It was a gorgeous day in Miracle City. The city was bustling as usual, with criminals robbing any place with money in sight. But one area of the city in particular was buzzing, that area being the home of the Rivera family.
A large crowd had gathered at the base of the apartment building that very morning. People were laughing, applauding, and having a good time together as they all cheered for their favorite citizen that morning - Manny Rivera. He went by another name though, the name everyone was cheering, the name El Tigre.
Manny himself felt great as he stood on the building's ledge to look out at his adoring public. This was the best way to wake up in the morning! Manny closed his eyes and listened to the crowd chanting. "El Tigre! El Tigre! El Tigre! Hey, El Tigre wet himself!"
Manny's eyes shot open in surprise at the loud outburst. He looked down to see a wet splotch on his pants. The chanting of the crowd soon turned to mocking laughter. Manny froze; he didn't know what to do in this moment of public embarrassment.
All he could hear was the taunting of the crowd. "Nice going, El Tigre! Dweeb." Wait, why did that voice sound familiar? "Don't go drowning yourself, brat!" He'd heard this annoying voice before, but where? "Well, at least you're hydrated!"
Manny's eyes widened in recognition as he remembered the voice. He opened his mouth and yelled the name, "Spicer!" As he yelled, Manny sat up in bed.
He looked around his room, only just lit by the light coming in through the window. No crowds, no public humiliation, and no Spicer. It was all just a nightmare. Manny let out a breath and wiped his forehead with his wet hand.
'Wait a minute, why is my hand wet?' Manny looked at his hand. He looked to his side and saw a bowl of water on his dresser.
Manny is what he likes to call a connoisseur of pranks, so he instantly recognized the classic hand in water while asleep, and he knew what it caused. Manny pulled up his blanket and looked under it. 'Yep, the prank worked.' As Manny slowly put his blanket out he took a few deep and calming breaths before he released a primal yell, "SPICER!"
Jack sat at the table within the Rivera family's home. He had a plate of breakfast in front of him as he continued his conversation with the two men of the house.
"So you truly lived in China till now?" Rodolfo Rivera asked Jack as they enjoyed the breakfast Rodolfo had prepared.
Jack knew exactly who Rodolfo was; he recognized him as the hero White Pantera immediately, mostly because he was wearing his red luchador mask. 'Does the man ever take it off? He even had his glasses just over it.' Jack shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts, 'Don't get distracted Jack! Remember, Puma Loco said to not tell White Pantera about anything evil.'
Jack smiled at the hero and answered, "Yes sir! Though I was born in America, my parents work all over the world, so I traveled a lot. They eventually let me settle in their property in China, so I could have a more permanent home there."
"Ah, I see! Well it is so nice to somebody who has seen so much of the world." Rodolfo smiled at the young boy before turning to the older Rivera. "Father, I am so glad you have invited Mr. Spicer to stay. I'm sure Manny must be super excited!"
"You bet I am." Everyone turned to the source of the hollow phrase. Manny stood in the kitchen, baggy-eyed and sporting a face that suggested he might be contemplating murder.
Well, everyone else recognized the hate and sarcasm in Manny's voice; Rodolfo did not, he took his son's sarcasm as real excitement. "Good morning, my son!" he said. "I was just talking with your new tutor."
Manny paused where he stood in shock. "What?"
Rodolfo merely smiled and continued. "Yes, your new tutor. Your grandpapi told me all about how he had hired Mr. Spicer to be your new tutor! Isn't it wonderful?"
Manny jumped onto the table directly in front of his father. "Father, that man there is a super-" "Great teacher!"
Manny snapped his head back at his grandfather who had interrupted him. Manny's grandfather gave him a pleading look, begging him to play along.
Manny weighed his option in his head. 'I could lie to my father and spend the day with Jack here as he torments me and annoys me all day long, or I could tell him the truth and get this jerk thrown out! But that would disappoint Grandpapi.' Manny sighed in resignation as he turned back to his father. "I'm sure Mr. Spicer will be a great tutor for me dad." As much as it pained him to just accept Jack, Manny would accept it for his grandfather.
"Well that's splendid my son! I'm sure you'll both have a super fun time studying today!" Rodolfo exclaimed happily to his son.
Manny gave a weak smile in defeat as he answered his father. "I'm sure we will, dad. I'm sure we will."
Jack stood up from the table and headed to the door before turning around. "Well, come on, Manny," he said mockingly to Manny with a wide smile. "We've got a full day of studying engineering ahead of us."
