After School Confrontation

John knew what was coming, so he bode his time. He sat in the locker room, and while his classmates were getting ready and leaving, he thought about his options.

His proximity sense did help him a lot during PE, but he noticed that, even though he was precisely informed, the amount of information confused him most of the time and scared him to find out how many times he was about to be attacked. What John didn’t know was that the intent of movement from his opponents did not exactly mean that they were really going to attack him. He failed to notice it and, due to this, he felt that he was constantly under attack whenever someone was close to him. He was just not used to it; for him, it felt like he just discovered a new sensory system a few hours ago. As a matter of fact, it was exactly like that.

John noticed he was the last one left in the locker room, so he decided to change his clothes and get this over with. He had no other option; by now, the only exit available to him was the one where he knew the jocks would be waiting for him. As he walked outside, he cursed his bad luck for the good weather they were having that day.

The jocks didn’t even bother to hide and surprise him with an attack; they had the superior numbers on their side. Great, seven against one. And every single one of them looks quite pissed. He sighed, I just hope that they stop beating me up before I reach 0 HP. Or, at best, I can talk my way out of this. No teacher in sight too. Fuck, I forgot, they are having a staff meeting today. John made a bet to himself that Coach Conroy was going to keep that meeting running for as long as possible.

The main jock noticed John exiting the building and walking towards them and warned the others he was coming, not that John had anywhere else to go to. Frank had made sure of that; he wasn’t quite smart in school work, but when it came to setting up an ambush, he did quite well, especially when the numbers were on his side. John stopped walking so that he could maintain a small distance to them.

“So, Newman, you think it was funny showing yourself off at the expense of Martin.” Frank positioned himself in front of John with Martin by his side: the rest of the jocks had spread out setting up a perimeter around the three the moment Frank spoke. Martin, of course, was the jock John stole the ball from. “I believe you owe him an apology.”

“Ok, Frank, if you insist. I am sorry, Martin,” John said, but he was not sorry at all, Martin was a prick, he wasn’t at the level that Frank was, but a prick, nonetheless. It was a required trait to become one of Frank’s friends. That’s why stealing the ball from him and actually scoring felt that much sweeter for the gamer in John. Although, it looked like things were going to turn into something quite sour.

“That’s not good enough. Words alone will not let you get away that easily. You are a cheat! You were only able to take the ball because Martin got distracted by the coach,” Frank said; in his opinion John had been a nuisance all day. His patience had finally run out. “All day, I’ve been amiably warning you about your unacceptable behavior, and that’s how you repay me, by humiliating my friend?”

“Look, Frank, I don’t know what to say. Martin, I really am sorry. I was playing to my best, it took the best of my efforts to take that ball from you. I already started to make my move when the teacher gave the warning,” John tried to defend himself not actually believing his words would have any effect and save him from the beating.

Predictably, neither Frank nor Martin showed any sign that John’s words had any positive effect on them. They were not strong enough to go through their thick skulls. “Still not good enough, dweeb, you’ve been warned already today. Twice!” Frank said angrily. “And at least once for the past few years.” With that last remark he gave an evil smirk.

“So, the seven of you will beat a lesson into me?” John still tried to use words; this time he chose them very carefully; anyone smart enough could interpret what he said as if he was calling them a coward.

“No, just me and Martin. The others are here to stop you from running away and to stop any outside interference. And the coach guaranteed to us that no teacher would interfere for at least the next ten minutes. That is more than enough time.” Frank cracked his knuckles.

Yeap, I knew it. Talk about a biased teacher. John looked around, and there was indeed no place he could run to. Reentry to the school building had already been blocked by one of the perimeter jocks. Well, it seems that the talking stage is over.

The duo decided to get things started and walked straight towards him. John tried to assess his current situation before they got too close. No place to go, no teacher to save me, nor any friends. I don’t have enough strength to beat these two and, even if I did, the other five would help them and the numbers would be too great for me to have any chance. My proximity sense and dodge are only defensive skills. Humm, there is always the tray that I have inside my inventory... If things get too crazy, I might have to-

John didn’t get to finish his thoughts. Proximity sense already showed him the incoming attack from Frank, which John dodged just in time. Unfortunately for him, the athlete in Frank quickly reacted and gave him a follow up punch to the face.

-5 HP

John fell to the floor by the **** of the punch. He didn’t get knocked out, but it hurt like hell while the feeling lasted. He quickly moved away from Frank as to not present an easy target for him while he was still on the floor. Luckily for John the duo chose to take things slow, since they believed they had perfect control of the situation. Wow, that hurt like a bitch. Thanks to gamer’s body, the pain wore off quicker than usual. It’s a pity that I can’t tell him his punch is weaker than a girl. I am not crazy enough to enrage him further.

