For my dog, Maggie, the best baby girl ever. The Devil to my Lunella. RIP. -Mal.

What up, homies? My name is Lamar Lafayette, and this is my story. Well, more like our story. That's Lunella, my older sister, a hardcore genius, and also my best friend. Sure, I'm not as smart as my big sis, but she loves to help me with my homework, which I always appreciate. I often return the favor by helping Lunella with one of her inventions. I'd like to say we're an unstoppable duo. Lunella and I can always count on each other.

Our family runs the roller rink here in the LES. Mama works as the DJ. Mimi, our grandmother, works with the food. Dad hands out the skates. And Pops is the Roller Jam King. Lunella and I help them out as much as we can. But we've been in a lot of trouble lately. Every night around the same time, all of the LES power goes out, causing many local businesses to shut their doors, some of them permanently. I sometimes worry that the rink might be next.

Back at our apartment, all of us were still worried about the recent blackout. "How many blackouts is that this month?" Mimi asked. "Too many, baby." Pops replied. "That's how many." "I'm kinda scared." I said. "Are we gonna lose the business, Pops?" Lunella asked. "Like the knish shop?" "Hey, we'll get through it." Dad explains. "What do we do when the going gets tough?" "We roll with it!" I joked. "What do we do, Lulu?" "We roll with it." Lunella sighed.

The next day at school, I sat with Lunella at lunch while she worked on one of her theories. "Zang, Lulu!" I commented. "That looks complicated." All of a sudden, a few of our classmates surrounded the table. "Do the thing." Eduardo said, tossing a Rubik's cube to my sister. "Come on, do the thing!" "For real, Eduardo? Again?" Lunella groaned, but still accepted his request by solving the cube behind her back. "Don't you ever get tired of this?" I wondered. "Every day." Lunella whispered. "What's that?" Anand asked. "I mean, I totally get it because I'm awesome at math, but what is it?" "So glad you asked, Anand. I think it's some kinda crazy power generator." Lunella replied. "You see, there were these scientists, they were working on this top secret project together for the space program, but then, they both just up and vanished, and all that's left of their work are these incomplete blueprints I found on the internet..." "Beep! Beep! Nerd alert!" Eduardo interrupted. "Level five, nerd alert." "Anyways, if I can crack this, the Lower East Side would have its own power grid." Lunella continued. "Huh? Coach Hrbek?" "Hey, look, I'm just subbing in science 'til they find a permanent hire." Coach Hrbek said. "So, is it done yet, or what?" Anand asked as Lunella finished the cube. "I can do that." "Sick!" Eduardo exclaimed, looking over at a girl vlogging her life. "Ha! She's filming again." "Hey guys, Casey María Eva Duarte Goldberg Calderon here." She introduced herself on camera. "I have to ask: What is the deal with chicken fried steak, anyways? Is it chicken or is it steak? Comment below and be sure to hit that like button, people." As soon as she posted her video, Eduardo immediately hit dislike. "Eduardo! I knew that was you!" She snapped. "I've lost my appetite." I said, leaving the table. "See you later, sis."

After school, I joined Lunella as we were walking to the rink, which we found the exterior covered in blue paint. "Oh, no!" I gasped, entering the rink with Lunella. "The security system!" "Everyone okay?" Lunella asked. "S'alright, sweetheart." Pops reassured us. "What happened?" I asked. "Someone tried to rob the place during the blackout, but thanks to you two, they didn't take a thing." Pops replied. "Your battery powered security system with that sweet surprise inside worked like a charm." Mimi laughs. "He's gon' be fine." Dad said. "Ahmed wasn't so lucky, though. Cleaned out his deli. Oh, they even took the cold cuts." "Meanwhile, blackouts mean more crime, not to mention lost business, which means we get pushed out of the community we love!" Mama added. "I'm not raising my babies in Jersey! No disrespect to Jersey." "Well, then, somebody call the Avengers or something!" Lunella exclaimed. "I bet they can solve it." "Aw, sweetheart, I'm afraid the Avengers got bigger fish to fry." Mimi explains. "Besides, do they even go below 14th Street?" "We just gotta roll with it, kiddos." Dad says. Lunella and I both felt defeated.

