"Y'know, Mom I'm surprised you aren't mad at me."
I could feel my lips moving, my tongue curling with motion to form words that I've heard, but never said.
An endless black faded away, forming slowly into the inside of a minivan, which raced down the highway as I tried my hardest to ascertain exactly what was happening.
I, Jacksyn Greer, was sitting across from *myself* as *I* looked back into my own eyes. It took a moment before it dawned on me just what was going on: I was in the body of Jasyn. It was strange, having been dumped in to a second new body in the space of what felt like minutes, but I immediately appreciated the differences between myself and Jasyn, at least physically.
Jasyn had always been the fighter between the two of us. Quick to jump to violence, he perfectly encapsulated his favorite saying: "If I can solve it by hitting it hard enough, then that's what I want to do."
I had always been a bit curious as to why he felt that way, but after spending just a few moments in his body, I quickly understood just why Jasyn was like that. Though he and I grew to nearly the same size, weight and all, his body was a wall of what felt like constantly flexing muscle; every fiber of my being felt like lashing out with whatever destructive force I could muster. Suddenly, his love of coming to my aid in a fight made that much more sense.
Another voice sounded out, and I felt a wave of nostalgia as I heard the voice of my mother, who I hadn't seen since I started university.
"Why would I be upset with you? You stepped in to defend your brother when he was being attacked, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that." She laughed.
Jasyn's head moved of its own volition to look towards the voice, catching a short glimpse of a beautiful, black haired woman looking at me in the rearview mirror. Her ice blue eyes met my own, and I felt a surge of violence run through me.
As we grew into our late teenage years, Jasyn always told me that our mother was incredibly strong, and that he wasn't sure he would be able to beat her in a fight. I had thought he was talking metaphorically, because I had never seen our mother raise her voice, let alone get physically violent. Here and now, though, I could feel what Jasyn felt, the unbelievable feeling of power that our mother possessed.
"That being said, how are you feeling? I know you won the fight, but you got pretty beat up. Is everything feeling like it's supposed to?" Our mother asked.
"Oh, yeah, I feel great, honestly. I'm sure that'll change in a few hours when the adrenaline wears off, but, as far as I can tell right now, everything's fantastic." Jasyn laughed.
His chattiness felt so foreign to me; I could feel the vigorous ways that his mouth moved. His manner of speech was so different from my own, which was typically succinct. If I had talked this much, there was a good chance that my jaw would start hurting.
"Why are you so good at fighting, anyway?" My own voice interrupted my train of thought, making Jasyn's head turn back to me as he considered the question.
"Well, I, uh... it's gonna sound a little weird, but I sort of just fight to music that plays in my head."
[Ding! Skill Lore obtained, moving to tutorial space.]
The metallic voice returned, surprising me in how quickly I had forgotten its existence. The scene faded away, replaced with another that had occurred just an hour prior to the one that I was just in.
I was in Jasyn's body once again, looking at a group of boys, crowding around me, who was curled on the ground, trying desperately to protect my head. Jasyn's eyes rolled as he looked at the group.
"Get up, Jack, and get over here." He said.
I watched myself stumble to my feet and rush over to Jasyn's side. I caught a glimpse of my own face as I moved, and was shocked to see a gloating sneer on my face that was replaced with one that feigned fear as I turned to look at them.
"Hey now, Jasyn, we're just trying to help your brother understand that it's not okay to run his mouth constantly. Surely you don't want to have a run in with all of us, right?"
Jasyn let out a laugh as he scratched his cheek absentmindedly. Looking back to me, then shrugging.
"Eh, last time I had a 'run in' with you, you ended up getting your jaw wired shut for a few months, maybe this time I can make it a year, beat my personal best." He sneered.
"C'mon Jay, surely even you aren't cocky enough to think you can beat all of use at once. I mean..."
[Hostility detected! Initiating temporal slowdown. Please select a track to play, or, filter your music to determine the most effective track for the current situation.]
A breezy, female voice spoke softly into Jasyn's head, and a small, transparent screen popped into focus a foot or so from his eyes. He scanned over the expansive list of music, each individual track listed with its length, genre, artist, and features. Most pertinent, however, was the auspicious little bar on the side of the list that said "Autosort from most powerful effects to least powerful." Jasyn tapped the filter button.
