"Winter?"

The pink haired beauty froze, stopping in her tracks. She didn't expect anyone to be awake.

"Babe, are you gonna ignore me? You have your uke, are you feeling alright?"

Winter didn't have the heart to turn away from Adrian, not now. It's been about a week and Winter was still so fucking weak for Adrian.

"If you're going to leave us and do something tonight, wait until morning, please," Adrian pleaded, trying to sit up. Winter rushed to help him sit properly, sighing as she roughly tossed her ukulele aside.

"Winter! Your uke!" Adrian scolded, surprised at Winter's rough treatment with her precious instrument. She always handled her ukulele and guitar as if they were more precious than life itself.

Winter bit her lip and sighed, shaking her head, lashes shielding her forest green eyes. "I'm sorry...."

"Sweetheart, angel, empress, don't be," Adrian murmured, trying to comfort Winter, his ocean eyes glimmering in concern.

"I'm useless Adrian," Winter whimpered, "oh my god I'm useless."

"Babe, what made you think that?" Adrian crooned softly.

"I... don't know," Winter admitted, "none of these thoughts will leave me alone.... It's happening again Adrian, all of it and I haven't been-"

"Winter, Winter, shh, calm down," he hushed, "I'm proud of you for telling me, babe. Look, even if you haven't done it in a while, it does not mean that you can't feel this way. Now come here, I need cuddles and you need cuddles."

Winter smiled appreciatively and tucked herself in his arms. She smiled, feeling warm when Adrian wrapped a fluffy blanket around both of them, resting her head against his chest, she sighed.

"Thanks Bubbles."

Adrian laughed, resting his chin on Winter's head.

"Anytime Snowflake," Adrian murmured.

~~~~~

"Heart, do you have anymore aloe vera?" Whitley asked, looking at Adrian's legs and the burns.

Heart dug around her bag before frowning. "Well, shit."

"No more?" Whitley murmured meekly.

"Think so," Heart muttered, "my bad, I should've been keeping tabs on supplies, it's my job."

"No, it's not," Winter cut in, "Just give Rain some painkillers and we'll head to Canalave and check out if we can hide on New Moon Island. We'll grab some stuff from there and come back tonight."

"Rain?"

"That's me!" Adrian grinned, "I'm alright, it's numb and I can feel my calves move around sometimes. The pain's okay."

"Lunar, Solar, you stay here with Red and Cynthia. I'll take Blake, Whitley and Heart with me to Canalave," Winter frowned, "Cynth, anywhere we should go to in particular?"

"Floraroma Town and Snowpoint are great for herbs and stuff for Whitley and Heart," Cynthia answered quickly, "Otherwise Canalave should have everything we need. Just shoot me a message if you need anything."

"We still have communication devices?" Adrian frowned, "seems too risky...."

"We don't have a choice right now, we'll deal with it later," Winter dismissed it, "Solar and Lunar can work it out some stage, they're the best with tech here."

"Got it!" Solar chirped.

"Heart, Whi, Blake, we're leaving in 15 minutes by air. Heart, partner with me," Winter grinned.

"Got it!"

~~~~~

Adrian sighed out in relief, eyes flickering around the camp as he ignored the tingles of pain in his legs. Well, tingles was really an under-exaggeration. It was searing, burning every time he dared move it with little sparks randomly attacking. Otherwise, it was quite numb, he couldn't feel anything until he wriggled his toes, then the burning would begin again.

"Adrian?"

Adrian looked up to see Red and he grinned, "hey Red!"

"Are you feeling alright?" Red asked, taking a seat next to Adrian.

"I'm fine," Adrian shrugged, "I mean, it could be worse."

"You're brave," Red admitted shyly, "I don't think that anyone else would've done what you did."

"It's Winter," Adrian didn't know what else to say, "she means too much to me."

"She's saved you?" Red wouldn't be surprised if Adrian answered yes, but the black head's answer still surprised him.

