More men, some just barely adults, and others much older around middle-age, raced onto the playground. All of the men, who happened to be of African descent, had either handguns or machine guns in their grips. Two of the men also had what looked like rocket launchers. I noticed however that those 'rocket launchers' were of the same design as the one used to fire that strange cylindrical fishtank device at Marbelle before.

In all, I counted twenty-one armed men at the top of the playground.

Sweet-Face raised his marshmallow hand and, in a voice made louder through the use of the power, he said, "Do not attack."

"I am not leaving here until I have crushed d'is woman," said Sweet-Face, pointing to Marbelle, "And I have my possession returned to me."

This was a lot to take in all at once.

"What is that thing?" I resonated.

"D'at is none of your concern," said Sweet-Face.

"It is when you're firing guns in Stowchester," I resonated.

"Oh?" said Sweet-Face, "So you consider Lowems Park to be your territory?"

"It's under our protection," I resonated.

Sweet-Face gave several small nods.

"I see," he said, "Then I will fight you for it."

I readied myself to fight, and so did Clang and Miss Toontastic.

"You wanna go? Let's go! I'll take ya with one arm behind my back!" Miss Toontastic squeaked.

"I'm sorry to have brought you three into this pickle," said Marbelle, "You don't have to fight my battles for me. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."

I could see the look of determination on Marbelle's face, but I also didn't need to lean on my Intuition ability to know that she was afraid and trying not to show it.

"Do you like games?" said Sweet-Face, "I like to play games."

"Mostly FIFA," Clang's voice rang.

It was then a marshmallow cube about the size of a football emerged like rising dough in Sweet-Face's open palm.

"We could all fight and d'at would be bad for all of us," said Sweet-Face, "I would crush all of you, but I do not want my men to come to harm if I can help it."

Sweet-Face turned back to the still conscious kneeling men behind them.

"Take d'em and go," said Sweet-Face.

On his orders, the wounded men picked up the unconscious ones, and dragged them up the playground to the relative safety of the twenty-one other armed men.

"So," said Sweet-Face, "Would you like me to tell you about the game I want to play?"

I exchanged wary looks with Clang and Miss Toontastic, as well as Marbelle.

"Sure," I resonated.

I figured it was at least worth hearing Sweet-Face out.

"I will roll this cube four times," said Sweet-Face.

He held up the cube, and I noticed it had half of its sides burnt and blackened, and the remaining half was plump and marshmallow-white.

"I will roll the cube for each o' you," said Sweet-Face, "If d'e cube lands on d' dark side, d'en you will have to fight me. If it lands on d' light side, then you cannot join d'ee fight."

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"Wait," Clang's voice rang, "So if the cube lands on the dark side four times, then you'll have to fight all four of us at once?"

"D'at is right," said Sweet-Face.

"We don't need to do that," Clang's voice rang, "I can take you all by myself."

Sweet-Face's melted mouth smiled excitedly.

"Is d'at so, ay?" he said.

"What if we don't wanna?" Miss Toontastic squeaked.

"D'en we will all fight," said Sweet-Face, "I will order my boys to attack."

I couldn't help but squeeze both my fists in frustration. This wasn't just a game, it was deadly violence and Sweet-Face was making light of that fact.

I decided to lean on my Intuition ability, tapping into the power with Slip's help.

Why's he doing this? I asked inside my head.

To keep his men safe, Slip resonated back, He seems to genuinely want to protect them.

"Let's do it," Clang's voice rang, "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Wait," I resonated, "There's a chance you'll have to sit this fight out."

"What if the dice is loaded? Huh? Huh? Anybody think of that?" Miss Toontastic squeaked.

"IT IS NOT," Sweet-Face shouted furiously, "I NEVER CHEAT."

My mind raced with all the possible outcomes.

"What are we waiting for?" Clang's voice rang.

"Wait," I resonated, "Do you think you could just stand and watch Miss Toontastic fight to the death with this guy?"

Clang considered my point.

"No," Clang's voice rang.

"I couldn't either," I resonated.

"I can take him!" Miss Toontastic squeaked, "Let me at him!"

"How about this," I resonated, with my attention fixed on Sweet-Face, "We'll play your game, but we get to choose one of us to be in the fight no matter what."

Sweet-Face cocked his head to the side, and him doing so was, in its own way, chilling. His gaze, even behind the melted marshmallow-eyes, was coldly calculating and confident.

"You speak for all your friends?" said Sweet-Face.

I looked at the others. One after the other, including Marbelle, gave slow nods to affirm they agreed with my amendment to the game.

"Yes," I resonated, "Is that a deal?"

"No," said Sweet-Face, "I have not decided yet."

Sweet-Face raised the cube in his hand a little higher.

"Dark side, I agree with your change to the game," he said, "Light side, I do not."

Sweet-Face chucked the cube into the air. I readied myself for trouble, should Sweet-Face be bluffing the entire time just to pop off an attack whilst we were distracted with the cube. He remained stoically calm however as he watched the cube land and roll across the concrete.

The concrete playground was on a partial incline, so the cube started to roll down the playground for several turns before coming to its final stop several paces away.

The cube landed on the dark side.

"Yay!" Miss Toontastic squeaked, and it was hard not to smirk a little from the relief of my change to the game going ahead.

"Okay," said Sweet-Face, "You have your change. Now choose which of you will fight."

"Slip," Clang's voice rang, "It's got to be me."

Clang saw my hesitation, and I could see the frustration roiling on his face as a result.

"Choose now," said Sweet-Face.

"You three lovelies are strong, aren't you?" said Marbelle.

The increasing stakes of the situation were clearly giving her reason to doubt the whole thing. Not least because she hadn't seen any of us fight before.

"Oh we're tough alright," Miss Toontastic squeaked.

"We've already been through Hell and back," Clang's voice rang.

"Well, that's reassuring," said Marbelle.

"Fine," I resonated, having finally reached my decision, "Clang, you're in no matter what."

"Yes!" Clang's voice rang.

"That okay with you, Miss Toontastic?" I resonated.

"You betcha," Miss Toontastic squeaked.

"Marbelle?" I resonated.

"Let's go for it," said Marbelle, giving me a double-thumbs up as if holding invisible handguns.

Flump!

A wet line of marshmallow rope shot out from Sweet-Face's palm and attached to the cube. With one arm thrust he drew the cube back into his palm, the marshmallow-rope he had created wrapped around his forearm then sunk back into the mass of marshmallow as if it were never there to begin with.

"You," said Sweet-Face, pointing at Marbelle.

He let the cube drop by his marshmallow feet. It rolled several times, and landed on the light side.

"You are out," said Sweet-Face.

Marbelle visibly deflated, looking relieved not to have to fight.

Flump!

Sweet-Face retracted the cube back again.

"You," said Sweet-Face, pointing at Miss Toontastic.

"Me?" squeaked Miss Toontastic, as if bashful to have the spotlight on her.

Sweet-Face rolled the cube.

It turned over. And over. And over. Dark. Then light. Dark. Then light. Until finally it settled on…

…light.

"Out," said Sweet-Face.

"Drat," Miss Toontastic squeaked as she pouted with a half-lidded expression.

Flump!

Sweet-Face retracted the cube back into his grip again.

"You," he said, pointing at me, "Last one."

I sucked in a breath.

If the cube didn't land on its dark-side for me, that meant Clang was going to have to fight Sweet-Face all on his own. Whilst I had decided to trust in Clang, I knew just how dangerous any Mouse could be when pushed to their physical and mental brink. Clang was strong, but could he handle a one-on-one against something like that?

Sweet-Face let the cube roll.

It turned over, and over, and over.

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