The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 7: Stage Knight
Brady Oaks High School
Another day had dawned at Brady Oaks High School, as the students were currently doing what any student would do, as they would be heading to one class, finishing another before going to the next, or simply having a little chat around the lockers as they had their own little discussions of everyday stuff and what-not.
Today, however, was going a little different for one of the teachers.
Upon learning that his favourite pupil had found the amulet, Mr. Sturges knew that Patrick would no doubt be chosen as the new Paladin.
'But does he know that he's been chosen?' he thought to himself, as he had several questions in his mind at the moment, 'And if so, should I be there to help him, even if I'm not human?'
He better check on Patrick to see for himself, then he could decide on what to do next…
Though he wasn't the one looking for him.
Above the roofs of the school, a raven had seemingly landed peacefully on the roof as it looked down at students that were in the outside parts of the school.
Just then, another flying figure appeared… but it wasn't another bird.
Mokdu landed nearby the raven, in his clawed hand what looked like a small, little bit crushed box of donuts, inside of it containing only two half eaten donuts, and icing markings as well.
The raven looked to Mokdu… and then frowned as it said, "What took you so long?"
"Sorry, Featherfang," Mokdu said, as he dipped his finger and scooped a small bit of the icing from the box, before licking it off with his tongue, "I just like to come by the school trash cans, they always sometimes contain half eaten goodies!"
The raven, Featherfang, shuddered in disgust of that, wondering why his master would instruct him to accompany Mokdu in locating the Paladin, who was revealed to be a young kid attending the school.
Featherfang was more than any bird, he was, in reality, a Familiar, also known as a Familiar Spirit, Animal Guide and even at times a Wizard/Witch's Assistant.
A Familiar is a special entity and guide to aiding and assisting wizards,witches and cunning folk in their journey of learning magic.
Featherfang being an example, as his master was Horvath, and was tasked to tracking down the new Paladin with the aid of Mokdu, who had reported that the amulet was chosen by a child, and since it was a school day, then that's where the young hero could be.
"Focus, my gross, little scaly imp," Featherfang said to the kobold, "we don't have time to find food, we've came here to find that boy who got the amulet, as you told us."
The familiar looked down to the school grounds, seeing several of the kids, all different ages, doing their usual everyday routines, as Mokdu joined him on looking as he asked, "Are you sure that the Paladin would be here? I thought kids would be out break dancing, getting ice cream or playing the Donkey Kongs."
Featherfang sighed as he explained, "It's a school day, my brainless creeper. Children of many ages would come here to learn, to study. All we have to do is find our little hero. Since the mystical beings he's sworn to protect like to be kept secret, then there's no denying our hero would do the same."
Mokdu got a bit on what the familiar ment, as he and Featherfang continued looking from above (Mokdu staying clear from being seen).
Meanwhile, at the same time, following last night with the discovery of Patrick being the new paladin and the meeting of the new odd, yet intriguing creatures that they met, Patrick, Taylor, Hilda, Chris and Luz were currently walking around school at the moment discussing what had happened.
"So, Patrick," Hilda said as she looked to Patrick, "What did you decide?"
"That if anyone finds out what happened in my kitchen last night, we'll all be committed." Patrick half-joked.
"C'mon, Patrick, it's amazing!" Luz said excitedly, "I mean, there has to be more than one reason for it, isn't there? Like you have been part of a predetermined path of greatness! I mean, think about it, what if I, Luz Noceda, might one day stumble into a predetermined path of greatness of my own?"
She gasped as she got out one of the books of her favourite series, The Good Witch Azura, and added with giddiness, "Just like Azura!"
"I suppose so…" Patrick said with a chuckle.
"Well, yeah, that is great," Hilda nodded in agreement, before saying, as she did a few quick jabs with her fists, "but what I asked was if you're going to take down Biff?"
"Give up the dream, Hilda." Patrick sighed with a chuckle.
"I know that I've agreed to keeping this secret," Taylor spoke, "but you guys should know that 1. I think that, deep down, that we still should have told mum about this, and that it pretty much hurts me a bit that we have to lie to her, and 2. that this is completely crazy about you becoming a paladin after finding that trinket."
