The next day, the school had a sports day planned, and they were still going on with it, although the science wing of the building blew up. Valerie and Peter weren't so sure Fluey should participate, considering what had happened the day before.
"Look, I just felt a little sick yesterday," he replied. "I feel fine now. It's no big deal."
"Are you sure?" Peter asked. "Because we can call you in sick today if you want."
"I'm fine, Uncle Peter. I have an obligation to thee swim team, remember? No problem."
"Okay," Valerie said. "If you feel up to it."
"I do."
"Sorry we can't be there."
"That's okay. I know you're busy and all. See you guys after school!"
With that, Fluey ran out the door with his stuff. He met Coiley and Multi on the way to school, and they had their gear with them. But the three of them didn't look very pumped for sports day.
"You guys look like you lost your last friend," Fluey said.
"Yeah, we know," Coiley said. "And there's a good reason for that."
"What?" Fluey asked.
"Well . . . ." Multi said. "Something weird's going on with the two of us."
"What do you mean weird?"
"Show him, Coiley."
Coiley put down his gear and jumped into the air. Fluey stared at him in awe. Coiley had jumped at least fifteen feet into the air, but that's not what surprised Fluey. What surprised Fluey was that Coiley's legs somehow curled into a giant spring when he jumped.
"That's impossible!" he shouted once Coiley landed. He dropped his stuff on the ground in shock after that.
"And that's not all," Multi said. "Watch this!" Multi then bent his legs slightly, and in a split second, he duplicated himself, like a human Xerox machine. Then he retracted the duplicates.
"I must need glasses," Fluey said. "That was just too weird."
Fluey shook his head, convinced he had lost all his marbles completely, after seeing that. He bent down to pick up his bag, but once he was slightly bent over, something happened. He turned straight from solid to liquid. Multi and Coiley stared at him, as if they too had lost their marbles. After a little bit, Fluey emerged back into solid form.
"What just happened?" he asked.
"You turned from solid to liquid," Multi said. "Talk about impossible!"
"What do we do now?" Coiley asked.
"Go to school, I guess," Multi said, shrugging. "We've got obligations to our teams. Maybe we can keep this under control."
"I hope so," Fluey said. "Come on."
The boys headed for school, not knowing what exactly lay ahead. At any rate, the high school was jammed with kids and parents. It was a whole Olympics type of thing. Everybody was ready for the main events. First up was the thirty meter dash (or was it thirty yard dash?) At any rate, the race involved hurtles. Coiley went over to the starting line and got ready. His two sisters, Reine and Springfield (Spring for short), were sitting in the crowd, cheering him on. The two of them were track stars when they were in high school, and had won gold medals for the thirty meter (or yard) dash.
"Coiley's a shoe in," Spring said. "He's been training for weeks."
"Think he'll win this race?" Fluey asked.
"Of course he'll win!" Reine shouted. "He's our brother, isn't he?" Fluey looked at Multi and shrugged. The starting gun went off. The runners started on the race, and jumped over the hurtles. Coiley quickly took over the lead, due to the fact that his legs had turned into a giant spring again. It did that whenever he jumped, and because of that, he was jumping over those hurtles higher than the other racers. Multi, Fluey, Reine, and Spring shot too their feet and began shouting and cheering and that sort of thing.
"Go, bro, go!" Spring shouted.
"He's so far in front, he can't lose!" Fluey yelled.
"Come on, Coiley!" Multi cheered. After the last hurtle, Coiley bounced (literally) across the finish line. His sisters and his friends began to yell and cheer again.
"The winner of the thirty yard" (or meter) "dash is Coiley Collins!" the announcer replied.
"Yahoo!" Reine shouted. "A Collins family tradition lives on!"
"Way to go, little bro!" Spring shouted.
"Thanks, guys," Coiley said to his sisters.
"Hey, that weird bounce thing came in handy, didn't it?" Fluey asked.
"Yeah, it sure did!" Coiley shouted.
"Hold it a minute, folks!" the announcer said. "We just got a video tape of the race from the AV department. We'll go to the video tape."
