xChapter 29 - A Path Forward
At Starlight City Park, several young kids are running around having the time of their life in the playground, with several people sliding down slides, climbing the monkey bars, and swinging on the swing. However, the main concern for the parents watching the kids isn't if they're having fun or not but what a group of high schoolers is doing in the corner of the playground.
In the corner of the playground, Tim-Tom The Third Thug is sitting at the top of a geo dome climber with a very long stick as Tom The Second Thug, Tim The First Thug, Alex, Marcus, Elizabeth, & Ronnie sit below him on the woodchips.
"So quick question, why'd we go here?" Marcus asks.
"Oh because I'm better at explaining with pictures," Tim-Tom The Third Thug says.
"It's true, you should see some of his paintings," Tom The Second Thug admits.
Tim-Tom clears his throat before he draws several circles in the ground with the stick and then states, "All right this is just a guess but since there are so many people who are dealing with the overpriced pencils, it's clear that there are numerous different sellers. Which means this isn't just one person doing this but a whole organized effort."
"Like a black market?" Alex asks.
"Exactly," Tim-Tom replies before he begins to draw a big circle and begins to connect the tiny circles to the big one, "now that means that they need someone to organize the whole market and do so in a very efficient and easy way so all the sellers know what's going on."
"I should've done this instead of fighting for money," Alex thinks out loud, causing Elizabeth to elbow him.
"So what you're saying is if we find the ring leader, we'll bring an end to the black market?" Marcus asks.
"Exactly," Tim-Tom says.
"So we know how they operate but how is that going to help us?" Ronnie asks.
"I'm getting to that!" Tim-Tom snarls.
"Yeah, give my man some time!" Tim The First Thug defensively retorts.
Tim-Tom clears his throat he says, "Nowadays there are many ways to tell people information like by sending emails or making a group chat, but these kids are high schoolers and amateurs, so all we need to do is find just one of the sellers and we'll..."
Tim-Tom points his stick at a tiny circle and then follows the line connecting it to the big circle, he smiles as he finishes saying, "Be able to trace this back to its roots!"
As Tim-Tom finishes he looks to see every one, even his fellow Three Ts members, impressed at his explanation.
"Woah you guys really are experts of crime," Ronnie says.
"Why thank you," Tim-Tom begins to respond snarkily as he rubs his nose, "this is why everybody calls me The Golden Goose of Starlight City."
Everyone else there cringes at the name.
"Just... stop giving yourself these cringy titles," Tom The Second Thug begs.
As Tim-Tom sighs, Elizabeth recalls something, "Hey we just need one seller's phone right?"
"Uh, yeah," Tim-Tom responds.
"Well, I may have an idea of someone who we can talk to" Elizabeth responds.
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The next day, a young freshman by the name of Cameron Dots is walking to class in Starlight High. Cameron is a short kid with short dark brown hair, glasses, a white shirt under a blue flannel one, black pants, and red shoes. As the freshman is walking to class he notices his fellow classmate, Elizabeth Morre, also walking towards him.
"Oh hey, Elizabeth do you want a..." Cameron begins to say before noticing Ronnie, Alex, & Marcus are behind her. He finishes his sentence by awkwardly saying, "Pencil?"
"Well looks like we found our first seller," Ronnie says with a smirk.
"If y-you guys want I can get you a 4-pack," Cameron says.
"Listen shorty you can either do this the easy way or the hard way," Alex says while cracking his knuckles.
Cameron begins to sweat nervously as Alex glares at him, he then stomachs up the courage to ask, "You want a 16-pack?"
"No, we want this," Alex says as he manages to snatch Cameron's phone.
"H-hey, that's mine!" Cameron says.
"Don't worry, we're just trying to stop this whole black market thing," Ronnie says while Alex scrolls through Cameron's message app.
"Wait you are?" Cameron asks.
"Yeah, just don't tell the others," Elizabeth says.
"Why didn't you tell me beforehand!" Cameron asks with a smile on his face.
Elizabeth, Alex, Marcus, & Ronnie look confused as they stare at Cameron.
Cameron clarifies by explaining, "I'm sick of having to sell all these pencils but I don't have a real way out of it, all the money goes to the ring leader anyway."
"Well then if you show us the ring leader, we'll be able to stop this," Marcus explains.
"C-can you really do that?" Cameron asks.
"Of course, we can," Ronnie replies.
Cameron sighs before he extends his hand, "Alright, but you're going to have to give me my phone back."
Alex complies as he hands Cameron the phone back. Cameron goes to a different messaging app on his phone and opens up a group chat titled 'Pencil Dealings'. He hands the phone back to Alex.
"The last message is about a meeting all of us are going to have tonight, if you show up I'm sure you'll be able to put an end to this," Cameron responds.
Alex reads the message and agrees with what Cameron is saying. He gives the phone back to Cameron and then turns to the other members of The Miracle Clinic, "All right then, let's do this."
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That night at 7, several of the members of the pencil black market are gathered together at their hideout. Cameron Dots is in the crowd a bit nervous waiting to see if The Miracle Clinic shows up or not, however, his worries are put aside as the doors to the hideout swing open as Ronnie comes walking in with Elizabeth, Alex, & Marcus behind him.
"Y'know it's a bit fitting you guys would all be gathered here," Ronnie says as he walks into the center of Starlight High's gym, "It'll be much easier to keep track of the pencils if they never even leave the school."
Several of the sellers are confused as to why those four are there however Alex clears his throat as he states, "We're gonna need your ring leader to step out so we can crush your stupid market."
As the sellers begin to panic, they suddenly stop as they hear chuckling coming from the crowd. Two figures begin to make their way into the center of the gym.
"You're just four freshmen and you're trying to take us down?!" a man says as he exits the crowd and steps into the center, "You guys got guts, I'll give you that"
The man is the infamous sophomore, Crunch Backson, a man with fang-like teeth, long shaggy hair that's dyed green, white skin, a pretty muscular yet flexible body, a black tank top, blue shorts, red sleeveless gloves, and no shoes. Next to him is a fellow sophomore named Suzy Dark who has short black hair, heavy eyeliner, and an outfit that's all black.
"Hey Suzy, did that sound cool or what?" Crunch asks however Suzy just rolls her eyes.
"I literally don't care," Suzy responds unamused.
"Classic Suzy," Crunch laughs to himself before he looks at the miracle clinic, "So you guys want me to close this market down?"
"Uh...yes?" Ronnie asks confused.
"Yeah sure I can do that," Crunch responds as he yawns causing everyone there to be taken aback.
"REALLY?!" Ronnie asks confused.
"Oh yeah yeah, I was just doing this so I could get some extra spending money," Crunch explains while picking his ear, "but it is pretty fun to do all this. So while I can shut this down, I don't want to."
Ronnie rolls his eyes but Crunch clarifies his response, "But I'll give it all up on one condition. We play a game of 'Capture The Flag' with the entire school being available. Your group versus our market. If you win, we'll shut down business. But if we win..."
Crunch puts his finger on his neck and moves it in a slicing motion before saying, "Then your club has to disband."
Ronnie, Marcus, & Elizabeth are taken aback as to what they should do, however, Alex responds with an arrogant, "Yeah sure, we can do this easy peasy!"
"Is that so?" Crunch says with a smile growing on his face.
As reality sets in, Alex realizes he may have let his competitive side get the better of him.
See You Next Chapter!~