The human body is mostly made out of liquids. It's why we'll freeze to the death if we stick around in the cold long enough. Infants and children have more water than adults do. It's why we get colder faster and should not be living in a ice hell.

What makes you human? The warmth in your blood? The need to eat and sleep? Your beating heart and functioning brain? Or perhaps. The ability to cry. The moments you really feel alive are the ones where tears of whatever emotion starts pouring out your glassy eyes.

You don't notice what you have is good until it's gone. You don't value life until you almost lose it. At some point in people's lives, you lose something very valuable to you. Something irreplaceable. The question is; are you willing to push beyond limits to get it back?

Companions.

Friends.

Partners.

They all have same and vastly different meanings.

To be called such an honorable title, a true companion, friend, partner.

You both must go through an painful experience together.

That way,

In the end of it all,

You'll be truly happy it's over and together.

"Maaaaaaan!" an annoyed whining tone broke the silence. "Why'd I get stuck with you as a partner for this mission?"

There was an audio equally annoyed sigh. "Possibility because someone needed to make sure you don't die…?"

"Pft. As if!" the first voice only gotten more annoyed at the sarcastic tone. "I'm not reckless ya know!"

There was a quiet chuckle of amusement. Though it could have been a scoff. "Biggest lie of the century."

Definitely a scoff. Two boys with major difference between them save for their expressions. One of them was riding on top of a four legged creature that had a collar of fire around it's back neck. The top fur was black-ish green and the rest was a cream color. The creature was running through the white soft snow easily without a problem. The boy riding on him had a yellow hat and plain goggles that he was using. He had a red sweater and scarf that looked oddly like the creature he was currently riding on. The boy was clearly not prepared for this type as whether as he wore black shorts with a fiery design at the bottom. His red sweater had a couple black stripes meeting half way in. he had on sneakers that were red, yellow, black and white all at the same time. Hanamura Gold the Hatcher and his Ultimate Explotaro the Typhlosion.

The boy near him was holding onto a small talon. The talon belonged to a raven like bird creature. On it's head was this witch hat-like feathers and his tail looked like the end of a broom stick. He was rather tiny and looked too thin to be carrying the boy, but he seem to have no troubles at all. The boy had long red hair, a red that almost looked scarlet in certain light. And blood in others. This boy came prepared, a black turtle-neck sweater and baggy cargo pants. He had one boots and gloves. Nothing to protect his face from the icy winds, though he didn't seem to care at all. Silver the Exchanger and his Flightier Murkrow. Both of the boys seemed equally annoyed, though for very different reasons.

Gold huffed his cheeks and rubbed his hands together. His teeth clatter only by a bit, it was obvious the Hatcher was freezing. He turn a glance towards the redhead near him and got even more annoyed by the fact the redhead was not frazzled by the cold. "What are ya! Cold-blooded? It's freezing out here!" Gold let out a breath of cold air and tried to warm up his fingers.

Silver rolled his eyes at the Hatcher's complaining. "My blood might as well be made of ice." the redhead looked at his free hand with slight disgust. He gripped it tight and continued to look ahead. This made Gold give him a sympathetic look for a moment. However, it was only for a moment. He was so pissed off with the cold. And knowing Silver had some inhuman super power to survive such a deathly weather got him even more annoyed and pissed. He wasn't sure at what exactly, maybe the laughing universe.

As Silver started to get lost in thought, Gold reached over towards his backpack and took out a couple candy bars. "Yo Silv, want some?"

Breaking his train of thought, Silver shot a small glare at his companion. He sighed and shook his head, continuing the train in his mind. Gold shrugged, and began to unwrap the first candy bar. It was a Bayleaf mint bar, he frowned when he took a bite and found out it was frozen. Oh he was so close to turning back and abandoning this mission all together. Meanwhile, with Silver, he was already running all possible situations he might get himself into during this mission.

