All three kids all reeled back in the direction of the voice.

Behind them, in the open area, three older boys ranging from 18 to 23 years old stood in the open area. All of them were much bigger than the three ninjas, so Rocky was taken aback.

The biggest one on the right was a gigantic black man, who wore a backwards trucker cap. He folded his large arms across his chest to match his even larger belly. He stood at about six foot and was fifty percent muscle, fifty percent pure fat weight. Rocky remembered this one as "Awesome" Dawson Smith. He and Colt once beat him up in elementary school for stealing people's bikes on the way to school.

The middle individual was leaner, and was wearing a baseball uniform. Colt had recognized him in an instant. Even though he had not seen him in years, he was sure that it was Darren. Darren had dropped out of school when he failed junior year for the fourth time, and now it looked like he was doing what he liked doing for extra money on the side.

Lastly, The one on the Left was tall and skinny, had blonde hair and large teeth that sat in an underbite. He seemed to be their leader, and had been the one that called out to them. Rocky felt that the boy, who looked to be a little older than him was familiar.

"That's right butthead, remember me? That's right, Eric Bummerman back in action!" The blonde boy explained. Rocky was surprised. He and his brothers had met Eric a few years back at a gathering at Mega Mountain. Rocky didn't know him too well, he was more of friend of his friends that happened to show up that day.

"You still need a haircut, Buzz," Colt shot back.

"Give us the stone!" He reiterated. The other two had still not spoken, or moved.

Tum Tum looked at the shiny stone in his hands. It was so special to his grandpa, so he couldn't even think about giving them the jewel.

"No, I can't do it," Tum tum said as he held the stone to his chest. He turned around and started running as fast as he could into the forest, away from the three goons.

"Then you're gonna die, buh-heads!" Buzz yelled after Tum Tum. He slapped Rooster on his right shoulder. "Roost! Let's go get 'im!"

Immediately, Rooster started bolting towards the ninjas with Buzz fast on his heels.

"Let's do it Colt," Rocky commanded. Colt nodded in agreement. Both boys widened their bases while holding out both their hands in a kata stance. By this time, Buzz and Rooster were almost up to them both, and were going to attempt to run right past them. This was not going to happen. There was a five foot gap between Rocky and Colt, and when Rooster and Buzz attempted to run through the gap, both ninjas wound up and executed a simultaneous powerful left and right leg kick to each of their opposer's stomachs.

"Ahh!" Buzz screamed while rolling on the ground, "That hurt!"

Rooster had doubled over in pain, but did not speak a word. He gathered his strength and stood over Colt, who remained in his stance. Both boys glared at each other.

"Don't worry about him, Buzz. I got the preppy boy," Awesome shouted to his partner who was standing near Rocky. Buzz took this chance to run off in Tum Tum's direction, while Awesome stomped over to the three others.

When Awesome got close to Rocky, the four boys circled each other for a while, until Rocky and Colt were facing Awesome and Rooster in front of each other. It was an old fashioned standoff.

The two ninjas did not give the bullies a chance to act first. Colt ran behind Rocky, while Rocky bent down a little, and Colt jumped off Rocky's back to get more air and surprised the two enforcers with an explosive split leg kick that connected with both of their faces.

Awesome and Rooster shook the pain off while one of them took a swing at Colt as he landed behind them, but it was too late. Awesome's canned ham fist struck nothing but air. Rocky then used this clumsy move to his advantage: he darted up to the large individual as his missed fist was coming around his right side. He grabbed the large, swinging forearm in one motion and used his momentum against him by throwing his arm over his shoulder, causing Awesome to do a somersault over Rocky's back. A large dirt-cloud was stirred up when he landed and gasped for air.

"Hai-Ya!" Colt swept his left leg on the ground in a clockwise formation, connecting with Rooster's ankle, causing him to fall down. Colt did not spare a moment when the baseball player fell. He ran up and performed a front flip with his right leg extended, and slammed it on Rooster's laying exposed sternum. Rooster growled in pain.

