[Freezair]

"Oh! Wait! Woody!" Pomona stooped down to scoop up Woody's dropped basket, while Minty chased toward them. Minty explained haltingly as they moved what had been happening.

"We gotta stop him!" she said. "He's heading toward the snack stand! If you guys go long around, we can probably cut him off and make him give back that basket!" Pomona noded, and started going the long way around. She curved around toward the big brick stand--

--and suddenly got a shock in the arm.

It wasn't bad--she'd touched worse doorknobs--but it stunned her and made her fall back. Jeremiah was standing at her side, looking angrier than she'd ever seen him. His face was red beneath his golden curls.

"Miah! What's wrong?" she asked.

"Why are you chasing that scared kid!" He didn't ask; he shouted.

"He has two baskets! He stole one, and he's breaking the rules!" she said breathlessly.

Jeremiah pondered this for a second, until he looked into her hands. She had a tight hold on both her own and the basket she'd grabbed for Woody.

"B-b-but--so do you!"

[Fallen_Snow]

Woody didn't stop to look back at Pomona; her eyes were glued to the bully who was getting away. She raced after him, glad to have her bouncy socks. But she could feel the fabric of them wearing away--she probably wouldn't have much more time with them. She should have figured they wouldn't last forever, but she needed them for just a bit longer...

Reverb watched the kid dash by. She could have sworn she heard a whimper. Jerry had gone to stop the others, but Woody was already far ahead--Reverb knew she had to do something to stop her! They were being meanies, and that wasn't cool.

Reverb ran a bit after the boy and twisted her bracelet around her wrist. A light blue shimmer surrounded her, and a bubble expanded out about ten feet all the way around the dark haired girl. Woody noticed it just in time, but she still had too much momentum going for her to stop immediately. Her hands smacked against the shield, making it falter and fizz. It faded away and Woody stumbled forward the rest of the way into Reverb, nearly knocking the girl over. Reverb frowned at her friend, stepping away as the girl gained her balance.

"What's the matter with you guys? Why aren't you leaving that kid alone?" she was a bit calmer than Jeremiah, but not by much. She was a part of the team to do good, not to be mean.

Longshot shook his head and pushed out his palms, shaking them in a calm down gesture. "No, no, Jerry! That's Woody's basket--she left it, I don't know why, but she did--she's chasin' that kid because he was a bully to this Kuhna over on the playground, and we hafta stop the injustice!" Longshot said, putting his fists on his hips.

[Freezair]

Minty suddenly stopped.

Pomona suddenly stopped.

Jeremiah suddenly stopped.

The bully did not stop. The bully ran straight for the lake, heaving his stolen basket by his side. He realized that the people trying to stop him were infighting, and he could use that to get away. And get away he wanted to; it wasn't worth it.

And he voiced that lack of worth. In the way that only grownups did. And which they should never, ever do.

"Aww, to hell with this!" Yes. He did. He used that word. The double-hockeysticks word. Minty gasped extra-loud.

And then Pomona and Jeremiah did to, when the bully took the basket and threw it, purple ribbons trailing, deep into the lake. It bobbed in the scummy water, and the eggs left bubbles as they sand into the shallow waters.

"This isn't worth it!" the kid said. "You want those eggs? Then go get 'em, losers! Ha ha!" He walked off with his hands in his pockets, cackling loudly. Behind the rest of them, the small Kuhna child had crept up. Tears bright as rivers streamed down his face, and his nose crinkled as he sniffed loudly.

Minty and Pomona stared at him. His shoulders shook as the sobs began.

"Uh-oh," said Jeremiah. "...I think maybe that guy was kind of bad..."

[Fallen_Snow]

Woody opened her mouth to argue with Reverb when she heard it. She dropped the reprimanding finger she had lifted to tell off Reverb, her eyes widening in horror. Reverb responded similarly, her jaw dropping to her chest as she gaped at the boy.

Reverb trembled. "Did... did he...?" she asked Woody, turning. But the little cowgirl was gone, already speeding towards the boy, her arms pumping and her fists tightly clenched. "GET. BACK. HERE!" she shouted. That boy was not going to get away with that. This was beyond just being a bully--this was cruel and unfixable. He wasn't going to get away with hurting the little Kuhna boy for no reason. Not if Woody had something to say about it.

