Schyyrtzi Takeover ch1
#3 of Schyyrtzi Takeover!
"Is everything prepared on your end?" A skinny silhouette on the opposite side of the table abruptly jerked up his head, as if it was sleeping in a lecture.
"Heh, rest assured everything has been readied," it said, looking back at the slightly larger shadow. The shadow could feel the silhouette smiling widely through the dark room, a smile that cut through the shadow's soul.
Somehow... the shadow knew the silhouette had its own plans, or it enjoyed its duties a little too much.
"Don't stray from your role Zien. Young as you are, you are vital to the success of our takeover." The rest of the shadows strewn across the round table turned their heads towards Zien. All had felt the once wide smile fade.
The smile shifted to a glare.
"I don't know where you're from JACKEL, but in America, 19 years of age counts as being an adult. And not to worry..." The smile had returned with a vengeance.
"Nothing will get in the way of the Schyyrtzi."
"Very well. Everyone, you are dismissed. You will be notified when the next stage is complete."
At those words the shadows vanished, awaiting the next order. JACKEL sighed, staring into the darkness.
"That Zien is a handful... no matter, the world will eventually tremble...at the hands of the Schyyrtzi."
"DAMMIT!"
"Damn yourself Ken! What the hell?!" Allen yelled across the room. Allen roughly rubbed the crust from his eyes and glanced at the clock at his bedside. 3:00 a.m. He growled, almost inhumanly.
"You know damn well I don't like mornings, especially early mornings! What's your deal?"
Oh yeah... I had a roommate. I tend to forget since he doesn't make noise. ANY noise. It's like he trained at ninja high school or something. Guess that's where he got his nickname from his parents and ex-girlfriend. Allen pried his lanky self from his bed and started walking towards the computer, where currently I was positioned. At 6'2" he was pretty tall, but he offset that with only 150 pounds on him. He should have hauled his mixed ass to the NBA, but he said that despite all the stereotypes he fit in, he said he couldn't jump or aim worth anything. My ass. His aim is spot on when he wants to pelt me with something...
Like maybe that clock of his.
"Sorry..."
"As you should be."
"... But the computer wouldn't let me save my paper, then a few seconds later it crashes on me!" I groaned while scratching the back of my head. I swear the world has it out for me sometimes.
Like this one time when I graduated from high school, my grandparents had promised they were going to take me to Japan. You could imagine my excitement. But the day they were going to pick me up to get to airport, they called saying their work schedule changed, and had to postpone. Ok... no big deal... I'll just wait. This is a privilege after all. So the next time it comes around, I was stoked. However... the hotel called and stated they no rooms available due to some system malfunction messing up their schedule. So another postpone happened. The next time; my grandpa's hip fractured. The odds of all of this were incredibly slim, but I held on to the hope of the next time working out. It would have, if my great grandma didn't pass away a few days prior. At that point, I took the hints the universe had OBVIOUSLY sent, and phoned my grandparents to cancel the whole trip.
Maybe this crash was another hint from whatever higher force was out there.
"That so? Well if I fix the computer and get your paper saved will you let me sleep?" Allen shot me an irritated look.
"Well... yeah... b-but I don't see..."
"The 'yeah' was all that was needed, dude. Move."
I did as instructed, and watched in awe as my roommate's fingers flew across the keyboard. Mashing the keys with such speed it was a blur. Within seconds the monitor was back up on my paper, every page recovered.
"Aaaand saved!" Allen proclaimed with a look of pride. But the pride was quickly diminished as tiredness took an imaginary hammer to it.
"Can I go to bed now?" he yawned.
"What? But... I... I thought..."
"Stop thinking. More sleeping, dude."
I watched him slowly slink back into bed. Confusion was plastered on my face so much that the look I had could qualify as a dictionary excerpt. How was this even possible? Every time this happened to me when I asked for help, they basically said the same thing: You're S.O.L.
As if sensing my frustration, he turned to look at me.
"If I explained it to you, you wouldn't get I word I said. Remember who is majoring in Computer Programming, dude. Now get some rest. You'll need it to stay awake later to turn in that report in the first place."
Damn ninja school. Now he can read my thoughts.
"Fine..." I said, defeated. "Good night."
