Thrash Force
- Fictional Hangover
- 2 minutes ago
- 14 min read
Thrash Force by Raj Sidhu
Seventh grader Riley Singh did not know that today, trimester report card day, was going to be so terrible. Yeah, he knew that his report card was going to be bad, but he didn't know it was going to be this bad. He knew he should have been studying instead of playing on his phone so much, or goofing around with his friends, or smarting off to his teachers (to be fair though, Mr. Johnson, his homeroom teacher, kind of deserved it). The A- in technology is great, the B- in art is fine, the Cs in history and English… not the worst, the D in science, that's bad, and so is the F in pre-algebra. Luckily he's got that A in technology which allows him to forge a new report card to show his parents who will ship him off to boarding school in India if he doesn't get good grades. Sure, forging doesn't actually fix anything, he's still failing, but his parents won't know yet. Next trimester will be better. Unfortunately, report card day is about to get a whole lot worse.
On his way to the library to meet up with his friends Simon, Georgie and Jasper, Riley remembers back in third grade when Simon taught them how to play Dungeon Brawl. Obviously it's the best thing in the world since they've been meeting every week since then to play. Just before seventh grade started, Riley's paladin, Fenomanel, defeated the Shadowlord with the help of his tough friend Georgie’s orcish barbarian Duma and Georgie’s little brother Jasper's golden retriever called Jasper. Today’s round is going to change everything.
They share food left over from lunch, gross, and explain their new characters before Simon reveals the big bad for this session. Jasper has created Jasper the tiny green heavy metal goblin bard, Georgie has a blue moon-elf shape-shifter, and Riley has a red demonic infernal sorcerer, but he forgot to list all his starter spells because he got distracted by watching anime. Oh well, he’ll figure it out, just like he'll figure out his grades and a way to not get shipped off to India. Characters declared, Simon introduces the big bad in the land of Mordrea, Doomface the Necromancer, which cracks everyone up. Unfortunately they don't realize that there are two people listening in on their game. The first is Magnus Belfry who absolutely hates Riley and the second is Doomface the Psycho Necromancer.
Doomface the Necromancer is bored. He's conquered every hero in every realm and now he sits listlessly on his throne of skulls, longing for a new hero to defeat. Molt, his tiny assistant, suggests he go outside for a walk and stop staring at the Mirror of Alternate Realities where Doomface has just seen mere children mocking his name. Instead, Doomface decides to use his great and terrible magic to transform the children into the warriors they are describing and then fight them. Yes, it's a brilliant plan! (Insert maniacal laugh here.)
Magnus meanwhile plots destroying the library and blaming it on Riley and his friends. He's the assistant to the assistant principal, so he can do whatever he wants and dreams of being back in the Salem witch trial days and lying about everyone he hates being witches. He's obviously terrible. After a brief pause where Riley learns that report cards have also been mailed home, yikes, the friends continue setting up their Dungeon Brawl game, Simon narrating as a minotaur. Magnus then throws Riley's burrito and spills soda all over the table and then starts recording them. That's when the giant green evil doorway appears and the tentacles come out. Magnus bonks into a bookshelf and passes out while Riley, Simon, Georgie and Jasper are dragged through the doorway by the tentacles.
The friends wake up in a mysterious new place and discover that they have each become their Dungeon Brawl characters! They must be in Mordrea. They are then greeted by Doomface the Necromancer who immediately turns Georgie into a pile of worms and back and then threatens to kill all of them, but they're way too weak to be entertaining. Doomface tells them he will leave them alone until they are strong enough for a fun fight and directs them to find him in his castle when they are ready, then he transforms into a dragon and flies off. Magnus meanwhile has also been transformed into a tiny, weaselly rat creature called a skweel and wants to join forces with Doomface, so he listens in on the group's plans as they try to figure out what in the heckin’ heck they're going to do.
Their plans of figuring out what the heckin’ heck to do are cut short by a Knightmare who has just been powered up by the flying-away dragon Doomface. They each use their powers on the rusty but strong knight, Georgie turning into a wolf, Jasper shredding ice magic from his cherry red axe, Riley creating a rune magic fireball, and finally Simon, who is the storyteller and not a fighter, charging in and smashing the Knightmare’s helmet with his hammer.
