Early the next day, Marisol and her friends strolled into the school cafeteria for breakfast. They waited in line, each dressed in their best outfits for picture day. Toru picked up an empty tray, stepped down the line and asked for a bowl of his favorite chocolate cereal. To his dismay, the cafeteria lady informed him they were all out of cereal, “Sorry kids, we’re only serving oatmeal today.”
“Well, are there any sugar packets?” asked Noah, stepping beside Toru with his tray.
“Sorry, all out of those too.”
“Is there any fruit?” asked Jaleesa, but the woman sympathetically shook her head.
“I’m really sorry, kids, but we were clean out of almost everything when I got here.”
“Well,” started Toru, “I guess a little oatmeal never hurt anybody.” He unenthusiastically watched a ladleful of bland oatmeal droop onto his tray.
The five friends went about their classes, not thinking too much of their disappointing breakfast. However, at lunch time, things were getting suspicious again.
“Sorry everyone, we’re all out of juice and cookies.” announced the lunch lady to a line of disheartened kids. Marisol turned to her friends, concern painted on each of their faces.
Once school let out, dozens of kids raced to the nearest store for a quick sugar fix, only to be disappointed once again. Not a single shop had any candy, soda, or sweet snacks. Marisol and her friends maneuvered their way out of the mob of children inside the store.
“Every place has been cleaned out. Something is definitely up.” said Marisol.
“Those Disruptor punks never learn, do they?” said Elizabeth, pounding her fist in her palm.
“I don’t know, this feels a little too sophisticated for the Disruptor Gang…” added Toru.
“Well, whoever it is, we better find them fast—I need my cookie fix, stat!” said Noah, placing his hands over his grumbling stomach.
“Alright, let’s suit up and get down to the bottom of this.” said Marisol, putting forth her hand. The five friends stacked hands and ran off. Once in their super suits, Supernova climbed to the top of the candy store and scoped out the area.
“I guess we’d better split up again to cover more ground?” asked Noah.
“No need—look!” Jaleesa pointed to the next street over, where a line of robots floated by in single file. They each had two bright yellow coils for eyes and a pair of red-tipped antennas poking out from atop their large rectangular heads, situated on a cone-shaped body. Each carried a stuffed brown sack held by their stiff, angled arms.
“Let’s move.” whispered Marisol. The team kept their eyes on the mysterious droids, carefully keeping their distance as they moved from rooftop to rooftop. Each robot synchronously emitted a pulsing red light from the tip of their cone-shaped bodies, hovered up and down simultaneously, and pivoted at the exact same points when turning. Suddenly, the last robot in line about-faced and sped off while the rest of the robots split into two groups and continued down different streets.
“They’re splitting up!” shouted Elizabeth.
“Quick—Jaleesa and Toru, head after that group.” ordered Marisol, “Noah—“
“I’m on it!” He said, turning the dial of his novawatch. Noah leapt down and landed in the drivers seat of his red speedster. The convertible top promptly closed off as he slammed the wheel to the left, drifting the car into a 180-spin, and raced after the lone robot. The other two teams continued tailing the rest of their robotic suspects.
Marisol and Elizabeth watched as their group of robots casually floated near a deli shop. As they headed for the entrance, their appearance warped before disappearing from sight. The two girls approached the storefront windows and peered inside, watching candy bars and wrapped pastry snacks vanishing in thin air. Once the store had been cleared of sugary treats, the bots reappeared and exited in a single file line, their sacks much fuller now. The girls continued trailing the drones across town, careful to remain undetected. A few streets away, Toru and Jaleesa witnessed similar actions as their group raided a supermarket, emptying entire aisles of sugar.
On the other side of town, Noah raced behind the lone robot who was rocketing through the city streets. He tailed the bot in his speedster, paying close attention to its sharp turns. Up ahead, Noah realized the robot’s target; a lone Girl Scout holding a box of chocolate bars. The bot came to a sudden stop directly in front of the little girl. Startled, she yelped and took a step back. Before the girl could move any farther, the wicked drone grabbed hold of the box of chocolates with it’s two metal clamps. The girl shouted out as she pulled back and forth with the robot, but it pushed her down to the ground and raised the box high in victory. Noah’s red speedster skidded to a halt in front of the robbery, where he jumped out and landed beside the young girl and helped her to her feet.
“Give those back, you jerk!” he shouted, but only a cold, electronic laugh escaped the drone’s hallow head. The bot lowered the box from over its head and swiftly twisted to the side. Noah realized the metallic thief was about to take off again, so he jumped on its back before it launched itself forward. As Noah hurdled through the city on the robot’s back, he considered that he might have made a mistake.
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