"I don't like the sound of this," Reine said.
The referee and the announcer watched the video tape in the announcer's booth, along with the Audio/Visual technician. They were watching Coiley on the tape like hawks, since all he did was bounce.
"Looks to me like he had springs on his feet," the referee said.
"I think you're right," the announcer said, and he turned on his microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a slight change. Coiley Collins is disqualified from this and all other events for cheating. The new winner of the race is Doug Matthews!"
A roar went through the crowd as Doug Matthews (who crossed the finish line second) went to accept the gold medal. Spring, Reine, Multi, and Fluey were ready to tear the ref and the announcer apart for that rule.
"He didn't cheat, you dopes!" Reine shouted.
"Boy, that's justice for you," Spring said. "Just 'cause you were bouncing all over the place . . . . . oooh, I've got a good mind to . . . ."
"Forget it, Spring," Coiley said. "You can't do much about the situation. I'm disqualified and that's that."
"Yeah, but it's not fair," Fluey said. "You won that race fair and square!"
"Speaking of races," Multi said. "I think yours is up next, Fluey."
"Oh yeah," Fluey said. "I've got to get to the locker room. See you guys later."
"Good luck," Coiley said. Fluey ran off. Within minutes, Reine, Spring, Coiley, and Multi were now sitting in the bleachers inside the gym, waiting for the swim race to start. Basically what the contestants were supposed to do was swim to one side of the pool, swim back, and swim again to the opposite side. It was basically a three lap race. The starting whistle blew, and Fluey and the rest of the swimmers dove into the water and took off. Fluey had a pretty good head start. He hadn't realized it, but he turned into liquid the minute he dove into the water. He was also going so fast, nobody could really see him.
"Looks like this is another weird thing that could work out well," Multi said.
"Provided nobody notices," Coiley said.
Three laps later, Fluey popped out of the water. The whistle blew again to signal the end of the event.
"The winner, Fluey McAlister!" the announcer shouted.
"Hold it a second!" second place winner, Todd Andrews shouted. "Did you see how fast he was going?! I saw the whole thing! It looked like he actually turned into water! Either that or he's taking steroids."
"Hmmm," the referee said. "That's a good point. Until we get to the bottom of this, Fluey, I'm afraid I have no choice but to disqualify you."
"What?!" Fluey shouted.
"Oh no," Reine groaned.
There was no arguing about it. Fluey was out, and Todd was awarded first place. After awhile, the school's volleyball team was up. Multi was determined to help his team win the game. As it turned out, both of his parents were in the audience. His mother, Laura, flew in from Maine just to see Multi and his team win the volleyball game in the school Olympics. The game got started once a whistle blew. The entire team was hitting the ball back and forth. Multi used his weird power to help the team win. When the ball looked like it was going out of bounds, he would multiply and hit it before it went out, and then score. Nobody could tell the difference, except the other team. By the time the whistle blew, Megatropolis High had won, 20-6.
"It's incredible!" the announcer shouted. "Megatropolis High has never won a volleyball game before! The team owes the victory to Multi Mills, ladies and gentlemen!"
There was a lot of screaming. Coiley, Fluey, and Multi's parents ran out of the crowd and onto the volleyball court.
"Good going," Fluey said. "Boy, I've got to hand it to you, this is probably the only time that weird power of yours didn't backfire."
"I'd say this calls for a celebration," Ken commented.
"Sounds good to me," Laura replied. "What do you say, Multi? You, me, your friends, and your dad."
"Why pass up a chance to see you and Dad together, even if it's for a little while?" Multi said. "Let's go."
"Hold it just a minute!" the coach of the other team called out. "My team and I just talked this whole game over, and we discovered something."
"What?" the Megatropolis coach asked.
"You had some extra players on the team during the game!" one of the kids shouted.
"That's crazy!" Laura shouted.
Multi gulped. He felt about two inches tall at this point. After some arguing, the win was taken away from the Megatropolis team. Everybody on the team blamed Multi for it.
"Way to go, Mills," one said.
"Yeah, what a way to blow it!" another shouted. "You oughta get kicked off the team!"
