Just like in the last TSOT fic, the South Park kids here will have WoW powers. Here is chapter two. Hope you guys enjoy.
Chapter Two - Crossing Paths.
Her name is Kathy, and she is a mage.
She's not what you'd typically expect of a girl roleplaying a human as she is not a physical frontliner at all, in fact just the opposite. In school, she is known as one of the best mage players in player versus player activities. In terms of our roleplay, she is a mage trainer who teaches arcane magic at the Alliance Royal Academy. She would rather roleplay the part of a magic educator, but will kick ass when push comes to shove. She will make a wise ally in the journey ahead.
"Oh...uh...we were just..." I lost my wording, and I didn't know how I feel about this. Sure, Kathy has been in our class for most of the year, but I barely knew her, heck, the only association Wendy and Bebe have with Kathy is through the Pleases and Sparkles Club meetings.
But Wendy piped up. "Actually, you're a perfect candidate. We need more people, we don't have a mage, and you're a mage."
"Oh I'm in." Kathy sat down between myself and Kyle. "But what's this about finding the New Kid and Cartman? I mean, don't get me wrong, the New Kid is cool and all, but Cartman?! He still hates me because of my hair color!"
"I know you hate Cartman, I mean, I'm pretty certain everybody in this classroom does." Kyle is right; everybody does hate Cartman, but can you blame anyone? "But at the end of the day he's still one of us, and yeah he's cruel to us, but would we be any better of we just abandoned him too?"
"When you put it that way..." Kathy nodded. "Alright, I'll help you guys look for Cartman too. Not that I like him, 'cause I don't, but you know - it is the responsible thing to do after all."
"So we have five of us now," Bebe said. "You guys reckon we can settle with five?"
"We have a good number so far..." Kyle rubbed his chin, but then shrugged. "Ah what the hell, might as well get more people in on this."
"ELLEN!"
Mr. Garrison's voice nearly made me jump. I turned to a certain blonde girl with a light blue trenchcoat that wasn't open, revealing a white tank top underneath, navy blue pants, navy blue gloves, navy blue scarf, and loops of iron chains around both her biceps. On her back was a shotgun, and she had a leather belt that held two swords on each hip as well as a pack of shotgun shells on her backside. "Y-yes, Mr Garrison?"
"You really think I wasn't gonna catch you forging your math homework signature?" Yeah, Mr. Garrison has been making our parents sign our math homework, and he claims it's to prevent cheating, which is total bullshit. "Sure, this homework looks good, but I still gotta punish you for forging signatures. You're benched for morning recess." Mr. Garrison walked over to the chalkboard to write Ellen's name on it. Ellen just sighed in response.
"Damn, didn't think Ellen had it in her," Bebe whispered.
"I wonder if she's alright," Kathy added.
Of course, I had to reel everyone back on topic. "Let's stay focused, what are we gonna do and who are we gonna recruit?"
"Token is a good healer, and so is Butters," Wendy suggested.
Kyle shook his head. "We should look for people who don't have such prominent power roles in the Alliance, and look for people who are actually willing to help us."
I nodded. "Yeah, no offense, like remember the Dimmons twins?" I looked over at Wendy and she nodded. "Yeah, we should be with people who actually enjoy our company so we don't end up the drama we did last time."
"What happened last time?" Kathy asked.
Wendy shook her head. "We got in a lot of drama last time, and I've nothing against either of them, I just want to avoid drama moving forward." Wendy stared straight at Kathy. "Look, I know we might butt heads when it comes to the Pleases and Sparkles debates, and when I say 'we' I mean literally every girl in that stupid club, but here, we're all in this together, you know?"
Kathy nodded. "I gotcha, I gotcha."
Then the bell rang. "Alright guys, turn in what you have, and head on out to recess," Mr. Garrison said.
We barged out the door towards recess. Usually the children would play on the playgrounds or with sports balls, but now due to the roleplaying gear, people were roleplaying instead. The ginger kid hall monitors were out in force to make sure no kid was misusing magic.
"Alright, let's ask around," Kyle said.
