Rereading the last chapter as a refresher may be a good idea.

~~~~~~~~~~

Leo's POV

I set Choco's unconscious body down in an alleyway we had turned into. No bots had followed us yet, but we couldn't be sure. It was past midnight now. There was nobody on the streets, but there were still streetlights illuminating the city.

"Damn, she's heavy," I wheezed.

"What are we gonna do?" Naomi asked, pacing about the alley. "Rebel is gone, and Todd is definitely gonna hunt us down! We can't go back to our houses because he knows where we all live! We have nowhere to go!"

"Calm down," Glitch said. "We'll figure this out. Together."

I scoffed. "You act like we're friends. Before today, we only knew about each other because we're all murderers."

Glitch and Naomi looked at me, shocked expressions on their faces. I didn't know why; everything I said was true. We killed to win those games. We're nothing but cold-blooded killers.

"Don't think of it like that," Naomi said. "Think of us as the only ones who understand each other. We're not friends, but we can be." Glitch nodded in agreement.

I rolled my eyes, but I felt a twinge somewhere inside. There was an awkward silence, so I broke it. "I need to go back to my garage to stock up on nukes."

"What? We can't go back there," Glitch said. "Todd knows where you live. There are probably bots there right now."

I shrugged. "They won't see me. I'll be stealthy."

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Naomi said.

"Too bad, I'm going. I'll be back in half an hour."

Without another look at the three, I ran out of the alleyway and towards my house.

It didn't take very long to get there. Since my dad is a diplomat, we live close to the Radish's mansion. But as I turned the corner onto my street, I immediately knew something was wrong.

A squadron of Radish Bots was filing into my house.

My first instinct was to protect my father; to run over there and kill all the bots. But I knew I didn't stand a chance against them without my nukes. And at the moment, I barely had any.

So, I slowly made my way towards the house, hiding behind bushes and mailboxes until I arrived at the garage of my house. All the bots were inside at this point, so I slowly opened the garage door, slipped inside, and closed it behind me.

It was pitch black in the garage now that all the doors were closed, but I knew my way around the room like the back of my hand. First, I felt my way over to my chest full of nukes. I carefully opened it and tossed as many as I could into my tool belt.

Next, I made my way over to my workbench. I picked up random tools and materials and threw them into my tool belt as well.

I stopped as I saw my paper with the results of the EMP nuke. "Nineteen failures," I muttered with a sigh. Even so, I threw it and its parts in my tool belt.

Now, you may be wondering: "Didn't Leo use a electro-pulse nuke at the Radish mansion?"

The answer is yes, but electro-pulse and electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) are two very different things. See, the difference is—

Suddenly, a noise came from inside the house. The door began to open, so I ran and slid underneath the old car in the middle of the garage just before the lights turned on.

"I told you, he's not in here. He left earlier today and hasn't come back," I heard my dad saying in a tired voice. "Now can you kindly leave so I can get back to sleep? I have a very important meeting tomorrow."

I didn't hear a response from the Radish bots, but I did hear them hovering around the garage. I crossed my fingers, praying they wouldn't find me.

After a few more agonizing seconds, I heard a Radish bot speak. "He is not here. The Supreme Radish thanks you for your time."

I heard my dad muttering and the bots hovering out of the garage. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, then pulled myself out from under the car.

After collecting a few more materials, I slipped back out of the garage and ran back towards the alleyway where I left Choco, Naomi, and Glitch.

***

Choco's POV

"I call her Roll!" Todd shouted gleefully.

The giant insect-like robot rolled towards us. We dove out of the way. When I stood back up, I charged at the bot with a battle cry.

Roll swiftly lifted one of its metal legs towards me. I couldn't dodge in time, and the next thing I knew, I was flying through the air and hit the wall, blacking out.

I gasped and sat up, ready to jump back into the fight. But I wasn't in the solid gold room anymore.

"She's awake!" a voice exclaimed.

I looked around, confused. It was dark, so I could barely see anything. It was also cold. I was outside.

"Hey, hey, calm down," another voice said. "Choco? It's us. Naomi and Glitch."

I searched for the voice, and finally found two vaguely outlined figures on the wall opposite me. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized we were in an alleyway.

"What happened? Did we kill Todd?" I asked.

Neither of the two responded for a few seconds. Then, Naomi spoke. "No. We had to run from the Roll bot. It would've killed us."

I groaned. "I could've stopped it."

"That thing flicked you aside like you were a fly," Glitch said.

I stood up, ready to fight, but my head started swimming. I sat back down.

"You were hit pretty hard. Take it easy for awhile," Naomi said.

"Where are Leo and Rebel?" I asked, ignoring her.

"Leo is dumb and went home to get more nukes. Rebel was taken by Roll. Todd has her," Glitch explained.

"You guys left Rebel there?!" I shouted. Glitch shushed me, looking at the entrance to the alley warily.

"We had to," Naomi replied solemnly. "There was no way we could get to her."