Manny got off the table and followed after Jack as they left the house, but not before his father said one last goodbye, "Have a good day, Manny!" After that, the door was shut, and the day of studying under Jack Spicer had begun.
"So what's first, jerkface?" Manny asked Jack as they walked down the streets of Miracle City.
"That's Mr. Spicer to you, brat," Jack fired back, not wanting to deal with Manny's attitude.
"I'm not calling you that, monkey boy." Manny retorted as he kicked a can down the road.
"You will call me that, or I will tell your father that you were very disrespectful and that you should be punished accordingly." Jack grinned at his threat, thinking he had the kid right where he wanted him.
"I could also tell him you tried to attack me at school yesterday." Jack frowned at Manny's answer, but he didn't push any farther so he could focus on his goal; which they had arrived at.
The place they had stopped at was a hardware store, a small, quiet shop in the middle of the busy city.
"We're here brat. Now let's go in and get what I need." Jack gave Manny his orders and started to walk in, but Manny interrupted him with a question.
"Why are we here?" Manny asked with an uninterested tone.
Jack frowned as he turned toward the younger teen. "Because an annoying little brat destroyed my Jack-bots, that I now need to repair!"
After Jack gave his explanation to Manny, Manny simply raised an eyebrow in confusion before pointing out a flaw with his plan. "How do you expect to get tools with no money?"
Jack looked at the young boy as if he had just said the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. "You steal it, duh!" Jack exclaimed. "Puma Loco told us to help you become more evil. So, evil lesson number one, go steal me some supplies. Here's the list." Jack handed the list to Manny, who quickly scanned it.
"What? I don't even know what half this stuff is!" Manny complained to Jack. "And I don't think this store will have most of this high-tech mumbo jumbo." Manny shoved the list into Jack's hands and crossed his arms.
Jack didn't take kindly to Manny treating him with such disrespect. Jack scowled at Manny with a pissed look, but before he could chew out Manny, he glanced down at his list.
As Jack looked over the list in frustration, he couldn't help but realize Manny had a point; though, he wouldn't admit it aloud because of his pride. Turning to Manny with a scowl still on his face, Jack said, "Well then, what do you suggest, huh? You destroyed my Jack-bots, so you can find me some gear to fix them."
Manny threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed in frustration, "How would I know? To get all the gear to make your stupid robots, you would need an entire lab!" Manny paused for a moment before continuing, "Actually, I think I know where we can get everything you need."
"See, it isn't so easy to- wait, what?" Jack stopped his mocking of Manny to listen to what the younger boy was saying.
Manny put his arms down and scratched his head. "Well, I don't know if it has everything that you need, but I know where we can probably find most of the junk you need."
Jack chose to ignore Manny calling his work junk, and focused on a question he had instead. "Where?"
The ocean crashed against the docks at the edge of the city. Sunshine shone down on warehouses lined up along the docks during midday. Seagulls flew overhead, searching for food; one even got too close to a red-haired teen, who promptly swatted it away.
"Ugh, these birds suck," Jack said, losing his grip for a moment and starting to slide down the metal roof they had laid down on to get a better view of the harbor. He quickly crawled back up and hung onto the center of the warehouse they were on as he turned to Manny. "So which one is the place we're looking for?"
Manny pointed to one of the warehouses in the harbor. "That's the place," he said. "Inside is an evil lab owned by this kid named Dr. Chipotle Jr. He has an entire setup with computers and those giant lightning-rod things."
Jack looked at the warehouse in thought. "Okay, do you know any of his secret entrances?"
Manny looked at Jack in confusion before answering. "The front door."
"Yeah, we're not doing that, it's gotta be booby trapped." Jack rubbed his chin in thought. "We could try cutting a hole in the roof and going down that way."
Manny suggested, "We could just use the front door."
Jack frowned at Manny before responding. "I'm sorry, which one of us is the teacher here?"
"We both know that was a lie my Grandpapi said to have us hang out without my dad knowing." Manny growled at Jack, getting fed up with the annoying older boy.
"But he also wants me to show you some real evil and true villains we won't break in through the freaking front door." Jack stated as he crossed his arms. Manny meanwhile fumed at him but kept his mouth shut. Jack, satisfied with Manny's silence, stood up on the roof and pointed to the sky. "And now, young Rivera, be prepared for your first lesson in evil. The classic breaking and entering, and of course, robbery!" As Jack finished his declaration, he started to lose his balance before he toppled over and fell off the warehouse. "I'm okay," Jack said weakly from below.
