Chapter 10 RIP Cat...

Satoshi and Shiroi were already on their sixth pack of jumbo fries but their parents still haven't finished fighting the Slime. The longer the fight dragged on, the more they noticed that the Slime was getting larger and more powerful. It was like the last boss in every MMORPG game and his parents were too under-leveled to fight it off. Somehow, this slime is not losing on power output either. Since Satoshi's mom could counter any of its attacks, it hasn't advanced to the densely populated area of Tokyo, but it wasn't backing out either.

"I have to do something," Satoshi said to himself, although he was fully aware that there was nothing he could do. He glanced at Shiroi, and he realized that she was getting worried. Her expression was filled with impatience and concern as she glued her eyes to the television screen.

"Shiroi, stay here, I need to go get something." Just like Shiroi, Satoshi was getting impatient as well. He stood from his seat before Shiroi could say something, making a run for it to the door.

Grab!

Shiroi was a second too late to react but she managed to grab Satoshi by the edge of his shirt. "Where are you going?" Shiroi plainly asked, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.

"Stay here, Shiroi, I'll be back soon."

"No, I'm coming with you."

"Sigh~ all right. But stay behind me. I'd hate to receive a talking-to from both our parents."

Satoshi knew that there was no way he could refuse Shiroi when she demands something from him. Whether it was his soft spot for her or the fact that she was extremely convincing, the method is very effective to him. And that's the reason why he could only agree even though he already made up his mind to decline.

Leaving a hefty amount of tip to the waitress who served them despite the situation, the two then headed outside. Amidst the smoke and flames, Satoshi carefully navigated the streets with Shiroi right behind him. He knew that his idea would probably work, assuming that everything goes well with his plans. With that in mind, he headed towards the hardware store where he bought the nailgun before. That nailgun has helped him a lot in the initial testing during the first day of school and now he's going to add another machine to his arsenal. There was a lot of equipment that would greatly help him but the only one that stood out for him— the flamethrower.

Since he assumed that the Slime is weak against Fire, Satoshi decided to make a flamethrower his next 'superpower'.

Pretty soon, they arrived at the hardware shop and the owner, Ivan, was still there. He was busily cleaning the hardware shop amidst the crisis outside.

"Oh, kid! You're back. I saw the fight, you were great." Ivan greeted. "You need something else aside from your nailgun?"

"Ah, yes, by any chance, do you have a flamethrower?" Satoshi nonchalantly asked as if it was a normal question to ask a hardware shop owner.

Ivan wasn't surprised at the question though, he just shook his head and responded. "No, I don't have any flamethrowers in stock. And we don't really sell flamethrowers in hardware shops."

"I see, thanks anyway," Satoshi responded.

Disappointed, the two went out of the hardware store. A man who was rushing to the hardware store to take shelter bumped them, and some sort of object fell from his pockets. The man didn't notice this, however, since he was too panicked to do so. With a confused expression, Satoshi picked the item up, only to realize that it was a lighter. And it wasn't your ordinary lighter, it was one of those lighters that were made in ancient times, which can be deemed as a relic. This lighter is made out of stainless steel with gold engravings at the side, its metallic cap is still intact and when Satoshi opened it, a pleasant 'click' could be heard emanating from it. Before he knew it, he pocketed the lighter, not intending to return it back to its owner.

"System," Satoshi called out. A few seconds later, his retro computer came out of nowhere. This time, it had tentacles growing out of its bottom part. Satoshi doesn't know why his computer undergoes different transformations when he calls it but he didn't have the luxury to think about it. That could be left for later.

<Yes, owner.>

Letters flashed across its screen as a robotic voice resonated in the atmosphere. "Can I evolve simple objects such as lighter? Or does it need to be a complex type of machinery?"

<No, owner, every object can be upgraded with your superpower.>

"Do you have any information regarding my superpower?"

<Yes, owner.>

"Nice, we'll get to it later. Oh, and also, call me Satoshi. From now on, your name will be Dex." Satoshi said, remembering those inventory machines that certain pet masters use in an ancient game. (Pokedex'es)

"Thank you, Satoshi, henceforth I will be called Dex."

The computer flies away and vanishes into the distance.

Shiroi, who was watching the whole thing, couldn't understand what was going on. She intently listened to the conversation between Satoshi and the mysterious flying computer but her questions remained unanswered. What was Satoshi's superpower? What was that computer? And why does it talk?

Nevertheless, she didn't ask Satoshi about anything because she knew that he will tell her about it in due time. And right now, there was no time to do so, or so that's what Shiroi assumed. But what she didn't know was that Satoshi also has no idea what his superpower was, and so he can't really explain anything to her.

Shiroi watched as Satoshi's hands danced in the air with a gracefulness of a broken robot. Satoshi isn't really a good dancer, and his ritual for activating his skill looked bland and horrible, to say the least. Shiroi suppressed her laughter since she could tell that Satoshi was trying to focus.

A few seconds later, a light blue flame danced around Satoshi's palms, getting larger and larger as time passed. Before they knew it, the flames were as big as a basketball, and there were two balls of flames, not just one.

With eyes that could kill, Satoshi focused on the lighter which he carefully placed on the ground. "Hah!" He exclaimed, releasing the flame from his hands and shooting it at the lighter. Shiroi was shocked, of course, since she thought that Satoshi had the superpower to control metal. And right now, she was seeing flames on his palms. Whatever it is he was going to do with the lighter is yet to be known.

But! To their surprise, the flame veered off course, dodging the lighter by a clean millimeter. The flame then turned around and headed towards Satoshi, who dodged it as well. At that moment, he thought that maybe he would transform into a hideous monster had the flame touched him, but nothing happened, to his relief.

The flame circled around Satoshi before finding its next target— a white cat, who was strolling around without a care in the world. It was even holding its head up as if it was looking down on both Satoshi and Shiroi. What a prideful little cat.

"No!" Satoshi exclaimed as he closed his eyes, the last thing he saw was the flame devouring the cat. His flame worked on objects before, but now, it touched an innocent cat. Would it die and turn into a useless object? Would it turn into a weapon just like his nailgun? Would it become a sentient machine? Satoshi could only wonder. He couldn't bear the thought of killing such an innocent cat even though it was looking down on them,appearance-wise.

"Aaghh!" Shiroi suddenly screamed, making Satoshi open his eyes.

And what he saw next almost made him lose consciousness.