Back at home, I was just about to finish my homework while Lunella was trying to figure out this blueprint the scientist came up with. "Hungry, babies?" Mama asked, offering some blueberries. "Hmm, not really." Lunella replied, stuffing her face with the blueberries. "Thanks, Mama, but I just had a salad." I declined. "Still trying to figure out the thing that's gonna fix all our problems?" Mama asked. "Well, it's like you always say, one girl can make a difference, right?" Lunella remembered. "Especially when that girl is you. Same goes for you, my little man." Mama said. "I may not be able to help with whatever this is, but I can help you with some inspiration." Mama hands Lunella an old cassette player. "That looks so cool, Mama!" I gasped. "Thanks, Mom." Lunella said, looking at the cassette player in confusion. "Wait, hold up! Does that say radioactive?" Mama asked. "You're not actually building that thing, right?" "No, of course not. Purely theoretical." Lunella replied. "Okay, good. No radioactive stuff in the apartment." Mama chuckled as she shut the door. "Well, technically, it's not in the apartment." I smirked. "Let's assemble this thing, Lulu!"

Lunella and I went into her secret lab, which is technically an abandoned subway track underneath the apartment. After helping Lunella fix up her device, we listened to the family through the cameras we installed in the kitchen. "Well, how the books looking?" I heard Mama ask. "It's bad, A." Dad replied. "If things don't turn around quick, we may need to sell the rink." "We've got to fix this." I said. "You and I may not totally know what this thing does, but we have to try." Lunella plugged in her machine and it started powering up. "It worked!" Lunella gasped, just as it was malfunctioning. "Whoa! Too much juice!" The next thing we knew, there was a huge portal in front of us. "It's a portal generator!" I gasped. Just as Lunella was unplugging the generator, I noticed something coming from the portal. It was a bright red 10 ton Tyrannosaurus rex. "Lulu!" I shouted. "Lunella!" She turned around to see the dinosaur, feeling mixed emotions. "Cool!" Lunella said as the portal closed. The dinosaur roamed through the tunnel, possibly to look for his dinner. "Whoa! Not cool! Not cool!"

Lunella and I began chasing down the dinosaur on the streets. "Please don't destroy New York City!" I shouted. I expected people to scream in horror, but judging by everything that has happened, no one seemed surprised. "No! Stop!" Lunella exclaimed as the dinosaur listened. "Well, that was easy." The dinosaur sniffed the ground in front of a hotdog stand. "Hotdogs!" I chuckled. "You like hotdogs?" Lunella and I grabbed some hotdogs and fed the dinosaur. He rubbed his face in front of us, purring like a cat. "Look, we are not your mama or dad." She said. "No matter how cute you are." At that moment, the girl from lunch, Casey had snapped a picture of us with the dinosaur, just as the power went out again. We looked up to see a woman made of electricity stealing the power. "What is that?" Casey asked. "That's why we've been having blackouts. She's literally stealing our power!" I complained as an air conditioner was about to fall on Casey. "Look out! Help her." Lunella told the dinosaur, who caught the air conditioner in his mouth, saving Casey's life. All of a sudden, we heard some police sirens coming. It was time for us to evacuate. "Come on!"

Back at our apartment, I helped Lunella grab some leftovers from the refrigerator to feed the dinosaur, which was chilling in her lab. Our parents and grandparents were discussing tonight's recent events. "See? Right there, baby. Right there." Pops said, looking at the paper. "What have I been telling you for the last 40 years?" "That there are lizards in the sewers, and it's only a matter of time before they rise up." Mimi recalls. "Please, we all know this is about, "The Man" paying no mind to this community." Mama said. "You're both wrong!" I shouted. "Sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice." "Lamar and I heard it's some electrical lady sucking our power." Lunella added. "Like an electrical vampire." Our relatives burst into laughter. "Now the lizard uprising sounds legit." Mama laughed. "Hold up. What are you two doing?" Mimi said. "You can't eat that without some of my pie!"

