Stan had been admitted to the hospital and sat in bed feeling down on himself. True, he did feel truly terrible and everyone kept saying this was the best place he could be. He peeked down the front of his hospital gown at the series of wires and electrodes attached to his chest to monitor his heart. The steady beeping of the monitor was not reassuring to his situation. He brought his hand to his mouth to let out a cough, his body shuddering in pain at each deep breath. Fuck, it was nearly 90 degrees outside, a hot summer day. He should be out at the swimming pool with his friends or having a romantic date hiking in the mountains with Wendy, not stuck in the hospital waiting to die. Didn't people get pneumonia in the winter anyway? None of this made sense.
After another round of hacking coughs before Stan felt another familiar but horrible feeling. A twist of his stomach and waves of nausea going over him. He looked around for the nurse call button before he got up quickly to throw up in a nearby trash can.
Nurse Alice rushed in to find her patient hunched over and hugging a trash can while throwing up. "Oh dear, let's get you back into bed." She reached over to the cabinet to retrieve a basin for Stan as she helped him crawl into bed.
Stan groaned and grabbed the basin gratefully as he laid back against the pillows. "Thanks, I'm sorry I ripped out my wires."
"No problem, just call us first before you make any sudden moves. We can change your gown and bedding if needed but let's get you some Zofran and back on the monitor to check your heart."
A knock at the door as Stan looked up from bed to see Kenny in the doorway. "I was going to ask where your room was, dude, but all I had to do was follow the sound of barfing…and the smell."
"Thanks a lot, asshole." Stan said as he gagged over the bowl once more.
Kenny kept out of the way of the nurse fussing around Stan as he took a seat at his side. "Sorry, this is happening. What did they say is wrong with you?"
"Pneumonia, and maybe my heart being stupid again." Stan coughed painfully and winced, thinking back to all the times he was stuck hospitalized throughout his teenage years. "But thanks for visiting."
"No problem, I'm here to fill in for Kyle while he's working for you. Just got off from City Wok." Kenny leaned back in his chair as he chatted with Stan.
"Did Kyle call you?" Stan asked while the nurse left to get him some medicine.
"No, Wendy did, she's helping your mom but didn't want you to be alone. So, it fell on me. You're welcome." Kenny grinned.
"Well thanks for being here, I appreciate it." Stan gave a weak smile before he leaned over to throw up in the basin once more.
"Damn, dude. You're really sick." Kenny got up to try and pat Stan on the back.
"No shit. Back in the hospital yet again. Can't escape this place." Stan sighed as he pulled his covers up. "This sucks."
"Better than the morgue, and I'm not saying that because of my ah…talent." Kenny said carefully. "I'm not making this about me, you need to listen to your doctor and do what they say."
Stan rolled his eyes. "I know that. You sound like Kyle right now."
"Oh damn, I do. Don't listen to that advice, let's go skydiving." Kenny smiled.
"Stop it." Stan cracked a tiny smile.
"We can ride motorcycles without helmets on the way there." Kenny went on, knowing it was working.
Stan let out a full laugh now but had to pause as his laughter fell into a coughing fit, his eyes closed as the spikes on his heart monitor slowed down a moment.
"Stan?" Kenny asked, concerned. He stood up and grabbed a water pitcher, quickly filling a cup and shoving it into Stan's hands. "You okay?"
Stan nodded and wheezed as he took a sip. His eyes were red and watery. "Fuck, being sick sucks."
"Tell me about it. Don't worry I'm here to take your mind off it for now." Kenny looks around the room for a distraction before he takes notice of the bandage on Stan's knee. "What the fuck happened there?"
Stan frowned as he moved his blankets to get a better look at it. "Stupid knee is how this all started. I was walking home from work, and I tripped I think…or maybe I passed out. I'm not sure and I don't want Kyle or my mom knowing. But I woke up with a busted and swollen knee the next morning."
Kenny gave him a weird look "So how did your knee give you pneumonia?"
