Winter headed toward the pool after the battles were over for the day, sighing in bliss. She glanced out at the sea and then back at the pool, trying to find Whitley, wherever she was.

"Winter, nice battles!"

"How did you and Red sync up so quickly?" Green asked, simple and straight to the point.

"Team work," Winter answered with a roll of her eyes.

"There's no way you could have synced up so quickly, you and Red haven't even battled with each other!" Blue protested.

Winter rolled her eyes, huffing and turning back. "Team work isn't defined by dominance and submission, it's defined by compromise," she spoke loud enough to be heard. "That is something that none of you are able to do."

"Blue and Green did pretty well,"

"Blue and Green didn't compromise nor fight for dominance in the battle. They helped each other when it was convenient for them and then fought alone," Winter explained. "Every minor detail up to the Pokemon you use to the attacks you choose will reflect on the performance of a double battle."

Winter sighed, shaking her head. "It's useless talking to you people about double battles because none of you even understand. It's like a whole new language to you," Winter shrugged before walking off, leaving most Dexholders frustrated.

Why was she so beautiful?

Why was she so snarky?

Why was she so strong?

Why was she chosen?

Why was it her?

Why?

Silver watched as Winter's slim figure disappeared, feelings of frustration and longing burning deep in his chest. He mistook the longing for curiosity, wanting to check if Winter was who he thought she was, if Winter was more than she initially showed.

Did Summer and Fall know?

His entire mind was overrun by this mysterious girl of pink. A ghost of a girl who disappeared, slipping out of his grasp with ease, teasing him, taunting him from the crevasses of his mind.

A girl so famous yet mysterious that no one knew so much as her name, calling her by a mere pronoun. A girl so beautiful and talented yet no one knew anything more than her superficial surface. A girl that effortlessly enamoured him and yet left with one last teasing smile on her pretty pink lips.

Silver squeezed his eyes shut, attempting and failing to erase all traces of thoughts of the mysterious girl.

Silver had his heart stolen.

And he's not sure if he wants it back.

~~~~~

"Winter!" Whitley greeted eagerly, running up to the petite girl with a huge smile. Winter was just about to leave the Dexholders when Whitley and Red showed up.

Winter's entire posture changed as she lit up visibly. "Careful, Akemi. Kazuki shouldn't be near water for long."

"Oh come on! He's on a cruise ship right now! What is he going to do when he needs to shower? Now that I've said that, it's kinda gross." Whitley pulled an adorable face of faux disgust.

Red tried to hide his laughter because he wasn't meant to understand the two genuine girls who laughed and giggled freely in their language.

For all those wondering, Red showered as quickly as possible with the heat turned to the max.

"Hey! I might as well have the worst weakness! Even the sun hates me!" Winter whined, tugging on Whitley's arm childishly. "Kazuki, I have it the worst, right?"

Red shrugged, lowering his voice. "Well, what other weaknesses are there?"

Winter paused, thinking it through. "With Shizumi (Lunar) and Tsubasa (Solar), I'm actually not too sure. Last I checked, neither of them knew what exactly their weaknesses and side effects were and didn't want to explain what they knew. Hibiki's weakness is to electricity and gets these horrible radiation burns and actual burns and stuff."

"Whitley can't deal with dark and scary places without getting nauseous and all that good stuff. Mine's heat, yours is water. Yuuka is claustrophobic and begins to suffocate, something akin to asthma. Yuuki, Hikari and Ayumu are the ones I haven't met yet, so I can't speak."

Red and Whitley both nodded, all three of them missing a little sign.

"Yeah, I think that the two of us have it the worst right now," Red murmured.

"Red, do you think--" Whitley stopped, her blood running cold.

"Whitley?" Red asked. Winter spun around, scanning the area for any immediate danger. She grew confused when she couldn't spot anything.

Whitley shook her head with an apologetic smile. "It's nothing, my head is just a little dizzy all of a sudden," she explained. "But Red, is your skin doing okay?"

Red nodded, still confused. "There's nothing dark and scary about this place, right?"

Whitley laughed, hand reaching up to cover her mouth like Winter usually did, probably a habit she picked up from the latter. "Of course not! It's not that, I just have a strange feeling in my chest that manifested suddenly."

Winter scanned the area for any dangers again, taking more time to filter everything she saw and decide whether it was a threat or not. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips before she turned back. "Maybe it's your Guardian," Winter suggested. "I feel like it's nothing dangerous otherwise Hisoka's instincts would have picked it up for me."

Whitley nodded, smiling and hiding her worry. She didn't entirely trust Winter due to the feeling she had. "I'm hungry, can we go eat?"

"Sure," Red agreed easily.

Winter pouted, whining. "Come on, I ate this morning!"

"Winter, it's 7," Red frowned. "You skipped lunch too."

"One meal a day is one too many for her," Whitley chortled. "Ignore it though, her metabolism has slowed down significantly due to that. She's perfectly healthy... well... as much as Kasumi usually is healthy because she usually has some issues with food throughout history."

Winter puffed her cheeks out with a roll of her eyes. "Come on, it's not that bad!"

Whitley raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Explain to me why your legs lock into place when you stop moving for several hours. Explain to me all the broken bones and fractures you've hand in your body. Your ribs? Explain to me all the damage you've somehow done to yourself?"

Winter held her hands up in surrender, looking small and apologetic in front of Whitley. "Sorry..."

"Yep, that's what I thought!" Whitley grinned.

"Whitley, you're much scarier than I originally thought," Red mused out loud as the three walked away.

