Hey guys, chapter sixteen here. Hope you enjoy.


Chapter Sixteen - The One That Got Away.

This wasn't the first time Kyle and I have been to the North Park Airport, but that rings true for the other members of our party. One other instance was when Kyle's brother Ike was taken away by Canadian authorities to be sent back to their country because Ike's biological parents revealed themselves to Kyle and wanted Ike back. After Ike was taken back, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, and I went to here to fly to Canada so we could get Ike back on time before Christmas Eve.

With all that said, after about half an hour of walking, we finally arrived at our destination where the pickup/dropoff zone and bus stops would be. Despite the nice midday weather, it was not very crowded, though it was not completely deserted either. There were both various adults and children who were in regular clothes (and therefore likely not even roleplaying) roaming the airport. This was justified however as the North Park Airport was relatively small in structure, especially when compared to the likes of the Denver Airport. In fact, the entire station was multiple buildings connected with tram lines. The building we were at were for domestic flights.

Rachel stepped forward with her warhammer slung over her right shoulder. "The Lasso should be inside this building at the domestic terminals." She turned around to face the rest of our army. "Thing is though: the KND have this entire airport locked down. We'll need to clear them out."

"Very good." Kenny first turned to Draco and pointed his left index finger at him. "Draco, you take your House Slytherin to clear out the arrivals area and the baggage claim. Make sure you crush any KND operatives on the way."

Draco saluted Kenny with his right hand. "As will do, princess." He turned to address the rest of his gang. "You heard the princess. Let us get to work!"

"Hoo rah!" the Slytherin kids chanted back.

Kenny then turned around to face me. "Octopath Travelers, you and Rachel get into the domestic flights, take down any KND in the way and secure that Lasso."

Kyle nodded. "That's nice, but what are you gonna do?"

"The entirety of our Alliance will take down any KND members within the international terminals," was Kenny's reply. He turned around to face the rest of the kids in our class, minus the ones in my group. "Well you heard my command! Let's double time it!"

"For the Alliance!" the rest of the kids shouted.

As I watched the rest of our class depart towards the international terminals, it gave me a few thoughts in my mind. Overall, it was heartwarming to see my class finally work together towards a common goal as both boys and girls. I faced each and every one person who was currently with me. Kyle, Bebe, and Tyler were clearly ready, determined looks on their faces, their eyes peering ahead as if ready to take on the enemy. Wendy and Kathy were both rather cheerful, as if despite what is coming for us, nothing could possibly keep their spirits down. Chris and Ellen were mostly stoic, their faces blank and expressionless, and they both just looked down at the ground. I'm sure they were thinking about what was coming, though I'm also certain they were most worried about the problems we'd face. As for myself, I'm simply glad that we're here together, and that we're fine for the most part despite all the bullshit we encountered so far. I just hope nothing bad happens to any of us.

We walked inside the airport. It was somewhat busy; the parents and some of their children practically paid us no mind as they all frantically ran across the airport in a hurry to make their way through their lines towards wherever their destination was supposed to be, like rats scurrying through a maze. It wasn't quiet at all, though the air was filled with even-toned chatter for the most part. Despite the amount of people there, everyone was just dressed in regular clothes; there was yet no indication that anyone we saw so far might be wearing any fantasy-related equipment.

"How are we gonna get through security?" Wendy asked. "I don't think the police officers here are gonna let us through with our weapons and stuff."

"I don't think it's the police we're gonna have to worry about." Kyle raised his right arm and pointed straight ahead towards where the security checkpoint would be, where adults and children were lining up.

Now the issue here is that Kyle, unfortunately, is correct. There are no TSA agents at the security checkpoint, and that was bad for us because what we instead have is children our age guiding civilians through the checkpoints instead. These aren't regular children either; they're all wearing armor and weapons pertaining to fantasy clothing. More specifically for us, there were five of them. One wore metallic plate and had a spear behind his back, likely a warrior. A girl had two axes by her side and like Kyle has a ball of lightning rotating around her, her Lightning Shield active, so she is a shaman. A second boy had brown robes and a wooden staff on his back, and just like Wendy has a felhunter by his side, so he is a warlock. A third boy for a moment had a wooden staff on his back as well, but on that note, a second later, he shapeshifted into a black moonkin, similar Bebe, though instead of deer antlers he had bull horns, so he is a druid. There was a second girl who also had a staff behind her back, though there was a holy bubble around here as if protecting her in a magical shield, so she is likely a priest.

Now this is just perfect. Instead of actual police, we get to deal with what is likely the KND at this point. Life just loves to fuck us, doesn't it?

Apparently, Rachel was prepared for this. "Exactly as I expected. They probably figured our approach." Rachel looked over towards our left, where some check-in terminals and the restrooms were. It was at that point we noticed something odd.

There was this being within the shape of a boy who was quite a bit older than we were, as if he should belong in the seventh grade. The thing here is that we can't quite make out his features correctly because his entire body is soaked within a shadowy hue, so to us he just looks like a very dark purple spectre. This was almost as if he was a priest using Shadowform right now.

