Sean stared up at the tree, completely caught off guard. There was so much about Mew that he was eager to learn. He wished that Mew had stuck around for him to ask more. He was transfixed with everything the Mew had said, trying hard to commit it all to memory. It was only when Suzie landed and began to growl that Sean finally snapped out of his thoughts. The snow crunched as someone approached them, causing Sean to lean out a bit to peek around the trunk of the pine tree. Walking into view, a man in a long white fur trimmed robe with tight black leather pants stopped nearby. Sean looked over his knee high blue boots and the badge wrapped around the arm of his robe. The man wore a tan messenger bag and hidden beneath his white fur trimmed hood, the man was wearing goggles and a headset. A Winter Ranger. The Ranger removed something slowly from his robe pocket, asking him curiously in a firm tone. "Sean Mcloughlin?" Sean started to rise, shivering a bit as he answered uneasily. "Ya?" The Ranger nodded to someone before stating out. "You're under arrest."

Sean gawked at the Ranger, glancing around to see that two other Rangers were landing behind him to cut him off. Suzie growled loudly, glancing between the sets of Rangers. Sean shrugged, asking the lead Ranger completely confused. "Why?! What did I do?!" The lead Ranger stared him down with cold eyes, stating out. "Treason." Sean yelped out 'WHAT?!' as the closest Ranger behind him grabbed him. Suzie opened her mouth to blow fire, until the Ranger put Sean in the line of fire. Suzie snapped her jaws shut, smoke shooting from her nose as she extinguished the flame. The other Ranger lifted a blow gun, shooting something into Suzie's neck that caused her to roar and stagger. Sean screamed her name, thrashing in the Ranger's arms. When Suzie collapsed, the other Ranger rushed up to remove the dart from her neck. Sean yelled at them to stop, but the Ranger rushed over to him to press the button on Suzie's pokeball. Once she was recalled, the Ranger removed Sean's pokeball belt and tossed it to the lead Ranger.

Sean didn't want to get into more trouble by fighting them. So, he just yelled out loudly in a breaking voice. "Why are you doing this?! What have I done?! I haven't done anything!" The lead Ranger put Sean's belt in his messenger bag, before informing him in a calm professional voice. "Sean Mcloughlin, you are under arrest for treason against Team Mystic. For the crime of conspiring to steal Articuno's jewel with a known traitor. Endangering the lives of thousands by causing avalanches. And the destruction of Mystic's reanimator lab. For these reasons, you will stand trail by a jury of your peers." Sean shook his head, starting to scream out. "WHAT?! I was helping to stop the avalanches! Who accused me of this?! I didn't-!" Sean couldn't finish because the Ranger in front of him grabbed his jaw to press blue tape over his mouth. Sean thrashed, feeling them tighten zip ties around his wrists. The lead Ranger straightened up to his full height, telling Sean calmly. "Before you say something you regret. Save your pleas for when it counts."

Sean kicked and thrashed harder to try getting away but the Ranger's grabbed his arms and practically dragged him off toward the town. As they walked him through the town, the injured Mystics glared at him like a criminal. Sean got chills as his eyes met theirs. He was so confused. This didn't make sense. When he spotted Mark, he thrashed to try and tell him what was going on, but the Rangers pushed him on. Siochain tried to rush forward, but Mark held her back. Cautiously choosing to follow them to the center of the next village with a worried look. At the center, Sean's eyes widened at the sight of Blanche. He had never seen her look so angry. Her long white hair blew in the snowy breeze, her cold hard eyes narrowed on him without mercy. Beside her, two Rangers were holding the arms of Nate, but Blanche had her own hand holding the back of his neck. Like himself, Nate had been gaged and tied. Shaking her head, she announced aloud for all to hear. "I expected this behavior from the likes of HIM. But you, Sean? I am betrayed beyond words. And for the first time... I don't know what to do with either of you."

