Crash.

Riley shot out of his chair.

'What the hell was that.'

A window popped up.

"Quest received: Home Defense."

"Quest Details: Defend your family and your home."

"Quest Rewards: 300 exp."

Immediately after, he heard the loud, shrieking scream of his mother.

"AAHHH! Get out of my house! I'm calling the police!"

Riley had all the information he needed to know. There was at least one unknown intruder — likely more — in the house, and his mom was in danger.

'If anyone hurts my mom there'll be hell to pay.'

He grabbed his baseball bat and unhinged his window. He looked down at the one storey of distance separating him and the cold, hard floor. He had always wanted to try making that jump, but had been afraid of hurting himself. Plus, he had had no reason to actually attempt it other than dumb, childish rashness.

Riley took a deep breath. He wasn't worried about hurting himself; he could not afford to. The only thing he was worried about was making too much noise on impact. He aimed for the grass-covered backlawn, and jumped.

Rustle.

'No noise. Perfect.'

Riley straightened up. He had to hurry; time was of the essence.

Glancing through the kitchen window, there was no one to be seen.

'They must be near the front of the house. If I run around the side, I bet I can get the jump on them.'

Hurriedly, but still taking care not to make too much noise, Riley made his way around the house. Whoever it was, they didn't seem to have stationed any guards outside — he soon managed to reach the front porch uncontested.

He made his way to the front door. Peering in, he saw a scene that made his blood boil.

His mom, sitting on a couch, whimpering. Her clothes were ragged and bloody, the result of multiple cuts and physical altercations. Two thugs were standing around, keeping an eye on her. They were both armed with a dagger.

Riley saw red. He didn't know who these people were, but they would pay dearly for treating his mother like that. He sprinted in.

Before the thug closest to him could even react, Riley had struck him with

, in the head, with his baseball bat. As the body crumpled onto the floor, Riley moved on to the second.

By this time, the second thug had noticed him, and was charging at him with the knife. Aiming for his hands, Riley batted. The swing struck the thug square in the hand, causing the knife to fly away and embed itself into a nearby wall.

"Wait! Sto-"

Without giving him a chance to finish, Riley brought his bat down on the thug's head. With a sickening "crack", the thug's eyes rolled backwards and he crumpled onto the floor. With both men neutralized, Riley rushed over to his mom.

"Mom! Are you okay?"

His mom grabbed his arms.

"Listen to me, Riley. There are three more. They went upstairs looking for you. They knew who you were."

Riley's eyes widened.

"We need to get out of here Riley. We need to call the poli-"

Her eyes rolled upwards as her body went limp.

"No! Mom!"

He felt her pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Phew, just knocked out.’

He laid her down on the couch.

'Now time to find out who these guys are, and why they're looking for me.’

[Sense Danger] buzzed in his head.

'I guess that means they're coming down the stairs. Considering there's three of them, I should fight them on the stairs. They won't be able to flank around me that way.'

Before rushing to the stairs, he slipped one of the fallen knives into his pocket. Just as he made it to the bottom of the stairs, a familiar face stepped off. Without even thinking, Riley swung his bat, striking the man in the face.

As the man toppled to the ground, Riley recognized him.

'That's one of the guys who tried to mug me in the alley! These god damn punks must be here for revenge.'

As he was thinking to himself, two more people stepped off the stairs, one of them with a cast on his left arm. Riley's heart dropped to his stomach. He was holding a revolver in his right hand. Riley counted six chambers.

"Well well well. Look what we have here. The little shit stain of a turd that broke my arm."

"You guys tried to mug me. You would've done a lot worse to me if I had let you." Riley retorted, keeping one eye on the gun and another on the other thug, who was wielding a dagger like the others.

Bang.

Smoke poured out of the gun barrel as the thug fired a shot into the ceiling.

"You don't seem to understand who's in charge here, brat. I could end your life in an instant."

'One shot. Five more to go.'

Riley's eyes narrowed.

"What do you guys want from me?", he asked.

"What I want", said the thug, "is for you to put down that fuckin' bat of yours, and get your hands up so that my friend over here can slice you up like filleted beef."

"Fine."

Riley slowly placed his bat on the floor. He had a plan, but everything hinged on the thug's desire for revenge. If he was right, the thug wasn't going to shoot him unless absolutely necessary.