The five of us first approached Kevin Stoley. "Hey, we're gonna ditch school to look for Douchebag and Cartman," I said. "Wanna come with?"
"I like ditching school and all, but you lost me at Cartman. Fuck no." Kevin rolled his eyes before walking away.
It was an expected answer. We approached Red to ask the same question. "No way, I hate that fatass, he can fuck off and die," was her eventual response.
We also tried Heidi as well. "He tried to get me killed! He tried to murder me! I'm not helping you guys look for Cartman, he can burn in hell for all I care!"
"He's a racist asshole, fuck him," Token would say as well once we asked him.
We were having no such luck with most of the kids from our class, citing similar responses and reasons. Thus, near the end of morning recess, the five of us ended up sitting on the bench. Ellen from our class was there too, though she was just a few feet away from the rest of us.
"So we asked most people in our class and they turned us down." Kyle sighed, frustrated.
"Who haven't we tried yet?" Bebe asked.
"Well I've been keeping track in my mind, and we haven't tried Chris nor Tyler yet," Wendy replied. "Well, there's also-"
But the other blonde girl that sat a few feet away from us piped in. "I heard what you guys are doing. I can't say I like Cartman, but it's an honorable thing to do. I'm in."
Her name is Ellen, and she is a hunter.
She roleplays a human, but she doesn't have a large role in the Alliance when it comes to military or political matters. Instead, she embodies the classical folk hero, who always stands up for the rights and justice of others and guides others to greatness, and she isn't afraid to fight the tyranny. People says she's shy, but the fact that she roleplays what she does shows that it's had an improvement on her. She will make a compassionate ally in the journey ahead.
"I know he's an ass, but like you said: he is one of us after all."
I could tell Ellen's words resonated within the rest of us as the rest of us smiled in agreement. But Wendy decided to go off topic. "Wait, why were you forging your homework signature?"
Ellen shook her head. "I was gonna ask my parents to sign it last night, but they were drunk, they said 'later' and procrastinated, then fell asleep, then I forgot, and by the time I realized that we were already at school so...yeah."
"Sorry to hear that," Kyle said.
"No worries, it's no one's fault here," Ellen replied.
"So we have six of us now, that's good," I said. "Do you think we need more?"
"Maybe two more could do just to be safe," Wendy replied.
"We've went around asking almost everyone from our class and almost everyone from the Alliance," I argued.
"Yeah, almost everyone." Wendy shook her head at me. "There's still a few out there we haven't tried yet."
I narrowed my eyes at Wendy. "Do you really think they'd agree? I mean, chances are, they'll turn us down like the rest."
"Didn't stop Kathy and Ellen from joining up with us, despite not knowing the four of us that well." Wendy's right, Kathy and Ellen did decide to help the four of us out of goodwill. Plus it seems so far that they are far more thrilled at the aspect of going on an adventure with us than Isaac and Cole Dimmons ever were. But before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang and we all groaned as we began to walk back to class.
For over an hour, Mr. Garrison simply discussed the biology of whale sharks. But then he said the certain words. "Alright, kids, we're going to talk about - once again - reproduction."
"Aw man!" the rest of our class (myself included) whined.
Of course, this was the usual sex ed talk, and as per usual, Mr. Garrison was super thrilled and passionate about it all. "And so, class, that's why men have a higher-" Mr. Garrison then stopped himself as he glared down at a certain blonde boy who wore a black baseball cap, green jacket, blue gloves, and blue pants for his regular attire. For his roleplay gear, he wore a brown scarf, a leather belt with two daggers holstered, and a black nylon sash that went from his right shoulder to his left hip, holding throwing knives and vials of poison "CHRIS! WOULD YOU MIND RECITING WHAT I JUST SAID THESE PAST FEW MINUTES, OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE WHAT YOU WERE PLAYING ON YOUR SWITCH?!"
Chris, who sat in between myself and Wendy towards my right, went red with embarrassment as he hid his mouth and nose underneath his scarf, his voice soft and nervous from being in the spotlight. "I...I was playing Octopath Traveler." Can't blame him for not wanting to answer the former question, I definitely wouldn't have done that either. He then muttered more softly to the point only those nearby could hear, "I was so damn close to beating Steorra."
