Author's Note: *Inhales sharply* Wow! That was an incredibly POWERFUL chapter I just typed out. I can't believe how crazy this story is really getting. As a mini-update, I would like to announce that as of chapter 35, I will have completed 'book 1' in the 'Tale of Storms' series. I will eventually be adding a book/arc directory at chapter 1, so please look forward to that if you wish to use it as a reference.

I've been SO slammed with college homework it's been absolutely crazy. I just managed to finish this chapter today with the spare time I had from homework, and it's 12:38 A.M. here as I'm typing this. I love all my followers just oh so much I put aside time just to bring you all the next exciting chapter.

Special Author Shout-out To:

FanFiction user MootyCakes. Thank you so much for your peer reviews, you have really helped me become a better writer!

Please check my profile for any personal, author related updates on the story!

Also please consider leaving a review, they encourage me to do better and keep writing!

And most importantly, if you DO decide to leave a review, I'd LOVE to hear your feedback on which couple you support: Style...or Stenny? :) Who will end up with who...? Stay tuned!

HERE GOES THE FIRST STORM! ENJOY!

Chapter 29 – The First Storm

POV: Kenny McCormick

Time seemed to freeze for Kenny McCormick.

Kenny had never felt more connected with the world around him. His adrenaline began pumping through his veins. He could feel every muscle in his body as he shook in the heavy rainfall. He felt as if he could sense every fiber in the world as he prepared himself.

In front of him, Kenny watched the biker in dark clothing sprint towards Barbrady in what seemed like slow motion. Kenny saw every drop of water fly upwards as the biker stepped in a puddle with his boots. He could see every slight movement the dark rider made. Kenny was afraid, he felt as if he was staring death in the face.

"Is this it?" Kenny wondered to himself. He knew that there would be one of two outcomes for him in these next few minutes. Kenny realized the facts of this instant: he would either live, and seek out Kyle with his friends, or else him, Stan, and Eric would all die a miserable death right here in the streets. Kenny closed his eyes for a brief moment. In the smallest moment, Kenny remembered something from long ago. He allowed himself to soak into the memory.

"Kenny…I like Stan…" Kenny remembered lying on his back on Kyle's soft bed when his Jewish friend confessed his love for Stan. Kenny had bolted upright, making his friend's bed creak when Kyle broke the news to him. Kenny had shared a short, tense stare with Kyle as he digested the confession. Kenny was suddenly filled with energy. His friends confession had surprised him and filled him with energy. "You…like Stan…what do you mean?" Kenny had asked, raising an eyebrow and forming a hard smile. Kyle avoided his gaze and stared down at the carpet, blushing. "I mean…I think I love him…" Kenny's jaw had dropped and he let out an excited breath. The blond felt energy pulsate throughout his body; he had never been happier for Kyle.

"That's wonderful!" Kenny said out loud. 'I'm so glad for the both of them.' he thought in his mind.

Kenny remembered how much he had supported the two as a couple. 'I gave Kyle the idea to sneak off to school and tell Stan the truth...I'm the one who told Kyle my secret, that I knew a secret way into the school..." Kenny had never known what happened that very night, but he knew that afterwards, Kyle and Stan had formed a true relationship with each other. It was what Kenny thought he had wanted for them...

'And then…Kyle left.'

Kenny remembered the look in Stan's eyes as he was approaching what seemed like his final days with Kyle. It seemed to Kenny as if Stan saw Kyle as a drug he couldn't live without, it tore him inside at just the thought to be separated from Kyle. Stan had always thought him and Kyle would be inseparable, but that proved not to be the case. Kenny remembered how Stan's eyes reflected Kyle more and more as time wore on. 'He was never truly happy without that someone…and I wanted to be someone to him...'

'Even though times have changed...I stand here preparing myself for what could be the end...There's only one thing I can do now…If I ever want to hold hands with Stan again like before…' the memory of Stan's gentle grasp, and his fingers interlocking with Kenny's as they watched the fireworks together flashed in Kenny's mind. 'I'll have to fight…for all of us…No matter what happens...I'll fight until the end if I have to! I'll protect my friends! I can't betray Kyle, he's my best friend. I promise I'll keep Cartman safe, he's a friend too. And Stan…' Kenny opened his eyes and gazed at the rider through the rain.

'I love him…I always will…"

Time unfroze, and the battle of the first storm began…

"Fire!" Barbrady shouted over the heavy rain. Several loud screeches pierced through the air. Kenny jumped at the rapid sound of bullets being fired. In front of him, the rider continued running for Barbrady. There was no blood, and all the bullets fired seemed to tunnel into the wet pavement around the riders feet. Kenny could see the steam rise from where the bullets burrowed themselves in the pavement.

