Hey! After about a month and a half of hiatus, we're finally back!

Congrats to the following who answered correctly or at least who had given a close enough answer on last chapter's question: LabGirl2001 (I'll be working on the crossover tag very soon ;) ), Rodrigo, doomforzombies, Lady Cougar-Trombone, AlienGhostWizard14, ShyMusic, and ceeceerocks2000 (Thanks! And welcome on board!) Adam did bring back a dinosaur egg, and Leo wisely crushed that. Didn't that kind of take you back to the ending of Parallel Universe, though?

LRW and raenbc, thank you for your reviews!

Alright. This chronicle is one that has a couple of firsts, too: (1) it will include Spike, which has never happened in any of the previous chapters, and (2) it has a small fight scene. Not excessive, but enough. :)

Just a warning, as much as I love reading stories that has Spike acting like a big brother to Leo, this one differs from that norm. It's not that I dislike Spike; quite the opposite, really. It's just that this is what came out after I saw the episode.

Anyways, I hope everybody enjoys this one! We'll try to catch up before the new episode comes by the end of the month!

Episode Tag to: Spike vs. Spikette

Chronicle #056

"Competition"

07/18/15

10:16 PM

In nature, there are several symbiotic relationships that exist. You can see these between animals and plants, and they are reflected in people, too. For example, mutualism. Mutualism is when both parties involved live harmoniously together, forming a relationship that benefits each other. Big D and Mom have a mutual relationship. By being together, both of them provide the company and love that each other needs. Not only that, both of them also fulfill the role that the other can't when it comes to us their children. Big D acts as (is, really) the dad that I didn't have before they got married, and Mom acts as the mom that Adam, Bree, and Chase didn't have before.

Another relationship that I see reflected in the people around me is commensalism, which is when one benefits and the other doesn't but is okay with that. I'll be honest, to this day I still have no idea why Bree decided to get her own commando app. She seems to really like the idea of her being able to finally toss people around, but I don't think she'll like that idea for long. She benefits from Spikerella's strength, and Spikerella seems to not care much about that, but I think Bree will realize soon enough that this was one bad idea.

I mean, come on. Losing control of yourself while someone else takes over? Did she not believe Chase when he told her how freaky it gets when he just blacks out?

That takes me to the third relationship, which is competition. That's really self-explanatory. Two camps vying for control over something, whether it be food source or territory. In the case of Chase and Spike, the fight is over who would take over when embarrassing situations happen.

Others seem to think that Chase allows Spike to come out with no problem when he can't deal with the situation, but that's not true. Chase told me once that whenever he starts feeling too anxious or too nervous, he tries to get himself to calm down because he doesn't like it when Spike comes out. He says he thinks Spike makes situations worse, making everything more humiliating. He's not a big fan of his counterperson acting on pure adrenaline either and not bothering to use even one brain cell in thinking things through.

He succeeds at times, like when we had to go against Krane's soldiers, he said – but this doesn't happen often.

I can't say I'm not guilty of provoking Chase just so Spike would come out. I can think of two instances when I used it for my advantage. Well, two-ish, actually, because the first one came about because Trent brought it upon himself. Nonetheless, I'm starting to learn that I don't like it either when Spike comes out. Dude destroys everything. It also seems like the ego is getting worse and worse every time. I heard, too, that the last time he was out, he made a derogatory comment towards girls—and I'm glad that Spikette and Spikerella straightened that out. He had that coming.

I think it's safe to say at this point that we're all okay if he doesn't show up for a while. Longer than a while for me, because he got on my nerves when he showed up again two days ago.

It wouldn't have happened if Adam didn't play another prank on Chase. That guy. I don't know what it would take for him to stop doing what he does to him. Sometimes, I think he has a twisted sense of humor. I mean, who would humiliate his younger brother on an almost daily basis because he's bored? Adam wasn't like this before. I don't know what happened.

Okay, maybe I'm saying these things because I'm a bit mad at him, too. He embarrassed Chase, but it also affected me.