"Not as much as I've saved her," Adrian grinned, "she's prickly, like a cactus, but so fucking soft when you get to know her. She has a lot to learn."

"You're her support, she completely broke down without you," Red confessed.

"I'm not even surprised," Adrian sighed, "I'd be the same without her. Don't tell her I told you this but she's gone into withdrawal or separation anxiety without me before. But that was when we didn't contact each other for like 3 months."

"We're each other's support systems, even if she grew up with Whitley and Cynthia and depended on them, I daresay she's closer to me," Adrian whispered, "she's told me things that she'll never tell Cynthia or Whitley unless she absolutely has to, I've done the same."

"Is it because she's your Leader?" Red mused out loud.

"No, I met her before meeting Rei and she met me before she with her Guardians. I was like 10? So Winter was like 7 with the world on her shoulders. She told me that she was only known as Treasure by her sisters, Whitley and Cynthia, so I gave her the name Winter."

"We didn't see each other for like 5 years, but we never forgot each other. She was the one who came to find me in Alola. So now three years later, here we are."

"Three years and this happens? What did you do to her?" Red teased.

"I have no idea what I did," Adrian shrugged, "Solar and Lunar only became really close to Winter like 2 years ago. It's the pull between Guardians, the innate feeling that you can trust, but Winter doesn't trust us all completely."

"Still, she trusts us with her life, that's enough."

Red smiled softly as the wind tousled their hair. He almost wanted to ask Adrian to define his relationship with Winter, but that seemed pointless. Their relationship was much more magical left undefined by words, it didn't need any stupid words to define it, it was perfect as it was.

"Winter's gone through too much for someone who's only 15," Adrian sighed, "I'm almost certain that whoever Yuuki is, he's older than Winter, closer to Cynthia's age. Cynthia's currently the eldest."

"Don't say stuff like that Adrian! I don't look old!" Cynthia cried out playfully.

Adrian simply shot Cynthia the peace sign.

"But thinking about it, Winter and Red's age gap is kinda strange," Solar shrugged, sitting down with the other two boys. "It's usually 3 years max."

"Dunno, but there's no doubt that they're partners," Adrian shrugged.

"Do you ever wish that you were her partner?" Red asked almost timid in his speech.

"No," Adrian answered immediately, "we're gonna be wayyy too close after that. We're close enough."

"Plasma and Police," Lunar murmured, sitting down next to Solar.

"Yeah, we did some digging and now's a good time to say something since Blake and Whitley are gone," Solar grinned, "the last reports of Blake and Whitley before their mysterious return was that they were frozen and thrown out into sea, right? And no one knows what happens after?"

"Oh, you're talking about that," Cynthia sat down with the group, "I helped with that, tipped off Unova Dexholders."

"Long story short, White found the White Stone with Black inside-"

"Winter and I pulled some strings,"

"Kyreum was forced to attract Zekrom and Reshiram or the White Stone," Solar explained, using his hands to exaggerate, "so White with the help of N, yes the King of Team Plasma, went to Kyreum and Kyreum fused with Zekrom!"

"All of a sudden, Reshiram awoke from the Stone! A massive battle played out! Black Kyreum versus Reshiram! But where was Black?" Solar grinned, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Black was with Reshiram, on Reshiram's back fighting with everything he had!"

"Then Blake and Whitley showed up again! Blake used his Genesect and Keldeo to help Reshiram fight Black Kyreum while Whitley and White went to go shut down the machine that was controlling Zekrom and Kyreum with the help of N and his Zoroark!"

