I am SOOO sorry about the inconsistent upload schedule. A few weeks ago, my excuse was mid-year exams, but for the last few weeks, I was just being lazy (and I am in a state of writer's block...so that's fun). Whatever...ON WITH THE STORY!


Chapter Nine: Game On

By the time the sun started to rise, everyone was already up and all of us were still tired. Instead of recharging in vehicle form, like we were used to, we all had to sleep on these things called "cots". Being a medic, I could not help but think they looked a lot like stretchers, which I knew from first-hand experience, were not comfortable at all. Although I was skeptical, I still was able to get some form of sleep. The warmth from the blankets and tiredness from the house fire mission sure was enough to get me into to right mood. When I woke up though, my neck was stiff from sleeping on it wrong and I, once again, was plagued with nightmares.

On the bright side, however, Dani introduced us all to something called coffee. I was a little concerned when Sky was pretty much jumping off the walls when she was done with her cup, but Dani assured us that it was normal for the most part. She explained it was like giving sugar to a child...though that analogy didn't really help.

But whatever it was, it was definitely going to be a lifesaver. Literally in my case. The liquid put me on over-drive and kept me up all morning during my 6:00 to 8:00 patrol shift.

While on patrol, I discovered I still knew how to drive as a human. It wasn't until I was halfway across the island that I realized it and it wasn't until I started paying attention that I realized I wasn't supposed to think about it or I would forget how. I found it a little odd, but I was thankful I didn't have to learn how to drive myself from another human.

When I got back, the Burnses were playing some sort of game on the weird vacant space next to the firehouse I saw earlier. Cody, who was being blocked by Kade for some reason, was constantly bouncing an orange ball on the ground and walking back and forth, like a pacing predator waiting to pounce. When he did, he jerked his head to the left, making Kade jump out of the way, and threw the ball to the right, directly into Graham's open hands.

I got out of my alt and walked over to Star and the rest of the team. The boys were cheering and rooting for their partners while Sky and Siren looked at them in confusion. Star, unsurprisingly, had her nose stuck in a book.

"Hey Star," I said as I took a seat next to her. She glanced at me, then just continue reading.

"What exactly are the Burnses doing?" I asked her. She let out a deep sigh then explained to me they were playing a sport called "basketball". In between the loud cheers, she explained what it was.

"Come on Cody! Take the shoot!" Boulder shouted out before Cody threw the ball at the "basketball hoop" and scored another 2 points. A loud buzzer sounded and it was clear the game was over. 27 to 13. Cody, Graham, and Chief won against Kade, Dani, and Frankie. Blades, Boulder, and Chase went over to congratulate the winners while Heatwave teased Kade, prompting Kade to storm off and pout.

" Mr. Burns? My daddy wanted me to ask you if you all could come to the lab sometime today. He said he just wanted to make sure that the Bots were ok and he wanted to run some tests," Frankie said after she was done laughing (probably at Kade). Since the game was over, everyone started to make their way off the 'court' and go into the firehouse.

"Wait!" Blades shouted. We all looked back at him. "Can we play a game?"

We all looked at him in confusion, but the ball in his hands made us quickly realize what he had said.

"Blades-" I started, but Star was already ahead of me.

"That's a great idea!" She said with genuine enthusiasm. Everyone's gaze shifted from Blades to Star.

"It is?" Sky, Siren, Chase, and I said at the same time.

"Sure it is. It would be a great way to test our physical abilities and our motor skills...not to mention teamwork," She explained.

"I don't know...It might be a good idea," Chief said before he walked over to a little bin filled to the brim with the same orange and black balls the Burnses were playing with earlier. He grabbed one and tossed it to Sky. "Let's see how well you can dribble first. Everyone grab a ball."

Star was about to open up her book and read again, but I quickly snatched the book from her.

"Ah, ah. You got us into this, your coming too." She looked at me stunned and then gave me a pouting look. I helped her up off the ground and put her book right where she was sitting. I was going to make sure I wouldn't have to suffer this alone. After Chief explained (way too briefly) how to do basic basketball stuff, like dribbling, shooting, and passing, he told us how to actually play the game. I thought it was actually fairly simple and I found I was a pretty good shooter.

I saw that Star and Chase were amazing shooters (they made almost every shot on their first try), Sky and Boulder were pretty good at running while dribbling (they never faceplanted like Blades), and Siren and Blades were great defenders. Heatwave didn't really seem to put any effort into what he was going, so he was equally bad at everything, but since he was the leader of the rescue team, the boys made him their team leader. It pretty much was already determined before the game even started it was going to be boys versus girls. Sigma 17 versus Eta 16.