Immediately, Mr. Garrison calmed down and simply nodded. "That game's pretty fun. Good taste. But put it away, we're discussing important stuff here. You want to make babies in your future, right?" Some of the other children giggled. Chris rolled his eyes and did as told. Mr. Garrison went on for a little longer before halting his speech. "Now you guys are going to get into groups and discuss what you've learned."
Chris was about to get up and leave, but Wendy and I surrounded him. Wendy smiled, and I already know what was on her mind. "You like roleplaying games and adventures, right? So do I. We've got a deal. Help us find Douchebag and Cartman."
His name is Chris, and he is a rogue.
He roleplays a human, and he was an ex-convict from the now defunct KKK who is secretive, discreet, and aloof. Nevertheless, he proved himself to be one of the deadliest Alliance agents in all the realm. From what I've eavesdropped from the campfires of Token, Clyde, Craig, and Tweek, there were tales of exploits where he would break into nigh-unreachable fortresses and dispatch the toughest of foes, and his name was whispered in hushed tones of fear. He will make a cunning ally in the journey ahead.
The rest of our group joined in. Chris shot a glare at Wendy, his mouth forming into a scowl. "The new kid's cool and all, but why the fatass? Thought you hate his guts still."
Kathy sat down next to Chris and grab a hold of Chris's left hand with her right hand. "Come on, Chris, she's just trying to be kind and inclusive."
"I know you hate him just as much as we do," Kyle reasoned. "But we all have a part to play, and if we don't help Cartman, can we really say we're any better than he is?"
Chris sighed. "Fine. I'll do it, but not for the fat fuck. I'll do it for Kathy and for you guys." He then spoke his next words softly. "Because you guys have been good to me."
Bebe's eyes widened. "That was easier than I thought it'd be."
I didn't really have anything to say to Chris, mainly because I don't know him very well. Sure, he hangs out with me when all of us boys from this classroom get together periodically, but we never really interact with each other. So far, he seems as quiet and aloof as Cole Dimmons was, though at least Chris is on board with us from the get go. "So it's seven of us now."
"I'm assuming you guys have a plan," Chris said.
"Well, not really, I mean..." I glanced at the others and they just seemed to blankly stare at me. "Look, I'm still getting things sorted out. One step at the time. I think we'll need one more person, then afterwards we'll be good to go."
"We could always prepare for what comes next - like how we're going to ditch school," Wendy said.
Ellen tilted her head at Wendy. "Wait, we're ditching school?"
"Well I figured that's what we'd be eventually doing." Kyle smirked at Ellen. "Besides, it's not the first time you've ditched school, ya know?"
Before we could say anything else, the lunch bell rang. "Well, that's it kids, time for you guys to go to lunch!"
Our class walked out the door into the hallway, and my comrades went out last. I looked over at the rest of my party. "I think we should head off to the library first."
"Why there?" Kyle asked. "Why can't we just find a lunch table?"
I scanned the hallways to make sure that no one was listening in. The coast was clear, so I turned my attention back to the party. "Because not everyone is gonna be thrilled, and non-Alliance peeps might take eavesdrop and take advantage of us."
"Stan's right," Wendy agreed. "If the wrong people catch wind of this, they might try to stop us."
"Probably should have thought of that before asking people around randomly during recess," Kathy snickered. That made my heart stop. Perhaps Kathy was right, if the wrong person already listened in on this, it could already be too late for us. Why didn't I realize this flaw sooner?
Bebe came into my defense however. "We did explicitly target people in our class."
"Still, we could go to the library now," Ellen said.
"Alright, all in favor?" Everyone raised their hands. "Alright. Let's go."
Now thankfully, the library was mostly empty. The librarian, an old woman by the name of Mrs. Robinson, was sitting at the front desk busy reading DragonLight, paying us no mind. Therefore the seven of us just walked in and took a table for ourselves.
"Alright, now that we're all here, let's discuss our plan for today." I looked over at the rest of the party, who stared at me with intent. "So, when do you guys think is a good time to ditch school? Right now? Maybe after we get lunch and just before lunch recess starts?"
However, I heard the library door open, and in walked another boy who was in our fourth grade class. He had black hair similar to mine, but also wore aviator goggles. He had a yellow trenchcoat that wasn't buttoned, revealing a white T-shirt underneath, black pants, a purple cloth sash that was tied around his waist and hanging off his backside, and two platinum bands around his biceps. He had a leather strap that ran from his right shoulder down to his left hip and looping across his back, holding his greatsword on his back, and he also had a wooden shield on his back and a hammer on his left side. On his front was a black libram.
His name is Tyler, and he is a paladin.
He is a human, and while technically part of the Alliance, he doesn't really contribute much in terms of roleplay. People have accused him of "lol rp", meming too hard, or not taking his role seriously, and he has confessed he feels like a dork when he does try. Nevertheless, he still commands respect from people based on player versus player skills and game knowledge alone, and he has the experience to back it up. Despite the critics, he doesn't let others allow him to stray from his passions. He will make a brave ally in the journey ahead.
Tyler walked up to Mrs. Robinson. "I'm here to return this book." He didn't take out his libram, but he took out another book and offered it to the librarian, this one looking weathered with a wooden protective cover and beat-up pages. Even from this distance, it almost seemed familiar, as if I held it before. No, it couldn't possibly be...
"You're nearly two weeks late, young man," Mrs. Robinson chided.
"Pft...sorry." Tyler wasn't being sincere in the slightest about his apology based on his snarky tone.
Mrs. Robinson reached behind her desk and pulled out a ten dollar bill to offer it to Tyler. "Here's your refund for the book loss payment."
Tyler took the dollar bill and let out a curt, "Thanks." He then pocketed the dollar. He briefly scanned the room, and at that moment, his eyes laid down upon the rest of our group. Wendy used her right hand to beckon Tyler over. Tyler groaned and rolled his eyes, but ended up coming over to us anyways. "Sup douchebags." He then glanced down on Ellen. "You're with them?"
"Mm hm," Ellen replied.
Wendy smiled. "Glad you're here, we actually have an offer and-"
Tyler cut Wendy off immediately. "Don't bother explaining yourself, I've heard what you seven are up to."
I frowned. "I guess this is it. You're not gonna join us either, are you?"
Tyler turned his back on the rest of us, his hands behind his back. There was silence in the room for a few moments before he turned back. "Alright, I'm in, but only because this place is boring and I'm much more productive not sitting around pretending to roleplay but really not."
"Or maybe it's because you truly deep down care about us and can't stand to see us be in danger," Bebe teased.
"What? Shut up." Tyler grumbled, folding his arms. "It's not like I came out of goodwill just to help you because you were gonna ask me to, I was just bored."
Kyle smirked. "Sure, Tyler, sure."
"You are such a tsundere," Wendy added.
"Tch...as if..." Tyler rolled his eyes again before sitting down between Chris and Ellen. "Alright, what are you dorks on about?"
"We're ditching school," Chris revealed.
"Finally something good is happening," Tyler scoffed.
Similar to Chris, I didn't know Tyler all too well aside from his interesting behavior, though Chris and Ellen know Tyler far more than I do. "Alright, so here's the plan: we eat lunch and afterwards, we just leave school."
Mrs. Robinson passed by our table at that moment, but she didn't say anything about our plan. What intrigued me however was the book she was carrying - the book Tyler returned. I've held that exact book before, the cover reading The Truth of the Stick of Truth. Suddenly, it hit me. The entire reason we have magical powers and the reason kids are the way they are right now could be because of the Stick of Truth somehow returning to play. But nobody knows where the Stick is currently. What's odd is that Douchebag being a Dovahkiin should be important to the Stick, but he's nowhere to be found either. "Wait, Mrs. Robinson, I'd like to see that book."
Mrs. Robinson placed the book on the table in front of me. "Why sure, young man. If you need to check it out, be sure to see me at the front." I nodded in response, and she went back to the front desk.
