Unable to shake the feeling of being watched, Winter looked over at Heart again, watching as the girl slept peacefully. The girl was yawning a lot, so Winter made her sit down and asleep.

Winter stood up abruptly, forgetting about her shoe situation and almost tripping. She gasped, grasping onto a tree to help stabilise herself. She looked at her stilettos and sighed, looking over at Heart, noticing that the girl barely stirred. Breathing out in relief, she raised her ankles, taking the sharp heel off of the ground and taking baby steps.

Winter's eyes looked around, trying to identify any danger. Eyebrows furrowed, she couldn't shake the feeling. Sighing quietly, she abruptly turned around, trying to identify someone.

Should I call Hunter? Winter thought to herself briefly. No. Just wait.

The wind blew softly, a breeze that rustled the leaves. Waves crashed gently onto the sand on the shore and the moon was high in the sky, covered by the pine trees around them, their leaves casting eerie shadows and blocking the view of the sky. Exhaling softly, Winter just felt it.

Someone was there.

Her eyes fluttered closed, unable to find it in herself to freak out or race to hide. She was strangely unperturbed, relaxed. She took a step forward anyway, mysterious orbs still hidden behind her eyes.

There, the magic was gone.

She breathed out, unable to sense any auras or presence. Hunter was too far to lend her his power, she was alone. She was in danger and unable to react. Heart was asleep, it was up to her.

Why was she stupid enough to give her entire team to Blake and Whitley, neither were useless by any means and most definitely deserved to be protected, however it meant that Winter had to depend completely on Heart's team, a team designed for support as a Ranger, not for battling head on.

There was Obsidian, but he was already grumpy from having to give them rides. Winter could only hope that if it came down to it, Obsidian wouldn't mind battling a little .

This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~

Adrian felt antsy, this uncontrollable buzz under his skin that refused to go away. Like a ghost, he wasn't even sure if it was there. He felt tempted to itch at his skin to get rid of it, but even when he did, nothing worked.

His mind was just as restless, unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes max. His eyes lingered on the flickering fire before looking at Cynthia, then Red, then Solar, then Lunar and back to the flames. Not even the thought of Winter kept him grounded.

Everyone else had fallen asleep, it was just him that was awake. Wide awake and unable to do anything, not wanting to wake anyone up.

His legs burned with every movement, the stinging of pain never disappearing, even for a second. He didn't dare complain though, refusing to even hiss out his pain at times. He was stubborn and he knew.

The soft scent of flowers filled the air along with the crackling of the flames that illuminated the area. Soft lumps could be seen around the flames, his allies, all asleep. Solar had insisted on sharing Lunar's sleeping bag, he got cold easily. Red was almost next to the flames and Cynthia was a little further off, to his left.

Adrian brought his knees closer to his chest, sighing as he tried to concentrate, unable to figure out what was bothering him.

Winnie, be safe.

