1.04

The robotic suit stumbled into the middle of the room. It looked clunky, in a 50s sci-fi kind of way. The body was blocky, and the head was a cube. As far as power suits went, this looked like a home job. Each arm looked wacky, wobbly and the hands were pincers. There were two long vertical slits on the chest.

“I am Toastar. I have come to wreak my revenge on this pathetic school.” The voice jarred and was irritating.

“Hunter, any ideas?” Silas asked.

“We’re gonna have to stop it.” Hunter grabbed his backpack and looked for the nearest exit. He had to change in secret.

“Well yeah. But how?” said Silas.

The lunch hall had turned into a screaming mess as students stampeded to any exit they could find. Some had fallen over, and others had been pushed aside.

Toastar grabbed a table and flung it, sending the table crashing into a wall. The table shattered into splinters.

Silas undid his shirt, revealing his Balloon Boy costume underneath. He fetched his domino style mask from his bag.

“You wear that under your clothes?” Hunter asked, sounding surprised.

“Well yeah. You don’t?” Silas echoed the same surprise.

“Too stuffy," said Hunter. Hunter and Silas darted separate ways as another table was hurtled in their direction.

“I’ll distract it, you find somewhere to change.” Silas inflated himself and bounced over to the robotic intruder.

“And who are you?” the robot laughed.

“Balloon Boy.” Silas crashed against Toastar’s head and sailed away.

Hunter looked around for where he could change into his costume. The room was almost empty save for the few injured students. He ducked down behind the food bar and changed as fast as he could.

Hunter poked his head up from behind the counter and watched as Silas bounced around the room. The more he bounced on surfaces, the more momentum he gained. Coupled with his nigh invulnerability when inflated, he became a bouncy balloon of destruction.

Toastar suddenly stopped moving about, most of the tables were now smashed to pieces. A loud whirring noise erupted from inside the robot’s chest.

“Erm, what’s happening?” Silas asked. He stopped his momentum and floated about a few metres out from Toaster.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” uttered Hunter. He was completely changed now and came around from behind his cover. He had two small flasks of dust and had gathered some from the benchtop, disgusted out just how dirty aa surface that stored food was.

“Now behold my ultimate attack!” the robotic voice called out. The two slots slid open and there was an orange glow from within.

“Wait, wait. Is Toastar meaning toaster?" As if to answer Silas’s question, two oversized charcoal pieces of toast shot out of the chest.

The toast sailed through the air and just missed Silas. He felt the heat singe the hairs on his arms.

“Avoid the toast, it’s pretty hot," Silas called out.

“They’ll cause excruciating burns to your skin,” the robot laughed. Hunter found the voice to be extremely grating.

Silas bounced off the wall behind him, and sent himself sailing toward Toastar. The holes in the chest piece glowed brighter and two more pieces of toast shot out. Silas kicked against the floor, sending himself to the roof. He avoided one piece, but another slammed against his exposed leg. The pain was immense.

Hunter rounded Toastar and flicked open one of the flasks of dust. He poured the dust onto his hand and it stuck there. He sent the dust out at Toastar and aimed for the slots, the only opening he could find.

The dust flowed into the glowing slots. A burning smell filled the room, but nothing happened.

“Did you just throw dust at me?” Toastar asked.

“Dude, what did you think would happen?” Silas asked. He landed next to Hunter.

“I hoped it would do the same as with that Copter guy. Choke up his suit, short the circuits or something.”

The whirring screeched again, and the slots glowed bright hot again. Two more overheated pieces of toast shot out. The pair easily avoided them. Toastar then picked up a bench and aimed it at Hunter.

Silas pushed him out of the way just in time and the bench and balloon bounced in opposite directions.

“Time to go into overdrive,” Toastar cried out. The internal whirring rose to a roar and the slots glowed brighter still.

“Doesn’t sound good,” said Hunter. The toast started to shoot out at a constant rate and the pair had to duck for cover.

A slice of toast hit Hunter square in the back, and it burned through his costume. Another slice slammed the back of his head and a stinging, burning smell crept into his nose. A headache wormed its way around his head.

The two ducked behind the lunch bar and listened as the toast belted on the other side of the furniture.

“Any ideas?” Silas asked.

“Nope. You?” Hunter replied. Silas shook his head.

“When it runs out of toast, I reckon I could bowl it over. That stuff hurts.” The barrage of toast continued to crash into the bench. Hunter and Silas heard a crack near their heads and noticed the timber had started to break.

The two jumped out of the way just in time as the toast crashed through their cover, leaving burn marks on the timber.

Silas took off and bounced around the room, doing the best he could to avoid the burning projectiles. Hunter had to run, jump and roll. He was out of ideas and he was starting to feel worn out.

Toastar focussed his fire on Hunter, being the easier target. Hunter tripped and was hit with another piece of toast, and this one was hotter than before.

More pieces slammed into his body. Hunter was in searing pain.

Silas saw his collapsed friend and bounced against the floor then wall and sent himself bulleting toward Toastar.

He smashed into the robotic body. Silas bounced away again and Toastar was sent crashing to the floor. The inner roar of Toastar died down and the arms flailed as it tried to stabilize its clunky body.

Silas deflated and ran over to Hunter. He bit his lip as he swept the toast off his friend’s body. Blisters started to break out on Hunter’s skin.

Silas turned and watched as Toastar picked itself back up off the floor. That internal engine roared back into life and Silas felt helpless.

Suddenly, a ball of purple slime struck the side of the head of Toastar. The head rocked to the side. Three more impacts hit Toastar square in the chest, sliming up the slots in the chest piece. The noise within the robot choked to a stop.

“Who dares resist Toastar?” asked the robot.

Silas turned to see a person with a black and purple costume. They too wore a domino mask and a long ponytail of brown hair danced around the back of their knees.

“Need some help?” the voice asked. Silas was thought it sounded familiar.

“Yeah, please.” The newcomer nodded and shot out more balls of slime. They aimed for the chest slots and slowly walked toward Toastar. The slime balls shot out faster and faster, forcing Toastar to step back.

Silas inflated himself again and launched himself against the roof. He bounced back down to the floor and let his momentum pick up. He angled himself against the wall and launched himself at Toastar.

Silas crashed into Toastar’s head, launching Toastar into the ground again. This time there was no movement from the robot. Silas deflated and approached the fallen robot.

He bent down to the head and saw it was a helmet. He jammed his fingers underneath and removed the piece. He gasped.

“Who is it?” aaskedthe new ally.

“The old lunch lady. She got let go a few months ago for not observing basic hygiene. Made heaps of kids sick.”

“You need to get out of here, along with your friend," said the newcomer. Silas picked Hunter up from the ground and started to hobble out of the room.

“Hey, you three. Come with me.” The janitor had come back into the hall.

“You help those two. I need to go before the authorities get here," said the newcomer.

“Too late, they’re already here. You’re coming with us too," the janitor replied.