After this fight, everyone feels pumped up except for Riley who realizes that they're all probably going to die here and that he needs to be home by 8:00 to stop his parents from seeing his report card. It is at this point, thanks to Georgie's watch and all their pre-algebra skills that they actually have if only they were tested on them practically, that they realize time moves 100 times more slowly here, which means Riley has about 16 days to defeat Doomface and make it home. They look around and find the twinkling lights of a village nearby, so they head that way. Maybe there will be a magical weapon that will help them, or better yet, a kooky wizard who can send them home.
They trek through the Mordrea wilderness, getting attacked by squirrels until they finally decide they need to make camp and rest. All through their walk, Riley worries about being sent to India because he's not a good smart kid anymore like he was when he was younger. They all complain about being exhausted and not having any energy and it's all because of the mechanics of the game. They need to rest and level up. Riley takes first watch as they lay around a campfire and asks the stars for help.
And they answer. Or no, that's not the stars, it's an infernal speaking to Riley from the fire. This infernal is King Barbarus of the Sixth Realm and he offers to help Riley and his friends get back home if only Riley will collect a bluddrokk from the village that they're heading toward. He also says he will destroy Doomface, which is definitely a good thing. Riley assumes that Barbarus actually wants his soul, but he assures him that he only wants the bluddrokk. He gives Riley an amulet to wear that will help him locate the bluddrokk, which seems like a bad idea.
The next morning, Riley and his friends wake up. They were definitely not dreaming and are definitely still in Mordrea. Riley doesn't mention his meeting with Barbarus or the amulet he was given or the fact that he has to find the bluddrokk and they tromp off toward the village of Grimsburg. When they arrive hours later, they find the village looking very deserted. They come across a tavern and, absolutely starving, they head inside. Unfortunately head inside is exactly what they find. Heads, or actually skulls, are flying around everywhere!
The friends manage to defeat all the skulls and are raucously applauded by the townsfolk, who celebrate them with piles and piles of delicious food. They then tell them horrible tales of woe involving corpses of the long dead tormenting them for years and years and ask the friends to save their town. Riley asks if there is a wizard who could aid them, still hoping for someone to magic them home, and they learn about the statue of a wizard called Taudlin, who, if you tickle just right, might grant you a wish. That doesn't seem to be working for the townsfolk, so thinking they'll be able to level up, score some gold, and maybe find the bluddrokk, they agree to help. When asked what the traveling group of heroes is called, Jasper wails on his guitar and names their group Thrash Force.
Doomface meanwhile is watching the exploits of the Thrash Force unfold on his Mirror of Alternate Realities while eating lots of snacks. His binge watching is interrupted just as Riley is talking to Barbarus, and when the mirror works again, the group is sleeping soundly. He continues watching and sees them in Grimsburg but then his binge watching is interrupted again by Molt carrying a skweel in a cage. It seems that Magnus has made it to Doomface. Magnus tells Doomface that he hates Riley and his friends and then tells him all about the bluddrokk and Barbarus. Doomface wants to attack immediately, but Molt reminds his master that the leaders of the realms do not fight each other outright but use pawns to fight instead. Doomface, thinking this is his own idea, uses Magnus as his pawn but transforms him into something other than a skweel.
The celebratory feast finally winds down and Thrash Force, with lots of villager quests lined up, heads to rooms above the tavern to rest. Riley enjoys a nice hot bath, practices his other lesser magics (telekinesis and illusion in addition to his fire) and then snuggles into bed. Unfortunately Barbarus appears in his fireplace, telling him he's pleased with his obviously devious plans to go on quests for the townsfolk in order to find the bluddrokk. Riley's not sure how he feels about that.
After a very dreadful attempt at defeating a poltergeist that led to lots of property destruction, Thrash Force realizes they have no idea what they're doing. Simon begins teaching them the intricacies of Dungeon Brawl, which to Riley, feels more like studying. They take on lots of small quests barely worth any experience points in which Riley looks for the bluddrokk and doesn't really help at all, though it is pleasing to Barbarus who checks in nightly. Finally, they take on a quest to find a missing cat who is actually trapped by a monster made of the bones of the owner's former pets. The deth-rattler knocks out all of Riley's friends and he actually has to think about what he's doing and how to use his magic to successfully defeat the creature, and he does! Turns out, actually trying makes a difference, and it makes him feel good about himself, too.