"Right on time too." Rachel let out her left palm and directed it towards the spectre. "Everyone, meet the Teens Next Door operative and priest, Chad Dickson. He's gonna help us clear out those kids today." I don't know what the Teens Next Door is, I'm assuming they're allies to the KND judging by the name, but that's not the important thing here. What is important was our reaction, because Dickson is honestly a hilarious surname. The moment Rachel said the word "Dickson" was the moment our entire party started snickering. Sorry, but if you have the word "Dick" anywhere in your name, your life is gonna suck big time. "What's so funny?"

Our entire party, myself included, all started snickering and laughing together. Chad exited his Shadowform, and now I can clearly make out his features. He had short blonde hair, similar to Chris's, red-and-white robes, and a mace on his right side. "It's my last name, Rachel, I get this all the time." He turned from Rachel towards our entire party. He was frowning, his eyes narrowed. Obviously, he wasn't amused in the slightest. "Haha, very funny, laugh it up why don't you?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I struggled to say all of this because my stomach kinda hurts from laughing too hard for two entire minutes nonstop.

"Sorry for your entire ancestry." After Kathy made her comment, our party laughed harder.

Chad rolled his eyes and grumbled as he turned back to Rachel. "Real mature these kids are. I can't believe we have to come to them for help."

"Not like we have much a choice," Rachel replied.

"Well we better not regret it. That fat kid and one with pink hair and all, since they took over the KND now, protocol dictates we have to destroy the entire organization, so the secrets can't-"

"I know what protocol dictates, you don't have to keep reminding me." Rachel let out a frustrated sigh as our party calmed down from all the laughing. "It doesn't matter anymore, everyone will know about us. Our hope is just that no one can use our org for evil, so yeah. Time to demolish the KND." She turned back to our party. "As for you eight, I think we can help each other out here. You guys get your lasso, we can put a stop to the org we ourselves built. Sad it has to come to this, but it must be done."

We all looked back over to the security checkpoint, where the five children we pointed out were continuing to guide civilians through the metal detectors. "Guess there's only one way through from here," Tyler muttered.

"Leave it to us!" Chad exclaimed as he entered the Shadowform once again, becoming a purple spectre.

We watched as Chad, Rachel, and her ghoul move towards the metal detectors, disregarding the line that the civilians made. "You're going to cut in line in front of everyone?" Ellen asked. The former three completely ignored Ellen's question as they practically charged in.

Obviously, the five children at the metal detectors were going to take notice sooner or later. "It's the betrayers!" the warlock yelled.

"Kill them!" the druid added. Okay, wow, I didn't think we'd go for murder here. This is just savage.

The warrior went to charge in on Chad while the shaman and the warlock's felhunter made their way towards Rachel. Chad casted Psychic Horror, causing the warrior to drop his spear as he cowered in fear. Rachel extended her left arm, and shadowy tendrils shot forth from her arm, wrapping around the priest before pulling her off the ground and to Rachel; Rachel had just casted Death Grip on the priest. Rachel's ghoul casted Gnaw, taking a massive bite on the priest girl's left shoulder, and she screamed in agony, the pain likely so much she was stunned.

"AUGH!"

In quick succession Rachel first conjured Chains of Ice around the priest, slowing her down while infecting her with a two different diseases, Frost Fever, that chills her with frost and Ebon Plague, that makes her weaker to magic. She then lowered her hammer before performing an uppercut attack with it, casting Plague Strike, infecting her with a third disease, Blood Plague, that caused shadowy darkness to rip her apart, while desecrating the ground underneath in unholy blight, which looks like brown rot infesting a wide radius on the airport floor.

What Rachel did next was cast Pestilence, which caused those diseases on the priest to spread not only to the warrior, and the shaman. Chad at that moment casted Psychic Scream as he let out an ear-piercing scream. "AIEEEEE!" This caused the priest, warrior, and shaman to run in fear away, but the felhunter stayed put, seemingly resisting the fear. Chad then turned his sights on the hunter as he placed three shadowy afflictions on the warlock: Vampiric Touch, Shadow Word: Pain, and Devouring Plague. These were essentially similar to, if not exactly the same as, Wendy's damage-over-time spells which tore apart the warlock apart slowly but surely. By the end of it all, the warlock was lying on the floor, unconscious and defeated, his skin slightly decayed, while the warrior, priest, shaman were also on the ground, skin festered and vomiting a mixture of stomach acid and blood. The felhunter was literally dead from the diseases as well. Jesus Christ, I didn't think our new allies were this brutal.

Only the druid was still standing. He laughed nervously as he tried to run. Shadowy darkness formed around his throat, and Chad had casted Silence. Rachel casted forth a Death Coil, and unlike Wendy's, Rachel's just exploded on the mage's in shadowy darkness as well, bringing him down for the count while forcing him out of his Moonkin Form. Rachel turned back towards us. "That's the last of 'em. Come along now."

As our party caught up to the other pair, skipping the metal detectors completely, I noticed that the civilians were now noticing us - why wouldn't they? They all whispered to themselves. When one of us got close, they backed off, as if afraid we'd kick their asses for no reason at all.

"So how exactly did Cartman take over the KND anyways?" Bebe asked as we walked along.

"It all started with us trying to solve a gender war in Middle Park." Wait, we were just there solving that yesterday. If Rachel was there before we were, that must have been the point Cartman must have taken over. But how? "Turns out the fat kid who took over the KND started it all anyways."

