Perspective Shift: Marty

Marty woke up really early, and met up with Spencer on the dorm building first floor. Spencer was looking around frantically for Marty, and when he found him he grabbed onto him. “Marty, we are LATE! The sports club meeting started 10 whole minutes ago! What took you so long?” Marty was honest, “I was shitting.” “I shouldn’t have waited for you.” Marty asked him, “Where even is this meeting?” Spencer looked at a paper he had, “Building B, room B-214. I heard it used to be one of the staff rooms.” Marty gestured his hand out, “Lead the way.” As they were walking, Spencer started talking about something. “You know, I’ve been talking to this trainer. He says he can get me in great shape to play football. I’ll be meeting him today after school. You should come too, just to speak with him about a workout plan for you.” Marty said, “I’ll try…” As they entered the room, they saw that it was packed with people. It was a big room though. Some were exercising with treadmills and dumbbells in the corner, but most were surrounding a table in the middle. Marty and Spencer passed through the crowd, “Excuse me, excuse me,” They went. As they reached the middle, they saw two people arm wrestling. The first was a boy with green eyes and a black ponytail. This student was Glad Hook. The second was a girl with curly brown hair and bright orange eyes. This was the girl who was sleeping in the hill at the mountain. Watching the two of them was the referee, Beck Lottagrand. As they were arm wrestling, Glad was breathing heavily as he tried to win. However he lost. Beck raised the girl’s hand up, and announced, “Beverley Minibang wins once again! That is…23-0. Anyone thinks they can finally knock her off?” Glad got up, and walked away angrily. He grumbled, “How in the hell could a woman beat me…” Spencer asked, “Um…I’m not really good with my arms but I can try.” Beck told him, “Alright, come sit.” As he sat down, Beverley asked, “Will you use your strong hand or weak hand?” Spencer asked, “Well, what’s your strong hand?” She answered, “I’m ambidextrous.” Spencer said, “Well I think it’s only fair if I wrestle with my strong hand then.” He put his right hand on the table, and so did Beverley. Beck held his hands over both of them, and said, “3…2…1…GO!” They started wrestling, and Spencer lost straight away. Beck held Beverley’s hand up, “Beverley Minibang wins once again! That’s 24-0.” Marty stepped in, “I gotta see what this is all about.” Spencer got up and back into the crowd, while Marty sat in the seat. Beverley asked him, “Will you use your strong hand or weak hand?” Marty told her, “I’m ambidextrous as well.” Beverley chuckled, “That’s fun.” She put her hand on the table, and so did Marty. Beck held their hands and counted, “3…2…1…GO!” It was a close battle. Marty’s hand almost touched the table, then Beverley’s hand, and then back to Marty. This went on for a while, until finally. “Thud!” Marty won. Marty stood up with his hands high, “Woohoo, alright,” he went. The crowd cheered for him. Beck said, “The winner is Marty Morpho! Beverley’s streak is now 24-1!” Beverley got up, and grinned, “That was a good battle.” She shook Marty’s hand, and dug into her pockets. She gave him a ten dollar bill. He took it confused, “Huh? Why’d you give me this?” She told him, “I’m just thanking you for giving me a challenge. However, there is a greater challenge that I’ll bet you can’t beat.” The crowd got silent. Marty asked, “Oh yeah? What kind of challenge is it?” She stretched her hands upwards, “Beat me in an arm wrestle…while I’m using my signature.” Beck gasped. Marty almost agreed, “Okay, I’ll be-” But Spencer cut him off, and whispered to him, “Ask her what her signature is first.” Marty followed Spencer’s advice, “Beverley, what even is your signature?” Beverley’s right arm made a slight “Kyuuuuu” sound, and turned red. She told Marty, “It’s name is Beat It, and it makes my right arm super powerful.” Marty thought about it, and Spencer asked her, “How powerful does it make your right arm?” Beverley told him, “Well for you, I could probably break your arm with a few of my fingers.” The crowd started murmuring. Marty told her, “Give me a week after today. I’ll bet 10 dollars.” Beverley dared, “20 dollars.” Marty raised it, “50.” Beverley went higher, “100.” Marty was about to raise, but then said, “I think 100 is fine with me.” She chuckled, “Then have we got a deal?” She held her hand out. Marty grabbed it and shook it, “Hell yeah.” The meeting ended, and everyone was going their separate ways. Spencer ridiculed Marty, “You’re an idiot.” Marty asked, “How so?” Spencer questioned him, “How in god’s name do you think you can beat someone with a signature like that?” Marty took a second to think about it… “I hope so.” Spencer further questioned, “What can you do in a week to get ready for that fight? Train your mind for failure?” Marty answered, “Nah, I’m gonna get trained by that trainer you were telling me about.” Spencer exclaimed, “OH OF COURSE, BECAUSE TRAINING WILL MAKE YOU WIN.” He then sighed, “You aren’t gonna win that battle. You know pride is a sin, right? If I were you, I’d call it off.” Marty affirmed, “I won't back down once I’ve already accepted the offer. Whatever happens happens.”

