Rebel's POV

I watched from backstage as the Roll bot attacked the other four victors outside. I was the cause of this. I had called the bots on them and gotten them caught.

But they had tried to take me back to my old life. I didn't want that anymore. I had a new life that was much more glorious than before.

Todd entered backstage. He had a small scowl on his face, but grinned as soon as he saw me.

"Rebel! How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I replied.

"Good, good. I'm sorry they tried to take you away from your new life. Roll will get them out of your hair in a jiffy," Todd said cheerfully.

I nodded.

"Supreme Radish," a bot said. "The Games require your attention again."

Todd sighed. "Now what?"

"Alvin is about to lead Cole into one of his traps. This will end in the death of Cole," the bot replied.

Todd frowned. "Not Cole! I love how dramatic he is! But I can't kill Alvin, he's become hated by the fans, and they need someone in the Games to hate. Hmm..."

Now it was my turn to frown. Todd was acting like the contestants in the Games were characters that he controlled. This reminded me that he has rigged the competitions before, which sparked a question in my mind: were my Games rigged?

"Idea," Todd said to the bot. "Is there anyone else near Alvin's death trap right now?"

"Thomas is the closest in proximity to the trap," the bot answered.

"Kick him into it," Todd said. "Nobody really likes him anyway. Once he activates the trap, Alvin won't be able to lead Cole into it, correct?"

"Correct, Supreme Radish," the bot replied. A few seconds later, the unmistakeable cannon sounded.

"That was Thomas, good. Remind me who else is left?" Todd asked.

"The remaining contestants are Alvin, Cole, Collin, Jimmie, JT, Kelsey, Ry, Stab, Venn, and Yuri," the bot listed.

"Ah, the final ten. Perfect," Todd said. "How's Ry doing?"

"She's doing well. She befriended Collin, who is hated by everyone else so far."

"That's interesting," Todd replied. "And wh—"

"Did you rig my Games?"

Todd paused and looked at me. "What do you mean?"

"I know you rig the Games. Did you rig the one I was in?" I clarified.

"Guided, not rigged," Todd corrected me. "And yes, I did in some parts. But not severely."

I pondered this response. "So, theoretically, that could mean I didn't deserve my win?"

"Of course you deserve your win, Rebel!" Todd replied. "You would have won either way!"

His eyes widened.

Mine did the same as I processed what he just said. You would have won either way.

That means—

Before I could finish my thought, something huge came flying through the curtain and collided with us both. I blacked out.

***

Leo's POV

The Roll Bot roared and began to roll toward us. I raised my magnetic wave pistol and fired at it. It didn't affect the huge bot. The fancy pistol Hood gave me only worked on the smaller Radish bots.

I rummaged around in my tool belt, and that gave me an idea. I pulled out a piece of paper.

EMP Nuke
Attempts- 19
Failures- 19

"I haven't tried these specific magnetic poles," I muttered to myself, looking at my pistol. "If I can rewire the nuke using these components..."

There was no time to finish my thought, because Roll rolled straight at me. I dove out of the way. As Roll unrolled itself, Choco and Glitch attacked it with their close-ranged weapons. Naomi was also shooting at it with her heat-inducing arrows, which were penetrating the bot but didn't seem to be affecting it. I noticed that whenever the bot was in motion, though, Naomi missed her target.

"This thing has gotta have some sort of weak spot!" Glitch shouted as he stabbed one of the bot's legs while avoiding the flexible arm from the center that was trying to crush them.

"We'll find it!" Choco yelled, also attacking the bot's legs, using her electrifying nunchucks.

I began quickly taking apart my nuke and pistol using the tools from my tool belt. I noticed all the Radish bots still surrounding us, but not doing anything. They must've preferred to let Roll kill us.

I worked as quickly as I could on the prototype electro-magnetic pulse nuke. If this one finally worked, it could short-circuit any size bot and blow it up from the inside. I just had to get it to work.

"Leo! What are you doing?!" Naomi shouted, still firing arrows at the bot.