'What the hell?' Kenny wondered.

"No!" Stan was on his knees in front of Kenny, shaking badly. Stan seemed just as, if not more surprised than Kenny at the sight of the bullets not touching the rider. The officer's pistols seemed to be pointed directly at the dark rider.

"Are they missing him?" Kenny wondered. Cartman stood frozen next to Stan as he watched the rider get close to Barbrady.

The bullets stopped firing, and the rider made his first move.

Kenny's eyes widened as he saw the rider leap into the air unlike any human he'd ever seen before. The dark rider performed a front flip in mid-air, and landed his heavy boots on top of Barbrady's shoulders. Barbrady grunted from the blow. The rider leaned forward as Barbrady began to fall towards the ground. The dark figure pressed his boots against the back of Barbrady's shoulders., sending him flying forward towards the other officer's behind the shelter of their police cruisers. Barbrady fell forward and slammed into the pavement from the blow. Kenny saw the flashing red and blue police lights shine against the rider's helmet visor.

'He's not normal...' Kenny observed.

"We're out of ammo!" one of the officers yelled from behind the police cruisers. As the rider flew towards one of the officers, he extended his right arm in front of him. The silver knife shined in the night, it's glow hurt Kenny's eyes, he had to look away. "First." The deep voice under the helmet sounded.

Kenny watched in horror as the rider slashed an enormous gash across the officer's torso in mid-air. The officer let out a yelp of pain and instinctively reached for his wound. Blood trickled down his uniform and sprayed out into the air like a fountain. The officer stood for a moment, then stumbled and collapsed onto the wet pavement beneath him, his face landed in his own blood. The sight of death chilled Kenny to the bone. "You bastard!" one of the other officers shouted across from his murdered companion. Kenny could see the other officers pulling out knives from their belts in preparation of the bikers next move.

Seeing the bloodshed made Kenny fearful, but he forced himself to stay as courageous as he could. 'That's it…I need to help them...' he thought to himself. Kenny hesitantly put a foot forward as the rider dashed for his next target.

'I'm going to prove myself to you Stan…watch me…' Kenny began running towards the rider. He saw the dark figure dodge blows from two other officer's without any effort. The rider simply would leap back, side step, or lean to dodge the slashing of the other officer's.

'Can I really do anything…' Kenny thought hesitantly. 'He's so...strong.'

Kenny heard Stan gasp behind him. "Kenny, no!" the dark haired boy shouted after him.

Kenny saw rider twirl away from the blows of the other officers, almost as if he was dancing to avoid their attacks. The dark figure ducked below two slashing blows from the officers. When their arms had hit nothing, the rider quickly stood up. Kenny saw his helmet flick back and forth, quickly observing his targets. The rider reached his arms out and grabbed both of the officers by their uniform collars. He lifted them both into the air. The dark rider briefly lowered his arms then pushed them upwards hard, sending the officers a few inches into the air. Before gravity could take effect, the rider lifted one foot off the ground and twirled in a circle with his knife. His already blood soaked knife pierced through the two officers in the air. The slashing from his knife sent their blood flying through the wind. Blood splattered across the white hood of the police cruisers. A sickening thud was heard as the two lifeless bodies fell on the ground. Kenny halted in fear, considering running away with Stan and Eric. Time was running out, the train would surely arrive soon.

Officer Barbrady was struggling on the ground not far from Kenny. His black sunglasses had fallen off, revealing aged eyes. "No, run!" he pleaded, looking intently in Kenny's eyes. "You don't know what you're doing! Just go!" There were only two other officers left for the rider to finish off behind the police cruisers. 'If I don't fight...I can run...but if I help out now, maybe I'll have a better chance at surviving...' It was a difficult decision Kenny had to make.

'I'll do whatever it takes, if I can save lives, I'll sacrifice my own to do so!'

Kenny let out a hard breath and ran with all of his might towards the officer. The dark figure ran for another officer, shaking in fear. The officer held out an extended, shaky arm, preparing to defend himself from the otherworldly attacker.

The officer's effort was to no avail, the rider side-stepped the cop's lunge and drew his silver blade across his opponent's throat. Red liquid squirted out from the man's neck. The officer reached for his throat instinctively. He couldn't scream from the blood choking him. The officer's eyes slowly closed, and he collapsed to the ground. As Kenny was a step away from the hood of a police cruiser, he noticed red liquid trickling out from underneath.

'This bloodshed...it's cold murder...'