And his mind was off again.

~~~~~

Winter looked back at Heart for a second before quietly moving away. Unable to get her mind to rest, she looked down at the jacket she refused to take off. Biting her lip, she squeezed her eyes shut before she shrugged the familiar jacket off.

Clutching the innocent fabric in her arms, she exhaled lightly, looking at Heart's sleeping form, sleeping peacefully. Her chest rose and fell in a rhythmic pattern, eyes shut gently and entire body relaxed. It felt nice to see someone sleep so peacefully when she couldn't do it herself.

Guilt flashed through her veins, knowing that it was her that insisted that they would visit New Moon Island at night. Heart was tired and Winter blatantly ignored it. Heart didn't complain and by the time Winter noticed, the older girl seemed to be exhausted.

Winter took the fabric, holding it to her heart briefly before draping it over Heart's bare skin. Winter almost felt jealous over the peaceful state Heart seemed to be in, but inside, she knew that she felt more grateful than anything. Grateful that the angel in front of her was able to experience the simple things that made her life easier.

Winter backed off from Heart's sleeping figure, taking little steps backwards, heels up to make less noise. Smiling fondly at Heart, she spun around and headed for the shore.

Someone was there.

It crossed her mind to take off the stilettos once or twice, but honestly, Winter had more important things to think about. Plus, the shoes weren't all that uncomfortable.

As the trees spread out and released her onto the small beach that surrounded the island, Winter felt like she could breathe. She was out in the open, free but also an easier target for whoever was watching.

Ally or foe, she honestly couldn't tell.

Winter resigned herself, ignoring all the sounds she was meant to search out for. The rustling of a branch of leaves, footsteps and the sound of something swimming underwater. All of them went ignored as she stared up at the stars and the moon as they slowly moved around the sky.

As soon as she tried to pick a thought that crossed her chaotic mind, everything just stopped. The hurricane of thoughts came to a standstill, everything going blank. She stood there alone on the beach, strangely calm.

Nothing came to mind, nothing at all.

Nothing about Crescent or Lunar, nothing about Blake or Whitley, not even anything about Adrian. It was strangely blank.

Winter welcomed the peace, but at the same time, there was a lot to think about.

Still, she relished in the few moments of peace that enveloped her.

Something was wrong.

Winter spun around, trying to catch something, anything that seemed to be out of place. Her beautiful eyes darted from place to place, trying her damndest to locate something.

She narrowed her eyes, nothing.

On edge, she wasn't sure of her next move. Her eyes continued to comb through her surroundings, attempting to find something or someone that was watching her. The eyes that were watching her, Winter felt as though they were burning a hole into her, she felt vulnerable and defensive.

Biting her lip, she was certain that whoever was out there, watching her weren't able to harm Heart. She only sensed one human presence, their attention was on her. However, she still didn't know whether they were dangerous or not.

There were only two options; a team Shade member, a high ranked one, or an ally that knew about Darkrai or Guardians, most likely both. There was no in between, it couldn't be anyone on a dare or a lost traveller, whoever it was, knew what they were doing and were doing it well.

Winter knew that she had to be cautious, eyes fluttering as she tried to think of a solution, a way to talk to whoever was watching her without getting herself or Heart in trouble. She ran her slim fingers through her hair, feeling as though she was being watched from all sides.

Maybe I was wrong, maybe there are more people than I thought, Winter frowned, shuffling in the sand.

Whatever.

~~~~~

Heart groaned as she slowly stirred, eyes opening to the dark forest. Heart sat up slowly, realising that a familiar blue flannel and grey fabric fell onto her lap. The one Winter had been wearing for so long. She took the jacket and-

Heart froze as she was. The leaves were rustling abnormally, too abnormally.

Someone or something was there.

Heart couldn't help but shiver, breath hitched. She was afraid to move.

Wait. Where's... where's... where's Winter? Where is she? I don't know where she is! Heart didn't care anymore, she jumped up, gripping tightly onto Winter's jacket and looked around.

"Who's there?" she demanded, hand already halfway into her pocket where Hanako and Misora were. Neither were the most powerful Pokemon, but they could defend her.

"COME OUT!" she cried out, almost hoarsely, spinning around mindlessly trying to find the source of the rustling. She was uncomfortable, knowing she was being watched. Was it human? Or something else?

She took a deep breath, wanting to calm to assess the situation.

White.

Heart bit her lip and held the jacket closer. Perhaps it was left with her as a taunt, that whoever was on the island with them wanted her to know that they had Winter. Or it could just be Winter, being the caring girl she was leaving her with the jacket.

Either way, Winter wasn't there anymore and Heart needed to find her. Heart took one last glance around before choosing a random direction and walking onwards. Winter probably wouldn't come to her unless she screamed for help. The island wasn't big, she could find her.

Heart soon reached the beach by walking for a small while and sighed. She looked left and right for a sign of Winter, but heard nothing. She looked to the water, frowning at the ripple that was quickly covered by a wave. Clicking her tongue in confusion, she chose a way and began to walk, hoping that Winter was along the beach somewhere so that they could meet up meet up.

One step at a time.

Heart couldn't help but jump at every sound, eyes dashing across the view to try to find a suspect.

Someone was with them.

Heart squeezed her eyes shut, stopping not even 10 metres away from where she started, clutching Adrian's jacket in her hands, chills running down her spine. Taking a deep breath, she cast a glance behind her before continuing, one step at a time, slowly making her way around the island.

Paranoia ate away at her, her hand slowly reached up to her face, nails ready but she froze, hand lowering from her face. She sighed, nails slowly scraping her arm, lightly, soft white marks covering her light coloured skin before it quickly disappeared. Resisting the urge to simply scream out, she grit her teeth, clenched her fist and continued to walk on.

Heart shivered, eyes looking around worriedly. Groaning out in frustration, Heart turned around and-

screamed.

The Haxorus hissed loudly, quickly clawing Heart, scraping her arm. Heart cried out in pain softly, other hand immediately grabbing the first Pokeball on her belt and pushing the button and throwing it into the air.