Manny facepalmed and hoped that this would go off smoothly so he could get rid of Jack. The last thing he needed was to be stuck in a cell with the guy.
Manny got up and walked to the edge of the roof to look down at Spicer, who was currently struggling to get out of a trash can he had fallen into. "So what's the plan?"
Jack looked up at Manny before giving his answer with a victorious smile, despite having his butt stuck in a trash can. "Well, it's simple really; we use the classic approach of stealth."
"Does that mean you're going to blow open the warehouse?" Manny questioned.
"No...I used all my explosives at your school," Jack said sadly. Then his mood changed to a joyful one. "But I still have a foolproof plan to break in! After I get out of this trash can."
ONE GARBAGE REMOVAL LATER
Jack and Manny now stood on the roof of the warehouse lair, preparing for their break-in. Manny was now in his El Tigre suit, cutting a hole in the roof with his claws. Jack stood over Manny, watching as he worked on their entrance. "Don't forget to grab the cutout portion; you don't want it to fall down and alert anybody of our presence." As Jack was giving orders, Manny had finished the hole and let the cutout fall into the warehouse, landing with a loud crash.
Manny winced and turned to a glaring Jack with an apologetic look. "Whoops."
Jack frowned at Manny before looking into the makeshift entrance they had created. "Well, it's pitch black in there, so at least no one's home. Let's go in, and let's try not to break anything else." Jack scolded Manny.
Manny lodged his claw into the roof and then detached his hand with a chain connecting his hand to his wrist. He used his arm as a makeshift rope to descend into the evil lair. Once his feet touched the ground, a bright light shined from above. El Tigre switched to a battle stance, ready to face whatever"Calm down kitty cat, it's just me." Jack eased El Tigre's worries with his normal mocking. Jack held a flashlight as he used his heli-bot to fly down into the dark warehouse. Jack shined the light around the large area, getting a feel for the environment. "Ok… yeah… this can work." Jack grinned as he saw that there was in fact a good evil lab setup. As much as he would have liked to take everything, he had to limit himself to what he and the Tigre brat could carry. Jack shined the light on El Tigre, who in turn winced at the bright light. "Ok brat, I'm going to see what computer parts I can find to fix up my Jack-bots inner workings. You can go find some tools I can use to fix them to fix them."
Manny just glared at Jack in a frustrated manner before complaining, "And how am I supposed to know what you need?"
Turning away from El Tigre, Jack was already using a screwdriver (he always kept one on hand for emergencies) to dismantle some of the giant computers Jr. had in his lair. "Just grab whatever you can find," he said to El Tigre. "I'm sure you'll find what I need if you just grab all you can." Jack spoke to El Tigre without looking away from his work.
El Tigre frowned as he turned around and searched through his tools. "Ugh, I can't see anything; where are the lights in here?" El Tigre asked as he started feeling around the walls.
Jack just sighed in frustration. 'How does Puma Loco expect me to teach this little brat about being evil? He isn't exactly the smartest around, and he seems like a bigger loser than me.' As Jack complained in his thoughts the lights came on. Jack decided now would be a good time to make a sarcastic jab at the kitty cat brat, "Wow, you found the light switch. Truly you are the greatest-OOF!" Jack couldn't finish his mocking before El Tigre slammed into him, shoving them both to the floor behind a computer.
Jack thought that the tackle was for the mocking and decided to give the feline brat a mouthful. "Really!? All I did was bring up that turning on the lights isn't-"
"I didn't turn them on." Jack shut his mouth immediately after Manny spoke. Footsteps could be heard throughout the lair now.
"Ahh, to be home at last! Now that I, Dr. Chipotle Jr., am home, I can begin my plotting to destroy the Riveras!" Chipotle had arrived and started monologuing to himself. Jack and El Tigre remained hidden behind the computer system that belonged to the evil scientist child. Jack snuck to the edge of the giant computer as he looked at the young villain. He was a shorter kid around Manny's age, who wore the classic white scientist gear with a very noticeable robot eye and a way too big robot arm. No seriously, that arm is like the size of his entire body.
As Chipotle walked around the room, he stepped on something. He looked down and noticed a bolt under his foot. The young villain raised an eyebrow in confusion as his eyes trailed to where the bolt originated from. The side panel to his computer system was unscrewed and removed. Chipotle walked up to his computer system and looked inside it. "SWINE! Someone has tampered with my tech! They will feel the wrath of Dr. Chipotle jr.!" As Chipotle yelled in frustration, El Tigre whispered to Jack, "We should get out of here now. That guy tends to get himself distracted easily; we just have to wait and then bolt."