"Building something!" I yelled. "What are you doing? Why do you keep missing?!"

"I—I'm hitting it!" Naomi stammered. She fired another arrow, but Roll rolled away from Choco and Glitch, and her arrow struck the ground.

"If we're gonna kill this thing and Todd, you need to learn to hit a moving target!" I shouted as I worked.

Naomi didn't respond. She seemed to focus more on firing her arrows.

I finished the prototype nuke and put it together. I kicked away the now dysfunctional pistol and kissed the EMP nuke.

"Please work," I whispered to it. I aimed at the Roll bot, but before I threw it, it was hit by a blast from above.

Roll flew backwards, into the stage, and out of sight because of all the smoke and rubble. The four of us looked up, trying to find what fired that blast.

A person landed on the ground like they had been flying, a giant bazooka on their back. They looked up, but we couldn't see their face because of a dark hood.

It was Hood.

"Oh, now you show up," Choco said.

"Thank you," Naomi told him.

Hood gave a slight nod, then turned around, pulling out a sword. The crowd of Radish bots let out a warning cry, then charged at the five of us.

I put away my electro-magnetic pulse nuke for now. There would be a time to use it, I was sure. But for now, I pulled out some of the other nukes I had stocked up on and grinned.

"Come at me," I said as I threw the nukes into the crowd of bots.

***

Rebel's POV

I slowly came to, but I had no idea where I was. I could smell smoke and felt heat, so something nearby me was on fire. I also felt immense pain in my lower left leg. Something heavy was pinning it down. I couldn't move it.

"Help!" I croaked, not loud enough for anyone to hear. I saw broken wood everywhere. The entire stage seemed to be destroyed. I looked down and saw that a huge piece of wood had fallen onto my calf. I was also still wearing the sparkly purple dress from earlier, which was now torn and scratched in multiple places from the collision.

I tried twisting my leg out from under it, but couldn't do it without pain shooting up my entire body. I cried out in pain.

Suddenly, I heard snapping wood nearby, like someone was walking across it. I turned my head and looked to see Todd limping towards me, his suit mostly in tatters.

"Are you alright?" he asked me, coughing from nearby smoke.

I nodded. "My leg is stuck."

"Here, let me help you." Todd bent down and lifted the wood. I could tell it strained him, but he managed to lift it enough so that I could pull my leg out from under it. There was still a lot of pain, as my calf was bleeding profusely now.

I began to stand up, but I winced in pain and stopped. Todd looked at me with concern.

"I'll patch that up for you." He tore off a piece of his suit and began gently wrapping it around the wound on my calf. I stared at him as he did so.

"Tell me about the Games."

Todd sighed as he finished wrapping my leg. "Now isn't really the best time, Rebel."

"I need to know," I replied firmly. "Did I get my win, fair and square?"

Todd hesitated. He then jumped as a part of the wood behind him was suddenly engulfed in flames.

"We gotta get out of here!" he shouted. I nodded, knowing the wood around us was extremely flammable and would be up in flames in seconds. Todd bent down and picked me up bridal style so I didn't have to walk on my leg. He then began to run through the burning wreckage.

***

Choco's POV

The wave of bots hit us, but I was confident. The four of us had easily held off almost this many bots before, and we didn't even have good weapons then. Now, we had high-tech weapons, and Hood was also here to help.

I was using my new weapon in its nunchuck form, electricity glowing on each end. I ran through the crowd of Radish bots, striking every one I saw, easily destroying each one. The other four were also fighting nearby.

I swung and kicked and stabbed as much as I could. It was starting to get a bit difficult. I was growing tired, but the bots just kept coming. It was like there was an infinite supply of them.

One of the bots I was fighting managed to avoid my swing and hit me back. I was taken by surprise and dropped one of my nunchucks. I swung the other one angrily, but a different bot knocked that one out of my hands as well.

"You think that can stop me?" I scoffed. I kicked one of the bots' head off and punched the other one back. It fired a blast at me, which I was too slow to avoid.