So this is what happened: it was lunch time, and everyone in the Academy is milling around. Adam, Bree, Chase, and most of the students just got finished with an intense training session, and everybody's tired. All they were concerned about was getting some rest, eating lunch, and getting as much relaxation they could get in a one-hour lunch period. Nobody's really thinking about the consequences of what they were about to do.

Problem one.

Problem two: Adam was bored. He saw some paint lying around and decided to mess with them.

Problem three: he also saw Chase taking a quick nap by the benches, and he decided to use him as the canvass.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, I was walking around Kate. She told me she was interested in joining us for our Game Night the following night, and she had a few questions on what we were going to play. She also said she wasn't too sure about it, that she was nervous she'd do something dumb that would make her siblings laugh at her, but I told her it'd be okay. Everyone usually makes mistakes on their first go at board games, so we'd understand.

As we came into the break room and as I was telling Kate about the hilarious round of Quelf that we played last week, I heard Adam shouting from across the room, "Leo! Head's up!"

Looking up, I saw a huge tube of paint flying towards me. I caught it, surprisingly, and frowned at Adam, who was glancing back behind him with a terrified look. From the tunnel he came out from, I also saw some students running away in fear.

I almost asked him what he was doing when Chase stomped into the room. He had two dark circles painted thickly around his eyes with a connecting line between them – eyeglasses, I guess. His hair was spiked up in a straight row, from the middle down, and the fauxhawk was painted red, yellow, and blue. He was looking around with a deep scowl on his face.

Then, "Hey! Picasso!" he barked loudly, his eyes directly at me and the tube in my hand. "You drew on my face?"

Oh, no, I thought as I back away slowly because I knew what it looked like and I knew it was Spike I was dealing with.

"Let me return the favor," he said with a snarl, his right hand balled into a tight fist. "I'll draw on your face, too."

I let go of the tube of paint as he walked closer. Then, I screamed and ran for my life.

The girly scream was what became the joke around the Academy later on and what made me really mad at Adam, but at that moment it didn't matter. All I was concerned about was saving myself from getting shredded to pieces by Brutus. It wasn't my fault, I knew that, but Spike is not a person you can reason with. He exists to pummel things, and I did not want to be one of those things.

I'm not a fast runner, but I guess in the face of threat I can hold my own. I headed straight out to the beach, where I knew trees that could hide me would be, and didn't look back.

Well, okay, I did. Once. It was horrifying. Spike was looking at me with this murderous grin, and I could almost hear the theme for Psycho playing in the background.

I headed straight for the dense part of the beach when I got out. Since there are mostly palm trees, which mean not much hiding space, I had to weave in and out just so Spike would lose visual of me. I figured that if I was out of his way long enough, he would calm down, and Chase would get control again.

It didn't take long before I was tired. Running is not my best suit, and I hadn't even had lunch yet. I was winded. I was wiped. I was kind of glad that I wasn't involved in the training before lunch because if I had, I would've been a terribly easy target for Hot Head Harold.

I stopped when I reached an open space, turning around so I can at least see Spike when he attacks, but I saw that it was only me out there. "Where'd he go?" I mumbled, breathing heavily after all the running. I looked around. "Did I just lose him?"

Or so I thought.

"Going somewhere, Princess?" I heard behind me in a chillingly quiet and gruff tone.

I screamed when I spun around. I slowly backed away as he advanced towards me in the same pace. "Back off, Spike," I told him, cringing inside because by the looks of it, I had no way out. "I'm not the one you're looking for. You should be going after Adam."

"You're the one I caught red handed," he said, sneering. "You really expect me to believe Bozo did it?"

I may have been extremely angry at Adam, but that name Spike just called him didn't fly with me. Still, I was afraid of Spike catching me, so I ignored it for the meantime. "When have I ever set you up?" I asked, and I realized how mistaken I was to have asked that after it came out of my mouth.

He feigned thinking. "Hmm… I remember a talent show not too long ago when you required my services," he said. "I know you did this, Pip Squeak. 'Fess up. It'd make this much easier."

"Okay, I know I did that, okay? I brought you out because I was mad, and that was stupid—but I didn't do this this time!" I said, gesturing to him.