~~~~~

Lack-Two walked out impatiently onto the deck of the ship in the dead of night, slowly growing more and more panicked with each day he observed Winter, Red and Whitley. A hundred million questions whirled in his head as he questioned his sanity.

His gaze flickered around with a small frown on his face. With the introduction of the Skarians, particularly Winter, everything had flipped upside down for all of the Dexholders.

How could a champion hate their own region?

How could a girl like Winter have two different faces?

Who was Winter?

Lack-Two had searched up records for a girl named Winter Sorenson only to discover little to nothing. Her Trainer ID was barely granted to her due to the fact that she was a homeless orphan for most of her life. Even her birth was completely mysterious as there was no record of it.

Lack-Two knew that Winter had to continuously prove herself as she was still a minor and orphan with no legal guardians. He also knew that Winter had a sister, something that both girls were meticulous to disguise. He couldn't figure out anyone besides Whitley to be her sister, but the two made it clear that Whitley was not Winter's biological sister.

The fact that Winter was alive was a mystery. Everything about Winter was a giant mystery. Lack-Two knew that eventually, Winter would need legal guardians. She was two years off of 18, but the Government would require her to do something, any old excuse would do as long as she conformed to society.

Still, Lack-Two was going off of assumptions, what little information he had and the things he had observed.

Lack-Two sighed, looking up to see the exact girl leaning on the railing of the ship, hair blown softly by the wind. Coincidence? Possibly, but possibly not.

"Hey," Winter greeted softly. "I expected you to come out. I need to ask you something,"

Lack-Two hid his surprise and stood next to Winter, a respectable distance apart. "I have some questions of my own,"

"You know that I'm a minor, an orphan with no legal guardian, correct?" Winter got straight to the point.

Lack-Two nodded. "You must know I'm part of the International Police then. Did Whi-Two tell you?"

"No," Winter admitted. "I have my own sources that helped me do background checks on each and every one of you."

"What do you want to know?"

"Not much, I just wanted to confirm that part," Winter shrugged. "And also, Whitley doesn't hate you."

"Why would I need information like that? She's just a worthless Plasma. She betrayed my trust," Lack-Two spat.

"Does that change the person you knew her as?" Winter asked wistfully. "Plus, nothing really changed between the two of you. You were the one caught in the line of duty and you chose your duty over your personal feelings," she sighed. "What matters anymore? You quit, but Whitley doesn't know."

Lack-Two froze. "Why do I feel so safe with you? Why do I feel like I can spill out all of my thoughts and emotions to you right now?"

Winter shrugged. "You're easy to deal with unlike the rest of the Dexholders. All of them are too troublesome. Either way, tell me what you're thinking. I'm not going to say anything to Whitley because you are the ones who need to work on your relationship. I'm just here to support it."

"I honestly don't know. She's the sweetest and purest thing I know but I turned her in and shoved her into a dark cell where she spent her time in and out of consciousness. My brain and emotions were haywire, so I had to take a break, but that only made things worse. The only thing that gave me a tiny bit of relief was just seeing her."

"No one knows how guilt ate me inside out and I ended up helping to clear her of all charges with a made up story that I fed to White. She's just so innocent and beautiful and I feel like I'm in denial because I still can't admit that all of her sufferings is my fault. It's always someone else's, I know that I'm wrong yet I blame everything on anything I can."

"It's not my fault, it's just our circumstances and stuff." Lack-Two finished lamely.

"Exactly, circumstances is what ruined the two of you," Winter confirmed. "If Whitley wasn't a plasma, you weren't apart of the international police, you would have met as you did and lived happily."

Lack-Two groaned, tugging his hair. "I don't know... why did I do that? Why do I long to join her when you and Red are with her? Why do I feel an urge to stay by her side and protect her? Why don't I know why she completes me so well? Why did my head and heart hurt so much? Why do I understand the three of you when you speak in that strange language? Why is it that--"

Winter turned to look at Lack-Two with wide eyes. "You understand this, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Lack-Two confirmed back.

"Holy hell, I didn't expect 3 of you to be Dexholders," Winter admitted. "Okay, you're a Keeper, that's why you understand us. Whitley is one, Red is one, I am one and the people I usually hang around are Keepers too."

"Say what now?" Lack-Two cried. " I don't have a legendary, I..."

"You don't remember your first encounters," Winter explained. "Hang on, I'm going to call out names to find out if I know who your partner is. These names are names from our first lives, yes, we're reincarnated. If people ask, we're chosen by Arceus, I'll explain later. You will respond to the name on instinct and it tells me your role in the group, okay?"