I fell to the ground. The blast hit me in the stomach, and although I knew it wasn't lethal, it still hurt like a bitch. I looked up through gritted teeth as the bot prepared to fire at me again.

But then, it was stuck in the head by my nunchucks, wielded by someone else. The bot fell to the ground, revealing the person behind it.

Cook.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled, forgetting the pain and standing up. The area we were in was temporarily empty of bots.

"Saving your life," my brother replied like I was an idiot. He tossed my one of my nunchucks. "Come on, let's kill the rest of these."

"No. I am not letting you fight. Combat is my thing, not yours," I demanded. "Go get somewhere safe."

"I am not leaving my little sister alone here, especially after you just almost died!" Cook yelled.

"I was handling it!"

"No you weren't! I'm not going to stand by and watch another family member die! Not after mom and dad!"

I froze. I knew he had enormous guilt about the situation. Usually he was too drunk to feel guilty, because he drank to forget the pain of watching our parents die. I wasn't around when it happened, but I saw what it did to him. And from the look on his face, I knew he wasn't about to let that happen again.

I nodded. "Let's go."

The two of us charged at the bots, swinging one nunchuck each. Cook wasn't nearly as good a fighter as I was, but he was holding his own against the bots. We swiftly made it through the crowd. I noticed that the others had almost completely cleared out all the robots.

As we fought, I found myself near Hood, who was using a glowing diamond blade. That reminded me that I still had Rebel's sword with me. The two of us were near the ruins of the stage, fighting off bots.

"Hey, thanks again for the weapons," I told Hood as we fought back to back. "And also thanks for killing Roll. That thing is way too hard to beat."

"The Roll Bot is not dead," Hood replied as he ducked under a blast from a bot and sliced it in half. "I only managed to disable it for a short period. The Roll Bot is impenetrable."

"Are you saying that thing can't die?" I asked incredulously. I killed a bot that was about to hit Cook. "Because all bots can die."

"It can only die if hit by an electromagnetic pulse in a certain part of its body. A weak spot, so to speak. Unfortunately, I do not know where this weak spot is on the body. Once Roll returns, we must figure that out," Hood explained, fighting all the while.

"How do you even know all this?" I asked as I dodged a bot's swing and killed it.

Before Hood could reply, he was pierced through the chest by something huge and sharp. I gasped in horror and realized the metal arm of Roll had shot out from the wreckage behind us.

The ruins of the stage fell to the ground as Roll stood back up on its six spindly legs. Its metal body was glowing red from the heat of the fire that had started. The arm coming from the center of the bot's face was still holding Hood from the chest, where a sharp blade was protruding. Roll roared.

Hood's body was limp. The Roll Bot threw him aside. I screamed in anger and threw Rebel's diamond sword at the bot as hard as I could.

The blade simply bounced off Roll's body and fell into the wreckage behind it. The humongous bot stepped forward, its sights on me and Cook. I stood in front of my brother protectively, my nunchuck glowing.

Roll rolled towards us.

I screamed a war cry and charged at it.

***

Rebel's POV

Does it really matter if Todd rigged my win or not? I thought to myself as Todd carried me through the wreckage. I still get to lead this fantastic new life as a celebrity.

Todd finally made it out of the wreckage of the stage. I could hear a battle happening nearby, but still couldn't see it. The victors were probably still fighting Roll.

"You can put me down now," I said, craning my neck to see past the wreckage. When Todd didn't move, I looked at him.

He was staring at me, an expression on his face. The thing is, I couldn't tell what kind of expression it was. It wasn't anger; it wasn't sadness; it wasn't happiness. His gaze struck me, and I didn't know what to think.

"Todd?" I asked, confused.

Finally, he seemed to snap out of it. "We need to get you back to my mansion. I'll have my bots fix up your leg for you." He set me down on my feet.

I winced in pain as my left foot touched the ground. I steadied myself on my right foot. Todd was looking down at a device, pressing some buttons. A cannon sounded from the arena. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm gonna ask you this one more time. What did you do to my Games?"

