Yes, indeed, it's gonna be another "boss fight" of sorts. I listened to "They Who Govern Reason" from the Octopath OST while writing this. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy.
Note: Updated both of Chris and Kathy's dialogue in chapter 13, as well as Tyler and Ellen's dialogue in this chapter as of 7/24/2020.
Chapter Fourteen - Diplomatic Immunity.
Needless to say, Harry Potter was super pissed at us. After everything that had happened earlier, and after everything we did to Harry's friends, this was the only logical conclusion that could possibly culminate from this mess. Nevertheless, this was the last situation we wanted to find ourselves in. We already have enough problems trying to find Cartman and Douchebag, and we certainly didn't need a pissed off Harry Potter to be added to this mess either.
"You racist, sexist, inbred white trash hicks!" There was fire in Harry Potter's eyes as he was practically red with rage. I don't think I should even bother trying to talk him down; there's no stopping that madman now. "I should have known you would do this to my friends!"
"You're all assholes!" Bebe shouted. "You deserved it all!"
"We deserved it all?!" Harry lightly scoffed and laughed. "Ha, really?! Let's see: need I remind you that who exactly came into this town twice uninvited?! Who exactly twice physically assaulted me or my friends?!" Oh yeah, that did also happen during the last time we were here.
"What you did was completely uncalled for!" Hermione had her arms to her own chest, doing her best to cover up her own wounds that Tyler inflicted earlier. "You all should be ashamed of yourselves, truly!"
"You broke my heart, Wendy!" Ron was wailing like a baby. If it weren't for his face being covered with bruises and blood, I might be able to see the possible tears coming from his eyes. "I loved you!"
Hermione proceeded to walk behind Harry up to Ron and raised her right hand. She then proceeded to smack the back of his head as hard as she could. "Shut up, you buffoon!"
"You're an idiot, Ron!" Wendy yelled. "I would never touch you, ever!" She briefly paused. "...okay, that came out wrong. But you know what I mean!"
"Um..." Kathy turned to Wendy now. "...you kinda did hold his hand earlier just now."
Wendy doubled back and frowned. "Oh shit...you're right. Well, that was different, we were trying to get info outta him." To Wendy's defense, that is true, though Kathy wasn't lying either. "Go fuck yourself, Ron!"
Before either girl could say anything else, Kyle butted himself into the argument against Harry Potter and his friends. "Look, the point is that you guys are total assholes!"
"I'm the asshole?" Harry laughed for a few seconds before frowning once more, taking the conversation seriously again. "Need I remind you who assaulted me first at the Terrance and Phillip showing a month ago at Bayroyal Hall? Perhaps, Testaburger and Marsh, you both would like to indulge everyone else in the details."
All eyes were on two of us. The rest of our party turned towards Wendy's and my direction. My party wasn't particularly angry. They were confused, and their faces contorted in surprise. The moods of the others didn't change; the outsiders were mostly neutral, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still as pissed as ever. "...ain't our fault," I quickly deflected.
"Yeah, Cole Dimmons started that," Wendy reminded. "Remember that he shapeshifted into a cat to bash your face in, Harry?"
Tyler was still staring at Wendy and me. "So you're saying that retard picked a fight with Harry last time, which is why he's pissed off at us now?" Wendy and I both nodded in unison, to which Tyler rolled his eyes. "Of course. Why am I not surprised?"
"That doesn't matter!" Harry yelled back. "The fact is: both of you were still accomplices to the crime, and the rest of you six-" He pointed at Kyle, Bebe, Chris, Kathy, Tyler, and Ellen. "-are guilty by association!"
"Guilty by association?" Bebe gritted her teeth and exhaled harshly. "Take it from me: you don't want to walk down that path." This sort of makes sense, given how Bebe was a contributor to the gender war in South Park, how all the girls blamed the boys for what skankhunt42, or Kyle's dad, said on the internet only on the basis of our gender.
"This is getting stupid," Chris grumbled.