I stood up again, this time ignoring the pain in my head. "We have to save her."

"We can't just barge back in there and expect to come out alive," Glitch replied. "We need to regroup and come up with a better plan."

"We don't have time for that!" I yelled. "Todd could kill Rebel at any moment!"

"Would you stop yelling?" Glitch asked.

"Think about it, Choco," Naomi said. "Todd won't kill Rebel. She won the first Games, so everyone knows her. I don't know what he'll do to her, but we will rescue her. Eventually."

I sighed, knowing Naomi was right. But I didn't like it.

Footsteps came from behind us. I whirled around, raising my fists to fight off the Radish bots.

But it was just Leo. He held up his hands in fake surrender. "Glad to see you awake."

Naomi came over and punched Leo on the shoulder. "Never run off like that again."

Leo scoffed. "Sorry, mom. But I got what I need."

"Did you see any bots?" Glitch asked.

"Yeah, there was a ton of 'em in my house. I slipped past them, though," Leo answered.

"Why were they in your house?" I asked.

"Questioning my dad on where I was and stuff," Leo replied with a yawn.

My heart dropped. Cook.

Without a word, I sprinted out of the alleyway and down the street.

The only thoughts going through my mind as I twisted and turned through the city were of my brother.

If the bots hurt him, I swear...

I barged through the front door of my small house. It was dark inside.

"Cook?!" I called.

No response.

I ran through the house, turning on all the lights, calling for my brother. I didn't find him anywhere.

I stopped in his room and sat down on his bed with a sigh. "He's probably just out drinking again," I said to myself.

Something on the floor caught my eye. It was a pile of smashed glass that definitely came from a beer bottle.

Nearby the pile of glass was the unmistakable severed head of a Radish bot.

***

Rebel's POV

I slowly opened my eyes as my alarm clock went off. I hated my alarm clock because I loved sleep. Groaning, I went to turn it off, but it wasn't there.

I turned my head, and saw a Radish bot staring at me.

I jumped and looked around. There were bots surrounding me.

Then I realized I wasn't in my house. Then I remembered what had happened, and where I was. I was sitting in a chair in a room in the Radish mansion that I hadn't seen yet. I could tell it was up the stairs that were in the solid gold lobby.

"Good morning, sunshine," came the voice I despised. Todd walked towards me, still wearing his casual clothing and big grin.

"It is currently 11:42pm, sir," one of the Radish bots corrected him.

"Shut up," Todd replied without taking his eyes off me. "How was your sleep?" This was addressed to me.

I didn't respond. Instead, I took in my surroundings.

The room was actually part of the gold lobby, as it was the balcony of that room. It was also solid gold, but had dozens of monitors all over the place. There was also a big holo-table in the center, but it was turned off.

I wasn't restrained in any way, but my diamond sword was nowhere in sight. I couldn't fight my way out of this one.

The good news was that I didn't see any of the other victors. Which meant they had escaped.

"Are you hungry?" Todd inquired.

"What do you want from me?" I asked coldly.

The Supreme Radish sighed. "Oh, nothing."

"Then let me go home," I said.

Todd chuckled. "Let you go home? After you rallied the other victors and tried to kill me? I don't think so."

"Can you blame me?" I shot back. "You're a monster that kills kids for fun."

"Not for fun, no," Todd said, turning away from me.

I was silent for a few seconds, but he didn't say anything else. "What do you want from me?" I asked again.

"I just want to make you understand."

Todd turned on the holo-table in the center of the room. A miniature version of the arena I hated was projected above it.

"You see, my dear Rebel, everything I do is for a reason." He pressed some buttons, causing the projection to zoom in. There was a battle occurring between a girl and a guy, both who wielded swords. They seemed to be holding back, like they didn't really want to be fighting.

"This is Ry and Andrew," Todd explained. "They worked together for awhile, and even developed feelings for one another. But then they remembered there can only be one winner. They had an argument, which turned into a full-blown fight."

The tiny figures in the hologram were still clashing sword against sword, but didn't land any hits on each other.

Todd continued. "You see, hosting the Games is like owning a little piece of the universe. All of these relationships form, all because I put them in that arena. I made all of this happen."

I was confused. "What does this have to do with anything? Why are you telling me all this?"

Todd didn't reply at first. He pressed a button on the table and pointed at one of the monitors, which showed what was happening in the hologram, but in better picture.

Andrew began stepping backwards as Ry swung her sword at him. When his foot touched the ground, a small explosion was heard, and Andrew wasn't there anymore. The death cannon sounded.

My jaw dropped, but Todd was smiling. On the screen, Ry backed away slowly, horror plastered on her face.

Todd turned to me. "Because, Rebel. I want you to be my cohost."

~~~~~~~~~~

Lmao I have no idea where I'm going with this book

But I promised myself I'd finish it, and I intend to keep that promise.

What will happen next? Comment your predictions here!

When will I update next? Comment your predictions here!

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

~Radishologist