The aura of the city was noisy and difficult to interpret. Too many people feeling too many things with no awareness of how their emotions permeated the very air around them. There was one thing that stood out. A frantic pulsing, something any Lucario would recognize with even the barest amount of understanding of aura. A Riolu was calling for help.

Eliza ran through the city, tracking the source of the distress call. It didn't seem to be moving, but she could determine nothing else through the white noise of the Square. Eliza couldn't imagine what kind of situation Riley could be in that he couldn't handle himself. This type of call was usually used by very young Riolu that got themselves cornered by a wild Pokémon, lost in the woods, or injured and unable to move. Riley was old enough to take care of himself, so whatever was going on had to be serious. It was extremely worrying and Eliza had to continuously remind herself that Riley was perfectly capable of handling himself. This had the opposite of the intended effect, since that had to mean that whatever was going on was of a level that not even Riley, the strongest Cheynil Eliza had ever met and currently just a hair away from becoming a Theynil himself, could face without fearing for his own well being.

While running, another aura caught her attention. It was familiar and radiated worry, moving in the opposite direction on a parallel street. Eliza made the quick decision to cut down a side alley to intersect with the source of this aura, passing a distressed Eevee with nothing more than a flick of her wrist to tell him to follow her. He paused for a moment, not expecting to just happen across one of the people he was searching for.

"Hey, Eliza! Wait!" he called, sprinting after her.

Eliza maintained a large lead and Eevee was struggling to keep sight of her. She couldn't afford to slow down, however. Whatever was going on with Riley, time could be a factor to if he got out of it without harm. For all Eliza knew, he could have been dying slowly in an alley. Damn it, she was supposed to be protecting him! His abilities were vital to the clan's continued strength, so much so that they broke the rules of the trial to send Eliza along with him.

When Riley came into sight, however, she was surprised to see him simply standing in the center of the street, seemingly unharmed and continuing to send out his distress call. He stopped when he saw Eliza approaching, slower and with more caution now that she was there and saw nothing wrong, and relief flooded his features.

"I don't know what to do," he stated as his version of an explanation.

So what was his big emergency? Neither of them appeared to have been harmed and there were no enemies that she could see. A trick of some kind? No, the pulse had been coming from the Riolu in front of her, and aura was not something that could be faked or replicated.

"What happened," Eliza said, her tone turning it from a question into a demand. She scanned up and down the streets, tense and on guard. Riley would never had sent out such a cry for help if it wasn't serious. He better not have.

"Sol isn't responding."

"Was she hurt?" Eliza asked and turned her full attention to Sol. Even upon closer examination no physical injuries could be found. But what Riley said was true. She wasn't moving, she didn't acknowledge Eliza even when she stood directly in front of her, and she kept her hands pressed against her face as if she were fighting back some sort of pain.

"A Gardevoir screamed at her."

A psychic attack? Could that explain the stillness? Riley was right to-

"I believe it really unnerved her."

What?

"Eliza!" a voice called out. Eevee had finally caught up and ran down the street towards them. His relief was obvious when he saw that Sol was with there as well.

"Sol! I had no idea where you went!" Eevee smiled widely though he was a little out of breath. "Is everything all right?"

Sol's statue impression immediately dropped. Her hands fell to her side and she turned to face her friend. She looked rather out of sorts, and while she was moving again, her eyes seemed to have trouble focusing on any one of them.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I was, just, umm…. Yeah."

"This was your emergency?" Eliza asked Riley sternly. Sol's strange mood shifts were nothing new and using aura to summon help was the Riolu equivalent of screaming bloody murder. It was a cry for immediate help against physical danger.

"Well, um…" Riley broke eye contact and looked off to the side. A beat passed before he perked up and looked back up at her. "I saw it again, the green threads that were on Sol's aura. Only this time they were on another who attacked Sol earlier. With her like this, she wouldn't be able to defend herself."

"What?!" Eevee exclaimed. "Are you ok?! What happened?"

"We can't afford to wait any longer. Sol, come-"

"Hey Eevee, where does your mom live?" Sol asked cutting Eliza off. "I was looking around but no one would tell me, then I ran into your brother and he said a lot of weird things then kinda collapsed, so we had to bring him to the hospital, then a Gardevoir screamed at me, and after all that I still don't know."

