Surprise Chapter in celebration of having another reviewer person! (Chosenone1994) Enjoy!

-Chapter XXI: Blinded by the Darkness-

-Roy-

Well then… What a way to start the day, Roy!

After Amber's rather… surprising announcement, it went without saying that everyone lost their minds and began pestering the other group with questions.

Why didn't you do this?

Why didn't you do that?

Blah blah blah blah blah… He was already sick of it. He honestly didn't care. So what if they could control time? If they could change the course of history with a simple snap of their fingers, then all the better. But he was smarter than that. He knew that they were somewhat honest with them from the beginning. And he had 'overheard' Amber and Connor's conversation the previous night. They could have saved Alice if they really had to, but they chose not to. He was kind of upset, but at the same time, who knows what kind of issues could have been caused in time, had they decided to intervene? And it was kind of amusing to think that Galvantula and Tyranitar were Temporal Guardians as well. He didn't expect that at all.

Now, some of the others (Atlas and Jade) weren't so understanding. Jade nearly froze Amber then and there, but Caroline used aromatherapy to ease the tension in the room, much to his disappointment. He wanted to see just how much damage little miss sunshine could do against Amber.

Tsk, tsk! Why am I wanting to see a fight? That's so unlike me! Perhaps their stress is starting to rub off on me… He chastised himself and floated towards the back of the room.

Perhaps a morning float through the woods is in order… Maybe light a few shrubs on fire. Or scare some of the locals. I doubt they've seen a ghost like me before. It's not like I really care about all this 'temporal guardian' business anyways.

He was about to phase into the wall, when a weak psychic force grabbed hold of him, keeping him in place. He sighed as Dawn teleported in front of him. She had a disappointed expression on her face, which made him slightly upset.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm merely taking a morning stroll."

She shook her head in defiance. "Last time you 'took a stroll', you got kidnapped."

"I'll be more careful this time. Now we know what to expect. A Noivern and Ariados. I'll be fine."

"Roy… Please… if you're going out, just-" she stopped mid-sentence and turned to Briar. The Sceptile didn't notice Dawn's sudden attention, but Roy tilted his head slightly. "Hm? What's wrong?"

"Alice… She's alive."

"You're joking…" He stared at her, wide-eyed. Then he reached out with his spectral senses, hoping that she was right. He felt an energy surge identical to Alice's, and he instantly teared up. "No way…"

-Alice-

"Where's Mordred?!" She held the Ariados against the wall, her newly evolved form giving her an unreal boost in power and speed.

The Ariados tried to claw at her arms, but she balanced on her now longer ears and kicked its stomach with so much force that its exoskeleton cracked with a sickening crunch. "Answer me!"

"H-How did you survive…?"

"I said answer me!"

The Ariados growled and took a deep breath, but Alice already knew that trick -Letting all of the air out of her lungs to loosen her grip- so she pressed harder. She felt its fear and astonishment like it was her own. But this Ariados was working for Mordred. So it didn't matter what happened to this bug-type.

"...I don't know."

Alice blinked heavily, but kept her iron grip on its neck. "How do you not know? This is his base, isn't it? That's why you were bringing me here!"

A wave of confusion emitted from her before she began laughing. "You think… Oh! Hm-hm-hm-ha-ha-ha! You actually- Gak!"

She pulled her fist back after jabbing the Ariados in the throat. "I don't feel like listening to your monologuing. Where's Mordred?"

"He fled when you used baton pass… That was really clever of you… But where did you keep your mega stone? And the Reviver seed? I checked your body for any signs of items that might have allowed you to survive..."

In the fur tufts on my legs, obviously! Alice thought to herself. But she glared at her unwaveringly. "I'm not telling you."

The Ariados smirked and sighed. "Alright… Flatline, can you stop fooling around please?"

Alice turned back to the cocoon of webbing just as the Noivern erupted from it. tearing the strings off while spitting out the strands that were in his mouth. "Ugh… What?"

He shook off his dazed expression and dashed towards her. She waited until the last second, then used baton pass, swapping their positions. The Noivern rammed full speed into the wall and Alice used high jump kick on it, knocking its head into the stone again. She used ice punch on its back as a follow-up, then froze both of them to the wall with Ice Beam.

"Stay down. Both of you."

She flinched as a quill embedded itself in her arm, but she pulled it out and stared at the Ariados. A new surge of fear came from the arthropod, and she set her hand ablaze. "I'm sick of you two already… You killed me once. Shame on me. You think you can kill me again? Not gonna happen."