"At long last! They defeated Team Plasma again! But Blake didn't trust Whitley anymore...."

~~~~~

"Whitley!" Blake called as Whitley pranced around the market stalls, identifying plants useful in healing.

Whitley looked back at Blake and grinned, allowing the taller male to catch up. When they stood in front of each other, Eevee on Blake's shoulders stretched down to touch noses with Aphrodite in Whitley's arms as a greeting.

"Where did Heart and Winter go?" Whitley asked, almost breathless despite doing nothing to make her breathless.

"Wanted to look for more artsy stuff," Blake shrugged, "I figured that this would be more interesting and it's also safer to be in twos."

Whitley smiled sweetly up at Blake, nodding. "Should we gather information about New Moon Island then?"

"We can always try," Blake nodded in approval, looking at the cute Zorua giggling as she sat on Whitley's head.

The illusion made it seem as if Whitley wasn't Whitley and as if he wasn't himself. It was strange, but Blake quickly got over it. Winter and Heart were much safer as they were less recognised but still took some safety precautions anyway.

"I think we're staying here overnight," Blake mentioned as Whitley looked through more strange plants and charms.

Whitley pouted a little but nodded. "I like spending time with the others, that's all," she explained herself after seeing Blake's confused gaze, "I trust them, but I'm still worried about Adrian. I wonder what they're doing."

"At least we know that they can cook something," Blake shrugged, "we're the least experienced as travellers, along with Heart I think."

"We aren't! I grew up in the wild and you..." Whitley trailed off, realising how close she was to mentioning Blake's past in the International Police. That was strictly off topic.

Blake, sensing the tension decided to change the topic, picking up a reddish orange flower, "what does this do?"

"Hibiscus," Whitley answered, "put it in a tea and it relieves high blood pressure, cholesterol, digestive, immune system and it's anti-inflammatory. Reduces risk of cancer, helps heal liver disease and speeds up metabolism. It's rich in vitamin C, minerals and several antioxidants. It also treats anxiety and hypertension."

The way that Whitley became completely lost in reciting all she knew about the flower intrigued Blake. The way she looked on so innocently as she rambled on about the health benefits of hibiscus and how she nervously fiddled with her own hands.

Blake couldn't help but smile.

~~~~~

Winter and Heart stood near the Pokemon Centre, waiting on Blake and Whitley to return.

"I'm worried," Winter admitted quietly to Heart, "when I reunited with Whitley, she had a bad relationship with Blake. And we had no idea he was a Guardian. When we found out, they decided to put it behind them and become friends."

"But they never resolved their differences."

Heart knew the issue immediately.

"Oh," she responded quietly.

Winter hummed in agreement softly, glad Heart caught on. Still, there was nothing they could do.

"This goes two ways," Heart murmured, "one, it never gets resolved and there's unresolved tension and a topic that is avoided like the plague. The second is where there's a catalyst of some sort where everything boils over for those two and it tears them apart."

"Yeah," Winter sighed, "not now, not when they're bonding so well together, not when they have all this trust in each other. It can't come crumbling down now."

"Can't leave this unaddressed," Heart protested, knowing how hard it would be to bring it up, "they need to sort this out."

"But it's gonna get bloody," Winter turned away, hair twirled around her fingers, "we can't make any mistakes now, not when we're so vulnerable."

"We'll need to set them off someway, somehow, someday," Heart reminded Winter gently, "you know Whitley best, so maybe you should decide."

"Red knows Blake best, we need to talk this over," Winter sighed, "I'm so scared of doing the wrong thing, Heart."

"Yeah, I know," Heart responded gently, "but you can't live like you have a shotgun to your head."

"Heart, we don't have a shotgun at our heads, we have rifles," Winter's forest eyes glared at the concrete below her feet, "one wrong move and we've fucked up."

Heart couldn't help but agree. Winter was right, one wrong move and the consequences could be devastating.

"Hey!"

Both girls looked up and saw Blake and Whitley, grinning up at them with a half filled bag, probably filled with medicinal herbs, probably some basic supplies like food as well.

"Ready to grab some food?" Heart grinned, beckoning them both closer.

"Yeah!" Blake jumped up, punching the air in excitement, "I'm sick of Pokemon Centre food, can we go to the ramen store down the road??"

Winter chuckled, nodding before starting to lead the way, "alright, I'll shout."