Sean muffled out a desperate plea, but she was so angry that she turned to the gathering crowd of Mystics and stated aloud. "Articuno is not himself. Therefore... I look to you all for judgement. These men have destroyed not just your families, your jobs, and your homes. But the very peace between the legendary birds! They have betrayed our Team. And they have stolen Articuno's jewel. For this repeat offence... I need to know what you all think." Sean muffled out a plea loudly as people around them began to yell out in blind fury. "Kill them!" Or "Lock them away!" Blanche yanked Nate's head back to reveal his black eye and bloody nose, when she stated out. "Killing you might be a bit extreme... but I'm certainly not going to make the mistake of letting you go... again." Sean saw the defeat in Nate's eyes. He wasn't listening to her. His mind was millions of miles away. Releasing her hold on him, she slowly approached Sean and said over the accusing crowd. "Give me the jewel and I'll lesson your sentence."

Sean started to mumble something out, when she reached out to rip the tape off. Yelping as it pulled on his light beard, he quickly rushed out. "Blanche, listen to me! Giovanni has it! He's setting us up! I swear!" Blanche glared at him, stating out coldly. "Giovanni? That's your excuse? To blame it on him?!" Sean blinked completely lost as he said curtly. "It's the truth!" Blanche crumpled the tape in her hand, yelling back. "Giovanni was in a meeting with me when this happened! So, go ahead and tell me another one!" Sean stared at her caught off guard. It wasn't possible that Giovanni could be in two places at once... unless... one wasn't real. His mind drifted to Alakazam, before he shouted back. "He tricked you! It was an illusion! Blanche, please! Where is he?! I can prove it!" Blanche scoffed, pointing at Nate as she yelled out in a rage. "You can stop lying! Giovanni came here to inform us about you two! And the evidence he had is... overwhelming. I'm just thankful that he knew enough about your plan to save the pokemon in the lab before HE could run off with them!"

Sean looked to Nate, then back to Blanche as he blurted out a bit irritated himself. "You think he was after the rare pokemon in that lab?! NO! Giovanni was after the blueprints! Nate had nothing to do with this! Call the gate guard! Giovanni brought Nate in here!" Blanche nodded, backing up as she said bitterly. "I know. He brought him here to help spring the trap on his operation... And it worked. But clearly, we missed someone if you both claim to not have the jewel. Which leaves me no choice. As the crowd wants. You'll be locked up until the jewel is returned. Then we'll figure out what to do with you." She nodded to the Rangers and some of the crowd roared into cheers. Sean thrashed as the Rangers started to drag him away, yelling out at Blanche over the crowd. "YOU'RE MAKING A MISTAKE! BLANCHE! PLEASE! YOU'RE TAKING HIS WORD OVER A MYSTIC!" The Rangers pulled him toward a building and Sean screamed in a panic. Trying to hook his feet around doorframes, he screamed out. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! DON'T DO THIS!"

They dragged him through the decorated marble halls of Blanche's office building. Passing the Ranger's quarters, they dragged him down a dark set of stone stairs that led into a dark cold floor of jail cells. Out of all the cells, the only ones with people were the ones Nate and himself were thrown into. Crime just wasn't too common on Ice island. The Ranger's patted them down for stuff, then cut their hand bonds and removed Nate's gag before shoving them in. Sean immediately spun around to attack the door as they shut it. Grabbing the cold iron bars, he screamed after them. "You can't do this! Let me go!" The Rangers ignored him to go back up the steps. Leaving Sean to shiver and stare at his own breath puffing in front of his face. In the other cell, Nate walked over to the cot bed and pressed his back against the concrete wall on his side as he told him in a drained voice. "Save your voice. They are just doing their job..." Sean pulled his jacket tighter around himself, saying shakily. "Why are you so calm?" Nate draped his arms over his raised knees, avoiding his eyes as he mumbled out in a broken voice. "I'm not..."

