Disclaimer first: I do not own the rights to Medabots. Not the setting, not the canon plot, not the canon characters (though any I happen to introduce that aren't in the series are mine).

Next the warnings: this is set a few days after the end of the World Robattle Tournament. There are a few, very brief references to events that transpired there, though those are far from the focus of this story.

Also, this is going to be an Ikki/Samantha. Yes, those two. Don't stare at me like that. This category needs new pairings, after all. I mean, just look how many Ikki/Erikas and Koji/Karins there are! At this point and time, I've figured out other relationships I'm going to use in this, which will become clearer as the story develops.

If you're interested in writing a Samantha/Ikki story yourself, don't be afraid to go for it. Since I don't own the rights to Medabots, I'm in no position to stop you even if I was anal enough to try such a stupid thing. Besides, I'm interested in what everyone might come up with, Ikki/Samantha or otherwise.

~ * The Trigger (And WHAT a Trigger…) * ~

(I can't believe I'm about to do this.)

Ikki's dark cobalt eyes darted from side to side for what had to be the thousandth time, and he nervously rolled a tiny slip of folded paper between his twitching fingers. That paper happened to be the cause of his uneasiness, and just the feel of its crinkling surface against the sweaty palm of his hand was forcing him to rethink the action he was about to take.

(C'mon, Ikki, pull yourself together! If you don't address this now, it'll just get worse and worse! You've given it this long and nothing's changed on its own… It's time you do something about it!)

Finally, the boy acted. With a quick, furtive movement, he stepped up beside the locker and wedged the small piece of paper through the small slit where door met frame. He did this as quickly as possible, hiding as much of his action from the rest of the world with his body, then stepped back and took off, melting into the crowd of students milling by. The last thing he needed was to be seen doing this, and thankfully luck was with him, for nobody had noticed either his hanging by the locker or the folded note he had left behind.

So the paper remained where it was, tucked away in the crack, until Samantha came along and opened her locker door, freeing the note and letting it drift to the ground.

The leader of the Screws blinked and glanced down, having only seen a flit of movement at the very edge of her vision. The plain white paper stood out clearly against the sea green carpet, and she blinked again, a bit surprised at its presence.

"What's this, Boss?" Spyke, one of her ever-present cronies, chirped even as he bent to retrieve the fallen paper for her.

"Let me see that," snapped the girl, snatching it away from his grasp without so much as a thank you.

Turning away from him, Samantha unfolded the paper. Her blue-green eyes scanned over the black scribbling contained on the small sheet, while her two followers Spyke and Sloan peered curiously over her shoulder.

"What's it say?" the shorter of the two boys asked.

Samantha glared back at him, but then shrugged and read the note aloud:

[Samantha;

We need to talk.

Meet me at sundown by the pond in the park.

Come alone.

See you then.]

"Didn't even bother to sign it," Samantha observed, turning the paper over in her hands and staring at it suspiciously.

"Wow, Boss, you must have a secret admirer or something!" piped Spyke.

"Please." Samantha rolled her eyes at the taller boy. "It's probably just some wet-behind-the-ears brat who thinks he can take me on, but doesn't want to risk getting his diapered ass kicked in front of everybody."

"What are you gonna do, Sam?" asked Sloan, studying his leader's face through his squinty eyes.

"What else?" Samantha crumpled the paper in both hands and tossed it disdainfully into a trashcan as she walked away. "I'll play their game for now, but when they challenge me to a robattle, they'd better be prepared for Peppercat and me to beat them up."

"Alone?" Spyke sounded a bit concerned, and he followed on his leader's footsteps.

"Are you implying I can't take care of myself?"

Samantha's tone was even, but there was venom dripping from her words. Spyke gulped and backpedaled, cowering behind Sloan.

"Of course not, Bo-Boss! You can handle anything!"

"Good." Samantha smiled coldly. "Then you two know better than to go against what I want."

"Of course, Boss!" That time it was both boys, and both looked equally nervous.

