Chaos Raises
Greetings and welcome to my first true story, like the Phoenix I have risen from sadness and anger to share this great story with you all.
Please read and enjoy, my friends.
Chapter 1
Torture… Butters Scotch knew the word all too well. His entire fourteen years of life had been nothing but torture. Whether it is beatings from his father, schemes from fat child crime boss Eric Cartman, or various other kids who thought him useless, he'd borne the brunt of pain and suffering year after year. When he was eight he often woke to the sound of his own screams, and although that trait had seemed to have passed there were new issues taking its place. He screamed inside his head now, almost all the time and it showed in different ways than mere vocal shouts.
When he was eight he created a new persona for himself, a super villain named Professor Chaos to help give him a way to vent all his pain and suffering. However it wasn't long before he realized how limited he was by being a kid and how ineffective his schemes for revenge were. So he'd abandoned that in favour of more backyard methods of venting his growing hatred. Literally, he sat in his backyard burning ants with a magnifying glass. It was cliché but he had to admit it felt good to force others to suffer like he had. Unfortunately ants were pretty much the only creatures he held power over.
This was all he was thinking as he finished off his science homework and took a moment to surf through the internet. There was an e-mail from Dougie which he promptly opened. He was asking for help with his homework among other simple questions. Butters' relationship with his one-time best friends Pip and Dougie had changed rather a lot since they were eight. Without his realizing his friendship with them had grown steadily more abusive, albeit usually not directly. Pip had gotten so annoyed at being berated for stupidity, weakness and an ever increasing dominating attitude from Butters that he'd spat in his face one day and hadn't spoken to him since.
Dougie on the other hand, being two years younger had rather attached himself to Butters rather well and was often the subject of Butters' now quite frequent venting rants. But despite these he seemed to think of Butters as a role model and Dougie had of course joined him once in the quest for global demolition as General Disarray.
Then reading Dougie's e-mail Butters saw him mention their plans for pranks on the three popular boys in school. Butters smiled cunningly at the reminder. He typed back an e-mail saying he'd prepared the first couple pranks that were to be played on Cartman. Kyle and Stan could wait. He had just sent it when his dad hollered into his room "Butters you better damn well be in your bed in five minutes or else you're grounded for the rest of the week!"
"Sorry sir, yes sir," Butters replied and changed into pyjamas with perhaps record speed. He was in bed before his dad came in the door and lying still trying to calm his mind and get to sleep. His father came in and gave a happy good-night as though his yelling previously hadn't happened. After that Butters felt himself slowly drift off to sleep.
His dreams were so good. He was an emperor with power of unimaginable levels as before him Cartman grovelled and begged for his life. Stan and Kyle meanwhile were bowing before him and forced to pay him utmost respect. "Emperor Chaos," they said, for Butters in his dream had resumed his Professor Chaos identity, "Please don't kill Cartman. He may be a fatass, but you don't need to kill him."
"If I wasn't scared for my life right now I'd be offended by that," Cartman muttered.
Butters sat up on his throne and gazed at the three with utmost contempt and hatred. "I did not spare my parents and I will not spare this useless, fat idiot." He raised a steel gauntleted hand and fired a bolt of lightning that incinerated Cartman where he was, turning him into nothing but ash. His partial friends cried out in shock and gazed at Butters with fear. "You two will be spared so you may watch this pathetic world perish at last by my hands and you shall gaze as the New Order is born. My forces have been recalled and here in the Fortress of Chaos we will sit out the apocalypse I shall soon unleash." He gazed out a window and watched as the world rapidly flooded followed by the sound of hundreds of nuclear missiles struck and destroyed all around them. And he was laughing, he was laughing insanely as his revenge on the world was finally carried out.
He woke the next morning to his own insane laughter which died down as he became more aware of himself. Checking his clock he saw it was seven-thirty and he was just getting out of bed when his mom knocked on the door and said "Get up dear, you have school soon."
"I'm already up mom," Butters replied. As he got dressed he grabbed a plastic bag from under his bed and stuffed it into his backpack. Then he was downstairs eating breakfast, consisting of cereal, toast, and a waffle. "So mom, are we still going camping this weekend?" he asked.
"Yes of course Butters, but you'll have to wait until Friday though. Now once you've finished get those teeth brushed and get to school. Don't want to be late now do you?"
"No mom," Butters said. Though honestly he'd been studying way ahead for a long time, since grade six at least so he was on his own studying things at university level. So most of his homework was easy and his grades had actually been reaching unusual highs, even with Cartman's attempts to swap papers.
So Butters brushed his teeth and tried to comb his mop of blond hair, quite grown since he was nine, and without the styling his friend Kenny's had. Of course he had to have the kind of hair that didn't really like to be combed, so with that attempt failed he was off towards the bus stop where he met up with Dougie. Together they plotted their upcoming fun. Butters pulled out the bag and showed Dougie the contents and let a white box slip out as he noticed Eric Cartman walk by towards the meeting spot for him and his friends.
"Hmm what's this here? You know you shouldn't leave stuff lying around Butters, someone might take it," he said, still in the same whiney almost strangled sounding voice he had when he was nine. Only now it also had the deeper sound of a teenager's voice making it sound all the more detestable.
"No don't take that Eric, please I n-need it for something'," Butters pleaded.
"I'm going to take it to teach you a lesson Butters, and I'm doing that because you're my friend," the fat boy said, lying as easily as he breathed. He opened the box to see six fat jelly donuts waiting for him. With the skill of someone who enjoyed their food he quickly downed one in barely three bites, took a moment to assess the flavour and smiled with satisfaction. "Good job Butters, you'll have to make me these more often. Keep it up and you may go from Major NerdTurd to Normal NerdTurd. See ya asswipe," the fat boy said strolling off down the road a little further. What he didn't see however was Butters and Dougie sharing quite evil looking smirks.
