I'm back with Chapter 12 in tow!

I own the Rodgers family. Nothing else, not even the coupons for my favorite restaurant that I got in the mail yesterday. Sad, huh?

Enjoy the mayhem; I know I certainly will.


Hale and I stared up at the oversized aliens looming above us. I could tell my brother was somewhat scared, and knowing him, he will never admit it and wear a mask of bravery to hide it.

I glanced over at Nawt, who was giving me a look of concern.

'Well, I knew he was gonna bring the big blue guy, but he didn't say anything about bringing the rest of them!'

The huge orange one grabbed the basketball, grinning with a look that says he's challenging us.

"Well, you babies gonna play or you gonna run home crying?", he snorted boastfully.

The purple and green guys muttered in agreement. Nawt kept exchanging his glances from me and the orange guy.

"Challenge accepted. We'll play against ya.", Hale said bravely. For a guy who got pushed around the most by the Monstars, my brother definitely has the stars aligned in his favor as a born leader. I still can't believe I got the title captain instead of him, but he insisted.

"Two against five? I like those odds." I said, standing next to Hale with as much courage as I could muster.

With that said, the orange Monstar threw the ball up, initiating the start of his challenge. I jumped up the highest I could and grabbed the ball. I dribbled passed the green alien, followed by the purple. With determination, I took the ball and dunked it in their hoop.

"How did she-?"', the purple one said, cut off by Hale's own comeback as I passed the ball over to him. Hale dribbled the ball here and there, running circles past the tall blue alien and zipped by Nawt. He almost got knocked over by the orange one, but gracefully dodged by an inch and took his chance. Hale dunked the ball into the hoop, giving us the upper hand in this match.

The Monstars stood there completely baffled. Nawt smirked to himself, knowing now all too well of what we were capable of when it comes to basketball.

The game went on like this for the next five minutes; the Monstars scored a couple of shots, but we managed all the rest. At last when we won the final round, they tossed in the towel.

"Alright! You two win! Guess we underestimated ya after all.", the orange one cried in exasperation.

Nawt couldn't help but extend his grin even more. Clearly he was amused by this display of humiliation that his leader is putting up.

Hale stood up straight and picked up his ball. "So does this mean we won your challenge?"

They nodded their heads in unison.

"So then will you guys stop calling us 'babies'?", I then put in, rubbing the sore just a bit.

They all sighed in agreement. "After how you guys played just now, we know you're not babies.", the purple one commented.

Hale and I exchanged grins and high-five each other. Nawt got up and walked over towards us.

"You two were really good! I think you made a huge impression on all of us!"

We couldn't help but blush at his comment. Hale crossed his arms and gave a cocky look. "Well, it was nothing really. Though I guess we showed you guys how great we can-"

I cut him off before he could go overboard. "You guys did a good job too! It was a pretty fair game, even if it's just for kicks."

The Monstars gave a mixture of flushed faces, smirks, and murmurs of thanks. The orange one then got up and walked over to us, holding out his hand, "Name's Pound. Good game there, Kari."

I looked at him baffled. "H-how do you know my name?"

I glanced at Nawt, who gave me a knowing smile. Ah, that explains it.

"Nawt told us. He even told us about sneaking off to see ya, as well as other things." He gave a disapproving look towards Nawt, causing him to shrink back from Pound.

"Yeah, I'm Blanko. Cool moves, dude." The blue one walked over commenting towards us.

The green one introduced himself as Bang and the purple one as Bupkus. Hale and I made our own introductions, despite that they already knew our names thanks to Nawt.

After all of us got acquainted, we asked how they all knew where to find us and why all of them showed up when we were only expecting Nawt and Blanko.

"Like I said, Nawt told us about you two and let's just say that last night was a long night of talk and hardly any sleep.", Pound finally put in.

'Guess that explains why they're so easily exhausted. Looks like we won't be so lucky like we were today when the big game comes.'

"More like a long night of shouts. You almost made it into a scream fest." Bupkus mentioned.

Pound glared at Bupkus.

"Could you blame me? This surprising issue is hardly an understatement and trust me, I had my reasons to get upset."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Huh?" Hale gave a skeptical look at them. "What issue?"

Nawt waved his hands around nervously. "It's nothing! Don't worry about it!"

I wanted to ask, but I left it alone. I didn't think it was worth the argument. Hale kept his skeptical glance, but shrugged it off.

