At Burrito Bistro, Mesto-Presto is sitting at the counter chatting with the owner of the store Cedro Garcia.
"Slow day huh?" Mesto remarks as while looking at the customer-less restaurant.
"You're telling me," Garcia jokes, "Things have been slow ever since that Griffon guy left. Hope he's doing well."
"Yeah, he did attract a lot of customers," Mesto laments, "Although if I'm being honest, something about him always felt off."
"Off? How come?" Cedro Garcia asks.
"I don't know, maybe it was just a me-thing but," Mesto-Presto begins to say, "He just felt too comfortable when he had to use a knife to chop up meat."
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Inside Starlight High's kitchen, Ronnie & Elizabeth both stand still as Griffon walks forward to them wielding two items.
"Have you ever been in a fight where your life is on the line?" Griffon questions, "A fight where your opponent knows this place like the back of their hand?"
Before the two can respond, Griffon lunges towards them. Elizabeth & Ronnie instinctively jump out of the way, with Elizabeth hopping over the counter & Ronnie running towards a wall.
Ronnie tries to turn on the lights, to get a better advantage against Griffon. However, just when he feels the light switch.
Flick!
The lights go on.
But Ronnie wasn't the one who turned them on.
It was Griffon.
Griffon, just a few inches away from Ronnie's face mumbles, "You're too predictable."
As Griffon goes to plunge the weapon into Ronnie's forehead, Elizabeth manages to land a roundhouse kick on the man causing Griffon to drop the item in one of his hands; a pair of tongs.
"Th-thanks," Ronnie grunts.
"Don't thank me yet," Elizabeth states as she starts to sweat, "It's not over."
Ronnie looks down to see that the leg Elizabeth used to kick Griffon has a few slash marks on it. While the slashes weren't deep enough to draw blood, that's only because Griffon didn't have the time to do so.
Griffon chuckles as he points his other weapon, a pizza cutter, at them.
"Sorry I ended up grabbing a dull one," Griffon smirks, "Next time I'll make sure to give my swing enough oomph."
Griffon rushes at Elizabeth swinging the pizza cutter at her. Elizabeth instinctively begins to move backward, dodging the attacks. However, that was never the goal of Griffon.
It's only when Elizabeth's back hits the wall does she realize the purpose of those attacks.
He was trying to trap her.
Swapping out the pizza cutter with a nearby kitchen knife, Griffon proceeds to raise the knife. But before he can do anything, Ronnie tackles him to the ground.
As the two begin to scuffle, Ronnie tries to overpower Griffon. But the man is much stronger than him. Eventually, the two are back to where they first entered the kitchen.
Griffon is atop Ronnie with his knife. And without saying anything he plunges it downward.
Without a second to spare, Ronnie grabs the closest thing to him – the book that X wrote – and uses it as a last-ditch attempt to stop the knife from entering him.
The knife manages to stab through the book, however it's unable to plunge further down. Ronnie holds the book up with all his might, his body shaking as he sees the tip of the blade just a mere inches away from stabbing him.
"You could've just walked away," Griffon yells, "But no! You had to stay! You had to get in the way!"
Ronnie's strength begins to fail on him as the knife slowly but surely gets closer and closer to piercing him.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure it ends quickly, I have a job to do after all!" Griffon roars.
Though right as the book finally breaks, a hand grabs onto Griffon's arm.
Griffon tries to move but the grip is too strong.
"L-let go of me-" Griffon tries to say.
However, before he can finish his sentence, Griffon's face is met with a thunderous punch, tossing Griffon into the side of one of the ovens, knocking him out cold.
Ronnie looks to see that his savior is none other than the teacher aide, Ray Ramirez. He looks to see that Elizabeth went to get him & Sam Penningberg after Ronnie did the tackle.
"That bastard, how dare he do such a-," Ray begins to yell but stops himself as he looks at Elizabeth & Ronnie, "Are you two alright?"
"Y-yeah," Ronnie murmurs as the reality of the situation sets in.
With Penningberg on the phone with the cops, Ronnie looks over to see Griffon's unconscious body. A thought sprouts in Ronnie's head.
If Ray wasn't here, what would have happened to me?
________________________________________
A while later, Elizabeth & Ronnie are sitting on the steps that lead into Starlight High. Elizabeth's leg has been all bandaged up. They watch as a now conscious Gabriel Griffon is being pushed into a police car, all the while struggling.
