Chapter Text
Syzoth's eyes quiver as they open to the bright light of the sun beaming its rays into his eyes. As he began to sit up he could feel immense discomfort in his lower back, he pushed his hands against his back to hear and feel a satisfying crack. He began to stand up but as he did he staggered, making him lose his footing. This ended with him falling down on the hard roofing and rolling down the slanted roof until he hit the grass in the backyard.
He began to stand up with small pebble-like rocks sticking to his clothing, he looked up to the sliding glass door and attempted to open it. The door didn't budge however, he tried to pull harder, but continued to fail. He stopped trying to open it and tried to peek into the house, the curtain inside was open and allowed Syzoth to see inside. He saw nothing out of the ordinary until he looked up to see a circular device with the numbers 1-12 with two black thin rods, one short and one long. The short hand was pointed towards the 4 with the long one pointed at the 7. Syzoth had no idea what this meant so he sighs and walks away from the door.
He puts his hand in one of his pockets and pulls out the paper that Marco gave him yesterday. Upon looking at it he was surprised to see that he was able to read it, however he had no idea where the street name that was written on it was located. He jumped over the fence and onto the sidewalk. He looked at the paper trying his best to get an idea where this street was, as he did, he felt as if something or someone was behind him. He turned around to see nothing, nonetheless he continued with caution.
While walking on the sidewalk he sees a man in a tank top and shorts with a headband and headphones jogging. Hoping that the man might know where the dojo was he ran up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. As he did this he realized he had made a big mistake, realizing this he decided to run away from the man. As he did the man turned around and spoke in a calm manner. "Hey dude, where you going?"
Syzoth stopped running and turned around, he expected the man to scream about him being the Lizard Wizard, but they seemed blissfully unaware. Syzoth ran back over to him and spoke with slight exhaust in his voice. "Sorry I…thought I was being rude and decided to run away…yea."
The man gives a reassuring smile. "Don't sweat it man. Did ya need anything?" Syzoth took a deep breath and pulled out the piece of paper with the location of the dojo on it and showed it to the man. "I've been told to meet a friend here. Would you know where this location may be?"
The man looked at the paper and then looked back to Syzoth. "Ah, the Tang Soo Do dojo, it's at a strip mall three miles that way." He said as he pointed at Syzoth." Syzoth got out of the way of his finger as the man continued pointing.
"Is there anything else I can help ya with?" The man asked with a glowing smile, figuratively and literally. As Syzoth was blinded by the smile, he shakes his head. "Thank you kind sir, hope you enjoy your running!" The man gives a thumbs up as he continued to jog and Syzoth began to run in the direction that the man pointed too. As he walked away he felt like it was convenient for someone to help, perhaps too convenient. He stopped thinking about it however and continued going forward.
As he continued walking he saw a few people coming towards him, but as he looked closer they seemed distracted talking to each other. In an attempt to pass by without doing anything to alert them he pulled his beanie down as far as he could and began to look at the floor. As they began to pass him he heard one of them speak about him. "That dudes got some dang sandals and a beanie. They tryin to be breezy or toasty?"
Syzoth ignores them and continues forward now feeling self conscious about what he was wearing. As he continued walking he found himself in a familiar place: the homeless shelter. As he passed by it he began to see the other buildings that surrounded it and began to take notes to himself. The buildings around him were a bakery, antique shop, arcade, convenient store, and a boutique.
He continued on walking until he saw a long stretch of buildings all with different names and themes with a large parking lot and a sidewalk connecting them all together. Among these buildings was the one he was looking for: Tang So Doo Dojo. Happy to see it he quickly entered without any thought. As he did, he was quickly met with the gaze of Marco, a young kid with light skin, light brown hair, blue eyes, and brown freckles, as well as a man with tan skin, brown hair, brown eyes, and a thin black beard.
Marco had a white Gi, white headband, and a red belt. The kid had a white Gi, a black belt, white headband, and red gloves. The large tan man wore a sleeveless black Gi with an image of a dragon on it, a red stripe on one of his legs, a red belt, yellow earrings, a red headband, white shoes, white tape on his forearms, and a tattoo on his left arm with a Japanese character he didn't understand.
