A/n: 29/03/20 Edit: Fixed some errors and phrasings.

Chapter 3

Betrayal.

It comes so suddenly, so unexpectedly that you barely have time to feel the hit, to register the sting.

Sometimes it comes from the people closest to our hearts. From people we trusted with our lives

The pain it causes is unimaginable.

The wounds irreparable.

And even as time passes, even as change happens, the scars of the betrayal remain fresh forever.

When the Kingdom put forward their new manifesto, a variety of reactions filled the world. There were some people who agreed, some who disagreed and some who decided to stay aloof. But all of this was already anticipated by the Kingdom and the rift created only served to further their goal. Though there was one thing that even the Kingdom couldn't explain. And that was The Disappearance. The event that happened overnight and shook the whole of the Pokémon World, including the Kingdom. Each and every Pokémon researcher or professor vanished without leaving any trace. The moment all the media channels announced the new laws that were to be followed, the scholars packed up their work and fled to Celebi knows where. Their labs were completely cleaned out, not even a single document or Pokémon was left behind. They were all just simply gone.

Many people took this as a sign of revolution and they rejoiced. But these celebrations didn't last long as months and months passed without any action from the vanished scholar's side. People began to lose hope and the professors that they all had so lovingly admired were now being looked down upon as cowards. Trainers' hearts were filled with hatred and rage towards the professors who had so lovingly encouraged them to start their journey by giving them their starter Pokémon and helping them along the way. Adults and children alike gave into the darkness in their heart and turned on their fellow trainers, ratting them out, turning them into the hands of the kingdom for money and position.

Ethan Gold had been a victim of this rage. As soon as the tables turned in the Pokémon World, one of his closest friends turned on him. Ethan had met Silver at the beginning of his journey and though the two had gotten off to a rocky start, they had eventually come to terms with each other and while Silver did not like to admit it, they had grown pretty close to each other. And that is why when Silver turned up at his house one morning with the Guarding Legion standing behind him and ordering them to arrest Ethan for the illegal possession of Pokémon, all 11 year old Ethan could do was stand there dumbfounded, unable to move or make any sound as they snatched his Pokémon away from him and handcuffed him.

During his time in the prison, he never counted the days or time. He just sat in a corner and though he vehemently denied it later, he cried. He cried a lot. He didn't know what else to do, he was just 11 years old and the world as he knew it had completely changed. He felt helpless, stupid, week, ashamed, hurt, and angry and a mixture of million other feelings that he couldn't explain or understand and the only outlet he found solace in was crying. So he cried and sobbed and shouted and wailed, not caring about what the people in the cells surrounding him were thinking, since hey, they were all going to die anyway.

It was when he got out that he realised two years had passed and the outside world had perfectly adapted to the sick change that had thrown him into prison. He despised it the minute he set foot into it. He wanted to turn around and go back inside the damp prison and never come out again. It wasn't like he had been voluntarily rescued anyway, the trainer with the Pikachu had come to rescue his girlfriend and Ethan's cell just happened to be caught up in the explosion and they decided to bring him along.

"I'm going back. I don't want to live in a world like this, I don't want to go home without my Pokémon!" His voice came out in a hoarse whisper which he couldn't recognize at all. He couldn't help the tears streaming down his face, crying came so naturally to him now. And even though he made that statement, Ethan couldn't move. He couldn't bring himself to lift his feet and turn around and go back to that small cell. So he just stood there, not moving forward or backwards, just standing still, looking down at his feet and sobbing quietly.

"Let's chuck him Ash. All he's ever done in the past two years is cry his eyes out. I can't stand him." The older girl muttered angrily.

"Are you kidding me Mist? He's a kid! We can't let him go back there. He'll die!" The boy with the Pikachu on his shoulder whispered furiously.

"Well if he wants to die, then let him die! What's it got to do with us?" The red head replied haughtily.

"Yeah, what's it gotta do with you?" Ethan fired back. The red head's easy disregard for his life made him realize how absolutely useless his existence was at this point of time. He was of no use. He couldn't help his Pokémon two years back and he wouldn't be able to help them now. It wouldn't matter if he lived or died now, because he didn't matter at all.

