Johnny, Dukey, Gil, Susan, and Mary were still in the lab; however, they weren't watching Gil perform. They were mostly making fun of Lethal Note after he flew out of the lab.

"Haha, he called me an unskilled, unintelligent little piece of waste of space. What a knucklehead," Gil said.

Everyone laughed.

"The funny thing is that Lethal Note is a bigger one," Dukey said.

Everyone laughed harder.

Then Lethal Note crashed through the lab's ceiling again; as a result, the Test kids, Dukey, and Gil immediately went quiet. If they made fun of Lethal Note while he was right there in front of them, they would be destroyed.

Then Johnny asked, "Why didn't you just simply fly through the hole in the ceiling that you previously made instead of creating another one?"

I know why. Because he's stupid, that's why, Dukey felt like saying. Fortunately, there was enough fear that kept him from doing so and getting destroyed as a result of saying it.

"Uh…I don't know," Lethal Note said, shrugging. "Anyways, you"—he pointed at Gil—"will battle against me. If you lose, you will blow up. If I lose, I will blow up. Now, let's take this battle outside."

"Hey, bro, I got to tell you something," Gil said. "I don't want to battle. So can we just forget all about this battle thing?"

Susan and Mary immediately added to what Gil said.

"Yeah, it's no big deal if you're the better guitarist or not," Mary said.

Susan added, "A battle is too extreme, don't you think—"

Lethal Note interrupted Susan. "And if my opponent is going to be a big coward about it, then prepare to get burned by my laser gun!" He pressed a button so that a laser gun came out of his suit.

"Okay! Okay! Alright man, I'll battle," Gil said with fear, grabbing his electric guitar, cords, and amplifier.

Everyone walked outside. Lethal Note waited while holding his guitar in his hands. Gil was plugging everything in, but not everything; outside of the house, there was no electrical outlet for the amplifier.

"There's nowhere to plug in my amplifier," Gil said.

Lethal Note tossed him a small device. Gil caught it. It was a metallic on one end, and that end was for putting it into the guitar.

"What is this for?" Gil asked, looking at it.

"It amplifies the sound of an electric guitar; it can substitute the amplifier you have," Lethal Note responded. "Hurry up and plug it in," he said, plugging in one of his own.

"Do we start?" Gil asked.

"No," Lethal Note replied. "Before this battle begins, I will explain how this will work. It is simple." He pressed a button on his suit that made a speaker come out of the suit's right shoulder. "We are to play along with a song that we both know how to play. The song will keep looping, and every time it does, it will speed up. One of us will make too many mistakes. When that happens, my guitar will annihilate the loser of the battle. Understand?"

"Yeah," Gil said with anxiety.

"Tell me a song that you know how to play."

Gil said the name of a song.

"Alright. I know how to play that, too," Lethal Note said. "The song is now set to play through these speakers. When I say 'four,' the song will start playing, and we will play along. Ready?"

"You got this, Gil!" Johnny said.

Gil looked back and smiled. Then he looked back at Lethal Note with a serious expression. "I'm ready."

"One…two…and a-one, two, three…and a-you, will, lose…four!"

The song, Lethal Note, and Gil simultaneously began. The song was at normal speed (94 beats per minute—this is a moderate speed); therefore, it was easy—for now, at least. Both Gil and Lethal Note carefully hit the notes and obeyed the different kinds of rests that the song is composed of. Gil was anxious, but he pushed that aside. He needed to annihilate this guy, or be annihilated.

The Test kids and Dukey were, at the same time, having a good time listening to both of the guitarists' great performances and fearing—Susan and Mary had the most fear—that Gil could experience a forceful explosion of defeat (literally).

Then the first loop of the song happened. As a result, the song's tempo increased. Mary pulled out an invention labeled "Song Tempo Detector," and read the number on the screen.

"The song increased to a speed of 105 beats per minute," Mary said.

Gil and Lethal Note played through that loop of 105 beats per minute with no problem. "Alright, that's enough of the child's play," Lethal Note said while he and Gil were playing. "It's time to kick it up a notch, or two, or two thousand!" he shouted.

New numbers appeared on the Song Tempo Detector's screen. Dukey read them and said in shock, "Whoa! Holy crap! Two hundred and seventeen beats per minute?"

"Didn't see that coming," Johnny said with wide eyes.

Lethal Note wasn't kidding when he said that the child play was over. Gil was almost thrown off by the big difference in speed, and he started sweating. At least now he knows what to expect.

Although it was difficult, Gil went through the loop of 217 beats per minute without any mistakes. Then the song looped again immediately after.

"Dang, he is good," Susan said with an expression of awe (and fear that he may fail).

Mary read the numbers on the screen. "Three hundred seventy-seven beats per minute."

"Holy flipping fish sticks! Damn, does music even go that fast?!" Dukey exclaimed.

"Well right now, yes, music does go that fast," Susan said. "Also, most of the notes Gil is dealing with are sixteenth and thirty-second notes. Sixteenth notes are 4 times quicker than regular quarter notes, and thirty-second notes are 8 times quicker than quarter notes. So imagine that."

"Since when did you know a lot about music?" Mary asked.

"Gil told me after he performed in the lab," Susan replied.

"This battle is escalating extremely rapidly," Johnny said, focused on the battle.

Then the song looped again, and this time, the tempo was at 652 beats per minute. Large flames that were almost hot enough to melt the asphalt on the road appeared around Gil and Lethal Note. Huge plasma beams came out of their guitars. One plasma beam kept trying to overcome the other and vice versa. Gil was playing to his full potential, picking the strings and frantically placing fingers behind the frets.

So was Lethal Note. "Gaaaaaaaaah! You…will…not…maintain greatness…any longer!" he shouted while playing.

"No! You're...going to…explode into a million…frickin'…pieces!" Gil shouted while playing.

The flames and plasma beams got even bigger as the battle continued to rage on at another extreme speed of 1,294 beats per minute. Not only that, lightning bolts began striking the ground; and the Mega Metallic Robo-Musician of Music Note Death was sent in by Lethal Note's assistants to help Lethal Note. The MMRMMND (short for Mega Metallic Robo-Musician of Music Note Death) started helping Lethal Note by playing its bass guitar that amplified Lethal Note's plasma beam; as a result, Gil started losing this battle slowly, as indicated by the slow, gradual progression of the villain's plasma beam overcoming Gil's.

"Ohhhh myyyy GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWD! I AM FLIPPING OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT!" Dukey exclaimed to his highest extent.

This event was so intense that Hank Anchorman didn't even have to report the news; everyone in Porkbelly already knew about it. Everyone fled the town as a result, except for Johnny, Susan, Mary, Dukey, Hank Anchorman, Sissy, Bumper, Eugene, Mr. Black, Mr. White, Mr. Teacherman, the principal of Johnny's school, and the General, who all gathered around the battle to see it.

"We need to help Gil. But first, go to Area 51.1!" the General commanded everyone.

They all ran to Area 51.1 while Gil and Lethal Note continued to rage on. The current speed of the song is now 7,902 beats per minute.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Don't forget to review!