While El Tigre was planning on a retreat, Jack Spicer had other plans. "No, I say we just need to remove him as a problem. You said you fought this guy before, right? Then you can take him, just don't damage anything." After Jack gave his own plan, El Tigre just looked at him like he was crazy.
"Why would we do that!?" El Tigre whispered to Jack. "We can avoid having to fight him if we just leave now; we'll just have to find your tools somewhere else."
Jack himself wasn't pleased with the feline brats suggestion. So he decided to 'encourage' him. "You're right, I guess he's just too powerful for you, huh? Don't worry though, there's only a crap ton of shame with being a coward."
El Tigre wasn't handling Jack's mocking well, since this time Jack hit a nerve, calling him a coward.
Meanwhile, Jack was pleased to see that his insults were working. "Okay then," he said. "All you have to do is sneak up behind him. With your magic strength and advantage of surprise, you can surely-" Jack didn't get to finish though, because El Tigre had jumped out of hiding and turned to face Chipotle.
"Chimichanga! Prepare to face El Tigre!" El Tigre declared as he stood before the young villain.
"CHIPOTLE! But I should have suspected you, El Tigre, my arch-nemesis!" Chipotle yelled as he faced El Tigre. El Tigre got ready to charge at Chipotle, but before he could, a giant green hand grabbed him. The hand raised him up until El Tigre was face to face with Chipotle's guacamole monster.
El Tigre turned his head to look at Chipotle. "You think you've won, well guess again! Because I'm not alone; get him, Jack!" As El Tigre called out for backup, he wore a victorious smile. He waited for Jack to jump out and help, but he didn't move from his hiding place. Chipotle raised his eyebrows in confusion before turning to where El Tigre was looking. Chipotle walked over to the computer and looked behind it and all around. Chipotle turned to El Tigre with a confused expression, "There's nobody here." Chipotle stated to the hopeful hero.
After Chipotle's news the smile on Manny's face had dropped. "El hijo de puta." Manny cursed quietly. The hand that the guacamole was holding Manny in started to raise upwards. The monsters brought its hand down quickly and threw Manny into the ground hard. Before Manny could recover and strike back the monster brought its foot down too, stomping it right onto El Tigre.
While El Tigre was receiving a vicious beating from the dip creature, Chipotle was laughing maniacally. "Mwahahaha! How foolish you were, El Tigre! Breaking into my lair and attempting to tamper with my superior technology, that was a mistake you will never make again, because I shall destroy you! Now face the wrath of Dr. Chipotle r. Mwa-ha-ha-ha!" While Chipotle was relishing the sweet feeling of victory, he felt a tap of his shoulder from behind. "Eh?" Chipotle turned his head around in confusion, only to be met with a fist slamming into his face. Chipotle was flung backwards from the punch delivered to his noggin, and all he could say before passing out was, "Swine…"
The one who delivered the punch was standing proudly where the young doctor once stood. "Sorry about that, but I can't have you killing that kid, I still need his grandfather's autograph." Jack Spicer said as he pointed his monkey staff at the unconscious villain. A roar erupted in the lab as the guacamole monster yelled out. Jack jumped with the power of the monkey staff and avoided the fist of the creature as it slammed it into the ground.
The guacamole monster continued its attempts to crush Jack under its fists as it chased him through the lab. Jack managed to barely avoid the monster's giant fists with the power he gained from his wu. 'I am starting to really regret saving that brat's butt, cause now mine's gonna be toast. I need a plan to get rid of this dip beast. Wait a minute, dip?' Jack searched for a plan and he finally found one. Spicer bolted for the door as fast as he could, and sure enough the monster followed right behind him. Thankfully Jack managed to kick the door open enough to quickly slide through before the guacamole monster smashed the doors off the hinges.
The guacamole monster had its eyes set on Jack as he ran as fast as he could. The beast was catching up and had its hands upright next to Jack before he shot upwards. Just as the monster was about to grab him, Jack suddenly disappeared. The guacamole creature charged right over the edge of the harbor and into the ocean by mistake, having not noticed its location during the chase.
Jack himself safely hovered above the water with his heli-bot, which he activated last second. His plan worked perfectly. "I guess you would have known this, but guacamole isn't exactly waterproof." Jack gloated to his now drowned foe.
Before Jack could boast more though, a giant green hand shot out of the water and grabbed the edge of the harbor. The guacamole monster pulled itself out of the water and onto land again. Jack's plan had initially worked since the creature was now losing some of its mass as guacamole from the creature was getting wet and falling off, but not enough to kill it. The monster looked up at Jack with angry eyes as it growled at him. Jack himself had lost the bravado he once had and flew a bit farther from the creature in fright.
