Astro and Tobio
Chapter 4: Day at the Beach
It was almost the end of Summer so Astro, Tobio, Zoran and Dr O'Shay decided to take a trip to the beach and enjoy the last of the warm weather for the year. As the sun shone down on them, Zoran was busy building a sandcastle while Astro searched for shiny pebbles to decorate her work and Tobio looked for colourful seashells for the same reason. Dr O'Shay sat under an umbrella watching the three in amusement. Zoran was wearing her yellow swimsuit and Tobio had on black swimming trunks with a green waistband to match Astro's "underwear". They were not the only people at the beach that day but Astro and Zoran appeared to be the only robots present at this time.
Zoran looked up from her sandcastle to watch Astro and Tobio as they darted about the beach to find items to add to her creation. She giggled as she watched them, they both seemed to be trying to find something to outdo the other's find. 'Well, if they want to fight over my attention I'm certainly not going to complain,' she thought to herself. At that moment the two boys came jogging up to her and the sandcastle.
"This is the best one I could find," said Astro and Tobio in unison. Astro held out an extremely shiny pebble while Tobio held out an extremely colourful seashell.
"Thank you very much," giggled Zoran as she accepted the objects and gave both boys a kiss on the cheek. This resulted in Astro and Tobio blushing madly, causing Zoran to giggle even more.
"You're welcome," they smiled in unison.
Zoran anime-style sweat dropped. 'I wonder how long before them constantly saying the same thing at the same time becomes annoying,' she thought.
Astro sat down on his beach towel while Tobio let himself fall back onto his towel with his arms outstretched. "I love the beach. Probably the worst part about Professor Sebastian keeping me prisoner was being unable to enjoy the beach and the sun," smiled Tobio with his eyes closed.
Astro laughed, "So the worst part wasn't having to electrocute me then?"
Tobio joined Astro laughing. "Fine. The worst thing apart from that."
Dr O'Shay smiled at the two. He had previously been worried Astro and Tobio's friendship would sour after a while, fearing that them being so alike would start to get on each other's nerves but his fears were proven unfounded. The two actually seem to enjoy copying each other, wearing the same outfits and he was sure the two would sometimes intentionally speak in unison. The only thing they didn't seem to like having in common was the other's fondness of Zoran.
As they enjoyed the sun a beeping started to emanate from Tobio's bag. "That can't be good," he muttered as he sat up a pulled the source of the noise, his tablet, from the bag.
"Is something wrong?" asked Astro. He got up and stood behind Tobio so he could see the display as Tobio tapped the screen.
"It is detecting two of the droids I designed for Sebastian close by," Tobio replied.
"I thought all of those droids were destroyed in the factory blaze," Dr O'Shay frowned.
"I guess the Professor made more droids than I was aware of," said Tobio. "It's not as if he didn't keep any secrets from me and he had other hideouts so it makes sense he would have more droids. I'm not sure why there would be any at the beach though."
"Won't they be under your control after you hacked his system?" commented Zoran as she continued to work on her sandcastle.
Tobio lay back down on his towel, holding the tablet above his face as he tapped the screen. "Possibly, but only if they were linked to that particular computer system. If he had more droids, he probably had more computer systems. Remember what happened to all the droids at the end of The Phantom Menace because they were all linked to one system?"
"Vaguely," replied Astro with a smile.
"Anyway," began Tobio, sitting up, "these must be Aqua droids because it appears they are in the sea."
"Well, if there are only two of them, I should be able to shut them down no problem," smirked Astro.
"Can I come along bro?" asked Tobio, as he pulled two more devices from his bag and slipped them into his pocket. "You will need to give me a lift. I didn't bring my hover skateboard," he added in all seriousness.
"Sure. Just hold on tight."
Tobio grinned, putting on goggles as he walked behind Astro and put his left arm around Astro's neck, his right hand still clutched his tablet. Tobio quietly spoke into Astro's ear, "You don't want to leave me here with Zoran, huh."
"Bullseye," Astro whispered back as he took off. Dr O'Shay watched the two while Zoran began to build a wall around her sandcastle.
"Wow! Was that the famous Astro?" said a voice with an Australian accent. Zoran and Dr O'Shay looked behind them to see a tourist in a colourful beach shirt and shorts with red hair and a moustache.
"The one and only," smiled Zoran.
"Cool!" said the man, pulling a camera from his pocket. "Would it be alright if I took a picture when he gets back?"
"I'm sure that won't be a problem," replied Dr O'Shay before turning back to the sea.
Astro flew himself and Tobio out to where the water was fifty feet deep and hovered there a few metres above the sea. Tobio viewed the seabed through the camera on his tablet which was designed to highlight any droids. "Thanks for carrying me."
"I'm happy to give my little brother a lift," smirked Astro.
"Little? I'm the older one. I was born years before you were created. Technically you're not even two," Tobio smirked back.
"Keep talking Tobio if you want to get yourself soaked," Astro laughed.
"You wouldn't," chuckled Tobio without looking up from his tablet screen.
"No, I wouldn't," replied Astro. "But only because I don't want to break your tablet. Not because I don't want to drop you."