"Why would he start a gender war in Middle Park?" Wendy asked.

"I'm not sure," Rachel replied. "I guess it was a way to draw us out or something. I should have known, I took the bait."

"Seems like it all worked - they're pawns now," Ellen remarked.

Chris put away both of his daggers and shot a glance at Ellen. "There's the understatement of the year. Knowing Cartman, they're all probably brainless slaves by now, which is about the nicest I can put it."

"Maybe there's a way out for them, Chris. We can save the KND probably like what we did back in Middle Park."

Chris shook his head. "The Lord of the Rings kids in Middle Park aren't directly being manipulated by Cartman right now."

"We can still try, I still believe that we can help them out," Ellen retorted.

Chris rolled his eyes. "You all have a little too much faith in people." On one hand, like Ellen, I myself try to show empathy where I can. Of course, knowing where Chris came from, I can't exactly blame him for his mindset.

After leaving the security area, we turned left to walk down a hall. There were shopping outlets on both sides, as expected of any airport, though they sold the same things - food, toys, jewelry, etc. Nothing really stood out to us. The airport itself was still somewhat crowded as impatient families rushed past us to get to their respective flights. After about two minutes of walking, we finally arrived at a five-way-split, where it was a T-intersection going left and right followed by two pairs of escalators, one going up towards the left at a forty-five degree angle, and another at the same angle but to the right instead. And at the middle of the split was another group of five roleplaying children in weapons and armor, presumably also KND.

The first had a greatsword and a ghoul next to him, a death knight. The second was a girl who just began to shapeshift into a brown cat, so likely another druid. Another boy had a shield on his back and a globe of water circling around him, so he was likely a shaman. A third boy had just become a purple spectre similar to Chad, so he was likely a priest. Another girl had a shield on her back as well, though holy rings shone briefly around her, so she was perhaps a paladin.

I took out my battle axe and gripped it tightly. "Let's charge in there."

Kyle brought out his axes from his hips and held them up. "Let's kick some ass."

The cat druid, seeing us, vanished from sight immediately. However, I casted Sweeping Strikes first, charged in on the death knight, held up my axe, and slammed it down on him, casting Mortal Strike, and due to my Sweeping Strikes buff, it chopped down on the ghoul as well, killing it immediately. Kyle casted Frost Shock on the death knight, causing an explosion of ice that also rooted the boy in place. Kyle reeled back his right axe to the left and swiped it rightwards, and the attack echoed twice more as furious wings circled around Kyle, his Windfury attack happening. Thus, the death knight went down immediately.

Tyler ran forward to where the cat druid last was and casted Divine Storm, whirling holy energy around himself to cut and reveal the cat druid. The cat in a puff of purple smoke shapeshifted into a brown bear. But before the bear druid could act, Chris revealed himself behind the bear, casting Cheap Shot, stunning out the bear. He followed up with two Backstab attacks, and followed up with a brutal slash with both daggers, casting Eviscerate. The bear was forced out of her form as she fell defeated.

Bebe shapeshifted into her Moonkin Form and casted Moonfire and Insect Swarm on the priest, causing him to burn in lunar energies while being ripped apart by magical insects. Meanwhile, Wendy casted Unstable Affliction, Corruption, and Curse of Agony, all shadowy spells that tore into the priest over time, while her felhunter bit at the priest's left leg. The priest shifted out of his Shadowform, becoming completely corporeal, as his hands glowed his holy light to try to heal himself. But Wendy's and Bebe's spells proved too much for him, and he eventually crumpled.

Kathy launched a Frostbolt at the shaman while Ellen aimed her gun at the shaman to cast Aimed Shot, both attacks tearing into the shaman, while Ellen's wolf bit at the shaman's right leg. This weakened the shaman immensely. Kathy then shot forth a Frostfire Bolt at the shaman now while Ellen casted Kill Shot to attempt to execute the shaman. As a result, the shaman was downed as well.

The paladin stared back at all of us. "...well forget this, I'm outta here!" She casted Divine Shield, protecting her in a holy shell, as she turned to run towards the right escalator.

Now normally, Divine Shield would render someone completely invulnerable. "Oh no you don't." Luckily for me, I can completely break it. I raised my battle axe with just my right hand, took a deep breath, before chucking it as hard and far as I could at the fleeing paladin. "Shattering Throw!"

Seizing the opportunity, Ellen raised her gun again, aiming at the paladin. "Kill Shot!" She pulled the trigger and fired.

My axe connected first, completely shattering the paladin's barrier. Ellen's bullet impacted next, tearing through the paladin's shield into her backside, causing her to fall down just in front of the right escalator. I walked up to the paladin to retrieve my axe. "Guess that's that."

"She was running up this escalator," Kathy said. "But was she trying to throw us off?"

"Based on how she was panicking?" Tyler shook his head. "I doubt it."

"You don't give her enough credit, Tyler."

"And I think you give her too much. Not everything has some elaborate plan." Tyler glanced up where the escalator would have exited. "Then again, why are we asking each other this when we can just ask Rachel?"