After taking the food down to the lab, the dinosaur ate all the leftovers, plus the pie in less than 5 minutes. "Wow! I guess they didn't have pie back wherever, or whenever you came from, huh?" Lunella asked as the dinosaur continued sniffing around. "Pretty dope setup, right? It's an old subway station. I just added a fusion generator, electromagnetic shielding, triple redundant internet. Y'know. The basics." The dinosaur began chewing on the portal generator. "Whoa! No! Not food." I explained. "That's what brought you here. You see, it was designed by these super cool scientists, Moon Girl and Sun Boy. Nobody knows their real names." "We were trying to replicate their work, and we both thought it was a power source, but turns out, it rips holes in the space time continuum and, well, you were here for the rest." Lunella added. "Your trip here used up half of my juice. It took forever to synthesize that fuel, and there's barely enough to get you home." The dinosaur wrapped his tail around us and purred again. "Does that mean you don't want to go home?" I asked. The dinosaur nodded. "But what would we even do with you? We can't have you stomping around scaring people like last night." "Well, you did save somebody, too." Lunella said. "That was crazy, right? As if the Lower East Side doesn't have enough to deal with, and now we got a supervillain? What we really need are some..." "Lulu, what are you doing? What are you saying?" I asked. "Lamar! We need superheroes!" Lunella gasped. "It's perfect! With my brains, his brawn, and any tricks up your sleeve, we can really help people!" "What are you saying? Who's going to take a 12 and 13 year old superhero seriously?" I asked. "Well, I am the smartest 13 year old I know." Lunella said. "I've got the best little brother with the greatest heart, and now we've got a dinosaur! But neither of us have superpowers. Wait! My brain is my superpower! I can build gadgets, trick out our skates, all sorts of stuff! I mean, who else is gonna do it? The fate of our community is on the line here, right? What do you two think? You want to be superheroes?" "Together til the end." I replied. The dinosaur grumbled in agreement. "But, we got to do this on the D-L or our family will freak. Nobody can know." Lunella warned. All of a sudden, the doorbell rang upstairs in the apartment. "Adria and James, I presume?" We heard Casey ask at the door through the security cameras. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you." "How does this girl know our address?" I wondered. "We should probably go back up."

We came back upstairs as Casey was still talking to our parents at the front door. "I'm Casey Calderon, Lunella and Lamar's best friend." Casey said. "Lunella Lafayette?" Dad asked. "Did Lamar finally get himself a girl?" "No, we're not dating." Casey explained. "Here's my card." "How old are you?" Mama asked. "Thirteen, but only for now." Casey replied. "Carrie!" Lunella greeted. "Casey." She corrected. "Casey! Our homie from homeroom!" I exclaimed, dragging her away.

Lunella and I brought Casey into our room. I covered up the window and locked the door. "Love the crib." Casey complimented. "Really digging the crazy genius vibe." "I'm not much of an interior decorator. This was all Lunella's idea." I explained. "Ooh, what's this? One of your inventions?" Casey asked, picking up the cassette player that Mama gave to my sister. "Uh, no, my mom gave it to me." Lunella replied. "I have no idea what it does. Look, are you gonna turn us in?" "Turn you what?!" Casey asked. "No, I came here to thank you for saving me from that, uh, electrical lady! I woulda been deader than bedazzled denim without you two and your big red buddy. Speaking of which, where ya keeping Clifford anyway? Where did he come from? Do you have representation? Tell me everything!"

We took Casey down to the lab and explained everything to her. Casey seemed like someone we could both trust. "Then I thought, "who else is gonna do it? The fate of our community is on the line here!"" Lunella explained. "And like my mom always says, "one girl and one boy can make a difference."" The dinosaur clapped. "So, whaddaya think?" I asked. "About you and your sister being superheroes?" Casey wondered. "Yeah." I replied. "No!" Casey exclaimed. "Not in those outfits. No clients of mine are going out like that." "Clients?" Lunella and I asked. "Full service management and public relations. I can turn you both into the most beloved superheroes in the world!" Casey explained, giving each of us a business card. "I'm talking digital marketing, viral videos, personal appearances, merchandising opportunities. This lab is gonna make a great playset!" "Playset? Girl, have you lost your mind?" Lunella asked. "I've been told I can be a bit much, but honestly, I don't see it." Casey replied. "Look, you're both gonna inspire people, just like you inspired me. I can help get your message out there. I can help you help people! And you don't have to pay me a cent. Social media followers are my currency." "Okay, a lot to take in. Alright, let's do this thing!" I agreed. "Yes!" Casey shouted with excitement.

It took a couple of hours, but after finding the perfect costume in a nearby lost and found, building gadgets, and tricking out our skates, we finally found our superhero identity. My costume was a bright yellow suit with custom flame designs all over, paired up with my new skates, a matching helmet, and some red goggles. Lunella had a similar outfit, minus the flames, but instead had hints of blue, purple, and black, paired with her skates, a helmet with some stickers that held her hair up, red gloves, and blue goggles with pink and black lenses. "Zang! We did the thang!" Lunella exclaimed. "Yeah, we did!" I added. "I can sell this. Just one last detail." Casey said. "Your superhero names!" "I didn't even think about that." I confessed. "Do we really need one?" Lunella asked. "If you don't take yourselves seriously, no one else will." Casey replied, going to the dinosaur. "As for your costume, Big Guy..." The dinosaur grunted. "Fine, go naked then."

We took a stroll through the streets to strategize on how we could defeat this lady. "So, until we can find that power-sucking, you know, electrical lady, the best thing we can do is stop blackout crime in its tracks." I explained as we heard people rummaging around. We examined them and noticed they were covered in blue paint, the same paint from our security system. "It's the fools that tried to rob Roll With It!" Lunella gasped. "How do you know?" Casey whispered. "Let's just say Lamar and I might've put a sweet surprise inside of our security system." Lunella explained, hiding behind a tree. "What do we do?" Casey asked. "What do we do?" "Uh, recon, then attack." I replied. "While you capture it all and make us famous?" "Yeah, let's do that." Casey agreed. "Hey, totally unrelated, but my hands are shaking." "Oh, my everything is shaking!" I exclaimed. "But it's like our grandma once told us, bravery is what you do when you're flat out scared." "Aww, old people are the best." Casey says. "I know. Our grandma is so cute." Lunella added. "Okay, little bro, let's do this." Lunella and I came out of hiding to try and show these robbers what we're made of. "Uh, stop right there!" I shouted. "And you two are?" One of the robbers asked. "All you need to know is that we're superheroes." Lunella replied. "Our turf's the LES, and you're messing with it." "Superheroes? And you don't even have names?" He asked. "Look, if you don't take yourselves seriously, no one else will." "That's what I said!" Casey chimed in. "Sorry." "Casey." Lunella whispered. "Well, I bet our friend will make you take us seriously!" I exclaimed. "Who, the gym guy?" The robber asked. We turned around to see the dinosaur was nowhere to be seen. Lunella and I found the dinosaur digging through a dumpster for some food. "For real?!" I complained. "You're digging for meat now?!" The dinosaur began playing with both of us while the robbers made an escape. "Yeah, so, we're gonna go ahead and leave now." The robber said as Lunella tried to shoot one of her boxing gloves at the robbers, accidentally hitting Casey's phone. "Well, good luck with all the superheroing." "Don't worry, it's okay. My phone is fine." Casey reassured us. "But I am definitely deleting this video."

Frustrated by our defeat, we all headed back to the lab. "If we don't clean up this crime, the LES is gonna keep going downhill, our parents are gonna have to sell the rink. And next thing you know, we're moving to Jersey! No disrespect to Jersey." I complained. "No, of course not. We can't let that happen." Casey said. "I won't let that happen." "Oh, thank you." Lunella smiled. "I have an idea. Your part has some high level messing around on the internet." "Or as I call it, Tuesday." Casey added. "What are you guys gonna do?" "We're gonna get this super team in super sync." I replied.

After a pretty cool training montage, Lunella and I took some time to get some ice cream, which the dinosaur took out of our hands. "Seriously? As Bubbe Bina would say, "You're a real bondit, y'know that?"" Lunella quotes. "Which basically means rascal, or devilish. Hey, what's your name anyway?" I asked. The dinosaur growled, probably saying it's name. Of course, Lunella and I couldn't understand anything. "That will not fit on a T-shirt." Lunella chuckled.

Back at the lab, Casey came back to us with some results from the internet about the robbers. "Bam! Thanks to my mad internet skills, I found the robbers trying to auction all the stolen stuff on the web." Casey explained. "I snagged their address." "Oh, that's lit, Casey." I complimented. "Yeah, so, what have you guys been up to?" Casey asked. "Oh, you know, trained an apex predator, mastered our gadgets, and became fluent in dino-saurian. We even learned his name." Lunella explained. "The literal translation is, "Terrifying Fire Beast Who Will Bring About The End Of All Things."" "But, we discussed it, and we're gonna go with Devil for short." I added. "Devil? Devil? Yeah, I can work with that." Casey said. "Oh, alright, then what are we waiting for?" Lunella asked. "Let's kick these baddies out of our community!" I shouted, going to suit up.