"We can all pay for ourselves, right?"

"Do you guys have physical cash on you?" Winter asked quietly, "and how much?"

Blake froze, noting Winter's words as a fair point.

"Why physical cash?" Whitley asked innocently.

"They think you're kidnapped, if there's any activity from any of our accounts, they can one, track us from the ATMs we use and two, they'll know we're not with Shade," Winter responded, "Red, Solar and Lunar can still withdraw from their accounts without much issue, but I already withdrew several million in preparation for this before my battle."

"Damn, I should've considered this," Blake cursed.

"It's a more creative aspect," Winter giggled, shaking her head, "but it means that no matter how rich we are right now, basically all that money's useless. All four of us are missing, Adrian's still meant to be unconscious in Hoenn with Cynthia, that's six of us who cannot withdraw any money."

"Red, Solar and Lunar can only withdraw their money for a month max before they have to sporadically stop what they're doing. That said, Solar and Lunar need to head back to Skaria for that," Heart noted.

"I had the two new Elite Four Members and one new Gym Leader clear out their gyms and place them in their space at the palace," Winter told them.

"How much can we trust them? Solar and Lunar probably have sensitive information in their gyms," Blake frowned as they walked into the restaurant, "and what palace?"

"Don't worry, it's written in code, but they wouldn't peek either way," Winter dismissed it, "and I'm talking about Sirenia Palace, it's the core of the region, home to Elite Four and Champion. The palace is where Elite Four matches are held in private. We also take care of work there."

A waiter approached them and quickly began to lead them to a booth before setting down the menus and walking away.

"It's crazy, honestly," Whitley pouted, continuing on from the conversation and taking a seat next to Blake, "you're champion, you're meant to fight! Not sort out diplomacies between regions!"

"I agree," Winter nodded, "it's stupid how champions have so much power, like, I just signed up to battle, not be peacemakers, not for politics or whatever, I have no experience in any of that, I'm 15, I just know how to battle."

"Why doesn't Red or Silver have so many responsibilities?" Blake questioned.

"They probably just ignore it or pass it off," Winter shrugged, "they most likely have people who sort it out for them and they just read over summaries or get messages about things that need approval. But I guess you could say that we're short staffed at my league so everyone has to play their part. The last group rarely did, so most of the work fell on me."

"Ouch," Heart winced, "I know how it feels when people don't pull their weight. We've had several people out due to the flu or fever more than a couple of times. Ranger Union almost falls apart. We have a team of about 50 people, I think? But if Operators are down, it's shit."

"And now that you're gone?" Blake asked.

Heart shrugged, "my partner's being sent on easy missions right now I guess, things he can handle on his own with our operator because I'm apparently in Hoenn. My Operator should have noticed that I'm missing already, if not, he's gonna find out soon. Then, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave it a bit of time, having my Operator try to track me and stuff and my partner,"

"Heart, just give us names," Winter rolled her eyes.

"My partner's called Landon, Operator's called Austin. But anyway," Heart continued on, "Landon might be told to go search for me, talk to people at the place but otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised if the Chairperson just decided to keep both of them on standby. Keith and Kate would probably be questioned."

"Eventually, I'd assume that they all shut down, trying to locate me in any way possible."

Winter smirked deviously, "oh, but they'll never find you," she chuckled.

"I hope that Lunar's gonna locate Khlivern soon," Whitley noted, "but let's order first and talk more later."

Winter, sitting quite close to the computer first put in drinks and then the food before confirming the order. Once their food arrived and the waiter left, they began to chat again.

"So, tomorrow Heart and I are going to check out New Moon Island, you two are staying here. We'll be back as soon as we can, but I want to check it out at night too, just in case Darkrai decides to show up at night, we should probably ask for permission," Winter said.

"We didn't ask for permission to use Flower Paradise!"

Whitley hit Blake for saying that.

"Ow! Whi! What was that for?" Blake whined childishly.

"Heart is Shaymin's you know!" Whitley responded.