Afterschool

Marty met up with Spencer in the courtyard. Spencer had a piece of paper, “Hey Marty. The trainer sent me a piece of paper that I saw during lunch. He changed the room he’s meeting in. It’s the room across from where we had the sports club meeting today.” Spencer looked at the paper once again, “To be completely honest, he doesn’t have the best handwriting.” He gave the paper to Marty, “Damn…” Spencer said, “Yeah…anyway, let’s get over there.” They walked into the building, and Marty looked into the room where the club meeting was, and saw just how big it was. He then went with Spencer into the room where they were supposed to meet the trainer. It was empty except for a desk, and a wall on the side had a huge mirror on it. It was also a whole lot smaller than the sports club room. Marty said, “Wow, how do you suppose we’d train here?” Spencer told him, “We don’t. Like I said, we’re only here to talk about the workout plan.” Marty looked at the desk, and saw a note on it. He picked it up, and it read… “Dramatic Entrance!” Marty grimaced, “I can barely even read this.” Spencer looked at the paper he received earlier, “Huh, he said he’d be here. I guess he’s late.” Then, the door behind the two closed. They looked back, and saw a girl with white hair and ear piercings. Her piercings had keys at the end of them, and she had a key necklace on too. She had two keys connected to ropes coming from her jeans, and a big key wrapped on her back. She grinned, “He’s right here!” Spencer was confused, “He?” The girl started stammering, “Oh…Well…I meant…” She then started throwing up random hand signs, and in a forced deep voice said, “Yeah…I’m a dude. Totally. Wanna go…uh…work out?” Spencer asked her, “What are you doing here?” She sighed, “The jig is up. I’m not a guy!” Marty looked at her puzzled, “Really?” The girl informed them, “Maybe I should beat around the bush. It may be a shock, so clench your cheeks for this one. My name is Lacey Lock, and I’m here to kill Marty Morpho! Woohoo!” The room was silent. The girl asked, “Huh? I expected a completely different reaction.” Spencer stepped forward, “You’re serious? I’ll have you know that Marty here is gonna be the one who beats Beverley Minibang, the one with the power signature!” Marty smiled, “You changed your mind on the match?” Spencer whispered to Marty, “No I’m just trying to make you look better so she leaves us alone.” She took the two ropes with keys from her pockets, and started swinging them. “I was only told to kill Marty, but if you’re gonna get in my way then I have no choice.” She charged at Spencer, who dodged her. She tripped and fell to the ground. However, a rope had been wrapped around Spencer’s leg, and he fell down too. Spencer got up, but because the rope was wrapped on his leg, Lacey was pulled up too. She took her other rope, and turned its key. A hole opened in Spencer’s chest, and it was shaped like a keyhole. Lacey then threw the key through the hole, still holding onto the rope. “This is my signature. It allows me to make keyholes in anything. I call it Rock The Casbah!” The hole then went back to normal, but the rope was still going through his chest. Lacey pulled the rope, and it was being pulled through his chest. Spencer groaned, “Urgghhh,” and finally, the key was pulled out, with blood on it. Spencer jumped up, and started spinning in the air. He was kicking his legs, and since Lacey was still holding onto the rope wrapped around his legs, she was being thrown up. She hit the ceiling, and before she could fall back down, Spencer kicked her. They both fell to the ground. Spencer unwrapped the rope, and Lacey threw a key that wasn’t connected to any rope at Spencer. Spencer dodged the key, and it hit the wall behind him. Marty then punched Lacey in the face. Lacey was knocked to the mirror wall by this hit, and slumped on the ground, seemingly knocked out. “That was…easy,” Marty said. Spencer coughed blood, “We’d better get to The Healer now.” Spencer turned to the door, and it wasn’t there anymore. “Uh…” Marty looked at the door, and said, “HUH?” Spencer crouched, and pointed at something. “Look at this Marty.” Marty looked, and saw Spencer pointing at the