Chapter 2: Branded

William Harmon woke up to the sound of rumbling.

He immediately sat up in his bed, sweat rolling down his forehead. As he took in his surroundings, Will laughed at himself as he realized it had just been the growling of his stomach.

Swinging his legs around to the side of his bed, he groaned as he stood up. Yawning as he stretched, Will examined his room. All of the drawers that contained his clothing and toys were ripped out of their cabinets and were scattered across the floor. His door was closed and tightly locked. The overhead fan was rattling dangerously as it propelled air throughout the room. There was very little light in the room because there was only one small window, which was covered by a large piece of cardboard. Will didn't want anyone watching him during his sleep.

Slipping on a pair of tennis shoes, he also quickly put on a new clean shirt. Over that he put on a red sweatshirt. He reached down and picked up the back pack that was resting by the foot of his bed. After strapping on the bag, Will looked around with paranoia. Knowing that there was nobody else in the room, he slowly approached his bedside dresser.

Will slowly dropped to his knees. He gripped the handle of the drawer and unhurriedly opened it. Inside the drawer were useless piles of books and papers. He scooped these up and dumped them on the floor. Will then felt the solid wood at the bottom of the drawer. Smoothing his hand across the surface, he found a notch in the wood. Gripping it, Will quickly lifted it up.

It was a secret compartment at the bottom of the dresser. Will reached in, and pulled out a belt of Poke balls. He slipped these into his bag and he walked towards the door. Unlocking it, he stepped into the kitchen.

Of course, Will lived alone. His family was killed two days ago by Team Galactic. After the day Cyrus declared himself to be the ruler of Sinnoh (Will referred to this day as Judgment Day), he sent battalions of Galactic troops to every city and town to execute the trainers. His parents were only two of the hundreds of victims.

After Team Galactic burst into his house and killed his parents in front of his very own eyes, William learned to be very careful. He never spoke of his Pokémon, nor did he ever show them in public. He always managed to slip by Galactic troopers that were on patrol. He only bought small quantities of items from the markets as to not rouse suspicion.

Will opened the refrigerator. Nothing, of course. He raided the pantries, but the only things that were remotely related to food were the cans of spices and sugar. Not giving a second thought about it, Will dumped them into his bag.

Double-checking his shoes were tied, Will stepped out of his home.

His first impression was how quiet Eterna City had become. Originally, the city was bustling with noise and activity. But since Cyrus had destroyed time and space, the civilians didn't feel a need to go outdoors. Not to mention there were much fewer people walking around nowadays, thanks to the Galactic troopers.

Will let the wind splash onto his face but, of course, there was none. The trees were crumbling and colorless. Will lost all sense of time as he walked down the street towards the Gym.

As usual, there was a pair of Galactic grunts hanging around the entrance of the gym. They were in their usual attire: the white space suits with their dyed green hair. However, since Galactic's rise to power, the average grunts were equipped with a new feature: beating sticks. They hung lifelessly from their belts. Although the sticks did not look like much, Will knew that they could pack quite a punch.

Looking up, one of the grunts noticed Will approaching them.

"Hey, you!" the grunt stumbled to stand up as he ran towards Will, "put your hands up!"

Will, keeping calm and collected, stopped in his tracks and slowly raised his hands. He had a small smirk across his face.

"Identify yourself!" One of the grunts demanded as he unsheathed his beating stick.

"Harmon." Will said briefly, "William Harmon."

"Well Mr. Harmon," The grunt with the beating stick said sarcastically as he grasped Will's arm, "Let's see who you really are."

The Galactic grunt ripped Will's right sleeve open. Shockingly, burned onto the flesh was a large letter C. The grunt snickered to himself and released Will's arm.

The grunt jerked his head down the road, "Move along, and don't let us catch you coming down this road again. Next time we won't be as generous."

Will rolled down his sleeve and continued down the street, avoiding eye contact with the guards. He didn't look back until he was around the corner, out of sight. He had done his best to forget about the mark on his arm, but that little incident had shoved it back into his head.

You see, after Cyrus deployed Team Galactic to hunt down the surviving Pokémon Trainers, he found it difficult to distinguish the difference between trainers and average civilians. To avoid this problem, he ordered the Galactic troopers to begin 'marking' the victims. If a civilian was captured, they would burn a 'C' mark into their right arm. This allowed future Galactic grunts to identify them as civilians, not spawning any need to assault them. However, if a trainer was apprehended, the grunts would scorch a 'T' onto their arm. This tactic was useful because if a trainer actually managed to escape before their scheduled execution, Galactic troopers could easily re-identify them.

