Set the World Afire

By Lord Agravane Undead

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters within.

The western sky was streaked crimson, as if the clouds could bleed and somebody has slashed them with a knife. In the east, black clouds bunched up and gathered, threatening to spill more snow on the already snow saturated landscape. Cyrus made his way home from work; his mind lost in the realm of daydreams. He was thinking about the computer program that he had had to debug that day. It had been satisfying to find the error that had eluded all the other programmers for days. It was his expertise; his one power where his lack of social skills had no bearing.

Still Cyrus preferred to write programs. It was better to create something new from his own mind, than to repair the errors of others.

He trudged along through the snow; head down and one hand stuffed deep into his jacket pocket. His other hand was wrapped around a packet of sandwiches; his lunch that he had forgotten to eat.

Cyrus' mind wandered again, numbing him from the bitter cold. He was writing a program during his breaks at work; a program that would change the waiting icon on his computer (a hourglass) into a kettle, that boiled and displayed steam when the computer had ceased waiting. The program was coming on well…Cyrus had finished animating the kettle and all there was left to do was to add in a whistling steam sound effect.

He tried to hear the sound of a boiling kettle in his head but a soft sound from behind caught his attention. Cyrus frowned. He didn't like background noise when he was thinking or working. It distracted him.

He stopped walking for a moment and listened for the source of the sound. However, he could hear nothing. The heavy air was silent; the snow muffling any sounds of the city.

I shall assume it was my own footsteps Cyrus thought. Stupid, flumpy footsteps. How can I think if I am…

There was the sound again and it was most definitely *not* Cyrus' footsteps. It was too distant. However, it was a similar sound. Cyrus looked behind him to see if there was another person about. The street was deserted, as nobody with an ounce of sense chose to be out on such an icy evening.

Cyrus set of once again, trying to put the sound out of his mind. He turned up a narrow alleyway; a short cut to his apartment. Perhaps, instead of whistling, he could make the kettle speak? That would be amusing. It could announce something like Tea's ready! If it had a realistic enough voice, Cyrus suspected that he could even confuse the people in the office. And modern computers had sophisticated enough sound chips for such a thing to be possible.

The sound was still there and it was getting louder.

Cyrus had very sensitive ears. The kids at school had not appreciated his ears and had spent a lot of time pulling them, as they were rather conspicuous. However, this didn't matter now. Cyrus had a successful job and a plan for the future. Soon the bullies would learn the meaning of Karma. Then…

Cyrus whipped round, coming face to face with a blue haired boy. He was holding an iron pipe, that he had probably found in one of the nearby bins. He held it above his head, as if he had been planning to brain Cyrus with it. Now that he was caught, however, he gasped and the pipe slipped from his fingers to land harmlessly in the snow.

Cyrus was rather shaken but he couldn't possibly let his fear get in the way of cold, hard logic. And the logical thing to do was to analyse the situation, so he could then proceed with the correct action.

"What are you doing?" Cyrus asked the boy. He had dropped his weapon, so he didn't appear ready to attack. Neither did he run away. He just stared, wide eyed. His gaze wandered down to the sandwich in Cyrus' hands. He blinked quickly and swallowed.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"You were going to hit me over the head and rob me?" Cyrus suggested.

"No! I wasn't!"

"You were willing to kill Mr Akagi, a successful computer programmer, with an iron pipe?"

The boy shook his head wildly. "I wasn't! I was just going to knock you out, I swear!"

"But I would have died anyway," Cyrus continued. "I would have frozen to death in the snow. What a waste of a successful computer programmer that would have been".

"No! I wouldn't kill you, honestly. I'm not a murderer". Then, the blue haired boy did something far more terrifying. Something that caused the stoic Cyrus to feel cold terror enter into his body like never before.

He started to cry.

Cyrus didn't like that at all. Somebody was breaking down emotionally in front of him! What was he supposed to do? How should he react? The boy cried loudly, tears running down his cheeks and his nose running too. Cyrus wanted to turn and flee but despite his cold demeanour, he wasn't a complete arsehole. He decided to act positively instead.

"Control your emotions and stop crying," he said. "Your tears and mucus will freeze on your face and that would be disgusting".

The lad gasped and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. Cyrus' direct approach seemed to have calmed him down. He swallowed again and nodded.

"Yes, sure Mr Akagi". Cyrus was surprised that the boy remembered his name. It also occurred to him that he looked half starved. Cyrus couldn't read body language but he could clearly see how gaunt his would be attacker was.

"Do you want something to eat?" Cyrus asked, offering his lunch over.

The boy hesitated for a second, then he accepted the package off Cyrus. He tore the plastic wrapper off and ate the contents so fast that it was a wonder he didn't choke himself.

"Don't drop litter," said Cyrus, picking up the wrapper and stuffing it into his pocket. The boy nodded but couldn't speak, as his mouth was full.

Cyrus suddenly shivered, realising that he was hungry too. He hadn't had breakfast so the last time he had eaten was the previous night. He considered the situation, logically as always. There was a café nearby that he sometimes visited; it was reasonably priced and usually quiet. He stared at the skinny boy in front of him, his head tilted to the side.

"I'm going to get something to eat at the café. Do you want to come with me?" Cyrus asked. He shocked even himself. Where on Pokeearth had that come from?

"I-I don't have any money," the boy muttered.

"I will pay for you," said Cyrus, surprising himself again. Of course, the boy would refuse. Nobody wanted to be friends with Cyrus. Nor did he feel the need for friends.

The boy smiled, somewhat nervously and nodded. "Alright then, if you're sure".