It clicked.

"Oh."

Heart and Winter couldn't help a few giggles at Blake's flushed face.

"You seem distracted, what's up?" Winter asked, bright forest green eyes glimmering.

"Just," Blake sighed, looking away, "there's so much going on, I can't really believe it to be honest."

Winter hummed in agreement, nodding slightly, "I know, it's overwhelming and a lot to take in," she murmured, "however you come to terms with all of this is a road you walk alone or with someone in the same boat. It's harder without the memory of meeting your Guardian, but remembering how you met them gives a bit of closure and realism to the situation."

"I found out by meeting my Guardians, otherwise I had no idea why tattoos were simply appearing on my body," Winter sighed, recalling the distress that came with it, "even if you don't come to terms with this, it's gonna be alright, we're all here for you."

"It suddenly became real for me when Ice Storm kidnapped me," Whitley sighed, "Ice Storm's an angel, she was so gentle but it still felt real, and scary. I was so lost in the moment that I forgot it was planned out, I actually thought Team Shade had gotten me, you know?"

"Alola doesn't sound like a bad place to hide," Winter noted out of the blue, "we can't stay here long but if worse comes to worse, Alola would be where we should go next. Team Skull's still active there, we only have to deal with them. Team Shade wouldn't set foot in another Team's territory, you know?"

"Are there any other things we shouldn't do besides withdrawing money?" Blake asked, wanting to be completely aware.

"Communication devices and Pokedexes, they can be tracked," Winter noted, "we left our Pokedexes in Skaria and the Dexholders thought it was a taunt from Team Shade, saying that they have us. I mean, I didn't mean to leave that message, but whatever. We can plant Red's Pokedex somewhere this week and he can stop answering calls and stuff."

"Communication devices, well we need those little shits to get in contact with the others quickly. We need to get rid of them as soon as possible, but we need to find a way to talk to each other quickly."

"I think that any technology we need to abandon," Heart agreed.

"Well, we need to be careful, very careful," Blake murmured.

"Until we find Yuki, get into Khlivern and into hiding, we can't abandon all communication devices. There's just too many situations where we're going to be separated without a way to communicate," Heart told them.

"But we don't have long until Acacia will get the idea of checking on where our devices are," Winter argued, forest green eyes wide with worry. "But at the same time, I can't imagine that she knows how to track a Skysmitter which she helped to develop, much less any other device that we carry."

"Anyone good with technology?"

"Try Solar and Cynthia, I think they know their way around it best," Winter shrugged, "I might have some ideas too, dunno."