Longshot put down his basket and sat on the ground beside the Kuhna boy, putting a consoling hand between Kuhna boy's shoulders. "What's your name?" he asked kindly, hoping to calm the boy down.

[Freezair]

"B-B-Baron," the little kid trembled. "B-B-But most people call me B-Barry..."

Minty put her hands on her hips proudly and stood before him. "Barry, we're not gonna let that kid get away with this! We're the Starbursts, and stopping bullies is what we do! Stay right here, 'kay? We'll make sure he comes to JUSTICE!--That means, the grownups are gonna ground him forever!"

Pomona was already raring to go, quite literally bouncing on her heels. "C'mon, guys! I still have some more bouncy potion left," she said, shaing the vial. "Minty and Longshot, you guys can ride psychic, but everyone else, come and get some of this stuff! Take off your shoes and pour it on your feet. We're gonna catch him!"

Jeremiah, however, was looking toward the pond. "I think I have an idea," he said. "We might not be able to get all the eggs back, but I think we might be able to rescue some of them, even if they're damp. Reverb or Pomona--one'a you guys--do you think you have any idea how to translate into Duck...?

[Fallen_Snow]

"Yeah, Barry, don't worry--the Starburst Squad is here to help! We're gonna bring justice to this playground!" Longshot said proudly. He turned his attention to Pomona's vial. "Oh, cool! That's how you were going so far!" he said, the lightbulb going off. He looked in the distance to see where the bully was going and saw that Woody was already preparing to mow him down. "We better hurry; it looks like Woody is going to get herself into some trouble..."

Reverb jogged over to her friends, knowing that they would be able to help. It was then that she heard Jeremiah. She walked over to him, tapping away at her bracelet as the screen flashed and her speakers emitted little beeps. "I think I might be able to... hold on..."

Reverb tapped about for a little bit, quickly assembling and coding her new app. She stopped the timer at 1 minute 28 seconds. "Dang, still can't beat my 1:15. Oh well." she held out her bracelet to Jeremiah. "Just use your finger to scroll and select your phrase or words. You can try typing in your own, but I'm not sure how well it'll work. But it should quack correctly, if I coded it right." Reverb said proudly.

[Freezair]

Minty whipped up a new two-seater cloud, and urged Longshot to hop on board. "Hurry!" she said. She pointed off to where Woody was. "That mean kid's gonna get her!"

And perhaps he would. The bully had noticed Woody approaching, and suddenly jumped out of the way. "What the--? What do you want, kid? I don't have the stupid eggs! You're not gonna get anything from me! Go away!"

"It's not about the eggs!" Pomona cried, jumping in from behind. The bully trembled as he watched Pomona and Woody bounce around his head. "It's about justice! You did a bad thing, an' we're gonna haul you off to the grownups!"

"No way!" the kid shouted, and he tried to swing his fist at Pomona. But she jumped away.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah tapped slowly into Reverb's device. He didn't want to break it, for one thing. But for another thing, his spelling wasn't the best, and he wanted to make sure he was doing it exactly right.

"...Hey, Reverb, how do you spell 'Kuhna?' And is there an 'A-W' in 'pond,' or an 'O?' I don' want this translatey breaking 'cuz I spell somethin' wrong..."

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot quickly boarded and urged Minty to go quickly. "We can't let them go at it alone!"

Woody bounced in and out, hopping close to the boy and then moving away, careful to keep out of his reach. "Yeah, it doesn't matter. What you did was more than bullying--that was cruel. You didn't need to throw his eggs in the lake, and now you've ruined the whole day for everyone! And what's the fun in that?" Woody growled, scowling at the boy. Woody watched as the boy attempted to hit Pomona but missed thanks to her quick maneuvering.

"You don't have a nice bone in your body, do you?" Woody asked in disgust.

Reverb's eyebrows knitted together, trying to remember all those days with Rena going through the spelling cards. But it was no use. She couldn't remember that stuff! How was it she could remember coding easy-peasy, but when it came to spelling things like 'pond' and 'Kuhna' she'd have so much trouble?

