Hiro attends his first bot fight.
To put it simplY, Hiro was bored. Sure, designing robots and planning new tech was fun and he couldn't imagine doing anything else for the rest of his life, but Hiro was at a point where he wanted more. The problem was, he wasn't sure what he wanted more of, or how to get it. It had been six months since Hiro had graduated high school and while at first the freedom of having whole days to let loose his imagination had been great, after six months of it, it had become less so. Tadashi had tried to help, giving Hiro ideas for new projects and even suggesting Hiro tried for college (Ha, as if Hiro would ever consider 'nerd school'), but it was hopeless. Nothing could cure Hiro's boredom.
That was, until he walked past a battered flyer stuck to the ground. Hiro had seen a few of them scattered along the sidewalk but hadn't taken any notice of them till now. He crouched down and inspected the dirty piece of paper.
'Bot Fighting Competition. 10:00pm 13th March. 45000 Yen entry fee for each battle.'
The name immediately gained Hiro's attention and he read the rest of the flyer avidly. It was clear now why the flyers were all on the floor – bot fighting, or at least betting on it, was illegal and the location was not in the nicest part of the city. But Hiro couldn't deny he was interested. Bot fighting…maybe that was the stimulation he needed. Something for his creations to do instead of them gathering dust in the garage. Giving a quick look around, Hiro picked up the flyer and stuck it in his pocket. He turned around and then headed back in the direction of home. It was time to do some planning.
It was 9:50pm on March the 13th and Hiro couldn't believe he had managed to get it to the competition, his own newly made robot tucked in hand. He was still expecting a panicked call from either Aunt Cass or Tadashi, even though he had set up a pretty convincing hologram of himself at the computer in the garage as a precaution – programmed to give simple responses just in case.
Hiro navigated his way through the crowds of people attending the competition. The building hosting the tournament was barely more than an abandoned warehouse, but it was big and Hiro figured that's all they really needed. Hiro felt extremely out of place among all the much bigger, scary looking adults, but thankfully no one stopped him or tried to get him around. He was just checking out some of the other bots the participants had when a voice rang out over a megaphone.
"Competitors! We will have four matches going on at once in each corner of the room. Please divide yourselves and prepare for battle!"
People immediately began to split up and Hiro went to the corner occupied by the least amount of people. Hiro was not a fan of crowds on the best of days, let alone when he was committing his first semi-illegal act. Even so, with the fear, Hiro was excited. Time to test his creation properly.
Hiro wasn't the first of his group to fight but he was glad about that as it gave him a good opportunity to see what sort of stuff he'd be facing. Since he was too small to see over people's heads, he'd taken to kneeling down and peering through their legs to see the match. What he saw gave him hope.
While the competitor's bots were by no means mediocre, Hiro was confident that his own bot, still in the prototype stage, would wreck them. He watched with fascination as one of the bots was crashed under the weight of the hammer that had protruded from the other one. The match was declared finished and another set of opponents took their place.
This pattern continued until Hiro finally made his way to the front of the group, trembling slightly as he held his well saved money out to the referee. She gave him a disbelieving stare but accepted his money. Hiro took a spot on one side of the ring and his challenger sat opposite him. He was a weedy looking man and his bot, as if matching its creator, was also thin and wiry with wheels along the bottom. It didn't look that threatening and Hiro had a feeling that they were both considered the weakest of the group. He looked nervous, until another member of the group clapped him on the shoulder muttering 'You can do it Nao'. The act made Hiro sombre slightly, wishing he had Tadashi with him to cheer him on. Then again, Tadashi would not approve if he knew what his little brother was doing.
"Competitors, prepare your bots."
Hiro took a deep breath and switched the on button on his control for his robot. The small box Hiro had made his bot form into for carrying purposes started to expand until it his bot was fully stretched out, reaching a height of two feet with its limbs contracted in a fighting stance. Like Nao's, his bot also didn't look like much, especially with the face Hiro had crudely drawn on with white marker, but Hiro had made a point of that. If Hiro's bot looked weak then his competitor would get cocky and assume an easy win. That would make it all the easier for Hiro to beat them.
With the match about to start, Hiro felt his palms get sweaty and his heart pounded wildly. Attempting to calm himself, Hiro took a deep breath and the referee shouted out "Begin!"
The action started immediately, with Nao sending his bot whirling forward, arms waving as they morphed into scythes. Hiro was instantly on the defensive, his own bot holding up its reinforced arms in defence as it dodged the blades. Nao, getting bolder with every second, smiled and pressed a button. Two more sharpened arms protruded from the bots body, these ones with more reach than the original pair. Getting close to the edge of the ring, Hiro made his bot jump and land back in the centre. Looked like Nao had taken the 'look weak, beat the crap out of shocked opponent' approach too. That was ok, Hiro told himself, he just had to readjust his tactic.
The scythes continued to fly around and an idea formed in Hiro's mind when he realised they must have a tracking device in them. That was the only explanation for how precisely they followed Hiro's bots movements. Maybe, just maybe, he could use that against Nao.
Implementing his new plan straightaway, Hiro adjusted his control so that his bot jumped and when the scythes were in the air, dived under them. The blades followed and Hiro was pleased when one of the arms caught another, slicing right through it and falling to the floor with a thud. Hiro quickly repeated the same manoeuvre and like before, another arm fell off and a grin bloomed on Hiro's face. A light sheen of sweat had appeared on Nao's face as he tried to gain control of his bot's weapons. Clearly they weren't designed well enough as he couldn't and Hiro managed to get rid of the second to last arm, leaving the bot defenceless apart from its one remaining arm.
"Got him," Hiro muttered with glee, pushing a switch that caused thin, razor sharp, to spin out of his bots arms towards its opponent, slicing through the metal with ease before returning back to his bot like a deadly metallic boomerang. Nao's bot fell to pieces and Hiro cheered when the match was ended.
"Good job kid," the referee said, handing Hiro his winnings and the young teen couldn't keep the smile on his face.
Until he felt a hand on his shoulder, and Hiro recognised it as Tadashi's. He froze, and gulped.
"You. Are. So. Dead."
So I picture Hiro's first fighting bot being similar to structure as the one in the film but much bigger and not as strong. Tell me what you think and also if you have any ideas for other one-shots!
