Chapter 6: Changes

Daylight poured into Tyler's room as he groggily awoke.

"Good morning," a familiar voice said next to him.

Tyler turned over and smiled, finding Chelsea laying next to him, her reddish hair in disaray, but in a way that Tyler found her even more appealing.

"Mornin'," he quietly responded, his gaze stuck in her brown eyes that even if he wanted to look away, he couldn't.

"I don't have any clothes on," he added in, chuckling.

Chelsea moved her face closer to his. Her red lips hovered mere millimeters from his own and a sly grim materialized on her soft face. "Neither do I," she noted, lifting the blanket off her slightly so Tyler could get a look see.

Tyler peeked through the small window she was offering him and his face lit up like a child receiving a brand new toy. His heart began to race and his pelvic area was more than active.

"I'm glad you like," she whispered seductively, her lips still not quite touching Tyler's, but close enough that he could just feel them.

Tyler's eyes shot open. Noticing he was laying down, he looked to his left, then his right. No sign of Chelsea. He let out a loud groan and looked at his alarm clock. It was only 11 p.m. Tyler rubbed his eyes and turned on his desk lamp. Instantly, he remembered what happened earlier, but was it a dream? He made his way upstairs to the bathroom and flipped on the light. It was then he looked at his reflection in the vanity mirror and screamed bloody murder.

His once short cropped dark brown hair was now long, wildy spiked, and jet black except for a streak that was platinum silver. He moved his face closer to the mirror and examined his eyes. His once brown eyes were now a deep emerald green. He checked the rest of his body, as everything seemed in place. The only thing that was different was his eyes and hair, until he took note of a necklace around his neck. Dangling from it were the two stones of Magna and Serenity.

Tyler held the stones in the palm of his hand and examined them. The Serenity Stone–Jennifer's stone–was round and smooth, like the rocks that Jennifer liked to buy when she would force Tyler to go down to Pike Place Market back in Seattle. Tyler's Magna Stone, however, was angular and jagged. He tucked the necklace back under his shirt and decided to go for a walk hoping that the now fresh rain-cleaned atmosphere would help him understand everything that was going on.

With that, he grabbed his Seattle Mariners jacket, put it on, and walked out the front door, shutting it behind him.

At the Baxter house, Raven, Eddie, and Chelsea finished watching the movie "Starsky And Hutch" on DVD. Mr. And Mrs. Baxter had retired up to their room a couple hours ago and Raven's brother, Cory, was spending the night at a friend's.

"Damn, I gotta get me one of them Gran Torino's," Eddie announced, remarking about the red auto that the stars of the movie drove around.

"Yeah, well don't you have to have a license to get a car?" Chelsea asked.

"And some money?" Raven added in. "And you wasn't just lookin' at the car. I saw you drooling when Carmen Electra and that other chick was kissin'. Ya little nasty."

"What can I say?" Eddie responded. "That was quality cinematic magic."

"Yeah, ya perv." Raven muttered.

"No-no-no, not perv. They're called–say it with me now–hormones. Holla back now!" Eddie retorted.

"Sure, perv boy." Chelsea mused sarcastically. "It's getting late. I'm going to head home."

"Yeah, me too. See ya, Rae." Eddie said as he and Chelsea walked out of the front door.

Once they were at the bottom of the steps, Chelsea and Eddie went their separate ways. As Chelsea walked down the sidewalk, she grabbed her cell phone and decided to leave Ben a sweet goodnight text message. She typed it out and hit the SEND button on her phone.

"Hey little girl. A lil' late for someone like you to be out ain't it?" a gruff voice came from behind Chelsea, startling her.

She turned around to face who it was and saw two men, both wearing black hooded sweatshirts. One of the men had a scruffy looking jaw as whiskers protruded. The other man was completely bald and had a menacing grin that only showed trouble.

"I-I was just heading home," Chelsea said shakily.

She turned back around, only to find three more thugs, also wearing black sweatshirts. "How about an escort home, girlie?" One of the men asked as the five began to encircle her.

Chelsea gripped her backpack and purse tightly. She was surrounded. One of the men began to advance and as if it was a natural reaction, Chelsea reared her leg back and kicked the oncoming thug square in the crotch, causing the man to keel onto the pavement. She saw her opening and bolted away.

"Get that bitch!" the man with the now swollen organs whined. "Cut her if you have to!"

The remaining four chased after Chelsea, while the fifth member staggered onto his feet, clutching his testes that throbbed with more than excruciating pain.

As Chelsea ran, tears streamed from her eyes and down her cheeks. These men weren't far behind and they were going to harm her. Or worse. Suddenly, she tripped over something and flailed to the hard ground. Before she could get up, the thugs were already too close as they surrounded her. The thugs drew their switchblade knives. Chelsea screamed.

And someone responded.

Tyler walked up, fists clenched tightly as he said. "You know? You'd think your parents would teach you how to be more gentlemanly towards a lady."

"Who the hell are you?" One of the men asked, rage beginning to boil over.

Tyler stepped forward so he was clearly visible. "Oh, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Tyler and I'll be kicking your asses on this lovely San Francisco night." He smiled brightly, then added, "And you should really watch that language. It's not polite."

