CHAPTER NINE, death spiral smackdown

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Emilia was slurping on her orange juice, listening to Leo who was ranting on about the death spiral smackdown to her, Bree and Chase.

He brought over the milk and more orange juice for Emilia as he explained. "After school, today is the big death spiral smackdown. Me and Adam are gonna unleash the fury!"

Emilia sighed, looking towards her friend as she remarked. "Adam I get, but are you suddenly the Incredible Hulk now?" Leo responded with a glare before asking the three. "So, are you guys gonna come watch?"

Chase smiled before gesturing towards him and Bree. "We'd love to. But we're gonna go to the mall and check out the escalator. I finally mastered the art of stepping off without tripping."

Emilia smiled softly at him being adorkable before they all turned to Bree who stammered nervously towards her brother. "Oo, uh, we're we supposed to do that today? Shoot, I can't make it. I have a really big test to study for."

"What? Okay, fine. I just hope those old ladies are there again to clap for me." Chase pouted, sighing in disappointment.

"Never had this cereal before." Leo hummed about to put one in his mouth when Bree yelled out, warning him. "No, Leo! Those are power pellets."

"I don't care what they're called. As long as they make my milk chocolaty." Leo smiled brightly, making Emilia shake her head.

"No." Chase sighed before starting to explain to the boy. "They're bite-sized pieces of adrenalin that activate our bionics."

"We don't eat them anymore because we learned how to activate them ourselves." Bree added on to Chase's explanation.

Chase smiled. "They taste like dog treats without the livery aftertaste." He mentioned before he stopped when he noticed the looks he was receiving. "I'm guessing."

Leo then sighed before picking up the Powdered Sugar O's but Chase immediately snatched them off him, while he warned. "Careful, Leo! Those are powdered sugar cookie donut O's. Studies have shown they slow down your brain activity."

Adam then walked in, gasping in excitement at the cereal box in Chase's hand. "Ooh, yummy powdered sugar cookie donut O's." The boy snatched it off Chase and started to dig into the cereal box, while the others shared a look.

"Well that explains him." Emilia muttered to Chase and Bree who chuckled as they walked over to get their bags.

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Emilia spent most of the day at school, listening to Bree ramble on about how Chase annoyed her by using his override app to make her hit herself and speak multiple different languages.

She moved straight into the hall where they were having the death spiral smack down and saw Leo and Adam on the stage. She sent Chase a smile before turning her attention to the two boys.

Adam had used his super strength to throw another student off the stage causing everyone to cheer for Adam and Leo. Principal Perry pointed to the student. "If they ask at the hospital, that did not happen on school grounds!"

Leo smiled over at Adam. "You just keep getting better and better!" The older bionic sibling rambled suspiciously overexcited. "I know, and I'm not even trying!"

Emilia furrowed her brows in suspicion of Adam's behaviour before opening her mouth in shock when she suddenly saw Chase's new look — including wearing a clown wig, a red nose, a tail, and his clothes were ripped up.

Everyone started laughing as Emilia held in her laugh. Chase glared over at his sister who smirked before pointing to her. "You will pay for this!" From the stage, Leo and Adam laughed before the latter's face turned serious. "I want that tail!"

Perry pushed in between them. "This is it— the final showdown. Who'd have thought you'd make it? A 90-pounder like you should have eaten it in round two."

A boy shouted from the crowd. "Yeah, tell him!"

"Shut it, little orphan Annie!" Perry yelled at the student before motioning for him and his partner to come to the stage. She imitated the sound of an air horn for the round to start.

Watching as Leo and his opponent simply just moved their hands wildly in attempt to fight, the Hunter girl facepalmed. "Okay, this is embarrassing."

Adam moved to the edge. "Leo!" He called out to the Dooley boy for him to jump on his back before Adam started to move the spiral with his foot and soon their opponents flew off the stage and crashed into some of the students, including the mascot.

