Author's note: Didn't I originally say that Chapter 39 was my favorite? Well, I think this one takes the cake now! No spoilers, but I'm glad with how this turned out. :)
Chapter 53: The Mob Rules
It's now 6:40 PM, and the party has started. Almost everyone has arrived, with the Kankers plus Skylar starting their route over to the house.
Everything that was set up by the crew that were alway there has worked perfectly fine. The amount of snacks brought by everyone who pitched in was more than enough for everyone who arrived for the party. For the most part, the people who arrived are having a good time, even the people currently arriving some special company.
However, while for the most part the party is going fairly well, something is brewing up. Eddy goes over to the kitchen, to retrieve his drink, and that he does... until a random dude at the party smacks it out of his hand, almost spilling it, but Eddy catches it in time. Although, this doesn't get rid of Eddy's irritated feeling.
"What the heck was that for?!" said Eddy, harshly.
"Hey, don't be upset small dude, we're just teasing a bit!" responded the anonymous man. "Seriously though, how the heck are you that short!? Did you get squashed by some hundred pound hammer man? You need to get stretched out a bit more, because right now you're lookin like some step to a stair!"
He and his fellow buddies start laughing, making Eddy angry, as his height has never been something he likes to talk about much, let alone be judged of. However, this also attracts the attention of Ed and Double D, along with Chris and Kevin, the former group of which walks over, to attempt to resolve matters.
"Excuse me, but what is happening over here?" asked Double D. "Is this a sick joke we are playing right now?"
"Oh, now who's this? Mr. I wear a mop on my head?" responded another dude from the group. "Lord, get that off yourself! Show off your hair, that's what the real ones do! You should be using that thing to wipe the floors or something, haha!"
"I beg your pardon, but I shall not abide by your crude and rather insensitive criteria." Double D fires back, sounding annoyed. However, this might've been the wrong thing to say, because the dude that talked back to Double D grabs him by the collar and tells him...
"Really?! Guess we will take it off you! Boys!"
Little does the punk know that what he said has now made Chris and Kevin come over to resolve this, and the former leaves his jacket, but takes the nunchucks just in case, and yells out, "YOU BETTER STOP RIGHT THERE!"
They come over, and Kevin asks, "Yo, what's the deal here? You need to get kicked out or something?"
"You and your friends, kicking us out? Ha! You're outnumbered here buddy, six to five, you ain't kicking no one out." responded the dude who originally provoked Eddy. "In fact, I think we can take over this party, if you can even call it that, because it's been such a joke so far! Ha!"
"You really think we can't huh? That's a good one. Why don't you and your insecure friends leave, hmm?" responded Chris, in a very cold sounding way, adopting a very serious face aswell. "I'd suggest you don't test us, not for our sakes, oh no, but for you and your absolutely pathetic friends."
"Oh, you think you're the thought guy here?" said the guy, with a disapproving tone. "I don't like your attitude, so how's this for pathetic!"
The dude tried to go for a jab directly at Chris's face, but the latter expected something like that, and quickly grabs his hand, twists it a bit, and punches him back in the chin to counter, making him almost fall over, before being caught by one of his buddies.
"I don't think so bud. You and your pals, gone, NOW." said Chris. "It's one way or the other, but you decide if you wanna be stupid.
Kevin follows up with, "Yeah, it ain't even a question, out, or we will make you!"
"I wouldn't mess with all of us at once, if you do, expect to feel dumber than dumb! Get out, all of you!" Eddy added on.
"All those threats eh? Well, boys? Screw this, GET THEM!" said the guy in an angry tone.
The dude who provoked Eddy decides to go for Chris and Eddy, with one other person assisting him aswell. The guy who provoked Double D decided to go for Kevin, Double D and Ed, with the rest of the bullies assisting him. At this point, now it's a large scale brawl, with the rest of the people watching in surprise, or randomly cheering for who is winning.
With Eddy and Chris, they run in the kitchen, and the that the latter punched back tries doing loose swings at him, but Chris immediately counters back by jumping back and kicking the dude in the chin. Eddy grabs a pan to fight the one who is provoking him in the moment, and they get stuck in a standstill, as that guy also grabbed one, which results in the two of them having a "swordfight", expect with pans.
Chris remembers that he brought the nunchucks with him, and gets them out, surprising his opponent, which gives Chris the opportunity to strike some hits on him, as he is taking no chances with waiting until he strikes. The bully tries to do a roundhouse kick, but Chris simply jumps back a bit, before jumping forwards and kicking him back, causing the bully to fall.
