Ugh... Mondays. Here's a Chapter to make it a little bit better! Enjoy!

-Chapter V: Underneath the Shadow of Death-

-Amber-

Everything around her was darkness. She couldn't see anything, not even the light from her tail. The only thing she knew was that she was floating. She didn't know what direction, but she was moving the same direction the entire time.

She felt something drawing her in in the distance. After a moment, she saw a faint light, like a white ember in the void. As she drew closer, she started to lean forward, towards the light. She squinted and brushed her hair out of her face- Wait, hair? She looked at her hands. They were tan and smaller, and definitely not clawed. She looked around and started calling out frantically. "Briar! Tyranitar! Galvantula! ...CELEBI!" Her voice was absorbed by the infinite darkness.

She began tearing up as the light drew closer, realizing what was happening. "I don't want to go… Arceus, please…"

Tears dripped from her face and remained suspended in the empty space. The light grew brighter, when suddenly she felt a strong force tug her the opposite direction. As soon as she stopped floating forward, she screamed in pain. A familiar voice echoed throughout the void. "You'll thank me later… Please try to understand."

Then the pulling sped up, and she opened her eyes, shooting awake and screaming in pure agony. Her vision was red and blurry, and her entire body burned. She wailed for it to stop, tears streaking down her face. She screamed and tried to get up, but someone was holding her down. She superheated her body in an attempt to get them off, but with no avail.

After the initial pain subsided and her wounds were bandaged, she looked around. Tyranitar had released her, and everyone was staring at her, wide-eyed, like something horrible had happened. She teared up as her thoughts became clearer. "I..."

Celebi stared at her, completely slack jawed. "Amber… You were dead."

Behind her, Roy hummed almost inaudibly. She gritted her teeth and glared at him, whether it was out of shock, joy, or anger, she didn't know. She was crying. That's all she knew for sure. "You… You brought me back. I was…"

He smirked nonchalantly and reclined in midair. "You were heading to the distortion world. Had you crossed over, you would have been gone for good."

Atlas murmured off to her left, "You can bring back the dead…?"

He shook his head in response. "I can't bring back the actual dead, per se, but I can reattach souls to their host bodies if I act fast enough. The only thing about that is… Weeeell, it's not exactly legal, in ghost-law."

"Ghost law." Atlas echoed.

"And a couple other things," the Mismagius added. "But that's not important."

Amber just stared at him, dumbfounded as to why he helped her. "You helped me… Why?"

He made a face that clearly showed he thought the question was stupid. "'Why'? You're seriously asking that? You're kind of a big deal to all of us, you're the one that can do the spell things that heal us and erase hypnosis that even I can't, and you're the leader as of right now! Soooo… I assumed that you wouldn't want to go down by bleeding out because of some rock shards. That would be a stupid way to die." Then he narrowed his eyes at her, making her shift uncomfortably and divert her gaze. His voice echoed in her head suddenly. Your soul is weird-looking too… Not a Charizard, that's for sure.

When she looked at him, his expression didn't change, but he continued. "Beside the point… I've seen too many people precious to me die before my very eyes. I was not going to lose another. Not when I could do something."

Her eyes widened slightly and she placed a hand on her chest. "But… You did that for me…?"

He nodded. "Yes. I could not stand back and do nothing. Not when I was there."

She nodded slowly, deciding to thank him out loud. "...Well… Thanks."

Mirage buzzed forward and glanced back and forth between them. "Can we go back to the part where Roy can bring spirits back to their bodies?"

"I'd prefer not to tell anyone else, please. Especially Jade or Vulcan." Roy quickly blurted out.

"Why not?" Atlas asked.

His expression became more stern as he countered, "Because Jade doesn't like me to begin with, and if she finds out that I can do anything remotely close to bringing back the dead, she'll hate me even more for not saving her 'boyfriend', and pester me with questions about why didn't I do anything to bring back any of our team, blah blah blah… I'd prefer to not have any more drama in that department. Too much for me. And Vulcan's depressed enough about everything that he did. I don't want him thinking I could've done something to change it, when in all reality I can't."

Atlas clenched his fists, the long scar running down his face glistening from Briar's healing paste. "How can you be so… so..."

"Be so what? So selfish as to not give someone false hope? I can't do anything about our team, Atlas! If I could, then I would! But they're gone, whether you like it or not! If you have a problem with it, then you can go to the Distortion World and bring them back yourself, or die trying for all I care!"

His eyes glowed slightly, but he blinked once and gasped, his eyes shooting open in shock. "I… I don't know what came over me… I'm sorry-"

Atlas humphed and turned away. "Whatever. Just leave us alone."