The kid looked at Syzoth. "Wait, isn't that the Lizard Wizard?" Marco looks over to the kid with a tired expression. "Yes Jeremy, yes that is." The man looks at him with a scared expression and gets on his knees. "Take anything you want just please don't hurt me or the kids!!!"
Marco looks at the man and puts his fingers on his face in a disappointed manner. "This was the guest I was talking about, were you even listening?" The man in the black gi looks over to Marco with a frightened expression on his face. "Don't you know who t-that is!?"
Marco nodded while the kid looked at him unimpressed despite the news about him. He goes over to a sweater hanging on the wall and pulls out a large wad of cash, walks over to Syzoth. "Take this and beat Marco up for me."
They pushed the money into his hands and walked over to a chair near the wall and sat down. Syzoth looked at the kid and then the money in his hands confused, he walked over to him and gently put it back in his hands. "I'm no mercenary, I'm just here for a friend."
Syzoth walked over to Marco. "My acquaintance, I wish to help you reclaim love!" Marco looks at him confused. "What the heck do you mean?" He crouched down to look him in the eye. "I learned that you used to be in a relationship with Star, and I wish to help you rekindle love!"
Marco cringed and shook his head upon hearing this. "Listen, that's sweet and all, but I don't want anything to do with her. How about you instead show Sensei Brantley how good of a fighter you are?" Syzoth looks over to the adult still on the floor in a pathetic display who he assumes is Sensei Brantley. "This man?"
Marco looks over to the man on the floor and then to Syzoth. "Yes." Syzoth looks over to Sensi Brantley, grabs him by his armpit, and slowly lifts him back on his feet. After doing so Sensi Brantley looks at him with fright. "H-how, I m-mean w-what can I d-do for you *gulp* sir?"
Syzoth looked at him cowering as he spoke and began to speak slowly and concisely. "I am here to kick butt, can you show me which ones I can kick?" He looks at Syzoth with surprise, why would he train a criminal, and why would he be interested in being trained anyway. As he pondered about this Marco began to vouch for Syzoth. "I know what you're thinking, but after some investigation we found that he can't use a gun to save his life, so it can't be him."
Syzoth really didn't know why Marco was trying to help him, but decided to play along. "Yea, I live in a cabin out of the city, and mostly fish my food. As well as coming here every so often to get other things." Sensei Brantley understands what he wants, but is still terrified by Syzoth. "K-Karate is n-not used to attack, o-only defend. B-But if y-you want t-to learn a s-style of karate I'll do it f-for the low low price of you n-not hurting me."
Syzoth didn't want to hurt him in the first place, but he had so much training that he didn't think he needed any. Sensei Brantley began to speak again. "T-The pamphlets on the w-wall have different s-styles of karate y-you can learn." Intrigued, Syzoth looked over to a small pile of pamphlets and picked up the one on top of the pile. He looked at the cover to see a picture of a crab on a plate and a logo for a seafood restaurant.
Syzoth began to think about the power and speed of a crab, as well as its defensiveness and brought the pamphlet over to Sensei Brantley who looked at the crab image and spoke with clear confusion in his voice. "Crab style? That's also not the-" Syzoth looks at him with sparkles in his eyes, feeling like that fighting style might help him defend people. "Yes, I would like to learn crab style!" As he did he realizes that he's being sidetracked and looks over to Marco. "Oh sorry, let's help your relationship."
Marco shook his head violently but Syzoth ignored it, picked him up, lifted him onto his shoulder, and ran out the dojo. After a couple of seconds passed Sensei Brantley wiped sweat from his forehead relieved that Syzoth was gone.
"Put me down!" Marco yelled as he was being carried over Syzoth's shoulder. Syzoth looked at him worried. "Don't yell, I don't want to get any…" Suddenly they hear a shriek from a distance, they look over to its source to see a man looking and pointing at them. As he did, another person spoke out. "The Lizard Wizard is stealing children! Somebody stop this!" Syzoth stops in his tracks and finishes his sentence with disappointment. "...attention."
As he stood there multiple people began to pull out their phones and rather began to record or call the police. Seeing this, Marco looked at him and spoke with worry in his voice. "Don't just stand there, put me down and run!" Feeling spooked and unsure what to do, Syzoth began to run as fast as he could without dropping Marco. As he ran, Marco could feel the wind violently rush into their face, before he could say anything, however a bug flew into his mouth, making him choke.
