Skyline Gang

Chapter 18

"Let one of us up there!"

"Why should I? It's against the rules."

"We won't interfere! We just want to check on her! Please!"

Candi pulled her hands off of her ears to hear that. She didn't know how long she had been crying for and how she was hidden for. She wiped away her tears, and peeked around the countertop. Her friends were all turned on Dawn, protesting against her game. Rainbow was growling and barking as loud as he could. Dawn meanwhile started to ignore them, watching the stage. Candi glanced over at the Shadow Man. It was already working on the recipe. Whether or not it was doing anything correct was unknown. Candi ducked back behind the countertop, closing her eyes. She can't just sit here. There she was, crying her eyes out and already losing the challenge. The others didn't give up, so she shouldn't either. Not when they were counting on her.

I...I have to try. Even if I don't win, at least I gave it a try, right?

Candi wiped her eyes again, and despite her body still shaking, she slowly got to her feet. She turned on the tap, washing her hands once again. The noise snapped the others out of their protesting. As Candi scrubbed her hands of the dust that she had picked up from the stage, their attention was solely on her again. Candi's heart rate was still rapid, but she did her best to breath calmly to control it.

"Candi? Are you okay?" Sprout asked, his voice almost quiet. Candi nodded slightly, her movement barely noticeable. She picked up the sheet of paper again, still uncertain. Then she remembered what she told herself.

"Okay. I can do this, right?" She asked, a little shaky.

"Good mentality to have Candi. Just keep thinking like that." Dude encouraged. Candi nodded again and started to read the paper carefully. Now that she scanned the page with a clear head, she had a better understanding of it. Some of the words and complete instructions felt incredibly familiar. She had an incredibly good feeling that she knew what she was doing. She immediately laid out all the ingredients, taking measurements of each one. She didn't have anytime to delay. She's going to have to catch up, or hope that the Shadow Man messes up somewhere.

After some mixing and putting things together, Candi started to preheat the oven. She wanted to make sure that it was at the right temperature for when she put her food in for baking. Suddenly, things happened too fast. Since the Shadow Man already had a head start, it already put the food in the oven. However, just as it opened the door, there was an intense burst of heat. Candi's head snapped in that direction. She expected heat, but she didn't expect a small fire. The Shadow Man had tried to pull out the baking tray, but leapt away as the fire started to get worse. Dude, Pip and Sprout started to shout at Dawn again to stop the challenge due to the flames. Mimi and Bud shouted at Candi to try to get off the stage to safety. However, Candi immediately searched around, spotting the fire blanket. She grasped the tags, pulling it out.

"Watch out!" She shouted, running straight to the fire. The Shadow Man didn't move as she covered the flames with the fire blanket. She made sure that every inch of the tray and floor around it was completely covered up. She then turned off the oven and closed the door to prevent anything else going wrong. After catching her breath, she turned to the Shadow Man. "Are you okay?"

The being in front of her stood still, seemingly stunned by her actions. Everyone else was just as surprised. Even Dawn had stood up from her throne with a stunned look on her face. Candi didn't say anything else as she quickly went back to work. She washed her hands again and started to set the mixture onto her own mixing tray.

"Why did she help it?" Pip asked, her tone quiet as Candi slipped her baking tray into the oven. There was a quiet beep as she set the timer for the oven.