This surge in self-confidence makes Riley wonder if they shouldn't just stay in Mordrea a little longer. If he is able to level up, really, if that's a thing here, he could learn teleportation spells and send them home any time he wanted! The friends take a day off from questing and shop for new armor and accessories and food, which boosts Riley's confidence even more, especially when a cute golden-haired elven girl Myra gives him a necklace of flowers. Riley has had a bit of a crush on this girl since their first win and the celebration in the tavern. Throughout this amazing day, Riley has noticed that Simon might be keeping secrets, but hey, Riley's got a few secrets of his own, so surely everything will be fine.
Everything is not fine. When an elf from a town 50 miles away comes into the tavern, seeking Thrash Force’s help with a Night Witch called Hagatha, Simon crashes everyone's excitement when he tells his friends that they are not high enough leveled to fight the witch because they haven't been leveling up at all. He's been trying to figure out why and has come up with nothing other than the fact that the rules of Dungeon Brawl don't actually seem to apply here and that fighting monsters and taking on quests isn't actually doing anything.
Riley is crushed by this revelation. He was finally feeling some self-confidence, finally feeling like he was making a difference, but all that hard work was for nothing. He thought he could save the town and maybe even save Mordrea, but no. He leaves the tavern and uses the amulet to start looking for the bluddrokk again, hoping that ignoring Barbarus for the past several days wouldn't matter if he found the stone. His friends come out looking for him and as they approach the fountain and statue of Taudlin the wizard, a little old man appears.
The little old man, who they've seen before around the statue, is of course Taudlin himself. He tells them the story of his success many years ago, how he was a middling and not evil necromancer who used his powers to heal instead of summoning armies of the dead to smite his enemies. One day, a giant appeared and Taudlin tried to fight him, but then a meteor crashed from the sky, defeating the giant. Taudlin received the credit for summoning the meteor and stories about him grew and grew. He knew they weren't true though.
Taudlin searched the crater and discovered the meteor was a bluddrokk, the heart of a god, and learned that it amplified the powers of whoever touched it, making them a god. Eventually, in weakness, he touched the stone and accidentally used his new and immense power to raise all the corpses surrounding the village and they've been attacking ever since. Now that Thrash Force has destroyed most of the evil in town, Taudlin wants them to destroy the bluddrokk, too. Everyone agrees, even Riley who was meant to be finding the stone for Barbarus the entire time. He knows he can't give Barbarus the power of a god, but what if… what if he uses the power for himself? He could save the entirety of Mordrea and send his friends back home!
To find the bluddrokk, they have to tickle the statue of Taudlin, of course, but they have to tickle his funny bone, his humerus. Doing so opens a secret tunnel in the fountain full of booby traps but they eventually make it safely through and find a door that conceals the stone. Taudlin tells Riley to say a spell and the door magically opens, revealing the skeleton of the giant that Taudlin supposedly slew all those years ago. It's supposed to protect the stone and be friendly with Taudlin, but it is not friendly with Thrash Force at all.
Georgie transforms into a falcon instead of her usual wolf form and attacks the giant’s eye while Jasper plays electric melodies on his guitar, Simon enters his bloodlust mode, and Riley attacks with fire. Unfortunately they just make the giant angry, but at least Simon is able to knock a hole in the giant's middle. Inside, Riley sees the bluddrokk pulsing like a heart. He uses his lesser illusion magic to transform himself into Taudlin, so the giant stops fighting. Riley then uses lesser telekinesis to pull the bluddrokk out of the giant’s chest. He looks to his master and asks if he can finally sleep now. Yes, giant, you can.
As they celebrate retrieving the bluddrokk, it whispers to Riley to use it to save his friends. He asks Taudlin how to do that instead of saying the magic words to destroy it, and he says he supposes you just have to believe in it, but really, shouldn't they be destroying it instead? Before either of those things can happen, Barbarus rises, laughing, from the corpse of the giant.
Everyone is shocked by Barbarus’s appearance, and even more shocked that Riley has been working for him the entire time, even if it was just to help them get home. Now, Riley realizes that he's only ever wanted to take the easy way out. He faked a report card instead of telling his parents the truth. He tried to find the bluddrokk so Barbarus would take them home instead of really trying to help everyone in town and level up enough to defeat Doomface. He still kind of wants to give the bluddrokk to Barbarus so he will defeat Doomface instead. Luckily Georgie steals the bluddrokk and says the magic words to destroy it, but unluckily nothing happens and Riley lesser telekinesises it right back. Barbarus knows that deep down, Riley just wants to do the right thing and save his friends, but what is the right thing?