key Lacey threw. “Spencer, it’s a key. What about it?” Spencer hinted, “Well…take a look at where the key hit the wall.” Marty looked and saw a slight mark on the wall, “Hmm…it’s a mark. She must’ve thrown it pretty hard.” Spencer stood up, and pointed at where the door used to be, “Now tell me, what does that mark look like right there?” Marty looked at a slight mark at where the door used to be. He squinted at it, and looked back at the other slight mark. He looked back and forth at both of them, before coming to a conclusion. “These two marks…are identical.” Spencer nodded, “The wall isn’t perfect. There are slight imperfection bumps everywhere. The bumps here where the door used to be are also the exact same. There must be more that Lacey girl wasn’t letting on.” “And so maybe I am!” The two looked back, and saw Lacey standing on the desk behind them. “I’ll tell you this much! My signature only allows me to make keyholes!” The desk then had a box around with blue dashed lines. Lacey jumped, and as she did the desk had suddenly gone over her head. She fell on her back, and as the desk was falling she kicked it forwards towards the two boys. Spencer ran forward, and kicked the desk in half. Lacey ran forwards and jumped up. She took her two ropes, and swung them on both of the desk halves that were in the air. She made keyholes in the middle of the desk halves, and the keys went through them. Lacey then got rid of the holes, with the ropes through them. She then pulled the ropes back, pulling the desk halves back as well. She then pulled them forwards, and the desk halves slammed into Spencer. Spencer fell to the ground, sandwiched between both halves. Lacey landed on the ground, and looked at Spencer. Marty took this opportunity to run up at her. He tried to use Lose Yourself, but for some reason he couldn’t. Lacey then looked up, and threw a key connected to a rope at him. Marty dodged the key, and pulled on the rope. Lacey was pulled towards him, and tried to punch her in the face. She dodged, and took her other rope. She used it to wrap around Marty’s arm, and pulled him down. He caught himself before he fell, and Lacey unwrapped the rope. Marty stepped back to where the desk used to be. Spencer looked at the two desk halves next to him. They both had blue dashed lines around them. Spencer recalled what happened the last time he saw blue dashed lines. Over the two desks, he saw a white flat rectangle with the words, “Group Items.” He sprung up, and ran from the two desk halves. As soon as he did, “WHAM,” they both slammed together, merging together. Spencer went besides Marty. Marty told him, “I couldn’t use Lose Yourself…but neither you nor Lacey were looking at me.” Spencer asked, “So then…I assume you’ve come to the same conclusion as me.” Marty said, “Mhm.” They both told each other, “There’s two enemies here!” Lacey charged at both of them, spinning both of her ropes. Marty looked through the window, and jumped out of it. Spencer was shocked, but didn’t have any time to think about it. He jumped in the air, and Lacey kept spinning her ropes as she made it to him. Spencer started spinning, and was dodging both of the ropes. Lacey was shocked, “Damn, impressive…” She used Rock The Casbah to make a keyhole in Spencer’s leg. “By making a hole in your leg, you’ve lost your balance!” Spencer then wasn’t able to dodge the next rope, and was slashed by the key. He fell to the ground, and Lacey began to cut him up with more keys. However, a blue butterfly flew through the window and turned into Marty. Marty then kicked her, and she was knocked back. She threw her two key ropes at him, and made two keyholes in his shoulders. The keys went through the holes, and then the hole was filled. Lacey pulled him towards her, but Marty was ready for it. He jumped up, and as she was pulling him to her, he kicked her with his knee. Lacey let go of both of the ropes, and Marty used the opportunity. He pulled both of the key ropes out, and threw them out the window. The merged desk halves had moved on their own to block the window, but it was too late. The light from outside was mostly blocked, and the room was only lit by the ceiling light. Lacey said, “Heh…nice going. I didn’t want to use this, but you leave me no other choice.” She took the giant key that was on her back, and swung it at Marty. Marty barely dodged, and she kept swinging. He was getting exhausted, and Lacey turned the key pointed towards where Marty was running. “Rock The Casbah!” She yelled, before a giant keyhole appeared in the ground. Marty fell in the hole, and almost fell down to the classroom below. However, Spencer caught him. Spencer pulled him up before Lacey closed the hole. Marty told Spencer, “I’ve figured out where the second person is watching us from. It’s a one way window! From this side it only shows reflections, but on the other side it shows us!” Marty remembered the sports club room, “That room is the same size as this one, and this room only seems smaller because the glass is blocking the other side.” Lacey was shocked, “Woah, you figured that out? Already? Well, no matter!” Lacey charged with her giant key, and did a horizontal swing at Spencer. Spencer jumped over the key, and tried to kick Lacey. However, she dodged, and backed up slightly to the right. Spencer then gave Marty a wink, and ran right next to him. Spencer’s body was blocking Marty from both Lacey and the window. Marty then turned into a butterfly. Marty flew to Lacey, and was flying around her head. She was trying to hit him with her hand. Spencer then ran up to deliver a kick to her. She blocked the kick with her giant key. In the space between the key and her body, Marty flew into and turned back into a human to give an upwards kick to Lacey in the chin. The two kicked her over and over, while circling her. Marty would turn into a butterfly every now and then to throw her off. She crouched down, and Marty jumped over her to give a downwards kick. She was hit by the kick, and was knocked back. She closed her eyes and staggered a bit. She pointed her giant key up, and turned it. She used Rock The Casbah to make a keyhole. Marty dodged it by turning into a butterfly. The keyhole was made in the one way window behind them. Through the keyhole, the three saw the other side of the room. They saw a girl sitting at a desk turned to them. She had short black hair, with a yellow headband on. On the desk was a laptop with a camera attached to it on the top. Lacey apologized to the girl, “Oops oops! I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry! I’m very sorry! I mean it!” The girl sighed, “It’s time for Operation Zebra,” and started rapidly clicking on her computer. Lacey got a blue dashed box around her, and cheered, “Alright!” Spencer backed up, and told Marty, “We’ve got to be careful. Those boxes mean no good.” Marty backed up as well, until the two reached the side that was opposite to the door of the room. Lacey turned grayscale, and there was a white rectangle in the sky. It said, “Duplicate.” Lacey turned off the ceiling light. Now the only thing lighting the room were from the small openings from the desk halves blocking the window. Lacey then turned into 2, then 4, then 8, then more. She was being duplicated and there were a lot of clones of her. One of the clones charged at Spencer. Spencer tried to kick the clone, but his leg went right through it. Lacey and her clones said, “They may be indistinguishable from the real me, but these clones are special for a whole other reason! They’re intangible!” Lacey and the clones started shuffling around the room, all in the same pattern. They were slowly going towards Spencer and Marty. “I get it now,” Spencer told Marty, “That girl called this Operation Zebra. Lacey must be planning on sneaking up on us behind her clones, and as soon as she gets close she’ll stab us with her key.” Lacey and the clones got closer. Marty asked him, “What should we do?” Spencer looked at the desk halves that were blocking the window, “Alright. Do you remember that move we were talking about the other day in class?” Marty gasped, “Here? That sounds very exciting!” Spencer joshed, “You make it sound like a sex trick or something.” The clones got closer. “Anyway, we should do it. Even though this would be our first try.” Marty nodded his head. Spencer kicked the desk halves, and the light from outside