The address Casey found was for a nearby warehouse. As one of the robbers tried to clean the paint off of his face, it was time to take action. "Oh, man. Be honest, how does it look?" He asked his partner. "I believe the adjective he's searching for is smurfy." Lunella teased. "Really? The superhero wannabes without names." He said. "You back for more humiliation?" "We did pick one name." I corrected. "Devil!" Devil knocked down the door, letting out a huge roar. Lunella and I shot the robber with our gloves. "Fetch!" Lunella shouted as Devil grabbed him by the shirt. "Attaboy!" I complimented. As Devil was about to leave, he started to smell some raw salami. "Devil! No!" Lunella shouted. "Listen to Mama!" "No, don't listen to Mama!" The robber begged. "Yummy cold cuts." "Come on, Devil! You got this, man." I encouraged. Devil hesitated, but took out the meat platter. "Oh, who's our good boy?!" Lunella and I asked. "You are!" "The one who never talks is getting away!" Casey gasped. We hopped on Devil's back to chase the other robber. I grabbed one of our gadgets and trapped him in a bubble. "Woo! We got him!" I cheered. "I'm definitely not deleting this video." Casey said. All of a sudden, the electrical lady appeared on top of another building. "The Electrical Lady!" We gasped. "Hey, hey, hey! My name isn't lady, it's Aftershock." She corrected. "Ooh, look at you! That cosplay is ADORBS. Who are you two supposed to be?" "Well, we're..." Lunella said, even though both of us haven't decided on a name yet. Neither did Devil, Casey, or even the robber. "Boy, don't even." "Okay, you work on that." Aftershock said. "Gotta jet. I do have a day job. That's right, a gal can do it all. Bye!"

At the lab, Casey and I were basically celebrating our victory. However, Lunella was pacing around the lab with her mind only set on Aftershock. "Enjoy the win, will ya? The big takeaway is we superheroed!" Casey cheered. "And don't stress about the name. We'll sleep on it. Maybe do some guided meditation. "Moon Girl." Lunella said. "I'm gonna be Moon Girl." "Wait, hold up!" I exclaimed. "Lulu, you can't be Moon Girl!" "What do you mean?" Lunella asked. "I mean you can't be Moon Girl, not without a Sun Boy." I explained. "Sun Boy, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur." Lunella smiled. "And Casey." Casey added.

The next morning, Casey came over as we told her a possible plan to stop Aftershock. "A'ight, new mission: Stop Aftershock, stop the blackouts, and save the LES." Lunella explains. "But first, we gotta find her. So, imma upcycle whatever this thing is." "That's a cassette player." I said. "I don't know if that's right." Lunella explained, while upcycling. "Check it! The Multispectrum Moon Scanner! It's gonna take a while to isolate her energy signature, but until we do, we can give folks a hand around the Lower East Side!"

After a few hours of ridding the LES of crimes such as robberies and rescuing animals from trees, Lunella and I faked going to sleep. Just as Mama shut our bedroom door, the scanner had finished scanning for Aftershock.

After everyone was asleep, Lunella and I snuck out to get Devil and track down Aftershock. When we found her hiding place, she was charging herself, causing another blackout. Lunella was so scared, she almost dropped the bubble gun. She traps Aftershock in a bubble. "Now, D!" I shouted as Devil burst through the wall and kicked the bubble. "That's right, Electrical Lady! It's time for you to bounce, out of the Lower East Side." All of a sudden, Aftershock used her powers to escape the bubble and she attacked Devil. "Devil!" Lunella and I shouted. "Sorry to burst your bubble." Aftershock said, killing the power. "Oh snap! Are we dead?" Lunella wondered as Aftershock was trying to strike us with her powers. "Nope, not dead." I replied. "Not yet, at least." Aftershock laughed maniacally. "Enough of this noise!" Lunella shouted. "Come on, bro." We began to charge towards Aftershock, but she dodges both of us. She grabbed us both and took off our helmets, revealing our identities to her. "Holy puberty! You're just kids?!" She asked. "A-doy! Sun Boy and Moon Girl?" I replied. "It's right in the names, lady." "Oh, I could never hurt children." Aftershock said. "But I should at least try." Before she could hurt us, Devil snuck up on her, but was severely hurt by her powers. "Devil!" Lunella cried as Aftershock made her escape. "Devil! No, no! Say something!" Devil was in a lot of pain. "It's okay, let's get outta here." I said. Lunella and I grabbed our helmets and helped Devil as much as we could to get back to the lab.