She looked to her brother and asked, "I mean, why did it have to be you, of all people, finding that amulet and taking this dangerous path?"
"Well, I believe that this is interesting about what has happened." Chris answered, getting Taylor's attention, "Because remember what Blinky said about destiny and sacred obligations."
"And speaking of, to quote the proud Dr. Peter Venkman..."
"Don't you dare." Taylor lightly sternly said, as Chris smirked and continued.
"For whatever reasons, Taylor - call it fate, call it luck, call it karma... I believe that everything happens for a reason." Chris said proudly, wrapping his arms around Patrick and his sister, "I believe that we were destined to take the canals that morning. To find the magical Amulet of Xadador under that bridge. And for what purpose one would ask? To help protect this realm and others from those who wish to conquer them."
"He's got a point there, sis." Hilda smiled, which Taylor and nodded in agreement with a small smile.
"Still, I suppose that being a Paladin would have so many responsibilities." Taylor pointed out.
Patrick nodded on that, as Luz spoke up.
"Well, of course there will be responsibilities," she said, "I mean, Patrick here is the 'Chosen One', and whatever responsibilities he has will determine on what he'll be in future!"
"Just think about it," Luz then said as she asked, "If I was picked as a 'Chosen One', what kind would I be?"
"Come again?" Chris asked.
"Should I be full of optimism and goodness, like the Good Witch Azura?" Luz said with a smile, before switching to a brooding look with a half smile as she added, "Or should I be like a bad girl Chosen One with black nail polish and a mysteriously withdrawn attitude? 'I act like I don't care, but I secretly do.'"
The others chuckled a little on that as Patrick replied, "We'll see, Luz. We'll see…"
Tick.
Chris heard the amulet as he peeked inside Patrick's bag, seeing it chimed and began to glow.
"Does this thing run on batteries?" Chris asked, "What's it doing?"
Patrick quickly shooed Chris away for a second as he and the others took a quick peek at the amulet in his bag and replied, "How should I know? It didn't come with an instruction manual!"
Luz looked at the amulet before looking at Patrick and asked, "Does it feel like you're gonna, y'know, change again?"
"Oh no..." Patrick muttered, realizing what she meant as he looked around as there were other students everywhere, and that if he was going to armor up now at school, in front of the school body, everyone would be asking questions, or worse, end up as an embarrassment!
Taylor, Hilda and Chris also knew what she meant, as Taylor said, "You need to get someplace that's not out here!"
"On it! We'll see you inside!" Chris said, as he gently shoved Patrick, who was fast walking, towards one of the doors to the boys' changing room, while drawing a few stairs - including from Mr. Struges, who was watching and listening to the whole exchange.
Then, from the top corner of his eye, he carefully looked up and saw what looked like a raven, glaring down to where Patrick and his friends were… along with something else…
"Oh no…" Sturges muttered to himself, as he seemed to recognize the raven, then looked back to where the boys' lockers were, before heading there himself.
Boys' Locker Room
Patrick and Chris got in just in time as the former unexpectedly armored up, with everything that came on Patrick last night.
"Still cool to see happen." Chris muttered to himself.
"Okay, that was weird," Patrick said, as he looked at his armor, "Why did it do that?"
Chris was about to ask the same question, but a voice beat him to it as Patrick recognized that voice.
"Patrick?" Mr. Sturges' voice called out as the teacher had entered the locker room, "Patrick, are you in here? Is everything alright?"
"Chris, keep him busy!" Patrick whispered in panic, as he carefully sidestepped away.
"But how?" Chris whispered back.
"I don't know," Patrick whispered angstly, "say something, anything!"
"Ok, ok. Calm down." Chris whispered as he tried to calm his friend down a bit, before walking over to where Sturges was, as the teacher was just turning the corner.
"Hello, Mr. Sturges." Chris said, with a worried grin.
"Ah, Chris." Mr. Sturges, making sure to play dumb, said to Chris as he spoke to him, "Have you seen Patrick? I believe he came in here."
Patrick heard Mr. Sturges and Chris talk, as he slowly began to sneak away, hoping someone wouldn't-
"Hey, Patrick."
Notice.
Patrick was taken by surprise a little as he saw Callum standing there, as he and just entered as the armored boy was about to start his escape.