"Yeah, good point, why don't we ask Rachel?" Kathy turned to Rachel, but then Rachel just nodded as if confirming Tyler's prediction. "Oh. Guess you're right after all then, Tyler. Damnit"

"Just a lucky guess," Tyler shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Kathy. Let's just be glad we know where to go now." Tyler lightly patted Kathy's right shoulder with his left hand as Kathy smiled in response. This was one of those rare instances of Tyler being tender, which was really sweet to see.

After riding the escalator, once we arrived, we stopped a a few feet away were three more children this time waiting for us. The first girl had two daggers by her side, so she was a rogue. There was a boy with a warhammer in his hands though his feet briefly glowed orange upon activating Retribution Aura, so he was another paladin. A second boy had a staff on his back, but no pet nor covered in light or shadow, so he was likely a mage. A third boy had a crossbow in his hands and a small mountain lion by his side, so he was a hunter. There was a girl with a shield on her back, though this time a rock that glowed golden brown orbited around her, so she was another shaman.

"Can we all just charge in there?" Kyle asked. "We're probably gonna steamroll them anyhow."

"I think I would like that very much," Wendy agreed.

They haven't noticed us yet, so we seized the opportunity. We all ran straight in, weapons blazing. Kyle, Tyler, Chris, and I went in on the hunter, striking him down with our melee weapons so quickly he didn't even have time to react as our weapon swipes pierced through him. Wendy, Bebe, Ellen, and Kathy aimed for the rogue, Wendy draining away her life force with Drain Life, while Bebe casted Wrath, launching emerald lightning on the rogue, Ellen shot at the rogue, and Kathy launched another Frostbolt at the rogue, taking her down. Ellen's wolf went for the mage while Wendy's felhunter went for the paladin. Chad assaulted the shaman with shadowy spells, taking her down as well while Rachel went to swing her hammer at the hunter's mountain lion, breaking its face in immediately.

The mage casted Ice Block, trapping himself in a block of ice, while the paladin casted Divine Shield. They were both completely immune, and this time, I couldn't do anything about it as I already used my Shattering Throw. Hey, cooldown balance is important in roleplaying games too, people! "Well fuck."

"I got this, Stan." Chad rubbed his hands as his hands glowed with holy light. The next thing I knew, he had just casted Mass Dispel, a blanket disk of light briefly flashing over the mage and paladin as it stripped away the Ice Block and Divine Shield respectively. Bebe, still shapeshifted, had a wooden mallet by her side now instead of a staff, and Wendy was now holding a dagger, with no sword in sight on her unlike previously. Wait, where the hell did they get those weapons? Bebe slammed the mallet down on the mage while Wendy stabbed the paladin in his chest.

"Stan, do you notice that Bebe and Wendy have new weapons now?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah..." I turned to address the two girls. "Where did you two get those weapons?"

"We traded with the other girls back at the sewers," Bebe replied as she shapeshifted back into her normal human form.

"Now I can really roleplay a sneaky, pretty girl and stab people," Wendy giggled as she winked at us boys in particular. "Watch your backs boys."

As we walked, Tyler narrowed his eyes at me. "Thank you for encouraging her weirdness and stupidity." His tone was so obviously sarcastic even an idiot could point that out.

"Hey don't look at me, I'm not the one who let her borrow my dagger." I turned to face Chris as he rolled my eyes at me.

"Yeah, as if I'm supposed to predict her slamming Ron Weasley into the lockers." Chris shook his head.

"To be fair, all of the girls have their own quirks," Kyle remarked. "Like Bebe can be a bit aggro, Kathy is super energetic, sorta like Wendy, and Ellen is that shy girl you wanna protect or something."

"I mean, all the girls in our class as a whole have their own weirdness as well." I chuckled a bit. "You know what they say, 'Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em'."

"They're all quite great, not gonna lie," Tyler admitted.

"Yeah, all pretty cool," Kyle added.

The girls in our party noticed immediately. "Are you guys gossiping about us?" Bebe inquired. Sure, we were rather admiring the girls in our group, but still we were all embarrassed by the end of it all, each of our cheeks reddening and burning hot.

"They totally were," Kathy said as she was the first to giggle. The other three soon after followed suit.

Rachel and Chad just stared at each other in deadpan, saying nothing. No words were needed to express how awkward it must be for them. I feel a bit bad on the fact that both are left out of it all, but it's not like we can really do anything about that, can we?

At the end of the hall were a few more flight gates. There were only two KND soldiers now, a boy and a girl. Both only had a simple mallet, so it was hard for me to discern what classes they were. What piqued my interest in particular was that the boy was holding a golden lasso folded up in a loop around his right bicep. They noticed us immediately, and they weren't too happy.

The boy immediately handed off the lasso to the girl. "Go go on, get outta here!" The girl immediately nodded as she took the lasso in hands.

Oh no she doesn't. "Bebe! Chris! After her!" I sent those two specifically because those two are able to move the fastest out of all ten of us.

"You won't get a hold of us!" The boy shot emerald lightning towards the ceiling directly above us towards a sprinkler, apparently casting Wrath and therefore was a druid. Predictably, the sprinkler broke, causing it to rain water down on us. I'm not certain what he was trying; if he really thinks water was going to give us pause, all it caused was for our entire group to be drenched in clean water, nothing more (and clean us of sewer water from earlier). He shapeshifted into the Tree of Life, becoming a small brown treant with green leaves about as tall as we are. "You're too late!"