"Like I haven't seen that before." said Chris, while doing an over-the-shoulder technique with the nunchucks. But that's hardly the end of the small encounter, as the bully tries to tackle him, but this fails horribly, even Chris manages to throw him, and the bully ends up landing on the sink, which does not sound pretty at all.
Over with Double D, Ed and Kevin, it's a bit more complicated, as they are all in the living room. Kevin is the most experienced with this sort of stuff, out of the three involved, so he is trying to keep an eye out for his pals. Taking down these bullies though isn't a big deal for him personally, as while Kevin isn't the strongest, he knows a thing or two about this fighting stuff.
Ed, while a gentle and rather pacifist person, realizes that being nice to these people will NOT be an option, and so, while sure, he is not much of a fighter at all, strength is something that he excels at. That is still an understatement in itself, if you can even believe that. Anyways, Ed is fighting for Double D, as the latter now decided to run away. Or, try at least, as one of the bullies caught him by the leg, tripping him, and falling face first.
"Let's see what you're hiding!" said the dude who tripped Double D, and pinning him down.
Ed sees the situation, and kicks the dude who he was facing away, and charges head first into the guy who pinned Double D down, ramming him through the door, and into a tree outside. The impact was so hard that the tree ends up falling. Okay, that DOES NOT sound pretty at all. Anyways, the dude is likely too injured to keep going, making it 5 versus 5 now.
"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE MISTER!" yelled Ed, from the top of his lungs. Talk about adding salt to the wound, eh? Well, that takes care of one of the bullies.
Meanwhile, back with Kevin, he notices Nazz approaching, and she is beyond surprised to say the least, asking Kevin, "Kev, the heck is going on!?"
"Don't worry!" responded Kevin, while punching one of his rivals away, "Me and the boys got this under control, it's just a quick problem!"
Nazz quickly backs off from the situation by walking outside of the front door, disappointed that her birthday had taken this route, but she has confidence that her boyfriend and his friends will take care of everything.
Back in the heat of it all, Eddy and his opponent are still facing off in a pan battle, with Eddy scoring a hit, and swinging wildly to get another one, but the opponent decides to charge him, taking the fact that Eddy is at a disadvantage height wise, and knocking him down.
But this will be lost quick, as Chris grabs him off Eddy, before swinging his nunchucks, hitting the dude a couple times, before Chris kicks him away by kicking him in the chest.
"Not gonna happen buddy." commented Chris. "Eddy, you alright man?"
"Yeah, thanks a lot. Without you, I'd be a goner, I owe you." responded Eddy. "But let's keep focus, yeah?"
Chris quickly nods, before he is grabbed from behind by the person he was originally facing, but Chris counters this by elbowing him directly in the face, and doing a punch to the middle of the dude's arm, causing a bit of a scream from him.
Over to Double D, he walked over to where Ed did his marvelous stunt, and said to him, "Thank you Ed, you're a great friend. But don't you think ramming him into the tree was... a bit barbarous?"
"Don't worry Double D, he will recover. Ed is sure of it! We must help Kevin now!" said Ed, in a bit of a panic. Double D goes along with Ed to "assist" Kevin, depending on what state he is in at this current moment.
Meanwhile...
The Kankers and Skylar are almost at the house, and they hear a loud song, in which Skylar recognizes the song, as being "The Mob Rules", by Black Sabbath. She already knows who is responsible for that, and she laughs at the thought of it. Although, it's not all smooth sailing, as none of the girls know about what's going on inside. Marie notices Nazz outside, for some strange reason, and asks her, "Hey, isn't the party started already? Why are you outside?"
"You see... uh, Kevin and your dates are currently fighting off some dudes who caused issues, from what I can tell..." responded Nazz. "Kevin explained it too vaguely for me to understand, but I'm guessing that one of them made fun of someone, and they stepped in to stop it?"
"I gotta see this, can't miss a good fight." said Lee.
May and Marie follow behind, with Skylar and Nazz following behind. They find a spot to blend in with the crowd, so that the four that just arrived don't alert the boys that... they have arrived. To put it more simply, they just don't want to distract them. In mist of the madness, Skylar notices Chris using the same nunchucks that he showed a trick to her with before, and that confirms it to her, that he lied about it. But now is not the time AT ALL for that, as she is actually fairly surprised at what she is witnessing.
