Dodgeball devolution city

Dodgeball, a game both fourth and fifth graders take seriously. Right now it was most of the fifth graders VS Dede and Vince, who only had one ball each as the fifth grader had all the rest. Vince was being cocky, even though the last two were massively outnumbered. "Might as well hang it up, Lawson. This Dodgeball court ain't big enough for all of us."

Lawson just smirked at Vince. "You talk like a hero. You got something to learn about heroes, LaSalle. Heroes die!"

Spinelli shouts from the sidelines. "Come on, Dede, Vince! Don't give up!"

TJ also joins in. "You can do it!"

Gretchen takes out her Galileo and starts to work out some calculations. "Actually, I calculated their odds of survival at 13,017, to 1, but go get him!"

Mikey screams from behind his friends. "Get me out of here, guys! I'm not cut out for jail! I can't take it!"

Paloma rests her hand on Mikey's shoulder to calm him down. "Chill out, Mikey. It's just Dodgeball jail."

Lawson looked at his fellow fifth graders as they all stood next to each other. "OK, boys, lock and load." Lawson smirks at the last two remaining fourth graders. "Fire!"

As they started to throw the dodgeball's Dede was able to dodge the first few but as she looked over and saw that Vince got hit, all the other fifth graders threw their dodgeballs at her, so she didn't have time to react. Knocking her out of the game and giving the fifth graders another win. TJ and Spinelli both winced at seeing his friends get pelted by dodgeballs. "That's got to hurt."

Mikey sniffs at watching the end of the match. "Poor guys. They never had a chance."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

At the end of the day seven of the eight friends all went to Kelso's to drown their sorrow at losing, yet another of dodgeball. Mr Kelso smiles when he sees the kids enter his store. "How's it going kids?"

The seven friends all sat down at the bar in front of Mr Kelso. Dede sighs as she looks up at their favourite convenience store owner. "Hey Mr Kelso."

Mr Kelso looks at the kids in front of him and sees all of their downtrodden faces. "Hey, what's wrong kids?"

Spinelli slumps down to lean on the bar after she takes a seat in between Dede and TJ. "We lost yet ANOTHER game of dodgeball to those fifth grade dopes!"

Mr Kelso smiled sympathetically at the kids, knowing how much they hated to lose to the fifth graders at their school. "Ahh, cheer up. I'm sure you'll win next time, you just gotta keep practising." The kids all weakly smile at him, wanting to believe him but not fully believing it. "Anyway, what can I get for you all?"

Dede puts her credit card down on the bar for Kelso to take to pay for all their drinks. "I'll have a strawberry smoothie please."

Mr Kelso grabbed the card and started to prepare the kids' orders after everyone said what they wanted. After Mr Kelso gave the card back and handed everyone their drinks he left to go and sort something out in the back, leaving the kids to enjoy their drink in silence, before Gretchen broke it. "You realise, of course, that if we lose

one more game, we tie the school record for consecutive bouts of humiliation."

Vince groans and covers his face in shame. "I blame myself."

Dede shakes her head. "No, it's my fault, if I didn't get distracted easily we might have won."

TJ look between his two friends. "It's not your fault, guys. Dodgeball's a team sport. We win together, we lose together. Well, except for the winning part."

The door to the shop opens up catching all of their attention. They look over and see it was Gus that had entered, carrying an acoustic guitar on his back. Gus waved as he saw his friends. "Hey, guys, how's it going?"

TJ holds up his glass. "A bit more swell now that we've got smoothies."

Dede smiles over at her friend. "Care to join us?"

Gus declines, moving over to sit at one of the booths. "Can't. My mom says I got to practice my guitar lesson."

"Poor guy should have signed up for a harmonica." Spinelli says as they all watch Gus struggle to get the guitar off of his back. "They're a lot easier to lug around."

Gretchen seems to have a reali. "You know, it's odd. I don't think I've ever seen Gus play Dodgeball."

Vince looked at Gus then back to his other friends. "No offence, but even if he did play, do you really think he'd make any difference?"

The door opens again and this time it's a kid that they don't know that enters. When the kid looks over to Gus who was playing his guitar he gasps and falls over, knocking a stand down with him. "It's-- it's El Diablo."