Rachel casted Death Grip, pulling the shapeshifted boy back into the rest of our group. Needless to say, the others punched and kicked at the boy several times over the duration of a few seconds before he was finally down for the count, forced back into his regular form.

Bebe shapeshifted into a cat as she casted Dash, while Chris casted Sprint, both making a swift run towards the girl. The girl let out a a scream, apparently casting Piercing Howl, slowing both Bebe and Chris down as they came close, so apparently she was a warrior. Shadows danced around Chris as he casted Shadow Dance. "Deadly Throw!" He pulled out a throwing knife and chucked it at the running girl, tagging her in her right calf, causing her to shriek in pain. "Oh sweet, I got 'em!"

Bebe shapeshifted into her Bear Form, becoming a blonde bear. Enraged now, she casted Bash, swiping the girl with her paw and stunning the girl out. She then shapeshifted back into her human form to snag away the lasso harshly. "I'll be taking that now."

Chris caught up to the girl and with a stab into her back, caused the girl to crumple to the ground. "And that for good measure."

The two came back to the rest of us with the lasso in Bebe's hands. She handed off the lasso to me. Looking at it curiously, it was regular rope for the most part, though it glowed gold with power, similar to the Stick. If the Wonder Woman comics were of any reference to go by, I certainly hope this proves useful to us against Cartman. Speaking of which...

"So Rachel, now that we have the lasso, what now?" I asked. "Where would Cartman be?"

Rachel caressed her hammer, her eyes trained on it. "Well given how Cartman leads the KND now, my best bet: the KND base."

"And where would that be?" Kyle asked.

Rachel beckoned us to go back to where we came. As we followed, she continued to speak. "We used to have a moon base, you see. Well that ended when DP Oil spill controversy happened. They drilled into the moon and unleashed Cthulhu in the process. I mean, the KND can do many things, but trying to fight against a dark god isn't one of them. So we had to relocate." Well shit. I specifically remember this all happening when we were playing superheroes for the first time. I also remember when Cartman somehow manipulated Cthulhu to banish my friends and me to a dark oblivion while he went off to effectively commit mass murder.

"Where did you guys go?" Wendy asked.

"Why to Canada, of course." Oh shit. I never really liked Canada. Everyone was too annoying. "Santa Claus has a fortress in the far northern reaches there, and the KND had to relocate there. It's temporary, I promise."

"Wait, if there is where we need to go...we need to..." Kathy groaned immediately. "Shit, I don't wanna take the tram to the international terminals."

"Why not?" I asked. "What's so bad about it?"

"It's slow as fuck." Wait, that's her complaint? That's pretty asinine if you ask me. Of course, I'm not going to say this out loud to her face.

"Guess I'll make a phone call." Bebe pulled out her phone. "Wait, are you and Chad coming with?"

Rachel shook her head. "No. Unfortunately, we'll have to remain here for now, make sure none come for you guys."

"I trust you guys know where to go," Chad added. "Besides, seems you guys know this airport way better than we do."

I nodded. "Thanks for everything, you guys."

"Good luck, you eight," Rachel concluded as she and Chad waved goodbye to us, and we waved back. In the end, they weren't that bad at all. They were rather pleasant and cooperative people, and I sincerely hope good fortune comes to them in the future.

Luckily, we were able to follow the signs. We went down the escalator and then went to the right where we would have gone when we first arrived at the five-way fork. While doing so, Bebe turned on the speakers of her phone, and we could all clearly hear what was coming next.

"Welcome to Shitty Wok, take ur orda prease!" This was the voice of the restaurant owner of City Wok, Tuong Lu Kim alright.

Bebe gave us a sheepish look. "Uh, whoops...thought this was City Airlines and all."

"Oh, oh yes, just a moment prease." There was a brief pause followed by a loud ring before he spoke once more. Herro, Shitty Airrines, can I help you take ur orda prease?"

"Uh, we need to go to Canada. Like right now. Immediately."

Mr. Kim responded back without hesitation. "Oooh, Canada. Okay, that's uh pretty far. Gonna cost ya a lot of money...hmm let's see...how many people?"

Bebe looked up at each of us. "Well there's like eight of us...plus two pets, so ten I guess?"

"Okay, ten people to Canada, quite a bit much..." There was a brief pause in the phone before Mr. Kim spoke up again. "That's gonna be ah eleven thousand, one hundred dolla." Not this again, Mr. Kim trying to scam us.

Kyle grumbled softly. "He tried to price gouge me last time I spoke with him. Bebe, just recommend a price really low and raise it by only a few dollars each time." Kyle was completely correct here as he did employ the right tactic.

Bebe nodded at Kyle before speaking into the phone once more. "How about seventy daura?"

"Seventy daura?!" Mr. Kim spoke through the phone in astonishment. "You flight to Canada cost at least five thousand dollar!"

"Okay...seventy-five daura."

"Hey! Stop wasting my time with seventy-five daura! No way I take my plane to Canada for less than two thousand daura!"

Bebe shrugged. "Uh...eighty daura."

"Eighty-four daura," Mr. Kim finalized.

"Deal," Bebe concluded.

"Good. Meet me North Park Airfield, international flights, yellow Cessna, tail number 432G."