Speaking of the fights, Chris and Eddy manage to get the advantage of their side of the conflict, as one of the bullies goes down thanks to some teamwork, with Eddy hitting the dude several times, after Chris had kicked him out to the floor. Knocked out? Maybe not, but he definitely isn't getting back up anytime soon, as he is simply too worn down to keep on going, making it 4 out of 6. The one left is the one who caused all of this by provoking Eddy. and so, they go for him.
Over to Double D, Ed and Kevin, Ed manages to get one of the bullies down with the ramming into the tree maneuver, but he sees Kevin being overwhelmed a bit by the bullies, and Ed, once again, charges into them randomly, managing to break Kevin free.
"Whoa! Thanks Ed, I owe ya." Kevin responded quickly, before he got the hold of one of the bullies, and punches him into the ground, before delivering a hard punch to the face, putting him down, and Kevin goes for the next guy. 3 out of 6 down!
Ed gets a hold of one of the bullies, and decides to do the same tactic. Ram him into the tree. Expect this time, it's more ran into the bottom of the tree, as it fell due to the previous incident. But Ed does not care, as he goes full speed... and manages to send the guy flying directly to the tree, before he ends up falling down. Like with the previous guy, that didn't sound pretty. 2 out of 6 now. Wow!
The only people left are the ones who basically started this entire thing. Over with Chris and Eddy, the guy tries to get Eddy hostage, but this is a failed attempt when he trips over Chris's leg, in which he extended on purpose. He doesn't fall, but Eddy then hits him directly in the face with a frying pan, sending him across the living room. Chris and Eddy share a fist bump in their achievement. 1 out of 6!
With the other group, Kevin gets a hold of the bully who provoked Double D, as that guy was the only one left of the crew, and tells him by the neck, "You're buddies are done for! Get out now!"
Words don't mean anything to this guy clearly, as he pushes Kevin off, and kicks him, which results in Kevin delivering a very hard left hook punch, and pushing him down in response. Just to assure that the bully won't try to do anything else, Kevin grabs him, goes over to the living room, and throws him through the living room window, making sure that the bully won't be in a state to fight, rather... try to take a breather or two. Yikes.
And that's a wrap!
Actually, nope! It would be a wrap, but the dude who provoked Eddy gets back up, and goes to get a chair to throw, but he finds that the chairs nearby are rather too heavy. Chris, annoyed at this point, decides to inhale and exhale... start running towards him... and does a bicycle kick, getting in around 15 kicks, and sending the bully crashing into the same living room window, but he hits a plant while flying through it. Well then. Anyways, the public cheers for the victors, seemingly just because they won, not understanding the context, and so, this conflict is OFFICIALLY now over. Right?
Kevin saw what just occurred, along with his other companions, and claps in response, and says, "Nice dude! Is that everyone taken care of?"
"For me and Eddy yeah, you and your team?" responds Chris, slightly out of breath.
"Heck yeah! Now, that guy provoked Eddy went through the window, right? Let's give him a bit of words." said Kevin, sounding prepared to reach the dude something or two.
Everyone goes outside to have a little chat with the guy that basically started all of this, and Chris speaks first, saying, "If you know what's good for you, you will first, apologize to him for mocking him about his height, then get your friends to say sorry for trying to get the other guy's hat off forcefully, and, I don't say this politely, you and your friends get the hell out."
"This was a birthday party man, and it's for someone special to me, so you better listen, because I'll gladly put you in your place punk." said Kevin.
"Alright man! I get it!" said the bully. "Sorry for the mocking and stuff, wasn't meant to be... serious."
"You know damn well that is a lie! Get you and your pals outta here!" exclaimed Eddy, who was annoyed.
The dude then goes and gets his friends, noting how beat up they were, and is stunned by the fact that two of them were rammed through a tree. So much for all the outnumbering and such eh? Regardless, he gathers them back to the front door.
"Alright, on the behalf of them, sorry hat dude, for them trying to remove it. We're outta here." said the bully, as him and his friends leave the house.
Double D response to the apology was to nod disapprovingly, as he didn't believe it to be sincere at all. Regardless, the conflict is resolved, and the boys are relieved to have fixed it. They all go into the living room, to cool down from the ridiculousness they just got involved in. Not just that, but the speakers have started to play a different song, "Whole Lotta Love", by. Led Zeppelin. Neat.
