Leopold The Brave (Unfinished)

CHAPTER 1: Meet Lucas and Leopold/.
Leopold the Brave. A ninja-knight type guy or something like that. He is the greatest warrior in all the land, and nothing can get in his way. Adored by all, envied by many, and has a charming smile. Leopold will rid the world of evil because he is the greatest! Oh wait, you think that's me? Well, no. Leopold is this character I created for fun. You see, I'm what most would call a nerd. I enjoy video games, I'd rather watch cartoons than play football, and I get bullied a lot. I used to role play all the time with my friends back in Georgia, but ever since I moved to Wisconsin, there's been no other role players in sight. No foes for Leopold to battle, no allies for him to recruit. Oh well, I'm sure someone will show up eventually with a cool character of their own. Oh how silly, I nearly forgot to introduce myself. My name is Lucas Forman. I'm 16, I have thick glasses, and blonde hair that goes down to my shoulders. My mom wants to cut my hair, but I like to keep it because it covers the zits on my forehead, and I'm sure nobody would want to see that. So why would you care to hear my story? Well you'll find out soon enough.

It all started 3 months ago, In May to be more specific. I had just started going to the school in Wisconsin. I was actually treated nicely for the first few days. Girls said hi when I'd walk by in the halls. People actually sat next to me in lunch. Even the teachers were pretty nice. It was going loads better than I thought it would. I stress out easily, so you can imagine how nervous I was. So everything was fine, until I made the dumb decision to put a picture of my character, Leopold the Brave up on the inside of my locker. People began noticing it and things began to get a little rough. Kids giggling and pointing, jocks calling me nerd and/or geek behind my back. Immature teens blowing spitballs at me in class, and oh boy the tripping. It seemed like everyday someone was thrusting their foot out in front of me, in hopes of me dropping my papers so they could laugh at more of my "nerdy drawings".

At least the teachers were still friendly. I still couldn't put 2 and 2 together on why I was getting picked on all of a sudden. I don't understand why they hate the drawing. Leopold is pretty cool. I came up with his design myself. He has spiky blonde hair his head with two big bangs sticking up the front of his head. He wears cool glasses with orange lenses on his forehead. He wears a dark blue scarf that covers his mouth. He is protected with strong gold and silver armor and he wields two long swords. Sounds pretty sweet doesn't it? Anyways, one day the bullies took it a bit too far, when the lead bully, also known as Gregory, hung my up the flag pole by my underwear. It was humiliating, kids laughing, calling me names, and throwing things at me. What's even worse is that something got caught and I was stuck up there. The school had to call the fire department to get me down. My underwear was stuck there for good though, as the Firemen had to pull me out of my underwear to get me down. The whole school saw my naked behind. It was honestly the most embarrassing moment of my entire life. A fun fact, my underwear still hangs on the flag pole to this very day, just waving in the wind.

Ever since that day, the teasing has been getting worse and worse. That is until moments ago. You see I was fed up with the bullying. I had trashed my room in anger and depression. I crumpled up a drawing of Leopold and threw it against the wall. I couldn't do that to the greatest warrior ever though. I quickly picked it up and unrolled it. I stared at the drawing and sighed. I walked over to my window, looking up at the stars above, just wishing for things to get better. My mom told me it was time for bed. Even though I felt a bit too old for cheesy emotional conversations, I was happy when my mom came to my room and cheered me up about my bully problem. Even though I was still a little upset, I wasn't upset enough to miss out on sleep. I laid in bed imagining all sorts of cool adventures until I eventually dozed off. I awoke to a loud roar and a cheering crowd. I was in shock, I looked down at my arms, gold and silver armor. I noticed a dark blue scarf around my neck. Then I realized I wasn't even in bed anymore. I could hardly speak, I was on top of a dragon who had been killed. By the way that the crowd was cheering, I could tell that I had to have been the one to kill the beast.

CHAPTER 2: The Adventure has only begun.
I tried to convince myself it was just a dream. Because of the way I was dressed, and the way people were cheering, could only mean that I was my character Leopold. I have had dreams like this before, but this felt real, like insanely real. So here I am now, being carried by adoring fans. Even though it felt real, I decided to play along because I just know this is a dream. There's no possible way this could ever be real. I got even more convinced that this was all fake when I arrived at the village with the cheering crowd. It seemed that we were in the Renaissance Period, but nobody was acting like it. There were guys in torn up clothes saying stuff like "Dude" or "Awesome". Stuff you'd hear kids say today. Or at least what they used to say until they moved on to this "Yolo" and "Swag" garbage. I think I like it here though, there's good food that the villagers rewarded me with, good music, and kind people. Okay well the music isn't all great, It's just some guy playing the flute to entertain people, But hey, at least it's better than that Canadian pop singer who treats his fans like garbage and still gets respect somehow. Enough with trying to force in jokes though, I began to ignore the fact that this was a dream and began having the time of my life.