In Frank’s mind, this was a moment worth savoring: although John managed to dodge the first blow, the counter punch hit home right on his face and his reaction while trying to get away from the bully was just priceless. The one thing that disappointed him was that the red mark on John’s face had already faded.

After John stood up, Frank continued his attack; this time he aimed towards John’s chest region. Sensing the incoming attack, John moved his arm to block the hit. The block was effective, but it didn’t prevent him from losing 3 HP. Too inexperienced in fighting, John got distracted by the amount of HP he lost and didn’t notice Frank’s next attack.

Frank quickly moved behind John and immobilized him. The jock encircled both John’s arms from under his armpits and secured the hold behind his neck. Frank expertly put the gamer in a nelson hold giving Martin an easy, defenseless target.

John struggled while Frank held him. Martin didn’t hesitate and took full advantage of the opportunity presented to him. He first punched John in the gut taking away 7 HP and then on the head taking another 6 HP. Feeling John’s leg weakening, Frank let go of John, allowing him to drop to the floor; the effects of the hits had taken their toll on the nerd.

His health was now dangerously low; it ticked down to 4 HP. Even with Gamer’s Body, he felt the effects of the hits to his body while it lasted; the last one left his ears ringing for a few seconds. Noticing that the jocks were nowhere near to finish this fight, John had decided to use the tray as a last defensive resort. He had no other options, even though he in fact was quite sure the jocks would end up using the tray against him. Before he could take the tray from his inventory, John thought he heard some buzzing over his head. So this is what a concussion is like, I am hearing things.

Suddenly, a quadcopter drone appeared out of nowhere and it started hovering over the fight. It seemed to have a camera and it was pointed towards the fight. “Who the hell is flying this drone?” Frank said as he made a grab for John once again and looked around to see if he could spot someone with a remote controller.

A speaker system from somewhere on the drone turned on. “What do we have here? Looks like Frank and his goons are beating another student.” It hovered dangerously close to the main jock’s head. Letting go of John, Frank tried to hit it as if he was trying to swat a fly. The drone re-positioned itself at a safe height and spoke once again. “Do you like my camera, Franky? It is capable of recording extremely high-quality images and videos; if I wanted to, I could count the number of lice on your head. Right now, I am registering this whole fight and am ready to transmit it to every teacher’s phone. So, would you be so kind and do me a favor, get the fuck away from John.”

“Those are pretty big words for someone hiding behind a drone. Come out here and face me, you coward. Get out of your hiding place.” Frank angrier by the second kept looking around in search for who was piloting the drone.

“Really, Frank? You’re beating up John with Martin, while your other goons are preventing anyone from helping him, and I am the coward? Since you’re so against cowardice, why don’t I even things up?” A low buzzing noise started emanating from the drone growing louder by the second, and in the same way the drone first appeared, a swarm of what John believed to be bees came flying. Once it reached the drone, it split up into smaller swarms, one for each of the perimeter jocks.

Each swarm buzzed towards its jock and started attacking him. Their targets ducked and tried to swat them, but being overwhelmed, they fled left and right still being pursued by their respective swarm. The other students watching the scene were openly laughing at the jocks. Not one of them missed a chance to register the event with their phones.

The, now once again, lonely drone stayed in place during the swarm attack. Once all the perimeter jocks were nowhere to be seen, it finally made a move, but towards John. It stopped at his chest level and said. “This won’t hurt a bit.” Suddenly, it shot John twice with two red darts.

+50 HP
+16 HP

“What the hell was that?” John exclaimed; he thought he was dead the moment the darts hit him, but what he felt was far different from it. It actually healed him to full health.

The drone didn’t answer him; it then turned towards the two remaining jocks. “You should leave now, Frank, before the bees return.”

“This isn’t over, dweeb, not by a long shot. And your little friend that is flying this drone will answer for this too.” Frank had looked at his watch and saw that his allotted time had ended. He hastily left, being followed by Martin.

Seeing that the jocks were really gone, the drone turned to John, made a movement as if it was taking a bow and also took its leave. John quickly lost sight of it and was saddened for not being able to follow it to its controller and thank whoever it was.

Achievement Unlocked - Bullying Survival
Manage to survive a what could have been a deadly confrontation.
Reward:
+150 exp
+1 Str
+1 Agi
+1 End

Feeling fine, thanks to being healed, John decided to head towards his house. He felt quite astonished by what had just happened. Still he wondered: