Victors

Chapter 1

Rebel's POV

I rang the doorbell of the huge, radish-shaped mansion. I still couldn't believe Todd actually modeled his house after a vegetable. What a dork.

Of course, I couldn't say that to his face anymore. He's all powerful, or whatever. The Supreme Radish.

I was asked—no, more like ordered—to come meet with Todd in his mansion on account of some "strange occurrence". I hoped he was talking about the breach in the force field at the arena, not the letters I sent. I tried to be as inconspicuous with those as possible, but if he knew about those, I was toast. I could easily lie about the force field. The letters, on the other hand, are a different story.

The door opened, and I was staring into the mechanical red eyes of a Radish Robot—or bot, as most people call them. They're hideous, faceless creatures of iron and coal that act on the will of their supreme overlord. They hover a foot off the ground thanks to science that I don't understand, and can move fairly quickly. Their job is to roam the streets with laser blasters, arresting anyone who steps out of line.

I felt a red light wash over me as the bot I was staring at scanned me. "Rebel: Victor of the first Radish Games. The Supreme Radish will see you now. Follow me."

They also apparently work as butlers in Tood's mansion. I wonder what else they do for him, I thought with a smirk.

The bot walked me through the lobby area, which was just a huge empty room made entirely of gold. There were two large, open staircases on either side of the room leading to a balcony that overlooked the lobby. I couldn't see what was on the balcony, because we walked underneath it, through a big fancy doorway, and into another equally huge and poorly designed room.

Todd was sitting on—I couldn't believe how pretentious he was—a throne made of diamonds at the other end of the room. This room was also empty except for the throne and two rows of pillars made of polished andesite on either side of the room.

"Rebel! Long time no see! How have you been?!" Todd called from across the room, standing up from his throne.

"Why did you call me here, Tood?" I asked, cutting right to the chase as I walked towards him.

Todd frowned. "When did we stop being friends?"

"As soon as you sat on that throne," I answered. "Which is really ugly, by the way."

Todd finally reached me in the center of the room, and looked offended at my statement. Contrary to what I was expecting, he wore simple clothes: black jeans, a black hoodie, and sneakers. He had messy black hair that almost came down to his brown eyes, abnormally small ears, and a slightly crooked mouth that I'd find cute on any other guy.

"Will you design me a prettier throne?" he asked with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Would you just tell me why I'm here?"

Todd's smile faded. "My Radish Robots discovered a breach in the force field right in front of Infinity's death."

I shuddered at the mention of my best friend, but composed myself. "Okay?"

"I'm wondering if you had anything to do with it."

I raised an eyebrow. "You really think I'm capable of breaching your force fields?" I scoffed. "Yeah, right. I barely even passed science class in high school."

Todd's mouth twitched. "Infinity was your best friend, was she not? We have footage of her devastating departure for the Games. You broke down, something I've never seen you do before. Wouldn't it make sense for you to try to get your best friend out of the Games?"