Dede rushes out of her seat and over to the other kid, with her friends following her. None of them saw that Gus had left. "Hey, kid, are you OK?"

The kid stood back up and looked around. "I think so. Is he gone?"

The others all look around as well, seeing that Gus had left. "You mean our pal Gus? Yeah, he's gone."

"Gus? Is that what he's going by now?" The kids walks forward and takes a seat in the booth that Gus had vacated.

Gretchen raises an eyebrow at the kid. "It is his name, but the question remains: why did you refer to him as 'El Diablo,' Spanish for 'The Devil'?"

The kid sighs. "He attended my old school, or should I say he terrorised it."

Spinelli scoffs, not believing a word the kid said. "Gus? Listen, man, that dance with the snack cakes must have rattled your brain."

The kid shakes his head. "No, I'm serious. This Gus, as you call him, is the most dangerous Dodgeball player anyone's ever seen. It was at Jesse James Elementary School that I first laid eyes on him. Some say that's where Dodgeball was invented, but I don't know about that. All I know is it was a tough place to learn, and El Diablo, the fastest Dodgeball in the west, made it that way. It was... horrible."

Paloma tilts her head in confusion. "Gus, the fastest Dodgeball in the west?"

Gretchen was also doubtful. "You'll forgive us if we doubt the veracity of your tale."

The kid looks up at the friends. "Believe me. A kid never forgets the face Of El Diablo."

With that the kid got up, paid for some sweets and left. The seven friends all looked at each other, not knowing what to do. It was Dede who broke the silence this time. "Maybe we should ask Gus about it tomorrow?" With that they went back to finishing their smoothies.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Dede was walking back home she ran into Lapis who had just beamed down next to her, having come back from another training session. "Hey Lapis, how'd it go?"

Lapis jumped into Dedes arms and yawned, before resting her head down. "It was exhausting, I'm just gonna take a little nap."

Dede smiled as she watched her wolf friend fall asleep in her arms. Dede was intending on going straight home so she could let Lapis sleep in peace, but a voice shouting her name from behind her interrupted that plan. Dede looked behind her to see king Bob running over to her. "Hey, there you are. I need to show you something."

Dede looks at Bob in confusion, tilting her head to the side. "Sure. You don't mind me bringing Lapis do you?"

Bob looks down at the sleeping canine in the girl's arms and smiles, reaching out to pet the pup's head. "Not at all." As the two make their way down the street towards Bob's house he looks down at the shorter girl next to him. "How come Lapis is sleeping at the moment? Normally she's full of energy during the day."

Dede starts to internally panic, trying to think of an excuse when she sees another dog owner walking on the opposite side of the street, carrying some dog toys as he walks his dog. "We… we were.. playing, at the park and I think she just ran around too much?" Bob nods, accepting the little white lie Dede said, making her sigh in relief before she looks up at Bob, wanting to change the subject before he could bring it up again. "So, what'd you wanna show me?"

Bob smiles down at Dede as they neared his home, before looking around and seeing some people near them. "It's a secret."

As the two entered Bob's home, saying a quick 'hello' to his older sister, before making their way into the garage. Dede looks around, seeing a lot of different machinery, giggling nervously as she sees the machine that Bob's dad was working on when she first met him about a week ago. (Again, sorry for that TERRIBLE chapter. I'll get around to editing this story once I've finished it) Dede spots a little sofa in the corner that she gently sets Lapis on before turning to look at Bob who had taken his helmet crown and cape off and was now busy rummaging through a box. "Why are we in your garage? What's with all the mystery?"

Bob turns around and walks over to Dede, holding another strange device. "I found something my dad invented. Look! It's a satellite C.B. radio. It's the latest way to pick up signals from outta space. You wanna try?"

Dede shifted from one foot to another, nervous. "You.. really think there are aliens out there?" Bob nodded his head before he started to mess with the radio. Dede looked out of the window when movement caught her eye and gasped as she saw her spaceship there. Bob looked up at Dedes gasp but couldn't see where she was looking as she quickly looked away. "How does it work?"

Bob turns some of the dials and Dede starts to sweat as she hears DeGills voice laughing out. "Come now Roxy, I have to make a business call. We'll have dinner later. kiss kiss."

Bob looks up in excitement. "Wow. Did you hear that?"

Dede was still sweating nervously as she looked anywhere but at bob. "You don't know where that signal came from… it could be from anywhere."

Bob chuckles as he shakes his head. "No way, that message is from outer space, not thing gets by me. I bet I can get a better signal from outside. Come on."

As Bob runs off outside Dedes bracelet starts to beep, she looks at her bracelet before looking over at Lapis, before deciding to leave Lapis to rest. She follows Bob slowly and when she sees he is looking in a different direction she beams up to her ship. "Atomic Candy reporting for duty." She says after she sits in her chair.

Sparky looks over at Dede as he is playing with a yo-yo. "Hiya chief, look at this. This one's called 'rock the baby'."

The yo-yo went too far though and ended up hitting X-5 in the eye. "Remind me to never leave infants in your care."

Before Sparky could retort the ship's communicator went off and they saw it was Admiral DeGill on the other line. "Atomic Candy, we've received a distress call from the shining city of Chromius. A sorceress known as Shaka Booga has escaped her tomb."

Dede looks around, a bit nervous to answer in case Bob would pick up her voice. She decided to answer but to change her voice a bit, to make it seem a bit deeper. "I see. Very interesting Admiral."

DeGill looks at Dede in confusion. "Atomic Candy, is there something wrong with your voice?"

Dede starts to panic again. "My… err.. no. Can we switch to a secure frequency?" Dedes suspicion was correct, Bob was listening into the conversation. "It's a matter of trans global security."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Bob taps the machine as the conversation he was listening to stopped. "Wow, that voice sounded familiar."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Dede sighs in relief. "Thanks Admiral. My friend has this satellite C.B. radio and I don't want him to hear my voice."

Admiral DeGill smiles with pride at the young girl. "Quick thinking Atomic Candy. On to business. Shaka Booga is dangerous, she uses special trible powder that reverses evolution. Worse, she's heading for the Chromis tar pit."

X-5 answers the question before Dede could ask. "If she pours her powder into the tar pit, it could set off a reaction. The planet would devolve into a black hole and consume the entire galaxy."

This shocked Dede. "Yikes. That powder sure packs a punch."

Sparky didn't seem to be paying much attention. "Look guys, I call this one, 'the ferris wheel'."

Dede watched as he started to spin the yo-yo in fast circles. "Sparky, not now."

Admiral DeGill calls for their attention again. "You're going to need help for this mission. That's why I've already assigned atomic Roger."

All three were not happy to hear this. "Oh no."

Sparky voiced his displeasure more. "Not atomic Roger."

Dede also wasn't blue to keep quiet. "First he lives on my home planet, now I have to do missions with the guy!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When the starcruiser lands on chromius and the three occupants leave, looking around as they did. "It looks like Chromius has gone back to the time of cavemen, there are no computers."

They all watches as the Chromians were acting like animals. X-5 was the one to voice his displeasure at this. "How uncivilised. It's surprising to me how your species was able to survive without us."

Sparky was quick to jab back. "You mean, no know it all robots? Sounds pretty good to me."

As the two crewmates bickered playfully, Dede was looking around. "Atomic Rogers ship is here, wonder where he is?"

"Maybe they know." Sparky said before screaming, realising the birds were not friendly.

Dede looks up. "Cosmic pterodactyls! Look out!" Dede and Sparky were able to dodge in time until the pterodactyl was able to grab onto X-5. Dede quickly took out her laser gun and tried to shoot the bird down but it was too late. "Oh no, X-5.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

After losing X-5 the last two remaining crewmates made their way to Shaka Booga's tomb, hoping to find some clues. "We did it, Shaka Booga's tomb."

Sparky looks back at Dede as he holds the flashlight, still playing with the yo-yo as well. "You think that's impressive, watch this. It's called around the world."

Sparky started to spin the yo-yo again, making Dede roll her eyes. "Sparky, we're trying to save the galaxy from being destroyed."

She grabbed his yo-yo to stop him from spinning it anymore and walked ahead with the yo-yo now in her possession. "Right, I guess this means I don't get my yo-yo back?" As the two continued on they came across some drawings on the wall. "Ohh, cave drawings. I can never read these things."

Dede took a closer look at the drawings. "It says, 'years ago, the planet was ruled by an evil sorceress. She enslaved everyone until the great rebellion occurred and she was imprisoned in this tomb'."

