Skyline Gang

Chapter 17

Sprout suddenly felt cold. Really, really cold. He woke up, wondering if he had accidentally kicked the covers off. He sat up, groggy for a few seconds. In his sleep filled haze, he found the covers still on him. So why was he freezing? It was like the inside of a fridge. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around. Then he let out a loud shriek as he realised why the room was so cold. Dawn was standing about a foot away from his bed, glaring down at him. Sprout scrambled to get away from her, landing harshly on the floor in his haste. He stared up at her with wide eyes. His body was frozen stiff. He didn't know what this woman was doing in his room and he didn't want to find out. He wanted to scream and run, but he wouldn't be able to reach the door without running past her. Sprout just sat there, panting hard. He was just waiting for the blow that might come. However, Dawn just stood over him, glaring at his every move.

"The next challenge is going to start very soon. Wake everyone else up." She coldly ordered before fading away. Sprout sat there. He was still shivering and his heart was racing wildly. A part of him thought that it was a nightmare. He thought that Dawn wouldn't dare step for in anyone's room. However, he knew deep down that she would do almost anything to get her points across. He scrambled to his feet and rummaged around one of his draws. He needed to wake everyone up at once. What better way than an air horn. He grabbed the noise maker as soon as he spotted it. He didn't think to get dressed, he knew that Dawn didn't like waiting around. He recalled the rooms being soundproof, so, with the exception of Dude's, he opened the doors of everyone else's rooms. Dude's was already open, so he didn't need to worry about it. He stood by the stairs and glanced a bit. Everything was set. Now the easier part.

"WAKE UP! EVERYONE! WAKE UP!" Sprout yelled, blowing the air horn. Everyone woke up with a start at hearing the sudden noise. There were even a couple of screams from the suddenness of the loud sound. One by one, they were all standing by their doors. And each of them held the same grumpy, half asleep expression.

"Sprout? What's going on?" Dude asked, rubbing his eye.

"If this is a joke..." Mimi grumbled, her eye mask half on/half off her face.

"Dawn was in my room!" Sprout shouted, still shaking from the experience. This made everyone else become wide awake all of a sudden. "She said that the next challenge is coming up!"

"Wait! Where's Candi?" Bud suddenly called out, squinting since he didn't have his glasses on. Everyone stopped before they could make a move to get dressed. They glanced at the pink door, the only one that wasn't wide open like everyone else's.

"Maybe she's an extremely heavy sleeper?" Mimi asked hesitantly.

"And I thought I sleep well!" Sprout grinned with uncertainty.

"Candi? Is everything okay?" Dude called out, knocking on the pink door. When he didn't get an answer, he pushed the door open a little more. The bed was empty but made up. There was a pink sweater folded up next to a nightdress to be worn later on tonight. He glanced around, noticing the large pile of pink plushies. They were disheveled, as if someone emerged from being buried under them. But there was no trace of the pink haired girl. "She's not in here!"

"She might be with Rainbow!" Sprout suggested, noticing that the dog wasn't present either.

"Or she might already be at the stage! Come on!" Pip declared, dashing down the stairs before anyone could stop her. Everyone else started to follow, with only Bud and Mimi lagging behind as Mimi grabbed her dressing gown, leaving her eye mask behind, and Bud retrieved his glasses. They reached the open door and looked around frantically.

"Candi!" Dude called out as he instantly spotted the stage. Standing on the stage, was Candi wearing an apron over her dress. She was standing by a workstation. It was set up to be like a mini kitchen with a sink and cooker. Unseen from the audience, was most likely an oven and fridge along with a storage space for equipment such as pots and pans. There was also an electronic mixer and scales. Meanwhile, Rainbow was sitting in front of the stage, looking like he was ready to pounce on the stage if something went wrong and Candi needed him.