Chapter 30 - Cracking Down On The Pencil Black Market (3)

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"So here's how you play," Crunch Backson begins to explain, "We'll each find a base for us to place our flag, and it's up to the other team to grab the flag from the other base and place it inside their own base. Once that's done, the game is won. However, if you get tagged by the enemy team then you must head to the gym. You can only escape once a free member of your team enters the gym and tags you back in. Furthermore, once you enter an enemy base, they can tag you but you can't tag them. The reverse applies to your base. Outside of the bases, it's a free-for-all. Makes sense?"

Alex gives a thumbs up while he drinks one of the many energy drinks he has on him.

"Good good, now let's go find our bases, we'll have 10 minutes to do so!" Crunch yells as he grabs his flag and sprints away. As the rest of the members of the black market follow Crunch, the miracle clinic members stand there confused.

"How are we even going to win this?" Marcus asks defeated.

"Don't worry Marcus, I know the perfect spot to place our flag," Ronnie says.

"Oh yeah? And where's that?" Alex asks.

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"Our clubroom," Ronnie exhales as he and the rest of The Miracle Clinic are standing in Amnestor's classroom.

"The class is pretty far down the hall," Alex admits.

"I guess we got another benefit for picking this spot," Elizabeth mentions as she looks towards the corner of the classroom.

"And why's that?" Marcus asks before he glances to where Elizabeth is looking to see X sleeping on some desks while an open book lays on his face.

Alex, Ronnie, Elizabeth, & Marcus stare at X. Alex goes to wake him up when X gives a thumbs up and replies, "I'll be on your team and I read the last scene so I'm all set for the game."

"Good well now we have five people now!" Ronnie says.

"Yeah but they have at least ten times more people on their side, one new person on our side isn't that huge," Elizabeth replies.

"Now now, numbers aren't everything!" X exclaims as he hops off the desk with the book he was reading falling to the ground. "I should know, I'm failing math."

"That isn't something to flex X," Alex sighs before sipping another energy drink.

"True, I don't think I've ever done the homework for a math class since...well ever."

"You're not really giving yourself a good case bud," Ronnie sighs.

"Look, my point is it doesn't matter how many people one side has, what matters is how we use them," X begins to explain, "we'll be able to move more freely since we have fewer numbers, so let's use that to our advantage."

"Alright, if that's the case then I think we should have two of us on defense, two of us on offense, and one as a flank," Elizabeth suggests.

"I'll be on offense," Ronnie states.

Alex scoffs as his competitive side flares up as he adds, "I'll be on offense but you really only need me for that."

"I can be the flank, I'm pretty good at getting ignored," Marcus admits.

"So it looks like Moore & I are on defense," X admits.

"That's a good start but let's get more specific," Elizabeth suggests.

The others nod and the group begins to devise a more thought-out plan. After minutes of discussing, they all stop as the loudspeakers in the school turn on. Over the loudspeakers Crunch yells, "Hey Wonder Club, hope you guys are all nice & cozy, just so you know we've already set up our base in the cafeteria and the game starts right about...now!"

Elizabeth, Marcus, Alex, & Ronnie all rush into the hall with X slowly following them. They get to the end of the hall where it splits off into two separate hallways. Marcus goes down the left hallway while Alex & Ronnie go down the right. As they do so, Alex tosses Marcus one of his energy drinks and both of them open the drink and pour it down the hallway. X & Elizabeth stand still as after a while the group of members of the black market comes towards the two, however, they all begin to slip and fall on the energy drinks and some begin to slide down towards X & Elizabeth. The two easily manage to tag them without having to break a sweat. However, more and more keep on coming.

"You got any bright ideas?" Elizabeth asks as she uses her skills in taekwondo to kick and jump off the people there, causing them to get tagged.

"Yeah, it's simple," X says with a smirk on his face. Someone tries to rush towards X but X manages to step out of the way and trip the guy, "We just need to hit them once and they go away. Besides, the others should be doing the hard part."

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Ronnie & Alex have reached the doorway into the cafeteria, the doors are shut tight with the two club members trying to pry them open.

"These doors are so heavy!" Alex yells as he tries to open the doors with all of his might.

"We just gotta try a little more," Ronnie yells as he feels the doors begin to open.

Alex & Ronnie begin to feel relieved until they look inside the cafeteria to see the reason why the doors were so hard to open was because several black market members were holding them down. All of the market members let go of the doors causing them to swing open and hit Ronnie & Alex. The market members get out of the cafeteria to go and tag the two however Ronnie manages to tag them with his feet while Alex grabs onto two of the members, tagging them, and using them as shields. After managing to tag all the people who rushed them, Alex & Ronnie enter the cafeteria.

Now in the cafeteria, Alex & Ronnie look to see the black market's flag is placed in the center on a table with nobody else in the room.

"Hey so, is that all they planned?" Alex asks.

Ronnie shrugs before the two make a dash toward the flag. Just as they're about to grab the flag, they look to see one of the lunch tables that has wheels on the bottom rolling straight toward them. And on that table is Crunch Backson.

Crunch hops off the table and pounces onto Alex, he then uses his toe to poke Ronnie's back.

"Tag, you're out," Crunch roars.

Crunch laughs to himself while Ronnie & Alex look to see him then do a backflip and then cartwheel out of the cafeteria.

"If he's that flexible then, how are they going to tag him?" Alex questions as he gets up to walk to the gym.

"I don't know," Ronnie admits.

As the two walk towards the gym where all the tagged participants reside, they wonder just how they're going to win when the odds are so stacked against them. Luckily for them, there was one person they were forgetting about. A person who will help give them a second chance in this game.

See You Next Chapter!~

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