Emilia looked at Adam in confusion at his odd behaviour and saw Bree gesturing Leo to go over to her so she used this as her chance to go find Chase to make sure he was okay.

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After finding Chase, he ended up getting into another mishap with Bree and was now dressed as someone from a marching band.

The three opened the door to the house and saw Leo standing alone in the living room. "Hey, it's the little drummer boy." He greeted Chase as the girls smiled at this.

"It's all that was left in the lost and found." Chase stated his reason to the boy who responded with a question. "And the hat?" He asked.

"It's part of the ensemble. You can't break up the set!" Chase huffed in annoyance before Emilia patted him on the back. "Come on, drummer boy, let me help you find some different clothes that don't make you look like you're part of a marching band."

Chase chuckled, walking out with Emilia leaving Bree and Leo in the room as Leo turned to Bree and begged. "Come on, Bree, you have to help me! I need to go against Adam tomorrow, and he's like a big, strong, goofy godzilla, and I'm Tokyo!"

Bree scoffed. "What's the big deal? Just quit!"

Leo pulled his arms off Bree and walked around her. "I can't just quit. The whole school is expecting me to take on Adam tomorrow, and if I quit, I'll just be humiliated." Bree shot him a look causing Leo to correct himself. "More humiliated. If I wanted to lose, I could have just stuck with Gordo and kept a friend."

"Well, the pellets will wear off eventually, but until they do, just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't destroy the whole house."

Adam walked into the room holding a toilet in his arms. "Can somebody help me put this back on?"

Emilia yelled from a different room. "Adam! If you keep doing that, we're gonna run out of places to pee!"

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It was now time for the finals and Emilia was standing by the doors when she heard Perry announce. "Whoever claimed the drum major uniform yesterday from the lost and found, it's not yours. Give it back!"

Emilia turned around and sighed heavily at the sight of Chase waddling in wearing multiple layers of clothing.

This was really starting to annoy her.

Bree smirked, stepping towards Chase. "All those clothes and you couldn't find something to cover your face?"

"Go ahead. Try to humiliate me. I have 36 items of clothing on." Chase scoffed out a laugh as he pointed out to what he was wearing, which made Bree raise her brows. "Why would I try? You're humiliating yourself."

"Oh yeah? Well, the tin man called. He wants his neck back." Chase was quick to snap with his own comeback.

"It's to deflect your stupid app from connecting to my chip. It's the heavy duty kind they use in restaurants." Bree reminded her brother with a huff as a few students passed by, laughing at the siblings.

Finally having enough of their bickering, Emilia was quick to step in. "Guys, enough! Look what this stupid argument has come too." Bree and Chase looked at the auburn-haired girl who continued. "I mean, look at yourselves. You're acting like 5 year old children just because of a lie. Stop embarrassing each other and talk it out so you can come to an understanding of why this happened."

"Yes Bree, you should have been honest and not lied to Chase about what you were doing." The Hunter girl told the girl who tried to speak but Emilia held up her finger, gesturing for Bree to wait as she looked over at Chase now to speak for Bree. "But Chase, you have to understand why she did it. You guys going to school now means that Bree wants to find new friends, so you have to come to an understanding that you guys can't hang out with each other 24/7 like you did when you were kids."

The two siblings stood there in silence, listening to every word she was saying as she turned to face Bree again. "And Bree, instead of fighting back, talk to him and ask why he was so bothered about you ditching him. And come to a compromise, instead of humiliating each other because this has gone too far." Emilia took a deep breath. "Now if you may excuse me. I need to pee before we watch Leo potentially embarrass himself in the finals against Adam." She pointed to Chase and Bree before saying. "Talk to each other and apologise. When I come back, you guys better be back on good terms." She huffed before walking out the room leaving the two siblings to think about what she has said.

Bree turned to Chase. "Emilia's right. Look, I just didn't want to hurt your feelings. Caitlin's the second real friend I've ever had. Just 'cause I want to hang out with her, doesn't mean I like you any less." She said her side to Chase who responded with a stammer. "Yeah, well, I have other friends too now, so..."

