Strangers

Rylan couldn’t dodge the oncoming sword strike of the young assailant.

Damn!

But Chloe saw him coming.

“No!” she cried.

Leaping to defend her brother, Chloe opened her hands and intercepted the young attacker by blasting him with a pulse of energy from inside her palms.

“Aaaah!” cried the young attacker, hurtling backward and hitting the ground with a tumble.

Rylan glanced up at Chloe standing above him with her hands out protecting him. In her palms, fading pulses of amber light.

“Chloe...How’d you do that?” he asked her.

She stared at her palms.

“...I-I don’t know.”

Rylan stayed calm and lifted himself off the ground, and to his surprise he found the attacker and his female partner no longer hostile.

“Maya-baby-sis, I think they’re grounders!” said the young male attacker gesturing at Rylan and Chloe and checking himself for injury.

“Yes, Leif, I can see that. That little brat can even control it, how interesting!” said the young female, named Maya, squinting at Chloe.

“Hey I ain't no brat!” cried Chloe.

“Yeah, don’t call my sister no brat, and get out of our yard!” shouted Rylan.

The strangers ignored him.

“I can’t believe we’re out fifty thousand creds on these junk sentinels!” said Maya, her attention back on the burning metal destroyed by Anya.

“Then we’ll salvage them!” said Leif.

“Salvage them? For what? We ain't got the juice to-”

Rylan watched stunned as the twin strangers argued, in his yard, for a full minute about their next move, before turning back to him and Chloe again.

“Hey, grounder, do you have a transportation unit?” yelled Maya to Rylan.

“It’s called a ‘car,’ dear sister~”

“Shut-up-Leif, I got this. Hey yeah, we need your ‘car’!” she yelled again.

Rylan’s eyes twitched with annoyance. Who were all these people threatening him, setting his yard on fire, and stealing his property?

“No! You can’t have our car! What the hell’s the matter with you?” He yelled back, shotgun in hand.

Maya and Leif reacted to Rylan with puzzled faces.

“Hunh? Maybe he has a death wish. Should I kill him baby-sis?” asked Leif flashing his sword.

“No, you can’t kill him. Him and that little girl are like the only grounders on this planet. We need them alive.”

“Yeah, but we need his car too!”

“Don’t worry he’ll give it to us!” said Maya with a grin.

Rylan stood his ground while the young stranger named Maya walked toward him with a hop in her step.

Wait, is she walking over here in a flirty way?

As Maya neared him her face took on the same smile as the woman named Anya, who stole his motorcycle. She whipped her brown hair back as if...

“Wait!" said Rylan pushing his hand up to the advancing Maya, "Are you going to try to charm my car out of me? I don't know, I'm sincerely asking?” he asked, sincerely.

Maya stopped walking and stared at Rylan, perplexed. She then stomped her foot in annoyance and muttered something evil before straightening herself again.

“Hello, my name is Maya, and the fate of your world rests on you giving me your transp- er- your car! ” she said smiling from ear to ear.

“Fate of the world, hunh?” Rylan rolled his eyes. “Too bad, no!”

“Yeah, and you called me a brat!” said Chloe.

“What?” squeaked Maya, stunned at their response.

“You heard her, you called her a brat, you should apologize!” said Rylan.

“Ya!” cried Chloe.

“Haha, yes, apologize dear sis!” laughed Leif in the yard.

“Shut-up, Leif!” growled Maya.

“Well, seems you're outnumbered!” said Rylan to Maya. Taking a righteous stance, shotgun in hand.

Maya, still defiant but betrayed by her brother Leif, “I’m gonna get you Leif!” forced a smile and apologized to Chloe.

“I’m sorry I called you a brat, little girl,” Maya grumbled and faced Rylan, “Now that that’s settled, I need your car, and I don-”

Rylan interrupted her with his hand up, cool and calm, “You can borrow our car, but I’ll need some collateral proving you’ll bring it ba-”

Maya’s sword flashed in Rylan’s face.

“Aaah!” he dropped back and pulled the trigger of his shotgun.

But nothing happened. Except a clashing sound, as Rylan’s entire shotgun barrel and half the chamber crumbled in pieces in front of him.

Wha- She sliced it?...When..How?

Rylan glanced at his severed shotgun parts on the ground. Lifting his head, he stared at her cruel scowl and...her pretty green eyes.

Oh....

“Rylan, give her the car,” said Chloe.