At the lab, I helped wrap some bandages around Devil's wounds while Lunella put some cream on them. Devil tried to lick the cream. "No, don't, don't lick it." Lunella warned. "Now, you get some rest." "It'll be okay, Big Guy." I said, petting him. "What are we gonna do, Casey?" Lunella asked. "Devil's hurt so bad. Are we in over our heads?" "I... uh... I don't know." Casey replied. "We'll figure it out." All of a sudden, an alarm went off from the security cameras. "Lunella and Lamar aren't up yet?" Mama wondered. "It's almost time for school." "Ai-yikes." Casey said. "We gotta go." "Heal up." Lunella kissed Devil. "We'll check on you later, okay?" I asked.

Lunella and I quickly went back to the apartment for breakfast. "Now, not too runny, James." Mimi said. "Ma, I know." Dad complained. "The Lower East Side experienced yet another blackout overnight, and Moon Girl, Sun Boy, and Devil Dinosaur were spotted fleeing the scene." I heard a news reporter say. "What?! Not Moon Girl and Sun Boy! No." Mama exclaimed. "They did so much good for folks around here! I don't buy it. They can't be behind this." "I told you it was that no good dino." Pops said. "I bet he dragged them into it. His name ain't Angel Dinosaur." "I just wonder where the parents are." Dad added. "They gotta be all kinds of dumb to not know what their kids are up to." "Let's not rush to judgment." Mimi said. "We may not have the full story yet." "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. Hi, Pops. Hi, Mimi. Sorry, late for school!" Lunella greeted. "Morning, fam. Love you, byeee!" I exclaimed, following Lunella to school.

In school, Coach Hrbek was struggling with another problem in science class. "So, ah, protons and electrons are like, uh, I guess like your offense and defense." Coach Hrbek explains. "If you lose an electron, it's like a red card in soccer, it puts you down a player. Then whaddaya gonna do, right?" "Soccer is boring!" Eduardo exclaimed. "But, uh, Megan Rapinoe's pretty rad." "And your analogy was pretty rad, too, Coach." Aftershock complimented, disguised in her civilian clothes. "I'm Ms Dillon, the new science teacher. Hooray! You're saved." "Oh, praise Jeter." Coach Hrbek sighed with relief. "I was running out of sports analogies." Lunella and I tried to hide our faces. "Well, you just rest that little noggin of yours and pass the baton to me." Aftershock chuckled. "Hey, if you ever get stuck, just ask our resident genius, Lunella Lafayette." Coach Hrbek explains. "She's as smart as they come." Well, Crap. Thanks, Coach for endangering one of your students! If not, all of them! "Oh, I'm sure she is." Aftershock said as the bell rang. The class left the room. "Could you stay after class a minute, Lunella Lafayette, and your little friend?" "Ooh." Eduardo jeered. "Get stuffed, Eduardo." I said, tightening his hoodie. "What are you doing here?" "Me? Why, the Lower East Side is my home now." Aftershock explained. "Su casa, mi casa." "But you're stealing all our power. And 'cause no one gives a rip about us, you think we're easy pickings!" Lunella shouted. "To quote your friend, "A-doy."" Aftershock teased. "And being a disarmingly attractive science teacher is the perfect cover. Plus, there's a handy charging spot right around the corner, so I can hit it before dinner." Eduardo came back in the classroom for something. "Read the room, Eduardo. Get out!" Lunella shouted. "Forgot my basketball." Eduardo groaned, grabbing his ball and leaving. "Jeez, so touchy. You guys must really be in trouble." "Listen up, Geek Lightning. First of all, I'm Lunella's brother. Second of all, we're not going to let you bleed the Lower East Side dry." I said. "We're gonna..." "Let me stop you right there, fun size." Aftershock interrupted. "First of all, Geek Lightning was surprisingly hurtful. Second, if I don't get my daily jolt, I lose my power. My mojo, you feel me? And that ain't happening. You two want an A in my class? Then hang up your cape and stop annoying me. You're not real superheroes." "And you're not a real blonde." Lunella roasted. "Nice one, Lulu." I complimented. "Okay, that just got you both an F for the day." Aftershock said. "Happy? Now do the math on this. I am far more powerful than the two of you will ever be combined. So step off, or I'll do to your family what I did to your dinosaur. And be sure to read chapter five for tomorrow, 'Kay?" My sister and I ran out of that classroom, terrified. That woman is pure evil.