Ellen stepped up to try to diffuse the situation. "Harry, things happen, okay? We didn't want to be here in the first place, Taylor Swift...well...anyways, we need to get going, and if you interfere with us, it means you're interfering with Eric Cartman's crap. Unless..."
"You're on Cartman's side, aren't you?!" Honestly, Kathy's accusation sorta makes sense. Why else would Harry Potter try to so hard stop us? The first time sort of makes sense, but here? Especially when he should know who exactly Eric Cartman is and what he has done in the past.
But Harry shook his head, saying the words I didn't expect. "You really think I care about Cartman? I refuse to intervene on anything that concerns him."
Tyler then stepped up now. "If you can't intervene, then why don't you get the fuck out of our way, huh?!"
Chris grinned at Tyler. "Oooh, good one Tyler."
"This is getting stupid though, really." Kyle turned to me. "Stan, we should just leave through the back. I know Harry is an asshole, and I know he deserves to have his ass kicked, but Cartman is our top priority here, so we need to not waste any more time."
"You're not going anywhere!" Harry shouted. "Surround them!" The other students, who were circled around us watching, closed up the circle such that we could no longer go through the front door of the school. "I'll handle this alone - I am the chosen one after all with the Elder Wand."
Kathy rolled her eyes immediately. "Oh great, another special snowflake with a legendary item to carry them. Fucking cheater."
Ron and Hermione stepped back. "I'm so fucking sick of you trashy, inbred rednecks coming into my town and messing things up." Harry Potter took out his wand and aimed his wand straight at me. "I'm gonna kick your ass so hard I think your moms might be turned on."
"Our moms?" Bebe said. "Wait, what?"
"You have about two seconds to get your asses ready," Harry continued
A fight is exactly what we didn't need right now. I had to try to deescalate the situation - fast. "Harry, think about this one, we can still-"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
But Harry didn't even let me finish as all of a sudden, a bolt of red lightning shot straight from his wand. The bolt zoomed through the air before striking me, sending a thousand volts into my entire body. I screamed in pain as I was basically fried, my bones rattling. I flew a few feet back, landing down on the snowy ground on my backside. The impact of the landing sent numbness through my spine. This asshole just used the Killing Curse against me - though apparently it's a scuffed version. "Y-y-you...you fucking jackass!"
I picked my head up, gritting my teeth, as Harry laughed. "I'm gonna cut your skin off, and then I'm gonna proceed to sell it on the black market - because I'm popular, hehehehehehehe!"
"Stan!" Wendy glanced back towards me for a moment before turning back to Harry. "Let's kick his ass, Octopath Travelers!"
I managed to get back up as Bebe shifted into her Cat Form, a blonde mountain lion, and Kyle dropped down four totems - Strength of Earth Totem, Flametongue Totem, Mana Spring Totem, and Windfury Totem. Tyler then activated his Concentration Aura, which helped prevent spellcasting delays. Bebe and Chris both faded from sight, going into stealth. Wendy conjured a Demonic Circle next to me. I then let loose a Battle Shout, which increased our party's attack power. I took out my axe.
Harry then pointed his wand at us. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" An ethereal, ghost-like stag the size of a grown-up man was shot out of Harry's wand, coming towards our direction. Most of us jumped out of the way, but Kyle was not so lucky however. As the stag traveled through him, the attack left Kyle stunned.
But Tyler immediately responded with Hand of Freedom, causing a disc of orange light to shine beneath Kyle's feet, breaking the stun immediately. "Here."
Wendy, Ellen, and Kathy split apart. Kyle, Tyler, and I charged foward. But Harry let loose arcane chains from his wand in all directions, catching all of us by our feet, as well as Bebe, who was several yards away from the rest of us, and Chris, who was next to me. The two materialized immediately due to being affected. Bebe responded by shapeshifting into her Moonkin Form, granting us the Moonkin Aura as well as breaking the chains immediately. When the chains reached Kyle, it broke immediately, thanks to still being affected by Tyler's Hand of Freedom. Tyler casted Cleanse on himself to remove the chains. Immediately after that, Harry seemingly casted a silence spell as a magical hand grappled Tyler's mouth, preventing him from being able to cast any other spell now - therefore, he can't Cleanse the rest of us.