The others agreed. So did the coach. Not only did Multi get kicked off the volleyball team, Coiley was taken off the track team, and Fluey was suspended from the swim team. All three of them felt lower than dirt.
"Hey guys, cheer up," Reine said. "There's still your audition for the school dance."
"You'll do great there, I know it," Spring said.
"Yeah," Coiley said. "At least we've still got that."
Multi and Fluey nodded. The three of them headed for the locker room in order to chance into their regular clothes and get their guitars. Then they headed for the school auditorium and waited their turn to audition. It took nearly an eternity.
"Okay, next up," one of the teachers said. "The Low Keys. Okay, guys. Let's hear what you've got."
"Right," Coiley said. "Okay, fellas. Let's blow them away!"
Multi and Fluey nodded, and began playing. But not for long. Once again, Fluey had accidently turned into water, and he shorted out his guitar. Not only that, but he shorted out the amp it was plugged into, and the power went out in the entire school.
"What happened?!" one of the teachers shouted.
"Oops," Fluey said. "Sorry guys, I can't control when I turn into water."
"I'm beginning to realize that," Multi replied.
"Okay, guys," another teacher said. "The entire power is out, and so are the back up lights. I'm afraid you'll have to pack it up and leave."
The boys put their guitars back in the cases and walked off. As they were leaving the school, the principal walked over to them.
"Boys, I need to talk to you," he said. "I'm afraid I have to tell you three something."
"What?" Fluey asked.
"I'm afraid I have no choice but to expel you three."
"Expel?!" Coiley shouted.
"Kick us out of school?!" Multi yelled.
"Oh man, my aunt and uncle are gonna kill me!" Fluey screamed.
"Why are you expelling us, sir?" Coiley asked.
"Well," the principal said. "You three blew up the science lab, cheated in the school's Olympics, and shorted out the entire electrical system."
"But the science lab incident was an accident!" Coiley shouted.
"And we didn't even realize we were cheating in the Olympics!" Multi protested.
"And the power outage was an accident, too!" Fluey yelled.
"I'm sorry, boys, but the decision is final," the principal said.
"Besides, since the science lab explosion, the three of you have gained some pretty bizarre powers, and it showed during the band audition. I can't have you three doing these weird things in my school. I'm sorry I have to do this, but I have no other choice."
The principal left. Coiley, Multi, and Fluey looked at each other.
"Want to come over?" Fluey asked.
"Yeah, sure," Coiley said. "Expelled. I can't believe it. My parents aren't going to be thrilled about this!"
"I can just hear the executioner now," Fluey replied.
"Maybe we should play a funeral dirge or something," Multi said.
He was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't work. The Low Keys walked into Fluey's house, and flopped down on the couch. Peter and Valerie approached them.
"Well?" Valerie asked. "How'd everything go?"
"Terrible," Fluey said. "We got these weird powers after the chemical explosion in the science lab, and they came out while we were competing in the Olympics."
"All three of us were disqualified from our events," Multi replied.
"Powers?" Peter asked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, Coiley can become a human spring," Fluey said. "Multi can duplicate himself like a Xerox machine, and I can go from solid to liquid. And that happened during the audition."
"His guitar short circuited," Coiley explained. "And then the amp short circuited, and the power went out in the whole school."
"But that's not the worst part," Multi said.
"We've been expelled," Fluey said, coming straight to the point. "The principal is holding us responsible for blowing up the science lab."
Peter and Valerie just stood there and looked at each other. They weren't exactly sure what to do about this. They had a feeling if they called the principal, they wouldn't get anywhere, but they knew it wasn't Fluey's fault, or Coiley's, or Multi's.
"Well . . . ." Valerie said. "What can you do?"
"You're not gonna kill me?" Fluey asked.
"No," Peter said. "But we can't really talk to your principal, either.
He doesn't think the same way we do."
"My dad doesn't think the same way you guys do, either," Multi said.
"Neither do my parents," Coiley said. "Boy, when they find out about this, I'll hear nothing except how Spring and Reine are the perfect students."
