RosesOfTruth: Never played any of the Pokémon games before. No, there won't be Shadows. Just Time and Space.

Cherry-Tree: It's possible. You should see the rest of the irony in this story. Half the story doesn't make sense because 'Masquerade ruined it', but stay tuned.

Cup of Violet Tea: There are definitely a lot of questions still unanswered. I'll go in detail with her better health later.

Flopi216: Thanks again for reviewing!

MagicxMusicxMelody: Your years are different than ours. We start in the middle of the numerical year. What happened in that alley was just a warning, but this is serious business.

InnocentDiamond: I know that line too! Alice's health is a minor issue. Time and Space definitely chose sides. I'll stick with 'second hand' since it only appears again in just this chapter.

SSR: Grgh! Sorry for not updating this on Sunday or what day that was. I spent my entire week working on a science fair project.

Alice: Was it easy?

SSR: Well, I like subject matter my partner and I used, but not buying and assembling the supplies. And it's due TUESDAY. We still need a few more pictures showing time regression.

Dan: Oh...it's that kind of of science project...

SSR: What are you implying?!

Runo: Okay, she's mad.

Alice: Enjoy this chapter while she works on her science project!

Chapter Fourteen

Verge of Desperation

...

...

Shun breathed heavily as he gripped the railing tightly.

"Are you okay? You've been looking pale ever since we got here."

"No...It can't be...why...impossible..." he mused, completely ignoring Julie. Suddenly, he turned around and grabbed Julie by the shoulders tightly. "Tell me that what Masquerade said wasn't true. Tell me that I was just hearing things."

Julie shook her head and broke off his grip. "I heard it too, Shun. I was shocked to hear that it was Masquerade who kept erasing you from Alice's memory and mind, but think about it! If it weren't for him, would you have met Alice the way you did about a year before the accident?"

Although she really didn't want to say that, and none of them wanted to hear that, it was true. "You're right. There's nothing that can be done except for to continue searching for more clues. By the way, who was the person who saved us?"

"What person?"

"I remember that after Masquerade and I argued, a voice told me to move over, and I did it without doubt. You stepped aside too, and a flying clock hand from our direction flew at and injured Masquerade."

Julie shrugged. "I don't know, but someone here does want us to go on traveling in time to solve this mystery. Judging by that sweep hand that flew, that person is also a Guardian of Space. Why two people of the same group are at conflict is a brain teaser."

"But they specifically said my name. Not yours."

"That...I have no explanation for. All I'm certain of in this place is that we're less than two years away from present day..."

"And less than a year away from when I 'first' met Alice. Where are we?"

"Watch out!" Shun and Julie looked up and saw plus heard glass jars of yellow liquid roll down the brick path and shatter into gooey piles of shards. "Oh no, please don't be broken..."

"I should fix this." Julie tapped each jar's cap and restore the glass jars and yellow liquid to their original states. "Good as new."

Shun pointed to one remaining gooey pile. "What about that?"

"I purposely let that unfixed. You'll thank me later." she answered before giving Shun a plastic bag and then disappearing. Regardless of what Julie meant by that, at least having only one broken jar was better than all being broken.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Shun's thoughts. "Thank goodness only one's broken." Walking by Shun was a redhead girl with her hair tied back and an apron in her arms. "Thank for stopping them for me. Sorry if I caused any trouble."

"It was no problem. We should clean this up, though." Out of the blue while gathering the glass shards, he looked up and said, "By the way, I'm Shun."

"Nice you meet you, Shun. I'm Alice. Thank you so much for saving most of these."

Shun stared at her as she gathered the remaining jars onto her laid-out apron, which she later tied up the four corners of. "It was rather awkward and random to see jars roll down the brick path and just shatter. What happened?"

"It's a long story. Unless you want to walk me back, I can't explain it all in a minute."

"I'll walk you back then."

"Really?" Alice's surprise-less tone suggested that her earlier question was sarcastic and rhetorical. "Now that you mention it, I could use the extra help."

"Extra help? As in?"

She giggled once again, and hearing her sweet voice only made Shun even more uneasy knowing that he'll remember all this, but Alice won't. "Each of these jars contain different types of honey. I'm volunteering at a food fair in an hour. Now, as for the broken jar you're cleaning up..." Alice tilted her head to read the label and gasped. "Uh oh, I'm in big trouble..."