All the donuts were gone into Cartman's stomach before the bus had gone a single street from the bus stop and Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman conversed as usual with Kyle and Cartman breaking into an argument as the bus stopped at the school. For Butters and Dougie this was all irrelevant as they planned the next stage in their prank spree.
Waiting until the boys had left their lockers; Butters slid a note into Stan's locker and made his way to his first class managing to just get in on time. It was geography and he would've slept had he not been busy plotting. He shared the class with Kyle whom he was still working to prank. Currently his best plan was to somehow get a crucifix of some kind onto the Jewish boy, and the more he thought about it the more it seemed like the best prank he could manage to pull on him. After geography Butters went to his other classes and sat bored through them all. When at last lunch rolled around he was ready to set off his wave of revenge.
Chapter 2
Butters' last class in the morning was phys ed, which he shared with Kyle, Stan, Kenny and Cartman. As such it was easy for Butters to slip away and plant his pranks for Kyle and then follow them into the cafeteria. Naturally Butters was most focused on Cartman and Stan and Kyle had much tamer pranks set on them.
As he sat in the cafeteria he watched the four boys intently from across the room and waited for a moment to spring his pranks on Cartman. Meanwhile Tweek sat down across from him, twitching like crazy as usual, his parents never seemed to figure out how addicted to caffeine the boy was, or that coffee was the cause and as such Tweek remained as hyper and crazy as he was as a little kid. "Hey Butters! Did'ja hear about Kyle! Apparently he converted to Christianity and burned a Star of David! AHH! He's crazy!" the boy rambled off at break neck speed.
"Oh, I w-wonder why," he said attempting to keep his stutter and shy voice, but it was a rather poorly done ruse and even Tweek, who was pulling at his wild blond hair and rambling about swine flu, noticed the concentrated tone to Butters' voice.
"What's up Butters!" he asked. "You're acting kind of weird lately."
"I am?" Butters asked. "Perhaps you're going crazy from all that caffeine. Haven't you figured out yet that it makes you hyper?"
"No no, it calms me down! Well I'm going, bye!" and with that he went to join Craig's table.
Butters chuckled to himself the whole school was already talking about Kyle's supposed hatred of Judaism and becoming an anti-Semite. That was part one down, it was better to do it all at once like this, he couldn't have waited the rest of the week to play out these pranks. From a distance Butters watched as Bebe walked up to Kyle and slapped him right in the face and yelled something about him being a hypocritical jackass. For Butters it was hilarious and he had to try very hard to keep his laughter in check. South Parkers were so stupid it was sad sometimes, a typical rural white town.
He quickly finished his lunch as the four boys got up to leave the cafeteria and bought himself a Coca-Cola from a vending machine in the cafeteria and as he discreetly followed the four boys he slipped a few capsules into the drink and made sure they'd dissolved. Then he watched as Stan got the piece of paper out of his locker that Butters had slipped in earlier.
"Hey look at this you guys I've got a secret admirer," Stan said and passed the letter to the others. Honestly it wasn't hard to believe Stan would have a secret admirer, as one of the best players on the school football team he was pretty muscular and tan and had his black hair styled only basically, which was enough to make plenty of girls fall all over him. But of course Butters knew this was a fake letter and he had further plans for it.
Until then he decided to start phase two of his plans for Eric. He pulled some chocolate from his pocket and began walking by the group. As he expected Cartman called out to him and he turned around in response.
"Oh p-please Cartman," he stuttered.
"You know you owe me daily payment of food or money or I fart in your face or give a fake call to your parents. And didn't you say you're going to your cottage for the long weekend? Wouldn't want your parents mad would you?"
Butters handed over the two items with feigned reluctance and watched as Cartman chowed down trying very hard to keep the smile from his face. Not wanting to seem like he was expecting something he slipped away from the group that was talking about Kyle's being accused of anti-Semitism and Stan meeting the 'admirer' after school. As he slipped away he was surprised to bump into someone he hadn't seen since grade 5, Gary Harrison.
"G-Gary! What are you d-doing here? I th-thought you was getting home-schooled," Butters said.
"I was," Gary replied. "Mom and dad thought it would be best if I came back to school again and interacted with people my own age again, on a daily basis that is. Plus now that everyone's had a chance to mature I wanted to give it another shot." Gary was always amazingly talented, and teenagehood had increased his astounding nature even more. He was tall, about five feet-six inches, tan, blond haired, blue eyed, athletic and leanly muscled, probably from his state champion young wrestler status. He also had the mental skills to match his physical skills and appearance; he had a grade point average of 4.0 and loved to read. He even had the personality to match, being kind, caring, tolerant and considerate and always optimistic, plus he had a wonderful, caring family who loved him and his siblings and shared a lot of time with each other. Perhaps as an added plus, Gary was a young actor who'd been in several short films and commercials and a model.
Butters had still talked to him a little bit, but mostly overheard a lot of updates from Gary's parents on the street. That's how he knew everything in Gary's life was as wonderful and perfect as ever, which was a direct opposite of his own. More and more Butters had come to like Gary as one couldn't help doing, but also to hate him for having the kind of life Butters wished he could have. Even now as he stared at Gary that boiling envy and jealousy returned to the surface, but was only held in check by a respect and wish for friendship.
"But long-time no see Butters, how've you been?" Gary asked cheerfully.
