Glitch's POV

"It is time."

I stopped swinging my new spear at Choco and looked at Hood. Choco, who I was training with, took the opportunity to sweep my feet out from under me and point her staff at my throat.

I rolled my eyes. Choco grinned and held her hand out to me. I took it and she pulled me up.

"The Radish Festival is starting?" Naomi was asking as we walked over to the other three.

Hood nodded. "It begins in a few minutes in Victor Square. Now is your opportunity to sneak your way into the mansion and rescue Rebel."

"And Cook," Choco added.

"So, we just go?" Leo asked. "Just like that?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Let's go, guys," I said.

"Thank you for everything," Naomi said to Hood. "The place to stay, the upgrades, everything."

Hood didn't respond, but I like to imagine he was smiling under his hood.

Without another word, the four of us left Hood's room and began making our way to the mansion.

The streets were eerily quiet. Everyone was at the Radish Festival, which was on the other side of the city. It was a requirement to go, after all. I didn't know the consequences of not attending the festival, but it probably went something along the lines of death.

Even though the streets were absent of both people and bots, we kept to the shadows, silently running to the mansion. At one point, I accidentally stepped on an empty soda can, and the other three violently shushed me. I gestured to the emptiness around us, but they didn't seem to care.

As we kept making our way to the mansion, I got a terrible feeling in my stomach, like something was going to go horribly wrong. But I kept it to myself, because it's not like I have magical powers predicting the future or anything. I pushed through the feeling and kept up with the others.

We arrived at the gates to the Radish Mansion. There were no bots standing guard outside this time, which was odd.

"You'd think he'd leave at least some security behind," Choco muttered.

"What if this is a trap?" Leo asked. "What if Hood is working for Todd and was just trying to lure us back here so we can get caught?"

"That's possible," I agreed.

"Then why would he have given us these upgraded weapons?" Naomi asked. "And we know the Radish Festival is tonight. I saw signs on the way here."

"I dunno. I'm getting mixed feelings about this," Choco replied. "Maybe we shouldn't go in."

"Well, even if Todd is in there with an ambush, I'm sure we can defeat him with these new weapons," Leo said.

"Yeah. I say we go in," Naomi added.

Choco hesitated. "Okay. Let's do it."

They all looked at me.

"I don't know. It seems like a bad idea, but I don't think we have any other options at this point," I said slowly. "Let's go."

We cautiously made our way across the lawn of the mansion. It was dark, which was unusual. It was always lit, even at night.

We reached the golden doors. The four of us looked at each other again, nodded, then burst into the mansion.

It was completely dark inside. The only light came from the moon through the windows in the roof.

"Rebel!" Leo whisper-yelled. "We're here to rescue you!"

There was no reply. No bots, no humans, no nothing.

"Well this is interesting," I commented sarcastically.

"There's really nobody here," Choco muttered. "How dumb can Todd be?"

"Let's look around the mansion for Rebel," Naomi suggested. The four of us agreed and split up to search.

I ran my hand along the wall underneath the golden staircases, looking for a secret door that could possibly hold prisoners. I found the door that the Roll Bot came out of a few days ago. Next to it was a small computer screen. I inspected it curiously. If I had my own computer, I could definitely hack into that thing.

Finding nothing of note under the staircases, I continued up the stairs to the balcony area. It was filled with monitors, a holo-table, and a few chairs. I could tell this was where Todd watched the progress of the Games. Everything was turned off right now. I looked around, wondering if I should turn any of them on.

"There's nothing in this entire stupid mansion," Choco complained as she walked up the stairs.

"Yeah. This is really weird," I said.

"Find anything?" Leo asked as he walked up the stairs as well. "Cuz I didn't."

Choco and I shook our heads. "I don't know what this means," I said.

"Cook! Where are you?!" Choco yelled. Her voice echoed off the walls, but there was no response.

Naomi came up the stairs. "Why are you yelling? What if we get caught?"

"Caught?" Choco scoffed. "Caught?! Look around! There's nobody here!" She swung her arms as she said this, accidentally hitting one of the monitors behind her. It turned on.

Live footage of the Radish Festival was playing. On the stage, waving to everyone, were Todd and Rebel.

***

Rebel's POV

I hate my life.

I stood backstage in a sparkly purple dress Todd insisted I wear. I hated dresses, but he basically forced me to put it on.