Chief walked into the middle of the court, ball in hand, and Heatwave and I walked into position. Whistle in his mouth, Chief looked at both of us, and already my heart was picking up speed in anticipation. The moment his whistle started to blow and the ball started to leave Chief's hand, I jumped for the ball, already heading for it before Heatwave. I quickly pushed the ball backward towards Sky, the fastest member in the team. The ball though found its way into Blades's hands instead. My team quickly spread out, making sure that every one of the boys was defended. I was guarding Heatwave, Star was guarding Chase, Siren was guarding Boulder, and Sky was trying to block Blades.

The sad thing was, Sky really didn't have to. Blades's hand missed the ball when he was dribbling and Sky was able to snatch it out of the air before quickly making her way across the court to our basket. The roles quickly reversed and the boys were the ones blocking us.

Sky passed it to Siren, then she quickly passed it to Star and she was able to shoot 2 points before the boys were able to recover.

Cody, Dani, Chief, and Graham all cheered from the sidelines. I looked at Heatwave and saw that he had a little bit more interest in winning now. I smiled smugly and jogged back into position.

"How are you so good at it Star?!" Sky asked in amazement as we got into position to play again.

"Well, in order to make a good shot, I calculated that arc of releasing a ball must be above 33 degrees and-" Star started before Sky held up her hands in defeat. Star had already lost her.

"Forget I asked," She mumbled.

It was Heatwave's turn to start. The first thing he did was pass it to Boulder who ran right up to the basket ready to shoot, but Sky was (somehow) able to block the shot, instead of making it bounce right into Chase's empty hands. Or that would have been the case if I hadn't been blocking him. I was able to snatch it fairly quickly and pass it to Sky, who then raced to the other side of the court. Heatwave, with his newfound encouragement, moved to block Sky, but then quickly stole the ball and juked her out before shooting it over back to Chase and me. This time, Chase was slightly faster and was able to catch the ball before I could. He shot from the free-throw line, missed, but caught it again, shoot it again, and made it in.

After a few more minutes, the points started to really tally up. My team was apparently really good at running with the ball and passing while Heatwaves team was really good at shooting and guarding. Although it probably looked like a couple of newbies playing on the outside, it felt like we were all the best of the best in the heat of the moment. All of our moves felt calculated and fluid, our eyes never stayed in one place, our feet were always moving, and our hearts only slowed down when we were transitioning between rounds.

It was Heatwave's turn to start again. All of us, already feeling a little drained, walked into place and waited for him to pass it, but that never happened. He ran. He came barreling down the court and before we could stop him, he jumped. Instead of shooting though, he used all his air time, grabbed onto the rim, and pushed the ball into the net. I was almost going to ask if that was allowed, but since everyone was cheering, I just assumed it was.

"Slam dunk!" Cody and Frankie screamed. Kade, who had appeared out of nowhere a few minutes prior, also clapped and cheered for his partner's cool stunt.

When Mr. Jumpy decided to come down from his high hoop, he landed and gave me a smug smile.

"Bet you can't top that," he said competitively as he crossed his almost glossy arms.

"We'll see about that Hothead," I responded. Smack talk wasn't something I usually did, but man, putting him in his place was going to be sooo worth the change.

"Alright. One more time guys," Chief said before I started again. I dribbled up to a good distance away from the basket and watched Heatwave as he moved to block me. Like a predator studying its prey, I let the ball bounce, watching Heatwave's every move, almost pacing as I did so.

As quickly as I could, I caught the ball and did what Cody did what felt like hours ago. I faked left and let the sky clear before I passed it to a wide awake and open Siren. She shot, missed, and almost caught the rebound, but Blades was a little quicker. I ran back beside Heatwave and watched Blades run to the other side. The moment he stopped he had Siren and Sky blocking him so he desperately passed it to Heatwave who tried to run and dunk again, but this time, I knew what he was doing.

We ran, shoulder to shoulder, and left the ground at the same time, but I had just a tiny bit more momentum than he did. When we were about four feet off the ground, I grabbed the ball from him. The look of surprise and horror on his face was priceless. Then I twisted in the air so he couldn't steal back the ball, landed only a few centimeters from the foul line and sprinted for the other side of the court. Knowing that was more or less a one time jump for me, I settled for a half-court shot that ended the game with a satisfying swoosh.

"And the crowd went wild!" Blades shouted, all smiles despite the fact he lost the point. And, indeed, the crowd went wild...so did everyone else even though the game was a tie. 30-30. I saw why the humans had so much fun in these activities...the rush was incredible.