"G-good I guess," Butters answered, which was both truth and lie depending on the context. This day was going extremely well, but life still sucked as far as he was concerned.
"Do you want to hang out for the last bit of lunchtime? Chat for a bit maybe?"
The final phase of his prank operation wouldn't kick in until probably last period, and of course Dougie was still in middle school of course. And with nothing better to do butters agreed. So with his temporary friend he went out to the football field bleachers where they sat and talked. Mostly they were catching up; Butters talked about the dance-off with Orange County, though cut out the tragic ending, then about Cartman dressing up as AWESOM-O and in this case included the ending where he showed the video of Cartman in his transvestite moment.
And so they spent the remainder of lunch talking about all the big events that had happened since Gary had withdrawn of South Park social life. Butters of course, perhaps attempting to impress the boy in some way, cut out the bits of his life where his parents beat him, abused him, injured him, yelled at him, or otherwise mistreated him. When Butters had run out of things to talk about they sat staring at the mountains for a moment before Gary said "I've been worrying about you Butters."
"Y-you have?"
"I've seen you on the streets sometimes, from my window or from the car, and you're always walking around in such a quiet subdued way. I understand you won't want to talk about anything painful right now, but I'll listen if you ever do. Okay?"
"Um, s-sure I guess," Butters replied. Despite the kindness of this gesture, Butters couldn't help but feel the rage inside him redouble at the offer. He has no business with my problems, he thought sourly. He's just holding it over my head that he has such a good life, well I'll make him miserable too and then he'll understand what kind of crap I deal with.
As the bell rung and the two made their way inside Gary commented off-handily "You've been working out haven't you Butters."
"Yeah, been trying to."
"Well I think it's starting to pay-off. Anyways, see you later, and by the way if you want to come to my place after school, you can." And with a kind smile the 'perfect' boy was off; leaving jealous Butters behind.
During the afternoon periods Butters noticed with satisfaction that Cartman was looking worse and worse. Normally Eric was focused on sleeping or being class clown, but with history, science and English they had the same teacher who made sure he at least pretended to pay attention. Today though Cartman was not up to any of his usual antics; instead he was hiccupping, moaning in discomfort and clutching at his massive stomach.
Despite several requests to leave, Cartman was continually denied by the teacher who figured he was trying to get out of class. Butters was enjoying every moment of it to the point he couldn't focus either, not on work or on sleep. Hell he wouldn't sleep even if he needed to, this was a show he had to see. Finally with thirteen minutes of class left what Butters had been waiting for finally happened.
Cartman jumped up and dashed for the door only to throw up right in front of the chalkboard. Not only this, but he also slipped and fell face-first into the half-digested food and he knelt there and hurled several more times while the sound of very wet farts signalled diarrhoea in his pants. There the biggest bully in the school was sitting in vomit and poop with all the popular ninth graders laughing and taking pictures with their camera phones, something Butters managed to sneak in too for Dougie to see, and with the girls trying not to look as much as they could. Kenny was sidling his desk over to Heidi Turner's right beside his and comforting her, between bursts of laughter that is.
Later that day Butters met Dougie as he came out of school. He showed him the picture and he burst into laughter. "Wow great job Butters," he said after almost five minutes of laughter, wiping his eyes.
"Of course in a day or two he'll have somehow convinced himself it never happened. Still I think this is a victory for Professor Chaos!" Butters said, his voice taking on a slightly odd and very sinister sounding tone.
"Wait, what was that?" Dougie asked.
"Huh? I said this is a victory for me."
"Didn't you say 'this is a victory for Professor Chaos'?"
"Don't be stupid Dougie; we don't play that stupid game anymore."
"But-"
"Just drop it, come on we're going to miss the conclusion of my prank on Stan."
The spot Butters had put in the note was near the currently-being-reclaimed Starks' Pond. They darted into the bushes as soon as they arrived and not a moment too soon for Stan arrived only five minutes later. "Who exactly is he going to meet?" Dougie asked quietly.
"Nobody, just watch and wait," Butters whispered back. So they waited, they waited for ten minutes with Stan looking both bored and annoyed when finally Jimmy hobbled into the park on his crutches.
"Hey St-Stan what are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Got some love note in my locker, some girl wanted to meet me here."
"Oh so that's why I was supposed to g-give you this." Jimmy took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Stan. His eyes moved quickly as he scanned it quickly.
"Aw-aww! Come on!" Stan yelled. Butters and Dougie took that moment to circle around and come dashing out of the bushes.
"Oh h-hey Stan, hey Jimmy. I heard someone yell, what's happening?"
"Some douchebag pranked me, gave me a fake love note and told me to come here. I've wasted like half an hour making my way over here and waiting. Screw you guys, I'm going home."
The two pranksters followed Stan's example, which Jimmy was following also, and started walking towards home. "Cottage weekend will sure be grand. I'm going to ask my parents if you can come along Dougie."
"Okay, I'll ask my parents if I can come."
"Alright talk to you on MSN later." And with that they each made for home, Butters chuckling to himself as he went, satisfied with the day's events. Dougie on the other hand was satisfied, but beginning to wonder if Butters might have more issues than either of them knew.
Chapter 3
The mysterious prankster was the talk of the school for the rest of the week, but for Butters the job was done for now. The first day had gone so well he'd decided against continuing the mayhem for the other two days and instead focused on trying to relax. Of course he remembered to have 'you were pranked' notes delivered to Kyle and Eric, the latter at home the rest of the week. Things were going very well, plus his parents were happy to have Dougie come along on the cottage trip and Dougie's parents were just as fine with it.
