The End

Chapter 11: Not Him!

As the light of dawn weaved its way through the trees and bushes, the teens were already on the move. Kenny held Butters' gear as he walked next to the wounded boy. He would shudder occasionally, either from the pain in his wrist or the memory of the clawed creature that had caused it.

Kenny did his best to keep his mind off it, however. Crude jokes and silly innuendo flew from his mouth to no avail; poor Butters would humour him with a smile, but a vacant look would enter his eyes not long after. To Kenny though, the smile was something.

Red was being tended to by Wendy and Bebe, while her pack was relegated to being carried by Cartman. The tub of lard was none too pleased by this, but he kept his mouth shut.

While none could sleep that night, Stan asked a necessary question - who was supposed to be on guard? Butters, after much coaxing, told them he didn't really notice who was keeping watch when he went to the bathroom, but Kenny told them all it was Cartman.

Of course this lead to Eric shouting out it totally wasn't him, he was asleep at the time.

"I know." Kenny had shot back. "You were asleep, by the fire. Where the watcher needed to be to tend it. You fell asleep on duty!"

"N-nuh unh! I just shut my eyes 'cause the fire was too bright." The idiot replied.

"Too bright? The fire was supposed to be kept low so nothing saw it, dammit Cartman!" Stan shot out, mindful to keep his voice from reaching the loud level he wished it could, for fear of anything else that had seen the fire.

His piggy eyes went from one person to the other, looking for support, but found none. "D-didn't even wanna watch in the first place, Kenny made me..." He muttered to himself, heard by few. Kenny had, and guilt shot through him like an arrow to the chest.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Eric Cartman?" Stan asked, his voice hard as steel. Cartman merely mumbled something, but Stan would have none of it. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry, 'kay? Jeeze..."

"You nearly got all of us killed tonight. If it hadn't been for Butters, we would be." Stan put his hand on the blond's shoulder and squeezed, who blushed lightly and muttered something unintelligibly.

They discussed how the creature fought, how it had the hardened shell covering most of it, and how it took a huge deal of damage before succumbing to its injuries. It could even sense where there were after being blinded, a formidable foe. After discussing tactics, having a light breakfast and ensuring the wounded were all ready to travel, everyone set off towards the mountains once more.

At Stan's estimates, they should reach the mountains by mid-afternoon. After that was a large hike up and down, or through the smaller mountains until they reached the tallest, South Mountain.

Where hopefully the others from South Park were waiting...

"This is hopeless..." Clyde muttered as the kids from South Park continued to search for a way into the seemingly-impenetrable base of the South Mountain range.

"Shut up Clyde." Kyle replied. "We're here, and we all know there's a way into the caves. We aren't strong enough and we won't have enough food to make it up and down each mountain till we get to South Mountain. So shut up, and keep your eyes open."

"Why? He's right, it is freakin' hopeless. We're all going to die out here and there's nothing we can do. We might as well just sit here and die a comfortable, rested death." Craig said, setting his pack down and sliding down the trunk of a tree to rest at its base.

"No! We have to keep going! There is always hope as long as we're alive and we're together. We've done so much by sticking together - saved the town from Mecha Streisand, Gingers, our own Moms even!" Stan shouted. "Now get up Craig, we're going to find a way in soon, I'm sure."

"Pft, likely. I don't want to have anything to do with you guys anymore, all of that stuff was your faults to begin with." Craig replied, riling up the crowd.

Soon they were all arguing amongst each other, a cacophony of sound that was finally broken by the most unexpected and unwelcome sound.

"GWOAN!"

Everyone stopped dead, and Stan met eyes with Kyle, Eric and Kenny one after the other, fear filling him. "No..."

"GWOAN!"

"It... It can't be." Kyle said, "Can it?"

"GWOAN! I know you're out here MBP! Show yourself! GWOAN!"

Cartman hid his face in his chubby hands. "It is..."

"Its mother fucking Al Gore!" Kenny whispered loudly as the ex-vice president himself broke through a bush, swinging a medieval spear at it before tumbling backward and landing on his back in the middle of the kids.

"Oh! Hi boys. You should be careful. I've tracked Man Bear Pig to this area, he could be anywhere!" Al Gore clambered to his feet and turned around on the spot a few times, using the spear as a walking stick.

Stan sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Mr. Gore. What are you doing here? Its dangerous around here, there are Crab People all over."

"Haww that's what Man Bear Pig wants you to think! Come on kids, you are right on one thing – its not safe! Come on!" With that, Al Gore took off at a sprint, the pockets of his beige hunting vest jingling as he spun and danced confusedly around the trees and bushes.

The boys look at each other for a minute, "Do we… Do we follow him?"