“Yeah Rylan....gimme the car,” mocked Maya, still scowling.

“Uh, the car, right...let me get the keys for you!” said Rylan, trembling.

Ten Minutes Later -_-

Rylan sat in the passenger seat of his car with a look on his face that read, “This is not happening to me,” as Maya and Leif held him hostage and took turns practicing how to drive his 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis, station wagon.

“This primitive transport device fascinates me!” shouted Maya racing the car down the road.

“And such a handsome vehicle too!” said Leif from the back seat, sitting with Chloe.

“Eh? You really think so? Haha you guys are funny!” laughed Chloe.

“Not funny, you earth people are highly cultured in your art!” said Maya admiring the old dashboard as she practiced skidding into the yard.

Rylan had enough.

“Stop the car!” he shouted.

Maya screeched the station wagon to a stop and everyone in the car stared at Rylan. Rylan exited and opened the back door and let Chloe out.

“But I’m having fun!” protested Chloe.

“I know, but you and I both have homework and I have to cook. So go on in the house and get started!”

“Aww!” she cried.

“Aw nothin, go on!”

“Ok, bye Leif, bye Maya!” smiled Chloe, waving goodbye.

“Bye Chloe!” yelled the twins from the car.

Rylan watched Chloe run in the house before turning back to the twins. From outside the driver’s side door he spoke calmly.

“Ok, I heard your story...you guys are bounty hunters from another dimension..and that lady ‘Anya’ is the one you’re here to catch? Right?”

“Yes, and you and your sister are grounders, which means a ‘trans-dimensional gate’ cannot open without at least one of you nearby to ‘ground the signal’...and that means you and your sister are in danger grounder boy!” said Maya in the driver’s seat.

“Grounder? Oh..my name is Rylan.. or sometimes my sister calls me 'Rilly'..”

“Eh? How wonderful! I wish my little sister showed me the same reverence. Hmph! I envy you Rylan-Rilly!” said Leif from the back seat, in a poetic manner.

Maya didn’t skip a beat, “Well, whatever your name is, I told you I’ll bring this transport vehicle-”

“Sis, it’s a car-”

“Dammit Leif, that’s why I don’t revere you cause you’re mean to me!” she pouted at her brother in the back then faced Rylan, “See what I have to go through? Now, I don’t have time for you anymore, Rylan-Rilly!"

“Eh? No, no, my name is Rylan. Rilly is a nickname-”

“Whatever! As soon as we catch Anya we’ll bring your car back here because the trans-gate will only open here,” said Maya.

After all he’d seen in the past few hours Rylan was open to believing anything. But the strange teenaged girl named Maya, saying she would ‘capture’ that super bad woman Anya...

...and bring her back..... in the 86 Mercury station wagon..

“Pffft hahaa!” Rylan clutched his stomach and keeled over laughing.

“Eh? What’s so funny?” asked Maya.

“Heh Heh, nothing...you guys go do whatever it is you need to do. If you don’t bring the car back I’ll just report it stolen….so yeah...good luck catching Anya or whatever...just, you know, go away!”

Rylan turned and walked to his house asking himself the million dollar question.

Who did me and Chloe piss off in the universe to deserve all this?

Meanwhile, in the Mercury Station Wagon

Maya watched Rylan walk away as Leif climbed in the front seat.

“Sis, I don’t think he believes in us!” said Leif.

“He’d better believe in us, if he knows what’s good for him, hmph!” pouted Maya.

With that she screeched the tires and peeled off in the ‘stolen-yet-borrowed’ Mercury station wagon.

The mission: Capture Anya. Dead or alive.

The Next Morning

“Damn, I’m exhausted,” muttered Rylan at his desk in homeroom. He had five minutes to close his eyes before the bell rang and class began.

He drifted in and out of sleep remembering what happened after the twins took his car. He recalled walking in the house and finding Chloe snoozing in her room and then him going to his own room, and passing out.

“Yo Bro, I didn’t see your bike in the parking lot,” said Rylan’s friend Carlos, who sat next to him in homeroom.

“Oh, I got a ride from a neighbor.”

“What do you mean bro? Your nearest neighbor’s three miles away. What happened to your bike?”

“It’s a long story, don’t worry about it.” Then Rylan remembered and opened his eyes, “Carlos, give me a ride to pick up my sister later?” he asked.

“Ha, eat shit and die bro, I got football practice today!” laughed Carlos.

