Excerpt: Exploding Soup!

chapter 1- invasion of the machines.

As she approached the dreadful machine, her eyes full of fear and apprehension, she thought to herself "this isn't good. It wont work. there's no way it can work." she gingerly reached her hand into her coat pocket, and, grasping the little card that had the all-important data chip in it, reached forward to slide it gently into the corresponding slot in the mechanical monster. The contraption whirred as it examined the card, and gave a small beep of recognition. Then, slowly, the girl stretched out her fingers towards the row of gently glowing buttons, their light pulsing gently. Her finger brushed the third button down, and the machine sparked into motion. the contraptions within it whirred and scraped, the contents of the monster banged and clanged, then, silence. nothing happened.
"No!" she screamed.

chapter 3- bet you cant define normality

Bradley’s face broke into a smile and he scooped up the bear, hugging him. He then started questioning it, curious to see if the maths software he’d programmed worked.
“Eh.. heh, I was gonna test the maths software…” Jennifer said, feeling stupid for forgetting it.
“Yeah, when you have some maths homework to do.” Megan laughed,. We all jumped, noticing for the first time that the Liberian was standing behind us, tapping his watch.
“Oh god no…” Bradley said. Not now, not broken bells!
We all dashed out of the room, at the speed of three kids in severe trouble if they’re late to science class. Those damn bells were unreliable, and all the clocks in the school seemed to disagree with each other.
“SORRY WE’RE LATE MISS!” We all gasped, tumbling through the classroom door, exhausted from the sprint. Why did the science room have to be UPHILL from the library?
Breathing a sigh of relief, they took their seats and did the experiment that was set up. Nothing interesting. What happens if you put a nail in copper sulphate? Nothing worth paying attention too. Nothing worth getting detention for being late. And it was good old Mr Tenison taking the Friday shift. And his sour mood at being tied down to school on his time off with delinquents like Jennifer was the last thing she needed.

“Alright. One person. Jennifer as usual. Will you please, for both our sakes, PLEASE learn to go to class on time?” he begged. This surprised Jennifer, she expected shouting, or a stony ‘I don’t talk to troublemakers’ silence, not a plea for understanding.
“I understand sir, but I try my best-” she began, but was cut off.
“You don’t try your best. If you tried you best you’d get to class with everyone else. You just don’t get that your such a nuisance.” he said, putting the kettle on, to make himself a much needed cup of coffee. Hoping that a shot of caffeine would perk up his mood as well as his ever-heavier eyelids.
“Yes sir.” She mumbled, feeling stupid for getting another detention. This was a frequent occurrence. Her alone in the detention room with an annoyed teacher and a heavy weight of guilt tugging at her heart. She didn’t want to do this to all her teachers. If they stopped giving her detention for such dumb things, maybe they’d have less to complain about. And how was sitting in one place for an hour doing her homework going to make her get to class any faster? Maybe if detention was running laps around the pitch, it would be more of a deterrent. She wasn’t going to mention that thought though, because Mr Tenison looked like he might try almost anything to get her to classes on time. “Sir, sorry. I must be a burden to you. Maybe I should leave…”
“Not so fast.” He said, damn, he was wise to my trickery.

chapter 4- bright skies and burning rivalry

The sun shone down on the valley, basking the village nestled between the mountains in its soft, warming light. The sleepy settlement started to stir, as the people who lived there started to awaken and go about their daily chores. In a small house near the edge of the village, a young girl called Raine slept on, despite everyone else sparking into life.
“Murmble neh pah!” She growled in her sleep, facing some mysterious enemy. “Uwah!”
She shot up, gasping and panting for breath. That was close, she was going to die there. Uh? At home… Oh no! She slept in again…
She leapt out of her bed and dress quickly. Then, munching on some toast she dashed out the door and to her part-time job at Mr Sloan’s Bakery. He wouldn’t be happy she was late again, that was for sure. She gazed up at the morning sun, as she ran. She wished she had more time to bask in its radiance, but she had a job to do, else she’d get fired.
“Sorry I’m late, Mr Sloan!” She called into the shop as she vaulted the counter, and reached for her apron. When she didn’t get the usual reply “Your late, silly girl! One more time and your outta here…” she was worried.
“Mr Sloan?” She called again, cautiously advancing further into the bakery, expecting him to be manning the ovens or pounding the dough to make the loaves. The kitchen was empty, and in a dead silence. Raine didn’t like this. Sloan was an old, cranky man who didn’t have much in his life except his job and his friends at the checkers club, and they only met in the afternoons. She couldn’t think where he’d gone to at this time of day. Maybe he was sick in bed…
She climbed the stairs, trying to keep quiet as possible. That man wouldn’t ask another person for a glass of water if he were dying with thirst, far too proud. She sighed, expecting to see him trying to roll out of his bed, and get to work. When she entered his room after knocking, she found it empty too. The room was wrecked and all Mr Sloan’s possessions were strewn across the floor. Shocked, Raine started weaving through the wreckage of the once tidy room, searching for any clue as to what happened there.
A little piece of yellowed parchment caught her attention, and she picked it up, curious. It only had two words on it. “Tomorrow Morning.” Wondering what this meant, and feeling uncomfortable in the room, she put the paper in her pocket and headed for the door.
Suddenly, a ninja leapt form his hiding place behind the door. Terrified, Raine tried to run away, but the mysterious man blocked her path.
“Your Raine huh? Well, we can’t have you rampaging through the village, screaming about old man Sloan. Geez, guess that means I’ll have to silence you…” He sighed, like it was extremely bothersome to him, and drew a sword from the belt at his waist.
BATTLE START!