"Adren what?!"

"Now isn't the time for this!" Eliza declared. At this rate it would be faster to simply throw Sol over her shoulder and start running.

"How about we head on over to meet your mom and I can tell you all about it."

Sol put a hand on Eevee's shoulder and firmly pushed him back down the street he had come from. Eliza grabbed onto Sol's arm before she could go more than few steps away.

"Don't ignore me! This is serious!"

Sol looked back up at Eliza and gave her a hard, empty stare. For a reason that Eliza couldn't figure out, she found herself becoming unnerved. This wasn't the expression of an angry, defiant Cheynin, nor of a sad, scared child, nor even of a cocky explorer. It made Eliza hesitate. That was enough for Sol to wrench her arm back and continue on her way. Eevee went with her but he kept throwing nervous glances back at her. Riley paused to give Eliza a shrug before jogging to fall in step beside the two. Was it that obvious to him that Eliza wasn't going to be able to convince her?

…

Sol was scaring him. If she was trying to stay upbeat to keep Eevee from worrying, she was failing miserably. This false cheer was extremely unnerving. She described what had happened after they were separated, her jovial tone changing what would have already been a worrying tale into a disturbing one. Everything that had happened in the past, everything that was continuing to happen, the strain of it all was immense. Sol wasn't exactly known for handling emotional stress well, either. Eevee remembered what had happened in Brine Cave months ago, how suddenly violent Sol became, and dreaded the thought of anything like it happening for a second time.

And then Sol got to the point in the story when she met the Gardevoir.

"Wait! You met a Gardevoir at the hospital? What did she look like?"

"I wouldn't really say we met. She looked at me and started screaming before up and disappearing."

Sol ran into a Gardevoir who worked at the Grove and suddenly teleported away. Eevee had been right when he had assumed that Gardevoir frantically barging into his mother's home had something to do with Sol.

"And Adren… is he ok?"

"He didn't seem to be dying. Just crying a lot. I don't know."

A long, awkward silence fell between them. Eevee didn't know how to fill it.

"So… are we getting close?" Sol eventually said.

"Not that far now," Eevee said. He wondered what his mother was doing right now. Was she worrying about him? He had left so suddenly. Eevee was lucky that Eliza had happened to pass right by his as he ran through the streets. Before then he had been running for close to twenty minutes without any sort of direction. How had he expected to find Sol in a city this big? This wasn't Treasure Town.

"What will you do afterwards?" Riley asked. This was the first time he had spoken since they had started walking. Eevee could feel Eliza's gaze on their backs like a physical weight, no doubt wanting to know the same thing.

The Lucario radiated disapproval and frustration from several steps behind them. Sol seemed to have no problem simply ignoring her while it made Eevee uncomfortable, especially considering everything Eliza was doing for Sol.

"I'll go do the thing at the thing." Sol waved a dismissive hand. "I just wanna do this first. I really don't see how a few…"

Sol trailed off, frowning. Her movements suddenly became sloppy and uncoordinated, and while she tried to keep moving, she stumbled, tripped, and fell on her but.

"Um, Sol? Are you ok?"

"What happened?" Eliza demanded, at their side in an instant.

"Ginau vop hive."

"Pardon?"

Sol blinked dazedly, her eyes unfocused. She opened her mouth to speak but only more nonsense came out.

"Sop jowe farre ahwee?"

"Eevee! Get away from it!"

Eevee jumped and looked up to see Gardevoir of all people appear at the end of the street and start running towards them, eyes wide with panic. Another Pokémon, an unfamiliar Ninetails with fur bleached white with age, accompanied her at a calmer, less hurried pace.

"Get away! It's not a Pokémon, Eevee!"

Eevee gasped. She knew Sol was a human?!

Riley and Eliza both put themselves between Sol and the running Gardevoir, readying a battle stance. The Gardevoir stopped six feet away. She continued to call for Eevee to get away, saying he was in danger.

"What danger?" Eliza demanded icily.