Out of breath and energy, I stood in the middle of the court, just trying to regain myself. Then I turned to look at my main opponent, Heatwave.

"Topped it," I said smugly before I walked over to the Burnses who were all holding out water and towels, not even stopping to savor his expression. They all were talking about how cool it looked and were congratulating me on the epic move I pulled before also congratulating Heatwave on his slam dunk. Get used to second place Hothead I thought (though, apparently, only a few people could really pull that off).

"That definitely was impressive," a familiar sounding Doc Green said from behind us. We turned around and were greeted with the sight of a sleepy Doc Green covered from head to toe in small bugs.

"Ummm...Thanks, Doc...but what…" Sky said before she pointed to all of the bugs.

"OH...well, the machine not only turned the robot into a living bug but all of my other tools as well! Fascinating no?" He said. "Anyway, I came here to ask if I could borrow any tools you might have. The mayor said we could put up a fundraiser at the dance this week, but there is a low chance we will be getting enough money for my supply list there."

I was going to ask "what dance", but I was a little too slow to ask.

"What if we all get jobs?" Siren asked unexpectedly. We all turned to her in surprise and (some of us) in confusion. "I mean...side jobs. Jobs give you money...right? That way we could put all of our earnings to getting our bodies back and pay for the costs of living as humans."

"Well…that could work in theory, but...it's…" Doc tried to explain as a long bug started to crawl up his shirt sleeve.

"It's not that simple Siren," Chief said. "It is a good idea, but working a job takes a lot of time and...well...work. Work that should be saved for any rescue missions."

"I think that we could figure it out," I said before everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Working a low paying human job couldn't be that hard, could it? It would provide us with a little extra currency to pay for the Burnses expenses and it would help Doc pay for his equipment. Besides, it wasn't like the people at the job sites wouldn't understand why we would need to rush out...right?

"We don't need to have three law enforcers on duty every day," Siren continued. "We could have one on duty during the day and one during the night. I have done a little research and found that there are something called "shifts". If I were to take the "night shift" and Chase was to take the "day shift", we could share our rescuing duties that way. Same for everyone else."

"Besides, having two of every type of rescuer would crowd a normal rescue site," Star said. "And like Siren said, we don't need three officers on duty every day. If we do, it's not like we aren't going to be here."

"But what if I don't want to work?" Sky and Blades said at the same time in the same whiny voice.

"Then I guess you don't get to change back," Heatwave said shutting them up instantly.

Chief sighed and looked like he was thinking it over. "I guess we'll have to see."

He turned to Doc Green and said: "We have a few old monitors and power tools in the bunker. Anything else you need Doc?"

"I also came to ask Boulder, Star, and Graham if they could help me build the reversal machine when I have all of the parts of course. I feel only having one pair of hands on this project would definitely not be productive," Doc explained.

"Whenever you need us, Doctor, we will be here," Star assured him. The boys nodded in agreement. Doc yawned again. And I saw that most of the bugs had found their way to the ground. Star seemed to notice too and occupied herself by catching them in a small glass she had used to hydrate herself.

"Why don't you go get some sleep Doc. It looks like you need it," I said before I helped him to his van, making sure I didn't get any bugs on me, and watched him drive back to the lab, Frankie riding her bike slowly behind him. Just when the van was out of earshot, Sky piped up.

"Soooo...what else do humans do for fun?" Sky asked.

"Well...I think we should go to town and get you some clothes to change into, you all stink," Dani said before pinching her nose. I thought that we didn't stink that much, but I wasn't going to argue with getting some more...comfortable and clean garments.

"REALLY?! Can I get some dresses?! And some blue shirts like the ones Judy has in 'Psychotic Alien In My Garage'?" Sky squealed as she practically bounced with excitement.

Psychotic...what?!

"Sure," Dani said, though she just looked like she was trying to get her to stop talking. I didn't blame her. Sky smiled hugely and started to dance around, everyone just rolling their eyes at her behavior.

When we went into town, however, it wasn't all smiles and happy times like the basketball game had been.


And that concludes another chapter! (If there is anything wrong with the basketball scene, please tell me. IDK anything about the sport)

Ok...so...I have a question for you all. With the main story already being as long as it is and as full of...stuff as it is...would you guys like to read like a short stories book for this series? Like...It would be like the normal day to day things (adjusting to Earth, team building, etc) maybe a few holidays, the whole job idea stated above, and a few...other...things ;)

Please tell me what you guys think about this idea and if you would be interested in reading this (Just imagine Rico or Heatwave working in customer service. OMG.)

With that idea in mind, please review and have a great day/night!