"To hell with the bitch, boys. Let's kick this bastard's ass." the lead thug who was kicked in the groin ordered.

"Bad choice of words, pilgrim," Tyler said with a low growl to his voice.

The five surrounded Tyler, knives at the ready. Chelsea crawled away and hid behind a parked minivan. She grabbed her cell phone and began to punch in 9-1-1.

"Now, boys. What did I say about that language?" Tyler joked, then became serious. "It's not polite!"

Tyler went into a handstand, spread his legs wide apart, and spun on his hands, twirling his legs like the blades of a propeller His feet kicked away the knives in different directions. One nearly hit Chelsea, but instead impaled itself into a tire, which leaked air with a high pitched hiss.

"Get 'em!" all five yelled.

Tyler pushed off the sidewalk with his arms and flipped over so he was on his feet. The nearest thug to him attempted a punch, but missed as Tyler dodged it as if the blow were coming in slow motion. Tyler returned the man's blow with one of his own. Tyler's, however, connected squarely in his jaw.

Chelsea flinched as she saw Tyler's balled up fist smash into the man's. She crouched lower behind the van to keep out of sight, but she made sure that she could still see what was going on.

Two of the men flanked Tyler and grabbed his arms. The man who got his groin kicked in came forward with the intent of having a boxing match with Tyler's face while he was being held in place. Not gonna happen, he thought, as he locked his legs onto the approaching man's head and started to pull his arms and legs closer to his body. Although he had three men trying to hold him still and going on the offensive, Tyler easily overpowered them. When he felt his arms and legs were close enough, Tyler exploded them out, sending the four remaining assailants flying in different directions. Chelsea yelped and fell onto her backside as one smashed into her hiding place–the van.

Tyler grabbed the leader, who dangled from the railing of someone's stoop, by the scruff of his sweatshirt, and brought the guy eye to eye with him.

"If I ever see you and your cronies around here or anywhere ever again, I'll throw you clear to Alcatraz. Got it?" Tyler barked.

Terrified, the lead thug wet his pants, but nodded positively. The five now battered guys limped away moaning, groaning, and letting blood drip from their noses and other cuts. Chelsea then emerged and stared at Tyler in awe. Tyler stared back, then remembered his dream from an hour ago.

"Um, are you okay?" Tyler asked Chelsea.

Instead of saying anything, Chelsea ran up and embraced Tyler, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Reluctantly, Tyler put an arm around her, returning her hug in a somewhat lackluster way. Chelsea looked up into his face, swearing that he was like a guardian angel.

"You look... different." she quietly said.

"Oh, you mean the hair. I, um, was going for something... new, I guess." he tried to explain.

"Yeah, and your eyes too. They're green."

Tyler tried to think. He needed a good lie and he needed one quick. "Oh don't you know? Eye color can change, even in later ages. Yeah, that's it. My eye color just happened to change." he explained, hoping she would buy it.

"In a matter of hours?" she asked skeptically.

Tyler chuckled nervously. "Well-well, my body, you know. It can change fast I guess. Good genes."

"What do pants have to do with it?" Chelsea inquired.

"Not jeans, I mean genes. DNA."

"Oh," Chelsea gasped, understanding.

"Well, you'd better get on home. You're too pretty to be"–Tyler stopped talking dead in his tracks, catching himself thinking aloud.

Chelsea picked up on it. "So you think I'm pretty?"

"Uh," Tyler's eyes shifted back and forth quickly. He wanted to say yes and give her a kiss, just like in the movies, but this was real life and he knew it didn't work that way. "Yes... I mean, no. I mean... well, yeah, you're obviously, but you know. I'm just gonna shut my mouth now."

Chelsea couldn't help but laugh at his awkwardness, finding it charming in a way. "It's okay. No harm done. But hey, can I ask a favor?"

"You want me to walk you home. I'd be glad too."

With that, the two began to walk through the night down the steep hill. As the two walked, Tyler with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, Chelsea talked and he mostly listened. Not just to her, but he listened for other things, just in case those thugs were up for round two.

Soon, they were at the corner of Hilton Street and San Pedro–Chelsea's street. Tyler walked with her down to her house and right up to the front door.

"Well'p, this is it. Tyler? Thank you so much." she said.

"It was nothing"–he began.

"No," she cut him off. "You saved me. I couldn't begin to thank you enough."

Tyler cracked a smile, noticing her sparkling eyes showing genuine sincerity. "Chelsea, so long as you're okay, that's all the thanks I need. Now if you'll excuse me, that corny line is too corny for me."

Chelsea let out a humorous huff. "Yeah, that was pretty cheesy. I'll see you around."

She gave him one more hug, opened the front door, and slowly shut it behind her, trying to keep quiet. Tyler grinned and casually made his way down the steps. However, because he wasn't paying attention, he missed a step and stumbled to the sidewalk below.

"And there goes my cool right out the window," he grumbled to himself as he quickly sprang up to his feet, hoping to avoid the embarrassment of being seen. Unfortunately, Chelsea saw the whole thing as he noticed her peeking out of the living room window.

Tyler waved to her, then ran off as fast as he could, thins time paying attention to where he was going.