"That's what I'd like to know! I don't understand any of this, ugh." Stan started to cough again and leaned over the basin just in case.
There was a knock at the door as a tall thin doctor entered Stan's room. "Hello, I'm Dr Lysander, your attending physician. How are you feeling today, Stanley?"
"Like ass." Stan said bluntly. "I keep coughing and throwing up."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm going to go over your test results if that's okay with you." The doctor grips a file in his hands.
Stan looks at Kenny and waves a hand. "Yeah, tell me what's wrong with me now."
Kenny reaches over to pat Stan's arm. "He's a big boy, can handle the truth."
Dr Lysander nods as he turns on a light up screen and places Stan's Xray over it. "See that darkness over your heart and lung area? At first we thought it was a case of pneumonia and you are showing congestion in your chest. But we noticed your white blood cell count was very high and you seem to be suffering from early stages of pericarditis."
Stan put a hand to his chest. "What does that mean?"
"It's an infection that's affecting the tissue around your heart. We're going to start an aggressive treatment of antibiotics and keep you under observation until you improve." Dr Lysander says.
"So scraping my knee is what caused me to have a heart infection? I don't believe it." Stan moans in bed as he looks at Kenny for help.
Kenny shrugs but reaches over to grab Stan's hand. "Will he get better soon?"
Dr Lysander clicks off the light and puts the X Ray back into his folder. "You're very susceptible to infections after what you've been through. Not many people survive a sudden cardiac arrest and a two week coma. You're very lucky all things considered."
"I don't feel very lucky." Stan jerks his hand away from Kenny and crosses his arms.
Kenny narrowed his eyes and stared down Stan. "Well you are lucky, Stan. could be dead right now. Sorry you have a robot in your chest now but life is beautiful, even if you're sick for now and stuck in the hospital."
Stan sulked but deep down he knew Kenny was right. He coughed a few times and took a deep breath to try and calm down. "Fine, what do I have to do?"
"I'm going to order you some antibiotics to be given intravenously and schedule you for another scan on your chest and heart area. We'll develop a treatment plan from there. Sound good?"
"I don't have a choice, do I? Yeah it'll be fine." Stan puts his head down, trying to blink back any tears. He was stupid to think that everything would go back to normal after his own heart tried to kill him.
The doctor shakes Stan's hand and makes his way out of the room. Kenny stays still in abject silence and just watches Stan get his bearings with his new diagnosis. Trying his best to come up with anything to say.
"I'm sorry, that sucks." Kenny finally says.
Stan looked past him and out the window, the nice sunny day staring back as if mocking him. "We should be out enjoying ourselves, not me stuck with a heart infection. I hate what my life has become."
"I'm here for you, in more ways than one. If things get worse, I have your back. Promise." Kenny held out a hand to Stan.
Stan yawned as whatever meds they gave him began to take effect. "Thanks dude, glad you're here." His eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.
The band of merry warriors made their way through the forest until they came to a clearing. It was a wide lake with a beautiful waterfall near a large rocky cliff.
"I don't even get to be the elf king. I'm the damn doctor. What am I supposed to do?" Kyle grumbled as he peeked in some of the pockets along his belt. "I just have herbs and berries and shit. What if one of us gets shot or Stan's heart acts up again? Do any of these herbs contain insulin?"
Stan rolled his eyes as he looked up from the map.
"Stop your bitching. The Queen and Princess wouldn't send us on this journey and not have us as prepared as possible, right?"
"They're your queen and your princess. This must be your journey. You need to learn something today and shit." Kyle snapped back as they came across a river.
Elise looks down at the water. "There's a cave under the waterfall. Maybe go through there to get to the other side?"
Stan groans and rubs his face, it was awfully hot outside on this journey. "I don't want to learn anything. Let's just get this stupid lightning heart so I can go home. And maybe try that cave like Elise just pointed out."
Bradley poked his head between the two. "Maybe you need to learn a sense of humor when you get to the other side?"
