Skyline Gang

Chapter 13

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It took a while for Mimi to calm down. When she was stable enough, she was helped back into her room to have somewhere that would feel like a safe space. She couldn't bring herself to do her make up or hair again to calm down. Even when Candi brought Mimi her dress, she didn't seem to cheer up. She didn't have any more tears to shed, but she didn't seem to be in a better mood. Sprout and Candi stayed with her in her room. Meanwhile, Bud was back in his room, documenting everything that had happened. Pip had just excused herself from Mimi's room. She figured that Sprout and Candi had it covered. She needed to try to process everything. When Mimi brought up the ghosts like that, it made more questions than there already were. And Pip didn't even know where to start with them. What started as a nice simple list suddenly became a jumbled mess. She wanted to write a sing to help, it usually does. However, her inspiration to write had run dry. She couldn't think about what she should write. She didn't want to write about the entrapment here, but she couldn't think of anything else.

As Pip stepped out of Mimi's room, she finally realised that Dude wasn't present. To be honest, with how close Mimi seemed to have gotten with Dude, she expected him to help comfort her. Rainbow was gone too. Maybe Rainbow made a mess and Dude went to clean it up. Could anyone blame the canine though? He couldn't exactly go outside without risking being sucked into that vacuum. Pip set out, trying to think of ways that she can do to try to get inspiration. That's when she heard what sounded like Rainbow barking. She quietly headed down the stairs and immediately spotted Dude crouching in front of Rainbow. He was scratching the dog's head calmly, but something on his face told Pip that he was concerned about something.

"It's okay, Rainbow." He was saying quietly. Pip picked it up easily as her hearing was incredibly sharp. Rainbow whined a little as Dude stood up. "Just stay here, boy."

Dude could be heard taking a breath before he stepped through the door. He left it open a little so Rainbow could watch. Pip took the chance to go over and have a look too. Something was up and she wanted to know what. Rainbow heard her coming, but she quickly shushed him. If Dude was doing this alone, he probably wouldn't be happy if she interrupted his plan. She leaned over Rainbow as they both watched Dude stand near the stage. He was glancing around. His stance seemed confident, but his face showed how nervous he was. It slowly grew to a little frustration. Pip raised an eyebrow. What was he doing?

"Dawn! Where are you?" Dude suddenly shouted. Pip felt like her body was going to crumble right then and there. Did Dude have a death wish or something?! Why would he suddenly call upon the witch that trapped them all here?! Pip was about to shout out to Dude to stop him. However, her words stopped when a black cloud started to swim around Dude's feet. He jumped away in shock. Dawn formed in front of him.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice ice cold. It sounded so cold that Pip actually shivered.

"The ones before us, what happened to them?" Dude asked immediately.

"What's it to you?" Dawn challenged.

"I want to protect my friends." Dude countered, his voice stronger.

"Friends? You don't even know them!" Dawn laughed in amusement. Her voice went from ice cold to razor sharp. It was as if she was getting ready to strike and her tone of voice was the first warning.

"Maybe you're right! But we've never asked for this!" Dude protested, taking a cautious step forward. "These challenges are just a way to try to shake us down!"

"What's your point?" Dawn asked, her height growing a little. She started to tower over Dude so much that she was starting to lean over him.

"I don't know what happened to the previous group, but it won't happen again." Dude vowed.