Syzoth ignored Marco's choking however and continued running. He looked behind him to see that he was very far ahead from everyone, seeing this he dipped into an alleyway and began to catch his breath. Marco got off of Syzoths shoulder and began to cough up the bug he swallowed. After coughing it up he looks over to Syzoth with anger in his eyes. "What the hell!? Why didn't you put me down!"
"Language!" Syzoth says trying to have the moral high ground. Marco looks towards him flabbergasted. "W-What!? Who are you, my parents?! This is insane, I should be allowed to curse in a time like this!" Syzoth tried to think of a reason for him not to curse, but began to realize that most people in his old world and some of the others worlds he went to cursed frequently. "I…you know what? Go ahead." Marco was surprised that Syzoth was seemingly allowing him to curse, so he got up and began to open his mouth. "ASSHO-"
Rafael and Angie pull into the driveway of their house tired and sore. As they exit the car and approach the door they look at eachother with soft smiles. "Well, it seems like today was exhausting." Rafael says, trying to lighten the mood. Angie looks at Rafael's eyes to notice large black bags underneath them. "Yea, at least we're finally back."
They unlock the front door and enter, upon entering the house they begin to turn on the lights. Angie walks into the hallway and flicks on the lights, as she finishes, she goes upstairs and opens the door to a room with a crib inside. She looks inside the crib to see Mariposa sleeping inside, she kisses her forehead gently and exits the room.
She goes towards another room and knocks on the door expecting a response. She waits for a moment but nothing happens, she opens the door to reveal that nobody was inside. She began to worry as she went downstairs to see Rafael pulling out frozen tamales from the freezer. She looked towards him and spoke with unease. "Marco's not here, do you think he's okay?"
Rafael looks at Angie with a soft expression. "Don't worry, maybe he's catching up with some friends. He's becoming an adult, it's only natural." Hearing his reassuring words, Angie began to calm down. "Yea you're right. I just hope he's safe." Rafael chuckles. "I wouldn't worry too much, I bet he's out there making responsible choices."
"DAMNT SHIT FUCK!" Marco yells into the sky feeling a huge wave of relief overcome him. He looks over towards Syzoth and speaks feeling relieved of most of his stress. "Wow! That felt so good! No wonder so many people curse!" Syzoth looks on at him with wide eyes, feeling slightly disturbed. "Umm. That was a lot of not very nice words, I didn't even know what some of those words were. Like that c word. Where did you even learn them?"
"Internet." Marco says without hesitation. Upon hearing this Syzoth looks at him confused, but before he could say anything they hear the crowd of people getting close. Syzoth looks at Marco with embarrassment. "Perhaps we stayed here too long." Realizing that they were trapped in a blocked alleyway the two of them began to panic.
Syzoth looked at the three walls that surrounded them and realized he could simply climb them. He looked back towards Marco and spoke with a demanding tone. "Get on my back!"
Scared and feeling like he knew what he was doing, Marco complied and got on Syzoth's back. Syzoth ran towards the wall on his left and began to climb the wall, as he did the people that were after him entered the alleyway to see him halfway up the wall. "He's using binding magic to keep the kid attached to him!" Yelled a woman in the crowd.
A couple of people in the crowd throw various objects at them with most of them missing. A couple of objects however, including an empty soda can, a plastic spoon, and a large bag of trash hit Marco. After the trash bag hits Marco in the face, the two of them finally reach the roof. The two of them look around on the roof to see a door, as they look at the door they realize they can't be up there for very long.
Syzoth looked at the other rooftops to the left and right of them and began to run to his right. "What are-" Marco says as Syzoth runs over and attempts to jump over to the other roof. As the two of them were in the air, Marco yelled. "-YOU DOING!!!"
As they leap towards the other rooftop they could feel the rushing wind in their faces. Marco looked beneath them to see a twenty foot drop and a crowd of hysterical people beneath them. Marco felt adrenaline rush through his veins and began to get a large smile on his face, he missed this.