He faked a quick step towards me, and I cowered back just as fast. He smirked.

What a lunatic.

"You have to believe me!" I said. "I was across the room when you—"

He laughed. "You really take me for a dumbo, Kiddie?"

"N-no—"

"You really think I'd buy that?"

"I'm not asking you to—"

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," he said with a wily smile. "It's about time somebody sets you straight. You're too weak because your family lets you get away with everything. But I won't. I'm gonna make you pay."

What he said offended me, but I didn't have time to be upset because I knew I wasn't strong enough to stand up to him and actually survive.

I thought I wasn't anyways.

"You're so spineless," he said, shaking his head, after he had finally cornered me. "You're just like your brother."

The swipes against me, I could take. That, I couldn't. "What did you say?" I asked, not backing away anymore.

"That's why he lets me out, isn't it? He's too frail and dainty to deal with humiliation like a man," he asserted. He scoffed. "He's so pathetic, just like Thick Skull and She Man."

"They're not pathetic, you are!" I fired back.

Spike crossed his arms, amused. "This should be interesting. Little puppy trying to act like a big dog."

"You take control away from Chase. He doesn't give it to you," I continued. "You're nothing but a bully, Spike, you know that? You act like you're big and tough, but that's all you'll ever be – an act. You're all show. You're never going to stack up to Chase."

"When he's, what, this big?" He indicated how small he viewed Chase using his thumb and index finger.

I scoffed, totally ticked off now. "You must mistake the kind of person Chase is to the size of your brain."

That clearly angered him. "Gutsy coming from a weak little man who's about to be pummeled," he said, ready to attack.

I gathered a laser sphere on my hand. "Who says I'm about to be pummeled?" I said, letting him know I wasn't afraid of him.

He laughed deridingly. "Not very smart, are you?" he said. "If you attack me, you're gonna hurt Chase. Can you really take it upon yourself to hurt your brother?"

"Oh, I'm not hurting him. This is all on you," I clarified. "I'm about to set you straight. After you're deactivated, I'll be more than happy to explain to Chase what happened. I guarantee you, he'll be proud and won't care about you."

He seemed amused. "I've got more than ten years of training on me, and you've got a few months on you and your poorly cobbled tiny arm. You're gonna lose."

"I don't think so."

He chuckled. "I was right. He is weak," he said. "He needs someone else to stand up for him when he gets picked on."

"You pick on my brother, you pick on me."

"Did you forget, Pip Squeak?" he asked with a smirk. "I'm your brother, too."

I shook my head. Called me weak, spineless, spoiled, and braindead? And he insulted the people I care about? "No. You're not," I told him.

There was a look that passed by Spike's face, and for some reason, to me, it looked like hurt. I realize now that what I told him may have affected that too-pumped-up app, but I wasn't about to claim him as a sibling with him acting like that. People who don't care about you and who tramples on whoever they want to, including you, is not family, in my opinion.

Unlike Chase, who walked away whenever he was hurt, Spike made a move to act on his threats. I stayed at where I stood because even if I knew that there was a big chance that the situation would end up badly for me, I was too irritated and offended to back down.

I was a little worried about Chase on the off-chance that I best Spike. I didn't want to use my super strength, because I didn't want to break him. I didn't want to use my laser sphere, because I didn't want to burn him (literally). The energy transference was out of the question because the last time I used it on a human being, it almost didn't end well for him – and by him, I mean me.

I was just glad when Spike decided to try his hand at using one of Chase's abilities, which I didn't even know he could do. The blue laser bo appeared, and he was ready after that.

It only took me a moment to come up with what I had to do.

He swung it towards me, and I spun out of the way. That's another difference between Chase and Spike. Chase calculates his moves. He thinks about them carefully, and that's what makes them accurate. Spike doesn't. He acts on rage, and it blinds him. You can count on his moves having much force, but his accuracy and precision are almost always off. That was why he ended up hitting the trees several times instead of getting me.

Except for one near miss, I did well in dodging.