"Uh… hey, Callum?" Patrick nervously grinned, giving a weak wave.
Callum looked a little baffled as he saw Patrick's armor, "Uh… what are you wearing…?"
Patrick was in a tight corner, as he heard Chris say that he needed some time alone, as Mr. Sturges turned the corner and saw Patrick in his armor.
Sturges remained surprised to see Patrick's armor… as well as the amulet that was encased in it.
'So it really is true,' he thought to himself, 'he really has been chosen…'
Making sure to play dumb, Mr. Sturges kept up the charade as a curious, kind hearted teacher, while he said in a curious and little stern voice, "Patrick. I don't believe that's appropriate school attire, do you?"
Patrick nervously chuckled as he rambled, "Oh yeah, this! Funny story about this. It's uh..."
Patrick looked around to find something-anything-that might help, until he spotted one of the posters for Romeo and Juliet hanging up on one of the bulletin boards.
"For Romeo and Juliet!" Patrick instantly said, as the first thing to come out of his mouth.
Callum realized what he meant and said, "You're gonna take part in the play?"
Patrick nodded, "Yeah, I mean, you did suggest that to me on giving the plaything a go, after all."
Chris, nearby the teacher, looked behind and saw the poster, and remembered Callum's chat with Patrick about the play when Patrick was able to talk a bit to Victoria, and instantly played along, "Yeah, even the suit he's got on is for the try-outs for Romeo and Juliet!"
"Definitely!" Patrick nodded.
"That's pretty great," Callum smiled, "I really like this armor you got on, too."
"Glad you like it," Chris said, as he stepped forward and stood next to Patrick and tapped on the armor, "Patrick's gonna totally ace those auditions, I mean look at his costume! So realistic!"
Mr. Sturges, meanwhile, knew the two boys were lying, and while he had a suspicious look, in his mind, he was quite please with Patrick on keeping this Paladin duty a secret, suspecting this to be an advantage on possibly helping out his favourite student from afar, so he might not need to reveal his true form… yet…
"What happened to the D&D club?" he asked, still playing along with the charade.
Patrick looked to his teacher as he stammered, "Oh, I'm doing that too, apparently."
Mr. Sturges then let out a playful smile as he said, "Well then, you better hurry."
"Come again?"
"I believe that auditions end in 5 minutes." Mr. Sturges said.
Patrick bit his lip a little at what he meant, and began to remember his worried thoughts of becoming the talk of school of everyone seeing his armor, which might blow his cover as a Paladin… or become an embarrassment to the school.
Gym/Assembly Hall, a little later…
Mr. Sturges was happy to take the boys to where the auditions were taking place, while Callum brought the others along to come see Patrick take part.
Of course, Taylor and Chris were a little nervous about this as Patrick was, while Luz and Hilda were a little okay, seeing Patrick out there to perform, while wearing his proud armor.
Callum, Chuckie, the twins, Ezran, Frida and David, meanwhile were with Patrick and the others at the backstage of the assembly hall, as they were watching the auditions taking hold.
Currently on the stage was Victoria, as she read her lines for the part of Juliet.
Watching the auditions from their seats, among a few of the small audience of 4 to 5 people, was some of Victoria's friends, Harley, Annie and Nancy were watching her acting, while sharing notes on how well she was doing, Samantha, on the other hand, was mainly focusing on her phone, while taking only one or two glances on Victoria, while just shrugging on whatever Annie, Nancy or Harley said to her.
Jim was also there as well, as he wore a homemade cardboard costume made to look like armor.
And there, sitting in her seat, clipboard in one hand and pen in the other, was a woman in her 60s, Caucasin, black hair that was tied in a bun, dark blue turtleneck with dark pink glasses and black pants.
Her name was Carrier Lamb, and was the drama teacher of Brady Oaks High School, while sometimes doing other lessons, such as math and English, though drama was more of her passion to teach.
She was at times, a rather melodramatic and hammy teacher, possibly from her love of the theater arts. She tended to be rather strict with her students when they are not punctual or if they do not meet her expectations. She also only gives out one "A+" per exam, as her studies show it's effective to help students study more.
