"So is everyone clear on their roles?" Lincoln asked.
"I know I am," Stella told him with Clyde chiming in "So am I."
Lincoln then turned to Rusty, Zach and Liam asked "What about you guys?"
"Hey, don't look at me," Zach said as he pointed to Liam, "look at Mr. "I'm gonna sacrifice our strategy to save some random NPC" over here!"
"If I recall correctly, it was you who suggested saving said NPC in the first place!" Liam defended himself.
"Well you could've talked me out of it instead of going along with me!" Zach argued.
"Guys!" Lincoln scolded them, getting their attention. "Focus!"
"Sorry," both Zach and Liam apologized.
"What about you, Rusty?" Stella asked, "are you clear on your role?"
"As clear as ever," Rusty replied, "you'll get no problems out of me this game."
"Great," Lincoln said, "now we've just gotta wait for Chris and Lio to get here and we can talk about how we're going to go about this game."
"Speaking of which, where are they?" Clyde asked, looking down at his watch. "I thought they'd be here by now."
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," Chris said as if on cue as he approached the group as they were waiting outside the trading card shop. "I was helping out Scotia with some homework of hers before heading here."
"Don't worry about it, it's cool," Stella told him.
"Hey Chris," Rusty greeted him, "long time, no see,"
"Hey Rusty," Chris replied, "and yeah, you're right, it has been a long time. I hope I've still got it when it comes to RPGs."
"Just don't forget that you're our best medic," Zach said, "you're kind of a vital part of our team."
"Don't worry, I won't let you guys down," Chris assured them.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," Lio said as he arrived on the scene, wearing his red hood and Kamina shades to hide his face. "I was at a concert with Luna last night and I kinda woke up late this morning."
"What's with the sunglasses?" Liam asked.
"Well this is my first RPG so naturally I'm a bit nervous," Lio explained, taking off his sunglasses and removing his hood for a brief moment.
"Don't worry, bro," Lincoln told him, "we'll help walk you through the whole thing."
"Thanks guys," Lio said, "I'm actually really excited about taking part in this game," Lio then pulled out a drawing of his custom character. "I even spent most of this morning drawing art and making a character sheet for my character."
"Nice!" Stella complimented Lio upon seeing his character. "What's her name?"
"Her name is Josephine Jonah aka JoJo," Lio said, prompting Lincoln to quip "because of course her name is JoJo."
"She looks great," Chris complimented her.
"Thanks," Lio said, "I just hope she isn't too overpowered."
"Trust me," Zach said, "compared to some other OCs featured, I'm sure she's fine."
"Well the campaign starts in a few minutes," Lincoln said, "so we might wanna head inside."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Clyde said excitedly, "let's get this show on the road!"
The group walked into the card shop and made their way towards the back where the RPG was being hosted. Every Saturday, the card shop hosted a variety of different RPGs, attracting roleplayers from all over to Royal Woods to take place in them. The game that Lincoln and his friends would be taking part in was a superhero/sci-fi themed RPG campaign. The group quickly spotted the table where the game was being hosted and made their way over to it. There were already two additional players at the table and with Lincoln, Lio, Chris, Clyde, Zach, Rusty, Liam, and Stella joining in that brought the total number of players up to eleven. The game master for this campaign was a young man named Kai who was quite familiar with Lincoln and his friends. Kai quickly gave them a friendly greeting as he ushered them over.
"Lincoln and Clyde, always good to see the dynamic duo again," Kai told them, "Zach, Liam, have you two got your affairs in order from last time?"
"It was his fault!" The two shouted as they pointed at each other.
Kai laughed and shrugged it off, "Rusty, Stella, can't wait to see what attacks you come up with in this game."
"Chris, the genius of the team," Kai said, "I threw in some real challenges this game so I can't wait to see how you think outside the box to overcome them."
"I promise I won't disappoint," Chris said.
"I'm sure you won't," Kai said before noticing Lio, who was shrouded behind his hood and shades. "Oh, and who's the new guy?"
"This is my brother, Lio," Lincoln explained, "this is his first RPG so he's a little nervous."
"Well nice to meet ya, little dude!" Kai told him, tipping his cap to Lio. "Any brother of Lincoln is a friend of mine. I promise that you have nothing to worry about. Your brother and friends will be able to walk you through the game if you have any issues." Too nervous to say anything, Lio simply nodded his head in understanding, causing Kai to lightheartedly remark "I see you're not one for words."
"Don't mind him," Chris said, explaining to Kai, "he's just really really shy."
"Oh, I gotcha," Kai said, "I'll make sure his first experience is a good one." Kai then introduced the other two players "These'll be your partners for this campaign," he gestured first to a redhead girl with curly hair wearing an AC/DC shirt "this is Riley" and then to a rather angry and gruff looking young boy and said "and this is Jtt."
"Nice to meet you," Riley said to Lincoln and his friends, exchanging handshakes. Jtt was less than friendly however.
"So these jerkoffs are going to be on my team?" He scoffed, "well that's just great, we'll probably last three rounds before getting wiped out."
"What's your problem?" Stella confronted the jerk.
"My problem is that my teammates are a bunch of lo-," Jtt started to say before Riley cut him off and apologized for his actions.