As they landed onto the other rooftop, Syzoth continued to run, beginning to feel tired from a combination of over-exhausting and being encumbered from Marco being on his back. Despite this he continued forward, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with a gleeful Marco on his back.
"I FEEL SO ALIVE!" Marco yelled as adrenaline continued to rush through his veins and the breeze hit his face. "He's using hypnosis too! That scoundrel!" Says someone in the crowd as they hear Marco yell. After some more roof hopping, Marco began to realize that there were not many more buildings left for them to roof from.
"We're running out of buildings! Hey, could you possibly do a flip at the last one?" Syzoth looked at him concerned. "What!?" Marco looked at him with a big grin on his face. "DO. A. FLIP!" Syzoth begins to lose his footing, as he staggered along he could feel his body begin to ache. Despite this Marco continued hammering him to do a flip.
As they reach the last building Syzoth could feel the pressure of his body and Marco's words fall on him. He took a deep breath and jumped off the rooftop going as high as he could muster. He began to lean forward, and the weight of Marco allowed him to flip multiple times mid-air. As he flipped Marco continued feeling adrenaline rush through him. As the two of them flipped through the air with the wind hitting their faces, Marco began to feel alive while Syzoth was filled with dread.
His sense of wonder began to shift into panic however as Syzoth continued spinning as they began to fall towards the ground. The two of them hit the ground with Syzoth falling flat on his face while Marco tucked and rolled. As the two of them began to get up, they looked up towards where the crowd was coming from to see nothing but a plastic bag being carried by the breeze.
Seeing that there was no sight of the crowd, the two of them got up and brushed themselves off. Marco looks over to Syzoth with a wide smile on his face. "That. Was. AWESOME! Did you do gymnastics before you went to live in the woods?"
"Sure, now I think we should get you home. Hopefully Rafael and Angie are there-" Syzoth then focuses on Marco's head as a small streak of crimson blood leaked from the side of his forehead. "Hey kid, you're bleeding."
Marco looked at him shocked as he began to investigate his body, trying to find the source of the blood. He then feels his forehead and feels his own blood, he then looks at it and begins to feel cautious. Syzoth looks at him confused. "What? Are you okay, have you seen blood before?"
Marco looks at him with fear in his eyes. "Y-Yea, of c-course I h-have. T-This is nothing." Syzoth could see through Marco's attempt to act tough, but before he could bring it up they heard the crowd of people coming closer. The two of them look around for a place to hide until Marco points towards two large, open, trash cans. Without a second thought, they throw themselves into the trash cans with Syzoth being slightly too tall to fit inside entirely.
They stayed inside for a few seconds until they began to hear the crowd of people walking near them. Luckily nobody checked the trash cans, leaving the two of them safe for a moment. As they exit the trash cans, Marco smelled himself and gagged from his now horrid stench while Syzoth seemed indifferent to his own.
The two of them stayed there in silence, allowing themselves to process what had just happened as well as a moment of peace. After a minute of allowing themselves to relax, Marco looks over to Syzoth. "That was amazing! I thought you were only good at fighting."
"There is a lot you don't know about me. Come on, let's get you home." Syzoth says, sounding exhausted. As two of them exit the trash cans, Syzoth turns invisible and begins to walk back to the Diaz house with Marco. As they did the two of them saw the man that helped Syzoth walk past them. Curious Marco took a quick glance at him, only to see them looking in his direction with a smirk on his face. Feeling uncomfortable, Marco looked away and continued walking with the still invisible Syzoth walked beside him.
Marco looked around him to see that there was nobody around, upon realizing this he looked over to Syzoth and spoke with curiosity in his voice. "You know, I'm beginning to realize there is a lot more to you than I thought. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think you were normal in any way when we met. But seeing you turn invisible, climbing up that wall, and all that acrobatic stuff you did, I don't think I've ever seen a monster with those abilities, Or any abilities at all!"
The two of them keep walking until they finally reach the Diaz household. Marco opened the front door and entered his house, as he did he saw Angie and Rafael in the kitchen making dinner, the smell of chicken quesadillas filling the air. Syzoth was about to enter, but before he did, he remembered that Rafael doesn't want him near their house. Which was curious because he was there yesterday and Rafael and Angie didn't seem to mind.