The Radish Festival hadn't started yet, but I could hear the entire population of the city on the other side of the curtain, waiting for Todd to make his appearance and declare his special announcement.

Why did I agree to be his cohost? I wondered. Nothing good is going to come out of this.

I thought about running away, but the dumb radish brought basically all of his bots with him. They were surrounding the entire festival, so there was no escape. Just like there was no escape from Todd.

Speak of the devil, Todd entered backstage. He walked over to me with a big smile. "You look nervous. Are you nervous? Have some water." He handed me a glass.

I shrugged and took a sip. "The entire city is out there."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Todd reassured me. "It'll be fine. After this we can go get some Steak 'n Shake or something to celebrate."

"That place isn't even real," I muttered.

Todd looked behind him. "Oh. I'm on. See you out there soon!" He patted me on the shoulder and ran out on the stage to thunderous applause from the citizens.

I rolled my eyes. How could everyone love him so much? He kills kids, for god's sake. But the only people who actually hated him were the other victors and I.

Speaking of them, I wondered where they were right now. Last I saw them they were fighting the Roll Bot with me, then escaped. I hoped they were okay.

Todd was talking to the audience, but I couldn't hear him. Blood was rushing to my ears. Everything was getting blurry. I dropped the glass of water, and could hear it shatter. I didn't know what was happening. One of the Radish bots signaled to me and pointed to the curtains. I assumed that was my cue and stumbled out onto the stage.

The spotlights were blinding; the applause was deafening; my other senses were going numb. But I did my best to smile and wave like Todd instructed me to do.

"The one and only victor of the first Radish Games, and my new cohost: Rebel!" I could hear that from Todd loud and clear, but everything else was drowned out for some reason. I looked at Todd, who was smiling and gesturing to me like I was his prized possession.

"From now on, Rebel and I are both the hosts of the Games!" He continued, but I couldn't hear him anymore. I was focusing on the feeling inside me, which was no longer anxiety.

As I took in the applause and cheers, the feeling inside me turned to excitement.

***

Naomi's POV

"What the hell is she doing there?" Leo yelled at the monitor.

"Hood said she'd be here!" Choco shouted.

"Would you guys be quiet?!" I asked. "I'm trying to hear what he's saying!"

Leo and Choco shut up, but they didn't look happy about it. We listened closer to the TV.

"The one and only victor of the first Radish Games, and my new cohost: Rebel!" Todd was saying.

"Cohost?!" Choco and Leo started yelling some more.

"Calm down, guys," Glitch said. "Maybe he's forcing her to do this."

"She looks pretty happy about it," Leo said, gesturing to the screen. Rebel was, in fact, grinning on the stage as she waved to the audience. "I can't believe we went through all this trouble to save her."

"She could just be faking it," I reasoned. "I mean, come on. It's Todd. He most likely didn't give her a choice."

"Yeah, he probably said if she didn't look happy about it, he'd kill her," Glitch added.

"Does this mean Hood lied to us?" Choco asked.

"I don't think he could've known she was going to be his cohost. He probably genuinely thought she was gonna be here," I replied.

"You're too trusting of people," Leo told me. I shrugged.

"Nah, I agree with her. It's not like he was trying to send us into a trap. There's nothing here," Glitch said. Choco nodded in agreement.

"Well, what do we do now?" Leo asked.

The four of us fell silent, trying to come up with the best solution to our problem.

After a few moments, Choco spoke. "We go to the Festival, get Cook and Rebel, and get out of there."

"I dunno, aren't all of the bots down there?" Glitch asked.

"Probably. But it's not like we can't take them," Leo answered, swinging his new pistol around.

"The Roll bot probably isn't down there," Choco added.

"But literally the entire city is," I pointed out. "How are we gonna find them?"

"Easy. Rebel will be signing autographs or whatever," Leo said.

"And Cook will be in a secluded area surrounded by bots, most likely," Choco added.

"So, we slip in, rescue those two, and slip out?" Glitch asked.

"Yep," Leo replied.

"Then what?" I asked.

"We figure out the best possible way to put an end to Todd's reign," Choco answered.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Glitch said.

"Let's go save Rebel. For real this time," Leo said.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fun fact: the Steak 'n Shake comment was a reference to the fact that Rebel and I just met up in person for the second time at a Steak 'n Shake a few days ago.

Anyway, here's your update. I hate this book, but I'm gonna finish it lmao

eventually

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

~Radishologist