"There. It's on the floor. Now your friend shanks me, right?"

Broken Arm smirked. "Yes. And don't be trying no funny business. This puppy right here will light you up if you even think about it." He gestured to his gun.

"I wouldn't dare."

The other thug slowly advanced on him, clearly wary of him. Definitely a wise move, considering Riley had already beaten him once before.

Just before the thug got into range, Riley activated , and quickly dodged to the left. As he had hoped, the maneuver placed Dagger Thug neatly between him and Broken Arm.

'Perfect.'

Grabbing the thug's dagger-arm, he twisted with all his might, causing the dagger to fall onto the floor.

Bang Bang.

The sound of two gunshots rang out. Both struck Dagger Thug in the back. Propping his body up to use as a shield, Riley reached into his pocket and pulled out the dagger he had slipped inside earlier.

'I only have one shot at this. Please work.'

Gripping the blade of the knife between his thumb and index finger, he threw it with all his might at Broken Arm.

Bang Bang.

Two more shots rang out. Again, both were blocked by the now-limp body of Dagger Thug. Peering out, Riley could see that the dagger had embedded itself in Broken Arm's left foot.

'God damn it.'

"Man, why won't you fucking DIE already. You're like a fuckin' cockroach, you know that?

Riley smiled.

"Hey, it's not my fault you're a terrible shot. Maybe you should try using both hands? Oh, wait."

Enraged, Broken Arm took aim.

"Both hands this, asshole. There's only so many times you can luck out."

[Sense Danger] buzzed. Before Broken Arm had even pulled the trigger, Riley could feel his body moving out of instinct.

Bang.

Riley winced in pain. The bullet had grazed the side of his head. [Dodge Step] had saved his life.

Tchk tchk tchk.

"Son of a BITCH."

Broken Arm threw the spent gun on the ground in frustration. Pulling out a knife with his good arm, he charged. Riley tutted.

"Now you're just desperate."

Pushing Dagger Thug's body aside, Riley tripped Broken Arm with a . Walking towards Broken Arm, he kicked the knife away. Riley straddled him. He pulled an arm back, fist ready.

"Clench your teeth."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of police sirens filled the air. Riley looked up. After dealing with the thugs, he had called emergency services and requested an ambulance for his mom. Naturally, after he had described everything that had happened, the dispatcher would've sent police to investigate the situation.

Three uniformed officers walked in through the front door, guns ready.

"Hands in the air!"

Riley had been doing his best to stem his mother's bleeding with towels. He stood up, hands stretched upwards. One of the officers proceeded to handcuff him while the other two swept the house.

"Is that your mother?"

Riley nodded.

"Don't worry son. The ambulance is on the way. She's going to be ok."

"I hope so."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley spent the next hour answering questions for the police at the hospital while waiting for news about his mother, who was in the ER.

"Okay, that about wraps things up. Thanks for your time."

Riley nodded at the officer. Giving Riley a smile, he patted him on the shoulder and walked away. Since he had time, he decided to check the after-battle log. He had been too busy tending to his mother earlier to remember.

He had gained a total of 500 experience, bringing his level up to 8. Additionally, quite a few of his skills levelled up from the battle. levelled to 5, and [Dodge Step], , and all levelled to 2.

As he was doing this, a nurse exited the ER.

"Mr. Petesgeralt?"

Riley stood up and rushed over to the nurse.

"How is she? Is she going to be okay?"

"Don't worry, she's going to be just fine. She just needs to spend a few more days in the hospital."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patch 10.0

- Regular weekly update

Name: Riley Petesgeralt

Age: 16

Job: The Roleplayer

Class: Vigilante

Level: 8 (+3)

HP: 250

MP: 220

EXP: 9/200

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 23

Vitality: 25

Intelligence: 29

Wisdom: 22

Charisma: 26

Luck: 20

Skills:

Roleplayer’s Mind

Virtual Body

Analyze (Level 5) (+1)

Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Level 4)

Physical Endurance (Level 1)

The Cinderella Effect (Level 1)

Dodge Step (Level 2) (+1)

Counter Flip (Level 1)

Leg Sweep (Level 2) (+1)

Power Punch (Level 2)

Extreme Agility (Level 2) (+1)

Sense Danger (Level 2)

Trash Talk (Level 1)

Power Swing (Level 3)

Quick Draw (Level 1)