"About time."
I chuckled, ruffling my brown hair as I threw my body onto my bed. My average sized body made the bed creak loudly, gaining a groan from Allen at the noise. Somehow, only he could get on and off these old things without making a sound. You know what? Tomorrow I'm going to ask where he went to school, and maybe steal a few textbooks so I know how he does what he does.
On second thought... stealing from a ninja school probably isn't a good idea. Or maybe even possible.
But there was something else on my mind. During Allen's progress with the computer I noticed something... off. There seemed to weird symbols that flashed across the screen faster than I could blink. I thought about asking Allen about it, maybe it was a glitch or virus, but being the computer wiz that he is and didn't say anything about it, I dismissed it as nothing.
Oh well. As long as the computer works and doesn't explode on me, I don't care.
But this one word kept flying through my head:
"Schyyrtzi"
"Schyyrtzi," I pondered.
"Huh? Shirtzee?" Allen looked up from his PSP. I rolled my eyes, walking while playing a video game on a side walk is asking for trouble.
"No, Schyyrtzi. SKEE-YURT-SHEE. I've had that word stuck in my head all day today."
"I'm pretty sure you made that word up, dude."
"Huh?"
"I mean it's not a word. More like a name. A name I might add, you made up."
"You may be right." Earlier today I looked it up on every search engine I could find. Every one came up with nothing. It obviously didn't exist, so why was the name put into my head?
Allen shifted his black cabby hat.
"Sounds foreign. Where didja hear it from?"
"No one. It came into mind after you fixed the computer, which by the way saved my ass." Allen stopped walking, eyes darting left and right, as if trying to analyze or compute something.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
Allen looked up, an intense glare on his face that made me jump back a little.
"No."
"No? Why?"
"Because now you are making stuff up by looking at crashed computer screens. Sure signs of insanity leading to a life as a hobo screaming 'The aliens are coming!' Very troublesome indeed," Allen said while faking concern.
My face flashed red.
"You ass!"
Allen flashed a grin.
"I know. But get a hold on reality there, dude. Don't wanna lose you to some fantasy!" he laughed. If he wanted to play like this, then...
"Look who's talking Mr. Yu-Gi-Oh! Might lose you to the turbo duels in that game huh?"
His grin never wavered.
"In order to have known that, you've needed to see or play it a few times..."
"B-but way back when it first started, when I was a kid!"
"...recently."
BAM!
He got me, and he knew it. "Turbo duels" was debuted in the newest season of the show. Which it in itself, hasn't been out that long.
Damn it all.
"Heheh... don't sweat it, dude. It's probably nothing. Just for-"
"Hmm? What's wrong thi-"
Instantly I knew exactly what was wrong. Something cold and hard pressed against my back followed by a clicking resonance. Anyone knew what that usually meant 3 things.
First, there was someone behind you. Obviously.
Second, that someone was armed with something.
Third, that something....
Was a gun.
SHIT!
"Heard you guys talkin' 'bout cartoons," the guy sneered. It sounded like a guy. Doesn't matter, my throat was so dry I couldn't speak, or beg for him to 'let us go' or 'don't kill us.'
Apparently, Allen didn't have that problem.
In fact, the direct opposite.
"You heard right my good man. Want in on the conversation?" I looked at him with desperation that for once, that his ninja training or whatever would save us.
"You could say that. How 'bout we continue over in that alley right there?"
"Nope, I'm good. I'd rather be where people could see me," he said shaking his head.
"That wasn't a suggestion," he barked. I felt the gun at my back leave. Wait... did that mean?
"Oh? And would one person with one gun do if we both decided to jump you? Hit us? Shoot us? You're out in the open, dude. A person will see you, and contact the police. Either way, you lose. So why don't you leave us alone before you end up regretting it, hmm?"
He was smiling! SMILING! Sometimes Allen can be really cool, even if he isn't the most athletic person and a complete computer geek.
"I'm not that stupid, fool. There are four other people waiting at the alley."
My eyes widened in terror. I don't know why I didn't notice it before, but there were four other people standing at various points, but all were surrounding the alley. All of them were looking straight at us. Crap! That advantage we had just went down the drain.
"So, shall we go then?"