Then as usual, all good things have to come to an end eventually. You see, I was trying to entertain the king with some good conversation when he invited me for dinner. He was impressed with my nonexistent dragon slaying skills and wanted to make me one of his knights. Leopold the Brave may be a ninja-KNIGHT thing like I said before, But he's more of a ninja in the aspect of working for people, as in... he doesn't. I refused the offer, telling the king that Leopold- uh, I mean, I don't work for people. "I'll pay you handsomely dear boy, if you would complete the task of slaying every last fire breathing beast" he requested. I declined again because this was still a dream so it's not like this money is going to carry over intro real life anyways. The king was furious and called his guards. "If I can't have you as my knight, nobody can!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The king sent the guards after me. but of course since Leopold is a ninja, I leaped out of the window and began climbing down the castle wall. This is where things get ugly. One of the guards shot an arrow from his bow. It was headed right for me. I was lucky enough to get out of the way, unfortunately, I wasn't completely out of the way. The arrow had cut me on my arm that wasn't covered by armor. It hurt like the dickens. As I was running, I looked down at my arm to see how bad it was, and boy is was a deep cut. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, due to the blinding pain on my arm. So naturally, being the clumsy nerd that I am, I trip over a rock, sending me flying down a steep hill. I hit my head pretty hard so I was knocked out cold.

I began to wake up in a bad mood knowing that my adventure was over. When my eyes finally adjusted I could hardly believe it. I was in my bedroom, but everything looked like it did in my dream. The computer and pencils on my desk were replaced with papers and quill pens. My bed sheets were filthy rags, the only thing that seemed unchanged was me. I still had my normal clothes on, and I didn't have any weird medieval clothes. I slowly walked down the wooden stairs of my house. I expected my mom to be there. Instead I found my dad. I haven't seen my dad in years. When I was about 10 he left my mom and I and never came back. He was dressed in an old wizards robe, so I figured I was still dreaming. I noticed a paper sticking out of his pocket. I took it out when he wasn't looking and it was a drawing of his character, William the Wise. My dad was the one who introduced me to role playing because he and his college buddies used to do it all the time. I began to think about all the things left unchanged. Like me, and our drawings of our characters. It again felt way too real to be a dream, but this time I didn't convince myself I was dreaming because I had already woken up.

I was pretty nervous to talk to my dad after all these years and ask him why he left. I decided to just go outside because maybe something emotionally like family junk probably isn't appropriate when you're trying to figure out where the heck you are. There were no cars or kids riding on skateboards. People were either walking to where they needed to go, or on horses. I was exploring the village when suddenly, I noticed a familiar face. There was an adorable imp, about 3 feet tall walking to the market place. That imp could be none other than one of my role playing friends from back in Georgia. I ran over to her and sure enough, I was right. It was my friend Megan. Her character, the imp, is named Lisa. She turned around and noticed me staring at her. "Lucas?" She said in surprise. We ran towards each other and hugged. "So why aren't you Leopold?" she questioned. "I have no clue, I just got here and-" I replied but was interrupted by Lisa. "Come on we need to get you some fancy medieval duds" she giggled as she dragged me to her house.

When we got there I met up with my two other friends, Markus and Jaren. Markus' character is a plump pig with a bow and arrow. The name of his character is Mud. He knows it isn't very creative, but he is just determined to keep that name for some reason. As for Jaren, his character is a dwarf with the power of invisibility. The name of his character is Chunk. So while Lisa sewed me a cool costume, we all caught up with each other and talked about how life was going. According to them, life back in their school is going great. They actually had a pretty good idea though, they said one Halloween, they all dressed up as their role play characters, and everyone was interested in the cool costumes. Now everyone at their school is role playing. Maybe I should try that whenever I wake up, or go home, or something that has to do with me getting the heck out of here. Wait a minute, my friends have been here for who knows how long. Maybe they know where we are and what's going on. Why haven't I asked them yet? Silly me.

CHAPTER 3: That Explains Everything.
So now that I've finally gotten some common sense, I asked about this place. Lisa replied saying that this was some sort of state of mind that all serious role players have. Apparently role players who can prove how dedicated they are to their characters are able to enter this world whenever they want. "No really what's going on?" I replied thinking that they were joking. Lisa chuckled and told me it was the truth as she finished sewing the dark blue scarf. I was so confused. It had to be some kind of trick but this isn't a dream, everything is all medieval, and my friends wouldn't lie to me at all, so anything could happen. Suddenly, I remembered my dad, if all this was real, that means that was really my dad I saw earlier. "I'll be right back!" I shouted as I bolted out the door and ran back to my house. My friends were confused, but they shrugged it off and got right back to whatever it is they were doing.