"From that … thing!" She jabbed a finger at Sol, sitting in the dirt and mumbling nonsense. "It looks like a Pokémon, I don't know how, but it's not!"

"How did you find out?" Eevee asked. "I didn't think anyone outside of Treasure Town knew Sol was a human."

"Human, you say?" the Ninetails said with a note of curiosity. While Gardevoir was frantic, she was calm. "I must wonder how the clans became involved with such a being?"

Recognition flashed in Eliza's eyes as Ninetails spoke. Hesitantly, she backed out of her aggressive stance and motioned for Riley to do the same. Gardevoir didn't seemed to notice.

"That monster isn't human! Look at its eyes!"

"Issa, it'sa seer thin." Sol tried and failed to get to her feet.

"No need to be so hostile," Ninetails chided Gardevoir but maintained eye contact with Eliza.

A tense moment passed, Eliza standing tense and nervous while Ninetails was serene and unaffected. The way Eliza looked at her, the tension that stiffened her body, Eevee was certain that she knew this Ninetails, or at the very least, knew of her. Eliza bowed her head in acquiescence.

"Jumping to conclusions, eradication without fact checking, I would like to avoid a repeat of last time." Ninetails finished her though as if the awkward pause hadn't happened. She walked past Eliza to Sol, putting her face inches away from the dazed Riolu.

Gardevoir took a step forward with an outstretched hand as if to stop her, then hesitated.

"It's dangerous," she said again, this time more like a plea than an accusation.

"I don't understand," Eevee said. "Sol isn't dangerous!"

Ninetails hummed to herself, studying Sol and not paying both Eevee and Gardevoir any heed. Sol seemed very confused and mostly unaware of what was happening around her. She struggled to focus on what was right in her face. When sight failed to help, she fell back on her sense of touch. There was an audible "thwap" as her hand slapped down with the force of someone not in control of their motor functions on the center of Ninetails' face. Gardevoir gasped. Eliza stiffened. Ninetails did nothing. Sol frowned, still not understanding, and her other hand reached out and grabbed at the pale fur on the side of her head. A wide smile broke across Sol's face and she buried her head in the fur of Ninetails' neck.

"Soff. Soff, soff, soff, soff," Sol cooed happily.

"This is your evil Wanderer?" Ninetails said, unconcerned. "It may not understand boundaries, but it seems harmless."

"No! It's, it's just because I confused it! Or it's a trick! I was trapped between worlds for years! I've seen what they do!"

"Yes, yes, I heard the spiel from Palkia when we brought Callum over. 'It's too dangerous!' 'It'll leave a hole for Wanderers to get through!' 'Wanderers are worse than asteroids!'. But still…" Ninetails untangled herself from Sol and looked up at Eliza. "I am most curious about how the clan is involved, and how much you know… I'm afraid I'll need to borrow you for a bit. Try not to do anything rash while we're gone, Gardevoir."

Before anyone else could react, Ninetails pressed her side against Eliza and with a flash of orange light the two of them disappeared. Sol's hand was outstretched to the spot they once stood, missing her warm, fluffy pillow.

"I don't understand! Gardevoir, what's going on! Wanderers? Are you talking about our exploration team?"

"Where did Eliza go?" Riley added on, much more together than Eevee.

"I, I'll explain everything, but first just get away from it!"

"Sol? But she's my friend!" Eevee moved back to stand close beside Sol. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the fur on his side. "She's the leader of our exploration team and she helps so many people! So what if she's human?! If it weren't for her, no one would have stopped the planet's paralysis! She gathered up the Time Gears and faced Dialga himself to save the world!"

"It stole the Time Gears!?" Gardevoir exclaimed, horrified.

"No! I mean, kind of? But we had to stop time from freezing!." Sol's hand moved up and grabbed onto Eevee's ear, yanking his head to the side. "I mean ow! She would never do anything ow! To hurt anyone ow, ow, ow! Sol, please let ow! Go!"

"Hmm? Wha?" Sol raised her head, blinking her eyes and with some clarity returning. She looked around blearily with her hand still clutching Eevee's ear. "What's going on?"