She dashed forward, her hands sparkling with a crystalline fire.

-Roy-

Dawn nodded and grinned wider by the second. "We've got to go get her! Roy, let's go!"

"Putting aside the fact that the energy signature is resonating from the same village where we got royally destroyed last time, how will we explain ourselves? What will you say? That Alice is alive? I know for a fact that the female Sceptile will try and ask us how we know for sure, where she is, blah blah blah, then try to formulate a plan with the best possible chance of success-"

"It'll work," Dawn said. "Trust me."

She floated over and shouted with telepathy. "HEY!"

Everyone got quiet and turned to her. She was grinning, so naturally Connor asked her what was so funny.

"Alice is alive."

Now, that got everyone's attention and drew them away from questioning the Insurgo. Atlas moved closer to her, and Connor had to push him back slightly. "How do you know?"

"I just… I just do! I can feel her energy from here!"

"But why couldn't you sense it before? You said she died," Amber countered.

"Um… I don't-"

"I believe her," Briar stated. Everyone now looked at her, and Dawn nodded slightly. "Before she left… What I told her in secret... I discussed with her what she was to do in case of an emergency. There is a very real possibility that she is, as Dawn said, not dead."

Atlas' legs trembled and tears formed in his eyes. "I'm going to go get her. Dawn, where is she?"

"She's right in the heart of the village where we got slaughtered last week," Roy interjected. He hated to be a buzzkill like this, but it had to be said. Nobody else would be as straightforward with him. Dawn turned to face him. "Roy…?"

"If we send a rescue operation, it's just as likely to fail as the first time we fought them. It will result in more losses that we can't afford."

"We aren't just leaving her!" Atlas clenched his fists. "Just because you don't care about anyone on our team doesn't mean you can just leave them for dead! Not everyone's as carefree as you, Roy! Did you ever stop and think for a second that maybe we have feelings that go deeper than just as teammates?" He let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, that's right. 'Ghosts don't have feelings'."

"I'm not saying don't go rescue her-"

"That's exactly what you said!"

"Hey, lay off!" Dawn snapped at him. "He's just being real with you! Briar did the exact same thing before we sent them to scout the base!"

Atlas stared down at her. "Oh, so now you're defending him? Why? What did this pompous ghost ever do for you?"

"He's treated me like I'm normal! All of you have just tried to teach me how to suppress my power and act like it's a curse! He talks to me like I'm not just a freak! Maybe I didn't choose to be this strong! Ever thought about that?! Maybe I didn't want this!"

Atlas crossed his arms and scoffed. "Whatever."

His arms were enveloped in a pink aura, and he punched himself in the stomach against his will several times before Dusknoir intervened with a dark pulse to cut off the psychic connection. Dawn clenched her fists and shouted, "He's my best friend, and I won't let you talk to him like that!"

Amber shifted her pupils to Tyranitar, and he stood up. "Dawn, you need to calm down."

Her eyes glowed a brilliant blue, and Tyranitar was actually pushed back slightly by her psychic, which should have been impossible. "No! I won't calm down! You aren't in charge of me!"

Roy had half a mind to let her keep going. He'd never seen someone stand up to anyone like this. Especially Atlas, or any Tyranitar in general. And she was right, Atlas was being a jerk. But right now, no-one was acting like themselves. Dawn didn't know that. She didn't know them before all of this. Sure, reading memories helped, but she didn't actually interact with any of them. So the other half of his mind was made up.

"Dawn."

She gasped and turned back to him. He put on a smile and floated forward. "That's enough of that. Let's… let's take this outside, shall we?"

He formed a shadowy hand that extended from his robes, and she took hold of it. He phased into shadows, and once they were alone in the void, she pressed her head into his chest and sobbed. "I'm so sorry…"

He really didn't know how to react. She was apologizing for standing up for him? That didn't make much sense. "Um… It's alright Dawn. Really. He's not usually like that. It's just… these past few days have really changed us a lot. Everyone's on edge, so he doesn't mean most of the mean things he said."

She continued crying, her tears sparkling with a golden light in the shadow realm, bathing everything in a golden glow. He felt a disturbance in the shadow dimension, as if Dawn's very presence were agitating it, so he phased out of the nearest tree in treeshroud forest. He laid on the ground while Dawn gathered the willpower to stop sobbing.

"...Thank you, though."

She wiped her face after a sniffle. "Huh?"

"For standing up for me. You didn't have to do that."

"You're… welcome."