The guacamole monster spat at Jack, who quickly flew to avoid the giant glob of green spit. As he watched, the spit hit the warehouse and proceeded to melt through the roof, landing on the ground below. Jack was now even more frightened than before.
The monster got ready to spit at Jack again, but before it could, one of the monster's arms fell off. The guacamole monster looked at its newly made stump in surprise before seeing the one who cut its arm off. El Tigre now stood before the guacamole monster after he cut off the arm of the monster. Before the monster had a chance to do anything, El Tigre had already jumped towards it with his arms raised. El Tigre brought his arms down, cutting off the other arm of the monster.
Having lost its second arm, the monster glared at El Tigre in anger. The guacamole monster was ready to attack El Tigre, who stood still with his arms crossed. The monster took a stance, preparing itself for a quick attack, but then ran off, deciding to cut its losses and not risk getting destroyed by the boy again.
Manny sighed, releasing the breath he was holding in. He turned around to face Jack, who had landed on the ground once the monster was out of sight. "Hey, Jack," Manny began, clearing his throat. "Ummm, this isn't easy for me to say, especially to you, but...thank you."
While Manny displayed his humble side, Jack Spicer showed no such trait, and opted for gloating instead. "Well, I did show that monster a thing or two, didn't I?" Jack boasted with a puffed-out chest.
"Actually I'm the one that beat the monster, I've fought it plenty of times and had that handled." Manny corrected Jack, "I was thanking you for not running away like the cowardly jerk I thought you were."
Once Manny finished correcting Jack's misunderstanding, Jack deflated and looked as if his pride had just been sucker-punched. "Oh, well you're welcome then," he said quietly in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I mean, I really thought you just ditched me to fend for myself; you don't seem like a reliable person at all. I wouldn't even put the lives of ants in your hands." Manny continued his thanking of Jack which had now taken on the form of just insulting him.
Jack glared at Manny, who just continued his rant. "You can stop now," Jack growled angrily. Manny stopped his rant and looked at Jack. "Okay, now that the other brat and the big dip creature are gone, let's go and get what I need from that lab." Jack stated as he started walking back to the warehouse. Manny followed after him and they began collecting what Jack needed.
The day wasn't easy for Manny and Jack; after the fight, they had to sort through Chipotle's things to find Jack's supplies. After gathering all the parts and tools, Jack began collecting the parts from his Jack-bots (those he could salvage) and started putting them back together.
Manny wasn't needed for the repair process, or wanted, as Jack so kindly put it.
"You'll probably blow them up again."
Manny was now hanging out with his friend Frida for the rest of the day, while Jack was holed up in his room making repairs.
"What's it like living with the monkey guy?" Frida asked her friend as she bit into her churro.
Manny took a moment to think before answering. "It's...interesting," he said, "but so is a burning pile of vomit; doesn't mean it's fun."
Frida shook her head at Manny's poor luck. "Well hopefully that guy gets lost soon," she said. "When he gets done with those robots of his, he'll probably try and beat you up again." Frida explained the possibility of Jack's betrayal as she stared off into the street, before realizing something and turning back to Manny, "Wait, you didn't tell him I hit him, did you?" She asked nervously.
Manny just shook his head, "I don't think he'll try that again after what happened last time," Manny said. "And no, I didn't tell him how you clobbered him over the head with a bat."
Frida seemed satisfied with Manny's answer. She finished off her churro and looked at the time. "Well, I better start heading home; don't want my dad to mobilize the entire force to find me...again." Frida said as she started walking off, "See you tomorrow, Manny."
"See ya." Manny gave his goodbye and started walking in the direction of his home. On his way he thought about the event of that day. 'Jack Spicer made me wet my bed with a prank, he bossed me around all day like I'm his minion, and he got me into a fight with jr.. Today has been a rough day, and tomorrow will probably be just as interesting…but…' Manny stopped his thoughts for a moment as he let out a small smile, 'It could be fun.'
Hello, and thank you for reading. Since I uploaded the previous chapter, I received a review from one of the creators of the story I mentioned in Chapter 1. That made my day.
Other than that, I have two more chapters planned for Miracle City before I have Jack move on elsewhere, and I've already decided on his next location. Feel free to guess what the next stop will be or suggest some more locations for later, though I already picked out a few.
That's everything I wanted to say right now, so thanks for reading and have a wondrous day!