Midori rolled over in bed. A cool light washed over her from her open window, the sun. Her teachers said that long ago, the sun was warm. But over the course of many years, the sun lost its warmth. Vegetation still grew and people were still able to live on the earth's surface, but not one felt the warm kiss of the sun's rays. There were only two seasons- the cool season (long ago spring and summer) and the cold season (once fall and winter).

Some people believed that the key to bringing warmth back to the world was pokémon. The little creatures had survived as well and even better than humans, adapting well to the loss of warmth. Water species learned how to hibernate in ice when the water froze over. The ocean fascinated Midori more than anything. In the cold season, the ocean froze over. No one knew how far the ice went down, but it was thick enough that people could walk or ride across it by means of pokémon or even in vehicles, though most didn't since ice is slippery. Scientists guessed that the ice was at least 50,000 feet thick during the cold season.

It was the late part of the cool season, and in a few weeks time water would begin to freeze over and snow and ice would coat the ground. Midori yawned, stretched out full on her bed. It was around eleven in the morning and soon Tobias would be awake. Tobias was her older friend who liked nothing more than to nap in the sun's cool light. Tobias was a young man who didn't mind the cool breeze that swept over their region this time of year.

Tobias and Midori lived in the ghetto of Jade City, a dingy industrial place in the middle of nowhere. Other kids said that beyond the fields and the brief stretch of ocean was a beautiful place called Kanto, and beyond that was Johto. Even in the cold they were regions to behold. Tobias promised that he would take Midori away from Jade City soon, and they would go to Kanto together.

Tobias was seventeen, beautiful and lithe, with silky dark blonde hair that fell just above his shoulders, darker highlights glistening in the light. His features were masculine but soft in creamy skin, and his eyes were a deep and mellow blue. Tobias was born to a rich family; his father was mayor of the city, and his mother was a famous actress. Girls never left Tobias alone, and he was tempermental and cynical because of it. Midori met Tobias one dark and cold evening on accident, by chance, or fate.

Midori had been walking home from the store, where she was running errands for her uncle. It was nearly pitch dark and very chill outside, being the middle of the cold season. As she was walking, an icy windstorm blew up, showering the streets with shards of ice and rain and a wind cold and forceful. Usually, people knew when they were coming and got indoors, but some people didn't mind them. Criminals used them to their advantage, and it was Midori's bad turn of luck that led to her being attacked.

A group of gangbangers caught Midori off her gaurd and pulled her into an alley where they started to hit her. Midori panicked and started crying, but never for help. No one knew Midori, and no one in Jade City was the type to risk their own skin for a stranger. Midori cried, knowing she was going to be beaten, raped and left to die.

Just as she thought the bruises on her body would never heal, a small creature bounded into the grimy alley, showering powerful bolts of electricity on the men who assaulted her. In her shock, Midori realized that the creature was a pokémon, a Raichu. It was her first encounter with one of the creatures. She had never disliked them before, nor liked them. But from that moment on they were her saviors.

With the attackers taken care of, a boy approached Midori with a look of concern on his handsome face. Midori recognized the young man immediately as Tobias, the son of the mayor. "I'm so sorry." She said meekly in fear of being thought of as a nuisance.

"Are you all right?" She found herself wrapped in the warmth of the stranger's arms. "It's below freezing out and you're soaked." His voice was quiet but sure, gentle and cool but male- like a clear stream flowing over gravel.

"I think I'm ok." Midori managed to say, and in that moment she made a lifelong friend. Tobias took her back to his home and gave her a blanket. They called Midori's uncle and told him that she would stay the night. Despite the boy-rescues-girl theme her classmates pointed out later, nothing happened. She slept in the guest room and left the next morning after having breakfast with Tobias.

That was a year ago, and nothing could tear them apart since.

Midori was sixteen, a year younger than Tobias and a head shorter. She was slender, average looking. She sported an indigo-colored pixie cut, and her large eyes were warm chocolate. Midori's complexion was darker than Tobias's, french vanilla in shade and spattered with sunspots. Both of them dressed in comfortable, relaxed outfits like cargo jeans and tee shirts almost always. Tobias had pointed out that night that they had a lot in common, and he introduced Midori to his Raichu.

Midori rose from bed with a lack of vigor and pulled a pair of jeans up over her slender hips. She lived with only her young uncle. When Midori was seven years old, her father got life in prison for murdering her mother. Since Midori's next of kin was her uncle Hiroshi on her mother's side, she lived with him in his tiny apartment in Jade City. Tobias lived only a block away in a large apartment suite. That was where she was going.

She changed out of her black night shirt and into a small button-down cotton short sleeved shirt. Her black bra showed through, but she didn't mind and no one else would mind either. In Jade City, most girls dressed far more provocatively than Midori. She brushed her teeth and took off out the back door. It was Monday, and she should be in school, but Tobias never went to school on Mondays, so Midori skipped also.