"Hold on." she said, pulling her wrist away and closing the program. She opened up a new tab and began coding again, finishing in about a minute. She frowned, but it quickly broke into a smile. "Got it!" she shouted happily. She directed her wrist to Jerry. "Say what you need to say, Jere--I got the microphone hooked up!" she said, tapping a dark square slit on the edge of her bracelet.

[Freezair]

"OK!" Jeremiah replied. He took the microphone. He looked out across the lake uncertainly, at first. But as he saw the plastic basket bobbing across it, heat swelled up in his stomach. He held out his hands and, with a sweeping motion, created a small cloud of mist over the lake. The ducks quickly began to assemble inside it, and Jeremiah waited until they were gathered before speaking.

"HELLO, DUCKS!" He was a bit surprised when he heard the quacks coming out of the device. The ducks seemed interesting. "Uh... HI! DUCKS, WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!" He pulled away to clear his throat, wondering what that sounded like to the ducks. "I WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE MIST TO PLAY IN THAT YOU WANT ALL DAY!"

The ducks seemed to be exchanging glances. They seemed interested.

"BUT FIRST, YOU GOTTA DO US A FAVOR." He seemed to wonder how to word it. "THOSE EGGS THAT JUST FELL IN THE POND ARE SPECIAL TO THAT  KUHNA, BARRY! HE NEEDS 'EM BECAUSE, uh, um, THEY'LL HATCH INTO FUN SPIRITS! AN' THE FUN SPIRITS ARE GONNA GET ALL WET IF YOU DON' HELP 'EM!"

To Reverb, he said, "I know it sounds silly, but I didn't know how to explain Easter to ducks..."

Over by the bully, Minty circled him with the others. She didn't use her cloud or the potion, but held an intimidating pink hand above her head, ready to sweep in to get him. The bully looked scared.

"Hey, hey! What is this? Some kind of weird game?"

"Justice isn't a game!" Pomona said boldly. "What you did was wrong! And now you're gonna get it!"

The bully's eyes were wide and frightened. He really thought that he was going to. He watched Pomona bounce, unlike anything he'd ever seen...

...And bolted beneath her when the timing seemed right.

"CUT HIM OFF!" Minty shouted. She ran normally towards him, but then again, he hadn't gotten far.

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot dodged in front of the boy, cutting him off. He held out his hands defensively, locking them so as to stop the boy if he continued into him. He had only a split second to hope that the boy didn't truck right into him--it would be too easy for the twice as large boy to knock Longshot over.

Woody let out a groan as the boy tried to run off and followed Longshot's steps--she bounded over and arrived next to him. She could feel the potion on her socks wearing off, but she didn't dare look down to see if she could figure out how much longer they would last, as this villain was proving to be a slippery one.

Reverb tried not to giggle at Jerry's speech, keeping her face stoic and inexpressive, but it was hard. Especially with the quacking that was going on underneath it. It was enough to make any normal seven-year old laugh. But Reverb kept herself composed, knowing that if she laughed it could make the ducks scared and it would interrupt Jerry anyways.

The ducks seemed to mutter to each other, their quacks conspiratorial. It was then that they began to swim away. "Hey, what're they doing?" Reverb said sadly, watching them swim away. "I thought for sure they would help us, I thought ducks were one of the nice birdies..."

She watched glumly as they seemed to leave without a care, but she couldn't stop a smile from breaking out across her face as she realized what they were doing.

"Wait... I think they're doing it!"

((Sorry this has taken me so long, Freezy. o_o There's been so much going on at school and at home that it's wearing on me and my writing skills considerably. Whatever I've written in the past three weeks has been shoddy work, even if most of it has been rough draft. I hope that this wasn't too much of an annoyance for you, though I realize that I probably could have tried harder.))

[Freezair]

((No prob, Bob. I know how it goes.))

The bully, thankfully, couldn't turn quick enough. He hit Longshot's arms and went spiralling down to the ground. "Owww... My knees!" Like any child, he was easily stymied by scrapes and cuts. He languished there on the floor, unwilling to heave himself up, for long enough that the others could get close to him.

With Minty and Pomona closing in, with Woody next to them, the kid was pretty well trapped. He looked up with a gulp. "Uh-oh... Wh-who are you kids? Are you workin' for the grownups or somethin'?" He sat up nervously.

"We're the Mega Starburst Squad!" Pomona said dashingly. "We work for everybody to keep the world safe! An' now you're gonna get it when the grownups hear what you did. Who wants to go get 'em?"