Tum Tum was running as fast as he could, but he was running out of energy very quickly. He hadn't eaten in the last twenty minutes, so things were starting to blur, and he wasn't able to think straight. He quickly darted behind a large tree trunk when he believed he was far enough away that Buzz did not know where he was. Tum Tum was fairly certain he could fool him for a while, as he knew the forest around his grandfather's cabin better than Buzz, and he had tried to be fairly quiet. His heart, however, was racing. He felt safe for a while, if he was lucky.

"Ha ha ha ha! You think you've got a chance?" a voice said in the darkness. Tum Tum gasped and stood up.

Tum screamed at the figure as it came into the light. Buzz was carefully edging towards Tum Tum, since he backed him into a corner of a large rock formation that looked like a wall of a large hill. There was nowhere for Tum to go. He looked everywhere for a way out as he tightly gripped the stone in his right hand. It was almost impossible to hide, since it seemed to be glowing even brighter than before.

"Just give it to me, Tum-Sucker, that will make this a whole lot easier. You look like you could use another meal. Isn't that what you want, you little baby? Wouldn't you just love to go back to your little grandpy's cottage and make yourself some toast? Try a diet, you rotund blubber!"

Buzz dove forward to grab the young boy but Tum Tum turned and ran up the side of the rock face behind him.

"What the?!" Buzz yelled as he watched Tum Tum use his forward momentum to run three steps up the vertical stone wall and spring off, doing a complete backflip. Tum Tum watched his legs come back around, and when Buzz's big parted hair came into sight, he kicked both of his feet forward with all of his might.

"Ai-ya!" Tum Tum screamed and a loud Crack was heard. Tum Tum had connected directly with Buzz's neck, sending him sprawling forward and smashing his face into the rock wall.

"Ow, you breadbasket!" Buzz agonized in pain. He was holding his face while he stood up. "You're dead, little shrimp. I hope your mom bought you enough pampers, because I'm going to make you pee your pants!"

Tum Tum knew that Buzz had a much longer reach than he had, so he had to do something. He quickly ran up to the nearest tree, grabbed a low hanging branch, and snapped it off. It wasn't much, but he knew that it would help.

"My grandpa found this stone, so its his. I'm not letting you have it," Tum Tum warned, while holding up the stick like a sword.

Buzz grinned and stepped toward Tum Tum. As he stepped forward, Tum whacked Buzz on the thigh with the stick, causing Buzz to reel back. Buzz then attempted a fast right hook, but Tum Tum again delivered a lightning fast hit to his hand, making him draw back his fist and howl in pain. Buzz stood there shaking the pain from his hand, and Tum Tum went on the offensive. Three sharp snaps from the makeshift sword were heard when Tum Tum hit his kidneys. Another three were heard as he hit his right armpit.

Buzz was doubling in pain, and backed himself up to a tree. He swiveled around to the other side in order to gain a distance between the evil child with the stick, but it was of no use. He popped his head out from the left side of the trunk and was rewarded with a smack to the head. He tried the right. Another hit.

"Ouch! Dude, cut that out! My dad will sue the tar out of you!" Buzz complained. He poked his head out from behind the tree trunk again to see where Tum Tum was, but he saw nothing but foliage and forestry going on for quite a distance. He felt a slight tug on his shirt from below, and he turned around to face the movement.

"Hi," Tum Tum said. He reeled his arms back and smacked Buzz in the throat with the other end of the stick, which was much thicker. Buzz started coughing and holding his throat as he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Rocky was still giving the royal treatment to Awesome. Two fast punches and a kick had nailed the large man in the chest. Awesome had felt like he had been attacked with a lead pipe.

"Aiya!" Rocky bounded forward and landed a kick directly in the center of the human black hole's enormous gut, causing him to wretch forward in pain.

"Oof!" the large beastly man fell to the ground which shook when he struck.

Behind Rocky, Colt toyed with Rooster. He dodged his head to the right to avoid a left punch from Rooster. He dodged left to avoid the opposite fist that followed soon after. Colt stopped and smiled, while Rooster spat on the ground in fury. It was obvious that he was getting frustrated.

