Once again, nothing to say here, so here we go...
Dang, I've been tired lately. Well, I guess it's worth the awesome stuff that's been happening the past few days.
After dinner, I take my phone up to my room, close the door (hopefully nobody will show up here for the next few minutes), and call the Shadow Guard.
"Hello?" I recognize Whimsalot's voice.
"Hey Whimsalot, this is X again," I say.
"X? I was just about to call you. What do you need?"
"Azalea and I went out shopping today, and somebody tried to kidnap us. I think Mason Richards is targeting us."
"He probably is, isn't he? You and your friends might have to be more careful around town, then. What did the person who tried to kidnap you look like?"
"Well, he was bald, and he tried to knock us out with a shovel, but he was pretty normal otherwise. He said Richards threatened him at gunpoint to find me, Azalea and Darius specifically. He lives near the northern city limits, I think in this one neighborhood directly west of the freeway and east of my LDS church. Richards caught him right outside his house early this morning. I don't think we need to worry about him anymore, though, he said he'd call the police about him."
"Richards does that. Most people wouldn't want to help him kill people or steal the government's hidden weapons otherwise. Speaking of that, we have something for you to do now."
"Oh, already? What you got?"
"About two weeks ago, Richards caught a group of teenagers going out at night, and now they seem to be some of his most loyal followers, though I can't say whether or not they want to be. We found out that they often meet in the woods behind your very neighborhood. If you five could go out there and spy on them to see if they reveal any information about Richards, it would definitely help."
"Wait wait, a gang that hangs out behind our neighborhood? What do they look like?"
"Well, one of them is really tall, and has a bright red Mohawk, and another wears these offensive shirts..."
"I think I know these guys. We can take care of that. How've you guys been doing in terms of tracking down Richards, by the way?"
"Not that great. We've been all over town, and we can't find where he lives. That tip on that neighborhood north of town sounds helpful, though. But some people in that area saw Knight Knight without her cloak hood up once, so it's probably a bit risky to go up there."
"One of us could probably help."
"Actually, that'd be a good idea. Let us know when you're ready for that, and if you find out anything from that gang."
"Alright, I shall. See you." I hang up there.
Whimsalot was obviously talking about Bob's gang. My gang and I ran into Bob and his gang of three others last summer a few times in the northeast corner of the neighborhood, which opens into some woods. His gang was always smoking and/or drinking, and they drank from glass bottles, which could potentially become what I have heard called bar knives. The day we decided to explore those woods, Bob smashed his bottle against a tree and chased us out, which was the first time we met him. Thankfully I've never seen him at school before, or I would probably hate whatever class I had with him.
So now our mission is to infiltrate his turf and spy on them? Challenge accepted.
The next morning, once we're all on the bus, I give the others the low-down on our first real assignment.
"Richards got Bob's gang?" Darius says. "With all the crap they get into, I guess I'm not that surprised, but I didn't know they wanted to kill people."
"They probably don't, Richards usually threatens people into doing what he wants," I say.
"So we're going to spy on them to see if they say anything?" Minerva says. "That sounds cool. When are we going?"
"We should probably go as soon as possible. That being said, they would also like one of us to accompany them on a recon mission in the neighborhood next to my church, if anyone's up for that instead."
"I'll do that!" Erika calls out. "I mean, I could probably learn more about monsters or something while I'm there, you know, because we're all into that...right?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose so," I respond. Weird; she seemed pretty excited, but then it sounds like she just tried to cover it up or something.
"Well, I gotta work today and tomorrow, so do you guys wanna go on Friday?" Darius asks.
"That'll work for me," I reply. "I've actually got a fair amount of homework due tomorrow and Friday."
Everyone else expresses their approval of waiting until Friday.
The school day goes pretty darn smoothly, by which I mean nothing crazy or interesting happens. So now we're getting on the bus again, ready to head home.
"Anybody wanna play me at Drive Ahead?" I ask my friends.
"Me!" Minerva calls out. "Ready to get rekt?"
"Nope, that's your job," I retort as we start up a game. "Or should I say, it's your job to get dunked on."
I beat Minerva at the first game, and then she wins the second one (though I feel like it was only because she got all the better cars), at which point Azalea speaks up.
"Uh, guys? Look over there..."
I look out the window where she's pointing, which is at the gas station a few hundred feet away. Getting ready to move out from there is a red car with a black stripe.
"Crap, everybody get down!" Erika shouts. We all duck down and away from the windows.
"What the **** are you idiots doing?" the guy sitting in front of me asks.
"That's classified!" I hastily shout.
"Uh, we messed with a gang, and they're in one of the other buses," Darius tells him. "Don't rat us out, alright?"
"Y'all guys are full of bull****," the guy says as he starts to ignore us.
That went well.
Minerva sits up to peek out the window, and then quickly gets down again. "He just drove past us."
I look out my window and see Mason Richards's car following close behind a different bus. "What's he doing?" I ask.
"It doesn't look like he saw us, that's for sure," Erika says. "But he's probably looking for us. He's right behind a bus."
"Crap, he's gonna find us eventually and then we'll really be screwed," I say.
"Unless we find him before he finds us," Darius says. "That shouldn't be that hard, considering we're going after Bob's gang later this week."
"I guess you're right," I say. "Oh, that reminds me, anybody make any cool weapons yet?"
"Well, I could use a golf club," Erika says. "They're pretty long. How about you guys?"
"I'm gonna get some brass knuckles, I heard those are pretty dangerous," Darius says.
"Hey, didn't the orange soul who fell into the Underground use fist weapons?" I ask.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot that," Darius replies. "In that case, shouldn't you be using a gun then, X?"
"Nah, I don't even know where to get a gun. I'm sticking with a baseball bat. Minerva?"
"Bow and arrow. I'm actually not bad at aiming with those. What about you, Azalea?"
"Well, I'm making sort of a spear out of knives and PVC pipe. Sounds a little bit unnecessary now, though."
"No, it's still pretty awesome," I tell her. "It's lightweight, sharp, and pretty creative."
"Aw, thanks," Azalea says, smiling at me.
We don't really have much to say for the rest of the ride home, so we play on our iPads until we get to our stops, and then head home from there. When I get home, I get started on my chores, but then I head up to my room, open my messaging app and start a conversation with my friends.
Me: Check out this hilarious Vine *attached is a Vine of a bunch of shirtless guys parading through a fast food place with a "no shoes/no shirt, no service" rule*
Darius: ROFL who made that?
Me: Carson Nett
Me: he also made this one *attached is a Vine that tricks the viewer into thinking racistly about people's names*
Minerva: LOL seriously I cannot stop laughing at that one
Me: Yeah, kinda wish he wouldn't curse so much though
Erika: Me too
Azalea: It's still really funny though
Me: Okay one more *attached is a Vine making fun of the lyrics to EDM songs*
Darius: Wow somehow anything that says "watermeloan" is automatically funny
Erika: I have to do my homework and study now
Me: Oh yeah me too, see you guys
Azalea: Good night, X
Me: Good Knight Azalea *kissy face emoji*
Hanging out tends to be more fun when you've got internet.
Could you tell which Viner I was referring to? In case it wasn't clear, he is often racist and likes to make Vines about watermeloan. He's also one of my favorites.
2017 update: I know Vine is gone now, but I still love to go back and watch vine compilations on YouTube. Hopefully they don't shorten my attention span too much.
Next chapter, the gang heads out to get information from a real gang. Let's hope they're ready!