Pokémon: ICE COLD

"Anguish and pain…what's the meaning of it, I asked you…"

A tide of fear washed over Barry's fourteen-year-old mind. The man had appeared from nowhere, a pale wraith materializing from thin air.

Lucas picked himself up, knees trembling, still clutching his head. The feeling of a hatchet splitting his skull was dissipating.

"Hey, easy! Are you okay?" Barry asked, with concern still burning in his voice.

"I'm fine…who are you?" Lucas's flushed blue eyes scanned the mysterious man. His hair was a faded icy blue, like a crown of icicles. He was draped in a sleeveless lifeless grey trench coat with a bright golden G embroided by his heart.

Lucas bet that even if it wasn't so bone-chillingly cold, frosty fog would still come out his mouth when he spoke just because he was so...ice cold.

The man's face was gaunt, his cheekbones jutting beneath his skin as if he'd forgotten how to eat or sleep. Or like a black hole in his chest was sucking out all his life.

"Cyrus is my name…remember it. The flowing space, the expanding time…I will make it all mine one day…"

And there it was.

His voice sounded like literal death. It made Lucas feel like he was alone in a black void...dying. And it sounded all too familiar.

And then he vanished, swallowed by the darkness of the viridian forest as he walked away disinterested in a young boy's sudden fit.

The two boys stood frozen, staring at each other. The sparkle in their eyes was snuffed out by frigid fear as the wintry wind wet their faces with freezing droplets.

"Lucas…what's going on with you?" Barry asked, his cold gold hair tossing in the wind.

Lucas stared at the snowy grass, his mind frozen, numb. "I don't know…but that was the worst headache I've ever had."

"That's not what I mean—you finished my sentence, fine. That's a coincidence. But we've never been here together, Lucas. Never. Both our parents banned us from coming here before we had our pokémon. But what scares me the most…you knew we'd meet him—whoever he said he was! How?"

Lucas shook his head, giving Barry a bewildered glare, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Dude…what are you talking about? I've never seen that guy in my life. I've never heard of any Cyrus guy, and I've never seen a guy with spiky blue hair before—hey, he kinda looked like an Alolan Sandslash, right? Haha! He—"

"HEY!" Barry's voice thundered, his fiery orange eyes booming with worry and anger. "This isn't a joke! I was scared there was something seriously wrong with you, and I had no idea what to do! That's not funny!"

He gripped Lucas by the collar of his navy jacket, looking right into his eyes. "There's something wrong with you, Lucas. We need to figure this out before something worse happens.