"Anyway, Nawt convinced us to tag along. He claimed you guys were better than our first impression of you, so we wanted to see if what he was saying was true. Turns out he was.", Bang finished.

I was slightly taken aback from that comment. 'So Nawt was trying to help us. Ha! Take that, Hale!'

Hale, however, didn't seem all too fazed by that and kept his ground. Something was bothering him about them, but he couldn't figure out what.

After all that was said, the Monstars challenged us to one more game. We mutually agreed and played against them once more, out scoring them again. At the end of the game, it was around two in the afternoon, and they were completely worn out.

We grabbed our ball and decided to head back home early to see about getting the tickets ahead of time. Hale considered it, seeing as how lately I seemed to be forgetting things.

'How does he know? Is he spying on me?'

I grew a little worried about my brother possibly noticing how I have been acting early but decided not to show it at the moment.

Nawt and the rest of the Monstars bid us farewell, with Nawt whispering in my ear, "I'll see you later this evening."

I blushed lightly and nodded, holding in my sudden excitement.

Waving goodbye fro the day, Hale and I grabbed our purple gems and disappeared into the bright light emanating from it.


Third Person POV:

Once Kari and Hale left, Pound walked over to Nawt, still giving a look of disapproval.

"Nawt, I'm still not happy about this."

Nawt didn't look at him, but acknowledge him nonetheless. "Pound, they're not that bad. She's not that bad!"

Pound shook his head. "They're still the enemy. I don't think it's wise to linger around them too much, especially that girl."

Nawt then turned around, anger etched on his features. "Why not? She hasn't done any harm, and although they did chase us, she saved me! Did you forget that?"

Blanko, Bang and Bupkus never saw Nawt this mad before. For as long as they knew him, Nawt was never the one to lose his temper. He was always mellow, a tad mischievous, or just bopping around and goofing off. But never had they seen him this mad or this serious before in their lives.

Pound was slightly taken aback, but refused to back down. "Saved you or not, that girl is still our opponent. Just cause she saved you, doesn't mean she cares, Nawt. I don't want her and that brother of hers to be weight that will only drag us down!"

Nawt replied hotly, "She isn't dragging us down, Pound! And she's not heartless like you think she is!

She is kind, selfless, and different.. much different! She's the only light that I have seen in so long; she's not just my savior, she's my friend and much more than that!"

Pound stared at Nawt with wide eyes. Blanko was in a stupor like a deer caught in headlights. Bang stared with a shocked expression and couldn't believe his ears and Bupkus looked like his jaw was about to drop off from his skull at any given time.

With that said, Nawt stormed off from the other Monstars, walking off into the now late afternoon. He wandered off to a clearing of grass and flowers, which was a good distance from the rest of the group.

He sighed and laid back, taking in the scent of all the wildflowers around him. "They don't know her... Not even close.."

Nawt closed his eyes, hoping for nightfall to descend quickly so he could go see her; the light that illuminated his life for the first time in who knows how long.

Meanwhile, Pound was sitting with the other Monstars, still in a stupor of what they just heard from Nawt.

"Dude, don't ya think you were a little harsh towards him?" Blanko blatantly stated.

Pound inhaled then exhaled deeply, rubbing a hand down his face. "I did what I had to. At least, what I felt was right for him.. and us."

"Well, it's clear as day that he feels something for that girl." Bupkus commented, looking up at the indigo sky now settling down upon them.

Bang shook his head. "Something? I never seen him act like that before and neither have you guys! That girl has him wrapped around his finger, I'm telling ya!"

"This is blasphemy. I mean, Nawt has his reasons and he is right; that girl isn't hurting anyone, but it's crazy. It's like he- he.." Pound struggled to find words to describe what was going on with his friend, but couldn't.

"He's in love. Just admit it Pound. Nawt is head over heals for Kari, and you know it." Blanko defended, finding the words that Pound would hate to reveal.

"But isn't she just a kid?", Bang asked in terror.

Bupkus shook his head. "Nawt's aware of that, I'm sure. But I think he also knows how to approach that situation as well. It's like he found an answer for that problem already. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so sure; to sound and act so sure."

Pound groaned, not sure of how to handle that idea that one of their team members is a fated victim of amour.

"I just hope that certainty he has won't get in the way of our strive to win the game two weeks from now.. Cause that would mean trouble.. for all of us."

The rest of them nodded in understanding of what Pound was referring to. They agreed to keep a tight lid of this little mishap from ever getting out. The last thing they needed is Swackhammer bringing down the hammer on them all...

including the kids.