The next morning, Audino Agatha woke up even earlier than usual thanks to Mightyena Claire. For whatever reason, she came into her room and woke her up at six. She had gone to sleep much earlier yesterday, but extra weight from a lack of sleep remained on her shoulders.

Agatha walked down the ramp dressed wearing her white cloak and large, round glasses. A stack of waffles sat on the short table. She ate in silence while Claire moved about, getting ready for her day.

She went a little heavy with the syrup. She knew it, but Claire seemed to dance around saying anything. After she finished, they left outside with Claire leading the way. As her steps fell on the sidewalk, cold air seeped through Agatha's cloak and made her wish she was back in bed. She didn't feel curious enough to ask where they were going. Not knowing the town, it wouldn't even matter.

Claire brought her to a small park with hills and statues along brick walkways, to a small marble fountain with a statue of a Samurott standing tall and proud in the center of it. They sat on the fountain's edge.

As they waited, Claire constantly glanced around the dim morning light. Without squirrels or birds being very active yet, the park seemed lonely.

"Who are we waiting for?" Agatha asked.

"A few old friends," Claire said. "Well, I say old friends, but I see them just about every week."

"Were they explorers?"

"Oh, yes."

"But if you were all explorers, why do you live here now?"

Claire shifted in place, seeming like she was thinking of how to describe it.

"Ah, well," Claire said, "there's, uhm. For Guilds. We... Well, Guilds kind of died out. Helping people doesn't make capital. And you can't eat without it."

"I know that much, but why here?"

"Seemed as good a place as anywhere else."

After a few moments, Agatha saw a small group heading in their direction. Claire sat up and hopped to the ground as a Lucario, Mightyena, Espeon, Torracat, and Luxray walked closer. Agatha noticed the Meowstic Alondra walking with them at the edge of the path. They all spread out around the edge of the fountain.

"Hey, everyone!" Claire said.

"Hey, Claire," Torracat greeted, "and Agatha. Nice to meet you, too."

"Hello," Agatha said.

Agatha twisted the strands of her ears to keep calm with so many faces. Lucario approached her first and bent down to meet her at eye level.

"Hi," Lucario smiled, "I'm Annette Mural. I'm the principal of your school, and I've been meaning to meet you."

"Hi," she squeaked. "Nice to… meet you too…"

The group silently decided to introduce themselves going down the semi-circle. Lucario looked over to the next one down, Torracat.

"Bao Jin,"Torracat said, "I'm actually the mayor around here, but an explorer first. Nice to meet you."

"Selina Gonzalo," Espeon greeted, "I'm the principal of a fine arts and technology school in central Verity It's nice to meet you."

Luxray came last. Her sharp, pulsing muscles made her look like some kind of soldier, only getting more impressive up close. Agatha pulled her feet up on the rim of the fountain.

"Imani Ward, " Luxray said, "I was Claire's first foster child she took in. I'm graduating from college in two years as a physical trainer. I'm all set to help, however I can."

"Making a livelihood solely off of helping others became too big of a challenge for a Guild," Claire said, "but as a part of that choice we are the first to answer the call of need to say that we are here for you."

"And ready for anything," Meowstic Alondra added. She put on a contagious, confident smile that Agatha had never seen on her before. "I know what we have to look for and how to look for it."

"And we're ready when you are," Claire finished. "I caught everyone up to speed."

Heat spread through Agatha's chest. She wanted to know more about them to even it out.

"Uhm, what about tomorrow after school..." Agatha said.

"Does five sound good for everyone?" Claire asked. The group responded with resounding agreement.

"Okay," Claire smiled. "Now everyone make preparations for tomorrow. Alondra, I'd like for you to explain what's going on to everyone who's unaware," Claire said.

The Meowstic smiled back. "Right."

"Agatha, does that work for you?" Claire asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"Alright, good. Everyone make preparations for tomorrow. We're not rusty enough to have a reason to make any mistakes."

Agatha and Claire returned home, but it got busy. Agatha decided to hide in her room on the second floor while Claire invited and talked with a few of her friends on the first floor. She worked on tweaking her prosthetic feet. She didn't want to wear her body out with training before they would go in tomorrow.

While she worked, Mightyena Claire came into her room and gave her an exquisite looking sandwich. Audino Agatha didn't show her in depth what she was doing, but Claire could probably guess from the screws and both of her prosthetic feet on the floor.

As the day dragged on and people were in and out of the house, Claire came back to Agatha's room and checked on her. She somehow managed to spend the whole day just tweaking her prosthetic feet's boosters. The energy flow from her body got a lot more stable overall, but she still didn't trust it very much.

Agatha came down the ramp for dinner when she smelled Claire's cooking. With a quiet thanks, she took a plate of pasta upstairs to her room.

Agatha fell asleep in the middle of her work, but she knew Claire tucked her in bed through her dreams.