"Oh, don't worry about the tablet," said Tobio and proceeded to let the device fall into the sea. "Mine is waterproof." He pulled something from his pocket and placed the device in his mouth then let go of Astro, falling feet first into the water.
'Was that a Aquata Breather he just used?' thought Astro. 'How many of his invention designs did he get from Star Wars?' He switched off his rocket boots and let himself fall into the water. He sank quickly, joining Tobio on the seafloor. Bubbles were bursting from Tobio's mouth as the Aquata Breather allowed him to breath underwater.
Astro blinked in confusion. "How is your hair still in its usual style when we are fifty feet underwater?"
Tobio quickly typed something on his tablet then held the screen up for Astro to see. It read, "My hair gel is also waterproof. It takes a special spray to get it off. You never know when it might start raining… or someone might drop you in the sea."
Astro rolled his eyes. "Oh Haha. And I did not drop you." Bubbles erupted from Tobio's mouth as he laughed. After a few seconds, Astro joined in. "Anyway," Astro began when their laughter had subsided, "Do we have any idea where the droids are?" As he finished his sentence a large cloud of sand spewed from the ground and two Aqua droids emerged. "I guess that answers that."
'Strange,' thought Tobio, 'If they were right there my tablet should have detected them.' He realised they must have been activated when his tablet first detected them, then deactivated so he and Astro couldn't locate them and now reactivated. Tobio hurriedly typed on this tablet and showed Astro. "How do we know if they are under my control?" At that moment the two droids both fired a shot, one at Astro the other at Tobio. 'I guess that answers that,' he thought as he and Astro jerked to the side, but in opposite directions, to avoid the attack. He then pulled a device from his pocket and used it to send a laser beam though the eye of one of the droids as Astro did the same to the other droid using a beam from his finger.
The two boys watched the droids fall to the seafloor. They gave each other the thumbs up. "Nice shot," smiled Astro while Tobio held up his tablet for Astro to see which was displaying the same statement.
A few minutes later, Astro set himself and Tobio down on the sand near where Zoran and Dr O'Shay currently sat. "Did you find the droids," Dr O'Shay asked.
"They have been taken care of," the two said in unison.
"Perfect timing. You're back just as I've finished my masterpiece," Zoran joked. She pointed to her sandcastle, now decorated with the pebbles and seashells Astro and Tobio collected for her. She was pointing specifically at the peak of the sandcastle where she had placed the best pebble and shell. "I put them side by side just like the two of you work side by side," she smiled.
Astro and Tobio grinned at each other. "And, like the seashell, I'm much easier to break," Tobio joked, before he walked past the sandcastle and put his right arm around Zoran's waist, making her blush. "Hey Dr O'Shay. Take a picture of us with the sandcastle please." With a smile, Dr O'Shay pulled out his camera.
"Don't forget me," laughed Astro as he joined them by the sandcastle and put his left arm around Zoran. She giggled and rested her head on Astro's shoulder. A flicker of disappointment went across Tobio's face when he saw this but it was gone in a second and he smiled for the photo.
After Dr O'Shay snapped a picture of the three with the sandcastle in front of them a click from another camera could be heard. They looked to see the tourist from earlier standing with a camera, an awkward expression on his face. "Sorry. I just had to get a picture of The Astro," he said before quickly hurrying away.
"Who the hell was that?" asked Astro as he and Tobio let go of Zoran.
"Oh, who cares," replied Tobio. "Hey I bet you can't catch me without using your rocket boots." Tobio ran off with Astro giving chase.
"No problem. Unlike me you will get tired and slow down. I just need to wait for that to happen," Astro called to Tobio.
"I'll just hide while I catch my breath," Tobio called back as he turned his head and stuck out his tongue. He led Astro into a group of large rocks standing near the end of the beach. Astro briefly chased Tobio around the rocks before losing sight of him and he couldn't tell which way he had gone. Astro searched the stone maze for several minutes before concluding Tobio had given him the slip.
"Now where did my little bro get to?" he wondered out loud. He got his answer a moment later because just then he felt an arm on his shoulder and something was held up in front of his face.
"To get us ice cream," laughed Tobio from behind him.
"Now how did I not see that coming? Thanks," said Astro as he accepted the cone and took a lick. "You knew my favourite," he exclaimed in surprise.
"I figured it was," Tobio chuckled. "Since it is my favourite."
"Oh right, of course." They both laughed.
"Anyway," Tobio began. He was holding two more ice creams in his left hand. He moved one cone to his right hand and gave that one a lick. "I also got ice cream for Zoran so let's head back before it starts to melt." Astro nodded in agreement. He didn't want to face Zoran getting mad over melted ice cream.
They left the rocks, neither of them aware of the fact that the Australian man was listening. He stood concealed by one of the rocks. Behind the fake hair, flesh mask, and technically the fake accent, Professor Sebastian smiled to himself. It gave him great pleasure to get this near to them without them knowing. This was his second disguise. The first being the janitor at their school. When speaking to them that day, he had deliberately repeated the statement he had made when he first met Astro in order to scare them.
'I just need to collect a little more information about them,' Sebastian thought to himself. 'Then it will be easy to lure them into the perfect trap I set.'
To Be Continued…