As Friday rolled to a close and Butters put his books in his locker and grabbed his backpack he was surprised to see Pip approaching him. The English boy had modernized his clothes since elementary school, now wearing a polo shirt, cargo shorts and socks, though still pulled up all the way. It was something of a modern reflection of his Victorian-style clothes he wore when he was young.
"What is it Pip?" Butters asked sourly. His former friend said nothing but glare at him for a few moments.
"It's you isn't it?" he said at last. "You set up the pranks on Kyle, Stan and Eric."
"Me? Don't be stupid," Butters replied, walking towards the door through the now fairly empty halls.
"You gave Eric food and drink, chocolate was one of them. I saw chocolate in his vomit, and soda."
"Wow Sherlock, you looked at someone's vomit. That's disgusting and proves nothing; the fat ass eats lots of chocolate."
"It was barely digested and he ate no other chocolate at lunch which is about as far back as it could've been eaten. I saw those jelly donuts you gave him earlier that day as well. My uncle works in the police department and I got him to get some tests run on a sample of vomit, there was ipecac in it and a few other emetics, some enhanced. There were also laxatives in the same form as the emetics."
"Must be the Welsh blood," Butters quipped in response to Pip's informed deductions.
"I'm English, not one of those small village chorusers."
"You're as easy to manipulate as ever then."
"Stop trying to avoid the subject! I saw you slip a note in Stan's locker and plant that stuff about Kyle being anti-Semitic. Point is you tried to poison someone and force another to look like he was doing illegal things."
Butters sighed with frustration. "Okay, you're correct. But if you're so concerned why not tell the principal."
"Because I want to try and talk sense into you! I don't know what's going on, but I'm worried about you. You used to be so kind and generous; I can't believe you'd actually poison someone. What's wrong with you Butters, really, what's happened to you?"
"I changed that's what. I was stupid and innocent then, but now I know that it was never because I was bad that things happened to me, it's because the world is a cruel, unforgiving place. I'm just keeping pace."
"I think you should see a psychiatrist."
"That was some good detective work, are you training yourself to be one?" The two had stopped by now at the top of the stairs.
"Yes, why?"
"Well because I've been training myself in a lot of things, including fighting skills." Quick as a flash Butters had driven his fist into Pip's stomach and kicked him down the stairs. He smirked at the sight of him lying on the halfway point landing, stunned and winded. "Does that hurt Pip?" he asked, descending quickly and on top of the English boy, laying into him with vicious punches and kicks culminating with sending him down the rest of the stairs.
"You're a sociopath," Pip muttered through a bloodied lip.
Butters was on him again in an instant. "That was to keep you from revealing anything, because now you know what happens if you rat me out. And of course you'll tell nobody what really happened here, correct?"
Pip's face went through expressions of fear, anger, and finally sadness, this wasn't Butters anymore. Something was happening to him and if he was to be saved, then Pip would need to make sure to stay alive. He nodded at Butters' demand and got away as quickly as possible. Meanwhile Butters grabbed his backpack and left the school.
Outside he saw Stan and Kyle talking with Kenny who had a skateboard with him. "Oh hey Butters!" Stan called upon seeing him. Butters quickly tried to wipe the few drops of blood off his dark turquoise t-shirt. "We saw Pip leave the school, he looked really hurt."
"H-he tripped down the stairs and landed on his face. Why I had to stop and go help him up."
"Oh okay," Stan said and turned away and the small group started to walk off, only for Kenny to come over to Butters, telling his friends to keep on going.
"Want to come with us to the skate park? Kyle wants me to show Ike some new moves, and I want to show some chicks some of mine," he said, a mischievous tone in his voice.
Typical Kenny, Butters thought. He didn't want to go with them, these things usually ended up badly for Butters, plus it wasn't like Kenny ever did anything to help him with being bullied; only offered him a little empathy afterwards. As far as Butters was concerned that made him no better than the other kids. "No thanks Kenny," Butters said. Kenny sighed and returned to his friends and he too joined the list of people who was beginning to feel that a much darker Butters was lurking just below the surface, and hoping that it wouldn't get out.
When he got home Butters made for his room, only giving his mom a quick greeting before shutting himself away in his room. He felt frustrated, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he felt like Kenny was teasing him, or maybe it was just because the world thought little bits of kindness made up for the nightmares he'd been put through. He looked in the mirror briefly seeing his messy blond hair, blue eyes, skinny black jeans and turquoise shirt. He'd thought the emo style worked and he was an emo, he felt it fit him better.
He was definitely an emo who contributed to the stereotype, as the scars on his wrist showed. Some of the other emo kids at the school treated him as an outcast due to that, as most of them were not fond of the stereotypes at all, it gave something else for them to be ripped on about and that only made things worse for them in general. As it was in his current state of anger he tore off his black and white arm warmer and grabbed a Swiss army knife from under his bed and slashed it across his wrist.
There it was that pain that felt like it matched his anger and with the blood his fury and mental fury seemed to drain out, the physical pain helping to cover it all up. He used the scarf he always wore now to wipe away the blood a bit, and turned to stabbing at a spare pillow with his knife. When finally he felt exhausted he turned on his mp3 player and listened to his emo music. And that was mostly a typical Friday for Butters now, dark, melancholy and depressing.
Kenny meanwhile was with Stan, Kyle and Ike at the skate park, but he was not focused. While he watched Ike try a whole number of skate tricks, he himself was thinking about Butters. He was so quiet that Kyle actually shook him "Kenny! Dude, don't tell me you're stoned," the Jewish boy said.