This question began to rumble in his mind as Marco looked over to him and waved goodbye. Syzoth was about to say something but before he could Marco closed the door, leaving him outside. He began to feel slightly chilly as he stood outside on the Daiz's doorstep, making himself visible once again. Not knowing what to do, he walked to his left to see a window that peered into the kitchen. Curious, he looked through it to see Rafael and Angie in the kitchen talking to each other, Syzoth could not hear what the two of them were discussing however.
As he looked on he felt as if there was a hole in his heart, a hole that no matter how hard he tried, would never be filled. As he looked on he saw Rafael begin to turn towards the window, realizing this, Syzoth ducked down to avoid being seen. As he ducked down he heard the window being opened, as it opened he could vaguely hear everyone and smell the alluring scent of the chicken quesadillas from the kitchen.
"You've been out for so long Marco, you had us both worried!" Rafael said with relief in his voice as he turned away from the stove. Marco looked at his father with a slight smile. "Don't worry dad, I'm basically an adult now, I can handle myself out there." Angie looks over to him with a smile on her face. "Well mister adult, how about you set the table and check on Mariposa?" Marco looks at her slightly disappointed, as if he saw it coming. "Yes mom."
As this happened, Syzoth continued to look on being barely able to listen in on them talking. Feeling as if he were not welcome, he began to walk away from the Diaz house. As he began to walk away, Rafael looked out the window to see him walking away from his house. Rafael looked at him with confusion for a second before looking behind him at Angie with concern.
"Honey." Rafael says with concern in his voice. "Yea, do you need help?" Angie asks as she pulls out plates from a cabinet. "Do you know why we let that criminal back in the house?" Angie opens her mouth to give an explanation, but before she could get a single word out, she realized that there was no good explanation. "I. I don't know. Why did we let him in?"
As they began to ponder on what they could have possibly led them to allow him back in. As they did, Syzoth continued walking on the sidewalk, not knowing what to do next. His mind began to fill with potential solutions and problems with said solutions. As he did, red and blue blaring lights began to get closer and closer. He looked at the lights to see them attached to a black and white car with an image of a badge on both sides. Curious, he stopped walking and began to look at the vehicle.
The vehicle began to drive by him at a slow speed until they began to drive near the sidewalk. The car then parked near him, after it did the driver door opened to reveal a cop who began to shake upon seeing him. "Y-You! Put your hands up!"
Syzoth looks towards the cop unamused. "Look. I'm not in the mood for any of this. So just leave me alone." As he tried to walk away from the cop however, he heard the sound of a handgun being cocked back. He looks behind him to see the cop shaking nervously with a handgun in his hand. "I-I don't want to shoot you. Just put your hands up."
Syzoth began to doubt that this cop had enough confidence to actually fire the gun at him. Feeling cautious however, he began to walk towards the cop and began to vibrate. Seeing a large, strong, and intimidating criminal walk towards him strangely, the cop closed their eyes and pulled the trigger.
As the trigger was pulled however, the world around Syzoth began to slow down. He looked at the bullet slowly heading towards him and side-stepped, avoiding it completely. He walked towards the seemingly frozen cop and began to examine their scared expression and slumped posture. As he did, he heard the voice in his head speak in his head again. "Do it." He was confused what the voice meant until he looked down to his hand moving, without him doing anything.
The voice then spoke again. "Do it." His hand then began to form a fist without Syzoth doing anything. "No." He heard another strange voice say. Syzoth tried to say something, but he couldn't open his mouth before the voice spoke once more. "Do it." His arm began to lift slightly. "No." The other voice said, making his arm stop rising.
Syzoth hoped that this would end and that he would gain back control of his right arm. As he hoped however, the two voices began to get sporadic. "DoitNoDoitNoDoitNoDoitNoDoitNoDoitNoDoitNow…" the two voices in his head then get interrupted by a third that grunts deeply making Syzoth cock his arm back in a punching position. As his arm cocked back, he tried using his left arm to put it back to his side, but his arm wasn't budgeting. Suddenly the third voice grunts loudly in his mind, driving his fist towards the cops face with ferocity that he hasn't seen before.