Though Jasyn was more interested in perusing the music options available to him, Jacksyn was busy staring at the group of boys just a few feet from them.
They had been frozen in place, the ringleader's mouth stuck open, giving him a rather stupid look on his face.
"Wait... he can stop time and pick whatever music he wants like a fucking producer choosing background music in a movie? That's wild. No wonder he's always humming and shit, he's got a fucking full library of music locked away in his skull."
Jacksyn was rather impressed with the strange ability that Jasyn had developed. Sure it wasn't as outwardly versatile as his own, but it certainly was suited to his preferences.
"Remove all results that bolster evasion or mana. Dodging won't mean shit, since there's too many of them, and I still don't know if there's actually magic in the world yet. Now, uh... ah, fuck it, just play a random song that bolsters Attack and Defense by a moderate amount."
"...there's 8 of us and 1 of you. Those odds aren't great for you."
The boy kept talking like he hadn't just frozen in place for a minute. It didn't matter, as Jasyn had already shot forward, the sound of music that Jacksyn only vaguely recognized blaring straight into his brain.
'Huh? What song is this? I can't remember if Jasyn has played this in his room before.'
Harsh, rough guitars and a pounding drum seemed to beat the inside of his head senseless as his body shot forward.
The others hadn't expected Jasyn to move without finishing the conversation, and were completely flatfooted as he pulled his fist back and slammed it into the closest boy's stomach.
[Beams of fire sweep through my head, thrusts of pain increasingly engaged.]
Every note of the song, every lyric, every pause was accompanied by a motion of some kind: a strike, a block, or an attempt at evasion. The sheer instinctual understanding Jasyn must have had of his own body was unbelievable. Every strike that landed felt like it must have broken a bone, and even the multitude of hits that landed on his body felt like it was being cushioned to protect him in some way.
[My crimson liquid so frantically spilled. The ruby fluid of life unleashed.]
My thoughts dwelled on that common scene in actions movies where the villain remarks to the hero that they should give up, because they're outmanned and outgunned, only for the hero to either kill all of the goons or beat them down, after which the hero would reply that they were foolish for thinking that such a small number of foes would be enough for him.
[Ripples ascend to the surface of my eyes, their red pens drawing at random, at will.]
Somehow, before I even realized, Jasyn had knocked 3 of the boys out cold, and 2 others were huddled on the ground, clutching their bodies. I focused on the fight, thinking about my own circumstances, in the hopes that I might glean more than just this skill I had just seen that might help me stay alive.
Jasyn's first connected with the cheek of another foe, and for a split second, I felt a rush spark through his body. One of the conversations that Jasyn and I had continuously was that which regarded his love of fighting. I truly never understood his explanation which always went a little something like:
"I dunno what to tell you, man. It's just a feeling I get when I beat a dude's head in, or knock his teeth out of his mouth. There's this feeling of power that I just don't get anywhere else, even from sex."
In that instant, I thought I could somewhat understand his reasoning. The sense of power was undeniable, and seeing the results of his "handiwork" right there in front of me made his thought process just a little bit clearer.
"Stop the music." He whispered.
The thrashing track stopped, leaving a dull emptiness that seemed to ring in the back of his head. His eyes lazily shifted to the horrified face of the boy who had been goading him just moments ago. His words about Jasyn being outnumbered seemed hilarious at this juncture.
In line with my own thoughts, Jasyn let out a short laugh, followed by a sneer.
"Ya thought 8 was enough to bring me down? Fat fucking chance. Oh, by the by, you mess with my brother again and I promise you I will personally pull all of your teeth out with my bare hands. From the outside. Let's go Jack."
A whirlwind of lights and colors blasted into my brain, and I found myself standing back in the shoddy wooden arena. My body was small again, and the black scales on my arms seemed lighter and more pleasant than they had just moments ago.
[Ding! The user has partially learned "Symphonic Battle Spirit". The skill can be further improved by continuous use. Be advised, the user is currently restricted to 437 songs, the equivalent of 0.089% of the skill creator's limit.]
A strange rush of excitement coursed through me as I felt my body stand up a little straighter. My eyes met those of the other newborns, and I felt my face warp into a twisted grin.
"You motherfuckers are about to hate your life."