I own everything in this story. It is my original story, the one I advertised on my profile. I decided to shorten it to the size of a long fanfiction and post it here to have feedback. All the material here is original - if you do not count references to well-knows works of science-fiction.


The Trio-Robots

Arc 1: Attack of the Invincible, part 1

It`s already been four months that Kevin, Michael and Batara met up. It`s been five months for Kevin and Michael however. Kevin Kartner is your average American who learned French, moved from Vermont to Quebec, because he wanted to forget about the past. As for Michael Marchand, he`s the average slightly overweight Quebecois with great imagination. As for Batara Byzlack, you might really wonder who such a character is. No problem, it will get revealed with time.

Michael was sitting on a bench in the park, when Kevin arrived on his skateboard. He was doing stunts on the skatepark not so far away. It was a sunny August of 2049. School was coming soon; not that they disliked it, but it would be Kevin`s first full year there. He followed what was left of his school year by the computer, thanks to a special program. Now he wanted to get ready for his first school year… in a French school, Sainte-Esperance High School.

Kevin jumped off his skateboard, picked it up, and sat beside Michael.

"Hey, Mike, how about we go to Batara`s for some hours? `Been a while I haven`t seen him."

"Yeah, me neither," Michael replied. "I don`t mind. Let's go." Michael jumped on his bike and Kevin stepped on his skateboard again, and they rolled at full speed to the modest house owned by the scientist.

After maybe half an hour of cycling, they arrived at the small house. Batara might be rich, he`s living simple. It was quite a small house; however it had an underground surprise, also known as Batara`s own laboratory. Batara is a scientist.

Kevin stepped off his skateboard and knocked at the door. No, there was not any special bell. After Kevin knocked a second time, someone opened the door for them. It was not Batara, but rather his servant, Fastos.

Fastos isn`t just any kind of servant; it`s Batara`s robotic servant. A metallic blue creation, probably six feet tall, with antennas hanging from the forehead. Two eyes with a distant look, as if he was always half asleep, and a mouth made of two quarters of a sphere, which only clapped like an anime character when speaking. Aside from that, Fastos had a small door on the belly; after Batara is asleep, Fastos does a few ore tasks around the house, then plugs himself in an outlet, opens the door on his belly, and turns himself off with a level inside him. Fastos has hands and feet with quite a special thing; He had small suckers on each finger and under the feet, so he could climb on walls.

"Misters Kevin and Michael," Fastos said in the robotic voice registered in his circuits. "I am sorry, but master Batara is busy at the moment."

Just then the scientist arrived from behind. He replaced his round glasses over his nose, pushed them with the index finger, and said hello.

"How are you doing, guys?" he asked. The teenagers answered positively to the question.

"What are you doing these days, Batara?" Kevin asked. Batara invited them to sit in the kitchen and told Fastos to bring them glasses of lemonade. After it was served, Batara began talking.

"Guys, I can`t really tell you about the project I am on right now, however I will be done in about a few days. All I can tell you is that it is going to be for the next robot wars."

"So it`s going to be a battle robot?" Michael asked.

"Yes. But I will not say more about it, you`ll have to come back. In two days, the robot will be complete, so come back at that time. I`m going to send you an email." And the teenagers left after a final goodbye. As the door closed behind them, Michael turned to Kevin.

"What are we gonna do until then?" the blonde asked.

"Do I seem to know?" Kevin replied. "We`re just gonna find something."

Kevin and Michael and thirteen years old. Kevin is quite tall for his age; he got brown hair, not too long and not too short, and from which two small tufts of hairs always seem to never go down. No matter how he brushes them, he always has that. He also has brown eyes. He wears a red shirt with a yellow, happy smiley on the left shoulder. He also wears jeans and Eklair shoes. As for Michael, he wears a light blue shirt with a drawing of a mountain, and beige shorts. He also wears Eklair shoes; it`s the fad. Michael has blond hair and blue eyes.

Batara was only three feet three inches tall; this was because of an accident when he was still a child. The brain cells that let the body grow stopped completely, but not the ones that let the body age. Even if he is thirty-two years old and has the functional body of this age, he is and will always be small. Batara always wears the scientist uniform; a white shirt with long sleeves and buttoned, black pants and shoelace-less shoes. He always has round glasses on the nose, and short light brown hair in short spikes all over the head. Or at least where there`s hair. He never let his beard or his mustache grow; it does not really fit him.

Kevin and Michael spent the two days without doing anything interesting. The night of the second day, however, Kevin received a v-mail from Batara. He opened the message and a video of Batara began.

