12 Gold-Medal Vale

Chapter Twelve Gold-Medal Vale You really never know how fast you can run until you have rock giants taking huge strides right toward you. It turns out, kids can run pretty fast. But not fast enough. The giants were easily gaining on them. "Foggy!" yelled Abigail. "Voltronix! You know what to do!" "NOPE!" said Voltronix. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO." Foggy turned on his rocket boosters and swept Paige, Finn, and Vale up in his arms. Voltronix turned around. "OH, I'M SUPPOSED TO DO THAT," said Voltronix "OKAY!" Voltronix grabbed Abigail and Elias and flew up into the air. The rock giants bellowed again and ran even faster at the flying kids.

"Paige!" yelled Finn. "Are the Fuffles saying anything? Do they have any advice for how to get out of here?!" "Not really!" said Paige. "They're mostly just screaming, 'zzzzzzzAAHHHHHHHzzzzzzz AAAAHHHHHHHzzzzzzzzzAHHHHHHHHH!'" "Great," said Finn. "Okay, this is it," said Vale. "My turn."

"Your turn?" said Finn. "What do you mean?" "Well, Abigail makes decisions, you solve problems, and Elias fixes stuff," said Vale. "So you three do that. You: figure out the problem. Elias: engineer something. Abigail: lead the way." "And what are you going to do?" asked Finn. "I'm going to do my patented move." Vale raised his arms and slipped out of Foggy's grasp, tumbling to the ground. He somersaulted and stood up. "Get to the top of the volcano!" he yelled. "See if there's something you can do! I'll distract the rock dummies!" Vale jumped up and down, clapping his hands until the rock giants noticed that he'd dropped to the ground. They turned immediately and began chasing him. "Whoops!" Vale said, running away from the volcano and back toward the grass. "What is he going to do?" asked Abigail. "I don't know," said Finn. "He's been practicing all these new acrobatic moves. I guess he thinks he's going to do those. But really, he's probably going to get smooshed." "Should we stop him?" said Abigail.

"Do you know any acrobatics?" asked Finn. Foggy took off toward the top of the volcano and Voltronix followed. "I'M FASTER!" yelled Voltronix, trailing behind Foggy. Finn looked back and watched as Vale jumped and rolled, dodging all the rocks the giants threw his way. But soon, six of the giants had Vale surrounded. Vale didn't seem worried. He danced around the middle of the circle of giants. He was enjoying himself. "Oh no, he's going to try it," said Finn. "Try what?" said Paige. "The triple-double-dutch-flip-somersaultjump-sidekick-with-a-smile," said Finn. "His new favorite move." One of the giants leapt forward to grab Vale. But Vale sidestepped, jumped, and then bounced again on both feet. "That's the triple," said Finn. Another giant reached for Vale, but he leapt into the air and flipped backward. The giant missed and crashed into the first one.

"That's the double-dutch-flip," said Finn. He was getting excited. Two angry giants lunged at Vale, but he rolled beneath them and they crashed into each other. "The somersault!" said Finn. "And the—" Vale leapt out of the reach of the fifth giant, who piled onto the other four.

"The jump—" yelled Finn. He couldn't believe it! The sixth and final giant was confused. It couldn't see Vale over the pile of its friends, and Vale kicked out, tripping the giant, who fell on top of the others. "The sidekick!" cried Finn. "Unbelievable! And, wait for it!" Vale waved to his friends, running toward the volcano. He was grinning from ear to ear. "With a smile," said Finn. "I didn't think he could pull it off. But he did. Quick, let's get to the top!" But there were six more giants running right behind the others. One of them reached down and grabbed Vale, lifting him off the ground. "Oh no," said Finn. "That victory was short-lived."