Battle at Journey's End is another soundtrack from Octopath Traveler, which is played during the final boss of each character's arc. I think this chapter is aptly named for that reason. Hopefully you all enjoy.

Beware: One of my OCs is going to be murdered this chapter.


Chapter Twenty - Battle at Journey's End.

We appeared unto the arena as the gate closed behind us. The arena was probably sixty yards in radius. The structure itself was rather unremarkable, the limestone (according to Bebe) cracked down and wearing away, and there was stadium seating consisting of stone slabs up around. However, there were no obstacles or structures inside the arena that could provide line of sight, or in any sense that could block our vision. Speaking of line of sight...

What we saw next at the spectator seats (once again) shook us to the core. When we exclude my entire party, Cartman, and Ray, there should be thirty kids left in our (Mr. Garrison's) fourth grade class, right? Unfortunately, all thirty of said leftovers were all there, held and shackled against small walls by their ankles and wrists, their extremities spread outwards. They were fully conscious and aware of everything that was going on, and their faces were full of a mixture of sadness, anger, and terror as they were held against their own will. The KND had confessed earlier before we entered the castle that Cartman had taken my entire class. I didn't realize they were all there. This was just sickening.

"Guys, help!" Kenny yelled.

"They got us held up!" Annie added.

"I w-w-want to g-go home!" Clyde was crying.

"We all want to go home, Clyde, but we're all stuck, as you can see!" Melissa sighed.

"We'll be fine, I think," Andrew muttered.

"Andrew, How can you call this fine?!" Karen, Andrew's twin sister, shouted. "We chained up here in pitch-black, freezing weather, hello?!"

"Oh calm down, it's not even that dark outside." Token rolled his eyes.

"Please hurry up and find some way to release us, guys," Sally said, "before our classmates drive me insane."

At the other side of the arena, where another closed gate stood, was Cartman himself at the front. Ray, Charlie, and Heather were all levitating a few feet above Cartman while bound by glowing purple chains around their chests. I'll assume that they're magical chains, which is why they could levitate at all right now. They were just as conscious and aware as the rest of our class. Our entire party was lined up. From my left to my right, it was Kathy, Chris, Bebe, Kyle, me, Wendy, Tyler, and Ellen. Mr. Hankey jumped off of Kyle onto Snoopy, as those two, Woodstock, and Wendy's and Ellen's pets were behind us. Needless to say, our party wasn't very happy to see him, all of us scowling at him.

Cartman had his hands behind his back, though there was nothing that suggested that his hands were actually bound; he was likely just standing in attention - with also a stupid grin on his face. "Good to see you...fags."

"Good to see you too, asshole!" Tyler yelled. "Bet you're happy to see us, since you didn't let me or Chris into your superhero group!"

"Of course not!" Cartman shouted. "That's 'cause you and Chris both went off to join the Freedom Pals like stupid little faggots, alongside Timmy, Stan, Token, Kenny, Tweek, Andrew, and Kent!" The ones who originally sided with Cartman were Ray, Kyle, Jimmy, Scott, Craig, Clyde, Lance, Irving, and Preston. For Chris and Tyler specifically, Chris was Green Hood, a Gadgeteer which was basically Red Hood from DC Comics, and Tyler was Miracle, a Netherborn which is similar to Cloud from Final Fantasy VII.

"We tried to join, but you kept acting like a bitch and never gave me, Chris, Andrew, nor Kent any material for our franchise until halfway down phase three!" Tyler shot back.

"We regret nothing!" Chris scoffed.

"That doesn't matter anymore, it's end of the line for you, fatass!" Kyle yelled.

"You really thought a bunch of kids could stop us?!" Tyler added.

"And you really did have to send Trent on us too!" Yeah, I'm still not happy about that at all.

Cartman grinned even harder. Goddamnit, why is it that everytime we take a step forward, it always seems like he enjoys it? "Oh ho ho, don't worry...I expected you eight to make it all the way past here. Take down Trent, and take care of the KND for me. That's another thing about the KND; their childlike minds made them so easy to manipulate. But honestly, they were the last step in my way. They could have easily stopped me, but they didn't. And now they're all exposed. The KND is already no more."

"That's all you ever do!" Ellen clenched her fists. "You just destroy everything you ever touch, and you intended to do so too!"

"Yeah!" Kathy confirmed. "I mean, we're all not that good, but you just take the cake!"

"Oh you are certainly right - you're all assholes." Cartman continued to smirk. Goddamnit, we just can't get in his head. "I'm glad you can admit it all. I'm glad you finally learn your lesson. But a lesson learned far too late - my final solution is already at work."

"You mean Everlasting Christmas, right?!" Cartman nodded at Bebe's question, and Bebe continued on. "You know, Heidi's right about you: after all this time, you still have the victim mindset! Enjoy wallowing in your own pain!"

"Hey, fuck you Bebe, you dumb whore!" Cartman stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry towards her direction.

"Was this what you truly wanted?!" Chris asked. "You hate us so much you'd do all this?! After you betrayed so many of us here...all of us here...did you really think your vengeance was just?! Huh?!"

"And look where all of that got you, fucker!" Wendy couldn't help but chuckle. "You're all alone, miserable as you should be! With no one by your side - it must be real lonely at the top, huh?!"