"Hi Kevin. My creation is ready! I`d give you a preview of it, but I`ll keep it secret. Come home tomorrow, and I`ll show you the winner of the next Robot Wars!"

The video was cut there. Michael got the same message.

That night, Kevin had a weird dream where he was chased by a monster, some kind of machine, very tall, and he was cornered until his friends came to help him. However the robot got back up and Kevin defeated it with a special power, probably out of his imagination.

The next day, around eleven in the morning, Kevin and Michael left on their bicycles and reached Batara`s house in no time. They always liked to see Batara`s newest creations. The world of inventors was opened to them and they could see anything special that was made. Batara swore they would one day come with him to the E.A.S.E. Island. The E.A.S.E. Island is a place where scientists of all countries around the world meet up when they feel like it and, once per year, they show off their best invention or discovery of the year.

Kevin got off his bicycle, parked it near the front door, and knocked at the door. This time it was Batara who answered. He was watching television as a show about how things are made was presently on.

"Come in, guys, come in. You didn`t mind the wait?"

Kevin and Michael entered and shook their heads. "Anything you do is quite great, Batara. You know it."

"Yeah, I know. But the machine is quite a heavy battlebot, and I might have problems."

He opened a box and showed a weird remote control. It had fifteen joysticks, and three pairs of handles, one on each side plus the central one.

"Uh, Batara… why the handles?" Michael asked.

"Listen, there are fifteen joysticks and five buttons on this thing. I can`t control my creation alone."

"A point for you," Michael said.

The five buttons were the On/Off button, three red buttons on the middles of the joysticks, and the final button was hidden. Michael tried to ask where was the final button (Kevin still hadn't guessed one plus three do not equal five), but Batara responded nothing at all. He just walked with them to the laboratory. He cracked the code (the door to the lab was protected by a number code so nobody could get down there without knowing that code) and let them in. It was always something impressive to see. Most machines were high-precision tools for robot building. There was a room with thousand of items used for discoveries. Glass tubes, microscopes, everything. A second room was made especially for works demanding extreme precaution and manipulation of tiny pieces; it was the "surgery" room as Batara funnily called it.

Batara went to a spot in the far end where something was hidden between curtains; Batara liked this kind of spectacular uncovering. "Ready?" The teenagers nodded, so Batara pulled the curtains away.

In front of them was a monstrous machine; it was six feet six inches tall, with a body of right angles. Its head had the shape of a cube. It had two red eyes in the shape of triangles, a squared yellow nose, and painted sharp teeth. It also had a long body, more like a rectangle. Two very "squarrely" legs completed it, with very long feet protruding below. The robot has seven smaller things on each side of its body. The legs and the feet could move and fold thanks to a mechanism reminiscent of bellows or accordions. The teenagers looked on the side of the robot; in its back there were series of wheels. However, the side of the machine itself was the scariest thing; on each part of the body, the robot had a weapon. He had circular saws in the head and he had axes, hands with spiked fingers and butcher knives inside the top half. On the upper legs he had sabers, on the lower legs he had planks with nails over it, like those nail carpets used by Indian fakirs. Finally, in the feet he had swords, nothing less.

"Do you believe me now when I say I built a winner?"

"Oh yeah!" Kevin yelled. "We`re so gonna win the cash!"

"By the way, Batara…" Michael began. "What`s the prize for the winner?"

"Well, I have read that the winner had a hundred thousand bucks, the one in second place would get ten thousand, the third and fourth would have only a thousand bucks. We`re gonna be in first place for sure."

"So we`re going with you?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Batara answered simply.

"Super!" Kevin and Michael yelled while high-fiving.

"But you`ll have to help me controlling the robot however. I have put three pairs of handles for a good reason."

"No problem, Batara," Kevin said. "I`d pay someone to use that robot."

On a common agreement, the trio decided that the next day, Batara would go get them at home, with his very small car and the robot in a metallic box attached to the car like a trailer, and they would drive to the competition, which was held in a city neighboring Montreal.

***

The next day happened as such, and after two hours of driving, Batara parked the car in the parking lot near the Battlepark. The place looked nothing like a battle park; it was just a boring building with nothing out of ordinary. However, inside the participants to the tournament who were already arrived had begun placing their creations on stands. As Batara came out of the car, he was welcomed by Sophie Smith, a local reporter for the channel the competition would air on.

"Mister Batara, you were the only one left! How was the trip?"