In spite of her dramatic attitude, she is caring towards her students, including her best ones, one of them being of course, Victoria.
Patrick, meanwhile, felt some of his concerns melt as he kept a good eye on Victoria, as she stood there, reading her lines on stage. She was a complete natural, and every line she recited sounded so honest, so true.
"Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars," Victoria happily recited, "And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night."
As the audience and Mrs. Lamb clapped at Victoria's performance, Patrick let out a little sigh of nervousness as he looked to the others.
"It would have been easier to tell him that you're a Paladin of Xadador." Taylor whispered carefully to her brother, as she, Hilda, Chris and Luz looked a little nervous too, about wanting to tell Mr. Sturges the truth of the armor.
"I kinda sort of told him," Patrick admitted, "but he believed I was taking part of a Dungeons and Dragons club with some 'new friends', and I guess it kinda stuck with that…"
"I suppose that works…" Taylor looked down in thought, until Victoria approached them after finishing her act.
"Hey there, Patrick." Victoria greeted with a smile.
"Hi there, Vicky." Patrick greeted back, a little nervous, especially as he called her by her nickname.
"'Vicky'?" Victoria giggled, "I haven't heard that for quite a long while."
"And here I thought you didn't like Shakespeare." she added with a grin.
"Oh no, he's one of my favourites!" Patrick answered, "I totally like most of his work!"
Patrick still looked a little nervous, before the whole discovery of being a Paladin, he was originally thinking of looking up Romeo and Juliet just in case he decided to take part, but now, after what just happened, he was about to get on stage, and didn't have time to research the lines.
His thoughts were put on hold as Victoria looked at his armor and sword with interest, "That costume is incredible! Did you make all this?"
"Oh no, they're all real!" Hilda replied with a grin, though Patrick went white with nervousness.
"Yeah, he found a magical amulet that makes all this!" Luz blurtly added, gesturing to the armor and sword.
"Heh, you're funny." Victoria said with the sweetest laugh that Patrick had ever heard.
"Hehe, yeah," Patrick muttered to the two girls with gritted teeth, "you're both real comedians aren't cha?!"
"Next!" the drama teacher called out from the audience.
"I think that's your cue." Victoria said, as she stepped aside to allow Patrick to take the stage, "Break a leg!"
"I'd prefer that…" Patrick muttered with a gulp, as he walked onto the stage, while his sisters and most of his friends, being Callum, Ezran, the twins, Chuckie, Frida and David, sat down with the audience, while Chris and Luz stood in the wings.
Upon reaching center stage, he looked as he saw the other kids in the audience, looking in surprise and stunned to see him in the armor.
Jim saw Patrick and looked down to his cardboard armor with a sigh, admitting he did feel a little underdressed, while Samantha stopped looking at her phone upon gaining a double take at Patrick's shiny armor.
Patrick could hear a few of the kids whispering about him being in his armor.
"Check out that armor! So cool!" Nancy whispered to Annie, who nodded in agreement.
Patrick let out a nervous grin, as Mrs. Lamb looked at him and asked, "And you are?"
"Patrick Lee Kirby."
"What are you trying out for?" Mrs. Lamb asked, as she wrote down his name on her clipboard.
Figuring that if Victoria was going to get the part of Juliet (and how couldn't she after that amazing audition?), then being Romeo would help lead to more time to spend with her on - and off - stage. Providing he doesn't die of either embarrassment or from a monster like a certain troll first.
"Uh, Romeo." Patrick replied.
"Alright then, Mr. Kirby," Mrs. Lamb said, looking up to him, "We're all ears."
Patrick looked very uneasy as he looked at the audience, who were all waiting to see what he could do.
'Can't believe this is happening,' Patrick thought a little, 'I'm going to end up screwing up this one chance to get closer to Vicky, all because of this crazy destiny… armor…'
It was there from when he thought that word, he remembered what Blinky said to him last night.
Don't think. Become.
He looked back at Victoria at the side of the stage, worried that she would roll her eyes and/or texting on her phone like Samantha was doing, but no. She just stood there, with a smile on her face that could brighten his day, her eyes full of encouragement.
Patrick smiled back, before looking to Mrs. Lamb.
"Miss Lamb, is it okay for me to improvise my lines or…" he asked.