Kyle shoves Bradley's head back and looks pointedly at Stan. "You need to learn some shit. This is your journey if your mom and girlfriend are the ones who sent us."
"Princess Wendy is clever and hardly wrong. She has her reasons for sending you on this quest." Elise picks up her skirts and makes her way to some rocks to hop across to the cave.
Stan grumbles to himself as he grips a vine. "Let's try to get down here, go across these rocks. Then we can get to the cave."
Kyle follows Elise and Stan, grabbing the thick vines. "You guys, be careful and don't fall in the river. It would suck to travel and be wet. Come on Bradley, don't be scared."
"I'm not scared. And if so I have a good sense of humor about it. Haha. Ohh." Bradely's hands shake as he grips the vines, he leans over the water but doesn't jump.
"At least you don't have to do this in a goddamn medieval wench dress." Elise bundles up more of her skirts and manages to step onto the other side of the river arriving at the mouth of the cave. "Whooo, made it. Let me know if you guys need a hand."
Stan tucks his sword back into its sheath and sticks his tongue out to get ready and aim himself. He takes a strong leap off the rock and holds tight as he goes through the waterfall. He almost slips on the wet rocks and almost falls in.
Elise grabs his hand and pulls to prevent him from falling. "Stan, be careful. I got you." She yanks to try and swing him towards the riverbank.
Stan finally gets his bearings as he lands on his hands and knees, but it was dry land. He gets up, mildly embarrassed as he calls up to the others. "Be careful you two! The rocks are slippery!"
Bradley wrings his hands. "Oh no... Elf King Kyle? Do you want to go first?"
Kyle holds back a chuckle at Stan's less than graceful landing. "Yeah I'll go first and grab my hands if I start to slip. Then we'll grab and help Bradley last." Kyle wraps his hand around a vine and takes a jump to the last slippery rock. He starts to fall but uses the vine to pull himself upright, landing on his feet on the riverbank. "Goddamn, you gotta Tarzan your way over."
"Okay, dude you have to go next. We need to get going." Stan calls from his side of the riverbank, he feels a slight twinge in his chest and his sword light up again. "What the fuck?"
Bradley nods and slowly steps on the rocks, hands wrapped around the vine. "Okay. Easy... easy now…"
Kyle holds his hands out. "Grab my hand if you start to slip. All three of us will help you."
Bradley lets out a yell as he swings over the river and makes it about halfway through the waterfall. "I'm not gonna make it!" He calls out as he clings to the vine.
"Like hell you aren't." Kyle grabs his foot and starts to pull Bradley to the shore, yanking him the rest of the way.
Bradley jumps onto the shore, shaking himself off. "Yes! We did it, men! And lady! Aww I'm all wet." He starts to squeeze water out of his jester hat as he joins the party at the mouth of the cave.
Elise waves a hand in front of her face. "It's dark in there. We don't have a torch or something?"
"Wait! My sword glows. Or at least it did a few minutes ago." Stan lifted the sword in front of them, it glows an eerie red light as they make their way into the cave.
Kyle goes to take a closer look at Stan's sword. "You know how to make it glow. Oh wow. It's not metal. It looks like a dark red stone. Deep as blood red garnet."
The sword pulses slightly. Stan frowns as he touches his chest.
"You okay, Sir Stan?" Kyle asks worriedly.
"I don't know. I feel a slight thump in my chest. Um, you're the doctor. Do I look okay to you?" Stan looked around the deep cavern, the red, the pulsating, it was freaking him out.
Kyle shrugs and puts his elf ear to Stan's chest. "I feel your heart going fast and then slowing down then speeding up again. Maybe you're in a coma again? Or maybe I am?"
"I'm just trying to remember what I was doing before any of this. Maybe I am in a coma. Wouldn't be surprised." Stan shrugged away from Kyle and looked at the walls of the cavern. The tall rock walls beat and pulsated with Stan's own heartbeat. He didn't want to freak himself more in detriment to his health, he took a deep breath and pressed onward into the cave.