Sparky Leo woke back at the drawings. "Wow. You got all that from those stick figures?"

"That! And this brochure." Dede said holding a book as her bracelet, that she was using the flashlight off, started beeping.

A hologram of Admiral DeGill comes out. "Atomic Candy, you are running out of time. Our tracking date says the Shaka Booga will be at the tar pit in mere minutes."

This shocked both crew members. "Don't worry Admiral, we're on our way."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Back on earth Bob was still pacing his garden, listening in to the conversation that he was able to pick back up. "The galaxy is safe with us."

A new voice calls out of the machine. "Hey Admiral, you wanna see a yo-yo trick?"

The first voice calls out. "No, he doesn't."

Bob looks at the machine in confusion. "That voice sounds like Dede?"

Just in the doorway stood Lapis, having woken up from her nap, who started to panic, having also heard the conversation. She knew she had to distract Bob in hopes of him forgetting the machine and everything he'd heard on it, so she ran over to him barking, acting like she wanted to play, ignoring how tired and sore her body was from training.

Bob looks down at Lapis as she sat at his feet with her tail wagging. "Hey girl, you finally awake." Lapis starts to back and run around Bob in circles. "You wanna play?" He took Lapis' excited tail wag as a yes. "I'm sorry girl, I need to listen in on this. It sounds a lot like Dede." And this made Lapis give him her puppy dog eyes, and if you thought a normal puppy's Puppy Dog eyes were hard to resist let me tell ya, a cosmic wolf's puppy eyes are impossible to resist. "Alright." Bob puts the machine down and turns his attention into Lapis.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Back on Chromius Dede and Sparky were making their way out of the tomb before Sparky pipes up. "You ever get the feeling you're being watched.

The two turn around and spot what appears to be a T-Rex standing there. This makes the two of them run out of the cave with sparky screaming the whole way. After a few minutes of running Dede suddenly stops, making sparky run into her back and fall over. "X-5, are you okay?" She asked, seeing him tied up above a fire.

Sparky stands up and looks at C-5 himself. "I'd say he's medium rare."

Dede and Sparky quickly went to try and help get X-5 down but the Chromian turned T-Rex grabbed him before they could. Dede quickly got her laser blaster out again and started to shoot the T-Rex, though it seemed to have no effect so she shouted up to X-5. "X-5, activate your turbo blasters." And X-5 did just that, after getting his arms free he gave the T-Rex with a strong blast of fire, making it drop X-5 and run away. The three crewmates all rounded up. "Phew, that was close."

Sparky started to smell the air, before plugging his nose. "Eww. What's that smell?"

Dede also had to block her nose as the smell was really bad. X-5, not being affected by the smell, was able to give an answer. "The stench of the tar pits."

Dede eyes set into a determined look. "Quick, that's where Shaka Booga is going to pour the devolving potion."

With that, the three ran as fast as they could, hoping to get to the tar pit before Shaka Booga could destroy the galaxy. The three looked from atop a cliff as Shaka Booga dragged a heavy cauldron over to the tar pit. "Now can I have my yo-yo back?"

Dede looks over at Sparky. "Shh. They can't know we're here."

However it seemed that Shaka Booga heard them as she called for her cosmic pterodactyls to come. This started a fight, with Dede and Sparky shooting laser beams at the pterodactyls, X-5 was shooting at Shaka Booga in hopes of distracting her long enough for them all to get down to stop her. As Dede had landed after kicking on of the pterodactyls that had got too close, she heard a noise behind her and was shocked to see another prehistoric creature. "He looks strangely familiar?"

Sparky looks over and sees what Dede was on about. "That's a galactic guardian uniform! Oh no! He's eaten atomic Roger!"

X-5 shakes his head at Sparky. "No, it IS atomic Roger."

Dede looks back at why is now known as a prehistoric atomic Roger, and despite her best efforts, couldn't keep from laughing. "I like him this way. At least his hair is real."

Dede reached up to Roger's hair but it still fell on when it was moved. This sent Roger mad and he jumped off the cliff, getting grabbed by a pterodactyl and carried over to Shaka Booga who was laughing. "She's gonna pour the potion into the tar pit!" Sparky screams.

"No she won't!" Dede says before she jumps down from the cliff. She was about to shoot Shaka Booga with her bracelet's laser but Shaka Booga was quicker and managed to hit it with her powder.

As Dede lands and looks at her now useless bracelet, her two crewmates landed next to her, Sparky looks at Dedes bracelet before turning his attention to Shaka Booga. "Now what?" Dede took out Sparky's yo-yo and started to spin it really fast, Shaka Booga tried to shoot them again with her powder but the yo-yo acted as a shield and since it wasn't an advanced piece of equipment, it remained unaffected by the powder. "Why didn't it devolve?"

Dede smirks. "Because it's already prehistoric." Dede uses the momentum of the spinning yo-yo to throw it at Shaka Booga, pinning her to the tree behind her.

Sparky was impressed by this bit of yo-yo work. "Not bad."

Dede rests her hands on her hips. "It's a little trick I call 'saving the galaxy'."

Dede laughs a bit before they deal Shaka Booga back up, Dede calling Admiral DeGill and letting him know what had happened. "Excellent work, Shaka Booga is back in her cave and the galaxy is safe."

Dede looks back. "What about atomic Roger and the rest of the planet?"

X-5 hovered over to the cage that atomic Roger was in, who was shedding some tears. "The effects are temporary. Soon everything will be back to normal."

Sparky runs over carrying Roger's hair and a mirror. He puts the hair onto Roger's head and shows him the mirror. "Look at this. Even as a caveman he thinks he's good looking."

"I guess some things never change." X-5 shrugs. "I'd recognise that grunt anywhere."

Dede walks over, finally remembering something. "He's not the only one about to be recognised. Guys I'm going to need your help."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Dede was beamed back down to earth she looked around the garden and saw the satellite C.V. radio resting, forgotten, under a tree and Bob was playing with Lapis. Dede smiled as she realised her canine friend was distracted Bob and thought of was to pamper her later. After quickly dropping a message to Sparky and X-5 that she wouldn't need the recording anymore she walked over to the two. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

Bob and Lapis looked at Dede, not hearing her approach. Bob stood up fully and looked at Dede in confusion. "Hey, where'd you go?"

Dede smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, my Nana called to ask me something and it took longer than I thought."

Bob nodded before he looked over at the radio then turned back to Dede. "You're not going to believe this, but I thought I heard you on my C.V. Radio."

Dede laughs a little with Bob following close behind. "Really? That's funny."

Bob shrugged after they both finished laughing. "I guess you're right. These signals could be coming from anywhere." Dede nods as Lapis jumps back into her arms, both watching as Bob went to pick up the radio. "I'll just put this back in the garage."

Dede nodded before looking at the time. "Oh, it's that late already. I best be off, I need to make it home in time for dinner." At Bob's nod she starts to make her way out. "I'll see you tomorrow." As Bob waved goodbye to her and a final goodbye to his older sister, Dede and Lapis made their way down the street, finally heading home. "Thanks a lot Lapis"

Lapis nodded, resting her head down again, yawning. "It's no problem."

Dede stoked Lapis' head as she was falling asleep again. "I'll take you to that spa you like as a thank you." Lapis nodded before she was out like a light.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The next day TJ and Vince said that they would talk to Gus and get back to the others with what Gus had said. Everyone was okay with this and left it to the two boys, better then to crowd Gus and have him think they were hanging up on him. At the moment Gus was sitting under a tree practicing his guitar with his kindergarten friend Hector next to him. "Bravo, Safety Man! Play another one!"

This was when TJ and Vince showed up. "Hey, Gus, fancy axe."

Hector was happy to share his thoughts with Gus' friends. "Safety Man going to be a rockstar."

Gus nodded. "Yep. I'm going to lick this thing, or my name isn't Guitar Gus."

TJ and Vince share a look before TJ turns back to Gus. "You know, Gus, we heard another nickname for you-- El Diablo." This made Gus play a bad note at hearing that name. "the fastest hand at Dodgeball in the history of playground fun."

Vince joined in. "Sound familiar?"

Gus looks at his two friends before turning away. "Never heard of him."

Hector nodded. "Safety Man no play Dodgeball. Not safe."

Gus looks from his younger friend to his other two friends. "Hector's right. I'm just not a Dodgeball kind of kid."