"Good thing I brought the nunchucks. Man, what the heck was their deal, I'll never know, but I really don't care honestly. Glad they're gone." said Chris.
"You're telling me. We all did well, thanks guys, would've been a lot harder if it was just me here taking care of stuff." Kevin stated.
"Of course man!" responded Eddy. "We all got each other's backs."
"I must admit, it was quite embarrassing, not being able to do much to help out in the conflict." commented Double D.
"Not to worry Double D, Ed has your back!" yells out Ed, making Double D laugh a bit. "None of the evil mob shall take over the very cultured cul-de-sac, for we shall fight until the very end, amigos!"
"The mob may rule sometimes... tonight is not one of those times." said Chris. "Anyways, at least we know who NOT to invite, the next time we have a party, right?"
"I had a bad feeling when they came in, they just sounded of trouble, and look! I was right on that man... and I wish I wasn't at the same time." stated Kevin. "I mean, perhaps I just being dumb about in inviting them."
"Have you even seen those guys before? I surely have not." asked Chris.
Kevin explains, "I've only seen them always be in a large group like they we're tonight, but never done anything aside from mock the teachers when I'd get classes with them. I don't know man, I'm just glad that they are gone."
"Same here Kevin, let's hope that future activities will be... less violence orientated, and more enjoyable, shall we?" said Double D.
"Actually, hang on, where are your dates?" asked Kevin.
"Don't you remember Kevin? Chris had called Skylar to verify where they were, and she told him that they were going to be late." responded Double D.
"I just hope they aren't coming THAT late man, can't wait that long, ya know?" commented Eddy.
"Don't worry man. If anything, them not arriving now is a blessing, as we don't have to drag them into it unintentionally. So, I'm glad that they didn't have to witness it." responded Chris. "Besides, we already made quite the scene, and them not witnessing it makes it a bit less embarrassing. At least for me specifically."
Umm... well...
"Let me guess, they arrived before and we didn't see them?" asked Chris, in a slightly annoyed tone.
"You're right on that one!" yells out Marie.
Chris doesn't even bother looking, facepalming himself HARD, while Ed, Double D, and Eddy look at their respective dates with faces of complete surprise and amazement.
"Why do I always jinx myself!?" yelled Chris to himself.
May goes over and joins Ed, running into him, giving a hug, in which he returns, although slightly reluctant, as he is still very... surprised, you could say, at May's appearance, which consisted of white heels, a yellow shift dress, with a small white tie, along with May's hair being all long and somewhat loose, with her face's skin appearing shiny all around,
Marie goes to where Double D is, and sits right next to him, making him blush heavily, not used to seeing Marie in... let's say a "model-like" way, donning black court shoes, a dark blue smock dress, with her hair still similar to how it is normally, along with her dark lipstick and eyeliner, accompanied by her more... matte appearance on his face's skin.
Over with Eddy and Lee, the former decides to turn his two hands into pointing at her, similar to aiming a gun, as to say that she looks nice, although he does with the most sheepish smile that she's ever seen, taking the appearance of Lee with red heels, a red sheath dress, along with the natural glow of her face as a whole.
Lastly, with Chris and Skylar...
"Hmm... what did you say, 'I occasionally fidget and mess around with them'? Got another bloody stupid lie you wanna say?" asked Skylar in a slightly annoyed tone.
Chris sighs, before talking, saying, "Okay... maybe I wasn't completely honest, but trust me, I have a-"
Chris pauses his speech, because he finally turns and faces Skylar... and to say that he is shocked and stunned is an understatement, witnessing her wearing white brogue shoes, a black mini-dress covering her shoulders, along with her hair still in the normal ponytail style, but her face had a natural matte look, similar to Marie, and having black lipstick and eyeliner, plus as a small bonus, she painted her fingernails white, just so she doesn't appear all dark. Skylar takes a seat next to Chris, and looks a bit disappointed, but also amused at his shocked face.
"Oh. Uh..."
"I'm listening." said Skylar.
"Umm... okay, let's just acknowledge the obvious, you look amazing." stated Chris. "Also, I know... there's a lot to explain, but for that fight that you witnessed... actually, wait a second! How did me, or anyone else not notice you four?!"
"That's a good question Chris." commented Double D. "Marie, when did you and everyone else arrive?"
