the street and back again.

"Just calm down," Sol said. She wasn't up to dealing with Riley's constant anxiety right then.

"Something isn't right. It's dangerous, I can feel it and so can my Theynin-"

"Where is she, by the way? Just what was holding you two up?"

Riley suddenly grabbed her arm and attempted to physically drag her back down the street. Sol was shocked that he of all people would try something like that.

"What that Hell are you doing?!" Sol protested and tried to dig her feet in. It didn't do her much good. While only a few inches taller than her, he was a whole lot stronger. It was easy to forget that this bundle of nerves had been training as a warrior his whole life.

"It's not safe!" Riley insisted, his yell punctuated by a sudden gout of flames that burst forth from the apartment complex.

...

Eevee approached his the front door of his child hood home. So far everything was much as he remembered it. The lawn was neatly trimmed, the small garden was free of weeds and a few flowers grew in the soil, though significantly fewer than were planted if he had to guess. No matter how much effort his mother put in, it never showed. She didn't have much of a green thumb.

He knocked on the door and waited. When it finally opened, he put on his biggest smile.

"Hey, mom! I'm home!"

Ralmon: Thanks for leaving the review! It has been a long time since I had updated so I'm sure quite a few of my readers forgot what was going on in this fic. I hadn't really realized until after reading your review that this fic had taken something of a darker turn last chapter that is in stark contrast to the lighter humour I usually write. I can't say if it's starting the new trend, but considering that they're going up against a literal nightmare, there are going to be some darker themes, I would think. I hope I can continue to entertain, even if it is only a little bit!

CupcakePride101: Thanks a bunch for the reviews! I take pride in my characters as they are the focus in my writing, and I love to hear that other people are enjoying them as well! As for Grovyle, I suppose I interpreted his character a bit differently. He always seemed a bit colder to me, and was quite willing to abandon the protagonist in the future and only says that they would have been 'useful' to bring along. It also takes a certain kind of person to decide that he's fine with wiping an entire world from existence, no matter the state it may be in. Sol's ability to aggravate and antagonize anyone also played a huge part in how Grovyle acted, not to mention it appeared to him that she had abandoned her friends which made him much less likely to try to play nice. I agree with you when you said that he is kind when you get to know him, but Sol was completely unwilling to know him, so she only got to see his snarky and rude side. Eevee was the only one who actually tried to reach out to him. While this is how I always interpreted his character, there has to be a million different ways people can view him, and I always find it interesting to hear how other people see a character. Thanks again for the review!