"Alright, the main goal right now is to scout out Full Moon Island," Heart reaffirmed, "we'll be alright, we'll stay safe."

~~~~~

Ruby eyes stared at Adrian as he held a little instrument in his hands. The instrument looked like a miniature guitar with four strings, made with a beautiful wood and had a bird carving on it, decorated with carvings of a flower and swirls.

He stared at it with tenderness and care, hands looking at if he was about to play with his almost too large hands.

"Adrian, what's that?" Red asked out of curiosity.

"An alolan instrument, it's called a ukulele," Adrian grinned, "think guitar, but simpler and less painful. I actually got this for Winter," he admitted quietly.

Adrian turned it instrument around and Red frowned, seeing a scratch on the back.

"Winter dropped this a couple of days ago, she was lost in a daze I guess," Adrian shrugged, "I want to fix it before she gets back."

Red smiled, knowing it was Adrian's way of caring for Winter without disturbing the girl too much. "That's sweet."

"It's made with sapele wood at the top, back and sides, mahogany neck with a rosewood bridge and fretboard. It's hand carved as well but it doesn't have the gloss finish most ukuleles do, it's gonna take some work to restore this back to how it was before," Adrian noted. "I've got time though."

"You know her so well," Red grinned.

"Well, yeah," Adrian shrugged, "she hates having her art messed with. If she comes back and sees her ukulele scratched, she's gonna be pissed at herself, not anyone else. I think I can practice my magic a bit as well."

Red chuckled, watching as Adrian examined the instrument carefully before setting it down beside him. Adrian's ocean eyes locked with Red's and he gave a soft smile.

"Red?"

"Yeah?"

"Winter's broken," Adrian whispered, "but don't treat her like she is. Don't look at her with pity when you don't even know what she's been through, and even if she did tell you, or any of us, treat her like she's just Winter, not like a dainty little girl or a strong man, but like she is."

"And don't think that just because she doesn't completely trust you it means that she's got something against you Red," Adrian sighed.

"Winter didn't grow up in a place where she could trust like we did, Red. Whitley and Cynthia were able to find a safe place where they were able to find love and care, even if Whitley found the wrong place, she grew up better after being separated."

"They were found and sent to different orphanages, all of them. Winter never says anything about details when she talks about being separated, but she says that they were sent to different regions for good measure, Cynthia in Sinnoh, Whitley in Unova and Winter in Skaria, since she was seen as the most problematic."

"I don't know what they did, I don't know how they all ended up in the wild, but whatever happened all those years ago, I can't help but remain grateful that they found each other. I don't know why Winter, the youngest was seen as the most problematic, I just don't know."

"And honestly, I don't want to know."

"Cynthia was soon adopted, the first, which was a surprise. She was almost a teenager, but the woman who took care of her died a couple of years later. That woman's mother, Professor Carolina raised her from there."

"Whitley, she was adopted by a kind lady who worked at the Pokemon Daycare. Soon, they both got so frustrated seeing so many hurt Pokemon, Pokemon that had been pushed beyond their limits that they joined Team Plasma, wanting to liberate Pokemon so that they couldn't be hurt anymore," Adrian sighed, twirling a gracidea flower in his long fingers.

"Then there was Winter," Adrian sighed, letting the flower slip through his fingers. "Who wouldn't want to adopt just a beautiful girl?" he laughed dryly, shaking his head. "Winter's not like that, her orphanage hated her for whatever reason. I don't know who was at fault, Winter or the orphanage, but there was no harmony between them."

"Winter turned people away, she was probably scared of being abandoned again. Whatever her parents did, it wasn't good. It made her feel abandoned or neglected, to the point I think she may have run from them or they simply abandoned her themselves or weren't able to care for her properly."

"She was just seven when I met her in that orphanage, I don't know how long she had been there, but it didn't look good for her," Adrian squeezed his ocean eyes shut for a second, reminiscing, "her eyes, they were so beautiful, an ice blue I've never seen before,"

"but they were so haunted."

"When she saw me again, all those years later, she never mentioned much of what happened when I was gone," Adrian sighed, "just that it was a struggle to get her trainer ID. I mean, there was probably a bit of controversy around it. An orphan that refused to be adopted, an orphan that was wild, uneducated and temperamental...."

"Professor Acacia took notice and decided to bring Winter to the lab. Winter refused to eat or drink anything, didn't respond and stayed in her room. No one could do anything. But then, there was a Gardevoir," Adrian smiled, remembering how Acacia had talked about it.

"The Gardevoir approached Winter and managed to get her to drink and eat something before she starved or died of dehydration. That Gardevoir acted like a mother to Winter, caring for her like she was one of her own. When Acacia found out what was going on, everyone was amazed."

"Gardevoir only took Winter out at night because Winter feels safer at night. They also realised that Winter was smart, too smart for someone her age. She just needed to be coaxed and taught. She's also a natural with Pokemon, the concept of battling, with instruments and art."

"They realised they overlooked a genius because she was an orphan."

"They took notes on both of them like test subjects. There was also a Pokemon at the lab that refused to eat or drink anything, she simply gave up her will to live despite having an egg. Gardevoir took Winter to see the Salamance. Acacia said that they saw Winter run to Salamance when she saw her and wrapped her arms around Salamance, ignoring all the warnings she sent and simply whispered one word."

"Breathe,"

"Winter just cradled her head in her bony arms, petting her and singing a lullaby to her," Adrian couldn't help but smile, "the researchers hadn't seen anything like it before. Summer and Fall, who were candidates to be selected as Dexholders were in that day and saw Winter."