Without Tyler cleansing us, Chris and I were both helplessly rooted - there wasn't much a rooted Warrior nor Rogue could do. So we just looked at each other and shrugged. I then put away my axe and took out my crossbow. I fired a bolt at Harry while Chris threw a knife at Harry. Both nailed him in the stomach. "Ow!"
"It's coming back!" Kathy yelled.
I turned to see the ghost stag coming back. It turns out that unlike Hermione's Patronus Charm, which was just a projectile, Harry's was an actual combat minion. The stag went towards Ellen, got up on its hind feet, and attempted to trample Ellen. But Ellen, facing the stag, raised and crossed her arms defensively as magical swords circled around her, casting Deterrence to deflect the attack, leaving her unharmed. "You will not harm me!"
Kyle, Tyler, Ellen's wolf, and Wendy's felhunter were both attacking Harry in melee while Wendy, Bebe, and Kathy were firing spells at Harry. The chains then faded from Chris and me as I put away my crossbow, took out my axe, and casted Charge to rush in while Chris casted Shadowstep to teleport behind Harry. Both of us then joined the attack. Tyler, no longer silenced by the hand, turned around at the ghost stag, who was still desperately trying to trample Ellen, and casted Turn Evil, a burst of light causing the stag to flee.
I casted Mortal Strike, a brutal slash downward to deeply wound him "Fuck you, asshole!" I then casted Hamstring, a sweep at his legs to slow him down.
"Hedwig, come to me!" A gray owl then swooped in, diving towards me, Kyle, Tyler, Chris, and Ellen's and Wendy's pets. With one clockwise swoop around , I could feel myself be stricken by the owl's sharp beak onto my left shoulder, a painful gash erupting.
"Oh no you don't!" Bebe began to channel a different spell now. She directed it at Hedwig, the owl, and all of a sudden, the owl was fell to the ground, landing outside the gathering circle, fast asleep. She had just casted Hibernate on the owl.
Harry first teleported away from us and off to where we came from - near the front door of the school. "Witness true sorcery!" He pointed his wand at Wendy, and a flash of red light briefly erupted.
"Get out of my head!" When I looked over at Wendy, she was no longer facing Harry, but now she turned to me. Her eyes glowed red and she gritted her teeth in anger. "After him!" Wendy pointed straight at me, and her felhunter charged at me and gored me in the stomach, knocking me down to my knees. She then casted Corruption and Curse of Agony at me, two shadowy afflictions that began to eat away at my skin and muscles, and I screamed in pain.
"Wendy, what the fuck?!" This was something I would have never expected. Why would Wendy do this? Why would Wendy suddenly betray us all now?!
"She's being mind controlled!" Kyle yelled as I struggled to stand up. Kyle let loose a Wind Shear, a gust of wind that attempted to interrupt Harry's spellcast - but that did nothing. "Oh crap! He's not even channeling!"
"Scatter!" Ellen, no longer being protected by magical swords, pointed her gun straight at Wendy. She then let loose a Scatter Shot, sending multiple pellets to disorient Wendy. She then fired a Freezing Arrow that landed beneath Wendy's feet. But her felhunter came back to her to step over the arrow, and the arrow ended up exploding to freeze the demon solid instead. "Fuck, that did not work?!"
Kathy, next to Harry, let loose a Cold of Cold, freezing winds scouring Harry while freezing his feet in place. "Deep Freeze!" The air around Harry cooled, and Harry was frozen and stunned in a block of ice. But before Kathy could do anything else, apparently Wendy was no longer disoriented as she casted Death Coil, sending a coil of necrotic energy at Kathy, causing her to flee, so she couldn't do anything else.
All of a sudden, Bebe casted another spell at Wendy, and now, Wendy was tossed into the air, trapping her inside a small tornado. "Fuck your mind control bullshit, Harry!"