After school, Lunella invited Casey over to explain everything Aftershock said after class. "What?!" Casey gasped. "Yeah, she's our teacher now." I explained while helping Lunella with Devil. "So glad I'm not in fifth period science." Casey sighed with relief. "Okay, new plan: You build a gadget to blast her butt, I'll get the keys to the teacher's lounge, then, we hide there 'til she..." "No! We... it's over, Casey." Lunella grunted. "Huh?" Casey asked. "What's over? What are you talking about?" "I mean, it's over." Lunella repeated. "No more superheroing, alright? I put Devil in danger, and now, my brother and the rest of my family's in danger, too." "Oh, but you guys were just finding your groove! You guys can handle this lady." Casey encouraged. "I'm not so sure anymore, Casey." I sighed. "Aftershock has a very dangerous power.""Look at him." Lunella added, pointing at Devil. "He didn't ask for any of this. It's our fault he's even here. So, we have to send him back. It's what's best for him. He'll be safer at home." "You don't know that, Lu." I warned. "Oh, we can figure this out." Casey said. "There's gotta be a way." "Casey. No." Lunella refused. "Lamar is right. Aftershock is just too powerful. And now, she's got both of us boxed into a corner. We can't fix this." "Whatever happened to "one boy and one girl can make a difference?"" Casey asked. "Was that just basura?" "I was wrong, okay?" Lunella scoffed. "I got in way over my head, and I can't do this anymore." "But..." Casey began. "I can't! Now stop pushing me!" Lunella shouted, tossing her suit at Casey. "If that's the way you feel, then I guess you don't need me either." Casey sighed, walking away with the suit. "I believed in you, you know?" "Weren't you a bit hard on her?" I asked. "No, she's pushing us to be something we're not!" Lunella exclaimed. "Casey did nothing but support us!" I argued. "Just like I've always done for you!" I left the lab and came back up to the bedroom to scream in my pillow.

The next day was dreadful. Lunella sent Devil back home, and on top of that, the rink was put up for sale. After school, I went into the bedroom to mope. While I did a few sketches, Lunella came in to talk. "Lamar, I'm sorry for everything." Lunella apologized. "I didn't realize how much your support meant to me. Can you ever forgive me?" "Together til the end, Lulu." I chuckled, hugging my sister tight. "Now, shouldn't you go patch things up with Casey?" "Oh, I already did, actually." Lunella explained as Casey waved. "I don't know if we have a chance against Aftershock. I don't know what'll happen if we fail. But I know what'll happen if we don't even try." "If we fail, we'll fail together. If we succeed, we'll succeed together." I said. "Are you sure?" Casey asked. "There's no one else to stick up to the Lower East Side." Lunella replied. "Just us." "Okay, I'm really glad to hear that, because I lied! I never shut the site down. Here's your costume, Lu. Whoo!" Casey cheered. "Wait, she was gonna throw away your costume?" I asked.

"Sun and Moon Magic!" I exclaimed. Lunella and I got suited up once we got back down to the lab. Not gonna lie, it was kinda weird without Devil. "Okay, no publicity is bad publicity, except when the whole city thinks you're the bad guy!" Casey explains. "We gotta expose Aftershock as the real villain." Lunella said. "Luckily, she told both of us when and where she recharges." "Loving the enthusiasm, but what if no one sees?" Casey asked. "What if you guys can't take her out?" "Well, then, our story gets abandoned and unfinished after one chapter." I replied.