His outburst was followed by a few minutes of absolute silence. Ethan observed his two rescuers closely during this time. Both of them looked older than him, and kind of familiar. He faintly remembered their faces from when he had just started his journey but he couldn't place them. Maybe they had been popular trainers or perhaps gym leaders, not that any of it mattered at all anymore. He noticed that the girl refused to meet his gaze, instead she was staring at the other boy with her piercing cerulean eyes, like she was trying to read his mind or something. Ethan followed her gaze and for the first time since he had gotten out of that prison, properly looked at the intruder who got him out. The boy was taller than him but still slightly shorter than the hot headed girl. His head was covered with a black and white cap which was turned backwards, he was wearing black fingerless gloves and a black sleeveless jacket over a white t-shirt and faded blue jeans. His skin was tanned and covered with white bandages in various places which made Ethan wonder if rescuing people from prison and getting caught up in self-made explosions was something that this guy did daily. The trainer was lost in thought, his face was scrunched up like he had a headache or something but to Ethan it looked like he didn't have an answer.

"See? You don't have an answer! You should just leave me alone!" He cried out, more tears streaming down his face. He felt pathetic as he did so but he just couldn't help it. He knew it would be better for all of them if they just left him behind. A cry baby like him wouldn't be of any help to anyone.

"You're right, I don't have an answer. I don't know why someone should try and stay alive in a world like this but I do know that dying and giving up is not the way out. I'm sorry that I can't tell you why you must live right now but I promise, if you follow me, someday I'll give you the answer and it will be one that you won't be able to refuse."

-x-

"Ethan, are you listening to me?"

The dark haired boy sat up straight and blinked a few times. He had dozed off while Lyra had been ranting about their pokeball manufacturer (who preferred to call himself the Ball Man, but to Ethan that just sounded wrong). He passed her a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry, I kind of dozed off there."

"I could see that." She scowled at him and huffed angrily.

"Oh don't be mad Lyra! It's not like you were saying something new, I've heard your Ball Man rant like a billion times now. It's no surprise that I fell asleep." Ethan defended himself.

"Well you know what? Kris has heard this rant a billion times more than you have and she never falls asleep." The brunette glared at him.

"So you admit that you were ranting." Ethan smirked at her.

Lyra let out an exasperated cry, getting up from her spot next to Ethan on the couch and shifted to the beanbag that was kept farthest from the couch.

"Ash and the others will be here any minute and they have bad news. I'd prefer if you kids would pipe down a little before the meeting starts." Misty sighed as she sat down next to Ethan on the couch.

"We're not kids anymore!" Both Ethan and Lyra retorted at the same time.

"But you're still just as loud." She snapped and the two Johto natives obediently shut up.

"It must be something really serious." Cheren chipped in as he took the last empty spot on the couch next to Misty, "We've never had two meetings one after the other." He added.

"That's true. There's always a week's gap between the meetings." Said Lyra in a much quieter tone than the one she was using before.

Misty didn't reply, she closed her eyes and massaged her forehead, praying to Mew that everything was alright. May's voice had sounded extremely urgent on the phone and the brunette had refused to offer any explanation. Her only words had been, get everyone in for an emergency meeting. They've never had something like an emergency meeting before, they had never needed to. Misty didn't know if it was luck that was on their side or if they were really that good, but nothing ever went wrong with their missions. Except for that one time, when Ethan and Brendan fucked up but no one really talks about that anymore. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, she opened her eyes and nudged Ethan to get the door.

Ethan groaned not wanting to leave his spot on the sofa, he got up reluctantly and trudged towards the door.

"You're such a drama queen Ethan." Lyra muttered.

Ethan ignored her jab and looked through the peephole before opening the door, his face turned rigid as he got a glimpse of the visitors standing outside. He turned the knob and slowly opened the door. He stepped aside to let the others enter, greeting them as they passed him by.

Touya, Mei, Dawn, Barry, Brock, Cilan and Brendan.

Brendan paused before entering and shot him a cold stare which Ethan promptly returned with a furious glare. If it would've been upto him, he would've slammed the door on that smug bastard's face. But he refrained himself and Brendan entered the cottage, passing him by without a word (which Ethan appreciated) to chat with Cheren.