The ghost stag was coming back now, but Tyler casted Turn Evil again, and the stag was sent fleeing once more. But then Harry pointed his wand at Kyle, and a red flash of light briefly sparked. What happened next was that Kyle turned to us, eyes glowing red. He casted Feral Spirit, summoning two spirit wolves. "Rah!" Kyle then casted Heroism, but this time it affected the mind-controlled Kyle, his spirit wolves, and Harry, so only they gained the benefits of increased speed. Kyle then pointed at Bebe. "After her!"
"Oh no you don't!" Bebe let loose a Typhoon, pushing Kyle and his wolves back with a gust of wind.
I then casted Charge, rushing in at Kyle. "AAAH!" I let loose an Intimidating Shout, causing Kyle to tremble in fear while his spirit wolves fled in terror. At least the mind controlled Kyle should be disabled for now.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry, no longer frozen solid, had shot forth another bolt of red lightning, now directed at Chris. But Chris, at the last second, casted Cloak of Shadows, turning his form into an ethereal, shadow-like state while completely absorbing the Killing Curse on impact. "I'll be back..." Chris then casted Vanish, fading from sight. I wonder what he is up to now.
Hedwig then flew in again, but Ellen started to channel shadows in her hands. "Oh no you don't!" Ellen then casted Scare Beast, causing the owl to flee away from us.
Kyle and Wendy were no longer being mind controlled as they both recovered from their fear and banishment respectively, and Kathy was no longer fleeing due to Wendy's Death Coil. "After him!" Wendy pointed straight at Harry as we began to attack Harry once again with our weapons and spells. Chris materialized behind Harry to join Tyler attacking him at the backside as Kyle and joined me to attack his front. Wendy and Bebe were infesting Harry with shadow and nature damage-over-time spells while Kathy and Ellen were pelting Harry with bullets and icy projectiles.
"Stupify!" Harry sent out a wave of force from around himself, knocking us all back and down onto the ground. He then roared, "I'M GONNA CUT YOUR FACE OFF AND WEAR IT AS A MASK!" He pointed his wand at me once more "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Although I was on the ground, I briefly took out my shield. My shield glowed as I casted Spell Reflection, and as the red lightning came from Harry's wand to hit my shield, it bounced the lightning back to Harry, frying him greatly. "Ow! God fucking damnit!" I put away my shield to take out my battle axe again.
Kathy summoned forth a Water Elemental in front of her. Chris casted Preparation to reset his spells before casting Vanish again. Tyler then proceeded to run towards Harry while the rest of us were knocked down. Chris materialized behind Harry as he casted Garrote, slicing him in the throat and silencing him while Tyler casted Hammer of Justice to stun him.
"Shadow Dance!"
"Avenging Wrath!"
"Icy Veins!"
Shadows danced around Chris, Kathy began surrounding herself in a freezing fog, and brilliant wings of light glowed on Tyler's back. But the stun didn't last long. "Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted, and Chris found his right dagger disarmed, so he couldn't do much more. He then pointed his wand at Tyler, and the wings of light on his back faded, but now Harry's back started erupting wings of light. He then pointed his wand at Kathy and she was no longer surrounded by freezing fog - that fog belonged to Harry now.
"Oh fuck my ass, you can steal spells too?!" Tyler yelled.
"I have the Elder Wand, you hick hillbilly!" Harry retorted.
So now Harry Potter was affected by Kyle's Heroism, Kathy's Icy Veins, and Tyler's Avenging Wrath - only he gets to have the benefits of all of them instead of their rightful owners. Wonderful. "I hate you guys so much," I muttered.
Ellen casted Tranquilizing Shot, firing a bullet that when striking Harry, ended up removing Kyle's Heroism effect. Wendy's felhunter then casted Devour Magic, purging away the Icy Veins effect from Harry. Kathy then casted Spellsteal, removing Harry's Avenging Wrath, but now Kathy sprouted wings of light behind her back. Okay well at least that problem sort of fixes itself. Kathy, empowered by Tyler's Avenging Wrath, let loose a Frostfire Bolt towards Harry while her water elemental let loose a Water Bolt, both striking him straight in the head, and he was knocked down.