Wendy's eyes opened wide. "Oh shit, it's that book!" She turned to Tyler. "Tyler, what were you even doing with that book in the first place?"
"I just thought it's interesting. I dunno, Kenny mentioned that book and magical powers, and we have magical powers, so I decided to skim through it. Seemed a bit boring though, but not the worst book I've ever read. Why?"
"Because," I answered. "This book may be the missing info we need."
"Honestly I've always wanted to read that book," Kathy admitted.
"We can read it right now, we have the time," Kyle replied.
For the next ten minutes, we skimmed through the book. Just like last time, the book stated that the Stick of Truth was a sacred artifact, and either a Dovahkiin or a being of unimaginable power (A.K.A.: nobody present with me) can reforge the Stick. However, with Douchebag gone, and us getting powers from the Stick like last time, we knew that Douchebag's sudden disappearance had something to do with this. But unlike last time, this time there was no prophecy for us. Everything that has been prophecized in this book has already happened.
"So let's assume Cartman is with Douchebag right now," Kyle said. "Why would Cartman help out?"
"Cartman manipulated him or something," Ellen replied. "Wouldn't be an out-of-character thing for him to do."
"We don't have any evidence of Cartman doing such a thing though," I argued.
"Based on his track record, it seems like a likely story, or maybe he kidnapped Douchebag," Bebe countered.
Chris shook his head. "This is all just dumb speculation though, do any of us really know what happened to them?" I looked around, and the rest of our party was about as clueless as I was judging by their agape mouths and lack of response.
"Right...well, I guess the plan is still to grab lunch and ditch school?" Nobody attempted to contest my suggestion. I took The Truth of the Stick of Truth from the table. "Well, that settles it. I'm going to check this book out, see-"
"Wait!"
We all looked over at Wendy now. "What is it?" Kyle asked.
"I just got a brilliant idea: since we're all going to be traveling together now, we might as well come up with some sort of a team name, that way, people will easily identify us as heroes or whatever."
We all looked at each other. Tyler and Chris rolled their eyes, Ellen and Kyle wore blank expressions, and Bebe chuckled. "We could call ourselves the 'Legendary Heroes'," Kathy suggested.
I shook my head. "We're not that heroic."
"How about 'The League of Extraordinary Fighters'?" Kyle recommended.
"I glitter Kyle's idea!" Bebe agreed.
Tyler raised an eyebrow. "'Glitter?' What the fuck does that even mean?"
"It's Pleases and Sparkles stuff," Ellen smirked.
Chris shook his head. "We're not that extraordinary."
"What about the Awesome Adventurers of Zaron?" I suggested.
Kyle shook his head, and that made me frown. Since when did he disagree like that? "No...no..."
But then Wendy piped up once again. "Wait, I got the perfect name!" All eyes were on Wendy now. "So there's eight of us, right? And we're gonna be travelers, right? And the prefix 'octo' stands for eight, and despite all of us walking different paths in the roleplay, we all end up with each other at the end of the day, right?"
"I wonder where this is going..." Kyle mulled.
"So the perfect name for us would be the Octopath Travelers! What do you guys think?" Wendy smiled at the rest of us, as if hoping for approval.
Kyle blinked. "Oh...that's uh..."
"This sounds a lot like plagiarism, shame on you Wendy." Kathy stuck her tongue out.
"That is actually the worst suggestion I've seen out of you," Tyler sneered.
"Look, I know you like the game the same as I do," Chris added, "but this - this isn't original in the slightest."
Ellen shook her head. "Kathy, Chris, Tyler, don't be mean."
Bebe nodded. "You know what, I'll just glitter Wendy's idea instead!"
I stood up. "I'm with Wendy on this one." I could see Wendy smile brightly at me. "In fact, from now on, we are called the Octopath Travelers!"
Bebe and Wendy both cheered, while the rest of the party only stared blankly at me with scrutinizing gazes. "Really?" Kyle muttered.
"Come on Kyle, Bebe likes it, why don't you?" Wendy smirked at Kyle.
Kyle narrowed his eyes at Wendy now. "What does Bebe have to do with this?"