Todd looked up at me. He hesitated. "Okay, fine. You deserve to know."

I leaned closer to him. "Well?"

He sighed. "Look, it was the final two, just you and—what was his name—Sky, right? So you two were dueling with your diamond swords, and he barely landed any hits on you."

I nodded along as he talked, but I knew all this already. I remembered this final duel like it was yesterday.

"And there was a time, where Sky swung his sword, and if he had hit you, it would've been almost fatal to you. Almost fatal. Key word, almost, remember that. So, just to be safe, we made sure that swing missed. But actually, it should have hit you."

Anger began to bubble up inside of me. I was about to scream at him, but he held a hand up.

"Now, the bots did an analysis of the duel afterwards, and determined that you would have won anyway. If he had hit you with that almost fatal blow, you would've been severely injured, but filled with adrenaline, and would have come out on top anyway. So the rigging wasn't really necessary, but it was a kind of a spur-of-the-moment action I had to take, because I couldn't have you lose the Games," Todd finished explaining.

I silently processed all this. Thoughts flew through my mind once again, but this time the most prominent one was:

I could have lost my Games.

"Okay, I know it sounds bad," Todd continued after seeing the look on my face. "But you have to remember, it was a statistical analysis. You would have won anyway. You still deserve your win."

"No I don't," I mumbled. "No I don't."

"Look, Rebel, we need to get you back to the mansion to heal your leg," Todd said, beginning to turn away from me.

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

He looked at me. "What did you say?"

"I don't want to be your cohost anymore. I quit," I said firmly.

"You're sure?" Todd asked.

I nodded.

He shrugged. "Alright." Todd pulled out an iron sword. "Then you have to die."

***

Glitch's POV

I was stabbing a bot when a body landed on top of me. I yelped and pushed it away.

"Hood! Would you watch where you're going?" I yelled at him, then went back to fighting the bots.

When I finished killing the ones around me, I looked down and realized Hood was still lying on the ground. It was at that moment I realized there was a huge hole in his chest where blood was leaking from.

"H—Hood?" I stuttered. I knelt down and felt for a pulse, but there obviously wasn't one. I coughed, horror seeping into my body.

"Glitch!"

I turned around to see Choco and her brother battling the Roll bot. Leo and Naomi were finishing off the rest of the bots.

"Glitch, listen to me!" Choco yelled as she dove away from the rolling bot. "We need to locate this thing's weak spot so we can kill it. Hood told me if we hit it with an electromagnetic pulse in the weak spot, it'll die! But he didn't know where it was!"

"Okay, what do you want me to do?!" I shouted.

"I don't know, can't you, like, hack into it and search for its weak spot?!"

I hesitated. "Probably, but I need a computer!"

Choco struck Roll's leg with a nunchuck. "There are computers all around you!"

I looked at the many destroyed bots at my feet. "Oh yeah." I searched for one that's motherboard wasn't fried. When I found one, I jacked it open and began rewiring it.

I heard a small explosion nearby, but ignored it and continued working. A few seconds later, Leo ran up to me. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Boutta hack into the Roll Bot and find its weak spot. If we hit it with an electromagnetic pulse in the weak spot, it'll die," I explained. I got the computer on the bot up and running, and began typing on the virtual keyboard that appeared on the screen in its chest.

"Awesome, I got an electromagnetic pulse nuke right here," Leo said, tossing a grenade back and forth.

"Well don't throw it near me. Get it to Choco or something."

"Nah, I'll be the one to throw it," Leo replied. "But this thing will probably have too much of a delay to explode at the exact moment we need it to. I'm gonna need someone to hit it with something at the right moment. Preferably something with flames to speed up the detonation."

The two of us looked at Naomi, who was firing an arrow into the last Radish bot. She missed, because it was hovering toward her. We looked at each other.

"It's the best chance we got," I told him. "Go update her on the situation. I'll let you know when I find the weak spot."

Leo sighed and jogged over to Naomi, who had finally managed to kill the bot.