Her guilt at not educating herself was overwhelming, and Midori decided that she would ask Tobias to come to school with her to do volunteer work. Halfway to Tobias's house, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was Tobias, in chill weather, soaking and bleeding, sitting against a rusty chain link fence. "TOBIAS!" Midori drew in a sharp breath, and before she even reached him tears were stinging her eyes.

"Tobias!" She dropped to her knees and held him, choking. "What did you do this time?"

It was typical of Tobias to be beaten and hosed down, either by gang members or by his father. Tobias was so much of a punk that he was constantly in trouble, but no one understood Tobias's actions like Midori. Tobias was abused no matter what he did. "I was being a good boy, I swear." He reached and felt a bump on his head, hissing.

"Tobias you can never stay out of trouble! Where's Raichu? You could have used him to protect you, you arrogant jerk!"

"My dad has Raichu!" Tears slid down the blonde's face. "He stole him from me and then beat me, Midori... the bikers thought it was funny and hosed me and I couldn't do anyth-"

"Oh, Toby." Midori slouched next to him, hugging him. "It'll be ok, we'll get your Raichu back. The two of you risked yourselves for me- I'll do anything to get him back."

"But I don't have any more pokémon and neither do you. How can we possibly get him back?" That cynical tone found its way into the boy's voice. Tobias didn't trust anybody, he could never trust anyone without being hurt; he didn't even trust Midori completely.

"It's easy, Tobias. We'll talk to Aiden." Midori stroked his arm, which was covered in cigarette burns and scars from the knives Tobias had used on himself. Aiden was Jade City's pokémon gym leader.

Tobias said nothing, and Midori kissed his cheek. "Tell me Tobias, is he going to hurt Raichu?"

"I don't know." He confessed, wiping his eyes.

"Ok. We don't know what's going to happen to Raichu if we don't act now, so we're going to act right now." Midori said confidently, and Tobias looked at her with his baby blues, those bottomless eyes that were glazed over with tears. They were penetrating, as if he could see into her soul. "Tobias, you know I can't promise that Raichu will be ok. But in God's name I will do everything I can to get him back, and you have to trust me."

"Why?" Tobias let more tears fall, hot and wet on his bruised cheeks. He had a black eye, and the tears stung when they fell from that one.

Midori sighed. "Tobias, in that moment when Raichu first came into the alley and chased off those bad guys, I trusted Raichu. And I trusted you. Because I knew that if I believed in you, I would be ok. If you don't believe, things just don't work out as well."

Tobias put his head between his knees.

Jade City was the dingiest, most disgusting city since NYC. No one could trust anyone else, and it was a place full of the heartless and the broken-hearted. Out of concern for Raichu, Tobias refused to waste time cleaning up, and they headed to Aiden's gym.

Aiden was a cool guy in every way possible. He was smart, sexy, popular, and talented. If his pokémon couldn't do it, no one's pokémon could. Aiden had three pokémon: a Ninetales, a Rapidash, and a Flareon. Aiden only gave away one EVEBADGE in his entire career as a gym leader, and that badge belonged to Tobias. The two respected one another, and it seemed to go a little beyond that at times. Ok, a lot beyond that.

The cool and collected gym leader came unglued when he saw Tobias. "Oh my God, what the hell happened to you?" Aiden dropped the pokéball he was holding and took Tobias by the hand, pulling the shorter boy into his embrace. Tobias clutched Aiden and cried a little. If Tobias had ever known love in his entire life, it was through Aiden.

The whole scene came apart. Three hopeless teenagers in a lost city in a world without sunlight collapsed together in sadness and defeat. Aiden may have been deserving of all the luxeries the world had, as far as Tobias was concerned, but his gym was little more than an abandoned warehouse in terrible shape. Tobias and Aiden spent all of their money taking care of their pokémon, and had nothing else but eachother.

Midori tried to stay cool as she told the story, but she began crying as well. Aiden listened with sympathy, holding to Tobias tightly and stroking the boy's hair. As Midori finished, Aiden's expression turned from sympathy to anger. "What the hell did we do to be born into this world? THERE'S NO GOD DAMN SUNLIGHT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!" He started to rant and swear, and Tobias held the leg of Aiden's jeans, quietly whimpering a request for him to calm down, which Aiden heard. Midori turned away to give them a moment or two.

"We'll get your Raichu back." Aiden murmured. "Or die trying. And if anyone has so much as harmed a fur on that pokémon's body, I swear, Tobias. I swear it."

"Thank you, Aiden." Tobias whispered back, hugging him. They sat there for a moment, each looking at the other's eyes as if he had never seen them before and would never see them again. Tobias hesitated, taking in a breath as if about to speak.

He said nothing.