"Tired yet?" I asked him with a grin in an attempt to make him angrier.

He swung again, and I ducked. "I haven't even started yet," he said with a scowl.

"Really? 'Cause you look worn out." I needed him to be more reckless, so I joked, "Maybe you do need those eyeglasses after all."

He roared after he missed and I laughed. I ran back to the beach since that would give me enough time for the plan to work. When we got there, I turned around and saw Spike walking towards me with a glare, gripping the laser bo in his hand. I didn't run away that time. Instead, I waited.

When he got close enough, he took another shot, but instead of avoiding the laser bo, I grabbed it. Since I've already activated the energy transference, the laser was absorbed into my hand until Spike was holding onto thin air. He looked at me in surprise. "Poorly cobbled, you said?" I asked him.

He shoved me. "This isn't over yet," he said, stepping back. He shrugged his arm to activate another laser bo. It came out, but only for a second. He was confused at first when it blinked out. He tried again, but instead of the ability clicking in, something else happened. His face blanked.

I crossed my arms, smirking when he looked at me. Chase's chip can't handle running an app and using an ability at the same time, and like I said, Spike doesn't pay attention to details like that when he's too riled up. I'm glad. That saved me from having to deal with him. "Checkmate, Spikey," I told him.

Spike collapsed after that.

I hurried towards him before he could hit the ground. I didn't really notice that he was too close to the ocean. Chase wouldn't drown from the water coming in, of course, but if he didn't come to in time he could. When I got to him, I dragged him closer to the shore. Fortunately, he didn't faceplant on the sand. Unfortunately, the tide came in and soaked his clothes.

The cold water seemed to have done the trick in waking Chase up. With his brows wrinkled, he opened his eyes with a light shudder. He was looking at the skies at first, and then he noticed me sitting by him, trying to catch my breath after the running and the dragging. "Leo?" he said as he tried to sit up.

I gave a weak wave. "Hola, hermano."

"What are we doing out here?"

"Three words: Adam, paint, Spike."

He frowned. "I remember the paint, but – why are we out here?"

"Spike thought it was me. Went after me."

He looked at me worriedly. "Did he hurt you?" he asked.

I shook my head, grinning. "Just the opposite, actually."

"You hurt him?"

"Just deactivated him," I said. "I was getting close to it, though."

"Seriously? You know he could have torn you to pieces."

"Yeah I guess."

"Why would you purposely go against him?"

I shrugged. "He called you pathetic," I said. "What else was I supposed to do?"

The frown on his face slowly cleared. He stared at me for a short while. Then, he smiled a small smile. "Thanks," he said.

I nodded. So it wouldn't get awkward, I said, "Speaking of paint, you know, it's still all over you. You may want to wash that off. It's kind of hard to take you seriously with all of…that."

Chase nodded. He got up on his feet, and then he offered me a hand. Pulling me up, he asked, "You said Adam did this?"

"Yep."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"You're thinking of ways to get back at him, aren't you?"

He smiled. A man with a plan. "Would you, Miller, and Rocket be interested in spending the afternoon back at the mainland?" he asked.

At that point, I had no idea what he was planning on doing, but the offer sounded great to me, especially since the afternoon classes would be filled with heavy physical training that I'd really rather not do. So, I accepted.

As it turns out, while the guys and I were kicking it back home, with me introducing them to one of the newest video games I got, Chase set up a pretty elaborate prank to play on Adam. I didn't get all of the details, but Chase basically made it look like Spike really went off the handle this time and ended up seriously hurting me and Miller and Rocket, both of whom had supposedly tried to help me.

It seemed to have rattled Adam badly because when I got back to the quarters, he had this terrified look on his face. He then looked relieved and happy to see me, at least if the bone-crushing hug he gave me was any proof. He realized afterwards that Chase pulled one over him, and, of course, that started an argument between them.

Brothers. It's probably one of the trickiest relationships in nature. It should have its own category.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

07/19/15

1:02 AM

The Bree Chronicles

What bionic ability did Douglas give Kate in Spike vs. Spikette? Answers and comments are appreciated!