The Fallen Empath - Welcome to the Villain's World

Chapter Twelve: Punishment Ducking

 We run through the streets towards the hall of mirrors building, as we get closer we hear a familiar voice.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to wash a hundred windows. I'm just gonna go back and—"

"AHA! GOTCHA, PUNK!" Grim yells and full-on charges Ace.

"Oh no! They saw me!" Ace runs from us.

"Stop right there, pal! No fair, gettin' a head start! Wait!" Grim huffs.

"Who in their right mind would ever wait?! Seeya!"

"No way are you gettin' out of this! You think I WANNA wash windows?" Grim shouts ahead.

A boy with blue hair is walking down the path towards us.

"Outta my way!" Ace shouts.

The boy is still pretty far from us. "Huh? What gives?!"

"Please, stop him!" I shout for the boy's help. I'm not all that much of a runner as I fall behind Grim.

"You want me to cast a spell to stop him?" The boy tenses.

"Yes, please!" I huff.

"Like, freeze his legs or bind them with a rope? Or maybe I could... Hmm... No..." The boy seems to be stuck in indecision.

"I don't care how! Just do something! Anything!" Grim shouts.

"Anything?! Anything, huh... Alright! Here goes anything! I summon thee...something heavy!" He points a pen above Ace and a cauldron appears and lands on him.

"Bwaaah?! Wha?! A pot?!" Ace lays there immobile.

"Ah ha ha ha ha! Look, Yuna, look! That Ace guy got crushed beneath a giant cauldron! It squashed him flat! Aha ha ha! That's what you get!" Grim laughs.

"Oh my—! Are you okay?!" I run past Grim to help Ace.

"A cauldron?! I wasn't expecting that. I may have overdone it this time..." The blue-haired boy mumbles.

I manage to get Ace out from under the cauldron and I support him as he stands up.

"Owwww! What are you bothering me for?" Ace holds his head.

"Sorry, but it was Mr. Crowley who ordered all of us to wash one hundred windows. You could get a worse punishment for skipping out." I back up when I'm sure Ace won't fall and put my hands behind my back.

"You have to wash a hundred windows as punishment? What the heck did you do?!" The blue-haired boy glares at Ace.

"I was just screwing with that furball a little." Ace points to Grim with this thumb. "Okay, and the statue of the Queen of Hearts got a teeny bit chared. Sue me."

"You damaged a statue of the Great Seven?! No wonder he flew off the handle at you! After you managed to get into THIS school, how could you get into trouble on the very first day?!" The blue-haired boy's eyes widen.

"Oh, shut up. Who are you, anyway?" Ace crosses his arms.

"My name is Deuse, Deuce Spade. Don't you remember your own classmate? Uh..." Deuce hesitates to say his oranged-haired classmate's name.

"You don't remember my name either, do you?" Ace looks at Deuce, judgingly.

"That's not the point! You shouldn't try to shirk an order from the headmage!" Deuce lectures.

"Yeah, yeah, message received... Fine, let's bang out the windows already." Ace huffs.

"It will go much faster with the three of us, right Grim? Grim?" I look around the room to notice Grim missing.

"The furball! He's gone!" Ace shouts.

We hear Grim outside and look through the windows to see him running.

"Ah ha ha ha! I'll let you two handle the rest! See ya, suckers!"

Ace shouts through the window. "You caught me so YOU could run away yourself?! Hey! You there! Uh... Juice?"

"My name isn't 'juice' it's Deuce! With a D!"

"This is partially your responsibility, you know! So help me catch that little furball!"

"How is this my responsibility?!"

"Grim's useless janitor friend can't use magic. That means this is up to you and me!"

"I can still help." I pout.

"Sure, whatever!" Ace runs out towards Grim. "You better stop right there, furball!"

"Make me, explodey hair!" Grim keeps running.

Ace huffs out a small laugh. "Then a game of cat and mouse it is! Follow me Yuna, Juice!" Ace chases Grim.

"How hard is it for you to say my name right?!" Deuce follows.

"I think he's just saying it to get under your skin, Deuce." I try to comfort him as I run next to him.

I notice a way I could go to cut Grim off and run that way.

"Hey— Yuna! Where are you going?!" Deuce calls.

"Keep following him! I'll be right there!" I call back.

They keep chasing Grim as I use the shortcut I found.

"Ah ha!" I jump in the way of Grim's path.

"Ack!! I got nowhere to go—!" Grim screeches to a halt.

"One more push, and we've got this in the bag..." Ace points his pen at Grim.

"If I stop him with my magic!" Both Ace and Deuce think out loud.

Ace turns to argue with Deuce. "Hey, could you NOT steal my schtick? Step off!"

"Or you could just stay out of my way!" Deuce argues back.

"Guys!" I try to get them back on track.

"Woo! Now's my chance!" Grim runs through the two bickering students.

"Hey! WAIT!" Ace runs after Grim again.

Deuce and I follow.

"It looks like he's going the same way we came. Can you try to cut him off again?" Deuce asks me.

I nod and take the same shortcut and jump in front of Grim again to stop him.

Ace smirks. "Don't forget! You gotta wash all one hundred windows by yourself if I catch you. You said so!"

"Nuh-uh! I did not!" Grim whines.

Ace readies his pen again. "Match the timing of your magic with mine, Deuce!"

It's too late as Deuce fires a spell at Grim's feet. "Huh?!"

"Were you even listening?! That was way too soon!"

"Lucky me! Time to make a break for it!" Grim runs back towards the school.