"Well, it was long, but we`re finally here!" Michael said, stepping out of the car.

"I wasn`t asking to you…" Miss Smith said, turning to him for a split second. The look she gave to Michael was a look of disdain, as if she hated teenagers or just didn`t care about them. "So, mister Byzlack, are you ready for the competition?"

"Well, I have used all my knowledge of tricks and techniques used in such competitions and I believe I have built a robot powerful enough to face anything… and win."

"Can I see the robot?" The reporter asked, faking a smile in front of the camera.

"Sorry, it`s a secret… for now. I will place it on the stand for everyone to see. Which number am I already?"

Sophie Smith pulled a list of the participants and read it. "You will be on stand number eleven." Just then a second car parked, and someone came out of it. Miss Smith rushed to see the newcomer with her usual journalist smile, and said: "Mister Garrod, you were the only one left! How…"

Batara sighed. Are those journalists all the same? Someone came in a motorized vehicle, attached the metallic box to it, and drove to the stand number 11. There would be only sixteen participants. However some could, by a way or another, subscribe two of their creations. As two tough men placed the robot beside the stand, Batara took the remote control out of a toolbox.

Of course, when the reporter saw the machine, she let out a "whoa" of surprise. It was really a big machine; it was a bit taller than her. Sophie Smith approached the robot and turned around it.

"Wow. If I could do so, I would already claim you winner of the competition."

"Thanks," Batara responded.

"I bet she said that to everyone else in the room," Kevin whispered to Michael, who nodded.

Batara`s first battle was against a robot named the Robothing. Very original indeed. Batara did not reveal any special moves from his robot. Kevin and Michael were each controlling five weapons, while Batara controlled the robot`s legs and the remaining four arms. The battle was won when Batara`s robot cut the Robothing`s head off by a quick move.

The guys joined at the cafeteria in the establishment, to talk strategy.

"Guys, we gotta think about a plan. Those battles are quite difficult, you know. And we have some experts in remote control manipulation here."

"Yeah, we know," Michael said.

"So you want us to find… strategies?" Kevin asked.

"That is it, Kevin," Batara replied. "We will try to keep many tricks hidden. The key to winning is surprise."

"Well, you revealed the fourteen weapons already, so… you might use the button labeled 1 on the remote control," Michael suggested.

"And forget the other buttons until later fights," Kevin said. "Um… by the way, what does the button below the remote control do?"

"It`s a secret guys, you`ll discover it soon enough," Batara said, keeping a part of mystery.

For the first round, the battles lasted approximately three minutes; it was either very easy to defeat the opponent, either very surprising battles. Many players took notes on the battlers to know what they might be facing later on. This is the reason why they had to keep things secret; to still surprise the opponent.

The second round began. The battles were a bit longer now; maybe five minutes long. They were interesting because many players knew a trick from their opponent but discovered new tricks that made them lose the game. Kevin, Michael and Batara also watched, but they were not taking notes; many players thought it was silly enough not to know what they will be facing later on.

Just before the fight, Batara made a caucus with his friends. "Listen, guys, I still haven`t found a name for the robot. Do you have any idea?"

Kevin shook his head. "Nothing."

"Well…" Michael began. « When I first looked at it, I felt like it was invincible. When something can`t be defeated, it brings Despair. I thought about this: Despair."

"That`s a good idea," Kevin commented.

"Yeah. I vote for that. Guys, say hello to… Despair!" He said, turning around to point to the robot.

As the friends placed themselves in the box (where they control the robot), Despair was sent on the battlefield. His new opponent was Guy Garrod – yes, the guy who arrived right after him – controlling Cassius 3. That robot could make the other robots fall on their back, and that`s exactly what happened to Despair. However Batara pressed the button labeled #1 and suddenly, Despair, still on his back, began rolling on the wheels placed there. He was quite fast and Cassius did not know what to do.

As if it was not enough, traps leading to spiked floors opened behind the speedy robots, and the battlers could fall in those traps any time. At one point, Batara almost fell, however Michael and Kevin pulled out some of Despair`s weapons and stuck them to the floor, which gave Despair enough grab to get back on the field, like an alpinist who was about to fall to his doom. Batara understood that most traps were located around the field, and not in the center. In other words, if Despair stood in the very middle of the arena, he would not fall down again.

The battle ended when Despair tried to smash Cassius 3 with his foot, but Cassius 3 opened his panel to try and make him fall again. Batara applied more pressure on Cassius with Despair`s foot but it was useless. However Cassius was trapped, so Kevin and Michael pulled out of Despair`s body many sharp weapons which all went through the small robot. They had won that one.

