"The Ballin' Pranksters in… Prankers Exposed!"

Chapter 1

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

~In the city of Eugene, Oregon, 2035…

Sirens.

That's the first thing the three of them heard as they ran down the shadows of the mansion.

The rooms around them were pitch black, with only the light of the moon to show them the way. It left an uneasy feeling in their stomachs.

Next, there were loud sounds of footsteps.

But they weren't the calm, causal kinds they'd hear as they walked down the city streets. These sounded aggressive. They echoed throughout the mansion and they made the fleeing trio more nervous. They knew these footsteps were coming closer and closer, which made them worry they wouldn't get out in time.

Finally, blending in with the sounds of the footsteps, were angry shouts and growls.

"Where the hell did they go!?"

"They went this way, Mrs. Withers! I see them!"

"Lock down all the doors! Don't let them escape!"

Crap!

That was the word that replayed in the minds of the trio, as they made a sharp right turn and were met by black-suited men with tranquilizer guns in their hands. With their black sunglasses reflecting in the moonlight, they aimed their flashlights forward and got a better look at the people they were chasing after, surprised by their unnatural appearances.

But it wasn't their facial appearances that through them off, it was their choice of clothing.

There was a boy on the right who had white skin, bluebell eyes, and shoulder-length brown hair. For his attire, he had a brown top hat with a white belt and a golden buckle going across it. Over his face was a grey domino mask and his suit made him look like he was DC Comics' Superman. In other words, he had a grey spandex suit with brown accents on his arms and legs. His belt was white with a gold buckle and he had a large brown cape. Lastly, he had black underwear on the outside of his suit.

In the middle of his belt were two golden letters, "LC" which stood for his name, Luther Crusoe.

All the way to his left was an African American woman that was an inch taller than he was. Aside from having dark skin, she had purple-colored contacts for eyes and had a small black afro for hair. Her costume wasn't as fancy as Luther Crusoe's, but it was something that made her stand out.

Covering her face and nose was a dark green domino mask that had purple splotches going around the eyes. She also wore a dark green skin-tight suit with purple accents up the knees, upper arms, hands, and neck. Her fingers were covered by dark green gloves with forest green fingertips. She wore purple boots and on the sides were silver-painted ankle jetpacks. Over her body was a white lab coat and she had a dark purple belt with a gold buckle.

Lastly, she had two green letters that had a purple outline around them. The letters were, "MP", which were the initials for her codename: Mad Potion.

Finally, there was another young girl in the middle, and she was the exact same height as the only male in the group. With peach-colored skin, her eyes were emerald green and the top part of her brown whereas the bottom part was auburn. It was tied in a ponytail thanks to a pink hairband.

Her costume was nothing too special like her friends, but it was enough to make her noticeable.

She wore a costume made up of many tiny hexagonal patterns that was colored pink. Alongside yellow gloves, there were large yellow stripes on her shoulders that formed diamond-like shapes. With a brown belt with several pouches, she had a strap that ran diagonally over her left shoulder. She wore a pink cape with a yellow outline on the edge of it and last and she had a mask similar to Mad Potion's, meaning it was pink and had a yellow outline.

Last but not least, she had an image of a piece of gum exploding and it revealed her initials, written in pink letters and outlined with a yellow line. "BG" which stood for… Bubblegum. In her hands was a brown notebook with a white piece of tape across it. Written in red marker was the word, "PERSONAL JOURNAL."

Together, the three of them called themselves the Ballin' Pranksters.

But just who were they and what were they doing inside a dark mansion?

The security guards pinning them down with guns didn't care to think about their answer, as they were only focused on taking them down and bringing them to the authorities.

The three teenagers shielded their eyes from the lights and took a few steps back, hoping to find a way of escape. But as they walked faster and faster, the guards got more impatient and felt their trigger fingers itch.

"Hold it right there, kids!" one guard snarled.

"You freaks ain't going anywhere!" another one grunted.

"Oh, yes, we are!" Bubblegum smirked, removing her yellow hand from her eyes.

Before the security guards can make a move, the costumed vigilante reached into her left pouch and whipped out three gooey pink balls. Chucking them forward, she watched them land on the ground and bounce near the guards.

They looked down at the same time and wondered what happened, unaware their answer was coming the hard way. Scratching their heads, they were about to shoot the three kids before…

SPLAT!