As I was running I could tell that maybe what my friends said was actually true. The villagers seemed to have their own unique looks. Some were in bright green rags, others wore dark purple cloaks, and some were elves, gnomes, or other creatures. But how did I get here? How did I prove that I was dedicated enough to my character? I finally arrived back at my house. As I looked around the house, I thought how great it was to finally have both of my parents again. My mom in real life, and my dad in this fantasy world. I finally found him in the kitchen and began catching up with him. First I told him that I knew about how I got here, but I told him that I still didn't know how I proved I was dedicated enough. He told me that because I held onto Leopold even after the move, the bullies, and the torment, I proved I was good enough to make it here. I was just shocked that he knew about all that, until he reminded me that he was William the Wise who apparently knows all.

So now that I finally have an explanation for where I am, and why I'm here, I needed to ask why he left my mom. He better have a good reason too. He was an awesome dad, I still couldn't believe he just disappeared. I sat waiting for an answer until he finally let out a sigh and told me. He said he loved this place too much and he never wants to leave. Was that a good enough reason? Absolutely not, did he honestly love this place more than his own family. I was furious and I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I stormed up to my room in anger as I began looking for a way back. I opened a drawer and found some sort of spell book. In the book, there was a spell on how to get in and out of this world. It's good to know that I can come back, but for now I just need to get back to reality. So I did as the book said, I poured a circle of salt around me and shouted the word "home" as loud as I could three times. I felt light headed, but when I finally snapped out of it, I was back in my bed. I checked the calendar to see how long I was gone, but it seemed like no time at all. It was only the morning after I had that dream.

I headed off to school, but I brought the salt shaker with me just in case I wanted to go back into the fantasy world. I was telling people at school all about what happened last night. That was a bad idea though, they didn't believe me, and one of the big stupid jocks stuffed me in a trash can. Luckily I was able to wiggle out easily since I'm so scrawny. I knew I was going to want to go back to the fantasy word while I was at school, but it's not even half way through the day. I asked for a bathroom pass and was headed off to the bathroom. I closed myself in a stall and poured salt around me. I shouted the word "fantasy" as loud as I could 3 times. I got light headed again and found myself back into the fantasy world when I snapped out of it. This fantasy world isn't half bad though. It's actually been kind of fun so far. I even met up with my old friends, which I thought was going to be impossible. Now I can see why dad wanted to stay here forever. But then I began to think. If no time went by at all while I was here, then how could my dad be gone for years while he is here? Great, now I'm mad again. I headed back to my house in anger with even more questions for my dad.

Well this is perfect, now I feel bad for getting mad at him again. So apparently what happened to my dad is he was cursed by an evil wizard. So now he can't leave this world. So if he's an actual part of this world now as a character instead of a role player, it's possible for him to die here. That must be why he stays in the village away from danger, so he won't get killed. I apologized and went back to Lisa's house to talk to her about it. I told her why I left yesterday and didn't come back, and about how my dad is stuck here. Then Mud interrupted with some shocking news. He said they were cursed by the same wizard too. I was worried and scared for my friends but they all seemed to not mind at all. Mud just gobbled down a plate of potatoes, Chunk fell asleep, and Lisa just handed me the finished costume. I started asking them questions too. The more they told about this evil wizard guy, the angrier I got at him, whoever he is.

I got up and told my friends I was going to avenge them. Lisa stopped me and told me I couldn't go dressed like this. "Fine" I groaned as I put on the costume she made. I did like the costume though. Back at my old school she'd do stuff like this all the time. I guess she just thought of me as a really close friend. "Wow, great job on this costume" I complimented, making her blush. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she had a crush on me. But there was no time to lose, I decided to run upstairs and do a flip out of the window since I was Leopold the Brave after all. I could do some cool ninja moves. But I really should not have done that. I barely did a flip and I landed flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me. I caught my breath and got up. "Well that went horribly" I chuckled as I walked back inside. According to Chunk, I look like Leopold, but I have to learn how to be him too. So that means I have to show some similarities that my character, Leopold and I both share before I can get all his cool ninja abilities. Which is going to be hard because Leopold isn't a lose like me, but I'll give it a try.

CHAPTER 4: Let the training begin.
Maybe I'm good at slicing things. I got a sword from the medieval weapons room at my house and asked Chunk and Mud to throw fruit at me so I could slice them in half. Apples and orange began to fly as they pelted me with all kinds of fruits. They even hit me with fruit that I didn't know existed. It was obvious that slicing isn't something Leopold and I had in common because I spent the next hour pulling grapes out of my underwear. I learned that flipping wasn't my forte either. I began to think about what else I could do. When suddenly I remembered that Leopold is also like a knight, so maybe if I could get the king to make me one of knights that would help! I began to sing as I skipped to the castle. I don't care what any of you say, singing and skipping is not girly. Skipping is way faster than walking and it doesn't tire you out like running. Plus I'm like the star of music class at school.