~ * ~

(It's probably just somebody looking to robattle with Peppercat. Just some nobody wanting to test his skills against one of the best. That's all.)

Even as that ongoing pessimistic mantra chimed endlessly in her mind, Samantha stole a quick glance at her reflection in the pond. She hadn't really dressed up for this meeting, as she suspected it was merely a request for a robattle, but she hadn't exactly neglected her appearance, either. Brushing her long auburn hair until bronze highlights shone in the gradually fading sunlight, exchanging the clothes she had worn to school for a cleaner pair – she'd even cleaned her orange-tinted sunglasses twice before stepping out the door.

(Damn my overactive imagination wanting to make this something more! Kick-ass girls like me don't get asked to go to secret rendezvous with admirers – that's reserved for pansies like that Karin girl…)

She stole a glance at her meda-watch, making note of the time the digital numbers displayed, then looked over toward the slowly sinking sun. One of her feet twitched, tapping out a few short notes against the ground before she consciously stopped herself: the leader of the Screws wasn't going to look completely ridiculous while waiting for this mystery person to show their face.

(One thing's for sure. If this is just some cowardly medafighter, they can kiss their bot goodbye!)

Samantha blinked.

(Wait a sec… Did I just use one of Metabee's little catch phrases…?!)

(…Note to self: quit hanging around Ikki and his little group so damn much…)

~ * ~

Ikki stole a nervous look around as he walked down the street, trying to look as casual as possible even as he cased the area. So far, he'd seen no signs that he was being followed – he'd learned to recognize many of the clues, since he was so used to being tailed by unwanted company.

And that was the last thing he needed to worry about right now. There were far more pressing issues to consider – like what exactly he was going to say to Samantha once he arrived.

Ikki suppressed the urge to sigh in exasperation at the thought of the leader of the Screws. For a long time, he had seriously hoped this issue would resolve itself, but no, she still persisted in keeping up the act. The whole mess had been wearing on his nerves for quite some time, and he was more than ready to try and put a stop to it.

Ever since it had first been announced that Ikki and Metabee had become the third highest-ranked team in Japan, Samantha had gone around claiming he owed it all to her – that she was his master, the one who taught him everything he knew. It certainly hadn't helped when she and Peppercat then defeated them right in front of all those news crews and reporters – but then, Ikki hadn't realized that Metabee didn't quite have the hang of using the Meda-force until it was too late. From that point on, even though he protested every time he could, Samantha stuck to her claim – and even though those who had been there since the beginning knew better, the rumor remained.

With the World Robattle Cup having turned out to be a huge conspiracy, his hopes of gaining worldwide fame with a fantastic win had been tarnished. If another was held after that horrible debacle, it wouldn't be for another four whole years. In the meantime, Ikki had vowed to at least work on his reputation at home. One of the first issues he'd decided to tackle was that of ensuring everybody knew that he wasn't Samantha's star pupil.

Still, for all the problems the leader of the Screws had caused, Ikki considered her a friend. Even though they were hardly master and student, Samantha and Peppercat had been huge helps at times, along with the boys she bossed around. Confronting her in front of everybody would be too much of a pain – especially if they ended up arguing or, heaven forbid, fighting.

Ikki really hoped it wouldn't come to fisticuffs. Even though she was smaller and slighter than him, he had no doubt that Samantha could kick his ass if they fought one-on-one.

Besides, he'd learned from that fateful battle between Metabee and Peppercat that fighting wasn't really going to solve the problem. Maybe by getting Samantha alone and talking with her about the whole mess, they'd come to some other way of fixing things.

Of course, there was no way he'd get Samantha to swallow her pride and agree to anything with an audience. Besides, two of his closest friends, Metabee and Erika, would only compound the problem with their presence. Metabee, while Ikki's partner and most treasured companion, had an attitude and a distressing tendency to mouth off at the worst possible times. And Erika considered it her sworn duty to turn almost everything her childhood friend did into a huge cover story… annoying enough in its own right, but certain to make things worse if she blasted this through the papers.