"Well it doesn't matter anymore, we're the Octopath Travelers and that's final." Holding the book in my arms, I glanced at Mrs. Robinson, who was still reading DragonLight. "Now let's eat, I'm actually hungry now."
Tyler stood up as well. "Something we can both agree on."
As the rest of the party stood up, I walked over to the front desk and laid the book down on it. Mrs. Robinson put down her own book and took out a scanner. She then scanned it before giving The Truth of the Stick of Truth to me. "Here you go, young man. It's due in a week."
"Thank you," I responded.
Afterwards, we went to our lockers first to grab our backpacks. "Make sure to grab your medallions," I reminded. In my locker was a golden locket on a blue ribbon, with a Z carved into it. It would free me from crowd control effects when I used it, but I can only use it once every few minutes. I tied it to my pants and watched as everyone else did the same. We then left for the cafeteria. The cafeteria was mostly empty by this point, but we went over to the lunch line anyways.
And when we finally got to the serving room, there was the African-American man himself, Jerome McElroy, otherwise known as Chef. "Hello there, children!"
"Hey Chef!" we all replied.
"Chef, we're going to be going away on an adventure, so we just want the burritos on the go," I said.
Chef narrowed his eyes at us. "Wait, you kids are ditching school right now?"
Kyle nodded. "Yeah, Cartman and the New Kid have gone missing, and we're all worried they're lost or hurt, so we're gonna find them."
Chef smiled at us. "That's a fine thing to do children. Wish I can help somehow, but I'm busy here, I think for a while. Say, do you guys have a team name or something? If not, you should get one."
"Yes actually." Wendy stepped forward excitedly. "We're the Octopath Travelers."
"That's a brilliant name!" Chef said excitedly.
Tyler folded his arms and muttered, "It's a stupidass name." Ellen used her left elbow to elbow Tyler's right side. "Ow."
After giving us all burritos wrapped in foil and bottles of water, Chef waved goodbye to us. "Good luck on your journey, children!"
"Bye Chef!" we all concluded.
The burritos we ate were exactly the same. They had orange rice, brown beans, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, and ground beef, so it was a fine meal and all. The bottles of water were nothing spectacular nor out of the ordinary. After tossing out our trash, we finally went to the front of the school. Though once we opened the door to the outside, in front of us in the path stood a single ginger kid alone. He's likely in the sixth grade, and he's got a black T-shirt, black shorts, and what looks like brown wooden plates all around him. His hair stuck upwards into the air, and he wore a white sash that said "Hall Monitor." I'm certain this must be the hall monitor boss. "That is far enough! Where's your hall pass?!"
I didn't know what to say, but Bebe came in first. "Our teachers...they let us go home early today."
"Then where is your hall pass?!" The ginger kid asked again.
I fiercely whispered to the rest of my party. "I think there's gonna be a fight. Full buffs everyone."
Kyle enhanced his right axe with Windfury and his left axe with Frostbrand. Wendy coated herself with an aura of green, magical, radioactive sludge, giving herself the Fel Armor buff. She also summoned forth a Felhunter, an eyeless, red demonic-like hound with two white tusks, back hair, spikes on its tails, and hooves. The Felhunter itself exuded an aura the gave the Fel Intelligence buff, enhancing our intellect and spirit. Bebe gave of the Gift of the Wild, increasing damage mitigation and stats. She also shapeshifted into her Moonkin Form, owl-bear-like creatures that stand on two paws and claws for hands, a bird beak for a mouth, and two stag antlers on her head. Her feathers, unlike her natural hair color, was jet-black. Kathy gave the Arcane Brilliance buff, which further increased our intelligence, and she also coated herself with ice, giving herself Ice Armor. Chris began to put two different poisons on each dagger, one a Wound Poison which reduced healing taken, and another a Crippling Poison which slowed people. Ellen took out a whistle and called a grey wolf from the forest nearby to her side. She also took on the Aspect of the Dragonhawk as well as giving us Trueshot Aura, increasing our attack power. Finally, Tyler placed on himself Seal of Righteousness, Blessing of Kings, and Righteous Fury. He also gave us all the Retribution Aura, which not only causes holy damage to melee attackers, but also increased all damage we do slightly. He then individually gave us the Greater Blessing of Kings, which increased all our stats. You can just imagine all the magical auras and lights just flashing upon us.