"Understood," Bebe replied.

Then Mr. Kim, as if he wasn't expecting us to hear, spoke through the phone, "Hehehehe, never try to barter with a Chinese man." He then hung up, and Bebe did so as well afterwards.

Tyler chuckled. "What an idiot."

"Hey, we'll take what we can get." Can't say I disagree with Bebe's statement.


We only waited for the tram for a minute. As it arrived, I secured the lasso behind my back, and we got on. It was just the eight of us in one car. There was nowhere to really sit, besides the front where there was a small platform, although that wasn't really intended for sitting at all. All there was were poles for us to hang onto. Despite all that, the tram was ridiculously slow, so I can understand where Kathy was coming from.

"This is way too slow. Fuck this tram, seriously." Kathy scratched her left elbow. "That's your lesson of the day, Chris. Don't take airport trams - at least not here in North Park." Chris simply nodded, his expression rather stoic and blank.

All of us were wet from the broken fire sprinklers at the domestic gates, and we were pretty damn tired from all the fighting we did today. Hell, my feet and arms were a bit sore from all the walking and swinging a giant axe around. Furthermore, and I'll be honest: I myself am mentally exhausted from all the drama, both internal and external, and knowing that there's more drama to come (especially when I think Cartman will come along soon) is a bit worrysome to me. Thinking about this, I instinctively breathed out a sigh.

It seems that Wendy took note as she drew me out of my thoughts. "You alright, Stan?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." That was a lie. Each second I spend on this tram my heart beat faster out of anxiety over the impending issue I'm certain we'll face soon.

"You don't sound very fine," Wendy replied. "In fact, you seem really down." I turned away towards the right. I didn't exactly want her to see me unhappy, because if she sees me like this, she's unhappy, and when she's unhappy, things get very awkward very quickly.

Knowing this, I felt the panic arise in me. I quickly turned to her. "Well, what do you want me to say? That I'm scared? Scared that we're going to go off into...well, Canada on some shifty plane ride? And what about Douchebag? We're all focused on Cartman, but what about...Ray?"

Wendy was silent for a few moments before softly replying, "I miss him too."

I growled and exhaled out of my nose. "I wish I knew what was going on through Ray's mind. I shoulda asked him if I had the chance. Maybe...communicated with him better."

"He's not the only one, Stan," Wendy muttered softly.

That made my heart drop. Wendy was completely right. I really failed to communicate on all fronts with Wendy throughout the relationship. I failed to really ask why she broke up with me. I failed to explain how I felt about her performing dance numbers with Bridon Gueermo. I failed to ever talk things out with her on why she felt so angry during the photoshop fiasco. "Wendy, I...I..."

Wendy held up her left hand as if telling me to halt. "Don't worry about it. We talked about this yesterday, me making you anxious or whatever."

"Wendy, don't say that this is for me to not worry-"

"No, I guess you have a bit of a point." Wendy scratched the back of her neck with her right hand. "It's best we just worry about Ray right now. Don't mind me, I guess I'm a bit of a needy, jealous idiot."

She sounded dismissive and a bit stoic, but her frown and eyes glued to the floor betrayed her words. For one who is excellent at reading people, she's really not that hard to read once you know her. I scooted a bit closer to Wendy, slowly lifted my left hand, and cautiously placed it on her upper back. She flinched slightly, but nothing else. "You wanna talk about it?"

Wendy frowned even deeper. "I guess everything...well not everything, but many things I've done for positive attention. Look, I'm not a flake, I actually believe in the political ideologies I preach at school...well, most of them, but I don't know...seems people aren't proud, and my parents are busy with whatever most the time, so...yeah."

"I think I see the problem here." Some of our peers argued that her only goal is to be the perfect girl above everyone else in every way possible, and I won't lie; I do see a bit of merit in those criticisms. As for Wendy's parents, while they aren't completely evil or heartless, they don't do any favors for the problems that arise in South Park whatsoever, and often end up contributing to the mess anyways, just like the rest.

Wendy finally looked up and turned to me. "I guarantee you that none of you guys have noticed Rachel not liking us. Based on her tone, the way she distanced herself from us. But you're all too oblivious to this." I looked around to the others, who were only looking down at the floor. "She said we're like adults...and she's right. We're fucked up. We're growing up too fast. Our parents are manchildren..." Wendy closed her eyes and sniffled.

I knew that she was going to get emotional and I need to end it right now. "Wendy, please don't cry, it's not your fault-"

"Of course it's not my fault!" Wendy's tone raised and instinctively I took my hand off Wendy. "It's not your fault, and it's not anyone else's fault in here either! So don't...don't just..." Wendy began to sob softly. I looked over at the rest. Bebe was halfway to reaching her hands out towards Wendy, likely to try to pat her, but she retracted her hands, deciding against it. Kyle, Kathy, and Ellen frowned and it almost looked as if I could see a few tears in their eyes too. Chris and Tyler both kept their distance, both staring at the ground. It seems Wendy startled the entire tram we were in. She inhaled before saying, "It's them."

"Who?"