-Collect the Ice Heart… simple enough. For me of course. Somehow I got partnered up with this idiot and it's making things more difficult than it should be. Not only did we get lost three times, but the damn fool actually thought awakening an Kangaskhan from it's slumber to ask for directions was a brilliant idea. Possibly it was-if you wanted to get yourself killed. What's even worse, he has no resistance towards the cold, thus begins the endless complaints for his own stupidity! Honestly, where did he think an item called the Ice Heart was located at? The sun? the damn idiot.-

"HEEELlooooo~~~ Silver to Gold, come iiiiin~~"

Silver was once again snapped out of his train of thought by once again the Hatcher. Being already fired up by his thoughts, Silver did not give Gold any more patience. "What?!" his snip snap snarl hissed though his teeth. Gold frowned at the reaction but let it slide. He had to give the boy more patience, they were after all, in an ice forest. This was obviously going to bring about some unwanted triggers. Hence why he didn't want the redhead thinking too deeply. "I was just wondering something." Gold replied with a calmer voice than before.

"Well?" Silver sighed out, feeling a bit bad after hearing the boy's calmed tone. His Murkrow was having a bit trouble through the winds but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Gold was rubbing the Bayleaf mint bar in order to warm it up a bit and make it edible. "Have you decided?"

"Decided what?"

"The sleepover of course."

"Oh…"

Not a second was wasted for the awkward silence to roll in. the only sounds was the frosty winds blowing against their ears at the speed they were going and the marching sounds of Explotaro. Earlier the Hatcher had asked the redhead to sleep over his house. It was something he said 'buddies' do often. Which gave him another reason not to do it. He didn't see Gold as the Hatcher saw him. Or well, he kept telling himself that. Even though it's been a good solid year, he still could not bring himself to truly embrace the friendship Gold kept pushing at him. He felt terribly awkward whenever Gold made an advance to strengthen their one-sided friendship. In truth, Silver sees the Hatcher as nothing more than a companion.

Someone he often work with such as now. "The White Leaves Forest should be up ahead."

Gold frowned harder. -Avoiding again…- Deciding not to push the topic further, Gold looked up ahead. Sure enough the scenery was holding true to it's name. all the trees looked spring-like healthy and yet there was snow covering the dark green leaves and terrain. He could tell the snow grows deeper the more closer they get. He wondered if he should recall Explotaro now or wait a bit more. There was a light fog, nothing thick, more like a mist in the air that gave the place a more magical glimmer. Gold was about to question the trees to Silver when he saw the boy being lost in thought again. -Agh… he's doing it again.-

Annoyed, the Hatcher was about to snap the redhead out of his thoughts, when suddenly his near frozen face was roughly met with fire. "GAH!" Gold half yelped at the sudden burning sensation at his cheek. Explotaro had jerked a stopped which made him lose balance and fall right towards the fire-type's collar of fire. "Explotaro? Why'd you sto-Aah!" the Lava Pokémon jerked again, only upwards.

Silver was snapped from his thoughts and swiftly turned to Gold who was trying his best not to get burned by his own Pokémon. "Murkrow, halt!" the raven bird jerked a stopped and turned around to watch his trainer run back towards Gold. Angry cries were heard from Explotaro as he began to thrash around, Gold was now on the ground, having been tossed off. "What is he doing?!"

"I don't know! He just suddenly started flipping out!" Gold struggled back up, his legs were not prepared for the fall and the coldness was not helping him regain his strength. "Explotaro! What's wrong?!" the Hatcher went up to the thrashing fire type and held out his hands in attempt to calm him. Silver quickly calculated the outcomes and took action. He grabbed Gold's sleeve and yanked him away from Explotaro just in time as the lava Pokémon tried t bash Gold down again.

Silver growled a bit and took out a Pokéball from belt. in a flash, a giant blue alligator creature was out and roaring for a fight. Gold widen his eyes at this struggled back up to his feet faster than the first time. "Feraligatr! Us-"

"NO! Silver wait!" Gold grabbed Silver's arm and pulled him to get his entire attention.

The redhead only frowned and glared. "What do you think you're doing?! Let go!"