"No I'm not, just thinking." The thoughtful tone in his voice was a world apart from his 'rebel' dress style, with an orange hoodie, with a self-added 'dead' smiley face, and baggy, low-waistline black jeans which he wore about as low as possible and had a hole at the knee.
"It's not like you to be so quiet dude, what's up?"
"Butters, I'm worried about him."
"What? Really? Why?"
"Think about it, would you ever have guessed him to become an emo kid? All the cheer and innocence now seems kind of… faked."
"Hey big brother, watch what I can do!" Ike called from the top of a half-pipe.
"Hold on Ike!" Kyle called back. "Let's go over to his place when he gets home from his cottage trip. Monday's Memorial Day, so we can just wait."
"Yeah we could try that," Kenny said. "But if Cartman comes within ten yards of that property you and Stan can beat the fuckin' shit out of him."
"Gladly," Kyle said, almost eagerly. The two re-joined Stan who'd been waiting for them and Kyle told him their plan for Monday, while Kenny coached Ike on his skate tricks. Of course Kyle was watching his brother perform as well.
The next day dawned bright and sunny which reflected Butters in a sense, he liked the country and even though all that anger was there still, he felt freer in the country. He could get away from the evil man who haunted his nightmares, and his reality, his dad. He rolled back his arm warmer and saw the cut from the previous night had scabbed over. I'll make another one later, I'm sure he thought, looking at the eight or nine scars that criss-crossed his wrists like roads. He even had his knife in his pocket, expecting to add to the grim collection.
When they picked up Dougie Butters was deep in thought with his music playing in both ears. Dougie was surprised at his friend's oddly sinister appearance, both hands crossed with his head resting on them reminiscent of a James Bond villain, and the black and various dim colours made him look almost psychotic at best. Dougie had gotten used to the clothes but hadn't thought them to be so sinister until seeing his friend this particular way. But when at last he got Butters' attention, via a sharp jab in the ribs, the moment passed and he looked as depressed and angsty as ever with the mask of cheer sitting on top.
The two boys talked little on the two hour drive out into the country, though Dougie noticed his friend occasionally mumbling to himself. Listening closer though Dougie could tell he was merely singing distractedly to the music. The two boys eventually settled into reading and keeping silent, to which Mr. and Mrs. Scotch were glad. Mr. Scotch because he didn't have to listen to his annoying, imperfect son and Mrs. Scotch cause there was no likelihood of conflicts arising as long as everyone was quiet.
When they arrived it was nearing lunch time and Butters took advantage of his parent's distraction to wander down to the nearby lake and gaze out over the calm, serene waters. In all honesty he didn't care for the cottage itself so much, it was practically a duplicate of their home, except slightly smaller, but still possessing two stories. His dad had lucked out with some shares on the stock market and used the money to buy the place. So to Butters it seemed like a reminder of home, which was one of the worst things ever to him.
No for Butters it was the surrounding area, the trees, the lake, the forests. More specifically it was how he could exert power over the creatures within, their very lives being his to control. He was good with a knife and that's what would plunge through the heart of any animal he didn't like. Dougie came up beside him and tapped his shoulder. "Yes Dougie?" Butters said without looking at his friend.
"Your mom told me to tell you lunch is ready."
"Good to know." Butters walked with Dougie back to the cottage and ate.
The trouble began later that night towards the end of dinner later that night. Discussion was low but eventually turned to school. "So how's school going for you Dougie?" Mrs. Scotch asked.
"Pretty well Mrs. Scotch. I'm one of the best in all my classes. In fact the school's been thinking about having me skip a grade to go straight into high school."
"You excited about going into high school?" Mr. Scotch asked.
"Yeah, seems like it'll be cool."
"Butters has been doing quite well, he's going into the military after high school," Mr. Scotch said with cheer.
"I am?" Butters asked abruptly, being pulled from his thoughts upon hearing this.
"Of course you are son; it's what I did after school. I spent the best years of my life there."
"B-but I was thinking of going to university."
"What? That's ridiculous, it's far too expensive, and you're going into the military."
"But I want-"
"You're going into the military Butters! That's final! Do you understand?"
Butters bowed his head, felt the fury rising, the pure hatred lighting in his soul life fire. "No."
"What did you say to me?" Mr. Scotch said, rising furiously to his feet and trying to exert his authority. Butters rose to his feet too with fury blazing in his eyes.
"I said no. I do not understand how you could be so cruel and so commanding to a child! You've hurt me and beat me my entire life, and now you're going to try and force me to go somewhere where I'll be further hurt and humiliated," Butters said sternly.
"That was for your own good you stupid boy! It was to make sure you knew there were consequences for being bad, but you don't learn. You're a horrible child constantly disobeying my rules."
"I was bullied by Cartman, Stan and Kyle into those things! You saw me several times on the verge of death! But did you care? No! You care about yourself and having a good reputation! You're a horrible, cruel man who has no fucking reason to exist!"
Butters' mother gasped hearing her son swear and his dad reached forwards to grab his son's shirt, ready to thoroughly beat him up. Quick as a flash Butters whipped out his knife and slashed it across his dad's palm sending a spray of blood across the table and bringing a startled and pained gasp from his dad who withdrew his hand and gazed at his son with horror. "Don't ever try again," Butters hissed with his boyish features twisted into a truly sinister, malicious face. He grabbed. "Come on Dougie we're going."
"B-but-"Dougie stuttered.
"Now!" Butters ordered. "And as for you worthless mother, you're just as bad as your evil husband." He stormed from the cottage with Dougie close behind him and his knife stained with blood. He slashed apart foliage as he rushed out into the forest, deeper and deeper into the woods.
