Chapter 1 - Rivals

Rivals

        It was only a few weeks ago that Sye had found out something strange about himself. He was psychic, it turns out, but he didn’t feel different at all. While on a mission with his friend, a few… experiments… confirmed his strangeness. Nothing really unusual had happened since, and he and his said friend were just lazing around at this point.

        “Uuugh, I’m so bored!” moaned Sye, who was sitting on the couch in he and his roommate’s basement. It wasn’t an ordinary basement though. Long corridors stretched throughout the downstairs, leading to several different rooms, most of them with several different purposes. The most important room, in its professional name, was the Interface Room, which Sye informally called “The Computer Room“. It was the room where Sye and his roommate always seemed to be. In the large room was a giant computer, along with many other complicated machinery and a lounge area in a corner, where Sye was sitting.

        “Go do something then…” muttered Professor Commun, Sye’s bittersweet roommate. He was a man of science, you could say. He wore a long, red lab coat and orange goggles on his head, which he only used while working. His mouth was never seen, and instead covered by the large collar on his lab coat. His hair was black with sideburns, but not the kind that were very unpleasant looking. He was working on something, like usual, so he was unhappy of Sye’s interruption. He was always very short-tempered that way.

        Sye stood up from the worn couch and stretched. He wore only black and green, and his mouth was always covered, like Commun’s, but with a black cloth instead. This hid a horrid scar on his face. He dressed like a ninja, but he wasn’t one and didn’t ever intend to be. “Why don’t we go on a mission?” he asked with an innocent face. “We’ve hardly done anything in weeks, and I’ve practically done all there is to do down here.” He walked over to see what Commun was working on.

        “Sye… Please, I’m trying to actually get something done. Unlike some people around here…” replied Commun with a bit of a sneer. His look was as serious as his work.

        “Well, if we were on, say, a mission, I’d have something to do now, wouldn’t I?” replied Sye sarcastically.

        “Well, since I already know you won’t stop bugging me until we do, I’ll just look one up now…” sighed Commun.

        With that, he strolled over to the giant computer and brought up a website that listed missions for hire. Finally, Sye picked one to his liking and pointed to it.
“That one. The one titled ’I Need Help Retrieving Something’.” Sye read.
        Commun then clicked it, and they both found that it was a job to retrieve a heavily-guarded stolen object for someone. Sye’s face lit up. He loved action, and the words “heavily-guarded” would mean he’d get a taste of some. He took off right away to get his sword, while Commun packed anything remotely useful to bring along with him. When they were done getting ready, they headed out the door to get down to business. It took a while to get to their destination, but there wasn’t much danger on the way. Sye figured all the good action would be saved for later.

        At last they arrived, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet. It was quiet, aside from the usual sounds of nature. Whe they finally reached the very entrance of the building, they noticed guards knocked out and lying on the floor. Seeing this, Sye’s excited mood faded into disappointment, rage, and a bit of confusion. He knew something wasn’t right. It was too quiet. Someone had gotten here first. But who?

        Suddenly the doors flung open, revealing an unknown duo, one girl and one boy, who flew by with a crystal orb in each hand. Guards followed them, but Sye slashed them with his sword before they could progress any farther. They fell over, like their comrades, and were no longer a problem. Sye turned to the newcomers, who had stopped in their tracks after noticing them.

        “Hey!” yelled Sye “This mission was ours!” he stomped like a toddler throwing a tantrum, while the couple stood there with looks of disbelief on their faces.

        “Who’re you?” asked Commun, who seemed much more leveled than Sye at the moment.

        The two unknowns looked at Commun with grins upon their faces. The male strode up to Sye and Commun, looking Sye directly in the face competitively.

        “Well, well, well… Looks like we’ve got ourselves some competition, Linda.” The boy said to his partner. She stood next to him, smirking slightly, then it faded.

        “Let’s just go, Ren.” said Linda, her hand on her partner’s shoulder. Like Commun, she was obviously more calm about the situation.

        “Hmph. Fine then.” He began to take off, and uttered out to the opposing team before fading into the distance “Keep in touch!”