"Oh, it's alright," Mrs. Lamb replied with a small smile, "the auditions are about showcasing what you can do."
Patrick nodded in understanding, he then closed his eyes, quietly muttering the words, "Destiny…"
Soon, he took a deep breath… and then spoke.
"Destiny is a gift." As he said that, the amulet shone bright on his chest, as he smiled and continued to say the words that flowed through his mind as clearly as Blinky said them last night, his voice building.
"Some go their entire lives living existences in quiet desperation, never learning the truth that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually a sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights!" As Patrick said the last part of the line, he drew his Vorpal sword out, earning several gasps of awe and stunned amazement, as the stage lights reflected off the blades.
"Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor!"
"He's good." Mrs. Lamb whispered to Victoria, who had left the side of the stage to join her, with a smile of interest.
Hilda, who sat next to Victoria, heard this, and replied for her as she said to the teacher, "Oh yeah, he is amazing!"
Victoria, meanwhile, looked back at Patrick, as she did during his whole performance, as he looked so confident up there, and reminding her of the same boy she met long ago back in kindergarten.
"That to strive and triumph in the face of fear, is what it means to be a hero!" Patrick proudly said, as he brought the Vorpal sword high up to the sky.
"Don't think." he said.
He then twirled the Vorpal sword through the air and returned it to his back with a flourish.
"Become!"
Soon the audience exploded with applause, as Patrick was given a standing ovation.
Chris and Luz smiled from the wings as they gave each other a high-five, Jim, having looked a little underdressed, gave Patrick his respect, Annie and Nancy clapped happily while Samantha just shrugged and slowly clapped.
Hilda, Taylor, Callum, the twins, Chuckie, Ezran, Frida and David cheered and clapped at Patrick's performance, Mrs. Lamb looked stunned and taken back with amazement, while watching from the sidelines, Mr. Sturges smiled after seeing the whole performance.
"Good work, my boy." he smiled, as he started to leave.
"Unbelievable…" Featherfang muttered, as he and Mokdu watched from high afar from a small, high open window.
"Yeah…" Mokdu said, before smiling, "that was quite an amazing act!"
Featherfang looked at Mokdu in annoyance, before knocking the small window shut, slamming into Mokdu's hand that was holding onto the windowsill, causing the kobold to let out a small yelp of pain, before flying off with the familiar to warn Horvath.
"Um… thank you." Patrick smiled, after receiving such a positive feedback from his acting, until he saw Victoria approach him, leading him to kneel down like a true knight in shining armor, to get a little closer.
"Patrick, that was remarkable!" Victoria smiled.
"Really?" Patrick asked, "I didn't even think, I just sort of said it all."
Victoria let out the cutest giggle, before placing her hand on Patrick's armored arm, as she replied, "That's acting!"
In that moment, Patrick felt two things to be true. One, he would never polish the part of the armor that Victoria had touched, he would want to see her perfect fingerprints there until the day he died. Which may probably happen today. And two, Patrick felt it was more than just acting, it felt like the freedom he experienced when he rode his bike or when he summoned the armor for the first time.
And for getting out of his head for a small change, Patrick stopped thinking and became the guy he'd always wanted to be.
Later, after school…
"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword." Princess Daphne instructed, as Callum readied his hands on the controls of 'Dragons' Lair' arcade console, ready to control Dirk the Daring to get the sword, slay the evil dragon, Singe, and save the princess.
"Oh boy, guys, I've reached uncharted territory here." he said, as Ezran, Chuckie and Raph were standing next to him from both sides, watching him start the final act to see if he can succeed.
While they cheered for Callum on 'Dragon's Lair', the others were having a bit of time on other things.
Taylor and Hazel were having a bit of a chat, though Hazel was talking about wanting to hang with more boys, and if any were into her (much to Taylor's dismay, as Hazel has always found a way to creep boys out when she tried to flirt with them).
Frida was helping out David on how to play 'Fix-It Felix Jr.' while she was having a bit of a go on Dig Dug.
Patrick, meanwhile, was getting a bit of support from Hilda, Luz and Chris while playing 'TurboTime'.
"C'mon, c'mon! Almost there!" Patrick said, as he was controlling the car, driven by the protagonist, Turbo, through the racing track.
"You can do it, Patrick!" Hilda cheered.
"Go, Turbo, go!" Chris chanted.
"¡Gana esta carrera!*" Luz added.
It was such an amazing day following the auditions.
Almost everyone was talking about Victoria and Patrick's performances that they did, most of them guessing who was going to play the leading characters.
To celebrate a great performance, Patrick invited his siblings and his friends to the perfect place to eat and celebrate.
Buckner and Garcia's Arcade and Pizza Parlor is the perfect place for everyone of all ages to come and enjoy playing video games and hang out. It was a multi-story establishment, with numerous assembled arcade games on the ground floor, along with a segment of the floor that helped serve snacks, drinks and meals for everyone to have (food and drinks served outside the arcade were also allowed, as long as noone made a mess) and it had office space on the floor above. The upper rooms have been furnished to serve as both a work space and accommodation for the owner of the arcade, named Stan Halliday, and other members of his staff.
The arcade's neighborhood of the Brady Oaks was known to have a bustling day/night time amusement and entertainment area, and Buckner and Garcia's was a popular hang-out for kids, teens and adults, and had many video games, from classic retro to next gen, those including, TurboTime, Fix-It Felix Jr., Space Paranoids, TRON, Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Sonic the Hedgehog and many more.
It was also one of the party's favourite hangout spots during the week, as they would get to enjoy playing the various types of video games there were, due to being regular customers to Mr. Halliday, as well as good friends to him as well.
Patrick soon fistpumped in victory as he won the race, as Turbo drove on the screen, letting out his famous catchphrase, "Turbo-Tastic!"
"Way to go, Patrick!" Chris said, as he gave him a high-five as the girls cheered him.
Patrick grinned as he made awesome moves with his hands as he said, "It's all in the wrists!"
The little victory was interrupted suddenly by Callum's panic cries as they saw him mashing the buttons and shaking the control stick as fast as he could.
"No. No. No! No! No! No!" he cried, as Dirk got killed by the dragon, just as he finally got the sword and failed to make the killing blow, "Darn it! So close!"
"Don't worry, Callum," Ezran looked up to him with comfort, "you'll get him next time. Besides you still have top scores on Centipede and Arkanoid."
"He's right, you weren't nimble enough," Chuckie pointed out, "but you'll get there one day."
He then smirked a grin of his own as he added, "But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."
"No way," Raph said, looking to Chuckie, "I called dibs on the Princess!"
"Since when?"
"Since… now!"
"Greetings, Programs!" the four turned away from the Callum's group as they recognized the voice, as they turned and saw the owner himself.
Stan Halliday was an older man with receding hair who wore brown pants with a white and black striped shirt, unlike a referee's shirt, as well as a quarter dispenser attached to his belt. He also wore glasses and had brown hair with gray in it and a mustache.
Mr. Halliday was a kind and humble man who enjoyed running his business and depended on a customer base for his livelihood, he must keep gamers, such as Patrick and his friends, satisfied. Should customers complain of glitches and the games cannot be repaired, he would gladly give them cash back from his quarter dispenser. While he is quite a realist, he has good emotional connection to the games and their characters (likely due to working with many of them for so many years).
Next to him was a 22 year old young man, who wore a light brown cap, had light peach fair skin, and buck teeth, similar to those of a beaver. He was 6'0" tall, stocky, and wore dark brown shoes, beige shorts and a jade green-ish gray shirt with a big Space Invader character on the front and the word "Staff" on the back, showing his working position at the arcade. He also had a double chin and has a few hairs on his face that he glues on himself. He had short light brown hair. His neck was wider than his head, or so it appeared. It seemed to be obscured by his double chin. He even seemed to have a gentle blush on his cheeks.
His name was Jesus Pollock, though everyone calls him "Soos", who was a fat, friendly, and buck-tooth employee whose desire to be where the action is, he was also one of the employees of the arcade, and even helped run a comic shop not far off. He was also a good friend to the party, and has been known to be seen sometimes doing work, eating snacks or sometimes just chilling out doing any sort of activity.
"Mr. Halliday! Soos!" Patrick smiled as he saw them, "Nice to see you guys!"