Gold was not effected by the glare and kept his death grip on the redhead. The Typhlosion continued to thrash and was now ramming himself against the trees. Feraligatr was confused and worried at this, Murkrow was just waiting for something to happen that concerned him. Gold didn't give an answer, he wasn't sure what he should tell Silver. He couldn't let the boy hurt his partner when he himself didn't know what was wrong with him. The flinched Silver gave did not go unnoticed, this snapped Gold from his mental panic and brought his attention back to the what was in front of him.

"TYYRRAAARRR!"

Both boys gasped out in fear. A pillar of fire was heading right towards them. Feraligatr and Murkrow widen their eyes, time seemed to slow but speed up at the same time for them. Being the rash boy he was, Gold acted out in reflex and shoved Silver out of the way. What he wasn't expecting was the redhead to grasp his arm and take him along down. Both boys half gasp at the harsh contact with the ground. Gold had barely missed the Flamethrower but was close enough to feel warmer.

Silver was now painfully aware that there was a cliff not far from them. He quickly scattered back up to his feet and saw Explotaro shoot out more Flamethrowers at random locations. Out of all the situations, Silver was not prepared for the fire ultimate to start randomly ramping. "Why is your Ultimate going berserk!?"

Gold was now on his feets again, but his spine ached painfully from the cold ground and bash he just received. "I don't know!" and it made him even more at panic. How can he calm his Pokémon if he doesn't even know why he's doing this?

"Feraligatr! Hydro Pump now!"

Gold couldn't say anything, he couldn't think of a better way to calm the fire type. He shut his eyes, unable to watch his Ultimate get attacked. Silver did not hesitate to order another attack after the first one had missed. Explotaro growled viciously and jumped up, startling Feraligatr in the process. The redhead smirked. Now that he was in the air, one hit from Murkrow's wing attack and this battle was as good as done.

Yet, the Exchanger froze when he heard a whimper right next to him. Guilt befell on him as he realized the ramifications his actions are bringing to Gold's mental state and emotions. The moment of hesitation allowed Explotaro to unleashed a built up Flamethrower at the two boys. Feeling the sudden air change, Silver looked up and shortly gasped. "Ah!" he didn't have enough time to tell Gold to move or run. The fire had already made contact at the ground in front of them, causing them both to be pushed by the impact blast.

-What is that moment called, when your body just sort of… goes on auto-pilot and your brain gets detached so you're kind of watching what you're doing. Everything sort of… flashes by you rapidly, but you can see it slowly. Your mind just, hazes out, withdraw from the moment. As if it has nothing to do with you…what… do you call that moment?-

"SILVER!"

A small sharp gasp escape Silver's lips as he snapped his half closed eye lids wide open. He felt a jolt surge through him, his hand had just caught the edge of the cliff, but the sudden forced weight of Gold quickly made him slip through the snowy edge. Murkrow's beak dropped when he saw his trainer let go of the ground. Sneasel widen his eyes and acted quickly, forcing himself out of his Pokéball. He jumped against Silver's shoulder and stuck out his right claw.

Everything happened to fast, Silver didn't have the time to process it all. He was only now aware of his Starter Pokémon screaming out in pure agony. Sneasel's claw made harsh impact against the rocky walls, with the weight of the two boys, they were still falling only now at a slower rate. "Sn..! SNEASEL!"

Gold gasped and winced to the Weasel's screams. In the matter of nano seconds, blood started gushing out from the claw. Seeing the distress and heaviness of the situation, a flash of white was seen before Gold's Aipom, Ataro jumped up to grab it's trainer by the sweater and clung to the rocky wall. The falling was slowed down a bit more by this, Sneasel gritted his tiny teeth together and tried to hold in all his screams. Ataro quickly noticed a small opening a bit below. "AAiipa! Ai!"

Sneasel nodded and let go of the wall, heading towards the small entrance in the wall. Ataro let go of Gold's sweater and acted quickly, knowing if he failed this one shot, everyone was doomed. With his tail hand, he gripped tightly the edge of the opening and quickly with his front paws grabbed Sneasel's bloodied claw. The fall was roughly stopped all together once the two starter Pokémons grasp each other's hands. Silver was still being hold up by Sneasel's other claw and Gold was still clinging to Silver's arm, which at some point Silver returned the action and was grasping the same hand.

