Choco's POV

I snorted, breaking the dramatic silence following Rebel's announcement. "Take down the Supreme Radish? That's impossible."

"You only say that because it's never been attempted before," Rebel retorted.

That statement took me aback. "Never been attempted before? My parents died rebelling against Todd. People have been attempting for years, and nobody has even come close to succeeding."

"She's right," Naomi pitched in. "My parents also died trying to take him down."

"So did my mother," Leo muttered.

We all looked at Glitch, who looked startled. "Uh...I don't personally know anyone who died revolting against the Supreme Radish, but I've heard of people dying in that way."

"They all died in organized, wide-scale revolutions," Rebel said. "I'm not talking about a simple protest. I'm talking about breaking into Todd's mansion and assassinating him."

That certainly changed my perspective. "Sounds good to me!" I said gleefully.

"Isn't there a more peaceful way to dethrone him?" Naomi asked. "I don't want to be seen as a murderer. See, I'm waiting for a letter from—"

"You won't be seen as a murderer. I'm going to be the one to put my sword right through his cold, dead heart," Rebel replied.

"Hang on, I'd like to do that as well," I whined.

"Same," Leo grinned.

"We can take turns," Rebel suggested.

"Yes!" I shouted.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Leo exclaimed.

Naomi groaned.

"Okay, okay, okay, I get that we all want to kill Todd, but I just have one question. How the hell are we gonna do that?" Glitch spoke up. "He has a huge army of robots, and probably tons of security."

"Don't worry," Rebel answered. "I have a plan."

I scoffed. "You? Plan? We saw how you won the first Games. You were winging the entire thi—"

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door. Everyone ducked to the ground and looked in its direction.

"Uh, did you invite anyone else to this little meeting?" Leo asked.

Rebel shook her head and put a finger to her lips. The banging sounded on the door again.

"What do we do?" Naomi whispered.

I stood up. "This." I began to walk towards the door, balling my fists.

"Woah woah woah woah!" Rebel ran so she was in front of me and put a hand on my chest to stop me. "Those are probably bots. We can't let them see us."

I frowned. "Why not? I can just destroy them all."

"With your bare hands?" Leo asked from behind me.

"Yes."

"No," Rebel said. "All the Radish bots have cameras inside of them so Todd can see what they see. If he sees the five of us having a secret meeting in an abandoned warehouse, we'll never get to kill him."

I groaned. "Fine. What are we supposed to do, then? They're gonna break down that door." The banging increased in volume.

Rebel looked around the warehouse. She pointed above us. "Up there."

We looked up. There was a catwalk hanging from the ceiling, which was probably where Rebel had jumped down from earlier. The only problem was that I didn't see any way to get up to it.

"How did you get up there in the first place?" Glitch asked Rebel.

"I climbed on the outside of the building. But that's not an option right now," Rebel answered. "Maybe if we all stand on each others' shoulders..."

"That thing is like thirty feet high," Leo pointed out.

"Wait," I said. "That light is hanging from a wire from the catwalk. If we can climb up it, we can get up there".

The wire didn't look very sturdy. It looked like the light was barely hanging onto it.

But it was our only shot.

The door shook on its hinges as the banging got even louder.

"Okay seriously, how have they not broken through that yet?" I asked.

"Bots are dumb," Rebel replied. "Come on. Up the wire."

"I'm not climbing that thing," Glitch said. "It's gonna break."

"It's our only chance! Go!" Rebel ordered.

"I'll go first," I volunteered. I stood below the light and jumped as high as I could, grabbing onto it.

It was hot. "Ow!" I yelled, and made my way to the wire so I wasn't holding onto the burning lamp. The wire swung a little from my momentum, but it held.

The door shook on its hinges again, and I'm pretty sure I heard some bolts fly off as I began climbing my way up the wire.

"You all need to get up there now!" Rebel ordered.

I felt the wire swing more as Naomi, Leo, and Glitch jumped up to the light one by one. Now there were four of us on one unstable wire. I could hear it creaking.

"Climb faster!" Leo hissed up at us.