Wendy with one swipe of her left arm wiped away some tears. "Our p-p-parents. The adults. They're supposed to protect us. Look out for us. Look after us. Teach us right and wrong. A-and yet here we are, looking after Ray because they - they can't do their fucking jobs! It's like we're the parents. But they'd rather just...jack off or something, I don't even know. Do literally everything they shouldn't be doing, and we're paying the price dearly. I just want security, to be loved and not...be here. Nothing against you guys, it's just-"

"I know what you mean," I finished. "I guess it's why you feel...attention starved."

Wendy nodded. "Still, I don't envy your own family at all. Doesn't your sister still treat you like shit, and your parents don't care at all?" It hurt deep down remembering all the times Shelly tormented me, and my mom or dad only yelled at me as a consequence while my sister gets away free every time.

"Y-yeah." I felt a few tears come from my eyes, so I quickly wiped them away with my right hand. I didn't want others to see me cry.

"What about the rest of our parents, our friends with us?" None of the other six in our party have great parents either. "Or even Kenny, who's parents fight all the time? Or Butters's, who's parents ground him for dumb crap? Hell, I doubt Cartman's mom even attempts to do anything about Cartman, and he has no dad."

"We...we still have each other," I replied. "And I know that things haven't looked great for us throughout most of this school year."

"I know nothing can be perfect, but can't we at least try for once?" Wendy turned away as she folded her arms. "You guys might as well be all I have at this point."

Man, after listening into Chris and Kathy talk about mistrust between our peers, then Tyler and Ellen talk about external forces constantly endangering us, then Kyle and Bebe talk about people disregarding morals and leaving their surroundings worse off or even contribute to the problems in our town, I can safely say that we are actually emotionally damaged, and I'm not talking about our entire party. I'm talking about the entirety of our fourth grade class, hell, this might actually apply to the entirety of our elementary school. We've lived through so many horrors that no child, hell, no adult should ever have to experience.

But this sparked something within me. "Wendy, when Harry Potter kidnapped us the first time and locked us in his basement, do you remember what we said to him?"

"I..." Wendy slowly looked at me. "You'll have to remind me, my memory's a bit off."

"I remember real well, he blamed us for every problem that happened. And he went off on a tangent on how his life was perfect, but we fucked it all up."

"I see..." Wendy stroked her own hair a bit. "I...wasn't sounding like Harry just now, was I?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Hehe, no, not really. But we told him it wasn't easy for us be the adults. And when they see something they don't understand, they think it's bad."

"That can describe Rachel too." Wendy still didn't smile, though her frown was less obvious now. "Maybe if things were different, Rachel would actually try to fight us."

"My point is: yes things suck ass for us, and it hurt us all. But if we managed to make it though all this bullshit, what does that make us then?" I was hoping Wendy would smile a bit, though her expression was blank still. Still, I want her to be happy. Fortunately, I do know one last resort method to cheer her up, and yes, it's going to be embarrassing as fuck for me. On the flip side, since I'm around her performing this so often, I more-or-less memorized at least most of these steps now. "'Summer after high school, when we first met, we'd make out in your Mustang to Radiohead, and on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tatoos...'" I saw Wendy's eyes widen at me, the corners of her mouth slowly smiling. "'Used to steal your parents' liquor and climb to the roof, talk about our future like we had a clue, never planned that one day I'd be losing you...'"

This time, Wendy smiled very widely as she placed and held both of my hands with both of her own, and thus we both sung together, "'In another life, I would be your girl, we'd keep all our promises, be us against the world, in another life, I would make you stay, so I don't have to say you were the one that got away, the one that got away...'" Now Wendy threw herself into my arms as I hugged her tightly.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Ellen cooed. My cheeks began to run hot as Wendy stayed within my arms.

"They both sing really well, wow!" Kathy exclaimed.

"Wait, Stan, you actually know that song?" Kyle asked, and I nodded in response. "I mean, I'm not surprised Wendy would know it, but you?"

"If anything, I'm surprised that Stan of all people managed to sing it perfectly, let alone memorize it all," Bebe added.

Tyler flash a thumbs up with his right thumb and grinned. "I gotta admit, Stan, what you did takes guts."

Kyle snickered lightly. "We're still gonna make fun of you for it though."

"And tell the whole school," Bebe laughed.

I couldn't help but lightly chuckle. "To me, it's worth it." I looked town at Wendy, who was smiling at the others. "Just to see you happy, to see us all happy." Most of them were already thrilled at my singing. I haven't checked on Chris as he continued to stay quiet. When I did, he had his arms folded, and while his expression was initially grim, the corners of his mouth formed a subtle, rare, and genuine smile as he loosened his arms slightly. Wendy and I managed to get the most cynical and distrusting person in the tram a slight smile, and that made me thrilled, my heart lightened immensely.

"You are all the best," Wendy exhaled. "I don't know what I'd do without you all. And you, Stan..." She kissed my lip briefly. We held for about six seconds before she retracted. "You are awesome."

I smiled as I felt my cheeks burn hot. "I love you too, Wendy."

Wendy turned to the rest of the party. "As for the rest of you, group hug!"

Wendy and I were still hugging. Kyle and Bebe then joined in. Then Kathy did. Ellen grabbed Tyler's right hand with her own left hand. "Come on, Tyler, that includes you too," Ellen said.

Tyler rolled his eyes, but also chuckled. "Alright, let's get this over with. Just this once though, alright?"