When his family was murdered by Team Galactic, the grunts believed that William was an average civilian because his Poke Balls and badges were hidden in the compartment in his room. As a result, they burned the 'C' into his arm. This was one of Will's most useful utilities. No matter what, Galactic troopers would always assume he was a civilian at first glance. And by the time they would have realized that he was indeed a trainer, it would have been too late. Will would have slipped through their fingers.

Will proceeded down the street, doing his best to forget his past. Finally, he reached an opening. He was at Eterna Park, the small square lot that the city council decided to dedicate to Sinnoh Mythology. Directly in front of him was the large statue of Arceus, the Pokémon that supposedly created the universe.

At times Will wished the stories were true. He wanted to believe that they weren't alone on this planet; that one day some great Deity Pokémon would descend to Earth and right the wrongs of Team Galactic.

Will shook his head at such a ridiculous thought. No, he was alone. It was all up to him.

He proceeded towards the statue, and he sat down on its pedestal. Will waited there patiently, listening intently for any sounds of Pokémon. Before Judgment Day, Chatot's and Starly's cries could be heard from miles around. At one point in his life, Will enjoyed that noise. He remembers how he would sit on his front porch, staring into the trees for any bird Pokémon. He remembers trying his best to capture his very own Pokémon so he could listen to its beautiful noise.

But no, the wild Pokémon were long gone. Pokémon Trainers were not the only ones who went into hiding. After Judgment Day, Team Galactic began hunting wild Pokémon to prevent them from being captured by trainers. Any surviving Pokémon seemed to disappear off the face of Sinnoh.

"Hello, William," A mysterious voice said.

Will spun around, his hands reaching for the Poke balls in his pack. As he realized who it was, Will relaxed.

The person standing in front of him was a young man, no older than 14. He had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was rather tall for his age, around 5 '5. Just like Will, he wore ragged clothes and a torn back pack. He wore a backwards cap with a Poke ball on the front.

"Hi, Mikey." Will replied, approaching his long childhood friend.

Michael Sketchit had been William's best friend for as long as he could remember. Mikey moved here from the Orange Islands when he was five. His parents shipped him off from the islands, wanting him to move in with his grandparents who resided in Eterna City. Mikey did so, but his grandparents died of an illness only a year later. After that Mikey continued living in their home, operating off of the income of his three different jobs.

Will didn't know much about Mikey's family, other than the fact that Mikey had resented them ever since he moved. He also knew that he had an older brother named Tracey, who was an artist of some kind.

"Why did you ask me to meet you here?" Mikey asked impatiently, "I'm taking quite a risk coming out during the day; I almost got spotted by a Galactic Grunt."

Will understood; Mikey was not as lucky as himself. Mikey wasn't a registered civilian. On Judgment Day, Mikey did his best to combat the oncoming battalion of Galactic troops. He and his partner Pokémon, Bronzor, put up a great fight…but it was to no avail. The Galactics grabbed Mikey and branded him a Trainer.

However, before he could be executed, Mikey managed to escape from their clutches. In his last seconds of life, Mikey threw out Bronzor's Poke ball. Remarkably, Bronzor immediately used Confusion, distracting all of the grunts. This gave the two of them enough time to slip away.

Focusing back to the present, Will said, "I'm doing it today, Mikey."

Mikey replied with a scoff, "I told you, Will. I want to join as badly as you do, but we need to wait for the opportune moment. It's too risky to leave Eterna now."

"I'm tired of waiting," Will glared, "I've already planned the escape: we're going today."

"What's you're plan? Slipping through Eterna Forest? Then going south through Floaroma?"

Will shook his head, "No, too risky. Route 205 is crawling with Galactic Grunts. I'm planning on going down the Bike path."

"The Bike path!" Mikey exclaimed, "Are you crazy? That's a one way road! If we get apprehended there, there's no way out!"

Will smiled. "It's worth the risk. We're leaving now."

He turned and began walking away. After taking several steps, Mikey called after him.

"Will?" He called.

Will slowly turned around. "What?"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you willing to risk your life to get to Sandgem Town?"

"I told you," Will gleamed, "I'm going to save Sinnoh…or die trying."