I arrived at the castle only to be blocked by the guards. I tried asking to see the king but of course they declined. They looked pretty dub so I got an idea. I got the bathroom pass out from my pocket from when I asked the teacher if I could use the bathroom earlier. I showed it to the guards and told them I needed to use the bathroom in their castle. You wouldn't believe me if I told you that worked, but it sure did. It took me quite some time, but I finally found the throne room. Apparently the king was in a very bad mood, because I walked in during a punishment for his servants. I nervously approached him after the servant left, and asked him if I could be one of his knights and slay dragons and stuff. He stared at me with confusion for a few seconds, then exploded into laughter. He laughed so hard that he fell out of his throne, and his eyes were watering. Instead of knighting me, he said I could be his entertainer. Leopold may be a great singer, but he takes orders from nobody. Wait a minute, Leopold is a great singer! I'm a great singer! I just need to perform a song for the king.

I asked the king if I could put on a show in the center of the village, and he allowed it. Boy am I lucky that I put him in a good mood. I used the salt and shouted again to return home. When I returned I was back in the bathroom at my school. No time had passed at all, so I continued the school day normally until I got to music class. Luckily music class was at the end of the day so the teacher left when we were done instead of waiting for the next class since there is no next class. I puled a bunch of instruments together and poured salt all round them. I sat on a drum stool next to a drum set while holding a guitar and a microphone, with a bass guitar in my lap. Before I left, I called my mom. I wanted to call her one last time just in case that stupid wizard that cursed my friends and dad got me too. I told her all about the fantasy world and she got so upset. She cried about how dad always talked about that "stupid" place and how she thought he was insane. I tried convincing her it was real. She didn't want me to disappear like my dad did, but I told her about how dad was here with me and so were my friends. I told her about this wizard guy, but she still wouldn't listen.

I told her goodbye one last time. She began crying and telling me not to go, but I had to help my friends out. I hung up and left back for the fantasy world. I was kind of upset about the mom thing, but I tried my best to shrug it off as I went to Lisa's house, hauling the music equipment in a wooden wagon. When I arrived, Lisa, Chunk, and Mud all ran out in excitement. Music class is where we all met and bonded. Our first song we played at the talent show at school is where we really became best friends. All we had to do was stare at the instruments to know that we were going to play that exact same song. I told them about how singing could definitely help me become Leopold, and how the king approved of us performing. We practiced the rest of that night, but we still got our full eight hours of sleep when we fell asleep at five in the morning and didn't wake up until one in the afternoon. We only had thirty minutes until we were supposed to perform, so I quickly got dressed and rushed over to Lisa's house. I had to wake all of them up as we rushed to the center of the village. I realized that we didn't have any electricity here for the amp or microphones. Chunk had it covered though. He pulled out a dwarf hammer, similar to that of Thor's, and slammed it on the ground creating electricity throughout the ground where we were playing.

Lisa was on guitar, Chunk was on bass, Mud was on drums, and I was singing. We performed our favorite song, "Dream On" by the greatest band ever, Aerosmith! I closed my eyes and sang from my heart. I was just happy to finally be performing with my friend again, even if I didn't turn into Leopold, this would still be worth it. We drew a crowd pretty quickly. The king was there to begin with. Everyone started lighting torches and waving them in the air. We got near the end of the song, "Dream On, Dream On, Dream On!" I sang as a golden aura began to surround me. I screamed as I flashed and transformed into Leopold finally. Lisa, Chunk, and Mud all looked in surprise but continued to play as I continued to sing. We finished the song with a huge applaud from the crowd of villagers. I didn't want to anger the king like I did in my dream so I accepted his offer for me to be his entertainer. I was so excited, now I not only had the costume, but the hair and body type too. I ran around doing flips and jumping off buildings to show off. Lisa clapped for some reason, but I didn't mind one bit. Chunk and Mud glared at her suspiciously with a suspecting grin on their faces. I guess they also think she has a crush on me.

Now that I've achieved my goal by becoming Leopold, It was time to go get that wizard. But for some reason now Lisa, Chunk, and Mud were begging me not go. They didn't believe I could do it. They were fine with it earlier, how come all of a sudden they're trying to convince me to stay. They apparently didn't believe I could do it. They must've only supported me before because they probably thought I wasn't good enough to become Leopold. Oh well, I shouldn't assume things even though this does annoy me quite a bit. They did invite me on some quests though as training for my new ninja abilities. But that did actually sound pretty fun. I went back to the house with my friends to pick out a weapon. I asked them to throw fruit at me like before. I didn't miss a single fruit. We all got ready to go find the quest master. According to my friends, the quest master is a little insane. But come one, how bad could he be?

TO BE CONTINUED
(Please leave feedback, this is the first story I've taken seriously.)