shone into the room. The rays of light were going through the clones, making them slightly translucent. Through the translucent clones, only one wasn’t. And that was the real Lacey. “It’s high time,” Spencer said. Marty beamed, “Alright!” Spencer held his hands out, and Marty stood on them. Spencer segmented his hands, and started spinning them. Marty was struggling to maintain his balance. Spencer threw Marty up into the air towards Lacey while his hands were still spinning. This caused Marty to spin in the air. Spencer went on one leg, and crouched down. He began spinning towards Lacey as well. Marty cried, "SPINNING…" Spencer smiled, "KICK…" The light shone between both of them, and as they got close to Lacey, they both finished, "CONNECT!" From above, Marty kicked down on her head. At the same time, from below, Spencer kicked up to her chin. The two kicks left her stunned. She stood for a few seconds, before falling to the ground unconscious. Marty and Spencer walked to each other, and gave a high-five. Spencer's attention then turned to the hole in the mirror. He ran and kicked the mirror. It smashed into a thousand pieces. He ran to the desk the girl was sitting at, and shut the computer. The girl then dug into her pockets. She pulled out a small white flag, and repeated, "I surrender, I surrender, I surrender, I surrender, I surrender…" Spencer stopped her, "Okay okay, I get it." Marty went over to the two. He said to the girl, “HEY! I don’t know who you are, but I’d like a clear explanation on what you and Lacey were up to.” She told him, “Isn’t it obvious? We were trying to kill you. A well known assassin had given us orders to do so. My name is Evelyn Edit, and my friend and I thought it’d be interesting to work for an assassin. That’s pretty much the only reason we agreed.” She closed her laptop, put it in her backpack, and got up. “Sorry about this. To be honest, it was a mistake. If you'd like, I'll tell you more. I can explain it all, but I'll be bringing my friend to The Healer so you'll have to follow me." Marty and Spencer looked at each other, and Marty told Evelyn, "Hold on just a second!" He walked to Lacey's unconscious body and took all of the keys that she had, "I can't trust that you two won't try to attack us as soon as she's healed." Evelyn assured, "It's fine for you to disarm her, but we aren't gonna attack you. We couldn't even if we wanted to. My signature takes the form of a photo editing application named Be Humble. It allows me to edit photos in real time. Meaning whatever is shown on my camera, I can edit in the program. What I do in the program is done in real life. However, the limitations make it way less powerful than it really is. First, there are some things I can't do in real life. These include things like Delete and Insert Image. Second, it's limited to being on a computer. I can share the file to another computer, but only I can use it. Third, and the reason I can't attack you all once I heal Lacey, only things in the camera's field of vision can be edited. Since the hole is fairly dark, I'm pretty sure my camera won't be able to see anything." Evelyn picked up Lacey and began to walk out the room. The two boys followed. "Me and Lacey go way back. We've known each other since sixth grade, and since then we've been glued together...metaphorically of course. I like to think of myself as the serious one in our friendship, while she's the joking type. So much so that as a funny gag she decided to learn how to fight using keys. While I was watching her train on Sunday, we were approached by a boy in a mask. He asked if we were willing to kill you guys for some money. I was about to decline the offer, but Lacey spoke before me and accepted, telling me that it would be for fun. I made sure to tell her the risks, but she wasn't listening to me. Anyway, the boy gave us a card to meet up at a specific spot the next day. Placed at the spot was another card, which led to the real meet up location, an empty warehouse a few blocks away. We would meet up there at 6 every day until all of you were killed. "Mhm mhm," Marty listened intently, "Write that down Spencer." Spencer looked at his hands, and asked, "With what!?" They were now at the hole. The Healer had healed Lacey, who woke up a few seconds after. She hugged Evelyn, and started fake crying "Oh Evelyn, I knew you could get the job done. I'm so proud of you! I knew that you could kill them." Evelyn pointed at Marty and Spencer. "EEEEEEEK!" Lacey exclaimed. Evelyn calmed her down, "Relax. I've made an alliance with them." Lacey thought about it, “Wait a minute, don’t tell me that you gave up the moment that I was knocked out.” Spencer said, “That’s pretty much what happened.” “Evelyn!” Evelyn bickered, “Well did you expect me to fight alone with a signature like mine? Don’t be ridiculous.” Lacey bickered back, “You could have at least tried, come on now!” Evelyn countered, “Well it wasn’t my idea anyway!” Marty interrupted them, “I don’t mean to be rude, but could you tell us more about your experience with the assassin?” Evelyn mumbled, “Oh…right…” She cleared her throat, “So we went to the warehouse, and there were four other people there, including the assassin. I believe you’ve already encountered them. There was this guy with half purple and half green hair and two shotguns on his back. Then another with purple hair and a real menacing look to him. Who was the other person again…right, it was this ordinary looking girl with purple hair. Actually, I just realized they all had purple hair…” Marty asked, “Can you describe how the assassin looked?” Evelyn recalled, “Umm black hair, like mine, and a build similar to yours. He also had…well his face…umm…” She looked at Lacey. Lacey put her hands up, “Hey, what am I supposed to say?” Evelyn turned back to Marty and Spencer, “Well you’ll know when you find out but…his face isn’t what you’d expect. anyway, me and Lacey were the last to arrive. The assassin told us what we’d do. The boy with the shotguns was supposed to go after someone named Steven. The other boy was instructed to go after someone named Iris. And the girl was instructed to go after someone named…Six?” Marty corrected her, “You mean Seven?” “Yeah, him. Anyway, the day after the next we were informed that the girl had turned traitor and the shotgun boy had been killed. So now the assassin is targeting Steven.” Marty questioned, “Wait, what is his signature?” Evelyn responded, “He never said. Continuing, the next day the other boy was dead. And now there were only the three of us…we’d been gathering information on you two and today we decided the perfect plan for an ambush attack…well, we thought it was perfect.” Lacey argued, “It would have been if you didn’t immediately give up!” Marty asked Evelyn, “So at 6 today he’ll be at the warehouse?” Evelyn shook her head, “No, today he’ll be somewhere else. Tomorrow, however, he will meet up with us at the place where we fought earlier.” Marty decided, “Well then, I’ll be there too to give that guy a piece of my mind.” Spencer nodded, “Same!” Evelyn warned them, “Well…you two can go and all, but I’d better warn you now, this guy is no joke. As part of the computer club, I’m well-versed in finding data in the digital space. I’ve found out that the assassin we’re dealing with is The Stem Assassin. He’s got more than 700 kills.” Lacey remarked, “Mhm. With how much that other purple hair guy talked about him after the meeting, it was easy for her to find the information. That guy is like his number one fan.” Evelyn told the two, “I’d like to help you guys, but I have a computer club tomorrow.” Lacey mentioned, “However, I can help you two. He trusts me, so I’ll distract him while you guys make your way in the room, rather than already being there and facing him head on.” Marty said, “Mhm…” Spencer asked Marty, “Are you gonna bring anyone else?” Marty explained, “Probably…not. If this guy really is a dangerous assassin, then it’s best not to involve others and risk them getting hurt. Besides, I’m sure we could do it ourselves.” Garlic Garlic came into the hole, and had a bruise on his face. Marty asked him, “What in the world happened to you?” “A bitch socked me after I tried stealing her purse.” “...what did I expect?” Marty and the rest of the students left the hole and went their separate ways.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.