Over by the pond, Jeremiah cheered and jumped as the ducks dove into the water. He saw tails vanish in one part of the pond, and beaks reappeared in others, damp eggs only slightly covered in pond weed. He spun his hands joyfully, and a thick mist, unlike any he'd ever made, appeared over the lake. A few other people looked up, bemused, but the ducks rolled up the eggs regardless. Barry's tears quickly dried up, and a huge, apropriately feline grin began to spread across his face.

"You did it! You did it, Reverb!" Jeremiah laughed.

[Fallen_Snow]

Longshot's fists found their way to his hips. "Well, we're gonna hafta tell the grown-ups about you and what you did to Barry." Woody nodded, frowning.

"That was a very bad thing you did, mister!" Woody scolded, crossing her arms. "I'll go get the grown ups!" she said excitedly, and dashed off towards the picnic tables where their guardians sat patiently, waiting for the egg hunt to finish.

"Rena! Reeeeeena!" shouted Woody, waving so the woman would look over.

Reverb smiled at Jerry, her eyes wide in surprise. "I did? I mean, I did!" she shouted, jumping into the air in celebration. Landing, she pumped her fist into the air. "WHOO! YES! I DID IT!" she proclaimed happily. She gave her bracelet a pat. "Couldn't have done it without you, eh, Rory?"

[Freezair]

"Teamwork power!" Jerry cheered. He looked between his hands, stuck out his tongue, and offered them both--one held up flat, and one balled, with his knuckles showing. High-five or fistbump; it was her choice.

One of the event overseers, a man with a heavy metal bracelet and spiked hairstyle indicative of a Gruss, came running over to the circle. "What the--what's going on here?"

Barry came towards the group, picking pond weed off his damp eggs. Jeremiah brought up the rear. "Th-th-that--kid stole my basket!" Barry bleated. "An' he threw it into the pond! B-b-but... they helped me." Barry pointed to Jeremiah and Reverb.

"What? Stole?" the overseer said.

"Yeah," Pomona said. "An' I think he took someone else's basket too!"

"N-n-n-nuh-uh!" the kid suddenly stammered. He retreated, shaking on his knees. "Th-they just jumped on me! I don't know what happ--"

The overseer suddenly looked down. He saw the other basket. It was orange and blue, with a distinctive, hand-drawn big rig on the front of it.

"HEY! That's my nephew Terry's basket!"

"We caught 'im!" Minty bounced proudly. "We did!"

[Fallen_Snow]

"Reee--wha?" Woody looked back to see another adult had already approached her friends. He would handle it! "NEVER MIND!" she shouted at the girl, who had just gotten out of her seat.

Rena sighed and sat back down. Those stupid kids, making her move. She turned up her music player and tuned out the world, glad that someone else could handle them for once.

Longshot nodded. "And he lied about stealin' them!" he added. Woody arrived at the scene and smiled proudly at Minty's announcement. "Yeah we did! Now you gotta lock him up in prison!"

Reverb smiled at Jerry and threw both back, but a bit mixed up--she high-fived his fist and fistbumped his palm.

"Oops," she giggled, "But that was fun! That should be our new secret handshake!" she held out her own palm and fist so Jerry could do it back. "We can show the others later." she commented, looking over at the ducks. "For now, let's get these eggs back to Barry!"

[Freezair]

((Best. Secret handshake. Ever.))

"Did you kids catch this guy?" the event organizer asked.

"Yup!" Minty perkily replied. "It's our job to protect the playground! No need to thank us, sir!" She stuck out her chest proudly.

"Well, I wasn't--" Then he looked down at the crowd of children, all staring at him. "Uh... um, thanks anyway, kids. As for you," he glared at the bully, "We're having a talk with your parents."

"Didja hear that?" Enthusiastically, Pomona bounded sky-high. "I think that's, like... the first time an adult's ever thanked us!"

"And look!" Minty pointed.

Over by the pond, Jeremiah was handing the eggs back to Barry. Even though they had a few algae spots on them, the little BKuhna was jumping almost as high as Pomona did! It was obvious from his lips what he was saying, even without hearing: "Thank you!"

"No problem for the Starbursts!" Jeremiah replied.