"Kick his ass!" I yelled as I casted Charge once more at Harry. Knowing that Harry already disarmed Chris previously, I began to cast Bladestorm, spinning around with my axe cutting up Harry as the rest of my party joined in to attack Harry. The ghost stag and owl foolishly came in to try to attack me, but I cut them up too with my axe; the stag dispersed and I ended up decapitating Harry's owl. Normally, I'd feel bad for killing animals, but it's fucking Harry Potter, and it tried to kill me, so I'm not letting it slide.
"No...my owl!" As my Bladestorm ended, Harry let loose now ten bolts of red lightning at my entire party as well as Ellen's wolf and Wendy's felhunter. Ten Killing Curses simultaneously. Needless to say, none of us saw ten of these coming as we couldn't react in time. We were all stricken and fried, suffering burns on our skin. "Fuck you! That was my my pet! I'll never forgive you!" Harry, cut up severely, fell to his knees. He pointed his wand straight at me, but at that moment, his wand fell apart in two pieces, the front half falling to the snow in front of Harry. "No! My wand! I used too much power there!"
As the rest of my party were on the ground fried and groaning in pain (Bebe forced back into her human form), I managed to stand back up, gripping my ass tightly. "I...am going to beat...your ass." My voice was low as I was enraged at this point, my face warmed and my fists clenched. I was fuming. I never thought I'd be this hungry for someone's blood, but here I am now.
Harry was on all fours on the ground now. "I'll - I'll kill you all! You're all going to die!"
When I got to Harry, I reeled back my right foot and kicked Harry straight in his face, sending him back onto the ground back first. I heard a crunch as I'm pretty certain my foot just broke Harry's nose. But I didn't care. I tossed my axe to the side as I put my knee on Harry's ribs. "You!" I punched Harry's face with my right fist. "Racist!" Another punch to Harry's face, this time my left fist. "Piece!" And another with my right. "Of!" And another with my left. "Shit!" And another with my right. "Die!" And another with my left.
I could barely hear Wendy's voice now as I felt warm arms wrap around my body, desperately lifting me off of Harry. "Stan! Stop!"
"Let me go!" I tried to wrestle away the arms. I never wanted to kick someone's ass this badly, yet here I am, punching Harry Potter's lights out.
"Stan, please, it's okay!" Wendy said the words from behind me, seeing as how she was the one holding me back.
I wanted to keep going, but now hearing Wendy sob made me stop. I lifted my hands, and I could see Harry's blood on my knuckles. I looked back over at Harry. He was still breathing, but his nose and lips were broken and bleeding, his glasses were completely shattered, and both of his eyes were blackened. Was this what I wanted - to mutilate someone?
"Please stop!" Wendy continued to sob.
"Wendy, I-" I couldn't find the correct words to say. I was too angry and frustrated at the current situation to really formulate any speech of some sort. After attempting to murder our entire party, I'm quite sickened emotionally. "He - he tried to brainwash you and Kyle. I couldn't..." Him turning my those who were closest against me via magic - that was just sickening.
Kyle stepped in front of Wendy and me as he patted my left shoulder. "It's not worth killing him, dude. It will all be fine. It's not your fault at all." Between Kyle and Wendy, I could feel myself calming as my heartbeats slowed.
Bebe stepped me next to Kyle, but she glared in Harry's direction. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Harry, acting like a complete jackass! Is this what you are?! Some sort of racist, sadistic psychopath?!"
"Funny, Harry Potter was a good guy in the books and movies," Kathy said as she stood up now.
Tyler, Ellen, and Chris then came up to the rest of us. "I don't see Ron or Hermione anywhere," Ellen whispered. "They must have pussied out." Turns out Ellen was completely right. When I did scan the audience, neither Ron nor Hermione were there. Neville and Ginny were also missing for that matter.
"Thank fucking God." I couldn't agree more with Chris's statement.
"If you'll allow me..." Wendy walked over to Harry. She held out her left hand and all of a sudden, purple energies were channeled from Harry's heart straight to Wendy's left hand, and about a second later, Wendy was holding what appeared to be a small purple amethyst crystal - a soul shard, rather. She just casted Drain Soul on Harry.