Looking dazed, Lack-Two nodded. "Okay,"

Winter paused, going through the list of names for males she already knew before freezing. "Holy fuck,"

Lack-Two's expression changed, looking alarmed as Winter said the profanities calmly, as if she was talking about something mundane and ordinary.

"I have two names to choose from right now since I've already found Hibiki, the Adrian guy I talked to on the phone a few weeks back, Tsubasa, who is Solar, the blond guy I really like to hang out with, who's usually with the black haired girl that Acacia, Fall and Summer hate," Winter explained calmly. "Then Kazuki or Red, but I'm sure you worked that out."

Lack-Two nodded, still bewildered by Winter's rapid unloading of information.

"Out of these two names, I feel like I know which one it is. If I'm right, it explains a ton about yours and Whitley's feelings for each other," Winter sighed. "If you respond to this name, you and Whitley will have some interesting developments. Even if you don't, well, you're going to be in this group with her, you'll need to get along."

Lack-Two was feeling torn between wanting to react versus not wanting to react.

"Hello, Ayumu,"

"Hey," Lack-Two's eyes widened, having responded to the name as if it was his own.

"I knew it, you're Whitley's partner," Winter grinned. "So, there are 5 boys, 5 girls in the Guardians. Between one girl and boy, they're partners. Mine is Red and we both share the title of Leader like Kazuki and Kasumi did way back in the past."

"Your partner is Whitley, which means you'll bond with her and understand her more than anyone else. More often than not, your Legendaries will line up as well, but neither of you know your Guardians, so I'll stop there."

"Every Keeper has his or her own role from their Guardian name. Red and I have two, Leader and something else each. Akemi or Whitley has the role of Healer within the group, so go to her if you or your Pokemon got hurt. As Ayumu, you're best as a Strategizer and that's your official title." Winter explained, brisk, brief and simple. "Anything you want to ask? I think I covered almost everything,"

"Nothing I can think of right now," Lack-Two admitted. "I did a bit of research on you and got curious about your nature as a Guardian, so I know some other stuff too. However, why did you reveal to your Region that you're a Guardian?"

Winter sighed, shaking her head in disappointment with herself. "Well, the resident evil organisation in Skaria is called Team Shade. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. They almost controlled all of Skaria and killed so many people and beat people up when they didn't listen. It was an oppression against Skaria, people were dragged out of homes, towns were bombed, it was terrorism."

Winter took a deep breath. "I broadcasted a video at the Champion's arena, where many were safe and hiding. I asked people to not give up and stuff because that was my duty as Champion and because I was working to stop Team Shade. I gained a lot of criticism from the people in the arena and everywhere else because they thought I was safe and doing it simply because it was my job and that I wasn't even protecting Skaria,"

Lack-Two was able to paint the entire picture already.

"I had to resort to revealing that I was a Guardian so that Skaria would band with me and rise up against Team Shade. Skaria's already so weak, Solar, Lunar and I did almost all of the battling. Team Shade was working to find people like me with marks to identify as Guardians and had already identified me, so I told Solar and Lunar to stay hidden and even leave. They didn't, of course," Winter chuckled.

Lack-Two lit up. "Marks?"

Winter pulled her shirt up, revealing her bikini top underneath (thankfully) and hovered her hand above her chest for a second. When her hand moved, Lack-Two saw a completely black mark of two feathery wings that were spread wide. In the centre was the shape of a heart made of two more smaller wings. Below it were ribbons that seemed to flow down, intertwining with delicate little snowflakes.

"This is the mark of my main Guardian, whom I haven't met yet," Winter explained. "When you meet them again, you'll feel sleepy and probably go to sleep really quickly and share dreams with your Guardian where they do this sort of ritual. It's nothing scary or anything, with the right Guardian, it's really fun," Winter admitted. "They also colour the mark in your dream and from then, your mark will be coloured."

"Essentially, you get your mark during your first meeting. It will be black and you will not remember meeting your Guardian. The black mark will just suddenly appear one day. No one else will remember the meeting either. The second time you meet them, they become your Guardian and your mark will become coloured, you remember and all that stuff."

Lack-Two was in complete awe with all the words he heard. He felt mesmerised with all the new information that sounded vaguely familiar and yet so foreign. He wanted to know more, but he wasn't sure what to say.

"About Whitley, I'm not going to say anything. You'll need to make the first move otherwise I'm meddling too much," Winter smiled. "Good luck,"

Lack-Two nodded, bowing low. "Thank you for all of this!"

"I don't exactly have much of a choice, you know?" Winter frowned. "Oh, one more thing, make sure that no one knows that you are a Guardian. Whitley and I are the sacrifices because Platinum will probably work out that the language the two of us speak is the Ancient Alphinian language pretty soon and thus know that Whitley is a Keeper."

Lack-Two nodded. "Okay, I know."

Winter smiled in satisfaction. "Good, now you should head to sleep. I'd say come to my room if you have any other questions or concerns, but Whitley rooms with me and you probably shouldn't come in until you both sort everything out."

Lack-Two couldn't help but laugh, nod and agree. "Very true. Tomorrow. I'll fix everything tomorrow."

"I'll be watching , Ayumu."