Being the tiny Pokémon he is, Ataro groaned out loudly at the extreme weight. Back up, Feraligatr was trying to make himself useful and stop the fire Ultimate from further rampaging. Murkrow, after getting over the shock of hearing Sneasel's agonizing screams and witnessing his trainer falling off a cliff. The raven bird gave a flap and was dashing towards the edge, and dived down to where his struggling trainer was.

The sight of blood dripping from Sneasel's claw to his arms, body and eventually to Silver's face, caused the bird to become frazzled. His eyes blurred and he suddenly found himself holding back vomit. "Snaaeeaa!" the painful cry of the weasel Pokémon brought Murkrow back to his task. He quickly without thinking grabbed onto Silver's shoulders and started flying up. Sneasel let go of the redhead and allowed himself to be pulled up by Ataro.

Granted, Murkrow should have picked Gold first, and not both boys at the same time. The weight of them both was new and something he was not at all used to off. It made flying up a much more harder task, but he was determined to get the boys back to safety. The shock of it all brought both boys to be dazed by what was happening, however Silver came through and looked around his surroundings, calculating what can go wrong and what he can do to help. For the third time that day, his thoughts were harshly interrupted.

A sudden blow of blizzard wind shot up, making the boys fall upwards and Murkrow lose his grip and balance. "AAII!" Ataro yelled at the sudden gust of icy wind and held onto Sneasel who was almost tossed off the small cave. "Aaahh!" Silver covered his eyes to shied them and Gold started coughing violently from the sudden temperature drop. The only sounds al of them can hear the roaring of the winds, neither of the Pokémons had the ability to open their eyes in the angry wind.

Murkrow winced and cried out when he felt mini icicles in the wind hit against his thin wings. Just as sudden as it came, the blizzard wind was gone. It took Murkrow a couple of seconds to regain his footing. Silver suddenly felt extremely dizzy. He also felt his hair trying to be ripped from his skull which made him flutter his silvery eyes flutter open.

At least now he knew why he felt dizzy?

Somewhere in a cave where everyone was ice, was a cyan colored creature. It sort of resembled a fox with dark blue-teal bangs. The creature's eyes winced and opened slowly at the flashing lights in front of it. It was sleeping peacefully with it's front paws folded and head resting gently. The fox-like creature seem annoyed that it was interrupted of it's slumber. ["Hm…? What's this?"]

The creature lifted her head and looked closely at the crystal orb in front of her flashing. She saw two human boys on a black bird and fire type. ["Intruders?"] her voice sounded a bit amused yet surprised by this. With a soft sigh and chuckle, she got up on her paws and stretched a bit. ["Might as well say hello."] she began to lightly and gracefully walk away. One paw would go in front of the other, her eyes were full of confidence and malice.

["And where do you think you're going?"] a sudden male's voice made her stop and turn her head only by an inch. There was a purple fog with a devil smile and red piecing eyes. His hands were dripping with what can only be described as acid. Shortly after, metal was heard clanking. A new male's voice piped in. ["It seems though we have some indecent guests."]

There was an obvious ominous chill in the air as the winds sang. ["Perhaps we should put them back in their places."] a new female, more low and firm than the first voice was heard. It wasn't long when two giant shadows joined the other four. One of them looked like a swan with a shell on it's back and the other like a giant bear. ["Try not to overdo it."] the third female voice was more elegant than the other two.

["Trespassers should learn how to deal with their crimes."] this male voice was deep and obviously blood-thirsty. Yet it held a sense of calm in them. The fox like creature only gave a devil grin and continued to walk. Allowing the shadows to hide her colors along with the other creatures that followed after her.

["Then let's dealt them their price."]

The human body reacts to emotions differently. The same goes for Pokémons and creatures alike.