An angry screech resounded as a little bundle of fluff landed on the ground before sprinting toward Haxorus, glowing white as she rammed into Haxorus, but it barely did anything.

Haxorus roared in fury, irritated at Hanako as the low levelled Eevee tickled him. Hanako whimpered, backing up and glancing back at Heart. Hanako saw Heart and growled at Haxorus, bristling her fur in order to look more intimidating.

Haxorus felt amused by the Eevee, eager to protect her absent minded trainer as Heart tried to concentrate. Haxorus wasn't alone, Heart knew that and she couldn't think straight, wanting nothing more than to find Winter and try to keep the girl safe.

Haxorus hissed, watching Hanako flinch and yet still growl back. Hanako pulled a face and whined at Heart, needing direction and support.

"Hana, let's run!" Heart grabbed Hanako and sprinted off in a random direction, not even thinking about why Hanako was still crying out. Hanako wanted Misora, the Gardevoir could save them!

Heart almost froze, hearing the furious scrambles of Haxorus chasing them. Without her Capture Stylist, she felt so hopeless. Why did she piss off the Haxorus?

"Haxorus, use Dragon Pulse!"

~~~~~

Winter froze, whirling to turn back, feeling a shiver run down her spine and the urge to run, to protect.

Heart.

Winter broke into a sprint, around the island until she ended up in the exact same spot, seeing her footprints in the sand. Without bothering to stop, she ran back to-

Winter spun around, once and twice. The scratches on those trees weren't there when she left. There was no indication that it happened during a struggle, sound travelled too easily in the tiny island.

The leaves rustled louder than ever and the crashes of the waves sounded like a tsunami every time they hit. Winter spun around, knowing that she had to find Heart. Nails lightly scraping the side of her face, Winter decided to go left since she never did it right.

Winter looked at a tree to her left and frowned, deciding to climb it, hauling her tiny body up until the leaves shielded her body from sight. From there, she continued to climb from tree to tree.

Hearing something rustle, she looked down to see a Lucario, walking by calmly, as if needing to be somewhere in a hurry. Winter knew she had to follow him. She reached out an arm and-

She screamed.

Winter recoiled, staring at the Staraptor, the pissed off Staraptor tentatively and then down at the Lucario, who stared up at her. Both of their piercing eyes bore into her, tearing her down and Winter couldn't stand it and-

Crack.

The entire island was covered in a layer of ice and it was snowing, in the middle of Summer. Winter shot ice out of her fingertips, distracting Staraptor long enough to drop to the floor and run.

Snowflakes danced to the ground, coating the place in white as Winter simply ran, blinded, unable to try to find an exit. Both the Lucario and Staraptor chased her. Winter cried out, feeling something hit her and her toes slip through the sand, sending her down.

Winter immediately turned onto her back and-

felt something at her throat.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look as she heard harsh breathing right above her and another body, much warmer than her own, a man, on top of her, pressing her down in the snow covered sand.

Neither of them spoke.

Slowly, Winter opened her eyes, hands twitching, wanting to move and get whatever it was away from her neck. With a deep breath, she finally took in her surroundings, looking at the man in front of her.

"Well, are you gonna kill me or get off of me?" Winter huffed, staring down the man's foxy black and red heterochromatic eyes.

The man spluttered for a few seconds, scrambling to sit up awkwardly.

"I get the message, you and your Pokemon are happy here, I won't disturb you. Just tell me where my friend is and we'll leave."

The man struggled to form words in his plump, pale lips. He simply rolled to the side and allowed Winter to sit up, the ice quickly melting away now that she wasn't so distressed. She looked over at him and then her own skin, marvelling over how pale his skin was, it seemed whiter than her own, matched with snow white hair.

Winter narrowed her eyes a little, wishing Hunter was a little closer in order to use her Aura and look deeper into the man, despite his Lucario being there. Then,

it clicked.

Winter flopped down to the sand, unable to hold back her giggles as she stared up into the sky.

"Dammit, she's always right," she murmured, smiling at the sky.

"Say, I know you," Winter spoke up, "and I'm so stupid for falling for all of this, all the bad feelings I've gotten since arriving."

"You know what Guardians are, right?"

"And, you want to find us, the rest of us."

"Because it's what you've been told to do," Winter sighed out, relaxing into the sand.

"It's over."

~~~~~

Adrian couldn't help but notice that Cynthia seemed to be quite happy, like everything had fallen into place. He still couldn't move as he watched the others all go about their own things.