"Nice seeing you too, Patrick." Mr. Halliday said with a smile, "I see you still got it on some of these games."
"I sure do." Patrick nodded.
"Word around from the other kids says that you've taken part in the auditions today." Mr. Halliday said a knowing grin.
Patrick scratched the back of his head as he smiled, "It was nothing."
"Are you kidding," Hilda said, looking up to her big brother, "it was amazing!"
"I was so excited on the news, I even made victory nachos for you, dude." Soos said, as he held up a bowl, before adding, "Though I think I may have eaten like a third of them. Half of 'em."
Soos double checked the bowl, which was later revealed empty as he let out a chuckle, "I ate all of them, dude!"
Patrick let out a small half smile as he said, "It's okay, Soos."
"You sure?" Soos asked, "I could make more, though, I mean, nachos cause excitement."
"No, no, it's alright." Patrick smiled, before saying, "Thanks for the support anyways."
"No problem," Mr. Halliday smiled, "by the way, I think Callum mentioned you joining a D&D club, is that right?"
Patrick and the others looked a little nervous when asked that, before Patrick replied, "Uh… yeah, that's right."
"Well, let me know if your club buddies like to have another player on board," Mr. Halliday said, "Soos here is happy to join in anytime."
"I would be honoured to join," Soos said, as he then stood heroically as he said, "whatever your quest, shall be my quest too, wherever duty calls."
"Yo, Soos, one of the bathrooms clogged again." one of the staff members called out to him.
"I am needed elsewhere." Soos said heroically, as he suddenly brought out a toolkit and plunger, heading off to work once more, leaving the others on their own.
Later…
After spending some time at the arcade, and waving goodbye to Mr. Halliday and Soos, the party started their journey home on their bikes through town (most of them were riding them, while the others were walking while pushing their bikes along).
While on their way home down main street, the others were still talking more about Patrick's audition, while Patrick, his sisters, Chris and Luz were having a little one of their own.
"I still can't believe that that just happened." Patrick said, feeling like things were going smoothly.
"Yeah, we're really proud of you for that, Patrick." Taylor said, giving him a small thumbs up.
"And did you see how that chikita was looking at you?" Luz let out a smirk as she said that to him about how Victoria felt about Patrick during the audition (Patrick blushed a little at that), before carefully saying, "Your armour totally did you a favor!"
Patrick looked into his bag for a second, the amulet still in there, before looking to the others and said, "Yeah… well, I'm still getting the hang of it at the moment."
"I think the multi-eyed guy said it reacts to your emotional state." Chris remembered what Blinky said the night they first met him and the others, as well as discovering Patrick's armor.
"I remember too," Hilda said, before looking at her brother as she added, "I think the armour turns on when you're in distress!"
"Maybe," Patrick lightly chuckled, "but I wasn't in distress back at school."
But soon, as the party turned the corner on their bikes, a vicious bear-like roar cut the group off their conversations, as they jolted in shock of the loud roar, before turning to see what… or who it was…
There, at the end of the street, standing in the shadows, was a large, balck troll, with vicious eyes that could freeze anyone in their tracks, teeth and claws sharp as daggers, and a growl that could rival any wild animal, be it a bear, a lion or even a tiger.
The party froze in their tracks on their bikes as they saw for the first time (in Callum, Ezran, Chuckie, the Twins, Frida and David's case) a sinister and terrifying troll, who was looking to them, ready to strike on them and feed on their body and limbs.
Patrick, meanwhile, suddenly grew cold and terrified as he saw the troll that could be what Blinky and the others warned him and his friends about, as he then quickly added to his sentence, "Okay, but I am now!"
Author's Notes:
*Spanish translation: Win this race
The name of the arcade is named after Buckner and Garcia, known for doing songs like Pac-Man Fever and Wreck It, Wreck-It Ralph, which were based upon different classic arcade games.
The name of the character, Stan Halliday, is based off Stan Lee and James Halliday, the latter being known for enjoying the classic arcade games, especially those of the 80s, as well as creating the Oasis in Ready Player One.
Next time, the heroes' first encounter with Ghoular, but will they fight or flight?
Until next time, True Believers!
Excelsior!