"We arrived basically when you boys finished those remaining guys off. Great work, taking out the trash." responded Marie, while laughing a bit. "You all know how to defend yourselves, so nice job!"
"Ain't that the truth! You boys sure know to show a good time for your dates!" commented Lee, in a joking manner, while also wrapping her arm around Eddy, making him nervous. "Why would anyone complain with your company, eh?"
Then the girls clap for the boys, causing either feelings of embarrassment, or unless you're Chris, annoyance and shaking of heads.
"This is why I hate fights like that." said Chris, while taking a large exhale. "Anyways, well, either you guys hid in the crowd, or we missed you. Either way... nice job hiding I guess?"
He is interrupted by Skylar, who says, "Don't kick the bucket with your words love."
"Let's just ignore that 'love' comment..." said Chris in his mind, before saying, "Huh?!"
"Basically, stop stuttering and slurring with your words. Get it now, love?" explained Skylar.
"Oh my god, WOULD YOU QUIT SAYING..." said Chris, but he paused because he realized that he didn't say that to himself. He said it out loud. Oh, ain't that smooth! "... oh crap I said that out loud..."
Everyone nearby couldn't help but burst out in laughter at that mistake, including Skylar, rolling her eyes.
"Did you expect me to communicate through our minds... darling?" said Skylar, as a tease while laughing a bit. "If love isn't a nickname you like honey, I have other names, hmm?"
"I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS..." said Chris, putting his two hands into his face, plus sounding exhausted and somewhat annoyed.
"Alright, relax, I'll save for it later. For now, mind explaining why that fight occurred?" said Skylar.
"It started when that guy that got sent through the window tried to steal my drink for some reason." explained Eddy. "He failed, but then they started making fun of me for being short, which... why?!"
When Lee hears that, she regrets not getting involved, but at the same time, how could she know the context of everything going on, way after it started?
"I got involved at that point with Ed, and I tried confronting them about their rather vile actions, but unfortunately, word of reason be for naught, as they provoked me about the hat." said Double D.
"Me and Kevin came over, getting annoyed about the whole situation. One of the dudes tried to punch me directly, but that failed. Then, for some god forsaken reason, they decide to cause this large scale brawl. You guys can imagine what happened after." explains Chris. "Honestly, it was the easiest thing of my life, the only problem was keeping an eye out for others, in case they got jumped in by someone. Then again, those guys sucked at considering the circumstances of their situation."
"Anyone get hurt?" asked May, concerned.
"No, I'm positively certain, but also surprised. I cannot say the same thing for the perpetrators. Ed had slammed two of them into the tree outside, resulting in the tree being knocked down." explained Double D. "Ed, can you please put the tree back to normal?"
"Roger!"
Ed gets up and runs over to the tree, about to place it back to normal, and while that's going on, Marie tells Double D, "I didn't see you fight much, muffin..."
"You see Marie, in hindsight I should've taken more action, but I've always been a pacifist." said Double D. "Adding into my dilemma, I never had an interest in fighting in the slightest, nor do I at this current moment in time. So, I always prefer to take the more civil approach to things."
"Really? That will not save you when someone is coming at you, coming to beat you up!" said Eddy, making fun of him a bit.
"Calm down Eddy, he will live at least, haha." commented Chris. "Either way-"
Suddenly, Skylar holds up a "stop" signal with her hand, which surprises Chris slightly, afterwards she says, "You're coming with me outside, now."
"Wait, but what about- ahh!"
Everyone else watches in surprise, wondering what they could be planning to talk about. Well, minus Marie, who has a decent enough clue about what Skylar plans to talk to Chris about. Marie hopes that the information that she gave to her fellow friend doesn't tear up the bond that she shares with Chris, as she never intended for that.
"See ya soon man!" yelled out Eddy, while giving a thumbs up, trying to reassure his friend, and as an attempt to give him at a least of confidence. Try that one more often my good chums, helps more than you know!
Chris gets no room to speak, as he is basically yanked out of the living room to go outside, leaving his jacket there, but still has the nunchucks in his back pocket. What exactly is Skylar mad about, he wonders? He knows that he lied about the nunchucks, or better said, wasn't fully honest about them, but still, what is going on?
"Hope I'm not in trouble... oh goodness." said Chris in his mind.
Lucky for him, Ed already finished setting the tree up, back to normal, and so, this will be yet another instance of being under a tree a discussing things. At least it's familiar, right?
Oh boy oh boy! Talk about crazy! Ha!