Pressing my hands against the glass door of the Pokemon Centre, I feel the coldness of the night, watch the raindrops tumble down the panes. I close the door behind me and step out onto the street, reeling immediately as the wind drives a splatter of freezing rain, hard as bullets, into my face. My gasp of surprise is blown back down my throat. Spluttering, I nuzzle my chin into my coat, bury my hands in my pockets, and start walking.
I'm not particularly bothered where I'm going. The Pokemon Centre closes at midnight and I have nowhere to go now. The rainbow lights of the city seem bleak and cheerless, their reflections splattered on the soaked pavements. The streets I walk are as lifeless as the lunar surface, and about as hospitable. As I scour the bleak concrete for somewhere to sleep amidst the gleaming and impassive buildings of the city, I begin to feel increasingly alone, like an astronaut in an alien world.
Eventually, exhausted, I struggle to my knees, crouching in the inadequate cover of a grey shopfront. Raindrops stream into my face, my eyes. I lean against the smooth concrete wall and, at once, feel myself begin to fall asleep.
I am awakened almost at once by dull splash. It seems I am not quite alone here after all. A young man is walking towards me across the road. Smiling, he walks over to where I'm huddled, and reaches out a hand down to me. Suddenly he's choking me. His hand is around my neck, and the back of my head is ground against the bricks behind me. What seemed a smile is suddenly more of a leer.
'Hand over your Pokemon!' the man hisses.
His breath smells vile.
Quickly I calculate my position. I'm no Pokemon Trainer. I don't have any money. I have absolutely nothing to give him. The man is tall and skinny but his figure and his grip suggests a sort of sinewy strength. I admit to myself that I could not hope of fighting my way out.
'I don't have anything!' I plead, managing to sound a bit braver than I feel.
The man takes a good look at me, shivering in my coat, and pauses to think. He loosens his grip as he realises that I am telling the truth, but then his eyes narrow again. I can see his mind working so clearly, reading every thought as it flits across his face. He's not going to let me leave. I put my hands between us, begging, pleading. My insides churn in fear.
A little while later, I was roiling on the pavement, helplessly dodging the kicks that crunched into my defenceless body.
A long while later, I lost consciousness.