I managed to locate Roll's system through my makeshift computer. I was about to hack into it to find its weak spot, but some of the coding on the screen got my attention.

"If I don't cover my tracks, hacking into Roll is going to activate a security response. It'll alert an entire army of unused robots to our presence," I translated. "Way more than we'll be able to handle..."

I thought about it. I had never managed to cover my tracks while hacking before. Todd knew it was me that hacked into the bots in the warehouse a couple days ago. Hell, I couldn't even change my school grades without them finding out it was me! So how was I supposed to cover my tracks now?

"How's that weak spot coming, Glitch?!" Choco screamed. She and Cook were beginning to lose to the Roll bot.

"I'm working on it!" I yelled back. I sighed and cracked my neck. "Time to try a new method."

I began going back into the computer's database and deleting all the log files, something risky but not too suspicious. I then issued a clear action on a few other commands in the system. I went back into the main network and located Roll's system again.

"God I hope that worked," I muttered to myself. I then hacked into the Roll bot and flinched.

But, no alerts were risen. The army of unused bots stayed silent, not knowing a damn thing.

"Yes!" I shouted with joy. "I finally did it!"

"Okay, where's the weak spot?!" Choco shouted.

"Oh, yeah." I knew I wouldn't be able to edit anything Roll did from my lousy setup, but I could at least browse how it was built. I searched the bot for the weak spot, grinning to myself the whole time.

"I'm a pro hacker," I said to myself.

***

Rebel's POV

I backed up. "W-what?"

"Well, I can't have you living if you're not gonna work with me," Todd said, casually swinging his iron sword. "You did try to kill me, after all."

I winced as my left foot touched the ground again. But I was gonna have to push through the pain. I saw a glimmer behind Todd, in the flaming wreckage of the stage.

"Last chance, Rebel. Would you like to change your mind?" he asked.

I looked Todd in the eye. "Never."

Then, I gathered my strength and shoved past him. I cried out in pain as he managed to slice my arm with his sword as I ran past, but I kept going. I heard him in pursuit behind me.

I raced towards the glimmer in the wreckage of the stage. My diamond sword, which had been left backstage for me, was lying atop some ruins. I hopped over some flaming wood and made my way toward it. I could hear Todd right behind me.

"You can't run forever, Rebel!" he shouted.

I passed a leaning wooden pillar that was on fire. I shoved the wood that was holding it up as I ran past, and the pillar came crashing down. Todd couldn't get to me because of the flames. He scowled at me and began walking back.

Grimacing to myself, I made my way over to my diamond sword, which was lying amongst the rubble. I picked it up. It felt just like it did before all this crazy stuff happened.

I couldn't believe I had agreed to be his cohost. What was I thinking? It must've been the excitement from being a celebrity, because Todd is evil, and there is no way I would work with someone who is evil

"You're going down, Tood," I muttered to myself.

"Am I now?"

I whirled around. Todd had somehow gotten to the other side of me, and was now walking toward me from about ten blocks away. Everywhere around us, the wood was on fire. There was no way out.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Rebel," Todd said, although his iron sword was still out.

"But it's going to anyway," I replied.

"Fair enough."

We charged at each other, swords raised.

***

Naomi's POV

Why can't I hit a moving target?

I've always been great with a bow when the target is stationary. But for some reason, as soon as it starts moving, I miss. No matter how hard I try to hit it.

Good thing we killed all the Radish bots. Now all we had to do was kill the giant Roll bot that was battling with Choco and some other dude that must have been her brother.

"Naomi!"

I turned around to see Leo jogging towards me. He had something small in his hands.

"I have a job for you," he said when he got closer to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Once Glitch finds the weak spot on Roll, I'm going to throw this nuke at it. I need you to shoot one of your heat-inducing arrows at the nuke at the right moment so that it explodes on the weak spot," Leo explained.

My heart sank. He wanted me to hit a moving target? If I couldn't hit a stupid bunny hopping through the forest, how was I supposed to hit that tiny grenade flying through the air?

"Does it have to be me?" I asked. "Can't someone else do it?"

