Chapter Six: The Noble Knights of the Last Order

With the leaders of the Death Valley
Gang and the Mobsters of Misneach out of commission (at least until
bail was posted), the crime rate in Pleasantville dropped
significantly. However, there was still enough action to keep
Chuckles and Giggles busy.

“I don't like it.” Thomas said to
Peter as the two youngsters made their way inside their respective
homes after one such escapade a few weeks later.

“I don't either. But it keeps them
amused.” Peter replied, sipping his beer.

Joe had taken to training Belle in
strategy on her spare afternoons, plus Charlie had constant phone
calls from his grandfather talking about sword fighting, so the pair
were never bored. Life was becoming full for the pair of them,
especially with the school camp coming up.

“What a month.” Belle lay on a mess
of branches in the tree. Charlie hung off a lower branch, watching
the creek that ran behind the houses.

“It's nice to finally have a day
off.” He said.

“Did you hear about Marion?” Belle
asked.

“What about her?” Charlie sighed,
not really interested.

“One year total, six months suspended
sentence. She'll be out in five months.” She replied. “Daddy
tried, but she's too well-connected.”

“You're kidding me!” Charlie
groaned.

“Nope.” Belle sighed. Belle was of
the opinion that her father was the best prosecutor in the world, but
even he couldn't compete with the corruption of the Pleasantville
council.

“And it's only a matter of time
before Master Revolver escapes…again.” Charlie rolled his eyes.
“First night Dingbat is on duty at the gaol and there'll be a
breakout.”

The pair sighed. Suddenly there was a
small but audible “Bang!” coming from the tip.

“Again?” Belle perked up.

“Police haven't found anything
suspicious Belle, so don't worry about it.” Charlie yawned. Belle
glared at him. He blinked.

“Oh…right…” He mumbled
sheepishly. “Does this mean no more day off?”

–

It did.

“There's no one HERE Giggles, can we
please go home and go play some Lethal Fight now?” Chuckles groaned
as the pair searched the area where the noise had come from.

“Footprints, Chuckles. Lots and lots
of footprints.” Giggles snapped the visor of her helmet back down.
“In a tip that is apparently deserted most of the time.”

“And we're going to follow said
footprints?” Chuckles followed Giggles as she headed towards some
old cars.

She held up one finger to silence him,
and walked towards the cars slowly. She pulled out the Lucky Seven
Gun, and suddenly banged it on the bonnet of one of the cars.

“OW!!!” Cried a voice inside the
car.

“Sir Hyper?” Giggles asked. Within
seconds, Chuckles and Giggles were surrounded by the Knights of the
Last Order!

Chuckles drew out the Lions Claw Blade
and stood with his back to Giggles.

“So. You're the ones who have been
making that noise.” Giggles said.

“And what if we are?” Sir Lionheart
stepped forward. “You have no business here.”

“Please don't fight, we're on the
same side here.” Lady Luck pleaded.

“Or are we?” Sir Dark glowered
beneath his hockey mask. The Knights were all covered in various
bits of metal and padding, probably trying to simulate armour. Sir
Lionheart had an orange Lion on his chest, Sir Dark had a white unlit
candle on his, Lady Luck had a green four-leaf clover and Sir Hyper
and Lady Silent had yellow lightening bolts.

“Stand down Sir Dark!” Sir
Lionheart warned.

“We've helped each other out before.”
Sir Hyper piped up. “And you guys are good.”

“Thanks.” Giggles couldn't help but
grin.

“How about we trust each other. On
the count of three, we all take off our masks.” Lady Luck
suggested.

“What do you say Giggles?” Chuckles
asked.

“I don't see that there's anything to
lose by working with these guys.” Giggles agreed.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“HAVEN'T WE SEEN YOU GUYS AT
SCHOOL?!” Everyone cried.

“You're Belle and Charlie, right?”
Daniel asked.

“Yeah, and you're Daniel and TJ.”
Belle replied.

“And you're Petunia, Tammy and
Sammy.” Charlie added.

“Wait, aren't you the guys who saved
us a few years ago when the DVG attacked the old private school?”
Asked Belle.

“We sure helped!” Sammy grinned.

“Thanks for that.” Belle smiled
back.

“And you two are the ones who Daryl
Jones really has it in for.” Daniel said.

“Yeah.” Charlie sighed. “Although
I don't know what I ever did to him.”

“You could hang out with us, his
group don't have the strength to deal with us as well as you.”
Petunia pointed out.

“Tunia!” TJ groaned.

“Well why shouldn't they hang out
with us? The only reason Daryl targets them is because he has his
posse. If these two started hanging out with us, he wouldn't be able
to hurt any of us. You DO remember what he did to Sammy in school
yesterday right?” Petunia frowned at her friend.

“I guess so.” TJ sighed.

“We don't want to cause any trouble.”
Belle offered.

“It's no trouble, TJ is just
stubborn.” Sammy giggled. “I like you guys!”

Belle and Charlie grinned sheepishly.

“Although if you're going to hang out
with us, you should probably have watches.” Daniel pointed out.

“Watches?” Charlie asked..

Tammy produced two snap wristbands, one
blue and one red. Both were rather thick and bulky, with a black
face on both of them.

“Tammy made them, she's great with
electronics.” Daniel smiled. “She's managed to hack into just
about every security system in the city – it's how we keep track of
everything.”

“Those watches we use to communicate.
If someone is in trouble, they just push the face in-,” Petunia
demonstrated. Suddenly, every ones watches started vibrating and a
green arrow showed on the screens, pointing at Petunia.

“Awesome.” Belle grinned. Her
father would certainly appreciate something like this!

“We each have a different colour –
Dan is orange, TJ is white, Tunia is green, and I'm yellow. If all
the colours show up at once, it means Tammy and home base are in
trouble.” Sammy explained. Tammy smiled and led the group into a
large pipe that had long since been buried in earth and rubbish.
Inside was a desk with several keyboards attached to what looked like
old computers, and the back wall and the sides were littered with old
monitors, each showing what was going on in Pleasantville.

Tammy pushed a red button, and all of
the watches lit up with the colours orange, white, green, yellow,
red, blue, purple and grey.

“Who are the purple and grey colours
for?” Charlie asked.

“No one yet, Tammy just thought it'd
be a good idea to have extras in case we have new people come in.”
Sammy beamed at his twin sister, who grinned back.

“Amazing!” Belle looked at the set
up.

“By the way, what on earth have you
guys been doing to cause all the banging that's been happening?”
Charlie asked.

“Sparring. Sometimes things get too
rough and things get knocked around. Today we managed to knock a
gutted car off it's pile into another pile…which knocked the whole
lot down.” Daniel rubbed his neck sheepishly.

“How…?” Belle looked dumbfounded.

“We were pretending the piles of cars
were buildings and jumping all over them. Luckily no one was hurt.”
Petunia frowned at the boys.

“Buildings are no problem for me –
I can fly!” Belle laughed

“I have to ask though – how on
earth CAN you fly?!” TJ asked Belle, getting over his stubbornness.

“My Dad made this for me. It took him
years.” Belle showed them the Backpack. She then jumped up and
suspended herself about a foot off the ground. “It's fun.” She
couldn't help but brag.

And then the Backpack malfunctioned
slightly and she landed on her backside.

“That happens sometimes.” She had
to admit. Everyone laughed.

–

After that, the seven heroes became
good friends. They were always seen together at school, they often
hung out at the tip having mock battles and lots of laughs and their
parents soon became friends too. Best of all was the School Camp,
because finally Belle and Charlie could go without fearing what would
happen to them.

Well, almost.