"Everyone was stunned when Gardevoir returned with wild berries and some water for Salamance. Winter took some of the berries and frowned, smelling them and shaking her head, apologising to Gardevoir for every berry she rejected until she came across a rabuta berry and smiled, requesting Gardevoir to find more."

"Winter picked out all the rabuta berries and fed them to Salamance patiently before making her drink some water. Salamance nudged Winter, Acacia thinks that Salamance knew that Winter wasn't eating well either. Winter ate a pecha berry before standing up and checking Salamance over."

"Acacia knows that Winter didn't learn that at the lab, so either Gardevoir taught her or she learnt somewhere else. Either way, it looked like Winter was a trained professional and she soon found the reason why Salamance was upset, rather than saying she lost the will to live like the professionals."

"The egg Salamance was guarding," Adrian took a deep breath, looking away, "it died."

"Winter stayed outside with Salamance all right and even cried with her, mourning the loss of the unhatched egg. Gardevoir couldn't do anything but bring them blankets and make sure they were going to be alright for the night. And when Acacia came to check on them, Winter gave her an earful. She was young but still fierce, she yelled at Acacia for being so careless, the egg died because the researchers took the egg for too long when they were taking notes about the egg's progress. They didn't turn the incubator on and the egg was gone for several hours without the warmth of its mother or artificial warmth."

"Acacia admitted that she deserved it, as it was her responsibility to ensure the egg's health, even if it was her researchers that fucked up and misdiagnosed her," Adrian chuckled. "But Winter proved to everyone at the lab that she knew what she was doing, how to take care of herself, she just needed to prove that she could protect herself in battles."

"Skaria isn't convenient in the way that there are places with weak and strong Pokemon, everywhere has at least level 35 Pokemon, some places have weak and strong Pokemon, some places only have strong Pokemon, but there's not an ecosystem in Skaria that can survive if the weak are always bullied and used as training material for trainers. In fact, that's why the rest of the regions are suffering."

"That's when they showed the final 8 remaining kinds, all ranged from 10 to 14 in age. They were shown the three Pokemon that Professor Acacia would give to the three kids that would be Skaria's Pokedex Holders. The Clareon seemed to be the weakest of the bunch, so none of the kids chose her, but Winter did."

"They all faced off in a mini tournament and Winter easily came out on top with the 'weakest' Pokemon without allowing the Clareon to be injured. Obviously, it was Summer and Fall that came in second and third. Officials overlooking the selection still wasn't satisfied and one of them decided to fight her with his level 40 something Houndoom."

"That's when Winter became troublesome again, she refused. It was a level 5 baby Pokemon against a level 40 something fully grown Houndoom. Clareon's an ice type too, Winter didn't want her to get hurt. She was taunted and called weak and cowardly by that man. Winter didn't lose it like Acacia thought she would. She simply requested that she'd use Gardevoir instead."

"But it was still a Houndoom against a Gardevoir and Gardevoir was still a level 31 at the time, versing a Pokemon that was over 10 levels superior to her. A little 11 year old girl against a 42 year old man. Winter won, but they weren't satisfied and another man wanted to battle her, this time, Winter had enough and let out a whistle."

Soon, they saw a Gabite come out of the bushes and nudge Winter. The Gabite was grumpy, but then again, it was Obsidian, he's always grumpy," Adrian chuckled, "Obsidian was barely level 20,"

"20? Don't Gible evolve at 24?" Red asked.

"Wow, Pokemon professors really brainwash you, huh?" Adrian shrugged. "When a Pokemon evolves, it depends on their feelings and bond with you. Levels have nothing to do with it, it depends fully on their bond with you, so a Fletchling can never become a Flechinder without trusting its trainer and its own power. In the wild, they only need themselves but trained Pokemon have a dependency on their Trainers that's unrivalled."

"Obsidian won the battle against a level 50 something Cryogonal. She taught everyone there a valuable lesson. I mean, the way the story turns out makes Winter seem strong and she got to Solar in the Elite Four with little trouble. She was about to lose when Solar decided to throw the towel in and give Winter the win, he stopped trying during that battle."

"Winter was strong, only because Skaria was weak. So Solar and Lunar took her under their wings and taught her what it truly meant to be strong," Adrian sighed, looking over the campfire, over at their sleeping friends.

"It's just how Skaria is, the wild Pokemon are so dangerous and they can call for help from higher level Pokemon. People don't train on wild Pokemon much, it's too dangerous. So instead there are a ton of tournaments and people battling each other to get stronger," Adrian sighed.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Red asked.

"Honestly? I was just rambling, I've forgotten the point I was trying to make," Adrian laughed.

"But, I just want you to know that no one knows the entirety of Winter's story, not even herself. If she keeps something from you, don't doubt her, let her come to you. If it needs to be forced out of her then come to me," Adrian looked to the sky, picking out some constellations. "I'm Hibiki the communicator of the group after all."

"Even if you do doubt her, even if you feel uneasy with some of the decisions she makes and even if she shuts you out

"How... would you describe Winter?"

"The last word I'd use is strong."

"Winter has tasted failure too many times to count. Honestly, look at her life and you'll see that she's never truly succeeded in anything. But even then, she smiles."

"She smiles for us."

"She hides the child inside of her, grew up faster than she should've even for a trainer. The rest of us are adults, but Winter, she's still a kid."

"And it hurts so much to see her smile sometimes."