…the three slimeballs exploded and trapped them in a sticky substance, one that was nearly impossible for them to get out of.

"See ya later, losers!" Bubblegum waved, as she grabbed her friends by their wrists and exited the hallway they were in. As they ran, they listened to the guards grunting and struggling, screaming for backup.

Kicking open the door to another hallway, they looked left and right before they went down the latter direction, making their way towards the nearest exit. But in the process, Luther Crusoe had something to get off his chest.

"Hey, Michelle," he said to Bubblegum. "Who said that this was a day idea? Who told you we were going to get caught? WHO told you we should've stayed home and had my mother's handcrafted macaroni and cheese? Oh, yeah… ME! It was me; I said this whole operation was going to go wrong? But did any of you listen to me!? NO! Why? Because you all think I'm some kind of bone head!"

BAM!

The ranting teenager's face rammed into a bronze pole when he finished his remark.

Falling on his rear, he quickly got back up and felt the entire world spinning around him. His dizziness was bad to the point where he imagined pieces of macaroni with angel wings flying around his head. Waving his arms around, he nearly tripped on his own feet before he was caught by his two best friends.

"Yeah, yeah, quit your bitchin', Luther Crusoe," Bubblegum moaned. "We screwed up, so what? We can get through this."

"How?" Mad Potion inquired. "They've got guards locking down the doors, how do you expect us to get out of here?"

"You're the brains of this operation. Why are you asking me that?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know. Maybe because you're the team leader!"

"Oh… yeah, I forget that sometimes."

Helping Luther Crusoe on his feet, Bubblegum and Mad Potion followed close behind him as they approached the doors. But suddenly, the brown doors were kicked open by an army of black-suited guards armed with more tranquilizer guns. Luther Crusoe screamed and so did Mad Potion. Bubblegum smirked once again and halted her teammates. She snapped her fingers and pointed to the woman in green and purple spandex.

"Mad Potion, now!" Bubblegum pointed.

"You got it, Bubblegum!" the young genius nodded, as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small toy blaster. At first, it didn't look like much aside from a yellow and black toy but when she pressed a red button on the side, the size of it increased and it was longer than it was before. With the weapon landing in her hands, she aimed it forward and shouted, "Who's hungry!?"

Pulling the trigger, Mad Potion shot five whole key lime pies at the security guards and blinded them with white cream and delicious flavoring.

"Luther Crusoe, you're with me, let's go!" Bubblegum waved to him, as she ran towards the sightless minions.

"Wasn't I with you this whole time?" Luther Crusoe asked, following her from behind.

Bubblegum flexed her cape before she climbed on top of a desk drawer and leaped into the air. As she was airborne, she pulled out two toy blasters and dual-wielded them in her hands. Spinning them around, she shot brown-colored balls forward and watched them fly towards the guards that removed the key lime deserts from their faces.

One by one, the brown balls opened up and released tiny red robots that looked like black widow spiders.

The micro-sized robots attached themselves to the guards and crawled up the inside of their pants. As soon as they got to their backs, the guards felt a million legs touching their bodies and began to freak out. Screaming in utter terror, they fell to the ground and began itching every part of their body, hoping to kill the spiders before they could get bitten.

Bubblegum and the Ballin' Pranksters knew those robots weren't capable of housing any deadly venom, but they kept that to themselves because they didn't see the point in telling them.

As some guards scratched themselves and others brushed pie off their faces, Luther Crusoe was quickly surrounded by two that just came into the room.

Loading their tranquilizer darts, they aimed them at the young boy.

"Surrender now, kid!" one threatened. "You got nowhere to run!"

Putting his hands up, he revealed that he had two red buttons in the center of his palms.

"You got it!" he exclaimed, pressing the buttons with his thumbs.

Two electric streaks suddenly came out of his palms and stunned both guards in the blink of an eye. After they fell to the ground unconscious, the white and brown-costumed boy gulped and adjusted his old fashioned jacket. He approached the two guards and checked their pulses.

"I'm so sorry. I really hope that didn't severely injure the two of you. You see, this is the first time I'm using this advanced technology. I come from a family where technology's not exactly welcomed, so I gotta-"

"Luther Crusoe, let's go!" Mad Potion called, as she and Bubblegum knocked down the guards with single punches and kicks. When the last guard fell to the ground, they ran out the doors and into the next hallway. "Jesus Christ, how many god damn hallways are there!"

