The Secondary Killjoys

Chapter 1

Robin wanted it to rain again. The sound was relaxing, and could do a lot more than any song. Well, almost any song...anyway, she was desperate to get home and play her new record. She smiled to herself as she felt it's shape in her bag. Best $10 she would probably ever spend! Robin was still amazed at the price, though she suspected it was mainly due to the fact that Stevie, the record shop guy, was too distracted by Grindr to notice what he was actually selling. If he'd realized that he was selling a limited edition variant cover extended record of Danger Days, then Robin was sure he would've either kept it or put it up on Amazon in a flash.

She had to walk through a large forest in order to get home, and this was always her favourite part of her journey. She hoped to bring her boyfriend here one day, when she eventually got one. All the boys at school were not her style, apart from the ones who were her friends. The majority of them either sported Air Max and tracksuits, or Hollister and Abercrombie. Jerks.

She was contemplating how much time Lewis Matthews put into that gravity-defying quiff each morning, when it happened.

The bright flash of light sent her reeling backwards, into a tree trunk, where she stood slightly dazed for a moment. She suddenly froze when she saw what stood in front of her, or should I say, who stood in front of her. She thought that the light was messing with her eyes, making her see things; then he spoke, "Robin? I seriously need your help." It was Party Poison.

*

Was it though? He looked different, and she realized why: he couldn't be a day over 17. This had to be some prank her friends had pulled, dressing some guy as Party Poison, asking her for help, then probably taking her picture and posting it on Facebook.

She decided to bust them; they couldn't fool her this easy. "Nice try guys, come on out now, or I'll have to come find you, and you don't want that do you?" The whole time she was shouting to her seemingly invisible friends, the poor guy they'd brought out here to prank was looking confused. He walked up to her, as she walked around a little searching for people she thought had tricked her.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm searching for Mikey and the rest of my pack of losers whose attempt to prank me is so sad its funny. You can go now by the way. Sorry man, they shouldn't have brought you all the way here, whoever you are wherever you're from, but I gotta get home."

He looked worried then as she picked up her bag, which she'd dropped in initial shock, and started to walk away. "Stop! Robin, this is not a prank! I swear! I'm seriously Party Poison, and I seriously need your help! My world as I know it will be destroyed!" She looked up at this. "Your world? Where you from, Mars? As much as I'd love to believe the Killjoys exist, it's not possible. Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life."

He suddenly grabbed her arm to spin her around to face him, and said, "You don't believe me huh? Everyone said you wouldn't. I can prove it though. Believe this Robin." He drew what Robin instantly realized was a ray gun from the holster on his belt. It was a pretty decent replica she had to admit, as she watched him breath in, aiming the gun at a nearby tree. "Pfft," she sighed as she watched, "you know those are fakes right? They don't actually-" A bright yellow shot flew out of the gun's barrel and left a rather large burnt patch on the bark.

She stood there stunned, as the boy, satisfied with the shot, slid the ray gun back into it's holster, and turned to look at her. "Is that proof enough for you? The gun certainly isn't fake, and I'm not either! Trust me Robin, I'd only have come here if I were deadly serious. We need your help. We're extremely desperate.

He held his hand out to her, as she had sat down, still utterly dumbstruck. Her gaze drifted up from somewhere in front of her to meet his green one. "Wow," she breathed, her brain barely able to comprehend what was actually happening. "You are the real Party Poison!" He grinned, slightly smug at the thought, as he helped her up from the ground.