"Don't worry about it," Valerie said. "Peter and I will call both your parents and explain everything to them."
"Yeah, it's okay, guys," Peter said.
The boys nodded. They weren't exactly sure what was going to happen, but they decided not to worry about it. They got up and left the house, and then hit the nearest convenience store. They planned on stocking up on some junk food and drown their problems in chips, Twinkies, chocolate cupcakes, Snickers bars, Milky Ways, M & M's, and Coca-Cola. As they were stocking up on junk food, who should enter the store but Mike Rogers, Phyllis Dawson, and Reggie Peters. They were doing some junk food shopping of their own. They were still searching for new agents for the SSH, but they weren't having any luck. They needed a good recharge.
"We've been on the search nearly a whole week," Mike said. "And we haven't found any potential agents!"
"Don't I know it," Reggie said. "Megatropolis isn't the place to look for government agents, I don't think."
"We may have to go to another city or something," Phyllis said. Mike agreed with that. He began to look over the line of sodas, trying to pick out something other than Coca-Cola. Just then the door opened, and a couple of gun shots rang out. Everybody panicked and looked over at the front door. Standing there were two crooks, wearing black shirts, black ski masks, and they were carrying guns.
"All right!" one shouted. "This is a stick up! Empty out all the cash registers!"
"Yes sir!" the clerk shouted, and he began emptying the cash register.
"All right, nobody move!" the other crook shouted at the customers. He raised his gun to the ceiling and fired it. Everybody sort of hunched over to avoid getting hit with pieces of the ceiling. Of course, when Fluey did that, his super powers took over, and he began to turn into water again.
"Oh, Fluey! Not now!" Coiley whispered.
"I can't help it!" Fluey hissed.
Thankfully the crooks didn't notice the three teenagers. They took the money from the cash registers and headed for the door.
"Okay, nobody call the police!" one crook shouted. "No alarms, no nothing!"
"Let's beat it," the other said, and they started for the door.
"We've got to do something," Multi said.
"But what?" Coiley asked.
He was about to get an answer to that question. One of the crooks stepped directly on Fluey, who was just a puddle on the floor at the time. He slipped and landed flat on his back. The other crook did the same, and landed on top of his companion. By that time, Fluey emerged back into his normal form. He turned to his friends.
"Hey fellas," he said. "I think maybe we can get some use out of these powers we've got."
"I think you're right," Multi said, and he duplicated himself and blocked off the door. The two crooks stood up.
"Okay, who tripped us?!" one shouted.
"I did," Fluey replied. "Wanna make something of it?"
"Why you little so and so!" the second crook shouted. "I'll get you for this!"
"You'll have to catch me first!" Fluey shouted. He turned into water again, and shot across the store. The crooks were dumbfounded, but followed the stream anyway. But before they could catch up with Fluey, Coiley sprang forward and punched the first crook in the nose. His arms became springs as well.
"What the . . . ." the second crook asked.
"Never mind!" the first one shouted. "Grab the money and let's beat it!"
The crooks grabbed the money and headed for the door, but they were blocked off by Multi and his duplicates.
"Going somewhere?" he asked.
"Why you . . . ." the second crook said. He took out his gun and began to fire.
He hit all the duplicates.
"Ha, ha, I got 'em all!" he shouted.
"You got 'em all, all right!" Multi shouted. "All except the original! Give up you crooks! You're surrounded!"
Multi multiplied again, and surrounded the crooks. Then Fluey shot into the mix as a stream of water and punched one crook in the nose. Coiley sprang out and punched the other one. Mike, Phyllis, and Reggie were staring at the three teens in awe. The police arrived a few minutes later to take the crooks away.
The newspapers and TV reporters arrived on the scene, too, wanting every detail of the attempted robbery.
"Did you see what I saw?" Mike asked.
"Yeah," Reggie said. "And it was impossible!"
"I think we've found the SSH's new agents!" Phyllis shouted. She opened her purse and took out her compact, which was really her way of contacting Big D.
She opened it up.
"Big D, this is Phyllis," she said. "And have we got the guys for you!"

Part three