Gardevoir's eye's widened and she took a defensive stance.

"Oh, it's you. Eevee, this is the person who screamed at me. Hey, person who screamed at me… what was that about?" She looked back at Eevee. "Your ear is very soft, by the way."

"Please let go."

"Oh. Yeah."

Sol released her hold on Eevee and picked herself off the ground. She looked around.

"Where'd Eliza go?"

"How did you get here?" Gardevoir demanded.

"Um, on the Sky Without?"

"How did you get to this world?" she said with even more hostility.

"Oh, well… wait, Eevee, really? Again?"

"It wasn't me!" Eevee protested. "I don't know who told her!"

"Ok, well short version is a Celebi threw me back in time. So it's not really that I'm from a different world, it's more that I'm from the future, which doesn't actually exist anymore so I guess I don't really come from anywhere anymore? But Dialga wrote me back into the time line or something so I still exist, so… I guess I owe him a thank you."

There was a very, very long silence before Gardevoir spoke.

"Dialga brought you here?"

"Celebi first, then Dialga, yeah."

"And Palkia didn't have anything to say about that?"

"Palkia? Have we met a Palkia… Didn't Lapras mention something about them? That he hates me or something, I don't really remember."

A pause. "How many more of you are here?"

"… I don't understand what you mean by 'you'."

"Wanderers. Are there any more Wanderers that forced their way into the Pokémon world."

"That's a weird question I don't know how to answer."

"We're both members of team Wanderers," Eevee piped in.

At that rage flashed in Gardevoir's eyes that made Eevee flinch and Riley tense.

"What kind of sick game are you playing?!" she yelled at Sol. She raised a hand toward them, bright green energy gathering in her palm. Riley Mirrored her movements with blue aura, ready to defend his friends. Eevee didn't understand what was going on, why she was acting this way. Gardevoir was always so patient and kind in the past. This was the same person who had helped his mother through a very dark time in her life?

"I said not to do anything rash," a voice carried from down the street. Ninetails appeared from around the corner of a building and trotted down to meet them. Gardevoir grimaced, and with a measure of resentment, dispersed the energy and lowered her arm.

"What did you do with Eliza?!" Riley demanded

"I dropped her off home. She and I needed to chat, and what a wonderful conversation it was. A being that attacks through dreams? How unusual. Unfortunately, the Lucario clans will not be able to help you."

"Why's that?" Sol asked cautiously.

"Because I told them not to. Wanderers… well, best not to arm them with Pokémon secrets, no matter how adorable they may be."

"Who we take in is not for outsiders to decide," Riley said coldly.

"Nor for Cheynil," Ninetails smiled. "Your leaders know to listen when I speak, and I know when to be cautious."

"We need to destroy it," Gardevoir insisted.

"Now, now, what did I say about doing anything rash? She hasn't done anything yet. You're sounding too much like Palkia these days."

"He's the only other Pokémon who has seen what these things do to Pokémon worlds. We can't risk letting it go!"

Ninetails hummed to herself, no longer listening to Gardevoir.

"What are you talking about? What's a Wanderer?" Sol asked.

"Nothing to concern yourself with. You have much more pressing concerns at the moment. When was the last time you spoke with anyone at home?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm. I don't know. I just think it's important to keep in touch with those who matter to you." She smiled far too cheerfully.

"But what are we supposed to do now! Sol, we needed the clan to help you." Eevee shook his head. "You're not safe!"

"No one is every truly safe," Ninetails said. "But for now, time for you to go home."

In a flash of orange, Sol, Eevee and Ninetails disappeared from the street in Pokémon Square.

I've been busy lately, so while I have everything planned out, it's hard to find time to actually write it out.

Sol was very uncooperative every time I tried to write this. I had did so many rewrites and made her a bit less of a downer each time until I said fuck it, Gardevoir confuses her. At least you didn't end up punching yourself, Sol. I also gotta say, I really like this version of Ninetails. I didn't intend for her to be like this when I started, but I love her character and she is really fun to write. Also, the farther into this fic I get, the more I feel like Eevee is the only genuinely good and selfless person I've written. I love ya, my little ball of fluff!