"Then why am I here? Why are Bradley and Elise here?" Kyle hears a sharp zap and jumps back. "Gah! My elf ears are sensitive. They're doing something to fuck around with your heart. Hope you're not dying. Fuck." Kyle rubs his ear as he takes in their surroundings and follows Stan.
Stan has his sword at the ready now. There's a faint light emitting from it but not much. "What's that? Anyone else see anything?"
Kyle looks at his staff and taps it slightly. It lights up a glowing green color. "Hmmm well something is working. It's not as bright as your sword. Okay you guys ready to explore the cave?"
Elise tapped her crossbow as the tip glows blue. "Ready. Bradley, do you have anything?"
"I don't think so, will you protect me, Lady Elise." Bradley makes a move to go to her side before Stan interrupts them.
Stan points at Bradley. "Hey look! The bells on your hat are glowing, dude."
Bradley takes his hat off, looking down at the yellow glowing bells, shaking them a few times. "Wow, that's pretty cool."
Stan smiles. "It is noisy. That will either attract enemies or scare them off."
Elise looks quizzically at Bradley. "Is your hat a weapon?"
Bradley inspects his hat as it glows in his hands. "I guess there's only one way to find out. Do you guys see anything here?"
Stan holds up his sword as the other heroes gather behind him. "Well Kyle, the Elf King Doctor said he heard something right?"
Kyle walks cautiously through the tunnel. The rocks give off an icy glow, going from red to purple before it dissipates to reveal a scene on the cave wall. "Dude…..is that you?" Kyle goes up to see something through a thick haze of ghostly figures. A little three year old Stan in a hospital bed with his parents who are still married, crying at his bedside.
"What the fuck?" Stan stops walking as he comes upon the scene with Kyle.
"This is so familiar. Why is it?" A knock at the door and Kyle watched his mother looking young holding a little redhead boy holding a pack of band aids. "I doctor Kyle I help my buddy wake up." Toddler Kyle says with a grin.
"I….don't know if you want to see this, Stan. Maybe you should. I don't know, go somewhere else." Kyle whispers as he's frozen in place.
"Kyle? I've seen a lot of shit. This can't be that bad. Stan starts to walk in his direction but stops as he comes across the scene. "What the hell is going on?"
Kyle leans on his staff, overcome with emotion. He can hear his little self cry and scream at his own buddy being sick. "You wouldn't remember. I hardly remember but you got really sick when we were babies and my mom would take me to visit."
The closer Stan gets the more sad he feels. He grips his chest as grief and sadness and fear take over. He puts a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "You okay, dude?"
"Like this was some turning point into a dark pit of sadness." Kyle continues, staring transfixed on the scene of little Kyle with a box of band aids, little Stan unconscious in a hospital bed, covered in tubes and wires.
Sharon with her long hair is crying at Stan's bedside. "I shouldn't have let him pour his own bubble bath, I should've not gotten mad at him, thought he was trying to get out of brushing his teeth. I should've been more careful. The doctors don't know if he's going to wake up, Sheila. I can't lose my son. He's only three years old." Sharon's hugs Sheila at Stan's bedside as Kyle looks on.
Stan meets up and is surprised at seeing his younger self so sick. "Is that- is that me? What's going on? What happened when we were little?"
Kyle looks at him sadly. "I kinda remember this. You were in that coma after you crashed during the allergy test. My mom would have me visit you. God, you're so tiny and fragile." Kyle wipes his eyes again. "I don't know, dude. What if we never got to be friends after that."
Stan grips his sword as he watches tiny Kyle stick band aids on little Stan's legs. "But we are. Even back then we had a special bond. Thank you so much, dude. I don't really remember what happened. It was more of what others told me over the years but I never paid attention and my mom didn't want to bring it up."
Kyle hears a thump behind them and turns around, holding his staff up just in case he has to defend himself. Another scene appears on the opposite wall. "Shit this was three months ago in gym class." Kyle can look down and see himself trying to give Stan CPR after he collapsed in gym, the rest of the class standing around in shock.