TJ shrugs. "Oh, OK. Sorry to interrupt your practice."

Vince sighs in disappointment as he and TJ walk off. "Man, it's too bad Gus isn't El Diablo. For just once, I'd love to cream Lawson and his fifth-grade goons."

TJ stops walking. "What makes you sure he's not El Diablo?"

Vince also stops and looks back at TJ. "Come on. Gus wouldn't lie."

TJ bounced the dodgeball he was holding. "True, but can we say the same about El Diablo?"

TJ threw the ball over to Gus, who caught it one handed, dropping his guitar and aiming the ball back, making Vince gasp in shock at Gus' talent and TJ to smirk, having been proven right. Gus dropped the ball before picking his guitar up and turning to Hector. "Hector, let's play somewhere else."

TJ's smirk grew. "El Diablo lives."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

TJ and Vince had gone straight to Lawson to demand another dodgeball game. "You want to do what?"

TJ wasn't backing down. "You heard me. The entire fourth grade versus the entire fifth grade in a mega-Dodgeball duel to the death."

Lawson couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What, you guys actually like totally completely getting creamed?"

Vince also joined the conversation, after having seen what Gus could do, he knew they'd win. "We're really serious, Lawson. We want a rematch."

Lawson scoffs, thinking they are joking. "Yeah, right. Why don't you boys wait till your shoulders develop?"

TJ was not ready to be dismissed just yet and called out as Lawson and his friends were walking away. "What if we make it interesting?"

This caught Lawson's attention and he stopped. "You got my attention."

TJ smirked, beyond confident. "What if we play for all the marbles?"

This caught a lot of people's attention, making most of them gasp in shock, but it did what TJ wanted, it got Lawson's complete attention. "All the marbles?"

TJ walked closer to Lawson. "That's right. Every marble that every fourth and fifth-grader has on one game-- Winner take all."

Lawson smirks, thinking it'll be an easy win. "Clearies, pearlies, and cat's-eyes?"

TJ nods. "All the marbles means every last one of them, Lawson."

All of Lawson's friends were in agreement. "Let's do it!"

Lawson's smirk just grew. "Detweiler, you got yourself a death duel. Dodgeball, tomorrow, recess."

Lawson's friends all cheer as they leave. Vince walks up to TJ, now second guessing the game. "Man, Teej, I hope you know what you're doing. I mean, maybe we should have asked Gus first."

TJ shrugs, not thinking it was a big deal. "Hey, he's our buddy. What's he going to say?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"No, I'm not playing." Was all Gus said after TJ explained everything at lunch.

TJ stuttered, not expecting that answer. "But, Gus, we need you."

Gus shook his head. "Nothing personal, TJ, but I won't do it. Find yourself another kid."

TJ's voice started to raise in his desperation to get Gus to join. "But we're friends, fellow fourth-graders. There's a deep-- a deep--"

Mikey steps in. "Almost mystical bond?"

TJ nods. "Almost mystical bond between us."

Gus starts strumming on his guitar. "Sorry, but I've hung up my D-balls for good."

Spinelli pipe In, not happy with Gus' refusal to play. "Save the drama for your mama, Gus. We're talking all the marbles here."

Dede nods and joins in, hoping to get Gus to change his mind. "Please Gus, we really need your help with this."

Gus was ignoring them all though, hoping they'd forget about it and stop asking him. "Boy, the 'F' chord is murder."

"Gus, this is TJ talking, man. I'm not going to beg, but-" TJ falls down to one knee and begs. "please! You gotta play!"

Gus turns to look at TJ. "It is, after all, only marbles."

This shocked TJ into standing up, he almost fell back down if Dede hadn't caught him. "Only ma-- only ma--"

This angered Spinelli more than shocked her. "Only marbles?"

Spinelli grabbed the guitar from Gus. "Hey! Spinelli, don't! It takes me hours to tune that thing."

Spinelli had started to slowly turn the pegs. "Tell me why you won't play, devil boy."

Vince leans on the table next to Gus. "This is your game. You're El Diablo."