"What's wrong?"

"Read the label. This happens to be the only jar of Himalayan acacia honey I have."

"Wait, this belongs to you?"

She nodded. "I promised the event manager to bring at least one rare flavor of honey, so I chose this one. Now it's broken, and I don't have time to go home."

"I thought the event starts in an hour."

"But my inventory of other honey is at my aunt's house about two hours away."

Thanks for a lot for not fixing the most important jar of honey, Julie. Shun took a deep breath. "Why don't I walk you back for now? You can tell me about this food fair on the way."

"Sounds like a good idea. Before we do that, we need something to carry these shards. I'm not using my apron for that..."

"I have a plastic bag." Shun unraveled the bag Julie gave him and placed the shards inside. "All done. Lead the way."

"Great! Follow me!" It wasn't the first time Shun went walking with Alice, but this time, things were awfully silent. Shun continued to stare at Alice as she walked, couple steps ahead of him. Suddenly, she stopped and asked, "Don't you want to hear about the food fair and how I got into this mess?"

"Huh? What?" He pounded his head a few times and replied, "Yeah, I do. Sorry, I got distracted."

Alice tilted her head. "Distracted? That can't be good." She ran a few steps back to his right. "What's wrong?"

"Well...something happened earlier before I got here that's been bugging me since."

"What is it?"

Should I even tell her at all? Masquerade will come back and erase me from her memory. What's the point? "Nothing. Doesn't matter or not if I tell you. It won't change anything."

"Then I guess I won't tell you what I have to say." Alice had a slight smirk on her face that implied she wanted to hear what Shun had to say. He shook his head and sighed. "What? Change of mind?"

"I guess. Do you know how it feels to realize that someone was doing things to you unknowing as you spend time with a close friend of yours? I don't even know what I just said."

"Oh..." Alice kept walking with her finger held up. "So you're saying that you realized someone was behind the odd things happening between you and some person?"

"Exactly! I don't know what to do. There's nothing I can do to stop that person from intervening at his will."

"'His' will?" she asked, emphasizing the pronoun. "You can't be serious. Stand up to him like a man, Shun! But then again, I have no idea what's going on here. Is it because you know there's nothing you can do that you're telling this to me now?"

His eyes widened at the thought. "Yeah...how did you know?"

"I read people during my free time. Sitting at bus stops, standing at street corners, observing everyone. It may seem idiotic, but you have no idea how much one can get out of spending time observing the behavior of a person." She pointed to a man across the street and commented, "That guy's been there smoking and pacing around ever since I left. You should've seen how many times he rubbed his forehead and scolded himself. A life crisis is coming at him."

'Life crisis' just happened to be the term Marucho used to describe Alice.

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Shun looked at the man but kept walking. "Maybe he lost his job and doesn't know how to tell his family. Anyway, let's not talk about me. I'm interested in how you do your thing with observing people."

"That? Simple. I get that feeling, too. A lot."

Does that mean Alice knows that Masquerade is altering her mind? But it can't be. Alice's answer sounded completely off topic, yet it seemed like she might have known Masquerade was doing things to her. "What do you mean by that?"

She pointed to the door of a nearby diner. "When my best friend's boyfriend doesn't like it when I spent too much time with my best friend, who's his girlfriend, and decides to sabotage everything." Coming outside was a pigtailed blunette, followed by a goggled brunette. "What did you expect?"

Shun mentally breathed a sigh of relief but was still nervous. Maybe Masquerade really did get to her mind. I really need to stop him from causing further damage, even if that will change history. However, looking at the two people coming out from the diner changed his mind. "Dan?!"

"Shun! What are you doing here?!"

"Alice's here, too!" Runo noted.

"Great!" Dan walked over to Alice and slammed his arm on her shoulder. "This is the guy that I've been trying to set you up with so you can spend your time away from Runo. Alice, meet Shun. Shun, meet Alice."

Now Shun really wished Masquerade was here to erase his existence from all three of their minds like they never saw him today.

SSR: I know the honey was random, but it's important, and I'll clarify in my next update. Keep that in mind!

Dan: Pretty sure we know you won't be updating soon with that kind of project...

Runo: Knock it off! She and her wallet have had their tough days.

SSR: Thanks for caring. (trudging away)

Alice: Just leave a review. ^-^"