"Don't mind him," Riley said, "Jtt can be a little temperamental sometimes, we look forward to having you as our teammates."
"Well please ask him to control his temper," Kai said politely, "we're all here to have a good time so it would be best if we all got along."
"Alright, fine," Jtt huffed, "if it'll shut you up, I'll play nice with these amateurs."
"悪い気がする," Lio whispered to his friends. While they couldn't speak Japanese, they did catch the gist of what he was saying.
"Don't worry," Rusty whispered back, "almost every RPG has that one guy."
"Yeah," Stella confirmed, "Just try to ignore him and he'll likely leave you alone."
"And if he doesn't, don't worry," Chris told Lio, "you've got us to back you up."
Everyone took their seats at the table as Kai began going over the details of the campaign.
"The year is 2600," Kai set the stage, "humans have advanced and evolved to the stage of possessing incredible and unique abilities tailored to their heart's desire. However, while the development of superpowers brought about brave heroes willing to defend the people, it also brought about ambitious and evil villains who seek nothing more than to use their powers for their own gain. In addition, alien contact has been made with many extraterrestrial species interacting with planet Earth. While most are peaceful, a few of them see humans as little more than an inferior species and wish to enslave them. With all the threats that plague this future everyday society, the task lies with you all to protect planet Earth and its people. Is everyone clear?"
Everyone at the table nodded their heads and Kai moved on. "Alright, now that the stage has been set, I would like to ask each of you to introduce your characters and their abilities."
"Character name: Link Aceto aka Linku," Lincoln went first, "Aged 16 fighter type whose abilities include super strength and speed. Is capable of hitting with over 100 megatons of force and reaching speeds matching Mach 2. Linku is a glass cannon who can be injured through normal and conventional means as he's just barely more durable than the average human. Alignment: Hero"
"Character name: Leyla, Linku's best friend" Clyde went next, "aged 17 and an expert sharpshooter hailing from Turkey. Is the perfect soldier with peak human strength, superhuman agility and speed. Has a pair of wings on her back that grant her the ability to soar through the air at high speeds. Has no qualms about killing enemies, be they alien or human. Alignment: antiheroine"
"Nerds" Jtt whispered with Riley slapping him across the back of his head for his remark, causing Jtt to glare at her. Stella then went next, introducing her character.
"Character name: Tracy Gail aka Bulletproof," Stella said, "aged 19 defensive type whose powers are superhuman durability and stamina. Has a blue belt in karate but otherwise has no real offensive capabilities. Her primary strength lies in her ability to tank almost any form of attack and draw attention away from her allies. Alignment: heroine"
"She's a pretty girl," Jtt remarked upon seeing a rendition of Tracy. "Who'd you get to draw that for you?"
"Most of us got Lio to draw our characters for us," Stella explained, pointing to the otaku.
"Don't," Riley said to Jtt, knowing that he likely had some type of smart aleck remark in his head.
"Character name: Galloway," Zach said, "aged 17 sword fighter who fights using a spirit claymore made from his ki. Other power includes flight. Is an expert swordsman and skilled in hand to hand combat but doesn't have much going for him in terms of defenses. Alignment: hero"
"Character name: Guile," Liam said, "aged 18 and the brother of Galloway. Similarly uses ki based attacks, albeit this time in the form of explosive attacks also known as spirit bombs. Is also capable of flight and is also skilled in hand to hand combat. Much more hot headed than his younger brother, but is also more durable than him and can take more of a beating as a result. Alignment: antihero"
"Character name: Terry Bull," Rusty said, "aged 16 thief type whose powers are teleportation and the ability to unravel parts of his body into deadly razor strings. Thanks to the latter ability, he is much more durable than he appears, but can be easily defeated through tangling his strings and killed by cutting too many of his strings while he is unraveled. Alignment: antihero"
"Character name: Follow Suit," Chris introduced his character, "aged 15 and a super genius who fights using a suit of power armor. Is one of the smartest humans on Earth and focuses on strategy and stealth to defeat enemies, but is capable of engaging in straight up combat if the situation calls for it. Acts as the team's primary medic. Alignment: hero"
"Character name: Josephine Jonah aka JoJo," Lio said softly, almost too quietly for the others to hear him.
"Do you mind speaking up, buttercup?" Jtt scolded him, earning him a scowl from everyone at the table.
Shrinking back in his seat, but speaking louder, Lio repeated himself "Character name: Josephine Jonah, known as JoJo to her friends." He looked to his friends for support, with all of them giving him a thumbs up and telling him that it was okay to continue. "She is aged 14 and possesses the ability to perfectly heal any injury and cure any disease with a touch. Her other ability is one that allows her to rewind time by up to 30 seconds, undoing any action taken during that time. The time that is reversed is "stored" away and can be used later to trap her enemy in a timeless state where they cannot move or interact with the world around them, leaving them helpless. Carries a knife on her at all times and has basic hand to hand combat skills, but aside from that has no offensive capabilities. Alignment: heroine."
With Lincoln and friends getting their introductions out of the way, it was time for their teammates to do theirs. Riley went first.
"Character name: Evelyn Stokes," she said, "Aged 29 and a psychic who specializes in well, psychic and telekinetic attacks. Is a very defensive character, with her psychic powers allowing her to throw up force fields around herself and others. Is capable of buffing the other players' stats for a duration of time. Alignment: Heroine"
"Character name: Jtt," Jtt said as he was the last to introduce his character.
"Why am I not surprised he's playing as a self insert?" Rusty quipped, making sure he was quiet enough for Jtt not to hear him. The sentiment was shared by pretty much everyone in Lincoln's group.
"Aged 12 and a half demon half human hybrid," Jtt continued, "He possesses super strength, speed, agility, durability, flight, and pyrokinesis. Even without his powers, he is an expert martial artist and marksmen while being one of the smartest people in the universe. Acts as the leader of any team he is a part of and doesn't take shit from anyone. Loves to drink and smoke to pass the time and is easy to piss off. Alignment: Antihero."
"Does he… does he have any weaknesses?" Clyde asked.
"None that you need to know, wise guy," Jtt retorted.
"Unless your character has some sort of weakness or vulnerability, I'm afraid I'm going to have to reject your character," Kai informed him. "Otherwise they're too overpowered and unfair to the other players."
"Are you serious?" Jtt asked angrily before pointing at Lio accusatorily. "You let the newcomer show up with my time stop or time rewind god mode powers, but my character is too OP?"
"Yes," Stella replied. "All of our characters either have powerful offensive moves and debilitating vulnerabilities or high defense but little power. Your character has crippling offensive power, high defense, but no real discernable weaknesses."
"Yeah, and that's not fair to the other players," Clyde pointed out.
"And also, Lio's character doesn't have much going for them in terms of offensive power," Chris pointed out, "They have a powerful technique, but aren't particularly strong."
"You're not serious, are you?" Jtt scoffed, looking at Kai.
"I'm afraid that I am," Kai replied, "so I'm going to need you to give your character some vulnerabilities or change their powerset otherwise I can't accept them."
"Fine!" Jtt huffed. "Jtt has a weakness to water and has extremely sensitive hearing so he can't bear loud or high pitched noises for long periods of time. Happy now?"
"Yes I am," Kai replied, "all of your characters have been accepted and the game can now begin!" Kai then began setting the stage for the story. "We start our tale in New York City, where we see a massive gang of criminal cyborgs launching an attack on the city. Chaos and conquest seem to be their only goals, how will our group of heroes respond? The first heroes to arrive on the scene are a pair of brothers."
Zach and Liam took that as their cue to get into character and set the ball in motion.
"So what do you think, Galloway?" Guile asked his younger brother, overlooking the chaotic scene, "You take the five hunded on the left, I'll take the five hundred on the right?"
"I think we should devise a better strategy," Galloway replied, "there has to be a better way of taking on these hooligans than running dickfirst into danger."
"Oh come on, where's your sense of adventure?" Guile replied. "With my spirit bomb, I could blow away at least half of these punks in an instance."
"Yes," Galloway acknowledged, "and you'd probably take out a boatload of civilians too in the process."
"Which is why you could use your little claymore to get up close and personal," Guile suggested.
"True," Galloway admitted, "but-,"
"Galloway doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence before he hears the innocent people shrieking and begging for help," Zach said, "his sense of justice overtaking him, Galloway disregards his own advice and heads towards the city to save as many people as he can.
"Not wanting to leave his brother alone to deal with the danger, Guile quickly follows behind him," Liam says. "Each brother equips their spirit claymore weapons and prepares for a fight."
"Although the two warriors are vastly outnumbered," Kai continues the story, "the two of them are determined to save as many people as possible from the cyborg menaces."
""You wannabes just don't know when to quit, do ya?" Guile yells as he blows three cyborg criminals to smithereens using his spirit bomb," Liam says, narrating the events.
""Careful brother," Galloway warns him, as he cuts down a few cyborgs using his claymore "don't get too cocky dealing with these delinquents."" Zach says, following suit.
"The two brothers are doing a good job at holding off the cyborgs, but they cannot take on the entire group alone," Kai continues, "thankfully, help arrives shortly thereafter in the form of a certain genius, although due to his getup, he is initially mistaken for an enemy."
"Whoa whoa, chill chill" Full Suit says, wearing his power armor, as Galloway goes to cut him down with his claymore," Chris says, jumping into the story. ""I'm on your side, I swear!" Full Suit says, lifting his facemask so that the brothers could affirm he was on their side.""
""Who the bloody hell are you?" Guile asked, not fully trusting Full Suit." Liam says.
""Call me Full Suit," Full Suit introduces himself as he uses his power armor to take down a group of criminals." Chris says.
""You should be careful," Galloway warns Full Suit," Zach says, ""It's easy for a guy in armor like you to be mistaken for one of them.""
""I'll keep that in mind," Full Suit replies," Chris says ""for right now, let's focus on dealing with these guys."
""As long as you don't betray us, I'm all for that," Guile says, charging up a spirit bomb and launching it at a group of cyborgs." Liam says.
"While Guile and Galloway are focused on the combat side, Full Suit focuses on rescuing civilians," Chris says, "thanks to his power armor, he is able to save people in the blink of an eye."
"As fast as Full Suit is, there is one hero who is even faster while also delivering blistering, brutal and crushing offense to the cyborg," Kai said, giving Lincoln his cue, "One criminal with a cybernetic minigun attachment takes aim at him, unaware of a skilled sniper watching from afar, who takes him out by putting a bullet through his domepiece. This sniper's skill doesn't end at one kill as with precision aiming, she takes out several cyborgs by shooting their fleshy organic bits."
""Sounds like you guys could use a hand," Linku says as he assists the three other heroes," Lincoln says with Clyde following up.
""Yeah, and you could use a hand too," Leyla says as she swoops down to join Linku and the others," Clyde says.
"Both heroes proceed to dodge bullets fired by some of the cyborg adversaries using their speed," Lincoln narrates before giving Stella a cue. "Suddenly, the cyborgs turn their attention to a young woman who is simply standing out in the opening and taunting them."
""Oh come on, is that the best you've got?!" Bulletproof taunts her adversaries as she lets them unload on her," Stella says, "she even takes the time to tap her foot patiently as if mocking the cyborgs' efforts."
"A group of cyborgs try ambushing Bulletproof from behind, but are quickly sliced to ribbons by razor sharp string that appears out of nowhere in a mesh like pattern," Rusty says. "The String quickly regroups and takes on the form of a young teenager, who smirks and says "I guess it doesn't matter how you slice it, you're all dead men" the teen says to the cyborgs."
""We are just running into all kinds of weirdos today, aren't we?" Guile quips at the sight of Bulletproof," Liam says.
""Brother, be considerate," Galloway tells him." Zach says.
""I may be weirdo," Bulletproof takes a moment to gloat, taking a moment to point out that all the other warriors had some type of minor injury at the very least "but there's not a scratch on me, can you say the same?"" Stella says.
""You know, there's a better way of protecting yourself then just letting yourself get shot," Evelyn says as she walks through the hail of gunfire, surrounded by a force field that protects her from harm." Riley says. "Acting quickly, Evelyn uses her psychic powers to mentally stun attack a group of cyborgs before telekinetically lifting in the air and flinging them through the air."
"By now, the cyborgs have largely been dealt with thanks to the combined efforts of the group as a whole," Kai says, "however, there are still some criminals that intent on taking over the city by any means necessary. Including one bloke equipped with a rocket launcher, who fires it at a skyscraper, resulting not only in an explosion, but a ton of rubble falling on top of our heroes, crushing them."
"That's your cue, Lio," Lincoln whispered, helping his brother along.
"Oh yeah, right, right," Lio says, starting to catch the drift of how this game is supposed to go.
"Fucking amateur," Jtt muttered under his breath, making sure the others couldn't hear him as he stared at Lio with contempt.
""Time out," JoJo says before rewinding time by fifteen seconds, saving the heroes from their fate. She takes advantage of the rewind to point out the rocket launcher wielding cyborg to the heroes, shouting "Look out!"" Lio says.
"Once she spots the criminal, Leyla takes aim and fires, blowing the man's brains from out the back of his scalp," Clyde narrates. "Tam isabet" Leyla says to herself, reveling in her marksmanship."
""We will not stand for this!" The leader of the last remaining cyborgs shouts as the gang regroups." Kai narrates. ""We will not be humiliated by a bunch of lowly freaks!"
""Is that so?" Says a menacing voice before a swirling portal of flames opens up beneath the remaining gang of cyborgs and swallows them whole, taking them out in one fell swoop." Jtt narrates. ""Pathetic insolent mortals, such easily dealt with creatures." Jtt growls before emerging from another portal, posing dramatically as he makes his dynamic entrance. "They thought that they were hot shit, now they're just dog shit."
"With the threat properly dealt with, introductions between the heroes are in order," Kai says, prompting the roleplayers to introduce their characters to one another.
"I have to admit, dealing with a bunch of bloodthirsty cyborgs isn't how I thought this day would go," Full Suit says as he takes a respectful bow towards the others. "My name is Blue, but most call me Full Suit."
"Nice to meet you," Linku said, "You can call me Linku" Linku then points at Leyla and introduces her "And this lovely sharpshooter is named Leyla."
""Tanıştığımıza memnun oldum."," Leyla said.
"No offense, but can you speak English?" Guile asked.
"Guile!" Galloway scolded him.
"No, it's fine," Linku said, "She can definitely speak English."
"Then why doesn't she?" Terry asks quizzically.
"Because I like to mess with people," Leyla said in perfect English.
"You sure do have a funny sense of humor," Evelyn said. "The name's Evelyn by the way."
"Mine's Tracy," Bulletproof said, "but most call me Bulletproof."
"Wow, could you be any more creative?" Jtt snarks.
"Really?" Bulletproof replies, with Stella even briefly breaking character to address Jtt.
"Yeah, really," Jtt replied, before pointing at Terry, Guile and Galloway. "And who are these three clowns?"
"What the heck did you call me?" Guile's asked, preparing to charge up another spirit bomb before Galloway stopped him.
"Calm down Guile," Galloway said, brushing off Jtt's insults and introducing himself and his brother. "My name is Galloway and as you just heard, this is my older brother, Guile."
"Well I sure am glad that you guys are on our side," Full Suit said. "Your powers are pretty impressive."
"Thank you, Blue" Galloway said with Guile quipping "At least most of you are pleasant to get along with."
"What about you?" Linku asked Terry. "Who are you?"
"I'm Terry," Terry says. "That's the only name of mine you need."
"Why?" Jtt asked. "It's not like your last name is Bull or something." Terry growls and Jtt remarks "Oh my god, your last name actually is Bull! Wow, your parents must've fucking hated you!"
"You feel like saying that again, kid?" Terry challenged him.
"Oh trust me, you don't wanna fuck with me," Jtt threatened Terry.
Out of character, a text was going around in the friends chat group, with all of them voicing displeasure at Jtt (both the character and the kid behind him).
Ace: How did we get stuck with this kid?
Lady Heart (Stella): I feel bad about the fact that this is your brother's first tabletop experience.
Neeson (Liam): Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Lio decided to never roleplay again after this.
Rusty: I know I might be in the minority, but I'd rather have that Capt fella roleplaying with us than this Jtt prick.
Blue: Normally, I'd say it's too early to judge, but… yeah, you're right. Sure, Capt had an OP self insert, but at least he was a nice guy who genuinely just wanted to have fun.
Jack: Yeah, this Jtt guy just seems like he wants to piss everyone off.
The group put their phones away and resumed the game as Lio's character tried breaking up Jtt and Terry.
"Guys, guys, please calm down," JoJo pleads, coming in between the two and trying to separate them.
"Touch me again, bitch and I'll charbroil your ass!" Jtt threatened, with the real Jtt glaring daggers at Lio, who was growing more and more anxious and noticeably fidgeted in his seat. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Josephine," JoJo answered, speaking nervously and quietly. "Josephine Jonah, my friends call me JoJo."
"Do you think that we could be friends?" Bulletproof asked.
"Oh, I'd be delighted to be friends," JoJo said. "You all seem like wonderful people."
"What the fuck did you say about me?!" Jtt snapped.
"I'm sorry um…" JoJo said, asking for the boy's name.
"Jtt," Jtt says before addressing the other characters. "And let's get one thing straight before we do anything else: I'm the bloody leader of this ragtag group of misfits."
"Yeah, as if we're going to listen to a little kid like you," Linku scoffed.
"This little kid happens to be the most powerful one here!" Jtt retorts. "I could easily blow all of you away if I wanted to and I can do it without breaking a sweat."
"Evelyn then begins to whistle, causing Jtt to drop to his knees in pain," Riley says, trying to get her brother in line.
"You fucking ditzy bitch, why are you doing that?" Jtt yells, dropping to his knees and writhing in agony.
"I noticed that you were wearing earplugs when you came up from that portal," Evelyn observed as she stopped whistling.
"So much for you being the most powerful among us," Linku snarked.
"I could still fucking annihilate you all!" Jtt snarled.
Chris broke character for a second to ask the real Jtt, "Okay, can you maybe not cuss every five seconds?"
"Fuck you!" Jtt retorted, "it's my character and I can do with him whatever the fuck I wanna do."
"Dude, calm down, it's just a game," Rusty said.
"Yeah, all we're asking is that you keep your language under control," Stella said.
"So you want me to stop cursing so much?" Jtt asked.
"Yes," Lincoln and Clyde said point blank.
"That's too damn bad!" Jtt retorted. "I'm going to do whatever I want with my character and there's nothing you can do about it!"
"Guys, settle down," Kai warned them, telling Lincoln and his friends. "I know that Jtt's language can be off putting, but he is right in the fact that that is his character and he can play him as he sees fit."
"Thank you," Jtt said, pointing at Lio "Why don't you focus on that sunglasses wearing bitch right there."
"What's your problem?" Riley asked.
"My problem is that this nobody who I've never seen in here before wants to walk in and mess up this game that I've put so much time into," Jtt said.
"Dude, we all started off as beginners at some point," Liam pointed out, "cut him some slack."
"Maybe I should just go," Lio said, getting up from his seat.
"No, stay." Clyde told him.
"No, fuck off!" Jtt told him.
"Jtt, enough!" Kai finally said. "We're all here to have a good time and I won't tolerate you making any of our patrons feel uncomfortable! One more outburst and I'll be forced to kick you from the game."
Jtt opened his mouth to object, but a stern look from Kai shut him up quickly.
"Are you okay?" Zach asked Lio.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Lio insisted. "Let's keep going."
Back in the game, Terry said to Jtt "Since you're so big and bad, why don't you tell us your name?"
"If you must know, fleshbag, the name's Jtt," Jtt introduced himself.
"Jtt?" Tracy scoffed, "What, is that like an acronym or something?"
"No idiot, it's my actual name!" Jtt replied.
"And to think that you have the gall to make fun of someone else's name," Linku said sarcastically. "Do you really think we're going to listen to you?"
"As I said, I'm the strongest one here so yeah," Jtt replied, igniting his hand as a demonstration.
"So you can light some fireworks, big whoop" Leyla said, "my boy, Linku is strong enough to flatten entire cities with one punch and can run faster than the speed of sound."
"Oh please, that's child's play" Jtt said.
"Um, guys..." JoJo said, looking towards the horizon where a large shadow was approaching.
"Not now!" Jtt hissed, intent on proving his superiority.
"I'm serious, you might wanna turn around and look at-," JoJo tried warning the group.
"Listen Josephine, if you don't sit down and shut up, I will-," Jtt threatened.
"Kapa çeneni de,şu şeye dikkat et gerizekalı!" Leyla shouted.
"What?" Jtt asked.
"She's telling you to look out!" Blue shouted, pointing towards the same shadowy figure that JoJo first noticed.
"As JoJo has pointed out, there is a villainous figure flying towards the group. This is the true leader of the cyborgs, a massive bloke with cybernetic replacements for both arms, a jetpack installed in his back, and muscular tree trunk legs with an M4 replacing his right one. In addition to this, the man has a machine gun turret in his chest," Kai narrates.
"Von Stroheim?" JoJo jokes, trying to break the tension as this massive man lands in front of the group.
"Close, but not really" the cyborg man says. "Call me Vex in the few short minutes of life that remain to you."
"All of you follow my lead," Jtt instructed. "Just do what I say and we'll send this butthole crying to his creator before you know it."
"A fight is set to begin and the combatants are all set and ready to go," Kai says. "The unlikely group of friends stare Vex down and prepare to make their moves." Kai then handed Jtt the 20 sided dice, allowing him to go first. "The self professed leader of the group elects to attack first." Kai broke character to remind not only Jtt, but the other participants as well "You get one dice roll. If you roll a 10 or more, your action goes perfectly as intended. If it's an attack, then the higher number you roll, the more damage your character dishes out. If you roll less than 10, your action fails and if it's an attack, you risk taking damage. Vex starts out with 200 HP."
"Got it," Jtt said before rolling the dice and getting a 3, meaning his attack failed. "What? Are you kidding me!? Do-over!"
"Sorry," Kai said, "You only get one roll."
Jtt charges Vex and is immediately backhanded through a building.
"So much for our brave leader," Linku says before launching his own attack. Lincoln rolled the dice and got a 17. "Take this, you bucket of bolts!"
With half of his strength, Linku unloads on Vex with a brutal punch to the chest, doing 17 HP of damage.
"Great job, Linku" Guile complimented him, "Now it's time for the Bash Brothers to dish out some pain on this computer cretin."
Liam and Zach each rolled the dice, with Liam rolling a 13 and Zach rolling a 2.
Galloway attempted to land a hit with his spirit claymore, but was blasted by Vex's chest gun.
"Weak little maggot!" Vex taunted him.
"Galloway!" Guile yelled before launching a furious attack and throwing a massive spirit bomb at Vex, dealing 13 damage.
"Don't worry about your brother, JoJo and I can heal him," Full Suit told him before he and JoJo tended to the wounded Galloway.
Chris and Lio each rolled the dice, getting an 18 and a 15 respectively.
"Are you alright?" JoJo asked as she and Blue healed Galloway perfectly.
"I-I think so," Galloway said, "thank you for saving me."
"Don't mention it," Blue said with Chris shooting Zach a reassuring wink.
"Why don't you try cutting me down if you're so big and bad?" Tracy taunted Vex.
"If you insist milady" Vex said before obliging, unloading on Tracy, only for his bullets to have no effect.
While he was distracted, Leyla lined up the perfect shot. Clyde rolled the dice and got a perfect 20, meaning he dealt double damage as Leyla fired a perfect shot straight through Vex's head.
"Yaşasın!" Leyla cheered her perfect aim and shot.
Vex staggered back, cursing all the while. Taking advantage of the distraction, Riley decided to have Evelyn try hurling a car at him, only to roll a 1. As a result, Vex used his cybernetic arms to catch the car in his hands and toss it back at her. Evelyn just barely managed to throw up a force field in time. Rusty then rolled the dice and got an 18, allowing Terry to sever one of Vex's cybernetic arms with his razor string and dealing major damage.
"Take this!" Linku said, picking Vex up and driving him into the ground as Lincoln rolled a 12, dealing 12 damage.
Vex dropped to one knee as Kai announced "The heroes are halfway there when it comes to defeating Vex, but can they seal the deal?"
"Alright, playtime is over" Jtt said, igniting his fists and charging at Vex to deliver a fiery punch barrage. Jtt rolled a 4 and of course took to complaining.
"What the hell is this nonsense?" Jtt groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me?! Are these dice rigged?"
"Dude, I rolled a 2 and your sister rolled a 1, it's just the way it goes sometimes," Zach said.
"Yeah man, chill," Rusty said, "it's just a game. There's nothing at stake here."
"Sometimes you just get unlucky with these things," Chris agreed.
In game, Jtt tried charging Vex, only for Vex to shoot him with his M4 leg, propelling Jtt into a fire hydrant where he was drenched in water and began screeching in pain.
"HELP ME!" Jtt screamed.
"I'm on it," Chris said as he rolled the dice, secretly hoping that he'd get a low roll so that his heal would fail. He got his wish as he ended up rolling a measly 3.
"Sorry dude," Blue apologized as his attempt at healing Jtt backfired, "the most I can really do is dry you off."
"You!" Jtt said, pointing at JoJo. "Heal me. Now."
"Um… I'm sorry, what?" JoJo asked.
"You heard me, heal me!" Jtt demanded with the real Jtt looking at Lio and asking him "Well dude, aren't you going to roll the dice?"
"B-but you told me not to touch you, remember?" JoJo pointed out.
"Now isn't the time for games," Jtt said. "If you don't heal me, then we don't stand a chance against this loser."
"We seem to be doing just fine without you," JoJo said with a hint of smugness as Lio passed the dice along to Stella, skipping his own turn as a result.
"You little shit!" Jtt yelled, jumping from his chair and punching Lio in the face, knocking the boy out of his seat and onto his ass.
"Dude, what the hell?!" Clyde snapped as Chris forcefully shoved Jtt aside and away from Lio.
Lio was too stunned by what just happened to do anything as he sat back up. Blood was gushing from his nose and mouth and a quick look down revealed that two of Lio's teeth had been knocked out. By now, most of the other card shop patrons had turned their attention towards Kai's table, with the eight players being the center of attention. Once he was back on his feet, Lio quickly ran as fast as he could, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he fled.
"Wait a second, Lio" Lincoln said, chasing after his brother.
"I knew that I should've just left," Lio thought to himself as he sprinted out of the card shop, holding his bloody nose and mouth. Blood was still pouring profusely from where he'd been punched and his face felt like it was on fire. In his haste to get out of the card shop, Lio was almost hit by a car as he ran out into the street. Stumbling into an alleyway, Lio bent over and threw up onto the pavement. By now, the others had caught up to him as the adrenaline started to wear off and the full pain started to kick in. Lio let out a scream as his vibrant pink shirt was heavily stained with blood.
"L-Lio?" Stella asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lio lied, trying desperately to stop the bleeding and panicking when it wouldn't stop.
"Come on dude," Chris said, holding Lio's knocked out teeth in a glass of milk in one hand and a towel in the other, "we've gotta get you to a clinic."
"A clinic?" Lio asked as he accepted the towel as he used it to slow the bleeding.
"Yeah," Rusty confirmed, "Chris says that it's possible to save your teeth if we act fast and get you to a dental clinic."
"What about my nose?" Lio asked. "Is it, is it broken?"
"It doesn't appear to be," Chris said, taking a moment to examine Lio's nose. "How are you feeling?"
"I-I," Lio said before turning away, leaning over and throwing up again. "Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Liam asked.
"Come on, man," Lincoln said, helping Lio to his feet, "let's get you to the dentist and fast."
Twenty two minutes later, the friends were sitting in the lobby of a dental clinic, waiting for Lio to be treated. Seeing a young boy covered in blood was definitely cause for concern, resulting in the kids being asked a few questions. Once everything was explained, Lincoln was told that his parents would have to be informed of the situation due to his Lio's young age. As the group waited for Lincoln's parents, they couldn't help but talk about what had just happened.
"So much for today's game," Clyde lamented.
"You know, it wasn't just the fact that your brother got punched in the face," Rusty said to Lincoln, "It's the fact that that kid was a nightmare to roleplay with."
"I know right," Stella said, "I feel bad for his sister, that Jtt kid is a total bellend."
"I have a feeling that even if Lio wasn't involved, he still would've ruined the game," Chris said, "I can't tell if he was a troll or if he was just generally a complete ahole"
"That kid was too short tempered to be a troll," Liam said. "Like, there is legit something wrong with him."
"Dude, did you see the look on Chris' face?" Zach asked. "Like, he looked calm, but you could tell beneath the surface that he was white hot."
"I actually thought that he was going to haul off and punch Jtt for a second," Stella said.
"I'm not one to resort to violence," Chris said, "but I'm not going to lie, I was kinda tempted to knock that kid on his ass."
"Really?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah," Chris said.
"We didn't even get a chance to finish or make it past the first boss because of him," Clyde said.
"Fortunately, I don't think we'll be seeing Jtt around the card shop anytime soon," Chris said.
"What makes you say that?" Rusty asked.
"I acquired the security camera footage of Jtt punching Lio and sent it to the shop's owner," Chris revealed.
"I thought that Kai was the owner," Lincoln said.
"Nope," Chris said, "but Kai is his son that he trusts to run the shop in his absence."
"So what happened after you sent the footage to the owner?" Clyde asked.
"The owner was a really nice and chill guy," Chris said, "but he really doesn't want this getting out to the public. He spent years trying to make the card shop a friendly place for players of all walks of life and doesn't want a blatant assault to ruin that reputation. He'd do anything to keep that footage from going public."
"You didn't blackmail him, did you?" Stella asked.
"No," Chris said, "I'd never do such a thing, but I did tell him that I just wanted to bring the incident to his attention. The owner was thankful and asked what he could do to return the favor."
"And?" Zach asked.
"From this day onwards, Jtt is banned from the store," Chris revealed. "If he even so much as comes within 10 meters of the store, he is to be escorted off the premises by security no questions asked. Not only that, but he's been blacklisted from every tabletop tournament in the state."
"Serves him right," Clyde said with Liam saying "It's times like this that I'm glad you're on our side."
"I may be a pacifist, but you do not hurt my friends." Chris said.
"I do feel kind of bad for his sister," Rusty admitted. "At least we're probably never going to see him again, she has to live with him."
"Fortunately, she's still allowed at the store," Chris said, "but yeah, I can't imagine living with him can be easy."
"Honestly, part of me still feels Jtt got off too easy," Stella said, cringing when she said his name.
"He kind of did," Lincoln said, "I know if my sisters were there, they would've tore him a new one, and that's to say nothing of what Kat would do if she got her hands on him."
"I just hope your brother's going to be alright," Clyde said to Lincoln.
"He'll be fine," Lincoln said, "he'll probably just spend the next few days hidden in his room."
"I can't imagine him agreeing to come roleplaying with us again," Rusty said. "Sucks that his first experience had to go like that."
A few more minutes passed before Lynn Sr and Rita arrived.
"Are you kids alright?" Lynn asked, "We heard about what had happened and came as soon as we could."
"We're fine," Chris assured them, "we were just talking while we waited for Lio."
"Speaking of which, where is your brother?" Rita asked Lincoln. "Is he alright?"
"He's in surgery," Lincoln explained, "I don't know how long it's going to take before he gets out."
Forty minutes later, Lio finally emerged from the dentist's chair, his two teeth reinserted and splinted to keep them in place. This caused him some amount of discomfort as he held his jaw to try and alleviate the pain.
"Lio, sweetie, are you alright?" Rita asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Lio said, his speech slightly slurred. "Can we… can we go home now?"
"Sure thing, champ," Lynn Sr said before asking Lincoln's friends "Do you want us to drop you kids back off at the card shop so you can continue your game?"
"No, that's alright," Stella said, "We were actually wondering if we could hang at your place."
"I don't see why not," Rita said, "Our house is open to all of you."
When they were back at the Loud House, Lincoln, Clyde, Chris, Stella, Rusty, Zach and Liam decided to have their own RPG in the comfort of the Loud House. Still shook from his experience at the card shop, Lio decided to instead illustrate scenes of their battles in a mini manga.
"Galloway, show this neanderthal what happens when you mess with the bash brothers!" Guile commanded his younger sibling.
"I'm on it!" Galloway said, summoning his giant ki claymore. Zach rolled the dice and got an 11, which was just barely enough to land him the hit, but was good enough for him. "Take this, monster!"
As Galloway slashed at Vex, Zach said to Chris "Yo, Full Suit, you're up!"
"I'm on it," Full Suit said before saying to Vex "now taking advantage of a weakened opponent wouldn't exactly be honourable, would it?"
"No, it wouldn't," Vex said, with Stella taking over voice acting for him, "and I just know that it'd eat away at your proud noble heart to take a cheap shot while I was vulnerable."
"Oh, how right you are," Full Suit said before smirking "Which is why I did you the favour of healing your wounds…"
"Hahaha!" Vex laughed, "You sodding idiot! Now I'm going to crush you to bits!"
"Or… perhaps not," Full Suit said before yelling "Linku, Leyla, he's all yours!"
Lincoln and Clyde rolled the dice, getting a 17 and a 14 respectively. Leyla attacked first, swooping down and lighting Vex up with rapid fire machine gun fire before kicking him in the back of his neck, sending him flying into an attack by Linku.
"Down B Smash!" Linku yelled before unleashing on Vex with a punch to the face that sent shockwaves rippling through the air. "Yo guys, what do you say we finish this off with one last attack!"
"Let's do it!" Guile said cheerfully while the reserved Galloway said "It is time to put this monster in its place."
Lincoln, Clyde, Zach, Rusty, and Liam all rolled the dice with each of them getting above the required amount to land their ultimate attacks.
"PERISH!" Linku, Leyla, Terry, Galloway, and Liam all yelled before putting Vex out of commission once and for all with a combined attack.
"Thanks to our brave heroes' combined efforts, the cyborg menace is defeated once and for all," Stella narrated. "His criminal empire has been all but crushed by their resolve. He will harm no other innocents."
"Great Job guys," Liam said, "that was awesome!"
"Yeah, it was," Rusty said, telling Chris. "Thanks for reviving me after I was knocked out of the battle."
"It was no trouble at all," Chris told him. "That was actually a pretty fun game."
"What kind of campaign should we do next?" Clyde asked.
"Ooh, maybe we could do a murder mystery like RPG," Lincoln suggested.
"That sounds like a good time," Stella said, "maybe I could play more of a role in this story since it wouldn't be so combat focused."
"What do you say, Lio?" Lincoln asked, "Would you like to get involved in this RPG?"
"Sure," Lio said, "a mystery setting seems more up my alley anyway."
"Hey, how'd those illustrations turn out by the way?" Zach asked.
"See for yourself," Lio said, showing the others exactly what he'd drawn.
"Great work as always," Chris said.
"Thanks," Lio said, "I hope you guys had as much fun acting it out as I did drawing it."
"So are you sticking with JoJo as your player character?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah," Lio said, "but with a twist"
"And what twist would that be?" Clyde asked.
"In this RP, JoJo is the ghost of one of the killer's murder victims coming back to assist the protagonists in their efforts to find the murderer," Lio said.
"Kinda like Reimi Sugimoto?" Chris asked.
"Yep," Lio said confidently.
"Well what are we waiting for?" Lincoln asked, "let's get this game started. Chris, do you mind acting as the GM?"
"I don't mind at all," Chris said as the players all got into their positions.
"A scream echoes throughout the town, bringing a sense of abject horror to those who heard it over the pounding rain. An evil man has tragically cut another life short, but little does he know that this'll be his last victim…"
END