"You're the best here with a bow," Leo replied. "You're our only shot."

"W-w-what about Hood?" I stammered. "Can't he shoot it?"

"Hood is dead, Naomi."

My heart sank even lower. "How?" I whispered.

"Roll killed him. We need to avenge Hood and kill Roll. You're the only chance we got. Can you do it?" Leo asked.

"I...I don't know..."

"We need you to keep the peace. Can. You. Do. It?"

I stood up straighter. "Yes. I can."

"Good. Now, let's practice." He took out a different grenade. "This is just a regular grenade nuke. I'm gonna throw it, and you're gonna hit it in the air with your arrow."

"Why do we have to practice?" I asked nervously.

"I know you're a horrible shot when the target is moving," Leo said. "So we're gonna practice." Without warning, he tossed the grenade away from us.

I aimed an arrow at it and fired. The arrow sailed past the grenade and struck the ground.

"Again." Leo tossed another grenade.

I quickly loaded another arrow and aimed. I tried focusing on the grenade as it sailed through the air, but it hit the ground before I could even release the arrow.

"You're thinking too hard about it," Leo said. "Trust your instinct." He chucked another grenade.

I aimed and fired an arrow, and missed again. "I got closer that time," I pointed out.

Leo sighed. "You're still thinking too much. You need to learn to just fire your arrow. Trust your gut."

"And what if my gut isn't right?!" I shouted at him.

Leo looked at me. He pulled out the nuke he had been holding earlier. "I only have one of these. So if you miss when I throw it, we're all dead."

I stared at him, tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn't believe he was putting our entire chances of survival on me. Wasn't there any other way?

"Let go of your fears, Naomi. And trust your instincts."

"Look out!" a voice screamed from behind us. A loud metallic sound was coming closer. Leo and I dove in different directions as Roll rolled over where we were just standing. It stood up and roared.

I began firing arrows at the stationary robot. They all made contact, but the bot didn't even react. It roared again and swung its center metallic arm at Leo, who was closest to it.

"Glitch!" Choco shouted as she raced over to Roll. Her brother was on her heels.

"Almost got it!" Glitch yelled back.

Roll roared and slapped Leo aside. He dropped his nuke as he flew through the air. The bot began to roll towards Leo. I narrowed my eyes and quickly fired an arrow without aiming.

The arrow sank into Roll's metal hood, causing it to roar for some reason and turn around. Choco and Cook arrived and began attacking is legs with their electric nunchucks.

"Okay, I got it!" Glitch shouted at us. "The weak spot is the face of the die with the one dot!"

The side facing us was the side with five dots. I thought hard about the layout of dice. "That's on the top!" I yelled.

Leo had gotten back up and picked up the nuke. "Choco, distract Roll!" He looked at me. "Ready?"

I took a deep breath and nodded at him. He prepared to throw the nuke.

Roll suddenly rolled forward, throwing Cook far away from the fight. Choco screamed.

Cook landed near Glitch, who ran over to him. He felt for a pulse. "He's breathing!"

"Thank god," Choco said. Roll tried to grab her with its metallic arm, but she slapped it away with her nunchuck.

Glitch looked up as a small group of Radish bots began to hover towards he and Cook. They must have come from the city. Choco noticed this.

"Cook!" she shouted, and began to run over there.

"I got this!" Glitch yelled at her. "Kill Roll!" Choco hesitated, but nodded and turned around.

"Choco! Distract Roll!" Leo yelled again, diving away from the rolling bot.

Choco nodded and charged at the bot. It roared and swung its metallic arm at her.

Leo looked at me. "Ready?"

I breathed in again. "Yeah!"

He nodded and tossed the electromagnetic pulse nuke into the air. It sailed toward the top of Roll's head.

I waited for the nuke to start its descent. Then, without taking a long time to aim, I trusted my gut and fired an arrow.

Time seemed to slow down as Leo's nuke fell toward Roll and my arrow sailed toward the nuke and Choco ducked under Roll's arm and Glitch stabbed the last Radish bot with his spear behind us.