But Cartman wasn't fazed one bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Cartman shrugged. "I guess I am lonely. Would be a shame if there were a lever to suddenly release the rest of our fourth grade class, sic them on me. After all, we all know they still have their powers." There were two levers by the far side gate, one on each side, and Cartman gestured with his right hand towards the lever on our left side. "I mean, theoretically, you could simply walk over right now, pull it, and our entire class could just kick my ass right now...though...would be a shame if you eight were to face an arena team right now with three people from our school...who all have legendary artifacts for weapons."

Kathy facepalmed briefly. "Oh no...you GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! WHY THE FUCK DOES EVERYONE KEEP GETTING LEGENDARY WEAPONS?! THIS HAS TO BE SOME SHITTY FANFIC OF A SICK, TWISTED COMEDY SHOW!"

"Perhaps, Kathy, you could ask them personally." Cartman clapped both of his hands twice.

In front of him appeared not one, not two, but three fourth graders. While they weren't in our class specifically, nevertheless, I knew them from situations and drama past. Two were blonde boys who were also twins; one was in the middle and had cropped hair and wore black pants, a red trenchcoat, a wooden spear on his back, and a crown made of twigs. The other was at the left side and had a light blue jacket, blue pants, brown gloves, a yellow scarf, a red chestplate strapped around his jacket, a wooden fence shield like Tyler's, and a hammer similar to Tyler's. The third was a girl on the right side with a light green jacket with a white flower, and olive pants, and she had a silver chestplate strapped around her jacket, a wooden fence shield similar to Tyler's and a hammer similar to Tyler's.

"Cole Dimmons, Isaac Dimmons, and Nelly Hall!" Kyle tightened his fists. "You assholes!"

"I know why we fight, but why do they fight?!" Tyler seethed.

Wendy glanced over at Tyler. "Yeah, seriously..." She then glared straight down at our enemies. "What the fuck is all this?! You're gonna betray us now?! You're gonna side with him?!"

"And how did they even suddenly appear here anyways?!" Ellen asked.

Isaac, being on our left (Cartman's right) held an empty glass bottle with his left hand and a cork with his right hand. "Smoke of Deceit, just like we used last time to take down the Twilight Vampires." He handed the items off to Cartman, who took them without hesitation. Oh yeah, I forgot that thing existed.

Needless to say, I felt like my heart was pierced by a sniper rifle. This revelation disgusted me so much that I never wanted to vomit more out of pure sickness. "H-h-how c-can you do this?! I t-thought after our last journey we were cool! I t-thought we were friends!" I'm resisting the temptation to cry as I wiped my eyes with my right hand. This is just awful, man! "W-WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"And Nelly..." Bebe started. "I knew you were fucked in the head, but THIS?! YOU'RE SIDING WITH A FUCKING PSYCHOPATH?!"

Nelly glared back, but she remained mostly stoic, a simple frown on her face and nothing more. "I'll be honest now so we don't have to waste time with the Lasso of Truth that Stan still holds: I'm not privy to boys at all, but Cartman's right. Our whole town needs an upheaval. A revival. You know, you and Wendy have amazing looks and charisma, so much so you can get many followers - both girls and boys. But I care not for the glory, no, what I want is to tear down our social structure. It's so clear we're too influenced by teen drama and patriarchy at the school, but Cartman just wants to restore childhood fun. What's not to like?" Yeah, Nelly is so fucking brainwashed.

"You think this is the fucking answer?!" Kathy yelled. "What, is it just that you want 'childlike fun' back just so you can wage gender wars, because that's for stupid children, right?! That's your true motive right?! To take a piss on all the boys at school?!"

"Sexism isn't funny, you fucking derelict!" Kyle added. "This isn't cool at all! And to think that I even was considering siding with you at one point during all the gender war bullshit...God, you're so fucking retarded!"

"Go fuck yourself!" Bebe shouted. "Did I drink the kool-aid when I went along with your bullshit?! Yes, I'll admit that, but unlike you, I learned better! I learned that we all have to move on with our lives sooner or later! But you don't seem to want to! Grow the fuck up, Nelly Hall!"

"Look at all the irony here! All of it! Man, if I had a dollar for each time you shit out hypocrisy, I'd be a rich boy!" Isaac laughed for a few seconds, so obnoxious I just want to walk over and punch him in the face. "The fact of the matter is that you eight shitheads can claim that Nelly fucked things up, but really, look at your entire class right now! That's where you eight retards deserve to be! Because you all seem to believe that the world revolves around you! You're all petty and superficial, as if this is high school! You're all disgusting! 'Wahh, gender wars!' You eight, as well as the rest of your class did alot worse than Nelly ever has! You all constantly sit back and laugh, or even torment others yourselves! My brother had to put up with your bullshit for most of the year already, but has anyone ever asked how he felt?! No!"

"If you side with the fat fuck over there, you shouldn't even get a say!" Ellen shouted. "Your opinions are invalid! Nice mental gymnastics, fucktards!"

"This has to be the most retarded speech I've ever heard!" Tyler added. "You can honestly sit there and call us out - while you're siding with the racist, sexist sociopath who wants to basically bring an apocalypse with his 'final solution'?! How fucked in the head are you three?! You...you four are all part of the problem in South Park! There, I said it!"