"After you," Allen sighed. I turned to look at him to read his expression, to see if he finally gave up. And to my shock...
HE WAS STILL SMILING!
God have mercy, he has lost his marbles.
"Haha... aren't you cute. MOVE!"
"Ok, Ok, no need to shove!"
Gun poking our backs, we were forced into alley, followed by the four men observing the area. For a minute I thought, 'if we fight, maybe we can run back into the open and flee back to campus' but after seeing how big these guys were, that idea died. After a bit, the thugs formed a ring around us and the guy behind us shoved us in the center. I was trembling. This is how it was going to end, a bullet to the head and our possessions stolen, only having our bodies found a few days later, the thugs long gone by then. Man... it can't end like this!
I was still a virgin!
Just like last night, Allen looked at me and gave a weird stare. Did he just read my mind again? Man, that was supposed to be private! He rolled his eyes.
"Hey skinny shit!" the thug behind us sneered. Now that he wasn't behind me I got a good look at him. His skin was darker than most peoples, he wore a very loose tank top and pair of jeans, drooping no less. He couldn't fit the stereotype any more than what he is now.
"That's me," Allen chimed.
"Your smartass mouth is getting on my nerves. I'm going to pound your ass so hard you'll wish you didn't exist!"
"Eww gay! No thanks I'm not that into you."
"Oh, the chump thinks he's funny!" he bellowed, raising his arms for emphasis, gaining laughter from his friends.
"Maybe you should beat his funny streak outta him!" one of his friends added. By this time, all of his friend were laughing and taunting us.
'psst! Ken!' Allen whispered.
'yeah?'
'I'm going to create an opening straight to the mouth of the alley. When I say so, you run and get the police.'
'What?! I'm not leaving you here with them! You'll get killed!'
'Just do it! And don't hesitate. You've only one shot, before you get shot.'
'But-'
Allen shot me a soul piercing glare.
'Fine. But you better make it out alive.'
He smirked.
'I'm a ninja remember? I'll be fine.'
"Hey! What you two whispering about?" It was the one from before.
"I was just telling him how obnoxious you guys were."
"We obnoxious?" he stepped really close to Allen. Then without any warning, he swung at Allen!
This guy had obviously been in a few fights. His punch was lightning-quick and any normal person would have been caught off guard. But this was Allen the ninja here, I soon realized. He simply rose his arm and swatted the punch away with his wrist. The thug baffled by his punch being deflected, did not have time to react as Allen grabbed his other arm and twisted. HARD.
When the thug yelled in pain, two of his friends came charging in. The ninja threw the first guy at the other two, knocking all three onto the ground.
"Ken! Now!"
The other two thugs reacted faster than I did. Pulling back as far as he could for a punch, one of them ran at him at full speed. Seeing the obvious punch he ducked right underneath it, then elbowed the guy right in the stomach. Doubling over in pain the thug gasped for air, but didn't get a breath in before getting thrown onto the pile of bodies onto the floor.
The last guy pulled out a knife and began thrusting it at him, but missed each time as Allen jumped backwards to dodge. Having enough of this, he grabbed the thug's hand and twisted until he dropped the knife, and then harder until he pinned him to the ground, arm in the air. Then, Allen looked at me.
"What are you still doing here?! They're getting back up!"
I ran as fast as I could out of that alley, hearing noises of fighting behind.
The rest was a blur, it all happened so fast. I remember running for a mile or so before realizing I had a phone. I couldn't dial the phone because my hands were shaking so hard, and talking to the operator was even worse.
But I pulled through somehow...
And now I sit. Unable to help my friend and roommate. Hoping that he will return alive.
He'd better, he said he would.
Sharp tendrils that had speared the five dead bodies slowly retracted from the corpses and back into the body of its user. Sharp claws dripped in the blood of humans returned to "normal." He shifted back into a human regrettably, as he hated being constrained in this weak form. The bloody alien reached into his pocket and fished out his phone, and starting dialing. He always waited a bit before answering, which irritated the alien more than he already was.
"Zien? Why have you contacted me? Are the humans aware of your role?"
Zien looked at the corpses and scoffed.
"No, they are still in the dark. But you and I are going you have a talk JACKEL. It involves you, me, and a certain human I've come in contact with."