Between the second and third rounds, there was one hour of time for the remaining participants to repair their robot. Many had been very damaged, and some others had lost some of their abilities or parts. Some looked like they were doomed to end in a junkyard; yet everyone had enough time to repair them for round three.

Batara looked closely at the battle between the other finalists; a robot named Terror-Hurtz 2 had won it.

On the other hand, Despair was about to fight a robot named Battle; this robot had a short body, with weak, plastic arms exactly like Despair and an axe at the end of each. Also, it had a pair of solid, metallic legs. It had no head, however its axes could spin thanks to a mechanism in its body; the disk on which the arms were connected to the body were stuck to a cylinder in the body, which was spinning thanks to a system of gears. While gaining speed, the axes could spin on the axis and with the speed, they could really become dangerous.

The battle began. Right away, Battle began his Spin technique, and with its long arms, Despair was unable to get near. The axes were placed in the sense the robot`s arms were spinning, so anything coming in contact with them would get harmed. Battle approached and left a long line on Despair`s belly, the line was actually a crack that broke Despair`s metal shell. Like a scar on a robot. Despair fell on his back, and began using the wheels tricks. On his back, he rolled at ten miles per hour toward Battle, who kept spinning his arms around, and tried to head-butt him; however Battle could still move with his legs, so he could also bend, and so Battle bent and left another scar on Despair`s shell. Despair got back on his feet and tried to cut off Battle`s arms to prevent him from attacking. However, Battle protected those plastic tubes he had as arms. Despair stepped back and got on his back. This time, however, Battle revealed his next trick: he bent to the front, his feet were to the ground on toes, and his arms were now like front legs. He was now like a four-legged robot, with a great speed. Despair rolled toward him at a good speed, while Battle also ran to Despair, and the robots clashed. Despair successfully cut one of Battle`s arms however. Despair turned to Battle; the robot used his final trick. By placing its only arm to the front, it could still run, with three legs! It was full of resources.

"Time to use the next trick," Batara said, pressing the button number 2. Reactors came out of Despair`s feet, and the robot now blasted fast toward Battle, who also run to Despair. The scene happened in a split second: Despair smashed into Battle, who had enough time to attack Despair and have his remaining axe stuck to him. However Despair continued at the high speed he was going to, and dragged Battle, and they both crashed into a wall. Battle was seriously injured, and was losing gas. The gas tank had been broken with the shock. Whatever Battle would do now, he would slowly lose gas until it ultimately stopped functioning. Batara had won.

Batara`s final battle would be against Terror-Hurtz 2. The builders both had two hours to repair their machine. While they repaired Despair, Batara asked his friends for a final strategy against this opponent.

"He knows all your tricks now, Batara," Kevin said. "He`ll use that to fight. And win."

"Nope, Kevin," Batara replied. "Remember when I said there were five buttons on the remote control? I`ll use the hidden fifth button."

"But what does it do?" Michael asked. Batara grinned.

"You will see soon enough."

Finally Despair was repaired; however the scar from his fight with Battle had not disappeared. The gas tank located in the lower portion of the torso had not been damaged either. However Batara was making a risky bet with the hidden button; he knew the plus and minus of that move and it might make him win… or lose.

The competition had lasted maybe seven hours since the beginning, and it was eight in the evening. The friends ate at the cafeteria during the two hours of break, and they brought Batara a sandwich since he was too busy with repairing Despair.

After the two hours ended, someone took Despair and brought him to the battlefield. Kevin, Michael and Batara prepared to control Despair. The battlefield also changed with the traps from round 2 back, and also mountains of blocks in the middle. It would be very difficult to control Despair here.

The round began. Terrror-Hurtz could hover on the blocks in the center to get to Despair`s height and attack the head; so Despair just stood away from those blocks in the middle. Despair just turned around the arena, without any goal. If the gas tank empties, it will have been useless. It`s just then that Batara got a good idea; without any warning, Despair rolled toward the mountain ob blocks and harshly hit the base of it. However, the swords were out of the feet. When the shock was felt on Despair`s head, it`s like the robot had braked right away, and the swords were sent to the front because of the shock. Batara hoped the swords would impale Terror-Hurtz 2. Sadly, the Hurtz avoided it. It was about to attack when Despair got back on his feet and attacked. Despair grabbed Terror-Hurtz 2 and threw it on an arena trap. However, just as it was about to open below it, the robot began hovering and flew to the solid ground, where it landed.