"I knew kids at our school can be fucked up...but now, I regret nothing siding with my friends here!" Chris stomped his left foot. "I won't let you assholes do this! I won't let you hurt our entire class anymore, because unlike you, I learned to care about them! And even if I have to get hurt myself, I will never let pure evil like you four prevail! Go to hell!"

Cole folded his arms. "We're doing this for your own good!" Our own good? What the fuck? "Sure, I'll admit I was wary of Cartman at first...but at the end of the day, he's right! There has to be sweeping changes, and the first step is to take out all the trash such as you eight and the rest of your class! You want to know how I really feel?!" Now I'm kind of curious. "I'm jealous of the popular kids, and I'm jealous of you all! You all have each other, while our mom dies of colon cancer when we're like three! My dad doesn't see us all the time, but I can't blame him because he has to work his ass off to feed both of us while most of you all get what you want! It's not fair, I have to look out for the both of us, because of assholes like you eight and your entire class that will try to take advantage of us! Like when everyone fucking freaked out over some list on who was the hottest guy in our class, or having to join in on High School Musical routines just to fit in, or something similarly petty - I'm just tired of being compared to everyone else over stupid petty girl shit - because I really feel like shit inside! But the worst part is that you guys regressed into toxic shitheads! So fuck you!"

Wendy grimaced briefly before leaning forward. "'Oh no, woe is me!' Go fuck yourself, Cole! I really thought you changed into a better person, but I can see now I was wrong! This is all you ever do, try to manipulate retards with your sob story - it worked once at that stupid campfire, but it's not going to work this time, and it's not going to work ever again, you stupid asshole!"

"Yeah, it's so easy for you to talk shit about us because you never once went in our shoes - you just like to assume! See, I can make a sob story too, asshole!" I never breathed in and out so angrily so fast in my life, but I'm ready to let all my feelings loose. "But that's the difference between you and us: you just make excuses and continue to play victim, just like Cartman! We actually take responsibility for all the shit we caused! We know we're flawed, but that's life: striving for improvement every day! But you can wallow in pain all you want! I never said this and actually meant it...but KILL YOURSELF, YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!"

"I don't want to listen to their bullshit any more," Tyler muttered. "They're just gonna keep spouting nonsense, Stan. Let's kick their asses already, man!"

I held out my left palm, as if halting Tyler. "Not just yet, Tyler. We got something to say still." Tyler gasped softly, but nodded in understanding.

"Well I got something to say too." Cartman remained grinning while the other three enemies were gritting their teeth in anger. "You know, I thought the speech I gave you to all earlier at North Park would have been an eye-opener. A wake-up call. Sort of a...revelation. But sadly, I suppose stubbornness gets in the way, after all. It is only human nature, wouldn't you agree?" Cartman eyed Kyle. "So please, Kyle...spare us all the 'I learned something today' speeches."

Our entire party still faced Cartman, though we glanced at each other. "Oh...but that's where you're wrong Cartman." I glared straight at him now. "It's not just Kyle who learned something over the past two days...all of us did!" Turning my head to Kathy, I nodded at her, as if telling her to begin first.

All of the attention was on us now. Our enemies faced us, our classmates who were held hostage at the spectator stands eyed us down, and even Ray, Charlie, and Heather were peering upon us searchingly. We were under the eyes of judgement now, but this time, we were going to talk with determination.

"Yeah...we learned something alright!" Kathy exhaled harshly before continuing. "I've been pretending long enough about who I am and who I want to be! I set aside my relationship with Chris to follow the shitty trend of blatant sexism, and just going around with the crowd of bullying girls because I was too afraid to speak up! Too afraid of confronting my peers, because I had no faith in them to empathize with me, but I won't live this lie anymore!"

"There's bad people out there indeed!" Chris added. "We do things to hurt each other, into our faces and behind our backs! But I'm sick and tired of cowering from my peers, I want to help reconnect our entire class and cherish everything together! Love and trust are sentiments I want to believe in, and they're ones worth fighting for, even if I have to stand toe-to-toe and take you assholes down - because it's worth it all in the end!"

"I will not stand by and watch as jackasses like you spread destruction in your wake!" Ellen seethed. "I've been afraid of stepping in for so long, unsure of my decisions, and I've been too complacent and lazy as to what had been going on with our home...but now I realize that sometimes the extreme way is the only way to do things! I've tried being the good girl, but now I see I have to step up and fight!"

"All I've ever done in life was push others around, just like you!" Tyler screamed. "I've complained about our domestic environment even though I've contributed to the problem - well not today! Now I have a new purpose to fight - to care for and avenge those we love dearly! You all have wronged those back at home, and you especially wronged our classmates! But guess what: you damn well know we will bring retribution upon you!"

"I learned that there's no place for nihilism when it comes to this!" Bebe yelled. "I was just like you - poisoning others with selfishness because I grew indifferent about everyone around me! But when I look at you now, now I realize that we have to care about the well beings of others, especially towards friends! I took from others so much, but now I have something to give back for the rest of our peers! It's time for us to become better, and it's time for a moral change!"

"It's true that we are sort of like you, after all, we helped make you into who you are!" Kyle clenched his fists. "But that is the difference: you all will just flake just for power, but we refuse to let our morals wane! Call this atonement, sure, but no matter what you and your cronies say, no matter how much any asshole wants to act contrarian, I refuse to let us subside from our morals! You can act like you're such a genius, but in the end, you're all nothing but bitter assholes!"