~~~~~

"Winter?" Heart groped blindly for a second in the dark forest, unable to see anything until Winter returned Obsidian to his Pokeball, the red laser providing a little bit of light before promptly disappearing.

Winter held onto Heart's hand, smiling at the girl as her forest green eyes adjusted quickly, seeing into the dark with ease. "I can see pretty clearly, you?"

"How can you even see?" Heart cried out in exasperation.

"We're not using flashlights, don't wanna piss off Darkrai. Just hold onto my hand and I'll go slow," Winter promised.

"Alright..." Heart agreed reluctantly, clutching tightly onto Winter's hand, "maybe we should find the centre, which means heading into the forest."

"Yeah," Winter breathed out, noticing how eerily quiet it was and how Heart seemed to shiver, "is it cold?"

"What do you mean 'is it cold?' Hell yes it's cold!"

~~~~~

"Darkrai, someone's here," a shaky voice breathed out, the shadow of Darkrai replacing his own.

"I'm scared."

* * * * *

OOF! DONNEEE!!

This chapter was about 5900 words and I honestly, there's so much useless crap in this chapter, but useless crap is great for disguising hidden details lol.

Everything I wrote today, I wrote it while listening to Supermarket Flowers by Ed Sheeran. Honestly, I couldn't concentrate at first, I kept crying because it reminds me so much of my mother and my broken faith in god.

Even now, I can't sing it without almost breaking down.

I listened to it writing about Winter's past.

Honestly, this is a pretty straightforward chapter, I'm not entirely sure what I should write here.

Winter's childhood is gonna be explained at some stage, probably not this book. There are still several plot points I need to get through but there's no need for filler anymore. Shouldn't take me long to finish up :3

Depends on how my freeform writing goes....

But I actually need to start considering a new cover.... If the first chapter of the next book doesn't get posted for a few months, blame it on the cover or the theme of the chapter titles, probably the cover.

The title of this chapter was pretty easy, sunk back into the pattern now :))))

There are SO SO SO many things I want to say.

But I can't.

If you wanna know something, dm me about it, I'm more likely to spill stuff I'm not meant to.... One of you know this a little too well :)

Otherwise, peace~