Pokémon: ICE COLD

What a loser.

Up in the cerulean sky, flocks of cotton-winged Swablu sang heavenly songs as they flapped by with their majestic melodies.

Down on the ground, heart swollen with sadness and ego bruised, Lucas trudged through the thick snow covering the grass. The sound of slush crunching underfoot rang in his ears...like the sound of Piplup's bones crunching.

He was dressed in his usual navy blue jacket, black snow pants, and red cap. His white scarf was wrapped securely around his neck. That was for sure.

You know what else was for sure?

How much of a loser he was.

Yes, Lucas was in fact a loser. He'd lost his first battle, and to top it all off: his mom was nowhere to be found when he returned home after his pathetic obliteration at the hands of a small green tortoise.

As he marched through the narrow path lined by rows of pine trees like titans covered in viridian needles, kicking pinecones across the white floor, he asked himself:

"Did she go to another contest without telling me? Wouldn't be the first time...or maybe she just flew to Hearthome..."

He gripped his scarf and sighed a cloud of frigid fog.

A lot can happen to us when our mothers aren't watching. You could wander into a massive pitch-black cave, and a vicious Tyranitar could try turn you into a human popsicle, attempting to RAM its entire arm through your body!

You could fall into a raging river and almost get incinerated by a hyper beam from a feral Gyarados.

But those were all just imaginary scenarios Lucas cooked up, a stew of fear and anxiety simmering in his head.

You could find yourself in another region, all alone, doing who knows what with foreign chicks even though she told you to stay away from girls!

Or...

"Hey! Loser!"

Lucas's head, which had been hanging low like a wilted flower the entire time, lifted to see his friend jumping up and down with no chill on the snowy grass of Route 201.

"Hurry up! We're going to the Professor's lab! Oh—but first, we're going to the lake!" Barry's loud voice blared in Lucas's ears like an Exploud on full volume.

Lucas rolled his eyes, wondering why Barry had to be so loud at 9 AM?

"Cool, but why are we going to the lake? We can just go straight to Sandgem, you know...see the professor and his pretty assistant..." He stopped in front of the jittery blonde boy after his long walk.

"You really are slow to the punch. That's okay, not everyone can keep up with my lightning-fast thinking," Barry said, shrugging with pride. "Lucas, we're going to catch the legendary Pokémon!"

...you could end up running into horrible people with horrible visions for you...and the rest of the world.