"But why did you do it?"

"Because you're my friend… And they sure don't treat you they way they should."

"...Like I said, they aren't normally like that. But Atlas did bring up an interesting point… What have I done for you to deserve so much affection? I've only known you for a little over two days... And most friendships are formed over the course of a few months, at least."

"You treat me like I'm normal."

"You're an absurdly powerful Ralts. What's so weird about that?"

She shook her head vigorously, as if she were debating something in her mind. Then she spoke without looking up. "...Roy… I know you can keep a secret."

"You know me too well." he replied with a smirk.

"Then you can't tell anyone else."

"You've got my word. I'll take it with me to the distortion world."

She took a deep breath and looked to the ground. "...I… I'm…"

He didn't say anything. She obviously needed to get this off of her chest.

"I'm blind. There. I said it..." She exhaled loudly and sighed with a hint of relief.

"...Oh." He hadn't really seen that coming. But now that he thought about it, not once had she opened her eyes, the entire time they'd been together. He just assumed that she preferred using her psychic. "Like, blind, blind?"

"I know… I'm a freak, right?"

"Huh. So you are. But guess what? We're all freaks here, if you think about it. Not one of us is normal, or the same in any way. Vulcan's a flying fire-type that's beaten a son of Arceus on more than one occasion, Atlas is super strong and has a bit of a temper, Mirage is super fast and perky, Jade is super emotionless all the time, Alice had complete control over all emotions, which can be annoying, and Caroline… I haven't figured her out yet, but still, she's different. I have suspicions that she's from another reality, but I've been wrong before."

"None of them have any disabilities like me."

"Well, I'm dead. Does that count?"

She smiled slightly. "Of course not. You're a fully-functioning pokémon."

"Well… What about Connor? He's a superhuman-turned-pokémon that has amnesia, and he supposedly had a hole straight through his chest for two days!"

"A human? What's that?"

"It's… a complicated being. They're a species entirely separate from pokémon. I honestly don't know what they look like, but I presume that they look like a fighting-type. Just… with a skin tone similar to the sand in the northern desert, and long hair that flows similarly to a Kirlia's."

"They sound wonderful... I'd like to meet one some day."

"Perhaps you will."

She tilted her head at him, and he smiled slightly. "So now that your 'big secret' is out, can you open your eyes? At least for me?"

She shook her head slowly. "I… I can't…"

"Well, why not? We're best friends, remember? If we can't trust each other, then who can we trust? It's not like there's anyone here besides us."

She nervously smiled as her cheeks seemed to glow pink. "Alright…" Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, and he was stunned at what he saw. Her eyes weren't glazed over like he expected them to be. They were so vibrant… They glowed crimson and seemed to reflect everything around her. When he looked into her eyes, he saw his own reflection, much to his surprise. He had never seen himself before, since ghost-types' reflections didn't show up on any reflective surface. He internally gasped at what he saw. His hat had several holes in it, and his skin was covered in welts and bruises and burns. Not to mention his cape was practically torn to shreds.

Arceus, I look worse for wear… And I really do look like a girl… I thought others were just joking about my feminine appearance.

She smiled and let out a nervous laugh. "Well? How do I look?"

"I look marvelous, but you, on the other hand…" He smirked and Dawn playfully hit his side with a weak punch. "Shut up…"

He looked into her eyes further while she stared blankly at him. "You look lovely, Dawn." After a while of staying like that, he asked, "So why do you keep your eyes closed? It's not like they're a giveaway or anything."

"How am I supposed to know what my eyes look like?" She sounded sad as she said that, and he shrugged. "Um… I don't really know. Your common sense supercedes my own. I hadn't thought about that."

Her eyes widened, and he found himself smiling. "Your eyes are quite stunning, actually. I've never seen something so reflective." He noticed a faint marking in the pupil of her right eye… like a small wavy symbol. He barely recognized it, but it was so faint that he dismissed it without a second thought.

She blinked and looked away with a smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Then a thought occurred in his head that made him question himself.

Dawn giggled and looked at him with endearing eyes. "You've got something to say?"

"I don't know… I'll have to ask Dusknoir, but… Ah, blast it all… It's a foolish idea." What are these feelings…? Why do I feel so attached to her? I've only known her for two days. Don't get ahead of yourself, Roy. You're not friends yet. She might think you are, but don't give her false hope.

"Well, I want to hear your 'foolish idea'," Dawn replied with a small smile.

"I don't know… Alright, fine." Roy rolled his eyes playfully.