Colt used his trademark speed to deliver a double punch to Rooster's side, and finishing with roundhouse kick to his chest, causing him to go flying back about ten feet. Colt dusted his hands off and turned to check back on Rocky. He had felt as though Darren had enough.

Just as he started walking towards Rocky, who had just finished off Awesome, he sensed something behind him. He quickly ducked, and a small white object zipped by his head at incredible speed, missing his face by inches. Rooster had gotten back up, and resorted to throwing baseballs at Colt. He was, however, throwing them pretty well since Colt had almost been hit by the last one.

Colt saw that Rooster had two more in his hand. He took off directly toward the baseball player, just as two more balls were flung at him. Colt jerked to the right to avoid the first projectile while still running. The second one was thrown pretty low (probably meant to hit his genitals) so a simple hop over it avoided any problem. He had not noticed that Rooster had thrown a bat at head height lastly, so he reacted quickly by sliding onto his knees and bending back. The bat went spinning and flying over his head. Man he throws hard, Colt thought while still sliding. In one swift movement, Colt kicked one leg up and connected with his opponent's balls.

"Ahh!" Rooster exclaimed while falling to the ground. He was finished. Rocky and Colt turned to where Tum Tum had run to address a noise he had heard.

"You're going to pay for that!" Buzz screamed while running from the forest from whence he came. He was holding his throat and constantly looking behind him as he ran past Rocky and Colt. Rooster and Awesome shuffled back up and stood next to Buzz in a line.

"Lets attack them all at once, they can't stop us all together!" Buzz suggested, slapping his hand to Awesome's chest. The three ninjas snapped to their defensive stances immediately and waited for their attack, but none came.

Boom. A thick smoke filled the night air in front of the trio of bullies, temporarily blinding them.

"Hey, what the…?"

"Shoot!"

"Ach!"

The three ninjas looked quizzically at the strange scene before them. When the smoke cleared, they saw that all three of the enemies had been tied up around their ankles and wrists with rope.

"This isn't over yet, the fun's just beginning!" Buzz angrily yelled over his shoulder as he and his teammates hopped back through the forest, feet tied together. Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum watched as they slowly disappeared through the foliage in the distance.

"What just happened?" Tum Tum asked Rocky.

"I don't know, Tum," Rocky said as he glanced around for a sign of the source.

"Ah hah hah ha…" A familiar laugh was heard from above the boys. They looked up to see their grandfather sitting in a very high tree branch over where the bullies once stood.

"Grandpa!" All three boys shouted with excitement.

Their grandpa pushed himself off of the branch and landed on the ground in front of them.

"Grandpa how'd you know we were here?" Rocky asked.

"Because of one small reason," Mori said, while reaching his hand into his shirt pocket and pulling out a tiny object. The three boys came in closer to see that he was holding one of Tum Tum's bright pink jellybeans. "This was on the staircase."

The boys slumped in shame for being caught. They had thought they did a good job of sneaking out, but it seems their grandfather was always catching their mistakes.

"We're sorry, Grandpa," Rocky said apologetically.

"Its alright boys. I'm just glad that none of you were hurt. You didn't happen to know any of those young punks, did you?"

"Well actually…" Colt started, "We kind of used to go to school with them before. We have no idea why they were here, but I think they just wanted to try and pick on us one last time or something."

"Colt, it kinda sounded like they wanted to cream us for the-" Tum Tum started, but was stopped mid-sentence when Rocky jabbed Tum Tum in the ribs. He did not want their grandfather knowing they had found the jewel without him.

"That is okay. I don't believe they will be bothering us any time soon anyway," Grandpa reassured them.

"Yeah, I can't believe the smoke bomb trick worked on them," Colt added.

"It always works when done right. Either way. Lets go home before I forget how to get back." Grandpa laughed.

Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum fell at their grandfather's side and walked their way back to the lone cabin in the woods.