Mission accomplished! Coon and Friends made their way out of the Police Station with the missing cat, Scrambles! All that was left was to take the cat to its owner and get that $100 for their Netflix franchise! "We did it, dude!" Coon (aka Cartman) said. Human Kite (aka Kyle) agreed and said " That was awesome!" "One-hundred dollar reward money, here we come!" Captain Diabetes (Scott) added, holding Scrambles.
The New Kid, who was a couple steps behind them, remained silent. He was smiling, but inside he did not share his team's enthusiasm." What about the others?" he thought. The New Kid felt bad about tricking other team of heroes, The Freedom Pals. They may be enemies in this superhero "game"..."quest"... whatever this was, but it still didn't feel good, especially considering that two of his best friends, Kenny and Stan (Mysterion and Toolshed), were part of the group. He knew this was a game, but... still. Beating them up in the "Civil Wars" left him with a very uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. Not only that, but Cartman sending him to spy on them made him feel even worse. These guys were among the first real friends he's had in a very long time.
"Whoah whoah whoah, wait!" a voice called out behind them. Coon and friends turned around. Mysterion was standing in the doorway with the rest of the Freedom Pals. "What's going on!?" he questioned the enemy team. "Where are you taking that cat!?" Cartman took that opportunity to speak up. "Oh, uh yeah. Sorry Freedom Pals." he answered rolling his eyes. " There's, um, certain intel we have that we can't share with you. You know, it's...classified."
"THAT'S BECAUSE WE'VE BEEN TRICKED." a voiced echoed in everyone's minds.
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice. "Ahh, fuck." Coon groaned. It was doctor Timothy (Timmy). "The New Kid played us, Freedom Pals! Wanting to join our side was a ruse!" Doctor Timothy's voice echoed.
Mysterion's eyes went wide with anger. "WHAT?" he said angrily. The new Kid looked down at the ground, guilt building up inside him. Doctor Timothy was right. Coon had made him spy on them and, begudgingly, he did so. To make matters worst, Coon chose that moment to sell New Kid out. "Yeah, the New Kid totally fucked you guys over. Sorry." he said uncaringly. "They followed OUR lead to the Police Station and now intend to get a hundred-dollar reward for that missing cat." Doctor Timothy added. "Well, all is fair in love and war Freedom P-Pussies." Fastpass (Timmy) remarked. Coon laughed at Fastpass's joke.
"You assholes!" Toolshed yelled enraged. "We're the ones that stopped the Police chief's evil plan! WE deserve that hundred dollar reward! AND YOU!" He turned toward the new kid. "I thought we could trust you! I thought you wanted to join us! I THOUGHT YOU WERE OUR FRIEND!"
That really stung. New Kid felt like he was going to throw up. He felt his eyes starting to water. But none of the others noticed. "You want the reward, Freedom Pussies!?" Coon said, "Come and Get it!" "We will!" Tupperware (Token) yelled. Coon raised his arms up in the air. "CIVIL WAR THREE! IT'S GOING DOWN!" he said in a confident tone.
The two hero teams got into battle stances. Mysterion stared daggers at the New Kid. "You Bastard!" he said with pure malice in his voice. "We are going to tear you apart!"
New Kid's hands were shaking. He had reached his breaking point. Looking down at the ground, he shut his eyes tight and did the one thing he almost never did before.
He spoke.
"I cant..." he started, his voice shaking. "I can't do this...!" Everyone froze. They rarely heard him speak before. Last time he spoke was at the very end of their Stick of Truth adventure when he told them he had to go home. "Wha..what?" Human Kite said, taken aback at the realization that the New Kid spoke. "I CAN'T PLAY THIS GAME ANYMORE!" The New Kid yelled in anguish. He immediately turned away and ran, quietly sobbing as he disappeared down the street.
"What just happened?" Mosquito asked. "New Kid pussied out, That's what happened." Coon retorted coldly. "Eh, fuck him. We didn't really need him anyway!" Almost immediately, Coon was socked in the face. "OW! he said falling over. "The Fuck, KAHL!?" Human Kite was standing over him, his fist shaking. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME, CARTMAN!?" he said fully enraged. "The New Kid is obviously upset over what we made him do! It's our fault this happened!"
As Human Kite yelled at Coon, the rest of the "heroes" looked at each other with guilt. They really fucked up this time. It was obvious now that New Kid wasn't used to how intense their games could get. They all grew up treating each other like that every day, they all knew it was all in good fun. The New Kid, however, he had only been there a couple weeks. From what they could tell from his manneurisms, he was an extremely kind and innocent person, even kinder than Butters. "We gotta find him!" Wonder Tweek (Tweek) yelled, clearly shocked at what happened! "He was there for me and Craig! We need to do the same for him!" "You're right, Wonder Tweek," Doctor Timothy responded. "Freedom Pals, Coon and Friends, split up and find the New Kid! Whomever finds him first, radio it in and meet us at the Freedom Pals HQ. I have something to show you all and i want the New Kid to see it too." Most of the "heroes" nodded in agreement. Except for Coon. "Fuck that guy!" he yelled. "He broke three rules leaving during the battle! He's out!" At that moment, Super Craig and Tupperware grabbed Coon by the shoulders. "Shut the fuck up, Cartman!" Super Craig yelled. "Tupperware, Supercraig, put Coon in one of the jail cells for now." "With pleasure," Super Craig responded. "As for the rest of us," Doctor Timothy added, "let's find our teammate."