"Wendy, what the fuck?" Kyle muttered.
"Yeah, aren't we supposed to be the good guys here?" Bebe added.
Wendy turned to the rest of us. "Relax, I only stole part of his soul - the rest will recover eventually." She then glanced back at Harry. "Besides, he deserved it."
"He really does," I growled.
Tyler drew his sword, glowing with holy light, as he held it in an aggressive stance, putting his left foot forward. "Any other of you retards out there wanna try to fight us?!" The audience was in complete silence, though the kids closest to the street (the exit off school grounds) parted, opening up a pathway for us. "Good, stay the fuck out of our way!" He then turned back to me as his sword no longer glowed, sheathing it behind his back. "Let's go," he said curtly and impatiently.
As Kyle collapsed his totems and Wendy collapsed her Demonic Circle, I nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."
The walk to the address on the note was mostly in silence so far. Most of us didn't really want to talk. After that encounter with Harry Potter, we all agreed that we should keep to ourselves to cool off for now. Thankfully, as we walked along the streets, no one else gave us grief nor bother. Tyler and Ellen, however, went against silence as they began talking to each other.
"I fucking hate this town!" Ellen yelled. "It's all the same bullshit! Everyone's a complete douche to each other!"
"It is what it is," Tyler replied softly.
"It's the same here! It's the same in South Park! It's the same everywhere! Why does everyone have to be so mean to each other all the time?!"
"I..." Tyler's mouth hung open. He waved his hands a little as he stammered, struggling to find the right words. "...I-I don't know."
"It's a disaster. It's like everyone's detached from each other...you know what I mean? No one cares about how others feel." As we continued to walk, Tyler and Ellen continued to go at it. "I mean, you are kinda detached from everyone else's feelings."
"You're absolutely right, Ellen. I do try to detach myself from people's bullshit, because if I try to concern myself with every person's feelings and sensitivities, nobody will ever be happy and I'll just end up irritated." Tyler let out a sigh. "You can't please everyone, someone will always end up bitching. That said...you absolutely do matter to me."
Ellen frowned as she put her hands in her pockets. "I'm - I'm sorry, Tyler, I was just...angry at what happened earlier, and-"
"Hey," Tyler interrupted. "Don't worry about it. It's okay to feel that way."
"I know, but between the gender war bullshit, and the Harry Potter bullshit, it's all...a stupid burden." Ellen growled and gritted her teeth. I have never seen this girl this angry before. "And I don't know, I felt useless after a while, because so much crap going on."
"You're not alone, Ellen. You don't need to shoulder the burden by yourself, we're all here now, you know." Tyler wrapped his right arm around Ellen's left arm. "You know, you done pretty well so far. I mean, out of all of us, I think you're the best fighter here."
"You really think so?" When Tyler nodded, Ellen smiled and kissed Tyler's right cheek briefly. As the couple took the lead, I couldn't see their facial features, but Tyler glanced to his left slightly - I could tell he was a bit embarrassed by the kiss.
"Y-yeah," Tyler said shyly.
The two were silent for a few seconds before Ellen spoke up again. "When we finally face Cartman...what do you think will happen to us?"
"Hopefully, nothing," Tyler replied. "But knowing that this is Cartman, he's going to try something really bad. I don't know what, but it will be something."
"Just wanted to bring him up because I remember overhearing the boys in our class saying that the girls think the boys are disgusting because of Cartman." Ellen then let out a sigh. "But when I overheard the North Park kids, they weren't talking much about Cartman at all. You'd think he'd be well known here, but in reality, they're hating on our entire town in general, as if it's not really Cartman, but all of us are the problem."
"In a sense...Harry Potter does have a bit of a point. We all kinda contribute to the problem."
"W-what?!" Ellen's reaction kind of resonated with how I feel about this. This was rather surprising coming from Tyler. "Explain yourself," Ellen continued with a more confrontational tone.
"Well for starters, I remember Clyde was blaming Cartman for every single problem in this town and every problem with us boys - I should have smacked him when I had the chance. It's such a fucking stupid thing to say when we all enabled Cartman's crap, and I mean all of us, even the girls. It's not like we actually ever tried to stop him, and we did bully him in the past too."
