2.05

“Well hello sleeping beauty,” said the boy whose head was on fire.

“What’s going on?” Silas asked. He concentrated on letting out a smooth breath. He couldn’t inflate yet.

“Just showing the new teacher that he’s not the boss of us,” replied the girl. Silas realised she was floating off the ground.

“He thought he’d give us all a tough time. My father warned me if I got one more detention, I’d be sent away.” This was the boy with the crab arm. The girl gave him a quick pat on the shoulder.

“It’s okay, Virgil. We won’t let that happen.”

“Thanks Gina.”

“What do you hope to achieve from this?” Silas asked. “Are you gonna do this to every teacher who annoys you?”

“We’ve already done it to two teachers,” said the fiery head.

“Hey, Shiro, this one’s trying to get away.” Gina informed the one with the flaming head. The teacher had started to shuffle along the floor.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Shiro warned the teacher.

“Why are you doing this, really?” Silas asked.

“Because we can,” Shiro replied.

“Why do you want to know?” Virgil asked.

“I’m gonna have to stop you.” Silas stood at his desk and eyed each one of them, doing his best to ooze confidence. The three of them all began to laugh.

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Shiro asked.

“Like this.” Silas took in a deep breath, inflating himself. He kicked off and zoomed toward Virgil.

“No you don’t,” Gina’s eyes glowed purple, smoke danced from out of the corners. A concussive blast shot from her eyes, slamming into Silas, knocking him off course from Virgil.

Silas bounced belly-first into the wall and came shooting back to the group.

“You think a bouncy ball can stop us?” Shiro taunted. The fire around his head flared up and he spewed forth searing heat from his mouth. The heat hit Silas, burning his skin. It made Toastar's feel pretty weak in comparison.

He continued flying toward them. Virgil ran to him and caught him in a vice-like grip in his giant pincer. He started to squeeze; Silas could feel the pincer beginning to cut.

“Why did you decide to fight us? We weren’t going to do anything to you,” Shiro asked.

“Because that’s what heroes do. We fight the bad guys.” Pain flashed through his torso as the pincer dug deeper.

“You, a hero? You inflate. What kind of power is that?” Virgil asked.

“An awesome one.” Silas inhaled more, his body dispersing the air, expanding. Growing in size, Virgil’s pincer cut in tighter; and at the same time, it was being pried open.

“Guys, this is starting to hurt,” said Virgil.

“Squeeze harder,” Gina instructed him.

“I’m trying.”

Gina’s eyes glowed and she shot another purple concussive blast at Silas. The blast hit his stomach but didn’t seem to do anything. Silas continued to grow.

The pain became too much for Virgil to handle, and he let go of Silas, who was now almost three times his normal size.

“No matter, I can handle this.” The flames around Shiro’s head grew hotter still. His head could no longer be made out within the fire. Fire burst out and hit Silas square in the chest.

The pain was like nothing Silas had ever felt before. He immediately deflated and lay on the floor, panting.

“Kid, you brought this upon yourself,” said Shiro. Silas shot a glance at the teacher who wore a look of terror.

“Three against one is a little unfair, don’tcha think?” Silas rolled over to look at the classroom door to see someone in a blue suit of armor and a strange looking gun in their hand. A hose ran from the comical looking gun around behind the suit, when the person stepped in, Silas could see the hose connected to a large tank on their back.

“And who are you meant to be?” Gina asked.

“Call me Fizz. You two all right?” the newcomer asked Silas and the teacher. They both nodded. “Good, time to take out the trash.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Virgil asked while running at the one named Fizz, snapping his pincer.

“Means this, my crustaceous friend.” Fizz pulled the trigger on their gun and a jet stream of bubbles flew out of the gun. Each exploded on impact against Virgil, stopping him in his tracks.

“That actually hurt,” Virgil called out.

“They’re just bubbles,” said Gina.

“Then you do something about it, Gina. When they explode, its like someone’s hitting ya.”

Gina rose higher off the floor. Her hair flowed out and a faint purple aura glowed about her body. Her eyes grew brighter still. A bright purple beam shot out from her eyes. More bubbles streamed out of the gun and collided with the purple beam.

There was a bright explosion, and everyone had to look away. Silas looked back to see Gina pummelled with countless bubbles. She was knocked back and collapsed to the ground.

“You think you can stop me with bubbles?” Shiro’s flames grew bigger still. The heat was intense. Silas could smell burning wood.

Fizz dropped to the ground and aimed at Shiro. Bubbles foamed out and exploded against Shiro.

The flames grew hotter. Fire spewed toward Fizz, engulfing the helper. The flames stopped and Silas and Shiro were startled to see Fizz crouched, enveloped in a bubble.

“I’m going to end you.” Shiro readied another spew of fire, but Silas inflated himself and kicked himself toward the flaming student. He stayed low, slamming into Shiro’s legs.

Shiro went flying into some desks, setting them alight. The fire alarm finally rang out and the sprinklers turned on. The flames on Shiro’s head were doused and he was laying on the floor, unconscious.

Virgil sat on the floor, looking defeated. His crab arm had gone back to normal.

“Come on Balloon Boy, we need to get out of here real quick.” Fizz ran out of the room.

Silas leant down at the teacher to check on him.

“Please don’t tell anyone about my powers. And we’ll send for the right people to pick these three up. Oh, and can I have my phone back?”

“Y-eah, s...sure," the teacher stuttered.