When Ellen and Tyler joined, I noticed we were only missing one person, and that was Chris. His face was partially buried into his scarf, as if he was embarrassed. "Come on, Chris, you're a part of us too!" Kathy said.

"Hey, if I have to do this, so do you," Tyler added.

Chris nodded as he slowly joined in as well. "For you," he said softly. We held for what seemed like eternity, but I didn't care, because in the end, we were all one family, and a fucked up one at that.

Tyler was the first to split apart. He banged once on the window with his left fist, glancing at us with concern. "Guys, heads up. Our stop is here." We all split apart quickly. The tram slowed to a sure stop. I looked out the windows, and we found ourselves at another hallway that was similar to the one at the domestic terminals, but there was no one of note around, save regular adult and child travelers. When the doors opened, Tyler was the first one out, drawing out his greatsword and scanning the perimeter. "No one of note. It's clear." The rest of us followed suit, moving off the tram.

Down the hall we went, and a few minutes later did we arrive at a dead end where there were a few international gates, where various travelers are seated in chairs waiting for their next flights. One of the doors was open however. "Mr. Kim said to meet us at the international fights. Let's go outside." We then walked out the door and down the stars.

The airport lots, unlike the international gates, was not orderly at all. Several yards in front of us was a big battle, and it was the Alliance and House Slytherin against the KND. Swords, arrows, sorcery, and the like was being thrown around against each other. For instance, Kenny as a hunter had a giant rat with him, and Kenny was getting shots off with his bow against KND soldiers while the rat was trampling down more. Butters the paladin, Token the priest, Nichole the paladin, and Lola the priest were in the back keeping the rest of the N.W.A. alive with his holy healing spells.

"Stan!"

I looked to the right at where the voice was and it was Kelly Nelson from our class, also Kenny's girlfriend. "Cartman's been spotted!" Wait, Cartman is here? I don't think Rachel was misleading us, given she gave away the location of the KND, but perhaps she didn't anticipate Cartman sticking around here.

"Where?!" Kyle asked.

Kelly pointed off ahead and about thirty degrees towards the right where an airplane shed stood. "In there is what I heard! You'll need to go around the fight!"

I nodded and turned to the rest of my party. "Come on, guys! Let's not waste any time!"

It took us about three minutes to run around the fight as we had to dodge various stray projectiles and spells. Luckily, none of us managed to get hurt, and none of us managed to be left behind. The shed was about a quarter of a mile away so it took us two more minutes to get there. When we finally got inside however, we found things none of us would ever expect.

There was one boy and one girl about our age. The boy was bald with a red jacket and black pants. The girl had auburn hair, teal jacket, light teal pants, and a teal bow tie around her head. They were both chained up and shackled in irons several feet above the ground, the chains that held their arms extended towards the ceiling while the chains that held their feet extended into the back wall. They were only a few feet apart from each other, the boy on our left while the girl was on our right.

I recognized the boy immediately. "That's Charlie Brown. Or Charles. Whatever."

Kyle pointed at the girl. "And that's that one little red-haired girl. Um..."

"It's Heather-something," Bebe answered. "I...forgot her last name."

"Wold," Kyle corrected. "Heather Wold, I think." Despite both being from South Park, their lack of fantasy equipment whatsoever more-or-less gave away the fact they didn't participate in the roleplay at all. It's unlikely those two would have any powers.

Wendy gasped as she held her hands at her own mouth. "W-w-what t-the hell is all this? Why are you both here like this?"

"He did this!" Heather screamed. "You know who!"

"He wants to sacrifice us!" Charlie added. "Said he needed us for something!"

I don't understand, since when did Cartman need a sacrifice when he already has Ray? "Wait, Cartman?"

Before anyone could say anything else, from out of the shadow came a certain thing. There was a figure in the shape of a fat kid's left hand that had its thumb side faced towards us. It had pink lips drawn onto the inner half of the thumb and inner half of the lower index finger. Beady eyes were crudely drawn on near the knuckle of the index finger. It then flapped its thumb and fingers as a creepy, deep, and nasal voice sounded out not from the hand itself but off slightly a few inches to the left, from an actual person to be exact.

"Good to see you...fags."

The person, or more exactly boy, that the hand was attached to was a different matter altogether. He was about our age, but, bluntly put, morbidly obese. He wore a cape just like mine and Kathy's, though unlike being a dark green or black respectively, his was as deep shade of navy blue as dark as the evening sky. His robes were the color of deep, vibrant velvet, like a certain type of creamy cake I wouldn't put past for him to be accustomed to. He wore a sash like Tyler, whose color was the same overall as his point wizard hat, a dark color that resembled a tropical sea during a sunny midday. There was a golden sun on the front, whose creepy smile synergized with the creepy dread grin shown on the fat boy's visage, whose pudgy cheeks could be symbolic for all the hurt for us to come. He held his oak staff akin to a medieval executioner ready for his kill.

This was the grandest wizard of them all.

The one we worked so hard to seek.

The one that got away.

Eric Theodore Cartman.


So I know that the timeline is a bit fucked up now that we have five more season to account for since the last Stick of Truth fic. Worry not, I'll get all that sorted out eventually. As for now though, I hope you've been enjoying this so far. As for what happens next, you'll just have to see soon. Until next time.