Those were bold words coming from Tyler...and yet when I think about it now, he's completely right. Even Wendy and Kyle, for all their grief against Cartman, still enable his bullshit from time to time as well. It was uncanny to see Tyler this thoughtful and insightful, just as how it was odd seeing Ellen this passionate. I suppose if there's one thing I learned, it's that people are different around the ones they love.
"You're...you're absolutely right." Ellen grumbled. "I wasn't strong enough to stand up to him nor others in the past."
"Look, I-"
But Ellen interrupted Tyler. "And I had no right taking out my anger on you. I know you aren't perfect, but it's just...you know..."
"You have every right to be angry, Ellen, but never lose yourself and forget who you truly are, because you're still the supportive good girl - that is what makes you strong. Disregard everyone who thinks that makes you a weakling - they don't know shit about you anyways." Tyler looked away to his left slightly. "I'd tell you to be yourself, but that piece of advice completely falls apart when told to someone like Cartman, so I'll say this instead: you're have the biggest heart out of all of us here, so don't let others put you down."
Ellen then looked over at Tyler and smiled. "You're a very brave person, Tyler. I was reluctant, really, to help Stan here, but with you by my side I feel a lot better."
"I know I can be a harsh jerk, but I just want us to be careful. I don't want any of us getting hurt. I guess I'm also mad at our current living situation, try to push it all away, not dwell on it too much. Because...some days I can't even handle what happens. Constantly going to bed wondering if we even make it to the next day in South Park..." Tyler shuddered.
It seems that underneath Tyler's fire and Ellen's kindness, both of them are hurting deep down. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that we are all hurting deep down. With so many problems that happen in our hometown, one can only go so long before they being to emotionally break. No child should ever have to go through what we do on a daily basis. No wonder why all of us are so fucked in the head in one way or another.
Ellen gently patted Tyler's ribs with her right hand. "There, there. It will be okay."
Tyler shook his head. "There's no point in reminiscing about it, we have the present to deal with..." Tyler then gulped. "But seeing as how we're gonna deal with Cartman soon..." Tyler's voice faded into a nervous silence. Tyler might be one of the more headstrong boys in our class, but even he trembles at the thought of Cartman. This is justified however, given all of Cartman's sins.
"He scares you too, huh?" Tyler slowly nodded at Ellen's question. "Honestly, I think we're all scared." I glanced over at the rest of our party, who were listening in. The rest of them were pale, their eyes dilated, likely thinking about Cartman as well.
Ellen continued on. "But we have each other, and we'll go down together."
"Yeah..." Tyler nodded. "I don't know I'll ever be ready for this...this whole adventure might even be a mistake...but I will stand up and help you all fight Cartman."
Ellen smiled at Tyler. "So will I."
As we continued to walk, Wendy grabbed my right hand with her left hand. "The way those two bring out the best in each other...it's really heartwarming to see."
"Agreed." It was nice to see Ellen showing off her passionate and strong side around Tyler and Tyler showing off his sweet and loving side around Ellen. I hope that like Chris and Kathy, Tyler and Ellen both have bright futures ahead of them. "Hey guys, I just want to say that we may have had gotten off to a rocky start earlier today, but I am super proud of all of you."
"Honestly, Stan, you are an awesome leader," Bebe complimented.
"I gotta admit, I really underrated you," Chris said.
"We're all in this together, guys!" Kathy cheered.
"Yeah we are, and I know we're worried about Cartman, but I believe in all of you guys," Kyle said.
"Let's give Cartman hell," Wendy said.
I couldn't help but grin. Originally, I was only considering taking along Kyle for this adventure, but now I am so glad that it's the eight of us and not the two of us. I may have not had much faith in them in the beginning, but slowly I warmed up to them, and now I don't regret this, not one bit. The only challenge that remains now is Cartman, but I have faith that even though the fatass has a long history of atrocities, we'll all pull through in the end.
And that's a wrap. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. See you all next time.