Roy's eyes glowed dimly. He stared at Atlas with so much pain in his eyes that she legitimately felt bad for him. He shook his head and stopped the glowing. Amber hadn't noticed it at first, but all of the shadows cast along the length of the ground and throughout the trees had begun condensing around him, and were just now being released. She heard him mutter something under his breath, but he shook his head and grimaced.

She beckoned Roy over, and spoke through telepathy. "What did you see when you brought me back…?"

Roy raised an eyebrow quizzically, the tears in his eyes receding. "I don't exactly know… Your soul wasn't a Charizard. It was some other weird-looking pokémon. It was maybe a foot taller… No tail or anything… Looked like a fighting-type, maybe?"

She sighed internally with relief, and Roy narrowed his eyes, his voice becoming more questioning, any signs of sadness completely covered up. "Who are you? I mean, really? I've never seen the pokémon that you were in spirit, and I haven't met a Charizard that can do half the things you can."

"I'm Amber." She answered. She wasn't lying, technically.

He leveled an unconvinced look at her, his mouth downturning slightly. "Really? I didn't ask your name. I asked who you are. As in why are you here?"

She tilted her head slightly, attempting to play dumb, but he grinned smugly, his voice still echoing in her head. "Surely you don't expect me to believe that you just want to help us out of the goodness of your heart? Nobody does that without asking for anything in return. What do you want from us?"

She shrugged. "Nothing. Your leader requested our assistance many years ago, before he made this team. Whether or not he remembers, I cannot tell."

Roy's eyebrows shot up. "Remembers?"

She cursed herself silently, but played along. "I don't know. He doesn't seem to remember us."

He shrugged, dismissing the subject and looked over her shoulder, directly at Atlas. She glanced back and forth between them, and Roy's body shimmered slightly before stabilizing. "...Nothing's ever good enough for them, is it? I bring you back, they're mad at me for not doing it earlier to someone else." He put on a smile, but he couldn't hide the pain in his eyes. "But, as Atlas said, 'whatever'." He looked into the middle distance and mumbled, "He's just hurt. He doesn't really mean it." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself of what he just said. Even to her, it sounded half-hearted. She decided to support him. After all, it's his doing that she was still alive. "Roy… I've never met a ghost-type that's cared so much for others. To go breaking a law of nature for a stranger… It's quite phenomenal."

His frown curled upwards the tiniest bit, and she could tell he was trying to hide a smile. "Don't think I'll make it the norm. I don't like you in the way I think you're implying. I'm a ghost, remember? I don't have feelings of attraction to others."

She nodded and smiled jokingly. "I don't expect you to make it a normal occurrence. After all, it is dangerous."

Dusknoir took notice of their telepathic conversation, eyeing them questioningly. Roy glanced around and let out a short laugh. "Well, that's my cue. We'll continue this later."

-Connor-

When they left the massive chamber, they swam straight through the ocean, following the Milotic and Empoleon through tunnels and underwater caves illuminated by Cassandra's bioluminescence and came out from a tunnel in the bedrock at the bottom of the ocean floor. It was dark and cold. Connor shuddered once, his pupils dilating to compensate in the darkness. Cassandra and Galatia swam upward slowly, at more of a slight angle. He followed and rose slowly behind them, Grovyle and Basileus both clinging to his back. Alice latched onto Vulcan's back, much to their surprise, but nobody said anything. Caroline held on to Galtia with vine whips and was tugged along without effort by the Empoleon.

Most of the water-types in the ocean steered clear of them. Even the more dangerous ones like Jellicent and Tentacruel. He didn't mind. He was in no shape to be fighting, and he sure didn't want to be a burden to this team that rescued them. He was in his element. He should have been leading his team, but he was constantly falling short. He grimaced, but kept going. He had to make it back. He had to find his team. He would find them, one way or another, and he would make things right.

He felt the currents change to his right, but when he looked, nothing was there. He narrowed his eyes and nearly swam into Galatia. She had stopped as well, appearing to have sensed the currents. "...Stay close, everyone."

The group bunched together more tightly, and after a while, Connor saw a flicker of movement and used ancient power to collapse the nearest pillar onto the shadowy outline. Cassandra twirled around while Alice closed her eyes and sent out a strange pulse of light. She took a deep breath, then opened her eyes. "We're safe, I think…"

A blur of motion came from their left, and they all aimed their attacks in that direction. Caroline, Grovyle and Basileus used leaf storm, magical leaf, and razor leaf respectively, but they were all deflected by a bright blue bubble of air. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait! It's me!"

As the outline became clearer, Connor teared up while Vulcan's jaw dropped. "...Manaphy?"