"You had your chance to let things go!" Wendy shouted. "You didn't need to pursue all this just for control over others! Because you're so scared that others would do things disagreeable to you that you pull this shit! Yeah, in that sense, I agree: we were similar! But I know what dealing with loneliness is like, and the way you're going, that's the only path you'll ever take! You psychopaths will never value love and friendship because you only care about yourselves!"

"There's one thing that I want to say!" Now it was my turn, and I exhaled harshly. "It's all the good times and bad times we have that make us who we are! It's all the struggles, the hardships, the friendships, and the relationships we build together that bind us and help make home a more bearable experience! And honestly, it truly breaks my heart seeing you fuckers take advantage of our kindness, because psychopaths like you will never understand the concept of family!"

I glanced at Ray, Charlie, Heather, and the rest of our classmates. They all flashed real and genuine smiles at us. A moment later, they all started cheering. Not only is it truly heartwarming to see our classmates take our lessons to heart, it's heartwarming to see my entire party stand up to assholes like Cartman, as if we were one body.

Cartman's eyes twitched; I could tell now that our speeches threw him off emotionally. "I...I see how it is. Very well then. If I can't convince you all, I'll just have to break you all." Cartman started backing towards the gate, and Ray, Charlie, and Heather followed while still floating above him. Cartman pulled the right lever, and the gate lifted. "You three do understand the consequences of losing against those eight Jews, yes?" Wait, what consequences? I guess Cartman is going for coercion against his own now, though this isn't surprising given his track record. Cole, Isaac, and Nelly just nodded. "Very good. Kill the Octopath Travelers! Leave none of them alive!" The former four then left as the gate closed behind them, leaving our party to deal with Cole, Isaac, and Nelly. The aforementioned three began to spread out.

Cole shapeshifted into a blonde cat, casting Cat Form. "Long have I waited to finally claw you assholes down! Vengeance will be mine at last!"

"Legendary weapons or not, we will beat you down!" Kathy yelled as she casted Ice Armor, coating herself with sleet and snow. She also casted Ice Barrier, protecting herself with an icy bubble.

"Go to hell, assholes!" Chris drew out both his daggers.

"You will fall!" Ellen took out her shotgun as her wolf came to her side, growling fiercely.

"Alot of people are gonna be thanking us for this one!" Tyler drew out his greatsword and casted Retribution Aura, an orange cross briefly glowing beneath his feet.

"This is what you deserve, all the damage you've done!" Bebe shapeshifted into her Moonkin Form a second later while giving off her Moonkin Aura.

"Your torment ends now!" Kyle placed down four totems like usual - Strength of Earth Totem, Flametongue Totem, Cleansing Totem, and Windfury Totem. He also casted Lightning Shield, surrounding himself with a ball of lightning that circled around him.

"This had been a long time coming!" Wendy casted Demonic Circle, placing a plate of shadow and chaos energies beneath her feet. She also casted Demon Armor, coating herself with shadowy spikes.

"Now is the moment of your reckoning!" I drew out my battle axe.

Our party all raised our weapons and yelled into the air, "LET'S DO THIS, OCTOPATH TRAVELERS!" Then we charged into the fray.

Chris and Cole both casted Stealth and Prowl respectively, fading out of sight. Nelly casted Concentration Aura, while Isaac placed down four totems of his own - Tremor Totem, Totem of Wrath, Cleansing Totem, and Wrath of Air Totem. The presence of the Totem of Wrath would expose damage vulnerabilities to my party so long as it remained active. Isaac casted Flame Shock, blasting him with flame while setting him on fire. He then casted Elemental Mastery, surrounding himself in an orb of flame - he was now empowered. "Fuck you, Kyle! Feel my flames!" He then instantly casted Lava Burst, sending a glob of molten lava Kyle's way.

But Kyle reacted just as quickly, destroying his own Windfury Totem by casting Grounding Totem, and the lava homed in on the totem instead, destroying it while leaving Kyle himself unharmed.

Kathy casted Spellsteal on Isaac, and as a result, Isaac was no longer surrounded by flames as his Elemental Mastery buff was stolen - that now belonged to Kathy. "Thank you, shithead!" Isaac growled angrily in response. Kathy's spells are going to come out much faster temporarily.

Now was the time for me to run straight in. I casted Charge, rushing in on Isaac, then casted Hamstring, striking at his legs to slow down his movement. Looking over at Nelly briefly, I expected her to try to heal Isaac, but instead she found herself incapacitated, so she was just standing there unconsciously - the only conclusion here was that Chris successfully casted Sap against Nelly while stealthed.

"Ah!" I could feel chills down my spine - that scream of pain was all too familiar to me.

Turning around, I saw Wendy stunned as Cole now revealed himself in his Cat Form while striking away at Wendy, though Tyler's aura meant that he was also harming himself with small holy explosions against himself per each melee attack he caused. Additionally, Cole was glowing bright red, having already casted Berserk, so he was immune to fear. Regardless, I still had to help my girlfriend, so I tried to rush to Wendy, but all of a sudden, roots sprouted from the ground to ensnare me in place as another one of Isaac's totems was placed by me, casting Earthbind Totem, though he destroyed his Tremor Totem in the process to do so. I couldn't do anything for now. However, Bebe turned her full attention on Cole and casted Hibernate against Cole. Because Cole was a cat, he was particularly vulnerable to that spell, so he fell asleep on the spot immediately. As Wendy backed off to distance herself, Kyle and Wendy's felhunter came into her rescue, casting Flame Shock on Cole, waking him up while setting him on fire, as Kyle and Wendy's felhunter began to duke it out against Cole in the melee, with Wendy and Bebe casting their spells on Cole. Kyle re-placed Windfury Totem by his side.

In the meantime, a Frostbolt from Kathy pelted the Earthbind Totem, killing it immediately. The roots that gripped me subsided as Chris appeared behind Isaac, casting Cheap Shot to stun him. "You want some of this?!" Shadows flared around Chris as he casted Shadow Dance. In the meantime, I slammed my axe down upon Isaac, casting Rend, bleeding Isaac, while Chris casted Ambush, puncturing Isaac into his backside.

Then Kathy briefly faded out for a moment. Then a second later, four Kathies appeared in place, all looking almost exactly alike, although three of them had glowing purple eyes while one did not, so it was obvious which Kathy was real. She had just casted Mirror Image.

"Woah, what'd I miss?!" a fake Kathy yelled.

"Where's the party?!" a second fake Kathy added.

"Lookin' for me?!" a third fake Kathy flashed a smug grin on her face.

The Kathy whose eyes weren't glowing, the real one, pointed straight at Isaac. "Let the fun begin!" That Kathy ran forward towards us. Isaac, seeing which Kathy was real, attempted to cast Lava Burst, but Kathy herself casted Counterspell, interrupting the spell and silencing Isaac.

In the meantime, the mirror images were repeatedly casting a single spell, all while repeatedly shouting, "Frostbolt! Frostbolt! Frostbolt!" All of the Frostbolts were homed in onto Isaac, slowing him down immensely.

"Man, you guys suck!" Nelly casted Beacon of Light on Cole. Now normally, any healing Nelly did would have healed Cole as well. However, Kyle being fully aware immediately casted Purge, removing the beacon immediately. "Damnit!"

"Scatter!" Ellen aimed her shotgun at Nelly, casting Scatter Shot, disorienting her. Tyler stood next to Ellen off at the left side, ready to pounce on Nelly when ready.

But Nelly casted Divine Shield, breaking out of the disorient effect immediately while protecting herself with a holy barrier that rendered her completely immune. "She bubbled early!" Tyler announced.

"Right on it!" I raised my axe at Nelly, ready to cast Shattering Throw upon her. Now I needed Chris to disable Isaac. And so Chris, still affected by Shadow Dance, attempted to cast Garrote on Isaac...

...but this time, Chris's attack did absolutely nothing, seeing as how Nelly had just casted Hand of Protection upon Isaac, a glowing purple crown appearing above him. "S-s-shit!" Chris gasped and stammered.

As a result, Isaac casted Thunderstorm, a blast of lightning expelling from his own body, pushing both me and Chris away while interrupting my Shattering Throw attempt. I was pushed towards Tyler and Ellen as I fell to the ground. As a result, Nelly healed Cole up to full. Meanwhile, Isaac casted Chain Lightning upon all of the Kathy illusions, a channel of lightning that lept through and killed the mirror images instantly, causing them to disperse into thin air.

Nelly then ran in and casted Hammer of Justice against Ellen, stunning her. Meanwhile, Cole was already running towards Tyler, Ellen, and me, and he briefly shifted into his human form to instantly cast Cyclone against Tyler. He then casted Hibernate against Ellen's wolf before shapeshifting back into his Cat Form. With the pair and the pet locked out of combat, we were in trouble now. And despite the damage-over-time afflictions that Bebe, Wendy, and Kyle inevitably placed upon Cole, the damage done was being nullified by Nelly's healing, who was still invulnerable.

Kathy still had her attention upon Isaac however. "Deep Freeze!" she shouted, stunning Isaac in an icicle. Now was my time. Getting back to my feet, the Hand of Protection buff faded, and I casted Charge again on Isaac, running in, and casted Mortal Strike. But then Isaac casted Frost Shock, slowing me as he started pacing away from me, and I couldn't keep up. He did not go too far, preventing me from utilizing Intercept.

The Divine Shield faded from Nelly, but Chris moved towards Nelly, scooped up residual ice from the ground, and tossed it at Nelly's face, casting Blind and disorienting her. This gave Tyler and Ellen, who were no longer locked out, ample time to catch the healer as both moved closer to Nelly while Chris began running back towards where I am now. Chris, no longer affected by Shadow Dance, started to attack Isaac once more.

"Lock and load!" Ellen shouted as she casted Rapid Fire, briefly glowing with blue light, prompting her to fire her gun much more quickly. She casted Silencing Shot against Nelly to, well, prevent her from casting any spells.

Tyler and Ellen's wolf then got very close to melee range of Nelly. "PRAY FOR MERCY!" he roared as wings of light appeared on his back, casting Avenging Wrath. He then casted his own Hammer of Justice, stunning her out, and now the healer was completely vulnerable to our hunter and paladin buddies and the hunter pet as the trio began to assault her relentlessly.

"I need help!" Nelly commanded, but the twins were too busy to help out.

In the meantime, Kyle first casted Feral Spirit, summoning two spirit wolves. Then he casted Heroism, all while shouting "LET'S GET READY TO ROCK!" All of our hands glowed bright blue as we physically grew larger by a tiny bit, about an inch all around - we were empowered with speed.

Of course, in response, Isaac casted Bloodlust, while shouting "KILL THEM ALL!" Our enemies' hands glowed bright red as they also physically grew just as little as we did.

Kyle and Wendy's felhunter were whacking away at Cole. Thus, Cole shapeshifted into his Dire Bear Form, becoming a blonde bear, and then casted Feral Charge, rushing in at Wendy again. But Wendy teleported to her Demonic Circle, creating more distance between each other. "Give it up, asshole!"

"Fuck you Wendy!" Cole shouted. Of course, the spirit wolves casted Spirit Walk on Kyle, so all three ran at Cole extremely quickly, even faster than Bebe and Chris could have hoped with Dash or Sprint respectively and they were back at hacking away against Cole.

Wendy casted Haunt, Unstable Affliction, Corruption, and Curse of Agony at that exact order, sending a ghostly soul to damage Cole and leave him vulnerable to shadow damage...while the other three spells were shadow damage afflictions that tore into Cole. She then started to channel Drain Life, leeching Cole's life force away. When Cole tried to get close to her again, Wendy casted Shadowflame, breathing out a mix of shadow and flame from her mouth that set Cole on fire and slowed him down. Meanwhile, Bebe first casted Force of Nature, summoning three treants to attack Cole. She then casted both Moonfire and Insect Swarm, burning Cole with lunar energies while also assaulting him with magical hornets. She then casted Starfall, as exploding stars fell from the sky, bombarding Cole, Isaac, and Nelly. She then casted Wrath, sending a bolt of green lightning at Cole. This triggered a lunar eclipse effect that temporarily empowered her with arcane energies, so she began to repeatedly cast Starfire against Cole, blasting him with a torrent of stars. Kyle in the meantime attacked once with his right axe, and that attack echoed twice more as his Windfury attack was triggered. As a result, he instantly casted Lightning Bolt, zapping Cole. Then Wendy's felhunter casted Shadow Bite, the demon's teeth coated with shadow opened its mouth and bit down on Cole's front left leg, tearing out a chunk of skin while leaving a shadowy residue.

"Ow!" There was only so much Cole could take while in his bear form before he fell at the north gate finally forced back into his human form.

Meanwhile, Kathy, Chris, and I were handling Isaac. Isaac tried to create more space for himself, so he threw down another Earthbind Totem, and this caused roots to sprout up from the ground, catching all three of us. But all three of us were ready this time. As Isaac tried to run, Kathy casted Blink, teleporting towards Isaac. In response, Isaac casted Lightning Bolt at Kathy, causing the Ice Barrier to fall, unleashing the Shattered Barrier effect that exploded, and since they were next to each other, Isaac's feet were frozen in place. Then Kathy casted Icy Veins, coating herself in fog that sped up her spellcasts, and summoned her Water Elemental, which started hurling water bolts at Isaac. Normally when rooted, Chris and I were especially vulnerable...but not today! Chris casted Cloak of Shadows, turning his form into an ethereal, shadow-like state. He then casted Shadowstep, teleporting to Isaac's backside, then recasted Shadow Dance. This time, he casted Cheap Shot, stunning Isaac, then followed up with another Kidney Shot to stun Isaac for even longer. In the meantime, I casted Bladestorm, spinning around rapidly with my axe. I was able to catch up to Isaac fairly quickly, and I was cutting him to death with such attack. When my Bladestorm ended, Isaac was kneeling down.

"P-please..." Isaac begged.

"...fuck you." I casted Execute, slamming my axe down on Isaac, defeating him.

This left Tyler and Ellen to deal with the healer. Both had just used their cooldowns, and Nelly was stunned out. Ellen casted Aimed Shot, a shot that mortally wounded Nelly in her backside, and would reduce healing done on her. Tyler casted Judgement of Justice, a red hammer of light falling from the sky to strike down on Nelly and limit her movement. Ellen then casted Arcane Shot, firing a magic bullet, while Tyler casted Divine Storm, cleaving Nelly with holy power. The stun effect faded from Nelly. In sheer desperation, she started jogging as she could, casting Holy Shock on herself to instantly heal herself. But it wasn't enough thanks to Ellen's Aimed Shot effect. Ellen also then casted Concussive Shot, hitting Nelly in the head, dazing her. In response, Nelly casted another Hammer of Justice against Ellen, stunning her, but this time Tyler was completely prepared. He instantly casted Hand of Freedom on Ellen, causing her feet to light with an orange disk, and so Ellen in no time at all back to shooting at Nelly.

"Sic 'em!" Ellen shouted. Her wolf took a massive bite into Nelly's right thigh, tearing away a chunk of clothing and skin.

"Augh!" Nelly screamed out in pain. I will admit: that looked like it hurt. She staggered towards the twins who had already fallen. "P-please you two, no more!"

Tyler and Ellen glanced at each other before shaking their heads at each other. They then turned back to Nelly. Ellen aimed her gun at Nelly while Tyler raised his greatsword as a holy hammer was conjured within. "I normally don't like violence...but honestly, I've been waiting so damn long for this moment to beat you down Nelly," Ellen chuckled. "It's personal."

"Fuck you, Nelly, and all that you stand for!" Tyler added.

Ellen casted Kill Shot while Tyler casted Hammer of Wrath, a glowing red bullet and a holy hammer both flying towards Nelly, striking her down, and causing her to lie down on the floor. Afterwards, Tyler's holy wings dispersed.

At this point, we all reconvened. We did suffer a few bruises and cuts, but my party's injuries completely paled in comparison to what we have done against our three enemies. Kyle's spirit wolves, Bebe's treants, and Kathy's water elemental dispersed into thin air. I stopped spinning, Chris was no longer covered in darkness by his Cloak of Shadows, and we all returned to our regular sizes as our Heroism and their Bloodlust faded. All totems and Wendy's Demonic Circle faded away. "Is everyone alright?" I asked.

Kyle was pointing at each and every one of us. "Eight of us and two pets. We're all accounted for."

"Heh...and they thought legendary weapons could stop us!" Kathy curled her hands into fists as she placed them at her own hips. "I think there's another lesson here today; teamwork beats overpowered artifacts!"

"Honestly, why go through so much effort for some powerful artifact when we could just drown them in numbers?" Bebe shapeshifted back into her human form.

The other four were both staring at the downed adversaries. The three were groaning in pain. "W-what was it that you wanted?" Chris asked the three. "This? Because if this was what you were looking for...you got exactly what you deserved."

"Well...there is one way to find out." Wendy looked over at me. "The Lasso, Stan."

I shook my head at Wendy. "I don't think that will be necessary, Wendy. I don't want to hear another word out of their mouths." I really don't need any more bullshit being spewed right now. Glaring down upon them, my next words were rather soft, but harsh, as if breathing out smoke. "As for you three...get out of my sight, and never come back." Without another word, Cole, Isaac, and Nelly stood up to take their leave...

...or would have, but they only made it to the middle of the arena, since at that moment, from the gate that we came from, about sixty or so KND members came out, blocking the aforementioned three's exit. "Not so fast, you three! We all heard what our Holiness Eric Cartman revealed!" They all pointed straight at Cole. "According to him, it was you who posted our information publicly! It was you who exposed our secrets! And the only punishment for that is death!" Wait, death? Our entire party gasped. If it was twenty people, we might be willing to jump in. But sixty? Even though we were Rank 1 PvPers, us eight would have zero chance against a mob of sixty, especially given we were injured. This was unjust; Cole didn't deserve this, even though he did try to kill us but there was nothing we could do against an entire regiment.

"H-he's lying!" Isaac immediately yelled.

"Yeah, Cartman only said that in case we failed to kill them!" Nelly pointed at us.

"W-wait, p-please, I d-didn't do anything!" Cole tried.

But Isaac and Nelly were pushed out of the way. Seconds later, the mob drew out their weapons - swords, axes, daggers, and the likes. They all pounced Cole, whacking away at him without any shed of remorse. The other members of my party, as well as the rest of our class, had to turn away, unable to look upon the public execution.

"AAAHHHHHHHHH!" Obviously I couldn't see anything, but between being able to hear the slicing up of flesh, breaking of bones, and Cole's screaming, I knew at that moment, he would be no more.

After about two minutes of kicking, screaming, and smashing, the KND, as well as Isaac and Nelly, all disappeared from where we came from. The only thing was left was Cole lying down on the ground prone. He slightly lifted his head. His left eye was no more, and he was bleeding heavily there. A small chunk of his brain was exposed on his left cranium. His face was bleeding heavily, and his stomach had a large, open wound. His seconds were numbered.

"S-S-S-Stan...W-W-W-Wendy...p-please...h-help me..." But a second later, Cole vomited out a large amount of pure blood. "Gack!" Then he let his head fall, and from there, he did nothing else. Unfortunate, but when you play with Cartman, this is one of the results.

Still, it brought tears to my eyes, seeing one of our students from our school murdered - right in front of us too. This really gave me an epiphany about the KND; Rachel was right. They are just like children, and unlike us didn't fully understand the concept of right or wrong, and mortality. Now they know what it feels like to murder somebody, the thrills and rush of it all. The worst part was that they just kept at it, with no shed of remorse whatsoever.

"W-w-what h-happened..." Tyler stammered. "W-what have we done?"

"It...d-didn't h-have to end like this," Ellen sobbed.

"It's n-not our fault," Kyle sighed. "It's...Cartman! This was the punishment for them not taking us out! He's lied!"

It was at that moment I raised my head into the air and screamed, "CARTMAN! YOU STUPID FUCKING ASSHOLE! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!" Sure, Cole hated me, but this wasn't right at all. I let my head fall as I breathed out heavily.

Snoopy, Woodstock, and Mr. Hankey then came up to Cole, and Snoopy sat down in front of the dead boy. Mr. Hankey turned to us and exhaled deeply. "I'm...so sorry about this. I'll stay here, transport his body back to South Park somehow." I only nodded in response.

Kathy walked up to the gate that Cartman had went through. She walked over to the left lever and placed her right hand on it. She didn't pull it down yet, turning her head back to us. "He didn't like us...but he didn't deserve this." She pulled the lever down.

From that moment, the rest of our class were released from their shackles. They fell to the ground where they were, then one-by-one did they retrieve their weapons and equipment and jump down from the spectator seats to the middle of the arena floor where we were. Most of them could only stare at Cole's dead body, who continued to lie down on the floor, remaining silent.

"Gee whiz f-f-f-fellas..." Butters stammered. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," Kyle replied softly.

"C-C-Cartman has to pay..." Bebe growled in frustration. "He has to p-pay for what he's done. Cole w-wouldn't have exposed the KND like this, he-"

"It's Cartman all along." Wendy showed us her cell phone, which was on Wikipedia right now, on the page of the Kids Next Door. More specifically, she was on the edit history. "I've traced his editing back to his own phone, he posted a link to all the KND confidential documents and posted the password there too." Wendy then retracted her own phone.

"And it somehow slipped right under the noses of the KND..." Kathy muttered.

"What can you expect from a bunch of kids who act like kids?" Tyler asked. "They don't know any better, they just immediately jump to conclusions because why not?"

"We have to take him down." I turned to the rest of our class, who were staring back at the eight of us now. "You guys don't have to join us, I know you're all tired from just sitting out here in the freezing weather so-"

"No," Kenny interrupted. He whistled loudly, and a moment later, a large, gray rat about the size of Ellen's wolf jumped down from the top of the arena floor to his side. "We all made a promise to help you take down the fatass, and we'll see it to the end."

"You guys are really awesome," Lola smiled. "I really loved all your speeches. It was really heartwarming." The rest of the children nodded in agreement with Lola's compliment, and it hit my heart, seeing as how they all appreciated it.

"We do this together, fellas!" Butters exclaimed.

"All thirty-eight of us," Kelly nodded.

"Because we are the Alliance!" Red shouted.

"L-L-L-Let's give 'em hell!" Tweek cheered.

"YEAH!" we all screamed into the air.

All thirty eight of us began to move north towards the arena gate where Cartman had departed before the fight. Kathy pulled down the right lever, and the gate lifted up, so we all departed the arena, leaving Mr. Hankey, Snoopy, Woodstock, and Cole's body behind. In front of us was another bridge just like the last before we entered the arena, which spanned about a quarter of a mile north into a valley betwen two mountains, where we saw limestone ruins ahead. I took the lead, followed by the seven children who originally accompanied me, followed by the rest of our class.

Kyle caught up to me now, and the two of us walked side-by-side down the bridge, Kyle by my left side. "Might want to keep this quiet," Kyle whispered into my left ear, "...but I have a weird feeling that bringing our entire class along is gonna be a big mistake."

Understandably, Kyle wouldn't want his words to go out to the public, though I'm really not sure why he feels this way. "What do you mean?" I whispered back.

"Cartman seemed extremely eager to show us how to release our class, and the release method being so obvious and easy?" Kyle shuddered. "It doesn't feel right. I just have this bad feeling...we might be putting all the boys and girls in danger."

"Yeah..." My voice trailed off a bit before continuing on. "...but they all seem really eager to kick Cartman's ass, which is understandable - he got a kid falsely murdered. They're out for blood now"

"True, but keep in mind this is Cartman we're referring to here," Kyle continued. "You know how manipulative he is. I just have this weird feeling that everything we've done so far is all part of his plan, as if he's always two steps ahead."

"Well...there is thirty-eight of us here, so we can use brute force and just mob him if necessary," I said.

"He has the Stick of Truth still."

How could I have forgotten? All this time we were just taking everything in one step at the time when we forgot the most important factor: Cartman still bears the artifact that controls the universe. If my encounter with Terrorblade, and how difficult it was to take him down, was any indication, I'm starting to have a sneaking suspicion there's more to Cartman than what he lets on. He might be a smug, conniving jackass at face value, but the eerie suspicion that he has powers, and by extension horrors, that have yet to be revealed is extremely worrisome. My palms began to sweat despite the cold, and I could feel a rock form at the bottom of my gut.

But still, we had to press on. "There's no going back now."

Kyle nodded. "I just hope we all be careful. I just hope we're not too late."

I closed my mouth and grinded my teeth briefly as we began making our way off the bridge and through the ruins. "Same."


So you're probably wondering why I killed off Cole.

I have said before that he was a self-insert, and I still stand by that statement. He's basically what I would do if my grade-school self existed within the South Park universe - I doubt my younger self would have get along with the main characters, and I would probably constantly trashtalk them. Despite all that, at this point I grew out of it all eventually, and really, Cole doesn't resonate with me anymore. To be exact, Isaac was inspired by the Golden Sun character of the same name, and Cole was originally a self-insert Golden Sun OC who was also Isaac's brother, in which both eventually got ported over into South Park.

With that said, I like my current OCs now, and I did learn alot from my first Stick of Truth story. Chris to me felt like a combination of Cory and Sam from my SPANG fic (though started out much more amoral), Tyler had a few aspects of John Donovan from SPANG, while Kathy and Ellen were more unique.

I know one of my reviewers wanted Cole and Isaac to actually side with the Octopath Travelers, but I'm going to have to apologize for doing the exact opposite.