"Is this meant to torture me or you? Why am I here as well? This whole fucking cave is reliving these scenes." Stan as he turns from the awful scene. He can hear Wendy crying in the corner as Kyle, the school nurse, and paramedics trying to revive him. "C'mon. There has to be another way out. I- I can't be around this."
Bradley catches up with the group as a new scene appears before the group. Bradly grips the ends of his glowing hat. "Oh no... look at what they are doing to you Stan?"
Stan lies unconscious on a table as doctors and nurses surround him. Nearby is a defibrillator and Kyle and Sharon watching from nearby chairs.
Elise peers at the scene from behind Bradley. "Is that your mom and Kyle? What the fuck are they doing to you there?"
Kyle goes to join her. "Stan's first cardioversion. We were only thirteen. What the fuck is this cave? Why did you want to come in here, it was your stupid idea Elise."
"I don't know. Seemed like the best way over the river." She wipes her eyes with the end of her skirt.
Stan starts to get frustrated as he turns the next corner. "Let's just look down at our feet and try to find the exit. I don't want to see any of this."
Bradley places a hand on Stan's shoulder. "Maybe you're meant to see it?"
Stan shrugs away from him. "No I'm not! I wanna get out of here and complete this stupid quest thing!"
Elise looks around. "Did…did we lose the exit? You guys saw where we came from?"
Kyle taps his staff as it glows green. "Ummm go away. Go away bad memories." Nothing happens as more scenes pop up brighter and more vivid. "What the fuck. I've seen most of this. Why again? Why isn't my magic working?"
Elise crying now trying to figure out what happened to the entrance. She looks around one corner to another but the entrance seems to have disappeared, swallowed up along scenes of Stan's worst medical moments.
Something in red and white skitters in the corner. She freezes and holds up her crossbow before she finds herself in the middle of another scene of a school shooting at South Park elementary.
Stan steps back now, arms feeling around for an exit. "No. No, I don't want to see this. Damnit where is the exit?! I don't want to see this!"
Suddenly something comes out and hits Stan right in the chest. Stan holds himself, wondering if he was just shot like when he was a kid. He looks down to see its a mini sized baseball.
"What the fuck?" Kyle calls out at more baseballs are hurled at the group. "Hide!" Kyle yells as he hides behind the bleachers in the 'gym'
"Stan shields his head as an avalanche of baseballs rain down on them. "Ow, what the fuck?"
Bradley does a roll which turns into a clumsy slide. "Ahhh! What the heck man! Stan, what is going on?"
"I don't know!" Stan ducks under a desk in the blood classroom as they keep being pelted with barrage after barrage of baseballs. "Oww! Someone do something! I don't think my sword will do anything here."
Kyle steps through the ghostly gym scene and swings his staff like a bat to try and make the baseballs leave. "Judging from the scenes your sword might be what gets us out. Stop being scared dammit." Another round of baseballs comes raining down and Kyle tries to swing them away. "My magic isn't working here!"
Elise gets behind a teachers desk and shoots a few arrows in the direction of the baseballs. "Who's throwing that?"
Giggles echo through the cave but nothing can be seen. Stan takes out his sword and holds it ahead of himself. "Okay, whoever just did that, fuck you."
Kyle walks through to another scene. "Project imagination doorway. Manbearpig. No I don't want to see that shit either! Fuck you for making us relive the worst moments of our lives!" Another giggle echoes through as Kyle turns away from his collapsed nine year old self.
Stan looks down, horrified at Cartman standing over an unresponsive Kyle. "I didn't know you were that close to dying. You did die. Why didn't you ever tell me that Kyle?"
"I didn't want to upset you." Kyle looks down. "Look they're giving up on me….fucking Cartman told them to keep going. I….never gave up on you either, Stan. In all those times." Kyle wipes tears from his eyes as he gazes into the face of his dead self.
Stan grips his sword as the scenes shift and change. He's blowing the birthday candles out on his tenth birthday cake. He is being told he is cynical by a doctor… he shoots Kyle a dirty look.