"I dunno Kyle. I'd say what's the harm, but I think we all know good and well the harm that man is capable of… But we've got nowhere else to go for now so let's at least see what's up. Come on gang!" Stan led the kids, following the errant ex-politician through some dense underbrush, their previous argument put aside for now.

It took a good fifteen minutes, the kids having to help each other over and around fallen logs and thick brambles, before they were led to the opening in the face of one of the smaller mountains.

"How the hell did he do that all himself?" Kenny asked, winded from the rough terrain. He watched as Al Gore pushed forward into the mouth of the cave, and soon they all followed.

Stan rushed his group through the labyrinth of cave tunnels, scared they might lose the light of Al Gore's lantern and the glow-in-the-dark stickers stuck to his hat. They turned left, right, seemed to go back twice and even down a steep incline before finally ending up in a well-furnished room build into the root of this mountain.

"No way…" Kyle muttered, looking all around at the electricity-powered lights and monitors. There were couches, carpets, tables with chairs and surprisingly it made the boys really feel safe for the first time since this all began.

"Wow… Mr. Gore. What is all this?" Stan asked, putting his pack down next to the couch. Cartman immediately followed suit, putting the packs down and jumping onto the couch, moaning in pleasure, much to the disgust of those around him.

"Well you see boys, once MBP evaded me at the caves, I knew he'd likely return. He likes to revisit his past crimes, you see. So I knew that if I wanted to hunt him down and catch him, I'd need to have a base of operations out here. So I had this built. Now come on, we have to try and find where I went wrong this afternoon. Clearly you kids aren't MBP at all." Al Gore proceeded to sit at his computer screen and start typing.

Stan moved to stand behind him, sighing, "No, Mr. Gore. We're all exhausted, and Butters and Red are hurt. We just need-"

"Hurt!? My gosh, did you kids run into Man Bear Pig before I got there? Who's hurt, lemme see." Al Gore jumped out of the chair and grabbed a kit from under the table, running over to the couches where the rest of the kids were sitting.

Starting with Red, Al Gore examined her shoulder, touching it gingerly and rotating her arm. She winced, inciting a rage in Stan as he started toward them, but by the time he took two steps, the ex-vice president had declared it a slight bruise that would heal within a day and shot off toward Butters.

Kenny glared hatefully at the man who slowly and carefully undid the wrapping around the other blond's wrist. "Ishh this is bad, boys. Not an MPB bite but it could have been just as bad untreated. The bandaging was well done but it needs some medicine. Now don't worry, I got this."

Despite his bumbling and foolish attitude, Al Gore worked with great skill and care to clean, close and rebandage the claw slice around Butters' wrist. The boy shuddered, winced occasionally but sat there quiet the whole time, half leaning on Kenny. He watched the whole thing.

"T-thank you Mr. Al Gore sir. I-it feels l-loads better." Butters sniffled out once he was finished, having put a sling around his neck as the final touch to ensure the boy's swift recovery.

"Don't worry. I'm really good at fixing people up. Have to know these things when chasing Man Bear Pig." Al Gore nodded and got up, collecting all the stuff he had used and packing it back away into the kit.

"M-maybe… You could teach me a bit sometime?" Kenny looked at Butters, surprised to hear the meek boy ask for something so strongly.

"Why sure! I love to teach – can teach you kids to heal up wounds or defend yourselves! Can never be too prepared with MBP around…" Al Gore trailed off, returning to his computer and leaving the kids to their own devices.

Stan looked around at all of his oldest friends, meeting each of their tired eyes and nodding, "As much as we probably shouldn't, I think we need to stay here. At least for a day or two!" Stan raised his voice a few decibels, raising his hand as well to stop Cartman and Kenny's attempted protestation.

"I know, just as you do, just how risky that is. But at this point, the guy cannot be worse than running into a bunch of those crabs." Stan saw a collective shudder run through all twelve kids.

"Okay but as soon as we're ready, we head out. I heard this story too, what he did to you guys…" Craig said, this time clearly on the four boys' side.

The rest of the group sounded their agreement as Al Gore made his way back over to the sofa area.

"Well boys, we're outta luck. My MBP sensors are all outta whack. We won't be able to track him until I can fix it and it's getting late. Oh supper's ready by now too, so lets eat huh?" Half-crazed grin on his face, Al Gore turned and stalked off through one of the many doors littered around the room's walls.