And while my party was prepping themselves, I stepped forward to speak with the hall monitor to distract him for a little bit. "Look, we just want to pass through, we mean no trouble."
But despite us severely outnumbering and possibly overpowering the sixth grader here, he shook his head, refusing to budge. "Oh there's going to be trouble if you don't give me your hall pass!" What he just said could have some unfortunate implications.
"We don't have any, but we just need to go home, you know?!" I tried again.
"How about you turn around and go back in before I fuck you all in the ass?!" The hall monitor yelled back.
Bebe laughed, still in her Moonkin Form. "You are gonna fuck us in the ass? There's eight of us here!"
"Oh this retard is definitely asking for it!" Tyler drew his sword. The rest of us began to get out our weapons.
"Drawing weapons, calling wild animals-" The hall monitor glared at Ellen. "-and summoning demons-" He then turned his gaze upon Wendy. "-is against school rules, now one last chance: put them away before I do fuck you all in the ass!
I glanced back at my friends. Kyle had both axes ready. Ellen loaded a round into her shotgun. Chris simply vanished from sight, entering stealth mode, but it wasn't perfect invisibility. Light will bend around the shape of his body, so if someone is close enough they can faintly see unnatural lines in the light with the shape of his body. Also, if he get injured, he immediately get taken out of stealth. Right now, our party can see Chris based on unnatural bending of light, but the hall monitor is likely unaware of Chris's exact location.
"Go fuck yourself," I replied as I drew out my battle axe.
The ginger kid pulls out a metal bar with a chain on one end. At the end of that chain is a basketball, it's like a flail with a mace-head. "Then it's time to give you all a referral." He held it tightly, ready for battle.
I immediately charged in, bashing him with my left shoulder into his face, stunning him briefly. "RAH!" I let loose a Battle Shout, inspiring my allies with fury and attack power. I then moved my axe downward, casting Rend to cause him to bled.
He came back to consciousness and quickly slung his flail into my stomach, knocking me back, and I felt slower as well. He faced the backlash damage from Tyler's aura, a small explosion of holy light hitting him. But there was a disc of orange light that shined beneath my feet - the Hand of Freedom. "Here you go," Tyler said. "Don't slack on me, will ya?" I smiled as the two of us charged back at the kid while Kyle, Ellen's wolf, and Wendy's felhunter also joined us.
As the disc of light faded, the ginger kid circled around us as Wendy casted Haunt, sending a ghostly soul to damage and attach to the ginger kid, while Ellen began firing shots at the ginger kid, though the ginger kid was unnaturally resilient, thanks to added resilience from the fantasy roleplay stuff. Bebe let loose a swarm of magical insects to attack and suck off the ginger kid, so the ginger kid eyed Bebe, but Kathy came in, unleashing a Cone of Cold - cold wind blasting the ginger kid and slowing him down. "Stupid spellcasters," the ginger kid shouted.
Suddenly, Chris materialized right behind the ginger kid, unleashing a dagger swipe on the back of the kid's head by casting Cheap Shot, stunning him momentarily. Kyle caught up first, dropping down four totems simultaneously, one earth, one fire, one air, and one water. They were Tremor Totem, which periodically removes fear, charm and sleep effects, Flametongue Totem, which increases spell power, Windfury Totem, which increases attack speed, and Cleansing Totem, which periodically removes poison and disease debuffs. Tyler and I followed suit, going in to attack our foe.
We managed to get a few strikes in, roughing him up a but, but he let loose a cry of fear, and he seemed to become an evil spectre with red glowing eyes. Now of course, this isn't supposed to normally happen, but I could feel myself in a state of fear and terror as the boys, the pets, and I ran away from him. But what was I thinking? I'm Stan fucking Marshwalker, I'm a warrior who knows no fear, and it's time for me to stop messing around. Wake up, Stan! In a Berserker Rage, I immediately cleared my mind, and the ginger kid was no longer a spectre, but rather how he normally is.
The ginger kid raised his flail and slammed it down on Wendy. "Ow!" She yelled, and she was bruised quite heavily. Green and black energies of death gathered in her right hand and she let loose a Death Coil, a necrotic bolt that stole life from the ginger kid to heal herself as well as sending the ginger kid running in terror.
I can't believe this asshole would so relentlessly hurt my girlfriend, without any semblance of remorse, so he's not going to get away with this! He wouldn't go very far as I briefly entered a Berserker Stance to rush towards him in an Intercept. I entered the Battle Stance once again. Chris joined in a second after, casting Shadowstep to teleport behind the ginger kid. Then a few seconds after that, Kyle, Tyler, and the pets joined me, as it seems that Kyle's Tremor Totem successfully cleansed the fear effect. As we attacked the ginger kid relentlessly, Kathy, Bebe, and Ellen were firing projectiles of bullets and magic at the ginger kid while Wendy was draining and stealing his life away while rotating shadowy afflictions on him as well.
Soon, he went down, beaten and battered heavily. His skin was heavily festered with swellings and rashes from Wendy's and Bebe's magical afflictions as well as Chris's poisoned daggers. There were also puncture wounds that the rest of us delivered and a few burns from Tyler's holy magic. "I give, I give!" We all separated from the ginger kid letting him lie down on the floor. "I...I was just trying...to do my job."
"Shouldn't have threatened us then, idiot." Tyler sheathed his greatsword on his back.
"Well that was anti-climatic," Kathy scoffed.
"Yeah that felt a bit too easy," Ellen admitted.
Bebe shapeshifted back into her human form. "What are you trying to pull? Why'd you try to stop us?"
"Like I said...just trying to do my job...but let me ask you this..." The ginger kid coughed. "Why...would you try to ditch school."
"Because we have two friends...er, one friend...well two kids missing and we're looking for them," Kyle replied.
"Are you talking about...Eric Cartman and Ray Irvington?" The ginger kid coughed again. "They're...both douchebags."
"They're both missing, and it's our responsibility to find out what happened to them." Kyle shook his head. "Besides, if we didn't do the dirty work, no one would."
"You just want to play...hero, like usual, Kyle fucking Broflovski. Fuck off." The ginger kid tried to spit at Kyle, but his saliva landed only inches short of Kyle's shoes.
"Ew," Chris muttered.
Kyle knelt down besides the ginger kid and grabbed his collar. "I wouldn't try that again if I were you."
Tyler also knelt down besides the ginger kid. "Yeah, wanna know what a 'wet willy' feels like, bitch?"
"No, no, please no," the ginger kid pleaded.
"Hmph." Kyle let the ginger kid go as he and Tyler both stood up. Kyle recalled his totems with a wave of his hand, causing them to disappear and fade away.
I came over to Wendy and put my hands on her shoulders. "You alright, Wendy? Did he hurt you bad?"
Wendy nodded and smile. "Don't worry, Stan, I'm fine. You did good, you know?"
I couldn't help but smile back as well as I felt blood rush to my cheeks. "Th-thanks." The two of us came back to the rest of our party. "Well, I suppose we leave the hall monitor here and leave real quick before the school faculty catch us."
"Where will we go though?" Bebe asked.
"We could start by asking around, maybe asking New Kid's parents and Cartman's mom," Kyle suggested.
"That's not a bad idea," Ellen agreed.
Tyler glanced around at us. "So it's the eight of us then, huh?"
"Two is company, three is a crowd..." Chris started.
Kyle laughed. "Eight people is an entire continent at this point."
We walked to the road and Wendy pointed towards the east. "Alright, Octopath Travelers, let's go on another adventure!"
"Yeah," I smiled. "Let's do this." Overall, I'm absolutely ready to go on a second adventure this time, and unlike last time when we weren't all on the same page, this time I could feel that despite our personality differences, we'll always be there for each other at the end of the day.
At this point, you guys can probably guess what specialization every party member here is. I know it can be a bit confusing with all the ability names, but hopefully you guys still find this enjoyable. Until next time.