"Okay, I did give up on you. Fuck. Maybe I should've just died back in Washington like that." Kyle says softly before he's hit in the head with another baseball. "Ow! What the fuck! Where are those coming from?"
Kyle sees himself fighting with a drunk and needy Stan on the sidewalk. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He sees Stan sink to his knees and call out he loves Kyle as Kyle goes back to Cartman Burger.
Stan says nothing, surprised he doesn't feel too upset at this. Maybe now it was time for Kyle to see and feel exactly what he was feeling at that time. Now he is being told that he has Asperger's by Mackey, Principal Victoria, and the school nurse with his mother in the room.
Sharon is eye level with ten year old Stan talking to him. "I'm sorry sweetie. I know this is the last thing you want to have happen after your father and I recently divorced..."
"I'm…so fucking selfish." Kyle whispers as another barrage of baseballs rain down on them.
Kyle and Stan are so transfixed on their darkest moments they don't see little hands grab Bradley and Elise and take them away into the darkness of the cave. Elise tries to yell out before a handkerchief is shoved in her mouth.
"Everyone left you Stan. I even left I….fuck I suck so hard." Kyle stammers as he tries to apologize.
Stan's face is blank as they look on as Kyle betrays him about the PS4. How he tries to switch Covid vaccines for cactus cooler… "I don't know what to say, Kyle. This all sucks."
"I'd rather watch myself dead, watch you in the hospital. That's something that can be fixed and put back together. This…" Kyle stares helplessly at the cycle of horrible moments.
The scene changes to eight year old Stan sitting in the doctor's office of the hospital. "I'll give Kyle my kidney…even if it hurts a whole lot."
The doctor telling him that he and Kyle weren't a match and only Kyle and Cartman had the same blood type.
"You….you hate hospitals Stan. You suffer so much. Why didn't you hesitate? Especially for such a shitty friend like me?" Kyle wipes away another tear.
Stan finally looks Kyle in the eye and puts his arm over his best friend's shoulders. "I love you. You know me. My friends and family mean the world to me. And I guess at that time we hadn't had many fights. Of course I'd jump on the chance to save you. Even... even when we did start to have struggles later on I still would have done the same. I'd give you my kidney right here right now if I could. I always will think that, dude"
"I'd cure your heart if I could. I'd go searching for a transplant for you." Kyle hugs him back.
The scene changes to Stan and Kyle talking after his cardioversion at thirteen. How Stan said he was going to save Kenny, no hesitation. Kyle crying and angry as Stan slips and crashes as the doctors rush in to save him. "You're so….selfless. Fuck man."
"Well you're the one that told me I'm a Gryffindor. Can't help it I guess. But you're great too dude. I'm not perfect. No one is." Stan looks around and rubs his arm. "Is it just me or has it gone... quiet?"
"Oh maybe Bradley and Elise are embarrassed." Kyle looks around and sees a yellow glowing thing. Bradley's hat. "Hello? Jester Bradley? Lady Elise? Where did you guys go? Think they found an exit?" Another bunch of baseballs rain down on the boys.
Stan brings Kyle down to hide as they get rained on by baseballs.
Kyle scrambles for his staff and pulls it up. "Shield!" He yells and finally a green umbrella goes over the boys. "Hey, my magic came back. But what the fuck is happening?" Another giggle and something white and red scurries by.
"Did you see that? Let's go follow it." Stan says as he carefully gets up, sword ready for battle.
Kyle holds the staff with the green shield up and tucks Bradley's hat into his belt. He follows Stan going after the little red and white thing. "This an exit? Or deeper into the cave?" Kyle pushes through.
"It better be the exit. Let's see what's on the other side. Maybe these creatures are trying to lead us out." Stan sees light ahead and smoke pouring out of an upcoming area.