-Connor-

"So what's her deal?" Vulcan asked him as they strode through the forest. They'd offered to go alone for this search. They'd be fine against anyone that decided to show their faces. Everyone in there didn't like how Dawn did that, and they figured that she'd only listen to him and Vulcan. So, naturally, they volunteered. They'd already talked to all of the Insurgo about them being Temporal Guardians, so they didn't bother thinking about it too much. Right now, finding Dawn and Roy was their top priority. While they were away, Briar had begun working with Jade and Basileus to put together the best team to go rescue Alice, since they probably haven't killed her yet.

"I don't know… But I think she might like Roy." Connor spoke with a hushed tone.

"Wait… like, like like?"

"Well, maybe. She's really freakin' protective of him, which is weird. But she said friend, so… I don't know. She hasn't been on the team long enough for me to say anything for sure yet, and everyone's been way more snappy ever since the… yeah."

Vulcan nodded slowly and teared up. "I get it… She probably thought we always treated him like that."

"But that's not true," Connor finished. "Even though Roy could've been nicer about the way he said it, Atlas shouldn't have snapped like that. And I get that Alice just… y'know… And now we're saying that she's alive, but we can't go get her… That's why I'm giving him some space. Right now nobody is acting like themselves. Especially not Atlas."

"But we'll need to talk to Dawn about using her psychic to hurt her teammates."

"True… How do we do that, though? She blew up about how we're only trying to control her."

"But she doesn't know her own strength. She'll end up seriously hurting someone unless we teach her to control it." Vulcan said. Connor looked over his shoulder at his best friend and said, "She doesn't want to be controlled. She wants to be herself. That's what none of us understand. We fear what we can't control, so we've always made sure we were the most powerful ones on the team. But now, I think she is... or will be. But I don't think that she'd ever intentionally hurt any of us, unless we gave her a reason to."

"Like Atlas blowing up at Roy…" Vulcan speculated. "But still… What about when she evolves? Her psychic as a Gardevoir would be able to beat any pokémon! And with her magical bow, she'd be able to beat Dark-types without a problem! She might even be able to hold her own against the first Sons of Arceus!"

"I know. That's why we just… We need to treat her like any other member of the team. Because she is our friend, first of all. And she's been super useful on the team in these past couple days, and I think she'd be our most powerful member once she's evolved. And she's really sensitive to control and such."

Vulcan sighed and looked to the ground, dropping pretty far behind him, and Connor slowed down to let him catch up. "What's wrong, Vulcan? I mean, besides everything."

"...Can we bring them back? Any of them?"

Connor shrugged, fighting back the tears as he thought about his friends that had sacrificed themselves to rescue Vulcan. "...I don't know. Right now, all that's important is staying alive. We'll figure out the details later."

Vulcan grimaced and stopped walking. "Connor… I can't do this…"

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"I killed them… It's my fault. If I hadn't been hypnotized into fighting you, we could have-"

"Okay, stop." Connor held out his hand, making Vulcan freeze mid-sentence. "Where the heck did that even come from? You know what, enough of that. I promise that it's not your fault. So stop it, alright?"

Tears rolled down his face as he stared at the ground. "Connor… This is one of those things you'll never understand… I knew what I was doing. It was like I was watching myself do it, but I couldn't stop… I… I was fully aware of what I did. I still am. I can never forgive myself… Connor, you don't know what it's like to watch yourself destroy your friends and have no control. So don't tell me that it's not my fault… Please."

He stared at Vulcan with about as much shock as you could have. He's been carrying that burden the whole time?! I thought it was, like, a coma or something!

"Vulcan… I didn't know…"

"Yeah," He cried. "No one did."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Connor questioned. He wasn't angry. Just concerned for his friend.

"Because… I couldn't bring myself to talk about it… It hurts, Connor… It hurts so much..." He burst into tears and fell to his knees, draping his wings over his back like an orange and blue cape.

Connor embraced him and nearly cried with him. "Vulcan… I'm here… I promise, I'll never leave you, alright? You're my best friend. Whatever I can do… I'll do it."

Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed! This was a bonus chapter because I was feeling generous! Don't hate me for completely grazing over the whole Temporal Guardian thing. It'll all come together later, I promise. Quick question for those of you that read this stuff: Who is your favorite otp shipping? (Canon or non-canon, doesn't matter) If you want to answer, go ahead, and if you have any questions, comments, concerns or theories, feel free to leave them in the form of a Review or PM! Much Love!

-PL