That was why Ikki was doing everything he could to keep this a secret. There were only two individuals needed to work this out: Samantha and himself. Involving anybody else just made the situation worse. If he talked privately with Samantha, one on one, just the two of them, surely they could figure out a solution that kept everyone happy…

As he pondered this problem, Ikki paid precious little attention to where he was going. So he didn't notice the fact that he was walking right past the 24 Hop Mart, or that the door swung open a few minutes after he passed it to allow a certain shorthaired girl to pop her head out.

"…Ikki?" Erika wondered aloud, surprised to see the medafighter alone.

Several alarms went off in her mind: Ikki was not with Metabee like he normally was. He had walked right past the Hop Mart without popping in to say hi to Henry and anyone else that he recognized inside. Most importantly, he hadn't given her any clue whatsoever that he was planning on doing anything.

Erika frowned. Ikki was acting very oddly, and that could only mean one thing: he was trying to keep something from her. Her grip on the brightly wrapped box containing the meda-part she had bought as a surprise for Brass tightened, and she hurried after her childhood friend. It would wait for later: right now, her journalist instincts were shrieking at her that a hot new story was in development…!

~ * ~

Samantha fought the almost overwhelming urge to yawn as she glanced at her meda-watch again. Where was this mystery kid anyway? They'd insisted on meeting her here; the least they could do in return was show up on time…

"…There you are."

Samantha froze at the all-too-familiar voice, and whirled to face its owner. Her turquoise eyes narrowed slightly, and she placed her hands on her hips, assuming a defiant stance to mask the sharp pang of disappointment she felt.

"…Oh. You," she grated out, in a tone oozing with careless disrespect.

Ikki sweated, rubbing the back of his head nervously. Already it appeared that his plan to work things out was not going as well as he had expected.

"Aw, c'mon, Sam, just hear me out," he pleaded. "I really need to talk to you about something, and I really figured it was best we talk about it without an audience…"

"…" Samantha glared at him, blue-green eyes glittering dangerously. "…I'm listening."

Ikki hesitated, trying to figure out just what he could say to diffuse the situation. He had seriously believed that just getting a chance to be alone with the leader of the Screws would be difficult enough…

Of course, what Ikki was unaware of was the fact that they weren't really alone. Several feet away, Erika crouched behind some bushes, her purchase set aside for the time being and trusty camera raised in front of her. The young reporter's warm brown eyes were wide with shock; she could hardly believe the scene before her.

(Ikki…and Samantha…?! No way…)

But for all her silent denials, the scene in front of her was real enough. Ikki and Samantha were standing in front of the pond, the sun slowly sinking in the sky behind them and casting a golden tint over everything – the rippling water, the waving grass, Samantha's gently swaying auburn hair…

Erika hadn't gotten close enough to hear everything being said, but the wind had borne enough of the whispery words over to her disbelieving ears for her to get the general gist of things – or, at least, so she believed. Plus, Ikki's awkward stance clued her in quite keenly to his nervousness, with her racing imagination deciding it knew why.

Trembling, doing a poor job of reigning in her raging emotions, Erika raised her camera in front of her face and adjusted the zoom lenses. She didn't realize that the movement caused the lens to catch and reflect the light briefly.

Samantha, however, picked up on this detail immediately. Catching a glimpse of the momentary flash, she shifted her gaze from the stuttering Ikki to focus on the spot where she'd noticed it. It only took a few moments of concentration for her to pick out Erika's mostly hidden figure concealed by the bushes.

(Erika… figures that jealous brat would be spying on us! Probably thinks I'm trying to steal her precious Ikki just like Karin or something…)

A spike of anger shot through the leader of the Screws, and she was about to scream, focusing all her frustration at the reporter – when she suddenly paused, stopped cold by a single thought.

(She's always spying on Ikki, so worried that he's 'cheating' on her – even though he doesn't even recognize how she feels, and she's never had the guts to tell him outright…)

(What if… what if she actually saw what she keeps suspecting…?)

