xChapter 18 - Not Your Average Situation

In the streets of Starlight City, the nightlife is a bit more peaceful than usual as people walk down the streets after a busy day at work. Most are heading home or going out to eat. Some shops begin to close down for the day but one shop still remains open. That shop is a bakery. And it's that very same bakery where we find Alex Smith, just a few moments later, running out of there carrying a box that contains a cake.

As Alex runs down the street with the cake, the streets begin to just get a little bit more crowded than usual as he has to weave his way through the crowd while making sure the cake isn't damaged.

"Shit I'm gonna be late!" Alex thinks to himself as he makes his way through the crowd, "and how the hell did I get myself into this situation."

SEVEN HOURS EARLIER...

In a classroom at Starlight High, The Miracle Clinic is there discussing some next steps to do for the club.

"So it's already October and we haven't really been doing any miracles for a solid week," Ronnie begins to say, "any ideas?"

"Maybe we could help X complete a test on time," Marcus suggests.

"Too unrealistic," Elizabeth retorts before adding, "It'll be much easier if we decided to maybe help renovate the cafeteria."

As the club continues to come up with ideas, Alex notices that Mr. Amnestor, who is sitting by his desk, is looking a bit concerned.

"Hey what's got you twisted like that?" Alex asks.

"Oh. nothing much, it's just some people who were supposed to help with the carnival tonight had to cancel," Mr. Amnestor states.

"The carnival?"

"Oh you didn't know," Mr. Amnestor, "around the start of October every year, we hold a fundraiser in the gym where we just hold a carnival filled with different games students can go to."

"Sounds like fun, maybe we should help you out!" Ronnie states.

"I don't know, it sounds kind of last minute-" Alex begins to say.

A FEW HOURS LATER...

Alex is sitting on a chair in the gym and putting air into some balloons as everyone around him sets things up for the carnival. Ronnie is sitting in a dunk tank, Elizabeth is sweeping the floor, and Marcus is helping Mr. Amnestor & Ms. Zesti Champion place a bunch of desserts on a table.

"Alright that's all of them," Miss Champion says as she looks at all of the desserts, "you just need to hand me the starfruit upside-down cake and we're all set."

Marcus looks around and sees no starfruit upside-down cake.

"Uh, I don't think we have one," Marcus says.

"...we don't?"

"Nope."

"This isn't a joke?"

"No, I'm being totally honest."

"Okay give me one second," Miss Champion says as she walks towards where the 'bobbing for apples' station is and submerges her head under the water so she can scream. After 10 seconds of that, she stands back up and walks over to Mr. Amnestor & Marcus.

"Don't worry Champion," Amnestor says, "I can just order one from the bakery and all of this will be fixed."

"Is the cake that important?" Marcus asks.

Miss Champion turns to Marcus and begins to say "kid, each carnival we have an event called the cakewalk where we hand out cakes and other desserts as prizes, and that cake is the one everyone wants to win. Without it, our whole fundraiser is ruined!"

"Well, what if someone goes and gets it!" Marcus asks.

"Yeah but everyone's too busy preparing the area," Amnestor states.

"Not everyone," Marcus says.

As he says that he as well as Ronnie & Elizabeth look over at Alex.

"Do I have to?" Alex begins to ask.

AN HOUR LATER

Alex is trying to make his way through the crowd of people as he makes sure the cake doesn't fall.

"Of course, I never get a say about if I wanted to do this or not," Alex thinks to himself as he spots an empty yet dark and disgusting alleyway up ahead.

Not having any faster option, Alex breaks from the crowd and enters the alleyway, much to the delight of three people following him. As Alex walks down the alleyway as he then takes a small peek inside the box at the cake. Luckily, there's no damage to it. However, right when Alex closes the box he hears someone.

"HEY!" a person says behind him.

Alex glances behind him to see a pair of three teens all dressed in black leather jackets over white shirts, blue jeans, sleeveless gloves, and black boots.

"Uh...I'm busy," Alex says as he doesn't want to damage the cake in a fight.

"Oh that's cool we're only going to take three minutes of your time," one of the thugs says.

"That's nice but-"

"You wanna know why?" The second thug asks "it's because we can beat anyone up in just three minutes!"

"Allow us to let you know who we are, we're The Three Ts!" the third thug says.

Alex chuckles at the comment at the end.

"You makin' fun of us?" the first thug says, "us, the Three Ts! The most frightening trio in this city!"

"No I just think you guys are cringy as hell," Alex says, "besides I have no idea who the hell you guys are."

"My name's Tim!" The first thug says.

"And I'm Tom," The second thug says.

"And I'm the head of the gang, Tim-Tom," the third thug says.

Alex begins to laugh out loud, which causes Tim & Tom to get enraged, however, Tim-Tom stops them.

"Hey don't worry, he'll take us seriously when I show him this," Tim-Tom begins to say as he reaches into his pocket.

"Show me what?" Alex says while trying to stifle his laughter.

Luckily for Alex, he manages to stop laughing. However, that's because Tim-Tom took a gun out of his pocket.

"Yeah we aren't so funny now are we Alex!" Tim The First Thug says.

"Alex? You know my name?!" Alex asks.

"Of course we do," Tom The Second Thug says, "for some reason we got paid by a huge chunk of your math class for us to kick your ass."

Alex reflects back on all the possible reasons why this would possibly happen and remembers that he used to beat up most of his class for money.

"Look, can you beat me up some other time," Alex asks, "I'm kind of busy right now."

"Yeah and we're busy too," Tim-Tom The Third Thug begins to say, "Those classmates really fucking hate you, like you'd be surprised how much they paid us just to kick your ass because it was a lot. But if we don't do it tonight then there goes our money. So just let us do this, please?"

Alex stares down the gun Tim-Tom is holding and notices that it looks somewhat funny. As Alex squints to try and see why he realizes that the gun is just a water gun, and he wasn't able to tell due to how dark it is in the alleyway. With this knowledge, Alex quickly books it down the alleyway as The Three Ts begin to chase him down.

"AFTER THAT GUY!" Tim-Tom yells.

As Alex is running, he's making sure not to drop the cake he is holding.

See You Next Chapter!~