Finally, I made it to the top of the wire and managed to climb my way around to the catwalk. About a minute later, Naomi and Leo were up there too. Glitch was almost at the top. Rebel was still on the ground for some reason.

"What is she doing?" Naomi asked.

"Heck if we know," I replied. "I censored myself. Happy?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, the wire snapped off the catwalk with Glitch on it. Acting quickly—and probably stupidly, I grabbed the wire.

The weight of Glitch and the light yanked me to the edge of the catwalk, but luckily there was a railing. Leo and Naomi immediately grabbed the wire as well and helped me pull it up.

Glitch finished climbing and hopped onto the catwalk. "God, that was terrifying."

I let go of the wire, which Naomi and Leo were not expecting, so the weight of the light caused them to drop it as well. It crashed to the floor below.

At the same time, the door burst off its hinges, and at least a dozen bots filed into the warehouse, their weapons pointed at Rebel.

***

Rebel's POV

I stared at the dozen or so Radish bots that burst into the warehouse. I probably looked strange, standing in a dark warehouse with a smashed light next to me. It would be completely dark, but the bots left the door open and some light was able to filter in.

Before the bots could speak, I lifted my chin at them. "Sup?"

"Rebel. Victor of the first Radish Games. You are to come with us to the Supreme Radish," one of the bots said in a metallic voice after scanning me.

"Bob, is that you? Have you lost weight?" I asked the bot. "You're looking mighty slim!"

"You are to come with us," the bot repeated, hovering forward a few inches.

"Is that Chris back there?" I asked, pointing at one of the other bots. "Yo Chris! How's the wife?"

All of the bots began hovering towards me. I moved back a couple steps. "Y'all don't have to do this. That loser Tood is forcing you to obey his dumb commands."

One of the bots' chests became a television screen, and that loser Tood was staring at me from his mansion.

"Dumb commands? Rude," he said.

I shrugged. "Stalking me while I'm on a date is kinda dumb."

"Why are you on a date in an abandoned warehouse?" he asked.

"It's romantic," I replied simply.

"Mhm. And where's your date?"

"You just missed him. He went home."

"What's his name?"

"None of your business."

"I'm the ruler of this land. Everything is my business."

"You sir, are a stalker."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"No you."

"No you."

***

Leo's POV

"Oh no," Naomi whispered as the bots burst into the warehouse, aiming their weapons at Rebel.

"We have to help her," Glitch said.

"How? You heard her. We can't let them see all of us together," Choco replied.

"I wish I had a working EMP nuke," I muttered.

"Is she talking to them?" Naomi asked.

I listened. It sounded like she was having a causal conversation with the bots.

"That girl is crazy," Choco chuckled.

"Guys!" Glitch exclaimed. He was pointing to the other end of the catwalk, where there was an old and dusty-looking computer. "If I can get that thing to work, I can hack into the bots' system and shut them down!"

"Uh, that thing looks like it hasn't been turned on in decades," I pointed out.

Glitch raced over to it. "It's worth a shot." He pressed the power button.

A loud startup sound emanated from the computer, and the four of us ducked in case the bots looked up at us. I peered over the edge, but it didn't look like any of them had heard.

"I'm surprised that ancient thing turned on," Choco mumbled.

As soon as the fossil computer was done starting up, Glitch began typing away at the keyboard, doing who knows what. I didn't see how he would be able to shut down the bots with that thing.

But sure enough, less than a minute later I heard the sound of metal falling to the floor. I looked down, and all of the bots had deactivated and lay dead on the floor. Rebel looked up at us.

"How did you do that?" she called.

"Glitch hacks," I replied with a shrug.

Glitch grinned.

We all jumped down to the floor, and Rebel closed the door to the warehouse. Now we were in complete darkness.

"Alright. Breaking into Todd's mansion. Here's the plan," Rebel said.

~~~~~~~~~~

Well it took 2 chapters for this book to become boring lmao

Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just out of curiosity: is there anyone reading this that didn't participate in the kik comps?

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!

~Radishologist