A cold, sly smirk formed on Samantha's lips. The more she entertained the thought, the more it sounded like the perfect way to turn this whole crappy afternoon around a bit. The wanna-be reporter's antics had long worn on Samantha's last nerve, and finally turning that around on the little snoop seemed very appealing. It could even be considered a little payback toward Ikki, who had unwittingly ruined her entire afternoon by making her wonder about some possible secret admirer by sticking that note in her locker.

(Hell, I could have a little fun with this…)

Her mind made up, Samantha turned her attention back to Ikki. He was still struggling to figure out some way of phrasing whatever it was he had called her out here to talk about in the first place. Come to think of it, she still didn't really understand why he'd done this to her – not that it mattered. She was about to take control of this little meeting, and any reason he'd had for it was about to be thrown out the window.

"Ikki…" she purred, taking immediate delight in the way the boy's eyebrows shot straight up at the way she said his name alone. "You didn't have to be so secretive about all this…"

"…Uh… I don't know about that," stammered the now rather flustered youth, not knowing how to handle this turn of events. "I… I mean, you never seemed to want to listen to me when I tried to tell you before, and…"

Samantha smirked in coy delight. In his panicked state, Ikki was paying little attention to the words actually coming out of his mouth, and had no idea he was only digging himself deeper and deeper…

"Come on, Ikki," she murmured, leaning closer and playing with the top of his collar. "Why don't you just come out and say whatever you wanted to say…? Or should I make an educated guess…?"

Ikki was rapidly turning the same shade as his shirt, completely taken off guard by how Samantha was suddenly acting. This was one side of her he'd never really seen, except for when she was flirting with Koji…

(…FLIRTING?!)

That mere notion caused the majority of Ikki's brain to seize up, and he stared at the leader of the Screws with very huge and shocked blue eyes.

Samantha smiled, looking a bit cat-like with the smug expression. Her turquoise eyes drank in the boy's fear: she had to admit, Ikki did look pretty cute when he was shocked. That was good, since she probably wouldn't have had the guts to even attempt what she was plotting next if he wasn't at all appealing to her.

"What's the matter, Ikki? Still can't find what to say?"

Reaching up, she grabbed the thick collar of his trademark red shirt and pulled him down so that the now extremely confused boy was on eye level with her. She could practically feel the nervousness radiating from the higher ranked medafighter, and her sly smirk widened a bit.

"…Well, actions speak louder than words," she declared lightly.

Then she leaned up and pressed her soft lips against his.

Ikki stiffened with shock, and Samantha felt his mouth fall slightly agape at the feel of her actually kissing him. Taking full advantage of this, her tongue darted forward and lightly brushed against his, causing a shudder to course down her victim's spine. She quickly brought her tongue back to rest in her own mouth, confident the boy's reaction hadn't gone unnoticed by the intruder spying on them.

The fact that a very audible gasp came from the bushes helped clue her in on this particular fact.

Meanwhile, Ikki's brain had almost completely ceased function. It seemed capable of only two major acts: one was heightening all the senses in his mouth so that all he seemed to feel was Samantha kissing him. The other was simply keeping one thing running through his mind over and over again.

(…Holy………medarollie……)

Breaking the kiss as suddenly as she had initiated it, Samantha pulled away and studied Ikki's expression wryly. He looked completely shell-shocked, blue eyes a bit unfocused, and mouth still slightly agape. With a very feline smile on her face, Samantha tapped the boy's chin lightly with one finger.

"Now then… what was the real reason you called me here?" she whispered softly, lowering her raspy voice to a dull purr.

Ikki did not answer, still frozen in place. Samantha rolled her aquamarine eyes at his reaction: she might have been insulted, had she not been aiming to shock. Besides, she had a feeling she'd missed a lot of the real fun by not witnessing Erika's reaction to her unexpected maneuver.

