"Do you have the answer for number four?" she asked. The boy with the spiky blue hair looked at her incredulously as she sat there chewing on the eraser of her pencil. Only twenty more minutes until the assignment needed to be in.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm having problems with number four. I skipped it and went on and I finished the rest of the worksheet, but… Not four."

"You've got most of it figured out," he said, looking at her work.

"But I messed up somewhere along the way!" she said with a pout. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Can I see yours?"

He didn't get a chance to answer before she grabbed the paper and gave it a hard look. All of the sudden, her eyes went bright and she went back to her own work, but she didn't leave the seat next to him. "I get it now, thanks!"

"You're… welcome," he said hesitantly. He paused. "You've never said a word to me until now."

"Well, you're really smart," she said nervously. "And I knew you were the only one that could help."

"Thanks… I think."

"No, thank you, you genius!" she said.

And that was that.

"I don't think I've ever seen him speak," one dark-skinned girl whispered, glancing at the strange boy with the blue spiky hair. "All he does is sit there with a notebook and draw things. I heard even his own parents try to avoid him. He's weird."

"Don't be dumb, of course he speaks," she snapped. "After all, he battles, right? He's the best in our class. He speaks to his pokemon."

"Yeah, that angry sneasel and the golbat? Don't even try to tell me they're not as crazy as he is!"

"He's not crazy!" she said, a little louder than she intended.

"Does someone have a crush on the weirdo?" the girl teased.

"Arceus, no. Why does everything have to be about stupid fairy tale love and shit with you girls?" she said with a roll of her eyes. "When we're done with school, you're going to go off with your boyfriend on a journey and you'll break up along the way and then your whole journey will be ruined-"

"Hey!" the girl said indignantly.

"And I'm going to get out of here and maybe get an apprenticeship with a researcher, but him?" she said, jerking her thumb in the direction of the solemn-faced boy. "He's going to do something big. Maybe he'll become the Champion one day. Or hell, maybe he'll be some super scientist or something. He's going to go farther than the rest of us."

"I still think you like him," the girl said. "Maybe you're crazy too."

"You're such a moron," she said, rolling her eyes.

She ran into him one day. He was leaving Mount Coronet and she was passing through to get to Lake Valor at Professor Rowan's request. He and his little assistant were going to head out for Jubilife, but could the high-and-mighty apprentice of Professor Elm please go check on the lake? There's something off in the energy level.

The energy level. Something intangible, something that couldn't be measured. How in the world did he expect her to check on the energy level, of all things? "Professor Rowan, you're an asshole," she muttered to herself bitterly. She hadn't studied for so long under Professor Elm himself to check out some damn energy level.

She took her dear sweet time in getting there, enjoying a cigarette during a slow walk from Sandgem and as she prepared to walk pass through Mount Coronet, she saw him.

She recognized him, of course. Even this many years later, those blue spikes were recognizable and his facial expression was just as solemn as ever, but he still looked… worse. He had somehow become even more pale, his cheeks were sunken in and his eyes had humungous bags under them. "Hey!" she called out. He looked at her, surprised. He didn't recognize her. "Hey… We went to school together."

Cyrus nodded. "Yes, I believe so."

"Are you a trainer?" she asked.

He paused. "You could say so. I have a team of trained pokemon."

"I looked for you on TV."

He looked surprised. "Why would I be on there?"

"I always thought you would challenge the Elite Four, become the Champion. You were always the only one of us capable of that," she admitted.

He was quiet. "Did you challenge the gyms?" she asked.

He shook his head. "They are a poor excuse for a litmus test of talent. Anybody could get lucky with a critical hit. I make my own luck."

"That's the most I've ever heard you talk at once."

He was quiet again. "You were the one who told me I was a genius."

"I did?" she asked.

"I… appreciated that."

"Glad I could help," she said awkwardly.

She hadn't, of course. She hadn't helped anything. None of them had, and everyone had seen this coming, it seemed, everyone but her.

Not even twenty-four hours after she had left Lake Valor (well, since she had been dismissed, as there were people blocking the entrance who wouldn't let her inside), the bomb went off.

She had gone down to Pastoria, begged Professor Rowan to let her at least go see an old friend so that the trip wouldn't be a total bust. He had reluctantly agreed and now, she sat in the lobby of the Pastoria Pokemon Center, watching the carnage.

Team Galactic. It had taken a long time for authorities to figure out just who was in charge, but they had finally been able to get the name of a leader. According to a very enthused underling in police custody, his name was Cyrus.

It made her heart hurt to hear the name of the boy who used to sit in the corner with a laptop and that sour sneasel, neither ever saying a word. He had more potential than all of them put together…

And he had gone far.

Author's Note (12/31/12): I always get stuck writing battle scenes, mainly because I hate writing them. So somewhere between looking up moves and integrating them into what I had already written came a little drabble about dear Cyrus.

I... may or may not be considering making this a full-fledged story one day, but the chances are low. I have lots of ideas in my head, and I won't start another story until a huge chunk of SYOF is done.

Meh.