Bree smiled. "That's great. I mean, you should go hang out with them sometimes."

"Yeah, I don't really have other friends." Chase frowned before it turned upside down into a more encouraged expression. "But I'm gonna go get some."

Bree nodded. "Good. Oh, and before you do that, you might want to lose a layer or two."

Chase laughed. "Yeah, and you might want to lose the baked potato neck."

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Adam had finally arrived, leaving Leo filled with fear after finding out Adam had more power pellets before he left the house.

Emilia was stood beside Chase and Bree, pleased when she saw them back into their normal clothes and to find out they had made up. They thanked the girl for pushing them to do that and all she did was waved them off, hiding her blush.

Soon, Perry blew the air horn, signalling for the final round to start. "I bought a new one! Ha!"

Leo started to run around the edge of the spiral, only to scream when Adam appeared in front of him.

"Let's go! I'm paying these paramedics by the hour! Break something already!" Perry shouted to the boys as Leo continued in trying to run away from Adam when he stopped, letting out a squeal as smoke shot out in front of him.

Adam managed to grab him and lift him up in the air with one hand before Leo tickled him, successfully being put down onto the floor, giving him an escape from being severely injured.

"Faster! Faster!" Perry exclaimed, fiddling with the remote. "Aah! Stupid thing's broken!" She threw the remote behind her before picking up her shoes and throwing them at Leo who exclaimed. "You're not helping!"

Perry grabbed a trash bag full of rubbish before throwing it towards Leo, hitting him in the stomach in the process. She threw her arms out at him. "I'm not trying!" Adam grabbed Leo and lifted him off the ground, swinging him and ready to throw him off the stage.

"I can't look." Emilia winced before her eyes were suddenly covered by Chase's hand, causing her to freeze for a moment before smiling at the action.

Bree turned to her brother in panic. "Adam ate a whole bowl of power pellets! He's gonna turn Leo into a human wrecking ball if we don't stop him from finishing his countdown!"

"Say what?" Emilia moved Chase's hand off her face after she heard Bree point that out. Bree then turned to her brother, telling him. "Quick, use your override app!"

"It's only for emergencies." Chase told the girls who stared at him in disbelief before Emilia wildly waved his hand around that she had in her grip. "Wake up! This is an emergency!" She reminded the boy, letting go of his hand so he could step forward and activate his override app to take control of Adam's bionics.

Chase moved his arms to pretend he was holding a baby, causing Adam to follow his actions with Leo. Chase moved his arms further to the ground and Emilia sighed in relief when Leo was on the ground, almost laughing at his face filled with confusion as Adam questioned. "Wait, why— why aren't I destroying you?"

"I... don't... know... but..." Leo trailed off before standing up to his feet. "What I do know is..." He said before pushing Adam off the stage who screamed.

"I win!" Leo jumped for joy before the crowd all started cheering for him whilst Emilia, Chase and Bree ran over to check on Adam.

Perry stomped onto the stage. "Are you kidding me? Life was so much more gratifying when I was a prison guard!" She stepped to Leo, passing him the trophy. "Here. Con-grat-u-la-tions."

After making sure Adam was alright, Chase explained to him about what Leo did and Emilia didn't miss the hurt look that spread across Adam's face.

Adam stood up looking over at Leo as he called out. "Hey! Chase told me about the power pellets! Leo, I told you, I didn't want to use bionics. You took advantage of me, Leo."

Leo turned to him with a guilty look. "I'm sorry. I just— I really wanted to win. I didn't mean for it to hurt our friendship."

Adam sighed. "Yeah, well, it did, and nothing's going to fix it."

Leo looked at the red cape in his hand before holding it up to Adam. "You can have my victory cape."

"Buddy!" Adam grabbed the cape with a smile and engulfed Leo into a hug before pulling away to put the cape on his back and ran away while pretending he was a superhero.

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