She glanced over at the bushes where she'd first glimpsed the gleaming camera lens, half-expecting the jealous journalist to burst out of hiding and charge with intent to kill. When she didn't appear, but instead remained crouching in her cover, Samantha was a bit surprised, but shrugged it off. Even without getting to see a confrontation, her spirits had been raised tremendously from earlier.

"…Fine, then, be that way if you want," she huffed, mock angry. "I suppose you can tell me some other time. See you at school tomorrow," – she smirked and couldn't resist adding – "Lover boy…"

With that, she fairly skipped off, considerably pleased with herself. At least the entire afternoon hadn't ended up a bust: she'd managed to turn that disappointing situation into one that she'd gained a bit of enjoyment from.

(Too bad Ikki's such a lousy kisser… but, then, I didn't give him much time to prepare, did I?)

After she left, Ikki continued to stare off into space, blue eyes unfocused. He didn't even notice when another female emerged from the bushes. Erika didn't even glance in her childhood friend's direction as she hastily retrieved her package and hurried off towards her home. Quite simply put, the reporter was frightened of what she might end up doing to him if she stayed any longer.

Several minutes after she left, Ikki finally stirred. The boy slumped to his knees, still staring straight ahead without seeing his surroundings. One hand absently strayed up to his mouth, fingers tracing gently over his lips.

"…What… just… happened…?"

~ * ~

Later that night, Erika crouched on her bed, covers pulled over her head and camera sitting in her lap. The shorthaired girl was working furiously on her camera, scanning through her film time and again, pulling up different still shots and sorting through them at an almost frenetic rate.

The normally vibrant young girl was a complete mess. Her short hair was disheveled, dark chocolate strands sticking out in almost every direction. Her dark cinnamon eyes were now more red than brown, and fresh tear tracks marred her face. Her teeth were grinding together lowly, and she muttered to herself as she continued to shift through the still shots.

"…Ikki… That… I'll show… She's pay… Show them… How dare… I'll show… They'll pay…"

Brass was standing outside the bedroom, confused and worried. The door was locked, rendering her unable to be by her medafighter's side – and from the muffled sounds coming from within the chamber, she had a sinking feeling Miss Erika needed some sort of companionship. However, there was nothing she could do but wait outside… and listen in growing concern.

~ * ~

The next morning, Samantha arrived at school in a surprisingly upbeat mood. There was a noticeable bounce in her step as she walked along, and a knowing smile graced her usually stern face.

The leader of the Screws figured she was still operating on a bit of a rush from what she had done yesterday. She'd punished Ikki for leading her on and Erika for spying on them, and for once found a way to do it that didn't involve robattling. Nobody else had gotten involved, not even Peppercat: it was just Samantha turning the tables on the two.

Come to think of it, she hadn't seen either one yet today. Samantha's smug smile widened a bit. In all likelihood, Erika had confronted Ikki about the whole mess, or would be soon, if she wasn't too embarrassed about the fact she'd been spying on her childhood friend again. Maybe this incident would finally force the reporter to come right out and tell Ikki about her feelings for him.

(If that happens, I've have to see if I can't get them both to thank me later. Those two really needed a kick in the ass to get things going… It's so sickening, watching her obsess over him but not actually just come out and…)

Her thoughts trailed off as she noticed a rather large crowd of her fellow students around one of the bulletin boards. This struck her as a bit odd: usually those sort of crowds never gathered unless something concerning one of the myriad of activities the school had was posted. The strange thing was, she couldn't think of any sports or plays that the school had needed recruits for…

(Maybe it's another Medabots tournament. They post a lot of notices like that, and after the whole mess with the WRC…)

Samantha pushed her way into the middle of the throng, just close enough to see what had the attention of so many of her fellow students. As soon as she caught a glimpse of it, the Screw leader stopped dead in her tracks, staring in dead shock.

There, plastered on the wall, was a picture of her kissing Ikki with the sunset-lit pond behind them.

And Samantha murmured the only words she could think of to adequately express her exact feelings at seeing that beautiful scene featured so prominently for the whole world to admire.

"…Oh k'so…"