        Sye and Commun fell silent and watched as they sped into the distance. The area became silent as before, until Sye couldn’t stand it any more and broke it with his frustration. “Urgh!” He kicked the now useless building as Commun watched silently. “I can’t believe this! We get our first mission in so long, then Speed Racer there comes flying in with his girlfriend in and out with what WE needed!”

        “So much for breaking your boredom…” muttered Commun. He began to walk down the long steps of the building.

        “Well you’re a real mood lifter!” Sye said in a sarcastic but very angry tone. Within that very moment, a nearby plant suddenly burst into an explosion of green flames. “Wha… What the?!” now Sye was as confused as ever.

        Commun swiftly turned to the burning plant. “Spontaneous combustion? But how…?” then he remembered that Sye wasn’t your ordinary partner in crime. “Did… you do that?”

        Sye had forgotten too. “I… I dunno…” He paused, then looked at another nearby plant, thinking hard. A few seconds later, the plant suffered the same fate as its neighbor. “Whoa! Cool…” Sye grinned.

        “Hmm… Impressive… We’d better go see Professor Genova. He’ll know more about this than we sure do.” Commun continued down the stairs, followed by Sye. Off they went to Genova’s lab. He was the scientist who had discovered that Sye was psychic in the first place. Though he was a good resource and help, he was very… obsessive at times.

        Our team arrived at the lab, and Sye displayed his newfound power to their psychic-obsessed friend. His face lit up at the sight of it.

        “Amazing!” he cried. “I do believe I’ve heard of this power before. If I remember correctly, it’s called ’Pyrokinesis’.”

        “Pyrokawah?” Sye was confused again.

        “Pyrokinesis. The prefix Pyro- means fire, and the suffix -kinesis means movement. In other words, you can now set stuff on fire. Neat, eh? It’s stunning, really. You see-” Genova was cut off by Sye’s excitement.

        “Awesome! Fire powers! I can’t believe it! And I thought I would only be able to do something boring like telekinesis!” cried Sye.

        “Can you do that yet?!”

        “… No. P-please. Get out of my face. You’re creepin’ me out!”

        “R-right… sorry. Anyway, as I-” Out of nowhere, green flames started on Genova’s shoulder. “Very funny. All right, I’ll shut up.” he sighed and patted the fire out.

        “That’s it, Sye… “ said Commun suddenly, who had been as quiet as a schoolyard on a Sunday morning. “That’s all we need to get back at those little Speed Demons!”

        Sye looked at him for a minute, then realized he was right. “Com, you’re a genius. Maybe if we chose another errand from the same person we worked for today, we’ll run into them again!” he snickered. Their plan was now in action.

        And so they went along with their plan. As soon as they got to their new mission’s location, the speedy duo were there, and it seemed they were all expecting the very scene they were within.

        “If it isn’t the ninja and the silent science nerd!” yelled Ren from across the room.

        “Shut your mouth, Speed Racer!” Sye yelled right back. Commun and Lind a were as quiet as before, but their expressions said all that was needed. Ren reach out his hand, showing off the item they had already found: an elegant emerald necklace. Sye grinned and clenched his fists. After that, all that was needed was a snap of Sye’s fingers and Ren and Linda’s shoes were shrouded in that same green fire. The smell of burning rubber filled the air as the rivals struggled to move from their place, but they were stuck to the floor due to their melting shoes. Sye chuckled and sped over to take the necklace.

        “Thank you!” he smiled cheerfully and sped right off, dragging Commun along behind him. “That was too easy!”

        “I’m sure we’ll see them again…” said Commun, who was having trouble keeping up with Sye.

        “You’re such a mood killer…” mumbled Sye as they continued to run along.

        They had then met up with their employer who, surprisingly, allowed them to keep the necklace as a reward for the trouble they went through. The partners then hurried home, finally satisfied. Sye plopped down on the couch and gazed upon the new trinket, then setting it back on a nearby table. Commun returned to his work from before, and everything went back to normal again. Well, as far as normal goes for a psychic and a technological genius. Their little adventure was over, for now.

        Sye held the necklace in front of him one last time. “You think this is real?”

        Commun, without looking back, replied “Probably not. Hehehe…”



        

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