"Language, Van-I mean, Mad Potion!" Luther Crusoe shouted, running after his friends. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to all of these codenames!"

He joined them as soon as they stopped in the middle of the next hallway, which was no different than the other ones they previously encountered. Everywhere they looked, nothing but doors that led to different rooms in the mansion.

Looking left and right, the Ballin' Pranksters had no idea where to go next.

"Where should we go!?" Mad Potion asked.

"This way!" Bubblegum and Luther Crusoe pointed in opposite directions. Both of them looked at each other and the former grunted in annoyance and the latter gulped.

"No way, we're going left!" she demanded.

"Right!" Luther Crusoe replied.

"I know I'm right, now let's go!"

"No, I didn't mean right like that. I meant we're going in the right direction."

"Yes, we are. Now quit flapping your gums and follow me!"

"No, no, you're not understanding what I'm saying. I'm telling you we should be heading to the right, but you want to head to left. So, I believe we should be heading in the right direction."

"And the right direction is the left direction!"

"Now, that doesn't make sense!"

"Who the hell cares!?" Mad Potion shut both of them up with a loud shout. "Let's just get out of here!"

The Ballin' Pranksters immediately dove straight for the right when suddenly…

SLAM!

…the door across of them was kicked open and an armada of guards arrived.

The teenagers quickly turned around and ran in the other direction, only to be met with the exact same fate. Guards surrounded them from both sides and aimed their weapons high. They stood close together so that none of the teenagers could make a break for it.

Speaking of which, the three of them huddled together and gulped at the exact same time. Their eyes widened, sweat poured from their foreheads, and their knees began to buckle.

All three of them had no chance of escaping their current situation, which made them feel more uneasy.

Bubblegum, Luther Crusoe, and Mad Potion exchanged a glance before they all put their hands in the air. Well, everyone except Bubblegum, who held the notebook with an iron grip. She wasn't planning to go down too easily.

Just then, a pair of footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway.

They weren't as aggressive as the guards' loud stomps, but from the loud stomps they made, the teenagers could tell that this person was menacing and meant business. It didn't take long for them to meet their mysterious visitor, as she slowly bypassed a few guards. When she finally approached the kids at a far distance, she stopped and folded her arms, chuckling as if she was a supervillain.

"Well, well, well," she greeted with an ominous smile. "What do we have here?"

The Ballin' Pranksters looked into her cold, dead eyes, praying for a miracle to happen.

~Bubblegum's P.O.V.

All of you are probably thinking, "What the hell's going on here? Who are these kids? Why are they in this mansion? Someone, please tell me what's happening here!". Well, let me just say… Before I answer your questions, I think it's time for a brief introduction.

The boy sucking on his thumb is my best friend, Gregory Sport aka Luther Crusoe. I know I rag on him a lot, but he really is a good friend. Always by my side even in the direst of situations.

The girl to my right is named Vanessa Bowman aka The Mad Potion. Like Greg, she's had my back since kindergarten, and we've become the best of friends. She's the one that helped design these suits and made our freaky-ass gadgets. Pretty sweet, huh?

And then there's me. The one looking at our main antagonist as if I was a real superhero standing up to a real-life villain. The name's Michelle, Michelle Wittman. But for the sake of codenames, you can call me… Bubblegum. For as long as I can remember, I've been labeled as a master prankster. I'd screw around with my classmates and neighbors. Don't worry, I don't do anything harmful like spray them with mace or squeeze their face, I do harmless pranks like replace their grocery items with fake bugs or have them sit on a whoopie cushion. Old school pranking is my specialty and it's just the way I like it.

Together, you can call the three of us… The Ballin' Pranksters!

A trio of vigilantes out to take back what's rightfully mine!

Getting back to the questions, if I were to answer them here and now, we'd be here all day. So, I think it's better if I showed you all. In other words, I'm gonna take you guys back to when my friends and I squeezed our eight-grade asses into tight multi-colored spandex.

It all started a few weeks ago, where my friends and I were doing what we do best, screw around with the worst neighbor a girl like me could ask for, Susan Armstrong.

~END OF P.O.V