The little guy beamed. "Yep!" His smile faded as he looked at them. "I saw the bluff get blown up… I shouldn't have left. I… I could've-"

Vulcan shook his head. "That's just more unnecessary danger that you could have been in. Did you see any of the others?" his voice broke, and tears began rolling down his cheeks. Manaphy shook his head. "No… I… I came looking for you as soon as I saw the explosion."

Vulcan nodded solemnly and gritted his teeth. "...Alright. I'm… I'm just glad you're safe."

Manaphy teared up. "Me, too… I'm glad you're all alright."

Galatia cleared her throat and gestured ahead. "Not to interrupt your... touching moment, but we have to move."

Basileus readily agreed. "She's right. We have to get back to land."

Vulcan placed a hand on Manaphy's shoulder. "Except you, Manaphy."

"What?" Manaphy's eyes widened. "Why?"

"You're safe here. The ocean is your home territory. I won't let you get hurt the way we were."

Manaphy started to protest. "But-"

"But nothing. This group is relentless and shows no mercy on any of us. You are staying here."

"But I can help! I'm strong!"

Vulcan teared up again and said, "Manaphy… I know you are… But this group is stronger than any of us… maybe even all of us. I won't let you put yourself in danger."

Manaphy's shoulders drooped. "But what about Wigglytuff's guild? Couldn't I stay there? I'd be closer to you guys, and-"

Vulcan pulled the little guy into a hug. "That's the first place they'd look for us. The ocean is too big for them to search, and it's where you're strongest. Right now, you need to stay safe. Promise me."

Manaphy sniffled and nodded slowly. "I… I promise, Vulcan…"

Connor decided not to say anything. He just let Vulcan and manaphy talk it out. He knew how much Manaphy meant to him. Of course, he cared about the little guy too, but Vulcan had that kind of connection with him that was super special.

"...We will watch over him in your absence."

Connor turned to Cassandra, who had captured everybody's attention. Galatia's eyes widened. "You cannot be serious-"

"This team is important to the world on Immanis, and this Charizard is the father figure to Manaphy. That much is apparent. I will do everything in my power to help them, with hope that they will one day repay us in kind."

Manaphy pressed his head into Vulcan's chest. "I don't want to go…"

"This is different, Manaphy." Vulcan promised. "We will see you again. I promise I will come back for you. I don't want to leave you either… But I can't let you get hurt if there's something I can do about it."

He shifted his gaze to Cassandra, "How far are we from Immanis?"

"Not far. Maybe thirty nautical miles. And then we can provide you a rollcall orb to-"

Connor did a mental face-palm. "How did I not think of that?!" He reached into his wonder bag and pulled out the little blue orb with a bronze bell pattern on it. "This will bring us all back together!"

He smashed it in his hand and closed his eyes. Nothing happened. He looked at the powdery remnants in the water. "How…? This brings all members of the same team together, no matter where they are… Unless one team is in a mystery dungeon, or we're underwater, but even then, we'd go to them. But they're smart enough to avoid mystery dungeons, and we aren't..." He diverted his gaze to the Milotic, who looked away guiltily. "In a mystery dungeon… right?"

She grimaced, but nodded. "We are."

"Wha...?! Why the heck are we in a mystery dungeon?!" He questioned. "All those do is waste time that we don't have!"

Galatia swam between them and spread her arms. "Connor, listen-" He pushed her aside and swam straight at Cassandra. He charged a focus punch, but she contorted her serpentine body and wrapped around him so tightly that he couldn't move. "Connor, listen to me!"

Her voice poured into his mind, calming him all the way to his core and making him relax. "Al… Alright. Why... did you bring us through a mystery dungeon?"

"Mystery dungeon properties are different in the ocean! They don't speed up or slow down time within their confines!"

"They did when we went through- Wait, how are we in a mystery dungeon if there are six members of Team Firestorm with us?"

"Ocean dungeons are different, like I said. Most of the restrictions and special properties of mystery dungeons on and around Immanis are only for land-based and semi-aquatic dungeons."

"That is very convenient," Basileus deadpanned. "Almost too convenient for me to believe. Where are we?"

"We are underneath the... Sea of Time." Cassandra said with a bit of hesitation.

Oh, snap! I don't really know where to go with this... Roy saw Amber's soul, Team Siren knows where the Sea of Time is... So many things happening.

Oh, and Question: Do you think Roy is right in asking the rest of the team not to tell anyone else that he could bring back the dead, to a certain extent? Feel free to answer, or not, and let me know what you thought about the chapter!

As always, hope you guys enjoyed, and I will see you in the next chapter! Oh, and about Firestorm Battle Royale: Go ahead and give that a look, and while you're at it, follow it if you haven't already! It's literally made from your suggestions in the reviews, so... yeah. Self-advertising at its finest. Don't hate me. Much Love!

-PL