Murkrow looked around the ground below him. It couldn't even see the ground. But he can see a flash of red growing smaller and smaller. Quickly his eyes widen and his pupils shrunk into dots at the sight of his trainer falling farther and farther from him. The raven bird shot up his wings and flapped them to his sides, diving down to catch up with boys falling below.

Ataro snapped open his eyes when he heard Sneasel cry out with panic. He himself gasped when he saw Murkrow swiftly fly down to their falling trainers. Both of them were one their knees and front paws, or claws in Sneasel's case. They can only watch in horror and hope that Murkrow would catch them in time.

In the face of fear. Panic, horror, death, pain.

The scarecrow Pokémon was gaining speed, but the more they fell so did the boys. Quickly, trying everything in vain to get faster, Murkrow shut his wings and dive down below even harsher than before. He ignored his eyes stinging from the ice winds and dipped his feather hat lower to try and block out some of the ice. He turned all his fear and panic into thrusting his head deeper into the wind. He was vaguely aware of the mist around them getting thicker which each inch he gets deeper in.

He couldn't hear the boys screaming in terror, he couldn't hear Sneasel crying out for the best. He couldn't hear the Typhlosion roaring, or the yells of Feraligatr telling the fire type to calm the hell down. He couldn't hear anything but the violent winds rushing though his feathers. The bird acknowledged at some point the winds was actually starting to feel like acid. He never in his life flew this fast before. And at the very moment he couldn't care any less about his feathers randomly being plucked off his wings.

We react in one of the two ways. We either,

The blizzard wind form before had forced the two boys to unlock their grasp on each other. Silver was vaguely aware that Gold was a couple feets away from him falling the same distance he was. But his screaming had came to a halt just a bit ago, making concern for the Hatcher's well-being. He wasn't sure how tall this cliff was or how soon will they meet the ground. All he knew is that if Murkrow didn't stop them soon, they would not survive this fall.

He knew the more they fell, the faster they got, which would make it harder for Murkrow to soften their fall. he noticed the mist around him was getting thicker, knowing that Murkrow's eye sight had dropped a couple numbers from the wind, Silver knew there was only one positive outcome. -Sometimes you have to win to lose right…?-

Silver gritted his teeth and gathered up his remaining Pokéballs. He saw not far from them was a lake. It took only a second for him to store up enough strength, and with one last glance at the three Pokéballs in his hands, he threw them far away from him and what he hoped, into the waters nearby.

With the seconds he had left, Silver continued to carry out his last mission.

Blindly take action and hope for the best.

The screeching winds turned into utter silence. Murkrow violently snapped up his wings making him jerk into a complete stop. He didn't care that his wings ached from the action, that a dose of dizziness was settling in. What he cared about was the mist. The see through mist suddenly turned into fog, a thick heavy fog.

Murkrow didn't know what to focus on, the fact that there was total silence, which meant his trainer wasn't screaming which of course meant he was laying dead on the icy ground. Or the fog around him that seem to drain more and more energy from him. The fact he was wasting valuable seconds, or maybe even the fact that there was clearly two path in front of him. Which means his trainer was falling down one and another one will lead him to an untouched ground.

How was he suppose to know which flight route his trainer had fallen down? Knowing he had no time to spare, he took a chance and flew down rapidly. Murkrow kept his intense gaze down, trying to spot the boys anywhere.

A couple feets below, Silver was staring up blankly. His hair was whipping up, his arms were holding his stomach tightly, trying to keep his nausea down. Or up, he wasn't sure which way he was falling anymore. The intense headache and dizziness gave him only enough room to be aware that there was a tiny shadow up above him.

Murkrow widen his eyes. Silver closed his.

Or

Sneasel shook violently out of pure fear. The echoing screams were now gone and they were meant with silence. It didn't help that a sudden fog bank rolled in, completely blocking their views from seeing anything. Ataro was sitting on his bum, it couldn't be. Gold was not dead. Silver was not dead. They just ran out of air to keep screaming. Or Murkrow had already caught them and they were relaxing.

So then why,

Did the bad luck Pokémon,

Come back up alone?

We freeze up completely.