Chapter 3

Kevin hurriedly ran back over to Peach Creek, where the crew was waiting around. "Hey, guys! Come 'ere, quick!" he yelled.

"What is it, Kevin?" Nazz asked.

"Take a look at this!" he said, raising the golden scepter in the air. The sunlight gleamed off of the ruby encrusted tip.

"Whoa…" The gang all said in awe.

Eddy came running over to Kevin, "Aw, man, Kevin! Have I ever told you how cool you are?" Eddy rubbed his hands, thinking of the money that the scepter could rake in.

"Rolf is indeed impressed with the shiny stick, Kevin!" Rolf added in.

"Beautiful…" Nazz said in a low whisper.

Double D stopped studying the bottle of "Peach Fuzz" to see what all the commotion was about. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Hey, Double D, take a look!" Kevin showed him the scepter.

"Whereupon did you happen to find this?" Double D asked.

"I found it." Kevin replied with a toothy grin.

Double D raised an eyebrow at Kevin, "You didn't steal this, did you, Kevin?"

The others looked at Kevin, curiously.

"No, of course not, ah ha hah!" I'm not some thief!" Kevin nervously replied.

"Well, whatever," Eddy cut the silence, making Kevin sigh in relief, "Hey Double D? Can you see if this thing is real?"

Eddy asked. Kevin handed Double D the scepter. "Sure thing, Eddy. I'll be right back." Double D ran back to his "lab", which was actually an abandoned, dilapidated shack where he did his studies.

"Man, Kevin. I gotta say I'm jealous! Seriously! You must have the devil's luck or something to find a scepter lying around." Eddy said, patting Kevin on the back. "But what kinda noble loses something like that? It must've been a really big idiot to misplace something like that."

Kevin laughed, "Y…yeah, a really big idiot it must've been."

Meanwhile, Ed went to the town square, where just an hour ago the Peach Creek gang were attempting to sell their drinks. "Uh, excuse me, mister?" Ed asked a passing villager.

"Yes, what is it?" the man asked, looking at Ed. "Good god, kid? What the hell happened to you? Did'ya get mugged? I bet it was one o' them no good kid gangs. Probably the Peach Creek Gang or them Apple Grove Boys. Good fer nothin' punks."

"Peach Creek Gang?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, the Peach Creek Gang, headed up by this lil' short fella. Bout this high." The man raised his hand up to Ed's chest. "Yeah, him, and then there's this other wierd kid who wears a sock. N' there was this red-head kid too…" the man rambled on.

"Red-head?" Ed perked up. That might have been the kid he saw that snatched the scepter. "Where is he?"

"Oh, I dunno. Little bastards're all over the place. Don't trust em'. They sold some crap to this little girl that ended up makin' her sick. Poor thing. Those punks are gonna get what's comin' to em'." Ed tuned out the man, staring off into the sky. "Hey kid. KID!" The man yelled, drawing Ed back to attention. "Matter o' fact, ask the family of that lil' girl, Alice. They might know somethin'. They live about two houses down that way." The man pointed west. "Look for the name, Grants on the sign outside their house."

Ed thanked the man, and went on about his way. He found the house, reading the sign that sure enough, read 'GRANTS.' Ed knocked on the door three times. A woman, maybe in her late twenties to early thirties answered. "Yes, what is it? How can I help you?" she asked.

Ed explained to her about the stolen scepter, and asked her if she knew anything about the Peach Creek Gang.

"The Peach Creek Gang? Yes, I know of those hoodlums! They poisoned my daughter!" the woman yelled. "They beat you up too, didn't they? Kids these days…" she looked at the black eye and busted lip Ed had, which had really come from his sister punching him. The lump on his forehead had come from the rock that hit him. "I know they hang out somewhere near the creek on the outskirts of town." Ed thanked the woman and headed for the creek.

At the creek, Double D walked out of the little shack with a proud grin on his face. "Eddy, Kevin, Nazz, and Rolf, not only is this scepter real, but it's worth at least five thousand gold!"

At Double D's remark, the gang's eyes nearly popped out of their head.

"F-f-f-five thousand gold?!" Eddy stammered.

"Yes! We're freakin' rich!" Kevin said.

To everyone's surprise, Eddy and Kevin hugged each other, jumping up and down yelling, "We're rich! We're rich!" Eddy and Kevin stopped jumping, looked at each other, and pushed the other off, yelling at each other, "Aw man, get the hell off of me! The hell's wrong with you, man?!" They walked away from each other, making the others laugh.