The kids took a deep breath and they followed him, leaving the gear but taking their weapons with them. Can never be too careful when Al Gore is concerned…

But this time their fear was for naught – upon passing through the door, they found a large dinner hall with a huge, twenty seat table. White tablecloth, fine silver cutlery and china dishware covered it, and the kids watched with wide eyes as Al Gore appeared from a door at the back, having discarded his hunting gear for a chef's outfit, pulling a trolly filled with all sorts of delicious foods – slow cooked roast, stew, soup, rice, potatos!

The kids rushed over to help Al Gore set the food on the table, happily joining him for their first hot, home cooked meal since the invasion.

They talked nothing of the horrors they had faced since that day, instead they listened to Al Gore's tales of his MBP-searching exploits. Once the boys had let their guards down a bit and started believing he wouldn't trap them in this cave also, Stan and his friends warmed up a bit to the weird old man.

Once they had eaten their fill, they helped clean up the table despite Al Gore's protests and Cartman's muttered whining. Stan would never fully trust the guy, but he was determined to at least stay on his good side if he was feeding the kids.

"Well you kids look exhausted huh? Here, let's get you all into your rooms for the night." Al Gore sauntered off through another door from the main room. Inside was a hallway, each side with a door every few feet.

He went through the first one, showing the kids the two beds, night stand, desk and chair. "Each room is like this – I've got more than enough for you all to take your own room if you like. Or share. As you like. Bathrooms are the green doors in the middle of the hall, one on each side. G'nite boys!"

Al Gore smiled at them and left, returning to his computer as the kids grabbed their packs from the couches and picking rooms and/or roommates.

Cartman bunked alone, that was agreed upon by everyone. Kenny decided to stay with Butters, still clearly looking out for him after the attack. The girls each took a room alone, although Red assured Wendy, Stan and Craig separately that she'd be sure to get one of them if she started feeling worse. Craig and Clyde decided to be roommates, as did Token and Tweek. Stan and Kyle didn't even discuss the matter, they were sharing a room.

Butters fell asleep instantly, and Kenny stayed watching him for a while until he too fell asleep in his clothes. The rest of the kids decided to shower and change out of their grimy travel clothes.

Stan sat with the rest of the kids in the main room while Cartman and Wendy showered first, each in a separate bathroom of course! "Craig. About this afternoon.,,"

Craig sighed and shook his head, "Listen Stan, how long have we known each other? I've made it perfectly clear to you guys throughout the years that I'm your friend, we're all cool. Except when bullshit like this happens."

"Do you seriously think this was our fault, all this?" Kyle asked.

Craig sighed again, "I… Don't know. I didn't think we could blame a giant metal Barbara Steisand on you guys. I didn't think we could blame an uprising of soulless redheaded kids on you. Or an invasion of giant guinea pigs…" He said that last part with a very poignant glance to both boys as Red and Bebe went to take their showers.

Stan sighed and looked away, "Craig, that stuff…"

"We did that stuff."

"Kyle!" Stan shouted, confused at his best friend's admission.

"Stan, we kinda did. We didn't mean for it, we didn't plan for it and we weren't happy for it, but we were involved. Craig, we're sorry for everything that's happened, everything that's made your life hard. But the thing is, we DON'T intend for any of it, and we're always the ones working to fix it aren't we?"

When Craig didn't reply, Kyle looked to Stan with a small smile. Stan smiled back and nodded. "That's it Craig, we do create some problems, but we always do our best to fix them. We also work to fix problems that weren't created by us, like the War against Canada. Trust us when we say, we wish this wasn't happening. But you can also trust us when we say we're going to do whatever we can to get through this and maybe even fix it."

Craig just stared at Stan for a long while until he stood and went to get cleaned up alongside Token.

"I-I know you guys a-are good."

"Thanks Tweek." Kyle said.

"Yeah, don't let Craig bother you too much – some of that stuff was cool when we were kids! He's just got a stick up his butt." Clyde grinned.

"Heh thanks Clyde. We'll get through this, just gotta stick it out together." Stan smiled, proceeding to chit chat about a few of their more enjoyable childhood exploits with Clyde and Tweek before they too went to shower, leaving Stan alone with Kyle.

If he were less tired and able to be shy about his previously realized feelings toward his best friend, Kyle might not have leaned against Stan so easily. He might have even said something when Stan put his arm around his shoulder. But he didn't, and Stan was more than content at the show of affection from Kyle.

Neither boy spoke for the ten minutes or so it took for Clyde to come tell them it was their turn to shower, they just soaked up the support from the other they knew existed. Having been through so much, for so long, the two had a relationship that had attained the pinnacle of super best friend hood, and were able to take strength from the other, even when both were exhausted and half dead.

After showering and putting on a pair of sweats, the boys retired to their room. The only words spoken were a soft "G'nite Ky," followed quickly by "Night Stan." That night, they had the best night's sleep since before school started.