"One left." The rider said in his deep, menacing voice. The last officer began to run away from the rider in hopes he would live. He tripped as he ran away, and quickly struggled to get up. "Not so fast." The rider raised his blade high into the air. The dark figure pulled his arm back, and flung the knife towards the running officer. The blade flipped rapidly through mid-air. It pierced into the cop's back, directly into his heart. "Agh!" the officer squealed out. He landed face-down on the pavement.

Barbrady's backup units were completely defeated in less than a minute.

"Stop it!" Kenny screamed. Kenny leaped onto the hood of a police cruiser and slid across it towards the rider. "Kenny!" Eric and Stan said in unison behind him. "Why are you doing this?! Stop!" Kenny yelled at the rider as he slid across the hood of the police car. Kenny landed on the other side of the cruiser and glared at the rider, standing just a car-length away from Kenny. The rider turned toward Kenny slowly. "There's one more I have to finish before you." Kenny ran for the rider, but the man in black performed an incredible maneuver. The black figure leaped from the other side of the cop car and twisted through the air over Kenny. The dark figure landed behind Kenny.

Kenny swung his arm behind him, the rider ducked, avoiding his blow. The mysterious figure jumped over the cop car and twisted. His heavy boots landed just in front of Barbrady, who was just barely starting to get back up. "See, Barbrady? I told you you would never protect them."

"Shut up." Barbrady gasped out.

Kenny eyed Barbrady as he struggled to get up. "Get out of here…" Barbrady coughed into a wet hand. "He's too strong, just go!" Barbrady tried saying with as much effort as he could. Kenny figured he would have screamed it, but the older cop didn't have much energy left at this point.

"Hmm…I think maybe I'll receive more satisfaction from instilling fear in them. What kind of cop are you? You can't protect anyone, Barbrady." The rider taunted. The rider reached into his pocket, and pulled out an identical knife. With the tap of a finger, a clean silver blade poked out into the night.

"No!" Kenny yelled. He ran for Barbrady. The rider seemed to pause his blow, he watched Kenny as he approached, as if he wasn't worried. Kenny jumped in front of Barbrady and extended his arms.

"Get out of my way." The deep voice sounded, uncaring. In the blink of an eye, Kenny felt an enormous blow against the side of his chest. He stumbled sideways and fell hard against the pavement. His chest shot with pain, he curled into a ball, trying to heal himself from the blow. Kenny also felt a burning pain in his hand. He looked at his soaked palm to see he had scraped it in several places from sliding against the pavement. Kenny twisted his head back towards the rider. "Stop!" he yelled out. The shout had hurt his chest, he hunched back up in pain. "Kenny!" he heard Eric call. "Go!"

Kenny tried to get up as fast as he could. In front of Kenny, the figure raised his arm high into the air. Barbrady pushed his hands against the ground, and shook as he tried to stand up. "Boys, this man is-" he tried to say as he attempted to stand up. "His name is-" Officer Barbrady's words were cut off, but not from Barbrady's own choice. Kenny heard Stan scream in fear as the figure stabbed Barbrady's skull. "No!" Stan screamed. Blood sprayed against the rider's dark clothing, and the demon began laughing hysterically. "It's finally time!" he shouted through the rain. The rider stumbled from his excitement.

It was time for Kenny, Stan, and Eric to shape their destinies.

The rain fell silently against the boys and the dark rider. "Now that they are dead...I get the pleasure of killing each of you…Who should I start with?" The rider slowly turned towards Kenny. Kenny's eyes widened, he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but he forced himself to keep his fear inside. 'I can't show any fear.' Kenny tried to calm himself. Though he was sure his now rapid breathing was giving away how scared he really was. Kenny wasn't sure what to do at this point.

'He's too strong…I underestimated him...I need to get out of here, or we're all going to die…I shouldn't have jumped in like I did…we need to live on…" Kenny thought to himself.

' And besides...I made a promise to Stan...We're going to find you Kyle…no matter what…'

"Maybe I'll start with you, Kenny McCormick." The rider said in what seemed like a shaky voice. The helmeted man began walking towards Kenny. His blood soaked knife dripped blood on its pointy end. The blood dripped onto the wet pavement, leaving a bloody trail behind the rider. Kenny stood frozen in fear.

'How can I win? If I run, that just leaves me blind-sided... I have to wait until there's some opportunity to get away during our fight…" Kenny tried to observe the situation. His gaze flicked all around him. Not far away, Kenny heard the sound of a train whistling. 'No! The train is here...wait...is that our chance?! We need to leave very soon if we want to find Kyle! That's our only option...or rather...Stan and Eric's.' Kenny closed his eyes, he felt sadness pang inside of him.

I don't care about myself right now, I have to protect them at the very least!" the blond thought.

"Stan, Eric, go!" he yelled through the rain. Kenny sprinted for the rider. His body was aching from the effort, and his chest was especially hurting, but he willed himself to run through the pain. "Try me." The deep voice said. "This will be fun." When Kenny was close enough to the rider, he gritted his teeth. He pressed his feet hard against the ground and leaped into the air. Kenny lifted himself off the ground and twisted his body. He pulled his arm back behind him. Kenny swung a hard blow, but the rider side stepped without effort. Kenny lost his balance when his feet met the ground. He stumbled in a panic. Before he could fall, he suddenly felt leather squeeze around his neck. He felt the rider use a great force to lift him off the ground.

Kenny felt as if his life was being siphoned from the rider's fierce grip. Kenny reached for his neck, trying to pry the rider's fingers away from his neck. Kenny stared down at the dark figure as he struggled to break free. Kenny tried kicking, but the rider's arm held him out too far. "How many holes do you think I could punch in you before you die?" The rider asked intimidatingly. Kenny couldn't believe the unbelievable strength of the rider, holding Kenny up with just one hand. Kenny felt as if the simplest muscle movement from the rider's fingers would break his neck.

"Your two friends are over there, helpless. They are watching you in fear. Just what I like to see. I'm not sure if I would like to see you all suffer at once...maybe one at a time would be more fun...Perhaps I could kill the last one off, the one with the most torment. I do know I don't like simple deaths... No, you all deserve far worse. How about I capture you, torture you, cut your limbs off, and make you suffer for maybe years before you die?"

Kenny felt his breath rise in his throat in preparation for a scream. He choked on his air when he saw dark red eyes underneath the helmet visor the rider was wearing. "Those eyes..." he thought in his fear. Kenny's pupils dilated at his discovery. "It can't be!" The rider chuckled underneath his helmet. "This is the kind of fear you should have. Do you like what you see?"

The rider pushed a leg behind him. His boot thumped against the ground. The dark figure pulled Kenny towards him, then with an enormous force, threw Kenny through the air towards Stan. Kenny twisted in mid-air and cranked his head to face the direction he was flying. Stan watched him, frozen and unmoving. Kenny extended his arms in front of his face as his body neared Stan. "Look out!" he warned loudly. It was too soon for Stan to move, Kenny collided directly into him. Kenny twisted his body and wrapped his arms around Stan. Kenny pushed Stan from the ground and held Stan above him as he soared through the rain. Kenny landed on his back, and Stan fell hard against his chest. Kenny let out a light squeak of pain from the blow. His chest hurt badly and his backside was burning now from his hard landing.

Kenny pushed his arms underneath Stan's arms and squeezed him tightly.

The rider slowly approached Stan and Kenny. 'Those footsteps...are those going to be the last thing I hear?' Kenny wondered.

Stan leaned his back against Kenny's chest. Kenny heard Stan panting heavily. He could feel Stan's heartbeat against his own chest. Kenny could feel his cold, wet body shaking against him. Kenny leaned towards Stan's ear. "Stan, Put your arm around me." There was a brief pause, and the only sound Kenny heard was the heavy rain. In front of Stan and Kenny, the rider had paused in front of them. Stan turned his body towards Kenny. His blue eyes danced with fear and sadness. Tears streamed down Stan's face. "Kenny…I'm so sorry." He lifted his hands and placed them on Kenny' shoulders. Stan began sobbing into Kenny's chest. Kenny put a hand lightly against the back of Stan's head.

"I made a promise to you, Stan…" Kenny gave a weak smile, unseen by Stan. "I'd never break my promise to you…" Stan pulled his head back from Kenny's chest. Stan and Kenny's blue eyes sent an unspoken message to one another, one that they wouldn't speak about ever again. "I'll make a promise too...' Stan choked out. More tears streamed down his face. "I'll become stronger...I promise you..." Stan closed his eyes tightly and put a shaky arm around the back of Kenny's neck. Kenny leaned forward and slipped his arms underneath Stan. One arm went underneath Stan's back, and the other underneath Stan's knees.

Kenny was hurting badly, but he used his burning desire to prove himself to find more energy. He pushed his feet hard against the ground, and carried a surprisingly light Stan in his arms. He cradled Stan. Stan leaned into Kenny's chest. "Thank you..." he said tiredly.

"We need to leave together." Kenny's eyes began watering. "Kyle's waiting."

Kenny's tears pattered against Stan. Thunder boomed above Kenny's head, followed by a long stretch of bright lightning.

There would be many more tears later.