As his fist collided with the cop, his fist continued to push into him, even as Syzoth tried to pull it back. As he tried, he looked on in horror as his fist forced itself through the cop's face, his fist feeling the bloody, firm yet squishy insides of the cop's head. After the entirety of his hand up to his forearm was through the cop's head, he regained control of his right arm. Upon gaining control he pulls his arm out of their skull, as well as stops vibrating, making him see the world in normal speed again.
His hand began to shake as he looked upon it with fear of what it had done seemingly out of nowhere. As he did, a pink orb rose from the fresh corpse that was once the cop and began to make its way towards him. Not wanting to gain another soul, Syzoth began to back away from it. As he did, the orb started to float towards him slowly. As he began to step away quicker, the orb would begin to approach him quicker as well. Not sure what to do, he began to go into a full sprint away from the orb, it simply followed at the same pace.
As he ran, Rafael and Angie looked out the window with caution. “Was that a gunshot!?” Rafael said with worry. “We are in Los Angeles dad, what else would you expect?” Marco said, acting nonchalantly as he sat on the couch. After hearing Marco say something pretty pessimistic, Angie looked towards him and spoke with worry. “Marco, why would you say something like that? Ever since you came home you've been quiet. Did something happen today?”
Marco looks at her and tries to fake a smile. “What? No. I'm doing fine, mom.” He said as he put his hands behind his head trying to act cool. Hearing him say this, Angie turned back to a spooked Rafael and began to sooth his worries. As she did, Marco felt his head to feel the bruise from when he fell from the roof.
Syzoth continued to run away from the pink orb with his arm still quaking, as he looked around him, he realized he ran back into the wilderness from where he entered this world. He even saw the large tree that he fell from, and decided to run there for a sense of familiarity. As he approached the tree however he failed to see the roots of it protruding through the dirt. As he ran, his left foot hit one of these roots, causing him to fall on his face. With this sudden stop in his momentum, the orb catches up and goes into him.
He gets up and looks behind him to see that the orb is gone. As he began to think of the worst case scenario if the orb went into him, his chest began to give a dim, pink glow. “What the?” Suddenly he began to feel a sharp pain in his chest as the pink glow began to get brighter.
He clenched his chest, but as he did he could feel something crawling around in him. Suddenly a small hand bursts through his chest, along with a hand that was much larger than his. He shut his eyes as the pain coursed through him, he then fell to the ground and began to convulse as the hands began to exit his body.
After a while he felt the pain subside and finally opened his eyes to see the starry night sky. He began to sit up, as he did he saw a large shadowy figure stand above him. As his eyes adjusted to the light, the shadowy figure became more visible. They wore large, brown, and worn out sandals with shin guards, fingerless cloth gloves with forearm armor with various sizes of sharp metal on them, a loincloth held by a large tight leather belt that covered most of his stomach, metal shoulder pads, and a crimson red hood with worn out rope with a single hole that hid almost all of its face except for a single eye.
He looked at this strange person with fear, he then began to hear a frantic high pitched voice coming from the direction of the large person, but he didn't see any movement beneath the hood. “We free! We break bones now!” Suddenly a smaller person jumps on the large person's shoulders. They had a brass helmet with two large brass rods on each side, with white cloth covering the top of it, forearm guards with two long blades on each guard, a thick horizontal leather strip across their chest with a slightly slimmer leather strip going vertically down the middle of it. They also had cloth from their knees to their heel, with three armor plates on each leg, their feet were bare with multiple faded scars throughout their body with a leather belt and faded leather undergarment.
Syzoth looked at them with a sense of familiarity until the smaller person began to speak with a frantic and high pitched voice. “Ah! Scaley skinny, it been too long!” The large person then simply grunted and nodded, Syzoth looked at the two of them and immediately realized who they were.
“Ferra?! Torr?!” Ferra looked down to Torr slightly confused as they gazed upon the unfamiliar land around them. “Torr, this place look weird, we look weird!” Torr slowly looked around and at his hand, he looked up to Ferra, and nodded once more. “Scaley skinny, where are we?”
Syzoth gulped, the hulking strength of Torr and insanity of Ferra would definitely be trouble. As the two of them looked at Syzoth waiting for an answer, he only had one thought going through his mind.
*Oh fuck. *