"Hey!" Eddy said, "If this is worth as much as Double D said it is, then why don't we take our little treasure on down to Marco?" Marco was a famous jewelry collector who operated business in the Market District of town. Sometimes he'd pay a little extra gold depending on what his clients bought to him.

"Marco? Yeah, that's a great idea, Eddy, for once!" Kevin said. "Marco will definitely pay top gold for this here!"

"Ugh, Marco." Nazz said, disgusted. She agreed that Marco was a good businessman, but the man was a lecher. The last time they went to visit Marco, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Not to mention his persistence in acquiring her ring.

"Hey, Nazz. You don't have to go if you don't wanna." Kevin said. "Besides, we need a few people here to stand watch just in case those Apple Grove idiots come by." The Apple Grove Boys were the main rivals of the Peach Creek Gang, ever since Eddy's brother left them and formed the Peach Creek Gang. "I figure, me, Rolf, and Eddy head over to the market, while you two keep watch."

Double D was a bit nervous about this idea, for two reasons: One, he had an extreme lack of physical strength that was required to defend their territory. Two, the Apple Grove Boys could overwhelm him and Nazz in numbers. "Uh, Kevin, I dunno…" he spoke up.

"What's the matter, Double D? All those inventions you made, I'm sure one of them are useful in a fight." Kevin assured him.

"Kevin, I invent things to help people, not hurt them!" Double D protested.

"Don't worry so much, Double D!" Nazz said, "If they do come around, I'll give them two reasons to leave!" she said, raising her fists, punching Kevin on the arm.

"Ouch!" Kevin said, rubbing his arm. "You guys will be okay. So Rolf, Eddy, you ready to go?" he asked. Double D gulped nervously.

"Rolf is ready, Kevin!" Rolf said, standing alert.

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm the leader here, so I say when we go!" Eddy yelled.

Kevin rolled his eyes and asked, "So, Mr. Leader, are we ready to go?"

"Yeah, we're ready! Let's get this show on the road guys!" Eddy proclaimed, as he, Kevin, and Rolf made their way to the Market District. Unbeknownst to them, three boys were listening in on their conversation.

"So they're headed over to the market district?" one boy asked.

"You just heard them, Randy!" another boy said. "So what are we gonna do?"

"Mike, you head back. Tell the guys that Eddy, Rolf, and Kevin are headed over to the Market District. Randy, you'll help me deal with those two." The third boy said.

"Hey, Nate, the runt wearin' the sock is gonna be easy to deal with, but I'm not too keen on hittin' a girl, man!" Randy said.

"Don't worry about all that. Let me deal with that." Nate said, grinning.

As Mike left, and the other two were about to make their move, Ed was making his way towards the creek. "Hey, Nate. Who's that?" Randy asked.

"I dunno, man. Never seen him before… Let's stay here, and see what happens…"

Nazz was sleeping against a tree, while Double D was busily fumbling around with something in his lab shack. Ed approached the shack, and stepped on a twig, making Double D turn around, "Ah! Who are you?" he asked nervously, backing up. Reaching for a wrench, he held it up, "Go away! I have a wrench, and I know how to use it!" Double D warned. 'What was Nazz doing? Wait, what if he…?'

"What did you do to Nazz?" he asked, warily, tightening his grip on the wrench.

"What…?" Ed asked, confused. "Who?"

Double D narrowed his eyes, "The girl outside! What have you done with her, you… you ruffian?!"

Ed scratched his head, and shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't do anything! She's outside, sleeping." he said. He then gasped, "Maybe an evil sorcerer cast a spell on her, making her sleep forevermore until the kiss of a frog wakes her up from her dream!" Ed said. "We gotta do something!"

Double D looked at the boy, confused. "Excuse me, are you alright, by any chance?" he spoke up.

Ed snapped out of his fantasy, looking back at Ed. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You guys know anything about a scepter?" Ed asked.

Double D began to sweat, 'Oh no, he's the owner of that scepter? Uh oh…'

"About that…" Double D was interrupted by a yelp outside. "That sounded like Nazz!" he said, worried. As he and Ed ran outside, they saw Nazz with her hands tied up behind her back and Randy sitting on her. "Oh no, it's Nate and Randy!" Double D said, sweating.

"Who are they?" Ed asked.

"They're part of the Apple Grove Boys!" Double D explained.

"Hey, Double D, it appears you're in a bit of a pickle." Nate laughed. "Hey, big guy, I dunno who you are, but maybe the best thing you can do is run along now. We've got some business to handle." Nate and Randy grinned at Double D, whose knees were quivering.

'Oh no, I'm in trouble now.' The timid boy thought.