"Butters!" Dougie called. "Wait up!"
Butters ignored him and continued charging through the forest without any idea where he was going, though he could hardly be said to care. So it was Dougie who saw it first, a great flaming ball of rock hurtling through the sky, a meteor. Even worse, it was heading right towards where Butters would be in a few minutes.
Quickening his pace Dougie tried to catch up to his friend, but to no avail for Butters was a good deal faster than him. Butters didn't see the meteor until it was too late, he heard the roaring as it burned through the atmosphere and felt the heat as it drew close then there was a BOOM! The ground tore apart and splattered dirt and rock everywhere, it hadn't been a terribly big meteor, but enough to send ripples of force through the ground and air nearby. They blasted Butters as he stumbled across the shaking ground amidst the heat and flames and debris and with a startled cry he toppled into the burning crater.
Dougie arrived in time to see his friend topple into the flames. He let out a garbled cry, but was too late and Butters was consumed by the heat and flames. As the shockwaves subsided and Dougie was able to approach the crater he noted that it wasn't really flames, but some sort of heated cloud the colour of flames, but also with some sort of darkness at the heart of the cloud. As he edged closer he cried out as he saw a shadowy figure rise from the crater and land on its edge, the cloud flowing into him and his eyes glowing with power. "B-Butters?" Dougie squeaked.
The shadowy figure chuckled in a voice like Butters', but deeper and far more sinister sounding. "Not quite," he said and swiftly grabbed Dougie by the shirt and hurled him into the crater. Moments later the last of the shadowy cloud was consumed by Butters, but also by a new figure that stood beside him, and both boys had been changed forever.
Chapter 4
Linda Scotch was sobbing uncontrollably. The fight between her husband and son, the brutal things said and worse, her son had pulled a knife on her husband and attacked him with it. About forty-five minutes had passed, but to her it felt like it had happened mere seconds ago. She was rocking back and forth, her hands covering her eyes and tears streaming out. Meanwhile her husband was wrapping his hand in gauze, cursing loudly about his son. "Should've had an abortion," he kept yelling to his wife. "He's nothing but trouble that brat! Like any other kids could possibly force him to do bad things. More likely he's a bad influence on them!"
"He call… he called me useless," Linda sobbed. "It's true, I am useless."
Stephen appeared from another room, his hand well bandaged. "No you're not dear," he soothed. "You stand by and support me against-"
"That's how I'm useless! I stand idly by and let you abuse and bully my son, my child. I'm his mother Stephen; I should be protecting him from big bullies like you!"
"Linda! How can you honestly mean that!"?
"What kind of man beats a nine year old boy nearly to death? Remember that Stephen? Those years ago when it turned out Eric Cartman was imitating Butters on the phone? Instead of trying to find out what was going on when our son was clueless you threw a vase at him!"
"That was a-"
"I know I was there too and I was angry as well, but I should've stopped you and tried to find a more peaceful way to end the violence."
"But you didn't, did you?" came a strange voice. Both adults turned to see their son standing in the shadows of the room. He strode forwards into the light and they saw he was wearing rather strange, but intimidating garb. He had elbow-length gauntlets, boots, shoulder plates, four long plates of armour around his waist and hanging from his belt and a breastplate all made of some silvery metal that had an almost otherworldly look to it. On his head he wore a helmet of the same metal with a Y-shaped space where his mouth and eyes could be seen and a red jewel was in the forehead section, while his blond hair still showed for the helmet did not cover the top of his head.
Instead of the clothes they'd gotten used to him wearing he now wore a dark turquoise tunic and black pants with a dark belt around his waist and from his shoulders hung a dark green cloak the hood of which he had just pulled from his head. Perhaps most astounding was the extra muscle he had acquired. His biceps clearly bulged and the rest of his body rippled as he walked with muscle at the peak of human ability for a fourteen year old boy.
"B-Butters?" Linda squeaked, intimidated by her son's strange new appearance.
"Yes and no mother," the boy said in that voice that was Butters' but deeper and more sinister. "I am still the boy you gave birth to, in body at least, but I no longer go by the names 'Butters' or 'Leopold'. From now and forever more I am to be known by the world as Professor Chaos, Bringer of Destruction and Doom!" He raised his hand and lightning crackled around it. He pointed to the ceiling above his parents and a bolt of lightning shot from his finger, blasting through the ceiling and the roof and out into the sky. The two adults were too terrified to scream or shout or do anything. "Oh how rude of me, I must introduce you to General Disarray," Professor Chaos mused.
The door was suddenly blasted off its hinges and both Scotches were terrified to see Dougie walk through the door, only he too wore an outfit of a silvery, otherworldly material. In his case it was gauntlets, tunic, pants and boots with a triangular piece starting from his chest and mid-back and connecting to form shoulder armour in a style reminiscent of Arabian or oriental royal garb. Instead of glasses he was wearing a visor of the same material with red lenses and wore a black cloak down his back. Like Chaos he was a good deal more muscular than he'd been previously and he held a high-tech pistol in one hand and a ruby-topped staff in the other. "Shall I shoot them Lord Chaos?" General Disarray asked his voice too altered and twisted into a dark, fear inducing version of his original voice.
"No General, this is my kill," Chaos said, his eyes literally flashing with crackling energy. "You two have brutalized me, abused me and treated me as a dog for my whole life. Professor Chaos does not approve and you shall be punished." Professor Chaos strode towards the cowering adults and it was clear he was a little bit taller than he had been previously, about five foot and seven inches. "You have no place in my new world and so therefore shall receive the punishment you rightly deserve." He raised his hands and flames crackled in his palm and with a simple throwing motion he hurled a fireball that struck Stephen square in the chest. The man screamed as the flames burned him, burned his clothes and skin and flesh. Professor Chaos raised his left hand and fired several bolts of electricity from his fingers that struck the burning man, adding further pain while simultaneously he sent a blast of water at Linda that struck her and instantly froze, sealing her in ice.
"Stop! Please stop!" Linda shouted. But Professor Chaos laughed cruelly, all that anger was unleashed and he would make the world feel it. He controlled the elements now; fire, earth, wind and water were at his command, as were some of the forces of the universe itself; gravity, electricity and magnetism and the heat of the sun. "Now you shall see one of the greatest of powers, for I think I owe you that," Chaos said and from his palm shot a stream of superheated gas, a miniature solar flare. Wielding it like a whip he brought it tearing through the walls, setting flame to it all and tearing it apart. And as the entire cottage began to collapse in burning flames Chaos let the flare dissipate and turned to the shattered door. "Burn in hell, parents," he spat and strode through the door. He gestured for General Disarray to follow him and with the powers of wind Chaos soared into the air and left the burning cabin behind.
"Where to now Lord Chaos?" General Disarray asked as they sailed through the air.
"South Park, I have some preventative measures I need to enact."
The super villains touched down beside a house in South Park and Chaos turned to his lackey. "Go to the door and remove the lock," he ordered. "I want this to be as quiet an operation as possible; I'm not ready to reveal myself."
"Yes sir," Disarray said, his pistol primed and Chaos followed him around the house to the front door. He levelled his blaster with the door and fired a bolt of energy that burned the lock clean through. Chaos took the lead now, leading his lackey through the house and up the stairs and found the room he knew to be Kenny's. With a mere punch he shattered the door and strode into the room, Disarray going to Kenny's parents' room, pistol in hand and his intentions clear.
The sound of the shattering door of course awoke Kenny who sat bolt upright to see the boy he knew to be Butters standing in his room, wearing and outfit he'd not seen for years. Except this time, the outfit looked very, very real. "B-Butters?" Kenny asked his blonde hair in a mess. Despite his poor place in the world, Kenny had grown into a more fit body; however few remembered the real reason for his fitness, figuring he'd given it up. But no, he was still Mysterion, the vigilante. "Greetings Kenny, I am Professor Chaos. Don't count on weaselling out of this, I know who you are."
"What do you mean?" Kenny asked, his face not showing any terror at all.
"You think I'd forgotten like the rest of this worthless town? Of course the fat boy gave it up when it was obvious it didn't serve his interests. But you of course were always one of the more moral ones Kenny, or should I say Mysterion." Chaos shot a blast of frost at his groggy target, only to find his target was not so groggy anymore and he sprang away from his bed and rolled on the floor, simultaneously hurling three crescent shaped shuriken at his attacker. Professor Chaos raised a shield of ice and the spinning blades stuck in the ice and the blades clattered to the ground.
Okay so Butters has become a super villain, Kenny thought as he desperately dodged fireballs and lightning bolts. Professor Chaos was a good shot and if Kenny stopped for even a second he knew he would be toast. He needed his gear he couldn't fight back as Kenny he needed to be Mysterion. He grabbed a small sphere from under his desk and hurled it at the ground, immediately it let off a cloud of white smoke. "A smoke bomb?" Professor Chaos scoffed. He began whipping the air around in the room into a wind that easily cleared the smoke, but the smoke had offered Kenny the chance he needed. He closed his closet doors and backed away into a trap door he had installed, quickly he worked the lock and dropped down the set of stairs which halfway down changed from wood to metal.
At the bottom of the stairs Kenny quickly ran into a metal room with metal wall only meters away. Swiftly he dashed to the side and ran through a door that was for all intents and purposes hidden to the naked eye; he came to another wall and ran down the corridor formed between the two to another door. He continued this for another three walls before finally coming to a room hidden at the end where his gear sat on one side of a sizable computer mainframe. He'd dubbed this place the Maze of Mysterion due to its disguised entryway.
Quickly he grabbed his outfit consisting of a grey Kevlar full body outfit, covered with a blackish-blue breastplate, shoulder armour, groin armour, gauntlets and boots all made of a Kevlar-titanium fusion with a sheen of plastic making it light, durable and protected from elemental attacks and fairly flexible. Over his head he wore a Kevlar-titanium weave hood usually covering that with the hood of his cloak, made from the same material. With his armour on he grabbed his utility belt and was ready to go. Not a moment too soon for he could fear the sound of metal breaking as Professor Chaos tore after him. He couldn't fight in here; there wasn't enough room for him to use his own abilities. With that in mind he dashed into a corridor on the opposite side of the mainframe, mounted a jet-black armoured motorcycle over which a hood was placed so it look almost like a strange miniature car. He started the vehicle and zoomed off down the tunnel and soon out into the open air.
Stan groggily walked down the stairs, his black hair even messier than usual and wearing dark blue pyjama bottoms and light blue pyjama top. It was Saturday and he was hoping to spend a day with Kyle and Kenny biking up a nearby mountain, and then come back and just hang out. Of course since the former part involved activity they were able to get away from Cartman, though they didn't expect to be so lucky when they got back. Stan was figuring he could work out on his uncle's bowflex and maybe that would be enough activity to deter Cartman, but it was a longshot.
After getting cereal for himself and sitting in front of the television though he was brought wide awake by the constant news which his father Randy was watching with great interest. "I'm here Tom at the evacuation site for a number of personnel removed from nearby S-10 Air Force Base," the reporter said, from some sort of hostel apparently in Denver. "The unprecedented explosion of several new aircraft was surprising, but nonetheless disastrous. One evacuee claimed he saw three figures enter the military base prior to the disaster, but was unable to identify them. More news as this story develops."
"Thank you Michael," Tom said from the studio. "In local South Park news the house of the McCormick family was found destroyed and in flames this morning with the owners of the residence gravely injured. Mr. and Mrs. McCormick died before paramedics could arrive and their son Kenny McCormick is missing." Upon hearing this Stan was finished breakfast, dressed, including his blue tuque with red poofball on the top, and out the door in ten minutes. He made for Kyle's house only to find his friend was hurrying towards his own house, still adjusting his green ushanka hat.
"Stan dude! Kenny! I called Clyde he'll meet us there," Kyle babbled out.
"I know!" Stan replied, meeting his friend and crossing the street and together running through the streets. They arrived at the spot where Kenny's house had been and sure enough there was a crowd of journalists as well as police. Clyde was already standing at the edge of the crowd, looking at the burnt ruins with horror. "Clyde!" Stan called.
"Oh hi Stan," Clyde said, turning from the wreckage. "Someone did this Stan. It wasn't an accident."
"I bet I do," Kyle said bitterly pointing to Cartman arriving with a smile on his face and a spotless sweater vest and dress shirt.
"Oh my god guys do you see this?" Cartman said joyously. "Isn't this awesome! The only thing that would make this better would be if it was Kyle's house!"
"Shut up fatass!"
"It's not my fault you're a dirty, big nosed Jew."
This statement surprised Stan to say the least, which somebody actually would do this, especially in South Park, and that Clyde seemed to know it as a fact. "How do you know dude?"
"I have been training to be a Psychic Medium, remember," Clyde said.
"Since when?" Kyle asked. "That's impossible."
"Tell that to my powers, and my grandmother, Kyle. It isn't fun to wake up with a spirit standing at the bottom of your bed looking at you."
Neither Stan nor Kyle could believe what they were hearing. This was a side of Clyde they'd never really seen before, but considering all they'd seen over the years it was hard for either of them to deny that Clyde was telling the truth. "But who would do something so terrible?" Stan asked.
"I don't know."
"Did you do this Cartman?" Stan interjected.
"What? No!" Cartman chuckled. "I sure wish I did, it knocks Craig down one. Did you know he came here really early and went home crying? Can you believe it! What a pussy!"
The other three boys exchanged startled looks. "Come on guys," Kyle said. It was a surprising turn of events to say the least and Cartman would never lie about seeing something that would embarrass someone, exaggerate yes, but make up, no. "And you go away you fat asshole," Kyle called as Cartman started to follow. The fat boy stopped and frowned, but shrugged it off and turned his attentions elsewhere.
The boys arrived at Craig's and knocked on the door. "Why're we doing this anyways?" Stan asked.
"Because we've done more weird shit than anyone else in South Park and investigating this murder and comforting those affected by it are the right things to do," Kenny explained.
The door opened with Craig's mom standing in the doorway. "Yes?"
"Hi Mrs. Tucker, we came to see Craig," Stan said.
"Sure. He's been in his room since this morning," Mrs. Tucker said in a flat, emotionless voice that seemed to be common in the family. "I hope he's okay."
"You're worried about him?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, can't you tell?" she said, emotionless sounding as ever. "Anyways come in, I don't want mosquitoes in here."
The three boys went into the house and up the stairs and found Craig's room. Stan knocked and waited. After a brief pause Craig answered. "Come in."
The three opened the door to see Craig watching something on YouTube, but he didn't really seem focused. "Oh it's you guys," Craig said, his voice the same as his mother's, but there was a very definite quaver to it that was all the more noticeable due to his usual tone of voice. "I'm just watching' this thing… why are you guys here anyways?"
None of the boys knew how to start, but in the end it was Stan who decided to take charge. "Well Cartman told us that you were crying after learning about Clyde -"
"What! I wasn't-" Craig started to say.
"-But we're not taking Cartman exactly by his word. You're mom said she was worried about you so we wanted to know, you know, if you're okay?"
Craig took off his blue chullo hat and fiddled with the straps and ran a hand through his straight black hair. He opened his mouth several times like he was about to speak, but couldn't and at length moved from his desk to his bed. "No, no I'm not," he said at last.
"What is it?" Clyde asked kindly, sitting beside Craig on the bed, hoping to comfort him.
Craig took a deep breath, wondering if he should tell or not. It was a secret after all, but these three were adventurers so it might help to mention it. "He's Mysterion. I know everyone saw back when we were kid and he stopped being Mysterion after that, for a while anyways. But he started up again and told me to keep it secret."
"Why're you telling us?" Stan asked.
"Because I think he would want me too if he was fighting a losing battle. With his parents dead and his house destroyed I think this qualifies, and you three are good at this sort of shit. It makes me worried more about him though, if he's Mysterion than it means he's risking his neck and whoever he's against could get lucky…" Clyde began trying to comfort Craig again something that Craig found shocking in the boy assumed to be a rebel.
"Want to help us out Craig?" Clyde asked. "It's better than doing nothing isn't it?"
"Yeah I guess," Craig admitted. "Yeah, Kenny would do the same for me. If he might be in trouble than I have to help him."
"Okay cool," Stan said. "But where do we start?"
The answer to that question came to them all at exactly the same time and they spoke almost simultaneously. "The military base."
Was that great, exciting? Well if it was be review and favourite it.
I will add the next chapters just as soon and I learn how to use windows 8.