For a minute, nothing much happened; both controllers were thinking up a strategy. Terror-Hurtz 2 moved first. In a swift move, the robot began turning around Despair. The tall robot took out all of his fourteen weapons and tried to attack Terror-Hurtz, but Despair always missed. Not only that, but now Despair`s weapons were often stuck in the floor, and it would be difficult to pull out the arms. This would let Terror-Hurtz enough time to cut some of the taller robot`s arms. Luckily, Batara pressed button number 3, and all the weapons came back in the robot`s body. Right on time.

"Now to use the hidden trick," Batara said, opening something under the remote control. He pushed the button in this opening.

On the field, Despair stopped moving totally. In a split second, all the weapons came out of the body and went randomly in every direction. There was no logic and the weapons could hit anything in a radius of three meters. The body, however, was standing still. The weapons touched Terror-Hurtz and injured the robot`s shell, however Despair was also hit by his own weapons. Finally, after a minute of erratic random movements, the attack stopped and the weapons came back in the body.

Terror-Hurtz was hurt, indeed; impaled twice, with obvious scars from weapons that attacked it. But overall it was still in a state of battle. Despair, however has not been as lucky; his weapons let scratches on its metallic carapace, and one of his weapons made a scar so near to the gas tank that it was almost a miracle if it was not broken.

Those were the plus and minus points of the move; First off, as it moves randomly, it is impossible to know what is going to happen. Also, all the weapons are used at the same time. And the range of the move is quite good, considering all the arms are about six feet long. However, as the move is unpredictable, not only the enemy can get harmed, but Despair can hurt himself. If it hits the electronics in his head, it`ll malfunction or break. If it hits the gas tank and pierces through it, then it will get empty and lose by loss of gas. Also, Despair is immobile for the whole attack, so any enemy just has to get away from it and that opponent will be safe.

Despair kicked Terror-Hurtz away and went in Speed mode. He got on his back. However, Despair usually had captors over the head to see where he was going in that mode; those were broken now, as he ran in those mountains of blocks. Despair rolled to Terror-Hurtz 2 but missed its target (this was Batara`s mistake) and ran into a wall. Because of this he almost fell in a floor trap. Luckily, Despair avoided falling down. The opponent had an impressive stamina for a small robot.

Batara tried a final thing. He controlled Despair so the robot got on one of those mountains of blocks, and controlled him to jump from those blocks to land on Terror-Hurtz 2. However the small robot pushed out of the way before, and Despair fell on another floor trap, which opened below him. Terror-Hurtz was sitting near the trap, as if it was looking at the tall robot falling to his loss. Maybe laughing a Despair trying to get back on the floor…

In an ultimate move, Despair took out most of his weapons and used them to climb back. However Terror-Hurtz took that chance to cut off one of his arms. Despair took his hands out and tried to grab the side, however in a surprise move he grabbed Terror-Hurtz and threw him in the hole. Terror-Hurtz got impaled in the spikes down there, while Despair could finally come out.

Batara had won the tournament. He was acclaimed by the crowd who was watching the fight, as Mrs. Smith approached him. "Very cool fight, mister Byzlack! You said earlier today that you had built a winner – well now we have a proof!"

"Without my friends I would never have won. They did a good part of the job by controlling some weapons. Ask them."

"Uh… no, you`re the one who built the robot after all. Have you found it a name?"

"Despair", the three friends said in unison.

After a short interview between Sophie Smith and Batara, the trio left with the hundred thousand bucks. They packed Despair (or rather the really injured robot) and its missing pieces in the metallic trailer and left. On the way, Batara promised they would stop for them to buy stuff. To spend the cash, in other words. Kevin stopped in an extreme sports store, and bought a wheel-less skateboard; it was called a Hoverboard and it only cost about one percent of the prize. Batara agreed on one percent for both of his friends. Michael stopped in a bookstore and bought for a lot less cash, however he had bought about ten novels, twelve graphic novels, two board games, three DVDs and one CD.

Finally, they got back home around eleven at night. The teenagers went to sleep right away. Nothing could trouble what was left of their vacation; school began in three days. Hopefully everything would go well.


Author`s notes: This was a shorter chapter than I expected; I wanted it to have about five thousand words. Well, that`s the beginning of my original series. Don`t forget to leave a comment, review, do what you want. Also, you might want to follow this story closely because MANY plot details will come in soon. But I hope you enjoy it! It`s my fully original story. All out of my head, with references to many other science fiction works.