Fizz Get out of the way Locked on target Fizz Marlow Stop messing around Fizz Marlow Get off the battlefield Sorry Miss Blinx
SLAM I’ll get you next time Marlow Miss Blinx dropped me on my tail Tank Wrenchlin my best friend and detective partner lifted me to my feet That was close she said Rizzo’s battle bot could have smushed you You said I needed to get close I said There’s close and then there’s too close Fizz Well I’m not getting that close to Rizzo’s battle bot ever again I handed her the small metal ball she had given me only a few minutes ago You can take your code smeller back It’s a code sniffer Fizz Tank was the best troll tinkerer tinkerer this side of the Dark Depths Inside the ball were gears circuits and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t understand understand But Tank did and that was all that mattered 3
She inspected the ball for damage And I didn’t tell you to nearly get stuck to the battle bot’s foot We’re trying to solve a case not turn you into goblin pancakes Solving a case was the reason I’d gotten into that battle in the first place No one ever said being a detective detective would be easy I just wished they would remind me to wear a helmet once in a while The whole mess had started two days earlier when the Troll Patrol cornered us on our way home from school Thankfully they didn’t patrol for unfinished homework or I would have been rounded up a lot earlier The three grade-eight trolls were Gravelmuck Elementary’s champion battle-bot team They were also our school’s best chance at winning this year’s Battle Bot Cup That is if everyone played fairly Rizzo Rawlins is a cheat said the tallest of the three trolls His name was Daztan He was the Troll Patrol captain And the Tuesday lunch special is a health hazard I said Tell us something we don’t know Daztan I’m normally not so snarky to older monsters But I had a serious video-game session and a fresh batch of choco-slug cookies waiting for me at home It’s never a good idea to get between me and my video games 4
Rizzo Rawlins has put together his own battle-bot team to compete in the school finals said Ryla the smallest of the three trolls She was the coder of the group It was her computer code that made the Troll Patrol’s battle bots the best in the school But Rizzo is only in fourth grade Tank said How can he compete with you older monsters Rizzo gets whatever Rizzo wants said Zarkof He was smaller than Daztan but larger than Ryla and had bright-orange hair spiked up to look like he’d been electrocuted Rizzo convinced Principal Weaver to let him compete and then he hired some of the other kids in our class to build him a battle bot Normally we would be able to defeat any bot they could scrape together Daztan said We’ve watched his bot in battle Zarkof said We think he is cheating Word on the playground is that you two are detectives detectives said Zarkof Best in the school Tank said with a smile Good Daztan said We want to hire you Thoughts of cookies and video games vanished from my detective brain I was always interested in a new case But still I had my doubts 5