“Man, what good are you then?”

Rylan closed his eyes and dozed off while the rest of the homeroom students arrived. His mind drifted to yesterday’s events. From Anya fighting those 'flying barrel' things to Maya and Leif shooting out of the floating orb called,

An Amber Rift. That's what that girl Maya called that trans-dimensional gate.

Rylan clenched his fist with his head on his desk. When he remembered the amber colored gate a phantom energy coursed through him.

That energy..it takes a lot out of you...that’s why I’m so sleepy..

When the bell rang Rylan kept his eyes closed, and drifted. The homeroom teacher nagged the class to settle down, and they did more than that. They shut up.

The silence snapped Rylan awake to a new reality.

“Eh? No no! What the fu-”

“Hush, Rylan!” shouted the homeroom teacher who continued her announcement.

“Class this is Maya and Leif and they’re, umm, I’m sorry are you exchange students or transfer students?”

Maya stepped forward in her brand new school uniform. A navy blue blazer, white top, grey plaid skirt, bangs and twin tails.

“Good question professor!” she beamed.

“Professor? Oh no, you can call me Miss-”

“-Thank you Miss, I’ll do that!” said Maya, cutting off the teacher. “Now, as I was saying my brother and I are exchange students from the great nation of California!”

The class gaped at her and erupted in laughter, with a chorus of rowdy boys adoring the snappy green eyed new girl.

“Bro she’s fiery cute, I’m a get her number!” said Carlos, slapping Rylan’s arm.

Rylan didn’t care, he hid his face in the desk. He didn’t want to talk to~

“Rylan, why are you hiding?” asked Leif. “Class, my name is Leif Alexander and I enjoy the pop music that you all listen too, and that’s my friend Rylan-Rilly!”

The whole class stared at Rylan, who turned blue.

Oh no..

Rylan saw his whole social life vanish before his eyes, but the bad girls in the class rescued him by screaming for Leif.

“Aaaah! That new boy’s so fucking gorgeous, yaaaa!”

“Class stop this rude behavior!” cried the teacher.

Rylan sank in his desk until Carlos tapped him on the shoulder, “Bro, you know that new guy?”

“Uh...kind of.”

“Yeah? He looks like he works out bro, I bet he plays football!” said Carlos admiring Leif’s nice build.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“And his twin sister’s a baby doll bro! Hey, you think she got a man?” asked Carlos while staring at Maya.

Rylan peeked up at Maya, still talking in front of the class.

“Eh? A girl with an attitude like that? Who can say?” he answered.

“Nah bro, I like girls like that, she fiery,” laughed Carlos.

“Heh, you would.”

Rylan sank deeper into his desk as Leif took an empty seat near the screaming girls.

“Aaaah!” they screamed, while Maya took the seat behind Rylan and Carlos.

"Bro, she’s sitting behind us!” whispered Carlos to Rylan.

Rylan rolled his eyes, “Then make your move Romeo.”

“Tch! Watch this bro!” Carlos turned to greet Maya, “Hello, my name is-”

“Not now!” said Maya cutting Carlos off.

“But-”

“And turn around too, I need to have a private conversation with Rylan-Rilly!”

“Uh..Ok!” said Carlos, facing forward.

Rylan ignored Maya and stared at the chalkboard in the front of the classroom while she pulled her chair close behind him and whispered.

“Rylan, I bet you’re wondering why we’re in your school?”

“Actually, I don't care.”

“Well you better care, grounder! Because there’s a change in plans and Leif and I may be here for about two weeks-”

Rylan spun around.

“Two weeks? Why? I thought you were going to catch that Anya person last night and bring her back to your world...you know..last night!” he whispered.

“Right, it’s too complicated to explain but let’s just say that gate in your yard is out of gas, and needs two weeks to refill before it can open again.”

“Are you kidding me? So what are you guys going to do for two weeks?”

“Be good students, and protect you and your sister. What else did you think we’d do?”

“..Ah..”

Taking all of this in Rylan composed himself.

“Maya, you went looking for Anya last night, did you find her?” he asked.

“We lost track of her. But she won’t stray too far away from the gate or you and your sister. Don’t worry she’ll pop up before that gate’s ready to open, and I’ll have something for her, hee hee.”

“Yeah you’re laughing, but that woman seemed... really dangerous. Can you stop her?”

Maya perked her head up with an evil smile, “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

proofread by Chiisutofupuru