We went to the streets to grab the attention of some of the locals, specifically those who thought we were menaces to society. Lunella used the tracker again to see what charging station Aftershock was going to. While tracking her down, more people started following us on the streets like we planned until we got to the charging station. "See? She's the real cause of the blackouts!" Lunella explained. "Rad! Ms Dillon is a supervillain?" Eduardo gasped. "Aw, man, now I gotta teach science again!" Coach Hrbek complained. "Alright, electrical lady, let's dance!" The gym trainer from the billboard shouted. "How about the electric slide?" Aftershock scoffed, attacking people with her powers. "Hey! You come for them, you're coming for us!" I shouted. "Um, okay then, I'm coming for you." Aftershock said. "Hey, where'd you get that classic cassette player? Nice!" Coach Hrbek asked. "That's what this thing is?" Lunella wondered. "I told you, sis." I rolled my eyes. "You thought I made up that name on the spot!" "Well, now, it does a whole lot more, like hack into the park's plumbing controls!" Lunella explains. "Electricity and H2O don't mix, sister!" As Aftershock was approaching the plumbing, Lunella pressed a button to activate the water, however, the water was delayed due to a lag. "What? Really? Dang internet lag!" Lunella complained. Aftershock dodged the incoming water and grabbed Lunella. "Hey! Let my sister go!" I shouted. "Sayonara, sister." She chuckled, as we all got a huge surprise from Devil. He sprayed Aftershock away. "Devil?" Lunella asked. "Hold up! I thought you sent Devil back to dinosaur land?" I asked. "Honestly, so did I." Lunella replied. "You stayed? But that was your only chance to get home." Devil rubs his face against us and grumbled. "What did he say?" A woman asked. "He said this is his home now, and it's worth fighting for." I translated Devil's language. "We're worth fighting for." "Oh! We love you, you big dumb lizard!" Lunella cried. "This is my best work." Casey said. "Okay, everyone, that's a wrap." All of a sudden, Aftershock came back. "Time for some reshoots!" She chuckled. "Sis, Devil! Run!" I shouted as Aftershock tried shooting lightning at us. "What are you gonna do?" Casey asked over the phone. "She's like living lightning!" "Oh, that's it! If she's like lightning, we gotta ground her!" Lunella explained. "You mean send her to her room and take away her phone?" Casey wondered. "No, no, no. Electrical grounding." Lunella replied. "We hit her with a metal lightning rod that's connected to a wire leading to a grid under the ground! If it works, all her electricity will be absorbed and dissipated safely! Science!" "We would just need a big enough lightning rod." I added. We told Devil our plan.

I went with Devil to find something to substitute a lightning rod. "What are we supposed to look for?" I wondered. As Devil was looking around, I got a phone call from Mama. "What's up, Mama?" I greeted. "I'm kinda in the middle of something." "Lamar? Where are you?" Mama asked. "I'm just taking a stroll. Nothing too crazy." I lied. "Has Lunella talked to you about joining sports after school?" She asked. Mama must've called Lunella already. Sports? What was she thinking with that excuse? "Well, she said she was thinking about it. I didn't think she was going to." I fibbed. "Okay, well, when you two get home, we'd like to talk to you about something." Mama explains. "Sounds good, Ma. I'll be home soon. Love you, byeee." I said hanging up the phone as Devil stopped at a flagpole. "That'll work. Nice job, Devil. Let's go find Lulu." Devil grabbed the flagpole with his mouth. However, when we found my sister, Devil couldn't get through with the flagpole in his mouth. Devil let me get off of him to help Lunella with the wire, while he kept Aftershock preoccupied. As Lunella and I finished pushing the wire, we turned out to be a bit short from the flagpole. "No! We need that flagpole!" Lunella shouted. Casey gets our family, Eduardo and the rest of the citizens to help bring the flagpole closer. "Don't lift with your backs! It's leg day, people!" Casey shouted. "That means you too, Jimmy!" Poor Dad. "Thank you." I replied. "Now it's time to juice this up." I helped hook up some of the wire to the flagpole. Once we were done, Devil came back with Aftershock, which caused her to fall for our trap and lose her powers. "We're taking our power back." Lunella said. Aftershock's power was absorbed through the flagpole, returning power to the LES. Everyone cheered and both me and Lunella got licked by Devil. "I never thought I'd be so happy to smell hotdog breath." "Me either." I chuckled.

And that's how we saved our community for the first time as Sun Boy, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur. We saved a lot of businesses that day, including our family's rink. Sure, some the people of the LES are still cautious about Devil, but I think for the most part, they came to love him, just like Lunella and I do. I believe this is only the beginning of our story. Now that the LES has their own superheroes, it won't always be easy, but whatever challenges come up against us. It's me, Lunella, and Devil. Together til the end.

Too many words! Time for a nap. -Mal.