"Cynthia," Adrian spoke up, "is something wrong?"

"No, why?"

Adrian winced, it came out a little wrong. "You seem happier than usual for some reason."

"Things are falling into place, Giratina's excited for some reason, I feel excited and I don't know why," Cynthia explained, unable to stop smiling as she leafed throug the pages of her book.

"I don't know," Solar sighed, looking over at Lunar.

"Winter feels defeated," Red muttered and Lunar just nodded.

Lunar felt uneasy.

"How do you think they are?" Adrian asked.

"They left Blake and Whitley behind, so it's just Heart and Winter on the island," Red answered, "but I can't help but have this bad feeling in my stomach, like something's waiting there, something sinister."

"Darkrai's nice," Adrian frowned.

"No, I think it's something else," Red shrugged.

"Don't like it," Lunar murmured.

~~~~~

"It's over."

"Your search is over," Winter smiled, sitting up properly to look at the man.

"Hello, my name is Winter, otherwise known as Kasumi, one of your leaders as a Guardian."

The man looked taken back, unable to properly form words as he rushed to try and say something. Winter simply giggled, causing the lightest shade of pink to colour his face. She shook her head and stood up.

"I'd love to show you my marks, but they're on my chest and my lower back, letting you see them means stripping and we might both become uncomfortable, so I'll need you to trust me," Winter told him.

"I-it's fine," he quickly said. "But, aren't you afraid?"

"Of what?" Winter asked, watching as the man helplessly addressed himself with his hand.

"I'm... different," he said helplessly, "and you look really pretty, like someone who would... you know...."

"Oh," Winter shrugged, "you're cute," she giggled, flopping down on the sand.

"I don't care much for appearances, but I must say, all the Guardians are hot," Winter admitted with a soft smile, "you're all so beautiful on the inside, it kinda kills me a little. I want to be half as beautiful as you all."

"What?"

"You're beautiful," Winter repeated, "your Pokemon friends see that really clearly."

"But I look like this and... I'm," he sighed, as if giving up, "I can't tell you, Arceus made a mistake."

"Arceus makes mistakes, but he doesn't make humans," Winter stated matter of factually, "we see him as a God, but he's nothing like that, so tell me, what have you been told about this 'god'?"

"That I'm a mistake, that there's no way a man like me exists, like I should be ashamed," he said.

"Whatever mechanism of fate was out there when you were made, it's never going to change. You're always going to live like this and you shouldn't be ashamed, of the colour of your skin to the colour of your eyes and everything in between that you may be ashamed of."

"Lucario, go get Haxorus, Sceptile and the other girl," he commanded quietly before turning to Winter, looking at her lazily lying down in the grass with her pink hair spread all around, "I can't come to terms with it, so I ran and hid."

"Wow," Winter breathed out, "I wish I could just run and hide sometimes, but I felt as though there was nowhere to hide, nowhere to go so I had to bare it all and wear this shame on my skin, feeling like everyone knows and they all judge me for it."

"But I have someone who is always there," Winter smiled, "and if I could find someone to be like that, someone who you could trust with your entire life then I'll be happy. Forget the prejudices of society saying that men can't cry and depend on someone, that woman are housewives and can't fight, fuck all the gender roles. Break all of them, break through and let your true colours shine and wear it all, the shame, embarrassment, the happiness and sadness, the anger and dedpair and the joy, wear all of those emotions with pride."

"But remember, you're a human."

"You could get a job as a motivational speaker, Winnie," Heart chuckled, taking a seat, "now, should I feel like I'm unsafe right now?"

"No, he's Yuuki," Winter smiled, eyes fluttered close.

"So, Yuuki, what's your real name?"

"Raios," he smiled, finally able to breathe.

"Raios, wanna run away together?" Winter asked.

Raios couldn't stop the tears that brimmed his eyes as he nodded.

Finally, he was free.

* * * * *

Sometimes, I don't think readers really get the weird things authors google for their stories sometimes....

Sorry that this is short, but I thought it was alright to end it here tbh. Sorry for the inactivity, I scrapped this chapter several times trying to introduce Raios. I wanted it to be suspenseful, to keep the readers on their toes, wondering if they were about to meet a protagonist or an antagonist.

I think I failed, lol.

DC2 (still without a proper name) has begun though.

Yes, I decided it would be easier to write the start of DC2 over this chapter.

Raios will play a big role next book, but now.

We have a new arc, the last major arc before the book ends. I won't tell you who it focusses on, but lets just say that it was bound to happen eventually.