"Well that was smooth." Barry scoffed, which earned him a punch on the shoulder by Dawn.

The cottage on Route 110 wasn't designed to accommodate so many people in one go. The living room was the only (slightly) large place where the whole team could be seated properly, provided they put extra chairs than you usually see in a living room. So they kept a stack of folding chairs in the basement, along with the boxes that housed their Pokémon. Ethan decided to head down to pull up some more chairs and Barry joined him. Ethan had always liked the blond and didn't mind taking help from him. Barry was upbeat and cheerful and his habit of fining people for the weirdest things always made the raven haired boy laugh. The complete opposite of Brendan. Brendan was a sourpuss according to Ethan.

"I see you and Brendan are getting along as always." Barry grinned at him as they climbed down the stairs.

"What can I say, we're the best of friends after all." Ethan mumbled sarcastically.

"I should fine you both for acting like such dickheads." Barry laughed.

Ethan would've replied to that but the minute he stepped down into the basement, he was taken over by a sudden urge to run over and open the box which had his name written on it and release his Pokémon and take them out of this dark basement and out of this small cottage and into the open air. It was as if Barry had read his mind, or maybe the blonde was feeling the exact same thing because he came up behind Ethan and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't." He whispered gently, "Let's just get the chairs and leave."

Ethan nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. He hadn't cried for so long now, he didn't want to spoil that streak. The two boys grabbed two chairs each and headed upstairs, coming down again a few minutes later with Touya tagging behind to pick up some more chairs. When they came up for the second time, the number of people in the cottage had increased. Drew, Iris, Kris, Lucas and May had joined them as well. Barry kept down the chairs he was holding and was about to turn around and get more when May stopped him.

"We won't be needing any more chairs Barry." She said.

"Uhm May, Ash and the others aren't here yet." Dawn pointed out.

"That's kind of what the meeting is about." May whispered and immediately regretted taking the lead in delivering the information that their group had received last night.

"Where is he?" Misty's voice was very low but everyone in the cottage heard it loud and clear.

"I don't know. He didn't say any-" May whispered, avoiding the red head's gaze.

"You don't know?" She said it so quietly, her voice completely emotionless, it sent a shiver down Ethan's spine. He turned his gaze towards May and saw that the brunette was shaking under Misty's cold stare, trying her best to not burst into tears in front of everyone.

The room was engulfed with an absolute silence. Nobody moved, nobody said anything. It was as if they had all collectively stopped breathing.

"Mist, calm down. Let's hear them out." Brock was the first one to break out of the daze. He put his hands on her shoulder, holding her firmly just in case she decided to let out her rage. Ethan moved back a little to make sure that he wasn't in the range. He was well aware of how violent both Misty and Ash could get when it came to the safety and well-being of the people close to them.

Noticing that May was not in a state to go on, Iris cleared her throat to get everyone's attention and continued the report, "We were looking for a new hideout as we were supposed to when we got a call from Oak."

"Gary called you? But I thought he was working in Unova. Isn't the security super tight over there?" Brendan interrupted her.

"I don't know where he called from or what he was doing but he seemed to be in a rush." Iris answered swiftly and opened her mouth to continue but was interrupted again.

"And he told you something about Ash?" Dawn asked.

"Sort of." Kris muttered and gestured for Iris to go on.

"Look, Oak called and told us that Leaf and the others were safe with him. But something has happened and Ash wasn't clear when he got in touch with Oak, the stupid kid just told him one thing before the line went dead." Iris finished quickly before anyone else could interrupt her.

"What did Ash tell Gary?" Misty asked in the same emotionless voice as before.

Iris looked down, not wanting to answer the red head's question. Neither May nor did Kris volunteer to do the same.

Finally after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence it was Drew who spoke up, "He said that there is a mole in our organisation. Someone has been feeding the Kingdom information about us and they are planning to put bounties on our heads." He paused, taking a deep breath he looked at their shocked faces and continued, "In other words, they're gonna start hunting us down."

-x-

A/n: Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated.