Hero System 2.0 Beta

Part 1: Chapter 37

Xander was a lot more attentive in class, giving him another three points in 'relationship with Willow' by the time school ended. As the final bell for the day rang he said, "Pause."

"Save game, slot three," Xander said, once the world around him turned grey.

"Game saved in slot three," a feminine voice announced.

"Can I spend other peoples' character points for them?" Xander asked.

"Party members assign their own points while in party," the feminine voice replied.

"I can form a party?" Xander asked, surprised.

"Player can add party members by saying 'add party member' followed by the new party member's name."

"Add party member Willow Rosenberg," Xander ordered.

"New party member Willow Rosenberg added," the voice announced.

Willow's grayed out form suddenly gained color. "What?" she asked, trying to look everywhere at once.

"Welcome to the save screen," Xander told her, glad to have a friend with him.

"Xander, what's going on?" Willow asked wide-eyed.

"I added you to my party so you could spend your character points," Xander told her.

"Really?" she asked excitedly before she got a far off look in her eye. "I see," she said and started going through menus rapidly, physically manipulating them by hand like she'd been doing it forever. "Intellectual arrogance and shyness?" Willow muttered, the flaws suddenly becoming obvious in Xander's scan. Much to Xander's surprise, she bought the same traits and flaws he had, leaving her a few points ahead of where he'd been on doing the same. "Strength, dexterity, charisma," she muttered as she examined her stats, causing them to appear in Xander's scan.

"Your dex is good and your charisma is going to be more effective with the removal of flaws and buffing your physical stats," he pointed out.

"Good point," Willow agreed. "OK, silver tongue restricted to Xander for one point, and I'll split the rest between strength and constitution," she said, her form filling out and straining her coverall slightly.

"+5 relationship with Xander," the feminine voice announced.

"Silver tongue that only works on me?" Xander asked, giving her a confused look.

"Resolve face two point oh," Willow told him. "I'll be able to talk you into doing homework and studying with me so much easier."

"Fast talk success," the feminine voice announced.

Xander chuckled. "I can see how that could be useful."

"Erm... I'm going to need some help, if you don't mind," she said shyly.

"Yeah?" Xander asked.

"I need you to go shopping with me," she admitted, laying a hand on his arm. "I need new clothes now and none of my bras are going to fit." She arched her back a little and thrust he chest out, drawing Xander's eyes.

"Willpower roll failed, fast talk success," the feminine voice announced.

"I'd love to," Xander told her, causing her to smile broadly.

"+5 relationship with Xander/Willow," the feminine voice chorused with herself.

"Should we bring in Jesse?" Xander asked.

"Let's get some experience with it before bringing him in," Willow suggested. "We can experiment a lot and then help him get the most from it."

"Fast talk success," the female voice announced.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Disable notification of Willow's silver tongue," Xander said.

"Specific notification disabled," the female voice said.

"It'd drive us nuts with announcements every time you made a suggestion, otherwise," Xander explained.

"+1 relationship with Willow," the voice announced.

Xander raised an eyebrow at willow.

"You trust me," Willow replied.

Xander nodded. "Back to reality?"

"Back to reality," Willow agreed.

"Unpause," Xander ordered, causing the world to regain color and motion.

They quickly gathered up their books and headed for their lockers.

"Watch it, plebe," Harmony sneered, trying to push herself in front of Willow.

Willow easily pushed her back, not losing a step. "Like you can even spell plebe," she replied.

"-5 relationship points with Harmony, +5 relationship points with Xander, +25 relationship points with Cordelia," the game announced.

"Twenty five?" Xander asked Willow.

"Five?" Willow asked Xander.

"I like and approve of you standing up for yourself," Xander told her.

"I'm guessing Cordelia feels the same way and despises weakness," Willow said.

"+1 perception," the game noted.

"That would be a yes," Xander said.

"+1 perception," the game added.

"Hats," Jesse told them as he caught up with them in the hall.

Xander reached up and pulled a fool's cap off his head, while Willow had a red, glitter covered derby. Shrugging, they handed them off to a passing drama student.

"Free props," Xander told him.

"+1 reputation with drama club," the game announced.

"Thanks, dudes," he replied cheerfully.

"The cheerleaders are going to be practicing in the gym, so I'm going to go show some school spirit and cheer them on," Jesse said. "Catch you guys later."

"Have fun," Xander told him while Willow rolled her eyes.

"So what's the plan?" Xander asked as they reached their lockers and started putting things away.

"Explore your new power and see what we can munchkin," Willow replied. "First, we abuse photographic reflexes."

"Bad lip synched, martial arts movies?" Xander asked.

"Cheesy, how-to-be-a-martial-artist videos," Willow told him. "Bad lip synched, martial arts movies are probably at least fifty percent special effects and tricks rather than real moves."

"Might be worth learning some of those tricks," Xander pointed out. "Hey, can we also pick up the how-to videos on sleight of hand and magic tricks?"

"As long as we can grab one on dancing," Willow agreed.

"Deal," Xander agreed.

"Let me drop some books off in the library," Willow said, taking a half dozen books out of her locker before slamming it shut.

"OK," Xander said.

As they entered the library, Willow stopped short and Xander ran into her. "Wills?" he asked before noticing she was staring at the new school librarian.

"Can I help you?" asked Rupert Giles, his British accent very out of place in a southern California high school.

"You have a title," Willow said, like she was accusing him of something.

"I beg your pardon," Giles said, inflection turning it into a question.

"Your title is trainer," Willow said slowly as she went through various options in her head.

"Pause," Xander said, greying the world around them. "What are you doing?"

"He's the trainer," Willow said excitedly. "This means we can get skill upgrades from him!"

"He's the trainer for the hero, not a trainer for everyone," Xander told her.

"You know about him?" Willow asked.

Xander nodded. "I'm the sidekick. I know who the trainer and love interest is going to be."

"So we can't get him to train us?" Willow asked.

"We can try," Xander said as he considered it. Giles did have quite a bit of skill, even if he wasn't physically able to go toe-to-toe with demons as he had in his misspent youth.

"Unpause," Willow said.

Giles jumped back as the world regained color.

"I have a very unusual ability that lets me know a bit about the world around me and sometimes even future events," Xander quickly told Giles. "I'm currently sharing that with Willow and it says you are a trainer, meaning you have skills and abilities we can learn and that in the near future you will be training a hero."

"Fast talk success."

"I'm listening," Giles said when Xander paused to catch his breath.

"I also have a title, but it's not trainer, it's sidekick, meaning that I'll be helping out regardless of anyone's wishes on the matter, even if it's just providing alibis and helping shelve books and police the area after a battle," Xander explained. "The hero isn't due to arrive for a couple of months, according to what I can see, and you need experience teaching as much as we need to learn the skills you have. It's a win-win situation."

"Fast talk failure."

"I'll ... make some inquiries and get back to you on that idea," Giles replied.

Xander nodded, a bit disappointed but not all that surprised. Giles would come around in the end and they already had plans for this weekend anyway.

Willow sighed, looking very disappointed, and handed the stack of books she was carrying to Giles.

"Patience," Xander told her. "He didn't say no, and in his position he'd be a fool not to make sure we check out."

"Check out for what?" Willow asked.

"Sunnydale natives," Xander told her. "He has to make sure we are who we say we are. Besides, we already have plans for the weekend, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Willow said brightly, instantly cheering up.

"If I may ask," Giles said, waiting for Xander to nod before he continued, "where did those hats come from?"

Willow and Xander reached up and pulled a pair of matching black bowler hats off their heads.

"I tried to use a cheat code on the universe, but instead of being penalized it started giving me hats," Xander said with a shrug.

"I see," Giles said slowly.

"I'll explain in more detail once you're convinced we are who we say we are," Xander replied. "See you Monday."

"See you Monday," Giles agreed as the pair left, already planning on making some calls.

Typing by: Ordieth