My arrow made contact with the nuke, and after a split second, there was a blue explosion that engulfed Roll. Choco was thrown backwards.

When the explosion cleared, Roll's metallic body was lying on the ground, unmoving. Black smoke was billowing out of its head.

Glitch carried Cook's still unconscious body over to us. Choco stood up. Leo and I looked at each other.

"You did it," he said to me.

I nodded. "I let go of my fears and trusted my instincts. I became fearless."

Leo smiled at me.

"Now, let's go keep the peace," I said.

***

Rebel's POV

Diamond sword clashed on iron sword as we engaged in a duel, the ring of fire growing bigger around us with every passing second. My arm and leg were still in pain, but I didn't let that stop me. I was one of the best sword-fighters ever, so I knew I could easily beat Todd.

And yet, I hadn't laid a scratch on him yet. During my Games, I had easily beaten almost everyone in this amount of time. But Todd was holding his own against me, and it didn't even look like he was putting in any effort.

I dodged his sword and swung at his head. Todd ducked and swept my feet out from under me. I cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Todd stood over me, iron sword pointed at my head.

"Ya know, I used to think you'd make a great host," he said casually. "I even thought you could replace me one day."

I tried standing up, but he stepped on my stomach, keeping me pinned to the floor. I began to breathe heavily, coughing from the smoke. I could feel intense heat directly behind my head.

"But now, I realize you could never be as good a host as me. You lack the dedication required for this job. You're too soft."

Todd took his foot off of me. I stayed where I was, not breaking eye contact with him.

"It really is a shame that I have to kill you."

He jabbed his sword toward my head, but I quickly rolled away just in time. He ended up stabbing the flaming wood that was behind me, causing embers to fly all around him. Todd was engulfed by the smoke.

I slowly got to my feet a few yards away. I stared at the smoke, hoping Todd was dead.

But then, a figure walked out of the smoke, flames licking all over his body. His sword was on fire too.

"Uh, doesn't that hurt?" I asked.

Todd ignored me. "You cannot win, Rebel! I've already won!" He swung his flaming sword at me. I blocked it with my own, but he leaned closer to me as we pushed our swords against each other. The heat was so intense I could feel my hair singe on the ends. He pushed our swords closer to my face. I shut my eyes.

"Infinity is dead, and there's nothing you can do about it," Todd hissed at me.

This sent a surge of anger through my body. I shouted in rage, pulled my sword away from him, and shoved it into his stomach.

Todd didn't react at first. I pulled the sword back out, and he fell to his knees. His face was emotionless. He was also still on fire.

"When Infinity died, I vowed to kill you to avenge her," I said to him. "And then I found out you rigged my Games. These people don't deserve a host that rigs."

Todd looked up at me. "I had to do it," he said in a soft voice. "I had to."

"Goodbye, Todd." I plunged my diamond sword into his head.

***

I eventually made my way out of the flaming wreckage and onto what used to be the side of the stage. Naomi, Leo, and Glitch were standing below the stage. Choco was also there, kneeling beside an unconscious guy. The four looked up at me when I walked out.

"You!" Leo shouted angrily. "You caused this!" Naomi put a hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to calm down a little.

"What happened to your leg?" Glitch asked.

"I killed Todd," I stated, ignoring his question.

"Oh, cool. We can go home now," Choco stood up.

"So was joining Todd just some elaborate trick to kill him?" Leo asked. "Cuz if so, awesome!"

I shrugged. "Something like that."

"Thank you," Naomi said to me. "He was evil."

I nodded to her and climbed down from the stage, standing in a line with the other four.

"I'm glad this is all over," Glitch said. "But what happens now?"

I looked into the night. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

"Anything can happen," I replied. "After all, we are the Victors."

~~~~~~~~~~

I like how all the other chapters of this book were 1000-3000 words and this almost 6000 word chapter just comes out of nowhere lmao

Anyway hooray this book is over

Keep reading for the final author's note

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

~Radishologist