At that moment, Georgie hears screaming from the townsfolk outside of the cavern and rushes out to help them, followed by Simon and Jasper. Eventually, Riley goes, too, after telling Barbarus that he can never have the stone. When Riley makes it out, he finds the village in a shambles and his friends, old and new, being held captive by minions of Doomface. And then Magnus Belfry shows his face. Magnus clearly hates Riley and his friends and uses his powerful magic gifted to him by Doomface to torture them and set the town on fire, Thrash Force unable to do anything to help. And then, to make things worse, Barnabus rises from the flames of the tavern.
Riley, looking around at all the destruction, finally knows what to do. He uses the bluddrokk! Power erupts around Riley and transforms him into a huge, terrifying infernal with giant leathery wings and massive horns. He holds the stone above his head and, instead of using a crazy powerful spell that he now knows because the bluddrokk gave him all the knowledge an infernal can have, he uses his original lesser fireball to destroy the stone. It's still more powerful than it would have been if he hadn't transformed, but he refuses to be like Taudlin and let his magic get out of control. The stone breaks into four pieces and falls to the ground, and so does Riley.
When Riley wakes, only a few seconds later, things are still bad. Barbarus is furious but Riley banishes him, unfortunately making a new enemy for life. Magnus then attacks Riley over and over again with lightning magic, furious that Riley destroyed the stone, ruining his chances of giving it to Doomface and becoming his second in command. Riley tries to plead with Magnus, asking him to join Thrash Force instead and help them defeat Doomface, but Magnus gets even angrier. Now Riley wants to be friends? After years and years of Magnus trying to join their friend group and them laughing at him and bullying him? No way.
Magnus attacks even harder, so Riley tries to get him to leave the town and his friends alone and only fight him instead, but that just makes things worse. When Magnus attacks the little old man with the missing cat, Riley uses the last of his fire magic to save him, but, miraculously, that last bit of effort must have earned him and his friends enough experience points to finally reach level two. All of their powers restored and even more added, Thrash Force breaks free from their captives and fights back, Riley shooting a lightning bolt at Magnus. Shockingly, this seems to cause him to disintegrate! Riley rushes over, begging Magnus to not be dead, and instead finds that he has become a skweel who scuttles away.
Doomface meanwhile, watching from his Mirror of Alternate Realities, is enjoying himself immensely. Even though Molt tries to warn him about the kids doubling their power in just two weeks and that they'll be coming for him eventually, Doomface just laughs and laughs. He has enjoyed the antics of these transformed humans, watching them bicker with each other and absolutely decimate the ridiculous skweel boy. He was getting so bored with the mundanities of Mordrea and these kids gave him exactly what he wanted, more or less.
Back in Grimsburg, Riley and his friends look around at the destruction, but realize that the townsfolk aren't upset at all. Instead, they are ecstatic! Their village is saved! The friends talk about what happened and why they only just now leveled up, and Riley finally confesses everything. Not only was he terrified of being shipped off to boarding school for failing algebra, he was afraid of failing at life in general and losing his friends and just decided not to tell them anything important because if he did, it would make everything real. He didn't tell them about Barbarus for that reason, and he also didn't tell them that he was only halfway doing any of the quests so he could try to find the bluddrokk, meaning they weren't actually gaining many experience points at all for any of their quests. Luckily Riley's friends are his friends not because of how smart he is, but because they actually like him, which is a great feeling to have.
It's then, just as everyone thinks everything is wrapping up, that Doomface appears. He tells Thrash Force that they gave him the fight he was looking for even if he wasn't involved and that he keeps his promises. He then creates a door for them back to their own world. Before they leave, Riley makes a deal with the Psycho Necromancer that they'll come back once a week to fight more minions for his enjoyment, and maybe one day, they'll give him the fight he so desperately wants.
Back in the real world, only a few hours have passed, just like they thought. Riley rushes home and tells his parents about his failing grades and how he wants to do better and of course they don't ship him off to boarding school. Riley buckles down in his school work and asks for help from his teachers and for extra credit and really does try to study more. Asking for help is hard, but he feels much better about himself and is much more confident. Now, on Saturday in the library, after studying of course, Riley and Thrash Force open the door to Mordrea for another adventure, and ask Magnus, if he's there lurking, to join them if he wants to.
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