The New Kid was sitting at the edge of Starks Pond. He had taken off his superhero helmet and discarded the "artifacts" that he had picked up over the last few days. His head was buried in his arms as he quietly sobbed. "I wish none of this ever happened," he thought. "All I ever wanted as a normal life with normal friends and a normal family. Was that too much to ask!?"
Unbeknownst to the New Kid, two familiar figures walked up behind him. One came up and tapped him on the shoulder. The New Kid lifted his head up and turned towards whom had found him. It was Call Girl (Wendy) and Professor Chaos (Butters), the two of them giving him a sympathetic look. "Are you okay, Anthony?" Butters asked. "We saw what happened outside the Police Station." Butters was one of the few kids in town who knew the New Kid's real name. The New Kid had told him it one day when they were hanging out shortly after the Stick of Truth adventure ended. The New Kid was silent at first, but then looked down at the ground again. "No, Butters. I'm not." he said sadly. "I only joined this stupid superhero game cause it was the only way i could play with my friends. I thought it would be harmless fun. I thought 'surely the hell we went through in the fantasy game won't happen in this one'! I was wrong! Now Kenny and Stan hate me and I'm probably banned from the group for leaving!" The New Kid started crying again, causing Butters and Wendy sit on either side of him and put their arms around him in a tight hug.
"Shhh. Shhh. It's alright." Wendy comforted him. "None of that was your fault. Cartman was the one who put you in that situation. If anyone is to blame, its him. I'm sure Kenny and Stan don't hate you. They probably regret saying that stuff to you when they saw had badly you were affected by it." "You think so?" New Kid quietly asked between sobs, his head buried into Butters's shoulder. "Yeah," Butters said, patting him on the back. "They're all looking for you right now. They want to apoligize for what they put you through."
The New Kid's breathing started to slow down as Butter and Wendy let him go. "I hope youre right, Call Girl. Thanks" he saud. Wendy smiled and responded. "You're welcome. and just call me Wendy. I'm not as strict on those dumb rules they set up."
At that very moment, a voice spoke up behind them. "Um...hey." New Kid looked to see who it was. It was Mysterion and Toolshed. They looked at the new kid with apologetic looks on their faces. "Can we talk?" Toolshed asked in his normal voice. The New Kid nodded. Wendy and Butter got up to give them some space as Toolshed and Mysterion sat in their spots. "Umm..." Mysterion started, "about what happened back at the Police Station. We just wanted to say we're sorry." "We really are," Toolshed added, "we should have know Cartman forced you to do that. But it doesn't excuse what I said. I let my anger towards Cartman get to me and I took it out on the wrong person. I truly am sorry for all those things i said. I didn't mean a word of it."
The New Kid was silent for a moment. Toolshed was worried that he hasn't going to accept his apology, when suddenly, The New Kid had grabbed him and put his arms around him in a tight hug. Toolshed was taken off guard by this for a second, but then returned the hug. "Thank you," the New Kid said. " It means a lot to me to here you say that, Toolshed." "Call me Stan," Toolshed responded smiling. As they let go, Mysterion put a hand on the New Kid's shoulder. "We really should have noticed how this game was affecting you," he said. "Yeah," New Kid responded a bit sadly looking at the ground. " But in all honesty, I probably should have spoken up myself. I wanted to apologise for all the times i had to beat you guys up in the 'Civil Wars'. I was worried this feud was going to mess up our frienships." "Aw, dude," Mysterion responded, "we never held any of that against you. It was all part of the game." "I know," New Kid said, "But I wasn't comfortable hurting my best friends. I mean, you guys are among the first real friends i've had in a long time. I havent had the chance to get to know anyone like you guys with all the moving my family had to do to hide from the government. When we settled down here in South Park, I finally got to know what real friendship is like. And i was afraid of losing it over something as petty as a game of pretend."
Mysterion listened to the New Kid's story all the way through. The New Kid really did have a lonely childhood. Combine that with the constant bickering his parents seem to go through almost every night, he could see why the New Kid was so attached to his home life almost reminded him of his own. Mysterion then did something he seldom did. He pulled down the hood of his costume, exposing his head and face to the New Kid. Kenny
McCormick put his arms around the New Kid and gave him a gentle hug. "Don't worry, Tony," he said in his normal voice. "We'll always be your friends no matter what happens in this game." The New Kid hugged him back. "Thanks, Kenny," he responded, a warm smile spreading on his face. "By the way," Kenny added, "Cartman is locked up." "Great!" New Kid said happily!
"Come on, guys," Stan said helping them get up. "Timmy wants to show us something back at the Freedom Pals Base." " You coming, New Kid?" Kenny said, putting his hood and eye mask back on. "Yeah, lets go," New Kid said, putting his helmet back on and picking up his "artifacts". The five heroes (or should i say 4 heroes and one "villain") began their walk back to Token's house. New Kid felt much better, knowing that no matter what happens, his friends would always be there for him.