Sean released the door's bars to move closer to Nate. Grabbing the bars that separated them, he asked more gently. "I'm sorry. Nate, are you ok?" Nate tilted his head back, glaring at the ceiling as he said in a barely audible voice. "I didn't want to believe you... Either of you. I wanted... I wanted my life to be so different... But I never learn. This is all my fault." Sean inhaled silently to calm himself, before telling him gently. "It's not a crime to want to be loved..." Nate closed his eyes, silent tears running down his cheeks, but his voice was still so collected when he replied. "It is for me... Everything I love always turns out to be an illusion. I'm so fed up with trying." Sean shook his head, telling him in a slightly forced positive tone. "You can't give up! We can't let him get away with this!" Nate sniffled, rubbing his cheeks as he told him in a firm voice. "Oh, trust me... I'm not letting him get away with this." Sean furrowed his brows before saying a little confused. "But I thought you meant...?" Nate finally turned his eyes to look at him, answering coolly. "I'm giving up on love. I never said I was ok with taking the fall for him."

Gesturing to his face, Sean asked him lightly. "Who did that to you?" Nate quickly turned away, mumbling out. "Giovanni... He teleported me to a spot behind the lab. Then sucker punched me. The Rangers were on us before I even realized what Giovanni was doing." Nate's eyes turned back to him with a sudden tenderness as he asked. "Is Zoey ok?" Sean didn't want him to worry. So, he nodded and answered honestly. "She's with Mark." Nate relaxed his shoulders and Sean used the silence to slip in reluctantly. "Was Giovanni telling the truth? Was this your plan?" Nate nodded without hesitating. Sean leaned on the bars, weakly asking under his breath. "Why...? I thought we were..." Nate looked at the cement wall, answering in a clear voice. "It was a plan formed by an angry kid... Back when the only thing keeping me going was the thought of destroying the place that caused me so much pain and humiliation. But that was years ago... Giovanni always said that he'd do it when the time was right. I honestly thought he'd forgotten. Seems he didn't. He just wanted to make sure that he had an exit plan... One I should have fucking seen coming... But I trusted him. I loved him..."

Sean rubbed the cold bars with his fingers, telling Nate in a low voice. "I can understand that. I forgive you." Nate huffed, looking to him as he asked bluntly. "Why? It's because of me that you are in here." Sean smirked a little, saying nicely. "True... but at least I'm in the company of a true friend." Nate raised an eyebrow, saying a little off guard. "What makes you think that?" Sean rested his temple on the bar, smiling as he told him warmly. "You've had plenty of chances to ditch Mark and I. To steal our pokemon. To hurt us. But you always come back. And we have fun with you around. And compared to the lynch mob up there... You're still so nice to me." Nate chuckled softly to himself, mumbling out under his breath. "Well... When you put it like that..." Sean chuckled a little, before looking around his narrow cell. Shivering more, Sean asked aloud. "So, how are we going to get out?" Nate got more comfortable, while answering calmly. "We wait." Sean whirled around, asking a little worried. "For what? We could be down here for days!" Nate adjusted his leather jacket with a chuckle and a smug smile.

Sean crossed his arms, giving him a soft glare until Nate told him honestly. "I'm waiting on an old friend. Trust me. I learned from last time. This time, I came prepared." Sean blinked, saying curiously. "How? They took everything we had!" Nate crossed his own arms, leaning back as he replied calmly. "Yep. And that is their mistake." Sean was doubtful, until he heard soft thumping coming from the stone stairs. Nate grinned wickedly, sitting up slowly on the bed. Sean moved back to his cell door to see a small black hedgehog pokemon dragging two pokeball belts down. Nate got to his feet, calling out happily to the little fire pokemon. "Cyndakill! Right on time, little buddy! Good boy!" Cyndakill trotted quickly toward Nate with his head held high. He only tripped on the belts once or twice but was too excited to see Nate to care. Slipping through the bars easily, Cyndakill squeaked with joy and snuggled into Nate's hands. Resting an arm on the bars, Sean asked him perplexed. "Cyndakill?"

Nate scooped up Cyndakill in one hand and picked up Sean's belt in the other. Handing the belt through the bars, he told Sean with a smile. "Ya. He's my little assassin. No one ever sees him coming. And he's our ticket out of here." To Be Continued...