"You don't understand!" Griffon shouts, "I had to do it! They were getting in the way! You need to let me go!"
Griffon continues to struggle as the car door is slammed in his face. As the car drives away, Ray & Sam make their way over to Ronnie & Elizabeth.
"Are you kids alright?" Ray asks concerned before adding, "I would offer a beer but you aren't old enough for those."
"I'm all good," Elizabeth says, before looking over to Ronnie who seems to be lost in thought.
"It's funny really," Ronnie begins to say, "After all this time I thought maybe, just maybe, I could actually stop someone like him. I guess nothing's really changed since then."
Elizabeth is silent as she doesn't know what to say however Sam clears his throat, "You're taller than you were back then right? You can run faster, too. Regardless of what happened in the past, you're a different person now. And you'll continue to change and grow, it's better to move forward than to look back at the past."
"I- I guess, thanks Mr. Penningberg," Ronnie says.
"Just doing my job, though I would really appreciate it if you didn't get into any more fights."
As Ronnie & Elizabeth sat on the steps, they began to wonder if they would eventually have to fight someone again. Obviously, they would at one point in their lives, but they'd have no idea of knowing how much stronger their next opponent would be, and if they'd be as lucky as they were today. As the rest of the day went on, that question rang through their head all day.
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The next day, in Mr. Amnestor's classroom. Ronnie & Elizabeth sit at their desks as they wait for other club members to show up. However, the person who enters the classroom next isn't Marcus or Alex but rather Hamster, with Bennet sitting in his hair. Hamster is also holding a big round tupperware container. Hamster sets it down on the table next to the door.
"Oh hey, Hamster!" Ronnie begins to say before Hamster runs over to him & Elizabeth and gives the two a big hug.
"I'M SO SORRY YOU GUYS GOT HURT!" Hamster begins to cry, "ALL BECAUSE OF MY DUMB REQUEST!"
"Woah woah, it's okay Hamster, it isn't your fault," Ronnie replies as he tries to hand Hamster some tissues but Bennet the hamster grabs them to wipe his watery eyes.
"Look on the bright side, we figured out who stole the muffins!" Elizabeth says, trying to cheer Hamster up.
Hamster lets go of the two as he wipes his teary eyes, "Yeah... yeah! You guys did do that! You're all so incredible!"
The compliment causes Ronnie & Elizabeth to smile. As they do so, the door to the classroom opens as Marcus & Alex enter.
"Sorry we're late, we got held up with that English test, what did we miss?" Marcus asks the group.
"We'll uh- tell you about that later," Ronnie states.
Alex looks over at the table and sees the Tupperware, as he opens it he asks, "What's this for?"
"Oh- uh- so as a way of trying to show my appreciation to this club," Hamster began, "I decided to try and give you guys my attempt at recreating those muffins!"
"Wait really? You can bake? That's awesome!" Ronnie says as he grabs a muffin.
"I'm a man of many talents," Hamster remarks as he rubs his nose & Bennet the hamster snickers.
Alex, Marcus, & Elizabeth also grab a muffin and each Miracle Club member takes a bite out of the muffin.
"I know my baking skills aren't good," Hamster began to say, "so I'm sorry if it isn't that good."
"Are you kidding me, bub?" Alex roars as he chews his muffin, "THIS IS AMAZING!"
"I can't believe you made this, when did you have the time?" Ronnie asks as he enjoys the muffin.
"Oh, I worked on this during cooking class and thought you guys should have some," Hamster replies sheepishly.
"I understand why everyone was so crazy about these muffins," Elizabeth remarks.
"To be honest, I'd go as far as to say these muffins blow the school ones out of the water!" Marcus says.
"R-really?!" Hamster asks stunned, "Th-thanks for the compliments! If you ever want me to bake you anything then I'm your man!"
As the club meeting continued with everyone enjoying some well-deserved food, the more bitter memories that were made just a day prior began to be ignored in favor of remembering this moment. Some time from now, whenever Ronnie & Elizabeth would look back to this time, they wouldn't think about all of the "what if" scenarios about what could have happened during that fight, but they'd rather reminisce on this moment. A moment in time when they were able to enjoy some wonderful food with friends that they cherished. Friends who they would only become closer to as the months went on.
See You Next Chapter!~