Gus shakes his head. "No, I used to be El Diablo." He sighs. "I suppose a kid can't run forever. You see, Dodgeball used to be my life. I had all the shots-- Sliders, curves, speedies, skippers, ricochets, faders, and a knuckler that could leave a kid back a grade. I was the scourge of the school. It was sweet, but I guess I tangoed too close to the torch. Maybe I loved the game too much. Anyway, that's when it happened." In his story he explained how he had hit a younger kid with a dodgeball. "Poor little kid was so shook up, he could never go near the playground again. Studied during lunch. I did that to him. Sorry, but I just can't play."

The friends all watched as Gus grabbed his guitar from Spinelli and left the cafeteria. Mikey cried out as Gus left. "Will these human tragedies never cease?"

Spinelli was also left feeling pretty bad. "Whoa, and to think I almost put the poor kid's guitar out of tune."

TJ hangs his head down, knowing he can't force Gus to play after hearing that. "I guess there's only one thing left to do."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Back on the playground for the second recess of the day TJ and Vince found Lawson. "You want to what?"

"Uh, settle?" TJ looks at the fifth graders as they all laugh at him. "Hey, it's a good deal, think about it. Half of all our marbles right now. You don't have to do anything. It's risk-free."

Lawson shakes his head, wiping a tear from laughing away. "Why settle for half when we can have them all?"

TJ was desperate not to lose all their marbles. "OK, 75%, and that's my final offer."

Lawson points to TJ. "Forget it, Dingle-Weiler. The death match goes down as scheduled, and I got a feeling it'll be just marble-ous. Bye, now." The fifth graders all walked away, laughing about TJ's desperate attempt at saving their marbles.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The next day at the start of recess all the fourth and fifth graders stood in a line, ready to hand in all their marbles for the match. While the fifth graders were happy with this, the fourth graders were not, they knew they were essentially just giving their marbles away. After TJ puts his marbles in it was Randall's turn next. "Sorry, boys. Don't have any marbles." The guards collecting the marbles didn't believe him for a second and grabbed him, shaking him upside down, making all his marbles fall out of his pockets. "No! No! Not my clearies!" No one noticed the lone red marble rolling away.

Over by the steps to the school sits Gus, playing his guitar still, and Hector. "Yay! Play another one, Safety Man!" Gus pats Hector on the head before he starts another song. Hector looks down and spots the marble that had just rolled over to them. "Ooh. Marble pretty."

Back on the playground the fourth and fifth graders were all lined up, ready for the game to begin, the fourth graders more nervous than anything. King Bob stood on the sideline, ready to judge the game. "OK, people, the name of the game is Dodgeball. I want a vicious, no-holds-barred contest. No wimps or jellyfish out there. Winners take all the marbles."

Lawson laughs. "If you say so, your highness."

Vince gulps. "Nice knowing you guys."

TJ nods. "See you all on the other side."

Spinelli walks forward a bit. "It's a good day to die."

Paloma sighs. "At least it'll be together."

Koreo steps forward and points at Mikey. "The stout one…" Mikey flinches back. "I will make him dance."

Lawson chuckles at this. "Let's do it."

The whistle blows and all the kids start screaming, running to grab one of the balls. However the fifth graders all got there first, this stopped all the fourth graders in their tracks. And thus, the pumbleing began. One after the other, fourth graders were dropping like flies. Mikey, being one of the first out, ran over to Gus. "Gus, you've got to do something. It's a bloodbath, a massacre, a ghastly tableau of bouncy rubber mayhem."

Gus jokes. "Guess our friends never learned the 'dodge' part of Dodgeball. You wouldn't happen to know how to make a 'G' seventh chord, would you?"

Mikey wasn't happy with Gus' dismissal. "Fiddle on, thoughtless Nero, as your precious empire burns all around you."

Gus turned back to his guitar but didn't play as he noticed that Hector was next to him anymore. "Hey, where's my little friend Hector?"

Hector had made his way over to the large crowd that was watching the dodgeball match go on. It was once again down to Dede and Vince, both dodging and throwing balls to try and get as many fifth graders out as they could. As the crowd was so into the match that was going on, one of the kids behind Hector accidentally knocked him, making him drop the marble he was holding onto. "Marble!" He went onto the veils to chase the marble. "Marble!"

Dede looked over in time to see Hector sitting on the ground looking at the red marble. "Hector, no! Go back!"

Koreo heard Dedes shout. "Hey, Lawson, check it out."

Lawson looked to where Koreo was pointing and saw Hector. "Well, what do we got here? That's got to be the puniest fourth grader I ever did see."

TJ shouts, seeing Lawson aim for Hector. "No, Lawson!"

This shout catches Gus' attention. "What the--"

Dede also saw what Lawson was about to do and she ran as fast as she could, getting there just in the nick of time as Lawson threw the ball. Dede saw that there was no time to pull Hector out of the way so she just threw herself in front of Hector, taking the hit in order to protect the kindergartener. When Dede fell to the ground from the ball hitting her head Hector looks over at her in shock, not really knowing what had happened, he stakes her shoulder as she lies on the ground, cradling her head in pain. "Safety man's friend, safety man's friend. Are you okay?"

Gus was beyond angry at this. Not only had Lawson tried to hit Hector but he, from what he could see, had also hurt Dede as well. "Trying to hit a little kid--" Gus grit his teeth. "He shouldn't have done that."

While everyone was distracted by watching as Dede slowly stood up, she was feeling dizzy after that hit, and she ushered Hector off of the court, sitting back on the ground in between Spinelli and Paloma, both of whom knelt down next to her to make sure she was okay. One of the fifth graders had hit Vince, winning them the game. Lawson was more than happy to brag about this. "That's it! The marbles are ours! All the fourth graders are in jail!"

"Not quite." Gus' voice calls out. When everyone looks over they see Gus standing there. Dressed in his El Diablo uniform.

Gretchen gasped. "It's him."

TJ smiled big, knowing that not only would Gus get Lawson back from hurting Dede but that they were about to win. "Yes, the one they call El Diablo."

Lawson scoffs. "El Diablo, huh? Well, now you're going to be el de-loser."

Gus just smirks at them. "Is that so?"

Lawson's laughter is brought to a quick stop as Gus shows the two dodgeballs he was holding. One after the other fifth graders were being knocked out of the game, ElDiablo was wiping them out quicker than they wiped out the fourth graders. Lawson was shaking as he saw he was the last one standing. "OK, you win. The marbles are all yours. Take them. I don't care. Please, just don't-- don't--"

Gus glared at Lawson before taking aim. "This one's for Hector and Dede."

"Bummer." Lawson groaned before he fell down.

At this point Dede was able to stand up on her own, the dizziness had gone away, which she was thankful for as they all ran over to Gus. TJ was first to express his excitement for winning. "Wow! That was great, Gus."

Vince was also happy with finally winning a dodgeball game. "Now that El Diablo's back, we're going to rule this playground right through sixth grade!"

TJ nods. "Yeah. What do you say we challenge the sixth-graders next?"

"Nope." As all the others tried to argue against his denial, Gus stood his ground. "Sorry, but my work here is done. El Diablo's hanging up his D-balls for good."

Hector stood next to Gus' friends and watched with them as 'El Diablo' walked off into the 'sunset'. "Safety man! Come back, Safety Man! School isn't over yet!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

THE END

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Quick note - there will only be six more episodes / chapters before "season 2" comes to an end.

The episodes / chapters will be

-the X-rays

-prince Randall / the brat pack attack

-that stinking feeling

-me no know / license DeGill (this one will answer who the secret admirer is, though I have a feeling a lot of people already figured it out)

-takes one to know one part 1

-takes one to know one part 2

I DO already have all of these chapters written out, but seeing as there's no transcript for the atomic Betty; mission earth episodes it's taking me a bit longer to write those, so I'll be sticking to my upload of one a month until I have finished them, just in case I hit a wall again. I have at least 11 other chapters done so that'll last a good while.

"Season 3" will focus more on the atomic Betty mission earth episodes then the recess ones, so if there is a specific recess episode anyone would like done, just let me know.

I do have a plan for Paloma, she will not be completely forgotten like she was in Atomic Betty but it'll take about half of "season 3" to put that plan into action.

I've had some people message me about what to do with the recess school's out movie. I already have a plan on what to do for that movie as it was that idea that sparked this whole story. I'm just hoping I can make it as amazing as I think it could be.

I know that the atomic Betty episode devolution city would have been better paired off with the recess episode Gretchen and the secret of yo! But I needed to get Noah's replacement set more (as the coolest heatwave chapter was horrendous) and I really like the recess dodgeball city episode, so why not put them together.