Kyle pushes through the smoke to find himself entering a large baseball field. He can see little ugly gremlins in little red and white baseball uniforms scurrying around hitting baseballs over a fence. The big screens are projecting the worst moments of either Stan or Kyle's lives. The crowd of gremlins cheers as more baseballs go over the fence. In the front row of the crowd are Elise and Bradley tied up and gagged. One gremlin holding Elise's crossbow on them if they dare move. "The….fuck?" Kyle yells out.
"Aw-awww! What the hell are those things?" Stan grumbles as he takes a step forward.
"I don't know but they seem to think our pain is funny and we have to save our friends!" Kyle says as he steps onto the field brandishing his staff.
Up on the screen is showing Stan passed out among veal calves and Kyle trying to shake him awake.
"Aww man, not that again. I was doing a good thing!" Stan grumbles as he looks for a way in. "Think Elf Doctor King, what can we do to save Fair Lady Elise and Jester Bradley?"
"We….play ball?" Kyle goes up to the closet gremlin and whacks him with his staff.
Stan grins darkly as his sword glows. "They want to mess with us, we hit them where it hurts." He smacks another little group of baseball gremlins and sends them flying.
"You little fucks laugh at the worst parts of our lives? We hope this day plays in your head over and over. Fire!" Kyle's aims his staff to shoot fireballs over at a group of gremlins. "We're coming for you guys!" Kyle yells at Bradley and Elise.
Stan charges as a gremlin runs towards him. He strikes it with the sword and it stuns the creature before it explodes. "Take that you little fuck!" You taking pleasure in our pain? Take that! And that!"
"Ice!" Kyle yells out as he freezes over the stands. He climbs over the fence and starts to untie Elise. "You guys okay?"
Elise nods as she's freed. She kicks the frozen gremlin over the fence as she grabs her crossbow. The little fucker shatters in a million pieces.
Kyle unties Bradley as quickly as he can. "Here's your hat, dude." He shoves the glowing hat into the jester's hands,
Bradley is shaking but gets his hat with trembling fingers. "Thank you guys. We don't know what happened. They came out of nowhere and took us away."
Stan sees his sword glow even brighter now. He puts a hand to his chest, gritting his teeth. "Guys can you take care of the rest of the gremlins up here?" He asks Elise and Bradley.
Elise nods and starts to shoot. Kyle hops off the stands and whacks a few gremlins who explode before he catches up to Stan. "You okay, dude?"
Stan closes his eyes for a moment. "I just feel my heart beating really fast. It's weird. It's normal but it's kind of not."
Kyle pulls Stan to the side out of the way of the battle field he puts the shield up and puts his elf ear to Stan's chest. "Your heart is going very fast right now. Dangerously fast. I wonder if they're doing the procedure on you where they're shocking it down to a slow rhythm. Just stay still." Kyle hugs Stan as he listens.
"It's not like before. I don't feel sick from this but it just feels different and I don't know if that's a good thing or not." Stan feels a sense of dread that things were about to get worse for him and he wouldn't be able to continue their journey.
Kyle feels his own staff pulling him. He grabs it and holds it over Stan. "Heal." He says almost on reflex as a shock goes through Stan's body and his heart rate slows. "You're feeling better?" He asks, as he grips his shoulders.
"A little yeah." Stan smiles as he breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you. You're a good doctor, Elf King."
"I think my ears are stethoscopes. If only I could keep these. That new spell will come in handy." Kyle pulls away and looks out onto the field. "Just a few left. Ready to lead us, Sir Stan?"
"Yes, I'm ready dude, let's go." Stan gets up off the ground to survey the damage as the cave is littered with baseballs and passed out little gremlins. "Damn, I hope we don't run into anything as crazy as that. That was rough." A door to the exit of the baseball field opens up. "Oh I think that's outside. I see the moonlight."
Kyle slung an arm around Stan's shoulder as they walked out of the gremlin baseball field among exploded gremlin corpses to reach outside, Bradley and Elise following. "We're here for each other. No more secrets. Promise?" Kyle asks.
"Promise." Stan says as they finally exit.