"OK, so what the hell is going on with Skye?" Ava asked Olivia.

"You think I know? I don't know! That girl has serious problems," Olivia huffed.

"I know, right? I want to help her, but how do you help someone who's been given a magic sword by a space monkey and a glorified bush?"

"I don't know."

They were in Ava and Skye's room, brainstorming ways of helping Skye. The sky outside was grey and cloudy, which reflected Ava's mood, having been left in the dark.

"I need to read her mind. I need to communicate with her to know what's happening," Ava decided.

"That's all fine and dandy, but are you sure Skye will be alright with that? And do you even know where she currently is?" Olivia wondered.

"Ah, I have no idea! Where would I even look? I'm her sister, and I know nothing about her!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Until a month ago, you didn't even know you had a sister."

"We need to find her. Where is she?"

"Maybe we should ask around. How about Brutus or Jules?"

"I think Joe would know best."

"Good point. And where is he?"

"Let's check the cafeteria, he's usually there."

Olivia hopped onto Ava's head, and the two friends set off for Catty Corner's cafeteria. Sure enough, he was there, sat in a group of henchmen.

"Hey, Joe!" Ava called.

Joe turned to look at Ava and waved. Once he had said goodbye to his friends, he came over to Ava.

"Hi, Ava. How are you?" Joe greeted.

"Good. Have you seen Skye around?" she asked.

"Haven't seen her around much lately. It's like she's been avoiding me. Hang on, did I say something? Did I upset her?"

"No! Well, I don't know, but I'm not here to tell you that. I just wanted to know where she could be."

"Hmm... Well, she's at Frenzy Farm sometimes, but that's private time, so don't go there when she's there. She'll come back here eventually... and she likes that ruined prison at the top of the Island. I don't know where she is right now."

"OK, thanks, Joe."

Ava turned to leave, but Joe stopped her.

"Ava, wait! Can I come with you? I'm worried about Skye, please," he begged.

Ava thought about this for a second. Maybe she wasn't telling Joe for a reason? Well, she wasn't telling Ava for some reason, too, so why not?

"Sure. Keep up!" Ava nodded, then ran off.

Ava ran outside and down the hill, to the town called Lazy Lake, while Joe scurried after her.

"Are you sure bringing him along is a good idea?" Olivia whispered as she ran.

"Why not?" Ava smiled. "Hey, Joe, why do you think Skye's avoiding you?"

"I don't know. Maybe she wants to tell me something and she doesn't know how?" Joe shouted.

"Do you reckon she's cheating on you?"

"No! That's not the kind of person she is! I don't know what you're like, but if you're like that, then maybe you're less like her than you think. Besides, she meets up with a girl called Hush."

"Do you reckon Skye's a lesbian?"

"No! They're just friends. Skye's an honest girl, I think I would know if she was lesbian."

Then, Joe stopped. Ava turned around and folded her arms.

"You good? Need a breather?" Ava frowned.

"Skye's not an honest girl. She doesn't tell me things until I find them out for myself. Then she'll explain herself," Joe whimpered.

"Hey, it's alright. I didn't mean to stress you out."

"Ohh, what if she is lesbian? I'd never get anyone ever again! I'm already the laughing stock with the whole no trousers thing, but if she was lesbian... They'd all say that I'm so bad in relationships, that I make my partners lesbian."

Joe sunk down to his knees and hugged his legs. Ava ran back to Joe and sat with him, her legs spread out on the grass.

"They wouldn't sat that. And why would they say that? That's not to do with you, that's all her. And besides, she loves you. And you love her. So, why would she want to ditch you for that emo Hush girl? You have personality. A sense of humour. Hush is all like 'I'm depressed' and 'I'm friends with a potted plant.'"

"What?"

"Umm... I kinda spied on one of their conversations."

"Tell me everything."

So, Ava recalled that morning, every detail about that wierd story and the sword and Hush. Everything she could remember.

"I see," Joe nodded.

"It's really wierd. That was why me and Olivia are going to find Skye and Ollie. We want to help them," Ava explained.

Joe nodded, unsure of what to say.

"You know, when you first arrived, everyone thought you were just like Skye. You both have a friend who's a hat, you're both twins, and you share a room and everything. But, after spending some time with you, I can say you're nothing like her. She's more sensitive and calm, while you're more energetic and rebellious. She's a bit more secretive, you more inclusive. The only thing you have in common is dead parents, a hat and your blood bond."

"Are you implying that I'm better than her?"

Joe froze.

"I-um-"

"Haha, I'm just kidding! I'm glad someone separates me from her. Being unique and different is kinda my thing."

"Well, you're welcome."

Then, they were interrupted by the sound of the sound barrier being broken above them. A silver jet with a burning blue exhaust flew across the sky, made a u-turn, then began to land right next to them.

"A jet! Cool!" Ava smiled.

"Um, are you sure this is safe?" Olivia asked.

"It'll be fine. Just watch."

Ava and Joe watched as four silver robots climbed out of the jet, with shiny red and yellow assault rifles. The robots didn't have any kind of marking on them, but the jet did: a circle with a simple bird filling it. There were no features on the bird that made it clear what it was, but Ava guessed it was an eagle or some other kind of bird of prey.

"What are they doing?" Joe whispered to Ava, who shrugged in response.

Then, one of them said something.

"Unauthorized organisms detected. Terminating," one of them said.

Ava and Joe sprinted to a rock for cover, as the bots opened fire with bright blue plasma bullets. Joe pulled out an assault rifle, much to Ava's surprise.

"Do you just carry that around all the time?" Ava cried.

"Not all the time. Like not in the shower or in bed or anything, but-"

"I don't want to know what you do in the shower!"

Joe tossed Ava a small pistol, which she greatly accepted as she had no other weapon.

"It's protocol," Joe shrugged.

"Good," Ava sighed.

She peaked with her pistol and took out one of the droids with a shot through the head. The other three droids jerked towards where she was, and she ducked down again as three shots flew over her head where she just was.

"Woah!" Olivia gasped.

"They've got really accurate aim!" Ava shouted.

Joe nodded, then peaked to take another out with a spray of bullets all over its body, if you could call it that.

"We need to take them all out!" Ava nodded.

"We need to get out of here!" Olivia objected.

"Ava's right. Besides, there's only two left," Joe decided.

Olivia sighed as Ava and Joe shot the last two. They both fell on the floor in a burst of blue sparks. Ava and Joe were hesitant to go and check them in the case that they were still functional. Ava was the one who eventually got up and checked them.

"They're dead," she nodded.

Joe walked over too and studied the robotic corpses.

"What are they?" Joe wondered.

"I don't know," Ava muttered.

"We should probably take them back to Catty Corner so that Jules can investigate them," Olivia suggested.

"Great idea!" Joe nodded.

Joe went to pick up one of the robots, and seriously struggled.

"These guys are super heavy!" he huffed.

Then, Ava turned towards the jet. Surely Jules would want to study that too, as well as the bots and in fact the guns.

"I've just had an idea," Ava gasped. It took Joe a couple seconds to realise she meant the jet.

"Do you even know how to fly it?" Olivia asked her.

"Nope. Let's see, shall we?" Ava grinned.

She hopped into the jet and looked around at the controls. She looked around all of the controls, until she found a big red button labelled "AUTOPILOT".

"Hey, Joe, it runs on autopilot!" Ava called.

"Cool! Now help me load these things up!" Joe shouted.

Once all of the bots and weapons had been loaded onto the jet, they turned on the autopilot and headed for Catty Corner. It turned a lot of heads as they touched down on the road. They hopped out and ran into Catty Corner's office, where Midas and Jules were looking at them expectantly.

"Guys, I think you should see this!" Ava shouted.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Word Count: 1547 Words